They heard the clash of the injectors below, and then the rising roar of the power chambers.
A terrific explosion shook the ship next moment. They were all thrown from their feet, and heard cries of pain and terror from below.
"Good God, something's let go!” Gunner yelled,
Thorn led as they hastily climbed down to the stern compartment that housed the four big power-chambers.
The compartment was a wreck. The power-chambers had exploded with frightful force, killing three pirate engineers.
"That damned Cheerly must have done this when he came into the Venture!" a wounded, staggering engineer gasped. “The power-chamber safety was jammed— deliberately jammed!"
"Cheerly's won again, curse him!” Gunner yelled wildly. “It'll take us days to rebuild these power-chambers, if we can do it at all. And by that time he'll be half-way back to Saturn!"
CHAPTER XX
At Uranus’ Orbit
The cruel stars above Erebus looked down upon a scene of strange activity. Out of the dimly shining deserts of that terrible world, out of the shimmering blue hazes that perpetually wrapped its surface, rose the huge black bulk of a rounded metal mountain. And on the top of that mountain, space-suited men who staggered from days of frantic labor were now nearing the end of their toil,