One of the raiders reached Tom’s laboratory. Ignoring the young inventor who lay sprawled on the floor, he made a quick survey of the room’s contents, deciding what to take.
Suddenly a whistle blast shrilled over the island. The noise seemed to pierce the fog that filled Tom’s brain. Groggy and still half asleep, he opened his eyes.
Meanwhile, the creature in the space suit had snatched up one of Tom’s prized inventions-a small electronic oscillator gun. He started to hurry out of the laboratory, in answer to the
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THE RACE TO THE MOON
whistle blast. But as he stepped over the young inventor’s body, Tom reached up and grabbed his ankle. With a sudden jerk, he sent the raider sprawling!
The raider fought back viciously, trying to use the gun as a club. But Tom managed to roll out of the way and launch himself into action, butting his opponent squarely in the stomach! The figure went down again, landing heavily on his back.
Before he could get to his feet, Tom was on top of him, hammering TOM’S PRISONER
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away with rights and lefts. The raider, despite the fact that he was at a disadvantage in his cumbersome space suit, squirmed and fought like a cornered wildcat. But in a few seconds, Tom overpowered him. Then he bound his prisoner hand and foot.
“Whew!” Panting from the struggle, Tom paused to catch his breath.
Everything had happened so fast, there had been no time to take stock of the situation.
Was his prisoner a space being of some kind?
“I’ll soon find out,” Tom muttered. He ripped off the raider’s helmet and found a sullen-looking
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