“Howlin* headwinds!” Bud gulped, clinging to a support.
Both boys had turned pale at their narrow escape.
“Here comes another!” Bud yelled as a second spurt of flame belched from the enemy ship. He was thrown off balance as Tom swerved. “Those rats! We’re not even armed!”
Before the inventor could reply, a third missile shot toward them. Tom swung the rocket about sharply and barely dodged the projectile. But the fourth one was fired before he could swivel the steering motors again.
“Look out!” Tom yelled.
With a desperate last-second blast, he succeeded in veering the rocket ship.
But it was too late to avoid being hit by the missile. It grazed the cargo rocket with a jolting crash. Both boys were slammed hard against the bulkhead.
64 THE RACE TO THE MOON
“Wow!” Bud gasped dizzily. “Are we still in one piece?”
“Thank your lucky stars the warhead didn’t explode!” Tom managed to reply.
He glanced out the view port and saw their attacker streaking away into the black reaches of space.
“Attack over!” Tom reported.
“How badly are we damaged?” Bud asked.
“Don’t know yet. We’d better go out and take a look.”
After checking the pressure gauge, Tom set the orbital calculator, and the automatic pilot eased the ship into an orbit with a series of blasts on the steering rockets. Then the boys donned space suits and helmets, and made their way out through the escape hatch.
“Don’t forget to clamp your safety cable,” Tom ordered over his suit radio.
“Roger!”
Stepping out into the bleak void, they propelled themselves astern by triggering the reaction pistols attached to their suits. Tom examined the ship’s damage. Part of the rocket fuselage had been smashed in by the missile.