Tom danced away from Richards' rapierlike left, weaved low, and shot a
hard right to his opponent's stomach that left him gasping. Richards
doubled over and stepped in to bring up a solid right, then hesitated.
Richards was through. The blow to the mid-section had taken all the
fight out of him. Tom refused to pursue his advantage while the other
could not fight back. His anger cooling rapidly, Tom realized that the
whole fight was nothing more than a misunderstanding. As Richards sank
to the grass helpless and gasping for breath, Tom turned to break up the
other two fights. But Roger was just finishing his battle with Davison.
Feinting to the mid-section and pulling Davison's guard down, Roger
hooked his left cleanly to the jaw, following immediately with a
haymaker right. Davison dropped to the turf, out cold.

Meanwhile, Astro had rolled on top of the last cadet of the _Capella_
unit, and with his great strength, clamped McAvoy's arms to his side.
Face to face, the two cadets glared at each other. The muscles tightened
in Astro's arms, and beads of sweat popped out on his face.

"Give up!" demanded the Venusian, tightening his grip.

[Illustration: _Tom shot a hard right to his opponent's stomach_]

Slowly McAvoy sagged under the pressure Astro was applying and his face
began to redden.

"He'll break his back," whispered Roger to Tom.

Tom nodded and stepped forward. "Let him go, Astro. He's finished."