AT THE edge of town the old barn stood black against the moonlit sky. Joe could hear the voices again, old Uncle Keller's and his wife's, and then that sweet weird voice of Donna Londeen. They were helping her carry her baggage out to the barn--of all places.

"She must have a car in there," Joe thought, "or a plane."

But when they opened the doors and switched on a dim ceiling light, he saw that it was some sort of rocket ship. It was a slender, cigar-shaped craft, almost as long as the 75-foot barn. It was bright yellow, decorated with a straight row of blue apples painted along the side from nose to tail. Joe slipped along the fence for a better view. What a craft!

"The blue apple rocket boat," he said to himself. "Now where could that have come from? Where on earth do they grow blue apples?"

Where on earth? He reflected that he should perhaps take in more territory. A space ship--a beautiful girl with six-fingered hands, purple hair, and seven pinkish-white horns growing out of her head and shoulders--what did it all add up to?

"By George and by Joe," he said breathlessly. "She's about to take off. Wherever she came from, she's heading for home, bag and baggage."

He looked up into the vast moonlit sky and wondered how it felt to leap through it in a rocket ship. What a thrill that must be.

Old Jim Keller was loading the luggage in the ship. Mrs. Keller was kissing Donna Londeen good-bye and making a sob scene out of it. Donna, magnificent in a glittering space suit and a fan-shaped head-dress that adorned her horns and flowed down over her shoulders, was talking sweetly, telling the Kellers how grateful she was for all the hospitality.

"I wish I could come back some day," she said. "But I mustn't promise. One never knows."

"You forgot something, Donna," Mrs. Keller said. "You were going to call the lady who gave you the twirling lessons and tell her good-bye."

"Do you think I dare?" said Donna. "I've heard that the parade officials have been looking for me. I wouldn't want them to find out--"

She and Mrs. Keller hurried back to the house to make the call.

Joe looked at the sky, at the ship, at the silver loving cup in his hand. He muttered darkly to himself, "I told the boys I'd deliver this prize ... Hmm."

He took a notebook from his pocket and scribbled a message:

"Mr. and Mrs. Keller. Please tell the boys at the city hall I'll be back as soon as I deliver a loving cup. I'll keep an account of my expenses and present a bill to the city when I return. I can't state in advance whether this errand will take me to Africa, the North Pole, or the Moon, but I promise to deliver. In the meantime, tell the boys to carry on.--Joe Banker."

He sprinted across the potato patch to the mailbox at the corner.

He wrapped the note around a rock, fastened it with a rubber band, and dropped it in the box. He sprinted back to the barn.

He heard the screen door of the house close. They would be coming back. He had no time to lose. If only Jim Keller didn't block his way ... Ah, the passage seemed to be clear.

Under the dim light in the ceiling of what had once been a dairy barn, he slipped along the walk back of the stanchions. For a moment he had to set the loving cup down while he climbed over a gate. The yellow gleam of the brightly colored ship excited him. The oval-shaped door was open. He darted through the row of stanchions, over the feed rack, and into the ship.

He hesitated for a moment at the long aisle offering a narrow passage either to the right or the left. The floor was pleasantly soft to his dusty shoes, the sleek lines of red light along the ceiling a few inches above his head were a delight to his eyes.

"Who'd have thought it?" he mumbled in awe. "And all this hunk of wonderland hidden away in Jim Keller's barn--oh-oh!"

"Who's there?" Jim Keller barked.

Joe had taken five steps to the right, away from the ship's control cabin, and there stood Keller, straightening up from packing the last box, tall and skinny in his overalls and brown woolen shirt. He looked both fierce and scared, his bright little eyes blazing under brownish-red beetle brows. He dropped the rope he had been using on the boxes and gave an angry puff at his corncob pipe.

He came at Joe, snarling. His duty was plain. He must bounce this intruder before the ship took off.

"Out! Git out! Git!"

"Not so fast, Uncle." Joe didn't want a clash of fists, but he saw to it that his hands were free for any emergency. He had laid the silver loving cup somewhere. "I'm here on city business. I've come to deliver--"

"I know all about it. I was in the crowd when you made your speech, grinnin' like an ape every time you looked at the winner. Well, you had your chance then. But you had to git smart and knock her hat off and let everyone see she had horns."

"But I didn't know!"

"All right, git off. This boat don't need a city clerk--nulp!"

Uncle Keller choked off as Joe caught him over the mouth. "Pardon me, Uncle, I don't want to hurt you. But you've got to quiet down and listen to me."

For a moment Uncle Keller tried to twist out of Joe's grip. But the struggle endangered his precious corncob pipe, so he relaxed. "All right, I won't holler," he whispered. "What's your game?"

Joe, releasing him, decided to risk a confidence.

"I'm going with this ship. I don't know where it's going, but I'm going."

"That's a rash thing to do, young man. Have you thought it over? ... S-s-sh. Here they come back. She's all set to take off. In about twenty seconds. You'd better--"

"I'm hiding right here. And don't you say a word." Joe dived into the mass of soft packing among the light luggage. "See that you keep a straight face on the way out."

The voices were just outside the airlocks now. Donna repeated her goodbye to Mrs. Keller. She called goodbye to Mr. Keller, and was a bit puzzled that she received no answer.

"He must have gone on about his chores," said Mrs. Keller. "He hates goodbyes."

This puzzled Joe. From his hiding place he could see Uncle Keller still standing there in the aisle staring at his corncob pipe, scowling.

Donna could be heard stepping into the ship. A switch snapped, hydraulic levers swished, the airlocks were closing.

"You'd better get out, Uncle," Joe whispered. "She's closing up."

Uncle Keller looked down at him. "Move over," he said. "We're on our way to Mars."

THE shock of taking off began with a roar of rocket motors. For just a split second Joe thought, "Oh-oh, the whole town will come out to see what exploded. They'll hear that I'm off for Mars, to deliver a silver--"

WHAMMMMMMM!

When Joe Banker woke up, several hours later, he looked up into the pretty face of Donna Londeen. She was bandaging his left wrist. Her smile was disturbing.

"Think he'll live?" Uncle Keller asked between puffs on his corncob pipe.

"His eyes are open," Donna said in her sweet, weird voice. "But I think he knows not a thing. He is so dizzy."

"I know everything," Joe growled. "What's the meaning of all these bandages? Where am I?"

"In my rocket ship. You took a nasty jolt, both of you."

"Didn't bother me none," said Uncle Keller. "I'm tough. But these city clerks--"

"Don't worry about me," said Joe. He was fascinated by Donna's purple hair that cascaded over her shoulders among the horns.

"Didn't bother me none," Uncle Keller repeated, "'cept for breakin' my pipe stem. But I always carry an extry."

"You mischief boys, playing stowaway," Donna teased. "Why not tell me you want to go to my planet? I am delighted to bring home two living souvenirs."

"I'm no souvenir," said Uncle Keller. "I'm a free citizen and a Democrat."

"That'll cut a lot of ice with the Martians," Joe said sarcastically.

"Two souvenirs," Donna laughed, looking out into the blackness of space. Was she planning to sell her trophies over a bargain counter when she got home? "Two live ones--one short and one tall--"

"Who's short?" Joe Banker barked. "Just because Uncle Keller happens to be built like a bean pole--"

"One tough one," Donna continued, and one tender--"

"Who's tender, darn it?" Joe growled. "Not me ... Ouch! Easy on that wrist, lady."

The blackness of space was everywhere outside the ship. The earth and the moon had been left far behind. The motors hummed so evenly you forgot you were moving at high speed.

Gradually the sun shifted. The bright dot of Mars, nearly straight ahead, grew larger.

The beautiful girl with the seven horns and the purple hair spent her hours at the controls. She was studying languages, between times, and was not to be bothered.

Sometimes she gave Joe and Uncle Keller lessons in her own native tongue. It was surprisingly like English, a fact which fascinated Joe. She urged them to study from her books. They would go obediently to the observation nook at the rear of the ship and work for awhile. But soon they would fall to talking.

"What on earth are you smoking, Uncle Keller?" Joe asked, looking up from his book.

"Paper. And it don't taste healthy. But I been clean outa smokin' for two hours."

"Well, don't start burning the ship down."

"This was somethin' in your handwritin'--somethin' I found on the floor."

Joe searched his pockets. "H-m-m. I know. Darn it, you're burning up the note that I wrote to Donna asking her for a date."

"That's what it smokes like." Uncle Keller gave a sour puff.

"Well, anyway I got my date without the note. Mars--think of it! I've got a hunch she likes me, Uncle."

"Maybe so, for a souvenir."

"I fell at first sight, or did I tell you that before?"

"Fifteen times. You're goofy, Joe. When you saw her horns you shoulda chased the other way."

Joe didn't like the way Uncle Keller was throwing cold water. He got up and paced the floor, annoyed.

"Let me ask you. What did you and your missus do when she first arrived and asked to stay with you"

Uncle Keller tapped his pipe and frowned. "To be right honest, we took a fancy to her the minute we laid eyes on her. The horns was stickin' up in plain sight, but the way she had her fancy hair ornaments and veils all woven around, it sorta took your breath.

"The fust thing Mom whispered was 'Goodness, ain't she perty!"

"There you are!" said Joe.

"But fallin' in love with her--well, I tell you, son, it won't work."

The space ship rocketed on through the black mysterious sky, and the two men fell silent.

Little does a guy realize, when he gets that feeling that he'd follow a gal anywhere in the world, how much travel he may be bargaining for. Or how much adventure.

Mars loomed up like a, great white moon. Donna Londeen shared a meal of synthetic foods with her two passengers. Then she returned to the controls.

Keller ate six of the little food cubes with great relish. Joe warned him, "Concentrated stuff, Uncle. She said each cube equals two blue apples. You've eaten twelve apples."

"Blue apples? Never heard of 'em. Maybe they're small, like plums."

"Maybe they're large," said Joe "Cast your eyes at the plastic icebox down the aisle."

Uncle Keller's eyes widened. The icebox specimen was as large as a grapefruit. It was a soft-skinned fruit, deep blue.

"Twelve?" Uncle Keller put a hand to his midsection. "Confidentially, Joe, I've got a stomach-ache."

They landed on Mars in the darkness, a little before the dawn of a Martian day.

A half hour before they swooped down upon the planet's vast, shadowy surface, Donna gave a little curtain lecture.

She was much too attractive, Joe thought. Her horns were brightly polished. Her lovely purple hair fell in waves over her bare shoulders. She wore an abbreviated sport costume that would have attracted attention on a tennis court or a bathing beach. The red and white striped flowing gauntlets that hung from her wrists matched her striped, high-heeled pumps.

"You are not souvenirs to be sold over the counter. You are free men as long as you behave yourselves. But do not tell anyone I have a space ship." She was deadly serious. "It was a gift from someone on another planet. Hardly anyone knows I have it. My people are not interested in the languages of other planets. They would not approve of space ships. That is why I land in the dark."

Joe and Uncle Keller stared at each other. They had imagined her people to be a race of planet-hopping scientists.

"Scientists? No, you will find my race of Martians rather primitive."

They sailed down into a world of dark tree tops. It looked as if the branches would reach up and scrape the hide off the ship ... Zwinnng! ... Zwinnng! ... Zwinnng! ... The counter motors had been retarding their speed for the past hour or more but these last moments were the, dizziest. Uncle Keller, still regretting his twelve-apple dinner, fell into Joe's arms.. "So you're tough, are you?" Joe muttered.

"I need a smoke," Keller replied weakly.

"If she smashes into those trees we'll all smoke."

Within two miles of the wide, silvery river, the bluff of a hill loomed. The slope was bare of trees for the space of a hundred yards. Donna landed the ship neatly. There was a grating sound. Zwinng ... Zwinnnng ... Zwuppp! It came to a stop.

Donna looked at her passengers. "How many are still alive?"

"Just one," said Joe. "Poor old Uncle just now died in my arms."

"I ain't dead," groaned Uncle Keller. "I only need a smoke."

Donna operated a lever to throw a beam of light along the crest of the hill. A wide concealed door in the sloping ground folded open. Rows of green lights revealed a deep cavern hangar.

"Don't remember anything you see, my friends," said Donna. "This is my little secret."

The ship eased into the hangar.

"There are two things worrying me," said Joe. "First, how are you going to account for your absence?"

"I shall say I was Up North," said Donna.

"What's up north?"

"In the Apple Forest Nobody knows. Nobody asks. When you say Up North, with a capital U and a capital N, that is where anyone has been when he does not wish to tell. What is your other worry?"

,"How are you going to explain us?"

"That is not easy," said Donna. "To be safe, I must hide you ... Here we are. Are you ready to step out?"

"Step out?" said Joe grinning. "I've come thousands of miles just to step out with you. But poor Uncle, I think he passed out ... Didn't you, Uncle Keller?"

"I been Up North," said Uncle Keller.

They gathered up a few things in their haste and confusion and lightheadedness of arriving on a new planet. Uncle Keller took his loop of rope but shook his head when Joe offered to fill his pockets with food cubes. Joe couldn't think where he had put the silver loving cup. He decided he would come back for it later. Just now he was eager to bound outside.