Bill sez, "E. E. 'Doc' Smith's classic space opera TRIPLANETARY is now online as a great HTML book, thanks to Project Gutenberg and Distributed Proofreaders, complete with 1934 Amazing Stories covers and inside illustrations."
Apparently motionless to her passengers and crew, the Interplanetary liner Hyperion bored serenely onward through space at normal acceleration. In the railed-off sanctum in one corner of the control room a bell tinkled, a smothered whirr was heard, and Captain Bradley frowned as he studied the brief message upon the tape of the recorder–a message flashed to his desk from the operator's panel. He beckoned, and the second officer, whose watch it now was, read aloud:
"Reports of scout patrols still negative."
"Still negative." The officer scowled in thought. "They've already searched beyond the widest possible location of the wreckage, too. Two unexplained disappearances inside a month–first the Dione, then the Rhea–and not a plate nor a lifeboat recovered. Looks bad, sir. One might be an accident; two might possibly be a coincidence…." His voice died away. What might that coincidence mean?
Link, Wikipedia bio of EE Doc Smith, Plucker version
(Thanks, Bill!)
