iance,
knowing that they had a method of rendering the action of a space drive
indetectable, then he was and is a blithering idiot. And we know he
isn't."

"All right, all right! I concede that," snapped Hokotan. "He knows
nothing. I don't say that I fully trust him, even now, but I'll admit
that I cannot see how he is to blame for the reversals of the past few
months.

"If the Earthmen had somehow been informed of our activities, or if we
had invented a superweapon and they found out about it, I would be
inclined to put the blame squarely on MacMaine. But----"

"How would he get such information out?" Tallis cut in sharply. "He has
been watched every minute of every day. We know he couldn't send any
information to Earth. How could he?"

"Telepathy, for all I know!" Hokotan retorted. "But that's beside the
point! I don't trust him any farther than I can see him, and not
completely, even then. But I concede that there is no possible
connection between this new menace and anything MacMaine might have
done.

"This is no time to worry about that sort of thing; we've got to find
some way of getting our hands on one of those ghost ships!"

"I do suggest," put in the thick-necked Ossif, "that we keep a closer
watch on General MacMaine. Now that the Earth animals are making a
comeback, he might decide to turn his coat now, even if he has been
innocent of any acts against Keroth so far."

Hokotan's laugh was a short, hard bark. "Oh, we'll watch him, all
right, Ossif. But, as Tallis has pointed out, MacMaine is not a fool,
and he would certainly be a fool to return to Earth if his leaving it
was a genuine act of desertion. The last planet we captured, before
this invisibility thing came up to stop us, was plastered all over with
notices that the Earth fleet was concentrating on the capture of the
arch-traitor MacMaine.

"The price on his head, as a corpse, is enough to allow an Earthman to
retire in luxury for life. The man who brings him back alive gets ten
times that amount.

"Of course, it's possible that the whole thing is a put-up job--a smoke
screen for our benefit. That's why we must and will keep a closer
watch. But only a few of the Earth's higher-up would know that it was a
smoke screen; the rest believe it, whether it is true or not. MacMaine
would have to be very careful not to let the wrong people get their
hands on him if he returned."

"It's no smoke screen," MacMaine said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I