claim immunity. Not that I greatly care, should
you wish to violate the laws of nations and put me to death. But,
believe me, in such case the retribution will be a terrible one."

Suddenly the envoy peeled off the gas-impregnated garments that
covered him. He stood before the Council, a fair-haired young man,
clad in the same fashion of trim black uniform as the bayonetted
soldier had worn upstairs three nights before.

He bowed disdainfully, and it was Tomlinson who shouted:

"Arrest that man! I know his face! I've seen it in the papers. He's
Von Kettler, the murderer who escaped from jail in an invisible suit."

"Oh, come, Mr. Vice-president," laughed Von Kettler, "are you sure
this isn't all very much exaggerated?"

Tomlinson sank back in his chair, his ruddy face covered with sweat.
Dick stared at Von Kettler. A suspicion was forming in his mind. He
had seen eyes like those before, dark instead of grey, and yet with
the same look of pride and breeding in them; the look of the face,
too, impossible to mistake--he knew!

Fredegonde Valmy was Von Kettler's sister!

* * * * *

"Well, gentlemen, am I to receive the courtesies of an ambassador?"
inquired Van Kettler, advancing.

"You shall have the privileges of the gallows rope!" shouted
Tomlinson. "Arrest that man at once, Captain Rennell!"

"Pardon me, Mr. Vice-president," suggested the Secretary for the Navy
blandly, "but perhaps it would be more desirable to hear what he has
to say."

"Immunity for thieves, robbers, murderers!"

"Might I suggest," said Von Kettler suavely, "that, since the United
States has honored my master by placing itself upon a war footing, it
has accorded him the rights of a belligerent?"

"We'll hear you, Mr. Von Kettler," said the Secretary of State,
glancing along the table. Three or four nodded, two shook their heads:
Tomlinson only glared speechlessly at the intruder. Von Kettler
advanced to the table and laid a paper upon it.

"You recognize that signature, gentlemen?" he asked.

At the bottom of the paper Dick saw scrawled the bold and unmistakable
signature of President Hargreaves.

"An order signed by the President of your country," purred Von
Kettler, "ordering your military forces replaced upon a peace footing,
and the acceptance of our conditions. They are not onerous, and will
not interfere with the daily life of the country. Merely a little
change in that outworn document, the C