emperor of Lodore, is considerable of a
monarch, and it seems that he has a passion for piling up wealth. Gold
and platinum are as precious on Lodore as they are here and he also
likes pretty stones."

"And what is worse," added Steinholt, "is his practice of enslaving
entire populations and making toilers or warriors out of them. Those
soldiers on the ship are not Lodorians. Millions of them were seized on
some planet and converted into troops. It was a strange conversion,
too," said Steinholt with a shudder. "Their brains were operated on and
most of their faculties removed. They have no sense of fear, no
consciences, no power of reasoning. They respond only to certain signals
on a whistle and their only definite and active impulse is that of
murder and destruction."

"There is nothing to do," said Dirk positively, "but to kill all of
these interlopers, if we hope to save our world from being desolated."

* * * * *

The three men looked at each other in silence for a moment and then
Dirk, somewhat weakly, rose into a sitting position in the bed which he
had been occupying.

"But how," asked Steinholt, "can we kill them? We might, of course, get
rid of a few of them, but that simply would lead to our destruction by
those who were left."

"There must be some way," asserted Dirk, "and it is up to us to think of
it without delay. If we let those Lodorians get a foothold on the world
all will be lost."

"The old man seems to be reasonable enough," said Lazarre. "He doesn't
seem inclined to be destructive."

"We must not trust him or any of the others," said Dirk imperatively.
"We must rid the earth of every one of them. And the sooner we strike
the better!"

"It had best be soon if it is to be at all," said Steinholt. "Fragoni
has arranged to have Teuxical appear before the Congress, and the
meeting has been called for to-night when, I imagine, certain specific
demands will be made upon us. We all will go to The Hague together on
the ship of the Lodorians."

"And we leave?" questioned Dirk.

"The meeting is set for ten P. M., New York time," said Lazarre. "We
will start east at about four o'clock in the morning, I guess, because
it will only take a minute or so to arrive at our destination."

"Is Fragoni going?" asked Dirk.

"Naturally," replied Lazarre.

"And Inga?"

"I believe so," Lazarre told him. "Fragoni was both afraid to take her
and to leave her behind, but fina