e
time he vanished over the rise he had settled into the long, easy trot
that would carry him a good fifteen miles an hour all the way to the
healing spring.

Behind him the glistening square slab rested, oblivious of his
departure. The two halves of the wrecked bridge still reached yearning,
torn arms toward one another; and across the gap the ruins of the huge
city squatted in silence, coldly aloof.

A wind born leaf dipped down in coy flight to investigate the slab--and
slipped past the veil. The fresh cut end of the stick Jan had cut formed
a white dot on the green carpet of stunted grass. Bright red stained a
large spot on the green and formed a ribbon that led to the edge of the
square of cold luminescence;--the red trail of blood left by the strange
visitor from out of the square. And in the clean blue sky a bright sun
beamed benignly over all, ignoring--

* * * * *

"My leader!" Carl Grinch clicked his heels softly, and bowed stiffly
from the waist. His high, intellectual forehead, clear blue eyes and
finely cut features, together with his civilian garb, indicated that he
was a scientist. He was, in fact, much more than a scientist. He was THE
scientist of Aleme.

"At ease." The leader waved a gloved hand carelessly, a cruel smile
twisting the harsh face of the dictator of Aleme and avowed leader of
downtrodden masses in every country on Amba.

His eyes held a gleam of satisfaction as he watched the uneasy tenseness
of the scientist. He gloried in a sadistic satisfaction at his power to
snuff out the life of one so great,--or let him live to serve his
Leader.

"I told you not to come to me until you had succeeded in the task I set
you," Generalissimo Hute Hitle said coldly. "Your presence means that
you have, no doubt?"

"Yes, my Leader," Carl Grinch smiled. "Everything is in readiness."

"Good," Hitle said. He rubbed his chin slowly, a smile of triumph
creasing his face into unaccustomed wrinkles. "Now we can't lose. We
will let loose the destruction and let it take its course. After it is
over we will return to rule an unresisting planet. Explain again to me
the theory of the device."

"The theory of operation of the devise is, of course, understandable
only by a highly trained specialist," Carl Grinch said placatingly.

"You know what I mean," Hute Hitle snarled. "I'm not interested in what
makes it work. Only in what it does."

"To begin with," Carl Grinch said.