ranches. A green light wavered from the big
plane that carried the bearded Council man and Denham. That plane
swept forward and hovered above the ornithopter. The two flying things
seemed almost fastened together, so closely did their pilots maintain
that same speed and course. A snaky rope went coiling down into the
lower ship's cockpit. A burly figure began to climb it hand over hand.
A second figure followed. A third figure, in the drab clothing that
distinguished Jacaro's men from all others, wrapped the rope about
himself and was hauled up bodily. And Tommy had seen Jacaro but once,
yet he was suddenly grimly convinced that this was Jacaro himself.

The two planes swept apart. The ornithopter descended toward the
landing stage of Rahn. The freight plane swept toward the ship that
carried Tommy. Again the snaky rope coiled down. And Tommy swung up
the fifteen feet that alone separated the two soaring planes, and
looked into the hard, amused eyes of Jacaro where he sat between two
other emissaries of Rahn. One of them was half naked and savage, with
the light of madness in his eyes. A Ragged Man. The other was lean and
desperate, despite the colored tunic of a civilized man that he wore.

* * * * *

"Hello," said Jacaro blandly. "We come up to talk things over."

Tommy gave him the briefest of nods. He looked at Denham--who was
deathly white and grim--and the bearded Councilor.

"I' been givin' 'em the dope," said Jacaro easily. "We got the whip
hand now. We got gas masks, we got guns just the same as you have, an'
we got the women."

"You haven't ammunition," said Tommy evenly, "or damned little. Your
men brought down one ship, and stopped. If you had enough shells would
you have stopped there?"

Jacaro grinned.

"You got arithmetic, Reames," he conceded. "That's so. But--I'm sayin'
it again--we got the women. Your girl, for one! Now, how about
throwin' in with me, you an' the professor?"

"No," said Tommy.

"In a coupla months, Rahn'll be runnin' this planet," said Jacaro
blandly, "and I'm runnin' Rahn! I didn't know how easy the racket'd
be, or I'd 've let Yugna alone. I'd 've come here first. Now get it!
Rahn runnin' the planet, with a couple guys runnin' Rahn an' passin'
down through a Tube any little thing we want, like a few million bucks
in solid gold. An' Rahn an' the other cities for kinda country homes
for us an' our friends. All the women we want, good liquor, an