e little ladder over
to where Hanlon was standing with the bird.

"Unscrew the left rear leg--about the middle, I believe."

The officer up-ended the stool, and after a moment's work found out how
to unscrew the leg--it had a reverse thread. In a few more instants he
had it off, and they all gasped.

The leg was hollow, and in it were a number of tightly-rolled sheets of
very thin, tough paper.

The Corpsman started to unroll the papers, but at a quick signal from
Hanlon, Admiral Hawarden stepped forward.

"I'll take those, Lieutenant. I think, for the time being, at least, we
need search no further. Since most of the papers we have found here are
purely planetary matters, they're not for us to meddle with, even though
we have permission to do so. Back to Base--if these are not what we want
we can start again later."

As the men filed out, Hawarden activated the visiphone, and got the
minister's office at the imperial palace. "Find anything we want there,
Captain?" he asked the man who answered.

"Not yet, sir."

"Report back to Base, then. I think we've got it here."

He disconnected and handed the papers to Hanlon who had, in the
meantime, returned the toogan to its cage, and now sat down. He saw the
young man's face fall at first glance at those dozens of rolled sheets.

"What's wrong?"

"It's in code," came the explanation reply as Hanlon swiftly examined
each page. "In code--or in Bohr's native language, whatever that may
be."

"Ouch! If it's that, we're sunk. Better get Trowbridge on it anyway,
hadn't we?"

"Yes," slowly, "that's all we can do now." After some moments, "Guess
I'll keep out of sight for a while. I'll go back to the hotel. You can
get in touch with me there. I'm still sort of shaky from that beating I
got, and need a lot of rest."

"Want the doctor to look you over again?"

"No, I don't think I need that now. He said to have the dressings
renewed in two days, so I'll see him tomorrow."

"Right, Newton. If anything comes up, I'll get in touch."

"Oh, be sure and let me know about that freighter. You've had no word
yet, I suppose."

"Only that it's still there, being loaded. The scouts are watching it
closely, ready to blast at first sign of departure."

"Warn them that we want _all_ of the crew and passengers."

The two started out, but suddenly Admiral Hawarden stopped Hanlon with
his hand on the young man's arm. "About that business with the toogan.
I'm not prying if you