lable to all of the public
and Earth officials who cared to look upon it. Within the circle of
mirrors he stood drawn to his full height; his eyes flashing, heavy
brows lowered, and a sardonic smile--almost a leer--pulling at his thin
lips. The embodiment of defiance. Yet to those who knew him well--as I
was beginning to know him--there was in his eyes a gleam of irony, as
though even in this situation he saw humor. A game, with worlds and
nations as his pawns--a game wherein, though he had apparently lost,
with the confidence of his genius he knew that the hidden move he was
about to make would extricate him.

"Enough," he rasped.

The mirrors went dark. He turned away; and still without appearance of
haste he drew Wolfgar, Elza and me to the balcony. Together we stood
gazing over the lights of the city below us.

A cloudless, starry sky. Empty of air-craft; but to the north just below
the horizon, we knew that the line of war vessels was hovering. Even
now, doubtless, they had their orders to descend upon us. Tarrano seemed
waiting, and I suppose we stood there half an hour. Occasionally he
would sight an instrument toward the north; and by the orders he gave at
intervals I knew that preparations for action on his part were under
way.

Half an hour. Then abruptly from below the northern horizon lights came
up--spreading colored beams. The Earth war vessels! A line of them as
far as we could see from left to right, mounting up into the sky as they
winged their way toward us--a line spreading out in a broad arc. And
then, behind us, I saw others appear. We were surrounded.

It was a magnificent, awe-inspiring sight, that vast ring of approaching
colored lights. Red, green and purple--slowly moving eyes. Light-rockets
sometimes mounting above them, to burst with a soundless glare of white
light in the sky; and underneath, the spreading white search-beams,
sweeping down to the dark forest that lay all about us.

Soon, in the white glare of the bombs, we could distinguish the actual
shapes of the vessels. Still Tarrano did not move from his place by the
balcony rail. He stood there, with a hand contemplatively under his
chin, as though absorbed by an interest in the scene purely impersonal.
Was he going to give himself up? Stand there inactive while these armed
forces of the most powerful world in the Solar System swept down upon
him?

Abruptly he snapped his instrument back to his belt. He had not used it
since t