o. And upon the
heels of it I solved another, of infinitely more importance." He paused
slightly. "I have learned how to kill, or at least arrest, the bacillus
of old age. It is a bacillus, you know. We grow old because every day we
live beyond the age of thirty--the bacillus of old age is attacking us.
I call them the Brende-bacilli--these tiny, frayed discs that make us
grow old. I have seen them--and killed them!"

It dawned on me slowly, the import of what he was saying.

"You mean----"

"He means," said Georg, "that at present we cannot only banish
disease--all disease--but we can keep your body from aging. Not
permanently, doubtless--but with the span of life lengthened threefold
at least. Only by violence now need you die prematurely."

This then was the secret the existence of which Tarrano had learned. He
had....

But Dr. Brende was quietly voicing my thoughts.

"It seems obvious, Jac, that this Tarrano at least suspects that I have
made some such discovery as this. That he would withhold it from
mankind, for the benefit of his own race, seems also obvious. That he is
about to make an attempt to get it from me, I am convinced."

I remembered the wording of the message of warning from the Central
State. _"Your Dr. Brende, in Eurasia."_ I mentioned it.

"Our main laboratory is there," Georg said. "In Northern
Siberia--isolated from people so far as possible, and in a climate
advantageous for the work."

Elza spoke for the first time in many minutes.

"We have guards there, Jac--eight of our assistants.... Father, I called
Robins a while ago. He said everything was all right. But don't you
think we should call him again?"

The doctor had drifted into deep thought. "What? Oh, yes, Elza. I was
thinking we should go there. My notes--descriptions of how to build a
larger apparatus--larger than the small model I have installed there--my
notes are all there, and I want them. And I don't think, at such a time,
I should trust Robins to bring them."

"What shall I send to Headquarters?" Georg asked. "They wanted an
answer, you remember."

"I'm going there to the Potomac--tell them that. Tell them we will come
there for safety. But first I must get my notes, and the model."

As Georg went to the door, something in his attitude made us all start
to our feet and follow him. No alarm from the insulator had come, yet
for myself I had not forgotten that Venus girl outside.

Georg was at the door, tense as thou