ide, from back by the low reaches of the Cape, we saw an aero
rising. They had loaded it with Dr. Brende's effects, and in it half of
the men were departing. It rose vertically until we could see it only as
a speck in the blue of the morning sky--a speck vanishing to the north
over the Pole.

With four or five of the men--all those remaining--Argo took us three to
the Brende car. We did not pass Dr. Brende's body, lying there in the
outer room. Elza and Georg gazed that way involuntarily; but they said
nothing. The greatest grief is that which is hidden, and never once
afterward did either of them show it by more than an affectionate word
for that father whom they had loved so dearly.

Soon we were back in the Brende car in which we had landed no more than
an hour before. It was a standard Byctin model--evidently Argo and his
men knew how to operate it perfectly. We were herded into the pit, and
in a moment more were in the air.

Argo seemed now rather anxious to make friends with us. He was in a high
good humor. His eyes flashed at me sharply when I questioned him once or
twice; but he offered us no indignities. To Elza he spoke commandingly,
but with that deference to which every woman of birth and breeding is
entitled from a man.

We rose straight up and, at 18,000 feet, headed northward by a point or
two west. We would pass the Pole on our right--too far to sight it with
the naked eye, I realized; but I knew, too, that the Director there
would see the distant image of us on his finder, even though we refused
connection should he call us. And we had no right to be up here in the
18,000-foot lane. They'd order us down--shut off our power, if
necessary.

We could not escape observation on this daylight flight. Heading this
way, it would take us past the Pole and on southward, down the Western
Hemisphere over the Americas. We could not refuse connection for long.
We would be challenged, then brought down. Or, if Argo answered a call,
some Director would examine our pit with his finder--would see Elza,
Georg and me as prisoners. We could gesture surreptitiously to him....

My thoughts ran on. Argo's soft, ironic voice brought me out of them.

"We will answer the first call that comes," he said smilingly. "You
understand? We are the Inter-Allied News on Official Dispatch." He was
addressing me, his glance going to the insignia on my cap. "_You_ are of
the Inter-Allied?"

"Yes," I said.

"What's your name?"

I