ctor had previously made unofficially to
Tarrano while he was there in the garden with Elza and which Tarrano so
summarily had rejected.

The ultimatum came to us in the tower as we sat listening to the
announcer's measured tones. Elza exclaimed:

"But why do they wait? Father's model must be here. Tarrano, the leader
of all this--is here. Within the hour those vessels of war could sweep
in here--capture Tarrano--recover father's model----"

Georg interrupted quietly: "No one knows if the model is here. That
other car from the laboratory--we don't know where it went. The
plundered laboratory has been found, of course. No station up there is
near enough to have eavesdropped upon our capture, but the whole thing
must have come out by now. But that aero with the model may have met an
inter-planetary vessel--the model may be on the way to Venus by now."

"Georg," I exclaimed, "do _you_ know the workings of that model? Could
you build another without the notes?"

He nodded solemnly. "Yes. And they know that, in Washington. I could
build another. But they know by now, that I, too, am in Tarrano's
hands----"

"And he will kill you, of course, to destroy that knowledge and keep the
secret for himself----" I did not say it aloud, for Elza's sake; but I
thought it, and I realized that Georg was thinking it also.

Dr. Brende's secret of longevity was the crux of all this turmoil--the
lever by which Tarrano was raising himself. Scores of facts amid the
tumultuous news of these hours showed us that. For months, throughout
Venus, Tarrano had spread the insidious propaganda that he alone had the
secret of immortality--that when he was made ruler, he would use it for
the benefit of his followers.

Converts to Tarrano's cause were everywhere. In the Central State many
welcomed the coming of his army. And now from the Great City his
propaganda was being sent to the Earth. Murmurs from our own Earth
public were beginning to be heard. The ignorant lower classes seemed
ready to swallow anything. A new beneficent ruler who guaranteed
everlasting life! Throughout the ages people have flocked to that same
standard!

In Mars, much the same was transpiring. At almost her closest point to
the Earth these days, Red Mars sent us constant helios from the midnight
sky. The Little People had appointed a new ruler to take the place of
him who had been assassinated. The Council there put the assassination
to unknown causes. Tarrano was held b