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WESTERN ADVENTUR ES. mmd FOREST AND STREAM 1 Mot* That Tw Million Copies Rwquirtd\ to Supply /*# Monthly DtmamJ for CUytom MmgaMlm VOL. II, No. 2 CONTENTS MAY, 1934 COVER DBSIGN H. W. WBSSOLOWSKI Painted In Water-colors from a See** in "Tkt Atom-Smetktr." INTO THE OCEAN'S DEHTHS SEWBLL PEASLEE WRIGHT 151 To Scot Imee's Rice of Men-Wko-telnrned-To-Tke-Sea, Two Land-Men Answer Ike Challenge of tkt Drtadtd Ron, Corsairs of tkt Under-Sent. MURDER MADNESS MURRAY LEINSTBR Mnrder Madnessl Seven Secret Servlct*Mem Had Completely Disappeared. Agotker Had Been Fonnd a Screaming, '.Homicidal Maniac, Wkose Flmlert Writktd Like Smakei. So Bell, of Ike Secret, "Trade," Plunges imto Sontk America Alter Tkt Matter— ike Migkly, Umkmowm Gctepnt of Power Wkott Diabolical Ptittm Tkrtal- ems a Continent! (Beginning a IFonr-patt Novel.) BRIGANDS OP THE MOON j RAY CUMMINGS Gregg and Anita Risk Quiet. Snre Dealk im a Desperate Bint on ike Rntklett Martian Brigands. (Pari Tkree of a Ponr-part Novel.) 1 THE JOVIAN JEST LILITH LORRAINE Torre Came to Onr Pigmy Planet a Radiant Wanderer witk a Message — and a Jest — from Ike Vasty Universe. ATOM-SMASHER 166 195 THB AT VICTOR ROUSSBAU Four Destinies Rocket Tkrongk Ike Strange Time-Space of tko Fonrtk Dimension in Tode's Mansions Alom-Smasker. {A Complete Novelette.) ^ i THE READERS' CORNER , ALL OF US A Meeting Place for Readers of Astonmding Stories. 234 277 Simla Capiat, 20 Crab (In Canada, 29 Cant.) Yearly Subacriptlon, $2.00 lMued /monthly br Pnbllabcn' Final Corporation, 00 LafayetU SL, New York. N. Y. W. H. Clayton, Pratt- dent; Nathan Goldmann. Srcretary. Application; for entry aa eaarnd-claai mail pendlmr at tar Poat OAor at Mew York, under Act of March a. 1BT8. Title refutered ai a Trade Hark In the U. S. Patent price. Newanand Qnmp — Men'e U*t. For adrcrtlains rata addrem E. B. Crowe a Co.. Inc. 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U J- iinil^tKiixal If I t;u not entirely unified a'lrr ex- amination 1 mi return the iitols tut J \yu will refund my moory- Na C 0. D. Order* to Fonign Countrlei except Canada. Kama J City State | Please mention Xf.wsstAnd Gruvi*— Men's List, when answering advertisements fiancs S*mioohik Athletic Vmmm Smjt rf mad rsssmd hrasd- chtb with pMtwmttd hib.%1. Other mmmw fits/mm 75c* |a« THE HANES S AMSONBAK STANDS THE TUG-O'-WEAR THIS STRONGER, BETTER-FITTING UNION SUIT FOR ACTIVE MEN IS ONLY $1 Tug-o'-war or tug-o'-wear, you can't rip the Samsonbae. The Hanes dealer invites you to try I Go see him. He'll get a stranglc-hold on one end — you grab the other, and pull with all your might. That belt stretches and stretches but never rips. There's not a strand of rubber in it and it goes three-quarters of the way around your body, whenever there's any chance of stretching or binding. A cool number indeed — and only $i. If you prefer shirts and shorts or other types of underwear, be sure to sec how much better they're made by Hanes. A quarter- century's experience in this business may be responsible "for the unusual value in every garment — but millions of men who wear Hanes say it's a "gift." If your dealer hasn't the complete line for your boys as well u yourself, write to' P: H. Hanes Knitting Company, Winston-Salem, N. C. Mmr win* mf Samsoobak. Cimttru "Well, Taylor," said Mercer, his voice shaking with excitement, "here we are I And here" — peering out through the glass-covered port again — "are her people I" THE whole village was swarming around us. White bodies hovered around us as moths around a light. Faces pressed against the port's and stared in at us with great, amazed eyes. Then, suddenly the crowd of curious creatures parted, and the girl came darting up with the five ancients she had showed us before. They were evi- dently the council responsible for the government of the village, or some- thing of the sort, for the other villagers bowed their heads respectfully as tjjey passed. The girl came close to the port through which I was looking, and ges- tured earnestly. Her Ace was tense and anxious, and from time to time she glanced over her shoulder, as though she feared the coming of an enemy. "Our time's short, I take it, if we are to be of service," said Mercer. "Come on, Taylor; into the diving suits I" I signaled the girl that we under- stood, and would hurry. Then I fol- lowed Mercer into our tiny stateroom. "Remember what I've told you," he said, as we slipped into the heavy woolen undergarments we were to wear inside the suits. "You understand how 160 ASTOUNDING STORIES to handle your air, I believe, and you'll have no difficulty getting around in the suit if you'll just remember to go slowly. Your job is to get the whole village to get away when the enemy is, sighted. Get them to come this way from the village, towards the ship, un- derstand. The current comes from this direction; the way the vegetation bends shows that. And keep the girl's ; people away until I signal you to let them return. And remember to take your electric lantern. Don't burn it more than is necessary ; the batteries are not large and the bulb draws a lot of current. Ready?" I WAS, but I was shaking a 'little as the men helped me into the mighty armor that was to keep the pressure of several atmospheres from crushing my body. The helmet was the last piece to be donned; when it was screwed in place I stood there like a mummy, almost completely rigid. Quickly we were put into the air lock, together with a large iron box containing a number of things Mercer needed. Darkness and water rushed in on us. The water closed over my head. I became aware of the soft, continuous popping sounds of the air-bubbles es- caping from the relief valve of the head-piece. For a moment I was dizzy and more than 1 a little nauseated. I could feel the cold sweat pricking my forehead. Then there was a sudden glow of light from before me, and I started walking towards it. I found I could walk now ; not easily, but, after I caught the trick of it, without much difficulty. I could move my arms, too, and the interlock- ing hooks that served me for fingers. "When my real fingers closed upon a little cross-bar at the end of the ar- mored arms, and pulled the bars to- wards me, the steel claws outside came together, like a thumb and two fingers. IN) a moment we stood upon the bo^ Horn of the ocean. I turned my head inside the helmet, and there, be- side me, was the sleek, smooth side of the Santa Maria. On my other side was Mercer, a huge, dim figure in his diving armor. He made an awkward gesture towards bis head, and I sud- denly remembered something. Before me, where I could operate it jvith a thrusting movement of my chin, was a toggle switch. I snapped it over, and heard Mercer's voice: " — n't for- get everything.^* tell him." "I know it," I said mentally to him. "I was rather rattled. O. K. now, how- ever. Anything I can do?" "Yes. Help me with this box, and then get the girl to put on the antenna you'll find there. Don't forget the knife and the light." "Right I" I bent over the box with him, and we bqth came near falling. We opened the lid, however, and I hooked the knife and the light into their proper places outside my armor. Then, with^ths antenna for the gfrl, so that we could establish connection! with her, and through her, with the villagers, I moved off. This antenna was entirely different from the one used in previous experi- ments. The four cross-members that clasped the head were finer, and at their junction was a flat black circular box, from which rose a black rod some six inches in height, and topped by..a black sphere half the size of my fist. THESE perfected thought-tele- graphs (I shall continue to use my own designation for them, as clearer and more understandable than Mer- cer's) did not need connecting wires; they conveyed .their impulses by Hertzian waves to a master receiver on the Santa Maria, which amplified them and re-broadcast them so that each of us could both send and receive at any time. As I turned, I found the girl beside me, waiting anxiously. Behind her were the five ancients. ^-Lslipped the antenna oyer he* head, anoVJnstantly she began telling me that danger wm imminent. 4 INTO THE OCEAN'S DEPTHS 161 To facilitate matters, I shall describe her messages as though she spoke ; in- deed, her pictures were as clear, almost, as speech in my native tongue. And at times she did use certain sound- words; it was in this way that I learned, by inference, that her name was Imee, that he people were called Teemora (this may have been the name of the community, or perhaps it was interchangeable — I am not sure) and that the shark-faced" people were the Rom. "The Rom cornel" she said quickly. "Two days past, the three came again, and our old men refused to give up the slaves. Today they will return, these Rom, and my people, the Tee- mom, will all be; made dead!" THEN I told her what Mercer had said ; that she and every one of her people must -flee swiftly and hide', be- yond the boat, a distance beyond the ^village. Mercer and I would wait here, and when the Rom came, it was they who would be made dead, as we hacK promised. Although how, I admitted to myself, being careful to hide the thought. that she might not sense it, I didn't know. We had been too busy since the girl's arrival to go into de- tails. She turned and spoke quickly to the old men. They looked at me doubt- fully, and she urged them vehemently. They turned back towards the village, and in a moment the Teemorn were stalking by obediently, losing their slim white forms in the gloom behind the dim bulk of the Santa Maria, rest- ing so quietly on the sand. They were hardly out of sight when suddenly Mercer spoke through the an- tenna fitted inside my helmet. They're coming I" he cried. "Look above and to your right 1 The Rom, as Imee calls them, have arrived I" I looked up and beheld a hundred — no, a thousand I — shadowy forms dart- ing down on the village, upon us. They, too, were just as the girl had pictured them : short, swart beings with but the suggestion of a nose, and with pulsing gill-covers under the angles of their jaws. Each one gripped a long, slim white knife in either hand, and their tight-fitting shark-skin armor gleamed darkly as they swooped down upon us. EAGERLY I watched my friend. In the clasping talons of his left hand he held a long, slim flask that glinted even in that dim, confusing twilight. Two others, mates to the first, dangled at his waist. Lifting it high above his head, he swung his metal-clad right arm, and shattered the flask he held in his taloned left hand. For an instant nothing happened, save that flittering bits of broken glass shimmered their way to the sand. Then the horde of noseless ones seemed to dissolve, as hundreds of limp and sprawling bodies sank to the sand. Perhaps a half of that great multitude seemed struck dead. "Hydrocyanic acid, Taylor P cried Mercer exultantly. /'Even diluted by 'the sea water, it kills almost instantly. Co back and make sure that iMfae of the girl's people come back before the cur- rent has washed this away, or they'll go in the same fashion. Warn her to keep them back I" I HURRIED toward the Santa Maria, thinking urgent warnings for Imee's benefit. "Stay back) Stay back, Imee I The Rom are falling to the sand, we have made many of them dead, but the danger for you and your" people is still here. Stay back I" "Truly, do the Rom become dead? I would like to see that with my own eyes. Be careful that they do not make you dead also, and your friend, for they have large brains, these Rom." "Do not come to see with your own eyes, or you will be as the Rom I" I hurried around the submarine, to keep her back by force, if that were neces- sary. "You must — " "Help, Taylor I" cut in a voice — Mer- cer's. "These devils have got me I" 162 ASTOUNDING STORIES "Right with you I" I turned and hur- ried hack as, swiftly as I could, stum- bling over the bodies of dead Rom that had settled everywhere on the clean yellow sand. I found Mercer in the grip of six of the shark-faced creatures. They were trying desperately to stab him, but their knives bent and broke against the , metal of his armor. So busy were they with him that they did not notice me coming up, but finding their weapons useless, they suddenly snatched him up, one at either arm and either leg, . and two grasping him by the headpiece, and darted away with him, carrying his bulging metal body between them like . a battering ram, while he kicked and struggled impotently. "They are taking him to the Place of Darkness!" cried Imee suddenly, having read my impressions of the scene. "Oh, go quickly, quickly, to- ward the direction of your best Hand — • to your right I I shall follow I" "Not No! Stay back!" I warned her frantically. All but these six Rom . had fallen victims of Mercer's hellish poison,' and while they seeibed to be suffering no ill effects, I thought it more than likefy that some sly cur- rent might bring the deadly poison to the girl,' did she come this way, and kill her as surely as it hafr killed these hundreds of Rom. TO the right, she had said. To- wards the Place of Darkness. I hurried out of the village in the direc- tion she indicated, towards the distant gleam of Mercer's armor, rapidly being lost in the gloom. "I'm caning, Mercer I" I called to him. "Delay them as much as you can. You're going faster than I can." "I can't help myself much," replied Mercer. "Doing what I can. Strong — they're devilish strong, Taylor. And, at dose range, I can see you were right. They have true gill-covers; their noses are rudimentary and — " / "The devil take your scientific ob- servations! Drag! Slow them down. I'm losing sight of you. For heaven's sake, drag!" "I'm doing what I can. Damn you, if I could only get a hand free — " I realized that this last was, directed at his captors, and plunged on. HUGE, monstrous growths swirled around me like Jiving things. My feet ^crunched on shelled things, and sank into soft and slimy creep- ing things on the bottom. I cursed the water that held me back so gently yet so firmly; I cursed the armor that made it so hard for me to move my legs. But I kept on, and at last I be- gan to gain on them; I could see them quite distinctly, bending over Mercer, working on him. . . . "Do your best, Taylor," urged Mer- cer desperately. "We're on the edge of a sort of cliff ; a fault in the struc- ture of thew ocean bed. They're tying me with strong cords of leather. Ty- ing a huge stone to my body. I think they — " TJhad a momentary flash of the scene as Mercer saw it at that in- stant; the horrid noseless face close to his, the swart bodies moving with amazing agility. And at his very feet, a yawning precipice, holding nothing but darkness, leading down and down into nothingness. "Run quickly I" It was Imee. She, too, had seen what I had, seen. "That is the Place of Darkness, where we take those whom the Five deem worthy of the Last Punishment. They will tie the stone to him, and bear him out above the Blackness, and then they will let him go I Quickly! Quickly I" I was almost upon them, now, and one of the six tdraed and saw me. Three of them darted towards me, while the others held Mercer flat upon th.e edge of the precipice. If they had only realized that by rolling his ar- mored body a foot or two, he would sink . . . without the stone. . . . But they did not. Their brains had little reasoning power, apparently. The at- taching of a stone was necessary, in' their experience ; it was necessary now. INTO THE OCEAN'S DEPTHS 163 WITH my left hand I unhooked my light; I already gripped my knife in my right hand. Swinging the light sharply against my leg, I struck the toggle-switch, and a beam of intense brilliancy shot through the gloom. It aided me, as I had thought it would; it blinded these large-eyed denizens of the deep. Swiftly I struck out with the knife. It hacked harmlessly into the shark- skin garment of one of the men, and I ■tabbed out again. Two of the men leaped for my right arm, but the knife found, this time, the throat of the third. My beam of light showed palely, red for a moment, and the body of the Rom toppled slowly to the bed of the ocean. The two shark-faced, creatures were hammering at me with their fists, drag- ging at my arms and liga, but I plunged on desperately towards Mer- cer. Myriads of fish, all shapes and colors and sizes, attracted by the light, ■warmed around us. "Good boy 1" Mercer commended. "See if you can break this last flask of acid, here at my waist. See — " WITH a last desperate plunge, fairly dragging the- two Rom who tugged at me, I fell forward. With the clenched steel talons of my right hand, I struck at the silvery flask I could see dangling from Mercer's waist. I hit it, but only a glancing blow; the flask did not shatter. "Again I" commanded Mercer. "It's heavy annealed glass — hydrocyanic tcid— terrible stuff— even the fumes — " I paid but slight heed. The two Rom dragged me back, but I man- aged to crawl forward on my knees, and with all my strength, I struck at the flask again. •n This time it - shattered, and I lay where I fell, sobbing with weakness, looking out through the side window of my headpiece. The five Rom seemed to suddenly lase their strength. They struggled limply for a moment, and then floated down to the waiting sand beneath us. "Finish," remarked Mercer coolly. "And just in time. Let's see if we can find our way back to the Santa Maria." E were weary, and we plodded along slowly, twin trails of air-bubbles like plumes waving behind us, rushing upwards to the surface. I felt strangely alone at the moment, iso- lated, cut off from- all mankind, on the bottom of the Atlantic. "Coming to meet you, all of us," Imee signaled us. "Be careful where you step, so that you do not walk in a circle and find again the Place of Darkness. It is very large." "Probably some uncharted deep," threw in Mercer. "Only the larger ones have been located." For my part, I was too weary to think. I just staggered on. A crowd of slim, darting white shapes surrounded us. They swam be- fore us, showing the way. The five patriarchs walked majestically before us; and between us, smiling at us through the thick lenses of our head- pieces, walked Imee. Ob, it was a tri- umphal procession, and had I been less- weary, I presume t would have felt quite the hero. i IMEE pictured for us, as we went along, the happiness, the grateful- ness of her people. Already, she in- formed us, great numbers of young men .were clearing away the bodies of the dead Rom. She was ^ so happy she could hardly restrain herself. A dim skeleton shape bulked up at my left. I turned to look at it, and Imee, watching me through the lights of my headpiece, nodded and smiled. Yes, this was the very hulk by which she had been swimming when the shark had attacked her, the shark which had been the cause of the accident. She darted on to show me the very rib upon which her head had struck, stunning her so that 'she had drifted, uncon- scious and storm-tossed, to the shore of Mercer's estate. W 164 ASTOUNDING STORIES I studied the wreck. It was battered and tilted on its beam ends, but I could still make out the high poop that marked it as a very old ship. "A Spanish galleon, Mercer," I con- jectured. "I believe so." And then, in pictured form, for Imee's benefit, "It has been here while much time passed ?" "Yes." Imee came darting back to us, smiling. "Since before the Tee- morn, my people, were here. A Rorh we made prisoner once told us his people discovered it first. They went into this' strange skeleton, and inside were many blocks of very bright stone." She pictured quite clearly bars of dully-glinting bullion. Evidently the captive had told his story Well. **nrMIESE stones, which were so X bright, the Rorn took to their city, which is three swims distant." How far that might be, I could not even guess. A swim, it seemed, was the distance a Tearoom could travel before the need for rest became im- perative. "There were many Rom, and they each took one stone. And of them, they made a house for their lead- er." The leader, as she pictured him, being the most hideous travesty of a thing in semi-human form that the mind could imagine ; incredibly old and wrinkled and ugly and gray, Iris nose- less face seamed with cunning, his eyes red rimmed and terrible, his teeth gleaming, white and sharp, like fangs. "A whole house, except the roof," she went on. "It is there now, and it is gazed at with much admiration by all the Rom. All this our prisoner told us before we took him* with a rock made fast to him, out over the Place of Darkness. He, too, w "And the chart of our course— did the return trip check with the other?" "Perfectly, sir." Captain Bonnett reached in an inner pocket of his dou- ble-breasted coat, extracted two folded pages, and extended them, with a little bow, to Mercer. ' Just as Mercer's eager fingers touched the precious papers, however, the wind whisked them from Bonnett's grasp and whirled them into the water. Bonnett gasped and gazed after them for a split second ; then, barely pausing to tear off his coat, he plunged over the side. HE tried desperately, but before he could reach either one of the tossing white specks, they were washed beneath the surface and disappeared. Ten minutes later, his uniform bedrag- gled and shapeless, he pulled himsHf on deck. j i "I'm sorry, bir," he gasped, out of breath. "Sorrier than I can say. I tried--" ^ Mercer, white-faced and struggling with his emotions, looked down and turned away. "You don't remember the bearings, I suppose ?" he ventured tonelessly. "I'm sorry— ^o." "Thank you, Captain, for trying so hard to recover the papers," said Mer- cer. "You'd better change at once ; the wind is sharp." ' y THE captain bowed and disap- peared down the conning tower. Then Mercer turned to me, and a smile struggled for life. "Well, Taylor, we helped her out, anyway," he said slowly. "I'm sorry that — that Imee will misunderstand when we don't come back." "But, Mercer," I said swiftly,, "per- haps we'll be able to find our way back to her. You thought before, you know, that—" "But I can see now what an utterly wild-goose chase it would have been." Mercer shook his head slowly. "No, old friend, it would be impossible. And — Imee will not come again to guide us ; she will think we have deserted her. And" — he smiled slowly up into my eyes=-"perhaps it is at well. After all, .the photographs and the data I wanted would do the world no practical good. We did Imee and her people a good turn ; let's content ourselves with that. I, for one, am satisfied." "And I, old timer," I said, placing my hand affectionately upon his shoul- der. "Here's the boat. Shall we go ashore?" We did go ashore, silently. And as we got out of the boat, and set foot again upon the sand, 1 we both turned and looked out across the smiling At- lantic, dancing brightly in the sun. The mighty, mysterious Atlantic — home of Imee and her people I The hands leveled the revolver in spite of him, while he flung his head fr+m side fo side in a frantic attempt to disturb their aim. Murder Madness BEGINNING A FOUR-PART NOVEL By Murray Leifitler CHAPTER I / THE engines of the Almirante Gomez were going dead slow. Away up beside her monster funnels her siren blew dismal- ly, Whoo-oo-oo-oo! and was silent for the regulation period, and blew desolately again into the clinging gray mist that ringed her all about. Her decks were wet and glisten- ing. Droplets of Murder Madness! Seren Secret S< men had completely disappeared. water stood upon the deck-stanchions, and dripped from the outer edge of fthe roof above 'the promenade deck. A thin, swirling fog lay soggily upon the water and the big steamer we.nt dead slow upon her course, sending dims) and depressing blasts from her horn from time to time. It was barely pos- sible to see from one side of the ship to the other. It was surely im- possible; to see the bow from a point half astern. Charley Bell 166 nice An- other had been found a screaming, homi- cidal maniac, whose fingers writhed like snakes. So Bell, of the secret "Trade," pjonges into South America after The Master — the mighty, unknown octopus of power whose diabolical poison threatens a continent I went forward along the promenade deck. He passed SeSor Ortiz, ex- Minister of the Interior of the Argen- tine Republic. Ortiz bowed tcy him punctiliously, but Bell had a sudden impression that the Argentine's face was gray and ghastly. He checked himself and looked back. The little man was climbing the companion-lad- der toward the wireless room. BELL slipped on toward the bow. He did not want to give an im- pression of furtiveness, but the Almi- tinte Gomez was twelve days out of which had been tied into a certain in- tricate knot. And' Bell had kept quiet. He went ,to his apartment, found his bags packed and tickets to If^io via the Almirante Gomez in an envelope on his dressing-table, and went out and caught 3/ train to the ship. And that was all he knew. The siren up above blared dolefully into the fog. It was damn, and soggy, and depressing. The other passengers were under cover, and the decks seemed to be deserted. From the saloon came the sound of music. Bell pulled the collar of his light topcoat New York and Bell was still e^ntirely^ about his throat and strolled on toward ignorant of why he was on board. He the bow. had been called ihto the office of his chief in the State Department and told curtly that his request for leave of ab- sence had been granted. And Bell had not asked for a leave of absence. But it just that moment he saw a rubber bind on the desk of his immediate superior, a fairly thick rubber band 167 He faced a row of steamer chairs. There was a figure curled up in one of them. Paula Canalejas, muffled up against the dampness and staring somberly out into the mist. Bell had met her in Washington and liked her a great deal, but he swore softly at sight of her in his way. 168 ASTOUNDING STORIES u The afternoon before, he had seen a stoker on the Almirante Gomez pick up a bit of rope and absently tie knots in it while he exchanged Rabelasian humor with his fellows. He had not looked at Bell at all, but the knots he tied were the same that Bell had last seen tied in a rubber band on a desk in the State Department in Washing- ton. And Bell knew -a recognition sig- nal when he saw one. The stoker would be off watch, just now, and by all the rules of reason he ought to, be out there on the forecastle, waiting for Bell to turn up and receive instruc- tions, j BUT Bell paused, lit a cigarette carefully, and strolled forward. "Mr. Bell." He stopped and beamed fatuously at her. It would have been logical for him to fall in love with her? and it is always desirable to seem logical. He had striven painstakingly to give the impression that he had fallen in love with her — and then had striven even more painstakingly to keep from doing it. ~Y"Hullo," he'said in bland surprise. "What are 'you doing out on deck?" Brown eyes regarded him specula- tively. "Thinking," she said succinctly. "About you, Mr. Bell." Bell beamed. "Thinking," he confided, "is usually a bad habit, especially in a girl. Bat if you must think, I approve of your choice of subjects. What were you thinking about me?" The brown eyes regarded him still more speculatively. "I was wondering — " said Paula, glancing to either side, ''I was wonder- ing if you happen to be— er — a member of the United States Secret Service." Bell laughed with entire naturalness "Good Lord, no I" he said amusedly. "I have a desk in the State Department building, and I read consular reports all day long and write letters bedevil- ing the consuls for not including un- available statistics in their communi- cations. That's my work. I'm on leave now." SHE looked skeptical and, it may be, disappointed. "You look, as if you didn't believe me," said Bell, smiling. "I give you my word of honor I'm not a membenaf the United States Secret Service. Witt that do to relieve your suspicions?" "I believe you," she said slowly," but it does not relieve my mind. I shaH think about other people. I have something important to tell -a member of the United States Secret Service." Bell shrugged. "I'm sorry," he said amiably, "that I can't oblige you by tipping one of them off. That's what you wanted me to do, isn't it?" She nodded, and the gesture waa very much like a dismissal. Bell frowned, hesitated, and went on. He was anxious to meet the stoker, but this. . . The siren droned dismally over his head. Fog lay deep about the ship. The washing of the waves and drip- ping of water on the decks was de- pressing. It seemed to be getting thicker. Four stanchions ahead, the mist was noticeable. He found that he could count five, six, seven. . . . The eighth was indefinite. But a bar ma- terialized in the fog before him, and the grayness drew away before bin and closed in behind. When he was at the forward end of .the promenade, looking down upon the forecastle ■Seek, he was isolated. He heard foot- steps some distance overhead. The watch officer up on the bridge. Bell glanced up and saw him as an indis- tinct figure. He waited until the of- ficer paced over to the opposite side of the bridge. The air throbbed and shook with the roaring of the siren. Bell slipped over the edge of the rail and swung swiftly down the little ladder of iron bars set into the ship's structure. In seconds he had landed, and was down upon that terra incog- MURDER MADNESS 169 nita of all passengers, the deck re- served for the use of the crew. A MAST loomed overhead, with its heavy, clumsy derrick-booms. A winch was by his side. Oddments of deck machinery, inexplicable to a landsman, formed themselves vaguely in the mjet. The fog was thicker, naturally, since the deck was closer to 'the water's edge. "Hey I" growled a voice close beside him. "Passengers ain't allowed down here." An unshaven, soot-smeared figure loomed up. Bell conld not see the man save as a blur is the mist, but he said cheerfully : "I know it, but I wanted to look. Seafaring's a trade I'd like to know something about." The figure grunted. Bell bad just given his word of honor that he wasn't a member of the Secret Service. He wasn't. But he was in the Trade — which has no official existence any- where. And the use of the word in his first remark was a recognition signal. "What is your trade, anyways?" growled the figure skeptically. "I sharpen serpents' teeth from time to time," offered Bell amiably. He recognized the man," suddenly. "Hullo, Jamison, you look like the devil." JAMISON .drew nearer. He grunted softly. "I know it. Listen closely, Bell. Your job is getting some information from Canalejas, Minister of War in Rio. He Sent word up to Washington that he'd something important to say. It isn't treachery to' Brazil, because he's a decent man. Seven Secret Ser- vice men have disappeared in South America within three months. They've found the eighth, and he's crazy. Something has driven him mad, and they say it's a devilish poison. He's a homicidal maniac, returning to the United States in a straight-jacket. Canalejas knows what's happened to the Service men. He said so, and he's going to tell us. His daughter brought the news to Washington, and then in- stead of going on to Europe as she was supposed to do, she started back to Rio. You're to get this formation and pass it on to me, then try to keep your skin whole and act innocent. You were picked out because, as a State De- partment man, hell could be raised if you vanished. Understand?" Bell nodded. "Something horrible is going on. Secret Service can't do anything. The man in Asuncion isn't dead — he's been seen — but he's cut loose. And Service men don't often do that. He don't re- port. . That , means the Service code may have been turned over, and hell to pay generally. It's up to the Trade." "I've got it," said Bell. "Here arc two items for you. Miss Canalejas just said she suspected I was Secret Service. I convinced her I wasn't. She says she has important information for a Service man." THE brawny figure of the stoker growled. "Damn women I She was told some- body'd be sent to see her- father. She was shown a recognition-knot with the outsider's variation. Given one, for father. That'll identify you to him. But she shouldn't have talked. Now, be careful. As nearly as we know, that chap in the straight-jacket was given some poison that drove him insane. There are hellish drugs down there. Maybe the same thing happened to others. Look out for yourself, and give me the information Canalejas gives you as quickly as God will let you. If anything happens to you, we want the stuff to get back. Under- stand ?" "Of course," said Bell. 'He. care- fully did not shiver as he realized what Jamison meant by anything happening to him. "The other item is that Ortiz, es-Ministcr of the Interior of the Ar- r gentine, is scared to death about some- thing. Sending radios right and left" "Umph," growled Jamison. "One of 170 ' ASTOUNDING STORIES our men vanished in Buenos Aires. Watch him. You're friendly?" "Yes." "Get friendlier. See what he's got. Now shoo." Bell swung up the ladder again. Hist opened before him and closed again behind. He ' climbed over the > rail to the promenade deck, and felt a little flare of irritation. There was a figure watching him. He slipped to the deck and grinned sheepishly at Paula Canalejas. She stood with her hands in the pockets of her little sport coat, regarding him very gravely. "T SUPPOSE," said Charley Bell X sheepishly, "that I look like a fool. But I've always wanted to climb up and down that ladder. I suppose it's a survival from the age of child- hood. At the age of seven I longed to be a fireman." "I wonder," said Paula quietly. "Mr. Bell" — she stepped dose to him — "I am taking a desperate chance. For the sake of my father, I wish certain thingi tnown- I think that you are an honorable man, and I think that you lied to me just now. Go and see Sefior Ortiz. Your government will want to know what happens to him. Go and see him quickly:" Bell felt the same flare of, irritation as before. Women do not follow rules. They will not follow rules. They de- pend upon intuition, which is some-* times right, but sometimes leads to un- godly errors. Paula was right thU time, but she could have been wholly and hopelessly wrong. If she had, talked to anyone else. ... ' "My child," said Bell paternally— he was at least two years older than Paula — "you should be careful. I did not lie to you just now. I am not Secret Service. But I happen to know that you have a tiny piece of string to give your father, and I beg of you not to show that to anyone else. And — well — you axe probably watched. You must not talk seriously to me I" > He lifted his hat and started astern. He was more than merely irritated. He was almost irightened. Because the Trade, officially, does not exist at^all, and everybody in the Trade is working entirely on his own ; and because those people who suspect that there is a Trade and dislike it- are not on their own, but have plenty of resources be- hind them. And yet it is requisite that the Trade shall succeed in its various missions. Always. THE Government of the United States, you understand, will admit that it has a Secret Service, which it strives to identify solely with the pur- suit of counterfeiters, postal thieves, and violators of the prohibition laws. Strongly pressed, it will admit that some members of the Secret Service* work abroad, the official explanation being that they work abroad to" fore- stall smugglers. And at a pinch, and in confidence, it may concede the ex- istence of diplomatic secret agents. But there is no such' thing as the Tradd Not at alb The funds which members of the Trade expend are de- rived by very devious bookkeeping from the appropriations allotted to an otherwise honestly conducted Depart- ment of the United States Government. Therefore the Trade does not really exist. You might say that there is a sort of conspiracy among certain people to do certain things. Some of them are government officials, major and minor. Some of them are private citizens, reputable and otherwise. One or two of them are in jail, both here and abroad. But as far as the Govern- ment of the United States is con- cerned, certain fortunate coincidences that happen now and then are purely coincidences. And the Trade, which arranges for them, does not exist. But it has a good many enemies. THE' fog-horn howled dismally overhead. Mist swirled past the ship, and an oily swell surged vaguely overside and disappeared into a gray MURDER MADNESS 171 oblivion half a ship's length away. Bell moved on toward the stern. It was his intention to go into the smoking-room and idle ostentatiously. Perhaps he would enter into another argument with that Brazilian air pilot who had so much confidence in Hand- ley-Page wing-slots. Bell had, in Washington, a small private plane that, he explained, had been given him by a wealthy aunt, who hoped he would break his neck in it. He con- sidered that wing-slots interfered with stunting. He had picked out the door with his eye when he espied a small figure standing by the rail. It was Ortiz, the Argentine ex-Cabinet Minister, staring off into the grayness, and seeming to listen with all his ears. Bell slowed up. The little stout man turned and nodded to him, and then put out his hand. "Sefior Bell," he said quietly, "tell me. Do you hear airplane motors?" Bell listened. The drip-drip-drip ot ~ condensed mist. The shuddering of the ship with her motors going dead slow. The tinkling, muted notes of the piano inside the saloon. The wash- ing and hissing of the waves overside. That was all. "Why, no," said ' Bell. "I don't. Sound travels freakishly in fog, though. One might be quite close and we couldn't hear it. But we're a hun- dred and fifty miles off the Venezuelan coast, aren't we?" ORTIZ turned and faced him. Bell was shocked at the expression on the small man's face. It was drained of all blood, and its look was ghastly. But the rather fine dark eyes were steady. "We are," agreed Ortiz, very steadi- ly indeed, "but I — I have received a radiogram that some airplane should By near this ship, and it would amuse me to hear it." Bell frowned at the fog. "I've done a good bit of flying," he observed, "and if I were flying out at sea right now, I'd dodge this fog bank. It would be practically suicide to try to alight in a mist like this." . Ortiz regarded him carefully. It seemed to Bell that sweat was coming out upon the other man's forehead. "You mean," he said quietly, "that an airplane could not land?" "It might try," said Bell with a shrug. "But you couldn't judge your height above the water. You might crash right into it and dive under. Matter of fact, you probably would." Ortiz's nostrils quivered a little. "I told them," he said steadily, "I told them it was not wise to risk. . . ." HE stopped. He looked suddenly at his hands, clenched upon the rail. A depth of pallor even greater than his previous terrible paleness seemed to leave even his lips without blood. He wavered on his feet, as if he were staggering. "You're sick I" said Bell sharply. Instinctively he moved forward. The fine dark eyes regarded' him oddly. And Ortiz suddenly took his hands from the railing of the prom- enade deck. He looked at his fingers detachedly. And Bell could see them writhing, opening and closing in a a horribly sensate fashion, as if they were possessed of devils and alto- gether beyond the control of their owner. And he suddenly realized that the steady, grim regard with which Ortiz looked at his hands was exactly like the look he mid seen upon a man's face once, when that man saw a ven- omous snake crawling toward him and had absolutely no weapon. Ortiz was looking at his fingers as a man might look at cobras at the ends of his wrists. Very calmly, but with a still, stunned horror. HE lifted his eyes to Bell. "I have no control over them," he said quietly. "My hands are use- less to me, Senor Bell. I wonder if you will be good enough to assist me to my cabin." 172 ASTOUNDING STORIES Again that deadly pallor flashed across his face. Bell caught at his arm. "What is 'the matter ?" he demanded anxiously. "Of course I'll help you." Ortiz smiled very faintly. "If any airplane arrives in time," he said steadily, "something may be done. But you have rid me of even that hope. I have been poisoned, Senor Bell." "But the ship's doctor. ..." Ortiz, walking rather stiffly beBide Bell, shrugged. "He can do nothing. Will you be good enough to open this door for me ? And" — his voice was hoarse for an in- stant — "assist me to put my hands in my "pockets. I cannot. But I would not like them to be seen." * Bill took bold of the writhing fingers. He saw sweat standing out upon Or- tiz's forehead. And the fingers closed savagely upon Bell's hands, tearing at them. Ortiz looked at him wifh a ghastly supplication. "Now," he said with difficulty, "if you will open the door, Senor Belf . . ." Bell slid the door aside. They Went in together. People were making the best of boresome weather within, frankly yawning, most of them. But the card-room would be full, and 'the smoking-room steward would be busy. "My cabin is upon the next deck be- low," said Ortiz through stiff lips. "We — we will descend the stairs." BELL went with him, his face ex- pressionless. "My cabin should be unlocked," said Ortiz. It was. Ortiz entered, and, with his ' hands still in his pockets, indicated a steamer-trunk. "Please open that." He licked his lips. "I — I had thought I would have warning enough. It has not been so severe before. Rightist the top. . . ." Bell flung the top back. A pair of bright' and shiny handcuffs lay on top of a dress shirt. "Yes," said Ortiz steadily. "Put them upon my wrists, please. The poison that has been given me is— peculiar. I believe that one of your compatriots has experienced its ef- fects." Bell started slightly. Ortiz eyed him steadily. "Precisely." Ortiz, with his face a gray mask of horror, spoke with a steadiness Bell could never have ac- complished. "A poison, Senor Bell, which has made a member of the'Secret Service of the United States a homi- cidal maniac. It has been given to me. I have been hoping for its antidote, tfet — Quick I Senor Belli Quick I The handcuffs I" CHAPTER II THE throbbing of the engines went on at an unvarying tempo. There was the slight, almost infinitesimal tremor of their vibration. The electric light in the cabin wavered rythmically with its dynamo. From the open port- hole came the sound of washing water. Now and then a disconnected sound of laughter or of speech came down from the main saloon. Ortiz lay upon the bed, exhausted. "It is perhaps humorous, Senor Bell," hr- MURDER MADNESS 175 "Got nerve, anyhow," said Bell grim- ly- It swept across the ship and disap- peared, but the noise of its engines did not dwindle more than a little. The blast of the siren seemed to summon it back again. Once more it came in sight, and this time it dived steeply, flashed across the forecastle deck amid a hideous uproar, desperately, horribly close to the dangling derrick-cables, and was gone. BELL had seen it more clearly than anyone else on the ship, perhaps. He saw a man in the pilot's cockpit between wings and" tail reach high and fling something downward, something with a long streamer attached to it. Bell had an instant's glimpse of the goggled face. Then he was darting forward, watching the thing that fell. It took only a second. Two at most. But the thing seemed to fall with in- finite deliberation, the streamer shiv- ering out behind it. It fell at a steep slant, the forward momentum of the plane's speed added to its own drop. It swooped down, slanting toward the rail ~f Bell groaned. It struck the rail it- self, and bounced. A sailor flung him- self toward it. The streamer slipped from his fingers and slithered over the aide. Bell was at the railing just in time to sec it drop into the water. He opened his mouth to shout, and saw it sink. The last of the streamer fol- lowed the dropped object down into green water when it was directfy be- low him. His hands clenched, Bell stared sick- ly at the spot where it had vanished. An instant later he had whirled and was thrusting wide the wireless room door. The operator was returning to hi* key, grinning crookedly. He looked up sidewise. Tejl them it went overside," (napped Bell. "Tell them to try it again. Ortiz is in hell I To try again I He's dying!" THE operator looked up fasci- natedly, his fingers working his key. "Is he — bad?" he asked with a shud- dering interest. » "He's dying I" snarled' i Bell, in a rage because of his helplessness. He had forgotten everything but the fact that a man below decks was facing the most horrible fate that can overtake a man, and facing it with a steadfast gameness that made Bell's heart go out to him. "They don't die," said the operator. He shuddered. "They don't die of it" His key stopped. He listened. His key clicked again. "They only had two packages," he said a moment later. "They don't dare risk the other one. They say the fog ends twenty miles farther on. "They're going to land up there and taxi back on the surface of the water. It shouldn't be more than half an hour." He pushed himself back from the table with an air of finality. "That's all. They've signed off." Bell felt rage sweeping over him. The operator grinned crookedly. "Better go down and tie him up," he said, and licked his lips with the fasci- nated air of one thinking of a known and terrifying thing. "Better tie him up tight. It'll be half an hour more." BELL went down the companion- ladder. The promenade was crowded with passengers, now, asking questions of each other. Some, frown- ing portentously, thought the plane an unscheduled ocean flier who had lost his way in the fc£. Paul Canalejas was close to' Bell as he shouldered his way through the crowd. "That was for him?"' she asked, without moving her lips. Bell nodded. "Tell him,"> she said quietly, "I — pray for him." Bell nodded abrutly and went into the saloon. It was nearly, empty. He wiped the sweat off his face. It was horrible to have to go down to Ortix 176 ASTOUNDING STORIES and tell him that at best it would be half an hour more. . . . Then there was a sudden stream be- low him, and then a shot. Bell jumped for the stairs, his hea^t in his throat, and saw Ortiz coming out of his state- room door. His eyes were wide and agonized. His body. . . . Even in the incredibly short time be- fore he reached the bottom of the steps. Bell had time to receive the ghastly impression that Ortiz was sane, but that his body had gone mad. Or- tiz's face was white and horrified. His hands and arms were writhing savage- ly, working at the handcuffs on his writes. His legs were carrying him at a curious, padding trot down the hall- /way. One 1 of the hands held a glitter- ing revolver. A steward was crouched behind a couch, his face white and filled with stark terror. And Ortiz held his head back, as if struggling to hold back and control his body, which was under the control of a maJUgnant demon. "Out of the way I" cried Ortiz in a voice of terrible despair. "Get some- one to shoot me I Kill me I I cannot — ah, Diosl" THE hands leveled the revolver in spite of him, while he flung his head from side to side in a frantic at- tempt to disturb their aim. "Close your eyes!" panted Bell, and hurled himself upon — whom? It was not Ortiz. It was Ortiz's body, gone mad and raging. The manacled arms nailed about frenziedly. The gun wer\t off. Again. Again. . . Bell struck. He knocked the Thing that possessed Ortiz's body off its feet. The bands groped for him. They clubbed at him with the revolver. The feet kicked. ... "Keep your eyes 'closed," gasped Bell, struggling to get the gun away from those horrible hands. "It — it can't tee when you keep your eyes cloaedl" ' Fighting insanely as the Thing was fighting, he could not identify it with Ortiz himself. One of the hands un- closed from about the revolver and clawed at his throat. It teemed to abandon that effort and attacked Or- tiz's face in a frenzy of rage, strug- _ gling to claw his eyes open. The other held the weapon fast with maniacal strength. At the horror of feeling one of hii own manacled hands attacking his face savagely as if it were itself a sensate thing, Ortiz opened his eyes. They - were wide with despair. The hand with the revolver made a sudden movement, and Bell flung hia weight upon it as the clutching hand pulled the trigger. There was a deaf- ening report. . . . THE body seemed to weaken sud- denly in Bell's grip. It fought less and less terribly, though with no lessening of its savagery. He managed to get the revolver away from the hands that shook with unspeakable rage. He flung it away and stood pant- ing. There was a crowd of people sud- denly all about the place. Staring, stunned, incredulous people who re- garded Bell with a dawning, damning suspicion. * Ortiz spoke suddenly. His voice was weak, but it was steady, and it was full of a desperate relief. "I wish to make a statement," he said sharply. "I — I wished to commit suicide for personal reasons. Senor Bell tried to dissuade me. The hand- cuffs upon my wrists were placed there with my consent. Senor Bell is my friend and has done me no wrong. I shot myself, with intention." Bell beckoned to the ship's doctor. ''Get him bandaged up," he ordered harshly. "There's no need for him to die." The body was writhing only feebly, now. Ortiz looked up at him, and managed a smile. Again there wu that incredible impression of the body not belonging to Ortiz, or Ortiz at a sane and whole and honorable, ad- MURDER MADNESS Durable man, and the feebly writhing body with its clutching hands as some ■evil thing that had properly been de- feated and killed. THE doctor bent down. It was useless, of course. He made {utile movements. "I wish to speak to my 'friend, Senor Bell," said Ortiz weakly. "I — I have not- long." Bell knelt beside him. "The Master's— deputy in Rio," panted Ortiz weakly, almost in a whis- per, "is — is Ribiera. In Buenos Aires I— I do not know. .There was a man —the one who poisoned me — but I killed him. Secretly.. I do not think —the Master knows. I pray that — " He stopped. He could not speak again. But. he smiled, and a few sec- onds later Bell clenched his hands. Ortiz was gone. Someone touched his arm. Paula Canalejas. He stared down at her and managed to smile. It was not a very ■uccessful ( smile. He drew a deep breath. / "I would like," said Bell wryly, "to think that, when I die, I will die as well as this man did. But I'm afraid I ■han't." two tips that the fate of Ortiz is the fate of the seven men— eight, in fact. We find that' two men dispehse a certain ghastly poison in two certain cities, at the orders of a man they call The Master. We find that those two men wield an astound- ing lot of power, and we know they're only deputies, only subordinates of the Master. We know, also, that the Service men vanished all over the whole continent, not in just those two cities. How many deputies has The Master? What's it all about? He wanted treason of Ortiz, we know. What does he want of the' other men his deputies have enslaved? Why dy| he poison the Service men? And why —especially why— do two honorable men, officials of two important nations, want to tip off the United States Gov- ernment about the ghastly business? What's it got to do with our nation?" Bell flung away his cigarette. "That last question has occurred to 180 ASTOUNDING STORIES me too," he observed,' and carefully re- pressed a slight shiver."-, I have made a guess, which is probably insane. I'm going to see Ribiera this afternoon.". "He already suspects you know too much," said Jamison without expres- sion. ' "I am" — Bell managed the ghost of a mirthless smile — "I am uncomfortably aware of it. And I may need an anti- dote as badly as Ortiz. If I do, and can't help myself, I'll depend on you." ' JAMISON growled. "I simply mean," said Bell very quietly, "that I'd really rather not be — er — left alive if I'm mad. That's all. But Ortiz knew, what was the matter with him before he got bad off\ I know j it's a risk. I'm goose-flesh all over. But somebody's got to take the risk. The guess I've^made may be insane, but if, it's righti one or two lives will be cheap enough as a price for the information. Suppose you chaps turn around and take me to Ribiera's^ousi ?" There was a long pause. ?Then Jamison spoke in Portugese to his com- panion. The taxi checked, swerved, and began to retrace its route. "You're a junior in the Trade," said Jamison painstakingly. "I can't order you to do it." , Bell fumbled with his' cigarette case. "The Trade doesn't exist, Jamison," he said dryly." And besides, nobody gives orders in TJie Trade. There are only suggestions. Now shut up a while. I want to try to remember some consular reports I read once, from the' consul at Puerto Pachecho." "What?" "The consul there," said Bell, smil- ing faintly, "was an amateur botanist. He filled up his consular reports with accounts of native Indian medicinal plants and drugs, with copious notes and clinical observations. I had to re- prove him severely for taking up space with such matters and not going fully into the exact number of hides, wet and dry, that passed through - the markets in his district. His informa- tion will be entirely useless in this present emergency, but I'm going to try to remember as much of it as I can. Now shut up." WHEN the taxi swung off the Biera Mar to thread its way through many tree-lined streets — it is a misdemeanor, punishable by fine, to cut down a tree in Rio de Janerio— it carried a young American with the air of an accomplished idler, who has been mildly bored by the incomparable view from the waterside boulevard. When it stopped at the foot of one of the slum covered morras that dot all Rio, and a liveried doorman came out of a splendid residence to ask the visitor his name,- the taxi discharged a young 'American who seemed to feel the heat, in spite of the swift motion of the cab. He wiped off his forehead with his handkerchief as he was assured that the Senhor Ribiera had given orders he was to be admitted, night or day. When the taxi drove off, it carried two men on the chauffeur's seat, of whom one had lost, temporarily, the manner of haughty insolence which is normal- ly inseparable from the secretary of a taxicab chauffeur. But though he wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, Bell actually felt rather cold when he followed his guide through ornately furnished rooms, which seemed innumerable, and was at last left to wait in an especially luxurious salon. There was a pause. A rather long wait. A distinctly long wait. Bell lighted a cigarette and seemed to be- come mildly bored. He regarded a voluptuous small statuette with every appearance of pleased interest. A subtly decadent painting seemed to amuse him considerably. He did not seem to notice that no windows at all were visible, and that shaded lamps lit this room, even in broad daylight. TWO servants came in, a footman in livery and the major-domo. Your average Can oca servant is either MURDER MADNESS 181 fawning or covertly insolent. These two were obsequious. The footman carried a tray with a bottle, glass, ice, and siphon. "The Senhor Ribiera," announced the major-domo obsequiously, "begs that the Senhor Bell will oblige him by waiting for^the shortest of moments until the Senhor Ribiera can relieve himself of a business matter. It will be but the shortest of moments." Bell felt a little instinctive chill at sight of the bottle and glasses. "Oh, very well," he said idly. "Yoq may put the tray there." The footman lifted the siphon ex- pectantly. Bell regarded; it indiffer- ently. The wait before the arrival of this drink had been longer than would be required merely for the announcing of a caller and the sending of a tray, especially if such a tray were a custom of the place. And the sending of a single bottle only, without inquiry into his preferences. . . .x "No soda," said Bell. He poured out a drink into the tinier glass. He lifted it toward his lips, hesitated vaguely, and drew out his handkerchief again. He sneezed explosively, and the drink spilled. He swore irritably, put down the glass,, and plied his handker- chief vigorously .j A moment later he was standing up and pouring the drink out afresh, from the bottle in one hand to the glass in the other. He up-tilted the glass. "Get rid of this for me," he said an- noyedly of the handkerchief. horribly annoyed at being forced to. so plebeian an exhibition in public. He moved restlessly about the room, staring at the pictures. Presently he blinked uncertainly and gazed about less definitely. He went rather uncer- tainly to the chair he had first occupied and sat down. He poured — or seemed to pourf-anothcr drink. Again he sneezed, and looked mortified. He put down the glass with an air of finality. But he looked puzzledly about him. -Then he sank back in his chair and gradually seemed to sink into a sort of apathetic indifference. HE looked, then, like a very bored young man on the verge of doz- ing off. But actually he was very much alert indeed. . He had the feeling of eyes upon him for a while. Then that sensation ceased' and he settled himself to wait. And meantime he felt a par- ticular, peculiar gratitude to the late American consul at Puerto Pachecho for his interest in medicinal plants. That gentleman had gone into the subject with the passionate enthusiasm of the amateur. He had described icus, uirui and timbo. He had particular- ized upon makaka-nambi and herva- raoura. And he had gone into a wealth of detail concerning yagui, on account of its probable value if used in crim- inology. A s consul at Puerto Pachecho he was not altogether a success in some ways, but he had invented an entirely original method of experimentation upon those drugs and poisons which did not require to be introduced into the blood-stream. His method was glance pass between the footman — simplicity itself. An alcoholic solu- ind the major-domo. They retired, anp tion "carried" a minute quantity of the H E saw a nearly imperceptible Bell moved about the room exactly like t young man who has been discomfited by the necessity of sneezing before servants. Anywhere else in the world, of course, such a pose would not have been convincing. But your Brazilian not only adopts fazenda Ota as his own avocation, 'but also suspects it to be everybody else's too. And a young Brazilian of the leisure class would be drug in its vapor, just as an alcoholic solution carries a minute quantity of perfuming' essential oil. He inhaled the odor of the alcoholic solution. The effect was immediately, strictly tem- porary, and not dangerous. He was enabled to describe the odors, in some cases the tastes, and in a few instances the effects of the substances he lilted, from personal experience. 182 ASTOUNDING STORIES AND Bell had used his method as an unpromising but possible test for a drug in the drink that had been brought him. He inhaled the strangling odor of the spilled liquor on his hand- kerchief. And there was a drug in- volved. For an instant he was dizzy, and for an instant he saw the room through a vivid blue haze. And some- thing clicked in his brain and said "It's yagui." And the relief of dealing with something which he knew — if only at second-hand — was so enormous that he felt almost weak. Yagui, you see, is an extract from the leaves oi a plant which is not yet included in materia medica. It has nearly the effect of scopolamine — once famous in connection with twilight sleep— and produces a daze of blue light, an intolerable sleepiness,' and practically all the effects of hypnotism. A person under yagui, as under scopo- lamine or hypnosis, will seem to slum- ber, and yet will obey any order, by whomever given. He will answer any question without reserve or any con- cealment. And on awakening he will remember nothing done under the in- fluence of the potion. The effects are not particularly harmful. Bell, then, sat in an apparent half- daze, half-slumber, in the salon in which he waited for Ribiera to appear. He knew exactly what he was expected to do. Ribiera wanted to find out what he knew or suspected about 'Ortiz's death. Ribiera wanted to know many,, things, and he would believe what Bell told him because he thought Bell had taken enough yagui to be practically an hypnotic subject. Let Ribiera be- lieve what he was told I When he came into the room, bland and smiling. Bell did not stir. He was literally crawling, inside, with an un- speakable repulsion to the man and the things for which he stood. But he seemed dazed and dull, and when Ribiera began to ask questions he bab- bled his answers in a toneless, flat voice. He babbled very satisfactorily, in Ribiera't view. HEN Ribiera shook him rough- ly by the shoulder he started, and let his eyes clear. Ribiera was laughing heartily. "Senhprl Senhorl" said Ribiera jovi- ally. "My hospitality -is at fault I You come to . be my guest and I allow you to be so bored that you drop off to sleep I I was detained for five minutes and came in to find you slumbering I" . Bell stared ruefully about him and robbed his eyes. "I did, for a fact," he admitted apologetically. "I'm. sorry. Up late last night, and I was tired. I dropped in to see those planes you suggested I'd be interested in.* But I daresay it's late, now." Ribiera chuckled again. He was in his late and corp'ulent forties and was something of a' dandy. If one were captious, one might object to the thick- ness of his lips. They suggested sensuality. And there was a shade — a bare shade — more of pigment in his skin than the American passes alto- gether unquestioned. And his hair was wavy. . . . But he could be a charming host. "We'll have a drink," he said bluntly, "while the car's coming around to the door, and then go out to the flying field." v "No drink," said Bell, lifting his hand. "I feel-squeamish now. I say I Haven't you changed the lamps, or something ? Everything looks blue. . . ." That was a lie. Things looked en- tirely normal to Bell. But he looked about him as if vaguely puzzled. If he had drunk the liquor Ribiera had sent hint things would have had a bluish tinge for some time after. But as it was. . . . Ribiera chaffed him jovially on the way to the flying field. And, introduc- ing him to fliers and officials of the field, he told with gusto of Bell's fall- ing asleep while waiting for him. A very jolly companion, Ribiera. But Bell saw two or three men look- ing at him very queerly. Almost sympathetically. And he noticed, a lit- W MURDER MADNESS 183 tie later, that a surprising number of fliers and officials of the airport seemed to be concealing an abject terror of Ribiera. One or two of them seemed to hate him as well. CHAPTER IV BELL stepped out of a tall French window to a terrace, and from the terrace to the ground. There was a dull muttering in the sky to the eait, and a speck appeared, drew nearer swiftly, grew larger, and became a small army biplane. It descended steep- ly to earth behind a tall planting of trees. Bell lighted a cigarette and moved purposelessly down an elabor- ately formalized garden. "More victims," he observed grimly to himself, of the plane. Ribiera lifted a pigmented hand fo wave languidly from a shaded chair. There were women about him, three of them, and it sickened Bell to see the frightened assiduity with which they flattered him. Bell had met thim, of course. Madame the wife of thfc State President of Bahia — in the United States of Brazil the states have presi- dents instead of governors— preferred the title of "Madame" because it was more foreign and consequently/ more aristocratic than Senhoia. And Madame the wife of the General — s "Senhor," called Ribiera blandly. "I have news for you." Bell turned and went toward him with an air of pleased expectancy. He noticed for the first time the third of the women. Young, in the first flush of youthful maturity, but with an ex* pression of stark terror lingering be- hind a palpably assumed animation. "An acquaintance of yours, Senhor," •aid Ribiera, "is to be my guests." Bell steeled himself. "The Senhor Canalejaa," said Ribiera, beaming, "and his daughter." BELL seemed to frown, and then seemed to remember. "Oh, yes," he said carelessly. "I met her in Washington. She was on the Almirante Gomez, coming down." The next instant he saw Ribiera's ex- pression, and cursed himself for a fool. Ribiera's eyes had narrowed sharply. Then they half-closed, and he smiled. "She |a charming," said Ribiera in drowsy' contentment, "and I had thought you would be glad to. improve her acquaintance. Especially since, as my friend, you may congratulate me. A contract of marriage is under dis- cussion." , Bell felt' every muscle grow taut. The fat, pigmented man before him. . . . "Indeed," said Bell politely, "I do congratulate you." Ribiera looked at him with an ex- pression in which a sardonic admira- tion mingled with something else less pleasant. "You are clever, Senhor Bell," he said, heavily, seeming to sink more deeply into his chair. "Very clever." He shifted his eyes to the women who stood about him. "You may go," he said indifferently. His tone was ex- actly that of a despot dismissing his slaves. Two of them colored with in- stinctive resentment. His eyes lingered an instant on the third. (Her face had showed only a passionate relief. "You, Senhora," he said Heavily, "may wait nearby." The terror returned to her features, but she moved submissively to a spot a little out of earshot. Bell found his jaws clenched. There is a certain racial taint widespread in*Brazil which leads to an intolerable arrogance when there is the slightest opportunity for its ex- ercise. Ribiera had the taint, and Bell felt a sickening wrath at the terrified submission of the women. "Si," said Ribiera, suddenly , advert- ing to insolence. "You are , clever, Senhor Bell. Where did you learn of yagui?" BELL inhaled leisurely. His mus- cles were tense, but he gave outward sign. Instead, he sat down comfortably upon the arm of a chair 184 ASTOUNDING STORIES facing Ribiera's. The only way to meet insolence is with equal insolence and a greater calm. "Ah I" said Bell pleasantly. "Sayou found out it didn't work, after all ! ' Ribiera's eyes contracted. He be- came suddenly enraged. "You are trifling with me," he said furiously. "Do you know the penalty for that?" "Why,, yes," said Bell, and smiled amiably. "A dose of— er — poison of The Master's private brand." It was a guess, but based on a, good deal of evidence. Ribiera turned crim- son, then pale. \ "What do you know?" he demanded in a deadly quietness. "You cannot leave this place. You are aware of that. The people here — guests and servants — are my slaves, the slaves of The Mas- ter. You cannot leave this place ex- cept also as my slave. I will have you bound and given, yagui so that you cannot fail to tell me anything that I wish to know. I will have you tor- tured so that you -will/ gladly say any- thing that I wish, in Return for death. I will—" "You will," said Bell dryly, "drop dead with seven bullets in your body if you. give a signal for anyone-to at- tack me." RIBIERA stared at him as his hand rested negligently in his coat pocket. And then, quite suddenly, Ribiera began to chuckle. His rage vanished. He laughed, a monstrons, gross, cackling laughter. "You have been my guest for two days," he gasped, slapping his fat knees, "and you have not noticed that your pistol has been tampered with) Senhor Belli Senhor Belli My uncle will be disappointed in you I" It seemed to impress him as a vic- tory, that BeU had been depending upon an utterly futile threat for safety. It/ restored his good humor marvel- oualy. "It does not matter," he said jovial- ly. "Presently you will tell me all that I wish to know. More, perhaps. My uncle is pleased with you. Y*m recall your little talk with the wireless opera- tor on the A I mi r ante Gomel? You tried to learn things from him, Senhor. He reported it. Of course. All our slaves report. He sent his report to my uncle, The Master, and I did not have it until today. I will admit that you deceived me. I knew you had talked with Ortiz, who was a fool. I \ thought that in his despair he might have spoken. I gave you yagui, as I thought, and informed my uncle that you knew nothing. And he is very much pleased with you. It was clever, to deceive me about the yagui. My uncle has high praise for you. He has told me that he desires your services." Bell inhaled again. There was no question but that Ribiera was totally unafraid of the threat he had made. His gun must have been "tampered with, the firing-pin filed off perhaps. So Bell said placidly: "Well? He desires my services?" RIBIERA chuckled, in his gross and horrible good humor. "He will have them, Senhor. He will have them. When you observe your hands writhing at the .ends of your wrists, you will enter his service, through me. Of course. And he will reward you richly .^Money, much money, such as I hive. And slaves — such as I have. The Senhora . . ." Ribiera looked at the terrified girl standing thirty or forty feet away. He chuckled again. "My uncle desires that you should be induced to enter his service of your own will. So, Senhor, you shall see first what my uncle's service offers. And later, when you know what pleas- ures you may some day possess as my uncle's deputy in your own nation, why, then the fact that your hands are writhing at the ends of your wrists will be merely an added inducement to come to me. And I bear you no ill will for deceiving me. You may go." Bell rose. MUftDEK MADNESS 1S5 "And still," he said dryly, "I suspect that you are deceived. But now you deceive yourself." He heard Ribiera chuckling as he walked away. ;v He heard him call, smusedly, "Serihora." He heard the lit- tle gasp of terror with which the girl obeyed. He passed her,' stumbling to- ward the gross fat man with the light brown /skin and curly hair. Her eyes wereJiterally pools of anguish. BELL threw away his cigarette and began to fumble for another. He was beginning to feel the first twinges of panic, and fought them down. Ribiera had not lied. Bell had been it this fazenda of his — which was al- most a miniature Versailles three hun- dred miles from Bio— for two days. In all that time he had not seen one per- son besides himself who* did not dis- play the most abject terror of Ribiera. Ribiera had made no idle boast when be said that everyone about, guests and servants, were slaves. They were. Slaves of a terror vastly greater than mere fear of death. It — "Senhorl . . . Ob, Dios!" It was the girl's voice, in despair. Ribiera laughed. Bell felt a red mist come before his eyes. He deliberately steadied his hands •snd lighted his cigarette. He heard stumbling footsteps coming behind him. A hand touched his arm. He turned to see the girl Ribiera had pointed out, her cheeks utterly, chalky white, trying desperately to smile. "Senhorl" she gasped. "Smile at me I For the love of Cod, smile at me I" In the fraction of a second, Bell was mad with rage. He understood, and he hated Ribiera with a corrosive- hatred past conception. And then he was estnly calm, .and wholly detached, and e smiled widely, and turned and looked at Ribiera, and Ribiera's whole gross balk quivered as he chuckled. Bell took the girl's arm with an exces- . ore politeness and managed — he never afterward understood how he managed it— to grin at Ribiera. "Senhora," he said in a low tone, "I think I understand. Stop being afraid. We can fool him. Come and walk with me and talk. The idea is that he must think you are, trying to fascinate me, is it not?" She spoke through stiffened lips. "Ah, that I could die I" Bell had a horrible part to play while he walked the length of the formal garden with her, and found a pathway leading out of it, and led her out of sight. He stopped. "Now," he said sharply, "tell me. I am not yet hit slave. He has ordered you. . . ." She was staring before her with wide eyes that saw only despair. "I — I am to persuade you to be my. lover," she said dully, "or I shall know the full wrath of The Master " ELL asked questions, crisply, but as gently as he could. "We are his slaves," she told him apathetically. "I and mi Arturo — my husband. Both of us. . . ." She roused herself a little under Bell's insistent questioning. "We were guests at his house at dinner. Our friends, people high in society and in the Republic, were all about us. We suspected noth- ing. We had heard nothing. But two weeks later Arturo became irritable. He said that he saw red spots before his eyes. I also. Then Arturo's hands writhed at the ends of his wrists. He could not control them. His nerves were horrible. And mine. And we — we have a tiny baby.'. . . And Senhor Ribiera called upon my husband. He was charming. He observed my hus- band's hands. He had a remedy, he said. He gave it to my husband. He became normal again. And then — my hands writhed. Senhor Ribiera told my husband that, if he would bring me to him. . . And I was relieved. We were grateful. We accepted the invi- tation of the Senhor Ribiera to this place. And he showed us a man, in chains. He — he went mad before our eyes. He was a member of the United 186 f ASTOUNDII I States Secret Service. . . . And then the Senhor Ribiera told us tHat we faced the same fate if we did not serve tiitn . . ." BELL had thrust aside rage as use- less, iioy(. He was deliberately cold. "And so?" "It is a poison," she said unsteadily. "A deadly, a horrible poison which^ drives men murder mad in two weeks from the time of its administration. The Senhor Ribiera has an antidote for it. But mixed with the antidote, which acts at once, is more of the horrible poison, /which will act in two weeks more. So that we are entrapped. If we disobey him. . . ." Bell began to smile slowly, and not at all mirthfully. "I think," he said softly, "that I shall gain a great deal of pleasure from kill- ing the Senhor Ribiera." / "Dios — " She strangled^ upon the word. "Do you not see, Senhor, that if he dies we — we — " She stopped and choked. "We — have a tiny baby, Sen- hor. We — we would. . . ." Again sick rage surged up in Bell. To kill Ribiera meant to drive his slaves mad, and mad in the most hor- rible fashion that can be imagined. To kill Ribiera meant to have these people duplicate the death of Ortiz, as their greatest hope, or to fill madhouses with snarling animals lusting to kill. . . . "It is — it is not only I, Senhor," said the girl before him. She was utterly .listless, and in the agony of despair. "It is Arturo, also. The Senhor Ribiera has said that if I do not persuade you, that both Arturo and I. . . . And our little baby, Senhor I . . . Our families also will be entrapped some day. He has said so. . .'. He will give that poison to our baby. . . . And it will^grow up either his slave, or — " Her eyes were pools of panic. "Oh, Cod I" said Bell very quietly. "And he's offering me this power! He's trying to persuade me to become like him. He's offering me pleasures I" C STORIES HE laughed unpleasantly. And then he went sick with helpless- ness. He could kill Ribiera, perhaps, and let only God know how many peo- ple go mad. Perhaps. Or 'perhaps Ribiera would merely be supplanted by another man. , Ortiz had said that he killed The Master's deputy in Buenos Aires, but that another man had taken his place. And the thing went on. And The Master desired a deputy ip the United States "Somehow," said Bell very softly, "this has got to be stopped. Somehow Right away. That devilish stuff t Can you get hold of a bit of the antidote?" he asked abruptly. "The merest drop of it?" She shook her head. "No, Senhor. It is given in food, in wine. One never knows that one has had it. It is tasteless, and we have ynly Senhor Ribiera's word that it has been given." Bell's hands clenched. "So devilish clever. . . . What axe we going to do?" The girl stuffed the corner of her handkerchief into her mouth. "I am thinking of my little baby," she said, choking. "I must persuade you, Senhor. I — I have been tearful. I — I am not attractive. I wiM try. If I am not attractive to you. . . ." BELL cursed, deeply and savagely. It seemed to be the only possible thing to do. And then he spoke coldly. "Listen to me, Senhora. Ribiera talked frankly to me just now. He knows that so far I am not subdued. If I escape he cannot blame you. He can- not I And I am going to attempt it If you will follow me. . . . "There is no escape for me," she said dully, and if he thinks that I knew of your escape and did not tell him. . . ." "Follow me," said Bell, smiling queejly. "I shall take carefthat he does not suspect it." He gazed about for an instant, ori- enting himself. The plane that had just landed — the last of a dozen ors MURDER MADNESS \ 187 bo re that had arrived in the past two days — had dipped down on the private lending field to the north. There was a beautifully kept way naming from the landing field to the house, and he went on, through the thick shrubbery ami it a labyrinth of psths, choosing the turnings most like' Jy to lead him to it. HE came out upon it suddenly, and faced toward the field. There were two men coming toward the house, on foot. One was a flying pilot, Mill in his flying clothes. The other' was a tall man, for a Brazilian, with the lucent clarity of complexion that bespeaks uncontaminated white de- Kent. He was white-haired, and his {see was queerly tired, as if he -were exhausted. Bell looked sharply. He seemed to tec a resemblance to someone he knew hi the tall man. He spoke quickly to die girl beside him. "Who is the man to the left?" "Senhor Canalejas," said the girl drearily. "He is the Minister of War. I suppose he, too. ..." Bell drew a deep breath. He walked on, confidently. As the two others drew near he said apologetically : "Senhores." They halted with the instinctive, at least surface, courtesy of the Brazilian. And Bell was fumbling with his hand- kerchief, rather nervously tying a knot In it He held it out to Canalejas. "Observe." It was, of course, a recognition-knot men as may be given to an outsider by one in the Trade. The tali man's face changed. And Bell swung swiftly and suddenly and very accurately to the point of the other man's jaw. He collapsed. "OENHOR CANALEJAS," said O Bell politely, "I am about to go sad steal an airplane to take what I ■m learned to my companion for 'transmission. If you wish to go with Canalejas stared for the fraction of a second. Then he said quietly : "But of course." He turned to retrace his steps. Bell turned to the girl. "If you are wise," he said gently, "you will go and give the alarm. If you are kind, you will delay it as much as you dare." She regarded him in agonized doubt for a moment, and nodded. She fled. "Now," said Bell casually, "I think we had better hasten. And I hope, Senhor Canalejas, that you have a re- volver. We will need one. Mine has been ruined." Without a word, the white-haired man drew out a weapon and offered it to him. "I had intended," he said very calm- ly, "to kill the Senhor Ribiera. His laBt demand is for my daughter." They went swiftly. The plane Bell had seen alight, some fifteen or twenty minutes before was just being ap- proached by languid mechanics. It was, of course, still warm. Canalejas shouted and waved his arm imperious- ly. It is probable, that he gave the impression of a man returning for some forgotten thing, left in the cock- pit of the plane. HAT happened then, happened quickly. A few crisp words in a low tone. A minor hubbub began suddenly back at the house. Canale- jas climbed into the* passenger's seat as if looking for something. And Bell presented his now useless automatic pleasantly at the head of the. nearest staring mechanic, and while he froze in horror, scrambled up into the pilot's cockpit. "Contact I" he snapped, and turned on the switch. The mechanic remained frozen with fear. "Damnation I" said Bell savagely. "I don't know the Portuguese for Turn her over* I" He fumbled desperately about in the cockpit. Something whirred.. The propellor went over. . . . Canalejas shot with painstaking accuracy, twice. The W 188 ASTOUNDING STORIES motor caught with a spluttering roar. As a horde of running figures, ser- vants and guests, running with the same desperation, came plunging oat on the flying field from the shrubbery, Bell gave the motor the gun. The fast little plane's tail came up off the ground as she darted forward. Faster and faster, with many bumpings. The bumpings ceased. She was clear. i And Bell zoomed suddenly to lift her over the racing, fear-ridden crea- tures who clutched desperately at the wheels, and 'then the little ship shot ahead, barely cleared the trees to the east of' the field, and began to roar at her topmost speed toward Rio. CHAPTER V ( THE Trade — which does not exist — has its obligations an if its code, but also it has its redeeming features. When a man has finished his job, he has finished it. And as far as the. Trade was concerned, Bell had .bat little more to do. But after that — and his eyes burned smokily in their depths — there "was much that he in- tended to do. He sat in one of the bondes of the Botanical Garden half of the street railway system of Rio, and absent mindedly regarded the scenery. This particular bonde was headed out toward the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitaa, by which salty mass of wa- ter Bell would meet Paula Canalejas. He would receive a package from her, which he would deliver to Jamison. And then he would be free, and it was his private intention to engage in an enterprise which was very probably a form of suicide. But there are some things one cannot dismiss with a sage reflection that they are not one's busi- ness. This matter of Ribiera was definitely one of them. THE escape from Ribiera's fazenda had been relatively easy, because so thoroughly unexpected. The little plane had climbed to five thousand feet and found a stratum of cloud that stretched for very many miles. Bell had emerged from it only twice in the first hour of flight, and the second time the sky was clear all about him. That he was pursued, he had no doubt. That Ribiera had wireless communication! with Rio, he knew. And he knew that instant and imperative orders would have gone out fpr his capture. Rio would npt be a healthy place for him. If Ribiera had power over high government officials, he had surely in- direct power over/ the police, and a search for Bell wduld be in order at once. Yet Canalejas assuredly ex- pected to return to Rio. A shouted question with the motor cut out, and a nodded answer. Bell headed for Petropolis, which is Rio'i only seal summer resort and is high in the hills and only an hour and a half from it by train. It was surprisingly satisfactory to be handling a swift plane again, and Bell allowed himself what he knew was about the only pleasure he was likely to have for some time to come. Something of his hatred of Ribiera, however, came back as he prepared to land. He managed to crack the plant up very neatly, so that it would be of no use to Riebiera any more. And at the same time, of course, the crack- ing-up provided an excellent excuse for Canalejas to continue on by train, THEY* talked very briefly by the puffing engine. "It is best," said Canalejas," for you, Senhor, to remain here overnight. I believe Senhor Ribiera has given or- ders for us both to be looked for, yet as a Cabinet Minister I am still im- mune from arrest by the ordinary police. If I reach my home I shall be able to do all that is necessary." "And you will prepare a message fof me to carry," said Bell. "It is ready," said Canalejas. He smiled faintly. "No, Senhor. .1 have instructions to give my daughter. Shu will deliver the information to yea tomorrow. Let me see. At the edge MURDER MADNESS 189 of the Lagao Rodrigo de Feitas, at nine o'clock. She is the only mes- senger I can trust. I think that is all." Bell hesitated uncomfortably. "But you, sir," he said awkwardly. "You have been poisoned, as Senor Ortiz was." "But certainly," said Canalejaa. His smile was ironic as before. "But, un- like Senor Ortiz, I have no hope. I have arranged for my daughter to con- ceal herself and escape from Brazil. I have prepared for everything, Senhor. At you know, I had intended to kill Senhor Ribiera. In returning with you I have merely delayed my own death by a few hours. Still smiling, and with. the air of one entering a train for the most casual of journeys, Canalejas entered the coach. AND Bell, sitting in the bonde next morning, saw with an un- canny clarity the one weak point in Ribiera's hold upon his subjects. When they had courage to fear noth- ing more than death, they could defy Mm And not many could attain to that courage. But a few. . . . "I'll have some help, anyway," mut- tered Bell savagely to himself. It is a long ride to 'the Botanical Gardens, from which one-half the sur- face lines of Rio take their name. On the way out to the Lagao Rodrigo de Feitas, which is close by the Garden itself, Bell had time to work over for the thousandth time the information be possessed, and realize its useless- nets. Two things, only, might be of service. Ope was that Ribiera was the nephew of the person referred to as The Master, and yet was evidently as much subjected to him as his own vic- tims to himself. The other was that the ultimate end of all the ghastly scheme was in some fashion political. If wealth alone had been Ribiera's aim, the gathering of his slaves would have had 'a different aspect. The majority of them would have been rich men, fata of business, men who could pay out hundreds of thousands a month in the desperate hope of being permitted to remain sane. There would not have been politicians and officials and of- ficers of the army. "The key men o{ the country," growled Bell inaudibly, "enslaved to Ribiera. They give him the power he's after more than cash. And it's those key men who have' more to lose than money. There's such a thing as honor. . . ." Three times the conductor stopped beside him anil suggestively rattled the coins in his box. Three times Bell ab- sent mindedly paid the fare for the zone. But the ride is a long one, and he had had time to realize the hope- lessness of any single-handed attack upon the thing he 'faced long before the end. Then he absently moved through the amazing collection of tropic and near tropic growths that is the Botanical Garden until he came at once to Paula and the Lagoa Rodrico de Freitas. IT was alive with birds, and they hopped and pecked and squabbled without acrimony 1 within feet of her seated figure.* Bell knew that she had been waiting for a long time. He looked quickly at her face. It was quite pale, but entirely tearless. "Here is the message, Senhor Bell," she said, quietly ; "but I think I have been followed." Bell growled in his throat. "I did not discovernt until I reached this spot," she said evenly. "And I did not know what to do. If I left, I would be seized and the message taken — and I think that someone would have waited here for you. So, in part to gain time, and in part because I hoped you might have some resource, use in all Rio de Janeiro from whicb>x his chance of a "safe departure was slightest. In little more than half an hour he had dismissed the cab and was gazing placidly into the startled eyes of the doorman. The doorman, like all of Rio where Ribiera was known and feared, knew that Bell was being hunted. Bell handed over his card. with an inscrutable air. "The Senhor Ribiera," he said drily, "returned to the city last night. Pre- sent my card and say that I would like to speak to him." THE doorman ushered him inside' and summoned the major-domo, still blinking his amazement. And the major-domo blinked again. But Bell followed with the air of an habitue, as he was again ushered-into the luxurious salon in which he had once been offered a drugged drink. Again he sank down in a softly padded chair and surveyed the pictures and the minor objects of decadent art about him. Again he lighted a ciga- rette with every appearance of ease. and again had the impression of eyes upon him. The major-domo appeared, somewhat agitated. "The Senhor Ribiera," he said harsh- ly, "will see you only if you are not armed. He requires your word of honor." Bell smiled lazily. "I'll do better than that," he said languidly, "I haven't had time to buy a revolver. But the automatic he had put out of commission is in my pocket Present it to him with my compli- ments." He handed oyer the weapon, butt first. The major-domo blinked, and took it. Bell sat down and smiled widely. He had been expected to be uproarious, to attempt to force the major-domo to lead him to Ribiera. And, of course, he would have been led past a perfectly planned ambush for his capture — but he might have killed the major-domo. Which would not disturb Ribiera, but had disturbed the servant BELL smoked comfortably. And suddenly hangings parted, and Ribiera came into the room. He smiled, nervously, and then, as Bell blew a puff of smoke at him and nodded casually, he scowled. "I came," said Bell deliberately, "to make a bargain. Frankly, I do not like to break my wlrd. I was under obliga- tions to deliver a package from Senhor Canalejas to a certain messenger who will take it to my government. I have done it. But I am not, Senhor Ribiera, a member of the Secret Service. I ant entirely a free agent now, and I am prepared to consider your proposals, which I could not in honor do before." He smiled pleaaantly. Effrontery, properly managed, is one of the most valuable of all qualities. Especially in dealing with people who themselves are arrogant when they dare. RIBIERA purpled with rage, and then controlled it. "AhT he rumbled. "You are pre- pared to consider my proposals. Then MURDER MADNESS 193 are no proposals. The Master may be amused at your cleverness in escaping. I do not know. I do know that I am ordered to make you my slave and send you to The Master. That, I shall do." "Perhaps," said Bell blandly;, "but I can go without food and drink for sev- eral days, which will delay the process. And while I cannot honorably tell you how to stop the man bearing Senhor Canalejas' package to my government, still . If I willingly accepted a dose of yagui in token of my loyalty to The Master. . . ." Ribiera's good Humor returned. He chuckled. "You actually mean," he said jovially, "that you think you were given some of The Master's little compound, and that you wish to make terms before your hands begin to writhe at the ends of your wrists. Is not that your rea- son ?" Bell's eyes flickered. He had been horribly afraid of just that. But Ribi- era's amusement was reassuring. "Perhaps," said Bell. "Perhaps I RIBIERA sat down and stretched his fat legs in front of him. He ■urveyed Bell with an obscene, horrible amusement. "Ah, Senhor," he chuckled, "some day we will laugh together over this I You yet hope, and do not yet know how much better it will be for you if you cease to hope, and cultivate desires! The Master is pleased with you. You have., just those qualities he knows are necessary in dealing with your nation. He is not angry with you. It is his in- tention to use yon to extend his — ah — influence among the officials of your nation. You know, of course, that in but a little more time I will hold all Brazil — as I now hold this city — in the hollow. ofthe full, and began waning. The twenty-eight day Lunar night was in its last, half. No rescue ship came from Earth. We had ceased our efforts 'to signal, for we needed all our power to maintain ourselves. The camp would be in a state of siege. That was the best we could hope for. We had a few short-range weapons, Buch as Bensons, heat-rays and rifles. A few hundred feet of effective range wai the most any oft them could obtain. The heat-rays -r- in giant form one of the most deadly weapons on Earth- were only slowly efficacious on the air- less Moon. Striking an intensely cold surface^ their warming radiations, with- * An allusion to the element Newtonla, named in memory of the great founder ol celestial mechanics, Sir Isaac Newton. Arti- ficially electronued, this metal element may be charged either positively or negatively, thus to attract or repell other ""ri of mat- ter. The gravity plates of aU space-ships were built of it. " 198 ASTOUNDING STORIES out atmosphere to aid them, were slow to act. fyren in a blasting heat-beam a man in his Er.entz helmet-suit could withstand the ray for several minutes. E were, however, well equipped with explosives. Crantline had brought a large supply for his mining operations, and much of it was still unused. We had, also, an ample stock of oxygen fuses, and a variety of oxy- gen light flares in small fragile glass- globes. It was to use these explosives against the brigands that Snap and , I were working out our scheme with the grav- ity-plates. The brigand ship would come with giant projectors and with some thirty men. If we could hold out against them for a time, the fact that the Planetara was missing would bring us help from Earth. \ "A month, '^|said Grantline. "A month at the most. If we can hold them off that long— even in a week or two help may come." Another day. A tenseness fell on us all, despite the absorption of our fe- verish activities. To conserve the power, the camp was almost darkf we lived in dim, chill rooms, with just a few weak spots of light outside to mark the watchmen on their rounds. We did not use the telescope,* but there was scarcely an hour when one or the other of the men was not sit- ting on a cross-piece up in the dome of the .little instrument room, casting tense searching gaze into the black, starry firmament. A ship might appear at any time now — a rescue ship from Earth, or the brigands from Mars. ANITA and Venza during these days could aid us very little save by their cheering words. They too ved about the rooms, trying to inspire us; so that all the men, when they might have been humanly sullen and cursing * An old-fubioned telescope, ol limited field ■ad Deeding no electronic power, would have been humanely serviceable to Qrmntlinc, fan his was of the more modern type. their fate, were turned to grim activity, or grim laughter, making a joke of this coming siege. The morale of the camp now was perfect. An improvement in- deed over the inactivity of the former peaceful weeks! Grantline mentioned it to me. "We'll put up a good fight, Haljan. These 1 fel- lows from Mars will know they've had a task before they ever sail off with this treasure." I had many moments alone with Anita. I need not mention them. It seemed that our love was crossed ay the stars, with an adverse fate doom- ing it. And Snap and Venza must have felt the same. Among the men we were always quietly, grimly active. But alone. ... I came upon Snap once with his arms around the little Venus girl. I heard him say : ''Accursed luck I That you and I should find each other too late, Venza. We could have a mighty lot of fun in Great-New York together." "Snap, we will!" As I turned away, I murmured: "And, pray God, so will Anita and I." The girls slept together in a small room of the main building. Often dur- ing the time of sleep, when the camp was stilled except for the night watch, Snap and I would sit in the corridor near the girls' door-grid, talking of that time when we would all be back on our blessed Earth. OUR eight days of grace were passed. The brigand ship was due — now, to-morrow, or the next day. I. recall, that night, my sleep was fit- fully uneasy. Snap and I had a cubby together. We talked, and made futile plans. I went to sleep, but awakened 1 after a few hours. Impending disaster lay heavily on me. But there was noth- ing abnormal nor unusual in that I Snap was asleep. I was restless, but I did not have the heart to awaken him. He needed what little repose he could get. I dressed, left our cubby and wandered out into the corridor of the main jbuilding. w BRIGANDS OF THE MOON^ 199 It was cold in the corridor, and gloomy with the weak blue light. An interior watchman passed me. "All as usual, Haljan." "Nothing in sight?" "No. They're looking." I went through the connecting cor- ridor to the adjacent building. In the instrument-room several of the men were gathered, scanning the vault overhead. "Nothing, Haljan." I stayed with them awhile, then wan- dered away. The outside man met me near the admission lock-chambers of the main building. The duty-man here sat at his controls, raising the air-pres- sure in the locks through which the outside watchman was coming. The relief sat here in his bloated suft, with his helmet on his knees. It was Wilks. "Nothing yet, Haljan. I'm going up to the peak of the crater to see if any- thing is in sight. I wish that damnable brigand ship would come and get it over with." • Instinctively we all spoke in half whispers, the tenseness bearing in on us. The outside man came out of his hel- met. He was white and grim, but he grinned at Wilks. "All as usual." He tried the familiar jest at Wilks, but his voice was flat: "Don't let the Earthlight get you I" Wilks went out through the portes — a process of no more than a minute. I wandered away again through the corridors. I SUPPOSE it was half an hour later that I chanced to be gazing through a corridor window. The lights along the rocky cliff-edge were tiny blue spots. The head of the stairway leading down to the abyss of the crater floor was visible. The bloated figure of Wilks was just coming up. I watched him for a moment making his rounds. He did not stop to inspect the lights. That was routine; I thought it queer that he passed them. Another minute passed. The figure of Wilks went with slow bounds over toward the back of the ledge where the glassite shelter housed the treasure. It was all dark off there. Wijks went into the gloom, but before I lost sight of him he came back. As though he had changed his mind he headed for the foot of the staircase which led up the cliff-face to where, ai the peak of the little crater, five hundred feet above us, the narrow observatory platform was perched. He climbed with easy bounds, the light on his helmet bobbing in the gloom. I stood watching. I could not tell why there seemed to be something queer about Wilks' actions. But I was struck with it, nevertheless. I watched him disappear over the peak of the summit. Another minute went by. Wilks did> not reappear. I thought I could make out his light on the platform up there. Then abruptly a tiny white beam was waving from the observatory platform I It flashed once or twice, then was ex- tinguished. And now I saw Wilks plainly, standing in the Earthlight, gazing down. Queer actional Had the Earthlight touched him? Or was that a local signal-call which he had sent out? Why should Wilks be signalling? What was he doing with a hand-helio? Our watchmen, I knew, had no reason to carry one. And to whom could Wilks be sig- nalling across this Lunar desolation? The answer stabbed at me: to Miko's band! I waited another moment. No fur- ther light. Wilks was still up there I I WENT back to the lock entrance. Spare suits and helmets were here beside the keeper. He gazed at me in- quiringly. "I'm going out, Franck, just for a minute." Vjft struck me that perhaps I was a meddlesome fool. Wilks, of all Grantline's men, was, I knew, most in his commander's trust. The * signal could have been some part o,f this 200 ASTOUNDING STORIES night's ordinary routine, for all I knew. I was hastily donning an Erentz suit. I added, "Let me out. I just got the idea Wilks is acting queerty." I laughed. "Maybe the Earthlight has touched him." With my helmet on I went through the locks. Once outside, with the outer panel closed behind me, I drqpped the weights from my beh and shoes and extinguished yty helmet-light, Wilks was still up there.) Appar- ently he had not moved. I ■ bounded off: across the ledge to the foot of the ascending stairs. Did Wilks see me coming? I could not tell. As I ap- proached the stairs the platform was cut off from .my line of vision. I mounted with bounding leaps. In /my flexible gloved hand I carried my only weapon, a email bullet projector with oxygen firing caps for use in this outside near-vacuum. The leaden bul- let with its slight mass would never- theless pierce a man at the distance of twenty feet. I held the weapon behind me. I would talk to' Wilks first. I went slowly up the last hundred feet. Was Wilks still up there? The summit was bathed in Earthlight. The little metal observatory platform came into view above my head. Wilks was not there. Then I saw him standing on the rocks nearby, mo- tionless. But in a moment he saw me coming. 7 ^ I waved my left arm with a gesture of greeting. It seemed to me. that he started, made as though to leap away, then changed his mind and waited for me. I sailed from the head of the stair- case with a twenty-foot leap and landed lightly beside him. I gripped his arm for audiphone contact. "Wilks I" Through the visors his face was vis- ible. I saw him, and he saw me. And I heard his voice. "You, Haljan I How nice I" It was not Wilks, but the brigand Coniston I CHAPTER XXIV Imprisoned! THE duty-man at the exit locks of the main building stood at his window and watched me curiously. He saw me go up the spider-stairs. He could see the figure he thought was Wilks, standing at. the top. He saw me join Wilks, saw ua locked together in combat. For an instant the duty-man stood amazed. There were two fantastic,' misshapen figures swaying in the Earthlight five hundred feet above the "camp, fighting desperately at the very brink. They were small, dwarfed by distance, alternately dim and bright as they swiyed in and out of the shadows. Soon the duty-man could not tell on: from the other. Haljan and Wilks — fighting to the death I The duty-man recovered himself and sprang into action. An interior siren- call was on the instrument panel near , him. He rang it, alarming the camp. The men came rushing to him, Grant- line among them. "What's this? Good God, Franck!" They saw the silent, deadly combat up there on the cliff. The two figures .had fallen together from the observa- tory platform, dropped twenty feet to a lower landing oh the stairs. They lay as though stunned for a moment, then fought on. Grantline stood stricken with amaze- ment. "That's Wilks I" "And Haljan," the duty-man gasped. "Went out — something wrong with Wilks— acting strangely — " The interior of the camp was in a turmoil. The men awakened from sleep, ran out into the corridor:, shouted questions. "An attack?" "Is it an attack?" "The bVigands?" BUT 'it was Wilks and Haljan in a fight out there on the cliff. The men crowded at the bulls'-eye windows. And over all the confusion the alarm BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 201 siren, with no one thinking to shut IF off, was screaming with its electrical voice£ * Grantline, stricken f Grantline was shouting, "Get those weapons! That's a Martian outside I 202 ASTOUNDING STORIES The brigand leader, probably! Get into your suits, anyone who wants to go with me I We'll go by the manual emergency exit I" But the prowling Martian had found it I Within a minute Grantline was there. It was a smaller, _two-lock gate- way of manual control, so that the per- son going out could operate it himself. It was in a corridor at the other end of the main building. But Grantjine waf too late I The lever would not open the panels I Had someone gone out this way and broken the mechanisms after him? A traitor in the camp? Or had someone come in from outside? Or had the skulking Martian outside broken this lock as he had broken the other? The questions surged on Grantline. His men crowded arouncl him. The news spread. The camp was a prisdh. No one could get out. * And outside, the skulking Martian had disappeared. But Wilks and Hal* jan were still fighting. Grantline could see the two figures up on the observa- tory platform. They bounded apart, then together again. Crazily swaying — bouncing — striking the rail. THEY went together in a. great leap off the platform onto the rocks, and rolled in a bright patch of Earth- light. F^rst one on top, then the other, they rolled, unheeding, the brink. Here, beyond the midway ledge which held the camp, it was a sheer drop of a thousand feet, on down to the crater- floor. The figures were rolling; then one shook himself loose, rose up, seized the other and, with a desperate lunge, shoved him — The victorious figure 'drew back to safety. The other fell, hurtling down into the shadows past the camp-level — down out of sight in the darkness of the crater-floor. , Snap, who was in the group near Grantline at the windows, gasped. "God I Was that Gregg Haljan who fell?" No one could say. No one answered. Outside, on the camp-ledge, another helmeted figure now became visible. It was not far from the main building when Grantline first noticed it. It was running fast, bounding toward the spider-staircase. 1 It began mounting. And now still another figure became visible — the giant Martian again. He appeared from around the corner of the main Grantline building. He evi- dently saw the winner of the combat on the cliff, who now was standing in the Earthlight, gazing down. And he saw, too, no doubt, the second figure mount- ing the stairs. He stood quite near the window through which Grantline and his men were gazing, with his back to the building, looking up to the summit Then he ran with tremendous leaps to- ward the ascending staircase. Was it Haljan standing up there on the summit? Who was it climbing the staircase ? And was the third figure Miko? Grantline's mind framed the ques- tions. But his attention was torn from them, and torn even from the swift si- lent; drama outside. The corridor wu ringing with shouts. "We're imprisoned I Can't get outl Was Haljan killed? The brigands art outside 1" And then an interior audiphont blared a call for Grantline. Someone in the instrument room of the adjoin- ing building was talking: "Commander, I ti-ied the telescope to see who got killed — " But he did not Bay who got killed, for he had greater news. "Commander I The brigand ship I" Miko's reinforcements from Man had come. ) CHAPTER XXV I The Combat on the Crater-top NOT Wilks, but Coniaton! Hit drawling, British voice: "You, Gregg Haljan I How 1 ' nice I" His voice broke off as he jerked hk arm from me. My hand with the bullet- BRIGANDS OF THE MOON 203 projector came up, but with a sweep- ing blow he struck my wrist. The weapon dropped to the rocks. I fought instinctively, those first mo- ments; my mind was whirling with the ■bock of surprise. This was not Wilks, but" the brigand Coniston.' His blow wrenched him around. Awkward, fighting in the air-puffed suits, with only a body-weight of some thirty pounds I Coniston stumbled over the rocks. I had still scarce recovered my wits, but I avoided his outflung arms, and, stooping, tried to recover my revolver. It lay nearby. But Coniston followed my scrambling steps and fell uponjne. My foot struck the weapon; it slid away and fell down a crag into ■ sir-foot pit. We locked together, and when I rose erect he had me around the middle. His voice jangled with broken syllables in my receiver. "Do for you now, Haljan — " It was an eery combat. We swayed, ■having, kicking, wrestling. His hold tround my middle shut off the Erentz circulation; the warning buzz rang in my ears to mingle with the rasp of his curses. I flung him off, and my tiny Erentz motors recovered. He staggered ■way, but in a great leap came at me again. " I was taller, heavier and far stronger than Coniston. But I found him crafty, ind where I was awkward in handling my lightness, he seemed more skil- fully agile. 1J3ECAME aware that we were on the twenty-foot square grid of the observatory platform. It had a low octal railing. We surged against it. I caught a dizzying glimpse of the abyss. <*>-Then it receded as we bounced the other way. And then we fell to the fid. His helmet bashed against mine, ■rising as though butting with the side of his head to puncture my visor- psneL His gloved fingers were trying t* rip at the fabric around my throat. As we regained our feet, I flung him off, and bounded, like a diver, head-first into him. He went backward, but skil- fully kept his feet, gripped me again and shoved me. I was tottering at the head of the staircase — falling. But I clutched at him.