is hand.

"He had a report ready to send off," said Bell grimly. "I read it.
It's in code, of course, but in the Trade...."

He set to work savagely on the engine, reassembling it. As he worked,
he talked in savage, jerky sentences.

"The Service man at Asuncion. One of the seven who vanished. He'd
learned more than we have. He was caught--poisoned, of course--and
pretended to surrender. Told a great deal that he shouldn't, in order
to convince The Master's deputy. The key men in nearly every republic
in South America are in The Master's power. Paraguay belongs to him,
body and soul. Bolivia is absolutely his. Every man of the official
class from the President down knows that he has two weeks or less of
sanity if The Master's deputy shuts down on him--and he knows that at
the crook of the deputy's finger he'll be assassinated before then. If
they run away, they go murder mad. If they stay, they have to obey
him. It's hellish!"

* * * * *

He stopped talking to make a fine adjustment. He went on, somberly.

"Chile's not so bad off, but the deputy has slaves nearly everywhere.
Ecuador--well, the President and half of Congress have been poisoned.
The man I found was trying to get a sample of the poison for analysis.
He'd learned it was unstable. Wouldn't keep. The Master has to send
fresh supplies constantly all over the continent. That accounts for
the deputies remaining loyal. If The Master had reason to suspect
them, he had only to stop their supply.... They couldn't stock up on
the deadly stuff for their own use. So they're as abjectly subject to
The Master as their slaves are to them. No new slaves are to be made
in Paraguay or Bolivia, except when necessary. It's believed that in
six months the other republics will have every influential man
subjected. Every army officer, every judge, every politician, every
outstanding rich man.... And then, overnight, South America will
become an empire, with that devil of a Master as its overlord."

He lifted one of the oil pumps in place and painstakingly tightened
the bolts that held it.

"Picture it," he said grimly. "Beasts as viceroys, already taking
their pleasure. Caligulas, Neros, on viceregal thrones all over the
continent.... And every man who shows promise, or shows signs of honor
or courage or decency, either killed or sent mad or...."

* * * * *

Paula was watching his face closely.

"I think,