our people who has
brains enough to understand what I tell them about the outer earth. It
is they who are weak-minded; not you!"

But she sadly shook her head.

"It would never do for you to sponsor me," said she, "for it would
alienate my one friend in power, Dolf. He loves me; no, don't scowl,
for I do not love him. But, for the safety of both of us, we must not
let him know of our love--yet."

"'Yet'?" exclaimed Abbot, "when you have less than a day to live?"

"You have given me hope," the girl replied, "and also an idea. Dolf
promised to appeal to the other members of the Five. I have just
thought of a good ground for his appeal; namely, my ability to
translate your clumsy description into a form suited to the high
intelligence of our superiors."

"'Clumsy'?" exclaimed the young man, a bit nettled.

"Oh, pardon me, dear. I'm so sorry," said she contritely. "I didn't
mean to let it slip. And now I must rush to Dolf and tell him my
idea."

"Don't let him make love to you, though!" admonished Abbot gloomily.

She kissed him lightly, and fled.

* * * * *

A half hour later she was back, all smiles. The idea had gone across
big. Dolf, as the leader of the projected expedition, had demanded
that Milli be brought along as liaison officer between them and their
guide; and the other four committeemen had reluctantly acceded. The
execution was accordingly indefinitely postponed.

The young couple spent the evening making happy plans for their life
together on the outer earth, for as soon as they should arrive in
America, Dolf would have no further hold over them.

The next day, the Committee of Five announced that, for a change, they
were going to give George Abbot an intelligence test. He had
represented himself as being one of the scientists of the outer earth;
accordingly, they could gauge the caliber of his fellow countrymen by
determining his I. Q.

Milli was quite agitated when this program was announced, but the
ordeal held no terrors for George Abbot. Had he not taken many such
tests on earth and passed them easily?

So he appeared before the Committee of Five with a rather cocky air.
He had yet to see an intelligence test too tricky for him to eat
alive.

"Start him with something easy," suggested Dolf. "Perhaps they don't
have tests on the outer earth. You know, one gains a certain facility
by practice."

"Milli didn't, in spite of all the practicing which you gav