d were not many--only six in all. Most of them you
knew, Master Leithgow, these men who constituted the cream of Earth's
scientific ability. Professor Estapp, the good-looking young American;
Dr. Swanson, the Swede; Master Scientist Cram--the great English genius
Cram, already legendary, the only other of that rank beside yourself;
Professor Geinst, the hunchbacked, mysterious German; and Dr.
Norman--Dr. Sir Charles Esme Norman, to give him his English title. I
wanted these men, and I got them! All except you, the sixth!"

* * * * *

Again Dr. Ku Sui smiled in triumph. To Eliot Leithgow his smile was
unspeakable.

"Yes," the elderly scientist cried out, "you got them, you murderer!"

"Oh, no, no, Master Leithgow, you are mistaken. I did not kill them. Why
should I be stupid as to do that? To these men I wanted so badly? No,
no. Because these five scientists disappeared from Earth suddenly,
without trace, without hint of the manner of their going, the stupid
Earthlings believe they were killed! Stupid Earthlings! Abducted, of
course; but why assume they were killed? And why, of all people, decide
that Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow had something to do with their
disappearance? I confess to having planted that evidence pointing to
you, but if they had the sense of a turnip they would know that you were
incapable of squashing a flea, let alone destroying five eminent
brothers in science! You, jealous, guilty of five _crimes passionel!
Pour le science!_ Credulous Earthlings! Incredible Earthlings! And here
are you, a hunted man with a price on your head!

"So for ten years you have thought I murdered those five men? No, no.
They were very much alive for eight years and very troublesome
prisoners. It took me eight years to solve the problem I had set myself.

"You will meet them in a minute--the better part of them. You'll see for
yourself that they are very usefully alive. For I succeeded completely
with them. _I have sealed my power!_"

His silk pajamalike clothing rustled loud in the strained silence as he
turned to the screen behind him. For some obscure reason the perfume
about him, flowers of tsin-tsin, seemed to grow in their nostrils.

"Observe!" he said, and lifted it aside. An assistant threw a switch on
a nearby panel. The unnatural quiet in the laboratory was resumed.

"The ultimate concentration of scientific knowledge and genius! The
gateway to all power!"