'd like to observe the operations, my friend, and
I'm going to allow you to. Not here--no. I could never have you
interrupting; the series of operations is of infinite delicacy and will
require weeks. But I can make other arrangements; I can give you as good
as ringside seats for each performance. A small visi-screen might be
attached to one wall of your cell to enable you to see every detail of
what transpires here." His tone suddenly stiffened. "_I wouldn't,
Carse!_"

The Hawk relaxed from the brink on which he had wavered. A sudden mad
rush--what else remained? What else? For an instant he had lost his
head--one of the several times in his whole life. Just for an instant he
had forgotten his phenomenal patience under torture, his own axiom that
in every tight place there was a way out.

"That's much safer," said Ku Sui. "Perhaps you and the black had better
return to your cell."

Certain little muscles in the Hawk's face were trembling as he turned to
go, and his feet would not work well. The ray-guns of the coolie-guards
covered his every move. Friday followed just behind.

As the adventurer came to the door he stopped and turned, and his eyes
went back to those of the frail, elderly scientist.

The doomed man met the gray eyes and their agony with a smile.

"It's all right, old comrade," he said. "Just remember to destroy this
hellish device, if you ever possibly can. My love to Sandra; and to her,
and my dear ones on Earth, anything but the truth.... Farewell."

Carse's fingernails bit each one into his palms. He hesitated; tried,
but could not speak.

"All right, Carse--you may go."

The feelingless guards nudged white man and black out, and the door
swung solidly closed behind them....

CHAPTER X

_In the Visi-Screen_

There were those among the few claiming to have any insight into the
real Hawk Carse who declared that a month went out of his life for every
minute he spent in the cell then. The story, of course, came trickling
out through various unreliable sources; we who delve in the lore of the
great adventurer have to thank for our authorities Sewell, the great
historian of that generation--who personally traveled several million
miles to get what meager facts the Hawk would divulge concerning his
life and career--equally with Friday, who shared this particular
adventure with him. Friday's emotional eyes no doubt colored his memory
of the scenes he passed through, and it is likely tha