air, in Malacon and Alexon and Adebron.

Tom Brown, vanishing into the air after his speech was done, reappeared
a few minutes later in Adebron and there the police, warned of what had
happened in Sandebar, opened fire upon him when he stood on a park bench
to address the people. But the flames passed through and did not touch
him. Tom Brown, his long white beard covering his chest, his mad eyes
flashing, stood in the fiery blast that bellowed from the muzzles of the
flame rifles and calmly talked.

* * * * *

The chief of police at New Chicago, Venus, called the police
commissioner. "There's a guy out here in the park, just across the
street. He's preaching treason. He's telling the people to overthrow the
government."

In the ground glass the police commissioner's face grew purple.

"Arrest him," he ordered the chief. "Clap him in the jug. Do you have to
call me up every time one of those fiery-eyed boys climbs a soap box?
Run him in."

"I can't," said the chief.

The police commissioner seemed ready to explode. "You can't? Why the
hell not?"

"Well, you know that hill in the center of the park? Memorial Hill?"

"What has a hill got to do with it?" the commissioner roared.

"He's sitting on top of that hill. He's a thousand feet tall. His head
is way up in the sky and his voice is like thunder. How can you arrest
anybody like that?"

* * * * *

Everywhere in the System, revolt was flaming. New marching songs rolled
out between the worlds, wild marching songs that had the note of anger
in them. Weapons were brought out of hiding and polished. New standards
were raised in an ever-rising tide against oppression.

Freedom was on the march again. The right of a man to rule himself the
way he chose to rule. A new declaration of independence. A Solar Magna
Carta.

There were new leaders, led by the old leaders. Led by spirits that
marched across the sky. Led by voices that spoke out of the air. Led by
signs and symbols and a new-born courage and a great and a deep
conviction that right in the end would triumph.

* * * * *

Spencer Chambers glared at Ludwig Stutsman. "This is one time you went
too far."

"If you'd given me a free hand before, this wouldn't have been
necessary," Stutsman said. "But you were soft. You made me go easy when
I should have ground them down. You left the way open for all sorts of
plot