ne's been expropriated to the
government. Now, you--off!"

The driver needed no further order from his fare. The taxi leaped into
the air and tore back toward the city. It was clear that the military
rules of Mars brooked no nonsense from the civilian population, and
that the latter were well aware of it.

"Fast work!" Sime said to himself with grudging admiration. Murray was
a trusted agent of the terrestrial government. It was he who had first
uncovered the war cabal. Sime knew his face well from the stereoscopic
service record--a bald, placid man of about forty, a bonafide
engineer, a spy with an unbroken record of success, until now. And a
fighter who asked no odds, who could manage very well on less than an
even break. Well, he was up against something now.

They passed the line of shield-ray projectors, North Tarog's first
line of defense against an attack of space, hovered over the teeming
streets and parks, and settled on the pavement at the Hotel of the
Republic. Sime wanted to go to his room and think things over.

* * * * *

From the concealment of a doorway an officer with a squad of soldiers
came up quickly.

"You are under arrest!" said the officer, placing, his hand on Sime's
shoulder, while the soldiers rested their hands on their
neuro-pistols.

"Would it be asking too much to inquire on what charge?" Sime asked
politely.

"Military arrests do not require the filing of charges," the officer
explained stiffly. "Come out of there now, Mr. Hemingway."

"I demand to see the terrestrial consul," Sime said, getting out.

"How about my fare?" asked the taxi-driver.

Sime put his hand into his pocket, where he kept a roll of
interplanetary script; but the officer restrained him.

"Never mind now," he said ironically. "You are a guest of the
government." Then to the driver he added:

"Get on, now! Get on! File your claim at the divisional office."

The driver departed, outwardly meek before the power of the military,
and Sime was hustled into an official car. He had little hope that his
demand to see the terrestrial consul would be complied with, and this
opinion was verified when the car rose into the air and sped over the
waters of the canal to South Tarog. It did not pause when it came over
the military camps there--the massive ordnance depots in which were
stored new and improved killing tools that had long been idle in that
irksome interplanetary peace.

Th