ce, obviously in the belief that they
were beyond dispute and needed to be acted on at once. There was
competition among these orators. Some had bands of supporters around
them to aid their effectiveness by applause and loud agreement. Soames
saw, too, at least one hilarious group of college-age boys who might
have been organized by a college humor magazine. They waved cardboard
signs. "_Space-Monsters Go Home!_"

The unattended monitor set, placed around some corner in a corridor,
gave out an excellently modulated reproduction of the program going on
the air. An Italian physicist asked questions about the qualifications
of such young children as space navigators. Soames listened
abstractedly. He knew unhappily that if the children weren't convincing
as visitors from space, they'd be much less plausible in their true
roles as fugitives out of time.

* * * * *

The collegians surged here and there, making a demonstration in favor of
mirth. There were also youthful members of less innocuous groups,
swaggering, consciously ominous members of organizations known as the
Maharajas and the Comets and the Toppers. Members of these groups eyed
members of other such groups with challenging, level gazes.

Voices harangued. Collegians attempted to sing what must have seemed to
them a deliciously satirical song. But it did not please the
non-collegian Maharajas or Comets or the Toppers.

A Russian scientist took over on the broadcast. He had been flown to the
United States especially for the occasion. He asked elaborate and
carefully loaded questions. They had been prepared as propaganda
stumpers by people who in their way were as skilled in public relations
as the producers of this show. Linda Beach applied the charm which had
sold soap, vitamins, automobiles and dessicated soup. Soames heard the
exchanges from the monitor set.

Outside, in the street, a brick suddenly fell among the collegians. More
bricks fell among those engaged in an impromptu meeting of Humanity
Firsters. Police whistles blew. A plate-glass window crashed. A
collegian suddenly had a bloody face and a flying wedge of Maharajas
scornfully cut through the formerly singing group, wielding belts and
bludgeons for the honor of having started a riot on 57th Street. They
fought past the college crowd and into a band of the Comets. There they
found a rumble ready-made. Haranguing orators found themselves jostled.
Fights broke out a