a point of vantage in the shadows near his shop. This
fellow Leontardo, who was the speaker, was an agitator of the worst
sort. His arguments always were calculated to arouse the passions of his
hearers; to inflame them against the wearers of the purple. He had
nothing constructive to offer. Always he spoke of destruction; war;
bloodshed. Rudolph marveled at the patience of the red police. To-day,
these newcomers, obviously a slumming party of youngsters bent on
whatever mischief they could find, were interfering with the speaker.
The old man chuckled at the first interruption. But at signs of real
trouble he scurried into the shadows and vanished in the blackness of
first-level passages known only to himself. He knew where to find the
automatic sub-station of the Power Syndicate.

Returning to the darkness he had created in the Square, he was relieved
to find that the sounds of the fighting had subsided. Apparently most of
the wearers of the gray had escaped. He skirted the avenue of pillars
along Astor Way, feeling his way from one to another as he progressed
toward his little shop. Peering into the blackness of the square he saw
the feeble beams of several flash-lamps in the hands of the police. They
were searching for survivors of the fracas, maces and riot pistols held
ready for use. A sobbing gasp from close by set his pulses throbbing. He
crept stealthily in the direction from which the sound had come.

"Steady now," came a whispered voice. "My uncle's shop is close by.
He'll take you in. Here--let me lift you."

* * * * *

There was a shuffling on the opposite side of the pillar at which
Rudolph had halted; another grunt of pain.

"Karl!" hissed the old man. It was his nephew.

"Uncle Rudolph?" came the guarded response.

"Yes. Can I help you?"

"Quick--yes--he's fainted."

The old man was around the huge base of the column in an instant. He
groped in the darkness and his hands encountered human bodies.

"Who is it?" he breathed.

"One of the hecklers, Uncle. A young lad; and of the purple I think.
He's been knifed."

Together they dragged the inert form into the shelter of the long line
of pillars. There was a trampling of many men in the square. That would
be a second detachment of reserves. A ray of light filtered through and
dancing shadows of the giant columns made grotesque outlines against the
walls of the Way. A portable searchlight had been brought to the sc