rror at their plans had been evident, much as he had tried to
conceal it! Their secret police were already functioning! Undoubtedly
one of them, eavesdropping at the door of his apartment, had overheard
his remarks to his wife, which he had made little effort to subdue. And
now that he was in the enemy's power, he would have no chance to thwart
or reveal their schemes!

Contemplatively he gazed about his jail. Bare walls! a bare floor! Not a
tool by which he might attempt to escape! The prisoner felt in his
pockets--even his knife had been taken from him. He thought of his
wife--and knew that she would be growing frantic. Yet, though he
realized that the odds against him were thousands to one, he would not
let himself despair. For a long while he leaned meditatively against a
wall, his brows wrinkled, his glance withdrawn, as he pondered, pondered
over ways and means to surmount his barriers. For upon his escape, he
knew, the world's freedom depended.

* * * * *

It was with the air of a beaten dog that, one afternoon in early August,
Hogarth came slouching into his mahogany-paneled headquarters in the
twenty-two-story office building he had recently appropriated.

As July turned into August, the earth's movements had become more
erratic than ever. Even to the naked eye, the sun's disk had grown
appreciably smaller. The Antarctic cold had begun to lay a white blanket
over jungles beneath the Equator; while already the trees of the eastern
United States had taken on the hues of October. No one who lived through
those disconsolate days will forget the tragic aspect of our cities:
thoroughfares almost deserted, and only an occasional business house
still open; a handful of people passing, with wan features and drooping
heads; and only one question on any one's lips, "When, when will it
end?"

With the haste of panic, Hogarth, Wiley and Malvine had been granted
everything they asked. They had been placed in control of all natural
resources, all factories and railways, all armies and navies. They had
been given _carte blanche_ with the earth. All other rulers took orders
from them. They were, as they had aimed to be, universal dictators. This
tremendous power had been granted them, so that they might save us all,
as they had promised. Then why did they not save us? men asked,
chattering with cold and terror.

They might have had their answer had they seen Hogarth sagging into his
office