p and
advice so much, sir. You've been almost like a second father to me."
This was honest--he liked Philander now more than ever.

The look on the elder's face, too, defied description, but that he was
secretly pleased was evident.

"Well, run along then, and I'll get at that letter. Meanwhile get your
things packed, so you'll be ready to leave when the ship comes. And
George, my boy, I do hope you come back. It'll be mighty lonely here
without you."

"I'll certainly do my best to get back, sir. Goodnight, and thanks
again ... for everything."

Hanlon hated that seeming lie, and as he walked slowly back to his room
he determined to get the man away from those plotters, and into a better
and more legitimate position.

He would certainly so recommend to the Secret Service High Command after
this mess was cleaned up.

The next days Hanlon spent almost his entire shift-time underground
talking earnestly to Geck.

"I want to impress on the minds of you and all the natives here that
I'll be working my hardest for them every minute I'm gone," he said
impressively. "Don't let them do anything foolish unless or until it
becomes completely sure that I've failed. If I can do anything at all,
it should be within a quarter year after I leave, and probably much
sooner. If I succeed, you'll all be free, and these men either chased
off your planet or killed."

"All we understand, An-yon. We know you are true friend, know you want
to help us. We will keep working, make no attempts to escape. We know if
do we just be killed, or hunted and caught again. Condition of we before
you come so bad we had come to feel only end for us be death of race.
Now you bring hope. Now we know most humans good people, so we wait in
hope you soon succeed."

"That's the spirit. I know it's tough on all of you, but I also know
what the Inter-Stellar Corps is, and what they can and will do when they
learn of your plight."

He linked his mind with Geck's as the latter telepathed the natives in
other parts of the planet, and was thus enabled to get final
descriptions of what they could tell of what was being done at each mine
and factory and shipyard. He knew exactly how many ships had been built
or were under construction, and approximately how far along the hulls of
the big ones were completed. He was also able to get a very good general
knowledge of the size and structural description of each type of vessel.

But of their armaments or propulsi