and the
rudder-tail behind them. Flexible 'planes and tail, responding to
Georg's grip on the controls.

Fluttering, uncertain at first, like a huge bird of quivering wings,
they began their incline descent. A spiral, then Georg opened it to a
straight glide northward--rushing downward and onward through the
starlight, in a wind of their own making which fluttered the light
fabric of Maida's robe and tossed her waves of hair about her.

A long, silent glide, with only the rush of wind. It seemed hours, while
the girl did not speak and Georg anxiously searched the sky ahead.
Underneath them, the dark forests were slipping past; but inexorably
coming upward. They were down to 5,000 feet; then Georg saw at last what
he had hoped, prayed for, but almost despaired of. A beam of light to
the northward--the spreading beam of an oncoming patrol. It was high
overhead; but it came forward fast. A sweeping, keenly searching beam,
and finally it struck them. Clung to them.

And presently the big patrol vessel was almost above them. It hung
there, a dark winged shape dotted with colored lights. A signal flash--a
sharp command to Georg, but, of course, he could not answer. Then the
Director's finder picked him out. The _volan_ was fluttering, spiralling
slowly as Georg struggled to hold his place.

And then the patrol launched its tender. It came darting down like a
wasp. A moment more, and Georg and Maida were taken aboard it. The
_volan_ fluttered to the forest unguided and was lost in the black
treetops, now no more than a thousand feet below.

Surrounded by amazed officials, Maida and Georg entered the patrol
vessel. Georg Brende, escaped safely from Tarrano! The Brende secret
released from Tarrano's control! The Director flashed the news to
Washington and to Great London. Orders came back. A score of other
vessels of this Patrol-Division came dashing up--a convoy which soon was
speeding northward to Washington with its precious messenger.

CHAPTER XI

_Recaptured_

In Washington during those next few days, events of the Earth, Venus and
Mars swirled and raged around Georg as though he were engulfed in the
Iguazu or Niagara. Passive himself at first--a spectator merely; yet he
was the keystone of the Earth Council's strength. The Brende secret was
desired by the publics of all three worlds. Even greater than its real
value as a medical discovery, it swayed the popular mind.

Tarrano possessed the Brende secret