Father had stopped. "I think we'll go back." He drew me aside. "It's only curiosity taking us here--we know what Graff will say to the people. The Garland government will decide against us to-morrow. The time is short, Peter--if we're going to do anything." Father lowered his voice. "Look here, I want to get you three alone--without the girls. We'll have to try something desperate. Peter, if we let Graff get away from us--if he gets to earth--whatever we do, we ought to try it to-night." I drew him along. Good old father--he would have plunged into the most desperate adventure with us. It went against me to let him down, but I thought it best. "Let's go--just a little while. And Kean is to meet us--right ahead here, at the entrance." A Braun went sailing by with a menacing, derisive shout; but father did not notice him. I called to Dan and Freddie; warned them with a significant word and glance. They joined their urging to mine, and father yielded. We went on. The crowd began pressing around us as we approached the stadium gate. Out of the moonlight Kean came sailing at us; landed lightly beside me. Dan and Freddie crowded up. I whispered: "It's all right, Kean?" "Yes. They are remove most of the guards to atten' the meeting here. I will get you seated, then go back and see how it is. In half an hour, we will be ready to try it." Father approached us. "You coming with us, Kean? The Garlands are hostile; I've never seen anything like it. Have you heard from the border?" "No," said Kean. "Something is wrong. No Brauns have left. There are many, oh, ver' many, around here in Garla to-night--" Freddie asked: "You seen Graff? Where is he now?" "Inside," Kean gestured. "On the upper platform leap. The woman Brea is with him--and many Brauns." He whispered aside to me. "Are you guarding Zetta well? When we leave, only the professor will be with her and Hulda, so I order' your insects to come--yes, here is one." An insect appeared upright at our elbows. Then another. Kean told father he had ordered them. "Good," said father. "Tell them to stay close to Zetta. But we'll be with her anyway." * * * * * The stadium was a great moonlit area on the tree-top surface. A high wall of latticed boards surrounded it. We passed through a gate. Inside, banks of seats swung around a great circle. They were jammed with people--tiers of seats, one above the other, with giant projecting trees serving as uprights to hold them. The branches, too, were crowded. Upon a thick vine, swinging like a cable across one end, men clung like flies, dark blobs in the moonlight. The seats everywhere seemed built in disorderly array, banked high or low according to the contour of the growing vegetation. At intervals around the outer circumference small jumping platforms were set. They were all black with people.