"Why, with fifty warriors, armed with zetbais, he intends making an attack upon Terra. He hopes to conquer our mother orb." Popham gave a faint cry of derision. "Why; if that rascal ever landed on our planet," said he, "he and his warriors would be captured out of hand and turned over to some museum for exhibition purposes. If _I_ happened to be around at the time of their capture," he finished angrily, "I would send every last one of them into mines that are mines. I’d make them toil with their four hands until they wore them off at the wrists. Gad, but that would be a revenge worth having!" "This is not a time to think of revenge, Mr. Popham," spoke up the professor, more in sorrow than rebuke. "We have our planet to consider, and, next to the planet, ourselves." "Our planet is big enough to take care of itself," averred Markham. "Leave that out of the question, professor, and confine your attention to some way in which we can better our condition." "The danger that threatens Earth is greater than you appear to imagine," went on Quinn. "For whatever happened to our home-star because of King Gaddbai and his astounding plans of conquest, I should be responsible. The thought weighs upon me and will give me no rest. The king must be foiled." "How does he intend to reach the Earth?" asked Markham. "By means of our car." "Is that in usable condition?" came joyously from Popham. "So far as I can discover, it lies intact at the bottom of the crater on whose rim we landed. There is no reason why the car cannot be employed for a return to Terra; but," and here the professor’s words became emphatic, "it shall not be so employed by King Gaddbai and his army of conquest. I shall prevent that at all hazards." "How?" came hoarsely from the three ex-millionaires. "By destroying the car, as a last resort and when other means fail," was the calm rejoinder. "You would not dare!" breathed Popham. "You would not have the heart to take from us our sole means of escape!" added Markham. "Madman!" ground out Meigs. "If I really thought that you would destroy our only means of salvation, I’d——" "You wouldn’t do a thing, Meigs," I chimed in. "Whatever the professor thinks best to do is going to be done, and no two ways about it." "I don’t want to destroy the car," continued the professor, unmoved by this storm he had aroused, "if other means can be made to serve. And I may say that we shall exhaust every effort to make other means serve. I feel that it is my duty to return you gentlemen to the place from whence you were taken. I have not accomplished what I had hoped to do, but it is better to be disappointed in that rather than to let King Gaddbai get away in the car with his fifty warriors." "Certainly it is your duty to send us back," said Meigs, "and you should consider that duty before anything and everything else." "Exactly!" seconded Popham, "and we must take Gilhooly with us. If one goes, all must go."