"For me," he said bitterly, "it is. Before The Master dares to make his coup public, he must be sure that there will be no foreign interference. So, he must establish a deputy in Washington. A relatively few chosen men, completely enslaved, could hold back our Government from any action. Leaders in Congress, and members of the Cabinet, working, in defense of The Master because his defeat would mean their madness.... He would demand no treason of them at first. He would require simply that he should not be interfered with. But his plans include the appointment of deputies in the United States later on. I don't think he can subdue America. I don't think so. But he could--and I think he would--send whole cities mad. And if you think of that...." * * * * * He was silent, working. A long, long time later he swung on the propeller. The motor caught. He throttled it down and watched it grimly. The motor warmed up to normal, and stayed there. "It will run," he said coldly. "Those two plugs in the crankcase may come out at any time. I've tightened them a little. They'd worked loose from the vibration. But--well.... That Service man was heading for Asuncion. He'd been found out. They probably shot him down in mid-air after he'd gotten away. His plane may be crashed anywhere in the jungle within a mile or so. And I've two bearings on the _fazenda_ where Ribiera went, now. One from Asuncion through here and one from Rio. I want to go back there to-night and dump burning gasoline on the buildings, to do enough damage to disorganize things a little. Then I'm going to try to make it to a seaport. We can stow away, perhaps." He shut off the motor. "We'll start at dusk. There'll be lights there. This report says it's nearly a city--of slaves. We want the darkness for our getaway." Paula looked at the sky. "We have three hours," she said quietly. "Let us cook and eat. You must keep up your strength, Charles." She said it in all seriousness, with the air of one who has entire confidence and is merely solicitous. And Bell, who knew of at least three excellent reasons why neither of them should survive until dawn--Bell looked at her queerly, and then grinned, and then took her in his arms and kissed her. She seemed to like it. And they lunched quite happily on _piranha_ and _pacu_--which is smaller--and drank water, and for dessert had more _piranha_. * * * * * The long afternoon wore away slowly. It was hot, and grew blistering. Insects came in swarms and tormented them until Bell built a second and larger smudge fire. But they fastened upon his flesh when he went out of its smoke for more wood.