"That you knew her to have been buying slaves, yet you let her go free, instead of turning her over to the constituted authorities?" "But she--" "Answer yes or no: is it true?" "Yes, but--" "'Buts' have no place in this committee, Shane!" The Earth delegate swung about. "My fellow-members. I am ashamed to confess that this renegade came from Earth. Now, as Earth delegate, the least I can do to atone is to demand, in the name of Earth, that he be placed under arrest as a slaver; and that the _Chonyas_ whom he leads be expelled from the Federation, placed outside the protection of its laws, and subjected to an immediate punitive campaign by the Federation fleet to destroy their sovereignty and reduce them to the status of wards of the Federation!" * * * * * For the fraction of a second, silence echoed. Then the great room exploded into a cacophony of hate, a tumult of affirmation: "Yes, yes--!" "Seize him!" "Jail him!" "Burn him down!" Two uniformed _Fantays_ and the Mercurian from the door rushed towards Shane. The Earthman stood as if frozen in his tracks. Then, explosively, he leaped backward, twisting, and of a sudden the light-pistol that had swung at his hip was in his hand. "Who dares to seize me?" The _Fantays_, the Mercurian, stopped short. Blue eyes contemptuous, cold as death, Shane looked from them to the delegates ... the chairman. "I'm going out now," he said. No answer came ... no comment or sound save that of the crowd's loud, nervous breathing. "I'm going," he repeated savagely. "I'm going because the Federation holds knaves and fools enough that decent men no longer dare feel safe within it. The truth finds a graveyard here, and justice hangs in chains. Better to fight you and the slavers both than count on your weak-kneed aid. From this moment on, the _Chonyas_ will carve their own way." Not one of them would meet his eyes. "No comments, no arguments?" The Earthman laughed sourly; he brought up the light-gun in a gesture that held at once both menace and defiance. "Then I'll leave you now. You may follow me--if you dare!" Boldly, not even glancing back, he strode out of the room. CHAPTER VIII "This is the place," the Chonya said. "This is where the silver woman came." Shane studied the structure. It was a house--a sort of fortress-dwelling in the ancient _Fantay_ style, set a hundred feet from its nearest neighbor. Even in the semi-darkness of the early Martian night it looked old, mouldering old. Light from Phobos and Deimos, the tiny moons that raced across the sky overhead, glinted on the bosses that studded the great iridium-alloy door, and the weathered walls of _lyndyse_ stone rose sheer and blank and forbidding to the second floor. Even there, the windows showed as narrow streaks of yellow light, criss-crossed with heavy bars.