The girl ran her eyes over his massive frame in approval; saw shoulders a yard wide, and a chest and legs that were ridged in muscles. His long arms, tanned by years of exposure to a desert sun, were those of a king gorilla. She had seen Kortha snap an iron chain with those arms; had seen him break a man's back, and other things. Well did Ilse know the strength of Kortha, and the fact that she carried a heatgun in her cloak was mute evidence that she had knowledge of his mad, flare-hot temper. Ilse sighed, "You could rule the Confederacy if you would." "And own gems to garland your hair, and furs to swathe your body," he said. His green eyes belied his voice: they drank up the sight of Ilse and her red mouth and her platinum hair as a miser drinks up the sight of his yellow gold. "You idiot," she whispered. "You man-killing, tempestuous idiot! Zut forgive me, but I love you." * * * * * She straightened; faced him fully, eyes unwavering. "They sent me to you, knowing that you might kill another. They--we need you, Kortha. Hurlgut lies on his back, unable to move. You put him there; you and those terrible arms of yours. But Hurlgut forgave you long ago. You know that! But you don't know-- "You don't know that Guantra keeps him there, with green _bessa_-mead and white women to amuse him, to make him forget that he rules Mars!" Kortha started, and his lips drew back from his large white teeth, like the snarl of a hungry leopard. Deep in his corded throat a curse rumbled. "Guantra. I remember him. An evil smell of a thing!" "Guantra aspires to power. He has had himself declared Premier of the Council. He wants to turn Mars over to the victors in the Earth-Venus war, with himself as sole power on Mars. He plays politics like a master, does Guantra. Mars, with its rich ore-beds and mines--Mars, the prize of a war that does not concern her. Under a united Mars, she would take her place among the planets beside Earth and Venus as members of the Council of the Trinity. Under the Confederacy, Mars could have done this. Once it was almost accepted. Then--you ran away. And the Earthmen and the Venusians who feared your brains and your body, Kortha--they revoked their acceptance." "They had agreed. I stayed that long." "They refused to go through with it. They revoked their decision. They said--they said Mars was a hotbed of trouble, that it had no competent ruler to make its decisions, and enforce them!" "Guantra," said Kortha bitterly, "wants to be that ruler. As Premier he stands an excellent chance of fulfilling his ambition." Ilse came close to him, touched his hands with hers and clung. Her blue eyes stared anxiously up to his green ones. "If you were to come back, and be that ruler," she breathed. "Kortha, Kortha, don't you see Mars needs you?"