"Yeh, and he wasn't afraid to fight!" Sime added admiringly. "When he came charging out of those ships with his gang of monarchists, swords flashing, it was a pretty sight to see. And when they closed in on that gang of cheap politicians! Talk about rats in a corner!" "The prince can fight with his brains as well as with his sword." Sira submitted. "The whole thing would have been hopeless, if he hadn't invented the detonating ray that disposed of the warships. You remember those heavy explosions, shortly after we dropped in the hall, as one might say? Those were the last of them." A silence fell between them, and Sime was now conscious of the fragile-seeming, so deceiving beauty of this Martian girl. Something had come between them, stripped away the masculine frankness that had existed during their short and dangerous time together. Perhaps it was the softly revealing drape of the thread-of-gold robe she was wearing--true queenly garb, donned by her for the first time. "There is one requirement that Joro insists on," Sira said in a low voice. "What's that?" asked Sime, marveling that such transparently pink fingers should handle a sword so well. "He says that I must choose a mate, to insure the stability of the royal house." * * * * * It seemed to Sime that this announcement gave him a pang out of all proportion. "That should be easy," he managed. "Every Martian is crazy about you." "He may not be a Martian. He must be a man of Earth," Sira stated firmly. "Is that so?" Sime asked, genuinely surprised. "Why does Joro insist on that?" "It is not Joro who insists. It is myself." Sime found himself looking into eyes filled with shy pleading. He could not, would not, for all of the solar system, have committed the unpardonable affront of rejecting the love so frankly offered. And yet he did not know how to accept this miracle. He did it clumsily, haltingly disclosing the secret recesses of his own heart and what had transpired there since the night he had taken the knife away from her and kissed her. * * * * * End of Project Gutenberg's The Martian Cabal, by Roman Frederick Starzl