"What insane talk! You say such things to me! Don't you know that to coordinate those brains I worked for years with a devotion, a concentration, a genius you can never hope even to comprehend? Don't you realize they're the most precious possession of the greatest surgeon and the greatest mind in the universe? Don't you understand that I've fashioned a miracle? Realize these things, then, and marvel at yourself--you who, with your gun and your egotism, think you can make me undo their wonderful coordination!" The tiger returned behind the veil, its power and fury again leashed, and Dr. Ku Sui relaxed his green eyes once more masked and enigmatic. Hawk Carse asked simply: "_Could_ you transplant the brains?" "You insist on continuing this farce?" murmured the Eurasian. "I would not be rude, but really you try my patience!" "_Could_ you transplant the brains?" Dr. Ku Sui looked at the colorless face with its eyes of ice. With a trace of irritation, he said: "Of course! What I have once transplanted, I can transplant again. But I will not do it--and my will no one, and no force, can alter. Perhaps it is clear now? In no way can you touch my will. I am sorry that I so grossly insulted you, Carse, for there are certain things about you that in a small way I respect. But here you are helpless." "Not entirely," said the Hawk. * * * * * Ku Sui leaned forward a trifle. In that moment, perhaps, he first felt real concern, for Carse's quiet voice was so confident, so assured. He attempted to sound him out. "A gun?" he asked. "Torture? Threats? These against my will? Absurd! Consider, my friend--even if I seemed to consent to the operations, could I not easily destroy the brains while ostensibly working on them?" "Of course," said Carse, with a faint smile. "And threats and torture would be absurd. Against your will, Dr. Ku, a more powerful weapon will have to be used." The Eurasian's eyes were brilliant with intuition. "Ah--I see," he murmured. "Eliot Leithgow!" "Yes, Dr. Ku!" The two gazed at each other, Carse still with the faint smile, the other with the face of a statue. Presently the adventurer went on: "Unfortunately for you, Eliot Leithgow can provide a method of compulsion neither you nor any other man could ever resist. Not guns, torture, threats--no. A subtler weapon, worthy of your fine will." As he spoke, Carse saw the Eurasian's green eyes narrow, and in the pause that followed he knew that the swift, trained mind behind those eyes was working. What would it evolve? What move? And those Chinese words, uttered out by the port-lock--what would they result in, and when? Dr. Ku Sui was concerned now, the Hawk knew, seriously concerned, and inevitably, would take serious steps. What was growing in his resourceful brain? He would have to ward off any trouble when it came, for he could not know now. He said curtly: