"Also, he or any other Osnomian scientist would go to any lengths whatever--would challenge the great First Cause itself--to secure even one of those little bottles of the chemical you call 'salt.' It is far and away the scarcest and most precious substance in the world. It is so rare that those bottles you produced at the table held more than the total amount previously known to exist upon Osnome. We have great abundance of all the heavy metals, but the lighter metals are rare. Sodium and chlorin are the rarest of all known elements. Its immense value is due, not to its rarity, but to the fact that it is an indispensable component of the controlling instruments of our wireless power stations and that it is used as a catalyst in the manufacture of our hardest metals. "For these reasons, you understand why Nalboon does not intend to let you escape and why he intends that this kokam (our equivalent of a day) shall be your last. About the second or third kam (hour) of the sleeping period he intends to break into the Skylark, learn its control, and secure the salt you undoubtedly have in the vessel. Then my party and myself will be thrown to the kolon. You and your party will be killed and your bodies smelted to recover the salt that is in them. This is the warning I had to give you. Its urgency explains the use of my untried mechanical educator; the hope that my party could escape with yours, in your vessel, explains why you saw me, the Kofedix of Kondal, prostrate myself before that arch-fiend Nalboon." "How do you, a captive prince of another nation, know these things?" asked Crane, doubtfully. "I read Nalboon's ideas from the brain of that officer whom the Karfedix Seaton killed. He was a ladex of the guards--an officer of about the same rank as one of your colonels. He was high in Nalboon's favor, and he was to have been in charge of the work of breaking into the Skylark and killing us all. Let me caution you now; do not let any Mardonalian touch our hands with a wire, for if you do, your thoughts will be recorded and the secrets of the Skylark and your many other mysterious things, such as smoking, matches, and magic feats, will be secrets no longer." "Thanks for the information," responded Seaton, "but I want to correct your title for me. I'm no Karfedix--merely a plain citizen." "In one way I see that that is true," replied the Kofedix with a puzzled look. "I cannot understand your government at all--but the inventor of the Skylark must certainly rank as a Karfedix." As he spoke, a smile of understanding passed over his face and he continued: "I see. Your title is Doctor of Philosophy, which must mean that you are the Karfedix of Knowledge of the Earth." "No, no. You're way off. I'm...." "Certainly Seaton is the Karfedix of Knowledge," broke in DuQuesne. "Let it go at that, anyway, whatever it means. The thing to do now is to figure a way out of this."