“Another day and you will change your song,” he managed to sputter. “Until then _you_ will have the ‘privilege’ of reflecting here in comfort, while a suitable punishment is devised to repay you for your destruction of our men!” With that he turned and stamped out of the tent, followed by the other officers. The two guards viewed Robert with evident awe after this interview. Clearly they were unused to hearing their high officers abused so roundly and carelessly. Perhaps they were saying to themselves something to the effect that this Earth-being must be _some_ guy. Their one-cylinder brains were further startled here by Robert’s tumbling the dreaded stool over, preparatory to reclining upon the sandy floor. They exchanged glances uneasily. One of them started as if to object, then seemed to think better of it, relapsing again into a stupid dumbness. The afternoon sun was well down in the sky when the curious sound of distant firing of the Martians’ _hilwai_ came to Robert’s ears--the first he had heard since his capture. His heart sank as he considered the probable result of the bitter struggle which it heralded. If only that confounded engine had not failed them at the critical moment! The sounds of battle continued until after sunset, when his guards were relieved by two others whose intelligence and curiosity appeared to be about on a par with those of the first two. One of them possessed a rather remarkable, rudderlike nose which fascinated and diverted Robert for a time, to its owner’s evident discomfiture. Somehow Robert managed to pass the night in troubled dozing on his hard bed of sand, tormented by anxious thoughts of Zola. He welcomed the first flush of dawn with thanksgiving, despite his weariness. The sound of firing was resumed about this time. * * * * * Shortly after his breakfast Robert was visited by Kharnov. The ruler’s crafty features were disfigured with a scowl. He entered the tent alone, commanding his escort to remain outside. “You have returned hostility for hospitality, and the penalty shall be death,” he said. His tones fell with deadly precision, like the pronouncement of a sentence by a criminal judge. An involuntary chill swept over Robert in spite of his effort to appear unmoved. “I was but protecting a helpless girl from your unwelcome attentions,” he replied, ashamed that he could control the nervousness in his voice only by a great effort. “That you have chosen to pursue her with an army to be resisted is your own folly.” “I am not here to discuss fine points with you, sir,” returned the emperor sharply, “but to offer you a means of saving your life. You shifted your loyalty once; you can do it again. Aid my army with the _Sphere_ and you may return to your planet in peace. Refuse and suffer the consequences!” “My loyalty was and is only to the right,” retorted Robert. “Your proposition doesn’t interest me.”