Part 3 (1/2)

”And our inter-planetary friend?”

”Well, I don't know about his soul, Chief, but his body isn't around anywhere. I guess it just turned into steam with the rest of the house. A lot of women are going to be sad as h.e.l.l.”

I saw the Chief's fists clenched on the desk. He was still taut from the strain of the last few hours. Finally he reached for the silver cigarette box on his desk. His fingers jerked crazily as he put a cigarette in his mouth. He pa.s.sed the box to me. I took one and started fumbling in my pockets for a match. The Chief snapped open the top of his big desk lighter, and held it over to me. I put the cigarette into the flame and drew deeply. The flame was at least three inches high. The Chief leaned forward, his eyes riveted on me. There was a queer, expectant look on his face. I stared back at him, puzzled. Finally he snapped the lighter shut, and turned to the wall.

”It's all right, boys,” he said.

A door with grille-work along the front opened up. I saw Joe Evans and Tom Hardy and Jim Reid standing there with tommy guns, pointed right at my head.

The Chief laughed at my expression of bewilderment.

”I wasn't taking any chances, Nat. You can't afford to in a situation like this. No matter how sure you are, you can't gamble the whole future of your own world. I wanted to be d.a.m.ned certain that you really were Nat Brown, and not His Excellency's humble servant from the planet Venus. If you had flinched so much as one eyelash, Nat, when I held that lighter up to your face, three tommy guns would have opened up on you--all at one and the same time.”

I felt suddenly limp. I uttered a long audible whistle of relief.

The Chief's voice was low and solemn. ”Think what we've escaped, Nat--think how close he came to getting loose on our world!”

I took the letter out and threw it on his desk. ”After you read this, Chief, you'll appreciate it a little more. The last paragraph is mine.

I picked up the letter while the boys were loading the TNT down in the bas.e.m.e.nt.”

While the Chief was reading the letter I got up and looked at the map of the United States behind him. Each of the colored pinheads had names printed on them. Grouped around Silver Springs, Maryland, were two pins. One was labeled ”Chief.” The other was labeled ”Nat Brown.”

I turned to the Chief. ”I wish you would do one thing for me.”

”I'll do anything for you.”

”Instead of calling us 'Chief' and 'Nat Brown,' call us 'Excellency'

and 'Your Humble Servant.'”

The Chief chuckled. ”There has never been any humor on that board, and by G.o.d, it's high time there was.” He rang the buzzer. ”Mrs. Sperling, change the 'Chief' and 'Nat Brown' pins to 'Excellency' and 'Your Humble Servant.'”