you."
The carriage started forward again. A half-hour later it stopped once more.
"You may get up now," Gamoll said. "We're going inside. Stay close to me."
"Buckmaster was not surprised when he alighted and found himself near a side door to the General's private residence."
"I don't get all this," Buckmaster said. "You've had me here for six days now, and I've only seen you twice. Why should the General's son be hiding me?"
"Quite simple. I don't like his methods, or his government, any more than you do. Oliver knew that when he sent his message to me asking for help."
"Do you mean to say that you'd help us kill your own father?"
"As to that," Gamoll said, "if you'll notice, my hair and eyes are brown."
"So?"
"Koski's eyes and my mother's are blue. You probably know that it is genetically impossible for two-blue-eyed people to have a brown-eyed son."
"Then you're not his son?" Buckmaster was silent for a minute. "That's why you took the name of your mother's other husband," he mused. "If you remember, when the law was passed that each woman must have two husbands, the General set the example by marrying a woman who already had a husband. He knows that I am not his son biologically, but I am legally, and I have full inheritance rights. He was too smart--as well as legally exact--to disown me."
"That means you'd automatically become the government head if the General died?"
"Yes. But you're wrong if you think that I am doing this from any selfish motive. If I succeed, I'll institute a democratic form of government at my first opportunity."
"I'll wait until I see it," Buckmaster answered cynically. "But if it's true, are your ideals strong enough to help us kill him?"
"For the first time Gamoll seemed uncertain of himself. "Why is it necessary to kill him, especially now that Wagner is dead? We both know that Wagner did the actual ruling. And the General is an old man, without much longer to live. We'll win if we do no more than stand by."
"He must die--and soon!" Buckmaster exclaimed, surprised at the vehemence of the words. So vital had been the command, that he knew what he had said was true: Koski must die, in the very near future. Though he himself was not certain of the need for such urgency."
"I suppose I understand," Gamoll said, a trifle uneasily. "You have to act in self-defense. If you don't kill him, he will probably be able to kill many more of your men before he dies. But try to see his side. He is the representative of a Cause that is just--to his way of reasoning; so right and so just that he will do anything to advance it. Whatever we may think of him, his conscience is clear. I only ask you this: If you can see your way clear to attain your ends without killing him, will you let him live?"
"For another nine days Buckmaster stayed with 

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