voice. "The servants are to know nothing, and no one present here must breathe a word of it." He paused a moment. "No one has anything to say? Very well. Instead of having coffee served in the library, we shall dispense with that formality and proceed at once to the observatory."

It was not long before we were gathered in the dome-ceilinged room in one of the peaked towers, where Henry carried on his astronomical observations. I was in an exultant mood, not because we were to be let in on a great secret, but rather on account of Pat. My heart sang with glee, and I suppressed a desire to whistle and whoop; and I thanked my stars that McGinity was up to his favorite tricks again. Unwittingly, by his telephone call, I felt sure he had forestalled the announcement of Pat's engagement to the Prince.

Henry constituted himself both host and lecturer. Pat and the Prince seemed quite happy together again, their little tilt at the dinner table apparently forgotten. But the evening had not progressed very far before I was again struck by the curious mixture of impudence and rashness in the Prince. I wondered...The Prince whistled. "Well, somebody's going dotty," he said. "That's all I've got to say. It's too utterly absurd--impossible."

"But it is possible," Henry said. "Radio has made it technically possible. Radio has successfully bridged the hitherto impassable sidereal abyss between earth and Mars--annihilated space."

"I'm not an authority on radio," the Prince grumbled.

"Every American schoolboy knows with what tremendous velocity radio spins round the earth, seven and one-half times in one second," Henry went on. "Now, we know it jumps from planet to planet. Its echo actually has come back to us from outside the orbit of the moon."

"I dare say the Martians have been listening in to our short wave broadcasts, symphony orchestras and jazz?" the Prince remarked. "Am I right?"

"Quite," answered Henry.

"Nevertheless," said the Prince, "I've read on good authority that our short waves can't possibly penetrate the outer layer of the earth's atmosphere, and so reach outer space. However, tell us what you and Mr. Olinski have discovered."

"And remember," Olinski broke in, "no one is to breathe a word of this to any one but the five of us who already know of it."

"Except to this reporter, 

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