Page:The council of seven.djvu/147

 He was most careful to keep his own counsel in the Office. No member of the staff, not even the Planet's editor, was given an inkling of the grisly secret he had locked away. All the same, his interview with Wygram, when at leisure he came to think it over, had a sobering effect. Wygram had brought home to him that his life was in grave danger.

For the time being, therefore, Saul Hartz gave up the project of issuing a challenge to Garland's murderers. It went against the grain, for the worst enemies of the Colossus allowed him to be no coward. He had a burning desire to divulge all that he knew, but apart from motives of prudence one consideration held him back.

The cat could only have been let out of the bag at a price. That price was the loss of his right-hand man, Bennet Gage. And this, at such a moment, was not to be thought of. Already he was deeply involved in a fight with the odds heavily against him. Life itself for Saul Hartz, was one interminable strife. And now at this supreme crisis, with his back to the wall, he must have all his forces mobilized and ready to his hand.

Moreover, the interview with Wygram had brought home to the Colossus that the police, whom he heartily despised and was ever ready to defy, were far better informed than himself on this dark subject. For once the U. P. secret service, one of his own pet creations, had been outshone. He had Wygram to thank for