The Master Conclave was again assembled, for the fourth and last day, its members well-watered, and well satisfied with themselves.
The Speaker said, standing on the rostrum where Olduk had stood four days before, "I want to make a short talk, and call for a standing vote.
"Earth has water again. We acquired it by a simple trick, that of dishonesty. I was fully to blame. Men are now at work in the Maracot Deep, in super-tension ships raising the Martian ship to the surface. There is no reason to doubt that a means to destroy the mechanism that caused so much trouble will be found. We won't have to keep our agreement with the Martians. I want to know if this action of mine meets with your approval."
The entire body stood to its feet.
"We were forced to it," the Japanese Governor said to the assembly at large.
The Speaker waved them to their seats again. "I did not call for a standing vote, yet. I have more to say before I ask for your filial decision."
He resumed carefully, giving each word its proper significance.
"The Old Duck was a Martian—but in body he was not a Martian. He told us that. He had been changed with 'sundry operations,' so that he could live in this climate, so different from that of Mars. Air pressure, oxygen content, moisture, content gravity. To each he was acclimated by surgical operations.
"Yes," continued the Speaker, something catching in his voice, "he was changed in such a way that the terrific amount of moisture in the atmosphere of the Earth could be taken care of by his body. In order to make that possible, his twelve-foot body was given a capacity for water proportionately three times greater than that of any Terrestrial!
"Gentlemen," said the Speaker, while an air of startled tenseness grew in the tiered seats, "Olduk died of thirst."