“I kneel to God only,” Epworth declared vigorously. “If you wish to take up with a female murderess that is your business, but we are Americans.”
Queen Carza’s slothful eyes glittered ominously.
“The first part of the program,” she remarked as if Epworth had not spoken, “will consist of a dance by the beautiful and accomplished Moawha, formerly queen of the Selinites but now a mere dancing slave. When the dance is finished we will eat some delicate fruit gathered from the groves of her Land, and then—ah, then, my dear, I will have your feet, and the feet of these other prisoners, thrust into that smouldering fire.”
She pointed at a small stream of lava that spluttered softly over the rocky bottom of the cavern, and flowed gently into a deep hole.
Joan dropped her head to repress a cry of alarm. Was this woman an incarnate fiend that she loved to torture unto death innocent girls?
“Ah, ha! We win,” Toplinsky exclaimed as if in great admiration. “A fit mate for the greatest scientist of the earth-world. We shall get along admirably. But for the benefit of you Americans, who are going to die presently—all of you except Joan whose death I shall endeavor to have shifted to some remote period—I will say that Queen Carza and I have some great plans ahead. Already I have discovered that her people are gifted and know much science. True they do not live here but we will soon be at home with them. Then we shall first conquer the moon. I understand that there are about two million pigmies who give allegiance to Moawha. We will capture them, and make slaves of them although Carza has only an army of fifty thousand soldiers. To capture them will be easy with Moawha dead, and my knowledge of gunpowder and gas. When we have destroyed them and gained complete control over crickets and pigmies I shall turn my attention to Capitalistic America. I have always hated that country, and shall wipe it out. First I will land my exploding projectiles on the City of New York. Ah, ha, ho, ho!”
He paused and sneered evilly at Epworth, and the American felt a cold chill pass over him. As a power for evil he admitted that Toplinsky could be monstrous.
“Ah, ha, I laugh loudly! I roar with genuine amusement! I wring my hands together with great pleasure! I see consternation and terrible disaster sweep over fair America. Secure in my moon kingdom I shoot deliberately, quietly, when I will, and I direct my projectiles by radio. When I say unto myself ‘today I shall wipe out Chicago,’ that day I will do it; when I look in the glass at the faces of myself and my beloved queen and point at the map where there is now the City of St. Louis, and say, ‘I will make a huge telescope and tomorrow week you may watch that City and see it go up in smoke.’ Ah ha, it is so. I, Herman Toplinsky, the greatest man that ever lived, have said, and what I have said I have said.”
“Let the dance proceed,” Queen Carza commanded, placing her little copper hand affectionately on the giant’s enormous hand, and dropping her head into his lap. “I would see her dance the ‘Knife Dance’ for the last time. I hear that the beautiful blond queen is the most graceful dancer in our world. I wish to discover if this is true. If she proves extraordinarily artistic I may conclude to dance with her—or rather against her.”
Epworth and Joan glanced at each other.