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Suddenly the heavy fat fist of the thunder-god Thor came down with a bang on the table.

"Jawohl! To business! The Jew who has fattened himself upon our blood is going to disgorge.

His yacht shall serve as a means of recreation for deserving party members. His palace shall

become a public museum. I understand that it contains a well-chosen collection of old masters."

"I appreciate the compliment, Exzellenz. Or do you know that I had the pleasure of selecting

them?"

"Ach, so! Shall I call it the Lanning Budd Museum?" The hard blue eyes twinkled between the

heavy layers of fat.

"The museum should be named for the one who institutes it, Exzellenz. Johannes has often

told me that he planned to leave it to the public. But now you are doing it."

"I intend to go about these matters with all proper formality," said Goring, still with the

twinkle. "Our Führer is a stickler for legality. The papers will be prepared by our Staatsanwalt,

and the Schieber will sign them before a notary. For the sum of one mark his yacht, for

another his palace, and for yet other marks his shares in our leading industrial enterprises and

banks. In payment for my services in the above matters, he will give me checks for the amount of

his bank deposits—and be sure that I shall cash them before he gets away."

"You intend to leave him nothing, Exzellenz?"

"Each business transaction shall be for the sum of one mark, and those marks will be his

inalienable personal property. For the rest-naked came he into Germany, and naked will he go

out."

"Pardon me if I correct you, sir. I happen to know that Johannes was a rich man when he

came into Germany. He and my father had been business associates for several years, so I know

pretty well what he had."

"He made his money trading with the German government, I am informed."

"In part, yes. He sold things which the government was glad to have in wartime; magnetos

which you doubtless used in the planes in which you performed such astounding feats of

gallantry."

"You are a shrewd young man, Mr. Budd, and after this deal is over, you and I may be

good friends and perhaps do a profitable business. But for the moment you are the devil's

advocate, predestined to lose your case. I could never understand why our magnetos so often

failed at the critical moment, but now I know that they were sold to us by filthy Jewish swine

who probably sabotaged them so that we would have to buy more." The great man said this

with a broad grin; he was a large and powerful cat playing with a lively but entirely helpless

mouse. On the rug in front of his chair lay a half-grown lion-cub, which yawned and then

licked his chops as he watched his master preparing for a kill. Lanny thought: "I am back

among the Assyrians!"

VI

The visitor had the feeling that he ought to put up some sort of fight for his friend's fortune,

but he couldn't figure out how to set about it. He had never met a man like this in all his life, and

he was completely intimidated—not for himself, but for Johannes. Your money or your life!

"Exzellenz," he ventured, "aren't you being a trifle harsh on one unfortunate individual? There

are many non-Jewish Schieber; and there are rich Jews in Germany who have so far managed to

escape your displeasure."

"The Schweine have been careful not to break our laws. But this one has broken the eleventh

commandment—he has been caught. Man muss sich nicht kriegen lassen! And moreover, we

have use for his money."

Lanny was thinking: "It isn't as bad as it might be, because so much of Johannes's money is

abroad." He decided not to risk a fight, but said: "I will transmit your message."

The head of the Prussian government continued: "I observe that you avoid mentioning the

money which this Scbieber has already shipped out and hidden in other countries. If you know

the history of Europe you know that every now and then some monarch in need of funds

would send one of the richest of his Hebrews to a dungeon and have him tortured until he

revealed the hiding-places of his gold and jewels."

"I have read history, Exzellenz."

"Fortunately nothing of the sort will be needed here. We have all this scoundrel's bank

statements, deposit slips, and what not. We have photostat copies of documents he thought

were safe from all eyes. We will present checks for him to sign, so that those funds may be

turned over to me; when my agents have collected the last dollar and pound and franc, then

your Jew relative will have become to me a piece of rotten pork of which I dislike the smell. I

will be glad to have you cart him away."

"And his family, Exzellenz?"

"They, too, will stink in our nostrils. We will take them to the border and give each of them a

kick in the tail, to make certain they get across with no delay."

Lanny wanted to say: "That will be agreeable to them"; but he was afraid it might sound like

irony, so he just kept smiling. The great man did the same, for he enjoyed the exercise of