But as we are wishful to buy, so I cannot understand any reluctance on your part to sell your secret on your own terms." "I think, Prince," I replied, "that I have already asked you what you would think of a subject of your own, who should put such a power into the hands of enemies as formidable to you as you would be to the races of the Earth." "And _I_ think," he rejoined with a smile, "that I reminded you how little my judgment would matter to one possessed of such a power.

I have gathered from your conversation how easily we might conquer a world as far behind us in destructive powers as in general civilisation.

But why should you object?
You can make your own terms both for yourself and for any of your race for whom you feel an especial interest." "A traitor is none the less a despicable and loathsome wretch because his Prince cannot punish him.

I am bound by no direct tie of loyalty to any Terrestrial sovereign.

I was born the subject of one of the greatest monarchs of the Earth; I left his country at an early age, and my youth was passed in the service of less powerful rulers, to one at least of whom I long owed the same military allegiance that binds your guards and officers to yourself.