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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Leader, by 
+William Fitzgerald Jenkins                   (AKA Murray Leinster)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Leader
+
+Author: William Fitzgerald Jenkins                   (AKA Murray Leinster)
+
+Illustrator: van Dongen
+
+Release Date: November 24, 2007 [EBook #23612]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEADER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Stephen Blundell
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+ THE
+     LEADER
+
+ By
+ MURRAY
+ LEINSTER
+
+ _The trouble with being a Superman,
+ with Super powers, and knowing it, is
+ it's so easy to overlook the unpleasant
+ possibility of a super-superman!_
+
+ Illustrated by van Dongen
+
+
+    ... The career of The Leader remains one of the mysteries of
+    history. This man, illegitimate and uneducated, hysterical and
+    superstitious, gathered about him a crowded following of those who
+    had been discontented, but whom he turned into fanatics. Apparently
+    by pure force of personality he seized without resistance the
+    government of one of the world's great nations. So much is unlikely
+    enough. But as the ruler of a civilized country he imposed upon its
+    people the absolute despotism of a primitive sultanate. He
+    honeycombed its society with spies. He imprisoned, tortured, and
+    executed without trial or check. And while all this went on he
+    received the most impassioned loyalty of his subjects! Morality was
+    abandoned at his command with as much alacrity as common sense. He
+    himself was subject to the grossest superstitions. He listened to
+    astrologers and fortunetellers--and executed them when they foretold
+    disaster. But it is not enough to be amazed at the man himself. The
+    great mystery is that people of the Twentieth Century, trained in
+    science and technically advanced, should join in this orgy of what
+    seems mere madness ...
+
+                               _Concise History of Europe._ Blaisdell.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen, University of Brunn, to the Herr
+General Johann von Steppberg, retired.
+
+My dear General von Steppberg:
+
+It is with reluctance that I intrude upon your retirement, but at the
+request of the Government I have undertaken a scientific examination of
+the causes which brought about The Leader's rise to power, the
+extraordinary popularity of his regime, the impassioned loyalty he was
+able to evoke, and the astounding final developments.
+
+If you can communicate to me any memories of The Leader which may aid in
+understanding this most bewildering period of our history, I assure you
+that it will be appreciated by myself, by the authorities who wish the
+investigation made, and I dare to hope by posterity.
+
+                                   I am, my dear general, (Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from General Johann von Steppberg (Retired) to Professor Albrecht
+Aigen, University of Brunn.
+
+Herr Professor:
+
+The official yearbooks of the army contain the record of my military
+career. I have nothing to add to that information. You say the
+authorities wish more. I refuse it. If they threaten my pension, I will
+renounce it. If they propose other pressures, I will leave the country.
+In short, I refuse to discuss in any manner the subject of your recent
+communication.
+
+                                    I am, Herr Professor, (Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen to Dr. Karl Thurn, Professor of
+Psychology at University of Laibach.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+I hope your psionic research goes better than my official project! My
+business goes nowhere! I have written to generals, ministers, and all
+kinds of persons who held high office under The Leader. Each and every
+one refuses to discuss The Leader or his own experiences under him. Why?
+Surely no one would blame them now! We have had to agree to pretend that
+no one did anything improper under The Leader, or else that what anyone
+did was proper at the time. So why should the nabobs of that incredible
+period refuse to discuss what they should know better than anyone else?
+I am almost reduced to asking the aid of the astrologers and soothsayers
+The Leader listened to. Actually, I must make a note to do so in sober
+earnest. At least they had their own viewpoint of events.
+
+Speaking of viewpoints, I have had some hope of clarifying The Leader's
+career by comparing it with that of Prime Minister Winston, in power in
+his country when The Leader ruled ours. His career is splendidly
+documented. There is astonishingly little documentation about The Leader
+as a person, however. That is one of the difficulties of my task. Even
+worse, those who should know him best lock their lips while those--
+
+Here is an unsolicited letter from the janitor of a building in which a
+former Minister of Education now has his law offices. I have many
+letters equally preposterous....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Enclosure in letter to Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+Herr Professor:
+
+I am the janitor of the building in which Herr Former Minister of
+Education Werfen has his offices. In cleaning there I saw a letter
+crumpled into a ball and thrown into a corner. I learned in the time of
+The Leader that angry actions often mean evil intentions, so I read the
+letter to see if the police should be notified. It was a letter from you
+in which you asked Herr Former Minister of Education Werfen for his
+memories of The Leader.
+
+I remember The Leader, Herr Professor. He was the most holy man who ever
+lived, if indeed he was only a man. Once I passed the open door of an
+office in the building I then worked in. I looked in the door--it was
+the office of the then-struggling Party The Leader had founded--and I
+saw The Leader sitting in a chair, thinking. There was golden light
+about his head, Herr Professor. I have told this to other people and
+they do not believe me. There were shadowy other beings in the room. I
+saw, very faintly, great white wings. But the other beings were still
+because The Leader was thinking and did not wish to be disturbed. I
+assure you that this is true, Herr Professor. The Leader was the holiest
+of men--if he was only a man.
+
+                  I am most respectfully, Herr Professor, (Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Fraulein Lise Grauer, nurse, in the city of Bludenz, to
+Professor Aigen at Brunn University.
+
+Most respected Herr Professor:
+
+I write this at the request of the Herr Former Police Inspector Grieg,
+to whom you directed a letter shortly before his death. The Herr Former
+Police Inspector had been ill for some time. I was his nurse. I had
+cared for him for months and did many small services for him, such as
+writing letters at his direction.
+
+When your letter came he read it and went into a black mood of deep and
+bitter recollection. He would not speak for hours, and I had great
+difficulty in getting him to take his medicines. Just before his bedtime
+he called me and said sardonically;
+
+"Lise, write to this Herr Professor for me. Say to him that I was once a
+decent man. When The Leader took power, I received orders that I would
+not accept. I submitted my resignation. Then I received orders to come
+to The Leader. I obeyed these orders because my resignation was not yet
+accepted. I was received in his office. I entered it with respect and
+defiance--respect because he was admitted to be the ruler of our nation;
+defiance because I would not obey such orders as had been sent me in his
+name.
+
+"The Leader spoke to me, kindly, and as he spoke all my views changed.
+It suddenly seemed that I had been absurd to refuse the orders sent me.
+They seemed right and reasonable and even more lenient than would have
+been justified.... I left The Leader in a state in which I could not
+possibly fail to do anything he wished. From that moment I obeyed his
+orders. I was promoted. Eventually, as you know, I was in command of the
+Neusatz prison camp. And you know what orders I carried out there!"
+
+I wept, Herr Professor, because the Herr Grieg's eyes were terrible to
+look at. He was a gentle and kindly man, Herr Professor! I was his
+nurse, and he was a good patient and a good man in every way. I had
+heard of the things that were done at Neusatz, but I could not believe
+that my patient had commanded them. Now, in his eyes I saw that he
+remembered them and that the memory was intolerable. He said very
+bitterly:
+
+"Tell the Herr Professor that I can tell him nothing more. I have no
+other memories that would be of service to him. I have resolved, anyhow,
+to get rid even of these. I have kept them too long. Say to him that his
+letter has decided me."
+
+I did not understand what he meant, Herr Professor. I helped him prepare
+for the night, and when he seemed to be resting quietly I retired,
+myself. I was wakened by a very loud noise. I went to see what was the
+matter. The Herr Former Police Inspector Grieg had managed to get out of
+his bed and across the room to a bureau. He opened a drawer and took out
+a revolver. He made his way back to his bed. He blew out his brains.
+
+I called the police, and after investigation they instructed me to carry
+out his request, which I do.
+
+Herr Professor, I do not myself remember the times of The Leader, but
+they must have been very terrible. If the Herr Former Police Inspector
+Grieg was actually in command of the Neusatz prison camp, and did
+actually order the things done there,--I cannot understand it, Herr
+Professor! Because he was a good and kindly man! If you write of him, I
+beg that you will mention that he was a most amiable man. I was only his
+nurse, but I assure you--(Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach, to Professor Albrecht
+Aigen, University of Brunn.
+
+My dear friend:
+
+I could have predicted your failure to secure co-operation from eminent
+figures in The Leader's regime. So long as they keep silent, together,
+they can pretend to be respectable. And nobody longs so passionately to
+be respectable as a man who has prospered by being a swine, while he
+awaits an opportunity to prosper again by more swinishness. I would
+advise you to expect your best information from little people who
+suffered most and most helplessly looked on or helped while enormities
+were committed. Such little people will either yearn over the past like
+your janitor, or want most passionately to understand so that nothing of
+the sort can ever happen again.
+
+Winston as a parallel to The Leader? Or as a contrast? Which? I can name
+one marked contrast. I doubt that anybody really and passionately wishes
+that Winston had never been born.
+
+You mention my researches. You should see some of our results! I have
+found a rat with undeniable psychokinetic power. I have seen him move a
+gram-weight of cheese nearly three centimeters to where he could reach
+it through the cage bars. I begin to suspect a certain female dog of
+abilities I would prefer not to name just yet. If you can find any
+excuse to come to Laibach, I promise you amazing demonstrations of psi
+phenomena. (Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quotations from, "_Recollections of the Earl of Humber, formerly Prime
+Minister Winston_," by the Hon. Charles Wilberforce.
+
+Page 231; "... This incredible event took place even while it seemed
+most impossible. The Prime Minister took it with his usual aplomb. I
+asked him what he thought of the matter a week later, at a house party
+in Hertfordshire. He said, 'I consider it most unfortunate. This Leader
+of theirs is an inherently nasty individual. Therefore he'll make
+nastiness the avenue to distinction so long as he's in power. The
+results will be tragic, because when you bottle up decency men seem to
+go mad. What a pity one can't bottle up nastiness! The world might
+become a fit place to live in!'"
+
+Page 247; "The Prime Minister disagreed. 'There was Napoleon,' he
+observed. 'You might despise him, but after he talked to you you served
+him. He seemed to throw a spell over people. Alexander probably had the
+same sort of magic personality. When his personality ceased to operate,
+as a result of too much wine too continuously, his empire fell
+immediately to pieces. I've known others personally; an Afghan whom I've
+always thought did us a favor by getting killed by a sniper. He could
+have caused a great deal of trouble. I'd guess at the Khalifa. Most of
+the people who have this incredible persuasiveness, however, seem to set
+up as successful swindlers. What a pity The Leader had no taste for
+simple crime, and had to go in for crimes of such elaboration!'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen, University of Brunn, to Dr. Karl
+Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+You make me curious with your talk of a rat which levitates crumbs of
+cheese and a she-dog who displays other psi abilities. I assume that you
+have found the experimental conditions which let psi powers operate
+without hindrance. I shall hope some day to see and conceivably to
+understand.
+
+My own affairs are in hopeless confusion. At the moment I am overwhelmed
+with material about The Leader, the value of which I cannot estimate.
+Strange! I ask people who should know what I am commissioned to
+discover, and they refuse to answer. But it becomes known that I ask,
+and thousands of little people write me to volunteer impassioned details
+of their experiences while The Leader ruled. Some are bitter because
+they did what they did and felt as they felt. These seem to believe in
+magic or demoniac possession as the reason they behaved with such
+conspicuous insanity. Others gloat over their deeds, which they recount
+with gusto--and then express pious regret with no great convincingness.
+Some of these accounts nauseate me. But something utterly abnormal was
+in operation, somehow, to cause The Leader's ascendancy!
+
+I wish I could select the important data with certainty. Almost
+anything, followed up, might reveal the key. But I do not know what to
+follow! I plan to go to Bozen, where the new monstrous computer has been
+set up, and see if there is any way in which it could categorize my data
+and detect a pattern of more than bewildered and resentful frenzy.
+
+On the way back to Brunn I shall stop by to talk to you. There is so
+much to say! I anticipate much of value from your detached and analytic
+mind. I confess, also, that I am curious about your research. This
+she-dog with psi powers, of which you give no account ... I am
+intrigued.
+
+                                         As always, I am, (Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen, written from The Mathematical
+Institute at Bozen, to Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+This is in haste. There is much agitation among the computer staff at
+the Institute. An assistant technician has been discovered to be able to
+predict the answer the computer will give to problems set up at random.
+He is one Hans Schweeringen and it is unbelievable.
+
+Various numerals are impressed on the feed-in tape of the computer.
+Sections of the tape are chosen at random by someone who is blindfolded.
+They are fed unread into the computer, together with instructions to
+multiply, subtract, extract roots, et cetera, which are similarly chosen
+at random and not known to anyone. Once in twenty times or so,
+Schweeringen predicts the result of this meaningless computation before
+the computer has made it. This is incredible! The odds are trillions to
+one against it! Since nobody knows the sums or instructions given to the
+computer, it cannot be mind-reading in any form. It must be pure
+precognition. Do you wish to talk to him?
+
+He is uneasy at the attention he attracts, perhaps because his father
+was one of The Leader's secretaries and was executed, it is presumed,
+for knowing too much. Telegraph me if you wish me to try to bring him to
+you.
+
+                                                         Your friend--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Telegram from Dr. Karl Thurn, Professor of Psychology at Laibach
+University, to Professor Albrecht Aigen, in care of The Mathematical
+Institute at Bozen:
+
+Take tapes which produced answers Schweeringen predicted. Run them
+through computer when he knows nothing of it. Wire result.
+
+                                                                Thurn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Telegram. Professor Albrecht Aigen, at The Mathematical Institute in
+Bozen, to Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+How did you know? The tapes do not give the same answers when run
+through the computer without Schweeringen's knowledge. The only possible
+answer is that the computer sometimes errs to match his predictions. But
+this is more impossible than precognition. This is beyond the
+conceivable. It cannot be! What now?
+
+                                                                Aigen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Telegram from Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach, to Professor
+Albrecht Aigen, care Mathematical Institute, Bozen.
+
+Naturally I suspect psi. He belongs with my rat and she-dog. Try to
+arrange it.
+
+                                                                Thurn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Telegram from Professor Albrecht Aigen, Mathematical Institute, Bozen,
+to Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+Schweeringen refuses further tests. Fears proof he causes malfunctioning
+of computer will cause unemployment here and may destroy all hope of
+hoped-for career in mathematics.
+
+                                                                Aigen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Telegram from Professor Albrecht Aigen, at Mathematical Institute, to
+Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+Terrible news. Riding bus to Institute this morning, Schweeringen was
+killed when bus was involved in accident.
+
+                                                                Aigen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Telegram from Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach, to Professor
+Albrecht Aigen, care Mathematical Institute, Bozen.
+
+Deeply regret death Schweeringen. When you come here please try to bring
+all known family history. Psi ability sometimes inherited. Could be
+tie-in his father's execution and use of psi ability.
+
+                                                                Thurn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen, at Brunn University, to Dr. Karl
+Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+I have first to thank you for your warm welcome and to express my
+gratitude for your attention while I was your guest. Since my return I
+have written many inquiries about Schweeringen's father. There are so
+far no replies, but I have some hope that people who will not tell of
+their own experiences may tell about someone else--especially someone
+now dead. This may be a useful device to get at least some information
+from people who so far have refused any. Naturally I will pass on to you
+anything I learn.
+
+I try to work again upon the task assigned me--to investigate the rise
+and power of The Leader. I find it hard to concentrate. My mind goes
+back to your laboratory. I am deeply shaken by my experience there. I
+had thought nothing could be more bewildering than my own work.
+Consider: Today I received a letter in which a man tells me amazedly of
+the life he led in a slave-labor camp during the time of The Leader's
+rule. He describes the attempt of another prisoner to organize a revolt
+of the prisoners. While he spoke of the brutality of the guards and the
+intolerably hard labor and the deliberately insufficient food, they
+cheered him. But when he accused The Leader of having ordered these
+things--the prisoners fell upon him with cries of fury. They killed him.
+I had this information verified. It was true.
+
+I cannot hope for a sane explanation of such things. But a sane
+explanation for my experience seems even less probable. I am impressed
+by your rat who levitates crumbs of cheese. But I am appalled; I am
+horrified; I am stupefied by what I did! You asked me to wait for you in
+a certain laboratory beyond a door. I entered. I saw a small, fat, mangy
+she-dog in a dog-run. She looked at me and wagged her tail. I thereupon
+went to the other end of the laboratory, opened a box, and took out a
+handful of strange objects you later told me are sweetmeats to a dog. I
+gave them to the animal.
+
+Why did I do it? How was it that I went directly to a box of which I
+knew nothing, opened it as a matter of course, and took out objects I
+did not even recognize, to give them to that unpleasant small beast? How
+did I know where to go? Why did I go? Why should I give those
+then-meaningless objects to the dog? It is as if I were enchanted!
+
+You say that it is a psi phenomenon. The rat causes small objects to
+move. The dog, you say, causes persons to give it canine candy. I revolt
+against the conclusion, which I cannot reason away. If you are right, we
+are at the mercy of our domestic animals! Dog-lovers are not people who
+love dogs, but people who are enslaved by dogs. Cat-lovers are merely
+people who have been seized upon by cats to support and pet and cater
+to them. This is intolerable! I shall fear all pets from now on! I throw
+myself back into my own work to avoid thinking of it. I--
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Later. I did not mail this letter because an appalling idea occurred to
+me. This could bear upon my investigation! Do you think The Leader--No!
+It could not be! It would be madness....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Extract from a letter from Dr. Karl Thurn to Professor Albrecht Aigen.
+
+... I deplore your reaction. It has the emotional quality of a reaction
+to witchcraft or magic, but psi is not witchcraft. It is a natural
+force. No natural force is either nonexistent or irresistible. No
+natural force is invariably effective. Psi is not irresistible under all
+circumstances. It is not always effective. My rat cannot levitate
+cheese-crumbs weighing more than 1.7 grams. My she-dog could not make
+you give her dog-candy once you were on guard. When you went again into
+the laboratory she looked at you and wagged her tail as before. You say
+that you thought of the box and of opening it, but you did not. It was
+not even an effort of will to refrain.
+
+A lesser will or a lower grade of personality cannot overwhelm a greater
+one. Not ever! Lesser beings can only urge. The astrologers used to say
+that the stars incline, but they do not compel. The same can be said of
+psi--or of magnetism or gravitation or what you will. Schweeringen could
+not make the computer err when it had to err too egregiously. A greater
+psi ability was needed than he had. A greater psi power than was
+available would have been needed to make you give the dog candy, once
+you were warned.
+
+I do not apply these statements to your so-called appalling idea. I
+carefully refrain from doing so. It is your research, not mine....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Extract from letter to Professor Albrecht Aigen from the Herr Friedrich
+Holm, supervisor of electrical maintenance, municipal electrical
+service, Untersberg.
+
+Herr Professor:
+
+You have written to ask if I knew a certain Herr Schweeringen, attached
+to The Leader's personal staff during his regime. I did know such a
+person. I was then in charge of electrical maintenance in The Leader's
+various residences. Herr Schweeringen was officially one of The Leader's
+secretaries, but his actual task was to make predictions for The Leader,
+like a soothsayer or a medium. He had a very remarkable gift. There were
+times when it was especially needful that there be no electrical
+failures--when The Leader was to be in residence, for example. On such
+occasions it was my custom to ask Herr Schweeringen if there was apt to
+be any failure of apparatus under my care. At least three times he told
+me yes. In one case it was an elevator, in another refrigeration, in a
+third a fuse would blow during a State dinner.
+
+I overhauled the elevator, but it failed nevertheless. I replaced the
+refrigeration motor, and the new motor failed. In the third case I
+changed the fuse to a new and tested one, and then placed a new, fused
+line around the fuse Herr Schweeringen had said would blow, and placed a
+workman beside it. When the fuse did blow as predicted, my workman
+instantly closed the extra-line switch, so that the lights of the State
+dinner barely flickered. But I shudder when I think of the result if
+Herr Schweeringen had not warned me.
+
+He was executed a few days before the period of confusion began, which
+ended as everyone knows. I do not know the reason for his execution. It
+was said, however, that The Leader executed him personally. This, Herr
+Professor, is all that I know of the matter.
+
+                                       Very respectfully, (Et cetera.)
+
+[Illustration]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Herr Theophrastus Paracelsus Bosche, astrologer, to
+Professor Albrecht Aigen, Brunn University.
+
+Most respected Herr Professor:
+
+I am amused that a so-eminent scientist like yourself should ask
+information from a so-despised former astrologer to The Leader. It is
+even more amusing that you ask about a mere soothsayer--a man who
+displayed an occult gift of prophecy--whom you should consider merely
+one of the charlatans like myself whom The Leader consulted, and who
+are unworthy of consideration by a scientific historian. We have no
+effect upon history, most respected Herr Professor! None at all. Oh,
+none! I am much diverted.
+
+You ask about the Herr Schweeringen. He was a predictor, using his
+occult gift of second sight to foreknow events and tell The Leader about
+them. You will remember that The Leader considered himself to have
+occult powers of leadership and decision, and that all occult powers
+should contribute to his greatness. At times of great stress, such as
+when The Leader demanded ever-increasing concessions from other nations
+on threat of war, he was especially concerned that occult predictions
+promise him success.
+
+At a certain time the international tension was greater than ever
+before. If The Leader could doubt the rightness of any of his actions,
+he doubted it then. There was great danger of war. Prime Minister
+Winston had said flatly that The Leader must withdraw his demands or
+fight. The Leader was greatly agitated. He demanded my prediction. I
+considered the stars and predicted discreetly that war would be
+prevented by some magnificent achievement by The Leader. Truly, if he
+got out of his then situation it would be a magnificent achievement. But
+astrology, of course, could only indicate it but not describe what it
+would be.
+
+The Leader was confident that he could achieve anything he could
+imagine, because he had convinced even himself that only treason or
+disloyalty could cause him to fail in any matter. He demanded of his
+generals what achievement would prevent the war. They were not
+encouraging. He demanded of his civilian political advisers. They dared
+not advise him to retreat. They offered nothing. He demanded of his
+occult advisers.
+
+The Herr Schweeringen demanded of me that I tell him my exact
+prediction. His nerves were bad, then, and he twitched with the strain.
+Someone had to describe the great achievement The Leader would make. It
+would be dangerous not to do so. I told him the prediction, I found his
+predicament diverting. He left me, still twitching and desperately sunk
+in thought.
+
+I now tell you exact, objective facts, Herr Professor, with no
+interpretation of my own upon them. The Herr Schweeringen was closeted
+with The Leader. I am told that his face was shining with confidence
+when he went to speak to The Leader. It was believed among us charlatans
+that he considered that he foreknew what The Leader would do to prevent
+war at this time.
+
+Two hours later there were shots in The Leader's private quarters. The
+Leader came out, his eyes glaring, and ordered Herr Schweeringen's body
+removed. He ordered the execution of the four senior generals of the
+General Staff, of the Minister of Police, and several other persons. He
+then went into seclusion, from which he emerged only briefly to give
+orders making the unthinkable retreat that Prime Minister Winston had
+demanded. No one spoke to him for a week. Confusion began. These are
+objective facts. I now add one small boast.
+
+My discreet prediction had come true, and it is extremely diverting to
+think about it. The Leader had achieved magnificently. The war was
+prevented not only for the moment but for later times, too. The Leader's
+achievement was the destruction of his regime by destroying the brains
+that had made it operate!
+
+It is quite possible that you will consider this information a lie. That
+will be quite droll. However, I am, most respected Herr Professor, (Et
+cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach, to Professor Albrecht
+Aigen, Brunn University.
+
+My dear friend:
+
+Your information about the elder Schweeringen received. The information
+about his prediction is interesting. I could wish that it were complete,
+but that would seem to be hopeless. Your question, asked in a manner
+suggesting great disturbance, is another matter. I will answer it as
+well as I can, my friend, but please remember that you asked. I
+volunteer nothing. The question of the rise and power of The Leader is
+your research, not mine.
+
+Here is my answer. Years back an American researcher named Rhine
+obtained seemingly conclusive proof that telepathy took place. Tonight
+he would have a "sender," here, attempt to transmit some item
+telepathically to a "receiver," there. Tomorrow morning he would compare
+the record of what the "sender" had attempted to transmit, with the
+record of what the "receiver" considered he had received. The
+correspondence was far greater than chance. He considered that telepathy
+was proven.
+
+But then Rhine made tests for precognition. He secured proof that some
+persons could predict with greater-than-probability frequency that some
+particular event, to be determined by chance, would take place tomorrow.
+He secured excellent evidence for precognition.
+
+Then it was realized that if one could foresee what dice would read
+tomorrow--dice not yet thrown--one should be able to read what a report
+would read tomorrow--a report not yet written. In short, if one can
+foreknow what a comparison will reveal, telepathy before the comparison
+is unproven. In proving precognition, he had destroyed his evidence for
+telepathy.
+
+It appears that something similar has happened, which our correspondence
+has brought out. Young Schweeringen predicted what a computer would
+report from unknown numerals and instructions. In order for the computer
+to match his predictions, it had to err. It did. Therefore one reasons
+that he did not predict what the computer would produce. The computer
+produced what he predicted. In effect, what appeared to be foreknowledge
+was psychokinesis--the same phenomenon as the movement of crumbs of
+cheese by my rat. One may strongly suspect that when young Herr
+Schweeringen knew in advance what the computer would say, he actually
+knew in advance what he could make it say. It is possible that one can
+consciously know in advance only what one can unconsciously bring about.
+If one can bring about only minor happenings, one can never predict
+great ones.
+
+This is my answer to your question. I would like very much to know what
+the elder Schweeringen predicted that The Leader would accomplish!
+
+My she-dog has died. We had a new attendant in the laboratory. He fed
+her to excess. She died of it. (Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen to Dr. Thurn.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+I have resolved to dismiss psionic ability from my investigation into
+The Leader's rise to power. This much I will concede: The Leader could
+enslave--englamour--enchant anyone who met him personally. He did. To a
+lesser degree, this irresistible persuasiveness is a characteristic of
+many successful swindlers. But he could not have englamoured the whole
+nation. He did not meet enough persons personally to make his regime
+possible, unless he could cause other persons to apply their own
+magnetism to further his ambitions, and they others and others and so
+on--like an endless series of magnets magnetized originally from one.
+This is not possible. I restrict myself to normal, plausible
+hypotheses--of which so far I have no faintest trace.
+
+You agree with me, do you not--that it was impossible for The Leader to
+weave a web of enchantment over the whole nation by his own psi energies
+controlling the psi energies of others? I would welcome your assurance
+that it could not be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen to Dr. Karl Thurn.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+Did you receive my last letter? I am anxious to have your assurance that
+it was impossible that The Leader could englamour the whole nation by
+his psionic gifts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Telegram, Dr. Albrecht Aigen to Dr. Karl Thurn.
+
+Karl, as you are my friend, answer me!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter, Dr. Karl Thurn to Professor Albrecht Aigen.
+
+... But what have you discovered, my friend, that you are afraid to
+face?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter. Professor Albrecht Aigen to Dr. Karl Thurn.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+I appeal to you because I have discovered how nearly our nation and the
+whole world escaped horrors beside which those of The Leader's actual
+regime would seem trivial. Give me reasons, arguments, proofs beyond
+question, which I can put into my report on his career! I must
+demonstrate beyond question that psi ability did not cause his
+ascendancy! Help me to contrive a lie which will keep anyone, ever, from
+dreaming that psi ability can be used to seize a government and a
+nation. It could seize the world more terribly....
+
+I cannot express the urgency of this need! There are others who possess
+The Leader's powers in a lesser degree. They must remain only swindlers
+and such, without ambitions to rule, or they might study The Leader's
+career as Napoleon studied Alexander's. There must be no hint, anywhere,
+of the secret I have discovered. There must be nothing to lead to the
+least thought of it! The Leader could have multiplied his power
+ten-thousand-fold! Another like him must never learn how it could be
+done!
+
+I beg your help, Karl! I am shaken. I am terrified. I wish that I had
+not undertaken this research. I wish it almost as desperately as I wish
+that The Leader had never been born!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Colonel Sigmund Knoeller, retired, to Professor Albrecht
+Aigen, Brunn University.
+
+Herr Professor:
+
+In response to your authorized request for information about certain
+events; I have the honor to inform you that at the time you mention I
+was Major in command of the Second Battalion of the 161st Infantry
+Regiment, assigned to guard duty about the residence of The Leader.
+Actual guard duty was performed by the secret police. My battalion
+merely provided sentries around the perimeter of the residence, and at
+certain places within.
+
+On August 19th I received a command to march three companies of my men
+into the residence, to receive orders from The Leader in person. This
+command was issued by the Herr General Breyer, attached to The Leader as
+a military aide.
+
+I led my men inside according to the orders, guided by the orderly who
+had brought them. I entered an inner courtyard. There was disturbance.
+People moved about in a disorderly fashion and chattered agitatedly.
+This was astonishing in The Leader's residence. I marched up to General
+Breyer, who stood outside a group biting his nails. I saluted and said:
+"Major Knoeller reporting for orders, Herr General."
+
+There was then confusion in the nearby squabbling group. A man burst out
+of it and waved his arms at me. He looked like The Leader. He cried
+shrilly:
+
+"Arrest these men! All of them! Then shoot them!"
+
+I looked at the Herr General Breyer. He bit his nails. The man who
+looked so much like The Leader foamed at the mouth. But he was not The
+Leader. That is, in every respect he resembled The Leader to whom I owed
+loyalty as did everyone. But no one who was ever in The Leader's
+presence failed to know it. There was a feeling. One knew to the inmost
+part of one's soul that he was The Leader who must be reverenced and
+obeyed. But one did not feel that way about this man, though he
+resembled The Leader so strongly.
+
+"Arrest them!" shrilled the man ferociously. "I command it! I am The
+Leader! Shoot them!"
+
+When I still waited for General Breyer to give me orders, the man
+shrieked at the troopers. He commanded them to kill General Breyer and
+all the rest, including me. And if he had been The Leader they would
+have obeyed. But he was not. So my men stood stiffly at attention,
+waiting for my orders or General Breyer's.
+
+There was now complete silence in the courtyard. The formerly squabbling
+men watched as if astonished. As if they did not believe their eyes. But
+I waited for General Breyer to give his commands.
+
+The man screamed in a terrible, frustrated rage. He waved his arms
+wildly. He foamed at the mouth and shrieked at me. I waited for orders
+from General Breyer. After a long time he ceased to bite his nails and
+said in a strange voice:
+
+"You had better have this man placed in confinement, Major Knoeller. See
+that he is not injured. Double all guards and mount machine guns in case
+of rioting outside. Dismiss!"
+
+I obeyed my commands. My men took the struggling, still-shrieking man
+and put him in a cell in the guardhouse. There was a drunken private
+there, awaiting court-martial. He was roused and annoyed when his new
+companion shrieked and screamed and shook the bars of the door. He
+kicked the man who looked so much like The Leader. I then had the
+civilian placed in a separate cell, but he continued to rave
+incoherently until I had the regimental surgeon give him an injection to
+quiet him. He sank into drugged sleep with foam about his lips.
+
+He looked remarkably like The Leader. I have never seen such a
+resemblance! But he was not The Leader or we would have known him.
+
+There was no disturbance outside the residence. The doubled guards and
+the mounted machine guns were not needed.
+
+                                    I am, Herr Professor, (Et cetera.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter, with enclosure, from Professor Albrecht Aigen, Brunn University,
+to Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach.
+
+My dear Karl:
+
+Because of past sharing in my research, you will realize what the
+enclosed means. It is part of the report of the physicians who examined
+The Leader three days after his confinement in a military prison. He had
+recovered much of his self-control. He spoke with precision. He appeared
+even calm, though he was confused in some matters. The doctors addressed
+him as "My Leader" because he refused to reply otherwise.
+
+(Enclosure)
+
+_Dr. Kundmann_: But, My Leader, we do not understand what has happened!
+You were terribly disturbed. You were even ... even confused in your
+behavior! Can you tell us what took place?
+
+_The Leader_: I suffered a great danger and a temporary damage. That
+villain Schweeringen--I shot him. It was a mistake. I should have had
+him worked over--at length!
+
+_Dr. Messner_: My Leader, will you be so good as to tell us the nature
+of the danger and the damage?
+
+_The Leader_: Schweeringen probably told someone what he would propose
+to me. It was his conviction that because of my special gifts I could
+cause anyone, not only to obey me, but to pour out to me, directly, his
+inmost thoughts and memories. Of course this is true. The danger was
+that of the contact of my mind with an inferior one. But I allowed
+Schweeringen to persuade me that I should risk even this for the service
+of my people. Therefore I contacted the mind of Prime Minister Winston,
+so I could know every scheme and every plan he might have or know to
+exist to injure my people. I intended, however, to cause him to become
+loyal to me--though I would later have had him shot. Schweeringen had
+betrayed me, though. When I made contact with Winston's mind, it was not
+only inferior, but diseased! There was a contagion which temporarily
+affected the delicate balance of my intuition. For a short time I could
+not know, as ordinarily, what was best for my people.
+
+(End of Enclosure)
+
+You will see, my dear Karl, what took place. To you and to me this
+explains everything. In the background of my research and your
+information it is clear. Fortunately, The Leader's mind was unstable.
+The strain and shock of so unparalleled experience as complete knowledge
+of another brain's contents destroyed his rationality. He became insane.
+Insane, he no longer had the psi gifts by which he had seized and
+degraded our nation. He ceased to be The Leader.
+
+But you will see that this must be hidden! Another monster like The
+Leader, or Napoleon--perhaps even lesser monsters--could attempt the
+same feat. But they might be less unstable! They might be able to invade
+the mind of any human being, anywhere, and drain it of any secret or
+impress upon it any desire or command, however revolting. You see, Karl,
+why this must never become known! It must be hidden forever.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Letter from Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach, to Professor Albrecht
+Aigen, Brunn University.
+
+My dear friend:
+
+I am relieved! I feared for your judgment. I thought that perhaps
+overwork and frustration had set up an anxiety-block to make you cease
+your work. But you are quite right. Your analysis is brilliant. And now
+that you have pointed it out, unquestionably a man with The Leader's psi
+powers could force another man's brain to transmit all its contents to
+him.
+
+But consider the consequences! Consider the conditions of such an event.
+One's brain is designed to work within one's own skull, dealing with
+sensory messages and the like. Very occasionally it acts outside,
+shifting crumbs of cheese and confusing computers--and securing candy.
+But even when one's will controls outside actions, it does not fuse with
+the outside brain or thing. It molds or moves the recipient mind, but
+there is never a sharing of memory. You have explained why.
+
+Consider what must happen if a brain of limited power and essentially
+emotional operation is linked to another and more powerful one. Assume
+for a moment that my she-dog had linked her brain to yours, even
+momentarily. Do you realize that she would not have gotten your
+memories, much less your power to reason? She would not even have
+acquired your knowledge of the meaning of words! When a bright light
+shines in your eyes, you see nothing else. When thunder rolls in your
+ears, you do not hear the ticking of a clock. When you suffer pain, you
+do not notice a feather's tickle. If my she-dog had linked her mind to
+yours, she would have experienced something which is knowledge more
+firmly fixed and more continuously known than anything else in your
+conscious life. This overwhelmingly strong conviction would have been so
+powerful and so positive that it would be imprinted--branded--burned
+into every cell of her brain. She could never get it out.
+
+But in receiving this overwhelming experience she would not get your
+memories or power to reason or even your personality. She would have
+experienced only your identity. She would have received only the
+conviction that she was yourself! She would have been like those poor
+lunatics who believe that they are Napoleon, though they have nothing of
+Napoleon in them but the conviction of identity. They do not know when
+he was born or have more than the vaguest notion of what he did, but
+they try to act as who he was--according to their own ideas of how
+Napoleon would act in their situation. This is how my she-dog would have
+behaved.
+
+I am relieved. You have explained everything. Your letter gave me the
+suspicion. I secured a transcript of the Herr Doctor's report for
+myself. My suspicion became a certainty. You will find the clue in the
+report. Consider: The Leader had had the experience I imagined for my
+she-dog. He had linked his mind with a stronger one and a greater
+personality--if it must be said, a greater man. For a moment The Leader
+knew what that man knew most certainly, with most profound conviction,
+with most positive knowledge. It was burned into his brain. He could
+never get it out. He did not secure that other man's memories or
+knowledge or ability. He was blinded, deafened, dazed by the
+overwhelming conviction that, the other man had of his own identity. It
+would not be possible for him to get anything else from a stronger mind
+and a greater person. Nor could anyone else succeed where he failed, my
+friend! There is no danger of any man seizing the world by seizing the
+minds of all his fellows! One who tries will meet the fate of The
+Leader.
+
+You realize what that fate was, of course. He suddenly ceased to be the
+monster who could cast a spell of blind adoration for himself. He ceased
+to be The Leader! So the doctors gave him truth-serum so he would not
+try to conceal anything from them. The result is in the transcript on
+the third page beyond the place you quoted to me. There the doctors
+asked The Leader who he was. Read his answer, my friend! It proves
+everything! He said:
+
+"I am Prime Minister Winston."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+    This etext was produced from _Astounding Science Fiction_ February
+    1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
+    copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
+    typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Leader, by 
+William Fitzgerald Jenkins                   (AKA Murray Leinster)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEADER ***
+
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