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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:48:24 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:48:24 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29882-8.txt b/29882-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..484fdd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/29882-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10880 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +October, 1930, by Various + +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: Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 1, 2009 [EBook #29882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + ASTOUNDING + + STORIES + + OF SUPER-SCIENCE + + + _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_ + + + W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher + HARRY BATES, Editor + DOUGLAS M. DOLD, Consulting Editor + + + + +The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees + + _That_ the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by leading + writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by + the Authors' League of America; + + _That_ such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American + workmen; + + _That_ each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit; + + _That_ an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages. + + +_The other Clayton magazines are:_ + +ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS +MONTHLY, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, RANGELAND LOVE STORY MAGAZINE, +and WESTERN ADVENTURES. + +_More than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand +for Clayton Magazines._ + + * * * * * + + + + +VOL. IV, No. 1 CONTENTS OCTOBER, 1930 + + +COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI + + _Painted in Oils from a Scene in "The Invisible Death."_ + +STOLEN BRAINS CAPTAIN S. P. MEEK 7 + + _Dr. Bird, Scientific Sleuth Extraordinary, Goes After a Sinister + Stealer of Brains._ + +THE INVISIBLE DEATH VICTOR ROUSSEAU 24 + + _With Night-Rays and Darkness-Antidote America Strikes Back, at the + Terrific and Destructive Invisible Empire._ (A Complete Novelette.) + +PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON ROBERT H. LEITFRED 75 + + _Fate Throws Two Young Earthians into Desperate Conflict with the + Primeval Monsters of an Electron's Savage Jungles._ + +JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS RAY CUMMINGS 94 + + _Into Remote Lowlands, in an Invisible Flyer, Go Grant and + Jetta--Prisoners of a Scientific Depth Bandit._ + (Part Two of a Three-Part Novel.) + +AN EXTRA MAN JACKSON GEE 118 + + _Sealed and Vigilantly Guarded Was "Drayle's Invention, 1932"--for + It Was a Scientific Achievement Beyond Which Man Dared Not Go._ + +THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 130 + + _A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories._ + + * * * * * + +Single Copies, 20 Cents (In Canada, 25 Cents) Yearly Subscription, +$2.00 + +Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St., +New York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary. +Entered as second-class matter December 7, 1929, at the Post Office at +New York, N. Y., under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as a +Trade Mark in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group--Men's +List. For advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co., Inc., 25 +Vanderbilt Ave., New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave., Chicago. + + + + +Stolen Brains + +_By Captain S. P. Meek_ + +[Illustration: _Two long arms shot silently down and grasped the +motionless figure._] + +[Sidenote: Dr. Bird, scientific sleuth extraordinary, goes after a +sinister stealer of brains.] + + +"I hope, Carnes," said Dr. Bird, "that we get good fishing." + +"Good fishing? Will you please tell me what you are talking about?" + +"I am talking about fishing, old dear. Have you seen the evening +paper?" + +"No. What's that got to do with it?" + +Dr. Bird tossed across the table a copy of the _Washington Post_ +folded so as to bring uppermost an item on page three. Carnes saw his +picture staring at him from the center of the page. + +"What the dickens?" he exclaimed as he bent over the sheet. With +growing astonishment he read that Operative Carnes of the United +States Secret Service had collapsed at his desk that afternoon and had +been rushed to Walter Reed Hospital where the trouble had been +diagnosed as a nervous breakdown caused by overwork. There followed a +guarded statement from Admiral Clay, the President's personal +physician, who had been called into conference by the army +authorities. + +The Admiral stated that the Chief of the Washington District was in no +immediate danger but that a prolonged rest was necessary. The paper +gave a glowing tribute to the detective's life and work and stated +that he had been given sick leave for an indefinite period and that he +was leaving at once for the fishing lodge of his friend, Dr. Bird of +the Bureau of Standards, at Squapan Lake, Maine. Dr. Bird, the article +concluded, would accompany and care for his stricken friend. Carnes +laid aside the paper with a gasp. + + * * * * * + +"Do you know what all this means?" Carnes demanded. + +"It means, Carnsey, old dear, that the fishing at Squapan Lake should +be good right now and that I feel the need of accurate information on +the subject. I didn't want to go alone, so I engineered this outrage +on the government and am taking you along for company. For the love of +Mike, look sick from now on until we are clear of Washington. We leave +to-night. I already have our tickets and reservations and all you have +to do is to collect your tackle and pack your bags for a month or two +in the woods and meet me at the Pennsy station at six to-night." + +"And yet there are some people who say there is no Santa Claus," mused +Carnes. "If I had really broken down from overwork, I would probably +have had my pay docked for the time I was absent, but a man with +official pull in this man's government wants to go fishing and presto! +the wheels move and the way is clear. Doctor, I'll meet you as +directed." + +"Good enough," said Dr. Bird. "By the way, Carnes," he went on as the +operative opened the door, "bring your pistol." + +Carnes whirled about at the words. + +"Are we going on a case?" he asked. + +"That remains to be seen," replied the Doctor enigmatically. "At all +events, bring your pistol. In answer to any questions, we are going +fishing. In point of fact, we are--with ourselves as bait. If you have +a little time to spare this afternoon you might drop around to the +office of the _Post_ and get them to show you all the amnesia cases +they have had stories on during the past three months. They will be +interesting reading. No more questions now, old dear, we'll have lots +of time to talk things over while we are in the Maine woods." + + * * * * * + +Late the next evening they left the Bangor and Aroostook train at +Mesardis and found a Ford truck waiting for them. Over a rough trail +they were driven for fifteen miles, winding up at a log cabin which +the Doctor announced was his. The truck deposited their belongings and +jounced away and Dr. Bird led the way to the cabin, which proved to be +unlocked. He pushed open the door and entered, followed by Carnes. The +operative glanced at the occupants of the cabin and started back in +surprise. + +Seated at a table were two figures. The smaller of the two had his +back to the entrance but the larger one was facing them. He rose as +they entered and Carnes rubbed his eyes and reeled weakly against the +wall. Before him stood a replica of Dr. Bird. There was the same six +feet two of bone and muscle, the same beetling brows and the same +craggy chin and high forehead surmounted by a shock of unruly black +hair. In face and figure the stranger was a replica of the famous +scientist until he glanced at their hands. Dr. Bird's hands were long +and slim with tapering fingers, the hands of a thinker and an artist +despite the acid stains which disfigured them but could not hide +their beauty. The hands of his double were stained as were Dr. Bird's, +but they were short and thick and bespoke more the man of action than +the man of thought. + +The second figure arose and faced them and again Carnes received a +shock. While the likeness was not so, striking, there was no doubt +that the second man would have readily passed for Carnes himself in a +dim light or at a little distance. Dr. Bird burst into laughter at the +detective's puzzled face. + +"Carnes," he said, "shake yourself together and then shake hands with +Major Trowbridge of the Coast Artillery Corps. It has been said by +some people that we favor one another." + +"I'm glad to meet you, Major," said Carnes. "The resemblance is +positively uncanny. But for your hands, I would have trouble telling +you two apart." + + * * * * * + +The Major glanced down at his stubby fingers. + +"It is unfortunate but it can't be helped," he said. "Dr. Bird, this +is Corporal Askins of my command. He is not as good a second to Mr. +Carnes as I am to you but you said it was less important." + +"The likeness is plenty good enough," replied the Doctor. "He will +probably not be subjected to as close a scrutiny as you will. Did you +have any trouble in getting here unobserved?" + +"None at all, Doctor. Lieutenant Maynard found a good landing field +within a half mile of here, as you said he would, and he has his +Douglass camouflaged and is standing by. When do you expect trouble?" + +"I have no idea. It may come to-night or it may come later. Personally +I hope that it comes later so that we can get in a few days of fishing +before anything happens." + +"What do you expect to happen, Doctor?" demanded Carnes. "Every time I +have asked you anything you told me to wait until we were in the +Maine woods and we are there now. I read up everything that I could +find on amnesia victims during the past three months but it didn't +throw much light on the matter to me." + +"How many cases did you find, Carnes?" + +"Sixteen. There may have been lots more but I couldn't find any others +in the _Post_ records. Of course, unless the victim were a local man, +or of some prominence, it wouldn't appear." + +"You got most of them at that. Did any points of similarity strike you +as you read them?" + +"None except that all were prominent men and all of them mental +workers of high caliber. That didn't appear peculiar because it is the +man of high mentality who is most apt to crack." + +"Undoubtedly. There were some points of similarity which you missed. +Where did the attacks take place?" + +"Why, one was at--Thunder, Doctor! I did miss something. Every case, +as nearly as I can recall, happened at some summer camp or other +resort where they were on vacation." + +"Correct. One other point. At what time of day did they occur?" + +"In the morning, as well as I can remember. That point didn't +register." + +"They were all discovered in the morning, Carnes, which means that the +actual loss of memory occurred during the night. Further, every case +has happened within a circle with a diameter of three hundred miles. +We are near the northern edge of that circle." + + * * * * * + +Carnes checked up on his memory rapidly. + +"You're right, Doctor," he cried. "Do you think--?" + +"Once in a while," replied Dr. Bird dryly, "I think enough to know the +futility of guesses hazarded without complete data. We are now located +within the limits of the amnesia belt and we are here to find out what +did happen, if anything, and not to make wild guesses about it. You +have the tent set up for us, Major?" + +"Yes, Doctor, about thirty yards from the cabin and hidden so well +that you could pass it a dozen times a day without suspecting its +existence. The gas masks and other equipment which you sent to Fort +Banks are in it." + +"In that case we had better dispense with your company as soon as we +have eaten a bite, and retire to it. On second thought, we will eat in +it. Carnes, we will go to our downy couches at once and leave our +substitutes in possession of the cabin. I trust, gentlemen, that +things come out all right and that you are in no danger." + +Major Trowbridge shrugged his heavy shoulders. + +"It is as the gods will," he said sententiously. "It is merely a +matter of duty to me, you know, and thank God, I have no family to +mourn if anything does go wrong. Neither has Corporal Askins." + +"Well, good luck at any rate. Will you guide Carnes to the tent and +then return here and I'll join him?" + + * * * * * + +Huddled in the tiny concealed tent, Dr. Bird handed Carnes a haversack +on a web strap. + +"This is a gas mask," he said. "Put it on your neck and keep it ready +for instant use. I have one on and one of us must wear a mask +continually while we are here. We'll change off every hour. If the gas +used is lethane, as I suspect, we should be able to detect it before +its gets too concentrated, but some other gas might be used and we +must take no chances. Now look here." + +With the aid of a flash-light he showed Carnes a piece of apparatus +which had been set up in the tent. It consisted of two telescopic +barrels, one fitted with an eye-piece and the other, which was at a +wide angle to the first, with an objective glass. Between the two was +a covered round disc from which projected a short tube fitted with a +protecting lens. This tube was parallel to the telescopic barrel +containing the objective lens. + +"This is a new thing which I have developed and it is getting its +first practical test to-night," he said. "It is a gas detector. It +works on the principle of the spectroscope with modifications. From +this projector goes out a beam of invisible light and the reflections +are gathered and thrown through a prism of the eye-piece. While a +spectroscope requires that the substance which it examines be +incandescent and throw out visible light rays in order to show the +typical spectral lines, this device catches the invisible ultra-violet +on a fluorescent screen and analyzes it spectroscopically. Whoever has +the mask on must continually search the sky with it and look for the +three bright lines which characterize lethane, one at 230, one at 240 +and the third at 670 on the illuminated scale. If you see any bright +lines in those regions or any other lines that are not continually +present, call my attention to it at once. I'll watch for the first +hour." + + * * * * * + +At the end of an hour Dr. Bird removed his mask with a sigh of relief +and Carnes took his place at the spectroscope. For half an hour he +moved the glass about and then spoke in a guarded tone. + +"I don't see any of the lines you told me to look for," he said, "but +in the southwest I get wide band at 310 and two lines at about 520." + +Dr. Bird advanced toward the instrument but before he reached it, +Carnes gave an exclamation. + +"There they are, Doctor!" he cried. + +Dr. Bird sniffed the air. A faint sweetish odor became apparent and he +reached for his gas mask. Slowly his hands drooped and Carnes grasped +him and drew the mask over his face. Dr. Bird rallied slightly and +feebly drew a bottle from his pocket and sniffed it. In another +instant he was shouldering Carnes aside and staring through the +spectroscope. Carnes watched him for an instant and then a low whirring +noise attracted his attention and he looked up. Silently he caught +the Doctor's arm in a viselike grip and pointed. + +Hovering above the cabin was a silvery globe, faintly luminous in the +moonlight. From its top rose a faint cloud of vapor which circled +around the globe and descended toward the earth. The globe hovered +like a giant humming bird above the cabin and Carnes barely stifled an +exclamation. The door of the cabin opened and Major Trowbridge, +walking stiffly and like a man in a dream, appeared. Slowly he +advanced for ten yards and stood motionless. The globe moved over him +and the bottom unfolded like a lily. Two long arms shot silently down +and grasped the motionless figure and drew him up into the heart of +the globe. The petals refolded, and silently as a dream the globe shot +upward and disappeared. + +"Gad! They lost no time!" commented Dr. Bird. "Come on, Carnes, run +for your life, or rather, for Trowbridge's life. No, you idiot, leave +your gas mask on. I'll take the spectroscope; it'll be all we need." + +Followed by the panting Carnes, Dr. Bird sped through the night along +an almost invisible path. For half a mile he kept up a headlong pace +until Carnes could feel his heart pounding as though it would burst +his ribs. The pair debouched from the trees into a glade a few acres +in extent and Dr. Bird paused and whistled softly. An answering +whistle came from a few yards away and a figure rose in the darkness +as they approached. + +"Maynard?" called Dr. Bird. "Good enough! I was afraid that you might +not have kept your gas mask on." + +"My orders were to keep it on, sir," replied the lieutenant in muffled +tones through his mask, "but my mechanician did not obey orders. He +passed out cold without any warning about fifteen minutes ago." + +"Where's your ship?" + +"Right over here, sir." + +"We'll take off at once. Your craft is equipped with a Bird +silencer?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Come on, Carnes, we're going to follow that globe. Take the front +cockpit alone, Maynard; Carnes and I will get in the rear pit with the +spec and guide you. You can take off your gas mask at an elevation of a +thousand feet. You have pack 'chutes, haven't you?" + +"In the rear pit, Doctor." + +"Put one on, Carnes, and climb in. I've got to get this spec set up +before he gets too high." + +The Douglass equipped with the Bird silencer, took the air noiselessly +and rapidly gained elevation under the urging of the pilot. Dr. Bird +clamped the gas-detecting spectroscope on the front of his cockpit and +peered through it. + +"Southwest, at about a thousand more elevation," he directed. + +"Right!" replied the pilot as he turned the nose of his plane in the +indicated direction and began to climb. For an hour and a half the +plane flew noiselessly through the night. + +"Bald Mountain," said the pilot, pointing. "The Canadian Border is +only a few miles away." + +"If they've crossed the Border, we're sunk," replied the doctor. "The +trail leads straight ahead." + + * * * * * + +For a few minutes they continued their flight toward the Canadian +Border and then Dr. Bird spoke. + +"Swing south," he directed, "and drop a thousand feet and come back." + +The pilot executed the maneuver and Dr. Bird peered over the edge of +the plane and directed the spectroscope toward the ground. + +"Half a mile east," he said, "and drop another thousand. Carnes, get +ready to jump when I give the word." + +"Oh, Lord!" groaned Carnes as he fumbled for the rip cord of his +parachute, "suppose this thing doesn't open?" + +"They'll slide you between two barn doors for a coffin and bury you +that way," said Dr. Bird grimly. "You know your orders, Maynard?" + +"Yes, sir. When you drop, I am to land at the nearest town--it will be +Lowell--and get in touch with the Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy +Yard if possible. If I get him, I am to tell him my location and wait +for the arrival of reenforcements. If I fail to get him on the +telephone, I am to deliver a sealed packet which I carry to the +nearest United States Marshal. When reenforcements arrive, either from +the Navy Yard or from the Marshal, I am to guide them toward the spot +where I dropped you and remain, as nearly as I can judge, two miles +away until I get a further signal or orders from you." + +"That is right. We'll be over the edge in another minute. Are you +ready, Carnes?" + +"Oh, yes, I'm ready, Doctor, if I have to risk my precious life in +this contraption." + +"Then jump!" + + * * * * * + +Side by side, Carnes and the doctor dropped toward the ground. The +Douglass flew silently away into the night. Carnes found that the +sensation of falling was not an unpleasant one as soon as he got +accustomed to it. There was little sensation of motion, and it was not +until a sharp whisper from Dr. Bird called it to his attention that he +realized that he was almost to the ground. He bent his legs as he had +been instructed and landed without any great jar. As he rose he saw +that Dr. Bird was already on his feet and was eagerly searching the +ground with the spectroscope which he had brought with him in the +jump. + +"Fold your parachute, Carnes, and we'll stow them away under a rock +where they can't be seen. We won't use them again." + +Carnes did so and deposited the silk bundle beside the doctor's, and +they covered them with rocks until they would be invisible from the +air. + +"Follow me," said the doctor as he strode carefully forward, stopping +now and then to take a sight with the spectroscope. Carnes followed +him as he made his way up a small hill which blocked the way. A hiss +from Dr. Bird stopped him. + +Dr. Bird had dropped flat on the ground, and Carnes, on all fours, +crawled forward to join him. He smothered an exclamation as he looked +over the crest of the hill. Before him, sitting in a hollow in the +ground, was the huge globe which had spirited away Major Trowbridge. + +"This is evidently their landing place," whispered Dr. Bird. "The next +thing to find is their hiding place." + + * * * * * + +He rose and started forward but sank at once to the ground and dragged +Carnes down with him. On the hill which formed the opposite side of +the hollow a line of light showed for an instant as though a door had +been opened. The light disappeared and then reappeared, and as they +watched it widened and against an illuminated background four men +appeared, carrying a fifth. The door shut behind them and they made +their way slowly toward the waiting globe. They laid down their burden +and one of them turned a flash-light on the globe and opened a door in +its side through which they hoisted their burden. They all entered the +globe, the door closed and with a slight whirring sound it rose in the +air and moved rapidly toward the northeast. + +"That's the place we're looking for," muttered Dr. Bird. "We'll go +around this hollow and look for it. Be careful where you step; they +must have ventilation somewhere if their laboratory is underground." + +Followed by the secret service operative, the doctor made his way +along the edge of the hollow. They did not dare to show a light and it +was slow work feeling their way forward, inch by inch. When they had +reached a point above where the doctor thought the light had been he +paused. + +"There must be a ventilation shaft somewhere around here," he +whispered, his mouth not an inch from Carnes' ear, "and we've got to +find it. It would never do to try the door; if any of them are still +here it is sure to be guarded. You go up the hill for five yards and +I'll go down. Quarter back and forth on a two hundred yard front and +work carefully. Don't fall in, whatever you do. We'll return to this +point every time we pass it and report." + +The operative nodded and walked a few yards up the hill and made his +way slowly forward. He went a hundred yards as nearly as he could +judge and then stepped five yards further up the hill and made his way +back. As he passed the starting point he approached and Dr. Bird's +figure rose up. + +"Any luck?" he whispered. + +Dr. Bird shook his head. + +"Well try further," he said. "I think it is probably beyond us, so +suppose you go fifteen yards up and quarter the same as before." + + * * * * * + +Carnes nodded and stole silently away. Fifteen yards up the hill he +went and then paused. He stood on the crest of the hill and before him +was a steep, almost precipitous slope. He made his way along the edge +for a few yards and then paused. Faintly he could detect a murmur of +voices. Inch by inch he crept forward, going over the ground under +foot. He paused and listened intently and decided that the sound must +come from the slope beneath him. A glance at his watch told him that +he had spent ten minutes on this trip and he made his way back to the +meeting place. + +Dr. Bird was waiting for him, and in a low whisper Carnes reported his +discovery. The doctor went back with him and together they renewed the +search. The slope of the hill was almost sheer and Carnes looked +dubiously over the edge. + +"I wish we had brought the parachutes," he whispered to the doctor. +"We could have taken the ropes off them and you could have lowered me +over the edge." + +Dr. Bird chuckled softly and tugged at his middle. Carnes watched him +with astonishment in the dim light, but he understood when Dr. Bird +thrust the end of a strong but light silk cord into his hands. He +looped it under his arms and the doctor with whispered instructions, +lowered him over the cliff. The doctor lowered him for a few feet and +then stopped in response to a jerk on the free end. A moment later +Carnes signaled to be drawn up and soon stood beside the doctor. + +"That's the place all right," he whispered. "The whole cliff is +covered with creepers and there is a tree growing right close to it. +If we can anchor the cord here, I think that we can slide down to a +safe hold on the tree." + +A tree stood near and the silk cord was soon fastened. Carnes +disappeared over the cliff and in a few moments Dr. Bird slid down the +cord to join him. He found the detective seated in the crotch of a +tree only a few feet from the face of the cliff. From the cliff came a +pronounced murmur of voices. Dr. Bird drew in his breath in excitement +and moved forward along the branch. He touched the stone and after a +moment of searching he cautiously raised one corner of a painted +canvas flap and peered into the cliff. He watched for a few seconds +and then slid back and silently pulled Carnes toward him. + + * * * * * + +Together the two men made their way toward the cliff and Dr. Bird +raised the corner of the flap and they peered into the hill. Before +them was a cave fitted up as a cross between a laboratory and a +hospital. Almost directly opposite them and at the left of a door in +the farther wall was a ray machine of some sort. It was a puzzle to +Carnes, and even Dr. Bird, although he could grasp the principle at a +glance, was at a loss to divine its use. From a set of coils attached +to a generator was connected a tube of the Crookes tube type with the +rays from it gathered and thrown by a parabolic reflector onto the +space where a man's head would rest when he was seated in a white +metal chair with rubber insulated feet, which stood beneath it. An +operating table occupied the other side of the room while a gas +cylinder and other common hospital apparatus stood around ready for +use. + +Seated at a table which occupied the center of the room were three +men. The sound of their voices rose from an indistinct murmur to +audibility as the flap was raised and the watchers could readily +understand their words. Two of them sat with their faces toward the +main entrance and the third man faced them. Carnes bit his lip as he +looked at the man at the head of the table. He was twisted and +misshapen in body, a grotesque dwarf with a hunched back, not over +four feet in height. His massive head, sunken between his hunched +shoulders, showed a tremendous dome of cranium and a brow wider and +even higher than Dr. Bird's. The rest of his face was lined and drawn +as though by years of acute suffering. Sharp black eyes glared +brightly from deep sunk caverns. The dwarf was entirely bald; even the +bushy eyebrows which would be expected from his face, were missing. + + * * * * * + +"They ought to be getting back," said the dwarf sharply. + +"If they get back at all," said one of the two figures facing him. + +"What do you mean?" growled the dwarf, his eyes glittering ominously. +"They'll return all right; they know they'd better." + +"They'll return if they can, but I tell you again, Slavatsky, I think +it was a piece of foolishness to try to take two men in one night. We +got Bird all right, but it is getting late for a second one, and they +had to take Bird over a hundred miles and then go nearly three hundred +more for Williams. The news about Bird may have been discovered and +spread and others may be looking out for us. Carnes might have +recovered." + +"Didn't he get a full dose of lethane?" + +"So Frick says, and Bird certainly had a full dose, but I can't help +but feel uneasy. Our operations were going too nicely on schedule and +you had to break it up and take on an extra case in the same night as +a scheduled one. I tell you, I don't like it." + +"I'm sorry that I did it, Carson, but only because the results were so +poor. We had planned on Williams for a month and I wanted him. And +Bird was so easy that I couldn't resist it." + +"And what did you get? Not as much menthium as would have come from an +ordinary bookkeeper." + +"I'll admit that Bird is a grossly overrated man. He must have worked +in sheer luck in his work in the past, for there was nothing in his +brain to show it above average. We got barely enough menthium to +replace what we used in capturing him." + +"We ought to have taken Carnes and left Bird alone," snorted Carson. +"Even a wooden-headed detective ought to have given us a better supply +than Bird yielded." + +"We are bound to meet with disappointments once in a while. I had +marked Bird down long ago as soon as I could get a chance at him." + +"Well, you ran that show, Slavatsky, but I'll warn you that we aren't +going to let you pull off another one like it. I take no more crazy +chances, even on your orders." + + * * * * * + +The hunchback rose to his feet, his eyes glittering ominously. + +"What do you mean, Carson?" he asked slowly, his hand slipping behind +him as he spoke. + +"Don't try any rough stuff, Slavatsky!" warned Carson sharply. "I can +pull a tube as fast as you can, and I'll do it if I have to." + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" protested the third man rising, "we are all +too deep in this to quarrel. Sit down and let's talk this over. Carson +is just worried." + +"What is there to be worried about?" grunted the dwarf as he slid back +into his chair. "Everything has gone nicely so far and no suspicion +has been raised." + +"Maybe it has and then again maybe it hasn't," growled Carson. "I +think this Bird episode to-night looks bad. In the first place, it +came too opportunely and too easily. In the second place Bird should +have yielded more menthium, and in the third place, did you notice his +hands? They weren't the type of hands to expect on a man of his type." + +"Nonsense, they were acid stained." + +"Acid stains can be put on. It may be all right, but I am worried. +While we are talking about this matter, there is another thing I want +cleared up." + +"What is it?" + +"I think, Slavatsky, that you are holding out on us. You are getting +more than your share of the menthium." + +Again the dwarf leaped to his feet, but the peace-maker intervened. + +"Carson has a right to look at the records, Slavatsky," he said. "I am +satisfied, but I'd like to look at them, too. None of us have seen +them for two months." + +The dwarf glared at first one and then the other. + +"All right," he said shortly and limped to a cabinet on the wall. He +drew a key from his pocket and opened it and pulled out a +leather-bound book. "Look all you please. I was supposed to get the +most. It was my idea." + +"You were to get one share and a half, while Willis, Frink and I got +one share each and the rest half a share," said Carson. "I know how +much has been given and it won't take me but a minute to check up." + + * * * * * + +He bent over the book, but Willis interrupted. + +"Better put it away, Carson," he said, "here come the rest and we +don't want them to know we suspect anything." + +He pointed toward a disc on the wall which had begun to glow. +Slavatsky looked at it and grasped the book from Carson and replaced +it in the cabinet. He moved over and started the generator and the +tube began to glow with a violet light. A noise came from the outside +and the door opened. Four men entered carrying a fifth whom they +propped up in the chair under the glowing tube. + +"Did everything go all right?" asked the dwarf eagerly. + +"Smooth as silk," replied one of the four. "I hope we get some results +this time." + +The dwarf bent over the ray apparatus and made some adjustments and +the head of the unconscious man was bathed with a violet glow. For +three minutes the flood of light poured on his head and then the dwarf +shut off the light and Carson and Willis lifted the figure and laid it +on the operating table. The dwarf bent over the man and inserted the +needle of a hypodermic syringe into the back of the neck at the base +of the brain. The needle was an extremely long one, and Dr. Bird +gasped as he saw four inches of shining steel buried in the brain of +the unconscious man. + +Slowly Slavatsky drew back the plunger of the syringe and Dr. Bird +could see it was being filled with an amber fluid. For two minutes the +slow work continued, until a speck of red appeared in the glass +syringe barrel. + +"Seven and a half cubic centimeters!" cried the dwarf in a tone of +delight. + +"Fine!" cried Carson. "That's a record, isn't it?" + +"No, we got eight once. Now hold him carefully while I return some of +it." + + * * * * * + +Slavatsky slowly pressed home the plunger and a portion of the amber +fluid was returned to the patient's skull. Presently he withdrew the +needle and straightened up and held it toward the light. + +"Six centimeters net," he announced. "Take him back, Frink. I'll give +Carson and Willis their share now and we'll take care of the rest of +you when you return. Is the ship well stocked?" + +"Enough for two or three more trips." + +"In that case, I'll inject this whole lot. Better get going, Frink, +it's pretty late." + +The four men who had brought the patient in stepped forward and lifted +him from the table and bore him out. Dr. Bird dropped the canvas +screen and strained his ears. A faint whir told him that the globe had +taken to the air. He slid back along the limb of the tree until he +touched the rope and silently climbed hand over hand until he gained +the crest. He bent his back to the task of raising Carnes, and the +operative soon stood beside him on the ledge surmounting the cliff. + +"What on earth were they doing?" asked Carnes in a whisper. + +"That was Professor Williams of Yale. They were depriving him of his +memory. There will be another amnesia case in the papers to-morrow. I +haven't time to explain their methods now: we've got to act. You have +a flash-light?" + +"Yes, and my gun. Shall we break in? There are only three of them, and +I think we could handle the lot." + +"Yes, but the others may return at any time and we want to bag the +whole lot. They've done their damage for to-night. You heard my orders +to Lieutenant Maynard, didn't you?" + +"Yes." + +"He should be somewhere in these hills to the south with assistance of +some sort. The signal to them is three long flashes followed in turn +by three short ones and three more long. Go and find them and bring +them here. When you get close give me the same light signal and don't +try to break in unless I am with you. I am going to reconnoitre a +little more and make sure that there is no back entrance through which +they can escape. Good luck. Carnes: hurry all you can. There is no +time to be lost." + + * * * * * + +The secret service operative stole away into the night and Dr. Bird +climbed back down the rope and took his place at the window. Willis +lay on the operating table unconscious, while Slavatsky and Carson +studied the now partially emptied syringe. + +"You gave him his full share all right," Carson was saying. "I guess +you are playing square with us. I'll take mine now." + +He lay down on the operating table and the dwarf fitted an anesthesia +cone over his face and opened the valve of the gas cylinder. In a +moment he closed it and rolled the unconscious man on his face and +deftly inserted the long needle. Instead of injecting a portion of the +contents of the syringe as Dr. Bird had expected to do, he drew back +on the plunger for a minute and then took out the needle and held the +syringe to the light. + +"Well, Mr. Carson," he said with a malignant glance at the unconscious +figure, "that recovers the dose you got a couple of weeks ago while +Willis watched me. I don't think you really need any menthium; your +brain is too active to suit me as it is." + +He gave an evil chuckle and walked to the far side of the cave and +opened a secret panel. He drew from a recess a flask and carefully +emptied a portion of the contents of the syringe into it. He replaced +the flask and closed the panel, and with another chuckle he limped +over to a chair and threw himself down in it. For an hour he sat +motionless and Dr. Bird carefully worked his way back along the branch +and climbed the rope and started for the hollow. + + * * * * * + +A faint whirring noise attracted his attention, and he could see the +faintly luminous globe in the distance, rapidly approaching. It came +to a stop at the spot where it had previously landed and four men got +out. Instead of going toward the cave, they towed the globe, which +floated a few inches from the earth, toward the side of the hill +farthest from where the doctor stood. Three of them held it, while the +fourth went forward and bent over some controls on the ground. A +creaking sound came through the night and the men moved forward with +the globe. Presently its movement stopped and men reappeared. Again +came the creaking sound and the glow faded out as though a screen had +been drawn in front of it. The four men walked toward the door of the +cave. + +Dr. Bird dropped flat on the ground and saw them pause a few yards +below him on the hill and again work some hidden controls. A glare of +light showed for an instant and they disappeared and everything was +again quiet. Dr. Bird debated the advisability of returning to the +window but decided against it and moved down the face of the hill. + +Inch by inch he went over the ground, but found nothing. In the +darkness he could not locate the door and he made his way around to +the back of the hill. The precipice loomed above him and he swept it +with his gaze, but he could locate no opening in the darkness and he +dared not use a flash-light. As he turned he faced the east and noted +with a start of surprise that the sky was getting red. He glanced at +his watch and found that Carnes had been gone for nearly three hours. + +"Great Scott!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Time has gone faster than I +realized. He ought to be back at any time now." + + * * * * * + +He mounted the highest point of the hill and sent three long flashes, +followed in turn by three short and three more long to the south and +watched eagerly for an answer. He waited five minutes and repeated the +signal, but no answering flashes came from the empty hills. With a +grunt which might have meant anything, he turned and made his way +toward the opposite side of the hollow where the globe had +disappeared. Here he met with more luck. He had marked the location +with extreme care and he had not spent over twenty minutes feeling +over the ground before his hand encountered a bit of metal. As he +pulled on it his eyes sought the side of the hill. + +The dawn had grown sufficiently bright for him to see the result of +his action. A portion of the hill folded back and the faintly glowing +ship became visible. With a muttered exclamation of triumph he +approached it. + +The globe was about nine feet in diameter and was without visible +doors or windows. Around and around it the doctor went, searching for +an entrance. The ship now rested solidly on the ground. He failed to +find what he sought and his sensitive hands began to go over it +searching for an irregularity. He had covered nearly half of it before +his finger found a hidden button and pressed it. Silently a door in +the side of the craft opened and he advanced to enter. + +"Keep them up!" said a sharp voice behind him. + +Dr. Bird froze into instant immobility and the voice spoke again. + +"Turn around!" + +Dr. Bird turned and looked full into the eye of a revolver held by the +man the dwarf had addressed as Frink. Behind Frink stood the dwarf and +three other men. + +As his eye fell on Dr. Bird, Frink turned momentarily pale and +staggered back, the revolver wavering as he did so. Dr. Bird made a +lightning-like grab for his own weapon, but before he could draw it +Frink had recovered and the revolver was again steady. + +"Dr. Bird!" gasped Slavatsky. "Impossible!" + +"Get his gun, Harris," said Frink. + + * * * * * + +One of the men stepped forward and dextrously removed the doctor's +automatic and frisked him expertly to insure himself that he had no +other weapon concealed. + +"Bring him to the cave," directed Slavatsky, who, though obviously +still shaken, had just as obviously recovered enough to be a very +dangerous man. Two of the men grasped the doctor and led him along +toward the entrance to the laboratory cave which stood wide open in +the gathering daylight. Frink paused long enough to shut the side of +the hill and conceal the ship, and then followed the doctor. In the +cave the door was shut and the doctor placed against the wall under +the window through which he had peered earlier in the night. Slavatsky +took his seat at the table, his malignant black eyes boring into the +Doctor. Carson and Willis sat on the edge of the operating table, +evidently still partially under the effects of the anesthetic that had +been administered to them. + +"How did you get back here?" demanded Slavatsky. + +"Find out!" snapped Dr. Bird. + +The dwarf rose threateningly. + +"Speak respectfully to me; I am the Master of the World!" he roared in +an angry voice. "Answer my questions when I speak, or means will be +found to make you answer. How did you get back here?" + +Dr. Bird maintained a stubborn silence, his fierce eyes answering the +dwarf's, look for look, and his prominent chin jutting out a little +more squarely. Carson suddenly broke the silence. + +"That's not the Bird we had here earlier," he cried as he staggered to +his feet. + +"What do you mean?" demanded Slavatsky whirling on him. + +"Look at his hands!" replied Carson pointing. + + * * * * * + +Slavatsky looked at Dr. Bird's long mobile fingers and an evil leer +came over his countenance. + +"So, Dr. Bird," he said slowly, "you thought to match wits with Ivan +Slavatsky, the greatest mind of all the ages. For a time you fooled me +when your double was operated on here, but not for long. I presume you +thought that we had no way of detecting the substitution? You have +discovered differently. Where is your friend, Mr. Carnes?" + +"Didn't your men leave him in the cabin when you kidnapped me?" + +Slavatsky looked at Frink inquiringly. + +"He stayed in the cabin if he was in it when we got there," the leader +of the kidnapping gang replied. "He got a full shot of lethane and +he's due to be asleep yet. I don't know how this man recovered. I left +him there myself." + +"Fool!" shrieked Slavatsky. "You brought me a double, a dummy whom I +wasted my time in operating on. Was the other a dummy, too?" + +"I didn't enter the cabin." + +Slavatsky shrugged his shoulders. + +"If that is all the good the menthium I have injected has done you, I +might as well have saved it. It doesn't matter, however: we have the +one we wanted. Dr. Bird, it was very thoughtful of you to come here +and offer your marvelous brain to strengthen mine. I have no doubt +that you will yield even more menthium than Professor Williams did +this evening especially as I will extract your entire supply and +reduce you to permanent idiocy. I will have no mercy on you as I have +on the others I have operated on." + +Dr. Bird blanched in spite of himself at the ominous words. + +"You have the whip-hand for the moment, Slavatsky, but my time may +come--and if it does, I will remember your kindness. I saw your +operation on Professor Williams this evening and know your power. I +also know that you stole the idea and the method from Sweigert of +Vienna. I saw you inject the fluid you drew into Willis' brain. Shall +I tell what else I saw?" + +It was the dwarf's turn to blanch, but he recovered himself quickly. + +"Into the chair with him!" he roared. + + * * * * * + +Three of the men grasped the doctor and forced him into the chair and +Slavatsky started the generator. The violet light bathed Dr. Bird's head +and he felt a stiffness and contraction of his neck muscles, and as he +tried to shout out his knowledge of Slavatsky's treachery, he found that +his vocal chords were paralyzed. Through a gathering haze he could see +Carson approaching with an anesthesia cone and the sweet smell of lethane +assailed his nostrils. He fought with all his force, but strong hands held +him, and he felt himself slipping--slipping--slipping--and then falling +into an immense void. His head slumped forward on his chest and Slavatsky +shut off the generator. + +"On the table," he said briefly. + +Four men picked up the herculean frame of the unconscious doctor and +hoisted him up on the table. Carson seized his head and bent it +forward and the dwarf took from a case a syringe with a five-inch +needle. He touched the point of it to the base of the doctor's brain. + +"Slavatsky! Look!" cried Frink. + +With an exclamation of impatience the dwarf turned and stared at a +disc set on the wall of the cave. It was glowing brightly. With an +oath he dropped the syringe and snapped a switch, plunging the cave +into darkness. A tiny panel in the door opened to his touch and he +stared out into the light. + +"Soldiers!" he gasped. "Quick, the back way!" + +As he spoke there came a sound as of a heavy body falling at the back +of the cave. Slavatsky turned the switch and flooded the cave with +light. At the back of the cave stood Operative Carnes, an automatic +pistol in his hand. + +"Open the main door!" Carnes snapped. + + * * * * * + +Slavatsky made a move toward the light, and Carnes' gun roared +deafeningly in the confined space. The heavy bullet smashed into the +wall an inch from the dwarf's hand and he started back. + +"Open the main door!" ordered Carnes again. + +The men stared at one another for a moment and the dwarf's eyes fell. + +"Open the door, Frink," he said. + +Frink moved over to a lever. He glanced at Slavatsky and a momentary +gleam of intelligence passed between them. Frink raised his hand +toward the lever and Carnes gun roared again and Frink's arm fell limp +from a smashed shoulder. + +"Slavatsky," said Carnes sternly, "come here!" + +Slowly the dwarf approached. + +"Turn around!" said Carnes. + +He turned and felt the cold muzzle of Carnes' gun against the back of +his neck. + +"Now tell one of your men to open the door," said the detective. "If +he promptly obeys your order, you are safe. If he doesn't, you die." + +Slavatsky hesitated for a moment, but the cold muzzle of the automatic +bored into the back of his neck and when he spoke it was in a +quavering whine. + +"Open the door, Carson," he whimpered. + +There was moment of pause. + +"If that door isn't open by the time I count three," said Carnes, +"--as far as Slavatsky is concerned, it's just too bad. I'll have four +shots left--and I'm a dead shot at this range. One! Two!" + +His lips framed the word "three" and his fingers were tightening on +the trigger when Carson jumped forward with an oath. He pulled a lever +on the wall and the door swung open. Carnes shouted and through the +opened door came a half dozen marines followed by an officer. + +"Tie these men up!" snapped Carnes. + + * * * * * + +In a trice the six men were securely bound and Frink's bleeding +shoulder was being skilfully treated by two of the marines. Carnes +turned his attention to the unconscious doctor. + +He rolled him over on his back and began to chafe his hands. An +officer in a naval uniform came through the door and with a swift +glance around, bent over Dr. Bird. He raised one of the doctor's +eyelids and peered closely at his eye and then sniffed at his breath. + +"It's some anesthetic I don't know," he said. "I'll try a stimulant." + +He reached in his pocket for a hypodermic, but Carnes interrupted him. + +"Earlier in the evening Dr. Bird said they were using lethane," he +said. + +"Oh, that new gas the Chemical Warfare Service has discovered," said +the surgeon. "In that case I guess it'll just have to wear off. I know +of nothing that will neutralize it." + +Without replying, Carnes began to feverishly search the pockets of the +unconscious scientist. With an exclamation of triumph he drew out a +bottle and uncorked it. A strong smell as of garlic penetrated the +room and he held the opened bottle under Dr. Bird's nose. The doctor +lay for a moment without movement, and then he coughed and sat up half +strangled with tears running down his face. + +"Take that confounded bottle away, Carnes!" he said. "Do you want to +strangle me?" + +He sat up and looked around. + +"What happened?" he demanded. "Oh, yes, I remember now. That brute was +about to operate on me. How did you get here?" + +"Never mind that, Doctor. Are you all right?" + +"Right as a trivet, old dear. How did you get here so opportunely?" + +"I was a little slow in locating Lieutenant Maynard and the marines. +When we got here I was afraid that we couldn't find the door, so I +took Maynard and a detail around to the back and I went up to the top +and slid down our cord and looked in the window. You were unconscious +and Slavatsky was bending over you with a needle in his hand. I was +about to try a shot at him when something called their attention to +the men in front and I squeezed through the window and dropped in on +them. They didn't seem any too glad to see me, but I overlooked that +and insisted on inviting the rest of my friends in to share in the +party. That's all." + +"Carnes," said the Doctor, "you're probably lying like a trooper when +you make out that you did nothing, but I'll pry the truth out of you +sooner or later. Now I've got to get to work. Send for Lieutenant +Maynard." + + * * * * * + +One of the marines went out to get the flyer, and Dr. Bird stepped to +the cabinet from which Slavatsky had taken his record book earlier in +the evening and took out the leather-bound volume. He opened it and +had started to read when Lieutenant Maynard entered the cave. + +"Hello, Maynard," said the Doctor, looking up. "Are the rest of the +party on their way?" + +"They will be here in less than two hours, Doctor." + +"Good enough! Have some one sent to guide them here. In the meanwhile, +I'm going to study these records. Keep the prisoners quiet. If they +make a noise, gag them. I want to concentrate." + +For an hour and a half silence reigned in the cave. A stir was heard +outside and Admiral Clay, the President's personal physician, entered +leading a stout gray-haired man. Dr. Bird whistled when he saw them +and leaped to his feet as another figure followed the admiral. + +"The President!" gasped Carnes as the officers came to a salute and +the marines presented arms. + +The President nodded to his ex-guard, acknowledged the salute of the +rest and turned to Dr. Bird. + +"Have you met with success, Doctor?" he asked. + +"I have, Mr. President; or, rather, I hope that I have. At the same +time, I would rather experiment on some other victim of their deviltry +than the one you have brought me." + +"My decision that the one I have brought shall be the first to be +experimented on, as you term it, is unalterable." + + * * * * * + +Dr. Bird bowed and turned to the dwarf who had been a sullen witness +of what had gone on. + +"Slavatsky," he said slowly, "your game is up. I have witnessed one of +your brain transfusions and I know the method. I gather from your +notes that the menthium you have hidden in that cabinet is still as +potent as when it was first extracted from a living brain, but in this +case I am going to draw it fresh from one of your gang. Some of the +details of the operation are a little hazy to me, but those you will +teach me. I am going to restore this man to the condition he was in +before you did your devil's work on him and you will direct my +movements. Just what is the first step in removing the menthium from a +brain?" + +The dwarf maintained a stubborn silence. + +"You refuse to answer?" asked the Doctor in feigned surprise. "I +thought that you would rather instruct me and have me try the +operation first on other men. Since you prefer that I operate on you +first, I will be glad to do so." + +He stepped to the opposite wall and in a few moments had opened the +dwarf's hiding place and taken out the flask of menthium. + +"Carson," he said, "after you had watched Slavatsky inject menthium +into Willis, you took lethane and expected him to inject menthium into +your brain. Instead of doing so he withdrew a portion from your brain +and put it in this flask. I have reason to believe from his secret +records which I found in the cabinet with this flask that he has done +so regularly. Are you willing to instruct me while I remove the +menthium from him?" + +"The dirty swine!" shouted Carson. "I'll do anything to get even with +him, but I have never performed the operation. Only Slavatsky and +Willis have operated." + +"Will you help me, Willis? asked Dr. Bird. + +"I'll be glad to, Doctor. I am sick of this business anyway. At first, +Slavatsky just planned to give us abnormally keen brains, but lately +he has been talking of setting himself up as Emperor of the World, and +I am sick of it. I think I would have broken with him and told all I +know, soon, anyway." + +"Throw him in that chair," said Dr. Bird. + + * * * * * + +Despite the howlings and strugglings of the dwarf, three of the +marines strapped him in the chair beneath the tube. The dwarf howled +and frothed at the mouth and directed a final appeal for mercy to the +President. + +"Spare me, Your Excellency," he howled. "I will put my brains at your +service and make you the greatest mentality of all time. Together we +can conquer and rule the world. I will show you how to build hundreds +of ships like mine--" + +The President turned his back on the dwarf and spoke curtly. + +"Proceed with your experiments, Dr. Bird," he said. + +Slavatsky directed his appeals to the doctor, who peremptorily +silenced him. + +"I told you a few hours ago, Slavatsky, that the time might come when +I would remember your threats against me. I will show you the same +mercy now as you promised me then. Carnes, put a cone over his face." + +Despite the howls of the dwarf, the operative forced an anesthesia +cone over his face and Dr. Bird turned to the valve of the lethane +cylinder. With Willis directing his movements, he turned on the ray +for three minutes and removed the unconscious dwarf to the operating +table. He took the long-needled syringe from a case and sterilized it +and then turned to the President. + +"I am about to operate," he said, "but before I do so, I wish to +explain to all just what I have learned and what I am about to do. +With that data, the decision of whether I shall proceed will rest with +you and Admiral Clay. Have I your permission to do so?" + + * * * * * + +The President nodded. + +"When I first read of these amnesia cases, I took them for +coincidences--until you consulted me and gave me an opportunity to +examine one of the victims. I found a small puncture at the base of +the brain which I could not explain, and I began to dig into old +records. I knew, of course, of Sweigert of Vienna, and the extravagant +claims he had put forward in 1911. He was far ahead of his time, but +he mixed up some profound scientific discoveries with mysticism and +occultism until he was discredited. Nevertheless, he continued his +experiments with the aid of his principal assistant, a man named +Slavatsky. + +"Sweigert's theory was that intellectuality, brain power, +intelligence, call it what you will, was the result of the presence of +a fluid which he called 'menthium' in the brain. He thought that it +could be transferred from one person to another, and with the aid of +Slavatsky, he experimented on himself. He removed the menthium from an +unfortunate victim, who was reduced to a state of imbecility, and +Slavatsky injected the substance into Sweigert's brain. The experiment +resulted fatally and Slavatsky was tried for murder. He was acquitted +of intentional murder but was imprisoned for a time for manslaughter. +He was released when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up, and +for a time I lost track of him. + +"I found translations of both the records of the trials and of +Sweigert's original reports, and the thing that attracted my attention +was that the puncture I found in the victim corresponded exactly with +the puncture described by Sweigert as the one he made in extracting +the menthium. I asked the immigration authorities to check over their +records and they found that a man named Slavatsky whose description +corresponded with the ill-fated Sweigert's assistant had entered the +United States under Austria's quota about a year ago. The chain of +evidence seemed complete to me, and it only remained to find the man +who was systematically robbing brains. + +"If such a thing was really going on, I felt that my reputation would +make me an attractive bait and I secured a double, as you know, and +placed him in a position where his kidnapping would be an easy matter. +I was sure that the victims were being taken away by air and that +lethane was being used to reduce the neighborhood to a state of +profound somnolence, so I hid myself near my double with a gas +detector which would find even minute traces of lethane in the air. + +"My fish rose to the lure and came after the bait last night. When his +ship arrived, I found a strange gas in the air, and followed the ship +by the trail of the substance which it left behind it. Carnes was with +me, and we got here in time to witness the extraction of the menthium +from my friend, Professor Williams of Yale, and to see it injected +into one of Slavatsky's gang. I sent Carnes for help and messed around +until I was captured myself--and help arrived just in time. That's +about all there is to tell. I am now about to reverse the process and +try to remove the stolen brains from the criminals and restore them to +their rightful owners. I have never operated and the result may be +fatal. Shall I proceed?" + +The President and Admiral Clay consulted for a moment in undertones. + +"Go on with your experiments, Dr. Bird," said the President, "and we +will hold you blameless for a failure. You have worked so many +miracles in the past that we have every confidence in you." + +Dr. Bird bowed acknowledgment to the compliment and bent over the +unconscious dwarf. With Willis directing every move, he inserted the +needle and drew back slowly on the plunger. Twenty-three and one-half +cubic centimeters of amber fluid flowed into the syringe before a +speck of blood appeared. + +"Enough!" cried Willis. Dr. Bird withdrew the syringe and motioned to +Admiral Clay. The man the Admiral had brought in was placed in the +chair and lethane administered. He was laid on the table, and, with a +silent prayer, Dr. Bird inserted the needle and pressed the plunger. +When five and one-quarter centimeters had flowed into the man's +brains, he withdrew the needle and held the bottle which Carnes had +used to revive him under the man's nose. The patient coughed a moment +and sat up. + +"Where am I?" he demanded. His gaze roved the cave and fell on the +President. "Hello, Robert," he exclaimed. "What has happened?" + +With a cry of joy the President sprang forward and wrung the hand of +the man. + +"Are you all right, William?" he asked anxiously. "Do you feel +perfectly normal?" + +"Of course I do. My neck feels a little stiff. What are you talking +about? Why shouldn't I feel normal? How did I get here?" + +"Take him outside, Admiral, and explain to him," said the President. + +Admiral Clay led the puzzled man outside and the President turned to +Dr. Bird. + +"Doctor," he said, "I need not tell you that I again add my personal +gratitude to the gratitude of a nation which would be yours, could the +miracles you work be told off. If there is ever any way that can serve +you, either personally or officially, do not hesitate to ask. The +other victims will be brought here to-day. Will you be able to restore +them?" + +"I will, Mr. President. From Slavatsky's records I find that I will +have enough if I reduce all of his men to a state of imbecility except +Willis. In view of his assistance, I propose to leave him with enough +menthium to give him the intelligence of an ordinary schoolboy." + +"I quite approve of that," said the President as Willis humbly +expressed his gratitude. "Have you had time to make an examination of +that ship of Slavatsky's, yet?" + +"I have not. As soon as the work of restoration is completed, I will +go over it, and when I master the principles I will be glad to take +them up with the Army-Navy General Board." + +"Thank you, Doctor," said the President. He shook hands heartily and +left the cave. Carnes turned and looked at the Doctor. + +"Will you answer a question, Doctor?" he asked. "Ever since this case +started, I have been wondering at your extraordinary powers. You have +ordered the army, the navy, the department of justice and everyone +else around as though you were an absolute monarch. I know the +President was behind you, but what puzzles me is how he came to be so +vitally interested in the case." + +Dr. Bird smiled quizzically at the detective. + +"Even the secret service doesn't know everything," he said. "Evidently +you didn't recognize the man whose memory I restored. Besides being +one of the most brilliant corporation executives in the country, he +has another unique distinction. He happens to be the only brother of +the President of the United States." + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Invisible Death + +A COMPLETE NOVELETTE + +_By Victor Rousseau_ + +[Illustration: Far overhead a luminous shape appeared.] + +[Sidenote: With night-rays and darkness-antidote America strikes back +at the terrific and destructive Invisible Empire.] + +CHAPTER I + +_Out of the Hangman's Hands_ + + +"You speak," said Von Kettler, jeering, "as if you really believed +that you had the power of life and death over me." + +The Superintendent of the penitentiary frowned, yet there was +something of perplexity in the look he gave the prisoner. "Von +Kettler, I think it is time that you dropped this absurd pose of +yours," he said, "in view of the fact that you are scheduled to die by +hanging at eight o'clock to-morrow night. Your life and death are in +your own hands." + +[Illustration] + +Von Kettler bowed ironically. Standing in the Superintendent's +presence in the uniform of the condemned cell, collarless, +bare-headed, he yet seemed to dominate the other by a certain poise, +breeding, nonchalance. + +"Your life is offered you in consideration of your making a complete +written confession of the whole ramifications of the plot against the +Federal Government," the Superintendent continued. + +"Rather a confession of weakness, my dear Superintendent," jeered the +prisoner. + + * * * * * + +"Oh don't worry about that! The Government has unravelled a good deal +of the conspiracy. It knows that you and your international associates +are planning to strike at civilized government throughout the world, +in the effort to restore the days of autocracy. It knows you are +planning a world federation of states, based on the principles of +absolutism and aristocracy. It is aware of the immense financial +resources behind the movement. Also that you have obtained the use of +certain scientific discoveries which you believe will aid you in your +schemes." + +"I was wondering," jeered the prisoner, "how soon you were coming to +that." + +"They didn't help you in your murderous scheme," the Superintendent +thundered. "You were found in the War Office by the night watchman, +rifling a safe of valuable documents. You shot him with a pistol +equipped with a silencer. You shot down two more who, hearing his +cries, rushed to his aid. And you attempted to stroll out of the +building, apparently under the belief that you possessed mysterious +power which would afford you security." + +"A little lapse of judgment such as may happen with the best laid +plans," smiled Von Kettler. "No, Superintendent, I'll be franker with +you than that. My capture was designed. It was decided to give the +Government an object lesson in our power. It was resolved that I +should permit myself to be captured, in order to demonstrate that you +cannot hang me, that I have merely to open the door of my cell, the +gates of this penitentiary, and walk out to freedom." + +"Have you quite finished?" rasped the Superintendent. + +"At your disposal," smiled the other. + +"Here's your last chance, Von Kettler. Your persistence in this absurd +claim has actually shaken the expressed conviction of some of the +medical examiners that you are sane. If you will make that complete +written confession that the Government asks of you, I pledge you that +you shall be declared insane to-night, and sent to a sanitarium from +which you will be permitted to escape as soon as this affair has blown +over." + + * * * * * + +"The United States Government has sunk pretty low, to involve itself +in a deal of this character, don't you think, my dear Superintendent?" +jeered Von Kettler. + +"The Government is prepared to act as it thinks best in the interests +of humanity. It knows that the death of one wretched murderer such as +yourself is not worth the lives of thousands of innocent men!" + +"And there," smiled Von Kettler, without abating an atom of his +nonchalance, "there, my dear Superintendent, you hit the nail on the +head. Only, instead of thousands, you might have said millions." + +Von Kettler's aspect changed. Suddenly his eyes blazed, his voice +shook with excitement, his face was the face of a fanatic, of a +prophet. + +"Yes, millions, Superintendent," he thundered. "It it a holy cause +that inspires us. We know that it is our sacred mission to save the +world from the drabness of modern democracy. The people--always the +people! Bah! what are the lives of these swarming millions worth when +compared with a Caesar, a Napoleon, an Alexander, a Charlemagne? +Nothing can stop us or defeat us. And you, with your confession of +defeat, your petty bargaining--I laugh at you!" + +"You'll laugh on the gallows to-morrow night!" the Superintendent +shouted. + +Again Von Kettler was the calm, superior, arrogant prisoner of before. +"I shall never stand on the gallows trap, my dear Superintendent, as I +have told you many times," he replied. "And, since we have reached +what diplomacy calls a deadlock, permit me to return to my cell." + +The Superintendent pressed a button on his desk; the guards, who had +been waiting outside the office, entered hastily. "Take this man +back," he commanded, and Von Kettler, head held high, and smiling, +left the room between them. + + * * * * * + +The Superintendent pressed another button, and his assistant entered, +a rugged, red-haired man of forty--Anstruther, familiarly known as +"Bull" Anstruther, the man who had in three weeks reduced the +penitentiary from a place of undisciplined chaos to a model of law +and order. Anstruther knew nothing of the Superintendent's offer to +Von Kettler, but he knew that the latter had powerful friends outside. + +"Anstruther, I'm worried about Von Kettler," said the Superintendent. +"He actually laughed at me when I spoke of the possibility of another +medical examination. He seemed confident that he could not be hanged. +Swore that he will never stand on the gallows trap. How about your +precautions for to-morrow night?" + +"We've taken all possible precautions," answered Anstruther. "Special +armed guards have been posted at every entrance to the building. +Detectives are patrolling all streets leading up to it. Every car that +passes is being scrutinized, its plate numbers taken, and forwarded to +the Motor Bureau. There's no chance of even an attempt at +rescue--literally none." + +"He's insane," said the Superintendent, with conviction, and the words +filled him with new confidence. It had been less Von Kettler's +statements than the man's cool confidence and arrogant superiority +that had made him doubt. "But he's not too insane to have known what +he was doing. He'll hang." + +"He certainly will," replied Anstruther. "He's just a big bluff, sir." + +"Have him searched rigorously again to-morrow morning, and his cell +too--every inch of it, Anstruther. And don't relax an iota of your +precautions. I'll be glad when it's all over." + +He proceeded to hold a long-distance conversation with Washington over +a special wire. + + * * * * * + +In his cell, Von Kettler could be seen reading a book. It was +Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathusta," that compendium of aristocratic +insolence that once took the world by storm, until the author's +mentality was revealed by his commitment to a mad-house. Von Kettler +read till midnight, closely observed by the guard at the trap, then +laid the word aside with a yawn, lay down on his cot, and appeared to +fall instantly asleep. + +Dawn broke. Von Kettler rose, breakfasted, smoked the perfecto that +came with his ham and eggs, resumed his book. At ten o'clock Bull +Anstruther came with a guard and stripped him to the skin, examining +every inch of his prison garments. The bedding followed; the cell was +gone over microscopically. Von Kettler, permitted to dress again, +smiled ironically. That smile stirred Anstruther's gall. + +"We know you're just a big bluff, Von Kettler," snarled the big man. +"Don't think you've got us going. We're just taking the usual +precautions, that's all." + +"So unnecessary," smiled Von Kettler. "To-night I shall dine at the +Ambassador grill. Watch for me there. I'll leave a memento." + +Anstruther went out, choking. Early in the afternoon two guards came +for Von Kettler. + +"Your sister's come to say good-by to you," he was told, as he was +taken to the visitors' cell. + +This was a large and fairly comfortable cell in a corridor leading off +the death house, designed to impress visitors with the belief that it +was the condemned man's permanent abode; and, by a sort of convention, +it was understood that prisoners were not to disabuse their visitors' +minds of the idea. The convention had been honorably kept. The +visitor's approach was checked by a grill, with a two-yards space +between it and the bars of the cell. Within this space a guard was +seated: it was his duty to see that nothing passed. + + * * * * * + +As soon as Von Kettler had been temporarily established in his new +quarters, a pretty, fair-haired young woman came along the corridor, +conducted by the Superintendent himself. She walked with dignity, her +bearing was proud, she smiled at her brother through the grill, and +there was no trace of weeping about her eyes. + +She bowed with pretty formality, and Von Kettler saluted her with an +airy wave of the hand. Then they began to speak, and the German guard +who had been selected for the purpose of interpreting to the +Superintendent afterward, was baffled. + +It was not German--neither was it French, Italian, or any of the +Romance languages. As a matter of fact, it was Hungarian. + +Not until the half-hour was up did they lapse into English, and all +the while they might have been conversing on art, literature, or +sport. There was no hint of tragedy in this last meeting. + +"Good-by, Rudy," smiled his sister, "I'll see you soon." + +"To-night or to-morrow," replied Von Kettler indifferently. + +The girl blew him a kiss. She seemed to detach it from her mouth and +extend it through the grill with a graceful gesture of the hand, and +Von Kettler caught it with a romantic wave of the fingers and strained +it to his heart. But it was only one of those queer foreign ways. +Nothing was passed. The alert guard, sitting under the electric light, +was sure of that. + +They searched Von Kettler again after he was back in the death house. +The other cells were empty. In three of them detectives were placed. +In the yard beyond the hangman was experimenting with the trap. He +himself was under close observation. Nothing was being left to chance. + + * * * * * + +At seven o'clock two men collided in the death-house entrance. One was +a guard, carrying Von Kettler's last meal on a tray. He had demanded +Perigord truffles and paté de foie gras, cold lobster, endive salad, +and near-beer, and he had got them. The other was the chaplain, in a +state of visible agitation. + +"If he was an atheist and mocked at me it wouldn't be so bad," the +good man declared. "I've had plenty of that kind. But he says he's not +going to be hanged. He's mad, mad as a March hare. The Government has +no right to send an insane man to the gallows." + +"All bluff, my dear Mr. Wright," answered the Superintendent, when the +chaplain voiced his protest. "He thinks he can get away with it. The +commission has pronounced him sane, and he must pay the penalty of his +crime." + +By that mysterious process of telegraphy that exists in all penal +institutions, Von Kettler's boast that he would beat the hangman had +become the common information of the inmates. Bets were being laid, +and the odds against Von Kettler ranged from ten to fifteen to one. It +was generally agreed, however, that Von Kettler would die game to the +last. + +"You all ready, Mr. Squires?" the prowling Superintendent asked the +hangman. + +"Everything's O. K., sir." + +The Superintendent glanced at the group of newspaper men gathered +about the gallows. They, too, had heard of the prisoner's boast. One +of them asked him a question. He silenced him with an angry look. + +"The prisoner is in his cell, and will be led out in ten minutes. You +shall see for yourselves how much truth there it in this absurdity," +he said. + + * * * * * + +He looked at his watch. It lacked five minutes of eight. The +preparations for an execution had been reduced almost to a formula. +One minute in the cell, twenty seconds to the trap, forty seconds for +the hangman to complete his arrangements: two minutes, and then the +thud of the false floor. + +Four minutes of eight. The little group had fallen silent. The hangman +furtively took a drink from his hip-pocket flask. Three minutes! The +Superintendent walked back to the door of the death house and nodded +to the guard. + +"Bring him out quick!" he said. + +The guard shot the bolt of Von Kettler's cell. The Superintendent saw +him enter, heard a loud exclamation, and hurried to his side. One +glance told him that the prisoner had made good his boast. + +Von Kettler's cell was empty! + + +CHAPTER II + +_Conference_ + +Captain Richard Rennell, of the U. S. Air Service, but temporarily +detached to Intelligence, thought that Fredegonde Valmy had never +looked so lovely as when he helped her out of the cockpit. + +Her dark hair fell in disorder over her flushed cheeks, and her eyes +were sparkling with pleasure. + +"A thousand thanks, M'sieur Rennell," she said, in her low voice with +its slight foreign intonation. "Never have I enjoyed a ride more than +to-day. And I shall see you at Mrs. Wansleigh's ball to-night?" + +"I hope so--if I'm not wanted at Headquarters," answered Dick, looking +at the girl in undisguised admiration. + +"Ah, that Headquarters of yours! It claims so much of your time!" she +pouted. "But these are times when the Intelligence Service demands +much of its men, is it not so?" + +"Who told you I was attached to Intelligence?" demanded Dick bluntly. + +She laughed mockingly. "Do you think that is not known all over +Washington?" she asked. "It is strange that Intelligence should act +like the--the ostrich, who buries his head in the sand and thinks that +no one sees him because it is hidden." + +Dick looked at the girl in perplexity. During the past month he had +completely lost his head and heart over her, and he was trying to view +her with the dispassionate judgment that his position demanded. + +As the niece of the Slovakian Ambassador, Mademoiselle Valmy had the +entry to Washington society. The Ambassador was away on leave, and she +had appeared during his absence, but she had been accepted +unquestionably at the Embassy, where she had taken up her quarters, +explaining--as the Ambassador confirmed by cable--that she had sailed +under a misconception as to the date of his leave. + + * * * * * + +Brunette, beautiful, charming, she had a score of hearts to play with, +and yet Dick flattered himself that he stood first. Perhaps the others +did too. + +"Of course," the girl went on, "with the Invisible Emperor threatening +organized society, you gentlemen find yourselves extremely busy. Well, +let us hope that you locate him and bring him to book." + +"Sometimes," said Dick slowly, "I almost think that you know something +about the Invisible Emperor." + +Again she laughed merrily. "Now, if you had said that my sympathies +were with the Invisible Emperor, I might have been surprised into an +acknowledgment," she answered. "After all, he does stand for that +aristocracy that has disappeared from the modern world, does he not? +For refinement of manners, for beauty of life, for all those things +men used to prize." + +"Likewise for the existence of the vast body of the nation in +ignorance and poverty, in filth and squalor," answered Dick. "No, my +sympathies are with law and order and democracy, and your Invisible +Emperor and his crowd are simply a gang of thieves and hold-up men." + +"Be careful!" A warning fire burned in the girl's eyes. "At least, it +is known that the Emperor's ears are long." + +"So are a jackass's," retorted Dick. + +He was sorry next moment, for the girl received his answer in icy +silence. In his car, which conveyed them from the tarmac to the +Embassy, she received all his overtures in the same silence. A frigid +little bow was her farewell to him, while Dick, struggling between +resentment and humiliation, sat dumb and wretched at the wheel. + +Yet the idea that Fredegonde Valmy had any knowledge of the conspiracy +or its leaders never entered Dick's head. He was only miserable that +he had offended her, and he would have done anything to have +straightened out the trouble. + + * * * * * + +It seemed impossible that in the year 1940 the peace of the civilized +world could be threatened by an international conspiracy bent on +restoring absolutism, and yet each day showed more clearly the immense +ramifications of the plot. Each day, too, brought home to the +investigating governments more clearly the fact that the things they +had discovered were few in number in comparison with those they had +not. + +The headquarters of the conspirators had never been discovered, and it +was suspected that the powerful mind behind them was intentionally +leading the investigators along false trails. + +The conspiracy was world-wide. It had been behind the revolution that +had recreated an absolutist monarchy in Spain. It had plunged Italy +into civil war. It had thrown England into the convulsions of a +succession of general strikes, using the communist movement as a cloak +for its activities. + +But nobody dreamed that America could become a fertile field for its +insidious propaganda. Yet it was behind the millions of adherents of +the so-called Freemen's Party, clamoring for the destruction of the +constitution. Upon the anarchy that would follow the absolutist regime +was to be erected. + +Already the mysterious powers had struck. Departments of State had +been entered and important papers abstracted. The _Germania_ had +mysteriously disappeared in mid-Atlantic, and a shipping panic had +ensued. There were tales of mysterious figures materializing out of +nothingness. It was known that the conspirators were in possession of +certain chemical and electrical devices with which they hoped to +achieve their ends. + +The Superintendent of the penitentiary had had in his pocket an +authorization to stop the execution of Von Kettler after he stood on +the trap. Dead, he would be a mere mark of vengeance: alive, he might +be persuaded to furnish some clue to the headquarters of the +miscreants. + + * * * * * + +And behind the conspirators loomed the unknown figure that signed +itself the Invisible Emperor--in the communications that poured in to +the White House and to the rulers of other nations. In the threats +that were materializing with stunning swiftness. + +Who was he? Rumor said that a former European ruler had not died as +was supposed: that a coffin weighted with lead had been buried, and +that he himself in his old age, had gone forth to a mad scheme of +world conquest with a body of his nobles. + +It had been practically a state of war since the shipment of gold, +guarded by a detachment of police, had been stolen in broad daylight +outside Baltimore, the police clubbed and killed by invisible +assailants--as they claimed. The press was under censorship, troops +under arms, and it was reported that the fleet was mobilizing. + +In the midst of it all, Washington shopped, danced, feasted, flirted, +like a swarm of may flies over a treacherous stream. + +Intelligence was alert. As Dick started to drive away from the +Slovakian Embassy, a man stepped quickly to the side of the car and +thrust an envelope into his hand. Dick opened it quickly. He was +wanted by Colonel Stopford at once, not at the camouflaged +Headquarters at the War Department, but at the real Headquarters where +no papers were kept but weighty decisions were made. And to that +devious course the Government had already been driven. + +Dick parked his car in a side street--it would have been under +espionage in any of the official parking places--and set off at a +smart walk toward his destination. Nobody would have guessed, from the +appearance of the streets, that a national calamity was impending. The +shopping crowds were swarming along the sidewalks, cars tailed each +other through the streets; only a detachment of soldiers on the White +House lawn lent a touch of the martial to the scene. + + * * * * * + +The building which Dick entered was an ordinary ten-story one in the +business section; the various legal firms and commercial concerns that +occupied it would have been greatly surprised to have known the +identity of the Ira T. Graves, Importer, whose name appeared in modest +letters upon the opaque glass door on the seventh story. Inside a +flapper stenographer--actually one of the most trusted members of +Intelligence's staff--asked Dick's name, which she knew perfectly +well. Not a smile or a flicker of an eyelid betrayed the fact. + +"Mr. Rennell," said Dick with equal gravity. + +The girl passed into an inner room, and a buzzer sounded. In a few +moments the girl came back. + +"Mr. Graves will be here in a few minutes, Mr. Rennell, if you'll +kindly wait in his office," she said. + +Dick thanked her, and walked through into the empty office. He waited +there till the girl had closed the door behind him, then went out by +another door and found himself again in the corridor. Opposite him was +a door with the words "Entrance 769" and a hand pointing down the +corridor to where the Intelligence service had established another +perfectly innocent front. Dick tapped lightly at this door, and a key +turned in the lock. + +The man who stepped quickly back was one of the heads of the Civil +Service. The man at the flat-topped desk was Colonel Stopford. The man +on a chair beside him was one of the heads of the police force. + + * * * * * + +The Colonel, a big, elderly man, dressed in a grey sack suit, checked +Dick's commencing salutation. "Never mind etiquette, Rennell," he +said. "Sit down. You've heard about the man Von Kettler's escape last +night, of course?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"It's known, then. We can't keep things dark. He vanished from his +cell in the death house, three minutes before the time appointed for +his execution, though, as a matter of fact, he wasn't going to be +hanged. Apparently he walked through the walls. + +"There's a sequel to it, Rennell. It seems he had told the +assistant-superintendent, a man named Anstruther, that he'd meet him +at a restaurant in town that night. He promised to leave him a +memento. Anstruther happened to remember this boast of Von Kettler's, +and he surrounded the restaurant with armed detectives, on the chance +that the fellow would show up. Rennell, _Von Kettler was there!_" + +"He went to this restaurant, sir?" + +"He walked in, just before the place was surrounded, engaged a table, +and ordered a sumptuous meal. He told the waiter his name, said he +expected a friend to join him, walked into the wash-room--and +vanished! Two minutes later Anstruther and his men were on the job. +Von Kettler never came out of the wash-room, so far as anybody knows. + +"In the midst of the hue and cry somebody pointed to the table that +Von Kettler had engaged. There was a twenty-dollar bill upon it, and a +scrap of paper reading: 'I've kept my word. Von K.'" + +Colonel Stopford looked at Dick fixedly. "Rennell, we may be fools," +he said, "but we realize what we're up against. It's a big thing, and +we're going to need all our fighting grit to overcome it. You're one +of the four men we're depending on. We're counting on you because of +your record, and because of your degree in science at Heidelberg. The +President wishes you to take charge of the whole Eastern Intelligence +District, covering the entire south-eastern seaboard of the United +States. You are to have complete freedom of action, and all civil, +military, and naval officials have received instructions to co-operate +with you." + +"There goes Mrs. Wansleigh's ball," thought Dick, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +"We're not the hunters, Dick Rennell," went on Colonel Stopford. +"We're hiding under cover, and I'm counting on you to turn the tables. +They even know my office is here. I had a long distance call from +Savannah this morning in mocking vein. They advised me to have the +White House watched to-night. I warned the President, and we've posted +guards all round it." + +"They held the wire while you called up the President?" asked Dick. + +"Damn it, no! They called me up from Scranton the instant he'd +finished speaking. They have the power of the devil, Rennell, with +that infernal invisibility invention of theirs. Rennell, we're +fighting unknown forces. Who this Invisible Emperor is, we don't even +know. But one thing we've found out. He has his headquarters somewhere +in your district. Somewhere along the south Atlantic seaboard. The +greater part of his activities emanate from there. But we're fighting +in the dark. The clue, the master clue that will enable us to locate +him--that's what we lack." + +The sun had set, it was beginning to grow dark. Colonel Stopford +switched on the electric lamp beside his desk. + +"What have you to say, Rennell?" he asked; and Dick was aware that the +two other men were regarding him attentively. + +"It's evident," said Dick, "that Von Kettler possessed this means of +invisibility in his cell, and wasn't detected. He simply slipped out +when the guard came to fetch him." + +"Invisibility? Yes! But invisible's not the same thing as +transparent," cried Stopford. "These folks have operated in broad +daylight. They're transparent, damn them! Not even a shadow! You know +what I mean, Rennell! What I'm thinking of! That crazy man you were in +touch with six months ago, who prophesied this! We turned him down! He +showed me a watch and said the salvation of the world was inside the +case! I thought him insane!" + + * * * * * + +"You mean Luke Evans, sir. That watch was his pocket model. He went +off in a huff, saying the time would come when we'd want him and not +be able to find him." + +"But, damn him, he wanted to produce universal darkness, or some such +nonsense, Rennell, and I told him that we wanted light, not darkness." + +"It wasn't exactly that, sir." Colonel Stopford was a man of the old +school: he had been an artillery officer in the Great War, and was +characteristically impatient of new notions. Dick began carefully: +"You'll remember, sir, old Evans claimed to have been the inventor of +that shadow-breaking device that was stolen from him and sold in +England." + +"To a moving picture company!" snorted Stopford. "I asked him what +moving pictures had to do with war." + +"Evans was convinced that the invention would be applied to war. He +claimed that it made the modern methods of military camouflage out of +date completely. He said that by destroying shadows one could produce +invisibility, since visibility consists in the refraction of wave +lengths by material objects. + +"When they stole his invention, he foresaw that it would be used in +war. He set to work to nullify his own invention. He told me that he +had unintentionally given to the enemies of the United States a means +of bringing us to our knees, since he believed that British motion +picture company was actually a subsidiary of Krupp's. He worked out a +method of counteracting it." + +"You must get him, Rennell. Even if it's all nonsense, we can't afford +to let any chance go. If Evans's invention will counteract this damned +invisibility business--" + +The telephone on the Colonel's desk rang. He picked it up, and his +face assumed an expression of incredulity. He looked about him, like a +man bewildered. He beckoned to the police official, who hurried to his +side, and thrust the receiver into his hand. The official listened. + +"All right," he said. He turned to Dick and the Civil Service +representative. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "the President has disappeared from his office +in the White House, and there are grave fears that he has been +kidnapped!" + + +CHAPTER III + +_In the White House_ + +Colonel Stopford's car had been parked around the corner of the +building, and within a minute the four men were inside it, Stopford at +the wheel, and racing in the direction of the White House. A nod to +the guard at the gate, and they were inside the grounds. At the +entrance a single guard, in place of the four who should have been +posted there, challenged sharply, and attempted to bar the way, not +recognizing Dick or Stopford in their civilian clothes. + +"Where's your officer?" demanded Stopford sharply. + +Half-cowed by the Colonel's manner, the young recruit hesitated, and +the four swept him out of the way and hurried on. The scene outside +the main entrance to the White House was one of indescribable +confusion. Soldiers were swarming in confused groups, some trying to +force an entrance, others pouring out. Every moment civilians, +streaming over the lawn, added to the number. Discipline seemed almost +abandoned. From inside the building came outbursts of screams and +cursing, the scuffling of a mob. + +"Roscoe! Roscoe!" shouted Stopford. "Where's the President's +secretary? Who's seen him? Let us pass immediately!" + +No one paid the least attention to him. But a short, bare-headed +civilian, who was struggling in the crowd, heard, and shouted in +answer, waved his arms, and began to force his way toward the four. It +was Roscoe, the secretary of President Hargreaves. The President was a +childless widower, and Roscoe lived in the White House with him and +was intimately in his confidence. + +Roscoe gained Stopford's side. "Say--they've got him!" he panted. +"They've got him somewhere--inside the building. They're trying to get +him out! We've got to save him--but we can't see them--or him. They've +made him invisible too, curse them! I heard him crying, 'Help me, +Roscoe!' He saw me, I tell you--and I didn't know where he was!" + + * * * * * + +The little secretary was almost incoherent with fear and anger. The +five men, forming a wedge, hurled themselves forward. Out of the White +House entrance appeared a tall officer, revolver in hand. It was +Colonel Simpson, of the President's staff. Half beside himself, he +swept the weapon menacingly about him, shouting incoherently, and +clearing a passage, into which the five hurled themselves. + +Stopford seized his revolver hand, and after a brief struggle Simpson +recognized him. + +"He's in the building!" he shouted wildly. "Somewhere upstairs! I'm +trying to form a cordon, but this damned mob's in the way. Kick those +civilians out!" he cried to the soldiers. "Shoot them if they don't +go! Guard the windows!" + +Stopford and Dick, at the head of the wedge, pushed past into the +White House. The interior was packed, men were struggling frantically +on the staircase; it seemed hopeless to try to do anything. + +Suddenly renewed yells sounded from above, a scream of anguish, howls +of terror. There came a downward surge, then a forward and upward one, +which carried the two men up the stairs and into the President's +private apartments above. + +In the large reception-room a mob was struggling at a window, beneath +a blaze of electric light. A soldier was standing there like a statue, +his face fixed with a leer of horror. In his hands was a rifle, with a +blood-stained bayonet, dripping upon the hardwood floor at the edge of +the rug. Upon the rug itself a stream of blood was spouting out of the +air. + +Dick looked at the sight and choked. There was something appalling in +the sight: it was the quintessence of horror, that widening pool of +blood, staining the rug, and flowing from an invisible body that +writhed and twisted, while moans of anguish came from unseen lips. + +Colonel Stopford leaped back, livid and staring. "God, it's got +eyes--two eyes!" he shouted. + +Dick saw them too. The eyes, which alone were visible, were about six +inches from the floor, and they were appearing and disappearing, as +they opened and shut alternately. It was a man lying there, a dying +man, pierced by the soldier's bayonet by pure accident, dying and yet +invisible. + + * * * * * + +The mob had scattered with shrieks of terror, but a few bolder spirits +remained in a thin circle about that fearful thing on the rug. Dick +bent over the man, and felt the outlines of the writhing body. It was +a man, apparently dressed in some sort of uniform, but this was +covered, from the top of the head to the feet, with a sort of sheer +silken garment, bifurcating below the waist, and resembling a cocoon. +It seemed to appear and alternately to vanish. + +Dick seized the filmy stuff in his fingers, rent it, and stripped it +away. Yells of terror and amazement broke from the throats of all. +Instantly the thin circle of spectators had become reinforced by a +struggling mass of men. + +The half-visible cocoon clung to Dick's body like spider webs. But the +man who had been wearing it had sprung instantly into view beneath the +cluster of electric lights. He was a fair-haired young fellow of about +thirty years, his features white and set in the agony of death. + +He was dressed in a trim uniform of black, with silver braid, and on +his shoulders were the insignia of a lieutenant. He opened his eyes, +blue as the skies, and stared about him. He seemed to understand what +had happened to him. + +"Dogs!" he muttered. + +Shrieks of fury answered him. The mob surged toward him as if to grind +his face to pieces under their feet--and then recoiled, mouthing and +gibbering. But it was at Dick that they were looking, not at the dying +man. + +He raised himself upon one elbow with a mighty effort. "His Majesty +the Invisible Emperor! Long be his reign triumphant!" he chanted. It +was his last credo. The words broke from his lips accompanied by a +torrent of red foam. His head dropped back, his body slipped down; he +was gone. And no one seemed to observe his passing. They were all +screaming and gibbering at Dick. + +"Rennell! Rennell!" yelled Stopford. "Where are you, Rennell? God, +man, what's happened to your legs?" + +Dick looked down at himself. For a moment he had the illusion that he +was a head and a trunk, floating in the air. His lower limbs had +become invisible, except for patches of trousering that seemed to +drift through space. The mob in the room had fallen back gaping at him +in horror. + +Then Dick understood. It was the invisible garment that had coiled +itself about him. He tore it from him and became visibly a man once +more. + +Shouts from another room! A surging movement of the crowd toward it. +The muffled sounds of an automatic pistol, fitted with a silencer! +Then screams: + +"The devils are in there! They're murdering the soldiers!" + +There followed a panic-stricken rush, more muffled firing, and then +the sharp roar of rifles, and the fall of plaster. Some one was +bawling the President's name. The rooms became a mass of milling human +beings, lost to all self-control. + +A bedlam of noise and struggle. Men fought with one another blindly, +cursing soldiers fired promiscuously among the mob, riddling the +walls, stabbing at the air. The plaster was falling in great chunks +everywhere, filling the rooms with a heavy white cloud, in which all +choked and struggled. The yells of the civilian mob below, struggling +helplessly in the packed crowd that wedged the great stairway, made +babel. Outside the White House a dense mob that filled the lawns was +yelling back, and struggling to gain admittance. Suddenly the lights +went out. + +"They've cut the wires!" rose a wild, wailing voice. "The devils have +cut the wires! Kill them! Kill everybody!" + +His cry ended in a gurgle. Somewhere in that dark hell a struggle was +going on, a well defined struggle, different from the random, aimless +battling of the half-crazed soldiers and the civilians. President +Hargreaves was still within the walls of the White House, it was +known; it was physically impossible for him to have been carried away +when every foot of space was packed. And through that darkness the +invisible assailants were edging him, foot by foot, toward the +outside. + + * * * * * + +Dick was on the edge of this silent battle. He sensed it. Bracing +himself against a bureau, while the mob surged past him, he tried to +pierce the gloom, to reinforce with his perceptions what his instinct +told him. A soldier, crazed with fear, came leaping at him, bayonet +leveled. He thrust with a grunt. Dick avoided the glancing steel by a +hand's breadth, and, as the impetus of the man's attack carried him +forward, caught him beneath the chin with a stiff right-hand jolt that +sent him sprawling. + +From below the cries broke out again, with renewed violence: "They've +got the President! Get them! Get them! Close all doors and windows!" + +But a door went crashing down somewhere, to the tune of savage yells. +The mob was pouring down the stairs. It was growing less packed above. +Dick heard Stopford's voice calling his name. + +"Here, sir" he shouted back, and the two men collided. + +"For God's sake do what you can, Rennell!" shouted the Colonel. +"They've got the President downstairs. They had him in this very room, +in the thick of it all. I heard him cry out, as if under a gag. They +put one of those damned cloths over him. God, Rennell, I'm going +crazy!" + +The upper floor of the White House was almost empty now. Dick thrust +himself into the crowd that still jammed the stairs. He reached the +ground floor. It was lighter here, but a glance showed him that it was +impossible to attempt to restore any semblance of order. The big East +Room was jammed with a fighting, cursing throng. Dick stumbled over +the bodies of those who had fallen in the press, or had been shot +down. Outside the mob was thickening, swarming through the grounds and +screeching like madmen. + + * * * * * + +Nothing that could be done! Dick found himself caught once more in the +human torrent. Presently he was wedged up against a broken window. He +precipitated himself through the frame, dropped to the ground, stopped +for an instant to catch breath. + +The yelling mob was congregated about the main entrance of the White +House, and on this side the grounds were comparatively empty. As Dick +stopped, trying desperately to form some plan of action, he heard +footsteps and low voices near him. Then two men came toward him, +followed by three or four others. + +The men--but, though the light was faint, Dick realized instantly that +they were wearing invisible garments. He could see nothing of them; he +could see through where they seemed to be--the trees, the buildings of +the streets. Yet they were at his elbow. And they saw him. He heard +one of them leap, and sprang aside as the butt of a pistol descended +through the air and dropped where his head had been. + +Yet no hand had seemed to hold it. It had been a pistol, reversed, and +flashing downward, to be arrested in mid-air six inches from his face. +But the men were not wholly invisible. Nearly six feet above the +ground, three or four pairs of eyes were staring malevolently into +Dick's. Only the eyes were there. + +The two foremost men were breathing heavily. They were carrying +something. Grotesquely through a rent in the invisible garment Dick +saw a patch of trouser. He heard a muffled sigh. President Hargreaves, +in the hands of his abductors! + +Dick's actions were reflex. As the pistol hung beside his face, he +snatched at it, wrested it away, struck with it, and heard a curse and +felt the yielding impact of bone and flesh. He had missed the head but +struck the shoulder. Next moment hands gripped the weapon, and a +desperate struggle began. + + * * * * * + +It was torn from Dick's grasp. He struck out at random, and his fist +collided with the chin of a substantial flesh and blood human being. +Invisible arms grasped him. He fought free. The pistol slashed his +face sidewise, the sight ripping a strip of flesh from the cheek. He +was surrounded, he was being beaten down, though he was fighting +gamely. + +"Kill the swine! Shoot! Shoot!" Dick heard one of his assailants +muttering. + +Out of the void appeared the blue muzzle of another automatic, with a +silencer on it. Dick ducked as a flame spurted from it. He felt the +bullet stir his hair. He grasped at the hand that held it, and missed. +Then he was held fast, and the muzzle swung implacably toward his head +again. Helpless, he watched it describe that arc of death. It was only +later that he wondered why he had fought all the while in silence, +instead of crying for help. + +But of a sudden the pistol was dashed aside. A woman's voice spoke +peremptorily, in some language Dick did not understand. And he saw her +eyes among the eyes that glared at him. Dark eyes that he knew, even +if the voice had not revealed her identity. The eyes and voice of +Fredegonde Valmy! + +Dick cried her name. He put forth all his strength in a final +struggle. Suddenly he felt a stunning impact on the back of the head. +He slipped, reeled, threw out his hands, and sank down unconscious on +the grass at the side of the path. + + +CHAPTER IV + +_The Invisible Ambassador_ + +Fredegonde Valmy implicated in the conspiracy! That was the first +thought that flashed into Dick's mind as he recovered consciousness. +He might have suspected it! But the idea that the girl he loved was +bound up with the murderous gang that was attacking the very +foundations of civilization chilled him to the soul. + +Dick had been picked up a few minutes after he had been struck down, +identified by Colonel Stopford as he was about to be removed to a +hospital, and carried into the White House. Order had been restored by +the arrival of a detachment of troops from Fort Myers, the severed +cables located and mended, and by midnight the interior of the +Presidential home had been made habitable again. + +President Hargreaves was gone--kidnapped despite the utmost efforts to +protect him; and it was impossible to conceal that fact from the +world. But the wheels of government still revolved. All night an +emergency council sat in the White House, and, deciding that in a time +of such grave danger heroic means must be adopted, with the consent of +such of the Congressional leaders as could be summoned, a Council of +Defence was organized. + +The whole country east of the Mississippi was placed under martial +law. The fleet and army were put on a war footing. Flights of +airplanes were assembled at numerous points along the eastern +seaboard. To this Council Donald was attached as head of Intelligence +for the Eastern Division. Yet all this availed little unless the +location of the Invisible Empire could be ascertained, and, despite +telegraphic reports that came in hourly, alleging to have discovered +its headquarters, nothing had been achieved in this direction. + + * * * * * + +The garment taken from the slain soldier had been examined by a +half-dozen of the leading chemists of the East. Pending the arrival +from New York of the celebrated Professor Hosmeyer, it was deposited +under military guard in a dark closet. The result was unfortunate. The +garment exhibited to the assembled scientists was a mere bifurcated +silken bag. + +The gas with which it had been impregnated, though it had been heavy +enough to adhere to the fabric for hours, had also been volatile +enough to have disappeared completely, leaving a residue which was +identified as a magnesium isotope. + +Equally spectacular had been the disappearance of Mademoiselle +Fredegonde Valmy. A cable from the Slovakian Ambassador had arrived a +few hours later, denying her authenticity. And with her disappearance +came the discovery that she had been at the head of an espionage +system with ramifications in every state department, and in every +statesman's home. + +Three days passed with no sign from the enemy. The Council sat all +day. In the executive offices of the White House Dick toiled +ceaselessly, planning, receiving reports, organizing the flights of +airplanes at strategic points throughout his district. From time to +time he would be summoned to the Council. At night he threw himself +upon a cot in his office and slept a sleep broken by the constant +arrival of messengers. And still there was no clue to the location of +the headquarters of the marauders. + +But in those three days there had been no sign of them. Hope had +succeeded despair; in the rebound of confidence the populace was +beginning to ridicule the nation-wide precautions against what were +coming to be considered merely a gang of super-criminals. It was even +whispered that President Hargreaves had not been kidnapped at all. The +Freemen's Party accused the Government of a plot to subvert popular +liberties. + + * * * * * + +Dick received a summons on the third evening. Utterly worn out with +his work, he pulled himself together and made his way into the Blue +Room, where the Council was assembled. Vice-president Tomlinson, an +elderly man, was in the chair. A non-entity, pushed into a post it had +been thought he would adorn innocuously, he had been overwhelmed by +his succession to the chief office of State. + +Tomlinson did not like Dick, or any of the hustling younger officers +who, unlike himself, realized the real significance of the danger that +overhung the country. He sat pompously in his leather chair, regarding +Dick as he entered in obedience to the summons. + +"Well, Captain Rennell, what have you to report to us this evening?" +he inquired, as Dick saluted and stood to attention at the table. + +"We're improving our concentrations, Mr. Vice-president. We've eight +flights of seaplanes scouring the coast in the hope of locating the +stronghold of the Invisible Emperor. We've--" + +"I'm sick and tired of that title," shouted Tomlinson. He sprang to +his feet, his face flushed with anger. His nerves had broken under the +continuous strain. "I'll give you my opinion, Captain Rennell," he +said. "And that is that this so-called Invisible Emperor is a myth. + +"A gang of thieves has invented a paint that renders them +inconspicuous, has created a panic, and is taking advantage of it to +terrorize the country. The whole business is poppycock, in my opinion, +and the sooner this bubble bursts the better. Well, sir, what have you +to say to that?" + +"Have you ever seen any of these men in their invisible clothing, if I +may ask, Mr. Vice-president?" inquired Dick, trying to keep down his +anger. His nerves, too, were badly frazzled. + +"No, sir, I have not, but my opinion is that this story is grossly +exaggerated, and that the persons responsible are the reporters of our +sensational press!" thundered Tomlinson. + + * * * * * + +He looked about him, a weak man proud of having asserted his +authority. Somebody laughed. + +Tomlinson glared at Dick, his rubicund visage purpling. But it was not +Dick who had laughed. Nor any one at the council table. + +That laugh had come from the wall beside the door. Again it broke +forth, high-pitched, cold, derisive. All heads turned as if upon +pivots to see who had uttered it. + +"Good God!" exclaimed Secretary Norris, of the War Department, and +slumped in his chair. + +Five feet eight inches from the floor a pair of grey eyes looked at +the Council members out of emptiness. Grey eyes, a man's eyes, cool, +contemptuous, and filled with authority, with a contemptuous sense of +superiority that left every man there dumb. + +Dick was the first to recover himself. He stepped forward, not to +where the invisible man was standing, but to a point between him and +the door. + +That cold laugh broke forth again. "Gentlemen, I am an ambassador from +my sovereign, who chooses to be known as the Invisible Emperor," came +the words. "As such, I claim immunity. Not that I greatly care, should +you wish to violate the laws of nations and put me to death. But, +believe me, in such case the retribution will be a terrible one." + +Suddenly the envoy peeled off the gas-impregnated garments that +covered him. He stood before the Council, a fair-haired young man, +clad in the same fashion of trim black uniform as the bayonetted +soldier had worn upstairs three nights before. + +He bowed disdainfully, and it was Tomlinson who shouted: + +"Arrest that man! I know his face! I've seen it in the papers. He's +Von Kettler, the murderer who escaped from jail in an invisible suit." + +"Oh, come, Mr. Vice-president," laughed Von Kettler, "are you sure +this isn't all very much exaggerated?" + +Tomlinson sank back in his chair, his ruddy face covered with sweat. +Dick stared at Von Kettler. A suspicion was forming in his mind. He +had seen eyes like those before, dark instead of grey, and yet with +the same look of pride and breeding in them; the look of the face, +too, impossible to mistake--he knew! + +Fredegonde Valmy was Von Kettler's sister! + + * * * * * + +"Well, gentlemen, am I to receive the courtesies of an ambassador?" +inquired Van Kettler, advancing. + +"You shall have the privileges of the gallows rope!" shouted +Tomlinson. "Arrest that man at once, Captain Rennell!" + +"Pardon me, Mr. Vice-president," suggested the Secretary for the Navy +blandly, "but perhaps it would be more desirable to hear what he has +to say." + +"Immunity for thieves, robbers, murderers!" + +"Might I suggest," said Von Kettler suavely, "that, since the United +States has honored my master by placing itself upon a war footing, it +has accorded him the rights of a belligerent?" + +"We'll hear you, Mr. Von Kettler," said the Secretary of State, +glancing along the table. Three or four nodded, two shook their heads: +Tomlinson only glared speechlessly at the intruder. Von Kettler +advanced to the table and laid a paper upon it. + +"You recognize that signature, gentlemen?" he asked. + +At the bottom of the paper Dick saw scrawled the bold and unmistakable +signature of President Hargreaves. + +"An order signed by the President of your country," purred Von +Kettler, "ordering your military forces replaced upon a peace footing, +and the acceptance of our conditions. They are not onerous, and will +not interfere with the daily life of the country. Merely a little +change in that outworn document, the Constitution. My master rules +America henceforward." + +Somebody laughed: another laughed: but it was the Secretary of State +who did the fine thing. He took up the paper bearing what purported to +be President Hargreaves's signature, and tore it in two. + +"The people of this country are her rulers," he said, "not an old man +dragooned into signing a proclamation while in captivity--if indeed +that is President Hargreaves's signature." + + * * * * * + +There came a sudden burst of applause. Von Kettler's face became the +mask of a savage beast. He shook his fist furiously. + +"You call my master a forger?" he shouted. "You yourselves repudiate +your own Constitution, which places the control of army and navy in +the hands of your President? You refuse to honor his signature?" + +"Listen to me, Mr. Von Kettler!" The voice of the Secretary of State +cut like a steel edge. "You totally mistake the temper of the people +of this country. We don't surrender, even to worthy adversaries, much +less to a gang of common thieves, murderers, and criminals like +yourselves. You have been accorded the privilege you sought, that of +an envoy, and that was straining the point. Show yourself here again +after two minutes have elapsed, and you'll go to the gallows--for +keeps." + +"Dogs!" shouted Von Kettler, beside himself with fury. "Your doom is +upon you even at this moment. I have but to wave my arm, and +Washington shall be destroyed, and with her a score of other cities. I +tell you you are at our mercy. Thousands of lives shall pay for this +insult to my master. I warn you, such a catastrophe is coming as shall +show you the Invisible Emperor does not threaten in vain!" + +With complete nonchalance the Secretary of State took out his watch. +"One minute and fifteen seconds remaining. Captain Rennell," he said. +"At the expiration of that time, put Mr. Von Kettler under arrest. I +advise you to go back to your master quickly, Mr. Von Kettler," he +added, "and tell him that we'll have no dealings with him, now or +ever." + + * * * * * + +For a moment longer Von Kettler stood glaring; then, with a laugh of +derision and a gesture of the hands he vanished from view. And, though +they might have expected that denouement, the members of the Council +leaped to their feet, staring incredulously at the place where he had +been. Nothing of Von Kettler was visible, not even the eyes, and there +sounded not the slightest footfall. + +Dick sprang forward to the door, but his outstretched arms encountered +only emptiness. In spite of the Secretary of State's instructions, he +was almost minded to apprehend the man. If he could get him! + +The corridor was empty. A guard of soldiers was at the entrance, but +they did not block the entrance. Even now Von Kettler might be passing +them! Why didn't his feet sound upon the floor? How could a bulky man +glide so smoothly? + +Perhaps because Dick was undecided what to do, Von Kettler escaped +him. By the time he reached the guards he knew he had escaped. +Suddenly there came an unexpected denouement. Somewhere on the White +House lawn a guard challenged, fired. The snap of one of the silenced +automatics answered him. + +When Dick and the guards reached the spot, the man was lying in a +crumpled heap. + +"An airplane," he gasped. "Invisible airplane. I--bumped into it. +Men--in it. The damned dogs!" + +He died. Dick stared around him. There was no sign of any airplane on +the lawn, nothing but the tents of the guards, white in the moonlight, +and the grim array of anti-aircraft guns that Dick had placed there. + +But behind the White House, in hastily constructed hangars, were a +half-dozen of the latest pursuit airships--beautiful slim hulls, +heavily armored, with armored turrets containing each a quick-firer +with the new armor-piercing bullets. One of these ships, Dick's own, +was kept perpetually warmed and ready to take the air. + + * * * * * + +Dick raced across the lawn, yelled to the startled guard in charge. +The mechanics came running from their quarters. Almost by the time +Dick reached it the ship was ready. + +He twirled the helicopter starter, and she roared and zoomed, taking +an angle of a hundred and twenty-five degrees upward off a runway of +twenty yards. Into the air she soared, into the moonlight, up like an +arrow for five hundred feet. + +Dick pulled the soaring lever, and she hung there, buzzing like a bee +as her helicopters, counteracting the pull of gravity, held her +comparatively stable. He scanned the air all about him. + +Washington lay below, her myriad lights gleaming. Immediately beneath +him Dick saw the guns and the tents of the soldiers, and the little +group that was removing the body of the murdered soldier on a +stretcher. But there were no signs of any hostile craft. + +Had the murdered man really bumped into an invisible airship, or had +he only thought he had? Had those devils learned to apply the gas to +the surfaces of airplanes? There was no reason why they should not +have done so. + +But surely the utmost ingenuity of man had not contrived to render a +modern plane, with its metalwork and machinery, absolutely +transparent? + + * * * * * + +And, again, how was it possible to have silenced the sound of engines, +the whir of a propeller, so that there should be no auditory +indication whatever of a plane's presence? + +Dick looked all about him. Nothing was in the air--he could have sworn +it. He replaced the soaring lever and banked in a close circle, his +glance piercing the night. No, there was nothing. + +Crash! Boom! The plane rocked violently, tossing upon gusts of air. A +huge, gaping hole of blackness had suddenly appeared in the middle of +the White House lawn. The tents were flat upon the ground. Through the +rising smoke clouds Dick saw tongues of flame. + +No shell that, but a bomb, and dropped from the skies less than five +hundred feet from where Dick hovered. Yet there was nothing visible in +the skies save the round orb of the moon. + +A rush of wind past Dick's face! One of the vanes of the helicopter +crumpled and fluttered away into the night. Dick needed no further +persuasion. The dead soldier had not lied. + +Von Kettler had begun the fulfillment of his threat! + + +CHAPTER V + +_The Enemy Strikes_ + +As Dick's airship veered and side-slipped, he kicked hard on the left +rudder and brought the nose around. Furiously he sprayed the air with +a leaden hail from his quick-firer. He heard a rush of wind go past +him, and realized that his unseen antagonist had all but rammed him. + +Yet nothing was visible at all, save the moon and the empty sky. He +had heard the rush of the prop-wash, but he had seen nothing, heard +nothing else. Incredible as it seemed, the pilot was flying a plane +that had attained not merely invisibility but complete absence of all +sound. + +Dick side-slipped down, pancaked, and crashed. He emerged from a plane +wrecked beyond hope of early repair, yet luckily with no injury beyond +a few minor bruises. He rushed toward the hangar, to encounter a bevy +of scared mechanics. + +"Another plane! Rev one up quick!" he shouted. + +Planes were already being wheeled out, pilots in flying suits and +goggles were striding beside them. Dick ordered one of them away, +stepped into his plane, and in a moment was in the air again. + +In the minute or two that had elapsed since the encounter, the enemy +had been active. Crash after crash was resounding from various parts +of Washington. Buildings were rocking and toppling, débris strewed the +streets, fires were springing up everywhere. A thousand feet aloft, +Dick could see the holocaust of destruction that was being wrought by +the infernal missiles. + +Bombs of such power had been the unattained ambition of every +government of the world--and it had been left to the men of the +Invisible Emperor to attain to them. Whole streets went into ruin at +each discharge and from everywhere within the city the wailing cry of +the injured went up, in a resonant moan of pain. + +In the central part of the city, the district about F Street and the +government buildings, nothing was standing, except those buildings +fashioned of structural steel, and these showed twisted girders like +the skeletons of primeval monsters, supporting sections of sagging +floors. Houses, hotels had melted into shapeless heaps of rubble, +which filled the streets to a depth of a dozen yards, burying +everything beneath them. Yet here and there could be seen the forms of +dead pedestrians, motor-cars emerging out of the débris, lying in +every conceivable position; horses, horribly mangled, were shrieking +as they tried to free themselves. And yet, despite this ruin, the +general impression upon Dick's mind, as he beat to and fro, signaling +to his flight to spread, was that of a vast, empty desolation. + + * * * * * + +Further away: where the ruin had not yet fallen, thousands of human +beings were milling in a mass, those upon the fringes of the crowd +perpetually breaking away, other swarms approaching them, so that the +entire agglomeration resembled a seething whirlpool turning slowly +upon itself. + +Then of a sudden the strains of the national anthem floated up to +Dick's ears. A band was playing in the White House grounds. The tune +was ragged, and the drum came in a fraction of a second late, but an +immense pride and elation filled Dick's soul. + +"They'll never beat us!" he thought, intensely, "with such a spirit +as that!" + +He had signaled his flight to spread, and search the air. He could see +the individual ships darting here and there over the immensity of the +city, but none knew better than he how fruitless their effort was. And +the marauders had not ceased their deadly work. + +A bomb dropped near the Washington Monument, sending up a huge spout +of dust that veiled it from his eyes. Instinctively Dick shot toward +the scene. Slowly the dust subsided, and then a yell of exultation +broke from Dick's lips. The noble shaft still stood, a slim taper +pointing to the skies. + +It was an omen of ultimate success, and Dick took heart. No, they'd +never beat the grim, unconquerable tenacity of the American people. + +Yet the damage was proceeding at a frightful rate. A bomb dropped +squarely on the Corcoran Gallery and resolved it into a heap of silly +stones. A bomb fell in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the +houses on either side collapsed like houses of cards, falling into a +sulphurous, fiery pit. And still there was nothing visible but the sky +and the moon. + + * * * * * + +Dick gritted his teeth and swore as he circled over the site of +destruction, out of which tiny figures were struggling. He heard the +clang of the fire bells as the motor trucks came roaring toward the +scene. Then crash! again. Five blocks northward another dense cloud of +dust arose, and the new area of destruction, spreading as swiftly as +ripples over a pond, joined the former one, leaving a huge, irregular +open space, piled up with masonry and brick in a number of flat-topped +pyramids. + +Into this, houses went crashing every moment, with a sound like the +clatter of falling crockery, but infinitely magnified. + +"The devils! The swine!" shouted Dick. "And we gave Von Kettler the +privileges of an ambassador!" + +And Fredegonde was the sister of this devil! The remembrance of that +struck a cold chill to Dick's heart again. He tried to blot out her +picture from his mind, but he still saw her as she had appeared that +day after the air ride, flushed, smiling, radiant in her dark beauty. + +A murderess and a spy! He cursed her as he banked and circled back. He +was helpless. He could do nothing. And all Washington would be +destroyed by morning, if the supply of bombs kept up. But there was +more to come. Suddenly Dick became aware that two of his flight, at +widely separated distances, were going down in flames. Flaming comets, +they dropped plump into the destruction below. Another caught fire and +was going down. No need to question what was happening. + +The invisible enemy was attacking his flight and picking off his men +one by one! + +He drove furiously toward two of his planes whose erratic movements +showed that they were being attacked. As he neared them he saw one +catch fire and begin its earthward swoop. Then the fuselage crackled +beside him, and his instrument board dissolved into ruin. +Instinctively he went round in a tight bank and loosed his +machine-gun. Nothing there! Nothing at all! Yet his right wing went +ragged, and his own furious blasts into the sky, their echoes drowned +by the roar of his propeller, were productive of nothing. + + * * * * * + +He shot past the uninjured plane, signalling it to descend. He wasn't +going to let his men ride aloft to helpless butchery. Nothing could be +done until some means was discovered of counteracting the enemy's +terrific advantage. + +He darted across the heart of the city to where another of the flight +was circling, waggling his wings to indicate to it to descend. Then on +to the next plane and the next, shepherding them. Thank God they +understood! They were bunching toward the hangar. Yet another took +fire and dropped, a burning wreck. Half his flight out of commission, +and not an enemy visible! + +He was aloft alone now, courting death--instant, invisible death. He +wouldn't descend until that carnival of murder was at an end. But it +was not at an end. Another crash, far up Pennsylvania Avenue, showed +an attempt upon the Capitol. Again--again, and a smoking hell wreathed +the noble buildings so that it was no longer possible to see them. A +lull, and then a crash nearer the city's heart. Crash! Crash! + +Invisible though the enemy was, it was easy to trace the movements of +this particular plane by the successive areas of destruction that it +left behind it. It was coming back over Pennsylvania Avenue, dropping +its bombs at intervals. It was methodically wiping out an entire +section of Washington. + +Dick drove his plane toward it. There was one chance in a thousand +that, if he could accurately gauge the progress of his invisible +antagonist, he could crash him and go down with him to death. If he +could get close enough to feel his prop-wash! A wild chance, but +Dick's mind was keyed up to desperation. He shot like an arrow toward +the scene, with a view to intercepting the murderer. + +Then of a sudden he became aware of a curious phenomenon. A black beam +was shooting across the sky. A black searchlight! It came from the +flat top of a large hotel that had somehow escaped the universal +destruction, and, with its gaunt skeleton of structural steel showing +in squares, towered out of the ruin all about it like an island. + + * * * * * + +It was from here that the black beam started. It spread fanwise across +the sky. But it was not merely blackness. It was utter and +impenetrable darkness, cleaving the sky like a knife. Where it +passed, the rays of the moon were extinguished as fire is extinguished +by water. + +A beam of absolute blackness, that pierced the air like a widening +cone, and made the night seem, by contrast, of dazzling brightness +along either dark border. + +High into the air that dark beam shot, moving to and fro in the sky. +Dick, darting toward the spot where he hoped to find his invisible +enemy, found himself caught in it. + +In utter, inextinguishable darkness! Like a trapped bird he fluttered, +hurling himself this way and that till suddenly he found himself +blinking in the dazzling light of the moon again, and the black beam +was overhead. + +Crash! Another widening sphere of ruin as the invisible marauder +dropped a bomb. Dick cursed bitterly. Trapped in that black beam, he +had lost his direction. The invisible plane had shot past the point +where he had hoped to intercept it. + +He flung his soaring lever, and hung suspended in the air. An easy +mark for the enemy, if he chose to take the opportunity. No matter. +Death was all that Dick craved. He had seen half his flight wiped out, +and a hundred thousand human beings hurled to destruction. He wanted +to die. + +Then suddenly a wild shout came to his ears, as if all Washington had +gone mad with triumph. And Dick heard himself shouting too, before he +knew it, almost before he knew why. + + * * * * * + +For overhead, where the inky finger searched the sky, a luminous shape +appeared, a silvery cigar, riding in the void. The finger missed it, +and again there was only the moonlight. It caught it again--and again +the whole devastated city rang with yells of derision, hate, and anger +as the black beam held it. + +It held it! To and fro that silvery cigar scurried in a frantic +attempt to avoid detection, and remorselessly the black beam held it +down. + +It held it down, and it outlined it as clearly as a figure on the +moving picture screen. Then suddenly there came a flash, followed by a +dull detonation, and a black cloud appeared, spreading into a flower +of death near the cigar, and at the edge of the black beam. The cheers +grew frantic. The anti-aircraft battery in the White House grounds had +grasped the situation, and was opening fire. + +To and fro, like a trapped beast, the cigar-shaped airplane fled. Once +it seemed to escape. It faded from the edge of the black finger--faded +into nothingness amid a roar of execretion. Then it was caught and +held. + +Truncated, bounded by an arc of sky, the black finger followed the +murderer in his flight remorselessly. And all around him the +anti-aircraft guns were placing a barrage of death. + +He was trapped. No need for Dick to rush in to battle. To do so might +call off that deadly barrage that held the murderer in a ring of +death. Hovering, Dick watched. And then, perhaps panic-stricken, +perhaps rendered desperate, perhaps through sheer, wanton courage that +might have commanded admiration under nobler circumstances, the +airship turned and drove straight in the direction of the battery, +dropping another bomb as she did so. + + * * * * * + +It fell in a crowded street, swarming with spectators who had +clambered upon the fallen débris, and it wrought hideous destruction. +But this time there was hardly a cry--no unison of despair such as had +come to Dick's ears before. The suspense was too tense. All eyes +watched the airship as, seeming to bear a charmed life, she drove for +the White House itself, through a ring of shells that widened and +contracted alternately, with the object of placing a last bomb +squarely upon the building before going down in death. And all the +while the black searchlight held it. + +Dick Rennell was to experience many thrilling moments afterward, but +there was never a period, measurable by seconds, yet seeming to extend +through all eternity--never a period quite so fraught with suspense +as, hovering there, he watched the flight of that silvery plane +speeding straight toward the executive mansion while all around it the +shells bloomed and spread. It was over the White House grounds. The +archies had failed; they were being outmaneuvered, they could not be +swung in time to follow the trajectory of the plane. Dick held his +breath. + +Then suddenly the silvery ship dissolved in a blaze of fire, a shower +of golden sparks such as fly from a rocket, and simultaneously the +last bomb that she was to drop broke upon the ground below. + +Down she plunged, instantly invisible as she escaped the finger of the +black beam; but she dropped into the vortex of ruin that she herself +had created. Into a pit of blazing fire, criss-crossed by falling +trees, that had engulfed the battery and a score of men. + +Then suddenly Dick understood. He flung home the soaring lever, +banked, and headed, not for the White House, but for the flat roof of +the hotel from which the black searchlight was still projecting itself +through the skies. He hovered above, and dropped, light as a feather, +upon the rooftop. + + * * * * * + +There was only one person there--an old man dressed in a shabby suit, +kneeling before a great block of stone that had been dislodged upward +from the parapet and formed a sort of table. Upon this table the old +man had placed a large, square box, resembling an exaggerated kodak, +and it was from the lens of this box that the black beam was +projecting. + +Dick sprang from his cockpit as the old man rose in alarm. He ran to +him and caught him by the arm. + +"Luke Evans!" he cried. "Thank God you've come back in time to save +America!" + + +CHAPTER VI + +_The Gas_ + +In the Blue Room of the White House the Council listened to old Luke +Evans's exposition of his invention with feelings ranging from +incredulity to hope. + +"I've been at work all the time," said the old man, "not far from +here. I knew the day would come when you'd need me. I put my pride +aside for the sake of my country." + +"Tell us in a few words about this discovery of yours, Mr. Evans," +said Colonel Stopford. + +Luke Evans placed the square black case upon the table. "It's simple, +like all big things, sir," he answered. "The original shadow-breaking +device that I invented was a heavy, inert gas, invisible, but almost +as viscous as paint. Applied to textiles, to inorganic matter, to +animal bodies, it adheres for hours. Its property is to render such +substances invisible by absorbing all the visible light rays that fall +upon it, from red to violet. Light passes through all substances that +are coated with this paint as if they did not exist." + +"And this antidote of yours?" asked Colonel Stopford. + +"Darkness," replied Luke Evans. "A beam of darkness that means +absolute invisibility. It can be shot from this apparatus"--he +indicated the box upon the table. "This box contains a minute portion +of a gas which exists in nature in the form of a black, crystalline +powder. The peculiar property of this powder is that it is the +solidified form of a gas more volatile than any that is known. So +volatile is it that, when the ordinary atmospheric pressure of fifteen +pounds to the square inch is removed, the powder instantly changes to +the gaseous condition." + +"By pressing this lever"--Evans pointed at the box--"a vacuum is +created. Instantly the powder becomes a gas, which shoots forth +through this aperture with the speed of a projectile, taking the form +of a beam of absolute blackness. Or it can be discharged from +cylinders in such a way as to extend over a large area within a few +minutes." + +"But how does this darkness make the invisible airships luminous?" +asked Stopford. "Why does not your darkness destroy all light?" + +"In this way, sir," replied the old inventor. "The shadow-breaking gas +with which the airships are painted confers invisibility because it +absorbs sunlight. But it does not absorb the still more rapid waves, +or oscillations which manifest themselves as radio-activity. On the +contrary, it gathers and reflects these. + +"Now Roentgen, the discoverer of the X-ray, observed that if X-rays +are allowed to enter the eye of an observer who is in complete +darkness, the retina receives a stimulus, and light is perceived, due +to the fluorescent action of the X-rays upon the eyeball. + +"Consequently, by creating a beam of complete darkness, I bring into +clear visibility the fluorescent gas that coats the airships; in other +words, the airships become visible." + +"If a light ray is nullified upon entering the field of darkness, will +it emerge at the other edge as a perfect light ray again?" asked +Stopford. + +"It will emerge unchanged, since the black beam destroys light by +slightly slowing down the vibrations to a point where they are not +perceived as light by the human eye. On emerging from the beam, +however, these vibrations immediately resume their natural frequency. +To give you a homely parallel, the telephone changes sound waves to +electric waves, and re-converts them into sound waves at the other +end, without any appreciable interruption." + +"Then," said Stopford, "the logical application of your method is to +plunge every city in the land into darkness by means of this gas?" + +"That is so, sir, and then we shall have the advantage of +invisibility, and the enemy ships will be in fluorescence." + +"Damned impracticable!" muttered Stopford. + +"You seriously propose to darken the greater part of eastern North +America?" asked the Secretary for War. + +"The gas can be produced in large quantities from coal tar besides +existing in crystalline deposits," replied Luke Evans. "It is so +volatile that I estimate that a single ton will darken all eastern +North America for five days. Whereas the concentration would be made +only in specific areas liable to attack. The gas is distilled with +great facility from one of the tri-phenyl-carbinol coal-tar +derivatives." + +Vice-president Tomlinson was a pompous, irascible old man, but it was +he who hit the nail on the head. + +"That's all very well as an emergency measure, but we've got to find +the haunt of that gang and smash it!" + +An orderly brought in a telegraphic dispatch and handed it to him. The +Vice-president opened it, glanced through it, and tried to hand it to +the Secretary of State. Instead, it fluttered from his nerveless +fingers, and he sank back with a groan. The Secretary picked it up and +glanced at it. + +"Gentlemen," he said, trying to control his voice, "New York was +bombed out of the blue at sunrise this morning, and the whole lower +part of the city is a heap of ruins." + + * * * * * + +In the days that followed it became clear that all the resources of +America would be needed to cope with the Invisible Empire. Not a day +passed without some blow being struck. Boston, Charleston, Baltimore, +Pittsburg in turn were devastated. Three cruisers and a score of minor +craft were sunk in the harbor of Newport News, where they were +concentrating, and thenceforward the fleet became a fugitive force, +seeking concealment rather than an offensive. Trans-Atlantic +sea-traffic ceased. + +Meanwhile the black gas was being hurriedly manufactured. From +cylinders placed in central positions in a score of cities it was +discharged continuously, covering these centers with an impenetrable +pall of night that no light would penetrate. Only by the glow of +radium paint, which commanded fabulous prices, could official business +be transacted, and that only to a very small degree. + +Courts were closed, business suspended, prisoners released, perforce, +from jails. Famine ruled. The remedy was proving worse than the +disease. Within a week the use of the dark gas had had to be +discontinued. And a temporary suspension of the raids served only to +accentuate the general terror. + +There were food riots everywhere, demands that the Government come to +terms, and counter-demands that the war be fought out to the bitter +end. + +Fought out, when everything was disorganized? Stocks of food congested +all the terminals, mobs rioted and battled and plundered all through +the east. + +"It means surrender," was voiced at the Council meeting by one of the +members. And nobody answered him. + +Three days of respite, then, instead of bombs, proclamations +fluttering down from a cloudless sky. Unless the white flag of +surrender was hoisted from the summit of the battered Capitol, the +Invisible Emperor would strike such a blow as should bring America to +her knees! + + * * * * * + +It was a twelve-hour ultimatum, and before three hours had passed +thousands of citizens had taken possession of the Capitol and filled +all the approaches. Over their heads floated banners--the Stars and +Stripes, and, blazoned across them the words, "No Surrender." + +It was a spontaneous uprising of the people of Washington. Hungry, +homeless in the sharpening autumn weather, and nearly all bereft of +members of their families, too often of the breadwinner, now lying +deep beneath the rubble that littered the streets, they had gathered +in their thousands to protest against any attempt to yield. + +Dick, flying overhead at the apex of his squadron, felt his heart +swell with elation as he watched the orderly crowds. This was at three +in the afternoon: at six the ultimatum ended, the new frightfulness +was to begin. + +At five, Vice-president Tomlinson was to address the crowds. The old +man had risen to the occasion. He had cast off his pompousness and +vanity, and was known to favor war to the bitter end. Dick and his +squadron circled above the broken dome as the car that carried the +Vice-president and the secretaries of State and for War approached +along the Avenue. + +Rat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat! + +Out of the blue sky streams of lead were poured into the assembled +multitudes. Instantly they had become converted into a panic-stricken +mob, turning this way and that. + +Rat-a-tat-tat. Swaths of dead and dying men rolled in the dust, and, +as wheat falls under the reaper's blade, the mob melted away in lines +and by battalions. Within thirty seconds the whole terrain was piled +with dead and dying. + +"My God, it's massacre! It's murder!" shouted Dick. + + * * * * * + +They had not even waited for the twelve hours to expire. To and fro +the invisible airplanes shot through the blue evening sky, till the +last fugitives were streaming away in all directions like hunted deer, +and the dead lay piled in ghastly heaps everywhere. + +Out of these heaps wounded and dying men would stagger to their feet +to shake their fists impotently at their murderers. + +In vain Dick and his squadron strove to dash themselves into the +invisible airships. The pilots eluded them with ease, sometimes +sending a contemptuous round of machine-gun bullets in their +direction, but not troubling to shoot them down. + +Two small boys, carrying a huge banner with "No Surrender" across it, +were walking off the ghastly field. Twelve or fourteen years old at +most, they disdained to run. They were singing, singing the National +Anthem, though their voices were inaudible through the turmoil. + +Rat-tat! Rat-tat-a-tat! The fiends above loosed a storm of lead upon +them. Both fell. One rose, still clutching the banner in his hand and +waved it aloft. In a sudden silence his childish treble could be +heard: + + My country, 'tis of thee + Sweet land of lib-er-ty-- + +The guns rattled again. Clutching the blood-stained banner, he dropped +across the body of his companion. + +Suddenly a broad band of black soared upward from the earth. Those in +charge of the cylinders placed about the Capitol had released the gas. + +A band of darkness, rising into the blue, cutting off the earth, +making the summit of the ruined Capitol a floating dome. But, fast as +it rose, the invisible airships rose faster above it. + +A last vicious volley! Two of Dick's flight crashing down upon the +piles of dead men underneath! And nothing was visible, though the +darkness rose till it obliterated the blue above. + + * * * * * + +At dawn the Council sat, after an all-night meeting. Vice-president +Tomlinson, one arm shattered by a machine-gun bullet, still occupied +the chair at the head of the table. + +Outside, immediately about the White House, there was not a sound. +Washington might have been a city of the dead. The railroad terminals, +however, were occupied by a mob of people, busily looting. There was +great disorder. Organized government had simply disappeared. + +Each man was occupied only with obtaining as much food as he could +carry, and taking his family into rural districts where the Terror +would not be likely to pursue. All the roads leading out of +Washington--into Virginia, into Maryland, were congested with columns +of fugitives that stretched for miles. + +Some, who were fortunate enough to possess automobiles, and--what was +rarer--a few gallons of gas, were trying to force their way through +the masses ahead of them; here and there a family trudged beside a +pack-horse, or a big dog drew an improvised sled on wheels, loaded +with flour, bacon, blankets, pillows. Old men and young children +trudged on uncomplaining. + +The telegraph wires were still, for the most part, working. All the +world knew what was happening. From all the big cities of the East a +similar exodus was proceeding. There was little bitterness and little +disorder. + +It was not the airship raids from which these crowds were fleeing. +Something grimmer was happening. The murderous attack upon the +populace about the Capitol had been merely an incident. This later +development was the fulfilment of the Invisible Emperor's ultimatum. + +Death was afield, death, invisible, instantaneous, and inevitable. +Death blown on the winds, in the form of the deadliest of unknown +gases. + + * * * * * + +In the Blue Room of the White House a score of experts had gathered. +Dick, too, with the chiefs of his staff, Stopford, and the army and +naval heads. Among them was the chief of the Meteorological Bureau, +and it was to him primarily that Tomlinson was reading a telegraphic +dispatch from Wilmington, South Carolina: + +"The Invisible Death has reached this point and is working havoc +throughout the city, spreading from street to street. Men are dropping +dead everywhere. A few have fled, but--" + +The sudden ending of the dispatch was significant enough. Tomlinson +picked up another dispatch from Columbia, in the same State: + +"Invisible Death now circling city," he read. "Business section +already invaded. All other telegraphists have left posts. Can't say +how long--" + +And this, too, ended in the same way. There were piles of such +communications, and they had been coming in for eighteen hours. At +that moment an orderly brought in a dozen more. + +Tomlinson showed the head of the Meteorological Bureau the chart upon +the table. "We've plotted out a map as the wires came in, Mr. Graves," +he said. "The Invisible Death struck the southeast shore of the United +States yesterday afternoon near Charleston. It has spread +approximately at a steady rate. The wind velocity--?" + +"Remains constant. Seventy miles an hour. Dying down a little," +answered Graves. + +"The death line now runs from Wilmington, South Carolina, straight to +Augusta, Georgia," the Vice-president pursued. "Every living thing +that this gas has encountered has been instantly destroyed. Men, +cattle, birds, vermin, wild beasts. The gas is invisible and +inodorous. These gentlemen believe it may be a form of hydrocyanic +acid, but of a concentration beyond anything known to chemistry, so +deadly that a billionth part of it to one of air must be fatal, +otherwise it could not have traveled as it has done. Warnings have +been broadcasted, but there are no stocks of chemicals that might +counteract it. Flight is the only hope--flight at seventy miles an +hour!" + + * * * * * + +His voice shook. "This gas has been loosed, as you told us, upon the +wings of the hurricane that came through the Florida Strait. What are +the chances of its reaching Washington?" + +"Mr. Vice-president, if the wind continues, and this gas has +sufficient concentration, it should be in Washington within the next +eight hours." Graves replied. "If the wind changes direction, +however, this gas will probably be blown out to sea, or into the +Alleghanies, where it will probably be dissipated among the hills, or +by the foliage on the mountains. I'm not a chemist--" + +"No, sir, and I am not consulting you as one," answered old Tomlinson. +"A death belt several hundred miles in length and three or four +hundred deep has already been cut across this continent. We are faced +with wholesale, unmitigated murder, on such a scale as was never known +before. But we are an integral part of America, and Washington has no +more right to expect immunity than our devastated Southern States. The +question we wish to put to you is, can you trace the exact course +taken by the hurricane?" + +"I can, Mr. Vice-president," answered Graves. "It originated somewhere +in the West Indian seas, like all these storms. We've been getting our +reports almost as usual. Our first one came from Nassau, which was +badly damaged. The storm missed the Florida coast, as many of them do, +and struck the coast of South Carolina--in fact, we received a report +from Charleston, which must have almost coincided with your first +report of the gas." + +"If the storm missed the Florida coast, it follows that the gas was +not discharged from any point on the American continent," said +Tomlinson. "From some point off Florida--from some island, or from a +plane or from a ship at sea." + +"Not from a ship at sea, Mr. Vice-president," interposed the head of +the Chemical Bureau. "To discharge gas on such an extensive scale +would require more space than could be furnished by the largest +vessel, in my opinion." + +"In all probability the gas was 'loaded,' so to say, onto the gale +somewhere in the Bahamas," said Graves. "That seems to me the most +likely explanation." + + * * * * * + +Vice-president Tomlinson nodded, and picked up one of the latest +telegraphic dispatches, as if absently. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "the Invisible Death has already reached +Charlotte." + +He picked up another. "Reported Abaco Island, Bahamas, totally wrecked +by storm. All communication has ceased," he read. He turned to Dick +and spoke as if inspired. "Captain Rennell, there is your +destination," he thundered. "They've betrayed themselves. We've got +them now. You understand?" + +"By God, sir! It's from Abaco Island, then, that those devils have +been carrying on their game of wholesale murder!" + +Suddenly a contagion of enthusiasm seemed to sweep the whole +assemblage. Every man was upon his feet in an instant, white, +quivering, lips opened for speech that trembled there and did not +come. + +It was Secretary Norris spoke. "The Vice-president has hit the mark," +he said, with a dramatic gesture of his arm. "Yes, they've betrayed +themselves. Their headquarters are on Abaco Island. It's one of the +largest in the Bahamas." He turned to the Secretary for the Navy. "You +can rush the fleet there, sir?" he asked. + +"Within forty-eight hours I'll have every vessel that can float off +Abaco Island." + +"I'll concentrate all airplanes. Take your flight, Captain Rennell. +We'll stamp out that nest of murderers if we blow Abaco Island to the +bottom of the sea. It can be done!" + +"It can be done, sir--with Luke Evans and his invention," answered +Dick. + + +CHAPTER VII + +_On the Trail_ + +Three hours later, about the time when the war council rose after +completing its plans, a sudden shift of the wind blew the poison gas +out to sea, just when it appeared certain that it would reach the +capital of the nation. + +The southern half of Virginia had been swept over. Operators, +telegraph and telephone, staying at their posts had sent in constant +messages that had terminated with an abruptness which told of the +tragic sequel. Yet, at that distance from its source, the intensity of +the gas had been to some extent dissipated. + +Poisonous beyond any gas known, so deadly as to make hydrocyanic gas +innocuous in comparison, still as it was swept northward on the wings +of the wind, there had been an increasing number of non-fatal +casualties. The most northernly point reached by the gas was Richmond, +and here some fifty per cent of those stricken had suffered paralysis +instead of death. + +But a new element had been injected into the situation. Even the +heroic courage shown by the populace in the beginning had had its +limits. The morning after the news of the Invisible Death's advent was +made public mobs had gathered in all the large cities of the East, +demanding surrender. + +The submerged elements of crime and disorder had come to the surface +at last. Committees were formed, with the avowed object of yielding to +the Invisible Emperor, and averting further disaster. In Washington, a +city of the dead, half the members of Congress and the Senators had +gathered in the ruined Capitol, to debate the situation. + +There were rumors of an impending march on the White House, of a coup +d'ètat. + + * * * * * + +The action of the Government was prompt. Five hundred loyalists were +enrolled, armed, and posted round the White House: every avenue of +approach was commanded by machine-guns. Meanwhile the news was spread +by radio that the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor had been +located, and that a strong bombing squadron was being dispatched to +destroy it. + +The entire fleet was to follow, and it was confidently anticipated +that within a little while the Terror would be at an end. + +Those at the white House were less sanguine. There was none but +realized the diabolical strength of their antagonists. + +"Everything depends upon the outcome of the next forty-eight hours, +and everything depends on you, Rennell," said Secretary Norris to +Dick, as he stood beside his plane. Behind him his flight of a dozen +airships was drawn up. + +"Find them," added the Secretary; "cover Abaco Island with the black +gas, and the navy and the marines will wipe up the mess that you leave +behind you. God help you--and all of us, Rennell!" + +He gripped Dick's hand and turned away. Dick was very sober-minded as +he climbed into his cockpit. He knew to the full how much depended +upon himself and Luke Evans. Already the shouts of the insurgents were +to be heard at the ends of the barriers, commanded by the +machine-guns, and patrolled by the enlisted volunteers. + +Negro mobs were building counter-barricades of their own with rubble +from the fallen edifices. Civil war might be postponed for +eight-and-forty hours, but after that unless there was news of +victory, the whole structure of civilization would be smashed +irreparably. + +It was up to Dick and Luke Evans, and they had assumed such a +responsibility as rarely falls to the lot of man in war. + + * * * * * + +Dick was to lead the flight in a two-seater Barwell plane. This was +one of the latest types, and had been hurriedly adapted to the purpose +for which it was to be used. Dick himself occupied the rear seat, with +its dual controls, and the gun in its armored casing. In front sat old +Luke Evans, in charge of the black gas projector. + +His famous camera box, containing a minute quantity of gas in slow +combustion, and projecting the black searchlight, had been built into +the plane. In the rack beside him were a number of the black gas +bombs, each of which, dropped to earth, would release enough gas to +cover a considerable area with darkness. Both Luke and Dick wore +respirators filled with charcoal and sodium thio-sulphate, and beside +Dick a cage containing three guinea-pigs rested. + +These little rodents were so sensitive to atmospheric changes that a +quantity of hydrocyanic acid too minute to affect a man would produce +instantaneous death on them. + +From its hiding-place off the Virginia coast the American fleet was +steaming hotly southward toward Abaco Island, cruisers, destroyers, +submarines. That Abaco was British territory had simply not been +considered in this crisis of history. + +The twelve airships that followed Dick's contained enough bombs to put +the headquarters of the Invisible Empire out of business for good. The +naval guns would complete the same business. + +All day Dick and Luke Evans flew southwestward. At first glance, +everything appeared normal. The catastrophe that had fallen upon the +land was visible only in the shape of the lines of tiny figures, +extending for miles, that choked all the roads radiating out of the +principal cities. It was only when they were over the southern portion +of Virginia that the ravages of deadly gas became apparent. + +Flying low, Dick could see the fields strewn with the bodies of dead +cattle. Here and there, at the doors of farmhouses, the inmates could +be seen, lying together in gruesome heaps, caught and killed +instantaneously as they attempted flight. Here, too, were figures on +the roads. But they were figures of dead men and women. + + * * * * * + +They strewed the roads for miles, lying as they had been trapped--men, +women, children, horses, mules, and dogs. The spectacle was an +appalling one. Dick set his jaws grimly. He was thinking that the +Council had let Von Kettler escape. He was thinking of Fredegonde. But +he would not let himself think of her. She deserved no more pity than +the rest of the murderous crew. + +Over the Carolinas the conditions were still more appalling. Here +deadly gas had struck with all its concentrated power. A city +materialized out of the blue distance, a factory town with all +chimneys spiring upward into the blue, a section of tall buildings +intersected by canyonlike streets, around it a rim of trim houses, +bungalows, indicative of prosperity and comfort. And it was a city of +the dead. + +For everywhere around it, on all the roads, the dead lay piled on top +of one another. For miles--all the inhabitants, rich and poor, +business men, factory hands, negroes. There had been a mad rush as the +fatal gas drove onward upon its lethal way, and all the fugitives had +been overwhelmed simultaneously. + +Here were golf links, with little groups strewn on the grass and +fairways; here, at one of the holes, four men, their putters still in +their hands, crouched in death. Here was the wreckage of a train that +had collided with a string of freight cars at an untended switch, and +from the shattered windows the heads and bodies of the dead protruded +in serried ranks. + +Dick looked back. His flight was driving on behind him. He guessed +their feelings. They had sworn, as he had sworn, that none of them +would return without stamping out that abomination from the earth +forever. + + * * * * * + +He signaled to the flight to rise, and zoomed upward to twelve +thousand feet. He did not want to look upon any more of those horrors. +At that height, the peaceful landscape lay extended underneath, in a +checker-board of farms and woodlands. One could pretend that it was +all a vile dream. + +He avoided Charleston, and winged out above the Atlantic, striking a +straight course along the coast toward the Bahamas. The shores of +Georgia vanished in the west. Dick began to breathe more freely. His +mind shook off its weight of horror. Only the blue sea and the blue +sky were visible The aftermath of the gale remained in the shape of a +strong head breeze and white crests below. + +Dick glanced at the guinea-pigs. They were busily gnawing their +cabbage and carrots. The gas had evidently been entirely dissipated by +the wind. + +Toward sunset the low jutting fore-land of Canaveral on the east coast +of Florida, came into view. Dick shifted course a little. Three hours +more should see them over Abaco. + +His flight had explicit instructions. As soon as the black gas had +rendered visible the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor, they were +to circle above, dropping their bombs. When these were exhausted, the +machine guns would come into play. There was to be no attention paid +to signals of surrender. They were to wipe out the headquarters, to +kill every living thing that showed itself--and the navy and the +marines would mop up anything left over. + +The sun went down in a blaze of gold and crimson. Night fell. The moon +began to climb the east. The black sea, stretching beneath, was as +empty as on the day when it was created. Nothing in the shape of +navigation appeared. + +Two hours, three hours, and old Evans turned round in his cockpit and +pointed. On the horizon a black thread was beginning to stretch +against the sky. It was Abaco Island, in the Bahama group. They were +nearly at their destination. An hour more--perhaps two hours, and the +deadly menace that threatened America might be removed forever. Dick +breathed a silent prayer for success. + + * * * * * + +They were over Abaco. A long, flat island, seventy miles or so in +extreme length, and fairly wide, covered with a dense growth of +tropical brush and forest, with here and there open spaces, near the +seacoast an occasional farm-house. Dick dropped to five thousand, to +three, to one. The moon made the whole land underneath as bright as +day. + +There were no evidence of destruction by the hurricane. The farmhouses +stood substantial and well roofed. If death had struck Abaco Island, +it had been the work of man, not Nature. + +Dick zoomed almost to his ceiling, until, in the brilliant moonlight, +he could see Abaco Island from side to side. For the most part it was +heavily wooded with mahogany and lignum vitae: toward the central +portion there was open land, but there was not the least sign of any +construction work. + +Again he swooped, indicating to his flight to follow him. At a +thousand feet he examined the open district intently. Here, if +anywhere upon the island, the Invisible Emperor had his headquarters. +Was it conceivable that a gas factory, hangars, ammunition depots +could exist here invisibly, when he could look straight down upon the +ground? + +Dick's heart sank. The hideous fear came to him that Graves had been +mistaken, that he had come on a wild-goose chase. This could not be +the place. It was quite incredible. + +Again and again he circled, studying the ground beneath. Now he could +see that the tough grass and undergrowth marked curious geometrical +patterns. Here, for example, was an oblong of bare earth around which +the vegetation grew, and it was obviously the work of man. + +Here were four squares of bare ground set side by side, with thin +strips of vegetation growing between them. + +Then of a sudden Dick knew! Those squares and parallelograms of bare +ground indicated the foundations of buildings. _He was looking down on +the very site of the Invisible Emperor's stronghold!_ + +He shouted, and pointed downward. Luke Evans looked round and nodded. +He understood. He patted the camera-box with a grim smile on his old +face. + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_The Magnetic Trap_ + +Upon those squares and oblongs of bare earth, incredible as it seemed, +rose the structures of the Invisible Empire, themselves both invisible +and transparent, so that one looked straight down through them and saw +only the ground beneath them. + +Every interior floor and girder must have been treated with the gas. +They had been cunning. They must have discovered some permanent means +of charging paint with the shadow-breaking gas, so that the buildings +would remain invisible for months and years instead of hours. + +But they had not been cunning enough. It had not occurred to them that +the foundations would still be visible underneath, for the simple +reason that grass does not grow without sunlight. + +Dick saw old Luke Evans nodding and pointing downward. The old man +picked up his end of the speaking-tube, but Dick ignored the gesture. +He signaled to his flight to rise, and zoomed up, circling, and +studying the land beneath. + +That oblong was evidently the central building. Those four squares +probably housed airplanes, and each would hold half a dozen. That +elliptical building might contain a dirigible. That round patch was +probably the gas factory. + +Now Dick could see more patches of bare ground, extending in the +direction of the sea. He gunned his ship and followed the gap among +the trees to the ocean, a few miles distant. Yes, there were more +evidence of activity here. Beside the water, in what looked like a +deep natural harbor, was what seemed to be the foundations of a dock. +Perhaps even vessels of war floated on the phosphorescent Bahama sea. + + * * * * * + +He circled back, his flock wheeling like a flight of birds and +following him. He signaled to them to scatter. They had certainly been +observed; at any moment a hail of lead might assail them invisibly out +of the air. They must get to work quickly. But had they understood the +significance of those bare patches? + +Dick saw Luke Evans still fidgeting impatiently with his end of the +speaking-tube, and picked it up. + +"I'm thinking, Captain Rennell, we've got no time to lose if we want +to keep the upper hand of those devils," called the old man. + +"Yes, you're right," Dick answered. "Lay a trail of gas bombs all +around those hangars and buildings, enough to hold them dark for some +time. And keep a bomb or two in reserve." + +Luke Evans shouted back. The plane was again above the structures. The +old man dropped a bomb over the side, and Dick zoomed again, his +flight wheeling up behind him. + +Higher and higher, banking and going round in a succession of tight +spirals, Dick flew. Every moment he expected the blow to fall. As he +rose, Luke Evans dropped bomb after bomb. A thousand feet beneath the +flight was taking up positions, hovering with the helicopters, looking +up to Dick for the signal, and waiting. + +Then from beneath the cloud of black gas began to rise, as Luke Evans +dropped his bombs. It filled the lower spaces of the sky, blotting out +the land in impenetrable darkness. That darkness, above which Dick and +his flight were soaring, rose like a solid wall, built by some +prehistoric race that aimed to fling a tower into the heavens. + + * * * * * + +And then--the miracle! Dick gasped in sheer delight as he realized +that he had made no mistake. + +At first all he could see was a number of criss-crossing +phosphorescent lines that appeared shimmering through the blackness +underneath. They ran luminously here and there, forming no particular +pattern, much like the figures on the radium dial of a watch when +first they come into wavering visibility at night. + +Then the lines began to intersect one another, to assume geometric +patterns and curves. And bit by bit they took meaning and +significance. + +And suddenly the whole invisible stronghold lay revealed upon the +ground beneath, a shining, dazzling play of weaving light. + +Buildings and hangars stood out, clearly revealed; the rounded vault +of a dirigible hangar, and the shining ribbon of a road that ran +through a pitch-dark tarmac, and was evidently constructed from some +gas-impregnated materials. On this tarmac was a flight of shining +airplanes, ready to take off. There were the odd, ovoid figures of the +aviators in their silken overalls. More figures appeared, running out +from the buildings. It was clear that the sudden raid had taken them +all by surprise. + +Luke Evans yelled and pointed. "We've got them now, sir!" Dick heard +above the whine of the helicopter engine. "We've--" + +But of a sudden the old man's voice died away, though his mouth was +still moving. + +Dick leaned out of his cockpit and fired a single red Very light, the +signal for the attack. And from each plane of his flight, beneath him, +a bomb slid from its rack and went hurtling down upon the gang below, +while the airplanes circled and hovered, each taking up its station. + + * * * * * + +Dick was too late. By a whole minute he had missed his chance. He +realized that immediately, for before the red light had flared from +his pistol, the hostile planes were in the air. He had flown too low, +and given the alarm. + +It meant a fight now, instead of a mad dog destruction, and Dick did +not underestimate the power of the enemy. But he felt a thrill of +furious satisfaction at the prospect of battle. From every plane the +bombs were falling. Underneath, ruin and destruction, and leaping +flames--and yet darkness, save for the phosphorescent outlines of the +buildings. + +And the lines of these were broken, converging into strange +criss-crosses of luminosity, as the beams fell in shapeless heaps. +Dark fire, sweeping through the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor, +a veritable hell for those below! A taste of the hell that they had +made for others! + +Then a strange phenomenon obtruded itself upon Dick's notice. _Nothing +was audible!_ The bombs were falling, but they were falling silently. +No sound came up from beneath. And, except for the throbbing of his +engine, Dick would have thought it had stopped. He could no longer +hear it. + +That terrific holocaust of death and destruction was inaudible. +Skimming the upper reach of the air, high above that wall of darkness, +Dick saw old Luke Evans pick up his end of the speaking-tube, and +mechanically followed suit. He could see the old man's lips moving. +But he heard nothing! + +And now another phenomenon was borne in on his notice. His flight were +perhaps five hundred feet beneath him, hovering a little above the +barrage of black gas. But they were converging oddly. And there was no +sight of the airplanes that Dick had just seen taking off from the +invisible tarmac. + + * * * * * + +Dick fired two Very lights as a signal to his flight to scatter. What +were they doing, bunching together like a flock of sheep, when at any +moment the enemy planes might come swooping in, riddling them with +bullets? He thrust the stick forward--and then realized that his +controls had gone dead! + +He thought for a moment that a wire had snapped. But the stick +responded perfectly to his hand, only it had no longer control over +his plane. He kicked right rudder, and the plane remained motionless. +He pushed home the soaring lever, to neutralize the helicopter and the +plane still soared. + +Then he noticed that the needle of his earth-inductor +compass-indicator was oscillating madly, and realized that it was not +his plane that was at fault. + +Underneath him, his flight seemed to be milling wildly as the ships +turned in every direction of the compass. But not for long. They were +nosing in, until the whole flight resembled an enormous airplane +engine, with twelve radial points, corresponding to their propellers, +and the noses pointing symmetrically inward, like a herd of game, +yarding in winter time. + +And now the true significance came home to Dick. A vertical line of +magnetic force, an invisible mast, had been shot upward from the +ground. The airplanes were moored to it by their noses, as effectively +as if they had been fastened with steel wires. + +And he, too, was struggling against that magnetic force that was +slowly drawing him, despite his utmost efforts, to a fixed position +five hundred feet above his flight. + + * * * * * + +For a few moments, by feeding his engine gas to the limit, Dick +thought he might have a chance of escaping. Her nose a fixed point, +Dick whirled round and round in a dizzy maze, attempting to break that +invisible mooring-chain. Then suddenly the engine went dead. He was +trapped helplessly. + +He saw old Evans gesticulating wildly in the front cockpit. The old +man hoisted himself, leaned over the cowling gibbered in Dick's ear. +The silent engine had ceased to throb, and the old man's shouts were +simply not translated into sound. + +Suddenly the flight beneath jerked downward, just as a flag jerks when +it is hauled down a pole. They vanished into the dark cloud beneath. +At the same time there came a jerk that dropped Dick's plane a hundred +feet, and flung him violently against the rim of the cockpit. + +Another followed. By drops of a hundred feet at a time, Dick was being +hauled down into the darkness underneath him. + +It rushed up at him. One moment he was suspended upon the rim of it, +seeing the moon and stars above him; the next he had been plunged into +utter blackness. Blackness more intense than anything that could be +conceived--soundless blackness, that was the added horror of it. +Blackness of Luke Evans's contriving, but none the less fearful on +that account! + +And yet, as Dick was jerked slowly downward, slowly a pale visibility +began to diffuse itself underneath. The black cloud was beginning to +roll away. The luminous lines began to fade, and in place of them +appeared little leaping tongues of fire. In front of him Dick saw Luke +Evans's form begin to pattern itself upon the darkness. He saw the +form move sidewise, and caught at Luke's arm as he was about to hurl +another gas bomb. "No!" he shouted--and heard no sound come from his +lips. + + * * * * * + +Luke understood. He seemed to be replacing the bomb in the rack. +Beneath them now, as they were jerked downward, were fantastic swirls +of black mist, and, at the bottom, a pit of fire that was slowly +coming into visibility. + +Dick uttered a cry of horror! Five hundred feet below his plane he saw +the dim forms of his flight, still bunched together, noses almost +touching. And they were dropping straight into that flaming furnace +of ruin underneath, which was growing clearer every instant. + +Down, jerk by jerk. Down! The black cloud was fast dispersing from the +ground. The flight were hardly a thousand feet above the fire. Down--a +long jerk that one! Once more! The flames leaped up hungrily about the +doomed airships. Cries of mad horror broke from Dick's lips as he +witnessed the destruction of ships and men. + +He could see almost clearly now. The twelve ships, still retaining +their nose-to-nose formation, were in the very heart of the fire. +Spurts of exploding gasoline thrust their white tongues upward. There +was only one consolation: for the doomed men, death must have come +practically instantaneously. + +From where he hung, Dick could feel the fierce heat of the flames +below. In front of him, old Luke Evans sat in his cockpit like one +petrified. He was feebly fumbling at his camera-box, as if he had some +idea of using it, and had forgotten that it was fixed to the plane, +but the old man seemed temporarily to have lost his wits. + +Rushing flames surrounded the burning airships, reducing them to a +solid, welded mass of incandescent metal. Dick looked down, waiting +for the next jerk that would summon him to join his men. At the moment +he was not conscious of either fear or horror, only intense rage +against the murderers and regret that he could never bring back the +news of victory. + + * * * * * + +The cloud had almost dissipated. In place of the phosphorescence, +electric lights had appeared, making the ground beneath perfectly +visible. Dick could see a number of men grouped together at the +entrance to a large building, part of which had been wrecked by a +bomb, though there were no evidences of fire. Other structures had +been dismantled and knocked about, but what remained of them had not +been charred by fire. Evidently they had been fireproofed. Perhaps the +gas itself was incombustible. Only in the middle of the tarmac, where +the remnants of the airplanes blazed, was there any sign of fire. + +There were three machines resembling dynamos, placed one at each +corner of the tarmac, equidistant from the central holocaust. A +half-dozen men were grouped about each of them, and by the light from +the huge reflector over each Dick saw that they were whirring busily. +At the time it did not occur to him that these were the machines that +were sending out the electrical force that had held the airplanes +powerless. + +But as he looked, his mind still a turmoil of hate and hopeless anger, +he saw one of the three machines cease whirring. The group about it +dispersed, the light above went out. And now his plane, as if drawn by +the power of the two remaining machines, began to move jerkily again, +not down toward the burning wreckage, but sidewise, away from it. + +Straight out toward the side of the tarmac it moved jerked downward +diagonally, until it rested only a few feet above the ground. + +Then suddenly Dick felt the plane quiver, as if released from the +power of the force that had held it. It nosed down and crashed, rolled +over amid the wreckage of a shattered wing. The concussion shot Dick +from the cockpit clear of the smashed machine. + +He landed upon his head, and went out instantly. + + +CHAPTER IX + +_The Invisible Emperor_ + +It was the sound of his name, spoken repeatedly, that brought Dick +back to consciousness. He opened his eyes, blinking in broad daylight. +He stared about him, and the first thing he saw was Luke Evans, +regarding him anxiously from a little distance away. He saw that it +was Luke who had spoken. + +He had heard the old man distinctly. The condition of inaudibility was +gone. + +Not that of invisibility. Dick stared about him in bewilderment. For a +moment, before he quite realized what had happened to him, he thought +he had lost his mind. Underneath him was a thick rug, beneath his head +a pillow; he could feel both of them, and yet all he could see was the +open country, a clearing with shrubbery on either side, and, beyond +that, a luxurious growth of tropical trees. Under him, to all visual +appearance, was the bare ground. + +He moved, and heard the clank of chains. He looked down at himself. +His wrists were loosely linked to a chain that seemed to stretch tight +into vacancy and end in nothing. His ankles were bound likewise. + +And both chains appeared to be of solid silver, but thick enough to +give them the strength of iron! + +Then he perceived that old Evans was bound in the same way. + +"Rennell! Rennell!" repeated the old man in a sort of whimper. "Thank +God you've come out of it! I was afraid you were dead." + +"What's happened?" asked Dick. "Where are we? Didn't they get us?" + +"They've got us, damn them!" snarled old Evans. "All the rest burned +to cinders, those fine fellows, Rennell! You were thrown unconscious, +but none of my tough old bones were hurt. They pulled us out of the +wreckage and brought us in here and tied us with these silver chains." + +"In here? But where are we?" demanded Dick, trying to pass his hand +across his aching forehead, and realizing that the chain, though it +seemed fastened to nothing, was perfectly taut. + + * * * * * + +"In one of their damned invisible houses," whimpered the old man. +"They're fireproof. Nearly all our bombs fell on the tarmac, and they +did hardly any damage at all. One of those devils was bragging about +it to me. I couldn't see anything but his eyes. And they've taken away +my gas-box," wailed old Luke. + +Dick cursed comprehensively and was silent. The burning rage that +filled him left him incapable of other utterance. Silver chains! They +must be madmen--yes, that was the only explanation. Madmen who had +escaped from somewhere, obtained possession of scientific secrets, and +banded themselves together to overcome the world. If he could get the +chance of a blow at them before he died! + +He heard a door swing open--a door somewhere out on the prairie. Two +men sprang into sudden visibility and approached him. There was +nothing invisible about these men, though they had seemed to have +materialized out of nothing. They wore the same black, trimly fitting +uniform that Dick had seen in the White House. They were flesh and +blood human beings like themselves. + +"I congratulate you upon your recovery, Captain Rennell," remarked one +of them with ironical politeness. "Also upon your shrewd coup. +Needless to say, it had no chance of success, but we were misinformed +as to the hour at which you might be expected. We thought it would +take the fools at Washington a little longer to puzzle out our +location--and then we did not put quite sufficient force into our +hurricane. Quite an artificial one, Captain." + +Dick, glaring at them, said nothing, and the one who had spoken turned +to his companion, laughing, and said something in a foreign language +that he did not recognize. + +"His Majesty the Emperor commands your presence, and that of this old +fool," said the first man. "Do not attempt to escape us. Death will be +instantaneous." He drew a glass rod from his pocket, the tip of which +glowed with a pale blue light. + + * * * * * + +Again he spoke to his companion, who moved apparently a few feet +distant out on the prairie. Suddenly Dick saw old Evans' chain +slacken: then Dick's slackened too. He understood that he was unbound, +though his wrists and ankles were still loosely fastened. + +The second man took his station beside Luke Evans and motioned to him +to rise. The first man beckoned to Dick to do the same. The two +prisoners got upon their feet, trailing each a length of clanking +chain. Each of the two guards covered his captive with the glass rod +and motioned to him to precede him. + +Choking with fury, Dick obeyed. He had taken a dozen steps with his +guard uttered a sharp command to halt, at the same time shouting some +word of command. + +The edge of a door appeared, also seeming to materialize out of space. +It widened, and Dick realized that he was looking at the unpainted +inner side of a door whose outside was invisible. Beyond the door +appeared a flight of steps. + +Dick passed through and descended them. He counted fifteen. He emerged +into a timbered underground passage, well lit with lamps, filled with +what seemed to be mercury vapor. Behind him walked his guard: behind +the guard he heard Luke Evans shambling. Both chains were clinking, +and again Dick's fury almost overcame him. + +He controlled himself. He had no hope or desire for life, but he meant +to strike some sort of blow before he died, if it were possible. + +They turned out of the timbered passage, Dick's guard now walking at +his side, the glass rod menacing his back. Dick found himself in a +large subterranean room of extraordinary character. The walls were not +merely timbered, but paneled. Pictures hung upon them, there were soft +rugs underfoot, there was antique furniture. Everything was in plain +sight. + + * * * * * + +There was a door at the farther end, from beyond which came the murmur +of voices. Two guards in the same black uniform, but without the +ornamental silver braid, stood to attention, long halberds in their +hands. One spoke a challenge. + +The guard at Dick's side answered. The two men stepped backward, each +about two feet, and pulled the two cords on either side of a curtain +behind the open door. Dick passed through. + +He stopped in sheer amazement. The gorgeousness of this larger room +into which he entered was almost stupefying. It seemed to have been +lifted bodily from some European palace. Mirrors with gilt edges ran +along the side. On the floor was a single huge rug of Oriental weave. + +At the farther end was a throne of gilt, lined with red velvet in +which sat a man. An old man, of perhaps eighty years, with a grey +peaked beard and fierce, commanding features. On his head was a gold +crown glittering with gems. About him were gathered some twoscore men +and a few women. + +Those ranged on either side of the throne wore, like its occupant, +robes of red, lined with ermine. The rank behind wore shorter robes, +less decorative, but no less extraordinary. They might all have +stepped out of some medieval court. + +Behind this second line, and half-encircling them, were officers in +the black uniform with the silver braid. + +There had been chattering, but as Dick passed through into the room it +was succeeded by complete silence. Dick fixed his eyes upon the old +man on the throne. + +He knew him! Knew him for a once famous European ruler who had lost +his throne in the war. A man always of unbalanced mentality, who, +after living for years in exile, had been reported dead three years +before. A madman who had vanished to make this last attempt upon the +world, aided and abetted by the secret group of nobles who had +surrounded him in the days of his pomp and power. + + * * * * * + +Old men, all of those in the first line! Madmen too, perhaps, as +madness begets madness. Behind them, younger men, infected by the +strange malady, and enthusiastic for their desperate cause. + +Yes, Dick knew this Invisible Emperor, lurking here in his underground +palace. He knew Von Kettler, too, in the second line, close to the +Emperor's throne. And, among the women in their robes, grouped +picturesquely about that throne, he knew Fredegonde Valmy. + +Dark-haired beneath her coronet, of radiant beauty, she fixed her eyes +upon Dick's. Not a muscle of her face quivered. + +Then only did Dick see something else, which he had not hitherto +observed, owing to its concealment by the robes of those grouped about +the Emperor, and the sight of it sent such a thrill of fury through +him that he stood where he was, unable to speak or move a muscle. + +The throne was set on a sort of dais, with three steps in front of it. +The lowest of these steps was hollow. Within this hollow appeared the +head and shoulders of a man. + +An elderly man clothed in parti-colored red and yellow, the +time-honored garment of court fools. He was on his hands and knees, +and the round of his back fitted into the hollow of the step, and had +a flat board over it, so that the Emperor, in ascending his throne, +would place his foot upon it. + +He was kept in that position with heavy chains of what looked like +gold, which passed about his neck and arms, and fitted into heavy gold +staples in the wood. And the old man was President Hargreaves of the +United States! + + * * * * * + +The President of the American Republic, chained as a footstool for the +Invisible Emperor, the madman who defied the world. Dick stood +petrified, staring into the mild face of the old man, still incapable +of speech. Then a herald, carrying a long trumpet, to which a square +banner was attached, strode forward from one side of the grotesque +assemblage. + +"Dog, on your knees when His Majesty deigns to admit you to the +Presence!" he shouted. + +The guard at Dick's side prodded him with his glass rod. + +Then the storm of mad fury in Dick's heart released limbs and voice. +The cry that came from his lips was like nothing human. He leaped upon +the guard with a swift uppercut that sent him sprawling. + +The glass rod slipped from his hands to the rug, striking the edge of +his shoe, and broke to fragments. A single streak of fire shot from +it, blasting a black streak across the Oriental rug. + +Dick leaped toward the throne, and the assemblage, as if paralyzed by +his sudden maneuver, remained watching him without moving. Then a +woman screamed, and instantly the picturesque gathering had dissolved +into a mob placing itself about the person of the Emperor, who sprang +from his throne in agitation. + +Dick was almost at the steps. But it was not at the Emperor that he +leaped. He sprang to Hargreaves's side. "Mr. President, I'm an +American," he babbled. "We've located this gang, we'll blow them off +the face of the earth. In chains--God, in chains, sir--" + +Dick stumbled over the length of his own chain that he had been +dragging behind him--stumbled and fell prone upon the floor. Before he +could regain his feet they were upon him. + + * * * * * + +A dozen men were holding him, despite his mad, frenzied struggles, and +as, at length, he paused, exhausted, one of them, covering his head +with a glass rod, looked up at the Emperor, who had resumed his seat. + +Dick calmed himself. Still gripped, he straightened his body, and gave +the mad monarch back look for look. For a moment the two men regarded +each other. Then a peal of laughter broke from the Invisible Emperor's +lips. And any one who heard that peal--any one save those accustomed +to him--might have known that it was a madman's laughter. + +He flung back his head and laughed, and the whole crowd laughed too. +All those sycophants roared and chuckled--all except Fredegonde. It +was not till afterward that Dick remembered that. + +He stood up. "Dog of an American," he roared, "do you know why you +were brought here? It was because I wanted one Yankee to live and see +the irresistible powers that I exercise, so that he can go back and +report on them to those fools in Washington who still think they can +defy me, the messenger of the All-Highest. + +"I tell you that the things I have done are nothing in comparison with +the things that I have yet to do, if your insane government of +pig-headed fools persists in its defiance. It is my plan to send you +back to tell them that their President lies bound in gold chains as my +footstool. That the hurricane which spread the gas through southern +America was a mere summer zephyr in comparison with the storm that I +shall send next. + + * * * * * + +"All the resources of Nature are at my command thanks to the +illustrious chemists who have been secretly working for the past ten +years to serve me. I, the All-Highest, have been commanded by the +Almighty to scourge the world for its insolence in rejecting me, and +especially the pig-race of Yankees whose pride has grown so great. +Mine is the divinely appointed task to cast down your ridiculous +democracies and re-establish the divine world-order of an Emperor and +his nobility. + +"That is why I have chosen, to permit so mean a thing as you to live. +As for the old fool beside you, who thought to stay my power with his +box of tricks--his gas-box is already being analyzed by my chemists, +and in a few hours the trivial secret will be at my disposal." + +"And that's just where you're wrong," piped old Luke Evans in his +cracked voice. "That gas can't be analyzed, because it contains an +unknown isotope, and, as for yourself, you're nothing but a daft old +fool, with your tin-horn trumpery!" + +For a moment the Emperor stood like a statue, staring at old Luke. The +expression on his face was that of a madman, but a madman through +whose brain a straggling ray of realization has dawned. It was the +look upon his face that held the whole assemblage spellbound. Then +suddenly came intervention. + +Through a doorway in the side of the hall came one of the officers in +black. He advanced to the foot of the throne and made a deep, hurried +bow, speaking rapidly in some language incomprehensible to Dick. + +The Emperor started, and then a peal of laughter left his lips. + +"Pig of a Yankee," he shouted to Dick, "your contemptible navy's now +approaching our shores, with a dirigible scout above it. You shall now +see how I deal with such swine!" + + +CHAPTER X + +_The Tricks of the Trade_ + +He barked a command, and instantly Dick was seized by two of the +guards, one of whom--the one Dick had knocked down--took the occasion +to administer a buffeting in the process of overcoming him. For the +sight of the honored President of the United States--that kindly old +man straining his eyes to meet Dick's own--in the parti-colored garb +of red and yellow, and chained like a beast below the madman's throne, +again filled Dick with a fury beyond all control. + +It was only when he had been half-stunned again by the vicious blows +of his captors, delivered with short truncheons of heavy wood, that at +length he desisted from his futile struggle. + +With swimming eyes he looked upon the gathering about the throne, +which, again taking its cue from the madman, way roaring with laughter +at his antics. And again Dick's eyes encountered those of Fredegonde +Valmy. + +The girl was not smiling. She was looking straight at him, and for a +moment it seemed to Dick as if he read some message in her eyes. + +Only for an instant that idea flashed through his mind. He was in no +mood to receive messages. As he stood panting like a wild beast at +bay, suddenly a filmy substance was thrown over his head from behind. +Then, as his face emerged, and the rest of his body was swiftly +enveloped, he realized what was happening. + +They had thrown over him one of the invisible garments. He could feel +the stuff about him, but he could no longer see his own body or limbs. + +From his own ken, Dick Rennell had vanished utterly. Where his legs +and feet should have been, there was only the rug, with the burn from +the glass tube. He raised one arm and could not see arm or fingers. + +In another moment invisible cords had been flung around him. Dick's +efforts to renew the struggle were quickly cut short. Trussed +helplessly, he could only stand glaring at the madman rocking with +laughter upon his tinsel throne. Beside him, similarly bound, stood +Luke Evans, but Dick was only conscious of the old man's presence by +reason of the short, rasping, emphatic curses that broke from his +lips. + + * * * * * + +The Emperor turned on his throne and beckoned to Von Kettler, who +approached with a deferential bow. + +"Nobility, we charge you with the care of these two prisoners," he +addressed him. "Have the old one removed to the laboratory, and give +orders that he shall assist our chemists to the best of his power in +their analysis of the black gas. As for the other, take him up to the +central office, and show him how we deal with Yankees and all other +pigs. Show him everything, so that he may take back a correct account +of our irresistible powers when we dismiss him." + +"Come!" barked one of the guards in Dick's ear. + +Dick attempted no further resistance. Convinced of its futility, sick +and reeling from the blows he had received, he accompanied his captors +quietly. There was nothing more that he could do, either for President +Hargreaves or for old Luke, but he still imagined the possibility of +somehow warning the approaching fleet or the occupants of the +dirigible. + +He was led along the passage, past the guards, and up the stairs +again. The top door opened upon vacancy; it closed, and vanished. Dick +felt the rugs beneath his feet, but he was to all appearances standing +on a square of bare earth in the middle of a prairie. + +"Come!" barked the guard again, and Dick accompanied him, trailing his +silver chain. Behind came Von Kettler. + +"Here are steps!" said the guard, after they had proceeded a short +distance. + +Dick stumbled against the lowest step of an invisible flight. The +breeze was cut off, showing that they had entered a building. +Underneath was a large oval of bare ground. Dick found a handrail and +groped his way up around a spiral staircase, four flights of it. + +"Here is a room!" + + * * * * * + +Dick saw that widening edge of door again. The room inside was +perfectly visible, though it seemed to be supported upon air. It was a +spheroid, of huge size, with a number of large windows set into the +walls, and it was filled with machinery. About a dozen workmen in +blue blouses were moving to and fro, attending to what appeared to be +a number of enormous dynamos, but there were other apparatus of whose +significance Dick was ignorant. The dynamos were whirring with intense +velocity, but not the slightest sound was audible. + +Von Kettler stepped to a switch attached to a stanchion of white +metal, surmounted by a huge opaque glass dome, and threw it over. +Instantly the hum and whir of machinery became audible, the sound of +footsteps, the voices of the workmen, and the creak of boards beneath +their feet. + +"You see, we have discovered the means of destroying sound waves as +well as shadows, and it was a much simpler feat," said Von Kettler +with a sneer. "Tell them that when you get back to Washington, Yankee +pig. Also you might be interested to know that most of your bombs fell +on camouflaged structures that we had erected with the intention of +deceiving you." + +He gestured to Dick to precede him, and halted him at a plain round +iron pipe or rod that rose up through the floor and passed through the +roof. It was surrounded by a mesh of fine wire. Attached to it were +various gauges, with dials showing red and black numbers. + +"This is perhaps our greatest achievement, swine," remarked Von +Kettler, affably. "You shall see its operations from above." He +pointed to a narrow spiral staircase rising at the far end of the +room. "It is the practical application of Einstein's gravitation and +electricity in field relation. It is by means of this, and the three +dynamos on the ground that we were able to neutralize your engines +last night and bring them down where we wanted them. You must be sure +to tell the Washington hogs about that." + + * * * * * + +He motioned to Dick to cross the room and ascend the spiral staircase. +Following him, he flung another switch similar to the first one, and +instantly all sound within the room was cut off. + +They ascended the winding flight and emerged upon a floor or platform. +Dick felt it under his feet, but he could see nothing except the +ground, far beneath him. He seemed to be suspended in the void. He +stopped, groping, hesitating to advance. Von Kettler's jarring laugh +grated on his ears. + +"Don't be afraid, swine," he jeered. "This place is enclosed. There is +a shadow-breaking device on every floor, which renders us complete +masters of camouflage." + +A switch snapped. Dick found himself instantly in a rotunda, roofed +with glass, sections of which were raised to a height of three or four +feet from the wooden base, admitting a gentle breeze. Three or four +men were moving about in it, but these wore the black uniform with the +silver braid, and Von Kettler's manner was deferential as he addressed +them, jerking his hand contemptuously toward Dick. Grins of derision +and malice appeared on all the faces. + +Save one, an elderly officer, apparently of high rank, who came +forward and raised his hand to the salute. + +"Captain Rennell," he said, "we are at war with your nation, but we +are also, I hope, gentlemen." He turned to Von Kettler. "Is it +seemly," he asked, "that an officer of the American army should be +brought here in chains and cords?" + +"Excellency, it is His Majesty's command," responded Von Kettler, with +a servile smirk that hardly concealed his elation. "Moreover, the +American is to witness the forthcoming destruction of the Yankee +fleet." + +The elderly officer reddened, turned away without replying. Dick +looked about him. + + * * * * * + +There was less machinery in this room. The iron pillar that he had +seen came through the floor and terminated some five feet above it in +another of the opaque glass domes, filled with iridescent fire. About +it was a complicated arrangement of dials and gauges. + +In the centre of the room was a sort of camera obscura. A large hood +projected above a flat table, and an officer was half-concealed +beneath it, apparently studying the table busily. + +"Come, American, you shall see your navy on its way to destruction," +said Von Kettler, beckoning Dick within the hood. + +The officer stepped from the table, whose top was a sheet of silvered +glass, leaving Von Kettler and Dick in front of it. Dick looked. At +first he could see nothing but the vast stretch of sea; then he began +to make out tiny dots at the table's end, terminating in minute blurs +that were evidently smoke from the funnels. + +"Your ships," said Von Kettler, smiling. "This is the dirigible." He +pointed to another dot that came into sight and disappeared almost +instantly. "They are a hundred and fifty miles away. Explain to your +friends in Washington that our super-telescopic sights are based upon +a refraction of light that overcomes the earth's curvature. It is +simple, but it happens not to have been worked out until my Master +commanded it." + +Dick watched those tiny dots in fascination, mentally computing. At an +average speed of fifty knots an hour, the squadron's steaming rate, +they should be off the coast within three hours. The dirigible would +take two, if it went ahead to scout, as was almost certain. + + * * * * * + +Dick stepped back from beneath the hood and glanced about him. If only +his arms were not bound, he might do enough damage within a few +seconds to put the deadlier machinery out of commission, if only the +silvered mirror. He glanced about him. Von Kettler, interpreting his +thought, smiled coolly. + +"You are helpless, my dear Yankee pig," he said. "But there is more +to see. Oblige me by accompanying me up to the top story." + +He pointed to a ladder running up beside the iron pillar through an +opening in the roof, and Dick, with a shrug of the shoulders, +complied. He emerged upon a small platform, apparently protruding into +vacancy. Far underneath he saw the clearing, and two airplanes on the +tarmac, the aviators looking like beetles from that height. He looked +out to sea and saw no signs of the fleet. + +"You have heard of St. Simeon Stylites, Yankee?" purred Von Kettler. +"The gentleman who spent forty years of his life upon a tall pillar, +in atonement for his sins? It is His Majesty's desire that you spend, +not forty years, but two or three hours up here, meditating upon his +grandeur, before returning to earth. It is also possible that you will +witness something of considerable interest. Look out to sea!" + +Dick turned his head involuntarily. He heard Von Kettler's laugh, +heard the snap of a switch--then suddenly he was alone in the void. + +At that snap of the switch, everything had vanished from view behind +him, the building, even the platform on which he stood. His feet +seemed to rest on nothing. Yet below him he could still see the +airplanes, and more being wheeled out. + + * * * * * + +A sense of extreme physical nausea overcame him. He reeled, then +managed to steady himself. He, too, was invisible to his own eyes. +Involuntarily he cried out. No sound came from his lips. He stood +there, invisible in an invisible, soundless void. + +For what seemed an unending period he occupied himself with +endeavoring to obtain the sense of balance. Then, with a great effort, +he managed to loosen the cords that bound his right arm to his side. A +mighty wrench, and he had slipped them up above his elbow. His right +lower arm was free. + +He extended it cautiously, and his hand encountered a railing. +Instantly he felt more at ease. He began moving slowly around in a +widening circle, and discovered that the platform was enclosed. The +further side was, however, open, and he began sliding forward, foot by +foot, to locate himself. Once his foot slipped over the edge, and he +drew back hastily. He felt on the other side, and discovered that he +was upon what seemed a plank walk, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet +above the ground, with no rail on either side, and some six feet wide. + +Very cautiously he shuffled his way along it. It was solid enough, +although invisible, but more than once Dick walked perilously close to +one edge or the other. At length he went down on his hands and knees, +and proceeded, crawling, until his movements were arrested by what was +unmistakably a door. + +The plank bridge, then, connected the top stories of two buildings, +but what the second was, there was no means of knowing. The door was +barred on the other side, and did not yield an iota to Dick's cautious +pressure. Dick felt the frame. Beyond was glass, reinforced with iron +on the outside, the latter metal forming a sort of lattice work. +Cautiously Dick began to crawl up the rounded dome. + + * * * * * + +Foot by foot he made his way, clinging to the iron bars, until he felt +that he had reached the point of the dome's maximum convexity. He +wedged his feet against a bar and rested. Only now was it brought home +to him that it would be impossible for him to find his way back to the +plank. + +A long time must have passed, for, looking out to sea, he could see +the squadron now, minute points on the horizon, exuding smudges of +smoke. The dirigible was still invisible. The airplanes had either +left the tarmac or had been wrapped in the gas-impregnated cloth, for +both they and the aviators had vanished. + +Suddenly Dick had an odd sensation that the iron was growing warm. + +In another moment or two he had no doubt of it. The iron bar he +clutched was distinctly warm; it was growing hot. He shifted his grasp +to the adjacent bar and even in that moment the heat had increased +perceptibly. + +Suddenly there came a vibration, a sense of movement. Dick was being +swung outward. The whole dome seemed to be dropping into space. He dug +his feet and fingers under the hot rods, and felt himself sliding over +on his back. + +Back--back, till he was lying horizontally in space, and clutching +desperately at the iron bar, which was growing hotter every moment. + +The sliding movement ceased. It was as if the whole upper section of +the glass dome had opened outward. But the heat of the bars was +becoming unbearable, and gusts of hot air seemed to be proceeding from +within. + +Hot or not, Dick's only alternative was to work his way back to the +stable portion of the dome, or to frizzle until he dropped through +space. + +Clinging desperately to the bars, he began working back, reaching from +bar to bar with his right hand and dragging his feet, with the +clanking chain attached, from bar to bar also. + + * * * * * + +How he gained the base of the dome he was never able afterward to +understand. The heat had grown intolerable; his hands were blistering. +Somehow he reached it. He rested a moment despite the heat. But to +find the plank walk was clearly impossible. In another minute he must +drop. Better that than to fry there like St. Lawrence on his griddle. + +And then, just when he had resigned himself to that last drop, there +came an unexpected diversion. Almost beside him a window was hung +back. A man looked out. Dick saw one of the workmen in the blue +blouses, and, behind him, within the dome, what seemed like an empty +room. + +Dick was slightly above the man. As his head and shoulders appeared, +he let himself go, landing squarely across his back. He slid down his +shoulders through the open window into the interior of the dome. + +The man, flung against the frame of the window by the shock, uttered a +piercing cry. Before he could recover his stand, or take in what had +happened to him, Dick had gained his feet and leaped upon him. His +right hand closed upon his throat. He bore him to the floor and choked +him into insensibility. + + +CHAPTER XI + +_In the Laboratory_ + +Not until the man's struggles had ceased, and he lay unconscious, +panting, and blue in the face, did Dick release him. Then he looked +about him. + +Save for the workman, he was alone in a rotunda, open to the sky, and, +as he had supposed, the whole upper portion of the dome had been flung +back, leaving an immense aperture into which the sun was shining, +flecking the interior with shafts of light. The temperature, despite +the opening of the dome, must have been in excess of a hundred and +twenty-five degrees. + +There was nothing except an immense central shaft, up which ran a +hollow pole of glass, cut off by the invisible paint at the summit of +the dome. The inside of this glass pole was glowing with colored +fires, and it was from this that the intolerable heat came, though its +function Dick could not imagine. + +One thing was clear: It was growing hotter each moment. To remain in +that rotunda meant death within a brief period of time. + +_And there was no way out!_ Dick glared around him, searching the +glass walls in vain. No semblance of a stairway or ladder, even. Yet +the workman must have entered by some ingress--if only Dick could +discover it! + +He began running round the interior of the dome in the brilliant +sunshine, searching frantically for that ingress. And it was growing +hotter! The sweat was pouring down his face beneath the invisible +garment. + +Dick was vaguely aware that the silence switch had been thrown in the +room, for his feet made no sound, but the knowledge was latent in his +mind. Two or three times he circumnavigated the interior of the dome, +like a rat in a trap. + +Then suddenly he saw a section of the flooring rise in a corner, and a +workman in a blue blouse appear out of the trap door. + + * * * * * + +He stood there, his face muscles working as he shouted for his +companion, but no sound came from his lips. He looked about him, and +saw the unconscious man beside the window. He started in his +direction. + +With a shout, Dick hurled himself toward him. And he checked himself +even as he was about to leap. For he realized that the second workman +neither saw nor heard him. + +Yet some subconscious impression of danger must have reached his mind, +for the workman stopped too, instinctively assuming an attitude of +defense. Dick gathered a dozen links of his wrist-chain in his right +hand, leaped and struck. + +The workman crumpled to the floor, a little thread of blood creeping +from his right temple. + +It was the thing upon which Dick looked back afterward with less +satisfaction than any other, leaving the two unconscious men in that +room of death. Yet there was nothing else he could have done. He ran +to the trap, and saw a ladder leading down. In a moment he had swung +himself through and closed the trap behind him. + +The material that lined the walls below must have had almost perfect +insulating qualities, for the temperature here was no hotter than in +the Bahamas on a hot summer day. Dick scrambled down the ladder and +found himself in a machine-shop. Nobody was there, and tools of all +sorts were lying about, as well as machinery whose purpose he did not +understand. A pair of heavy pliers and a vise were sufficient to rid +Dick of his wrist and ankle chains in a minute or two. With a knife he +slashed the cords of invisible stuff that bound him. He stood up, +cramped, but free. + +He picked up an iron bar that was lying loose on a table beside a +machine, and advanced to the staircase in one corner of the shop. As +he approached it, another workman came running up. + + * * * * * + +Dick stood aside in an embrasure in the wall partly occupied by a +machine. The man passed within two feet of him and never saw him. Only +then did Dick quite realize that he was actually invisible. + +The moment the man had passed him, Dick ran to the staircase. He +descended one flight; he was half way down another when a yell of pain +and imprecation came to his ears. He knew that voice: it was Luke +Evans's! + +With three bounds Dick reached the bottom of the stairs. He saw a +large room in front of him. No mistaking the nature of this room; it +was an ordinary laboratory, fitted out with the greatest elaboration, +and divided into two parts by paneling. And sight and sound were on. + +In the part nearer Dick three men were grouped about a large dynamo, +which was sending out a high, musical note as it spun. Levers and +dials were all about it, and above it was the base of the glass tube +that Dick had seen above. In the other part were five or six men. +Three of them were testing some substance at a table; three more were +gathered about old Luke Evans, whose silver chains had been removed +and replaced by ropes, which bound his limbs, and also bound him to a +heavy chair, which seemed to be affixed to the ground. One of the +three had a piece of metal in a pair of long-handled pliers. It was +white hot, and a white electric spark that shot to and fro between two +terminals close by, showed where it had been heated. + +Dick started; he recognized one of the three men as Von Kettler. He +moved slowly forward, very softly, his feet making no sound on the +fiber matting that covered the floor. + + * * * * * + +"Did that feel good, American swine?" asked Von Kettler softly, and +Dick saw, with horror, a red weal on the old man's forehead. "Now you +are perhaps in a more gracious mood, Professor? The unknown isotope in +that black gas of yours--you are disposed to give us the chemical +formula?" + +"I'll see you in hell first," raved old Luke Evans, writhing in his +chair. + +Von Kettler turned to the man holding the white-hot metal, and nodded. +But at that moment a door behind Evans's chair opened, and Fredegonde +Valmy appeared in the entrance. Von Kettler turned hastily, snatched +the pliers from the man's hand, and laid the metal in a receptacle. + +But the girl had seen the action. She looked at the weal on Luke's +forehead, and clenched her hands; her eyes dilated with horror. + +"You have been torturing him, Hugo!" she cried. + +"Freda, what are you doing in here? Oblige me by withdrawing +immediately!" cried Von Kettler. + +"Where is Captain Rennell?" the girl retorted. "I will know!" + +"He is upstairs, watching the approaching Yankee fleet, and waiting to +see its destruction," returned the other. + +"You are lying to me! He has been killed, and this old man has been +tortured!" cried Fredegonde. "I tell you, Hugo Von Kettler, you are no +longer a half-brother of mine! I am through with you!" + +"Unfortunately," sneered Von Kettler, "it is not possible to dispose +of a family relationship so easily." + + * * * * * + +"It is cheap to sneer," the girl retorted. "But you sang a very +different song when you were in the penitentiary, in terror of death, +and you begged me to come and throw you the invisible robe through the +bars. You promised me then that you would abandon this mad enterprise +and come away with me. You swore it!" + +"I have sworn allegiance to my Emperor, and that comes first," +retorted Von Kettler. "Oblige me by retiring." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," cried the girl hysterically. "When +you used me as a tool in your enterprises in Washington, you played +upon my patriotism for my conquered country. I thought I was +undertaking a heroic act. I didn't dream of the villainy, the +cold-blooded murder that was to be wrought. + +"You've kept me here virtually a prisoner," she went on, with rising +violence, "an attendant upon that old madman, your Emperor, and his +sham court, while more murder is being planned. Where is Captain +Rennell, I say?" She stamped her foot. "I demand that he and this old +man be set at liberty at once. Hugo," she pleaded, "come away with me. +Don't you see what the end must be? This is no heroic enterprise, it +is wholesale murder that will arouse the conscience of civilized +mankind against you! Order that the vortex-ray be turned off," she +went on, looking through the opening in the partition toward the +dynamo. "That gas--you cannot be so vile as to send it forth again, to +destroy the American ships?" + +"My dear Freda," retorted the young man coolly, "the vortex-ray is +already charged with the gas, and at a height of twenty thousand feet +it is now creating a vacuum that will send the gas upon the wings of a +hurricane straight up the Atlantic seaboard. It will obliterate every +living thing on board the battleships, from men to rats, and this time +we mean to reach New York. + +"As for that swine Rennell," he went on, "you heard His Majesty +announce his intention of sending him back to Washington with the +information of our irresistible power. Of course I know you are in +love with him, and that these qualms of conscience are due to that +circumstance." + + * * * * * + +But Dick hardly heard the latter part of Von Kettler's remarks. +Suddenly the significance of the dynamo and the superheated room above +had come home to him. He had read of such a project years before, in +some newspaper, and had forgotten about it until that moment. + +By sending a high-tension current almost to the limits of the earth's +atmosphere, the article had said, a vortex or vacuum could be set up +which would create a hurricane. + +The tremendous pressure of the in-rushing air would make a veritable +cyclone, which, taking the course of the prevailing winds, would rush +forth on a mission of widespread disaster. + +And on this hurricane would go the deadly gas, infinitely diluted, and +yet deadly to all life in its infinitesimal proportion to the +atmosphere. + +And the American fleet was now approaching the Bahama shores. + +Dick forgot Luke Evans, everything else, as the significance of that +mechanism in the next room came home to him. He ran like a madman +through the space in the partition, and, raising the bar aloft, +brought it thudding down upon the dials, twisting and warping them. + +He struck at the hollow pole, but, glass or not, it defied all his +efforts. He seized a heavy lever and flung it into reverse--and two +others. + +Yelling, the three attendants broke and ran. Out of the laboratory the +six came running, collided with the three. Behind them Dick could see +Fredegonde Valmy, a knife in her hand, slashing at Luke Evans's bonds. + +Dick swung his bar and brought it crashing down on a head, felling the +man like a log. He saw Von Kettler pull one of the glass rods from +his pocket and fire blindly. The discharge struck a second attendant, +and the man dropped screeching, his clothes ablaze. + +Somebody yelled, "He's there! Look at his eyes!" and pointed at Dick's +face. + + * * * * * + +Dick leaped aside and swung the rod again, felling a third man. The +others turned and ran. Von Kettler in the van, broke through the door +behind Luke Evans's chair, and disappeared. + +Dick ran back to where the old man was standing beside the girl, the +discarded ropes at his feet. He flung his hood back. "Luke, don't you +know me?" he shouted. + +It was creditable to Luke Evans's composure that, though Dick must +have presented the aspect of nothing more than a face floating in the +air, he retained his composure. + +"Sure I know you, Rennell," replied the old man. "And you and me's +going to best them devils yet." + +"But the fleet--it's approaching Abaco," Dick cried. "I've got to warn +them." + +Fredegonde seized him by the arm. + +"Come with me," she cried. "If they find you here, they'll kill you." + +Dick hesitated only a moment, then followed the girl as she dashed for +another door on the same side of the laboratory as that by which Von +Kettler and his men had fled. They dashed down the staircase, and a +corridor disclosed itself at the bottom. The girl stopped. + +"There is a private way--the Emperor's," she panted. "He had it +constructed--in case of necessity. I got the keys. I was +planning--something desperate--to stop these murders; I didn't know +what." + +Dick seized her by the arm. "What keys?" he demanded. "The key to the +place where President Hargreaves is?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"We must get him. Where is he?" + +"In a cell beneath the throne room. That's overhead. But they'll +catch us--" + +"Which is the key?" asked Dick. + +The girl produced three or four keys, fumbled with them, handed one to +Dick. "This way!" she cried. + + * * * * * + +They ran along the corridor. Two guards appeared, moving toward them +under the electric lights. At the sight of the girl running, and Luke +Evans, they stopped in surprise. + +Dick had pulled the hood back over his head. He ran toward them, +wielding the iron bar. A mighty swing sent the two toppling over, one +unconscious, the other bruised and yelling loudly. + +"Here! Here!" gasped Fredegonde, stopping before a door. + +Dick fitted the key to the lock and turned it. Inside, upon a quite +visible bed, sat President Hargreaves, unchained. He looked up +inquiringly as the three entered. + +"Mr. President," said Dick, throwing back his hood, "I'm an American +officer, and I want to save you. There's not much chance, but, if +you'll come with me--" + +Hargreaves got up and smiled. "I'm not a military man, sir," he +answered, "but I'm ready to take that chance rather than--" + +He did not complete the sentence. Shouts echoed along the corridor +behind them. Dick replaced his hood, handed the keys back to the girl. +"Take Mr. Hargreaves to any place of temporary safety you can," he +said. "And Mr. Evans. I'll hold them!" + +"It's right here. This door!" panted the girl, indicating a door at +the end of the passage. + +The three ran toward it. Dick turned. Five or six guards with Von +Kettler at their head, were running toward him. They saw the three +fugitives and set up a shout. + +Dick had a quick inspiration. He dashed back into the cell, seized the +light bed, and dragged it through the doorway into the passage, just +in time to send Von Kettler and two others sprawling. He brought down +the bar upon the head of one of them, shouting as he did so. + +Then he became aware that the passage was flooded with sunshine. +Fredegonde had got the door open. + +He darted back, passed through in the wake of the three, and slammed +it shut. Fredegonde turned the key. Instantly Dick found himself with +his three companions upon the prairie. Not a vestige of the buildings +was apparent anywhere, except for the patches of brown earth. + + +CHAPTER XII + +_Von Kettler's End_ + +Fredegonde took command, repressing her agitation with a visible +effort. "They cannot break down that door," she said, "and they dare +not ask for another key. It will take them a minute or two to go back +and reach us around the building. But there may be a score of people +watching us. Let us walk quietly toward the thickets. If I am present, +they will not suspect anything is wrong." + +But Dick stood still, driven into absolute immobility by the +conflicting claims of duty. For overhead, high in the blue, was an +American dirigible. + +And at his side was the President of the United States. One or other +of them he must sacrifice. + +He chose. He ran forward without answering. Those squares of brown +earth, set side by side, were the airplane hangars, and he meant to +seize an airplane, if he could find one beneath its coat of +invisibility, and fly to warn the dirigible and the fleet. + +A curious wind was blowing. It seemed to come swirling downward, as no +wind that Dick had ever known. It was growing in violence each moment, +beating upon his face. + +As he ran, he was aware of Luke beside him. He heard shouting all +about them. Luke had been seen. Not only Luke, but Hargreaves, who was +running after Luke, with Fredegonde trying in vain to change his +intentions. At the edge of the first brown patch Dick collided +violently with the wall of the invisible hangar, and went reeling +back. The shouts were growing louder. + +"Wait!" gasped Luke Evans. He had something like a large watch in his +hand. He held it out like a pistol, and from it projected a beam of +the black gas. + +Then Dick remembered Colonel Stopford's words: "He showed me a watch +and said the salvation of the world was inside the case. I thought him +insane." + + * * * * * + +Insane or not, old Luke Evans had concealed the tiny model of the +camera-box to good purpose. As he swept the black beam around him, the +whole mass of buildings sprang into luminosity, the figures of a score +of men, grouped together, and advancing in a threatening mass, some +distance away--and more. + +Two airplanes, standing side by side upon the tarmac, just in front of +the hangar--not mere pursuit planes, but six-seaters, formidably +armed, with central turrets and bow and rear guns, and propellers +revolving. + +Two mechanics stood staring in the direction of the little group. + +"I'm with you," gasped Hargreaves. "I'm not a military man, but I've +got fighting blood, and I come of a fighting race." + +Dick leaped and once more swung the iron bar. The nearer of the two +mechanics went down like lead, the second, seeing his companion +bludgeoned out of the air, turned and ran. + +Dick shouted, pointing. Fredegonde jumped into the plane, and the +President scrambled in behind her. The group, dismayed by the black +beam, which Luke Evans was now turning steadily upon them, had halted +irresolutely. But suddenly a head appeared, moving swiftly through the +air toward the plane. It was Von Kettler, with hood flung back, the +face distorted with rage and fury. + +At his yells, the whole crowd started forward. Dick leaped into the +central cockpit, swung the helicopter lever. Something spitted past +his face, and a long streak appeared on the turret, where the +gas-paint had been scored. But he was rising, rising into that +increasing wind.... + + * * * * * + +He heard a yell of triumph behind him. And that yell of Von Kettler's +was his undoing. There is the telepathy between close friends, but +there is also telepathic sympathy between enemies, and in an instant +Dick understood what that shout of triumph portended. + +He was rising into the line of magnetic force that would anchor his +airplane helplessly, and leave it to be jerked down and held at Von +Kettler's mercy. + +He released the helicopter lever and opened throttle wide. For an +instant the heavy plane hung dangerously at its low elevation, +threatening to nose over. Then Dick regained control, and was winging +away toward the sea, while yells of baffled fury from behind indicated +the chagrin of his enemies. + +He glanced up. Thank heaven the dirigible had not approached the trap. +It was apparently circling overhead. Of course the observers had seen +nothing, had no conception that the headquarters of the Invisible +Empire lay below. + +And yet it seemed to be drifting aimlessly back toward the +fleet--erratically, as if not under complete control. And Dick could +see the ships about a mile offshore, apparently drifting too. They +were moving as no American squadron ever moved since the day the first +hull was launched, for some of them, turned bow inward toward others, +seemed upon the point of collision, while others were lagging on the +edge of the formation, as if pointing for home. + +Then suddenly the awful truth dawned upon Dick. The occupants of +ships and dirigible alike had been overcome by the deadly gas. + + * * * * * + +Dick banked, turned, leaned forward and shouted to Luke Evans, and, +when the old man turned his head, indicated to him to sweep the tarmac +with his ray. + +The thread of black, broadening into a truncated cone, revealed +nothing save the luminous outlines of the buildings. Apparently the +tarmac was deserted. It was queer, too, that the silence of the night +before was gone. Dick shouted again, to assure himself of what he knew +already, and heard his own voice again. + +Something had happened, something unexpected----or perhaps the crew of +the Invisible Emperor, satisfied with the effects of the deadly gas, +had not thought it necessary to go to any further trouble. + +Suddenly Dick discovered that he was almost within the circle of the +line of magnetic force. Hurriedly he threw over the stick and kicked +rudder. It was not till he was again approaching the seashore that it +occurred to him that the force, too, was not in operation. + +He opened throttle wide and shot seaward. He must ascertain what had +happened, and, if not too late, give warning without delay. + +Then suddenly the vicious rattle of gunfire sounded in Dick's ears, +and, materializing out of the sky, came Von Kettler's face. Startled +for an instant, Dick quickly realized that it was Von Kettler in his +plane, with his hood thrown back. + +And Dick realized that his own hood was thrown back. Two faces and +nothing else, were the whole visible setting for battle. + +But that look upon Von Kettler's face was even more demoniacal than +before. Mad with rage at the prospective escape of his prey, and +infuriated by his half-sister's appearance in the plane, Von Kettler +had thrown all caution to the winds. In his insane hatred he was +prepared to shoot down Dick's plane and send Fredegonde to destruction +with it. + + * * * * * + +If Dick chose to replace his hood he would have the madman at his +mercy. And, if he had thought about it, he would have done so, with +Fredegonde sitting behind him. But the idea did not enter his mind. +Consumed with rage almost equal to Von Kettler's, he only saw there +the face of one of those who had inflicted an unspeakable outrage upon +the President of his country. + +The memory of old Hargreaves, chained before the mock-Emperor's +throne, enraged Dick more than the holocaust of lives taken by the +assassins. + +He shouted a wild answer to Von Kettler's challenge as his plane sped +by, and banked. At that moment there came a roaring concussion that +shook the plane from prop to tail. + +Dick turned his head. Somehow, President Hargreaves had contrived to +get the rear gun into action, and now he was staring at it as if he +could not believe that he had fired it. + +And that action heartened Dick wonderfully. As Von Kettler's face +appeared again, he loosed his turret gun in a sweeping blast, and +heard Von Kettler's gun roar futilely. + +Again they crossed each other's path, and again and again, two faces, +only able to gauge roughly the position of their planes. Neither man +had succeeded in injuring the other. + +Once old Lake turned his black ray upon Von Kettler, and for, a moment +the plane stood out luminously in the blackness, but Dick leaned +forward and yelled to the old man to desist. + +And once Dick looked back and saw Fredegonde crouched in her cockpit +with eyes wide with terror. And yet he read in her eyes the same +determination she had expressed in the laboratory. She was through +with her half-brother. + + * * * * * + +All this while the wind had been increasing, making it difficult to +maneuver the heavy plane; but now, of a sudden there came a dead lull, +and then, with a whining sound, the wind rushed in again. + +But this was a wind still more unlike any that Dick had ever known. A +mighty gale that revolved circularly, but downward too, like a vortex, +catching the plane and sweeping it into an ever tightening circle. + +A man-made gale, upon whose wings the poison gas would spread +northward again, carrying unlimited destruction with it. Dick fought +in vain to free himself. + +He was revolving as in a whirlpool, and it required the utmost +presence of mind and watchfulness to hold the plane steady. Round and +round he spun--and then, suddenly, out of the void materialized Von +Kettler's face. + +Von Kettler, helpless too, was spinning round upon the opposite side +of the vortex. Thus each airship was upon the tail of the other, and +it was a matter of chance which would get the other within the +ringsights of the turret gun. + +Von Kettler was so near that his shouts of fury came fitfully to +Dick's ears as the wind carried them. Dick, working the controls, knew +that not for an instant could he direct his attention from them in +order to fire his gun, and the moment Von Kettler attempted to do so, +he was doomed. + +Round and round, struggling, battling in vain--and once more the +concussion of the rear gun shook the plane. And a shout from the +President reached Dick's ears. + +Dick turned his head for an instant, long enough to see Von Kettler +spinning down through the vortex. And he was going down afire. +President Hargreaves, "no military man," had got him, the second time +he had ever aligned a gun-barrel upon a target. + +"Bravo, sir, bravo!" Dick shouted. + +And desperately he flung the stick forward and nosed down. + + * * * * * + +No gale, man-made or heaven-made, could carry on its wings +three-quarters of a ton of armored, turreted airship. Swirling like a +leaf, the plane broke through the clutch of the blast. Instantly it +grew calm. Outside that vortex, hardly a breath of air was stirring. +It was as if the whole fury of the air was concentrated within that +circle. + +The ground came rushing up. Once more Dick tried to head seaward. With +flying speed lost, he was calculating the exact moment in his downward +rush when he could hope to resume control. Would that moment come +before he crashed? + +At less than a hundred feet he partly regained control. For a moment +the plane seemed to fly on an even keel. Then her nose went down as +her speed slackened. And this time there was no salvation. + +Working desperately to save her, Dick saw the ground loom up before +him. He heard the crash as the plane broke into splintering ruin ... +he had a last vision of old Luke clutching his precious watch: then +everything was dissolved in darkness.... + + +CHAPTER XIII + +_You Can't Down the Marines_ + +"He's pulling out of it! Keep it up, Gotch!" + +Dick heard the words and opened his eyes. He stared in amazement at +the faces about him. Honest American faces under tropical helmets and +above a uniform that he had never expected to see again. It couldn't +be real. And yet it was. One word broke from his lips: + +"Marines!" + +"He's got it. Don't let him slip, Gotch.", grinned one of the friendly +faces, and the man named Gotch, who presumably had some qualifications +for his job, continued what was meant to be a gentle massage of the +nerve centers along Dick's spine. + +"I'm all right." Dick muttered, beginning to realize his +surroundings. He was lying on a strip of prairie near the beach, on +which the waves were breaking in low ripples about a motorboat that +was drawn up. + +He sat up. The world was swimming about him, but he seemed to have no +broken bones. Not far away was the wrecked plane, an incongruous mass +of streaks where the fabric had ripped through the gas-paint. "Where +are the others?" Dick muttered. + +Then he was aware of Fredegonde Valmy lying with a white face under a +shrub. Her eyes were open, and turned toward him. + +He heard Luke Evans's voice. The old man hobbled round from Dick's +back, one arm in a bandage. + +"She's hurt rather bad, Rennell, but we won't know how bad till we can +get her away," he said. "You've been lying here about an hour, since +we crashed. President Hargreaves made them take him to the fleet in +the other motorboat to see what he could do. He's assumed command. + +"You see, Rennell, that damn gas caught the fleet and put pretty near +every man out of commission for good. But these fellows wasn't going +to give up. So, since all their officers were gone, they took two of +the boats and their arms and equipment, and came ashore to settle +accounts. And they won't believe there's anybody on the island or any +buildings. And I can't make 'em believe it. God, Rennell, those +invisible devils may attack us at any moment. I don't understand what +they're waiting for." + +Gotch spoke: "We know you're Captain Rennell, sir. And this gentleman, +we know him too, but he seems a bit queer in his head. Talking of the +Invisible Emperor's headquarters on this island, a mile or so inland. +The only invisible thing we've found is that piece of a garment we +pulled off you." + +"I broke my watch ray machine in the fall, and I can't make them +believe, Rennell," almost wept old Evans. "Tell them I'm not crazy." + +Dick got upon his feet with an effort, staggered a little, then made +his way to Fredegonde. He kneeled down beside the girl. She was +conscious, and smiled faintly, but she could not speak. He pressed her +hand, rose, and came back. "Mr. Evans is not crazy," he said. "The +headquarters of the gang is over there." He pointed. "Didn't President +Hargreaves tell you?" + +"He was kind of incoherent, sir." The marines looked at one another, +wondering. Was Captain Rennell crazy too? + +"We've had scouts out through the jungle, sir. There's nothing within +five miles of here. They had a clear view through to the sea from the +top of a hill." + +"I've been there." Dick spoke with conviction. "I must tell you +they've got devices that make them practically irresistible. That gas +and other things. And they're invisible. But if you boys are willing +to follow me, I'll lead you. It means death. I don't know what they're +waiting for. But--are you willing to follow me?" + +"We'll follow you, sir"--after a pause, during which Dick read in +their eyes the desire to humor a crazy man. "We'll follow to hell, +sir--if that gang's really there." + +"Take your arms, then!" Dick pointed to the stacked rifles. + +A minute later the twenty-odd Marines, forming an open line that +extended from one side of the clearing to the other, were on their way +toward the headquarters of the gang. And Dick, leading them, though +his head was reeling, felt as if his own reason was slipping from him. +Had he only dreamed all this? Was it possible that the headquarters of +the Invisible Emperor existed on this desolate prairie? If it was +true, why had they suddenly become silent, inert? Why had they not +long ago wiped out these few Marines? And the gale--was it now +sweeping northward on its mission of destruction? + + * * * * * + +Half an hour passed. Then the brown patches of the foundations came +into view upon the open ground. Here were the hangers, here was the +central building with the Emperor's headquarters. And nothing was +visible, nothing stirred, yet at any moment Dick expected the rattle +of machine-gun bullets or some more terrific method of destruction. + +"Halt!" The line stood still. "I am going forward ahead or you. You'll +follow at a distance of twenty paces. When you see me stop, feel for +the door in the wall, and if I disappear, follow me. You understand?" + +The Marines assented cheerfully. No harm in humoring this poor devil +of an officer who had crashed and lost his wits. Like Luke Evans, +shambling up through the line to Dick's side. Dick advanced. At any +moment now the concentrated fire of the Emperor's men should blast +them all to smithereens. Nothing happened. + +And it was no dream, for Dick's outstretched hand encountered the +exterior wall of the building. He had gauged his way accurately, too, +for a step or two brought him to the door. He stepped inside. He was +inside the private door that led to the Emperor's quarters, through +which he had passed with Fredegonde, Hargreaves, and Luke Evans in +their flight. It had been broken down, contrary to the girl's +predictions, and the deserted passage within was perfectly visible to +them all. + +Stupefied, the Marines bumped and jostled with each other as they +crowded in. If they had been anything but Marines, their own heads +might have been turned at the discovery of this sudden materialization +of a building out of nothingness. + +Being Marines, they only grinned sheepishly, and followed along the +corridor. + + * * * * * + +The first human being they saw was one of the guards, in a black +tunic. He was leaning against a wall, and he was a human being no +longer. He looked as if he was asleep, but he was stone dead, with a +placid look on his face. + +Two more dead guards lay across each other, with smiles on their +faces: and there was a workman in a blue blouse who had been in a +tremendous hurry to get somewhere, from his appearance, and had never +got there. He had fallen asleep instead, and never wakened. + +Dick found a stairway and led the way up. He thought it ran up to the +laboratory, but, instead, the room into which he emerged was the +ante-room of the Invisible Emperor's audience hall. Six dead guards +lay in a heap in front of the curtain, and they had died as +unconcerned as their fellows, to judge by the pacific expressions on +their faces. + +Dick passed through into the throne room. The Marines, behind him, for +the first time uttered exclamations of awe--of pity. + +The terrific scene that met Dick's eyes would be burned into his brain +till his last day. + +Upon his throne, head flung back, sat the Invisible Emperor, his +features set in a sardonic leer of death. And all about him, some +sitting, some lying, supporting one another, were his court, officers +in black uniforms with the silver braid, and women in court dress. And +all were dead too. But they had not known they had died. They had +fallen asleep--upon the instant that their own volatile gas reached +them. + + * * * * * + +"I guess that's the explanation, sir," said old Luke Evans. "Those +devils made the whirlwind and charged it with the gas. But when you +reversed that lever, you reversed the process. Instead of projecting +the force outwardly, you made a suction, and every atom of the gas +that hadn't travelled beyond the radius came rushing back and filled +the building. If we'd entered a half-hour later, we'd have been dead +ones ourselves, but the gas was volatile enough to disperse through +the chinks and crannies. Anyway, it's all over now." + +Yes, it was all over, Dick thought, as he sat in his deck chair upon +the cruiser that was bearing him northward. The menace to world +government had been destroyed and with it all who had been behind it. +There would be a new order in the world, a new and kindlier +government. Men would feel closer to one another than in the past. +Half the personnel of the fleet had escaped the invisible death, and +only one cruiser and the dirigible had been lost in the confusion. +There would be a great reception when they put into Charleston. + +Dick bent over Fredegonde, who was asleep in her chair beside him. The +ship's surgeon had promised recovery for her. She shouldn't suffer for +her half-voluntary part in the business, Dick said to himself. It was +going to be his task to help her to forget. + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +Prisoners on the Electron + +_By Robert H. Leitfred_ + +[Sidenote: Fate throws two young Earthians into desperate conflict +with the primeval monsters of an electron's savage jungles.] + +[Illustration: _The gaping mouth jerked forward._] + + +The blood-red glow of a slanting sun bathed the towers of New York's +serrated skyline, then dropped into a molten sea beyond the winter +horizon. Friday, the last day of Jupiter, the thirteenth month of the +earth's new calendar, had drawn to a close. In a few hours the year of +1999 would end--at midnight, to be exact. + +Far below the towers stretched well lighted canyons teeming with +humanity. At an upper level where once the elevated trains had roared +and rumbled in an antiquated period long past, an orderly mass of +workers and shoppers was borne at an incredible speed from lower +Manhattan to towering apartments that stretched northward to +Peekskill. The northbound traffic was heaviest at this hour and the +moving sidewalk bands were jammed to their capacity. + +Street cars, now obsolete, had vanished from the streets under the new +order of things as had also passenger cars, taxis and trucks. Speed +predominated. Noise had practically been eliminated. Except for the +gentle throb of giant motors far underground, the city was cloaked in +silence. + +At regular intervals along the four-speed moving bands that formed the +transportation of the great metropolis, huge circular shafts of steel +mounted upward beyond the roofs of the tallest buildings. Within these +shafts, swift elevators carried passengers who lived in the outlying +districts to the level of the station platforms of the interstate +operating transport planes. + + * * * * * + +Close to the entrance of one of the steel shafts stood a young man a +little above medium height. His deep-sunken eyes were those of a +dreamer, a searcher. They were the eyes of a man who had seen strange +and startling things. At present they were staring into the pulsing +wave of humanity flowing northward on the endless steel bands beyond +the platform. + +Quite suddenly they lighted with pleasure as a man and a girl detached +themselves from the swift moving river of people and hurried to the +spot where he stood. + +"Think we were never coming?" Karl Danzig's eyes were much like those +of Aaron Carruthers. Just now they sparkled with suppressed +excitement. + +Aaron Carruthers smiled in turn. "No, Karl. Any man but you. I +couldn't imagine you being late." He turned his attention to the slim, +dark haired girl. "Nanette," he murmured, extending his hand, "I +didn't think you'd come." + +Dazzling white teeth caught the glow of the blue-white incandescents +along the platform, and became under the bow of her red lips a string +of priceless pearls. + +"I had to come, Aaron. Karl has done nothing but talk of your amazing +discovery. The experiment fairly frightens me at times especially when +I recall the sad fate of your friend, the missing Professor Dahlgren. +I wish you boys would give up the idea--" + +"Nan, be still," broke in Karl, with brotherly rudeness. Turning to +Carruthers. "Everything all ready, Aaron?" he asked. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers nodded. "As far as humanly possible. The element of error +is always present. I've checked and re-checked my calculations. I've +augmented the vacuum tubes by installing three super-dimensional +inverse power tubes." He clasped the girl's arm. "The street is no +place to talk. Let's go to the laboratory." + +They crossed the moving bands by an overhead bridge and cut down a +narrow canyon to the entrance of a crosstown series of bands. They +stepped onto the first band. The speed was moderate. From there they +moved over to the second. Carruthers was in a hurry. He guided the +girl and her brother across the third to the fourth band of moving +steel. + +Buildings slid past them like wraiths in the electric light. They felt +no winter chill, for the streets and platforms were heated by a +constant flow of warm air from slots ingeniously arranged in the band +of swift moving metal upon which they stood. Within a few minutes they +had arrived at their destination. Quickly they reversed their path +across the moving bands until they reached the disembarking platform. +A short distance from the station they came to the entrance of a huge +tower building. + +Carruthers nodded to the doorman and they were admitted into a marble +hallway. A silent, unattended lift bore them swiftly to the +seventy-fifth floor. Down a deep carpeted hallway they moved. +Carruthers touched his door. It opened. He stood to one side as the +other two entered. + + * * * * * + +Nanette cried with delight at the luxurious splendor of the place. +"Why, Aaron, I never dreamed the night view could be quite so +delightful! I do believe that if the horrid government had not taken +down that little Statue of Liberty and substituted the Shaft Triumph +in its place, that I could easily see her fingers clasping the torch +she was reputed to hold. + +"Progress, dear girl," shrugged Carruthers, holding out his hands for +her cape. "By the way, have you folks eaten?" + +"Not in a week," said Karl. + +"Von Sternberger's food tablets," informed the girl. + +Carruthers nodded. His deep-set eyes regarded them appraisingly. "Any +ill effects?" + +"None whatever," spoke Danzig. "Neither of us have the slightest +craving for food." + +"Good. Did you bring any with you?" + +"A whole carton." + +"Then I guess we're already to make the experiment. You're sure. +Nanette, that you're not afraid of...." + +"Don't be silly, Aaron. I haven't grown up with Karl for nothing. He's +always used me for the disagreeable end of his crazy experiments. And +besides," she smiled on both men. "I have a woman's curiosity for the +unknown." + +"Very well," said Carruthers gravely. From his waistcoat pocket he +took a ring of keys and inserted one of them into the lock of an +immense steel door. "Our laboratory," he announced, swinging the door +wide. + + * * * * * + +Nanette's eyes opened wide at the paneled whiteness of the room. Most +of the far side was taken up with electrical machines, dynamos, +generators and glass enclosed motors of an advanced type. Overhead, +concealed lights made the room as light as day. A heavy glass railing +shielded a square spot in the exact center of the room. + +"What's that for?" asked the girl. + +Danzig and Carruthers both regarded it with troubled eyes. It was +Carruthers who spoke. + +"That railing marks the spot where Professor Dahlgren stood when the +rays of our atomic machine struck him." + +"You mean," breathed the girl, "that he never moved from that spot +after the rays touched his body? What happened?" + +Karl had already divested himself of his coat and was checking the +copper cables leading into a strange machine. + +"It was rather curious," remarked Carruthers. "The moment the ray +touched him his body began to dwindle. But evidently he suffered no +pain. As a matter of fact his mind remained quite clear." + +"How did you know?" + +"As he dwindled in size," continued Carruthers, "he shouted warningly +that the rays had become confused and for us to cut the switch. But +the warning came a fraction of a second too late. Even as my fingers +opened the contact, his body dwindled to a mere speck and disappeared +entirely from sight." + + * * * * * + +Nanette gazed with staring eyes at the ill-fated spot. Her face had +grown steadily paler. "Oh, Aaron! It's awful! What do you suppose +happened?" + +Carruthers eyes glowed strangely. "I didn't exactly know at the time, +Nanette. I'm not sure that I know even now. But I've got a theory and +Karl has helped me to build a second machine to flash a restoring ray +on the square spot. What will take place I cannot even conjecture." + +"Let's get on with the experiment," interrupted Karl. "Nanette can be +shown later what she is to do." + +Carruthers turned to Danzig. "All right. Karl. Draw up a chair to your +machine. And you, Nanette, sit close to this switch. It's off now. To +turn it on, simply push it forward until the copper plates slide into +each other. To turn the current off, you pull sharply out. However, we +aren't quite ready." + +He shifted his position until he stood before a third machine +slightly smaller than the other two. His fingers clicked a switch. The +dial of the instrument glowed whitely. + +"It's important," continued Carruthers, "that we first locate our +interference. We have here, Nanette, a common television receiving +apparatus capable of picking up news and pictures from any corner of +the globe. Ready, Karl?" + +Danzig clicked on the switch before his own machine and turned one of +the many dials mounted on the panel in front of him. A faint hum +filled the room as the generator settled to its task. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers reached up and dimmed the overhead lights. A screen of what +looked like frosted glass set in the wall glowed luminously. The +interior of a famous broadcasting studio became mirrored in the glass +screen. Into it stepped the master of ceremonies. He spoke briefly of +the New Year's activities that would soon take place when the +twenty-eighth day of Jupiter ended at midnight. + +"Boston," said Carruthers. "Too near." + +"Try Frisco," suggested Karl. "The tubes ought to be sufficiently +heated by this time." + +The dial whirled beneath Carruthers slender fingers. The pictures +framed in the frosted panel faded. Another took its place. San +Francisco--an afternoon concert. Carruthers saw and listened for a +moment, then moved thousands of miles out to sea. + +Shanghai drifted into the panel, announcing in sing-song accents the +weather reports. Following this came reports of various uprisings +along the Manchurian border. + +While yet the three listeners and watchers bent their heads toward the +panel in the wall, a strange thing occurred. The silver frostiness of +the screen became violently agitated with what looked like tiny sparks +darting in and about each other like miniature solar systems. +Shanghai faded from the picture. All that remained visible now was the +jumbled mass of needle-pointed sparks of luminosity. + +"Careful," warned Carruthers. "Slow up the speed of your reflector, +Karl. There, that's better. Watch the meter reading. I'm going to step +up the power of the dimensional tubes. Steady!" + + * * * * * + +From an invisible reproducer came a sharp, metallic crackling like +machine-gun bullets rattling on a tin roof. The sparks on the screen +became violently agitated, pushing around in erratic circles and +ellipses. They glowed constantly in shades of bright green through the +blues into the deep violets of the color scale. + +"What do you read?" asked Carruthers. + +"Point seven six nine," answered Karl. + +"Shift it back towards the blue, about two points lower on the scale." + +Danzig twisted two dials at the same time with minute exactness. +"Point seven six eleven," he intoned. + +"Hold it," ordered Carruthers. "Blue should predominate." He turned +his eyes on the dancing sparks on the screen. They glowed now a deep +indigo blue. "Lock your dials against accidental turning. We're tuned +to the vanishing point." + +Danzig rose to his feet. "What will we use?" + +Carruthers looked hastily around the room. "Most anything will do." +His eyes rested on a glass test tube. Quickly he rose to his feet and +removed it from the wall rack. Then bending over the glass railing +that enclosed the mysterious square he placed it on the floor. He +turned now to the girl. + +"Quiet, now, Nanette, and don't under any condition leave the chair. +The path of the ray should pass within two feet of you, having a wide +margin of safety. All right, Karl. Set the dials of the inverse +dimensional tubes at point seven six eleven, and switch the power to +the Roentgen tube." + +Through the dimly lighted laboratory came a spurt of bluish flame that +twisted and squirmed with slow undulations around the cathode +electrode. + +"Fine," enthused Carruthers, "The cathode emanations coincide exactly +with the interference chart. Watch your meter gauges, Karl, while I +switch to the atomic ray." + + * * * * * + +His fingers closed over a switch. The indigo points of flame bathing +the electrode gathered themselves into a ring and began to revolve +around an invisible nucleus located near the electrode. Carruthers +studied the revolving flame for a moment, then switched off the +television machine. It was no longer needed. + +Carefully, for the atomic ray was still a mysterious force to +Carruthers, he opened a small door in the panel and drew out the +focusing machine. It was shaped very much like a camera except that +the lens protruded several inches beyond the machine proper. + +With infinite patience he made the final adjustments and moved away +from the front of the lens. "Ready?" + +Danzig nodded and threw on the full power of the inverse dimensional +tubes. A low clear hum filled the quiet room of the laboratory. From +the lens of the focusing machine shot a pale, amber beam. It struck +the glass test tube squarely in the center and glowed against its +smooth sides. + +Carruthers reached across his own machine and turned the final switch. +The amber beam emanating from the lens increased in intensity. And as +it increased it took on a deep violet color. + +Nanette cried out in muffled alarm. But even as Vincent raised his +voice to quiet her fears the test tube suddenly shrunk to nothingness +and vanished into the ether. + +"Aaron!" whispered the girl, awesomely. "It ... it's gone!" + +Carruthers nodded. Beads of sweat stood out upon his forehead. Would +the returning ray work? He had made the test tube follow the same +route as that taken by Professor Dahlgren. Both were gone. He clicked +off the switch and the beam faded. + + * * * * * + +With a deliberate calmness that in no way matched the inner tumult +brought on by the experiment, he turned the dials of the machine he +and Danzig had worked out together. A second switch clicked under his +fingers. From the lense of the focusing machine shot the reverse +atomic beam. As it struck the center of the square it turned a bright +vermilion. For several seconds it played upon empty space, then the +miracle unfolded before their eyes. + +Something like a glass sliver reflected the beam. It grew and enlarged +under their startled eyes until it had achieved its former size, then +the power that had brought it back switched itself off automatically. + +Together both men examined the test tube. It appeared in no way +harmed, nor did it feel either warm or cold from its trip through the +elements. + +"It works!" marveled Danzig. "Let's try it again with something +larger." + +"I've got a better idea," said Carruthers, rising to his feet. He +crossed the laboratory and went to another part of his rooms. +Presently he returned holding a small pink rat in his hands. The +rodent was young, having been born only a week before. "Now we'll see +what happens." + +"Oh, it's torture to the poor thing," burst out Nanette. + +"It won't hurt it," growled Karl. "Aaron knows what he's doing." + +Carruthers placed the little rat in the center of the square. It lay +there, very quiet and unblinking. Again the switches clicked as the +contacts were closed. + +Came once more the beam of amber colored light followed closely by the +violet. The rat dwindled to the size of an insect, then disappeared +into space. The three watchers held their breaths. Carruthers' hand +trembled the least bit as he threw on the switch controlling the +animal's return to the world. + + * * * * * + +A vermilion shaft of light pierced the semi-darkened rooms. The animal +had been gone from sight not more than a minute. Abruptly something +grayish white unfolded in the reflector's beam. It rapidly expanded +under three pairs of bulging eyes--not the small, pinkish rat that had +disappeared but sixty seconds previous, but a full grown rat, scarred +and tailless as if from innumerable battles with other rats. + +As the current clicked off Aaron Carruthers bent forward. Too late. +The rat scurried from the laboratory with a squeal of alarm. +Carruthers returned to his seat before the atomic machine and sat +down. His face was worried. Dark thoughts stormed his reason. The rat +he had placed within the atomic ray had aged nearly two years during +the minute it was out of mortal sight. Two years! + +He pulled a pad from his pocket and calculated the time that had +elapsed since Professor Dahlgren had vanished from that same spot. +Nearly forty hours. That would mean.... + +Nanette stirred in her chair. "What happened to the little rat, +Aaron?" + +Carruthers, busy making calculations, did not hear the question. + +She turned to her brother. "Karl, what's the meaning of this? The +second experiment didn't turn out like the first one. What became of +that little rat?" + +"I don't know what happened, Nan," spoke Karl. "Now don't bother me +with your silly questions. You saw the same thing I did." + + * * * * * + +Carruthers raised his head and spoke quietly. "That rat you saw +materialize under the atomic rays was the same rat you saw me place +within the square." + +"But it couldn't be," protested the girl. + +"Nevertheless," shrugged Carruthers. "It was the same animal--only it +had aged nearly two years during the brief time interval it was off +from our planet." + +"It's preposterous," cried the girl. + +"Nothing is preposterous nowadays, Nanette." + +"That's the woman of it," spoke Karl. "Always doubting." + +"You boys are playing tricks on me," retorted the girl sharply. "I +shouldn't have come to your old laboratory. Just because I'm a +girl...." + +"Don't," pleaded Carruthers, looking up from his pad of figures. +"We're trying to solve the mystery underlying the forces which we have +created." He replaced the test tube within the center of the square +and returned to the atomic machine. + +Through the twilight shadows of the room glowed the strange new ray. +Faintly the generator hummed. Lights sparkled and twisted around the +cathode in serpentine swirls. + +"You needn't trouble to explain your silly experiment again," finished +Nanette, rising abruptly to her feet. "I'm going home and dress for +the New Year's party." + +"Watch your switch like I asked you to," spoke Carruthers. + +"Sit down," added Karl. "Don't put the rest of us in danger!" + +"Oh-h-h!" gasped the girl as she inadvertently stepped squarely into +the atomic ray of amber-colored light. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers leaped impatiently to his feet. An inarticulate cry of +horror froze upon his lips. Forgetful that he himself was directly in +line of the atomic ray he lunged forward, his mind centering on a +single act--to drag the protesting and now thoroughly frightened girl +out of the path of the penetrating ray. + +But even as he started forward Nanette tripped over the glass railing +around the square. Carruthers moved quickly. Yet his movements were +slow and ungainly as compared to the speed of the light ray. He saw +the figure of Nanette decrease in size before his eyes, heard the +muffled expression of alarm and fear in Danzig's voice; then the room +suddenly began to extend itself upward with the speed of a meteor. + +What once had been walls and bare furniture resolved themselves into a +range of hills, then mountains. The twilight gloom of the room became +a dark void of empty space that seemed to rush past his ears like a +moaning wind. + +He had the sensation of falling through infinite space as if he had +been propelled from the world and hurled out into the vastness of +interplanetary space. Something brushed against him--something soft +and fluttering. He grasped it like a drowning man would clutch a +straw. "Nanette!" + +The name echoed and re-echoed through his mind yet never seemed to get +beyond his tightly clenched lips. He felt something cool close over +his hand. Instinctively he grasped it. Her hand. Together they clung +to each other as they felt themselves being hurled through endless +space. + +The twilight changed swiftly to black night that rushed past the two +clinging figures and enveloped them in a wall of silence. Then out of +the mysterious fastness came the dull glow of what looked like a +distant planet. It grew and enlarged till it reached the size of a +silver dollar. Little pin-points of light soon began to appear on all +sides of it, very much like stars. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers attempted to reassure Nanette that all was well, and they +were out on the streets of the great metropolis. But even as he +wrenched his tightly locked lips apart he saw that the shining disc +far out into space was not what he had first thought it was--the +earth's moon. + +He shook his head to clear it of the perplexing cobwebs. What was the +matter with his mind? He couldn't think or reason. All he knew was +that he had erred. This strange planet looming in the sky held +nothing familiar in markings nor in respect to its relations to the +stars beyond it. + +While yet he groped in the darkness for something tangible, his mind +reverted to the girl at his side. She was clinging to him like a +frightened child. He could feel the pressure of her body against his +and it thrilled him immeasurably. No longer was he the cold, +calculating young man of science. + +How long they remained in state of suspension while strange worlds and +planets flashed into a new sky before their startled eyes, Aaron +Carruthers didn't know. At times it seemed like hours, years, ages. +And when he thought of the tender nearness of the girl he held so +tightly within his arms, it seemed like a few minutes. + +Gradually the sensation of speed and space falling began to wear off, +as if they were nearing earth or some solid substance once more. The +air about them grew heavier. Then all movement through space ceased. + +Carruthers was surprised to find what felt like earth beneath his +feet. For long minutes he stood there, unmoving, still holding +possessively to the girl. + +"Aaron!" The name came out of the void like a faint caress. + +"Nanette." + +Reassured of each other's presence they stood perfectly still, lost in +the vast silence of their isolation. + + * * * * * + +Presently the girl spoke. "Oh, Aaron, I'm frightened!" + +"There's nothing to be alarmed at, dearest." The endearing term came +for the first time from the man's lips. As long as he had known +Nanette Danzig, love had never been mentioned between them. If it had +ever existed, the feeling had not been expressed. + +"You shouldn't call me that, Aaron." + +His voice sounded curiously far-off when he answered. "I couldn't help +it, Nan. Our nearness, the strange darkness, and the fact that we are +alone together brought strange emotions to my heart. At this moment +you are the dearest--" + +Bump, thump! Bump, thump! + +"What's that noise?" breathed Nanette. + +Carruthers turned his head to listen. To his ears came the pound of +some heavy object striking the ground at well-regulated intervals. + +Nanette, who had started to free herself from Carruthers violent +embrace, suddenly ceased to struggle. "Oh, what is it? What is it?" +she whispered fearfully. + +Carruthers sniffed the night air. A musky odor assailed his nostrils, +strange and unfamiliar. "It's beyond me, Nanette. Let's move away from +this spot. Perhaps we can find shelter for the rest of the night." + +But the Stygian blackness successfully hid any form of shelter. Tired +from their search they sat down. + +"We might build a fire," suggested Carruthers, "only there doesn't +seem to be any wood around. Nothing but bare rock." + +"Perhaps it's just as well," spoke the girl. "The flames might attract +prowlers." + +"Maybe you're right," agreed Carruthers. + + * * * * * + +A silence fell between them. After a long time Nanette spoke. + +"I don't suppose, Aaron, that anything I can do or say will help +matters any. I know that our being where we are is my own fault. I'm +sorry. Truly I am." + +"The harm is done," said Carruthers. "Don't say anything more about +it." + +Nanette pointed at the disc of light shining high in the heavens. +"These stars are as strange to me, Aaron, as if I had never seen them +before. Saturn is the evening star at this time of year. It isn't +visible. Even the familiar craters and mountains of the moon look +different. And it glows strangely." + +"I'd rather not talk about it, Nan." + +Nanette placed a hand upon his arm. "I'm not a child, Aaron. I'm a +grown woman. Fear comes through not knowing. Tell me the truth." + +"Let's sit down." + +They sat upon the ground and both stared out at the night heavens that +arched into infinity above them. Presently Carruthers took the girl's +hand from his arm and held it gently between his own. "You've guessed +rightly, Nan. The orb shining upon us is not our moon. I'll try and +make it clear." + + * * * * * + +The girl smiled reassuringly in the darkness. "I'm waiting." + +"Strange as it must seem," began Carruthers, "you and I are still +within the room of my laboratory. But we might as well be a million +miles away for all the good it does us. Karl sits in his chair in the +same position as when we disappeared in the violet glow of the atomic +ray. His eyes are bulging with fear and horror. For days and days +he'll continue to sit on that chair, his mind not yet attuned to what +actually took place. What has happened? He doesn't know yet, Nan." + +"Oh, it's incredible," sobbed Nanette. + +"I know, but it's so obviously true that I won't even trouble to check +my calculations." He pointed at the silver disc hanging low in the +strange sky. "That, Nan, is not our moon. It is nothing more than a +planetary electron very much like the one we are on at the present +moment. The firmament is filled with them. From where we sit we can +see but the half nearest to us. The glowing portion is illuminated +from distant light rays shot off from the nucleus of the atom itself. +That atom is going to be our light and heat for weeks, months, perhaps +years to come. We're prisoners on an electron, and as such we are +destined to rush through infinite space for the remainder of our lives +unless...." + +"Unless what?" + +Aaron Carruthers hesitated for a bare fraction of a second. "Karl!" he +whispered. "Our lives depend on him. Time flies fast for us, Nan. +Already it is growing light. But not on our earth. Karl still sits +upon his chair staring incredulously at the miracle of our +disappearing bodies. It will take weeks of time, as it affects us, for +the initial shock to travel along his nerves to the center of his +brain." + + * * * * * + +His voice shook with emotion quite contrary to his usual calm nature. +"Oh, I know it's hard to understand, Nan. I was a fool to meddle with +laws of which I know so little compared to what there is yet to know." + +"Then it's all true, Aaron. The little rat that came out from under +the ray as an old rat was one and the same animal." + +Carruthers nodded. "Time has changed in proportion to our size. We're +moving so much faster than the earth that we must of necessity be +bound to the universe of which we are now an integral part." + +For a long time they remained silent, each immersed in dark, troubled +thoughts. Nanette broke the silence. + +"You don't suppose, Aaron, by any chance that Professor Dahlgren is +still alive and on our planet?" + +Carruthers shook his head negatively. "It's beyond human reason, Nan. +He was lost in the ray for over forty hours. Translated into minutes +he's been gone twenty-four hundred minutes. Since the mouse we placed +within the light ray aged approximately two years in the space of one +minute, Professor Dahlgren would, if he were alive, be about four +thousand, eight hundred years old." + +Nanette rose abruptly to her feet. "Oh bother the figures. My head's +swimming with them. It's getting light now, and I'm hungry." + +"Eat one of your food tablets," suggested Carruthers. + +"Please don't get funny," said Nanette. "Karl has them in his coat +pocket." + +"Hum-m-m!" coughed Carruthers, following her example by rising to his +feet. "Looks as though we'd have to rustle our food. I've got nothing +on my person but a knife, a pencil, a fountain pen and some pieces of +paper. Nothing very promising in any of them." + + * * * * * + +At that moment the sky became fused with reddish light. Over the +horizon appeared a shining orb. Far-away hills and valleys leaped into +sight. Then for the first time Carruthers noted the high plateau upon +which he had spent the night. Had they ventured a hundred yards +farther during the night they would have plunged into the rocky floor +of a canyon a thousand feet below. + +"Let's see if we can find a way down to the valley," he suggested. "If +we get anything to eat it will have to come from trees. This plateau +is barren of any form of vegetable matter." + +They found a winding descent leading downward. It looked like a path +that had been worn by the passage of many feet. + +"Someone's been here before us," he exclaimed. "The ground is too well +worn to be accidental." + +"Look! Look!" pointed Nanette. Her face had become pale from the +excitement of her discovery. "What is it, Aaron?" + +Carruthers bent forward to examine the strange footprint. It was +nearly two feet across and divided in the center, as if the animal +that made it had but two toes. + +"From the size of the tracks and the length of the animal's stride, I +should say it was some form of an amphibious dinosaur long extinct in +our own world." + +"Are they dangerous?" + +"It all depends upon the species. Some of them are pure vegetarians; +others are carnivorous. The heavy tramping we heard during the night +evidently came from the beast who left these footprints." + + * * * * * + +They had come upon the footprints where the path made a turn, leading +into a dense growth of trees and underbrush. And as Carruthers knelt +beside the path he heard a rustle as of something moving directly +behind him. Wonderingly, he turned his head to trace the disturbance. +But the woods seemed empty. "Strange," he murmured. "Did you hear +something moving in back of us, Nan?" + +Nan shook her head. "You don't think we're in any danger from these +beasts, do you?" + +Carruthers said nothing for the moment. Instead, he looked sharply in +all directions and saw nothing. "Let's push on till we come to some +kind of a shelter. Perhaps we'll find people much like ourselves." + +Down the path they hurried, glancing curiously right and left at +unknown flowers and trees. A bird with brilliant feathers skimmed +above their heads, uttering shrill cries. Other voices from the birds +and animals in the woods took up the cry. The woods grew denser as +they pushed into the unknown. + +In the woods at their right a rodent squeaked as some larger animal +pounced upon it. Presently they came to a pool of water roughly +seventy feet across. While they knelt to quench their thirst they saw +two young deer eyeing them from the far side. Soft feet pattered +behind the kneeling couple. Carruthers half whirled as he rose to his +feet and peered into the jungle behind him. + +A blur of reddish brown vanished behind a tree. Man or animal +Carruthers couldn't determine. He grasped Nanette by the arm and +pulled her back to the path. + +"Quick!" he whispered. "There's someone or something following us. I'm +sure of it now." + + * * * * * + +Nanette's voice trembled slightly. "What is it, Aaron?" + +"I don't know." He turned his head again. This time he saw the thing +that was following. A low ejaculation of alarm escaped his lips. A +gigantic ape! The mouth of the creature sagged grotesquely, revealing +two rows of yellow fangs. And its orange colored eyes were burning +coals set close together. Carruthers sucked in a deep breath. + +"Run, Nan," he gritted. "I'll try and scare him away." + +Simultaneously with the scream of fright from the startled girl, a +huge mountain of grayish flesh and bones blocked the downward slope of +the path. Carruthers paled as he turned and faced the new menace. + +Coming directly toward them he saw an immense animal so great in size +that it seemed to shut out the light. A prehistoric dinosaur! It came +slowly and leisurely, swinging its great red mouth from side to side. +Other denizens in the woods, sensing the presence of the huge killer, +fled in a panic of alarm. Their shrill cries increased the terror that +froze the hearts of the two earth people. + +Nanette clung to her companion in abject terror, unable to move. Her +fear stricken eyes were wild and staring as the mountain of flesh +pushed towards them. + +The animal's long neck arched far in front of its body, and its long, +pointed tail remained out of sight within the trees. + +Carruthers backed off the path into the underbrush, dragging the girl +after him. The jaws of the huge animal opened wide with anticipation. +Lumberingly he turned from the path and followed. Trees crashed before +its gigantic bulk. The woods became a bedlam of snapping branches. + +The horrified scream of the girl ended in a gurgling sigh. She toppled +to the ground in a dead faint. Carruthers flung himself beside her +crumpled body and gathered it into his arms. A quick glance he threw +at the spot where he had last seen the gigantic ape. The animal was no +longer there. It had disappeared. + +The man's lips became a hard, straight line. Even as he straightened +to his feet the leaves and branches of an overturned tree whipped his +face. The red mouthed dinosaur was perilously near. So close that +Carruthers could smell its great, glistening body. The odor was musky +and foul. + +Stumbling blindly he attempted to widen the distance between himself +and his pursuer. But the hungry dinosaur pounded steadily on its +course. There was no getting away from it. Its beady eyes sought out +its prey and its keen smell told it exactly where the earth beings +were. + +On and on staggered Carruthers. The extra burden of the girl hampered +his movements. Unseen roots tripped him time and time again. Each time +he scrambled to his feet and picked up the unconscious girl. Briars +tore at his clothing and stung his hands. + +The underbrush was thickening. A warm, dank smell clung to the +vegetation now almost tropical in nature. Beads of sweat rolled down +the man's forehead and into his eyes. But the horrible fear of those +red, dripping jaws spurred him to renewed efforts. + +He doubled to the left, hoping to throw the animal off his tracks. The +undergrowth seemed to thin out at this point. Renewed hope flowed +through the young scientist's blood. He stumbled on blindly, scarce +watching where his feet were taking him. A sigh of relief came to his +lips. Ahead of him he saw a clearing. His stride lengthened and he +broke into a shambling run. + + * * * * * + +Then it was he saw, towering walls rising up on both sides of +him--steep walls that he could never scale, even if alone. He tried to +change his course, but the huge bulk of the pursuing dinosaur +effectively blocked his path. There was no alternative but to push on +and pray for an opening in the rugged cliffs. + +Abruptly a sigh of despair escaped his lips. The walls of the canyon +narrowed suddenly, and across it stretched a wall of bare rock. He +realized too late that he had returned to the base of the plateau +where he had spent the night. The grim, towering walls hemmed him in +completely from three sides. At the fourth side bulked the dinosaur, +coming slowly, ponderously. + +Beady eyes peered down cunningly at the helpless man and woman. +Confident now that its prey couldn't escape, it extended its huge bulk +across the narrow canyon for a leisurely killing. + +Carruthers glared at the monster with fear-distended eyes. In his +heart he realized that there was no escape. He had no means of +defense, no way to combat the huge monster but flight. And even that +was now denied him. + +Closer and closer inched the killer until its great, red mouth +appeared like the fire box of a huge boiler. Hot breath fanned the +man's cheek. The nauseous odor of the beast made his stomach wrench. +He dropped to his knees close to the inert figure of the girl and +glared vengefully into the beady eyes. + +The gaping mouth at the end of a long, supple neck jerked forward. +Carruthers dragged the girl away just in time to escape the gnashing +teeth. The dinosaur stamped angrily. + +Once again Carruthers felt its hot breath beating upon his face. He +cringed at the thought of this kind of death. No one would ever know +how it happened. Not even his closest friend, Karl Danzig! What a mess +things were. Why didn't the red mouth of the mighty dinosaur close +over him and crush out life? Why must he kneel in torture? + +From near at hand a piercing scream rang through the air. A harsh +scream. A terrifying scream! + + * * * * * + +Carruthers raised his head. The dinosaur had twisted around to glare +hatefully at the disturber of its meal. Other screams splintered the +forest air. And as the kneeling man watched he saw the great red ape +who had been dodging his footsteps a short time before, slouch between +the dinosaur's hulking body and the wall of the cliff. Behind it came +others--black mammals with curving arms that dragged along the ground. + +Their fangs were bared. They were in an ugly mood. Arriving in front +of the dinosaur and less than four feet from the earth man and woman, +the leader silenced its followers with a low growl and turned in +concentrated fury upon the dinosaur. Its long arms drummed a throbbing +tattoo upon its hairy chest. + +The dinosaur bellowed protestingly against the attitude of the apes +and gorillas. The ape leader protested with equal violence. The +dinosaur shifted uneasily, wagging its heavy head from side to side. +On all sides came deep growls from the mammals. + +Carruthers watched all this display torn between doubt and fear. Which +side would win? How could the apes and gorillas, huge as they were, +hope to force the dinosaur away? But the apes were masters. This much +was apparent. Inch by inch the dinosaur backed away, glaring +vengefully. And having reached a spot where it could turn around it +did so. Presently the ground trembled as it made off through the +steaming jungle. The leader of the mammals turned and faced the earth +people. Long, searching minutes passed. Its close set eyes seemed to +be studying them. + + * * * * * + +Nanette stirred and opened her eyes. The sight of the anthropoids +caused her to recoil. + +"Steady, Nan," spoke Carruthers softly. + +Other apes and gorillas gathered around the giant red animal. They +displayed no hostility, only an intense interest. One by one they +squatted before the earth people until they formed a half circle, +reaching from the one wall of the rocky plateau to the other. + +While they sat there it began to grow dark. Carruthers removed his +watch and ventured a glance at it. Daylight had lasted less then three +hours. An hour for twilight, then it would be dark. Evidently the +cycle around the nucleus of the atom took approximately ten hours. + +Nanette sat up. "Aaron!" + +He answered without removing his eyes from the red ape less then four +feet away. "Don't look at me, Nan. Concentrate on the big, red fellow. +He's evidently in control. If we act the least bit frightened they +might decide to destroy us." + +"What are they waiting for? Why don't they go away?" + +"We'll know before long. I imagine they're trying to figure out who we +are and what we are doing on their tiny planet." + +Darkness descended rapidly. Overhead, a small moon rose majestically +in the heavens and started its journey through the night. Its faint +light revealed the fact that the apes showed no intentions of leaving. +They still squatted before the earth people, in a half circle of +staring brown eyes. + +Whatever fear Carruthers had felt towards the animals died away. +"They're harmless," he told Nanette. "Get some sleep if you can." + + * * * * * + +Long after the tired girl had drifted into slumber Carruthers sat with +his back against the wall, mentally trying to figure the whole thing +out. The dinosaur was real enough. Yet the apemen had frightened it +away, in fact had compelled it to go without actually engaging in +combat. No question about it. The anthropoids were in control. But who +controlled them? + +Quite suddenly his eyes snapped open. Daylight had come again. He must +have fallen asleep. The shrill chatter of the apeman came to his ears. +The red ape leader shuffled to his feet and looked from the earth +people to the spot in the jungle whence came the chatter. Abruptly he +opened his mouth and emitted a flood of gibberish sounds. + +The gorillas and apes at his side flattened their bodies against the +rocky walls in attitudes of expectant waiting. + +"What's happening?" gasped the girl. + +"There's no telling," whispered Aaron. "It must be someone or +something of importance. Note the expressions of awe and reverence on +the faces of the apemen. My God, Nanette, look!" + +Out of the depths of the jungle emerged seven white beings--human or +animal it was impossible to tell. They were huge creatures with the +bodies of men. Erect of carriage, almost human in looks, they +contrasted strangely with the red apes and the black gorillas. Six of +them appeared to act as bodyguard for the seventh. + +As they reached the space in front of the two earth people, the +bodyguard stepped aside. The seventh white one came to a dead stop. +Long and intently he stared at the man and girl crouched against the +wall. And the scrutiny seemed to please him, for he smiled. + +Carruthers eyed the figure uneasily. He saw what seemed to be a man +dressed in a long, fibrous garment. With white hair and beard, it was +a strange figure indeed for an apeman. He saw also that the eyes were +well spaced, a mark of intelligence. The forehead was high and broad. +And as Carruthers mentally studied the creature, strange and bizarre +thoughts crossed his mind. + + * * * * * + +The mouth of the white apeman twitched as if he were going to speak. +The heavy lips parted. A single word came to Carruthers' ear--"Man?" + +Carruthers nodded. "We are from the earth." + +The lips of the apeman moved painfully as if speech came with the +utmost of difficulty. "The prophecy of the Great One has been +fulfilled even as it has been written." + +The red apes and black gorillas allowed their eyes to wander from +their white leader to the two earth people. And their faces reflected +the supernatural awe with which they regarded the earth people. + +"It's uncanny that an animal can speak our language," breathed +Nanette. + +As if he hadn't heard her, Carruthers spoke again. "We are from the +earth," he repeated. "We have been on your world many hours, and we +are both hungry and thirsty." + +"Words come hard," came from the lips of the white bearded one. "I +have not used them for years." + +"And who are you?" asked Carruthers. + +The white bearded one paused as if to recall some distant echo from +the past. "I am the last of the tribe of Esau. But come! This is no +place for speech. Long have I and my followers waited for this hour." + + * * * * * + +Without another word he swung around. The six guards enclosed his aged +body in a hollow square and the procession moved away. They came after +a short journey to a natural opening leading to the heart of the +plateau. The apes and gorillas, with the exception of the red leader, +remained outside. The remainder of the party pushed through a tortuous +tunnel until they reached a cavernous opening directly beneath the +plateau. Vertical openings in the walls furnished light and air. The +white chieftain spoke in a strange tongue to his followers, and they +instantly prepared three couches in a far corner of the cavern. + +As the earth people seated themselves on the skins that made up the +couch they were both conscious of a far-away rumbling like peals of +thunder. Not having seen any signs of a storm outside Carruthers +turned inquiringly on the aged chieftain. + +The old man's eyes were shadowed with grim foreboding. "I have ordered +something to refresh you and your companion," he said. "Eat first, my +friends. We will talk later." + +The six body-guards left the main cavern. Presently they returned with +large trays made of fanlike leaves resembling the palmetto. Fresh +fruits and uncooked vegetables formed the bulk of the meal. In silence +they ate. After the litter had been cleared away the guards withdrew +with the exception of the giant red ape, who crouched near the opening +to the tunnel. + +"I am glad you have come," began the old chieftain, "but sorry, too. +Our planet, or rather the higher forms of life upon it, are doomed." + + * * * * * + +Again there came to the ears of the earth people that far-off beat of +sound that seemed to shake the ground. They looked to the white +bearded leader for explanation. + +"Ah, you hear it too," murmured the other. "For centuries, we of the +great tribe of Esau have fought for the supremacy of our little +world--ever since the Great One appeared in our midst and instructed +us in world knowledge." + +"And this Great One, as you call him," spoke Carruthers. "Who was he?" + +"He was from your world. I never saw him. He comes to me as a legend. +For years he toiled among us, teaching and instructing until we +mastered his language. He called himself Dahlgren. Later he ruled all +the tribes. We of the Esau line he made into leaders because of our +higher intelligence. The tribes of Zaku were trained for war. Perhaps +you have noticed the chief of all the Zakus. He is crouching now +beside the entrance to our inner walls. He is Marbo, and his followers +live in the jungles." + +"And does he talk as you do?" + +The white chieftain shook his head. "No. Only we of the Esau tribe +have mastered speech. Not counting the women of our tribe that +comprise our numbers we are only seven in all." + +"I owe Marbo my life as does also my companion," said Carruthers. + +"Marbo looks upon you earth people as gods," spoke the old chieftain. +"He and his followers will protect you with their lives." + +"And who rules over and beyond?" questioned Carruthers, waving his arm +to cover the remaining portion of the electron. + +"There is no rule beyond except that of force. The Great One called +them by name, Morosaurus, Diplodocus, the Horned Ceratosaurus, and +many others whose names I have long forgotten. They are our enemies +whom we cannot destroy. And their numbers increase from year to year +and are slowly backing us upon our last stronghold." + +"Isn't there anything we can do?" asked Carruthers, feeling a quiver +of apprehension along his spine. + + * * * * * + +Slowly, the old chieftain shook his head. "Nothing whatever. Marbo and +his followers can control one or two, but when the herds begin to push +on into our territory, we are doomed. Even now their rumblings and +bellowings come through the jungles. Their thirst and hunger for flesh +is enormous." + +Carruthers turned upon the girl. "The old chief's words explain +everything, Nan. Professor Dahlgren has been here and gone. He lived a +lifetime in the span of a few hours earth-time. Now it looks as if we +were destined to follow in his footsteps." + +"I'm not afraid," said the girl. "Nothing can be worse than what we +have already passed through." And her eyes softened as she placed her +small hands within those of Carruthers. "We have each other, Aaron." + +He smiled reassuringly and turned to the old chieftain. "I am +Carruthers, a friend and assistant to Dahlgren. The girl here is +Nanette." + +The chieftain smiled gravely. "And I am Zark. Welcome to my kingdom, +Carruthers and Nanette. We need you here. Now tell me of your world, +for long have I waited for a follower of the great Dahlgren to appear +before my people." + +Throughout the remainder of the day Carruthers talked. The shafts of +light paled at the end of the short day. Night came, bringing with it +a sense of security against the increasing hordes that thundered and +trumpeted beyond the borders of the jungle. + +In the morning Zark instructed Marbo to remain close to Carruthers at +all times. So the young scientist left the cavern and ascended the +path leading to the top of the plateau. He looked at his watch and +compared the second hand with the nucleus atom sailing across the +heavens to estimate its speed. + + * * * * * + +Days passed as he made his observations. Meanwhile he had searched and +found the exact spot wherein he and Nanette had first stepped foot +onto the electron. This spot he carefully marked off with a ring of +huge boulders carried up by the followers of Marbo. Then he began to +calculate upon his pad. There must be no mistakes. He and Nanette must +be within the magic circle at the estimated time. + +Between times he helped Nanette construct their living quarters in the +cavern. Zark had furnished them with skins and furs with which to +cover the walls. Carruthers made a fireplace of stones and restored +the lost art of fire to Zark, Marbo and their followers. + +Days slipped by like minutes. Short days filled with excursions into +the jungles. Carruthers' face soon bristled with a stubble of beard. +This lengthened with time. Sharp thorns tore their clothes to ribbons. +Nanette, womanlike, cried many times during the nights because of the +lack of a mirror and a comb for her untidy hair. + +But other and more important events soon claimed the attention of the +earth people. Day by day the herds of dinosaurs and other monsters of +like breed edged closer and closer to the tiny civilization around the +plateau. It worried Carruthers so much that he sought out Zark and had +him bring the other six members of his tribe together for a council of +war. + +"A complete defensive system, Zark," he told them. "We must make a +fortress of the plateau and fill the caverns with food." + + * * * * * + +Zark shook his head. "No. It is quite useless. Followers of Marbo have +recently returned from over the beyond and report strange things. I +have hesitated to speak of them for fear of alarming you. Our planet +is breaking up. Violent eruptions have caused fires of stone and mud. +The rumblings you have heard were not made entirely by our enemies. +They came from the ground. + +"An earthquake," murmured Carruthers, momentarily stunned by the news. +"But they are always of short duration, Zark. We have them on our own +planet." + +"Ah, but these are different. They cover the whole of our globe. The +great Dahlgren noted them while he was with us. He wrote many words +and figures on paper concerning them. Only yesterday I unearthed these +records. The life of our planet was doomed to destruction during the +present year. What matter if the herds of dinosaurs overrun us and +destroy lives? In the end they, too, will be destroyed. It is fate. We +can do nothing." + +Even as the old chieftain spoke a gigantic rumbling, greater in +intensity than any heretofore, shook the electron. Above the deep +rolling disturbance underground rose the shrill cries of the apemen. + +Carruthers leaped to his feet and raced through the tunnel. A herd of +dinosaurs choked the path leading to the outside entrance. Marbo +brushed past him, shrilling in great excitement. + +"Drive them away!" ordered Carruthers. "Like this!" He hurled a rock +at the eye of the nearest animal. + +The dinosaur bellowed and backed away. The apes, and gorillas, used to +fighting only with their long arms, caught on to the stunt with +surprising quickness. Their powerful arms reached out. Stones and +boulders began to hurtle from the mouth of the tunnel. They thudded +against the heads of the great monsters like hailstones. + +Subdued and frightened by this sudden display of force, the monsters +withdrew down the path. But the apemen had discovered a new method of +warfare. They found a childish delight in hurling stones. Within a few +minutes the slope was barren of rocks. The animals followed up their +momentary advantage and ran screaming down the path. The dinosaurs +fled in panic. + + * * * * * + +AS soon as the enemy had been driven away, Carruthers pointed out to +Marbo the advantage of gathering the stones up from the ground and +returning them to the space around the mouth of the tunnel so that he +and his followers would be ready for a second repulse. + +Zark appeared at this moment and helped with the explanation. His +crafty old eyes turned with new respect upon the earthman. + +Carruthers toiled with them every day from then on, building and +fortifying the plateau against further incursions of the monsters. +Security and peace reigned for several weeks then hostilities broke +out afresh. + +The rumblings of the electron had increased with each passing week. +Volcanic eruptions poured fresh discharges of molten lava and fiery +sparks along the edges of the jungles. + +"I don't want to needlessly alarm you, Nan," he told her that night, +"but the fires have started. Zark was right. Unless we have rain +before to-morrow morning the heat and smoke will drive us out into +the open." + +"But we can go to the top of the plateau," suggested the girl. "There +aren't any trees--" + +A concentrated bellowing cut off the rest of her words. Driven towards +higher ground by the heat of the flames, the dinosaurs were trampling +up the path leading to the tunnel. + +Once again Carruthers rallied his army of apemen around him and +attempted to drive the mammals away. As they reached the end of the +tunnel a cloud of dense smoke stung their eyes. The apemen shrilled in +a sudden panic and forgot all their previous training in driving off +the dinosaurs. Like scurrying rats they scattered. + + * * * * * + +Flames from the conflagration broke through the smoke--flames that +leaped and twisted skyward. + +Carruthers flung off the fear that held him spellbound and started +along up the path leading to the top of the plateau. A disheveled +figure appeared suddenly at his side--Nanette! + +"Come," he whispered, hoarsely. "We've got to get out of this or we'll +choke to death." + +"But Zark," breathed the girl, "He and his followers are still in the +cavern. We can't leave them." + +Like one demented of reason, Carruthers raced back along the tunnel to +the cavern. "Zark!" he shouted. + +The sound of his voice was drowned in the welter of screaming bedlam +coming up from below as the dinosaurs and apes fought for the +supremacy of life. But of Zark and his six followers he found +absolutely no sign. Quickly he hurried back to where he had left +Nanette. + +Even as he reached the spot he had a sudden premonition of danger. A +gorilla, huge and black, brushed past him on the path, carrying a limp +burden under his shaggy arm. + +"Stop!" commanded Carruthers, hurrying after the animal. + +A huge arm knocked him sprawling. Spitting blood Carruthers staggered +to his feet. Up to this time he had felt no fear of the gorillas. They +had been orderly and well behaved. Fearful that harm would come to the +girl he ran after the dark figure ahead. The red glow of flames swept +nearer. The gorilla came to a stop and faced its pursuer. Lust shone +from its close-set eyes--lust and passion. + +Carruthers stopped dead in his tracks. "Drop her!" he demanded. + +The animal snarled hoarsely. There came the sound of ripping cloth. +Nanette screamed--a terrifying scream that echoed and re-echoed +through the electron night. + + * * * * * + +It was then that the thin cloak of civilization dropped from Aaron +Carruthers' back. He became in a single moment an animal fighting for +his mate. With a snarl equally vicious as that of the gorilla pawing +at the helpless girl, he lunged forward. + +Mouthing his rage, the gorilla flung the earth man to the ground. +Carruthers came up frothing at the mouth. With grim intensity he +fastened himself to the animal's free arm. The raging mammal staggered +helplessly under the extra burden and dropped the girl to concentrate +his fury on the man. It raised a hairy arm aloft for the smashing +blow. Instinctively Carruthers released his hold. + +At that very moment the electron lurched sickeningly, causing them +both to lose their footing. The violent upheaval sent Carruthers one +way and the gorilla the other. While the man stumbled to his feet to +resume battle he saw the infuriated monster stagger over the edge of +the plateau wall into a sheer drop of a thousand feet. + +Starkly through the night came the growling roars of the giant beasts +from the jungles below. Nanette fluttered to his side. Her dress was +torn and dragged on the ground. For all her disheveled appearance she +was still beautiful to look upon. Forgetful of the danger on all sides +of him, the animal in Carruthers saw in her pitifully half-clad body +the same thing that the beast had desired. His head whirled hotly. + +"Aaron!" she pleaded as his arm reached out to clutch her. + +Hungrily he drew her to him. The pale light of the electron moon +mingled with the roaring blast of the flames. Madness inflamed his +heart and pounded his blood. + +"Don't, Aaron," protested the girl, trying to free herself. + + * * * * * + +Something in the quality of the girl's frightened tones brought the +man back to normal. He fought against the overwhelming desire to +possess with all the force of his nature. And the better half +triumphed. No longer was he an animal, but a reasoning human being. +With a faint sigh he released her and wiped a hand across his dripping +forehead. + +"I'm sorry, Nan," he murmured. "That great brute drove me mad for an +instant. I'm all right now." + +Together they stood in the electron night and watched death creep +closer and closer. The plateau was entirely surrounded with flames now +and the heat was increasing with each passing moment. As it increased +they backed towards the center. + +From under their feet came the choking cries of the apemen. They had +returned to the cavern only to be overcome by smoke fumes. While yet +the earth people stood there waiting and watching the red death creep +nearer, the path leading downward into the jungle became a mass of +moving shadows. + +"The dinosaurs!" cried Nanette. "Oh, Aaron! We are lost!" + +"Steady, girl," soothed the man. "If we stand still they might not see +us in the dark. The smoke will destroy our scent." + +But as the minutes passed the herd of monsters increased. They crowded +along the path and spread out over the top of the plateau. Once again +the smell of their glistening bodies fouled the nostrils of the earth +people. + +Slowly Carruthers guided Nanette back towards the ring of +rocks--perhaps the barrier would serve to keep the animals away. He +scrambled across one of the boulders and pulled the girl after him. As +he did so, a violent subterranean action shook the electron from one +end to the other. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers braced his feet against the ring of rocks to keep from +pitching headlong to the ground. Nanette clung to him wordlessly. All +around them the giant forces of nature raged sullenly. Twisting seams +appeared in the rocky floor of the plateau from which oozed gaseous +vapors. + +"Courage," soothed Carruthers as he held the quivering body of the +frightened girl close to his own. "This can't last." + +But the ground continued to lurch and heave on its axis. Vivid lights +crossed and criss-crossed the atomic heavens. The fissures in the +ground appeared now as black canals. The lower part of the circle of +boulders disappeared. Off to the right came despairing screams. White +bodies glowed for an instant against the background of flames. + +"Zark!" shouted Carruthers, as he saw the leader of the tribe of Esau +and his followers making their way along the plateau top. + +Zark must have heard the earth-man's voice, for he started forward at +a run. Simultaneously there appeared a herd of the greatest of all the +prehistoric monsters--the Brontosaurus. They balked enormously against +the flame-licked skies. Zark and his followers attempted to avoid +them. But fear of the scorching flames drove the monsters forward. +There followed a maddening moment of unutterable pain for the +remaining ones of the tribe of Esau, then the herd trampled them +underfoot and rumbled towards the half circle of rocks where the two +earth people were crouched. + +The leader of the Brontosaurus herd trumpeted madly and barged for the +higher ground of safety. Too late did instinct warn it of the widening +fissure underfoot. Before it could stop the pressure of the herd drove +it into the crevice. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers drew back to the extreme inside edge of the boulders trying +to still his ears against their insane bellowings. A cloud of heavy, +choking smoke enveloped him for a moment then passed away. Then it was +that he saw a new star in the atomic heavens,--a star that seemed to +burn with the brilliance of a meteor. Even as he watched he was +conscious of it drawing closer. + +The planet was now in a continuous uproar. The ground was heaving and +trembling as if from some inward strain. This was the end. Carruthers +realized it with a sinking heart. In another minute the electron would +disintegrate into a flaming mass of matter and fling itself from its +orbit around the atom. + +And then the light from the approaching star struck them in a blinding +radiance of vermilion flames. Carruthers held his breath. Some +invisible force seemed to take possession of his body and that of the +girl at his side. The rocky plateau, now a boiling mass of rocks, +dropped from under their feet. Clear, cold air enveloped their bodies. +Then with the speed of light their bodies were hurled through +planetary space, up, up, up into the vast reaches of the higher ether. + +Darkness assailed them. The flames from the jungle fire vanished into +nothingness. The electron moon paled to the size of a pin point, then +went out. + +Carruthers had the feeling of expansion and growth. It was as if his +body was taking on the size of the whole world. It seemed to last for +hours, days, ages. But all the while he clung fast to the slender, +quivering body of Nanette. + + * * * * * + +Mountains and hills suddenly blazed before his eyes. Straight up and +down mountains. He tried to stir his sluggish mind into action. What +did they mean? Where had he seen them before? And while yet his mind +struggled with the problem the mountains dwindled like melting snow. +The pressure around his body relaxed. A blinding glare of steady light +played upon his face. Then all was quietness and peace. + +"Nan! Aaron!" The voice was Karl's. + +Dazedly they looked around. What had once been mountains were now +desks and chairs. They were back again in the laboratory. Several +agonizing minutes passed before either could grasp the startling +change in things. The horror of the electronic disaster still filled +their minds to overflowing. + +Carruthers recovered first. He stepped from the railed inclosure +marking the spot where the atomic beam had restored them after their +space flight, and guided the girl to a chair. Karl's face was drawn +and white as his eyes rested on the two pitiful figures that had +materialized out of the ether. + +"Don't ask us any questions yet," spoke Carruthers in a tired voice. +"We've passed through too many horrors. What was the matter, Karl? +Couldn't you get the rays to work sooner?" + +"Sooner?" Danzig's eyes were wide with wonder. He glanced at his +watch. "It was a little difficult to control both machines all alone, +but I switched off the ray from the inverse dimensional tubes and +turned on the other immediately. All in all it must have taken me +fifteen seconds." + +"Fifteen seconds," repeated Carruthers, dazedly. "It's unbelievable." +He dropped wearily into a chair and rested his forehead in the palms +of his hands. "How long have we been gone, Nan?" + + * * * * * + +Nanette pulled the ragged remnants of a dress around her knees and +attempted a smile. "Almost four months, according to the passage of +time on the electron." + +"Impossible!" whispered Danzig, shutting his eyes to the truth. + +Aaron Carruthers pointed to his clothes, now ragged and torn. "Look, +Karl! Everything I have on is worn out completely. Observe my hair and +beard, and the soles of my shoes. Human reason to the contrary, +Nanette and I have lived like two animals for four months, and all in +the space of fifteen seconds earth time. How can you account for it? +We figured it out on paper. And we've proved it with our bodies. What +it will mean to future civilization I can't foretell. It's beyond +imagination." + +And the laboratory became silent as a tomb as the three people tried +with all the strength of their minds to grasp the miracle of the +strange and unfathomable atomic rays. + + * * * * * + + +PRODUCING HEAT BY ARCTIC COLD + +Producing heat by means of Arctic cold is a fantastic but none the +less quite practicable idea evolved by Dr. H. Barjou of the French +Academy of Science. Dr. Barjou says the water under the ice in the +Arctic region is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. While the air is many +degrees less, there may even be a difference of 50 degrees. The +unfrozen water could be pumped into a tank and permitted to freeze, +thus generating heat, as freezing a cubic meter of ice liberates about +as much heat as burning twenty-two pounds of coal. The heat produced +would vaporize a volatile hydrocarbon which would drive a turbine. +For condensing the hydrocarbon again, Dr. Barjou says great blocks of +brine could be used. + +Not only would the Arctic regions become comfortably habitable by +means of this utilization of energy, contends Dr. Barjou, but heat +also could be furnished for the rest of the world. + +Now if some one only can discover how to make the Sahara Desert send +forth cooling waves, the world will be perfect, temperaturally. + + + + +Jetta of the Lowlands + +PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL + +_By Ray Cummings_ + +[Illustration: We were invisible!] + +[Sidenote: Into remote Lowlands, in an invisible flyer, go Grant and +Jetta--prisoners of a scientific depth bandit.] + +WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE + + +In the year 2020 the oceans have long since drained from the surface +of the earth, leaving bared to sun and wind the one-time sea floor. +Much of it is flat, caked ooze, cracked and hardened, with, here and +there, small scum-covered lakes, bordered by slimy rocks. It is hot, +down in the depth of the great Lowland areas, and it is chiefly +adventurers and outcasts of human kind who can endure life in what +few towns there are. + +Into Nareda, the capital village of the tiny Lowland Republic of +Nareda, goes Philip Grant, an operative of the United States Customs +Department, on a dangerous assignment--to ferret out the men who are +smuggling mercury into the United States from that place. + +Grant falls in love with Jetta, the daughter of Jacob Spawn, a big +mercury mine owner of Nareda, only to learn that Spawn has promised +her in marriage to Greko Perona, the country's Minister of Internal +Affairs. + +Grant follows Perona to a midnight Lowland rendezvous with mysterious +strangers and eavesdrops on them, sending their indistinct voice +murmurs to his chief, Hanley, in Washington, who relays them back to +him, amplified. He learns several important things: that Spawn and +Perona and a depth bandit named De Boer are together involved in the +smuggling; that they have planned a fake robbery of a fortune in +radiumized mercury stored at Spawn's mine, to collect the insurance on +it and escape paying the Government export fee: and that they, plan +to kidnap Grant for ransom. + +The plotters learn of Grant's absence from Nareda, and suspect that he +may be nearby. They start to search for him. Grant barely escapes, +with the bandits and conspirators in hot pursuit. He flees to Jetta, +hoping that they will be able to get away together: but he finds her +tied hand and foot in her room. + +The door is tightly sealed. + +And close behind him are his pursuers! + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_Jetta's Defiance_ + +I must go back now to picture what befell Jetta that afternoon while I +was at Spawn's mine. It is not my purpose to becloud this narrative +with mystery. There was very little mystery about it to Jetta, and I +can reconstruct her viewpoint of the events from what she afterward +told me. + +Jetta's room was in a wing of the house on the side near the pergola. +Her window and door looked out upon the patio. When I had +retired--that first night in Nareda--Spawn had gone to his daughter +and upbraided her for showing herself while he was giving me that +first midnight meal. + +"You stay in your room: you have nothing to do with him. Hear me?" + +"Yes, Father." + +From her infancy he had dominated her; it never occurred to either of +them that she could disobey. And yet, this time she did; for no sooner +was he asleep that night than she came to my window as I have told. + +This next day Jetta dutifully had kept herself secluded. She cooked +her own breakfast while I was at the Government House, and was again +out of sight by noon. + +Jetta was nearly always alone. I can picture her sitting there within +the narrow walls of her little room. Boy's ragged garb. All possible +femininity stripped from her. Yet, within her, the woman's instincts +were struggling. She sewed a great deal, she since has told me, there +in the cloistered dimness. Making little dresses of silk and bits of +finery given her surreptitiously by the neighbor women. Gazing at +herself in them with the aid of a tiny mirror. Hiding them away, never +daring to wear them openly; until at intervals her father would raid +the room, find them and burn them in the kitchen incinerator. + +"Instincts of Satan! By damn but I will get these woman's instincts +out of you, Jetta!" + + * * * * * + +And there were hours when she would try to read hidden books, and look +at pictures of the strange fairy world of the Highlands. She could +read and write a little: she had gone for a few years to the small +Nareda government school, and then been snatched from it by her +father. + +When Spawn and I had finished that noonday meal, I recall that he left +me for a moment. He had gone to Jetta. + +"I am taking that young American to the mine. I will return presently. +Stay close, Jetta." + +"Yes, Father." + +He left with me. Jetta remained in her room, her thoughts upon the +coming night. She trembled at them. She would meet me again, this +evening in the moonlit garden.... + +The sound of a man walking the garden path aroused her from her +reverie. Then came a soft ingratiating voice: + +"Jetta, _chica Mia_!" + +It was Perona, standing by the pergola preening his effeminate +mustache. + +"Jetta, little love bird, come out and talk to me." + +Jetta slammed the window slide and sat quiet. + +"Jetta, it is your Greko." + +"Well do I know it," she muttered. + +"Jetta!" He strode down the path and back. "Jetta." His voice began +rising into a strident, peevish anger. + +"Jetta, are you in there? _Chica_, answer me." + +No answer. + +"Jetta, _por Dios_--" He fumed, then fell to pleading. "Are you in +there? Please, little love bird, answer your Greko. Are you in there?" + +"Yes." + +"Come out then. Come to Greko." + + * * * * * + +She said sweetly. "My father does not want me to talk to men. You know +that is so, Señor Perona." + +It grounded him. "Why--" + +"Is it not so?" + +"Y-yes, but I am not--" + +"A man?" Little imp! She relished impaling him upon the shafts of her +ridicule. Her sport was interrupted by the arrival of Spawn. He had +left me at the mine and come directly back home. Jetta heard his heavy +tread on the garden path, then his voice: + +"Ah, Perona." + +And Perona: "Jetta will not come out and talk to me." The waxen +mustached Minister of Nareda's Internal Affairs was like a sulky +child. But Spawn was unimpressed. Spawn said: + +"Well, let her alone. We have more important things to engage us. I +have the American occupied at the mine. You heard from De Boer?" + +"I went last night. All is ready as we planned. But Spawn, this fool +of an American, this Grant--" + +"Hush! Not so loud, Perona!" + +"I am telling you--!" Perona was excited. His voice rose shrilly, but +Spawn checked him. + +"Shut up: you waste time. Tell me exactly the arrangements with De +Boer. _Le grand coup_! now; to-night most important of nights--and you +rant of your troubles with a girl!" + + * * * * * + +They were standing by the pergola, quite near Jetta's shaded window. +She crouched there, listening to them. None of this was entirely new +to Jetta. She had always been aware more or less of her father's +secret business activities. As a child she had not understood them. +Nor did she now, with any clarity. Spawn, had always talked freely +within her hearing, ignoring her, though occasionally he threatened +her to keep her mouth shut. + +She heard now fragments of this discussion between her father and +Perona. They moved away from the pergola and sat by the fountain, +speaking too low for her to hear. And then they paced the path, coming +nearer, and she caught their voices again. And occasionally they grew +excited, or vehement, and then their raised tones were plainly audible +to her. + +And this that she heard, with what she knew already, and with what +subsequently transpired, enables me now to piece together the facts +into a connected explanation. + +In the establishment of his cinnabar mine some years before, Spawn was +originally financed by Perona. The South American was then newly made +Minister of Nareda's Internal Affairs. He became Spawn's business +partner. They kept the connection secret. Spawn falsified his +production records; and Perona with his governmental position was +enabled to pass these false accounts of the mine's production. Nareda +was systematically cheated of a portion of its legal share. + +But this, after a time, did not satisfy the ambitious Perona and +Spawn. They began to plan how they might engage in smuggling some of +their quicksilver into the United States. + +Perona, during these years, had had ambitions of his own in other +directions. President Markes, of Nareda, was an honest official. He +handicapped Perona considerably. There were many ways by which Perona +could have grown rich through a dishonest handling of the government +affairs. It was done almost universally in all the small Latin +governments. But Markes as President made it dangerous in Nareda. Even +the duplicity with the mine was a precarious affair. + + * * * * * + +There was at this time in Nareda a young adventurer named De Boer. A +handsome, swaggering fellow in his late twenties. He was a good +talker; he spoke many languages; he could orate with fluency and +skilful guile. His smile, his colorful personality, and his gift for +oratory, made it easy for him to stir up dissatisfaction among the +people. + +De Boer became known as a patriot. A revolution in Nareda was brewing. +Perona, as Nareda's Minister, was De Boer's political enemy. The +Nareda Government ran De Boer out, ending the potential revolution. +But Perona and Spawn had always secretly been friends with De Boer. It +would have been very handy to have this unscrupulous young scoundrel +as President. + +When De Boer was banished with some of his most loyal followers, he +began a career of petty banditry in the Lowland's depths. Spawn and +Perona kept in communication with him, and, by a method which was +presently made startlingly clear to Jetta and me, De Boer smuggled the +quicksilver for Perona and Spawn. It was this activity which had +finally aroused my department and caused Hanley to send me to Nareda. + +This however, was a dangerous, precarious occupation. De Boer did not +seem to think so, or care. But Perona and Spawn, with their +established positions in Nareda, were always fearful of exposure. Even +without my coming, they had planned to disconnect from De Boer. + +"And for more than that," as Jetta had one day heard Perona remark to +her father. "I'll tell to you that this De Boer is not very straight +with us, Spawn." De Boer would, upon occasion, fail to make proper +return for the smuggled product. + + * * * * * + +So now they had planned a last coup in which De Boer was to help, and +then they would be done with him: the two of them, Spawn and Perona, +would remain as honest citizens of Nareda, and De Boer had agreed to +take himself away and pursue his banditry elsewhere. + +It was a simple plan; it promised to yield a high stake quickly. A +final fling at illicit activity; then virtuous reformation, with +Perona marrying the little Jetta. + + * * * * * + +Beneath the strong room at the mine, Perona and Spawn had secretly +built a cleverly concealed little vault. De Boer, this night just +before the midnight hour, was to attack the mine. Spawn and Perona had +bribed the police guards to submit to this attack. The guards did not +know the details: they only knew that De Boer and his men would make a +sham attack, careful to harm none of them--and then De Boer would +withdraw. The guards would report that they had been driven away by a +large force. And when the excitement was over, the ingots of +radiumized quicksilver would have vanished! + +De Boer, making away into distant Lowland fastnesses, would obviously +be supposed to have taken the treasure. But Perona, hidden alone in +the strong-room, would merely carry the ingots down into the secret +vault, to be disposed of at some future date. The ingots were well +insured, by an international company, against theft. The Nareda +government would receive one-third of that insurance as recompense for +the loss of its share. Perona and Spawn would get two-thirds--and have +the treasure as well. + + * * * * * + +Such was the present plan, into which, all unknown to me, I had been +plunged. And my presence complicated things considerably. So much so +that Perona grew vehement, this afternoon in the garden, explaining +why. His shrill voice carried clearly to Jetta, in spite of Spawn's +efforts to shut him up. + +"I tell to you that Americano agent will undo us." + +"How?" demanded the calmer Spawn. + +"Already he has made Markes suspicious." + +"Chut! You can befool Markes, Perona. You have for years been doing +it." + +"This meddling fellow, he has met Jetta!" + +"I do not believe it." There was a sudden grimness to Spawn's tone at +the thought. "I do not believe it. Jetta would not dare." + +"You should have seen him flush when Markes mentioned at the +conference this morning that I am to marry Jetta. No one could miss +it. He has met her--I tell it to you--and it must have been last +night." + +"So, you say?" Jetta could see her father's face, white with +suppressed rage. "You think that? And it is that this Grant might be +your rival, that worries you? Not our plans for to-night, which have +real importance--but worrying over a girl." + +"She would not talk to me. She would not come out. He has no doubt put +wild ideas into her head. Spawn, you listen to me. I have always been +more clever than you at scheming. Is it not so? You have always said +it. I have a plan now, it fits our arrangements with De Boer, but it +will rid us of this Americano. When all is done and I have married +Jetta--" + + * * * * * + +Spawn interrupted impatiently. "You will marry Jetta, never fear. I +have promised her to you." + +And because, as Jetta well knew, Perona had made it part of his +bargaining in financing Spawn. But this they did not now mention. + +"To get rid of this Grant--well, that sounds meritorious. He is +dangerous around here. To that I agree." + +"And with Jetta--" + +"Have done, Perona!" With sudden decision Spawn leaped to his feet. "I +do not believe she would have dared talk to Grant. We'll have her out +and ask her. If she has, by the gods--" + +It fell upon Jetta before she had time to gather her wits. Spawn +strode to her door, and found it fastened on the inside. + +"Jetta, open at once!" + +He thumped with his heavy fists. Confused and trembling she unsealed +it, and he dragged her out into the sunlight of the garden. + +"Now then, Jetta, you have heard some of what we have been saying, +perhaps?" + +"Father--" + +"About this young American? This Grant?" + +She stood cringing in his grasp. Spawn had never used physical +violence with Jetta. But he was white with fury now. + +"Father, you--you are hurting me." + +Perona interposed. "Wait Spawn! Not so rough! Let me talk to her. +Jetta, _chica mia_, your Greko is worried--" + +"To the hell with that!" Spawn shouted. But he released the girl and +she sank trembling to the little seat by the pergola. + +Spawn stood over her. "Jetta, look at me! Did you meet--did you talk +to Grant last night?" + +She wanted to deny it. She clung to his angry gaze. But the habit of +all her life of truthfulness with him prevailed. + +"Y-yes," she admitted. + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Trapped_ + +"Spawn! Hold!" + +There was an instant when it seemed that Spawn would strike the girl. +The blood drained from his face, leaving his dark eyes blazing like +torches. His hamlike fist went back, but Perona sprang for him and +clutched him. + +"Hold, Spawn: I will talk to her. Jetta, so you did--" + +The torrent of emotion swept Spawn; weakened him so that instead of +striking Jetta, he yielded to Perona's clutch and dropped his arm. For +a moment he stood gazing at his daughter. + +"Is it so? And all my efforts, going for nothing, just like your +mother!" He no more than murmured it, and as Perona pushed him, he +sank to the bench beside Jetta. But did not touch her, just sat +staring. And she stared back, both of then aghast at the enormity of +this, her first disobedience. + +I never had opportunity to know Spawn, except for the few times which +I have mentioned. Perhaps he was at heart a pathetic figure. I think, +looking back on it now that Spawn is dead, that there was a pathos to +him. Spawn had loved his wife, Jetta's mother. As a young man he had +brought her to the Lowlands to seek his fortune. And when Jetta was an +infant, his wife had left him. Run away, abandoning him and their +child. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps Spawn was never mentally normal after that. He had reared +Jetta with the belief that sin was inherent in all females. It +obsessed him. Warped and twisted all his outlook as he brooded on it +through the years. Woman's instincts; woman's love of pleasure, pretty +clothes--all could lead only to sin. + +And so he had kept Jetta secluded. He had fought what he seemed to see +in her as she grew and flowered into girlhood, and denied her +everything which he thought might make her like her mother. + +Spawn met his death within a few hours of this afternoon I am +describing. Perhaps he was no more than a scheming scoundrel. We are +instinctively lenient with our appraisal of the dead. I do not know. + +"Jetta," Perona said to her accusingly, "that is true, then: you did +talk with that miserable Americano last night? You sinful, lying +girl." + +The contrition within Jetta at disobeying her father faded before this +attack. + +"I am not sinful." The trembling left her and she sat up and faced the +accusing Perona. "I did but talk to him. You speak lies when you say I +am sinful." + +"You hear, Spawn? Defiant: already changed from the little Jetta I--" + +"Yes, I am changed. I do not love you, Señor Perona. I think I hate +you." Her tears were very close, but she finished: "I--I won't marry +you. I won't!" + +It stung Spawn. He leaped to his feet. "So you talk like that! It has +gone so far as this, has it? Get to your room! We will see what you +will and what you won't!" + + * * * * * + +Again the crafty Perona was calmest of them all. He thrust himself in +front of Spawn. + +"Jetta, to-night you plan to see him again, no? To-night?--here?" + +"No," she stammered. + +"You lie!" + +"No." + +"You lie! Spawn look at her! Lying! She has planned to meet him +to-night! That is all we want to know." He broke into a cackling +chuckle. "That fits my new plan, Spawn. A tryst with Jetta, here in +the garden." + +"Get to your room," Spawn growled. He dragged her back, and Perona +followed them. + +"You lie there." Spawn flung her to her couch. "After this night's +work is done, we'll see whether you will or you won't." + +"She may not stay in here." Perona suggested. + +"She will stay." + +"You seal her in?" + +"I will seal her in." + +Perona's eyes roved the little bedroom. One window oval and a door, +both overlooking the patio. + +"But suppose she should get out? There is no way to seal that window +properly from outside. A cord!" + +A long stout silken tassel-cord had been draped by Jetta at the window +curtain. Perona snatched it down. + +"If her ankles and wrists were tied with this--" + +"No!" burst out Jetta. And then a fear for me rushed over her. A +realization, forgotten in the stress of this conflict with her +father, now swept over her. They were planning harm to me. + +"No, do not bind me." + + * * * * * + +A sudden caution came to her. She was making it worse for me. Already +she had done me immense harm. + +She said suddenly, "Do what you like with me. I was wrong. I have no +interest in that American. It is you, Greko, I--I love." + +Spawn did not heed her. Perona insisted, "I would tie her with care." + +He helped Spawn rope her ankles, and then her wrists, crossed behind +her. + +"A little gag, Spawn? She might cry out: we want no interference +to-night." He was ready with a large silken handkerchief. They thrust +it into her mouth and tied it behind her neck. + +"There," growled Spawn. "You will and you won't: we shall see about +that. Lie still, Jetta. If I have need to come again to you--" + +They left her. And this time she heard them less clearly. But there +were fragments: + +Perona: "I will meet him again. After dark, to-night. Yes, he expects +me. For his money, Spawn, his pay in advance. This De Boer works not +for nothing." + +Spawn: "You will arrange about your police on the streets? He can get +here to my house safely?" + +"Oh yes, at the tri-evening hour, certainly before midnight, before +the attack on the mine. You must stay here, Spawn. Pretend to be +asleep: it will lure the fool Americano out in to the moonlight." + + * * * * * + +Jetta could piece it together fairly well. They would have De Boer +come and abduct me. Not tell him I was a government agent, with the +micro-safety alarm which they suspected I carried, but just tell De +Boer that I was a rich American, who could be abducted and held for a +big ransom. + +Perona's voice rose with a fragment: "If he springs his alarm, here in +the moonlight, you can be here, Spawn, and pretend to try and rescue +him. A radio-image of that flashed to Hanley's office will exonerate +us of suspicion." + +Perona would promise De Boer that the Nareda government would pay the +ransom quickly, collecting it later from the United States. + +Spawn said, "You think De Boer will believe that?" + +"Why should he not? I am skilful at persuasion, no? Let him find out +later that the United States Government trackers are after him!" +Perona cackled at the thought of it. "What of that? Let him kill this +Grant. All the better." + +Spawn said abruptly: "The United States may catch De Boer. Have you +thought of that, Perona? The fellow would not shield us, but would +tell everything." + +"And who will believe him? The wild tale of a trapped bandit! Against +your word, Spawn? You, an honest and wealthy mine owner? And I--I, +Greko Perona, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Sovereign Power of +Nareda! Who will dare to give me the lie because a bandit tells a wild +tale with no real facts to prop it?" + +"Those police guards at the mine to-night?" + +"Admit that they took your bribes? You are witless, Spawn! Let them +but admit it to me and of a surety I will fling them into +imprisonment! Now listen with care, for the after noon is going...." + +Their voices lowered, then faded, and Jetta was left alone and +helpless. Spawn went back to the mine to meet me. We returned and had +supper, Jetta could dimly hear us. + + * * * * * + +There was silence about the house during the mid-evening. I had +slipped out and followed Perona to his meeting with De Boer. Then +Spawn had discovered my absence and had rushed to join Perona and +tell him. + +But Jetta knew nothing of this. The hour of her tryst with me was +approaching. In the darkness of her room as she lay bound and gagged +on her couch, she could see the fitful moonlight rising to illumine +the window oval. + +She squirmed at the cords holding her, but could not loosen them. They +cut into her flesh; her limbs were numb. + +The evening wore on. Would I come to the garden tryst? + +Jetta could not break her bonds. But gradually she had mouthed the gag +loose. Then she heard my hurried footsteps in the patio; then my tense +voice. + +And at her answer I was pounding on her door. But it had been stoutly +sealed by Spawn. I flung my shoulder against it, raging, thumping. But +the heavy metal panels would not yield; the seal held intact. + +"Jetta!" + +"Philip, run away! They want to catch you! De Boer, the bandit, is +coming!" + +"I know it!" + +Fool that I was, to pause with talk! There was no time: I must get +Jetta out of here. Break down this door. + +But it would not yield. A gas torch would melt this outer seal. Was +there a torch here at Spawn's? But I had no time to search for a +torch! Or a bar with which to ram this door-- + +A panic seized me, with the fresh realization that any instant De Boer +and his men would arrive. I beat with futile fists on the door, and +Jetta from within, calling to me to get away before I was caught. + +This accursed door between us! + + * * * * * + +And then--after no more than half a minute, doubtless--I thought of +the window. My momentary panic left me. I dashed to the window oval. +Sealed. But the shutter curtain, and the glassite pane behind it, were +fragile. + +"Jetta, are you near the window?" + +"No. On the bed. They have tied me." + +"Look out; I'm breaking through!" + +There were loose rocks, as large as my head, set to mark the garden +path. I seized one and hurled it. With a crash it went through the +window and fell to the floor of the room. A jagged hole showed. + +"All right, Jetta?" + +"Yes! Yes, Philip." + +I squirmed through the oval and dropped to the floor. My arms were cut +from the jagged glassite, though I did not know it then. It was dim +inside the room, but I could see the outline of the bed with her lying +on it. + +Her ankles and wrists were tied. I cut the cords with my knife. + +She was gasping. "They're planning to capture you. Philip! You should +not be here! Get away!" + +"Yes. But I'm going to take you with me. Can you stand up?" + + * * * * * + +I set her on her feet in the center of the room. A shaft of moonlight +was coming through the hole in the window. + +"Philip! You're bleeding!" + +"It is nothing. Cut myself on the glassite. Can you stand alone?" + +"Yes." + +But her legs, stiffened and numb from having been bound so many hours, +bent under her. I caught her as she was falling. + +"I'll be--all right in a minute. But Philip, if you stay here--" + +"You're going with me!" + +"Oh!" + +I could carry her, if she could not run. But it would be slow; and it +would be difficult to get her through the window. And on the street we +would attract too much attention. + +"Jetta, try to stand. Stamp your feet. I'll hold you." + +I steadied her. Then I bent down, chafing her legs with my hands. Her +arms had been limp, but the blood was in them now. She murmured with +the tingling pain, and then bent over, frantically helping me rub the +circulation back into her legs. + +"Better?" + +"Yes." She took a weak and trembling step. + +"Wait. Let me rub them more, Jetta." + +Precious minutes! + +"I'll knock out the rest of the window with that rock! We'll run; +we'll be out of here in a moment." + +"Run where?" + +"Away. Into hiding--out of all this. The United States patrol-ship is +coming from Porto Rico. It will take us from here." + +"Where?" + +"Away. To Great New York, maybe. Away from all this; from that old +fossil, Perona." + +I was stooping beside her. + +"I'm all right now, Philip." + +I rose up, and suddenly found myself clasping her in my arms; her +slight body in the boy's ragged garb pressed against me. + +"Jetta, dear, do you trust me? Will you come?" + +"Yes. Oh, yes--anywhere, Philip, with you." + + * * * * * + +For only a breathless instant I lingered, holding her. Then I cast her +off and seized the rock from the floor. The jagged glassite fell away +under my blows. + +"Now, Jetta. I'll go first--" + +But it was too late! I stopped, stricken by the sound of a voice +outside! + +"He's there! In the girl's room! That's her window!" + +Cautious voices in the garden! The thud of approaching footsteps. + +I shoved Jetta back and rushed to the broken window oval. The figures +of De Boer and his men showed in the moonlight across the patio. They +had heard me breaking the glassite. And they saw me, now. + +"There he is, De Boer!" + +We were trapped! + + +CHAPTER X + +_The Murder in the Garden_ + +"Hans, keep back! I will go!" + +"But Commander--" + +"Armed? The hell he is not! Spawn said no. Spawn! Where is Spawn? He +was here." + +I had dropped back from the window, and, gripping Jetta, stood in the +center of the room. + +"Jetta, dear." + +"Oh. Philip!" + +"There's no other way out of here?" + +"No! No!" + +Only the heavy sealed door, and this broken window. The bandits in the +garden had paused at sight of me. Someone had called. + +"He may be armed, De Boer." + +They had stopped their forward rush and darted into the shelter of the +pergola. I might be armed! + +We could hear their low voices not ten feet from us. But I was not +armed, except for my knife. Futile weapon, indeed. + +"Jetta, keep back. If they should fire--" + + * * * * * + +I got a look through the oval. De Boer was advancing upon it, with his +barreled projector half levelled. He saw me again. He called: + +"You American, come out!" + +I crouched on the floor, pushing Jetta back to where the shadows of +the bed hid her. + +"You American!" + +He was close outside the window. "Come out--or I am coming in!" + +I said abruptly, "Come!" + +My blade was in my hand. If he showed himself I could slash his +throat, doubtless. But what about Jetta? My thoughts flashed upon the +heels of my defiant invitation. Suppose, as De Boer climbed in the +window, I killed him? I could not escape, and his infuriated fellows +would rush us, firing through the oval, sweeping the room, killing us +both. But Jetta now was in no danger. Her father was outside, and +these bandits were her father's friends. I would have to yield. + +I called, louder, "Why don't you come in?" + +Could I hold them off? Frighten them off, for a time, and make enough +noise so that perhaps someone passing in the nearby street would give +the alarm and bring help? + +There was a sudden silence in the patio. The bandits had so far made +as little commotion as possible. Presently I could hear their low +voices. + + * * * * * + +I heard an oath. De Boer's head and shoulders appeared in the window +oval! His levelled projector came through. Perhaps he would not have +fired, but I did not dare take the chance. I was crouching almost +under the muzzle, so I straightened, gripped it, and flung it up. I +then slashed at his face with my knife, but he gripped my wrist with +powerful fingers. My knife fell as he twisted my wrist. His projector +had not fired. It was jammed between us. One of his huge arms reached +in and encircled me. + +"Damn you!" + +He muttered it, but I shouted, "Fool! De Boer, the bandit!" + +I was aware of a commotion out in the garden. + +"... Bring all Nareda on our ears? De Boer, shut him up!" + +I was gripping the projector, struggling to keep its muzzle pointed +upwards. With a heave of his giant arms De Boer lifted me and jerked +me bodily through the window. I fell on my feet, still fighting. But +other hands seized me. It was no use. I yielded suddenly. I panted: + +"Enough!" + +They held me. One of them growled. "Another shout and we will leave +you here dead. Commander, _look_!" + +My shirt was torn open. The electrode band about my chest was exposed! +De Boer towered head and shoulders over me. I gazed up, passive in the +grip of two or three of his men, and saw his face. His heavy jaw +dropped as he gazed at my little diaphragms, the electrode. + +He knew now for the first time that this was no private citizen he had +assaulted. This official apparatus meant that I was a Government +agent. + + * * * * * + +There was an instant of shocked silence. An expression grim and +furious crossed the giant bandit's face. + +"So this is it? Hans, careful--hold him!" + +Jetta was still in her room, silent now. I heard Spawn's voice, close +at hand in the patio. + +"De Boer! Careful!" It was the most cautious of half-whispers. + +Abruptly someone reached for my chest; jerked at the electrode; tore +its fragile wires--the tiny grids and thumbnail amplifiers; jerked and +ripped and flung the whole little apparatus to the garden path. But it +sang its warning note as the wires broke. Up in Great New York Hanley +knew then that catastrophe had fallen upon me. + +For a brief instant the crestfallen bandit mumbled at what he had +done. Then came Spawn's voice: + +"Got him, De Boer? Good!" + +Triumphant Spawn! He advanced across the garden with his heavy tread. +And to me, and I am sure to De Boer as well, there came the swift +realization that Spawn had been hiding safely in the background. But +my detector was smashed now. It might have imaged De Boer assailing +me: but now that it was smashed, Spawn could act freely. + +"Good! So you have him! Make away to the mine!" + +I did not see De Boer's face at that instant. But I saw his weapon +come up--an act wholly impulsive, no doubt. A flash of fury! + +He levelled the projector, not at me, but at the on-coming Spawn. + +"You damn liar!" + +"De Boer--" It was a scream of terror from Spawn. But it came too +late. The projector hissed; spat its tiny blue puff. The needle +drilled Spawn through the heart. He toppled, flung up his arms, and +went down, silently, to sprawl on his face across the garden path. + + * * * * * + +De Boer was cursing, startled at his own action. The men holding me +tightened their grip. I heard Jetta cry out, but not at what had +happened in the garden: she was unaware of that. One of the bandits +had left the group and climbed into her room. Her cry now was +suppressed, as though the man's hand went over her mouth. And in the +silence came his mumbled voice: + +"Shut up, you!" + +There was the sound of a scuffle in there. I tore at the men holding +me. + +"Let me go! Jetta! Come out!" + +De Boer dashed for the window. I was still struggling. A hand cuffed +me in the face. A projector rammed into my side. + +"Stop it, fool American!" + +De Boer came back with a chastened bandit ahead of him. The man was +muttering and rubbing his shoulder, and De Boer said: + +"Try anything like that again, Cartner, and I won't be so easy on +you." + +De Boer was dragging Jetta, holding her by a wrist. She looked like a +terrified, half-grown boy, so small was she beside this giant. But the +woman's lines of her, and the long dark hair streaming about her white +face and over her shoulders, were unmistakable. + +"His daughter." De Boer was chuckling. "The little Jetta." + + * * * * * + +All this had happened in certainly no more than five minutes. I +realized that no alarm had been raised: the bandits had managed it all +with reasonable quiet. + +There were six of the bandits here, and De Boer, who towered over us +all. I saw him now as a swaggering giant of thirty-odd, with a +heavy-set smooth-shaved, handsome face. + +He held Jetta off. "Damn, how you have grown, Jetta." + +Someone said, "She knows too much." + +And someone else, "We will take her with us. If you leave her here, De +Boer--" + +"Why should I leave her? Why? Leave her--for Perona?" + +Then I think that for the first time Jetta saw her father's body lying +sprawled on the path. She cried, "Philip!" Then she half turned and +murmured: "Father!" + +She wavered, almost falling. "Father--" She went down, fainting, +falling half against me and against De Boer, who caught her slight +body in his arms. + +"Come, we'll get back. Drag him!" + +"But you can't carry that girl out like that, De Boer." + +"Into the house: there is an open door. Hans, go out and bring the car +around to this side. Give me the cloaks. There is no alarm yet." + +De Boer chuckled again. "Perona was nice to keep the police off this +street to-night!" + +We went into the kitchen. An auto-car, which to the village people +might have been there on Spawn's mining business, slid quietly up to +the side entrance. A cloak was thrown over Jetta. She was carried like +a sack and put into the car. + +I suddenly found an opportunity to break loose. I leaped and struck +one of the men. But the others were too quickly on me. The kitchen +table went over with a crash. + +Then something struck me on the back of the head: I think it was the +handle of De Boer's great knife. The kitchen and the men struggling +with me faded. I went into a roaring blackness. + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Aboard the Bandit Flyer_ + +I was dimly conscious of being inside the cubby of the car, with +bandits sitting over me. The car was rolling through the village +streets. Ascending. We must be heading for Spawn's mine. I thought of +Jetta. Then I heard her voice and felt her stir beside me. + +The roaring in my head made everything dreamlike. I sank half into +unconsciousness again. It seemed an endless interval, with only the +muttering hiss of the car's mechanism and the confused murmurs of the +bandits' voices. + +Then my strength came. The cold sweat on me was drying in the night +breeze that swept through the car as it climbed the winding ascent. I +could see through its side oval a vista of bloated Lowland crags with +moonlight on them. + +It seemed that we should be nearly to the mine. We stopped. The men in +the car began climbing out. + +De Boer's voice: "Is he conscious now? I'll take the girl." + +Someone bent over me. "You hear me?" + +"Yes," I said. + +I found myself outside the car. They held me on my feet. Someone +gratuitously cuffed me, but De Boer's voice issued a sharp, low-toned +rebuke. + +"Stop it! Get him and the girl aboard." + + * * * * * + +There seemed thirty or forty men gathered here. Silent dark figures in +black robes. The moonlight showed them, and occasionally one flashed a +hand search-beam. It was De Boer's main party gathered to attack the +mine. + +I stood wavering on my feet. I was still weak and dizzy, with a lump +on the back of my head where I had been struck. The scene about me was +at first unfamiliar. We were in a rocky gully. Rounded broken walls. +Caves and crevices. Dried ooze piled like a ramp up one side. The +moonlight struggled down through a gathering mist overhead. + +I saw, presently, where we were. Above the mine, not below it: and I +realized that the car had encircled the mine's cauldron and climbed +to a height beyond it. Down the small gully I could see where it +opened into the cauldron about a hundred feet below us. The lights of +the mine winked in the blurred moonlight shadows. + +The bandits led me up the gully. The car was left standing against the +gully side where it had halted. De Boer, or one of his men, was +carrying Jetta. + +The flyer was here. We came upon it suddenly around a bend in the +gully. Although I had only seen the nose if it earlier in the evening. +I recognized this to be the same. It was in truth a strange looking +flyer: I had never seen one quite like it. Barrel-winged, like a +Jantzen: multi-propellored: and with folding helicopters for the +vertical lifts and descent. And a great spreading fan-tail, in the +British fashion. It rested on the rocks like a fat-winged bird with +its long cylindrical body puffed out underneath. A seventy-foot cabin: +fifteen feet wide, possibly. A line of small window-portes; a circular +glassite front to the forward control-observatory cubby, with the +propellors just above it, and the pilot cubby up there behind them. +And underneath the whole, a landing gear of the Fraser-Mood +springed-cushion type: and an expanding, air-coil pontoon-bladder for +landing upon water. + + * * * * * + +All this was usual enough. Yet, with the brief glimpses I had as my +captors hurried me toward the landing incline, I was aware of +something very strange about this flyer. It was all dead black, a +bloated-bellied black bird. The moonlight struck it, but did not gleam +or shimmer on its black metal surface. The cabin window-portes glowed +with a dim blue-gray light from inside. But as I chanced to gaze at +one a green film seemed to cross it like a shade, so that it winked +and its light was gone. Yet a hole was there, like an eye-socket. An +empty green hole. + +We were close to the plane now, approaching the bottom of the small +landing-incline. The wing over my head was like a huge fat barrel cut +length-wise in half. I stared up; and suddenly it seemed that the wing +was melting. Fading. Its inner portion, where it joined the body, was +clear in the moonlight. But the tips blurred and faded. An aspect +curiously leprous. Uncanny. Gruesome. + +They took me up the landing-incline. A narrow vaulted corridor ran +length-wise of the interior, along one side of the cabin body. To my +left as we headed for the bow control room, the corridor window-portes +showed the rocks outside. To the right of the corridor, the ship's +small rooms lay in a string. A metal interior. I saw almost nothing +save metal in various forms. Grid floor and ceiling. Sheet metal walls +and partitions. Furnishings and fabrics, all of spun metal. And all +dead black. + +We entered the control room. The two men holding me flung me in a +chair. I had been searched. They had taken from me the tiny, colored +magnesium light-flashes. How easy for the plans of men to go astray! +Hanley and I had arranged that I was to signal the Porto Rican +patrol-ship with those flares. + +"Sit quiet!" commanded my guard. + +I retorted, "If you hit me again, I won't." + + * * * * * + +De Boer came in, carrying Jetta. He put her in a chair near me, and +she sat huddled tense. In the dim gray light of the control room her +white face with its big staring dark eyes was turned toward me. But +she did not speak, nor did I. + +The bandits ignored us. De Boer moved about the room, examining a bank +of instruments. Familiar instruments, most of them. The usual +aero-controls and navigational devices. A radio audiphone transmitter +and receiver, with its attendant eavesdropping cut-offs. And there was +an ether-wave mirror-grid. De Boer bent over it. And then I saw him +fastening upon his forehead an image-lens. He said: + +"You stay here, Hans. You and Gutierrez. Take care of the girl and +this fellow Grant. Don't hurt them." + +Gutierrez was a swarthy Latin American. He smiled. "For why would I +hurt him? You say he is worth much money to us, De Boer. And the girl, +ah--" + +De Boer towered over him. "Just lay a finger on her and you will +regret it, Gutierrez! You stay at your controls. Be ready. This affair +it will take no more than half an hour." + +A man came to the control room entrance. "You come, Commander?" + +"Yes. Right at once." + +"The men are ready. From the mine we might almost be seen here. This +delay--" + +"Coming, Rausch." + + * * * * * + +But he lingered a moment more. "Hans, my finder will show you what I +do. Keep watch. When we come back, have all ready for flight. This +Grant had an alarm-detector. Heaven only knows what eavesdropping and +relaying he has done. And for sure there is hell now in Spawn's +garden. The Nareda police are there, of course. They might track us up +here." + +He paused before me. "I think I would not cause trouble, Grant." + +"I'm not a fool." + +"Perhaps not." He turned to Jetta. "No harm will come to you. Fear +nothing." + +He wound his dark cloak about his giant figure and left the control +room. In a moment, through the rounded observing pane beside me, I saw +him outside on the moonlit rocks. His men gathered about him. There +were forty of them, possibly, with ten or so left here aboard to guard +the flyer. + +And in another moment the group of dark-cloaked figures outside crept +off in single file like a slithering serpent, moving down the rock +defile toward where in the cauldron pit the lights of the mine shone +on its dark silent buildings. + + +CHAPTER XII + +_The Attack on the Mine_ + +There was a moment when I had an opportunity to speak with Jetta. +Gutierrez sat watchfully by the archway corridor entrance with a +needle projector across his knees. The fellow Hans, a big, heavy-set +half-breed Dutchman with a wide-collared leather jerkin and wide, +knee-length pantaloons, laid his weapon carefully aside and busied +himself with his image mirror. There would soon be images upon it, I +knew: De Boer had the lens-finder on his forehead, and the scenes at +the mine, as De Boer saw them would be flashed back to us here. + +This Gutierrez was very watchful. A move on my part and I knew he +would fling a needle through me. + +My thoughts flew. Hanley had notified Porto Rico. The patrol-ship had +almost enough time to get here by now. + +I felt Jetta plucking at me. She whispered: + +"They have gone to attack the mine." + +"Yes." + +"I heard it planned. Señor Perona--" + +Her hurried whispers told me further details of Perona's scheme. So +this was a pseudo attack! Perona would take advantage of it and hide +the quicksilver. De Boer would return presently and escape. And hold +me for ransom. I chuckled grimly. Not so easy for a bandit, even one +as clever as De Boer at hiding in the Lowland depths to arrange a +ransom for an agent of the United States. Our entire Lowland patrol +would be after him in a day. + + * * * * * + +Jetta's swift whispers made it all clear to me. It was Perona's +scheme. + +She ended, "And my father--" Her voice broke; her eyes flooded +suddenly with tears "Oh, Philip, he was good to me, my poor father." + +I saw that the mirror before Hans was glowing with its coming image. I +pressed Jetta's hand. + +"Yes, Jetta." + +One does not disparage the dead. I could not exactly subscribe to +Jetta's appraisal of her parent, but I did not say so. + +"Jetta, the mirror is on." + +I turned away from her toward the instrument table. Gutierrez at the +door raised his weapon. I said hastily, "Nothing. I--we just want to +see the mirror." + +I stood beside Hans. He glanced at me and I tried to smile +ingratiatingly. + +"This attack will be successful, eh, Hans?" + +"Damn. I hope so." + +The mirror was glowing. Hans turned a switch to dim the tube-lights of +the room so that we might see the images better. It brought a protest +from Gutierrez. + +I swung around. "I'm not a fool! You can see me perfectly well: kill +me if I make trouble. I want to see the attack." + +"_Por Dios_, if you try anything--" + +"I won't!" + +"Shut!" growled Hans. "The audiphone is on. The big adventure--and the +commander--leaves me here just to watch!" + + * * * * * + +A slit in the observatory pane was open. The dark figure of one of the +bandits on guard outside came and called softly up to us. + +"Started. Hans?" + +"Starting." + +"Should it go wrong, call out." + +"Yes. But it will not." + +"There was an alarm, relayed probably to Great New York, the commander +said, from Spawn's garden. These cursed prisoners--" + +"Shut! You keep watch out there. It is starting." + +The guard slunk away. My attention went back to the mirror. An image +was formed there now, coming from the eye of the lens upon De Boer's +forehead. It swayed with his walking. He was evidently leading his +men, for none of them were in the scene. The dark rocks were moving +past. The lights of the mine were ahead and below, but coming nearer. + +The audiphone hummed and crackled. And through it, De Boer's +low-voiced command sounded: + +"To the left is the better path. Keep working to the left." + +The image of the rocks and the mine swung with a dizzying sweep as De +Boer turned about. Then again he was creeping forward. + +The mine lights came closer. De Beer's whispered voice said: "There +they are!" + + * * * * * + +I could see the lights of the mine's guards flash on. A group of +Spawn's men gathered before the smelter building. The challenge +sounded. + +"Who are you? Stop!" + +And De Boer's murmur: "That is correct, as Perona said. They expect +us. Well," he ended with a sardonic laugh, "expect us." + +His projector went up. He fired. In the silence of the control room we +could hear the audiphoned hiss of it, and see the flash in the +mirror-scene. He had fired into the air. + +Again his low voice to his men: "Hold steady. They will run." + +The group of figures at the smelter separated, waved and scattered +back into the deeper shadows. Their hand-lights were extinguished, but +the moonlight caught and showed them. They were running away; hiding +in the crags. They fired a shot or two, high in the air. + +De Boer was advancing swiftly now. The image swayed and shifted, +raised and lowered rhythmically as he ran. And the dark shape of the +smelter building loomed large as he neared it. + +I felt Jetta beside me: heard her whisper: "Why, he should attack and +then come back! Greko told my father--" + +But De Boer was not coming back! He was dashing for the smelter +entrance. Spawn's guards must have known then that there was something +wrong. Their shots hissed, still fired high, and our grid sounded +their startled shouts. Then as De Boer momentarily turned his head, I +saw what was taking place to the side of him. A detachment of the +bandits had followed the retreating guards. The bandits' shots were +levelled now. Dim stabs of light in the gloom. One of the guards +screamed as he was struck. + + * * * * * + +The attack was real! But it was over in a moment. Spawn's men, those +who were not struck down, plunged away and vanished. Perona had +disconnected the mine's electrical safeguards. The smelter door was +sealed, but it gave before the blows of a metal bar two of De Boer's +men were carrying. + +In the unguarded, open strong-room, Perona, alone, was absorbed in his +task of carrying the ingots of quicksilver down into the hidden +compartment beneath its metal floor. + +Our mirror was vague and dim now with a moving interior of the main +smelter room as De Boer plunged through. At the strong-room entrance +he paused, with his men crowding behind him. The figure of Perona +showed in the vague light: he was stooping under the weight of one of +the little ingots. Beside him yawned the small trap-opening leading +downward. + +He saw De Boer. He straightened, startled, and then shouted with a +terrified Spanish oath. De Boer's projector was levelled: the huge, +foreshortened muzzle of it blotted out half our image. It hissed its +puff of light--a blinding flash on our mirror--in the midst of which +the dark shape of Perona's body showed as it crumpled and fell. Like +Spawn, he met instant death. + +Jetta was gripping me. "Why--" Gutierrez was with us. Hans was +bending forward, watching the mirror. He muttered, "Got him!" + +I saw a chance to escape, and pulled at Jetta. But at once Gutierrez +stepped backward. + +"Like him I will strike you dead!" he said. + + * * * * * + +No chance of escape. I had thought Gutierrez absorbed by the mirror, +but he was not. I protested vehemently: + +"I haven't moved, you fool. I have no intention of moving." + +And now De Boer and his men were carrying up the ingots. A man for +each bar. A confusion of blurred swaying shapes, and low-voiced, +triumphant murmurs from our disc. + +Then De Boer was outside the smelter house, and we saw a little queue +of the bandits carrying the treasure up the defile. Coming back here +to the flyer. There was no pursuit; the mine guards were gone. + +The triumphant bandits would be here in a few moments. + +"_Ave Maria, que magnifico!_" Gutierrez had retreated to our doorway, +more alert than ever upon me and Jetta. Hans called through the +window-slit: + +"All is well, Franks!" + +"Got it?" + +"Yes! Make ready." + +There was a stir outside as several of the bandits hastened down the +defile to meet De Boer. And the tread of others, inside the flyer at +their posts, preparing for hasty departure. + +Hans snapped off the audiphone and mirror. He bent over his control +panel. "All is well, Gutierrez. In a moment we start." + +Through the observatory window I saw the line of De Boer's men coming: +Abruptly Hans gave a cry. "Look!" + + * * * * * + +A glow was in the room. A faint aura of light. And our disconnected +instruments were crackling, murmuring with interference. Eavesdropping +waves were here! Hans realised it: so did I. + +But there was no need for theory. From outside came shouts. + +"Patrol-ship!" + +"Hurry!" + +The ship, suddenly exposing its lights, was perfectly visible above +us. Five thousand feet up, possibly. A tiny silver bird in the +moonlight: but even with the naked eye I could see by its light +pattern that it was the official Porto Rican patrol-liner. It saw us +down here: recognized this bandit flyer, no doubt. + +And it was coming down! + +There was a confusion as the bandits rushed aboard. The patrol was +dropping in a swift spiral. I watched tensely, holding Jetta, with the +turmoil of the embarking bandits around me. Gutierrez stood with +levelled weapon. + +"They have not moved, Commander." + +De Boer was here. The treasure was aboard. + +"Ready, Hans. Lift us." + +The landing portes clanged as they closed. Hans shoved at his +switches. I heard the helicopter engines thumping. A vertical lift: +there was no space in this rocky defile for any horizontal take-away. + +He was very calm, this De Boer. He sat in a chair at a control-bank of +instruments unfamiliar to me. + +"Full power, Hans: I tell you. Lift us!" + + * * * * * + +The ship was quivering. We lifted. The rocks of the gully dropped +away. But the patrol-ship was directly over us. Was De Boer rushing +into a collision? + +"Now, forward, Hans." + +We poised for the level flight. Did De Boer think he could +out-distance this patrol-ship, the swiftest type of flyer in the +Service? I knew that was impossible. + +The silver ship overhead was circling, watchful. And as we levelled +for forward flight it shot a warning searchlight beam down across our +bow, ordering us to land. + +De Boer laughed. "They think they have us!" + +I saw his hand go to a switch. A warning siren resounded through our +corridor, warning the bandits of De Boer's next move. But I did not +know it then: the thing caught me unprepared. + +De Boer flung another switch. My senses reeled. I heard Jetta cry out. +My arm about her tightened. + +A moment of strange whirling unreality. The control room seemed fading +about me. The tube-lights dimmed. A green glow took their place--a +lurid sheen in which the cubby and the tense faces of De Boer and Hans +showed with ghastly pallor. Everything was unreal. The voices of De +Boer and Hans sounded with a strange tonelessness. Stripped of the +timber that made one differ from the other. Hollow ghosts of human +voices. By the sound I could not tell which was De Boer and which was +Hans. + +The corridor was dark; all the lights on the ship faded into this +horrible dead green. The window beside me had a film on it. A dead, +dark opening where moonlight had been. Then I realized that I was +beginning to see through it once more. Starlight. Then the moonlight. + +We had soared almost level with the descending patrol-ship. We went +past it, a quarter of a mile away. Went past, and it did not follow. +It was still circling. + + * * * * * + +I knew then what had happened. And why this bandit ship had seemed of +so strange an aspect. We were invisible! At four hundred yards, even +in the moonlight, the patrol could not distinguish us. Only ten of +these X-flyers were in existence: they were the closest secret of the +U. S. Anti-War Department. No other government had them except in +impractical imitations. I had never even seen one before. + +But this bandit ship was one. And I recalled that a year ago, a +suppressed dispatch intimated that the Service had lost one--wrecked +in the Lowlands and never found. + +So this was that lost invisible flyer? De Boer, using it for +smuggling, with Perona and Spawn as partners. And now, De Boer making +away in it with Spawn's treasure! + +The bandit's hollow, toneless, unreal chuckle sounded in the gruesome +lurid green of the control room. + +"I think that surprised them!" + +The tiny silver shape of the baffled local patrol-ship faded behind us +as we flew northward over heavy, fantastic crags; far above the tiny +twinkling lights of the village of Nareda--out over the sullen dark +surface of the Nares Sea. + + +CHAPTER XIII + +_The Flight to the Bandit Stronghold_ + +During this flight of some six hours--north, and then, I think, +northeast--to the remote Lowland fastness where De Boer's base was +located, I had no opportunity to learn much of the operation of this +invisible flyer. But it was the one which had been lost. Wrecked, no +doubt, and the small crew aboard it all killed. The vessel, however, +was not greatly damaged: the crew were killed doubtless by escaping +poisonous gases when the flyer struck. + +How long it lay unfound, I cannot say. Perhaps, for days, it still +maintained its invisibility, while the frantic planes of the U. S. +Anti-War Department tried in vain to locate it. And then, with its +magnetic batteries exhausting themselves, it must have become visible. +Perona, making a solo flight upon Nareda business to Great London, +came upon it. Perona, Spawn and De Boer were then in the midst of +their smuggling activities. They salvaged the vessel secretly. De +Boer, with an incongruous flair for mechanical science, was enabled in +his bandit camp, to recondition the flyer--building a workshop for the +purpose, with money which Perona freely supplied. + +Some of this I learned from De Boer, some is surmise: but I am sure it +is close to the facts. + + * * * * * + +I have since had an opportunity--through my connection with this +adventure which I am recording--of going aboard one of the X-flyers of +the Anti-War Department, and seeing it in operation with its technical +details explained to me. But since it is so important a Government +secret, I cannot set it down here. The principles involved are +complex: the postulates employed, and the mathematical formulae +developing them in theory, are far too intricate for my understanding. +Yet the practical workings are simple indeed. Some of them were +understood as far back as 1920 and '30, when that pioneer of modern +astrophysics, Albert Einstein, first proved that a ray of light is +deflected from its normal straight path when passing through a +magnetic field. + +I am sorry that I cannot give here more than this vague hint of the +workings of the fantastic invisible flyers which to-day are so often +the subject of speculation by the general public which never has seen +them, and perhaps never will. But I think, too, that a lengthy +pedantic discourse here would be out of place. And tiring. After all, +I am trying to tell only what happened to me in this adventure. And to +little Jetta. + +A very strangely capable fellow, this young De Boer. A modern pirate: +no other age could have produced him. He did not spare Perona's money, +that was obvious. From his hidden camp he must have made frequent +visits to the great Highland centers, purchasing scientific equipment: +until now, when his path crossed mine. I found him surrounded by most +of the every-day devices of our modern world. The village of Nareda +was primitive: backward. Save for its modern lights, a few local +audiphones and image-finders, and its official etheric connections +with other world capitals, it might have been a primitive Latin +American village of a hundred years ago. + + * * * * * + +But not so De Boer's camp, which presently I was to see. Nor this, his +flyer, with which his smuggling activities had puzzled Hanley's Office +for so many months. There was nothing primitive here. + +De Boer himself was a swaggering villain. I saw him now with his cloak +discarded, in the normal tube-lights of the control room when, after a +time, the mechanism of invisibility of the flyer was shut off. A +fellow of six feet and a half at the very least, this De Boer. Heavy, +yet with his great height and strength, lean and graceful. He wore a +fabric shirt, with a wide-rolled collar. A wide belt of tanned hide, +with lighters, a little electron drink-cooler and other nick-nackeries +hanging from tasseled cords--and a naked, ugly-looking knife blade +clipped beside a holster which held an old-fashioned exploding +projector of leaden steel-tipped bullets. + +His trousers were of leather, wide-flaring, ending at his brawny bare +knees, with wide-cut, limp leather boots flapping about his calves in +ancient piratical fashion. They had flaring soles, these shoes, for +walking upon the Lowland caked ooze. The uppers were useless: I rather +think he wore them because they were picturesque. He was a handsome +fellow, with rough-hewn features. A wide mouth, and very white, even +teeth. A cruel mouth, when it went grim. But the smile was intriguing: +I should think particularly so to women. + +He had a way with him, this devil-may-care bandit. Strange mixture of +a pirate of old and an outlaw of our modern world. With a sash at his +waist, a red handkerchief about his forehead, and a bloody knife +between his teeth. I could have fancied him a fabled pirate of the +Spanish Main. A few hundred years ago when these dry Lowlands held the +tossing seas. But I had seen him, so far, largely seated quietly in +his chair at his instrument table, a cigarette dangling from his lips, +and, instead of a red bandanna about his forehead, merely the elastic +band holding the lens of his image-finder. It caught in the locks of +his curly black hair. He pushed it askew; and then, since he did not +need it now, discarded it altogether. + + * * * * * + +Where we went I could not surmise, except that we flew low over the +sullen black waters of the Nares Sea and then headed northeast. We +kept well below the zero-height, with the dark crags of the Lowlands +passing under us. + +The night grew darker. Storm clouds obscured the moon; and it was then +that De Boer shut off the mechanism of invisibility. The control room, +with only the watchful Gutierrez now in it--besides De Boer, Jetta and +myself--was silent and orderly. But there were sounds of roistering +from down the ship's corridor. The bandits, with this treasure of the +radiumized quicksilver ingots aboard, were already triumphantly +celebrating. + +I sat whispering with Jetta. De Boer, busy with charts and +navigational instruments, ignored us, and Gutierrez, so long as we did +not move, seemed not to object to our whispers. + +The night slowly passed. De Boer served us food, calling to one of his +men to shove a slide before us. For himself, he merely drank his +coffee and an alcoholic drink at his instrument table, while absorbed +in his charts. + +The roistering of the men grew louder. De Boer leaped to his feet, +cursed them roundly, then went back to his calculations. He stood once +before Jetta, regarding her with a strange, slow smile which made my +heart pound. But he turned away in a moment. + +The bandits, for all De Boer's admonitions, were now ill-conditioned +for handling this flyer. But I saw, through the small grid-opening in +the control room ceiling, the pilot in his cubby upon the wing-top. +He sat alert and efficient, with his lookout beside him. + + * * * * * + +The night presently turned really tumultuous, with a great wind +overhead, and storm clouds of ink, shot through occasionally by +lightning flashes. We flew lower, at minus 2,000 feet, on the average. +The heavy air was sultry down here, with only a dim blurred vista of +the depths beneath us. I fancied that now we were bending eastward, +out over the great basin pit of the mid-Atlantic area. No vessels +passed us, or, if they did, I did not sight them. + +De Boer had a detector on his table. Occasionally it would buzz with +calls: liners or patrols in our general neighborhood. He ignored them +with a sardonic smile. Once or twice, when our dim lights might have +been sighted, he altered our course sharply. And, when at one period +we passed over the lights of some Lowland settlement, he flung us +again into invisibility until we were beyond range. + +I had, during these hours, ample opportunity to whisper with Jetta. +But there was so little for us to say. I knew all of Spawn's and +Perona's plot. Both were dead: it was De Boer with whom we were +menaced now. And as I saw his huge figure lounging at his table, and +his frowning, intent face, the vision of the aged, futile Perona, who +had previously been my adversary, seemed inoffensive indeed. + +De Boer obviously was pleased with himself. He had stolen half a +million dollars of treasure, and was making off with it to his base in +the depths. He would smuggle these ingots into the world markets at +his convenience; months from now, probably. Meanwhile, what did he +intend to do with me? And Jetta? Ransom me? I wondered how he could +manage it. And the thought pounded me. What about Jetta? I felt now +that she was all the world to me. Her safety, beyond any thought of +smugglers or treasure, was all that concerned me. But what was I +going to do about it? + + * * * * * + +I pressed her hand. "Jetta, you're not too frightened, are you?" + +"No, Philip." + +Her mind, I think, was constantly on her father, lying dead back there +on his garden path. I had not spoken of him, save once. She threatened +instant tears, and I stopped. + +"Do not be too frightened. We'll get out of this." + +"Yes." + +"He can't escape. Jetta; he can't hide. Why, in a day or so all the +patrols of the United States Lowland Service will be after us!" + +But if the patrol-ships assailed De Boer, if he found things going +badly--he could so easily kill Jetta and me. He might be caught, but +we would never come through it alive. + +My thoughts drifted along, arriving nowhere, just circling in the same +futile rounds. I was aware of Jetta falling asleep beside me, her face +against my shoulder, her fingers clutching mine. She looked like a +half grown, slender, ragged boy. But her woman's hair lay thick on my +arm, and one of the dark tresses fell to my hand. I turned my fingers +in it. This strange little woman. Was my love for her foredoomed to +end in tragedy? I swore then that I would not let it be so. + + +CHAPTER XIV + +_Jetta Takes a Hand_ + +I came from my reverie to find De Boer before me. He was standing with +legs planted wide, arms folded across his deep chest, and on his face +an ironic smile. + +"So tired! My little captives, _di mi_! You look like babes lost in a +wood." + +I disengaged myself from Jetta, resting her against a cushion, and she +did not awaken. I stood up, fronting De Boer. + +"What are you going to do with me?" I demanded. + +He held his ironic smile. "Take you to my camp. You'll be well hidden, +no one can follow me. My X-flyer's a very handy thing to have, isn't +it?" + +"So you're the smuggler I was sent after?" + +That really amused him. "Er--yes. Those tricksters, Perona and +Spawn--we were what you would call partners. He had--the perfumed +Perona--what he thought was a clever scheme for us. I was to take all +the risk, and he and Spawn get most of the money. Chah! They thought I +was imbecile--pretending to attack a treasure and being such a fool +that I would not seize it for myself! Not De Boer!" He chuckled. +"Well, so very little did they know me. No treasure yet touched De +Boer's fingers without lingering!" + + * * * * * + +He was in a talkative mood, and drew up his chair and slouched in it. +I saw that he had been drinking some alcholite beverage, not enough to +befuddle him, but enough to take the keen edge off his wits, and make +him want to talk. + +"Sit down, Grant." + +"I'll stand." + +"As you like." + +"What are you going to do with me?" I demanded again. "Try to ransom +me for a fat price from the United States?" + +He smiled sourly. "You need not be sarcastic, young lad. The better +for you if I get a ransom." + +"Then I hope you get it." + +"Perona's idea," he added. "I will admit it looked possible: I did not +know then you had Government protection." He went grim. "That was +Perona and Spawn's trickery. Well, they paid for it. No one plays De +Boer false and lives to tell it. Perona and Spawn wanted to get rid of +you--because you annoyed them." + +"Did I?" + +"With the little Jetta, I fancy." His gaze went to the sleeping Jetta +and back to me. "Perona was very sensitive where this little woman was +concerned. Why not? An oldish fool like him--" + + * * * * * + +I could agree with that, but I did not say so. + +I said, "You'd better cast me loose, Jetta and me. I suppose you +realize, De Boer, that you'll have the patrols like a pack of hounds +after you. Jetta is a Nareda citizen: the United States will take that +up. There's the theft of the treasure. And as you say, I'm a +Government agent." + +He nodded. "Your Government is over-zealous in protecting its agents. +That I know, Grant. I might have left you alone, there in the garden, +when I realized it. But that, by damn, was too late! Live men talk. +Any way, if I cannot ransom you, to kill you is very easy. And dead +men are shut-mouthed." + +"I'm still alive, De Boer." + +He eyed me. "You talk brave." + +This condescending, amused giant! + +I retorted. "How are you going to ransom me?" + +"That," he said. "I have not yet planned it. A delicate business." + +I ventured, "And Jetta?" My heart was beating fast. + +"Jetta," he said with a sudden snap, "is none of your business." + +Again his gaze went toward her. "I might marry her: why not? I am not +wholly a villain. I could marry her legally in Cape Town, with all the +trappings of clergy--and be immune from capture under the laws there. +If she is seventeen. I have forgotten her age, it's been so long since +I knew her. Is she seventeen? She does not look it." + +I said shortly. "I don't know how old she is." + +"But we can ask her when she awakens, can't we?" + + * * * * * + +He was amusing himself with me. And yet, looking back on it now, I +believe he was more than half serious. From his pouch he drew a small +cylinder. "Have a drink, Grant. After all I bear you no ill-will. A +man can but follow his trade: you were trying to be a good Government +agent." + +"Thanks." + +"And then you may make it possible for me to pick a nice ransom. +Here." + +"I hope so." I declined the drink. + +"Afraid for your wits?" + +I said impulsively, "I want all my wits to make sure you handle this +ransom properly, De Boer. I'm as interested as you are: in that at +least, we are together." + +He grinned, tipped the cylinder at his lips for a long drink. + +"Quite so--a mutual interest. Let us be friends over it." + +His gaze wandered back to Jetta. He added slowly: + +"She is very lovely, Grant. A little woodland flower, just ready for +plucking." A sentimental tone, but there was in his expression a +ribald flippancy that sent a shudder through me. "She has quite +overcome you, Grant. Well, why not me as well? I am certainly more of +a man than you. We must admit that Perona had a good eye." + + * * * * * + +My thoughts were wandering. Suppose I could not find an opportunity to +escape with Jetta? De Boer might successfully ransom me and take her +to Cape Town. Or if he feared that to try for the ransom would be too +dangerous, doubtless he would kill me out of hand. An ill outcome +indeed! Nor could I forget that there was half a million of treasure +involved. + +It was obvious to me that Hanley would not permit the patrol-ships to +attack De Boer with the lives of Jetta and myself at stake. Hanley +knew, or suspected, that De Boer was operating an invisible flyer, but +I did not see how that could help Hanley much. Markes, acting for +Nareda, would doubtless be willing to ransom Jetta: the United States +would ransom me. I must urge the ransom plan, because for all the +money in the world I would not endanger Jetta, nor let this bandit +carry her off. + +Or could I escape with her, and still find some means to save the +treasure? It was Jetta's treasure now, two-thirds of it, for it had +legally belonged to her father. Could I save it, and her as well? + +Not by any move of mine, here now on this flyer. That was impossible. +In De Boer's camp, perhaps. But that, too, I doubted. He was too +clever a scoundrel to be lax in guarding me. + +But in the effecting of a ransom--the exchange of me, and perhaps +Jetta, for a sum of money--that would be a delicate transaction, and +some little thing could easily go wrong for De Boer. There would be my +chance. I would have to make something go wrong! Get in his confidence +now so that I would have some say in arranging the details of the +ransom. Make him think I was only concerned for my own safety. Appear +clever in helping plan the exchange. And then so manipulate the thing +that I could escape with Jetta and save the treasure--and the ransom +money as well. And capture De Boer, since that was what Hanley had +sent me out to accomplish. + + * * * * * + +Thoughts fly swiftly. All this flashed to me. I had no details as yet. +But that I must get into De Boer's confidence stood but clearly. + +I said abruptly, "De Boer, since we are to be friends--" + +"So you prefer to sit down now?" + +"Yes." I had drawn a small settle to face him. "De Boer, do you intend +to ask a ransom for Jetta?" + +"You insist with that question?" + +"That is my way. Then we can understand each other. Do you?" + +"No," he said shortly. + +I frowned. "I think I could get you a big price." + +"I think I should prefer the little Jetta, Grant." + +I held myself outwardly unmoved. "I don't blame you. But you will +ransom me? It can be worked out. I have some ideas." + +"Yes," he agreed. "It can be worked perhaps. I have not thought of +details yet. You are much concerned for your safety, Grant? Fear not." + +An amused thought evidently struck him. He added. "It occurs to me how +easy, if I am going to ransom you, it will be for me to send you back +dead. You might, if I send you back alive, tell them a lot of things +about me." + +"I will not talk." + +"Not," he said, "if I close your mouth for good." + + * * * * * + +I had no retort. There was no answering such logic; and with his +murders of Spawn and Perona, and the deaths of some of the police +guards at the mine, the murder of me would not put him in much worse a +position. + +He was laughing ironically. Suddenly he checked himself. + +"Well, Jetta! So you have awakened?" + +Jetta was sitting erect. How long she had been awake, what she had +heard. I could not say. Her gaze went from De Boer to me, and back +again. + +"Yes, I am awake." + +It seemed that the look she flashed me carried a warning. But whatever +it was, I had no chance of pondering it, for it was driven from my +mind by surprise at her next words. + +"Awake, yes! And interested, hearing this Grant bargain with you for +his life." + +It surprised De Boer as well. But the alcholite had dulled his wits, +and Jetta realized this, and presumed upon it. + +"Ho!" exclaimed De Boer. "Our little bird is angry!" + +"Not angry. It is contempt." + +Her look to me now held contempt. It froze me with startled chagrin; +but only for an instant, and then the truth swept me. Strange Jetta! I +had thought of her only as a child; almost, but not quite a woman. A +frightened little woodland fawn. + +"Contempt, De Boer. Is he not a contemptuous fellow, this American?" + +Again I caught her look and understood it. This was a different +Jetta. No longer helplessly frightened, but a woman, fighting. She had +heard De Boer calmly saying that he might send me back dead--and she +was fighting now for me. + +De Boer took another drink, and stared at her. "What is this?" + +She turned away. "Nothing. But if you are going to ransom me--" + +"I am not, little bird." + + * * * * * + +She showed no aversion for him, and it went to his head, stronger than +the drink. "Never would I ransom you!" + +He reached for her, but nimbly she avoided him. Acting, but clever +enough not to overdo it. I held myself silent: I had caught again the +flash of a warning gaze from her. She had fathomed my purpose. Get his +confidence. Beguile him. And woman is so much cleverer than the +trickiest man at beguiling! + +"Do not touch me, De Boer! He tried that. He held my hand in the +moonlight--to woo me with his clever words." + +"Hah! Grant, you hear her?" + +"And I find him now not a man, but a craven--" + +"But you will find me a man, Jetta." De Boer was hugely amused. "See +Grant, we are rivals! You and Perona, then you and me. It is well for +you that I fear you not, or I would run my knife through you now." + +I could not mistake Jetta's shudder. But De Boer did not see it, for +she covered it by impulsively putting her hand upon his arm. + +"Did you--did you kill my father?" She stumbled over the question. But +she asked it with a childlike innocence sufficiently real to convince +him. + +"I? Why--" He recovered from his surprise. "Why no, little bird. Who +told you that I did?" + +"No one. I--no one has said anything about it." She added slowly, "I +hoped that it was not you, De Boer." + +"Me? Oh no: it was an accident." He shot me a menacing glance. "I will +explain it all. Jetta. Your father and I were friends for years--" + +"Yes. I know. Often he spoke to me of you. Many times I asked him to +let me meet you." + + * * * * * + +They were ignoring me. But Gutierrez, lurking in the door oval, was +not: I was well aware of that. + +"I remember you from years ago, little Jetta." + +"And I remember you." + +I understand the rationality of her purpose. She could easily get De +Beer's confidence. She had known him when a child. Her father had been +his business partner, presumably his friend. And I saw her now +cleverly altering her status here. She had been a captive, allied with +me. She was changing that. She was now Spawn's daughter, here with her +dead father's friend. + +She turned a gaze of calm aversion upon me. "Unless you want him here, +De Boer. I would rather talk to you--without him." + +He leaped to his feet. "Hah! that pleases me, little Jetta! Gutierrez, +take this fellow away." + +The Spanish-American came slouching forward. "The girl's an old +friend, Commander? You never told me that." + +"Because it is no business of yours. Take him away. Seal him in +D-cubby." + +I said sullenly. "I misjudged both of you." + +Jetta's gaze avoided me. As Gutierrez shoved me roughly down the +corridor, De Boer laughed, and his voice came back: "Do not be afraid. +We will find some safe way of ransoming you--dead or alive!" + +I was flung on a bunk in one of the corridor cubbies, and the door +sealed upon me. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +An Extra Man + +_By Jackson Gee_ + +[Illustration: "Harry turns into a thick smoke, and gets sucked into a +big hole in the machine."] + +[Sidenote: Sealed and vigilantly guarded was "Drayle's Invention, +1932"----for it was a scientific achievement beyond which man dared +not go.] + + +Rays of the August mid-day sun pouring through the museum's glass roof +beat upon the eight soldiers surrounding the central exhibit, which +for thirty years has been under constant guard. Even the present +sweltering heat failed to lessen the men's careful observation of the +visitors who, from time to time, strolled listlessly about the room. + +The object of all this solicitude scarcely seemed to require it. A +great up-ended rectangle of polished steel some six feet square by ten +or a dozen feet in height, standing in the center of Machinery Hall, +it suggested nothing sinister or priceless. Two peculiarities, +however, marked it as unusual--the concealment of its mechanism and +the brevity of its title. For while the remainder of the exhibits +located around it varied in the simplicity or complexity of their +design, they were alike in the openness of their construction and +detailed explanation of plan and purpose. The great steel box, +however, bore merely two words and a date: "Drayle's Invention, +1932." + +It was, nevertheless, toward this exhibit that a pleasant appearing +white-haired old gentleman and a small boy were slowly walking when a +change of guard occurred. The new men took their posts without words +while the relieved detail turned down a long corridor that for a +moment echoed with the clatter of hobnailed boots on stone. Then all +was surprisingly still. Even the boy was impressed into reluctant +silence as he viewed the uniformed men, though not for long. + + * * * * * + +"What's that, what's that, what's that?" he demanded presently with +shrill imperiousness. "Grandfather, what's that?" An excited arm +indicated the exhibit with its soldier guard. + +"If you can keep still long enough," replied the old gentleman +patiently, "I'll tell you." + +And with due regard for rheumatic limbs he slowly settled himself on a +bench and folded his hands over the top of an ebony cane preparatory +to answering the youngster's question. His inquisitor, however, was, +at the moment, being hauled from beneath a brass railing by the +sergeant of the watch. + +"You'll have to keep an eye on him, sir," said the man reproachfully. +"He was going to try his knife on the wood-work when I caught him." + +"Thank you, Sergeant. I'll do my best--but the younger generation, you +know." + +"Sit still, if possible!" he directed the squirming boy. "If not, +we'll start home now." + +The non-com took a new post within easy reaching distance of the +disturber and attempted to glare impressively. + +"Go on, grandfather, tell me. What's D-r-a-y-l-e? What's in the box? +Can't they open it? What are the soldiers for? Must they stay here? +Why?" + +"Drayle," said the old man, breaking through the barrage of questions, +"was a close friend of mine a good many years ago." + +"How many, grandfather? Fifty? As much as fifty? Did father know him? +Is father fifty?" + +"Forty; no; yes; no," said the harassed relative; and then with +amazing ignorance inquired: "Do you really care to hear or do you just +ask questions to exercise your tongue?" + +"I want to hear the story, grandpa. Tell me the story. Is it a nice +story? Has it got bears in it? Polar bears? I saw a polar bear +yesterday. He was white. Are polar bears always white? Tell me the +story, grandpa." + + * * * * * + +The old man turned appealing eyes toward the sergeant. Tacitly a +sympathetic understanding was established. The warrior also was a +father, and off the field of battle he had known defeat. + +"Leave me handle him, sir," he suggested. "I've the like of him at +home." + +"I'd be very much indebted to you if you would." + +Thus encouraged, the soldier produced from an inner pocket and offered +one of those childhood sweets known as an "all day sucker." + +"See if you can choke yourself on that," he challenged. + +The clamor ceased immediately. + +"It always works, sir," explained the man of resource. "The missus +says as how it'll ruin their indigestions, but I'm all for peace even +if I am in the army." + +Now that his vocal organs were temporarily plugged, the child waved a +demanding arm in the direction of the main exhibit to indicate a +desire for the resumption of the narrative. But the ancient was not +anxious to disturb so soon the benign and acceptable silence. In fact +it was not until he observed the sergeant's look of inquiry that he +began once more. + +"That box," he said slowly, "is both a monument and a milestone on the +road to mankind's progress in mechanical invention. It marks the point +beyond which Drayle's contemporaries believed it was unsafe to go: for +they felt that inventions such as his would add to the complexities +of life, and that if a halt were not made our own machines would +ultimately destroy us. + +"I did not, still do not, believe it. And I know Drayle's spirit broke +when the authorities sealed his last work in that box and released him +upon parole to abandon his experiments." + +As the speaker sighed in regretful reminiscence, the sergeant glanced +at his men. Apparently all was well: the only visible menace lolled +within easy arm's reach, swinging his short legs and sucking noisily +on his candy. Nevertheless the non-com shifted to a slightly better +tactical position as he awaited the continuance of the tale. + + * * * * * + +"Christopher Drayle," said the elderly gentleman, "was the greatest +man I have ever known, as well as the finest. Forty years or more ago +we were close friends. Our homes on Long Island adjoined and I handled +most of his legal affairs. He was about forty-five or six then, but +already famous. + +"His rediscovery of the ancient process of tempering copper had made +him one of the wealthiest men in the land and enabled him to devote +his time to scientific research. Electricity and chemistry were his +specialties, and at the period of which I speak he was deeply +engrossed in problems of radio transmission. + +"But he had many interests and not infrequently visited our local +country club for an afternoon of golf. Sometimes I played around the +course with him and afterward, over a drink, we would talk. His +favorite topic was the contribution of science to human welfare. And +even though I could not always follow him when he grew enthusiastic +about some new theory I was always puzzled. + +"It was at such a time, when we had been discussing the new and first +successful attempt to send moving pictures by radio, that I mentioned +the prophecy of Jackson Gee. Gee was the writer of fantastic, +pseudo-scientific tales who had said: 'We shall soon be able to +resolve human beings into their constituent elements, transmit them by +radio to any desired point and reassemble them at the other end. We +shall do this by means of vibrations. We are just beginning to learn +that vibrations are the key to the fundamental process of all life.' + + * * * * * + +"I laughed as I quoted this to Drayle, for it seemed to me the ravings +of a lunatic. But Drayle did not smile. 'Jackson Gee,' he said, 'is +nearer to the truth than he imagines. We already know the elements +that make the human body, and we can put them together in their proper +proportions and arrangements: but we have not been able to introduce +the vitalizing spark, the key vibrations to start it going. We can +reproduce the human machine, but we can not make it move. We can +destroy life in the laboratory, and we can prolong it, but so far we +have not been able to create it. Yet I tell you in all seriousness +that that time will come; that time will come.' + +"I was surprised at his earnestness and would have questioned him +further. But a boy appeared just then with a message that Drayle was +wanted at the telephone. + +"Something important, sir," he said. Drayle went off to answer the +summons and later he sent word that he had been called away and would +not be able to return. + +"It was the last I heard from Drayle for months. He shut himself in +his laboratory and saw no one but his assistants, Ward of Boston, and +Buchannon of Washington. He even slept in the workshop and had his +food sent in. + +"Ordinarily I would not have been excluded, for I had his confidence +to an unusual degree and I had often watched him work. I admired the +deft movements of his hands. He had the certain touch and style of a +master. But during that period he admitted only his aids. + + * * * * * + +"Consequently I felt little hope of reaching him one morning when it +was necessary to have his signature to some legal documents. Yet the +urgency of the case led me to go to his home on the chance that I +might be able to get him long enough for the business that concerned +us. Luck was with me, for he sent out word that he would see me in a +few minutes. I remember seating myself in the office that opened off +his laboratory and wondering what was beyond the door that separated +us. I had witnessed some incredible performances in the adjoining +room. + +"At last Drayle came in. He looked worried and careworn. There were +new lines in his face and blue half-circles of fatigue beneath his +eyes. It was evident that it was long since he had slept. He +apologized for having kept me waiting and then, without examining the +papers I offered, he signed his name nervously in the proper spaces. +When I gathered the sheets together he turned abruptly toward the +laboratory, but at the door he paused and smiled. + +"'Give my respects to Jackson Gee,' he said." + + * * * * * + +"Who's Jackson Gee? Does father know him? Has he any polar bears? +Aren't you going to tell me about that?" + +The tidal wave of questions almost overwhelmed the historian and his +auditor. But the military, fortunately, was equal to the emergency. +With a tactical turn of his hand he thrust the remnant of the lollypop +between the chattering jaws and spoke with sharp rapidity. + +"Listen," he commanded, "that there, what you got, is a magic candy, +and if you go on exposing it to the air after it is once in your mouth +it's likely to disappear, just like that." And the speed of the +translation was illustrated by a smart snapping of the fingers. + +Doubt shone in the juvenile terror's eyes and the earlier generations +waited fearfully while skepticism and greed waged their recurrent +conflict. For a time it seemed as if the veteran had blundered; but +finally greed triumphed and a temporary peace ensued. + +"Where was I?" inquired the interrupted narrator when the issue of +battle was settled. + +"You was talking about Jackson Gee," answered the guardsman in a +cautiously low tone. + +"So I was, so I was," the old gentleman agreed somewhat vaguely, +nodding his head. He gazed at the sergeant with mingled awe and +admiration. "I suppose it's quite useless to mention it," he said +rather wistfully, "but if you ever get out of the army and should want +a job.... You could name your own salary, you know?" The question +ended on an appealing note. + +Evidently the soldier understood the digression, for he replied in a +tone that would brook no dispute. "No, sir, I couldn't consider it." + +"I was afraid so," said the other regretfully, and added, with +apparent irrelevance, "I have to live with him, you see." + +"Tough luck," commiserated the listener. + +Reluctantly summoning his thoughts from the pleasant contemplation of +what had seemed to offer a new era of peace, the bard turned to his +story. + + * * * * * + +"A few hours later," he continued, "I had a telephone call from +Drayle's wife, and I realized from the fright in her voice that +something dreadful had happened. She asked me to come to the house at +once. Chris had been hurt. But she disconnected before I could ask for +details. I started immediately and I wondered as I drove what disaster +had overtaken him. Anything, it seemed to me, might have befallen in +that room of miracles. But I was not prepared to find that Drayle had +been shot and wounded. + +"The police were before me and already questioning the assailant, Mrs. +Farrel, a fiery tempered young Irish-woman. When I entered the room +she was repeating half-hysterically her explanation that Drayle had +killed her husband in the laboratory that morning. + +"'Right before my eyes, I seen it,' she shouted. 'Harry was standing +on a sort of platform looking at a big machine like, and so help me he +didn't have a stitch of clothes on, and I started to say something, +but all at once there came a terrible sort of screech and a flash like +lightnin' kinda, in front of him. Then Harry turns into a sort of +thick smoke and I can see right through him like he was a ghost; and +then the smoke gets sucked into a big hole in the machine and I know +Harry's dead. And here's this man what done it, just a standin' there, +grinnin' horrid. So something comes over me all at once and I points +Harry's gun at him and pulls the trigger!' + +"Even before the woman had finished I recalled what I seen one +afternoon in Drayle's laboratory many months before. I had been there +for some time watching him when he placed a small tumbler on a work +table and asked me if I had ever seen glass shattered by the +vibrations of a violin. I told him that I had, but he went through the +demonstration as if to satisfy himself. Of course when he drew a bow +across the instrument's strings and produced the proper pitch the +goblet cracked into pieces exactly as might have been expected. And I +wondered why Drayle concerned himself with so childish an experiment +before I noticed that he appeared to have forgotten me completely. + + * * * * * + +"I endeavored then not to disturb him, and I remember trying to draw +myself out of his way and feeling that something momentous was about +to take place. Yet actually I believe it would have required a +considerable commotion to have distracted his attention, for his +ability to concentrate was one of the characteristics of his genius. + +"I saw him place another glass on the table and I noticed then that +it stood directly in front of a complicated mechanism. At first this +gave out a low humming sound, but it soon rose to an unearthly whining +shriek. I shrank from it involuntarily and a second later I was amazed +at the sight of the glass, seemingly reduced to a thin vapor, being +drawn into a funnel-like opening near the top of the device. I was too +startled to speak and could only watch as Drayle started the +contrivance again. Once more its noise cut through me with physical +pain. I cried out. But my voice was overwhelmed by the terrific din of +the mysterious machine. + +"Then Drayle strode down the long room to another intricate mass of +wire coils and plates and lamps. And I saw a dim glow appear in two of +the bulbs and heard a noise like the crackling of paper. Drayle made +some adjustments, and presently I observed a peculiar shimmering of +the air above a horizontal metal grid. It reminded me of heat waves +rising from a summer street, until I saw the vibrations were taking a +definite pattern; and that the pattern was that of the glass I had +seen dissolved into air. At first the image made me think of a picture +formed by a series of horizontal lines close together but broken at +various points in such fashion as to create the appearance of a line +by the very continuity of the fractures. But as I watched, the plasma +became substance. The air ceased to quiver and I was appalled to see +Drayle pick up the tumbler and carry it to a scale on which he weighed +it with infinite exactness. If he had approached me with it at that +moment I would have fled in terror. + + * * * * * + +"Next, Drayle filled the goblet with some liquid which immediately +afterward he measured in a beaker. The result seemed to please him, +for he smiled happily. At the same instant he became aware of my +presence. He looked surprised and then a trifle disconcerted. I could +see that he was embarrassed by the knowledge that I had witnessed so +much, and after a second or two he asked my silence. I agreed at +once, not only because he requested it but because I couldn't believe +the evidence myself. He let me out then and locked the door. + +"It was this recollection that made me credit the woman's story. But I +was sick with dread, for in spite of my faith in Drayle's genius I +feared he had gone mad. + +"Mrs. Drayle had listened to Mrs. Farrel's account calmly enough, but +I could see the fear in her eyes when she signaled a wish to speak to +me alone. I followed her into an adjoining room, leaving Mrs. Farrel +with the two policemen and the doctor, who was trying to quiet her. + +"As soon as the door closed after us Mrs. Drayle seized my hands. + +"'Tim,' she whispered, 'I'm horribly afraid that what the woman says +is true. Chris has told me of some wonderful things he was planning to +do, but I never expected he would experiment on human beings. Can they +send him to prison?' + +"Of course I said what I could to comfort her and tried to make my +voice sound convincing. At the time the legal aspect of the matter did +not worry me so much as the fear that the attack on Drayle might prove +fatal. For even if it should develop that he was not dangerously hurt, +I imagined that the interruption of the experiment at a critical +moment might easily have ruined whatever slim chance there had been of +success. For us the nerve-wracking part was that we could do nothing +until the surgeon who was attending Drayle could tell us how badly he +was injured. + + * * * * * + +"At last word came that the bullet had only grazed Drayle's head and +stunned him, but that he might remain unconscious for some time. Mrs. +Drayle went in and sat at her husband's side, while I returned to the +laboratory and found the police greatly bewildered as to whether they +ought to arrest Drayle. + +"They had discovered in a closet an outfit of men's clothing that Mrs. +Farrel identified as her husband's, and, although they saw no other +trace of the missing man, they had a desire to lock up somebody as an +evidence of their activity. It took considerable persuasion to prevail +upon them to withhold their hands. There was no such difficulty about +restraining them in the laboratory. They were afraid to touch any +apparatus, and they gave the invention a ludicrously wide berth. + +"I never knew exactly how long it was that I paced about the lower +floor of Drayle's home before the doctor summoned me and announced +that the patient wanted me, but that I must be careful not to excite +him. I have often wondered how many physicians would have to abandon +their profession if they were deprived of that phrase. 'You must not +excite the patient.' + +"Drayle was already excited when I entered. In fact, he was furious at +the doctor's efforts to restrain him. But I realized that my fear for +his reason was groundless. His remarks were lucid and forceful as he +raged at the interference with his work. As soon as he saw me he +appealed for assistance. + +"'Make them let me alone. Tim,' he begged, as his wife and the doctor, +partly by force and partly by persuasion, endeavored to hold him in +bed. 'I must get back to the laboratory. That woman believes that I've +killed her husband, and my assistant will think that we've failed.' + + * * * * * + +"I was about to argue with him when suddenly he managed to thrust the +doctor aside and start toward the door. His seriousness impressed me +so that I gave him a supporting arm and together we headed down the +hall, with Mrs. Drayle and the doctor following anxiously in the rear. +The laboratory was deserted and locked when we arrived. The police +evidently felt it was too uncanny an atmosphere for a prolonged wait. +Drayle opened the door, went directly to his machine, and examined it +minutely. + +"'Thank the Lord that woman hit only me!' he said, and sank into a +chair. Then he asked for some brandy. Mrs. Drayle rushed off and +reappeared in a minute with a decanter and glass. Drayle helped +himself to a swallow that brought color to his cheeks and new strength +to his limbs. Immediately after he turned again to the machine. I +dragged up a chair, assisted him into it, and seated myself close by. + +"I knew little enough about mechanics, but I was fascinated by the +numerous gauges that faced me on the gleaming instrument board. There +were dials with needlelike hands that registered various numbers; +spots of color appeared in narrow slots close to a solar spectrum: a +stream of graph-paper tape flowed slowly beneath a tracing-pen point +and carried away a jiggly thin line of purple ink. In a moment Drayle +was oblivious of everything but his records. I watched him copy the +indicated figures, surround them with formulas, and solve mysterious +problems with a slide-rule. + +"His calculations covered a large sheet before he had finished. At +last he underscored three intricate combinations of letters and +figures and carried the answers to his private radio apparatus. This +operated on a wave length far outside the range of all others and +insured him against interference. With it he was able to speak at any +time with his assistants in Washington or Boston or with both at once. +He threw the switch that sent his call into the air. An answer came +instantly, and Drayle begin to talk to his distant lieutenants. + + * * * * * + +"'We've been interrupted, gentlemen,' he said, 'but I think we may +continue now. We'll reassemble in the Boston laboratory. Have you +arranged the elements? The coefficients are....' And he gave a +succession of decimals. + +"A voice replied that all was ready. Drayle said 'Excellent,' went +back to his invention and twisted a black knob on the board before +him. + +"With this trifling movement all hell seemed to crash about us. The +ghastly cacophony that I had experienced in the same room some months +previously was as nothing. These stupendous waves of sound pounded us +until it seemed as if we must disintegrate beneath them. Wails and +screams engulfed us. Mrs. Drayle dropped to her knees beside her +husband. The doctor seized my arm and I saw the knuckles of his hand +turn white with the pressure of his grip, yet I felt nothing but the +awful vibrations that drummed like riveting machines upon and through +my nerves and body. It was not an attack upon the ears alone; it +crashed upon the heart, beat upon the chest so that breathing seemed +impossible. My brain throbbed under the terrific pulsations. For a +while I imagined the human system could not endure the ordeal and that +all of us must be annihilated. + +"Except for his slow turning of the dials Drayle was motionless before +the machine. Below the bandage about his forehead I could see his +features drawn with anxiety. He had wagered a human life to test his +theory and I think the enormity of it had not struck him until that +moment. + +"What I knew and hoped enabled me to imagine what was taking place in +the Boston laboratory. I seemed to see man's elementary dust and +vapors whirled from great containers upward into a stratum of +shimmering air and gradually assume the outlines of a human form that +became first opaque, then solid, and then a sentient being. At the +same instant I was conscious that the appalling pandemonium had ceased +and that the voice of Drayle's Boston assistant was on the radio. + + * * * * * + +"'Congratulations, Chief! His reassemblage is perfect. There's not a +flaw anywhere.' "'Splendid,' Drayle answered. 'Bring him here by +plane right away; his wife is worried about him.' + +"Then Drayle turned to me. + +"'You see,' he said, 'Jackson Gee was right. We have resolved man into +his constituent elements, transmitted his key vibrations by radio, and +reassembled him from a supply of identical elements at the other end. +And now, if you will assure that woman that her husband is safe, I +will get some sleep. You will have the proof before you in less than +three hours.' + +"I can't vouch for the doctor's feelings, but as Drayle left us I was +satisfied that everything was as it should be, and that I had just +witnessed the greatest scientific achievement of all time. I did not +foresee, nor did Drayle, the results of an error or deliberate +disobedience on the part of one of his assistants. + +"We waited, the doctor and I, for the arrival of the man who, we were +convinced, had been transported some three hundred miles in a manner +that defied belief. The evidence would come, Drayle had said, in a few +hours. Long before they had elapsed we were starting at the sound of +every passing motor, for we knew that a plane must land some distance +from the house and that the travelers would make the last mile or so +by car. + +"Mrs. Drayle endeavored to convince the imagined widow that her +husband was safe and was returning speedily. Later she rejoined us, +full of questions that we answered in a comforting blind faith. The +time limit was drawing to a close when the sound of an automobile horn +was quickly followed by a sharp knock on the laboratory door. At a +sign from Mrs. Drayle one of the policemen opened it and we saw two +men before us. One, a scholarly appearing, bespectacled youth, I +recognized as Drayle's Boston assistant, Ward; the other, a rather +burly individual, was a stranger to me. But there was no doubt he was +the man we awaited so eagerly, for Mrs. Farrel screamed 'Harry! +Harry!' and sped across the room towards him. + + * * * * * + +"At first she ran her fingers rather timidly over his face, and then +pinched his huge shoulders, as if to assure herself of his reality. +The sense of touch must have satisfied her, for abruptly she kissed +him, flung her arms about him, clung to him, and crooned little +endearments. The big man, in turn, patted her cheeks awkwardly and +mumbled in a convincingly natural voice, ''Sall right, Mary, old kid! +There ain't nothin' to it. Yeah! Sure it's me!' + +"Then I was conscious of Drayle's presence. A brown silk dressing gown +fell shapelessly about his spare frame and smoke from his cigarette +rose in a quivering blue-white stream. Ward spied him at the same +moment and stepped forward with quick outstretched hands. I remember +the flame of adoring zeal in the youngster's eyes as he tried to +speak. At length he managed to stammer some congratulatory phrases +while Drayle clapped him affectionately on the back. + +"Then Drayle turned to Farrel to ask him how he enjoyed the trip. +Farrel grinned and said, 'Fine! It was like a dream, sir! First I'm in +one place and then I'm in another and I don't know nothing about how I +got there. But I could do with a drink, sir. I ain't used to them +airyplanes much.' + +"Drayle accepted the hint and suggested that we all celebrate. He gave +instructions over a desk telephone and almost immediately a man +entered with a small service wagon containing a wide assortment of +liquors and glasses. When we had all been served, Ward asked somewhat +hesitantly if he might propose a toast. 'To Dr. Drayle, the greatest +scientist of all time!' + + * * * * * + +"We were of course, already somewhat drunk with excitement as we +lifted our glasses. But Drayle would not have it. + +"'Let me amend that,' he said. 'Let us drink to the future of +science.' + +"'Sure!' said Farrel, very promptly. I think he was somewhat uncertain +about 'toast,' but he clung hopefully to the word 'drink.' + +"We had raised our glasses again when Drayle, who was facing the door, +dropped his. It struck the floor with a little crash and the liquor +spattered my ankles. Drayle whispered 'Great God!' I saw in the +doorway another Farrel. He was grimy, disheveled, his clothing was +torn, and his expression ugly; but his identity with 'Harry' was +unescapable. For an instant I suspected Drayle of trickery, of +perpetrating some fiendishly elaborate hoax. And then I heard Mrs. +Farrel scream, heard the newcomer cry, 'Mary,' and saw two men staring +at each other in bewilderment. + +"The explanation burst upon me with a horrible suddenness. Farrel had +been reconstructed in each of Drayle's distant laboratories, and there +stood before us two identities each equally authentic, each the legal +husband of the woman who, a few hours previously, had imagined herself +a widow. The situation was fantastic, nightmarish, unbelievable and +undeniable. My head reeled with the fearful possibilities. + +"Drayle was the first to recover his poise. He opened a door leading +into an adjoining room and motioned for us all to enter. That is, all +but the police. He left them wisely with their liquor. 'Finish it,' he +advised them. 'You see no one has been killed.' + + * * * * * + +"They were not quite satisfied, but neither were they certain what +they ought to do, and for once displayed common sense by doing +nothing. When the door closed after us I saw that Buchannon, the +Washington laboratory assistant, was with us. He must have arrived +with the second Farrel, although I had not observed him during the +confusion attending the former's unexpected appearance. But Drayle had +noted him and now seized his shoulders. 'Explain!' he demanded. + +"Buchannon's face went white and he shrank under the clutch of +Drayle's fingers. Beyond them I saw the two twinlike men standing +beside Mrs. Farrel, surveying each other with incredulous recognition +and distaste. + +"'Explain!' roared Drayle, and tightened his grasp. + +"'I thought you said Washington, Chief.' His voice was not convincing. +I didn't believe him, nor did Drayle. + +"'You lie!' he raged, and floored the man with his fist. + +"In a way I couldn't help feeling sorry for the chap. It must have +been a frightful temptation to participate in the experiment and I +suppose he had not forseen the consequences. But I began to have a +glimmering of the magnificent possibilities of the invention for +purposes far beyond Drayle's intent. For, I asked myself, why, if such +a machine could produce two human identities, why not a score, a +hundred, a thousand? The best of the race could be multiplied +indefinitely and man could make man at last, literally out of the dust +of the earth. The virtue of instantaneous transmission which had been +Drayle's aim sank into insignificance beside it. I fancied a race of +supermen thus created. And I still believe, Sergeant, that the chance +for the world's greatest happiness is sealed within that box you +guard. But its first fruits were tragic." + +The historian shifted his position on the bench so as to escape the +sun that was now reflected dazzlingly by the polished steel casket. + + * * * * * + +"Drayle did not glance again at his disobedient lieutenant. He was +concerned with the problem of the extra man, or, I should say, an +extra man, for both were equal. Never before in the history of the +world had two men been absolutely identical. They were, of course, one +in thought, possessions and rights, physical attributes and +appearance. Mrs. Farrel, as they were beginning to realize, was the +wife of both. And I have an unworthy suspicion that the red-headed +young woman, after she recovered from the shock, was not entirely +displeased. The two men, however, finding that each had an arm about +her waist, were regarding each other in a way that foretold trouble. +Both spoke at the same time and in the same words. + +"'Take your hands off my wife!' + +"And I think they would have attacked each other then if Drayle hadn't +intervened. He said, 'Sit down! All of you!' in so peremptory a voice +that we obeyed him. + +"'Now,' he went on, 'pay attention to me. I think you realize the +situation. The question is, what we shall do about it?' He pointed an +accusing finger at the Farrel from Washington. 'You were not +authorized to exist; properly we should retransmit you, and without +reassembling you would simply cease to be.' + +"The man addressed looked terrified. 'It would be murder!' he +protested. + +"'Would it?' Drayle inquired of me. + +"I told him that it could not be proved inasmuch as there would be no +_corpus delicti_ and hence nothing on which to base a charge. + +"But the Washington Farrel seemed to have more than an academic +interest in the question and grew obstinate. + +"'Nothing doing!' he announced emphatically. 'Here I am and here I +stay. I started from this place this morning and now I'm back, and as +for that big ape over there I don't know nothing about him--except +he'll be dead damn soon if he don't keep away from my wife.' + + * * * * * + +"The other Drayle-made man leaped up at this, and again I expected +violence. But Buchannon flung himself between, and they subsided, +muttering. + +"'Very well, then,' Drayle continued, when the room was quiet, 'here +is another solution. We can, as you realize, duplicate Mrs. Farrel, +and I will double your present possessions.' + +"This time it was Mrs. Farrel who was dissatisfied. 'You ain't +talking to me,' she informed Drayle. 'Me stand naked in front of all +them lamps and get turned into smoke? Not me!' A smile spread over her +face and her eyes twinkled with deviltry. 'I didn't never think I'd be +in one of them triangles like in the movies, and with my own husbands, +but seein' I am, I'm all for keeping them both. Then I might know +where one of them was some of the time.' + +"But neither of the men took to this idea and the problem appeared +increasingly complex. I proposed that the survivor be determined by +lot, but this suggestion won no support from anyone. Again the two men +spoke at the same instant and in the same words. It was like a +carefully rehearsed chorus. 'I know my rights, and I ain't going to be +gypped out of them!' + +"It was at this point that Drayle attempted bribery. He offered fifty +thousand dollars to the man who would abandon Mrs. Farrel. But this +scheme fell through because both men sought the opportunity and Mrs. +Farrel objected volubly. + +"So in the end Drayle promised each of them the same amount as a price +for silence and left the matter of their relationships to their own +settlement. + + * * * * * + +"I was skeptical of the success of the plan but could offer nothing +better. So I drew up a release as legally binding as I knew how to +make it in a case without precedent. I remember thinking that if the +matter ever came into court the judge would be as much at a loss as I +was. + +"Our troubles, though, didn't spring from that source. Each of the +three parties accepted the arrangement eagerly and Drayle dismissed +them with a hand-shake, a wish for luck and a check for fifty thousand +dollars each. It's very nice to be wealthy, you know. + +"Afterward, we went out and paid off the police. Perhaps that's +stating it too bluntly. I mean that Drayle thanked them for their +zealous attention to his interests, regretted that they had been +unnecessarily inconvenienced and treated that they would not take +amiss a small token of his appreciation of their devotion to duty. +Then he shook hands with them both and I believe I saw a yellow bill +transferred on each occasion. At any rate the officers saluted smartly +and left. + +"Of course I was impatient to question Drayle, but I could see that he +was desperately fatigued. So I departed. + +"Next morning I found my worst fears exceeded by the events of the +night. The three Farrels who had left us in apparently amiable spirits +had proceeded to the home of Mrs. and the original Mr. Farrel. There +the argument of who was to leave had been resumed. Both men were, of +course, of the same mind. Whether both desired to stay or flee I would +not presume to say. But an acrimonious dispute led to physical +hostilities, and while Mrs. Farrel, according to accounts, cheered +them on, they literally fought to the death. Being equally capable, +there was naturally, barring interruption, no other possible outcome. +I can well believe they employed the same tactics, swung the same +blows, and died at the same instant. + +"Mrs. Farrel, after carefully retrieving both of her husbands' checks, +told a great deal of the story. As might be expected, nobody believed +the yarn except our profound federal law makers. They welcomed an +opportunity to investigate an outsider for a change and had all of us +before a committee. + +"Finally the Congress of these United States of America, plus the +sagacious Supreme Court, decided that my client wasn't guilty of +anything, but that he mustn't do it again. At least that was the gist +of it. I recollect that I offered a defense of psycopathic +neuroticism. + +"As a result of the _obiter dictum_ and a resolution by both Houses +Assembled Drayle's invention was sealed, dated and placed under guard. +That's its history, Sergeant." + + * * * * * + +The white-haired old gentleman picked up the high silk hat that added +a final touch of distinction to his tall figure, and looked about him +as if trying to recall something. At last the idea came. + +"By the way," he inquired suddenly, "didn't I have an extraordinarily +obnoxious grandson with me when I came?" + +The attentive auditor was vastly startled. He surveyed the great hall +rapidly, but reflected before he answered. + +"No, sir--I mean he ain't no more'n average! But I reckon we'd better +find him, anyhow." + +His glance had satisfied the sergeant that at least the object of his +charge was safe and his men still vigilant. "I'll be back in a +minute," he informed them. "Don't let nothin' happen." + +"Bring us something more'n a breath," pleaded the corporal, +disrespectfully. + +The sergeant had already set off at a brisk pace with the story +teller. For several minutes as they rushed from room to room the hunt +was unrewarded. + +"I think, sir," said the sergeant, "we'd better look in the natural +history division. There is stuffed animals in there that the kids is +fond of." + +"You're probably right," the patriarch gasped as he struggled to +maintain the gait set by the younger man. "I might have known he +didn't really want to hear the story." + +"They never do," answered the other over his shoulder. "I'll bet +that's him down there on the next floor." + + * * * * * + +The two searchers had emerged upon a wide gallery that commanded a +clear view of the main entrance where various specimens of American +fauna were mounted in intriguing replicas of their native habitat. + +The guard pointed an accusing finger at one of these groups and sprang +toward the stairs. + +The old gentleman's breath and strength were gone. He could only gaze +in the direction that had been indicated by the madly running guard; +but he had no doubts. A small boy was certainly digging vigorously at +the head of a specimen of _Ursus Polaris_ that the curator had +represented in the dramatic pose of killing a seal. A protesting wail +arose from below as the young naturalist was withdrawn from his field +by a capable hand on the slack of his trousers. And presently, +chagrined with failure, the culprit was before his grandsire. + +"Gee!" he complained, "I was only looking at the polar bear. Are polar +bears always white? Are--" + +"You'd better take him away, sir," interrupted the sergeant. "He was +trying to pry out one of the bear's eyes with the stick of the +lollypop I give him. Take him." + +The old gentleman extended both hands. His left found a grip in his +grandson's coat collar; his right, partly concealing a government +engraving, met the guard's with a clasp of gratitude. + +"Sergeant," he remarked in a voice tense with feeling, "a half-hour +ago I expressed some ridiculous regrets that Drayle's invention had +been kept from the world. Now I realize its horrid menace. I shudder +to think it might have been responsible for two like him!" + +The object of disapproval was shaken indicatively. + +"Guard the secret well, Sergeant! Guard it well! The world's peace +depends upon you!" The old gentleman's words trembled with conviction. + +Then alternately shaking his head and his grandson he marched down the +hallway, ebony cane tapping angrily upon the stone. + +As the exhausted but happy warrior retraced his steps a high-pitched +voice floated after him. + +"Grandpa, are polar bears _always_ white?" + + * * * * * + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Reader's Corner + +_A Meeting Place for Readers of_ + +Astounding Stories + +[Illustration: _The Reader's Corner_] + + +_The Invisible X-Flyers_ + + The following is a semi-technical description of the + operation of the invisible X-flyers used in "Jetta of the + Lowlands" as compiled by Philip Grant in the year 2021 from + official records of the Anti-War Department of the United + States of North America, and discovered recently by Ray + Cummings. + + The attainment of mechanical invisibility reached a state of + perfection in the year 2000 sufficient to make it practical + for many uses. For a century this result had been sought. It + came, about the year 2000, not as a single startling + discovery, but as the culmination of the patient labor of + many men during many years. The popular mind has always + considered that science advances by a series of "great + scientific discoveries"; "unprecedented"; "revolutionary." + That is not so. Each step in the progress of scientific + achievement is built most carefully upon the one beneath it. + And generally the "revolutionary, unprecedented discovery" + has very little of itself that is new; rather it is a new + combination of older, perhaps seemingly impractical + knowledge. Every scientific theory, every device, is the + offspring from a large and varied family tree of many + scientific ancestors, each of whom in his day was a + remarkable personage. + + Thus it is, with the principles of mechanical invisibility. + I deal here with the famous X-flyers. The operation of the + plane itself is immaterial; its motors; its wing-spread + surfaces; its aerial controls. I am concerned only with the + scientific principles underlying its power of invisibility. + + Three scientific factors are involved: First, the process + known as de-electroniration; second, the theories of color + absorption; third, the material, inevitable deflection + (bending) of light rays when passing through a magnetic + field. + + I take each of the three in order. The forerunners of + de-electroniration were the Martel effects--the experiments + of Charles Martel, in Paris, in 1937. A new electric + current, of a different character--now called the + oscillating current as distinct from the alternating and + direct--was developed. Metallic plates were + electro-magnetized to produce an enveloping magnetic field + of somewhat a different character from any field formerly + known. + + Dr. Norton Grenfell followed this in 1946 by using the + Martel oscillating current to obtain a reverse effect. A + similar disturbance of electrode balance. But not a + surcharge. An exhaustion. An anti-electrical state, instead + of a state of magnetism. A metallic mass so treated--and + with a constant flow of oscillating current holding its + subnormal electronic balance--was then said to be + de-electronired. + + Scientific "discoveries" are largely made by the trial and + error system. The scientist takes what he finds. Generally + he does not know, at first, what it means. Martell took his + oscillating current and "discovered" the Martel Magnetic + Levitation, whereby gravity was lessened, and then + completely nullified. Grenfell, with his de-electroniration, + increased the power of gravity. The two were combined by + Grenfell and his associates--and the secret of + interplanetary flight was at hand. + + But there was a host of other workers not interested in + space flyers; they probed in other directions. It was found + that the subnormal magnetic field surrounding a metallic + substance in a state of de-electroniration had two unusual + properties: its color absorption was high; and it bent light + rays from their normal straight path into a curve abnormally + great. Yet, though it absorbed the color of the rays + emanating from the de-electronired metal (the metal itself + increasing this result), the magnetic field, while bending + the rays passing through it from distant objects behind it, + nevertheless left their color and all their inherent + properties unchanged. + + The principles of color absorption are these:--a pigment--a + paint, a dye, if you will--is "red" because it absorbs from + the light rays of the sun all the other colors and leaves + only red to be reflected from it to the eye. Or "violet" + because all the rest are absorbed, and the violet is + reflected. Or "black" because all are absorbed; and "white" + the reverse, all blended and reflected. Color is dependent + upon vibratory motion. The solar spectrum--its range of + visibility through the primary colors from red to + violet--can be likened to a range of radio wave-lengths; + vibration frequencies; and when we eliminate them all save + the "violet"--that is what we have left, in the radio to + hear, in color absorption to see. + + Thus, a de-electronired metal was found to produce black. + Not black as habitually we meet it--a "shiny" black, a + "dull" black; but a true black--a real absence of light-ray + reflection--a "nothingness to see"; in effect, an + invisibility. + + A word of explanation is necessary regarding the other + property of the de-electronired field--the bending of + distant light rays into a curve, yet leaving their spectrum + unchanged. It was Albert Einstein who first made the + statement--in the years following the turn of the century at + 1900--that it was a normal, natural thing for a ray of light + to be slightly deflected from its straight path when passing + through a magnetic field. The claim caused world-wide + interest, for upon its truth or falsity the whole fabric of + the Einstein Theory of Relativity was woven. + + An eclipse of the sun in the 1920's established that light + is actually bent in the manner Einstein had calculated. A + magnetic field surrounds the sun. In those days they did + not know that it is a field of subnormal electronic + balance--in effect, the result of de-electroniration. It was + found, nevertheless, that stars close to the limb of the sun + appeared, not in their true positions, but shifted in just + the directions and with the amount of shift Einstein + predicted. The light rays coming from them to the eye of the + observer on Earth were curved in passing so close to the + sun. But the color-bands of their spectrums were unaltered. + + And some of the stars actually were behind the sun, yet + because of the curved path of the light, were visible. I + mention this because it is an important aspect of the + subject of mechanical invisibility. + + With the foregoing factors, the secret of mechanical + invisibility is constructed. Gracely, an American--following + a long series of world-wide experiments, tests of current + strength, frequencies of oscillation, suitable metals, etc., + which I cannot detail here--in 1955 was the final developer + of the mechanisms subsequently used in the X-flyers. + + Gracely produced what he christened "aluminoid-spectrite"--a + light-weight alloy which, when carrying an oscillating + electronic current of the proper frequency, produced the + effects I have described. It absorbed from the light rays + coming from the metal, all the colors of the solar spectrum, + well beyond the range of the human eye at both ends of the + scale. The result was a "visible nothingness." + + A moment's thought will make clear that term. A visible + nothingness is not invisibility. The fact that something was + there but could not be seen was obvious. A black hat with a + light on it and placed against an average background is + almost as easy to see as a white hat. Gracely's first crude + experiments were made with an aluminoid-spectrite cube--a + small brick a foot in each dimension. The cube glowed, + turned, dark, then black, then was gone. He had it resting + on a white table, with a white background. And the fact that + the cube was still there, was perfectly obvious. It was as + though a hole of nothingness were set against the white + table. It outlined the cube; reconstructed it so that for + practical purposes the eye saw not a white, aluminoid brick, + but a dead black one. + + And this is very much what a man sees when he stares at his + black hat on a table. The hat occults its background, and + thus reconstructs itself. + + But when Gracely determined the proper vibrations of his + oscillating current to coincide with all the other material + factors he was using, the final result was before him-real + invisibility. He used a patterned background--a + symmetrically checkered surface, most difficult of all. The + light rays coming from this background passed through the + magnetic field surrounding the invisible colorless cube, and + were bent into a curved path. But their own + color-spectrum--in actuality the color, shape, all the + visible characteristics of the background--was not greatly + altered. The observer saw what actually was behind the + invisible cube: the checkered background, sometimes + slightly distorted, but nevertheless sufficiently clear for + its abnormality to escape notice. Thus the cube's outlines + were not reconstructed; and, in effect, it had vanished. + + In practical workings with the X-flyers, no such difficult + test as Gracely's cube and rectangular, symmetrically + patterned background is ever met. The varying background + behind a plane--at rest or flying, and particularly at + night--demands less perfection of background than Gracely's + laboratory conditions. I am informed that an X-flyer can + vaguely be seen--or sensed, rather--from some angles and + under certain and unfavorable conditions of light, and + depending on its line of movement relative to the angle of + observation, and the type and color-lighting of its + background. But under most conditions it represents a very + nearly perfect mechanical invisibility. + + There is one aspect of the subject with which I may close + this brief paper. I give it without technical explanation; + it seems to me an amusing angle. + + The theory of stereoscopics--the vision of the twin lenses + of the human eyes, set a distance apart to give the + perception of depth, of the third dimension--is in itself a + subject tremendously interesting, and worthy of anyone's + study. I have no space for it here, nor would it be strictly + relevant. I need only state that a two-eyed man sees + partially around an object (by virtue of the different + angles from which each of his eyes gaze at it) and thus sees + a trifle more of the background than would otherwise be the + case. And this--these two viewpoints blended in his + brain--gives him his perception of "depth," of + "solidity"--the difference between a real scene of three + dimensions and a painted scene on a canvas of two dimensions + with only the artist's skill in perspective to simulate the + third. + + And I cannot refrain from mentioning that in Government + tests of the Anti-War Department to determine the perfection + of the invisibility of the X-flyers, it was a one-eyed man + who proved that they were not always totally invisible!--Ray + Cummings. + + +_Thank You_ + + Dear Editor: + + I just want you to know this: I am a reader of your truly + named Astounding Stories. I really enjoyed reading the + "Spawn of the Stars," also "Brigands of the Moon," and I am + very glad to hear that we are going to have another of + Charles W. Diffin's stories in the next issue--"The Moon + Master."--J. R. Penner, 376 Woodlawn Ave, Buffalo N. Y. + + +_"A Wiz"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I am only a young girl sixteen years of age but am greatly + interested in science. I have no master mind by any means, + but have worked out many a difficult problem in school for + my science prof. + + Your magazine is a wiz. I haven't missed an instalment + since it started. Give us more stories like "Monsters of + Moyen," and "The Beetle Horde."--Josephine Frankhouser, 4949 + Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. + + +_"Pretty Good"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I received Astounding Stories for May and it is pretty good. + The next issue is number six, and I hope it is better than + the previous ones. There have been some stories that do not + belong in a Science Fiction magazine, such as: "The Cave of + Horror," "The Corpse on the Grating," "The Soul Master," and + "The Man who was Dead." There is also another story that was + printed in the May issue that, so far as I think, does not + belong in this magazine: that is, "Murder Madness." + + Even all the other stories seem to be fantastic. Weird. Why + not try to publish something on the H. G. Wells, E. R. + Burroughs type of stories, also Ray Cummings' "The Man who + Mastered Time," or "The Time Machine," by Wells?--Louis + Wentzler, 1933 Woodbine St., Brooklyn, N. Y. + + +_From Ye Reader_ + + Dear Ye Ed.: + + That sounds rather medieval a little for the editor of so + novel a magazine, but nevertheless let's forget that and + talk about some astounding stories. + + First, I would suggest that you eliminate all stories of + interplanetary travel (I would be different), as there are + already several magazines on the market which deal almost + exclusively with such stories. Now, tales like "The Beetle + Horde," and those written by Murray Leinster, and those + concerning that Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Bird, and those about + the deep sea, like "Into the Ocean's Depths,"--such stories + are astounding, and good. And once in a while let's have a + humorous story. You know: "A bit of humor now and then--" + + Well, anyhow, publish any kind of astounding story, just so + it is different and does not deal with interplanetary + travel. + + Now, about the magazine. I think it is a good publication + and I like it werra, werra mooch. I bought it on impulse and + happened to be lucky enough to get the first issue, and nary + an issue have I missed since. Although I possess an abject + horror of any kind of insect, I enjoyed "The Beetle Horde" + to the fullest extent. But here's hoping nothing like that + will really happen. + + Another thing I'd like to state is this: Some reader made a + remark about not publishing any of Verne's works. I say you + should. Why should any such great author be disregarded in + so good a magazine? And is it not interesting to note that + some of his stories have become actual realizations? Even + Poe's should be published. All those dead authors whose + stories would be considered good were they living. Why + should any person ask not to have such good stories in your + magazine? Perhaps there are some people who would enjoy + them, but do not have the means nor time to buy these great + works in book form. Think it over, ye Ed., think it over. + + And now, to finish up, I'll say: are there any readers like + me--a girl--or do only men and boys read Astounding + Stories?--Gertrude Hemken, 5730 So. Ashland Ave., Chicago, + Ill. + + +_Short--and Sweet_ + + Dear Editor: + + Congratulations! Have followed up every issue of Astounding + Stories and have found them the best yet. I have one fault + to find and that is you do not publish Astounding Stories + often enough. Thirty days is too far between.--Bernard + Bauer, 235 Holland St., Syracuse, N. Y. + + +_Yes Sir!_ + + Dear Editor: + + I read Astounding Stories all the time, although I'm just a + boy. I think they're O. K. They give me a great "kick." + + I think "The Moon Master" was the best story I ever read. + Please ask Mr. Diffin to write more like it. + + But then all the stories are really peppy.--Jack Hudson, St. + Mark's School, Southborough, Massachusetts. + + +_"Undoubtedly the Best"_ + + Dear Editor: + + Your magazine is undoubtedly the best Science Fiction "mag" + on the stands. Why? Because of your authors. There is not + another Science Fiction book on the stands that has stories + by Victor Rousseau, Murray Leinster Ray Cummings, A. T. + Locke, A. J. Burks, C. W. Diffin, S. W. Ellis and many + others. + + Some of your readers want stories by Dr. David H. Keller, Ed + Earl Repp and Walter Kately. Well, I just wanted to tell you + that I have stopped reading all other Science Fiction "mags" + on account of the frequency of these authors in them. So + please, please, don't destroy my last stronghold. + + Also, I would not be against reprints. There is only one so + far who has objected to reprints, while there have been + several asking you to reprint A. Merritt's "People of the + Pit." It would not only satisfy your present readers, but, + because of the great popularity of A. Merritt among the + reading circles of to-day, it would gain for you many more + readers. + + Harl Vincent is an indispensable acquisition to "our" + magazine. His stories are not only all excellent but his + stories all contain good science. He will bring you many new + readers. + + May I add my voice to every other reader's in the cry for + the reprinting of "People of the Pit," by A. Merritt? Why + not give us some stories by him? He's pretty near the best + writer living to-day. + + I don't care for the Mars stories by Burroughs. He's too + much long sword and short sword. A Merritt, however, is the + man for you to get and keep. + + The schedule for July looks "doggone good" and suggestive to + the imagination. You might increase the contents of the + book. + + The only thing wrong with the stories is that you have too + many repetitions. Please get A. Merritt. If you publish + stories by him you will see a very noticeable increase in + your subscription column. Another author who would repeat A. + Merritt's action on your subscription column is Dr. Edward + Elmer Smith. Please see about these authors.--Gabriel + Kirschner, Box 301, Temple, Texas. + + +_From Young Miss Nightingale_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have been wanting to write to you for a long time but only + now am I able to do so. When I first got a copy of your + magazine I just grabbed it and started reading it. That + magazine had the first installment of "Brigands of the Moon" + in it. Now, after one magazine has been read I nearly burst + until the next one comes. + + As for the writers, I like Ray Cummings, Harl Vincent, + Sewell Peaslee Wright, and Murray Leinster best. I like + interplanetary stories best. I also like stories of the + Fourth Dimension and those of ancient races of people living + in uninhabited parts of the earth. So far I have liked + especially well "The Ray of Madness," "Cold Light," "From + the Ocean Depths" and its sequel "Into the Ocean's Depths," + "Brigands of the Moon," and "Murder Madness." Of course, I + like the others too. I am only a mere girl (that accounts + for this poor typewriting)--only ten years old--but I know + my likes and dislikes.--Ellen Laura Nightingale, 223 So. + Main St., Fairmont, Minn. + + +_Yessir--H. W. Wessolowski_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished the June issue of Astounding Stories. + It contained some very interesting stories, such as + "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings, "The Moon Master," + by Charles W. Diffin, "Murder Madness," by Murray Leinster, + and "Giants of the Ray," by Tom Curry. Although "Out of the + Dreadful Depths," by C. D. Willard, was a good story, it + does not belong in a Science Fiction magazine. + + One of the best improvements you could make on Astounding + Stories right now is to cut all edges smooth. I would like + to see at least one full page picture with each story. + + Wesso is the only good artist you have. Is Wessolowski his + real name?--Jack Darrow, 4225 N. Spaulding Avenue, Chicago, + Illinois. + + +Anent Reincarnation. + + Dear Editor: + + In the July issue of Astounding Stories, a correspondent, + Worth K. Bryant, asks some thought-provoking questions about + the fascinating subject of reincarnation. Although I have + written to Mr. Bryant personally, I would like to present my + views on the subject to all your readers. + + Mr. Bryant asks: "Could a person remember his own death in a + former reincarnation?" Yes, he could--if he could "tune in" + on his higher consciousness, or ego. Were that possible, he + could see all his past lives from beginning to end. It is + only the physical self that dies; the ego, or true self, is + immortal and remembers everything that it has experienced in + previous incarnations on the physical plane. But since + consciousness on this plane is expressed through the + material brain, most human beings are unable to recall their + former visits to this world; and it is perhaps better so. If + there were not loss of memory our minds would now range over + the adventures of thousands of years in the past. It would + encompass a vast drama with countless loves and hates, of + many lives filled with pathos and tragedy. Thus to distract + the mind from the present life would retard our progress. + There will come a time in human evolution when the average + person will be able to recall his past incarnations, and + then there will be no need or argument that we have lived + here before, because everyone will remember it. + + For those who care to pursue this subject more fully, I + recommend "Elementary Theosophy," by L. W. Rogers, + obtainable at most public libraries.--Allen Glasser, 1610 + University Ave., New York, N. Y. + + +_Prefers the Longer Stories_ + + Dear Editor: + + I've been reading your excellent periodical since the first + issue, and I feel that I'm entitled to an opportunity to + give expression to my reactions to the various issues. Of + course, as a whole, the magazines were uniformly good every + month, but some of the stories, naturally, were better than + others. + + In the January issue the best story was "The Beetle Horde" + by Victor Rousseau. I expected a lot from this writer, + having read his "Draft of Eternity," "The Eye of Balamok" + and "The Messiah of the Cylinder." I wasn't disappointed. + + The best story in the February issue was "Spawn of the + Stars," by Charles Willard Diffin. Diffin is a newcomer as + far as I know, but he certainly can write. + + "Vandals of the Stars" took the honors in the March issue. + A. T. Locke has written some good adventure shorts, but this + was his first fantastic story, to the best of my knowledge. + Come again, Locke! "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings + was great too. + + The best for April was "Monsters of Moyen," by Arthur J. + Burks. Clever idea. + + Victor Rousseau rang the bell again in the May issue with + "The Atom Smasher." Let's have other stories of + time-travel--some into the very remote past. Cave man stuff, + you know! + + "The Moon Master," by Charles Willard Diffin was the best + for June. Diffin is one of your best writers. + + In the last (July) issue, "The Forgotten Planet," by Sewell + Peaslee Wright, I think, takes first place, though + hard-pressed by "Earth, the Marauder" and "The Power and the + Glory." + + Now for a few suggestions. In the first place, let's have + less short stories, and more longer ones. In my choice of + stories for each issue, with one exception, I picked the + novelettes. My reason for so doing is the fact that the + authors apparently are not able to do justice to their + themes in the shorter lengths. Of course, there are + exceptions, like Diffin's "The Power and the Glory." + + My second suggestion in this: Why not have a fixed position + for your announcement of the stories for the next issue? The + last page, for example. This would be more convenient for + the readers; besides, those of us who have "our mags" bound + into volumes could then cut out the announcement. + + Finally, my third suggestion--and the real reason for my + writing this letter. Don't you think it would be a good idea + to publish in each issue the picture of one of the authors, + and a short synopsis of his life? How he started writing, + his experiences, etc. I'm certain that I'm not the only + reader who's interested in the authors. I hope, if + everything else I've said is ignored, you'll at least give + the last suggestion serious consideration. + + Why not get the opinion of other readers? + + Continued and increasing success to Astounding Stories, best + of the Science Fiction magazines!--P. A. Lyter, 220 Peffer + Street, Harrisburg, Pa. + + +_Mr. Bates Accepts with Pleasure_ + + Dear Editor: + + It is with greatest pleasure I note the addition of Miss + Lilith Lorraine to your staff, and her initial effort in + your publication. "The Jovian Jest" is but a glimpse of what + is to come. The stories which she has written heretofore + have been real gems of Science Fiction. May I again + congratulate you. + + The Science Correspondence Club takes great pleasure in + announcing the enrollment of Capt. S. P. Meek and R. F. + Starzl as members. These authors are well-known to + Astounding Stories readers. Also, we take pleasure in + announcing that we have asked Mr. Bates to become an + honorary member in recognition of his fine work in + furthering Science Fiction. + + Our first bulletin has been issued and real progress is + started. For those interested, Mr. Raymond A. Palmer at + 1431--34th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will handle all + inquiries. + + In closing, let me say that when a story pleases you + readers, or the work of some author impresses you, write to + the editor and tell him about it. In this way more and + better Science Fiction will appear. Let us all give + Astounding Stories a big hand, you readers! Best wishes of + the Science Correspondence Club and--Walter L. Dennis, F. P. + S., 4653 Addison St., Chicago, Illinois. + + +_"Bargain"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished "The Atom Smasher," in your May issue + of Astounding Stories, and liked it very much. + + This is the first story that I have read in your magazine, + although I have read other magazines for the past three + years. + + I see where you inquire as to the kind of stories your + readers want. + + Personally, I think stories of interplanetary travel are the + best, and most demanded by readers of Science Fiction. Try + and have one in each issue. + + In my opinion, I see no criticisms to be made on your + magazine. It certainly would be a bargain at several times + the price you ask. I am sure I will continue reading + it--Louis D. Buchanan, Jr., 711 Monroe Ave., Evansville, + Indiana. + + +_No "Flash in the Pan"_ + + Dear Editor: + + When I bought the first issue of Astounding Stories last + December, I was impressed by its array of splendid stories + and famous authors. I thought, then, that perhaps that first + number was just a flash in the pan, and that succeeding + issues would sink to the level of other Science Fiction + magazines. Happily, I was wrong. Astounding Stories has more + than fulfilled the promise of its initial issue. The stories + are undoubtedly the finest of their kind, and written by the + most prominent Science Fiction authors of the day. I cannot + conceive of any possible improvement in the magazine. + + I do wish, though, that you would not heed the gratuitous + advice of certain earnest but misguided correspondents. For + instance, in the June issue, one Warren Williams of Chicago, + suggests that you enlarge the magazine and give each story a + full-page illustration, like other Science Fiction + periodicals. Mr. Williams evidently favors standardization. + As one magazine is, so must the rest be. Please ignore this + request, and others like it. Astounding Stories is + different, unique; just keep it that way, and you will never + lack a host of satisfied readers. + + Before closing, I must voice my profound admiration for + Murray Leinster's brilliant and engrossing story, "Murder + Madness." It's the best serial you've printed so far; though + I have high anticipation for Arthur J. Burks' latest novel, + "Earth, the Marauder."--Mortimer Weisinger, 3550 Rochambeau + Ave., Bronx, New York. + + +_"I Mean Increased"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I wish to thank you for your reply to my letter. I did not + expect you to give me a personal reply: that was why I asked + you to reply to me in "The Readers' Corner." You are the + only editor I have ever known of that goes to the trouble to + giving personal replies to readers. Other magazines require + a nominal fee. That's another score for you! + + Your personal letter, as a girl would aptly say, "tickled me + all over." + + I am sorry I can't get a subscription just yet, but I am + "bound" to my newsdealer a little while yet, as I + immediately gave him a monthly order for Astounding Stories. + + If you are the one who picked the authors, you have the best + taste I have ever seen in one person. But couldn't your + taste be improved? Pardon me, I mean increased. Namely, + please add to your taste: H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. + Howard. + + If you had different authors, in other words, new, + inexperienced authors, I would object to your running more + than one serial at a time, but with the marvelous old-timers + I have no objections, for they can write long ones far + better than they can the shorts. So keep them at work. + + The three short stories, "Out of the Dreadful Depths," "The + Cavern World" and "Giants of the Ray," were all very good. + Ray Cummings was wonderful in the way he handled his + "Brigands of the Moon." It was a "wow baby." "Murder + Madness" is a great improvement over "Tanks." "Tanks" was + the worst I've ever read by Leinster. But he came out of his + reverie in "Murder Madness." It's great. + + Sewell Peaslee Wright can work wonders with short stories. + Keep his "typer" clicking. By the way, may I say a few good + words for Sophie Wenzel Ellis? If she can duplicate + "Creatures of the Light," maker her repeat. + + Victor Rousseau's story, "The Beetle Horde," kept me "all + het up" throughout. "The Atom Smasher" was excellent. I also + greatly like stories of the mighty Atlantis. + + I agree with others of your readers that you should not let + Astounding Stories be printed in such a small size. Make it + a little larger, and give us smoother paper, and you will + prosper greatly. + + "The Moon Master" was excellent.--Gabriel Kirschner, Box + 301, Temple, Texas. + + +_"Could Kick Myself"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just started reading Astounding Stories and could + kick myself for not seeing it sooner. In your latest issue, + "The Moon Master," by Charles Diffin, is great. He sure + knows how to write adventure with science. + + I am a member of the Science Corresponding Club and am glad + to say it. In later years the club will be known just like + other big clubs of to-day, "Nationally and + Sciencelly."--John Marcroft, 32 Washington St., Central + Falls, R. I. + + +_A Full List_ + + In the January number of Astounding Stories Cummings' + "Phantom of Reality" was the best, followed by Rousseau's + "Beetle Horde." + + February: 1--Diffin's "Spawn of the Stars"; 2--Rousseau's + "Beetle Horde"; 3--Ellis' "Creatures of the Light"; + 4--Meek's "The Thief of Time." + + March: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Locke's + "Vandals of the Stars"; 3--Meek's "Cold Light." + + April: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Burk's + "Monsters of Moyen"; 3--Meek's "Ray of Madness"; + 4--Pelcher's "Vampires of Venus." + + May: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Leinster's + "Murder Madness"; 3--Rousseau's "Atom Smasher." + + June: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Leinster's + "Murder Madness"; 3--Diffin's "Moon Master." + + Please give us a story by H. P. Lovecraft, if you can get + one.--Carl Ballard, 202 N. Main St., Danville, Va. + + +_"Words Cannot Express"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read your wonderful magazine since it was first + published, and words cannot express what a fine magazine I + think it is. All my life, I have hoped that someone would + publish a magazine just like Astounding Stories. A magazine + just full to the brim with the right kind of stories; + thrilling stories of super-science, well written in plain + and convincing English by wide awake authors. + + I thought that "The Cavern World" was a whiz of a story, and + "The Moon Master" was so exciting that I sat up late at + night reading it. Let's have more of that kind of science + story, that thrills every red-blooded American. + + I hope that you print your magazine on better paper.--David + Bangs, 190 Marlboro St., Boston, Mass. + + +_Unconvinced_ + + Dear Editor: + + I received the latest issue of Astounding Stories, and in + looking it through I noticed your comments on reprints. Your + argument can easily be shot full of holes, and that's what I + intend to do. + + First: Those stories being printed now are far inferior to + the reprints. Even your best stories, such as "Murder + Madness" and "Brigands of the Moon," cannot be compared with + such stories as "Station X," "The Moon Pool," "The Metal + Monster," or "The Columbus of Space" and "The Second + Deluge." + + Second: The Saturday Evening Post cannot be compared with + our magazine, for all the stories printed in it can be + obtained in book form, while the scientific novels are + almost all out of print. + + Third: There is surely more than one out of a hundred who + haven't read the reprints. Just because some have read them + is no reason that they don't want them. I know, for I have a + large library of reprints and have read, and own, almost + every one of them, yet I would gladly see them again. + + Fourth: The authors need not starve. You could easily devote + just a small space for reprints, and many would pay + twenty-five cents for the magazine. + + The fairest and most American idea would be to let your + readers vote for this. Here is vote No. 1 for + reprints.--Woodrow Gelman, 1603 President St., Brooklyn, N. Y. + + +_Praise and Suggestions_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished the July issue of Astounding Stories + and classify the stories as follows: + + "Beyond the Heaviside Layer," good; "Earth, the Marauder," + excellent, best in issue; "From an Amber Block," fairly + good; "The Terror of Air-Level Six," very good; "The + Forgotten Planet," excellent; "The Power and the Glory," + good; "Murder Madness," very good, but not so much so as + preceding chapters. + + Now for a few criticisms: + + 1. Your magazine (or should I say "our" magazine?) is too + small. Of course, it would be a radical change to make it + larger, but, like others, I think in the end you would gain + rather than lose by it. Most small magazines are cheap + affairs, and to have Astounding Stories small brands it as a + cheap type of magazine. Small magazines are more likely to + be hidden on the newsstands by larger ones, and in most + stores the large magazines have the more advantageous + positions. + + 2. The edges of your pages are uneven. You look in the index + and find an interesting story is on, for example, page 56. + You skim the pages to find it, and from page 43 you find + yourself suddenly at page 79. Make the paper more even, + please. + + 3. Don't have advertisements before the stories. Have them + in the rear. + + 4. Have a full page illustration facing the beginning of + each story. If at the end of a story you find pages won't + turn up right, continue the last page to the back of the + book. + + Wesso is excellent. Another good artist is Paul, who draws + for another Science Fiction magazine. Your cover + illustrations are fine. + + Summary: Enlarge size of magazine, smooth edges of paper, + have advertisements in rear of book, use full page + illustrations. + + If this is expensive, you could charge twenty-five cents + instead of twenty cents, and I, for one, would be glad to + pay the extra nickel as I do for other magazines of Science + Fiction.--Robert Baldwin, 1427 Judson Ave., Evanston, + Illinois. + + +_"The Readers' Corner"_ + +All Readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "come +over to 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion of +stories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities--everything +that's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories. + +Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, this +is a department primarily for _Readers_, and we want you to make full +use of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, +brickbats, suggestions--everything's welcome here: so "come over in +'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us! + +_--The Editor._ + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +October, 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 29882-8.txt or 29882-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/8/29882/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 1, 2009 [EBook #29882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 370px;"><a name="Cover" id="Cover"></a> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" width="370" height="537" /></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="500" height="201" alt="Cover" /> +</div> + +<h1>ASTOUNDING</h1> + <h2>STORIES<br /> + OF SUPER-SCIENCE</h2> + +<h3>20¢</h3> + +<h3><i>On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month</i></h3> +<p>W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor DR. DOUGLAS M. DOLD, +Consulting Editor</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees</h3> +<blockquote><p><i>That</i> the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by +leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions +approved by the Authors' League of America;</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/image_002.jpg" width="150" height="280" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><i>That</i> such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by +American workmen;</p> + +<p><i>That</i> each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;</p> + +<p><i>That</i> an intelligent censorship guards their advertising +pages.</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>The other Clayton magazines are</i>:</p> + +<p class="center"> +ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS +MONTHLY, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, RANGELAND LOVE STORY +MAGAZINE, and WESTERN ADVENTURES. +</p> + +<p><i>More than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand +for Clayton Magazines.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>VOL. IV, No. 1 CONTENTS October, 1930</h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td>COVER DESIGN</td><td>H. W. WESSOLOWSKI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Painted in Oils from a Scene in "The Invisible Death."</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Stolen_Brains">STOLEN BRAINS</a></td> +<td>CAPTAIN S. P. MEEK</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Dr. Bird, Scientific Sleuth Extraordinary, Goes After a Sinister Stealer of Brains.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#The_Invisible_Death">THE INVISIBLE DEATH</a></td> +<td>VICTOR ROUSSEAU</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>With Night-Rays and Darkness-Antidote America Strikes Back, at the Terrific and Destructive Invisible Empire.</i> (A Complete Novelette.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Prisoners_on_the_Electron">PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON</a></td> +<td>ROBERT H. LEITFRED</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Fate Throws Two Young Earthians into Desperate Conflict with the Primeval Monsters of an Electron's Savage Jungles.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Jetta_of_the_Lowlands">JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS</a></td> +<td>RAY CUMMINGS</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Into Remote Lowlands, in an Invisible Flyer, Go Grant and Jetta—Prisoners of a +Scientific Depth Bandit.</i> (Part Two of a Three-Part Novel.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#An_Extra_Man">AN EXTRA MAN</a></td> +<td>JACKSON GEE</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Sealed and Vigilantly Guarded Was "Drayle's Invention, 1932"—for It Was a Scientific Achievement Beyond Which Man Dared Not Go.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#The_Readers_Corner">THE READERS' CORNER</a></td> +<td>ALL OF US</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><b>Single Copies, 20 Cents (In Canada, 25 Cents) Yearly Subscription, +$2.00</b></p> + +<p>Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St., +New York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary. +Application for entry as second-class mail pending at the Post Office +at New York, under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as a Trade +Mark in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group—Men's List. +For advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co., Inc., 25 Vanderbilt +Ave., New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave., Chicago.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_003.jpg" alt="Two long arms shot silently down and grasped the +motionless figure." width="500" height="528" class="img1" /> +<span class="caption">Two long arms shot silently down and grasped the +motionless figure.</span></div> + +<h2><a name="Stolen_Brains" id="Stolen_Brains"></a>Stolen Brains</h2> + +<h3><i>By Captain S. P. Meek</i></h3> +<div class="sidenote">Dr. Bird, scientific sleuth extraordinary, goes after a +sinister stealer of brains.</div> + +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p> hope, Carnes," said Dr. Bird, "that we get good fishing."</p> + +<p>"Good fishing? Will you please tell me what you are talking about?"</p> + +<p>"I am talking about fishing, old dear. Have you seen the evening +paper?"</p> + +<p>"No. What's that got to do with it?"</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird tossed across the table a copy of the <i>Washington Post</i> +folded so as to bring uppermost an item on page three. Carnes saw his +picture staring at him from the center of the page.</p> + +<p>"What the dickens?" he exclaimed as he bent over the sheet. With +growing astonishment he read that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> Operative Carnes of the United +States Secret Service had collapsed at his desk that afternoon and had +been rushed to Walter Reed Hospital where the trouble had been +diagnosed as a nervous breakdown caused by overwork. There followed a +guarded statement from Admiral Clay, the President's personal +physician, who had been called into conference by the army +authorities.</p> + +<p>The Admiral stated that the Chief of the Washington District was in no +immediate danger but that a prolonged rest was necessary. The paper +gave a glowing tribute to the detective's life and work and stated +that he had been given sick leave for an indefinite period and that he +was leaving at once for the fishing lodge of his friend, Dr. Bird of +the Bureau of Standards, at Squapan Lake, Maine. Dr. Bird, the article +concluded, would accompany and care for his stricken friend. Carnes +laid aside the paper with a gasp.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_d1.jpg" alt="D" width="69" height="60" /></div> +<p>o you know what all this means?" Carnes demanded.</p> + +<p>"It means, Carnsey, old dear, that the fishing at Squapan Lake should +be good right now and that I feel the need of accurate information on +the subject. I didn't want to go alone, so I engineered this outrage +on the government and am taking you along for company. For the love of +Mike, look sick from now on until we are clear of Washington. We leave +to-night. I already have our tickets and reservations and all you have +to do is to collect your tackle and pack your bags for a month or two +in the woods and meet me at the Pennsy station at six to-night."</p> + +<p>"And yet there are some people who say there is no Santa Claus," mused +Carnes. "If I had really broken down from overwork, I would probably +have had my pay docked for the time I was absent, but a man with +official pull in this man's government wants to go fishing and presto! +the wheels move and the way is clear. Doctor, I'll meet you as +directed."</p> + +<p>"Good enough," said Dr. Bird. "By the way, Carnes," he went on as the +operative opened the door, "bring your pistol."</p> + +<p>Carnes whirled about at the words.</p> + +<p>"Are we going on a case?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"That remains to be seen," replied the Doctor enigmatically. "At all +events, bring your pistol. In answer to any questions, we are going +fishing. In point of fact, we are—with ourselves as bait. If you have +a little time to spare this afternoon you might drop around to the +office of the <i>Post</i> and get them to show you all the amnesia cases +they have had stories on during the past three months. They will be +interesting reading. No more questions now, old dear, we'll have lots +of time to talk things over while we are in the Maine woods."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>ate the next evening they left the Bangor and Aroostook train at +Mesardis and found a Ford truck waiting for them. Over a rough trail +they were driven for fifteen miles, winding up at a log cabin which +the Doctor announced was his. The truck deposited their belongings and +jounced away and Dr. Bird led the way to the cabin, which proved to be +unlocked. He pushed open the door and entered, followed by Carnes. The +operative glanced at the occupants of the cabin and started back in +surprise.</p> + +<p>Seated at a table were two figures. The smaller of the two had his +back to the entrance but the larger one was facing them. He rose as +they entered and Carnes rubbed his eyes and reeled weakly against the +wall. Before him stood a replica of Dr. Bird. There was the same six +feet two of bone and muscle, the same beetling brows and the same +craggy chin and high forehead surmounted by a shock of unruly black +hair. In face and figure the stranger was a replica of the famous +scientist until he glanced at their hands. Dr. Bird's hands were long +and slim with tapering fingers, the hands of a thinker and an artist +despite the acid stains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> which disfigured them but could not hide +their beauty. The hands of his double were stained as were Dr. Bird's, +but they were short and thick and bespoke more the man of action than +the man of thought.</p> + +<p>The second figure arose and faced them and again Carnes received a +shock. While the likeness was not so, striking, there was no doubt +that the second man would have readily passed for Carnes himself in a +dim light or at a little distance. Dr. Bird burst into laughter at the +detective's puzzled face.</p> + +<p>"Carnes," he said, "shake yourself together and then shake hands with +Major Trowbridge of the Coast Artillery Corps. It has been said by +some people that we favor one another."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to meet you, Major," said Carnes. "The resemblance is +positively uncanny. But for your hands, I would have trouble telling +you two apart."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Major glanced down at his stubby fingers.</p> + +<p>"It is unfortunate but it can't be helped," he said. "Dr. Bird, this +is Corporal Askins of my command. He is not as good a second to Mr. +Carnes as I am to you but you said it was less important."</p> + +<p>"The likeness is plenty good enough," replied the Doctor. "He will +probably not be subjected to as close a scrutiny as you will. Did you +have any trouble in getting here unobserved?"</p> + +<p>"None at all, Doctor. Lieutenant Maynard found a good landing field +within a half mile of here, as you said he would, and he has his +Douglass camouflaged and is standing by. When do you expect trouble?"</p> + +<p>"I have no idea. It may come to-night or it may come later. Personally +I hope that it comes later so that we can get in a few days of fishing +before anything happens."</p> + +<p>"What do you expect to happen, Doctor?" demanded Carnes. "Every time I +have asked you anything you told me to wait until we were in the +Maine woods and we are there now. I read up everything that I could +find on amnesia victims during the past three months but it didn't +throw much light on the matter to me."</p> + +<p>"How many cases did you find, Carnes?"</p> + +<p>"Sixteen. There may have been lots more but I couldn't find any others +in the <i>Post</i> records. Of course, unless the victim were a local man, +or of some prominence, it wouldn't appear."</p> + +<p>"You got most of them at that. Did any points of similarity strike you +as you read them?"</p> + +<p>"None except that all were prominent men and all of them mental +workers of high caliber. That didn't appear peculiar because it is the +man of high mentality who is most apt to crack."</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly. There were some points of similarity which you missed. +Where did the attacks take place?"</p> + +<p>"Why, one was at—Thunder, Doctor! I did miss something. Every case, +as nearly as I can recall, happened at some summer camp or other +resort where they were on vacation."</p> + +<p>"Correct. One other point. At what time of day did they occur?"</p> + +<p>"In the morning, as well as I can remember. That point didn't +register."</p> + +<p>"They were all discovered in the morning, Carnes, which means that the +actual loss of memory occurred during the night. Further, every case +has happened within a circle with a diameter of three hundred miles. +We are near the northern edge of that circle."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arnes checked up on his memory rapidly.</p> + +<p>"You're right, Doctor," he cried. "Do you think—?"</p> + +<p>"Once in a while," replied Dr. Bird dryly, "I think enough to know the +futility of guesses hazarded without complete data. We are now located +within the limits of the amnesia belt and we are here to find out what +did happen, if anything, and not to make wild guesses about it. You +have the tent set up for us, Major?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, Doctor, about thirty yards from the cabin and hidden so well +that you could pass it a dozen times a day without suspecting its +existence. The gas masks and other equipment which you sent to Fort +Banks are in it."</p> + +<p>"In that case we had better dispense with your company as soon as we +have eaten a bite, and retire to it. On second thought, we will eat in +it. Carnes, we will go to our downy couches at once and leave our +substitutes in possession of the cabin. I trust, gentlemen, that +things come out all right and that you are in no danger."</p> + +<p>Major Trowbridge shrugged his heavy shoulders.</p> + +<p>"It is as the gods will," he said sententiously. "It is merely a +matter of duty to me, you know, and thank God, I have no family to +mourn if anything does go wrong. Neither has Corporal Askins."</p> + +<p>"Well, good luck at any rate. Will you guide Carnes to the tent and +then return here and I'll join him?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>uddled in the tiny concealed tent, Dr. Bird handed Carnes a haversack +on a web strap.</p> + +<p>"This is a gas mask," he said. "Put it on your neck and keep it ready +for instant use. I have one on and one of us must wear a mask +continually while we are here. We'll change off every hour. If the gas +used is lethane, as I suspect, we should be able to detect it before +its gets too concentrated, but some other gas might be used and we +must take no chances. Now look here."</p> + +<p>With the aid of a flash-light he showed Carnes a piece of apparatus +which had been set up in the tent. It consisted of two telescopic +barrels, one fitted with an eye-piece and the other, which was at a +wide angle to the first, with an objective glass. Between the two was +a covered round disc from which projected a short tube fitted with a +protecting lens. This tube was parallel to the telescopic barrel +containing the objective lens.</p> + +<p>"This is a new thing which I have developed and it is getting its +first practical test to-night," he said. "It is a gas detector. It +works on the principle of the spectroscope with modifications. From +this projector goes out a beam of invisible light and the reflections +are gathered and thrown through a prism of the eye-piece. While a +spectroscope requires that the substance which it examines be +incandescent and throw out visible light rays in order to show the +typical spectral lines, this device catches the invisible ultra-violet +on a fluorescent screen and analyzes it spectroscopically. Whoever has +the mask on must continually search the sky with it and look for the +three bright lines which characterize lethane, one at 230, one at 240 +and the third at 670 on the illuminated scale. If you see any bright +lines in those regions or any other lines that are not continually +present, call my attention to it at once. I'll watch for the first +hour."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t the end of an hour Dr. Bird removed his mask with a sigh of relief +and Carnes took his place at the spectroscope. For half an hour he +moved the glass about and then spoke in a guarded tone.</p> + +<p>"I don't see any of the lines you told me to look for," he said, "but +in the southwest I get wide band at 310 and two lines at about 520."</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird advanced toward the instrument but before he reached it, +Carnes gave an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"There they are, Doctor!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird sniffed the air. A faint sweetish odor became apparent and he +reached for his gas mask. Slowly his hands drooped and Carnes grasped +him and drew the mask over his face. Dr. Bird rallied slightly and +feebly drew a bottle from his pocket and sniffed it. In another +instant he was shouldering Carnes aside and staring through the +spectroscope. Carnes watched him for an instant and then a low whirring +noise attracted his attention and he looked up. Silently he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> caught +the Doctor's arm in a viselike grip and pointed.</p> + +<p>Hovering above the cabin was a silvery globe, faintly luminous in the +moonlight. From its top rose a faint cloud of vapor which circled +around the globe and descended toward the earth. The globe hovered +like a giant humming bird above the cabin and Carnes barely stifled an +exclamation. The door of the cabin opened and Major Trowbridge, +walking stiffly and like a man in a dream, appeared. Slowly he +advanced for ten yards and stood motionless. The globe moved over him +and the bottom unfolded like a lily. Two long arms shot silently down +and grasped the motionless figure and drew him up into the heart of +the globe. The petals refolded, and silently as a dream the globe shot +upward and disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Gad! They lost no time!" commented Dr. Bird. "Come on, Carnes, run +for your life, or rather, for Trowbridge's life. No, you idiot, leave +your gas mask on. I'll take the spectroscope; it'll be all we need."</p> + +<p>Followed by the panting Carnes, Dr. Bird sped through the night along +an almost invisible path. For half a mile he kept up a headlong pace +until Carnes could feel his heart pounding as though it would burst +his ribs. The pair debouched from the trees into a glade a few acres +in extent and Dr. Bird paused and whistled softly. An answering +whistle came from a few yards away and a figure rose in the darkness +as they approached.</p> + +<p>"Maynard?" called Dr. Bird. "Good enough! I was afraid that you might +not have kept your gas mask on."</p> + +<p>"My orders were to keep it on, sir," replied the lieutenant in muffled +tones through his mask, "but my mechanician did not obey orders. He +passed out cold without any warning about fifteen minutes ago."</p> + +<p>"Where's your ship?"</p> + +<p>"Right over here, sir."</p> + +<p>"We'll take off at once. Your craft is equipped with a Bird +silencer?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Come on, Carnes, we're going to follow that globe. Take the front +cockpit alone, Maynard; Carnes and I will get in the rear pit with the +spec and guide you. You can take off your gas mask at an elevation of a +thousand feet. You have pack 'chutes, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"In the rear pit, Doctor."</p> + +<p>"Put one on, Carnes, and climb in. I've got to get this spec set up +before he gets too high."</p> + +<p>The Douglass equipped with the Bird silencer, took the air noiselessly +and rapidly gained elevation under the urging of the pilot. Dr. Bird +clamped the gas-detecting spectroscope on the front of his cockpit and +peered through it.</p> + +<p>"Southwest, at about a thousand more elevation," he directed.</p> + +<p>"Right!" replied the pilot as he turned the nose of his plane in the +indicated direction and began to climb. For an hour and a half the +plane flew noiselessly through the night.</p> + +<p>"Bald Mountain," said the pilot, pointing. "The Canadian Border is +only a few miles away."</p> + +<p>"If they've crossed the Border, we're sunk," replied the doctor. "The +trail leads straight ahead."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or a few minutes they continued their flight toward the Canadian +Border and then Dr. Bird spoke.</p> + +<p>"Swing south," he directed, "and drop a thousand feet and come back."</p> + +<p>The pilot executed the maneuver and Dr. Bird peered over the edge of +the plane and directed the spectroscope toward the ground.</p> + +<p>"Half a mile east," he said, "and drop another thousand. Carnes, get +ready to jump when I give the word."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lord!" groaned Carnes as he fumbled for the rip cord of his +parachute, "suppose this thing doesn't open?"</p> + +<p>"They'll slide you between two barn doors for a coffin and bury you +that way," said Dr. Bird grimly. "You know your orders, Maynard?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. When you drop, I am to land at the nearest town—it will be +Lowell—and get in touch with the Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy +Yard if possible. If I get him, I am to tell him my location and wait +for the arrival of reenforcements. If I fail to get him on the +telephone, I am to deliver a sealed packet which I carry to the +nearest United States Marshal. When reenforcements arrive, either from +the Navy Yard or from the Marshal, I am to guide them toward the spot +where I dropped you and remain, as nearly as I can judge, two miles +away until I get a further signal or orders from you."</p> + +<p>"That is right. We'll be over the edge in another minute. Are you +ready, Carnes?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I'm ready, Doctor, if I have to risk my precious life in +this contraption."</p> + +<p>"Then jump!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>ide by side, Carnes and the doctor dropped toward the ground. The +Douglass flew silently away into the night. Carnes found that the +sensation of falling was not an unpleasant one as soon as he got +accustomed to it. There was little sensation of motion, and it was not +until a sharp whisper from Dr. Bird called it to his attention that he +realized that he was almost to the ground. He bent his legs as he had +been instructed and landed without any great jar. As he rose he saw +that Dr. Bird was already on his feet and was eagerly searching the +ground with the spectroscope which he had brought with him in the +jump.</p> + +<p>"Fold your parachute, Carnes, and we'll stow them away under a rock +where they can't be seen. We won't use them again."</p> + +<p>Carnes did so and deposited the silk bundle beside the doctor's, and +they covered them with rocks until they would be invisible from the +air.</p> + +<p>"Follow me," said the doctor as he strode carefully forward, stopping +now and then to take a sight with the spectroscope. Carnes followed +him as he made his way up a small hill which blocked the way. A hiss +from Dr. Bird stopped him.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird had dropped flat on the ground, and Carnes, on all fours, +crawled forward to join him. He smothered an exclamation as he looked +over the crest of the hill. Before him, sitting in a hollow in the +ground, was the huge globe which had spirited away Major Trowbridge.</p> + +<p>"This is evidently their landing place," whispered Dr. Bird. "The next +thing to find is their hiding place."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e rose and started forward but sank at once to the ground and dragged +Carnes down with him. On the hill which formed the opposite side of +the hollow a line of light showed for an instant as though a door had +been opened. The light disappeared and then reappeared, and as they +watched it widened and against an illuminated background four men +appeared, carrying a fifth. The door shut behind them and they made +their way slowly toward the waiting globe. They laid down their burden +and one of them turned a flash-light on the globe and opened a door in +its side through which they hoisted their burden. They all entered the +globe, the door closed and with a slight whirring sound it rose in the +air and moved rapidly toward the northeast.</p> + +<p>"That's the place we're looking for," muttered Dr. Bird. "We'll go +around this hollow and look for it. Be careful where you step; they +must have ventilation somewhere if their laboratory is underground."</p> + +<p>Followed by the secret service operative, the doctor made his way +along the edge of the hollow. They did not dare to show a light and it +was slow work feeling their way forward, inch by inch. When they had +reached a point above where the doctor thought the light had been he +paused.</p> + +<p>"There must be a ventilation shaft somewhere around here," he +whispered,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> his mouth not an inch from Carnes' ear, "and we've got to +find it. It would never do to try the door; if any of them are still +here it is sure to be guarded. You go up the hill for five yards and +I'll go down. Quarter back and forth on a two hundred yard front and +work carefully. Don't fall in, whatever you do. We'll return to this +point every time we pass it and report."</p> + +<p>The operative nodded and walked a few yards up the hill and made his +way slowly forward. He went a hundred yards as nearly as he could +judge and then stepped five yards further up the hill and made his way +back. As he passed the starting point he approached and Dr. Bird's +figure rose up.</p> + +<p>"Any luck?" he whispered.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Well try further," he said. "I think it is probably beyond us, so +suppose you go fifteen yards up and quarter the same as before."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arnes nodded and stole silently away. Fifteen yards up the hill he +went and then paused. He stood on the crest of the hill and before him +was a steep, almost precipitous slope. He made his way along the edge +for a few yards and then paused. Faintly he could detect a murmur of +voices. Inch by inch he crept forward, going over the ground under +foot. He paused and listened intently and decided that the sound must +come from the slope beneath him. A glance at his watch told him that +he had spent ten minutes on this trip and he made his way back to the +meeting place.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird was waiting for him, and in a low whisper Carnes reported his +discovery. The doctor went back with him and together they renewed the +search. The slope of the hill was almost sheer and Carnes looked +dubiously over the edge.</p> + +<p>"I wish we had brought the parachutes," he whispered to the doctor. +"We could have taken the ropes off them and you could have lowered me +over the edge."</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird chuckled softly and tugged at his middle. Carnes watched him +with astonishment in the dim light, but he understood when Dr. Bird +thrust the end of a strong but light silk cord into his hands. He +looped it under his arms and the doctor with whispered instructions, +lowered him over the cliff. The doctor lowered him for a few feet and +then stopped in response to a jerk on the free end. A moment later +Carnes signaled to be drawn up and soon stood beside the doctor.</p> + +<p>"That's the place all right," he whispered. "The whole cliff is +covered with creepers and there is a tree growing right close to it. +If we can anchor the cord here, I think that we can slide down to a +safe hold on the tree."</p> + +<p>A tree stood near and the silk cord was soon fastened. Carnes +disappeared over the cliff and in a few moments Dr. Bird slid down the +cord to join him. He found the detective seated in the crotch of a +tree only a few feet from the face of the cliff. From the cliff came a +pronounced murmur of voices. Dr. Bird drew in his breath in excitement +and moved forward along the branch. He touched the stone and after a +moment of searching he cautiously raised one corner of a painted +canvas flap and peered into the cliff. He watched for a few seconds +and then slid back and silently pulled Carnes toward him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>ogether the two men made their way toward the cliff and Dr. Bird +raised the corner of the flap and they peered into the hill. Before +them was a cave fitted up as a cross between a laboratory and a +hospital. Almost directly opposite them and at the left of a door in +the farther wall was a ray machine of some sort. It was a puzzle to +Carnes, and even Dr. Bird, although he could grasp the principle at a +glance, was at a loss to divine its use. From a set of coils attached +to a generator was connected a tube of the Crookes tube type with the +rays from it gathered and thrown by a parabolic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> reflector onto the +space where a man's head would rest when he was seated in a white +metal chair with rubber insulated feet, which stood beneath it. An +operating table occupied the other side of the room while a gas +cylinder and other common hospital apparatus stood around ready for +use.</p> + +<p>Seated at a table which occupied the center of the room were three +men. The sound of their voices rose from an indistinct murmur to +audibility as the flap was raised and the watchers could readily +understand their words. Two of them sat with their faces toward the +main entrance and the third man faced them. Carnes bit his lip as he +looked at the man at the head of the table. He was twisted and +misshapen in body, a grotesque dwarf with a hunched back, not over +four feet in height. His massive head, sunken between his hunched +shoulders, showed a tremendous dome of cranium and a brow wider and +even higher than Dr. Bird's. The rest of his face was lined and drawn +as though by years of acute suffering. Sharp black eyes glared +brightly from deep sunk caverns. The dwarf was entirely bald; even the +bushy eyebrows which would be expected from his face, were missing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div> +<p>hey ought to be getting back," said the dwarf sharply.</p> + +<p>"If they get back at all," said one of the two figures facing him.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" growled the dwarf, his eyes glittering ominously. +"They'll return all right; they know they'd better."</p> + +<p>"They'll return if they can, but I tell you again, Slavatsky, I think +it was a piece of foolishness to try to take two men in one night. We +got Bird all right, but it is getting late for a second one, and they +had to take Bird over a hundred miles and then go nearly three hundred +more for Williams. The news about Bird may have been discovered and +spread and others may be looking out for us. Carnes might have +recovered."</p> + +<p>"Didn't he get a full dose of lethane?"</p> + +<p>"So Frick says, and Bird certainly had a full dose, but I can't help +but feel uneasy. Our operations were going too nicely on schedule and +you had to break it up and take on an extra case in the same night as +a scheduled one. I tell you, I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry that I did it, Carson, but only because the results were so +poor. We had planned on Williams for a month and I wanted him. And +Bird was so easy that I couldn't resist it."</p> + +<p>"And what did you get? Not as much menthium as would have come from an +ordinary bookkeeper."</p> + +<p>"I'll admit that Bird is a grossly overrated man. He must have worked +in sheer luck in his work in the past, for there was nothing in his +brain to show it above average. We got barely enough menthium to +replace what we used in capturing him."</p> + +<p>"We ought to have taken Carnes and left Bird alone," snorted Carson. +"Even a wooden-headed detective ought to have given us a better supply +than Bird yielded."</p> + +<p>"We are bound to meet with disappointments once in a while. I had +marked Bird down long ago as soon as I could get a chance at him."</p> + +<p>"Well, you ran that show, Slavatsky, but I'll warn you that we aren't +going to let you pull off another one like it. I take no more crazy +chances, even on your orders."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he hunchback rose to his feet, his eyes glittering ominously.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Carson?" he asked slowly, his hand slipping behind +him as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Don't try any rough stuff, Slavatsky!" warned Carson sharply. "I can +pull a tube as fast as you can, and I'll do it if I have to."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" protested the third man rising, "we are all +too deep in this to quarrel. Sit down and let's talk this over. Carson +is just worried."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is there to be worried about?" grunted the dwarf as he slid back +into his chair. "Everything has gone nicely so far and no suspicion +has been raised."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it has and then again maybe it hasn't," growled Carson. "I +think this Bird episode to-night looks bad. In the first place, it +came too opportunely and too easily. In the second place Bird should +have yielded more menthium, and in the third place, did you notice his +hands? They weren't the type of hands to expect on a man of his type."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, they were acid stained."</p> + +<p>"Acid stains can be put on. It may be all right, but I am worried. +While we are talking about this matter, there is another thing I want +cleared up."</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"I think, Slavatsky, that you are holding out on us. You are getting +more than your share of the menthium."</p> + +<p>Again the dwarf leaped to his feet, but the peace-maker intervened.</p> + +<p>"Carson has a right to look at the records, Slavatsky," he said. "I am +satisfied, but I'd like to look at them, too. None of us have seen +them for two months."</p> + +<p>The dwarf glared at first one and then the other.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said shortly and limped to a cabinet on the wall. He +drew a key from his pocket and opened it and pulled out a +leather-bound book. "Look all you please. I was supposed to get the +most. It was my idea."</p> + +<p>"You were to get one share and a half, while Willis, Frink and I got +one share each and the rest half a share," said Carson. "I know how +much has been given and it won't take me but a minute to check up."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e bent over the book, but Willis interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Better put it away, Carson," he said, "here come the rest and we +don't want them to know we suspect anything."</p> + +<p>He pointed toward a disc on the wall which had begun to glow. +Slavatsky looked at it and grasped the book from Carson and replaced +it in the cabinet. He moved over and started the generator and the +tube began to glow with a violet light. A noise came from the outside +and the door opened. Four men entered carrying a fifth whom they +propped up in the chair under the glowing tube.</p> + +<p>"Did everything go all right?" asked the dwarf eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Smooth as silk," replied one of the four. "I hope we get some results +this time."</p> + +<p>The dwarf bent over the ray apparatus and made some adjustments and +the head of the unconscious man was bathed with a violet glow. For +three minutes the flood of light poured on his head and then the dwarf +shut off the light and Carson and Willis lifted the figure and laid it +on the operating table. The dwarf bent over the man and inserted the +needle of a hypodermic syringe into the back of the neck at the base +of the brain. The needle was an extremely long one, and Dr. Bird +gasped as he saw four inches of shining steel buried in the brain of +the unconscious man.</p> + +<p>Slowly Slavatsky drew back the plunger of the syringe and Dr. Bird +could see it was being filled with an amber fluid. For two minutes the +slow work continued, until a speck of red appeared in the glass +syringe barrel.</p> + +<p>"Seven and a half cubic centimeters!" cried the dwarf in a tone of +delight.</p> + +<p>"Fine!" cried Carson. "That's a record, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"No, we got eight once. Now hold him carefully while I return some of +it."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>lavatsky slowly pressed home the plunger and a portion of the amber +fluid was returned to the patient's skull. Presently he withdrew the +needle and straightened up and held it toward the light.</p> + +<p>"Six centimeters net," he announced. "Take him back, Frink. I'll give +Car<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>son and Willis their share now and we'll take care of the rest of +you when you return. Is the ship well stocked?"</p> + +<p>"Enough for two or three more trips."</p> + +<p>"In that case, I'll inject this whole lot. Better get going, Frink, +it's pretty late."</p> + +<p>The four men who had brought the patient in stepped forward and lifted +him from the table and bore him out. Dr. Bird dropped the canvas +screen and strained his ears. A faint whir told him that the globe had +taken to the air. He slid back along the limb of the tree until he +touched the rope and silently climbed hand over hand until he gained +the crest. He bent his back to the task of raising Carnes, and the +operative soon stood beside him on the ledge surmounting the cliff.</p> + +<p>"What on earth were they doing?" asked Carnes in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"That was Professor Williams of Yale. They were depriving him of his +memory. There will be another amnesia case in the papers to-morrow. I +haven't time to explain their methods now: we've got to act. You have +a flash-light?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and my gun. Shall we break in? There are only three of them, and +I think we could handle the lot."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but the others may return at any time and we want to bag the +whole lot. They've done their damage for to-night. You heard my orders +to Lieutenant Maynard, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"He should be somewhere in these hills to the south with assistance of +some sort. The signal to them is three long flashes followed in turn +by three short ones and three more long. Go and find them and bring +them here. When you get close give me the same light signal and don't +try to break in unless I am with you. I am going to reconnoitre a +little more and make sure that there is no back entrance through which +they can escape. Good luck. Carnes: hurry all you can. There is no +time to be lost."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he secret service operative stole away into the night and Dr. Bird +climbed back down the rope and took his place at the window. Willis +lay on the operating table unconscious, while Slavatsky and Carson +studied the now partially emptied syringe.</p> + +<p>"You gave him his full share all right," Carson was saying. "I guess +you are playing square with us. I'll take mine now."</p> + +<p>He lay down on the operating table and the dwarf fitted an anesthesia +cone over his face and opened the valve of the gas cylinder. In a +moment he closed it and rolled the unconscious man on his face and +deftly inserted the long needle. Instead of injecting a portion of the +contents of the syringe as Dr. Bird had expected to do, he drew back +on the plunger for a minute and then took out the needle and held the +syringe to the light.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Carson," he said with a malignant glance at the unconscious +figure, "that recovers the dose you got a couple of weeks ago while +Willis watched me. I don't think you really need any menthium; your +brain is too active to suit me as it is."</p> + +<p>He gave an evil chuckle and walked to the far side of the cave and +opened a secret panel. He drew from a recess a flask and carefully +emptied a portion of the contents of the syringe into it. He replaced +the flask and closed the panel, and with another chuckle he limped +over to a chair and threw himself down in it. For an hour he sat +motionless and Dr. Bird carefully worked his way back along the branch +and climbed the rope and started for the hollow.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> faint whirring noise attracted his attention, and he could see the +faintly luminous globe in the distance, rapidly approaching. It came +to a stop at the spot where it had previously landed and four men got +out. Instead of going toward the cave, they towed the globe, which +floated a few inches from the earth, toward the side<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> of the hill +farthest from where the doctor stood. Three of them held it, while the +fourth went forward and bent over some controls on the ground. A +creaking sound came through the night and the men moved forward with +the globe. Presently its movement stopped and men reappeared. Again +came the creaking sound and the glow faded out as though a screen had +been drawn in front of it. The four men walked toward the door of the +cave.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird dropped flat on the ground and saw them pause a few yards +below him on the hill and again work some hidden controls. A glare of +light showed for an instant and they disappeared and everything was +again quiet. Dr. Bird debated the advisability of returning to the +window but decided against it and moved down the face of the hill.</p> + +<p>Inch by inch he went over the ground, but found nothing. In the +darkness he could not locate the door and he made his way around to +the back of the hill. The precipice loomed above him and he swept it +with his gaze, but he could locate no opening in the darkness and he +dared not use a flash-light. As he turned he faced the east and noted +with a start of surprise that the sky was getting red. He glanced at +his watch and found that Carnes had been gone for nearly three hours.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Time has gone faster than I +realized. He ought to be back at any time now."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e mounted the highest point of the hill and sent three long flashes, +followed in turn by three short and three more long to the south and +watched eagerly for an answer. He waited five minutes and repeated the +signal, but no answering flashes came from the empty hills. With a +grunt which might have meant anything, he turned and made his way +toward the opposite side of the hollow where the globe had +disappeared. Here he met with more luck. He had marked the location +with extreme care and he had not spent over twenty minutes feeling +over the ground before his hand encountered a bit of metal. As he +pulled on it his eyes sought the side of the hill.</p> + +<p>The dawn had grown sufficiently bright for him to see the result of +his action. A portion of the hill folded back and the faintly glowing +ship became visible. With a muttered exclamation of triumph he +approached it.</p> + +<p>The globe was about nine feet in diameter and was without visible +doors or windows. Around and around it the doctor went, searching for +an entrance. The ship now rested solidly on the ground. He failed to +find what he sought and his sensitive hands began to go over it +searching for an irregularity. He had covered nearly half of it before +his finger found a hidden button and pressed it. Silently a door in +the side of the craft opened and he advanced to enter.</p> + +<p>"Keep them up!" said a sharp voice behind him.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird froze into instant immobility and the voice spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Turn around!"</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird turned and looked full into the eye of a revolver held by the +man the dwarf had addressed as Frink. Behind Frink stood the dwarf and +three other men.</p> + +<p>As his eye fell on Dr. Bird, Frink turned momentarily pale and +staggered back, the revolver wavering as he did so. Dr. Bird made a +lightning-like grab for his own weapon, but before he could draw it +Frink had recovered and the revolver was again steady.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Bird!" gasped Slavatsky. "Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Get his gun, Harris," said Frink.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ne of the men stepped forward and dextrously removed the doctor's +automatic and frisked him expertly to insure himself that he had no +other weapon concealed.</p> + +<p>"Bring him to the cave," directed Slavatsky, who, though obviously +still<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> shaken, had just as obviously recovered enough to be a very +dangerous man. Two of the men grasped the doctor and led him along +toward the entrance to the laboratory cave which stood wide open in +the gathering daylight. Frink paused long enough to shut the side of +the hill and conceal the ship, and then followed the doctor. In the +cave the door was shut and the doctor placed against the wall under +the window through which he had peered earlier in the night. Slavatsky +took his seat at the table, his malignant black eyes boring into the +Doctor. Carson and Willis sat on the edge of the operating table, +evidently still partially under the effects of the anesthetic that had +been administered to them.</p> + +<p>"How did you get back here?" demanded Slavatsky.</p> + +<p>"Find out!" snapped Dr. Bird.</p> + +<p>The dwarf rose threateningly.</p> + +<p>"Speak respectfully to me; I am the Master of the World!" he roared in +an angry voice. "Answer my questions when I speak, or means will be +found to make you answer. How did you get back here?"</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird maintained a stubborn silence, his fierce eyes answering the +dwarf's, look for look, and his prominent chin jutting out a little +more squarely. Carson suddenly broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"That's not the Bird we had here earlier," he cried as he staggered to +his feet.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" demanded Slavatsky whirling on him.</p> + +<p>"Look at his hands!" replied Carson pointing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>lavatsky looked at Dr. Bird's long mobile fingers and an evil leer +came over his countenance.</p> + +<p>"So, Dr. Bird," he said slowly, "you thought to match wits with Ivan +Slavatsky, the greatest mind of all the ages. For a time you fooled me +when your double was operated on here, but not for long. I presume you +thought that we had no way of detecting the substitution? You have +discovered differently. Where is your friend, Mr. Carnes?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't your men leave him in the cabin when you kidnapped me?"</p> + +<p>Slavatsky looked at Frink inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"He stayed in the cabin if he was in it when we got there," the leader +of the kidnapping gang replied. "He got a full shot of lethane and +he's due to be asleep yet. I don't know how this man recovered. I left +him there myself."</p> + +<p>"Fool!" shrieked Slavatsky. "You brought me a double, a dummy whom I +wasted my time in operating on. Was the other a dummy, too?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't enter the cabin."</p> + +<p>Slavatsky shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"If that is all the good the menthium I have injected has done you, I +might as well have saved it. It doesn't matter, however: we have the +one we wanted. Dr. Bird, it was very thoughtful of you to come here +and offer your marvelous brain to strengthen mine. I have no doubt +that you will yield even more menthium than Professor Williams did +this evening especially as I will extract your entire supply and +reduce you to permanent idiocy. I will have no mercy on you as I have +on the others I have operated on."</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird blanched in spite of himself at the ominous words.</p> + +<p>"You have the whip-hand for the moment, Slavatsky, but my time may +come—and if it does, I will remember your kindness. I saw your +operation on Professor Williams this evening and know your power. I +also know that you stole the idea and the method from Sweigert of +Vienna. I saw you inject the fluid you drew into Willis' brain. Shall +I tell what else I saw?"</p> + +<p>It was the dwarf's turn to blanch, but he recovered himself quickly.</p> + +<p>"Into the chair with him!" he roared.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hree of the men grasped the doctor and forced him into the chair and +Slavatsky started the generator. The violet light bathed Dr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> Bird's +head and he felt a stiffness and contraction of his neck muscles, and +as he tried to shout out his knowledge of Slavatsky's treachery, he +found that his vocal chords were paralyzed. Through a gathering haze +he could see Carson approaching with an anesthesia cone and the sweet +smell of lethane assailed his nostrils. He fought with all his force, +but strong hands held him, and he felt himself +slipping—slipping—slipping—and then falling into an immense void. +His head slumped forward on his chest and Slavatsky shut off the +generator.</p> + +<p>"On the table," he said briefly.</p> + +<p>Four men picked up the herculean frame of the unconscious doctor and +hoisted him up on the table. Carson seized his head and bent it +forward and the dwarf took from a case a syringe with a five-inch +needle. He touched the point of it to the base of the doctor's brain.</p> + +<p>"Slavatsky! Look!" cried Frink.</p> + +<p>With an exclamation of impatience the dwarf turned and stared at a +disc set on the wall of the cave. It was glowing brightly. With an +oath he dropped the syringe and snapped a switch, plunging the cave +into darkness. A tiny panel in the door opened to his touch and he +stared out into the light.</p> + +<p>"Soldiers!" he gasped. "Quick, the back way!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke there came a sound as of a heavy body falling at the back +of the cave. Slavatsky turned the switch and flooded the cave with +light. At the back of the cave stood Operative Carnes, an automatic +pistol in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Open the main door!" Carnes snapped.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>lavatsky made a move toward the light, and Carnes' gun roared +deafeningly in the confined space. The heavy bullet smashed into the +wall an inch from the dwarf's hand and he started back.</p> + +<p>"Open the main door!" ordered Carnes again.</p> + +<p>The men stared at one another for a moment and the dwarf's eyes fell.</p> + +<p>"Open the door, Frink," he said.</p> + +<p>Frink moved over to a lever. He glanced at Slavatsky and a momentary +gleam of intelligence passed between them. Frink raised his hand +toward the lever and Carnes gun roared again and Frink's arm fell limp +from a smashed shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Slavatsky," said Carnes sternly, "come here!"</p> + +<p>Slowly the dwarf approached.</p> + +<p>"Turn around!" said Carnes.</p> + +<p>He turned and felt the cold muzzle of Carnes' gun against the back of +his neck.</p> + +<p>"Now tell one of your men to open the door," said the detective. "If +he promptly obeys your order, you are safe. If he doesn't, you die."</p> + +<p>Slavatsky hesitated for a moment, but the cold muzzle of the automatic +bored into the back of his neck and when he spoke it was in a +quavering whine.</p> + +<p>"Open the door, Carson," he whimpered.</p> + +<p>There was moment of pause.</p> + +<p>"If that door isn't open by the time I count three," said Carnes, +"—as far as Slavatsky is concerned, it's just too bad. I'll have four +shots left—and I'm a dead shot at this range. One! Two!"</p> + +<p>His lips framed the word "three" and his fingers were tightening on +the trigger when Carson jumped forward with an oath. He pulled a lever +on the wall and the door swung open. Carnes shouted and through the +opened door came a half dozen marines followed by an officer.</p> + +<p>"Tie these men up!" snapped Carnes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n a trice the six men were securely bound and Frink's bleeding +shoulder was being skilfully treated by two of the marines. Carnes +turned his attention to the unconscious doctor.</p> + +<p>He rolled him over on his back and began to chafe his hands. An +officer in a naval uniform came through the door and with a swift +glance around, bent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> over Dr. Bird. He raised one of the doctor's +eyelids and peered closely at his eye and then sniffed at his breath.</p> + +<p>"It's some anesthetic I don't know," he said. "I'll try a stimulant."</p> + +<p>He reached in his pocket for a hypodermic, but Carnes interrupted him.</p> + +<p>"Earlier in the evening Dr. Bird said they were using lethane," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that new gas the Chemical Warfare Service has discovered," said +the surgeon. "In that case I guess it'll just have to wear off. I know +of nothing that will neutralize it."</p> + +<p>Without replying, Carnes began to feverishly search the pockets of the +unconscious scientist. With an exclamation of triumph he drew out a +bottle and uncorked it. A strong smell as of garlic penetrated the +room and he held the opened bottle under Dr. Bird's nose. The doctor +lay for a moment without movement, and then he coughed and sat up half +strangled with tears running down his face.</p> + +<p>"Take that confounded bottle away, Carnes!" he said. "Do you want to +strangle me?"</p> + +<p>He sat up and looked around.</p> + +<p>"What happened?" he demanded. "Oh, yes, I remember now. That brute was +about to operate on me. How did you get here?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind that, Doctor. Are you all right?"</p> + +<p>"Right as a trivet, old dear. How did you get here so opportunely?"</p> + +<p>"I was a little slow in locating Lieutenant Maynard and the marines. +When we got here I was afraid that we couldn't find the door, so I +took Maynard and a detail around to the back and I went up to the top +and slid down our cord and looked in the window. You were unconscious +and Slavatsky was bending over you with a needle in his hand. I was +about to try a shot at him when something called their attention to +the men in front and I squeezed through the window and dropped in on +them. They didn't seem any too glad to see me, but I overlooked that +and insisted on inviting the rest of my friends in to share in the +party. That's all."</p> + +<p>"Carnes," said the Doctor, "you're probably lying like a trooper when +you make out that you did nothing, but I'll pry the truth out of you +sooner or later. Now I've got to get to work. Send for Lieutenant +Maynard."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ne of the marines went out to get the flyer, and Dr. Bird stepped to +the cabinet from which Slavatsky had taken his record book earlier in +the evening and took out the leather-bound volume. He opened it and +had started to read when Lieutenant Maynard entered the cave.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Maynard," said the Doctor, looking up. "Are the rest of the +party on their way?"</p> + +<p>"They will be here in less than two hours, Doctor."</p> + +<p>"Good enough! Have some one sent to guide them here. In the meanwhile, +I'm going to study these records. Keep the prisoners quiet. If they +make a noise, gag them. I want to concentrate."</p> + +<p>For an hour and a half silence reigned in the cave. A stir was heard +outside and Admiral Clay, the President's personal physician, entered +leading a stout gray-haired man. Dr. Bird whistled when he saw them +and leaped to his feet as another figure followed the admiral.</p> + +<p>"The President!" gasped Carnes as the officers came to a salute and +the marines presented arms.</p> + +<p>The President nodded to his ex-guard, acknowledged the salute of the +rest and turned to Dr. Bird.</p> + +<p>"Have you met with success, Doctor?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I have, Mr. President; or, rather, I hope that I have. At the same +time, I would rather experiment on some other victim of their deviltry +than the one you have brought me."</p> + +<p>"My decision that the one I have brought shall be the first to be +experimented on, as you term it, is unalterable."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>r. Bird bowed and turned to the dwarf who had been a sullen witness +of what had gone on.</p> + +<p>"Slavatsky," he said slowly, "your game is up. I have witnessed one of +your brain transfusions and I know the method. I gather from your +notes that the menthium you have hidden in that cabinet is still as +potent as when it was first extracted from a living brain, but in this +case I am going to draw it fresh from one of your gang. Some of the +details of the operation are a little hazy to me, but those you will +teach me. I am going to restore this man to the condition he was in +before you did your devil's work on him and you will direct my +movements. Just what is the first step in removing the menthium from a +brain?"</p> + +<p>The dwarf maintained a stubborn silence.</p> + +<p>"You refuse to answer?" asked the Doctor in feigned surprise. "I +thought that you would rather instruct me and have me try the +operation first on other men. Since you prefer that I operate on you +first, I will be glad to do so."</p> + +<p>He stepped to the opposite wall and in a few moments had opened the +dwarf's hiding place and taken out the flask of menthium.</p> + +<p>"Carson," he said, "after you had watched Slavatsky inject menthium +into Willis, you took lethane and expected him to inject menthium into +your brain. Instead of doing so he withdrew a portion from your brain +and put it in this flask. I have reason to believe from his secret +records which I found in the cabinet with this flask that he has done +so regularly. Are you willing to instruct me while I remove the +menthium from him?"</p> + +<p>"The dirty swine!" shouted Carson. "I'll do anything to get even with +him, but I have never performed the operation. Only Slavatsky and +Willis have operated."</p> + +<p>"Will you help me, Willis? asked Dr. Bird.</p> + +<p>"I'll be glad to, Doctor. I am sick of this business anyway. At first, +Slavatsky just planned to give us abnormally keen brains, but lately +he has been talking of setting himself up as Emperor of the World, and +I am sick of it. I think I would have broken with him and told all I +know, soon, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Throw him in that chair," said Dr. Bird.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>espite the howlings and strugglings of the dwarf, three of the +marines strapped him in the chair beneath the tube. The dwarf howled +and frothed at the mouth and directed a final appeal for mercy to the +President.</p> + +<p>"Spare me, Your Excellency," he howled. "I will put my brains at your +service and make you the greatest mentality of all time. Together we +can conquer and rule the world. I will show you how to build hundreds +of ships like mine—"</p> + +<p>The President turned his back on the dwarf and spoke curtly.</p> + +<p>"Proceed with your experiments, Dr. Bird," he said.</p> + +<p>Slavatsky directed his appeals to the doctor, who peremptorily +silenced him.</p> + +<p>"I told you a few hours ago, Slavatsky, that the time might come when +I would remember your threats against me. I will show you the same +mercy now as you promised me then. Carnes, put a cone over his face."</p> + +<p>Despite the howls of the dwarf, the operative forced an anesthesia +cone over his face and Dr. Bird turned to the valve of the lethane +cylinder. With Willis directing his movements, he turned on the ray +for three minutes and removed the unconscious dwarf to the operating +table. He took the long-needled syringe from a case and sterilized it +and then turned to the President.</p> + +<p>"I am about to operate," he said, "but before I do so, I wish to +explain to all just what I have learned and what I am about to do. +With that data, the decision of whether I shall proceed will rest with +you and Admiral Clay. Have I your permission to do so?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he President nodded.</p> + +<p>"When I first read of these amnesia cases, I took them for +coincidences—until you consulted me and gave me an opportunity to +examine one of the victims. I found a small puncture at the base of +the brain which I could not explain, and I began to dig into old +records. I knew, of course, of Sweigert of Vienna, and the extravagant +claims he had put forward in 1911. He was far ahead of his time, but +he mixed up some profound scientific discoveries with mysticism and +occultism until he was discredited. Nevertheless, he continued his +experiments with the aid of his principal assistant, a man named +Slavatsky.</p> + +<p>"Sweigert's theory was that intellectuality, brain power, +intelligence, call it what you will, was the result of the presence of +a fluid which he called 'menthium' in the brain. He thought that it +could be transferred from one person to another, and with the aid of +Slavatsky, he experimented on himself. He removed the menthium from an +unfortunate victim, who was reduced to a state of imbecility, and +Slavatsky injected the substance into Sweigert's brain. The experiment +resulted fatally and Slavatsky was tried for murder. He was acquitted +of intentional murder but was imprisoned for a time for manslaughter. +He was released when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up, and +for a time I lost track of him.</p> + +<p>"I found translations of both the records of the trials and of +Sweigert's original reports, and the thing that attracted my attention +was that the puncture I found in the victim corresponded exactly with +the puncture described by Sweigert as the one he made in extracting +the menthium. I asked the immigration authorities to check over their +records and they found that a man named Slavatsky whose description +corresponded with the ill-fated Sweigert's assistant had entered the +United States under Austria's quota about a year ago. The chain of +evidence seemed complete to me, and it only remained to find the man +who was systematically robbing brains.</p> + +<p>"If such a thing was really going on, I felt that my reputation would +make me an attractive bait and I secured a double, as you know, and +placed him in a position where his kidnapping would be an easy matter. +I was sure that the victims were being taken away by air and that +lethane was being used to reduce the neighborhood to a state of +profound somnolence, so I hid myself near my double with a gas +detector which would find even minute traces of lethane in the air.</p> + +<p>"My fish rose to the lure and came after the bait last night. When his +ship arrived, I found a strange gas in the air, and followed the ship +by the trail of the substance which it left behind it. Carnes was with +me, and we got here in time to witness the extraction of the menthium +from my friend, Professor Williams of Yale, and to see it injected +into one of Slavatsky's gang. I sent Carnes for help and messed around +until I was captured myself—and help arrived just in time. That's +about all there is to tell. I am now about to reverse the process and +try to remove the stolen brains from the criminals and restore them to +their rightful owners. I have never operated and the result may be +fatal. Shall I proceed?"</p> + +<p>The President and Admiral Clay consulted for a moment in undertones.</p> + +<p>"Go on with your experiments, Dr. Bird," said the President, "and we +will hold you blameless for a failure. You have worked so many +miracles in the past that we have every confidence in you."</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird bowed acknowledgment to the compliment and bent over the +unconscious dwarf. With Willis directing every move, he inserted the +needle and drew back slowly on the plunger. Twenty-three and one-half +cubic centimeters of amber fluid flowed into the syringe before a +speck of blood appeared.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Enough!" cried Willis. Dr. Bird withdrew the syringe and motioned to +Admiral Clay. The man the Admiral had brought in was placed in the +chair and lethane administered. He was laid on the table, and, with a +silent prayer, Dr. Bird inserted the needle and pressed the plunger. +When five and one-quarter centimeters had flowed into the man's +brains, he withdrew the needle and held the bottle which Carnes had +used to revive him under the man's nose. The patient coughed a moment +and sat up.</p> + +<p>"Where am I?" he demanded. His gaze roved the cave and fell on the +President. "Hello, Robert," he exclaimed. "What has happened?"</p> + +<p>With a cry of joy the President sprang forward and wrung the hand of +the man.</p> + +<p>"Are you all right, William?" he asked anxiously. "Do you feel +perfectly normal?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I do. My neck feels a little stiff. What are you talking +about? Why shouldn't I feel normal? How did I get here?"</p> + +<p>"Take him outside, Admiral, and explain to him," said the President.</p> + +<p>Admiral Clay led the puzzled man outside and the President turned to +Dr. Bird.</p> + +<p>"Doctor," he said, "I need not tell you that I again add my personal +gratitude to the gratitude of a nation which would be yours, could the +miracles you work be told off. If there is ever any way that can serve +you, either personally or officially, do not hesitate to ask. The +other victims will be brought here to-day. Will you be able to restore +them?"</p> + +<p>"I will, Mr. President. From Slavatsky's records I find that I will +have enough if I reduce all of his men to a state of imbecility except +Willis. In view of his assistance, I propose to leave him with enough +menthium to give him the intelligence of an ordinary schoolboy."</p> + +<p>"I quite approve of that," said the President as Willis humbly +expressed his gratitude. "Have you had time to make an examination of +that ship of Slavatsky's, yet?"</p> + +<p>"I have not. As soon as the work of restoration is completed, I will +go over it, and when I master the principles I will be glad to take +them up with the Army-Navy General Board."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Doctor," said the President. He shook hands heartily and +left the cave. Carnes turned and looked at the Doctor.</p> + +<p>"Will you answer a question, Doctor?" he asked. "Ever since this case +started, I have been wondering at your extraordinary powers. You have +ordered the army, the navy, the department of justice and everyone +else around as though you were an absolute monarch. I know the +President was behind you, but what puzzles me is how he came to be so +vitally interested in the case."</p> + +<p>Dr. Bird smiled quizzically at the detective.</p> + +<p>"Even the secret service doesn't know everything," he said. "Evidently +you didn't recognize the man whose memory I restored. Besides being +one of the most brilliant corporation executives in the country, he +has another unique distinction. He happens to be the only brother of +the President of the United States."</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_004.jpg" width="600" height="141" alt="Advertisement" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_005.jpg" alt="Far overhead a luminous shape appeared." width="600" height="352" class="img1" /> +<span class="caption">Far overhead a luminous shape appeared.</span></div> + +<h2><a name="The_Invisible_Death" id="The_Invisible_Death"></a>The Invisible Death</h2> + +<h4>A COMPLETE NOVELETTE</h4> +<h3><i>By Victor Rousseau</i></h3> + +<h4>CHAPTER I</h4> +<h4><i>Out of the Hangman's Hands</i></h4> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_y1.jpg" alt="Y" width="62" height="58" /></div> +<p>ou speak," said Von Kettler, jeering, "as if you really believed +that you had the power of life and death over me."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">With night-rays and darkness-antidote America strikes back +at the terrific and destructive Invisible Empire.</div> + +<p>The Superintendent of the penitentiary frowned, yet there was +something of perplexity in the look he gave the prisoner. "Von +Kettler, I think it is time that you dropped this absurd pose of +yours," he said, "in view of the fact that you are scheduled to die by +hanging at eight o'clock to-morrow night. Your life and death are in +your own hands."</p> + +<p>Von Kettler bowed ironically. Standing in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> Superintendent's +presence in the uniform of the condemned cell, collarless, +bare-headed, he yet seemed to dominate the other by a certain poise, +breeding, nonchalance.</p> + +<p>"Your life is offered you in consideration of your making a complete +written confession of the whole ramifications of the plot against the +Federal Government," the Superintendent continued.</p> + +<p>"Rather a confession of weakness, my dear Superintendent," jeered the +prisoner.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_o1.jpg" alt="O" width="60" height="54" /></div> +<p>h don't worry about that! The Government has unravelled a good deal +of the conspiracy. It knows that you and your international associates +are planning to strike at civilized government throughout the world, +in the effort to restore the days of autocracy. It knows you are +planning a world federation of states, based on the principles of +absolutism and aristocracy. It is aware of the immense financial +resources behind the movement. Also that you have obtained the use of +certain scientific discoveries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> which you believe will aid you in your +schemes."</p> + +<p>"I was wondering," jeered the prisoner, "how soon you were coming to +that."</p> + +<p>"They didn't help you in your murderous scheme," the Superintendent +thundered. "You were found in the War Office by the night watchman, +rifling a safe of valuable documents. You shot him with a pistol +equipped with a silencer. You shot down two more who, hearing his +cries, rushed to his aid. And you attempted to stroll out of the +building, apparently under the belief that you possessed mysterious +power which would afford you security."</p> + +<p>"A little lapse of judgment such as may happen with the best laid +plans," smiled Von Kettler. "No, Superintendent, I'll be franker with +you than that. My capture was designed. It was decided to give the +Government an object lesson in our power. It was resolved that I +should permit myself to be captured, in order to demonstrate that you +cannot hang me, that I have merely to open the door of my cell, the +gates of this penitentiary, and walk out to freedom."</p> + +<p>"Have you quite finished?" rasped the Superintendent.</p> + +<p>"At your disposal," smiled the other.</p> + +<p>"Here's your last chance, Von Kettler. Your persistence in this absurd +claim has actually shaken the expressed conviction of some of the +medical examiners that you are sane. If you will make that complete +written confession that the Government asks of you, I pledge you that +you shall be declared insane to-night, and sent to a sanitarium from +which you will be permitted to escape as soon as this affair has blown +over."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div> +<p>he United States Government has sunk pretty low, to involve itself +in a deal of this character, don't you think, my dear Superintendent?" +jeered Von Kettler.</p> + +<p>"The Government is prepared to act as it thinks best in the interests +of humanity. It knows that the death of one wretched murderer such as +yourself is not worth the lives of thousands of innocent men!"</p> + +<p>"And there," smiled Von Kettler, without abating an atom of his +nonchalance, "there, my dear Superintendent, you hit the nail on the +head. Only, instead of thousands, you might have said millions."</p> + +<p>Von Kettler's aspect changed. Suddenly his eyes blazed, his voice +shook with excitement, his face was the face of a fanatic, of a +prophet.</p> + +<p>"Yes, millions, Superintendent," he thundered. "It it a holy cause +that inspires us. We know that it is our sacred mission to save the +world from the drabness of modern democracy. The people—always the +people! Bah! what are the lives of these swarming millions worth when +compared with a Caesar, a Napoleon, an Alexander, a Charlemagne? +Nothing can stop us or defeat us. And you, with your confession of +defeat, your petty bargaining—I laugh at you!"</p> + +<p>"You'll laugh on the gallows to-morrow night!" the Superintendent +shouted.</p> + +<p>Again Von Kettler was the calm, superior, arrogant prisoner of before. +"I shall never stand on the gallows trap, my dear Superintendent, as I +have told you many times," he replied. "And, since we have reached +what diplomacy calls a deadlock, permit me to return to my cell."</p> + +<p>The Superintendent pressed a button on his desk; the guards, who had +been waiting outside the office, entered hastily. "Take this man +back," he commanded, and Von Kettler, head held high, and smiling, +left the room between them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Superintendent pressed another button, and his assistant entered, +a rugged, red-haired man of forty—Anstruther, familiarly known as +"Bull" Anstruther, the man who had in three weeks reduced the +penitentiary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> from a place of undisciplined chaos to a model of law +and order. Anstruther knew nothing of the Superintendent's offer to +Von Kettler, but he knew that the latter had powerful friends outside.</p> + +<p>"Anstruther, I'm worried about Von Kettler," said the Superintendent. +"He actually laughed at me when I spoke of the possibility of another +medical examination. He seemed confident that he could not be hanged. +Swore that he will never stand on the gallows trap. How about your +precautions for to-morrow night?"</p> + +<p>"We've taken all possible precautions," answered Anstruther. "Special +armed guards have been posted at every entrance to the building. +Detectives are patrolling all streets leading up to it. Every car that +passes is being scrutinized, its plate numbers taken, and forwarded to +the Motor Bureau. There's no chance of even an attempt at +rescue—literally none."</p> + +<p>"He's insane," said the Superintendent, with conviction, and the words +filled him with new confidence. It had been less Von Kettler's +statements than the man's cool confidence and arrogant superiority +that had made him doubt. "But he's not too insane to have known what +he was doing. He'll hang."</p> + +<p>"He certainly will," replied Anstruther. "He's just a big bluff, sir."</p> + +<p>"Have him searched rigorously again to-morrow morning, and his cell +too—every inch of it, Anstruther. And don't relax an iota of your +precautions. I'll be glad when it's all over."</p> + +<p>He proceeded to hold a long-distance conversation with Washington over +a special wire.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n his cell, Von Kettler could be seen reading a book. It was +Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathusta," that compendium of aristocratic +insolence that once took the world by storm, until the author's +mentality was revealed by his commitment to a mad-house. Von Kettler +read till midnight, closely observed by the guard at the trap, then +laid the word aside with a yawn, lay down on his cot, and appeared to +fall instantly asleep.</p> + +<p>Dawn broke. Von Kettler rose, breakfasted, smoked the perfecto that +came with his ham and eggs, resumed his book. At ten o'clock Bull +Anstruther came with a guard and stripped him to the skin, examining +every inch of his prison garments. The bedding followed; the cell was +gone over microscopically. Von Kettler, permitted to dress again, +smiled ironically. That smile stirred Anstruther's gall.</p> + +<p>"We know you're just a big bluff, Von Kettler," snarled the big man. +"Don't think you've got us going. We're just taking the usual +precautions, that's all."</p> + +<p>"So unnecessary," smiled Von Kettler. "To-night I shall dine at the +Ambassador grill. Watch for me there. I'll leave a memento."</p> + +<p>Anstruther went out, choking. Early in the afternoon two guards came +for Von Kettler.</p> + +<p>"Your sister's come to say good-by to you," he was told, as he was +taken to the visitors' cell.</p> + +<p>This was a large and fairly comfortable cell in a corridor leading off +the death house, designed to impress visitors with the belief that it +was the condemned man's permanent abode; and, by a sort of convention, +it was understood that prisoners were not to disabuse their visitors' +minds of the idea. The convention had been honorably kept. The +visitor's approach was checked by a grill, with a two-yards space +between it and the bars of the cell. Within this space a guard was +seated: it was his duty to see that nothing passed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s soon as Von Kettler had been temporarily established in his new +quarters, a pretty, fair-haired young woman came along the corridor, +conducted by the Superintendent himself. She walked with dignity, her +bearing was proud, she smiled at her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> brother through the grill, and +there was no trace of weeping about her eyes.</p> + +<p>She bowed with pretty formality, and Von Kettler saluted her with an +airy wave of the hand. Then they began to speak, and the German guard +who had been selected for the purpose of interpreting to the +Superintendent afterward, was baffled.</p> + +<p>It was not German—neither was it French, Italian, or any of the +Romance languages. As a matter of fact, it was Hungarian.</p> + +<p>Not until the half-hour was up did they lapse into English, and all +the while they might have been conversing on art, literature, or +sport. There was no hint of tragedy in this last meeting.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Rudy," smiled his sister, "I'll see you soon."</p> + +<p>"To-night or to-morrow," replied Von Kettler indifferently.</p> + +<p>The girl blew him a kiss. She seemed to detach it from her mouth and +extend it through the grill with a graceful gesture of the hand, and +Von Kettler caught it with a romantic wave of the fingers and strained +it to his heart. But it was only one of those queer foreign ways. +Nothing was passed. The alert guard, sitting under the electric light, +was sure of that.</p> + +<p>They searched Von Kettler again after he was back in the death house. +The other cells were empty. In three of them detectives were placed. +In the yard beyond the hangman was experimenting with the trap. He +himself was under close observation. Nothing was being left to chance.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t seven o'clock two men collided in the death-house entrance. One was +a guard, carrying Von Kettler's last meal on a tray. He had demanded +Perigord truffles and paté de foie gras, cold lobster, endive salad, +and near-beer, and he had got them. The other was the chaplain, in a +state of visible agitation.</p> + +<p>"If he was an atheist and mocked at me it wouldn't be so bad," the +good man declared. "I've had plenty of that kind. But he says he's not +going to be hanged. He's mad, mad as a March hare. The Government has +no right to send an insane man to the gallows."</p> + +<p>"All bluff, my dear Mr. Wright," answered the Superintendent, when the +chaplain voiced his protest. "He thinks he can get away with it. The +commission has pronounced him sane, and he must pay the penalty of his +crime."</p> + +<p>By that mysterious process of telegraphy that exists in all penal +institutions, Von Kettler's boast that he would beat the hangman had +become the common information of the inmates. Bets were being laid, +and the odds against Von Kettler ranged from ten to fifteen to one. It +was generally agreed, however, that Von Kettler would die game to the +last.</p> + +<p>"You all ready, Mr. Squires?" the prowling Superintendent asked the +hangman.</p> + +<p>"Everything's O. K., sir."</p> + +<p>The Superintendent glanced at the group of newspaper men gathered +about the gallows. They, too, had heard of the prisoner's boast. One +of them asked him a question. He silenced him with an angry look.</p> + +<p>"The prisoner is in his cell, and will be led out in ten minutes. You +shall see for yourselves how much truth there it in this absurdity," +he said.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e looked at his watch. It lacked five minutes of eight. The +preparations for an execution had been reduced almost to a formula. +One minute in the cell, twenty seconds to the trap, forty seconds for +the hangman to complete his arrangements: two minutes, and then the +thud of the false floor.</p> + +<p>Four minutes of eight. The little group had fallen silent. The hangman +furtively took a drink from his hip-pocket flask. Three minutes! The +Superintendent walked back to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> door of the death house and nodded +to the guard.</p> + +<p>"Bring him out quick!" he said.</p> + +<p>The guard shot the bolt of Von Kettler's cell. The Superintendent saw +him enter, heard a loud exclamation, and hurried to his side. One +glance told him that the prisoner had made good his boast.</p> + +<p>Von Kettler's cell was empty!</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER II</h4> +<h4><i>Conference</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>aptain Richard Rennell, of the U. S. Air Service, but temporarily +detached to Intelligence, thought that Fredegonde Valmy had never +looked so lovely as when he helped her out of the cockpit.</p> + +<p>Her dark hair fell in disorder over her flushed cheeks, and her eyes +were sparkling with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"A thousand thanks, M'sieur Rennell," she said, in her low voice with +its slight foreign intonation. "Never have I enjoyed a ride more than +to-day. And I shall see you at Mrs. Wansleigh's ball to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so—if I'm not wanted at Headquarters," answered Dick, looking +at the girl in undisguised admiration.</p> + +<p>"Ah, that Headquarters of yours! It claims so much of your time!" she +pouted. "But these are times when the Intelligence Service demands +much of its men, is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"Who told you I was attached to Intelligence?" demanded Dick bluntly.</p> + +<p>She laughed mockingly. "Do you think that is not known all over +Washington?" she asked. "It is strange that Intelligence should act +like the—the ostrich, who buries his head in the sand and thinks that +no one sees him because it is hidden."</p> + +<p>Dick looked at the girl in perplexity. During the past month he had +completely lost his head and heart over her, and he was trying to view +her with the dispassionate judgment that his position demanded.</p> + +<p>As the niece of the Slovakian Ambassador, Mademoiselle Valmy had the +entry to Washington society. The Ambassador was away on leave, and she +had appeared during his absence, but she had been accepted +unquestionably at the Embassy, where she had taken up her quarters, +explaining—as the Ambassador confirmed by cable—that she had sailed +under a misconception as to the date of his leave.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>runette, beautiful, charming, she had a score of hearts to play with, +and yet Dick flattered himself that he stood first. Perhaps the others +did too.</p> + +<p>"Of course," the girl went on, "with the Invisible Emperor threatening +organized society, you gentlemen find yourselves extremely busy. Well, +let us hope that you locate him and bring him to book."</p> + +<p>"Sometimes," said Dick slowly, "I almost think that you know something +about the Invisible Emperor."</p> + +<p>Again she laughed merrily. "Now, if you had said that my sympathies +were with the Invisible Emperor, I might have been surprised into an +acknowledgment," she answered. "After all, he does stand for that +aristocracy that has disappeared from the modern world, does he not? +For refinement of manners, for beauty of life, for all those things +men used to prize."</p> + +<p>"Likewise for the existence of the vast body of the nation in +ignorance and poverty, in filth and squalor," answered Dick. "No, my +sympathies are with law and order and democracy, and your Invisible +Emperor and his crowd are simply a gang of thieves and hold-up men."</p> + +<p>"Be careful!" A warning fire burned in the girl's eyes. "At least, it +is known that the Emperor's ears are long."</p> + +<p>"So are a jackass's," retorted Dick.</p> + +<p>He was sorry next moment, for the girl received his answer in icy +silence. In his car, which conveyed them from the tarmac to the +Embassy, she received all his overtures in the same si<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>lence. A frigid +little bow was her farewell to him, while Dick, struggling between +resentment and humiliation, sat dumb and wretched at the wheel.</p> + +<p>Yet the idea that Fredegonde Valmy had any knowledge of the conspiracy +or its leaders never entered Dick's head. He was only miserable that +he had offended her, and he would have done anything to have +straightened out the trouble.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t seemed impossible that in the year 1940 the peace of the civilized +world could be threatened by an international conspiracy bent on +restoring absolutism, and yet each day showed more clearly the immense +ramifications of the plot. Each day, too, brought home to the +investigating governments more clearly the fact that the things they +had discovered were few in number in comparison with those they had +not.</p> + +<p>The headquarters of the conspirators had never been discovered, and it +was suspected that the powerful mind behind them was intentionally +leading the investigators along false trails.</p> + +<p>The conspiracy was world-wide. It had been behind the revolution that +had recreated an absolutist monarchy in Spain. It had plunged Italy +into civil war. It had thrown England into the convulsions of a +succession of general strikes, using the communist movement as a cloak +for its activities.</p> + +<p>But nobody dreamed that America could become a fertile field for its +insidious propaganda. Yet it was behind the millions of adherents of +the so-called Freemen's Party, clamoring for the destruction of the +constitution. Upon the anarchy that would follow the absolutist regime +was to be erected.</p> + +<p>Already the mysterious powers had struck. Departments of State had +been entered and important papers abstracted. The <i>Germania</i> had +mysteriously disappeared in mid-Atlantic, and a shipping panic had +ensued. There were tales of mysterious figures materializing out of +nothingness. It was known that the conspirators were in possession of +certain chemical and electrical devices with which they hoped to +achieve their ends.</p> + +<p>The Superintendent of the penitentiary had had in his pocket an +authorization to stop the execution of Von Kettler after he stood on +the trap. Dead, he would be a mere mark of vengeance: alive, he might +be persuaded to furnish some clue to the headquarters of the +miscreants.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd behind the conspirators loomed the unknown figure that signed +itself the Invisible Emperor—in the communications that poured in to +the White House and to the rulers of other nations. In the threats +that were materializing with stunning swiftness.</p> + +<p>Who was he? Rumor said that a former European ruler had not died as +was supposed: that a coffin weighted with lead had been buried, and +that he himself in his old age, had gone forth to a mad scheme of +world conquest with a body of his nobles.</p> + +<p>It had been practically a state of war since the shipment of gold, +guarded by a detachment of police, had been stolen in broad daylight +outside Baltimore, the police clubbed and killed by invisible +assailants—as they claimed. The press was under censorship, troops +under arms, and it was reported that the fleet was mobilizing.</p> + +<p>In the midst of it all, Washington shopped, danced, feasted, flirted, +like a swarm of may flies over a treacherous stream.</p> + +<p>Intelligence was alert. As Dick started to drive away from the +Slovakian Embassy, a man stepped quickly to the side of the car and +thrust an envelope into his hand. Dick opened it quickly. He was +wanted by Colonel Stopford at once, not at the camouflaged +Headquarters at the War Department, but at the real Headquarters where +no papers were kept but weighty decisions were made. And to that +de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>vious course the Government had already been driven.</p> + +<p>Dick parked his car in a side street—it would have been under +espionage in any of the official parking places—and set off at a +smart walk toward his destination. Nobody would have guessed, from the +appearance of the streets, that a national calamity was impending. The +shopping crowds were swarming along the sidewalks, cars tailed each +other through the streets; only a detachment of soldiers on the White +House lawn lent a touch of the martial to the scene.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he building which Dick entered was an ordinary ten-story one in the +business section; the various legal firms and commercial concerns that +occupied it would have been greatly surprised to have known the +identity of the Ira T. Graves, Importer, whose name appeared in modest +letters upon the opaque glass door on the seventh story. Inside a +flapper stenographer—actually one of the most trusted members of +Intelligence's staff—asked Dick's name, which she knew perfectly +well. Not a smile or a flicker of an eyelid betrayed the fact.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Rennell," said Dick with equal gravity.</p> + +<p>The girl passed into an inner room, and a buzzer sounded. In a few +moments the girl came back.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Graves will be here in a few minutes, Mr. Rennell, if you'll +kindly wait in his office," she said.</p> + +<p>Dick thanked her, and walked through into the empty office. He waited +there till the girl had closed the door behind him, then went out by +another door and found himself again in the corridor. Opposite him was +a door with the words "Entrance 769" and a hand pointing down the +corridor to where the Intelligence service had established another +perfectly innocent front. Dick tapped lightly at this door, and a key +turned in the lock.</p> + +<p>The man who stepped quickly back was one of the heads of the Civil +Service. The man at the flat-topped desk was Colonel Stopford. The man +on a chair beside him was one of the heads of the police force.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Colonel, a big, elderly man, dressed in a grey sack suit, checked +Dick's commencing salutation. "Never mind etiquette, Rennell," he +said. "Sit down. You've heard about the man Von Kettler's escape last +night, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"It's known, then. We can't keep things dark. He vanished from his +cell in the death house, three minutes before the time appointed for +his execution, though, as a matter of fact, he wasn't going to be +hanged. Apparently he walked through the walls.</p> + +<p>"There's a sequel to it, Rennell. It seems he had told the +assistant-superintendent, a man named Anstruther, that he'd meet him +at a restaurant in town that night. He promised to leave him a +memento. Anstruther happened to remember this boast of Von Kettler's, +and he surrounded the restaurant with armed detectives, on the chance +that the fellow would show up. Rennell, <i>Von Kettler was there!</i>"</p> + +<p>"He went to this restaurant, sir?"</p> + +<p>"He walked in, just before the place was surrounded, engaged a table, +and ordered a sumptuous meal. He told the waiter his name, said he +expected a friend to join him, walked into the wash-room—and +vanished! Two minutes later Anstruther and his men were on the job. +Von Kettler never came out of the wash-room, so far as anybody knows.</p> + +<p>"In the midst of the hue and cry somebody pointed to the table that +Von Kettler had engaged. There was a twenty-dollar bill upon it, and a +scrap of paper reading: 'I've kept my word. Von K.'"</p> + +<p>Colonel Stopford looked at Dick fixedly. "Rennell, we may be fools," +he said, "but we realize what we're up against. It's a big thing, and +we're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> going to need all our fighting grit to overcome it. You're one +of the four men we're depending on. We're counting on you because of +your record, and because of your degree in science at Heidelberg. The +President wishes you to take charge of the whole Eastern Intelligence +District, covering the entire south-eastern seaboard of the United +States. You are to have complete freedom of action, and all civil, +military, and naval officials have received instructions to co-operate +with you."</p> + +<p>"There goes Mrs. Wansleigh's ball," thought Dick, but he said nothing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_w1.jpg" alt="W" width="78" height="54" /></div> +<p>e're not the hunters, Dick Rennell," went on Colonel Stopford. +"We're hiding under cover, and I'm counting on you to turn the tables. +They even know my office is here. I had a long distance call from +Savannah this morning in mocking vein. They advised me to have the +White House watched to-night. I warned the President, and we've posted +guards all round it."</p> + +<p>"They held the wire while you called up the President?" asked Dick.</p> + +<p>"Damn it, no! They called me up from Scranton the instant he'd +finished speaking. They have the power of the devil, Rennell, with +that infernal invisibility invention of theirs. Rennell, we're +fighting unknown forces. Who this Invisible Emperor is, we don't even +know. But one thing we've found out. He has his headquarters somewhere +in your district. Somewhere along the south Atlantic seaboard. The +greater part of his activities emanate from there. But we're fighting +in the dark. The clue, the master clue that will enable us to locate +him—that's what we lack."</p> + +<p>The sun had set, it was beginning to grow dark. Colonel Stopford +switched on the electric lamp beside his desk.</p> + +<p>"What have you to say, Rennell?" he asked; and Dick was aware that the +two other men were regarding him attentively.</p> + +<p>"It's evident," said Dick, "that Von Kettler possessed this means of +invisibility in his cell, and wasn't detected. He simply slipped out +when the guard came to fetch him."</p> + +<p>"Invisibility? Yes! But invisible's not the same thing as +transparent," cried Stopford. "These folks have operated in broad +daylight. They're transparent, damn them! Not even a shadow! You know +what I mean, Rennell! What I'm thinking of! That crazy man you were in +touch with six months ago, who prophesied this! We turned him down! He +showed me a watch and said the salvation of the world was inside the +case! I thought him insane!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_y1.jpg" alt="Y" width="62" height="58" /></div> +<p>ou mean Luke Evans, sir. That watch was his pocket model. He went +off in a huff, saying the time would come when we'd want him and not +be able to find him."</p> + +<p>"But, damn him, he wanted to produce universal darkness, or some such +nonsense, Rennell, and I told him that we wanted light, not darkness."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't exactly that, sir." Colonel Stopford was a man of the old +school: he had been an artillery officer in the Great War, and was +characteristically impatient of new notions. Dick began carefully: +"You'll remember, sir, old Evans claimed to have been the inventor of +that shadow-breaking device that was stolen from him and sold in +England."</p> + +<p>"To a moving picture company!" snorted Stopford. "I asked him what +moving pictures had to do with war."</p> + +<p>"Evans was convinced that the invention would be applied to war. He +claimed that it made the modern methods of military camouflage out of +date completely. He said that by destroying shadows one could produce +invisibility, since visibility consists in the refraction of wave +lengths by material objects.</p> + +<p>"When they stole his invention, he foresaw that it would be used in +war. He set to work to nullify his own in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>vention. He told me that he +had unintentionally given to the enemies of the United States a means +of bringing us to our knees, since he believed that British motion +picture company was actually a subsidiary of Krupp's. He worked out a +method of counteracting it."</p> + +<p>"You must get him, Rennell. Even if it's all nonsense, we can't afford +to let any chance go. If Evans's invention will counteract this damned +invisibility business—"</p> + +<p>The telephone on the Colonel's desk rang. He picked it up, and his +face assumed an expression of incredulity. He looked about him, like a +man bewildered. He beckoned to the police official, who hurried to his +side, and thrust the receiver into his hand. The official listened.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said. He turned to Dick and the Civil Service +representative.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he said, "the President has disappeared from his office +in the White House, and there are grave fears that he has been +kidnapped!"</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER III</h4> +<h4><i>In the White House</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>olonel Stopford's car had been parked around the corner of the +building, and within a minute the four men were inside it, Stopford at +the wheel, and racing in the direction of the White House. A nod to +the guard at the gate, and they were inside the grounds. At the +entrance a single guard, in place of the four who should have been +posted there, challenged sharply, and attempted to bar the way, not +recognizing Dick or Stopford in their civilian clothes.</p> + +<p>"Where's your officer?" demanded Stopford sharply.</p> + +<p>Half-cowed by the Colonel's manner, the young recruit hesitated, and +the four swept him out of the way and hurried on. The scene outside +the main entrance to the White House was one of indescribable +confusion. Soldiers were swarming in confused groups, some trying to +force an entrance, others pouring out. Every moment civilians, +streaming over the lawn, added to the number. Discipline seemed almost +abandoned. From inside the building came outbursts of screams and +cursing, the scuffling of a mob.</p> + +<p>"Roscoe! Roscoe!" shouted Stopford. "Where's the President's +secretary? Who's seen him? Let us pass immediately!"</p> + +<p>No one paid the least attention to him. But a short, bare-headed +civilian, who was struggling in the crowd, heard, and shouted in +answer, waved his arms, and began to force his way toward the four. It +was Roscoe, the secretary of President Hargreaves. The President was a +childless widower, and Roscoe lived in the White House with him and +was intimately in his confidence.</p> + +<p>Roscoe gained Stopford's side. "Say—they've got him!" he panted. +"They've got him somewhere—inside the building. They're trying to get +him out! We've got to save him—but we can't see them—or him. They've +made him invisible too, curse them! I heard him crying, 'Help me, +Roscoe!' He saw me, I tell you—and I didn't know where he was!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he little secretary was almost incoherent with fear and anger. The +five men, forming a wedge, hurled themselves forward. Out of the White +House entrance appeared a tall officer, revolver in hand. It was +Colonel Simpson, of the President's staff. Half beside himself, he +swept the weapon menacingly about him, shouting incoherently, and +clearing a passage, into which the five hurled themselves.</p> + +<p>Stopford seized his revolver hand, and after a brief struggle Simpson +recognized him.</p> + +<p>"He's in the building!" he shouted wildly. "Somewhere upstairs! I'm +trying to form a cordon, but this damned mob's in the way. Kick those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +civilians out!" he cried to the soldiers. "Shoot them if they don't +go! Guard the windows!"</p> + +<p>Stopford and Dick, at the head of the wedge, pushed past into the +White House. The interior was packed, men were struggling frantically +on the staircase; it seemed hopeless to try to do anything.</p> + +<p>Suddenly renewed yells sounded from above, a scream of anguish, howls +of terror. There came a downward surge, then a forward and upward one, +which carried the two men up the stairs and into the President's +private apartments above.</p> + +<p>In the large reception-room a mob was struggling at a window, beneath +a blaze of electric light. A soldier was standing there like a statue, +his face fixed with a leer of horror. In his hands was a rifle, with a +blood-stained bayonet, dripping upon the hardwood floor at the edge of +the rug. Upon the rug itself a stream of blood was spouting out of the +air.</p> + +<p>Dick looked at the sight and choked. There was something appalling in +the sight: it was the quintessence of horror, that widening pool of +blood, staining the rug, and flowing from an invisible body that +writhed and twisted, while moans of anguish came from unseen lips.</p> + +<p>Colonel Stopford leaped back, livid and staring. "God, it's got +eyes—two eyes!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>Dick saw them too. The eyes, which alone were visible, were about six +inches from the floor, and they were appearing and disappearing, as +they opened and shut alternately. It was a man lying there, a dying +man, pierced by the soldier's bayonet by pure accident, dying and yet +invisible.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he mob had scattered with shrieks of terror, but a few bolder spirits +remained in a thin circle about that fearful thing on the rug. Dick +bent over the man, and felt the outlines of the writhing body. It was +a man, apparently dressed in some sort of uniform, but this was +covered, from the top of the head to the feet, with a sort of sheer +silken garment, bifurcating below the waist, and resembling a cocoon. +It seemed to appear and alternately to vanish.</p> + +<p>Dick seized the filmy stuff in his fingers, rent it, and stripped it +away. Yells of terror and amazement broke from the throats of all. +Instantly the thin circle of spectators had become reinforced by a +struggling mass of men.</p> + +<p>The half-visible cocoon clung to Dick's body like spider webs. But the +man who had been wearing it had sprung instantly into view beneath the +cluster of electric lights. He was a fair-haired young fellow of about +thirty years, his features white and set in the agony of death.</p> + +<p>He was dressed in a trim uniform of black, with silver braid, and on +his shoulders were the insignia of a lieutenant. He opened his eyes, +blue as the skies, and stared about him. He seemed to understand what +had happened to him.</p> + +<p>"Dogs!" he muttered.</p> + +<p>Shrieks of fury answered him. The mob surged toward him as if to grind +his face to pieces under their feet—and then recoiled, mouthing and +gibbering. But it was at Dick that they were looking, not at the dying +man.</p> + +<p>He raised himself upon one elbow with a mighty effort. "His Majesty +the Invisible Emperor! Long be his reign triumphant!" he chanted. It +was his last credo. The words broke from his lips accompanied by a +torrent of red foam. His head dropped back, his body slipped down; he +was gone. And no one seemed to observe his passing. They were all +screaming and gibbering at Dick.</p> + +<p>"Rennell! Rennell!" yelled Stopford. "Where are you, Rennell? God, +man, what's happened to your legs?"</p> + +<p>Dick looked down at himself. For a moment he had the illusion that he +was a head and a trunk, floating in the air. His lower limbs had +be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>come invisible, except for patches of trousering that seemed to +drift through space. The mob in the room had fallen back gaping at him +in horror.</p> + +<p>Then Dick understood. It was the invisible garment that had coiled +itself about him. He tore it from him and became visibly a man once +more.</p> + +<p>Shouts from another room! A surging movement of the crowd toward it. +The muffled sounds of an automatic pistol, fitted with a silencer! +Then screams:</p> + +<p>"The devils are in there! They're murdering the soldiers!"</p> + +<p>There followed a panic-stricken rush, more muffled firing, and then +the sharp roar of rifles, and the fall of plaster. Some one was +bawling the President's name. The rooms became a mass of milling human +beings, lost to all self-control.</p> + +<p>A bedlam of noise and struggle. Men fought with one another blindly, +cursing soldiers fired promiscuously among the mob, riddling the +walls, stabbing at the air. The plaster was falling in great chunks +everywhere, filling the rooms with a heavy white cloud, in which all +choked and struggled. The yells of the civilian mob below, struggling +helplessly in the packed crowd that wedged the great stairway, made +babel. Outside the White House a dense mob that filled the lawns was +yelling back, and struggling to gain admittance. Suddenly the lights +went out.</p> + +<p>"They've cut the wires!" rose a wild, wailing voice. "The devils have +cut the wires! Kill them! Kill everybody!"</p> + +<p>His cry ended in a gurgle. Somewhere in that dark hell a struggle was +going on, a well defined struggle, different from the random, aimless +battling of the half-crazed soldiers and the civilians. President +Hargreaves was still within the walls of the White House, it was +known; it was physically impossible for him to have been carried away +when every foot of space was packed. And through that darkness the +invisible assailants were edging him, foot by foot, toward the +outside.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick was on the edge of this silent battle. He sensed it. Bracing +himself against a bureau, while the mob surged past him, he tried to +pierce the gloom, to reinforce with his perceptions what his instinct +told him. A soldier, crazed with fear, came leaping at him, bayonet +leveled. He thrust with a grunt. Dick avoided the glancing steel by a +hand's breadth, and, as the impetus of the man's attack carried him +forward, caught him beneath the chin with a stiff right-hand jolt that +sent him sprawling.</p> + +<p>From below the cries broke out again, with renewed violence: "They've +got the President! Get them! Get them! Close all doors and windows!"</p> + +<p>But a door went crashing down somewhere, to the tune of savage yells. +The mob was pouring down the stairs. It was growing less packed above. +Dick heard Stopford's voice calling his name.</p> + +<p>"Here, sir" he shouted back, and the two men collided.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake do what you can, Rennell!" shouted the Colonel. +"They've got the President downstairs. They had him in this very room, +in the thick of it all. I heard him cry out, as if under a gag. They +put one of those damned cloths over him. God, Rennell, I'm going +crazy!"</p> + +<p>The upper floor of the White House was almost empty now. Dick thrust +himself into the crowd that still jammed the stairs. He reached the +ground floor. It was lighter here, but a glance showed him that it was +impossible to attempt to restore any semblance of order. The big East +Room was jammed with a fighting, cursing throng. Dick stumbled over +the bodies of those who had fallen in the press, or had been shot +down. Outside the mob was thickening, swarming through the grounds and +screeching like madmen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>othing that could be done! Dick found himself caught once more in the +human torrent. Presently he was wedged up against a broken window. He +precipitated himself through the frame, dropped to the ground, stopped +for an instant to catch breath.</p> + +<p>The yelling mob was congregated about the main entrance of the White +House, and on this side the grounds were comparatively empty. As Dick +stopped, trying desperately to form some plan of action, he heard +footsteps and low voices near him. Then two men came toward him, +followed by three or four others.</p> + +<p>The men—but, though the light was faint, Dick realized instantly that +they were wearing invisible garments. He could see nothing of them; he +could see through where they seemed to be—the trees, the buildings of +the streets. Yet they were at his elbow. And they saw him. He heard +one of them leap, and sprang aside as the butt of a pistol descended +through the air and dropped where his head had been.</p> + +<p>Yet no hand had seemed to hold it. It had been a pistol, reversed, and +flashing downward, to be arrested in mid-air six inches from his face. +But the men were not wholly invisible. Nearly six feet above the +ground, three or four pairs of eyes were staring malevolently into +Dick's. Only the eyes were there.</p> + +<p>The two foremost men were breathing heavily. They were carrying +something. Grotesquely through a rent in the invisible garment Dick +saw a patch of trouser. He heard a muffled sigh. President Hargreaves, +in the hands of his abductors!</p> + +<p>Dick's actions were reflex. As the pistol hung beside his face, he +snatched at it, wrested it away, struck with it, and heard a curse and +felt the yielding impact of bone and flesh. He had missed the head but +struck the shoulder. Next moment hands gripped the weapon, and a +desperate struggle began.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was torn from Dick's grasp. He struck out at random, and his fist +collided with the chin of a substantial flesh and blood human being. +Invisible arms grasped him. He fought free. The pistol slashed his +face sidewise, the sight ripping a strip of flesh from the cheek. He +was surrounded, he was being beaten down, though he was fighting +gamely.</p> + +<p>"Kill the swine! Shoot! Shoot!" Dick heard one of his assailants +muttering.</p> + +<p>Out of the void appeared the blue muzzle of another automatic, with a +silencer on it. Dick ducked as a flame spurted from it. He felt the +bullet stir his hair. He grasped at the hand that held it, and missed. +Then he was held fast, and the muzzle swung implacably toward his head +again. Helpless, he watched it describe that arc of death. It was only +later that he wondered why he had fought all the while in silence, +instead of crying for help.</p> + +<p>But of a sudden the pistol was dashed aside. A woman's voice spoke +peremptorily, in some language Dick did not understand. And he saw her +eyes among the eyes that glared at him. Dark eyes that he knew, even +if the voice had not revealed her identity. The eyes and voice of +Fredegonde Valmy!</p> + +<p>Dick cried her name. He put forth all his strength in a final +struggle. Suddenly he felt a stunning impact on the back of the head. +He slipped, reeled, threw out his hands, and sank down unconscious on +the grass at the side of the path.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER IV</h4> +<h4><i>The Invisible Ambassador</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>redegonde Valmy implicated in the conspiracy! That was the first +thought that flashed into Dick's mind as he recovered consciousness. +He might have suspected it! But the idea that the girl he loved was +bound up with the murderous gang that was attacking the very +founda<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>tions of civilization chilled him to the soul.</p> + +<p>Dick had been picked up a few minutes after he had been struck down, +identified by Colonel Stopford as he was about to be removed to a +hospital, and carried into the White House. Order had been restored by +the arrival of a detachment of troops from Fort Myers, the severed +cables located and mended, and by midnight the interior of the +Presidential home had been made habitable again.</p> + +<p>President Hargreaves was gone—kidnapped despite the utmost efforts to +protect him; and it was impossible to conceal that fact from the +world. But the wheels of government still revolved. All night an +emergency council sat in the White House, and, deciding that in a time +of such grave danger heroic means must be adopted, with the consent of +such of the Congressional leaders as could be summoned, a Council of +Defence was organized.</p> + +<p>The whole country east of the Mississippi was placed under martial +law. The fleet and army were put on a war footing. Flights of +airplanes were assembled at numerous points along the eastern +seaboard. To this Council Donald was attached as head of Intelligence +for the Eastern Division. Yet all this availed little unless the +location of the Invisible Empire could be ascertained, and, despite +telegraphic reports that came in hourly, alleging to have discovered +its headquarters, nothing had been achieved in this direction.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he garment taken from the slain soldier had been examined by a +half-dozen of the leading chemists of the East. Pending the arrival +from New York of the celebrated Professor Hosmeyer, it was deposited +under military guard in a dark closet. The result was unfortunate. The +garment exhibited to the assembled scientists was a mere bifurcated +silken bag.</p> + +<p>The gas with which it had been impregnated, though it had been heavy +enough to adhere to the fabric for hours, had also been volatile +enough to have disappeared completely, leaving a residue which was +identified as a magnesium isotope.</p> + +<p>Equally spectacular had been the disappearance of Mademoiselle +Fredegonde Valmy. A cable from the Slovakian Ambassador had arrived a +few hours later, denying her authenticity. And with her disappearance +came the discovery that she had been at the head of an espionage +system with ramifications in every state department, and in every +statesman's home.</p> + +<p>Three days passed with no sign from the enemy. The Council sat all +day. In the executive offices of the White House Dick toiled +ceaselessly, planning, receiving reports, organizing the flights of +airplanes at strategic points throughout his district. From time to +time he would be summoned to the Council. At night he threw himself +upon a cot in his office and slept a sleep broken by the constant +arrival of messengers. And still there was no clue to the location of +the headquarters of the marauders.</p> + +<p>But in those three days there had been no sign of them. Hope had +succeeded despair; in the rebound of confidence the populace was +beginning to ridicule the nation-wide precautions against what were +coming to be considered merely a gang of super-criminals. It was even +whispered that President Hargreaves had not been kidnapped at all. The +Freemen's Party accused the Government of a plot to subvert popular +liberties.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick received a summons on the third evening. Utterly worn out with +his work, he pulled himself together and made his way into the Blue +Room, where the Council was assembled. Vice-president Tomlinson, an +elderly man, was in the chair. A non-entity, pushed into a post it had +been thought he would adorn innocuously, he had been overwhelmed by +his succession to the chief office of State.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tomlinson did not like Dick, or any of the hustling younger officers +who, unlike himself, realized the real significance of the danger that +overhung the country. He sat pompously in his leather chair, regarding +Dick as he entered in obedience to the summons.</p> + +<p>"Well, Captain Rennell, what have you to report to us this evening?" +he inquired, as Dick saluted and stood to attention at the table.</p> + +<p>"We're improving our concentrations, Mr. Vice-president. We've eight +flights of seaplanes scouring the coast in the hope of locating the +stronghold of the Invisible Emperor. We've—"</p> + +<p>"I'm sick and tired of that title," shouted Tomlinson. He sprang to +his feet, his face flushed with anger. His nerves had broken under the +continuous strain. "I'll give you my opinion, Captain Rennell," he +said. "And that is that this so-called Invisible Emperor is a myth.</p> + +<p>"A gang of thieves has invented a paint that renders them +inconspicuous, has created a panic, and is taking advantage of it to +terrorize the country. The whole business is poppycock, in my opinion, +and the sooner this bubble bursts the better. Well, sir, what have you +to say to that?"</p> + +<p>"Have you ever seen any of these men in their invisible clothing, if I +may ask, Mr. Vice-president?" inquired Dick, trying to keep down his +anger. His nerves, too, were badly frazzled.</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I have not, but my opinion is that this story is grossly +exaggerated, and that the persons responsible are the reporters of our +sensational press!" thundered Tomlinson.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e looked about him, a weak man proud of having asserted his +authority. Somebody laughed.</p> + +<p>Tomlinson glared at Dick, his rubicund visage purpling. But it was not +Dick who had laughed. Nor any one at the council table.</p> + +<p>That laugh had come from the wall beside the door. Again it broke +forth, high-pitched, cold, derisive. All heads turned as if upon +pivots to see who had uttered it.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" exclaimed Secretary Norris, of the War Department, and +slumped in his chair.</p> + +<p>Five feet eight inches from the floor a pair of grey eyes looked at +the Council members out of emptiness. Grey eyes, a man's eyes, cool, +contemptuous, and filled with authority, with a contemptuous sense of +superiority that left every man there dumb.</p> + +<p>Dick was the first to recover himself. He stepped forward, not to +where the invisible man was standing, but to a point between him and +the door.</p> + +<p>That cold laugh broke forth again. "Gentlemen, I am an ambassador from +my sovereign, who chooses to be known as the Invisible Emperor," came +the words. "As such, I claim immunity. Not that I greatly care, should +you wish to violate the laws of nations and put me to death. But, +believe me, in such case the retribution will be a terrible one."</p> + +<p>Suddenly the envoy peeled off the gas-impregnated garments that +covered him. He stood before the Council, a fair-haired young man, +clad in the same fashion of trim black uniform as the bayonetted +soldier had worn upstairs three nights before.</p> + +<p>He bowed disdainfully, and it was Tomlinson who shouted:</p> + +<p>"Arrest that man! I know his face! I've seen it in the papers. He's +Von Kettler, the murderer who escaped from jail in an invisible suit."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come, Mr. Vice-president," laughed Von Kettler, "are you sure +this isn't all very much exaggerated?"</p> + +<p>Tomlinson sank back in his chair, his ruddy face covered with sweat. +Dick stared at Von Kettler. A suspicion was forming in his mind. He +had seen eyes like those before, dark instead of grey, and yet with +the same look of pride and breeding in them; the look of the face, +too, impossible to mistake—he knew!</p> + +<p>Fredegonde Valmy was Von Kettler's sister!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_w1.jpg" alt="W" width="78" height="54" /></div> +<p>ell, gentlemen, am I to receive the courtesies of an ambassador?" +inquired Van Kettler, advancing.</p> + +<p>"You shall have the privileges of the gallows rope!" shouted +Tomlinson. "Arrest that man at once, Captain Rennell!"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Mr. Vice-president," suggested the Secretary for the Navy +blandly, "but perhaps it would be more desirable to hear what he has +to say."</p> + +<p>"Immunity for thieves, robbers, murderers!"</p> + +<p>"Might I suggest," said Von Kettler suavely, "that, since the United +States has honored my master by placing itself upon a war footing, it +has accorded him the rights of a belligerent?"</p> + +<p>"We'll hear you, Mr. Von Kettler," said the Secretary of State, +glancing along the table. Three or four nodded, two shook their heads: +Tomlinson only glared speechlessly at the intruder. Von Kettler +advanced to the table and laid a paper upon it.</p> + +<p>"You recognize that signature, gentlemen?" he asked.</p> + +<p>At the bottom of the paper Dick saw scrawled the bold and unmistakable +signature of President Hargreaves.</p> + +<p>"An order signed by the President of your country," purred Von +Kettler, "ordering your military forces replaced upon a peace footing, +and the acceptance of our conditions. They are not onerous, and will +not interfere with the daily life of the country. Merely a little +change in that outworn document, the Constitution. My master rules +America henceforward."</p> + +<p>Somebody laughed: another laughed: but it was the Secretary of State +who did the fine thing. He took up the paper bearing what purported to +be President Hargreaves's signature, and tore it in two.</p> + +<p>"The people of this country are her rulers," he said, "not an old man +dragooned into signing a proclamation while in captivity—if indeed +that is President Hargreaves's signature."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here came a sudden burst of applause. Von Kettler's face became the +mask of a savage beast. He shook his fist furiously.</p> + +<p>"You call my master a forger?" he shouted. "You yourselves repudiate +your own Constitution, which places the control of army and navy in +the hands of your President? You refuse to honor his signature?"</p> + +<p>"Listen to me, Mr. Von Kettler!" The voice of the Secretary of State +cut like a steel edge. "You totally mistake the temper of the people +of this country. We don't surrender, even to worthy adversaries, much +less to a gang of common thieves, murderers, and criminals like +yourselves. You have been accorded the privilege you sought, that of +an envoy, and that was straining the point. Show yourself here again +after two minutes have elapsed, and you'll go to the gallows—for +keeps."</p> + +<p>"Dogs!" shouted Von Kettler, beside himself with fury. "Your doom is +upon you even at this moment. I have but to wave my arm, and +Washington shall be destroyed, and with her a score of other cities. I +tell you you are at our mercy. Thousands of lives shall pay for this +insult to my master. I warn you, such a catastrophe is coming as shall +show you the Invisible Emperor does not threaten in vain!"</p> + +<p>With complete nonchalance the Secretary of State took out his watch. +"One minute and fifteen seconds remaining. Captain Rennell," he said. +"At the expiration of that time, put Mr. Von Kettler under arrest. I +advise you to go back to your master quickly, Mr. Von Kettler," he +added, "and tell him that we'll have no dealings with him, now or +ever."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or a moment longer Von Kettler stood glaring; then, with a laugh of +derision and a gesture of the hands he vanished from view. And, though +they might have expected that denouement, the members of the Council +leaped to their feet, staring incredu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>lously at the place where he had +been. Nothing of Von Kettler was visible, not even the eyes, and there +sounded not the slightest footfall.</p> + +<p>Dick sprang forward to the door, but his outstretched arms encountered +only emptiness. In spite of the Secretary of State's instructions, he +was almost minded to apprehend the man. If he could get him!</p> + +<p>The corridor was empty. A guard of soldiers was at the entrance, but +they did not block the entrance. Even now Von Kettler might be passing +them! Why didn't his feet sound upon the floor? How could a bulky man +glide so smoothly?</p> + +<p>Perhaps because Dick was undecided what to do, Von Kettler escaped +him. By the time he reached the guards he knew he had escaped. +Suddenly there came an unexpected denouement. Somewhere on the White +House lawn a guard challenged, fired. The snap of one of the silenced +automatics answered him.</p> + +<p>When Dick and the guards reached the spot, the man was lying in a +crumpled heap.</p> + +<p>"An airplane," he gasped. "Invisible airplane. I—bumped into it. +Men—in it. The damned dogs!"</p> + +<p>He died. Dick stared around him. There was no sign of any airplane on +the lawn, nothing but the tents of the guards, white in the moonlight, +and the grim array of anti-aircraft guns that Dick had placed there.</p> + +<p>But behind the White House, in hastily constructed hangars, were a +half-dozen of the latest pursuit airships—beautiful slim hulls, +heavily armored, with armored turrets containing each a quick-firer +with the new armor-piercing bullets. One of these ships, Dick's own, +was kept perpetually warmed and ready to take the air.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick raced across the lawn, yelled to the startled guard in charge. +The mechanics came running from their quarters. Almost by the time +Dick reached it the ship was ready.</p> + +<p>He twirled the helicopter starter, and she roared and zoomed, taking +an angle of a hundred and twenty-five degrees upward off a runway of +twenty yards. Into the air she soared, into the moonlight, up like an +arrow for five hundred feet.</p> + +<p>Dick pulled the soaring lever, and she hung there, buzzing like a bee +as her helicopters, counteracting the pull of gravity, held her +comparatively stable. He scanned the air all about him.</p> + +<p>Washington lay below, her myriad lights gleaming. Immediately beneath +him Dick saw the guns and the tents of the soldiers, and the little +group that was removing the body of the murdered soldier on a +stretcher. But there were no signs of any hostile craft.</p> + +<p>Had the murdered man really bumped into an invisible airship, or had +he only thought he had? Had those devils learned to apply the gas to +the surfaces of airplanes? There was no reason why they should not +have done so.</p> + +<p>But surely the utmost ingenuity of man had not contrived to render a +modern plane, with its metalwork and machinery, absolutely +transparent?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd, again, how was it possible to have silenced the sound of engines, +the whir of a propeller, so that there should be no auditory +indication whatever of a plane's presence?</p> + +<p>Dick looked all about him. Nothing was in the air—he could have sworn +it. He replaced the soaring lever and banked in a close circle, his +glance piercing the night. No, there was nothing.</p> + +<p>Crash! Boom! The plane rocked violently, tossing upon gusts of air. A +huge, gaping hole of blackness had suddenly appeared in the middle of +the White House lawn. The tents were flat upon the ground. Through the +rising smoke clouds Dick saw tongues of flame.</p> + +<p>No shell that, but a bomb, and dropped from the skies less than five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +hundred feet from where Dick hovered. Yet there was nothing visible in +the skies save the round orb of the moon.</p> + +<p>A rush of wind past Dick's face! One of the vanes of the helicopter +crumpled and fluttered away into the night. Dick needed no further +persuasion. The dead soldier had not lied.</p> + +<p>Von Kettler had begun the fulfillment of his threat!</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER V</h4> +<h4><i>The Enemy Strikes</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s Dick's airship veered and side-slipped, he kicked hard on the left +rudder and brought the nose around. Furiously he sprayed the air with +a leaden hail from his quick-firer. He heard a rush of wind go past +him, and realized that his unseen antagonist had all but rammed him.</p> + +<p>Yet nothing was visible at all, save the moon and the empty sky. He +had heard the rush of the prop-wash, but he had seen nothing, heard +nothing else. Incredible as it seemed, the pilot was flying a plane +that had attained not merely invisibility but complete absence of all +sound.</p> + +<p>Dick side-slipped down, pancaked, and crashed. He emerged from a plane +wrecked beyond hope of early repair, yet luckily with no injury beyond +a few minor bruises. He rushed toward the hangar, to encounter a bevy +of scared mechanics.</p> + +<p>"Another plane! Rev one up quick!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>Planes were already being wheeled out, pilots in flying suits and +goggles were striding beside them. Dick ordered one of them away, +stepped into his plane, and in a moment was in the air again.</p> + +<p>In the minute or two that had elapsed since the encounter, the enemy +had been active. Crash after crash was resounding from various parts +of Washington. Buildings were rocking and toppling, débris strewed the +streets, fires were springing up everywhere. A thousand feet aloft, +Dick could see the holocaust of destruction that was being wrought by +the infernal missiles.</p> + +<p>Bombs of such power had been the unattained ambition of every +government of the world—and it had been left to the men of the +Invisible Emperor to attain to them. Whole streets went into ruin at +each discharge and from everywhere within the city the wailing cry of +the injured went up, in a resonant moan of pain.</p> + +<p>In the central part of the city, the district about F Street and the +government buildings, nothing was standing, except those buildings +fashioned of structural steel, and these showed twisted girders like +the skeletons of primeval monsters, supporting sections of sagging +floors. Houses, hotels had melted into shapeless heaps of rubble, +which filled the streets to a depth of a dozen yards, burying +everything beneath them. Yet here and there could be seen the forms of +dead pedestrians, motor-cars emerging out of the débris, lying in +every conceivable position; horses, horribly mangled, were shrieking +as they tried to free themselves. And yet, despite this ruin, the +general impression upon Dick's mind, as he beat to and fro, signaling +to his flight to spread, was that of a vast, empty desolation.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>urther away: where the ruin had not yet fallen, thousands of human +beings were milling in a mass, those upon the fringes of the crowd +perpetually breaking away, other swarms approaching them, so that the +entire agglomeration resembled a seething whirlpool turning slowly +upon itself.</p> + +<p>Then of a sudden the strains of the national anthem floated up to +Dick's ears. A band was playing in the White House grounds. The tune +was ragged, and the drum came in a fraction of a second late, but an +immense pride and elation filled Dick's soul.</p> + +<p>"They'll never beat us!" he thought,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> intensely, "with such a spirit +as that!"</p> + +<p>He had signaled his flight to spread, and search the air. He could see +the individual ships darting here and there over the immensity of the +city, but none knew better than he how fruitless their effort was. And +the marauders had not ceased their deadly work.</p> + +<p>A bomb dropped near the Washington Monument, sending up a huge spout +of dust that veiled it from his eyes. Instinctively Dick shot toward +the scene. Slowly the dust subsided, and then a yell of exultation +broke from Dick's lips. The noble shaft still stood, a slim taper +pointing to the skies.</p> + +<p>It was an omen of ultimate success, and Dick took heart. No, they'd +never beat the grim, unconquerable tenacity of the American people.</p> + +<p>Yet the damage was proceeding at a frightful rate. A bomb dropped +squarely on the Corcoran Gallery and resolved it into a heap of silly +stones. A bomb fell in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the +houses on either side collapsed like houses of cards, falling into a +sulphurous, fiery pit. And still there was nothing visible but the sky +and the moon.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick gritted his teeth and swore as he circled over the site of +destruction, out of which tiny figures were struggling. He heard the +clang of the fire bells as the motor trucks came roaring toward the +scene. Then crash! again. Five blocks northward another dense cloud of +dust arose, and the new area of destruction, spreading as swiftly as +ripples over a pond, joined the former one, leaving a huge, irregular +open space, piled up with masonry and brick in a number of flat-topped +pyramids.</p> + +<p>Into this, houses went crashing every moment, with a sound like the +clatter of falling crockery, but infinitely magnified.</p> + +<p>"The devils! The swine!" shouted Dick. "And we gave Von Kettler the +privileges of an ambassador!"</p> + +<p>And Fredegonde was the sister of this devil! The remembrance of that +struck a cold chill to Dick's heart again. He tried to blot out her +picture from his mind, but he still saw her as she had appeared that +day after the air ride, flushed, smiling, radiant in her dark beauty.</p> + +<p>A murderess and a spy! He cursed her as he banked and circled back. He +was helpless. He could do nothing. And all Washington would be +destroyed by morning, if the supply of bombs kept up. But there was +more to come. Suddenly Dick became aware that two of his flight, at +widely separated distances, were going down in flames. Flaming comets, +they dropped plump into the destruction below. Another caught fire and +was going down. No need to question what was happening.</p> + +<p>The invisible enemy was attacking his flight and picking off his men +one by one!</p> + +<p>He drove furiously toward two of his planes whose erratic movements +showed that they were being attacked. As he neared them he saw one +catch fire and begin its earthward swoop. Then the fuselage crackled +beside him, and his instrument board dissolved into ruin. +Instinctively he went round in a tight bank and loosed his +machine-gun. Nothing there! Nothing at all! Yet his right wing went +ragged, and his own furious blasts into the sky, their echoes drowned +by the roar of his propeller, were productive of nothing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e shot past the uninjured plane, signalling it to descend. He wasn't +going to let his men ride aloft to helpless butchery. Nothing could be +done until some means was discovered of counteracting the enemy's +terrific advantage.</p> + +<p>He darted across the heart of the city to where another of the flight +was circling, waggling his wings to indicate to it to descend. Then on +to the next plane and the next, shepherding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> them. Thank God they +understood! They were bunching toward the hangar. Yet another took +fire and dropped, a burning wreck. Half his flight out of commission, +and not an enemy visible!</p> + +<p>He was aloft alone now, courting death—instant, invisible death. He +wouldn't descend until that carnival of murder was at an end. But it +was not at an end. Another crash, far up Pennsylvania Avenue, showed +an attempt upon the Capitol. Again—again, and a smoking hell wreathed +the noble buildings so that it was no longer possible to see them. A +lull, and then a crash nearer the city's heart. Crash! Crash!</p> + +<p>Invisible though the enemy was, it was easy to trace the movements of +this particular plane by the successive areas of destruction that it +left behind it. It was coming back over Pennsylvania Avenue, dropping +its bombs at intervals. It was methodically wiping out an entire +section of Washington.</p> + +<p>Dick drove his plane toward it. There was one chance in a thousand +that, if he could accurately gauge the progress of his invisible +antagonist, he could crash him and go down with him to death. If he +could get close enough to feel his prop-wash! A wild chance, but +Dick's mind was keyed up to desperation. He shot like an arrow toward +the scene, with a view to intercepting the murderer.</p> + +<p>Then of a sudden he became aware of a curious phenomenon. A black beam +was shooting across the sky. A black searchlight! It came from the +flat top of a large hotel that had somehow escaped the universal +destruction, and, with its gaunt skeleton of structural steel showing +in squares, towered out of the ruin all about it like an island.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was from here that the black beam started. It spread fanwise across +the sky. But it was not merely blackness. It was utter and +impenetrable darkness, cleaving the sky like a knife. Where it +passed, the rays of the moon were extinguished as fire is extinguished +by water.</p> + +<p>A beam of absolute blackness, that pierced the air like a widening +cone, and made the night seem, by contrast, of dazzling brightness +along either dark border.</p> + +<p>High into the air that dark beam shot, moving to and fro in the sky. +Dick, darting toward the spot where he hoped to find his invisible +enemy, found himself caught in it.</p> + +<p>In utter, inextinguishable darkness! Like a trapped bird he fluttered, +hurling himself this way and that till suddenly he found himself +blinking in the dazzling light of the moon again, and the black beam +was overhead.</p> + +<p>Crash! Another widening sphere of ruin as the invisible marauder +dropped a bomb. Dick cursed bitterly. Trapped in that black beam, he +had lost his direction. The invisible plane had shot past the point +where he had hoped to intercept it.</p> + +<p>He flung his soaring lever, and hung suspended in the air. An easy +mark for the enemy, if he chose to take the opportunity. No matter. +Death was all that Dick craved. He had seen half his flight wiped out, +and a hundred thousand human beings hurled to destruction. He wanted +to die.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly a wild shout came to his ears, as if all Washington had +gone mad with triumph. And Dick heard himself shouting too, before he +knew it, almost before he knew why.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or overhead, where the inky finger searched the sky, a luminous shape +appeared, a silvery cigar, riding in the void. The finger missed it, +and again there was only the moonlight. It caught it again—and again +the whole devastated city rang with yells of derision, hate, and anger +as the black beam held it.</p> + +<p>It held it! To and fro that silvery cigar scurried in a frantic +attempt to avoid detection, and remorselessly the black beam held it +down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>It held it down, and it outlined it as clearly as a figure on the +moving picture screen. Then suddenly there came a flash, followed by a +dull detonation, and a black cloud appeared, spreading into a flower +of death near the cigar, and at the edge of the black beam. The cheers +grew frantic. The anti-aircraft battery in the White House grounds had +grasped the situation, and was opening fire.</p> + +<p>To and fro, like a trapped beast, the cigar-shaped airplane fled. Once +it seemed to escape. It faded from the edge of the black finger—faded +into nothingness amid a roar of execretion. Then it was caught and +held.</p> + +<p>Truncated, bounded by an arc of sky, the black finger followed the +murderer in his flight remorselessly. And all around him the +anti-aircraft guns were placing a barrage of death.</p> + +<p>He was trapped. No need for Dick to rush in to battle. To do so might +call off that deadly barrage that held the murderer in a ring of +death. Hovering, Dick watched. And then, perhaps panic-stricken, +perhaps rendered desperate, perhaps through sheer, wanton courage that +might have commanded admiration under nobler circumstances, the +airship turned and drove straight in the direction of the battery, +dropping another bomb as she did so.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t fell in a crowded street, swarming with spectators who had +clambered upon the fallen débris, and it wrought hideous destruction. +But this time there was hardly a cry—no unison of despair such as had +come to Dick's ears before. The suspense was too tense. All eyes +watched the airship as, seeming to bear a charmed life, she drove for +the White House itself, through a ring of shells that widened and +contracted alternately, with the object of placing a last bomb +squarely upon the building before going down in death. And all the +while the black searchlight held it.</p> + +<p>Dick Rennell was to experience many thrilling moments afterward, but +there was never a period, measurable by seconds, yet seeming to extend +through all eternity—never a period quite so fraught with suspense +as, hovering there, he watched the flight of that silvery plane +speeding straight toward the executive mansion while all around it the +shells bloomed and spread. It was over the White House grounds. The +archies had failed; they were being outmaneuvered, they could not be +swung in time to follow the trajectory of the plane. Dick held his +breath.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly the silvery ship dissolved in a blaze of fire, a shower +of golden sparks such as fly from a rocket, and simultaneously the +last bomb that she was to drop broke upon the ground below.</p> + +<p>Down she plunged, instantly invisible as she escaped the finger of the +black beam; but she dropped into the vortex of ruin that she herself +had created. Into a pit of blazing fire, criss-crossed by falling +trees, that had engulfed the battery and a score of men.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly Dick understood. He flung home the soaring lever, +banked, and headed, not for the White House, but for the flat roof of +the hotel from which the black searchlight was still projecting itself +through the skies. He hovered above, and dropped, light as a feather, +upon the rooftop.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was only one person there—an old man dressed in a shabby suit, +kneeling before a great block of stone that had been dislodged upward +from the parapet and formed a sort of table. Upon this table the old +man had placed a large, square box, resembling an exaggerated kodak, +and it was from the lens of this box that the black beam was +projecting.</p> + +<p>Dick sprang from his cockpit as the old man rose in alarm. He ran to +him and caught him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Luke Evans!" he cried. "Thank God you've come back in time to save +America!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VI</h4> +<h4><i>The Gas</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the Blue Room of the White House the Council listened to old Luke +Evans's exposition of his invention with feelings ranging from +incredulity to hope.</p> + +<p>"I've been at work all the time," said the old man, "not far from +here. I knew the day would come when you'd need me. I put my pride +aside for the sake of my country."</p> + +<p>"Tell us in a few words about this discovery of yours, Mr. Evans," +said Colonel Stopford.</p> + +<p>Luke Evans placed the square black case upon the table. "It's simple, +like all big things, sir," he answered. "The original shadow-breaking +device that I invented was a heavy, inert gas, invisible, but almost +as viscous as paint. Applied to textiles, to inorganic matter, to +animal bodies, it adheres for hours. Its property is to render such +substances invisible by absorbing all the visible light rays that fall +upon it, from red to violet. Light passes through all substances that +are coated with this paint as if they did not exist."</p> + +<p>"And this antidote of yours?" asked Colonel Stopford.</p> + +<p>"Darkness," replied Luke Evans. "A beam of darkness that means +absolute invisibility. It can be shot from this apparatus"—he +indicated the box upon the table. "This box contains a minute portion +of a gas which exists in nature in the form of a black, crystalline +powder. The peculiar property of this powder is that it is the +solidified form of a gas more volatile than any that is known. So +volatile is it that, when the ordinary atmospheric pressure of fifteen +pounds to the square inch is removed, the powder instantly changes to +the gaseous condition."</p> + +<p>"By pressing this lever"—Evans pointed at the box—"a vacuum is +created. Instantly the powder becomes a gas, which shoots forth +through this aperture with the speed of a projectile, taking the form +of a beam of absolute blackness. Or it can be discharged from +cylinders in such a way as to extend over a large area within a few +minutes."</p> + +<p>"But how does this darkness make the invisible airships luminous?" +asked Stopford. "Why does not your darkness destroy all light?"</p> + +<p>"In this way, sir," replied the old inventor. "The shadow-breaking gas +with which the airships are painted confers invisibility because it +absorbs sunlight. But it does not absorb the still more rapid waves, +or oscillations which manifest themselves as radio-activity. On the +contrary, it gathers and reflects these.</p> + +<p>"Now Roentgen, the discoverer of the X-ray, observed that if X-rays +are allowed to enter the eye of an observer who is in complete +darkness, the retina receives a stimulus, and light is perceived, due +to the fluorescent action of the X-rays upon the eyeball.</p> + +<p>"Consequently, by creating a beam of complete darkness, I bring into +clear visibility the fluorescent gas that coats the airships; in other +words, the airships become visible."</p> + +<p>"If a light ray is nullified upon entering the field of darkness, will +it emerge at the other edge as a perfect light ray again?" asked +Stopford.</p> + +<p>"It will emerge unchanged, since the black beam destroys light by +slightly slowing down the vibrations to a point where they are not +perceived as light by the human eye. On emerging from the beam, +however, these vibrations immediately resume their natural frequency. +To give you a homely parallel, the telephone changes sound waves to +electric waves, and re-converts them into sound waves at the other +end, without any appreciable interruption."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Stopford, "the logical application of your method is to +plunge every city in the land into darkness by means of this gas?"</p> + +<p>"That is so, sir, and then we shall have the advantage of +invisibility, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> the enemy ships will be in fluorescence."</p> + +<p>"Damned impracticable!" muttered Stopford.</p> + +<p>"You seriously propose to darken the greater part of eastern North +America?" asked the Secretary for War.</p> + +<p>"The gas can be produced in large quantities from coal tar besides +existing in crystalline deposits," replied Luke Evans. "It is so +volatile that I estimate that a single ton will darken all eastern +North America for five days. Whereas the concentration would be made +only in specific areas liable to attack. The gas is distilled with +great facility from one of the tri-phenyl-carbinol coal-tar +derivatives."</p> + +<p>Vice-president Tomlinson was a pompous, irascible old man, but it was +he who hit the nail on the head.</p> + +<p>"That's all very well as an emergency measure, but we've got to find +the haunt of that gang and smash it!"</p> + +<p>An orderly brought in a telegraphic dispatch and handed it to him. The +Vice-president opened it, glanced through it, and tried to hand it to +the Secretary of State. Instead, it fluttered from his nerveless +fingers, and he sank back with a groan. The Secretary picked it up and +glanced at it.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he said, trying to control his voice, "New York was +bombed out of the blue at sunrise this morning, and the whole lower +part of the city is a heap of ruins."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the days that followed it became clear that all the resources of +America would be needed to cope with the Invisible Empire. Not a day +passed without some blow being struck. Boston, Charleston, Baltimore, +Pittsburg in turn were devastated. Three cruisers and a score of minor +craft were sunk in the harbor of Newport News, where they were +concentrating, and thenceforward the fleet became a fugitive force, +seeking concealment rather than an offensive. Trans-Atlantic +sea-traffic ceased.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the black gas was being hurriedly manufactured. From +cylinders placed in central positions in a score of cities it was +discharged continuously, covering these centers with an impenetrable +pall of night that no light would penetrate. Only by the glow of +radium paint, which commanded fabulous prices, could official business +be transacted, and that only to a very small degree.</p> + +<p>Courts were closed, business suspended, prisoners released, perforce, +from jails. Famine ruled. The remedy was proving worse than the +disease. Within a week the use of the dark gas had had to be +discontinued. And a temporary suspension of the raids served only to +accentuate the general terror.</p> + +<p>There were food riots everywhere, demands that the Government come to +terms, and counter-demands that the war be fought out to the bitter +end.</p> + +<p>Fought out, when everything was disorganized? Stocks of food congested +all the terminals, mobs rioted and battled and plundered all through +the east.</p> + +<p>"It means surrender," was voiced at the Council meeting by one of the +members. And nobody answered him.</p> + +<p>Three days of respite, then, instead of bombs, proclamations +fluttering down from a cloudless sky. Unless the white flag of +surrender was hoisted from the summit of the battered Capitol, the +Invisible Emperor would strike such a blow as should bring America to +her knees!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was a twelve-hour ultimatum, and before three hours had passed +thousands of citizens had taken possession of the Capitol and filled +all the approaches. Over their heads floated banners—the Stars and +Stripes, and, blazoned across them the words, "No Surrender."</p> + +<p>It was a spontaneous uprising of the people of Washington. Hungry, +homeless in the sharpening autumn weather, and nearly all bereft of +members of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> their families, too often of the breadwinner, now lying +deep beneath the rubble that littered the streets, they had gathered +in their thousands to protest against any attempt to yield.</p> + +<p>Dick, flying overhead at the apex of his squadron, felt his heart +swell with elation as he watched the orderly crowds. This was at three +in the afternoon: at six the ultimatum ended, the new frightfulness +was to begin.</p> + +<p>At five, Vice-president Tomlinson was to address the crowds. The old +man had risen to the occasion. He had cast off his pompousness and +vanity, and was known to favor war to the bitter end. Dick and his +squadron circled above the broken dome as the car that carried the +Vice-president and the secretaries of State and for War approached +along the Avenue.</p> + +<p>Rat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat!</p> + +<p>Out of the blue sky streams of lead were poured into the assembled +multitudes. Instantly they had become converted into a panic-stricken +mob, turning this way and that.</p> + +<p>Rat-a-tat-tat. Swaths of dead and dying men rolled in the dust, and, +as wheat falls under the reaper's blade, the mob melted away in lines +and by battalions. Within thirty seconds the whole terrain was piled +with dead and dying.</p> + +<p>"My God, it's massacre! It's murder!" shouted Dick.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey had not even waited for the twelve hours to expire. To and fro +the invisible airplanes shot through the blue evening sky, till the +last fugitives were streaming away in all directions like hunted deer, +and the dead lay piled in ghastly heaps everywhere.</p> + +<p>Out of these heaps wounded and dying men would stagger to their feet +to shake their fists impotently at their murderers.</p> + +<p>In vain Dick and his squadron strove to dash themselves into the +invisible airships. The pilots eluded them with ease, sometimes +sending a contemptuous round of machine-gun bullets in their +direction, but not troubling to shoot them down.</p> + +<p>Two small boys, carrying a huge banner with "No Surrender" across it, +were walking off the ghastly field. Twelve or fourteen years old at +most, they disdained to run. They were singing, singing the National +Anthem, though their voices were inaudible through the turmoil.</p> + +<p>Rat-tat! Rat-tat-a-tat! The fiends above loosed a storm of lead upon +them. Both fell. One rose, still clutching the banner in his hand and +waved it aloft. In a sudden silence his childish treble could be +heard:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>My country, 'tis of thee<br /> +Sweet land of lib-er-ty—</p></div> + +<p>The guns rattled again. Clutching the blood-stained banner, he dropped +across the body of his companion.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a broad band of black soared upward from the earth. Those in +charge of the cylinders placed about the Capitol had released the gas.</p> + +<p>A band of darkness, rising into the blue, cutting off the earth, +making the summit of the ruined Capitol a floating dome. But, fast as +it rose, the invisible airships rose faster above it.</p> + +<p>A last vicious volley! Two of Dick's flight crashing down upon the +piles of dead men underneath! And nothing was visible, though the +darkness rose till it obliterated the blue above.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t dawn the Council sat, after an all-night meeting. Vice-president +Tomlinson, one arm shattered by a machine-gun bullet, still occupied +the chair at the head of the table.</p> + +<p>Outside, immediately about the White House, there was not a sound. +Washington might have been a city of the dead. The railroad terminals, +however, were occupied by a mob of people, busily looting. There was +great disorder. Organized government had simply disappeared.</p> + +<p>Each man was occupied only with obtaining as much food as he could +carry, and taking his family into rural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> districts where the Terror +would not be likely to pursue. All the roads leading out of +Washington—into Virginia, into Maryland, were congested with columns +of fugitives that stretched for miles.</p> + +<p>Some, who were fortunate enough to possess automobiles, and—what was +rarer—a few gallons of gas, were trying to force their way through +the masses ahead of them; here and there a family trudged beside a +pack-horse, or a big dog drew an improvised sled on wheels, loaded +with flour, bacon, blankets, pillows. Old men and young children +trudged on uncomplaining.</p> + +<p>The telegraph wires were still, for the most part, working. All the +world knew what was happening. From all the big cities of the East a +similar exodus was proceeding. There was little bitterness and little +disorder.</p> + +<p>It was not the airship raids from which these crowds were fleeing. +Something grimmer was happening. The murderous attack upon the +populace about the Capitol had been merely an incident. This later +development was the fulfilment of the Invisible Emperor's ultimatum.</p> + +<p>Death was afield, death, invisible, instantaneous, and inevitable. +Death blown on the winds, in the form of the deadliest of unknown +gases.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the Blue Room of the White House a score of experts had gathered. +Dick, too, with the chiefs of his staff, Stopford, and the army and +naval heads. Among them was the chief of the Meteorological Bureau, +and it was to him primarily that Tomlinson was reading a telegraphic +dispatch from Wilmington, South Carolina:</p> + +<p>"The Invisible Death has reached this point and is working havoc +throughout the city, spreading from street to street. Men are dropping +dead everywhere. A few have fled, but—"</p> + +<p>The sudden ending of the dispatch was significant enough. Tomlinson +picked up another dispatch from Columbia, in the same State:</p> + +<p>"Invisible Death now circling city," he read. "Business section +already invaded. All other telegraphists have left posts. Can't say +how long—"</p> + +<p>And this, too, ended in the same way. There were piles of such +communications, and they had been coming in for eighteen hours. At +that moment an orderly brought in a dozen more.</p> + +<p>Tomlinson showed the head of the Meteorological Bureau the chart upon +the table. "We've plotted out a map as the wires came in, Mr. Graves," +he said. "The Invisible Death struck the southeast shore of the United +States yesterday afternoon near Charleston. It has spread +approximately at a steady rate. The wind velocity—?"</p> + +<p>"Remains constant. Seventy miles an hour. Dying down a little," +answered Graves.</p> + +<p>"The death line now runs from Wilmington, South Carolina, straight to +Augusta, Georgia," the Vice-president pursued. "Every living thing +that this gas has encountered has been instantly destroyed. Men, +cattle, birds, vermin, wild beasts. The gas is invisible and +inodorous. These gentlemen believe it may be a form of hydrocyanic +acid, but of a concentration beyond anything known to chemistry, so +deadly that a billionth part of it to one of air must be fatal, +otherwise it could not have traveled as it has done. Warnings have +been broadcasted, but there are no stocks of chemicals that might +counteract it. Flight is the only hope—flight at seventy miles an +hour!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is voice shook. "This gas has been loosed, as you told us, upon the +wings of the hurricane that came through the Florida Strait. What are +the chances of its reaching Washington?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Vice-president, if the wind continues, and this gas has +sufficient concentration, it should be in Washington within the next +eight hours." Graves replied. "If the wind changes direc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>tion, +however, this gas will probably be blown out to sea, or into the +Alleghanies, where it will probably be dissipated among the hills, or +by the foliage on the mountains. I'm not a chemist—"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, and I am not consulting you as one," answered old Tomlinson. +"A death belt several hundred miles in length and three or four +hundred deep has already been cut across this continent. We are faced +with wholesale, unmitigated murder, on such a scale as was never known +before. But we are an integral part of America, and Washington has no +more right to expect immunity than our devastated Southern States. The +question we wish to put to you is, can you trace the exact course +taken by the hurricane?"</p> + +<p>"I can, Mr. Vice-president," answered Graves. "It originated somewhere +in the West Indian seas, like all these storms. We've been getting our +reports almost as usual. Our first one came from Nassau, which was +badly damaged. The storm missed the Florida coast, as many of them do, +and struck the coast of South Carolina—in fact, we received a report +from Charleston, which must have almost coincided with your first +report of the gas."</p> + +<p>"If the storm missed the Florida coast, it follows that the gas was +not discharged from any point on the American continent," said +Tomlinson. "From some point off Florida—from some island, or from a +plane or from a ship at sea."</p> + +<p>"Not from a ship at sea, Mr. Vice-president," interposed the head of +the Chemical Bureau. "To discharge gas on such an extensive scale +would require more space than could be furnished by the largest +vessel, in my opinion."</p> + +<p>"In all probability the gas was 'loaded,' so to say, onto the gale +somewhere in the Bahamas," said Graves. "That seems to me the most +likely explanation."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_v.jpg" alt="V" width="53" height="51" /></div> +<p>ice-president Tomlinson nodded, and picked up one of the latest +telegraphic dispatches, as if absently.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he said, "the Invisible Death has already reached +Charlotte."</p> + +<p>He picked up another. "Reported Abaco Island, Bahamas, totally wrecked +by storm. All communication has ceased," he read. He turned to Dick +and spoke as if inspired. "Captain Rennell, there is your +destination," he thundered. "They've betrayed themselves. We've got +them now. You understand?"</p> + +<p>"By God, sir! It's from Abaco Island, then, that those devils have +been carrying on their game of wholesale murder!"</p> + +<p>Suddenly a contagion of enthusiasm seemed to sweep the whole +assemblage. Every man was upon his feet in an instant, white, +quivering, lips opened for speech that trembled there and did not +come.</p> + +<p>It was Secretary Norris spoke. "The Vice-president has hit the mark," +he said, with a dramatic gesture of his arm. "Yes, they've betrayed +themselves. Their headquarters are on Abaco Island. It's one of the +largest in the Bahamas." He turned to the Secretary for the Navy. "You +can rush the fleet there, sir?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Within forty-eight hours I'll have every vessel that can float off +Abaco Island."</p> + +<p>"I'll concentrate all airplanes. Take your flight, Captain Rennell. +We'll stamp out that nest of murderers if we blow Abaco Island to the +bottom of the sea. It can be done!"</p> + +<p>"It can be done, sir—with Luke Evans and his invention," answered +Dick.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VII</h4> +<h4><i>On the Trail</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hree hours later, about the time when the war council rose after +completing its plans, a sudden shift of the wind blew the poison gas +out to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> sea, just when it appeared certain that it would reach the +capital of the nation.</p> + +<p>The southern half of Virginia had been swept over. Operators, +telegraph and telephone, staying at their posts had sent in constant +messages that had terminated with an abruptness which told of the +tragic sequel. Yet, at that distance from its source, the intensity of +the gas had been to some extent dissipated.</p> + +<p>Poisonous beyond any gas known, so deadly as to make hydrocyanic gas +innocuous in comparison, still as it was swept northward on the wings +of the wind, there had been an increasing number of non-fatal +casualties. The most northernly point reached by the gas was Richmond, +and here some fifty per cent of those stricken had suffered paralysis +instead of death.</p> + +<p>But a new element had been injected into the situation. Even the +heroic courage shown by the populace in the beginning had had its +limits. The morning after the news of the Invisible Death's advent was +made public mobs had gathered in all the large cities of the East, +demanding surrender.</p> + +<p>The submerged elements of crime and disorder had come to the surface +at last. Committees were formed, with the avowed object of yielding to +the Invisible Emperor, and averting further disaster. In Washington, a +city of the dead, half the members of Congress and the Senators had +gathered in the ruined Capitol, to debate the situation.</p> + +<p>There were rumors of an impending march on the White House, of a coup +d'ètat.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he action of the Government was prompt. Five hundred loyalists were +enrolled, armed, and posted round the White House: every avenue of +approach was commanded by machine-guns. Meanwhile the news was spread +by radio that the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor had been +located, and that a strong bombing squadron was being dispatched to +destroy it.</p> + +<p>The entire fleet was to follow, and it was confidently anticipated +that within a little while the Terror would be at an end.</p> + +<p>Those at the white House were less sanguine. There was none but +realized the diabolical strength of their antagonists.</p> + +<p>"Everything depends upon the outcome of the next forty-eight hours, +and everything depends on you, Rennell," said Secretary Norris to +Dick, as he stood beside his plane. Behind him his flight of a dozen +airships was drawn up.</p> + +<p>"Find them," added the Secretary; "cover Abaco Island with the black +gas, and the navy and the marines will wipe up the mess that you leave +behind you. God help you—and all of us, Rennell!"</p> + +<p>He gripped Dick's hand and turned away. Dick was very sober-minded as +he climbed into his cockpit. He knew to the full how much depended +upon himself and Luke Evans. Already the shouts of the insurgents were +to be heard at the ends of the barriers, commanded by the +machine-guns, and patrolled by the enlisted volunteers.</p> + +<p>Negro mobs were building counter-barricades of their own with rubble +from the fallen edifices. Civil war might be postponed for +eight-and-forty hours, but after that unless there was news of +victory, the whole structure of civilization would be smashed +irreparably.</p> + +<p>It was up to Dick and Luke Evans, and they had assumed such a +responsibility as rarely falls to the lot of man in war.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick was to lead the flight in a two-seater Barwell plane. This was +one of the latest types, and had been hurriedly adapted to the purpose +for which it was to be used. Dick himself occupied the rear seat, with +its dual controls, and the gun in its armored casing. In front sat old +Luke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> Evans, in charge of the black gas projector.</p> + +<p>His famous camera box, containing a minute quantity of gas in slow +combustion, and projecting the black searchlight, had been built into +the plane. In the rack beside him were a number of the black gas +bombs, each of which, dropped to earth, would release enough gas to +cover a considerable area with darkness. Both Luke and Dick wore +respirators filled with charcoal and sodium thio-sulphate, and beside +Dick a cage containing three guinea-pigs rested.</p> + +<p>These little rodents were so sensitive to atmospheric changes that a +quantity of hydrocyanic acid too minute to affect a man would produce +instantaneous death on them.</p> + +<p>From its hiding-place off the Virginia coast the American fleet was +steaming hotly southward toward Abaco Island, cruisers, destroyers, +submarines. That Abaco was British territory had simply not been +considered in this crisis of history.</p> + +<p>The twelve airships that followed Dick's contained enough bombs to put +the headquarters of the Invisible Empire out of business for good. The +naval guns would complete the same business.</p> + +<p>All day Dick and Luke Evans flew southwestward. At first glance, +everything appeared normal. The catastrophe that had fallen upon the +land was visible only in the shape of the lines of tiny figures, +extending for miles, that choked all the roads radiating out of the +principal cities. It was only when they were over the southern portion +of Virginia that the ravages of deadly gas became apparent.</p> + +<p>Flying low, Dick could see the fields strewn with the bodies of dead +cattle. Here and there, at the doors of farmhouses, the inmates could +be seen, lying together in gruesome heaps, caught and killed +instantaneously as they attempted flight. Here, too, were figures on +the roads. But they were figures of dead men and women.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey strewed the roads for miles, lying as they had been trapped—men, +women, children, horses, mules, and dogs. The spectacle was an +appalling one. Dick set his jaws grimly. He was thinking that the +Council had let Von Kettler escape. He was thinking of Fredegonde. But +he would not let himself think of her. She deserved no more pity than +the rest of the murderous crew.</p> + +<p>Over the Carolinas the conditions were still more appalling. Here +deadly gas had struck with all its concentrated power. A city +materialized out of the blue distance, a factory town with all +chimneys spiring upward into the blue, a section of tall buildings +intersected by canyonlike streets, around it a rim of trim houses, +bungalows, indicative of prosperity and comfort. And it was a city of +the dead.</p> + +<p>For everywhere around it, on all the roads, the dead lay piled on top +of one another. For miles—all the inhabitants, rich and poor, +business men, factory hands, negroes. There had been a mad rush as the +fatal gas drove onward upon its lethal way, and all the fugitives had +been overwhelmed simultaneously.</p> + +<p>Here were golf links, with little groups strewn on the grass and +fairways; here, at one of the holes, four men, their putters still in +their hands, crouched in death. Here was the wreckage of a train that +had collided with a string of freight cars at an untended switch, and +from the shattered windows the heads and bodies of the dead protruded +in serried ranks.</p> + +<p>Dick looked back. His flight was driving on behind him. He guessed +their feelings. They had sworn, as he had sworn, that none of them +would return without stamping out that abomination from the earth +forever.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e signaled to the flight to rise, and zoomed upward to twelve +thousand feet. He did not want to look upon any more of those horrors. +At that height, the peaceful landscape<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> lay extended underneath, in a +checker-board of farms and woodlands. One could pretend that it was +all a vile dream.</p> + +<p>He avoided Charleston, and winged out above the Atlantic, striking a +straight course along the coast toward the Bahamas. The shores of +Georgia vanished in the west. Dick began to breathe more freely. His +mind shook off its weight of horror. Only the blue sea and the blue +sky were visible The aftermath of the gale remained in the shape of a +strong head breeze and white crests below.</p> + +<p>Dick glanced at the guinea-pigs. They were busily gnawing their +cabbage and carrots. The gas had evidently been entirely dissipated by +the wind.</p> + +<p>Toward sunset the low jutting fore-land of Canaveral on the east coast +of Florida, came into view. Dick shifted course a little. Three hours +more should see them over Abaco.</p> + +<p>His flight had explicit instructions. As soon as the black gas had +rendered visible the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor, they were +to circle above, dropping their bombs. When these were exhausted, the +machine guns would come into play. There was to be no attention paid +to signals of surrender. They were to wipe out the headquarters, to +kill every living thing that showed itself—and the navy and the +marines would mop up anything left over.</p> + +<p>The sun went down in a blaze of gold and crimson. Night fell. The moon +began to climb the east. The black sea, stretching beneath, was as +empty as on the day when it was created. Nothing in the shape of +navigation appeared.</p> + +<p>Two hours, three hours, and old Evans turned round in his cockpit and +pointed. On the horizon a black thread was beginning to stretch +against the sky. It was Abaco Island, in the Bahama group. They were +nearly at their destination. An hour more—perhaps two hours, and the +deadly menace that threatened America might be removed forever. Dick +breathed a silent prayer for success.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were over Abaco. A long, flat island, seventy miles or so in +extreme length, and fairly wide, covered with a dense growth of +tropical brush and forest, with here and there open spaces, near the +seacoast an occasional farm-house. Dick dropped to five thousand, to +three, to one. The moon made the whole land underneath as bright as +day.</p> + +<p>There were no evidence of destruction by the hurricane. The farmhouses +stood substantial and well roofed. If death had struck Abaco Island, +it had been the work of man, not Nature.</p> + +<p>Dick zoomed almost to his ceiling, until, in the brilliant moonlight, +he could see Abaco Island from side to side. For the most part it was +heavily wooded with mahogany and lignum vitae: toward the central +portion there was open land, but there was not the least sign of any +construction work.</p> + +<p>Again he swooped, indicating to his flight to follow him. At a +thousand feet he examined the open district intently. Here, if +anywhere upon the island, the Invisible Emperor had his headquarters. +Was it conceivable that a gas factory, hangars, ammunition depots +could exist here invisibly, when he could look straight down upon the +ground?</p> + +<p>Dick's heart sank. The hideous fear came to him that Graves had been +mistaken, that he had come on a wild-goose chase. This could not be +the place. It was quite incredible.</p> + +<p>Again and again he circled, studying the ground beneath. Now he could +see that the tough grass and undergrowth marked curious geometrical +patterns. Here, for example, was an oblong of bare earth around which +the vegetation grew, and it was obviously the work of man.</p> + +<p>Here were four squares of bare ground set side by side, with thin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +strips of vegetation growing between them.</p> + +<p>Then of a sudden Dick knew! Those squares and parallelograms of bare +ground indicated the foundations of buildings. <i>He was looking down on +the very site of the Invisible Emperor's stronghold!</i></p> + +<p>He shouted, and pointed downward. Luke Evans looked round and nodded. +He understood. He patted the camera-box with a grim smile on his old +face.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VIII</h4> +<h4><i>The Magnetic Trap</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_u.jpg" alt="U" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>pon those squares and oblongs of bare earth, incredible as it seemed, +rose the structures of the Invisible Empire, themselves both invisible +and transparent, so that one looked straight down through them and saw +only the ground beneath them.</p> + +<p>Every interior floor and girder must have been treated with the gas. +They had been cunning. They must have discovered some permanent means +of charging paint with the shadow-breaking gas, so that the buildings +would remain invisible for months and years instead of hours.</p> + +<p>But they had not been cunning enough. It had not occurred to them that +the foundations would still be visible underneath, for the simple +reason that grass does not grow without sunlight.</p> + +<p>Dick saw old Luke Evans nodding and pointing downward. The old man +picked up his end of the speaking-tube, but Dick ignored the gesture. +He signaled to his flight to rise, and zoomed up, circling, and +studying the land beneath.</p> + +<p>That oblong was evidently the central building. Those four squares +probably housed airplanes, and each would hold half a dozen. That +elliptical building might contain a dirigible. That round patch was +probably the gas factory.</p> + +<p>Now Dick could see more patches of bare ground, extending in the +direction of the sea. He gunned his ship and followed the gap among +the trees to the ocean, a few miles distant. Yes, there were more +evidence of activity here. Beside the water, in what looked like a +deep natural harbor, was what seemed to be the foundations of a dock. +Perhaps even vessels of war floated on the phosphorescent Bahama sea.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e circled back, his flock wheeling like a flight of birds and +following him. He signaled to them to scatter. They had certainly been +observed; at any moment a hail of lead might assail them invisibly out +of the air. They must get to work quickly. But had they understood the +significance of those bare patches?</p> + +<p>Dick saw Luke Evans still fidgeting impatiently with his end of the +speaking-tube, and picked it up.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking, Captain Rennell, we've got no time to lose if we want +to keep the upper hand of those devils," called the old man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you're right," Dick answered. "Lay a trail of gas bombs all +around those hangars and buildings, enough to hold them dark for some +time. And keep a bomb or two in reserve."</p> + +<p>Luke Evans shouted back. The plane was again above the structures. The +old man dropped a bomb over the side, and Dick zoomed again, his +flight wheeling up behind him.</p> + +<p>Higher and higher, banking and going round in a succession of tight +spirals, Dick flew. Every moment he expected the blow to fall. As he +rose, Luke Evans dropped bomb after bomb. A thousand feet beneath the +flight was taking up positions, hovering with the helicopters, looking +up to Dick for the signal, and waiting.</p> + +<p>Then from beneath the cloud of black gas began to rise, as Luke Evans +dropped his bombs. It filled the lower spaces of the sky, blotting out +the land in impenetrable darkness. That darkness, above which Dick and +his flight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> were soaring, rose like a solid wall, built by some +prehistoric race that aimed to fling a tower into the heavens.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd then—the miracle! Dick gasped in sheer delight as he realized +that he had made no mistake.</p> + +<p>At first all he could see was a number of criss-crossing +phosphorescent lines that appeared shimmering through the blackness +underneath. They ran luminously here and there, forming no particular +pattern, much like the figures on the radium dial of a watch when +first they come into wavering visibility at night.</p> + +<p>Then the lines began to intersect one another, to assume geometric +patterns and curves. And bit by bit they took meaning and +significance.</p> + +<p>And suddenly the whole invisible stronghold lay revealed upon the +ground beneath, a shining, dazzling play of weaving light.</p> + +<p>Buildings and hangars stood out, clearly revealed; the rounded vault +of a dirigible hangar, and the shining ribbon of a road that ran +through a pitch-dark tarmac, and was evidently constructed from some +gas-impregnated materials. On this tarmac was a flight of shining +airplanes, ready to take off. There were the odd, ovoid figures of the +aviators in their silken overalls. More figures appeared, running out +from the buildings. It was clear that the sudden raid had taken them +all by surprise.</p> + +<p>Luke Evans yelled and pointed. "We've got them now, sir!" Dick heard +above the whine of the helicopter engine. "We've—"</p> + +<p>But of a sudden the old man's voice died away, though his mouth was +still moving.</p> + +<p>Dick leaned out of his cockpit and fired a single red Very light, the +signal for the attack. And from each plane of his flight, beneath him, +a bomb slid from its rack and went hurtling down upon the gang below, +while the airplanes circled and hovered, each taking up its station.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick was too late. By a whole minute he had missed his chance. He +realized that immediately, for before the red light had flared from +his pistol, the hostile planes were in the air. He had flown too low, +and given the alarm.</p> + +<p>It meant a fight now, instead of a mad dog destruction, and Dick did +not underestimate the power of the enemy. But he felt a thrill of +furious satisfaction at the prospect of battle. From every plane the +bombs were falling. Underneath, ruin and destruction, and leaping +flames—and yet darkness, save for the phosphorescent outlines of the +buildings.</p> + +<p>And the lines of these were broken, converging into strange +criss-crosses of luminosity, as the beams fell in shapeless heaps. +Dark fire, sweeping through the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor, +a veritable hell for those below! A taste of the hell that they had +made for others!</p> + +<p>Then a strange phenomenon obtruded itself upon Dick's notice. <i>Nothing +was audible!</i> The bombs were falling, but they were falling silently. +No sound came up from beneath. And, except for the throbbing of his +engine, Dick would have thought it had stopped. He could no longer +hear it.</p> + +<p>That terrific holocaust of death and destruction was inaudible. +Skimming the upper reach of the air, high above that wall of darkness, +Dick saw old Luke Evans pick up his end of the speaking-tube, and +mechanically followed suit. He could see the old man's lips moving. +But he heard nothing!</p> + +<p>And now another phenomenon was borne in on his notice. His flight were +perhaps five hundred feet beneath him, hovering a little above the +barrage of black gas. But they were converging oddly. And there was no +sight of the airplanes that Dick had just seen taking off from the +invisible tarmac.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick fired two Very lights as a signal to his flight to scatter. What +were they doing, bunching to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>gether like a flock of sheep, when at any +moment the enemy planes might come swooping in, riddling them with +bullets? He thrust the stick forward—and then realized that his +controls had gone dead!</p> + +<p>He thought for a moment that a wire had snapped. But the stick +responded perfectly to his hand, only it had no longer control over +his plane. He kicked right rudder, and the plane remained motionless. +He pushed home the soaring lever, to neutralize the helicopter and the +plane still soared.</p> + +<p>Then he noticed that the needle of his earth-inductor +compass-indicator was oscillating madly, and realized that it was not +his plane that was at fault.</p> + +<p>Underneath him, his flight seemed to be milling wildly as the ships +turned in every direction of the compass. But not for long. They were +nosing in, until the whole flight resembled an enormous airplane +engine, with twelve radial points, corresponding to their propellers, +and the noses pointing symmetrically inward, like a herd of game, +yarding in winter time.</p> + +<p>And now the true significance came home to Dick. A vertical line of +magnetic force, an invisible mast, had been shot upward from the +ground. The airplanes were moored to it by their noses, as effectively +as if they had been fastened with steel wires.</p> + +<p>And he, too, was struggling against that magnetic force that was +slowly drawing him, despite his utmost efforts, to a fixed position +five hundred feet above his flight.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or a few moments, by feeding his engine gas to the limit, Dick +thought he might have a chance of escaping. Her nose a fixed point, +Dick whirled round and round in a dizzy maze, attempting to break that +invisible mooring-chain. Then suddenly the engine went dead. He was +trapped helplessly.</p> + +<p>He saw old Evans gesticulating wildly in the front cockpit. The old +man hoisted himself, leaned over the cowling gibbered in Dick's ear. +The silent engine had ceased to throb, and the old man's shouts were +simply not translated into sound.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the flight beneath jerked downward, just as a flag jerks when +it is hauled down a pole. They vanished into the dark cloud beneath. +At the same time there came a jerk that dropped Dick's plane a hundred +feet, and flung him violently against the rim of the cockpit.</p> + +<p>Another followed. By drops of a hundred feet at a time, Dick was being +hauled down into the darkness underneath him.</p> + +<p>It rushed up at him. One moment he was suspended upon the rim of it, +seeing the moon and stars above him; the next he had been plunged into +utter blackness. Blackness more intense than anything that could be +conceived—soundless blackness, that was the added horror of it. +Blackness of Luke Evans's contriving, but none the less fearful on +that account!</p> + +<p>And yet, as Dick was jerked slowly downward, slowly a pale visibility +began to diffuse itself underneath. The black cloud was beginning to +roll away. The luminous lines began to fade, and in place of them +appeared little leaping tongues of fire. In front of him Dick saw Luke +Evans's form begin to pattern itself upon the darkness. He saw the +form move sidewise, and caught at Luke's arm as he was about to hurl +another gas bomb. "No!" he shouted—and heard no sound come from his +lips.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>uke understood. He seemed to be replacing the bomb in the rack. +Beneath them now, as they were jerked downward, were fantastic swirls +of black mist, and, at the bottom, a pit of fire that was slowly +coming into visibility.</p> + +<p>Dick uttered a cry of horror! Five hundred feet below his plane he saw +the dim forms of his flight, still bunched together, noses almost +touching. And they were dropping straight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> into that flaming furnace +of ruin underneath, which was growing clearer every instant.</p> + +<p>Down, jerk by jerk. Down! The black cloud was fast dispersing from the +ground. The flight were hardly a thousand feet above the fire. Down—a +long jerk that one! Once more! The flames leaped up hungrily about the +doomed airships. Cries of mad horror broke from Dick's lips as he +witnessed the destruction of ships and men.</p> + +<p>He could see almost clearly now. The twelve ships, still retaining +their nose-to-nose formation, were in the very heart of the fire. +Spurts of exploding gasoline thrust their white tongues upward. There +was only one consolation: for the doomed men, death must have come +practically instantaneously.</p> + +<p>From where he hung, Dick could feel the fierce heat of the flames +below. In front of him, old Luke Evans sat in his cockpit like one +petrified. He was feebly fumbling at his camera-box, as if he had some +idea of using it, and had forgotten that it was fixed to the plane, +but the old man seemed temporarily to have lost his wits.</p> + +<p>Rushing flames surrounded the burning airships, reducing them to a +solid, welded mass of incandescent metal. Dick looked down, waiting +for the next jerk that would summon him to join his men. At the moment +he was not conscious of either fear or horror, only intense rage +against the murderers and regret that he could never bring back the +news of victory.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he cloud had almost dissipated. In place of the phosphorescence, +electric lights had appeared, making the ground beneath perfectly +visible. Dick could see a number of men grouped together at the +entrance to a large building, part of which had been wrecked by a +bomb, though there were no evidences of fire. Other structures had +been dismantled and knocked about, but what remained of them had not +been charred by fire. Evidently they had been fireproofed. Perhaps the +gas itself was incombustible. Only in the middle of the tarmac, where +the remnants of the airplanes blazed, was there any sign of fire.</p> + +<p>There were three machines resembling dynamos, placed one at each +corner of the tarmac, equidistant from the central holocaust. A +half-dozen men were grouped about each of them, and by the light from +the huge reflector over each Dick saw that they were whirring busily. +At the time it did not occur to him that these were the machines that +were sending out the electrical force that had held the airplanes +powerless.</p> + +<p>But as he looked, his mind still a turmoil of hate and hopeless anger, +he saw one of the three machines cease whirring. The group about it +dispersed, the light above went out. And now his plane, as if drawn by +the power of the two remaining machines, began to move jerkily again, +not down toward the burning wreckage, but sidewise, away from it.</p> + +<p>Straight out toward the side of the tarmac it moved jerked downward +diagonally, until it rested only a few feet above the ground.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly Dick felt the plane quiver, as if released from the +power of the force that had held it. It nosed down and crashed, rolled +over amid the wreckage of a shattered wing. The concussion shot Dick +from the cockpit clear of the smashed machine.</p> + +<p>He landed upon his head, and went out instantly.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER IX</h4> +<h4><i>The Invisible Emperor</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was the sound of his name, spoken repeatedly, that brought Dick +back to consciousness. He opened his eyes, blinking in broad daylight. +He stared about him, and the first thing he saw was Luke Evans, +regarding him anxiously from a little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> distance away. He saw that it +was Luke who had spoken.</p> + +<p>He had heard the old man distinctly. The condition of inaudibility was +gone.</p> + +<p>Not that of invisibility. Dick stared about him in bewilderment. For a +moment, before he quite realized what had happened to him, he thought +he had lost his mind. Underneath him was a thick rug, beneath his head +a pillow; he could feel both of them, and yet all he could see was the +open country, a clearing with shrubbery on either side, and, beyond +that, a luxurious growth of tropical trees. Under him, to all visual +appearance, was the bare ground.</p> + +<p>He moved, and heard the clank of chains. He looked down at himself. +His wrists were loosely linked to a chain that seemed to stretch tight +into vacancy and end in nothing. His ankles were bound likewise.</p> + +<p>And both chains appeared to be of solid silver, but thick enough to +give them the strength of iron!</p> + +<p>Then he perceived that old Evans was bound in the same way.</p> + +<p>"Rennell! Rennell!" repeated the old man in a sort of whimper. "Thank +God you've come out of it! I was afraid you were dead."</p> + +<p>"What's happened?" asked Dick. "Where are we? Didn't they get us?"</p> + +<p>"They've got us, damn them!" snarled old Evans. "All the rest burned +to cinders, those fine fellows, Rennell! You were thrown unconscious, +but none of my tough old bones were hurt. They pulled us out of the +wreckage and brought us in here and tied us with these silver chains."</p> + +<p>"In here? But where are we?" demanded Dick, trying to pass his hand +across his aching forehead, and realizing that the chain, though it +seemed fastened to nothing, was perfectly taut.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p>n one of their damned invisible houses," whimpered the old man. +"They're fireproof. Nearly all our bombs fell on the tarmac, and they +did hardly any damage at all. One of those devils was bragging about +it to me. I couldn't see anything but his eyes. And they've taken away +my gas-box," wailed old Luke.</p> + +<p>Dick cursed comprehensively and was silent. The burning rage that +filled him left him incapable of other utterance. Silver chains! They +must be madmen—yes, that was the only explanation. Madmen who had +escaped from somewhere, obtained possession of scientific secrets, and +banded themselves together to overcome the world. If he could get the +chance of a blow at them before he died!</p> + +<p>He heard a door swing open—a door somewhere out on the prairie. Two +men sprang into sudden visibility and approached him. There was +nothing invisible about these men, though they had seemed to have +materialized out of nothing. They wore the same black, trimly fitting +uniform that Dick had seen in the White House. They were flesh and +blood human beings like themselves.</p> + +<p>"I congratulate you upon your recovery, Captain Rennell," remarked one +of them with ironical politeness. "Also upon your shrewd coup. +Needless to say, it had no chance of success, but we were misinformed +as to the hour at which you might be expected. We thought it would +take the fools at Washington a little longer to puzzle out our +location—and then we did not put quite sufficient force into our +hurricane. Quite an artificial one, Captain."</p> + +<p>Dick, glaring at them, said nothing, and the one who had spoken turned +to his companion, laughing, and said something in a foreign language +that he did not recognize.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty the Emperor commands your presence, and that of this old +fool," said the first man. "Do not attempt to escape us. Death will be +instantaneous." He drew a glass rod from his pocket, the tip of which +glowed with a pale blue light.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>gain he spoke to his companion, who moved apparently a few feet +distant out on the prairie. Suddenly Dick saw old Evans' chain +slacken: then Dick's slackened too. He understood that he was unbound, +though his wrists and ankles were still loosely fastened.</p> + +<p>The second man took his station beside Luke Evans and motioned to him +to rise. The first man beckoned to Dick to do the same. The two +prisoners got upon their feet, trailing each a length of clanking +chain. Each of the two guards covered his captive with the glass rod +and motioned to him to precede him.</p> + +<p>Choking with fury, Dick obeyed. He had taken a dozen steps with his +guard uttered a sharp command to halt, at the same time shouting some +word of command.</p> + +<p>The edge of a door appeared, also seeming to materialize out of space. +It widened, and Dick realized that he was looking at the unpainted +inner side of a door whose outside was invisible. Beyond the door +appeared a flight of steps.</p> + +<p>Dick passed through and descended them. He counted fifteen. He emerged +into a timbered underground passage, well lit with lamps, filled with +what seemed to be mercury vapor. Behind him walked his guard: behind +the guard he heard Luke Evans shambling. Both chains were clinking, +and again Dick's fury almost overcame him.</p> + +<p>He controlled himself. He had no hope or desire for life, but he meant +to strike some sort of blow before he died, if it were possible.</p> + +<p>They turned out of the timbered passage, Dick's guard now walking at +his side, the glass rod menacing his back. Dick found himself in a +large subterranean room of extraordinary character. The walls were not +merely timbered, but paneled. Pictures hung upon them, there were soft +rugs underfoot, there was antique furniture. Everything was in plain +sight.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was a door at the farther end, from beyond which came the murmur +of voices. Two guards in the same black uniform, but without the +ornamental silver braid, stood to attention, long halberds in their +hands. One spoke a challenge.</p> + +<p>The guard at Dick's side answered. The two men stepped backward, each +about two feet, and pulled the two cords on either side of a curtain +behind the open door. Dick passed through.</p> + +<p>He stopped in sheer amazement. The gorgeousness of this larger room +into which he entered was almost stupefying. It seemed to have been +lifted bodily from some European palace. Mirrors with gilt edges ran +along the side. On the floor was a single huge rug of Oriental weave.</p> + +<p>At the farther end was a throne of gilt, lined with red velvet in +which sat a man. An old man, of perhaps eighty years, with a grey +peaked beard and fierce, commanding features. On his head was a gold +crown glittering with gems. About him were gathered some twoscore men +and a few women.</p> + +<p>Those ranged on either side of the throne wore, like its occupant, +robes of red, lined with ermine. The rank behind wore shorter robes, +less decorative, but no less extraordinary. They might all have +stepped out of some medieval court.</p> + +<p>Behind this second line, and half-encircling them, were officers in +the black uniform with the silver braid.</p> + +<p>There had been chattering, but as Dick passed through into the room it +was succeeded by complete silence. Dick fixed his eyes upon the old +man on the throne.</p> + +<p>He knew him! Knew him for a once famous European ruler who had lost +his throne in the war. A man always of unbalanced mentality, who, +after living for years in exile, had been reported dead three years +before. A madman who had vanished to make this last attempt upon the +world, aided and abetted by the secret group of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> nobles who had +surrounded him in the days of his pomp and power.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ld men, all of those in the first line! Madmen too, perhaps, as +madness begets madness. Behind them, younger men, infected by the +strange malady, and enthusiastic for their desperate cause.</p> + +<p>Yes, Dick knew this Invisible Emperor, lurking here in his underground +palace. He knew Von Kettler, too, in the second line, close to the +Emperor's throne. And, among the women in their robes, grouped +picturesquely about that throne, he knew Fredegonde Valmy.</p> + +<p>Dark-haired beneath her coronet, of radiant beauty, she fixed her eyes +upon Dick's. Not a muscle of her face quivered.</p> + +<p>Then only did Dick see something else, which he had not hitherto +observed, owing to its concealment by the robes of those grouped about +the Emperor, and the sight of it sent such a thrill of fury through +him that he stood where he was, unable to speak or move a muscle.</p> + +<p>The throne was set on a sort of dais, with three steps in front of it. +The lowest of these steps was hollow. Within this hollow appeared the +head and shoulders of a man.</p> + +<p>An elderly man clothed in parti-colored red and yellow, the +time-honored garment of court fools. He was on his hands and knees, +and the round of his back fitted into the hollow of the step, and had +a flat board over it, so that the Emperor, in ascending his throne, +would place his foot upon it.</p> + +<p>He was kept in that position with heavy chains of what looked like +gold, which passed about his neck and arms, and fitted into heavy gold +staples in the wood. And the old man was President Hargreaves of the +United States!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he President of the American Republic, chained as a footstool for the +Invisible Emperor, the madman who defied the world. Dick stood +petrified, staring into the mild face of the old man, still incapable +of speech. Then a herald, carrying a long trumpet, to which a square +banner was attached, strode forward from one side of the grotesque +assemblage.</p> + +<p>"Dog, on your knees when His Majesty deigns to admit you to the +Presence!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>The guard at Dick's side prodded him with his glass rod.</p> + +<p>Then the storm of mad fury in Dick's heart released limbs and voice. +The cry that came from his lips was like nothing human. He leaped upon +the guard with a swift uppercut that sent him sprawling.</p> + +<p>The glass rod slipped from his hands to the rug, striking the edge of +his shoe, and broke to fragments. A single streak of fire shot from +it, blasting a black streak across the Oriental rug.</p> + +<p>Dick leaped toward the throne, and the assemblage, as if paralyzed by +his sudden maneuver, remained watching him without moving. Then a +woman screamed, and instantly the picturesque gathering had dissolved +into a mob placing itself about the person of the Emperor, who sprang +from his throne in agitation.</p> + +<p>Dick was almost at the steps. But it was not at the Emperor that he +leaped. He sprang to Hargreaves's side. "Mr. President, I'm an +American," he babbled. "We've located this gang, we'll blow them off +the face of the earth. In chains—God, in chains, sir—"</p> + +<p>Dick stumbled over the length of his own chain that he had been +dragging behind him—stumbled and fell prone upon the floor. Before he +could regain his feet they were upon him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> dozen men were holding him, despite his mad, frenzied struggles, and +as, at length, he paused, exhausted, one of them, covering his head +with a glass rod, looked up at the Emperor, who had resumed his seat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dick calmed himself. Still gripped, he straightened his body, and gave +the mad monarch back look for look. For a moment the two men regarded +each other. Then a peal of laughter broke from the Invisible Emperor's +lips. And any one who heard that peal—any one save those accustomed +to him—might have known that it was a madman's laughter.</p> + +<p>He flung back his head and laughed, and the whole crowd laughed too. +All those sycophants roared and chuckled—all except Fredegonde. It +was not till afterward that Dick remembered that.</p> + +<p>He stood up. "Dog of an American," he roared, "do you know why you +were brought here? It was because I wanted one Yankee to live and see +the irresistible powers that I exercise, so that he can go back and +report on them to those fools in Washington who still think they can +defy me, the messenger of the All-Highest.</p> + +<p>"I tell you that the things I have done are nothing in comparison with +the things that I have yet to do, if your insane government of +pig-headed fools persists in its defiance. It is my plan to send you +back to tell them that their President lies bound in gold chains as my +footstool. That the hurricane which spread the gas through southern +America was a mere summer zephyr in comparison with the storm that I +shall send next.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_a1.jpg" alt="A" width="56" height="52" /></div> +<p>ll the resources of Nature are at my command thanks to the +illustrious chemists who have been secretly working for the past ten +years to serve me. I, the All-Highest, have been commanded by the +Almighty to scourge the world for its insolence in rejecting me, and +especially the pig-race of Yankees whose pride has grown so great. +Mine is the divinely appointed task to cast down your ridiculous +democracies and re-establish the divine world-order of an Emperor and +his nobility.</p> + +<p>"That is why I have chosen, to permit so mean a thing as you to live. +As for the old fool beside you, who thought to stay my power with his +box of tricks—his gas-box is already being analyzed by my chemists, +and in a few hours the trivial secret will be at my disposal."</p> + +<p>"And that's just where you're wrong," piped old Luke Evans in his +cracked voice. "That gas can't be analyzed, because it contains an +unknown isotope, and, as for yourself, you're nothing but a daft old +fool, with your tin-horn trumpery!"</p> + +<p>For a moment the Emperor stood like a statue, staring at old Luke. The +expression on his face was that of a madman, but a madman through +whose brain a straggling ray of realization has dawned. It was the +look upon his face that held the whole assemblage spellbound. Then +suddenly came intervention.</p> + +<p>Through a doorway in the side of the hall came one of the officers in +black. He advanced to the foot of the throne and made a deep, hurried +bow, speaking rapidly in some language incomprehensible to Dick.</p> + +<p>The Emperor started, and then a peal of laughter left his lips.</p> + +<p>"Pig of a Yankee," he shouted to Dick, "your contemptible navy's now +approaching our shores, with a dirigible scout above it. You shall now +see how I deal with such swine!"</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER X</h4> +<h4><i>The Tricks of the Trade</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e barked a command, and instantly Dick was seized by two of the +guards, one of whom—the one Dick had knocked down—took the occasion +to administer a buffeting in the process of overcoming him. For the +sight of the honored President of the United States—that kindly old +man straining his eyes to meet Dick's own—in the parti-colored garb +of red and yellow, and chained like a beast below the madman's throne, +again filled Dick with a fury beyond all control.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was only when he had been half-stunned again by the vicious blows +of his captors, delivered with short truncheons of heavy wood, that at +length he desisted from his futile struggle.</p> + +<p>With swimming eyes he looked upon the gathering about the throne, +which, again taking its cue from the madman, way roaring with laughter +at his antics. And again Dick's eyes encountered those of Fredegonde +Valmy.</p> + +<p>The girl was not smiling. She was looking straight at him, and for a +moment it seemed to Dick as if he read some message in her eyes.</p> + +<p>Only for an instant that idea flashed through his mind. He was in no +mood to receive messages. As he stood panting like a wild beast at +bay, suddenly a filmy substance was thrown over his head from behind. +Then, as his face emerged, and the rest of his body was swiftly +enveloped, he realized what was happening.</p> + +<p>They had thrown over him one of the invisible garments. He could feel +the stuff about him, but he could no longer see his own body or limbs.</p> + +<p>From his own ken, Dick Rennell had vanished utterly. Where his legs +and feet should have been, there was only the rug, with the burn from +the glass tube. He raised one arm and could not see arm or fingers.</p> + +<p>In another moment invisible cords had been flung around him. Dick's +efforts to renew the struggle were quickly cut short. Trussed +helplessly, he could only stand glaring at the madman rocking with +laughter upon his tinsel throne. Beside him, similarly bound, stood +Luke Evans, but Dick was only conscious of the old man's presence by +reason of the short, rasping, emphatic curses that broke from his +lips.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Emperor turned on his throne and beckoned to Von Kettler, who +approached with a deferential bow.</p> + +<p>"Nobility, we charge you with the care of these two prisoners," he +addressed him. "Have the old one removed to the laboratory, and give +orders that he shall assist our chemists to the best of his power in +their analysis of the black gas. As for the other, take him up to the +central office, and show him how we deal with Yankees and all other +pigs. Show him everything, so that he may take back a correct account +of our irresistible powers when we dismiss him."</p> + +<p>"Come!" barked one of the guards in Dick's ear.</p> + +<p>Dick attempted no further resistance. Convinced of its futility, sick +and reeling from the blows he had received, he accompanied his captors +quietly. There was nothing more that he could do, either for President +Hargreaves or for old Luke, but he still imagined the possibility of +somehow warning the approaching fleet or the occupants of the +dirigible.</p> + +<p>He was led along the passage, past the guards, and up the stairs +again. The top door opened upon vacancy; it closed, and vanished. Dick +felt the rugs beneath his feet, but he was to all appearances standing +on a square of bare earth in the middle of a prairie.</p> + +<p>"Come!" barked the guard again, and Dick accompanied him, trailing his +silver chain. Behind came Von Kettler.</p> + +<p>"Here are steps!" said the guard, after they had proceeded a short +distance.</p> + +<p>Dick stumbled against the lowest step of an invisible flight. The +breeze was cut off, showing that they had entered a building. +Underneath was a large oval of bare ground. Dick found a handrail and +groped his way up around a spiral staircase, four flights of it.</p> + +<p>"Here is a room!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick saw that widening edge of door again. The room inside was +perfectly visible, though it seemed to be supported upon air. It was a +spheroid, of huge size, with a number of large windows set into the +walls, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> it was filled with machinery. About a dozen workmen in +blue blouses were moving to and fro, attending to what appeared to be +a number of enormous dynamos, but there were other apparatus of whose +significance Dick was ignorant. The dynamos were whirring with intense +velocity, but not the slightest sound was audible.</p> + +<p>Von Kettler stepped to a switch attached to a stanchion of white +metal, surmounted by a huge opaque glass dome, and threw it over. +Instantly the hum and whir of machinery became audible, the sound of +footsteps, the voices of the workmen, and the creak of boards beneath +their feet.</p> + +<p>"You see, we have discovered the means of destroying sound waves as +well as shadows, and it was a much simpler feat," said Von Kettler +with a sneer. "Tell them that when you get back to Washington, Yankee +pig. Also you might be interested to know that most of your bombs fell +on camouflaged structures that we had erected with the intention of +deceiving you."</p> + +<p>He gestured to Dick to precede him, and halted him at a plain round +iron pipe or rod that rose up through the floor and passed through the +roof. It was surrounded by a mesh of fine wire. Attached to it were +various gauges, with dials showing red and black numbers.</p> + +<p>"This is perhaps our greatest achievement, swine," remarked Von +Kettler, affably. "You shall see its operations from above." He +pointed to a narrow spiral staircase rising at the far end of the +room. "It is the practical application of Einstein's gravitation and +electricity in field relation. It is by means of this, and the three +dynamos on the ground that we were able to neutralize your engines +last night and bring them down where we wanted them. You must be sure +to tell the Washington hogs about that."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e motioned to Dick to cross the room and ascend the spiral staircase. +Following him, he flung another switch similar to the first one, and +instantly all sound within the room was cut off.</p> + +<p>They ascended the winding flight and emerged upon a floor or platform. +Dick felt it under his feet, but he could see nothing except the +ground, far beneath him. He seemed to be suspended in the void. He +stopped, groping, hesitating to advance. Von Kettler's jarring laugh +grated on his ears.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid, swine," he jeered. "This place is enclosed. There is +a shadow-breaking device on every floor, which renders us complete +masters of camouflage."</p> + +<p>A switch snapped. Dick found himself instantly in a rotunda, roofed +with glass, sections of which were raised to a height of three or four +feet from the wooden base, admitting a gentle breeze. Three or four +men were moving about in it, but these wore the black uniform with the +silver braid, and Von Kettler's manner was deferential as he addressed +them, jerking his hand contemptuously toward Dick. Grins of derision +and malice appeared on all the faces.</p> + +<p>Save one, an elderly officer, apparently of high rank, who came +forward and raised his hand to the salute.</p> + +<p>"Captain Rennell," he said, "we are at war with your nation, but we +are also, I hope, gentlemen." He turned to Von Kettler. "Is it +seemly," he asked, "that an officer of the American army should be +brought here in chains and cords?"</p> + +<p>"Excellency, it is His Majesty's command," responded Von Kettler, with +a servile smirk that hardly concealed his elation. "Moreover, the +American is to witness the forthcoming destruction of the Yankee +fleet."</p> + +<p>The elderly officer reddened, turned away without replying. Dick +looked about him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was less machinery in this room. The iron pillar that he had +seen came through the floor and terminated some five feet above it in +another of the opaque glass domes, filled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> with iridescent fire. About +it was a complicated arrangement of dials and gauges.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the room was a sort of camera obscura. A large hood +projected above a flat table, and an officer was half-concealed +beneath it, apparently studying the table busily.</p> + +<p>"Come, American, you shall see your navy on its way to destruction," +said Von Kettler, beckoning Dick within the hood.</p> + +<p>The officer stepped from the table, whose top was a sheet of silvered +glass, leaving Von Kettler and Dick in front of it. Dick looked. At +first he could see nothing but the vast stretch of sea; then he began +to make out tiny dots at the table's end, terminating in minute blurs +that were evidently smoke from the funnels.</p> + +<p>"Your ships," said Von Kettler, smiling. "This is the dirigible." He +pointed to another dot that came into sight and disappeared almost +instantly. "They are a hundred and fifty miles away. Explain to your +friends in Washington that our super-telescopic sights are based upon +a refraction of light that overcomes the earth's curvature. It is +simple, but it happens not to have been worked out until my Master +commanded it."</p> + +<p>Dick watched those tiny dots in fascination, mentally computing. At an +average speed of fifty knots an hour, the squadron's steaming rate, +they should be off the coast within three hours. The dirigible would +take two, if it went ahead to scout, as was almost certain.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick stepped back from beneath the hood and glanced about him. If only +his arms were not bound, he might do enough damage within a few +seconds to put the deadlier machinery out of commission, if only the +silvered mirror. He glanced about him. Von Kettler, interpreting his +thought, smiled coolly.</p> + +<p>"You are helpless, my dear Yankee pig," he said. "But there is more +to see. Oblige me by accompanying me up to the top story."</p> + +<p>He pointed to a ladder running up beside the iron pillar through an +opening in the roof, and Dick, with a shrug of the shoulders, +complied. He emerged upon a small platform, apparently protruding into +vacancy. Far underneath he saw the clearing, and two airplanes on the +tarmac, the aviators looking like beetles from that height. He looked +out to sea and saw no signs of the fleet.</p> + +<p>"You have heard of St. Simeon Stylites, Yankee?" purred Von Kettler. +"The gentleman who spent forty years of his life upon a tall pillar, +in atonement for his sins? It is His Majesty's desire that you spend, +not forty years, but two or three hours up here, meditating upon his +grandeur, before returning to earth. It is also possible that you will +witness something of considerable interest. Look out to sea!"</p> + +<p>Dick turned his head involuntarily. He heard Von Kettler's laugh, +heard the snap of a switch—then suddenly he was alone in the void.</p> + +<p>At that snap of the switch, everything had vanished from view behind +him, the building, even the platform on which he stood. His feet +seemed to rest on nothing. Yet below him he could still see the +airplanes, and more being wheeled out.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> sense of extreme physical nausea overcame him. He reeled, then +managed to steady himself. He, too, was invisible to his own eyes. +Involuntarily he cried out. No sound came from his lips. He stood +there, invisible in an invisible, soundless void.</p> + +<p>For what seemed an unending period he occupied himself with +endeavoring to obtain the sense of balance. Then, with a great effort, +he managed to loosen the cords that bound his right arm to his side. A +mighty wrench, and he had slipped them up above his elbow. His right +lower arm was free.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>He extended it cautiously, and his hand encountered a railing. +Instantly he felt more at ease. He began moving slowly around in a +widening circle, and discovered that the platform was enclosed. The +further side was, however, open, and he began sliding forward, foot by +foot, to locate himself. Once his foot slipped over the edge, and he +drew back hastily. He felt on the other side, and discovered that he +was upon what seemed a plank walk, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet +above the ground, with no rail on either side, and some six feet wide.</p> + +<p>Very cautiously he shuffled his way along it. It was solid enough, +although invisible, but more than once Dick walked perilously close to +one edge or the other. At length he went down on his hands and knees, +and proceeded, crawling, until his movements were arrested by what was +unmistakably a door.</p> + +<p>The plank bridge, then, connected the top stories of two buildings, +but what the second was, there was no means of knowing. The door was +barred on the other side, and did not yield an iota to Dick's cautious +pressure. Dick felt the frame. Beyond was glass, reinforced with iron +on the outside, the latter metal forming a sort of lattice work. +Cautiously Dick began to crawl up the rounded dome.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>oot by foot he made his way, clinging to the iron bars, until he felt +that he had reached the point of the dome's maximum convexity. He +wedged his feet against a bar and rested. Only now was it brought home +to him that it would be impossible for him to find his way back to the +plank.</p> + +<p>A long time must have passed, for, looking out to sea, he could see +the squadron now, minute points on the horizon, exuding smudges of +smoke. The dirigible was still invisible. The airplanes had either +left the tarmac or had been wrapped in the gas-impregnated cloth, for +both they and the aviators had vanished.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Dick had an odd sensation that the iron was growing warm.</p> + +<p>In another moment or two he had no doubt of it. The iron bar he +clutched was distinctly warm; it was growing hot. He shifted his grasp +to the adjacent bar and even in that moment the heat had increased +perceptibly.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there came a vibration, a sense of movement. Dick was being +swung outward. The whole dome seemed to be dropping into space. He dug +his feet and fingers under the hot rods, and felt himself sliding over +on his back.</p> + +<p>Back—back, till he was lying horizontally in space, and clutching +desperately at the iron bar, which was growing hotter every moment.</p> + +<p>The sliding movement ceased. It was as if the whole upper section of +the glass dome had opened outward. But the heat of the bars was +becoming unbearable, and gusts of hot air seemed to be proceeding from +within.</p> + +<p>Hot or not, Dick's only alternative was to work his way back to the +stable portion of the dome, or to frizzle until he dropped through +space.</p> + +<p>Clinging desperately to the bars, he began working back, reaching from +bar to bar with his right hand and dragging his feet, with the +clanking chain attached, from bar to bar also.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ow he gained the base of the dome he was never able afterward to +understand. The heat had grown intolerable; his hands were blistering. +Somehow he reached it. He rested a moment despite the heat. But to +find the plank walk was clearly impossible. In another minute he must +drop. Better that than to fry there like St. Lawrence on his griddle.</p> + +<p>And then, just when he had resigned himself to that last drop, there +came an unexpected diversion. Almost beside him a window was hung +back. A man looked out. Dick saw one of the workmen in the blue +blouses, and, behind him, within the dome, what seemed like an empty +room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dick was slightly above the man. As his head and shoulders appeared, +he let himself go, landing squarely across his back. He slid down his +shoulders through the open window into the interior of the dome.</p> + +<p>The man, flung against the frame of the window by the shock, uttered a +piercing cry. Before he could recover his stand, or take in what had +happened to him, Dick had gained his feet and leaped upon him. His +right hand closed upon his throat. He bore him to the floor and choked +him into insensibility.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XI</h4> +<h4><i>In the Laboratory</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>ot until the man's struggles had ceased, and he lay unconscious, +panting, and blue in the face, did Dick release him. Then he looked +about him.</p> + +<p>Save for the workman, he was alone in a rotunda, open to the sky, and, +as he had supposed, the whole upper portion of the dome had been flung +back, leaving an immense aperture into which the sun was shining, +flecking the interior with shafts of light. The temperature, despite +the opening of the dome, must have been in excess of a hundred and +twenty-five degrees.</p> + +<p>There was nothing except an immense central shaft, up which ran a +hollow pole of glass, cut off by the invisible paint at the summit of +the dome. The inside of this glass pole was glowing with colored +fires, and it was from this that the intolerable heat came, though its +function Dick could not imagine.</p> + +<p>One thing was clear: It was growing hotter each moment. To remain in +that rotunda meant death within a brief period of time.</p> + +<p><i>And there was no way out!</i> Dick glared around him, searching the +glass walls in vain. No semblance of a stairway or ladder, even. Yet +the workman must have entered by some ingress—if only Dick could +discover it!</p> + +<p>He began running round the interior of the dome in the brilliant +sunshine, searching frantically for that ingress. And it was growing +hotter! The sweat was pouring down his face beneath the invisible +garment.</p> + +<p>Dick was vaguely aware that the silence switch had been thrown in the +room, for his feet made no sound, but the knowledge was latent in his +mind. Two or three times he circumnavigated the interior of the dome, +like a rat in a trap.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly he saw a section of the flooring rise in a corner, and a +workman in a blue blouse appear out of the trap door.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e stood there, his face muscles working as he shouted for his +companion, but no sound came from his lips. He looked about him, and +saw the unconscious man beside the window. He started in his +direction.</p> + +<p>With a shout, Dick hurled himself toward him. And he checked himself +even as he was about to leap. For he realized that the second workman +neither saw nor heard him.</p> + +<p>Yet some subconscious impression of danger must have reached his mind, +for the workman stopped too, instinctively assuming an attitude of +defense. Dick gathered a dozen links of his wrist-chain in his right +hand, leaped and struck.</p> + +<p>The workman crumpled to the floor, a little thread of blood creeping +from his right temple.</p> + +<p>It was the thing upon which Dick looked back afterward with less +satisfaction than any other, leaving the two unconscious men in that +room of death. Yet there was nothing else he could have done. He ran +to the trap, and saw a ladder leading down. In a moment he had swung +himself through and closed the trap behind him.</p> + +<p>The material that lined the walls below must have had almost perfect +insulating qualities, for the temperature here was no hotter than in +the Bahamas on a hot summer day. Dick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> scrambled down the ladder and +found himself in a machine-shop. Nobody was there, and tools of all +sorts were lying about, as well as machinery whose purpose he did not +understand. A pair of heavy pliers and a vise were sufficient to rid +Dick of his wrist and ankle chains in a minute or two. With a knife he +slashed the cords of invisible stuff that bound him. He stood up, +cramped, but free.</p> + +<p>He picked up an iron bar that was lying loose on a table beside a +machine, and advanced to the staircase in one corner of the shop. As +he approached it, another workman came running up.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick stood aside in an embrasure in the wall partly occupied by a +machine. The man passed within two feet of him and never saw him. Only +then did Dick quite realize that he was actually invisible.</p> + +<p>The moment the man had passed him, Dick ran to the staircase. He +descended one flight; he was half way down another when a yell of pain +and imprecation came to his ears. He knew that voice: it was Luke +Evans's!</p> + +<p>With three bounds Dick reached the bottom of the stairs. He saw a +large room in front of him. No mistaking the nature of this room; it +was an ordinary laboratory, fitted out with the greatest elaboration, +and divided into two parts by paneling. And sight and sound were on.</p> + +<p>In the part nearer Dick three men were grouped about a large dynamo, +which was sending out a high, musical note as it spun. Levers and +dials were all about it, and above it was the base of the glass tube +that Dick had seen above. In the other part were five or six men. +Three of them were testing some substance at a table; three more were +gathered about old Luke Evans, whose silver chains had been removed +and replaced by ropes, which bound his limbs, and also bound him to a +heavy chair, which seemed to be affixed to the ground. One of the +three had a piece of metal in a pair of long-handled pliers. It was +white hot, and a white electric spark that shot to and fro between two +terminals close by, showed where it had been heated.</p> + +<p>Dick started; he recognized one of the three men as Von Kettler. He +moved slowly forward, very softly, his feet making no sound on the +fiber matting that covered the floor.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_d1.jpg" alt="D" width="59" height="59" /></div> +<p>id that feel good, American swine?" asked Von Kettler softly, and +Dick saw, with horror, a red weal on the old man's forehead. "Now you +are perhaps in a more gracious mood, Professor? The unknown isotope in +that black gas of yours—you are disposed to give us the chemical +formula?"</p> + +<p>"I'll see you in hell first," raved old Luke Evans, writhing in his +chair.</p> + +<p>Von Kettler turned to the man holding the white-hot metal, and nodded. +But at that moment a door behind Evans's chair opened, and Fredegonde +Valmy appeared in the entrance. Von Kettler turned hastily, snatched +the pliers from the man's hand, and laid the metal in a receptacle.</p> + +<p>But the girl had seen the action. She looked at the weal on Luke's +forehead, and clenched her hands; her eyes dilated with horror.</p> + +<p>"You have been torturing him, Hugo!" she cried.</p> + +<p>"Freda, what are you doing in here? Oblige me by withdrawing +immediately!" cried Von Kettler.</p> + +<p>"Where is Captain Rennell?" the girl retorted. "I will know!"</p> + +<p>"He is upstairs, watching the approaching Yankee fleet, and waiting to +see its destruction," returned the other.</p> + +<p>"You are lying to me! He has been killed, and this old man has been +tortured!" cried Fredegonde. "I tell you, Hugo Von Kettler, you are no +longer a half-brother of mine! I am through with you!"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately," sneered Von Kettler, "it is not possible to dispose +of a family relationship so easily."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p>t is cheap to sneer," the girl retorted. "But you sang a very +different song when you were in the penitentiary, in terror of death, +and you begged me to come and throw you the invisible robe through the +bars. You promised me then that you would abandon this mad enterprise +and come away with me. You swore it!"</p> + +<p>"I have sworn allegiance to my Emperor, and that comes first," +retorted Von Kettler. "Oblige me by retiring."</p> + +<p>"I shall do nothing of the sort," cried the girl hysterically. "When +you used me as a tool in your enterprises in Washington, you played +upon my patriotism for my conquered country. I thought I was +undertaking a heroic act. I didn't dream of the villainy, the +cold-blooded murder that was to be wrought.</p> + +<p>"You've kept me here virtually a prisoner," she went on, with rising +violence, "an attendant upon that old madman, your Emperor, and his +sham court, while more murder is being planned. Where is Captain +Rennell, I say?" She stamped her foot. "I demand that he and this old +man be set at liberty at once. Hugo," she pleaded, "come away with me. +Don't you see what the end must be? This is no heroic enterprise, it +is wholesale murder that will arouse the conscience of civilized +mankind against you! Order that the vortex-ray be turned off," she +went on, looking through the opening in the partition toward the +dynamo. "That gas—you cannot be so vile as to send it forth again, to +destroy the American ships?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Freda," retorted the young man coolly, "the vortex-ray is +already charged with the gas, and at a height of twenty thousand feet +it is now creating a vacuum that will send the gas upon the wings of a +hurricane straight up the Atlantic seaboard. It will obliterate every +living thing on board the battleships, from men to rats, and this time +we mean to reach New York.</p> + +<p>"As for that swine Rennell," he went on, "you heard His Majesty +announce his intention of sending him back to Washington with the +information of our irresistible power. Of course I know you are in +love with him, and that these qualms of conscience are due to that +circumstance."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut Dick hardly heard the latter part of Von Kettler's remarks. +Suddenly the significance of the dynamo and the superheated room above +had come home to him. He had read of such a project years before, in +some newspaper, and had forgotten about it until that moment.</p> + +<p>By sending a high-tension current almost to the limits of the earth's +atmosphere, the article had said, a vortex or vacuum could be set up +which would create a hurricane.</p> + +<p>The tremendous pressure of the in-rushing air would make a veritable +cyclone, which, taking the course of the prevailing winds, would rush +forth on a mission of widespread disaster.</p> + +<p>And on this hurricane would go the deadly gas, infinitely diluted, and +yet deadly to all life in its infinitesimal proportion to the +atmosphere.</p> + +<p>And the American fleet was now approaching the Bahama shores.</p> + +<p>Dick forgot Luke Evans, everything else, as the significance of that +mechanism in the next room came home to him. He ran like a madman +through the space in the partition, and, raising the bar aloft, +brought it thudding down upon the dials, twisting and warping them.</p> + +<p>He struck at the hollow pole, but, glass or not, it defied all his +efforts. He seized a heavy lever and flung it into reverse—and two +others.</p> + +<p>Yelling, the three attendants broke and ran. Out of the laboratory the +six came running, collided with the three. Behind them Dick could see +Fredegonde Valmy, a knife in her hand, slashing at Luke Evans's bonds.</p> + +<p>Dick swung his bar and brought it crashing down on a head, felling the +man like a log. He saw Von Kettler pull one of the glass rods from +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> pocket and fire blindly. The discharge struck a second attendant, +and the man dropped screeching, his clothes ablaze.</p> + +<p>Somebody yelled, "He's there! Look at his eyes!" and pointed at Dick's +face.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick leaped aside and swung the rod again, felling a third man. The +others turned and ran. Von Kettler in the van, broke through the door +behind Luke Evans's chair, and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Dick ran back to where the old man was standing beside the girl, the +discarded ropes at his feet. He flung his hood back. "Luke, don't you +know me?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>It was creditable to Luke Evans's composure that, though Dick must +have presented the aspect of nothing more than a face floating in the +air, he retained his composure.</p> + +<p>"Sure I know you, Rennell," replied the old man. "And you and me's +going to best them devils yet."</p> + +<p>"But the fleet—it's approaching Abaco," Dick cried. "I've got to warn +them."</p> + +<p>Fredegonde seized him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," she cried. "If they find you here, they'll kill you."</p> + +<p>Dick hesitated only a moment, then followed the girl as she dashed for +another door on the same side of the laboratory as that by which Von +Kettler and his men had fled. They dashed down the staircase, and a +corridor disclosed itself at the bottom. The girl stopped.</p> + +<p>"There is a private way—the Emperor's," she panted. "He had it +constructed—in case of necessity. I got the keys. I was +planning—something desperate—to stop these murders; I didn't know +what."</p> + +<p>Dick seized her by the arm. "What keys?" he demanded. "The key to the +place where President Hargreaves is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but—"</p> + +<p>"We must get him. Where is he?"</p> + +<p>"In a cell beneath the throne room. That's overhead. But they'll +catch us—"</p> + +<p>"Which is the key?" asked Dick.</p> + +<p>The girl produced three or four keys, fumbled with them, handed one to +Dick. "This way!" she cried.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey ran along the corridor. Two guards appeared, moving toward them +under the electric lights. At the sight of the girl running, and Luke +Evans, they stopped in surprise.</p> + +<p>Dick had pulled the hood back over his head. He ran toward them, +wielding the iron bar. A mighty swing sent the two toppling over, one +unconscious, the other bruised and yelling loudly.</p> + +<p>"Here! Here!" gasped Fredegonde, stopping before a door.</p> + +<p>Dick fitted the key to the lock and turned it. Inside, upon a quite +visible bed, sat President Hargreaves, unchained. He looked up +inquiringly as the three entered.</p> + +<p>"Mr. President," said Dick, throwing back his hood, "I'm an American +officer, and I want to save you. There's not much chance, but, if +you'll come with me—"</p> + +<p>Hargreaves got up and smiled. "I'm not a military man, sir," he +answered, "but I'm ready to take that chance rather than—"</p> + +<p>He did not complete the sentence. Shouts echoed along the corridor +behind them. Dick replaced his hood, handed the keys back to the girl. +"Take Mr. Hargreaves to any place of temporary safety you can," he +said. "And Mr. Evans. I'll hold them!"</p> + +<p>"It's right here. This door!" panted the girl, indicating a door at +the end of the passage.</p> + +<p>The three ran toward it. Dick turned. Five or six guards with Von +Kettler at their head, were running toward him. They saw the three +fugitives and set up a shout.</p> + +<p>Dick had a quick inspiration. He dashed back into the cell, seized the +light bed, and dragged it through the doorway into the passage, just +in time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> to send Von Kettler and two others sprawling. He brought down +the bar upon the head of one of them, shouting as he did so.</p> + +<p>Then he became aware that the passage was flooded with sunshine. +Fredegonde had got the door open.</p> + +<p>He darted back, passed through in the wake of the three, and slammed +it shut. Fredegonde turned the key. Instantly Dick found himself with +his three companions upon the prairie. Not a vestige of the buildings +was apparent anywhere, except for the patches of brown earth.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XII</h4> +<h4><i>Von Kettler's End</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>redegonde took command, repressing her agitation with a visible +effort. "They cannot break down that door," she said, "and they dare +not ask for another key. It will take them a minute or two to go back +and reach us around the building. But there may be a score of people +watching us. Let us walk quietly toward the thickets. If I am present, +they will not suspect anything is wrong."</p> + +<p>But Dick stood still, driven into absolute immobility by the +conflicting claims of duty. For overhead, high in the blue, was an +American dirigible.</p> + +<p>And at his side was the President of the United States. One or other +of them he must sacrifice.</p> + +<p>He chose. He ran forward without answering. Those squares of brown +earth, set side by side, were the airplane hangars, and he meant to +seize an airplane, if he could find one beneath its coat of +invisibility, and fly to warn the dirigible and the fleet.</p> + +<p>A curious wind was blowing. It seemed to come swirling downward, as no +wind that Dick had ever known. It was growing in violence each moment, +beating upon his face.</p> + +<p>As he ran, he was aware of Luke beside him. He heard shouting all +about them. Luke had been seen. Not only Luke, but Hargreaves, who was +running after Luke, with Fredegonde trying in vain to change his +intentions. At the edge of the first brown patch Dick collided +violently with the wall of the invisible hangar, and went reeling +back. The shouts were growing louder.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" gasped Luke Evans. He had something like a large watch in his +hand. He held it out like a pistol, and from it projected a beam of +the black gas.</p> + +<p>Then Dick remembered Colonel Stopford's words: "He showed me a watch +and said the salvation of the world was inside the case. I thought him +insane."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>nsane or not, old Luke Evans had concealed the tiny model of the +camera-box to good purpose. As he swept the black beam around him, the +whole mass of buildings sprang into luminosity, the figures of a score +of men, grouped together, and advancing in a threatening mass, some +distance away—and more.</p> + +<p>Two airplanes, standing side by side upon the tarmac, just in front of +the hangar—not mere pursuit planes, but six-seaters, formidably +armed, with central turrets and bow and rear guns, and propellers +revolving.</p> + +<p>Two mechanics stood staring in the direction of the little group.</p> + +<p>"I'm with you," gasped Hargreaves. "I'm not a military man, but I've +got fighting blood, and I come of a fighting race."</p> + +<p>Dick leaped and once more swung the iron bar. The nearer of the two +mechanics went down like lead, the second, seeing his companion +bludgeoned out of the air, turned and ran.</p> + +<p>Dick shouted, pointing. Fredegonde jumped into the plane, and the +President scrambled in behind her. The group, dismayed by the black +beam, which Luke Evans was now turning steadily upon them, had halted +irresolutely. But suddenly a head appeared, moving swiftly through the +air toward the plane. It was Von Kettler, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> hood flung back, the +face distorted with rage and fury.</p> + +<p>At his yells, the whole crowd started forward. Dick leaped into the +central cockpit, swung the helicopter lever. Something spitted past +his face, and a long streak appeared on the turret, where the +gas-paint had been scored. But he was rising, rising into that +increasing wind....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e heard a yell of triumph behind him. And that yell of Von Kettler's +was his undoing. There is the telepathy between close friends, but +there is also telepathic sympathy between enemies, and in an instant +Dick understood what that shout of triumph portended.</p> + +<p>He was rising into the line of magnetic force that would anchor his +airplane helplessly, and leave it to be jerked down and held at Von +Kettler's mercy.</p> + +<p>He released the helicopter lever and opened throttle wide. For an +instant the heavy plane hung dangerously at its low elevation, +threatening to nose over. Then Dick regained control, and was winging +away toward the sea, while yells of baffled fury from behind indicated +the chagrin of his enemies.</p> + +<p>He glanced up. Thank heaven the dirigible had not approached the trap. +It was apparently circling overhead. Of course the observers had seen +nothing, had no conception that the headquarters of the Invisible +Empire lay below.</p> + +<p>And yet it seemed to be drifting aimlessly back toward the +fleet—erratically, as if not under complete control. And Dick could +see the ships about a mile offshore, apparently drifting too. They +were moving as no American squadron ever moved since the day the first +hull was launched, for some of them, turned bow inward toward others, +seemed upon the point of collision, while others were lagging on the +edge of the formation, as if pointing for home.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly the awful truth dawned upon Dick. The occupants of +ships and dirigible alike had been overcome by the deadly gas.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ick banked, turned, leaned forward and shouted to Luke Evans, and, +when the old man turned his head, indicated to him to sweep the tarmac +with his ray.</p> + +<p>The thread of black, broadening into a truncated cone, revealed +nothing save the luminous outlines of the buildings. Apparently the +tarmac was deserted. It was queer, too, that the silence of the night +before was gone. Dick shouted again, to assure himself of what he knew +already, and heard his own voice again.</p> + +<p>Something had happened, something unexpected——or perhaps the crew of +the Invisible Emperor, satisfied with the effects of the deadly gas, +had not thought it necessary to go to any further trouble.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Dick discovered that he was almost within the circle of the +line of magnetic force. Hurriedly he threw over the stick and kicked +rudder. It was not till he was again approaching the seashore that it +occurred to him that the force, too, was not in operation.</p> + +<p>He opened throttle wide and shot seaward. He must ascertain what had +happened, and, if not too late, give warning without delay.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly the vicious rattle of gunfire sounded in Dick's ears, +and, materializing out of the sky, came Von Kettler's face. Startled +for an instant, Dick quickly realized that it was Von Kettler in his +plane, with his hood thrown back.</p> + +<p>And Dick realized that his own hood was thrown back. Two faces and +nothing else, were the whole visible setting for battle.</p> + +<p>But that look upon Von Kettler's face was even more demoniacal than +before. Mad with rage at the prospective escape of his prey, and +infuriated by his half-sister's appearance in the plane, Von Kettler +had thrown all cau<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>tion to the winds. In his insane hatred he was +prepared to shoot down Dick's plane and send Fredegonde to destruction +with it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>f Dick chose to replace his hood he would have the madman at his +mercy. And, if he had thought about it, he would have done so, with +Fredegonde sitting behind him. But the idea did not enter his mind. +Consumed with rage almost equal to Von Kettler's, he only saw there +the face of one of those who had inflicted an unspeakable outrage upon +the President of his country.</p> + +<p>The memory of old Hargreaves, chained before the mock-Emperor's +throne, enraged Dick more than the holocaust of lives taken by the +assassins.</p> + +<p>He shouted a wild answer to Von Kettler's challenge as his plane sped +by, and banked. At that moment there came a roaring concussion that +shook the plane from prop to tail.</p> + +<p>Dick turned his head. Somehow, President Hargreaves had contrived to +get the rear gun into action, and now he was staring at it as if he +could not believe that he had fired it.</p> + +<p>And that action heartened Dick wonderfully. As Von Kettler's face +appeared again, he loosed his turret gun in a sweeping blast, and +heard Von Kettler's gun roar futilely.</p> + +<p>Again they crossed each other's path, and again and again, two faces, +only able to gauge roughly the position of their planes. Neither man +had succeeded in injuring the other.</p> + +<p>Once old Lake turned his black ray upon Von Kettler, and for, a moment +the plane stood out luminously in the blackness, but Dick leaned +forward and yelled to the old man to desist.</p> + +<p>And once Dick looked back and saw Fredegonde crouched in her cockpit +with eyes wide with terror. And yet he read in her eyes the same +determination she had expressed in the laboratory. She was through +with her half-brother.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>ll this while the wind had been increasing, making it difficult to +maneuver the heavy plane; but now, of a sudden there came a dead lull, +and then, with a whining sound, the wind rushed in again.</p> + +<p>But this was a wind still more unlike any that Dick had ever known. A +mighty gale that revolved circularly, but downward too, like a vortex, +catching the plane and sweeping it into an ever tightening circle.</p> + +<p>A man-made gale, upon whose wings the poison gas would spread +northward again, carrying unlimited destruction with it. Dick fought +in vain to free himself.</p> + +<p>He was revolving as in a whirlpool, and it required the utmost +presence of mind and watchfulness to hold the plane steady. Round and +round he spun—and then, suddenly, out of the void materialized Von +Kettler's face.</p> + +<p>Von Kettler, helpless too, was spinning round upon the opposite side +of the vortex. Thus each airship was upon the tail of the other, and +it was a matter of chance which would get the other within the +ringsights of the turret gun.</p> + +<p>Von Kettler was so near that his shouts of fury came fitfully to +Dick's ears as the wind carried them. Dick, working the controls, knew +that not for an instant could he direct his attention from them in +order to fire his gun, and the moment Von Kettler attempted to do so, +he was doomed.</p> + +<p>Round and round, struggling, battling in vain—and once more the +concussion of the rear gun shook the plane. And a shout from the +President reached Dick's ears.</p> + +<p>Dick turned his head for an instant, long enough to see Von Kettler +spinning down through the vortex. And he was going down afire. +President Hargreaves, "no military man," had got him, the second time +he had ever aligned a gun-barrel upon a target.</p> + +<p>"Bravo, sir, bravo!" Dick shouted.</p> + +<p>And desperately he flung the stick forward and nosed down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>o gale, man-made or heaven-made, could carry on its wings +three-quarters of a ton of armored, turreted airship. Swirling like a +leaf, the plane broke through the clutch of the blast. Instantly it +grew calm. Outside that vortex, hardly a breath of air was stirring. +It was as if the whole fury of the air was concentrated within that +circle.</p> + +<p>The ground came rushing up. Once more Dick tried to head seaward. With +flying speed lost, he was calculating the exact moment in his downward +rush when he could hope to resume control. Would that moment come +before he crashed?</p> + +<p>At less than a hundred feet he partly regained control. For a moment +the plane seemed to fly on an even keel. Then her nose went down as +her speed slackened. And this time there was no salvation.</p> + +<p>Working desperately to save her, Dick saw the ground loom up before +him. He heard the crash as the plane broke into splintering ruin ... +he had a last vision of old Luke clutching his precious watch: then +everything was dissolved in darkness....</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XIII</h4> +<h4><i>You Can't Down the Marines</i></h4> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_h1.jpg" alt="H" width="61" height="55" /></div> +<p>e's pulling out of it! Keep it up, Gotch!"</p> + +<p>Dick heard the words and opened his eyes. He stared in amazement at +the faces about him. Honest American faces under tropical helmets and +above a uniform that he had never expected to see again. It couldn't +be real. And yet it was. One word broke from his lips:</p> + +<p>"Marines!"</p> + +<p>"He's got it. Don't let him slip, Gotch.", grinned one of the friendly +faces, and the man named Gotch, who presumably had some qualifications +for his job, continued what was meant to be a gentle massage of the +nerve centers along Dick's spine.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right." Dick muttered, beginning to realize his +surroundings. He was lying on a strip of prairie near the beach, on +which the waves were breaking in low ripples about a motorboat that +was drawn up.</p> + +<p>He sat up. The world was swimming about him, but he seemed to have no +broken bones. Not far away was the wrecked plane, an incongruous mass +of streaks where the fabric had ripped through the gas-paint. "Where +are the others?" Dick muttered.</p> + +<p>Then he was aware of Fredegonde Valmy lying with a white face under a +shrub. Her eyes were open, and turned toward him.</p> + +<p>He heard Luke Evans's voice. The old man hobbled round from Dick's +back, one arm in a bandage.</p> + +<p>"She's hurt rather bad, Rennell, but we won't know how bad till we can +get her away," he said. "You've been lying here about an hour, since +we crashed. President Hargreaves made them take him to the fleet in +the other motorboat to see what he could do. He's assumed command.</p> + +<p>"You see, Rennell, that damn gas caught the fleet and put pretty near +every man out of commission for good. But these fellows wasn't going +to give up. So, since all their officers were gone, they took two of +the boats and their arms and equipment, and came ashore to settle +accounts. And they won't believe there's anybody on the island or any +buildings. And I can't make 'em believe it. God, Rennell, those +invisible devils may attack us at any moment. I don't understand what +they're waiting for."</p> + +<p>Gotch spoke: "We know you're Captain Rennell, sir. And this gentleman, +we know him too, but he seems a bit queer in his head. Talking of the +Invisible Emperor's headquarters on this island, a mile or so inland. +The only invisible thing we've found is that piece of a garment we +pulled off you."</p> + +<p>"I broke my watch ray machine in the fall, and I can't make them +believe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> Rennell," almost wept old Evans. "Tell them I'm not crazy."</p> + +<p>Dick got upon his feet with an effort, staggered a little, then made +his way to Fredegonde. He kneeled down beside the girl. She was +conscious, and smiled faintly, but she could not speak. He pressed her +hand, rose, and came back. "Mr. Evans is not crazy," he said. "The +headquarters of the gang is over there." He pointed. "Didn't President +Hargreaves tell you?"</p> + +<p>"He was kind of incoherent, sir." The marines looked at one another, +wondering. Was Captain Rennell crazy too?</p> + +<p>"We've had scouts out through the jungle, sir. There's nothing within +five miles of here. They had a clear view through to the sea from the +top of a hill."</p> + +<p>"I've been there." Dick spoke with conviction. "I must tell you +they've got devices that make them practically irresistible. That gas +and other things. And they're invisible. But if you boys are willing +to follow me, I'll lead you. It means death. I don't know what they're +waiting for. But—are you willing to follow me?"</p> + +<p>"We'll follow you, sir"—after a pause, during which Dick read in +their eyes the desire to humor a crazy man. "We'll follow to hell, +sir—if that gang's really there."</p> + +<p>"Take your arms, then!" Dick pointed to the stacked rifles.</p> + +<p>A minute later the twenty-odd Marines, forming an open line that +extended from one side of the clearing to the other, were on their way +toward the headquarters of the gang. And Dick, leading them, though +his head was reeling, felt as if his own reason was slipping from him. +Had he only dreamed all this? Was it possible that the headquarters of +the Invisible Emperor existed on this desolate prairie? If it was +true, why had they suddenly become silent, inert? Why had they not +long ago wiped out these few Marines? And the gale—was it now +sweeping northward on its mission of destruction?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>alf an hour passed. Then the brown patches of the foundations came +into view upon the open ground. Here were the hangers, here was the +central building with the Emperor's headquarters. And nothing was +visible, nothing stirred, yet at any moment Dick expected the rattle +of machine-gun bullets or some more terrific method of destruction.</p> + +<p>"Halt!" The line stood still. "I am going forward ahead or you. You'll +follow at a distance of twenty paces. When you see me stop, feel for +the door in the wall, and if I disappear, follow me. You understand?"</p> + +<p>The Marines assented cheerfully. No harm in humoring this poor devil +of an officer who had crashed and lost his wits. Like Luke Evans, +shambling up through the line to Dick's side. Dick advanced. At any +moment now the concentrated fire of the Emperor's men should blast +them all to smithereens. Nothing happened.</p> + +<p>And it was no dream, for Dick's outstretched hand encountered the +exterior wall of the building. He had gauged his way accurately, too, +for a step or two brought him to the door. He stepped inside. He was +inside the private door that led to the Emperor's quarters, through +which he had passed with Fredegonde, Hargreaves, and Luke Evans in +their flight. It had been broken down, contrary to the girl's +predictions, and the deserted passage within was perfectly visible to +them all.</p> + +<p>Stupefied, the Marines bumped and jostled with each other as they +crowded in. If they had been anything but Marines, their own heads +might have been turned at the discovery of this sudden materialization +of a building out of nothingness.</p> + +<p>Being Marines, they only grinned sheepishly, and followed along the +corridor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he first human being they saw was one of the guards, in a black +tunic. He was leaning against a wall, and he was a human being no +longer. He looked as if he was asleep, but he was stone dead, with a +placid look on his face.</p> + +<p>Two more dead guards lay across each other, with smiles on their +faces: and there was a workman in a blue blouse who had been in a +tremendous hurry to get somewhere, from his appearance, and had never +got there. He had fallen asleep instead, and never wakened.</p> + +<p>Dick found a stairway and led the way up. He thought it ran up to the +laboratory, but, instead, the room into which he emerged was the +ante-room of the Invisible Emperor's audience hall. Six dead guards +lay in a heap in front of the curtain, and they had died as +unconcerned as their fellows, to judge by the pacific expressions on +their faces.</p> + +<p>Dick passed through into the throne room. The Marines, behind him, for +the first time uttered exclamations of awe—of pity.</p> + +<p>The terrific scene that met Dick's eyes would be burned into his brain +till his last day.</p> + +<p>Upon his throne, head flung back, sat the Invisible Emperor, his +features set in a sardonic leer of death. And all about him, some +sitting, some lying, supporting one another, were his court, officers +in black uniforms with the silver braid, and women in court dress. And +all were dead too. But they had not known they had died. They had +fallen asleep—upon the instant that their own volatile gas reached +them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p> guess that's the explanation, sir," said old Luke Evans. "Those +devils made the whirlwind and charged it with the gas. But when you +reversed that lever, you reversed the process. Instead of projecting +the force outwardly, you made a suction, and every atom of the gas +that hadn't travelled beyond the radius came rushing back and filled +the building. If we'd entered a half-hour later, we'd have been dead +ones ourselves, but the gas was volatile enough to disperse through +the chinks and crannies. Anyway, it's all over now."</p> + +<p>Yes, it was all over, Dick thought, as he sat in his deck chair upon +the cruiser that was bearing him northward. The menace to world +government had been destroyed and with it all who had been behind it. +There would be a new order in the world, a new and kindlier +government. Men would feel closer to one another than in the past. +Half the personnel of the fleet had escaped the invisible death, and +only one cruiser and the dirigible had been lost in the confusion. +There would be a great reception when they put into Charleston.</p> + +<p>Dick bent over Fredegonde, who was asleep in her chair beside him. The +ship's surgeon had promised recovery for her. She shouldn't suffer for +her half-voluntary part in the business, Dick said to himself. It was +going to be his task to help her to forget.</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_006.jpg" width="600" height="203" alt="Advertisement" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_007.jpg" width="500" height="424" alt="The gaping mouth jerked forward." /> +<span class="caption">The gaping mouth jerked forward.</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="Prisoners_on_the_Electron" id="Prisoners_on_the_Electron"></a>Prisoners on the Electron</h2> + +<h3><i>By Robert H. Leitfred</i></h3> +<div class="sidenote">Fate throws two young Earthians into desperate conflict +with the primeval monsters of an electron's savage jungles.</div> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he blood-red glow of a slanting sun bathed the towers of New York's +serrated skyline, then dropped into a molten sea beyond the winter +horizon. Friday, the last day of Jupiter, the thirteenth month of the +earth's new calendar, had drawn to a close. In a few hours the year of +1999 would end—at midnight, to be exact.</p> + +<p>Far below the towers stretched well lighted canyons teeming with +humanity. At an upper level where once the elevated trains had roared +and rumbled in an antiquated period long past, an orderly mass of +workers and shoppers was borne at an incredible speed from lower +Manhattan to towering apartments that stretched northward to +Peekskill. The northbound traffic was heaviest at this hour and the +moving sidewalk bands were jammed to their capacity.</p> + +<p>Street cars, now obsolete, had vanished from the streets under the new +order of things as had also passenger cars, taxis and trucks. Speed +predominated. Noise had practically been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> eliminated. Except for the +gentle throb of giant motors far underground, the city was cloaked in +silence.</p> + +<p>At regular intervals along the four-speed moving bands that formed the +transportation of the great metropolis, huge circular shafts of steel +mounted upward beyond the roofs of the tallest buildings. Within these +shafts, swift elevators carried passengers who lived in the outlying +districts to the level of the station platforms of the interstate +operating transport planes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>lose to the entrance of one of the steel shafts stood a young man a +little above medium height. His deep-sunken eyes were those of a +dreamer, a searcher. They were the eyes of a man who had seen strange +and startling things. At present they were staring into the pulsing +wave of humanity flowing northward on the endless steel bands beyond +the platform.</p> + +<p>Quite suddenly they lighted with pleasure as a man and a girl detached +themselves from the swift moving river of people and hurried to the +spot where he stood.</p> + +<p>"Think we were never coming?" Karl Danzig's eyes were much like those +of Aaron Carruthers. Just now they sparkled with suppressed +excitement.</p> + +<p>Aaron Carruthers smiled in turn. "No, Karl. Any man but you. I +couldn't imagine you being late." He turned his attention to the slim, +dark haired girl. "Nanette," he murmured, extending his hand, "I +didn't think you'd come."</p> + +<p>Dazzling white teeth caught the glow of the blue-white incandescents +along the platform, and became under the bow of her red lips a string +of priceless pearls.</p> + +<p>"I had to come, Aaron. Karl has done nothing but talk of your amazing +discovery. The experiment fairly frightens me at times especially when +I recall the sad fate of your friend, the missing Professor Dahlgren. +I wish you boys would give up the idea—"</p> + +<p>"Nan, be still," broke in Karl, with brotherly rudeness. Turning to +Carruthers. "Everything all ready, Aaron?" he asked.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers nodded. "As far as humanly possible. The element of error +is always present. I've checked and re-checked my calculations. I've +augmented the vacuum tubes by installing three super-dimensional +inverse power tubes." He clasped the girl's arm. "The street is no +place to talk. Let's go to the laboratory."</p> + +<p>They crossed the moving bands by an overhead bridge and cut down a +narrow canyon to the entrance of a crosstown series of bands. They +stepped onto the first band. The speed was moderate. From there they +moved over to the second. Carruthers was in a hurry. He guided the +girl and her brother across the third to the fourth band of moving +steel.</p> + +<p>Buildings slid past them like wraiths in the electric light. They felt +no winter chill, for the streets and platforms were heated by a +constant flow of warm air from slots ingeniously arranged in the band +of swift moving metal upon which they stood. Within a few minutes they +had arrived at their destination. Quickly they reversed their path +across the moving bands until they reached the disembarking platform. +A short distance from the station they came to the entrance of a huge +tower building.</p> + +<p>Carruthers nodded to the doorman and they were admitted into a marble +hallway. A silent, unattended lift bore them swiftly to the +seventy-fifth floor. Down a deep carpeted hallway they moved. +Carruthers touched his door. It opened. He stood to one side as the +other two entered.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>anette cried with delight at the luxurious splendor of the place. +"Why, Aaron, I never dreamed the night view could be quite so +delightful! I do believe that if the hor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>rid government had not taken +down that little Statue of Liberty and substituted the Shaft Triumph +in its place, that I could easily see her fingers clasping the torch +she was reputed to hold.</p> + +<p>"Progress, dear girl," shrugged Carruthers, holding out his hands for +her cape. "By the way, have you folks eaten?"</p> + +<p>"Not in a week," said Karl.</p> + +<p>"Von Sternberger's food tablets," informed the girl.</p> + +<p>Carruthers nodded. His deep-set eyes regarded them appraisingly. "Any +ill effects?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever," spoke Danzig. "Neither of us have the slightest +craving for food."</p> + +<p>"Good. Did you bring any with you?"</p> + +<p>"A whole carton."</p> + +<p>"Then I guess we're already to make the experiment. You're sure. +Nanette, that you're not afraid of...."</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly, Aaron. I haven't grown up with Karl for nothing. He's +always used me for the disagreeable end of his crazy experiments. And +besides," she smiled on both men. "I have a woman's curiosity for the +unknown."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Carruthers gravely. From his waistcoat pocket he +took a ring of keys and inserted one of them into the lock of an +immense steel door. "Our laboratory," he announced, swinging the door +wide.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>anette's eyes opened wide at the paneled whiteness of the room. Most +of the far side was taken up with electrical machines, dynamos, +generators and glass enclosed motors of an advanced type. Overhead, +concealed lights made the room as light as day. A heavy glass railing +shielded a square spot in the exact center of the room.</p> + +<p>"What's that for?" asked the girl.</p> + +<p>Danzig and Carruthers both regarded it with troubled eyes. It was +Carruthers who spoke.</p> + +<p>"That railing marks the spot where Professor Dahlgren stood when the +rays of our atomic machine struck him."</p> + +<p>"You mean," breathed the girl, "that he never moved from that spot +after the rays touched his body? What happened?"</p> + +<p>Karl had already divested himself of his coat and was checking the +copper cables leading into a strange machine.</p> + +<p>"It was rather curious," remarked Carruthers. "The moment the ray +touched him his body began to dwindle. But evidently he suffered no +pain. As a matter of fact his mind remained quite clear."</p> + +<p>"How did you know?"</p> + +<p>"As he dwindled in size," continued Carruthers, "he shouted warningly +that the rays had become confused and for us to cut the switch. But +the warning came a fraction of a second too late. Even as my fingers +opened the contact, his body dwindled to a mere speck and disappeared +entirely from sight."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>anette gazed with staring eyes at the ill-fated spot. Her face had +grown steadily paler. "Oh, Aaron! It's awful! What do you suppose +happened?"</p> + +<p>Carruthers eyes glowed strangely. "I didn't exactly know at the time, +Nanette. I'm not sure that I know even now. But I've got a theory and +Karl has helped me to build a second machine to flash a restoring ray +on the square spot. What will take place I cannot even conjecture."</p> + +<p>"Let's get on with the experiment," interrupted Karl. "Nanette can be +shown later what she is to do."</p> + +<p>Carruthers turned to Danzig. "All right. Karl. Draw up a chair to your +machine. And you, Nanette, sit close to this switch. It's off now. To +turn it on, simply push it forward until the copper plates slide into +each other. To turn the current off, you pull sharply out. However, we +aren't quite ready."</p> + +<p>He shifted his position until he stood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> before a third machine +slightly smaller than the other two. His fingers clicked a switch. The +dial of the instrument glowed whitely.</p> + +<p>"It's important," continued Carruthers, "that we first locate our +interference. We have here, Nanette, a common television receiving +apparatus capable of picking up news and pictures from any corner of +the globe. Ready, Karl?"</p> + +<p>Danzig clicked on the switch before his own machine and turned one of +the many dials mounted on the panel in front of him. A faint hum +filled the room as the generator settled to its task.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers reached up and dimmed the overhead lights. A screen of what +looked like frosted glass set in the wall glowed luminously. The +interior of a famous broadcasting studio became mirrored in the glass +screen. Into it stepped the master of ceremonies. He spoke briefly of +the New Year's activities that would soon take place when the +twenty-eighth day of Jupiter ended at midnight.</p> + +<p>"Boston," said Carruthers. "Too near."</p> + +<p>"Try Frisco," suggested Karl. "The tubes ought to be sufficiently +heated by this time."</p> + +<p>The dial whirled beneath Carruthers slender fingers. The pictures +framed in the frosted panel faded. Another took its place. San +Francisco—an afternoon concert. Carruthers saw and listened for a +moment, then moved thousands of miles out to sea.</p> + +<p>Shanghai drifted into the panel, announcing in sing-song accents the +weather reports. Following this came reports of various uprisings +along the Manchurian border.</p> + +<p>While yet the three listeners and watchers bent their heads toward the +panel in the wall, a strange thing occurred. The silver frostiness of +the screen became violently agitated with what looked like tiny sparks +darting in and about each other like miniature solar systems. +Shanghai faded from the picture. All that remained visible now was the +jumbled mass of needle-pointed sparks of luminosity.</p> + +<p>"Careful," warned Carruthers. "Slow up the speed of your reflector, +Karl. There, that's better. Watch the meter reading. I'm going to step +up the power of the dimensional tubes. Steady!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>rom an invisible reproducer came a sharp, metallic crackling like +machine-gun bullets rattling on a tin roof. The sparks on the screen +became violently agitated, pushing around in erratic circles and +ellipses. They glowed constantly in shades of bright green through the +blues into the deep violets of the color scale.</p> + +<p>"What do you read?" asked Carruthers.</p> + +<p>"Point seven six nine," answered Karl.</p> + +<p>"Shift it back towards the blue, about two points lower on the scale."</p> + +<p>Danzig twisted two dials at the same time with minute exactness. +"Point seven six eleven," he intoned.</p> + +<p>"Hold it," ordered Carruthers. "Blue should predominate." He turned +his eyes on the dancing sparks on the screen. They glowed now a deep +indigo blue. "Lock your dials against accidental turning. We're tuned +to the vanishing point."</p> + +<p>Danzig rose to his feet. "What will we use?"</p> + +<p>Carruthers looked hastily around the room. "Most anything will do." +His eyes rested on a glass test tube. Quickly he rose to his feet and +removed it from the wall rack. Then bending over the glass railing +that enclosed the mysterious square he placed it on the floor. He +turned now to the girl.</p> + +<p>"Quiet, now, Nanette, and don't under any condition leave the chair. +The path of the ray should pass within two feet of you, having a wide +margin of safety. All right, Karl. Set the dials of the inverse +dimensional tubes at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> point seven six eleven, and switch the power to +the Roentgen tube."</p> + +<p>Through the dimly lighted laboratory came a spurt of bluish flame that +twisted and squirmed with slow undulations around the cathode +electrode.</p> + +<p>"Fine," enthused Carruthers, "The cathode emanations coincide exactly +with the interference chart. Watch your meter gauges, Karl, while I +switch to the atomic ray."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is fingers closed over a switch. The indigo points of flame bathing +the electrode gathered themselves into a ring and began to revolve +around an invisible nucleus located near the electrode. Carruthers +studied the revolving flame for a moment, then switched off the +television machine. It was no longer needed.</p> + +<p>Carefully, for the atomic ray was still a mysterious force to +Carruthers, he opened a small door in the panel and drew out the +focusing machine. It was shaped very much like a camera except that +the lens protruded several inches beyond the machine proper.</p> + +<p>With infinite patience he made the final adjustments and moved away +from the front of the lens. "Ready?"</p> + +<p>Danzig nodded and threw on the full power of the inverse dimensional +tubes. A low clear hum filled the quiet room of the laboratory. From +the lens of the focusing machine shot a pale, amber beam. It struck +the glass test tube squarely in the center and glowed against its +smooth sides.</p> + +<p>Carruthers reached across his own machine and turned the final switch. +The amber beam emanating from the lens increased in intensity. And as +it increased it took on a deep violet color.</p> + +<p>Nanette cried out in muffled alarm. But even as Vincent raised his +voice to quiet her fears the test tube suddenly shrunk to nothingness +and vanished into the ether.</p> + +<p>"Aaron!" whispered the girl, awesomely. "It ... it's gone!"</p> + +<p>Carruthers nodded. Beads of sweat stood out upon his forehead. Would +the returning ray work? He had made the test tube follow the same +route as that taken by Professor Dahlgren. Both were gone. He clicked +off the switch and the beam faded.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>ith a deliberate calmness that in no way matched the inner tumult +brought on by the experiment, he turned the dials of the machine he +and Danzig had worked out together. A second switch clicked under his +fingers. From the lense of the focusing machine shot the reverse +atomic beam. As it struck the center of the square it turned a bright +vermilion. For several seconds it played upon empty space, then the +miracle unfolded before their eyes.</p> + +<p>Something like a glass sliver reflected the beam. It grew and enlarged +under their startled eyes until it had achieved its former size, then +the power that had brought it back switched itself off automatically.</p> + +<p>Together both men examined the test tube. It appeared in no way +harmed, nor did it feel either warm or cold from its trip through the +elements.</p> + +<p>"It works!" marveled Danzig. "Let's try it again with something +larger."</p> + +<p>"I've got a better idea," said Carruthers, rising to his feet. He +crossed the laboratory and went to another part of his rooms. +Presently he returned holding a small pink rat in his hands. The +rodent was young, having been born only a week before. "Now we'll see +what happens."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's torture to the poor thing," burst out Nanette.</p> + +<p>"It won't hurt it," growled Karl. "Aaron knows what he's doing."</p> + +<p>Carruthers placed the little rat in the center of the square. It lay +there, very quiet and unblinking. Again the switches clicked as the +contacts were closed.</p> + +<p>Came once more the beam of amber colored light followed closely by the +violet. The rat dwindled to the size of an insect, then disappeared +into space. The three watchers held their breaths.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> Carruthers' hand +trembled the least bit as he threw on the switch controlling the +animal's return to the world.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> vermilion shaft of light pierced the semi-darkened rooms. The animal +had been gone from sight not more than a minute. Abruptly something +grayish white unfolded in the reflector's beam. It rapidly expanded +under three pairs of bulging eyes—not the small, pinkish rat that had +disappeared but sixty seconds previous, but a full grown rat, scarred +and tailless as if from innumerable battles with other rats.</p> + +<p>As the current clicked off Aaron Carruthers bent forward. Too late. +The rat scurried from the laboratory with a squeal of alarm. +Carruthers returned to his seat before the atomic machine and sat +down. His face was worried. Dark thoughts stormed his reason. The rat +he had placed within the atomic ray had aged nearly two years during +the minute it was out of mortal sight. Two years!</p> + +<p>He pulled a pad from his pocket and calculated the time that had +elapsed since Professor Dahlgren had vanished from that same spot. +Nearly forty hours. That would mean....</p> + +<p>Nanette stirred in her chair. "What happened to the little rat, +Aaron?"</p> + +<p>Carruthers, busy making calculations, did not hear the question.</p> + +<p>She turned to her brother. "Karl, what's the meaning of this? The +second experiment didn't turn out like the first one. What became of +that little rat?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what happened, Nan," spoke Karl. "Now don't bother me +with your silly questions. You saw the same thing I did."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers raised his head and spoke quietly. "That rat you saw +materialize under the atomic rays was the same rat you saw me place +within the square."</p> + +<p>"But it couldn't be," protested the girl.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless," shrugged Carruthers. "It was the same animal—only it +had aged nearly two years during the brief time interval it was off +from our planet."</p> + +<p>"It's preposterous," cried the girl.</p> + +<p>"Nothing is preposterous nowadays, Nanette."</p> + +<p>"That's the woman of it," spoke Karl. "Always doubting."</p> + +<p>"You boys are playing tricks on me," retorted the girl sharply. "I +shouldn't have come to your old laboratory. Just because I'm a +girl...."</p> + +<p>"Don't," pleaded Carruthers, looking up from his pad of figures. +"We're trying to solve the mystery underlying the forces which we have +created." He replaced the test tube within the center of the square +and returned to the atomic machine.</p> + +<p>Through the twilight shadows of the room glowed the strange new ray. +Faintly the generator hummed. Lights sparkled and twisted around the +cathode in serpentine swirls.</p> + +<p>"You needn't trouble to explain your silly experiment again," finished +Nanette, rising abruptly to her feet. "I'm going home and dress for +the New Year's party."</p> + +<p>"Watch your switch like I asked you to," spoke Carruthers.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," added Karl. "Don't put the rest of us in danger!"</p> + +<p>"Oh-h-h!" gasped the girl as she inadvertently stepped squarely into +the atomic ray of amber-colored light.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers leaped impatiently to his feet. An inarticulate cry of +horror froze upon his lips. Forgetful that he himself was directly in +line of the atomic ray he lunged forward, his mind centering on a +single act—to drag the protesting and now thoroughly frightened girl +out of the path of the penetrating ray.</p> + +<p>But even as he started forward Nanette tripped over the glass railing +around the square. Carruthers moved quickly. Yet his movements were +slow and ungainly as compared to the speed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> of the light ray. He saw +the figure of Nanette decrease in size before his eyes, heard the +muffled expression of alarm and fear in Danzig's voice; then the room +suddenly began to extend itself upward with the speed of a meteor.</p> + +<p>What once had been walls and bare furniture resolved themselves into a +range of hills, then mountains. The twilight gloom of the room became +a dark void of empty space that seemed to rush past his ears like a +moaning wind.</p> + +<p>He had the sensation of falling through infinite space as if he had +been propelled from the world and hurled out into the vastness of +interplanetary space. Something brushed against him—something soft +and fluttering. He grasped it like a drowning man would clutch a +straw. "Nanette!"</p> + +<p>The name echoed and re-echoed through his mind yet never seemed to get +beyond his tightly clenched lips. He felt something cool close over +his hand. Instinctively he grasped it. Her hand. Together they clung +to each other as they felt themselves being hurled through endless +space.</p> + +<p>The twilight changed swiftly to black night that rushed past the two +clinging figures and enveloped them in a wall of silence. Then out of +the mysterious fastness came the dull glow of what looked like a +distant planet. It grew and enlarged till it reached the size of a +silver dollar. Little pin-points of light soon began to appear on all +sides of it, very much like stars.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers attempted to reassure Nanette that all was well, and they +were out on the streets of the great metropolis. But even as he +wrenched his tightly locked lips apart he saw that the shining disc +far out into space was not what he had first thought it was—the +earth's moon.</p> + +<p>He shook his head to clear it of the perplexing cobwebs. What was the +matter with his mind? He couldn't think or reason. All he knew was +that he had erred. This strange planet looming in the sky held +nothing familiar in markings nor in respect to its relations to the +stars beyond it.</p> + +<p>While yet he groped in the darkness for something tangible, his mind +reverted to the girl at his side. She was clinging to him like a +frightened child. He could feel the pressure of her body against his +and it thrilled him immeasurably. No longer was he the cold, +calculating young man of science.</p> + +<p>How long they remained in state of suspension while strange worlds and +planets flashed into a new sky before their startled eyes, Aaron +Carruthers didn't know. At times it seemed like hours, years, ages. +And when he thought of the tender nearness of the girl he held so +tightly within his arms, it seemed like a few minutes.</p> + +<p>Gradually the sensation of speed and space falling began to wear off, +as if they were nearing earth or some solid substance once more. The +air about them grew heavier. Then all movement through space ceased.</p> + +<p>Carruthers was surprised to find what felt like earth beneath his +feet. For long minutes he stood there, unmoving, still holding +possessively to the girl.</p> + +<p>"Aaron!" The name came out of the void like a faint caress.</p> + +<p>"Nanette."</p> + +<p>Reassured of each other's presence they stood perfectly still, lost in +the vast silence of their isolation.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>resently the girl spoke. "Oh, Aaron, I'm frightened!"</p> + +<p>"There's nothing to be alarmed at, dearest." The endearing term came +for the first time from the man's lips. As long as he had known +Nanette Danzig, love had never been mentioned between them. If it had +ever existed, the feeling had not been expressed.</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't call me that, Aaron."</p> + +<p>His voice sounded curiously far-off when he answered. "I couldn't help +it, Nan. Our nearness, the strange darkness, and the fact that we are +alone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> together brought strange emotions to my heart. At this moment +you are the dearest—"</p> + +<p>Bump, thump! Bump, thump!</p> + +<p>"What's that noise?" breathed Nanette.</p> + +<p>Carruthers turned his head to listen. To his ears came the pound of +some heavy object striking the ground at well-regulated intervals.</p> + +<p>Nanette, who had started to free herself from Carruthers violent +embrace, suddenly ceased to struggle. "Oh, what is it? What is it?" +she whispered fearfully.</p> + +<p>Carruthers sniffed the night air. A musky odor assailed his nostrils, +strange and unfamiliar. "It's beyond me, Nanette. Let's move away from +this spot. Perhaps we can find shelter for the rest of the night."</p> + +<p>But the Stygian blackness successfully hid any form of shelter. Tired +from their search they sat down.</p> + +<p>"We might build a fire," suggested Carruthers, "only there doesn't +seem to be any wood around. Nothing but bare rock."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's just as well," spoke the girl. "The flames might attract +prowlers."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you're right," agreed Carruthers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> silence fell between them. After a long time Nanette spoke.</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose, Aaron, that anything I can do or say will help +matters any. I know that our being where we are is my own fault. I'm +sorry. Truly I am."</p> + +<p>"The harm is done," said Carruthers. "Don't say anything more about +it."</p> + +<p>Nanette pointed at the disc of light shining high in the heavens. +"These stars are as strange to me, Aaron, as if I had never seen them +before. Saturn is the evening star at this time of year. It isn't +visible. Even the familiar craters and mountains of the moon look +different. And it glows strangely."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather not talk about it, Nan."</p> + +<p>Nanette placed a hand upon his arm. "I'm not a child, Aaron. I'm a +grown woman. Fear comes through not knowing. Tell me the truth."</p> + +<p>"Let's sit down."</p> + +<p>They sat upon the ground and both stared out at the night heavens that +arched into infinity above them. Presently Carruthers took the girl's +hand from his arm and held it gently between his own. "You've guessed +rightly, Nan. The orb shining upon us is not our moon. I'll try and +make it clear."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he girl smiled reassuringly in the darkness. "I'm waiting."</p> + +<p>"Strange as it must seem," began Carruthers, "you and I are still +within the room of my laboratory. But we might as well be a million +miles away for all the good it does us. Karl sits in his chair in the +same position as when we disappeared in the violet glow of the atomic +ray. His eyes are bulging with fear and horror. For days and days +he'll continue to sit on that chair, his mind not yet attuned to what +actually took place. What has happened? He doesn't know yet, Nan."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's incredible," sobbed Nanette.</p> + +<p>"I know, but it's so obviously true that I won't even trouble to check +my calculations." He pointed at the silver disc hanging low in the +strange sky. "That, Nan, is not our moon. It is nothing more than a +planetary electron very much like the one we are on at the present +moment. The firmament is filled with them. From where we sit we can +see but the half nearest to us. The glowing portion is illuminated +from distant light rays shot off from the nucleus of the atom itself. +That atom is going to be our light and heat for weeks, months, perhaps +years to come. We're prisoners on an electron, and as such we are +destined to rush through infinite space for the remainder of our lives +unless...."</p> + +<p>"Unless what?"</p> + +<p>Aaron Carruthers hesitated for a bare fraction of a second. "Karl!" he +whis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>pered. "Our lives depend on him. Time flies fast for us, Nan. +Already it is growing light. But not on our earth. Karl still sits +upon his chair staring incredulously at the miracle of our +disappearing bodies. It will take weeks of time, as it affects us, for +the initial shock to travel along his nerves to the center of his +brain."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is voice shook with emotion quite contrary to his usual calm nature. +"Oh, I know it's hard to understand, Nan. I was a fool to meddle with +laws of which I know so little compared to what there is yet to know."</p> + +<p>"Then it's all true, Aaron. The little rat that came out from under +the ray as an old rat was one and the same animal."</p> + +<p>Carruthers nodded. "Time has changed in proportion to our size. We're +moving so much faster than the earth that we must of necessity be +bound to the universe of which we are now an integral part."</p> + +<p>For a long time they remained silent, each immersed in dark, troubled +thoughts. Nanette broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"You don't suppose, Aaron, by any chance that Professor Dahlgren is +still alive and on our planet?"</p> + +<p>Carruthers shook his head negatively. "It's beyond human reason, Nan. +He was lost in the ray for over forty hours. Translated into minutes +he's been gone twenty-four hundred minutes. Since the mouse we placed +within the light ray aged approximately two years in the space of one +minute, Professor Dahlgren would, if he were alive, be about four +thousand, eight hundred years old."</p> + +<p>Nanette rose abruptly to her feet. "Oh bother the figures. My head's +swimming with them. It's getting light now, and I'm hungry."</p> + +<p>"Eat one of your food tablets," suggested Carruthers.</p> + +<p>"Please don't get funny," said Nanette. "Karl has them in his coat +pocket."</p> + +<p>"Hum-m-m!" coughed Carruthers, following her example by rising to his +feet. "Looks as though we'd have to rustle our food. I've got nothing +on my person but a knife, a pencil, a fountain pen and some pieces of +paper. Nothing very promising in any of them."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t that moment the sky became fused with reddish light. Over the +horizon appeared a shining orb. Far-away hills and valleys leaped into +sight. Then for the first time Carruthers noted the high plateau upon +which he had spent the night. Had they ventured a hundred yards +farther during the night they would have plunged into the rocky floor +of a canyon a thousand feet below.</p> + +<p>"Let's see if we can find a way down to the valley," he suggested. "If +we get anything to eat it will have to come from trees. This plateau +is barren of any form of vegetable matter."</p> + +<p>They found a winding descent leading downward. It looked like a path +that had been worn by the passage of many feet.</p> + +<p>"Someone's been here before us," he exclaimed. "The ground is too well +worn to be accidental."</p> + +<p>"Look! Look!" pointed Nanette. Her face had become pale from the +excitement of her discovery. "What is it, Aaron?"</p> + +<p>Carruthers bent forward to examine the strange footprint. It was +nearly two feet across and divided in the center, as if the animal +that made it had but two toes.</p> + +<p>"From the size of the tracks and the length of the animal's stride, I +should say it was some form of an amphibious dinosaur long extinct in +our own world."</p> + +<p>"Are they dangerous?"</p> + +<p>"It all depends upon the species. Some of them are pure vegetarians; +others are carnivorous. The heavy tramping we heard during the night +evidently came from the beast who left these footprints."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey had come upon the footprints where the path made a turn, leading +into a dense growth of trees and underbrush. And as Carruthers knelt +beside the path he heard a rustle as of something moving directly +behind him. Wonderingly, he turned his head to trace the disturbance. +But the woods seemed empty. "Strange," he murmured. "Did you hear +something moving in back of us, Nan?"</p> + +<p>Nan shook her head. "You don't think we're in any danger from these +beasts, do you?"</p> + +<p>Carruthers said nothing for the moment. Instead, he looked sharply in +all directions and saw nothing. "Let's push on till we come to some +kind of a shelter. Perhaps we'll find people much like ourselves."</p> + +<p>Down the path they hurried, glancing curiously right and left at +unknown flowers and trees. A bird with brilliant feathers skimmed +above their heads, uttering shrill cries. Other voices from the birds +and animals in the woods took up the cry. The woods grew denser as +they pushed into the unknown.</p> + +<p>In the woods at their right a rodent squeaked as some larger animal +pounced upon it. Presently they came to a pool of water roughly +seventy feet across. While they knelt to quench their thirst they saw +two young deer eyeing them from the far side. Soft feet pattered +behind the kneeling couple. Carruthers half whirled as he rose to his +feet and peered into the jungle behind him.</p> + +<p>A blur of reddish brown vanished behind a tree. Man or animal +Carruthers couldn't determine. He grasped Nanette by the arm and +pulled her back to the path.</p> + +<p>"Quick!" he whispered. "There's someone or something following us. I'm +sure of it now."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>anette's voice trembled slightly. "What is it, Aaron?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know." He turned his head again. This time he saw the thing +that was following. A low ejaculation of alarm escaped his lips. A +gigantic ape! The mouth of the creature sagged grotesquely, revealing +two rows of yellow fangs. And its orange colored eyes were burning +coals set close together. Carruthers sucked in a deep breath.</p> + +<p>"Run, Nan," he gritted. "I'll try and scare him away."</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with the scream of fright from the startled girl, a +huge mountain of grayish flesh and bones blocked the downward slope of +the path. Carruthers paled as he turned and faced the new menace.</p> + +<p>Coming directly toward them he saw an immense animal so great in size +that it seemed to shut out the light. A prehistoric dinosaur! It came +slowly and leisurely, swinging its great red mouth from side to side. +Other denizens in the woods, sensing the presence of the huge killer, +fled in a panic of alarm. Their shrill cries increased the terror that +froze the hearts of the two earth people.</p> + +<p>Nanette clung to her companion in abject terror, unable to move. Her +fear stricken eyes were wild and staring as the mountain of flesh +pushed towards them.</p> + +<p>The animal's long neck arched far in front of its body, and its long, +pointed tail remained out of sight within the trees.</p> + +<p>Carruthers backed off the path into the underbrush, dragging the girl +after him. The jaws of the huge animal opened wide with anticipation. +Lumberingly he turned from the path and followed. Trees crashed before +its gigantic bulk. The woods became a bedlam of snapping branches.</p> + +<p>The horrified scream of the girl ended in a gurgling sigh. She toppled +to the ground in a dead faint. Carruthers flung himself beside her +crumpled body and gathered it into his arms. A quick glance he threw +at the spot where he had last seen the gigantic ape. The animal was no +longer there. It had disappeared.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>The man's lips became a hard, straight line. Even as he straightened +to his feet the leaves and branches of an overturned tree whipped his +face. The red mouthed dinosaur was perilously near. So close that +Carruthers could smell its great, glistening body. The odor was musky +and foul.</p> + +<p>Stumbling blindly he attempted to widen the distance between himself +and his pursuer. But the hungry dinosaur pounded steadily on its +course. There was no getting away from it. Its beady eyes sought out +its prey and its keen smell told it exactly where the earth beings +were.</p> + +<p>On and on staggered Carruthers. The extra burden of the girl hampered +his movements. Unseen roots tripped him time and time again. Each time +he scrambled to his feet and picked up the unconscious girl. Briars +tore at his clothing and stung his hands.</p> + +<p>The underbrush was thickening. A warm, dank smell clung to the +vegetation now almost tropical in nature. Beads of sweat rolled down +the man's forehead and into his eyes. But the horrible fear of those +red, dripping jaws spurred him to renewed efforts.</p> + +<p>He doubled to the left, hoping to throw the animal off his tracks. The +undergrowth seemed to thin out at this point. Renewed hope flowed +through the young scientist's blood. He stumbled on blindly, scarce +watching where his feet were taking him. A sigh of relief came to his +lips. Ahead of him he saw a clearing. His stride lengthened and he +broke into a shambling run.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen it was he saw, towering walls rising up on both sides of +him—steep walls that he could never scale, even if alone. He tried to +change his course, but the huge bulk of the pursuing dinosaur +effectively blocked his path. There was no alternative but to push on +and pray for an opening in the rugged cliffs.</p> + +<p>Abruptly a sigh of despair escaped his lips. The walls of the canyon +narrowed suddenly, and across it stretched a wall of bare rock. He +realized too late that he had returned to the base of the plateau +where he had spent the night. The grim, towering walls hemmed him in +completely from three sides. At the fourth side bulked the dinosaur, +coming slowly, ponderously.</p> + +<p>Beady eyes peered down cunningly at the helpless man and woman. +Confident now that its prey couldn't escape, it extended its huge bulk +across the narrow canyon for a leisurely killing.</p> + +<p>Carruthers glared at the monster with fear-distended eyes. In his +heart he realized that there was no escape. He had no means of +defense, no way to combat the huge monster but flight. And even that +was now denied him.</p> + +<p>Closer and closer inched the killer until its great, red mouth +appeared like the fire box of a huge boiler. Hot breath fanned the +man's cheek. The nauseous odor of the beast made his stomach wrench. +He dropped to his knees close to the inert figure of the girl and +glared vengefully into the beady eyes.</p> + +<p>The gaping mouth at the end of a long, supple neck jerked forward. +Carruthers dragged the girl away just in time to escape the gnashing +teeth. The dinosaur stamped angrily.</p> + +<p>Once again Carruthers felt its hot breath beating upon his face. He +cringed at the thought of this kind of death. No one would ever know +how it happened. Not even his closest friend, Karl Danzig! What a mess +things were. Why didn't the red mouth of the mighty dinosaur close +over him and crush out life? Why must he kneel in torture?</p> + +<p>From near at hand a piercing scream rang through the air. A harsh +scream. A terrifying scream!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers raised his head. The dinosaur had twisted around to glare +hatefully at the disturber of its meal. Other screams splintered the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +forest air. And as the kneeling man watched he saw the great red ape +who had been dodging his footsteps a short time before, slouch between +the dinosaur's hulking body and the wall of the cliff. Behind it came +others—black mammals with curving arms that dragged along the ground.</p> + +<p>Their fangs were bared. They were in an ugly mood. Arriving in front +of the dinosaur and less than four feet from the earth man and woman, +the leader silenced its followers with a low growl and turned in +concentrated fury upon the dinosaur. Its long arms drummed a throbbing +tattoo upon its hairy chest.</p> + +<p>The dinosaur bellowed protestingly against the attitude of the apes +and gorillas. The ape leader protested with equal violence. The +dinosaur shifted uneasily, wagging its heavy head from side to side. +On all sides came deep growls from the mammals.</p> + +<p>Carruthers watched all this display torn between doubt and fear. Which +side would win? How could the apes and gorillas, huge as they were, +hope to force the dinosaur away? But the apes were masters. This much +was apparent. Inch by inch the dinosaur backed away, glaring +vengefully. And having reached a spot where it could turn around it +did so. Presently the ground trembled as it made off through the +steaming jungle. The leader of the mammals turned and faced the earth +people. Long, searching minutes passed. Its close set eyes seemed to +be studying them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>anette stirred and opened her eyes. The sight of the anthropoids +caused her to recoil.</p> + +<p>"Steady, Nan," spoke Carruthers softly.</p> + +<p>Other apes and gorillas gathered around the giant red animal. They +displayed no hostility, only an intense interest. One by one they +squatted before the earth people until they formed a half circle, +reaching from the one wall of the rocky plateau to the other.</p> + +<p>While they sat there it began to grow dark. Carruthers removed his +watch and ventured a glance at it. Daylight had lasted less then three +hours. An hour for twilight, then it would be dark. Evidently the +cycle around the nucleus of the atom took approximately ten hours.</p> + +<p>Nanette sat up. "Aaron!"</p> + +<p>He answered without removing his eyes from the red ape less then four +feet away. "Don't look at me, Nan. Concentrate on the big, red fellow. +He's evidently in control. If we act the least bit frightened they +might decide to destroy us."</p> + +<p>"What are they waiting for? Why don't they go away?"</p> + +<p>"We'll know before long. I imagine they're trying to figure out who we +are and what we are doing on their tiny planet."</p> + +<p>Darkness descended rapidly. Overhead, a small moon rose majestically +in the heavens and started its journey through the night. Its faint +light revealed the fact that the apes showed no intentions of leaving. +They still squatted before the earth people, in a half circle of +staring brown eyes.</p> + +<p>Whatever fear Carruthers had felt towards the animals died away. +"They're harmless," he told Nanette. "Get some sleep if you can."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>ong after the tired girl had drifted into slumber Carruthers sat with +his back against the wall, mentally trying to figure the whole thing +out. The dinosaur was real enough. Yet the apemen had frightened it +away, in fact had compelled it to go without actually engaging in +combat. No question about it. The anthropoids were in control. But who +controlled them?</p> + +<p>Quite suddenly his eyes snapped open. Daylight had come again. He must +have fallen asleep. The shrill chatter of the apeman came to his ears. +The red ape leader shuffled to his feet and looked from the earth +people to the spot in the jungle whence came the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> chatter. Abruptly he +opened his mouth and emitted a flood of gibberish sounds.</p> + +<p>The gorillas and apes at his side flattened their bodies against the +rocky walls in attitudes of expectant waiting.</p> + +<p>"What's happening?" gasped the girl.</p> + +<p>"There's no telling," whispered Aaron. "It must be someone or +something of importance. Note the expressions of awe and reverence on +the faces of the apemen. My God, Nanette, look!"</p> + +<p>Out of the depths of the jungle emerged seven white beings—human or +animal it was impossible to tell. They were huge creatures with the +bodies of men. Erect of carriage, almost human in looks, they +contrasted strangely with the red apes and the black gorillas. Six of +them appeared to act as bodyguard for the seventh.</p> + +<p>As they reached the space in front of the two earth people, the +bodyguard stepped aside. The seventh white one came to a dead stop. +Long and intently he stared at the man and girl crouched against the +wall. And the scrutiny seemed to please him, for he smiled.</p> + +<p>Carruthers eyed the figure uneasily. He saw what seemed to be a man +dressed in a long, fibrous garment. With white hair and beard, it was +a strange figure indeed for an apeman. He saw also that the eyes were +well spaced, a mark of intelligence. The forehead was high and broad. +And as Carruthers mentally studied the creature, strange and bizarre +thoughts crossed his mind.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he mouth of the white apeman twitched as if he were going to speak. +The heavy lips parted. A single word came to Carruthers' ear—"Man?"</p> + +<p>Carruthers nodded. "We are from the earth."</p> + +<p>The lips of the apeman moved painfully as if speech came with the +utmost of difficulty. "The prophecy of the Great One has been +fulfilled even as it has been written."</p> + +<p>The red apes and black gorillas allowed their eyes to wander from +their white leader to the two earth people. And their faces reflected +the supernatural awe with which they regarded the earth people.</p> + +<p>"It's uncanny that an animal can speak our language," breathed +Nanette.</p> + +<p>As if he hadn't heard her, Carruthers spoke again. "We are from the +earth," he repeated. "We have been on your world many hours, and we +are both hungry and thirsty."</p> + +<p>"Words come hard," came from the lips of the white bearded one. "I +have not used them for years."</p> + +<p>"And who are you?" asked Carruthers.</p> + +<p>The white bearded one paused as if to recall some distant echo from +the past. "I am the last of the tribe of Esau. But come! This is no +place for speech. Long have I and my followers waited for this hour."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>ithout another word he swung around. The six guards enclosed his aged +body in a hollow square and the procession moved away. They came after +a short journey to a natural opening leading to the heart of the +plateau. The apes and gorillas, with the exception of the red leader, +remained outside. The remainder of the party pushed through a tortuous +tunnel until they reached a cavernous opening directly beneath the +plateau. Vertical openings in the walls furnished light and air. The +white chieftain spoke in a strange tongue to his followers, and they +instantly prepared three couches in a far corner of the cavern.</p> + +<p>As the earth people seated themselves on the skins that made up the +couch they were both conscious of a far-away rumbling like peals of +thunder. Not having seen any signs of a storm outside Carruthers +turned inquiringly on the aged chieftain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + +<p>The old man's eyes were shadowed with grim foreboding. "I have ordered +something to refresh you and your companion," he said. "Eat first, my +friends. We will talk later."</p> + +<p>The six body-guards left the main cavern. Presently they returned with +large trays made of fanlike leaves resembling the palmetto. Fresh +fruits and uncooked vegetables formed the bulk of the meal. In silence +they ate. After the litter had been cleared away the guards withdrew +with the exception of the giant red ape, who crouched near the opening +to the tunnel.</p> + +<p>"I am glad you have come," began the old chieftain, "but sorry, too. +Our planet, or rather the higher forms of life upon it, are doomed."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>gain there came to the ears of the earth people that far-off beat of +sound that seemed to shake the ground. They looked to the white +bearded leader for explanation.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you hear it too," murmured the other. "For centuries, we of the +great tribe of Esau have fought for the supremacy of our little +world—ever since the Great One appeared in our midst and instructed +us in world knowledge."</p> + +<p>"And this Great One, as you call him," spoke Carruthers. "Who was he?"</p> + +<p>"He was from your world. I never saw him. He comes to me as a legend. +For years he toiled among us, teaching and instructing until we +mastered his language. He called himself Dahlgren. Later he ruled all +the tribes. We of the Esau line he made into leaders because of our +higher intelligence. The tribes of Zaku were trained for war. Perhaps +you have noticed the chief of all the Zakus. He is crouching now +beside the entrance to our inner walls. He is Marbo, and his followers +live in the jungles."</p> + +<p>"And does he talk as you do?"</p> + +<p>The white chieftain shook his head. "No. Only we of the Esau tribe +have mastered speech. Not counting the women of our tribe that +comprise our numbers we are only seven in all."</p> + +<p>"I owe Marbo my life as does also my companion," said Carruthers.</p> + +<p>"Marbo looks upon you earth people as gods," spoke the old chieftain. +"He and his followers will protect you with their lives."</p> + +<p>"And who rules over and beyond?" questioned Carruthers, waving his arm +to cover the remaining portion of the electron.</p> + +<p>"There is no rule beyond except that of force. The Great One called +them by name, Morosaurus, Diplodocus, the Horned Ceratosaurus, and +many others whose names I have long forgotten. They are our enemies +whom we cannot destroy. And their numbers increase from year to year +and are slowly backing us upon our last stronghold."</p> + +<p>"Isn't there anything we can do?" asked Carruthers, feeling a quiver +of apprehension along his spine.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>lowly, the old chieftain shook his head. "Nothing whatever. Marbo and +his followers can control one or two, but when the herds begin to push +on into our territory, we are doomed. Even now their rumblings and +bellowings come through the jungles. Their thirst and hunger for flesh +is enormous."</p> + +<p>Carruthers turned upon the girl. "The old chief's words explain +everything, Nan. Professor Dahlgren has been here and gone. He lived a +lifetime in the span of a few hours earth-time. Now it looks as if we +were destined to follow in his footsteps."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid," said the girl. "Nothing can be worse than what we +have already passed through." And her eyes softened as she placed her +small hands within those of Carruthers. "We have each other, Aaron."</p> + +<p>He smiled reassuringly and turned to the old chieftain. "I am +Carruthers, a friend and assistant to Dahlgren. The girl here is +Nanette."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>The chieftain smiled gravely. "And I am Zark. Welcome to my kingdom, +Carruthers and Nanette. We need you here. Now tell me of your world, +for long have I waited for a follower of the great Dahlgren to appear +before my people."</p> + +<p>Throughout the remainder of the day Carruthers talked. The shafts of +light paled at the end of the short day. Night came, bringing with it +a sense of security against the increasing hordes that thundered and +trumpeted beyond the borders of the jungle.</p> + +<p>In the morning Zark instructed Marbo to remain close to Carruthers at +all times. So the young scientist left the cavern and ascended the +path leading to the top of the plateau. He looked at his watch and +compared the second hand with the nucleus atom sailing across the +heavens to estimate its speed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>ays passed as he made his observations. Meanwhile he had searched and +found the exact spot wherein he and Nanette had first stepped foot +onto the electron. This spot he carefully marked off with a ring of +huge boulders carried up by the followers of Marbo. Then he began to +calculate upon his pad. There must be no mistakes. He and Nanette must +be within the magic circle at the estimated time.</p> + +<p>Between times he helped Nanette construct their living quarters in the +cavern. Zark had furnished them with skins and furs with which to +cover the walls. Carruthers made a fireplace of stones and restored +the lost art of fire to Zark, Marbo and their followers.</p> + +<p>Days slipped by like minutes. Short days filled with excursions into +the jungles. Carruthers' face soon bristled with a stubble of beard. +This lengthened with time. Sharp thorns tore their clothes to ribbons. +Nanette, womanlike, cried many times during the nights because of the +lack of a mirror and a comb for her untidy hair.</p> + +<p>But other and more important events soon claimed the attention of the +earth people. Day by day the herds of dinosaurs and other monsters of +like breed edged closer and closer to the tiny civilization around the +plateau. It worried Carruthers so much that he sought out Zark and had +him bring the other six members of his tribe together for a council of +war.</p> + +<p>"A complete defensive system, Zark," he told them. "We must make a +fortress of the plateau and fill the caverns with food."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_z.jpg" alt="Z" width="52" height="43" /></div> +<p>ark shook his head. "No. It is quite useless. Followers of Marbo have +recently returned from over the beyond and report strange things. I +have hesitated to speak of them for fear of alarming you. Our planet +is breaking up. Violent eruptions have caused fires of stone and mud. +The rumblings you have heard were not made entirely by our enemies. +They came from the ground.</p> + +<p>"An earthquake," murmured Carruthers, momentarily stunned by the news. +"But they are always of short duration, Zark. We have them on our own +planet."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but these are different. They cover the whole of our globe. The +great Dahlgren noted them while he was with us. He wrote many words +and figures on paper concerning them. Only yesterday I unearthed these +records. The life of our planet was doomed to destruction during the +present year. What matter if the herds of dinosaurs overrun us and +destroy lives? In the end they, too, will be destroyed. It is fate. We +can do nothing."</p> + +<p>Even as the old chieftain spoke a gigantic rumbling, greater in +intensity than any heretofore, shook the electron. Above the deep +rolling disturbance underground rose the shrill cries of the apemen.</p> + +<p>Carruthers leaped to his feet and raced through the tunnel. A herd of +dinosaurs choked the path leading to the outside entrance. Marbo +brushed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> past him, shrilling in great excitement.</p> + +<p>"Drive them away!" ordered Carruthers. "Like this!" He hurled a rock +at the eye of the nearest animal.</p> + +<p>The dinosaur bellowed and backed away. The apes, and gorillas, used to +fighting only with their long arms, caught on to the stunt with +surprising quickness. Their powerful arms reached out. Stones and +boulders began to hurtle from the mouth of the tunnel. They thudded +against the heads of the great monsters like hailstones.</p> + +<p>Subdued and frightened by this sudden display of force, the monsters +withdrew down the path. But the apemen had discovered a new method of +warfare. They found a childish delight in hurling stones. Within a few +minutes the slope was barren of rocks. The animals followed up their +momentary advantage and ran screaming down the path. The dinosaurs +fled in panic.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s soon as the enemy had been driven away, Carruthers pointed out to +Marbo the advantage of gathering the stones up from the ground and +returning them to the space around the mouth of the tunnel so that he +and his followers would be ready for a second repulse.</p> + +<p>Zark appeared at this moment and helped with the explanation. His +crafty old eyes turned with new respect upon the earthman.</p> + +<p>Carruthers toiled with them every day from then on, building and +fortifying the plateau against further incursions of the monsters. +Security and peace reigned for several weeks then hostilities broke +out afresh.</p> + +<p>The rumblings of the electron had increased with each passing week. +Volcanic eruptions poured fresh discharges of molten lava and fiery +sparks along the edges of the jungles.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to needlessly alarm you, Nan," he told her that night, +"but the fires have started. Zark was right. Unless we have rain +before to-morrow morning the heat and smoke will drive us out into +the open."</p> + +<p>"But we can go to the top of the plateau," suggested the girl. "There +aren't any trees—"</p> + +<p>A concentrated bellowing cut off the rest of her words. Driven towards +higher ground by the heat of the flames, the dinosaurs were trampling +up the path leading to the tunnel.</p> + +<p>Once again Carruthers rallied his army of apemen around him and +attempted to drive the mammals away. As they reached the end of the +tunnel a cloud of dense smoke stung their eyes. The apemen shrilled in +a sudden panic and forgot all their previous training in driving off +the dinosaurs. Like scurrying rats they scattered.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>lames from the conflagration broke through the smoke—flames that +leaped and twisted skyward.</p> + +<p>Carruthers flung off the fear that held him spellbound and started +along up the path leading to the top of the plateau. A disheveled +figure appeared suddenly at his side—Nanette!</p> + +<p>"Come," he whispered, hoarsely. "We've got to get out of this or we'll +choke to death."</p> + +<p>"But Zark," breathed the girl, "He and his followers are still in the +cavern. We can't leave them."</p> + +<p>Like one demented of reason, Carruthers raced back along the tunnel to +the cavern. "Zark!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>The sound of his voice was drowned in the welter of screaming bedlam +coming up from below as the dinosaurs and apes fought for the +supremacy of life. But of Zark and his six followers he found +absolutely no sign. Quickly he hurried back to where he had left +Nanette.</p> + +<p>Even as he reached the spot he had a sudden premonition of danger. A +gorilla, huge and black, brushed past him on the path, carrying a limp +burden under his shaggy arm.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" commanded Carruthers, hurrying after the animal.</p> + +<p>A huge arm knocked him sprawling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> Spitting blood Carruthers staggered +to his feet. Up to this time he had felt no fear of the gorillas. They +had been orderly and well behaved. Fearful that harm would come to the +girl he ran after the dark figure ahead. The red glow of flames swept +nearer. The gorilla came to a stop and faced its pursuer. Lust shone +from its close-set eyes—lust and passion.</p> + +<p>Carruthers stopped dead in his tracks. "Drop her!" he demanded.</p> + +<p>The animal snarled hoarsely. There came the sound of ripping cloth. +Nanette screamed—a terrifying scream that echoed and re-echoed +through the electron night.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was then that the thin cloak of civilization dropped from Aaron +Carruthers' back. He became in a single moment an animal fighting for +his mate. With a snarl equally vicious as that of the gorilla pawing +at the helpless girl, he lunged forward.</p> + +<p>Mouthing his rage, the gorilla flung the earth man to the ground. +Carruthers came up frothing at the mouth. With grim intensity he +fastened himself to the animal's free arm. The raging mammal staggered +helplessly under the extra burden and dropped the girl to concentrate +his fury on the man. It raised a hairy arm aloft for the smashing +blow. Instinctively Carruthers released his hold.</p> + +<p>At that very moment the electron lurched sickeningly, causing them +both to lose their footing. The violent upheaval sent Carruthers one +way and the gorilla the other. While the man stumbled to his feet to +resume battle he saw the infuriated monster stagger over the edge of +the plateau wall into a sheer drop of a thousand feet.</p> + +<p>Starkly through the night came the growling roars of the giant beasts +from the jungles below. Nanette fluttered to his side. Her dress was +torn and dragged on the ground. For all her disheveled appearance she +was still beautiful to look upon. Forgetful of the danger on all sides +of him, the animal in Carruthers saw in her pitifully half-clad body +the same thing that the beast had desired. His head whirled hotly.</p> + +<p>"Aaron!" she pleaded as his arm reached out to clutch her.</p> + +<p>Hungrily he drew her to him. The pale light of the electron moon +mingled with the roaring blast of the flames. Madness inflamed his +heart and pounded his blood.</p> + +<p>"Don't, Aaron," protested the girl, trying to free herself.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>omething in the quality of the girl's frightened tones brought the +man back to normal. He fought against the overwhelming desire to +possess with all the force of his nature. And the better half +triumphed. No longer was he an animal, but a reasoning human being. +With a faint sigh he released her and wiped a hand across his dripping +forehead.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Nan," he murmured. "That great brute drove me mad for an +instant. I'm all right now."</p> + +<p>Together they stood in the electron night and watched death creep +closer and closer. The plateau was entirely surrounded with flames now +and the heat was increasing with each passing moment. As it increased +they backed towards the center.</p> + +<p>From under their feet came the choking cries of the apemen. They had +returned to the cavern only to be overcome by smoke fumes. While yet +the earth people stood there waiting and watching the red death creep +nearer, the path leading downward into the jungle became a mass of +moving shadows.</p> + +<p>"The dinosaurs!" cried Nanette. "Oh, Aaron! We are lost!"</p> + +<p>"Steady, girl," soothed the man. "If we stand still they might not see +us in the dark. The smoke will destroy our scent."</p> + +<p>But as the minutes passed the herd of monsters increased. They crowded +along the path and spread out over the top of the plateau. Once again +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> smell of their glistening bodies fouled the nostrils of the earth +people.</p> + +<p>Slowly Carruthers guided Nanette back towards the ring of +rocks—perhaps the barrier would serve to keep the animals away. He +scrambled across one of the boulders and pulled the girl after him. As +he did so, a violent subterranean action shook the electron from one +end to the other.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers braced his feet against the ring of rocks to keep from +pitching headlong to the ground. Nanette clung to him wordlessly. All +around them the giant forces of nature raged sullenly. Twisting seams +appeared in the rocky floor of the plateau from which oozed gaseous +vapors.</p> + +<p>"Courage," soothed Carruthers as he held the quivering body of the +frightened girl close to his own. "This can't last."</p> + +<p>But the ground continued to lurch and heave on its axis. Vivid lights +crossed and criss-crossed the atomic heavens. The fissures in the +ground appeared now as black canals. The lower part of the circle of +boulders disappeared. Off to the right came despairing screams. White +bodies glowed for an instant against the background of flames.</p> + +<p>"Zark!" shouted Carruthers, as he saw the leader of the tribe of Esau +and his followers making their way along the plateau top.</p> + +<p>Zark must have heard the earth-man's voice, for he started forward at +a run. Simultaneously there appeared a herd of the greatest of all the +prehistoric monsters—the Brontosaurus. They balked enormously against +the flame-licked skies. Zark and his followers attempted to avoid +them. But fear of the scorching flames drove the monsters forward. +There followed a maddening moment of unutterable pain for the +remaining ones of the tribe of Esau, then the herd trampled them +underfoot and rumbled towards the half circle of rocks where the two +earth people were crouched.</p> + +<p>The leader of the Brontosaurus herd trumpeted madly and barged for the +higher ground of safety. Too late did instinct warn it of the widening +fissure underfoot. Before it could stop the pressure of the herd drove +it into the crevice.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arruthers drew back to the extreme inside edge of the boulders trying +to still his ears against their insane bellowings. A cloud of heavy, +choking smoke enveloped him for a moment then passed away. Then it was +that he saw a new star in the atomic heavens,—a star that seemed to +burn with the brilliance of a meteor. Even as he watched he was +conscious of it drawing closer.</p> + +<p>The planet was now in a continuous uproar. The ground was heaving and +trembling as if from some inward strain. This was the end. Carruthers +realized it with a sinking heart. In another minute the electron would +disintegrate into a flaming mass of matter and fling itself from its +orbit around the atom.</p> + +<p>And then the light from the approaching star struck them in a blinding +radiance of vermilion flames. Carruthers held his breath. Some +invisible force seemed to take possession of his body and that of the +girl at his side. The rocky plateau, now a boiling mass of rocks, +dropped from under their feet. Clear, cold air enveloped their bodies. +Then with the speed of light their bodies were hurled through +planetary space, up, up, up into the vast reaches of the higher ether.</p> + +<p>Darkness assailed them. The flames from the jungle fire vanished into +nothingness. The electron moon paled to the size of a pin point, then +went out.</p> + +<p>Carruthers had the feeling of expansion and growth. It was as if his +body was taking on the size of the whole world. It seemed to last for +hours, days, ages. But all the while he clung fast to the slender, +quivering body of Nanette.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div> +<p>ountains and hills suddenly blazed before his eyes. Straight up and +down mountains. He tried to stir his sluggish mind into action. What +did they mean? Where had he seen them before? And while yet his mind +struggled with the problem the mountains dwindled like melting snow. +The pressure around his body relaxed. A blinding glare of steady light +played upon his face. Then all was quietness and peace.</p> + +<p>"Nan! Aaron!" The voice was Karl's.</p> + +<p>Dazedly they looked around. What had once been mountains were now +desks and chairs. They were back again in the laboratory. Several +agonizing minutes passed before either could grasp the startling +change in things. The horror of the electronic disaster still filled +their minds to overflowing.</p> + +<p>Carruthers recovered first. He stepped from the railed inclosure +marking the spot where the atomic beam had restored them after their +space flight, and guided the girl to a chair. Karl's face was drawn +and white as his eyes rested on the two pitiful figures that had +materialized out of the ether.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask us any questions yet," spoke Carruthers in a tired voice. +"We've passed through too many horrors. What was the matter, Karl? +Couldn't you get the rays to work sooner?"</p> + +<p>"Sooner?" Danzig's eyes were wide with wonder. He glanced at his +watch. "It was a little difficult to control both machines all alone, +but I switched off the ray from the inverse dimensional tubes and +turned on the other immediately. All in all it must have taken me +fifteen seconds."</p> + +<p>"Fifteen seconds," repeated Carruthers, dazedly. "It's unbelievable." +He dropped wearily into a chair and rested his forehead in the palms +of his hands. "How long have we been gone, Nan?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>anette pulled the ragged remnants of a dress around her knees and +attempted a smile. "Almost four months, according to the passage of +time on the electron."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" whispered Danzig, shutting his eyes to the truth.</p> + +<p>Aaron Carruthers pointed to his clothes, now ragged and torn. "Look, +Karl! Everything I have on is worn out completely. Observe my hair and +beard, and the soles of my shoes. Human reason to the contrary, +Nanette and I have lived like two animals for four months, and all in +the space of fifteen seconds earth time. How can you account for it? +We figured it out on paper. And we've proved it with our bodies. What +it will mean to future civilization I can't foretell. It's beyond +imagination."</p> + +<p>And the laboratory became silent as a tomb as the three people tried +with all the strength of their minds to grasp the miracle of the +strange and unfathomable atomic rays.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h4>PRODUCING HEAT BY ARCTIC COLD</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>roducing heat by means of Arctic cold is a fantastic but none the +less quite practicable idea evolved by Dr. H. Barjou of the French +Academy of Science. Dr. Barjou says the water under the ice in the +Arctic region is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. While the air is many +degrees less, there may even be a difference of 50 degrees. The +unfrozen water could be pumped into a tank and permitted to freeze, +thus generating heat, as freezing a cubic meter of ice liberates about +as much heat as burning twenty-two pounds of coal. The heat produced +would vaporize a volatile hydrocarbon which would drive a turbine. +For condensing the hydrocarbon again, Dr. Barjou says great blocks of +brine could be used.</p> + +<p>Not only would the Arctic regions become comfortably habitable by +means of this utilization of energy, contends Dr. Barjou, but heat +also could be furnished for the rest of the world.</p> + +<p>Now if some one only can discover how to make the Sahara Desert send +forth cooling waves, the world will be perfect, temperaturally.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_008.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="We were invisible!" /> +<span class="caption">We were invisible!</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="Jetta_of_the_Lowlands" id="Jetta_of_the_Lowlands"></a>Jetta of the Lowlands</h2> + +<h4>PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL</h4> +<h3><i>By Ray Cummings</i></h3> + +<h4>WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE</h4> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the year 2020 the oceans have long since drained from the surface +of the earth, leaving bared to sun and wind the one-time sea floor. +Much of it is flat, caked ooze, cracked and hardened, with, here and +there, small scum-covered lakes, bordered by slimy rocks. It is hot, +down in the depth of the great Lowland areas, and it is chiefly +adventurers and outcasts of human kind who can en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>dure life in what +few towns there are.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Into remote Lowlands, in an invisible flyer, go Grant and +Jetta—prisoners of a scientific depth bandit.</div> + +<p>Into Nareda, the capital village of the tiny Lowland Republic of +Nareda, goes Philip Grant, an operative of the United States Customs +Department, on a dangerous assignment—to ferret out the men who are +smuggling mercury into the United States from that place.</p> + +<p>Grant falls in love with Jetta, the daughter of Jacob Spawn, a big +mercury mine owner of Nareda, only to learn that Spawn has promised +her in marriage to Greko Perona, the country's Minister of Internal +Affairs.</p> + +<p>Grant follows Perona to a midnight Lowland rendezvous with mysterious +strangers and eavesdrops on them, sending their indistinct voice +murmurs to his chief, Hanley, in Washington, who relays them back to +him, amplified. He learns several important things: that Spawn and +Perona and a depth bandit named De Boer are together involved in the +smuggling; that they have planned a fake robbery of a fortune in +radiumized mercury stored at Spawn's mine, to collect the insurance on +it and escape paying the Gov<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>ernment export fee: and that they, plan +to kidnap Grant for ransom.</p> + +<p>The plotters learn of Grant's absence from Nareda, and suspect that he +may be nearby. They start to search for him. Grant barely escapes, +with the bandits and conspirators in hot pursuit. He flees to Jetta, +hoping that they will be able to get away together: but he finds her +tied hand and foot in her room.</p> + +<p>The door is tightly sealed.</p> + +<p>And close behind him are his pursuers!</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VIII</h4> +<h4><i>Jetta's Defiance</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> must go back now to picture what befell Jetta that afternoon while I +was at Spawn's mine. It is not my purpose to becloud this narrative +with mystery. There was very little mystery about it to Jetta, and I +can reconstruct her viewpoint of the events from what she afterward +told me.</p> + +<p>Jetta's room was in a wing of the house on the side near the pergola. +Her window and door looked out upon the patio. When I had +retired—that first night in Nareda—Spawn had gone to his daughter +and upbraided her for showing herself while he was giving me that +first midnight meal.</p> + +<p>"You stay in your room: you have nothing to do with him. Hear me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Father."</p> + +<p>From her infancy he had dominated her; it never occurred to either of +them that she could disobey. And yet, this time she did; for no sooner +was he asleep that night than she came to my window as I have told.</p> + +<p>This next day Jetta dutifully had kept herself secluded. She cooked +her own breakfast while I was at the Government House, and was again +out of sight by noon.</p> + +<p>Jetta was nearly always alone. I can picture her sitting there within +the narrow walls of her little room. Boy's ragged garb. All possible +femininity stripped from her. Yet, within her, the woman's instincts +were struggling. She sewed a great deal, she since has told me, there +in the cloistered dimness. Making little dresses of silk and bits of +finery given her surreptitiously by the neighbor women. Gazing at +herself in them with the aid of a tiny mirror. Hiding them away, never +daring to wear them openly; until at intervals her father would raid +the room, find them and burn them in the kitchen incinerator.</p> + +<p>"Instincts of Satan! By damn but I will get these woman's instincts +out of you, Jetta!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd there were hours when she would try to read hidden books, and look +at pictures of the strange fairy world of the Highlands. She could +read and write a little: she had gone for a few years to the small +Nareda government school, and then been snatched from it by her +father.</p> + +<p>When Spawn and I had finished that noonday meal, I recall that he left +me for a moment. He had gone to Jetta.</p> + +<p>"I am taking that young American to the mine. I will return presently. +Stay close, Jetta."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Father."</p> + +<p>He left with me. Jetta remained in her room, her thoughts upon the +coming night. She trembled at them. She would meet me again, this +evening in the moonlit garden....</p> + +<p>The sound of a man walking the garden path aroused her from her +reverie. Then came a soft ingratiating voice:</p> + +<p>"Jetta, <i>chica Mia</i>!"</p> + +<p>It was Perona, standing by the pergola preening his effeminate +mustache.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, little love bird, come out and talk to me."</p> + +<p>Jetta slammed the window slide and sat quiet.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, it is your Greko."</p> + +<p>"Well do I know it," she muttered.</p> + +<p>"Jetta!" He strode down the path and back. "Jetta." His voice began +rising into a strident, peevish anger.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, are you in there? <i>Chica</i>, answer me."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>No answer.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, <i>por Dios</i>—" He fumed, then fell to pleading. "Are you in +there? Please, little love bird, answer your Greko. Are you in there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Come out then. Come to Greko."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>he said sweetly. "My father does not want me to talk to men. You know +that is so, Señor Perona."</p> + +<p>It grounded him. "Why—"</p> + +<p>"Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"Y-yes, but I am not—"</p> + +<p>"A man?" Little imp! She relished impaling him upon the shafts of her +ridicule. Her sport was interrupted by the arrival of Spawn. He had +left me at the mine and come directly back home. Jetta heard his heavy +tread on the garden path, then his voice:</p> + +<p>"Ah, Perona."</p> + +<p>And Perona: "Jetta will not come out and talk to me." The waxen +mustached Minister of Nareda's Internal Affairs was like a sulky +child. But Spawn was unimpressed. Spawn said:</p> + +<p>"Well, let her alone. We have more important things to engage us. I +have the American occupied at the mine. You heard from De Boer?"</p> + +<p>"I went last night. All is ready as we planned. But Spawn, this fool +of an American, this Grant—"</p> + +<p>"Hush! Not so loud, Perona!"</p> + +<p>"I am telling you—!" Perona was excited. His voice rose shrilly, but +Spawn checked him.</p> + +<p>"Shut up: you waste time. Tell me exactly the arrangements with De +Boer. <i>Le grand coup</i>! now; to-night most important of nights—and you +rant of your troubles with a girl!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were standing by the pergola, quite near Jetta's shaded window. +She crouched there, listening to them. None of this was entirely new +to Jetta. She had always been aware more or less of her father's +secret business activities. As a child she had not understood them. +Nor did she now, with any clarity. Spawn, had always talked freely +within her hearing, ignoring her, though occasionally he threatened +her to keep her mouth shut.</p> + +<p>She heard now fragments of this discussion between her father and +Perona. They moved away from the pergola and sat by the fountain, +speaking too low for her to hear. And then they paced the path, coming +nearer, and she caught their voices again. And occasionally they grew +excited, or vehement, and then their raised tones were plainly audible +to her.</p> + +<p>And this that she heard, with what she knew already, and with what +subsequently transpired, enables me now to piece together the facts +into a connected explanation.</p> + +<p>In the establishment of his cinnabar mine some years before, Spawn was +originally financed by Perona. The South American was then newly made +Minister of Nareda's Internal Affairs. He became Spawn's business +partner. They kept the connection secret. Spawn falsified his +production records; and Perona with his governmental position was +enabled to pass these false accounts of the mine's production. Nareda +was systematically cheated of a portion of its legal share.</p> + +<p>But this, after a time, did not satisfy the ambitious Perona and +Spawn. They began to plan how they might engage in smuggling some of +their quicksilver into the United States.</p> + +<p>Perona, during these years, had had ambitions of his own in other +directions. President Markes, of Nareda, was an honest official. He +handicapped Perona considerably. There were many ways by which Perona +could have grown rich through a dishonest handling of the government +affairs. It was done almost universally in all the small Latin +governments. But Markes as President made it dangerous in Nareda. Even +the duplicity with the mine was a precarious affair.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was at this time in Nareda a young adventurer named De Boer. A +handsome, swaggering fellow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> in his late twenties. He was a good +talker; he spoke many languages; he could orate with fluency and +skilful guile. His smile, his colorful personality, and his gift for +oratory, made it easy for him to stir up dissatisfaction among the +people.</p> + +<p>De Boer became known as a patriot. A revolution in Nareda was brewing. +Perona, as Nareda's Minister, was De Boer's political enemy. The +Nareda Government ran De Boer out, ending the potential revolution. +But Perona and Spawn had always secretly been friends with De Boer. It +would have been very handy to have this unscrupulous young scoundrel +as President.</p> + +<p>When De Boer was banished with some of his most loyal followers, he +began a career of petty banditry in the Lowland's depths. Spawn and +Perona kept in communication with him, and, by a method which was +presently made startlingly clear to Jetta and me, De Boer smuggled the +quicksilver for Perona and Spawn. It was this activity which had +finally aroused my department and caused Hanley to send me to Nareda.</p> + +<p>This however, was a dangerous, precarious occupation. De Boer did not +seem to think so, or care. But Perona and Spawn, with their +established positions in Nareda, were always fearful of exposure. Even +without my coming, they had planned to disconnect from De Boer.</p> + +<p>"And for more than that," as Jetta had one day heard Perona remark to +her father. "I'll tell to you that this De Boer is not very straight +with us, Spawn." De Boer would, upon occasion, fail to make proper +return for the smuggled product.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>o now they had planned a last coup in which De Boer was to help, and +then they would be done with him: the two of them, Spawn and Perona, +would remain as honest citizens of Nareda, and De Boer had agreed to +take himself away and pursue his banditry elsewhere.</p> + +<p>It was a simple plan; it promised to yield a high stake quickly. A +final fling at illicit activity; then virtuous reformation, with +Perona marrying the little Jetta.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>eneath the strong room at the mine, Perona and Spawn had secretly +built a cleverly concealed little vault. De Boer, this night just +before the midnight hour, was to attack the mine. Spawn and Perona had +bribed the police guards to submit to this attack. The guards did not +know the details: they only knew that De Boer and his men would make a +sham attack, careful to harm none of them—and then De Boer would +withdraw. The guards would report that they had been driven away by a +large force. And when the excitement was over, the ingots of +radiumized quicksilver would have vanished!</p> + +<p>De Boer, making away into distant Lowland fastnesses, would obviously +be supposed to have taken the treasure. But Perona, hidden alone in +the strong-room, would merely carry the ingots down into the secret +vault, to be disposed of at some future date. The ingots were well +insured, by an international company, against theft. The Nareda +government would receive one-third of that insurance as recompense for +the loss of its share. Perona and Spawn would get two-thirds—and have +the treasure as well.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>uch was the present plan, into which, all unknown to me, I had been +plunged. And my presence complicated things considerably. So much so +that Perona grew vehement, this afternoon in the garden, explaining +why. His shrill voice carried clearly to Jetta, in spite of Spawn's +efforts to shut him up.</p> + +<p>"I tell to you that Americano agent will undo us."</p> + +<p>"How?" demanded the calmer Spawn.</p> + +<p>"Already he has made Markes suspicious."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Chut! You can befool Markes, Perona. You have for years been doing +it."</p> + +<p>"This meddling fellow, he has met Jetta!"</p> + +<p>"I do not believe it." There was a sudden grimness to Spawn's tone at +the thought. "I do not believe it. Jetta would not dare."</p> + +<p>"You should have seen him flush when Markes mentioned at the +conference this morning that I am to marry Jetta. No one could miss +it. He has met her—I tell it to you—and it must have been last +night."</p> + +<p>"So, you say?" Jetta could see her father's face, white with +suppressed rage. "You think that? And it is that this Grant might be +your rival, that worries you? Not our plans for to-night, which have +real importance—but worrying over a girl."</p> + +<p>"She would not talk to me. She would not come out. He has no doubt put +wild ideas into her head. Spawn, you listen to me. I have always been +more clever than you at scheming. Is it not so? You have always said +it. I have a plan now, it fits our arrangements with De Boer, but it +will rid us of this Americano. When all is done and I have married +Jetta—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>pawn interrupted impatiently. "You will marry Jetta, never fear. I +have promised her to you."</p> + +<p>And because, as Jetta well knew, Perona had made it part of his +bargaining in financing Spawn. But this they did not now mention.</p> + +<p>"To get rid of this Grant—well, that sounds meritorious. He is +dangerous around here. To that I agree."</p> + +<p>"And with Jetta—"</p> + +<p>"Have done, Perona!" With sudden decision Spawn leaped to his feet. "I +do not believe she would have dared talk to Grant. We'll have her out +and ask her. If she has, by the gods—"</p> + +<p>It fell upon Jetta before she had time to gather her wits. Spawn +strode to her door, and found it fastened on the inside.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, open at once!"</p> + +<p>He thumped with his heavy fists. Confused and trembling she unsealed +it, and he dragged her out into the sunlight of the garden.</p> + +<p>"Now then, Jetta, you have heard some of what we have been saying, +perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"Father—"</p> + +<p>"About this young American? This Grant?"</p> + +<p>She stood cringing in his grasp. Spawn had never used physical +violence with Jetta. But he was white with fury now.</p> + +<p>"Father, you—you are hurting me."</p> + +<p>Perona interposed. "Wait Spawn! Not so rough! Let me talk to her. +Jetta, <i>chica mia</i>, your Greko is worried—"</p> + +<p>"To the hell with that!" Spawn shouted. But he released the girl and +she sank trembling to the little seat by the pergola.</p> + +<p>Spawn stood over her. "Jetta, look at me! Did you meet—did you talk +to Grant last night?"</p> + +<p>She wanted to deny it. She clung to his angry gaze. But the habit of +all her life of truthfulness with him prevailed.</p> + +<p>"Y-yes," she admitted.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER IX</h4> +<h4><i>Trapped</i></h4> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_s1.jpg" alt="S" width="45" height="57" /></div> +<p>pawn! Hold!"</p> + +<p>There was an instant when it seemed that Spawn would strike the girl. +The blood drained from his face, leaving his dark eyes blazing like +torches. His hamlike fist went back, but Perona sprang for him and +clutched him.</p> + +<p>"Hold, Spawn: I will talk to her. Jetta, so you did—"</p> + +<p>The torrent of emotion swept Spawn; weakened him so that instead of +striking Jetta, he yielded to Perona's clutch and dropped his arm. For +a moment he stood gazing at his daughter.</p> + +<p>"Is it so? And all my efforts, going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> for nothing, just like your +mother!" He no more than murmured it, and as Perona pushed him, he +sank to the bench beside Jetta. But did not touch her, just sat +staring. And she stared back, both of then aghast at the enormity of +this, her first disobedience.</p> + +<p>I never had opportunity to know Spawn, except for the few times which +I have mentioned. Perhaps he was at heart a pathetic figure. I think, +looking back on it now that Spawn is dead, that there was a pathos to +him. Spawn had loved his wife, Jetta's mother. As a young man he had +brought her to the Lowlands to seek his fortune. And when Jetta was an +infant, his wife had left him. Run away, abandoning him and their +child.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>erhaps Spawn was never mentally normal after that. He had reared +Jetta with the belief that sin was inherent in all females. It +obsessed him. Warped and twisted all his outlook as he brooded on it +through the years. Woman's instincts; woman's love of pleasure, pretty +clothes—all could lead only to sin.</p> + +<p>And so he had kept Jetta secluded. He had fought what he seemed to see +in her as she grew and flowered into girlhood, and denied her +everything which he thought might make her like her mother.</p> + +<p>Spawn met his death within a few hours of this afternoon I am +describing. Perhaps he was no more than a scheming scoundrel. We are +instinctively lenient with our appraisal of the dead. I do not know.</p> + +<p>"Jetta," Perona said to her accusingly, "that is true, then: you did +talk with that miserable Americano last night? You sinful, lying +girl."</p> + +<p>The contrition within Jetta at disobeying her father faded before this +attack.</p> + +<p>"I am not sinful." The trembling left her and she sat up and faced the +accusing Perona. "I did but talk to him. You speak lies when you say I +am sinful."</p> + +<p>"You hear, Spawn? Defiant: already changed from the little Jetta I—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am changed. I do not love you, Señor Perona. I think I hate +you." Her tears were very close, but she finished: "I—I won't marry +you. I won't!"</p> + +<p>It stung Spawn. He leaped to his feet. "So you talk like that! It has +gone so far as this, has it? Get to your room! We will see what you +will and what you won't!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>gain the crafty Perona was calmest of them all. He thrust himself in +front of Spawn.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, to-night you plan to see him again, no? To-night?—here?"</p> + +<p>"No," she stammered.</p> + +<p>"You lie!"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"You lie! Spawn look at her! Lying! She has planned to meet him +to-night! That is all we want to know." He broke into a cackling +chuckle. "That fits my new plan, Spawn. A tryst with Jetta, here in +the garden."</p> + +<p>"Get to your room," Spawn growled. He dragged her back, and Perona +followed them.</p> + +<p>"You lie there." Spawn flung her to her couch. "After this night's +work is done, we'll see whether you will or you won't."</p> + +<p>"She may not stay in here." Perona suggested.</p> + +<p>"She will stay."</p> + +<p>"You seal her in?"</p> + +<p>"I will seal her in."</p> + +<p>Perona's eyes roved the little bedroom. One window oval and a door, +both overlooking the patio.</p> + +<p>"But suppose she should get out? There is no way to seal that window +properly from outside. A cord!"</p> + +<p>A long stout silken tassel-cord had been draped by Jetta at the window +curtain. Perona snatched it down.</p> + +<p>"If her ankles and wrists were tied with this—"</p> + +<p>"No!" burst out Jetta. And then a fear for me rushed over her. A +realization, forgotten in the stress of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> conflict with her +father, now swept over her. They were planning harm to me.</p> + +<p>"No, do not bind me."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> sudden caution came to her. She was making it worse for me. Already +she had done me immense harm.</p> + +<p>She said suddenly, "Do what you like with me. I was wrong. I have no +interest in that American. It is you, Greko, I—I love."</p> + +<p>Spawn did not heed her. Perona insisted, "I would tie her with care."</p> + +<p>He helped Spawn rope her ankles, and then her wrists, crossed behind +her.</p> + +<p>"A little gag, Spawn? She might cry out: we want no interference +to-night." He was ready with a large silken handkerchief. They thrust +it into her mouth and tied it behind her neck.</p> + +<p>"There," growled Spawn. "You will and you won't: we shall see about +that. Lie still, Jetta. If I have need to come again to you—"</p> + +<p>They left her. And this time she heard them less clearly. But there +were fragments:</p> + +<p>Perona: "I will meet him again. After dark, to-night. Yes, he expects +me. For his money, Spawn, his pay in advance. This De Boer works not +for nothing."</p> + +<p>Spawn: "You will arrange about your police on the streets? He can get +here to my house safely?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, at the tri-evening hour, certainly before midnight, before +the attack on the mine. You must stay here, Spawn. Pretend to be +asleep: it will lure the fool Americano out in to the moonlight."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>etta could piece it together fairly well. They would have De Boer +come and abduct me. Not tell him I was a government agent, with the +micro-safety alarm which they suspected I carried, but just tell De +Boer that I was a rich American, who could be abducted and held for a +big ransom.</p> + +<p>Perona's voice rose with a fragment: "If he springs his alarm, here in +the moonlight, you can be here, Spawn, and pretend to try and rescue +him. A radio-image of that flashed to Hanley's office will exonerate +us of suspicion."</p> + +<p>Perona would promise De Boer that the Nareda government would pay the +ransom quickly, collecting it later from the United States.</p> + +<p>Spawn said, "You think De Boer will believe that?"</p> + +<p>"Why should he not? I am skilful at persuasion, no? Let him find out +later that the United States Government trackers are after him!" +Perona cackled at the thought of it. "What of that? Let him kill this +Grant. All the better."</p> + +<p>Spawn said abruptly: "The United States may catch De Boer. Have you +thought of that, Perona? The fellow would not shield us, but would +tell everything."</p> + +<p>"And who will believe him? The wild tale of a trapped bandit! Against +your word, Spawn? You, an honest and wealthy mine owner? And I—I, +Greko Perona, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Sovereign Power of +Nareda! Who will dare to give me the lie because a bandit tells a wild +tale with no real facts to prop it?"</p> + +<p>"Those police guards at the mine to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Admit that they took your bribes? You are witless, Spawn! Let them +but admit it to me and of a surety I will fling them into +imprisonment! Now listen with care, for the after noon is going...."</p> + +<p>Their voices lowered, then faded, and Jetta was left alone and +helpless. Spawn went back to the mine to meet me. We returned and had +supper, Jetta could dimly hear us.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was silence about the house during the mid-evening. I had +slipped out and followed Perona to his meeting with De Boer. Then +Spawn had discovered my absence and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> had rushed to join Perona and +tell him.</p> + +<p>But Jetta knew nothing of this. The hour of her tryst with me was +approaching. In the darkness of her room as she lay bound and gagged +on her couch, she could see the fitful moonlight rising to illumine +the window oval.</p> + +<p>She squirmed at the cords holding her, but could not loosen them. They +cut into her flesh; her limbs were numb.</p> + +<p>The evening wore on. Would I come to the garden tryst?</p> + +<p>Jetta could not break her bonds. But gradually she had mouthed the gag +loose. Then she heard my hurried footsteps in the patio; then my tense +voice.</p> + +<p>And at her answer I was pounding on her door. But it had been stoutly +sealed by Spawn. I flung my shoulder against it, raging, thumping. But +the heavy metal panels would not yield; the seal held intact.</p> + +<p>"Jetta!"</p> + +<p>"Philip, run away! They want to catch you! De Boer, the bandit, is +coming!"</p> + +<p>"I know it!"</p> + +<p>Fool that I was, to pause with talk! There was no time: I must get +Jetta out of here. Break down this door.</p> + +<p>But it would not yield. A gas torch would melt this outer seal. Was +there a torch here at Spawn's? But I had no time to search for a +torch! Or a bar with which to ram this door—</p> + +<p>A panic seized me, with the fresh realization that any instant De Boer +and his men would arrive. I beat with futile fists on the door, and +Jetta from within, calling to me to get away before I was caught.</p> + +<p>This accursed door between us!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd then—after no more than half a minute, doubtless—I thought of +the window. My momentary panic left me. I dashed to the window oval. +Sealed. But the shutter curtain, and the glassite pane behind it, were +fragile.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, are you near the window?"</p> + +<p>"No. On the bed. They have tied me."</p> + +<p>"Look out; I'm breaking through!"</p> + +<p>There were loose rocks, as large as my head, set to mark the garden +path. I seized one and hurled it. With a crash it went through the +window and fell to the floor of the room. A jagged hole showed.</p> + +<p>"All right, Jetta?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! Yes, Philip."</p> + +<p>I squirmed through the oval and dropped to the floor. My arms were cut +from the jagged glassite, though I did not know it then. It was dim +inside the room, but I could see the outline of the bed with her lying +on it.</p> + +<p>Her ankles and wrists were tied. I cut the cords with my knife.</p> + +<p>She was gasping. "They're planning to capture you. Philip! You should +not be here! Get away!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But I'm going to take you with me. Can you stand up?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> set her on her feet in the center of the room. A shaft of moonlight +was coming through the hole in the window.</p> + +<p>"Philip! You're bleeding!"</p> + +<p>"It is nothing. Cut myself on the glassite. Can you stand alone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>But her legs, stiffened and numb from having been bound so many hours, +bent under her. I caught her as she was falling.</p> + +<p>"I'll be—all right in a minute. But Philip, if you stay here—"</p> + +<p>"You're going with me!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>I could carry her, if she could not run. But it would be slow; and it +would be difficult to get her through the window. And on the street we +would attract too much attention.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, try to stand. Stamp your feet. I'll hold you."</p> + +<p>I steadied her. Then I bent down, chafing her legs with my hands. Her +arms had been limp, but the blood was in them now. She murmured with +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> tingling pain, and then bent over, frantically helping me rub the +circulation back into her legs.</p> + +<p>"Better?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." She took a weak and trembling step.</p> + +<p>"Wait. Let me rub them more, Jetta."</p> + +<p>Precious minutes!</p> + +<p>"I'll knock out the rest of the window with that rock! We'll run; +we'll be out of here in a moment."</p> + +<p>"Run where?"</p> + +<p>"Away. Into hiding—out of all this. The United States patrol-ship is +coming from Porto Rico. It will take us from here."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Away. To Great New York, maybe. Away from all this; from that old +fossil, Perona."</p> + +<p>I was stooping beside her.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right now, Philip."</p> + +<p>I rose up, and suddenly found myself clasping her in my arms; her +slight body in the boy's ragged garb pressed against me.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, dear, do you trust me? Will you come?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Oh, yes—anywhere, Philip, with you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or only a breathless instant I lingered, holding her. Then I cast her +off and seized the rock from the floor. The jagged glassite fell away +under my blows.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jetta. I'll go first—"</p> + +<p>But it was too late! I stopped, stricken by the sound of a voice +outside!</p> + +<p>"He's there! In the girl's room! That's her window!"</p> + +<p>Cautious voices in the garden! The thud of approaching footsteps.</p> + +<p>I shoved Jetta back and rushed to the broken window oval. The figures +of De Boer and his men showed in the moonlight across the patio. They +had heard me breaking the glassite. And they saw me, now.</p> + +<p>"There he is, De Boer!"</p> + +<p>We were trapped!</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER X</h4> +<h4><i>The Murder in the Garden</i></h4> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_h1.jpg" alt="H" width="61" height="55" /></div> +<p>ans, keep back! I will go!"</p> + +<p>"But Commander—"</p> + +<p>"Armed? The hell he is not! Spawn said no. Spawn! Where is Spawn? He +was here."</p> + +<p>I had dropped back from the window, and, gripping Jetta, stood in the +center of the room.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, dear."</p> + +<p>"Oh. Philip!"</p> + +<p>"There's no other way out of here?"</p> + +<p>"No! No!"</p> + +<p>Only the heavy sealed door, and this broken window. The bandits in the +garden had paused at sight of me. Someone had called.</p> + +<p>"He may be armed, De Boer."</p> + +<p>They had stopped their forward rush and darted into the shelter of the +pergola. I might be armed!</p> + +<p>We could hear their low voices not ten feet from us. But I was not +armed, except for my knife. Futile weapon, indeed.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, keep back. If they should fire—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> got a look through the oval. De Boer was advancing upon it, with his +barreled projector half levelled. He saw me again. He called:</p> + +<p>"You American, come out!"</p> + +<p>I crouched on the floor, pushing Jetta back to where the shadows of +the bed hid her.</p> + +<p>"You American!"</p> + +<p>He was close outside the window. "Come out—or I am coming in!"</p> + +<p>I said abruptly, "Come!"</p> + +<p>My blade was in my hand. If he showed himself I could slash his +throat, doubtless. But what about Jetta? My thoughts flashed upon the +heels of my defiant invitation. Suppose, as De Boer climbed in the +window, I killed him? I could not escape, and his infuriated fellows +would rush us, firing through the oval, sweeping the room, killing us +both. But Jetta now was in no danger. Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> father was outside, and +these bandits were her father's friends. I would have to yield.</p> + +<p>I called, louder, "Why don't you come in?"</p> + +<p>Could I hold them off? Frighten them off, for a time, and make enough +noise so that perhaps someone passing in the nearby street would give +the alarm and bring help?</p> + +<p>There was a sudden silence in the patio. The bandits had so far made +as little commotion as possible. Presently I could hear their low +voices.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> heard an oath. De Boer's head and shoulders appeared in the window +oval! His levelled projector came through. Perhaps he would not have +fired, but I did not dare take the chance. I was crouching almost +under the muzzle, so I straightened, gripped it, and flung it up. I +then slashed at his face with my knife, but he gripped my wrist with +powerful fingers. My knife fell as he twisted my wrist. His projector +had not fired. It was jammed between us. One of his huge arms reached +in and encircled me.</p> + +<p>"Damn you!"</p> + +<p>He muttered it, but I shouted, "Fool! De Boer, the bandit!"</p> + +<p>I was aware of a commotion out in the garden.</p> + +<p>"... Bring all Nareda on our ears? De Boer, shut him up!"</p> + +<p>I was gripping the projector, struggling to keep its muzzle pointed +upwards. With a heave of his giant arms De Boer lifted me and jerked +me bodily through the window. I fell on my feet, still fighting. But +other hands seized me. It was no use. I yielded suddenly. I panted:</p> + +<p>"Enough!"</p> + +<p>They held me. One of them growled. "Another shout and we will leave +you here dead. Commander, <i>look</i>!"</p> + +<p>My shirt was torn open. The electrode band about my chest was exposed! +De Boer towered head and shoulders over me. I gazed up, passive in the +grip of two or three of his men, and saw his face. His heavy jaw +dropped as he gazed at my little diaphragms, the electrode.</p> + +<p>He knew now for the first time that this was no private citizen he had +assaulted. This official apparatus meant that I was a Government +agent.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was an instant of shocked silence. An expression grim and +furious crossed the giant bandit's face.</p> + +<p>"So this is it? Hans, careful—hold him!"</p> + +<p>Jetta was still in her room, silent now. I heard Spawn's voice, close +at hand in the patio.</p> + +<p>"De Boer! Careful!" It was the most cautious of half-whispers.</p> + +<p>Abruptly someone reached for my chest; jerked at the electrode; tore +its fragile wires—the tiny grids and thumbnail amplifiers; jerked and +ripped and flung the whole little apparatus to the garden path. But it +sang its warning note as the wires broke. Up in Great New York Hanley +knew then that catastrophe had fallen upon me.</p> + +<p>For a brief instant the crestfallen bandit mumbled at what he had +done. Then came Spawn's voice:</p> + +<p>"Got him, De Boer? Good!"</p> + +<p>Triumphant Spawn! He advanced across the garden with his heavy tread. +And to me, and I am sure to De Boer as well, there came the swift +realization that Spawn had been hiding safely in the background. But +my detector was smashed now. It might have imaged De Boer assailing +me: but now that it was smashed, Spawn could act freely.</p> + +<p>"Good! So you have him! Make away to the mine!"</p> + +<p>I did not see De Boer's face at that instant. But I saw his weapon +come up—an act wholly impulsive, no doubt. A flash of fury!</p> + +<p>He levelled the projector, not at me, but at the on-coming Spawn.</p> + +<p>"You damn liar!"</p> + +<p>"De Boer—" It was a scream of terror from Spawn. But it came too +late.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> The projector hissed; spat its tiny blue puff. The needle +drilled Spawn through the heart. He toppled, flung up his arms, and +went down, silently, to sprawl on his face across the garden path.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>e Boer was cursing, startled at his own action. The men holding me +tightened their grip. I heard Jetta cry out, but not at what had +happened in the garden: she was unaware of that. One of the bandits +had left the group and climbed into her room. Her cry now was +suppressed, as though the man's hand went over her mouth. And in the +silence came his mumbled voice:</p> + +<p>"Shut up, you!"</p> + +<p>There was the sound of a scuffle in there. I tore at the men holding +me.</p> + +<p>"Let me go! Jetta! Come out!"</p> + +<p>De Boer dashed for the window. I was still struggling. A hand cuffed +me in the face. A projector rammed into my side.</p> + +<p>"Stop it, fool American!"</p> + +<p>De Boer came back with a chastened bandit ahead of him. The man was +muttering and rubbing his shoulder, and De Boer said:</p> + +<p>"Try anything like that again, Cartner, and I won't be so easy on +you."</p> + +<p>De Boer was dragging Jetta, holding her by a wrist. She looked like a +terrified, half-grown boy, so small was she beside this giant. But the +woman's lines of her, and the long dark hair streaming about her white +face and over her shoulders, were unmistakable.</p> + +<p>"His daughter." De Boer was chuckling. "The little Jetta."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>ll this had happened in certainly no more than five minutes. I +realized that no alarm had been raised: the bandits had managed it all +with reasonable quiet.</p> + +<p>There were six of the bandits here, and De Boer, who towered over us +all. I saw him now as a swaggering giant of thirty-odd, with a +heavy-set smooth-shaved, handsome face.</p> + +<p>He held Jetta off. "Damn, how you have grown, Jetta."</p> + +<p>Someone said, "She knows too much."</p> + +<p>And someone else, "We will take her with us. If you leave her here, De +Boer—"</p> + +<p>"Why should I leave her? Why? Leave her—for Perona?"</p> + +<p>Then I think that for the first time Jetta saw her father's body lying +sprawled on the path. She cried, "Philip!" Then she half turned and +murmured: "Father!"</p> + +<p>She wavered, almost falling. "Father—" She went down, fainting, +falling half against me and against De Boer, who caught her slight +body in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Come, we'll get back. Drag him!"</p> + +<p>"But you can't carry that girl out like that, De Boer."</p> + +<p>"Into the house: there is an open door. Hans, go out and bring the car +around to this side. Give me the cloaks. There is no alarm yet."</p> + +<p>De Boer chuckled again. "Perona was nice to keep the police off this +street to-night!"</p> + +<p>We went into the kitchen. An auto-car, which to the village people +might have been there on Spawn's mining business, slid quietly up to +the side entrance. A cloak was thrown over Jetta. She was carried like +a sack and put into the car.</p> + +<p>I suddenly found an opportunity to break loose. I leaped and struck +one of the men. But the others were too quickly on me. The kitchen +table went over with a crash.</p> + +<p>Then something struck me on the back of the head: I think it was the +handle of De Boer's great knife. The kitchen and the men struggling +with me faded. I went into a roaring blackness.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XI</h4> +<h4><i>Aboard the Bandit Flyer</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> was dimly conscious of being inside the cubby of the car, with +bandits sitting over me. The car was roll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>ing through the village +streets. Ascending. We must be heading for Spawn's mine. I thought of +Jetta. Then I heard her voice and felt her stir beside me.</p> + +<p>The roaring in my head made everything dreamlike. I sank half into +unconsciousness again. It seemed an endless interval, with only the +muttering hiss of the car's mechanism and the confused murmurs of the +bandits' voices.</p> + +<p>Then my strength came. The cold sweat on me was drying in the night +breeze that swept through the car as it climbed the winding ascent. I +could see through its side oval a vista of bloated Lowland crags with +moonlight on them.</p> + +<p>It seemed that we should be nearly to the mine. We stopped. The men in +the car began climbing out.</p> + +<p>De Boer's voice: "Is he conscious now? I'll take the girl."</p> + +<p>Someone bent over me. "You hear me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said.</p> + +<p>I found myself outside the car. They held me on my feet. Someone +gratuitously cuffed me, but De Boer's voice issued a sharp, low-toned +rebuke.</p> + +<p>"Stop it! Get him and the girl aboard."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here seemed thirty or forty men gathered here. Silent dark figures in +black robes. The moonlight showed them, and occasionally one flashed a +hand search-beam. It was De Boer's main party gathered to attack the +mine.</p> + +<p>I stood wavering on my feet. I was still weak and dizzy, with a lump +on the back of my head where I had been struck. The scene about me was +at first unfamiliar. We were in a rocky gully. Rounded broken walls. +Caves and crevices. Dried ooze piled like a ramp up one side. The +moonlight struggled down through a gathering mist overhead.</p> + +<p>I saw, presently, where we were. Above the mine, not below it: and I +realized that the car had encircled the mine's cauldron and climbed +to a height beyond it. Down the small gully I could see where it +opened into the cauldron about a hundred feet below us. The lights of +the mine winked in the blurred moonlight shadows.</p> + +<p>The bandits led me up the gully. The car was left standing against the +gully side where it had halted. De Boer, or one of his men, was +carrying Jetta.</p> + +<p>The flyer was here. We came upon it suddenly around a bend in the +gully. Although I had only seen the nose if it earlier in the evening. +I recognized this to be the same. It was in truth a strange looking +flyer: I had never seen one quite like it. Barrel-winged, like a +Jantzen: multi-propellored: and with folding helicopters for the +vertical lifts and descent. And a great spreading fan-tail, in the +British fashion. It rested on the rocks like a fat-winged bird with +its long cylindrical body puffed out underneath. A seventy-foot cabin: +fifteen feet wide, possibly. A line of small window-portes; a circular +glassite front to the forward control-observatory cubby, with the +propellors just above it, and the pilot cubby up there behind them. +And underneath the whole, a landing gear of the Fraser-Mood +springed-cushion type: and an expanding, air-coil pontoon-bladder for +landing upon water.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>ll this was usual enough. Yet, with the brief glimpses I had as my +captors hurried me toward the landing incline, I was aware of +something very strange about this flyer. It was all dead black, a +bloated-bellied black bird. The moonlight struck it, but did not gleam +or shimmer on its black metal surface. The cabin window-portes glowed +with a dim blue-gray light from inside. But as I chanced to gaze at +one a green film seemed to cross it like a shade, so that it winked +and its light was gone. Yet a hole was there, like an eye-socket. An +empty green hole.</p> + +<p>We were close to the plane now, ap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>proaching the bottom of the small +landing-incline. The wing over my head was like a huge fat barrel cut +length-wise in half. I stared up; and suddenly it seemed that the wing +was melting. Fading. Its inner portion, where it joined the body, was +clear in the moonlight. But the tips blurred and faded. An aspect +curiously leprous. Uncanny. Gruesome.</p> + +<p>They took me up the landing-incline. A narrow vaulted corridor ran +length-wise of the interior, along one side of the cabin body. To my +left as we headed for the bow control room, the corridor window-portes +showed the rocks outside. To the right of the corridor, the ship's +small rooms lay in a string. A metal interior. I saw almost nothing +save metal in various forms. Grid floor and ceiling. Sheet metal walls +and partitions. Furnishings and fabrics, all of spun metal. And all +dead black.</p> + +<p>We entered the control room. The two men holding me flung me in a +chair. I had been searched. They had taken from me the tiny, colored +magnesium light-flashes. How easy for the plans of men to go astray! +Hanley and I had arranged that I was to signal the Porto Rican +patrol-ship with those flares.</p> + +<p>"Sit quiet!" commanded my guard.</p> + +<p>I retorted, "If you hit me again, I won't."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>e Boer came in, carrying Jetta. He put her in a chair near me, and +she sat huddled tense. In the dim gray light of the control room her +white face with its big staring dark eyes was turned toward me. But +she did not speak, nor did I.</p> + +<p>The bandits ignored us. De Boer moved about the room, examining a bank +of instruments. Familiar instruments, most of them. The usual +aero-controls and navigational devices. A radio audiphone transmitter +and receiver, with its attendant eavesdropping cut-offs. And there was +an ether-wave mirror-grid. De Boer bent over it. And then I saw him +fastening upon his forehead an image-lens. He said:</p> + +<p>"You stay here, Hans. You and Gutierrez. Take care of the girl and +this fellow Grant. Don't hurt them."</p> + +<p>Gutierrez was a swarthy Latin American. He smiled. "For why would I +hurt him? You say he is worth much money to us, De Boer. And the girl, +ah—"</p> + +<p>De Boer towered over him. "Just lay a finger on her and you will +regret it, Gutierrez! You stay at your controls. Be ready. This affair +it will take no more than half an hour."</p> + +<p>A man came to the control room entrance. "You come, Commander?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Right at once."</p> + +<p>"The men are ready. From the mine we might almost be seen here. This +delay—"</p> + +<p>"Coming, Rausch."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut he lingered a moment more. "Hans, my finder will show you what I +do. Keep watch. When we come back, have all ready for flight. This +Grant had an alarm-detector. Heaven only knows what eavesdropping and +relaying he has done. And for sure there is hell now in Spawn's +garden. The Nareda police are there, of course. They might track us up +here."</p> + +<p>He paused before me. "I think I would not cause trouble, Grant."</p> + +<p>"I'm not a fool."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not." He turned to Jetta. "No harm will come to you. Fear +nothing."</p> + +<p>He wound his dark cloak about his giant figure and left the control +room. In a moment, through the rounded observing pane beside me, I saw +him outside on the moonlit rocks. His men gathered about him. There +were forty of them, possibly, with ten or so left here aboard to guard +the flyer.</p> + +<p>And in another moment the group of dark-cloaked figures outside crept +off in single file like a slithering serpent, moving down the rock +defile toward where in the cauldron pit the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> lights of the mine shone +on its dark silent buildings.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XII</h4> +<h4><i>The Attack on the Mine</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was a moment when I had an opportunity to speak with Jetta. +Gutierrez sat watchfully by the archway corridor entrance with a +needle projector across his knees. The fellow Hans, a big, heavy-set +half-breed Dutchman with a wide-collared leather jerkin and wide, +knee-length pantaloons, laid his weapon carefully aside and busied +himself with his image mirror. There would soon be images upon it, I +knew: De Boer had the lens-finder on his forehead, and the scenes at +the mine, as De Boer saw them would be flashed back to us here.</p> + +<p>This Gutierrez was very watchful. A move on my part and I knew he +would fling a needle through me.</p> + +<p>My thoughts flew. Hanley had notified Porto Rico. The patrol-ship had +almost enough time to get here by now.</p> + +<p>I felt Jetta plucking at me. She whispered:</p> + +<p>"They have gone to attack the mine."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"I heard it planned. Señor Perona—"</p> + +<p>Her hurried whispers told me further details of Perona's scheme. So +this was a pseudo attack! Perona would take advantage of it and hide +the quicksilver. De Boer would return presently and escape. And hold +me for ransom. I chuckled grimly. Not so easy for a bandit, even one +as clever as De Boer at hiding in the Lowland depths to arrange a +ransom for an agent of the United States. Our entire Lowland patrol +would be after him in a day.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>etta's swift whispers made it all clear to me. It was Perona's +scheme.</p> + +<p>She ended, "And my father—" Her voice broke; her eyes flooded +suddenly with tears "Oh, Philip, he was good to me, my poor father."</p> + +<p>I saw that the mirror before Hans was glowing with its coming image. I +pressed Jetta's hand.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Jetta."</p> + +<p>One does not disparage the dead. I could not exactly subscribe to +Jetta's appraisal of her parent, but I did not say so.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, the mirror is on."</p> + +<p>I turned away from her toward the instrument table. Gutierrez at the +door raised his weapon. I said hastily, "Nothing. I—we just want to +see the mirror."</p> + +<p>I stood beside Hans. He glanced at me and I tried to smile +ingratiatingly.</p> + +<p>"This attack will be successful, eh, Hans?"</p> + +<p>"Damn. I hope so."</p> + +<p>The mirror was glowing. Hans turned a switch to dim the tube-lights of +the room so that we might see the images better. It brought a protest +from Gutierrez.</p> + +<p>I swung around. "I'm not a fool! You can see me perfectly well: kill +me if I make trouble. I want to see the attack."</p> + +<p>"<i>Por Dios</i>, if you try anything—"</p> + +<p>"I won't!"</p> + +<p>"Shut!" growled Hans. "The audiphone is on. The big adventure—and the +commander—leaves me here just to watch!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> slit in the observatory pane was open. The dark figure of one of the +bandits on guard outside came and called softly up to us.</p> + +<p>"Started. Hans?"</p> + +<p>"Starting."</p> + +<p>"Should it go wrong, call out."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But it will not."</p> + +<p>"There was an alarm, relayed probably to Great New York, the commander +said, from Spawn's garden. These cursed prisoners—"</p> + +<p>"Shut! You keep watch out there. It is starting."</p> + +<p>The guard slunk away. My attention went back to the mirror. An image +was formed there now, coming from the eye of the lens upon De<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> Boer's +forehead. It swayed with his walking. He was evidently leading his +men, for none of them were in the scene. The dark rocks were moving +past. The lights of the mine were ahead and below, but coming nearer.</p> + +<p>The audiphone hummed and crackled. And through it, De Boer's +low-voiced command sounded:</p> + +<p>"To the left is the better path. Keep working to the left."</p> + +<p>The image of the rocks and the mine swung with a dizzying sweep as De +Boer turned about. Then again he was creeping forward.</p> + +<p>The mine lights came closer. De Beer's whispered voice said: "There +they are!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> could see the lights of the mine's guards flash on. A group of +Spawn's men gathered before the smelter building. The challenge +sounded.</p> + +<p>"Who are you? Stop!"</p> + +<p>And De Boer's murmur: "That is correct, as Perona said. They expect +us. Well," he ended with a sardonic laugh, "expect us."</p> + +<p>His projector went up. He fired. In the silence of the control room we +could hear the audiphoned hiss of it, and see the flash in the +mirror-scene. He had fired into the air.</p> + +<p>Again his low voice to his men: "Hold steady. They will run."</p> + +<p>The group of figures at the smelter separated, waved and scattered +back into the deeper shadows. Their hand-lights were extinguished, but +the moonlight caught and showed them. They were running away; hiding +in the crags. They fired a shot or two, high in the air.</p> + +<p>De Boer was advancing swiftly now. The image swayed and shifted, +raised and lowered rhythmically as he ran. And the dark shape of the +smelter building loomed large as he neared it.</p> + +<p>I felt Jetta beside me: heard her whisper: "Why, he should attack and +then come back! Greko told my father—"</p> + +<p>But De Boer was not coming back! He was dashing for the smelter +entrance. Spawn's guards must have known then that there was something +wrong. Their shots hissed, still fired high, and our grid sounded +their startled shouts. Then as De Boer momentarily turned his head, I +saw what was taking place to the side of him. A detachment of the +bandits had followed the retreating guards. The bandits' shots were +levelled now. Dim stabs of light in the gloom. One of the guards +screamed as he was struck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he attack was real! But it was over in a moment. Spawn's men, those +who were not struck down, plunged away and vanished. Perona had +disconnected the mine's electrical safeguards. The smelter door was +sealed, but it gave before the blows of a metal bar two of De Boer's +men were carrying.</p> + +<p>In the unguarded, open strong-room, Perona, alone, was absorbed in his +task of carrying the ingots of quicksilver down into the hidden +compartment beneath its metal floor.</p> + +<p>Our mirror was vague and dim now with a moving interior of the main +smelter room as De Boer plunged through. At the strong-room entrance +he paused, with his men crowding behind him. The figure of Perona +showed in the vague light: he was stooping under the weight of one of +the little ingots. Beside him yawned the small trap-opening leading +downward.</p> + +<p>He saw De Boer. He straightened, startled, and then shouted with a +terrified Spanish oath. De Boer's projector was levelled: the huge, +foreshortened muzzle of it blotted out half our image. It hissed its +puff of light—a blinding flash on our mirror—in the midst of which +the dark shape of Perona's body showed as it crumpled and fell. Like +Spawn, he met instant death.</p> + +<p>Jetta was gripping me. "Why—" Gutierrez was with us. Hans was +bend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>ing forward, watching the mirror. He muttered, "Got him!"</p> + +<p>I saw a chance to escape, and pulled at Jetta. But at once Gutierrez +stepped backward.</p> + +<p>"Like him I will strike you dead!" he said.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>o chance of escape. I had thought Gutierrez absorbed by the mirror, +but he was not. I protested vehemently:</p> + +<p>"I haven't moved, you fool. I have no intention of moving."</p> + +<p>And now De Boer and his men were carrying up the ingots. A man for +each bar. A confusion of blurred swaying shapes, and low-voiced, +triumphant murmurs from our disc.</p> + +<p>Then De Boer was outside the smelter house, and we saw a little queue +of the bandits carrying the treasure up the defile. Coming back here +to the flyer. There was no pursuit; the mine guards were gone.</p> + +<p>The triumphant bandits would be here in a few moments.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ave Maria, que magnifico!</i>" Gutierrez had retreated to our doorway, +more alert than ever upon me and Jetta. Hans called through the +window-slit:</p> + +<p>"All is well, Franks!"</p> + +<p>"Got it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! Make ready."</p> + +<p>There was a stir outside as several of the bandits hastened down the +defile to meet De Boer. And the tread of others, inside the flyer at +their posts, preparing for hasty departure.</p> + +<p>Hans snapped off the audiphone and mirror. He bent over his control +panel. "All is well, Gutierrez. In a moment we start."</p> + +<p>Through the observatory window I saw the line of De Boer's men coming: +Abruptly Hans gave a cry. "Look!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> glow was in the room. A faint aura of light. And our disconnected +instruments were crackling, murmuring with interference. Eavesdropping +waves were here! Hans realised it: so did I.</p> + +<p>But there was no need for theory. From outside came shouts.</p> + +<p>"Patrol-ship!"</p> + +<p>"Hurry!"</p> + +<p>The ship, suddenly exposing its lights, was perfectly visible above +us. Five thousand feet up, possibly. A tiny silver bird in the +moonlight: but even with the naked eye I could see by its light +pattern that it was the official Porto Rican patrol-liner. It saw us +down here: recognized this bandit flyer, no doubt.</p> + +<p>And it was coming down!</p> + +<p>There was a confusion as the bandits rushed aboard. The patrol was +dropping in a swift spiral. I watched tensely, holding Jetta, with the +turmoil of the embarking bandits around me. Gutierrez stood with +levelled weapon.</p> + +<p>"They have not moved, Commander."</p> + +<p>De Boer was here. The treasure was aboard.</p> + +<p>"Ready, Hans. Lift us."</p> + +<p>The landing portes clanged as they closed. Hans shoved at his +switches. I heard the helicopter engines thumping. A vertical lift: +there was no space in this rocky defile for any horizontal take-away.</p> + +<p>He was very calm, this De Boer. He sat in a chair at a control-bank of +instruments unfamiliar to me.</p> + +<p>"Full power, Hans: I tell you. Lift us!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he ship was quivering. We lifted. The rocks of the gully dropped +away. But the patrol-ship was directly over us. Was De Boer rushing +into a collision?</p> + +<p>"Now, forward, Hans."</p> + +<p>We poised for the level flight. Did De Boer think he could +out-distance this patrol-ship, the swiftest type of flyer in the +Service? I knew that was impossible.</p> + +<p>The silver ship overhead was circling, watchful. And as we levelled +for forward flight it shot a warning searchlight beam down across our +bow, ordering us to land.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>De Boer laughed. "They think they have us!"</p> + +<p>I saw his hand go to a switch. A warning siren resounded through our +corridor, warning the bandits of De Boer's next move. But I did not +know it then: the thing caught me unprepared.</p> + +<p>De Boer flung another switch. My senses reeled. I heard Jetta cry out. +My arm about her tightened.</p> + +<p>A moment of strange whirling unreality. The control room seemed fading +about me. The tube-lights dimmed. A green glow took their place—a +lurid sheen in which the cubby and the tense faces of De Boer and Hans +showed with ghastly pallor. Everything was unreal. The voices of De +Boer and Hans sounded with a strange tonelessness. Stripped of the +timber that made one differ from the other. Hollow ghosts of human +voices. By the sound I could not tell which was De Boer and which was +Hans.</p> + +<p>The corridor was dark; all the lights on the ship faded into this +horrible dead green. The window beside me had a film on it. A dead, +dark opening where moonlight had been. Then I realized that I was +beginning to see through it once more. Starlight. Then the moonlight.</p> + +<p>We had soared almost level with the descending patrol-ship. We went +past it, a quarter of a mile away. Went past, and it did not follow. +It was still circling.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> knew then what had happened. And why this bandit ship had seemed of +so strange an aspect. We were invisible! At four hundred yards, even +in the moonlight, the patrol could not distinguish us. Only ten of +these X-flyers were in existence: they were the closest secret of the +U. S. Anti-War Department. No other government had them except in +impractical imitations. I had never even seen one before.</p> + +<p>But this bandit ship was one. And I recalled that a year ago, a +suppressed dispatch intimated that the Service had lost one—wrecked +in the Lowlands and never found.</p> + +<p>So this was that lost invisible flyer? De Boer, using it for +smuggling, with Perona and Spawn as partners. And now, De Boer making +away in it with Spawn's treasure!</p> + +<p>The bandit's hollow, toneless, unreal chuckle sounded in the gruesome +lurid green of the control room.</p> + +<p>"I think that surprised them!"</p> + +<p>The tiny silver shape of the baffled local patrol-ship faded behind us +as we flew northward over heavy, fantastic crags; far above the tiny +twinkling lights of the village of Nareda—out over the sullen dark +surface of the Nares Sea.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XIII</h4> +<h4><i>The Flight to the Bandit Stronghold</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>uring this flight of some six hours—north, and then, I think, +northeast—to the remote Lowland fastness where De Boer's base was +located, I had no opportunity to learn much of the operation of this +invisible flyer. But it was the one which had been lost. Wrecked, no +doubt, and the small crew aboard it all killed. The vessel, however, +was not greatly damaged: the crew were killed doubtless by escaping +poisonous gases when the flyer struck.</p> + +<p>How long it lay unfound, I cannot say. Perhaps, for days, it still +maintained its invisibility, while the frantic planes of the U. S. +Anti-War Department tried in vain to locate it. And then, with its +magnetic batteries exhausting themselves, it must have become visible. +Perona, making a solo flight upon Nareda business to Great London, +came upon it. Perona, Spawn and De Boer were then in the midst of +their smuggling activities. They salvaged the vessel secretly. De +Boer, with an incongruous flair for mechanical science, was enabled in +his bandit camp, to recondition the flyer—building a workshop for the +purpose, with money which Perona freely supplied.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some of this I learned from De Boer, some is surmise: but I am sure it +is close to the facts.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> have since had an opportunity—through my connection with this +adventure which I am recording—of going aboard one of the X-flyers of +the Anti-War Department, and seeing it in operation with its technical +details explained to me. But since it is so important a Government +secret, I cannot set it down here. The principles involved are +complex: the postulates employed, and the mathematical formulae +developing them in theory, are far too intricate for my understanding. +Yet the practical workings are simple indeed. Some of them were +understood as far back as 1920 and '30, when that pioneer of modern +astrophysics, Albert Einstein, first proved that a ray of light is +deflected from its normal straight path when passing through a +magnetic field.</p> + +<p>I am sorry that I cannot give here more than this vague hint of the +workings of the fantastic invisible flyers which to-day are so often +the subject of speculation by the general public which never has seen +them, and perhaps never will. But I think, too, that a lengthy +pedantic discourse here would be out of place. And tiring. After all, +I am trying to tell only what happened to me in this adventure. And to +little Jetta.</p> + +<p>A very strangely capable fellow, this young De Boer. A modern pirate: +no other age could have produced him. He did not spare Perona's money, +that was obvious. From his hidden camp he must have made frequent +visits to the great Highland centers, purchasing scientific equipment: +until now, when his path crossed mine. I found him surrounded by most +of the every-day devices of our modern world. The village of Nareda +was primitive: backward. Save for its modern lights, a few local +audiphones and image-finders, and its official etheric connections +with other world capitals, it might have been a primitive Latin +American village of a hundred years ago.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut not so De Boer's camp, which presently I was to see. Nor this, his +flyer, with which his smuggling activities had puzzled Hanley's Office +for so many months. There was nothing primitive here.</p> + +<p>De Boer himself was a swaggering villain. I saw him now with his cloak +discarded, in the normal tube-lights of the control room when, after a +time, the mechanism of invisibility of the flyer was shut off. A +fellow of six feet and a half at the very least, this De Boer. Heavy, +yet with his great height and strength, lean and graceful. He wore a +fabric shirt, with a wide-rolled collar. A wide belt of tanned hide, +with lighters, a little electron drink-cooler and other nick-nackeries +hanging from tasseled cords—and a naked, ugly-looking knife blade +clipped beside a holster which held an old-fashioned exploding +projector of leaden steel-tipped bullets.</p> + +<p>His trousers were of leather, wide-flaring, ending at his brawny bare +knees, with wide-cut, limp leather boots flapping about his calves in +ancient piratical fashion. They had flaring soles, these shoes, for +walking upon the Lowland caked ooze. The uppers were useless: I rather +think he wore them because they were picturesque. He was a handsome +fellow, with rough-hewn features. A wide mouth, and very white, even +teeth. A cruel mouth, when it went grim. But the smile was intriguing: +I should think particularly so to women.</p> + +<p>He had a way with him, this devil-may-care bandit. Strange mixture of +a pirate of old and an outlaw of our modern world. With a sash at his +waist, a red handkerchief about his forehead, and a bloody knife +between his teeth. I could have fancied him a fabled pirate of the +Spanish Main. A few hundred years ago when these dry Lowlands held the +tossing seas. But I had seen him, so far, largely seated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> quietly in +his chair at his instrument table, a cigarette dangling from his lips, +and, instead of a red bandanna about his forehead, merely the elastic +band holding the lens of his image-finder. It caught in the locks of +his curly black hair. He pushed it askew; and then, since he did not +need it now, discarded it altogether.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>here we went I could not surmise, except that we flew low over the +sullen black waters of the Nares Sea and then headed northeast. We +kept well below the zero-height, with the dark crags of the Lowlands +passing under us.</p> + +<p>The night grew darker. Storm clouds obscured the moon; and it was then +that De Boer shut off the mechanism of invisibility. The control room, +with only the watchful Gutierrez now in it—besides De Boer, Jetta and +myself—was silent and orderly. But there were sounds of roistering +from down the ship's corridor. The bandits, with this treasure of the +radiumized quicksilver ingots aboard, were already triumphantly +celebrating.</p> + +<p>I sat whispering with Jetta. De Boer, busy with charts and +navigational instruments, ignored us, and Gutierrez, so long as we did +not move, seemed not to object to our whispers.</p> + +<p>The night slowly passed. De Boer served us food, calling to one of his +men to shove a slide before us. For himself, he merely drank his +coffee and an alcoholic drink at his instrument table, while absorbed +in his charts.</p> + +<p>The roistering of the men grew louder. De Boer leaped to his feet, +cursed them roundly, then went back to his calculations. He stood once +before Jetta, regarding her with a strange, slow smile which made my +heart pound. But he turned away in a moment.</p> + +<p>The bandits, for all De Boer's admonitions, were now ill-conditioned +for handling this flyer. But I saw, through the small grid-opening in +the control room ceiling, the pilot in his cubby upon the wing-top. +He sat alert and efficient, with his lookout beside him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he night presently turned really tumultuous, with a great wind +overhead, and storm clouds of ink, shot through occasionally by +lightning flashes. We flew lower, at minus 2,000 feet, on the average. +The heavy air was sultry down here, with only a dim blurred vista of +the depths beneath us. I fancied that now we were bending eastward, +out over the great basin pit of the mid-Atlantic area. No vessels +passed us, or, if they did, I did not sight them.</p> + +<p>De Boer had a detector on his table. Occasionally it would buzz with +calls: liners or patrols in our general neighborhood. He ignored them +with a sardonic smile. Once or twice, when our dim lights might have +been sighted, he altered our course sharply. And, when at one period +we passed over the lights of some Lowland settlement, he flung us +again into invisibility until we were beyond range.</p> + +<p>I had, during these hours, ample opportunity to whisper with Jetta. +But there was so little for us to say. I knew all of Spawn's and +Perona's plot. Both were dead: it was De Boer with whom we were +menaced now. And as I saw his huge figure lounging at his table, and +his frowning, intent face, the vision of the aged, futile Perona, who +had previously been my adversary, seemed inoffensive indeed.</p> + +<p>De Boer obviously was pleased with himself. He had stolen half a +million dollars of treasure, and was making off with it to his base in +the depths. He would smuggle these ingots into the world markets at +his convenience; months from now, probably. Meanwhile, what did he +intend to do with me? And Jetta? Ransom me? I wondered how he could +manage it. And the thought pounded me. What about Jetta? I felt now +that she was all the world to me. Her safety, beyond any thought of +smugglers or treasure, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> all that concerned me. But what was I +going to do about it?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> pressed her hand. "Jetta, you're not too frightened, are you?"</p> + +<p>"No, Philip."</p> + +<p>Her mind, I think, was constantly on her father, lying dead back there +on his garden path. I had not spoken of him, save once. She threatened +instant tears, and I stopped.</p> + +<p>"Do not be too frightened. We'll get out of this."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"He can't escape. Jetta; he can't hide. Why, in a day or so all the +patrols of the United States Lowland Service will be after us!"</p> + +<p>But if the patrol-ships assailed De Boer, if he found things going +badly—he could so easily kill Jetta and me. He might be caught, but +we would never come through it alive.</p> + +<p>My thoughts drifted along, arriving nowhere, just circling in the same +futile rounds. I was aware of Jetta falling asleep beside me, her face +against my shoulder, her fingers clutching mine. She looked like a +half grown, slender, ragged boy. But her woman's hair lay thick on my +arm, and one of the dark tresses fell to my hand. I turned my fingers +in it. This strange little woman. Was my love for her foredoomed to +end in tragedy? I swore then that I would not let it be so.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XIV</h4> +<h4><i>Jetta Takes a Hand</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> came from my reverie to find De Boer before me. He was standing with +legs planted wide, arms folded across his deep chest, and on his face +an ironic smile.</p> + +<p>"So tired! My little captives, <i>di mi</i>! You look like babes lost in a +wood."</p> + +<p>I disengaged myself from Jetta, resting her against a cushion, and she +did not awaken. I stood up, fronting De Boer.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with me?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>He held his ironic smile. "Take you to my camp. You'll be well hidden, +no one can follow me. My X-flyer's a very handy thing to have, isn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"So you're the smuggler I was sent after?"</p> + +<p>That really amused him. "Er—yes. Those tricksters, Perona and +Spawn—we were what you would call partners. He had—the perfumed +Perona—what he thought was a clever scheme for us. I was to take all +the risk, and he and Spawn get most of the money. Chah! They thought I +was imbecile—pretending to attack a treasure and being such a fool +that I would not seize it for myself! Not De Boer!" He chuckled. +"Well, so very little did they know me. No treasure yet touched De +Boer's fingers without lingering!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e was in a talkative mood, and drew up his chair and slouched in it. +I saw that he had been drinking some alcholite beverage, not enough to +befuddle him, but enough to take the keen edge off his wits, and make +him want to talk.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Grant."</p> + +<p>"I'll stand."</p> + +<p>"As you like."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with me?" I demanded again. "Try to ransom +me for a fat price from the United States?"</p> + +<p>He smiled sourly. "You need not be sarcastic, young lad. The better +for you if I get a ransom."</p> + +<p>"Then I hope you get it."</p> + +<p>"Perona's idea," he added. "I will admit it looked possible: I did not +know then you had Government protection." He went grim. "That was +Perona and Spawn's trickery. Well, they paid for it. No one plays De +Boer false and lives to tell it. Perona and Spawn wanted to get rid of +you—because you annoyed them."</p> + +<p>"Did I?"</p> + +<p>"With the little Jetta, I fancy." His gaze went to the sleeping Jetta +and back to me. "Perona was very sensitive where this little woman was +con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>cerned. Why not? An oldish fool like him—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> could agree with that, but I did not say so.</p> + +<p>I said, "You'd better cast me loose, Jetta and me. I suppose you +realize, De Boer, that you'll have the patrols like a pack of hounds +after you. Jetta is a Nareda citizen: the United States will take that +up. There's the theft of the treasure. And as you say, I'm a +Government agent."</p> + +<p>He nodded. "Your Government is over-zealous in protecting its agents. +That I know, Grant. I might have left you alone, there in the garden, +when I realized it. But that, by damn, was too late! Live men talk. +Any way, if I cannot ransom you, to kill you is very easy. And dead +men are shut-mouthed."</p> + +<p>"I'm still alive, De Boer."</p> + +<p>He eyed me. "You talk brave."</p> + +<p>This condescending, amused giant!</p> + +<p>I retorted. "How are you going to ransom me?"</p> + +<p>"That," he said. "I have not yet planned it. A delicate business."</p> + +<p>I ventured, "And Jetta?" My heart was beating fast.</p> + +<p>"Jetta," he said with a sudden snap, "is none of your business."</p> + +<p>Again his gaze went toward her. "I might marry her: why not? I am not +wholly a villain. I could marry her legally in Cape Town, with all the +trappings of clergy—and be immune from capture under the laws there. +If she is seventeen. I have forgotten her age, it's been so long since +I knew her. Is she seventeen? She does not look it."</p> + +<p>I said shortly. "I don't know how old she is."</p> + +<p>"But we can ask her when she awakens, can't we?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e was amusing himself with me. And yet, looking back on it now, I +believe he was more than half serious. From his pouch he drew a small +cylinder. "Have a drink, Grant. After all I bear you no ill-will. A +man can but follow his trade: you were trying to be a good Government +agent."</p> + +<p>"Thanks."</p> + +<p>"And then you may make it possible for me to pick a nice ransom. +Here."</p> + +<p>"I hope so." I declined the drink.</p> + +<p>"Afraid for your wits?"</p> + +<p>I said impulsively, "I want all my wits to make sure you handle this +ransom properly, De Boer. I'm as interested as you are: in that at +least, we are together."</p> + +<p>He grinned, tipped the cylinder at his lips for a long drink.</p> + +<p>"Quite so—a mutual interest. Let us be friends over it."</p> + +<p>His gaze wandered back to Jetta. He added slowly:</p> + +<p>"She is very lovely, Grant. A little woodland flower, just ready for +plucking." A sentimental tone, but there was in his expression a +ribald flippancy that sent a shudder through me. "She has quite +overcome you, Grant. Well, why not me as well? I am certainly more of +a man than you. We must admit that Perona had a good eye."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div> +<p>y thoughts were wandering. Suppose I could not find an opportunity to +escape with Jetta? De Boer might successfully ransom me and take her +to Cape Town. Or if he feared that to try for the ransom would be too +dangerous, doubtless he would kill me out of hand. An ill outcome +indeed! Nor could I forget that there was half a million of treasure +involved.</p> + +<p>It was obvious to me that Hanley would not permit the patrol-ships to +attack De Boer with the lives of Jetta and myself at stake. Hanley +knew, or suspected, that De Boer was operating an invisible flyer, but +I did not see how that could help Hanley much. Markes, acting for +Nareda, would doubtless be willing to ransom Jetta: the United States +would ransom me. I must urge the ransom plan, because for all the +money in the world I would not endanger Jetta, nor let this bandit +carry her off.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>Or could I escape with her, and still find some means to save the +treasure? It was Jetta's treasure now, two-thirds of it, for it had +legally belonged to her father. Could I save it, and her as well?</p> + +<p>Not by any move of mine, here now on this flyer. That was impossible. +In De Boer's camp, perhaps. But that, too, I doubted. He was too +clever a scoundrel to be lax in guarding me.</p> + +<p>But in the effecting of a ransom—the exchange of me, and perhaps +Jetta, for a sum of money—that would be a delicate transaction, and +some little thing could easily go wrong for De Boer. There would be my +chance. I would have to make something go wrong! Get in his confidence +now so that I would have some say in arranging the details of the +ransom. Make him think I was only concerned for my own safety. Appear +clever in helping plan the exchange. And then so manipulate the thing +that I could escape with Jetta and save the treasure—and the ransom +money as well. And capture De Boer, since that was what Hanley had +sent me out to accomplish.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>houghts fly swiftly. All this flashed to me. I had no details as yet. +But that I must get into De Boer's confidence stood but clearly.</p> + +<p>I said abruptly, "De Boer, since we are to be friends—"</p> + +<p>"So you prefer to sit down now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." I had drawn a small settle to face him. "De Boer, do you intend +to ask a ransom for Jetta?"</p> + +<p>"You insist with that question?"</p> + +<p>"That is my way. Then we can understand each other. Do you?"</p> + +<p>"No," he said shortly.</p> + +<p>I frowned. "I think I could get you a big price."</p> + +<p>"I think I should prefer the little Jetta, Grant."</p> + +<p>I held myself outwardly unmoved. "I don't blame you. But you will +ransom me? It can be worked out. I have some ideas."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he agreed. "It can be worked perhaps. I have not thought of +details yet. You are much concerned for your safety, Grant? Fear not."</p> + +<p>An amused thought evidently struck him. He added. "It occurs to me how +easy, if I am going to ransom you, it will be for me to send you back +dead. You might, if I send you back alive, tell them a lot of things +about me."</p> + +<p>"I will not talk."</p> + +<p>"Not," he said, "if I close your mouth for good."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> had no retort. There was no answering such logic; and with his +murders of Spawn and Perona, and the deaths of some of the police +guards at the mine, the murder of me would not put him in much worse a +position.</p> + +<p>He was laughing ironically. Suddenly he checked himself.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jetta! So you have awakened?"</p> + +<p>Jetta was sitting erect. How long she had been awake, what she had +heard. I could not say. Her gaze went from De Boer to me, and back +again.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am awake."</p> + +<p>It seemed that the look she flashed me carried a warning. But whatever +it was, I had no chance of pondering it, for it was driven from my +mind by surprise at her next words.</p> + +<p>"Awake, yes! And interested, hearing this Grant bargain with you for +his life."</p> + +<p>It surprised De Boer as well. But the alcholite had dulled his wits, +and Jetta realized this, and presumed upon it.</p> + +<p>"Ho!" exclaimed De Boer. "Our little bird is angry!"</p> + +<p>"Not angry. It is contempt."</p> + +<p>Her look to me now held contempt. It froze me with startled chagrin; +but only for an instant, and then the truth swept me. Strange Jetta! I +had thought of her only as a child; almost, but not quite a woman. A +frightened little woodland fawn.</p> + +<p>"Contempt, De Boer. Is he not a contemptuous fellow, this American?"</p> + +<p>Again I caught her look and under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>stood it. This was a different +Jetta. No longer helplessly frightened, but a woman, fighting. She had +heard De Boer calmly saying that he might send me back dead—and she +was fighting now for me.</p> + +<p>De Boer took another drink, and stared at her. "What is this?"</p> + +<p>She turned away. "Nothing. But if you are going to ransom me—"</p> + +<p>"I am not, little bird."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>he showed no aversion for him, and it went to his head, stronger than +the drink. "Never would I ransom you!"</p> + +<p>He reached for her, but nimbly she avoided him. Acting, but clever +enough not to overdo it. I held myself silent: I had caught again the +flash of a warning gaze from her. She had fathomed my purpose. Get his +confidence. Beguile him. And woman is so much cleverer than the +trickiest man at beguiling!</p> + +<p>"Do not touch me, De Boer! He tried that. He held my hand in the +moonlight—to woo me with his clever words."</p> + +<p>"Hah! Grant, you hear her?"</p> + +<p>"And I find him now not a man, but a craven—"</p> + +<p>"But you will find me a man, Jetta." De Boer was hugely amused. "See +Grant, we are rivals! You and Perona, then you and me. It is well for +you that I fear you not, or I would run my knife through you now."</p> + +<p>I could not mistake Jetta's shudder. But De Boer did not see it, for +she covered it by impulsively putting her hand upon his arm.</p> + +<p>"Did you—did you kill my father?" She stumbled over the question. But +she asked it with a childlike innocence sufficiently real to convince +him.</p> + +<p>"I? Why—" He recovered from his surprise. "Why no, little bird. Who +told you that I did?"</p> + +<p>"No one. I—no one has said anything about it." She added slowly, "I +hoped that it was not you, De Boer."</p> + +<p>"Me? Oh no: it was an accident." He shot me a menacing glance. "I will +explain it all. Jetta. Your father and I were friends for years—"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I know. Often he spoke to me of you. Many times I asked him to +let me meet you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were ignoring me. But Gutierrez, lurking in the door oval, was +not: I was well aware of that.</p> + +<p>"I remember you from years ago, little Jetta."</p> + +<p>"And I remember you."</p> + +<p>I understand the rationality of her purpose. She could easily get De +Beer's confidence. She had known him when a child. Her father had been +his business partner, presumably his friend. And I saw her now +cleverly altering her status here. She had been a captive, allied with +me. She was changing that. She was now Spawn's daughter, here with her +dead father's friend.</p> + +<p>She turned a gaze of calm aversion upon me. "Unless you want him here, +De Boer. I would rather talk to you—without him."</p> + +<p>He leaped to his feet. "Hah! that pleases me, little Jetta! Gutierrez, +take this fellow away."</p> + +<p>The Spanish-American came slouching forward. "The girl's an old +friend, Commander? You never told me that."</p> + +<p>"Because it is no business of yours. Take him away. Seal him in +D-cubby."</p> + +<p>I said sullenly. "I misjudged both of you."</p> + +<p>Jetta's gaze avoided me. As Gutierrez shoved me roughly down the +corridor, De Boer laughed, and his voice came back: "Do not be afraid. +We will find some safe way of ransoming you—dead or alive!"</p> + +<p>I was flung on a bunk in one of the corridor cubbies, and the door +sealed upon me.</p> + +<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_009.jpg" width="500" height="425" alt=""Harry turns into a thick smoke, and gets sucked into a +big hole in the machine."" /> +<span class="caption">"Harry turns into a thick smoke, and gets sucked into a +big hole in the machine."</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="An_Extra_Man" id="An_Extra_Man"></a>An Extra Man</h2> + +<h3><i>By Jackson Gee</i></h3> +<div class="sidenote">Sealed and vigilantly guarded was "Drayle's Invention, +1932"——for it was a scientific achievement beyond which man dared +not go.</div> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_r.jpg" alt="R" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ays of the August mid-day sun pouring through the museum's glass roof +beat upon the eight soldiers surrounding the central exhibit, which +for thirty years has been under constant guard. Even the present +sweltering heat failed to lessen the men's careful observation of the +visitors who, from time to time, strolled listlessly about the room.</p> + +<p>The object of all this solicitude scarcely seemed to require it. A +great up-ended rectangle of polished steel some six feet square by ten +or a dozen feet in height, standing in the center of Machinery Hall, +it suggested nothing sinister or priceless. Two peculiarities, +however, marked it as unusual—the concealment of its mechanism and +the brevity of its title. For while the remainder of the exhibits +located around it varied in the simplicity or complexity of their +design, they were alike in the openness of their construction and +detailed explanation of plan and purpose. The great steel box, +however, bore merely two words and a date: "Drayle's Invention, +1932."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was, nevertheless, toward this exhibit that a pleasant appearing +white-haired old gentleman and a small boy were slowly walking when a +change of guard occurred. The new men took their posts without words +while the relieved detail turned down a long corridor that for a +moment echoed with the clatter of hobnailed boots on stone. Then all +was surprisingly still. Even the boy was impressed into reluctant +silence as he viewed the uniformed men, though not for long.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_w1.jpg" alt="W" width="78" height="54" /></div> +<p>hat's that, what's that, what's that?" he demanded presently with +shrill imperiousness. "Grandfather, what's that?" An excited arm +indicated the exhibit with its soldier guard.</p> + +<p>"If you can keep still long enough," replied the old gentleman +patiently, "I'll tell you."</p> + +<p>And with due regard for rheumatic limbs he slowly settled himself on a +bench and folded his hands over the top of an ebony cane preparatory +to answering the youngster's question. His inquisitor, however, was, +at the moment, being hauled from beneath a brass railing by the +sergeant of the watch.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to keep an eye on him, sir," said the man reproachfully. +"He was going to try his knife on the wood-work when I caught him."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Sergeant. I'll do my best—but the younger generation, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Sit still, if possible!" he directed the squirming boy. "If not, +we'll start home now."</p> + +<p>The non-com took a new post within easy reaching distance of the +disturber and attempted to glare impressively.</p> + +<p>"Go on, grandfather, tell me. What's D-r-a-y-l-e? What's in the box? +Can't they open it? What are the soldiers for? Must they stay here? +Why?"</p> + +<p>"Drayle," said the old man, breaking through the barrage of questions, +"was a close friend of mine a good many years ago."</p> + +<p>"How many, grandfather? Fifty? As much as fifty? Did father know him? +Is father fifty?"</p> + +<p>"Forty; no; yes; no," said the harassed relative; and then with +amazing ignorance inquired: "Do you really care to hear or do you just +ask questions to exercise your tongue?"</p> + +<p>"I want to hear the story, grandpa. Tell me the story. Is it a nice +story? Has it got bears in it? Polar bears? I saw a polar bear +yesterday. He was white. Are polar bears always white? Tell me the +story, grandpa."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he old man turned appealing eyes toward the sergeant. Tacitly a +sympathetic understanding was established. The warrior also was a +father, and off the field of battle he had known defeat.</p> + +<p>"Leave me handle him, sir," he suggested. "I've the like of him at +home."</p> + +<p>"I'd be very much indebted to you if you would."</p> + +<p>Thus encouraged, the soldier produced from an inner pocket and offered +one of those childhood sweets known as an "all day sucker."</p> + +<p>"See if you can choke yourself on that," he challenged.</p> + +<p>The clamor ceased immediately.</p> + +<p>"It always works, sir," explained the man of resource. "The missus +says as how it'll ruin their indigestions, but I'm all for peace even +if I am in the army."</p> + +<p>Now that his vocal organs were temporarily plugged, the child waved a +demanding arm in the direction of the main exhibit to indicate a +desire for the resumption of the narrative. But the ancient was not +anxious to disturb so soon the benign and acceptable silence. In fact +it was not until he observed the sergeant's look of inquiry that he +began once more.</p> + +<p>"That box," he said slowly, "is both a monument and a milestone on the +road to mankind's progress in mechanical invention. It marks the point +beyond which Drayle's contemporaries believed it was unsafe to go: for +they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> felt that inventions such as his would add to the complexities +of life, and that if a halt were not made our own machines would +ultimately destroy us.</p> + +<p>"I did not, still do not, believe it. And I know Drayle's spirit broke +when the authorities sealed his last work in that box and released him +upon parole to abandon his experiments."</p> + +<p>As the speaker sighed in regretful reminiscence, the sergeant glanced +at his men. Apparently all was well: the only visible menace lolled +within easy arm's reach, swinging his short legs and sucking noisily +on his candy. Nevertheless the non-com shifted to a slightly better +tactical position as he awaited the continuance of the tale.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_c1.jpg" alt="C" width="54" height="58" /></div> +<p>hristopher Drayle," said the elderly gentleman, "was the greatest +man I have ever known, as well as the finest. Forty years or more ago +we were close friends. Our homes on Long Island adjoined and I handled +most of his legal affairs. He was about forty-five or six then, but +already famous.</p> + +<p>"His rediscovery of the ancient process of tempering copper had made +him one of the wealthiest men in the land and enabled him to devote +his time to scientific research. Electricity and chemistry were his +specialties, and at the period of which I speak he was deeply +engrossed in problems of radio transmission.</p> + +<p>"But he had many interests and not infrequently visited our local +country club for an afternoon of golf. Sometimes I played around the +course with him and afterward, over a drink, we would talk. His +favorite topic was the contribution of science to human welfare. And +even though I could not always follow him when he grew enthusiastic +about some new theory I was always puzzled.</p> + +<p>"It was at such a time, when we had been discussing the new and first +successful attempt to send moving pictures by radio, that I mentioned +the prophecy of Jackson Gee. Gee was the writer of fantastic, +pseudo-scientific tales who had said: 'We shall soon be able to +resolve human beings into their constituent elements, transmit them by +radio to any desired point and reassemble them at the other end. We +shall do this by means of vibrations. We are just beginning to learn +that vibrations are the key to the fundamental process of all life.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p> laughed as I quoted this to Drayle, for it seemed to me the ravings +of a lunatic. But Drayle did not smile. 'Jackson Gee,' he said, 'is +nearer to the truth than he imagines. We already know the elements +that make the human body, and we can put them together in their proper +proportions and arrangements: but we have not been able to introduce +the vitalizing spark, the key vibrations to start it going. We can +reproduce the human machine, but we can not make it move. We can +destroy life in the laboratory, and we can prolong it, but so far we +have not been able to create it. Yet I tell you in all seriousness +that that time will come; that time will come.'</p> + +<p>"I was surprised at his earnestness and would have questioned him +further. But a boy appeared just then with a message that Drayle was +wanted at the telephone.</p> + +<p>"Something important, sir," he said. Drayle went off to answer the +summons and later he sent word that he had been called away and would +not be able to return.</p> + +<p>"It was the last I heard from Drayle for months. He shut himself in +his laboratory and saw no one but his assistants, Ward of Boston, and +Buchannon of Washington. He even slept in the workshop and had his +food sent in.</p> + +<p>"Ordinarily I would not have been excluded, for I had his confidence +to an unusual degree and I had often watched him work. I admired the +deft movements of his hands. He had the certain touch and style of a +master. But during that period he admitted only his aids.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_c1.jpg" alt="C" width="54" height="58" /></div> +<p>onsequently I felt little hope of reaching him one morning when it +was necessary to have his signature to some legal documents. Yet the +urgency of the case led me to go to his home on the chance that I +might be able to get him long enough for the business that concerned +us. Luck was with me, for he sent out word that he would see me in a +few minutes. I remember seating myself in the office that opened off +his laboratory and wondering what was beyond the door that separated +us. I had witnessed some incredible performances in the adjoining +room.</p> + +<p>"At last Drayle came in. He looked worried and careworn. There were +new lines in his face and blue half-circles of fatigue beneath his +eyes. It was evident that it was long since he had slept. He +apologized for having kept me waiting and then, without examining the +papers I offered, he signed his name nervously in the proper spaces. +When I gathered the sheets together he turned abruptly toward the +laboratory, but at the door he paused and smiled.</p> + +<p>"'Give my respects to Jackson Gee,' he said."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_w1.jpg" alt="W" width="78" height="54" /></div> +<p>ho's Jackson Gee? Does father know him? Has he any polar bears? +Aren't you going to tell me about that?"</p> + +<p>The tidal wave of questions almost overwhelmed the historian and his +auditor. But the military, fortunately, was equal to the emergency. +With a tactical turn of his hand he thrust the remnant of the lollypop +between the chattering jaws and spoke with sharp rapidity.</p> + +<p>"Listen," he commanded, "that there, what you got, is a magic candy, +and if you go on exposing it to the air after it is once in your mouth +it's likely to disappear, just like that." And the speed of the +translation was illustrated by a smart snapping of the fingers.</p> + +<p>Doubt shone in the juvenile terror's eyes and the earlier generations +waited fearfully while skepticism and greed waged their recurrent +conflict. For a time it seemed as if the veteran had blundered; but +finally greed triumphed and a temporary peace ensued.</p> + +<p>"Where was I?" inquired the interrupted narrator when the issue of +battle was settled.</p> + +<p>"You was talking about Jackson Gee," answered the guardsman in a +cautiously low tone.</p> + +<p>"So I was, so I was," the old gentleman agreed somewhat vaguely, +nodding his head. He gazed at the sergeant with mingled awe and +admiration. "I suppose it's quite useless to mention it," he said +rather wistfully, "but if you ever get out of the army and should want +a job.... You could name your own salary, you know?" The question +ended on an appealing note.</p> + +<p>Evidently the soldier understood the digression, for he replied in a +tone that would brook no dispute. "No, sir, I couldn't consider it."</p> + +<p>"I was afraid so," said the other regretfully, and added, with +apparent irrelevance, "I have to live with him, you see."</p> + +<p>"Tough luck," commiserated the listener.</p> + +<p>Reluctantly summoning his thoughts from the pleasant contemplation of +what had seemed to offer a new era of peace, the bard turned to his +story.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_a1.jpg" alt="A" width="56" height="52" /></div> +<p> few hours later," he continued, "I had a telephone call from +Drayle's wife, and I realized from the fright in her voice that +something dreadful had happened. She asked me to come to the house at +once. Chris had been hurt. But she disconnected before I could ask for +details. I started immediately and I wondered as I drove what disaster +had overtaken him. Anything, it seemed to me, might have befallen in +that room of miracles. But I was not prepared to find that Drayle had +been shot and wounded.</p> + +<p>"The police were before me and already questioning the assailant, Mrs. +Farrel, a fiery tempered young Irish-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>woman. When I entered the room +she was repeating half-hysterically her explanation that Drayle had +killed her husband in the laboratory that morning.</p> + +<p>"'Right before my eyes, I seen it,' she shouted. 'Harry was standing +on a sort of platform looking at a big machine like, and so help me he +didn't have a stitch of clothes on, and I started to say something, +but all at once there came a terrible sort of screech and a flash like +lightnin' kinda, in front of him. Then Harry turns into a sort of +thick smoke and I can see right through him like he was a ghost; and +then the smoke gets sucked into a big hole in the machine and I know +Harry's dead. And here's this man what done it, just a standin' there, +grinnin' horrid. So something comes over me all at once and I points +Harry's gun at him and pulls the trigger!'</p> + +<p>"Even before the woman had finished I recalled what I seen one +afternoon in Drayle's laboratory many months before. I had been there +for some time watching him when he placed a small tumbler on a work +table and asked me if I had ever seen glass shattered by the +vibrations of a violin. I told him that I had, but he went through the +demonstration as if to satisfy himself. Of course when he drew a bow +across the instrument's strings and produced the proper pitch the +goblet cracked into pieces exactly as might have been expected. And I +wondered why Drayle concerned himself with so childish an experiment +before I noticed that he appeared to have forgotten me completely.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p> endeavored then not to disturb him, and I remember trying to draw +myself out of his way and feeling that something momentous was about +to take place. Yet actually I believe it would have required a +considerable commotion to have distracted his attention, for his +ability to concentrate was one of the characteristics of his genius.</p> + +<p>"I saw him place another glass on the table and I noticed then that +it stood directly in front of a complicated mechanism. At first this +gave out a low humming sound, but it soon rose to an unearthly whining +shriek. I shrank from it involuntarily and a second later I was amazed +at the sight of the glass, seemingly reduced to a thin vapor, being +drawn into a funnel-like opening near the top of the device. I was too +startled to speak and could only watch as Drayle started the +contrivance again. Once more its noise cut through me with physical +pain. I cried out. But my voice was overwhelmed by the terrific din of +the mysterious machine.</p> + +<p>"Then Drayle strode down the long room to another intricate mass of +wire coils and plates and lamps. And I saw a dim glow appear in two of +the bulbs and heard a noise like the crackling of paper. Drayle made +some adjustments, and presently I observed a peculiar shimmering of +the air above a horizontal metal grid. It reminded me of heat waves +rising from a summer street, until I saw the vibrations were taking a +definite pattern; and that the pattern was that of the glass I had +seen dissolved into air. At first the image made me think of a picture +formed by a series of horizontal lines close together but broken at +various points in such fashion as to create the appearance of a line +by the very continuity of the fractures. But as I watched, the plasma +became substance. The air ceased to quiver and I was appalled to see +Drayle pick up the tumbler and carry it to a scale on which he weighed +it with infinite exactness. If he had approached me with it at that +moment I would have fled in terror.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_n1.jpg" alt="N" width="63" height="58" /></div> +<p>ext, Drayle filled the goblet with some liquid which immediately +afterward he measured in a beaker. The result seemed to please him, +for he smiled happily. At the same instant he became aware of my +presence. He looked surprised and then a trifle disconcerted. I could +see that he was embarrassed by the knowledge that I had witnessed so +much, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> after a second or two he asked my silence. I agreed at +once, not only because he requested it but because I couldn't believe +the evidence myself. He let me out then and locked the door.</p> + +<p>"It was this recollection that made me credit the woman's story. But I +was sick with dread, for in spite of my faith in Drayle's genius I +feared he had gone mad.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Drayle had listened to Mrs. Farrel's account calmly enough, but +I could see the fear in her eyes when she signaled a wish to speak to +me alone. I followed her into an adjoining room, leaving Mrs. Farrel +with the two policemen and the doctor, who was trying to quiet her.</p> + +<p>"As soon as the door closed after us Mrs. Drayle seized my hands.</p> + +<p>"'Tim,' she whispered, 'I'm horribly afraid that what the woman says +is true. Chris has told me of some wonderful things he was planning to +do, but I never expected he would experiment on human beings. Can they +send him to prison?'</p> + +<p>"Of course I said what I could to comfort her and tried to make my +voice sound convincing. At the time the legal aspect of the matter did +not worry me so much as the fear that the attack on Drayle might prove +fatal. For even if it should develop that he was not dangerously hurt, +I imagined that the interruption of the experiment at a critical +moment might easily have ruined whatever slim chance there had been of +success. For us the nerve-wracking part was that we could do nothing +until the surgeon who was attending Drayle could tell us how badly he +was injured.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_a1.jpg" alt="A" width="56" height="52" /></div> +<p>t last word came that the bullet had only grazed Drayle's head and +stunned him, but that he might remain unconscious for some time. Mrs. +Drayle went in and sat at her husband's side, while I returned to the +laboratory and found the police greatly bewildered as to whether they +ought to arrest Drayle.</p> + +<p>"They had discovered in a closet an outfit of men's clothing that Mrs. +Farrel identified as her husband's, and, although they saw no other +trace of the missing man, they had a desire to lock up somebody as an +evidence of their activity. It took considerable persuasion to prevail +upon them to withhold their hands. There was no such difficulty about +restraining them in the laboratory. They were afraid to touch any +apparatus, and they gave the invention a ludicrously wide berth.</p> + +<p>"I never knew exactly how long it was that I paced about the lower +floor of Drayle's home before the doctor summoned me and announced +that the patient wanted me, but that I must be careful not to excite +him. I have often wondered how many physicians would have to abandon +their profession if they were deprived of that phrase. 'You must not +excite the patient.'</p> + +<p>"Drayle was already excited when I entered. In fact, he was furious at +the doctor's efforts to restrain him. But I realized that my fear for +his reason was groundless. His remarks were lucid and forceful as he +raged at the interference with his work. As soon as he saw me he +appealed for assistance.</p> + +<p>"'Make them let me alone. Tim,' he begged, as his wife and the doctor, +partly by force and partly by persuasion, endeavored to hold him in +bed. 'I must get back to the laboratory. That woman believes that I've +killed her husband, and my assistant will think that we've failed.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p> was about to argue with him when suddenly he managed to thrust the +doctor aside and start toward the door. His seriousness impressed me +so that I gave him a supporting arm and together we headed down the +hall, with Mrs. Drayle and the doctor following anxiously in the rear. +The laboratory was deserted and locked when we arrived. The police +evidently felt it was too uncanny an atmosphere for a prolonged wait.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +Drayle opened the door, went directly to his machine, and examined it +minutely.</p> + +<p>"'Thank the Lord that woman hit only me!' he said, and sank into a +chair. Then he asked for some brandy. Mrs. Drayle rushed off and +reappeared in a minute with a decanter and glass. Drayle helped +himself to a swallow that brought color to his cheeks and new strength +to his limbs. Immediately after he turned again to the machine. I +dragged up a chair, assisted him into it, and seated myself close by.</p> + +<p>"I knew little enough about mechanics, but I was fascinated by the +numerous gauges that faced me on the gleaming instrument board. There +were dials with needlelike hands that registered various numbers; +spots of color appeared in narrow slots close to a solar spectrum: a +stream of graph-paper tape flowed slowly beneath a tracing-pen point +and carried away a jiggly thin line of purple ink. In a moment Drayle +was oblivious of everything but his records. I watched him copy the +indicated figures, surround them with formulas, and solve mysterious +problems with a slide-rule.</p> + +<p>"His calculations covered a large sheet before he had finished. At +last he underscored three intricate combinations of letters and +figures and carried the answers to his private radio apparatus. This +operated on a wave length far outside the range of all others and +insured him against interference. With it he was able to speak at any +time with his assistants in Washington or Boston or with both at once. +He threw the switch that sent his call into the air. An answer came +instantly, and Drayle begin to talk to his distant lieutenants.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_w2.jpg" alt="W" width="85" height="56" /></div> +<p>e've been interrupted, gentlemen,' he said, 'but I think we may +continue now. We'll reassemble in the Boston laboratory. Have you +arranged the elements? The coefficients are....' And he gave a +succession of decimals.</p> + +<p>"A voice replied that all was ready. Drayle said 'Excellent,' went +back to his invention and twisted a black knob on the board before +him.</p> + +<p>"With this trifling movement all hell seemed to crash about us. The +ghastly cacophony that I had experienced in the same room some months +previously was as nothing. These stupendous waves of sound pounded us +until it seemed as if we must disintegrate beneath them. Wails and +screams engulfed us. Mrs. Drayle dropped to her knees beside her +husband. The doctor seized my arm and I saw the knuckles of his hand +turn white with the pressure of his grip, yet I felt nothing but the +awful vibrations that drummed like riveting machines upon and through +my nerves and body. It was not an attack upon the ears alone; it +crashed upon the heart, beat upon the chest so that breathing seemed +impossible. My brain throbbed under the terrific pulsations. For a +while I imagined the human system could not endure the ordeal and that +all of us must be annihilated.</p> + +<p>"Except for his slow turning of the dials Drayle was motionless before +the machine. Below the bandage about his forehead I could see his +features drawn with anxiety. He had wagered a human life to test his +theory and I think the enormity of it had not struck him until that +moment.</p> + +<p>"What I knew and hoped enabled me to imagine what was taking place in +the Boston laboratory. I seemed to see man's elementary dust and +vapors whirled from great containers upward into a stratum of +shimmering air and gradually assume the outlines of a human form that +became first opaque, then solid, and then a sentient being. At the +same instant I was conscious that the appalling pandemonium had ceased +and that the voice of Drayle's Boston assistant was on the radio.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_c2.jpg" alt="C" width="60" height="56" /></div> +<p>ongratulations, Chief! His reassemblage is perfect. There's not a +flaw anywhere.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> "'Splendid,' Drayle answered. 'Bring him here by +plane right away; his wife is worried about him.'</p> + +<p>"Then Drayle turned to me.</p> + +<p>"'You see,' he said, 'Jackson Gee was right. We have resolved man into +his constituent elements, transmitted his key vibrations by radio, and +reassembled him from a supply of identical elements at the other end. +And now, if you will assure that woman that her husband is safe, I +will get some sleep. You will have the proof before you in less than +three hours.'</p> + +<p>"I can't vouch for the doctor's feelings, but as Drayle left us I was +satisfied that everything was as it should be, and that I had just +witnessed the greatest scientific achievement of all time. I did not +foresee, nor did Drayle, the results of an error or deliberate +disobedience on the part of one of his assistants.</p> + +<p>"We waited, the doctor and I, for the arrival of the man who, we were +convinced, had been transported some three hundred miles in a manner +that defied belief. The evidence would come, Drayle had said, in a few +hours. Long before they had elapsed we were starting at the sound of +every passing motor, for we knew that a plane must land some distance +from the house and that the travelers would make the last mile or so +by car.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Drayle endeavored to convince the imagined widow that her +husband was safe and was returning speedily. Later she rejoined us, +full of questions that we answered in a comforting blind faith. The +time limit was drawing to a close when the sound of an automobile horn +was quickly followed by a sharp knock on the laboratory door. At a +sign from Mrs. Drayle one of the policemen opened it and we saw two +men before us. One, a scholarly appearing, bespectacled youth, I +recognized as Drayle's Boston assistant, Ward; the other, a rather +burly individual, was a stranger to me. But there was no doubt he was +the man we awaited so eagerly, for Mrs. Farrel screamed 'Harry! +Harry!' and sped across the room towards him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_a1.jpg" alt="A" width="56" height="52" /></div> +<p>t first she ran her fingers rather timidly over his face, and then +pinched his huge shoulders, as if to assure herself of his reality. +The sense of touch must have satisfied her, for abruptly she kissed +him, flung her arms about him, clung to him, and crooned little +endearments. The big man, in turn, patted her cheeks awkwardly and +mumbled in a convincingly natural voice, ''Sall right, Mary, old kid! +There ain't nothin' to it. Yeah! Sure it's me!'</p> + +<p>"Then I was conscious of Drayle's presence. A brown silk dressing gown +fell shapelessly about his spare frame and smoke from his cigarette +rose in a quivering blue-white stream. Ward spied him at the same +moment and stepped forward with quick outstretched hands. I remember +the flame of adoring zeal in the youngster's eyes as he tried to +speak. At length he managed to stammer some congratulatory phrases +while Drayle clapped him affectionately on the back.</p> + +<p>"Then Drayle turned to Farrel to ask him how he enjoyed the trip. +Farrel grinned and said, 'Fine! It was like a dream, sir! First I'm in +one place and then I'm in another and I don't know nothing about how I +got there. But I could do with a drink, sir. I ain't used to them +airyplanes much.'</p> + +<p>"Drayle accepted the hint and suggested that we all celebrate. He gave +instructions over a desk telephone and almost immediately a man +entered with a small service wagon containing a wide assortment of +liquors and glasses. When we had all been served, Ward asked somewhat +hesitantly if he might propose a toast. 'To Dr. Drayle, the greatest +scientist of all time!'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_w1.jpg" alt="W" width="78" height="54" /></div> +<p>e were of course, already somewhat drunk with excitement as we +lifted our glasses. But Drayle would not have it.</p> + +<p>"'Let me amend that,' he said. 'Let<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> us drink to the future of +science.'</p> + +<p>"'Sure!' said Farrel, very promptly. I think he was somewhat uncertain +about 'toast,' but he clung hopefully to the word 'drink.'</p> + +<p>"We had raised our glasses again when Drayle, who was facing the door, +dropped his. It struck the floor with a little crash and the liquor +spattered my ankles. Drayle whispered 'Great God!' I saw in the +doorway another Farrel. He was grimy, disheveled, his clothing was +torn, and his expression ugly; but his identity with 'Harry' was +unescapable. For an instant I suspected Drayle of trickery, of +perpetrating some fiendishly elaborate hoax. And then I heard Mrs. +Farrel scream, heard the newcomer cry, 'Mary,' and saw two men staring +at each other in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"The explanation burst upon me with a horrible suddenness. Farrel had +been reconstructed in each of Drayle's distant laboratories, and there +stood before us two identities each equally authentic, each the legal +husband of the woman who, a few hours previously, had imagined herself +a widow. The situation was fantastic, nightmarish, unbelievable and +undeniable. My head reeled with the fearful possibilities.</p> + +<p>"Drayle was the first to recover his poise. He opened a door leading +into an adjoining room and motioned for us all to enter. That is, all +but the police. He left them wisely with their liquor. 'Finish it,' he +advised them. 'You see no one has been killed.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div> +<p>hey were not quite satisfied, but neither were they certain what +they ought to do, and for once displayed common sense by doing +nothing. When the door closed after us I saw that Buchannon, the +Washington laboratory assistant, was with us. He must have arrived +with the second Farrel, although I had not observed him during the +confusion attending the former's unexpected appearance. But Drayle had +noted him and now seized his shoulders. 'Explain!' he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Buchannon's face went white and he shrank under the clutch of +Drayle's fingers. Beyond them I saw the two twinlike men standing +beside Mrs. Farrel, surveying each other with incredulous recognition +and distaste.</p> + +<p>"'Explain!' roared Drayle, and tightened his grasp.</p> + +<p>"'I thought you said Washington, Chief.' His voice was not convincing. +I didn't believe him, nor did Drayle.</p> + +<p>"'You lie!' he raged, and floored the man with his fist.</p> + +<p>"In a way I couldn't help feeling sorry for the chap. It must have +been a frightful temptation to participate in the experiment and I +suppose he had not forseen the consequences. But I began to have a +glimmering of the magnificent possibilities of the invention for +purposes far beyond Drayle's intent. For, I asked myself, why, if such +a machine could produce two human identities, why not a score, a +hundred, a thousand? The best of the race could be multiplied +indefinitely and man could make man at last, literally out of the dust +of the earth. The virtue of instantaneous transmission which had been +Drayle's aim sank into insignificance beside it. I fancied a race of +supermen thus created. And I still believe, Sergeant, that the chance +for the world's greatest happiness is sealed within that box you +guard. But its first fruits were tragic."</p> + +<p>The historian shifted his position on the bench so as to escape the +sun that was now reflected dazzlingly by the polished steel casket.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_d1.jpg" alt="D" width="59" height="59" /></div> +<p>rayle did not glance again at his disobedient lieutenant. He was +concerned with the problem of the extra man, or, I should say, an +extra man, for both were equal. Never before in the history of the +world had two men been absolutely identical. They were, of course, one +in thought, possessions and rights, physical attributes and +appearance. Mrs. Farrel, as they were beginning to realize, was the +wife of both. And I have an un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>worthy suspicion that the red-headed +young woman, after she recovered from the shock, was not entirely +displeased. The two men, however, finding that each had an arm about +her waist, were regarding each other in a way that foretold trouble. +Both spoke at the same time and in the same words.</p> + +<p>"'Take your hands off my wife!'</p> + +<p>"And I think they would have attacked each other then if Drayle hadn't +intervened. He said, 'Sit down! All of you!' in so peremptory a voice +that we obeyed him.</p> + +<p>"'Now,' he went on, 'pay attention to me. I think you realize the +situation. The question is, what we shall do about it?' He pointed an +accusing finger at the Farrel from Washington. 'You were not +authorized to exist; properly we should retransmit you, and without +reassembling you would simply cease to be.'</p> + +<p>"The man addressed looked terrified. 'It would be murder!' he +protested.</p> + +<p>"'Would it?' Drayle inquired of me.</p> + +<p>"I told him that it could not be proved inasmuch as there would be no +<i>corpus delicti</i> and hence nothing on which to base a charge.</p> + +<p>"But the Washington Farrel seemed to have more than an academic +interest in the question and grew obstinate.</p> + +<p>"'Nothing doing!' he announced emphatically. 'Here I am and here I +stay. I started from this place this morning and now I'm back, and as +for that big ape over there I don't know nothing about him—except +he'll be dead damn soon if he don't keep away from my wife.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div> +<p>he other Drayle-made man leaped up at this, and again I expected +violence. But Buchannon flung himself between, and they subsided, +muttering.</p> + +<p>"'Very well, then,' Drayle continued, when the room was quiet, 'here +is another solution. We can, as you realize, duplicate Mrs. Farrel, +and I will double your present possessions.'</p> + +<p>"This time it was Mrs. Farrel who was dissatisfied. 'You ain't +talking to me,' she informed Drayle. 'Me stand naked in front of all +them lamps and get turned into smoke? Not me!' A smile spread over her +face and her eyes twinkled with deviltry. 'I didn't never think I'd be +in one of them triangles like in the movies, and with my own husbands, +but seein' I am, I'm all for keeping them both. Then I might know +where one of them was some of the time.'</p> + +<p>"But neither of the men took to this idea and the problem appeared +increasingly complex. I proposed that the survivor be determined by +lot, but this suggestion won no support from anyone. Again the two men +spoke at the same instant and in the same words. It was like a +carefully rehearsed chorus. 'I know my rights, and I ain't going to be +gypped out of them!'</p> + +<p>"It was at this point that Drayle attempted bribery. He offered fifty +thousand dollars to the man who would abandon Mrs. Farrel. But this +scheme fell through because both men sought the opportunity and Mrs. +Farrel objected volubly.</p> + +<p>"So in the end Drayle promised each of them the same amount as a price +for silence and left the matter of their relationships to their own +settlement.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p> was skeptical of the success of the plan but could offer nothing +better. So I drew up a release as legally binding as I knew how to +make it in a case without precedent. I remember thinking that if the +matter ever came into court the judge would be as much at a loss as I +was.</p> + +<p>"Our troubles, though, didn't spring from that source. Each of the +three parties accepted the arrangement eagerly and Drayle dismissed +them with a hand-shake, a wish for luck and a check for fifty thousand +dollars each. It's very nice to be wealthy, you know.</p> + +<p>"Afterward, we went out and paid off the police. Perhaps that's +stating it too bluntly. I mean that Drayle thanked them for their +zealous atten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>tion to his interests, regretted that they had been +unnecessarily inconvenienced and treated that they would not take +amiss a small token of his appreciation of their devotion to duty. +Then he shook hands with them both and I believe I saw a yellow bill +transferred on each occasion. At any rate the officers saluted smartly +and left.</p> + +<p>"Of course I was impatient to question Drayle, but I could see that he +was desperately fatigued. So I departed.</p> + +<p>"Next morning I found my worst fears exceeded by the events of the +night. The three Farrels who had left us in apparently amiable spirits +had proceeded to the home of Mrs. and the original Mr. Farrel. There +the argument of who was to leave had been resumed. Both men were, of +course, of the same mind. Whether both desired to stay or flee I would +not presume to say. But an acrimonious dispute led to physical +hostilities, and while Mrs. Farrel, according to accounts, cheered +them on, they literally fought to the death. Being equally capable, +there was naturally, barring interruption, no other possible outcome. +I can well believe they employed the same tactics, swung the same +blows, and died at the same instant.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Farrel, after carefully retrieving both of her husbands' checks, +told a great deal of the story. As might be expected, nobody believed +the yarn except our profound federal law makers. They welcomed an +opportunity to investigate an outsider for a change and had all of us +before a committee.</p> + +<p>"Finally the Congress of these United States of America, plus the +sagacious Supreme Court, decided that my client wasn't guilty of +anything, but that he mustn't do it again. At least that was the gist +of it. I recollect that I offered a defense of psycopathic +neuroticism.</p> + +<p>"As a result of the <i>obiter dictum</i> and a resolution by both Houses +Assembled Drayle's invention was sealed, dated and placed under guard. +That's its history, Sergeant."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he white-haired old gentleman picked up the high silk hat that added +a final touch of distinction to his tall figure, and looked about him +as if trying to recall something. At last the idea came.</p> + +<p>"By the way," he inquired suddenly, "didn't I have an extraordinarily +obnoxious grandson with me when I came?"</p> + +<p>The attentive auditor was vastly startled. He surveyed the great hall +rapidly, but reflected before he answered.</p> + +<p>"No, sir—I mean he ain't no more'n average! But I reckon we'd better +find him, anyhow."</p> + +<p>His glance had satisfied the sergeant that at least the object of his +charge was safe and his men still vigilant. "I'll be back in a +minute," he informed them. "Don't let nothin' happen."</p> + +<p>"Bring us something more'n a breath," pleaded the corporal, +disrespectfully.</p> + +<p>The sergeant had already set off at a brisk pace with the story +teller. For several minutes as they rushed from room to room the hunt +was unrewarded.</p> + +<p>"I think, sir," said the sergeant, "we'd better look in the natural +history division. There is stuffed animals in there that the kids is +fond of."</p> + +<p>"You're probably right," the patriarch gasped as he struggled to +maintain the gait set by the younger man. "I might have known he +didn't really want to hear the story."</p> + +<p>"They never do," answered the other over his shoulder. "I'll bet +that's him down there on the next floor."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he two searchers had emerged upon a wide gallery that commanded a +clear view of the main entrance where various specimens of American +fauna were mounted in intriguing replicas of their native habitat.</p> + +<p>The guard pointed an accusing finger at one of these groups and sprang +toward the stairs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>The old gentleman's breath and strength were gone. He could only gaze +in the direction that had been indicated by the madly running guard; +but he had no doubts. A small boy was certainly digging vigorously at +the head of a specimen of <i>Ursus Polaris</i> that the curator had +represented in the dramatic pose of killing a seal. A protesting wail +arose from below as the young naturalist was withdrawn from his field +by a capable hand on the slack of his trousers. And presently, +chagrined with failure, the culprit was before his grandsire.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" he complained, "I was only looking at the polar bear. Are polar +bears always white? Are—"</p> + +<p>"You'd better take him away, sir," interrupted the sergeant. "He was +trying to pry out one of the bear's eyes with the stick of the +lollypop I give him. Take him."</p> + +<p>The old gentleman extended both hands. His left found a grip in his +grandson's coat collar; his right, partly concealing a government +engraving, met the guard's with a clasp of gratitude.</p> + +<p>"Sergeant," he remarked in a voice tense with feeling, "a half-hour +ago I expressed some ridiculous regrets that Drayle's invention had +been kept from the world. Now I realize its horrid menace. I shudder +to think it might have been responsible for two like him!"</p> + +<p>The object of disapproval was shaken indicatively.</p> + +<p>"Guard the secret well, Sergeant! Guard it well! The world's peace +depends upon you!" The old gentleman's words trembled with conviction.</p> + +<p>Then alternately shaking his head and his grandson he marched down the +hallway, ebony cane tapping angrily upon the stone.</p> + +<p>As the exhausted but happy warrior retraced his steps a high-pitched +voice floated after him.</p> + +<p>"Grandpa, are polar bears <i>always</i> white?"</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_010.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="Advertisement" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_011.jpg" width="600" height="548" alt="The Reader's Corner" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="The_Readers_Corner" id="The_Readers_Corner"></a>The Reader's Corner</h2> + +<h3><i>A Meeting Place for Readers of</i> Astounding Stories</h3> + +<p class="p1"><i>The Invisible X-Flyers</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The following is a semi-technical description of the +operation of the invisible X-flyers used in "Jetta of the +Lowlands" as compiled by Philip Grant in the year 2021 from +official records of the Anti-War Department of the United +States of North America, and discovered recently by Ray +Cummings.</p> + +<p>The attainment of mechanical invisibility reached a state of +perfection in the year 2000 sufficient to make it practical +for many uses. For a century this result had been sought. It +came, about the year 2000, not as a single startling +discovery, but as the culmination of the patient labor of +many men during many years. The popular mind has always +considered that science advances by a series of "great +scientific discoveries"; "unprecedented"; "revolutionary." +That is not so. Each step in the progress of scientific +achievement is built most carefully upon the one beneath it. +And generally the "revolutionary, unprecedented discovery" +has very little of itself that is new; rather it is a new +combination of older, perhaps seemingly impractical +knowledge. Every scientific theory, every device, is the +offspring from a large and varied family tree of many +scientific ancestors, each of whom in his day was a +remarkable personage.</p> + +<p>Thus it is, with the principles of mechanical invisibility. +I deal here with the famous X-flyers. The operation of the +plane itself is immaterial; its motors; its wing-spread +surfaces; its aerial controls. I am concerned only with the +scientific principles underlying its power of invisibility.</p> + +<p>Three scientific factors are involved: First, the process +known as de-electroniration; second, the theories of color +absorption; third, the material, inevitable deflection +(bending) of light rays when passing through a magnetic +field.</p> + +<p>I take each of the three in order. The forerunners of +de-electroniration were the Martel effects—the experiments +of Charles Martel, in Paris, in 1937. A new electric +current, of a different character—now called the +oscillating current as distinct from the alternating and +direct—was developed. Metallic plates were +electro-magnetized to produce an enveloping magnetic field +of somewhat a different character from any field formerly +known.</p> + +<p>Dr. Norton Grenfell followed this in 1946 by using the +Martel oscillating current to obtain a reverse effect. A +similar disturb<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>ance of electrode balance. But not a +surcharge. An exhaustion. An anti-electrical state, instead +of a state of magnetism. A metallic mass so treated—and +with a constant flow of oscillating current holding its +subnormal electronic balance—was then said to be +de-electronired.</p> + +<p>Scientific "discoveries" are largely made by the trial and +error system. The scientist takes what he finds. Generally +he does not know, at first, what it means. Martell took his +oscillating current and "discovered" the Martel Magnetic +Levitation, whereby gravity was lessened, and then +completely nullified. Grenfell, with his de-electroniration, +increased the power of gravity. The two were combined by +Grenfell and his associates—and the secret of +interplanetary flight was at hand.</p> + +<p>But there was a host of other workers not interested in +space flyers; they probed in other directions. It was found +that the subnormal magnetic field surrounding a metallic +substance in a state of de-electroniration had two unusual +properties: its color absorption was high; and it bent light +rays from their normal straight path into a curve abnormally +great. Yet, though it absorbed the color of the rays +emanating from the de-electronired metal (the metal itself +increasing this result), the magnetic field, while bending +the rays passing through it from distant objects behind it, +nevertheless left their color and all their inherent +properties unchanged.</p> + +<p>The principles of color absorption are these:—a pigment—a +paint, a dye, if you will—is "red" because it absorbs from +the light rays of the sun all the other colors and leaves +only red to be reflected from it to the eye. Or "violet" +because all the rest are absorbed, and the violet is +reflected. Or "black" because all are absorbed; and "white" +the reverse, all blended and reflected. Color is dependent +upon vibratory motion. The solar spectrum—its range of +visibility through the primary colors from red to +violet—can be likened to a range of radio wave-lengths; +vibration frequencies; and when we eliminate them all save +the "violet"—that is what we have left, in the radio to +hear, in color absorption to see.</p> + +<p>Thus, a de-electronired metal was found to produce black. +Not black as habitually we meet it—a "shiny" black, a +"dull" black; but a true black—a real absence of light-ray +reflection—a "nothingness to see"; in effect, an +invisibility.</p> + +<p>A word of explanation is necessary regarding the other +property of the de-electronired field—the bending of +distant light rays into a curve, yet leaving their spectrum +unchanged. It was Albert Einstein who first made the +statement—in the years following the turn of the century at +1900—that it was a normal, natural thing for a ray of light +to be slightly deflected from its straight path when passing +through a magnetic field. The claim caused world-wide +interest, for upon its truth or falsity the whole fabric of +the Einstein Theory of Relativity was woven.</p> + +<p>An eclipse of the sun in the 1920's established that light +is actually bent in the manner Einstein had calculated. A +magnetic field surrounds the sun. In those days they did +not know that it is a field of subnormal electronic +balance—in effect, the result of de-electroniration. It was +found, nevertheless, that stars close to the limb of the sun +appeared, not in their true positions, but shifted in just +the directions and with the amount of shift Einstein +predicted. The light rays coming from them to the eye of the +observer on Earth were curved in passing so close to the +sun. But the color-bands of their spectrums were unaltered.</p> + +<p>And some of the stars actually were behind the sun, yet +because of the curved path of the light, were visible. I +mention this because it is an important aspect of the +subject of mechanical invisibility.</p> + +<p>With the foregoing factors, the secret of mechanical +invisibility is constructed. Gracely, an American—following +a long series of world-wide experiments, tests of current +strength, frequencies of oscillation, suitable metals, etc., +which I cannot detail here—in 1955 was the final developer +of the mechanisms subsequently used in the X-flyers.</p> + +<p>Gracely produced what he christened "aluminoid-spectrite"—a +light-weight alloy which, when carrying an oscillating +electronic current of the proper frequency, produced the +effects I have described. It absorbed from the light rays +coming from the metal, all the colors of the solar spectrum, +well beyond the range of the human eye at both ends of the +scale. The result was a "visible nothingness."</p> + +<p>A moment's thought will make clear that term. A visible +nothingness is not invisibility. The fact that something was +there but could not be seen was obvious. A black hat with a +light on it and placed against an average background is +almost as easy to see as a white hat. Gracely's first crude +experiments were made with an aluminoid-spectrite cube—a +small brick a foot in each dimension. The cube glowed, +turned, dark, then black, then was gone. He had it resting +on a white table, with a white background. And the fact that +the cube was still there, was perfectly obvious. It was as +though a hole of nothingness were set against the white +table. It outlined the cube; reconstructed it so that for +practical purposes the eye saw not a white, aluminoid brick, +but a dead black one.</p> + +<p>And this is very much what a man sees when he stares at his +black hat on a table. The hat occults its background, and +thus reconstructs itself.</p> + +<p>But when Gracely determined the proper vibrations of his +oscillating current to coincide with all the other material +factors he was using, the final result was before him-real +invisibility. He used a patterned background—a +symmetrically checkered surface, most difficult of all. The +light rays coming from this background passed through the +magnetic field surrounding the invisible colorless cube, and +were bent into a curved path. But their own +color-spectrum—in actuality the color, shape, all the +visible characteristics of the background—was not greatly +altered. The observer saw what actually was behind the +invisible cube: the checkered background,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> sometimes +slightly distorted, but nevertheless sufficiently clear for +its abnormality to escape notice. Thus the cube's outlines +were not reconstructed; and, in effect, it had vanished.</p> + +<p>In practical workings with the X-flyers, no such difficult +test as Gracely's cube and rectangular, symmetrically +patterned background is ever met. The varying background +behind a plane—at rest or flying, and particularly at +night—demands less perfection of background than Gracely's +laboratory conditions. I am informed that an X-flyer can +vaguely be seen—or sensed, rather—from some angles and +under certain and unfavorable conditions of light, and +depending on its line of movement relative to the angle of +observation, and the type and color-lighting of its +background. But under most conditions it represents a very +nearly perfect mechanical invisibility.</p> + +<p>There is one aspect of the subject with which I may close +this brief paper. I give it without technical explanation; +it seems to me an amusing angle.</p> + +<p>The theory of stereoscopics—the vision of the twin lenses +of the human eyes, set a distance apart to give the +perception of depth, of the third dimension—is in itself a +subject tremendously interesting, and worthy of anyone's +study. I have no space for it here, nor would it be strictly +relevant. I need only state that a two-eyed man sees +partially around an object (by virtue of the different +angles from which each of his eyes gaze at it) and thus sees +a trifle more of the background than would otherwise be the +case. And this—these two viewpoints blended in his +brain—gives him his perception of "depth," of +"solidity"—the difference between a real scene of three +dimensions and a painted scene on a canvas of two dimensions +with only the artist's skill in perspective to simulate the +third.</p> + +<p>And I cannot refrain from mentioning that in Government +tests of the Anti-War Department to determine the perfection +of the invisibility of the X-flyers, it was a one-eyed man +who proved that they were not always totally invisible!—Ray +Cummings.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>Thank You</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I just want you to know this: I am a reader of your truly +named Astounding Stories. I really enjoyed reading the +"Spawn of the Stars," also "Brigands of the Moon," and I am +very glad to hear that we are going to have another of +Charles W. Diffin's stories in the next issue—"The Moon +Master."—J. R. Penner, 376 Woodlawn Ave, Buffalo N. Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>"A Wiz"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I am only a young girl sixteen years of age but am greatly +interested in science. I have no master mind by any means, +but have worked out many a difficult problem in school for +my science prof.</p> + +<p>Your magazine is a wiz. I haven't missed an instalment +since it started. Give us more stories like "Monsters of +Moyen," and "The Beetle Horde."—Josephine Frankhouser, 4949 +Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>"Pretty Good"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I received Astounding Stories for May and it is pretty good. +The next issue is number six, and I hope it is better than +the previous ones. There have been some stories that do not +belong in a Science Fiction magazine, such as: "The Cave of +Horror," "The Corpse on the Grating," "The Soul Master," and +"The Man who was Dead." There is also another story that was +printed in the May issue that, so far as I think, does not +belong in this magazine: that is, "Murder Madness."</p> + +<p>Even all the other stories seem to be fantastic. Weird. Why +not try to publish something on the H. G. Wells, E. R. +Burroughs type of stories, also Ray Cummings' "The Man who +Mastered Time," or "The Time Machine," by Wells?—Louis +Wentzler, 1933 Woodbine St., Brooklyn, N. Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>From Ye Reader</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Ye Ed.:</p> + +<p>That sounds rather medieval a little for the editor of so +novel a magazine, but nevertheless let's forget that and +talk about some astounding stories.</p> + +<p>First, I would suggest that you eliminate all stories of +interplanetary travel (I would be different), as there are +already several magazines on the market which deal almost +exclusively with such stories. Now, tales like "The Beetle +Horde," and those written by Murray Leinster, and those +concerning that Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Bird, and those about +the deep sea, like "Into the Ocean's Depths,"—such stories +are astounding, and good. And once in a while let's have a +humorous story. You know: "A bit of humor now and then—"</p> + +<p>Well, anyhow, publish any kind of astounding story, just so +it is different and does not deal with interplanetary +travel.</p> + +<p>Now, about the magazine. I think it is a good publication +and I like it werra, werra mooch. I bought it on impulse and +happened to be lucky enough to get the first issue, and nary +an issue have I missed since. Although I possess an abject +horror of any kind of insect, I enjoyed "The Beetle Horde" +to the fullest extent. But here's hoping nothing like that +will really happen.</p> + +<p>Another thing I'd like to state is this: Some reader made a +remark about not publishing any of Verne's works. I say you +should. Why should any such great author be disregarded in +so good a magazine? And is it not interesting to note that +some of his stories have become actual realizations? Even +Poe's should be published. All those dead authors whose +stories would be considered good were they living. Why +should any person ask not to have such good stories in your +magazine? Perhaps there are some people who would enjoy +them, but do not have the means nor time to buy these great +works in book form. Think it over, ye Ed., think it over.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>And now, to finish up, I'll say: are there any readers like +me—a girl—or do only men and boys read Astounding +Stories?—Gertrude Hemken, 5730 So. Ashland Ave., Chicago, +Ill.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>Short—and Sweet</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Congratulations! Have followed up every issue of Astounding +Stories and have found them the best yet. I have one fault +to find and that is you do not publish Astounding Stories +often enough. Thirty days is too far between.—Bernard +Bauer, 235 Holland St., Syracuse, N. Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>Yes Sir!</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I read Astounding Stories all the time, although I'm just a +boy. I think they're O. K. They give me a great "kick."</p> + +<p>I think "The Moon Master" was the best story I ever read. +Please ask Mr. Diffin to write more like it.</p> + +<p>But then all the stories are really peppy.—Jack Hudson, St. +Mark's School, Southborough, Massachusetts.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>"Undoubtedly the Best"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Your magazine is undoubtedly the best Science Fiction "mag" +on the stands. Why? Because of your authors. There is not +another Science Fiction book on the stands that has stories +by Victor Rousseau, Murray Leinster Ray Cummings, A. T. +Locke, A. J. Burks, C. W. Diffin, S. W. Ellis and many +others.</p> + +<p>Some of your readers want stories by Dr. David H. Keller, Ed +Earl Repp and Walter Kately. Well, I just wanted to tell you +that I have stopped reading all other Science Fiction "mags" +on account of the frequency of these authors in them. So +please, please, don't destroy my last stronghold.</p> + +<p>Also, I would not be against reprints. There is only one so +far who has objected to reprints, while there have been +several asking you to reprint A. Merritt's "People of the +Pit." It would not only satisfy your present readers, but, +because of the great popularity of A. Merritt among the +reading circles of to-day, it would gain for you many more +readers.</p> + +<p>Harl Vincent is an indispensable acquisition to "our" +magazine. His stories are not only all excellent but his +stories all contain good science. He will bring you many new +readers.</p> + +<p>May I add my voice to every other reader's in the cry for +the reprinting of "People of the Pit," by A. Merritt? Why +not give us some stories by him? He's pretty near the best +writer living to-day.</p> + +<p>I don't care for the Mars stories by Burroughs. He's too +much long sword and short sword. A Merritt, however, is the +man for you to get and keep.</p> + +<p>The schedule for July looks "doggone good" and suggestive to +the imagination. You might increase the contents of the +book.</p> + +<p>The only thing wrong with the stories is that you have too +many repetitions. Please get A. Merritt. If you publish +stories by him you will see a very noticeable increase in +your subscription column. Another author who would repeat A. +Merritt's action on your subscription column is Dr. Edward +Elmer Smith. Please see about these authors.—Gabriel +Kirschner, Box 301, Temple, Texas.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>From Young Miss Nightingale</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have been wanting to write to you for a long time but only +now am I able to do so. When I first got a copy of your +magazine I just grabbed it and started reading it. That +magazine had the first installment of "Brigands of the Moon" +in it. Now, after one magazine has been read I nearly burst +until the next one comes.</p> + +<p>As for the writers, I like Ray Cummings, Harl Vincent, +Sewell Peaslee Wright, and Murray Leinster best. I like +interplanetary stories best. I also like stories of the +Fourth Dimension and those of ancient races of people living +in uninhabited parts of the earth. So far I have liked +especially well "The Ray of Madness," "Cold Light," "From +the Ocean Depths" and its sequel "Into the Ocean's Depths," +"Brigands of the Moon," and "Murder Madness." Of course, I +like the others too. I am only a mere girl (that accounts +for this poor typewriting)—only ten years old—but I know +my likes and dislikes.—Ellen Laura Nightingale, 223 So. +Main St., Fairmont, Minn.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>Yessir—H. W. Wessolowski</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just finished the June issue of Astounding Stories. +It contained some very interesting stories, such as +"Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings, "The Moon Master," +by Charles W. Diffin, "Murder Madness," by Murray Leinster, +and "Giants of the Ray," by Tom Curry. Although "Out of the +Dreadful Depths," by C. D. Willard, was a good story, it +does not belong in a Science Fiction magazine.</p> + +<p>One of the best improvements you could make on Astounding +Stories right now is to cut all edges smooth. I would like +to see at least one full page picture with each story.</p> + +<p>Wesso is the only good artist you have. Is Wessolowski his +real name?—Jack Darrow, 4225 N. Spaulding Avenue, Chicago, +Illinois.</p></div> + +<p class="p1">Anent Reincarnation.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>In the July issue of Astounding Stories, a correspondent, +Worth K. Bryant, asks some thought-provoking questions about +the fascinating subject of reincarnation. Although I have +written to Mr. Bryant personally, I would like to present my +views on the subject to all your readers.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bryant asks: "Could a person remember his own death in a +former reincarnation?" Yes, he could—if he could "tune in" +on his higher consciousness, or ego. Were that pos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>sible, he +could see all his past lives from beginning to end. It is +only the physical self that dies; the ego, or true self, is +immortal and remembers everything that it has experienced in +previous incarnations on the physical plane. But since +consciousness on this plane is expressed through the +material brain, most human beings are unable to recall their +former visits to this world; and it is perhaps better so. If +there were not loss of memory our minds would now range over +the adventures of thousands of years in the past. It would +encompass a vast drama with countless loves and hates, of +many lives filled with pathos and tragedy. Thus to distract +the mind from the present life would retard our progress. +There will come a time in human evolution when the average +person will be able to recall his past incarnations, and +then there will be no need or argument that we have lived +here before, because everyone will remember it.</p> + +<p>For those who care to pursue this subject more fully, I +recommend "Elementary Theosophy," by L. W. Rogers, +obtainable at most public libraries.—Allen Glasser, 1610 +University Ave., New York, N. Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>Prefers the Longer Stories</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I've been reading your excellent periodical since the first +issue, and I feel that I'm entitled to an opportunity to +give expression to my reactions to the various issues. Of +course, as a whole, the magazines were uniformly good every +month, but some of the stories, naturally, were better than +others.</p> + +<p>In the January issue the best story was "The Beetle Horde" +by Victor Rousseau. I expected a lot from this writer, +having read his "Draft of Eternity," "The Eye of Balamok" +and "The Messiah of the Cylinder." I wasn't disappointed.</p> + +<p>The best story in the February issue was "Spawn of the +Stars," by Charles Willard Diffin. Diffin is a newcomer as +far as I know, but he certainly can write.</p> + +<p>"Vandals of the Stars" took the honors in the March issue. +A. T. Locke has written some good adventure shorts, but this +was his first fantastic story, to the best of my knowledge. +Come again, Locke! "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings +was great too.</p> + +<p>The best for April was "Monsters of Moyen," by Arthur J. +Burks. Clever idea.</p> + +<p>Victor Rousseau rang the bell again in the May issue with +"The Atom Smasher." Let's have other stories of +time-travel—some into the very remote past. Cave man stuff, +you know!</p> + +<p>"The Moon Master," by Charles Willard Diffin was the best +for June. Diffin is one of your best writers.</p> + +<p>In the last (July) issue, "The Forgotten Planet," by Sewell +Peaslee Wright, I think, takes first place, though +hard-pressed by "Earth, the Marauder" and "The Power and the +Glory."</p> + +<p>Now for a few suggestions. In the first place, let's have +less short stories, and more longer ones. In my choice of +stories for each issue, with one exception, I picked the +novelettes. My reason for so doing is the fact that the +authors apparently are not able to do justice to their +themes in the shorter lengths. Of course, there are +exceptions, like Diffin's "The Power and the Glory."</p> + +<p>My second suggestion in this: Why not have a fixed position +for your announcement of the stories for the next issue? The +last page, for example. This would be more convenient for +the readers; besides, those of us who have "our mags" bound +into volumes could then cut out the announcement.</p> + +<p>Finally, my third suggestion—and the real reason for my +writing this letter. Don't you think it would be a good idea +to publish in each issue the picture of one of the authors, +and a short synopsis of his life? How he started writing, +his experiences, etc. I'm certain that I'm not the only +reader who's interested in the authors. I hope, if +everything else I've said is ignored, you'll at least give +the last suggestion serious consideration.</p> + +<p>Why not get the opinion of other readers?</p> + +<p>Continued and increasing success to Astounding Stories, best +of the Science Fiction magazines!—P. A. Lyter, 220 Peffer +Street, Harrisburg, Pa.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>Mr. Bates Accepts with Pleasure</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>It is with greatest pleasure I note the addition of Miss +Lilith Lorraine to your staff, and her initial effort in +your publication. "The Jovian Jest" is but a glimpse of what +is to come. The stories which she has written heretofore +have been real gems of Science Fiction. May I again +congratulate you.</p> + +<p>The Science Correspondence Club takes great pleasure in +announcing the enrollment of Capt. S. P. Meek and R. F. +Starzl as members. These authors are well-known to +Astounding Stories readers. Also, we take pleasure in +announcing that we have asked Mr. Bates to become an +honorary member in recognition of his fine work in +furthering Science Fiction.</p> + +<p>Our first bulletin has been issued and real progress is +started. For those interested, Mr. Raymond A. Palmer at +1431—34th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will handle all +inquiries.</p> + +<p>In closing, let me say that when a story pleases you +readers, or the work of some author impresses you, write to +the editor and tell him about it. In this way more and +better Science Fiction will appear. Let us all give +Astounding Stories a big hand, you readers! Best wishes of +the Science Correspondence Club and—Walter L. Dennis, F. P. +S., 4653 Addison St., Chicago, Illinois.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>"Bargain"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just finished "The Atom Smasher," in your May issue +of Astounding Stories, and liked it very much.</p> + +<p>This is the first story that I have read in your magazine, +although I have read other magazines for the past three +years.</p> + +<p>I see where you inquire as to the kind of stories your +readers want.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> + +<p>Personally, I think stories of interplanetary travel are the +best, and most demanded by readers of Science Fiction. Try +and have one in each issue.</p> + +<p>In my opinion, I see no criticisms to be made on your +magazine. It certainly would be a bargain at several times +the price you ask. I am sure I will continue reading +it—Louis D. Buchanan, Jr., 711 Monroe Ave., Evansville, +Indiana.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>No "Flash in the Pan"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>When I bought the first issue of Astounding Stories last +December, I was impressed by its array of splendid stories +and famous authors. I thought, then, that perhaps that first +number was just a flash in the pan, and that succeeding +issues would sink to the level of other Science Fiction +magazines. Happily, I was wrong. Astounding Stories has more +than fulfilled the promise of its initial issue. The stories +are undoubtedly the finest of their kind, and written by the +most prominent Science Fiction authors of the day. I cannot +conceive of any possible improvement in the magazine.</p> + +<p>I do wish, though, that you would not heed the gratuitous +advice of certain earnest but misguided correspondents. For +instance, in the June issue, one Warren Williams of Chicago, +suggests that you enlarge the magazine and give each story a +full-page illustration, like other Science Fiction +periodicals. Mr. Williams evidently favors standardization. +As one magazine is, so must the rest be. Please ignore this +request, and others like it. Astounding Stories is +different, unique; just keep it that way, and you will never +lack a host of satisfied readers.</p> + +<p>Before closing, I must voice my profound admiration for +Murray Leinster's brilliant and engrossing story, "Murder +Madness." It's the best serial you've printed so far; though +I have high anticipation for Arthur J. Burks' latest novel, +"Earth, the Marauder."—Mortimer Weisinger, 3550 Rochambeau +Ave., Bronx, New York.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>"I Mean Increased"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I wish to thank you for your reply to my letter. I did not +expect you to give me a personal reply: that was why I asked +you to reply to me in "The Readers' Corner." You are the +only editor I have ever known of that goes to the trouble to +giving personal replies to readers. Other magazines require +a nominal fee. That's another score for you!</p> + +<p>Your personal letter, as a girl would aptly say, "tickled me +all over."</p> + +<p>I am sorry I can't get a subscription just yet, but I am +"bound" to my newsdealer a little while yet, as I +immediately gave him a monthly order for Astounding Stories.</p> + +<p>If you are the one who picked the authors, you have the best +taste I have ever seen in one person. But couldn't your +taste be improved? Pardon me, I mean increased. Namely, +please add to your taste: H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. +Howard.</p> + +<p>If you had different authors, in other words, new, +inexperienced authors, I would object to your running more +than one serial at a time, but with the marvelous old-timers +I have no objections, for they can write long ones far +better than they can the shorts. So keep them at work.</p> + +<p>The three short stories, "Out of the Dreadful Depths," "The +Cavern World" and "Giants of the Ray," were all very good. +Ray Cummings was wonderful in the way he handled his +"Brigands of the Moon." It was a "wow baby." "Murder +Madness" is a great improvement over "Tanks." "Tanks" was +the worst I've ever read by Leinster. But he came out of his +reverie in "Murder Madness." It's great.</p> + +<p>Sewell Peaslee Wright can work wonders with short stories. +Keep his "typer" clicking. By the way, may I say a few good +words for Sophie Wenzel Ellis? If she can duplicate +"Creatures of the Light," maker her repeat.</p> + +<p>Victor Rousseau's story, "The Beetle Horde," kept me "all +het up" throughout. "The Atom Smasher" was excellent. I also +greatly like stories of the mighty Atlantis.</p> + +<p>I agree with others of your readers that you should not let +Astounding Stories be printed in such a small size. Make it +a little larger, and give us smoother paper, and you will +prosper greatly.</p> + +<p>"The Moon Master" was excellent.—Gabriel Kirschner, Box +301, Temple, Texas.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>"Could Kick Myself"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just started reading Astounding Stories and could +kick myself for not seeing it sooner. In your latest issue, +"The Moon Master," by Charles Diffin, is great. He sure +knows how to write adventure with science.</p> + +<p>I am a member of the Science Corresponding Club and am glad +to say it. In later years the club will be known just like +other big clubs of to-day, "Nationally and +Sciencelly."—John Marcroft, 32 Washington St., Central +Falls, R. I.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>A Full List</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In the January number of Astounding Stories Cummings' +"Phantom of Reality" was the best, followed by Rousseau's +"Beetle Horde."</p> + +<p>February: 1—Diffin's "Spawn of the Stars"; 2—Rousseau's +"Beetle Horde"; 3—Ellis' "Creatures of the Light"; +4—Meek's "The Thief of Time."</p> + +<p>March: 1—Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2—Locke's +"Vandals of the Stars"; 3—Meek's "Cold Light."</p> + +<p>April: 1—Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2—Burk's +"Monsters of Moyen"; 3—Meek's "Ray of Madness"; +4—Pelcher's "Vampires of Venus."</p> + +<p>May: 1—Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2—Leinster's +"Murder Madness"; 3—Rousseau's "Atom Smasher."</p> + +<p>June: 1—Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2—Leinster's +"Murder Madness"; 3—Diffin's "Moon Master."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>Please give us a story by H. P. Lovecraft, if you can get +one.—Carl Ballard, 202 N. Main St., Danville, Va.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>"Words Cannot Express"</i></p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have read your wonderful magazine since it was first +published, and words cannot express what a fine magazine I +think it is. All my life, I have hoped that someone would +publish a magazine just like Astounding Stories. A magazine +just full to the brim with the right kind of stories; +thrilling stories of super-science, well written in plain +and convincing English by wide awake authors.</p> + +<p>I thought that "The Cavern World" was a whiz of a story, and +"The Moon Master" was so exciting that I sat up late at +night reading it. Let's have more of that kind of science +story, that thrills every red-blooded American.</p> + +<p>I hope that you print your magazine on better paper.—David +Bangs, 190 Marlboro St., Boston, Mass.</p></div> + +<p class="p1"><i>Unconvinced</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I received the latest issue of Astounding Stories, and in +looking it through I noticed your comments on reprints. Your +argument can easily be shot full of holes, and that's what I +intend to do.</p> + +<p>First: Those stories being printed now are far inferior to +the reprints. Even your best stories, such as "Murder +Madness" and "Brigands of the Moon," cannot be compared with +such stories as "Station X," "The Moon Pool," "The Metal +Monster," or "The Columbus of Space" and "The Second +Deluge."</p> + +<p>Second: The Saturday Evening Post cannot be compared with +our magazine, for all the stories printed in it can be +obtained in book form, while the scientific novels are +almost all out of print.</p> + +<p>Third: There is surely more than one out of a hundred who +haven't read the reprints. Just because some have read them +is no reason that they don't want them. I know, for I have a +large library of reprints and have read, and own, almost +every one of them, yet I would gladly see them again.</p> + +<p>Fourth: The authors need not starve. You could easily devote +just a small space for reprints, and many would pay +twenty-five cents for the magazine.</p> + +<p>The fairest and most American idea would be to let your +readers vote for this. Here is vote No. 1 for +reprints.—Woodrow Gelman, 1603 President St., Brooklyn, N. +Y.</p></div> + + +<p class="p1"><i>Praise and Suggestions</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just finished the July issue of Astounding Stories +and classify the stories as follows:</p> + +<p>"Beyond the Heaviside Layer," good; "Earth, the Marauder," +excellent, best in issue; "From an Amber Block," fairly +good; "The Terror of Air-Level Six," very good; "The +Forgotten Planet," excellent; "The Power and the Glory," +good; "Murder Madness," very good, but not so much so as +preceding chapters.</p> + +<p>Now for a few criticisms:</p> + +<p>1. Your magazine (or should I say "our" magazine?) is too +small. Of course, it would be a radical change to make it +larger, but, like others, I think in the end you would gain +rather than lose by it. Most small magazines are cheap +affairs, and to have Astounding Stories small brands it as a +cheap type of magazine. Small magazines are more likely to +be hidden on the newsstands by larger ones, and in most +stores the large magazines have the more advantageous +positions.</p> + +<p>2. The edges of your pages are uneven. You look in the index +and find an interesting story is on, for example, page 56. +You skim the pages to find it, and from page 43 you find +yourself suddenly at page 79. Make the paper more even, +please.</p> + +<p>3. Don't have advertisements before the stories. Have them +in the rear.</p> + +<p>4. Have a full page illustration facing the beginning of +each story. If at the end of a story you find pages won't +turn up right, continue the last page to the back of the +book.</p> + +<p>Wesso is excellent. Another good artist is Paul, who draws +for another Science Fiction magazine. Your cover +illustrations are fine.</p> + +<p>Summary: Enlarge size of magazine, smooth edges of paper, +have advertisements in rear of book, use full page +illustrations.</p> + +<p>If this is expensive, you could charge twenty-five cents +instead of twenty cents, and I, for one, would be glad to +pay the extra nickel as I do for other magazines of Science +Fiction.—Robert Baldwin, 1427 Judson Ave., Evanston, +Illinois.</p></div> + +<h3><i>"The Readers' Corner"</i></h3> +<p>All Readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "come +over to 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion of +stories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities—everything +that's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories.</p> + +<p>Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, this +is a department primarily for <i>Readers</i>, and we want you to make full +use of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, +brickbats, suggestions—everything's welcome here: so "come over in +'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us!</p> + +<p class="p2"><i>—The Editor.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +October, 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 29882-h.htm or 29882-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/8/29882/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 1, 2009 [EBook #29882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + ASTOUNDING + + STORIES + + OF SUPER-SCIENCE + + + _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_ + + + W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher + HARRY BATES, Editor + DOUGLAS M. DOLD, Consulting Editor + + + + +The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees + + _That_ the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by leading + writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by + the Authors' League of America; + + _That_ such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American + workmen; + + _That_ each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit; + + _That_ an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages. + + +_The other Clayton magazines are:_ + +ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS +MONTHLY, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, RANGELAND LOVE STORY MAGAZINE, +and WESTERN ADVENTURES. + +_More than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand +for Clayton Magazines._ + + * * * * * + + + + +VOL. IV, No. 1 CONTENTS OCTOBER, 1930 + + +COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI + + _Painted in Oils from a Scene in "The Invisible Death."_ + +STOLEN BRAINS CAPTAIN S. P. MEEK 7 + + _Dr. Bird, Scientific Sleuth Extraordinary, Goes After a Sinister + Stealer of Brains._ + +THE INVISIBLE DEATH VICTOR ROUSSEAU 24 + + _With Night-Rays and Darkness-Antidote America Strikes Back, at the + Terrific and Destructive Invisible Empire._ (A Complete Novelette.) + +PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON ROBERT H. LEITFRED 75 + + _Fate Throws Two Young Earthians into Desperate Conflict with the + Primeval Monsters of an Electron's Savage Jungles._ + +JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS RAY CUMMINGS 94 + + _Into Remote Lowlands, in an Invisible Flyer, Go Grant and + Jetta--Prisoners of a Scientific Depth Bandit._ + (Part Two of a Three-Part Novel.) + +AN EXTRA MAN JACKSON GEE 118 + + _Sealed and Vigilantly Guarded Was "Drayle's Invention, 1932"--for + It Was a Scientific Achievement Beyond Which Man Dared Not Go._ + +THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 130 + + _A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories._ + + * * * * * + +Single Copies, 20 Cents (In Canada, 25 Cents) Yearly Subscription, +$2.00 + +Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St., +New York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary. +Entered as second-class matter December 7, 1929, at the Post Office at +New York, N. Y., under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as a +Trade Mark in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group--Men's +List. For advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co., Inc., 25 +Vanderbilt Ave., New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave., Chicago. + + + + +Stolen Brains + +_By Captain S. P. Meek_ + +[Illustration: _Two long arms shot silently down and grasped the +motionless figure._] + +[Sidenote: Dr. Bird, scientific sleuth extraordinary, goes after a +sinister stealer of brains.] + + +"I hope, Carnes," said Dr. Bird, "that we get good fishing." + +"Good fishing? Will you please tell me what you are talking about?" + +"I am talking about fishing, old dear. Have you seen the evening +paper?" + +"No. What's that got to do with it?" + +Dr. Bird tossed across the table a copy of the _Washington Post_ +folded so as to bring uppermost an item on page three. Carnes saw his +picture staring at him from the center of the page. + +"What the dickens?" he exclaimed as he bent over the sheet. With +growing astonishment he read that Operative Carnes of the United +States Secret Service had collapsed at his desk that afternoon and had +been rushed to Walter Reed Hospital where the trouble had been +diagnosed as a nervous breakdown caused by overwork. There followed a +guarded statement from Admiral Clay, the President's personal +physician, who had been called into conference by the army +authorities. + +The Admiral stated that the Chief of the Washington District was in no +immediate danger but that a prolonged rest was necessary. The paper +gave a glowing tribute to the detective's life and work and stated +that he had been given sick leave for an indefinite period and that he +was leaving at once for the fishing lodge of his friend, Dr. Bird of +the Bureau of Standards, at Squapan Lake, Maine. Dr. Bird, the article +concluded, would accompany and care for his stricken friend. Carnes +laid aside the paper with a gasp. + + * * * * * + +"Do you know what all this means?" Carnes demanded. + +"It means, Carnsey, old dear, that the fishing at Squapan Lake should +be good right now and that I feel the need of accurate information on +the subject. I didn't want to go alone, so I engineered this outrage +on the government and am taking you along for company. For the love of +Mike, look sick from now on until we are clear of Washington. We leave +to-night. I already have our tickets and reservations and all you have +to do is to collect your tackle and pack your bags for a month or two +in the woods and meet me at the Pennsy station at six to-night." + +"And yet there are some people who say there is no Santa Claus," mused +Carnes. "If I had really broken down from overwork, I would probably +have had my pay docked for the time I was absent, but a man with +official pull in this man's government wants to go fishing and presto! +the wheels move and the way is clear. Doctor, I'll meet you as +directed." + +"Good enough," said Dr. Bird. "By the way, Carnes," he went on as the +operative opened the door, "bring your pistol." + +Carnes whirled about at the words. + +"Are we going on a case?" he asked. + +"That remains to be seen," replied the Doctor enigmatically. "At all +events, bring your pistol. In answer to any questions, we are going +fishing. In point of fact, we are--with ourselves as bait. If you have +a little time to spare this afternoon you might drop around to the +office of the _Post_ and get them to show you all the amnesia cases +they have had stories on during the past three months. They will be +interesting reading. No more questions now, old dear, we'll have lots +of time to talk things over while we are in the Maine woods." + + * * * * * + +Late the next evening they left the Bangor and Aroostook train at +Mesardis and found a Ford truck waiting for them. Over a rough trail +they were driven for fifteen miles, winding up at a log cabin which +the Doctor announced was his. The truck deposited their belongings and +jounced away and Dr. Bird led the way to the cabin, which proved to be +unlocked. He pushed open the door and entered, followed by Carnes. The +operative glanced at the occupants of the cabin and started back in +surprise. + +Seated at a table were two figures. The smaller of the two had his +back to the entrance but the larger one was facing them. He rose as +they entered and Carnes rubbed his eyes and reeled weakly against the +wall. Before him stood a replica of Dr. Bird. There was the same six +feet two of bone and muscle, the same beetling brows and the same +craggy chin and high forehead surmounted by a shock of unruly black +hair. In face and figure the stranger was a replica of the famous +scientist until he glanced at their hands. Dr. Bird's hands were long +and slim with tapering fingers, the hands of a thinker and an artist +despite the acid stains which disfigured them but could not hide +their beauty. The hands of his double were stained as were Dr. Bird's, +but they were short and thick and bespoke more the man of action than +the man of thought. + +The second figure arose and faced them and again Carnes received a +shock. While the likeness was not so, striking, there was no doubt +that the second man would have readily passed for Carnes himself in a +dim light or at a little distance. Dr. Bird burst into laughter at the +detective's puzzled face. + +"Carnes," he said, "shake yourself together and then shake hands with +Major Trowbridge of the Coast Artillery Corps. It has been said by +some people that we favor one another." + +"I'm glad to meet you, Major," said Carnes. "The resemblance is +positively uncanny. But for your hands, I would have trouble telling +you two apart." + + * * * * * + +The Major glanced down at his stubby fingers. + +"It is unfortunate but it can't be helped," he said. "Dr. Bird, this +is Corporal Askins of my command. He is not as good a second to Mr. +Carnes as I am to you but you said it was less important." + +"The likeness is plenty good enough," replied the Doctor. "He will +probably not be subjected to as close a scrutiny as you will. Did you +have any trouble in getting here unobserved?" + +"None at all, Doctor. Lieutenant Maynard found a good landing field +within a half mile of here, as you said he would, and he has his +Douglass camouflaged and is standing by. When do you expect trouble?" + +"I have no idea. It may come to-night or it may come later. Personally +I hope that it comes later so that we can get in a few days of fishing +before anything happens." + +"What do you expect to happen, Doctor?" demanded Carnes. "Every time I +have asked you anything you told me to wait until we were in the +Maine woods and we are there now. I read up everything that I could +find on amnesia victims during the past three months but it didn't +throw much light on the matter to me." + +"How many cases did you find, Carnes?" + +"Sixteen. There may have been lots more but I couldn't find any others +in the _Post_ records. Of course, unless the victim were a local man, +or of some prominence, it wouldn't appear." + +"You got most of them at that. Did any points of similarity strike you +as you read them?" + +"None except that all were prominent men and all of them mental +workers of high caliber. That didn't appear peculiar because it is the +man of high mentality who is most apt to crack." + +"Undoubtedly. There were some points of similarity which you missed. +Where did the attacks take place?" + +"Why, one was at--Thunder, Doctor! I did miss something. Every case, +as nearly as I can recall, happened at some summer camp or other +resort where they were on vacation." + +"Correct. One other point. At what time of day did they occur?" + +"In the morning, as well as I can remember. That point didn't +register." + +"They were all discovered in the morning, Carnes, which means that the +actual loss of memory occurred during the night. Further, every case +has happened within a circle with a diameter of three hundred miles. +We are near the northern edge of that circle." + + * * * * * + +Carnes checked up on his memory rapidly. + +"You're right, Doctor," he cried. "Do you think--?" + +"Once in a while," replied Dr. Bird dryly, "I think enough to know the +futility of guesses hazarded without complete data. We are now located +within the limits of the amnesia belt and we are here to find out what +did happen, if anything, and not to make wild guesses about it. You +have the tent set up for us, Major?" + +"Yes, Doctor, about thirty yards from the cabin and hidden so well +that you could pass it a dozen times a day without suspecting its +existence. The gas masks and other equipment which you sent to Fort +Banks are in it." + +"In that case we had better dispense with your company as soon as we +have eaten a bite, and retire to it. On second thought, we will eat in +it. Carnes, we will go to our downy couches at once and leave our +substitutes in possession of the cabin. I trust, gentlemen, that +things come out all right and that you are in no danger." + +Major Trowbridge shrugged his heavy shoulders. + +"It is as the gods will," he said sententiously. "It is merely a +matter of duty to me, you know, and thank God, I have no family to +mourn if anything does go wrong. Neither has Corporal Askins." + +"Well, good luck at any rate. Will you guide Carnes to the tent and +then return here and I'll join him?" + + * * * * * + +Huddled in the tiny concealed tent, Dr. Bird handed Carnes a haversack +on a web strap. + +"This is a gas mask," he said. "Put it on your neck and keep it ready +for instant use. I have one on and one of us must wear a mask +continually while we are here. We'll change off every hour. If the gas +used is lethane, as I suspect, we should be able to detect it before +its gets too concentrated, but some other gas might be used and we +must take no chances. Now look here." + +With the aid of a flash-light he showed Carnes a piece of apparatus +which had been set up in the tent. It consisted of two telescopic +barrels, one fitted with an eye-piece and the other, which was at a +wide angle to the first, with an objective glass. Between the two was +a covered round disc from which projected a short tube fitted with a +protecting lens. This tube was parallel to the telescopic barrel +containing the objective lens. + +"This is a new thing which I have developed and it is getting its +first practical test to-night," he said. "It is a gas detector. It +works on the principle of the spectroscope with modifications. From +this projector goes out a beam of invisible light and the reflections +are gathered and thrown through a prism of the eye-piece. While a +spectroscope requires that the substance which it examines be +incandescent and throw out visible light rays in order to show the +typical spectral lines, this device catches the invisible ultra-violet +on a fluorescent screen and analyzes it spectroscopically. Whoever has +the mask on must continually search the sky with it and look for the +three bright lines which characterize lethane, one at 230, one at 240 +and the third at 670 on the illuminated scale. If you see any bright +lines in those regions or any other lines that are not continually +present, call my attention to it at once. I'll watch for the first +hour." + + * * * * * + +At the end of an hour Dr. Bird removed his mask with a sigh of relief +and Carnes took his place at the spectroscope. For half an hour he +moved the glass about and then spoke in a guarded tone. + +"I don't see any of the lines you told me to look for," he said, "but +in the southwest I get wide band at 310 and two lines at about 520." + +Dr. Bird advanced toward the instrument but before he reached it, +Carnes gave an exclamation. + +"There they are, Doctor!" he cried. + +Dr. Bird sniffed the air. A faint sweetish odor became apparent and he +reached for his gas mask. Slowly his hands drooped and Carnes grasped +him and drew the mask over his face. Dr. Bird rallied slightly and +feebly drew a bottle from his pocket and sniffed it. In another +instant he was shouldering Carnes aside and staring through the +spectroscope. Carnes watched him for an instant and then a low whirring +noise attracted his attention and he looked up. Silently he caught +the Doctor's arm in a viselike grip and pointed. + +Hovering above the cabin was a silvery globe, faintly luminous in the +moonlight. From its top rose a faint cloud of vapor which circled +around the globe and descended toward the earth. The globe hovered +like a giant humming bird above the cabin and Carnes barely stifled an +exclamation. The door of the cabin opened and Major Trowbridge, +walking stiffly and like a man in a dream, appeared. Slowly he +advanced for ten yards and stood motionless. The globe moved over him +and the bottom unfolded like a lily. Two long arms shot silently down +and grasped the motionless figure and drew him up into the heart of +the globe. The petals refolded, and silently as a dream the globe shot +upward and disappeared. + +"Gad! They lost no time!" commented Dr. Bird. "Come on, Carnes, run +for your life, or rather, for Trowbridge's life. No, you idiot, leave +your gas mask on. I'll take the spectroscope; it'll be all we need." + +Followed by the panting Carnes, Dr. Bird sped through the night along +an almost invisible path. For half a mile he kept up a headlong pace +until Carnes could feel his heart pounding as though it would burst +his ribs. The pair debouched from the trees into a glade a few acres +in extent and Dr. Bird paused and whistled softly. An answering +whistle came from a few yards away and a figure rose in the darkness +as they approached. + +"Maynard?" called Dr. Bird. "Good enough! I was afraid that you might +not have kept your gas mask on." + +"My orders were to keep it on, sir," replied the lieutenant in muffled +tones through his mask, "but my mechanician did not obey orders. He +passed out cold without any warning about fifteen minutes ago." + +"Where's your ship?" + +"Right over here, sir." + +"We'll take off at once. Your craft is equipped with a Bird +silencer?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Come on, Carnes, we're going to follow that globe. Take the front +cockpit alone, Maynard; Carnes and I will get in the rear pit with the +spec and guide you. You can take off your gas mask at an elevation of a +thousand feet. You have pack 'chutes, haven't you?" + +"In the rear pit, Doctor." + +"Put one on, Carnes, and climb in. I've got to get this spec set up +before he gets too high." + +The Douglass equipped with the Bird silencer, took the air noiselessly +and rapidly gained elevation under the urging of the pilot. Dr. Bird +clamped the gas-detecting spectroscope on the front of his cockpit and +peered through it. + +"Southwest, at about a thousand more elevation," he directed. + +"Right!" replied the pilot as he turned the nose of his plane in the +indicated direction and began to climb. For an hour and a half the +plane flew noiselessly through the night. + +"Bald Mountain," said the pilot, pointing. "The Canadian Border is +only a few miles away." + +"If they've crossed the Border, we're sunk," replied the doctor. "The +trail leads straight ahead." + + * * * * * + +For a few minutes they continued their flight toward the Canadian +Border and then Dr. Bird spoke. + +"Swing south," he directed, "and drop a thousand feet and come back." + +The pilot executed the maneuver and Dr. Bird peered over the edge of +the plane and directed the spectroscope toward the ground. + +"Half a mile east," he said, "and drop another thousand. Carnes, get +ready to jump when I give the word." + +"Oh, Lord!" groaned Carnes as he fumbled for the rip cord of his +parachute, "suppose this thing doesn't open?" + +"They'll slide you between two barn doors for a coffin and bury you +that way," said Dr. Bird grimly. "You know your orders, Maynard?" + +"Yes, sir. When you drop, I am to land at the nearest town--it will be +Lowell--and get in touch with the Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy +Yard if possible. If I get him, I am to tell him my location and wait +for the arrival of reenforcements. If I fail to get him on the +telephone, I am to deliver a sealed packet which I carry to the +nearest United States Marshal. When reenforcements arrive, either from +the Navy Yard or from the Marshal, I am to guide them toward the spot +where I dropped you and remain, as nearly as I can judge, two miles +away until I get a further signal or orders from you." + +"That is right. We'll be over the edge in another minute. Are you +ready, Carnes?" + +"Oh, yes, I'm ready, Doctor, if I have to risk my precious life in +this contraption." + +"Then jump!" + + * * * * * + +Side by side, Carnes and the doctor dropped toward the ground. The +Douglass flew silently away into the night. Carnes found that the +sensation of falling was not an unpleasant one as soon as he got +accustomed to it. There was little sensation of motion, and it was not +until a sharp whisper from Dr. Bird called it to his attention that he +realized that he was almost to the ground. He bent his legs as he had +been instructed and landed without any great jar. As he rose he saw +that Dr. Bird was already on his feet and was eagerly searching the +ground with the spectroscope which he had brought with him in the +jump. + +"Fold your parachute, Carnes, and we'll stow them away under a rock +where they can't be seen. We won't use them again." + +Carnes did so and deposited the silk bundle beside the doctor's, and +they covered them with rocks until they would be invisible from the +air. + +"Follow me," said the doctor as he strode carefully forward, stopping +now and then to take a sight with the spectroscope. Carnes followed +him as he made his way up a small hill which blocked the way. A hiss +from Dr. Bird stopped him. + +Dr. Bird had dropped flat on the ground, and Carnes, on all fours, +crawled forward to join him. He smothered an exclamation as he looked +over the crest of the hill. Before him, sitting in a hollow in the +ground, was the huge globe which had spirited away Major Trowbridge. + +"This is evidently their landing place," whispered Dr. Bird. "The next +thing to find is their hiding place." + + * * * * * + +He rose and started forward but sank at once to the ground and dragged +Carnes down with him. On the hill which formed the opposite side of +the hollow a line of light showed for an instant as though a door had +been opened. The light disappeared and then reappeared, and as they +watched it widened and against an illuminated background four men +appeared, carrying a fifth. The door shut behind them and they made +their way slowly toward the waiting globe. They laid down their burden +and one of them turned a flash-light on the globe and opened a door in +its side through which they hoisted their burden. They all entered the +globe, the door closed and with a slight whirring sound it rose in the +air and moved rapidly toward the northeast. + +"That's the place we're looking for," muttered Dr. Bird. "We'll go +around this hollow and look for it. Be careful where you step; they +must have ventilation somewhere if their laboratory is underground." + +Followed by the secret service operative, the doctor made his way +along the edge of the hollow. They did not dare to show a light and it +was slow work feeling their way forward, inch by inch. When they had +reached a point above where the doctor thought the light had been he +paused. + +"There must be a ventilation shaft somewhere around here," he +whispered, his mouth not an inch from Carnes' ear, "and we've got to +find it. It would never do to try the door; if any of them are still +here it is sure to be guarded. You go up the hill for five yards and +I'll go down. Quarter back and forth on a two hundred yard front and +work carefully. Don't fall in, whatever you do. We'll return to this +point every time we pass it and report." + +The operative nodded and walked a few yards up the hill and made his +way slowly forward. He went a hundred yards as nearly as he could +judge and then stepped five yards further up the hill and made his way +back. As he passed the starting point he approached and Dr. Bird's +figure rose up. + +"Any luck?" he whispered. + +Dr. Bird shook his head. + +"Well try further," he said. "I think it is probably beyond us, so +suppose you go fifteen yards up and quarter the same as before." + + * * * * * + +Carnes nodded and stole silently away. Fifteen yards up the hill he +went and then paused. He stood on the crest of the hill and before him +was a steep, almost precipitous slope. He made his way along the edge +for a few yards and then paused. Faintly he could detect a murmur of +voices. Inch by inch he crept forward, going over the ground under +foot. He paused and listened intently and decided that the sound must +come from the slope beneath him. A glance at his watch told him that +he had spent ten minutes on this trip and he made his way back to the +meeting place. + +Dr. Bird was waiting for him, and in a low whisper Carnes reported his +discovery. The doctor went back with him and together they renewed the +search. The slope of the hill was almost sheer and Carnes looked +dubiously over the edge. + +"I wish we had brought the parachutes," he whispered to the doctor. +"We could have taken the ropes off them and you could have lowered me +over the edge." + +Dr. Bird chuckled softly and tugged at his middle. Carnes watched him +with astonishment in the dim light, but he understood when Dr. Bird +thrust the end of a strong but light silk cord into his hands. He +looped it under his arms and the doctor with whispered instructions, +lowered him over the cliff. The doctor lowered him for a few feet and +then stopped in response to a jerk on the free end. A moment later +Carnes signaled to be drawn up and soon stood beside the doctor. + +"That's the place all right," he whispered. "The whole cliff is +covered with creepers and there is a tree growing right close to it. +If we can anchor the cord here, I think that we can slide down to a +safe hold on the tree." + +A tree stood near and the silk cord was soon fastened. Carnes +disappeared over the cliff and in a few moments Dr. Bird slid down the +cord to join him. He found the detective seated in the crotch of a +tree only a few feet from the face of the cliff. From the cliff came a +pronounced murmur of voices. Dr. Bird drew in his breath in excitement +and moved forward along the branch. He touched the stone and after a +moment of searching he cautiously raised one corner of a painted +canvas flap and peered into the cliff. He watched for a few seconds +and then slid back and silently pulled Carnes toward him. + + * * * * * + +Together the two men made their way toward the cliff and Dr. Bird +raised the corner of the flap and they peered into the hill. Before +them was a cave fitted up as a cross between a laboratory and a +hospital. Almost directly opposite them and at the left of a door in +the farther wall was a ray machine of some sort. It was a puzzle to +Carnes, and even Dr. Bird, although he could grasp the principle at a +glance, was at a loss to divine its use. From a set of coils attached +to a generator was connected a tube of the Crookes tube type with the +rays from it gathered and thrown by a parabolic reflector onto the +space where a man's head would rest when he was seated in a white +metal chair with rubber insulated feet, which stood beneath it. An +operating table occupied the other side of the room while a gas +cylinder and other common hospital apparatus stood around ready for +use. + +Seated at a table which occupied the center of the room were three +men. The sound of their voices rose from an indistinct murmur to +audibility as the flap was raised and the watchers could readily +understand their words. Two of them sat with their faces toward the +main entrance and the third man faced them. Carnes bit his lip as he +looked at the man at the head of the table. He was twisted and +misshapen in body, a grotesque dwarf with a hunched back, not over +four feet in height. His massive head, sunken between his hunched +shoulders, showed a tremendous dome of cranium and a brow wider and +even higher than Dr. Bird's. The rest of his face was lined and drawn +as though by years of acute suffering. Sharp black eyes glared +brightly from deep sunk caverns. The dwarf was entirely bald; even the +bushy eyebrows which would be expected from his face, were missing. + + * * * * * + +"They ought to be getting back," said the dwarf sharply. + +"If they get back at all," said one of the two figures facing him. + +"What do you mean?" growled the dwarf, his eyes glittering ominously. +"They'll return all right; they know they'd better." + +"They'll return if they can, but I tell you again, Slavatsky, I think +it was a piece of foolishness to try to take two men in one night. We +got Bird all right, but it is getting late for a second one, and they +had to take Bird over a hundred miles and then go nearly three hundred +more for Williams. The news about Bird may have been discovered and +spread and others may be looking out for us. Carnes might have +recovered." + +"Didn't he get a full dose of lethane?" + +"So Frick says, and Bird certainly had a full dose, but I can't help +but feel uneasy. Our operations were going too nicely on schedule and +you had to break it up and take on an extra case in the same night as +a scheduled one. I tell you, I don't like it." + +"I'm sorry that I did it, Carson, but only because the results were so +poor. We had planned on Williams for a month and I wanted him. And +Bird was so easy that I couldn't resist it." + +"And what did you get? Not as much menthium as would have come from an +ordinary bookkeeper." + +"I'll admit that Bird is a grossly overrated man. He must have worked +in sheer luck in his work in the past, for there was nothing in his +brain to show it above average. We got barely enough menthium to +replace what we used in capturing him." + +"We ought to have taken Carnes and left Bird alone," snorted Carson. +"Even a wooden-headed detective ought to have given us a better supply +than Bird yielded." + +"We are bound to meet with disappointments once in a while. I had +marked Bird down long ago as soon as I could get a chance at him." + +"Well, you ran that show, Slavatsky, but I'll warn you that we aren't +going to let you pull off another one like it. I take no more crazy +chances, even on your orders." + + * * * * * + +The hunchback rose to his feet, his eyes glittering ominously. + +"What do you mean, Carson?" he asked slowly, his hand slipping behind +him as he spoke. + +"Don't try any rough stuff, Slavatsky!" warned Carson sharply. "I can +pull a tube as fast as you can, and I'll do it if I have to." + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" protested the third man rising, "we are all +too deep in this to quarrel. Sit down and let's talk this over. Carson +is just worried." + +"What is there to be worried about?" grunted the dwarf as he slid back +into his chair. "Everything has gone nicely so far and no suspicion +has been raised." + +"Maybe it has and then again maybe it hasn't," growled Carson. "I +think this Bird episode to-night looks bad. In the first place, it +came too opportunely and too easily. In the second place Bird should +have yielded more menthium, and in the third place, did you notice his +hands? They weren't the type of hands to expect on a man of his type." + +"Nonsense, they were acid stained." + +"Acid stains can be put on. It may be all right, but I am worried. +While we are talking about this matter, there is another thing I want +cleared up." + +"What is it?" + +"I think, Slavatsky, that you are holding out on us. You are getting +more than your share of the menthium." + +Again the dwarf leaped to his feet, but the peace-maker intervened. + +"Carson has a right to look at the records, Slavatsky," he said. "I am +satisfied, but I'd like to look at them, too. None of us have seen +them for two months." + +The dwarf glared at first one and then the other. + +"All right," he said shortly and limped to a cabinet on the wall. He +drew a key from his pocket and opened it and pulled out a +leather-bound book. "Look all you please. I was supposed to get the +most. It was my idea." + +"You were to get one share and a half, while Willis, Frink and I got +one share each and the rest half a share," said Carson. "I know how +much has been given and it won't take me but a minute to check up." + + * * * * * + +He bent over the book, but Willis interrupted. + +"Better put it away, Carson," he said, "here come the rest and we +don't want them to know we suspect anything." + +He pointed toward a disc on the wall which had begun to glow. +Slavatsky looked at it and grasped the book from Carson and replaced +it in the cabinet. He moved over and started the generator and the +tube began to glow with a violet light. A noise came from the outside +and the door opened. Four men entered carrying a fifth whom they +propped up in the chair under the glowing tube. + +"Did everything go all right?" asked the dwarf eagerly. + +"Smooth as silk," replied one of the four. "I hope we get some results +this time." + +The dwarf bent over the ray apparatus and made some adjustments and +the head of the unconscious man was bathed with a violet glow. For +three minutes the flood of light poured on his head and then the dwarf +shut off the light and Carson and Willis lifted the figure and laid it +on the operating table. The dwarf bent over the man and inserted the +needle of a hypodermic syringe into the back of the neck at the base +of the brain. The needle was an extremely long one, and Dr. Bird +gasped as he saw four inches of shining steel buried in the brain of +the unconscious man. + +Slowly Slavatsky drew back the plunger of the syringe and Dr. Bird +could see it was being filled with an amber fluid. For two minutes the +slow work continued, until a speck of red appeared in the glass +syringe barrel. + +"Seven and a half cubic centimeters!" cried the dwarf in a tone of +delight. + +"Fine!" cried Carson. "That's a record, isn't it?" + +"No, we got eight once. Now hold him carefully while I return some of +it." + + * * * * * + +Slavatsky slowly pressed home the plunger and a portion of the amber +fluid was returned to the patient's skull. Presently he withdrew the +needle and straightened up and held it toward the light. + +"Six centimeters net," he announced. "Take him back, Frink. I'll give +Carson and Willis their share now and we'll take care of the rest of +you when you return. Is the ship well stocked?" + +"Enough for two or three more trips." + +"In that case, I'll inject this whole lot. Better get going, Frink, +it's pretty late." + +The four men who had brought the patient in stepped forward and lifted +him from the table and bore him out. Dr. Bird dropped the canvas +screen and strained his ears. A faint whir told him that the globe had +taken to the air. He slid back along the limb of the tree until he +touched the rope and silently climbed hand over hand until he gained +the crest. He bent his back to the task of raising Carnes, and the +operative soon stood beside him on the ledge surmounting the cliff. + +"What on earth were they doing?" asked Carnes in a whisper. + +"That was Professor Williams of Yale. They were depriving him of his +memory. There will be another amnesia case in the papers to-morrow. I +haven't time to explain their methods now: we've got to act. You have +a flash-light?" + +"Yes, and my gun. Shall we break in? There are only three of them, and +I think we could handle the lot." + +"Yes, but the others may return at any time and we want to bag the +whole lot. They've done their damage for to-night. You heard my orders +to Lieutenant Maynard, didn't you?" + +"Yes." + +"He should be somewhere in these hills to the south with assistance of +some sort. The signal to them is three long flashes followed in turn +by three short ones and three more long. Go and find them and bring +them here. When you get close give me the same light signal and don't +try to break in unless I am with you. I am going to reconnoitre a +little more and make sure that there is no back entrance through which +they can escape. Good luck. Carnes: hurry all you can. There is no +time to be lost." + + * * * * * + +The secret service operative stole away into the night and Dr. Bird +climbed back down the rope and took his place at the window. Willis +lay on the operating table unconscious, while Slavatsky and Carson +studied the now partially emptied syringe. + +"You gave him his full share all right," Carson was saying. "I guess +you are playing square with us. I'll take mine now." + +He lay down on the operating table and the dwarf fitted an anesthesia +cone over his face and opened the valve of the gas cylinder. In a +moment he closed it and rolled the unconscious man on his face and +deftly inserted the long needle. Instead of injecting a portion of the +contents of the syringe as Dr. Bird had expected to do, he drew back +on the plunger for a minute and then took out the needle and held the +syringe to the light. + +"Well, Mr. Carson," he said with a malignant glance at the unconscious +figure, "that recovers the dose you got a couple of weeks ago while +Willis watched me. I don't think you really need any menthium; your +brain is too active to suit me as it is." + +He gave an evil chuckle and walked to the far side of the cave and +opened a secret panel. He drew from a recess a flask and carefully +emptied a portion of the contents of the syringe into it. He replaced +the flask and closed the panel, and with another chuckle he limped +over to a chair and threw himself down in it. For an hour he sat +motionless and Dr. Bird carefully worked his way back along the branch +and climbed the rope and started for the hollow. + + * * * * * + +A faint whirring noise attracted his attention, and he could see the +faintly luminous globe in the distance, rapidly approaching. It came +to a stop at the spot where it had previously landed and four men got +out. Instead of going toward the cave, they towed the globe, which +floated a few inches from the earth, toward the side of the hill +farthest from where the doctor stood. Three of them held it, while the +fourth went forward and bent over some controls on the ground. A +creaking sound came through the night and the men moved forward with +the globe. Presently its movement stopped and men reappeared. Again +came the creaking sound and the glow faded out as though a screen had +been drawn in front of it. The four men walked toward the door of the +cave. + +Dr. Bird dropped flat on the ground and saw them pause a few yards +below him on the hill and again work some hidden controls. A glare of +light showed for an instant and they disappeared and everything was +again quiet. Dr. Bird debated the advisability of returning to the +window but decided against it and moved down the face of the hill. + +Inch by inch he went over the ground, but found nothing. In the +darkness he could not locate the door and he made his way around to +the back of the hill. The precipice loomed above him and he swept it +with his gaze, but he could locate no opening in the darkness and he +dared not use a flash-light. As he turned he faced the east and noted +with a start of surprise that the sky was getting red. He glanced at +his watch and found that Carnes had been gone for nearly three hours. + +"Great Scott!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Time has gone faster than I +realized. He ought to be back at any time now." + + * * * * * + +He mounted the highest point of the hill and sent three long flashes, +followed in turn by three short and three more long to the south and +watched eagerly for an answer. He waited five minutes and repeated the +signal, but no answering flashes came from the empty hills. With a +grunt which might have meant anything, he turned and made his way +toward the opposite side of the hollow where the globe had +disappeared. Here he met with more luck. He had marked the location +with extreme care and he had not spent over twenty minutes feeling +over the ground before his hand encountered a bit of metal. As he +pulled on it his eyes sought the side of the hill. + +The dawn had grown sufficiently bright for him to see the result of +his action. A portion of the hill folded back and the faintly glowing +ship became visible. With a muttered exclamation of triumph he +approached it. + +The globe was about nine feet in diameter and was without visible +doors or windows. Around and around it the doctor went, searching for +an entrance. The ship now rested solidly on the ground. He failed to +find what he sought and his sensitive hands began to go over it +searching for an irregularity. He had covered nearly half of it before +his finger found a hidden button and pressed it. Silently a door in +the side of the craft opened and he advanced to enter. + +"Keep them up!" said a sharp voice behind him. + +Dr. Bird froze into instant immobility and the voice spoke again. + +"Turn around!" + +Dr. Bird turned and looked full into the eye of a revolver held by the +man the dwarf had addressed as Frink. Behind Frink stood the dwarf and +three other men. + +As his eye fell on Dr. Bird, Frink turned momentarily pale and +staggered back, the revolver wavering as he did so. Dr. Bird made a +lightning-like grab for his own weapon, but before he could draw it +Frink had recovered and the revolver was again steady. + +"Dr. Bird!" gasped Slavatsky. "Impossible!" + +"Get his gun, Harris," said Frink. + + * * * * * + +One of the men stepped forward and dextrously removed the doctor's +automatic and frisked him expertly to insure himself that he had no +other weapon concealed. + +"Bring him to the cave," directed Slavatsky, who, though obviously +still shaken, had just as obviously recovered enough to be a very +dangerous man. Two of the men grasped the doctor and led him along +toward the entrance to the laboratory cave which stood wide open in +the gathering daylight. Frink paused long enough to shut the side of +the hill and conceal the ship, and then followed the doctor. In the +cave the door was shut and the doctor placed against the wall under +the window through which he had peered earlier in the night. Slavatsky +took his seat at the table, his malignant black eyes boring into the +Doctor. Carson and Willis sat on the edge of the operating table, +evidently still partially under the effects of the anesthetic that had +been administered to them. + +"How did you get back here?" demanded Slavatsky. + +"Find out!" snapped Dr. Bird. + +The dwarf rose threateningly. + +"Speak respectfully to me; I am the Master of the World!" he roared in +an angry voice. "Answer my questions when I speak, or means will be +found to make you answer. How did you get back here?" + +Dr. Bird maintained a stubborn silence, his fierce eyes answering the +dwarf's, look for look, and his prominent chin jutting out a little +more squarely. Carson suddenly broke the silence. + +"That's not the Bird we had here earlier," he cried as he staggered to +his feet. + +"What do you mean?" demanded Slavatsky whirling on him. + +"Look at his hands!" replied Carson pointing. + + * * * * * + +Slavatsky looked at Dr. Bird's long mobile fingers and an evil leer +came over his countenance. + +"So, Dr. Bird," he said slowly, "you thought to match wits with Ivan +Slavatsky, the greatest mind of all the ages. For a time you fooled me +when your double was operated on here, but not for long. I presume you +thought that we had no way of detecting the substitution? You have +discovered differently. Where is your friend, Mr. Carnes?" + +"Didn't your men leave him in the cabin when you kidnapped me?" + +Slavatsky looked at Frink inquiringly. + +"He stayed in the cabin if he was in it when we got there," the leader +of the kidnapping gang replied. "He got a full shot of lethane and +he's due to be asleep yet. I don't know how this man recovered. I left +him there myself." + +"Fool!" shrieked Slavatsky. "You brought me a double, a dummy whom I +wasted my time in operating on. Was the other a dummy, too?" + +"I didn't enter the cabin." + +Slavatsky shrugged his shoulders. + +"If that is all the good the menthium I have injected has done you, I +might as well have saved it. It doesn't matter, however: we have the +one we wanted. Dr. Bird, it was very thoughtful of you to come here +and offer your marvelous brain to strengthen mine. I have no doubt +that you will yield even more menthium than Professor Williams did +this evening especially as I will extract your entire supply and +reduce you to permanent idiocy. I will have no mercy on you as I have +on the others I have operated on." + +Dr. Bird blanched in spite of himself at the ominous words. + +"You have the whip-hand for the moment, Slavatsky, but my time may +come--and if it does, I will remember your kindness. I saw your +operation on Professor Williams this evening and know your power. I +also know that you stole the idea and the method from Sweigert of +Vienna. I saw you inject the fluid you drew into Willis' brain. Shall +I tell what else I saw?" + +It was the dwarf's turn to blanch, but he recovered himself quickly. + +"Into the chair with him!" he roared. + + * * * * * + +Three of the men grasped the doctor and forced him into the chair and +Slavatsky started the generator. The violet light bathed Dr. Bird's head +and he felt a stiffness and contraction of his neck muscles, and as he +tried to shout out his knowledge of Slavatsky's treachery, he found that +his vocal chords were paralyzed. Through a gathering haze he could see +Carson approaching with an anesthesia cone and the sweet smell of lethane +assailed his nostrils. He fought with all his force, but strong hands held +him, and he felt himself slipping--slipping--slipping--and then falling +into an immense void. His head slumped forward on his chest and Slavatsky +shut off the generator. + +"On the table," he said briefly. + +Four men picked up the herculean frame of the unconscious doctor and +hoisted him up on the table. Carson seized his head and bent it +forward and the dwarf took from a case a syringe with a five-inch +needle. He touched the point of it to the base of the doctor's brain. + +"Slavatsky! Look!" cried Frink. + +With an exclamation of impatience the dwarf turned and stared at a +disc set on the wall of the cave. It was glowing brightly. With an +oath he dropped the syringe and snapped a switch, plunging the cave +into darkness. A tiny panel in the door opened to his touch and he +stared out into the light. + +"Soldiers!" he gasped. "Quick, the back way!" + +As he spoke there came a sound as of a heavy body falling at the back +of the cave. Slavatsky turned the switch and flooded the cave with +light. At the back of the cave stood Operative Carnes, an automatic +pistol in his hand. + +"Open the main door!" Carnes snapped. + + * * * * * + +Slavatsky made a move toward the light, and Carnes' gun roared +deafeningly in the confined space. The heavy bullet smashed into the +wall an inch from the dwarf's hand and he started back. + +"Open the main door!" ordered Carnes again. + +The men stared at one another for a moment and the dwarf's eyes fell. + +"Open the door, Frink," he said. + +Frink moved over to a lever. He glanced at Slavatsky and a momentary +gleam of intelligence passed between them. Frink raised his hand +toward the lever and Carnes gun roared again and Frink's arm fell limp +from a smashed shoulder. + +"Slavatsky," said Carnes sternly, "come here!" + +Slowly the dwarf approached. + +"Turn around!" said Carnes. + +He turned and felt the cold muzzle of Carnes' gun against the back of +his neck. + +"Now tell one of your men to open the door," said the detective. "If +he promptly obeys your order, you are safe. If he doesn't, you die." + +Slavatsky hesitated for a moment, but the cold muzzle of the automatic +bored into the back of his neck and when he spoke it was in a +quavering whine. + +"Open the door, Carson," he whimpered. + +There was moment of pause. + +"If that door isn't open by the time I count three," said Carnes, +"--as far as Slavatsky is concerned, it's just too bad. I'll have four +shots left--and I'm a dead shot at this range. One! Two!" + +His lips framed the word "three" and his fingers were tightening on +the trigger when Carson jumped forward with an oath. He pulled a lever +on the wall and the door swung open. Carnes shouted and through the +opened door came a half dozen marines followed by an officer. + +"Tie these men up!" snapped Carnes. + + * * * * * + +In a trice the six men were securely bound and Frink's bleeding +shoulder was being skilfully treated by two of the marines. Carnes +turned his attention to the unconscious doctor. + +He rolled him over on his back and began to chafe his hands. An +officer in a naval uniform came through the door and with a swift +glance around, bent over Dr. Bird. He raised one of the doctor's +eyelids and peered closely at his eye and then sniffed at his breath. + +"It's some anesthetic I don't know," he said. "I'll try a stimulant." + +He reached in his pocket for a hypodermic, but Carnes interrupted him. + +"Earlier in the evening Dr. Bird said they were using lethane," he +said. + +"Oh, that new gas the Chemical Warfare Service has discovered," said +the surgeon. "In that case I guess it'll just have to wear off. I know +of nothing that will neutralize it." + +Without replying, Carnes began to feverishly search the pockets of the +unconscious scientist. With an exclamation of triumph he drew out a +bottle and uncorked it. A strong smell as of garlic penetrated the +room and he held the opened bottle under Dr. Bird's nose. The doctor +lay for a moment without movement, and then he coughed and sat up half +strangled with tears running down his face. + +"Take that confounded bottle away, Carnes!" he said. "Do you want to +strangle me?" + +He sat up and looked around. + +"What happened?" he demanded. "Oh, yes, I remember now. That brute was +about to operate on me. How did you get here?" + +"Never mind that, Doctor. Are you all right?" + +"Right as a trivet, old dear. How did you get here so opportunely?" + +"I was a little slow in locating Lieutenant Maynard and the marines. +When we got here I was afraid that we couldn't find the door, so I +took Maynard and a detail around to the back and I went up to the top +and slid down our cord and looked in the window. You were unconscious +and Slavatsky was bending over you with a needle in his hand. I was +about to try a shot at him when something called their attention to +the men in front and I squeezed through the window and dropped in on +them. They didn't seem any too glad to see me, but I overlooked that +and insisted on inviting the rest of my friends in to share in the +party. That's all." + +"Carnes," said the Doctor, "you're probably lying like a trooper when +you make out that you did nothing, but I'll pry the truth out of you +sooner or later. Now I've got to get to work. Send for Lieutenant +Maynard." + + * * * * * + +One of the marines went out to get the flyer, and Dr. Bird stepped to +the cabinet from which Slavatsky had taken his record book earlier in +the evening and took out the leather-bound volume. He opened it and +had started to read when Lieutenant Maynard entered the cave. + +"Hello, Maynard," said the Doctor, looking up. "Are the rest of the +party on their way?" + +"They will be here in less than two hours, Doctor." + +"Good enough! Have some one sent to guide them here. In the meanwhile, +I'm going to study these records. Keep the prisoners quiet. If they +make a noise, gag them. I want to concentrate." + +For an hour and a half silence reigned in the cave. A stir was heard +outside and Admiral Clay, the President's personal physician, entered +leading a stout gray-haired man. Dr. Bird whistled when he saw them +and leaped to his feet as another figure followed the admiral. + +"The President!" gasped Carnes as the officers came to a salute and +the marines presented arms. + +The President nodded to his ex-guard, acknowledged the salute of the +rest and turned to Dr. Bird. + +"Have you met with success, Doctor?" he asked. + +"I have, Mr. President; or, rather, I hope that I have. At the same +time, I would rather experiment on some other victim of their deviltry +than the one you have brought me." + +"My decision that the one I have brought shall be the first to be +experimented on, as you term it, is unalterable." + + * * * * * + +Dr. Bird bowed and turned to the dwarf who had been a sullen witness +of what had gone on. + +"Slavatsky," he said slowly, "your game is up. I have witnessed one of +your brain transfusions and I know the method. I gather from your +notes that the menthium you have hidden in that cabinet is still as +potent as when it was first extracted from a living brain, but in this +case I am going to draw it fresh from one of your gang. Some of the +details of the operation are a little hazy to me, but those you will +teach me. I am going to restore this man to the condition he was in +before you did your devil's work on him and you will direct my +movements. Just what is the first step in removing the menthium from a +brain?" + +The dwarf maintained a stubborn silence. + +"You refuse to answer?" asked the Doctor in feigned surprise. "I +thought that you would rather instruct me and have me try the +operation first on other men. Since you prefer that I operate on you +first, I will be glad to do so." + +He stepped to the opposite wall and in a few moments had opened the +dwarf's hiding place and taken out the flask of menthium. + +"Carson," he said, "after you had watched Slavatsky inject menthium +into Willis, you took lethane and expected him to inject menthium into +your brain. Instead of doing so he withdrew a portion from your brain +and put it in this flask. I have reason to believe from his secret +records which I found in the cabinet with this flask that he has done +so regularly. Are you willing to instruct me while I remove the +menthium from him?" + +"The dirty swine!" shouted Carson. "I'll do anything to get even with +him, but I have never performed the operation. Only Slavatsky and +Willis have operated." + +"Will you help me, Willis? asked Dr. Bird. + +"I'll be glad to, Doctor. I am sick of this business anyway. At first, +Slavatsky just planned to give us abnormally keen brains, but lately +he has been talking of setting himself up as Emperor of the World, and +I am sick of it. I think I would have broken with him and told all I +know, soon, anyway." + +"Throw him in that chair," said Dr. Bird. + + * * * * * + +Despite the howlings and strugglings of the dwarf, three of the +marines strapped him in the chair beneath the tube. The dwarf howled +and frothed at the mouth and directed a final appeal for mercy to the +President. + +"Spare me, Your Excellency," he howled. "I will put my brains at your +service and make you the greatest mentality of all time. Together we +can conquer and rule the world. I will show you how to build hundreds +of ships like mine--" + +The President turned his back on the dwarf and spoke curtly. + +"Proceed with your experiments, Dr. Bird," he said. + +Slavatsky directed his appeals to the doctor, who peremptorily +silenced him. + +"I told you a few hours ago, Slavatsky, that the time might come when +I would remember your threats against me. I will show you the same +mercy now as you promised me then. Carnes, put a cone over his face." + +Despite the howls of the dwarf, the operative forced an anesthesia +cone over his face and Dr. Bird turned to the valve of the lethane +cylinder. With Willis directing his movements, he turned on the ray +for three minutes and removed the unconscious dwarf to the operating +table. He took the long-needled syringe from a case and sterilized it +and then turned to the President. + +"I am about to operate," he said, "but before I do so, I wish to +explain to all just what I have learned and what I am about to do. +With that data, the decision of whether I shall proceed will rest with +you and Admiral Clay. Have I your permission to do so?" + + * * * * * + +The President nodded. + +"When I first read of these amnesia cases, I took them for +coincidences--until you consulted me and gave me an opportunity to +examine one of the victims. I found a small puncture at the base of +the brain which I could not explain, and I began to dig into old +records. I knew, of course, of Sweigert of Vienna, and the extravagant +claims he had put forward in 1911. He was far ahead of his time, but +he mixed up some profound scientific discoveries with mysticism and +occultism until he was discredited. Nevertheless, he continued his +experiments with the aid of his principal assistant, a man named +Slavatsky. + +"Sweigert's theory was that intellectuality, brain power, +intelligence, call it what you will, was the result of the presence of +a fluid which he called 'menthium' in the brain. He thought that it +could be transferred from one person to another, and with the aid of +Slavatsky, he experimented on himself. He removed the menthium from an +unfortunate victim, who was reduced to a state of imbecility, and +Slavatsky injected the substance into Sweigert's brain. The experiment +resulted fatally and Slavatsky was tried for murder. He was acquitted +of intentional murder but was imprisoned for a time for manslaughter. +He was released when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up, and +for a time I lost track of him. + +"I found translations of both the records of the trials and of +Sweigert's original reports, and the thing that attracted my attention +was that the puncture I found in the victim corresponded exactly with +the puncture described by Sweigert as the one he made in extracting +the menthium. I asked the immigration authorities to check over their +records and they found that a man named Slavatsky whose description +corresponded with the ill-fated Sweigert's assistant had entered the +United States under Austria's quota about a year ago. The chain of +evidence seemed complete to me, and it only remained to find the man +who was systematically robbing brains. + +"If such a thing was really going on, I felt that my reputation would +make me an attractive bait and I secured a double, as you know, and +placed him in a position where his kidnapping would be an easy matter. +I was sure that the victims were being taken away by air and that +lethane was being used to reduce the neighborhood to a state of +profound somnolence, so I hid myself near my double with a gas +detector which would find even minute traces of lethane in the air. + +"My fish rose to the lure and came after the bait last night. When his +ship arrived, I found a strange gas in the air, and followed the ship +by the trail of the substance which it left behind it. Carnes was with +me, and we got here in time to witness the extraction of the menthium +from my friend, Professor Williams of Yale, and to see it injected +into one of Slavatsky's gang. I sent Carnes for help and messed around +until I was captured myself--and help arrived just in time. That's +about all there is to tell. I am now about to reverse the process and +try to remove the stolen brains from the criminals and restore them to +their rightful owners. I have never operated and the result may be +fatal. Shall I proceed?" + +The President and Admiral Clay consulted for a moment in undertones. + +"Go on with your experiments, Dr. Bird," said the President, "and we +will hold you blameless for a failure. You have worked so many +miracles in the past that we have every confidence in you." + +Dr. Bird bowed acknowledgment to the compliment and bent over the +unconscious dwarf. With Willis directing every move, he inserted the +needle and drew back slowly on the plunger. Twenty-three and one-half +cubic centimeters of amber fluid flowed into the syringe before a +speck of blood appeared. + +"Enough!" cried Willis. Dr. Bird withdrew the syringe and motioned to +Admiral Clay. The man the Admiral had brought in was placed in the +chair and lethane administered. He was laid on the table, and, with a +silent prayer, Dr. Bird inserted the needle and pressed the plunger. +When five and one-quarter centimeters had flowed into the man's +brains, he withdrew the needle and held the bottle which Carnes had +used to revive him under the man's nose. The patient coughed a moment +and sat up. + +"Where am I?" he demanded. His gaze roved the cave and fell on the +President. "Hello, Robert," he exclaimed. "What has happened?" + +With a cry of joy the President sprang forward and wrung the hand of +the man. + +"Are you all right, William?" he asked anxiously. "Do you feel +perfectly normal?" + +"Of course I do. My neck feels a little stiff. What are you talking +about? Why shouldn't I feel normal? How did I get here?" + +"Take him outside, Admiral, and explain to him," said the President. + +Admiral Clay led the puzzled man outside and the President turned to +Dr. Bird. + +"Doctor," he said, "I need not tell you that I again add my personal +gratitude to the gratitude of a nation which would be yours, could the +miracles you work be told off. If there is ever any way that can serve +you, either personally or officially, do not hesitate to ask. The +other victims will be brought here to-day. Will you be able to restore +them?" + +"I will, Mr. President. From Slavatsky's records I find that I will +have enough if I reduce all of his men to a state of imbecility except +Willis. In view of his assistance, I propose to leave him with enough +menthium to give him the intelligence of an ordinary schoolboy." + +"I quite approve of that," said the President as Willis humbly +expressed his gratitude. "Have you had time to make an examination of +that ship of Slavatsky's, yet?" + +"I have not. As soon as the work of restoration is completed, I will +go over it, and when I master the principles I will be glad to take +them up with the Army-Navy General Board." + +"Thank you, Doctor," said the President. He shook hands heartily and +left the cave. Carnes turned and looked at the Doctor. + +"Will you answer a question, Doctor?" he asked. "Ever since this case +started, I have been wondering at your extraordinary powers. You have +ordered the army, the navy, the department of justice and everyone +else around as though you were an absolute monarch. I know the +President was behind you, but what puzzles me is how he came to be so +vitally interested in the case." + +Dr. Bird smiled quizzically at the detective. + +"Even the secret service doesn't know everything," he said. "Evidently +you didn't recognize the man whose memory I restored. Besides being +one of the most brilliant corporation executives in the country, he +has another unique distinction. He happens to be the only brother of +the President of the United States." + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Invisible Death + +A COMPLETE NOVELETTE + +_By Victor Rousseau_ + +[Illustration: Far overhead a luminous shape appeared.] + +[Sidenote: With night-rays and darkness-antidote America strikes back +at the terrific and destructive Invisible Empire.] + +CHAPTER I + +_Out of the Hangman's Hands_ + + +"You speak," said Von Kettler, jeering, "as if you really believed +that you had the power of life and death over me." + +The Superintendent of the penitentiary frowned, yet there was +something of perplexity in the look he gave the prisoner. "Von +Kettler, I think it is time that you dropped this absurd pose of +yours," he said, "in view of the fact that you are scheduled to die by +hanging at eight o'clock to-morrow night. Your life and death are in +your own hands." + +[Illustration] + +Von Kettler bowed ironically. Standing in the Superintendent's +presence in the uniform of the condemned cell, collarless, +bare-headed, he yet seemed to dominate the other by a certain poise, +breeding, nonchalance. + +"Your life is offered you in consideration of your making a complete +written confession of the whole ramifications of the plot against the +Federal Government," the Superintendent continued. + +"Rather a confession of weakness, my dear Superintendent," jeered the +prisoner. + + * * * * * + +"Oh don't worry about that! The Government has unravelled a good deal +of the conspiracy. It knows that you and your international associates +are planning to strike at civilized government throughout the world, +in the effort to restore the days of autocracy. It knows you are +planning a world federation of states, based on the principles of +absolutism and aristocracy. It is aware of the immense financial +resources behind the movement. Also that you have obtained the use of +certain scientific discoveries which you believe will aid you in your +schemes." + +"I was wondering," jeered the prisoner, "how soon you were coming to +that." + +"They didn't help you in your murderous scheme," the Superintendent +thundered. "You were found in the War Office by the night watchman, +rifling a safe of valuable documents. You shot him with a pistol +equipped with a silencer. You shot down two more who, hearing his +cries, rushed to his aid. And you attempted to stroll out of the +building, apparently under the belief that you possessed mysterious +power which would afford you security." + +"A little lapse of judgment such as may happen with the best laid +plans," smiled Von Kettler. "No, Superintendent, I'll be franker with +you than that. My capture was designed. It was decided to give the +Government an object lesson in our power. It was resolved that I +should permit myself to be captured, in order to demonstrate that you +cannot hang me, that I have merely to open the door of my cell, the +gates of this penitentiary, and walk out to freedom." + +"Have you quite finished?" rasped the Superintendent. + +"At your disposal," smiled the other. + +"Here's your last chance, Von Kettler. Your persistence in this absurd +claim has actually shaken the expressed conviction of some of the +medical examiners that you are sane. If you will make that complete +written confession that the Government asks of you, I pledge you that +you shall be declared insane to-night, and sent to a sanitarium from +which you will be permitted to escape as soon as this affair has blown +over." + + * * * * * + +"The United States Government has sunk pretty low, to involve itself +in a deal of this character, don't you think, my dear Superintendent?" +jeered Von Kettler. + +"The Government is prepared to act as it thinks best in the interests +of humanity. It knows that the death of one wretched murderer such as +yourself is not worth the lives of thousands of innocent men!" + +"And there," smiled Von Kettler, without abating an atom of his +nonchalance, "there, my dear Superintendent, you hit the nail on the +head. Only, instead of thousands, you might have said millions." + +Von Kettler's aspect changed. Suddenly his eyes blazed, his voice +shook with excitement, his face was the face of a fanatic, of a +prophet. + +"Yes, millions, Superintendent," he thundered. "It it a holy cause +that inspires us. We know that it is our sacred mission to save the +world from the drabness of modern democracy. The people--always the +people! Bah! what are the lives of these swarming millions worth when +compared with a Caesar, a Napoleon, an Alexander, a Charlemagne? +Nothing can stop us or defeat us. And you, with your confession of +defeat, your petty bargaining--I laugh at you!" + +"You'll laugh on the gallows to-morrow night!" the Superintendent +shouted. + +Again Von Kettler was the calm, superior, arrogant prisoner of before. +"I shall never stand on the gallows trap, my dear Superintendent, as I +have told you many times," he replied. "And, since we have reached +what diplomacy calls a deadlock, permit me to return to my cell." + +The Superintendent pressed a button on his desk; the guards, who had +been waiting outside the office, entered hastily. "Take this man +back," he commanded, and Von Kettler, head held high, and smiling, +left the room between them. + + * * * * * + +The Superintendent pressed another button, and his assistant entered, +a rugged, red-haired man of forty--Anstruther, familiarly known as +"Bull" Anstruther, the man who had in three weeks reduced the +penitentiary from a place of undisciplined chaos to a model of law +and order. Anstruther knew nothing of the Superintendent's offer to +Von Kettler, but he knew that the latter had powerful friends outside. + +"Anstruther, I'm worried about Von Kettler," said the Superintendent. +"He actually laughed at me when I spoke of the possibility of another +medical examination. He seemed confident that he could not be hanged. +Swore that he will never stand on the gallows trap. How about your +precautions for to-morrow night?" + +"We've taken all possible precautions," answered Anstruther. "Special +armed guards have been posted at every entrance to the building. +Detectives are patrolling all streets leading up to it. Every car that +passes is being scrutinized, its plate numbers taken, and forwarded to +the Motor Bureau. There's no chance of even an attempt at +rescue--literally none." + +"He's insane," said the Superintendent, with conviction, and the words +filled him with new confidence. It had been less Von Kettler's +statements than the man's cool confidence and arrogant superiority +that had made him doubt. "But he's not too insane to have known what +he was doing. He'll hang." + +"He certainly will," replied Anstruther. "He's just a big bluff, sir." + +"Have him searched rigorously again to-morrow morning, and his cell +too--every inch of it, Anstruther. And don't relax an iota of your +precautions. I'll be glad when it's all over." + +He proceeded to hold a long-distance conversation with Washington over +a special wire. + + * * * * * + +In his cell, Von Kettler could be seen reading a book. It was +Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathusta," that compendium of aristocratic +insolence that once took the world by storm, until the author's +mentality was revealed by his commitment to a mad-house. Von Kettler +read till midnight, closely observed by the guard at the trap, then +laid the word aside with a yawn, lay down on his cot, and appeared to +fall instantly asleep. + +Dawn broke. Von Kettler rose, breakfasted, smoked the perfecto that +came with his ham and eggs, resumed his book. At ten o'clock Bull +Anstruther came with a guard and stripped him to the skin, examining +every inch of his prison garments. The bedding followed; the cell was +gone over microscopically. Von Kettler, permitted to dress again, +smiled ironically. That smile stirred Anstruther's gall. + +"We know you're just a big bluff, Von Kettler," snarled the big man. +"Don't think you've got us going. We're just taking the usual +precautions, that's all." + +"So unnecessary," smiled Von Kettler. "To-night I shall dine at the +Ambassador grill. Watch for me there. I'll leave a memento." + +Anstruther went out, choking. Early in the afternoon two guards came +for Von Kettler. + +"Your sister's come to say good-by to you," he was told, as he was +taken to the visitors' cell. + +This was a large and fairly comfortable cell in a corridor leading off +the death house, designed to impress visitors with the belief that it +was the condemned man's permanent abode; and, by a sort of convention, +it was understood that prisoners were not to disabuse their visitors' +minds of the idea. The convention had been honorably kept. The +visitor's approach was checked by a grill, with a two-yards space +between it and the bars of the cell. Within this space a guard was +seated: it was his duty to see that nothing passed. + + * * * * * + +As soon as Von Kettler had been temporarily established in his new +quarters, a pretty, fair-haired young woman came along the corridor, +conducted by the Superintendent himself. She walked with dignity, her +bearing was proud, she smiled at her brother through the grill, and +there was no trace of weeping about her eyes. + +She bowed with pretty formality, and Von Kettler saluted her with an +airy wave of the hand. Then they began to speak, and the German guard +who had been selected for the purpose of interpreting to the +Superintendent afterward, was baffled. + +It was not German--neither was it French, Italian, or any of the +Romance languages. As a matter of fact, it was Hungarian. + +Not until the half-hour was up did they lapse into English, and all +the while they might have been conversing on art, literature, or +sport. There was no hint of tragedy in this last meeting. + +"Good-by, Rudy," smiled his sister, "I'll see you soon." + +"To-night or to-morrow," replied Von Kettler indifferently. + +The girl blew him a kiss. She seemed to detach it from her mouth and +extend it through the grill with a graceful gesture of the hand, and +Von Kettler caught it with a romantic wave of the fingers and strained +it to his heart. But it was only one of those queer foreign ways. +Nothing was passed. The alert guard, sitting under the electric light, +was sure of that. + +They searched Von Kettler again after he was back in the death house. +The other cells were empty. In three of them detectives were placed. +In the yard beyond the hangman was experimenting with the trap. He +himself was under close observation. Nothing was being left to chance. + + * * * * * + +At seven o'clock two men collided in the death-house entrance. One was +a guard, carrying Von Kettler's last meal on a tray. He had demanded +Perigord truffles and pate de foie gras, cold lobster, endive salad, +and near-beer, and he had got them. The other was the chaplain, in a +state of visible agitation. + +"If he was an atheist and mocked at me it wouldn't be so bad," the +good man declared. "I've had plenty of that kind. But he says he's not +going to be hanged. He's mad, mad as a March hare. The Government has +no right to send an insane man to the gallows." + +"All bluff, my dear Mr. Wright," answered the Superintendent, when the +chaplain voiced his protest. "He thinks he can get away with it. The +commission has pronounced him sane, and he must pay the penalty of his +crime." + +By that mysterious process of telegraphy that exists in all penal +institutions, Von Kettler's boast that he would beat the hangman had +become the common information of the inmates. Bets were being laid, +and the odds against Von Kettler ranged from ten to fifteen to one. It +was generally agreed, however, that Von Kettler would die game to the +last. + +"You all ready, Mr. Squires?" the prowling Superintendent asked the +hangman. + +"Everything's O. K., sir." + +The Superintendent glanced at the group of newspaper men gathered +about the gallows. They, too, had heard of the prisoner's boast. One +of them asked him a question. He silenced him with an angry look. + +"The prisoner is in his cell, and will be led out in ten minutes. You +shall see for yourselves how much truth there it in this absurdity," +he said. + + * * * * * + +He looked at his watch. It lacked five minutes of eight. The +preparations for an execution had been reduced almost to a formula. +One minute in the cell, twenty seconds to the trap, forty seconds for +the hangman to complete his arrangements: two minutes, and then the +thud of the false floor. + +Four minutes of eight. The little group had fallen silent. The hangman +furtively took a drink from his hip-pocket flask. Three minutes! The +Superintendent walked back to the door of the death house and nodded +to the guard. + +"Bring him out quick!" he said. + +The guard shot the bolt of Von Kettler's cell. The Superintendent saw +him enter, heard a loud exclamation, and hurried to his side. One +glance told him that the prisoner had made good his boast. + +Von Kettler's cell was empty! + + +CHAPTER II + +_Conference_ + +Captain Richard Rennell, of the U. S. Air Service, but temporarily +detached to Intelligence, thought that Fredegonde Valmy had never +looked so lovely as when he helped her out of the cockpit. + +Her dark hair fell in disorder over her flushed cheeks, and her eyes +were sparkling with pleasure. + +"A thousand thanks, M'sieur Rennell," she said, in her low voice with +its slight foreign intonation. "Never have I enjoyed a ride more than +to-day. And I shall see you at Mrs. Wansleigh's ball to-night?" + +"I hope so--if I'm not wanted at Headquarters," answered Dick, looking +at the girl in undisguised admiration. + +"Ah, that Headquarters of yours! It claims so much of your time!" she +pouted. "But these are times when the Intelligence Service demands +much of its men, is it not so?" + +"Who told you I was attached to Intelligence?" demanded Dick bluntly. + +She laughed mockingly. "Do you think that is not known all over +Washington?" she asked. "It is strange that Intelligence should act +like the--the ostrich, who buries his head in the sand and thinks that +no one sees him because it is hidden." + +Dick looked at the girl in perplexity. During the past month he had +completely lost his head and heart over her, and he was trying to view +her with the dispassionate judgment that his position demanded. + +As the niece of the Slovakian Ambassador, Mademoiselle Valmy had the +entry to Washington society. The Ambassador was away on leave, and she +had appeared during his absence, but she had been accepted +unquestionably at the Embassy, where she had taken up her quarters, +explaining--as the Ambassador confirmed by cable--that she had sailed +under a misconception as to the date of his leave. + + * * * * * + +Brunette, beautiful, charming, she had a score of hearts to play with, +and yet Dick flattered himself that he stood first. Perhaps the others +did too. + +"Of course," the girl went on, "with the Invisible Emperor threatening +organized society, you gentlemen find yourselves extremely busy. Well, +let us hope that you locate him and bring him to book." + +"Sometimes," said Dick slowly, "I almost think that you know something +about the Invisible Emperor." + +Again she laughed merrily. "Now, if you had said that my sympathies +were with the Invisible Emperor, I might have been surprised into an +acknowledgment," she answered. "After all, he does stand for that +aristocracy that has disappeared from the modern world, does he not? +For refinement of manners, for beauty of life, for all those things +men used to prize." + +"Likewise for the existence of the vast body of the nation in +ignorance and poverty, in filth and squalor," answered Dick. "No, my +sympathies are with law and order and democracy, and your Invisible +Emperor and his crowd are simply a gang of thieves and hold-up men." + +"Be careful!" A warning fire burned in the girl's eyes. "At least, it +is known that the Emperor's ears are long." + +"So are a jackass's," retorted Dick. + +He was sorry next moment, for the girl received his answer in icy +silence. In his car, which conveyed them from the tarmac to the +Embassy, she received all his overtures in the same silence. A frigid +little bow was her farewell to him, while Dick, struggling between +resentment and humiliation, sat dumb and wretched at the wheel. + +Yet the idea that Fredegonde Valmy had any knowledge of the conspiracy +or its leaders never entered Dick's head. He was only miserable that +he had offended her, and he would have done anything to have +straightened out the trouble. + + * * * * * + +It seemed impossible that in the year 1940 the peace of the civilized +world could be threatened by an international conspiracy bent on +restoring absolutism, and yet each day showed more clearly the immense +ramifications of the plot. Each day, too, brought home to the +investigating governments more clearly the fact that the things they +had discovered were few in number in comparison with those they had +not. + +The headquarters of the conspirators had never been discovered, and it +was suspected that the powerful mind behind them was intentionally +leading the investigators along false trails. + +The conspiracy was world-wide. It had been behind the revolution that +had recreated an absolutist monarchy in Spain. It had plunged Italy +into civil war. It had thrown England into the convulsions of a +succession of general strikes, using the communist movement as a cloak +for its activities. + +But nobody dreamed that America could become a fertile field for its +insidious propaganda. Yet it was behind the millions of adherents of +the so-called Freemen's Party, clamoring for the destruction of the +constitution. Upon the anarchy that would follow the absolutist regime +was to be erected. + +Already the mysterious powers had struck. Departments of State had +been entered and important papers abstracted. The _Germania_ had +mysteriously disappeared in mid-Atlantic, and a shipping panic had +ensued. There were tales of mysterious figures materializing out of +nothingness. It was known that the conspirators were in possession of +certain chemical and electrical devices with which they hoped to +achieve their ends. + +The Superintendent of the penitentiary had had in his pocket an +authorization to stop the execution of Von Kettler after he stood on +the trap. Dead, he would be a mere mark of vengeance: alive, he might +be persuaded to furnish some clue to the headquarters of the +miscreants. + + * * * * * + +And behind the conspirators loomed the unknown figure that signed +itself the Invisible Emperor--in the communications that poured in to +the White House and to the rulers of other nations. In the threats +that were materializing with stunning swiftness. + +Who was he? Rumor said that a former European ruler had not died as +was supposed: that a coffin weighted with lead had been buried, and +that he himself in his old age, had gone forth to a mad scheme of +world conquest with a body of his nobles. + +It had been practically a state of war since the shipment of gold, +guarded by a detachment of police, had been stolen in broad daylight +outside Baltimore, the police clubbed and killed by invisible +assailants--as they claimed. The press was under censorship, troops +under arms, and it was reported that the fleet was mobilizing. + +In the midst of it all, Washington shopped, danced, feasted, flirted, +like a swarm of may flies over a treacherous stream. + +Intelligence was alert. As Dick started to drive away from the +Slovakian Embassy, a man stepped quickly to the side of the car and +thrust an envelope into his hand. Dick opened it quickly. He was +wanted by Colonel Stopford at once, not at the camouflaged +Headquarters at the War Department, but at the real Headquarters where +no papers were kept but weighty decisions were made. And to that +devious course the Government had already been driven. + +Dick parked his car in a side street--it would have been under +espionage in any of the official parking places--and set off at a +smart walk toward his destination. Nobody would have guessed, from the +appearance of the streets, that a national calamity was impending. The +shopping crowds were swarming along the sidewalks, cars tailed each +other through the streets; only a detachment of soldiers on the White +House lawn lent a touch of the martial to the scene. + + * * * * * + +The building which Dick entered was an ordinary ten-story one in the +business section; the various legal firms and commercial concerns that +occupied it would have been greatly surprised to have known the +identity of the Ira T. Graves, Importer, whose name appeared in modest +letters upon the opaque glass door on the seventh story. Inside a +flapper stenographer--actually one of the most trusted members of +Intelligence's staff--asked Dick's name, which she knew perfectly +well. Not a smile or a flicker of an eyelid betrayed the fact. + +"Mr. Rennell," said Dick with equal gravity. + +The girl passed into an inner room, and a buzzer sounded. In a few +moments the girl came back. + +"Mr. Graves will be here in a few minutes, Mr. Rennell, if you'll +kindly wait in his office," she said. + +Dick thanked her, and walked through into the empty office. He waited +there till the girl had closed the door behind him, then went out by +another door and found himself again in the corridor. Opposite him was +a door with the words "Entrance 769" and a hand pointing down the +corridor to where the Intelligence service had established another +perfectly innocent front. Dick tapped lightly at this door, and a key +turned in the lock. + +The man who stepped quickly back was one of the heads of the Civil +Service. The man at the flat-topped desk was Colonel Stopford. The man +on a chair beside him was one of the heads of the police force. + + * * * * * + +The Colonel, a big, elderly man, dressed in a grey sack suit, checked +Dick's commencing salutation. "Never mind etiquette, Rennell," he +said. "Sit down. You've heard about the man Von Kettler's escape last +night, of course?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"It's known, then. We can't keep things dark. He vanished from his +cell in the death house, three minutes before the time appointed for +his execution, though, as a matter of fact, he wasn't going to be +hanged. Apparently he walked through the walls. + +"There's a sequel to it, Rennell. It seems he had told the +assistant-superintendent, a man named Anstruther, that he'd meet him +at a restaurant in town that night. He promised to leave him a +memento. Anstruther happened to remember this boast of Von Kettler's, +and he surrounded the restaurant with armed detectives, on the chance +that the fellow would show up. Rennell, _Von Kettler was there!_" + +"He went to this restaurant, sir?" + +"He walked in, just before the place was surrounded, engaged a table, +and ordered a sumptuous meal. He told the waiter his name, said he +expected a friend to join him, walked into the wash-room--and +vanished! Two minutes later Anstruther and his men were on the job. +Von Kettler never came out of the wash-room, so far as anybody knows. + +"In the midst of the hue and cry somebody pointed to the table that +Von Kettler had engaged. There was a twenty-dollar bill upon it, and a +scrap of paper reading: 'I've kept my word. Von K.'" + +Colonel Stopford looked at Dick fixedly. "Rennell, we may be fools," +he said, "but we realize what we're up against. It's a big thing, and +we're going to need all our fighting grit to overcome it. You're one +of the four men we're depending on. We're counting on you because of +your record, and because of your degree in science at Heidelberg. The +President wishes you to take charge of the whole Eastern Intelligence +District, covering the entire south-eastern seaboard of the United +States. You are to have complete freedom of action, and all civil, +military, and naval officials have received instructions to co-operate +with you." + +"There goes Mrs. Wansleigh's ball," thought Dick, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +"We're not the hunters, Dick Rennell," went on Colonel Stopford. +"We're hiding under cover, and I'm counting on you to turn the tables. +They even know my office is here. I had a long distance call from +Savannah this morning in mocking vein. They advised me to have the +White House watched to-night. I warned the President, and we've posted +guards all round it." + +"They held the wire while you called up the President?" asked Dick. + +"Damn it, no! They called me up from Scranton the instant he'd +finished speaking. They have the power of the devil, Rennell, with +that infernal invisibility invention of theirs. Rennell, we're +fighting unknown forces. Who this Invisible Emperor is, we don't even +know. But one thing we've found out. He has his headquarters somewhere +in your district. Somewhere along the south Atlantic seaboard. The +greater part of his activities emanate from there. But we're fighting +in the dark. The clue, the master clue that will enable us to locate +him--that's what we lack." + +The sun had set, it was beginning to grow dark. Colonel Stopford +switched on the electric lamp beside his desk. + +"What have you to say, Rennell?" he asked; and Dick was aware that the +two other men were regarding him attentively. + +"It's evident," said Dick, "that Von Kettler possessed this means of +invisibility in his cell, and wasn't detected. He simply slipped out +when the guard came to fetch him." + +"Invisibility? Yes! But invisible's not the same thing as +transparent," cried Stopford. "These folks have operated in broad +daylight. They're transparent, damn them! Not even a shadow! You know +what I mean, Rennell! What I'm thinking of! That crazy man you were in +touch with six months ago, who prophesied this! We turned him down! He +showed me a watch and said the salvation of the world was inside the +case! I thought him insane!" + + * * * * * + +"You mean Luke Evans, sir. That watch was his pocket model. He went +off in a huff, saying the time would come when we'd want him and not +be able to find him." + +"But, damn him, he wanted to produce universal darkness, or some such +nonsense, Rennell, and I told him that we wanted light, not darkness." + +"It wasn't exactly that, sir." Colonel Stopford was a man of the old +school: he had been an artillery officer in the Great War, and was +characteristically impatient of new notions. Dick began carefully: +"You'll remember, sir, old Evans claimed to have been the inventor of +that shadow-breaking device that was stolen from him and sold in +England." + +"To a moving picture company!" snorted Stopford. "I asked him what +moving pictures had to do with war." + +"Evans was convinced that the invention would be applied to war. He +claimed that it made the modern methods of military camouflage out of +date completely. He said that by destroying shadows one could produce +invisibility, since visibility consists in the refraction of wave +lengths by material objects. + +"When they stole his invention, he foresaw that it would be used in +war. He set to work to nullify his own invention. He told me that he +had unintentionally given to the enemies of the United States a means +of bringing us to our knees, since he believed that British motion +picture company was actually a subsidiary of Krupp's. He worked out a +method of counteracting it." + +"You must get him, Rennell. Even if it's all nonsense, we can't afford +to let any chance go. If Evans's invention will counteract this damned +invisibility business--" + +The telephone on the Colonel's desk rang. He picked it up, and his +face assumed an expression of incredulity. He looked about him, like a +man bewildered. He beckoned to the police official, who hurried to his +side, and thrust the receiver into his hand. The official listened. + +"All right," he said. He turned to Dick and the Civil Service +representative. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "the President has disappeared from his office +in the White House, and there are grave fears that he has been +kidnapped!" + + +CHAPTER III + +_In the White House_ + +Colonel Stopford's car had been parked around the corner of the +building, and within a minute the four men were inside it, Stopford at +the wheel, and racing in the direction of the White House. A nod to +the guard at the gate, and they were inside the grounds. At the +entrance a single guard, in place of the four who should have been +posted there, challenged sharply, and attempted to bar the way, not +recognizing Dick or Stopford in their civilian clothes. + +"Where's your officer?" demanded Stopford sharply. + +Half-cowed by the Colonel's manner, the young recruit hesitated, and +the four swept him out of the way and hurried on. The scene outside +the main entrance to the White House was one of indescribable +confusion. Soldiers were swarming in confused groups, some trying to +force an entrance, others pouring out. Every moment civilians, +streaming over the lawn, added to the number. Discipline seemed almost +abandoned. From inside the building came outbursts of screams and +cursing, the scuffling of a mob. + +"Roscoe! Roscoe!" shouted Stopford. "Where's the President's +secretary? Who's seen him? Let us pass immediately!" + +No one paid the least attention to him. But a short, bare-headed +civilian, who was struggling in the crowd, heard, and shouted in +answer, waved his arms, and began to force his way toward the four. It +was Roscoe, the secretary of President Hargreaves. The President was a +childless widower, and Roscoe lived in the White House with him and +was intimately in his confidence. + +Roscoe gained Stopford's side. "Say--they've got him!" he panted. +"They've got him somewhere--inside the building. They're trying to get +him out! We've got to save him--but we can't see them--or him. They've +made him invisible too, curse them! I heard him crying, 'Help me, +Roscoe!' He saw me, I tell you--and I didn't know where he was!" + + * * * * * + +The little secretary was almost incoherent with fear and anger. The +five men, forming a wedge, hurled themselves forward. Out of the White +House entrance appeared a tall officer, revolver in hand. It was +Colonel Simpson, of the President's staff. Half beside himself, he +swept the weapon menacingly about him, shouting incoherently, and +clearing a passage, into which the five hurled themselves. + +Stopford seized his revolver hand, and after a brief struggle Simpson +recognized him. + +"He's in the building!" he shouted wildly. "Somewhere upstairs! I'm +trying to form a cordon, but this damned mob's in the way. Kick those +civilians out!" he cried to the soldiers. "Shoot them if they don't +go! Guard the windows!" + +Stopford and Dick, at the head of the wedge, pushed past into the +White House. The interior was packed, men were struggling frantically +on the staircase; it seemed hopeless to try to do anything. + +Suddenly renewed yells sounded from above, a scream of anguish, howls +of terror. There came a downward surge, then a forward and upward one, +which carried the two men up the stairs and into the President's +private apartments above. + +In the large reception-room a mob was struggling at a window, beneath +a blaze of electric light. A soldier was standing there like a statue, +his face fixed with a leer of horror. In his hands was a rifle, with a +blood-stained bayonet, dripping upon the hardwood floor at the edge of +the rug. Upon the rug itself a stream of blood was spouting out of the +air. + +Dick looked at the sight and choked. There was something appalling in +the sight: it was the quintessence of horror, that widening pool of +blood, staining the rug, and flowing from an invisible body that +writhed and twisted, while moans of anguish came from unseen lips. + +Colonel Stopford leaped back, livid and staring. "God, it's got +eyes--two eyes!" he shouted. + +Dick saw them too. The eyes, which alone were visible, were about six +inches from the floor, and they were appearing and disappearing, as +they opened and shut alternately. It was a man lying there, a dying +man, pierced by the soldier's bayonet by pure accident, dying and yet +invisible. + + * * * * * + +The mob had scattered with shrieks of terror, but a few bolder spirits +remained in a thin circle about that fearful thing on the rug. Dick +bent over the man, and felt the outlines of the writhing body. It was +a man, apparently dressed in some sort of uniform, but this was +covered, from the top of the head to the feet, with a sort of sheer +silken garment, bifurcating below the waist, and resembling a cocoon. +It seemed to appear and alternately to vanish. + +Dick seized the filmy stuff in his fingers, rent it, and stripped it +away. Yells of terror and amazement broke from the throats of all. +Instantly the thin circle of spectators had become reinforced by a +struggling mass of men. + +The half-visible cocoon clung to Dick's body like spider webs. But the +man who had been wearing it had sprung instantly into view beneath the +cluster of electric lights. He was a fair-haired young fellow of about +thirty years, his features white and set in the agony of death. + +He was dressed in a trim uniform of black, with silver braid, and on +his shoulders were the insignia of a lieutenant. He opened his eyes, +blue as the skies, and stared about him. He seemed to understand what +had happened to him. + +"Dogs!" he muttered. + +Shrieks of fury answered him. The mob surged toward him as if to grind +his face to pieces under their feet--and then recoiled, mouthing and +gibbering. But it was at Dick that they were looking, not at the dying +man. + +He raised himself upon one elbow with a mighty effort. "His Majesty +the Invisible Emperor! Long be his reign triumphant!" he chanted. It +was his last credo. The words broke from his lips accompanied by a +torrent of red foam. His head dropped back, his body slipped down; he +was gone. And no one seemed to observe his passing. They were all +screaming and gibbering at Dick. + +"Rennell! Rennell!" yelled Stopford. "Where are you, Rennell? God, +man, what's happened to your legs?" + +Dick looked down at himself. For a moment he had the illusion that he +was a head and a trunk, floating in the air. His lower limbs had +become invisible, except for patches of trousering that seemed to +drift through space. The mob in the room had fallen back gaping at him +in horror. + +Then Dick understood. It was the invisible garment that had coiled +itself about him. He tore it from him and became visibly a man once +more. + +Shouts from another room! A surging movement of the crowd toward it. +The muffled sounds of an automatic pistol, fitted with a silencer! +Then screams: + +"The devils are in there! They're murdering the soldiers!" + +There followed a panic-stricken rush, more muffled firing, and then +the sharp roar of rifles, and the fall of plaster. Some one was +bawling the President's name. The rooms became a mass of milling human +beings, lost to all self-control. + +A bedlam of noise and struggle. Men fought with one another blindly, +cursing soldiers fired promiscuously among the mob, riddling the +walls, stabbing at the air. The plaster was falling in great chunks +everywhere, filling the rooms with a heavy white cloud, in which all +choked and struggled. The yells of the civilian mob below, struggling +helplessly in the packed crowd that wedged the great stairway, made +babel. Outside the White House a dense mob that filled the lawns was +yelling back, and struggling to gain admittance. Suddenly the lights +went out. + +"They've cut the wires!" rose a wild, wailing voice. "The devils have +cut the wires! Kill them! Kill everybody!" + +His cry ended in a gurgle. Somewhere in that dark hell a struggle was +going on, a well defined struggle, different from the random, aimless +battling of the half-crazed soldiers and the civilians. President +Hargreaves was still within the walls of the White House, it was +known; it was physically impossible for him to have been carried away +when every foot of space was packed. And through that darkness the +invisible assailants were edging him, foot by foot, toward the +outside. + + * * * * * + +Dick was on the edge of this silent battle. He sensed it. Bracing +himself against a bureau, while the mob surged past him, he tried to +pierce the gloom, to reinforce with his perceptions what his instinct +told him. A soldier, crazed with fear, came leaping at him, bayonet +leveled. He thrust with a grunt. Dick avoided the glancing steel by a +hand's breadth, and, as the impetus of the man's attack carried him +forward, caught him beneath the chin with a stiff right-hand jolt that +sent him sprawling. + +From below the cries broke out again, with renewed violence: "They've +got the President! Get them! Get them! Close all doors and windows!" + +But a door went crashing down somewhere, to the tune of savage yells. +The mob was pouring down the stairs. It was growing less packed above. +Dick heard Stopford's voice calling his name. + +"Here, sir" he shouted back, and the two men collided. + +"For God's sake do what you can, Rennell!" shouted the Colonel. +"They've got the President downstairs. They had him in this very room, +in the thick of it all. I heard him cry out, as if under a gag. They +put one of those damned cloths over him. God, Rennell, I'm going +crazy!" + +The upper floor of the White House was almost empty now. Dick thrust +himself into the crowd that still jammed the stairs. He reached the +ground floor. It was lighter here, but a glance showed him that it was +impossible to attempt to restore any semblance of order. The big East +Room was jammed with a fighting, cursing throng. Dick stumbled over +the bodies of those who had fallen in the press, or had been shot +down. Outside the mob was thickening, swarming through the grounds and +screeching like madmen. + + * * * * * + +Nothing that could be done! Dick found himself caught once more in the +human torrent. Presently he was wedged up against a broken window. He +precipitated himself through the frame, dropped to the ground, stopped +for an instant to catch breath. + +The yelling mob was congregated about the main entrance of the White +House, and on this side the grounds were comparatively empty. As Dick +stopped, trying desperately to form some plan of action, he heard +footsteps and low voices near him. Then two men came toward him, +followed by three or four others. + +The men--but, though the light was faint, Dick realized instantly that +they were wearing invisible garments. He could see nothing of them; he +could see through where they seemed to be--the trees, the buildings of +the streets. Yet they were at his elbow. And they saw him. He heard +one of them leap, and sprang aside as the butt of a pistol descended +through the air and dropped where his head had been. + +Yet no hand had seemed to hold it. It had been a pistol, reversed, and +flashing downward, to be arrested in mid-air six inches from his face. +But the men were not wholly invisible. Nearly six feet above the +ground, three or four pairs of eyes were staring malevolently into +Dick's. Only the eyes were there. + +The two foremost men were breathing heavily. They were carrying +something. Grotesquely through a rent in the invisible garment Dick +saw a patch of trouser. He heard a muffled sigh. President Hargreaves, +in the hands of his abductors! + +Dick's actions were reflex. As the pistol hung beside his face, he +snatched at it, wrested it away, struck with it, and heard a curse and +felt the yielding impact of bone and flesh. He had missed the head but +struck the shoulder. Next moment hands gripped the weapon, and a +desperate struggle began. + + * * * * * + +It was torn from Dick's grasp. He struck out at random, and his fist +collided with the chin of a substantial flesh and blood human being. +Invisible arms grasped him. He fought free. The pistol slashed his +face sidewise, the sight ripping a strip of flesh from the cheek. He +was surrounded, he was being beaten down, though he was fighting +gamely. + +"Kill the swine! Shoot! Shoot!" Dick heard one of his assailants +muttering. + +Out of the void appeared the blue muzzle of another automatic, with a +silencer on it. Dick ducked as a flame spurted from it. He felt the +bullet stir his hair. He grasped at the hand that held it, and missed. +Then he was held fast, and the muzzle swung implacably toward his head +again. Helpless, he watched it describe that arc of death. It was only +later that he wondered why he had fought all the while in silence, +instead of crying for help. + +But of a sudden the pistol was dashed aside. A woman's voice spoke +peremptorily, in some language Dick did not understand. And he saw her +eyes among the eyes that glared at him. Dark eyes that he knew, even +if the voice had not revealed her identity. The eyes and voice of +Fredegonde Valmy! + +Dick cried her name. He put forth all his strength in a final +struggle. Suddenly he felt a stunning impact on the back of the head. +He slipped, reeled, threw out his hands, and sank down unconscious on +the grass at the side of the path. + + +CHAPTER IV + +_The Invisible Ambassador_ + +Fredegonde Valmy implicated in the conspiracy! That was the first +thought that flashed into Dick's mind as he recovered consciousness. +He might have suspected it! But the idea that the girl he loved was +bound up with the murderous gang that was attacking the very +foundations of civilization chilled him to the soul. + +Dick had been picked up a few minutes after he had been struck down, +identified by Colonel Stopford as he was about to be removed to a +hospital, and carried into the White House. Order had been restored by +the arrival of a detachment of troops from Fort Myers, the severed +cables located and mended, and by midnight the interior of the +Presidential home had been made habitable again. + +President Hargreaves was gone--kidnapped despite the utmost efforts to +protect him; and it was impossible to conceal that fact from the +world. But the wheels of government still revolved. All night an +emergency council sat in the White House, and, deciding that in a time +of such grave danger heroic means must be adopted, with the consent of +such of the Congressional leaders as could be summoned, a Council of +Defence was organized. + +The whole country east of the Mississippi was placed under martial +law. The fleet and army were put on a war footing. Flights of +airplanes were assembled at numerous points along the eastern +seaboard. To this Council Donald was attached as head of Intelligence +for the Eastern Division. Yet all this availed little unless the +location of the Invisible Empire could be ascertained, and, despite +telegraphic reports that came in hourly, alleging to have discovered +its headquarters, nothing had been achieved in this direction. + + * * * * * + +The garment taken from the slain soldier had been examined by a +half-dozen of the leading chemists of the East. Pending the arrival +from New York of the celebrated Professor Hosmeyer, it was deposited +under military guard in a dark closet. The result was unfortunate. The +garment exhibited to the assembled scientists was a mere bifurcated +silken bag. + +The gas with which it had been impregnated, though it had been heavy +enough to adhere to the fabric for hours, had also been volatile +enough to have disappeared completely, leaving a residue which was +identified as a magnesium isotope. + +Equally spectacular had been the disappearance of Mademoiselle +Fredegonde Valmy. A cable from the Slovakian Ambassador had arrived a +few hours later, denying her authenticity. And with her disappearance +came the discovery that she had been at the head of an espionage +system with ramifications in every state department, and in every +statesman's home. + +Three days passed with no sign from the enemy. The Council sat all +day. In the executive offices of the White House Dick toiled +ceaselessly, planning, receiving reports, organizing the flights of +airplanes at strategic points throughout his district. From time to +time he would be summoned to the Council. At night he threw himself +upon a cot in his office and slept a sleep broken by the constant +arrival of messengers. And still there was no clue to the location of +the headquarters of the marauders. + +But in those three days there had been no sign of them. Hope had +succeeded despair; in the rebound of confidence the populace was +beginning to ridicule the nation-wide precautions against what were +coming to be considered merely a gang of super-criminals. It was even +whispered that President Hargreaves had not been kidnapped at all. The +Freemen's Party accused the Government of a plot to subvert popular +liberties. + + * * * * * + +Dick received a summons on the third evening. Utterly worn out with +his work, he pulled himself together and made his way into the Blue +Room, where the Council was assembled. Vice-president Tomlinson, an +elderly man, was in the chair. A non-entity, pushed into a post it had +been thought he would adorn innocuously, he had been overwhelmed by +his succession to the chief office of State. + +Tomlinson did not like Dick, or any of the hustling younger officers +who, unlike himself, realized the real significance of the danger that +overhung the country. He sat pompously in his leather chair, regarding +Dick as he entered in obedience to the summons. + +"Well, Captain Rennell, what have you to report to us this evening?" +he inquired, as Dick saluted and stood to attention at the table. + +"We're improving our concentrations, Mr. Vice-president. We've eight +flights of seaplanes scouring the coast in the hope of locating the +stronghold of the Invisible Emperor. We've--" + +"I'm sick and tired of that title," shouted Tomlinson. He sprang to +his feet, his face flushed with anger. His nerves had broken under the +continuous strain. "I'll give you my opinion, Captain Rennell," he +said. "And that is that this so-called Invisible Emperor is a myth. + +"A gang of thieves has invented a paint that renders them +inconspicuous, has created a panic, and is taking advantage of it to +terrorize the country. The whole business is poppycock, in my opinion, +and the sooner this bubble bursts the better. Well, sir, what have you +to say to that?" + +"Have you ever seen any of these men in their invisible clothing, if I +may ask, Mr. Vice-president?" inquired Dick, trying to keep down his +anger. His nerves, too, were badly frazzled. + +"No, sir, I have not, but my opinion is that this story is grossly +exaggerated, and that the persons responsible are the reporters of our +sensational press!" thundered Tomlinson. + + * * * * * + +He looked about him, a weak man proud of having asserted his +authority. Somebody laughed. + +Tomlinson glared at Dick, his rubicund visage purpling. But it was not +Dick who had laughed. Nor any one at the council table. + +That laugh had come from the wall beside the door. Again it broke +forth, high-pitched, cold, derisive. All heads turned as if upon +pivots to see who had uttered it. + +"Good God!" exclaimed Secretary Norris, of the War Department, and +slumped in his chair. + +Five feet eight inches from the floor a pair of grey eyes looked at +the Council members out of emptiness. Grey eyes, a man's eyes, cool, +contemptuous, and filled with authority, with a contemptuous sense of +superiority that left every man there dumb. + +Dick was the first to recover himself. He stepped forward, not to +where the invisible man was standing, but to a point between him and +the door. + +That cold laugh broke forth again. "Gentlemen, I am an ambassador from +my sovereign, who chooses to be known as the Invisible Emperor," came +the words. "As such, I claim immunity. Not that I greatly care, should +you wish to violate the laws of nations and put me to death. But, +believe me, in such case the retribution will be a terrible one." + +Suddenly the envoy peeled off the gas-impregnated garments that +covered him. He stood before the Council, a fair-haired young man, +clad in the same fashion of trim black uniform as the bayonetted +soldier had worn upstairs three nights before. + +He bowed disdainfully, and it was Tomlinson who shouted: + +"Arrest that man! I know his face! I've seen it in the papers. He's +Von Kettler, the murderer who escaped from jail in an invisible suit." + +"Oh, come, Mr. Vice-president," laughed Von Kettler, "are you sure +this isn't all very much exaggerated?" + +Tomlinson sank back in his chair, his ruddy face covered with sweat. +Dick stared at Von Kettler. A suspicion was forming in his mind. He +had seen eyes like those before, dark instead of grey, and yet with +the same look of pride and breeding in them; the look of the face, +too, impossible to mistake--he knew! + +Fredegonde Valmy was Von Kettler's sister! + + * * * * * + +"Well, gentlemen, am I to receive the courtesies of an ambassador?" +inquired Van Kettler, advancing. + +"You shall have the privileges of the gallows rope!" shouted +Tomlinson. "Arrest that man at once, Captain Rennell!" + +"Pardon me, Mr. Vice-president," suggested the Secretary for the Navy +blandly, "but perhaps it would be more desirable to hear what he has +to say." + +"Immunity for thieves, robbers, murderers!" + +"Might I suggest," said Von Kettler suavely, "that, since the United +States has honored my master by placing itself upon a war footing, it +has accorded him the rights of a belligerent?" + +"We'll hear you, Mr. Von Kettler," said the Secretary of State, +glancing along the table. Three or four nodded, two shook their heads: +Tomlinson only glared speechlessly at the intruder. Von Kettler +advanced to the table and laid a paper upon it. + +"You recognize that signature, gentlemen?" he asked. + +At the bottom of the paper Dick saw scrawled the bold and unmistakable +signature of President Hargreaves. + +"An order signed by the President of your country," purred Von +Kettler, "ordering your military forces replaced upon a peace footing, +and the acceptance of our conditions. They are not onerous, and will +not interfere with the daily life of the country. Merely a little +change in that outworn document, the Constitution. My master rules +America henceforward." + +Somebody laughed: another laughed: but it was the Secretary of State +who did the fine thing. He took up the paper bearing what purported to +be President Hargreaves's signature, and tore it in two. + +"The people of this country are her rulers," he said, "not an old man +dragooned into signing a proclamation while in captivity--if indeed +that is President Hargreaves's signature." + + * * * * * + +There came a sudden burst of applause. Von Kettler's face became the +mask of a savage beast. He shook his fist furiously. + +"You call my master a forger?" he shouted. "You yourselves repudiate +your own Constitution, which places the control of army and navy in +the hands of your President? You refuse to honor his signature?" + +"Listen to me, Mr. Von Kettler!" The voice of the Secretary of State +cut like a steel edge. "You totally mistake the temper of the people +of this country. We don't surrender, even to worthy adversaries, much +less to a gang of common thieves, murderers, and criminals like +yourselves. You have been accorded the privilege you sought, that of +an envoy, and that was straining the point. Show yourself here again +after two minutes have elapsed, and you'll go to the gallows--for +keeps." + +"Dogs!" shouted Von Kettler, beside himself with fury. "Your doom is +upon you even at this moment. I have but to wave my arm, and +Washington shall be destroyed, and with her a score of other cities. I +tell you you are at our mercy. Thousands of lives shall pay for this +insult to my master. I warn you, such a catastrophe is coming as shall +show you the Invisible Emperor does not threaten in vain!" + +With complete nonchalance the Secretary of State took out his watch. +"One minute and fifteen seconds remaining. Captain Rennell," he said. +"At the expiration of that time, put Mr. Von Kettler under arrest. I +advise you to go back to your master quickly, Mr. Von Kettler," he +added, "and tell him that we'll have no dealings with him, now or +ever." + + * * * * * + +For a moment longer Von Kettler stood glaring; then, with a laugh of +derision and a gesture of the hands he vanished from view. And, though +they might have expected that denouement, the members of the Council +leaped to their feet, staring incredulously at the place where he had +been. Nothing of Von Kettler was visible, not even the eyes, and there +sounded not the slightest footfall. + +Dick sprang forward to the door, but his outstretched arms encountered +only emptiness. In spite of the Secretary of State's instructions, he +was almost minded to apprehend the man. If he could get him! + +The corridor was empty. A guard of soldiers was at the entrance, but +they did not block the entrance. Even now Von Kettler might be passing +them! Why didn't his feet sound upon the floor? How could a bulky man +glide so smoothly? + +Perhaps because Dick was undecided what to do, Von Kettler escaped +him. By the time he reached the guards he knew he had escaped. +Suddenly there came an unexpected denouement. Somewhere on the White +House lawn a guard challenged, fired. The snap of one of the silenced +automatics answered him. + +When Dick and the guards reached the spot, the man was lying in a +crumpled heap. + +"An airplane," he gasped. "Invisible airplane. I--bumped into it. +Men--in it. The damned dogs!" + +He died. Dick stared around him. There was no sign of any airplane on +the lawn, nothing but the tents of the guards, white in the moonlight, +and the grim array of anti-aircraft guns that Dick had placed there. + +But behind the White House, in hastily constructed hangars, were a +half-dozen of the latest pursuit airships--beautiful slim hulls, +heavily armored, with armored turrets containing each a quick-firer +with the new armor-piercing bullets. One of these ships, Dick's own, +was kept perpetually warmed and ready to take the air. + + * * * * * + +Dick raced across the lawn, yelled to the startled guard in charge. +The mechanics came running from their quarters. Almost by the time +Dick reached it the ship was ready. + +He twirled the helicopter starter, and she roared and zoomed, taking +an angle of a hundred and twenty-five degrees upward off a runway of +twenty yards. Into the air she soared, into the moonlight, up like an +arrow for five hundred feet. + +Dick pulled the soaring lever, and she hung there, buzzing like a bee +as her helicopters, counteracting the pull of gravity, held her +comparatively stable. He scanned the air all about him. + +Washington lay below, her myriad lights gleaming. Immediately beneath +him Dick saw the guns and the tents of the soldiers, and the little +group that was removing the body of the murdered soldier on a +stretcher. But there were no signs of any hostile craft. + +Had the murdered man really bumped into an invisible airship, or had +he only thought he had? Had those devils learned to apply the gas to +the surfaces of airplanes? There was no reason why they should not +have done so. + +But surely the utmost ingenuity of man had not contrived to render a +modern plane, with its metalwork and machinery, absolutely +transparent? + + * * * * * + +And, again, how was it possible to have silenced the sound of engines, +the whir of a propeller, so that there should be no auditory +indication whatever of a plane's presence? + +Dick looked all about him. Nothing was in the air--he could have sworn +it. He replaced the soaring lever and banked in a close circle, his +glance piercing the night. No, there was nothing. + +Crash! Boom! The plane rocked violently, tossing upon gusts of air. A +huge, gaping hole of blackness had suddenly appeared in the middle of +the White House lawn. The tents were flat upon the ground. Through the +rising smoke clouds Dick saw tongues of flame. + +No shell that, but a bomb, and dropped from the skies less than five +hundred feet from where Dick hovered. Yet there was nothing visible in +the skies save the round orb of the moon. + +A rush of wind past Dick's face! One of the vanes of the helicopter +crumpled and fluttered away into the night. Dick needed no further +persuasion. The dead soldier had not lied. + +Von Kettler had begun the fulfillment of his threat! + + +CHAPTER V + +_The Enemy Strikes_ + +As Dick's airship veered and side-slipped, he kicked hard on the left +rudder and brought the nose around. Furiously he sprayed the air with +a leaden hail from his quick-firer. He heard a rush of wind go past +him, and realized that his unseen antagonist had all but rammed him. + +Yet nothing was visible at all, save the moon and the empty sky. He +had heard the rush of the prop-wash, but he had seen nothing, heard +nothing else. Incredible as it seemed, the pilot was flying a plane +that had attained not merely invisibility but complete absence of all +sound. + +Dick side-slipped down, pancaked, and crashed. He emerged from a plane +wrecked beyond hope of early repair, yet luckily with no injury beyond +a few minor bruises. He rushed toward the hangar, to encounter a bevy +of scared mechanics. + +"Another plane! Rev one up quick!" he shouted. + +Planes were already being wheeled out, pilots in flying suits and +goggles were striding beside them. Dick ordered one of them away, +stepped into his plane, and in a moment was in the air again. + +In the minute or two that had elapsed since the encounter, the enemy +had been active. Crash after crash was resounding from various parts +of Washington. Buildings were rocking and toppling, debris strewed the +streets, fires were springing up everywhere. A thousand feet aloft, +Dick could see the holocaust of destruction that was being wrought by +the infernal missiles. + +Bombs of such power had been the unattained ambition of every +government of the world--and it had been left to the men of the +Invisible Emperor to attain to them. Whole streets went into ruin at +each discharge and from everywhere within the city the wailing cry of +the injured went up, in a resonant moan of pain. + +In the central part of the city, the district about F Street and the +government buildings, nothing was standing, except those buildings +fashioned of structural steel, and these showed twisted girders like +the skeletons of primeval monsters, supporting sections of sagging +floors. Houses, hotels had melted into shapeless heaps of rubble, +which filled the streets to a depth of a dozen yards, burying +everything beneath them. Yet here and there could be seen the forms of +dead pedestrians, motor-cars emerging out of the debris, lying in +every conceivable position; horses, horribly mangled, were shrieking +as they tried to free themselves. And yet, despite this ruin, the +general impression upon Dick's mind, as he beat to and fro, signaling +to his flight to spread, was that of a vast, empty desolation. + + * * * * * + +Further away: where the ruin had not yet fallen, thousands of human +beings were milling in a mass, those upon the fringes of the crowd +perpetually breaking away, other swarms approaching them, so that the +entire agglomeration resembled a seething whirlpool turning slowly +upon itself. + +Then of a sudden the strains of the national anthem floated up to +Dick's ears. A band was playing in the White House grounds. The tune +was ragged, and the drum came in a fraction of a second late, but an +immense pride and elation filled Dick's soul. + +"They'll never beat us!" he thought, intensely, "with such a spirit +as that!" + +He had signaled his flight to spread, and search the air. He could see +the individual ships darting here and there over the immensity of the +city, but none knew better than he how fruitless their effort was. And +the marauders had not ceased their deadly work. + +A bomb dropped near the Washington Monument, sending up a huge spout +of dust that veiled it from his eyes. Instinctively Dick shot toward +the scene. Slowly the dust subsided, and then a yell of exultation +broke from Dick's lips. The noble shaft still stood, a slim taper +pointing to the skies. + +It was an omen of ultimate success, and Dick took heart. No, they'd +never beat the grim, unconquerable tenacity of the American people. + +Yet the damage was proceeding at a frightful rate. A bomb dropped +squarely on the Corcoran Gallery and resolved it into a heap of silly +stones. A bomb fell in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the +houses on either side collapsed like houses of cards, falling into a +sulphurous, fiery pit. And still there was nothing visible but the sky +and the moon. + + * * * * * + +Dick gritted his teeth and swore as he circled over the site of +destruction, out of which tiny figures were struggling. He heard the +clang of the fire bells as the motor trucks came roaring toward the +scene. Then crash! again. Five blocks northward another dense cloud of +dust arose, and the new area of destruction, spreading as swiftly as +ripples over a pond, joined the former one, leaving a huge, irregular +open space, piled up with masonry and brick in a number of flat-topped +pyramids. + +Into this, houses went crashing every moment, with a sound like the +clatter of falling crockery, but infinitely magnified. + +"The devils! The swine!" shouted Dick. "And we gave Von Kettler the +privileges of an ambassador!" + +And Fredegonde was the sister of this devil! The remembrance of that +struck a cold chill to Dick's heart again. He tried to blot out her +picture from his mind, but he still saw her as she had appeared that +day after the air ride, flushed, smiling, radiant in her dark beauty. + +A murderess and a spy! He cursed her as he banked and circled back. He +was helpless. He could do nothing. And all Washington would be +destroyed by morning, if the supply of bombs kept up. But there was +more to come. Suddenly Dick became aware that two of his flight, at +widely separated distances, were going down in flames. Flaming comets, +they dropped plump into the destruction below. Another caught fire and +was going down. No need to question what was happening. + +The invisible enemy was attacking his flight and picking off his men +one by one! + +He drove furiously toward two of his planes whose erratic movements +showed that they were being attacked. As he neared them he saw one +catch fire and begin its earthward swoop. Then the fuselage crackled +beside him, and his instrument board dissolved into ruin. +Instinctively he went round in a tight bank and loosed his +machine-gun. Nothing there! Nothing at all! Yet his right wing went +ragged, and his own furious blasts into the sky, their echoes drowned +by the roar of his propeller, were productive of nothing. + + * * * * * + +He shot past the uninjured plane, signalling it to descend. He wasn't +going to let his men ride aloft to helpless butchery. Nothing could be +done until some means was discovered of counteracting the enemy's +terrific advantage. + +He darted across the heart of the city to where another of the flight +was circling, waggling his wings to indicate to it to descend. Then on +to the next plane and the next, shepherding them. Thank God they +understood! They were bunching toward the hangar. Yet another took +fire and dropped, a burning wreck. Half his flight out of commission, +and not an enemy visible! + +He was aloft alone now, courting death--instant, invisible death. He +wouldn't descend until that carnival of murder was at an end. But it +was not at an end. Another crash, far up Pennsylvania Avenue, showed +an attempt upon the Capitol. Again--again, and a smoking hell wreathed +the noble buildings so that it was no longer possible to see them. A +lull, and then a crash nearer the city's heart. Crash! Crash! + +Invisible though the enemy was, it was easy to trace the movements of +this particular plane by the successive areas of destruction that it +left behind it. It was coming back over Pennsylvania Avenue, dropping +its bombs at intervals. It was methodically wiping out an entire +section of Washington. + +Dick drove his plane toward it. There was one chance in a thousand +that, if he could accurately gauge the progress of his invisible +antagonist, he could crash him and go down with him to death. If he +could get close enough to feel his prop-wash! A wild chance, but +Dick's mind was keyed up to desperation. He shot like an arrow toward +the scene, with a view to intercepting the murderer. + +Then of a sudden he became aware of a curious phenomenon. A black beam +was shooting across the sky. A black searchlight! It came from the +flat top of a large hotel that had somehow escaped the universal +destruction, and, with its gaunt skeleton of structural steel showing +in squares, towered out of the ruin all about it like an island. + + * * * * * + +It was from here that the black beam started. It spread fanwise across +the sky. But it was not merely blackness. It was utter and +impenetrable darkness, cleaving the sky like a knife. Where it +passed, the rays of the moon were extinguished as fire is extinguished +by water. + +A beam of absolute blackness, that pierced the air like a widening +cone, and made the night seem, by contrast, of dazzling brightness +along either dark border. + +High into the air that dark beam shot, moving to and fro in the sky. +Dick, darting toward the spot where he hoped to find his invisible +enemy, found himself caught in it. + +In utter, inextinguishable darkness! Like a trapped bird he fluttered, +hurling himself this way and that till suddenly he found himself +blinking in the dazzling light of the moon again, and the black beam +was overhead. + +Crash! Another widening sphere of ruin as the invisible marauder +dropped a bomb. Dick cursed bitterly. Trapped in that black beam, he +had lost his direction. The invisible plane had shot past the point +where he had hoped to intercept it. + +He flung his soaring lever, and hung suspended in the air. An easy +mark for the enemy, if he chose to take the opportunity. No matter. +Death was all that Dick craved. He had seen half his flight wiped out, +and a hundred thousand human beings hurled to destruction. He wanted +to die. + +Then suddenly a wild shout came to his ears, as if all Washington had +gone mad with triumph. And Dick heard himself shouting too, before he +knew it, almost before he knew why. + + * * * * * + +For overhead, where the inky finger searched the sky, a luminous shape +appeared, a silvery cigar, riding in the void. The finger missed it, +and again there was only the moonlight. It caught it again--and again +the whole devastated city rang with yells of derision, hate, and anger +as the black beam held it. + +It held it! To and fro that silvery cigar scurried in a frantic +attempt to avoid detection, and remorselessly the black beam held it +down. + +It held it down, and it outlined it as clearly as a figure on the +moving picture screen. Then suddenly there came a flash, followed by a +dull detonation, and a black cloud appeared, spreading into a flower +of death near the cigar, and at the edge of the black beam. The cheers +grew frantic. The anti-aircraft battery in the White House grounds had +grasped the situation, and was opening fire. + +To and fro, like a trapped beast, the cigar-shaped airplane fled. Once +it seemed to escape. It faded from the edge of the black finger--faded +into nothingness amid a roar of execretion. Then it was caught and +held. + +Truncated, bounded by an arc of sky, the black finger followed the +murderer in his flight remorselessly. And all around him the +anti-aircraft guns were placing a barrage of death. + +He was trapped. No need for Dick to rush in to battle. To do so might +call off that deadly barrage that held the murderer in a ring of +death. Hovering, Dick watched. And then, perhaps panic-stricken, +perhaps rendered desperate, perhaps through sheer, wanton courage that +might have commanded admiration under nobler circumstances, the +airship turned and drove straight in the direction of the battery, +dropping another bomb as she did so. + + * * * * * + +It fell in a crowded street, swarming with spectators who had +clambered upon the fallen debris, and it wrought hideous destruction. +But this time there was hardly a cry--no unison of despair such as had +come to Dick's ears before. The suspense was too tense. All eyes +watched the airship as, seeming to bear a charmed life, she drove for +the White House itself, through a ring of shells that widened and +contracted alternately, with the object of placing a last bomb +squarely upon the building before going down in death. And all the +while the black searchlight held it. + +Dick Rennell was to experience many thrilling moments afterward, but +there was never a period, measurable by seconds, yet seeming to extend +through all eternity--never a period quite so fraught with suspense +as, hovering there, he watched the flight of that silvery plane +speeding straight toward the executive mansion while all around it the +shells bloomed and spread. It was over the White House grounds. The +archies had failed; they were being outmaneuvered, they could not be +swung in time to follow the trajectory of the plane. Dick held his +breath. + +Then suddenly the silvery ship dissolved in a blaze of fire, a shower +of golden sparks such as fly from a rocket, and simultaneously the +last bomb that she was to drop broke upon the ground below. + +Down she plunged, instantly invisible as she escaped the finger of the +black beam; but she dropped into the vortex of ruin that she herself +had created. Into a pit of blazing fire, criss-crossed by falling +trees, that had engulfed the battery and a score of men. + +Then suddenly Dick understood. He flung home the soaring lever, +banked, and headed, not for the White House, but for the flat roof of +the hotel from which the black searchlight was still projecting itself +through the skies. He hovered above, and dropped, light as a feather, +upon the rooftop. + + * * * * * + +There was only one person there--an old man dressed in a shabby suit, +kneeling before a great block of stone that had been dislodged upward +from the parapet and formed a sort of table. Upon this table the old +man had placed a large, square box, resembling an exaggerated kodak, +and it was from the lens of this box that the black beam was +projecting. + +Dick sprang from his cockpit as the old man rose in alarm. He ran to +him and caught him by the arm. + +"Luke Evans!" he cried. "Thank God you've come back in time to save +America!" + + +CHAPTER VI + +_The Gas_ + +In the Blue Room of the White House the Council listened to old Luke +Evans's exposition of his invention with feelings ranging from +incredulity to hope. + +"I've been at work all the time," said the old man, "not far from +here. I knew the day would come when you'd need me. I put my pride +aside for the sake of my country." + +"Tell us in a few words about this discovery of yours, Mr. Evans," +said Colonel Stopford. + +Luke Evans placed the square black case upon the table. "It's simple, +like all big things, sir," he answered. "The original shadow-breaking +device that I invented was a heavy, inert gas, invisible, but almost +as viscous as paint. Applied to textiles, to inorganic matter, to +animal bodies, it adheres for hours. Its property is to render such +substances invisible by absorbing all the visible light rays that fall +upon it, from red to violet. Light passes through all substances that +are coated with this paint as if they did not exist." + +"And this antidote of yours?" asked Colonel Stopford. + +"Darkness," replied Luke Evans. "A beam of darkness that means +absolute invisibility. It can be shot from this apparatus"--he +indicated the box upon the table. "This box contains a minute portion +of a gas which exists in nature in the form of a black, crystalline +powder. The peculiar property of this powder is that it is the +solidified form of a gas more volatile than any that is known. So +volatile is it that, when the ordinary atmospheric pressure of fifteen +pounds to the square inch is removed, the powder instantly changes to +the gaseous condition." + +"By pressing this lever"--Evans pointed at the box--"a vacuum is +created. Instantly the powder becomes a gas, which shoots forth +through this aperture with the speed of a projectile, taking the form +of a beam of absolute blackness. Or it can be discharged from +cylinders in such a way as to extend over a large area within a few +minutes." + +"But how does this darkness make the invisible airships luminous?" +asked Stopford. "Why does not your darkness destroy all light?" + +"In this way, sir," replied the old inventor. "The shadow-breaking gas +with which the airships are painted confers invisibility because it +absorbs sunlight. But it does not absorb the still more rapid waves, +or oscillations which manifest themselves as radio-activity. On the +contrary, it gathers and reflects these. + +"Now Roentgen, the discoverer of the X-ray, observed that if X-rays +are allowed to enter the eye of an observer who is in complete +darkness, the retina receives a stimulus, and light is perceived, due +to the fluorescent action of the X-rays upon the eyeball. + +"Consequently, by creating a beam of complete darkness, I bring into +clear visibility the fluorescent gas that coats the airships; in other +words, the airships become visible." + +"If a light ray is nullified upon entering the field of darkness, will +it emerge at the other edge as a perfect light ray again?" asked +Stopford. + +"It will emerge unchanged, since the black beam destroys light by +slightly slowing down the vibrations to a point where they are not +perceived as light by the human eye. On emerging from the beam, +however, these vibrations immediately resume their natural frequency. +To give you a homely parallel, the telephone changes sound waves to +electric waves, and re-converts them into sound waves at the other +end, without any appreciable interruption." + +"Then," said Stopford, "the logical application of your method is to +plunge every city in the land into darkness by means of this gas?" + +"That is so, sir, and then we shall have the advantage of +invisibility, and the enemy ships will be in fluorescence." + +"Damned impracticable!" muttered Stopford. + +"You seriously propose to darken the greater part of eastern North +America?" asked the Secretary for War. + +"The gas can be produced in large quantities from coal tar besides +existing in crystalline deposits," replied Luke Evans. "It is so +volatile that I estimate that a single ton will darken all eastern +North America for five days. Whereas the concentration would be made +only in specific areas liable to attack. The gas is distilled with +great facility from one of the tri-phenyl-carbinol coal-tar +derivatives." + +Vice-president Tomlinson was a pompous, irascible old man, but it was +he who hit the nail on the head. + +"That's all very well as an emergency measure, but we've got to find +the haunt of that gang and smash it!" + +An orderly brought in a telegraphic dispatch and handed it to him. The +Vice-president opened it, glanced through it, and tried to hand it to +the Secretary of State. Instead, it fluttered from his nerveless +fingers, and he sank back with a groan. The Secretary picked it up and +glanced at it. + +"Gentlemen," he said, trying to control his voice, "New York was +bombed out of the blue at sunrise this morning, and the whole lower +part of the city is a heap of ruins." + + * * * * * + +In the days that followed it became clear that all the resources of +America would be needed to cope with the Invisible Empire. Not a day +passed without some blow being struck. Boston, Charleston, Baltimore, +Pittsburg in turn were devastated. Three cruisers and a score of minor +craft were sunk in the harbor of Newport News, where they were +concentrating, and thenceforward the fleet became a fugitive force, +seeking concealment rather than an offensive. Trans-Atlantic +sea-traffic ceased. + +Meanwhile the black gas was being hurriedly manufactured. From +cylinders placed in central positions in a score of cities it was +discharged continuously, covering these centers with an impenetrable +pall of night that no light would penetrate. Only by the glow of +radium paint, which commanded fabulous prices, could official business +be transacted, and that only to a very small degree. + +Courts were closed, business suspended, prisoners released, perforce, +from jails. Famine ruled. The remedy was proving worse than the +disease. Within a week the use of the dark gas had had to be +discontinued. And a temporary suspension of the raids served only to +accentuate the general terror. + +There were food riots everywhere, demands that the Government come to +terms, and counter-demands that the war be fought out to the bitter +end. + +Fought out, when everything was disorganized? Stocks of food congested +all the terminals, mobs rioted and battled and plundered all through +the east. + +"It means surrender," was voiced at the Council meeting by one of the +members. And nobody answered him. + +Three days of respite, then, instead of bombs, proclamations +fluttering down from a cloudless sky. Unless the white flag of +surrender was hoisted from the summit of the battered Capitol, the +Invisible Emperor would strike such a blow as should bring America to +her knees! + + * * * * * + +It was a twelve-hour ultimatum, and before three hours had passed +thousands of citizens had taken possession of the Capitol and filled +all the approaches. Over their heads floated banners--the Stars and +Stripes, and, blazoned across them the words, "No Surrender." + +It was a spontaneous uprising of the people of Washington. Hungry, +homeless in the sharpening autumn weather, and nearly all bereft of +members of their families, too often of the breadwinner, now lying +deep beneath the rubble that littered the streets, they had gathered +in their thousands to protest against any attempt to yield. + +Dick, flying overhead at the apex of his squadron, felt his heart +swell with elation as he watched the orderly crowds. This was at three +in the afternoon: at six the ultimatum ended, the new frightfulness +was to begin. + +At five, Vice-president Tomlinson was to address the crowds. The old +man had risen to the occasion. He had cast off his pompousness and +vanity, and was known to favor war to the bitter end. Dick and his +squadron circled above the broken dome as the car that carried the +Vice-president and the secretaries of State and for War approached +along the Avenue. + +Rat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat! + +Out of the blue sky streams of lead were poured into the assembled +multitudes. Instantly they had become converted into a panic-stricken +mob, turning this way and that. + +Rat-a-tat-tat. Swaths of dead and dying men rolled in the dust, and, +as wheat falls under the reaper's blade, the mob melted away in lines +and by battalions. Within thirty seconds the whole terrain was piled +with dead and dying. + +"My God, it's massacre! It's murder!" shouted Dick. + + * * * * * + +They had not even waited for the twelve hours to expire. To and fro +the invisible airplanes shot through the blue evening sky, till the +last fugitives were streaming away in all directions like hunted deer, +and the dead lay piled in ghastly heaps everywhere. + +Out of these heaps wounded and dying men would stagger to their feet +to shake their fists impotently at their murderers. + +In vain Dick and his squadron strove to dash themselves into the +invisible airships. The pilots eluded them with ease, sometimes +sending a contemptuous round of machine-gun bullets in their +direction, but not troubling to shoot them down. + +Two small boys, carrying a huge banner with "No Surrender" across it, +were walking off the ghastly field. Twelve or fourteen years old at +most, they disdained to run. They were singing, singing the National +Anthem, though their voices were inaudible through the turmoil. + +Rat-tat! Rat-tat-a-tat! The fiends above loosed a storm of lead upon +them. Both fell. One rose, still clutching the banner in his hand and +waved it aloft. In a sudden silence his childish treble could be +heard: + + My country, 'tis of thee + Sweet land of lib-er-ty-- + +The guns rattled again. Clutching the blood-stained banner, he dropped +across the body of his companion. + +Suddenly a broad band of black soared upward from the earth. Those in +charge of the cylinders placed about the Capitol had released the gas. + +A band of darkness, rising into the blue, cutting off the earth, +making the summit of the ruined Capitol a floating dome. But, fast as +it rose, the invisible airships rose faster above it. + +A last vicious volley! Two of Dick's flight crashing down upon the +piles of dead men underneath! And nothing was visible, though the +darkness rose till it obliterated the blue above. + + * * * * * + +At dawn the Council sat, after an all-night meeting. Vice-president +Tomlinson, one arm shattered by a machine-gun bullet, still occupied +the chair at the head of the table. + +Outside, immediately about the White House, there was not a sound. +Washington might have been a city of the dead. The railroad terminals, +however, were occupied by a mob of people, busily looting. There was +great disorder. Organized government had simply disappeared. + +Each man was occupied only with obtaining as much food as he could +carry, and taking his family into rural districts where the Terror +would not be likely to pursue. All the roads leading out of +Washington--into Virginia, into Maryland, were congested with columns +of fugitives that stretched for miles. + +Some, who were fortunate enough to possess automobiles, and--what was +rarer--a few gallons of gas, were trying to force their way through +the masses ahead of them; here and there a family trudged beside a +pack-horse, or a big dog drew an improvised sled on wheels, loaded +with flour, bacon, blankets, pillows. Old men and young children +trudged on uncomplaining. + +The telegraph wires were still, for the most part, working. All the +world knew what was happening. From all the big cities of the East a +similar exodus was proceeding. There was little bitterness and little +disorder. + +It was not the airship raids from which these crowds were fleeing. +Something grimmer was happening. The murderous attack upon the +populace about the Capitol had been merely an incident. This later +development was the fulfilment of the Invisible Emperor's ultimatum. + +Death was afield, death, invisible, instantaneous, and inevitable. +Death blown on the winds, in the form of the deadliest of unknown +gases. + + * * * * * + +In the Blue Room of the White House a score of experts had gathered. +Dick, too, with the chiefs of his staff, Stopford, and the army and +naval heads. Among them was the chief of the Meteorological Bureau, +and it was to him primarily that Tomlinson was reading a telegraphic +dispatch from Wilmington, South Carolina: + +"The Invisible Death has reached this point and is working havoc +throughout the city, spreading from street to street. Men are dropping +dead everywhere. A few have fled, but--" + +The sudden ending of the dispatch was significant enough. Tomlinson +picked up another dispatch from Columbia, in the same State: + +"Invisible Death now circling city," he read. "Business section +already invaded. All other telegraphists have left posts. Can't say +how long--" + +And this, too, ended in the same way. There were piles of such +communications, and they had been coming in for eighteen hours. At +that moment an orderly brought in a dozen more. + +Tomlinson showed the head of the Meteorological Bureau the chart upon +the table. "We've plotted out a map as the wires came in, Mr. Graves," +he said. "The Invisible Death struck the southeast shore of the United +States yesterday afternoon near Charleston. It has spread +approximately at a steady rate. The wind velocity--?" + +"Remains constant. Seventy miles an hour. Dying down a little," +answered Graves. + +"The death line now runs from Wilmington, South Carolina, straight to +Augusta, Georgia," the Vice-president pursued. "Every living thing +that this gas has encountered has been instantly destroyed. Men, +cattle, birds, vermin, wild beasts. The gas is invisible and +inodorous. These gentlemen believe it may be a form of hydrocyanic +acid, but of a concentration beyond anything known to chemistry, so +deadly that a billionth part of it to one of air must be fatal, +otherwise it could not have traveled as it has done. Warnings have +been broadcasted, but there are no stocks of chemicals that might +counteract it. Flight is the only hope--flight at seventy miles an +hour!" + + * * * * * + +His voice shook. "This gas has been loosed, as you told us, upon the +wings of the hurricane that came through the Florida Strait. What are +the chances of its reaching Washington?" + +"Mr. Vice-president, if the wind continues, and this gas has +sufficient concentration, it should be in Washington within the next +eight hours." Graves replied. "If the wind changes direction, +however, this gas will probably be blown out to sea, or into the +Alleghanies, where it will probably be dissipated among the hills, or +by the foliage on the mountains. I'm not a chemist--" + +"No, sir, and I am not consulting you as one," answered old Tomlinson. +"A death belt several hundred miles in length and three or four +hundred deep has already been cut across this continent. We are faced +with wholesale, unmitigated murder, on such a scale as was never known +before. But we are an integral part of America, and Washington has no +more right to expect immunity than our devastated Southern States. The +question we wish to put to you is, can you trace the exact course +taken by the hurricane?" + +"I can, Mr. Vice-president," answered Graves. "It originated somewhere +in the West Indian seas, like all these storms. We've been getting our +reports almost as usual. Our first one came from Nassau, which was +badly damaged. The storm missed the Florida coast, as many of them do, +and struck the coast of South Carolina--in fact, we received a report +from Charleston, which must have almost coincided with your first +report of the gas." + +"If the storm missed the Florida coast, it follows that the gas was +not discharged from any point on the American continent," said +Tomlinson. "From some point off Florida--from some island, or from a +plane or from a ship at sea." + +"Not from a ship at sea, Mr. Vice-president," interposed the head of +the Chemical Bureau. "To discharge gas on such an extensive scale +would require more space than could be furnished by the largest +vessel, in my opinion." + +"In all probability the gas was 'loaded,' so to say, onto the gale +somewhere in the Bahamas," said Graves. "That seems to me the most +likely explanation." + + * * * * * + +Vice-president Tomlinson nodded, and picked up one of the latest +telegraphic dispatches, as if absently. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "the Invisible Death has already reached +Charlotte." + +He picked up another. "Reported Abaco Island, Bahamas, totally wrecked +by storm. All communication has ceased," he read. He turned to Dick +and spoke as if inspired. "Captain Rennell, there is your +destination," he thundered. "They've betrayed themselves. We've got +them now. You understand?" + +"By God, sir! It's from Abaco Island, then, that those devils have +been carrying on their game of wholesale murder!" + +Suddenly a contagion of enthusiasm seemed to sweep the whole +assemblage. Every man was upon his feet in an instant, white, +quivering, lips opened for speech that trembled there and did not +come. + +It was Secretary Norris spoke. "The Vice-president has hit the mark," +he said, with a dramatic gesture of his arm. "Yes, they've betrayed +themselves. Their headquarters are on Abaco Island. It's one of the +largest in the Bahamas." He turned to the Secretary for the Navy. "You +can rush the fleet there, sir?" he asked. + +"Within forty-eight hours I'll have every vessel that can float off +Abaco Island." + +"I'll concentrate all airplanes. Take your flight, Captain Rennell. +We'll stamp out that nest of murderers if we blow Abaco Island to the +bottom of the sea. It can be done!" + +"It can be done, sir--with Luke Evans and his invention," answered +Dick. + + +CHAPTER VII + +_On the Trail_ + +Three hours later, about the time when the war council rose after +completing its plans, a sudden shift of the wind blew the poison gas +out to sea, just when it appeared certain that it would reach the +capital of the nation. + +The southern half of Virginia had been swept over. Operators, +telegraph and telephone, staying at their posts had sent in constant +messages that had terminated with an abruptness which told of the +tragic sequel. Yet, at that distance from its source, the intensity of +the gas had been to some extent dissipated. + +Poisonous beyond any gas known, so deadly as to make hydrocyanic gas +innocuous in comparison, still as it was swept northward on the wings +of the wind, there had been an increasing number of non-fatal +casualties. The most northernly point reached by the gas was Richmond, +and here some fifty per cent of those stricken had suffered paralysis +instead of death. + +But a new element had been injected into the situation. Even the +heroic courage shown by the populace in the beginning had had its +limits. The morning after the news of the Invisible Death's advent was +made public mobs had gathered in all the large cities of the East, +demanding surrender. + +The submerged elements of crime and disorder had come to the surface +at last. Committees were formed, with the avowed object of yielding to +the Invisible Emperor, and averting further disaster. In Washington, a +city of the dead, half the members of Congress and the Senators had +gathered in the ruined Capitol, to debate the situation. + +There were rumors of an impending march on the White House, of a coup +d'etat. + + * * * * * + +The action of the Government was prompt. Five hundred loyalists were +enrolled, armed, and posted round the White House: every avenue of +approach was commanded by machine-guns. Meanwhile the news was spread +by radio that the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor had been +located, and that a strong bombing squadron was being dispatched to +destroy it. + +The entire fleet was to follow, and it was confidently anticipated +that within a little while the Terror would be at an end. + +Those at the white House were less sanguine. There was none but +realized the diabolical strength of their antagonists. + +"Everything depends upon the outcome of the next forty-eight hours, +and everything depends on you, Rennell," said Secretary Norris to +Dick, as he stood beside his plane. Behind him his flight of a dozen +airships was drawn up. + +"Find them," added the Secretary; "cover Abaco Island with the black +gas, and the navy and the marines will wipe up the mess that you leave +behind you. God help you--and all of us, Rennell!" + +He gripped Dick's hand and turned away. Dick was very sober-minded as +he climbed into his cockpit. He knew to the full how much depended +upon himself and Luke Evans. Already the shouts of the insurgents were +to be heard at the ends of the barriers, commanded by the +machine-guns, and patrolled by the enlisted volunteers. + +Negro mobs were building counter-barricades of their own with rubble +from the fallen edifices. Civil war might be postponed for +eight-and-forty hours, but after that unless there was news of +victory, the whole structure of civilization would be smashed +irreparably. + +It was up to Dick and Luke Evans, and they had assumed such a +responsibility as rarely falls to the lot of man in war. + + * * * * * + +Dick was to lead the flight in a two-seater Barwell plane. This was +one of the latest types, and had been hurriedly adapted to the purpose +for which it was to be used. Dick himself occupied the rear seat, with +its dual controls, and the gun in its armored casing. In front sat old +Luke Evans, in charge of the black gas projector. + +His famous camera box, containing a minute quantity of gas in slow +combustion, and projecting the black searchlight, had been built into +the plane. In the rack beside him were a number of the black gas +bombs, each of which, dropped to earth, would release enough gas to +cover a considerable area with darkness. Both Luke and Dick wore +respirators filled with charcoal and sodium thio-sulphate, and beside +Dick a cage containing three guinea-pigs rested. + +These little rodents were so sensitive to atmospheric changes that a +quantity of hydrocyanic acid too minute to affect a man would produce +instantaneous death on them. + +From its hiding-place off the Virginia coast the American fleet was +steaming hotly southward toward Abaco Island, cruisers, destroyers, +submarines. That Abaco was British territory had simply not been +considered in this crisis of history. + +The twelve airships that followed Dick's contained enough bombs to put +the headquarters of the Invisible Empire out of business for good. The +naval guns would complete the same business. + +All day Dick and Luke Evans flew southwestward. At first glance, +everything appeared normal. The catastrophe that had fallen upon the +land was visible only in the shape of the lines of tiny figures, +extending for miles, that choked all the roads radiating out of the +principal cities. It was only when they were over the southern portion +of Virginia that the ravages of deadly gas became apparent. + +Flying low, Dick could see the fields strewn with the bodies of dead +cattle. Here and there, at the doors of farmhouses, the inmates could +be seen, lying together in gruesome heaps, caught and killed +instantaneously as they attempted flight. Here, too, were figures on +the roads. But they were figures of dead men and women. + + * * * * * + +They strewed the roads for miles, lying as they had been trapped--men, +women, children, horses, mules, and dogs. The spectacle was an +appalling one. Dick set his jaws grimly. He was thinking that the +Council had let Von Kettler escape. He was thinking of Fredegonde. But +he would not let himself think of her. She deserved no more pity than +the rest of the murderous crew. + +Over the Carolinas the conditions were still more appalling. Here +deadly gas had struck with all its concentrated power. A city +materialized out of the blue distance, a factory town with all +chimneys spiring upward into the blue, a section of tall buildings +intersected by canyonlike streets, around it a rim of trim houses, +bungalows, indicative of prosperity and comfort. And it was a city of +the dead. + +For everywhere around it, on all the roads, the dead lay piled on top +of one another. For miles--all the inhabitants, rich and poor, +business men, factory hands, negroes. There had been a mad rush as the +fatal gas drove onward upon its lethal way, and all the fugitives had +been overwhelmed simultaneously. + +Here were golf links, with little groups strewn on the grass and +fairways; here, at one of the holes, four men, their putters still in +their hands, crouched in death. Here was the wreckage of a train that +had collided with a string of freight cars at an untended switch, and +from the shattered windows the heads and bodies of the dead protruded +in serried ranks. + +Dick looked back. His flight was driving on behind him. He guessed +their feelings. They had sworn, as he had sworn, that none of them +would return without stamping out that abomination from the earth +forever. + + * * * * * + +He signaled to the flight to rise, and zoomed upward to twelve +thousand feet. He did not want to look upon any more of those horrors. +At that height, the peaceful landscape lay extended underneath, in a +checker-board of farms and woodlands. One could pretend that it was +all a vile dream. + +He avoided Charleston, and winged out above the Atlantic, striking a +straight course along the coast toward the Bahamas. The shores of +Georgia vanished in the west. Dick began to breathe more freely. His +mind shook off its weight of horror. Only the blue sea and the blue +sky were visible The aftermath of the gale remained in the shape of a +strong head breeze and white crests below. + +Dick glanced at the guinea-pigs. They were busily gnawing their +cabbage and carrots. The gas had evidently been entirely dissipated by +the wind. + +Toward sunset the low jutting fore-land of Canaveral on the east coast +of Florida, came into view. Dick shifted course a little. Three hours +more should see them over Abaco. + +His flight had explicit instructions. As soon as the black gas had +rendered visible the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor, they were +to circle above, dropping their bombs. When these were exhausted, the +machine guns would come into play. There was to be no attention paid +to signals of surrender. They were to wipe out the headquarters, to +kill every living thing that showed itself--and the navy and the +marines would mop up anything left over. + +The sun went down in a blaze of gold and crimson. Night fell. The moon +began to climb the east. The black sea, stretching beneath, was as +empty as on the day when it was created. Nothing in the shape of +navigation appeared. + +Two hours, three hours, and old Evans turned round in his cockpit and +pointed. On the horizon a black thread was beginning to stretch +against the sky. It was Abaco Island, in the Bahama group. They were +nearly at their destination. An hour more--perhaps two hours, and the +deadly menace that threatened America might be removed forever. Dick +breathed a silent prayer for success. + + * * * * * + +They were over Abaco. A long, flat island, seventy miles or so in +extreme length, and fairly wide, covered with a dense growth of +tropical brush and forest, with here and there open spaces, near the +seacoast an occasional farm-house. Dick dropped to five thousand, to +three, to one. The moon made the whole land underneath as bright as +day. + +There were no evidence of destruction by the hurricane. The farmhouses +stood substantial and well roofed. If death had struck Abaco Island, +it had been the work of man, not Nature. + +Dick zoomed almost to his ceiling, until, in the brilliant moonlight, +he could see Abaco Island from side to side. For the most part it was +heavily wooded with mahogany and lignum vitae: toward the central +portion there was open land, but there was not the least sign of any +construction work. + +Again he swooped, indicating to his flight to follow him. At a +thousand feet he examined the open district intently. Here, if +anywhere upon the island, the Invisible Emperor had his headquarters. +Was it conceivable that a gas factory, hangars, ammunition depots +could exist here invisibly, when he could look straight down upon the +ground? + +Dick's heart sank. The hideous fear came to him that Graves had been +mistaken, that he had come on a wild-goose chase. This could not be +the place. It was quite incredible. + +Again and again he circled, studying the ground beneath. Now he could +see that the tough grass and undergrowth marked curious geometrical +patterns. Here, for example, was an oblong of bare earth around which +the vegetation grew, and it was obviously the work of man. + +Here were four squares of bare ground set side by side, with thin +strips of vegetation growing between them. + +Then of a sudden Dick knew! Those squares and parallelograms of bare +ground indicated the foundations of buildings. _He was looking down on +the very site of the Invisible Emperor's stronghold!_ + +He shouted, and pointed downward. Luke Evans looked round and nodded. +He understood. He patted the camera-box with a grim smile on his old +face. + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_The Magnetic Trap_ + +Upon those squares and oblongs of bare earth, incredible as it seemed, +rose the structures of the Invisible Empire, themselves both invisible +and transparent, so that one looked straight down through them and saw +only the ground beneath them. + +Every interior floor and girder must have been treated with the gas. +They had been cunning. They must have discovered some permanent means +of charging paint with the shadow-breaking gas, so that the buildings +would remain invisible for months and years instead of hours. + +But they had not been cunning enough. It had not occurred to them that +the foundations would still be visible underneath, for the simple +reason that grass does not grow without sunlight. + +Dick saw old Luke Evans nodding and pointing downward. The old man +picked up his end of the speaking-tube, but Dick ignored the gesture. +He signaled to his flight to rise, and zoomed up, circling, and +studying the land beneath. + +That oblong was evidently the central building. Those four squares +probably housed airplanes, and each would hold half a dozen. That +elliptical building might contain a dirigible. That round patch was +probably the gas factory. + +Now Dick could see more patches of bare ground, extending in the +direction of the sea. He gunned his ship and followed the gap among +the trees to the ocean, a few miles distant. Yes, there were more +evidence of activity here. Beside the water, in what looked like a +deep natural harbor, was what seemed to be the foundations of a dock. +Perhaps even vessels of war floated on the phosphorescent Bahama sea. + + * * * * * + +He circled back, his flock wheeling like a flight of birds and +following him. He signaled to them to scatter. They had certainly been +observed; at any moment a hail of lead might assail them invisibly out +of the air. They must get to work quickly. But had they understood the +significance of those bare patches? + +Dick saw Luke Evans still fidgeting impatiently with his end of the +speaking-tube, and picked it up. + +"I'm thinking, Captain Rennell, we've got no time to lose if we want +to keep the upper hand of those devils," called the old man. + +"Yes, you're right," Dick answered. "Lay a trail of gas bombs all +around those hangars and buildings, enough to hold them dark for some +time. And keep a bomb or two in reserve." + +Luke Evans shouted back. The plane was again above the structures. The +old man dropped a bomb over the side, and Dick zoomed again, his +flight wheeling up behind him. + +Higher and higher, banking and going round in a succession of tight +spirals, Dick flew. Every moment he expected the blow to fall. As he +rose, Luke Evans dropped bomb after bomb. A thousand feet beneath the +flight was taking up positions, hovering with the helicopters, looking +up to Dick for the signal, and waiting. + +Then from beneath the cloud of black gas began to rise, as Luke Evans +dropped his bombs. It filled the lower spaces of the sky, blotting out +the land in impenetrable darkness. That darkness, above which Dick and +his flight were soaring, rose like a solid wall, built by some +prehistoric race that aimed to fling a tower into the heavens. + + * * * * * + +And then--the miracle! Dick gasped in sheer delight as he realized +that he had made no mistake. + +At first all he could see was a number of criss-crossing +phosphorescent lines that appeared shimmering through the blackness +underneath. They ran luminously here and there, forming no particular +pattern, much like the figures on the radium dial of a watch when +first they come into wavering visibility at night. + +Then the lines began to intersect one another, to assume geometric +patterns and curves. And bit by bit they took meaning and +significance. + +And suddenly the whole invisible stronghold lay revealed upon the +ground beneath, a shining, dazzling play of weaving light. + +Buildings and hangars stood out, clearly revealed; the rounded vault +of a dirigible hangar, and the shining ribbon of a road that ran +through a pitch-dark tarmac, and was evidently constructed from some +gas-impregnated materials. On this tarmac was a flight of shining +airplanes, ready to take off. There were the odd, ovoid figures of the +aviators in their silken overalls. More figures appeared, running out +from the buildings. It was clear that the sudden raid had taken them +all by surprise. + +Luke Evans yelled and pointed. "We've got them now, sir!" Dick heard +above the whine of the helicopter engine. "We've--" + +But of a sudden the old man's voice died away, though his mouth was +still moving. + +Dick leaned out of his cockpit and fired a single red Very light, the +signal for the attack. And from each plane of his flight, beneath him, +a bomb slid from its rack and went hurtling down upon the gang below, +while the airplanes circled and hovered, each taking up its station. + + * * * * * + +Dick was too late. By a whole minute he had missed his chance. He +realized that immediately, for before the red light had flared from +his pistol, the hostile planes were in the air. He had flown too low, +and given the alarm. + +It meant a fight now, instead of a mad dog destruction, and Dick did +not underestimate the power of the enemy. But he felt a thrill of +furious satisfaction at the prospect of battle. From every plane the +bombs were falling. Underneath, ruin and destruction, and leaping +flames--and yet darkness, save for the phosphorescent outlines of the +buildings. + +And the lines of these were broken, converging into strange +criss-crosses of luminosity, as the beams fell in shapeless heaps. +Dark fire, sweeping through the headquarters of the Invisible Emperor, +a veritable hell for those below! A taste of the hell that they had +made for others! + +Then a strange phenomenon obtruded itself upon Dick's notice. _Nothing +was audible!_ The bombs were falling, but they were falling silently. +No sound came up from beneath. And, except for the throbbing of his +engine, Dick would have thought it had stopped. He could no longer +hear it. + +That terrific holocaust of death and destruction was inaudible. +Skimming the upper reach of the air, high above that wall of darkness, +Dick saw old Luke Evans pick up his end of the speaking-tube, and +mechanically followed suit. He could see the old man's lips moving. +But he heard nothing! + +And now another phenomenon was borne in on his notice. His flight were +perhaps five hundred feet beneath him, hovering a little above the +barrage of black gas. But they were converging oddly. And there was no +sight of the airplanes that Dick had just seen taking off from the +invisible tarmac. + + * * * * * + +Dick fired two Very lights as a signal to his flight to scatter. What +were they doing, bunching together like a flock of sheep, when at any +moment the enemy planes might come swooping in, riddling them with +bullets? He thrust the stick forward--and then realized that his +controls had gone dead! + +He thought for a moment that a wire had snapped. But the stick +responded perfectly to his hand, only it had no longer control over +his plane. He kicked right rudder, and the plane remained motionless. +He pushed home the soaring lever, to neutralize the helicopter and the +plane still soared. + +Then he noticed that the needle of his earth-inductor +compass-indicator was oscillating madly, and realized that it was not +his plane that was at fault. + +Underneath him, his flight seemed to be milling wildly as the ships +turned in every direction of the compass. But not for long. They were +nosing in, until the whole flight resembled an enormous airplane +engine, with twelve radial points, corresponding to their propellers, +and the noses pointing symmetrically inward, like a herd of game, +yarding in winter time. + +And now the true significance came home to Dick. A vertical line of +magnetic force, an invisible mast, had been shot upward from the +ground. The airplanes were moored to it by their noses, as effectively +as if they had been fastened with steel wires. + +And he, too, was struggling against that magnetic force that was +slowly drawing him, despite his utmost efforts, to a fixed position +five hundred feet above his flight. + + * * * * * + +For a few moments, by feeding his engine gas to the limit, Dick +thought he might have a chance of escaping. Her nose a fixed point, +Dick whirled round and round in a dizzy maze, attempting to break that +invisible mooring-chain. Then suddenly the engine went dead. He was +trapped helplessly. + +He saw old Evans gesticulating wildly in the front cockpit. The old +man hoisted himself, leaned over the cowling gibbered in Dick's ear. +The silent engine had ceased to throb, and the old man's shouts were +simply not translated into sound. + +Suddenly the flight beneath jerked downward, just as a flag jerks when +it is hauled down a pole. They vanished into the dark cloud beneath. +At the same time there came a jerk that dropped Dick's plane a hundred +feet, and flung him violently against the rim of the cockpit. + +Another followed. By drops of a hundred feet at a time, Dick was being +hauled down into the darkness underneath him. + +It rushed up at him. One moment he was suspended upon the rim of it, +seeing the moon and stars above him; the next he had been plunged into +utter blackness. Blackness more intense than anything that could be +conceived--soundless blackness, that was the added horror of it. +Blackness of Luke Evans's contriving, but none the less fearful on +that account! + +And yet, as Dick was jerked slowly downward, slowly a pale visibility +began to diffuse itself underneath. The black cloud was beginning to +roll away. The luminous lines began to fade, and in place of them +appeared little leaping tongues of fire. In front of him Dick saw Luke +Evans's form begin to pattern itself upon the darkness. He saw the +form move sidewise, and caught at Luke's arm as he was about to hurl +another gas bomb. "No!" he shouted--and heard no sound come from his +lips. + + * * * * * + +Luke understood. He seemed to be replacing the bomb in the rack. +Beneath them now, as they were jerked downward, were fantastic swirls +of black mist, and, at the bottom, a pit of fire that was slowly +coming into visibility. + +Dick uttered a cry of horror! Five hundred feet below his plane he saw +the dim forms of his flight, still bunched together, noses almost +touching. And they were dropping straight into that flaming furnace +of ruin underneath, which was growing clearer every instant. + +Down, jerk by jerk. Down! The black cloud was fast dispersing from the +ground. The flight were hardly a thousand feet above the fire. Down--a +long jerk that one! Once more! The flames leaped up hungrily about the +doomed airships. Cries of mad horror broke from Dick's lips as he +witnessed the destruction of ships and men. + +He could see almost clearly now. The twelve ships, still retaining +their nose-to-nose formation, were in the very heart of the fire. +Spurts of exploding gasoline thrust their white tongues upward. There +was only one consolation: for the doomed men, death must have come +practically instantaneously. + +From where he hung, Dick could feel the fierce heat of the flames +below. In front of him, old Luke Evans sat in his cockpit like one +petrified. He was feebly fumbling at his camera-box, as if he had some +idea of using it, and had forgotten that it was fixed to the plane, +but the old man seemed temporarily to have lost his wits. + +Rushing flames surrounded the burning airships, reducing them to a +solid, welded mass of incandescent metal. Dick looked down, waiting +for the next jerk that would summon him to join his men. At the moment +he was not conscious of either fear or horror, only intense rage +against the murderers and regret that he could never bring back the +news of victory. + + * * * * * + +The cloud had almost dissipated. In place of the phosphorescence, +electric lights had appeared, making the ground beneath perfectly +visible. Dick could see a number of men grouped together at the +entrance to a large building, part of which had been wrecked by a +bomb, though there were no evidences of fire. Other structures had +been dismantled and knocked about, but what remained of them had not +been charred by fire. Evidently they had been fireproofed. Perhaps the +gas itself was incombustible. Only in the middle of the tarmac, where +the remnants of the airplanes blazed, was there any sign of fire. + +There were three machines resembling dynamos, placed one at each +corner of the tarmac, equidistant from the central holocaust. A +half-dozen men were grouped about each of them, and by the light from +the huge reflector over each Dick saw that they were whirring busily. +At the time it did not occur to him that these were the machines that +were sending out the electrical force that had held the airplanes +powerless. + +But as he looked, his mind still a turmoil of hate and hopeless anger, +he saw one of the three machines cease whirring. The group about it +dispersed, the light above went out. And now his plane, as if drawn by +the power of the two remaining machines, began to move jerkily again, +not down toward the burning wreckage, but sidewise, away from it. + +Straight out toward the side of the tarmac it moved jerked downward +diagonally, until it rested only a few feet above the ground. + +Then suddenly Dick felt the plane quiver, as if released from the +power of the force that had held it. It nosed down and crashed, rolled +over amid the wreckage of a shattered wing. The concussion shot Dick +from the cockpit clear of the smashed machine. + +He landed upon his head, and went out instantly. + + +CHAPTER IX + +_The Invisible Emperor_ + +It was the sound of his name, spoken repeatedly, that brought Dick +back to consciousness. He opened his eyes, blinking in broad daylight. +He stared about him, and the first thing he saw was Luke Evans, +regarding him anxiously from a little distance away. He saw that it +was Luke who had spoken. + +He had heard the old man distinctly. The condition of inaudibility was +gone. + +Not that of invisibility. Dick stared about him in bewilderment. For a +moment, before he quite realized what had happened to him, he thought +he had lost his mind. Underneath him was a thick rug, beneath his head +a pillow; he could feel both of them, and yet all he could see was the +open country, a clearing with shrubbery on either side, and, beyond +that, a luxurious growth of tropical trees. Under him, to all visual +appearance, was the bare ground. + +He moved, and heard the clank of chains. He looked down at himself. +His wrists were loosely linked to a chain that seemed to stretch tight +into vacancy and end in nothing. His ankles were bound likewise. + +And both chains appeared to be of solid silver, but thick enough to +give them the strength of iron! + +Then he perceived that old Evans was bound in the same way. + +"Rennell! Rennell!" repeated the old man in a sort of whimper. "Thank +God you've come out of it! I was afraid you were dead." + +"What's happened?" asked Dick. "Where are we? Didn't they get us?" + +"They've got us, damn them!" snarled old Evans. "All the rest burned +to cinders, those fine fellows, Rennell! You were thrown unconscious, +but none of my tough old bones were hurt. They pulled us out of the +wreckage and brought us in here and tied us with these silver chains." + +"In here? But where are we?" demanded Dick, trying to pass his hand +across his aching forehead, and realizing that the chain, though it +seemed fastened to nothing, was perfectly taut. + + * * * * * + +"In one of their damned invisible houses," whimpered the old man. +"They're fireproof. Nearly all our bombs fell on the tarmac, and they +did hardly any damage at all. One of those devils was bragging about +it to me. I couldn't see anything but his eyes. And they've taken away +my gas-box," wailed old Luke. + +Dick cursed comprehensively and was silent. The burning rage that +filled him left him incapable of other utterance. Silver chains! They +must be madmen--yes, that was the only explanation. Madmen who had +escaped from somewhere, obtained possession of scientific secrets, and +banded themselves together to overcome the world. If he could get the +chance of a blow at them before he died! + +He heard a door swing open--a door somewhere out on the prairie. Two +men sprang into sudden visibility and approached him. There was +nothing invisible about these men, though they had seemed to have +materialized out of nothing. They wore the same black, trimly fitting +uniform that Dick had seen in the White House. They were flesh and +blood human beings like themselves. + +"I congratulate you upon your recovery, Captain Rennell," remarked one +of them with ironical politeness. "Also upon your shrewd coup. +Needless to say, it had no chance of success, but we were misinformed +as to the hour at which you might be expected. We thought it would +take the fools at Washington a little longer to puzzle out our +location--and then we did not put quite sufficient force into our +hurricane. Quite an artificial one, Captain." + +Dick, glaring at them, said nothing, and the one who had spoken turned +to his companion, laughing, and said something in a foreign language +that he did not recognize. + +"His Majesty the Emperor commands your presence, and that of this old +fool," said the first man. "Do not attempt to escape us. Death will be +instantaneous." He drew a glass rod from his pocket, the tip of which +glowed with a pale blue light. + + * * * * * + +Again he spoke to his companion, who moved apparently a few feet +distant out on the prairie. Suddenly Dick saw old Evans' chain +slacken: then Dick's slackened too. He understood that he was unbound, +though his wrists and ankles were still loosely fastened. + +The second man took his station beside Luke Evans and motioned to him +to rise. The first man beckoned to Dick to do the same. The two +prisoners got upon their feet, trailing each a length of clanking +chain. Each of the two guards covered his captive with the glass rod +and motioned to him to precede him. + +Choking with fury, Dick obeyed. He had taken a dozen steps with his +guard uttered a sharp command to halt, at the same time shouting some +word of command. + +The edge of a door appeared, also seeming to materialize out of space. +It widened, and Dick realized that he was looking at the unpainted +inner side of a door whose outside was invisible. Beyond the door +appeared a flight of steps. + +Dick passed through and descended them. He counted fifteen. He emerged +into a timbered underground passage, well lit with lamps, filled with +what seemed to be mercury vapor. Behind him walked his guard: behind +the guard he heard Luke Evans shambling. Both chains were clinking, +and again Dick's fury almost overcame him. + +He controlled himself. He had no hope or desire for life, but he meant +to strike some sort of blow before he died, if it were possible. + +They turned out of the timbered passage, Dick's guard now walking at +his side, the glass rod menacing his back. Dick found himself in a +large subterranean room of extraordinary character. The walls were not +merely timbered, but paneled. Pictures hung upon them, there were soft +rugs underfoot, there was antique furniture. Everything was in plain +sight. + + * * * * * + +There was a door at the farther end, from beyond which came the murmur +of voices. Two guards in the same black uniform, but without the +ornamental silver braid, stood to attention, long halberds in their +hands. One spoke a challenge. + +The guard at Dick's side answered. The two men stepped backward, each +about two feet, and pulled the two cords on either side of a curtain +behind the open door. Dick passed through. + +He stopped in sheer amazement. The gorgeousness of this larger room +into which he entered was almost stupefying. It seemed to have been +lifted bodily from some European palace. Mirrors with gilt edges ran +along the side. On the floor was a single huge rug of Oriental weave. + +At the farther end was a throne of gilt, lined with red velvet in +which sat a man. An old man, of perhaps eighty years, with a grey +peaked beard and fierce, commanding features. On his head was a gold +crown glittering with gems. About him were gathered some twoscore men +and a few women. + +Those ranged on either side of the throne wore, like its occupant, +robes of red, lined with ermine. The rank behind wore shorter robes, +less decorative, but no less extraordinary. They might all have +stepped out of some medieval court. + +Behind this second line, and half-encircling them, were officers in +the black uniform with the silver braid. + +There had been chattering, but as Dick passed through into the room it +was succeeded by complete silence. Dick fixed his eyes upon the old +man on the throne. + +He knew him! Knew him for a once famous European ruler who had lost +his throne in the war. A man always of unbalanced mentality, who, +after living for years in exile, had been reported dead three years +before. A madman who had vanished to make this last attempt upon the +world, aided and abetted by the secret group of nobles who had +surrounded him in the days of his pomp and power. + + * * * * * + +Old men, all of those in the first line! Madmen too, perhaps, as +madness begets madness. Behind them, younger men, infected by the +strange malady, and enthusiastic for their desperate cause. + +Yes, Dick knew this Invisible Emperor, lurking here in his underground +palace. He knew Von Kettler, too, in the second line, close to the +Emperor's throne. And, among the women in their robes, grouped +picturesquely about that throne, he knew Fredegonde Valmy. + +Dark-haired beneath her coronet, of radiant beauty, she fixed her eyes +upon Dick's. Not a muscle of her face quivered. + +Then only did Dick see something else, which he had not hitherto +observed, owing to its concealment by the robes of those grouped about +the Emperor, and the sight of it sent such a thrill of fury through +him that he stood where he was, unable to speak or move a muscle. + +The throne was set on a sort of dais, with three steps in front of it. +The lowest of these steps was hollow. Within this hollow appeared the +head and shoulders of a man. + +An elderly man clothed in parti-colored red and yellow, the +time-honored garment of court fools. He was on his hands and knees, +and the round of his back fitted into the hollow of the step, and had +a flat board over it, so that the Emperor, in ascending his throne, +would place his foot upon it. + +He was kept in that position with heavy chains of what looked like +gold, which passed about his neck and arms, and fitted into heavy gold +staples in the wood. And the old man was President Hargreaves of the +United States! + + * * * * * + +The President of the American Republic, chained as a footstool for the +Invisible Emperor, the madman who defied the world. Dick stood +petrified, staring into the mild face of the old man, still incapable +of speech. Then a herald, carrying a long trumpet, to which a square +banner was attached, strode forward from one side of the grotesque +assemblage. + +"Dog, on your knees when His Majesty deigns to admit you to the +Presence!" he shouted. + +The guard at Dick's side prodded him with his glass rod. + +Then the storm of mad fury in Dick's heart released limbs and voice. +The cry that came from his lips was like nothing human. He leaped upon +the guard with a swift uppercut that sent him sprawling. + +The glass rod slipped from his hands to the rug, striking the edge of +his shoe, and broke to fragments. A single streak of fire shot from +it, blasting a black streak across the Oriental rug. + +Dick leaped toward the throne, and the assemblage, as if paralyzed by +his sudden maneuver, remained watching him without moving. Then a +woman screamed, and instantly the picturesque gathering had dissolved +into a mob placing itself about the person of the Emperor, who sprang +from his throne in agitation. + +Dick was almost at the steps. But it was not at the Emperor that he +leaped. He sprang to Hargreaves's side. "Mr. President, I'm an +American," he babbled. "We've located this gang, we'll blow them off +the face of the earth. In chains--God, in chains, sir--" + +Dick stumbled over the length of his own chain that he had been +dragging behind him--stumbled and fell prone upon the floor. Before he +could regain his feet they were upon him. + + * * * * * + +A dozen men were holding him, despite his mad, frenzied struggles, and +as, at length, he paused, exhausted, one of them, covering his head +with a glass rod, looked up at the Emperor, who had resumed his seat. + +Dick calmed himself. Still gripped, he straightened his body, and gave +the mad monarch back look for look. For a moment the two men regarded +each other. Then a peal of laughter broke from the Invisible Emperor's +lips. And any one who heard that peal--any one save those accustomed +to him--might have known that it was a madman's laughter. + +He flung back his head and laughed, and the whole crowd laughed too. +All those sycophants roared and chuckled--all except Fredegonde. It +was not till afterward that Dick remembered that. + +He stood up. "Dog of an American," he roared, "do you know why you +were brought here? It was because I wanted one Yankee to live and see +the irresistible powers that I exercise, so that he can go back and +report on them to those fools in Washington who still think they can +defy me, the messenger of the All-Highest. + +"I tell you that the things I have done are nothing in comparison with +the things that I have yet to do, if your insane government of +pig-headed fools persists in its defiance. It is my plan to send you +back to tell them that their President lies bound in gold chains as my +footstool. That the hurricane which spread the gas through southern +America was a mere summer zephyr in comparison with the storm that I +shall send next. + + * * * * * + +"All the resources of Nature are at my command thanks to the +illustrious chemists who have been secretly working for the past ten +years to serve me. I, the All-Highest, have been commanded by the +Almighty to scourge the world for its insolence in rejecting me, and +especially the pig-race of Yankees whose pride has grown so great. +Mine is the divinely appointed task to cast down your ridiculous +democracies and re-establish the divine world-order of an Emperor and +his nobility. + +"That is why I have chosen, to permit so mean a thing as you to live. +As for the old fool beside you, who thought to stay my power with his +box of tricks--his gas-box is already being analyzed by my chemists, +and in a few hours the trivial secret will be at my disposal." + +"And that's just where you're wrong," piped old Luke Evans in his +cracked voice. "That gas can't be analyzed, because it contains an +unknown isotope, and, as for yourself, you're nothing but a daft old +fool, with your tin-horn trumpery!" + +For a moment the Emperor stood like a statue, staring at old Luke. The +expression on his face was that of a madman, but a madman through +whose brain a straggling ray of realization has dawned. It was the +look upon his face that held the whole assemblage spellbound. Then +suddenly came intervention. + +Through a doorway in the side of the hall came one of the officers in +black. He advanced to the foot of the throne and made a deep, hurried +bow, speaking rapidly in some language incomprehensible to Dick. + +The Emperor started, and then a peal of laughter left his lips. + +"Pig of a Yankee," he shouted to Dick, "your contemptible navy's now +approaching our shores, with a dirigible scout above it. You shall now +see how I deal with such swine!" + + +CHAPTER X + +_The Tricks of the Trade_ + +He barked a command, and instantly Dick was seized by two of the +guards, one of whom--the one Dick had knocked down--took the occasion +to administer a buffeting in the process of overcoming him. For the +sight of the honored President of the United States--that kindly old +man straining his eyes to meet Dick's own--in the parti-colored garb +of red and yellow, and chained like a beast below the madman's throne, +again filled Dick with a fury beyond all control. + +It was only when he had been half-stunned again by the vicious blows +of his captors, delivered with short truncheons of heavy wood, that at +length he desisted from his futile struggle. + +With swimming eyes he looked upon the gathering about the throne, +which, again taking its cue from the madman, way roaring with laughter +at his antics. And again Dick's eyes encountered those of Fredegonde +Valmy. + +The girl was not smiling. She was looking straight at him, and for a +moment it seemed to Dick as if he read some message in her eyes. + +Only for an instant that idea flashed through his mind. He was in no +mood to receive messages. As he stood panting like a wild beast at +bay, suddenly a filmy substance was thrown over his head from behind. +Then, as his face emerged, and the rest of his body was swiftly +enveloped, he realized what was happening. + +They had thrown over him one of the invisible garments. He could feel +the stuff about him, but he could no longer see his own body or limbs. + +From his own ken, Dick Rennell had vanished utterly. Where his legs +and feet should have been, there was only the rug, with the burn from +the glass tube. He raised one arm and could not see arm or fingers. + +In another moment invisible cords had been flung around him. Dick's +efforts to renew the struggle were quickly cut short. Trussed +helplessly, he could only stand glaring at the madman rocking with +laughter upon his tinsel throne. Beside him, similarly bound, stood +Luke Evans, but Dick was only conscious of the old man's presence by +reason of the short, rasping, emphatic curses that broke from his +lips. + + * * * * * + +The Emperor turned on his throne and beckoned to Von Kettler, who +approached with a deferential bow. + +"Nobility, we charge you with the care of these two prisoners," he +addressed him. "Have the old one removed to the laboratory, and give +orders that he shall assist our chemists to the best of his power in +their analysis of the black gas. As for the other, take him up to the +central office, and show him how we deal with Yankees and all other +pigs. Show him everything, so that he may take back a correct account +of our irresistible powers when we dismiss him." + +"Come!" barked one of the guards in Dick's ear. + +Dick attempted no further resistance. Convinced of its futility, sick +and reeling from the blows he had received, he accompanied his captors +quietly. There was nothing more that he could do, either for President +Hargreaves or for old Luke, but he still imagined the possibility of +somehow warning the approaching fleet or the occupants of the +dirigible. + +He was led along the passage, past the guards, and up the stairs +again. The top door opened upon vacancy; it closed, and vanished. Dick +felt the rugs beneath his feet, but he was to all appearances standing +on a square of bare earth in the middle of a prairie. + +"Come!" barked the guard again, and Dick accompanied him, trailing his +silver chain. Behind came Von Kettler. + +"Here are steps!" said the guard, after they had proceeded a short +distance. + +Dick stumbled against the lowest step of an invisible flight. The +breeze was cut off, showing that they had entered a building. +Underneath was a large oval of bare ground. Dick found a handrail and +groped his way up around a spiral staircase, four flights of it. + +"Here is a room!" + + * * * * * + +Dick saw that widening edge of door again. The room inside was +perfectly visible, though it seemed to be supported upon air. It was a +spheroid, of huge size, with a number of large windows set into the +walls, and it was filled with machinery. About a dozen workmen in +blue blouses were moving to and fro, attending to what appeared to be +a number of enormous dynamos, but there were other apparatus of whose +significance Dick was ignorant. The dynamos were whirring with intense +velocity, but not the slightest sound was audible. + +Von Kettler stepped to a switch attached to a stanchion of white +metal, surmounted by a huge opaque glass dome, and threw it over. +Instantly the hum and whir of machinery became audible, the sound of +footsteps, the voices of the workmen, and the creak of boards beneath +their feet. + +"You see, we have discovered the means of destroying sound waves as +well as shadows, and it was a much simpler feat," said Von Kettler +with a sneer. "Tell them that when you get back to Washington, Yankee +pig. Also you might be interested to know that most of your bombs fell +on camouflaged structures that we had erected with the intention of +deceiving you." + +He gestured to Dick to precede him, and halted him at a plain round +iron pipe or rod that rose up through the floor and passed through the +roof. It was surrounded by a mesh of fine wire. Attached to it were +various gauges, with dials showing red and black numbers. + +"This is perhaps our greatest achievement, swine," remarked Von +Kettler, affably. "You shall see its operations from above." He +pointed to a narrow spiral staircase rising at the far end of the +room. "It is the practical application of Einstein's gravitation and +electricity in field relation. It is by means of this, and the three +dynamos on the ground that we were able to neutralize your engines +last night and bring them down where we wanted them. You must be sure +to tell the Washington hogs about that." + + * * * * * + +He motioned to Dick to cross the room and ascend the spiral staircase. +Following him, he flung another switch similar to the first one, and +instantly all sound within the room was cut off. + +They ascended the winding flight and emerged upon a floor or platform. +Dick felt it under his feet, but he could see nothing except the +ground, far beneath him. He seemed to be suspended in the void. He +stopped, groping, hesitating to advance. Von Kettler's jarring laugh +grated on his ears. + +"Don't be afraid, swine," he jeered. "This place is enclosed. There is +a shadow-breaking device on every floor, which renders us complete +masters of camouflage." + +A switch snapped. Dick found himself instantly in a rotunda, roofed +with glass, sections of which were raised to a height of three or four +feet from the wooden base, admitting a gentle breeze. Three or four +men were moving about in it, but these wore the black uniform with the +silver braid, and Von Kettler's manner was deferential as he addressed +them, jerking his hand contemptuously toward Dick. Grins of derision +and malice appeared on all the faces. + +Save one, an elderly officer, apparently of high rank, who came +forward and raised his hand to the salute. + +"Captain Rennell," he said, "we are at war with your nation, but we +are also, I hope, gentlemen." He turned to Von Kettler. "Is it +seemly," he asked, "that an officer of the American army should be +brought here in chains and cords?" + +"Excellency, it is His Majesty's command," responded Von Kettler, with +a servile smirk that hardly concealed his elation. "Moreover, the +American is to witness the forthcoming destruction of the Yankee +fleet." + +The elderly officer reddened, turned away without replying. Dick +looked about him. + + * * * * * + +There was less machinery in this room. The iron pillar that he had +seen came through the floor and terminated some five feet above it in +another of the opaque glass domes, filled with iridescent fire. About +it was a complicated arrangement of dials and gauges. + +In the centre of the room was a sort of camera obscura. A large hood +projected above a flat table, and an officer was half-concealed +beneath it, apparently studying the table busily. + +"Come, American, you shall see your navy on its way to destruction," +said Von Kettler, beckoning Dick within the hood. + +The officer stepped from the table, whose top was a sheet of silvered +glass, leaving Von Kettler and Dick in front of it. Dick looked. At +first he could see nothing but the vast stretch of sea; then he began +to make out tiny dots at the table's end, terminating in minute blurs +that were evidently smoke from the funnels. + +"Your ships," said Von Kettler, smiling. "This is the dirigible." He +pointed to another dot that came into sight and disappeared almost +instantly. "They are a hundred and fifty miles away. Explain to your +friends in Washington that our super-telescopic sights are based upon +a refraction of light that overcomes the earth's curvature. It is +simple, but it happens not to have been worked out until my Master +commanded it." + +Dick watched those tiny dots in fascination, mentally computing. At an +average speed of fifty knots an hour, the squadron's steaming rate, +they should be off the coast within three hours. The dirigible would +take two, if it went ahead to scout, as was almost certain. + + * * * * * + +Dick stepped back from beneath the hood and glanced about him. If only +his arms were not bound, he might do enough damage within a few +seconds to put the deadlier machinery out of commission, if only the +silvered mirror. He glanced about him. Von Kettler, interpreting his +thought, smiled coolly. + +"You are helpless, my dear Yankee pig," he said. "But there is more +to see. Oblige me by accompanying me up to the top story." + +He pointed to a ladder running up beside the iron pillar through an +opening in the roof, and Dick, with a shrug of the shoulders, +complied. He emerged upon a small platform, apparently protruding into +vacancy. Far underneath he saw the clearing, and two airplanes on the +tarmac, the aviators looking like beetles from that height. He looked +out to sea and saw no signs of the fleet. + +"You have heard of St. Simeon Stylites, Yankee?" purred Von Kettler. +"The gentleman who spent forty years of his life upon a tall pillar, +in atonement for his sins? It is His Majesty's desire that you spend, +not forty years, but two or three hours up here, meditating upon his +grandeur, before returning to earth. It is also possible that you will +witness something of considerable interest. Look out to sea!" + +Dick turned his head involuntarily. He heard Von Kettler's laugh, +heard the snap of a switch--then suddenly he was alone in the void. + +At that snap of the switch, everything had vanished from view behind +him, the building, even the platform on which he stood. His feet +seemed to rest on nothing. Yet below him he could still see the +airplanes, and more being wheeled out. + + * * * * * + +A sense of extreme physical nausea overcame him. He reeled, then +managed to steady himself. He, too, was invisible to his own eyes. +Involuntarily he cried out. No sound came from his lips. He stood +there, invisible in an invisible, soundless void. + +For what seemed an unending period he occupied himself with +endeavoring to obtain the sense of balance. Then, with a great effort, +he managed to loosen the cords that bound his right arm to his side. A +mighty wrench, and he had slipped them up above his elbow. His right +lower arm was free. + +He extended it cautiously, and his hand encountered a railing. +Instantly he felt more at ease. He began moving slowly around in a +widening circle, and discovered that the platform was enclosed. The +further side was, however, open, and he began sliding forward, foot by +foot, to locate himself. Once his foot slipped over the edge, and he +drew back hastily. He felt on the other side, and discovered that he +was upon what seemed a plank walk, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet +above the ground, with no rail on either side, and some six feet wide. + +Very cautiously he shuffled his way along it. It was solid enough, +although invisible, but more than once Dick walked perilously close to +one edge or the other. At length he went down on his hands and knees, +and proceeded, crawling, until his movements were arrested by what was +unmistakably a door. + +The plank bridge, then, connected the top stories of two buildings, +but what the second was, there was no means of knowing. The door was +barred on the other side, and did not yield an iota to Dick's cautious +pressure. Dick felt the frame. Beyond was glass, reinforced with iron +on the outside, the latter metal forming a sort of lattice work. +Cautiously Dick began to crawl up the rounded dome. + + * * * * * + +Foot by foot he made his way, clinging to the iron bars, until he felt +that he had reached the point of the dome's maximum convexity. He +wedged his feet against a bar and rested. Only now was it brought home +to him that it would be impossible for him to find his way back to the +plank. + +A long time must have passed, for, looking out to sea, he could see +the squadron now, minute points on the horizon, exuding smudges of +smoke. The dirigible was still invisible. The airplanes had either +left the tarmac or had been wrapped in the gas-impregnated cloth, for +both they and the aviators had vanished. + +Suddenly Dick had an odd sensation that the iron was growing warm. + +In another moment or two he had no doubt of it. The iron bar he +clutched was distinctly warm; it was growing hot. He shifted his grasp +to the adjacent bar and even in that moment the heat had increased +perceptibly. + +Suddenly there came a vibration, a sense of movement. Dick was being +swung outward. The whole dome seemed to be dropping into space. He dug +his feet and fingers under the hot rods, and felt himself sliding over +on his back. + +Back--back, till he was lying horizontally in space, and clutching +desperately at the iron bar, which was growing hotter every moment. + +The sliding movement ceased. It was as if the whole upper section of +the glass dome had opened outward. But the heat of the bars was +becoming unbearable, and gusts of hot air seemed to be proceeding from +within. + +Hot or not, Dick's only alternative was to work his way back to the +stable portion of the dome, or to frizzle until he dropped through +space. + +Clinging desperately to the bars, he began working back, reaching from +bar to bar with his right hand and dragging his feet, with the +clanking chain attached, from bar to bar also. + + * * * * * + +How he gained the base of the dome he was never able afterward to +understand. The heat had grown intolerable; his hands were blistering. +Somehow he reached it. He rested a moment despite the heat. But to +find the plank walk was clearly impossible. In another minute he must +drop. Better that than to fry there like St. Lawrence on his griddle. + +And then, just when he had resigned himself to that last drop, there +came an unexpected diversion. Almost beside him a window was hung +back. A man looked out. Dick saw one of the workmen in the blue +blouses, and, behind him, within the dome, what seemed like an empty +room. + +Dick was slightly above the man. As his head and shoulders appeared, +he let himself go, landing squarely across his back. He slid down his +shoulders through the open window into the interior of the dome. + +The man, flung against the frame of the window by the shock, uttered a +piercing cry. Before he could recover his stand, or take in what had +happened to him, Dick had gained his feet and leaped upon him. His +right hand closed upon his throat. He bore him to the floor and choked +him into insensibility. + + +CHAPTER XI + +_In the Laboratory_ + +Not until the man's struggles had ceased, and he lay unconscious, +panting, and blue in the face, did Dick release him. Then he looked +about him. + +Save for the workman, he was alone in a rotunda, open to the sky, and, +as he had supposed, the whole upper portion of the dome had been flung +back, leaving an immense aperture into which the sun was shining, +flecking the interior with shafts of light. The temperature, despite +the opening of the dome, must have been in excess of a hundred and +twenty-five degrees. + +There was nothing except an immense central shaft, up which ran a +hollow pole of glass, cut off by the invisible paint at the summit of +the dome. The inside of this glass pole was glowing with colored +fires, and it was from this that the intolerable heat came, though its +function Dick could not imagine. + +One thing was clear: It was growing hotter each moment. To remain in +that rotunda meant death within a brief period of time. + +_And there was no way out!_ Dick glared around him, searching the +glass walls in vain. No semblance of a stairway or ladder, even. Yet +the workman must have entered by some ingress--if only Dick could +discover it! + +He began running round the interior of the dome in the brilliant +sunshine, searching frantically for that ingress. And it was growing +hotter! The sweat was pouring down his face beneath the invisible +garment. + +Dick was vaguely aware that the silence switch had been thrown in the +room, for his feet made no sound, but the knowledge was latent in his +mind. Two or three times he circumnavigated the interior of the dome, +like a rat in a trap. + +Then suddenly he saw a section of the flooring rise in a corner, and a +workman in a blue blouse appear out of the trap door. + + * * * * * + +He stood there, his face muscles working as he shouted for his +companion, but no sound came from his lips. He looked about him, and +saw the unconscious man beside the window. He started in his +direction. + +With a shout, Dick hurled himself toward him. And he checked himself +even as he was about to leap. For he realized that the second workman +neither saw nor heard him. + +Yet some subconscious impression of danger must have reached his mind, +for the workman stopped too, instinctively assuming an attitude of +defense. Dick gathered a dozen links of his wrist-chain in his right +hand, leaped and struck. + +The workman crumpled to the floor, a little thread of blood creeping +from his right temple. + +It was the thing upon which Dick looked back afterward with less +satisfaction than any other, leaving the two unconscious men in that +room of death. Yet there was nothing else he could have done. He ran +to the trap, and saw a ladder leading down. In a moment he had swung +himself through and closed the trap behind him. + +The material that lined the walls below must have had almost perfect +insulating qualities, for the temperature here was no hotter than in +the Bahamas on a hot summer day. Dick scrambled down the ladder and +found himself in a machine-shop. Nobody was there, and tools of all +sorts were lying about, as well as machinery whose purpose he did not +understand. A pair of heavy pliers and a vise were sufficient to rid +Dick of his wrist and ankle chains in a minute or two. With a knife he +slashed the cords of invisible stuff that bound him. He stood up, +cramped, but free. + +He picked up an iron bar that was lying loose on a table beside a +machine, and advanced to the staircase in one corner of the shop. As +he approached it, another workman came running up. + + * * * * * + +Dick stood aside in an embrasure in the wall partly occupied by a +machine. The man passed within two feet of him and never saw him. Only +then did Dick quite realize that he was actually invisible. + +The moment the man had passed him, Dick ran to the staircase. He +descended one flight; he was half way down another when a yell of pain +and imprecation came to his ears. He knew that voice: it was Luke +Evans's! + +With three bounds Dick reached the bottom of the stairs. He saw a +large room in front of him. No mistaking the nature of this room; it +was an ordinary laboratory, fitted out with the greatest elaboration, +and divided into two parts by paneling. And sight and sound were on. + +In the part nearer Dick three men were grouped about a large dynamo, +which was sending out a high, musical note as it spun. Levers and +dials were all about it, and above it was the base of the glass tube +that Dick had seen above. In the other part were five or six men. +Three of them were testing some substance at a table; three more were +gathered about old Luke Evans, whose silver chains had been removed +and replaced by ropes, which bound his limbs, and also bound him to a +heavy chair, which seemed to be affixed to the ground. One of the +three had a piece of metal in a pair of long-handled pliers. It was +white hot, and a white electric spark that shot to and fro between two +terminals close by, showed where it had been heated. + +Dick started; he recognized one of the three men as Von Kettler. He +moved slowly forward, very softly, his feet making no sound on the +fiber matting that covered the floor. + + * * * * * + +"Did that feel good, American swine?" asked Von Kettler softly, and +Dick saw, with horror, a red weal on the old man's forehead. "Now you +are perhaps in a more gracious mood, Professor? The unknown isotope in +that black gas of yours--you are disposed to give us the chemical +formula?" + +"I'll see you in hell first," raved old Luke Evans, writhing in his +chair. + +Von Kettler turned to the man holding the white-hot metal, and nodded. +But at that moment a door behind Evans's chair opened, and Fredegonde +Valmy appeared in the entrance. Von Kettler turned hastily, snatched +the pliers from the man's hand, and laid the metal in a receptacle. + +But the girl had seen the action. She looked at the weal on Luke's +forehead, and clenched her hands; her eyes dilated with horror. + +"You have been torturing him, Hugo!" she cried. + +"Freda, what are you doing in here? Oblige me by withdrawing +immediately!" cried Von Kettler. + +"Where is Captain Rennell?" the girl retorted. "I will know!" + +"He is upstairs, watching the approaching Yankee fleet, and waiting to +see its destruction," returned the other. + +"You are lying to me! He has been killed, and this old man has been +tortured!" cried Fredegonde. "I tell you, Hugo Von Kettler, you are no +longer a half-brother of mine! I am through with you!" + +"Unfortunately," sneered Von Kettler, "it is not possible to dispose +of a family relationship so easily." + + * * * * * + +"It is cheap to sneer," the girl retorted. "But you sang a very +different song when you were in the penitentiary, in terror of death, +and you begged me to come and throw you the invisible robe through the +bars. You promised me then that you would abandon this mad enterprise +and come away with me. You swore it!" + +"I have sworn allegiance to my Emperor, and that comes first," +retorted Von Kettler. "Oblige me by retiring." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," cried the girl hysterically. "When +you used me as a tool in your enterprises in Washington, you played +upon my patriotism for my conquered country. I thought I was +undertaking a heroic act. I didn't dream of the villainy, the +cold-blooded murder that was to be wrought. + +"You've kept me here virtually a prisoner," she went on, with rising +violence, "an attendant upon that old madman, your Emperor, and his +sham court, while more murder is being planned. Where is Captain +Rennell, I say?" She stamped her foot. "I demand that he and this old +man be set at liberty at once. Hugo," she pleaded, "come away with me. +Don't you see what the end must be? This is no heroic enterprise, it +is wholesale murder that will arouse the conscience of civilized +mankind against you! Order that the vortex-ray be turned off," she +went on, looking through the opening in the partition toward the +dynamo. "That gas--you cannot be so vile as to send it forth again, to +destroy the American ships?" + +"My dear Freda," retorted the young man coolly, "the vortex-ray is +already charged with the gas, and at a height of twenty thousand feet +it is now creating a vacuum that will send the gas upon the wings of a +hurricane straight up the Atlantic seaboard. It will obliterate every +living thing on board the battleships, from men to rats, and this time +we mean to reach New York. + +"As for that swine Rennell," he went on, "you heard His Majesty +announce his intention of sending him back to Washington with the +information of our irresistible power. Of course I know you are in +love with him, and that these qualms of conscience are due to that +circumstance." + + * * * * * + +But Dick hardly heard the latter part of Von Kettler's remarks. +Suddenly the significance of the dynamo and the superheated room above +had come home to him. He had read of such a project years before, in +some newspaper, and had forgotten about it until that moment. + +By sending a high-tension current almost to the limits of the earth's +atmosphere, the article had said, a vortex or vacuum could be set up +which would create a hurricane. + +The tremendous pressure of the in-rushing air would make a veritable +cyclone, which, taking the course of the prevailing winds, would rush +forth on a mission of widespread disaster. + +And on this hurricane would go the deadly gas, infinitely diluted, and +yet deadly to all life in its infinitesimal proportion to the +atmosphere. + +And the American fleet was now approaching the Bahama shores. + +Dick forgot Luke Evans, everything else, as the significance of that +mechanism in the next room came home to him. He ran like a madman +through the space in the partition, and, raising the bar aloft, +brought it thudding down upon the dials, twisting and warping them. + +He struck at the hollow pole, but, glass or not, it defied all his +efforts. He seized a heavy lever and flung it into reverse--and two +others. + +Yelling, the three attendants broke and ran. Out of the laboratory the +six came running, collided with the three. Behind them Dick could see +Fredegonde Valmy, a knife in her hand, slashing at Luke Evans's bonds. + +Dick swung his bar and brought it crashing down on a head, felling the +man like a log. He saw Von Kettler pull one of the glass rods from +his pocket and fire blindly. The discharge struck a second attendant, +and the man dropped screeching, his clothes ablaze. + +Somebody yelled, "He's there! Look at his eyes!" and pointed at Dick's +face. + + * * * * * + +Dick leaped aside and swung the rod again, felling a third man. The +others turned and ran. Von Kettler in the van, broke through the door +behind Luke Evans's chair, and disappeared. + +Dick ran back to where the old man was standing beside the girl, the +discarded ropes at his feet. He flung his hood back. "Luke, don't you +know me?" he shouted. + +It was creditable to Luke Evans's composure that, though Dick must +have presented the aspect of nothing more than a face floating in the +air, he retained his composure. + +"Sure I know you, Rennell," replied the old man. "And you and me's +going to best them devils yet." + +"But the fleet--it's approaching Abaco," Dick cried. "I've got to warn +them." + +Fredegonde seized him by the arm. + +"Come with me," she cried. "If they find you here, they'll kill you." + +Dick hesitated only a moment, then followed the girl as she dashed for +another door on the same side of the laboratory as that by which Von +Kettler and his men had fled. They dashed down the staircase, and a +corridor disclosed itself at the bottom. The girl stopped. + +"There is a private way--the Emperor's," she panted. "He had it +constructed--in case of necessity. I got the keys. I was +planning--something desperate--to stop these murders; I didn't know +what." + +Dick seized her by the arm. "What keys?" he demanded. "The key to the +place where President Hargreaves is?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"We must get him. Where is he?" + +"In a cell beneath the throne room. That's overhead. But they'll +catch us--" + +"Which is the key?" asked Dick. + +The girl produced three or four keys, fumbled with them, handed one to +Dick. "This way!" she cried. + + * * * * * + +They ran along the corridor. Two guards appeared, moving toward them +under the electric lights. At the sight of the girl running, and Luke +Evans, they stopped in surprise. + +Dick had pulled the hood back over his head. He ran toward them, +wielding the iron bar. A mighty swing sent the two toppling over, one +unconscious, the other bruised and yelling loudly. + +"Here! Here!" gasped Fredegonde, stopping before a door. + +Dick fitted the key to the lock and turned it. Inside, upon a quite +visible bed, sat President Hargreaves, unchained. He looked up +inquiringly as the three entered. + +"Mr. President," said Dick, throwing back his hood, "I'm an American +officer, and I want to save you. There's not much chance, but, if +you'll come with me--" + +Hargreaves got up and smiled. "I'm not a military man, sir," he +answered, "but I'm ready to take that chance rather than--" + +He did not complete the sentence. Shouts echoed along the corridor +behind them. Dick replaced his hood, handed the keys back to the girl. +"Take Mr. Hargreaves to any place of temporary safety you can," he +said. "And Mr. Evans. I'll hold them!" + +"It's right here. This door!" panted the girl, indicating a door at +the end of the passage. + +The three ran toward it. Dick turned. Five or six guards with Von +Kettler at their head, were running toward him. They saw the three +fugitives and set up a shout. + +Dick had a quick inspiration. He dashed back into the cell, seized the +light bed, and dragged it through the doorway into the passage, just +in time to send Von Kettler and two others sprawling. He brought down +the bar upon the head of one of them, shouting as he did so. + +Then he became aware that the passage was flooded with sunshine. +Fredegonde had got the door open. + +He darted back, passed through in the wake of the three, and slammed +it shut. Fredegonde turned the key. Instantly Dick found himself with +his three companions upon the prairie. Not a vestige of the buildings +was apparent anywhere, except for the patches of brown earth. + + +CHAPTER XII + +_Von Kettler's End_ + +Fredegonde took command, repressing her agitation with a visible +effort. "They cannot break down that door," she said, "and they dare +not ask for another key. It will take them a minute or two to go back +and reach us around the building. But there may be a score of people +watching us. Let us walk quietly toward the thickets. If I am present, +they will not suspect anything is wrong." + +But Dick stood still, driven into absolute immobility by the +conflicting claims of duty. For overhead, high in the blue, was an +American dirigible. + +And at his side was the President of the United States. One or other +of them he must sacrifice. + +He chose. He ran forward without answering. Those squares of brown +earth, set side by side, were the airplane hangars, and he meant to +seize an airplane, if he could find one beneath its coat of +invisibility, and fly to warn the dirigible and the fleet. + +A curious wind was blowing. It seemed to come swirling downward, as no +wind that Dick had ever known. It was growing in violence each moment, +beating upon his face. + +As he ran, he was aware of Luke beside him. He heard shouting all +about them. Luke had been seen. Not only Luke, but Hargreaves, who was +running after Luke, with Fredegonde trying in vain to change his +intentions. At the edge of the first brown patch Dick collided +violently with the wall of the invisible hangar, and went reeling +back. The shouts were growing louder. + +"Wait!" gasped Luke Evans. He had something like a large watch in his +hand. He held it out like a pistol, and from it projected a beam of +the black gas. + +Then Dick remembered Colonel Stopford's words: "He showed me a watch +and said the salvation of the world was inside the case. I thought him +insane." + + * * * * * + +Insane or not, old Luke Evans had concealed the tiny model of the +camera-box to good purpose. As he swept the black beam around him, the +whole mass of buildings sprang into luminosity, the figures of a score +of men, grouped together, and advancing in a threatening mass, some +distance away--and more. + +Two airplanes, standing side by side upon the tarmac, just in front of +the hangar--not mere pursuit planes, but six-seaters, formidably +armed, with central turrets and bow and rear guns, and propellers +revolving. + +Two mechanics stood staring in the direction of the little group. + +"I'm with you," gasped Hargreaves. "I'm not a military man, but I've +got fighting blood, and I come of a fighting race." + +Dick leaped and once more swung the iron bar. The nearer of the two +mechanics went down like lead, the second, seeing his companion +bludgeoned out of the air, turned and ran. + +Dick shouted, pointing. Fredegonde jumped into the plane, and the +President scrambled in behind her. The group, dismayed by the black +beam, which Luke Evans was now turning steadily upon them, had halted +irresolutely. But suddenly a head appeared, moving swiftly through the +air toward the plane. It was Von Kettler, with hood flung back, the +face distorted with rage and fury. + +At his yells, the whole crowd started forward. Dick leaped into the +central cockpit, swung the helicopter lever. Something spitted past +his face, and a long streak appeared on the turret, where the +gas-paint had been scored. But he was rising, rising into that +increasing wind.... + + * * * * * + +He heard a yell of triumph behind him. And that yell of Von Kettler's +was his undoing. There is the telepathy between close friends, but +there is also telepathic sympathy between enemies, and in an instant +Dick understood what that shout of triumph portended. + +He was rising into the line of magnetic force that would anchor his +airplane helplessly, and leave it to be jerked down and held at Von +Kettler's mercy. + +He released the helicopter lever and opened throttle wide. For an +instant the heavy plane hung dangerously at its low elevation, +threatening to nose over. Then Dick regained control, and was winging +away toward the sea, while yells of baffled fury from behind indicated +the chagrin of his enemies. + +He glanced up. Thank heaven the dirigible had not approached the trap. +It was apparently circling overhead. Of course the observers had seen +nothing, had no conception that the headquarters of the Invisible +Empire lay below. + +And yet it seemed to be drifting aimlessly back toward the +fleet--erratically, as if not under complete control. And Dick could +see the ships about a mile offshore, apparently drifting too. They +were moving as no American squadron ever moved since the day the first +hull was launched, for some of them, turned bow inward toward others, +seemed upon the point of collision, while others were lagging on the +edge of the formation, as if pointing for home. + +Then suddenly the awful truth dawned upon Dick. The occupants of +ships and dirigible alike had been overcome by the deadly gas. + + * * * * * + +Dick banked, turned, leaned forward and shouted to Luke Evans, and, +when the old man turned his head, indicated to him to sweep the tarmac +with his ray. + +The thread of black, broadening into a truncated cone, revealed +nothing save the luminous outlines of the buildings. Apparently the +tarmac was deserted. It was queer, too, that the silence of the night +before was gone. Dick shouted again, to assure himself of what he knew +already, and heard his own voice again. + +Something had happened, something unexpected----or perhaps the crew of +the Invisible Emperor, satisfied with the effects of the deadly gas, +had not thought it necessary to go to any further trouble. + +Suddenly Dick discovered that he was almost within the circle of the +line of magnetic force. Hurriedly he threw over the stick and kicked +rudder. It was not till he was again approaching the seashore that it +occurred to him that the force, too, was not in operation. + +He opened throttle wide and shot seaward. He must ascertain what had +happened, and, if not too late, give warning without delay. + +Then suddenly the vicious rattle of gunfire sounded in Dick's ears, +and, materializing out of the sky, came Von Kettler's face. Startled +for an instant, Dick quickly realized that it was Von Kettler in his +plane, with his hood thrown back. + +And Dick realized that his own hood was thrown back. Two faces and +nothing else, were the whole visible setting for battle. + +But that look upon Von Kettler's face was even more demoniacal than +before. Mad with rage at the prospective escape of his prey, and +infuriated by his half-sister's appearance in the plane, Von Kettler +had thrown all caution to the winds. In his insane hatred he was +prepared to shoot down Dick's plane and send Fredegonde to destruction +with it. + + * * * * * + +If Dick chose to replace his hood he would have the madman at his +mercy. And, if he had thought about it, he would have done so, with +Fredegonde sitting behind him. But the idea did not enter his mind. +Consumed with rage almost equal to Von Kettler's, he only saw there +the face of one of those who had inflicted an unspeakable outrage upon +the President of his country. + +The memory of old Hargreaves, chained before the mock-Emperor's +throne, enraged Dick more than the holocaust of lives taken by the +assassins. + +He shouted a wild answer to Von Kettler's challenge as his plane sped +by, and banked. At that moment there came a roaring concussion that +shook the plane from prop to tail. + +Dick turned his head. Somehow, President Hargreaves had contrived to +get the rear gun into action, and now he was staring at it as if he +could not believe that he had fired it. + +And that action heartened Dick wonderfully. As Von Kettler's face +appeared again, he loosed his turret gun in a sweeping blast, and +heard Von Kettler's gun roar futilely. + +Again they crossed each other's path, and again and again, two faces, +only able to gauge roughly the position of their planes. Neither man +had succeeded in injuring the other. + +Once old Lake turned his black ray upon Von Kettler, and for, a moment +the plane stood out luminously in the blackness, but Dick leaned +forward and yelled to the old man to desist. + +And once Dick looked back and saw Fredegonde crouched in her cockpit +with eyes wide with terror. And yet he read in her eyes the same +determination she had expressed in the laboratory. She was through +with her half-brother. + + * * * * * + +All this while the wind had been increasing, making it difficult to +maneuver the heavy plane; but now, of a sudden there came a dead lull, +and then, with a whining sound, the wind rushed in again. + +But this was a wind still more unlike any that Dick had ever known. A +mighty gale that revolved circularly, but downward too, like a vortex, +catching the plane and sweeping it into an ever tightening circle. + +A man-made gale, upon whose wings the poison gas would spread +northward again, carrying unlimited destruction with it. Dick fought +in vain to free himself. + +He was revolving as in a whirlpool, and it required the utmost +presence of mind and watchfulness to hold the plane steady. Round and +round he spun--and then, suddenly, out of the void materialized Von +Kettler's face. + +Von Kettler, helpless too, was spinning round upon the opposite side +of the vortex. Thus each airship was upon the tail of the other, and +it was a matter of chance which would get the other within the +ringsights of the turret gun. + +Von Kettler was so near that his shouts of fury came fitfully to +Dick's ears as the wind carried them. Dick, working the controls, knew +that not for an instant could he direct his attention from them in +order to fire his gun, and the moment Von Kettler attempted to do so, +he was doomed. + +Round and round, struggling, battling in vain--and once more the +concussion of the rear gun shook the plane. And a shout from the +President reached Dick's ears. + +Dick turned his head for an instant, long enough to see Von Kettler +spinning down through the vortex. And he was going down afire. +President Hargreaves, "no military man," had got him, the second time +he had ever aligned a gun-barrel upon a target. + +"Bravo, sir, bravo!" Dick shouted. + +And desperately he flung the stick forward and nosed down. + + * * * * * + +No gale, man-made or heaven-made, could carry on its wings +three-quarters of a ton of armored, turreted airship. Swirling like a +leaf, the plane broke through the clutch of the blast. Instantly it +grew calm. Outside that vortex, hardly a breath of air was stirring. +It was as if the whole fury of the air was concentrated within that +circle. + +The ground came rushing up. Once more Dick tried to head seaward. With +flying speed lost, he was calculating the exact moment in his downward +rush when he could hope to resume control. Would that moment come +before he crashed? + +At less than a hundred feet he partly regained control. For a moment +the plane seemed to fly on an even keel. Then her nose went down as +her speed slackened. And this time there was no salvation. + +Working desperately to save her, Dick saw the ground loom up before +him. He heard the crash as the plane broke into splintering ruin ... +he had a last vision of old Luke clutching his precious watch: then +everything was dissolved in darkness.... + + +CHAPTER XIII + +_You Can't Down the Marines_ + +"He's pulling out of it! Keep it up, Gotch!" + +Dick heard the words and opened his eyes. He stared in amazement at +the faces about him. Honest American faces under tropical helmets and +above a uniform that he had never expected to see again. It couldn't +be real. And yet it was. One word broke from his lips: + +"Marines!" + +"He's got it. Don't let him slip, Gotch.", grinned one of the friendly +faces, and the man named Gotch, who presumably had some qualifications +for his job, continued what was meant to be a gentle massage of the +nerve centers along Dick's spine. + +"I'm all right." Dick muttered, beginning to realize his +surroundings. He was lying on a strip of prairie near the beach, on +which the waves were breaking in low ripples about a motorboat that +was drawn up. + +He sat up. The world was swimming about him, but he seemed to have no +broken bones. Not far away was the wrecked plane, an incongruous mass +of streaks where the fabric had ripped through the gas-paint. "Where +are the others?" Dick muttered. + +Then he was aware of Fredegonde Valmy lying with a white face under a +shrub. Her eyes were open, and turned toward him. + +He heard Luke Evans's voice. The old man hobbled round from Dick's +back, one arm in a bandage. + +"She's hurt rather bad, Rennell, but we won't know how bad till we can +get her away," he said. "You've been lying here about an hour, since +we crashed. President Hargreaves made them take him to the fleet in +the other motorboat to see what he could do. He's assumed command. + +"You see, Rennell, that damn gas caught the fleet and put pretty near +every man out of commission for good. But these fellows wasn't going +to give up. So, since all their officers were gone, they took two of +the boats and their arms and equipment, and came ashore to settle +accounts. And they won't believe there's anybody on the island or any +buildings. And I can't make 'em believe it. God, Rennell, those +invisible devils may attack us at any moment. I don't understand what +they're waiting for." + +Gotch spoke: "We know you're Captain Rennell, sir. And this gentleman, +we know him too, but he seems a bit queer in his head. Talking of the +Invisible Emperor's headquarters on this island, a mile or so inland. +The only invisible thing we've found is that piece of a garment we +pulled off you." + +"I broke my watch ray machine in the fall, and I can't make them +believe, Rennell," almost wept old Evans. "Tell them I'm not crazy." + +Dick got upon his feet with an effort, staggered a little, then made +his way to Fredegonde. He kneeled down beside the girl. She was +conscious, and smiled faintly, but she could not speak. He pressed her +hand, rose, and came back. "Mr. Evans is not crazy," he said. "The +headquarters of the gang is over there." He pointed. "Didn't President +Hargreaves tell you?" + +"He was kind of incoherent, sir." The marines looked at one another, +wondering. Was Captain Rennell crazy too? + +"We've had scouts out through the jungle, sir. There's nothing within +five miles of here. They had a clear view through to the sea from the +top of a hill." + +"I've been there." Dick spoke with conviction. "I must tell you +they've got devices that make them practically irresistible. That gas +and other things. And they're invisible. But if you boys are willing +to follow me, I'll lead you. It means death. I don't know what they're +waiting for. But--are you willing to follow me?" + +"We'll follow you, sir"--after a pause, during which Dick read in +their eyes the desire to humor a crazy man. "We'll follow to hell, +sir--if that gang's really there." + +"Take your arms, then!" Dick pointed to the stacked rifles. + +A minute later the twenty-odd Marines, forming an open line that +extended from one side of the clearing to the other, were on their way +toward the headquarters of the gang. And Dick, leading them, though +his head was reeling, felt as if his own reason was slipping from him. +Had he only dreamed all this? Was it possible that the headquarters of +the Invisible Emperor existed on this desolate prairie? If it was +true, why had they suddenly become silent, inert? Why had they not +long ago wiped out these few Marines? And the gale--was it now +sweeping northward on its mission of destruction? + + * * * * * + +Half an hour passed. Then the brown patches of the foundations came +into view upon the open ground. Here were the hangers, here was the +central building with the Emperor's headquarters. And nothing was +visible, nothing stirred, yet at any moment Dick expected the rattle +of machine-gun bullets or some more terrific method of destruction. + +"Halt!" The line stood still. "I am going forward ahead or you. You'll +follow at a distance of twenty paces. When you see me stop, feel for +the door in the wall, and if I disappear, follow me. You understand?" + +The Marines assented cheerfully. No harm in humoring this poor devil +of an officer who had crashed and lost his wits. Like Luke Evans, +shambling up through the line to Dick's side. Dick advanced. At any +moment now the concentrated fire of the Emperor's men should blast +them all to smithereens. Nothing happened. + +And it was no dream, for Dick's outstretched hand encountered the +exterior wall of the building. He had gauged his way accurately, too, +for a step or two brought him to the door. He stepped inside. He was +inside the private door that led to the Emperor's quarters, through +which he had passed with Fredegonde, Hargreaves, and Luke Evans in +their flight. It had been broken down, contrary to the girl's +predictions, and the deserted passage within was perfectly visible to +them all. + +Stupefied, the Marines bumped and jostled with each other as they +crowded in. If they had been anything but Marines, their own heads +might have been turned at the discovery of this sudden materialization +of a building out of nothingness. + +Being Marines, they only grinned sheepishly, and followed along the +corridor. + + * * * * * + +The first human being they saw was one of the guards, in a black +tunic. He was leaning against a wall, and he was a human being no +longer. He looked as if he was asleep, but he was stone dead, with a +placid look on his face. + +Two more dead guards lay across each other, with smiles on their +faces: and there was a workman in a blue blouse who had been in a +tremendous hurry to get somewhere, from his appearance, and had never +got there. He had fallen asleep instead, and never wakened. + +Dick found a stairway and led the way up. He thought it ran up to the +laboratory, but, instead, the room into which he emerged was the +ante-room of the Invisible Emperor's audience hall. Six dead guards +lay in a heap in front of the curtain, and they had died as +unconcerned as their fellows, to judge by the pacific expressions on +their faces. + +Dick passed through into the throne room. The Marines, behind him, for +the first time uttered exclamations of awe--of pity. + +The terrific scene that met Dick's eyes would be burned into his brain +till his last day. + +Upon his throne, head flung back, sat the Invisible Emperor, his +features set in a sardonic leer of death. And all about him, some +sitting, some lying, supporting one another, were his court, officers +in black uniforms with the silver braid, and women in court dress. And +all were dead too. But they had not known they had died. They had +fallen asleep--upon the instant that their own volatile gas reached +them. + + * * * * * + +"I guess that's the explanation, sir," said old Luke Evans. "Those +devils made the whirlwind and charged it with the gas. But when you +reversed that lever, you reversed the process. Instead of projecting +the force outwardly, you made a suction, and every atom of the gas +that hadn't travelled beyond the radius came rushing back and filled +the building. If we'd entered a half-hour later, we'd have been dead +ones ourselves, but the gas was volatile enough to disperse through +the chinks and crannies. Anyway, it's all over now." + +Yes, it was all over, Dick thought, as he sat in his deck chair upon +the cruiser that was bearing him northward. The menace to world +government had been destroyed and with it all who had been behind it. +There would be a new order in the world, a new and kindlier +government. Men would feel closer to one another than in the past. +Half the personnel of the fleet had escaped the invisible death, and +only one cruiser and the dirigible had been lost in the confusion. +There would be a great reception when they put into Charleston. + +Dick bent over Fredegonde, who was asleep in her chair beside him. The +ship's surgeon had promised recovery for her. She shouldn't suffer for +her half-voluntary part in the business, Dick said to himself. It was +going to be his task to help her to forget. + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +Prisoners on the Electron + +_By Robert H. Leitfred_ + +[Sidenote: Fate throws two young Earthians into desperate conflict +with the primeval monsters of an electron's savage jungles.] + +[Illustration: _The gaping mouth jerked forward._] + + +The blood-red glow of a slanting sun bathed the towers of New York's +serrated skyline, then dropped into a molten sea beyond the winter +horizon. Friday, the last day of Jupiter, the thirteenth month of the +earth's new calendar, had drawn to a close. In a few hours the year of +1999 would end--at midnight, to be exact. + +Far below the towers stretched well lighted canyons teeming with +humanity. At an upper level where once the elevated trains had roared +and rumbled in an antiquated period long past, an orderly mass of +workers and shoppers was borne at an incredible speed from lower +Manhattan to towering apartments that stretched northward to +Peekskill. The northbound traffic was heaviest at this hour and the +moving sidewalk bands were jammed to their capacity. + +Street cars, now obsolete, had vanished from the streets under the new +order of things as had also passenger cars, taxis and trucks. Speed +predominated. Noise had practically been eliminated. Except for the +gentle throb of giant motors far underground, the city was cloaked in +silence. + +At regular intervals along the four-speed moving bands that formed the +transportation of the great metropolis, huge circular shafts of steel +mounted upward beyond the roofs of the tallest buildings. Within these +shafts, swift elevators carried passengers who lived in the outlying +districts to the level of the station platforms of the interstate +operating transport planes. + + * * * * * + +Close to the entrance of one of the steel shafts stood a young man a +little above medium height. His deep-sunken eyes were those of a +dreamer, a searcher. They were the eyes of a man who had seen strange +and startling things. At present they were staring into the pulsing +wave of humanity flowing northward on the endless steel bands beyond +the platform. + +Quite suddenly they lighted with pleasure as a man and a girl detached +themselves from the swift moving river of people and hurried to the +spot where he stood. + +"Think we were never coming?" Karl Danzig's eyes were much like those +of Aaron Carruthers. Just now they sparkled with suppressed +excitement. + +Aaron Carruthers smiled in turn. "No, Karl. Any man but you. I +couldn't imagine you being late." He turned his attention to the slim, +dark haired girl. "Nanette," he murmured, extending his hand, "I +didn't think you'd come." + +Dazzling white teeth caught the glow of the blue-white incandescents +along the platform, and became under the bow of her red lips a string +of priceless pearls. + +"I had to come, Aaron. Karl has done nothing but talk of your amazing +discovery. The experiment fairly frightens me at times especially when +I recall the sad fate of your friend, the missing Professor Dahlgren. +I wish you boys would give up the idea--" + +"Nan, be still," broke in Karl, with brotherly rudeness. Turning to +Carruthers. "Everything all ready, Aaron?" he asked. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers nodded. "As far as humanly possible. The element of error +is always present. I've checked and re-checked my calculations. I've +augmented the vacuum tubes by installing three super-dimensional +inverse power tubes." He clasped the girl's arm. "The street is no +place to talk. Let's go to the laboratory." + +They crossed the moving bands by an overhead bridge and cut down a +narrow canyon to the entrance of a crosstown series of bands. They +stepped onto the first band. The speed was moderate. From there they +moved over to the second. Carruthers was in a hurry. He guided the +girl and her brother across the third to the fourth band of moving +steel. + +Buildings slid past them like wraiths in the electric light. They felt +no winter chill, for the streets and platforms were heated by a +constant flow of warm air from slots ingeniously arranged in the band +of swift moving metal upon which they stood. Within a few minutes they +had arrived at their destination. Quickly they reversed their path +across the moving bands until they reached the disembarking platform. +A short distance from the station they came to the entrance of a huge +tower building. + +Carruthers nodded to the doorman and they were admitted into a marble +hallway. A silent, unattended lift bore them swiftly to the +seventy-fifth floor. Down a deep carpeted hallway they moved. +Carruthers touched his door. It opened. He stood to one side as the +other two entered. + + * * * * * + +Nanette cried with delight at the luxurious splendor of the place. +"Why, Aaron, I never dreamed the night view could be quite so +delightful! I do believe that if the horrid government had not taken +down that little Statue of Liberty and substituted the Shaft Triumph +in its place, that I could easily see her fingers clasping the torch +she was reputed to hold. + +"Progress, dear girl," shrugged Carruthers, holding out his hands for +her cape. "By the way, have you folks eaten?" + +"Not in a week," said Karl. + +"Von Sternberger's food tablets," informed the girl. + +Carruthers nodded. His deep-set eyes regarded them appraisingly. "Any +ill effects?" + +"None whatever," spoke Danzig. "Neither of us have the slightest +craving for food." + +"Good. Did you bring any with you?" + +"A whole carton." + +"Then I guess we're already to make the experiment. You're sure. +Nanette, that you're not afraid of...." + +"Don't be silly, Aaron. I haven't grown up with Karl for nothing. He's +always used me for the disagreeable end of his crazy experiments. And +besides," she smiled on both men. "I have a woman's curiosity for the +unknown." + +"Very well," said Carruthers gravely. From his waistcoat pocket he +took a ring of keys and inserted one of them into the lock of an +immense steel door. "Our laboratory," he announced, swinging the door +wide. + + * * * * * + +Nanette's eyes opened wide at the paneled whiteness of the room. Most +of the far side was taken up with electrical machines, dynamos, +generators and glass enclosed motors of an advanced type. Overhead, +concealed lights made the room as light as day. A heavy glass railing +shielded a square spot in the exact center of the room. + +"What's that for?" asked the girl. + +Danzig and Carruthers both regarded it with troubled eyes. It was +Carruthers who spoke. + +"That railing marks the spot where Professor Dahlgren stood when the +rays of our atomic machine struck him." + +"You mean," breathed the girl, "that he never moved from that spot +after the rays touched his body? What happened?" + +Karl had already divested himself of his coat and was checking the +copper cables leading into a strange machine. + +"It was rather curious," remarked Carruthers. "The moment the ray +touched him his body began to dwindle. But evidently he suffered no +pain. As a matter of fact his mind remained quite clear." + +"How did you know?" + +"As he dwindled in size," continued Carruthers, "he shouted warningly +that the rays had become confused and for us to cut the switch. But +the warning came a fraction of a second too late. Even as my fingers +opened the contact, his body dwindled to a mere speck and disappeared +entirely from sight." + + * * * * * + +Nanette gazed with staring eyes at the ill-fated spot. Her face had +grown steadily paler. "Oh, Aaron! It's awful! What do you suppose +happened?" + +Carruthers eyes glowed strangely. "I didn't exactly know at the time, +Nanette. I'm not sure that I know even now. But I've got a theory and +Karl has helped me to build a second machine to flash a restoring ray +on the square spot. What will take place I cannot even conjecture." + +"Let's get on with the experiment," interrupted Karl. "Nanette can be +shown later what she is to do." + +Carruthers turned to Danzig. "All right. Karl. Draw up a chair to your +machine. And you, Nanette, sit close to this switch. It's off now. To +turn it on, simply push it forward until the copper plates slide into +each other. To turn the current off, you pull sharply out. However, we +aren't quite ready." + +He shifted his position until he stood before a third machine +slightly smaller than the other two. His fingers clicked a switch. The +dial of the instrument glowed whitely. + +"It's important," continued Carruthers, "that we first locate our +interference. We have here, Nanette, a common television receiving +apparatus capable of picking up news and pictures from any corner of +the globe. Ready, Karl?" + +Danzig clicked on the switch before his own machine and turned one of +the many dials mounted on the panel in front of him. A faint hum +filled the room as the generator settled to its task. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers reached up and dimmed the overhead lights. A screen of what +looked like frosted glass set in the wall glowed luminously. The +interior of a famous broadcasting studio became mirrored in the glass +screen. Into it stepped the master of ceremonies. He spoke briefly of +the New Year's activities that would soon take place when the +twenty-eighth day of Jupiter ended at midnight. + +"Boston," said Carruthers. "Too near." + +"Try Frisco," suggested Karl. "The tubes ought to be sufficiently +heated by this time." + +The dial whirled beneath Carruthers slender fingers. The pictures +framed in the frosted panel faded. Another took its place. San +Francisco--an afternoon concert. Carruthers saw and listened for a +moment, then moved thousands of miles out to sea. + +Shanghai drifted into the panel, announcing in sing-song accents the +weather reports. Following this came reports of various uprisings +along the Manchurian border. + +While yet the three listeners and watchers bent their heads toward the +panel in the wall, a strange thing occurred. The silver frostiness of +the screen became violently agitated with what looked like tiny sparks +darting in and about each other like miniature solar systems. +Shanghai faded from the picture. All that remained visible now was the +jumbled mass of needle-pointed sparks of luminosity. + +"Careful," warned Carruthers. "Slow up the speed of your reflector, +Karl. There, that's better. Watch the meter reading. I'm going to step +up the power of the dimensional tubes. Steady!" + + * * * * * + +From an invisible reproducer came a sharp, metallic crackling like +machine-gun bullets rattling on a tin roof. The sparks on the screen +became violently agitated, pushing around in erratic circles and +ellipses. They glowed constantly in shades of bright green through the +blues into the deep violets of the color scale. + +"What do you read?" asked Carruthers. + +"Point seven six nine," answered Karl. + +"Shift it back towards the blue, about two points lower on the scale." + +Danzig twisted two dials at the same time with minute exactness. +"Point seven six eleven," he intoned. + +"Hold it," ordered Carruthers. "Blue should predominate." He turned +his eyes on the dancing sparks on the screen. They glowed now a deep +indigo blue. "Lock your dials against accidental turning. We're tuned +to the vanishing point." + +Danzig rose to his feet. "What will we use?" + +Carruthers looked hastily around the room. "Most anything will do." +His eyes rested on a glass test tube. Quickly he rose to his feet and +removed it from the wall rack. Then bending over the glass railing +that enclosed the mysterious square he placed it on the floor. He +turned now to the girl. + +"Quiet, now, Nanette, and don't under any condition leave the chair. +The path of the ray should pass within two feet of you, having a wide +margin of safety. All right, Karl. Set the dials of the inverse +dimensional tubes at point seven six eleven, and switch the power to +the Roentgen tube." + +Through the dimly lighted laboratory came a spurt of bluish flame that +twisted and squirmed with slow undulations around the cathode +electrode. + +"Fine," enthused Carruthers, "The cathode emanations coincide exactly +with the interference chart. Watch your meter gauges, Karl, while I +switch to the atomic ray." + + * * * * * + +His fingers closed over a switch. The indigo points of flame bathing +the electrode gathered themselves into a ring and began to revolve +around an invisible nucleus located near the electrode. Carruthers +studied the revolving flame for a moment, then switched off the +television machine. It was no longer needed. + +Carefully, for the atomic ray was still a mysterious force to +Carruthers, he opened a small door in the panel and drew out the +focusing machine. It was shaped very much like a camera except that +the lens protruded several inches beyond the machine proper. + +With infinite patience he made the final adjustments and moved away +from the front of the lens. "Ready?" + +Danzig nodded and threw on the full power of the inverse dimensional +tubes. A low clear hum filled the quiet room of the laboratory. From +the lens of the focusing machine shot a pale, amber beam. It struck +the glass test tube squarely in the center and glowed against its +smooth sides. + +Carruthers reached across his own machine and turned the final switch. +The amber beam emanating from the lens increased in intensity. And as +it increased it took on a deep violet color. + +Nanette cried out in muffled alarm. But even as Vincent raised his +voice to quiet her fears the test tube suddenly shrunk to nothingness +and vanished into the ether. + +"Aaron!" whispered the girl, awesomely. "It ... it's gone!" + +Carruthers nodded. Beads of sweat stood out upon his forehead. Would +the returning ray work? He had made the test tube follow the same +route as that taken by Professor Dahlgren. Both were gone. He clicked +off the switch and the beam faded. + + * * * * * + +With a deliberate calmness that in no way matched the inner tumult +brought on by the experiment, he turned the dials of the machine he +and Danzig had worked out together. A second switch clicked under his +fingers. From the lense of the focusing machine shot the reverse +atomic beam. As it struck the center of the square it turned a bright +vermilion. For several seconds it played upon empty space, then the +miracle unfolded before their eyes. + +Something like a glass sliver reflected the beam. It grew and enlarged +under their startled eyes until it had achieved its former size, then +the power that had brought it back switched itself off automatically. + +Together both men examined the test tube. It appeared in no way +harmed, nor did it feel either warm or cold from its trip through the +elements. + +"It works!" marveled Danzig. "Let's try it again with something +larger." + +"I've got a better idea," said Carruthers, rising to his feet. He +crossed the laboratory and went to another part of his rooms. +Presently he returned holding a small pink rat in his hands. The +rodent was young, having been born only a week before. "Now we'll see +what happens." + +"Oh, it's torture to the poor thing," burst out Nanette. + +"It won't hurt it," growled Karl. "Aaron knows what he's doing." + +Carruthers placed the little rat in the center of the square. It lay +there, very quiet and unblinking. Again the switches clicked as the +contacts were closed. + +Came once more the beam of amber colored light followed closely by the +violet. The rat dwindled to the size of an insect, then disappeared +into space. The three watchers held their breaths. Carruthers' hand +trembled the least bit as he threw on the switch controlling the +animal's return to the world. + + * * * * * + +A vermilion shaft of light pierced the semi-darkened rooms. The animal +had been gone from sight not more than a minute. Abruptly something +grayish white unfolded in the reflector's beam. It rapidly expanded +under three pairs of bulging eyes--not the small, pinkish rat that had +disappeared but sixty seconds previous, but a full grown rat, scarred +and tailless as if from innumerable battles with other rats. + +As the current clicked off Aaron Carruthers bent forward. Too late. +The rat scurried from the laboratory with a squeal of alarm. +Carruthers returned to his seat before the atomic machine and sat +down. His face was worried. Dark thoughts stormed his reason. The rat +he had placed within the atomic ray had aged nearly two years during +the minute it was out of mortal sight. Two years! + +He pulled a pad from his pocket and calculated the time that had +elapsed since Professor Dahlgren had vanished from that same spot. +Nearly forty hours. That would mean.... + +Nanette stirred in her chair. "What happened to the little rat, +Aaron?" + +Carruthers, busy making calculations, did not hear the question. + +She turned to her brother. "Karl, what's the meaning of this? The +second experiment didn't turn out like the first one. What became of +that little rat?" + +"I don't know what happened, Nan," spoke Karl. "Now don't bother me +with your silly questions. You saw the same thing I did." + + * * * * * + +Carruthers raised his head and spoke quietly. "That rat you saw +materialize under the atomic rays was the same rat you saw me place +within the square." + +"But it couldn't be," protested the girl. + +"Nevertheless," shrugged Carruthers. "It was the same animal--only it +had aged nearly two years during the brief time interval it was off +from our planet." + +"It's preposterous," cried the girl. + +"Nothing is preposterous nowadays, Nanette." + +"That's the woman of it," spoke Karl. "Always doubting." + +"You boys are playing tricks on me," retorted the girl sharply. "I +shouldn't have come to your old laboratory. Just because I'm a +girl...." + +"Don't," pleaded Carruthers, looking up from his pad of figures. +"We're trying to solve the mystery underlying the forces which we have +created." He replaced the test tube within the center of the square +and returned to the atomic machine. + +Through the twilight shadows of the room glowed the strange new ray. +Faintly the generator hummed. Lights sparkled and twisted around the +cathode in serpentine swirls. + +"You needn't trouble to explain your silly experiment again," finished +Nanette, rising abruptly to her feet. "I'm going home and dress for +the New Year's party." + +"Watch your switch like I asked you to," spoke Carruthers. + +"Sit down," added Karl. "Don't put the rest of us in danger!" + +"Oh-h-h!" gasped the girl as she inadvertently stepped squarely into +the atomic ray of amber-colored light. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers leaped impatiently to his feet. An inarticulate cry of +horror froze upon his lips. Forgetful that he himself was directly in +line of the atomic ray he lunged forward, his mind centering on a +single act--to drag the protesting and now thoroughly frightened girl +out of the path of the penetrating ray. + +But even as he started forward Nanette tripped over the glass railing +around the square. Carruthers moved quickly. Yet his movements were +slow and ungainly as compared to the speed of the light ray. He saw +the figure of Nanette decrease in size before his eyes, heard the +muffled expression of alarm and fear in Danzig's voice; then the room +suddenly began to extend itself upward with the speed of a meteor. + +What once had been walls and bare furniture resolved themselves into a +range of hills, then mountains. The twilight gloom of the room became +a dark void of empty space that seemed to rush past his ears like a +moaning wind. + +He had the sensation of falling through infinite space as if he had +been propelled from the world and hurled out into the vastness of +interplanetary space. Something brushed against him--something soft +and fluttering. He grasped it like a drowning man would clutch a +straw. "Nanette!" + +The name echoed and re-echoed through his mind yet never seemed to get +beyond his tightly clenched lips. He felt something cool close over +his hand. Instinctively he grasped it. Her hand. Together they clung +to each other as they felt themselves being hurled through endless +space. + +The twilight changed swiftly to black night that rushed past the two +clinging figures and enveloped them in a wall of silence. Then out of +the mysterious fastness came the dull glow of what looked like a +distant planet. It grew and enlarged till it reached the size of a +silver dollar. Little pin-points of light soon began to appear on all +sides of it, very much like stars. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers attempted to reassure Nanette that all was well, and they +were out on the streets of the great metropolis. But even as he +wrenched his tightly locked lips apart he saw that the shining disc +far out into space was not what he had first thought it was--the +earth's moon. + +He shook his head to clear it of the perplexing cobwebs. What was the +matter with his mind? He couldn't think or reason. All he knew was +that he had erred. This strange planet looming in the sky held +nothing familiar in markings nor in respect to its relations to the +stars beyond it. + +While yet he groped in the darkness for something tangible, his mind +reverted to the girl at his side. She was clinging to him like a +frightened child. He could feel the pressure of her body against his +and it thrilled him immeasurably. No longer was he the cold, +calculating young man of science. + +How long they remained in state of suspension while strange worlds and +planets flashed into a new sky before their startled eyes, Aaron +Carruthers didn't know. At times it seemed like hours, years, ages. +And when he thought of the tender nearness of the girl he held so +tightly within his arms, it seemed like a few minutes. + +Gradually the sensation of speed and space falling began to wear off, +as if they were nearing earth or some solid substance once more. The +air about them grew heavier. Then all movement through space ceased. + +Carruthers was surprised to find what felt like earth beneath his +feet. For long minutes he stood there, unmoving, still holding +possessively to the girl. + +"Aaron!" The name came out of the void like a faint caress. + +"Nanette." + +Reassured of each other's presence they stood perfectly still, lost in +the vast silence of their isolation. + + * * * * * + +Presently the girl spoke. "Oh, Aaron, I'm frightened!" + +"There's nothing to be alarmed at, dearest." The endearing term came +for the first time from the man's lips. As long as he had known +Nanette Danzig, love had never been mentioned between them. If it had +ever existed, the feeling had not been expressed. + +"You shouldn't call me that, Aaron." + +His voice sounded curiously far-off when he answered. "I couldn't help +it, Nan. Our nearness, the strange darkness, and the fact that we are +alone together brought strange emotions to my heart. At this moment +you are the dearest--" + +Bump, thump! Bump, thump! + +"What's that noise?" breathed Nanette. + +Carruthers turned his head to listen. To his ears came the pound of +some heavy object striking the ground at well-regulated intervals. + +Nanette, who had started to free herself from Carruthers violent +embrace, suddenly ceased to struggle. "Oh, what is it? What is it?" +she whispered fearfully. + +Carruthers sniffed the night air. A musky odor assailed his nostrils, +strange and unfamiliar. "It's beyond me, Nanette. Let's move away from +this spot. Perhaps we can find shelter for the rest of the night." + +But the Stygian blackness successfully hid any form of shelter. Tired +from their search they sat down. + +"We might build a fire," suggested Carruthers, "only there doesn't +seem to be any wood around. Nothing but bare rock." + +"Perhaps it's just as well," spoke the girl. "The flames might attract +prowlers." + +"Maybe you're right," agreed Carruthers. + + * * * * * + +A silence fell between them. After a long time Nanette spoke. + +"I don't suppose, Aaron, that anything I can do or say will help +matters any. I know that our being where we are is my own fault. I'm +sorry. Truly I am." + +"The harm is done," said Carruthers. "Don't say anything more about +it." + +Nanette pointed at the disc of light shining high in the heavens. +"These stars are as strange to me, Aaron, as if I had never seen them +before. Saturn is the evening star at this time of year. It isn't +visible. Even the familiar craters and mountains of the moon look +different. And it glows strangely." + +"I'd rather not talk about it, Nan." + +Nanette placed a hand upon his arm. "I'm not a child, Aaron. I'm a +grown woman. Fear comes through not knowing. Tell me the truth." + +"Let's sit down." + +They sat upon the ground and both stared out at the night heavens that +arched into infinity above them. Presently Carruthers took the girl's +hand from his arm and held it gently between his own. "You've guessed +rightly, Nan. The orb shining upon us is not our moon. I'll try and +make it clear." + + * * * * * + +The girl smiled reassuringly in the darkness. "I'm waiting." + +"Strange as it must seem," began Carruthers, "you and I are still +within the room of my laboratory. But we might as well be a million +miles away for all the good it does us. Karl sits in his chair in the +same position as when we disappeared in the violet glow of the atomic +ray. His eyes are bulging with fear and horror. For days and days +he'll continue to sit on that chair, his mind not yet attuned to what +actually took place. What has happened? He doesn't know yet, Nan." + +"Oh, it's incredible," sobbed Nanette. + +"I know, but it's so obviously true that I won't even trouble to check +my calculations." He pointed at the silver disc hanging low in the +strange sky. "That, Nan, is not our moon. It is nothing more than a +planetary electron very much like the one we are on at the present +moment. The firmament is filled with them. From where we sit we can +see but the half nearest to us. The glowing portion is illuminated +from distant light rays shot off from the nucleus of the atom itself. +That atom is going to be our light and heat for weeks, months, perhaps +years to come. We're prisoners on an electron, and as such we are +destined to rush through infinite space for the remainder of our lives +unless...." + +"Unless what?" + +Aaron Carruthers hesitated for a bare fraction of a second. "Karl!" he +whispered. "Our lives depend on him. Time flies fast for us, Nan. +Already it is growing light. But not on our earth. Karl still sits +upon his chair staring incredulously at the miracle of our +disappearing bodies. It will take weeks of time, as it affects us, for +the initial shock to travel along his nerves to the center of his +brain." + + * * * * * + +His voice shook with emotion quite contrary to his usual calm nature. +"Oh, I know it's hard to understand, Nan. I was a fool to meddle with +laws of which I know so little compared to what there is yet to know." + +"Then it's all true, Aaron. The little rat that came out from under +the ray as an old rat was one and the same animal." + +Carruthers nodded. "Time has changed in proportion to our size. We're +moving so much faster than the earth that we must of necessity be +bound to the universe of which we are now an integral part." + +For a long time they remained silent, each immersed in dark, troubled +thoughts. Nanette broke the silence. + +"You don't suppose, Aaron, by any chance that Professor Dahlgren is +still alive and on our planet?" + +Carruthers shook his head negatively. "It's beyond human reason, Nan. +He was lost in the ray for over forty hours. Translated into minutes +he's been gone twenty-four hundred minutes. Since the mouse we placed +within the light ray aged approximately two years in the space of one +minute, Professor Dahlgren would, if he were alive, be about four +thousand, eight hundred years old." + +Nanette rose abruptly to her feet. "Oh bother the figures. My head's +swimming with them. It's getting light now, and I'm hungry." + +"Eat one of your food tablets," suggested Carruthers. + +"Please don't get funny," said Nanette. "Karl has them in his coat +pocket." + +"Hum-m-m!" coughed Carruthers, following her example by rising to his +feet. "Looks as though we'd have to rustle our food. I've got nothing +on my person but a knife, a pencil, a fountain pen and some pieces of +paper. Nothing very promising in any of them." + + * * * * * + +At that moment the sky became fused with reddish light. Over the +horizon appeared a shining orb. Far-away hills and valleys leaped into +sight. Then for the first time Carruthers noted the high plateau upon +which he had spent the night. Had they ventured a hundred yards +farther during the night they would have plunged into the rocky floor +of a canyon a thousand feet below. + +"Let's see if we can find a way down to the valley," he suggested. "If +we get anything to eat it will have to come from trees. This plateau +is barren of any form of vegetable matter." + +They found a winding descent leading downward. It looked like a path +that had been worn by the passage of many feet. + +"Someone's been here before us," he exclaimed. "The ground is too well +worn to be accidental." + +"Look! Look!" pointed Nanette. Her face had become pale from the +excitement of her discovery. "What is it, Aaron?" + +Carruthers bent forward to examine the strange footprint. It was +nearly two feet across and divided in the center, as if the animal +that made it had but two toes. + +"From the size of the tracks and the length of the animal's stride, I +should say it was some form of an amphibious dinosaur long extinct in +our own world." + +"Are they dangerous?" + +"It all depends upon the species. Some of them are pure vegetarians; +others are carnivorous. The heavy tramping we heard during the night +evidently came from the beast who left these footprints." + + * * * * * + +They had come upon the footprints where the path made a turn, leading +into a dense growth of trees and underbrush. And as Carruthers knelt +beside the path he heard a rustle as of something moving directly +behind him. Wonderingly, he turned his head to trace the disturbance. +But the woods seemed empty. "Strange," he murmured. "Did you hear +something moving in back of us, Nan?" + +Nan shook her head. "You don't think we're in any danger from these +beasts, do you?" + +Carruthers said nothing for the moment. Instead, he looked sharply in +all directions and saw nothing. "Let's push on till we come to some +kind of a shelter. Perhaps we'll find people much like ourselves." + +Down the path they hurried, glancing curiously right and left at +unknown flowers and trees. A bird with brilliant feathers skimmed +above their heads, uttering shrill cries. Other voices from the birds +and animals in the woods took up the cry. The woods grew denser as +they pushed into the unknown. + +In the woods at their right a rodent squeaked as some larger animal +pounced upon it. Presently they came to a pool of water roughly +seventy feet across. While they knelt to quench their thirst they saw +two young deer eyeing them from the far side. Soft feet pattered +behind the kneeling couple. Carruthers half whirled as he rose to his +feet and peered into the jungle behind him. + +A blur of reddish brown vanished behind a tree. Man or animal +Carruthers couldn't determine. He grasped Nanette by the arm and +pulled her back to the path. + +"Quick!" he whispered. "There's someone or something following us. I'm +sure of it now." + + * * * * * + +Nanette's voice trembled slightly. "What is it, Aaron?" + +"I don't know." He turned his head again. This time he saw the thing +that was following. A low ejaculation of alarm escaped his lips. A +gigantic ape! The mouth of the creature sagged grotesquely, revealing +two rows of yellow fangs. And its orange colored eyes were burning +coals set close together. Carruthers sucked in a deep breath. + +"Run, Nan," he gritted. "I'll try and scare him away." + +Simultaneously with the scream of fright from the startled girl, a +huge mountain of grayish flesh and bones blocked the downward slope of +the path. Carruthers paled as he turned and faced the new menace. + +Coming directly toward them he saw an immense animal so great in size +that it seemed to shut out the light. A prehistoric dinosaur! It came +slowly and leisurely, swinging its great red mouth from side to side. +Other denizens in the woods, sensing the presence of the huge killer, +fled in a panic of alarm. Their shrill cries increased the terror that +froze the hearts of the two earth people. + +Nanette clung to her companion in abject terror, unable to move. Her +fear stricken eyes were wild and staring as the mountain of flesh +pushed towards them. + +The animal's long neck arched far in front of its body, and its long, +pointed tail remained out of sight within the trees. + +Carruthers backed off the path into the underbrush, dragging the girl +after him. The jaws of the huge animal opened wide with anticipation. +Lumberingly he turned from the path and followed. Trees crashed before +its gigantic bulk. The woods became a bedlam of snapping branches. + +The horrified scream of the girl ended in a gurgling sigh. She toppled +to the ground in a dead faint. Carruthers flung himself beside her +crumpled body and gathered it into his arms. A quick glance he threw +at the spot where he had last seen the gigantic ape. The animal was no +longer there. It had disappeared. + +The man's lips became a hard, straight line. Even as he straightened +to his feet the leaves and branches of an overturned tree whipped his +face. The red mouthed dinosaur was perilously near. So close that +Carruthers could smell its great, glistening body. The odor was musky +and foul. + +Stumbling blindly he attempted to widen the distance between himself +and his pursuer. But the hungry dinosaur pounded steadily on its +course. There was no getting away from it. Its beady eyes sought out +its prey and its keen smell told it exactly where the earth beings +were. + +On and on staggered Carruthers. The extra burden of the girl hampered +his movements. Unseen roots tripped him time and time again. Each time +he scrambled to his feet and picked up the unconscious girl. Briars +tore at his clothing and stung his hands. + +The underbrush was thickening. A warm, dank smell clung to the +vegetation now almost tropical in nature. Beads of sweat rolled down +the man's forehead and into his eyes. But the horrible fear of those +red, dripping jaws spurred him to renewed efforts. + +He doubled to the left, hoping to throw the animal off his tracks. The +undergrowth seemed to thin out at this point. Renewed hope flowed +through the young scientist's blood. He stumbled on blindly, scarce +watching where his feet were taking him. A sigh of relief came to his +lips. Ahead of him he saw a clearing. His stride lengthened and he +broke into a shambling run. + + * * * * * + +Then it was he saw, towering walls rising up on both sides of +him--steep walls that he could never scale, even if alone. He tried to +change his course, but the huge bulk of the pursuing dinosaur +effectively blocked his path. There was no alternative but to push on +and pray for an opening in the rugged cliffs. + +Abruptly a sigh of despair escaped his lips. The walls of the canyon +narrowed suddenly, and across it stretched a wall of bare rock. He +realized too late that he had returned to the base of the plateau +where he had spent the night. The grim, towering walls hemmed him in +completely from three sides. At the fourth side bulked the dinosaur, +coming slowly, ponderously. + +Beady eyes peered down cunningly at the helpless man and woman. +Confident now that its prey couldn't escape, it extended its huge bulk +across the narrow canyon for a leisurely killing. + +Carruthers glared at the monster with fear-distended eyes. In his +heart he realized that there was no escape. He had no means of +defense, no way to combat the huge monster but flight. And even that +was now denied him. + +Closer and closer inched the killer until its great, red mouth +appeared like the fire box of a huge boiler. Hot breath fanned the +man's cheek. The nauseous odor of the beast made his stomach wrench. +He dropped to his knees close to the inert figure of the girl and +glared vengefully into the beady eyes. + +The gaping mouth at the end of a long, supple neck jerked forward. +Carruthers dragged the girl away just in time to escape the gnashing +teeth. The dinosaur stamped angrily. + +Once again Carruthers felt its hot breath beating upon his face. He +cringed at the thought of this kind of death. No one would ever know +how it happened. Not even his closest friend, Karl Danzig! What a mess +things were. Why didn't the red mouth of the mighty dinosaur close +over him and crush out life? Why must he kneel in torture? + +From near at hand a piercing scream rang through the air. A harsh +scream. A terrifying scream! + + * * * * * + +Carruthers raised his head. The dinosaur had twisted around to glare +hatefully at the disturber of its meal. Other screams splintered the +forest air. And as the kneeling man watched he saw the great red ape +who had been dodging his footsteps a short time before, slouch between +the dinosaur's hulking body and the wall of the cliff. Behind it came +others--black mammals with curving arms that dragged along the ground. + +Their fangs were bared. They were in an ugly mood. Arriving in front +of the dinosaur and less than four feet from the earth man and woman, +the leader silenced its followers with a low growl and turned in +concentrated fury upon the dinosaur. Its long arms drummed a throbbing +tattoo upon its hairy chest. + +The dinosaur bellowed protestingly against the attitude of the apes +and gorillas. The ape leader protested with equal violence. The +dinosaur shifted uneasily, wagging its heavy head from side to side. +On all sides came deep growls from the mammals. + +Carruthers watched all this display torn between doubt and fear. Which +side would win? How could the apes and gorillas, huge as they were, +hope to force the dinosaur away? But the apes were masters. This much +was apparent. Inch by inch the dinosaur backed away, glaring +vengefully. And having reached a spot where it could turn around it +did so. Presently the ground trembled as it made off through the +steaming jungle. The leader of the mammals turned and faced the earth +people. Long, searching minutes passed. Its close set eyes seemed to +be studying them. + + * * * * * + +Nanette stirred and opened her eyes. The sight of the anthropoids +caused her to recoil. + +"Steady, Nan," spoke Carruthers softly. + +Other apes and gorillas gathered around the giant red animal. They +displayed no hostility, only an intense interest. One by one they +squatted before the earth people until they formed a half circle, +reaching from the one wall of the rocky plateau to the other. + +While they sat there it began to grow dark. Carruthers removed his +watch and ventured a glance at it. Daylight had lasted less then three +hours. An hour for twilight, then it would be dark. Evidently the +cycle around the nucleus of the atom took approximately ten hours. + +Nanette sat up. "Aaron!" + +He answered without removing his eyes from the red ape less then four +feet away. "Don't look at me, Nan. Concentrate on the big, red fellow. +He's evidently in control. If we act the least bit frightened they +might decide to destroy us." + +"What are they waiting for? Why don't they go away?" + +"We'll know before long. I imagine they're trying to figure out who we +are and what we are doing on their tiny planet." + +Darkness descended rapidly. Overhead, a small moon rose majestically +in the heavens and started its journey through the night. Its faint +light revealed the fact that the apes showed no intentions of leaving. +They still squatted before the earth people, in a half circle of +staring brown eyes. + +Whatever fear Carruthers had felt towards the animals died away. +"They're harmless," he told Nanette. "Get some sleep if you can." + + * * * * * + +Long after the tired girl had drifted into slumber Carruthers sat with +his back against the wall, mentally trying to figure the whole thing +out. The dinosaur was real enough. Yet the apemen had frightened it +away, in fact had compelled it to go without actually engaging in +combat. No question about it. The anthropoids were in control. But who +controlled them? + +Quite suddenly his eyes snapped open. Daylight had come again. He must +have fallen asleep. The shrill chatter of the apeman came to his ears. +The red ape leader shuffled to his feet and looked from the earth +people to the spot in the jungle whence came the chatter. Abruptly he +opened his mouth and emitted a flood of gibberish sounds. + +The gorillas and apes at his side flattened their bodies against the +rocky walls in attitudes of expectant waiting. + +"What's happening?" gasped the girl. + +"There's no telling," whispered Aaron. "It must be someone or +something of importance. Note the expressions of awe and reverence on +the faces of the apemen. My God, Nanette, look!" + +Out of the depths of the jungle emerged seven white beings--human or +animal it was impossible to tell. They were huge creatures with the +bodies of men. Erect of carriage, almost human in looks, they +contrasted strangely with the red apes and the black gorillas. Six of +them appeared to act as bodyguard for the seventh. + +As they reached the space in front of the two earth people, the +bodyguard stepped aside. The seventh white one came to a dead stop. +Long and intently he stared at the man and girl crouched against the +wall. And the scrutiny seemed to please him, for he smiled. + +Carruthers eyed the figure uneasily. He saw what seemed to be a man +dressed in a long, fibrous garment. With white hair and beard, it was +a strange figure indeed for an apeman. He saw also that the eyes were +well spaced, a mark of intelligence. The forehead was high and broad. +And as Carruthers mentally studied the creature, strange and bizarre +thoughts crossed his mind. + + * * * * * + +The mouth of the white apeman twitched as if he were going to speak. +The heavy lips parted. A single word came to Carruthers' ear--"Man?" + +Carruthers nodded. "We are from the earth." + +The lips of the apeman moved painfully as if speech came with the +utmost of difficulty. "The prophecy of the Great One has been +fulfilled even as it has been written." + +The red apes and black gorillas allowed their eyes to wander from +their white leader to the two earth people. And their faces reflected +the supernatural awe with which they regarded the earth people. + +"It's uncanny that an animal can speak our language," breathed +Nanette. + +As if he hadn't heard her, Carruthers spoke again. "We are from the +earth," he repeated. "We have been on your world many hours, and we +are both hungry and thirsty." + +"Words come hard," came from the lips of the white bearded one. "I +have not used them for years." + +"And who are you?" asked Carruthers. + +The white bearded one paused as if to recall some distant echo from +the past. "I am the last of the tribe of Esau. But come! This is no +place for speech. Long have I and my followers waited for this hour." + + * * * * * + +Without another word he swung around. The six guards enclosed his aged +body in a hollow square and the procession moved away. They came after +a short journey to a natural opening leading to the heart of the +plateau. The apes and gorillas, with the exception of the red leader, +remained outside. The remainder of the party pushed through a tortuous +tunnel until they reached a cavernous opening directly beneath the +plateau. Vertical openings in the walls furnished light and air. The +white chieftain spoke in a strange tongue to his followers, and they +instantly prepared three couches in a far corner of the cavern. + +As the earth people seated themselves on the skins that made up the +couch they were both conscious of a far-away rumbling like peals of +thunder. Not having seen any signs of a storm outside Carruthers +turned inquiringly on the aged chieftain. + +The old man's eyes were shadowed with grim foreboding. "I have ordered +something to refresh you and your companion," he said. "Eat first, my +friends. We will talk later." + +The six body-guards left the main cavern. Presently they returned with +large trays made of fanlike leaves resembling the palmetto. Fresh +fruits and uncooked vegetables formed the bulk of the meal. In silence +they ate. After the litter had been cleared away the guards withdrew +with the exception of the giant red ape, who crouched near the opening +to the tunnel. + +"I am glad you have come," began the old chieftain, "but sorry, too. +Our planet, or rather the higher forms of life upon it, are doomed." + + * * * * * + +Again there came to the ears of the earth people that far-off beat of +sound that seemed to shake the ground. They looked to the white +bearded leader for explanation. + +"Ah, you hear it too," murmured the other. "For centuries, we of the +great tribe of Esau have fought for the supremacy of our little +world--ever since the Great One appeared in our midst and instructed +us in world knowledge." + +"And this Great One, as you call him," spoke Carruthers. "Who was he?" + +"He was from your world. I never saw him. He comes to me as a legend. +For years he toiled among us, teaching and instructing until we +mastered his language. He called himself Dahlgren. Later he ruled all +the tribes. We of the Esau line he made into leaders because of our +higher intelligence. The tribes of Zaku were trained for war. Perhaps +you have noticed the chief of all the Zakus. He is crouching now +beside the entrance to our inner walls. He is Marbo, and his followers +live in the jungles." + +"And does he talk as you do?" + +The white chieftain shook his head. "No. Only we of the Esau tribe +have mastered speech. Not counting the women of our tribe that +comprise our numbers we are only seven in all." + +"I owe Marbo my life as does also my companion," said Carruthers. + +"Marbo looks upon you earth people as gods," spoke the old chieftain. +"He and his followers will protect you with their lives." + +"And who rules over and beyond?" questioned Carruthers, waving his arm +to cover the remaining portion of the electron. + +"There is no rule beyond except that of force. The Great One called +them by name, Morosaurus, Diplodocus, the Horned Ceratosaurus, and +many others whose names I have long forgotten. They are our enemies +whom we cannot destroy. And their numbers increase from year to year +and are slowly backing us upon our last stronghold." + +"Isn't there anything we can do?" asked Carruthers, feeling a quiver +of apprehension along his spine. + + * * * * * + +Slowly, the old chieftain shook his head. "Nothing whatever. Marbo and +his followers can control one or two, but when the herds begin to push +on into our territory, we are doomed. Even now their rumblings and +bellowings come through the jungles. Their thirst and hunger for flesh +is enormous." + +Carruthers turned upon the girl. "The old chief's words explain +everything, Nan. Professor Dahlgren has been here and gone. He lived a +lifetime in the span of a few hours earth-time. Now it looks as if we +were destined to follow in his footsteps." + +"I'm not afraid," said the girl. "Nothing can be worse than what we +have already passed through." And her eyes softened as she placed her +small hands within those of Carruthers. "We have each other, Aaron." + +He smiled reassuringly and turned to the old chieftain. "I am +Carruthers, a friend and assistant to Dahlgren. The girl here is +Nanette." + +The chieftain smiled gravely. "And I am Zark. Welcome to my kingdom, +Carruthers and Nanette. We need you here. Now tell me of your world, +for long have I waited for a follower of the great Dahlgren to appear +before my people." + +Throughout the remainder of the day Carruthers talked. The shafts of +light paled at the end of the short day. Night came, bringing with it +a sense of security against the increasing hordes that thundered and +trumpeted beyond the borders of the jungle. + +In the morning Zark instructed Marbo to remain close to Carruthers at +all times. So the young scientist left the cavern and ascended the +path leading to the top of the plateau. He looked at his watch and +compared the second hand with the nucleus atom sailing across the +heavens to estimate its speed. + + * * * * * + +Days passed as he made his observations. Meanwhile he had searched and +found the exact spot wherein he and Nanette had first stepped foot +onto the electron. This spot he carefully marked off with a ring of +huge boulders carried up by the followers of Marbo. Then he began to +calculate upon his pad. There must be no mistakes. He and Nanette must +be within the magic circle at the estimated time. + +Between times he helped Nanette construct their living quarters in the +cavern. Zark had furnished them with skins and furs with which to +cover the walls. Carruthers made a fireplace of stones and restored +the lost art of fire to Zark, Marbo and their followers. + +Days slipped by like minutes. Short days filled with excursions into +the jungles. Carruthers' face soon bristled with a stubble of beard. +This lengthened with time. Sharp thorns tore their clothes to ribbons. +Nanette, womanlike, cried many times during the nights because of the +lack of a mirror and a comb for her untidy hair. + +But other and more important events soon claimed the attention of the +earth people. Day by day the herds of dinosaurs and other monsters of +like breed edged closer and closer to the tiny civilization around the +plateau. It worried Carruthers so much that he sought out Zark and had +him bring the other six members of his tribe together for a council of +war. + +"A complete defensive system, Zark," he told them. "We must make a +fortress of the plateau and fill the caverns with food." + + * * * * * + +Zark shook his head. "No. It is quite useless. Followers of Marbo have +recently returned from over the beyond and report strange things. I +have hesitated to speak of them for fear of alarming you. Our planet +is breaking up. Violent eruptions have caused fires of stone and mud. +The rumblings you have heard were not made entirely by our enemies. +They came from the ground. + +"An earthquake," murmured Carruthers, momentarily stunned by the news. +"But they are always of short duration, Zark. We have them on our own +planet." + +"Ah, but these are different. They cover the whole of our globe. The +great Dahlgren noted them while he was with us. He wrote many words +and figures on paper concerning them. Only yesterday I unearthed these +records. The life of our planet was doomed to destruction during the +present year. What matter if the herds of dinosaurs overrun us and +destroy lives? In the end they, too, will be destroyed. It is fate. We +can do nothing." + +Even as the old chieftain spoke a gigantic rumbling, greater in +intensity than any heretofore, shook the electron. Above the deep +rolling disturbance underground rose the shrill cries of the apemen. + +Carruthers leaped to his feet and raced through the tunnel. A herd of +dinosaurs choked the path leading to the outside entrance. Marbo +brushed past him, shrilling in great excitement. + +"Drive them away!" ordered Carruthers. "Like this!" He hurled a rock +at the eye of the nearest animal. + +The dinosaur bellowed and backed away. The apes, and gorillas, used to +fighting only with their long arms, caught on to the stunt with +surprising quickness. Their powerful arms reached out. Stones and +boulders began to hurtle from the mouth of the tunnel. They thudded +against the heads of the great monsters like hailstones. + +Subdued and frightened by this sudden display of force, the monsters +withdrew down the path. But the apemen had discovered a new method of +warfare. They found a childish delight in hurling stones. Within a few +minutes the slope was barren of rocks. The animals followed up their +momentary advantage and ran screaming down the path. The dinosaurs +fled in panic. + + * * * * * + +AS soon as the enemy had been driven away, Carruthers pointed out to +Marbo the advantage of gathering the stones up from the ground and +returning them to the space around the mouth of the tunnel so that he +and his followers would be ready for a second repulse. + +Zark appeared at this moment and helped with the explanation. His +crafty old eyes turned with new respect upon the earthman. + +Carruthers toiled with them every day from then on, building and +fortifying the plateau against further incursions of the monsters. +Security and peace reigned for several weeks then hostilities broke +out afresh. + +The rumblings of the electron had increased with each passing week. +Volcanic eruptions poured fresh discharges of molten lava and fiery +sparks along the edges of the jungles. + +"I don't want to needlessly alarm you, Nan," he told her that night, +"but the fires have started. Zark was right. Unless we have rain +before to-morrow morning the heat and smoke will drive us out into +the open." + +"But we can go to the top of the plateau," suggested the girl. "There +aren't any trees--" + +A concentrated bellowing cut off the rest of her words. Driven towards +higher ground by the heat of the flames, the dinosaurs were trampling +up the path leading to the tunnel. + +Once again Carruthers rallied his army of apemen around him and +attempted to drive the mammals away. As they reached the end of the +tunnel a cloud of dense smoke stung their eyes. The apemen shrilled in +a sudden panic and forgot all their previous training in driving off +the dinosaurs. Like scurrying rats they scattered. + + * * * * * + +Flames from the conflagration broke through the smoke--flames that +leaped and twisted skyward. + +Carruthers flung off the fear that held him spellbound and started +along up the path leading to the top of the plateau. A disheveled +figure appeared suddenly at his side--Nanette! + +"Come," he whispered, hoarsely. "We've got to get out of this or we'll +choke to death." + +"But Zark," breathed the girl, "He and his followers are still in the +cavern. We can't leave them." + +Like one demented of reason, Carruthers raced back along the tunnel to +the cavern. "Zark!" he shouted. + +The sound of his voice was drowned in the welter of screaming bedlam +coming up from below as the dinosaurs and apes fought for the +supremacy of life. But of Zark and his six followers he found +absolutely no sign. Quickly he hurried back to where he had left +Nanette. + +Even as he reached the spot he had a sudden premonition of danger. A +gorilla, huge and black, brushed past him on the path, carrying a limp +burden under his shaggy arm. + +"Stop!" commanded Carruthers, hurrying after the animal. + +A huge arm knocked him sprawling. Spitting blood Carruthers staggered +to his feet. Up to this time he had felt no fear of the gorillas. They +had been orderly and well behaved. Fearful that harm would come to the +girl he ran after the dark figure ahead. The red glow of flames swept +nearer. The gorilla came to a stop and faced its pursuer. Lust shone +from its close-set eyes--lust and passion. + +Carruthers stopped dead in his tracks. "Drop her!" he demanded. + +The animal snarled hoarsely. There came the sound of ripping cloth. +Nanette screamed--a terrifying scream that echoed and re-echoed +through the electron night. + + * * * * * + +It was then that the thin cloak of civilization dropped from Aaron +Carruthers' back. He became in a single moment an animal fighting for +his mate. With a snarl equally vicious as that of the gorilla pawing +at the helpless girl, he lunged forward. + +Mouthing his rage, the gorilla flung the earth man to the ground. +Carruthers came up frothing at the mouth. With grim intensity he +fastened himself to the animal's free arm. The raging mammal staggered +helplessly under the extra burden and dropped the girl to concentrate +his fury on the man. It raised a hairy arm aloft for the smashing +blow. Instinctively Carruthers released his hold. + +At that very moment the electron lurched sickeningly, causing them +both to lose their footing. The violent upheaval sent Carruthers one +way and the gorilla the other. While the man stumbled to his feet to +resume battle he saw the infuriated monster stagger over the edge of +the plateau wall into a sheer drop of a thousand feet. + +Starkly through the night came the growling roars of the giant beasts +from the jungles below. Nanette fluttered to his side. Her dress was +torn and dragged on the ground. For all her disheveled appearance she +was still beautiful to look upon. Forgetful of the danger on all sides +of him, the animal in Carruthers saw in her pitifully half-clad body +the same thing that the beast had desired. His head whirled hotly. + +"Aaron!" she pleaded as his arm reached out to clutch her. + +Hungrily he drew her to him. The pale light of the electron moon +mingled with the roaring blast of the flames. Madness inflamed his +heart and pounded his blood. + +"Don't, Aaron," protested the girl, trying to free herself. + + * * * * * + +Something in the quality of the girl's frightened tones brought the +man back to normal. He fought against the overwhelming desire to +possess with all the force of his nature. And the better half +triumphed. No longer was he an animal, but a reasoning human being. +With a faint sigh he released her and wiped a hand across his dripping +forehead. + +"I'm sorry, Nan," he murmured. "That great brute drove me mad for an +instant. I'm all right now." + +Together they stood in the electron night and watched death creep +closer and closer. The plateau was entirely surrounded with flames now +and the heat was increasing with each passing moment. As it increased +they backed towards the center. + +From under their feet came the choking cries of the apemen. They had +returned to the cavern only to be overcome by smoke fumes. While yet +the earth people stood there waiting and watching the red death creep +nearer, the path leading downward into the jungle became a mass of +moving shadows. + +"The dinosaurs!" cried Nanette. "Oh, Aaron! We are lost!" + +"Steady, girl," soothed the man. "If we stand still they might not see +us in the dark. The smoke will destroy our scent." + +But as the minutes passed the herd of monsters increased. They crowded +along the path and spread out over the top of the plateau. Once again +the smell of their glistening bodies fouled the nostrils of the earth +people. + +Slowly Carruthers guided Nanette back towards the ring of +rocks--perhaps the barrier would serve to keep the animals away. He +scrambled across one of the boulders and pulled the girl after him. As +he did so, a violent subterranean action shook the electron from one +end to the other. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers braced his feet against the ring of rocks to keep from +pitching headlong to the ground. Nanette clung to him wordlessly. All +around them the giant forces of nature raged sullenly. Twisting seams +appeared in the rocky floor of the plateau from which oozed gaseous +vapors. + +"Courage," soothed Carruthers as he held the quivering body of the +frightened girl close to his own. "This can't last." + +But the ground continued to lurch and heave on its axis. Vivid lights +crossed and criss-crossed the atomic heavens. The fissures in the +ground appeared now as black canals. The lower part of the circle of +boulders disappeared. Off to the right came despairing screams. White +bodies glowed for an instant against the background of flames. + +"Zark!" shouted Carruthers, as he saw the leader of the tribe of Esau +and his followers making their way along the plateau top. + +Zark must have heard the earth-man's voice, for he started forward at +a run. Simultaneously there appeared a herd of the greatest of all the +prehistoric monsters--the Brontosaurus. They balked enormously against +the flame-licked skies. Zark and his followers attempted to avoid +them. But fear of the scorching flames drove the monsters forward. +There followed a maddening moment of unutterable pain for the +remaining ones of the tribe of Esau, then the herd trampled them +underfoot and rumbled towards the half circle of rocks where the two +earth people were crouched. + +The leader of the Brontosaurus herd trumpeted madly and barged for the +higher ground of safety. Too late did instinct warn it of the widening +fissure underfoot. Before it could stop the pressure of the herd drove +it into the crevice. + + * * * * * + +Carruthers drew back to the extreme inside edge of the boulders trying +to still his ears against their insane bellowings. A cloud of heavy, +choking smoke enveloped him for a moment then passed away. Then it was +that he saw a new star in the atomic heavens,--a star that seemed to +burn with the brilliance of a meteor. Even as he watched he was +conscious of it drawing closer. + +The planet was now in a continuous uproar. The ground was heaving and +trembling as if from some inward strain. This was the end. Carruthers +realized it with a sinking heart. In another minute the electron would +disintegrate into a flaming mass of matter and fling itself from its +orbit around the atom. + +And then the light from the approaching star struck them in a blinding +radiance of vermilion flames. Carruthers held his breath. Some +invisible force seemed to take possession of his body and that of the +girl at his side. The rocky plateau, now a boiling mass of rocks, +dropped from under their feet. Clear, cold air enveloped their bodies. +Then with the speed of light their bodies were hurled through +planetary space, up, up, up into the vast reaches of the higher ether. + +Darkness assailed them. The flames from the jungle fire vanished into +nothingness. The electron moon paled to the size of a pin point, then +went out. + +Carruthers had the feeling of expansion and growth. It was as if his +body was taking on the size of the whole world. It seemed to last for +hours, days, ages. But all the while he clung fast to the slender, +quivering body of Nanette. + + * * * * * + +Mountains and hills suddenly blazed before his eyes. Straight up and +down mountains. He tried to stir his sluggish mind into action. What +did they mean? Where had he seen them before? And while yet his mind +struggled with the problem the mountains dwindled like melting snow. +The pressure around his body relaxed. A blinding glare of steady light +played upon his face. Then all was quietness and peace. + +"Nan! Aaron!" The voice was Karl's. + +Dazedly they looked around. What had once been mountains were now +desks and chairs. They were back again in the laboratory. Several +agonizing minutes passed before either could grasp the startling +change in things. The horror of the electronic disaster still filled +their minds to overflowing. + +Carruthers recovered first. He stepped from the railed inclosure +marking the spot where the atomic beam had restored them after their +space flight, and guided the girl to a chair. Karl's face was drawn +and white as his eyes rested on the two pitiful figures that had +materialized out of the ether. + +"Don't ask us any questions yet," spoke Carruthers in a tired voice. +"We've passed through too many horrors. What was the matter, Karl? +Couldn't you get the rays to work sooner?" + +"Sooner?" Danzig's eyes were wide with wonder. He glanced at his +watch. "It was a little difficult to control both machines all alone, +but I switched off the ray from the inverse dimensional tubes and +turned on the other immediately. All in all it must have taken me +fifteen seconds." + +"Fifteen seconds," repeated Carruthers, dazedly. "It's unbelievable." +He dropped wearily into a chair and rested his forehead in the palms +of his hands. "How long have we been gone, Nan?" + + * * * * * + +Nanette pulled the ragged remnants of a dress around her knees and +attempted a smile. "Almost four months, according to the passage of +time on the electron." + +"Impossible!" whispered Danzig, shutting his eyes to the truth. + +Aaron Carruthers pointed to his clothes, now ragged and torn. "Look, +Karl! Everything I have on is worn out completely. Observe my hair and +beard, and the soles of my shoes. Human reason to the contrary, +Nanette and I have lived like two animals for four months, and all in +the space of fifteen seconds earth time. How can you account for it? +We figured it out on paper. And we've proved it with our bodies. What +it will mean to future civilization I can't foretell. It's beyond +imagination." + +And the laboratory became silent as a tomb as the three people tried +with all the strength of their minds to grasp the miracle of the +strange and unfathomable atomic rays. + + * * * * * + + +PRODUCING HEAT BY ARCTIC COLD + +Producing heat by means of Arctic cold is a fantastic but none the +less quite practicable idea evolved by Dr. H. Barjou of the French +Academy of Science. Dr. Barjou says the water under the ice in the +Arctic region is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. While the air is many +degrees less, there may even be a difference of 50 degrees. The +unfrozen water could be pumped into a tank and permitted to freeze, +thus generating heat, as freezing a cubic meter of ice liberates about +as much heat as burning twenty-two pounds of coal. The heat produced +would vaporize a volatile hydrocarbon which would drive a turbine. +For condensing the hydrocarbon again, Dr. Barjou says great blocks of +brine could be used. + +Not only would the Arctic regions become comfortably habitable by +means of this utilization of energy, contends Dr. Barjou, but heat +also could be furnished for the rest of the world. + +Now if some one only can discover how to make the Sahara Desert send +forth cooling waves, the world will be perfect, temperaturally. + + + + +Jetta of the Lowlands + +PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL + +_By Ray Cummings_ + +[Illustration: We were invisible!] + +[Sidenote: Into remote Lowlands, in an invisible flyer, go Grant and +Jetta--prisoners of a scientific depth bandit.] + +WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE + + +In the year 2020 the oceans have long since drained from the surface +of the earth, leaving bared to sun and wind the one-time sea floor. +Much of it is flat, caked ooze, cracked and hardened, with, here and +there, small scum-covered lakes, bordered by slimy rocks. It is hot, +down in the depth of the great Lowland areas, and it is chiefly +adventurers and outcasts of human kind who can endure life in what +few towns there are. + +Into Nareda, the capital village of the tiny Lowland Republic of +Nareda, goes Philip Grant, an operative of the United States Customs +Department, on a dangerous assignment--to ferret out the men who are +smuggling mercury into the United States from that place. + +Grant falls in love with Jetta, the daughter of Jacob Spawn, a big +mercury mine owner of Nareda, only to learn that Spawn has promised +her in marriage to Greko Perona, the country's Minister of Internal +Affairs. + +Grant follows Perona to a midnight Lowland rendezvous with mysterious +strangers and eavesdrops on them, sending their indistinct voice +murmurs to his chief, Hanley, in Washington, who relays them back to +him, amplified. He learns several important things: that Spawn and +Perona and a depth bandit named De Boer are together involved in the +smuggling; that they have planned a fake robbery of a fortune in +radiumized mercury stored at Spawn's mine, to collect the insurance on +it and escape paying the Government export fee: and that they, plan +to kidnap Grant for ransom. + +The plotters learn of Grant's absence from Nareda, and suspect that he +may be nearby. They start to search for him. Grant barely escapes, +with the bandits and conspirators in hot pursuit. He flees to Jetta, +hoping that they will be able to get away together: but he finds her +tied hand and foot in her room. + +The door is tightly sealed. + +And close behind him are his pursuers! + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_Jetta's Defiance_ + +I must go back now to picture what befell Jetta that afternoon while I +was at Spawn's mine. It is not my purpose to becloud this narrative +with mystery. There was very little mystery about it to Jetta, and I +can reconstruct her viewpoint of the events from what she afterward +told me. + +Jetta's room was in a wing of the house on the side near the pergola. +Her window and door looked out upon the patio. When I had +retired--that first night in Nareda--Spawn had gone to his daughter +and upbraided her for showing herself while he was giving me that +first midnight meal. + +"You stay in your room: you have nothing to do with him. Hear me?" + +"Yes, Father." + +From her infancy he had dominated her; it never occurred to either of +them that she could disobey. And yet, this time she did; for no sooner +was he asleep that night than she came to my window as I have told. + +This next day Jetta dutifully had kept herself secluded. She cooked +her own breakfast while I was at the Government House, and was again +out of sight by noon. + +Jetta was nearly always alone. I can picture her sitting there within +the narrow walls of her little room. Boy's ragged garb. All possible +femininity stripped from her. Yet, within her, the woman's instincts +were struggling. She sewed a great deal, she since has told me, there +in the cloistered dimness. Making little dresses of silk and bits of +finery given her surreptitiously by the neighbor women. Gazing at +herself in them with the aid of a tiny mirror. Hiding them away, never +daring to wear them openly; until at intervals her father would raid +the room, find them and burn them in the kitchen incinerator. + +"Instincts of Satan! By damn but I will get these woman's instincts +out of you, Jetta!" + + * * * * * + +And there were hours when she would try to read hidden books, and look +at pictures of the strange fairy world of the Highlands. She could +read and write a little: she had gone for a few years to the small +Nareda government school, and then been snatched from it by her +father. + +When Spawn and I had finished that noonday meal, I recall that he left +me for a moment. He had gone to Jetta. + +"I am taking that young American to the mine. I will return presently. +Stay close, Jetta." + +"Yes, Father." + +He left with me. Jetta remained in her room, her thoughts upon the +coming night. She trembled at them. She would meet me again, this +evening in the moonlit garden.... + +The sound of a man walking the garden path aroused her from her +reverie. Then came a soft ingratiating voice: + +"Jetta, _chica Mia_!" + +It was Perona, standing by the pergola preening his effeminate +mustache. + +"Jetta, little love bird, come out and talk to me." + +Jetta slammed the window slide and sat quiet. + +"Jetta, it is your Greko." + +"Well do I know it," she muttered. + +"Jetta!" He strode down the path and back. "Jetta." His voice began +rising into a strident, peevish anger. + +"Jetta, are you in there? _Chica_, answer me." + +No answer. + +"Jetta, _por Dios_--" He fumed, then fell to pleading. "Are you in +there? Please, little love bird, answer your Greko. Are you in there?" + +"Yes." + +"Come out then. Come to Greko." + + * * * * * + +She said sweetly. "My father does not want me to talk to men. You know +that is so, Senor Perona." + +It grounded him. "Why--" + +"Is it not so?" + +"Y-yes, but I am not--" + +"A man?" Little imp! She relished impaling him upon the shafts of her +ridicule. Her sport was interrupted by the arrival of Spawn. He had +left me at the mine and come directly back home. Jetta heard his heavy +tread on the garden path, then his voice: + +"Ah, Perona." + +And Perona: "Jetta will not come out and talk to me." The waxen +mustached Minister of Nareda's Internal Affairs was like a sulky +child. But Spawn was unimpressed. Spawn said: + +"Well, let her alone. We have more important things to engage us. I +have the American occupied at the mine. You heard from De Boer?" + +"I went last night. All is ready as we planned. But Spawn, this fool +of an American, this Grant--" + +"Hush! Not so loud, Perona!" + +"I am telling you--!" Perona was excited. His voice rose shrilly, but +Spawn checked him. + +"Shut up: you waste time. Tell me exactly the arrangements with De +Boer. _Le grand coup_! now; to-night most important of nights--and you +rant of your troubles with a girl!" + + * * * * * + +They were standing by the pergola, quite near Jetta's shaded window. +She crouched there, listening to them. None of this was entirely new +to Jetta. She had always been aware more or less of her father's +secret business activities. As a child she had not understood them. +Nor did she now, with any clarity. Spawn, had always talked freely +within her hearing, ignoring her, though occasionally he threatened +her to keep her mouth shut. + +She heard now fragments of this discussion between her father and +Perona. They moved away from the pergola and sat by the fountain, +speaking too low for her to hear. And then they paced the path, coming +nearer, and she caught their voices again. And occasionally they grew +excited, or vehement, and then their raised tones were plainly audible +to her. + +And this that she heard, with what she knew already, and with what +subsequently transpired, enables me now to piece together the facts +into a connected explanation. + +In the establishment of his cinnabar mine some years before, Spawn was +originally financed by Perona. The South American was then newly made +Minister of Nareda's Internal Affairs. He became Spawn's business +partner. They kept the connection secret. Spawn falsified his +production records; and Perona with his governmental position was +enabled to pass these false accounts of the mine's production. Nareda +was systematically cheated of a portion of its legal share. + +But this, after a time, did not satisfy the ambitious Perona and +Spawn. They began to plan how they might engage in smuggling some of +their quicksilver into the United States. + +Perona, during these years, had had ambitions of his own in other +directions. President Markes, of Nareda, was an honest official. He +handicapped Perona considerably. There were many ways by which Perona +could have grown rich through a dishonest handling of the government +affairs. It was done almost universally in all the small Latin +governments. But Markes as President made it dangerous in Nareda. Even +the duplicity with the mine was a precarious affair. + + * * * * * + +There was at this time in Nareda a young adventurer named De Boer. A +handsome, swaggering fellow in his late twenties. He was a good +talker; he spoke many languages; he could orate with fluency and +skilful guile. His smile, his colorful personality, and his gift for +oratory, made it easy for him to stir up dissatisfaction among the +people. + +De Boer became known as a patriot. A revolution in Nareda was brewing. +Perona, as Nareda's Minister, was De Boer's political enemy. The +Nareda Government ran De Boer out, ending the potential revolution. +But Perona and Spawn had always secretly been friends with De Boer. It +would have been very handy to have this unscrupulous young scoundrel +as President. + +When De Boer was banished with some of his most loyal followers, he +began a career of petty banditry in the Lowland's depths. Spawn and +Perona kept in communication with him, and, by a method which was +presently made startlingly clear to Jetta and me, De Boer smuggled the +quicksilver for Perona and Spawn. It was this activity which had +finally aroused my department and caused Hanley to send me to Nareda. + +This however, was a dangerous, precarious occupation. De Boer did not +seem to think so, or care. But Perona and Spawn, with their +established positions in Nareda, were always fearful of exposure. Even +without my coming, they had planned to disconnect from De Boer. + +"And for more than that," as Jetta had one day heard Perona remark to +her father. "I'll tell to you that this De Boer is not very straight +with us, Spawn." De Boer would, upon occasion, fail to make proper +return for the smuggled product. + + * * * * * + +So now they had planned a last coup in which De Boer was to help, and +then they would be done with him: the two of them, Spawn and Perona, +would remain as honest citizens of Nareda, and De Boer had agreed to +take himself away and pursue his banditry elsewhere. + +It was a simple plan; it promised to yield a high stake quickly. A +final fling at illicit activity; then virtuous reformation, with +Perona marrying the little Jetta. + + * * * * * + +Beneath the strong room at the mine, Perona and Spawn had secretly +built a cleverly concealed little vault. De Boer, this night just +before the midnight hour, was to attack the mine. Spawn and Perona had +bribed the police guards to submit to this attack. The guards did not +know the details: they only knew that De Boer and his men would make a +sham attack, careful to harm none of them--and then De Boer would +withdraw. The guards would report that they had been driven away by a +large force. And when the excitement was over, the ingots of +radiumized quicksilver would have vanished! + +De Boer, making away into distant Lowland fastnesses, would obviously +be supposed to have taken the treasure. But Perona, hidden alone in +the strong-room, would merely carry the ingots down into the secret +vault, to be disposed of at some future date. The ingots were well +insured, by an international company, against theft. The Nareda +government would receive one-third of that insurance as recompense for +the loss of its share. Perona and Spawn would get two-thirds--and have +the treasure as well. + + * * * * * + +Such was the present plan, into which, all unknown to me, I had been +plunged. And my presence complicated things considerably. So much so +that Perona grew vehement, this afternoon in the garden, explaining +why. His shrill voice carried clearly to Jetta, in spite of Spawn's +efforts to shut him up. + +"I tell to you that Americano agent will undo us." + +"How?" demanded the calmer Spawn. + +"Already he has made Markes suspicious." + +"Chut! You can befool Markes, Perona. You have for years been doing +it." + +"This meddling fellow, he has met Jetta!" + +"I do not believe it." There was a sudden grimness to Spawn's tone at +the thought. "I do not believe it. Jetta would not dare." + +"You should have seen him flush when Markes mentioned at the +conference this morning that I am to marry Jetta. No one could miss +it. He has met her--I tell it to you--and it must have been last +night." + +"So, you say?" Jetta could see her father's face, white with +suppressed rage. "You think that? And it is that this Grant might be +your rival, that worries you? Not our plans for to-night, which have +real importance--but worrying over a girl." + +"She would not talk to me. She would not come out. He has no doubt put +wild ideas into her head. Spawn, you listen to me. I have always been +more clever than you at scheming. Is it not so? You have always said +it. I have a plan now, it fits our arrangements with De Boer, but it +will rid us of this Americano. When all is done and I have married +Jetta--" + + * * * * * + +Spawn interrupted impatiently. "You will marry Jetta, never fear. I +have promised her to you." + +And because, as Jetta well knew, Perona had made it part of his +bargaining in financing Spawn. But this they did not now mention. + +"To get rid of this Grant--well, that sounds meritorious. He is +dangerous around here. To that I agree." + +"And with Jetta--" + +"Have done, Perona!" With sudden decision Spawn leaped to his feet. "I +do not believe she would have dared talk to Grant. We'll have her out +and ask her. If she has, by the gods--" + +It fell upon Jetta before she had time to gather her wits. Spawn +strode to her door, and found it fastened on the inside. + +"Jetta, open at once!" + +He thumped with his heavy fists. Confused and trembling she unsealed +it, and he dragged her out into the sunlight of the garden. + +"Now then, Jetta, you have heard some of what we have been saying, +perhaps?" + +"Father--" + +"About this young American? This Grant?" + +She stood cringing in his grasp. Spawn had never used physical +violence with Jetta. But he was white with fury now. + +"Father, you--you are hurting me." + +Perona interposed. "Wait Spawn! Not so rough! Let me talk to her. +Jetta, _chica mia_, your Greko is worried--" + +"To the hell with that!" Spawn shouted. But he released the girl and +she sank trembling to the little seat by the pergola. + +Spawn stood over her. "Jetta, look at me! Did you meet--did you talk +to Grant last night?" + +She wanted to deny it. She clung to his angry gaze. But the habit of +all her life of truthfulness with him prevailed. + +"Y-yes," she admitted. + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Trapped_ + +"Spawn! Hold!" + +There was an instant when it seemed that Spawn would strike the girl. +The blood drained from his face, leaving his dark eyes blazing like +torches. His hamlike fist went back, but Perona sprang for him and +clutched him. + +"Hold, Spawn: I will talk to her. Jetta, so you did--" + +The torrent of emotion swept Spawn; weakened him so that instead of +striking Jetta, he yielded to Perona's clutch and dropped his arm. For +a moment he stood gazing at his daughter. + +"Is it so? And all my efforts, going for nothing, just like your +mother!" He no more than murmured it, and as Perona pushed him, he +sank to the bench beside Jetta. But did not touch her, just sat +staring. And she stared back, both of then aghast at the enormity of +this, her first disobedience. + +I never had opportunity to know Spawn, except for the few times which +I have mentioned. Perhaps he was at heart a pathetic figure. I think, +looking back on it now that Spawn is dead, that there was a pathos to +him. Spawn had loved his wife, Jetta's mother. As a young man he had +brought her to the Lowlands to seek his fortune. And when Jetta was an +infant, his wife had left him. Run away, abandoning him and their +child. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps Spawn was never mentally normal after that. He had reared +Jetta with the belief that sin was inherent in all females. It +obsessed him. Warped and twisted all his outlook as he brooded on it +through the years. Woman's instincts; woman's love of pleasure, pretty +clothes--all could lead only to sin. + +And so he had kept Jetta secluded. He had fought what he seemed to see +in her as she grew and flowered into girlhood, and denied her +everything which he thought might make her like her mother. + +Spawn met his death within a few hours of this afternoon I am +describing. Perhaps he was no more than a scheming scoundrel. We are +instinctively lenient with our appraisal of the dead. I do not know. + +"Jetta," Perona said to her accusingly, "that is true, then: you did +talk with that miserable Americano last night? You sinful, lying +girl." + +The contrition within Jetta at disobeying her father faded before this +attack. + +"I am not sinful." The trembling left her and she sat up and faced the +accusing Perona. "I did but talk to him. You speak lies when you say I +am sinful." + +"You hear, Spawn? Defiant: already changed from the little Jetta I--" + +"Yes, I am changed. I do not love you, Senor Perona. I think I hate +you." Her tears were very close, but she finished: "I--I won't marry +you. I won't!" + +It stung Spawn. He leaped to his feet. "So you talk like that! It has +gone so far as this, has it? Get to your room! We will see what you +will and what you won't!" + + * * * * * + +Again the crafty Perona was calmest of them all. He thrust himself in +front of Spawn. + +"Jetta, to-night you plan to see him again, no? To-night?--here?" + +"No," she stammered. + +"You lie!" + +"No." + +"You lie! Spawn look at her! Lying! She has planned to meet him +to-night! That is all we want to know." He broke into a cackling +chuckle. "That fits my new plan, Spawn. A tryst with Jetta, here in +the garden." + +"Get to your room," Spawn growled. He dragged her back, and Perona +followed them. + +"You lie there." Spawn flung her to her couch. "After this night's +work is done, we'll see whether you will or you won't." + +"She may not stay in here." Perona suggested. + +"She will stay." + +"You seal her in?" + +"I will seal her in." + +Perona's eyes roved the little bedroom. One window oval and a door, +both overlooking the patio. + +"But suppose she should get out? There is no way to seal that window +properly from outside. A cord!" + +A long stout silken tassel-cord had been draped by Jetta at the window +curtain. Perona snatched it down. + +"If her ankles and wrists were tied with this--" + +"No!" burst out Jetta. And then a fear for me rushed over her. A +realization, forgotten in the stress of this conflict with her +father, now swept over her. They were planning harm to me. + +"No, do not bind me." + + * * * * * + +A sudden caution came to her. She was making it worse for me. Already +she had done me immense harm. + +She said suddenly, "Do what you like with me. I was wrong. I have no +interest in that American. It is you, Greko, I--I love." + +Spawn did not heed her. Perona insisted, "I would tie her with care." + +He helped Spawn rope her ankles, and then her wrists, crossed behind +her. + +"A little gag, Spawn? She might cry out: we want no interference +to-night." He was ready with a large silken handkerchief. They thrust +it into her mouth and tied it behind her neck. + +"There," growled Spawn. "You will and you won't: we shall see about +that. Lie still, Jetta. If I have need to come again to you--" + +They left her. And this time she heard them less clearly. But there +were fragments: + +Perona: "I will meet him again. After dark, to-night. Yes, he expects +me. For his money, Spawn, his pay in advance. This De Boer works not +for nothing." + +Spawn: "You will arrange about your police on the streets? He can get +here to my house safely?" + +"Oh yes, at the tri-evening hour, certainly before midnight, before +the attack on the mine. You must stay here, Spawn. Pretend to be +asleep: it will lure the fool Americano out in to the moonlight." + + * * * * * + +Jetta could piece it together fairly well. They would have De Boer +come and abduct me. Not tell him I was a government agent, with the +micro-safety alarm which they suspected I carried, but just tell De +Boer that I was a rich American, who could be abducted and held for a +big ransom. + +Perona's voice rose with a fragment: "If he springs his alarm, here in +the moonlight, you can be here, Spawn, and pretend to try and rescue +him. A radio-image of that flashed to Hanley's office will exonerate +us of suspicion." + +Perona would promise De Boer that the Nareda government would pay the +ransom quickly, collecting it later from the United States. + +Spawn said, "You think De Boer will believe that?" + +"Why should he not? I am skilful at persuasion, no? Let him find out +later that the United States Government trackers are after him!" +Perona cackled at the thought of it. "What of that? Let him kill this +Grant. All the better." + +Spawn said abruptly: "The United States may catch De Boer. Have you +thought of that, Perona? The fellow would not shield us, but would +tell everything." + +"And who will believe him? The wild tale of a trapped bandit! Against +your word, Spawn? You, an honest and wealthy mine owner? And I--I, +Greko Perona, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Sovereign Power of +Nareda! Who will dare to give me the lie because a bandit tells a wild +tale with no real facts to prop it?" + +"Those police guards at the mine to-night?" + +"Admit that they took your bribes? You are witless, Spawn! Let them +but admit it to me and of a surety I will fling them into +imprisonment! Now listen with care, for the after noon is going...." + +Their voices lowered, then faded, and Jetta was left alone and +helpless. Spawn went back to the mine to meet me. We returned and had +supper, Jetta could dimly hear us. + + * * * * * + +There was silence about the house during the mid-evening. I had +slipped out and followed Perona to his meeting with De Boer. Then +Spawn had discovered my absence and had rushed to join Perona and +tell him. + +But Jetta knew nothing of this. The hour of her tryst with me was +approaching. In the darkness of her room as she lay bound and gagged +on her couch, she could see the fitful moonlight rising to illumine +the window oval. + +She squirmed at the cords holding her, but could not loosen them. They +cut into her flesh; her limbs were numb. + +The evening wore on. Would I come to the garden tryst? + +Jetta could not break her bonds. But gradually she had mouthed the gag +loose. Then she heard my hurried footsteps in the patio; then my tense +voice. + +And at her answer I was pounding on her door. But it had been stoutly +sealed by Spawn. I flung my shoulder against it, raging, thumping. But +the heavy metal panels would not yield; the seal held intact. + +"Jetta!" + +"Philip, run away! They want to catch you! De Boer, the bandit, is +coming!" + +"I know it!" + +Fool that I was, to pause with talk! There was no time: I must get +Jetta out of here. Break down this door. + +But it would not yield. A gas torch would melt this outer seal. Was +there a torch here at Spawn's? But I had no time to search for a +torch! Or a bar with which to ram this door-- + +A panic seized me, with the fresh realization that any instant De Boer +and his men would arrive. I beat with futile fists on the door, and +Jetta from within, calling to me to get away before I was caught. + +This accursed door between us! + + * * * * * + +And then--after no more than half a minute, doubtless--I thought of +the window. My momentary panic left me. I dashed to the window oval. +Sealed. But the shutter curtain, and the glassite pane behind it, were +fragile. + +"Jetta, are you near the window?" + +"No. On the bed. They have tied me." + +"Look out; I'm breaking through!" + +There were loose rocks, as large as my head, set to mark the garden +path. I seized one and hurled it. With a crash it went through the +window and fell to the floor of the room. A jagged hole showed. + +"All right, Jetta?" + +"Yes! Yes, Philip." + +I squirmed through the oval and dropped to the floor. My arms were cut +from the jagged glassite, though I did not know it then. It was dim +inside the room, but I could see the outline of the bed with her lying +on it. + +Her ankles and wrists were tied. I cut the cords with my knife. + +She was gasping. "They're planning to capture you. Philip! You should +not be here! Get away!" + +"Yes. But I'm going to take you with me. Can you stand up?" + + * * * * * + +I set her on her feet in the center of the room. A shaft of moonlight +was coming through the hole in the window. + +"Philip! You're bleeding!" + +"It is nothing. Cut myself on the glassite. Can you stand alone?" + +"Yes." + +But her legs, stiffened and numb from having been bound so many hours, +bent under her. I caught her as she was falling. + +"I'll be--all right in a minute. But Philip, if you stay here--" + +"You're going with me!" + +"Oh!" + +I could carry her, if she could not run. But it would be slow; and it +would be difficult to get her through the window. And on the street we +would attract too much attention. + +"Jetta, try to stand. Stamp your feet. I'll hold you." + +I steadied her. Then I bent down, chafing her legs with my hands. Her +arms had been limp, but the blood was in them now. She murmured with +the tingling pain, and then bent over, frantically helping me rub the +circulation back into her legs. + +"Better?" + +"Yes." She took a weak and trembling step. + +"Wait. Let me rub them more, Jetta." + +Precious minutes! + +"I'll knock out the rest of the window with that rock! We'll run; +we'll be out of here in a moment." + +"Run where?" + +"Away. Into hiding--out of all this. The United States patrol-ship is +coming from Porto Rico. It will take us from here." + +"Where?" + +"Away. To Great New York, maybe. Away from all this; from that old +fossil, Perona." + +I was stooping beside her. + +"I'm all right now, Philip." + +I rose up, and suddenly found myself clasping her in my arms; her +slight body in the boy's ragged garb pressed against me. + +"Jetta, dear, do you trust me? Will you come?" + +"Yes. Oh, yes--anywhere, Philip, with you." + + * * * * * + +For only a breathless instant I lingered, holding her. Then I cast her +off and seized the rock from the floor. The jagged glassite fell away +under my blows. + +"Now, Jetta. I'll go first--" + +But it was too late! I stopped, stricken by the sound of a voice +outside! + +"He's there! In the girl's room! That's her window!" + +Cautious voices in the garden! The thud of approaching footsteps. + +I shoved Jetta back and rushed to the broken window oval. The figures +of De Boer and his men showed in the moonlight across the patio. They +had heard me breaking the glassite. And they saw me, now. + +"There he is, De Boer!" + +We were trapped! + + +CHAPTER X + +_The Murder in the Garden_ + +"Hans, keep back! I will go!" + +"But Commander--" + +"Armed? The hell he is not! Spawn said no. Spawn! Where is Spawn? He +was here." + +I had dropped back from the window, and, gripping Jetta, stood in the +center of the room. + +"Jetta, dear." + +"Oh. Philip!" + +"There's no other way out of here?" + +"No! No!" + +Only the heavy sealed door, and this broken window. The bandits in the +garden had paused at sight of me. Someone had called. + +"He may be armed, De Boer." + +They had stopped their forward rush and darted into the shelter of the +pergola. I might be armed! + +We could hear their low voices not ten feet from us. But I was not +armed, except for my knife. Futile weapon, indeed. + +"Jetta, keep back. If they should fire--" + + * * * * * + +I got a look through the oval. De Boer was advancing upon it, with his +barreled projector half levelled. He saw me again. He called: + +"You American, come out!" + +I crouched on the floor, pushing Jetta back to where the shadows of +the bed hid her. + +"You American!" + +He was close outside the window. "Come out--or I am coming in!" + +I said abruptly, "Come!" + +My blade was in my hand. If he showed himself I could slash his +throat, doubtless. But what about Jetta? My thoughts flashed upon the +heels of my defiant invitation. Suppose, as De Boer climbed in the +window, I killed him? I could not escape, and his infuriated fellows +would rush us, firing through the oval, sweeping the room, killing us +both. But Jetta now was in no danger. Her father was outside, and +these bandits were her father's friends. I would have to yield. + +I called, louder, "Why don't you come in?" + +Could I hold them off? Frighten them off, for a time, and make enough +noise so that perhaps someone passing in the nearby street would give +the alarm and bring help? + +There was a sudden silence in the patio. The bandits had so far made +as little commotion as possible. Presently I could hear their low +voices. + + * * * * * + +I heard an oath. De Boer's head and shoulders appeared in the window +oval! His levelled projector came through. Perhaps he would not have +fired, but I did not dare take the chance. I was crouching almost +under the muzzle, so I straightened, gripped it, and flung it up. I +then slashed at his face with my knife, but he gripped my wrist with +powerful fingers. My knife fell as he twisted my wrist. His projector +had not fired. It was jammed between us. One of his huge arms reached +in and encircled me. + +"Damn you!" + +He muttered it, but I shouted, "Fool! De Boer, the bandit!" + +I was aware of a commotion out in the garden. + +"... Bring all Nareda on our ears? De Boer, shut him up!" + +I was gripping the projector, struggling to keep its muzzle pointed +upwards. With a heave of his giant arms De Boer lifted me and jerked +me bodily through the window. I fell on my feet, still fighting. But +other hands seized me. It was no use. I yielded suddenly. I panted: + +"Enough!" + +They held me. One of them growled. "Another shout and we will leave +you here dead. Commander, _look_!" + +My shirt was torn open. The electrode band about my chest was exposed! +De Boer towered head and shoulders over me. I gazed up, passive in the +grip of two or three of his men, and saw his face. His heavy jaw +dropped as he gazed at my little diaphragms, the electrode. + +He knew now for the first time that this was no private citizen he had +assaulted. This official apparatus meant that I was a Government +agent. + + * * * * * + +There was an instant of shocked silence. An expression grim and +furious crossed the giant bandit's face. + +"So this is it? Hans, careful--hold him!" + +Jetta was still in her room, silent now. I heard Spawn's voice, close +at hand in the patio. + +"De Boer! Careful!" It was the most cautious of half-whispers. + +Abruptly someone reached for my chest; jerked at the electrode; tore +its fragile wires--the tiny grids and thumbnail amplifiers; jerked and +ripped and flung the whole little apparatus to the garden path. But it +sang its warning note as the wires broke. Up in Great New York Hanley +knew then that catastrophe had fallen upon me. + +For a brief instant the crestfallen bandit mumbled at what he had +done. Then came Spawn's voice: + +"Got him, De Boer? Good!" + +Triumphant Spawn! He advanced across the garden with his heavy tread. +And to me, and I am sure to De Boer as well, there came the swift +realization that Spawn had been hiding safely in the background. But +my detector was smashed now. It might have imaged De Boer assailing +me: but now that it was smashed, Spawn could act freely. + +"Good! So you have him! Make away to the mine!" + +I did not see De Boer's face at that instant. But I saw his weapon +come up--an act wholly impulsive, no doubt. A flash of fury! + +He levelled the projector, not at me, but at the on-coming Spawn. + +"You damn liar!" + +"De Boer--" It was a scream of terror from Spawn. But it came too +late. The projector hissed; spat its tiny blue puff. The needle +drilled Spawn through the heart. He toppled, flung up his arms, and +went down, silently, to sprawl on his face across the garden path. + + * * * * * + +De Boer was cursing, startled at his own action. The men holding me +tightened their grip. I heard Jetta cry out, but not at what had +happened in the garden: she was unaware of that. One of the bandits +had left the group and climbed into her room. Her cry now was +suppressed, as though the man's hand went over her mouth. And in the +silence came his mumbled voice: + +"Shut up, you!" + +There was the sound of a scuffle in there. I tore at the men holding +me. + +"Let me go! Jetta! Come out!" + +De Boer dashed for the window. I was still struggling. A hand cuffed +me in the face. A projector rammed into my side. + +"Stop it, fool American!" + +De Boer came back with a chastened bandit ahead of him. The man was +muttering and rubbing his shoulder, and De Boer said: + +"Try anything like that again, Cartner, and I won't be so easy on +you." + +De Boer was dragging Jetta, holding her by a wrist. She looked like a +terrified, half-grown boy, so small was she beside this giant. But the +woman's lines of her, and the long dark hair streaming about her white +face and over her shoulders, were unmistakable. + +"His daughter." De Boer was chuckling. "The little Jetta." + + * * * * * + +All this had happened in certainly no more than five minutes. I +realized that no alarm had been raised: the bandits had managed it all +with reasonable quiet. + +There were six of the bandits here, and De Boer, who towered over us +all. I saw him now as a swaggering giant of thirty-odd, with a +heavy-set smooth-shaved, handsome face. + +He held Jetta off. "Damn, how you have grown, Jetta." + +Someone said, "She knows too much." + +And someone else, "We will take her with us. If you leave her here, De +Boer--" + +"Why should I leave her? Why? Leave her--for Perona?" + +Then I think that for the first time Jetta saw her father's body lying +sprawled on the path. She cried, "Philip!" Then she half turned and +murmured: "Father!" + +She wavered, almost falling. "Father--" She went down, fainting, +falling half against me and against De Boer, who caught her slight +body in his arms. + +"Come, we'll get back. Drag him!" + +"But you can't carry that girl out like that, De Boer." + +"Into the house: there is an open door. Hans, go out and bring the car +around to this side. Give me the cloaks. There is no alarm yet." + +De Boer chuckled again. "Perona was nice to keep the police off this +street to-night!" + +We went into the kitchen. An auto-car, which to the village people +might have been there on Spawn's mining business, slid quietly up to +the side entrance. A cloak was thrown over Jetta. She was carried like +a sack and put into the car. + +I suddenly found an opportunity to break loose. I leaped and struck +one of the men. But the others were too quickly on me. The kitchen +table went over with a crash. + +Then something struck me on the back of the head: I think it was the +handle of De Boer's great knife. The kitchen and the men struggling +with me faded. I went into a roaring blackness. + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Aboard the Bandit Flyer_ + +I was dimly conscious of being inside the cubby of the car, with +bandits sitting over me. The car was rolling through the village +streets. Ascending. We must be heading for Spawn's mine. I thought of +Jetta. Then I heard her voice and felt her stir beside me. + +The roaring in my head made everything dreamlike. I sank half into +unconsciousness again. It seemed an endless interval, with only the +muttering hiss of the car's mechanism and the confused murmurs of the +bandits' voices. + +Then my strength came. The cold sweat on me was drying in the night +breeze that swept through the car as it climbed the winding ascent. I +could see through its side oval a vista of bloated Lowland crags with +moonlight on them. + +It seemed that we should be nearly to the mine. We stopped. The men in +the car began climbing out. + +De Boer's voice: "Is he conscious now? I'll take the girl." + +Someone bent over me. "You hear me?" + +"Yes," I said. + +I found myself outside the car. They held me on my feet. Someone +gratuitously cuffed me, but De Boer's voice issued a sharp, low-toned +rebuke. + +"Stop it! Get him and the girl aboard." + + * * * * * + +There seemed thirty or forty men gathered here. Silent dark figures in +black robes. The moonlight showed them, and occasionally one flashed a +hand search-beam. It was De Boer's main party gathered to attack the +mine. + +I stood wavering on my feet. I was still weak and dizzy, with a lump +on the back of my head where I had been struck. The scene about me was +at first unfamiliar. We were in a rocky gully. Rounded broken walls. +Caves and crevices. Dried ooze piled like a ramp up one side. The +moonlight struggled down through a gathering mist overhead. + +I saw, presently, where we were. Above the mine, not below it: and I +realized that the car had encircled the mine's cauldron and climbed +to a height beyond it. Down the small gully I could see where it +opened into the cauldron about a hundred feet below us. The lights of +the mine winked in the blurred moonlight shadows. + +The bandits led me up the gully. The car was left standing against the +gully side where it had halted. De Boer, or one of his men, was +carrying Jetta. + +The flyer was here. We came upon it suddenly around a bend in the +gully. Although I had only seen the nose if it earlier in the evening. +I recognized this to be the same. It was in truth a strange looking +flyer: I had never seen one quite like it. Barrel-winged, like a +Jantzen: multi-propellored: and with folding helicopters for the +vertical lifts and descent. And a great spreading fan-tail, in the +British fashion. It rested on the rocks like a fat-winged bird with +its long cylindrical body puffed out underneath. A seventy-foot cabin: +fifteen feet wide, possibly. A line of small window-portes; a circular +glassite front to the forward control-observatory cubby, with the +propellors just above it, and the pilot cubby up there behind them. +And underneath the whole, a landing gear of the Fraser-Mood +springed-cushion type: and an expanding, air-coil pontoon-bladder for +landing upon water. + + * * * * * + +All this was usual enough. Yet, with the brief glimpses I had as my +captors hurried me toward the landing incline, I was aware of +something very strange about this flyer. It was all dead black, a +bloated-bellied black bird. The moonlight struck it, but did not gleam +or shimmer on its black metal surface. The cabin window-portes glowed +with a dim blue-gray light from inside. But as I chanced to gaze at +one a green film seemed to cross it like a shade, so that it winked +and its light was gone. Yet a hole was there, like an eye-socket. An +empty green hole. + +We were close to the plane now, approaching the bottom of the small +landing-incline. The wing over my head was like a huge fat barrel cut +length-wise in half. I stared up; and suddenly it seemed that the wing +was melting. Fading. Its inner portion, where it joined the body, was +clear in the moonlight. But the tips blurred and faded. An aspect +curiously leprous. Uncanny. Gruesome. + +They took me up the landing-incline. A narrow vaulted corridor ran +length-wise of the interior, along one side of the cabin body. To my +left as we headed for the bow control room, the corridor window-portes +showed the rocks outside. To the right of the corridor, the ship's +small rooms lay in a string. A metal interior. I saw almost nothing +save metal in various forms. Grid floor and ceiling. Sheet metal walls +and partitions. Furnishings and fabrics, all of spun metal. And all +dead black. + +We entered the control room. The two men holding me flung me in a +chair. I had been searched. They had taken from me the tiny, colored +magnesium light-flashes. How easy for the plans of men to go astray! +Hanley and I had arranged that I was to signal the Porto Rican +patrol-ship with those flares. + +"Sit quiet!" commanded my guard. + +I retorted, "If you hit me again, I won't." + + * * * * * + +De Boer came in, carrying Jetta. He put her in a chair near me, and +she sat huddled tense. In the dim gray light of the control room her +white face with its big staring dark eyes was turned toward me. But +she did not speak, nor did I. + +The bandits ignored us. De Boer moved about the room, examining a bank +of instruments. Familiar instruments, most of them. The usual +aero-controls and navigational devices. A radio audiphone transmitter +and receiver, with its attendant eavesdropping cut-offs. And there was +an ether-wave mirror-grid. De Boer bent over it. And then I saw him +fastening upon his forehead an image-lens. He said: + +"You stay here, Hans. You and Gutierrez. Take care of the girl and +this fellow Grant. Don't hurt them." + +Gutierrez was a swarthy Latin American. He smiled. "For why would I +hurt him? You say he is worth much money to us, De Boer. And the girl, +ah--" + +De Boer towered over him. "Just lay a finger on her and you will +regret it, Gutierrez! You stay at your controls. Be ready. This affair +it will take no more than half an hour." + +A man came to the control room entrance. "You come, Commander?" + +"Yes. Right at once." + +"The men are ready. From the mine we might almost be seen here. This +delay--" + +"Coming, Rausch." + + * * * * * + +But he lingered a moment more. "Hans, my finder will show you what I +do. Keep watch. When we come back, have all ready for flight. This +Grant had an alarm-detector. Heaven only knows what eavesdropping and +relaying he has done. And for sure there is hell now in Spawn's +garden. The Nareda police are there, of course. They might track us up +here." + +He paused before me. "I think I would not cause trouble, Grant." + +"I'm not a fool." + +"Perhaps not." He turned to Jetta. "No harm will come to you. Fear +nothing." + +He wound his dark cloak about his giant figure and left the control +room. In a moment, through the rounded observing pane beside me, I saw +him outside on the moonlit rocks. His men gathered about him. There +were forty of them, possibly, with ten or so left here aboard to guard +the flyer. + +And in another moment the group of dark-cloaked figures outside crept +off in single file like a slithering serpent, moving down the rock +defile toward where in the cauldron pit the lights of the mine shone +on its dark silent buildings. + + +CHAPTER XII + +_The Attack on the Mine_ + +There was a moment when I had an opportunity to speak with Jetta. +Gutierrez sat watchfully by the archway corridor entrance with a +needle projector across his knees. The fellow Hans, a big, heavy-set +half-breed Dutchman with a wide-collared leather jerkin and wide, +knee-length pantaloons, laid his weapon carefully aside and busied +himself with his image mirror. There would soon be images upon it, I +knew: De Boer had the lens-finder on his forehead, and the scenes at +the mine, as De Boer saw them would be flashed back to us here. + +This Gutierrez was very watchful. A move on my part and I knew he +would fling a needle through me. + +My thoughts flew. Hanley had notified Porto Rico. The patrol-ship had +almost enough time to get here by now. + +I felt Jetta plucking at me. She whispered: + +"They have gone to attack the mine." + +"Yes." + +"I heard it planned. Senor Perona--" + +Her hurried whispers told me further details of Perona's scheme. So +this was a pseudo attack! Perona would take advantage of it and hide +the quicksilver. De Boer would return presently and escape. And hold +me for ransom. I chuckled grimly. Not so easy for a bandit, even one +as clever as De Boer at hiding in the Lowland depths to arrange a +ransom for an agent of the United States. Our entire Lowland patrol +would be after him in a day. + + * * * * * + +Jetta's swift whispers made it all clear to me. It was Perona's +scheme. + +She ended, "And my father--" Her voice broke; her eyes flooded +suddenly with tears "Oh, Philip, he was good to me, my poor father." + +I saw that the mirror before Hans was glowing with its coming image. I +pressed Jetta's hand. + +"Yes, Jetta." + +One does not disparage the dead. I could not exactly subscribe to +Jetta's appraisal of her parent, but I did not say so. + +"Jetta, the mirror is on." + +I turned away from her toward the instrument table. Gutierrez at the +door raised his weapon. I said hastily, "Nothing. I--we just want to +see the mirror." + +I stood beside Hans. He glanced at me and I tried to smile +ingratiatingly. + +"This attack will be successful, eh, Hans?" + +"Damn. I hope so." + +The mirror was glowing. Hans turned a switch to dim the tube-lights of +the room so that we might see the images better. It brought a protest +from Gutierrez. + +I swung around. "I'm not a fool! You can see me perfectly well: kill +me if I make trouble. I want to see the attack." + +"_Por Dios_, if you try anything--" + +"I won't!" + +"Shut!" growled Hans. "The audiphone is on. The big adventure--and the +commander--leaves me here just to watch!" + + * * * * * + +A slit in the observatory pane was open. The dark figure of one of the +bandits on guard outside came and called softly up to us. + +"Started. Hans?" + +"Starting." + +"Should it go wrong, call out." + +"Yes. But it will not." + +"There was an alarm, relayed probably to Great New York, the commander +said, from Spawn's garden. These cursed prisoners--" + +"Shut! You keep watch out there. It is starting." + +The guard slunk away. My attention went back to the mirror. An image +was formed there now, coming from the eye of the lens upon De Boer's +forehead. It swayed with his walking. He was evidently leading his +men, for none of them were in the scene. The dark rocks were moving +past. The lights of the mine were ahead and below, but coming nearer. + +The audiphone hummed and crackled. And through it, De Boer's +low-voiced command sounded: + +"To the left is the better path. Keep working to the left." + +The image of the rocks and the mine swung with a dizzying sweep as De +Boer turned about. Then again he was creeping forward. + +The mine lights came closer. De Beer's whispered voice said: "There +they are!" + + * * * * * + +I could see the lights of the mine's guards flash on. A group of +Spawn's men gathered before the smelter building. The challenge +sounded. + +"Who are you? Stop!" + +And De Boer's murmur: "That is correct, as Perona said. They expect +us. Well," he ended with a sardonic laugh, "expect us." + +His projector went up. He fired. In the silence of the control room we +could hear the audiphoned hiss of it, and see the flash in the +mirror-scene. He had fired into the air. + +Again his low voice to his men: "Hold steady. They will run." + +The group of figures at the smelter separated, waved and scattered +back into the deeper shadows. Their hand-lights were extinguished, but +the moonlight caught and showed them. They were running away; hiding +in the crags. They fired a shot or two, high in the air. + +De Boer was advancing swiftly now. The image swayed and shifted, +raised and lowered rhythmically as he ran. And the dark shape of the +smelter building loomed large as he neared it. + +I felt Jetta beside me: heard her whisper: "Why, he should attack and +then come back! Greko told my father--" + +But De Boer was not coming back! He was dashing for the smelter +entrance. Spawn's guards must have known then that there was something +wrong. Their shots hissed, still fired high, and our grid sounded +their startled shouts. Then as De Boer momentarily turned his head, I +saw what was taking place to the side of him. A detachment of the +bandits had followed the retreating guards. The bandits' shots were +levelled now. Dim stabs of light in the gloom. One of the guards +screamed as he was struck. + + * * * * * + +The attack was real! But it was over in a moment. Spawn's men, those +who were not struck down, plunged away and vanished. Perona had +disconnected the mine's electrical safeguards. The smelter door was +sealed, but it gave before the blows of a metal bar two of De Boer's +men were carrying. + +In the unguarded, open strong-room, Perona, alone, was absorbed in his +task of carrying the ingots of quicksilver down into the hidden +compartment beneath its metal floor. + +Our mirror was vague and dim now with a moving interior of the main +smelter room as De Boer plunged through. At the strong-room entrance +he paused, with his men crowding behind him. The figure of Perona +showed in the vague light: he was stooping under the weight of one of +the little ingots. Beside him yawned the small trap-opening leading +downward. + +He saw De Boer. He straightened, startled, and then shouted with a +terrified Spanish oath. De Boer's projector was levelled: the huge, +foreshortened muzzle of it blotted out half our image. It hissed its +puff of light--a blinding flash on our mirror--in the midst of which +the dark shape of Perona's body showed as it crumpled and fell. Like +Spawn, he met instant death. + +Jetta was gripping me. "Why--" Gutierrez was with us. Hans was +bending forward, watching the mirror. He muttered, "Got him!" + +I saw a chance to escape, and pulled at Jetta. But at once Gutierrez +stepped backward. + +"Like him I will strike you dead!" he said. + + * * * * * + +No chance of escape. I had thought Gutierrez absorbed by the mirror, +but he was not. I protested vehemently: + +"I haven't moved, you fool. I have no intention of moving." + +And now De Boer and his men were carrying up the ingots. A man for +each bar. A confusion of blurred swaying shapes, and low-voiced, +triumphant murmurs from our disc. + +Then De Boer was outside the smelter house, and we saw a little queue +of the bandits carrying the treasure up the defile. Coming back here +to the flyer. There was no pursuit; the mine guards were gone. + +The triumphant bandits would be here in a few moments. + +"_Ave Maria, que magnifico!_" Gutierrez had retreated to our doorway, +more alert than ever upon me and Jetta. Hans called through the +window-slit: + +"All is well, Franks!" + +"Got it?" + +"Yes! Make ready." + +There was a stir outside as several of the bandits hastened down the +defile to meet De Boer. And the tread of others, inside the flyer at +their posts, preparing for hasty departure. + +Hans snapped off the audiphone and mirror. He bent over his control +panel. "All is well, Gutierrez. In a moment we start." + +Through the observatory window I saw the line of De Boer's men coming: +Abruptly Hans gave a cry. "Look!" + + * * * * * + +A glow was in the room. A faint aura of light. And our disconnected +instruments were crackling, murmuring with interference. Eavesdropping +waves were here! Hans realised it: so did I. + +But there was no need for theory. From outside came shouts. + +"Patrol-ship!" + +"Hurry!" + +The ship, suddenly exposing its lights, was perfectly visible above +us. Five thousand feet up, possibly. A tiny silver bird in the +moonlight: but even with the naked eye I could see by its light +pattern that it was the official Porto Rican patrol-liner. It saw us +down here: recognized this bandit flyer, no doubt. + +And it was coming down! + +There was a confusion as the bandits rushed aboard. The patrol was +dropping in a swift spiral. I watched tensely, holding Jetta, with the +turmoil of the embarking bandits around me. Gutierrez stood with +levelled weapon. + +"They have not moved, Commander." + +De Boer was here. The treasure was aboard. + +"Ready, Hans. Lift us." + +The landing portes clanged as they closed. Hans shoved at his +switches. I heard the helicopter engines thumping. A vertical lift: +there was no space in this rocky defile for any horizontal take-away. + +He was very calm, this De Boer. He sat in a chair at a control-bank of +instruments unfamiliar to me. + +"Full power, Hans: I tell you. Lift us!" + + * * * * * + +The ship was quivering. We lifted. The rocks of the gully dropped +away. But the patrol-ship was directly over us. Was De Boer rushing +into a collision? + +"Now, forward, Hans." + +We poised for the level flight. Did De Boer think he could +out-distance this patrol-ship, the swiftest type of flyer in the +Service? I knew that was impossible. + +The silver ship overhead was circling, watchful. And as we levelled +for forward flight it shot a warning searchlight beam down across our +bow, ordering us to land. + +De Boer laughed. "They think they have us!" + +I saw his hand go to a switch. A warning siren resounded through our +corridor, warning the bandits of De Boer's next move. But I did not +know it then: the thing caught me unprepared. + +De Boer flung another switch. My senses reeled. I heard Jetta cry out. +My arm about her tightened. + +A moment of strange whirling unreality. The control room seemed fading +about me. The tube-lights dimmed. A green glow took their place--a +lurid sheen in which the cubby and the tense faces of De Boer and Hans +showed with ghastly pallor. Everything was unreal. The voices of De +Boer and Hans sounded with a strange tonelessness. Stripped of the +timber that made one differ from the other. Hollow ghosts of human +voices. By the sound I could not tell which was De Boer and which was +Hans. + +The corridor was dark; all the lights on the ship faded into this +horrible dead green. The window beside me had a film on it. A dead, +dark opening where moonlight had been. Then I realized that I was +beginning to see through it once more. Starlight. Then the moonlight. + +We had soared almost level with the descending patrol-ship. We went +past it, a quarter of a mile away. Went past, and it did not follow. +It was still circling. + + * * * * * + +I knew then what had happened. And why this bandit ship had seemed of +so strange an aspect. We were invisible! At four hundred yards, even +in the moonlight, the patrol could not distinguish us. Only ten of +these X-flyers were in existence: they were the closest secret of the +U. S. Anti-War Department. No other government had them except in +impractical imitations. I had never even seen one before. + +But this bandit ship was one. And I recalled that a year ago, a +suppressed dispatch intimated that the Service had lost one--wrecked +in the Lowlands and never found. + +So this was that lost invisible flyer? De Boer, using it for +smuggling, with Perona and Spawn as partners. And now, De Boer making +away in it with Spawn's treasure! + +The bandit's hollow, toneless, unreal chuckle sounded in the gruesome +lurid green of the control room. + +"I think that surprised them!" + +The tiny silver shape of the baffled local patrol-ship faded behind us +as we flew northward over heavy, fantastic crags; far above the tiny +twinkling lights of the village of Nareda--out over the sullen dark +surface of the Nares Sea. + + +CHAPTER XIII + +_The Flight to the Bandit Stronghold_ + +During this flight of some six hours--north, and then, I think, +northeast--to the remote Lowland fastness where De Boer's base was +located, I had no opportunity to learn much of the operation of this +invisible flyer. But it was the one which had been lost. Wrecked, no +doubt, and the small crew aboard it all killed. The vessel, however, +was not greatly damaged: the crew were killed doubtless by escaping +poisonous gases when the flyer struck. + +How long it lay unfound, I cannot say. Perhaps, for days, it still +maintained its invisibility, while the frantic planes of the U. S. +Anti-War Department tried in vain to locate it. And then, with its +magnetic batteries exhausting themselves, it must have become visible. +Perona, making a solo flight upon Nareda business to Great London, +came upon it. Perona, Spawn and De Boer were then in the midst of +their smuggling activities. They salvaged the vessel secretly. De +Boer, with an incongruous flair for mechanical science, was enabled in +his bandit camp, to recondition the flyer--building a workshop for the +purpose, with money which Perona freely supplied. + +Some of this I learned from De Boer, some is surmise: but I am sure it +is close to the facts. + + * * * * * + +I have since had an opportunity--through my connection with this +adventure which I am recording--of going aboard one of the X-flyers of +the Anti-War Department, and seeing it in operation with its technical +details explained to me. But since it is so important a Government +secret, I cannot set it down here. The principles involved are +complex: the postulates employed, and the mathematical formulae +developing them in theory, are far too intricate for my understanding. +Yet the practical workings are simple indeed. Some of them were +understood as far back as 1920 and '30, when that pioneer of modern +astrophysics, Albert Einstein, first proved that a ray of light is +deflected from its normal straight path when passing through a +magnetic field. + +I am sorry that I cannot give here more than this vague hint of the +workings of the fantastic invisible flyers which to-day are so often +the subject of speculation by the general public which never has seen +them, and perhaps never will. But I think, too, that a lengthy +pedantic discourse here would be out of place. And tiring. After all, +I am trying to tell only what happened to me in this adventure. And to +little Jetta. + +A very strangely capable fellow, this young De Boer. A modern pirate: +no other age could have produced him. He did not spare Perona's money, +that was obvious. From his hidden camp he must have made frequent +visits to the great Highland centers, purchasing scientific equipment: +until now, when his path crossed mine. I found him surrounded by most +of the every-day devices of our modern world. The village of Nareda +was primitive: backward. Save for its modern lights, a few local +audiphones and image-finders, and its official etheric connections +with other world capitals, it might have been a primitive Latin +American village of a hundred years ago. + + * * * * * + +But not so De Boer's camp, which presently I was to see. Nor this, his +flyer, with which his smuggling activities had puzzled Hanley's Office +for so many months. There was nothing primitive here. + +De Boer himself was a swaggering villain. I saw him now with his cloak +discarded, in the normal tube-lights of the control room when, after a +time, the mechanism of invisibility of the flyer was shut off. A +fellow of six feet and a half at the very least, this De Boer. Heavy, +yet with his great height and strength, lean and graceful. He wore a +fabric shirt, with a wide-rolled collar. A wide belt of tanned hide, +with lighters, a little electron drink-cooler and other nick-nackeries +hanging from tasseled cords--and a naked, ugly-looking knife blade +clipped beside a holster which held an old-fashioned exploding +projector of leaden steel-tipped bullets. + +His trousers were of leather, wide-flaring, ending at his brawny bare +knees, with wide-cut, limp leather boots flapping about his calves in +ancient piratical fashion. They had flaring soles, these shoes, for +walking upon the Lowland caked ooze. The uppers were useless: I rather +think he wore them because they were picturesque. He was a handsome +fellow, with rough-hewn features. A wide mouth, and very white, even +teeth. A cruel mouth, when it went grim. But the smile was intriguing: +I should think particularly so to women. + +He had a way with him, this devil-may-care bandit. Strange mixture of +a pirate of old and an outlaw of our modern world. With a sash at his +waist, a red handkerchief about his forehead, and a bloody knife +between his teeth. I could have fancied him a fabled pirate of the +Spanish Main. A few hundred years ago when these dry Lowlands held the +tossing seas. But I had seen him, so far, largely seated quietly in +his chair at his instrument table, a cigarette dangling from his lips, +and, instead of a red bandanna about his forehead, merely the elastic +band holding the lens of his image-finder. It caught in the locks of +his curly black hair. He pushed it askew; and then, since he did not +need it now, discarded it altogether. + + * * * * * + +Where we went I could not surmise, except that we flew low over the +sullen black waters of the Nares Sea and then headed northeast. We +kept well below the zero-height, with the dark crags of the Lowlands +passing under us. + +The night grew darker. Storm clouds obscured the moon; and it was then +that De Boer shut off the mechanism of invisibility. The control room, +with only the watchful Gutierrez now in it--besides De Boer, Jetta and +myself--was silent and orderly. But there were sounds of roistering +from down the ship's corridor. The bandits, with this treasure of the +radiumized quicksilver ingots aboard, were already triumphantly +celebrating. + +I sat whispering with Jetta. De Boer, busy with charts and +navigational instruments, ignored us, and Gutierrez, so long as we did +not move, seemed not to object to our whispers. + +The night slowly passed. De Boer served us food, calling to one of his +men to shove a slide before us. For himself, he merely drank his +coffee and an alcoholic drink at his instrument table, while absorbed +in his charts. + +The roistering of the men grew louder. De Boer leaped to his feet, +cursed them roundly, then went back to his calculations. He stood once +before Jetta, regarding her with a strange, slow smile which made my +heart pound. But he turned away in a moment. + +The bandits, for all De Boer's admonitions, were now ill-conditioned +for handling this flyer. But I saw, through the small grid-opening in +the control room ceiling, the pilot in his cubby upon the wing-top. +He sat alert and efficient, with his lookout beside him. + + * * * * * + +The night presently turned really tumultuous, with a great wind +overhead, and storm clouds of ink, shot through occasionally by +lightning flashes. We flew lower, at minus 2,000 feet, on the average. +The heavy air was sultry down here, with only a dim blurred vista of +the depths beneath us. I fancied that now we were bending eastward, +out over the great basin pit of the mid-Atlantic area. No vessels +passed us, or, if they did, I did not sight them. + +De Boer had a detector on his table. Occasionally it would buzz with +calls: liners or patrols in our general neighborhood. He ignored them +with a sardonic smile. Once or twice, when our dim lights might have +been sighted, he altered our course sharply. And, when at one period +we passed over the lights of some Lowland settlement, he flung us +again into invisibility until we were beyond range. + +I had, during these hours, ample opportunity to whisper with Jetta. +But there was so little for us to say. I knew all of Spawn's and +Perona's plot. Both were dead: it was De Boer with whom we were +menaced now. And as I saw his huge figure lounging at his table, and +his frowning, intent face, the vision of the aged, futile Perona, who +had previously been my adversary, seemed inoffensive indeed. + +De Boer obviously was pleased with himself. He had stolen half a +million dollars of treasure, and was making off with it to his base in +the depths. He would smuggle these ingots into the world markets at +his convenience; months from now, probably. Meanwhile, what did he +intend to do with me? And Jetta? Ransom me? I wondered how he could +manage it. And the thought pounded me. What about Jetta? I felt now +that she was all the world to me. Her safety, beyond any thought of +smugglers or treasure, was all that concerned me. But what was I +going to do about it? + + * * * * * + +I pressed her hand. "Jetta, you're not too frightened, are you?" + +"No, Philip." + +Her mind, I think, was constantly on her father, lying dead back there +on his garden path. I had not spoken of him, save once. She threatened +instant tears, and I stopped. + +"Do not be too frightened. We'll get out of this." + +"Yes." + +"He can't escape. Jetta; he can't hide. Why, in a day or so all the +patrols of the United States Lowland Service will be after us!" + +But if the patrol-ships assailed De Boer, if he found things going +badly--he could so easily kill Jetta and me. He might be caught, but +we would never come through it alive. + +My thoughts drifted along, arriving nowhere, just circling in the same +futile rounds. I was aware of Jetta falling asleep beside me, her face +against my shoulder, her fingers clutching mine. She looked like a +half grown, slender, ragged boy. But her woman's hair lay thick on my +arm, and one of the dark tresses fell to my hand. I turned my fingers +in it. This strange little woman. Was my love for her foredoomed to +end in tragedy? I swore then that I would not let it be so. + + +CHAPTER XIV + +_Jetta Takes a Hand_ + +I came from my reverie to find De Boer before me. He was standing with +legs planted wide, arms folded across his deep chest, and on his face +an ironic smile. + +"So tired! My little captives, _di mi_! You look like babes lost in a +wood." + +I disengaged myself from Jetta, resting her against a cushion, and she +did not awaken. I stood up, fronting De Boer. + +"What are you going to do with me?" I demanded. + +He held his ironic smile. "Take you to my camp. You'll be well hidden, +no one can follow me. My X-flyer's a very handy thing to have, isn't +it?" + +"So you're the smuggler I was sent after?" + +That really amused him. "Er--yes. Those tricksters, Perona and +Spawn--we were what you would call partners. He had--the perfumed +Perona--what he thought was a clever scheme for us. I was to take all +the risk, and he and Spawn get most of the money. Chah! They thought I +was imbecile--pretending to attack a treasure and being such a fool +that I would not seize it for myself! Not De Boer!" He chuckled. +"Well, so very little did they know me. No treasure yet touched De +Boer's fingers without lingering!" + + * * * * * + +He was in a talkative mood, and drew up his chair and slouched in it. +I saw that he had been drinking some alcholite beverage, not enough to +befuddle him, but enough to take the keen edge off his wits, and make +him want to talk. + +"Sit down, Grant." + +"I'll stand." + +"As you like." + +"What are you going to do with me?" I demanded again. "Try to ransom +me for a fat price from the United States?" + +He smiled sourly. "You need not be sarcastic, young lad. The better +for you if I get a ransom." + +"Then I hope you get it." + +"Perona's idea," he added. "I will admit it looked possible: I did not +know then you had Government protection." He went grim. "That was +Perona and Spawn's trickery. Well, they paid for it. No one plays De +Boer false and lives to tell it. Perona and Spawn wanted to get rid of +you--because you annoyed them." + +"Did I?" + +"With the little Jetta, I fancy." His gaze went to the sleeping Jetta +and back to me. "Perona was very sensitive where this little woman was +concerned. Why not? An oldish fool like him--" + + * * * * * + +I could agree with that, but I did not say so. + +I said, "You'd better cast me loose, Jetta and me. I suppose you +realize, De Boer, that you'll have the patrols like a pack of hounds +after you. Jetta is a Nareda citizen: the United States will take that +up. There's the theft of the treasure. And as you say, I'm a +Government agent." + +He nodded. "Your Government is over-zealous in protecting its agents. +That I know, Grant. I might have left you alone, there in the garden, +when I realized it. But that, by damn, was too late! Live men talk. +Any way, if I cannot ransom you, to kill you is very easy. And dead +men are shut-mouthed." + +"I'm still alive, De Boer." + +He eyed me. "You talk brave." + +This condescending, amused giant! + +I retorted. "How are you going to ransom me?" + +"That," he said. "I have not yet planned it. A delicate business." + +I ventured, "And Jetta?" My heart was beating fast. + +"Jetta," he said with a sudden snap, "is none of your business." + +Again his gaze went toward her. "I might marry her: why not? I am not +wholly a villain. I could marry her legally in Cape Town, with all the +trappings of clergy--and be immune from capture under the laws there. +If she is seventeen. I have forgotten her age, it's been so long since +I knew her. Is she seventeen? She does not look it." + +I said shortly. "I don't know how old she is." + +"But we can ask her when she awakens, can't we?" + + * * * * * + +He was amusing himself with me. And yet, looking back on it now, I +believe he was more than half serious. From his pouch he drew a small +cylinder. "Have a drink, Grant. After all I bear you no ill-will. A +man can but follow his trade: you were trying to be a good Government +agent." + +"Thanks." + +"And then you may make it possible for me to pick a nice ransom. +Here." + +"I hope so." I declined the drink. + +"Afraid for your wits?" + +I said impulsively, "I want all my wits to make sure you handle this +ransom properly, De Boer. I'm as interested as you are: in that at +least, we are together." + +He grinned, tipped the cylinder at his lips for a long drink. + +"Quite so--a mutual interest. Let us be friends over it." + +His gaze wandered back to Jetta. He added slowly: + +"She is very lovely, Grant. A little woodland flower, just ready for +plucking." A sentimental tone, but there was in his expression a +ribald flippancy that sent a shudder through me. "She has quite +overcome you, Grant. Well, why not me as well? I am certainly more of +a man than you. We must admit that Perona had a good eye." + + * * * * * + +My thoughts were wandering. Suppose I could not find an opportunity to +escape with Jetta? De Boer might successfully ransom me and take her +to Cape Town. Or if he feared that to try for the ransom would be too +dangerous, doubtless he would kill me out of hand. An ill outcome +indeed! Nor could I forget that there was half a million of treasure +involved. + +It was obvious to me that Hanley would not permit the patrol-ships to +attack De Boer with the lives of Jetta and myself at stake. Hanley +knew, or suspected, that De Boer was operating an invisible flyer, but +I did not see how that could help Hanley much. Markes, acting for +Nareda, would doubtless be willing to ransom Jetta: the United States +would ransom me. I must urge the ransom plan, because for all the +money in the world I would not endanger Jetta, nor let this bandit +carry her off. + +Or could I escape with her, and still find some means to save the +treasure? It was Jetta's treasure now, two-thirds of it, for it had +legally belonged to her father. Could I save it, and her as well? + +Not by any move of mine, here now on this flyer. That was impossible. +In De Boer's camp, perhaps. But that, too, I doubted. He was too +clever a scoundrel to be lax in guarding me. + +But in the effecting of a ransom--the exchange of me, and perhaps +Jetta, for a sum of money--that would be a delicate transaction, and +some little thing could easily go wrong for De Boer. There would be my +chance. I would have to make something go wrong! Get in his confidence +now so that I would have some say in arranging the details of the +ransom. Make him think I was only concerned for my own safety. Appear +clever in helping plan the exchange. And then so manipulate the thing +that I could escape with Jetta and save the treasure--and the ransom +money as well. And capture De Boer, since that was what Hanley had +sent me out to accomplish. + + * * * * * + +Thoughts fly swiftly. All this flashed to me. I had no details as yet. +But that I must get into De Boer's confidence stood but clearly. + +I said abruptly, "De Boer, since we are to be friends--" + +"So you prefer to sit down now?" + +"Yes." I had drawn a small settle to face him. "De Boer, do you intend +to ask a ransom for Jetta?" + +"You insist with that question?" + +"That is my way. Then we can understand each other. Do you?" + +"No," he said shortly. + +I frowned. "I think I could get you a big price." + +"I think I should prefer the little Jetta, Grant." + +I held myself outwardly unmoved. "I don't blame you. But you will +ransom me? It can be worked out. I have some ideas." + +"Yes," he agreed. "It can be worked perhaps. I have not thought of +details yet. You are much concerned for your safety, Grant? Fear not." + +An amused thought evidently struck him. He added. "It occurs to me how +easy, if I am going to ransom you, it will be for me to send you back +dead. You might, if I send you back alive, tell them a lot of things +about me." + +"I will not talk." + +"Not," he said, "if I close your mouth for good." + + * * * * * + +I had no retort. There was no answering such logic; and with his +murders of Spawn and Perona, and the deaths of some of the police +guards at the mine, the murder of me would not put him in much worse a +position. + +He was laughing ironically. Suddenly he checked himself. + +"Well, Jetta! So you have awakened?" + +Jetta was sitting erect. How long she had been awake, what she had +heard. I could not say. Her gaze went from De Boer to me, and back +again. + +"Yes, I am awake." + +It seemed that the look she flashed me carried a warning. But whatever +it was, I had no chance of pondering it, for it was driven from my +mind by surprise at her next words. + +"Awake, yes! And interested, hearing this Grant bargain with you for +his life." + +It surprised De Boer as well. But the alcholite had dulled his wits, +and Jetta realized this, and presumed upon it. + +"Ho!" exclaimed De Boer. "Our little bird is angry!" + +"Not angry. It is contempt." + +Her look to me now held contempt. It froze me with startled chagrin; +but only for an instant, and then the truth swept me. Strange Jetta! I +had thought of her only as a child; almost, but not quite a woman. A +frightened little woodland fawn. + +"Contempt, De Boer. Is he not a contemptuous fellow, this American?" + +Again I caught her look and understood it. This was a different +Jetta. No longer helplessly frightened, but a woman, fighting. She had +heard De Boer calmly saying that he might send me back dead--and she +was fighting now for me. + +De Boer took another drink, and stared at her. "What is this?" + +She turned away. "Nothing. But if you are going to ransom me--" + +"I am not, little bird." + + * * * * * + +She showed no aversion for him, and it went to his head, stronger than +the drink. "Never would I ransom you!" + +He reached for her, but nimbly she avoided him. Acting, but clever +enough not to overdo it. I held myself silent: I had caught again the +flash of a warning gaze from her. She had fathomed my purpose. Get his +confidence. Beguile him. And woman is so much cleverer than the +trickiest man at beguiling! + +"Do not touch me, De Boer! He tried that. He held my hand in the +moonlight--to woo me with his clever words." + +"Hah! Grant, you hear her?" + +"And I find him now not a man, but a craven--" + +"But you will find me a man, Jetta." De Boer was hugely amused. "See +Grant, we are rivals! You and Perona, then you and me. It is well for +you that I fear you not, or I would run my knife through you now." + +I could not mistake Jetta's shudder. But De Boer did not see it, for +she covered it by impulsively putting her hand upon his arm. + +"Did you--did you kill my father?" She stumbled over the question. But +she asked it with a childlike innocence sufficiently real to convince +him. + +"I? Why--" He recovered from his surprise. "Why no, little bird. Who +told you that I did?" + +"No one. I--no one has said anything about it." She added slowly, "I +hoped that it was not you, De Boer." + +"Me? Oh no: it was an accident." He shot me a menacing glance. "I will +explain it all. Jetta. Your father and I were friends for years--" + +"Yes. I know. Often he spoke to me of you. Many times I asked him to +let me meet you." + + * * * * * + +They were ignoring me. But Gutierrez, lurking in the door oval, was +not: I was well aware of that. + +"I remember you from years ago, little Jetta." + +"And I remember you." + +I understand the rationality of her purpose. She could easily get De +Beer's confidence. She had known him when a child. Her father had been +his business partner, presumably his friend. And I saw her now +cleverly altering her status here. She had been a captive, allied with +me. She was changing that. She was now Spawn's daughter, here with her +dead father's friend. + +She turned a gaze of calm aversion upon me. "Unless you want him here, +De Boer. I would rather talk to you--without him." + +He leaped to his feet. "Hah! that pleases me, little Jetta! Gutierrez, +take this fellow away." + +The Spanish-American came slouching forward. "The girl's an old +friend, Commander? You never told me that." + +"Because it is no business of yours. Take him away. Seal him in +D-cubby." + +I said sullenly. "I misjudged both of you." + +Jetta's gaze avoided me. As Gutierrez shoved me roughly down the +corridor, De Boer laughed, and his voice came back: "Do not be afraid. +We will find some safe way of ransoming you--dead or alive!" + +I was flung on a bunk in one of the corridor cubbies, and the door +sealed upon me. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +An Extra Man + +_By Jackson Gee_ + +[Illustration: "Harry turns into a thick smoke, and gets sucked into a +big hole in the machine."] + +[Sidenote: Sealed and vigilantly guarded was "Drayle's Invention, +1932"----for it was a scientific achievement beyond which man dared +not go.] + + +Rays of the August mid-day sun pouring through the museum's glass roof +beat upon the eight soldiers surrounding the central exhibit, which +for thirty years has been under constant guard. Even the present +sweltering heat failed to lessen the men's careful observation of the +visitors who, from time to time, strolled listlessly about the room. + +The object of all this solicitude scarcely seemed to require it. A +great up-ended rectangle of polished steel some six feet square by ten +or a dozen feet in height, standing in the center of Machinery Hall, +it suggested nothing sinister or priceless. Two peculiarities, +however, marked it as unusual--the concealment of its mechanism and +the brevity of its title. For while the remainder of the exhibits +located around it varied in the simplicity or complexity of their +design, they were alike in the openness of their construction and +detailed explanation of plan and purpose. The great steel box, +however, bore merely two words and a date: "Drayle's Invention, +1932." + +It was, nevertheless, toward this exhibit that a pleasant appearing +white-haired old gentleman and a small boy were slowly walking when a +change of guard occurred. The new men took their posts without words +while the relieved detail turned down a long corridor that for a +moment echoed with the clatter of hobnailed boots on stone. Then all +was surprisingly still. Even the boy was impressed into reluctant +silence as he viewed the uniformed men, though not for long. + + * * * * * + +"What's that, what's that, what's that?" he demanded presently with +shrill imperiousness. "Grandfather, what's that?" An excited arm +indicated the exhibit with its soldier guard. + +"If you can keep still long enough," replied the old gentleman +patiently, "I'll tell you." + +And with due regard for rheumatic limbs he slowly settled himself on a +bench and folded his hands over the top of an ebony cane preparatory +to answering the youngster's question. His inquisitor, however, was, +at the moment, being hauled from beneath a brass railing by the +sergeant of the watch. + +"You'll have to keep an eye on him, sir," said the man reproachfully. +"He was going to try his knife on the wood-work when I caught him." + +"Thank you, Sergeant. I'll do my best--but the younger generation, you +know." + +"Sit still, if possible!" he directed the squirming boy. "If not, +we'll start home now." + +The non-com took a new post within easy reaching distance of the +disturber and attempted to glare impressively. + +"Go on, grandfather, tell me. What's D-r-a-y-l-e? What's in the box? +Can't they open it? What are the soldiers for? Must they stay here? +Why?" + +"Drayle," said the old man, breaking through the barrage of questions, +"was a close friend of mine a good many years ago." + +"How many, grandfather? Fifty? As much as fifty? Did father know him? +Is father fifty?" + +"Forty; no; yes; no," said the harassed relative; and then with +amazing ignorance inquired: "Do you really care to hear or do you just +ask questions to exercise your tongue?" + +"I want to hear the story, grandpa. Tell me the story. Is it a nice +story? Has it got bears in it? Polar bears? I saw a polar bear +yesterday. He was white. Are polar bears always white? Tell me the +story, grandpa." + + * * * * * + +The old man turned appealing eyes toward the sergeant. Tacitly a +sympathetic understanding was established. The warrior also was a +father, and off the field of battle he had known defeat. + +"Leave me handle him, sir," he suggested. "I've the like of him at +home." + +"I'd be very much indebted to you if you would." + +Thus encouraged, the soldier produced from an inner pocket and offered +one of those childhood sweets known as an "all day sucker." + +"See if you can choke yourself on that," he challenged. + +The clamor ceased immediately. + +"It always works, sir," explained the man of resource. "The missus +says as how it'll ruin their indigestions, but I'm all for peace even +if I am in the army." + +Now that his vocal organs were temporarily plugged, the child waved a +demanding arm in the direction of the main exhibit to indicate a +desire for the resumption of the narrative. But the ancient was not +anxious to disturb so soon the benign and acceptable silence. In fact +it was not until he observed the sergeant's look of inquiry that he +began once more. + +"That box," he said slowly, "is both a monument and a milestone on the +road to mankind's progress in mechanical invention. It marks the point +beyond which Drayle's contemporaries believed it was unsafe to go: for +they felt that inventions such as his would add to the complexities +of life, and that if a halt were not made our own machines would +ultimately destroy us. + +"I did not, still do not, believe it. And I know Drayle's spirit broke +when the authorities sealed his last work in that box and released him +upon parole to abandon his experiments." + +As the speaker sighed in regretful reminiscence, the sergeant glanced +at his men. Apparently all was well: the only visible menace lolled +within easy arm's reach, swinging his short legs and sucking noisily +on his candy. Nevertheless the non-com shifted to a slightly better +tactical position as he awaited the continuance of the tale. + + * * * * * + +"Christopher Drayle," said the elderly gentleman, "was the greatest +man I have ever known, as well as the finest. Forty years or more ago +we were close friends. Our homes on Long Island adjoined and I handled +most of his legal affairs. He was about forty-five or six then, but +already famous. + +"His rediscovery of the ancient process of tempering copper had made +him one of the wealthiest men in the land and enabled him to devote +his time to scientific research. Electricity and chemistry were his +specialties, and at the period of which I speak he was deeply +engrossed in problems of radio transmission. + +"But he had many interests and not infrequently visited our local +country club for an afternoon of golf. Sometimes I played around the +course with him and afterward, over a drink, we would talk. His +favorite topic was the contribution of science to human welfare. And +even though I could not always follow him when he grew enthusiastic +about some new theory I was always puzzled. + +"It was at such a time, when we had been discussing the new and first +successful attempt to send moving pictures by radio, that I mentioned +the prophecy of Jackson Gee. Gee was the writer of fantastic, +pseudo-scientific tales who had said: 'We shall soon be able to +resolve human beings into their constituent elements, transmit them by +radio to any desired point and reassemble them at the other end. We +shall do this by means of vibrations. We are just beginning to learn +that vibrations are the key to the fundamental process of all life.' + + * * * * * + +"I laughed as I quoted this to Drayle, for it seemed to me the ravings +of a lunatic. But Drayle did not smile. 'Jackson Gee,' he said, 'is +nearer to the truth than he imagines. We already know the elements +that make the human body, and we can put them together in their proper +proportions and arrangements: but we have not been able to introduce +the vitalizing spark, the key vibrations to start it going. We can +reproduce the human machine, but we can not make it move. We can +destroy life in the laboratory, and we can prolong it, but so far we +have not been able to create it. Yet I tell you in all seriousness +that that time will come; that time will come.' + +"I was surprised at his earnestness and would have questioned him +further. But a boy appeared just then with a message that Drayle was +wanted at the telephone. + +"Something important, sir," he said. Drayle went off to answer the +summons and later he sent word that he had been called away and would +not be able to return. + +"It was the last I heard from Drayle for months. He shut himself in +his laboratory and saw no one but his assistants, Ward of Boston, and +Buchannon of Washington. He even slept in the workshop and had his +food sent in. + +"Ordinarily I would not have been excluded, for I had his confidence +to an unusual degree and I had often watched him work. I admired the +deft movements of his hands. He had the certain touch and style of a +master. But during that period he admitted only his aids. + + * * * * * + +"Consequently I felt little hope of reaching him one morning when it +was necessary to have his signature to some legal documents. Yet the +urgency of the case led me to go to his home on the chance that I +might be able to get him long enough for the business that concerned +us. Luck was with me, for he sent out word that he would see me in a +few minutes. I remember seating myself in the office that opened off +his laboratory and wondering what was beyond the door that separated +us. I had witnessed some incredible performances in the adjoining +room. + +"At last Drayle came in. He looked worried and careworn. There were +new lines in his face and blue half-circles of fatigue beneath his +eyes. It was evident that it was long since he had slept. He +apologized for having kept me waiting and then, without examining the +papers I offered, he signed his name nervously in the proper spaces. +When I gathered the sheets together he turned abruptly toward the +laboratory, but at the door he paused and smiled. + +"'Give my respects to Jackson Gee,' he said." + + * * * * * + +"Who's Jackson Gee? Does father know him? Has he any polar bears? +Aren't you going to tell me about that?" + +The tidal wave of questions almost overwhelmed the historian and his +auditor. But the military, fortunately, was equal to the emergency. +With a tactical turn of his hand he thrust the remnant of the lollypop +between the chattering jaws and spoke with sharp rapidity. + +"Listen," he commanded, "that there, what you got, is a magic candy, +and if you go on exposing it to the air after it is once in your mouth +it's likely to disappear, just like that." And the speed of the +translation was illustrated by a smart snapping of the fingers. + +Doubt shone in the juvenile terror's eyes and the earlier generations +waited fearfully while skepticism and greed waged their recurrent +conflict. For a time it seemed as if the veteran had blundered; but +finally greed triumphed and a temporary peace ensued. + +"Where was I?" inquired the interrupted narrator when the issue of +battle was settled. + +"You was talking about Jackson Gee," answered the guardsman in a +cautiously low tone. + +"So I was, so I was," the old gentleman agreed somewhat vaguely, +nodding his head. He gazed at the sergeant with mingled awe and +admiration. "I suppose it's quite useless to mention it," he said +rather wistfully, "but if you ever get out of the army and should want +a job.... You could name your own salary, you know?" The question +ended on an appealing note. + +Evidently the soldier understood the digression, for he replied in a +tone that would brook no dispute. "No, sir, I couldn't consider it." + +"I was afraid so," said the other regretfully, and added, with +apparent irrelevance, "I have to live with him, you see." + +"Tough luck," commiserated the listener. + +Reluctantly summoning his thoughts from the pleasant contemplation of +what had seemed to offer a new era of peace, the bard turned to his +story. + + * * * * * + +"A few hours later," he continued, "I had a telephone call from +Drayle's wife, and I realized from the fright in her voice that +something dreadful had happened. She asked me to come to the house at +once. Chris had been hurt. But she disconnected before I could ask for +details. I started immediately and I wondered as I drove what disaster +had overtaken him. Anything, it seemed to me, might have befallen in +that room of miracles. But I was not prepared to find that Drayle had +been shot and wounded. + +"The police were before me and already questioning the assailant, Mrs. +Farrel, a fiery tempered young Irish-woman. When I entered the room +she was repeating half-hysterically her explanation that Drayle had +killed her husband in the laboratory that morning. + +"'Right before my eyes, I seen it,' she shouted. 'Harry was standing +on a sort of platform looking at a big machine like, and so help me he +didn't have a stitch of clothes on, and I started to say something, +but all at once there came a terrible sort of screech and a flash like +lightnin' kinda, in front of him. Then Harry turns into a sort of +thick smoke and I can see right through him like he was a ghost; and +then the smoke gets sucked into a big hole in the machine and I know +Harry's dead. And here's this man what done it, just a standin' there, +grinnin' horrid. So something comes over me all at once and I points +Harry's gun at him and pulls the trigger!' + +"Even before the woman had finished I recalled what I seen one +afternoon in Drayle's laboratory many months before. I had been there +for some time watching him when he placed a small tumbler on a work +table and asked me if I had ever seen glass shattered by the +vibrations of a violin. I told him that I had, but he went through the +demonstration as if to satisfy himself. Of course when he drew a bow +across the instrument's strings and produced the proper pitch the +goblet cracked into pieces exactly as might have been expected. And I +wondered why Drayle concerned himself with so childish an experiment +before I noticed that he appeared to have forgotten me completely. + + * * * * * + +"I endeavored then not to disturb him, and I remember trying to draw +myself out of his way and feeling that something momentous was about +to take place. Yet actually I believe it would have required a +considerable commotion to have distracted his attention, for his +ability to concentrate was one of the characteristics of his genius. + +"I saw him place another glass on the table and I noticed then that +it stood directly in front of a complicated mechanism. At first this +gave out a low humming sound, but it soon rose to an unearthly whining +shriek. I shrank from it involuntarily and a second later I was amazed +at the sight of the glass, seemingly reduced to a thin vapor, being +drawn into a funnel-like opening near the top of the device. I was too +startled to speak and could only watch as Drayle started the +contrivance again. Once more its noise cut through me with physical +pain. I cried out. But my voice was overwhelmed by the terrific din of +the mysterious machine. + +"Then Drayle strode down the long room to another intricate mass of +wire coils and plates and lamps. And I saw a dim glow appear in two of +the bulbs and heard a noise like the crackling of paper. Drayle made +some adjustments, and presently I observed a peculiar shimmering of +the air above a horizontal metal grid. It reminded me of heat waves +rising from a summer street, until I saw the vibrations were taking a +definite pattern; and that the pattern was that of the glass I had +seen dissolved into air. At first the image made me think of a picture +formed by a series of horizontal lines close together but broken at +various points in such fashion as to create the appearance of a line +by the very continuity of the fractures. But as I watched, the plasma +became substance. The air ceased to quiver and I was appalled to see +Drayle pick up the tumbler and carry it to a scale on which he weighed +it with infinite exactness. If he had approached me with it at that +moment I would have fled in terror. + + * * * * * + +"Next, Drayle filled the goblet with some liquid which immediately +afterward he measured in a beaker. The result seemed to please him, +for he smiled happily. At the same instant he became aware of my +presence. He looked surprised and then a trifle disconcerted. I could +see that he was embarrassed by the knowledge that I had witnessed so +much, and after a second or two he asked my silence. I agreed at +once, not only because he requested it but because I couldn't believe +the evidence myself. He let me out then and locked the door. + +"It was this recollection that made me credit the woman's story. But I +was sick with dread, for in spite of my faith in Drayle's genius I +feared he had gone mad. + +"Mrs. Drayle had listened to Mrs. Farrel's account calmly enough, but +I could see the fear in her eyes when she signaled a wish to speak to +me alone. I followed her into an adjoining room, leaving Mrs. Farrel +with the two policemen and the doctor, who was trying to quiet her. + +"As soon as the door closed after us Mrs. Drayle seized my hands. + +"'Tim,' she whispered, 'I'm horribly afraid that what the woman says +is true. Chris has told me of some wonderful things he was planning to +do, but I never expected he would experiment on human beings. Can they +send him to prison?' + +"Of course I said what I could to comfort her and tried to make my +voice sound convincing. At the time the legal aspect of the matter did +not worry me so much as the fear that the attack on Drayle might prove +fatal. For even if it should develop that he was not dangerously hurt, +I imagined that the interruption of the experiment at a critical +moment might easily have ruined whatever slim chance there had been of +success. For us the nerve-wracking part was that we could do nothing +until the surgeon who was attending Drayle could tell us how badly he +was injured. + + * * * * * + +"At last word came that the bullet had only grazed Drayle's head and +stunned him, but that he might remain unconscious for some time. Mrs. +Drayle went in and sat at her husband's side, while I returned to the +laboratory and found the police greatly bewildered as to whether they +ought to arrest Drayle. + +"They had discovered in a closet an outfit of men's clothing that Mrs. +Farrel identified as her husband's, and, although they saw no other +trace of the missing man, they had a desire to lock up somebody as an +evidence of their activity. It took considerable persuasion to prevail +upon them to withhold their hands. There was no such difficulty about +restraining them in the laboratory. They were afraid to touch any +apparatus, and they gave the invention a ludicrously wide berth. + +"I never knew exactly how long it was that I paced about the lower +floor of Drayle's home before the doctor summoned me and announced +that the patient wanted me, but that I must be careful not to excite +him. I have often wondered how many physicians would have to abandon +their profession if they were deprived of that phrase. 'You must not +excite the patient.' + +"Drayle was already excited when I entered. In fact, he was furious at +the doctor's efforts to restrain him. But I realized that my fear for +his reason was groundless. His remarks were lucid and forceful as he +raged at the interference with his work. As soon as he saw me he +appealed for assistance. + +"'Make them let me alone. Tim,' he begged, as his wife and the doctor, +partly by force and partly by persuasion, endeavored to hold him in +bed. 'I must get back to the laboratory. That woman believes that I've +killed her husband, and my assistant will think that we've failed.' + + * * * * * + +"I was about to argue with him when suddenly he managed to thrust the +doctor aside and start toward the door. His seriousness impressed me +so that I gave him a supporting arm and together we headed down the +hall, with Mrs. Drayle and the doctor following anxiously in the rear. +The laboratory was deserted and locked when we arrived. The police +evidently felt it was too uncanny an atmosphere for a prolonged wait. +Drayle opened the door, went directly to his machine, and examined it +minutely. + +"'Thank the Lord that woman hit only me!' he said, and sank into a +chair. Then he asked for some brandy. Mrs. Drayle rushed off and +reappeared in a minute with a decanter and glass. Drayle helped +himself to a swallow that brought color to his cheeks and new strength +to his limbs. Immediately after he turned again to the machine. I +dragged up a chair, assisted him into it, and seated myself close by. + +"I knew little enough about mechanics, but I was fascinated by the +numerous gauges that faced me on the gleaming instrument board. There +were dials with needlelike hands that registered various numbers; +spots of color appeared in narrow slots close to a solar spectrum: a +stream of graph-paper tape flowed slowly beneath a tracing-pen point +and carried away a jiggly thin line of purple ink. In a moment Drayle +was oblivious of everything but his records. I watched him copy the +indicated figures, surround them with formulas, and solve mysterious +problems with a slide-rule. + +"His calculations covered a large sheet before he had finished. At +last he underscored three intricate combinations of letters and +figures and carried the answers to his private radio apparatus. This +operated on a wave length far outside the range of all others and +insured him against interference. With it he was able to speak at any +time with his assistants in Washington or Boston or with both at once. +He threw the switch that sent his call into the air. An answer came +instantly, and Drayle begin to talk to his distant lieutenants. + + * * * * * + +"'We've been interrupted, gentlemen,' he said, 'but I think we may +continue now. We'll reassemble in the Boston laboratory. Have you +arranged the elements? The coefficients are....' And he gave a +succession of decimals. + +"A voice replied that all was ready. Drayle said 'Excellent,' went +back to his invention and twisted a black knob on the board before +him. + +"With this trifling movement all hell seemed to crash about us. The +ghastly cacophony that I had experienced in the same room some months +previously was as nothing. These stupendous waves of sound pounded us +until it seemed as if we must disintegrate beneath them. Wails and +screams engulfed us. Mrs. Drayle dropped to her knees beside her +husband. The doctor seized my arm and I saw the knuckles of his hand +turn white with the pressure of his grip, yet I felt nothing but the +awful vibrations that drummed like riveting machines upon and through +my nerves and body. It was not an attack upon the ears alone; it +crashed upon the heart, beat upon the chest so that breathing seemed +impossible. My brain throbbed under the terrific pulsations. For a +while I imagined the human system could not endure the ordeal and that +all of us must be annihilated. + +"Except for his slow turning of the dials Drayle was motionless before +the machine. Below the bandage about his forehead I could see his +features drawn with anxiety. He had wagered a human life to test his +theory and I think the enormity of it had not struck him until that +moment. + +"What I knew and hoped enabled me to imagine what was taking place in +the Boston laboratory. I seemed to see man's elementary dust and +vapors whirled from great containers upward into a stratum of +shimmering air and gradually assume the outlines of a human form that +became first opaque, then solid, and then a sentient being. At the +same instant I was conscious that the appalling pandemonium had ceased +and that the voice of Drayle's Boston assistant was on the radio. + + * * * * * + +"'Congratulations, Chief! His reassemblage is perfect. There's not a +flaw anywhere.' "'Splendid,' Drayle answered. 'Bring him here by +plane right away; his wife is worried about him.' + +"Then Drayle turned to me. + +"'You see,' he said, 'Jackson Gee was right. We have resolved man into +his constituent elements, transmitted his key vibrations by radio, and +reassembled him from a supply of identical elements at the other end. +And now, if you will assure that woman that her husband is safe, I +will get some sleep. You will have the proof before you in less than +three hours.' + +"I can't vouch for the doctor's feelings, but as Drayle left us I was +satisfied that everything was as it should be, and that I had just +witnessed the greatest scientific achievement of all time. I did not +foresee, nor did Drayle, the results of an error or deliberate +disobedience on the part of one of his assistants. + +"We waited, the doctor and I, for the arrival of the man who, we were +convinced, had been transported some three hundred miles in a manner +that defied belief. The evidence would come, Drayle had said, in a few +hours. Long before they had elapsed we were starting at the sound of +every passing motor, for we knew that a plane must land some distance +from the house and that the travelers would make the last mile or so +by car. + +"Mrs. Drayle endeavored to convince the imagined widow that her +husband was safe and was returning speedily. Later she rejoined us, +full of questions that we answered in a comforting blind faith. The +time limit was drawing to a close when the sound of an automobile horn +was quickly followed by a sharp knock on the laboratory door. At a +sign from Mrs. Drayle one of the policemen opened it and we saw two +men before us. One, a scholarly appearing, bespectacled youth, I +recognized as Drayle's Boston assistant, Ward; the other, a rather +burly individual, was a stranger to me. But there was no doubt he was +the man we awaited so eagerly, for Mrs. Farrel screamed 'Harry! +Harry!' and sped across the room towards him. + + * * * * * + +"At first she ran her fingers rather timidly over his face, and then +pinched his huge shoulders, as if to assure herself of his reality. +The sense of touch must have satisfied her, for abruptly she kissed +him, flung her arms about him, clung to him, and crooned little +endearments. The big man, in turn, patted her cheeks awkwardly and +mumbled in a convincingly natural voice, ''Sall right, Mary, old kid! +There ain't nothin' to it. Yeah! Sure it's me!' + +"Then I was conscious of Drayle's presence. A brown silk dressing gown +fell shapelessly about his spare frame and smoke from his cigarette +rose in a quivering blue-white stream. Ward spied him at the same +moment and stepped forward with quick outstretched hands. I remember +the flame of adoring zeal in the youngster's eyes as he tried to +speak. At length he managed to stammer some congratulatory phrases +while Drayle clapped him affectionately on the back. + +"Then Drayle turned to Farrel to ask him how he enjoyed the trip. +Farrel grinned and said, 'Fine! It was like a dream, sir! First I'm in +one place and then I'm in another and I don't know nothing about how I +got there. But I could do with a drink, sir. I ain't used to them +airyplanes much.' + +"Drayle accepted the hint and suggested that we all celebrate. He gave +instructions over a desk telephone and almost immediately a man +entered with a small service wagon containing a wide assortment of +liquors and glasses. When we had all been served, Ward asked somewhat +hesitantly if he might propose a toast. 'To Dr. Drayle, the greatest +scientist of all time!' + + * * * * * + +"We were of course, already somewhat drunk with excitement as we +lifted our glasses. But Drayle would not have it. + +"'Let me amend that,' he said. 'Let us drink to the future of +science.' + +"'Sure!' said Farrel, very promptly. I think he was somewhat uncertain +about 'toast,' but he clung hopefully to the word 'drink.' + +"We had raised our glasses again when Drayle, who was facing the door, +dropped his. It struck the floor with a little crash and the liquor +spattered my ankles. Drayle whispered 'Great God!' I saw in the +doorway another Farrel. He was grimy, disheveled, his clothing was +torn, and his expression ugly; but his identity with 'Harry' was +unescapable. For an instant I suspected Drayle of trickery, of +perpetrating some fiendishly elaborate hoax. And then I heard Mrs. +Farrel scream, heard the newcomer cry, 'Mary,' and saw two men staring +at each other in bewilderment. + +"The explanation burst upon me with a horrible suddenness. Farrel had +been reconstructed in each of Drayle's distant laboratories, and there +stood before us two identities each equally authentic, each the legal +husband of the woman who, a few hours previously, had imagined herself +a widow. The situation was fantastic, nightmarish, unbelievable and +undeniable. My head reeled with the fearful possibilities. + +"Drayle was the first to recover his poise. He opened a door leading +into an adjoining room and motioned for us all to enter. That is, all +but the police. He left them wisely with their liquor. 'Finish it,' he +advised them. 'You see no one has been killed.' + + * * * * * + +"They were not quite satisfied, but neither were they certain what +they ought to do, and for once displayed common sense by doing +nothing. When the door closed after us I saw that Buchannon, the +Washington laboratory assistant, was with us. He must have arrived +with the second Farrel, although I had not observed him during the +confusion attending the former's unexpected appearance. But Drayle had +noted him and now seized his shoulders. 'Explain!' he demanded. + +"Buchannon's face went white and he shrank under the clutch of +Drayle's fingers. Beyond them I saw the two twinlike men standing +beside Mrs. Farrel, surveying each other with incredulous recognition +and distaste. + +"'Explain!' roared Drayle, and tightened his grasp. + +"'I thought you said Washington, Chief.' His voice was not convincing. +I didn't believe him, nor did Drayle. + +"'You lie!' he raged, and floored the man with his fist. + +"In a way I couldn't help feeling sorry for the chap. It must have +been a frightful temptation to participate in the experiment and I +suppose he had not forseen the consequences. But I began to have a +glimmering of the magnificent possibilities of the invention for +purposes far beyond Drayle's intent. For, I asked myself, why, if such +a machine could produce two human identities, why not a score, a +hundred, a thousand? The best of the race could be multiplied +indefinitely and man could make man at last, literally out of the dust +of the earth. The virtue of instantaneous transmission which had been +Drayle's aim sank into insignificance beside it. I fancied a race of +supermen thus created. And I still believe, Sergeant, that the chance +for the world's greatest happiness is sealed within that box you +guard. But its first fruits were tragic." + +The historian shifted his position on the bench so as to escape the +sun that was now reflected dazzlingly by the polished steel casket. + + * * * * * + +"Drayle did not glance again at his disobedient lieutenant. He was +concerned with the problem of the extra man, or, I should say, an +extra man, for both were equal. Never before in the history of the +world had two men been absolutely identical. They were, of course, one +in thought, possessions and rights, physical attributes and +appearance. Mrs. Farrel, as they were beginning to realize, was the +wife of both. And I have an unworthy suspicion that the red-headed +young woman, after she recovered from the shock, was not entirely +displeased. The two men, however, finding that each had an arm about +her waist, were regarding each other in a way that foretold trouble. +Both spoke at the same time and in the same words. + +"'Take your hands off my wife!' + +"And I think they would have attacked each other then if Drayle hadn't +intervened. He said, 'Sit down! All of you!' in so peremptory a voice +that we obeyed him. + +"'Now,' he went on, 'pay attention to me. I think you realize the +situation. The question is, what we shall do about it?' He pointed an +accusing finger at the Farrel from Washington. 'You were not +authorized to exist; properly we should retransmit you, and without +reassembling you would simply cease to be.' + +"The man addressed looked terrified. 'It would be murder!' he +protested. + +"'Would it?' Drayle inquired of me. + +"I told him that it could not be proved inasmuch as there would be no +_corpus delicti_ and hence nothing on which to base a charge. + +"But the Washington Farrel seemed to have more than an academic +interest in the question and grew obstinate. + +"'Nothing doing!' he announced emphatically. 'Here I am and here I +stay. I started from this place this morning and now I'm back, and as +for that big ape over there I don't know nothing about him--except +he'll be dead damn soon if he don't keep away from my wife.' + + * * * * * + +"The other Drayle-made man leaped up at this, and again I expected +violence. But Buchannon flung himself between, and they subsided, +muttering. + +"'Very well, then,' Drayle continued, when the room was quiet, 'here +is another solution. We can, as you realize, duplicate Mrs. Farrel, +and I will double your present possessions.' + +"This time it was Mrs. Farrel who was dissatisfied. 'You ain't +talking to me,' she informed Drayle. 'Me stand naked in front of all +them lamps and get turned into smoke? Not me!' A smile spread over her +face and her eyes twinkled with deviltry. 'I didn't never think I'd be +in one of them triangles like in the movies, and with my own husbands, +but seein' I am, I'm all for keeping them both. Then I might know +where one of them was some of the time.' + +"But neither of the men took to this idea and the problem appeared +increasingly complex. I proposed that the survivor be determined by +lot, but this suggestion won no support from anyone. Again the two men +spoke at the same instant and in the same words. It was like a +carefully rehearsed chorus. 'I know my rights, and I ain't going to be +gypped out of them!' + +"It was at this point that Drayle attempted bribery. He offered fifty +thousand dollars to the man who would abandon Mrs. Farrel. But this +scheme fell through because both men sought the opportunity and Mrs. +Farrel objected volubly. + +"So in the end Drayle promised each of them the same amount as a price +for silence and left the matter of their relationships to their own +settlement. + + * * * * * + +"I was skeptical of the success of the plan but could offer nothing +better. So I drew up a release as legally binding as I knew how to +make it in a case without precedent. I remember thinking that if the +matter ever came into court the judge would be as much at a loss as I +was. + +"Our troubles, though, didn't spring from that source. Each of the +three parties accepted the arrangement eagerly and Drayle dismissed +them with a hand-shake, a wish for luck and a check for fifty thousand +dollars each. It's very nice to be wealthy, you know. + +"Afterward, we went out and paid off the police. Perhaps that's +stating it too bluntly. I mean that Drayle thanked them for their +zealous attention to his interests, regretted that they had been +unnecessarily inconvenienced and treated that they would not take +amiss a small token of his appreciation of their devotion to duty. +Then he shook hands with them both and I believe I saw a yellow bill +transferred on each occasion. At any rate the officers saluted smartly +and left. + +"Of course I was impatient to question Drayle, but I could see that he +was desperately fatigued. So I departed. + +"Next morning I found my worst fears exceeded by the events of the +night. The three Farrels who had left us in apparently amiable spirits +had proceeded to the home of Mrs. and the original Mr. Farrel. There +the argument of who was to leave had been resumed. Both men were, of +course, of the same mind. Whether both desired to stay or flee I would +not presume to say. But an acrimonious dispute led to physical +hostilities, and while Mrs. Farrel, according to accounts, cheered +them on, they literally fought to the death. Being equally capable, +there was naturally, barring interruption, no other possible outcome. +I can well believe they employed the same tactics, swung the same +blows, and died at the same instant. + +"Mrs. Farrel, after carefully retrieving both of her husbands' checks, +told a great deal of the story. As might be expected, nobody believed +the yarn except our profound federal law makers. They welcomed an +opportunity to investigate an outsider for a change and had all of us +before a committee. + +"Finally the Congress of these United States of America, plus the +sagacious Supreme Court, decided that my client wasn't guilty of +anything, but that he mustn't do it again. At least that was the gist +of it. I recollect that I offered a defense of psycopathic +neuroticism. + +"As a result of the _obiter dictum_ and a resolution by both Houses +Assembled Drayle's invention was sealed, dated and placed under guard. +That's its history, Sergeant." + + * * * * * + +The white-haired old gentleman picked up the high silk hat that added +a final touch of distinction to his tall figure, and looked about him +as if trying to recall something. At last the idea came. + +"By the way," he inquired suddenly, "didn't I have an extraordinarily +obnoxious grandson with me when I came?" + +The attentive auditor was vastly startled. He surveyed the great hall +rapidly, but reflected before he answered. + +"No, sir--I mean he ain't no more'n average! But I reckon we'd better +find him, anyhow." + +His glance had satisfied the sergeant that at least the object of his +charge was safe and his men still vigilant. "I'll be back in a +minute," he informed them. "Don't let nothin' happen." + +"Bring us something more'n a breath," pleaded the corporal, +disrespectfully. + +The sergeant had already set off at a brisk pace with the story +teller. For several minutes as they rushed from room to room the hunt +was unrewarded. + +"I think, sir," said the sergeant, "we'd better look in the natural +history division. There is stuffed animals in there that the kids is +fond of." + +"You're probably right," the patriarch gasped as he struggled to +maintain the gait set by the younger man. "I might have known he +didn't really want to hear the story." + +"They never do," answered the other over his shoulder. "I'll bet +that's him down there on the next floor." + + * * * * * + +The two searchers had emerged upon a wide gallery that commanded a +clear view of the main entrance where various specimens of American +fauna were mounted in intriguing replicas of their native habitat. + +The guard pointed an accusing finger at one of these groups and sprang +toward the stairs. + +The old gentleman's breath and strength were gone. He could only gaze +in the direction that had been indicated by the madly running guard; +but he had no doubts. A small boy was certainly digging vigorously at +the head of a specimen of _Ursus Polaris_ that the curator had +represented in the dramatic pose of killing a seal. A protesting wail +arose from below as the young naturalist was withdrawn from his field +by a capable hand on the slack of his trousers. And presently, +chagrined with failure, the culprit was before his grandsire. + +"Gee!" he complained, "I was only looking at the polar bear. Are polar +bears always white? Are--" + +"You'd better take him away, sir," interrupted the sergeant. "He was +trying to pry out one of the bear's eyes with the stick of the +lollypop I give him. Take him." + +The old gentleman extended both hands. His left found a grip in his +grandson's coat collar; his right, partly concealing a government +engraving, met the guard's with a clasp of gratitude. + +"Sergeant," he remarked in a voice tense with feeling, "a half-hour +ago I expressed some ridiculous regrets that Drayle's invention had +been kept from the world. Now I realize its horrid menace. I shudder +to think it might have been responsible for two like him!" + +The object of disapproval was shaken indicatively. + +"Guard the secret well, Sergeant! Guard it well! The world's peace +depends upon you!" The old gentleman's words trembled with conviction. + +Then alternately shaking his head and his grandson he marched down the +hallway, ebony cane tapping angrily upon the stone. + +As the exhausted but happy warrior retraced his steps a high-pitched +voice floated after him. + +"Grandpa, are polar bears _always_ white?" + + * * * * * + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Reader's Corner + +_A Meeting Place for Readers of_ + +Astounding Stories + +[Illustration: _The Reader's Corner_] + + +_The Invisible X-Flyers_ + + The following is a semi-technical description of the + operation of the invisible X-flyers used in "Jetta of the + Lowlands" as compiled by Philip Grant in the year 2021 from + official records of the Anti-War Department of the United + States of North America, and discovered recently by Ray + Cummings. + + The attainment of mechanical invisibility reached a state of + perfection in the year 2000 sufficient to make it practical + for many uses. For a century this result had been sought. It + came, about the year 2000, not as a single startling + discovery, but as the culmination of the patient labor of + many men during many years. The popular mind has always + considered that science advances by a series of "great + scientific discoveries"; "unprecedented"; "revolutionary." + That is not so. Each step in the progress of scientific + achievement is built most carefully upon the one beneath it. + And generally the "revolutionary, unprecedented discovery" + has very little of itself that is new; rather it is a new + combination of older, perhaps seemingly impractical + knowledge. Every scientific theory, every device, is the + offspring from a large and varied family tree of many + scientific ancestors, each of whom in his day was a + remarkable personage. + + Thus it is, with the principles of mechanical invisibility. + I deal here with the famous X-flyers. The operation of the + plane itself is immaterial; its motors; its wing-spread + surfaces; its aerial controls. I am concerned only with the + scientific principles underlying its power of invisibility. + + Three scientific factors are involved: First, the process + known as de-electroniration; second, the theories of color + absorption; third, the material, inevitable deflection + (bending) of light rays when passing through a magnetic + field. + + I take each of the three in order. The forerunners of + de-electroniration were the Martel effects--the experiments + of Charles Martel, in Paris, in 1937. A new electric + current, of a different character--now called the + oscillating current as distinct from the alternating and + direct--was developed. Metallic plates were + electro-magnetized to produce an enveloping magnetic field + of somewhat a different character from any field formerly + known. + + Dr. Norton Grenfell followed this in 1946 by using the + Martel oscillating current to obtain a reverse effect. A + similar disturbance of electrode balance. But not a + surcharge. An exhaustion. An anti-electrical state, instead + of a state of magnetism. A metallic mass so treated--and + with a constant flow of oscillating current holding its + subnormal electronic balance--was then said to be + de-electronired. + + Scientific "discoveries" are largely made by the trial and + error system. The scientist takes what he finds. Generally + he does not know, at first, what it means. Martell took his + oscillating current and "discovered" the Martel Magnetic + Levitation, whereby gravity was lessened, and then + completely nullified. Grenfell, with his de-electroniration, + increased the power of gravity. The two were combined by + Grenfell and his associates--and the secret of + interplanetary flight was at hand. + + But there was a host of other workers not interested in + space flyers; they probed in other directions. It was found + that the subnormal magnetic field surrounding a metallic + substance in a state of de-electroniration had two unusual + properties: its color absorption was high; and it bent light + rays from their normal straight path into a curve abnormally + great. Yet, though it absorbed the color of the rays + emanating from the de-electronired metal (the metal itself + increasing this result), the magnetic field, while bending + the rays passing through it from distant objects behind it, + nevertheless left their color and all their inherent + properties unchanged. + + The principles of color absorption are these:--a pigment--a + paint, a dye, if you will--is "red" because it absorbs from + the light rays of the sun all the other colors and leaves + only red to be reflected from it to the eye. Or "violet" + because all the rest are absorbed, and the violet is + reflected. Or "black" because all are absorbed; and "white" + the reverse, all blended and reflected. Color is dependent + upon vibratory motion. The solar spectrum--its range of + visibility through the primary colors from red to + violet--can be likened to a range of radio wave-lengths; + vibration frequencies; and when we eliminate them all save + the "violet"--that is what we have left, in the radio to + hear, in color absorption to see. + + Thus, a de-electronired metal was found to produce black. + Not black as habitually we meet it--a "shiny" black, a + "dull" black; but a true black--a real absence of light-ray + reflection--a "nothingness to see"; in effect, an + invisibility. + + A word of explanation is necessary regarding the other + property of the de-electronired field--the bending of + distant light rays into a curve, yet leaving their spectrum + unchanged. It was Albert Einstein who first made the + statement--in the years following the turn of the century at + 1900--that it was a normal, natural thing for a ray of light + to be slightly deflected from its straight path when passing + through a magnetic field. The claim caused world-wide + interest, for upon its truth or falsity the whole fabric of + the Einstein Theory of Relativity was woven. + + An eclipse of the sun in the 1920's established that light + is actually bent in the manner Einstein had calculated. A + magnetic field surrounds the sun. In those days they did + not know that it is a field of subnormal electronic + balance--in effect, the result of de-electroniration. It was + found, nevertheless, that stars close to the limb of the sun + appeared, not in their true positions, but shifted in just + the directions and with the amount of shift Einstein + predicted. The light rays coming from them to the eye of the + observer on Earth were curved in passing so close to the + sun. But the color-bands of their spectrums were unaltered. + + And some of the stars actually were behind the sun, yet + because of the curved path of the light, were visible. I + mention this because it is an important aspect of the + subject of mechanical invisibility. + + With the foregoing factors, the secret of mechanical + invisibility is constructed. Gracely, an American--following + a long series of world-wide experiments, tests of current + strength, frequencies of oscillation, suitable metals, etc., + which I cannot detail here--in 1955 was the final developer + of the mechanisms subsequently used in the X-flyers. + + Gracely produced what he christened "aluminoid-spectrite"--a + light-weight alloy which, when carrying an oscillating + electronic current of the proper frequency, produced the + effects I have described. It absorbed from the light rays + coming from the metal, all the colors of the solar spectrum, + well beyond the range of the human eye at both ends of the + scale. The result was a "visible nothingness." + + A moment's thought will make clear that term. A visible + nothingness is not invisibility. The fact that something was + there but could not be seen was obvious. A black hat with a + light on it and placed against an average background is + almost as easy to see as a white hat. Gracely's first crude + experiments were made with an aluminoid-spectrite cube--a + small brick a foot in each dimension. The cube glowed, + turned, dark, then black, then was gone. He had it resting + on a white table, with a white background. And the fact that + the cube was still there, was perfectly obvious. It was as + though a hole of nothingness were set against the white + table. It outlined the cube; reconstructed it so that for + practical purposes the eye saw not a white, aluminoid brick, + but a dead black one. + + And this is very much what a man sees when he stares at his + black hat on a table. The hat occults its background, and + thus reconstructs itself. + + But when Gracely determined the proper vibrations of his + oscillating current to coincide with all the other material + factors he was using, the final result was before him-real + invisibility. He used a patterned background--a + symmetrically checkered surface, most difficult of all. The + light rays coming from this background passed through the + magnetic field surrounding the invisible colorless cube, and + were bent into a curved path. But their own + color-spectrum--in actuality the color, shape, all the + visible characteristics of the background--was not greatly + altered. The observer saw what actually was behind the + invisible cube: the checkered background, sometimes + slightly distorted, but nevertheless sufficiently clear for + its abnormality to escape notice. Thus the cube's outlines + were not reconstructed; and, in effect, it had vanished. + + In practical workings with the X-flyers, no such difficult + test as Gracely's cube and rectangular, symmetrically + patterned background is ever met. The varying background + behind a plane--at rest or flying, and particularly at + night--demands less perfection of background than Gracely's + laboratory conditions. I am informed that an X-flyer can + vaguely be seen--or sensed, rather--from some angles and + under certain and unfavorable conditions of light, and + depending on its line of movement relative to the angle of + observation, and the type and color-lighting of its + background. But under most conditions it represents a very + nearly perfect mechanical invisibility. + + There is one aspect of the subject with which I may close + this brief paper. I give it without technical explanation; + it seems to me an amusing angle. + + The theory of stereoscopics--the vision of the twin lenses + of the human eyes, set a distance apart to give the + perception of depth, of the third dimension--is in itself a + subject tremendously interesting, and worthy of anyone's + study. I have no space for it here, nor would it be strictly + relevant. I need only state that a two-eyed man sees + partially around an object (by virtue of the different + angles from which each of his eyes gaze at it) and thus sees + a trifle more of the background than would otherwise be the + case. And this--these two viewpoints blended in his + brain--gives him his perception of "depth," of + "solidity"--the difference between a real scene of three + dimensions and a painted scene on a canvas of two dimensions + with only the artist's skill in perspective to simulate the + third. + + And I cannot refrain from mentioning that in Government + tests of the Anti-War Department to determine the perfection + of the invisibility of the X-flyers, it was a one-eyed man + who proved that they were not always totally invisible!--Ray + Cummings. + + +_Thank You_ + + Dear Editor: + + I just want you to know this: I am a reader of your truly + named Astounding Stories. I really enjoyed reading the + "Spawn of the Stars," also "Brigands of the Moon," and I am + very glad to hear that we are going to have another of + Charles W. Diffin's stories in the next issue--"The Moon + Master."--J. R. Penner, 376 Woodlawn Ave, Buffalo N. Y. + + +_"A Wiz"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I am only a young girl sixteen years of age but am greatly + interested in science. I have no master mind by any means, + but have worked out many a difficult problem in school for + my science prof. + + Your magazine is a wiz. I haven't missed an instalment + since it started. Give us more stories like "Monsters of + Moyen," and "The Beetle Horde."--Josephine Frankhouser, 4949 + Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. + + +_"Pretty Good"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I received Astounding Stories for May and it is pretty good. + The next issue is number six, and I hope it is better than + the previous ones. There have been some stories that do not + belong in a Science Fiction magazine, such as: "The Cave of + Horror," "The Corpse on the Grating," "The Soul Master," and + "The Man who was Dead." There is also another story that was + printed in the May issue that, so far as I think, does not + belong in this magazine: that is, "Murder Madness." + + Even all the other stories seem to be fantastic. Weird. Why + not try to publish something on the H. G. Wells, E. R. + Burroughs type of stories, also Ray Cummings' "The Man who + Mastered Time," or "The Time Machine," by Wells?--Louis + Wentzler, 1933 Woodbine St., Brooklyn, N. Y. + + +_From Ye Reader_ + + Dear Ye Ed.: + + That sounds rather medieval a little for the editor of so + novel a magazine, but nevertheless let's forget that and + talk about some astounding stories. + + First, I would suggest that you eliminate all stories of + interplanetary travel (I would be different), as there are + already several magazines on the market which deal almost + exclusively with such stories. Now, tales like "The Beetle + Horde," and those written by Murray Leinster, and those + concerning that Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Bird, and those about + the deep sea, like "Into the Ocean's Depths,"--such stories + are astounding, and good. And once in a while let's have a + humorous story. You know: "A bit of humor now and then--" + + Well, anyhow, publish any kind of astounding story, just so + it is different and does not deal with interplanetary + travel. + + Now, about the magazine. I think it is a good publication + and I like it werra, werra mooch. I bought it on impulse and + happened to be lucky enough to get the first issue, and nary + an issue have I missed since. Although I possess an abject + horror of any kind of insect, I enjoyed "The Beetle Horde" + to the fullest extent. But here's hoping nothing like that + will really happen. + + Another thing I'd like to state is this: Some reader made a + remark about not publishing any of Verne's works. I say you + should. Why should any such great author be disregarded in + so good a magazine? And is it not interesting to note that + some of his stories have become actual realizations? Even + Poe's should be published. All those dead authors whose + stories would be considered good were they living. Why + should any person ask not to have such good stories in your + magazine? Perhaps there are some people who would enjoy + them, but do not have the means nor time to buy these great + works in book form. Think it over, ye Ed., think it over. + + And now, to finish up, I'll say: are there any readers like + me--a girl--or do only men and boys read Astounding + Stories?--Gertrude Hemken, 5730 So. Ashland Ave., Chicago, + Ill. + + +_Short--and Sweet_ + + Dear Editor: + + Congratulations! Have followed up every issue of Astounding + Stories and have found them the best yet. I have one fault + to find and that is you do not publish Astounding Stories + often enough. Thirty days is too far between.--Bernard + Bauer, 235 Holland St., Syracuse, N. Y. + + +_Yes Sir!_ + + Dear Editor: + + I read Astounding Stories all the time, although I'm just a + boy. I think they're O. K. They give me a great "kick." + + I think "The Moon Master" was the best story I ever read. + Please ask Mr. Diffin to write more like it. + + But then all the stories are really peppy.--Jack Hudson, St. + Mark's School, Southborough, Massachusetts. + + +_"Undoubtedly the Best"_ + + Dear Editor: + + Your magazine is undoubtedly the best Science Fiction "mag" + on the stands. Why? Because of your authors. There is not + another Science Fiction book on the stands that has stories + by Victor Rousseau, Murray Leinster Ray Cummings, A. T. + Locke, A. J. Burks, C. W. Diffin, S. W. Ellis and many + others. + + Some of your readers want stories by Dr. David H. Keller, Ed + Earl Repp and Walter Kately. Well, I just wanted to tell you + that I have stopped reading all other Science Fiction "mags" + on account of the frequency of these authors in them. So + please, please, don't destroy my last stronghold. + + Also, I would not be against reprints. There is only one so + far who has objected to reprints, while there have been + several asking you to reprint A. Merritt's "People of the + Pit." It would not only satisfy your present readers, but, + because of the great popularity of A. Merritt among the + reading circles of to-day, it would gain for you many more + readers. + + Harl Vincent is an indispensable acquisition to "our" + magazine. His stories are not only all excellent but his + stories all contain good science. He will bring you many new + readers. + + May I add my voice to every other reader's in the cry for + the reprinting of "People of the Pit," by A. Merritt? Why + not give us some stories by him? He's pretty near the best + writer living to-day. + + I don't care for the Mars stories by Burroughs. He's too + much long sword and short sword. A Merritt, however, is the + man for you to get and keep. + + The schedule for July looks "doggone good" and suggestive to + the imagination. You might increase the contents of the + book. + + The only thing wrong with the stories is that you have too + many repetitions. Please get A. Merritt. If you publish + stories by him you will see a very noticeable increase in + your subscription column. Another author who would repeat A. + Merritt's action on your subscription column is Dr. Edward + Elmer Smith. Please see about these authors.--Gabriel + Kirschner, Box 301, Temple, Texas. + + +_From Young Miss Nightingale_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have been wanting to write to you for a long time but only + now am I able to do so. When I first got a copy of your + magazine I just grabbed it and started reading it. That + magazine had the first installment of "Brigands of the Moon" + in it. Now, after one magazine has been read I nearly burst + until the next one comes. + + As for the writers, I like Ray Cummings, Harl Vincent, + Sewell Peaslee Wright, and Murray Leinster best. I like + interplanetary stories best. I also like stories of the + Fourth Dimension and those of ancient races of people living + in uninhabited parts of the earth. So far I have liked + especially well "The Ray of Madness," "Cold Light," "From + the Ocean Depths" and its sequel "Into the Ocean's Depths," + "Brigands of the Moon," and "Murder Madness." Of course, I + like the others too. I am only a mere girl (that accounts + for this poor typewriting)--only ten years old--but I know + my likes and dislikes.--Ellen Laura Nightingale, 223 So. + Main St., Fairmont, Minn. + + +_Yessir--H. W. Wessolowski_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished the June issue of Astounding Stories. + It contained some very interesting stories, such as + "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings, "The Moon Master," + by Charles W. Diffin, "Murder Madness," by Murray Leinster, + and "Giants of the Ray," by Tom Curry. Although "Out of the + Dreadful Depths," by C. D. Willard, was a good story, it + does not belong in a Science Fiction magazine. + + One of the best improvements you could make on Astounding + Stories right now is to cut all edges smooth. I would like + to see at least one full page picture with each story. + + Wesso is the only good artist you have. Is Wessolowski his + real name?--Jack Darrow, 4225 N. Spaulding Avenue, Chicago, + Illinois. + + +Anent Reincarnation. + + Dear Editor: + + In the July issue of Astounding Stories, a correspondent, + Worth K. Bryant, asks some thought-provoking questions about + the fascinating subject of reincarnation. Although I have + written to Mr. Bryant personally, I would like to present my + views on the subject to all your readers. + + Mr. Bryant asks: "Could a person remember his own death in a + former reincarnation?" Yes, he could--if he could "tune in" + on his higher consciousness, or ego. Were that possible, he + could see all his past lives from beginning to end. It is + only the physical self that dies; the ego, or true self, is + immortal and remembers everything that it has experienced in + previous incarnations on the physical plane. But since + consciousness on this plane is expressed through the + material brain, most human beings are unable to recall their + former visits to this world; and it is perhaps better so. If + there were not loss of memory our minds would now range over + the adventures of thousands of years in the past. It would + encompass a vast drama with countless loves and hates, of + many lives filled with pathos and tragedy. Thus to distract + the mind from the present life would retard our progress. + There will come a time in human evolution when the average + person will be able to recall his past incarnations, and + then there will be no need or argument that we have lived + here before, because everyone will remember it. + + For those who care to pursue this subject more fully, I + recommend "Elementary Theosophy," by L. W. Rogers, + obtainable at most public libraries.--Allen Glasser, 1610 + University Ave., New York, N. Y. + + +_Prefers the Longer Stories_ + + Dear Editor: + + I've been reading your excellent periodical since the first + issue, and I feel that I'm entitled to an opportunity to + give expression to my reactions to the various issues. Of + course, as a whole, the magazines were uniformly good every + month, but some of the stories, naturally, were better than + others. + + In the January issue the best story was "The Beetle Horde" + by Victor Rousseau. I expected a lot from this writer, + having read his "Draft of Eternity," "The Eye of Balamok" + and "The Messiah of the Cylinder." I wasn't disappointed. + + The best story in the February issue was "Spawn of the + Stars," by Charles Willard Diffin. Diffin is a newcomer as + far as I know, but he certainly can write. + + "Vandals of the Stars" took the honors in the March issue. + A. T. Locke has written some good adventure shorts, but this + was his first fantastic story, to the best of my knowledge. + Come again, Locke! "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings + was great too. + + The best for April was "Monsters of Moyen," by Arthur J. + Burks. Clever idea. + + Victor Rousseau rang the bell again in the May issue with + "The Atom Smasher." Let's have other stories of + time-travel--some into the very remote past. Cave man stuff, + you know! + + "The Moon Master," by Charles Willard Diffin was the best + for June. Diffin is one of your best writers. + + In the last (July) issue, "The Forgotten Planet," by Sewell + Peaslee Wright, I think, takes first place, though + hard-pressed by "Earth, the Marauder" and "The Power and the + Glory." + + Now for a few suggestions. In the first place, let's have + less short stories, and more longer ones. In my choice of + stories for each issue, with one exception, I picked the + novelettes. My reason for so doing is the fact that the + authors apparently are not able to do justice to their + themes in the shorter lengths. Of course, there are + exceptions, like Diffin's "The Power and the Glory." + + My second suggestion in this: Why not have a fixed position + for your announcement of the stories for the next issue? The + last page, for example. This would be more convenient for + the readers; besides, those of us who have "our mags" bound + into volumes could then cut out the announcement. + + Finally, my third suggestion--and the real reason for my + writing this letter. Don't you think it would be a good idea + to publish in each issue the picture of one of the authors, + and a short synopsis of his life? How he started writing, + his experiences, etc. I'm certain that I'm not the only + reader who's interested in the authors. I hope, if + everything else I've said is ignored, you'll at least give + the last suggestion serious consideration. + + Why not get the opinion of other readers? + + Continued and increasing success to Astounding Stories, best + of the Science Fiction magazines!--P. A. Lyter, 220 Peffer + Street, Harrisburg, Pa. + + +_Mr. Bates Accepts with Pleasure_ + + Dear Editor: + + It is with greatest pleasure I note the addition of Miss + Lilith Lorraine to your staff, and her initial effort in + your publication. "The Jovian Jest" is but a glimpse of what + is to come. The stories which she has written heretofore + have been real gems of Science Fiction. May I again + congratulate you. + + The Science Correspondence Club takes great pleasure in + announcing the enrollment of Capt. S. P. Meek and R. F. + Starzl as members. These authors are well-known to + Astounding Stories readers. Also, we take pleasure in + announcing that we have asked Mr. Bates to become an + honorary member in recognition of his fine work in + furthering Science Fiction. + + Our first bulletin has been issued and real progress is + started. For those interested, Mr. Raymond A. Palmer at + 1431--34th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will handle all + inquiries. + + In closing, let me say that when a story pleases you + readers, or the work of some author impresses you, write to + the editor and tell him about it. In this way more and + better Science Fiction will appear. Let us all give + Astounding Stories a big hand, you readers! Best wishes of + the Science Correspondence Club and--Walter L. Dennis, F. P. + S., 4653 Addison St., Chicago, Illinois. + + +_"Bargain"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished "The Atom Smasher," in your May issue + of Astounding Stories, and liked it very much. + + This is the first story that I have read in your magazine, + although I have read other magazines for the past three + years. + + I see where you inquire as to the kind of stories your + readers want. + + Personally, I think stories of interplanetary travel are the + best, and most demanded by readers of Science Fiction. Try + and have one in each issue. + + In my opinion, I see no criticisms to be made on your + magazine. It certainly would be a bargain at several times + the price you ask. I am sure I will continue reading + it--Louis D. Buchanan, Jr., 711 Monroe Ave., Evansville, + Indiana. + + +_No "Flash in the Pan"_ + + Dear Editor: + + When I bought the first issue of Astounding Stories last + December, I was impressed by its array of splendid stories + and famous authors. I thought, then, that perhaps that first + number was just a flash in the pan, and that succeeding + issues would sink to the level of other Science Fiction + magazines. Happily, I was wrong. Astounding Stories has more + than fulfilled the promise of its initial issue. The stories + are undoubtedly the finest of their kind, and written by the + most prominent Science Fiction authors of the day. I cannot + conceive of any possible improvement in the magazine. + + I do wish, though, that you would not heed the gratuitous + advice of certain earnest but misguided correspondents. For + instance, in the June issue, one Warren Williams of Chicago, + suggests that you enlarge the magazine and give each story a + full-page illustration, like other Science Fiction + periodicals. Mr. Williams evidently favors standardization. + As one magazine is, so must the rest be. Please ignore this + request, and others like it. Astounding Stories is + different, unique; just keep it that way, and you will never + lack a host of satisfied readers. + + Before closing, I must voice my profound admiration for + Murray Leinster's brilliant and engrossing story, "Murder + Madness." It's the best serial you've printed so far; though + I have high anticipation for Arthur J. Burks' latest novel, + "Earth, the Marauder."--Mortimer Weisinger, 3550 Rochambeau + Ave., Bronx, New York. + + +_"I Mean Increased"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I wish to thank you for your reply to my letter. I did not + expect you to give me a personal reply: that was why I asked + you to reply to me in "The Readers' Corner." You are the + only editor I have ever known of that goes to the trouble to + giving personal replies to readers. Other magazines require + a nominal fee. That's another score for you! + + Your personal letter, as a girl would aptly say, "tickled me + all over." + + I am sorry I can't get a subscription just yet, but I am + "bound" to my newsdealer a little while yet, as I + immediately gave him a monthly order for Astounding Stories. + + If you are the one who picked the authors, you have the best + taste I have ever seen in one person. But couldn't your + taste be improved? Pardon me, I mean increased. Namely, + please add to your taste: H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. + Howard. + + If you had different authors, in other words, new, + inexperienced authors, I would object to your running more + than one serial at a time, but with the marvelous old-timers + I have no objections, for they can write long ones far + better than they can the shorts. So keep them at work. + + The three short stories, "Out of the Dreadful Depths," "The + Cavern World" and "Giants of the Ray," were all very good. + Ray Cummings was wonderful in the way he handled his + "Brigands of the Moon." It was a "wow baby." "Murder + Madness" is a great improvement over "Tanks." "Tanks" was + the worst I've ever read by Leinster. But he came out of his + reverie in "Murder Madness." It's great. + + Sewell Peaslee Wright can work wonders with short stories. + Keep his "typer" clicking. By the way, may I say a few good + words for Sophie Wenzel Ellis? If she can duplicate + "Creatures of the Light," maker her repeat. + + Victor Rousseau's story, "The Beetle Horde," kept me "all + het up" throughout. "The Atom Smasher" was excellent. I also + greatly like stories of the mighty Atlantis. + + I agree with others of your readers that you should not let + Astounding Stories be printed in such a small size. Make it + a little larger, and give us smoother paper, and you will + prosper greatly. + + "The Moon Master" was excellent.--Gabriel Kirschner, Box + 301, Temple, Texas. + + +_"Could Kick Myself"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just started reading Astounding Stories and could + kick myself for not seeing it sooner. In your latest issue, + "The Moon Master," by Charles Diffin, is great. He sure + knows how to write adventure with science. + + I am a member of the Science Corresponding Club and am glad + to say it. In later years the club will be known just like + other big clubs of to-day, "Nationally and + Sciencelly."--John Marcroft, 32 Washington St., Central + Falls, R. I. + + +_A Full List_ + + In the January number of Astounding Stories Cummings' + "Phantom of Reality" was the best, followed by Rousseau's + "Beetle Horde." + + February: 1--Diffin's "Spawn of the Stars"; 2--Rousseau's + "Beetle Horde"; 3--Ellis' "Creatures of the Light"; + 4--Meek's "The Thief of Time." + + March: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Locke's + "Vandals of the Stars"; 3--Meek's "Cold Light." + + April: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Burk's + "Monsters of Moyen"; 3--Meek's "Ray of Madness"; + 4--Pelcher's "Vampires of Venus." + + May: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Leinster's + "Murder Madness"; 3--Rousseau's "Atom Smasher." + + June: 1--Cummings' "Brigands of the Moon"; 2--Leinster's + "Murder Madness"; 3--Diffin's "Moon Master." + + Please give us a story by H. P. Lovecraft, if you can get + one.--Carl Ballard, 202 N. Main St., Danville, Va. + + +_"Words Cannot Express"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read your wonderful magazine since it was first + published, and words cannot express what a fine magazine I + think it is. All my life, I have hoped that someone would + publish a magazine just like Astounding Stories. A magazine + just full to the brim with the right kind of stories; + thrilling stories of super-science, well written in plain + and convincing English by wide awake authors. + + I thought that "The Cavern World" was a whiz of a story, and + "The Moon Master" was so exciting that I sat up late at + night reading it. Let's have more of that kind of science + story, that thrills every red-blooded American. + + I hope that you print your magazine on better paper.--David + Bangs, 190 Marlboro St., Boston, Mass. + + +_Unconvinced_ + + Dear Editor: + + I received the latest issue of Astounding Stories, and in + looking it through I noticed your comments on reprints. Your + argument can easily be shot full of holes, and that's what I + intend to do. + + First: Those stories being printed now are far inferior to + the reprints. Even your best stories, such as "Murder + Madness" and "Brigands of the Moon," cannot be compared with + such stories as "Station X," "The Moon Pool," "The Metal + Monster," or "The Columbus of Space" and "The Second + Deluge." + + Second: The Saturday Evening Post cannot be compared with + our magazine, for all the stories printed in it can be + obtained in book form, while the scientific novels are + almost all out of print. + + Third: There is surely more than one out of a hundred who + haven't read the reprints. Just because some have read them + is no reason that they don't want them. I know, for I have a + large library of reprints and have read, and own, almost + every one of them, yet I would gladly see them again. + + Fourth: The authors need not starve. You could easily devote + just a small space for reprints, and many would pay + twenty-five cents for the magazine. + + The fairest and most American idea would be to let your + readers vote for this. Here is vote No. 1 for + reprints.--Woodrow Gelman, 1603 President St., Brooklyn, N. Y. + + +_Praise and Suggestions_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished the July issue of Astounding Stories + and classify the stories as follows: + + "Beyond the Heaviside Layer," good; "Earth, the Marauder," + excellent, best in issue; "From an Amber Block," fairly + good; "The Terror of Air-Level Six," very good; "The + Forgotten Planet," excellent; "The Power and the Glory," + good; "Murder Madness," very good, but not so much so as + preceding chapters. + + Now for a few criticisms: + + 1. Your magazine (or should I say "our" magazine?) is too + small. Of course, it would be a radical change to make it + larger, but, like others, I think in the end you would gain + rather than lose by it. Most small magazines are cheap + affairs, and to have Astounding Stories small brands it as a + cheap type of magazine. Small magazines are more likely to + be hidden on the newsstands by larger ones, and in most + stores the large magazines have the more advantageous + positions. + + 2. The edges of your pages are uneven. You look in the index + and find an interesting story is on, for example, page 56. + You skim the pages to find it, and from page 43 you find + yourself suddenly at page 79. Make the paper more even, + please. + + 3. Don't have advertisements before the stories. Have them + in the rear. + + 4. Have a full page illustration facing the beginning of + each story. If at the end of a story you find pages won't + turn up right, continue the last page to the back of the + book. + + Wesso is excellent. Another good artist is Paul, who draws + for another Science Fiction magazine. Your cover + illustrations are fine. + + Summary: Enlarge size of magazine, smooth edges of paper, + have advertisements in rear of book, use full page + illustrations. + + If this is expensive, you could charge twenty-five cents + instead of twenty cents, and I, for one, would be glad to + pay the extra nickel as I do for other magazines of Science + Fiction.--Robert Baldwin, 1427 Judson Ave., Evanston, + Illinois. + + +_"The Readers' Corner"_ + +All Readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "come +over to 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion of +stories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities--everything +that's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories. + +Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, this +is a department primarily for _Readers_, and we want you to make full +use of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, +brickbats, suggestions--everything's welcome here: so "come over in +'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us! + +_--The Editor._ + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +October, 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 29882.txt or 29882.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/8/29882/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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