EBft

The "Princess Pat"
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Kuar.i n t eed I .V j r» el

movement Kacnrad .

fBnulWWrUtacrjf
fietlble bracelet to
nuttcb. 1- ■ ■ :;.ontt)

C 4*^50

tB 34 . _

I Richly hand-
I engraved I8K
Solid White
I Gold aulltBlrc
nountlnt;
fiery, eenulne
blue-white dia-
mond. S3 a mo.

»«Jve rlne of l4K

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1° I 1

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EB 35

I8K Solid
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rlna; larsotie,
genuine blue-
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and 2 smaller
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EB 12 . . . Daitllns cluster of 7 «-
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vVhUeOold, l*4» piowtlng. Looks

EB 37 . . . New -Link o" Love"
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solid white sold rliic tet »!id .
diiizllne genuine blur-wblu
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-blue

■ .i;>i li:ri-v . t nft (hi- bCiiMllfiuT
hatid engraved rase ..f Mh Solid White
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Naw Catalogue

FREE Adults

Writ* for It

New!

Just AHvist Of The Wrist

Banishes Old-Style Can Openers to the Scrap Heap and

Brings Agents $6 to $8 in an Hour

WOMEN universally detest the old-style can opener.
Yet in m-ry home in the land cans arc being
opened with it. often hvi-i ni tim.-t u ilay. Imagine
taw thankfully they welcome thi; new nr [hod— thi>. nuro-
msilc way of doing their most dinta-sleful job. With the
SpmJo can opening machine- you can jutl put the can in
Uk asuhlne, turn thi? handle, and almost instantly the
job is done.

End This Waste and Danger

Too ondoubtcdly know what a nasty, dangerous job it I*
la open cans with the old-fanhioned can opener. You have
in hack your way along slo wly — ripping a jugged furrow
™, " " around the edge. Nest thing

you know-, the can opener
slips. Good night '. You've
torn a hole in your finger. As
liable as not It will get in*
fected and May son: a long
lime. Perhaps rvvn your life
will be endangered from
blood poisoning '
You may be lucky enough to
get the- ca n open wl t ho ut
cutting yourself. Hut there's
still the fact to consider that
the ragged edge of lin left
around the top makes it aJ-
most Impossible to pour out
all of the food. Yet now. all
this trouble, waste and dan-
ger is ended. No wonder
salesmt-n everywhere are find-
ing thin Invention a truly
revolutionary money maker!

AGENTS!
$265
in a
Week

"ll»ro U my mnrd for
bth Hi dsjs with SiMdo:
tun* 11. 64 Sprrdrx
Jinw jn. n, K|«dn
tvm to, Vj2 Hr»-r<lcK
Mr 9, Snenlrx

M. Ornaff. Va*
PART TIME
■4 asJn in 7 Hours

Am.

smart in 3

SPARE TIME
Its Money Spars Tin*

, Barb. W. Vs.. i*r«:
TPs* mlj out » few no-

you back the can without a drop spilled, without
rough edges to snag yonr Angers — -all In ft couple of

seconds! It's so easy even a lU-yev-old child can do it
in perfect safety! No wonder women— and men. too —
simply go wild over it! No wonder Speedo salesmen often
sell u> every house Jn the block and make up to flO an
hour.

Generous Free Test Offer

Frankly, men. I realize that the profit possibilities of this
proposition as outlined briefly here may seem almost In-
credible to you. So I've worked out a plan by which you
ran examine the invention and test its profit without
risking one penny.

G*t my free test offer whUc the territory you want is still
open — I'll hold It- for you while you make the test. I'll
send you all the facts about 975 to 1150 a week. I'll
also tell you about another fast selling hem that brings
you two profits on every call. All you risk Is a 2e
stamp — so grab your pencil and shoot mo the coupon
right now.

CENTRAL STATES MFC. CO., Dept. M-240*
4500 Miry At*. (E»t. over 20 yeon) , St. Louil, Mo.

Csir«l Suim Mff. Co., |
4.-.0O M.rr A.., Dipl. M.2404

Si. LouL, Mo. J

Yifl. rush m« the fact* and dcttUi of your FREE !
OFFER.

A "MillioB Dollar"
Can Openinf
Machine

The Speedo holds the can —
OpTLS It — flips up the lid so
you ran grab it — and gives

1 Name

1

1 Address

j City State

□ Chit- k her.- if int. r« -.led only in one for own home.

Please mention Newsstand Gnoi'i'— Mk-s's l.i<

on answenn;

adv

ertisemcnls

mm

(SIS SWIPJEB.= §(§SSSS5(SS
On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

~*. U. CLAYTON, Mlihi

BARRY BATES, Editor

DR. DOUGLAS M. DOLD. *~ i.,- a u M

The- Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees

Thai the Merle* ikanla m iIm, Inlaraausg, vivid, bf leedlse ■rim ml tha **y b4

parebeaed acJ.r cosdllloa* approved by the Auihon' Leafn* of AiueH*i |
Tmmi Ml*k Birulan an waeafaanuod la UdH ahopi by IbwIii vt^M;
Teal aaah eewadaalar ud ansai U luwd ■ fal* prvili
Taei mm laialllsaal iMMnklp asarda their advertus** lease
Tee elbar Clmytmm i

ACE-HICH HACA2INE. RANCH ROMANCES. COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE.NOVEU
MONTHLY. ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES. RANCELAND LOVE STORY
MACAZINE, mmd WESTERN ADVENTURES.

More than Two Million Copies Required to Supply Ike Monthly Demand lor Clayton Magaiieet.

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

Dr. Bird, Scientific Sleuth Extraordinary, Goes After a Sinister Stealer of Brains.

THE INVISIBLE DEATH VICTOR ROUSSEAU

With Night-Rays and Darkness-Antidote A m eric a Strikes Back at the Terrific and De-
structive Invisible Empire. (A Complete Novelette.)

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON ROBERT H. LEITFRED

Fate Throws Two Young Earthians into Desperate Conflict wi/k Ike Primeval Mon-
sters of am Electron's Savage Jungles.

J ETTA OF THE LOWLANDS RAY CUMMINGS

Into Remote Lowlands, in an Invisible Flyer, Go Grant and Jetta — Prisoners of a
Scientific Depth Bandit. (Put Two ol a Three-Pert Novel.)

AN EXTRA MAN JACKSON GEE

Sealed and Vigilantly Guarded Was "DrayleTs Invention, 1932*— /or // Was a Scientific
Ackievemeut Beyond Which Man Dared Not Go.

THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF HS

A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories.

118

Sin<b Copies, 20 Cento (In Canada, 25 Cents)

Yearly Subscription, $2.00

nthhr bp PoWehera - Ratal Corporation. M Lafayette SL, New York. N. T. W. M. Clayton, fa*

dent; Nathan Goldmsnn. Secretary. Entered aa aeeond rial natter December ''. Ida), at the Post Oflce St
Mew York. N. Y . nnder Aet of Mares ». ISTO. Title registered is s Trade Hark In the TJ. S. Patent OSes,
Mcaaber Newsstand Group — Mrn'i LbrL For advertlataa; rates address R. B. Cavwe A Co., Lwa, U Vanderatt
Asa,, New York; or tit North Michigan Ass.. Colesso.

MEN!

Get Your Copy of My/VCW Book

How to get a good
job in the Radio
Industry

S. Hundreds of Jobs paying *50,'60.'75.'lOO
ijjaweekare opening in Radio every year.

I showed these men hpw
Meet Big Paq jobs KkeSae

November I made $577. uew
ber *6+5. January $165. My
Mfniog. seldom f.ft under $100
i week. I merely mention this to
pre you note idea of what a
Radio man can do who baa the

E. E. Wnaotna:
M14 W. «lh St, Norfolk* Va.

. _ are earning a penny Lena than $50 a
week, send for my b**i\ of information on
opportunities in Radio. It is free. Radio's
amazing growth is making hundreds of Quo
jobs every year. My book abowa you where
theee jobs are, what thry pay. how 1 run
train yon at home In your apart) lime to be
a Radio Hi per u

Toa haw* snaarj fobs to ehooaa I roan

Broadcast iiuj station into engineer*, opora-
tora, station managers and pay $l,BuO to
95,000 a year. Manufacturers continually
Deed tan tern, i nspectors, foramen, engineers,
service men, buyer* for joba paying; tip to

215,000 a year. Sbippiug companies use
undreda of opera ton, give them world-wide
travel with practically no eipenaeand $85 to
$200 a monLh besides. Deal era and jobbers
are always on the lookout for good service
men, salesmen, buy em, manager* and pay $30
to $100 a week for good men. Talking Moth "

Ky as much as $75 to $200 a week to men with
idkj training. T"
verywhere tohai

"Iwa wjttt give N. R. I. too orach
Ma lor what I hare been able
tedola Radio. I can safely asy
«** I averaged $3000 a year Tor
g*.P"? Ihree years. I am in the

business here. Any man Back rtew of S-
«*o really wants to advance can- lube A. C. screen
jW tf> wrong in Radio. There a grid tuned Radio
■Hataly a lack of trained men." frequency set —
„ „ Pjutn A. Nrcnoui. only one of many

P.O. Box 207, Eaton, Colo. circuits you can
build with the
parts I give with-
out estra charge.

There are opening* almost
ive a spare time or full lime
Hadto business of your owp — to be your own
bom. Radio offers many other opportunities.
My book tells you about them.

Maw ■ Outfit* ajiva yea KstasialTO
Prasrtteusl Badlo Bxpartaata*

With me you not only get the theory of
Radio yo u also get practical Radio expe-
rience while learning. Too can build over
100 circuits — build and eaperuneut wiib
the oircuila used In At water- Kent, Majes-
tic; Croaley, Eveready, Slew art- Warner,
Pbilco, and many other seta. These eiperi- 1
' include A. C. and screen arid sets,
pull amplification and other late
urea. When you Lniah my course you 1
won't need to take "any old job*' just to
get experience — job will be trained and ei

Hold your job until you are ready for another.
No need, to leave borne. All I ask la part of
your snare time. I have doubled and tripled
the nalurica of hundreds through my practical
home-study training. You don't have to be a
hi^h school or college graduate. My course
is wriiLcu In easy, aim pie terms that most
anyuoo con understand.

Mr Cassis a tmalmMm TaHUauj
Kavlaa, Wire* RaaUo, Tele-vlaleas «

My course La up-lo-dale with Radio's latest
uses and improvements. It Inriudes Radio's
application to Talking Movies, Television
and home Television experiments. Wired
Radio, Radio's use in A via Lion, in addition
to filling you for many other lines.

Msatf Back If Not fbrtffofM
I wQl agree in writing to refund every penny
of your tuition If you are not aatlauerl who
my Lemon Tests and Instruction Service,
when yon have finished my coarse. Thai
ajrrenment at backed by the Fa nans and
World's Largest organisation devoted entire*
ly to training men and young men by 91*3,
for good Joba in the Radio industry.
Vtoal ost what ftodlo ataaam yotj
OetMyBaah
This book gives the facta on Radio a oppor-
tunities and the many features and aerviosa
of NJLI. training. It gives 100 letters from

students who have proved that my nseibodg
are successful. Get your copy today. Than*
is no "bligit"n.

J. E. BaOTB. Prtiidenl
National Radio Institute, Dept OUf
Washington. D. C

push
lea tun

THIS (Ull'ON ISCOOO IllH
DM f Uf f (Ol'S (II st>
NEW U O O K _

prrieriaed ready to lake your place along-
side men who have been in the field for years.

J. E. Bam. Prsiuaaef,
National Radio I rani tote. Dept. OlM
Wasrunaton, D. C

Dear Mn. Surra:— I

I want to aee what Radio offers and
what you offer in Radio training. Thai
request duos not obligate me lo any

Ltfclimcftn/ilpi/irn-Jit Sen ice to all (ji'iHliKiks

frame. , , ,
Addrru. ,
Ciiy. .

Please mention Newsstand Group— Men's List, when answering advcrtisem<?nis

NOW FIX ANY MAKE OF

six teres AJUTO
BOOKS ^ i /ar" D

on approval; whether you
want to qualify as garage
owner, auto repair expert
or merely wish to know
how to keep your own
car 100% efficient, look at
these books — they arc

sent to you for free eKaiiiini-
tion. Thrs brand new 1080 edition has been prepared by
a large group of America's greatest auioiuotivc engineers.
Anybody who can re.id will understand them, (or ttm fine
automobile encyclopedia is a veritable gold mine of valu-
able (acts. Take advantage of this unusual opportunity
now; send in the coupon lor FREE examination. You
don't pay us a penny, you don't obligate yourself to pay
anything unlets you deride la
krcfi the book*. Jim Ml us
you want to *eo iheni anil tho

rUU SM Of 6 greet TOlUtllM.

Just off tho prefci. will In vent
to you. Head them, look thrtu
over and inrore to your own
raiinfactloo that on* fait alnna.
which you will find In them,
may save you an eipenslre re*
uair. of help you to * bettor

AvUtloa Motors

la addition to bvhua a cmplata
rrcladadla of •utomoKlla wivinaar-

... iwfo? th« prw thay

InrawtfcTiJnilnal 't fhla alow

New 105© Edition

Imagine, books which an to new thai every pan li right op lo
dale — wiring diagrams. eon.nructMQ details, aerrloe problems — art
•Jl niihl up to the minute. Novrbnre else that wb know of can you
get a* complete and up to dale informal ion. Over a million dollars of
rwumriM have enabled us to aire you the matt up lo date book* on
the nubjert ever published. You will And nearly 20 pages on /rant
wheel dzlrm alone. Everybody interested In automobiles in any way
wU) welonma these book*, especially on our n* evonty oflar.

CAN YOU
FIX ITT

Can you take out "play" In dlf-
ferenikair Can you kUl the "shim-
my 11 In steering f Can you met
TIMING r Can you put your
Qngnr on engine trouble without
■u eating or tinkering; Can you
pull tho starter off and III ill
Can you adjust and repair trans-
mission, engine, ruar axle, bear-
ingsr

TbwM Bmbj Toll How

and they leU you bow 10 d« U| and every auto Job right, tho
first llm«.

• Big VwlawMw

Nearly 3.000 nana. <wer 2.M0 illustration*, wiring dlacramv,
equipment charts, eta. De Ijjie edition with gold-siamped flexible
binding. Hmt KHEE for 10 dav%* use. If not wanted mum «*-
pri*s collect. If kept, send only }2 after in dajs, then S3 a month
until medal admtlKlni price, 121.90. Is paid.

A T war's CwvMw.lt!
Piirilen of consulting engini_
nica] Society on any automotive problem for one yen without
charge, if you mall ooupan Immediately.

SEND NO MONEY

i Drwaal An. at Utt 8L, Uleaaa, llllnawav
I I -nmU IBt* to mm th* hot t votvas* IB3D edMoa off rosr ad
I b*Aa bwi wiUut an abllntlaa tabor. I will par Ua few cants
I ftaswaf «Str ana will nmm\a* Uw books sad r«tnrn Uun at Four hSwoh |

I as kaam mmmm I US* U»ra. In which Baa* I vttl saed paa t».00 ttk-a «sd m
awB.VWBaikgiddMnKynlAft o»lj txftVfa pai27jfoa |

imn> to tottqda fry, ■ m mJrina a>«nb>ratil« °^ *- -— » ■
Tacaassal bokilr. BWad awaswJ wsw !•*©
I Naait

Crry .

^State-

Twist the Throttle and
the Roads are Yours

RIDE away— over the Thrill Traill
on your Harlcy-Davidson! When
*• away? Out to the lake— fish strike
hard in the Fall. Over to the marshes for
some shooting. Or just out over the roadi
for a lungful of keen Autumn air, and
the thousand thrills of motorcycling,
Greatest Sport on Wheels.

All roads are yours when you open up
the amazing power and speed of a Harley
Davidson. You don't need concrete high-
ways — let the auto parades have them,
while you whirl away over the roads and
trails that wind through Sportland.

Have you seen the 1931 Harley-David*
sons? A dealer near you wants to show
them to you — and tell you about hit
easy Pay-As- You-Ride Plan.

Drop in on him today.

Send the Coupon to
us for free literature.

THE 1931
MODELS
ARE OUT

— new Tuini,
Single, and Side-
car*. Many big
improvement! —
better look* dn <s
performance than
ever. See your
dealer.

Harixy-Dayidson

ftlml -itmC&uptm — - — —

HARLEY- DAVIDSON MOTOR COMPANY
Dipl. N. S. C . Milwaukee. Mil.

Inrcrejted in your motorcycle,. Send lilejiturc
Nine -

□ under 16 year,. Check, jour agt group.

Plcasa mention Newsstand Gioup — Men's List, when answering advertisements

HELP!! HELP!!

WHO CAN GET ME OUT?

Til Pay $8000 .00 Cash

Come to my rescue— QUICK! I'm

^lUiliiiriT "* tlu9C tmcfaer<
am, trackleascatacombra. I ' ve tried
lor hours to find the right path to
freedom but here I am right back
m the middle again.

Cm YOU Find
tlM Right Path?

Will you try? A TV—
fluU K I know you would.
But 6 ret, let me warn you that
ffcf u mttj mi iwlfc to freedom and
Iti—Oh! jo hard to find. It atari
Id the mJHdle where I am and. wHfe*
•at Cffvaatac uy *< the walla, it ends
somewhere, on the outside of these terrible
calacombea. I hope worn can find the tight
path to get me ouL 1 f you do, mare it
pWabr with pen or pencil and send It to me
qakfc. Iffiorrtet, 111 see that you air quaH-
fed at onfa for an opportunity to win aa much
M fMIOJJOcaan out of £8.000.00 im reward*
that I'm route to give away.

i» woman, ww.vii

•IOOO.OO CASH Joat tor BKXMO QUICK!

Yes. I'D positively pay ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS
cash to som eon e, just for being prompt and duplicate prizes
in case of ties. IT'S ALL FREE! Anyone may try for
nothing, so send YOUR answer today. Rush it!

lfcl, CHICAGO, HJJWOIS

„ u. s. ^ —

Government

+ JOBS' *

$1260 TO $3400 A YEAR

POST OFFICE CLERKS CITY MAIL CARRIERS RURAL MAIL CARRIERS

CUSTOMS INSPECTORS RAILWAY POSTAL CLERKS IMMIGRATION INSPECTORS

INCOME TAX AUDITORS CLERICS IN GOVERNMENT OFFICES

AT WASHINGTON, D. C, AND ELSEWHERE

MEN— WOMEN 18 TO SO

/
/

J" Conn™

nuNHUH INSTfTVTt. Dept. M-2S4
MHhi, N. V.

: TlurU In mo. mllrrlj wMlinit rhtrcc.

^ &nd tell uiu Loir to art ft Bic«Jr pvsitioo.

Please mention Newsstand Gbolf— Men's List, when answering advertisements

YOU, too. Can Mike Miny
fHeidi and EAST, EXTRA
MONEY Qulek wHh Dm HAWAIIAN GUITAR

Look what Boy Helkann, Mulr.
"Didn't know a, note when I naned Hawaiian
Oultir. But 11 w»i r-iy to learn tout way.
Itrg ui masintc more frkrruli rlsbt away. New
going at/one; hats linn toiklnf 15 10 1 1 e»ery
«?»rnlnj md now tim con'- ran »l:h ;hejiro
■I Jfl 00 per olcht. Usee rcajJ.> oicr S;o0 la
" H monthv" Then rnd thli Irem Ctrl ion 11
rtro, Filapairlc*. \\". Va : "Vour Course
and Si-rvlco can't be I»tit. Th-y'ro
mix. urulrritar.rl.ible and full of h.-!p.
IlaTo lir"jim fi-ry popular a.nr« U-arn*
In*. line plajnl at opera lioun** and
liarilci— all told lnvo made SI. 000
Uuouttit your wonderful Comic"

Learn to Play the Real
Hawaiian Way-Qufclc-
Rlght at Home In Only
l»3Months'SpareTlmo

No prerlouj mujeal training
tucroary ; no loiuc llrctomo tioura
of prjciblru. Tho New Turk
Aradtmy of Mu.lr'i amirlrur
Hawaiian Guitar fuu'no can leach
jou rlflbt ait bom*. In 1 to 3
months' ipaie-tlme. to play thli
tlch. mrliKMoui. romantic Iwtru-
mrrd. Krcry itrp ii nude clear
and «?y; prcercu li rai<ld rat
training It Uk rough. IV t llko
play lo leant Ul» rl""*'Mi lu*

ClBJllftg

I played at a Ball ud
mado ray flnt Itta
Pollarj. Hare nc*
•Imoit $200 with
Hawaiian Qullar

Popular HiiiilrH

bo 1 ?!."* j25wKB

Safdal
Pttonoi

Demonstration
graph Records
Included

No Need to WiH tor All the Fun end AH the Monry You
Want— Get tJUa FREE BOOK Now I

Wo nttrplr ajHnrtblBi jou n*t<L With
yvar nrj flrit leaaon pm rw-ira FUKK
of crtra coal a bratiilful. rich-: me. gtn-
ulw Hawaiian Ouliar worth 1.10 n any
llore—K no- AU Chart— cum pi i- 1 e Ou Mt of
lunar, picks, ate., etc. — clear. oa«y In-
atLruaLaoo — and JEnaWlty 1 rnailo Dctaon-
•union Phonograph Hco.rOt In which
Bob ad Tap, Uaa> famoui Natlto Hawaiian,
correctly plaja each plero In the Cuurte.
No effort la apa/od— no none loft unturned
— to b«lr> TOU become an oiptwt and
mpllaoad plajer ajaftk.

Bnadsrtliif Bla-
tlcn tho counirv
orer axo euer for
Hawaiian Guitar-
lata. Tha puhlio

Here Ii Uia revealing Hook that hi
lluujanJi or otln'ia tho «ay lo nabs seed
vtl'lt ttie ll4>allan Guitar. The book Ihit
hai r.n-jn; liur.drrdi and hundrr/Ji of dol-
lar* — and doMm and d^i*ni of ru-w friends
— fjr p4-.>:ilc nlio »ero rleht In your ahotl
JuiL a It* monlhi oeu. VcL you an wcl-
(a a to:<y abioli/taly FREE. Leant
•t once ]l,w VOi; can n^kkljf get In Una
for i >rvy of fun. fri.-r ^ ar.l t:\tlLA
MONKV. Ii c.-Lk i-.'i nj-Mnrf t.) Ond out
Tho ill*' L.'.-.H r\;.U:r.: t • iryUtlag,
CTeryblnj. Tlio n> ::>jrv ba-
]ow brlru:t your FHLJ copy.
Mail It tadayl

Big Money for You
Full Tuat or SDare-Thae

Our it ij Jen ta learn lo ojA*
lo quick. l'Uyl.-ui In I'lthor
an amateur or prjfeitlonal
way, many miku anjwhero
Iron 115 ertrj t:.. ru-y m Hud
fotl-tline pjy cufi w.tsek. Wo
ahew y«u rut m urn pit Al-
tera Into pratrt— turn rondo
ttotaa into hank ru/.rjT Our
FHEE I look eaplalna orory
Ma«. Q*t U tt Mawl

F. Black. PmJdaaH.
KawaJlan Stidioa 91100 of
NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC,
100 Fifth Av%, No* York City.
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Two lomg arms shut sileutly doom and grasped the motionless figure

Stolen Brains

By Captain S. P. Meek

THOPE, Carries," 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 T

Dr. Bird, acieotiGc
■on alter a aiaiat

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 em-
claimed as be
bent over the
sheet. With
growing astonishment he read that

tleuth •Htraordinary,
Br ttealer of braina.

8

ASTOUNDING STORIES

Operative Camca of the United States
Secret Service had collapsed at his
desk that afternoon and had been
rushed to Walter Reed Hospital where
the trouble hadJbeen diagnosed as a
nervous breakdown caused by over-
work. There followed a guarded state-
ment from Admiral Clay, the Presi-
dent'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 im-
mediate 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 con-
cluded, would accompany and care for
his stricken friend. Carnes laid aside
the paper with a gasp.

**T^O you know what all this
I M 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 Penney
station at six to-night."

"And yet there are some people who
•ay 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 fish-
ing 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."

Cames 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 in-
teresting 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 Cames. 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 mus-
cle, 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

STOLEN BRAINS

9

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 be-
spoke more the man of action than the
man of thought.

The second figure arose and faced
them and' again Games 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 to-
gether and then shake hands with
Major Trowbridge of the Coast Artil-
lery 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. Games
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 clpse
a scrutiny as you will. Did you have
any trouble in getting here unob-
served?"

"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 Games. "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 causa 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 promin-
ent 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."
I "Undoubtedly^ There were some
'•" points of similarity which you missed.
Where did the attacks take place?"

"Why, one was at— Thunder, Doc-
tor I I did miss something. ' Every
case, as nearly as I -can recall, hap-
pened 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 re-
member. 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 hap-
pened 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?"

10

ASTOUNDING STORIES

"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 Boon as we have
eaten a bite, and retire to it. On sec-
ond thought, we will eat in it. Carnes,
we will go to our downy couches at
once and leave our substitutes in pos-
session of the cabin. I trust, gentle-
men, 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 sen-
tentiously. "It is merely a matter of
duty to me, you know, and thank Cod,
I have no family to mourn if anything
does go wrong. Neither has Corporal
Askins."

"Well, good luck at any rate. Will
you guide Carries 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," be 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 het^."

With the aid of a flashlight 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 con-
taining 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 it
a gas detector. It works on the princi-
ple of the spectroscope with modifica-
tions. From this projector goes out a
beam of invisible light and .the reflec-
tions are gathered and thrown through
a prism of the eye-piece. While a
spectroscope requires that the sub-
stance which it examines be incandes-
cent and throw out visible light rayi
in order to show the typical spectral
lines, this device catches the invisible
ultra-violet on a fluorescent screen and
analyzes it spectroscopically. Who-
ever 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 fust
hour."

AT the end of an hour Dr. Bird re-
moved his mask with a sigh of re-
lief and Carnes took his place at the
spectroscope. For half an hour be
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 instru-
ment but before he reached it, Camea
gave an exclamation.
"There they are, Doctor 1" he cried.
Dr. Bird sniffed the air. A faint
sweetish odor became apparent and be
reached for his gas mask. Slowly hi)
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 wis
shouldering Carnes aside and staring
through the spectroscope. Carnes
watched him for an instant and then ■
low whirring noise attracted his atten-
tion and he looked up. Silently he

STOLEN BRAINS

11

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
Cames barely stifled an exclamation.
The door of the cabin opened and
Major Trowbridge, walking stiffly and
like a man in a dream, appeared. Slowly
be 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 I They lost no time I" com-
mented Dr. Bird. "Come on, Cames,
run for your life, or rather, for Trow-
bridge's life. No, you idiot, leave your
gas mask on. I'll take the spectro-
scope; jf'll be all we need."
J

FOLLOWED by the panting Car-
nes. Dr. Bird sped through the
night along an almost invisible path.
For half a mile he kept up a headlong
pace until Cames 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 soft-
ly. 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 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."
"Well take off at once. Your craft
is equipped with a Bird silencer?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come on, Cames, we're going to fol-
low that^globe.) Take the front cock-
pit alone, Maynard ; Cames 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, Cames, 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 I" replied the pilot as he
turned the nose of his plane in the in-
dicated 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 BcMcr 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 to-
ward the ground.

"Half a mile east," he said, "and drop
another thousand. Cames, get ready to
jump when I give the word."

"Oh, Lord!" groaned Cames as he
fumbled for the rip cord of his para-
chute, "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?"

12

ASTOUNDING STORIES

"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 de-
liver a sealed packet which I carry to
the nearest United States Marshal.
When reenforcements arrive, either
from the Navy Yard or from the Mar-
shal, 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 or-
ders 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 toil con-
traption."

"Then jump I"

SIDE by side, Carnee and the doctpr
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
Boon 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, Games, 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 spec-

troscope. Carnes followed him as he
made hiB 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 Games 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 illu-
minated background four men ap-
peared, 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 venti-
lation somewhere if their laboratory is
underground."

Followed by the secret service oper-
ative, 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 s
point above where the doctor thought
the light had been he paused.

"There must be a ventilation shaft
somewhere around here," he whispered,

STOLEN

hia mouth not an inch from Carnes'
car, "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
m 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 ap-
proached and Dr. Bird's figure rose up.

"Any luck ?" he whispered.

Dr. Bird shook Ilia head.

"Well try further," he said. "I think
it is probably beyond us, so Buppose
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 undqt foot. He paused and
listened intently and decided that the
sound must come from the slope be-
neath 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 dis-
covery. The doctor went back with
him and together they renewed the
search. The slope of the hill was al-
most sheer and Games looked dubious-
ly over the edge.

"I wish we had brought the para-
chutes," he whispered to the doctor.
"We could have taken the ropes off
them and you could have lowered me
over the edge."

BRAINS j 13

Dr. Bird chuckled softly and tugged
at his middle. Carnes watched him
' with astonishment in the dim light, but
he understoood 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 in-
structions, 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 Carries
signaled to be drawn up and soon stood
beside the doctor.

"That's the place all right," he whis-
pered. "The whole cliff is covered
with creepers and there is a tree grow-
ing 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 cliS 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 excite-
ment and moved forward along the
branch. He touched the stone and
after a moment of searching he cau-
tiously 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 to-
ward 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 gen-
erator was connected a tube of the
Crook en tube type with the rays from
it gathered and thrown by a parabolic

14

ASTOUNDING STORIES

reflector onto' the space where a man's
head would rest when he was seated in
a white metal chair with rubber insu-
lated 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 in-
distinct 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. Carries 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 mas-
sive 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 aetke 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 miss-
ing.

I

''Hp HEY ought to be getting back,"

J. said the dwarf sharply.

"If they get back at all," said one of
the two figures facing him. *A

"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. Cames might have recov-
ered."

"Didn't he get a full dose of fe.
thane?"

"So Prick says, and Bird certainly
had a full dose, but I can't help but fed
uneasy. Our operations were going
too nicely on schedule and you had ta
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, bm
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."

"Andy what did you get? Not a
much menthium as would have cone
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 Cames 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 disapt
«pointments once in a while. I had
marked Bird down long ago as soon m
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 craiy 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 staff, Slavats-
ky I" warned Carson sharply. "I can
pull a tube as fast as you can, and 111
do it if I have to."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen I" 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 wor-
ried."

STOLEN BRAINS

IS

"What is there to be worried about?"
granted the dwarf as he slid back into
his chair. "Everything has gone nice-
ly 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 opportune-
ly and too easily. In the second place
Bird should have yielded more men-
thium, 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 men-
thium."

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 sat-
isfied, 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
■hare 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 gener-
ator 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 appa-
ratus 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 hypoder-
mic syringe into the back of the neck
at the base of phe 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 bap-el.

"Seven and a half cubic centimeters I"
cried the dwarf in a tone of delight.

"Fine I" cried Carson. "That's a rec-
ord, isn't it?"

"No, we got eight once. N6w 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 pa-
tient'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 Car-

16

ASTOUNDING STORIES

•on 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 am-
nesia case in the papers to-morrow, I
haven't time to explain their methods
how; 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 Lieu-
tenant 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. Co 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 recon-
noitre a little more and make sure that
there is no back entrance through
which they can escape. Good luck,
Carnes; hurry all vou 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 guest
you are playing square with us. IU
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 men 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 syr-
inge 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 him-
self down in it. For an hour he sat mo-
tionless 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 set
the faintly luminous globe in the dis-
tance, rapidly approaching. It came to
a stop at the spot where it had pre-
viously 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

STOLEN BRAINS

17

of the bill farthest from where the doc-
tor stood. Three of them held it, while
the fourth went forward and bent over
tome controls on the ground. A creak-
ing sound came through the night and
the men moved forward with the globe.
Presently its movement stopped and
men reappeared. Again came the creak-
ing sound and the glow faded out as
though a screen had been drawn in
front of it. The four men walked to-
ward 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 disap-
peared and everything was again quiet.
Dr. Bird debated the advisability of re-
turning 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 dark-
ness 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 dark-
ness and he dared not use a flash-light.
As he turned he faced the east and
noted with a start of surprise that the
iky was getting red. He glanced at
his watch and found that Games had
been gone for nearly three hours. ,

"Great Scott I" he exclaimed in sur-
prise. "Time has gone faster than I
realized. He ought to be back at any
tune now."

HE mounted the highest point of
the hill and sent three long
flashes, followed in turn by three short'
ind three more long to the south and
watched eagerly for an answer. He
waited five minutes and repeated the
lignal, but no answering flashes came
from the empty hills. With a grunt
which might have meant anything, he
tamed 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 en-
countered a bit of metal. As he pulled
on it his eyes sought the Bide of the
hill.

The dawn had grown sifmciently
bright for him to see the result of his
action. A portion of the hill folded
back and the faintly glowing ship be-
came visible. With a muttered excla-
mation of triumph he approached it.

The globe was about nine feet in di-
ameter 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 irregu-
larity. He had covered nearly half of
it before his finger found a hidden but-
ton and pressed it. Silently a door in
the side of the craft opened and he ad-
vanced to enter. ,

"Keep them up I" said a sharp voice
behind him.

Dr. Bird froze into instant immobil-
ity and the voice spoke again.

"Turn around I"

Dr. Bird turned and looked full into
the eye of a revolver held by the man
the dwarf had addresed as Frink. Be-
hind Frink stood the dwarf and three
other men.

As-his eye fell on Dr. B^ird, 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. "Im-
possible I"

"Get his gun, Harris," said Frink.

ONE of the men stepped forward
and dextrously removed the doc-
tor's automatic and frisked him expert-
ly to insure himself that he had no
other weapon concealed.

"Bring him to the cave," directed
Slavatsky, who, thouVfb obviously still

IS

ASTOUNDING STORIES 1

shaken, had just as obviously recov-
ered enough to be a very dangerous
man. Two of the men grasped the doc-
tor and led him along toward the en-
trance to the laboratory cave which
stood wide open in the gathering day-
light. 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. Car-
son and Willis sat on the edge of the
operating table, evidently still partial-
ly under the effects of the anesthetic
that had been administered to them.
' "How did you get back here?" de-
manded Slavatsky.

"Find out I" 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 si-
lence, his fierce eyes answering the
dwarf's, look for look, and his promi-
nent 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 I" 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 Sla-
vatsky, 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? Tou have discovered
differently. Where is your friend, Mr.
Carnes?"

"Didn't your men leave him in the
cabin when you kidnaped me?"
Slavatsky looked at Frink inquiring-

"He stayed in the cabin if he was in
it when we got there," the leader of the
kidnaping gang replied. "He got i
full shot of lethane and he's due to be
asleep yet. * I don't know how this man
recovered. I left him there 7 " myself.''

"Fool I" 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 mat-
ter, however: we have the one we
wanted. Dr. Bird, it was very thought-
ful 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 Wil-
liams did this evening, especially as I
will extract your entire supply and re-
duce 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 mo-
ment, Slavatsky, but my time may come
— and if v 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 dwarfs turn to blanch,
but he recovered himself quickly.

"Into the chair with him I" he roared.

THREE of the men grasped the
doctor and forced him into the
chair and Slavatsky started the gener-
ator. The violet light bathed Dr.

STOLEN BRAINS

19

Bird's Head and he felt a stiffness and
contraction of his neck- muscles, and
is he tried to shout out his knowledge
of Slavatsky's treachery, he found that
his vocal chords were paralyzed.
Through a gatheiing haze he could see
Carson approaching with an anesthesia
cone and the sweet smell of lethane as-
sailed 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 for-
ward 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 doc-
tor's brain.

"Slavatsky 1 Look I" 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 dark-
ness. A tiny panel in the door opened
to his touch and he stared out into the
light.

"Soldiers I" 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
Cames, an automatic pistol in his hand.

"Open the main door I" Carnes
mapped.

SLAVATSKY made a move toward
the light, and Games' 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 I" ordered
Carnes again.

The men stared at one another for a
moment and tha 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 Cames' gun roared again
and Frink's arm fell limp from a
smashed shoulder.

"Slavatsky," said Cames sternly,
"come here I" ^

Slowly the dwarf approached.

"Turn around I" said Cames.

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 orders, 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 whim-
pered. ,

There was a moment of pause.

"If that door isn't open by the time
I count three," said Carnes, " — as far as
SlavaftWy is concerned, it's just too
bad. jil have four shots left — and I'm
a dead .shot at this range. One I Two !"

His lips framed 1 the word "three" and
his fingers were tightening on the trig-
ger when Carson jumped forward with
an oath. He pulled a lever on the wall
and the door swung open. Cames
shouted and through tne opened door
came a half dozen marines followed by
an officer.

"Tie these men up I" snapped Cames.

IN a trice the six men were securely
bound and Frink's bleeding (boul-
der was being skilfully treated by two
of the marines. Cames turned his at-
tention 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

20

ASTOUNDING STORIES

over Dr. Bird. He raised one of the
doctor's eyelids and peered closely at
his eye and then sniffed at his breath.

"If s some anesthetic I don't know,"
he said. "I'll try a stimulant."

He reached in his pocket for a hypo-
dermic, but Cannes interrupted him.

"Earlier in the evening Dr. Bird said
they were using lethane," he said.

"Oh, that new gas the Chemical War-
fare 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, Cames began to
feverishly search the pockets of the
unconscious scientist. With an excla-
mation 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 tkat confounded bottle away,
Cames I". ire 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 Lieu-
tenant Maynard and the marines.
When we got here I was afraid that we
couldn't find the door, so I took May-
nard 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 unconscrouB 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 atten-
tion 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 in-
sisted on inviting the rest of my

friends in to share in the party. Thafi
all."

"Cames," said the Doctor, "you're
probably lying like a trooper when yon
make out that you did nothing, but 111
pry the truth out of you sooner or
later. Now I've got to get to work.
Send for Lieutenant Maynard."

ONE of the marine! went out to get
the flyer, and DrV 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 en-
tered 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 I 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 concen-
trate."

For an hour and a half silence
reigned in the cave. A stir was heard
outside and Admiral Clay, the Presi-
dent's personal physician, entered lead-
ing 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 Cames as
the officers came to, a salute and the
marines presented arms.

The President nodded to his ei-
guard, acknowledged the salute of the
rest and turned to Dr. Bird.

"Have you met with success, Doc-
tor?" 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 experi-
mented on, as you term it, is unalter-
able."

STOLEN BRAINS

21

DR. BIRD bowed and turned to the
dwarf who had been a sullen wit-
ness 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 yon will
direct my movements. Just what is the
first step in removing the menthium
from a brain?"

The dwarf maintained a stubborn si-
lence.

"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
dwarfs hiding place and taken out the
flask of menthium.

"Carson," he said, "after you had
watched Slavatsky inject menthium in-
to Willis, you took lethane and ex-
pected 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 re-
move the menthium from him?"

The dirty swine t" shouted Carson.
TU do anything to get even with him,
but I have never performed the opcr-
ttion. Only Slavatsky and Willis have
operated."

"Will you help me, Willis?" asked
Dr. Bird.

"Ill be glad to. Doctor. I am sick of
thia business anyway. At first, Sla-

vatsky just planned to give us abnor-
mally 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 strag-
glings if the dwarf, three of the
marines strapped him in the chair be-
neath 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 men-
tality 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, Slavats-
ky, that the time might come when I
would remember your threats against
me. I will show you the same mercy
npw as you promised me then. Games,
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 steri-
lized it and then turned to the Presi-
dent.

"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 1
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?"

22

ASTOUNDING STORIES

THE President nodded.
"When I Erst read of these am-
neeia cases, I took them for coinci-
dences—until you consulted me and
gave me an opportunity to examine one
of the victims. I found a small punc-
ture at the base of the brain which I
could not explain, and I began to dfg
into old records. I knew, of course, of
Sweigert of Vienna, and the extrava-
gant claims he had put forward in
1911. He was far ahead of his time,
but he mixed up some profound scien-
tific discoveries with mysticism and oc-
cultism until he was discredited. Nev-
ertheless, he continued his experiments
with the aid of his principal assistant,
a man named Slavatsky.

"Sweigert's theory was that intellec-
tuality, 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 un-
fortunate victim, who was reduced to a
state of imbecility, and Slavatsky in-
jected the substance into Sweigert's
brain. The experiment, resulted fatal-
ly and Slavatsky was, tried for murder.
He was acquitted of ' intentional mur-
der 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 rec-
ords of the trials and of Sweigert's
original reports, and the thing that at-
tracted my attention was that the punc-
ture I found in the victim corresponded
exactly with the puncture described by
Sweigert as the one he made in extract-
ing the menthium. I asked the immi-
gration authorities to check over their
records and they found that a man
named Slavatsky whose description
corresponded with the ill-fated Swei-
gert'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 re-
mained to find the man who was sys-
tematically robbing brains.

M TF such a thing was really going on,

X I felt that my reputation would
make me an attractive bait and I se-
cured a double, as you know, and
placed him in a position where his kid-
naping 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 de-
tector which would find even minute
traces of lethane in the air.

"My fish rese 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 be-
hind it. Carnes was with me, and we
got here in time to witness the extrac-
tion of the menthium from my friend,
Professor Williams of Yale, and to see
it injected into one df 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 crim-
• inals 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 un-
conscious dwarf. With Willis direct-
ing every move, he inserted the needle
and drew back slowly on the plunger.
Twenty-three and one-half cubic cen-
timeters of amber fluid flowed into the
syringe before a speck of blood ap-
peared.

STOLEN BRAINS

23

"Enough I" 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 in-
to 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 ex-
claimed. "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 per-
fectly 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 ex-
plain to him," said the President.

Admiral Clay led the puzzled man
outside and the President tumed to
Dr. Bird. }

"Doctor," he said, "I need not tell
you that I again add my personal grat-
itude 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 person-
ally 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 Sla-
vatsky'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 menthinm to
give him the intelligence of an ordi-
nary 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 Presi-
dent. He shook hands heartily and left
the cave. Carnes, turned and looked at
the Doctor.

"Will you answer a question, Doc-
tor?" he asked. "Ever since this case
started, I have been wondering at your
extraordinary powers. You have or-
dered the army, the navy, the depart-
ment 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 de-
tective.

"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 execu-
tives in the country, he has another
unique distinction. He happens to be
the only brother of the President of
the United States."

ASTOUNDING STORIES

Appear* on Newutandi
THE FIRST THURSDAY IN EACH MONTH

Far overhead a tumimous shape appeared.

The Invisible Death

A COMPLETE NOVELETTE

By Victor Routteau

CHAPTER I
Out of the Hangman's Hands

OU speak." said Von Kettler,
jeering, "as if you really be-
lieved that you had the
power of life and death over

Y

The Superin-
tendent of the
penitentiary
frowned, yet

With night-rayi and darkness-antidote
America strikes hack at the terrific and
destructive Invisible Empire.

there was something of perplexity in
the look he give 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."

Von Kettler
bowed ironically.
Standing in the

24

Superintendent's presence in the uni-
form of the condemned cell, collarless,
hire-headed, he yet seemed to dominate
the other by a certain poise, breeding,
nonchalance.

"Your life is offered you in consid-
eration of your making a complete
written confession of tbj£ whole rami-
fications of the plot against the Fed-
eral Government," the Superintendent
continued.

"Rather a confession of weakness,
my dear Superintendent," jeered the
prisoner.

"f\H don't worry about that I The
V»/ Government has unravelled a
good deal of the conspiracy. It knows
that you and your international asso-
ciates are planning to strike at civil-
ized government throughout the world,
in the effort to restore the days of au-
tocracy. It knows you are planning a
world federation of states, based on
the principles of absolutism and aris-
tocracy. It is aware of the immense
financial resources behind the move-
ment. Also that you have obtained the
use of certain scientific discoveries

26

ASTOUNDING STORIES

which you believe will aid you in your
schemes."

"I was wondering," jeered the pris-
oner, "how soon you were coming to
that."

t "They didn't help you in your mur-
derous 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 mysteri-
ous power which would afford you se-
curity."

"A little lapse of judgment such as
may happen with the best laid plans,"
smiled Von Kettler. "No, Superin-
tendent, 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 re-
solved 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 Ket-
tler. Your persistence in this absurd
claim has actually shaken the ex-
pressed 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 af-
fair has blown over."

**'T*HE United States Government
X 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 your-
self is not worth the lives of thou-
sands of innocent men I"

"And there," smiled Von Kettler,
without abating an atom of his noncha-
lance, "there, my dear Superintendent,
you hit the nail on the head. Only, in-
stead of thousands, you might hare
said millions."

Von Kettler's aspect changed. Sud-
denly his eyes blazed, his voice shook
wjth excitement, his face was the face
, of a fanatic, of a prophet.

"Yes, millions. Superintendent," he
thundered. "It is a holy cause that in-
spires us. We know that it is ear
sacred mission to save the world from
the drabness of modern democracy.
The people — always the people I Bahl
what are the lives of these swarming
millions worth when compared with a
Caesar, a Napoleon, an Alexander, a
Charlemagne ? Nothing can stop ub or
defeat us. And you, with youq con-
fession of defaat, your petty bargain-
ing — I laugh at you I"

"You'll laugh on the gallows to-
morrow night I" 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 but-
ton 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 an-
other button, and his assistant en-
tered, a rugged, red-haired man of forty
— Anstruther, familiarly known as
"Bull" Anstruther, the man who had in
three, weeks reduced the penitentiary

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

27

From a place of undisciplined chaos to
i model of law and order. Anstruther
mew nothing of the Superintendent's
jffer to Von Kettler, hut 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
esamination. He seemed ■confident
that he could not be hanged. Swore
that he will never stand on the gallows
trap. How about your precautious for
to-morrow night?"

"We've taken all possible precau-
tions," answered Anstruther. "Spe-
cial armed guards have been posted at
every entrance to the building. Detec-
tives are patrolling all streets leading
op 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 Superin-
tendent, 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 ar-
rogant superiority that had made him
doubt. "But he's not too insane to
have know what he was doing. He'll
hang."

"He certainly will," replied An-
struther. "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-dis-
tance conversation with Washington
over a special wire.

IN his cell, Von Kettler could, be
be seen reading a book. It was
Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathusta,"
that compendium of aristocratic inso-
lence 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 work^aside with a
yawn, lay down on his cot, and ap-
peared 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 An-
struther cjune 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 iron-
ically. That smile stirred Anstruther's
gall.

"We know your'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 precau-
tions, that's all."

"So unnecessary," smiled Voiy Ket-
tler. "To-night I shall dine at dfc'Am-
bassador grill. Watch for me there.
I'll leave a memento."

Anstruther went out, choking. Earljt
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 comfort-
able cell in a corridor leading off the
death house, designed to impress visi-
tors with the belief that it was the
condemned man's permanent abode;
and, by a sort of convention, it was un-
derstood that prisoners were not to
disabuse their visitors' minds of the
idea. The convention had been hon-
orably 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 corri-
dor, conducted by the Superintendent
himself. She walked with dignity, her
bearing was proud, she smiled at her

28

ASTOUNDING STORIES

brother through the grill, and there
was no trace of weeping about her
eyes. f.

She bowed with pretty formality,
and Von Kettler saluted her with an
airy wave of the hand. Then they be-
gan 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
'Franch, 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 convers-
ing 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 ft 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 ex-
perimenting with the trap. He him-
self was under close observation.
Nothing was being left to chance.

AT seven o'clock two men collided
in the death-bouse 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," an-
swered the Superintendent, when the
chaplain voiced his protest. "He
thinks he can get away with it. Tat
commission has pronounced him sane,
and he must pay the penalty of hh
crime."

By that mysterious process of teleg-
raphy that exists in all. penal inttitu-
tionss Von Kettler's boast that he
would beat the hangman had become
the common information of the in-
mates. 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 si-
lenced 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 is in this absurdity," he said.

HE looked at his watch. It lacked
five minutes of eight. The prep-
arations for an execution had been re-
duced almost to a formula. One min-
ute in the cell, twenty seconds to the
trap, forty seconds for the hangman to
complete his arrangements; two min-
utes, 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 I The
Superintendent walked back to the

THE INVISIBLE /DEATH

door of the death house and nodded to
the guard.

"Bring him out quick I" he said.

The guard shot the bolt of Von Ket-
tler'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 I

CHAPTER' II
Conference

CAPTAIN RICHARD RENNELL,
of the U. S. Air Service, but tem-
porarily 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
■parkling with pleasure.

"A thousand thanks, M'sieur Ren-
nell," 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 I It
claims so much of your time I" 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 In-
telligence?" demanded Dick bluntly.

She laughed mockingly. "Do you
think that is not known all over Wash-
ington?" 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 com-
pletely 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 Slovak ian Am-

29

baasador. 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 unquestion- ,
ably at the Embassy, where she had
taken up her quarters, explaining — as
the Ambassador confirmed by cable —
that she had sailed under a misconcep-
tion as to the date of his leave.

BRUNETTE, beautiful, charming,
shenad a score of hearts to play
with, and yet Dick nattered himself
that he stood first. Perhaps the others
did too.

"Of course," the girl went on, "with
the Invisible Emperor threatening or-
ganized 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 thing 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 acknowl-
edgment," she answered. "After all, he
does stand for that aristocracy that has
disappeared from the modern world,
does he not? For refinement of man-
ners, 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," an-
swered 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 I" 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 re-
ceived all his overtures in the i

30*

ASTOUNDING STORIES

lence. A frigid little bow w3s her
farewell to him, while Dick, strug-
gling between resentment and humili-
ation, sat dumb and wretched at the
wheel. i

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 ah inter-
national 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 nun-
herein comparison wijh those they had
not.

The headquarters of the conspira-
tors 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 gen-
eral strikes, using the communist
movement as a cloak for its activities.

But nobody dreamed that America
could become a fertile field for its in-
sidious propaganda. Yet it was be-
-hind 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 ab-
stracted. The Cermania had mysteri-
ously disappeared in mid-Atlantic, and
a shipping/ panic had ensued. There
"were tales of mysterious figures ma-

terializing out of nothingness. It was
known that the conspirators were in
possession of certain chemical and
electrical devices with which they
honed to achieve their ends.

The Superintendent of the peniten-
tiary had had in his pocket an authori-
zation to stop the execution of Von
Kettler after he stood on the trap.
Dead, he would be a mere mark of ven-
geance; alive, he might be persuaded
to furnish some clue to the headquar-
ters 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
Bwiftness.

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 out-
side Baltimore, the police clubbed and
killed by invisible assailants — as they
claimed. The press was under censor-
ship, troops under arms, and it was re-
ported that the fleet was mobilizing.

In the midst of it all, Washington
shopped, danced, feasted, flirted, like
a swarm of may flies over a treacher-
ous stream.

Intelligence was alert. As Dick
started to drive away from the Slo-
vakian Embassy, a man stepped quick-
ly 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 camou-
flaged Headquarters at the War De-
partment, but at the real Headquar-
where no papers were kept but weighty
decisions were made. And to that de-

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

31

rious course the Government had al-
ready 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 mem-
bers of " Intelligence's staff — asked
Dick's name, which she knew perfect-
ly 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 mo-
ments 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 corri-
dor to where the Intelligence service
had established another perfectly in-
nocent 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 Ser-
vice. The man at the flat-topped desk
was Colonel Stop ford. 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 exe-
cution, though, as a matter of fact, he
wasn't going to be hanged. Apparent-
ly he walked through the walls.

"There's a sequel to it, Rennell. It
seems he had told the assistant-super-
intendent, 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 Ket-
tler's, and he surrounded the restau-
rant with armed detectives, on the
chance that the fellow would show up.
Rennell, Von Kettler was therel"

"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 min-
utes later Anstruther and his men were
on the job. Von Kettler never came
out of the washroom, so far as any-
body 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

32

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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.

"T¥ TE'RE notjthe hunters, Dick
W 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 I They called me up
from Scranton the instant he'd finished
speaking. They have the power of the
devil, Rennell, with that infernal in-
visibility 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. Some-
where along the south Atlantic sea-
board. The greater part of his activi-
ties emanate from there. But we're
fighting in the dark. The clue, the
master clue that will enable us to lo-
cate 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?"
be asked ; and Dick was aware that the
two other men were regarding him at-
tentively.

"It's evident," said Dick, "that Voa
Kettrell possessed this means of in-
visibility in his cell, and wasn't de-
tected. He simply slipped out when
.the guard came to fetch him."

"Invisibility? Yes I But invisible'!
not the same thing as transparent,"
cried Stopford. "These folks have op-
erated in broad daylight. They're
transparent, damn them! Not even a
shadow ! You know what I mean, Ren-
nell! 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!"

W \70U mean Luke Evans, sir. That
X 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 pro-
duced universal darkness, or soot
such nonsense, Rennell, and I told him
that we wanted light, no 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 be-
gan carefully: "You'll remember, sir,
old Evans claimed to have been the in-
ventor of that shadow-breaking device
that was stolen from him and sold in
England."

"To a moving picture company I"
snorted Stopford. "I asked him what
moving pictures had to do with war."

"Evans was convinced that the in-
vention would be applied to war. He
claimed 'that it made the modern
methods of military camouflage out of
date completely. He said that by de-
stroying shadows one could produce
invisibility, since visibility consists in
the refraction of wave lengths by ma-
terial objects.

"When they stole his invention, he
foresaw that it would be used in war.
He set to work to nullify his own in-

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

33

rention. He told me that he had unin-
tentionally 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 inven-
tion will counteract this damned in-
visibility business — "

The telephone on the Colonel's desk
nog. He picked it up, and his face
assumed an expression of incredulity.
He looked about him, like a man be-
wildered. 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 representa-
tive.

"Gentlemen," he said, "the President
has disappeared from his office in the
White House, and there are grave
fears that he has been kidnapped I"

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 in-
side the grounds. At the entrance a
•ingle guard, in place of the four who
should have been posted there, chal-
lenged sharply, and attempted to bar
the way, not recognizing Dick or Stop-
ford 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. Sol-

diers were swarming in confused
groups, some trying to force an en-
trance, others pouring ouf. Every mo-
ment civilians, streaming over the
lawn, added to the number. Discipline
seemed almost abandoned. From in-
side the building came outbursts of
screams and cursing, the scuffling of a
mob.

"Roscoel Roscoel'' shouted. Slop-
ford. "Where's the President's secre-
tary? Who's seen him? Let us pass
immediately I"

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 inti-
mately in his confidence.

Rosecoe 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 I
heard him crying, 'Help me, Roscoel'
He saw me, I tell you — and I didn't
know where he was I"

THE little secretary was almost in-
coherent 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 inco-
herently, 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 I" he shouted
wildly. "Somewhere upstairs I I'm
trying to form a cordon, but this
damned mob's in the way. Kick those

34

ASTOUNDING STORIES

civilians out I" he cried to the soldiers.
"Shoot them if they don't got Guard
the windows I"

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 angtiish, 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 bloodstained
bayonet, dripping upon the hardwood
floor at the edge of the rug. Upon the
rug itself a stream of blood was spout-
ing out of the air.

Dick looked at the sight and
choked. There was something appal-
ing In the sight; it was the quintes-
sence 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. t

Colonel Stopford leaped back, livid
and staring. "God, it's got eyes — two
eyes I" 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 acci-
dent, 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 ajnan,
apparently dressed in some sort ofuni-

form, 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 co-
coon. It seemed to appear and alter-
nately to .vanish.

Dick seized the filmly stuff in hit
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 re-
inforced 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 lieu-
tenant. He opened his eyes, blue as
the skies, and stared about him He
seemed to understand what had hap-
pened to him.

"DogBl" 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 1 Long be hU
reign triumphant 1" he chanted. It was
his last credo. The words broke from
his lips accompanied by a torrent of
red foam. His head dropped back, hit
body slipped down; he was gone. And
no one seemed to observe his passing.
They were all screaming andSgibber-
ing at Dick.

"Rennell! Rennelll" yelled Stop-
ford. "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, float-
ing in the air. His lower limbs had be-

/

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

39

come invisible, except for patches of
trousering that seemed to drift through
•pace. The mob in the room had fallen
hack gaping at him in horror.

Then Dick understood. It was the
invisible garment that had' coiled it-
self about him. He tore it from him
and became visibly a man once mora

Shouts from another room I A eury-
ing movement of the crowd toward pt.
The muffled sounds of ah automatic
pistol, fitted with a silencer I Then
■creams:

"The devils are in there I They're
murdering the soldiers I"

There followed a panic-stricken
rush, more muffled firing, and then the
■harp 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, curs-
ing 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, strug-
gling helplessly in the packed crowd
that wedged the great stairway, made
babel. Outside the White House a
dense mob that filled the lawns was
felling back, and struggling to gain
admittance. Suddenly the lights went
out

"They've cut the wires I" rose a wild,
wailing voice. "The devils have cut
the wires 1 Kill them I Kill every-
body I"

His cry ended in a gurgle. Some-
where in that dark hell a struggle was
going on, a well defined struggle, dif-
ferent from the random, aimless bat-
tling 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 ear-
ned away when every foot of space
was packed. And through that dark-

ness the invisible assailants were edg-
ing him, foot by foot, toward the out-
side.

DICK was on the edge of this si-
lent battle. He sensed it. Brac-
ing himself against a bureau, while the
mob surged past him, he tried to pierce
the gloom, to reinforce with his per-
ceptions what his instinct told him. A
soldier, crazed with fear, came leaping
at him, bayonet leveled. He thrust
with a grunt. Dick avoided the glanc-
ing steel by a hand's breadth, and, as
the impetus of thfe man's attack car-
ried 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 I 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,
Rermell I" 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 un-
der a gag. They put one of those
damned cloths over him. God,. Ren-
nell, I'm going crazy I"

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 impos-
sible to attempt to restore any sem-
blance of order. The big East Room
was jammed with a fighting, cursing
throng. Dick stumbled over the bod-
ies 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 mad-
men.

36

ASTOUNDING STORIES

NOTHING that could be done I
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
Housa, and on this side the grounds
were comparatively empty. As Dick
stopped, trying desperately to form
some plan of action, he heard foot-
steps and low voices near him. Then
two men came toward him, followed by
three or four others.

The men — but, though the light was
taint, 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 breath-
ing heavily. They were carrying
something. Grotesquely through a
rent in the invisible garment Dick saw
a patch of trouter. He heard a muf-
fled sigh. President Har greaves, in
the hands of his abductors I

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
hao? 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 wirh the chin of a substantial
flesh and blood human being. VJnvisi.
ble arms grasped him. He' Afouglfc
free. The pistol slashed his xacje side-
wise, 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 I Shoot I"
Dick heard one of his assailants mut-
tering.

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 impracably
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 Fredegondt
Valmyl _/*

Dick cried her nafce^ He put forth
all his strength in a final struggle.
Suddenly he felt a stunning impact oo
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 impli-
cated in the conspiracy I That
was the first thought that flashed into
Dick's mind as he recovered conscious-
ness. He might have suspected it I
But the idea that the girl he loved wai
bound up with the murderous gang
that was attacking the very founds-

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

37

tions of civilization chilled him to the
ion!.

Dick had been picked up a few min-
utes 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 frbm 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 or government still re-
solved. All night an emergency coun-
cil sat in the White House, and, decid-
ing that in a time of such grave danger
heroic means must be adopted, with
the consent of such of the Congres-
sional leaders as could be summoned,
i Council of Defence was organized.

The whole country east of the Mis-
ntaippi was placed under martial law.
The fleet and army were put on a war
looting. Flights of airplanes were as-
sembled at numerous points along the
eanem seaboard. To this Council
Donald was attached as head of Intelli-
gent* for the Eastern Division. Yet
ill this availed little unless the loca-
tion 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 di-
rection.

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
Hotmeyer, it was deposited under mili-
tary guard in a dark closet. The re-
mit was unfortunate. The garment ex-
hibited to the assembled scientists was
a mere bifurcated silken bag.

The gas with which it had been im-
pregnated, 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 Frede-
gonde Valmy. A cable from the Slo-
vakian 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 ramifica-
tions 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, plan-
ning, 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 headquar-
ters of the marauders.

But in those three days there had
been no sign of them. Hope had suc-
ceeded despair ; in the rebound of con-
fidence the populace was beginning to
ridicule the nation-wide precautions
against what were coming to be con-
sidered merely a gang of super-crimi-
nals. 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 to-
gether and made his way into the Blue
Room, where the Council was assem-
bled. 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 suc-
cession to the chief office of State.

38

ASTOUNDING STORIES

Tomlinson did not like Dick, or any
of the hustling younger officers who,
unlike himself, realized the real sig-
nificance of the danger that overhung
the country. He sat pompously in his
leather chair, regarding Dick as he en-
tered 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 concentra-
tions, Mr. Vice-president. We've eight
nights 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
Jeet, his face flushed with anger. His
nerves had broken, under the continu-
ous strain. "I'll give you my opinion,
Captain Rennell," he said. "And that
is that this so-called Invisible Em-
peror is a myth.

"A gang of thieves has invented a
paint that renders them inconspicuous,
has created a panic, and is taking 1 ad-
vantage 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 exagger-
ated, and that the persons responsible
are the reporters of our sensational
press I" thundered Tomlinson.

HE looked about him, a weak man
proud of having asserted his au-
thority. Somebody laughed.

Tomlinson glared at Dick, his rubi-
cund 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 Coun-
cil members out of emptiness. Grey
eyes, a man's eyes, cool, contemptuous,
and filled with authority, with a con-
temptuous 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 he
known as the Invisible Emperor,"
came the words. "As such, I claim im-
munity. 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 at
the bayonetted soldier had worn up-
stairs three nights before.

He bowed disdainfully, and it was
Tomlinson who shouted:

"Arrest that man I I know his face I
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 sus-
picion 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 I

Fredegonde Valmy was Von Ket-
tier's sister I

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

39

<*Y X 7 ELL, gentlemen, am I to re-
VV ceive,_the courtesies of an
embassador?" inquired Van Kettler, ad-
vancing.

"You shall have the privileges -of the
gallows rope I" shouted Tomlinson.
"Arrest that man at once, Captain Ren-
nelll"

"Pardon me, Mr. Vice-president,"
luggested the Secretary for the Navy
blandly, "but perhaps it would be more
desirable to hear what he has to say."

"Immunity for thieves, robbers, mur-
derers I"

"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 ac-
corded him the rights of a beligexent ?"

"We'll hear you, Mr. Von Kettler,"
aid the Secretary of State, glancing
along the table. Three or four nodded,
two shook their heads; Tomlinson
only glared speechlessly at the in-
truder. Von Kettler advanced to the
table and laid a paper upon it.

"You recognize that signature, gen-
tlemen?'" he asked.

At the bottom of the paper Dick
law scrawled the bold and unmistak-
able signature of President Har-
greaves.

"An order signed by the President
of your country," purred Von Kettler,
"ordering your military forces re-
placed 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 mas-
ter rules America henceforward."

Somebody laughed ; another laughed ;
but it was the Secretary of State who
did the fine thing. He took up the pa-
per bearing what purported to be Presi-
dent Hargreaves's signature, and tore
it in two.

"The people of this country are her
rulers," he said, "not an old man dra-
gooned into signing a proclamation
while in captivity — if indeed that is
President Hargreaves's signature."

THERE came a sudden burst of ap-
plause. Von Kettler's face be-
came 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 I"
The voice of the Secretary of State cut
like a steel edge. "You totally mis-
take 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 I" shouted Von Kettler, beside
himself with fury. "Your doom b
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
^j/haXl pay for this insult to my master.

I warn you, such a catastrophe is com-
ing as shall show you the Invisible
Emperor does not threaten in vain I"

With complete nonchalence the Sec-
retary of State took out his watch.
"One minute and fifteen seconds re-
maining, Captain Rennell," he said.
"At the expiration of that time, put
Mr. Von Kettler under arrest. I ad-
vise you to go back to your master
quickly, Mr. Von Kettler," he added,
"and tell him that we'll have no deal-
ings 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 denoue-
ment, the members of, th© Council
leaped to their feet, staring incredu-

40/ ASTOUNDI1

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.

Dick sprang forward to the door, but
his outstretched anna-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 I

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 I 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 an-
swered him.

When Dick and the guards readied
the spot, the man was lying in a crum-
pled heap.

"An airplane," he gasped. "Invisi-
ble 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 has-
tily 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.

C STORIES

He twirled the helicopter starter,
and she roared and zoomed, taking an
angle of a hundred and twenty-five de-
grees 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 ai
her helicopters, counteracting the pull
of gravity, held her^comparatively sta-
ble. He scanned the atSall about him.

Washington lay below, her myriad
lights gleaming. Immediately be-
neath 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 gai
to the surfaces of airplanes? There
was no reason why they shtluld not
have done so.

But surely the utmost ingenuity of
man had not contrived to render a mod-
em plane, with its metalwork and ma-
chinery, absolutely transparent?

AND, again, how was it possible to
have silenced the sound of en-
gines, 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 1 Boom I 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 Jongues
of flame.

No shell that, but a bomb, and
dropped from the skies less than fin

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

41

bohdred feet from where Dick hov-
ered. 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 persua-
sion. The dead soldier had not lied.

Von Kettler had begun the fulfill-
ment of his threat I

CHAPTER V
The Enemy Strikes

AS Dick's airship veered and side-
slipped, he kicked hard on the
left rudder and brought the nose
■round. 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 be-
yond a few minor bruises. He rnshed
toward the hangar, to encounter a bevy
of Beared mechanics.

"Another plane I Rev one up quick I"
he shouted.

Planes were already being wheeled
out, pilots in flying suits and goggles
were striding beside them. Dick or-
dered 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 every-

where. 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 govern-
ment 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 reson-
ant moan of pain.

In the central part of the city, the
district about F Street and the gov-
ernment buildings, nothing 'Vas stand-
ing, except those buildings fashioned
of structural steel, and these" showed
twisted girders lpce 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 be-
neath them. Yet here and there could
be seen the forms of dead pedestrians,
motor-cars emerging out of the debris,
lying i in every conceivable position;
horses, horribly mangled, were shriek-
ing 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,

42

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 fruit-
less their effort was. And the marau-
ders had not ceased their deadly work.

A bomb dropped near the Washing-
ton 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 Pennsyl-
vania 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 gTitted his teeth and swore
as he circled over the site of de-
struction, 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 I 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 infintely mag-
nified.

"The devils I The swine!" shouted
Dick. "And we gave Von Kettler the
privileges of an ambassador I"

And Fredegonde was the sister of
this devil I The remembrance of that
struck a cold chill to Dick's heart
again. He tried to blot out her pic-
ture 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 de-
stroyed by morning, if the supply of
bombs kept up. But there was more
to come. Suddenly Dick became aware
that two pf his flight, at widely sepa-
rated 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 I

He drove furiously toward two of
his planes whose erratic movement!
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 ma-
chine-gun. Nothing ' there I Nothing
at all I 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 discov-
ered of counteracting the enemy'i ter-
rific advantage!

He darted across the heart of the
city to where another of the flight was
circling, waggling, his wings to indi-
cate to it to descent!. Then on to the
next plane and tie next, shepherding

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

43

them. Thank God they understood!
They were bunching toward the han-
gar. 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 Penn-
sylvania Avenue, • showed an attempt
upon the Capitol. Again — again, and
a smoking hell wreathed the noble
buildings so that it was no longer pos-
sible to see them. A lull, and then a
crash nearer the city's heart. Crasfa!
Crash I '

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 Pennsyl-
vania 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 I A wild chance,
but Dick's mind was keyed up to des-
peration. He shot like an arrow to-
ward the scene, with a view to inter-
cepting (the murderer.

Then 'of a sudden he became aware
of a curious prenomenon. A black
beam was shooting across the sky. A
black searchlight I It came from the
Bat top of a large hotel that had some-
how escaped the universal destruction,
and, with its gaunt skeleton of struc-
tural steel showing in squares, tow-
ered out of the ruin all about it like an
island.

IT was from here that the black beam
started. It spread fan wise across
the sky. But it was not merely black-
ness. 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 extin-
guished 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 I
Like a trapped bird he fluttered, hurl-
ing himself this way and that till sud-
denly he found himself blinking in the
dazzling light of the moon again, and
the black beam was overhead.

Crash I 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.

IJe 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 de-
struction. 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 Vnew
it, almost before he knew why.

FOR overhead, where the inky fin-
ger 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 de-
rision, hate, and anger as the black
beam held it.

It held it I To and fra that silvery
cigar scurried in a frantic attempt to
avoid detection, and remorselessly the
black beam held it down.

♦4

ASTOUNDING STORIES

It held it down, and it outlined it as
clearly as a figure on thcNmoving pic-
ture screen. Then suddenlyHhere came
a flash, followed by a dull detonation,
and a black cloud appeared, threading
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. Hov-
ering, Dick watched. And then, per-
haps panic-stricken, perhaps rendered
desperate, perhaps through sheer, wan-
ton courage that might have com-
manded admiration under nobler cir-
cumstances, 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 oharmed 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, hov-
ering 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 hii
breath. ,

Then suddenly the silvery ship dis-
solved in a blaze of fire, a shower of
golden sparks such as fly from s
rocket, and simultaneously the last
bomb that she' was to drop broke upon
the ground below.

Down she plunged, instantly invisi-
ble as she escaped the finger of the
black beam ; but she dropped into the
vortex of ruin that she herself had cre-
ated. Into a pit of blazing fire, eras-
crossed by falling trees, that had en-
gulfed 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, resem-
bling an exaggerated kodak, and it wu
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 I" he cried. "Thank
Cod you've come back in time to save
America!"

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

45

CHAPTER VI
The Gas

IN the Blue Room of the White
House the Council listened to old
Luke Evans's exposition of his inven-
tion with feelings ranging from in-
credulity 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
■ake 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
use 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'invisi-
ble, but almost as viscous as paint. Ap-
plied to textiles, to inorganic matter,
to animal bodies, it adheres for hours.
Its property is to render such sub-
stances 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 ex-
ist."

"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 min-
ute portion of a gas which exists in na-
ture 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 fif-
teen pounds to the square inch is re-
moved, the powder instantly changes
to the gaseous condition.

"By pressing this lever" — Evans
pointed a^ tht box — "a vacuum is cre-
sted. Instantly the powder becomes a
gas, which shoots forth through this
aperture with the speed of a projec-

tile, taking the form of a beam of abso-
lute blackness. Or it can be dis-
charged 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 dark-
ness destroy all light?"

H'ln 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 per-
ceived, 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 en-
tering 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 emerg-
ing from the beam, however, these vi-
brations 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 in-
terruption."

' "Then," said Stopford, "the logical
application of your method is to
plunge every city in the land into dark-
ness by means of this gas?"

"That is so, sir, and then we shall
have the advantage of invisibility, and

46

ASTOUNDING STORIES

the enemy ships will be in fluor-
escence."

"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 exist-
ing 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.ibut it was
he who hit the nail on -fhe head.

"That's all very well as anVemerg-
ency measure, but we've got to find the
haunt of that gang and smash it I"

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 flut-
tered from his nerveless fingers, and he
sank back with a groan. The Secre-
tary picked it up and glanced at it.

"Gentlemen," he said, trying to con-
trol 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 rum were devastated.
, Three cruisers and a score of minor
craft were sunk in the harbor of New-
port News, where they were concen-
trating, and thenceforward the fleet
became a fugitive force, seeking con-
cealment rather than an offensive.
Trans-Atlantic sea-traffic ceased.

Meanwhile the black gas was being
hurriedly manufactured. From cylin-
ders placed in central positions in a
score of cities it was discharged con-
tinuously, covering these centers with
an impenetrable pall of night that no
light would penetrate. Only by the
glow of radium paint, which com-
manded fabulous prices, could official
business be transacted, and that only
to a very small degree.

Courts were closed, business sus-
pended, prisoners released, perforce,
from jails. Famine ruled. The rem-
edy was proving worse than the dis-
ease. 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,
i demands that the Government come ito
terms, and counter-demands that the
war be fought, put to the bitter end.

Fought outr^when everything wu
disorganized? Stocks of food con-
gested 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 flattering
down from a cloudless sky. Unless the
white flag of surrender was hoisted
from the summit of the battered Capi-
tol, the Invisible Emperor would strike
such a blow as should bring America
to her knees I

IT was a twelve-hour ultimatum, and
before three hours had passed thou-
sands of citizens had taken possession
of the Capitol and filled all the ap-
proaches. 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, home-
less in the sharpening autumn weather,
and nearly all bereft of members of

THE INVISIBLE) DEATH

47

their families, too often of the bread-
winner, now lying deep beneath the
rabble 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 af-
ternoon; 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 bit-
ter end. Dick and his squadron cir-
cled above the broken dome as the car
that carried- the Vice-president and the
secretaries of State and for War ap-
proached along the Avenue.

Rat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat I

Out of the blue sky streams of lead
were poured into the assembled multi-
tudes. Instantly they had become con-
verted into a panic-stricken^mob, turn-
ing 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 mur-
der I" 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 fugi-
tives were streaming away in all direc-
tions like hunted deer, and the dead
lay piled in ghastly heaps everywhere.

Out of these heaps wounded and dy-
ing 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 contemptu-
ous 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 I Rat-tat-a-tat I The 'fiends
above loosed a storm of lead upon
them. Both fell, pne rose, still
clutching the banner in his hand and
waved it aloft. In a suaden 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 I Two of Dick's
flight crashing down upon the piles of
dfad men underneath I And^mothing
was visible, though the darkness rose
till it obliterated the blue/above.

AT dawn the Council sat, after an
all-night meeting. Vice-presi-
dent 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 map; was occupied only with
obtaining as much food as he could
carry, and taking his family into rural

48

ASTOUNDING STORIES

districts where the Terror would not
be likely to pursue. All the roads
leading out of Washington — into Vir-
ginia, 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 try-
ing 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, a 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 popu-
lace about the Capitol had been merely
an incident. This later development
was the fulfilment of the Invisible Em-
peror's ultimatum.

Death was afield, death, invisible, in-
stantaneous, 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 gath-
ered. 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 Tom-
linson was reading a telegraphic dis-
patch from Wilmington, South Caro-
lina:

"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 Col-
umbia, in the same State :

"Invisible Death now circling city,"
he read. "Business section already
invaded. All other telegraphists hart
left posts. Qan't say how long — "

And this, too, ended in the same way.
There were piles of such communica-
tions, and they had been coming m
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
3B 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 — V

"Remains constant. Seventy miles
an hour. '•Dying down a little," an-
swered Graves.

"The death line now runs from Wil-
mington, 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 any-
thing known to chemistry, so deadly
that a billionth part of it to one of ait
must be fatal, otherwise it could not
have traveled as it has done. Warn-
ings 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 hat
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 Washing-
ton?"

"Mr. Vice-president, if the wind con-
tinues, and this gas has sufficient con-
centration, it should be in Washington
within the next eight hours," Gravel
replied. "If the wind changes dire*-

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

49

tiori, however, this gas will probably
be blown out to sea, or into the Alle-
ghanies, where it will probably be dis-
sipated among the hills, or by the foli-
age on the mountains. I'm not a chem-
ist—"

"No, sir, and I am not consulting you
ss one," answered old Tomlinson. "A
death belt several hundred miles in
length and three or four hundred deep
has already been cut across this conti-
nent. 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 ex-
pect immunity than our devastated
Southern States. The question we
wish to put to you is, can you trace
the exact course taken by the hurri-
cane?"

"I can, Mr. Vice-president," an-
swered Craves. "It originated some-
where 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 Flor-
ida 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 front any point on the
American continent," said Tomlinson.
"From some ^Joint 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 re-
quire more space than could be fur-
nished by the largest vessel, in my
opinion."

"In all probability the gas was
loaded,' so to say, onto the gale some-
where inxthe Bahamas," said Graves.
That seems to me the most likely ex-
planation.

VICE-PRESIDENT TOMLIN-
SON nodded, and picked up one
of tire latest telegraphic dispatches, as
if absently.

"Uentlemen," he said, "the Invisible
DeatrKbas already reached Charlotte."

He picked up another. "Reported
Abaco Island, Bahamas, totally
wrecked by storm. All con^munication
has ceased," he read. He turned to
Dick and spoke as if inspired. "Cap-
tain Rennell, there is your destina-
tion," he thundered. "They've be-
trayed themselves,. We've got them
now. You understand?" ,

"By God, sir I It's from Abaco
Island, then, that those devils have
been carrying on their game of whole-
sale murder!"

Suddenly a contagion of enthusiasm
seemed to sweep the whole assemblage.
Every man was" upon his feet in an in-
stant, 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 them-
selves. 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."

'Til 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;

50

ASTOUNDING STORIES

sea, just when it appeared certain that
it would reach the capital of the na-
tion.

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 in-
nocuous 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 nortbernly 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 In*
visible Death's advent was made pub-
lic, mobs bad gathered in all the large
cities of the East, demanding sur-
render.

The submerged elements of crime
and Bisorder had come to the surface
at last. Committees were formed, with
the avowed object of yielding to the
Invisible Emperor, and averting fur-
ther disaster. ,. In Washington, a city
of the dead', half the members of
Congress and the Senators had gath-
ered 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 ap-
proach 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 tint
within a little while the Terror would
.be at an end.

Those at the white House were lea
sanguine. There was none but realized
the diabolical strength of their antago-
nists.

"Everything depends upon the oat
come of the next forty-eight hours, an!
everything depends on you, RenneH,"
said Secretary Norris to Dick, as be
stood beside his plan. Behind him ha
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,
Rennel I"

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 tbj
shouts of the insurgents were to be
heard at the ends of the barriers, com-
manded by the machine-guns, and pa-
trolled by the enlisted volunteers.

Negro mobs were building countef-
barricades of thiir own with rubbb
from the fallen ' edifices. Civil war
might be postponed for eight-and-forty
hours, but after that, unless there wai
news of victory, the whole structure of
civilization would be smashed irre-
parably.

It was up to Dick and Luke Evans,
and they had assumed such a respon-
sibility as rarely falls to the lot of maa
in war.

DICK was to lead the flight in t
two-seater Barwell plane. This
was one of the latest types, and bad
been hurriedly adapted to the purpose
for which it was to be used. Dick
himself occupied the rear seat, with ita
dual controls, and the gun in its ar-
mored casing. In front sat old Lukt

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

51

Evans, in charge of the black gas pro-
jector.

His famous camera box, containing
a minute quantity of gas in slow com-
bustion, 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 td earth, would re-
lease enough gas to cover a consider-
able area with darkness. Both Luke
and Dick wore respirators filled with
charcoal and sodium Urio-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 af-
fect a man would produce instantane-
ous death on them.

From its hiding-place off the Vir-
ginia coast the American fleet was
Keaming hotly southward toward
Abaco Island, cruisers, destroyers, sub-
marines. That Abaco was British ter-
ritory 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 Em-
pire out of business for good. The
naval guns would complete the same
business.

All day Dick and Luke Evans flew
■outhwestward. At first glance, every-
-thing appeared normal. The catastro-
phe 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 o.ut
of the principal cities. It was only
when they were over the southern por-
tion 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 farm-
bouses, the inmates could be seen, ly-
ing together in gruesome heaps, caught
and killed instantaneously as they at-
tempted 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 appal-
ing one. Dick set his jaws grimly. He
was thinking that the Council had let
Von Kettler escape. He was thinking
of Frodegonde. But he would not let
himself think of her. She deserved no
more pity than the rest of the murder-
ous crew.

Over the Carolinas the conditions
were still more appaling. Here deadly
gas had struck with all its concen-
trated 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 in-
tersected by canyonlike streets, around
it a rim of trim 'houses, bungalows, in-
dicative 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 inhabi-
tants, rich and poor, business men, fac-
tory hands, negroes. There had been
a mad rush as the fatal gas drove on-
ward upon its lethal way, and all the
fugitives had been overwhelmed simul-
taneously.

Here were golf links, with little
groups strewn on the grass and fair-
ways; 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 un-
tended 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

52

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 cab-
bage and carrots. The gas had evi-
dently 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 In-
visible 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 navi-
gation 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 Atner.
ica might be removed forever. Dick
breathed a silent prayer for success.

THEY were over Abaco. A long,
flat island, seventy miles or so is
extreme length, and fairly wide, cov-
ered with a dense growth of tropical
brush and forest, with here and there
open spaces, near the seacoast an occa-
sional 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 destroy
Hon by the hurricane. The farm-
houses 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, be
could see Abaco Island: from side to
side. For the most part; it was heavily
wooded w.ith 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 in-
tently. Here, if anywhere upon the
island, the Invisible Envperor had hit
headquarters. Was it conceivable that
a gas factory, hangars, ammunition de-
pots 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 mis-
taken, that he had come on a wild-
goose chase. This could not be the
place. It was^gjute incredible.

Again and again he circled, studying
the ground beneath. Now he could see
that the tough grass antl undergrowth
marked curious geometrical patterns.
Herej for example, wa£ , an oblong of
bare earth around which the vegeta-
tion /grew, and it was \pbviously the
work of man. .

Here were four squares of bare
ground set side by side, with thin

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

53

(trips 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 Em-
peror'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 In-
visible Empire, themselves both in-
visible 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-
breakuig 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 rea-
son 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
roomed up, circling, and studying the
land beneath.

That oblong was evidently the cen-
tral building. Those four squares prob-
ably 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 apd
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 wheel-
ing like a flight of birds and fol-
lowing him. He signaled to them to
scatter. They had certainly been ob-
served; 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 sig-
nificance of those bare patches?

Dick saw Luke Evans still fidgeting
impatiently with his end of the speak-
ing-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 go-
ing 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, hover-
ing with the helicopters, looking up to
Dick for the signal, and waiting.

Then from beneath pie cloud of
black gas began to rise, a» Luke Evans
dropped his bombs. It filled the lower
spaces of the sky, blotting out the land
in impenetrable darkness. That dark-
ness, above which Dick and his flight

54

ASTOUNDING STORIES

were soaring, rose like a solid wall,
built by some prehistoric race that
aimed to flfng 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 num-
ber of criss-crossing phosphores-
cent lines that appeared shimmering
through the blackness underneath,
^hey'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 wav-
ering visibility at night.

Then - the lines began to intersect
one another, to assume geometric-pat-
terns 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' rib-
bon of a road that ran through a pitch-
dark tarmac, and was evidently con-
structed 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 thexn now, sir I" Dick
heard above the whine of the helicop-
ter 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 bovered, each
taking up its station.

DICK was too late-' By a whole
minute he had missed his chance,
He realized that immediately, for, be-
fore the red light had flared from hit
pistol, the hostile plane's were in the
air. He had flown too low, and given
the alarm.

It meant a, fight now, instead of 9
mad dog destruction, and Dick did not
underestimate the poweu of the enemy.
But he felt a thrill of furious aatit-
faction at the prospect o'S 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 thes^ were broken,
converging into strange criss-crossn
of luminosity, as the beams fell in
shapeless heaps. Dark 'tire, sweeping
through the headquarters of the Invis-
ible Emperor, a veritable hell for thoM
below! A taste of the . hell that they
had made for others I

Then a strange phenomenon ob-
truded itself upon Dick's notice.
Nothing was audible! TJie bombs were
falling, but they were foiling silently.
No sound came up from beneath. And,
except for the throbbing: of his engine,
Dick would have thought it bad
stopped. He could no longer hear it
That terrific holocaust of death and
destruction was inaudible. Skimming
the upper reaches of the (lir, high above
that wall of darkness, pick saw old
Luke Evans pick up Ms end of the
speaking-tube, and mechanically fol-
lowed suit. He could see the old man'i
lips moving. But he heard nothing I

And now another phenomenon wu
borne in on his notice. His flight were
perhaps five hundred feel; beneath him,
hovering a little above the barrage of
black gas. But they were converging
oddly. And there was n& sight of the]
airplanes that Dick had just seef»-t*S-
ing off from the invisible tarmac

DICK fired two Very lights as 1
signal to his fligKt to scatter.
What were they doing, bunching to-

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

SS

gether like a flock of sheep, when at
any moment the enemy planes might
come swooping in, riddling them with
ballets ? He thrust the stick forward —
and then realized that his^controls had
gone dead I '

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 re-
mained 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
wis 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, un / -
til the whole flight resembled an
enormous airplane engine, with twelve
radial points, corresponding to their
propellers, and the noses pointing sym-
metrically inward, like a herd of game,
yarding in winter time.

And now the true significance came
home to Dick. A vertical line of mag-
netic 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 ef-
forts, 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 es-
caping. Her nose a fixed point, Dick
whirled round and round in a dizzy
maze, attempting to break that in-
visible mooring-chain. Then suddenly
the engine went dead. He was trapped
helplessly.

He saw old Evans gesticulating wild-
ly in the front cockpit. The old man
hoisted himself, leaned over the cowl-'

ing, gibbered in Dick's ear. The silent
engine had ceased to throb, and the
old man's shouts were simply not trans-
lated into sound.

Suddenly the flight beneath jerked
downward, just as a flag jerks when it
is hauled down a pole. Tney 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 under-
neath 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 ut-
ter 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 I

And yet, as Dick was jerked slowly
downward, slowly a pale visibility be-
gan 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 dark-
ness. He saw the form move sidewise,
and caught at Luke's arm as he was
about to hurl another gas bomb.

"Not" 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 bot-
tom, a pit of fire that was slowly com-
ing into visibility.

Dick uttered a cry of horror I Five
hundred feet below his plane he saw
the dim forms of his flight, still
bunched together, noses almost touch-
ing. And they were dropping straight

56

ASTOUNDING STORIES

into that flaming furnace of ruin un-
derneath, which was growing clearer
every instant.

Down, jerk by jerk. Down! The
black cloud was fast dispersing from
th*>gTound. The flight were hardly a
thousand feet above the fire. Down — a
long jerk that one I Once more! The
flames leaped up hungrily about the
doomed airships. Cries of mad hor-
ror broke from Dick's lips as he wit-
nessed the destruction of ships and
men.

He could Bee almost clearly now.
The twelve ships, still retaining their
nose-to-nose formation, were in the
very heart of the fire. Spurts of ex-
ploding gasoline thrust their white
tongues upward. There was only one
consolation: for the doomed men,
death must have come practically in-
stantaneously.

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 tem-
porarily to have lost his wits.

Rushing flames surrounded the burn-
ing 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 murder-
ers, 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 incom-
bustible. Only in the middle of the tar-
mac, where the remnants of the air-
planes blazed, was there any sign of
fire.

There were three machines resem-
bling dynamos, placed one at each cor-
ner 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 re-
flector 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 dis-
persed, the light above went out. And
now his plane, as if drhwn by the
powar of the two remaining machines,
began to move jerkily again, not down
toward the burning wreckage, but side-
wise, away from it. A

Straight out toward the side of the
tarmac it moved jerked downward di-
agonally, 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 cock-
pit 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 day-
light. He stared about him, and the
first thing he saw was Luke Evans, re-
garding him anxiously from a little

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

S7

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 mo-
ment, before he quite realized what
bad 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 luxuri-
ous 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
■olid silver, but thick enough to give
them the strength of iron I

Then he perceived that old Evans
was bound in the same way.

"Rennelll RennelH" repeated the
old man in a sort of whimper. "Thank
God you've come out of it I 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 I"
marled old Evans. "AH the rest
burned to cinders, those fine fellows,
Rennelll You were thrown uncon-
scious, 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?" de-
Banded Dick, trying to pass his hand
I cross his aching forehead, and realiz-
ing that the attain, though it seemed
fattened to nothing, \ was perfectly,
taut.

"TN one of their damned invisible
x 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 in capable of other
utterance. Silver chains I They must
be madmen — yes, that was the only ex-
planation. Madmen who had escaped
from somewhere, obtained possession
of scientific secrets, and banded them-
selves together to overcome the world.
If he could get the chance of a blow
at them before he died I

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 1 human beings like
themselves.

"I congratulate you upon your re-
covery. Captain Rennell," remarked
one of them with ironical politeness.
"Also upon your shrewd coup. Need-
less 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 hur-
ricane. Quite an artificial one, Cap-
tain."

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 com-
mands your presence, andsthat 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.

56

ASTOUNDING STORIES

* A GAIN he spoke to his companion,
JTA who mpved apparently a few feet
distant out on the prairie. .-Suddenly
Dick saw old Evans' chain" slacken ;
then Dick's slackened too. He under-
stood that he was unbound, though his
wrists and ankles were still loosely
fastened.

The second man took his station be-
side Luke Evans and motioned to him
to rise. The first man beckoned to
Dick to do the same. The two pris-
oners 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 in-
visible. 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. De-
hind him walked his guard ; behind the
guard he heard Luke Evans ' sham-
bling. 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 un- (
derfoot, 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^thc
same black uniform, but without tlx
ornamental silver braid, stood to atten-
tion, long halberds in their hands.
One spoke a challenge.

The guard at Dick's side answered.
Two two men stepped backward, each
about two feet, and pulled the two
cords on either side of a curtain be-
hind 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, robei
of red, lined with ermine. The rank
behind wore shorter robes, less deco-
rative, but no less extraordinary. They
might all have stepped out of some me-
dieval 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 I Knew him for a once
famous European ruler who. had loit
his throne in the war. A man always
of unbalanced mentality, who, after
living for years in exile, had been re-
ported 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

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

59

nobles who had surrounded him in the
days of his pomp and power.

OLD men, all of those in the first
line I 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 Em-
peror, lurking here in his underground
palace. He knew Von Settler, 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 quiv-
ered.

Then only did Dick see something
else, which he had not hitherto ob-
served, 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 hol-
low of the step, and had a flat board
over it, so that the Emperor, in ascend-
ing 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 Presi-
dent Hargreaves of the United States I

THE President of the American
Republic chained as a footstool
for the Invisible Emperor, the mad-

man 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 trum-
jet, to which a square banner was at-
tached, strode forward from one side
of the grotesque assemblage.

"Dog, on your knees when His Ma-
jesty deigns to admit you to the
Presence I" 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. i

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, blast-
ing a black streak across the Oriental
rug.

Dick leaped toward the throne, and
the assemblange, as if paralyzed by his
sudden maneuver, remained watching
him without moving. Then a woman
screamed, and instantly the pictur-
esque 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 AmerV
can," he babbled. "We've located thir
gang, We'll blow them off the face if
the earth. In chains — God, in chains,
sir—" — '

Dick stumbled over the length of
his own chain that he had been drag-
ging 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 strug-
gles, and as, at length, he paused, ex-
hausted, one of them, covering his
head with a glass rod, looked up at the
Emperor, who had resumed his seat.

60

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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. ft 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
thins 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 hur-
ricane which spread the gas through
southern America was a mere summer
zephyr in comparison with the storm
that I shall send next.

** A LL the resources of Nature are
JTA. at my comand, 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 per-

mit so mean a thing as you to live. At
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 is
a few hours the trivial secret will he.
at my disposal."

"And that's just where you're
wrong," piped old Luke Evans in hit
cracked voice. "That gas can't be
analyzed, because it contains an un-
known isotope, and, as for yourself,
you're nothing but a daft old fool,
with your tinhorn trumpery I"

For a moment the Emperor stood
like a statue, staring at aid Luke. The
expression on his face was that of a
madman, but a mariman through whose
brain a straggling ray of realization
has dawned.' It was the look upon his
face that held the whole- assemblage
spell-bound. Then suddenly came in-
tervention.

Through a doorway in the side of
the hall came one of the officers in
Mack. He advanced to the foot of the
throne and made a deep, hurried bow,
speaking rapidly in some language in-
comprehensible 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 is now
approaching our shores, with a
dirigible scout above it. You shall
now see how I deal with such swine I"

CHAPTER X
The Tricks of the Trade

HE barked a command, and instant-
ly Dick was seized by two of
the guards, one of whom — the one
Dick had knocked down — took the oc-
casion to administer a buffeting in the
precess 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 madnian's throne, again filled Dick
with a fury beyond all control. (

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

61

It wafl only when he had been half-
stunned again by the vicious blows of
his captors, delivered with shbrt
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,
waB roaring with laughter at his an-
tics. And again Dick's eyes encoun-
tered those of Fredegonde Valmy.

The girl was not smiling. She was
looking straight at him, and for a mo-
ment it seemed to Dick as if he read
some message in he^ 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, sud-
denly 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 ef-
forts to renew the struggle were
tquickly cut short. Trussed helplessly,
•'be could only stand glaring at the
madman rocking with laughter upon
his tinsel throne. Beside him, similar-
ly bound, stood Luke Evans, but Dick
was only conscious of the old man's
presence by reason of the short, rasp-
ingTemphatic curses that broke from
us 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 ad-

dressed him. "Have the old one re-
moved to the laboratory, and give
orders that he shall assist our chemists
to the best of his power in their analy-
sis 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 every-
thing, so that he may take back a cor-
rect account of our irresistible powers
when we dismiss him."

"Come I" barked one of the guards in
Dick's ear.

Dick attempted no further resis-
tance. Convinced of its futility, sick
and reeling from the blows he had re-
ceived, he accompanied his captors
quietly. There was nothing' more that
he could do, either for President Har-
greaves 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.

"Cornel" barked the guard again, and
Dick accompanied him, trailing his
silver chain. Behind came Von Ket-
tler.

"Here are steps!" said the guard,
after they had proceeded a short dis-
tance.

Dick stumbled against the lowest
step of an invisible flight. The breeze
was cut off, showing that they had en-
tered 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 I"

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 sphe-
roid, of huge size, with a number of
large windows set into the walls, and

62

. ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 appa-
ratus 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 at-
tached 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 camou-
flaged 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 num-
bers.

"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 rela-
tion. 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 stair-
case. Following him, he flung another

switch similar to the first one, and in-
stantly 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 be-
neath him. He seemecUto be suspended
in the void. He stopped, groping, hesi-
tating to advance. Von Kettler's jar-
ring laugh grated on his ears.

"Don't be afraid, swine," he jeered.
"This place is enclosed. There is t
shadow-breaking device on_every floor,
which renders us complete masters of
camouflage."

A switch snapped. Dick found him-
self 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 of four men were moving about
in it, but these wore the black uniform
with the silver braid, and Von Kettler*!
manner was deferential as he addressed
them, jerking his hand contemptuously
toward Dick. Grins of derision Ad
malice appeared on all the faces.

Save one, an elderly officer, appar-
ently 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 Ameri-
can army should be brought here in
chains and cords?"

"Excellency, it is His Majesty's com-
mand," responded Von Kettler, with a
servile smirk that hardly concealed hii
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 ter-
minated some five feet above it in an-
other of the opaque glass domes, fijjed

THE INVISIBLE DEATH.

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 pro-
jected above a fiat table, and an officer
was half-concealed beneath it, appar-
ently 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, smil-
ing. "This is the dirigible." He
pointed to another dot that came into
tight 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 curva-
ture. It is simple, but it happens not
to have been worked out until my Mas-
ter commanded it."

# Dick watched those tiny dots in fas-
cination, 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 al-
most 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 open-
ing in the roof, and Dick, with a shrug
of the shoulders, complied. He
emerged upon a small platform, -appar-
ently protruding into vacancy. Far
underneath he saw the clearing, and
two airplanes on the tarmac, the avia-
tors looking like beetles from that
height. He looked out to sea and saw
no signs of the fleet.

"You have heard of St. Simeon Styl-
ites, Yankee?" purred Von Kettler.
"The gentleman who spent forty years
of his life upon a tall pillar, in atone-
ment for his sins? It is His Majesty's
desire that you spend, not forty years,
but two or three hours up here, medi-
tating upon his grandeur, before re-
turning to earth. It is also possible
that you will witness something of con-
siderable 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, every-
thing 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 nau-
sea overcame him. He reeled,
then managed to steady himself. He,
too, was invisible to his own eyes. In-
voluntarily 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 en-
deavoring to obtain the sense of bal-
ance. Then, with a great effort, he man-
aged 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.

64

ASTOUNDING .STORIES

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 tha\ the platform was en-
closed. 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, per-
haps 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, untihhis movements were ar-
rested 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 pres-
sure. Dick felt the frame. Beyond
was glass, reinforced with iron on the
outside, the latter metal forming a sort
of lattice work. Cautiously Dick be-
gan to crawl up the rounded dome.

FOOT by foot he made his way,
clinging to the iron bars, un.til 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-impreg-
nated cloth, for both they and the avia-
tors 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 adja-
cent 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 hori-
zontally in space, and clutching des-
perately 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 drag-
ging his feet, with the clanking chain
attached, from bar to bar also.

HOW he gained the base of the
dome he was never able after-
ward to understand. The heat had
grown intolerable; his hands were blis-
tering. Somehow he reached it. He
rested a moment despite the heat. But
to find the plank walk was clearly im-
possible. In another, minute he mult
drop. Better that than to fry there
like St. Lawrenoe on his griddle.

And then, juVt when her had re-
signed himself to that last drop, there
came an unexpected diversion. Almost
beside him a window was flung 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.

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

65

Dick was slightly above the man. As
bis head and shoulders appeared, he
let himself go, landing squarely across
his back. He slid down his shoulders
through the open window into the in-
terior 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 v in what had hap-
pened to him, Dick had gained his feet
£nd leaped upon him. His right hand
closed upon his throat. He bore him
'to the floor and choked him into in-
sensibility.

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
be had supposed, the whole upper por-
tion 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 im-
mense central shaft, up which ran a
hollow pole of glass, cut off by the in-
visible paint at the summit of the
dome. The inside of this glass pole
was glowing with c61ored fires, and it
was fronf 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 stair-
way or ladder, even. Yet the workman
must 'have entered by some ingress — if
only Dick could discover It I

He began running round the interior
of the dome in the brilliant sunshine,
searching frantically for that ingress.
And it was growing hotter I The
sweat was pouring down his face be-
neath the invisible garment.

Dick was vaguely aware that the si-
lence 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 snouted for his
companion, but no sound came from his
lips. He looked about him, and saw
the unconscious man beside the win-
dow. 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 satis-
faction 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. I» a mo-
ment he had swung himself through
and closed the trap behind him.

The material that lined the walls be-
low must have had almost perfect in-
sulating qualities, for the temperature
here was no hotter than in the Baha-
mas on a hot summer day. Dick

66

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 invisi-
ble 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 ma-
chine, and advanced to the staircase in
one corner of the shop. ' As he ap-
proached it, another workman came
running up.

DICK Btood 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 de-
scended 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 I
With three bounds Dick reached
the bottom of the stairs. He saw a
large room in front of him. No mis-
taking 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
we're 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-has.
died pliers. It was white hot, and g
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, ha
feet making no sound on the fiber mat-
ting that covered the floor.

M T"VID that feel good, America

I * swine?" asked Von Kettler
softly, and Dick saw, With horror, i
red weal on the old man's forehead
"Now you are perhaps in a more gra-
cious mood, Professor? The unknown
isotope in that black gas of yours—
you are disposed to give US' the chemi-
cal formula?"

"I'll see you in hell first," raved old
Luke Evans, writhing in his chair.

Von- Kettler turned to the man hold-
ing 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, snatcheds tat
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 fore-
head, and clenched her hands ; her eyet
dilated with horror.

"You have been torturing him,
Hugo!" she cried.

"Freda, what are you doing is
here? Oblige me by withdraw^ Im-
mediately!" cried Von Kettler.

"Where is Captain Renriell?" the
girl retorted. "I will know I"

"He is upstairs, watching the ap-
proaching Yankee fleet, and waiting to
see its destruction," returned the other.

"You are lying to me I He has been
killed, and this old man has been tor-
tured !" cried Fredegonde. "I tell yon,
Hugo Von Kettler, you are no longer
a half-brother of mine I I am throufi
with you I"

"Unfortunately," sneered Von Ket-
tler, "it is not possible to dispose of t
family relationship so easily."

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

67

UTT is cheap to aneefy' the girl re-
X torted. "But you'sang a very dif-
ferent song when you were in the peni-
tentiary, 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
■way with me. You swore it I"

"I have sworn allegiance to my Em-
peror, 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 enter-
prises in Washington, you played upon
my patriotism for my conquered coun-
try. I thought I was undertaking a
heroic act. I didn't dream of the vil-
•lainy, the cold-blooded murder that
was to be wrought.

"You've kept me here virtually a
prisoner," she went on, with rising vio-
lence, "an attendant upon that old
madman, your Emperor, and his sham
court, while more murder is being
(Manned. Where is Captain Rennell, I
■ay?" She stamped her foot. "I de-
mand that he and this old man be set
tt 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 mur-
der 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
•end 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 cre-
ating 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 man 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 dy-
namo 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 at-
mosphere, the article had said, a vor-
tex 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 ap-
proaching the Bahama shores.

Dick forgot Luke Evans, everything
else, as the significance of that mechan-
ism 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 Frede-
gonde 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

68

ASTOUNDING STORIES

pocket and fire blindly. The dis-
charge struck a second attendant,
and the man dropped screeching, his
clothes ablaze.

Somebody yelled, "He's there I Look
at his eyes!" and pointed at Dick's
face.

\

DICK leaped aside an4 swung the
rod again, felling a third man.
The others turned and ran, Von Ket-
tler in the van, broke through the door
behind Luke Evans's chair, and dis-
appeared.

Dick ran back to where the old man
was standing beside the girl, the dis-
carded 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 go-
ing to best them devils yet."

"But the fleet — it's approaching
Abaco," Dick cried. "I've got to ,wam
them."

Fredegonde seized him by the arm.

"Come with me," she cried. "If they
find you here, they'll kill you."

Click 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 Ket-
tler and his men had fled. They dashed
down the staircase, and a corridor dis-
closed itself at the bottom. The girl
stopped.

'T'here is a private way — the Em-
peror's," she panted. "He had it con-
structed — 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
key^s?" he demanded. "The key to the
place where President Hargreaves is?"

"Yes, but — "

"We must get him. Where is he?"
"Id a cell beneath the throne room.

Thatja^f verhead. But they'll catch

"Which is the key?" asked Dick.

The girl produced three or four
keys, fumbled with them, handed one
to Dick. "This way I" 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, wield-
ing the iron bar. A mighty swing sent
the two* toppling over, one uncon-
scious, the other bruised and yelling
loudly.

"Here I Here I" 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, un-
chained. He looked up inquiringly as
the three entered.

"Mr. President," said Dick, throw-
ing 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 be-
hind them. Dick replaced his hood,
handed the keys back to the gut
"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 I" 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 fugi-
tives 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

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

69

to send Von Settler and two others
sprawling. He brought, down the bar
upon the head of one of them, shout-
ing as he did so.

Then he became aware that the pas-
sage was flooded with sunshine. Frede-
gonde had got the door open.

He darted back, passed through in
the wake of the three, and slammed it
shut. Fredegonde turned the key. In-
stantly Dick found himself with his
three companions upon the prairie.
Not a vestige of the buildings was ap-
parent anywhere, except for the
patches of brown earth.

CHAPTER XII
Von Kettler's End

FREDEGONDE took command, re-
pressing her agitation with a visi-
ble 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 watch-
ing 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 ab-
solute immobility by the conflicting
claims of duty. For overhead, high jn
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 air-
plane hangars, and he meant to seize
an airplane, if he could find one- be-
neath 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 win% that Dick had ever known. It
was growing in violence each moment,
beating upon his face.

*i he ran, he was aware of Luke be-
side him. He heard shouting all about
them. Luke had been seen. Not only
Luke, but Har greaves, who was run-

ning after Luke, with Fredegonde try-
ing 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 reel-
ing back. The shouts were growing
louder.

"Waitl" 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 mc 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 fight-
ing 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 blud-
geoned out of the air, turned and ran.

Dick shouted, pointing. Fredegonde
jumped into the plane, and the Presi-
dent scrambled in behind her. The
group, dismayed by the black beam,
which Luke Evans was now turning
steadily upon them, had halted irreso-
lutely. But suddenly a head appeared,
moving swiftly through the air toward
the plane. It was Von Kettler, with

70

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 1 streak appeared on the turret,
wherje the gas-paint .had been scored.
But he was rising, losing into that in-
creasing wind. . . .

HE heard a yell of triumph behind
him. And that yell of Von Ket-
tler's was his undoing. There is the
telepathy between close friends, but
there is also telepathic sympathy be-
tween enemies, and in an instant Dick
understood what that shout of triumph
portended.

He was rising into the line of mag-
netic force that would anchor his air-
plane helplessly, and leave it to be
jerked down and held at Von Eettler'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 behintl
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 noth-
ing, had no conception that the head-
quarters of the Invisible Empire lay
below.

And yet it seemed to be drifting
aimlessly back toward the fleet — errati-
cally, as if not under complete con-
trol. 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 to-
ward others, seemed upon the point of
collision, while others were lagging on
the edge of the formation, as if point-
ing 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 for-
ward 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 wa
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 irew of
the Invisible Emperor, satisfied with
the effects "of the deadly gas, had not
thought it necessary to go to any fur-
ther 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 rud-
der. It was not till he was again ap-
proaching the seashore that it occurred
to him that the force, too, was not in
operation.

He opened throttle wide and shot
seaward. He roust 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 hoed
was thrown back. Two faces and
nothing else, were the whole visible
setting for battle.

But that look upon Von Kettler 1 !
face was even more demoniacal than
before. Mad with rage at the prospec-
tive escape of his prey, and infuriated
by his half-sister's appearance in the
plane, Von Kettler had 'thrown all can-

THE INVISIBLE DEATH *

71

tion to the winds. In his insane hatred
he was prepared to shoot down Dick's
plane and send Frejdegonde to destruc-
tion 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 Frede-
gonde sitting behind him. But the
idea did not enter his mind. Con-
sumed with rage almost equal to V&n
Settler's, he only saw there the face Iff)
one of those who had inflicted an unf
ipeakable outrage upon the Prejdent
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 assas-
sins.

He shouted a wild answer to Von
Settler'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 won-
derfully. As Von Kettler's face ap-
peared 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 "posi-
tion of their planes. Neither man had
succeeded in injuring the other.

Once old Luke 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 deter-
mination she had expressed in the
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 agaip.

But this was a wind still more un-
like any, that Dick had ever known.
A mighty gale that revolved circularly,
but downward too, like a vortex, catch-
ing 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 spin-
ning 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 at-
tention from them in order to fire his
gun, and the moment Von Kettler at-
tempted to do so, he was doomed.

Round and round, struggling, bat-
tling in vain — and onc4 more the con-
cussion of the rear gun shook the
plane. And a shout from the Presi-
dent reached Dick's ears.

Dick turned his head for an instant,
long enough to see Von Kettler spin-
ning 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 I" Dick shouted.
And desperately he flung the stick
forward and nosed down.

72

ASTOUNDING STORIES

NO gale, man-made or heaven-
made, could carry on its wings
three-quarters of a ton of armored, tur-
reted airship. Swirling like a leaf, the
plane broke through the clutch of the
blast. Instantly it grew calm. Out-
side 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 calcu-
lating the exact moment in his down-
ward rush when he Could hope tq re-
sume control. Would that moment
come before he crashed?

At less than a hundred feet he
partly regained control. For a mo-
ment 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 gTound 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

"TTE'S pulling out of it I Keep it

Xl up, Gotchl"

Dick heard the words and opened his
eyes. He stared in amazement at the
faces about him. Honest American
faces under tropical helmets arid 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 I"

"He's got it. Don't let him slip,
Cotch," grinned one of the friendly
faces, and the man named Cotch, who
presumably had some qualifications for
his job, continued what was meant to
be a gentle massage of the nerve cen-
ters along Dick's spine.

"I'm all right," Dick muttered, be-

ginning to realize his surroundings.
He was lying on a strip of prairie neat
the beach, on which the waves were
breaking in low ripples about a motor-
boat that was drawn up.

HE sat tip. The world was swim-
ming about him, but he seemed
to have no broken bones. Not far
away was the wrecked plane, an incon-
gruous mass of streaks where the
fabric had ripped through the gas-
pajnj. "Where are — the others?" Dick
mutteWd.

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 wdn't know how bad till we can get
her away," he said. "You've been lying
here about an hour, since we crashed.
President Har greaves made them take
him to the fleet in the other motor-
boat to see what he could da He'i
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 wen
gone, they took two of the boats and
their arms and equipment, land 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 Cap-
tain Rennell, sir, and this gentleman,
we know him too, but he seems a bit
queer in his head. Talking of the In-
visible 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,

THE INVISIBLE DEATH

73

fennell," almost wept old Evans.
Tell them I'm not crazy."

DICK got upon his feet with an ef-
fort, staggered a little, then
Bade his way to Fredegonde. He
kneeled down beside the girl. She was ,
tenacious, and smiled faintly, but she
could not speak. He pressed her hand,
tote, and came back. "Mr. Evans is not
any," he said. "The headquarters of
(he gang is over there." He pointed.
"Didn't President Hargreaves tell
jw?"

"He was kind of incoherent, sir."
The marines looked at one another,
wndering. Was Captain Rennell
any too?

"We've had scouts out through the
jangle, sir. There's nothing within
he miles of here. They had a clear
new through to the sea from the top
nfahilL"

Tve been there." Dick spoke with
conviction. "I must tell you they've
got devices that make them practically
nresstible. That gas and other things.
And they're invisible. But if you boys
at willing to follow me, 111 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
pane, during which Dick read in their
eyes the desire to humor a crazy man.
"Well follow to hell, sir— if that
(Kg 1 1 really there."

Take your arms, then I" Dick
•anted to the stacked rifles.

A minute later the twenty-odd Ma-
rine*, forming an open line that ex-
tended 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_
*a reeling, felt as if his own reason
*■ (lipping from him. Had he only
•reamed all this? Was it possible
Hut the headquarters of the Invisible
Emperor existed on this desolate
Pnirie? If it was true, why had they
nddenly become silent, inert? Why
fad they not long ago wiped out these

few Marines? And the gale— was it
now sweeping northward on its mis-
sion of destruction?

HALF an hour passed. Then the
brown patches of the founda-
tions came into view upon the open
ground. Here were the hangers, here
was the central building y/ith the Em-
peror's headquarters. And nothing
was visible, nothing stirred, yet at any
moment Dick expected the rattle of
machine-gun bullets or some more ter-
rific method of destruction.
,f "Haiti" The line stood still. "I am
going forward ahead of 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 smith-
ereens. Nothing happened.

And it was no dream, for Dick's out-
stretched hand^ encountered the ex-
terior 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 pas-
sage within was perfectly visible to
them all.

Stupefied, the Marines bumped and
jostled with each other as they
crowded in. If they had been any-
thing but Marines, their own heads
might have been turned at the discov-
ery of this sudden materialization of a
building out of nothingness.

Being Marines, they onhr grinned
sheepishly, and followed algalg the cor-
ridor.

74

AST^NDING STORIES

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 fa^e.

Two more dead guards lay across
each other, with smilep on their faces;
and there was a workman in a blue
blouse who had been in a tremendous
hurry to get somewhere, from his ap-
pearance, 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
Jbdy had not known they had died.

They had fallen asleep— upon the in-
stant that their 1 own volatile gu
reached them. y.

I GUESS that's the explanation,
sir," said old Luke Evans. The*
devils made that whirlwind and
charged it with Use gas. But when
you reversed that lever, you reverted
the process. Instead of projecting tie
force outwardly, ybu made a suction,
and every atom of !the gas that hadn't
travelled beyond the radius came rak-
ing 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 dispene
through the chinks pnd crannies. Any-
way, it's all over njow."

Yes, it was all oyer, Dick thought,
as he sat in his deck chair upon the
cruiser that was bearing him north-
ward. The menace! to world govern-
ment 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, j 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 re-
covery for her. She shouldn't suffer
for her half-voluntary part in the busi-
ness, Dick said to himself. It was go-
ing to be his task to help her to forget

Everyone Is Invited

To "Come Over in

THE READERS' CORNER'!"

The gaping month }erkcd forward.

Prisoners on the Electron

By Robert H. Leitfred

THE blood-red glow of a slant-
ing 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 calen-
dar, had drawn to
a close. In a few
hours the year of
1999 would end—
h midnight, to be exact.

Far below the towers stretched well
lighted canyons teeming with human-
ity. At an upper level where once the
derated trains had roared and rum-

Fat,

75

bled in an antiquated period long past,
an orderly mass of workers and shop-
pers 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 van-
ished from the streets under the new
order of things as had also passenger
cars, taxis and trucks. Speed predom-
inated. Noise had practically been

throws two young Earthianc into
sperate conflict with the primeval mon-
ster* of an electron'^ lavage junglei.

76

ASTOUNDING, STORIES

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 inter-
state 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 ey*s 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 plat-
form.

Quite suddenly they lighted with
pleasure as a man and a girl detached
tbemselyes 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 excite-
ment.

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.

r

CARRUTHERS nodded. "As far
as humanly possible. The ele-
/ ment of error is always present I've
checked and re-checked my calcula-
tions. I've augmented the vacuum tuba
by installing three super-dimensional
inverse power* tubes." He clasped tin
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 ■
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. S

Buildings slid past them like wraiths
in /the electric light. They felt no win-
ter chill, for the streets and platform
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 min-
utes they had arrived at their destina-
tion. Quickly they reversed their
path across the moving bands until
they reached the disembarking plat-
form. A short distance from the sta-
tion they came to the entrance of i
huge tower building.

Carruthers nodded to the doorman
and they were admitted into a marbtT
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 btquite so de-
lightful I I do believe ttat if the be*

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON

77

rid government had not taken down
that little Statue of Liberty and sub-
stituted the Shaft Triumph in its
place, that I could easily see her fin-
gers clasping the torch she was re-
puted to hold."

"Progress, dear girl," shrugged Car-
ruthers, holding out his hands for her
cape. "By the way, have you folks
eaten?"

"Not in a week," said KarJ.

"Von Sternberger's food tablets," in-
formed the girl.

Cayruthers nodded. His deep-set
eyesaregarded them appraisingly. "Any
ill effects?"

"None whatever," spoke Danzig.
"Neither of us have the slightest crav-
ing 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 un-
known."

"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,
■winging 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, con-
cealed 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 fci-?" asked the girl.

Danzig and Carruthers both regard-
ed it with troubled eyes. It was Car-
ruthers 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 taoved from that spot after
the rays-touched his body ? What hap-
pened?"

Karl had already divested himself
of his coat and was checking the cop-
per cables leading into a strange ma-
chine.

"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 jlear."

"H<fw did you know?"

%As he dwindled in size," continued
Carruthers, "he shouted wamingly 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 con-
tact, 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. "Ob, Aaron.
It's awful ! What do you suppose hap-
pened?"

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 ma-
chine 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, Nanhette, 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

78

ASTOUNDING STORIES

before a third machine slighily smaller
than the other two'. His fingers clicked
a switch. The dial of the instrument
glowed whitely.

"It's important," continued Carru-
thers, "that we first locate our inter-
ference. We have here, Nanette, a
common television receiving apparatus
capable of picking up news and pic-
tures 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 wal^ glowed luminously. The
mterior of a famous broadcasting stu-
dio 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 Carnithers. "Too
near." <
"Try 'Frisco," suggested Karl. "The
tubes ought to be sufficiently heated by
this time."

The dial whirled beneath Carnithers'
slender fingers. The pictures framed
in the frosted, panel faded. Another
took its place. San Francisco — an after-
noon concert. Carruthers saw and lis-
tened for a moment, then moved thou-
sands of miles out to sea.

Shanghai drifted into the panel, an-
nouncing 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 oc-
curred. The silver frostiness of the
screen became violently agitated with
what looked like tiny sparks dartit)g in
and about each other like miniature

solar systems. Shanghai faded fronj
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 meto
reading. I'm going to step up the
power of the dimensional tubes.
Steady I"

FROM an invisible reproducer came
a sharp, metallic crackling like m-
y , chine-gun bullets rattling on a tin roof,
The sparks on the screen became vio-
lently agitated, pushing around in er-
ratic circles and elipses. They glowed
constantly in shades of bright green
through the blues into the\ deep violeU
of the color scale.

"What do you read?" asked Cam>
thers.

"Point seven six nine," answered
Karl.

"Shift it/back towards the blue, about
two points lower on the scale."

Danzig foisted two dials at the same
time with minute exactness. "Point
seven six eleven," he intoned.

"Hold it," ordered Carruthers. "Blue
should predominate." He turned hie
eyes on the dancing sparks on the
screen. They glowed now a deep in-
digo 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." Hit
eyes rested on a glass test tube.
Quickly he rose to his feet—sad re-
amoved it from the wall rack. Then
bending over the glass railing that en-
closed the mysterious square he placed
it on the floor. He turned now to the
girl.

"Quiet, now, Nanette, and don't un-
der any condition leave the chair. The
path of the ray should pass within two
feet of you, leaving a wide margin of
safety. All right, Karl. Se/ the ditto
of the inverse dimensional tubes it

PRISONERS ON

THE ELECTRON

79

point seven six eleven, and switch the
power to the Roentgen tube."

Through the dimly lighted laboratory
came a spurt of bluish flame that twist-
ed and squirmed with slow undulations
around the cathode electrode.

"Fine," enthused Carruthers. "The
cathode emanations coincide exactly
with the interference cha^t. Watch
your meter gauges, Karl, while I switch
to the atomic ray."

HIS fingers closed over a switch.
The indigo points of flame bath-
ing the electrode 'gathered themselves
into a ring and began to revolve around
an invisible nucleus located near the
electrode. Carruthers studied the re-
volving flame for a moment, then
■witched off the television machine. It
was no longer needed.

Carefully, for the atomic ray, was
•till a mysterious force to Carruthers,
he opened a small door in the panel
tnd 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, am-
ber beam. It struck the glass test tube
■quarely 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 sud-
denly shrunk to nothingness and van-
ished into the ether.

"Aaron I" whispered the girl, awe-
somely. "It . it's gone I"

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.

ITH a deliberate calmness that
in no way matched the inner tu-
mult 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 fin-
gers. 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 sev-
eral seconds it played upon empty
space, then the miracle unfolded before
their eyes.

Something like a glass sliver reflect-
ed the beam. It grew and enlarged un-
der their startled eyes until it had
achieved its former size, then the power
that had brought it back switched it-
self 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'B
try it again with something larger."

"I've got a better idea," said Car-
ruthers, 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
bom 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.

W

BO

ASTOUNDING STORIES

Carrutbers' band 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 ex-
panded under three pairs of bulging
eyes — not the small, pinkish rat that
had disappeared but sixty seconds pre-
vious, but a full grown rat, scarred
and tailless as if from innumerable bat-
tles with other rats.

As the current clicked off Aaron Car-
rutbers 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 I

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?"'

Qarruthers, busy making calcula-
tions, did not hear the question.
T.She turned to her brother. "Karl,
what's the meaning of this? The sec-
ond 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 Carruthert,
"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 nowdayt,
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 try-
• ing to solve the mystery underlying the
forces which we have created." He
replaced the test tube* within the cen-
ter 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 Nan-
ette, rising abruptly to her feet. "I'm
gong home and dress for the New
Year's, party." »

"W^tch your switch like I asked
you to," spoke Carruthers.

"Sit down," added Karl. "Don't put
the rest of us in danger!"

"Oh-h-hl" gasped thejgirl as she in-
advertently 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. Forget-
ful that he himself was directly in
line of the atomic ray he lunged for-
ward, his mind centering on a single
act — to drag the protesting and now
thoroughly frightened girl out of the
path of Ae penetrating ray.

But even as he started forward Nan-
ette tripped over the glass railing
around the squire Carruthers moved
quickly. Yet his movements were slow
and ungainly as compared to the speed

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON

81

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 it-
self upward with, the speed of a me-
teor.

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 tha^ 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
(rasped it like a drowning man would
dutch a straw. "Nanette P
J 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 reas-
sure 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
in. Si.

he had erred. This strange planet
looming in the sky held nothing fa-
miliar in markings nor in respect to its
relations to the stars beyond it.

While yet he groped in the dark-
ness for something tangible, his mind
reverted to the girl at his Bide. 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 nearlng earth or some solid
substance once more. The air about
them grew heavier. Then all move-
ment through space ceased.

Carruthers was surprised to find
what felt like earth beneath his feet.
For long minutes he stood there, un-
moving, still holding possessively to
the girl.

"Aaron I" 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 gift spoke. "Oh,
Aaron, I'm frightened 1"
"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 feel-
ing 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

82

ASTQUNDINJG STORIES

together brought strange emotions to
my heart. At this moment you are the
/dearest — "

Bump, thump I Bump, thump I
"What's that noise?" breathed Nan-
ette.

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 her-
self 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 success-
fully hid any form of shelter. Tired
from their search they sat down. As

"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 prow-
lers."

"Maybe you're right," agreed 'Car-
ruthers.

A SILENCE fell between them.
After a long time Nanette spoke.
"I don't suppose, Aaron, that any-
thing I can do or say will help mat-
ters 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. Sat-
urn is the evening star at this time
of year. It isn't visible. Even the fa-
miliar 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 groin
woman. Fear comes through not know-
ing. 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. Pres.
ently Carruthers took the girl's hand
from his arm and held it gently be-
tween his own. "You've guessed right-
ly. Nan. The orb shining upon us ia
not our moon. I'll try and make it
dear."

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 aa
when we disappeared in the violet glow
of the atomic ray. His eyes are bulg-
ing with fear and horror. For days and
days he'll-continue to sit on that chair,
his mind not yet attuned to what actu-
ally took place. What has happened?
He doesn't /know yet, Nan."
"Oh, it's incredible," sobbed Nanette.
"I know, but it's bo 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 fight 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 re-
mainder of our lives unless. . . ."
"Unless what?"

Aaron Carruthers hesitated for a bare
fraction of a second. "Karl I" he whit-

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON

pered. "Our lives depend on him.
Time Sies fast for us, Nan. Already
it is growing light. But not on our
earth. Karl still sits upon his chair
(taring incredulously at the miracle of
oar 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 na-
ture. "Oh, I know it's hard. to under-
stand. 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, Aaroh. The lit-
tle rat that came out from under the
ny as an old rat was one and the
i»m» animal/*

Carruthers nodded. "Tiny has
changed in proportion MT~~ 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.

Too don't suppose, Aaron, by any
chance that Professor Dahlgren is still
afire 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
■boat four thousand, eight hundred
years old."

Nanette rose abruptly to her feet.
"Oh bother the figures. My head's
swimming with them. If s getting light
now, and I'm hungry."

"Eat one of your food tablets," sug-
gested Carruthers.

"Please don't get funny," said Nan-
ette. "Karl has them in his coat poc-
ket."

"Hum-m-mr coughed Carruthers,
following her example by rising to his
feet. "Looks as though we'd have to
rustle our rood. I've got nothing on
my person but a knife, a pencil, a foun-
tain 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.
Farjsjway hills and valleys leaped into
sjjjpt. Then for the first time Carru-
thers 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 can-
yon a thousand feet below'. v

"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 lead-
ing 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! LookT 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 cen-
ter, 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."

84

ASTOUNDING STORIES

THEY 'had come upon the foot-
prints 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 be-
hind 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 m any danger from these
beasts, do yon ?"

Carruthers said nothing for the mo-
ment. 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, glanc-
ing curiously right and left at un-
known flowers and trees. A tir,d 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
jangle 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
■lightly. "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
apet The mouth of the creatine
sagged grotesquely, revealing two ran
of yellow fangs. And its orange col-
ored eyes were burning coals Bet clost
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 bonet
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 I It came
slowly and leisurely, swinging iti
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 star-
ing 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 al-
ter him. The jaws of the huge animal
opened wide with anticipation. Lum-
beringly he turned from the path and
follojtfed. 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 top-
pled to the ground in a dead faint
Carruthers flung himself beside her
crumpled body and gathered it into hii
arms. A quick glance be threw at the
spot where he had last seen. the gigan-
tic- ape. The animal was no longer
there. It had disappeared.

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON

85

THE man's lips became a hard,
straight line. Even as he. straight-
ened to his feet the leaves and branches
of arfv overturned tree whipped his
face. /The red-mouthed dinosaur was
perilously near. So close that Car-
rathers could smell its great, glisten-
ing body. The odor was musky and
foul:

Stumbling blindly he attempted to
widen the distance between himself
and his pursuer. But the hungry dino-
hut 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
bis movements. Unseen roots tripped
him time and time again. Each time
he scrambled to his feet and picked
np the unconscious girl. Briars tore
it his clothing and stung his hands.

The underbrush was thickening. A
warm, dank smell clung to the vegeta-
tion 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 stum-
bled on blindly, scarce watching where
hit feet were taking him. A sigh of
relief came to his lips. Ahead of him
he taw a clearing. His stride length-
ened and he broke into a shambling
run.

THEN it was he saw towering
walls rising up on both sides of
him — tteep walls 4 hat he could never
•tale, even if alone. He tried to
change his course, but the huge bulk
of the pursuing dinosaur effectively
blocked his path. There was no alter-
native but to push on and pray for an
•pening in the rugged cliffs.
Abruptly a sigh of despair escaped

his lips. The walls of the canyon nar-
rowed suddenly, and across it stretched
a wall of bare rock. He realized too
late that he fcad returned to the base
of the plateau where, he had spent the
night. JThe grim, towering walls
hemmed him in completely from three
sides. At the fourth Bide bulked the
dinosaur, coming slowly, ponderously.

Beady eyes peered down cunningly
at the helpless man and woman. Con-
fident now that its prey couldn't es-
cape, it extended its huge bulk across
the narrow canyon for a leisurely kill-
ing.

Carruthers glared at the monster
with fear-distended eyes. In his heart
he realized that there was no escape.
He bad 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. Car-
ruthers 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

86

ASTOUNDING STORIES

forest air. And as the kneeling man
watched he saw the great relape who
had been dodging his footst^B a short
time before, . slouch between the dino-
saur's hulking body and the wall of
the cliS. 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
Bide 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 ap-
parent. 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 anthro-
poids 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 be-
fore 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 . bad 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 fiat up. "Aaron I"

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 de-
cide 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. Over-
head, a small moon rose majestically
in the heavens and started its journey
through the night. Its faint light re-
vealed the fact that the apes showed
no intentions of leaving. They still
squatted before the earth people, in a
half circle of staring brown tjgs.

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 ^gainst the 'wall,
mentally trying to figure the whole
thing out. The dinosaur was real
enough. Yet the apemen had fright-
ened 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

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON

87

chatter. Abruptly he opened hia
mouth and emitted a flood of gibber-
ish 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 some-
thing of importance. Note the expres-
sions of awe and reverence on the
faces of the apemen. My God,
Nanette, look I"

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, al-
most humayr in looks, they contrasted
strangely (with" the red apes and the
black gorillas'. Six of them appeared
to a<t as bodyguard for the seventh.

As they reached the space in front
of the two earth people, the body-
guard stepped aside. The seventh
white one came to a dead Btop. Long
and intently he stared at the man arid
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 crea-
ture, strange and bizarre thoughts
crossed his mind.

THE mouth of the white apeman
twitched as if he were going to
•peak. The heavy lips parted. A sin-
gle word came to Carruthers' ear —
"Man?" ^

Carruthers nodded. "We are from
the earth."

The lips of the apeman moved pain-
rally as if speech came with the ut-

'most of difficulty. "The prophecy of
the Great One has been fulfilled even
as it has been written."

The red apes and black gorillas al-
lowed their eyes to wander from their
white leader to the two earth people.
And their faces reflected the supernat-
ural 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, Carruth-
ers 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 Carruth-
ers.

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 cornel This is no place for
speech. Long have I and my follow-
ers waited for this hour."

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 fur-
nished light and air. The white chief-
tain 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 them-
selves on the skins that made up the
couch they were both conscious of a
far-away rumbling like peals of thun-
der. Not having seen any signs of a
storm outside Carruthers turned in-
quiringly on the aged chieftain.

w

88

ASTOUNDING STORIES

The old man's eyes were shadowed
with grim foreboding. "I have or-
dered something to re'fresh 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 re-
semblirig 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 excep-
tion 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 su-
premacy 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 c/ouching 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 oar
numbers we are only seven in all."

"I owe Marbo my lift as does aho
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
t^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
Homed Ceratosaurus, and many othen
whose, names I have long forgotten.
They are our enemies whom we can-
not destroy. And their numbers in-
crease from year r 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 arCj
doomed. Even now their rumblings
arid bellowings come through the jun-
gles. Their thirst and hunger for
flesh is enormous."

Carruthers turned upon the girL
"The old chiefs words explain every-
thing. Nan. Professor Dahlgren hat
been Ijere and gone. He lived a life-
time in the span of a few hours earth-
time. Now it looks as if we were des-
timed 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 Carruth-
<ers. "We have each other, Aaron."

He smiled reassuringly and turned
to the old chieftain. "I am Ca mi then,
a friend and assistant to Dahlgren.
The girl here is Nanette."

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON,

89

The chieftain smiled gravely. "And
I am Zark. Welcome to my kingdom,
Camithers 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 Carruth'ers 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
■ailing across the heavens to estimate
its speed.

DAYS passed as he made his obser-
vations. Meanwhile he had
lurched and found the exact spot
wherein he and Nanette had first
stepped- foot onto the electron. This
■pot he carefully marked off with a
ring of huge boulders carried up by
the followers of Marbo. Then he be-
gan 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
•kins and furs with which to cover the
walls. Carruthers made a fireplace of
•tones 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 bris-
tled 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 mir-
tpt 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 dino-
saurs and other monsters of like breed
edged closer and closer to the tiny
civilization around the plateau. It
worried Carruthers bo 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 theoT 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
fame from the ground.

"An earthquake," murmured Car-
ruthers, 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 rec-
ords. The life of our planet was
doomed to destruction during the pres-
ent 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 elec-
tron. Above the deep rolling disturb-
ance 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

90

ASTOUNDING STORIES

past him, shrilling in great excitement.

"Drive them away!" ordered Car-
ruthers. "Like this I" 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 be-
gan to hurtle from the mouth of the
tunneL They thudded against the
heads of the great monsters like hail-
stones. " >

Subdued and frightened by this sud-
den display of force, the monsters
withdrew down the path. But the ape-
men had discovered a new method of
warfare. They found a childish de-
light in hurling storr Within a few
minutes the slope was barren of rocks.
The animals followed up their momen-
tary advantage and ran screaming
down the path. The dinosaurs fled in
panic.

AS soon as the enemy had been
driven away, Carruthers Dointed
out to Mar bo the advantage of gather-
ing the stones up from the ground and
returning them to the spice around the
mouth of the tunnel so that he and his
followers would be ready for^jf second
repulse.

Zark appeared at this moment and
helped with the explanation. His
crafty old eyes turned with new re-
spect upon the earthman.

Carruthers toiled with them every
day from ^hen on, building and forti-
fying the' plateau against further in-
cursions / 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. Vol-
canic eruptions poured fresh dis-
charges 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 towardi
higher ground by the heat of the
flames the dinosaurs, were trampling
up the path leading to the tunneL

Once again Carruthers rallied hit
army of apemen' around him and at-
tempted 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 1

"Come," he whispered, hoarsely.
"We've got to get out of this or well
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, Car-
ruthers raced back ajjng the tunnel h>
the cavern. "Zark I" he shouted.-

The sound of his voice was drowned",
in the welter of screaming bedlam
coming up from below as the dinosaur!
and apes fought for the supremacy of
life. But of Zark and his six fol-
lowers he found absolutely no f"|a.
Quickly he hurried back to where be
had left Nanette.

Even as he reached the spot he had
a sudden premonition of ganger. A
gorilla, huge and black, brushed past
him on the path, carrying a limp bar-
den under 'his shaggy arm.

"Stop I" commanded Carruthers, har-
rying after the animal.
A huge arm knocked him sprawling.

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON

91

Bpitting 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 I" he demanded.

The animal snarled hoarsely. There
f ffn> the sound of ripping cloth. Nan-
ette 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 sin-
gle moment an animal fighting for his
mate. With a snarl equally vicious as
that of the gorilla pawing at the help-
leu girl, he lunged forward.

Mouthing his rage, the gorilla flung
the earth man to the ground. Carruth-
ers came up frothing at the mouth.
With grim intensity he fastened him-
self to the animal's free arm. The rag-
ing mammal staggered helplessly un-
der 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 Car-
ruthers released his hold.

At that very moment the electron
lurched sickeningly, causing them both
to lose their footing. The violent up-
heaval sent Carrnthers 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
s sheer drop of a thousand feet.

Starkly through the night came the
fnwling 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
Use danger on all sides of him, the ani-

mal 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 bis arm
reached out to clutch her.

Hungrily he drew her to him. The
pale light of the electron moon min-
gled 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 reason-
ing 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 apetden. 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 I" 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

92

ASTOUNDING STORIES

smell of their glistening bodies fouled
the nostrils of the earth people.

Slowly Carruthers guided Nanette
back towards the ring of rocks — per-
haps 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 sub-
terranean 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 na-
ture raged sullenly. Twisting seams
appeared in the rocky floor of the pla-
teau from which oozed gaseous vapors.

"Courage," soothed Carruthers as he
held the quivering body of the fright-
ened 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 boul£rs
disappeared. Off to the right came
despairing screams. White bodies
glowed for an instant against the back-
ground of flames.

"Zarkl" shoutsd^-earruthers, 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 pre-
historic monsters — the Brontosaurus.
They bulked enormously against the
flame-licked skies. Zark and his fol-
lowers 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 un-
derfoot 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 fit-
sure underfoot. Before it could atop
the pressure of the herd drove it into
the crevice.

CARUTHERS drew back to the
extreme inside edge of the boul-
ders 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 conscioui
of it drawing closer.

The planet was now in a continuom
uproar. The ground was heaving and
trembling as if from some inward
strain. This was the end. C arm then
realized if with a sinking heart. Is
another minute the electron would dit-
intregate into a flaming mass of matter
and fling itself from its orbit around
the atom.

And then the light from the ap-
proaching star struck them in a blind-
ing radiance of vermilion flames. Car-
ruthers held his breath. Some invisi-
ble force seemed to take possession of*
his body and that of the girl at his
side. The rocky plateau, now a boil-
ing 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 Samel
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 expan-
sion and growth. It was as if his body
was taking on the size of the whole
world. It seemed to last for houn,
days, ages. But all the while he clung
fast to the slender, quivering body of
Nanette.

PRISONERS ON THE ELECTRON

93

MOUNTAINS' and hills suddenly
blazed before his eyes. Straight
op and down mountains. He tried to
■tir bis 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 I 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 agoniz-
ing minutes passed before either could
grasp the startling change in things.
The horror of the electronic disaster
■till filled their minds to overflowing.

Carru there recovered first. He
stepped from the railed inclosure
marking the spot where the atomic
beam had restored them after their
■pace 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,"
•poke Carruthers in a tired voice.
"We've passed through too many hor-
rors. 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 con-
trol 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 Car-
ruthers, 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 rem-
nants of a dress around her
knees and attempted a smile. "Almost
four months, according to the passage
of time on the electron."

"Impossible I" whispered Danzig,
shutting his eyes to the truth.

Aaron Carruthers pointed to His
clothes, now ragged and torn. "Look,
Karl I Everything I have on is worn
out completely. Observe my hair and
beard, and the soles of my shoes. Hu-
maav 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 fu-
ture 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 unfath-
omable atomic rays.

PRODUCING HEAT

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. Bar-
jou aayi the water under the ice in the Arctic
region is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
While the air is many degrees less, there
may be even a difference of 80 degrees. The
snfroxen water could be pumped into a tank
and permitted to freeze, thus generating
beat, as freezing a cubic meter of ice liberates
about a> much heat aa burning twenty-two
pounds of coal. The heat produced would

BY ARCTIC COLD

vaporize a volatilevhydrocarbon which would
drive a turbine. For condensing the hydro-
carbon 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 bo me one only can discover how to
make the Sahara Desert send forth cooling
waves, the world will be perfect, tempera-
turally.

I

Jetta of the Lowlands

j PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL

By Ray Camming*

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE ooze, cracked and hardened, with, hen

and there, small scum-cove^d lake*
N the year 2020 the oceans have long bordered by slimy rocks. It is hot,
since drained from the surface of down in the depth of the great Lo»-

the earth, leaving
bared to sun and
wind the one-time
sea floor. Much
of it is flat, caked

Iq£o remote Lowland*, in an invisible
flyer, go Grant and Jetta — prisoners of a
scientific dents bandit.

land areas, and it
is chiefly adrBr
turers and out-
casts of bunas
kind who can ea-

dure 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 fen-et out
the men who are smuggling mercury
into the United States from that place.

Grant faHs in love with Jetta, the
daughter of Jacob Spawn, a big mer-
cury mine owner of Nareda, only to
learn that Spawn has promised her in
marriage to Greko Perona, the coun-
try'! Minuter of Internal Affaire.

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, ampli-
fied. He learns several important
things: that Spawn and Perona and a
depth bandit named De Boer are to-
gether 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 insur-
ance on it and escape paying the Gov-

96

\ ASTOUNDING STORIES

eminent 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 pur-
suers I

CHAPTER VIII
/ma's DeiSance

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
Erst 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."

Ffom 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 Gov-
ernment 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
■tripped from her. Yet, within her,

the woman's instincts were struggling.
She sewed a great deal, she since hu
told me, there in the cloistered dim-
ness. Making little dresses of silk and <
bits of finery given Tier surreptitiously
by the neighbor women. Gazing it
herself in them with the aid of a tiny
mirror. Hiding them away, never dar-
ing to wear them openly; until at in-
tervals her father would raid the roam,
find them and burn them in the kitchen
• incinerator.

"Instincts of Satan I By damn but
I will get these woman's instincts out
of you, Jetta I*

AND there were hours when she
would try to read hidden boolo,
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 com-
ing night. She trembled at them. She
would meet me again, this evening in
the moonlit garden. . . .

The sound of a man walking the gar-
den path aroused her from her reverie.
Then came a soft ingratiating voice:

"Jetta, ehiea Mia!"

It was Perona, standing by the per-
gola 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 I" He strode down the path
and back. "Jetta." .'His voice began
rising into a strident^ peevish anger.

"Jetta, are you in there? Cbiea, an-
swer me."

J ETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

97

Ho answer.

"Jetta, pot 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 I 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 mus-
tached Minister of Nareda's Internal
Affaire 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"

"I am telling you — I" Perona was
eicited. His voice rose shrilly, but
Spawn checked him.

"Shut up; you waste time. Tell me
exactly the arrangements with De
Boer. Le grande coupi now ; vto-nigHt
most important ofy^nr^lM^and you
rant of your troubles withVa girl I"

THEY were standing by the per-
gola, quite near Jetta's shaded
window. She crouched there, listening
to them. None of this was entirely
new to Jetta. She had always been
tware more or less of her father's se-
cret business activities. As a child she
had not understood them. Nor did she
now, with any clarity. Spawn had aJ-

\ ways 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 movtd away from the
pergola and sat by the fountain, speak-
ing too low for her to hear. And theivj
they paced the path, coming nearer,
and she caught their voices again.
And occasionally they grew excited, or
-ehcment, and then their raised tones
were plainly audible to her.

And this that she heard, with what
she knew already, and with what sub-
sequently transpired, enables me now
to piece together the facts into a con-
nected 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 rec-
ords; and Perona with his govern-
mental position was enabled to pass
these false accounts of the mine's pro-
duction. 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 direc-
tions. President Markes, of Nareda,
was an honest official. He handi-
capped Perona considerably. There
were many ways by which Perona
could have grown rich through a dis-
honest handling of the government af-
fairs. It was done almost universally
in all the small Latin governments.
But Markes as President made it dan-
gerous 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"

98

ASTOUNDING STORIES

in bis late twenties. He was a good
talker; he spoke many languages; he
could orate with fluency and skilful
guile. His smile, his colorful person-
ality, 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 oat, 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 unscrupu-
lous 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 pres-
ently made startlingly clear to Jetta
and me, De Boer smuggled the quick-
silver 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, pre-
carious occupation. De Boer did not
-seem to think so, or care. But Perona
and Spawn, with their established, po-
sitions in Nareda, were always fearful
of exposure. Even without my com-
ing, 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 occa-
sion, 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 him-
self away and pursue his banditry else-
where.

It was a simple plan; it promised to
yield a high stake quickly. A final
fling at illicit activity; then virtuoui
reformation, with Ptrona marrying the
little Jetta.

BENEATH the strong room at the
mine, Perona "and Spawn had se-
cretly built a cleverjy 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.at-
tack. The guards did not know, the
details: they only knew that De Boer
and his men would make a sham at-
tack, 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 treas-
ure. 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 recom-
pense 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 com-
plicated things considerably. So much
so that Perona grew vehement, this af-
ternoon 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 Market P»
picious."

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS / 99

"Chut I You can befool Market,
Perona. You have for years been do-
ing it."

"This meddling fellow, he has met
Jetta t"

"I do not believe it." There was a
sudden grimness to Spawn's tone at
the thought. "I do not pelieve it.
Jetta would not dare." I

"You should have seen/ him flush
when Markes mentioned at the con-
ference 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 arrange-
ments 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 bar-
gaining in financing Spawn. But this
they did not now mention.

"To get rtd-efs£his Grant— well, that
sounds meritoriou9> He is dangerous
around here. To that I agree."
"And with Jetta—"
"Have done, Perona I" 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 oncel"

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 vio-
lence with Jetta. But he was white
with fury now.

"Father, you — you are hurting me."

Perona interposed. "Wait Spawn I
Not so rough! Let me talk to her.
Jetta, chica mia, your Greko is wor-
ried — "

"To the heli 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 I 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

"QiPAWN! Hold!"

lO / 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^Pero-
na's clutch and dropped his arm. For
a moment he stood gazing at his
daughter.

"Is it so? And all my efforts, going

100

like

ASTOUNDING STORIES

for nothing, just like your mother I"
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 them aghast at the enor-
mity of this, her first disobedience.

I never had opportunity to know
Spawn, except for the few times which
I have mentipned. Perhaps he was at
heart a pathetic figure. I think, look-
ing 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 men-
tally normal after that. He had
reared Jetta with the belief that sin
was inherent in all females. It ob-
sessed him. W raped 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 ^escrib-
ing. Perhaps he was no more/ than a
icheming scoundrel. We are instinc-
tively lenient with our appraisal of the
dead. 1 do not know.

"Jetta," Perona said to her accus-
ingly, "that is true, then : you did talk
with that miserable Americano last
night? You sinful, lying girl."

The contrition within Jetta at dis-
obeying her father faded before this
attack.

"I am not sinful." The trembling
teft 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 low
you, Seiior Perona. I think I hate
you." Her tears were very close, but
she finished: "I — I won't marry you.
I won't I"

It stung Spawn. He leaped to hit
feet. "So you talk like that I It hat
gone so far as this, has it? Get to
your room I We will see what you will
and what you won't I"

AGAIN the crafty Perona wm
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 I"
"No."

"You lie I Spawn look at her I Ly-
ing I She has planned tb meet him to-
night 1 ! 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 fol-
lowed^them.

"You lie there." Spawn flung her to
her couch. "After this night's work
is done, we'll see whether yon 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 bed-
room. 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 cordl"

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 tie#
with this—"

"Nol" burst out Jetta. And then a
fear for me rushed over her. A reali-
zation, forgotten' in the stress of thk

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

101

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 in-
sisted, "Iwould 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 SpawnN^You will
and you won't : we shall see about that.
Lie still, Jetta. If I have need to come
again to you — "

"Obey left her. And this time she
heard' them less clearly. But there
were fragments :

Perona : "I will meet him again. Af-
ter dark, to-night. Yes, he expects me.
1jk his money, Spawn, his pay in ad-
;"*nce. 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, cer-
tainly before midnight, before the at-
tack on the mine. You must stay here,
Spawn. Pretend to be asleep: it will
"lure the fool Americano out in to the
moonlight."

I 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 sus-
pected 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 Govern-
ment trackers are after him I" 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 I 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 I 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 I Let them but
admit it to me and of a surety I will
fling them into imprisonment I 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 suffer.
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

102

ASTOUNDING STORIES

had rushed to join Perona and tell him.

But Jetta knew nothing of this. The
hour of her tryst with me was ap-
proaching. 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 win-
dow 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 sial held intact.

"Jetta I" n

"Philip, rin away I They want to
catch you I De Boer, the bandit, is
coming I"

"I know it!"

Fool that I was, to pause with talk I
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 I 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 be-
fore 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 frag-
ile.

"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 ai
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 r

"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 in-
side the room, but I could see the out-
line 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 moon-
light 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"

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

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

103

tingling pain, and then bent over, fran-
tically helping me rub the circulation
back into her legs.
"Better?"

"Yes." She took a weak and trem-
bling step.

"Wait. Let me rub them more,
Jetta."-' •

Precious minutes I

"111 knock out the rest of the win-
dow with that rockl We'll run; we'll
be out of here in a irioment."

"Run where?"

"Away. Into hiding — out of all this.
The United States patrol-ship is com-
ing from Porto Rica It will take us
from here." '

"Where?"

"Away. To Great New York, maybe.
Away from all this ; from that eld fos-
sil, Perona."

I was stooping beside her.

"I'm all right now, Philip."

I rose up, and suddenly found my-
self' clasping her in my arms; her
■light 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 lin-
gered, holding her. Then I cast
her off and seized the rock from the
floor. The jagged glassite fell away
under my blows.
"Now, Jetta, 111 go first—"
But it was too late I I stopped,
stricken by the sound of a voice -out-
tide I

"He's there I In the girl's room I
That's her window I"

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

"TJ ANS, keep back! I wiU go!"

11 "But Commander — "

"Armed? The hell he is not ! Spawn
said no. Spawn! Where is Spawn?
He was here." *

I had dropped back from the win-
dow, and, gripping Jetta, stood in the
center of the room.

"Jetta, dear."

"Oh, Philip!"

"There's no other way out of here?"
"No I 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 7 -through the oval. De
Boer was Advancing upon it, with
his barreled/ projector half levelled.
He saw nW again. He called:
"You American, come out!"
f 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 cut— or I am coming in!"

I said abruptly, "Cornel"

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. Sup-
pose, as De Boer climbed in the win-
dow, I killed him? I could not es-
cape, and his infuriated fellows would
rush us, firing through the oval, sweep-
ing the room, killing us both. But
Jetta now was in no danger. Her

104

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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/ 1 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. Pres-
ently I could hear their low voices.

I HEARD an oath. De Boer's head
and shoulders appeared in the win-
dow oval 1 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 ha8 not fired. It was jammed
between us. One of his huge arms
reached in and encircled me.
"Damn you I"

He muttered it, but I shouted, "Fool t
De Boer, the bandit t"

I was aware of a commotion out in
the garden.

". . Bring all Nareda on our ears?
De Boer, shut him up I" * v

I was gripping the projector, strug-
gling to keep fts muzzle pointed up-
wards. With a heave of his giant arms
De Boer lifted me and jerked me bod-
ily 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 elec-
trode band about my chest was ex-
posed! De Boer towered head and
shoulders over me. i I gazed up, pas-
sive in the grip of thro or three of his

men, and saw his 'face. His heavy jaw
dropped as he gazed at my little dia-
phragms, the electrode.

He knew now for the first rime that
this was no private citizen he had as-
saulted. This official apparatus meant
that I was a Government agent.

THERE was an instant of shocked
silence, j An expression grim and
furious crossed the giant bandit's face.

"So this is it? Hans, careful — hold
him!" \

Jetta was still in her Toom, silent
now. I heard Spawn's voici, close at
hand in the patio. _>/

"De Boer I 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 ap-
paratus 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 I 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 realiza-j
tion that Spawn had been hiding safelW
in the background. But my detecton
was smashed now. It might have in>"
aged 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 I

He levelled the projector, not at me,
but at the on-coming Spawn.

"You damn liar I"

"De Boer — " It was a scream of ter-
ror from Spawn. But it came too late.

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

105

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 eprawl on his face across the gar-
den path.

DE BOER was cursing, startled at
his own action. The men hold-
ing me tightened their grip. I heard
Jetta cry out, but not at what had hap-
pened 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 I"

There was the sound of a Bcuffle in
there. I tore at the men holding me.

"Let me go I Jetta I Come out I"

De Boer dashed for the window. I
waft still struggling. A hand cuffed
me in the face. A projector rammed
into my side.

"Stop it, fool American I"

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, Gart-
ner, and I won't be so easy on you."

De Boer was dragging Jetta, hold-
ing her by a wrist. She looked like a
terrified, half-grown boy, so small was
■he beside this giant. But the wom-
an'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 chuck-
ling. "The little Jetta."

had happened in certainly
no mare than five minutes. I
realized that no alarm had been raised :
the bandits had managed it all with
nasonable quiet.

There were six of the bandits here,
nd De Boer, who towered over us all.
I aw him now as a swaggering giant
«( thirty-odd, with a heavy-^et smooth-
■ksved, handsome face.

He held Jetta off. "Damn, how you
have grown, Jetta."

Someone said, "She knows too
much."

And someone else, "Wc 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 I" Then she half turned and
murmured : "Father 1"

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 I"

"But you can't carry that girl out
like that, De Boer.' v

"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 I" ;

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
^iitchen and the men struggling with
me faded. I went into a roaring black-
ness.

CHAPTER XI
Aboard the Bandit Flyer

I WAS dimly conscious of being in-
side the cubby of the car, with ban-
dits sitting over me. The car was roll-

106

ASTOUNDING STORIES

ing through the village streets. As-
cending. 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 every-
thing dreamlike. I sank half into un-
consciousness again. It seemed an end-
less 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.

Be Boar's voice: "Is he conscious
now? Ill take the girl."

Someone bent over me. "You hear
me?"

"Yes," I said.

I found myseli outside the car. They
held me on my feet. Someone gratui-
tously cuffed me, but De Boer's voice
issued a sharp, low-toned rebuke.

"Stop it I 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 i
height beyond it. Down the mm]
gully I could see where it opened into
the cauldron about a hundred feet be-
low 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 sud&enly around a bend in the gullj.
Although I had only seen the nose if it

" earlier in the evening, I recognized
this to b« the same It was in truta
a strange looking) flyer : I had never
seen one quite like it. Barrel-winged,

\Hke a Jantzen ; multi-propellored ; and
with folding helicopters for the verti-
cal lifts and descent. And a great
spreading fan-tail, in the British fash-
ion. It rested on the rocks like a fat-
winged bird with its long cylindrical
body puffed out underneath. A sev-
enty-foot cabin ; fifteen feet wide, pos-
sibly- A line of small window-portei;
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 un-
derneath the whole, a landing gear of
the Frasex - Mood springed - cushion
type; and an expanding, air-coil pon-
toon-bladder for landing upon water.

ALL this was usual enough. Yet,
.with the brief glimpses I had u
my captors hurried me toward the
landing incline, I was aware of some-
thing 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 win-
dow-portes glowed with a dim Mac-
gray light from inside^- But si I
chanced to gaze at one,' a green film
seemed tcf cross it like 1 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, ip-

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

107

poaching the bottom of the small land-
ing-incline. The wing over my head
was like a huge fat barrel cut length-
wise in half. I stared up; and sud-
denly it seemed that the wing was
melting. Fading. Its inner portion,
wfiere it joined the body, was clear in
tite moonlight. But the tips' blurred
and faded. An aspect curiously lep-
rous. Uncanny. Grewsome.

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 cor-
ridor, 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 mag-
nesium 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, f

"Sit 'quiet I" 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 hei
white face with its big staring dark
(yea was turned toward me. But she
did not speak, nor did I.

The tkr.dits ignored us. De Boer
moved afipH: the room, examining a
bank of instruments. Familiar instru-
ments, most of them. The usual aero-
controls and navigational devices. A
radio audiphone transmitter and re-
ceiver, with its attendant eavesdrops
ping 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 Amer-
ican. He smiled. "For why would I
hurt him? You Bay 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 con-
trols. Be ready. This affair it will
take no more than half an hour."

A man came to the control room en-
trance. "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 eavesdrop-
ping 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." w-
"I'm not a fool."

"Perhaps not." He turned to Jetta.
"No harm will come to you. Fear noth-
ing.

He wound his dark cloak about his
giant figure and left the control room.
In a moment, through the rounded ob-
serving pane beside me, I saw him out-
side 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 tUe group
of dark-cloaked figures outside crept
off in single file like a slithering gfcr-
pent, moving down the rocky defile to-
ward where in the cauldron pit the

108

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 arch-
way 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 pan-
taloons, laid his weapon carefully aside
and busied himself with his image mir-
ror. 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' noti-
fied Porto Rico. The patrol-ship had
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 huiried whispers told me further
details of Perona's scheme. So this
was a pseudo attack I Perona would
take advantage of it and hide the
quicksilver. De Boer would return pres-
ently 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 en-
tire Lowland patrol would be after him
in a day.

J ETTA'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 Ham
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'i
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 it
me and I tried to smile ingratiatingly.

"This attackvwill be successful, eh,
Hans?" \

"Damn, I hope so."

The mirror was glowing. Hani
turned a switch to dim the tube-lights
of the room so that we might see the
images better. It brought a proteat
from Gutierrez.

I swung around. "I'm not a fool I
You can see me perfectly well : kill me
if I make trouble. I want to see the
attack."

"iror Di'os, if you try anything—"
"I won't!"

"Shut I" growled Hans. "The audi-
phone is on. The big adventure— and
the commander leaves me here juBt to
watch I"

A SLIT in the observatory pant
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 its will not."

"There was an alarm, relayed prob-
ably to Great New Yorft, the com-
mander said, from Spawn's garden.
These cursed prisoners!-"

"Shut! You keep watch out then.
It is starting."

The guard slunk away. My atten-
tion went back to the mirror. An im-
age was formed there now, coming
from the eye of the lens upon.D«

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

109

Boer's forehead. It swayed with/Tlis
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 crac-
kled. 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
Boer's whispered voice said: "There
they are I"

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 u;> 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 moon-
light 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
*heo come back! Greko told my
father—" i

But De Boer was not coming back I
He was dashing for the smelter en-
trance. Spawn's guards must have
known then that there was something
wrong. Thehr shots hissed, still fired
high, and our grid sounded their star-
tled shouts. Then as De Boer momen-
tarily turned his head, I saw what was
taking place to the side of him. A
detachment of the bandits had fol-
lowed the retreating guards. The ban-
dits' shots were levelled now. Dim
stabs of light in the gloom. One of
the guards screamed as he was struck.

THE attack was real I 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 be-
neath 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 be-
hind 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 down-
ward.

He saw De Boer. He straightened,
startled, and then shouted with a ter-
rified Spanish oath. De Boer's projec-
tor was levelled: the huge, foreshort-
ened 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. Hani was bend-

110

ASTOUNDING STORIES

ing forward, watching the mirror. He
muttered, "Cot him!"

I saw a chance to escape, and pulled
at Jetta. But at once Gutierrez stepped
backward.

"Like him I will strike you dead I"
he said.

NO chance of escape. I had
thought Gutierrez absorbed by
the mirror, but he was not. I pro-
tested 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 sway-
ing 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 pur-
suit; the mine guards were gone.

The triumphant bandits would be
here in a few moments.
"Ave Maria, que magm'Sco!" Gutier-

But there/was no need for theory,
From outside came shouts.
"Patrol-ship!"
"Hurry!"

The ship, suddenly exposing Ha>
lights, was perfectly visible above ua,
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 offi-
cial Porto Rican patrol-liner. It am
us down here; recognized this bandit
flyer, no doubt.

And it was coming down!

There was a confusion as the ban-
dits rushed aboard. The patrol wai
dropping in a swift spiral. I watched
tensely, holding Jetta, with the tur-
moil of the embarking bandits around
me. Gutierrez Btood with levelled
weapon.

"They have not {moved. Commander.''
De Boer was here. The treasure was
aboard.

"Ready, Hans. Lift us."
The landing partes clanged as they
closed. Hans shoved at his switches.
I heard the helicopter engines thump-

rez had retreated to our doorway, more— »ing. A vertical Jift: there was no space

alert than ever upon me and Jetta.
Hans called through the window-slit :

"All is well, Franks!"

"Got it?"

"Yes I Make ready."

There was a stir outside as several
of the bandits hastened down the de-
file 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 staft."

Through the observatory window I
saw the line of De Boer's men coming.
Abruptly Hans gave a cry. "Look!"

AGLOW was in the room. A faint
aura of light. And our discon-
nected instruments were crackling,
murmuring with interference. Eaves-
dropping waves were here I Hans real-
ized it: so did I.

in this rocky defile for any horizontal
take-away. y

He was very calm, this De Boer. He
sat in a chair at a control-bank of in-
struments unfamiliar to me.

"Full power, Hans : I tell you. Lift
us!"

THE ship was quivering. We lift-
ed. 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 waa
impossible.

The silver ship overhead was cir-
cling, watchful. And i as we levelled
for forward flight it shot a warning
searchlight beam down across our boWi
ordering us to land.

J ETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

111

De Boer laughed. "They think they
have us I"

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 unpre-
pared.

De Boer flung another switch. My
senses reeled. I heard Jetta cry out.
My arm about her tightened.

A moment of strange whirling un-
reality. The control room seemed fad-
ing 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 toneless-
ness. 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 open-
ing 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
trill circling.

I KNEW then what had happened.
And why this bandit ship had
seemed of so strange an aspect. We
were invisible I 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 govern-
ment 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 I

The bandit's hollow, toneless, unreal
chuckle sounded in the grewspme lurid
green of the control room.

"I think that surprized them!"

The tiny silver shape of the baffled
local patrol-ship faded behind us as
we flew northward over heavy, fantas-
tic 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 fast-
ness 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, how-
ever, 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 main-
tained its invisibility, while the fran-
tic planes of the U. S. Anti-War De-
partment tried in vain to locate it. And
then, with its magnetic batteries ex-
hausting themselves, it must have be-
come visible. Perona, making a solo
flight upon Nareda business to Great
London, rcame 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 mechani-
cal science, was enabled in his bandit
camp, to recondition the flyer — build-
ing a workshop for the purpose, with
money which Perona freely supplied.

112

ASTOUNDING STORIES

Some of this I learned from De Boer,
some is siumise; 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 (de-
tails explained to me. But since It is
so important a Government secret, I
cannot set it down here. The prin-
ciples involved are complex ; the postu-
lates employed, and the mathematical
formulae developing them in theory,
are far too intricate for my under-
standing. Yet the practical workings
are simple indeed. Some of them were
understood as far back as 1920 and '30,
when that pioneer of modern astro-
physics, 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 work-
ings 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 per-
haps never will. But I think, too, that
a lengthy pedantic discpurse 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 1
great Highland centers, purchasing sci-
entific equipment ; until now, when his
path crossed mine, I found him sur-
rounded by most of the every-day de-.
▼ices of our modern world. The vil-
lage of Nareda was primitive ; back-
ward. Save for its modem lights, a
few local audiphones and image-find-
ers, and its official etheric connections
with other world capitals, it might have

been a primitive Latin American vil-
lage 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 noth-
ing 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 afjme,
the mechanism of invisibility of the
flyer was shut off. A fellow of sii
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.

Has 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 wai
intriguing: I should think particu-
larly 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 nil
forehead, and a bloody kni/e between
his teeth, I could have fancied him a
fabled pirate of the Spanish Main, i
few hundred years ago when these dry
Lowlands held the tossing seas. But
I had seejl him, so far, largely seated

J ETTA OF THE, LOWLANDS

113

oaietly in bis chair at his instrument
gbte, a cigarette dangling from his
lips, and, instead of a red bandanna
(boot bis 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 afrcw;
md then, since he did not need it 'now,
discarded it altogether.

WHERE we went I could not sur-
mise, except that we flew low
over the sullen black waters of the
Hares 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 mechan-
ise of invisibility. The control room,
with only the watchful Gutierrez now
in it— besides De Boer, Jetta and my-
self—was silent and orderly. But
there were sounds of roistering from
down the ship's corrider. The bandits,
with this treasure of the ra'diumized
quicksilver ingots aboard, were already
triumphantly celebrating.

I sat whispering with Jetta. De
Boer, busy with charts and navigational
instruments, ignored us, and Gutier-
rez, 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 be-
fore Jetta, regarding her with a
strange, alow smile which made my
heart pound. But he turned away in
i moment.

The bandits, for all De Boer's ad-
monitions, were now ill-conditioned
for handling this flyer. But I saw,
through*the small grid-opening in the
control room ceiling, the pilot jn 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 ihinus 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
Bight them.

De Boer had a detector on his table.
Occasionally it would buzz with calls:
liners or patrols in our general neigh-
borhood. He ignored them with a sar-
donic 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 op-
portunity 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 advers-
ary, 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. Mean-
while, what did he intend to do with
me ? And Jetta ? Rinsom me ? I won-
dered 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

114

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 pa-
trols of the United States Lowland
Service will be after us I"

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 fu-
tile rounds. I was aware of Jetta fall-
ing asleep besiderme, 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, rest-
ing 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
to my camp. You'll be well hidaa:
no one can follow me. My X-njiri
a very handy thing to have, isn't hf

"So you're the smuggler I was nc
after?"

That really amused him. "Er— yo,
Those tricksters, Perona and Spawn-
we were what you would call partnen.
He had — the perfumed Perona — wha
he thought was a clever scheme fa
us. I was to take all the risk, and hi
and Spawn get most of the money.
Chah I They thought I was imbecile-
pretending to attack a treasure and be-
ing such a fool that I would not win
it for myself! Not De Boer I" Hi
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 drink-
ing 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 ran-
som me for a fat price from the United
States?"

He smiled sourly. "You need not be
sarcastic, young lad. The better for
you H 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 pro-
tection." He went grim. "That wit
Perona and Spawn's trickery. "Well,
they paid for it. No one plays De
Boer false and lives to tell it. Pnoni
and Spawn wanted to get rid of yen—
because vou annoyed them."

"Did I?"

"With the little Jetta. I fancy." Hii
gaze went to the sleeping Jetta and
back to me. "Perona was very sensi-
tive where this little woman was con-

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS 11$

t^heA. 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
ii 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 I 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
I retorted, "How are you going to
irnT*" me ?"

That," he said, "I have not yet
plumed H. A delicate business."

I ventured, "And Jetta f" 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.'
Ii she seventeen? She does not look
it"

I said shortly, "I don't know how
old she is."

"But we can aBk her when she awak-
ens, can't we?"

HE was amusing himself with me.
And yet, looking back on it now,
I believe he was more than half seri-
ous. 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 ran-
som properly, De Boer. I'm as inter-
ested 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 pluck-
ing." A sentimental tone, but 7 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 ad-
mit that Pcrona had a good eye."

MY thoughts were wandering.
Suppose I could not find an op-
portunity to escape with Jetta? De
Boer might successfully ransom me
and take het 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
Buspected, that De Boer was operating
an invisible flyer, but I did not see
how that could help Hanley much,
lfarkes, acting for Nareda, would
doubtless be willing to ransom Jetta;
the Qoited 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.

116

ASTOUNDING STORIES

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 arrang-
ing the details of the ransom. Make
him think I was only concerned for
my own safety. Appear clever in help-
ing plan the exchange. And then so
manipulate the thing that I could es-
cape 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, f
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 un-
derstand 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 ran-
som me? It can be worked out. I
hare some ideas."
"Yes," he agreed. "It can be worked,

perhaps. I have not thought of defalk
yet. You are much concerned fa
your safety, Grant? Fear not"

An amused thought evidently struck
him. He added, "It occurs to me hoc
easy, if I am going to ransom you, it
will, be for me to send you back deal
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 an-
swering such logic; and with hit
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. Sud-
denly le checked himself.

"Well, Jetta I So you have awak-
ened?"

Jetta was sitting erect. How long
she had been awake, what she had
heard, I could ^iot 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, yest And interested, hear-
ing this Grant bargain with you for
his life."

It surprized De Boer as well. But
jthe alcholite had dulled his wits, and
Jetta realized this, and presumed upon
it.

"Ho I" exclaimed De Boer. "Our lit-
tle bird is angry I"
t "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 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 •
contemptuous fellow, this American!*

Again I caught her look and under-

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

117

stood it This was a different Jetta.
No longer helplessly frightened, but a
woman, fighting. She had heard De
Boer calmly Baying 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 ran-
som you I"

He reached for her, but nimbly she
avoided him. Acting, but clever
enough not to overdo it. I held my-
self 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 beguillingl

"Do not touch me, De Boer I He
tried "that. He held my hand in the
moonlight — to woo me with his clever
words."

"Hah I 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 t 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 di<j 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 reall 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 any-
thing 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, lit-
tle Jetta."

"And I remember you."

I understand the rationality of her
purpose. She could easily get De
Boer'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 I that
pleases me, little Jetta I Gutierrez,
take this fellow away."

The Spanish-American came slouch-
ing 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 Gutier-
rez shoved me roughly down the cor-
ridor, 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"

I was flung on a bunk in one of the
corridor cubbies, and the door sealed
upon me.

(To be continued.)

H X X

"Harrv turns into a thick smoke, <md grts
suskcd into a big kole in the mackimt."

An Extra Man

By Jackson Gee

RAYS of the August mid-day
sun pouring through the mu-
seum's glass roof beat upon
i the eight soldiers surrounding
the central exhibit, which for thirty
years has been
under constant
guard. Even the
present swelter-
ing heat failed to
lessen the men's
careful observa-
tion 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
tome six feet square by ten or a dozen

Sealed and vigilantly guarded wmj "Dray
le'ft Invention, 1932" — for it waa a- scion
tific achievement beyond which mat
dared not eo.

118

feet in height, standing in the center
of Machinery Hall, it auggested noth-
ing sinister or priceless. Two peculi-
arities, however, marked it as unusual
— the concealment of its mechanism

and the brevity

of its title. For
while the remain-
der of the ex-
hibits located
around it varied
in the simplicity
or complexity of their design, they
were alike in the openness of their con-
struction and detailed explanation of
plan and purpose. The gTeat steel box,
however, bore merely two words and a
date: "Drayle's Invention, 1932."

AN EXTRA MAN

119

It was, nevertheless, toward this, ex-
hibit 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 cor-
ridor 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. -

U \X THAT'S that, what's that,
W what's that?" he demanded
presently with shrill imperiousness.
"Grandfather, what's that?" An ex-
cited 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,
air," 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 f" 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?"

"Orayle," 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 har-
rassed relative; and then with amazing
ignorance inquired: "Do you really
care to hear or do you just ask ques-
tions 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 estab-
lished. The warrior also was a father,
and off the field of battle he had known
defeat.

"Leave me handle him, sir," he sug-
gested. "I've the* like of him at home."

"I'd be very much indebted to you if
you would."

Thus encouraged, the soldier pro-
duced 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 dis-
turb so soon the benign and acceptable
silence. In fact it was not until he ob-
served 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 mechani-
cal invention. It marks the point be-
yond which Drayle's contemporaries
believed it was unsafe to go; for they

120

ASTOUNDING STORIES

felt that inventions such as his would
add 1 to the complexities of life, and that
if a halt were not made our own ma-
chines 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
V»/ 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 fa-
mous.

"His rediscovery of the ancient
process of tempering copper had madet
him one of the wealthiest men in the
land and enabled him to devote bis 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 gol£# Some-
times 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 wel-
fare. And even though I could not
always follow him when he grew en-
thusiastic about some new theory I
was always puzzled.

"It was at such a time, when we had
been discussing the new and first suc-
cessful attempt to send moving pic-
tures 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 reassem-
ble them at the other end. We shall do
this by means of vibrations. We art
just beginning to learn that vibrations
are the key to the fundamental process
of all life.'

"T LAUGHED as I quoted this to
J. 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/ propor-
tions and arrangements; but we have
not been able to introduce the vitaliz-
ing 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 fur-
ther. 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 be 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 hii
laboratory and saw no one but his assis-
tants, 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.

AN EXTRA MAN

121

»p ONSEQUENTLY I felt little
hope of reaching him. one morn-
ing when it was necessary toVhave his
■ignature 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 won-
dering what was beyond the door that
separated us. I had witnessed some
incredible performances in the^ adjoin-
ing 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 evi-
dent that it was long since he had slept.
He apologized for having kept me wait-
ing 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."

"TX7H0'S Jackson Gee? Does
VV 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
•peed of the translation was illustrated
by a 801311 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 ensusd.
v "Where was I?" inquired the inter-
rupted narrator when the issue of bat-
tle was settled.

"You was talking about Jackson
Gee," answered the guardsman in a
cautiously low tone.

"So I was, so I was," the old 'gentle-
man agreed somewhat vaguely, nod-
ding his head. He gazed at the ser-
geant with mingled awe and admira-
tion. "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 re-
gretfully, and added, with apparent
irrelevance, "I have to live with him,
you see."

"Tough luck," commiserated {he lis-
tener.

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.

44 A FEW hours later," he contin-
il ued, "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. Any-
thing, it seemed to me, might have be-
fallen 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 al-
ready questioning the assailant, Mrs,
Farrel, a fiery tempered young Irian-

ASTOUNDING STORIES

woman. When I entered the room she
was repeating half-hystcrically her ex-
planation 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 ma-
chine 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 1'

"Even before the woman had finished
I recalled what I seen one afternoon in
Drayle'B laboratory many months be-
fore. 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 ap-
peared to have forgotten me com-
pletely.

M T ENDEAVORED then not to dis-
X turb 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 atten-
tion, 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 n
unearthly whining shriek. I shrank
from it involuntarily and a second lata
I was amazed at the sight of the glaa,
seemingly reduced to a thin vapor, be-
ing 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 at
with physical pain. I cried out. Bat
my voice was overwhelmed by the ter-
rific 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 boOa
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 hori-
zontal 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. to-
gether but broken at various points in
such fashion as to create the appear-
ance of a line by the very continuity of
the fractures. But as I watched, the
phasma 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.

""^TEXT, Drayle (illed the goblet
X N with some liquid which imme-
diately afterward he measured in •
beaker. The result seemed to pies*
him, for he smiled happily. At the
same instant he became aware of nw
presence. He looked surprised sod
then a trifle disconcerted. I could see
that he was embarrassed by the knowl-
edge that I had witnessed so much, aos

AN EXTRA MAN

123

(fter a second or two he asked my
silence. I agreed at once, not .only be-
cause 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.
Parrel'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
Dying to quiet her.

"As soon as the door closed after us
Hre. Drayle seized my hands.

"Tim,' she whispered, 'I'm horribly
afraid that what the woman says is
true. Chris has told me of some won-
derful things he was planning to do,
but I never expected he would experi-
ment 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 at-
tending Drayle could tell us how badly
lie was injured.

* h T last word came that the bullet
A had only grazed Drayle's head
md stunned him, but that he might re-
Bain 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 be-
wildered as to whether they ought to
•rmt 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 persua-
sion to prevail upon them to withhold
their hands. There was no such diffi-
culty about restraining them in the
laboratory. They were afraid to touch
any apparatus, and they gave the in-
vention a ludicrously wide berth.
/^"l 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 as-
sistance.

" 'Make them let me alone, Tim,' he
begged, as his wife and the doctor,
partly by force and partly by persua-
sion, 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.'

**T WAS about to argue with him
X when suddenly he managed to
thrust the doctor aside and start to-
ward the door. His seriousness im-
pressed me so that I gave him a sup-
porting 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.

124

ASTOUNDING STORIES

Drayle opened the door, went directly
to his machine and examined it min-
utely.

" Thank the Lord that woman hit
only me I' 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. Immedi-
ately after he turned again to the ma-
chine. I dragged up a chair, assisted
him into it, and seated myself close by.

"I knew little enough about mechan-
ics, but I was fascinated by the numer-
ous gauges that faced me on the gleam-
ing instrument board. There were dials
with needlelike hands that registered
various numbers; spots of color ap-
peared 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 indi-
cated figures, surround them with
formulas, and solve mysterious prob-
lems with a slide-rule.

"His calculations covered a large
sheet before he had finished. At last
he underscored, three intricate com-
binations of letters and figures and car-
ried the answers to his private radio
apparatus. This operated on a wave
length far outside the range of aH
Others and insured him against inter-
ference. With it he was able to speak
at any time with his assistants in
Washington or Boston or with both at
once. He 1 threw the switch that sent
his call into the air. An answer came
instantly! and Drayle began to talk to
his distant lieutenants.

"•II TE'VE been interrupted, gen-
W tlemen,' he said, "but I think
we may continue now. We'll reassem-
ble in the Boston laboratory. Have
you arranged the elements? The coef-
ficients are. . .' And he gave a suc-
cession of decimals. i

"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 be-
neath them. Wails and screams en-
gulfed us. Mrs. Drayle dropped to her
knees beside her husband. The doctor
seized my anrTSHa I saw the knuckle*
of his hand turn white with the pres-
sure 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 pulsa-
tions. For a while I imagined the
human system could not endure the or-
deal and that all of us must be anni-
hilated.

"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 mt
to imagine what was taking place in
the Boston laboratory. I seemed to see
man's elementary dust and vapon
whirled from great containers upward
into a stratum of shimmering air and
gradually assume the outlines of a hu-
man form that became first opaque,
then solid, and then a sentient being.
At the same instant I was conscious
that the appalling pandemonium Jtfd^
ceased and that the voice of Drayle's
Boston assistant was on the radio.

M ONCRATULATIONS, Chief I
V_s His reassemblage is perfect
There's not a flaw anywhere.'

AN EXTRA MAN

125

* 'Splendid,' Drayle answered. 'Bring
him here by plane right away ; his wife
U 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 reassem-
bled him from a supply of identical
elements at the other end. And now,
if you will assur^ 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 feel-
ings, but as Drayle left us I was satis-
fied 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 de-
liberate disobedience on the part of
one of his assistants.

"We waited, the doctor and I, for the
arrival of the man who, we were con-
vinced, 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 f j'om 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 v^as returning speedily.
Later she rejoined us, full of questions
that weanswered in a comforting blind
faith. The time limit waB drawing to
a close when .the sound of an automo-
bile 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-^P m., " a * scholarly ap-
pearing, bespectacled youth, I recog-
nized as Drayle's Boston assistant,
Ward; the other, a rather burly indi-
vidual, was a stranger to me. But there
was no doubt he was the man we
•waited so eagerly, for Mrs. Farrel

screamed 'Harry I Harry I' and sped
across the room towards him.

"AT first she ran her fingers rather
XX timidly over his face, and then
pinched his huge shoulders, as if to
assure herself of his reality. The sense
of tou^h 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, "Sail right, Mary, old kid I
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 shapelessfy about hiB 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 out-
stretched 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 congratula-
tory 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 sug-
gested 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 I'

M IITE were of course, already
VV somewhat drunk with excite-
ment as we lifted our glasses. But
Drayle would not have it.
" 'Let me amend that,' he said. 'Let

126

ASTOUNDING STORIES

us drink to the future of science.'

"'Sure I' 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
bis identity with 'Harry' was unescap-
able. For an instant I suspected Drayle
of trickery, of perpetrating some fiend-
ishly elaborate hoax. And then I heard
Mrs. Farrel scream, heard the new-
comer 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 previous-
ly, 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.'

'•/TpHEY were not quite satisfied,
A 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 Wash-
ington laboratory assistant, was with
us. He must have arrived with the
second Farrel, although I had not
observed him during the confusion at-
tending the former's unexpected ap-
pearance. But Drayle had noted him
and now seized his shoulders. 'Ex-
plaint' he demanded.

"Buchannon's face went white and
he shrank under the clutch of Drayk'i
fingers. Beyond them I saw the two
twinlike men standing beside Mrs.
Farrel, surveying each other with in-
credulous recognition and distaste.

" 'Explain I' roared Drayle, and tight-
ened his grasp.

" 'I thought you said Washington,
Chief.' His voice was not convincing.
I didn't believe him, nor did Drayle.

" 'You lie 1' 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 hid
not forseen the consequences. But I
began to have a glimmering of the
magnificent possibilities of the inven-
tion for purposes far beyond Drayle'i
intent. For, I asked myself, why, if
such a machine could produce two hu-
man identities, why not a score, a hun-
dred, a thousand ? The best of the race
could be multiplied indefinitely and
jnan 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 in-
significance 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.

"T^ RAYLE did not glance again at
XJ 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 be-
fore in the history pf the world had
two men been absolutely identical.
They were, of course, one in thought,
possessions and rights, physical at-
tributes and appearance. Mrs. Farrel,
as they were beginning to realize, was
the wife of both. And I have an un-

AN EXTRA MAN

127

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
tame time and in the same words.

"Take your hands off my wife!'

"And I think they would have at-
tacked each other then if Drayle hadn't
intervened. He said, 'Sit down I All
of you I' in so peremptory a voice that
we obeyed hint

" '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 ycu would simply cease to
be.'

The man addressed looked terrified.
It would be murder I' 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 I' he announced em-
phatically. '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.'

*fTVHE other Drayle-made man
J. leaped up at this, and again I ex-
pected violence. But Buchannon flung
himself between, and they subsided,
muttering.

" 'Very well, then,' Drayle continued,
when the room was quiet, 'here is an-
other 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 I' A
smile spread over her face and her eyes
twinkled with deviltry. 'I didn't never
think I'd be\n 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 increas-
ingly complex. I proposed that the
survivor be determined by lot, Imt this
suggestion won no support from-any-
one. 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 I'

"It was at this point that Drayle at-
tempted bribery. He offered fifty thou-
sand dollars to the man who would
abandon Mrs. Farrel. But this scheme
fell through because both men sought
the opportunity and Mrs. Farrel ob-
jected volubly.

"So in the end Drayle promised each
of them the same amount as a price for
silence and left the matter of their re-
lationships to their own settlement.

"T WAS skeptical of the success of
X the plan but could offer nothing
better. So I drew up a release as legal-
ly binding as I knew how to make it
in a case without precedent. I remem-
ber thinking that if the matter ever
came into court the judge would be as
s 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 at ten-

128 ASTOUNDI1

tion to his interests, regretted that
they had been unnecessarily inconveni-
enced and trusted that they would not
take amiss a small token of his appre-
ciation 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 ques-
tion 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. Parrel. There the argu-
ment of who was to leave had been
resumed. Both men were, of course,
of the same mind. Whether both de-
sired to stay or flee I would not pre-
sume to say. But an acrimonious
dispute led to physical hostilities, and
while Mrs. Farrel, according to ac-
counts, cheered them on, they literally
fought to the death. Being equally
capable, there was naturally, barring
interruption, no other possible out-
come. I can well believe they employed
the same tactics, swung the same
blows, and died at the same instant.

"Mrs. Farrel, after carefully retriev-
ing both of her husbands' checks, told
a great deal of the story. As might be
expected, nobody believed the yarn ex-
cept our profound federal law makers.
They welcomed an opportunity to in-
vestigate 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 recol-
lect that I offered a defense of psyco-
pathic neuroticiam.

"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."

C STORIES

THE white-haired old gentleman
picked up the high silk hat that
added a final touch »f distinction to hit
tall figure, and looked about him at if
trying to recall something. At last the
idea came.

"By the way/' he inquired suddenly,
"didn't I nave an extraordinarily ob-
noxious grandson with me when I
came?"

The attentive auditor was vastly
startled. He surveyed the great hall
rapidly, but reflected before he an-
swered.

"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 sa£e 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, disre-
spectfully.

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 unre-
warded.

"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 patri-
arch gasped as he struggled to main-
tain 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 com-
manded a clear view of the main en-
trance, where various specimens of
American fauna were mounted in in-
triguing replicas of their native
habitat.

The guard pointed an accusing finger
at one of these groups and sprang to-
ward the stairs.

AN EXTRA MAN

129

The old gentleman's breath and
strength were gone. He could only
gate in the direction that had been in-
dicated 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 pro-
testing 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, cha-
grined with failure, the culprit was
before his grandsire.

"Gee I" he complained, "I was only
looking at the polar bear. Are polar
bears always white ? Are — "

"You'd better take him away, sir," in-
terrupted 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 I"

The object of disapproval was shaken
indicatively.

"Guard the secret well, - Sergeant I
Guard it well I The world's peace de-
pends upon you I" 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?"

=4=

IN THE NEXT ISSUE
THE PIRATE PLANET

Beginning a Breath-Taking New Three-Part Novel
of Interplanetary Warfare
By Charles W. Diffin

VAGABONDS OF SPACE

A Thrilling Novelette of Adventure in Outer Space
By Harl Vincent

THE WALL OF DEATH

The Story of a Strange, Invation from the Bottom of the World
By Victor Rousseau

JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS

The Conclution of the Current Novel
By Ray Cummings

AND OTHERS!

The Invisible X-Flyers

The following is a semi-technical de-
scription of the operation of the invis-
ible X-flyers used in "Jetta of the Low-
lands," 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 lahor of many men during
many years. The popular mind has always
considered that science advances by a series
of "great scientific discoveries"; "unprece-
dented"; "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 "revolu-
tionary, unprecedented discovery" has very
little of itself that is new; rather is it a new
combination of older, perhaps seemingly im-
practical knowledge. Every scientific theory,

130

every device, is the offspring from a large
and varied family tree of many scientific an-
cestors, each of whom in his day was a re-
markable personage.

Thus it is, with the principles of mechan-
ical 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: fint,
the process known as de-electronization ; sec-
ond, the theories of color absorption; third,
the natural, inevitable deflection (bending) at
light rays when passing through a magnetic
field.

I take each of the three in order. The
forerunners of de-electronization were the
M artel Effects — the experiments of Charki
Mart el, in Paris, in 1939. A new electric cur-
rent, of a different character — now called the
oscillating current as distinct from the alter-
nating and direct — was developed. Metallic
plates were electro-magnetized to produce
an enveloping magnetic field of somewhat ■
different character from any field formerly
known.

Dr. Norton Grenfell followed this in lW
by using the Martell oscillating ciirrentt©
obtain a reverse effect. A similar distnrb-

THE READERS' CORNER

131

»» of ele ctroni c ha Inner. But not a sur-
cfcirge. An exhaustion. An anti-clectrical
state, instead of a state of magnetism. A
metallic mass so treated — and with a con-
fuuit flow of oscillating current holding its
(abnormal electronic balance — was then said
0 be de-electronized.

Scientific "discoveries" are largely made by
the trial and error system. The scientist
frh— what be finds. Generally he does not
know* at first, what it means. Mart ell took
ha oscillating current and "discovered" the
Hartel Magnetic Levitation, whereby gravity
was lessened, and then completely nullified.
Grenfell, with his de-clectronization, increased
the bower of gravity. The two were corn-
pined by Grenfell and his associates — and the
■ecret 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 sub-
nonnal magentic field surrounding a metallic
ro hf^an^ in a BhUe of de-electronization 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-electronized
metal (the metal itself influencing this re-
mit), the magnetic field, while bending the
rays passing through it from distant objects
behind it, nevertheless left their color and
ill their inherent properties unchanged.

The 'principles of color absorption are
these: a pigment— a paint, a dye, if you will—
inured" because it absorbs from the light
nys 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" be-
cause all are absorbed; and "white," the re-
verse, all blended and reflected. Color inde-
pendent upon vibratory motion. The solar
■pec tram — its range of visibility through the
primary colors from red to violet — can be
likened to a range of radio wave-lengths; vi-
bration frequencies; and when we eliminate
them sll save the "violet" — that is what we
have left, in the radio to hear, in color ab-
sorption to sec.

Thus, a de-electronized metal was found to
produce black. Not black u habitually we
meet it— a "shiny" black, a "dull" black; but
a true black — a real absence of light-gray
reflection — a "nothingness to see": in effect,
an invisibility.

A word of explanation is necessary regard-
ing the other property of the de-electronized
field t he bending of distant light rays into
a curve, yet leaving their spectrum un-
changed. 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
™a passing through a magnetic field. The
ansa caused world-wide interest, for upon
g truth or falsity the whole fabric of the
■mwein Theory of Relativity was woven.

An eclipse of the sun in the 1920's estab-
Bahad that light is actually bent in the man-
ner Kmstein had calculated. A magnetic field

surrounds the am. In those days they did
not know that it is a field of subnormal elec-
tronic balance — in effect, the result of de-
electronization. It was found, nevertheless,
that stars dose to the limb of the sun ap-
peared, 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 a pec-
trams were unaltered.

And some of the stars actually were be-
hind the sun, yet because of the curved path
of the light, were visible. I mention this be-
cause it is an important aspect of the sub-
ject of mechanical invisibility.

With the foregoing factors, the secret of
mechanical invisibility is constructed. Grace-
ry, an American — following a long series of
world-wide experiments, tests of current
strength, frequencies of oscillation, bui table
metfcls, etc, which I cannot detail here — in
1980 was the final developer of the mechan-
isms subsequently used in the X-flyers.

Grace! y produced what he christened
"aluminoid-spectrite n -£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 colon of the solar spectrum, well be-
yond 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 bat 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 tfone. He had it resting on a white table,
with ; a white background. And the fact that
the cube was still there, was perfectly ob-
vious. It was as though a hole of nothing-
ness 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 re-
constructs itself.

But when Gracely determined the proper
vibrations of bis oscillating current to coin-
cide with all the other material factors he
was usine;, the final result was before him —
real invisibility. He used a patterned back-
ground — a symmetrically checkered surface,
most difficult of all. The light rays coming
from this background passed through the
magnetic field surrounding the invisible color-
less 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*

ASTOUNDING STORIES

sometime* slightly distorted, but neverthe-
less sufficiently cleax for its .'abnormality to
escape notice. Thus the cube's outlines were
not reconstructed; and, in effect, it had van-
ished.

In practical workings with the X-flyers, no
such difficult test as Grocery's cube and rect-
angular, symmetrically patterned background
is ever met The varying background behind
a plane — at rest or flying, and particularly
at night— demands less perfection of back-

round than Gracely's laboratory conditions,
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 move-
ment relative to the angle of observation,
and the type and color-lighting of its back-
ground. But under most conditions it repre-
sents a very nearly perfect mechanical in-
visibility.

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 dis-
tance apart to give the perception of depth,
of the third dimension — is in itself a subject
tremendously interesting, and worthy of any-
one'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
h) and thus sees a trifle more of the back-
ground than would otherwise be the case.
And this — these two viewpoints blended in his
bVain — 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 Depart-
ment to determine the perfection of the in-
visibility of the X-flyers, it was a one-eyed
man who proved that they were not always
totally invisible I — Ray Cummings.

Thank You

Dear Editor:

I just want you to know that 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. Damn's stories
in the next issue — "The Moon Master/* —
J. R. Penner, 37a Woodlawn Ave- Buffalo,
N. Y.

"A Wiz"
Dear Editor:

I am only a young girl sixteen years of age
bat 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 mart
stories like "Monsters of Moyen," and "The
Beetle Horde." — Josephine Prankhouser, aftsj
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 previoai
ones. There have been some stories that do
not belong in a Science Fiction magazine,
such as: 'The Cave of Horror," 'The Corps*
on the Grating," 'The Soul Master" and
"The Man who was Dead." There is also
another story that was printed in the Hay
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 fin*
tasttc. Weird. Why not try to publish some
thing on the H. G. Wells, E. R. Burroogbj
type of stories, also Ray Ciimmings' *Tht
Man whd Mastered Time," or "The Time
Machine," by Wells? — Louis Wentzler, 1931
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 never-
theless let's forget that and talk about some
astounding stories.

First, I would suggest that you fUmim tf
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 hit's have a humorous story.
You know* "A bit of humor now and then—"

Well, anyhow, publish any kind of astound*
ing story, just so it is different and does not
deal with interplanetary travel.

Now, about the magazine.' I think it u I
good publication and I like it werra, went
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 in-
sect 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 disre-
garded in so good a magazine? And is it not
interesting to note that some of his storks
have become actual realizations? Even Poc'i
should be published. All those dead authori
whose stones would be considered good were
they living. Why should any person ok not
to have such good stories in your magazine?
Perhaps there are some people who would
enjoy them, bat do not have the means nor
time to b*y these great works in book form
Think it over, ye Ed., think it over.

THE READERS' CORNER

133

And now, to finish up, 111 say: are there
gay readers like me — a girl — or do only men
and boys read Astounding Stories? — Gertrude
Hemken, 5730 So. Ashland Ave-, Chicago, I1L

Short — and Sweet

Dear Editor:

Congratulations! Have followed up every
iasue 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, al-
though 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
atory I ever read. Please ask Hr. Diffin to
write more like it.

But then all the stories are really peppy. —
Jack Hudson, St Mark's School, Southbor-
oagh, 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 an-
other Science Fiction book on the stands that
hat stories by Victor Rousseau, Murray L cla-
tter, Ray Gumming*, A. T. Locke, A J.
Barks, 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
Eatery. Well, I just wanted to tell you that
I have stopped reading all other Science Fie*
una "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 preprints.
There is only one bo far who has objected to
reprints* while there have been several ask-
ing 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 indispensible acquisi-
tion to "our" magazine. His stories axe 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
la the cry for the rcprintiirg 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 Mara stories by Bur-
toughs. He's too much long sword and short
lword. A Merritt, however, is the man for
you to get and keep.

The schedule for July looks "doggone
ffsod" and suggestive to the imagination.
Ton might Increase the contents of the book.

The only thing wrong with the stories as
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 anchor
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 magaxine
I just grabbed it and started reading it That
magaxine had the first instalment of "Brig-
ands 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 Cummin gs,
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 peo-
ple 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 "Mur-
der 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, 228 So. Main St., Fair-
mont, Minn.

Yessir — H. W. Wessolowski

Dear Editor:

I I have just finished the June issue of
Astounding Stories. It contained some very
interesting stories, such as "Brigands of the
Moon," by Ray Cummin em. 'The Moon Mas-
ter," by Charlea W. Diffin, "Murder Mad-
ness," 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 Sci-
ence Fiction magaxine.

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 leaat one full page picture with each story.

Wesso ia the only good artist you have. Is
Wessolowski his- real name? — Jack Darrow,
4225 N. SpauldingNA venue, 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 fas-
cinating subject of reincarnation. Although I
have written to Mr. Bryant personally, I
would like to present my views on the sub-
ject to all your readers.

Mr. Bryant asks: "Could a person remem-
ber, his own death in a former reincarnation V
Yes, he could — If he could "tune in" on his
higher consciousness, or ego. Were that posv

134

ASTOUNDING STORIES

stale, he could tee 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 experi-
enced 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 for-
mer visits to this world; and it is perhaps
better so. If there were not loss of memory
our minds would now range over the adven-
tures 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 of argument that we
have lived here before, because. yweryone will
remember it.

For those who care to pursue this subject
more fully, I recommend "Elementary The-
osophy " by L. W. Rogers, obtainable at most
public libraries. — Allen Glasser, 1610 Univer-
sity 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 en-
titled 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, <biit some qf 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 Bala-
mok" 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. Dims 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 aborts, but this was his
first fantastic story, tp the best of my knowl-
edge. Come again, Locke ! ' "Brigands of the
Moon," by Ray Gommings was great too.

The best for April was "Monsters of
Moyen," by Arthur J. Burks. Clever idea.

Victor Roussean 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, yon
know I ~\l

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 lor 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 novel-

ettes. 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'i
The Power and the Glory."

My second suggestion is v 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 cotv
venient for the readers; besides, those of tta
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 yoq
think it would be / good idea to publish in
each fafsue. the picture of one of the authen,
and a short synapsis of his life? How he
started writing, hfe experiences, etc. I'm cer-
tain that I'm not the only reader who's inter-
ested in the authors. I hope, if everything
else I've said is ignored, you'll at least gh-e
this last suggestion serious consideration.

Why not get the opinion of other readers?

Continued and increasing success to
Astounding Stories, best of the Science Fic-
tion magazines I — P. A. Lyter, 220 Peffer
Street, H arris buxg, Pa.

Mr. Bates Accepts with Pleasure

Dear Editor:

It is with the 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 mem-
bers. These authors are well-known to
Astounding Stories readers. Also, we take

Sleasure in announcing that we have asked
Ir. Bates to become an honorary member
in recognition of bis fine work in furthering
Science Fiction. /

Our first bulletin has been turned and real
'progress is started. For those Interested, Mr.
Raymond A. Palmer at 1431^ 38th St, Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, will JbStSalc 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 sod
tell him about it. In this way more and better
Science Fiction will appear. Let us all gh*e
Astounding Stories a big hand, you reader* I
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 m
your magazine, although I have read other
magazines for the past three years.

I see where yon inquire as to the kind of
stories your readers want.

THE READERS' CORNER

135

Personally, I think stories of interplanetary
travel are the best, and most demanded by
leaders of Science Fiction. Try and have one
hi each issue.

In my opinion I see no criticisms to be
nude on your magazine. It certainly would
be a bargain at several times the price you
M y i am sore I will continue reading It. —
LooU D. Buchanan, Jr., 711 Monroe Ave.,
gvaasville, Indiana.

No "Flash in the Pan"

Pear Editor:

When I bought the first issue of Astound-
ing Stories last December, I was impressed
by its array of splendid 6tories and famous
authors. I thought, then, that perhaps that
grit number was just a flash in the pan, and
out succeeding issues would sink to the level
of other Science Fiction magazines. Happily,
I was wrong. Astounding Stories has more
tfi*n fulfilled the promise of its initial issue.
The stories are undoubtedly the finest of their
amd, and written by the most prominent
Science Fiction authors of the day. I cannot
conceive of any possible improvement in the
mifi

I do wish, though, that you would not heed
the gratuitous advice of certain earnest but
nusgnided correspondents. For instance, in
the June issue, one Warren Williams of Chi-
cago, suggests that you enlarge tiie magazine
md give each story a full-page illustration,
like otrjer Science Fiction periodicals. Mr.
WnUams evidently favors standardization. As
one magazine is, so must the rest be. Please
ignore this request, and others like it.
Mounding 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." — Mor-
timer Weisinger, 3560 Roc ham beau Ave.,
Bronx, New York.

"1 Mean Increased"

Dear Editor:

I wish to thank you for your reply to my
letter. I did not expect you to give me a per-
ianal reply; that was why I asked you to
reply to me in 'The Readers' Corner." You
tre the only editor I have ever known of
that goes to that trouble of 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
sty, "tickled me all over.**

I am sorry I can't get a subscription just
fet, but I am "bound" to my newsdealer a
•"tie while yet, as I immediately gave him a
monthly order for Astounding Stories.

U you are the one who picked the author*,
yaflHiave the best taste I have ever seen in
wrperson. But couldn't your taste be im-
proved? Pardon me, I mean increased,
finely, please add to your taste: H. P.
I*recxaft 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. r*

The three short stories, "Out of the Dread-
ful Depths," "The Cavern World" and "Giants
of the Ray," were all very good. Ray Curn-
mings was wonderful in the way he handled
his Brigands of the Moon." It waa a "wow
baby." "Murder Madness" is a great im-
provement over "Tanks." "Tanks was the
worst I've ever read by Leinster. But he
came out of his reverie in "Murder Madness.**
If s great

Sewell Pcaslec Wright can work wonders
with short stories. Keep his "typer" clacking.
By the way, may I say a few good words
for Sophie Wenzel Ellis? If she can duplicate
"Creatures of the Light," make 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 MaBter" was excellent. — Ga-
briel 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 Dirhn, is great. He sure
knows how to write adventure with science.

I am a member of the Science Correspond-
ing 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 Sden-
celly." — John Mar croft, 32 Washington St.,
Central Falls, R. I.

A Full List

Dear Editor:

In the January number of Astounding^
Stories Cummin gs' "Phantom of Reality" was
the best, followed by Rousseau's "Beetle
Horde."

February: 1 — Difhri's "Spawn of the Stars";

2 — Rousseau's "Beetle Horde" ; 3— Ellis
"Creatures of the/ Light"; A — Meek's "The
Thief of Time."

March: 1 — Cu minings' "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—
Dlffin's "Moon Master."

136

ASTOUNDING STORIES

Please give us a story by H. P. Love craft,
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 ex-
press 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 Amer-
ican.

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 bering printed now are
far inferior to the reprints. Even your best
stories, such as "Murder Ifadness" and "Brig-
ands of the Moon," cannot be compared with
such stories as "Station X," "The 'Moon
Pool," "The Metal Monster," or 'The Colum-
bus of Space" and "The Second Deluge."

Second: The Saturday Evening Post can-
not 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 rea-
son 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 re-
prints, 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. — Wood row Gelman,
1606 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 Heaviaide Layer," good;.
"Earth, the Marauder," excellent, best in

in 0

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 Mad.
ncss," Very good, but not so much so as pre-
ceding -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, bat,
like others, I think in the end you would gain
rather than lose by it. Most small magannei
are cheap affairs, and to have Astounding
Stories small brands it as a cheap typeof
magazine. Small magazines are more likely
to be hidden on the newsstands by larger
ones, and in most stores the large magazine!
have the more advantageous positions. <

2. The edges of your pages are uneven.
You look in the index and find an mteiesunf
story is on, for example, page 56. you skua
the pages to find it, and from page 43 you find
yourself suddenly at page 79. Make the per
more even, please.

3. Don't have advertisements before the
stories. Have them in the rear.

4. Have a full page illustration facing tht
beginning of each story. If at the end of a
story you find pages won't turn up right, con-
tinue the last page to the back of the book,

Wesao is excellent. Another good artist !■
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 reax 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 in
'The Readers' Corner* " and join in
our monthly discussion of stories,
auditors, scientific principles and possi-
bilities — everything that's of common
interest in connection with our
Astounding Stories.

Although from time to time the
Editor may make a comment or sq, this
is a department primarily for Readers,
and we want you to make full use of
it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explana-
tions, roses, brickbats, suggestions—
everything's welcome here; so "come
over in 'The Readers' Corner' " and
discuss it with all of us!

— The Editor.

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T ft nil era Uoeol SdomukJ H eatery
t, women ud children,

Sh-ve sra an abaolute neeeeBUy
— Tanncra Qu^Jiiy tho« at
cur loir price* in a neceeal ly that
sells to the iimt ciutoroen ax*lfi and

Wr Surplv Evi'ryThinST

_ I lo do » bw _

IFOR THOUSANDS OF an

\tobacco habit

BANISHED

Let Is Idffa

f

Stop enuring tobacco In any form.
Tobaaeo Rod— mu in moat cases relieve,
all craving for It iri a fete* days' time. Don't trj 1
to quit the tobacco habit unaided. It's often a |
losing flgh t Taj oat heavy odds, and may inn % da>, 1
treaslno; shock to the nervous system. I*tToaaco> i
Redeemer help the habit to quit you. 1 1 Is pleaaUl tl 1
use. acta quickly, and is thoroughly reliable*

Not a Substitute

Tobacco Redeemer contains no habit-fa .

draffs of any kind. It la In no sense a aubatitat* ear
tobacco. After finishing the treatm ent, there sasaal I
be no deal re to use tobacco again or to ennttno* (as 1
use of the. remedy. In case the tre a tm ent Is not pee* I
fectly satisfactory, we wlU gladly refund any nawav I
paid. Itmakea ftotaparticlsof difference bow fcaaj I
tobacco haSvbeen used, how much it is used, oral I
what form — whether It Is cigars, cigarettes, peae. I
plug, fine cot or snuff. In most cases, Tofaactala- |
deemer removes all craving for tobacco In any fx

In a very few days. And remember, it Is offered a

a positive money-back froarantee. Write today tot 1
our free book let showing the Injurious effect at b>
bacco upon the human rystemand convincing era- I
dance that Tobacco Badee mar has relieved the C
InaT foz tobacco in thous ands of cases.

NEWELL FHARMACAL COMPANY
Dapt,7S3. Onujufa JL Lessj,

$- ALWAYS HAVE LUCK.-J

Unlucky la Honey Gun, Lm a
Buitnewf You thMld carry a ear 1
mains MYSTIC BRAHMA RED UYI

IGHLY MAGNETIC LOOK

A«azlno.

_ LIVE LC

_, Occult Oriental aeosle u a

ERF UL LUCKY CHARM, one to B>
vent Bad Luck. Evil and Middle*,
sad the other to attract »td M
Lack, Love, Happlneu and Priests.
Special only $1.97 for the raw. *■
valuable Initructio*. FREE. Pay Mates.
11.97 and 150. eottaoa on delivery. Satnfaclion or stoat* rteoe*
You can be LUCKYI Order your. TODAY 1
Dept. 237. P. S. BUREAU, General P. 0. Box 72. Brooklyn. i.Y
GUARANTEE thete etaalat I —
■* Jurt what y—

. m, r. a. nuntHu, uenerai r. u. box ,i, breoaiye, a. r,
>TICE1 We absolutely GUARANTEE thna tcnuloo tjeH
ma Lodntonea are ALIVEI Just what yen wsM. (a t»
the REAL THING— POWERFUL HIGHLY M AflhCTlC'

four mrSor^Ml p^ta w«l«td.

II r*c*lT* four bMouful hfa>
)■• igi^Dln.auu-witwltMdal

pa>t»u wfe pJu» era~ ■

- JMl Unt*doiloUt«T« FRE«.v>

7pt}Ha> eoal. Tkk> tdTMUft M>

t <mm ~ mm turn photo udui
UNITED PORTRAIT COMPANY
tOO Wa*t L»ko St. Peat. M-l»O.CMeaso. «

fiw« SHAPE YOUR NOS

Anita Nose Adjuster shapes
and cartilage— quickly, saw.
lessly, while you sleep or Be
Listing, results. Gold Mrisl "J
ner. Doctors approve it ■ ™ff
users. Write for FREE BOO Ha*

ANITA IMSTITOTI

SOU JUirlai saUas. Isa— M

Please mention Newsstand Croup — Men's List, when answering advciiiscrr.enis

6wmm9 NnrModel Boiler

■rfMlUTM VTMMO.

' denned. No

to vrt oat of order.
No Darn I air of hands
Do trouble In taking-

_ pat _ _

off in a Ktrrad by a
aimple twiat of the
thumb-ecTew on the

No article of «ueh
quality ud utility
ever told ateucli low
priee.It'ealowprea-
nn boiler and paa-
Inrlwr. An Ideal
cooker for the home.
Nothing better for

Nothing; I
neueiaT t£
Guts a life

— ita a lifetime and
gin* ml terries
■od aatiaf action.
Above an etrtctlj
, eaah with order Factor*
prices. Send money onJcr or
nt lo plain, etrong boa. Only en
■ M ANUr AGT UM I rW CO.
D,ept. 6650 Chicago, llllnoli

Boy's and Hen's. STRAP WATCH

Our 3 2nrt»„.,

MBanUtMiMWMte CtOvertne lalve»tUr mmth -,b*«o-
tjntlBTt ptrton 'RU wl tbeachbox) . nmlt u p«r»Ui>

Dept. »1 A. R. Tyrone. Pp.

■ big mooer from the Kirt- Let Quaker help too. Woo-
B S3 Outfit gets order.. Fioct Men*. Shim. Tiei, ,
" 07. Unbeatable value*. Unique ulcs

i panaux. FREE Shim, Ti '

l WtitefurPreeOntniNOWl Dept.
I SHIRT CORP., 1 107 Broadway, N.V. I

YOU

WANT A 1

BIGGER INCOME J

SELL SHIRTS J

"Wales

HOW TO BANISH THEM
A ri tuple, amie, home treat*
■nent — 16 yeaia' success in
my practice, alolea (also Big
Growths) dry up and drop
off. Write for free Booklet,
124-X Grove Ave.. Woodbridge, N. J.

"The Happiest Day
of My Life!"

"Ova wksdtvc nAY ' A year tgtt ft seemed like a dream that
would never come true, (or ray salary then was barely enough
for one to live on. 1 faced'' tike (acts. Unless I could mala
more money I had no right (b leep Ruth waiting. What I bad
to do was find some way to make myself vojlk more.

"It was Ttulh hrnrif who thawed no the way. She clipped 1 a
Coupon out of a tvafaalne and wo tent It lo the International Cor-
reapondenee BchooJe for Information about their courses. Within a
weak I had enrolled. Th« training- I gel from studying at hoom
showed up eJraoat at onca In my offlra work. The? gave ma aura
rnpnnilblllllea. Jmlrte of tlx months I wae promoted, with a
tutmantlal raise. Now I'm getting doublet what 1 wu a year ago
• — and «e*re married!"

L C S. Coimea htre given thousands the special knowledge they
need lo win belter Jobs aad bigger pay. Wkp tut pout

One hour of apara time a day, apent In I. C. 8. study, win 1

ra you for tho poaltloa you wan' "
. nd out now. It won't obligate j.
particulars. Do It now — (or HEfil

Mail f*# Coupon for Frtw Booklet

INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS
"Tho VmUaMi Vnicirrttv"
Bam 2109-F. Sweatee, Pease,
Without eoit or obllnUon, pleaae send me a copy of your Book-
let. "Wfea Win aad Why." and lull parllculara about Um subject
ac/ore which I have marked X:

TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL COURSES

Architect
Architectural Drafuraan
BulMing btlfoatlng
Wood MIlIworkTag
Contnclor and Itulldcr
Btrurtural Diaftaouui
Mructural Engineer
E3ertrlc Wiring
Electrical Engineer
Electric Llihllng
Welding. Electric and Gag
Reading Shop Illueprlnta
Telegraph Engineer
Telephone Work
Hvcnanlcal Engineer
Mecnenkal Draftsman
Machinist □ Two I maker
Patternmaker
- " 'Biter . □Tlnimllli

Plpr niter U '
Drldce Engineer
Brldite and llulldlng _
OuEnglnre □ blcael
Arialiou Engines

BUSINESS TRAINING COURSES

Automobile UechanJe
Plumbing _□ Steam Filling
UaaUng [T Ventilation
Sheet Metal Worker
Uieam Engineer
Hteam Electric Er,
Clrll Engineer
tiurreylng and Mapping
UefrlgcraUon
It. B. LocoinoUvea
H. B. Section Foreman

1LB. RrlJgtandltuilillngrt

Air Urahea □ TrainOperallon
Highway Enaineerlng
ChamUIrr □ Itiarmacy
TCoal kilning Engineer

VaTlnailon □ Boilermaker
' futile Orertetr or SusL
' Cotton manufacturing
"Woolen Manufacturing

Agriculture □ Fruit O row leg;
roultry Farming Q Radio
Marine Engineer

Builnen Managament
Omre Management
Industrial Management
I'crionnrl Management
TraOc Management
Accountancy □ <>ut Aconintant
C. P. Aecounian.1 •
bookkeeping
Secretarial Wnrk
SptnliU Q Frtnch
tjaluuanihlB Q Aurertlilag

Uuilneiv Correaponiflenoa .
Lctterlnc Know Cardi □ Signs
^.Stcoorraphr and Typing
JCompfele Commercial
rim Berries. Q UaU Carrier
Uallway Mall Clerk
Grade Bchool flubjectg
Illch School Fubjorla
rolleco rrcparaiorr
illustrating □ Cartooning
Lumber Dealer

Orcunallon ■

It era ttwido in ra»ada. trnd i\i4 rfepnn to the /nfTuef iewal Cor-
rrepuMdcaM ficaeole. Caaodua, LUnUed, lionised, Canada

Please mention Newsstand Groui 1 — Men's List, wlierf answering advertiscmcnis

:onCrcdit

Qhe World 'famous
21Jewel c Ihin c Model

Santa Fc
-Special-

Our "Direct to You" offer and
Extra Special Distribution Plan
is fully explained in the New
anta Fe Special Booklet just off
press. The "Santa Fe Special"
Plan means a big saving of money to

you and you gel the beat Match value on th«
market today. Watch sent for you lo ee©

FREE

Wf it- now for our New
Watch Book— Ju^t off the
preit. AH the neweit watch
c.i ie designs in white or green
geld, fancy shapes and thin
modrlt are shown. Road our
ruy payment off or. Wear the
watch 30 day* FREE. All watches
tent on approval and sold on payment!.
ONE MINUTE— It will only take "0*0
minute" of your time to tend for new
watch book. DO SO NOW.

ata Fe Watch Company

Thomaa Bid*;. Topeka, Kaaoaa

Cmnplete course In Boilnir. for only 11.9T. Our scientific meth-
o>i- em time of learning in half. Teaches UM b) m U*«l b>' pro-
i mfcartaU Dernp-ey'H 'i>lrle. Pluxlnunonn' shift, vie. K»err blow
Illustrated. AUo Wre«!Iin_". Jlu-Jltau and fttfUtf of lloier*.
lt$ book*— bunarnla orpeces. Send do money— <

i. Das*. lOS. tjl park Axkih. New York
fj"»'«l« K-ir-TW*a» r.flro. I will d>u*lt

60 to $150 a Week

Be a Motion Picture Projectionist

IJlO demand now for motion picture projec-
*f tioriists — in theaters, schools, industrial mo-
tion pictures or (or spare-time entertainments I
Y can quickly (|ualify. Free book sires de-
■ails about o[>|>ortunitirs awaiting you as:
( ) Motion rintura rroh-c; lonLil
) Slor^n rinurs faiiierman
) "Si HI" FhOtotTBphcr ( j I

Scad for b NOW I

NEW YORK INSTITUTE
OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Dipt. S— I6M,
10 Wett 33rd St..
" r York City.

Now/bra

■V "

Draw big payiot baring

r - -— ppy work— playing a Bl_

U am in «0 time. No talent required. 3 free lessons gh» r

a Buescfaer.^bicai

™ *■» »•» •""«• witui mjuueu. j irec lessons rrrt tsa

Kitk, tasy start. Play tunes first week. Join a band n ooaW
iy to Play. Easy to Pay. Any instrument sent oo 6 dltfyrTrwinal
£'jjy laraw ef payment. Send for catalog. Mention tnsmaam
Eucacher Band instrument Co., 1111 BuescK*r DIM. £- •

PRIMSET— a simple and n

method, sets them In natural]
and Improved aiipeersncti IVUJKI
I.Y. No mwhanical a: j lltm*!
llil.];. C O M KOI IT AB LK , lUK
and ran be worn any Una i
detection.

1 correct* (Monnilf Quickly \
children, eventually with tdulu.
dotted by physician* as bast kaaa
method for Mia-nhutun* can.
complete outfit, ku* ran: ted to as a

30 DATS TRIAL OFFER £SE& "X.'"^.^ * "

PRIM8ET LABORATORIES
Dent, 12 55 Wast 42nd St. HawTat

Brtponalblellf'rGuaranti New Shirts forevary
one that Shrinks or Fades. Setting like Wildfin
LUgatat Profit* I Complete line include* Neck*
W*ar» Hosiery. Underwear and Jacketa. Wri
Dwa4. BONDBO SHIRT COMPANY
It-lS • ! FIFTH AVE., HEW YORK

FIEF

Miirratwa pwphlat ai'loc th- b UiIoui of Uia

- f*SrSmmTfSm7' y™ t», «

~jt lb* pruKiplaa rlran. Mad ID

THE ONE WAY 1 '

i* Spiritual '.v,... 1 : . Mat**

• It and lr.Ti.it.l«^Hr'

lha Aura) Plan*, km *> nwr oUwc luciMlff wbKu as?

SSaSmKraSs

?ou mail rwd thi* houk Ti>ur»*lf .- -
wh.L-h furraolurU* baa ba*o k.«ot carafu
pv« <t II WC.O.D.

QRUWT CXCHANCE. 2l*tmt\ S7tt» Straat. Haw Yara. Hf.

BE A RAILWAY TRAFFIC INSPEC"

riJuaii bonk of m aaaWS daacribla

F^reaa, lDrM)>l*B«lnn,3Mon>, Madium
mud, Maa'a M.ot*l Afluani'*. Gw:d<u

aftaff [>iuth. HM Vowi at Ch«rm* and Tl

Aatrml FUnv. ul *u nwv fcU>«t Ilicimwi BSSSfaa
- Ihla own* bouk (unuiBa tba utu

MONEY FARYAU

Z AT HflME r _

245 Ltominioo Bld«^ Toronto. Q*.J-~

Please

Newsstand Croup^-Mex's List, when inswering advertisements

NEW LOW PRICES

*V COODRICH-OOOD/VEAR

#

Tirestone - U.S.

AND OTHER TIRES

Lowest Price* on Earth!

fir it •*!(. TbU blc raa p ow il bla cempMj will
B 5SBH 12 monthi ' iarvlca

CORD Tim
Hi a Tirt.ruiiH

Ha J3.JOH i i

"** 2 !S HI

Don't Delay-Order Today

BALLOON TVn
SIX* TVm TwbM

".-.|< I »2.30II I ■

L-JH.M 2.40 1.11
HH4.H 2.45 1.10

r hi 2. so i * .

sm. . vs 2.e» i.p ,

:» ■('..-.■. 2.aS l.K
Bli 3.10 l.«5

m'. ;r 3.20 1.4P

JVf.--.-1 3.20 1.4.1

HH J 20 i i
12j* to a. so l.u
AaoOwrSbM

PT A W » * ** pamnt If nih in fall raomptiilM aider.
■k_utaUct*allmoatha Mrtmt wnl tx r»plao«d H na'f orlea.

vo*K TIRE A RUBBER COMPANY, DeDt.143
Miftn^* 6n>x CMf», S»— to

mm tbtn quickly.
iMaf •zpitiaM dearly.

UWAIIAM OUITAH. * WBJ*M

WfTl AI OMCI f« .'Ir.dl.. offrr

PUjlng Outtl t-
Value «1S to *2 0

l ban iartiucton. Writ* for fall k

K«i?fiKWlS&? N " , !, , :„ A , T % Y '

[ESS IS MISERY

Many persons with defective hearing and
Head Noises enjoy conversation, go to

£4 ..

Theatre and Church because they Use
1*5" Q Leonard Invisible liar Drums which
l~ D resemble Tiny Megaphones fitting in
k J the Ear entirely out of sight. N'o wires,
f* / butartti or heart plecv. They ire Inripan-
rV iln. Write fnr booklet an<l nnrn ilatement
C of tha lBTtolur who waj hunt elf deaf.

■ UPWARD. Inc.. Saita 683, 70 Sth Ave.. New Vorlc

and pablic life, ft* 1bo4m!3m5?
jraatar opponoBltia* cow iban m«r
ifvr*. Bic carp MM ar* htadae
■ nra with lrit.il training- tarn
S9.000 to SI <M>00 AmuDt

■!o Tiji mb train at
a" of Bm f.'iud

DIRECT FROM MOVI ELAND

tiiktt.IjIno ix>rr. LaVrrEBfl

PSYCHOLOGY BKAtTY PSYCHOLOGY

LOVE DROPS

pkrftmt: sechkt nniArT

Nbw (TMilon, in EnehaMtng, powerful
aroma, with that alluring blftui tin- Mir- tbo

surrender to It.i rharm*. ji.50 talm-. CMO i-o-t
Pild, or 11.27 C 0. D ».'h Imttructiwn for
uu, A : Pre* our orw book Lore's I'sjcholoey
Kill Thrilling Lots LrtleM.

CI. k*L H 73 hi \BL ■LLTfM, CALIF.

GET I HE MONEY

»7io NOW!

$ 15aDay

Do you want money for new
clothes, furniture, a radio or
anything else* Do you need
ca>h to pay your bills? Then
let me tell you ahoul my new
plan that is bringing big
profits to men anil women
everywhere. There's no wait-
ing — no delay. You can
start making money the very '
first day in this pleasant, short-hour work that anyone,
anywhere, can do. 11 $15 a day for pleasant, short-hour
work looks good lo you, I have just the opening you're
looking (or.

S1SO la a Week

I don't care who you arc or where you live. With my
plan your earnings can start at once. No course ot-
training is necessary. All you do is carry out a few
simple instructions and help me handle my business in
your locality. Work can be done in lull time or spare
time — daytime or evenings. I'll make you the very same
proposition I made to Sol. Korenblit, N. V., who cleared
$110 in a week. Or W. A. Marck. Conn., who often
makes over $1(iO a week. Or Mrs. Eva McCutchcn,
Okla., who cleared $2Q£5 the very rim day. These
earnings show the remarkable possibilities.

No Capital or Experience Needed

I have shown people from all walks of life how to make
big money — farmers, mechanics, housewives, laborers,
store clerks, school-teachers, office and factory workers,
ministers, etc. Now I will do the same (or you. IT you
can give me a little of your spare time— evenings or
Saturday afternoons — you should he able to clear J^."} to
$33 a week. If you devote full time you may find you
are cut out lor $80, $1(0. or $100 a week. And once you
get started you will be amucd to see how simple the
whole thing is.

SEND NO MONET

Now is the time to get the
money you need. And hero
is the ctuuice. Don't miss it.
1 send full instructions by
return mail so you can start
working at once. If a
day looks good to you, I'll
show you how to go after it.
But remember — this offer is
limited to one man or
woman in each territory.
So send lor the money-mak-
ing (acts before one of your
neighbors gets in ahead of
you. Mail the coupon TO-
DAY SURE:

Albert Hills, Pre*.. A par leaf* Prtdnett Co.,
| 4673 Honnsuth An.. Clnclrfaitl, Ohio.

ITelt me about your wonderful new propvlilon that offers a i
chaneo to make Jl*i a day rtlrtino at Wica. AJso eiplain
| your Free Auiomoltilo Oner.

j Same j
I AdJrFM 1

FREE!

roao

TtTDOa SEDAN

This Is NOT a contest.
1 offer a brand -Dew car
freu to producur-< an an
extra reward or bomu*—
ui addition to (bnr lane
cmh pioliis. Alul ooupon
today.

I.

■0 A. I'. Cj.

[Print or Write Plalnlrl

Please mention Nlwsstand Group — Men's List, when an ■ wc ring auvcriisf-mc-nis

ELECTRICITY!

/Be An Electrical Expert

Come to Cbkaao— the Electrical Cent-r of the World. Coma to
Coyne— hSSSBSSSSi In ■ ninths. Tiioowuidti of dollar.' worth
or r'-tctneal app«rato«. Complete training on everythin;- tram
door belli to power plant*. Too don't n.-c-d tdvanet-d tiliK-uin.ii
or olr-ctrical eip^ntwe. Ita-iw course included. Kit MBMII to
warn 1260 to U**> a month. Many earn while luAmmft. Fri e wo-
pl .yioent aerrice for Ufa when you graduate. Get MMH now.

Write for Free Book tf43ffi.'tSSS$

COYNE S"<^»«*t SCm^l.JB.C.L«w:t. Pres.

I

W Tells About These
RAILWAY POSTAL CLERK

Staoo to Snoo a Tear
POSTMASTER

Slioa to S2500 • Tear
CUSTOMS HOUSE CLERK

$1140 to S1700 a Year
INTBBMAI. REVENUK MEN

b Secure A

Government Position

Tolls About These and Other Positions

mm

-IP

». V. o.

*" 4 cA*5«SSf " Y " r

MAIL _

sum to uoaa a Tear

ran book msj gt4j%ssg^sgB^

mm Mm

SHOWING THIS COMBINED UNO J

tjit*L>li»h j.ur.-uJf in a. profitable bu*tn*Ml
Take order* for brand new line of Tl EH- it ."3
SHIRTS- (INOEKWKAR-HOSintT. SalaadM on- 1

itoMMI MM Ma-laV-iaJaia^KlMtrCr. — ■

avtoawal I«m«| to T ou ABSOLUTELY

"i-to-dat.

OaWal 1" OfT.ce-1 10

IIOSE and
LNIifRWIAR

16ft -fctfit BOOK or Bargains

^ffl na^gwof radio

- operated act*.

con position;

05 TCM75 WEEKLN i

iifiKiii

) Special Ami 1 ) A.

. ) Custom* iLvrp. < ) Steno-SecTBUrr
( > City Mall CnrrlBT ( ) V. 8. Border Patrol
t ) Meat Inipector ( > ChaUi^nir Carrtar
P. O. Clark I ) Watchman
ril* Clart. . < ) Skilled Lahorw

! ) Matron < ) TnHrt

UtSTHLKTlnS HUMAU. 112-B.
Bead n* KRKK Mrticalan How To

9B^ l Sw% 1 uZ tapiT

■ Name .......

EARN MONEY

r AT HOME I

YOU can mnVc $15 to $50 weeklyta 9
spare or full time at home op painting -

8^0108™?.!*. No experience needed.
To canvassing. We inatiuct you by
our new aimple Photo-Color proceaa,
andaupply you with woricing outfit and
employment eervice. Write for pax*
ticulara and Free Book to-day.
The IKVINQ - VANCE COMPANY Ltd.
152 Hart Building, Toronto, Can.

tm

i

MAKE MONEY
SELLING SHIRTS

Show Shirt*. Tie*, Underwear. CtMU

toed full year. Moat complete ar left ton. I
Guaranteed no aubatitutiona. BooeciLhV
— old oatablialiod manufacturer bitts fro* I
moootram, frc* poataRO and real value. ]
You get nla; commiwiona In i
your own ahirt* and caah bonuae
now for FREE outfit. Dept. J -10

Rof^Slu^Co.l237BrotrIw 1 ..N.T.

Accountant

A a. Inelodllam

Wrtu f r ir.o boc*. " AccoaalancT . UV* JYof aaauocj Lb»l fW- '
US-'Ue Exteaalea Unlvaralty, Dapt iOTtM f '
The world* largast Baa***** Tratanx latrutan

Realty;

Please mention Newsstand Gsovp— Men's List, when

'LOADS OF FUN-FINE PR0TEC 1
TI0H." No llcerw needed to rarrr tela
lawful, amutno Mi nbot automatic. *hoot-

f*mectt> ii.im.<-.-. Lzrvllent
Tor camplns. auto*, etc 1
flnUh, aafety catch. FREE I

EEP %ssassr

ssSra TO AGENTS

Byff BUtiT old- fashioned juicers. When ftl]
M tto* them KWIKW.VV— thi> rli-vrr qcw math In© 1(1- : i
■*4 sake* Dfrnnni: ur»nci« juice a ^^bbw^. if ' * *-

nr—aod ih« priM so sma/uicly low, they M
MiMMnrywird about It. tills a lorn; wand-
Mm2l Practically sella itself ami pa?*

S3 cgmmlMloa on cvrry sal.-. Write

^STf* lull dfw-ri tit ion of KWIKWAY

itT'if bl< money offers to a^ent*.

FRENCH

LOVE DROPS

Aa enchanting aimIo perfume of Irre-
sistible chirm, dlnalnj for hours like
lot en loath lo pan. Juat m few
drops are taioueh. Full size bottle
88c prepaid or 11.39 C. O. D. plua
posuae. Directions with every order.
FUEL: 1 full slie bottle If you
order 2 ilaja. D'ORO CO
Bag 00. Wick Station. Hww York
Dept. MSG 10

NG WRITERS'

SUBSTANTIAL ADVANCE ROYALTIES
«re paid on work found acceptable for publica-
tion. Anyone wishing to write e it her the words or
murk for sonfta may submit work for free ex-
amination and advice. Pan experience unneceuary.
New demand created by "Talking Pictures"
fully described in our free book. Write
Today. NEWCOMER ASSOCIATES

T..i Earle Building, New York

I. new device. hand; corrects your

writing is a few days. improvement in three

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Follow This Man

Secret Service Operator No. 38 is on the Job!

FOLLOW him through ell the excitement of his chase
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Of '

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The Man 1 9% Most

TpOOR OLD JONES. I sec him now
mT standing there, dejected, cringing, afraid
of the world. No one lad any u*e for him.
No one resected him. Across his face I
read one harsh word— FAILURE. He just
jived mi. A j>oor -worn out imitation of a
man. doing his sorry best tu get on in the
world. If he had realized just one thing,
he could have made good. He might have
Ken a brilliant success.

'pure are thousands and thousands of
men like Jom-s. They, too, could be happy,
successful, respected and loved. But they
can't seem to realize the one big fact — that
practically everything worth while living for
depends upon STRENGTH — upon live, red-
blooded, he-man muscle.

Ev(.r,thinR you do d.pcnds upon strength. No
matter what your occupation, you need the health,
vitality and ck-ar ihinkinx only biff, rtfxonjr. virile
nunck's ran Hive you. When you arc ill. the
eUiTiffth in ihoac big muscles pulls you through.
At the office, in the farm fir I da or on the tennis
oourt*. you'll find your success generally depends
upon your muscuLar development.

Here'i a Short Cot to Strength
and Saceen

But. you toy. "It takes years to build my body up
to the point where it will equal those of athletic
champions. " Il doc* if you ho about it without any
system, but there's a scientific short-cut. And that's
where I come In.

30 Days Is An I Need

Pcoplu call me the Muscle- Builder. In just 30
days I can do things with your bidy you never
thought possible. With just n few minutes' work
every morn ins. I will add one full inch of real, live
muscle to each of your arm*, and two whole Inches
across your cheat. Many of my pupils have gained
more than that, but I GUARANTEE to do at least
that much for you in one short month. Your neck
will grow shapely, your shoulders bffrin to broaden.
Before you know it. you'll find people turning
around when you pass. Women will want to know
you. Your boss will treat you with a new respect.
Your friends will wonder what has come over you.
You'll look ten years younger, and you'll feel like
it, too. Work will be asy. As for play, wby,
you'll roalUe then that you don't know what play
realty "

EARLE L1EDERMAN, The Muscle BuiloW

Author of "Afiueto Building." "SrinacB of FPrcttflf"

"Secrets of Strength,'
"Endu ranee.

"Herc't Health."
Etc.

I Strengthen Those Inner
Organs, Too

But I'm not ihroujrh with you. I want ninety days In
o0 to do the job right, and then all I ask is that you
stand In front of your mirror and look yourself over.

What a marvelous change ! Those great, squared
Bhouldcral That pair of huge, lithe anus! Those firm.

Serf for my #
•ew 64-nfe

shapely leffB ! Yea. sir. They are your*, tod thsy m
there to utay. You'll be just as fit Inside as yon an esL
too, became I work on your heart, your liver — «U«f yai
inner organs. stri-nKtheninff and exerei'ing theaL la
indeed, life can (live you a greater thrill thaa v oa «ff
dreamed. But. remember, the only sure road to aan.
strength and happiness olway demands action.

Fill out the lcjutoq below and mail it lo-day, Wra
note '.

j EARLE LIBDERHAN
I Dept. 1710. 80ft Broadwa

Dept. 1710. 80ft Broadway.
I New York City
J Dwsr atr:— VXwm md mo ahcotnuslr trm and without »nt
I (*LlX»Uoo on bj pan sbwwif r. a ropr of your lutwt book,
I "Muscular DerilouDiani."

prim pULrJj.i

Il eonlslni forir-clfhl full psis photoiriptii
U the mtnj prise -winning pupil* I Inn tr»ln#d. ft*** Tzl
roiae to me at pliirul »e»kllnn. Impt'-rine mi* 10 h*lD '"JJ^iJ
Ihrm c*rr now. ind you ulll msrrrl ■! ihrlr prvsssl asssawi
TMi Umfc «UI pr.ire sn Imprlui uiil • reil ln«pirill«a Jjl J
mil thrill rou through mnd ihrouih. Thli «tll du» obUtpU P"
■ II, hut for Ihc use of rwir fuiura h*tlUi id I Mw»_*
put 11 off. Hend todij — rlfhl now, bslore r "

I Stfcat
j City.

EARLE LIEDERMAM

1 DEPT. 171O

—I 1 305 Broadway, New YorhW

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They gave a newThrill

THAT'S WHY THEY GOT THERE

IT WAS JUST TWO YEACS
AFTET? HC saw mis Fiie&r
KACE. HOCSE. TUAT SANDE WAS
CLOWNED 'EARC OT AMERICAN

joc«.E.ys.

FAST SUCCESS STORY NO. 2

EARL SANDE

The fn>L race horse lie ever saw was hitched
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