just coming from the living room.

"Von Horn!" exclaimed the professor. "You, then, are not dead; but
where is Virginia? Tell me that she is safe."

"She has been carried away" was the startling answer. "Your creatures,
under the thing you wished to marry her to, have taken her to Borneo
with a band of Malay and Dyak pirates. I was alone and could do
nothing to prevent them."

"God!" moaned the old man. "Why did I not kill the thing when it stood
within my power to do so. Only last night he was here beside me, and
now it is too late."

"I warned you," said von Horn, coldly.

"I was mad," retorted the professor. "Could you not see that I was
mad? Oh, why did you not stop me? You were sane enough. You at least
might have forced me to abandon the insane obsession which has
overpowered my reason for all these terrible months. I am sane now,
but it is too late--too late."

"Both you and your daughter could only have interpreted any such action
on my part as instigated by self-interest, for you both knew that I
wanted to make her my wife," replied the other. "My hands were tied.
I am sorry now that I did not act, but you can readily see the position
in which I was placed."

"Can nothing be done to get her back?" cried the father. "There must
be some way to save her. Do it von Horn, and not only is my daughter
yours but my wealth as well--every thing that I possess shall be yours
if you will but save her from those frightful creatures."

"The Ithaca is gone, too," replied the doctor. "There is only a small
boat that I hid in the jungle for some such emergency. It will carry
us to Borneo, but what can we four do against five hundred pirates and
the dozen monsters you have brought into the world? No, Professor
Maxon, I fear there is little hope, though I am willing to give my life
in an attempt to save Virginia. You will not forget your promise
should we succeed?"

"No, doctor," replied the old man. "I swear that you shall have
Virginia as your wife, and all my property shall be made over to you if
she is rescued."

Sing Lee had been a silent listener to this strange conversation. An
odd look came into his slant eyes as he heard von Horn exact a
confirmation from the professor, but what passed in his shrewd mind
only he could say.

It was too late to attempt to make a start that day for Borneo, as
darkness had already fallen. Professor Maxon and von Horn walked over
to the workshop and the inn