he did the first through uncontrolled emotions, and the second
through a flagrant disobedience of my orders. No, don't tell her to
come. Tell her not to come if she asks."

Carnes turned away, but hesitated.

"Doctor, I wish you'd let me have her come down here. I didn't trust
her at first when you did, but she has proved her loyalty and worth.
Besides, I don't like the idea of leaving her unguarded in Washington
with you and me down here, and with Haggerty coming down."

Dr. Bird looked thoughtful.

"There's something in that, Carnes," he reflected. "All right, tell
her to come along, but remember, she is not in on this case. She is
being brought here merely for safety, not to mix up in our work."

"Thanks, Doctor."

The detective returned in ten minutes with a worried expression.

"She wasn't in your office, Doctor," he reported.

"Who? Oh, Thelma. Where was she?"

"No one seems to know. She left yesterday afternoon and hasn't
returned."

"Oh, well, since I am out of the city, I expect she decided to take a
vacation. Women are always undependable. Did you get hold of the
rest?"

"They'll be down at midnight, all but Davis. He'll come down in the
morning."

"Good enough! Now, Colonel, if you'll have the officers who are going
out to-morrow assembled, we'll divide the territory and make our plans
for the search."

* * * * *

A week later, the situation was unchanged. Secret service operatives
and soldiers from the Proving Ground had covered, foot by foot, square
miles of territory south of the Proving Ground, but without result.
Not a single unexplainable thing had been found. Sensitive instruments
sent down from the Bureau of Standards, instruments so sensitive that
they would detect an electric light burning a mile away, had yielded
no results. As a final measure, General Merton had ordered a dozen
planes with steel-cylindered motors to the Proving Ground and they had
repeatedly crisscrossed the suspected territory, but had acquired no
static charge large enough to affect them. It was evident that
Saranoff's device, if it existed, had been moved, or else was not in
operation.

Also, to Carnes' openly expressed and Dr. Bird's secret worry, Thelma
Andrews had not returned to the Bureau of Standards. The Russian girl,
formerly known as Feodrovna Androvitch, a tool and follower of Ivan
Saranoff, had acted with Carnes and the doctor in their long drawn-out
fight with the