elieved, one of those exceptional individuals who could successfully
resist him, his will-power was for the time in abeyance, and a
well-directed effort to throw him into hypnotic slumber promised
success. Yet he could not overlook the other fact, that, were the
attempt to prove a failure, it would render all future experiments
doubly difficult.

Thus an hour passed. There was no one on the upper deck besides these
two. Leon had remained so still, so motionless for many minutes, that
he might have been a corpse sitting there and gazing into the line of
foam which trailed in the wake of the boat. He was fascinated, why
might he not be hypnotized? Still, the Doctor was loath to take a
risk. He called the lad's name, at first very softly. But he repeated
it again, and again, in louder tones. Leon did not reply. His
abstraction was so great that he did not hear. It was certainly a
favorable moment. The Doctor rose slowly from his chair; so slowly
that he scarcely seemed to move, but in a few moments he stood erect.
Then he paused, and for some time remained motionless. With a movement
that was more a gliding than a step, one leg crept forward towards
Leon, and then the other was drawn after it, thus bringing the Doctor
nearer. Again he stood motionless. Again the manoeuvre was repeated,
and now, still unnoticed, he stood beside the lad. The approach more
than ever reminded one of a cat, only now one would think of a tiger
rather than of the little domestic animal. For the Doctor looked tall
and gaunt in the moonlight. Now he stooped slowly forward, bending his
back, as the tiger prepares to spring upon its prey, and now his mouth
was near Leon's ear.

The final moment had come; the experiment was to be tried. But even
now the Doctor had devised a scheme by which he hoped to lose nothing,
even though he should fail. His first intention had been to cry out,
"Go to sleep!" a command which he had often seen obeyed instantly.
This time the formula was changed. In a loud tone, which, however, was
mellifluous and persuasive, he uttered these words:

"You are asleep!"

He paused and anxiously awaited the result. For a brief instant
success poised upon the verge of his desire. Leon's eyes closed, and
his head drooped forward. Then, like lightning, there came a change.
The lad jumped up, and started back, assuming an attitude of defiance,
and a wrathful demeanor. He was entirely awake and in full control of
his senses as he crie