piece of mechanism
within the apparatus. His voice came clearly across to Herr Haase.

"Two blades," he was saying, "and one varies their angle with this.
The sharper the angle, the greater the range of the ray and the
shorter the effective arc. But, of course, this machine is only a
model."

"Quite so," acquiesced the Baron.

"These" his hand emerged from the upper box "are the blades."

He withdrew from the apparatus a contrivance like a pair of brief
tongs, of which the shanks were stout wires and the spatulates were
oblongs of thin, whitish metal like aluminum, some three inches long
by two wide.

"The essence of the whole thing," he said. "You see, they are hinged;
one sets them wider or closer according to the range and the arc one
requires. These plates they are removable. I paint the compound on
them, and switch the current on through this battery."

"Ah, yes," agreed the Baron dreamily. "The compound that has to be
painted on."

The thin face of the inventor turned upon him; the great eyes
smoldered. "Yes," was the answer; "yes. I, I paint it on enough for
three or four demonstrations, and then I throw the rest into the
lake. So my secret is safe, you see."

The Baron met his eyes with the profound ironic calm of his own.
"Safe, I am sure," he replied. "The safer the better. And now, where
would you prefer us to arrange our explosives?"

The other shrugged his shoulders. "Where you like," he said, bending
to the little black hand-bag. "Lay them on the ground or bury them,
or throw them into the lake, if they're waterproof. Only don't put
them too near the house. I don't want any more of my windows broken."

There was a tone of aggression in his voice, and his eyes seemed to
affront them, then strayed in a moment's glance towards the house.
Herr Haase, following his look, had a glimpse of the little wife upon
the upper balcony looking down upon the scene. The young man with the
scar it glowed at whiles, red and angry seemed to make her some sign,
for she drew back out of sight at once.

Herr Haase would have liked to watch the further intercourse of the
Baron and the lean young man; but Von Wetten, indicating to him a
small iron spade, such as children dig with on the sea-beach, and a
pointed iron rod, set him to work at making graves for the little
paper-wrapped packages which he took from the suit-case. The captain
stood over him while he did it, directing him with orders curt as
oaths and woun