don lay before him?

* * * * *

He answered my question. He must have read it as it came over me.

"Have you ever been in a crowd, Dale, and watched a certain individual
intently, until that particular individual turned to look at you? The
rest of the crowd pays no attention, of course, but that one man. And
now we shall make that one man murder himself!"

Strange turned slowly. I saw his fingers creep along the rim of the
table, touching certain wires that came together there. I heard a dull,
droning hum fill the room, and, over it, Strange's penetrating voice.

"When I am finished, Dale, I shall probably kill you. I brought you here
merely to frighten you, but I believe I have told you too much."

With that new horror upon me, I saw my captor's lips move slowly....

And then, from the shadows at the other end of the small room, came a
low, unemotional voice.

"Before you begin, Strange--"

Michael Strange whipped about in his chair like a tiger. His hand
dropped to his pocket, so swiftly that my eyes did not follow it. And as
it dropped, a single staccato shot split the darkness of the room. The
scientist slumped forward in his chair.

The dull, whirring sound of that hellish machine had stopped abruptly,
cut short by the sudden weight of Strange's lunging body as he fell upon
it. I saw the livid, fiery snake of white light twist suddenly upward
through that coil of wires: and in another moment the entire apparatus
shattered by a blinding crash of flame.

* * * * *

After that I turned away. Whether the bullet killed Strange or not, I do
not know: but the sight of his charred face, hanging over that table of
destruction, told its own story.

It was Inspector Drake who came across the room toward me, and took my
arm. The smoking revolver still lay in his hand, and as he led me into
the adjoining room, I saw that Margot had already found refuge there.

"You see now, Dale," Drake said quietly, "why I let Hartnett go with you
before? If Strange had suspected me, I should have been merely another
victim. As for Hartnett, he has been under constant guard down at
headquarters. He's safe. They've kept him there, at my instructions, in
spite of all his terrific efforts to leave them."

I was listening to my companion in admiration. Even then I did not quite
understand.

"I was wrong in just one thing, Dale. I left you alone, without
protection. I