n that Lucille had first told Jim about Lucius's wooing, and
her fear of the man. Apart from that, both had refrained, by tacit
agreement, from making reference to the past.

And then, that afternoon, there sounded Lucille's voice over the
telephone, "I've heard from dad!"

"From--your father? You're mistaken, dear!"

"No, Jim, I'm not mistaken. He called me on the 'phone two hours ago.
I couldn't mistake his voice, and, besides, he called me "Lucy," like
he used to do. He told me to come at once to the Vanishing Place, but
not to tell a soul unless I wished to do him a great evil. Then he
rang off."

"Where are you now?" asked Jim.

"I'm 'phoning from Amityville. I took the train immediately, but I
was so frightened, and--and at last I decide I must tell you. I didn't
think dad would have minded my telling you. So I got out. There's
another train in a few minutes, and I shall go on to Hampton Bays and
walk the two miles to the Vanishing Place. I--I'll meet you there."

"Lucille, wait! Can't you meet me somewhere else, and we'll go on
together. I'll get my plane and--"

"Oh, I just can't wait, Jim! I'm in such terror that I won't find dad
when I get there. And he told me to tell nobody. I--I'll meet you at
the Vanishing Place, Jim."

And so great had been her agitation that with that arrangement Jim had
had to rest content. He had taken a taxi out to the flying fields at
once.

* * * * *

In half an hour he would know what had happened. And he was obsessed
by the terror that he would not find Lucille or anything except the
lonely pool.

That was why he opened the throttle and drove on wildly through the
scurrying wraiths of mist, pierced by the tops of trees that at times
rose dangerously near the spreading wings.

That gap in the trees was Lake Ronkokoma. Not far now! Jim would know
soon. But as he flew, vague fears that had beset his mind since he had
received Lucille's message began to crystallize into the single fear
of Tode. If Parrish was really alive--why not Tode too?

Beneath the polish and the surface comradeship, Jim had always been
conscious of some _diablerie_ about the man, of some inner life of
which he knew nothing. Something unscrupulous and relentless,
something infinitely cruel--as when he had tested the Atom Smasher on
a stray cur that had run into the laboratory, not for experimentation,
but in mere ruthless savagery, converting the living beast instan