d, the Professor's piping voice acting
as a verbal signpost in helping us to locate the spot where he was
engaged in holding the argument. We were close enough to hear his words,
and our nerves were on the highest tension as he shrieked a defiance
against some person near. We had only one thought as to who that person
could be. The Professor was piling charges of treachery upon the head of
a listener, and there was only one head on the Isle of Tears that
contained enough villainy to make the charges possible!

"I will not sign the papers!" cried the scientist. "I want my liberty,
sir! You are a scoundrel! Where are my daughters?"

Holman, creeping a few inches in front, had drawn his revolver. The
blood pounded madly; through my brain. We were within a few yards of
Leith, and even as we moved snakily forward, the heavy bass voice of the
scoundrel came to our ears.

"You stupid old fool!" he growled. "You can demand all day and all night
if it does you any good. Do you know who I am?"

"I know you are a ruffian!" snapped the Professor. "I know you are a
rogue who has no respect for his word and honour. I know you are a
coward who insults women!"

"Go on," mocked Leith.

"I've been a fool!" cried the old man. "I was blinded to everything
through my love of science. Now I know that you lied. I know you brought
me here to rob me and insult my daughters."

The sun had set, and the twilight made it difficult for us to locate the
two men. But we were close. When Leith spoke again, his voice sounded
so near that I started involuntarily, while Holman, resting upon one
hand, parted the branches with the barrel of the revolver which he
gripped in the other.

"But you will admit when all is over that I have shown you some
wonderful things," sneered Leith.

The Professor was silent a moment, as if endeavouring to fathom the
meaning of the words, and we moved a few inches closer in the little
interval.

"How?" asked the scientist.

Holman's hand that gripped the revolver remained motionless. Through a
rift in the leafy curtain I caught a glimpse of a bulk that was within a
yard of our hiding place, and I knew that the youngster was waiting for
the brute to speak to make certain that he was covering the right man.
The silence was nerve-destroying.

"Why," said Leith, speaking slowly and distinctly, "you are in the hands
of the Wizards of the Centipede. I am their head, and if you are not
extremely lucky you will make a