him. Instead, he said grimly:

"I know now what a lot of things mean!"

The Tucson limited would not be through for over an hour, they
learned. That would give them time to hunt up the authorities and
sound a warning of the ominous invader that was in the vicinity.
Perhaps, by prompt military action, it might be destroyed, or at least
crippled.

But first they went to the telegraph office, where Marjorie got off a
message that would bring joy to her grieved family.

While standing there outside the barred window, odors of food wafting
to them from a nearby lunch-room.

"Um-m!" she sniffed. "That smells good to me! I haven't tasted any
earthly cooking for ages. Everything on that horrible disc was
synthetic."

"Then I suggest we have ham and eggs, at once," he said. "Or would you
prefer a steak?"

"I think I'll have both!"

* * * * *

As they walked into the lunch-room, Kendrick told her of the banquet
in his honor Cor had promised for that night.

"I guess I didn't miss much," he ended.

"You certainly didn't!" she assured him, with a smile. "It would have
opened with a puree of split-molecule soup, continued with an entree
of breaded electrons, and closed with an ionic cafe."

He laughed.

"I'm just as well satisfied. I was unable to attend! Humble as it is,
I think this will prove to be much more wholesome food."

Night had fallen by the time they left the lunch-room. Glancing at his
watch, Kendrick saw that they still had better than a half-hour before
the limited was due, so they betook themselves to the police station.

It was only a block away and in consequence they weren't long reaching
it.

The chief had gone home, the officer at the desk informed them, but if
there was anything they cared to report, he would be glad to make note
of it.

A big raw-boned westerner, he shifted his quid as he spoke and spat
resoundingly in a cuspidor at his feet.

"All right, then--get your pencil ready!" said Kendrick with a smile.
"This is Miss Marjorie Blake, daughter of Henderson Blake, of New
York. Perhaps you read of her disappearance, a few weeks ago. And
I...."

As he introduced himself and told briefly of their astounding
experience, the officer's eyes bulged with amazement.

"Say, what yuh-all tryin' to hand me?" he snorted finally. "D'yuh
think I was born simple?"

"Press your button!" whispered Marjorie. "Show him how the
invisibility ray works. It'll save a