e every one whom
I have known to attack Fantomas, my friends, my colleagues, my superior
officers, have one and all, one and all, sir, been beaten in the fight!
Fantomas does exist, I know, but who is he? A man can brave a danger he
can measure, but he trembles when confronted with a peril he suspects
but cannot see."

"But this Fantomas is not a devil," the magistrate broke in testily; "he
is a man like you and me!"

"You are right, sir, in saying he is a man; but I repeat, the man is a
genius! I don't know whether he works alone or whether he is the head of
a gang of criminals; I know nothing of his life; I know nothing of his
object. In no single case yet has it been possible to determine the
exact part he has taken. He seems to possess the extraordinary gift of
being able to slay and leave no trace. You don't see him; you divine his
presence: you don't hear him; you have a presentiment of him. If
Fantomas is mixed up in this present affair, I don't know if we ever
shall succeed in clearing it up!"

M. de Presles was impressed in spite of himself by the detective's
earnestness.

"But I suppose you are not recommending me to drop the enquiry, are you,
Juve?"

The detective forced a laugh that did not ring quite true.

"Come, come, sir," he answered, "I told you just now that I was
frightened, but I never said I was a coward. You may be quite sure I
shall do my duty, to the very end. When I first began--and that was not
yesterday, nor yet the day before--to realise the importance and the
power of this Fantomas, I took an oath, sir, that some day I would
discover his identity and effect his arrest! Fantomas is an enemy of
society, you say? I prefer to regard him first and foremost as my own
personal enemy! I have declared war on him, and I am ready to lose my
skin in the war if necessary, but by God I'll have his!"

Juve ceased. M. de Presles also was silent. But the magistrate was
still sceptical, despite the detective's strange utterance, and
presently he could not refrain from making a gentle protest and appeal.

"Do please bring in a verdict against someone, M. Juve, for really I
would rather believe that your Fantomas is--a creation of the
imagination!"

Juve shrugged his shoulders, seemed to be arriving at a mighty decision,
and began:

"You are quite right, sir, to require me to draw some definite
conclusion, even if you are not right in denying the existence of
Fantomas. So I make the assertion tha