forest silence seemed cheerful there in the flecked
sunlight. The spotted wood-gnats gyrated merrily, chased by
dragon-flies; the shy wood-birds hopped from branch to twig, peering
at us in friendly inquiry; a lithe, gray squirrel, plumy tail
undulating, rambled serenely around the cage, sniffing at the pastry
within.

Suddenly, without apparent reason, the squirrel sprang to a
tree-trunk, hung a moment on the bark, quivering all over, then dashed
away into the jungle.

"Why did he act like that?" whispered Miss Barrison. And, after a
moment: "How still it is! Where have the birds gone?"

In the ominous silence the dog began to whimper in his sleep and his
hind legs kicked convulsively.

"He's dreaming--" I began.

The words were almost driven down my throat by the dog, who, without a
yelp of warning, hurled himself at Miss Barrison and alighted on my
chest, fore paws around my neck.

I cast him scornfully from me, but he scrambled back, digging like a
mole to get under us.

"The transparent creatures!" whispered Miss Barrison. "Look! See that
pie move!"

I sprang to my feet just as the professor, jamming on his spectacles,
leaned forward and slammed the cage door.

"I've got one!" he shouted, frantically. "There's one in the cage!
Turn on that hose!"

"Wait a second," said Miss Barrison, calmly, uncorking the bottle and
pouring a pearly stream of rosium oxide into the tank. "Quick! It's
fizzing! Screw on the top!"

In a second I had screwed the top fast, seized the hose, and directed
a hissing cloud of vapor through the cage bars.

For a moment nothing was heard save the whistling rush of the perfumed
spray escaping; a delicious odor of roses filled the air. Then,
slowly, there in the sunshine, a misty something grew in the cage--a
glistening, pearl-tinted phantom, imperceptibly taking shape in
space--vague at first as a shred of lake vapor, then lengthening,
rounding into flowing form, clearer, clearer.

"The Sphyx!" gasped the professor. "In the name of Heaven, play that
hose!"

As he spoke the treacherous hose burst. A showery pillar of
rose-colored vapor enveloped everything. Through the thickening fog
for one brief instant a human form appeared like magic--a woman's
form, flawless, exquisite as a statue, pure as marble. Then the
swimming vapor buried it, cage, pies, and all.

We ran frantically around, the cage in the obscurity, appealing for
instructions and feeling for the bars. Once the p