again."

He turned to her.

"Nora! What is it? Even after all I've seen I can't be sure. The
furnaces? They are two miles away."

She shook her head.

"Not the furnaces, Jim. Come with me and I will show you."

She led him to an unlighted room across the hall and flung back the
curtains.

The glare of a conflagration, far vaster than that which had threatened
them in the conservatory, flashed in their eyes and lighted the
neighborhood with a brilliancy fiercer than noonday.

For the first time Garth could see that the house stood on a high,
wooded plateau. The trees had been cleared away between it and the
water, and a slope, bordered with hedges, had been blasted to a beach,
small and crescent-shaped. The fire blazed with a destructive violence
in a structure on this beach. He recalled the driver's gossip about
Alden's yacht. He saw a small launch, heavily-laden, making for the open
sea.

"The boat house," he said.

"Yes," Nora answered. "Look."

She drew a little back. An explosion tore at their ears. Somewheres
upstairs a window broke. The tinkling of glass was like an absurdly
attenuated echo. But Garth's attention was fixed on the boat-house. The
building appeared to disintegrate. Out of its ruins rose a colossal
column of muddy smoke. From its summit streaming banners of purple and
violet flame unfurled. They waved their frantic message to Garth. He
turned, gaping, to Nora.

"That building!" he gasped. "It's crowded with gasolene--oil!"

"You didn't guess, Jim? You see now I couldn't take chances. I had to
light the signal that made them fire this."

"And you were right," he agreed. "Only the two of us--"

He gazed at her wonderingly. There was only pride in his voice.

"How many lives! How many millions of dollars! You've spared them,
Nora."

* * * * * *

Garth had lifted Alden to the sofa and had left Nora hovering over the
man who, they knew now, had been systematically drugged for days. After
reconnecting the telephone and notifying the federal authorities he had
returned to the living-room. Nora arose, and, with her finger at her
lips, joined him by the fireplace.

"He's asleep," she said. "You know, Jim, there wasn't much point in your
telephoning. They've destroyed the evidence. They've gone."

She sat down. Garth drew a chair close to her. Their voices were low in
order that Alden might not be disturbed.

"Was it near?" he asked. "The fact that they