al at the
station both Don and I had completely forgotten the wire we had seen
at his collar. But we remembered it now, and the same thought
occurred to both of us. We had locked up this mysterious enemy, but
would the prison bars hold him?

"Good Lord!" Don exclaimed. "Bob, those wires--Sergeant, we
shouldn't have left that fellow alone! Is he alone! Come on!"

With the frightened mystified sergeant leading us we dashed along
the little white corridor to the windowless cell in which the giant
was confined. At the cell-door a group of soldiers lounged in the
corridor.

"Smooth talker, that fellow."

"Gor blime me, who is he?"

We arrived with a rush. "Is he in there?" Don shouted. "Open the
door, you fellows! See here, you watch him--we've got to get his
clothes off. He's got some mechanism--wires and things underneath
his clothes!"

"Get out of the way!" ordered the sergeant. "I'll open it!"

There was silence from behind the door. The prisoner had been in the
cell no more than a minute or two.

* * * * *

We burst open the door. The cell was dimly illumined. The figure of
the giant stood backed in its further corner. But at the sight of
him we all stood transfixed with horror. His shoes, trousers, shirt,
jacket and cap lay in a little pile at his feet. He stood revealed
in the short tight-fitting silvery garments. The wires were looped
about his arms and legs and he had pulled a mesh of them over his
head in lieu of a helmet.

He stood regarding us sardonically. And in that instant while we
were stricken with the shock of it, I saw that the figure was
fading. It was a solid human form no longer! A silvery cast had come
upon it. Another second passed; it was visibly growing tenuous,
wraithlike! It was melting while we stared at it, until in that
breathless instant I realized that the wall behind it was showing
through.

A wraith! An apparition! The vision of a ghost standing there,
leering at us!

The soldiers had retreated back into the corridor behind us. The
sergeant gripped me, and his other hand, wavering with fright,
clutched a revolver.

"But it's--it's going!"

Don gasped, "Too late! Sergeant, give me that gun!"

"Wait!" I shouted. "Don't shoot at it!"

The shimmering glowing white figure was slowly moving downward as
though floating through the cell-floor. Its own invisible surface
was evidently not here but lower down, and it was beginning to drop.
I don