han I had ever been, for I had solved the problem that had haunted my
brain for ten years.

"There's no such thing as black magic," I said.

Three weeks later I beheld the miracle. It was wrought on the last day
of December, in the laboratory of the hospital, high above the gloom and
squalor of the city. The miracle occurred within a brilliant little
circle of light, and I saw it with my eye glued to a microscope. It
passed off swiftly and quietly, and though I expected it, I was filled
with a great wonder and amazement.

To a lay mind the amazement with which I beheld the miracle will require
explanation. I had witnessed the transformation of one germ into
another; a thing which is similar to a man seeing a flock of sheep on a
hill-side change suddenly into a herd of cattle. For many minutes I
continued to move the slide in an aimless way with trembling fingers. My
temperament is earthy; it had once occurred to me quite seriously that
if I saw a miracle I would probably go mad under the strain. Now that I
had seen one, after the first flash of realization my mind was listless
and dull, and all feeling of surprise had died away. The black rods
floated with slow motion in the minute currents of fluid I had
introduced. The faint roar of London came up from far below; the clock
ticked steadily and the microscope lamp shone with silent radiance. And
I, Richard Harden, sat dangling my short legs on the high stool,
thinking and thinking....

That night I wrote to Professor Sarakoff. A month later I was on my way
to Russia.

CHAPTER II

SARAKOFF'S MANIFESTO

The recollection of my meeting with Sarakoff remains vividly in my mind.
I was shown into a large bare room, heated by an immense stove like an
iron pagoda. The floor was of light yellow polished wood; the walls were
white-washed, and covered with pencil marks. A big table covered with
papers and books stood at one end. At the other, through an open
doorway, there was a glimpse of a laboratory. Sarakoff stood in the
centre of the room, his hands deep in his pockets, his pipe sending up
clouds of smoke, his tall muscular frame tilted back. His eyes were
fixed on an extraordinary object that crawled slowly over the polished
floor. It was a gigantic tortoise--a specimen of _Testudo
elephantopus_--a huge cumbersome brute. Its ancient, scaly head was
thrust out and its eyes gleamed with a kind of sharp intelligence. The
surface of its vast and massive shell w