other side of the boulder. A
glittering object flashed above him. Crashing through the brush the
metal monster came to earth on the same side of the boulder with him.

But the metal thing had not turned in its flight: consequently its
rear end was toward Dan. As it began cumberously to turn about, he
hurled his rock with an accuracy that came of a boyhood on the farm.
Instinct had made him try for the little ring and needle on the back
of the monster, apparently its most vulnerable part.

Whether by luck or skill, the rock struck the gleaming ring, crushing
it against the needle--and instant paralysis overtook the metal thing.
Its tentacles and limbs became fixed and rigid, and it toppled over in
the brush.

Dan walked over to it, and examined it briefly. The green disk had
fallen on the ground, and he picked it up. It was made of emerald
crystal, it had a little knob of glistening metal set in one side.
Rather afraid of it, Dan forebore to twist the knob. But he still
clutched it in his hand a few moments later, when, partly for fear
that others of its kind would come to succor the fallen monster, and
partly to secure shelter from the threatening rain, he retired into
the shadows of the tangled jungle.

He spent perhaps half an hour in creeping back to what he supposed a
place of comparative safety. For some time he lay there in the cool
gloom, brushing occasional insects off his bare skin, wishing by turns
that he had a cup of coffee and a good beefsteak, and that he could
puzzle out a logical solution of all the astounding things he had met
in the island. After the encounter with the metal monster, he felt his
theory of the hermit scientists a bit inadequate.

* * * * *

Presently his attention was attracted by the unmistakable mew of a
kitten. Then he heard the padding sound of cautious human footsteps,
and a clear feminine voice calling "Kitty, kitty," in low tones. The
steps and the voice seemed coming toward him; since there was no sound
of crackling brush, he supposed there was a trail which he had not
found.

"Hello," he ventured, when the voice seemed only a few yards away
through the green tangle.

At the same instant a gray kitten appeared out of the underbrush, and
frisked trustfully across to him. He put out a hand, caressed it,
picked it up. In a moment the feminine voice replied, "Hello yourself.
Who are you?"

A crackling sound came from the brush, as if the s