dorous. These gentlemen believe it may be a form of hydrocyanic
acid, but of a concentration beyond anything known to chemistry, so
deadly that a billionth part of it to one of air must be fatal,
otherwise it could not have traveled as it has done. Warnings have
been broadcasted, but there are no stocks of chemicals that might
counteract it. Flight is the only hope--flight at seventy miles an
hour!"

* * * * *

His voice shook. "This gas has been loosed, as you told us, upon the
wings of the hurricane that came through the Florida Strait. What are
the chances of its reaching Washington?"

"Mr. Vice-president, if the wind continues, and this gas has
sufficient concentration, it should be in Washington within the next
eight hours." Graves replied. "If the wind changes direction,
however, this gas will probably be blown out to sea, or into the
Alleghanies, where it will probably be dissipated among the hills, or
by the foliage on the mountains. I'm not a chemist--"

"No, sir, and I am not consulting you as one," answered old Tomlinson.
"A death belt several hundred miles in length and three or four
hundred deep has already been cut across this continent. We are faced
with wholesale, unmitigated murder, on such a scale as was never known
before. But we are an integral part of America, and Washington has no
more right to expect immunity than our devastated Southern States. The
question we wish to put to you is, can you trace the exact course
taken by the hurricane?"

"I can, Mr. Vice-president," answered Graves. "It originated somewhere
in the West Indian seas, like all these storms. We've been getting our
reports almost as usual. Our first one came from Nassau, which was
badly damaged. The storm missed the Florida coast, as many of them do,
and struck the coast of South Carolina--in fact, we received a report
from Charleston, which must have almost coincided with your first
report of the gas."

"If the storm missed the Florida coast, it follows that the gas was
not discharged from any point on the American continent," said
Tomlinson. "From some point off Florida--from some island, or from a
plane or from a ship at sea."

"Not from a ship at sea, Mr. Vice-president," interposed the head of
the Chemical Bureau. "To discharge gas on such an extensive scale
would require more space than could be furnished by the largest
vessel, in my opinion."

"In all probability the gas was 'loaded,'