widespread disaster.

And on this hurricane would go the deadly gas, infinitely diluted, and
yet deadly to all life in its infinitesimal proportion to the
atmosphere.

And the American fleet was now approaching the Bahama shores.

Dick forgot Luke Evans, everything else, as the significance of that
mechanism in the next room came home to him. He ran like a madman
through the space in the partition, and, raising the bar aloft,
brought it thudding down upon the dials, twisting and warping them.

He struck at the hollow pole, but, glass or not, it defied all his
efforts. He seized a heavy lever and flung it into reverse--and two
others.

Yelling, the three attendants broke and ran. Out of the laboratory the
six came running, collided with the three. Behind them Dick could see
Fredegonde Valmy, a knife in her hand, slashing at Luke Evans's bonds.

Dick swung his bar and brought it crashing down on a head, felling the
man like a log. He saw Von Kettler pull one of the glass rods from
his pocket and fire blindly. The discharge struck a second attendant,
and the man dropped screeching, his clothes ablaze.

Somebody yelled, "He's there! Look at his eyes!" and pointed at Dick's
face.

* * * * *

Dick leaped aside and swung the rod again, felling a third man. The
others turned and ran. Von Kettler in the van, broke through the door
behind Luke Evans's chair, and disappeared.

Dick ran back to where the old man was standing beside the girl, the
discarded ropes at his feet. He flung his hood back. "Luke, don't you
know me?" he shouted.

It was creditable to Luke Evans's composure that, though Dick must
have presented the aspect of nothing more than a face floating in the
air, he retained his composure.

"Sure I know you, Rennell," replied the old man. "And you and me's
going to best them devils yet."

"But the fleet--it's approaching Abaco," Dick cried. "I've got to warn
them."

Fredegonde seized him by the arm.

"Come with me," she cried. "If they find you here, they'll kill you."

Dick hesitated only a moment, then followed the girl as she dashed for
another door on the same side of the laboratory as that by which Von
Kettler and his men had fled. They dashed down the staircase, and a
corridor disclosed itself at the bottom. The girl stopped.

"There is a private way--the Emperor's," she panted. "He had it
constructed--in case of necessity. I got the keys. I was
planning--som