atient in stepped forward and lifted
him from the table and bore him out. Dr. Bird dropped the canvas
screen and strained his ears. A faint whir told him that the globe had
taken to the air. He slid back along the limb of the tree until he
touched the rope and silently climbed hand over hand until he gained
the crest. He bent his back to the task of raising Carnes, and the
operative soon stood beside him on the ledge surmounting the cliff.

"What on earth were they doing?" asked Carnes in a whisper.

"That was Professor Williams of Yale. They were depriving him of his
memory. There will be another amnesia case in the papers to-morrow. I
haven't time to explain their methods now: we've got to act. You have
a flash-light?"

"Yes, and my gun. Shall we break in? There are only three of them, and
I think we could handle the lot."

"Yes, but the others may return at any time and we want to bag the
whole lot. They've done their damage for to-night. You heard my orders
to Lieutenant Maynard, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"He should be somewhere in these hills to the south with assistance of
some sort. The signal to them is three long flashes followed in turn
by three short ones and three more long. Go and find them and bring
them here. When you get close give me the same light signal and don't
try to break in unless I am with you. I am going to reconnoitre a
little more and make sure that there is no back entrance through which
they can escape. Good luck. Carnes: hurry all you can. There is no
time to be lost."

* * * * *

The secret service operative stole away into the night and Dr. Bird
climbed back down the rope and took his place at the window. Willis
lay on the operating table unconscious, while Slavatsky and Carson
studied the now partially emptied syringe.

"You gave him his full share all right," Carson was saying. "I guess
you are playing square with us. I'll take mine now."

He lay down on the operating table and the dwarf fitted an anesthesia
cone over his face and opened the valve of the gas cylinder. In a
moment he closed it and rolled the unconscious man on his face and
deftly inserted the long needle. Instead of injecting a portion of the
contents of the syringe as Dr. Bird had expected to do, he drew back
on the plunger for a minute and then took out the needle and held the
syringe to the light.

"Well, Mr. Carson," he said with a malignant glance at the unconscious
figure,