here, and gloomy with the daylight globes extinguished, and only the
night lights to give a dim illumination. The stores and office arcades
were all closed and deserted; only an occasional night-light burning
behind their windows.

Our footfalls echoed on the metal grids as we hurried along.

"Nice evening," said Snap awkwardly.

"Yes," I said, "isn't it?"

I felt oppressed. As though prying eyes and ears were here. We walked
for a time in silence, each of us busy with memory of what had
transpired in Halsey's office.

Suddenly Snap gripped me. "What's that?"

"Where?" I whispered.

* * * * *

We stopped at a corner. An entryway was here. Snap pulled me into it. I
could feel him quivering with excitement.

"What is it?" I demanded in a whisper.

"We're being followed. Did you hear anything?"

"No!" Yet I thought now I could hear something. Vague footfalls. A
rustling. And a microscopic electrical whine, as though some device were
near us.

Snap was fumbling in his pocket. "Wait, I've got a pair of low-scale
phones."

He put the little grids against his ears. I could hear the sharp intake
of his breath. Then he seized me, pulled me down to the metal floor of
the entryway.

"Back, Gregg! Get back!" I could barely hear his whisper. We crouched as
far back into the doorway as we could get. I was armed. My official
permit for the carrying of the pencil heat-ray allowed me to have it
always with me. I drew it now. But there was nothing to shoot at. I felt
Snap clamping the grids on my ears. And now I heard something! An
intensification of the vague footsteps I had thought I heard before.

There was something following us! Something out in the corridor there
now! A street light was nearby. The corridor was dim, but plainly
visible; and to my sight it was empty. But there was something there.
Something invisible! I could hear it moving. Creeping towards us. I
pulled the grids off my ears.

Snap murmured, "You've got a local phone."

"Yes! I'll get them to give us the street glare!"

* * * * *

I pressed the danger signal, giving our location to the nearest
operator. In a second or two we got the light. The street in all this
neighborhood burst into a brilliant actinic glare. The thing menacing
us was revealed! A figure in a black cloak, crouching thirty feet away
across the corridor.

Snap was on his feet. His voice rang shrilly, "There it