going. Then, in secret, she might plan to free her husband.

At first, however, no tenable idea came to her. Meanwhile, through her
old professors at Merlin University, where she had been an excellent
student, she obtained access to the chemical laboratory, and
experimented day and night for means to increase the power of telurox.
If it were possible to divert to the earth enough of the gravity that
shot past it into space, might the planet not even now be drawn back to
its orbit?

For weeks she labored, without results. She was merely one more
discouraged person in a discouraged world, when at length a startling
incident occurred. She had gone out for a hasty bite of lunch, and on
her return she noticed that her assistant, young Dick Harson, was
listening to the radio, as he often did, while munching at a sandwich.

"Well, anything new?" she asked, with a faint smile.

"Nothing but a crazy noise, like a telegrapher breaking in on the
broadcast," he answered. "If it's still on, I'll show you."

He switched the dial. "There it is!" he exclaimed, after a moment.
"Doesn't it sound just like a secret code?"

At first she listened indifferently, her mind preoccupied; then gave a
start, for she recognized something astoundingly familiar. Surely, it
was but an accident! It must be an accident that the succession of long
and short syllables made sense, according to her old code with Dan!
"Imprisoned by the Triumvirs! Follow my directions, and we may still
save the world."

Harson was astonished to see how eagerly the young woman sprang from her
seat; and how she stood staring, as if she had seen a ghost.

With the frenzy of a famished person finding food, she bent down to
listen. For a minute she remained there, leaning over the radio with a
puzzled look, as if she could not quite make out the message. Then, to
Harson's still greater amazement, she dashed to the laboratory's short
wave transmitter, and, beating together two bits of metal, began to send
out a series of long and short sounds, similar to the signals they had
heard.

By this time the rat-tat-tat from the other end had ceased. It was more
than half an hour later, when she had paused to rest momentarily, that
fresh signals came over the radio. A flood of tears rushed to her eyes
as she made out the words, "Lucile! Lucile--it is I!"

* * * * *

"Take this down, Lucy! Bismuth tetrachloride in combination with the
borium salt