ing of the tenth of August she reached her port. After taking
a warm leave of my rescuers, I set out at once by train for
Washington, which more than once I had despaired of ever seeing again.

I went first of all to the bureau of police, meaning to make my
earliest appearance before Mr. Ward.

What was the surprise, the stupefaction, and also the joy of my
chief, when the door of his cabinet opened before me! Had he not
every reason to believe, from the report of my companions, that I had
perished in the waters of Lake Erie?

I informed him of all my experiences since I had disappeared, the
pursuit of the destroyers on the lake, the soaring of the "Terror"
from amid Niagara Falls, the halt within the crater of the Great
Eyrie, and the catastrophe, during the storm, above the Gulf of
Mexico.

He learned for the first time that the machine created by the genius
of this Robur, could traverse space, as it did the earth and the sea.

In truth, did not the possession of so complete and marvelous a
machine justify the name of Master of the World, which Robur had
taken to himself? Certain it is that the comfort and even the lives
of the public must have been forever in danger from him; and that all
methods of defence must have been feeble and ineffective.

But the pride which I had seen rising bit by bit within the heart of
this prodigious man had driven him to give equal battle to the most
terrible of all the elements. It was a miracle that I had escaped
safe and sound from that frightful catastrophe.

Mr. Ward could scarcely believe my story. "Well, my dear Strock,"
said he at last, "you have come back; and that is the main thing.
Next to this notorious Robur, you will be the man of the hour. I hope
that your head will not be turned with vanity, like that of this
crazy inventor!"

"No, Mr. Ward," I responded, "but you will agree with me that never
was inquisitive man put to greater straits to satisfy his curiosity."

"I agree, Strock; and the mysteries of the Great Eyrie, the
transformations of the "Terror," you have discovered them! But
unfortunately, the still greater secrets of this Master of the World
have perished with him."

The same evening the newspapers published an account of my
adventures, the truthfulness of which could not be doubted. Then, as
Mr. Ward had prophesied, I was the man of the hour.

One of the papers said, "Thanks to Inspector Strock the American
police still lead the world. While othe