Joe's hands. There was much yet to be done, and it was not to
be thought that, after being burned, as he said he was, the professor
could go on.

There was uneasiness now among the stage hands. The electrician from
the wings was cautiously whispering to Joe to let him know what to do.
As yet the audience had not realized anything was wrong.

"Are you badly hurt?" Joe asked the professor in a whisper, standing
near the now dark cabinet.

"I'm burned on my back, yes. I'm glad you shut off the current when
you did, or I'd have been killed."

"I didn't shut off the current," Joe answered. "I just pulled the
connecting legs of the cabinet out of the sockets in the stage floor."

"That was just as good. The current's off. But something has to be
done."

"What went wrong?" asked Joe.

"One of the wire connections in here. I can feel it now with my
fingers. A wire has broken. If I could twist it together----"

"I'll do it," volunteered Joe. He had to work the dark, as a glimmer
of light would show that the cabinet had been moved, and the audience
would suspect that something was wrong. But Joe knew every inch of the
cabinet, for he and the professor had worked this trick out between
them. In an instant he had twisted the wire ends together, pushing
them to one side so they would not come in contact with the professor's
body, for the ends were not now insulated.

"It's all right," Joe whispered. "Can you manage to finish the trick
if I put the cabinet back the connections?"

"Yes, I think so. Go ahead."

Joe called to the leader of the orchestra:

"Louder!"

The musicians had been softly playing some "shivery" music. At once
they struck into a blare of sound. This would cover any noise Joe
might make in putting the cabinet back in place, so that the two metal
legs would rest in the electric sockets in the stage, which contained
the conductors that supplied the electric current needed.

In another moment Joe lifted the cabinet, Professor Rosello and all,
back to where it had stood at first. Again there was the grinning,
glowing skeleton showing. The applause was renewed, and then the glow
died out, and as the house lights flashed up there stood the professor
in the cabinet, as at first, in his flowing silk robe.

Close observers might have noticed that he was quite pale, and he had
to grit his teeth to keep back a moan of pain from the burns he had
received.

"Now, gentlemen," said Joe to th