h
the boat inside. Men closed clamps which held it in position. As they
sprang to shore, the box sunk silently out of sight below the surface
of the water.

"It is now beneath a foot of mud, Doctor," laughed the Russian, "and
there is nothing to lead a searching party to suspect its existence.
Now I will take you to my base."

He led the way for a hundred yards over the ground. Before them loomed
an old abandoned fisherman's shack. They entered to find merely a
barren room. The Russian stepped to the far side and manipulated a
hidden lever. Half of the floor slid to one side, disclosing a flight
of steps leading down into Stygian darkness.

Flashlight in hand, Saranoff descended, Dr. Bird following closely on
his heels. They went down twenty-one steps before the stairs came to
an end. Above them, the floor could be heard closing. There was a
sharp click and the cavern was flooded with light.

* * * * *

Dr. Bird looked around him with keen interest. Before him stood a
static generator of gigantic proportions and of a totally unfamiliar
design. Attached to it was an elliptic reflector of silvery metal,
from which rose a short, stubby projector tube.

"I suppose, Dr. Saranoff--" began Dr. Bird.

"_Ivan_ Saranoff, if you please, Doctor," interrupted the Russian. "I
have renounced the trumpery distinctions of your bourgeois
civilization as far as I am concerned."

"I suppose, Ivan Saranoff," said Dr. Bird obligingly, "that this is
the apparatus with which you send out a stream of negative particles."

"It is, Doctor. I had no idea that the nature of it would ever be
discovered; at least not until I had changed the United States to a
second Sahara desert. I reckoned without you. In point of fact, at the
time that I built this device and started it in operation, I had not
clashed with you. Now, I know that my plan is a failure. You have left
data on which other men can work, have you not?"

"Surely."

"I would not have believed you had you said otherwise," replied the
Russian with a sigh. "Yet this device has done much good. Now it shall
be destroyed. It has not been a failure, for its destruction will
accomplish both yours and that of your friend, Carnes."

"You haven't caught Carnes yet."

"That is easy. The same bait which caught you has caught him even more
easily. I have a real sense of humor, Doctor, and before I went out of
my way to bring you here, my plans were carefull