ore nervous than I am!"

Hagendorff did not answer. He advanced to the switchboard. His
narrowed, deep-set eyes shot a quick glance at the small, nude man
inside the chamber, and for a second one hand hovered over the lever
on the panel.

* * * * *

In that tense second a flash of intuition, of deadly fear, came to
Garth Howard, and he leaped wildly forward. But his rear foot did not
leave the floor of the chamber, and his shout of alarm was choked
midway. Again the fierce ray paralyzed every muscle in him, and he was
locked motionless where he was.

Helplessly, his glazed eyes stared at Hagendorff, while every moment
his rigid little body melted downwards. He was becoming rapidly
smaller, not larger!

Through the agony of the stabbing electrical waves, in vain Garth
tried to wrench his legs free. The few inches that separated him from
the door were an impassable barrier. Sheer panic clutched him. He was
trapped. But why? Why had Hagendorff tricked him?

As if reading the question, the giant outside came close to the
chamber's door and regarded his captive with eyes that were lit by a
peculiar flame. He grunted, then reached backward and returned the
switchboard lever almost to the neutral point, reducing the speed of
the decreasing process.

"Yes, that is better," the German gloated, in a deep, satisfied tone.
"It will be slower, now. Slower--and more interesting to watch!... I
fancy your eyes are reproachful, my friend. Why have I done it, you
wonder? _Ach!_ This machine, it will startle the world of science; it
will make its inventor famous--not? Yes; and did you think I was going
to stand by and see all the credit go to you? No! To me it shall
go--me alone! And you--" He chuckled and rubbed his hands before going
on.

"You shall be what the newspapers call a martyr to science. You shall
sink to a foot, to six inches--to one inch--even less, I think!
Eventually the reduction will kill you, of course; and your body shall
be proof of how you died--in an experiment--and shall also prove the
machine's power and my genius!"

* * * * *

He laughed thunderously, a blond and malevolent titan. He did not
notice that, with the lessening of the reduction's speed, a slight
trace of control over his muscles had returned to the midget inside.
His tiny body was slowly diminishing, and complete, hopeless paralysis
and death was not far away. But Garth was fi