t they--and his tarantulas and other insects--could
make no alarming noises.

Garth found a long strand of wire. The panel's control lever, swung to
the left, controlled increase; to the right, decrease. Garth's plan
was to wind the middle of the wire around it, relay each end around
the two supporting posts of the switchboard, and thus have both ends
of the wire in his hands when he stood inside the chamber. One end of
the wire would enable him to pull the lever over for increase, and
the other to pull it back to neutral when the increase was completed,
or when Hagendorff arose.

Quickly he started to arrange the wire. Then suddenly his hands
dropped and he stared dismayed at the control panel.

The power switch had been removed!

* * * * *

It was Hagendorff's work, of course. He had guarded every angle.
Without that switch, the mechanism was lifeless and literally
powerless. It worked on a delicately adjusted and enclosed rheostat;
there was nothing that could be substituted for it. It would take
hours to improvise one in the heart of the apparatus.

The switch, Garth reflected bitterly, was probably concealed somewhere
about the giant's body.

He considered the possibility of tying him. He knew where there was a
coil of light, pliable wire on the floor; he might be able to loop it
over the giant's hands and legs while he slept, tie him securely, and
then go through his pockets for the switch. Another hazard! But there
was nothing else to do.

Garth lowered himself over the table's edge and slid quietly down the
leg. He glanced at the sleeping man, then over across the room to
where, beneath another table, the wire was--and his nerves jumped at
what he saw there.

From the darkness under the table two spots of greenish fire, close to
the floor, held steadily on him.

As he stared, they vanished, to reappear more to the right. With the
movement, he glimpsed the outline of a lithe, crouching animal, and
knew it to be the cat he and Hagendorff had experimented on earlier
that night. It was stalking him in the deliberate manner of its kind!

* * * * *

It came edging around, so as to leap on him from the side. He knew
that he represented fair prey to it; that if he tried to run, it would
pounce on him from behind. Wearily he tensed his miniature body,
standing poised on the balls of his feet and never dropping his eyes
for a moment. He could no