to strike the brute
across the face. "It's just that voices of certain pitches interfere.
Surely you have seen radio operators go all to pieces when spoken to."

Ungraciously Solinski allowed himself to be ushered into the outer
room. Once there he disposed his lean form on another chair,
unctuously refused a highball, and, forgetting his momentary anger,
soon was deep in a scientific discussion of the problems involved in
revivifying the world.

He mentioned the nearby radio station but declared that he had been
unable to locate it despite a careful search. Dismissing this he
turned to other topics, displaying a vast knowledge of all departments
of scientific achievement and, despite his depressing personality,
holding his bearer's attention so closely they forgot the passage of
time until the clock struck ten.

"Time for daily injection," said the doctor. "Do you use Andrev's
solution too, sir?"

"Naturally," replied the other, lighting one cigarette from the butt
of another.

Manthis hurried into the laboratory. A few moments later he reappeared
in the doorway and called to Jack in an agitated voice. As the younger
man joined him he closed the door and turned a white face to him.

"The drug is almost gone," Manthis said. "Didn't you obtain a new
supply?"

* * * * *

"We--I forgot it," admitted Jack, feeling his own face grow pale. "The
shock of running across Solinski at the laboratory upset me."

"Well, that's all right, then. It gave me a turn, but we have plenty
of time." The doctor laughed shakily. "Run down to the nearest drug
store. There should be a supply there. Better take a flashlight."

He pushed open the door, then shrank back. Leaning against the jamb
was the Russian. His manner had changed subtly. His thin lips spread
from ear to ear in a wolfish grin. His fingers clicked like castanets.

"Ah," he purred. "So you have used up the last of your solution?"

"What's that to you?" The doctor was gripped by cold unreasoning fear.

"Only that you will be unable to obtain more. Since my first meeting
with your daughter I have had my men collect all the Cannabis Indica
in the city."

"Your men!" Manthis was thunderstruck.

"Certainly, you old fool. Do you think I'm a bungling theorist like
yourself? Who do you think is operating that short-wave station? I am.
Who do you think put the world to sleep? I did. Who do you think will
wake it? I will."

Solinski's fig