ure appeared to expand. He took deep drafts from his
cigarette. The smoke seemed to impel some terrific force into his
gaunt frame.

"So it was your voice I heard!" cried Manthis bitterly. "And those
awful tales about you were true. A hashish smoker! A person whose mind
is rotting, in control of the world!" He seemed about to leap at the
other, and his chubby figure, in that attitude, would have seemed
ludicrous if it had not been tragic. "It shall not be!" he shouted.

"Now see here, Doctor"--Solinski assumed a friendly tone--"you're
making a grave mistake. I have something to offer better than you ever
dreamed of."

"What do you mean?"

"Just this. How would you like to be assistant to the King of the
World?"

* * * * *

"Crazy already," sneered the doctor, squinting up at his tormentor.

"Crazy or not, when the world awakes I will be its king."

"Why, damn you, I thought you were an anarchist and wanted to do away
with kings and governments," sputtered the little man.

Solinski burst into a gale of fiendish laughter.

"An anarchist is merely a capitalist without money or power," he
quoted.

"What do you want of us?" demanded Manthis, playing for time.

"Very simple. This: I intend soon to begin awakening those who will
serve me, first in New York and then throughout the world. When I
have a skeleton government built up, I will withdraw the wave and
allow the people to revive. Clever, isn't it? Especially for such a
madman as you think me." He snapped his fingers and leered cunningly
at them.

The doctor choked but Jack's hand on his arm steadied him.

"You have a very beautiful daughter," resumed their diabolical
visitant.

"Leave my daughter's name out of this," cried Manthis, recoiling.

"Not at all. Her charm and ability have greatly impressed me--so
impressed me that I have decided to make her my queen."

"You scum of the gutter. You filthy beast. I'd die before I'd be a
party to such a thing!" The doctor was beside himself.

"I consider myself justified," replied the other, taking great delight
in baiting his foe. "The world was never able to govern itself. We
anarchists have bided our time, although overshadowed by communists,
Fascists and such ridiculous experimenters. Now comes our turn. I
shall be the viceroy of God. Under my rule and that of Queen June the
world shall become a second heaven."

He rolled his eyes upward at those words. As he did so, Jac