set eyes
on the sweet flesh of this Athalia. She is an houri from Paradise--a
maiden of musk and incense." He held the girl's photograph toward the
young man. "Keep it. She is yours, if you are strong enough to hold
her."

Northwood opened his card case and placed the picture inside, facing
Mary's photograph. Again the warning words of the mysterious stranger
rang in his memory: "_The thing inside never will be yours._"

"Where to," he said eagerly; "and when do we start?"

"To the new Garden of Eden," said the scientist, with such a beatific
smile that his face was less hideous. "We start immediately. I have
arranged with Professor Michael for you to go."

* * * * *

Northwood followed Dr. Mundson to the street and walked with him a few
blocks to a garage where the scientist's motor car waited.

"The apartment in Indian Court is just a little eccentricity of mine,"
explained Dr. Mundson. "I need people in my work, people whom I must
select through swift, sure tests. The apartment comes in handy, as
to-night."

Northwood scarcely noted where they were going, or how long they had
been on the way. He was vaguely aware that they had left the city
behind, and were now passing through farms bathed in moonlight.

At last they entered a path that led through a bit of woodland. For half
a mile the path continued, and then ended at a small, enclosed field. In
the middle of this rested a queer aircraft. Northwood knew it was a
flying machine only by the propellers mounted on the top of the huge
ball-shaped body. There were no wings, no birdlike hull, no tail.

"It looks almost like a little world ready to fly off into space," he
commented.

"It is just about that." The scientist's squat, bunched-out body,
settled squarely on long, thin, straddled legs, looked gnomelike in the
moonlight. "One cannot copy flesh with steel and wood, but one can make
metal perform magic of which flesh is not capable. My sun-ship is not a
mechanical reproduction of a bird. It is--but, climb in, young friend."

* * * * *

Northwood followed Dr. Mundson into the aircraft. The moment the
scientist closed the metal door behind them, Northwood was instantly
aware of some concealed horror that vibrated through his nerves. For one
dreadful moment, he expected some terrific agent of the shadows that
escaped the electric lights to leap upon him. And this was odd, for
nothing could be