ks. They recognized Tommy and ran toward him.

Not more than twenty yards away stood the railroad station, with several
crates of goods on the platform. Next to it was a substantial house of
stone, with the front door open.

Tommy pointed to it, and Dodd understood and shouted something that was
lost in the furious buzz of the beetles' wings as they devoured their
prey. The three raced for the entrance, gained it unmolested, and closed
the door.

There was a key in the door, and it was light enough for them to see a
chain, which Dodd pulled into position. There was only one story, and
there were three rooms, apparently, with the kitchen. Tommy rushed to
the kitchen door, locked it, too, and, with almost super-human efforts,
dragged the large iron stove against it. He rushed to the window, but it
was a mere loophole, not large enough to admit a child. Nevertheless, he
stood the heavy table on end so that it covered it. Then he ran back.

* * * * *

Dodd had already barricaded the window of the larger room, which was a
bed-sitting room, with a heavy wardrobe, and the wooden bedstead,
jamming the two pieces sidewise against the wall, so that they could not
be forced apart without being demolished. He was now busy in the smaller
room, which seemed to be the station-master's office, dragging an iron
safe across the floor. But the window was criss-crossed with iron bars,
and it was evident that the safe, which was locked, contained at times
considerable money, for the window could hardly have been forced save by
a charge of nitro-glycerine or dynamite. However, it was against the
door that Dodd placed the safe, and he stood back, panting.

"Good," said Haidia. "That will hold them."

The two men looked at her doubtfully. Did Haidia know what she was
talking about?

The sun had risen. A long shaft shot into the room. Outside the beetles
were still buzzing as they turned over the vestiges of their prey. There
were as yet no signs of attack. Suddenly Tommy grasped Dodd's arm.

"Look!" he shouted, pointing to a corner which had been in gloom a
moment before.

There was a table there, and on it a telegraphic instrument. Telegraphy
had been one of Tommy's hobbies in boyhood. In a moment he was busy at
the table.

Dot-dash-dot-dash! Then suddenly outside a furious hum, and the impact
of beetle bodies against the front door.

* * * * *

Tommy got up, grinni