the heels of their mortal enemy, the mysterious and elusive
Fantomas. The detective and the journalist had succeeded in cooping up
the formidable bandit in a house at Neuilly, belonging to a great
English lady, known under the name of Lady Beltham. This Englishwoman
was the mistress and accomplice of the notorious Fantomas.[9] But at the
precise moment when Juve was about to arrest him, a frightful explosion
occurred, and the building, blown up by dynamite, collapsed in ruins,
burying the two friends and some fifteen policemen and detectives.

[Footnote 9: See _The Exploits of Juve_.]

Rescuers were on the spot in a very short time, and uninterruptedly, for
forty-eight hours, they searched among the ruins for the victims of the
disaster, dead or alive.

By a miraculous piece of good fortune, Fandor had been but slightly
hurt, and at the end of a few days he was as well as ever. But the poor
fellow had lost his best friend--Juve!

The search for Juve had been a useless one. Several corpses could not be
identified owing to the injuries they had sustained; and, as it seemed
incredible that the detective could have escaped, they had concluded
that one of the unrecognisable bodies must be his.

Juve, however, was not one of the dead!

Saved in as miraculous a fashion as Fandor had been, less injured even,
a few seconds after the frightful crash, he had been able to rise and
make his escape. The distracted detective had raced away from the scene
of disaster in search of Fandor, and also in pursuit of Fantomas, for he
believed that both had made their escape.

After wandering about for some hours, he had returned to mingle with the
crowd of rescuers, and had learned that Fandor had been found, and was
not dangerously hurt: on the other hand, there were those present who
declared that he, Juve, was killed!

This unexpected announcement gave him an idea: for an indefinite period
he would accept this version! For, more than ever set upon catching his
enemy, the detective said to himself, that if Fantomas could feel
certain that Juve no longer existed, the pretended dead would have a far
better chance of catching the living bandit!

Thereupon, Juve had submitted his project to his chief, Monsieur Havard;
and the head of the police secret service had consented to ignore Juve's
presence among the living.

Juve knew that Lady Beltham had escaped to England.

Supposing that Fantomas would rejoin her without delay, the dete