her manifesto of the Mind Master! the second man on his
list was to be taken at ten o'clock the next day. The man was
president of a great construction company. His name was Saret Balisle;
he was under thirty, slim as a professional dancer, and dark as a
gypsy.

"But what does Barter want with all these big shots?" asked Thomas
Tyler. "Just what is the point of his stealing their brains and
putting them into the skull-pans of apes, if that's what you think he
has in mind?"

"The Barter touch," said Bentley grimly. "At first he probably
intended to kill just any men and make the transfer, and then use his
manapes to send against the men he wished to capture, and through whom
he intended to gain control of Manhattan. Then he decided, since he
had learned to control his manapes, by radio I suppose, that it would
be an ironic touch to make virtual slaves of the "key" men he had
chosen for his crusade."

"But why the transplantation at all, even if the man is mad? He
reasons logically. Only his premises are unthinkable ... and he builds
successful ghastly experiments on top of them...."

- - -

"He claims he wishes to build a race of supermen," Bentley answered.
"His reason for the brain transference is therefore plain. An
anthropoid ape has a body which is several times as hardy, durable and
mighty as that of even the strongest man, but the ape has not the
brain of a civilized man. A specialized man, one with a highly
developed brain, generally has a very weak body. He's constantly put
to the necessity of taking exercise to keep from growing sick.
Therefore the ape's body and the man's brain would seem, to Barter, an
ideal combination. That nature didn't plan it so troubles him not at
all. He will make a fool of nature!"

"I wonder if we'll get him. Nobody knows how many lives have been lost
already."

"We'll get him, Tyler. I'll bet anything you want to name that your
men have walked back and forth across his hideout. I'll bet that
decent, respectable people live within mere yards of him and do
not know it. We'll get to him the second he makes a mistake of any
kind. Maybe he'll make his first one when he tries to get Saret
Balisle--Good Lord, I forgot something. Tyler, phone again and ask
Headquarters if the coroner found anything strange about the head of
the men I chased down Fifth Avenue."

Tyler phoned.

"Yes," he said, clicking up the receiver, "he had bits of metal which
looked like aluminu