k, head under. Once he explained
that the medium he worked in caused a kind of uncontrollable longing for
water; something having none of the qualities of burning or thirst, but an
irresistible temporary mania. It worried him a good deal; he didn't
understand it. That, then, was what ailed Pulz. When he opened the chest
there was, as I surmise, a trifling quantity of this stuff lying in the
inner lid. It wasn't the celestium itself, as I imagine, but a sort of by-
product with the physiological and radiant effects of the real thing, and
it had been set there on guard, a discouragement to the spirit of
investigation, as it were. So, when the top was lifted, our little
guardian gets in its work, producing the light phenomenon that so puzzled
Slade, and inspiring Pulz with a passion for the rolling wave, which is
only interrupted by Handy Solomon's tackling him. As he fled he must have
pulled down the cover."

"He did," said Slade. "I heard the clang. But I saw the radiance on the
clouds. And the whole thickness of a solid oak deck was in between the sky
and the chest."

"Oh, a little thing like an oak deck wouldn't interrupt the kind of rays
the doctor used. He had his own method of screening, you understand.
However, this inconsiderable guardian affair must have used itself up,
which true celestium wouldn't have done. So when Perdosa sets his genius
for lock-picking to the task, the inner box, full of the genuine article,
has no warning sign-post, so to speak. Everything's peaceful until they
raise the compound-filled hollow layer of the inner cover, which serves to
interrupt the action. Then comes the general exit and the superior
fireworks."

"That's when the rays ran through the ship," said Slade. "It seemed to
follow the deck-lines."

"The stuff had a strange affinity for tar," said Darrow. "I told you of
the circle of fire about Professor Schermerhorn's waist the day he gave me
such a scare. That was the celestium working on the tarred rope he wore
for a belt. It made a livid circle on his skin. Did I tell you of his
experiments with pitch? It doesn't matter. Where was I?"

"At the place where we all jumped," said Slade.

"Oh, yes. And you dove into the small boat, trying to reach the water."

"Wait a bit," said Barnett. "If that was the exhibition of radiance we
saw, it died out in a few minutes. How was that? Did they close the chest
before they ran?"

"Probably not," replied Darrow. "Slade spoke of Pulz