d have known anywhere if I had been permitted
half a glance at him. _It was Dr. Nikola._

When we entered he was busily occupied with a scalpel, dissecting an
animal strangely resembling a monkey. On the table, and watching the
work upon which his master was engaged, sat his constant companion, the
same fiendish black cat I have mentioned elsewhere; while at the end
nearest us, standing on tip-toe, the better to see what was going on,
was an albino dwarf, scarcely more than two feet eight inches high. So
stealthily, however, had our approach been made, and so carefully had I
opened the door, that we were well into the room before our appearance
was discovered, and also before I had realized into whose presence we
had stumbled. Then my foot touched a board that creaked, and Dr. Nikola
looked up from the work upon which he was engaged.

His pale, thin face did not show the slightest sign of surprise as he
said, in his usual placid tone,--

"So you have managed to escape from your room, gentlemen. Well, and pray
what do you want?"

For a moment I was so much overcome with surprise that my tongue refused
to perform its office. Then I said, advancing towards him as I spoke,
closely followed by the Marquis,--

"So, Dr. Nikola, we have met at last!"

"At last, Mr. Hatteras, as you say," this singular being replied, still
without showing a sign of either interest or embarrassment. "All things
considered, I suppose you would deem me ironical if I ventured to say
that I am pleased to see you about again. However, don't let me keep you
standing; won't you sit down? My lord, let me offer you a chair."

All this time we were edging up alongside the table, and I was making
ready for a rush at him. But he was not to be taken off his guard. His
extraordinary eyes had been watching me intently, taking in my every
movement; and a curious effect they had upon me.

"Dr. Nikola," I said, "the game is up. You beat me last time; but now
you must own I come out on top. Don't utter a word or call for
assistance--if you do you're a dead man. Now drop that knife you hold in
your hand, and show us the way out!"

The Marquis was on his right, I was on his left, and we were close upon
him as I spoke. Still he showed no sign of fear, though he must have
known the danger of his position. But his eyes glowed in his head like
living coals.

You will ask why we did not rush at him? Well, if I am obliged to own
it, I must--the truth was, such