* *

He laughed abruptly, shrugged his shoulders, and started toward the car
again.

"When I get off on my subject, there's no telling when I'll stop. But,
Jim, I tell you, I'd give years of my life to be able to do what all
entomologists are wild to do--study the depths of a termite mound. God!
What wouldn't I give for the privilege of shrinking to ant-size, and
roaming loose in that secretive-looking mound behind us!"

He laughed again, and slapped Holden's broad back.

"_There_ would be a thrill for you, you bored adventurer! There would be
exploration work! A trip to Mars wouldn't be in it. The nightmare
monsters you would see, the hideous creations, the cannibalism, the
horrible but efficient slave system carried on by these blind,
intelligent things in the dark depths of the subterranean cells! Lions?
Suppose you were suddenly confronted by a thing as big as a horse, with
fifteen-foot jaws of steely horn that could slice you in two and hardly
know it! How would you like that?"

And now in the other man's eyes there was a glint, while his face
expressed aroused interest.

Every man to his own game, thought Denny curiously, watching the
transformation. He lived for scientific experiments and observations
having to do with termites. Holden existed, apparently, only for the
thrill of pitting his brain and brawn against dangerous beasts, wild
surroundings, or tempestuous elements. If only their two supreme
interests in life could be combined....

"How would I like it?" said Jim. "Denny, old boy, when you can introduce
me to an adventure like that ..." He waved his arm violently to complete
the sentence. "What a book of travel it would make! 'The Raid on the
Termites. Exploring an Insect Hell. Death in an Ant-hill....'"

"Termitary! Termitary!" corrected Denny irritably.

"Whatever you want to call it," Jim conceded airily. He dumped the
apparatus he was carrying into the rear compartment of the roadster.
"But why speak of miracles? Even if we were sent to a modern hand
laundry, we could hardly be shrunk to ant-size. Shall we ramble along
home?"

CHAPTER II

_The Pact_

"What are we going to do to-night?" asked Jim.

Dennis looked quizzically at his big friend. Jim was pacing restlessly
up and down the living room of the bachelor apartment, puffing jerkily
at his eternal pipe. Dennis knew the symptoms. Though he hadn't seen Jim
for over a year, he remembered his characteristics well eno