nd
now for my contribution." He left the room and came back in a few
minutes with something in his hands. "Here are some shields for us.

"Oh, not pieces of steel armor. Shields in a figurative more than a
literal sense."

He set down a small porcelain pot, and opened it. Within was a
repulsive-looking, whitish-brown paste.

"Ground-up termites," he explained. "If we're to go wandering around in
a termitary, we've got to persuade the inmates that we're friends, not
foes. So we'll smear ourselves all over with this termite-paste before
ever we enter the mound."

"Clever, these supposedly impractical scientists," murmured Jim, with a
lightness that did not quite succeed in covering his real admiration of
the shrewdness of the thought.

And now they stood in front of Breen's glass bell, with Breen beside
them all eagerness to begin the experiment.

"What am I supposed to do after I've reduced you to the proper size?" he
asked.

"Take us out to Morton's Grove, to the big termitary you'll find about a
quarter of a mile off the road," said Denny. "Set us down near the
opening to one of the larger termite tunnels. Then wait till we come out
again. You may have to wait quite a while--but that isn't much to ask in
return for our submission to your rays."

"I'll wait a week, if you wish. Let's see, what had I better carry you
in?"

It was decided--with a lack of forethought later to be bitterly
regretted--that an ordinary patty-dish of the kind in which restaurants
serve butter, would make as good a conveyance as anything else.

* * * * *

Matt got the patty-dish and placed it on the pedestal floor, tipping it
on edge so Jim and Denny would be able to climb into it unaided (he
wouldn't dare attempt to lift bodies so small for fear of mortally
injuring them between thumb and forefinger). Into the patty-dish, so
they could be readily located, were placed the bits of wire, the tiny
fragments of silk gauze to serve as breech clouts, and a generous dab of
termite-paste; and the two men stepped inside the glass dome to share
the fate that, the night before, had been the dog's.

The bell was lowered around them. They watched the inventor step to the
switch and pull it down....

At first there was no sensation whatever. Almost with incredulity, they
watched the glass walls cloud, realized that the fogging vapor was
formed of exudations from their own substance. Then physical reaction
set i