join him. Betty Young pressed closer, and finally slipped
past the corpse and stood by her father.

* * * * *

Before her, she saw a large pool of black liquid. It had been hidden by
the corner of the block, so that they had not noticed it, so busy were
they looking at Rooney.

And there was a great cavity in the heart of the amber block. Pieces of
the yellow brown mass lay about, as though they had fallen off and
allowed the inky substance to escape.

"It's hardened or dried out in the air," said Young.

"It looks like black lacquer," said Betty.

The musky smell was stronger here. The great amber block seemed to
stifle them with its size.

"Our chipping and hammering and the heat of the radiator causing it to
expand must have forced out the sepia, or whatever it is," said Young.
There was a disappointed note in his voice "I had hoped that inside the
liquid we would discover a fossil of value," he went on.

Marable looked at Betty Young. They stared at one another for some
seconds, and both knew that the same thought had occurred to the other.
The frightful eyes--had they then been but figments of the imagination?

Marable began looking around carefully, here and there. Betty realized
what he was doing, and she was frightened. She went to his side. "Oh, be
careful," she whispered.

"The giant block has been moved a little," he replied, looking into her
pretty face. "Have you noticed that?"

Now that she was told to look, she could see the extremely heavy amber
block was no longer in the position it had been in. Marks on the floor
showed where it had been dragged or shifted from its original resting
place.

* * * * *

Betty Young gasped. What force could be so powerful that it could even
budge so many tons? A derrick had been used, and rollers placed under
the block when men had moved it.

Reason tried to assert itself. "It--it must have exploded. That would
cause it to shift," she said faintly.

Marable shrugged. His examination was interrupted by the arrival of the
museum's chemist, sent for by Young. The chemist took a sample of the
black liquid for analysis. Reports were coming in from all over the
museum, different departments declaring, one after another, that nothing
had been disturbed or stolen from their sections.

Betty Young went again to Marable's side. She followed the direction of
his eyes, and saw long, clawlike marks on th