oward his head
again. Helpless, he watched it describe that arc of death. It was only
later that he wondered why he had fought all the while in silence,
instead of crying for help.

But of a sudden the pistol was dashed aside. A woman's voice spoke
peremptorily, in some language Dick did not understand. And he saw her
eyes among the eyes that glared at him. Dark eyes that he knew, even
if the voice had not revealed her identity. The eyes and voice of
Fredegonde Valmy!

Dick cried her name. He put forth all his strength in a final
struggle. Suddenly he felt a stunning impact on the back of the head.
He slipped, reeled, threw out his hands, and sank down unconscious on
the grass at the side of the path.

CHAPTER IV

_The Invisible Ambassador_

Fredegonde Valmy implicated in the conspiracy! That was the first
thought that flashed into Dick's mind as he recovered consciousness.
He might have suspected it! But the idea that the girl he loved was
bound up with the murderous gang that was attacking the very
foundations of civilization chilled him to the soul.

Dick had been picked up a few minutes after he had been struck down,
identified by Colonel Stopford as he was about to be removed to a
hospital, and carried into the White House. Order had been restored by
the arrival of a detachment of troops from Fort Myers, the severed
cables located and mended, and by midnight the interior of the
Presidential home had been made habitable again.

President Hargreaves was gone--kidnapped despite the utmost efforts to
protect him; and it was impossible to conceal that fact from the
world. But the wheels of government still revolved. All night an
emergency council sat in the White House, and, deciding that in a time
of such grave danger heroic means must be adopted, with the consent of
such of the Congressional leaders as could be summoned, a Council of
Defence was organized.

The whole country east of the Mississippi was placed under martial
law. The fleet and army were put on a war footing. Flights of
airplanes were assembled at numerous points along the eastern
seaboard. To this Council Donald was attached as head of Intelligence
for the Eastern Division. Yet all this availed little unless the
location of the Invisible Empire could be ascertained, and, despite
telegraphic reports that came in hourly, alleging to have discovered
its headquarters, nothing had been achieved in this direction.

* * *