me.

(_To be continued._)

An Extra Man

_By Jackson Gee_

[Illustration: "Harry turns into a thick smoke, and gets sucked into a
big hole in the machine."]

[Sidenote: Sealed and vigilantly guarded was "Drayle's Invention,
1932"----for it was a scientific achievement beyond which man dared
not go.]

Rays of the August mid-day sun pouring through the museum's glass roof
beat upon the eight soldiers surrounding the central exhibit, which
for thirty years has been under constant guard. Even the present
sweltering heat failed to lessen the men's careful observation of the
visitors who, from time to time, strolled listlessly about the room.

The object of all this solicitude scarcely seemed to require it. A
great up-ended rectangle of polished steel some six feet square by ten
or a dozen feet in height, standing in the center of Machinery Hall,
it suggested nothing sinister or priceless. Two peculiarities,
however, marked it as unusual--the concealment of its mechanism and
the brevity of its title. For while the remainder of the exhibits
located around it varied in the simplicity or complexity of their
design, they were alike in the openness of their construction and
detailed explanation of plan and purpose. The great steel box,
however, bore merely two words and a date: "Drayle's Invention,
1932."

It was, nevertheless, toward this exhibit that a pleasant appearing
white-haired old gentleman and a small boy were slowly walking when a
change of guard occurred. The new men took their posts without words
while the relieved detail turned down a long corridor that for a
moment echoed with the clatter of hobnailed boots on stone. Then all
was surprisingly still. Even the boy was impressed into reluctant
silence as he viewed the uniformed men, though not for long.

* * * * *

"What's that, what's that, what's that?" he demanded presently with
shrill imperiousness. "Grandfather, what's that?" An excited arm
indicated the exhibit with its soldier guard.

"If you can keep still long enough," replied the old gentleman
patiently, "I'll tell you."

And with due regard for rheumatic limbs he slowly settled himself on a
bench and folded his hands over the top of an ebony cane preparatory
to answering the youngster's question. His inquisitor, however, was,
at the moment, being hauled from beneath a brass railing by the
sergeant of the watch.

"You'll have to keep an eye on him, sir