uth than he imagines. We already know the elements
that make the human body, and we can put them together in their proper
proportions and arrangements: but we have not been able to introduce
the vitalizing spark, the key vibrations to start it going. We can
reproduce the human machine, but we can not make it move. We can
destroy life in the laboratory, and we can prolong it, but so far we
have not been able to create it. Yet I tell you in all seriousness
that that time will come; that time will come.'

"I was surprised at his earnestness and would have questioned him
further. But a boy appeared just then with a message that Drayle was
wanted at the telephone.

"Something important, sir," he said. Drayle went off to answer the
summons and later he sent word that he had been called away and would
not be able to return.

"It was the last I heard from Drayle for months. He shut himself in
his laboratory and saw no one but his assistants, Ward of Boston, and
Buchannon of Washington. He even slept in the workshop and had his
food sent in.

"Ordinarily I would not have been excluded, for I had his confidence
to an unusual degree and I had often watched him work. I admired the
deft movements of his hands. He had the certain touch and style of a
master. But during that period he admitted only his aids.

* * * * *

"Consequently I felt little hope of reaching him one morning when it
was necessary to have his signature to some legal documents. Yet the
urgency of the case led me to go to his home on the chance that I
might be able to get him long enough for the business that concerned
us. Luck was with me, for he sent out word that he would see me in a
few minutes. I remember seating myself in the office that opened off
his laboratory and wondering what was beyond the door that separated
us. I had witnessed some incredible performances in the adjoining
room.

"At last Drayle came in. He looked worried and careworn. There were
new lines in his face and blue half-circles of fatigue beneath his
eyes. It was evident that it was long since he had slept. He
apologized for having kept me waiting and then, without examining the
papers I offered, he signed his name nervously in the proper spaces.
When I gathered the sheets together he turned abruptly toward the
laboratory, but at the door he paused and smiled.

"'Give my respects to Jackson Gee,' he said."

* * * * *