entered
leading a stout gray-haired man. Dr. Bird whistled when he saw them
and leaped to his feet as another figure followed the admiral.

"The President!" gasped Carnes as the officers came to a salute and
the marines presented arms.

The President nodded to his ex-guard, acknowledged the salute of the
rest and turned to Dr. Bird.

"Have you met with success, Doctor?" he asked.

"I have, Mr. President; or, rather, I hope that I have. At the same
time, I would rather experiment on some other victim of their deviltry
than the one you have brought me."

"My decision that the one I have brought shall be the first to be
experimented on, as you term it, is unalterable."

* * * * *

Dr. Bird bowed and turned to the dwarf who had been a sullen witness
of what had gone on.

"Slavatsky," he said slowly, "your game is up. I have witnessed one of
your brain transfusions and I know the method. I gather from your
notes that the menthium you have hidden in that cabinet is still as
potent as when it was first extracted from a living brain, but in this
case I am going to draw it fresh from one of your gang. Some of the
details of the operation are a little hazy to me, but those you will
teach me. I am going to restore this man to the condition he was in
before you did your devil's work on him and you will direct my
movements. Just what is the first step in removing the menthium from a
brain?"

The dwarf maintained a stubborn silence.

"You refuse to answer?" asked the Doctor in feigned surprise. "I
thought that you would rather instruct me and have me try the
operation first on other men. Since you prefer that I operate on you
first, I will be glad to do so."

He stepped to the opposite wall and in a few moments had opened the
dwarf's hiding place and taken out the flask of menthium.

"Carson," he said, "after you had watched Slavatsky inject menthium
into Willis, you took lethane and expected him to inject menthium into
your brain. Instead of doing so he withdrew a portion from your brain
and put it in this flask. I have reason to believe from his secret
records which I found in the cabinet with this flask that he has done
so regularly. Are you willing to instruct me while I remove the
menthium from him?"

"The dirty swine!" shouted Carson. "I'll do anything to get even with
him, but I have never performed the operation. Only Slavatsky and
Willis have operated."

"Will you help me, W