e an ideal place to
ambush the maniac, he had swiftly decided.

"I am Norma Manion. Please don't delay, but see if you can locate
father." The girl's voice was agonized. "I heard him groan a half-hour
ago, and a little later came a terrific crash. Oh, I'm afraid he's
dead!"

* * * * *

Reluctantly Jimmie gave up the idea of ambushing the Professor.

"Wait here," he commanded curtly. "If you hear a shot join me as soon as
you can. I want to take him alive if I can, but...." With this parting
hint he disappeared through the door into the laboratory. Down the
carpeted hall he crept to the stairway. Here he stopped and listened,
but to his sensitive ears came no sound from below.

"Must have gone down the cellar with the body," he muttered. "Here goes
for a general exploration."

With more boldness than the occasion perhaps really justified he
descended the stairs and proceeded to examine the ground floor rooms
minutely. The first was the room through which he had made entrance to
the house. It proved to be but a storeroom containing nothing of
interest, and he soon decided to waste no more time on it.

The adjoining chamber, however, yielded some surprising finds. He had
pushed back a dusty portiere to find himself in what could be
nothing less than the Professor's sleeping chamber. At present the
bed was unoccupied, though it showed signs of recent use. The
electric torch played swiftly over every possible corner which could
constitute a hiding place for an assassin, revealing nothing. Now
the ever-searching ray fell upon an old-fashioned dresser, on which
was piled a miscellaneous array of articles. Here were combs, brushes,
a wig, a huge magnifying glass, and a gold watch. With a barely
suppressed exclamation, Jimmie pounced upon the gold timepiece.

Handlon's! So well did he know the particular design of his watch that
he could have recognized it in the dark by sense of touch alone. So the
old man was not averse to robbery among his other activities! The former
two-story man thought fast. Handlon had probably been done in, and the
body had been disposed of in some weird manner. The only thing that
remained to be done, since the unlucky photographer was evidently past
human help, was to cut short the Professor's list of murders.

* * * * *

With the intention of missing no essential detail O'Hara swept the ray
of the searchlight around the chamber