y, also, he had let Eva in on his secret plan, and she was all
eagerness as he planted his trap.

Before the safe, now, Locke paused, and there for a moment twisted the
combination so that he could get his correct position. That done, he
noted the place where he had been standing, and removed a mat from the
floor in front of the safe. At that place he set in on the floor a
fairly large iron plate. To this iron plate he attached a wire, then
replaced the rug, but in such a way that a part of the plate was
exposed, though it would never be noticed.

"If the Automaton attempts to open the safe," he remarked to Eva, as he
worked, "he will complete the electric circuit and it will hold him
until we capture him."

"How clever!" Eva exclaimed, involuntarily.

"Now for making my signaling connection to the laboratory," continued
Locke. "Then I must get some of my men up here from the department."

However, while Locke and Eva were busy arranging this electric trap,
they did not notice that they were being watched by Zita, who had stolen
into the conservatory and was eying them eagerly from the protection of
the fronds of a palm. Zita, moreover, was greatly excited, as she
gathered with her quick perception just what it was that they were
doing. Nor did she wait to see the work finished, but stole out of the
door and away hurriedly.

Locke had finished his preparations, and as he and Eva were discussing
the possibilities of what he had devised, he remarked, in answer to her
eager inquiry about his suspicions, "I am sure we shall prove that there
is a man inside the terrible machine that attacks us."

"Then you don't think it is really an automaton?" asked Eva, with great
respect for Locke's opinion, though it was sufficiently in evidence that
she was not at all convinced that the monster was not really of steel
and controlled by something that resembled a human brain.

Locke was non-committal. "This trap will tell us," was all that he would
say.

Zita, hurrying out from the conservatory, and wishing to waste not an
instant in notifying Balcom, sought a near-by telephone pay-station, and
there in frantic haste she demanded Balcom's number.

It was some moments before Central could make the connection, and then
it was only to Zita's disappointment and growing fear. The Madagascan
servant of Balcom answered in the absence of his master.

"Is Mr. Balcom there?" asked Zita, adding, "Or Mr. Paul?"

The black shook his he