clothing so that his
mad condition would not be too apparent when they went outdoors. It was
a hard task, but Zita soon accomplished it and, half supporting, she led
him through a door on the farther side of the room. They crept down a
back stairway and so away from the house.

At times Flint stumbled and almost fell, and once that insane laugh
startled a passer-by, who started after them, then changed his mind and
proceeded on his way. It was then that Zita's heart almost stopped
beating. She realized that the situation would be unexplainable to a
stranger and she urged the insane Flint on faster.

Renewed hope came to her with each step. She had almost relaxed her
precautions when, suddenly, from a clump of bushes, several men leaped
out. They seized Flint, who merely started babbling afresh. Zita,
ignorant of what was really happening, struck out right and left in the
hopeless encounter, until one of the men with a grin seized her wrist in
his powerful grasp and twisted it until she screamed with pain. Then she
realized for the first time that she had fallen into the hands of the
emissaries of the Automaton. Had Balcom planned it, or had that
mechanical monster taken advantage of what Balcom had ordered?

In the mean time, the other thugs, with Flint between them, made off
hurriedly. With a last push that almost threw Zita to the ground, the
last of them dashed into the shrubbery, and for several moments Zita
dazedly stood there as he crashed through the underbrush, making good
the escape and capture. Then she turned and ran back to Brent Rock.

Locke, in the mean time, had arrived at the laboratory of his old friend
Hadwell, the chemist, where he was warmly welcomed.

It was the usual dusty workshop of one devoted to one
idea--science--with no touches of comfort. Hadwell fairly lived amid
retorts, Bunsen burners, and reagents.

He was a man of profound research, rather than the commercial chemist,
and it was from him that Locke, in earlier days, had learned many
lessons so well that now his career was watched with interest by many
distinguished men of science.

Hadwell was delighted at the chance to examine the strange scrapings of
wax which Locke had dug out of the sockets of the candlestick, the more
so as they must contain some mysterious poison. First he studied them
under a powerful lens, then by chemical reactions, until he made visible
some peculiar crystals. Locke himself was amazed as his friend wor