nds were extended in the light. "I believe you are right,"
he declared in awe, "something is wrong."

At that moment appeared from the room behind them a handsome youth,
attired in a suit of scarlet silk that fitted his athletic figure
perfectly. He rapped softly on the window-casement and bowed when they
turned.

"Your breakfast is waiting for you," he announced. They followed him
into a room adjoining the one they had occupied, and found a table
holding a sumptuous repast. The boy gave them seats and handed them
golden plates to eat upon. The fruits, wine and meats were very
appetizing, and they ate with relish.

"I believe we are to be conducted to the palace of your king to-morrow,"
ventured the Englishman to the boy.

The boy shook his head, but made no reply, and busied himself with
removing the dishes. As they were rising from the table, they heard
footsteps in the hall outside. The door opened. It was Captain Tradmos,
and he was accompanied by a tall, bearded man with a leather case under
his arm.

"You must undergo a medical examination," the captain said smilingly.
"It is our invariable custom, but this is by a special order from the
king."

Johnston shuddered as he looked at the odd-looking instruments the
medical man was taking from the case, but Thorndyke watched his
movements with phlegmatic indifference. He stood erect; threw back his
shoulders; expanded his massive chest and struck it with his clenched
fist in pantomimic boastfulness.

Tradmos smiled genially; but there was something curt and official in
his tone when he next spoke that took the Englishman slightly aback.
"You must bare your breast over your heart and lungs," he said; and
while Thorndyke was unbuttoning his shirt, he and the medical man went
to the door and brought into the room a great golden bell hanging in a
metallic frame.

The bell was so thin and sensitive to the slightest jar or movement
that, although it had been handled with extreme care, the captives could
see that it was vibrating considerably, and the room was filled with a
low metallic sound that not only affected the ear of the hearer but set
every nerve to tingling. The medical man stopped the sound by laying his
hand upon the bell. To a tube in the top of the bell he fastened one end
of a rubber pipe; the other end was finished with a silver device shaped
like the mouth-piece of a speaking tube. This he firmly pressed over the
Englishman's heart. Thorndyke winc