Kennedy was standing in deep thought, while I sat on an old box,
smoking a cigarette--very miserable.
. . . . . . . .
Was this to be the sole outcome of Kennedy's clever ruse, I was
wondering. Were we only to be shipwrecked in sight of port?
Watching his chance, when the street was deserted, the Clutching
Hand and his followers had hustled us over to the new hangout
across from the laboratory. There they had met more crooks and had
thrust us into this vile hole. As the various ineffectual schemes
for escape surged through my head, I happened to look up and
caught a glance of horror on Craig's face. I followed his eyes.
There, above us, was Elaine!
I saw her look from us to the Clutching Hand in terror. But none
of us uttered a word.
"I will now show you, my dear young lady," almost hissed the
Clutching Hand at length, "as pretty a game of hide and seek as
you have ever seen."
As he said it, another trap door near the infra-red ray machine
was opened and a beam of light burst through. I knew it was not
that which we had to fear, but the invisible rays that accompanied
it, the rays that had affected the bolometer.
Just then a spot of light showed near my foot, moving about the
cement floor until it fell on my shoe. Instantly, the leather
charred, even before I could move.
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