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He waited a minute longer, and then sidled out, and when he was heard crunching over the cinders with his barrow-load of boxes, she switched off the current abruptly, and went over to the window to watch him. "Item," she began aloud, when he was quite gone, her eyes staring vacantly down the scintillating rails to where they seemed to meet in one glittering point far away in the desert.
He twisted about, trying to keep his shoulders in a line with the flashing rifles so as to offer the thinnest target. A man in the stern of the dinghy groaned, and slumped down into the bottom. Just then a searchlight leaped into play from the top deck of the ship. Its long ray shot out in a trembling cone through the darkness. It switched here and there with appalling swiftness.
Miss Blackburne let her hostess lead the way. "There's a drama here, all right!" she told herself. "Has it anything to do with the pearls? But I shall know soon, I bet!" The Vision opened the door of a charming room. The light was already switched on, and the new-comer noticed that a door stood wide open between the boudoir and the bedroom, which, also, was lighted.
That's why we're giddy and why we have even a trace of weight. Centrifugal force! Ready for the current?" There was a tiny click, and the battery light dimmed. But a vision screen lighted faintly. The stars it showed were moving specks of light. The sun passed deliberately across the screen. Baird switched to other outside scanners. There was power for only one screen at a time.
"Bless my soul! What's that?" cried Mr. Damon, springing from his berth. "Something has happened!" added Tom, as he reached out and switched on the electric lights. "We hit something!" declared Ned. The ship was now almost stopped and she was rolling from side to side. Up on deck could be heard confused shouts and the running to and fro of many feet.
There were figures at the gate ... on guard! "I wonder if that little red-haired man's still there," he thought. "Poor devils! Some of them must feel damned queer to-night!..." He closed the shutters, and switched the light on, and then, when he had undressed he darkened the room again. "I must have some air," he said, opening the shutters. He climbed into bed.
He asked me yesterday and to-day he had a contract for me and a cheque in advance. He is a very horrid little man but so decent!" "When does it begin?" "The engagement? Next week. What plans have you?" "A few that have been made for me. Presently we sail." "For France?" "For France." It was cooler now, at least her face was, and she got up and switched the light.
She switched on the electric light and left Lupin alone. "It's here," he reflected, as he took a seat, "it's here that the crystal stopper?byes?... Unless Daubrecq always keeps it by him... But no, when people have a good hiding-place, they make use of it. And this is a capital one; for none of us... so far..."
"Drink this," he said, and I swallowed it obediently. It had a pungent, unpleasant taste, but I could feel it running through my veins, and it cleared my mind and steadied my nerves as though by magic. I sat up and looked at the crystal. The other lights in the room had been switched on, and the sphere lay cold and lifeless.
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