XVI THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT
XVII DRAWING THE NET
XVIII CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDED
XIX PERCY KEEPS VIGIL
XX THE PLAGUE OF COLD
XXI IN THE FACE OF ETERNITY
XXII THE MAN NEXT DOOR
XXIII HOW IT ALL WAS
XXIV WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARD




CHAPTER I


THE OWNER OF NEW YORK

Percy Darrow, a young man of scientific training, indolent manners,
effeminate appearance, hidden energy, and absolute courage, lounged
through the doors of the Atlas Building. Since his rescue from the
volcanic island that had witnessed the piratical murder of his old
employer, Doctor Schermerhorn, the spectacular dissolution of the
murderers, and his own imprisonment in a cave beneath the very roar of an
eruption, he had been nursing his shattered nerves back to their normal
strength. Now he felt that at last he was able to go to work again.
Therefore, he was about to approach a man of influence among practical
scientists, from whom he hoped further occupation.

As the express elevator shot upward, he passed a long slender hand across