www.freeclassicebooks.com

find no safe means for accomplishing both these ends simultaneously was all that

had protected either from his machinations.

The presence of the uncanny creatures of the court of mystery had become

known to the Malay and he used this knowledge as an argument to foment

discord and mutiny in the ignorant and superstitious crew under his command.

By boring a hole in the partition wall separating their campong from the inner

one he had disclosed to the horrified view of his men the fearsome brutes

harbored so close to them. The mate, of course, had no suspicion of the true

origin of these monsters, but his knowledge of the fact that they had not been

upon the island when the Ithaca arrived and that it would have been impossible

for them to have landed and reached the camp without having been seen by

himself or some member of his company, was sufficient evidence to warrant him

in attributing their presence to some supernatural and malignant power.

This explanation the crew embraced willingly, and with it Bududreen's suggestion

that Professor Maxon had power to transform them all into similar atrocities. The

ball once started gained size and momentum as it progressed. The professor's

ofttimes strange expression was attributed to an evil eye, and every ailment

suffered by any member of the crew was blamed upon their employer's Satanic

influence. There was but one escape from the horrors of such a curse--the death

of its author; and when Bududreen discovered that they had reached this point,

and were even discussing the method of procedure, he added all that was needed

to the dangerously smouldering embers of bloody mutiny by explaining that

should anything happen to the white men he would become sole owner of their

belongings, including the heavy chest, and that the reward of each member of the

crew would be generous.

Von Horn was really the only stumbling block in Bududreen's path. With the

natural cowardice of the Malay he feared this masterful American who never

moved without a brace of guns slung about his hips; and it was at just this

psychological moment that the doctor played into the hands of his subordinate,

much to the latter's inward elation.

Von Horn had finally despaired of winning Virginia by peaceful court, and had

about decided to resort to force when he was precipitately confirmed in his

decision by a conversation with the girl's father.

He and the professor were talking in the workshop of the remarkable progress of

Number Thirteen toward a complete mastery of English and the ways and

manners of society, in which von Horn had been assisting his employer to train

the young giant. The breach between the latter and von Horn had been patched

over by Professor Maxon's explanations to Number Thirteen as soon as the young

The Monster Men