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His heart went out in pity toward the miserable crew, but he knew that his life as

well as those of the two men in the adjoining room depended upon the force and

skill with which he might handle the grave crisis which confronted them. He had

seen and talked with most of the creatures when from time to time they had been

brought singly into the workshop that their creator might mitigate the wrong he

had done by training the poor minds with which he had endowed them to reason

intelligently.

A few were hopeless imbeciles, unable to comprehend more than the rudimentary

requirements of filling their bellies when food was placed before them; yet even

these were endowed with superhuman strength; and when aroused battled the

more fiercely for the very reason of their brainlessness. Others, like Number

Twelve, were of a higher order of intelligence. They spoke English, and, after a

fashion, reasoned in a crude sort of way. These were by far the most dangerous,

for as the power of comparison is the fundamental principle of reasoning, so they

were able to compare their lot with that of the few other men they had seen, and

with the help of von Horn to partially appreciate the horrible wrong that had been

done them.

Von Horn, too, had let them know the identity of their creator, and thus

implanted in their malformed brains the insidious poison of revenge. Envy and

jealousy were there as well, and hatred of all beings other than themselves. They

envied the ease and comparative beauty of the old professor and his assistant,

and hated the latter for the cruelty of the bull whip and the constant menace of

the ever ready revolver; and so as they were to them the representatives of the

great human world of which they could never be a part, their envy and jealousy

and hatred of these men embraced the entire race which they represented.

It was such that Number Thirteen faced as he emerged from the professor's

apartment.

What do you want here?" he said, addressing Number Twelve, who stood a little

in advance of the others.

We have come for Maxon," growled the creature. "We have been penned up long

enough. We want to be out here. We have come to kill Maxon and you and all

who have made us what we are."

"Why do you wish to kill me?" asked the young man. "I am one of you. I was

made in the same way that you were made."

Number Twelve opened his mismated eyes in astonishment.

Then you have already killed Maxon?" he asked.

The Monster Men