Part 2 (1/2)

Thrilled to the core, not having the faintest idea what it was they were about to see, but convinced that it must surely be of stupendous import, the two stared unwinkingly at the furious hound. Matt was staring, too; but his glance was almost casual, and was concentrated more on the gla.s.s of the bell than on the experimental object.

The reason for the direction of his gaze almost immediately became apparent. And as the reason was disclosed, Dennis and Jim exclaimed aloud in disappointment--at the same time, so intense was their nameless suspense, not knowing they had opened their mouths. It appeared that for yet a little while they were to remain in ignorance of the precise meaning of the experiment.

The gla.s.s of the bell was clouding. A swirling, milky vapor, not unlike fog, was filling the bell from top to bottom.

The dog, rapidly being hidden from sight by the gathering mist, suddenly stopped its antics and stood still in the center of the bell as though overcome by surprise and indecision. Motionless, staring vacantly, it stood there for an instant--then was concealed completely by the rolling vapor.

But just before it disappeared, Jim turned to Denny in astonishment, to see if Denny had observed what he had; namely, that the fog seemed not to be gathering from the air penned up in the bell, but in some strange and rather awful way to be exuding _from the body of the dog itself_!

The two stared back at the bell again, neither one sure he had been right in his impression. But now the gla.s.s was entirely opaque. So thick was the vapor within that it seemed on the point of turning to a liquid.

Inside, swathed in the secrecy of the fleecy folds of mist--what was happening to the dog? The two men could only guess.

Matt glanced up at an electric clock with an oversized second hand. His fingers moved nervously on the switch, then threw it to cut contact. The dynamo keened its dying note. A silence so tense that it hurt filled the great laboratory.

All eyes were glued on the bell.

The thick vapor that had been swirling and crowding as if to force itself through the gla.s.s, grew less restive in motion. Then it began to rise, ever more slowly, toward the top.

More and more compactly it packed itself into the arched gla.s.s dome, the top layers finally resembling nothing so much as cloudy beef gelatin.

And now these top layers were solidifying, clinging to the gla.s.s.

Meanwhile, the bottom line of the vapor was slowly rising, an inch at a time, like a s.h.i.+mmering curtain being raised from a stage floor. At last ten inches showed between the pedestal and the swaying bottom of the almost liquid vapor. Jim and Denny stooped to peer under the blanket of cloud. The dog! In what way had it been affected?

Again they exclaimed aloud, involuntarily, unconsciously.

There was no dog to be seen.

With about fourteen clear inches now exposed, they looked a second time, more intently. But their first glance had been right. The dog was gone from the bell. Utterly and completely vanished! Or so, at least, they thought at the moment.

The rising and solidifying process of the vapor went on, while Dennis and Jim stood, almost incapable of movement, and watched to see what Breen was going to do next.

His next move came in about four minutes, when the crowding vapor had at last completely come to rest at the top of the dome like a deposit of opaque jelly. He stepped to the windla.s.s that raised the bell, and turned the handle.

Immediately the two watchers strode impulsively toward the exposed pedestal floor.

”Wait a minute,” commanded the scientist, his eyes sparkling with almost ferocious intensity. The two stopped. ”You might step on it,” he added, amazingly.

He caught up a common gla.s.s water tumbler, and cautiously moved to the edge of the platform. ”It may be dead, of course,” he muttered. ”But I might as well be prepared.”

Wonderingly, Jim and Dennis saw that he was intently searching every square inch of the pedestal flooring. Then they saw him crawl, like a stalking cat, toward a portion near the center--saw him clap the tumbler, upside down, over some unseen thing....

”Got him!” came Matt's deep, fuzzy voice. ”And he isn't dead, either.

Not by a long way! Now we'll get a magnifying gla.s.s and study him.”