Then she
realized for the first time that she had fallen into the hands of the
emissaries of the Automaton. Had Balcom planned it, or had that
mechanical monster taken advantage of what Balcom had ordered?
In the mean time, the other thugs, with Flint between them, made off
hurriedly. With a last push that almost threw Zita to the ground, the
last of them dashed into the shrubbery, and for several moments Zita
dazedly stood there as he crashed through the underbrush, making good
the escape and capture. Then she turned and ran back to Brent Rock.
Locke, in the mean time, had arrived at the laboratory of his old friend
Hadwell, the chemist, where he was warmly welcomed.
It was the usual dusty workshop of one devoted to one
idea--science--with no touches of comfort. Hadwell fairly lived amid
retorts, Bunsen burners, and reagents.
He was a man of profound research, rather than the commercial chemist,
and it was from him that Locke, in earlier days, had learned many
lessons so well that now his career was watched with interest by many
distinguished men of science.
Hadwell was delighted at the chance to examine the strange scrapings of
wax which Locke had dug out of the sockets of the candlestick, the more
so as they must contain some mysterious poison.
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