tanicals were gliding towards me and once in their invisible grip.... I threw up my hand; the gun spoke with a roar; I hear a tinkling crash as of glass, and the same instant vaulted into the seat of the time machine.
It was a close thing, I can tell you, a mighty close thing. They came for me with a rush. The high sides of the passenger-seat protected me for a moment from their deadly touch, but I felt the time machine sway under it, tilt over. In that split second before my hand closed on the lever I saw it all, the rushing Mentanicals, the shattered glass, Bane Borgson sinking into the apathy of death, his great head lolling; the I pulled the lever, pulled it back to Zero!
III
Captain Bronson stood up. He looked at us bleakly. "You know the rest. The time machine has been moved. In coming back a portion of it must have materialized inside of a solid—the old stone wall—and caused an explosion. But what I want to know—what has been bothering me at times—did I do right to shoot Bane Borgson? I might have escaped without that."
"He wanted to die," said the Doctor at length.
Olson Smith inclined his head. "I don't see what else you could have done."
"To have left him there," I said. "to a life in death, after all those years, no, no, that would have been too horrible!"
Bronson drew a deep breath. "That was my own thought; but I am glad you agree...."
He poured himself a drink.
"If I hadn't seen you disappear with my own eyes," said the Doctor. "I don't blame you," said Bronson; "the whole thing sonds like a pipe-dream."
"A pipe-dream," I murmured.
"But there is another angle to it," said Bronson grimly. "What Bane Borgson said about the time-radio influencing the building of the time machine and compelling my coming. Oh, he may have been raving, poor devil, or mistaken, but remember what the Professor said that night at the dinner, about something whispering in his brain? We'll have to guard against that."
The Doctor said sadly: "Nothing'll whisper to the Professor anymore, Captain."
"What do you mean?"
"I forgot that we'd kept it from you."
"Kept what?"
"The news of the accident. On that night you took your trip into the future, the time machine struck Professor Stringer on the head"
"He is dead?"
79
