guard. Then the voice resumed: "Do not repeat! Let Macrae now leave you."
Turning to his companion and displacing the receivers, the Professor said, "Will you take your notes of what has passed into your room, please, and write them out for me. Give them to me as soon as they are ready."
A minute later he turned to the mouthpiece. "I am alone," he said.
Danger Impending—Precautions Necessary
In due course the voice resumed: "I must come back to the subject of the threatening danger. We have now every reason to believe that the most careful vigilance is necessary. Although there has been no sign, we believe that the influence of the enemy has now the opportunity to make itself felt. If it is as we fear, Macrae may be prompted to do what he would himself be at a loss to give any intelligent reason for. Watch him constantly!"
"I shall be extremely glad when he is out of the island. That will be in two days," said Professor Rudge. "Meanwhile, every precaution shall be taken."
"Every precaution! You speak the words too lightly, Professor Rudge. I cannot describe to you the anxiety on your behalf that is felt here; and when I say your behalf, I mean all your kind. It is necessary to speak plainly. You are not sufficiently in earnest in this matter. Your whole world is now relying upon you alone. If you only had a fuller grasp of the nature of the beings arrayed against you, compared with whom we are children, it might help you, if indeed it did not paralyse you. I charge you, let there be no unprotected moment. But two days!"
Professor Rudge was profoundly impressed by the solemnity of this warning. He did not know quite how to reply to it. At another time he might have felt some resentment. Knowing the care he was taking, and the anxious time he had been having, he could scarcely admit the justice of the Venerian's words. They did, however, make him realize still more fully the concern and solicitude that obviously inspired them, and so they fulfilled their purpose of heightening his own appreciation of the gravity of the situation.
"I feel sure," he said, "that you know better than I how full the position is of peril. Thank you for the further warning. I promise to use the utmost care of which I am capable. Do you suppose our conversation is being overheard on Mars?"
"We are, comparatively speaking, so near, and that planet at present so far removed, and unfavorably placed, that we do not think it can be. But it is uncertain. We only know that, if the positions were reversed, we should be unable to hear. There is one other thing I must request of you—to come to the instrument at once if Macrae shows any overt sign of the influence we fear. If suspicion becomes converted into certainty, then indeed our line of action must be reconsidered. If there is nothing of this nature to communicate, come to the instrument again to-morrow at the same time; but from now on there will always be some one to answer your call. That is all for the present."
Professor Rudge took off the headpiece and passed his hand over his forehead. For a long time he sat lost in thought. With an air even more worried than on the day before he ultimately rose and left the signal-room. He locked the door, and was in the act of dropping the key in his pocket when Macrae joined him.
"You have finished?"
"Yes, sir; here is the report," said Macrae, adding, "if you have no further need of me today, sir, I should like to lie down. My head aches a little."
"Certainly," said the Professor. "I shall not require you. I hope you will be all right again in the morning."
CHAPTER XI
Danger Imminent
The Professor sat down on the one seat in the little entrance lobby. This had three doors which opened into it; the station entrance, and entrances to the signal-room and to the room which the Professor was occupying. From his seat he therefore commanded all three doors. Sitting here, he attempted to utilize the last rays of daylight in reading over the communication he had that afternoon received, but even before the fading light compelled him, gave it up. He was too worried for mental concentration.
He gave rein to his thoughts. The papers slipped from his fingers to the floor, and lay there unheeded. He recognized that no small part of the trouble that oppressed him was due to the vagueness of its nature. He was acting in obedience to a warning which was in itself as mysterious as the danger indicated. He was warned of an attack, but not informed of its method.
As to preventing Macrae from communicating with Mars, or with any one else, that was simple. The seeming simplicity did not, however, remove the unpleasant sensation of impending danger. If there were but some outward sign he told himself, his nerves would brace themselves to the occasion and he would be easier in his mind. It was like fighting a phantom, or expecting an attack in the dark, but without knowing by what, or from what direction.
After a time Lieutenant Hughes joined the Professor, and they were at the supper-table for a few minutes together. The young man had been puzzling for two days as how this learned scientist had acquired the reputation of being socially of a jovial disposition. His learning was no doubt indisputable, but for the rest, perhaps he had been over-rated. Tonight especially, he seemed taciturnity itself.
Professor Fudge’s Night on Watch in Station X
At a comparatively early hour Professor Rudge retired for the night. The monotony of life at Station X conduced to early hours. His room was really that of Lieutenant Hughes, good-naturedly given up to him during his stay. Professor Rudge left the door open, and drew his little camp bedstead to a point from which he could see the signal-room door. He only partly undressed, and decided to keep awake. There was just sufficient light to see objects indistinctly.
The time passed very slowly. Once, a grim sort of smile without any mirth in it passed over his face, as he compared his present situation with his usual
