As he dropped the last grisly fragment of thedismembered and mutilated body into the small vat ofnitric acid that was to devour every trace of thehorrid evidence which might easily send him to thegallows, the man sank weakly into a chair and throwinghis body forward upon his great, teak desk buried hisface in his arms, breaking into dry, moaning sobs.

Beads of perspiration followed the seams of his high,wrinkled forehead, replacing the tears which might havelessened the pressure upon his overwrought nerves. Hisslender frame shook, as with ague, and at times wasracked by a convulsive shudder. A sudden step upon thestairway leading to his workshop brought him tremblingand wide eyed to his feet, staring fearfully at thelocked and bolted door.

Although he knew perfectly well whose the advancingfootfalls were, he was all but overcome by the madnessof apprehension as they came softly nearer and nearerto the barred door. At last they halted before it, tobe followed by a gentle knock.

"Daddy!" came the sweet tones of a girl's voice.

The man made an effort to take a firm grasp uponhimself that no tell-tale evidence of his emotion mightbe betrayed in his speech.

"Daddy!" called the girl again, a trace of anxiety inher voice this time. "What IS the matter with you,and what ARE you doing? You've been shut up inthat hateful old room for three days now without amorsel to eat, and in all likelihood without a wink ofsleep. You'll kill yourself with your stuffy old experiments."

The man's face softened.

"Don't worry about me, sweetheart," he replied in awell controlled voice. "I'll soon be through now--soonbe through--and then we'll go away for a long vacation--for a long vacation."

"I'll give you until noon, Daddy," said the girl in avoice which carried a more strongly defined tone ofauthority than her father's soft drawl, "and then Ishall come into that room, if I have to use an axe, andbring you out--do you understand?"

Professor Maxon smiled wanly. He knew that hisdaughter was equal to her threat.

"All right, sweetheart, I'll be through by noon forsure--by noon for sure. Run along and play now, like agood little girl."

Virginia Maxon shrugged her shapely shoulders and shookher head hopelessly at the forbidding panels of the door.

"My dolls are all dressed for the day," she cried,"and I'm tired of making mud pies--I want you to come outand play with me." But Professor Maxon did not reply--he had returned to view his grim operations, and thehideousness of them had closed his ears to the sweettones of the girl's voice.

As she turned to retrace her steps to the floor belowMiss Maxon still shook her head.

"Poor old Daddy," she mused, "were I a thousand yearsold, wrinkled and toothless, he would still look uponme as his baby girl."

If you chance to be an alumnus of Cornell you mayrecall Professor Arthur Maxon, a quiet, slender,white-haired gentleman, who for several years was anassistant professor in one of the departments ofnatural science. Wealthy by inheritance, he had chosenthe field of education for his life work solely from adesire to be of some material benefit to mankind sincethe meager salary which accompanied his professorshipwas not of sufficient import to influence him in theslightest degree.

Always keenly interested in biology, his almostunlimited means had permitted him to undertake, insecret, a series of daring experiments which hadcarried him so far in advance of the biologists of hisday that he had, while others were still gropingblindly for the secret of life, actually reproduced bychemical means the great phenomenon.

Fully alive to the gravity and responsibilities of hismarvellous discovery he had kept the results of hisexperimentation, and even the experiments themselves, aprofound secret not only from his colleagues, but fromhis only daughter, who heretofore had shared his everyhope and aspiration.

It was the very success of his last and mostpretentious effort that had placed him in thehorrifying predicament in which he now found himself--with the corpse of what was apparently a human being in hisworkshop and no available explanation that could possiblybe acceptable to a matter-of-fact and unscientific police.

Had he told them the truth they would have laughed athim. Had he said: "This is not a human being that yousee, but the remains of a chemically producedcounterfeit created in my own laboratory," they wouldhave smiled, and either hanged him or put him away withthe other criminally insane.

This phase of the many possibilities which he hadrealized might be contingent upon even the partialsuccess of his work alone had escaped hisconsideration, so that the first wave of triumphantexultation with which he had viewed the finished resultof this last experiment had been succeeded byoverwhelming consternation as he saw the thing which hehad created gasp once or twice with the feeble spark oflife with which he had endowed it, and expire--leavingupon his hands the corpse of what was, to all intentand purpose, a human being, albeit a most grotesque andmisshapen thing.

Until nearly noon Professor Maxon was occupied inremoving the remaining stains and evidences of hisgruesome work, but when he at last turned the key inthe door of his workshop it was to leave behind no singletrace of the successful result of his years of labor.

The following afternoon found him and Virginia crossingthe station platform to board the express for New York.So quietly had their plans been made that not a friendwas at the train to bid them farewell--the scientistfelt that he could not bear the strain of attemptingexplanations at this time.

But there were those there who recognized them, and oneespecially who noted the lithe, trim figure andbeautiful face of Virginia Maxon though he did not knoweven the name of their possessor. It was a tall wellbuilt young man who nudged one of his younger companionsas the girl crossed the platform to enter her Pullman.

"I say, Dexter," he exclaimed, "who is that beauty?"

The one addressed turned in the direction indicated byhis friend.

"By jove!" he exclaimed. "Why it's Virginia Maxon andthe professor, her father. Now where do you supposethey're going?"

"I don't know--now," replied the first speaker,Townsend J. Harper, Jr., in a half whisper,"but I'll bet you a new car that I find out."

A week later, with failing health and shattered nerves,Professor Maxon sailed with his daughter for a longocean voyage, which he hoped would aid him in rapidrecuperation, and permit him to forget the nightmare memoryof those three horrible days and nights in his workshop.

He believed that he had reached an unalterable decisionnever again to meddle with the mighty, awe inspiringsecrets of creation; but with returning health andbalance he found himself viewing his recent triumphwith feelings of renewed hope and anticipation.

The morbid fears superinduced by the shock followingthe sudden demise of the first creature of hisexperiments had given place to a growing desire tofurther prosecute his labors until enduring success hadcrowned his efforts with an achievement which he mightexhibit with pride to the scientific world.

His recent disastrous success had convinced him thatneither Ithaca nor any other abode of civilization wasa safe place to continue his experiments, but it wasnot until their cruising had brought them among themultitudinous islands of the East Indies that the planoccurred to him that he finally adopted--a plan theoutcome of which could he then have foreseen would havesent him scurrying to the safety of his own countrywith the daughter who was to bear the full brunt of thehorrors it entailed.

They were steaming up the China Sea when the idea firstsuggested itself, and as he sat idly during the long,hot days the thought grew upon him, expanding into athousand wonderful possibilities, until it becamecrystalized into what was a little short of an obsession.

The result was that at Manila, much to Virginia'ssurprise, he announced the abandonment of the balanceof their purposed voyage, taking immediate returnpassage to Singapore. His daughter did not questionhim as to the cause of this change in plans, for sincethose three days that her father had kept himselflocked in his workroom at home the girl had noticed asubtle change in her parent--a marked disinclination toshare with her his every confidence as had been hiscustom since the death of her mother.

While it grieved her immeasurably she was both tooproud and too hurt to sue for a reestablishment of theold relations. On all other topics than his scientificwork their interests were as mutual as formerly, but bywhat seemed a manner of tacit agreement this subjectwas taboo. And so it was that they came to Singaporewithout the girl having the slightest conception of herfather's plans.

Here they spent nearly a month, during which timeProfessor Maxon was daily engaged in interviewingofficials, English residents and a motley horde ofMalays and Chinamen.

Virginia met socially several of the men with whom herfather was engaged but it was only at the last momentthat one of them let drop a hint of the purpose of themonth's activity. When Virginia was present theconversation seemed always deftly guided from thesubject of her father's immediate future, and she wasnot long in discerning that it was in no sense throughaccident that this was true. Thereafter her woundedpride made easy the task of those who seemed combinedto keep her in ignorance.

It was a Dr. von Horn, who had been oftenest withher father, who gave her the first intimation ofwhat was forthcoming. Afterward, in recollectingthe conversation, it seemed to Virginia that the young manhad been directed to break the news to her, that herfather might be spared the ordeal. It was evident thenthat he expected opposition, but the girl was too loyalto let von Horn know if she felt other than in harmonywith the proposal, and too proud to evince by surprisethe fact that she was not wholly conversant with itsevery detail.

"You are glad to be leaving Singapore so soon?" he hadasked, although he knew that she had not been advisedthat an early departure was planned.

"I am rather looking forward to it," replied Virginia.

"And to a protracted residence on one of the Pamarung Islands?"continued von Horn.

"Why not?" was her rather non-committal reply, thoughshe had not the remotest idea of their location.

Von Horn admired her nerve though he rather wished thatshe would ask some questions--it was difficult makingprogress in this way. How could he explain the planswhen she evinced not the slightest sign that she wasnot already entirely conversant with them?

"We doubt if the work will be completed under two orthree years," answered the doctor. "That will be along time in which to be isolated upon a savage littlespeck of land off the larger but no less savage Borneo.Do you think that your bravery is equal to the demandsthat will be made upon it?"

Virginia laughed, nor was there the slightest tremor in its note.

"I am equal to whatever fate my father is equal to,"she said, "nor do I think that a life upon one of thesebeautiful little islands would be much of a hardship--certainly not if it will help to promote the success ofhis scientific experiments."

She used the last words on a chance that she might havehit upon the true reason for the contemplated isolationfrom civilization. They had served their purpose tooin deceiving von Horn who was now half convinced thatProfessor Maxon must have divulged more of their plansto his daughter than he had led the medical man tobelieve. Perceiving her advantage from the expressionon the young man's face, Virginia followed it up in anendeavor to elicit the details.

The result of her effort was the knowledge that on thesecond day they were to sail for the Pamarung Islandsupon a small schooner which her father had purchased,with a crew of Malays and lascars, and von Horn, whohad served in the American navy, in command. Theprecise point of destination was still undecided--theplan being to search out a suitable location upon oneof the many little islets which dot the western shoreof the Macassar Strait.

Of the many men Virginia had met during the month atSingapore von Horn had been by far the most interestingand companionable. Such time as he could find from themany duties which had devolved upon him in the matterof obtaining and outfitting the schooner, and signingher two mates and crew of fifteen, had been spent withhis employer's daughter.

The girl was rather glad that he was to be a member oftheir little company, for she had found him a muchtravelled man and an interesting talker with none ofthe, to her, disgusting artificialities of theprofessional ladies' man. He talked to her as he mighthave talked to a man, of the things that interestintelligent people regardless of sex.

There was never any suggestion of familiarity in hismanner; nor in his choice of topics did he ever ignorethe fact that she was a young girl. She had feltentirely at ease in his society from the first eveningthat she had met him, and their acquaintance had grownto a very sensible friendship by the time of thedeparture of the Ithaca--the rechristened schoonerwhich was to carry them away to an unguessed fate.

The voyage from Singapore to the Islands was withoutincident. Virginia took a keen delight in watching theMalays and lascars at their work, telling von Horn thatshe had to draw upon her imagination but little topicture herself a captive upon a pirate ship--the halfnaked men, the gaudy headdress, the earrings, and thefierce countenances of many of the crew furnishing onlytoo realistically the necessary savage setting.

A week spent among the Pamarung Islands disclosed nosuitable site for the professor's camp, nor was ituntil they had cruised up the coast several miles northof the equator and Cape Santang that they found a tinyisland a few miles off the coast opposite the mouth ofa small river--an island which fulfilled in everydetail their requirements.

It was uninhabited, fertile and possessed a clear,sweet brook which had its source in a cold spring inthe higher land at the island's center. Here it wasthat the Ithaca came to anchor in a little harbor,while her crew under von Horn, and the Malay firstmate, Bududreen, accompanied Professor Maxon in searchof a suitable location for a permanent camp.

The cook, a harmless old Chinaman, and Virginia wereleft in sole possession of the Ithaca.

Two hours after the departure of the men into thejungle Virginia heard the fall of axes on timber andknew that the site of her future home had been chosenand the work of clearing begun. She sat musing on thestrange freak which had prompted her father to burythem in this savage corner of the globe; and as shepondered there came a wistful expression to her eyes,and an unwonted sadness drooped the corners of her mouth.

Of a sudden she realized how wide had become the gulfbetween them now. So imperceptibly had it grown sincethose three horrid days in Ithaca just prior to theirdeparture for what was to have been but a few months'cruise that she had not until now comprehended that theold relations of open, good-fellowship had gone,possibly forever.

Had she needed proof of the truth of her sad discoveryit had been enough to point to the single fact that herfather had brought her here to this little islandwithout making the slightest attempt to explain thenature of his expedition. She had gleaned enough fromvon Horn to understand that some important scientificexperiments were to be undertaken; but what theirnature she could not imagine, for she had not theslightest conception of the success that had crownedher father's last experiment at Ithaca, although shehad for years known of his keen interest in the subject.

The girl became aware also of other subtle changes inher father. He had long since ceased to be the jovial,carefree companion who had shared with her her everygirlish joy and sorrow and in whom she had confidedboth the trivial and momentous secrets of herchildhood. He had become not exactly morose, butrather moody and absorbed, so that she had of latenever found an opportunity for the cozy chats that hadformerly meant so much to them both. There had beentoo, recently, a strange lack of consideration forherself that had wounded her more than she hadimagined. Today there had been a glaring example of itin his having left her alone upon the boat without asingle European companion--something that he wouldnever have thought of doing a few months before.

As she sat speculating on the strange change which hadcome over her father her eyes had wandered aimlesslyalong the harbor's entrance; the low reef thatprotected it from the sea, and the point of land to thesouth, that projected far out into the strait like agigantic index finger pointing toward the mainland,the foliage covered heights of which were just visibleabove the western horizon.

Presently her attention was arrested by a tossing speckfar out upon the rolling bosom of the strait. For sometime the girl watched the object until at length itresolved itself into a boat moving head on toward theisland. Later she saw that it was long and low,propelled by a single sail and many oars, and that itcarried quite a company.

Thinking it but a native trading boat, so many of whichply the southern seas, Virginia viewed its approachwith but idle curiosity. When it had come to withinhalf a mile of the anchorage of the Ithaca, and wasabout to enter the mouth of the harbor Sing Lee's eyeschanced to fall upon it. On the instant the oldChinaman was electrified into sudden and astoundingaction.

"Klick! Klick!" he cried, running toward Virginia."Go b'low, klick."

"Why should I go below, Sing?" queried the girl, amazedby the demeanor of the cook.

"Klick! Klick!" he urged grasping her by the arm--halfleading, half dragging her toward the companion-way."Plilates! Mlalay plilates--Dyak plilates."

"Pirates!" gasped Virginia. "Oh Sing, what can we do?"

"You go b'low. Mebbyso Sing flighten 'em. Shootcannon. Bling help. Maxon come klick. Bling men.Chase'm 'way," explained the Chinaman. "But plilatessee 'em pletty white girl," he shrugged his shouldersand shook his head dubiously, "then old Sing no canflighten 'em 'way."

The girl shuddered, and crouching close behind Singhurried below. A moment later she heard the boom ofthe old brass six pounder which for many years hadgraced the Ithaca's stern. In the bow Professor Maxonhad mounted a modern machine gun, but this was quitebeyond Sing's simple gunnery. The Chinaman had nottaken the time to sight the ancient weapon carefully,but a gleeful smile lit his wrinkled, yellow face as hesaw the splash of the ball where it struck the wateralmost at the side of the prahu.

Sing realized that the boat might contain friendly natives,but he had cruised these waters too many years to take chances.Better kill a hundred friends, he thought, than be capturedby a single pirate.

At the shot the prahu slowed up, and a volley ofmusketry from her crew satisfied Sing that he had madeno mistake in classifying her. Her fire fell short asdid the ball from the small cannon mounted in her bow.

Virginia was watching the prahu from one of the cabinports. She saw the momentary hesitation and confusionwhich followed Sing's first shot, and then to herdismay she saw the rowers bend to their oars again andthe prahu move swiftly in the direction of the Ithaca.

It was apparent that the pirates had perceived thealmost defenseless condition of the schooner. In a fewminutes they would be swarming the deck, for poor oldSing would be entirely helpless to repel them. If Dr.von Horn were only there, thought the distracted girl.With the machine gun alone he might keep them off.

At the thought of the machine gun a sudden resolvegripped her. Why not man it herself? Von Horn hadexplained its mechanism to her in detail, and on oneoccasion had allowed her to operate it on the voyagefrom Singapore. With the thought came action. Runningto the magazine she snatched up a feed-belt, and inanother moment was on deck beside the astonished Sing.

The pirates were skimming rapidly across the smoothwaters of the harbor, answering Sing's harmless shotswith yells of derision and wild, savage war cries.There were, perhaps, fifty Dyaks and Malays--fierce,barbaric men; mostly naked to the waist, or with war-coats of brilliant colors. The savage headdress of theDyaks, the long, narrow, decorated shields, theflashing blades of parang and kris sent a shudderthrough the girl, so close they seemed beneath theschooner's side.

"What do? What do?" cried Sing in consternation."Go b'low. Klick!" But before he had finished hisexhortation Virginia was racing toward the bow wherethe machine gun was mounted. Tearing the cover from itshe swung the muzzle toward the pirate prahu, which bynow was nearly within range above the vessel's side--a moment more and she would be too close to use theweapon upon the pirates.

Virginia was quick to perceive the necessity for haste,while the pirates at the same instant realized themenace of the new danger which confronted them. Ascore of muskets belched forth their missiles at thefearless girl behind the scant shield of the machinegun. Leaden pellets rained heavily upon herprotection, or whizzed threateningly about her head--and then she got the gun into action.

At the rate of fifty a minute, a stream of projectilestore into the bow of the prahu when suddenly a richlygarbed Malay in the stern rose to his feet waving awhite cloth upon the point of his kris. It was theRajah Muda Saffir--he had seen the girl's face and atthe sight of it the blood lust in his breast had beensupplanted by another.

At sight of the emblem of peace Virginia ceased firing.She saw the tall Malay issue a few commands, theoarsmen bent to their work, the prahu came about,making off toward the harbor's entrance. At the samemoment there was a shot from the shore followed by loudyelling, and the girl turned to see her father and vonHorn pulling rapidly toward the Ithaca.