THE chief of police was having an unpleasant time. His face was flushed and he was frowning under the questioning of the Citizens' Committee. Benson, the chairman, was his most insistent tormenter.

"What do you expect us to do, Mr. Benson? We even borrowed men from the New' York Department. If they can't find out anything, it proves that it ain't our fault, don't it?"

Benson shook his head. "We're tired of alibis, Hennessy. Ten or twelve men disappeared again last week. If you can't find out what': back of it all, we'll have to get someone who can."

While the chief paused to think up the most effective reply there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he growled.

A plainclothes man thrust his head into the room. "Say, Chief, there's a guy outside claims he just seen a man carried off by a big bug or something. I guess he's nuts, but I thought mebbe you'd want to see him. Says his name's Henry Todd."

"Lock him up," ordered Hennessy impatiently. "I got no time for nuts or drunks tonight."

"Wait a minute, Chief," interrupted Benson. "I know Todd. Better bring him in and let's bear what he has to say."

Hennessy looked his disgust. "Saw a man carried off by a big bug, did he?, That's the craziest story yet. All right, Mr. Benson, anything to oblige. Bring the guy in, Dugan."

A minute later a white-faced little man evidently badly frightened, entered the room followed by a group of reporters.

"You can't come in here," growled the chief to the reporters. "We'll let you know later what We got to give out."

"Better let us stay, Chief," said one of them. "We've got this guy's story already and it's a wow!"

"I don't see any objection to the reporters being here," said Benson.

People are always disappearing and never being heard of again. Sometimes one of these disappearances gets in the newspapers, but usually not. A man grows tired of the monotony of life and wanders off to start a new and more exciting life elsewhere. Women disappear for much the same reason. Most of these cases are reported to the police who as a rule pay little attention to them. They are pigeonholed for reference in case a body is discovered floating in the river.

However, ten persons disappearing from a small town in one week was a different matter. South Orange is a fairly aristocratic suburb of New York and many of the inhabitants are well-known people. It is true that three of the missing were servants, but the other seven were the kind of persons who are regarded as important. One wan a bank president, two were manufacturers and one a Wall Street broker. The remaining three were men who had retired from business with comfortable incomes.

It seemed unlikely that these ten persons should drop out of sight voluntarily. Sinister rumors began to circulate. At first an effort was made to keep the matter from the newspapers. A private detective agency was called in and its operatives could be turn. The three servants had been sent on errands. The detectives who disappeared had been on night duty. One difficulty about the kidnapping theory was that so far as was known, there had been no outcry or struggle in connection with any of the disappearances. It seen day and night gumshoeing through the Oranges. Then at the end of another week it was found that five of the private detectives had disappeared as well as several more of the residents of the town.

That Sunday the New York Mirror published a sensational account of the disappearances. It suggested that an organized blackmail and murder gang was at work in the vicinity of New York, and gave a list of the men who had dropped out of sight.

This first article blew off the lid. The other newspapers followed with sensational write-ups. Most of them dwelt on the blackmail—murder gang theory. The Times was the first to suggest that there might be something even more serious at the bottom of the mystery.

ALL the men had disappeared at night. Some of them had started from the railroad station to their homes and never arrived. One had left his house about nine o'clock to go a few blocks to a drug store. He never reached the store. Two had stepped out of their houses for a moment into the surrounding grounds. They did not return. The three servants has been sent on errands. The detectives had been on night duty.

One difficulty about the kidnapping theory was that so far as was known, there had been no outcry or struggle in connection with any of the disappearances. It seemed hardly possible that a considerable number of men had been carried off against their wills without at least one of them putting up enough of a fight to attract attention.

Two or three servant girls were badly frightened by things they claimed to have seen. However, their stories were so fantastic that no attention was paid to them until Henry Todd told his experience.

Todd was bookkeeper for a New York commission house and had no more imagination than a cigar store Indian. He was married and had never taken a drink in his life. It happened that Benson was the only man at the police station that night who knew him personally. When he could not tell a coherent story because of fear and excitement, Benson took him in hand and quietly questioning him, brought out the facts.

Todd had been on the way from the railway station to his home in company with a neighbor Jamm Lewis who commuted on the same train with him from New York. The streets of South Orange are bordered by estates of considerable size with the houses set well back from the road. There are many places deeply shadowed by trees. Todd stopped for a moment to light his pipe and Lewis got a few feet ahead. Todd was sure there was no unusual sound, but something caused him to look up. He saw Lewis in the grasp of a monster which he had difficulty describing.

"It was dark there under the trees," he explained, "but it looked like a big worm with a hundred legs, like a caterpillar."

"What was it doing to Lewis?" asked Benson.

"It seemed to be holding him with its front legs. It was sort of standing up the way a caterpillar does, ii you know what I mean."

"How big was it?"

Todd frowned in perplexity. "I know it couldn't have been as big as it looked there in the dark, Mr. Benson. I don't know what to say."

"Well, how big did it look to you?"

Todd considered the question for a moment. "It held Lewis up pretty near as high as the lower branches of the trees and there was a lot of it on the ground. I long. Its body was at least three feet thick through, he-sides the legs on each side."

"Did it see you?"

"I don't know. I was so surprised and everything happened so quick——"

"What happened? Did it start after you?"

Todd shook his head as he tried to remember. "I guess it didn't pay any attention to me. It went through the hedge of the Albertson place and I came running here."

"What about Lewis? Did he make any effort to get away?"

"He looked dead to me. He never moved or made a sound."

Hennessey had been regarding Todd with increasing disfavor. "Say, Mr. Benson, this guy's either drunk or crazy. You ain't going to swallow any fairy story like that, are you?"

Todd was still too frightened to he indignant. He looked helplessly from the chief to Benson. "I never took a drink in my life and I'm not crazy," he asserted with quiet dignity. "You know that, don't you Benson?"

"Yes, I know it," said Benson, "and I believe your story."

Benson was an important man in that meeting and represented even more important men. Hennessey became less truculent.

"If you know him personally, Mr. Benson, of course that's different."

"One of the Things!"

FIFTEEN minutes later a group of men started from police headquarters with Todd leading the way. All were armed with revolvers or automatics and two of them carried Thompson machine guns.

Presently Todd paused at a dark, tree-shadowed stretch of road. "This is where it happened."

Flashlights revealed nothing suspicious. "Where were you standing when you saw the worm?" asked Ben-son.

Todd walked over to a tree. "I stood right here so I could light my pipe. It's died down now, but there was quite a wind blowing."

"Now show us where the worm was." Todd advanced gingerly to a spot near a hedge about twenty feet ahead. "It was right about here. Its head was waving around in the air when I saw it and it was holding Lewis with its front legs."

"Where did it go?"

Todd pointed to the grounds of a considerable estate. "It went through that hedge there."

"You didn't try to do nothing when you saw it carrying this guy away?" interrupted Hennessy.

"What could I do!" asked Todd sullenly. "I didn't even have a pen knife."

Hennessy examined the hedge. "There's a hole here all right," he acknowledged. "It's big enough for a cow to go through. Come along, you fellows."

"Hold on there a minute, Chief," said Benson.

"What's the matter?" demanded Hennessy. "Not getting cold feet, are you?"

"Don't you smell a strong animal odor around here?"

Hennessy sniffed. "Smells like a skunk," he said. "What about it?"

"It doesn't smell like a skunk to me," said Benson.

"It was strong enough to knock you down when I was here before," Todd volunteered.

"You noticed it then, did you?"

"It was when I was lighting my pipe. I got a whiff of it and I guess that's what made me look up to see where it was coming from."

"Mebbe the smell frightened you and made you run away," suggested Hennessy sarcastically.

Todd flushed. "I know it sounds rotten, but I think that smell had something to do with it. It made me sort of dizzy. I guess I lost my head."

"Lucky for you you did," said Benson. "You couldn't have done anything for Lewis and if you hadn't run away there'd have been two disappearances instead of one."

"You figuring the smell knocks 'em out?" asked Hennessy.

"Maybe. If it does, it explains why no one has put up a fight, doesn't it?"

Hennessy frowned in thought. "You understand, Mr. Benson, I ain't convinced by this guy's story that there's any such animals. I'm only following it up on your say-so."

At this moment there was a dramatic interruption. "What's that?" shouted one of the men, pointing down the road. "Look out! It's coming this way!"

"My God!" exclaimed Hennessy. "What is it?"

Afterwards the men were able to give a fairly good description of the creature by comparing their impressions. The road was dark except for the light of an occasional street lamp. The millepede—for that is what the naturalists eventually called it, in spite of its size—was running toward them with a man clasped in its forward legs. The front part of its body was therefore raised from the ground. The body itself was about three feet wide, but the legs added another three feet on each side. It looked about forty feet long and ran like the wind in spite of the weight it was carrying.

The men crowded to one side of the road, paralyzed with fear, until it passed. Then Benson grabbed a machine gun from a policeman. The stream of bullets caught the millipede where its body was elevated from the ground. It was not killed—in fact it was afterward found that it was impossible to kill them with bullets—but it was sufficiently hurt so that it dropped the body it was carrying.

The men, police and citizens alike, were so shaken by what they had seen that it was not until fifteen minutes later that some of them cautiously advanced to inspect the partly consumed body. "Is it your friend Lewis?" Benson asked Todd.

Todd shook his head. "No, it's not Lewis. He's bigger than that."

"How about the rest of you fellows? Any of you recognize it?" Some of them still hung back. "Don't waste any time," continued Benson impatiently. "It isn't pretty to look at, but there'll be worse things if we don't face this situation now."

CHAPTER II.

The Fight Begins

AN hour later a white-faced, serious looking lot of men, representing the town's influential citizens were gathered in the chief's uncomfortably crowded office at police headquarters. Reporters from out of town were constantly arriving. The news of the night's discovery had reached the papers as a flash from one of the press associations. Benson had been tacitly accepted as the leader of the gathering. The police were intent on disclaiming responsibility fur a fight on the giant insects.

Hennessy stated their position. "We couldn't do nothing even if we had the whole New York force here. If it was men, we'd get 'em for you, but these—these—"

Ben Finkel, president of the Central Bank, jumped up and shook his fist in Hennessy's face. "You're yellow rats? That's what's the matter with you. We'll kick you off the force—the whole bunch of you!"

"Well, you see it's this way, Mr. Finkel," explained Hennessy. "We all want to do anything we can, but we ain't much good in a case like this. It ain't a police case. What you need is a man like Mr. Benson here to take charge of things. Put him in charge and we'll all take his orders. We'll show you we ain't yellow."

There was a murmur of approval from the anxious-faced. men. "Sounds as if it might be a good idea," admitted Finkel, "if Benson will take the job."

All eyes turned to Benson.

"Every man is subject to draft when an emergency as serious as this occurs," said Benson slowly. "However, you'll have to give me authority to take any steps I see fit and agree to carry out all orders without question."

"That's good enough for me," said Finkel. "How about the rest of you gentle-men?"

There were no dissenting voices.

"There's no use deceiving ourselves as to the seriousness of the situation," said Benson. "Something has occurred to produce this race of gigantic creatures that feed on human flesh. I imagine, because of the limited territory in which they have been operating, that at present there are not many of them. Our only hope is to find some way of exterminating them before they multiply. If we don't, they'll proceed to eat us at their leisure."

At this point one of the committeemen became violently ill.

"I know it isn't pleasant to think about," continued Benson, "but it's the condition we're up against. We haven't any time to waste."

"What are we going to do first," asked Finkel.

"We'll wait here until the rest of the reporters arrive and give them all the information we have. Everyone in South Orange who has a telephone must be notified to remain indoors until daylight. Tomorrow Weill have a meeting in New York of all the scientists we can gather together at such short notice."

The scientists met at Columbia University at three o'clock in the afternoon. Benson had given a general invitation through the newspapers to anyone who had any ideas he thought might be valuable. It was sure to bring some cranks, but it would not do in a case like this to ignore any suggestions. In addition Benson had telegraphed and telephoned certain biologists and engineers he wanted to be present without fail.

He addressed the gathering briefly. One of the newspapers had a stenographer present so there is an accurate report of the address extant. The salient points he made were two: First, that the giant millipedes were apparently a recent development from the smaller species with which we are familiar. Therefore the task for the biologists was to determine what new condition or what new food was responsible for their growth. As so far the millipedes apparently lived only in the vicinity of South Orange, the field for investigation was comparatively limited.

Second. that a method of destroying the giant creatures already in existence must be found by the chemists and engineers. Whatever the biologists eventually discovered as to their origin, it was necessary to devise immediately some way of destroying the monsters who were already in existence.

PROFESSOR Lucien Shepard of Columbia suggested that two committees of six members each be appointed by the chairman, one composed of biologists and one of engineers. This was done.

There were several developments during the afternoon. The governor of New Jersey declared martial law in South Orange and the adjoining communities. To make it effective he called out the state militia, which established a cordon around South Orange. No one was allowed to enter the town and arrangements were immediately made to evacuate the inhabitants.

As it was impossible to carry out this latter order before dark, all persons were ordered for the second successive night to remain indoors. The ordinary millipede is a lover of darkness and apparently their giant brothers shared this characteristic, for none of them had so far appeared during the day. The soldiers on duty that night kept bright fires burning. None wandered far from his companions. In the flickering light from the fires, gigantic shadowy forms were seen flashing through the streets.

When morning came the evacuation of the inhabitants was begun, much against the will of some of them. At the some time the two committees appointed the previous afternoon got to work. Benson was ex-officer a member of both of them. In a joint meeting they decided that it was necessary to secure immediately one of the giant millipedes, alive or dead, no matter what the risk involved. The risk could hardly he overestimated. The ordinary millipede can run at a terrific speed, considering its size. If the larger ones possessed this ability in proportion, they could undoubtedly run rings around any living creature.

The biologists wanted to be definitely sure that the giant was a development from the smaller individuals instead of a new species. The chemists and engineers who had assumed the stupendous task of exterminating them wanted a specimen to study. Doubtless a reasonably safe way to kill or capture one could be devised in time, but time was the one thing the two committees did not have at their disposal.

Apart from the fact that until they were exterminated the millipedes would go on multiplying, their appetite for human flesh probably could not be satisfied by any other food. When South Orange was evacuated and it was no longer possible to capture human beings there, they would almost certainly extend their activities. The process of removing people from their homes could hardly be continued indefinitely.

Directed by the engineers, the soldiers started a foot by loot search of the country for the dens of the millipedes. They lived below the surface and any hole big enough for them to emerge from must be fairly conspicuous.

The afternoon's work yielded {our suspicious looking tunnels. These were marked and plans were made to place at each of them an ingeniously constructed net strong enough to hold anything that became entangled in it. However, the events of the next forty-eight hours made this unnecessary.

The searchers left the evacuated area as it began to grow dark and the soldiers again took up their duties as guards. All residents had been removed from South Orange. As an added precaution, the fires that night were built only ten feet apart. A rampart of them extended entirely around the territory where the millipedes had manifested themselves.

All Unreasonable

THERE were a number of disappearances that night from such widely separated points as Caldwell and Elizabeth. When they were reported the next day Benson was inclined to doubt that the millipedes had any connection with most of them. It was natural to expect the millipedes to ex~ tend the range of their forays, but it was unlikely that they would make jumps of so many miles in twenty-four hours, presuming they all belonged to the one colony. It was a tempting opportunity for dissatisfied men and women to escape from their responsibilities and start a new life in some other part of the country. Undoubtedly a certain proportion of the disappearances could be accounted for in this way.

The really important news of the day, though no one realized it then, was an obscure item on an inside page of the New York Times telling of mysterious thefts at the plant of a certain chemical company. Benson's eyes lighted on the item and there rested thoughtfully. It was headed "Mysterious Thefts Continue."

The Bauxite Products Company have been unable to discover the methods by which thieves night after night abstract large quantities of a certain chemical which is being manufactured under contract for the United States government. Secret Service agents have been on guard for some time past, but the thefts continue. A puzzling feature of the case is the discovery of a number of curious tunnels in the vicinity of the plant which may have been used by the thieves.

Benson frowned and re—read the article. Then he called up the Times office and after considerable trouble got hold of a man able to give him the information he wanted.

"Where is the plant of this Bauxite Products Company?" he asked after explaining who he was.

"Back in the hills somewhere beyond West Orange."

"Funny place for a factory. Know what they're manufacturing for the government?"

"Search me. Whatever it is, they're keeping it under cover."

"I have a hunch I'd better find out," said Benson after a moment's thought.

"Think it might have something to do with the millipedes?" asked the newspaper man eagerly.

"Well, it occurred to me as a possibility." "I tell you what I'd do if I were you, Mr. Benson. I'd get in touch with Washington. You're in South Orange now?"

"At police headquarters at the moment. Why?"

"We have a man there, Bill Gregory. If there's anything we can do at this end, let Bill know."

AN hour later Benson and three other men got out of a car before a series of low frame buildings surrounded by a high double barbed wire fence. Two guards were stationed inside a closed gate while others could be seen patrolling the grounds.

"What's the ides of keeping us waiting out here?" called Benson when the guards made no move to open the gate.

"Ain't no visitors allowed. You fellers get back in that car and get out of here." "Send for the superintendent of the plant," demanded Benson.

"And who might you be?

"Never mind who we are. You do as I told you."

The guard stared steadily at Benson for a minute. Then he burned to his companion. "Jim, go bring the chief here. Tell him there's four nuts outside. Tell him I want to know whether to shoot 'em or let 'em die natural."

Ten minutes later the second guard returned with a man whose face was dimly familiar to Benson. He frowned at the visitors. "Sorry, but no strangers are allowed within three miles of the plant. "Brady," he called to a uniformed man standing beside a motorcycle. "Co with these men as far as the road."

He started to turn away but paused at Benson's impatient demand. "My name's Benson. I haven't any time to fool with you or your regulations. If you give me any trouble I'll have the state militia take possession of your plant."

The face of the man inside the gate changed. "You the Benson in charge of this millipede campaign?"

"Yes," responded Benson curtly.

"I guess I can let you in. I don't know about the men with you. Who are they?"

"What's all the mystery about?"

The man flipped hack the lapel of his coat, revealing a badge. "My name's Kelly. Government service."

"That's different," said Benson. "I'll vouch for these other men. This is Professor Sharpe of Columbia and Mr. Dowd, one of the chemists at the Edison plant. Also Bill Gregory of the New York Times."

"Afraid I can't let you bring a reporter in here, Mr. Benson."

"That's all right. I'll vouch for Mr. Gregory too. He won't print anything without your permission."

Kelly ushered the four visitors into the office of the plant. He gazed at them keenly. "What makes you think this place has anything to do with your giant millipedes?"

"We're investigating every possible lead," said Benson. "It was an item in this morning's paper about your plant being robbed of a certain chemical that sent us out here—that and the reference to your finding some mysterious tunnels."

"It's damn funny about those tunnels," said Kelly. "We come across new ones all the time and no one has a chance to dig them. No man we don't know gets inside the fence."

"Yet somebody steals your stuff every night, if this newspaper story is right."

"That's the damnable part of it," said Kelly, flushing angrily. "It's true."

"This chemical that': being stolen—what's it used for?"

"I can't tell you that. It's a government secret."

Benson looked thoughtful. "Give us some idea. You needn't violate orders. The situation down at South Orange is so serious that we can't waste any time on a wild goose chase."

"What do you want to know?" asked Kelly.

"I'll explain. The biologists believe that the giant millipedes are small ones which have got hold of some substance which immensely stimulates their growth."

"It doesn't sound reasonable to me," said Kelly.

"IT doesn't sound reasonable to anybody. The whole affair's unreasonable. We don't know that there is any such substance. If the giant millipedes are a new species coming from underground to attack human beings, I don't believe there's much we can do. On the other hand, if they are just ordinary millipedes grown to gigantic size because of some substance they've got hold of, all we have to do is to find out what the substance is and remove it beyond their reach."

"Well, I'll take a chance on telling you this much," said Kelly. "We're manufacturing here an ingredient of a new poison gas for use in war. It's at least five times as destructive as any hitherto discovered." He smiled grimly. "It's a great peace preserver as long as we can keep its composition a secret from other nations."

The four men stared at him. "It's this ingredient that's being stolen?" asked Ben-son.

Kelly nodded. "That's why most of the Secret Service is working on the case now. We've got to keep the stuff from getting into the hands of any person who might analyze it." He paused. "I guess that's about all I can tell you."

"Mind if I ask a few questions?" said Benson.

"Ask ahead, but I don't know that I'll answer them."

"What relation does this material which is disappearing bear to the final product, the gas itself?"

"I can tell you this much," said Kelly. "Bauxite is used here to produce a material which is added to a certain other material. This second material is manufactured at another plant. They are mixed under pressure at still a third plant. When this pressure is released, the combined substances vaporize into the gas."

"I see," said Benson. "The two materials are manufactured and kept separate until they are needed."

"Exactly. They are both stable except when combined."

CHAPTER III.

The Experiment Works!

LATE that afternoon a dozen men gathered around a cage constructed of fine wire netting in one of the buildings of the West Orange Edison plant. On the wooden floor of the cage two ordinary millipedes about an inch long were darting around, trying to find a way out.

Benson carefully opened a lead-lined box which was filled with a sort of pinkish clay. The other men crowded closer to look at it. "You say this stuff is extracted from bauxite?" said one of them, reaching over to pick up a fragment.

Benson seized his hand. "This was furnished by the government under the express agreement that no effort will be made to analyze it, and that whatever portion of it is not used in this experiment will be re-turned."

"Don't be so damned suspicious, Benson. I'm not a spy and neither is anyone else here."

"No, I suppose not, but the stuff's too important to take any chances with it."

"You're going to put some of it in the cage with the millipedes," said one of the younger men present. "Suppose it has the effect you anticipate? That wire cage won't be much protection."

"That's all been prepared for. Even if this stuff makes little millipedes into big ones, it can't work instantaneously. We can fill this room with cyanogen gas in five minutes. That will take care of millipedes, big or little."

He carefully opened a little door in the top of the cage and dropped some fragments of the pinkish substance to the floor. The two millipedes darted toward it and rolled in it with a kind of frenzy. "Like a cat with catnip," said Dowd, "only more so."

Benson looked at his watch. "It's now four o'clock. We have a great deal to do and I suggest we meet here at eight tomorrow morning to observe results, if there are any."

"You think it's safe to leave the millipedes?" asked Dowd.

"One of the laboratory men will be on duty here all night. We'll all sleep a few blocks away so we can easily reach here if it should be necessary."

Benson did not get to bed until midnight and he was very tired. He had a disturbed dream of an earthquake which was shaking down all the buildings in the city. Trying to escape a wall which was toppling on his head, he wakened to realize the noise was someone pounding on his door.

He jumped out of bed and found a white-faced bellboy standing in the hall. "They want you over at the laboratory right away, Mr. Benson. Something's happened."

"Come in and tell me," said Benson sharply, dragging on his clothes.

"They didn't say much over the phone, except to tell you to come down as soon as you could."

"That is all you know?"

"Well, I know what the men say that left the plant when it happened."

"Damn it, boy, when what happened?"

"The centipedes got loose and et up a couple men."

"God God! Go wake up Professor Sharp and Mr. Dowd and tell them what you've just told me, and say I'll meet them at the laboratory."

THE lobby of the hotel was filled with men, most of whom were trying to get out of the windows. The clerk hurried up when he saw Benson. "Better be careful, sir. The things they've been having in South Orange are here and they say they're eating people up!"

Benson hurried outside. He glanced nervously into the shadows and walked in the middle of the deserted street. He knew this was a useless precaution because of the millipedes' speed, but it made him feel safer. He had been carrying a gun for several days past but he was not now depending on it for protection. He carried in his right hand a large flashlight.

He thought he saw something slinking along in the darkness and pressed the button of light. The beam revealed a giant millipede fifty feel away. It was standing with the forward part of its body elevated, holding some object as Benson had seen one hold a human body a few nights before. When the dazzling beam of light fell on the creature it darted to one side and as the beam followed, slithered vii the road.

Benson had had an idea that the millipedes were afraid of light, but he had not cared to take the responsibility of asking someone else to experiment. He swung the beam around as he walked rapidly toward the laboratory. Suddenly he realized the danger Professor Sharp and Dowd would run with millipedes in the street and no way of frightening them off. He turned and hurried buck toward the hotel.

sharp and Dowd were just coming out of the door when he arrived. "Whats the trouble?" shouted Dowd.

"I don't know yet."

"Haven't you been to the laboratory?" "I started, but I thought I'd better come back for you two." He related his encounter with the millipede and the effect of the light beam. Sharpe and Dowd went back for two flashlights and then the three hurried off to the laboratory.

The plant worked twenty-four hours a day and all the windows were brilliantly lighted when they arrived. The laboratory looked as if a cyclone had struck it. There was no trace of the wire cage in which the millipedes had been confined. The furniture was demolished and the partitions torn down, and the floor was covered with fragments of bottles and retorts. A trail of red zigzagged across' the floor.

"Looks bad," said Sharpe. "Wonder if the men all ran away? There isn't a sign of anyone here."

"Someone must be around," replied Benson. "They phoned for us to come down you know."

"Let's try the office. That's probably where they telephoned from."

The offices were on the second floor of a building a block away. As they tramped up the stairs the door at the top was cautiously opened and a man stuck his head out.

"Hurry!" he said nervously. "We saw you coming across the yard."

"What did you do, shut down the works?" asked Benson.

"The works shut themselves down when your millipedes got out."

Inside the room were gathered six white-faced men, and among them was the one who had been left on guard at the laboratory. "Hello, Roberts, I thought they'd got you," said Benson. He frowned. "Why didn't you turn on the cyanogen gas when things began to look dangerous?"

"They didn't look dangerous to me," replied Roberts. "The millipedes rolled around in the pink stuff and got bigger, but I thought there wasn't enough of it so they'd grow much."

Roberts paused uncertainly. "What happened?" demanded Benson impatiently. "I suppose it's all my fault, but I thought I was doing the right thing. I don't know now what actually happened."

"You were there, weren't you?"

"I was over here at the office, telephoning for you. I thought you'd better come down when I found the experiment was working."

"What was the matter with the telephone in the laboratory?"

"There's no switchboard operator at night. The office is the only place to get an outside -wire."

"I didn't get any message until after the millipedes had broken loose."

"I know, they said at the hotel you were asleep and they wouldn't call you. Before I got back to the laboratory the millipedes broke out of the cage and smashed things up."

"Did you see them?" asked Benson. Roberts shook his head. "They were gone before I got back, but Wilson here saw them."

Fruitless Efforts

WILSON was a young workman in jumper and overalls. He was still white and shaken from the experience.

"How big were they?" asked Benson.

"The biggest things I ever saw, Mr. Benson. Forty or fifty feet long and as wide as this room. They were brown and had about a million legs."

Benson nodded. "That's what I thought. They weren't the two millipedes from the cage."

"Of course not. Wilson may be exaggerating the size of the creatures he saw, but still they must have been a lot bigger than any millipede could grow in a few hours, even with an unlimited supply of this magic food. These, you remember, had only a few fragments of the bauxite derivative."

Roberts looked relieved. "I'm sure glad to hear you say that, Mr. Benson. The other fellows are thinking I'm responsible for the deaths of the two poor boys that were carried off."

"Well, you aren't, so don't worry about it. The millipede that did the damage came in from outside. They were after that pinkish stuff I left in the cage. I don't know how they found out it was in the cage, of course. Maybe they can smell it from a distance. They entered the laboratory and destroyed the cage to get at it. The little millipedes escaped. The big ones carried off a couple of the men. That's what happened, as far as I can reconstruct it."

"Then the experiment's berm a success," said Dowd. "We've found out how to keep any more giant millipedes from growing up."

"It looks like it. All we have to do is get rid of the stuff that produces them. Thais simple enough, now we know what it is."

"We'll get rid of all the bauxite product, this X-material," said Sharpe. "Then we'll go after the monsters already in existence.".

The next day the Federal government acted. The machinery at the factory back in the hills was dismantled. All of the "X" material on hand was sealed in leaden cases and shipped to an arsenal in the Middle West.

Benson directed the operation and it was not until late afternoon, when the soldiers began arriving in trucks, that he learned the Federal authorities had also taken control of the evacuated towns.

He immediately realized the danger of having these additional men in the danger zone with the millipedes becoming ravenous for food. He got in touch with the governor at Trenton and later with the War Department at Washington. He was not able to impress the authorities with the seriousness of the danger to which they were exposing the troops. The soldiers had been specially armed with rifles, grenades and gas bombs. It was the confidence of the army authorities in the effectiveness of these weapons against the millipedes that resulted in the tragedy of that night.

IN a final effort to reduce the risk to the troops, Benson approached Colonel Zemurry, the commanding officer. "We've tried to have the War Department withdraw the troops from the danger zone, Colonel," he said, "but evidently some of your men will have to be killed before the Department condescends to accept advice."

Colonel Zemurry frowned slightly. He had the professional soldier's disdain for civilians, but because of Benson's position he made an effort to be courteous. "It seemed best to concentrate on exterminating the millipedes when they emerge tonight. There are enough troops to police the infested area and by tomorrow morning we should have it pretty well cleaned up."

"By tomorrow morning, if you carry out your present plans, you will have fed a lot of your soldiers to the millipedes and have made our job that much harder."

"I'll have to obey orders, Mr. Benson," said the Colonel shortly. "Besides, you've been using the state militia yourselves, haven't you?"

"We've used the militia to establish a cordon around the infested district, with fires every few feet to keep the millipedes from getting out."

"What's your objection to the plan of patrolling all the streets and roads in the district with soldiers armed with grenades and gas bombs? They'll kill all the millipedes they can and follow the rest to locate their lairs."

Benson smiled grimly. "It's evident you haven't seen any of the millipedes. They run so fast that hitting them with anything will be an accident. Besides, a pistol or a rifle bullet won't hurt them. I don't believe a machine gun will do one of them much Hahn, unless he's Obliging enough to stand still and let you cut him to pieces. Remember, Colonel, they're thirty feet long and seven or eight feet wide. Wait till you see one."

Colonel Zemurry rose, terminating the interview. "I'm afraid, Mr. Benson, the troops will have to carry out the plan that has been arranged. I don't feel that I have authority to change it."

"Then at least, Colonel, have every soldier carry a powerful flashlight. The millipedes don't like light."

The Colonel frowned again. "How are we going to dispose of them if we frighten them away? We want them to come out of their dens and we'll he able to take care of them."

"Very well," said Benson, "I've done all I can. I've told the governor of the state and the War Department at Washington exactly what I've told you. There won't be any question tomorrow as to where the responsibility lia for what': going to happen tonight."

CHAPTER IV.

A Night of Terror

THE state militia, which had been on duty for several nights, had no illusions as to the kind of enemy they were up against. Consequently when Benson asked for cooperation from Colonel Moultrie, the commanding officer, he got it.

All the portable searchlights that could be secured were stationed at strategic points. Magnesium flares and rockets were got ready. The commanding officer of the federal troops tolerantly agreed that the militia should still maintain its guard around the south, north and east sides of South Orange while the federal troops would occupy the town itself and the territory, to the west as far as the plant of the Bauxite Products Company.

Much of this territory was mountainous and wild. Exactly what arrangements were made for the soldiers detailed in this section to maintain communication with one another has never been made known. Events proved that the entire plan of operations was a mistaken one.

As soon as it grew dark Benson went to the militia headquarters which had been established in a large private house on the border of South and West Orange. It was built on the top of a mountain and had excellent automobile roads leading from it in all directions. field telephone stations had been established on the picket line around South Orange. A switchboard in the entrance hall enabled Colonel Moultrie to keep in touch with every sector of Lhe line.

Benson found the officers seriously worried. "There won't be any way of finding out what's happening out there in the mountains," said Colonel Moultrie.

Benson shrugged his shoulders. "What could you do anyhow?"

"Nothing. That's the damnable part of it."

He strode out on the terrace followed by Benson. To the south was the glow of the fires lighted by the militia. To the west there was nothing except an occasional flash and rumble.

"Damn fools to use artillery fighting bugs," grumbled Colonel Moultrie. It was ten-thirty when the first report of trouble came in. The telephone stations had been reporting "all quiet" every fifteen minutes. "Colonel," called the operator; "station eleven reports that they can see the millipedes among the trees and there's hundreds of them!"

"Tell them to build up their fires and have the flares ready. Notify all the other stations."

Five minutes later reports came in of frantic regulars making efforts to reach the militia picket line. The searchlights revealed the millipedes in immense numbers darting around outside the line of fires.

Soon the fugitive soldiers stopped coming. "Some of them are safe in buildings," said Benson, "but I'm afraid for the rests"

For the next hour there was silence except for routine reports. Finally Colonel Moultrie turned to Benson. "I guess it's all over by this time."

Benson had been impatiently pacing up and down the terrace. "It seems as if we ought to be doing something," he said.-

Colonel Moultrie frowned in thought as he gazed down over the dark and silent country which the federal soldiers had occupied. Then he turned to the man at the switchboard. "Order the tank corps to be ready in ten minutes. We'll go in and see what the situation is."

"When did the tanks arrive?" asked Benson in surprise.

"Several hours ago. You made more impression on the governor than you realized this afternoon. He couldn't do anything with the War Department but he ordered the six tanks the state owns over here. They're small and intended for mobs but they'll just suit us. They have two searchlights apiece and machine guns. They'll make about twenty-five miles an hour over rough country.

THE six tanks, two abreast, with searchlights playing ahead, made a formidable appearance as they roared down the road leading to the center of the silent town. Benson. was stationed at an observation slot in one of the forward two. The searchlights revealed no sign of life i. n the streets or the deserted buildings until the railroad station came into view. Here the tanks Slowed down and stopped.

The first man out shouted "Gas!" Adjusting masks distracted the attention of the men for a moment from the scene of horror revealed by the massed searchlights directed across the tracks and centered on the red brick station.

The ground around the building, including the railroad tracks, was covered with a loathsome mass of dead millipedes. Scattered among them were the bodies of men in grotesque positions. Many of them had been partly consumed by the millipedes.

To see better Benson slipped off his mask for a second but had to replace it, choking with the gas which still filled the depression of the railroad tracks and overflowed the road.

The legs of the millipedes twitched as the battery of searchlights was turned on the mass of liquefying flesh. Colonel Moultrie motioned toward the machine guns mounted in the tanks. Benson shook his head.

He started to pick his way toward the nearest human body which happened to be unmutilated. It was lying face downward and he rolled it over. As a matter of form he put his hand inside the shirt, though the body was already stiffening. Then he got up and spread his hands toward the watching men to indicate the futility of trying to render any assistance.

Colonel Moultrie ordered the men back into the tanks which started slowly forward while he and Benson removed their masks and consulted as lo the next thing to do. The faces of both were set in grim lines. "I counted ninety-seven bodies," said Benson. "There's no telling how many more are in the station or covered by the bodies of the millipedes."

"Or eaten by them," interjected the Colonel.

Benson nodded somberly. "I can't under stand what happened at the station. I never dreamed of their having a set battle with them."

It looks to me," said Colonel Moultrie, "as if the regulars finally realized what they were up against and gathered in the station to defend themselves. Here they were attacked in the one-story building by an overwhelming force of the millipedes."

Benson nodded. "Ravenous, because their food supply had been cut off. Guns and grenades weren't any good against them, and gas not much better."

"The gas did kill the millipedes," said the Colonel. "The trouble was it didn't kill them quickly enough to save the men."

There was a sudden exclamation from the lookout at one of the observation ports. The tanks were approaching a large brick building which stood back from the road.

"Looks like a schoolhouse," said Benson.

"And there's a light in the upper story," added Colonel Moultrie. "Somebody alive there?"

"Look at them things running along the ground," said the lookout. "They was running all over the walls a minute ago."

Colonel Moultrie gave a grunt of disgust. It was his first glimpse of live millipedes. The ground was covered with them, a squirming mass of hideous legs and more hideous bodies. The searchlights made them uncomfortable and they tried to dart away, but there were too many' of them. They got in one another's way. After a few seconds' effort to escape the glare of the searchlights they turned and made a frenzied rush toward the tanks.

Benson remembered the paralyzing odor the creatures emitted. The men had followed the Colonel's example in taking elf their gas masks.

"Put on your masks," he warned. He leaped for one of the observation ports and shouted the same warning in the hope that the men in the other tanks would hear.

The Survivors Gather

HE felt a searing pain and the blood poured from a jagged wound in his cheek. As he fell backward he saw two of the men slashing at half a dozen legs which were reaching through the port. One of the legs fell inside the tank, severed by a sharp jackknife. It was three feet long and armed with sharp claws. It wriggled and jumped around on the floor of the tank while the men beat at it with their rifles. There came a yell of pain from the other side of the tank. A man had had his face badly slashed by legs inserted through another port.

All openings were hurriedly closed and Colonel Moultrie, who was a physician in civil life, started to work on the two wounded ed men. Benson had a nasty cut across one cheek but it was nothing to worry about unless the millipedes' claws should prove to he poisonous. Colonel Moultrie swabbed it with iodine and fastened a dressing on it with adhesive tape. The other man's wound was more serious, for his eye was badly torn.

"I'll have to get him to a hospital as soon as I can," said the Colonel in a low voice to Benson.

Benson shook his head. "Can't be done. Whoever tries to drive will be torn to pieces. He'll have to see where he's going and yet you daren't uncover an opening."

Colonel Moultrie frowned. "You think we can't make it?"

"If you try you'll have a lot of us to take to the hospital."

"Well, I suppose we can stay here until morning if we have to."

"Yes, that's one thing to do," agreed Benson. "The millipedes will leave at daybreak. I have a better idea though. You've got a couple of tanks of gas. Why not use it? It killed them back there at the station."

"We might try it," said Colonel Moultrie, "though it's going to be hard for you to Wear a mask on that face of yours and harder still for this boy here."

"We'll manage somehow." said Benson. The wounded man nodded and swore softly under his breath.

The men in the tanks sat silently, masks on, listening to the hiss of the gas as it escaped from its cylinders. Benson kept his eyes fixed on his wrist watch. At the end of thirty minutes he carefully opened one of the observation ports and jumped aside. Nothing happened. He advanced cautiously to the port again and gazed out. The searchlights of all the tanks were still directed toward the schoolhouse. For a mo~ men! Benson did not notice' the piles of dead millipedes. Curiously enough, there was never very much left of them after they were dead, except the legs. The bodies quickly disintegrated. Now as he looked downward the ground as far as he could see was covered with them, their legs still feebly waving.

Benson glanced around at the men in the tank. They all looked half asleep. "The millipede odor," he muttered to himself. "Didn't get their gas masks on soon enough. I'll wake them up." He had been in one of the first tank corps organized during the war and he had not forgotten how to drive. He climbed to the seat and threw in the clutch.

The tank slowly straddled the ditch beside the road and crushed down the stone wall which surrounded the school grounds. It crawled over the millipede bodies which covered the campus and brought up against the steps leading to the building.

BENSON scrambled down and was the first man outside. He was relieved to see the other five tanks crawling across the campus. That meant there was probably not much wrong inside them. A few minutes later their crews, still a little groggy, poured out. There were a few cut faces and arms but no serious casualties. Colonel Moultrie made a hasty inspection and nodded his head in satisfaction.

Meanwhile the great double doors of the school remained closed, though the upper floor was still lighted. When pounding on them brought no response a machine gun easily smashed the lock. The tank crews made a concerted rush up the stairs to the third floor. Here they found twenty-five badly frightened soldiers.

"Why didn't you come down when you saw us?" demanded Colonel Moultrie. A sergeant who was the only officer in the party explained. "Gas. We haven't any masks."

"What did you do with them?" The sergeant shrugged his shoulders. We couldn't run fast enough with 'em on."

"Did the millipedes get any of you?"

"Plenty."

"Well, I guess you'll have to stay here until morning. Any more of you in the buildings around here?"

"Some, I guess. It was every man for himself »w-hen them things got after us. We don't know how many got away."

MORNING revealed about two hundred survivors from the two regiments, barricaded in buildings. Searching parties during the day picked up the bodies of the dead wherever they could be found. The extent of the tragedy was not known in time for the morning papers, but the evening papers gave it flaming headlines. Benson's futile protest against the massing of troops in the area was revealed by the governor at Trenton and condemnation of the War Department for the needless slaughter of regular was violently expressed in Congress.

There was a spontaneous demand from a number of quarters simultaneously that the federal troops be placed under Benson's control and that he be given officially dictatorial powers. This was accomplished a few hours after the demand was made, by the President's declaring martial law in northern New Jersey and appointing Benson military governor. There was no precedent for this action, but there was no precedent for the appalling situation which existed.

Benson immediately ordered a concentration at South Orange of all the tanks in the eastern part of the country. In view of the destructive effect of gas on the millipedes, this seemed the best way to fight them. Presumably with the removal of the X-substance no new millipedes were being produced. If those already in existence continued to attack as they had at the railroad station and at the schoolhouse, they could be exterminated in a short time.

No attempt to attack the millipedes was made the night after the massacre. The militia kept its fire-studded picket line around the town. In the meantime the tanks were gathering, each supplied with cylinders of compressed gas.

CHAPTER V.

A Nation Amused

THE following night the advance into the infested territory began. In long orderly rows were over a hundred tanks, large and small. At a rocket signal they started into life, roaring, clanking iron monsters with searchlights playing in all directions, inviting an attack by the millipedes.

They traversed the territory where the millipedes had been seen and returned to their starting point without getting more than a distant glimpse of shadowy giant forms which sped away before they could be attacked.

Morning came with nothing accomplished. This procedure was followed for three more nights with the same results, before Benson acknowledged that it was a failure. Why the millipedes attacked the first night and ran away afterward was and remained a mystery.

It was evident, however, that some new way of attacking them must be found. They were beginning to appear in the surrounding country and again people were being carried off. Their numbers had been greatly reduced and they were perhaps less aggressive, but their appetite for human flesh had not been curbed.

ll was a suggestion in a letter written to the New York Times by a man whose identity was never discovered that indirectly ended the menace. The letter read:

Editor New York Times: Sir: If these so-called scientists ain't absolute fools why don't they use a little Horse Sense. I am a Vermin Exterminator and I could kill all the Millipedes in twenty-four hours. They ain't got sense enough to hire me to do it so I'll tell them how for nothing. Here it is. Get some of that X-stuff and put it where the millipedes will find it. When they come after it shoot the gas into them. Everything's easy if you know how.

The letter was signed "Bug Killer." It immediately attracted country-wide attention. Strong pressure was brought to bear on the government to try the suggested plan, without success. Spokesman for the War Department announced that the risk was too great. Exposing enough of the X-substance to serve as bait would, if there were any defect in the plans, be the means of creating another generation of the giant millipedes. There would be a new crop added to the survivors of the old lot.

It was while matters were at this impasse, with public opinion becoming more bitter as the newspapers told day after day of new victims of the millipedes, that the idea occurred to Benson which brought the war to a close.

He embodied it in a memorandum to the War Department. Briefly it was to use the secret XY gas in an effort to exterminate the remaining millipedes. He suggested that it was at least possible that the X-substance retained its attraction for the creature even after it had entered into its XY combination. If this were the case, it would only be necessary to release a quantity of the gas in some isolated place. The millipedes would be attracted by the X-ingredient in the gas and would be destroyed.

Benson was summoned to Washington where he met the head of the Chemical Warfare Division.

"Your idea is plausible enough," said General M., "but unfortunately it is impractical."

"Impractical?" repeated Benson. "Why?"

"For several reasons. One is that we do not know how long the gas will make the place where it is released uninhabitable. You see, it is too dangerous to experiment with and we know very little about it. It has been manufactured as a threat to potential enemies with no real idea that it will ever become necessary to use it."

"I SUPPOSE you saw in this morning's I paper that several more children had been carried off," said Benson. "It seems the millipedes have acquired a taste for children."

"Yes, it's horribly distressing."

"Is it so distressing that you'll take a chance on making some place uninhabitable for awhile?"

"There's still another difficulty, Mr. Benson. We don't know whether any of our gas masks are effective against this gas. The men who attempted the experiment you suggest would practically be committing suicide."

"You supply the gas," said Benson, "and I'll get enough volunteers to use it."

Several nights later, Benson with two companions entered an especially prepared tank. As soon as it was known that an effort to destroy the millipedes was to be made which would be particularly dangerous to those taking part in it, there were hundreds of volunteers. Benson's task was simply to select those he wanted to take. His choice fell on a man named Williams who had been in the Tank Corps during the war, and Perkins, a gas expert of the Chemical Warfare division.

The tank was hermetically sealed and all observation ports were covered with thick, non-shatterable glass. Instead of gas masks each man was supplied with a helmet very much like a deep sea diver's to which was attached a cylinder of compressed oxygen. These were for use if for any reason it became necessary to leave the tank after discharging the gas.

Cylinders of the deadly XY gas had been rushed by airplane from an arsenal in the Middle West.¹

1: Any detailed description of the special apparatus devised for discharging tho gas with it minimum of risk to the men in the tank ll prohibited. In tact it has been requested that this final episode in the war with the millipedes be described as briefly and with as little detail as possible.

The tank with the volunteers proceeded slowly through the darkness to an uninhabited valley in the hills beyond South Orange. No searchlights were used because the object was to attract the millipedes instead of driving them away.

When it reached this agreed on spot the three men shook hands with one another. Benson and Perkins opened simultaneously the two petcocks which released a stream of gas from each side of the tank. Then they stationed themselves at the observation ports and watched. If the gas still possessed the attraction of the X-substance the millipedes would be drawn to their destruction. If it did not—there would be another failure to add to the increasingly long list since the war with the millipedes started.

Benson's gaze was fixed on the distance where he expected the millipedes to appear and it was a minute or two before he he-came conscious of a curious glow around the tank. It was rather like the red fire of a torchlight parade, except that it was more evenly diffused.

"Damned funny," exclaimed Perkins.

"Must be the gas," said Benson. "It's evidently luminous in the dark."

Now they could see it spreading from the nozzles through which it was being discharged into the air. Gradually the entire valley became alight with its rosy glow.

"I guess we're going to see the whole show," said Perkins.

"If there's any show to see," doubted Benson. "So far I don't see any signs of millipedes."

"There's one now!"

A great shadowy creature like a mediaeval dragon came sweeping down the side of the hill. In a second it was beside the tank with its head pressed against the glass of the port. All three men started back in sudden disgust and horror. It was impossible for:1 human being to look calmly at those protruding eyes and slobbering lips. The head was pressed against the glass for only a moment. The gas immediately got in its deadly work. The millipede sank back and the giant body turned over, leaving the legs feebly waving in the air.

"It works!" exclaimed Perkins.

"I guess it does," Benson agreed. "Here are some more of them."

DOWN the side of the hill and up the valley they could be seen coming like flying shadows. They bathed for a moment in the rosy glow and then sank helpless to the ground. "It's like dead leaves falling in a high wind," said Williams.

"God, there's thousands of them!" exclaimed Perkins a few minutes later.

"They'll bury the tank!"

"Looks as if we might get them all this time."

Soon the bodies reached to the port and a little later covered it.

"How long are we going to stay here?" asked Williams.

Benson kept his eyes on his wrist watch as the minutes slowly passed. Finally he stooped down and turned off petcocks in the two cylinders. "We'll get out of this now, if we can," he said to Williams.

Slowly the caterpillar treads began to move and the tank started forward. Benson switched on a searchlight but it did not illumine the darkness as the tank crushed its way through a mountain of dead millipedes. It travelled a hundred yards before it reached the open air. Now the searchlight showed a concrete road ahead. Behind it revealed the entire valley a writhing mass of quivering bodies and waving legs.

"Think they're really dead?" asked Perkins doubtfully.

"Dead enough," said' Benson. "The legs may keep that up for an hour."

* * * *

This was the final rout of the millipedes. For forty-eight hours no one visited the valley, to give the XY gas a chance to dissipate. On the morning of the third day a cautious advance was made by a group of men headed by Benson. They were ready to stop at the first indication of ill effects from any remaining gas. They found none.

The little company came to the valley of the massacre. Scarcely any trace of the mountain of dead millipedes was to be seen. The scavengers of the earth and air had done their work.

That afternoon the two committees of scientists sent out their first optimistic report. They stated that they believed all danger was over, that practically all of them had been destroyed and any remaining specimens would be exterminated as the result of measures to be put into immediate effect.

A careful exploration of the entire country which had been infested was begun. Wherever a hole or cave was found cyanogen gas was forced into it under pressure. Then the opening was filled up with concrete. Tanks and militia remained on guard at night for three months. At the end of that time the people of South Orange were allowed to return to their homes.

No authoritative announcement was ever made of the number of persons killed by the millipedes. The whole affair is so intimately involved with the manufacture of the XY gas by the government that as far as possible it has been minimized. No objection was made to the publication of this account, however, as long as no details of certain confidential matters were given.

Benson is very modest as to his part in the campaign against the millipedes. He asserts that it was purely accidental that he was placed in a position where he received credit that was equally due a number of other men. He accepted under protest the special medal voted by Congress.

Assurances have been given by the Chemical Warfare Division that precautions will be observed in the future manufacture of the XY gas which will make any repetition of the tragedy impossible. Meanwhile scientists are somewhat disgruntled be he-cause the government refuses to furnish any of the X-substance for experimental purposes. They consider it of the highest scientific importance that the reason for its astounding effect on the millipedes be investigated. They believe such research would bring them appreciably nearer to the solution of the fundamental problems mi biology.

Evidently the government thinks that certain practical considerations are more important. At any rate, it is at the present time observing absolute silence in regard to the X-substance. In response to recent inquiries it has even denied any knowledge of its existence.

THE END.