The Mystery gazed fixedly at Jack for some moments, and then answered:
“No matter how much power I possess, I have never yet destroyed a human life. I am waiting till Brattle brings about his own destruction, which he will do as surely as we are sitting here at this moment.”
Frank thought of Sport Harris, and others who had wrought their own destruction, and the belief that evil-doing brings its just deserts grew upon him. Diamond seemed to feel rebuked. He sat back on his chair, biting his lips.
“Now,” said Mr. Noname, “I will complete telling you about this fan.”
He lifted it from the table, and the eyes of all three were turned upon it.
“This,” he declared, “is the instrument by which Frank Merriwell was to be removed from the world!”
“But how?” urged Merry.
“Look here—see me press on the fan like this, as I hold it in this manner. Now, look near that end, which is toward you, and you will discover protruding from the side of the fan a tiny needle-point. Look close. Do you see it?”
They saw it.
“Now, I release the pressure here,” continued the Man of Mystery, “and that point disappears, having slid back into its socket.”