Already he had slipped in a charge.
“Steady, Beatrice!” he cautioned, and, pointing down the passage, pulled trigger.
Flame stabbed the half-dark and the crashing detonation rang in their ears.
“What do you think of that?” cried Stern exultantly. “Talk about your miracles! A thousand years and--”
Beatrice grasped him by the arm and pointed downward. Astonished, he stared. The rest of the skeleton had vanished. In its place now only a few handfuls of dust lay on the floor.
“Well, I'll be--” the man exclaimed. “Even that does the trick, eh? H-m! It would be a joke, now, wouldn't it, if the records should act the same way? Come on, Beta; this is all very interesting, but it isn't getting us anywhere. We've got to be at work!”
He pocketed the new-found gun and cartridges and once more, torch on high, started down the passage, with the girl at his side.
“See here, Allan!”
“Eh?”
“On the wall here--a painted stripe?”