The Tucson limited would not be through for over an hour, they learned. That would give them time to hunt up the authorities and sound a warning of the ominous invader that was in the vicinity. Perhaps, by prompt military action, it might be destroyed, or at least crippled. But first they went to the telegraph office, where Marjorie got off a message that would bring joy to her grieved family. While standing there outside the barred window, odors of food wafting to them from a nearby lunch-room. "Um-m!" she sniffed. "That smells good to me! I haven't tasted any earthly cooking for ages. Everything on that horrible disc was synthetic." "Then I suggest we have ham and eggs, at once," he said. "Or would you prefer a steak?" "I think I'll have both!" * * * * * As they walked into the lunch-room, Kendrick told her of the banquet in his honor Cor had promised for that night. "I guess I didn't miss much," he ended. "You certainly didn't!" she assured him, with a smile. "It would have opened with a purée of split-molecule soup, continued with an entrée of breaded electrons, and closed with an ionic café." He laughed. "I'm just as well satisfied. I was unable to attend! Humble as it is, I think this will prove to be much more wholesome food." Night had fallen by the time they left the lunch-room. Glancing at his watch, Kendrick saw that they still had better than a half-hour before the limited was due, so they betook themselves to the police station. It was only a block away and in consequence they weren't long reaching it. The chief had gone home, the officer at the desk informed them, but if there was anything they cared to report, he would be glad to make note of it. A big raw-boned westerner, he shifted his quid as he spoke and spat resoundingly in a cuspidor at his feet. "All right, then--get your pencil ready!" said Kendrick with a smile. "This is Miss Marjorie Blake, daughter of Henderson Blake, of New York. Perhaps you read of her disappearance, a few weeks ago. And I...." As he introduced himself and told briefly of their astounding experience, the officer's eyes bulged with amazement. "Say, what yuh-all tryin' to hand me?" he snorted finally. "D'yuh think I was born simple?" "Press your button!" whispered Marjorie. "Show him how the invisibility ray works. It'll save a lot of argument." "Right!" * * * * * He held up his wrist. "See this? Now watch!" Whereupon he pressed the button. But to their dismay, nothing happened. "Wa-al. I'm still watchin'!" drawled the officer. "Who's loony now?" Kendrick examined the mechanism in impatience, pressed that little button repeatedly: but still nothing happened. "Try yours!" he told Marjorie finally. She did so, with similar results--or lack of them, rather. "Something's wrong," he said at length. "The ray isn't working."