"I'll do it," volunteered Joe. He had to work the dark, as a glimmer of light would show that the cabinet had been moved, and the audience would suspect that something was wrong. But Joe knew every inch of the cabinet, for he and the professor had worked this trick out between them. In an instant he had twisted the wire ends together, pushing them to one side so they would not come in contact with the professor's body, for the ends were not now insulated. "It's all right," Joe whispered. "Can you manage to finish the trick if I put the cabinet back the connections?" "Yes, I think so. Go ahead." Joe called to the leader of the orchestra: "Louder!" The musicians had been softly playing some "shivery" music. At once they struck into a blare of sound. This would cover any noise Joe might make in putting the cabinet back in place, so that the two metal legs would rest in the electric sockets in the stage, which contained the conductors that supplied the electric current needed. In another moment Joe lifted the cabinet, Professor Rosello and all, back to where it had stood at first. Again there was the grinning, glowing skeleton showing. The applause was renewed, and then the glow died out, and as the house lights flashed up there stood the professor in the cabinet, as at first, in his flowing silk robe. Close observers might have noticed that he was quite pale, and he had to grit his teeth to keep back a moan of pain from the burns he had received. "Now, gentlemen," said Joe to the committee, which had stepped down off the stage, "if you will kindly examine the knots, and loosen them, I shall be obliged to you. Quickly, if you please, as this act is very trying on the professor." Joe wanted to get his friend back of the scenes as soon as he could, to have his burns dressed. "Are the knots just as you tied them?" asked Joe. The men admitted they were. "Proving conclusively," the young wizard went on, "that the professor did not leave the cabinet to produce the effect you have just witnessed." The professor bowed to the applause as he stepped out of the cabinet, which was at once taken away by assistants. Then Joe walked back of the scenes with his friend, a pantomimist engaging the attention of the audience while the next part of the program was being prepared. But could the show go on with the professor disabled? That was what Joe wondered. He felt, more than ever, the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. CHAPTER III ANOTHER OFFER Professor Rosello sank into a chair when he reached his dressing room. "Quick! Get a doctor!" called Joe to one of the two helpers who traveled with them. "Bring him in through the stage door! Don't let it be known out in front."