“For an instant it hung poised, then thundered downward” _Frontispiece_ “The next moment the rope parted behind him” _To face p._ 92 “The brute swung round and leapt again, missing his mark by a bare three inches” 116 “Amid the hideous forms of the Wolf-men the Ayuti towered as a god” 148 “The great saurian, reeling from the impact, lurched over upon his side” 174 “‘See, I have brought their weapons’” 180 “‘Back, you dogs!’ he roared. ‘A step further and your priest dies!’” 216 “Scuttling down to the water’s edge with the giant elk pounding along behind him” 234 THE WOLF-MEN. PROLOGUE. “YOU’LL come, then?” Professor James Mervyn’s voice quivered with eagerness as he put this question to his companion, Sir William Seymour, in a private room of a large London hotel. The baronet, a man in the prime of life, over six feet in height, and broad in proportion, his bearded face tanned by many a year of travel under a tropical sun, rose, and paced the chamber for some moments ere answering. “Yes, I’ll come,” he said at length. “I had made all arrangements to leave England to-morrow for a spell in India; but that must slide. I can’t miss this chance of a trip to the Pole. But now tell me something more of this wonderful idea of yours.” The professor’s spare form seemed to dilate with scientific zeal, and his eyes flashed as he commenced to speak. “To begin at the beginning,” he said. “I have had the idea in my mind for some years, but until the last six months I saw no chance of putting it into execution. Although my theory has been ridiculed and laughed to scorn by most, if not all, of my colleagues, yet I am still convinced that it is not only feasible, but that it is the only way in which the secret of the Pole, so jealously guarded by Dame Nature, may be wrested from her grasp. “This was my line of reasoning: that it would be possible for a properly equipped submarine vessel to dive beneath the great ice barrier, and so reach the open sea which we know exists beyond. But the submarines of the day were in no way suitable for the attempt. Mere toys in size, and in some instances proving veritable death-traps to their unfortunate crews, of what use were these to cope with the perils of the Arctic seas? So my theory remained dormant until, some weeks ago, I received a letter from Garth Hilton. You remember what a fellow Garth always was for making model boats?” Seymour nodded affirmatively.