"But these men!" Johnny exploded. "We must get them!" "Oh, must we?" Felix showed surprise. "Sure we must. They are robbers, murderers. They have bonds in their possession that broke a bank." "Oh!" Felix stared. "Well--that's not in our field. We are inventors, not detectives." "I will get Drew Lane, Tom Howe and Captain Burns." Johnny was poised to rush away. "As you like. Here's the key." Felix extended his hand. "Be sure to lock the door. We are responsible for that." "Lock the door," Johnny grumbled to himself as he hurried away "Queerest fellow I ever saw, that Felix. Smart, though. Shouldn't wonder if his inventions would do a lot of good. Think of being able to look right in upon a pack of thieves and you half a block or half a mile away! "Lock the door!" he repeated. "May be so riddled with bullets before we get through that it won't even shut." In this last he was wrong. When the little band, Johnny, Drew, Tom and the hulking Spider, reached the place, they found it dark. There was no answer to the bell, nor to repeated rapping. When they unlocked the door and, flashlights in left hands, guns in right, made the rounds of the place, they found it deserted and still. The rooms were rented furnished. The furniture was there, but not a garment, not a scrap of paper, not a single article that told of occupation. "They are gone for good," was Drew's pronouncement. "And yet I saw them this very afternoon," Johnny said soberly. "Saw the bonds, too. To think I once had them and I lost them so easily!" "We all make mistakes," Drew consoled. "We're getting hotter and hotter on their trail. We'll get them, you'll see, and that very soon." They left the place in silence, locking the door behind them. They made their way to the "House of Magic," where Felix joined them. "Find anyone?" he asked. "Gone!" was Johnny's reply. "I was afraid they might be. But that thing worked--that's the best of it. A little more work on it and we'll be ready to turn it over to those who can make the best use of it." "By the way, Johnny," Drew Lane put in, "you should have a phone in your room. You may have something to report any time." Johnny had not told Felix of the Whisperer's message. Felix had many secrets, why not he? "I'll put a phone in at once," Felix assured him. "Well, goodnight, then." Drew Lane and his companions disappeared into the dark, leaving Johnny and Felix standing on the steps of the "House of Magic." "Easy to put a phone in," Felix said. "House is full of wires." "And of eyes," Johnny added. "Yes--'House of a Thousand Eyes,'" Felix chuckled. "Want to know about 'em?" "Do I!" "Well, watch." Felix rang the bell. The door opened itself. "An eye did that," he said quietly. "An electric eye. Step inside." Johnny did so. As on that other occasion, the narrow space was filled with a strange light; then he saw skeletons, his own and Felix's, wavering before him.