CHAPTER II
_Ultimatum_
How terribly far-fetched it seemed! It was unbelievable enough thatBentley had once reposed in the body of an ape. That had been in theAfrican wilds. But the idiocy of the thing now rested in Bentley'sbelief that here, immediately upon landing, he was again facingsomething just as horrible.
But the coincidences were too clear. The palaver about "brains," and"Mind Master"--and those ape hairs in Bentley's hands. He wished heknew all that had led up to that story he had read in the paper justprior to the appearance of the naked man from the west door of theFlatiron Building. However, the killing would get front page positionnow, due to the importance of the dead man--Bentley never doubted itwas the man whom, in the paper, the "Mind Master" had promised toslay.
Great apes in the heart of New York City! It sounded silly,preposterous. Yet, before he had gone through that dread experiencewith the mad Barter, Bentley would have sworn that brain transplantationwas impossible. Even now he was not sure that it hadn't all been aterrible dream.
Should Bentley go at once to the police to give them the benefit ofwhatever knowledge he might have of Caleb Barter? He wasn't sure. Thenhe decided that sooner or later he must come out into the open. So hecaught a cab and went to police headquarters.
"I wish," he said, "to talk to someone about the Mind Master!"
If he had said, "I have just come from Mars," he could scarcely havecaused a greater sensation.
- - -
But his calm statement got him an instant audience with a slender manof thirty-five or so, whose hair was prematurely gray at the temples,and whose eyes were shrewd and far-seeing.
"My name's Thomas Tyler," said the detective. He certainly didn't lookthe conventional detective, but Bentley knew instantly that he_wasn't_ the conventional detective. "I work on the unusual cases. Ifyou hadn't sent in your name I wouldn't have seen you, which meansthat as soon as you leave here you are to forget my name and how Ilook."
He motioned Bentley to a seat. Bentley sat back. Suddenly Thomas Tylerwas around his desk and had pushed back the hair from Bentley'stemples. He drew in his breath with a sharp hiss when he saw the whiteline which circled Bentley's skull.
"It's not exactly proof," he said, as though he and Bentley had beenin the midst of a discussion of that awful operation Barter hadperformed on Bentley, "but I'd take your word for it."
"The story, in the main, was true," said Bentley.
"I thought so. What made you come here?"
"I saw that naked man run across Fifth Avenue from the door of theFlatiron Building. I saw the officer subdue him, helped him do it infact, and saw the man die. Since there was no detective there, I tookthe liberty of removing these from the fingers of the dead man."
Bentley gave Tyler the coarse hair, stained with blood. Tyler lookedat it grimly for a moment or two.
"Not human hair," he said, as though talking to himself. "Not like anyI know of. But ... ah, you know what sort of hair, eh? That's whatsent you here!"
"It's the hair of an ape or a gorilla."
"How do you know, for sure?"
"Once," said Bentley grimly, "for several horrible hours ... I was agiant anthropoid ape."
- - -
Tyler's chair legs crashed solidly to the floor.
"I see," he said. "You think this thing has some connection with yourown experiences. How long ago was that?"
"Slightly over two months."
"You think the same man...?"
"I don't know. But who could want, as a newspaper story I just readsays, to steal the brains of men? What for? It sounds like Barter.I've never heard of anybody else with such an obsession. I'm puttingtwo and two together--and fervently hoping they'll add up to seveninstead of four. For if ever in my life I wanted to be wrong it'snow."
Tyler pursed his lips. Bentley saw that his eyes were glinting withexcitement.
"But there's a possibility you're right. Do you know what the MindMaster's first manifesto said? It was published by a tabloid newspaperas a sort of gag--a strange crank letter. Here it is."
Tyler tossed Bentley a newspaper clipping a week old. Bentley readquickly:
"The white race is deteriorating physically at a dangerous rate. In fifty years, if nothing is done to prevent it, the world will be filled with men whose bodies are so soft as to be almost worthless. But I shall take steps to prevent that, as soon as I am ready. I need a week. Then I shall begin my crusade to make the white race a race of supermen, whom I alone shall rule. They shall keep the brains they have, which shall be transferred to bodies which I shall furnish.
(Signed) The Mind Master."
- - -
Tyler squinted at Bentley again.
"You see? Brains are all right, he says, but the white race needs newbodies. If he isn't suggesting brain substitution, what is hesuggesting? Though I confess I never thought of your story until yourname was sent in to me a while ago. For the world thinks of Barter ashaving been killed by the great apes."
"Yes, I told newspaper reporters that. I thought it was true. But thisMind Master must be Barter. There couldn't be two persons in the worldwith mental quirks so much alike."
"Tell me what Barter looks like. Oh, there are plenty of picturesextant of the famous Professor Caleb Barter who disappeared from theworld some years ago, but he'll know that, of course, and he won'tlook like the pictures.
"Alteration of his own features should be easy for a man who jugglesbrains."
"He may have changed his features since I saw him, too," said Bentley."But I'm sure I'd know him."
Tyler's telephone rang stridently.
He took down the receiver. His mouth fell slackly open as his eyeslifted to Bentley's face. But he recovered himself and slapped hishand over the transmitter.
"Anybody know you came here?" asked Tyler.
Bentley shook his head.
"Well," went on Tyler, "I don't know how it happens, but thistelephone message is for you!"
Bentley's heart seemed to jump into his throat. One of those huncheswhich sometimes were so valuable to him had struck him, as though itwere a blow between the eyes. His lips tightened. His face was pale,but there was a grim light in his eyes.
He hesitated for a second, the receiver in his hand, his mouth againstthe transmitter.
"Well, Professor Barter?" he said conversationally.
- - -
There came a gasp from Thomas Tyler. He jumped to the door andmotioned to someone. A man in uniform came to his side. Bentleydistinctly heard Tyler tell the man to have this telephone calltraced.
From the receiver came a well-remembered chuckle.
"So you were expecting me, eh, Bentley? You never really believed thatone of my genius would fall such easy prey to the great apes didyou?"
"Of course not, Professor," said Bentley soothingly. "It would be aninsult to your vivid mentality."
"_Vivid_ mentality! _Vivid_ mentality! Why, Bentley, there isn'tanother brain in the world to compare with mine. And you of all peopleshould know it. The whole world will know it before I'm finished, forI have made tremendous strides since you helped me to perform thatcrowning achievement in Africa. By the way, tell your friend Tyler,who just called the officer to the door, that it's useless to try totrace this call!"
Bentley jumped as though he had been stung. How had Barter known whatTyler was doing? How had he guessed what Tyler had told the man inuniform? How had Barter known Bentley was visiting Tyler? How had hediscovered even that Bentley was back in the United States? Why,besides, was he so friendly with Bentley now?
"You speak, Professor," said Bentley softly, "as though you could seeright into police headquarters."
"I can, Bentley! I can!" said Barter impatiently, as though he wererebuking a schoolboy for saying the obvious.
"You're close by, then?"
"No. I'm a long way--several miles--from you. But I can see eve
rythingyou do. And you needn't look at Tyler in such surprise!"
- - -
Bentley started. He had looked at Tyler in a surprised way and, cleverthough he was, he didn't think that Barter could have _guessed_ soaccurately to the second the gesture he had made. Barter chuckled.
"It's a good jest, isn't it? But listen to me, Bentley, I've a greatscheme in hand for the amelioration of mankind. I need your help,mostly because you were such an excellent subject in my greatestsuccessful experiment."
"Will it be the same sort of experiment as the other?" Bentley's heartwas in his mouth as he asked the question.
"Yes, the same ... but there are improvements I have succeeded inperfecting since the creation of Manape. My one mistake when Manapewas created was in that I allowed myself to lose control of him--ofyou! That will not happen again. Oh, if you'll help me, Bentley, thatoperation will not be performed on you until you yourself request itbecause I shall have proved to you that it is better for you. Youshall be my assistant and obey my orders, nothing more."
Lee Bentley drew a deep breath.
"If I prefer not to work with you again, Professor?"
A chuckle was Barter's answer. The chuckle broke off shortly.
"You should not refuse, Bentley," said the scientist at last. "Forthen I should find it necessary to remove you. You might stand in myway, and though you would be but a puny obstacle, you still would bean obstacle. For example, consider Ellen Estabrook, your fiancee. Ican find no use for her ... and she knows as much about me as you do.Therefore, at my convenience, I shall remove her."
- - -
"Caleb Barter," Bentley's voice was hoarse with anger as he droppedhis soothing mode of address toward the man he knew was insane, "ifanything happens to Miss Estabrook through you I shall find you nomatter how well you are guarded ... and I shall destroy you bit bybit, as a small boy destroys a fly. For every least evil thing thathappens to Miss Estabrook, a hundred times that will happen to you atmy hands."
"Good!" snapped Barter, no longer chuckling. "I am happy to know howmuch she means to you. It shows me how easily I may control youthrough her. It means war then, between us? I'm sorry, Bentley, for Ilike you. In a way, you know, you are my creation. But in a warbetween us, Bentley, you haven't a chance to win."
Bentley clicked up the receiver.
"Could you trace the call, Tyler?" he snapped.
Tyler shook his head ruefully.
"We couldn't locate the right telephone, but we could tell whichexchange it came through, and the lines of that exchange cover a hugesection of the city."
"Can you find out exactly the section and the address of each phone onevery line?"
"Yes. The exchange is Stuyvesant."
"That gives me some help. I used to live in Greenwich Village and Ihad a Stuyvesant number. I'm going after Barter. Say, Tyler, how doyou suppose Barter knew exactly what was going on in this room?"
Tyler's face slowly whitened as his eyes looked fearfully into theeyes of Lee Bentley. He shook his head slowly.
Bentley squared his shoulders and spoke quietly and determinedly.
"Mr. Tyler," he said, "I am in a great hurry. May I be conducted in apolice car? Might as well. I'll be working with you hand and gloveuntil Barter is captured."
Bentley rode behind a shrieking siren to the home of the Estabrooks... while from a distance of two miles Caleb Barter watched everymove and chuckled grimly to himself.