Carse’s gun was empty, but he still squeezed the trigger. He cursed the lion in a shrill, insane monotone. As Drake pulled Pete through the door and slammed it shut, he saw the most ghastly sight of all—something that he knew would be imprinted on his memory for all time.
Nero’s head dropped, very slowly. The midget began to scream as the great jaws opened, and closed very gently upon the man’s head.
The shrieking grew to a crescendo. It shrilled out in frightful, ear-piercing agony. And—it stopped!
There came a brittle crunching sound that turned Drake sick and giddy. Blood spurted suddenly, splashing the lion’s muzzle. The great beast lifted its head, something dangling from blood-smeared jaws— something that dangled grotesquely, like a broken doll.
The lion’s head dropped. He gave a bubbling cough, and quieted. Abruptly he fell over on his side, his legs contracting in a spasm of agony. Then he lay without movement.
Drake shut the door and barred it. Then he turned and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. Joan faced him, her eyes wide. Slumped in a chair lay Pete, his hand pressed to his wounded side.
“Carse is dead,” Drake said tonelessly. Pete nodded.
“Yes,” he whispered. “He got me first, though. I—I—”
“Forget it, Petrie,” Drake said. With a stride he reached the wounded man, and was busy staunching the blood. “You’ll live to be eighty.”
“No—no—”
Joan Kirby was staring in amazement, her lips parted. “Petrie—but Ken! That isn’t John Petrie!”
Pete shook his head wearily. “Yes, I am, my dear. Drake—you are Drake, aren’t you?—guessed the truth. How—”
“Don’t talk,” Drake said, his fingers working swiftly. “Just take it easy. When Joan told me about your medicines—how you insisted on taking them so regularly—I had a clue.
“Then, when you tried to save our lives—well, I guessed who you were. Hypothyroidism, isn’t it?’
The other nodded. “Yes. Nobody knew—but my doctor. Since I was a child—”
“I know. It’s a glandular disorder,” Drake said over his shoulder to Joan. “The thyroid gland doesn’t work right, doesn’t secrete as it should. Unless Petrie get his thyroxin regularly, he suffers the natural results of hypothyroidism. He loses flesh. His eyes get dull, his skin gets wrinkled and sallow, his hair gets dry and brittle. A perfect disguise, eh? ’
“Then you’ve guessed that, too, eh?” Petrie whispered.
DRAKE nodded. “I think so. You knew the formula for making flexible glass, but you didn’t have much stock in the company, did you? So you simply decided to disappear— the only one who knew how to make flexible glass. When the news leaked out, the stock dropped. It’s way down today. When it hit bottom—”
Drake hesitated. “When it did, you were going to buy up enough shares to get a controlling interest—and then reappear. Is that it?”
Joan gasped. “Mr. Petrie! You didn’t—”
“But I did,” Petrie said, his lips twisted wryly. “I got a just reward, too. I used to know Carse, a long time ago. He offered to let me hide out here, and I did. I didn’t want to be recognized by any chance visitors, so I stopped using the thyroxin.”
“Carse doublecrossed me. He kept me prisoner, and tried to make me tell him the formula. I managed to escape this morning, and telephoned from the grocery—but Carse caught me before I could say more than a few words. He threatened the grocer to keep him silent.
“I—I’d have spoken before, but I knew Carse would kill you if he thought you’d guessed the truth.” Petrie reached for a pencil and pad that lay on a table beside him. He scribbled something hastily.
“There’s the formula. It’s for you, Joan—and you, Drake. It will make both of you rich. As for me—I’ll be dead very soon.”
“No!” Joan gripped Petrie’s wrinkled hand in her own. “You’re not going to die. Don’t—”
She stopped as she saw Drake’s face.
“It’s all right,” Petrie whispered. “The bullet—went too far in. Carse deserved to die—but not Leeta. I’m paying—for—that—”
Joan caught her breath, and Drake’s arm went around her, drawing her close. Petrie’s jaw dropped; a glaze suddenly filmed his staring eyes.
Within the yard a lion roared, as though in requiem.