stepped back proudly behind his handiwork.

"Thou shalt be convinced shortly, Master Manners," he exclaimed. "Ha,
ha, I shall have many friends soon. None know the power I have at my
command, and princes and queens will court me to possess it. I can
either kill or keep alive, my elixir--"

His voice was lost in the din of a great explosion. Bottles and jars
were rattled together and smashed. The chamber was full of smoke and
flame. Everything was suddenly thrown into frightful disorder, all was
in confusion. Solid masses of rock were detached from the walls and
roof, and went crashing across the room, destroying everything with
which they came into contact, or else burst through the wall and
bounded down the steep rock outside. The very room seemed to spin
around, and Sir Ronald and Manners were thrown headlong upon the
pavement of the passage outside.

What could it all mean?

Simply that the engine had done its work. Edmund had overcharged it,
and it had exploded. The angel of death had slain its creator, and the
wonderful elixir of life was lost to the world for ever.




CHAPTER XXX.

STOLEN SWEETS.