By this time Nancy and Ned were walking arm in arm toward the fraternity house.

"I've been working on the case. Last night we captured Zapp Crosson and he's in jail now."

"Thank goodness for that," Ned replied. "I don't think I could have taken much more. Crosson grew nuttier all the time and I was afraid he would kill me. Oh, you wanted to know where he has kept me hidden lately and how I got away."

"I know it wasn't the farmhouse nor the cabin in the swampy wilderness because the police are watching both places," Nancy said.

"You arranged that?" he asked.

Nancy told him that she had been working with Bess, George, Burt, and Dave. "And Professor t.i.tus was very helpful, too."

Ned revealed that Crosson had a third hideout. It was on an abandoned army post with a level but rather overgrown flying field.

"Whenever Crosson took me any place, I paid strict attention to how and where he piloted the copter. A couple of times he let me fly it.

"Last evening a friend of his came and took Crosson away in the copter-I think to the Anderson Museum-but only the friend returned with the craft."

"Where is he now?" Nancy asked.

Ned said that the man had gone off in his car after giving him some supper.

"I asked him how long Crosson would be away, and he said at least a couple of days. That gave me an idea. Crosson had not chained me as tightly as he had at the other two places and after a while I was able to get loose. I determined to try flying the copter, but I didn't dare set it down in any airport. I know I was breaking aviation rules. However, due to the circ.u.mstances I'm sure I won't have any trouble with the authorities."

"Was the glowing eye his own invention?"

"Yes, and he experimented with it in several ways-making it turn red, using a paralyzing type in a searchlight, and trying out a miniature, indestructible one. But he put a speaking tape in it, so if anyone should pick up the eye and open the lid, it would sound a warning. Crosson didn't want anyone to discover his secret. He also magnetized the inner wall below where the big eye appeared in the museum. It was put there to trap anyone investigating the spot."

"I know," said Nancy. "It happened to me."

"What!" Ned exclaimed. "That scoundrel! Well, I'm glad he couldn't finish his invention. He needed mine to perfect his own for commercial uses."

"Oh, I'm so glad he never got it," Nancy said. "Ned, what about the eye that glowed on one of your notes? Who put it there?"

"The paper was from a pad of Crosson's: "

"And the drawing on the paper at your home that was eye-shaped and had numbers on it?" Nancy said.

Ned grinned. "That was my secret. Sometime I'll explain it to you."

"Tell me, how did Crosson happen to adopt the name Cyclops?" Nancy asked.

"He became interested in the origin of the word and made his invention in the shape of a huge eye. Then he decided to call himself Cyclops. When I sent the note to you, I didn't dare use his real name in case he found it. I also thought Cyclops might be a good clue for you."

By this time the couple had reached the fraternity house. Though it was early, several students were up. When Ned walked in the door, they stared at him as if he were a creature from another planet. Then a great cheer went up.

The noise awakened everyone else in the house and within minutes Bess, George, Burt, and Dave were surrounding Ned, shaking hands or kissing him and asking a hundred questions.

"Tell you what, fellows-and girls," Ned said, winking at Nancy, George, and Bess, "suppose we have breakfast, and while we're eating, I'll tell you everything that happened to me. Now I want to call my parents. Nancy, will you call the police?"

"Yes, and tell them you're safe."

After a.s.suring Mr. and Mrs. Nickerson he was all right, and promising to see them that evening, Ned went to his room and had the first really good shower he had taken since leaving Emerson. Refreshed, he came downstairs and all the students and visitors and Professor t.i.tus, whom Burt had invited, a.s.sembled in the dining room. Ned ate some fruit and cereal, then got up and began his story.

"As you know, I worked next to Zapp Crosson in the lab. He proved to be a very inquisitive person and was always looking at my notes and watching my experiments. Quite accidentally I hit upon something which I think will be a worthwhile invention.

"Crosson thought so too and secretly determined to steal it from me. At one point I became a little suspicious, so I gathered up all my formulas and notes relating to my project and mailed them to my home."

"But what about the helicopter sketches that were in the same package?" Nancy interrupted.

"Crosson used to draw copters all the time. He left a sheet of them on my worktable one day. It must have become mixed in with my own papers."

Ned paused a moment before continuing his story. "He fooled me part of the time. Though I was suspicious of his intentions regarding my invention, I did not suspect he planned to kidnap me and keep me a prisoner until he could get my invention and market it.

"A week ago yesterday Crosson came to my room and told me he had a copter which he kept, with special permission, on a farm outside of town. He asked me if I would like to take a ride in it. He seemed so friendly that I was taken off guard and accepted. I had no time to write a note to Burt and Dave, because he insisted we leave at once.

"We drove out to the farm and I left the car parked at the side of the road. Everything went well until we got into the copter. Then Crosson suddenly pulled a gun and said I was his prisoner and he would not release me until I had given him a complete set of drawings and formulas for my invention. Of course I refused and he took me to that wilderness hideout."

"How wicked!" Bess Marvin burst out. Other students agreed and there was a few minutes of bitter talk about the graduate student. Finally Ned went on to relate what else had happened to him.

"Every time Crosson got word from his pals that the police were on his trail, he moved me. I had an idea it was Nancy who was keeping the police informed. We went from place to place but they were always in secluded areas.

"In the beginning Crosson wanted to scare Nancy off the case so she wouldn't try to solve it. Apparently he knew of your reputation, Nancy, and also where you lived. He said he could make his copter into a robot and that he intended to program it to go directly to your house. He was planting a bomb inside it, which was to roll out when the door opened automatically and blow up part of your home, and he even hoped to injure you and your father so you'd be too scared to try finding me."

"A bomb!" George exclaimed. "Nothing went off and the police didn't see it in the copter. What happened to it?"

Ned smiled and said that he had talked Crosson into letting him walk outside to see the helicopter when it was ready.

"I had decided to send Nancy a warning note so I wrote it and put the note into my pocket. When Crosson had everything set to go, I told him I'd heard something in the sky. Maybe somebody was coming after us. Of course he looked up and this gave me a chance to remove the bomb and put the note into the copter."

"What did you do with the bomb?" Burt spoke up.

Ned said he had taken a chance and hidden it under his coat. The robot copter was taking off from the hiding place in the wilderness.

"After it had gone, I told Crosson I wanted to get a certain plant out of the swamp and he a.s.sumed it had something to do with my invention, because he felt sure I was going to give in to his demands. He didn't want to walk into the mucky area himself, so he told me to go ahead but warned me not to try to escape. I a.s.sured him I wouldn't, but went far enough away so that he couldn't see what I was doing. I bent down to pull up a plant, but at the same time I gently placed the bomb underwater." Ned laughed. "I suppose it's still there. We must tell the police about it."

As Ned paused, Dave asked, "When Crosson found out the bomb didn't arrive at the Drew home, what did he think?"

"That during the flight the bomb must have rolled out and dropped off some place. Crosson watched the newspapers to see if there was a report of any accident but he never saw one."

Ned told his listeners that when the robot copter did not return to the wilderness hideout, Crosson decided to go see what had happened. "It was he who knocked out the police guard at the Drew house, cut the rope which had been used to tie the helicopter down, and flew the craft back where we were staying."

After glancing at his wrist.w.a.tch, Ned announced, "Fellows, it's time for those of you who have cla.s.ses to leave. Later I'll tell you more about my abduction."

Nancy and her special friends went to the guest room and sat down. Fortunately Burt and Dave had no cla.s.ses so they could stay to hear the rest of Ned's story. They learned that Crosson had robbed the Emerson lab to equip his own in the wilderness. Also that he had set the bomb in the file drawer of duplicate papers relating to the glowing eye. He didn't want anyone to see them.

Nancy asked, "Ned, is your invention still a secret, or could you tell us about it now?"

"I sure can, especially after all the great things you have done for me and captured Cyclops. My invention is a new way for a scientist to produce laser light so that even a small source of energy will do great feats. It's done by converting all of the energy into light."