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think maybe you had both better come with us."

   We were in no position to argue, though we both would have liked to do a little of that right there, but we had no way of enforcing our arguments. Where could a hero gain any credit in a place like that? So we permitted the five to escort us deeper into the depths of old Lassen.

   They had led us farther down and I guess we had gone a couple more miles when we came to the first thing that really amazed us... We came to a place where the cavern widened out a little and we saw some kind of machine, if it can be called that. Though I had no chance to examine it closely at the time, I did later and it was a very strange contrivance. It had a very flat bottom, but the front was  curved upward something like a toboggan. The bottom plate was about eight inches thick and it was the color of pure copper. But it was very hard tempered. Although I have had a lot of experience with metals and alloys, I had no opportunity to examine it closely enough to determine just what it was, I doubt very much if I could. It had a seat in the front directly behind a heavy dash-board affair and there was a dial shaped in a semi-circle with figures or markings on it. I had not the slightest idea what they stood for, but they were very simple to remember. (See cut.)

If there was a motor, it was in the rear. All I could see was two horse shoe or magnet shaped objects that faced each other with the round parts to the outside. When this thing was in operation, a brilliant green arc seemed to leap between the two