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The Sergeant's voice crackled over the 'phone. 'Not to my knowledge, sir, not unless Mr. Masters promised you some.'

The Brigadier put his hand over the mouthpiece and turned to the Doctor. 'Any ideas, Doctor, how I get this place cordoned off with only six men, all of whom I need at the caves?'

'Possibly,' said the Doctor. 'Let me have the 'phone.' He took the instrument as he spoke. 'This is the Doctor speaking, Sergeant Hawkins. Telephone the local Health Officer, whoever he is, and tell him that you are the registrar of St. Mary's Cottage Hospital, and that you have got an outbreak of bubonic plague. If he doesn't know what you're talking about, mention that it killed seventy-five million people in the Middle Ages.'

The Sergeant asked, 'What if he asks me something technical, sir?'

'Give a sort of strangled sound over the 'phone,' said the Doctor, 'and pretend you've got the plague yourself. Then ring off.'

'Yes, sir,' said Hawkins.

'You see,' said the Doctor, handing back the 'phone to the Brigadier, 'that'll bring the whole of the Derbyshire police-force round here in no time. No one will be allowed in, and no one will be able to get out. Meantime, you hold the fort with that revolver.'

'And what are you going to do?' asked the Brigadier.

'Try to develop the antidote,' said the Doctor. 'Good luck.'

The Doctor jumped into the driver's seat of the Jeep, and drove away fast down the drive.

With Liz helping, the Doctor smeared some of the substance from the canister on to a rectangle of glass and put it under a microscope. At last the Doctor had managed to convince Dr.

Lawrence of the urgency of the situation, and the sick-bay laboratory had been made over to him to work in.

'What's it look like?' said Liz.

The Doctor adjusted the focus of the microscope. 'Nasty black blobs,' he said.

Dr. Meredith hurried in. 'I've inoculated everyone in the Centre,' he said, 'but do you really think pumping antibiotics into people is any good against this stuff?'

'I've no idea,' said the Doctor. 'But it can't do any harm. Now what about my electron microscope?'

The Brigadier entered in time to hear the question. 'It'll be here in an hour, Doctor.'

The Doctor whirled round from the microscope. 'What's happened to that hospital?'

The Brigadier reported that the hospital had been entirely cordoned off by the Derbyshire police. 'And another thing,' he added,

'the Army is sending me reinforcements at last. Within half-an-hour I'll have every entrance to the caves guarded. How's the vaccine going?'

The Doctor gave the Brigadier a scathing look. 'I haven't even analysed the virus yet,' he said. 'All these new soldiers coming along here,' he went on, 'every one of them must be inoculated immediately they arrive.'

'I'll see to that,' said Dr. Meredith.

'Another thing,' said the Doctor. 'We must have the least possible contact between all the people concerned. The Brigadier's reinforcements mustn't mix with anyone from the Centre, and even within the research centre people from different departments must have as little contact as possible.' He had a sudden thought. 'That man Masters—he was at the meeting with Major Barker! How's he travelling back to London?'

'He mentioned catching a train,' said Liz.

'Brigadier,' said the Doctor, 'you must stop that train right away.'

But the Brigadier had already scooped up a 'phone and was speaking into it. 'I don't mind if you have to put a tank across the railway line,' he was saying, 'that train must not reach London!'

The guard on the train to London came along the corridor of the first-class compartments to inspect tickets. The train had just lurched to a stop, which puzzled him. He looked out of the window, but it was now dark outside and he could only just see the backs of some cottages. Then the train started again, going very slowly. He slid open the door of a compartment where the blinds were down.

'Ticket, please, sir,' he said.

There was only one person in the compartment. He looked up and