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Show UTAI TIIE PAYSON CHRONICLE, PAYSON, The tlons Black Box of Silence By Francis LyncJe Illustrations O. (Copyrljht Irwin Markham nodded slowly. "Don't you know, Owen, It all listens a good bit like a pipe dream." But what Is So It does to me. worse, I can't get away from the feeling that I'm In the fix of the man who Invented the Frankenstein thing." ? Meaning Meaning the frightful uses to which this contrivance of mine could be put In the committing of crime. You might say there Is no end to them. Noise Is the burglar's chief menace; with this box of mine coupled to a lighting socket he could wreck the lower story of a house or blow the strongest bank vault In perfect security, so far as So, ul.so, the noise was concerned. with the use of firearms. You see what by Myers (WNU Sortie) WilUiun ier&r4 Chapman J fcy CHAPTER I The Black Box It was between tlie acta of t lie play. The orchestra of a theater In t'artlnijje, a college town of the Middle West, was In full swlriff, when there sounded a faint click from whut appeared to be an overgrown portable camera on the lap of one of two young men seated In the right hand proscenium box of the theater, and Instantly the bowing of the ylollns, the Velios and the bas, the fingering of the brass and woodwind, the tapping of the padded sticks on the kettle-drum- s became merely so many soundless gestures In a pantoAll was dead Bller.ce. The two young men In the box who eemed to have precipitated this extraordinary state of affairs were both bout of an age, both Carthage born and reared, and both graduates of the local college. Hut with these basic well-dresse- aped." Two hours later the two young men were seated In Landis workshop laboratory. On the walk from the theater I.andls had tried to explain, as ns he could, the successive steps taken In the development of hla astonishing Invention. What you've been saying Is mostly Greek to me," Markham offered. "Just the same, I can surround the faet accomplished, all right having had the practical demonstration. Hut now the question arises, what have you got? Can It be put to any useful use?" Possibilities?" Landis queried. The They are almost unlimited. trouble Is that they are bad as well as good." Shoot," said the son of small-citwealth, Im listening. The circuit, or whatever you choose to call it, will operate at a distance I dont know Just yet how far anil It will pass either through or around obstructions. Turn a switch, and you can sleep In silence as profound as that of a mountain top, so far as noises are concerned. Hull! sounds a good bit like Alice In Wonderland. But what else? If yon stop the racket for yourself, you stop It for everybody else, as well, don't you? At short distances, as tonight In the theater, yes. Tnke. for example, a steam whistle a mile away; In the Immediate neighborhood of the whistle the sound Is normal, or nearly so; a listener within a radius of, say, a quarter of a mile would scarcely detect any muting of the blast, though It Is really muted at Its source. Beyond this Inner circle the sound diminishes quite rapidly until at about half a mile It has vanished completely." In your demonstration tonight you connected the thing with the theater lighting circuit. Ioes that mean that you are tied to electric power plants for It's use?" Not at alL An automobile storage battery will operate the box for a limited time." owe. the Possession of a Criminal There Is Simply No Limit to the Harm the Thing Might Do." In I mean. In tlie possession of a criminal there Is simply no limit to the harm the thing might do. How many people know about your Invention, Owen? "Up to this minute, Just two of us I haven't talked you and myself. about It to anybody, partly because the whole thing was experimental and I didnt want to have to answer a lot of curious questions. But now, as Ive said, Im like the man who Invented the Frankenstein thing In Mrs. Shelleys story. When I think of all the harm It might do In the wrong hands, I feel as If I ought to tie a stone to the box and pitch It Into the river. There was a thoughtful pause, and at the end of It, Markham said, You are quite sure nobody else knows about It? I hope I am. Have you any reason to doubt It? Not what you could cnll a reason ; no. But I have worked here In the lab, a good many nights, sometimes until quite late, and there have been moments when I've had a queer feeling that I wasnt alone; that somebody was spying on me. Bure I guess. We'll let that Markham nodded. part' of It rest and pass on to the material things. You want to make some money out of this Invention of yours, dont' you? Or are you too much of an Inventor to look thnt far ahead? Landis smiled. Im not quite so much of a dreamer as that, Wally. If I could only be sure the thing wouldn't be put to evil uses " You'd like to see some hard cash results," Markham finished for him. That Is right and proper and human. I suppose so; while I wns at work on It I did think that If It should prove a success It might help me find a place as a research man with one of the big electric companies." Too modest, as you usually are," Theres a frilly grunted Markhnra. fortune In that box If Its properly exploited. But to make money out of an Invention you have to spend money. Suppose you let me talk to dad In strict confidence, of course. Youd do that for me? Sure I would. Why not?" There was a moment of silent embarrassment, and then Landis said, half apologetically, Give me a day or so to think about It, Wally. I want to see If I can't fight down that feeling about the criminal possibilities. It's fearfully good of you to offer to step lu and Markham cut the protests short. "Take as much time as you want, of course. And never mind the acknowledgments. Weve been pretty chummy for a good ninny years, you and I, Owen, and It would be a pity If either of us wouldn't give the other a hand when the chance offered." Then, with a glance at his watch. "If It wasn't so late I'd stay a bit longer and raw-hid- e But you about another matter. I guess the other matter will keep. It Isnt late for me. What have I been doing that I ought not to have quh'kly. You are not saying It all, Wally not speaking for yourself, I mean. But ever you dont need to. Ive known with Is n how you. last since year You are In love with Betty yourself. That Is one reason why I've burled In my Job here to give you rny-e- if and her a chance to find out where you both stand. No, don't make any mistake; It Isnt any silly knightly lil airy on my part Just common If I should marry, I'm not decency. even sure 1 could feed and clothe a wife. And when poverty comes In at the door You neednt quote Oh, shush! I proverbs at me. Don't you suppose know that I dont stand a Chinamans chance with Betty? What I'm beefing about Is the way you scamp your chances with her. Theres another Blehmond In the field. Did you know Q33GD GES32i fZQEEHU) GBmOl0S3O GeShzb Procter & (nuuDccns3 rrrrm v Ctalto HADE BY THE KAURS OP IVORY SOAP For clean, sparkling dishes with less work-- try the New Oxydol with its 50 more suds rich, lasting suds that cut grease cleanly and yet are kind to hands. Oxydol never frail up, leaves no scum, softens water. AAl Qncjnnn H0USh6LdS0AP Train-Speed- s Shower in Philippines The fastest tlrfie ever Holds Worlds Record, railroad train depends ralnfutl ever The heaviest measured occurred at Baguio, the summer capital'' of the Philippines, la July, 1911. Only brief accounts of It have been published until this year, when story of the shower and t detailed was Issued by Ilev. Miguel Its effects Selga, director of the Philippine weather bureau, says Charles Fitz-hug-h Talman In his Science Service feature, "Why the Weather?" This torrential downpour attended the passage of a typhoon. More than 88 Inches of rain fell during the four days, July 1117, Inclusive, the maximum fall In a period being 4(i inches from noon of the fourteenth to noon of the fifteenth. "Two Inches loss than four feet of rain In 24 hours! Tills Is more than falls In the whole of an average year at most places In the northeastern United States and Canada. Literary Digest. No precepts will profit a fooL that he needed tal relaxation. made by a upon how performance Is reckoned. The fastest train run on record was made a vacation an? I havent loan dollar more than Ira o feel certain that w!lung h Ill be ly alone. No one comes nL whim they owe you money. over the Blunt system between Fleming Hnd Jacksonville, Fla., In when a train covered five IPO), miles at an average of 120 miles per (Iyhour. The er ot the Great Western railway In England recently covered the 7744 miles between Swindon and Pad dington in fid minutes and 47 seconds, from start to stop, averaging The highest 81.0 miles per hour. speed reached was 1)2 miles per hour. Tills Is claimed ns a world mark for speed on a start to stop computation. London-Cheltenhar- Extinct Mariupixl Domains of the diprotodon. tlnc-marsupial of the Ilelstc age that was almost as large small elephant, have been four great abundance In certain d up salt lakes of the central south Australian deserts. The garoos and wombats are the est living relatives of this an which, so far as Is known, wa largest of the animals that ea a t their Lending for Protection Hollywood thought a certain motion picture star had gone crazy when he began to lend money to certain of his friends. To be sure, the amounts were small, but the fact that he lent any at all was cause for consternation among the people who knew him real well. Dont you worry, grinned the young In a pouch. Varying Estimate I put my reliance In the wlsfloa of the plain people, said Senator Sorghum. But suppose the plain people do not happen to agree with you?" Then I refuse to be Influenced by the clamor of the thonghtlea crowd." CHAPTER II A Blind Lead I.andls was waiting at the driveway gate when Markhams roadster came to a stand, and his thin face seemed to have grown haggard overnight. It wasnt my Imagination, after all that feeling I told you about last night, the feeling that some one was spying upon me as I worked, he said. And as they entered the small building. This Is Just as I found It a few minutes before I 'phoned you. Markham stooped to look Into the safe, the door of which was standing open. It was opened on the combination? he said. Of course It had to be. The thief knew what was Inside and knew that he couldn't dynamite the safe without taking a long chance of destroying the thing he was after. I found It Just as It stands now; the bolts shot, and the dial standing on the final figure of the combination." Urn; that brings on more talk, right at the beginning of things. Somebody know your combination? The question seemed to plunee the Inventor Into a deep pit of embarrassment. I cant say positively, Wally. But but the one person who may know the combination Is as far above suspicion as the stars are above the earth." Gome clean," said Markham, with his grin. "If I'm going to help, Ive got to know the Insides all of It, haven't I? Who Is this person VV S. v. who may know? Til toll you. and you'll see that theres nothing to It that there cant he. One day, a few weeks ago, I brought Betty out here to show her an electrical toy Id been tinkering on. I wns keeping the thing In the safe, as I do anything thnt I don't want to leave lying around In sight, and when I began to spin the dial she knelt beside me, saying shed alwavs been curious to know how a combination lock on a safe worked." And you showed her?" Of course. I explained how the tumblers were made and put together so that each time the dial stopped at the proper figure one of the tumblers would be left In the open position." Was that ail you did?" Not quite. To Illustrate what I inennt I unscrewed the buck plate of the lock and called off the series of figures so she could spin the dial and see for herself how the mechanism worked. It was only a bit of byplay, as you might suv, and there ,nt a ,j ,.lt shadow of doubt in mv Betty forgot the figure before she was an hour older. But oven F e ipdn't, n , tp(l she Is out of the on one who open e I s; was watching you tonight when Betty Lawson was on the stage. I guess you know good and well what I saw?" Landis Rushed boyishly and looked down. You didnt see anything more than you have known for a good while." Markham laughed. 'Nothing more than all Carthage has known, for that matter. But, say, boy what do you think a girl Is made of? For a half-yea- r and better you've buried yourself In this work shack of yours, and If you ve thought anything at all about Betty, youve taken It out In thinking. o-- . i You know , t J r li e ' ' " .1 v a - , - r Ve v.'V . a.. .a. Iji "Jj ins. A - ' aXA. v ,v v .. 4 -X . I' ' V' - 'A .V .:w . 'a m sS a million mother WOULD YOU A MOTHER who has watched over her baby . . . day after day . . . thrilling to his every little gain . . anxious about his smallest distress . : . Who can talk to you more understanding than she ? If a million such mothers could sit down with you now and tell you of their experience wtth a remarkable baby food-wo- uld you be interested? Today, there are more than a million mothers who could tell you gladly, convincingly, ot the wonderful things that Eagle Brand has done. ear alter year-- by hundreds, by write to The Borden to tell their dramatic human stories. They tell of babies who grew and gained and flourished on Eagle Brand, with never a They tell of babies who have won blue ribbons and silver cups. They tell of babies once failing, starving, because they could not digest other foods brought back to full health by Eagle Brand. ' ' " W J,. . M'.V.VAVX'. A V A Aiad Aomethina to tell good-nature- done? What soelal pleasure she's enloyed she's had to forage for lu other dlree- - move- So much for the night when Betty Lawson, daughter of the physics professor nt the college, starred In their Little Theater association's production. At a comparatively early hour the following morning, Wally Markham, getting out his rondster to drive to town for a box of congratulatory roses to he taken to the successful actress, was called to the telephone. A strained voice thnt he barely recognized as Landis' came to him over the wire. Is thnt you, Wally? For heaven's snke, come around here to the house as quick ns you can. My safe's been opened and the Mack box Is gone! I" I theatrical I've chased her for Instance. little not nearly so much as about I wanted to but you've simply Ignored her, Owen; you know you have. The laggard In love spoke up that?" I.andls face fell. "No! You don't mean that, Wallv! I do, Indeed; this new fellow, Can-by- , who Is cutting such a wide swnth with his wonderful development scheme for Carthage. Going to make It another Chicago overnight and all that. He Is rushing Betty to a finish, and she seems to like It. A gridironing of fine lines appeared between Landis eyes. I dont like Canity, Wally what little I've seen of him. Just the same, he Is exactly the kind of brute to take a girls fancy; good looking, dashing, man-o- f the-hlger world ; that sort. Betty Is plenty sensible, but at the same time she Is human. There; Ive said rnv say, and What do yoj now I'll toddle along. do with this priceless casket of yours overnight take it to bed with you? Not quite that; I keep It here. Landis knelt before a small safe under the laboratory work bench, opened It, put the Mark box Inside and twirled the combination. said I see; safe bind, safe find, Markham, with a laugh for a weak Let me know when or If pun. you want me to have a talk with dad about the financing. So long. mime. partln. lars the similarities paused abruptly. Owen Landis, the one with the queer black box on his knees, was slenderly built, with a thin, eager face and dark hair and eyes the eyes of a dreamer and enthusiast. Ills companion, Wuller Markham, was the of a small city; well fed, yet not without a glimmer of penetrative shrewdness In his eyes to prove his right to claim kinship with hlg hard headed banker father. For an Interval measurable In seconds the soundless pantomime continued; then, suddenly, and as If there had been no gap of silence, the various Instruments burst Into full voice. A wava of half bewilderment swept over the house, followed quickly by enthusiastic applause, the audience evidently taking the pantomimic Interruption for a skillful bit of stage business on the part of the orchestra. Wonderful 1" Markham exclaimed, under cover of the resumed music. "As you said, Owen, It has to be seen to be believed. Why didnt you keep It up bit longer? I didnt Landis Bhook his head. dare to let It go on. In two seconds more there would have been a panic. I figured that for Just about so long Schornbergg men would go on bowing end fingering automatically as they l!d. Hut when realization came, thered be chaos. I meant to anticipate that moment, and I did; couldnt let It go over the brink, you know. Blnrlt magic! Markham commentIs this a hat youve been working ed. on all these months that youve been holed up In your laboratory den? Youve said It. "Well, now youve got It, whats the answer? I mean, how does It do It? As Ive told you. It Is simple enough In prlnelple, By radio we transmit sound and mnke It do our bidding. My problem was to find a circuit which, Instead of amplifying the received sounds would Itself operate to neutralize them. Once my basic circuit was developed, all it asked for wns a pretty long series of experiments. "Now youve found the answer to your problem, what are you going to do with It?" Come around to my shop with me after the play and Ill talk It ont with you," Landis said, adding Most Inventors and discoverers are short on practical sense common sense and Im no exception. Maybe you can anpply what Im lacking In that re- the amateur ments, LISTEN ? tjeu And often, they tell of handsome, healthy sons and daughters raised on grown-ufood to Eagle Brand, and now giving this p their babies. FREE -h- elpjul baby book or you. If yoo cannot nurse your baby, try Eagle Bran on label. Send of See feeding directions inBabys Welfare, containing feeding baby on structions, general information care. We will gladly send your physician a report of the recent scientific fee DS test of Eagle Brand. thou-sands-th- Com-pan- y, THB BORDEN COMPANY. Dept. WN-- Borden Building, N.Y. y fiL 350 Madisoo Ave., New York, Please send me new edition A Babys Welfare. 7 set-bac- Same Address, State. adJress p (riease print name and Ctj. J |