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Show Newest juraig Kennedy stones dSSsx IV THE SIXTH SENSE ISITTOKK yon have read in the -.rrn of the inynteriona burning of our ctmutrv home at Orcnn hurst, nn thn 5011II1 Mhorfi of I-ony Island:" Is-land:" It liii.l ln'fii ahoiit the middle of tin' iift'-niocjii I hilt, a hi'K1' ant.oniol.il'' ol thr; later). il.-i;'.n drew up at Kennedy ' laboratory and a stylishly-, Irr-sn.'d woman, wo-man, m-i-oiii.iiiii-l by a very attentive young infin, iililtfe'l. They had entered ami tho man, with a Wi bow, piCM-uted two cards bearing tho names of tho Count and Cuujitcss Alosijindro Hov-i'Tio. Julia Koviyno, I know, was tho daughter daugh-ter of Koer (inski-ll, the rcitirod banker. Khe had recently married Count Kovicr-no, Kovicr-no, a youliL' foroit-nor whose family bad larj."i shinping interests in America and nt Trieste in tho Adriatic. "Yes, indeed, I havo road abo-nt it, noddrd Craitr. " V'nu boo," she hurried on a Uttlo iiorvously, "it. was a vveddinp; present to us from my father." "(iiulia," put In tho younf; man quickly, Riving her namo an accent that wan not, however, ipiito Italian, "thinks the firo was started by an incendiary." in-cendiary." Kovigno wns a tall, rather boyish-lookinp; boyish-lookinp; man of VI or .Mil, with light brown hair, lifrht brown beard anil mus-(ache. mus-(ache. His eves and forehead spoke of intelligence, but I had never heard that he cared much about practical business . nffnirs. In fai t, to American society Rovigno was known chiefly as ono of the most dnrinrr of motor-boat enthusi-ahts. enthusi-ahts. "It may have heen the work of an incendiary," ho continued thoughtfully, "or it mav not. I don't know. But there has been an epidemic of fires among the largo houses on Long la-land la-land lately." I nodded to Kennedy, for I had myself my-self compiled a list for the Star, which showed that, considerably over a million mil-lion dollars' worth of show places had been destroyed. "At auv rate," added the countess, "we are burned out, and are staying in town now at, my father's house. 1 wish vou would come around there. Perhaps father can holp you. He-knows He-knows nil about the country out that way, for his own place isn't a quarter of a mile away. " "1 shall be glad to drop around if 1 can be of any assistance, " agreed Kennedy Ken-nedy as the vouug couple left us. The Rovignos had scarcely gone when a woman appeared at the laboratory labo-ratory door. She was well dressed, niett'v, but looked pale and haggard. "Mv name is Mrs. Bettiua Petzka, she began, singling out Kennedy. "Yon do not know me, but my husband, Nikola, was one of the first students vou taught, professor." ' "Yes, yes, I recall him very woll, replied Craig. "He was a brilliant student, stu-dent, too very promising. What can I do for vou? ' ' "Whv, Professor Kennedy, she cried, no longer able to control her footings, foot-ings, "he has suddenly disappeared." "TVhnt line of work has he taken up; asaeo viuig, imc.iw.. "He was a wireless onerator had been employed on a liner that runs to tho Adriatic from New York. But ho was out of work. Someone has toki me that he thought he saw Nikola in Hoboken, around the dmks, where a number of tho liners that go to blockaded block-aded ports aro laid up waiting the end of the war." She paused. "I see," remarked Kenuedv, Ken-uedv, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "Your husband wns not a reservist ol auv of tho countries at war, was he? "No- he was first of all a scientist. 1 don't think he had any interest in tho war at least, he never talked much about it. " . "I know," persisted Craig, " bnt had he takon out teix naturalization papers here?" "He had applied for them." "When did ho disappear?" ' ' I haven 't seen him for two nights, she sobbed. It flashed over me that it wa.3 now two nights sin-'O the tire that had burned Rovino's houee, although thoro was no reason for connoting tho evenU, at least vet. The vonng woman was plainly wtld with anxietv. "Oh, can't you help me find Nikola!" she pleaded. "Til try mv best," reassured Ken-nedv, Ken-nedv, taking down on a card her address ad-dress and bowing her out. It was Into in the afternoon beforo we had1 an opportunity to call at the Gaskell town house., where the Rovignos were staving. The count was not at home, but the countess welcomed us and led us direetlv into a large library. "I'd like to have you meet my father." fa-ther." she introduced. "Father, this is Professor Kennedy, whom Alex pud I have engaged to look into the burning of our house." Old Roger Gnskell received us, I thought, with a curious mixture of restraint re-straint and engerness. "I hope you 'II excuse me? " asked the countess a moment later. "I really must dress for dinner."' " I've heard of the epidemic of fires from mv friend, Mr. Jameson, here, on the Star," remarked Kennedy when we were alone. "Some, I understand, have attributed the fires to incemliories : others ha e said they werp the work of disgruntled servants; others of an arehi-te arehi-te t or contractor who hasn 't shared in the work and thinks he mav later. I've even heard it said that an insurance insur-ance man may be responsible. hoping to get new business, you kno.v." Cu-ikeJI looked at us keenly. Then he ruj-e and approached me, raising riis linger lin-ger as though cautioning Mience. " Ijo you know," he whispered. 60 faintly tnat it was ainiost lost, "sometimes "some-times I think tuere is a plot against NIC ? ' ' 'Against you?" whUpered back Kennedy. Ken-nedy. "Why, what do you mean ? " " I can't tell you here," he replied. "But 1 believe there are doteetapuonos hidden about this house!" "Have you .searched?" asked Kennedy Ken-nedy keenly. " V'es, but I've found nothing. I've gone over ail the lurnituro axid eur.h Liniigs. Still, they might be inside the walls, mightn't tney?" Kentiouy nodded. "C-ould you discover them if they wtroV" asked Gaskell. "I think i could," replied Craig confidently. con-fidently. "Tc.en there's another peculiar thing," resumed GnskolJ, a little more lreely, yet still whispering. "I suppose you know that I havo a country estate not far from my daughter." ile paused. "Of course, I know," he went on, watching Kennedy's face, "that sparks aro sometimes struck by horses' sJioes when they hit stone3. But the shoos of my horses, for instance, out thore lately have been giving iorth sparks even in tho stable. My groom called my attention to it, and I saw it myself." Ho continued looking searchingly at Kennedy. "You are a scientist," he said at length. "Can you tell me why?" Kennedy was thinking deeply. "I can't " ho replied frankly. "But I should like to have a chance to investigate." investi-gate." "Thero may be some connection with the fire," hinted. Gaskell anxiously as ho accompanied us to the door. At our own apartment, when we returned, re-turned, we found our friend, Burke, of the secret service waiting for us. "Just had a hurry call to come to New York," he explained, "and I thought I'd like to drop m on you first." "What's the tronblet" asked Kennedy. Ken-nedy. ' ' Why there 's been a mysterious yacht hanging about the mouth of the harbor for several days and they want to look into it." "Whose yacht do they think it is?" "They don't know, but it is said to resemble one that belongs to a man named Gaskell." "Gaskell i" repeated Craig, turning suddenly. ! ' ' Yes the Furious a fast, floating 1 palace one of theso new power yachts, rim by a gas engine built for speed. The revenue cutter Uncas had been assigned as-signed to me. If you have nothing better bet-ter to do, I 'd like to have you give me a hand in the case. You might find it a little different from the ordinary run." "I shall be glad to go with your," replied re-plied Craig, cordially. "Only, just now I've got a particular case cit my own. I'll see you tomorrow at the customs house, though, if I can." ' ' Good! ' ' exclaimed Burke. "I don 't think either of you, particularly Jameson, Jame-son, will regret It. It promisee to be a good story.' Burke had scarcely left us when Kennedy Ken-nedy decided on his next move. We went directly over to the JLong Island railroad station and caught the next train out to Oceanhurst, not a long run from the city. Yo entered the Gaskell estate and looked it over as we made our way toward to-ward the stable to find the groom. Out on the bay we could see the Furious at anchor. Nearer in shore were a couplo of Count Kovigno 's speedy racing motor-boats. Along the shore we saw a basin for yachts, capable even of holding hold-ing the Furious. The groom proved to be a rather dull-witted dull-witted fellow, and left us pretty much to onr own devices. "Yrn-as sparks I saw 'em," he drawled in answer to Kennedy's question. ques-tion. "So did Mr. Gaskell. Naw I don't know nawthiu' about 'em." He had lumbered out into another part of the stable when I heard a low exclamation excla-mation from Craig of " Ijook-W alter! " I did look in amazement. There were indeed little sparks, in fact a small burst of them in all directions, where there Were metal surfaces in close proximity to one another. Kennedy had brought along with him a strange instrument, and he was now looking attentively at it. "What is that?" I asked. "The bolometer," he replied, "invented "in-vented by Professor Langley." "And what does it do?" "Detects waves," he replied; "rays that are invisible to the eye. For instance, in-stance, just now it tells me that shooting shoot-ing through the darkness are invisible waves, perhaps infra-red rays." He paused, and I looked at him inquiringly. in-quiringly. "You know," he explained, "the infra-red rays are closer to the heat rays than those of the npper end of the spectrum and beyond the ultra-violet rays, with which we have already had some experience." Kennedy continued to look at his bolometer. "Yes,"he remarked thoughtfully thought-fully half to himself, "somewhere around here thpre is a generator of infra-red rays and a projector of those rays. It reminds me of those so-called F rays of Tlivi or at least of a very powerfnl wireless." 1 was startled at the speculations that his words conjured up in my mind. Somehow, the fact of the strange disappearance dis-appearance of Petzka, the wireless operator, op-erator, kept bobbing np in my mind. Could it have been Petzka who was responsible for the fires? But, why? I cotud not figure it out. Early the next morning we called at the Gaskell town house again. Kennedy had brought with him a small piece of apparatus which seemed to consist of two sets of coils placed on ends of a magnet bar. To them was attached a ong flexible wire which he screwed into in-to an electric light bulb socket. Then he placed a peculiar telephone-like apparatus, ap-paratus, attached to the other end, to hia ears. He adjusted the maffnets and carried the thing carefully about the room. At one point he stopped and moved the thing vertically up along the wall, from floor to ceilinp. "That's a gas pipe," he said simply. "What's the instrument?" I asked. "A new apparatus for finding pipes electrically, which I think can be just as well applied to finding other things concealed in walla under plaster and paper." He paused to adjust the thing. "The electrical method," he went on, "is a special application of the well-known induction in-duction balance principles. You see one set of Coils receives an alternating or vibrating current. The other is connected con-nected with this telephone. First I established es-tablished a balance so that there was no sound in the telephone." He moved the thing about. "Now, when the device comes near metal piping, pip-ing, for exnmple, or a wire, the balance is disturbed and I hear a sound. That was the gas pipe. It is easy to find its exact location. Hulloa " He paused again in a corner, behind Gapkell's de, and appeared to be listening lis-tening intentl". A moment later he was ruthlessly brenking through the plaster of the beautifully-decorated wall. Sure enough, in there was a detecta-phone, detecta-phone, concealed only a fraction of an inch beneath the paper, with wires leading lead-ing down inside the partition in the direction di-rection of the cellar. Tie ripped the little mechanical eraves- 1 Iri j 11 i i. u j: j dropper out. witpw anu hu, nut 110 uiu not disconnect the wires, yet. We traced it out, and down into the cellar the wires led, directly, and then across, through a small opening in the foundations into the next cellar of an apartment house, ending in a bin or storeroom. In itself the thing, so far, gave no clew as to who was using it or the pur-po?e pur-po?e for which it had been installed. But it was strange. "Someone was evidently trying to get something from yon, Mr. Gaskell," remarked Craig pointedlv, after we returned re-turned to the' Gaskell library. "Why do vou suppose he went to all that trouble?" trou-ble?" Gaskell shrugged his shoulders and averted his eves. "I've heard of a yacht outside New York harbor." added Craig ca-euallv. "A vacht?" "Yes," he said nonchalantly, "the Furious. ' ' Gaskell met Kennedy's eve and looked at him a? though Craig had some occult oc-cult power of divination. Then he moved over closer to us. "Is that detectaphone thing out of business now ? ' ' ' 1 Yes. ' ' ' Absolutely? ' ' i A h-mlurely. GikHl leaned over. "Then I don't mind trlling von. Pro-fr?or Pro-fr?or Kennedv.' he sni-1 in a low tone, 'that I am letting a friend of mine from London use that yacht to supply M.imo allied warship 011 the Atlantic with iu'w. supplier and ammunition. -): a 'a n he 'i rru-1. Kcnii'iv Inokc-l nt him hcenlv. hnfc for pome momenta did not answer. I knew he was deciding on how he might properly dovetail this with Burke's case cthu-ally. 1 .So:neone is trying to find out from eavesdropping jut what your plans are. then, ' ' remarked Craig thoughu'ully, with a sig-niiicant tap on the detectaphone. detecta-phone. A moment later he turned his back to us and knelt down. He seined to be wrapping the detectaphone up in a small package which he put in his pocket and closiug the hole in the wall the best he could where he had ripped the paper. pa-per. "All I ask of you," concluded Gaskell Gas-kell as we left a few minutes later, "is to keep vour hands off that phase of things. Find the incendiary yes; but this other matter that you Dave forced out of me well hands off! " On our way downtown to keep the appointment Kennedy, had made with Burke the night before he stopped at left the room, aCH argirtng. ErrA-ntTy, someone Is soing to pull off something toiUKht." It did not take Kennedy long- to make up hir mind what to do next. He left the cellar hurriedly and In the laboratory hastily fixed up a second heavy any bulky package similar to that which he had taken down to the revenue cutter earlier in the day, making It Into two parcels, so aa to distribute the burden between us. That night we journeyed out to Oceanhurst Ocean-hurst aain. Avoiding tiie regular road, we made our way from the station to the Gaskell place by a roundabout path and it was quite dark by the time wo got there. As we approached the basin we saw that there were several men about. They appeared to be on guard, but since Oceanhurst at that seuson of the year was almoet deserted and the Gaskell estate es-tate was out of the town, they were not especially vigilant. Park and grim, with only on Hgrht showing weakly, lay the yacht. It had been run into the basin. A hawser had been stretched across the mouth of the Nif ps. or POnie moments did not answer. I Ift the room, aCH argirtng, JErrA-ntTr, GtvJv9 rfii?? knew he was deciding on how he might someone Is soing to pull off something 1N- fyZi""" -JrY properlv dovetail this with Burke's case 1oi':k111;" , , . , a ft i-Nit1- ll fop rt'ni -Hv 11 dKl not take Kennedy Ions to make rxZ' l. , . . - -. - i. j up hi mind what to do next. He left f f ' ' y ' someone is trvm to find out from the ceUar hurriedly and In the laboratory 1 i-0''SriTK'-'-''Z eavesdropping jut what your plans are. hastily fixed up a second heavy any I ,:- '"ikor,' '!. SrT then," remarked Craig thoughtfully, bulky package similar to that which he r.yvv.jiji. with a sig-nilicant tap on the leteeta- had taken down to the revenue cutter ' .-S,-y-y j phone earlier in the day. making it into two j W -47 I A moment later he turned his back to to the burden JfS??vi3Fii ! us and knelt down. He semed to be Thal nUh't we journeyed out to Ovean- : :A j-.-' -v-jrr.yy I wrapping the detectaphone up in a small hurst again. Avoiding the regular road, 0 I package which he put in his pocket and we made our way from the station to the i I closiug the hole in the wall the best Oaskell place by a roundabout path and ,T he could where he had ripped the pa- !tu quite dark by the time wo got - -f-. 1 -iSf. . v : ' . te r there. '. K ' ":: "i1 - pef; , T 1 j 1 1 , . , As we approached the basin we saw ' I AU 1 Bslc 0f y0U' conclale'J Gas" that there were several men about. They :-y.yj-i::--cT" S'ar'Jx! kell as we loft a tew minutes later, appeared to be on guard, but since : J;y:.'r r.tr je:r 1 "is to keep vour hands off that phase Oceanhurst at that season of the year t. ' .-."ifj :- of things. Pind the ineendiarv yes; was almost deserted and the Gaskell es- - ; but this other matter that vou Save tate ,s " f l,ne town- were not f I forced out of me-weU-hands off!" n,y on. , , . On our way downtown to keep the sho-ln!. weakly. lay the yacht. It had v. .-iff, v;'T! - appointment Kennedy. had made with been run Into the basin. A hawser had 'if c - ' " '"'"' ' ' ' urk the niht before he stopped at been stretched across the mouth of the I Mrs. Petzka threw herself frantically upon him. the laboratory to get a heavy parcel which he carried along. We found Burke waiting for us, impatiently, impa-tiently, at the customs house. "We've just discovered that the liners over at Hoboken have had steam up for a couple of days," he said excitedly. "Evidently "Evi-dently they are waiting to make a break for the ocean perhaps In concert with a sortie of the fleets over in Europe." "H m," mused Kennedy, looking fixedly fixed-ly at Burke, "that complicates matters, doesn't it? We must preserve American neutrality. He thought a moment. "I should Ifke to go aboard the revenue cutter. May I?" Surely," agreed Burke. A few momenta later we were on the Uncas, Kennedy telling Burke just enough of what he had himself discovered so as to enlist his services. The captain in charge of the TJncaB joined the conversation a few moments iater, and then Kennedy took the heavy package down below. For some time he was at work in one of the forward tanks that was full of water, attaching the thing, whatever it was, in such a way that it seemed to form part of the skin of the ehip. Another brief talk: with Burke and the captain followed, and. then the three returned re-turned to the deck. "Oil, by the way," remarked Burke, as he and Kennedy came back to me, "I forgot to tell you that T have had some of my men working on the case and one of them has just learned that a fellow named Petzka, ono of the best wireless operators a Hungarian or something has bfen engaged to go on that yacht." '"Petzka?" I repealed involuntarily. "Yes," said Burke, in surprise, "do you know anything about him?" "Not much," replied Craig. "But you can find out abo-nt him. I think, through his wife. He used to be one of my students. stu-dents. Here's her address. She's very anxious to hear from him." Burke took the address and a little while later we went ashore. I -was not surprised when Kennedy proposed, pro-posed, as the next move, to revisit the cellar in the apartment next to Haskell's house. But I was surprtsed aX what he said, after we bad reached the place. We had scarcely secreted ourselves in the cellar storeroom, which was in a dark corn e r wh ere one m igh t re ma in u n o b-perVprt b-perVprt even if the janitor entered tiie cellar, cel-lar, provided he did not search that part, when KennPdy took the receiving head- piece of the dptectapnone and placod It over his head, quite as if nothing had happened. hap-pened. "What's the use of that?" I queried. "You ripped the transmitter out up above." He smiled quietlv. "While my back was turned toward you. so that you couldn't see," he saJd. "I clipped the thing hack a.eain. only down further where Gaskell wouldn't be likely to find it even if he looked. I don't know whether ho was frank with 119. bo I thought I'd try the eavesdropping game myself, in place of the , man who put this thing in in the first ! place, whoever lie was." ! We took turns listaning", but could hear not a sound. Nor did anyone come Into . the cellar. So a good part of the afternoon passed, apparently fruitless. My patience was f horouchly exhausted when, suddenly, a motion from Craig revived re-vived my flagging Interest. I waited impatiently im-patiently for him to tell me what it was that he heard. "At first I beard the sound, of voices." he answered o.uirkly. "One was the voice of a woman, which I recognized. It was the counter. The other was the count. " 'Oiulia.' T heard him say, a.s they entered the room, 'I don't see why you should want to go. It's dangerous. And. besides, it's none of our business if your father lets his yacht be used for such a purpose. " 'But I want to go. Alex.' she said. 'I wili go. I'm a good sailor. It's - father's fa-ther's yacht. He won't care. I should think you'd want to go." " 'Not I. I can get all the excitement excite-ment T want in a motorboat rare without with-out risking my precious neck pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for someone else.' " 'Well, I want the adventure.' she persisted petulantly. " "But. Giuiia, if you go tonight, think of the risk ' 1 "Tii.' was the last I hcvrd as they I basin. Outside was a little tender, while a searchlight was playing over the water all the time. Evidently whatever Interference Inter-ference was feared was expected from the water rather than from the land. We slunk into the shadow of a row of, bath houses in order to get our bearings, j Kennedy drew me back Into the shad- , ow deeper at the sound of footsteps on I the board walk leading in front of the i bath houses. , From our hiding plac we could now! hear two voices, apparently of sailors. , "Do you know the new wireless opera- I tor who goes with us tonight?" asked ; one. ! "No. They've been vary careful of him. i I guess they were afraid that someone might get wise. But there couldn't very well be any leak there. One of those Englishmen has been with him every minute since he was engaged." "They say he's pretty good; who Is1 her j "A Servian, he eays, and his name sounds as if it might be so." The voices trailed off. It was only a scrap of conversation, but Kennedy had not missed a word of it- "That means Petzka," he nodded to me. "What is he a Hungarian or a Servian?" Ser-vian?" I asked quickly. Kennedy had craned his neck out beyond the corner of the batlvhouse and was looking at the Furious In the basin. "Come on, Walter," he whispered, not taking time to answer my question. "Those fellows have gone. There's no one at all on this side of the basin and I just saw the men on deck go up the gangplank to the boat-house. They can't do any more than put us off, anyhow." He had watched his chance well. As quickly as we could, burdened down by onr two heavy packages, we managed to slip across the boardwalk to the piling that formed that side of the basin. The Furious had swung over with the tide nearer our side than the other. It was a daring leap, but he made tt as lightly as a cat, landing on the deck. I passed over the packages to him and followed. Kennedy scarcely paused to glance about. He had chosen a moment when no one was looking, and, bending down under the weight of the packages, we dodged behind a cabin. A dim lieht shining into the hold told us that no one wa s there and we d i ved d own . It wa s the work of a moment to secret ourselvet in the blank darkness behind a pile of ooxes an. A noise startled us. Some one was coming down the steep, ladder-like stairs. A moment later we heard another noise. There were two of them, moving about among the boxes. From our hiding place we could overhear them talking in hoarse whispers, but could not see them. "Where did you put them?" asked a voice. "In every package of explosives and in as many of the boxes of canned goods as I had time. There wasn't much opportunity oppor-tunity except while the stuff was in the boat-house. I looked at Kennedy, wild-eyed. Was there treachery In th crew? He was leaning forward as much as our cramped quarters would permit, so as not to miss a word. "All right," said the other voice. "No one suspects?" "No. But the secret service bag been pretty busy. They suspect something but not this." "Good. You are sure that you can de-donate de-donate them when the time comes?" "Positive. Everything is working fine. Tve done my part of it. Changing wireless wire-less operators gave me just the chance I wanted." "All right. T guess m go now." "Remember the signal. As soon as the things are detonated I will get off. some way, by wireless the $ O S as if it came from the fleet, vou understand?' Yes that It will be the s-.enal for the dash. Good luck I'm going ashore now." As they passed up the ladder, I could no longer restrain myself. "Craig." I cried, "th's Is devilish!" I thought I saw it all now. In the ca-ses of goods on the Furious were some terrible terri-ble infernal machines which had been hidden, to be detonated by these deadly rays of wireless. Kennedy was busy, working quickly putting together the parts he had taken from 'he U'o packages we had carried. As I watched him. I realized that the burning of the Rovlgno house was not the action of an Incendiary, after all. It had been done by these deadly my, probably by mere accident. As nearly as I could make It out. there was a iuumerplot HKtnt! the Furious. Somewhere was an in:ernal workshop, po.siMy In-dtl about by doors of steel, which ordinary force would find hard to penetrate, but from which, any moment, this Kiiper-criniinal mipiil snd nut hid deadly power. The problem before us now wns not only the preservation of Amonrfiu neutrality, neu-trality, bul the actual safety of it. Through the open hatch I could now hear voices on the deck. One was that of a woman, which I recognized quickly. It was Julia Rovlgno. "I'll be just as quiot as a mouse," she was saying. "I'll stay in the cabin I won't be in the way." I could not hear the man's voice in reply, but it did not sound like Rovlgno's. It was rather like -Gaskell's. Still, we had heard enough to know that Julia Rovlgno was on the yacht, had Insisted on going on the tWCilVlon for the excitement of the thing, just as we hnd hoard over the dotc-ctaphone. "Hadn't we better warn her?" I asked Craig, who had paused In his work at the i sound of voices. Before he could answer we were plunged in sudden darkness. Someone had switched out the light that had been shln-.ing shln-.ing down through the hatchway. BTore jwo knew it the opening to the hatchway had been closed. Kennedy groped about for a light, stumbling over boxes and bags. "For heaven's sake, Craig," I entreated, "be careful. Those packages are full of the devilish things!" He said nothing. At last we had a little more freedom to move and I managed to find my way over to a little round porthole and nnn It As I looked out I almost fainted at the renliration. The Furious was under way! We were locked in the hold virtual prisoners pris-oners our onlv companv those dastardly infernal machines, whose vory nature we did not know! Why had Kennedy not foreseen this risk? I glanced at him. He had found an electric light, connected with the yacht's dvnamo, and, before turning it on closed and covered the port so that it threw no reflection out. Far from heing disconcerted, on tho contrary, con-trary, he seemed rather pleased ttian otherwise at the unexpected turn of events. What he-was working on I did not know, but If it was some sort of wireless, even if we were able to send a message, what hope was there that it would get past the delicate wireless detector which the criminal must have somewhere near for tapping messages that were being flashed through the air? Had we not heard hira say that the signal was to be an S O S sent, as it were, from the fleet far out on the ocean? I could well have believed that Kennedy Ken-nedy could rig up some means of communication. com-munication. But, If the possessor of this terrible infra-red ray, or wireless wave secret, should learn that we, too, knew it. the only result that he would accomplish accom-plish would be to insure our destruction immediately. It was a foggy night and a drizzle had set In. The Furious could not under such circumstances make such good speed as she was accustomed to make. Fortunately, Fortunate-ly, also, the waves were not running high. Craig had taken a desperate chance. How would he meet it? I watched him at work, fascinated by our peril. Finishing as quickly as he could, he put out our sole electric light, unscrewed the i bulb and attached to the socket a wire which he had connected with the instrument instru-ment over which he had spent so many precious moments. Through the little porthole he cast a peculiar disk, heavy, such as J had seen ; him nlace so carefully aboard the Uncas. i It sank in the water with a splash and trailed along beside the yacht, held by wire, submerged, perhaps ten or twelve feet. He made a final inspection of the thing as well as he could by tho light of a match, then pressed a key which seemed to close a circuit. I could hear a dull, metallic vilwation, as It were. "What are you doing?" I asked, looking curiously also at an arrangement, like a microphone, which he had placed over his ears. "It works!" he cried excitedly. "What works?" I reiterated. "This Feesenden oscillator," he explained. ex-plained. "It's a system for the employment employ-ment of sound for submarine signals. I don't know whether you realize it, but great advance has been made recently since It was suggested to use water In-stead-jOf air as the medium for transmitting transmit-ting signals. I can't stop to explain thiB apparatus just now, but It is composed of a ring magnet, a copper tube which lies in an air gap of a magnetic field, and a stationary central armature. The magnetic mag-netic field is much stronger than that in the ordinary dynamo. "The copper tube, which has an alternating alter-nating current induced In it, is attached I to solid disks of steel which in turn are attached to a steel diaphragm an inch thick. In the Tjncas I had a chance to make that diaphragm practically a part of the side of the ship. Here I have had to hang it overboard, with a large water-! water-! tight diaphragm attached to the oscillator." oscil-lator." I listened eagerly, even if I were not an electrical engineer. "The same oscillator," he went on, "is used for sendins and receiving, for, like the ordinarv electric motor it is also capable for acting as a generator, and a very efficient one, too. All I have to do is to throw a switch in one direction when I want to telearaph or telephone under water, and in the other direction when I want to listen In." I could scarcely credit what I heard. Craig had circumvented even the spectacular spec-tacular wireless. He was actually talking talk-ing throucrh water. Cmitr bad virtually endowed himself with a sixth sense! "Here's the answer!" he exclaimed in sudden exultation. "Burke is on the Uncas Un-cas He tells me that he went to see Mrs. Petzka and she is with him insisted on going, when she heard that her husband hus-band had been engaged by the Furious-' He waited a moment. "You see. Walter," he resumed, Vh.t I am doing is to seni rm hihunis which the T ncas ran locate and follow us ?he is fast., and. thank heaven, this yacht has to go slow tonight Sound travels In water at a velocity of about 4000 fet. a second. For instance, I find that I get an echo In about one-twentieth of a second. That is the reflected sound wave from the bottom, and indicates that we are in watr of about 300 feet depth. Then I get another echo in something over two'seconds. That is the waves reflected re-flected from the t'nras, whirh has been hovering about, waiting for somthin to happen. Thev can't be much more than a mile and a half away now. T had expected ex-pected to sienal them from the shore, using this oscillator to get round that fellow's wireless. But we're much better bet-ter off on the boat." I looked at him in amazement- 'Surrounded 'Sur-rounded by all this Junk that may blow us to kingdom come any second?" I demanded. "Burke savs steam Is still up on all the ships tied up In the harbor so that they can make a dash for It. They are evidently evi-dently waiting for that S. O. S. signal." "That's all right," I said in desperation, "but suppose they blow us up first?" "Blow us ud first?" he repeated. "Why, don't you understand? It Is not the Furious Furi-ous that thev are after. The whole war fleet that Is hanging around In this part of the Atlantic Is to be blown up in mid-ocean, mid-ocean, a? part of the plan to aid the escape es-cape of the interned ships in New V rk." "Oh." I breathed, with a sigh of relief, re-lief, "that's it. Is It?" "Yes. We'll get In bad all around If we can't stop It Burke with the Secret service ser-vice and ourselves with Gaskell, who does not dream that his yacht is being used for the exact opposite of the purpose for which he thinks he has lent It to say nothing of the mess that our governmmt will have to face for letting these precious shemrs play ducks and drakes with our neutrality." We waited eagerly, Kennedy sending ' out and receiving the submarine Bignals. and 1 pewmg out anxiously Into the almost al-most iutpenetrnhle fog. SiuU-.-nly, apparently from nowhere in the shifting mist, limits soemed to lc-m up. Instead of stopping, however, the 'u'iouN put on a sudden burst of reik- The t ncas was no match for her at that mime. Mould she escape ilnallv, at'K-r all ? A sii. irp report rang out. The Uncas had St. nt a shot across our bows, so dan-St-rously close th:it it snapped one of the cahh-s that held the must. The vibration 01" our encine slowed, and reasrn. and we lay, idly wallowing m the wnws as the revenue cutter, bearing bear-ing our triond Burke and help, came up. A couple of bouts put out from the cutter cut-ter and in almost no time we could hem ; the tread or' fe.u and the exchange of harsh words as the government officers swarmed up the ladder to our deck. It was only a moment later that the hatch was broken open nnd we heard the welcome brouue of Rurke. calling, "Kenned "Ken-ned y are you nnd Jameson all right?" "Ricrht here," sung out Craig, detaching the oscillator and replacing the electric bulb, which ho lighted. The countess was surprised, and I felt rather glad, to see ua at a time when we might possibly exert some Influence in her favor if matters cam to a more serious se-rious pJtss. Thoro was scarcely time for a word. Burke's men were working qulcklv. -ov had entered the hold, after a word r7fr. Kennedy, and far out into the ocean the.y'V: were casting the boxes and bags over-board, over-board, ono at a time, as fast aa they could. They worked feverishly, ab Burke spurred them on, and I must sav that it was with the utmost relief that f saw the things thrown over. The boxes sank, but rose again and . floated, bobbing up nnd down, at leant some of them, perhaps a third above water and two-thirds below. It was not for aevoral minut thn t noticed that with those who nnd come aboard the Kuriou from the cutter stood Bcttina l'etska. A moment later ahe caught sight of Kennedy. "Where is my husband?" she demanded, running to iiim. Kennedy had no chnnce to reply. Suddenly a series of Hashes shattered . tho darkness, a terrific roar seemed to rise from the very ocean, while a rain of sparks lighted up great spurts of water and then fell back, to perish in the dark wavefl. The Furious trembled from end to end. We looked, startled, at each other. But we were all safe. The thingB had been detonated in the water. "Only the fact that he would have bown himself up prevented him from blowing up the yacht and all the vldonco against him, now that we have discovered discov-ered his plot," cried Burko, excitedly dashing down the deck. I Recovered scarcely from our surprise at the explosion and the queer actions of the Secret Service man, wc ruehed fng a3 3t W6 could- a's lead- He led the way to the little wireless room. The door was bolted on the inside, in-side, but we managed soon to burst It open. I shall never forget the surprise which greeted us. In a chair, bound and gagged as though he had been overcome only after a struggle, sat Petzka. Mrs. Petzka threw herself frantically on him, tearing at the stout cords that held him. "Nikola what Is the matter?" she cried "What has happened?" Through his gag, which she had loosened loos-ened a bit, he made a peculiar, gulling nolso. As nearly as I could make"ies- he was struggling to say. "He came iiK surprised me seized me locked the door." N"ta Julia Rovlgno stood rooted to tha- spot Ji utterly speechless. a'k There, surrounded by electric batterie-w condensers, projectors, regulators, resom-v' wjia, reuecLors, voltmeters, ano: amis-ters, amis-ters, queer apparatus which he had Srfiug-gled Srfiug-gled secretly on the Furious, before a strange sort of device, with a wireless headgear still over his ears, stood th owner of at least two of the liners of the belligerents which were to have mad their dash for the ocean after he had succeeded suc-ceeded by hia new wireless ray device in removing the hostile fleet Count Ro-vigno Ro-vigno himself. |