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Show V2 TBLAZD TPAL. SYNOPSIS. rcy Darrow, & young scientist In A ch of a Job, enters the office of ' I " McCarthy of New York. Mo ' hy has Just been threatened by an lymoua message ordering him to flee lurope. He does not take the mes- seriously. Darrow goes up the itor to to' for a position with Dr. i. Suddenly the electric apparatus he Atlas building goes out of busl-. busl-. Experts are unable to locate the ble. All at once, without apparent 15 an, electric connections are restored. next erenlng McCarthy Is warned unless he leaves at once for Europe pi will be sent him at six. Prompt-,11 Prompt-,11 t that hour the entire electric appara- II of New York is cut off. Percy Dar-1 Dar-1 thinks he has a clue. He engages III help of Jack Warford. a college ath- Ther visit McCarthy and offer to down the cause of his mysterious ble. McCarthy has Just received an-r an-r warning bv wireless. At six a hlv stillness falls on the Atlas build-blotting build-blotting out all sound. Darrow is sted as he leaves the building. v CHAPTER VII. Continued. tt ie may conceivably possess the er to launch the fourth and dan-us dan-us arrow, but may withhold it un-, un-, he believes himself suspected or Cl' e pressed. At present he directs 15 self solely against McCarthy." ii- :y Darrow had been thinking 15 id, and realized it with a smile, tj is Is one of your jobs, fellow delve," de-lve," said he. "You've got to be ark for me to think at." Yi : wish you'd think a little more rly," observed Jack. "It sounds resting, but jumbled. I feel the I did when I began to read Greek." T McCarthy's incidental," observed row in his detached tone. Sh?" ,)h, I thought we might aB well wor-McCarthy wor-McCarthy by asking him for that on the side. It's amusing." A'hat do you want me to do?" ask-fack. ask-fack. ' This," said Darrow, with an unsual ( dity of utterance. "See that thick-quick thick-quick man in gray clothes? He's )liceman. In a moment he'll arrest Vrrest you why?" demanded Jack, ones of great astonishment. '. reason that McCarthy will come that conclusion. He is beginning to j.k I have something to do with jj-t he calls his annoyances. I saw it ; J, lis eyes. This last curious inanimation inani-mation came along too pat. You re-'ober, re-'ober, it cut off the dressing-down l i was going to give me." Darrow nCkled in appreciation. "Didn't the 7ior of that strike you?" He? Oh, I was scared," admitted i. V '. want you to go home and tell en just what happened in the At-Building. At-Building. Do not tell her that I 4 eve the phenomena are due to any lan agency. Say simply that if it epeated, and she happens to be lin the zone of its influence; to P calm, and wait. It will pass, and i not to be feared. Tell her I said -ord!" cried Jack. "You don't think going to happen again!" Vlthln the next twenty-four hours," Darrow. Oughtn't we to warn the people?" i.nd let our hidden antagonist w we are aware of his existence?" lired Darrow. Anything else?" Io yea. Buy a gun. If I bring Into any trouble, I'll see you r. You understand.?" : do." rely on your being game." To the limit," said Jack. "Here es your friend. Won't this arrest things up? Shall I rustle bail?" o," said Darrow. "I want to think. I need is all the papers. I'll be out n tomorrow morning, sure." hy are you sure of that?" because by that hour McCarthy have disappeared," said Percy row. he man In the gray suit, having ed his scrutiny, lounged forward, fou are Mr. rarrow," he stated. Sure I am, my amiable but obvious th," drawltO that young man. id on." He nt dded a farewell to t. and linked his arm in that of the r. After a few moments he burst an Irrepressible chuckle. Hie fat, thick-necked, thick-witted, fool!" said he. CHAPTER V' II- Percy Darrow't Theory. j ercy Darrow in tlK- police station, l Ha . - - .. jed an unused f -e lnsteaa oj a ce.i, amused him self reading the newspapers, of which be caused to be brought in a full supply. sup-ply. Theories had begun to claim their share of the space which, up to now, the fact stories had completely monopolized. Darrow, his feet up, a cigarette depending from one corner of his mouth, read them through to the end. Then he indulged the white walls of his little apartment with one of his slow smiles. The simplest of the theories had to do with comets. The most elaborate traced out an analogy an-alogy between the "blind spot" in vision vi-sion and a "point of rest" in phyical manifestations this "point of rest" had Just now happened to drift to a crowded center, and so became manifest. mani-fest. "Ingenious but fantastic youth," was Percy Darrow's tribute to the author. Professor Eldridge of the university. The "human-Interest" stories of both the evening before and those in the extras describing the latest freak in the Atlas Building, Darrow passed over with barely a glance. But certain figures he copied carefully Into his note-book. When he had found all of these, and had transcribed them, they appeared about as follows: "Atlas Wednesday, 5:25. 3:00 (about): 9 nr. 35 mln. General Thursday. 6:00. 7:56 (exact): 1 nr. 5 mln. Atlas-Friday, 10.10. 10:4S (exact): 3S On the basis of these latter figures he made some calculations which, when finished, he looked on with doub-ful doub-ful satisfaction. "Need more statistics," said he to himself, "before I can pose as a prophet. Just now I'm merely a guesser." By now it was afternoon. An official came to announce visitors, and a moment mo-ment later Helen and her brother came in. As Percy's case was merely one of detention, or for some other obscurer ob-scurer reason, known only to those who took their orders from McCarthy, the three were left alone to their own devices. After the first greetings and exclamations, excla-mations, Helen demanded to know particulars and prospects. "All right, I'll tell you," agreed Darrow. Dar-row. "I'm thought out; and I want to hear it myself." Jack looked about him uneasily. "Is it wise to talk here?" he asked. "I don't doubt they have arrangements for overhearing anything that is said." "I don't think they care what we say," observed Darrow. "They are merely detaining me on some excuse or other that I haven't even taken the trouble to inquire about." ' "That must astonish them some," said Jack. "And if they do overhear, I don't much care. Now," said he, turning to Helen, "we have here three strange Linked His Arm in That of the Officer. happenings comprising two phenomenathe phenome-nathe cutting off of the electricity, first in the Atlas Building, second In the city at large; and the cutting off of sound in the Atlas. Although we are, of course, not justified in generalizing general-izing from one instance, what would you think by analogy would be the next thing to expect?" "That sound would be cut off in the city," said Helen; "but Jack has already al-ready delivered me your warning or advice," she added. I "Precisely. Now as to theories of the ultimate cause. Naturally this must have been brought about cither by nature or by man. If by nature, it is exceedingly localized, not to say directed. di-rected. If by man, he must have la Bome way acquired unprecedented powers over the phenomena of electricity elec-tricity and sound. These he can evidently, evi-dently, at will, either focus, as on the Atlas Building, or diffuse, as over the city. For the moment we will adopt the latter hypothesis." "That it Is a man in possession of extraordinary powers," Bald Helen, leaning forward in her Interest. "Go on." "We have, completed, only the phenomena phe-nomena of electricity," continued Darrow; Dar-row; "the phenomena of Bound remain to be completed. We observe as to that (a)" he folded back his forefinger fore-finger "the Atlas manifestation lasted last-ed about nine and a half hours; and (b)" he folded his middle finger "the city manifestation was a little less man two nours. "Yes," cried Jack, "but then this second " "One minute," Interrupted Darrow; "let me finish. Now, let us place ourselves our-selves in the position of a man possessed pos-sessed of a new toy, or a new power which he has never tried out! What would he do?" "Try it out," said Jack. "Certainly; try it out to the limit, to see just what it could do in different differ-ent circumstances. Now, take the lapses of time I have mentioned, and assume, for the sake of argument, that these powers are limited." "Just how do you mean limited?" asked Helen. "I mean exhaustible, like a watering-pot You can water just so much, and then you have to go back and fill up again. In that case, we can suppose sup-pose this man's stream will last nine hours and a half when he dribbles it down on one spot, like the Atlas Building; Build-ing; but it will empty itself in about two hours when he turns her upBide down over a whole city. There remains re-mains only the length of time necessary neces-sary to refill the water-pot to round out our hypothesis. That is something more than nine hours and sometimes less than fifteen." "How do you get those figures?" demanded de-manded Jack. "The Unknown is anxious, after the Atlas success, to try out his discovery on the larger scale. He wHl naturally do so at the first opportunity after his water-pot is refilled. But he wishes to do so at the first effective oppor-tunlty. oppor-tunlty. What is" the most effective moment? The rush hours. What are the rush hours? From eight to ten, and at six. Since he did not pull off his show in the morning, we are fairly Justified in concluding, tentatively, that the water-pot was not full by then, and, as the Atlas phenomena subsided at three of the morning before, be-fore, the inference is obvious. "But isn't the most effective time at night, anyway, on account of the lights?" asked Jack. "Good boy!" approved Darrow. "He might have waited for that. But the city-wide phenomena ceased at eight the night before; and the Atlas sound phenomena did not occur until ten the next morning fourteen hours. Now, the most effective time to scare McCarthy was any time after nine. McCarthy arrives as the clock strikes." Jack shook his head. "Oh, it's not proof; it's idle hypothesis," hy-pothesis," admitted Darrow. "We shall have to test it. But let's go on with it, anyway, and see how it works out." "What's McCarthy got to do with it?" demanded Helen. "That's so, you aren't in touch there." Darrow sketched briefly the situation as it affected the boss. Hel en's eyes were shining with interest. "Now," continued Darrow, "having tried out his new power to the limit, our friend would begin to use it only as he needed It. There Is now no reason to empty the water-pot entirely. entire-ly. All he wanted to do this morning was to scare McCarthy, and impress the public. He did that in thirty-eight thirty-eight minutes. On the basis of fourteen four-teen hours to fill the water-pot, it Is evident that he would be rehabilitated, ready for business, in an hour. Therefore, There-fore, all he is waiting for now is the most effective moment to try out his city-wide experiment of silence. I imagine that will be about six." "Sounds reasonable,'" admitted Jack. "Reasonable! It's certain!" cried Helen. Darrow smiled. "No, only a wild hypothesis." "They're scared already; and they're somewhat prepared by the performance perform-ance this morning. Besides, I don't see yet that human agency Is suspected." sus-pected." "Don't you think you'd better warn people what is going to happen, and tell them there's nothing to be frightened fright-ened of?" pleaded Helen. "No,", said Darrow, "I do not. It would confuse the " phenomena, and they must be unconfused in order that I can either prove or disprove my hypothesis. If this lasts about two hours, the fact will go far to prove me right. If the next manifestation comes at' about ten the next morning, we shall have established a periodicity, period-icity, at least. But if the man realizes that his existence is suspected, he will purposely vary in order to mix me up." "The next manifestation!" cried' Helen. "Then you think they will continue " "Why not," smiled Darrow, "until he has scared McCarthy out?" "Which will It be next time, do you think?" "Whatever happens, don't be frightened," fright-ened," said Darrow enigmatically. "It seems to me there is something absurd about all this," said Helen. "A man with such a discovery, such powers, pow-ers, using them in such a manner, for Buch a petty purpose!" "He is, of course, crazy," Darrow said quietly; "the methodical logical lunatic the most dangerous sort." "What Is it he has discovered?" asked ask-ed Jack. "I do not know, yet." "But you suspect?" Darrow nodded, but would not explain. ex-plain. "What will be the outcome?" "I am going to cut loose from science and guess wildly," said Darrow, after a moment. "Tomorrow morning, somewhere about ten, McCarthy will disappear." "You said that before!" cried Jack. "Well, I say It again," drawled Darrow. Dar-row. CHAPTER IX. The Great Silence. Percy Darrow,. sat quite calmly, though a little "hungrily, through the first of the two hours of the Great Silence. As It fell, he looked at his watch; then went on reading. Strangely Strange-ly terrified faces flitted by the open door of his little room. About seven o'clock Darrow, struck by a sudden Coolly Broke the Locks Off the Door. Idea, arose, walked down the corridor outside, and quite deliberately set to work to force the light door. As has been Intimated, either by direct order of McCarthy or because of same vagueness vague-ness of the orders, the young man had been confined, not in the jail proper, but in one of the living apartments of the wing. Few realize how important a role sound plays in what might be called the defensives of our every-day life. Sight is Important, to be sure, but it is more often corroborative than not; it is more often used to identify the source of the alarm that has been communicated com-municated through other channels. When we are told of the hero or the villain that he stood t"with every Bense alert," our mental picture, in spite of the phrasing, is that of a man listening intently for the first intimations intima-tions of what may threaten. So it is in prison. The warders tan, of necessity, remain within actual view of but a few of the prisoners a small proportion of the time. But through those massive and silent corridors cor-ridors sound stands watch-dog for them. The minute scratch of a file, the vibrations attendant on the most cautious attempts against the stone structure, the most muffled footfall reports re-ports to the Jailer that mischief is afoot Now the watch-dog was asleep. Percy Darrow reflected that, were it not for the terror of these unexplainable hours, the prisoners within or their friends without could assail their confines con-fines boldly and formidably, even' with dynamite, and no one would be the wiser wi-ser if only none happened to be within actual visual range of the operations. He himself quite coolly used the iron side piece of his bed as a battering-ram battering-ram to break the locks of the door. Then . he walked down the long corridor corri-dor and out through the police station, bowing politely to the bewildered officers. of-ficers. The latter did not attempt to stop him. The people in the streets were, for the most part, either standing stock-still, stock-still, or moving slowly forward in a groping sort of fashion. Darrow, for the second time, noticed how analogous anal-ogous to the deprivation of sight was the total deprivation of hearing and feeling vibration. Traffic was at a standstill. People's faces were bewildered, for the most part; though here and there one showed show-ed contorted with the hysteria of fright, or exalted with some other, probably religious, emotion. The same impression of ghostliness came to Darrow here as in the Atlas Building. Build-ing. Visual causes were not producing their wonted aural effect. This complete severance of one cause and effect was sufficient U dis credit all natural laws. No other cause and effect was certain. Every-! where people were touching things to( see if they were solid, or wet, or soft or hard, as the case might be. Event Darrow felt, absurCly enough, that itl would not be greatly serious to jump' off the top of any building into the street Darrow swung confidently enoughl down the street. He was the only person per-son .who moved forward at a natural and easy gait. The effect was startling. star-tling. Darrow seemed to be the only real human being of the lot All the) rest were phantasmagoric. But as he proceeded down-town the spell was beginning to break. People were communicating with one another by means of pencil and paper. Darrow was amused, on crossing the park, to see against the lighted windows on Newspaper Row the silhouetted forms of activity. Evidently, the newspaper men were already at work on this fresh story. Near the corner of the park Darrow7, saw standing a policeman of his varied acquaintance. The scientist walked up to this man, who was standing in. the typical vacant uncertainty, smiled agreeably, clapped him on the back, and shook his hand. Darrow slipped his note-book from, his pocket, and Bcrlbbled a few lines, which he showed to the officer. The latter read, Inwardly digested for moment, and smiled. "Keep your hair one," ran Darrow' screed. "This will paBS in a few mln-) utes, and it won't hurt you, anyway. Don't look like all these other dubs."! He stood there companionably bfi the patrolman. They looked about them. All at once, with this touch ot normal, unafraid, human companionship, companion-ship, the weird terror of the sitnatida fell away. Darrow and his companion compan-ion were seeing humanity disjointed from its accustomed habit, as one, looks on a stage full of men hypno-i tized into belief of an absurdity. Where the blotting out of electricity' had been tragic, this, as soon as Itsy utter harmlessness was realized, be-i came comic. All about through the; park men were meeting the situation. 1 according to the limited ideas de-, veloped by a crustacean life of abso-j lute dependence on the shell of arti-i ficial environment. A considerable number of all sorts had fallen on thein knees and were praying. One fatj man in evening dress, with a silk hati and a large diamond stud showing be-j tween the lapels' of a fur-lined coatj was particularly fervent. By force of? habit Darrow remarked on this indi- vidual. "I'll bet he hasn't been to church; since he was a kid," he observed- The policeman caught the direction) of his look, however, and grinned with. -understanding. Some stood frozen to one 6pot, theirf faces agonized, as a man would stand still were the earth likely to yawn: anywhere. Darrow would have liked to reassure these, for their eyes as-, pressed a frantic terror. One red-faced red-faced individual with white Bide-whisk-ers, looking exactly like the comic-paper comic-paper caricatures of the trusts, had evidently refused to accept any ar-i bitrary dictates of natural forces. Probably he had never accepted any dictates of any kind. He was going from one taxicab to another, trying to command a driver to take him somewhere, some-where, talking vehemently and authoritatively, author-itatively, his face getting more and more purple with anger. The taxi-cab taxi-cab drivers merely stared at him stupidly. stu-pidly. "That old boy's kept his nerve," Darrow remarked, of course inaud-ibly, inaud-ibly, to his companion. "But he'll die of apoplexy if he doesn't watch out." Again the policeman caught the direction di-rection of Darrow's glance, and grinned grin-ned in understanding. He reached his huge gloved hand for the young man's pencil and paper, on which he wrote the name of a man high in railroad circles, cir-cles, and grinned again with evident relish. At that moment an entirely self-possessed self-possessed young man swung across the street. He surveyed the two men sharply a moment, then approached. . producing a sheaf of yellow paper as he did so. "Professor Darrow?" he wrote. Darrow nodded. The young man pointed to himself, then to the Despatch Building. , "Cause?" he wrote, and waved hi hand. Darrow shook his head. "Dangerous?" Darrow shook his head again. The reporter was about to add another an-other question, when Darrow reached for the paper. It was thrust eagerly into his hand. Darrow consulted his watch. "If," he wrote, "you will wait here four minutes, I'll give you an interview." inter-view." The reporter read this, and nodded. "You're on!" he added to the written writ-ten dialogue. Then he produced a cigarette, cig-arette, lighted it and joined the other two men in their amu6ed survey of the public's performances. During the four minutes that ensued Darrow examined the reporter speculatively. specu-latively. Finally his eye lighted Up with recollection. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |
