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Show kCt TSLAZD TPAL. 1 SYNOPSIS. Percy Darrow. a young scientist In search of a Job. enters the office of "Bom" McCarthy of New York. McCarthy Mc-Carthy has Just been threatened by an anonymous message ordering him to flee to Europe. He does not take the message mes-sage seriously. Darrow goes up the elevator to try for a position with Dr. Knox. Suddenly the electric apparatus In the Atlas building goes out of business. busi-ness. Experts are unable to locate the trouble. All at once, without apparent reason, electric connections are restored. The next evening McCarthy Is warned that unless he leaves at once for Europe a sign will be sent him at six. Promptly Prompt-ly at that hour the entire electric appara-tui appara-tui of New York Is cut off. Percy Darrow Dar-row thinks he has a clue. He engages the help of Jack Watford, a college athlete. ath-lete. They visit McCarthy and offer to run down the cause of his mysterious trouble. McCarthy has just received another an-other warning by wireless. At six a deathly stillness falls on the Atlas building, build-ing, blotting out all sound. Darrow Is arrested as he leaves the building. He Is undisturbed because he believes he Is on the right track and that another portent por-tent will appear at six. This time "the whole town Is thrown into darkness and all hearing suspended. Under cover or the confusion Darrow escapes from Jail. The next morning Darrow and Warford to to McCarthy's office Just as the latter lat-ter (tets another warning. Darkness hits the Atlas building In broad daylight. CHAPTER XII. Continued. 'We'll show you all right." said he. He sketched briefly for Hallowell's benefit the reasoning already followed out, and which It Is therefore unnecessary unneces-sary to repeat here. "So now," he concluded, con-cluded, "we will consider this hypothesis: hypothe-sis: that these phenomena are caused by one man in control of a force capable cap-able of deadening vlbratioiiB in ether snd solids within certain definite limits." lim-its." "Why do you limit it?" cried Hallo-well. Hallo-well. "Because we have had but one manifestation mani-festation at a time. If this Unknown were out really to frighten which seems to be his intention it would be much more effective to visit us with absolute darkness and absolute silence combined. That would be really terrifying. ter-rifying. He has not done bo. Therefore, There-fore, I conclude that his power is limited lim-ited In applicability." "Isn't that a little doubtful?" spoke up Jack. "Of course," said Darrow cheerfully. "That's where we're going to win out on this sporting proposition with our dear Brother Eldridge. He won't accept ac-cept any hypothesis unless it is absolutely abso-lutely copper-riveted. We will." "I think you underestimate Eldridge," El-dridge," spoke up Hallowell. "He's the only original think-tank in a village vil-lage of horse troughs." "I don't underestimate him one bit," countered Darrow; "but we have a head start on him with our reasoning; that's all. He's absolutely sure to come to the conclusions I have just detailed, de-tailed, only he'll, get there a little more slowly. That's why I want you in on this thing. Hallowell." "How's that?" "We'll publish everything up to date and cut the ground from under him." "What's you special grouch on Eldridge, El-dridge, anyway?" asked Jack. i "I like to worry him," replied Percy j Barrow non-committally At that moment the darkness disappeared dis-appeared as though some one had turned a switch. The reporter, the operator and the scientists's young assistant as-sistant moved Involuntarily as though dodging, and blinked. Darrow shaded hie eyeii with one hand and proceeded as thou sh nothing had happened. "Hero are the exclusive points of Jour story," he said to Hallowell, handing a sheaf of yellow wireless forms. "I got them in McCarthy's office. of-fice. They are messages from the unknown un-known wielder of the mysterious power pow-er to his enemy, the political boss, "here will be plenty who will conclude these messages to be the result of fanaticism, after the fact; that is to. ay, they will conclude some wireless amateur has taken advantage of natural phenomena and, by claiming himself the author of them, has attempted at-tempted to use them again his enemy. Of course, the answer to that is that 'f the Unknown let's call him Monsieur Mon-sieur X did not cause these strange things, he at least knew enough about them to predict them accurately." "You Just leave that to me," hummed hum-med Hallowell under his breath. The reporter had been glancing over the tireless forms, and his eyes were shining with delight. "Here is the last one," said Darrow. Producing a crumpled yellow paper jjom his pocket. "I went back after "McCarthy: My patience I at an end. V Your last warning will be sent you at nine thirty this morning. If you do not sail on the Celtic at noon I shall strike, l ou are of a stubborn and a stiff-necked generation, but I am your lord and master, mas-ter, and my wrath shall be visited on you. Begone, or you shall die the death." "That bluffed him out," said Darrow, "and I don't blame him. Now, Simmons," Sim-mons," said he, turning to the operator, opera-tor, who had sat in utter silence, "how about It? Are you with us, or againBt us?" ' How do you mean?" demanded Simmons. Sim-mons. "Thia," said Darrow Bharply. "The time has passed for concealment. Every message through the ether must now reach the public. We must send messages back. The case Is out of private hands; it has become important im-portant to the people. Will you agree on your honor faithfully to transmit?" He leaned forward, his indolent frame startlingly tense. "Are you afraid of McCarthy?" "He's been good to me it's a family matter," muttered the operator. "Well " Darrow arose, crossed to the operator, and whispered to him for a moment. "You see the seriousness you are an intelligent man." The operator turned pale. "I hadn't thought of that," he muttered. mut-tered. "I hadn't thought of that. Of course I'm with you." "I thought you would be," drawled Percy Darrow slowly. "If you hadn't decided to be, I'd have had another man put in your place. Hadn't thought of that, either, had you?" "No, Bir," replied Simmons. "Well, I prefer you. It's no job for a quitter, and I believe you'll stick." "I'll stick," repeated Simmons. "Well, to work," said Darrow, lighting light-ing the cigarette he had been playing with. "Send this out. and see if you can reach Monsieur X. " 'M,' " he dictated slowly. " 'Do you get this?' Repeat that until you get a reply." Without comment the operator turned turn-ed to his key. The long ripping crashes crash-es of the wireless sender followed the movements of his fingers. "I get his 'I I,' " he said, after a moment. "It's almighty faint." " McCarthy has disappeared. Can no longer reach him with your messages.' mes-sages.' " "He merely answers 'I 1' " observed ob-served the operator. "By the way," asked Darrow, "what is your shift, anyhow? Weren't you on at night when this thing began?" "I'm still on at night; but Mr. McCarthy Mc-Carthy sent me a message, and asked mo to stay on all this morning as a personal favor to him." "I see. Then you're still on at night?" "Yes, sir." "Well, tell Monsieur X that fact, put yourself at his disposal, and tell him "Here Are the Exclusive Points of Your Story." he'd better get all his messages to you rather than to the other operators here." "All right." "There's your story," said Darrow to Hallowell; "it's in those messages. The scientific aspect will probably be done by somebody for the evening papers. pa-pers. You better concentrate on Monsieur Mon-sieur X's connection with McCarthy." "Say, my friend," said Hallowell earnestly, "do you think I'm a reporter for the Scientific American or a newspaper?" All three rose. The operator was buBy crashing away at his Leyden jars. "What next?" asked Jack. "That depends on two things." "Whether or not McCarthy takes the Celtic," Interposed Hallowell quickly. "And whether Monsieur X will be satisfied with his mere disappearance, if he does not take the Celtic," supplemented supple-mented Darrow. "In any case, we've got to find him. He's unbalanced; he possesses an Immense and disconcerting disconcert-ing and dangerous power; he is becoming becom-ing possessed of a manle des grandeurs. You remember the phrasing phras-ing of his last message? "I am your lord and master, and my wrath shall be visited on you. Begone" That Is the language of exaltation. Exaltation Exalta-tion Is not far short of irresponsible raving." "What possible clue " began Jack Warford, blankly. "When a man Is somewhere out in the ether there is no clue," replied Darrow. "Then how on earth can you hope to find him?" "By the exercise of pure reason," said Darrow calmly. CHAPTER XIII. Darrow' Challenge. With a final warning to Simmons as to the dissemination of any information informa-tion without consulting him, Darrow left the room. Hallowell listened to this advice with unmixed satisfaction; the afternoon papers would not be able to get at his source of Information. Tha reporter felt c slight wonder as to how Darrow had managed his ascendency as-cendency over the operator. An Inquiry In-quiry as to that met with a shake of the head. "I may have to ask your help in that later," was his only reply. At the corner, after pushing through a curious crowd, the men separated. Hallowell started for the wharf; Jack Warford for home at Darrow's request. re-quest. The scientist returned to his own apartments, were he locked himself him-self In and sat for five hours cross-legged cross-legged on a divan, staring straight ahead of him, doing nothing. At the end of that time he cautiously stretched stretch-ed his legs, sighed, rose, and looked Into the mirror. "I guess you're hungry," he remarked remark-ed to the image therein. It was now near mid-afternoon. Percy Darrow wandered out, ate a leisurely meal at the nearest restaurant, restau-rant, and sauntered up the avenue. He paused at a news stand to buy an afternoon paper, glanced at the headlines head-lines and a portion of the text, and smiled sweetly to himself. Then he betook himself by means of a bus to the Warford residence. Helen was at home, and In the library. li-brary. With her was Professor Eldridge. El-dridge. The men greeted each other formally. "After a moment of general gen-eral conversation Darrow produced the newspaper. "I see you have your theories In print," he drawled. "Very interesting. I didn't know you'd undertaken gram-mer-school physics instruction!" "I know I'm goina to be grateful for any sort of Instruction from anybody," any-body," interposed Helen. "I'm all in the dark." "Like the Atlas Building," Darrow smiled at her. "Well, here's a very good exposition in words of one syllable. syl-lable. I'll leave you the paper. Professor, Pro-fessor, what have you concluded as to the causes?" "They are yet to be determined." "Pardon me," drawled Darrow, "they have been determined or at least their controlling power. "In what way, may I ask?" Inquired Professor Eldridge formally. "Very simply. By the exercise of a little reason. I am going to tell you, because I want you to start fairly with me; and because you'll know all about it in the morning, anyway." "Your idea the one you told us yesterdayis yes-terdayis to be published?" cried Helen, leaning forward with Interest. "The basis of it will be," replied Darrow. "Now" he turned to Eldridge El-dridge "listen carefully; I'm not going go-ing to indulge In many explanations. Malachi McCarthy, political boss of this city, has made a personal enemy of a half-crazed or at least unbalanced man, who has in some way gained a limited power over etheric and other vibrations. This power Monsieur X, aB I call him the Unknown has employed em-ployed in fantastic manifestations designed de-signed solely for the purpose of frightening fright-ening his enemy Into leaving the country." coun-try." Eldridge was listening with the keenest attention, his cold gray eyes glittering frostily behind their lenses. "You support your major hypothesis, hypothe-sis, I suppose?" he demanded calmly. "By wireless messages sent from Monsieur X to McCarthy, in which he predicts or appoints in advance the exact hour at which these manifestations manifesta-tions take place." "In advance, I understand you to say?" "Precisely." "The proof is as conclusive for merely mere-ly prophetic ability as for power over the phenomena." "In formal logic, not In common sense. Eldridge reflected a moment further. removing his glasses, with the edge of which he tapped methodically the palm of his left hand. Helen had sunk back Into the depths of her armchair, arm-chair, and was watching with Immobile Immo-bile countenance but vividly interested eyes the progress of the duel. "Granting for the moment your major ma-jor hypothesis," Eldridge stated at last, "I follow your other essential statements. The man is unbalanced because he chooses such a method of accomplishing a simple end." "Quite so." "His power is limited because it has been applied to but one manifestation of etheric vibration at a time; and each manifestation has had a defined duration." dura-tion." Darrow bowed. "You are the only original think-tank," he quoted Hallowell's Hal-lowell's earlier remark. "You are most kind to place me In possession of these additional facts." said Eldridge, resuming his glasses, for naturally my conclusions, based on Incomplete premises, could hardly be considered more than tentative. The happy accident of an acquaintance with the existence of these wireless messages mes-sages and this personal enmity gave you a manifest but artificial advantage advant-age In the construction of your hypothesis." hy-pothesis." "Did I not see you in the corridor, of the Atlas Building the day of the first electrical failure?" asked Darrow. "Certainly." "Then you had Just as much to go on as I did," drawled Darrow, half closing clos-ing his eyes. The long dark lashes fell across his cheek, investing him In his most harmless and effiemlnate look. "I fall to" "Yes, you fall, all right," Interrupted Darrow. "You had all the strings In your hands, but you were a mile be- "You're Going to Fall a Second Time." hind me In the solution of this mystery. mys-tery. I'll tell you why: It was for the same reason that you're going to fail a second time, now that once again I've put all the strings in your hands." "I must confess I fail to gather your meaning," said Professor Eldridge coldly. "It was for the same reason that al ways until his death you were Inferior to dear old Doctor Schermerhorn as a scientist You are an almost perfect thinking, machine." Darrow quite deliberately lighted a cigarette, flipped the match Into the grate, and leaned back luxuriously. Professor Eldridge sat bolt upright, waiting. Helen Warford watched them both. "You have no humanity; you have no imagination," stated Darrow at last. "You follow the dictates of rigid science, sci-ence, and of logic." "Most certainly," Eldridge agreed to this, as to a compliment. ! "It takes you far," continued Darrow, Dar-row, "but not far enough. You observe only facts; I also observe men. You will follow only where your facts lead; I am willing to take a leap in the dark. I'll have all this matter hunted out while you are proving your first steps." "That, I understand It, i's a challenge?" chal-lenge?" demand Eldridge, touched in his pride of the scientific diagnostician. "That," said Percy Darrow blandly, "1b a statement of fact." "We shall see." "SureT" agreed Darrow. "Now, the thing to do is to find Monsieur X. I don't know whether your curiously scutellate mind has arrived at the point where it is willing to admit the existence of Monsieur X or not; but it will. The man who finds Monsieur X wins. Now, you know or can read in the morning paper every fact I have. Go to it!" Eldridge bowed formally. "There's one other thing," went on Darrow in a more serious tone of voice. "You have, of course, considered consid-ered the logical result of this power carried to Its ultimate possibility." "Certainly," replied Eldridge coldly. "The question la superflous." "It is a conclusion which many scientific scien-tific minds will come to, but which will escape the general public unless the surmise is published. For the present I suggest that we use our Influence In-fluence to keep it out of the prints." Eldridge reflected. "You are quite right," said he; and rose to go. After his departure Helen turned on Darrow. "You were positively lnBultlng?" she cried, "and In my house! How could you?" "Helen," said Darrow, facing ber squarely, "I maintained rigidly all the outer forms of politeness. That Is as far aB I will go anywhere with that man. My statement to him is quite-just; quite-just; he has no humanity." "What do you mean? Why are you so bitter?" asked Helen, a little subdued sub-dued In her anger by the young man's evident earnestness. "You never knew Doctor Schmer-horn, Schmer-horn, did you, Helen?" he asked. "The funny little old German? Indeed, In-deed, I did! He was a dear!" "He was one of the greatest scientists scien-tists living and he was a dear! That goes far to explain him a gentle, wise, child-like, old man with Imagination Imagi-nation and a Heaven-seeking soul. Ho picked me up as a boy, and was a father fa-ther to me. I was his scientific assistant as-sistant until he was killed, murdered by the foulest band of pirates. Life passes; and that Is long ago." He fell silent a moment; and the girl looked on this unprecedented betrayal be-trayal of feeling with eyes at one startled and sympathetic. "Dootor Schermerhorn," went on Darrow In his usual faintly tired, falnt-ly falnt-ly cynical tone, "worked off and on for five years on a certain purely scientific discovery, the nature of which you would not understand. In conversation he told its essentials to this Eldridge. Doctor Schermerhorn fell sick of a passing illness. When he had recovered, the discovery had been completed and given to the scientific scien-tific world." "Oh!" cried Helen. "What a trick!" "So I think. The discovery was purely -theoretic and brought no particular par-ticular fame or money to Eldridge. It was, as he looked at It, and as the doctor himself looked at . it, merely carrying common knowledge to a conclusion. con-clusion. Perhaps It was; but I never forgave Eldridge for depriving the old man of the little satisfaction of the final proof. It Is indicative of the whole man. He lacks humanity, and therefore Imagination." "Still, I wish you wouldn't be quite so bitter when I'm around," pleaded Helen, "though I love your feeling for dear old Doctor Schermerhorn." "I wish you could arrange to get out of town for a little while," nrged Darrow. Dar-row. "Isn't there some one you can visit?" "Do you mean there is danger?" "There Is the potentiality of danger," dan-ger," Darrow amended. "I am almost confident, if pure reason can be relied on, that when the time comes I can avert the danger." "Almost " said Helen. "I may have missed one of the elements ele-ments of the case though I do not think so. I can be practically certain when I telephone a man I know or see the morning papers.", "Telephone now, then. But why 'when the time comes?' Why not now?" Darrow arose to go to the telephone. He shook his head. "Let Eldridge do his best. He na always succeeded triumphantly. Now he will fail, and he will fail In the most spectacular, the most public way possible." He lifted his eyes, usually so dreamy, so soft brown. Helen was startled at the lambent flash in their depths. He sauntered from the room. After a moment mo-ment she heard his voice in conversation conversa-tion with the man he had called. "Hallowell?" he said, "good luck to find you. Did our friend leave on the Celtic? No? Sure he didn't sneak off In disguise? I'll trust you to think of everything. Sure! Meet me at Simmons' wireless in half an hour." Helen heard the click as he hung up the receiver. A moment later ho lounged back into the room. "All right," he said. "My job's done." "Done!" echoed Helen In surprise. "Either I'm right or I'm wrong," said Darrow. "Every element of the game is now certainly before me. If my reasoning is correct I shall receive re-ceive certain proof of that fact within with-in half an hour. If it is wrong, then I'm away off, and Eldrldge's methods-will methods-will win if any can." "What is the proof? Aren't you wildly excited? Tell me!" cried Helen. "The proof is whether or not a certain cer-tain message has been received over a certain wireless," said Darrow. "I'll know, soon enough. But that is not the question; can not you get out of town for a little while?" Helen surveyed him speculatively. "If there is no danger, I can see no reason for it," she stated at length, with decision. "If there is danger you should warn a great many others." "But if that warning might precipitate precipi-tate the danger?" "Shall I go or stay?" she demanded, ignoring the equivocation. Darrow considered. (TO BE CONTINUED.) - j |