Show M C arl ul TV INI 1 V la aw I 1 I 1 V ri Z R L I 1 copyright 1899 by the Short story pub co all rlyn rL reserved sered picking his ills way carefully through b the crowded down town streets I 1 had often noticed a strange bent figurea man of remarkably shrewd and intelligent tell igent face but having the appearance price of premature ago and wearing that look peculiar to those deprived of porno important faculty what he lie lark lack led I 1 could not conjecture at first I 1 thought the eyes might be but the man never hesitated in taking a step among the whirling vehicles vehicle a then deafness suggested itself as the old avns infirmity but was in turn dismissed the enormous horn slung to a strap across his ills shoulder eh did not resemble a speaking trumpet it cooled more like an im e oa megaphone except for or ita curved outlines a r N somo some ehrmel and nickel finish the rho peculiarity that attracted most attention one at aich which almost every idle pedestrian stopped to stare was the odd looking old mans inveterate hb ht it of hitching up on od shoulder and frequently bringing the tile smaller end of bis his queer horn on a line itne with his hat brim the only remaining alternative therefore seemed to suggest that this strange looking individual must bo be dumb but had contrived some extraordinary tra ordinary kind of instrument for making himself intelligible to others but here theory was opposed by the fact that eo far as ruy observation I 1 i an lito in walked brunder went ho he never tried to 0 communicate N with ith others it was there foi e with u ith surprise not unmixed with gratification that I 1 saw him one day stop suddenly with QUO ot of LIS peculiar CUllU hilca and a cordial hand to my friend hudson who is in the electrical supply business they carried on oil a ailef but apparently animated conversation and when they separated I 1 hastened after hudson and inquired the name of his ills queer acquaintance that cried hudson why that s marcus arcus brunder and his ills horn born I 1 thought everybody knew about marcus come step in and lunch with me and ill tell aou ou all about him As we lunched hudson talked and told me the fol following loIng strange story and as I 1 give it pretty nearly in his exact words I 1 shall use no marks of quotation t I 1 for years you know I 1 have had a if TY fronting on devonshire street on as on the ground floor its daego plate glass wit windows idous afford a broad view of the busy thoroughfare and above all it is particularly central and convenient but it is frightfully maddeningly noisy ordinary conversation is rendered practically impossible during bu business sInes hours formerly I 1 used to take prospective buyers into the big fireproof vault at the extreme rear of the office until one day there was inas trouble with kith the lock I 1 happened happen etl to be inside at the time so was tho the president of one af the largest concerns in now england it wa a cheerful moment when hen after two tuo hours of deml suffocation stiff location 1 viti atit our noses against a cold steel st eel dots dobill do bill sill the professional profess onal safe open openers ars on the batilde announced that they would bo be obliged to use dynamite when wo we crawled cranle ci out the prospective customer had lost both eyebrows eye brous most of his ills hair and one whisker and he buy the goods after all but notwithstanding withstanding Ith standing all the drawbacks I 1 have hanl somehow stuck to the saino same old store why I 1 cant exactly say ay its just my disposition I 1 hate a change one morning I 1 had just arrived in my office when in walked brunder Drut filer now im not saving a word against brunder iles an Inen inventor tor and unlike mot mort of them somo of the things he lie gets up tip actually work well anya brunder came in and sat down I 1 ranked banked open a couple of ventilators entila tors to let in the fresh morning air and conversation immediately he be came an in athistle ath lotic feat we communicated partly in pantomime for some time when brunder suddenly yelled this noise is something terrible I 1 nodded some vears cars ago I 1 learned to save m mv strength but I 1 have hane a nian man for doieg away v with ith it entirely it I 1 looked surprised it just came to mo me as I 1 was sitting hero here ho he tou you amow that it has bas been proven t that bat both light and sound round travel in waves maves also that Us its an till old law of physics that action and reaction are equal now I 1 read the other day that somebody has discover covered that by throwing beams of light intensity directly at each of the same other the light waves aanes nullified each other and produced a distinct zono zone of darkness that being the case the matter A with ith gone generating ratIng a sound of equal intensity and projecting pr t it against the other sound and letting the sounds as it were nere swallow each other up like the kilkenny kilhenny cats of and sitting in the resulting resul tino sound vacuum I 1 asked precisely well but how are you e ever or going to N work arh to do that I 1 asked incredulously iier easy aay enough there Is such a thing as a microphone an instrument that so magnifies sound that vou ou can hear a fly walk so I 1 believe bald said I 1 if I 1 remember it consists of a dinv double pointed carbon suspended between two standards and connected with nith a receiver cei er exactly so now take tahe a wheatstone bridge buch as is used in tho the naval range finders and rig it up so that darlng impulses will work by means of electromagnets a sliding plug in say an organ pipe adjusting it automatically to any pitch connect the pipe up with a motor driven compressed air blo blower iNer and arid there you are but it will nill take just a little money he continued with an appealing glince simply for a few preliminary experiments and if breres anything at all in it theres a fortune lor tune 74 za ZT it f bicy pullia the baring and I 1 heard anything sincel since thereupon I 1 did an unwise but very human thing I 1 think the amount was twenty five ave dollars days das came and went and with them the radiant and sanguine brunder first it ni was as dran drawings ings and then it was patterns and last it N ua 3 twelve gauge copper and insulating tape and slowly v with ith the aid of sundry and numerous five and ten dollar bills the marvelous mechanism went nent together to ether brunder from time to time reported good progress and finally came in one afternoon with alth the startling and to me most unexpected announcement that the thing actually would work we shut the ventilators so ho he could talk and ho he imparted to me in a hoarse and jaous whisper that it was a sure winner ninner just one more test said he and then ill show it t to 0 you ive just this minute got the permission of the government to try it down to the sandy ccok proving grounds it if it stands that it will stand anything and the non auditory radius is three feet four said he with pride after the date when brunder was due back from front new now york I 1 missed him for three days at the tile end of that time I 1 ran around to the little eighth story back room which he uses as a sort of office and laboratory As I 1 shut out ano door ho he did not t look IWI around but continued rt disturbed disturb od then I 1 i from the ceiling cel ling and tun u 1 Dr hand tho tile imin immense ense reach 1 that has puzzled hork you R and others ets much by jove said 1 I uh a g gasp astonishment 1 I believe tho the th does work after all ill in e n I 1 v a toward him I 1 found I 1 r c a pla ked hoar hear my mi own n kootst footsteps ig as 1 I sell ell other sounds ds but a as iu lu the chat chaimea nied ZOLO and oblivious 3 any noise I 1 touched him on the shod der and anith ith a jump of startled tart led sur prise he brought the smi end of the hoit ho n to his ear aith tnt tit peculiar jerk oc of his and said hi well teu tell us its all about i t I 1 haslei he leaned fu guither ther toward me aad 1 itched the tile big horn closer what luck did you have lime old man I 1 rejoined louder he shook his head mournfully ani handed out a pad and pencil this is great I 1 scrawled yog a u wonder onder I 1 always knew oud do coif it well welli I 1 dont dodt know said he I 1 I 1 took my position six dept to one side of a 12 inch coast defenso mortar the charge was pounds I 1 cant tell tn whether my machine worked they pulled the string and I 1 heard an anything thing since t but he has learned since then constant practice at tho the little end ends ff the horn to hear much of what li it going M on around him |