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Show ' K XKy TBLAZD TPAL. SYNOPSIS. .Utr;'y ,narn'- yoiins scientist In !. ,f, J"b- enters the office of i-Lro? ?rthy ot New Yrl- Mc- arth has just been threatened by an anonymous messase ordering him to llee to l-.urope. He does not take the mes-su., mes-su., seriously. Harrow sees up the k nv 4try. for a Pillion with llr. in he fH'Kl',)the ll'ric apparatus , lne Atliis buildinff ko.-s out of busl-tr,'hi busl-tr,'hi Kxp,7,',s unable to locate the trouble. All at once, without apparent ri.f 'k',''nL' connections are restored. ' he next evenim- i , i. .. ; .... . , unlesy he leaves at once for Kurope Iv ,7 ,i ' be Si :u him ;u si- Prompt. Ln. , v "Tr llle e,"ir,! electric aiPar-?ow aiPar-?ow ,i teW. is Ll" ofr- l,-'rt'- l-ar- fe"',"k' e has a clue. He erWm-es help of Jack Warford. a college atari,,,' ata-ri,,,' V "' visit McCarthy and offer to ' I'!' '-uls" ft His mysterious m her M'Varthy has jusi received an-other an-other warnuiK by wireless. At six a i i iy,sl""''ss '"lis on the Atlas build-l build-l ;lW",lll "'l all sound. Next day the whole t,,w ,s thrown into darkness and ?! L i'";'r '1S ,sllsP-nded. Prof. Kldrldiro. the noted scientist, becomes interested ' in phenomena. Harrow s theory Is that the man w ho is sending the warnings has o se vered some force by which he can biL "i"h t'", vibrations of electricity, n V , r, s"ni' McCarthy has disap- -I p-V""' Places EUlridae in pos- ii?r Iw ,. ' ",e f:u'ls the c:lse and of " "',nr,es in relation thereto and ;VI C''S-,h!'" to s,Mve the mysterv. row , errlfyir"-' messases come. Par-th'n Par-th'n ,'U!-'h,,tho newspapers, reassures iV?P,i"rl'--, Ho f,,ars I'nKnown will top the vibrations of heat which would anim i--omp!ete annihilation of all life. ?!?'"!' Hnd vegetable. Thl, Unknown in re nens to wipe out the oily. Thous-arids Thous-arids of people flee. CHAPTER XVI. The Professor's Experiment. Throughout all this excitement Percy Darrow- did absolutely nothing. He spent all his time, save that required re-quired for meals and the shortest nec- eesarv cl.ir.r. J j , F ,u a luutiu-armea wooa-en wooa-en chair in the wireless station of the Atlas Building. Jack Warlord sat 'ith him. Darrow rarely opened his mouth for speech, but smoked slowly a few cigarettes, and rolled many more, which he held unlighted in the corner of his mouth until they dropped to pieces. He watched quietly all that went on; glanced through such messaees as came in Jrom Monsieur X, read the papers, and dozed. To reporters re-porters he was affable enough in his drawling slow fashion, but had nothing noth-ing to say. "Eldridge Is doing this." he said to them; "I'm only in the position of an interested spectator." Eldridge had taken hold In a thoroughly thor-oughly competent way. Back of the cold precision of his undoubted scientific scien-tific attainments lurked, unexpected by most, a strong ambition and a less admirable hankering for the lime-light. His opportunity to gratify all these appetites ap-petites science a rl va nepmon ! onH fame was too good not to cauBe him the deepest satisfaction. "I have determined," he told trie reporters, re-porters, "that this particular Instrument Instru-ment alone receives the messages from the unknown perpetrator. Our investigations must be initiated, there-fore, there-fore, in this apartment." "How do you explain It?" asked one of the reporters. "I can not explain it scientifically." admitted Eldridge. "but I can surmise that the fact either purposely or accidentally ac-cidentally has to do either with this instrument s location or with some slight and undetermined peculiarity of its tuning." . "You could easily UV. which by moving the Instrument to another sta- -mm Crowded Close About the Table to Examine the Map. tion whore they aren't gelting the rncs- ages now," suggested Harrow lazily. "Certainly." snapped Eldridge, "any child could deduce that. Hut I fail to see i he ufi. or nee-unity for the determination deter-mination at all unless in a Hplrlt of frivolous play. Our tank Is not lo discover dis-cover win-re the rrieKHjigos ran be ro-reivcl. ro-reivcl. hut whence they are sent." He i;ai i frostily at the man who had iniorruled him. Iinrrow smiled miftly bark "How far will your liiHt.ru mrnt ci-rv ci-rv in y hdmt;''" CldrlilK" nuked Slin-riici"- T'reini. l)i iibout two hundred t !. "i " "i "i ve , ;. ri tt.-.f.-ly npxiittio thai a i' i (,,,: ti Willi n t w o huridrefl mi le r..i. i. ' ' ' i r 1 ' 1 1 i m Ihirt man you call Monsieur X" the newspapers had adopted Darrow's nickname for the Unknown Un-known "since you have succeeded in communicating with him." "Marvelous," said Darrow to Jack-but Jack-but under his breath. "As the sending of Monsieur X Is faint, it follows that he is somewhere near the periphery of this circle, or that he is possessed of a primitive or weak instrument. By the doctrine of probabilities we would be justified in concluding against the latter supposition." suppo-sition." "How's that. Professor?" asked the Morning Register maji. "It doesn't get to me." "He is evidently a man not only of scientific attainments, but of immense scientific possessions as is evidenced by these phenomenal results he is able to accomplish. But we are not justified justi-fied in reasoning according to the doctrine doc-trine of probabilities. Therefore, we shall proceed methodically. I have already made my preparations." Eldridge looked about him with an sir of triumph. "I am fortunate enough to have, In the present crisis, unlimited financial backing." he said. "Therefore, I am in a position to carry out the most exhaustive ex-haustive of experiments." He stretched his hand out for a long roll., which he laid flat upon the table, pinning down the corners. "Here is a map of the Eastern States." said he. "I have drawn a circle cir-cle on it with a two-huudred-miles radius. At this moment a private in-1 strument with a full crew to string j sending and receiving wires is two hundred miles from here on a railroad. It has for its transportation a private train, and it will be given a clear right of way." He turned to Simmons. "Have you found yourself able to communicate com-municate with this Monsieur X at any time?" "Communicate!" echoed Simmons. "Why. he's easier to talk to than a girl who wants an ice-cream soda!" "Then send this: 'Tour messages have been communicated to the people. He patient." "What do you get?" asked Eldridge, after a moment. "Oh. a lot of the same sort of dope." ' answered SimmonB wearily. "Do you want it?" "No. It Is not necessary." replied Eldridge. El-dridge. "But listen for another message mes-sage from about the same distance when he has finished." Silence fell on the room. At the end of ten minutes Simmons raised ins neaa. "I get 'O K Q' over and over." laid he. "Want that?" "That," replied Eldridge with satisfaction, satis-faction, "indicates that my crew on the special train in the Adirondacks two hundred miles away has heard your message to Monsieur X." He glanced at his watch. ".Now. If you would be so good as to afford me a moment's assistance," he requested Simmons, "I wish to disconnect from your battery one of your powerful Ley-den Ley-den Jars, and to substitute for It one of weaker voltage. I ventured to Instruct In-struct my delivery man to leave a few in the outer hall." "That will weaken the sending power of my instrument," objected Simmons. r.iacuy wnat 1 wish to do," replied Eldridge. "He's clever all right." Darrow murmured mur-mured admiringly to Jack. "See what he's up to?" "Not yet." muttered Jack. The substitution completed, Eldridge El-dridge again glanced at his watch. "Now," he Instructed Simmons, "send the letters 'Q E D,' and continue to do so until you again hear the letters let-ters 'O K Q.' " Simmons set himself to the task. It was a long one. At last he reported his answer. "He sends "O K Cj ten,'" he said. Eldridge turned to the reporters. "That means that the substitution of the smaller Eeyden Jar for one of the larger reduced the rndlng power of this Instrument Just ten miles," said he. "My crew has quite simply moved slowly forward until It caught our uendlnrr " "Next," he Instructed Simmons, "see if you can communicate wllh Monsieur X." Tin- operator speedily reporter! his success at that. Eldridge removed his glnpen and polished their lenses. "Thus, gentlemen," said he, "from our circle of t w o hundred mile radius we have eliminated a strip eM miles wide. Naturally if this weakened send-iiu: send-iiu: reai lies only one hundred nnd ninety miles, and our iintngonlst receives re-ceives our mrftsiige, ho niiiKi he nearer than one hundred and ninety miles. We will now further reduce the strength of our nenillnc nnd I ry again." The younger turn present broke Inlo a shout. "tiood w in k ! " .omohody ri led. Thov crowded a,r,ut, keenly Inleiesled In lliis new method of in. in hunting. Only Harrow, tipped hack ,ls chnlr a "ilnr-.t the wall, seemed unoxrlted. To Jack's whispered question he shook his head. "It's ingenious," he acknowledged, "but he's on the wrong tack." Thai-was Thai-was as far as he would explain, and soon dropped into a slight doze. Throughout the greater part of the night the experiment continued. At near four o'clock in the morning Simmons raised his head after a long bout of calling to announce that he could get no reply from Monsieur X. "He's got tired of your fool messages, mes-sages, " remarked the Register man. "And I don't wonder! Guess he's gone to bed." Eldridge said nothing, but replaced the Leyden jar he had but just removed. re-moved. "Try one," said he. "I get him," reported Simmons, after a moment. "Send him anything plausible and reassuring," commanded Eldridge hastily. has-tily. He turned to his small and attentive at-tentive audience in triumph. "Thus, gentlemen," he announced, "we have proven conclusively that our man is located between forty and fifty milee from New York. If we draw two circles, with this building as center, the circumference of one of which is fifty, the other forty miles away, we define the territory within which the malefactor in Question Is tn he found." The people in the room crowded close about the table to examine the map upon which Professor Eldridge had drawn the circles. "There's an awful lot of country some of it pretty wild." objected the Bulletin man. "It will be a long job to hunt a man down In that territory." "Even If it were as extensive as a hasty review of the facts might indicate." indi-cate." stated Eldridge, "I venture to I assert that enough men would be forthcoming forth-coming to expedite such a search. But modifying circumstances will lighten the task." "How's that?" asked the Banner man, speaking for the others' evident Interest. "We have no means of surmising the method by which this man succeeds suc-ceeds in arresting vibratory motions i of certain wave-lengths." said Eldridge didactically, "any more than we are able to define the precise nature of electricity. But, as in the case of electricity, elec-tricity, we can observe the action of its phenomena- Two salient features leap out at us: one Is that these phenomena phe-nomena are limited in time- the other that they are limited in space. The latter aspect we will examine, If you please, gentlemen. "The phenomena have been directed with great accuracy (a) at the Atlas Building; (b) at this city and some ! of its Immediate suburbs. The pecul- iarity of this can not but strike an observant ob-servant mind. How is this man able, at forty or fifty miles distance, to concentrate con-centrate his efforts on one comparatively compara-tively email objective? We can only j surmise some system of Insulating screens or focal mirrors. I might remark re-mark In passing that the exietence of this power to direct or focus the more rapid ethereal vibrations would be a discovery of considerable scientific moment But If this 1b the method employed, why do we not cut a band of vibratory nullifications, rather than touch upon a focal point?" "Repeat softly," murmured the Irrepressible Irre-pressible Register man. "Why," explained Eldridge patiently. "are not the people and buildings be-I be-I tween here and the unknow n operator I affected? The only hypothesis e are I Justified in working upon is that the man's apparatuB la at a height Bufil- clent to carry over Intervening ob-Btacles. ob-Btacles. This hypothesis Is strengthened strength-ened by the collateral fact that the territory wo have Just determined as that within which he must be found lies In the highlands of our own and neighboring states. We may, therefore, there-fore, eliminate the low-lying districts within our radius." Percy Darrow opened one eye. "Perhaps he's up in a i-tlloon," he drawled languidly; "better jike along an aeroplane." Eldridge cast him a look of cold scorn; Darrow closed one eye. CHAPTER XVII. Drawing the Net The "zone of danger," as the Bulletin Bulle-tin named It. was Immediately the scene of Bwarmlng activities. Besides the expedition Immediately despatched by the Interest barking the Invcstl-gallon, Invcstl-gallon, several enterprising newspapers newspa-pers saw a fine chance for a big scoop, and sent out much-hcrnldcd parties of their own. The activities -f theso were well reported, you may no sure. Public Interest was at once focused reassuringly on thn chances of lidding the annoying malefactor today or tomorrow; to-morrow; there no longer existed a doubt that ho would be found. The weight of dread was lifted, and in thn reaction people made light of the In-conveniences In-conveniences and fun or the menacing moHsngcn that now came In by the uo,en. It was necessary to take extraordinary extraordi-nary precautions against thieves and fire; the people took them. The public delivered Itself Joyously to a debauch or rumors and of "extras." "ex-tras." The Insistent alarms of danger, trickling In slowly from the outside world, dried up In the warmth of optimism, duly tin' more thoughtful, to a row of whom these warnings rami', coupled them with Monsieur X s repented threats, anil walked uncertain uncer-tain and In humility. Percy Darrow did not Intercut himself him-self In the search, nor did ho desert his pout In the wireless olllce. There he did nothing whatever, .lurk War-ford War-ford stayed with hlin. hut Immensely bored. It must he ronfeiKied. Tims there piomed hvn days of the senrrh. On thn third day the Intermit, font phenomena nnd the mem-ages mp). denly ceased. Tills fact wus lialloil jubilantly by all the papers as indicating indi-cating that at last the quarry had become alarmed by the near-coming search. From the contracted district still remaining to be combed over, nobody no-body was permitted to depart; and so closely was the cordon drawn by so large a posse that It was physically impossible for any living being to slip by the line. Thue even If Monsieur X, convinced that at last his discovery was imminent, immi-nent, should destroy his apparatus or attempt to move it and himself to a place of safety, he would find his escape es-cape cut off. Thousands of men were employed, and thousands more drafted in aa volunteers to render this outcome out-come assured. It was an army deployed In an Irregular Irreg-ular circle, and moving inward toward its center. Men of the highest executive execu-tive ability commanded It, saw to Its necessary deliberation, eliminated all possibility of a confusion through which any man could slip. The occasion occa-sion was serious, and it was taken seriously. Of the outcome no one In touch with the situation had a moment's doubt The messages and the phenomena had continued to come from the danger zone. It was of course evident that they could not have been sent from any portion of the zone actually searched and occupied bv the search- Men Beat the Ground Carefully. ers. The remaining portion of the zone, from which they were still coming, com-ing, had been completely surrounded. After that the manifestation had ; ceased. Therefore. Monsieur X must j be within the beleaguered circle. To add to the probabilities, as Eldridge pointed out, the remaining district compressed the highest hills In the zone a fact on all fours with his hypothesis. hy-pothesis. On tho appointed morning tho army moved toward the center. Men beat the ground carefully, so close to one another that they could .touch hands. As they closed In the ranks became thicker. Animals of many kinds, confused con-fused aa the ranks closed In on them, tried to break through the cordon and were killed Captains held order In the front row, that the army might not become a crowd. Birds, alarmed by the shouting, rose and wheeled. In the city Immense crowds watched I the bulletins sent momentarily from I tho very field ltelf by private wires , strung hastily for the occasion. En- trrprlsing Journals had prepared huge rough maps, on which the contracting circle was indicated by red lines, constantly con-stantly redrawn. It was discovery bo-I bo-I fore a multitude. The Imagination of the public, tired by its realization of this fact, stretched Itsiif ahead of tho distant healers, bodying forth what they might find. As the circle narrowed excitement grew. All business ceased. .The streets were crowded; the windows of the buildings looking out on the numerous bulletin boards were black with heads Those who could not sen demanded eagerly of those who could. In tho Atlns Building the wirli. operator hung out of his window. Beside Be-side him was Jack Warford. Darrow declined to Join him. "You tell me," said he. Jack therefore reported back over his shoulder the bulletin, as they appeared. ap-peared. The crowds below read them, their faces upturned. One ran. Crdon now has -"rrnundnd .h- 'rj- of the Knob. Station of Mm's' '"r " trrmbicd among oak-trees. M. n ln . Picked company surrounds. The crowd roared its appreciation and impatience. A long pause followed. Then came the next bulletin. "Search discovers nothing." A puzzled angry murmur arose, confused con-fused and chopped, like crosa currents in a tideway. Finally this waa hung out: "No traces of human occupnr7-" A moment's astonished pause ensued en-sued Then, ovr the vast multitude, its faces upturned in incredulous amazement; over the city lying sparkling spark-ling in the noonday sun fell the pall of absolute darkness. In the wireless office of the Atlaa Building Percy Darrow laughed. CHAPTER XVIII. Confusion Worse Confounded. The absolute failure of Eldridge'B hypothesis immediately threw public confidence into a profound reaction. Certainty gave place to complete dis trust. Rumor gained ground. The exodus Increased. Where formerly only those who could do so without great sacrifice or Inconvenience had left town, now people were beginning to cut loose at any cost. Men resigned their positions in order to get their families away; others began to arrange ar-range their affairs as best they m:g' as though for a long vacation. As et panic had not appeared openly In the light of day, but she lurked in the shadows of men's hearts. The railroads and steamboats were crowded beyond their capacity. Extra trains followed one another as close together as the block Eignals would allow them to run. Humanity packed the cars. It was like a continual s-ns of football das. In three of them It was estimated that two hundred thousand thou-sand people had left Manhattan. It would have beun physically Impossible for the transriortation lines to have carried a thousand more. They bad reached their capacity; the e;;igot was wide open. Percy Darrow showed Jack the headlines head-lines to this effect. "Ch.-erfnl fhonpht " t-1. .t T-d "Suppose the whole four n:;!l:on shouij want to get out at the same lime!" An hour and a half after the bulletin announcing the failure of the search had been posted. Eitiridce rushed l:i'o the wireless o:!ice. The plague of darkness had lifted a,'ter Ct: -.i minutes' min-utes' duration. "Call Monsieur X." he gasped to the day op-rator. In fifteen minu'.en. by rapid substitutions of batteries to weaken or strengthen the sending current, cur-rent, he had redetermined h; previous previ-ous data. Apparently, without th shadow of a doubt. Monsieur X m ithln the circle. "He may be at sea," sogir.xlcd the operator. But Eldridge shook his head The ' circle of the sea had tx-rn well p. trolled, ajid for days. "Begin all over ajrxln." drawled Darrow. "I told you that you were on the wrong track." r.iurmge glanced at him "1 can't say that you've done much" said ho tartly. "No?" queried Darrow. with one of his slow an 1 eiasp-ratitg sm:l.-. "Perhaps not. But you'd better get to thinking. You won't be able h1t to take things easy. You may have to hustle before long." "There has ben. I admit." mid y. ilridgo stiffly, repeating n substance the Interview ho had already given out. "some fi.iw our chain of rr.v soiling. This It will t. nccessarr ,' review with the object of rvvWiot, Every physical manifestation must have some physical and definite cause; and this can bo found if time enough j Is bestowed on It. Often the process of elimination Is the only method by ' wnu-n the truth can be determined" Darrow chuckled "I-ook out the process of cllmlna-tlon cllmlna-tlon doesn't overtake rou." ho remarked. - i'r. V o, I ixi-gp , |