[Illustration: Helen]

THE SIGN AT SIX

By Stewart Edward White

With four illustrations by M. Leone Bracker

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I THE OWNER OF NEW YORKII THE SHADOW OF MYSTERYIII THE MOVING FINGER WRITESIV DARKNESS AND PANICV A SCIENTIST IN PINK SILKVI THE WRATH TO COMEVII A WORLD OF GHOSTSVIII PERCY DARROW'S THEORYIX THE GREAT SILENCEX THE LIFTING OF THE SPELLXI THIRTY SECONDS MOREXII THE UNKNOWNXIII DARROW'S CHALLENGEXIV THE FEAR OF DANGERXV THE MASTER SPEAKS AGAINXVI THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENTXVII DRAWING THE NETXVIII CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDEDXIX PERCY KEEPS VIGILXX THE PLAGUE OF COLDXXI IN THE FACE OF ETERNITYXXII THE MAN NEXT DOORXXIII HOW IT ALL WASXXIV WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARD

CHAPTER I

THE OWNER OF NEW YORK

Percy Darrow, a young man of scientific training, indolent manners, effeminate appearance, hidden energy, and absolute courage, loungedthrough the doors of the Atlas Building. Since his rescue from thevolcanic island that had witnessed the piratical murder of his oldemployer, Doctor Schermerhorn, the spectacular dissolution of themurderers, and his own imprisonment in a cave beneath the very roar of aneruption, he had been nursing his shattered nerves back to their normalstrength. Now he felt that at last he was able to go to work again. Therefore, he was about to approach a man of influence among practicalscientists, from whom he hoped further occupation. 

As the express elevator shot upward, he passed a long slender hand acrosshis eyes. The rapid motion confused him still. The car stopped, and themetallic gates clanged open. Darrow obediently stepped forth. Only whenthe elevator had disappeared did his upward glance bring to him theknowledge that he had disembarked one floor too soon. 

Darrow's eye fell on a lettered sign outside the nearest door. He smiled aslow red-lipped smile beneath his small silky mustache, drooped his blackeyelashes in a flicker of reminiscence, hesitated a moment, then steppedlanguidly forward and opened the door. The sign indicated the headquartersof the very modest commissionership behind which McCarthy chose to work. McCarthy, quite simply, at that time owned New York. 

As Darrow entered, McCarthy hung up the telephone receiver with a smash, and sat glaring at the instrument. After a moment he turned his smallbright eyes toward the newcomer. 

"Hello, Perc, " he growled. "Didn't see you. Say, I'm so mad my skincracks. Just now some measly little shrimp called me up from a publicbooth. What ye suppose he wanted, now? Oh, nothin'! Just told me in somany words for me to pack up my little trunk and sail for Europe and nevercome back! That's all! He give me until Sunday, too. " McCarthy barked outa short laugh, and reached for the cigar box, which he held out to Darrow. 

Percy shook his head. "What's the occasion?" he asked. 

"Oh, I don't know. Just bughouse, I guess. "

"So he wants you to go to Europe?"

"Wants me? Orders me! Says I got to. " McCarthy laughed. "Lovely thought!"

He puffed out a cloud of smoke. 

"Says if I don't obey orders he'll send me a 'sign' to convince me!" wenton the boss. "He's got a mean voice. He ought to have a tag hung on himand get carried to the morgue. He give me the shivers, like a dead man. Inever hear such a unholy thing outside a graveyard at midnight!"

Percy Darrow was surveying him with leisurely amusement, a slight smileplaying over his narrow dark face. 

"Talking to get back your nerve, " he surmised cheerfully to the usuallytaciturn boss. "I'd like to know what it was got you going so; it isn'tmuch your style. "

"Well, you got yours with you, " growled McCarthy, shifting for the firsttime from his solid attitude of the bulldog at bay. 

"His 'sign' he promised is apt to be a bomb, " observed Darrow. 

"He's nutty, all right, " McCarthy agreed, "but when he said that, he wasdoing the tall religious. He's got a bug that way. "

"Your affair, " said Darrow. "Just the same, I'd have an outer office. "

"Outer office--rot!" said the boss. "An outer office just gets clutteredup with people waiting. Here they've got to say it right out inmeeting--if I want 'em to. What's the good word, Perc? What can I do foryou?"

Darrow smiled. "You know very well, my fat friend, that the only reasonyou like me at all is that I'm the one and only man who comes into thisoffice who doesn't want one single thing of you. "

"I suppose that's it, " agreed McCarthy. The telephone rang. He snatcheddown the receiver, listened a moment, and thrust forward his heavy jowl. "Not on your life!" he growled in answer to some question. While he wasstill occupied with the receiver, Percy Darrow nodded and sauntered out. 

CHAPTER II

THE SHADOW OF MYSTERY

Darrow walked up the one flight of steps to the story above. He found hisacquaintance in, and at once broached the subject of his errand. DoctorKnox promised the matter his attention. The two men then embarked on along discussion of Professor Schermerhorn's discovery of super-radium, andthe strange series of events that had encompassed his death. Into themidst of the discussion burst McCarthy, his face red with suppressedanger. 

"Can I use your phone?" he growled. "Oh, yes, " said he, as he caught sightof the instrument. Without awaiting the requested permission, he jerkedthe receiver from its hook and placed it to his ear. 

"Deader than a smelt!" he burst out. "This is a nice way to run a publicbusiness! Thanks, " he nodded to Doctor Knox, and stormed out. 

Darrow rose languidly. 

"I'll see you again, " he told Knox. "At present I'm going to follow thehuman cyclone. It takes more than mere telephones to wake McCarthy up likethat. "

He found the boss in the hall, his finger against the "down" button. 

"That's three cars has passed me, " he snarled, trying to peer through theground glass that, in the Atlas Building, surrounded the shaft. "I'll tansomebody's hide. Down!" he bellowed at a shadow on the glass. 

"Have a cigarette, " proffered Percy Darrow. "Calm down. To the scientificeye you're out of condition for such emotions. You thicknecks are subjectto apoplexy. "

"Oh, shut up!" growled McCarthy. "There isn't a phone in order in thisbuilding two floors either way. I've tried 'em--and there hasn't been fortwenty minutes. And I can't get a messenger to answer a call; and thatring-tailed, star-spangled ornament of a janitor won't answer his privatebell. I'll get him bounced so high the blackbirds will build nests in hisear before he comes down again. "

After trying vainly to stop a car on its way up or down, McCarthy stumpeddown a flight of stairs, followed more leisurely by the calmly unhurriedDarrow. Here the same performance was repeated. A half dozen men by nowhad joined them. So they progressed from story to story until an elevatorboy, attracted by their frantic shouts, stopped to see what was thematter. Immediately the door was slid back on its runners, McCarthy seizedthe astonished operator by the collar. 

"Come out of that, you scum of the earth!" he roared. "Come out of thatand tell me why you don't stop for your signals!"

[Illustration: McCarthy stumped down a flight of stairs. ]

"I ain't seen no signals!" gasped the elevator boy. 

Some one punched the button, but the little, round, annunciator disk inthe car failed to illuminate. 

"I wonder if there's anything in order in this miserable hole!" snarledMcCarthy. 

"The lights is gone out, " volunteered the boy; and indeed for the firsttime the men now crowding into the car noticed that the incandescents weredead. 

While McCarthy stormed out to spread abroad impartial threats againsttwo public utility concerns for interfering with his business, PercyDarrow, his curiosity aroused, interviewed the janitor. Under thatfunctionary's guidance he examined the points of entrance for thedifferent wires used for lighting and communication; looked over theprivate-bell installations, and ascended again to the corridor, abstractedly dusting his fingers. There he found a group of thebuilding's tenants, among whom he distinguished Doctor Knox. 

"Same complaint, I suppose--no phones, no lights, no bells, " heremarked. 

"Seems to be, " replied Knox. "General condition. Acts as though themain arteries had been cut outside. "

"Inside bells? House phones?" suggested Darrow. 

The repair men came in double-quick time and great confidence. Theywent to work in an assured manner, which soon slackened to a slowerbewilderment. Some one disappeared, to return with a box of newbatteries. The head repair man connected a group of these with a smallbell in the executive office. The instrument, however, failed torespond. 

"Try your ammeter, " suggested Darrow, who had followed. 

The delicate needle of the instrument did not quiver. 

"Batteries dead!" said the repair man. "Jim, what the hotel-bill do youmean by getting dead batteries? Go back and bring a new lot, and _test_'em. "

In due time Jim returned. 

"These test to fifteen, " said he. "Go to it!"

"Test--nothing!" roared the repair man after a moment. "These are dead, too. "

Percy Darrow left the ensuing argument to its own warmth. It was growinglate. In the corridor a few hastily-brought lamps cast a dim light. Percycollided against Doctor Knox entering the building. 

"Not fixed yet?" asked the latter in evident disappointment. "What's thematter?"

"I don't know, " said Darrow slowly; "it puzzles me. It's more than anordinary break of connections or short-circuiting through apparatus. Ifone could imagine a big building like this polarized in some way--anyhow, the electricity is dead. Look here. " He pulled an electric flash-lightfrom his pocket. "Bought this fresh on my way here. Tested it, of course. Now, there's nothing wonderful about these toys going back on a man;_but_"--he pressed the button and peered down the lens--"this is a funnycoincidence. " He turned the lens toward his friend. The filament was dark. 

CHAPTER III

THE MOVING FINGER WRITES

The condition of affairs in the Atlas Building lasted long enough to carrythe matter up to the experts in the employ of the companies; that is tosay, until about three o'clock the following morning. Then, withoutreason, and all at once, the whole building from top to bottom was a blazeof incandescent light. 

One of the men, stepping to the nearest telephone, unhooked the receiver. To his ear came the low busy hum of a live wire. Somebody touched a bellbutton, and the head janitor, running joyfully, two steps at a time, fromhis lair, cried out that his bell had rung. 

The little group of workmen and experts nodded in a competent andsatisfied manner, and began leisurely to pack their tools as though at thesuccessful completion of a long and difficult job. 

But every man jack of them knew perfectly well that the electricalapparatus of the building was now in exactly the same condition as it hadbeen the evening before. No repair work had followed a futileinvestigation. 

As the group moved toward the outer air, the head repair man quietlydropped behind. Surreptitiously he applied the slender cords of his pocketammeter to the zinc and carbon of the dead batteries concerning whosefreshness he and his assistant had argued. The delicate needle leapedforward, quivered like a snake's tongue, and hovered over a number. 

"Fifteen, " read the repair man; and then, after a moment: "Hell!"

The daily business, therefore, opened normally. The elevators shot fromfloor to floor; the telephones rang; the call-bells buzzed, and all waswell. At six o'clock came the scrub-woman; at half past seven the officeboys; at eight the clerks; a little later some of the heads; and preciselyat nine Malachi McCarthy, as was his invariable habit. 

As the bulky form of the political boss pushed around the leaves of therevolving door, the elevator starter glanced at his watch. This was not todetermine if McCarthy was on time, but to see if the watch was right. 

McCarthy had recovered his good humor. He threw a joke at the negropolishing the brass, and paused genially to exchange a word with theelevator starter. 

"Worked until about three o'clock, " the latter answered a question. "Gotit fixed all right. No, they didn't say what was the matter. Something todo with the wires, I suppose. "

"Most like, " agreed McCarthy. 

At this moment an elevator dropped from above and came to rest, like aswift bird alighting. The doors parted to let out a young man wearing thecap of the United Wireless. 

"Good morning, Mr. McCarthy, " this young man remarked in passing. "Aren'tgoing into the sign-painting business, are you?" He laughed. 

"What ye givin' us, Mike?" demanded McCarthy. 

The young man wheeled to include the elevator starter in the joke. 

"Air was full of dope most of last night from some merry little jesterworking a toy, home-made. He just kept repeating the same thing--somethingabout 'McCarthy, at six o'clock you shall have a sign given unto you. Itworks, ' over and over all night. Some new advertising dodge, I reckon. Didn't know but you were the McCarthy and were getting a present from someadmiring constituent. "

He threw back his head and laughed, but McCarthy's ready anger rose. 

"Where did the stuff come from?"

"Out of the fresh air, " replied the operator. "From most anywhere insidethe zone of communication. "

"Couldn't you tell who sent it?"

"No way. It wasn't signed. Come from quite a distance, though. "

"How can you tell that?"

"You can tell by the way it sounds. Say, they ought to be a law aboutthese amatoors cluttering up the air this way. Sometimes I got to pick myown dope out of a dozen or fifteen messages all ticking away in myheadpiece at once. "

"I know the crazy slob what sent 'em, all right, all right, " growledMcCarthy. "He's nutty for fair. "

"Well, if he's nutty, I wish you'd hurry his little trip to Matteawan, "complained the operator, turning away. 

The boss went to his office, where he established himself behind histable-top desk. There all day he conducted a leisurely business ofmysterious import, sitting where the cool autumn breeze from the riverbrought its refreshment. His desk top held no papers; the writingmaterials lay undisturbed. Sometimes the office contained half a dozenpeople. Sometimes it was quite empty, and McCarthy sat drumming his bluntfingers on the window-sill, chewing a cigar, and gazing out over the cityhe owned. 

There were two other, inner, offices to McCarthy's establishment, in whichsat a private secretary and an office boy. Occasionally McCarthy, withsome especial visitor, retired to one of these for a more confidentialconversation. The secretary seemed always very busy; the office boy wasoften in the street. At noon McCarthy took lunch at a small round table inthe cafe below. When he reappeared at the elevator shaft, the elevatorstarter again verified his watch. Malachi McCarthy had but the one virtueof accuracy, and that had to do with matters of time. At five minutes ofsix he reached for his hat; at three minutes of six he boarded theelevator. 

"Runs all right to-day, Sam, " he remarked genially to the boy whom he hadhalf throttled the evening before. 

He stood for a moment in the entrance of the building, enjoying the sightof the crowds hurrying to their cars, the elevated, the subway, and theferries. The clang and roar of the city pleased his senses, as a vesselvibrates to its master tone. McCarthy was feeling largely paternal as hestepped toward the corner, for to a great extent the destinies of thesepeople were in his hands. 

"Easy marks!" was his philanthropic expression of this sentiment. 

At the corner he stopped for a car. He glanced up at the clock of theMetropolitan tower. The bronze hand pointed to the stroke of six. As helooked, the first note of the quarter chimes rang out. The car swung thecorner and headed down the street. McCarthy stepped forward. The sweetchimes ceased their fourfold phrasing, and the great bell began its spacedand solemn booming. 

_One!--Two!--Three!--Four!--Five!--Six!_ McCarthy counted. At therecollection of a crazy message from the Unknown, he smiled. He steppedforward to hold up his hand at the car. Somewhat to his surprise the carhad already stopped some twenty feet away. 

McCarthy picked his way to the car. 

"Wonder you wouldn't stop at a crossing, " he growled, swinging aboard. 

"Juice give out, " explained the motorman. 

McCarthy clambered aboard and sat down in a comfortably filled car. Up anddown the perspective of the street could be seen other cars, also stalled. Ten minutes slipped by; then Malachi McCarthy grew impatient. With amuttered growl he rose, elbowed his way through the strap-hangers, andstepped to the street. A row of idle taxicabs stood in front of the AtlasBuilding. Into the first of these bounced McCarthy, throwing his addressto the expectant chauffeur. 

The man hopped down from his box, threw on the coil switch and ran to thefront. He turned the engine over the compression, but no explosionfollowed. He repeated the effort a dozen times. Then, grasping thestarting handle with a firmer grip, he "whirled" the engine--withoutresult. 

"What's the matter? Can't you make her go?" demanded McCarthy, thrustinghis head from the door. 

"Will you please listen, sir, and see if you hear a buzz when I turn herover?" requested the chauffeur. 

"I don't hear nothing, " was the verdict. 

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to take another cab, " then said the man. "Mycoil's gone back on me. "

McCarthy impatiently descended, entered the next taxi in line, andrepeated the same experience. By now the other chauffeurs, noticing thepredicament of their brethren, were anxiously and perspiringly at work. Not an engine answered the call of the road! A passing truck driver, grinning from ear to ear, drove slowly down the line, dealing out theancient jests rescued for the occasion from an oblivion to which theperfection of the automobile had consigned them. 

McCarthy added his mite; he was beginning to feel himself the victim of aseries of nagging impertinences, which he resented after his kind. 

"If, " said he, "your company would put out something on the street besidesa bunch of retired grist-mills with clock dials hitched on to them, youmight be able to give the public some service. I've got lots of time. Don't hurry through your afternoon exercise on my account. Just buy alawn-mower and a chatelaine watch apiece--you'd do just as well. "

By now every man had his battery box open, McCarthy left them, puzzlingover the singular failure of the electrical apparatus, which is thenervous system of the modern automobile. 

He turned into Fifth Avenue. An astonishing sight met his eyes. 

The old days had returned. The center of the long roadway, down whichordinarily a long file of the purring monsters of gasoline creep and dash, shouldering aside the few hansoms and victorias remaining from a bygoneage, now showed but a swinging slashing trot of horses. 

Hansoms, hacks, broughams; up-raised whips, whirling in signal; the spatspat of horses' hoofs; all the obsolescent vehicles that ordinarily dozein hope along the stands of the side streets; it was a gay sight of thepast raised again for the moment to reality by the same mysterious blightthat had shadowed the Atlas Building the night before. 

Along the curbs, where they had been handpushed under direction from thetraffic squad, stood an unbroken line of automobiles. And the hood of eachwas raised for the eager tinkering of its chauffeur. Past them streamedthe horses, and the faces of their drivers were illumined by broad grins. 

McCarthy looked about him for a hansom. There was none unengaged. In fact, the boss soon determined that many others, like himself, were waiting fora chance at the first vacant one. Reluctantly he made up his mind to walk. He glanced up at the tower of the Metropolitan Building; then stared inastonishment. The hands of the great dial were still perpendicular--thehour indicated was still six o'clock!

CHAPTER IV

DARKNESS AND PANIC

Probably the only men in the whole of New York who accepted promptly andunquestioningly the fact that the entire electrical apparatus of the citywas paralyzed were those in the newspaper offices. These capable citizens, accustomed to quick adaptations to new environments and to wide reaches ofthe imagination, made two or three experiments, and accepted theinevitable. 

Within ten minutes the _Despatch_ had messenger boys on tap instead ofbells, bicycles instead of telephones, and a variety of lamps and candlesin place of electricity. Everybody else in town was speculating why inblazes this visitation had struck them. The _Despatch_ was out after news. 

Marsden, city editor, detailed three men to dig up expert opinion on _why_it had all happened. 

"And if the scientific men haven't any other notions, ask 'em if it'sanything to do with the earth passing through the tail of the comet, " hetold them. 

The rest of the staff he turned out for stories of the effects. Hisimagination was struck by the contemplation of a modern civilized citydeprived of its nerve system. 

"Hunt up the little stuff, " said he; "the big stuff will hunt you up--ifyou scatter. "

After covering the usual police-station, theater and hotel assignments, hesent Hallowell to the bridge; Longman to the Grand Central; Kennedy, Warren and Thomas to the tubes, subways and ferries. The others he told togo out on the streets. 

They saw a city of four million people stopped short on its way home todinner! They saw a city, miles in extent, set back without preparation toa communication by messenger only! They saw a city, unprepared, blinkingits way by the inadequate illuminations of a half-century gone by!

Hallowell found a packed mass of humanity at the bridge. Where ordinarilyis a crush, even with incessant outgoing trains sucking away at thesurplus, now was a panic--a panic the more terrible in that it was solid, sullen, inert, motionless. Women fainted, and stood unconscious, erect. Men sank slowly from sight, agonized, their faces contorted, but unheardin the dull roar of the crowd, and were seen no more. Around the edgespeople fought frantically to get out; and others, with the blind, unreasoning, home instinct, fought as hard to get in. 

The police were unavailing. They could not penetrate to break the center. Across the bridge streamed a procession of bruised and battered humanity, escaped from or cast forth by the maelstrom. The daylight was fading, andwithin the sheds men could not see one another's faces. 

Longman at the Grand Central observed a large and curious crowd thatfilled the building and packed the streets round about. They waited fortheir trains, and the twilight gathered. For ten minutes trains continuedto enter the shed. This puzzled Longman until he remembered that gravitywould bring in those this side of Harlem. None went out. The waitingthrong was a hotbed for rumors. Longman collected much human-intereststuff, and was quite well satisfied with his story--until he saw what ithad meant elsewhere. 

For in the subways and tubes the stoppage of the trains had automaticallydiscontinued the suction ventilation. The underground thousands, inmortal terror of the non-existent third-rail danger, groped their waypainfully to the stations. With inconceivable swiftness the mephiticvapors gathered. Strong men staggered fainting into the streets. Whenrevived they told dreadful tales of stumbling over windrows of bodiesthere below. 

Through the gathering twilight of the streets, dusky and shadowy, flitted bat-like the criminals of the underworld. What they saw, thatthey took. Growing bolder, they progressed from pocket-picking toholdups, from holdups to looting. The police reserves were all out;they could do little. Favored by obscurity, the thieves plundered. Itwould have needed a solid cordon of officers to have protectedadequately the retail district. Swiftly a guerrilla warfare sprang up. Bullets whistled. Anarchy raised its snaky locks and peered red-eyedthrough the darkened streets of the city. 

Here and there fire broke out. Men on bicycles brought in the alarms;then, as twilight thickened, men on foot. Chief Croker promptlyestablished lookouts in all the tall towers, as watchmen used a hundredyears ago to watch the night. 

And, up-town, Smith cursed the necessity of reading his evening paper bycandle-light; and Mary, the cook, grumbled because she could not telephonethe grocery for some forgotten ingredient; and Jones' dinner party wasvery hilarious over the joke on their host; and men swore and their wivesworried because they had perforce to be very late to dinner. 

At eight o'clock, two hours after the inception of the curious phenomena, the condition suddenly passed. The intimation came to the various parts ofthe city in different ways. Strangely enough, only gradually did thelights and transportation facilities resume their functions. Most of thedynamos were being inspected by puzzled experts. Here and there theblazing of a group of lights, the ringing of a bell, the response of avolt or ammeter to test, hinted to the masters of the lightnings thattheir rebellious steeds again answered the bit. 

Within a half-hour the city's illuminations again reflected softly fromthe haze of the autumn sky; the clang of the merry trolley, the wail ofthe motor's siren again smote the air. 

Malachi McCarthy, having caught a ride on a friendly dray, arrived home. At eight ten his telephone bell for the first time jangled its summons. McCarthy answered it. 

"I'm Simmons, the wireless operator, " the small voice told him. "Say!There's a lot of these fool messages in the air again. You know what theysaid last night about six o'clock, and what happened. "

"Let's have 'em, " growled McCarthy. 

"Here she is: 'McCarthy, will you do as I tell you? Answer. Remember thesign at six o'clock. ' It's signed 'M. '"

"Where did that come from?" asked the boss. 

"Can't tell, but somewheres a long ways off. "

"How do you know that?"

"By the sound. "

"How far--about?"

"Might be anywhere. "

"Can you get an answer back?"

"I think so. Can't tell whether my spark will reach that far. I can sendout a call for 'M. '"

"Well, send this, " said McCarthy. "'Go to hell. '"

On the evening of the phenomena afore mentioned, Percy Darrow hadreturned to his apartments, where he had dressed unusually early, andby daylight. This was because he had a dinner engagement up-town. Itwas an informal engagement for a family dinner at seven o'clock; butPercy had been requested by one of the members to come at about six. This was because the other members would presumably be dressing betweensix and seven. 

The young man found a fire blazing on the hearth, although the evening waswarm. A graceful girl sat looking into the flames. She did not rise as thescientist entered, but held out her hand with an air of engagingfrankness. 

"Sit down, " she invited the guest. "This is a fearful and wonderful timeto ask you to venture abroad in your dress clothes, but I wanted to seeyou most particularly before the rest of the family comes down. "

"You are a singularly beautiful woman, " observed Darrow in a detachedmanner, as he disposed his long form gracefully in the opposite armchair. 

The girl looked at him sharply. 

"That is intended as an excuse or explanation--not in the least as acompliment, " Darrow went on. 

"You would not be so obliging, if I were not--beautiful?" shot back thegirl. "That is indeed not complimentary!"

"I should be exactly as obliging, " amended Darrow lazily, "but I shouldnot feel so generally satisfied and pleased and rewarded in advance. Ishould have more of a feeling of virtue, and less of one of pleasure. "

"I see, " said the girl, her brows still level. "Then I suppose you arenot interested in what I might ask you as one human being to another!"

"Pardon me, Helen, " interrupted Darrow, with unusual decision. "That isjust what I am interested in--you as a human being, a delicious, beautiful, feminine, human being who could mean half the createduniverse to a lucky man. "

"But not the whole--"

"No, not the whole, " mused Darrow, relaxing to his old indolent attitude. "You see, " he roused himself to explain, "I am a scientist, for instance. You could not be a scientist; you have not the training. "

"Nor the brains, " interposed Helen Warford, a trifle bitterly. 

"Nor the kind of brains, " amended Darrow. "I have enough of that sortmyself, " he added. He leaned forward, a hunger leaping in the depths ofhis brown eyes. "Helen, " he pleaded, "can't you see how we need eachother?"

But the girl shut both her eyes, and shook her head vigorously. 

"Unless people can be _everything_ to each other, they should benothing--people like us, " said she. 

Darrow sighed and leaned back. 

"I feel that way, but the devil of it is I can't think it, " said he. Thenafter a pause: "What is it you want of me, Helen? I'm ready. "

She sat up straight, and clasped her hands. 

"It's Jack, " said she. 

"What's the matter with Jack?"

"Everything--and nothing. He's just out of college. This fall he must goto work. Father wants him to go into an office. Jack doesn't care much, and will drift into the office unless somebody stops him. "

"Well?" said Darrow. 

"An office will ruin him. He isn't in the least interested in the thingsthey do in offices; and he's too high-spirited to settle down to a grind. "

"He's like you in spirit, Helen, " said Darrow. "What is he interested in?"

"He's interested in you. "

"What!" cried Darrow. "Wish it were a family trait. "

"He thinks you are wonderful, and he knows all about all your adventuresand voyages with Doctor Schermerhorn. He admires the way you look and actand talk. I suspect him of trying to imitate you. " Helen's eyes gleamedwith amusement. 

[Illustration: "Can't you see how we need each other?"]

Darrow smiled his slow and languid smile. 

"The last time I saw Jack he stood six feet and weighed about one hundredand eight-five pounds, " he pointed out. 

"The imitation is funny, " admitted Helen, "but based on genuineadmiration. "

"What do you want me to do with him?" drawled Darrow. 

"I thought you could take him in with you; get him started at somethingscientific; something that would interest and absorb him, and somethingthat would not leave all his real energies free for mischief. "

Darrow leaned his head against the back of the chair and laughed softly. So long did his amusement continue that Helen at length brought him rathersharply to account. 

"I was merely admiring, " then exclaimed Darrow, "the delicious femininityof the proposal. It displays at once such really remarkable insight intothe psychological needs of another human being, and such abysmal ignoranceof the demands of what we are pleased to call science. "

"You are the most superior and exasperating and conceited man I know!"cried Helen. "I am sorry I asked you. I'd like to know what there is sosilly in my remarks!"

"Jack is physically very strong; he is most courageous; he has a gooddisposition, a gentleman's code, and an eager likable nature. I gatherfurther that he does me the honor of admiring me personally. He hasreceived a general, not a special, college education. "

"Well!" challenged Helen. 

"Barring the last, these are exactly the qualifications of a goodbull-terrier. "

"Oh!" cried the girl indignantly, and half rising. "You are insulting!"

"No, " denied Darrow. "Not that--never to you, Helen, and you know it!I'm merely talking sense. Leaving aside the minor consideration that Iam myself looking for employment, what use has a scientist for abull-terrier? Jack has no aptitude for science; he has had none of theaccurate training absolutely essential to science. He probably wouldn'tbe interested in science. At the moment he happens to admire me, andI'm mighty glad and proud that it is so. But that doesn't help. If Ihappened to be a saloon man, Jack would quite as cheerfully want to bea barkeeper. I'd do anything in the world to help Jack; but I'm not theman. You want to hunt up somebody that needs a good bull-terrier. Lotsdo. "

"I hate such a cold-blooded way of going at things!" cried the girl. "Youshow no more interest in Jack than if--than if--"

Darrow smiled whimsically. "Indeed I do, Helen, " he said quietly; "that iswhy I don't want to touch his life. Science would ruin him quicker than anoffice--in the long run. What he wants is a job of action--something outWest--or in the construction of our great and good city. Now, if I had apolitical pull, instead of a scientific twist, I could land Jack in aminute. Why don't you try that?"

But Helen slowly shook her head. 

"Father and McCarthy are enemies, " she said simply. She arose with an airof weariness. "How dark it's getting!" she said, and pressed the electricbutton in the wall. 

The light did not respond. 

"That's queer, " she remarked, and pulled the chain that controlled thereading light on the table. That, too, failed to illuminate. "Somethingmust be wrong with those things at the meter--what do you call them?"

"Fuses, " suggested Darrow. 

"Yes, that's it. I'll ring and have Blake screw in another. "

Darrow was staring at a small object he had taken from his pocket. It wasthe electric flash-light he habitually carried to light his way up thethree dark flights at his lodgings. 

"Let me call him for you, " he suggested, rising. 

"I'll ring, " said Helen. 

But Darrow was already in the hall. 

"Blake!" he called down the basement stairway. "Bring lamps--or candles. "

The man appeared on the word, carrying a lamp. 

"I already had this, sir, " he explained. "The lights went out some timeago. "

"Did you look at the--fuses?" asked Helen. 

"Yes, miss. "

"Well, telephone to the electric company at once. We must have light. "

Percy Darrow had taken his place again in the armchair by the fire. 

"It is useless, " said he, quietly. 

"Useless!" echoed Helen. "What do you mean?" Blake stood quietly atattention. 

"You will find your telephone also out of order. "

Helen darted from the room, only to return after a moment, laughing. 

"You are a true wizard, " she said. "Tell me, how did you know? What hashappened?"

"A city, " stated Percy didactically, "is like a mollusk; it dependslargely for its life and health on the artificial shell it hasconstructed. Unless I am very much mistaken, this particular molluskis going to get a chance to try life without its shell. "

"I don't understand you, " said Helen. 

"You will, " said Percy Darrow. 

Mr. And Mrs. Warford descended soon after. They sat down to dinner bythe light of the table candles only. Darrow hardly joined at all inthe talk, but sat lost in a brown study, from which he only rousedsufficiently to accept or refuse the dishes offered him. At abouteight o'clock the telephone bell clicked a single stroke, as thoughthe circuit had been closed. At the sound Darrow started, then reachedswiftly into his pocket for his little flash-light. He gravely pressedthe button of this; then abruptly rose. 

"I must use your telephone, " said he, without apology. 

He was gone barely a minute; then returned to the table with a cloudedbrow. Almost immediately after the company had arisen from the board, heexcused himself and left. 

After he had assumed his coat, however, he returned for a final word withHelen. 

"Where is Jack this evening?" he asked. 

"Dining out with friends. Why?"

"Will you see him to-night?"

"I can if necessary. "

"Do. Tell him to come down to my room as near eight o'clock to-morrowmorning as he can. I've changed my mind. "

"Oh!" cried Helen joyously. "Then you've concluded I'm right, after all?"

"No, " said Darrow; "but if this thing carries out to its logicalconclusion, I'm going to need a good bull-terrier pup!"

CHAPTER V

A SCIENTIST IN PINK SILK

The next morning promptly at eight o'clock Jack Warford, in responseto a muttered invitation, burst excitedly into Percy Darrow's room. Hefound the scientist, draped in a pale-pink silk kimono embroideredwith light-blue butterflies, scraping methodically at his face with asafety-razor. At the sight the young fellow came to an abrupt stop, asthough some one had met him with a dash of cold water in the face. 

"Hello!" said he, in a constrained voice. "Just up?"

Darrow cast a glance through his long silky lashes at the newcomer. 

"Yes, my amiable young canine, just up. "

Jack looked somewhat puzzled at the appellation, but seated himself. 

"Helen said you wanted to see me, " he suggested. 

Darrow leisurely cleaned the component parts of his safety-razor, washedand anointed his face, and turned. 

"I do, " said he, "if you're game. "

"Of course I'm game!" cried the boy indignantly. 

Darrow surveyed his fresh, young, eager face and the trim taut bulk of himwith dispassionate eyes. 

"Are you?" he remarked simply. "Possibly. But you're not the man to besure of it. "

"I didn't mean it as bragging, " cried Jack, flushing. 

"Surely not, " drawled Darrow, stretching out his long legs. "But noman can tell whether or not he's game until he's tried out. That's noreflection on him, either. I remember once I went through seeing mybest friend murdered; being shot at a dozen times myself as I climbeda cliff; seeing a pirate ship destroyed with all on board, apparentlyby the hand of Providence; escaping from a big volcanic bust-up into acave, and having the cave entrance drop down shut behind me. I was ascool as a cucumber all through it. I remember congratulating myselfthat, anyhow, I was going to die game. "

"By Jove!" murmured Jack Warford, staring at him, fascinated. Evidently, the super-beautiful garment had been forgotten. 

"Then a war-ship's crew rescued me; and I broke down completely, and actedlike a silly ass. I wasn't game at all; I'd just managed to postponefinding it out for a while. "

"It was just the reaction!" cried Jack. 

"Well, if that sort of reaction happens along before the trouble is allover, it looks uncommonly like loss of nerve, " Percy Darrow pointed out. "No man knows whether or not he's game, " he repeated. "However, " he smiledwhimsically, "I imagine you're likely to postpone your reactions as wellas the next. "

"What's up? What do you want me to do?"

"Stick by me; obey orders, " said Darrow. 

"What's up?"

"Did you notice anything in the papers this morning?"

"They're full of this electrical failure last night. Haven't you seenthem?"

"Not yet. While I dress, tell me what they say. "

"The worst was in the tubes--" Warford began, but Darrow interrupted him. 

"I could tell you exactly what must have happened, " said he, "if thefailure was complete. Never mind that. Was the condition general, or onlylocal? How far did it extend?"

"It seemed to be confined to New York, and only about to Highbridge. "

"Long Island? Jersey?"

"Yes; it hit them, too. "

"What are the theories?"

"I couldn't see that they had any--that I could understand, " said Jack. "There's some talk of the influence of a comet. "

"Rubbish! Who sprung that?"

"Professor Aitken, I think. "

"He ought to know better. Any others?"

"I couldn't understand them all. There was one of polarizing the islandbecause of the steel structures; and the--"

"No human agency?"

"What?"

"No man or men are suspected of bringing this about?"

"Oh, no! You don't think--"

"No, I don't think. I only imagine; and I haven't much basis forimagining. But if my imaginations come out right, we'll have plenty todo. "

"Where, now?" asked Jack, as the scientist finished dressing and reachedfor his hat. "Breakfast?"

"No, I ate that before I dressed. We'll make a call on the AtlasBuilding. "

"All right, " agreed Jack cheerfully. "What for?"

"To ask McCarthy if he hasn't a job for you in construction. "

Jack came to a dead halt. 

"Say!" he cried. "Look here! You don't quite get the humor of that. Why, McCarthy loves the name of Warford about the way a yellow dog loves a tincan to his tail. "

"We'll call on him, just the same, " insisted Darrow. 

"I'm game, " said Jack, "but I can tell you the answer right now. No needto walk to the Atlas Building. "

"I have a notion the Atlas Building is going to be a mighty interestingplace, " said Darrow. 

They debouched on the street. The air was soft and golden; the sun warmwith the Indian summer. The clock on the Metropolitan tower was boomingnine. As the two set out at a slow saunter down the backwater of the sidestreet, Darrow explained a little further. 

"Jack, " said he abruptly, "I'll tell you what I think--or imagine. Ibelieve last night's phenomena were controlled, not fortuitous or theresult of natural forces. In other words, some man turned off the juice inthis city; and turned it on again. How he did it, I do not know; but hedid it very completely. It was not a question of wiring alone. Evendry-cell batteries were affected. Now, I can think of only one broadgeneral principle by which he could accomplish that result. Just whatmeans he took to apply the principle is beyond my knowledge. But if I amcorrect in my supposition, there occurs to me no reason why he should notgo a step or so farther. "

"I don't believe I follow, " said Jack contritely. 

"What I'm driving at is this, " said Darrow; "this is not the end of thecircus by any means. We're going to see a lot of funny things--if my guessis anywhere near right. "

CHAPTER VI

THE WRATH TO COME

"Did you ever meet McCarthy?" asked Darrow, as the elevator of the Atlassprang upward. 

"Never. "

"Well, no matter what he says or does, I want you to saynothing--nothing. "

"Correct, " said Jack. "I'll down-charge. "

"That's right, " Darrow approved. "First of all, wait outside until I callyou. "

McCarthy was already at his desk, and in evil humor. When Darrow entered, he merely looked up and growled. 

"Good morning, " Darrow greeted him easily. "Any wireless this morning?"

McCarthy threw back his heavy head. 

"That damn operator's been leaking!" he cried. 

"So there are 'wireless', " observed Darrow. "No, your operator didn'tleak. Who is he?"

"If he didn't leak, what did you say that for?"

"I'm a good guesser, " replied Darrow enigmatically. "They say anythingabout a 'sign' being sent, and such talk?"

"You've been gettin' the dope yourself out of the air, " returned McCarthysullenly. 

"Look here, my fat friend, " drawled Darrow, his eyes half closing, "I'mgetting nothing from anywhere except in my own gray matter. What do yourmessages have to say?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm interested--and because I know who sent 'em. "

"So do I, " snarled McCarthy, in a gust of temper. 

"And I'm beginning to suspect he's a man to look out for. And I doubtif you'll ever find him. Of course, he's responsible for the row lastnight--as well as for the trouble in the Atlas Building the nightbefore. "

"I don't know whether he is or not. "

"Oh, yes, you do; and I do; and the wireless man does. We're the onlythree. The rest of them are still figuring on comets. "

"Well?"

"I don't suppose there's any real doubt left in your mind but that thisman can turn the juice off again, if he wants to?"

"I don't know as he did it, " persisted McCarthy stoutly. 

"Now, how long do you suppose you'd last if the public should get on tothe fact that this hidden power was going to exert itself again unless youleft town?"

A slight moisture bedewed McCarthy's forehead. 

"Not all your police, nor all your power could save you, if the generalpublic once became thoroughly convinced that it was to go through anotherexperience like last night's unless it ousted you. Why, a mob of a millionmen would gather against you in an hour You see, " drawled Percy Darrow, "why you'd better look after that wireless man of yours--and me. "

"And you, " repeated McCarthy. "What do you want?"

"I want to see those wireless messages, first of all, " said Darrow, reaching out his hand. 

McCarthy hesitated; then swiftly thrust forward the flimsies. Darrow, aslight smile curving his full red lips, held them to the light. They readas follows:

 "McCarthy: A sign was promised you at six o'clock. It has been sent. Repent and beware! Go while there is yet time. 

 M. "

There were four of these, couched in almost identical language. The fifthand last message was shorter:

 "McCarthy: Flee from the wrath to come. 

 "M. "

"What, " said Darrow, "is to prevent the other operators who must havecaught this message from giving it to the public? What, indeed, is toprevent M. 's appealing direct to the public?"

"I don't know, " confessed McCarthy miserably. "Do you?"

"Not at this moment. Will you send for the operator who took these?"

McCarthy snatched down the telephone receiver, through which presently hespoke a message. 

"What have you got to do with this?" he demanded, after he had hung up thehook. 

"I want something, " said Percy, "of course. "

"Sure, " growled McCarthy, once more back on familiar ground, and glad ofit. "What is it?"

"I'll tell you when I'm sure whether I can do anything for you in thismatter. "

"If this fellow didn't leak, how did you know about them wireless?"demanded McCarthy again. "How do you know who's doin' this?"

Darrow smiled. 

"The man who can control the juice as this man has is a scientificexpert with a full scientific equipment. If he communicated at all, itwould be by wireless, as that is the easiest way to cover his trail. Iremembered your telephone message from the fanatic about sending a'sign'. Immediately after, the Atlas Building experienced on a smallscale what next day the city experienced on a larger scale. It waslegitimate inference to connect one with the other. Of course, if ourtelephone friend was the man who had brought these things about, hehad done it to force you to do what he demanded. But he would lose theeffect of his lesson unless you understood his connection with thematter. Hence, I concluded that you must have received messages--bywireless--and that they must have repeated the warning as to a 'sign'being sent. It was very simple. "

"You're smart, all right, " conceded McCarthy. 

After a moment the wireless operator came in. 

"Simmons, " said McCarthy, "answer this man's questions. "

"They will be in regard to these messages, " said Darrow. "Where are theyfrom?"

"Somewhere in the one-hundred to two-hundred-mile circles, depending onthe power of the sending instrument, " replied the operator promptly. 

"Are you sure?"

"I know my instruments pretty well; and I've had experience enough so Ican tell by the sound of the sending about how far off they come from. "

"And this was from somewhere about one to two hundred miles away, youthink?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Do you know whether any other instruments caught this?"

"No, only mine. " He was very positive. 

"How do you know?"

"Mr. McCarthy had me inquire. "

"How do you account for it?"

"I don't know, except that maybe my instrument happened to be just tunedto catch it. That's another reason I know it was from far off. The fartheraway the sending instrument, the nearer exactly it has to be tuned to thereceiving instrument. If it was nearer, 'most anybody'd get it. "

Percy Darrow nodded. 

"That's all, I guess. No, hold on. Did any of these come between six andeight last evening?"

For the first time the operator smiled. 

"No, sir; my instrument was dead. "

He went out. 

"Well?" growled McCarthy. 

"I don't know; but I can see more trouble. "

"Let him turn off his juice, " blustered the boss; "we'll be ready, nexttime. "

Percy Darrow smiled. 

"Will you?" he contented himself by saying. Then, after a moment's pause, he added, "I'll agree to stop this fellow if you'll give me an absolutelyfree hand. I'll even agree to find him. "

"What do you want?"

"I want a job, a good engineering-construction job, for a friend of mine. "

"What can he do?"

"He can learn. I want a good honest place where he can learn under a goodman. "

"Who is he?"

"I'll bring him in. "

A moment later Jack, in answer to a summons, entered the office. 

McCarthy stared at him. "What kind of a job?" he growled. 

"Something active and out of doors, " Darrow answered for him; "streets, water, engineering. "

"It's a holdup, " said McCarthy sullenly drawing a tablet toward himself, and thrusting the stub of a pencil into his mouth. 

"A beneficent and just holdup, " added Darrow; "the first of its kind inthis city. "

McCarthy glared at him malevolently. 

"It don't go unless you deliver the goods, " he threatened. 

"Understood, " agreed Darrow. 

"What's his name?" demanded McCarthy, withdrawing the pencil stub, andpreparing to write. 

"His name, " answered Darrow, "is John Warford, Junior. "

McCarthy started to his feet with a bellow of rage, his face turningpurple. 

"Of all the infernal--!" he roared, and stopped, as though stricken dumb. For two or three words further his mouth and throat went through themotions of speech. Then an expression of mingled fear and astonishmentoverspread his countenance. He sank back into his chair. Percy Darrownodded twice and smiled. 

CHAPTER VII

A WORLD OF GHOSTS

A deathly stillness had all at once fallen like a blanket, blotting outMcCarthy's violent speech. The rattling typewriter in the next room wasabruptly stilled. The roar of the city died as a living creature is cut bythe sword--all at once, without the transitionary running down of mostsilences. Absolute dense stillness, like that of a sea calm at night, tookthe place of the customary city noises. In his astonishment McCarthythrust a heavy inkstand off the edge of his desk. It hit the floor, spilled, rolled away; but noiselessly, as would the inkstand in a movingpicture. 

To have one's world thus suddenly stricken dumb, to be transported orallyfrom the roar of a city to the peace of a woodland or a becalmed sea iscertainly astonishing enough. 

But this silence was particularly terrifying to both McCarthy and JackWarford, though neither would have been able to analyze the reason for itsweirdness. For silence is in reality a composite of many lesser noises. Ina woodland almost inaudible insects hum, breezes blow, leaves and grassesrustle; at sea the tiny waves lap the sides and equally tiny breaths ofair stir the cordage; within the confines of the human shell the merephysical acts of breathing, swallowing, winking, the mere physical factsof the circulation of the blood, the beating of the heart, produce eachits sound. 

Even a man totally deaf feels the subtle influence of these latterphysical phenomena. And underneath all sound, perceptible alike to thosewho can hear and those who can not, are the vibrations that accompanyevery activity of nature as the manifestations of motion or of life. Anordinary deep silence is not so much an absence of sound as an absence ofaccustomed or loud sound. And in that unusual hush often for the firsttime a man becomes acutely aware of the singing of the blood in his ears. 

But this silence was absolute. All these minor sounds had been eliminated. 

For a moment Boss McCarthy stared; then shoved back his chair with aviolent motion, and rose. He was like a shadow on a screen. The filchingfrom the world of one element of its every-day life had unexpectedlyrendered it all phantasmagoric. 

As McCarthy shouted, and no sound came; as he moved from behind his desk, and no jar accompanied his heavy footfall, he appeared to lose blood andsubstance, to become unreal. As no sound issued from his contorted face, So it seemed that no force would follow his blow, were he to deliver one. 

He stumbled forward, dazed and groping as though he were in the dark, instead of merely in silence; a striking example in the uncertainty of hismovements of how closely our senses depend on one another. 

Jack spoke twice, then closed his lips in a grim straight line. He heldhis elbows close to his sides, and looked ready for anything. 

A look of mild triumph illumined Percy Darrow's usually languidcountenance. He stepped quickly to the wall, and turned the button ofthe incandescent globe. The light instantly glowed. At this he noddedtwice more. From his pocket he drew a note-book and pencil, wrote init a few words, and handed it to the dazed and uncertain boss. 

"I was right, " Darrow had scrawled. "This proves it. It's by no means theend. Better be good. "

McCarthy's bulldog courage had recovered from its first daze. He began tosee that this visitation was not entirely personal, but extended also tohis two companions. This relieved his mind, for he had suspected somestrange new apoplexy. 

"Did you expect this?" he wrote. 

Darrow nodded. 

Together the three ghosts left the phantom office, and glided down thephantom halls. Other ghosts in various stages of alarm were alreadymaking their way down the stairs. Some of them spoke, but no soundcame. One woman, her eyes frightened, reached out furtively to touchher neighbor, apparently to assure herself of his reality. Urged by anuncontrollable impulse, a man thrust his hand through the ground glassof an office door. The glass shivered, and crashed to the tile floor. The pieces broke--silently. It was as though the man had been thefigure in a cinematograph illusion. He stared at his cut and bleedinghand. The woman who had touched the man suddenly threw back her headand screamed. They could see her eyes roll back, her face changecolor, could discern the straining of her throat. No sound came. 

At this a panic seized them. They rushed down the stairs, clambering overone another, pushing, scrambling, falling. A mob of a hundred men foughtfor precedence. Blows were struck. No faintest murmur of tumult came fromtheir futile heat. It might have been the riot of a wax-works in a vacuum. 

They fell into the lower hallway, and fought their way to the street, andstood there dazed and staring, a strange, wild-eyed, white-faced, bloodycrew. The hurrying avenue stopped to gaze on them curiously, gatheringcompact in a mob that blocked all traffic. Policemen pushed their way inand began roughly to question--and to question in real audible words. 

But for the space of a full minute these people stood there staringupward, drinking in the blessed sound that poured in on them lavishly fromthe life of the street; drinking deep gulps of air, as though air hadlacked. 

Darrow, and with him Jack Warford, had descended more leisurely. Beforeleaving the building Darrow placed the flat of his hands over his ears, and motioned Jack to do the same. Thus they missed the stunning effect ofreceiving the world of noise all at once; as a man goes to a bright lightfrom a dark room. Furthermore, Darrow returned several times from thesound to the silence, trying to determine where the line of demarcationwas drawn. Then, motioning to Jack, he began methodically to make his waythrough the crowd. 

This proved to be by no means an easy task. Rumors of all sorts wereafoot. Some bold spirits were testing a new sensation by venturing intothe corridor of the building. The police were undecided as to what shouldbe done. One or two reporters were already at hand, investigating. McCarthy, his assurance returned, was conversing earnestly with a policecaptain. 

Percy Darrow, closely followed by Jack, managed to worm his way throughthe crowd, and finally debouched on Broadway. 

"What was it? What struck us?" demanded Jack. "Do you know?"

"I can guess; in essence, " said Percy. "I was pretty sure after lastevening's trouble; but this underscores it, proves it. Also, it opens theway. "

"What do you mean?"

"Along the lines of these phenomena there are two more things possible. Possible, I say. They might be called certain, were we dealing only withtheory; but there is still some doubt how the practical side of it maywork out. "

"I suppose you know what you're talking about, " said Jack resignedly. "Idon't. "

"You don't need to, yet. But here's what I mean. If my theory is correct, we are likely to be surprised still further. "

Jack ruminated; then his engaging young face lighted up with a smile. 

"All right, " said he; "I'm enlisted for the war. What have you got to dowith it?"

"I'll explain this much, " said Darrow; "more I'll not tell at present, even to you. If one breath should get out that any one suspected--well, this is a man-hunt. "

"Who's the man?"

"An enemy of McCarthy. "

"Whom you are going to find for him?"

"Perhaps. "

"And you were putting up that job for me as part of your pay!"

Percy Darrow smiled slowly. 

"As all of my pay--from McCarthy, " said he. "I was just bedeviling him. "

Jack Warford started to say something, but the scientist cut him short. 

"This is bigger than McCarthy, " he said decisively. "We are the onlypeople in this city who suspect a human origin of these phenomena. Othermen are yet working, and will continue to work, on the supposition thatthey are the results of some unbalanced natural conditions. The phenomenaare, as yet, harmless. It will not greatly injure the city, once it isprepared, to be without electricity or without sound for limited periods. I doubt very much whether the Unknown can continue these phenomena forlonger than limited periods. But conceivably this man may become a peril. He has, if I reason correctly, four arrows in his quiver; the fourth isdangerous. It is our duty to find him before he uses the fourth arrow--ifindeed he has discovered the method of doing so. That is always in doubt. "

Jack's eyes were shining. 

"Bully!" he cried. 

"He may conceivably possess the power to launch the fourth and dangerousarrow, but may withhold it unless he believes himself suspected or closepressed. His probable mental processes are obscure. At present he directshimself solely against McCarthy. " Percy Darrow had been thinking aloud, and realized it with a smile. "This is one of your jobs, fellowdetective, " said he. "You've got to be a mark for me to think at. "

"I wish you'd think a little more clearly, " observed Jack. "It soundsinteresting, but jumbled. I feel the way I did when I began to readGreek. "

"McCarthy's incidental, " observed Darrow in his detached tone. 

"Eh?"

"Oh, I thought we might as well worry McCarthy by asking him for that jobon the side. It's amusing. "

"What do you want me to do?" asked Jack. 

"This, " said Darrow, with an unusual rapidity of utterance. "See thatthick-set, quick man in gray clothes? He's a policeman. In a moment he'llarrest me. "

"Arrest you--why?" demanded Jack, in tones of great astonishment. 

"I reason that McCarthy will come to that conclusion. He is beginning tothink I have something to do with what he calls his annoyances. I saw itin his eyes. This last curious manifestation came along too pat. Youremember, it cut off the dressing-down he was going to give me. " Darrowchuckled in appreciation. "Didn't the humor of that strike you?"

"Me? Oh, I was scared, " admitted Jack. 

"I want you to go home and tell Helen just what happened in the AtlasBuilding. Do not tell her that I believe the phenomena are due to anyhuman agency. Say simply that if it is repeated, and she happens to bewithin the zone of its influence, to keep calm, and wait. It will pass, and it is not to be feared. Tell her I said so. "

"Lord!" cried Jack. "You don't think it's going to happen again!"

"Within the next twenty-four hours, " said Darrow. 

"Oughtn't we to warn the people?"

"And let our hidden antagonist know we are aware of his existence?"inquired Darrow. 

"Anything else?"

"No--yes. Buy a gun. If I bring you into any trouble, I'll see you clear. You understand?"

"I do. "

"I rely on your being game. "

"To the limit, " said Jack. "Here comes your friend. Won't this arrest ballthings up? Shall I rustle bail?"

"No, " said Darrow. "I want to think. All I need is all the papers. I'll beout by ten to-morrow morning, sure. "

"Why are you sure of that?"

"_Because by that hour McCarthy will have disappeared_, " said PercyDarrow. 

The man in the gray suit, having finished his scrutiny, lounged forward. 

"You are Mr. Darrow, " he stated. 

"Sure I am, my amiable but obvious sleuth, " drawled that young man. "Leadon. " He nodded a farewell to Jack, and linked his arm in that of theofficer. After a few moments he burst into an irrepressible chuckle. 

"The fat, thick-necked, thick-witted, old fool!" said he. 

CHAPTER VIII

PERCY DARROW'S THEORY

Percy Darrow in the police station, where he had been assigned an unusedoffice instead of a cell, amused himself reading the newspapers, of whichhe caused to be brought in a full supply. Theories had begun to claimtheir share of the space which, up to now, the fact stories had completelymonopolized. Darrow, his feet up, a cigarette depending from one corner ofhis mouth, read them through to the end. Then he indulged the white wallsof his little apartment with one of his slow smiles. The simplest of thetheories had to do with comets. The most elaborate traced out an analogybetween the "blind spot" in vision and a "point of rest" in physicalmanifestations--this "point of rest" had just now happened to drift to acrowded center, and so became manifest. 

"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 theextras describing the latest freak in the Atlas Building, Darrow passedover with barely a glance. But certain figures he copied carefully intohis notebook. When he had found all of these, and had transcribed them, they appeared about as follows:

 Atlas--Wednesday, 5:25. 3:00 (about): 9 hr. 35 min. 

 General--Thursday, 6:00. 7:56 (exact): 1 hr. 56 min. 

 Atlas--Friday, 10:10. 10:48 (exact): 38 min. 

On the basis of these latter figures he made some calculations which, whenfinished, he looked on with doubtful satisfaction. 

"Need more statistics, " said he to himself, "before I can pose as aprophet. Just now I'm merely a guesser. "

By now it was afternoon. An official came to announce visitors, and amoment later Helen and her brother came in. As Percy's case was merely oneof detention, or for some other obscurer reason, known only to those whotook their orders from McCarthy, the three were left alone to their owndevices. 

At the sight of Helen's trim tailor-clad figure Percy's expressionbrightened to what, in his case, might almost be called animation. Heswept aside the accumulation of papers, and made room for both. After thefirst greetings and exclamations, Helen demanded to know particulars andprospects. 

"All right, I'll tell you, " agreed Darrow. "I'm thought out; and I want tohear it myself. "

Jack looked about him uneasily. 

"Is it wise to talk here?" he asked. "I don't doubt they have arrangementsfor overhearing anything that is said. "

"I don't think they care what we say, " observed Darrow. "They are merelydetaining me on some excuse or another that I haven't even taken thetrouble to inquire about. "

"That must astonish them some, " said Jack. 

"And if they do overhear, I don't much care. Now, " said he, turning toHelen, "we have here three strange happenings comprising twophenomena--the cutting off of the electricity, first in the AtlasBuilding, second in the city at large; and the cutting off of sound in theAtlas. Although we are, of course, not justified in generalizing from oneinstance, what would you think by analogy would be the next thing toexpect?"

"That sound would be cut off in the city, " said Helen; "but Jack hasalready delivered me your warning or advice, " she added. 

"Precisely. Now as to theories of the ultimate cause. Naturally this musthave been brought about either by nature or by man. If by nature, it isexceedingly localized, not to say directed. If by man, he must have insome way acquired unprecedented powers over the phenomena of electricityand sound. These he can evidently, at will, either focus, as on the AtlasBuilding, or diffuse, as over the city. For the moment we will adopt thelatter hypothesis. "

"That it is a man in possession of extraordinary powers, " said Helen, leaning forward in her interest. "Go on. "

"We have, completed, only the phenomena of electricity, " continued Darrow;"the phenomena of sound remain to be completed. We observe as to that(a)"--he folded back his forefinger--"the Atlas manifestation lasted aboutnine and a half hours; and (b)"--he folded his middle finger--"the citymanifestation was a little less than two hours. "

"Yes, " cried Jack, "but then this second--"

"One minute, " interrupted Darrow; "let me finish. Now, let us placeourselves in the position of a man possessed of a new toy, or a new powerwhich 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 indifferent 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, andthen you have to go back and fill up again. In that case, we can supposethis man's stream will last nine hours and a half when he dribbles it downon one spot, like the Atlas Building; but it will empty itself in abouttwo hours when he turns her upside down over a whole city. There remainsonly the length of time necessary to refill the water-pot to round out ourhypothesis. That is something more than nine hours and something less thanfifteen. "

"How do you get those figures?" demanded Jack. 

"The Unknown is anxious, after the Atlas success, to try out his discoveryon the larger scale. He will naturally do so at the first opportunityafter his water-pot is refilled. But he wishes to do so at the firsteffective opportunity. What is the most effective moment? The rush hours. What are the rush hours? From eight to ten, and at six. Since he did notpull 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 Atlasphenomena subsided at three of the morning before, the inference isobvious. "

"But isn't the most effective time at night, anyway, on account of thelights?" asked Jack. 

"Good boy!" approved Darrow. "He might have waited for that. But thecity-wide phenomena ceased at eight the night before; and the Atlas soundphenomena 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, " admitted Darrow. "We shallhave to test it. But let's go on with it, anyway, and see how it worksout. "

"What's McCarthy got to do with it?" demanded Helen. 

"That's so, you aren't in touch there. " Darrow sketched briefly thesituation as it affected the boss. Helen's eyes were shining withinterest. 

"Now, " continued Darrow, "having tried out his new power to the limit, ourfriend would begin to use it only as he needed it. There is now no reasonto empty the water-pot entirely. All he wanted to do this morning was toscare McCarthy, and impress the public. He did that in thirty-eightminutes. On the basis of fourteen hours to fill the water-pot, it isevident that he would be rehabilitated, ready for business, in an hour. Therefore, all he is waiting for now is the most effective moment to tryout his city-wide experiment of silence. I imagine that will be aboutsix. "

"Sounds reasonable, " admitted Jack. 

"Reasonable! It's certain!" cried Helen. 

Darrow smiled. "No, only a wild hypothesis. "

"It'll scare people to death, " observed Jack. 

"They're scared already; and they're somewhat prepared by the performancethis morning. Besides, I don't see yet that human agency is suspected. "

"Don't you think you'd better warn people what is going to happen, andtell them there's nothing to be frightened of?" pleaded Helen. 

"No, " said Darrow, "I do not. It would confuse the phenomena, and theymust be unconfused in order that I can either prove or disprove myhypothesis. If this lasts about two hours, the fact will go far to proveme right. If the next manifestation comes at about ten the next morning, we shall have established a periodicity, at least. But if the man realizesthat his existence is suspected, he will purposely vary in order to mix meup. "

"The next manifestation!" cried Helen. "Then you think they willcontinue--"

"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, " said Darrow enigmatically. 

"It seems to me there is something absurd about all this, " said Helen. "Aman with such a discovery, such powers, using them in such a manner, forsuch a petty purpose!"

"He is, of course, crazy, " Darrow said quietly; "the methodical logicallunatic--the most dangerous sort. "

"What is it he has discovered?" asked Jack. 

"I do not know, yet. "

"But you suspect?"

Darrow nodded, but would not explain. 

"What will be the outcome?"

"I am going to cut loose from science and guess wildly, " said Darrow, after a moment. "To-morrow morning, somewhere about ten, McCarthy willdisappear. "

"You said that before!" cried Jack. 

"Well, I say it again, " drawled Darrow. 

CHAPTER IX

THE GREAT SILENCE

Percy Darrow sat quite calmly, though a little hungrily, through the firstof the two hours of the Great Silence. As it fell, he looked at his watch;then went on reading. Strangely terrified faces flitted by the open doorof his little room. About seven o'clock Darrow, struck by a sudden idea, arose, walked down the corridor outside, and quite deliberately set towork to force the light door. As has been intimated, either by directorder of McCarthy or because of some vagueness of the orders, the youngman had been confined, not in the jail proper, but in one of the livingapartments of the wing. 

Few realize how important a role sound plays in what might be called thedefensives of our every-day life. Sight is important, to be sure, but itis more often corroborative than not; it is more often used to identifythe source of the alarm that has been communicated through other channels. When we are told of the hero--or the villain--that he stood "with everysense alert", our mental picture, in spite of the phrasing, is that of aman listening intently for the first intimations of what may threaten. 

So it is in prison. The warders can, of necessity, remain within actualview of but a few of the prisoners a small proportion of the time. Butthrough those massive and silent corridors sound stands watch-dog forthem. The minute scratch of a file, the vibrations attendant on the mostcautious attempts against the stone structure, the most muffled footfallreports to the jailer that mischief is afoot. Instantly he is on the spotto corroborate by his other faculties the warnings of the watch-dog of thesenses. 

Now the watch-dog was asleep. Percy Darrow reflected that, were it not forthe terror of these unexplainable hours, the prisoners within or theirfriends without could assail their confines boldly and formidably, evenwith dynamite, and none would be the wiser if only none happened to bewithin actual visual range of the operations. He himself quite coolly usedthe iron side piece to his bed as a battering-ram to break the locks ofthe door. Then he walked down the long corridor and out through the policestation, bowing politely to the bewildered officers. The latter did notattempt to stop him. 

The people in the streets were, for the most part, either standingstock-still, or moving slowly forward in a groping sort of fashion. Darrow, for the second time, noticed how analogous to the deprivation ofsight was the total deprivation of hearing and feeling vibration. 

Traffic was at a standstill. People's faces were bewildered, for the mostpart; though here and there one showed contorted with the hysteria offright, or exalted with some other, probably religious, emotion. The sameimpression of ghostliness came to Darrow here as in the Atlas Building. Visual causes were not producing their wonted aural effect. 

On the street corner a peanut vender's little whistle sent aloft bravelyits jet of steam; the bells on a ragpicker's cart swung merrily back andforth on their strap; a big truck, whose driver was either undaunted ordrunk, banged and clattered and rattled over the rough cobbles of a sidestreet--but no sound came from any one of them. 

This complete severance of one cause and effect was sufficient todiscredit all natural laws. No other cause and effect was certain. Everywhere people were touching things to see if they were solid, or wet, or soft, or hard, as the case might be. Even Darrow felt, absurdly enough, that it would not be greatly serious to jump off the top of any buildinginto the street. 

Darrow swung confidently enough down the street. He was the only person, with the exception of the drunken truck driver, who moved forward at anatural and easy gait. The effect was startling. Darrow seemed to be theonly real human being of the lot. All the rest were phantasmagoric. 

But as he proceeded down-town the spell was beginning to break. Peoplewere communicating with one another by means of pencil and paper. Darrowwas amused, on crossing the park, to see against the lighted windows onNewspaper Row the silhouetted forms of activity. Evidently, the newspapermen were already at work on this fresh story. 

Near the corner of the park Darrow saw standing a policeman of his variedacquaintance. The scientist walked up to this man, who was standing in thetypical vacant uncertainty, smiled agreeably, clapped him on the back, andshook his hand. The patrolman grasped Darrow's hand, but the look ofgroping uncertainty deepened on his face. 

Darrow slipped his note-book from his pocket, and scribbled a few lines, which he showed to the officer. The latter read, inwardly digested for amoment, and smiled. 

"Keep your hair on, " ran Darrow's screed. "This will pass in a fewminutes, and it won't hurt you, anyway. Don't look like all these otherdubs. "

He stood there companionably by the patrolman. They looked about them. Allat once, with this touch of normal, unafraid, human companionship, theweird horror of the situation fell away. Darrow and his companion wereseeing humanity disjointed from its accustomed habit, as one looks on astage full of men hypnotized into belief of an absurdity. 

Where the blotting out of electricity had been tragic, this, as soon asits utter harmlessness was realized, became comic. All about through thepark men were meeting the situation according to the limited ideasdeveloped by a crustacean life of absolute dependence on the shell ofartificial environment. A considerable number of all sorts had fallen ontheir knees and were praying. One fat man in evening dress, with a silkhat and a large diamond stud showing between the lapels of a fur-linedcoat, was particularly fervent. By force of habit Darrow remarked on thisindividual. 

"I'll bet he hasn't been to church since he was a kid, " he observed, ofcourse inaudibly. 

The policeman caught the direction of his look, however, and grinned withunderstanding. 

Some stood frozen to one spot, their faces agonized, as a man would standstill were the earth likely to yawn anywhere. Darrow would have liked toreassure these, for their eyes expressed a frantic terror. One red-facedindividual with white side-whiskers, looking exactly like the comic-papercaricatures of the trusts, had evidently refused to accept any arbitrarydictates of natural forces. Probably he had never accepted any dictates ofany kind. He was going from one taxicab to another, trying to command adriver to take him somewhere, talking vehemently and authoritatively, hisface getting more and more purple with anger. The taxicab drivers merelystared at him stupidly. 

"That old boy's kept his nerve, " Darrow remarked, of course inaudibly, tohis companion. "But he'll die of apoplexy if he doesn't watch out. "

Again the policeman caught the direction of Darrow's glance, and grinnedin understanding. He reached his huge gloved hand for the young man'spencil and paper, on which he wrote the name of a man high in railroadcircles, and grinned again with evident relish. 

At this moment an entirely self-possessed young man swung across thestreet. 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 his hand. 

Darrow shook his head. 

"Dangerous?"

Darrow shook his head again. 

The reporter was about to add another question, when Darrow reached forthe paper. It was thrust eagerly into his hand. Darrow consulted hiswatch. 

"If, " he wrote, "you will wait here four minutes, I'll give you aninterview. "

The reporter read this, and nodded. 

"You're on!" he added to the written dialogue. Then he produced acigarette, lighted it, and joined the other two men in their amusedsurvey of the public's performances. 

During the four minutes that ensued Darrow examined the reporterspeculatively. Finally his eye lighted up with recollection. 

CHAPTER X

THE LIFTING OF THE SPELL

The spell lifted. The city broke into a roar. People sprang into rapid andviolent motion, as though released from a physical lethargy. 

"All over?" asked the reporter. He asked it in a loud shout. 

"All over, " replied Darrow. "You don't need to yell. I'm not deaf. "

The reporter grinned. 

"I guess that's what everybody else in town is doing, " he surmised. 

Certainly this remark was justified by the sample in the square. Every manwas shouting at his neighbor to the lung-straining limit of his ability. Three exhorters, their eyes ablaze with fanaticism, began to thunder forthdire warnings of the wrath to come--and gained a hearing. Men rushed toand fro aimlessly. The gentleman with the side-whiskers, who looked likethe caricatures of the trusts, having at last succeeded in making hisimperial wishes known, clambered into a taxicab, and sat back, apparentlyunimpressed. After a moment the driver recovered sufficiently to fall intothe habit of obedience, and so drove away. 

While the three men watched, a burly individual with a red face camehurtling directly at them. If they had not dodged hastily to one side, they would have suffered a collision. 

"The end of the world is at hand!" this man was shrieking. "Repent!Repent!"

"That's Larry Mulcahey, " remarked the reporter, with a grin. "He keepsbar. "

"I'm hungry, " observed Darrow. "Haven't eaten since noon. "

"Free lunch, " suggested the reporter practically. "You won't be able toget any service anywhere. How about that interview? Got anything to say?"

"You're the busy little bee to-night, " said Darrow. "But I'll tell youwhat I'll do. I'll give you a tip. Be at the Atlas Building at not laterthan nine to-morrow morning, and stay at least until ten. If you can fixit, be on the tenth floor. Hunt up the United Wireless man and make himtalk. Then come to me. "

"That's afternoon paper stuff--unless it's exclusive, " said the reporterinstantly. 

"If you'll obey my orders the most important part of it will beexclusive, " said Darrow. 

The reporter eyed him keenly. 

"Why?" he asked. 

"You're Hallowell, aren't you? I thought I wasn't mistaken. I saw you atwork on that Duane Street murder case. Your work was good. Besides, I likethe _Despatch_--and the afternoon papers are too soon for what I want. "

"Last reason accepted. Others received and placed on file. "

"All right, " agreed Darrow. "Have it your own way--only obey orders. " Heentered the door of the bar and advanced on the lunch counter. 

CHAPTER XI

THIRTY SECONDS MORE

At nine o'clock the following morning five men grouped in McCarthy'soffice, talking earnestly. Darrow and Jack Warford had been the first toarrive. McCarthy did not seem surprised to see them; nor did he greet themwith belligerence. 

"Well?" he demanded. 

"Well?" repeated Darrow, sinking gracefully to one corner of the table. "You're an old fool, McCarthy. What good did you think it would do you toarrest me?"

"I intended to sweat you, " confessed the boss frankly, "but I was toobusy. "

"Sweat me, eh?" demanded Darrow, with some amusement. "So you decided notto, did you--hence the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the police ineffecting my recapture. You didn't imagine I caused all this, did you?"

"I don't know, " growled McCarthy. "But if you, or the other fellow, orwhoever or whatever it is, think you can bluff me out, you or he or it'sleft! That's all!"

"So you've been getting more wireless, have you?" surmised Darrow. 

McCarthy cast a surly glance toward Jack, whom previously he had ignored. 

"Yes, " he admitted grudgingly. 

Darrow held out his hand. After a moment's hesitation McCarthy thrustforward a single yellow paper, and Darrow read aloud in spite of the boss'warning gesture:

 "McCarthy: The sign has been sent you and sent your people. You are stubborn, but it shall not avail you. You must go; and within twenty-four hours. It will not avail you unless you go. The _Celtic_ leaves to-morrow at noon. You must go on that ship. I shall know whether or not you obey me. Once more I shall warn you; one more sign shall I send. Then I shall strike!"

"He's getting garrulous, " remarked Darrow reflectively; "but he's relievedmy mind. You'd better go. "

"Go!" cried McCarthy, half starting to his feet. "Not on your life!"

Darrow surveyed him calmly. 

"You're getting rattled, " said he, "and it doesn't pay you particularly totry to bluff me. A jack-rabbit of average firmness could stampede you inyour present state of mind. "

"You think so?" sneered McCarthy. 

"I know so. And you're quite right. If you attempt the game too long, he'll destroy you. "

"How?" demanded McCarthy. 

"Take my word for it, _he can do it!_" replied Darrow. 

McCarthy ruminated, drumming his thick fingers on the desk. 

"Find him, " said he, at last. 

"I intend to, " replied Darrow. 

"That'll be all right about your friend's job, " conceded McCarthy, with anod toward Jack. 

"I fancy you won't have anything to do with it, " returned Darrowpleasantly. 

At this moment the door opened and Hallowell entered. He nodded to Darrow, and greeted McCarthy. 

"Nothing for you, " growled the latter. 

Darrow glanced at his watch. 

"He will have in about five minutes, " said he to the reporter. 

The fifth member of the party now entered in the person of Simmons, theUnited Wireless operator. On seeing the number gathered in McCarthy'soffice he came to a halt. 

Darrow immediately detached himself from the group and approached thisman. 

"Anything new?" he inquired in a low voice. 

Simmons glanced toward McCarthy. 

"New about what?" he demanded stolidly. 

"Any more messages from our mysterious friend out in the ether to ourequally mysterious friend at the desk?"

"I don't know what you mean. "

Darrow surveyed him reflectively. 

"This is a pretty big story, " he said at last, "and affects a lot ofpeople. If you really haven't leaked--well, he"--with a jerk of his headtoward McCarthy--"must bribe high, or have a strangle hold on you forfair. "

He looked around to see the boss' eye fixed intently on him, smiledpleasantly, and moved to one side. Simmons stepped forward, handedMcCarthy a paper, and went out. The boss read the message slowly, andturned a little pale. After a moment or so he surreptitiously drew outhis watch. Percy Darrow smiled. He, too, held his watch in his hand. 

"Thirty seconds more--about, " he remarked pleasantly. The boss looked upstartled. The last thing he saw was the faintly smiling, triumphant faceof the young scientist. Then absolute blackness fell on him. 

For several seconds astonishment held the inmates of the room chained totheir places; and for that space of time no sound broke the deathlystillness. Then Percy Darrow spoke, in his natural voice. 

"Well, Jack, " he remarked, "it worked out, to a second, almost. Now I'mcertain. "

As though this breaking of the silence had released a force hitherto heldin repression, the room filled with tumult and clamor, with crashing, banging and scurrying of heavy bodies. A final concussion shook the air, and then, again abruptly, silence fell. 

"Say!" Hallowell's voice spoke up, a trifle uncertainly. "I'll stand formost any kind of a dark seance, but this particular spook business isgetting on my nerves. Are you there, Darrow?"

"Yes, I'm here, " answered the scientist. 

"Well, can you explain _that_ phenomenon?"

"That, " drawled Darrow, a slight note of laughter in his voice, "was thatextraordinary upheaval of natural forces known as Brother McCarthy goingaway from here--hastily. "

Jack chuckled. 

"He hit me on the way out, " remarked that young man. "I'll testify he wasa solid spook. "

The reporter was methodically striking match after match, but withoutresult. After a moment the acrid smell of burning woolen rose in the air. 

"Are you dropping those matches?" asked Darrow. 

"Sure; they're no good. "

"Well, they're good enough to burn holes in McCarthy's rugs. Stamp arounda little to put them out; and quit it. "

"What next; and how long?" asked Jack. "What is it? Have we gone blind, oris it a total eclipse, or what?"

"I don't know how long, " came back Darrow's voice calmly. "Next we willget out of the building. I want to make some observations. Get hold of myhand; we'll have to grope our way out. "

"If we could only get a light, " muttered Hallowell. 

"You can't, " stated Darrow. 

They felt their way down the ten flights of stairs like blind men. A fewinmates of the building they jostled, or passed, or picked up on the way. 

"This settles it, " one remarked profanely. "My lease quits. They can sueand be damned. I decline to have anything more to do with any freak-linedskyscraper of this description. "

In the lower corridors Darrow halted them. 

"Here's another thing, " said he: "if I'm right, we should run out of thisjust eleven feet beyond the last elevator cage. "

He felt his way along the grill, made four paces forward, and uttered alittle cry of satisfaction. The two men followed him blindly. As thoughstepping from one room to another they emerged into glaring daylight!

Both involuntarily looked back. The darkness hung there like a curtain, just inside the outer walls of the building. Already a crowd had gatheredto observe this new and strange phenomenon of the now celebrated AtlasBuilding. It was a curious and a facetious crowd, but not awestricken, asit had been at the first manifestations of this freakish upset of naturalforces. 

A man observing the flight of an aeroplane for the first time loses hissense of strangeness inside of a few minutes; and yet flying has beensince the days of Icarus considered one of the impossible achievements. Sothe general public of Manhattan were becoming accustomed to reversals ofform in the affairs of the physical world. The frivolous majority, havingdiscovered nothing to be apprehended from the phenomena save a few hours'helplessness of a sort, and much to be gained through the savor ofnovelty, were inclined to an amused or irritated attitude, depending onthe extent to which its occupations were interfered with. The minoritytook to religious meetings and interpretations. 

Darrow's exit, and that of his companions, was greeted uproariously. 

"'Please go 'way an' let me sleep!'" sang one, at the blinking men. 

"Here's another!" shrilled a gamin. "Get up! The porter wants to make upyour berth!"

Several of the crowd, pending the usual arrival of the police to clear thecorridor, had ventured through the wide portals, and were experimentingwith this strange palpable quality of darkness. One or two popped insidethe curtain, but emerged quickly, looking a little scared. 

A bright youth made the discovery that if one lighted a match and steppedwithin the blackness, the match was immediately extinguished, but thatupon emerging into daylight the flame came up again. Some one happenedalong with a plumber's gasoline torch. Immediately this was lighted andthe experiment repeated. The bearer of the torch, astonished at theinstant extinguishment of the flame, felt with his hand to see what couldbe the matter. Instantly he uttered a yelp of pain, and leaped outside, displaying a badly burned palm. 

"There wasn't no flame; I swear it!" he explained excitedly, "but sheburned, just the same!" He rushed about from one to another, displayinghis injured palm to whoever would look. 

Darrow paid little attention to this gathering crowd. First of all, hescanned a paper he held in his hand; then plunged back again into theblackness. 

Jack Warford and Hallowell, left together, hesitated uncertainly. 

"He'll be back, " the reporter decided finally, "and he's the man to tieto. "

While waiting, he proceeded to pick up what information he could fromthe bystanders. It seemed that the first intimation of anything wrongwas followed very shortly by the emergence of McCarthy, disheveled, hatless, staring, gasping. The boss had stumbled into the street, hesitated, then started south on a run. Before any one could stop him, he had turned a corner and disappeared. The excitement at the AtlasBuilding had distracted attention from him. Nobody wondered at hisgetting rattled and running away. The few tenants remaining in thebuilding had stumbled forth, vowing never to return to such a--assortedadjectives--building. That was all there seemed to be to say. 

In the meantime the crowd had increased from a few hundred to thousands. Police appeared. The corridors were cleared of all but a few. Among thesewere Hallowell and Jack Warford; the former as a reporter, the latter asthe reporter's companion. Doctor Knox and Professor Eldridge arrivedshortly. After a time Darrow reappeared, sauntering quite calmly from thepall of darkness, as though emerging from behind a velvet curtain. 

CHAPTER XII

THE UNKNOWN

It will now become necessary to glance in passing at the personalcharacteristics of Professor Eldridge. This man was in about his fortiethyear, tall, spare, keenly intellectual in countenance, cold, possessed ofan absolute reliance on the powers of science, beyond which his mentalprocesses did not stray. His manner was distinguished by a stiff unbendingformality; his expression by a glacial coldness of steel-gray eyes and astraight-line compression of thin lips; his dress by a precise andunvarying formalism, and his speech by a curious polysyllabic stiffness. 

This latter idiosyncrasy would, in another, have seemed either priggish orfacetiously intended. With Professor Eldridge it was merely a naturalmethod of speech. Thus, arriving once at the stroke of the dinner hour, hereplied to compliments on his punctuality by remarking:

"I have always considered punctuality a virtue when one is invited topartake of gratuitous nourishment. "

Withal, his scientific attainments were not only undoubted, but soconsiderable as to have won for him against many odds the reputation of agreat scientist. His specialty, if such it might be called, was scientificdiagnosis. The exactness of scientific laws was so admirably duplicated bythe exactitudes of his mind that he seemed able, by a bloodless andmechanical sympathy, to penetrate to the most obscure causes of thestrangest events. It might be added that practically his only social tieswere those with the Warfords, and that the only woman with whom he everentered into conversation was Helen. 

At sight of him Percy Darrow's lounging gait became accentuated toexaggeration. 

"Hello, Prof!" he drawled. "On the job, I see. Good morning, Doctor, " hegreeted Knox. "What do you make of it?"

"I make of it that the Atlas Building will shortly be without tenants, "replied the doctor; "me, for one. "

Eldridge surveyed Darrow coldly through the glittering toric lenses of hisglasses. 

"The cause of these extraordinary phenomena is self-evident, " he stated. 

"You mean their nature, not their cause, " replied Darrow. "In nature, theyrefer back to the interference with etheric and molecular vibrations. That, " he added, "is a fact that every boy in the grammar-school physicsclass has figured out for himself. The cause is a different matter. "

"I stand corrected, " said Eldridge. "Such lapses in accuracy of statementare not usual with me, but may be considered as concomitant with unusualcircumstances. "

"Right-o!" agreed Darrow cheerfully. "Well, what about the causes?"

"That I will determine when I am satisfied that all the elements of theproblem are in my hands. "

"Right-o!" repeated Darrow. "Well, I'll bet you a new hat I'll land thecause before you do. Be a sport!"

"I never indulge in wagers, " replied Eldridge. 

"Well, " said Darrow to Jack and Hallowell, "come on!"

Without waiting to see if he was followed, the young man again plungedinto the black and clinging darkness. 

"Get hold of my coat, " his voice came to the others. "We're going toclimb. "

Accordingly they climbed, in silence, up many flights of stairs, throughthe cloying darkness. At last Darrow halted, turned sharp to the left, fumbled for a door, and entered a room. 

"Simmons?" he said. 

"Here!" came a voice. 

"I thought you'd be on the job, " said Darrow, with satisfaction. "How'syour instrument? Going, eh? We are in the wireless offices, " he told theothers. "Sit down, if you can find chairs. We'll wait until the sun isshining brightly, love, before we really try to get down to business. Inthe meantime--"

"In the meantime--" repeated both Jack and Hallowell, in a breath. "Go on, my son, " conceded the latter. "I bet we have the same idea. "

"Well, I was going to say that I'm not in the grammar-school physicsclass, and I want to know what you meant by your remark to Eldridge, " saidJack. 

"That's my trouble, " said Hallowell. 

"It's simple enough, " began Darrow. "We have had, first, a failure ofall electricity; second, a failure of all sound; third, a failure ofall light. The logical mind would therefore examine these things to seewhat they have in common. The answer simply jumps at you: _Vibration_. Electricity and light are vibrations in ether; sound is vibration inair or some solid. Therefore, whatever could absolutely stop vibrationwould necessarily stop electricity, light and sound. "

"But, " objected Jack, "if vibration were absolutely stopped, why wouldn'tthey all three be blotted out at once?"

"Because, " explained Darrow, "the vibrations making these three phenomenaare different in character. Sound is made by horizontal waves, forexample, while electricity and light are made by transverse waves. Furthermore, the waves producing electricity and light differ in length. Now, it is conceivable that a condition which would interfere withhorizontal waves would not interfere with transverse waves; or that acondition which would absolutely deaden waves two hundred and seventyten-millionths of an inch long would have absolutely no effect on thoseone hundred and fifty-five ten-millionths of an inch long. Am I clear?"

"Sure!" came the voices of his audience. 

"That much Eldridge and any other man trained in elementary sciencealready knows. It is no secret. "

"It hasn't been published, " observed Hallowell grimly. 

"Well, go to it! The task of the independent investigator, of which we aresome, is now to discover, first, what are those conditions, and, second, what causes them. With the exception of Mr. Hallowell, we all know whatthis guiding power is. "

"Don't get it, " growled Simmons. 

"Now, look here, Simmons, you are very loyal to McCarthy, for whateverreason, but your loyalty is misplaced. For one thing, your man hasdisappeared, and will not return. That last message scared him out. Foranother thing, we're going to need you in our campaign, the worst way. "

"I'm from Copenhagen; you got to show me, " said Simmons. 

Darrow laughed softly. 

"We'll show you, all right, " said he. He sketched briefly for Hallowell'sbenefit the reasoning already followed out, and which it is thereforeunnecessary to repeat here. "So now, " he concluded, "we will consider thishypothesis: that these phenomena are caused by one man in control of aforce capable of deadening vibrations in ether and solids within certaindefinite limits. "

"Why do you limit it?" cried Hallowell. 

"Because we have had but one manifestation at a time. If this Unknown wereout really to frighten--which seems to be his intention--it would be muchmore effective to visit us with absolute darkness and absolute silencecombined. That would be really terrifying. He has not done so. Therefore, I conclude that his power is limited in applicability. "

"Isn't that a little doubtful?" spoke up Jack. 

"Of course, " said Darrow cheerfully. "That's where we're going to win outon this sporting proposition with our dear Brother Eldridge. He won'taccept any hypothesis unless it is absolutely copper-riveted. We will. "

"I think you underestimate Eldridge, " spoke up Hallowell. "He's the onlyoriginal think-tank in a village of horse troughs. "

"I don't underestimate him one bit, " countered Darrow; "but we have a headstart on him with our reasoning; that's all. He's absolutely sure to cometo the conclusions I have just detailed, only he'll get there a littlemore 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 your special grouch on Eldridge, anyway?" asked Jack. 

"I like to worry him, " replied Percy Darrow non-committally. 

At this moment the darkness disappeared as though some one had turned aswitch. The reporter, the operator and the scientist's young assistantmoved involuntarily as though dodging, and blinked. Darrow shaded his eyeswith one hand and proceeded as though nothing had happened. 

"Here are the exclusive points of your story, " he said to Hallowell, handing him a sheaf of yellow wireless forms. "I got them in McCarthy'soffice. They are messages from the unknown wielder of the mysteriouspower to his enemy, the political boss. There will be plenty who willconclude these messages to be the result of fanaticism, after the fact;that is to say, they will conclude some wireless amateur has takenadvantage of natural phenomena and, by claiming himself the author ofthem, has attempted to use them against his enemy. Of course, the answerto that is that if the Unknown--let's call him Monsieur X--did not causethese strange things, he at least knew enough about them to predict themaccurately. "

"You just leave that to me, " hummed Hallowell under his breath. Thereporter had been glancing over the wireless forms, and his eyes wereshining with delight. 

"Here is the last one, " said Darrow, producing a crumpled yellow paperfrom his pocket. "I went back after it. "

 "McCarthy: My patience is at an end. 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. You are of a stubborn and a stiff-necked generation, but I am your lord and master, 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, " said he, turning to the operator, who had sat in utter silence, "how about it? Are you with us, or against us?"

"How do you mean?" demanded Simmons. 

"This, " said Darrow sharply. "The time has passed for concealment. Everymessage through the ether must now reach the public. We must send messagesback. The case is out of private hands; it has become important to thepeople. Will you agree on your honor faithfully to transmit?" He leanedforward, his indolent frame startlingly tense. "Are you afraid ofMcCarthy?"

"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 amoment. "You see the seriousness--you are an intelligent man. "

The operator turned pale. 

"I hadn't thought of that, " he muttered. "I hadn't thought of that. Ofcourse I'm with you. "

"I thought you would be, " drawled Percy Darrow slowly. "If you hadn'tdecided to be, I'd have had another man put in your place. Hadn't thoughtof that, either, had you?"

"No, sir, " replied Simmons. 

"Well, I prefer you. It's no job for a quitter, and I believe you'llstick. "

"I'll stick, " repeated Simmons. 

"Well, to work, " said Darrow, lighting the cigarette he had been playingwith. "Send this out, and see if you can reach Monsieur X. 

"'_M_, '" he dictated slowly. "'Do you get this?' Repeat that until you geta reply. "

Without comment the operator turned to his key. The long ripping crashesof the wireless sender followed the movements of his fingers. 

"I get his '_I_--_I_, '" he said, after a moment. "It's almighty faint. "

"Good!" said Darrow. "Give him this:

 "'McCarthy has disappeared. Can no longer reach him with your messages. '"

"He merely answers '_I_--_I_, '" observed the operator. 

"By the way, " asked Darrow, "what is your shift, anyhow? Weren't you on atnight when this thing began?"

"I'm still on at night; but Mr. McCarthy sent me a message, and asked meto 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 tellhim he'd better get all his messages to you rather than to the otheroperators 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 eveningpapers. You better concentrate on Monsieur X's connection with McCarthy. "

"Say, my friend, " said Hallowell earnestly, "do you think I'm a reporterfor the _Scientific American_ or a newspaper?"

All three rose. The operator was busy crashing away at his Leyden jars. 

"What next?" asked Jack. 

"That depends on two things. "

"Whether or not McCarthy takes the _Celtic_, " interposed Hallowellquickly. 

"And whether Monsieur X will be satisfied with his mere disappearance, if he does not take the _Celtic_, " supplemented Darrow. "In any case, we've got to find him. He's unbalanced; he possesses an immense anddisconcerting and a dangerous power; he is becoming possessed of a_manie des grandeurs_. You remember the phrasing of his last message? 'Iam your lord and master, and my wrath shall be visited on you. Begone!'That is the language of exaltation. Exaltation is not far short ofirresponsible raving. "

"What possible clue--" began Jack Warford blankly. 

"When a man is somewhere out in the ether there is no clue, " repliedDarrow. 

"Then how on earth can you hope to find him?"

"By the exercise of pure reason, " said Darrow calmly. 

CHAPTER XIII

DARROW'S CHALLENGE

With a final warning to Simmons as to the dissemination of any informationwithout consulting him, Darrow left the room. Hallowell listened to thisadvice with unmixed satisfaction; the afternoon papers would not be ableto get at his source of information. The reporter felt a slight wonder asto how Darrow had managed his ascendency over the operator. An inquiry asto 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'srequest. The scientist returned to his own apartments, where he lockedhimself in and sat for five hours cross-legged on a divan, staringstraight ahead of him, doing nothing. At the end of that time hecautiously stretched his legs, sighed, rose, and looked into the mirror. 

"I guess you're hungry, " he remarked to the image therein. 

It was now near mid-afternoon. Percy Darrow wandered out, ate a leisurelymeal at the nearest restaurant, and sauntered up the avenue. He paused ata news stand to buy an afternoon paper, glanced at the head-lines and aportion of the text, and smiled sweetly to himself. Then he betook himselfby means of a bus to the Warford residence. 

Helen was at home, and in the library. With her was Professor Eldridge. The men greeted each other formally. After a moment of generalconversation Darrow produced the newspaper. 

"I see you have your theories in print, " he drawled. "Very interesting. Ididn't know you'd undertaken grammar-school physics instruction. "

"I know I'm going to be grateful for any sort of instruction--fromanybody, " interposed Helen. "I'm all in the dark. "

"Like the Atlas Building, " Darrow smiled at her. "Well, here's a very goodexposition in words of one syllable. I'll leave you the paper. Professor, 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 theircontrolling 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 allabout it in the morning, anyway. "

"Your idea--the one you told us yesterday--is to be published?" criedHelen, leaning forward with interest. 

"The basis of it will be, " replied Darrow. "Now"--he turned toEldridge--"listen carefully; I'm not going to indulge in manyexplanations. Malachi McCarthy, political boss of this city, hasmade a personal enemy of a half-crazed or at least unbalanced man, who has in some way gained a limited power over etheric and othervibrations. This power Monsieur X, as I call him--the Unknown--hasemployed in fantastic manifestations designed solely for the purposeof frightening his enemy into leaving this country. "

Eldridge was listening with the keenest attention, his cold gray eyesglittering frostily behind their toric lenses. 

"You support your major hypothesis, I suppose?" he demand calmly. 

"By wireless messages sent from Monsieur X to McCarthy, in which hepredicts or appoints in advance the exact hour at which thesemanifestations take place. "

"In advance, I understand you to say?"

"Precisely. "

"The proof is as conclusive for merely prophetic ability as for powerover the phenomena. "

"In formal logic; not in common sense. "

Eldridge reflected a moment further, removing his glasses, with the edgeof which he tapped methodically the palm of his left hand. Helen had sunkback into the depths of her armchair, and was watching with immobilecountenance but vividly interested eyes the progress of the duel. 

"Granting for the moment your major hypothesis, " Eldridge stated at last, "I follow your other essential statements. The man is unbalanced becausehe chooses such a method of accomplishing a simple end. "

"Quite so. "

"His power is limited because it has been applied to but one manifestationof etheric vibration at a time; and each manifestation has had a definedduration. "

Darrow bowed. "You are the only original think-tank, " he quotedHallowell'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, basedon incomplete premises, could hardly be considered more than tentative. The happy accident of an acquaintance with the existence of these wirelessmessages and this personal enmity gave you a manifest but artificialadvantage in the construction of your hypothesis. "

"Did I not see you in the corridor of the Atlas Building the day of thefirst electrical failure?" asked Darrow. 

"Certainly. "

"Then you had just as much to go on as I did, " drawled Darrow, halfclosing his eyes. The long dark lashes fell across his cheek, investing himin his most harmless and effeminate look. 

"I fail to--"

"Yes, you fail, all right, " interrupted Darrow. "You had all the strings inyour hands, but you were a mile behind me in the solution of this mystery. I'll tell you why: it was for the same reason that you're going to fail asecond 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 Eldridgecoldly. 

"It was for the same reason that always until his death you were inferiorto dear old Doctor Schermerhorn as a scientist. You are an almost perfectthinking machine. "

Darrow quite deliberately lighted a cigarette, flipped the match into thegrate, 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, and of logic. "

"Most certainly, " Eldridge agreed to this, as to a compliment. 

"It takes you far, " continued Darrow, "but not far enough. You observeonly facts; I also observe men. You will follow only where your factslead; I am willing to take a leap in the dark. I'll have all this matterhunted out while you are proving your first steps. "

"That, I understand it, is a challenge?" demanded Eldridge, touched in hispride of the scientific diagnostician. 

"That, " said Percy Darrow blandly, "is a statement of fact. "

"We shall see. "

"Sure!" agreed Darrow. "Now, the thing to do is to find Monsieur X. Idon't know whether your curiously scutellate mind has arrived at the pointwhere it is willing to admit the existence of Monsieur X or not; but itwill. The man who finds Monsieur X wins. Now, you know or can read in themorning 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 the logical result of this power carriedto its ultimate possibility. "

"Certainly, " replied Eldridge coldly. "The question is superfluous. "

"It is a conclusion which many scientific minds will come to, but whichwill escape the general public unless the surmise is published. For thepresent I suggest that we use our influence 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 insulting!" she cried, "and in my house! How couldyou?"

"Helen, " said Darrow, facing her squarely, "I maintained rigidly all theouter forms of politeness. That is as far as I will go anywhere with thatman. My statement to him is quite just; he has no humanity. "

"What do you mean? Why are you so bitter?" asked Helen, a little subduedin her anger by the young man's evident earnestness. 

"You never knew Doctor Schermerhorn, did you, Helen?" he asked. 

"The funny little old German? Indeed, I did! He was a dear!"

"He was one of the greatest scientists living--and he was a dear!That goes far to explain him--a gentle, wise, child-like, old man--with imagination and a Heaven-seeking soul. He picked me up as a boy, and was a father to me. I was his scientific assistant until he waskilled, murdered by the foulest band of pirates. Life passes; and thatis long ago. "

He fell silent a moment; and the girl looked on this unprecedentedbetrayal of feeling with eyes at once startled and sympathetic. 

"Doctor Schermerhorn, " went on Darrow in his usual faintly tired, faintly cynical tone, "worked off and on for five years on a certainpurely scientific discovery, the nature of which you would notunderstand. In conversation he told its essentials to this Eldridge. Doctor Schermerhorn fell sick of a passing illness. When he hadrecovered, the discovery had been completed and given to thescientific world. "

"Oh!" cried Helen. "What a trick!"

"So I think. The discovery was purely theoretic and brought no particularfame or money to Eldridge. It was, as he looked at it, and as the doctorhimself looked at it, merely carrying common knowledge to a conclusion. Perhaps it was; but I never forgave Eldridge for depriving the old man ofthe little satisfaction of the final proof. It is indicative of the wholeman. He lacks humanity, and therefore imagination. "

"Still, I wish you wouldn't be quite so bitter when I'm around, " pleadedHelen, "though I love your feeling for dear old Doctor Schermerhorn. "

"I wish you could arrange to get out of town for a little while, " urgedDarrow. "Isn't there some one you can visit?"

"Do you mean there is danger?"

"There is the potentiality of danger, " Darrow amended. "I am almostconfident, if pure reason can be relied on, that when the time comes I canavert the danger. "

"Almost--" said Helen. 

"I may have missed one of the elements of the case--though I do not thinkso. I can be practically certain when I telephone a man I know--or see themorning 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 has always succeeded--triumphantly. Now hewill fail, and he will fail in the most spectacular, the most public waypossible. "

He lifted his eyes, usually so dreamy, so soft brown. Helen was startledat the lambent flash in their depths. He sauntered from the room. After amoment she heard his voice in conversation 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 tothink 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 helounged 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 gameis now certainly before me. If my reasoning is correct I shall receivecertain proof of that fact within half an hour. If it is wrong, then I'maway off, and Eldridge's 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 message has been received over acertain wireless, " said Darrow. "I'll know soon enough. But that is notthe 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 the danger?"

"Shall I go or stay?" she demanded, ignoring the equivocation. 

Darrow considered. 

"Stay, " he decided at last. "I'll bet more than my life that I'm right, "he muttered. "Now, " he continued, a trifle more briskly, "be preparedfor fireworks. Unless I'm very much mistaken this little old town isgoing variously and duly to be stood on its head at odd times soon. That's the way I size it up. Don't be frightened; don't get caughtunprepared. I think we've had the whole bag of tricks. At almost anymoment we're likely to be cut off from all electricity, all sound, orall light--never more than one at a time. I imagine we shall have amplewarning, but perhaps not. In any case, don't be frightened. It's harmlessin itself. Better stay home nights. You can reassure your friends if youwant to; but on no account get my name in this. If I am quoted, it willdo incalculable harm. "

"Why not tell the public that it is harmless?" demanded Helen. "Think ofthe anxiety, the accidents, the genuine terror it would save. "

Darrow rose slowly to go. He walked quite deliberately over to Helen, andfaced her for a moment in silence. 

"Helen, " he said impressively at last, "I have talked freely with youbecause I felt I could trust you. Believe me, I know the exigencies ofthis case better than you do; and you must obey me in what I say. I amspeaking very seriously. If you allow your sympathies to act on the verylimited knowledge you possess, you will probably bring about incalculableharm. We walk in safety only while we stick to the path. If you try to actin any case on what your judgment or your sympathies may advise, andwithout consulting me, you may cause the city, the people, and all thatyou know or care for to be blotted out of existence. Do you understand?Do you believe me?"

"I understand; I believe you, " repeated the girl a trifle faintly. 

Darrow left without further ceremony. Helen stood where he had left heron the rug, staring after him, a new expression in her eyes. She hadknown Percy Darrow for many years. Always she had appreciated hisintellect, but deprecated what she had considered his indolence, hissoftness of character, his tendency to let things drift. For the firsttime she realized that not invariably do manners make the man. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE FEAR OF DANGER

Before leaving the house, Darrow summoned Jack Warford. 

"Come on, old bulldog, " said he. "You're to live with me a while now. Thegame is closing down. "

"Bully, " said Jack. "I'll pack a suit case. "

"Have it done for you, and sent down to my place. We must hustle for theAtlas Building now. "

"What's doing?" asked Jack, as they boarded a surface car. 

"Absolutely nothing--for some time perhaps. But we must be ready. And thewaiting will be amusing, I promise you that. "

When they arrived at the Atlas Building, Darrow was surprised to findSimmons already in charge of the office. 

"Thought you were on night duty, " said he. 

"I am, " replied Simmons curtly. "But judging by what you said thismorning, I considered I'd better be on the job myself. "

"Good boy, " approved Darrow. "I see I've made no mistake in you. Juststick it out twelve hours more, and we'll have it settled. Anything more?"

Simmons thrust a message across the table. 

Darrow took it quite calmly. At this moment Hallowell entered. 

"What time did this come?" asked Darrow, nodding to the reporter. 

"At twelve thirty. "

Darrow nodded twice with great satisfaction. 

Then quite deliberately he unfolded the paper and perused its contents. Without change of expression he handed it to Hallowell. The latter readaloud:

 "TO THE PEOPLE: A traitor is among you--one who has betrayed you, one and all, but whom you cherish to your bosoms as a viper. I, who am greater than you all, have laid my commands upon him, and he has seen fit to disobey. He is now in hiding among you. This man must be produced. I would not willingly harass you, but this, my will, must be carried out. If he is not found by six to-morrow a sign will be sent to you that you may believe. I am patient, but I must be obeyed. "

"Now, what do you think of that!" cried Hallowell. "He doesn't evenmention the name of his friend to the dear people who are to hunt himdown! Fine dope!"

Darrow's face expressed a sleepy satisfaction. He stretched his arms andyawned. 

"You might supply the deficiency, " he suggested. "Well, " he remarked toJack, "that settles it. Everything's running like a catboat in a fairwind. He's in communication with us; he is gaining confidence in hisinflated imaginary importance; we are to have a continuance of hispeculiar activities; and we can put our hands on him at a moment'snotice. "

"What!" shouted Hallowell and Jack Warford, leaping to their feet. 

"Where is he?" demanded the reporter. 

"How do you know?" cried Jack. 

Simmons, his head-piece laid aside, looked up at him in silent curiosity. 

"It is sufficient for now that I do know, " smiled Darrow. "As for how Iknow, that last wireless proved it to me. "

All three men immediately bent over the message for a detailed perusal. After a minute's scrutiny, Hallowell looked up in disappointment. 

"Too many for me, " he confessed. "What is there in that?"

But Darrow shook his head. 

"I play my own game, " was all the explanation he would vouchsafe. 

"You may as well knock off, old man, " he told Simmons. "I don't thinkthere'll be anything more doing to-night; and it doesn't matter if thereis. Tell your other man to jot down anything from that sending, if anycomes. Now, " he turned to Hallowell, "I want to see your managing editor. "

The three took the subway to City Hall Square. The managing editorreceived Darrow with much favor as the vehicle of a big scoop brought infar enough ahead of going to press to permit of ample time for itsdevelopment. 

"Now, Mr. Curtis, " said Darrow to this man, "this is going to be aninteresting week for you. Here's your last exclusive despatch. Fromto-morrow morning every paper in town will naturally get every wirelessthat comes in. "

"H'm, " observed Curtis, reading the despatch. "What next?"

"He'll fulfil his threat. To-morrow evening at six o'clock he will stopthe vibrations either of light, of electricity, or of sound--probably ofelectricity, as he has appointed the rush hour. "

"Most likely, " Curtis agreed. 

"Warn the people to keep out of the subways, and not to get scared. Takeit easy. There's no danger. Explain why in words of one syllable. "

"Sure. "

"Now, this is what I'm here for. Up to now these manifestations have beenharmless in their direct effects. But follow the hypothesis to its logicalconclusion. Suppose this man can arrest the vibrations not only of lightand sound, but also of the third member of the vibratory trinity. Supposehe should go one step farther; and, even for the barest fraction of time, should be able to stop the vibrations of heat!"

The managing editor half rose. As the idea in its full significance gainedhold on their imaginations the three men turned to stare blankly at oneanother. 

"That is annihilation!" Curtis whispered. 

"On a wholesale scale, " agreed Darrow calmly. "It means the death of everyliving thing from the smallest insect to the largest animal, from themicrobe to the very lichens on the stones of Trinity. I agree with the wayyou look. " He laughed a little. "But the case isn't so bad as it sounds, "he went on. "If the crust of the earth were to collapse, that would beannihilation, too. But it isn't likely to happen. There are several thingsto think of. "

"What, for the love of Pete!" gasped Curtis. "Any small efforts atmuck-racking this refrigerator trust would be thankfully received. "

"In the first place, as you know, " explained Darrow, " his power seems tobe limited in certain directions. He apparently can stop vibrations onlyof certain defined wave-lengths at one time. It may be that he is unableto stop heat vibrations at all. "

"You'll have to do better than that, " growled Curtis. 

"The rest is faith--on your part, " replied Darrow. "For I'll guaranteethat even if Monsieur X has this power, I'll stop him before he exercisesit. "

"Guarantee?" inquired Curtis. 

"There's nothing to prevent my moving to California or Mombassa if Ithought myself in any danger here, " Darrow pointed out. "It would be veryeasy for me quietly to warn my friends and quietly do the grand sneak. "

"True, " muttered Curtis, rummaging on his desk for a pipe. 

"The danger isn't the point--_it's the fear of danger_, " said Darrow. 

Curtis looked up, arresting the operation of crowding the tobacco into thepipe bowl. 

"Suppose that throughout the length and breadth of this city the ideashould be spread broadcast that at any given moment it might be destroyed. Can you imagine the effect?"

"Immediate exodus, " grinned Curtis. "Immediate is a nice dignified word, "he added. 

"Quite so, and then?"

"Eh?"

"What in blazes would four million city people without homes oroccupations do? Where would they go? What would happen?"

"You see what I mean, " went on Darrow, after the slight pause necessary tolet this sink in. "The fear would bring about a general catastrophe onlyless serious than the fact itself. It's up to you newspaper men to seethat they don't catch this fear. There'll be a hundred letters from foxyboys with just enough logic or imagination to see the possibility ofcutting off the furnace; but without imagination enough to get the finaleffect of telling people about it. Suppress it. Unless I'm mistaken, theaffair will be over in a week. "

Curtis drummed thoughtfully on his desk. 

"It's got to be done, and it will be done, " he said at last. "I'll get toevery paper in the city to-night--if it costs us our scoop. "

"But won't the people who write the letters tell about it, anyway?" askedJack. "And won't the outside papers have the same stuff?"

"Sure, " agreed Curtis promptly, "but what isn't in the city pressdoesn't get to the mass of the public; that's a cinch. There will besome thousands or even tens of thousands who will leave; there'll berumors a-plenty; there'll be the damnedest row since the Crusades--butthe people will stick. I'm taking your word for the danger. "

"Well, I'm the hostage, " Darrow reminded him. 

"Correct, " said Curtis, reaching for the desk telephone. 

Hallowell followed the visitors to the narrow hall. 

"Now, " said Darrow in parting, "remember what I have said. Don't mentionmy name nor indicate that there is anywhere an idea that the identity orwhereabouts of Monsieur X is by anybody suspected. "

CHAPTER XV

THE MASTER SPEAKS AGAIN

Having thus detailed rather minutely the situation in which the city andthe actors in its drama found themselves, it now becomes necessary to movethe action forward to the point where the moneyed interests took a hand inthe game. 

That was brought about in somewhat more than fifty hours. 

In the meantime the facts as to vibrations were published in all thepapers; the despatches and the relations between McCarthy and Monsieur Xexclusively in the _Despatch_--to that organ's vast satisfaction andcredit; and the possibilities of tragedy in none. This latter fact wasgreatly to the credit of a maligned class of men. It is common beliefthat no cause is too sacred or no consequence too grave to give pause tothe editorial rapacity for news. The present instance disproved thatsupposition. No journal, yellow or otherwise, contained a line ofsuggestion that anything beyond annoyance was to be feared from thesequeer manifestations. 

The consequences on a mixed population like that of New York were verypeculiar. The people naturally divided themselves into three classes. Inthe first were those who had received their warning from logic, friends, or the outside world; and who either promptly left town or, being unableto do so, lived in fear. In the second were all that numerous body who, neurasthenically unbalanced or near the overbalance, shut instinctivelythe eyes of their reason and glowed with a devastating and fanaticalreligious zeal. Among these, so exextraordinarily are we constituted, almost immediately grew up various sects, uniting only in the belief thatthe wrath of God was upon an iniquitous people. 

By far the largest class of all, comprising the every-day busy bulk ofthe people, were those who accepted the thing at its face value, read itsown papers, went about its business, and spared time to laugh at theabsurdities or growl at the inconveniences of the phenomena. With trueAmerican adaptability, it speedily accustomed itself to both theexpectation of, and the coping with, unusual conditions. It went forthabout its daily affairs; it started for home a little early in order toget there in season; it eschewed subways and theaters; it learned to waitpatiently, when one of the three blights struck its world, as a man waitspatiently for a shower to pass. 

This class, as has been said, was preponderantly in the majority, butits mass was being constantly diminished as a little knowledge ofdanger seeped into its substance. News of the possible catastrophepassed from mouth to mouth; a world outside, waiting aghast at suchfatuity, began to get in its messages. Street corner alarmists talkedto such as would listen. Thousands upon thousands left the city. Hundreds of thousands more, tied hard and fast by the strings ofnecessity, waited in an hourly growing dread. 

The "sign" had been sent promptly at six o'clock, as promised. It provedDarrow's prediction by turning out to be a stoppage of the electricalsystems. This time it lasted only half an hour-long enough to throw thetraffic and transportation into confusion. It was followed at shortintervals by demonstrations in light and sound; none was of long duration. 

After the first few, their occurrence came freakishly, in flashes, asthough the hidden antagonist delighted in confusing his immense audience. The messages he sent over the wireless in the Atlas Building grew more andmore threatening and grandiose. They demanded invariably that McCarthyshould be sought out and delivered up to a rather vaguely describedvengeance; and threatened with dire calamities all the inhabitants ofManhattan if the Unknown's desires were not fulfilled. These threats grewmore definite in character as time went on. 

The effect of all this in the long run was, of course, confusion andinstability. People laughed or cursed; but they also listened andreasoned. Gradually, throughout the city, dread was extending theblackness of its terror. A knowledge that would have caused a tremendouspanic if it had been divulged suddenly now gave birth to a deep seateduneasiness. 

Where the panic would have torn men up by the roots and flung them interrorized mobs through the congested ways and out into the inhospitablecountry, the uneasiness of dread held them cowering at their accustomedtasks. They were afraid; but they had had time to think, and they realizedwhat it would mean to leave their beloved or accustomed or necessary city, as the case might be. And it must be remembered that the definiteknowledge of what might be feared was not yet disseminated among them. 

But this attitude hurt business, and business struck back. The subwayswere practically deserted; the theaters empty; the accustomed carelesslife of the Great White Way thinned; the streams of life slackened. Furthermore, the intelligent criminal immediately discovered that idealshields were being provided him gratis behind which to conduct his crimes. In the silence a man could blow out the side of a bank building withimpunity, provided only he kept out of sight. In the darkness he couldpilfer at will, with only the proviso that he forget not his gum shoes. The possibilities of night crime when electricity lacks have already beentouched upon. 

To meet unusual conditions the people individually and collectively roseto heights of forgotten ingenuity. The physical life of a city is so wellestablished that the average city dweller grows out of the pioneer virtueof adaptability. Now once more these people were forced to meet new anduntried conditions, to guard against new dangers, new opposing forces. Inan incredibly short space of time they grew out of aimless panic. Theylearned to sit tight; to guard adequately their lives, their treasure, andeven to a certain extent their time against undue loss. 

In the meantime the moneyed powers had been prompt to act. They did notintend to stand idly while their pockets were being picked by untowardcircumstances; nor did they intend to continue indefinitely the unusualexpenditures necessary to guard themselves against even a greater loss. Asthere seemed to be two men to find, they employed the best of detectivesto search for McCarthy; and professor Eldridge, as the greatest livingexpert, to hunt down the Unknown. Thus unexpectedly Eldridge found himselfwith definite backing in his strange duel with Darrow. 

It is now desirable to place before the reader samples of the messagessent by Monsieur X and received in the wireless office of the AtlasBuilding, after which we can proceed once more to follow out the sequenceof events. 

 "TO THE PEOPLE: The sign has been sent you. You must now believe. The traitor is among you, and you must hunt him down. This is your sacred duty, for I, your master, have laid it upon you. "

That was one of the first. After a round dozen of similar import, therecame this:

 "TO THE PEOPLE: I, your master, am displeased with you. The visitations of darkness and of silence have been sent, but you have heeded little. I doubt not that ye search, as I have commanded, but you do not realize to the full your sacred obligation. You go about your business and you carry on your affairs. Your business and your affairs are not so important as these, my commands. Beware lest you draw down the wrath of the Lord's Anointed. I am patient with your ignorance; but give heed. "

The last at present to which your attention is called came just before theevents to be detailed:

 "TO THE PEOPLE: Your time is drawing short. You are a stubborn and a stiff-necked generation. My patience is ebbing away. You have been shown the power of my right hand, and you have gone your accustomed ways. You have defied the might of the Right Hand of God. Now I will lay on you my commands. 

 "You must seek out Apollyon and deliver him even into my hands, and that shortly. I shall be patient yet a little while longer, for I know that you grope in darkness and have not the light that shines upon me. But soon I shall strike. "

CHAPTER XVI

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT

Throughout all this excitement Percy Darrow did absolutely nothing. Hespent all his time, save that required for meals and the shortestnecessary sleep, in a round-armed wooden chair in the wireless station ofthe Atlas Building. Jack Warford sat with him. Darrow rarely opened hismouth for speech, but smoked slowly a few cigarettes, and rolled manymore, which he held unlighted in the corner of his mouth until theydropped to pieces. He watched quietly all that went on; glanced throughsuch messages as came in from Monsieur X, read the papers, and dozed. Toreporters he was affable enough in his drawling slow fashion, but hadnothing to say. 

"Eldridge is doing this, " he said to them; "I'm only in the position of aninterested spectator. "

Eldridge had taken hold in a thoroughly competent way. Back of the coldprecision of his undoubted scientific attainments lurked, unexpected bymost, a strong ambition and a less admirable hankering for the lime-light. His opportunity to gratify all these appetites--science, advancement, andfame--was too good not to cause him the deepest satisfaction. 

"I have determined, " he told the reporters, "that this particularinstrument alone receives the messages from the unknown perpetrator. Ourinvestigations must be initiated, therefore, in this apartment. "

"How do you explain it?" asked one of the reporters. 

"I can not explain it scientifically, " admitted Eldridge, "but I cansurmise that the fact either purposely or accidentally has to do eitherwith this instrument's location or with some slight and undeterminedpeculiarity of its tuning. "

"You could easily tell which by moving the instrument to another stationwhere they aren't getting the messages now, " suggested Darrow lazily. 

"Certainly, " snapped Eldridge, "any child could deduce that. But I fail tosee the use or necessity for the determination at all unless in a spiritof frivolous play. Our task is not to discover where the messages can bereceived, but whence they are sent. "

He gazed frostily at the man who had interrupted him. Darrow smiled softlyback. 

"How far will your instrument carry in sending?" Eldridge asked Simmons. 

"Its extreme is about two hundred miles. "

"Then we can safely assume that a circle drawn with a two-hundred-mileradius would contain this man you call Monsieur X"--the newspapers hadadopted Darrow's nickname for the Unknown--"since you have succeeded incommunicating with him. "

"Marvelous, " said Darrow to Jack--but under his breath. 

"As the sending of Monsieur X is faint, it follows that he is somewherenear the periphery of this circle, or that he is possessed of a primitiveor weak instrument. By the doctrine of probabilities we should bejustified in concluding against the latter supposition. "

"How's that, Professor?" asked the _Morning Register_ man. "It doesn't getto me. "

"He is evidently a man not only of scientific attainments, but of immensescientific possessions--as is evidenced by these phenomenal results he isable to accomplish. But we are not justified in reasoning according to thedoctrine of probabilities. Therefore, we shall proceed methodically. Ihave already made my preparations. "

Eldridge looked about him with an air of triumph. 

"I am fortunate enough to have, in the present crisis, unlimited financialbacking, " he said. "Therefore, I am in a position to carry out the mostexhaustive of experiments. "

He stretched his hand out for a long roll, which he laid flat upon thetable, pinning down the corners. 

"Here is a map of the Eastern States, " said he. "I have drawn a circle onit with a two-hundred-miles radius. At this moment a private instrumentwith a full crew to string sending and receiving wires is two hundredmiles from here on the New York Central Railroad. It has for itstransportation a private train, and it will be given a clear right ofway. " He turned to Simmons. "Have you found yourself able to communicatewith this Monsieur X at any time?"

"Communicate!" echoed Simmons. "Why, he's easier to talk to than a girlwho wants an ice-cream soda!"

"Then send this: 'Your messages have been communicated to the people. Bepatient. '"

Simmons touched the key. The spark leaped crashing. 

"What do you get?" asked Eldridge, after a moment. 

"Oh, a lot of the same sort of dope, " answered Simmons wearily. "Do youwant it?"

"No, it is not necessary, " replied Eldridge. "But listen for anothermessage from about the same distance when he has finished. "

Silence fell on the room. At the end of ten minutes Simmons raised hishead. 

"I get 'O K Q' over and over, " said he. "Want that?"

"That, " replied Eldridge with satisfaction, "indicates that my crew on thespecial train in the Adirondacks two hundred miles away has heard yourmessage to Monsieur X. " He glanced at his watch. "Now, if you would be sogood as to afford me a moment's assistance, " he requested Simmons, "I wishto disconnect from your battery one of your powerful Leyden jars, and tosubstitute for it one of weaker voltage. I ventured to instruct mydelivery man to leave a few in the outer hall. "

"That will weaken the sending power of my instrument, " objected Simmons. 

"Exactly what I wish to do, " replied Eldridge. 

"He's clever all right, " Darrow murmured admiringly to Jack. "See whathe's up to?"

"Not yet, " muttered Jack. 

The substitution completed, Eldridge again glanced at his watch. 

"Now, " he instructed Simmons, "send the letters 'Q E D, ' and continue todo so until you again hear the letters 'O K Q. '"

Simmons set himself to the task. It was a long one. At last he reportedhis answer. 

"He sends 'O K Q ten, '" he said. 

Eldridge turned to the reporters. 

"That means that the substitution of the smaller Leyden jar for one of thelarger reduced the sending power of this instrument just ten miles, " saidhe. "My crew has quite simply moved slowly forward until it caught oursending here. "

"Next, " he instructed Simmons, "see if you can communicate with MonsieurX. "

The operator speedily reported his success at that. Eldridge removed hisglasses and polished their lenses. 

"Thus, gentlemen, " said he, "from our circle of two-hundred-mile radius wehave eliminated a strip ten miles wide. Naturally if this weakened sendingreaches only one hundred and ninety miles, and our antagonist receives ourmessages, he must be nearer than one hundred and ninety miles. We will nowfurther reduce the strength of our sending and try again. "

The younger men present broke into a shout, "Good work!" somebody cried. They crowded about, keenly interested in thisnew method of man-hunting. Only Darrow, tipped back in his chair againstthe wall, seemed unexcited. 

To Jack's whispered question he shook his head. 

"It's ingenious, " he acknowledged, "but he's on the wrong track. " That wasas far as he would explain, and soon dropped into a slight doze. 

Throughout the greater part of the night the experiment continued. Batteryby battery the sending power of the instrument was weakened. Mile by milethe special train drew nearer until, by catching the prearranged signal, it determined just how far the new sending reached. Then Simmons triedMonsieur X. As the latter invariably answered, it was, of course, evidentthat he remained still in the narrowing zone of communication. It wasfascinating work, like the drawing of a huge invisible net. 

The reporters on the morning papers mastered only with difficulty theirinclination to stay. They had to leave before their papers went to press, but were back again in an hour, unwilling to lose a moment of the game. Atension vibrated the little office. Only Percy Darrow dozed alone in thecorner, leaning back in his wooden armchair. 

At near four o'clock in the morning Simmons raised his head after a longbout of calling to announce that he could get no reply from Monsieur X. 

"He's got tired of your fool messages, " remarked the _Register_ man. "AndI don't wonder! Guess he's gone to bed. "

Eldridge said nothing, but replaced the Leyden jar he had but justremoved. 

"Try one, " said he. 

"I get him, " reported Simmons, after a moment. 

"Send him anything plausible and reassuring, " commanded Eldridge hastily. He turned to his small and attentive audience in triumph. "Thus, gentlemen, " he announced, "we have proven conclusively that our man islocated between forty and fifty miles from New York. If we draw twocircles, with this building as center, the circumference of one of whichis fifty, the other forty miles away, we define the territory within whichthe malefactor in question is to be found. "

The people in the room crowded close about the table to examine the mapupon 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 thatterritory. "

"Even if it were as extensive a task as a hasty review of the facts mightindicate, " stated Eldridge, "I venture to assert that enough men would beforthcoming to expedite such a search. But modifying circumstances willlighten the task. "

"How's that?" asked the _Banner_ man, speaking for the others' evidentinterest. 

"We have no means of surmising the method by which this man succeeds inarresting vibratory motions of certain wave-lengths, " said Eldridgedidactically, "any more than we are able to define the precise nature ofelectricity. But, as in the case of electricity, we can observe the actionof its phenomena. Two salient features leap out at us: one is that thesephenomena 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 AtlasBuilding; (b) at this city and some of its immediate suburbs. Thepeculiarity of this can not but strike an observant mind. How is this manable, at forty or fifty miles distance, to concentrate his efforts on onecomparatively small objective? We can only surmise some system ofinsulating screens or focal mirrors. I might remark in passing that theexistence of this power to direct or focus the more rapid etherealvibrations would be a discovery of considerable scientific moment. But ifthis is the method employed, why do we not cut a band of vibratorynullifications, rather than touch upon a focal point?"

"Repeat softly, " murmured the irrepressible _Register_ man. 

"Why, " explained Eldridge patiently, "are not the people and buildingsbetween here and the unknown operator affected? The only hypothesis we arejustified in working upon is that the man's apparatus is at a heightsufficient to carry over intervening obstacles. This hypothesis isstrengthened by the collateral fact that the territory we have justdetermined as that within which he must be found lies in the highlands ofour own and neighboring states. We may, therefore, eliminate the low-lyingdistricts within our radius. "

Percy Darrow opened one eye. 

"Perhaps he's up in a balloon, " he drawled languidly; "better take alongan aeroplane. "

Eldridge cast on him a look of cold scorn. Darrow closed the eye. 

CHAPTER XVII

DRAWING THE NET

The "zone of danger", as the _Bulletin_ named it, was immediately thescene of swarming activities. Besides the expedition immediatelydespatched by the interests backing the investigation, severalenterprising newspapers saw a fine chance for a big scoop, and sent outmuch-heralded parties of their own. The activities of these were wellreported, you may be sure. Public interest was at once focusedreassuringly on the chances of finding the annoying malefactor to-day orto-morrow; there no longer existed a doubt that he would be found. Theweight of dread was lifted, and in the reaction people made light of theinconveniences and fun of the menacing messages that now came in by thedozen. 

[Illustration: "Let Eldridge do his best. "]

It was necessary to take extraordinary precautions against thieves andfire; the people took them. It was needful to slacken business in orderthat the congestion of the rush hour might not again prove tragic;business was slackened. People were willing to undergo many things, because, after all, they were but temporary. The madman of the Catskillswould sooner or later be found; his pernicious activities brought to aconclusion. The country to be searched was tremendous, of course, but thesearch was thorough. 

The public delivered itself joyously to a debauch of rumors and of"extras". The insistent alarms of danger, trickling in slowly from theoutside world, dried up in the warmth of optimism. Only the morethoughtful, to a few of whom these warnings came, coupled them withMonsieur X's repeated threats, and walked uncertain and in humility. 

Percy Darrow did not interest himself in the search, nor did he desert hispost in the wireless office. There he did nothing whatever. Jack Warfordstayed with him, but immensely bored, it must be confessed. Once hesuggested that if Darrow had nothing for him to do that afternoon, hethought he would like to go out for a little exercise. 

Darrow shook his head. 

"You may go, if you want to, Jack, " said he, "but if you do I'll have toget some one else. This isn't much of a job, but I may need you anymoment. "

"All right, " agreed Jack cheerfully. "Only I wish you'd let a fellow knowwhat to expect. "

Darrow shook his head. The two now practically lived in the office. Neither had taken his clothes off for several days. They slept in theirchairs or on the lounge. Darrow read the various messages from theUnknown, glanced over the newspapers, and dozed. 

Thus there passed two days of the search. On the third day theintermittent phenomena and the messages suddenly ceased. This fact washailed jubilantly by all the papers as indicating that at last the quarryhad become alarmed by the near-coming search. From the contracted districtstill remaining to be combed over, nobody was permitted to depart; and soclosely was the cordon drawn by so large a posse that it was physicallyimpossible for any living being to slip by the line. 

Thus even if Monsieur X, convinced that at last his discovery wasimminent, should destroy his apparatus or attempt to move it and himselfto a place of safety, he would find his escape cut off. Thousands of menwere employed, and thousands more drafted in as volunteers to render thisoutcome assured. 

It was an army deployed in an irregular circle and moving inward towardits center. Men of the highest executive ability commanded it, saw to itsnecessary deliberation, eliminated all possibility of a confusion throughwhich any man could slip. The occasion was serious, and it was takenseriously. 

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 anyportion of the zone actually searched and occupied by the searchers. Theremaining portion of the zone, from which they were still coming, had beencompletely surrounded. After that the manifestations had ceased. Therefore, Monsieur X must be within the beleaguered circle. To add to theprobabilities, as Eldridge pointed out, the remaining district compassedthe highest hills in the zone--a fact on all fours with his hypothesis. 

On the appointed morning the army moved toward the center. Men beat theground carefully, so close to one another that they could touch hands. Asthey closed in, the ranks became thicker. Animals of many kinds, confusedas the ranks closed in on them, tried to break through the cordon and werekilled. Captains held order in the front row, that the army might notbecome a crowd. Birds, alarmed by the shouting, rose and wheeled. 

In the city immense crowds watched the bulletins sent momently from thevery field itself by private wires strung hastily for the occasion. Enterprising journals had prepared huge rough maps, on which thecontracting circle was indicated by red lines, constantly redrawn. It wasdiscovery before a multitude. The imagination of the public, fired by itsrealization of this fact, stretched itself ahead of the distant beaters, bodying forth what they might find. 

As the circle narrowed excitement grew. All business ceased. The streetswere crowded; the windows of the buildings looking out on the numerousbulletin-boards were black with heads. Those who could not see demandedeagerly of those who could. 

In the Atlas Building the wireless operator hung out of his window. Besidehim was Jack Warford. 

Darrow declined to join them. "You tell me, " said he. 

Jack therefore reported back over his shoulder the bulletins as theyappeared. The crowds below read them, their faces upturned. One ran:

 "Cordon now has surrounded the crest of the Knob. Station of Monsieur X determined among oak-trees. Men halted. Picket 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 and chopped, like cross currents ina tideway. Finally this was hung out:

 "No traces of human occupancy. "

A moment's astonished pause ensued. Then, over the vast multitude, itsfaces upturned in incredulous amazement; over the city lying sparkling inthe noonday sun fell the pall of absolute darkness. 

In the wireless office of the Atlas Building Percy Darrow laughed. 

CHAPTER XVIII

CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDED

The absolute failure of Eldridge's hypothesis immediately threw publicconfidence into a profound reaction. Certainty gave place to completedistrust. Rumor gained ground. The exodus increased. Where formerly onlythose who could do so without great sacrifice or inconvenience had lefttown, now people were beginning to cut loose at any cost. Men resignedtheir positions in order to get their families away; others began toarrange their affairs as best they might, as though for a long vacation. As yet panic had not appeared openly in the light of day, but she lurkedin the shadows of men's hearts. 

The railroads and steamboats were crowded beyond their capacity. Extratrains followed one another as close together as the block signals wouldallow them to run. Humanity packed the cars. It was like a continualseries of football days. In three of them it was estimated that twohundred thousand people had left Manhattan. It would have been physicallyimpossible for the transportation lines to have carried a thousand more. They had reached their capacity; the spigot was wide open. 

Percy Darrow showed Jack the head-lines to this effect. 

"Cheerful thought, " he suggested. "Suppose the whole four million shouldwant to get out at the same time!"

Eldridge had come back to the wireless office thoroughly bewildered. It isa well-known fact that the exact scientist is the hardest man to fool, butthe most fooled if fooled at all. Witness the extent to which notedscientists have been taken in by faking spiritualist mediums. So withEldridge. His hypothesis had been so carefully worked out that the failureof its logic threw his mind into confusion. Until he could discover theweak link in his chain of reasoning, that confusion must continue. 

An hour and a half after the bulletin announcing the failure of the searchhad been posted, Eldridge rushed into the wireless office. The plague ofdarkness had lifted after fifteen minutes' duration. 

"Call Monsieur X, " he gasped to the day operator. In fifteen minutes, byrapid substitutions of batteries to weaken or strengthen the sendingcurrent, he had redetermined his previous data. Apparently, without theshadow of a doubt, Monsieur X was within the circle. 

"He may be at sea, " suggested the operator. 

But Eldridge shook his head. The circle of the sea had been wellpatrolled, and for days. 

"Begin over again, " drawled Darrow. "I told you that you were on the wrongtrack. "

Eldridge glanced at him. 

"I can't say that you've done much!" said he tartly. 

"No?" queried Darrow, with one of his slow and exasperating smiles. "Perhaps not. But you'd better get to thinking. You won't be able alwaysto take things easy. You may have to hustle before long. "

"There has been, I admit, " said Eldridge stiffly, repeating in substancethe interview he had already given out, "some flaw in our chain ofreasoning. This it will be necessary to review with the object ofrevision. Every physical manifestation must have some physical anddefinite cause; and this can be found if time enough is bestowed on it. Often the process of elimination is the only method by which the truth canbe determined. "

Darrow chuckled. 

"Look out the process of elimination doesn't overtake you, " he remarked. 

Eldridge detailed the same reasoning, at greater length, to the men whohad employed him. These were very impatient. Business was being not merelyimpeded, but destroyed. Their customers had no time for them; theiremployees were in many cases leaving their jobs. They called in all thehelp they could to assist Eldridge's speculations, but in the end they hadto fall back on the scientist as the best on the market. The case was notleft in his hands alone, however. After a meeting they offered a reward toany one discovering and putting to an end the disconcerting phenomena. 

"Here's where we make money, Jack, big money, " observed Darrow when heread this offer. "It'll be bigger before we get through. You and I canhave the little expedition to Volcano Island. "

"Nothing suits me better, " said Jack. "Are you sure we'll get it?"

"Sure, " said Darrow. 

Monsieur X had of course honored the waiting world with a message. Itfollowed the fifteen minutes of darkness:

 "TO THE PEOPLE: I have been patient and have stayed my hand in order that you may learn the vanity of your endeavor. Who are ye that ye shall strive to take me? Vanity and foolishness is your portion. Now ye know my power and ye will listen unto my words as to the words of the Master. Ye must hunt down this man McCarthy and deliver him over unto me. If every one of you gives himself to the task, lo! it is quickly done. Bestir yourselves against the wrath to come!"

These events occupied the three days of the ordered exodus. The time wasfurther filled with rumor that ever grew more dire. Gradually business wassuspended entirely. Those who could not or would not go away stood abouttalking matters over, and, as is always the case, matters did not improvein the telling. The only activity in the city was that bent on seeking outthe abiding-place of Monsieur X. 

Eldridge had now come to the conclusion that he had perhaps been mistakenin confining his efforts to so small an area. In fact, further experimentsrendered hazy the arbitrary outlines formerly determined for the zone ofdanger. At times Monsieur X answered well within the forty-five-mile mark;at times somewhat beyond the end of the fifty-mile radius. Eldridgeimmediately undertook a series of more delicate experiments by means ofindicators especially designed by him for the occasion. Once more thelittle wireless office became the focus of repertorial attention. 

"Our major premises we find still to be correct, " announced Eldridge inthe coldly didactic manner characteristic of the man. "This unknownoperator is at a distance; and probably at a height. One indication we didnot take sufficiently into consideration--the fact that this instrumentalone is capable of communication with the instrument of this individual. "

Percy Darrow for the first time began to show signs of attention. Hedropped the legs of his chair to the floor and leaned forward. 

"That would indicate, gentlemen, that the instrument whose location we aredesirous of determining is of a peculiar nature. What that nature is wehave no means of determining accurately; but in conjunction with the factthat our previous experiments failed to locate Monsieur X, we may adoptthe hypothesis that the wireless apparatus of that individual is not sodelicately responsive as the average. In other words, the zone withinwhich he may be found is in fact wider than we had supposed. "

Darrow leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Eldridgecontinued, explaining the means he had taken to determine more accuratelythe exact location of Monsieur X. 

CHAPTER XIX

PERCY KEEPS VIGIL

The morning of the third day after the failure of the search, and of thesixth since McCarthy's disappearance, had arrived. During that time PercyDarrow, apparently insensible to fatigue, had maintained an almostsleepless vigil. His meals Jack Warford brought in to him; he dozed in hischair or on the couch. Never did he appear to do anything. 

The very persistent quietude of the man ended by making its impression. Toall questions, however, Darrow returned but the one reply, deliveredalways in a voice full of raillery:

"I couldn't bear to miss a single step of Eldridge's masterly work. "

About half past nine of the morning in question, through the door to thewireless office, always half opened, somebody looked hesitatingly into theroom. Instantly Darrow and Jack were on their feet and in the hallway. 

"Helen!" cried Jack. 

"What is it? Anything happened?" demanded Darrow. 

She surveyed them both amusedly. 

"You certainly look like a frowzy tramp, Jack, " she told her brotherjudiciously, "and you need sleep, " she informed Darrow. 

The young scientist bowed ironically, his long lashes drooping over hiseyes in his accustomed lazy fashion as he realized that the occasion wasnot urgent. Helen turned directly to him. 

"When are you going to stop this?" she demanded. 

Darrow raised his eyebrows. 

"You needn't look at me like that. You said you could lay your hands onMonsieur X at any moment; why don't you do it?"

"Eldridge is too amusing. "

"Too amusing!" echoed the girl. "All you think of is yourself. "

"Is it?" drawled Darrow. 

"Have you been out in the city? Have you seen the people? Have you seenmen out of work? Families leaving their homes? Panic spreading slowly butsurely over a whole city?"

"Those pleasures have been denied me, " said Darrow blandly. 

The girl looked at him with bright angry eyes. Her cheeks were glowing, and her whole figure expressed a tense vibrant life in singular contrastto the apparent indolence of the men at whom she was talking. 

"You are insufferable!" She fairly stamped her foot in vexation. "You arean egoist! You would play with the welfare of four million people togratify your little personal desire for getting even!"

"Steady, sis!" warned Jack. 

Darrow had straightened, and his indolent manner had fallen from him. 

"I have said I would permit no harm to come to these people, and I meanit, " said he. 

"No harm!" cried Helen. "What do you call this--"

Darrow turned to the window looking out over the city. 

"This!" he said. "Why, this isn't harm! There isn't a man out there who isnot better off for what has happened to him. He has lost a little time, alittle money, a little sleep, and he has been given a new point of view, anew manhood. As a city dweller he was becoming a mollusk, a creature thatcould not exist without its shell. The city transported him, warmed him, fed him, amused him, protected him. He had nothing to do with it in anyway; he didn't even know how it was done. Deprived of his push-buttons, hewas as helpless as a baby. Beyond the little stunt he did in his office orhis store, and beyond the ability to cross a crowded street, he was nogood. He not only didn't know how to do things, but he was rapidly losing, through disuse, the power to learn how to do things. The modern citydweller, bred, born, brought up on this island, is about as helpless anduseless a man, considered as a four-square, self-reliant individual, asyou can find on the broad expanse of the globe. I've got no use for a manwho can't take care of himself, who's got to have somebody else to do itfor him, whenever something to which he hasn't been accustomed rises up infront of him!"

His eye was fixed somberly on the city stretching away into the haze ofthe autumn day. 

"You blame me for letting this thing run!" he went on. "Of course ittickles me to death to see Eldridge flounder; but that isn't all. This isthe best thing that could happen to them out there! I'm just patrioticenough to wish them more of it. It's good medicine! At last every man jackof them is up against something he's got to decide for himself. The policeare useless; the fire department is useless; the railroads and street-carsare crippled. If a man is going to take care of his life and property, hemust do it himself. He's buying back his self-reliance. Self-reliance is avaluable property. He ought to pay something for it. Generally he has topay war or insurrection or bloody riot. In the present instance he'sgetting off cheap. "

He turned back from the open window. His eye traveled beyond Helen's trimfigure down the empty hall. "Wait right here, Jack, " he shot over hisshoulder, and rushed along the hall and down the stairway before eitherthe young man or his sister could recover from their astonishment. 

CHAPTER XX

THE PLAGUE OF COLD

Without pause, and three steps at a time, Darrow ran down three flights ofstairs. Then, recovering from his initial excitement somewhat, he caughtthe elevator and shot to the street. There he walked rapidly to thesubway, which he took as far as City Hall Square. On emerging from thesubway station he started across for the _Despatch_ office as fast as hecould walk. By the entrance to the City Hall, however, he came to anabrupt halt. From the open doorway rushed his friend, Officer Burns, ofthe City Hall Station. The policeman's face was chalky white; his eyeswere staring, his cap was over one side, he staggered uncertainly. As hecaught sight of Darrow he stumbled to the young man and clung to his neck, muttering incoherently. People passing in and out looked at him curiouslyand smiled. 

"My God!" gasped Burns, his eyes roving. "I says to him, 'Mike, I don'twonder you've got cold feet. ' And there he was, and the mayor--Heavensave--and his secretary! My God!"

Darrow shook his shoulder. 

"Here, " he said decisively, "what are you talking about? Get yourselftogether! Remember you're an officer; don't lose your nerve this way!"

At the touch to his pride Burns did pull himself together somewhat, butwent on under evident strong excitement. 

"I went in just now to the mayor's office a minute, " said he, "and saw myfriend Mike Mallory, the doorkeeper, settin' in his chair, as usual. Itwas cold-like, and I went up to him and says, 'Mike, no wonder you getcold feet down here, ' just by way of a joke; and when he didn't answer, Iwent up to him, and he was dead, there in his chair!"

"Well, you've seen dead men before. There's no occasion to lose yournerve, even if you did know him, " said Darrow. 

The brutality of the speech had its intended effect. Burns straightened. 

"That's all very well, " said he more collectively. "_But the man wasfroze_!"

"Frozen!" muttered Darrow, and whistled. 

"Yes, and what's more, his little dog, setting by the chair, was froze, too; so when I stepped back sudden and hit against him, he tumbled over_bang_, like a cast-iron dog! That got my goat! I ran!"

"Come with me, " ordered Darrow decisively. 

They entered the building and ran up the single flight of stairs to thesecond-story room which the mayor of that term had fitted up as a sort ofprivate office of his own. A sharp chill hung in the hallways; thisincreased as they neared the executive's office. Outside the door sat thedoorkeeper in his armchair. Beside him was a dog, in the attitude of ananimal seated on its haunches, but lying on its side, one fore legsticking straight out. Darrow touched the man and stooped over to peer inhis face. The attitude was most lifelike; the color was good. A deadlychill ran from Darrow's finger tips up his arm. 

He pushed open the door cautiously and looked in. 

"All right, Burns, " said he. "The atmosphere has become gaseous again. Wecan go in. " With which strange remark he entered the room, followedclosely, but uncertainly by the officer. 

The private office possessed the atmosphere of a cold-storage vault. Fourmen occupied it. At the desk was seated the mayor, leaning forward in anattitude of attention, his triple chin on one clenched fist, his heavyface scowling in concentration. Opposite him lounged two men, one leaningagainst the table, the other against the wall. One had his hand raised inargument, and his mouth open. The other was watching, an expression ofalertness on his sharp countenance. At a typewriter lolled the clerk, hishand fumbling among some papers. 

The group was exceedingly lifelike, more so, Darrow thought, than any waxfigures the Eden Musee had ever placed for the mystification of itscountry visitors. Indeed, the only indication that the men had not merelysuspended action on the entrance of the visitors was a fine white rimefrost that sparkled across the burly countenance of the mayor. Darrowremembered that, summer and winter, that dignitary had always perspired!

Burns stood by the door, rooted to the spot, his jaw dropped, his eyestaring. Darrow quite calmly walked to the desk. He picked up the inkstandand gazed curiously at its solidified contents, touched the nearest man, gazed curiously at the papers on the desk, and addressed Burns. 

"These seem to be frozen, too, " he remarked almost sleepily, "and abouttime, too. This is a sweet gang to be getting together on this sort of ajob!"

Quite calmly he gathered the papers on the desk and stuffed them into hispocket. He picked up the desk telephone, giving a number. "Ouch, thisreceiver's cold, " he remarked to Burns. "Hello, _Despatch_. Is Hallowellin the office? Just in? Send him over right quick, keen jump, City Hall, mayor's second-story office. No, right now. Tell him it's Darrow. "

He hung up the receiver. 

"Curious phenomenon, " he remarked to Burns, who still stood rooted to thespot. "You see, their bodies were naturally almost in equilibrium, and, asthey were frozen immediately, that equilibrium was maintained. And thecolor. I suppose the blood was congealed in the smaller veins, and didnot, as in more gradual freezing, recede to the larger blood-vessels. I'mgetting frost bitten myself in here. Let's get outside. "

But Officer Burns heard none of this. As Darrow moved toward the door hecrossed himself and bolted. Darrow heard his heels clattering on thecement of the corridors. He smiled. 

"And now the deluge!" he remarked. 

The crowds, terrified, inquisitive, sceptical, and speculative, gathered. Officials swept them out and took possession. Hallowell and Darrowconferred earnestly together. 

"He has the power to stop heat vibrations, you see, " Darrow said. "Thatmakes him really dangerous. His activities here are in line with his otherwarnings; but he is not ready to go to extremes yet. The city is yetsafe. "

"Why?" asked Hallowell. 

"I know it. But he has the power. If he gets dangerous we must stop him. "

"You are sure you can do it?"

"Sure. "

"Then, for God's sake, do it! Don't you realize what will happen when newsof this gets out, and people understand what it means? Don't you feel yourguilt at those men's deaths?" He struck his hand in the direction of theCity Hall. 

"The people will buy a lot of experience, at cost of a little fright andannoyance, " replied Percy Darrow carelessly. "It'll do them good. Whenit's over, they'll come back again and be good. As for that bunch inthere--when you look over those papers I think you'll be inclined to agreewith what the religious fanatics will say--that it was a visitation ofGod. "

"But the old, the sick--there'll be deaths among them--the responsibilityis something fearful--"

"Never knew a battle fought yet without some loss, " observed Darrow. 

Hallowell was staring at him. 

"I don't understand you, " said the reporter. "You have no heart. You areas bad as this Monsieur X, and between you you hold a city in yourpower--one way or the other!"

"Well, I rather like being a little god, " remarked Darrow. 

Hallowell started once more to plead, but Darrow cut him short. 

"You are thinking of the present, " he said. "I am thinking of the future. It's a good thing for people to find out that there's something biggerthan they are, or than anything they can make. That fact is the basis ofthe idea of a God. These are getting to be a godless people. " He turned onHallowell, his sleepy eyes lighting up. "I should be very sorry if I hadnot intellect enough and imagination enough to see what this may mean tomy fellow people; and I should despise myself if I should let anunrestrained compassion lose to four million people the rare opportunityvouchsafed them. "

He spoke very solemnly. Hallowell looked at him puzzled. 

"Besides, " said Darrow whimsically, "I like to devil Eldridge. "

He dove into the subway. Hallowell gazed after him. 

"There goes either a great man or a crazy fool, " he remarked to an Englishsparrow. He turned over rapidly the papers Darrow had found on the mayor'sdesk, and smiled grimly. "Of all the barefaced, bald-headed steals!" hesaid. 

Darrow soon mounted once more the elevator of the Atlas Building. He foundJack and Helen still waiting. Before entering the wireless office Darrowcast a scrutinizing glance along the empty hall. 

"It's all right, " he said. "I'm surer than ever. Everything fits exactly. Now, Helen, " he said, "I want you to go home, and I want you to staythere. No matter what happens, do not move from the house. This town isgoing to have the biggest scare thrown into it that any town ever hadsince Sodom and Gomorrah got their little jolt. In the language of theWestern prophet, 'Hell will soon be popping. ' Let her pop. Sit tight; tellyour friends to sit tight. If necessary, tell them Monsieur X is captured, and all his works. Tell them I said so. "

His air of languid indifference had fallen from him. His eye was bright, and he spoke with authority and vigor. 

"You take her home, Jack, " he commanded, "and return here at once. Don'tforget that nice new-blued pop-gun of yours; we're coming to the time whenwe may need it. "

Jack rose instantly to his mood. 

"Correct, General!" he saluted. "Where'd you collect the plunder?" heasked, pointing to a square black bag of some size that Darrow had broughtback with him. 

"That, " said Darrow, "is the first fruit of my larcenous tendencies. Istole that from the mayor's office in the City Hall. "

"What is it?"

"That, " said Darrow, "I do not know. "

He deposited the bag carefully by his chair, and turned, smiling, toHelen. 

"Good-by, " said he. "Sleep tight. "

They went out. Darrow seated himself in his chair, drew his hat over hiseyes, and fell into a doze. In the meantime, outside, all through thecity, hell was getting ready to pop. 

CHAPTER XXI

IN THE FACE OF ETERNITY

Hell popped just as soon as the newspapers could get out their extras. Monsieur X had at last struck, and both interest and belief urged themanaging editors at last to give publicity to all the theories, the facts, and the latest message from the fanatic Unknown. 

The latter came about three o'clock:

 "TO THE PEOPLE: You have defied me, and you have doubted my power. There is no good in you. I, who would have saved you, now must bring about your death as a stubborn and a stiff-necked generation. In humanity is no more good, and of this world I desire nothing more. Prepare within the next three hours to appear before a mightier throne than mine. "

Percy Darrow, reading this, said to Jack Warford, "It is time to act, "and, accompanied by the younger man, quietly left the room. 

The reader of imagination--and no other will read this tale--must figureto himself the island of Manhattan during the next two hours. The entirepopulation, nearly, tried to leave it at once. When only the suburbandwellers, urged simply by the desire for a hot dinner, attempt to returnhome between five and six, the ways are congested enough. Now, strickenwith the fear of death, the human cattle fought frantically to reach theinadequate exits of the great theater of tragedy. 

There was fighting in the streets, and panic, and stark rumor, of course;and there was heroism, and coolness, and the taking of thought. To thelittle group of men in the top floor of the Atlas Building the roar ofriot came up like the thunder of the orchestra before the rise of thecurtain. Most of the people in the streets fled from a danger they did notunderstand. This little group in the wireless office realized clearly whatstill and frozen dissolution the rising of the curtain would disclose. They were not many; and they did not know what they were to do, ifanything; but they had not run away. 

Eldridge was there, looking somewhat flustered for the first time in hislife, and four of the large committee that had employed him. Simmons satcalmly at his post, and of all the reporters Hallowell alone had stood by. He had faith in Darrow, and he knew that in the _Despatch_ office a littlehandful of men stood in the shadow of death on the off chance of thebiggest scoop since Noah's flood. 

The four solid citizens looked at one another. The oldest turned toEldridge. 

"Then your opinion is that the city is doomed?"

"I can offer no other solution, sir, " said the scientist. "It is at lastevident that this man's power over ethereal vibrations extends to thoseforming heat-rays. If this is so, it follows that he can cut off all lifeby stopping all heat. If his threat is carried out, we can but lookforward to a repetition on a large scale of the City Hall affair. "

The aged financier now spoke to Simmons. 

"And the last report from the searchers?" he asked formally. 

"The search is being pushed, sir, " replied the operator, "by twentythousand men. There remain some fifty miles of country to go over, Mr. Lyons. "

Lyons turned his shaggy head toward a younger, slim, keen-eyed man offifty. 

"And the city will, in your judgment, Mr. Perkins, take how long toempty?"

"Days--in the present confusion, " said Perkins shortly. "We can move onlya limited percentage. Thank God, most of our men are standing by. I thinkall our rolling stock is moving. "

Lyons nodded twice. 

"And you?" he asked the third of the party, a stout young man ofthirty-eight or so. 

"How many stations are on the job, Simmons?" asked this man. 

"All but two, sir, " replied the operator. "D and P don't answer. I guessthey beat it. "

"How do they report the bulletin men?"

"On the job, " replied the wireless man. 

The stout young man turned to Lyons. 

"Well, sir, " said he, "I don't know whether we or the hand of death willbe called on to quiet them"--he paused for an instant with uplifted hand;the roar and crash and wail of the city-wide riot surged into the gap ofhis silence--"but if it is we, " he went on, "our little arrangements aremade. My men know what to do, and my men are on the job, " he concludedproudly. 

Lyons nodded again. 

"We have all done our best, " said he. "Now, gentlemen, I do not see how wecan possibly accomplish anything more by remaining here. My automobile isin concealment in the old stable in the rear of 127. My yacht is standingoff the Battery awaiting signal to come in. We have, " he glanced at hiswatch, "over an hour before the threatened catastrophe. "

He looked up expectantly. The men all glanced uneasily at one another, except Simmons, who stared at his batteries stolidly. 

"Come, gentlemen, " urged Lyons, after a moment. "There is really not muchtime to lose, for you know the yacht must steam beyond the danger zone. "

"Beat it, " spoke up Simmons, at last. "There ain't any good of you here. If anything comes in, I can handle it. It's just a case of send out ordersto your bulletin men. "

"I think I'd better stay, " observed Paige, the stout young man, with anair of apology. "I know I'm not much use; but I've placed men, and they'llstick; and if this freeze-out proposition goes through--why, they're init, and--"

"That's how I feel, " broke in Perkins. "But you have done your full duty, Mr. Lyons, and you have no reason to stay. Let me get your car around toyou--"

"Oh, I'm going to stay, " said Lyons. "If you gentlemen feel it your duty, how much more is it mine! Professor Eldridge"--he bowed to thescientist--"you have done your best, which is more than any other mortalman could have done, I am sure; and you, sir--" he said to Hallowell. 

Eldridge and Hallowell shook their heads. 

"I have failed, " said Eldridge. 

"I am a reporter, " said Hallowell. 

"We are in the hands of God, " announced Lyons with great solemnity, andfolded his hands over his white waistcoat. 

At that moment the door slowly swung open and Percy Darrow entered. He wassmoking a cigarette, his hands were thrust deep in his trousers pockets;he was hatless, and his usually smooth hair was rumpled. A tiny woundshowed just above the middle of his forehead, from which a thin stream ofblood had run down to his eyebrows. He surveyed the room with a humoroustwinkle shining behind his long lashes. 

"Well, well, well, well!" he remarked in a cheerful tone of voice. "Thisis a nice, jolly, Quaker meeting! Why don't you get out and make a noiseand celebrate, like your friends outside?"

"Thought you'd ducked, " remarked Hallowell. The others said nothing, butlooked a grave disapproval. 

Darrow laughed. 

"No, I had to come back to see how Eldridge is getting on. " He cast aglance at the scientist. "How goes it, old socks?" he inquired. 

The man's manner, the tone of his voice, seemed as much out of place inthis atmosphere of solemnity as a penny whistle in a death chamber. Darrowrefused to notice the general attitude of disapproval, but planted himselfin front of Eldridge. 

"All in?" he challenged. "Or do you still cherish any delusions that youwill get your man inside of"--he looked at his watch--"eleven minutes?"

A visible stir ran through the room at these words. "Eleven minutes!"murmured Lyons, and held his watch to his ear. "It has stopped, " he saidaloud. "It seems, gentlemen, that the only possible hope for us lies inthe doubt as to whether or not this Unknown will carry out this threat. "

"He's a first-rate hand to carry out threats, " observed Darrow. 

"We have done our best, " said Lyons calmly. "Let us compose ourselves tomeet everything--or nothing--as the fates may have decided. "

"That's all right, " agreed Darrow, with unabated cheerfulness. "ButEldridge and I had a little agreement, or bet. He bragged he'd get thisMonsieur X before I did. I'd like to know how he feels about his end ofit. Give it up?"

Eldridge looked at him rebukingly. 

"I have failed, " he acknowledged formally, "from lack of time to carry outmy investigation. "

"From lack of brains, " said Darrow brutally, "as I believe you once saidin private conversation about my old master, Doctor Schermerhorn. Thosethings are remembered. I am delighted to hand this back to you. " He eyedEldridge, the brilliant smile still curving his lips. 

"Enough of this!" cried Lyons with authority. "This is unseemly in theface of eternity. "

Darrow looked again at his watch. 

"We have still six minutes, sir; and this is an affair of long standing, and on which I feel deeply. The score is settled, " he said with entirerespect. "I am now at your command. I had intended, " he went on in afrivolous tone again, "to kick to you on my gas bill. It is too large. You, as responsible head, know it is. But somehow, you know, the presencehere of you gentlemen has disarmed me. You don't need to be here; you allhave the facilities to get away. Here you are! I guess you can charge adollar and a quarter for gas if you want to. " He looked from one to theother, while he carefully wiped back the blood that was flowing from thelittle wound in his forehead. "Eldridge acknowledges he has failed, " herepeated. 

"I fail to see how you have improved upon that failure, " snapped Eldridge, stung. 

"No?" queried Darrow. "I call Hallowell to witness that the game has beenfair. We had an even start; the data have been open to both. " He raisedhis voice a little. "Jack!" he called. 

Immediately through the open door from the hall outside came Jack Warford, leading by the arm a strange and nondescript figure. It was that of asmall, bent, old-looking man, dressed in a faded suit of brown. His hairwas thin, and long, and white; his face sharp and lean. His gaze was fixedstraight before him, so that every one in the room at the same instantcaught the glare of his eyes. 

They were fixed, those eyes, like an owl's; or, better, a wildcat's, asthough they never winked. From the pupils, which were very small, thelittle light-colored lines radiated across very large blue irises. Therewas something baleful and compelling in their glare, so that evenHallowell, cool customer as he was, forgot immediately all about the man'slittleness and shabbiness and bent figure, and was conscious only of thecruel, clever, watchful, unrelenting, hostile spirit. As Jack dragged himforward, the others could see that one foot shambled along the floor. 

"Gentlemen, " observed Darrow in his most casual tones, "let me presentMonsieur X!"

Every one exclaimed at once. Above the hubbub came Lyons' voice, clear andcommanding. 

"The proof!" he thundered. "This is too serious a matter for buffoonery. The proof!"

Percy Darrow raised his hand. Through the roar of the maddened city thebell of the Metropolitan tower was beginning its chimes. By the thirdstroke the uproar had died almost away. The people were standing still, awaiting what might come. 

The sweet-toned chimes ceased. There succeeded the pause. Then the greatbell began to boom. 

_One--two--three--four--five--six_ came its spaced and measured strokes. The last reverberations sank away. Nothing happened. Percy Darrow let hishand fall. 

"The proof, " he repeated, "is that you are still here. "

From the night outside rose a wild shriek of rejoicing, stupendous, overwhelming, passionate. Paige sprang across the room. "Release!" heshouted fairly in Simmons' ear. The spark crashed. And at a dozen placessimultaneously bulletins flashed; at a dozen other points placardedballoons arose, on which the search-lights played; so that the people, hesitating in their flight in thankfulness over finding themselves stillalive, raised their eyes and read:

 Monsieur X is captured. You are safe. 

At that a tumult arose, a tumult of rejoicing. 

Darrow had sauntered to the window, and was looking out. From the greatheight of the Atlas Building he could see abroad over much of the city. Here and there, like glowing planets, hung the balloons. 

"Clever idea, " he observed. "I'm glad you thought of it. "

Hallowell was on his feet, his eyes shining. 

"I've got the only paper on the job!" he fairly shouted. "Darrow, as youlove me, give me the story. Where was he? Where did you get him?"

Darrow turned from the window, and sardonically surveyed Eldridge. 

"He was in the office next door, " said he, after a moment. 

CHAPTER XXII

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

When, three hours previous, Darrow had arisen with the remark beforechronicled, Jack Warford had followed him in the expectation of a longexpedition. To the young man's surprise it lasted just to the hall. ThereDarrow stopped before the blank door of an apparently unused office. Intothe lock of this he cautiously fitted a key, manipulated it for a moment, and turned to Jack with an air of satisfaction. 

"You have your gun with you?" he asked. 

Jack patted his outside pocket. 

"Very well, now listen here: I am going to leave the key in the lock. Ifyou hear me whistle sharply, get in as quickly as you know how, and get toshooting. Shoot to kill. If it happens to be dark and you can not make usout, shoot both. Take no chances. On your quickness and your accuracy maydepend the lives of the whole city. Do you understand?"

"I understand, " said Jack steadily. "Are you sure you can make yourselfheard above all this row?"

Darrow nodded, and slipped inside the door. 

He found the office chamber unlighted save by the subdued illuminationthat came in around the drawn shades of the window. Against the dimness hecould just make out the gleaming of batteries in rows. An ordinary dealtable supported a wireless sender. A figure stood before the darkenedwindow, the figure of a little, old, bent man facing as though lookingout. Through the closed casement the roar of the panic-stricken citysounded like a flood. The old man was in the attitude of one looking outintently. Once he raised both arms, the fists clenched, high above hishead. 

Darrow stole forward as quietly as he could. When he was about half-wayacross the room the old man turned and saw him. For the briefest instanthe stared at the intruder; then, with remarkable agility, cast himselftoward the table on which stood the wireless sender. Darrow, too, sprangforward. They met across the table. Darrow clutched the old man's wrists. 

Immediately began a desperate and silent trial of strength. The old mandeveloped an unexpected power. The table lay between them, prohibiting acloser grip. Inch by inch, impelled by the man's iron will, his handforced his way toward the sending key. Darrow put forth all his strengthto prevent. There was no violent struggle, no noise; simply the pressureof opposing forces. Gradually the scientist's youth prevailed against theolder man's desperation. The hand creeping toward the sender came to astop. Then, all at once, the older man's resistance collapsed entirely. Darrow swept his arm back, stepped around the table, and drew hisopponent, almost unresisting, back to the window. 

"Jack!" he called. 

At the sound of his voice the old man gathered his last vitality in atremendous effort to jerk loose from his captor. Catching Darrow unawares, he almost succeeded in getting free. The flash was too brief. He managedonly to rap the young man's head rather sharply against a shade-fitting ofthe window. 

The outer door jerked open, and Jack Warford leaped into the room, revolver in hand. Darrow called an instant warning. 

"All right!" he shouted. "Turn on the light, next to you somewhere. Shutthe door. "

These orders were obeyed. The electric flared. By its light the office wasseen to be quite empty save for a cabinet full of books and papers; rowsand rows of battery jars; the receiving and sending apparatus of awireless outfit; the deal table, and one wooden chair. Darrow lookedaround keenly. 

"That's all right, Jack, " said he. "Just get around here cautiously andraise the window shade. Look out you don't get near that table. That's it. Now just help me get this man a little away from the table! Good! Now, tiehim up. No, bring over the chair. Tie him in that chair. Gently. That'sall right. Whew!"

"You're hurt, " said Jack. 

Darrow touched his forehead. 

"A bump, " he said briefly. "Well, Jack, my son, we've done it!"

"You don't mean to say--" cried Jack. 

Darrow nodded. 

"Now, my friend, " he addressed the huddled figure in the chair, "the gameis up. You are caught, and you must realize it. " He surveyed the captivethoughtfully. "Tell me, who are you?" he added. "I should know you, foryou are a great discoverer. "

The old man stared straight at his interlocutor with his expressionlesseyes, behind which no soul, no mind, no vitality even seemed to lie. 

Darrow asked him several more questions, to which he received no replies. The man sat like a captured beast. 

"I'm sorry, " said Darrow to Jack. "I should like to have talked with him. Such a man is worth knowing; he has delved deep. "

"He'll talk yet, when he gets over his grouch, " Jack surmised. 

But Darrow shook his head. 

"The man is imbecile, " he said. "He has been mentally unbalanced; and hisdisorder has grown on him lately. When I drove back his wrist just now thecord snapped in his brain. "

Jack turned to stare at the captive. 

"By Jove, I believe you're right!" said he at last. 

Darrow was standing looking down on the deal table. 

"Come here, Jack, " said he. "I want you to look at the deadliest engine ofdestruction ever invented or wielded by mortal man. I suspect that if youwere to reach out your hand and hold down the innocent-looking telegraphkey there you would instantly destroy every living creature in this city. "

Jack turned a little pale, and put both hands behind him. 

Darrow laughed. "Feel tempted?" he inquired. 

"Makes me a little dizzy, like being on a height, " confessed Jack. "How'sthe trick turned?"

"I don't know, " said Darrow. "I'm going to find out if I can. "

Without attempting to touch anything, he proceeded to examine carefullyevery detail of the apparatus. 

"The batteries are nothing extraordinary, except in strength, " he toldJack, "and as near as I can make out the instrument is like any other. Itmust be some modification in the sending apparatus, some system of'tuning', perhaps--it's only a surmise. We'll just disconnect thebatteries, " he concluded, "before we go to monkeying. "

He proceeded carefully and methodically to carry out his expressedintention. When he had finished the task he heaved a deep sigh of relief. 

"I'm glad you feel that way, too, " said Jack. "I didn't know what mightnot happen. "

"Me, either, " confessed Darrow. "But now I think we're safe. "

He proceeded on a methodical search through the intricacies of theapparatus. For a time Jack followed him about, but after a while weariedof so profitless an occupation, and so took to smoking on thewindow-ledge. Darrow extended his investigations to the bookcase, and to adrawer in the deal table. For over two hours he sorted notes, compared, and ruminated, his brows knit in concentration. Jack did not try tointerrupt him. At the end of the time indicated, the scientist looked upand made some trivial remark. 

"Got it?" asked Jack. 

"Yes, " replied Darrow soberly. He reflected for several minutes longer;then moved to the window and looked out over the city. Absolutelymotionless there he stood while the night fell, oblivious alike to theroar and crash of the increasing panic and to the silent figures in thedarkened room behind him. At last he gave a sigh, walked quietly to theelectric light, and turned it on. 

"It's the biggest thing--and the simplest--the world has ever known inphysics, Jack" said he, "but it's got to go. "

"What?" asked Jack, rousing from the mood of waiting into which he hadloyally forced himself in spite of the turmoil outside. 

"The man has perfected a combined system of special tuning and definiteelectrical energy, " said Darrow, "by which through an ordinary wirelesssender he can send forth into the ether what might be called deadening ornullifying waves. You are no doubt familiar with the common experiment bywhich two sounds will produce a silence. This is just like that. By meansof this, within the radius of his sending instrument and for a period oftime up to the capacity of his batteries, a man can absolutely stopvibration of either heat, sound, light, or electricity length. It isentirely a question of simple formulas. Here they are. "

He held out four closely written pages bound together with manuscriptfasteners. 

"No man has ever before attained this knowledge or this power, " went onDarrow, after a moment; "and probably never again in the history of therace will exactly this combination of luck and special talent occur. Thesefour pages are unique. "

He laid them on the edge of the table, produced a cigarette, lighted it, picked up the four pages of formulas, and held the burning match to theiredges. The flame caught, flared up the flimsy paper. Darrow dropped theburning corners as it scorched his fingers. It fell to the floor, flickered, and was gone. 

Jack leaped forward with an exclamation of dismay. The old man bound tothe chair did not wink, but stared straight in front of him, his eyesfixed like those of an owl or a wildcat. 

"For God's sake, Darrow!" cried Jack Warford. "Do you know what you havedone?"

"Perfectly, " replied Darrow calmly. "This is probably the greatestachievement of the scientific intellect; but it must go. It would give tomen an unchecked power that belongs only to the gods. "

CHAPTER XXIII

HOW IT ALL WAS

For his share in the foregoing Percy Darrow was extensively blamed. It wasuniversally conceded that his action in permitting Monsieur X to continuehis activities up to the danger point was inexcusable. The public mindshould have been reassured long before. Much terror and physical sufferingmight thus have been avoided--not to speak of financial loss. Scientificmen, furthermore, went frantic over his unwarranted destruction of theformulas. Percy Darrow was variously described as a heartless monster anda scientific vandal. To these aspersions he paid no attention whatever. 

Helen Warford, however, became vastly indignant and partisan, and inconsequence Percy Darrow's course in the matter received from her its fullcredit for a genuine altruism. Hallowell, also, held persistently to thispoint, as far as his editors would permit him, until at last, the publicmind somewhat calmed, attention was more focused on the means by which theman had reached his conclusions rather than on the use of them he hadmade. 

The story was told three times by its chief actor: once to the newspapers, once to the capitalists from whom he demanded the promised reward, andonce to the Warfords. This last account was the more detailed andinteresting. 

It was of a late afternoon again. The lamps were lighted, and tea wasforward. Helen was manipulating the cups, Jack was standing ready to passthem, Mr. And Mrs. Warford sat in the background listening, and Darrowlounged gracefully in front of the fire. 

"From the beginning!" Helen was commanding him, "and expectinterruptions. "

"Well, " began Darrow, "it's a little difficult to get started. But let'sbegin with the phenomena themselves. I've told you before, how, when I wasin jail, I worked out their nature and the fact that they must draw theirpower from some source that could be exhausted or emptied. You have readEldridge's reasoning as to why he thought Monsieur X was at a distance andon a height. He took as the basis of his reasoning one fact in connectionwith the wireless messages we were receiving--that they were faint, andtherefore presumably far distant or sent by a weak battery. He neglected, or passed over as an important item of tuning, the further fact that theinstrument in the Atlas Building was the only instrument to receiveMonsieur X's messages. 

"Now, that fact might be explained either on the very probable suppositionthat our receiving instrument happened in what we may call its undertonesto be the only one tuned to the sending instrument of Monsieur X; or itmight be because our instrument was nearer Monsieur X's instrument thanany other. This was unlikely because of the quality of the sound--itsounded to the expert operator as though it came from a distance. Nevertheless, it was a possibility. Taken by itself, it was not nearly sogood a possibility as the other. Therefore, Eldridge chose the other. 

"There were a number of other strictly scientific considerations of equalimportance. I do not hesitate to say that if I had been influenced only bythe scientific considerations, I should have followed Eldridge's leadwithout the slightest hesitation. But as I told him at the time, a manmust have imagination and human sympathy to get next to this sort ofthing. 

"Leaving all science aside, for the moment, what do we find in themessages to McCarthy? First, a command to leave within a specified andbrief period; second, a threat in case of disobedience. That threat wasalways carried out. "

Darrow turned to Mrs. Warford. 

"With your permission, I should like to smoke, " said he. "I can follow mythought better. "

"By all means, " accorded the lady. 

Darrow lighted his cigarette, puffed a moment, and continued:

"For instance, at three o'clock he threatens to send a 'sign' unlessMcCarthy leaves town by six. McCarthy does not leave town. Promptly at sixthe 'sign' comes. What do you make of it?"

Nobody stirred. 

"Why, " resumed Darrow, "how, if Monsieur X was a hundred miles or so away, as Eldridge figured, did he know that McCarthy had not obeyed him? We mustsuppose, from the probable fact of that knowledge, that either Monsieur Xhad an accomplice who was keeping him informed, or he must be near enoughto get the information himself. "

"There is a third possibility, " broke in Jack. "Monsieur X might have sentalong his 'sign' at six o'clock, anyhow, just for general results. "

Darrow nodded his approval. 

"Good boy, Jack, " said he. "That is just the point I could not be sureabout. But finally, at the time, you will remember, when I predictedMcCarthy's disappearance, Monsieur X made a definite threat. He said, "observed Darrow, consulting one of the bundle of papers he held in hishand:

"'My patience is at an end. Your last warning will be sent you atnine-thirty this morning. If you do not sail on the _Celtic_ at noon, Ishall strike, ' and so forth. The _Celtic_ sailed at noon, withoutMcCarthy. At twelve thirty came the first message to the people calling onthem to deliver up the traitor that is among you. ' How did Monsieur X knowthat McCarthy had not sailed on the _Celtic_? The answer is nowunavoidable: either an accomplice must have sent him word to that effect, or he must have determined the fact for himself. 

"I eliminated the hypothesis of an accomplice on the arbitrary grounds ofplain common sense. They don't grow two such crazy men at once; and onecrazy man is naturally too suspicious to hire help. I took it for granted. Had to make a guess somewhere; but, contrary to our legal friends, Ibelieve that enough coincidences indicate a certainty. But if Monsieur Xhimself saw the _Celtic_ sail without McCarthy, and got back to hisinstrument within a half-hour, it was evident he could not be quite so faraway as Eldridge and the rest of them thought. "

"One thing, " spoke up Jack, "I often wondered what you whispered toSimmons to induce him to pass those messages over to you. Mind telling?"

"Not a bit. Simmons is an exceptional man. He has nerve and intelligence. I just pointed out to him the possibility that Monsieur X might havecontrol over heat vibrations. He saw the public danger at once, andrealized that McCarthy's private rights in those messages had suddenlybecome very small. "

Jack nodded. "Go ahead, " said he. 

"I had already, " proceeded Darrow, "found out where the next wirelessstation is located. Monsieur X must be nearer the Atlas station than tothis other. It was, therefore, easy to draw a comparatively small circlewithin which he must be located. "

"So far, so good, " said Helen. "How did you finally come to the conclusionthat Monsieur X was in the next office?"

"Do you remember, " Darrow asked Jack, "how the curtain of darkness hungabout ten or twelve feet inside the corridor of the Atlas Building?"

"Sure, " replied Jack. 

"And do you remember that while the rest of you, including Eldridge, wereoccupied rather childishly with the spectacular side of it, I haddisappeared inside the blackness?"

"Certainly. "

"Well, in that time I determined the exact extent of the phenomena. Ifound that it extended in a rough circle. And when I went outside andlooked up--something every one else was apparently too busy to do--I sawthat this phenomenon of darkness also extended above the building, outinto open space. At the moment I noted the fact merely, and tried to fixin my own mind approximately the dimensions. Then here is another point:when the city-wide phenomena took place, I again determined their extent. To do so I did not have to leave my chair. The papers did it for me. Theytook pains to establish the farthest points to which these modern plaguesof Manhattan reached. "

Darrow selected several clippings from his bundle of papers. 

"Here are reports indicating Highbridge, Corona, Flatbush, Morrisania, Fort Lee, Bay Ridge as the farthest points at which the phenomena weremanifested. It occurred to nobody to connect these points with a pencilline. If that line is made curved, instead of straight, it will be foundto constitute a complete circle _whose center is the Atlas Building_!"

The audience broke into exclamations. 

"Going back to my former impressions, I remembered that the pall ofblackness extended this far and that far in the various directions, sothat it required not much imagination to visualize it as a sphere ofdarkness. And strangely enough the center of that sphere seemed to belocated somewhere near the floor on which were installed the UnitedWireless instruments. It at once became probable that what we may call thenullifying impulses radiated in all directions through the ether fromtheir sending instrument. 

"Next I called upon the janitor of the Atlas Building, representing myselfas looking for a suitable office from which to conduct my investigations. In this manner I gained admission to all unrented offices. All were empty. I then asked after the one next door, but was told it was rented as astoreroom by an eccentric gentleman now away on his travels. That wasenough. I now knew that we had to do with a man next door, and not milesdistant, as purely scientific reasoning would seem to prove. "

"But Professor Eldridge's experiments--" began Jack. 

"I am coming to that, " interrupted Darrow. "When Eldridge began to call upMonsieur X, that gentleman answered without a thought of suspicion; norwas he even aware of the very ingenious successive weakenings of thecurrent. In fact, as merely the thickness of a roof separated hisreceiving instrument from the wires from which the messages were sent, itis probable that Eldridge might have weakened his current down practicallyto nihil, and still Monsieur X would have continued to get his message. "

"Wouldn't he have noticed the sending getting weaker?" asked Jackshrewdly. 

"Not until the very last. Our sending must have made a tremendous crash, anyway, and he probably read it by sound through the wall. "

"But at about the fifty-mile limit of sending we lost him, " objected Jack. 

"You mean at about two o'clock in the morning, " amended Darrow. 

"Eh? Yes, it was about two. But how did he get on to what Eldridge wasdoing?"

"He read it in the paper, " replied Darrow. "At twelve the reporters left. At a little before two our enterprising friend, the _Despatch_, issued anextra in its usual praiseworthy effort to enlighten the late Broadway jag. Monsieur X read it, and knew exactly what was up. "

"How do you know?"

"Because I read the extra myself. "

"But even then?"

"Then he began to pay more attention. It was easy enough to fake when heknew what was doing. For all I know, he could hear Eldridge giving hisdirections. "

The company present ruminated over the disclosures thus far made. 

"About the City Hall affair?" asked Helen finally. 

"I used to sit where I could command the hall, " said Darrow, "and, therefore, I was aware that Monsieur X never left his room. To make thematter certain, I powdered the sill of the door with talcum, which Irenewed every day after the cleaners. You remember we got to talking veryearnestly in the hall, so earnestly that I, for one, forgot to watch. WhenI realized my remissness, I saw that the powder on the sill had beendisturbed, that Monsieur X had gone out. 

"My first thought then was to warn the people. To that end I was on my wayto the _Despatch_ office when sheer chance switched me into the City Halltragedy. I possessed myself of the apparatus--"

"That was the square black bag!" cried Jack. 

"Of course--and hustled back to the Atlas Building. You can bet I wasrelieved when I found that Monsieur X had returned to his lair. "

"Talcum disturbed again?" asked Jack. 

"Precisely. "

"And the black bag?"

"Contained merely a model wireless apparatus with a clockwork arrangementset to close the circuit at a certain time. That is why Monsieur X was notinvolved in his own catastrophe. "

"I see!"

"Then all I had to do was to sit still and wait for him to becomedangerous. "

"How did you dare to take such chances?" cried Helen. 

"I took no chances, " answered Darrow. "Don't you see? If he were toattempt to destroy the city, he must either involve himself in thedestruction, or he must set another bit of clockwork. If he had left hisoffice again I should have seized him, broken into the office, and smashedthe apparatus. "

"But he was crazy, " spoke up Mrs. Warford. "How could you rely on his notinvolving himself in the general destruction?"

"Yes, why did you act when you did?" seconded Helen. 

"As long as he held to his notion of getting hold of McCarthy, " explainedDarrow, "he had a definite object in life, his madness had a definiteoutlet--he was harmless. But the last message showed that his disease hadprogressed to the point where McCarthy was forgotten. His mind had risento a genuine frenzy. He talked of general punishments, great things. Atlast he was in the state of mind of the religious fanatic who lacerateshis flesh and does not feel the wound. When he forgot McCarthy, I knew itwas time to act. Long since I had provided myself with the requisite key. You know the rest. "

CHAPTER XXIV

WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARD

There remains only to tell what became of the various characters of thetale. 

McCarthy, on whom the action started, returned, but never regained hispolitical hold. Darrow always maintained that this was only the mostobvious result of his policy of delaying the denouement. People had beenforced to think seriously of such matters; and, when aroused, the publicconscience is right. 

Darrow demanded, and received, the large money reward for his services inthe matter. Pocketing whatever blame the public and his fellow scientistssaw fit to hand out to him, he and Jack Warford disappeared in command ofa small schooner. The purpose of the expedition was kept secret; itsdirection was known only to those most intimately concerned. If it everreturns, we may know more of it. 

Eldridge went on being a scientist, exactly as before. 

Simmons received a gold medal, a large cash sum, any amount of newspaperspace, and an excellent opportunity to go on a vaudeville circuit. 

Hallowell had his salary raised; and received in addition that rathervague brevet title of "star reporter". 

Helen Warford is still attractive and unmarried. Whether the lattercondition is only pending the return of the expedition is not known. 

As for the city, it has gone back to its everyday life, and the riffles onthe surface have smoothed themselves away. In outside appearanceseverything is as before. Yet for the present generation, at least, thepersistence of the old independent self-reliance of the people is assured. They have been tested, and they have been made to think of elementalthings seriously. For some time to come the slow process ofstandardization has been arrested. 

THE END