Canadian Valley Record (Canton, Okla.), Vol. 10, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 1914 Page: 3 of 8
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8YNOPSI3.
sea^h7 yarrow. a young scientist In
« £ J.°ub- e"ter8 the office of
Carthv ^CC?rt^yw°f Ilew York- Mc"
«nl;„y hM Juet been threatened by an
£°S5-£- "}?*¥* orderln« hlm to flee
to Europe. He does not take the mes-
•Wflt«r t^U8iy- ,Darrow poe« up the
vt«i r«J°l ,try. ,or a Position with Dr.
,„??• Suddcnly the electric apparatus
neni £ building goes out of busi-
frnnM. ^n1' .are "nable to locate the
r A^i i Lftt onc€' w'thout apparent
reason, electric connections are restored.
Jhh® ,ne*t evening McCarthy is warned
I.Llf,? J?e leaves at once for Europe
6 Be.nt h,m at Prompt-
J* at i^at hour the entire electric appara-
"'°f,.N«w York is cut off. Percy Dar-
??<"<* fe has a clue. He engages
int. nft, Jac,k Warford, a college ath-
1? ®* - They visit McCarthy and ofTer to
run down the cause of his mysterious
rSw M?Carthy has Just received an-
S™?£. warnifiK by wireless. At si* a
deathly stillness falls on the Atlas build-
ing. blotting out all sound. Darrow Is
arrested as he leaves the building.
CHAPTER VII.—Continued.
"He may conceivably possess the
power to launch the fourth and dan-
gerous arrow, but may withhold It un-
less he believes himself suspected or
close pressed. At present he directs
himself solely against McCarthy.
Percy Darrow had been thinking
aloud, and realized It with a smile.
"This Is one of your Jobs, fellow de-
tective," 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 sounds
Interesting, but Jumbled. I feel the
way I did when I began to read Greek."
"McCarthy's incidental," observed
Darrow In his detached tone.
"Eh?"
* "Oh, I thought we might as well wor-
ry McCarthy by asking him for that
Job on the side. It's amusing."
"What do you want me to do?" ask-
ed Jack.
"This," said Darrow, with an unsual
rapidity of utterance. "See that thick-
set. quick man In gray clothes? He's
a policeman. Id a moment he'll arrest
me."
"Arrest you—why?" demanded Jack,
In tones of great astonishment.
"I reason that McCarthy will come
to th&i conclusion. He Is beginning to
think I have something to do with
what he calls his annoyances. I saw It
In his eyes. This last curious mani-
festation came along too pat. You re-
member, It cut off the dressing-down
he was going to give me." Darrow
chuckled 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 At-
las Building. Do not tell her that I
believe the phenomena are due to any
human agency. Say simply thai If It
It repeated, and she happens to be
within the rone of Its Influence, to
keep calm, and wait It will pass, and
ft 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,"
■aid Darrow.
"Oughtn't we to warn the people?"
"And let our hidden antagonist
know we are aware of hiB existence?"
Inquired Darrow.
"Anything else?"
"No—yes. Buy a gun. If I bring
yon 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
ball things up? Shall I rustle ball?"
"No," Bald Darrow. "I want to think
All I need Is all the papers. I'll be out
by ten tomorrow morning, sure."
"Why are you sure of that?"
"Because by that hour McCarthy
will have disappeared," Bald Percy
Darrow.
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.
"Lead on." He nodded a farewell to
Jack, and linked his arm In that of the
officer. After a few momenta he burst
Into an Irrepressible chuckle.
"The fat, thick-necked, thick-witted,
old fool!" said he.
self reading the newspapers, of which
he caused to be brought in a full sup-
ply. Theories had begun to claim
their share of the space which, up to
now, the fact stories had completely
monopolized. Darrow, his feet up, a
cigarette depending from one corner
of hiB mouth, read them through to
the end. Then he Indulged ftie white
walls of his little apartment with one
of his slow Bmiles. The simplest of
the theories had to do with comets.
The most elaborate traced out an an-
alogy between the "blind spot" In vi-
sion and a "point of rest" in phylcal
manifestations—this "point of rest"
had Just now happened to drift to a
crowded center, and so became mani-
fest.
"Ingenious but fantastic youth," was
Percy Darrow's tribute to the author,
Professor Eldrldge of the university.
The "human-Interest" Btories of both
the evening before and those in the
extras describing the latest freak in
the Atlas Building, Darrow passed
over with barely a glance. But certain
figures he copied carefully into his
note-book. When he had found all of
these, and had transcribed them, they
appeared about as follows:
hrAt^a^Wedne day, 8:25. 8:00 (about): 9
General-Thursday, 6.-00. 7:56 (exact): 1
nr. otj mm.
AtlaS-Frlday, 10:10. 10:48 (exact): 38
mm.
On the basis of these latter figures
he made some calculations which,
when finished, he looked on with doub-
ful satisfaction.
"Need more statistics," said he to
himself, "before I can poBe as a
prophet. Just now I'm merely a
guesser."
By now it was afternoon. An official
came to announce visitors, and a mo-
ment later Helen and her brother came
in. As Percy's case waB merely one
of detention, or for some other ob-
scurer reason, known only to those
who took their orders from McCarthy,
the three were left alone to their own
devices.
After the first greetings and excla-
mations, Helen demanded to know
particulars and prospects.
"All right, 111 tell you," agreed Dar-
row. "I'm thought out; and I want to
hear it myself."
Jack looked about him uneasily.
"Ib it wise to talk here?" he asked.
"I don't doubt they have arrangements
for overhearing anything that is said."
"I don't think they care what we
Bay," observed Darrow. "They are
merely detaining me on some excuse
or other that I haven't even taken the
trouble to Inquire about."
"That must astonish them some,"
said Jack.
"And If they do overhear, I don't
much care. Now," Bald he, turning to
Helen, "we have here three strange
£lf\ «
<1 ft n j i i,
CHAPTER VIII.
Percy Darrow** Theory.
Percy Darrow In the police station,
where he had been assigned an unused j "Precisely. Now aa to theories of
oOce instead at a cell, amused hlm- the ultimate cause. Naturally this
Linked Hia Arm In That of the Officer.
happenings comprising two phenome-
na—the cutting off of the electricity,
first in the Atlas Building, second in
the city at large; and the cutting otT
of sound In the Atlas. Although we
are, of course, not justified In general-
izing from one instance, what would
you think by analogy would be the
next thing to expect?"
"That sound would be cut off In the
city," said Helen; "but Jack has al-
ready delivered me your warning or
advice," she added.
mast have oeen brought about either
by nature or by man. If by nature. It
la exeeedlngly localised, not to say di-
rected. If by man, he must have in
some way acquired unprecedented
powers over the phenomena of elec-
tricity and sound. These he can evi-
dently, at will, either focus, as on the
A^s Building, or diffuse, as over the
city. For the moment we will adopt
the latter hypothesis."
"That It la a man In possession of
extraordinary powers," said Helen,
leaning forward In her Ii^erest "Go
on/
"We have, completed, only the phe-
nomena of electricity," continued Dar-
row; "the phenomena of sound remain
to be completed. We observe as to
that (a)"—he folded back his fore-
finger—"the Atlas manifestation last-
ed about nine and a half hours; and
(b)"—he folded his middle finger—
"the city manifestation was a little
less than two hours."
Yes," cried Jack, "but then this
aecond—"
<( "One minute," interrupted Darrow;
"let me finish. Now, let us place our-
Belves In the position of a man pos-
sessed of a new toy, or a new power
which he has never tried out! What
would he do?"
"Try It out," said Jack.
"Certainly; try it out to the limit,
to see Just what It could do in differ-
ent circumstances. Now, take the
lapses of time I have mentioned, and
assume, for the sake of argument, that
these powers are limited."
"Just how do you mean—limited?"
asked Helen.
"I mean exhaustible, like a water-
ing-pot. You can water JuBt bo much,
and then you have to go back and fill
up again. In that case, we can sup-
pose this man's stream will last nine
hours and a half when he dribbles it
down on one spot, like the Atlas Build-
ing; but it will empty Itself In. about
two hours when he turns her upside
down over a whole city. There re-
mains only the length of time neces-
sary to refill the water-pot to round
out our hypothesis. That is something
more than nine hours and sometimes
less than fifteen."
"How do you get those figures?" de-
manded Jack.
"The Unknown is anxious, after the
Atlas success, to try out his discovery
on the larger scale. He will naturally
do so at the first opportunity after his
water-pot la refilled. But he wishes
to do so at the first effective oppor-
tunity. What Is the most effective
moment? The rush hours. What are
the rush hours? Prom eight to ten,
and at six. Since he did not pull off
his show In the morning, we are fairly
justified in concludes, tentatively,
that the water-pot was not full by
then, and, as the Atlas phenomena
subsided at three of the morning be-
fore, the Inference la obvious.
"But Isn't the most effective time at
night, anyway, on account of the
lights ?" asked Jack.
"Good boy!" approved Darrow. "He
might have waited for that. But the
city-wide phenomena ceased at eight
the night before; and the Atlas sound
phenomena did not occur until ten
the next morning—fourteen hours.
Now, the most effective time to scare
McCarthy was any time after nine.
McCarthy arrives as the clock Btrlkes."
Jack shook his head.
"Oh, It's not proof; It's Idle hy-
pothesis," admitted Darrow. "We shall
have to test It. But let's go on with
It, anyway, and see how it works out"
"What's McCarthy got to do with
It?" demanded Helen.
"That's bo, you aren't In touch
there." Darrow sketched briefly the
situation as It affected the boss. Hel-
en's eyes were shining with interest.
"Now," continued Darrow, "having
tried out his new power to the limit,
our friend would begin to use it only
as he needed it There is now no
reason to empty the water-pot entire-
ly. All he wanted to do this morning
was to scare McCarthy, and impress
the public. He did that in thirty-
eight minutes. On the basis of four-
teen hours to fill the water-pot, It Is
evident that he would be rehabilitated,
ready for business, In an hour. There
fore, all he Is waiting for now Is the
most effective moment to try out his
city-wide experiment of silence. I
imagine that will be about six."
"Sounds reasonable,"' admitted Jack.
"Reasonable! It's certain!" cried
Helen.
Darrow smiled. "No, only a wild
hypothesis."
"They're Beared already; and they're
somewhat prepared by the perform-
ance this morning. Besides, I don't
see yet that human agency Is sus-
pected."
"Don't you think you'd better warn
people what is going to happen, and
tell them there's nothing to be fright-
ened of?" pleaded Helen.
"No." said Darrow, "I do not It
would confuse the phenomena, and
they must be unconfused In order that
I can either prove or disprove my
hypothesis. If this lasts about two
hours, the fact will go far to prove
me right If the next manifestation
comes at about ten the next morning,
we shall have established a period-
icity, at least. But if the man realizes
that his existence is suspected, he will
purposely vary in order to mix me
ud." i
"The next manifestation!" cried
Helen. "Then you think they will
continue—"
"Why not," smiled Darrow, "until
he has scared McCarthy out?"
-"Which will it be next time, do you
think?"
"Whatever happena, don't be fright-
ened." said Darrow enigmatically.
"It aeems to me there is something
absurd about all this," said Helen. "A
man with such a discovery, such pow-
ers, using them In such a manner, for
such a petty purpose!"
"He Is, of course, crafty," Darrow
said quietly; "the methodical logical
lunatic—the most dangerous sort.
"What Is It he has discovered?" ask-
ed Jack.
"I do not know, yet'
"But you suspect?"
Darrow nodded, but would not ex-
plain.
"What will be the outcome?'
"I am going to cut loose from science
and guess wildly," Bald Darrow, after
a moment. "Tomorrow morning,
somewhere about ten, McCarthy will
disappear."
"You said that before!" cried Jack.
CHAPTER IX. ?
The Great 8llence.
Percy Darrow sat quite calmly,
though a little hungrily, through the
first of the two hours of the Great
Silence. As it fell, he looked at his
watch; then went on readihg. Strange-
ly terrified faces flitted by the open
door of his little room. About seven
o'clock Darrow, struck by a sudden
cause and effect was aufflcltnt to dis-
credit all natural lawa. No other
cause and effect was certain. Every-
where people were touching things to
see if they wers 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 building into the
street.
Darrow swung confidently enough
down the street. He wes theonly per-
son who moved forward at a natural
and easy gait. The effect was star-
tling. Darrow seemed to be the only
real human being of the lot All the
rest were phantasmagoric.
But as he proceeded down-town the
Bpell was beginning to break. People
were communicating with one another
by means of pencil and paper. Darrow
was amused, on crossing the park, to
see against the lighted windows on
Newspaper Row the silhouetted forms
of activity. Evidently, the iftwspaper
men were already at work on this
fresh story.
Near the corner of the park Darrow
saw standing a policeman of his varied
,Wo„ T .. . „ . , J _ acquaintance. The scientist walked
Well, I say It again, drawled Dar-Up to ms man who Wft8 8tandlng iQ
the typical vacant uncertainty, smiled
Coolly Broke the Locks Off the Door.
1*ca, arose, waHiefl Ocrwn me currt^
outside, and quite deliberately set to
work to force the light door. As has
been intimated, either by direct order
of McCarthy or because of same vague-
ness of the orders, the young man had
been confined, not in the jail proper,
but in one of the living apartments of
the wing.
Few realize how important a role
Bound plays in what might be. called
the defensives of our every day life.
Sight is important, to be sure, but It
Is more often corroborative than not;
it is more often used to identify the
source of the alarm that has been com-
municated through other channels.
When we are told of the hero—or the
villain—that he stood "with every
sense alert" our mental picture, In
spite of the phrasing, is that of a man
listening Intently for. the first Intima-
tions of what may threaten.
8o It Is In prison. The warders can,
of necessity, remain within actual
view of but a few of the prisoners a
small proportion of the time. But
through those massive and silent cor-
ridors sound standB watch-dog for
them. The minute scratch of a file,
the vibrations attendant on the most
cautious attempts against the stone
structure, the most muffled footfall re-
ports to the Jailer that mischief is
afoot.
Now the watch-dog was asleep. Percy
Darrow reflected that, were it not for
the terror of these unexplainable
hours, the prisoners within or their
friends without could assail their con-
fines boldly and formidably, even with
dynamite, and no one would be the wi-
ser if only none happened to be within
actual visual range of the operations.
He himself quite coolly used the iron
side piece of his bed as a battering-
ram to break the locks of the door.
Then he walked down the long corri-
dor and out through the police station,
bowing politely to the bewildered of-
ficers. The latter did not attempt to
stop him.
The people in the streets were, for
the most part, either standing stock
still, or moving slowly forward in a
groping sort of fashion. Darrow, for
the second time, noticed how anal-
ogous to the deprivation of sight was
agreeably, clapped him on the back,
and shook his hand.
Darrow Blipped his notebook from
his pocket, and scribbled a few lines,
which he showed to the officer. The
latter read, inwardly digested for a
moment, and smiled.
Keep your hair one," ran Darrow's
screed. "This will pass in a few min-
utes, and it won't hurt you, anyway.
Don't look like all these other dubs."
He stood there companionably by
the patrolman. They looked about
them. All at once, with this touch of
normal, unafraid, human companion-
ship, the weird terror of the situation
fell away. Darrow and his compan-
ion were seeing humanity disjointed
from its accustomed habit, as one
looks on a stage full of men hypno-
tized into belief of an absurdity.
Where the blotting out of electricity
| had been tragic, this, as soon as its
i utter harmlessness was realized, be
came comic. All about through the
park men were meeting the situation
according to the limited ideas de-
veloped by a crustacean life of abso-
lute dependence on'the shell of arti-
ficial environment A considerable
number of all sorts had fallen on their
knees and were praying. One fat
man in evening dress, with a silk hat
and a large diamond stud showing be
tween the lapels of a fur-lined coat,
was particularly fervent. By force of
habit Darrow remarked on this indi-
vidual.
hal liu hann'f t/\ nhmstk —
since he was a kid," he observed.
The policeman caught the direction
of his look, however, and grinned with
understanding.
Some stood frozen to one spot, their
faces agonized, as a man would stand
still were the earth likely to yawn
anywhere. Darrow would have liked
to reassure these, for their eyes as-
pressed a frantic terror. One red-
faced individual with white side-whisk-
ers, looking exactly like the c6mic-
paper caricatures of the trusts, had
evidently refused to accept any ar-
bitrary dictates of natural forces.
Probably he had never accepted any
dictates of any kind. He was going
from one taxlcab to another, trying
to command a driver to take him some-
where, talking vehemently and author-
itatively, his face getting more and
more purple with anger. The taxi-
cab drivers merely stared at him stu-
pidly.
That old boy's kept his nerve,"
Darrow remarked, of course inaud-
ibly, to his companion. "But he'll die
of apoplexy If he doesn't watch out"
Again the policeman caught the di-
rection of Darrow's glance, and grin-
ned in understanding. He reached his
huge gloved hand for the young man's
pencil and paper, on which he wrote
the name of a man. high in railroad cir-
cles, and grinned again with evident
relish.
At that moment an entirely self-
possessed young man swung across
the street. He surveyed the two men
sharply a moment, then approached,
producing a sheaf of yellow paper as
he did so.
"Professor Darrow?" he wrote.
Darrow nodded.
The young man pointed to himself,
then to the Despatch Building.
"Cause?" he wrote, and waved hii
hand.
Darrow shook his head.
"Dangerous?"
Darrow shook his head again.
The reporter was about to add an-
other question, when Darrow reached
for the paper. It was thrust eagerly
into his hand. Darrow consulted hiB
watch.
"If," he wrote, "you will wait here
emst- °'he,rlng ™ ^
Traffic was at a standstill.
People's
faces were bewildered, for the most
part; though here and there one show-
ed contorted with the hysteria of
fright, or exalted with some other,
probably religious, emotion. The
same impression of ghostliness came
to Darrow here as in the Atlas Build-
view."
The reporter read this, and nodded.
"You're on!" he added to the writ-
ten dialogue. Then he produced a cig-
arette, lighted it and Joined tha other
two men in their amused survey of the
public's performances.
During the four minutes that epsued
Darrow examined the reporter snecu-
-
This complete severance of one cro bk cwntotckim
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Canadian Valley Record (Canton, Okla.), Vol. 10, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 1914, newspaper, September 3, 1914; Canton, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc175996/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.