The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-18

his chair, liter disconnecting his apparatus
You no doubt have been told how one
night the SyX engine was heard working for
few minutes, the first and only night work
it was ever known to have done, and how,
hardly had it started up when a fire broke
out in the mill, and the engine was instant
ly stopped Now there is very remark
able story connected with that, and 1t will
show you how / got my first clue to the
mystery, although it was rather mere
suspicion than clue, for at first could
make nothing out Of it. The alleged fire
occurred about a fortnight after our discov-
cry of the double tunnel. My mind was
then full of suspicious concerning Syx, be-
cause l thought that man who would fool
people with one hand was not likely to deal
fairly with the other.
1T was a glorious night with full
moon, whose face was SO clear in the
limped air that, having found a snug place
at the foot of a yellow pine tree. where the
ground was carpeted with odoriferous
needles, l lay on my back and renewed my
early acquaintance with the Economically
named mountains and seas of the Lunar
globe. With my binocular l could trace
those long white streaks which radiate
from the crater ring called 'Tycho' and
run hundreds of miles in all directions over
the moon. AS / gazed at these singular
which astronomers, puzzled by their enig-
NAUTICAL aspect, have offered to more or
less confiding public concerning them.
I'm the midst OF my meditation and
moon gazing / was startled by hearing the
engine in the SyX works suddenly begin
to run. Immediately queer light. shaped
'like the beam of a ships searchlight but
reddish in color, rose high in the moon
lit heavens above the mill. 1t did not last
fhar min r,ta w
| instantly the engine was stopped and with
its stoppage the light faded and soon dis
appeared. The next day DR.. Syx gave 1t
out that on starting up mis- engine in the
night something had caught fire. which
compelled him Immediately to shut down
again. The few who had seen the light,
with the exception of your humble servant.
accepted the doctors explanation without
question. But l knew there had been no
fire. and Syx's anxiety to spread the lie led
me to believe that he had narrowly escap-
ed giving away a vital secret. said moth
ing about my suspicious, but upon enquiry
/ found out that an extra and pressing
order for metal had arrived from the Aus
trian Government the very day Of the pre-
tended fire, and drew the inference that
Syx. in his haste to fill the order-his sup
ply having been drawn low-had started
| to work, contrary to his custom, at night,
and had Immediately found reason to re-
pent his rashness. or course, / connected
the strange light with this sudden change
Of mind
"My suspicion having been thus stimu-
lated, and having been directed in a GER
tain way, 1 began, from that moment to
notice closely the hours during which the
engine labored. At night it was always
quiet, except on that one brief occasion,
Sometimes 1t began early in the morning
and stopped about noon. At other times
the work was done entirely in the after
noon. beginning sometimes as late as 8
or 4 o'clock and ceasiIg invariably at sun
down. Then again it would start at sun
rise and continue the whole day through.
For a long time / was unable to ac-
count for these eccentricities, and the
problem was not rendered much clearer,
although startling suggestiveness was
| added to it, when, at length, l noticed that
the periods of activity of the engine had
| a definite relation to the age Of the moon.
Then l discovered, with the aid of an al
manac. that l could predict the hours
when tie engine would be busy. At the
time Of new. moon 1t worked all day; at
full moon 1t was idle; between full moon
and last quarter it labored in the fore
noon, the length of its working hours
increasing as the quarter was approached
between last quarter and new moon the
hours of work. heightened until, as have
said, at new moon and first quarter work
the quarter was approached. and between