Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-03-07

own HlIIu iou urSt saw the glow
let me see
Might Of June - said Barnett.
June 2" agreed barrow THAT was
the end of Solomon. Thrackles & Co.
y very surprising end to them if they
had time to think he added grimly.
Surprising enough from the surviv-
ors, viewpoint" said Slade.
Doubtless. They've had that story
from you l needn't 20 over it. This
ship picked up The Laughing Lass, de-
serted, and put your first crew aboard.
That night, was it not, you saw the
second pillar of fire."
Barnett nodded.
$50 your men met their death. Then
came the second finding of the empty
schooner. Captain Parkinson, they
must have been brave men who faced
the unknown terrors of that prodigy"
''They volunteered, sir" said the cap
tain. with simple pride.
barrow bowed with a suggestion of
reverence in the slow movement of his
head. And that night--or was it two
nights later-yOu saw the last appear
ance of the portent? Well. l shall
come to that. Slade has told you how
they lived on the beach. With us In
the valley it was different. Almost
from the first | was alone The doctor
ceased TO he companion He ceased
TO be human almost \ machine. that's
what he was. His one human instinct
was-well. distrust. His whole force Of
being was conferred on his discovery. 1t
was to make him the foremost scientist
of the world; the foremost individual
entity of his time-of all time possibly
Even to outline it to you would take
too much time. Light, heat. motive
power in incredible degrees and under
such control as has never been known
These were to be the agencies at his
call The push Of a button, the turn
of screw-oh, he was to he master
of such power as no monarch ever
welded. Riches-pshaw, Riches were
the least of It, He could create them
practically. But they would be super
fuous. Power. Unlimited, absolute
power was his goal With his end
achieved, he could establish an autoc-
racy, dynasty of science-whatever
he chose. Oh! 1t was a rich hued.
golden, glowing dream. a dream such
as mems souls don't formulate in these
stale days-not our kind of men. The
Teutonic mysticism-you understand.
And it was all true. Oh, quiter'
do you mean us to understand that
he had this power you describe?" ask
ed Captain Parkinson
I'm his grasp Then comes a prac-
teal gentleman with Il steel hook A
follower of dreams, too. in his way.
Conflicting interests-you know how it
is. One well aimed blow from the
more practical dreamer and the great
er vision passes I'm getting ahead of
myself Just moment"
His cigarette glowed fiercely in the
, dimness before he took up his tale
again. a1
You all know who DR. Schermer-
| horn was. None of Won know don't
know myself, though I've been his fac
| totum for ten years-aiOng how many
varied lines Of activity that mind play.
ed. One of them was the secret of en-
) concentrated, resistless energy
| Mans contrivanccS were too puny fol
/ him. The most powerful engines he
regarded rs tops. For time high ex.
! plosives claimed his attention. He
wanted to harness them. Once he got
to the point of practical experiment
! You can see the ruins yct-a hole in
southern New Jersey. Nobody ever
understood how he escaped. But there
fence in Il plowed field-ycs. he few
the fence-and running, running, furi
ously in the opposite direction wheT
the dust cleared away Some one stop
ped him finally Told him the danger
was over. Yet I will not return he
! said firmly and tainted away. Tha
Disguised him with high explosives
What secrets he discovered he gave t.
the government They were not with
out value, believe"
They were not, indeed" corroborat
ed Barnett
Next his interest turned to the nat
ural phenomena of high energy. HI
studied lightning in an open steel net
work laboratory, with few results say,
a succession of rheumatic attacks ant
an improved electric interrupter, since
adopted by one of the great telegraph
companies. The former obliged hin
TO stop these experiments. and the in
vention he considered trivial Proba
bly, the great problem of getting at tn,
secret of energy led him into his Mt
tempts to study the mysterious cleo
trical waves radiated by lightnin!
flashes. At any rate, he was soon a
deep into the subject of electrical sci
ence as his countryman. Hertz, hat
ever been. He used to tell me that h
often wondered why he hadn't takel
up this line before-the world of ener
gy he now set out to explore, waves #
that tremendous range between thos
we hear and those we see. 1t was nat
ural that he should then come to til
most prominent radioactive element:
uranium, thorium and radium But
though his knowledge surpassed tina
of the much exploited authorities, h
, was never satisfied with any of his re
suits.
'Pitchhlende noH he would eI