The Columbus journal., 1909-04-14


war agency. England decides to SEN
feet 10 American waters as . Canadta
prptecdO1 against what the British sup
iier n seat with q message. Fleet myA
teriously disappears. The kaiser Is miss
ing. King Edward OF England Is con
States. The Dreadnausht. biggest OF Eng
lands Warshfps. - discovered at an I'm
passable point In the Thames. The st0r!
now goes back to time many months
Roberts visits the president and cabinet
telling OF and exhibiting q metal prOduc
Iion. This overcOme8 friction when cleo
increase speed to over 50 miles an hour
city for the manufacture OF the mys
ferioHs discovery q built on. the coast o.
Florida. Or. Roberts' 9r2t attempt to cleo
1rify plates proves failure.
CHATTER Continued.
Its all right this time," the IN
ventor assured him. wild current
and wet aoor before. badly insulated
handle. too All fixed up now. Won
he any accident this time" and SO on
analking the Rnai inspection OF his ap
paratus - he talked. Norma reviewed
her fathers work. to be certain thai
all vas well. and then at . nod from
him took her station at the other moa
ster which had not been used hither
to. There was q simultaneous move
ment On their part, and. rs II suddenly
endowed with q soul. the lights once
more dashed here and there. glarine
at them with sinister contempt
Frankensteins under control!
The admiral. fascinated by the mys.
terry of science. stared at the white.
haired old man who was calmly watch
ing his play OF c0l0rs. and then at the
girl who with equal self-possession
and GOODNESS manipulated the strange
currents beneath her hands. They
were animated as by one mind, throw
ing their levers and switches to and
fro at identically the same moment
without looking at each other, and the
click of the closing currents came in
unison. Not until then did they step
hack from their stations and inter-
change what seemed to the admiral
mutual glances OF c0ngratulati0n.
THAT assistant of mine is a won
der!" was all the old man. said as. he
came over. dragged stool up beside
that On which the ofncer sat. and glee-
fully rubbed his hands together. "She
thinks more clearly than I do"
Broekfon. who had been. tense as a
violin string and had almost forgotten
TO breathe. drew q long breath and
looked at the girl. who had been lean
ing against the wall as though e1-
llausted. but was now watching the
slowly cooling metal. He would have
asked questions: but the inventor
turned to him and with an air of
triumph said: ks1
II wish you would invite all those
who were here when We made the first
test. Then you will have the explana-
tfon unless am again mistaken"
The admiral obeyed, and even as the
cooling sprays were sitting over the
great pieces OF metal they came troop
ing in from the work which they had
resumed. There were men from the
draughtfng rooms with pencils behind
their ears. engineers from the outside
with shirt sleeves rolled up and for
gotten diagrams under their arms. and
one man came from the laboratory ab-
sentmindedly carrying a test tube,
balancing it SO that he might spill
none OF the liquid which it contained.
Norma was now resting calmly against
one OF the huge dead machines.
In tone OF unusual gravity Rob
erts addressed them. Boys" he be-
gan-they were all boys to him-"you
have Witnessed the accidental discov
cry. I believe. of the most powerful
force the world has ever known. You
have been fortunate. In more than
20 years Of life I. who have spent the
time In strange studies and stranger
work. have had no privilege SO great.
You have all been kind to my daugh.
ter and to me. and am glad you are
here now" He paused for q moment,
seeing with retrospective eyes all the
great events OF his life. Then. recall
ing himself from this review, he turned
to Jenkins az a tindred spirit, and to
a boyish ofhcer Who stood near at
hand.
"Yoa two" he said. indicating them
with his hand. may have the honor of
picking up those plates"
There was an instant OF breathless
astonfshment. Jenkins was the first to
recover. and unhesitatingly walked
forward. Tue younger man drew
back as though he had received an
order from an insane man consigning
him to ingiorious death. The voice Of
the admiral put an end to the wait.
Go ahead" he said quietly. Those
plates may weigh tons: but II Dr.. Rob
erts tells you to pick them up, you
60 and try it,
WltA the absolute precision of train
ing. the oncers heels came together
and his hand to his cap in quick 81
lutte. He strobe to the plates, and
stood opposite jenkins. while the spec
ta.ors GRAINED forward. spaculating a
% what freak Of madness was to be
Demonstrated. jenkins. grave ard un-
questioning. looked across 1t his com
pani0n, nodded 10 him. and together
thav stopped and caught q haudhold.
Together they gathered their muscles
as n Cdr some prodigious exercise Of
and simultaneously strained
upward.
TO the aaaasment Of those withs