The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-01-04
Me xingdom Of
Slender 3words
Copyright, Bobbs-Merrill Company
CHAPTER XIV.

Like the Whisper OF Bats wings.
On the other side of Tokyo that
night Doctor Bersonin sat with Phil
in his great laboratory. Dinner had
been laid on a round table at one end
of the room. This was now pushed
into corner; they sat in deep leather
chairs with slim liquer glasses OF
green creme de menthe on stand be-
tween them, with methyl lamp and
cigars.
Bersonin spoke. His voice was cold
and measured; the only sign of agita-
ton was in the slow, spasmodic work
ing of the great white fingers against
the dark wood.
II have brought you here tonight"
he said, "to make you proposition.
l have need of help-of kind-that
YOU can give me. 1t will require GER
tain qualities which l think you
possess-which we possess in COM
mon. have chosen you because you
have daring and because you are not
troubled with what the coward calls
conscience - that FOOLS name for
fear!"
Phil touched his dry lips with his
tongue. 81 have as little of that as
the next man." he replied. 81 never
found / needed much
BersOnin continued:
"What l have to say can say with
out misgiving. For if you told 1t be-
fore the fact there is possibly but one
man in Japan who would think you
sane: and if you told it after-Well,
for your own safety, you will not tell
it then! Your acceptance of my prop
osition will have a definite effect on
your prospects, which, | believe, can
scarcely be looked on as bright"
Phil muttered an oath. You needn't
remind me OF that" he said with surly
emphasis. 1--WE got about as much
PROSPECTS as a coolie stevedore. Well,
what of it?'
on the stand. 1t rocked under his
weight. 81 have talked of money. l
will show you quick way to gain it
not by years, but by days!-wealth
such as you have never dreamed,
enough to make your brother poor be-
side you! Not only money, but pow
er and place and honors. Is the stake
big enough to play for?"
Phil stared at him, fascinated.
"What do you-want me to do?" He
almost gasped the words.
The expert looked him in the eye a
full moment in silence, his fingers
crawling and twitching. Then, with
quick, leopard-like movement, he went
to the wall safe, opened it and TOOK
out what seemed a square metal box.
In it's top was set an Indicator, like
the range finder of camera. Its very
touch seemed to melt his icy control.
His paleness flushed; his hand trem-
bled as he set it upon the desk.
"Wait!" he said ''Wait!'
He looked swiftly about the room.
His eye rested on the bamboo cage
and q quick CLEAN shot across his face.
He opened the wire door and the little
bird hoped to his finger He moved
a metal pen rack to the very center
of the desk and perched the tiny
creature on it. 1t burst into song,
warbling full-throated, packed with
melouy. BersOnin set the metal case
a little distance away and adjusted
it with minutest care.
"Sing, Dick" he cried loudly;
''sing! sing!-'
The song stopped There had come
a thrill in the Aria puff of icy wind
on Pills face-a thin Ginning like a
fairy cymbal. Phil sprang up with a
cry. I'll fluffy ball, with it's metal
perch, had utterly disappeared; only
in the center of the desk was pinch
of reddish brown powder like the dust
of an emery wheel, laid in feathery
whorls.
He stared transfxed what does it
mean?" he asked hoarsely.
The doctors voice was no longer
toneless. 1t leaped now with an evil
exultation. at means that l--BersOn-
in-have found what physicists have
dreamed of for fifty years! | have
solved the secret of the love and hat
red of atoms. That box is the harness
of force besides which the engines
of modern war are children's toys!"
He grasped Phil's arm with force
that made him vince. The amber
eyes glittered.
cat first | planned to sell it to the
highest bidder amoung the powers. |
was a fool to think of that! The ma
ton that buys it, to guard the secret
for itself, must wall me in fortress!
That would be the reward of Per. onin
who has NraStn1