Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-05-20

man"
who is he?"
"I'll bring him in"
A moment later Jack, In answer to
a summons, entered the office.
Mccarthy stared at him. What kind
of a job?" he growled.
Something active and out Of DOORS"
Darrow answered for him; streets,
water, engineering"
Its a holdup" said Mccarthy sui
lenly. drawing tablet toward him
self, and thrusting the stub Of q pencil
into his mouth.
"A beneficent and just holdup,"
added barrow; "the first of it's kind In
this city"
Mccarthy glared at him malevolent-
ly. 1T don't go unless you deliver the
goods" he threatened.
Understood" agreed Darrow.
whats his name?" demanded Nc.
Carthy, withdrawing the pencil stub,
and preparing to write.
His name." answered Darrow, "is
John Warford, Junior"
Mccarthy started to his feet with a
below Of rage, his face turning
purple
"Of all the INTERNAL" he roared,
and stopped, as though stricken dumb,
For two or three words further his
mouth and throat went through the
motions Of speech. Then an expression
of mingled fear and establishment over
spread his countenance. He sank back
into his chair. Percy Darrow nodded
twice and smiled.
CHAPTER VII.
A World Of Ghosts.
A deathly stiffness had all at once
fallen like a blanket, plotting out NC
Carthy's violent speech The rattling
typewriter in the next room was
abruptly stilled. The roar OF the city
died as living creature Is cut by the
sword-all at once, without the transit
tionary running down of most silences.
Absolute dense stiffness, like that OF
a sea calm at night, took the place OF
the customary city noises. In his
astonishment Mccarthy thrust heavy
inkstand off the edge of his desk. 1t
hit the floor, spilled, rolled away;
but noislessly, as would the inkstand
in moving picture.
To have ones world thus suddenly
stricken dumb, to be transported
orally from the roar OF city to the
peace of a woodland or becalmed sea
is certainly astonishing enough.
But this silence was particularly ter
rifyfng to both Mccarthy and Jack
Warford, though neither would have
been able to analyze the reason for its
veirdness. For silence is in reality a
composite Of many lesser noises. In
inEnrfH
hum, breezes blow, leaves and grasses
rustic: at sea the tiny waves lap the
sides and equally tiny breaths OF air
stir the cordage; within the confines
of the human shell the mere physical
acts of breathing, swallowing. winking,
the mere physical facts Of the circula-
ton of the blood, the beating OF the
heart, produce each its sound.
Even a man totally deaf feels the
subtle influence of these latter
physical phenomena. And underneath
all sound, perceptible alike to those
who can hear and those who can not,
are the vibrations that accompany
every activity of nature as the mani
festations OF motion or of life. An ordl-
nary deep silence Is not SO much an
absence Of sound as an absence OF
accustomed or loud sound. And In that
unusual hush often for the first time
q man becomes acutely aware of the
singing of the blood In his ears.
But this silence was absolute. All
these minor sounds had been
eliminated.
For a moment Boss McCarty stared;
then showed back his chair Win a
violent motion, and rose. He was IKE
q shadow on screen. The filching
from the world Of one element OF
it's everyday life had Unexpectedly
rendered it all phantasmagoric.
AS Mccarthy shouted, and no sound
came; as he moved from behind his
desk, and no jar accompanied his
heavy football, he appeared to lose
blood and substance, to become un-
real. AS no sound issued from his con-
torted face, so it seemed that no force
would follow his blow, were he to de-
liver one. ...
He stumbled forward, dazed and
cropping as though he were in the
dark, instead of merely in silence; q
striking example in the uncertainty OF
his movements Of how closely our
senses depend on one another.
Jack spoke twice, then closed MS
lips in grim straight line. He held
his elbows close to his sides, and
looked ready for anything.
A look of mild triumph illumined
Percy Darrow's usually languid
countenance. He stepped quickly to
the wall, and turned the button Of the
incandescent globe The light IN.
stantly glowed. At this he nodded
twice more From his pocket he drew
notebook and pencil. wrote in 1t q
few words, and handed 1t to the dazed
and uncertain boss.
'T was right" Darrow had scrawled.
"This proves it. It's by no means the
end. Better be good"
McCarthy's bulldog courage had re-
covered from it's first daze. He began
to see that this visitation was not en-
tirely personal, but extended also to
his two companions. This relieved his
mind, for he had suspected some
strange new apoplexy. ..... ..
did you expect this?" he wrote.
barrow nodded.
Together the three ghosts left the
phantom office, and glided down the
L.