The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-01

came in. As Percy's case was merely
one of detention. or for some other
| obscurer reason, known only to those
who took their orders from Mccarthy,
/ the three were left alone to their own
| devices.
At the sight of Helen's trim tailor
clad figure Percys expression bright
I ened to what, in his case, might al
most be called animation. He swept
aside the accumulation of papers, and
made room for both. After the first
| greetings and ordinations, Helen de-
manded to know particulars and pros
poets.
IAN right, III tell you,' agreed OAR
row. I'm thought out; and ! want
to hear it myself"
Jack looked about him uneasily.
is il wise to talk here" he asked
Il don't doubt they have arrangements
for overhearing anything that is said"
Il don't think they care what we
say" observed barrow. They are
merely OBTAINING me on some excuse
or another that I haven't even taken
the trouble to inquire about"
That must astonish them some"
said Jack
And if they do overhear, / don't
much care. Now" said he, turning to
| Helen. I'VE have here three strange
happenings comprising two phenomena
the cutting off of the electricity,
first in the Atlas Building, second in
the city at large, and the cutting off of
sound in the Atlas. Although we are,
of course, not justified in generaiizing
from one instance, what would YOU
hp H.
thing to expect?"
city" said Helen; but Jack has al
ready delivered me your warning or
advice" she added.
the ultimate cause. Naturally this must
have been brought about either by ma
ture or by man. If by nature, it is
exceedingly localized, not to say di-
rected. If by man, he must have in
some way acquired unprecedented pow
ers over the phenomena of electricity
and sound. These he can evidently,
at will. either focus, as on the Atlas
Building, or diffuse, as over the city.
For the moment We will adopt the
latter hypothesis"
That it is man in possession OF
extraordinary powers" said Helen.
leaning forward in her interest.
Go on"
I'VE have, completed, only the phe-
nomena of electricity" continued Oar
row; the phenomena of sound remain
to be completed. We observe as TO
that (a)"-he folded back his fore
inger-"the Atlas manifestation lasted
about nine and a half hours: and (b)"
he folded his middle fnger-"the city
manifestation was little less than two
hours"
Yes, cried Jack. but this sec
ond-"
One minute" interrupted barrow;
let me finish. Now. let US place our
selves in the position of a man pos
sessed of new toy, or new power
which he has never tried outl What
would he do?"
Try it out" said Jack.
Certainly; try it out to the limit, to
see just what it could do in differ
ent circumstances. Now take the lapse
of time ! have mentioned. and assume,
for the sake Of argument, that these
powers are limited"
Just how do you mean-limited?
asked Helen.
81 mean exhaustible, like a watering
pot. You can water Just. so much, and
then you have to go back and fill up
again. In that case, we can suppose
this mans stream will last nine hours
and a half when he dribbles it down
on one spot, like the Atlas Building;
but it will empty itself in about two
hours when he turns her upside down
over a whole city There remains only
the length of time necessary to refill
the water pot TO round out our n.y.
pothesis That is something more than
nine hours and something less than
fifteen"
How do you get those fgures?" de-
manded Jack.
The Unknown is anxious, after the
Atlas success, to try out his discov-
cry on the larger scale. He will nat
urally do so at the first opportunity
after his water pot is rehlled. But he
wishes to do so at the first effective
opportunity. What is the most eff
fective moment? The rush hours.
What are the rush hours? From s to
10. and at o'clock Since he did not
pull off his show in the morning, We
are fairly justified in concluding, ten
tatively, that the water pot was not
full BY then, and, as the Atlas p1e-
nomena subsidized at 3 o'clock of the
morning before. the inference Is OBJ
vious."
but isn't the most effective time at
night, anyway, on account OF the
lights," asked Jack.
Good boyw approved Darrow. "He
might have waited for that. But the
city-wide phenomena ceased at 8
o'clock the night before; and the Atlas
sound phenomena did not occur until
10 o'clock the next morning-fourteen
hours. Now, the most effective time
to scare Mccarthy was any time after
9 o'clock. Mccarthy arrives as the
clock strikes"
Jack shook his head.
''Oh, it's not proof; it's idle hypoth-
esis." admitted barrow "We shall have
to ties il. But let's 60 on with il, any
way. and see how it works cut"
What's Mccarthy got to do with
it," demanded Helen.
That's so, you aren't in touch there"
barrow sketehed briefly the situation
as it affected the boss Helen's eyes
were shining with interest.
Now" continued barrow, having
tried out his new power to the limit.
our friend would begin 10 use it only
as he needed it. There is now no rea-
son TO empty the water pot entirely.
H. ,..,,,xI l.. H. ,..,-