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

SI0utu, UTdWIeu LAdL yOuAe ul"A'
Lead on" He nodded farewell to
Jack, and linked his arm In that OF
the officer After few moments he
burst into an irrepressible chuckle.
1.-THE fat, thick-necked, thick-witted
old fool!" said he. E IA.
CHAPTER VIII.
Percy Darrow's Theory. ...
Percy Darrow in the police citation,
where he had been assigned an I'M.
used office instead Of cell. amused
himself reading the newspapers, OF
which he caused to be brought In q
full supply. Theories had begun to
claim their share Of the space which.
up to now, the fact stories had COM
pletely monopolized. Darrow. his feet
up. a cigarette depending from one
corner of his mouth. read them through
to the end. Then he INDUCED the
white walls Of his little apartment
with one Of his slow smiles. The
simplest OF the theories had to do with
comets. The most elaborate traced
out an analogy between the blind
spot" in vision and point Of rest"
in physical Manifestations this
point Of rest" had Just now happened
to drift to crowded center, and 80
became manifest. 49,
Ingenious but fantastic youth was
Percy Darrow's tribute to the author,
Professor Eldridge Of the university.
The human interest" stories OF
both, the evening before and those In
the extras describing the latest
freak in the Atlas building. Darrow
passed over with barely glance. But
certain figures he copied carefully into
his note book When he had found all
Of these, aid had transcribed them,
they appeared about as follows:
Atlas-Wednesday, 5:25 (about) 8
hr. IS min.
General Thursday, 500. 1855
/ (exact): hr. IS min. e..
Atlas--Friday, 1910. 1913 (exact:
80 min. o. .l.s
On the basis of these latter figures
he made some calculations which,
when finished, he looked on with
doubtful satisfaction. WI.
"Need more statistics. said he to
himself, before I can pose as a
prophet. Just now I'm merely a
BY now It was afternoon. An official
came to announce visitors, and a
moment later Helen and her brother
came in. Az Percy's case was merely
one of detention, or for some other
obscure reason, known only to those
who took their orders from Mccarthy,
the three were left alone to their own
devices. l<tg
AT the sight OF Helen's trim. tailor
clad figure Percy's expression bright
ened to what, in his case, might al
most he called animation. He swept
aside the accumulation Of papers, and
made room for both. After the first
greetings and EXPLANATIONS, Helen de-
manded to know particulars and pros
poets.
"All right, III tell you," agreed Oar.
row. I'm thought out; and want to
hear It myself"
Jack looked about him uneasily.
us 1t wise to talk here?' he asked.
{" don't doubt they have arrangements
for overhearing anything that is said. "
II don't think they care what We
say" observed Darrow. "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 general
jzing from one instance, what would
you think by analogy would be the
next thing to expect?"
THAT sound would be cut off in the
city," said Helen: "but Jack has al.
ready delivered me, your warning or
advice" she added.
Precisely. Now as to theories OF
the ultimate cause. Naturally this
must have been brought about either
by nature or by man. II by nature, 1t
is exceedingly localized, not to say d.
rected. II BY man, he must have IN
some way acquired unprecedented
powers over the phenomena OF electric.
ity and sound. These he can evident.
ally, 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 a man in possession of
extraordinary powers" said Helen,
leaning forward in her interest. go
on"
1--WE 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
finger--"the Atlas manifestation lasted
about nine and a half hours; and (b)''
he folded his middle flnger-"the
city manifestation was little less
than two hours"
: Eyes" cried Jack, "but then his