The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1914-03-28
CHAPTER x.-Continued.

CHAPTER x.-Continued.
Rawn asked nothing better than this
idea. 1t was beautiful, and he valued
II over all his many and various other
ventures. He could let his silent
partner put other men out of work;
and SO these could be rehired at such
price as he himself cared to set He
saw the time approach when he would
be able to retail at price. remote
from his silent. tireless partners la
bors, merchantable packages Of power,
TO feed a cart. a plow, wheel of any
sort; power to lift and labor. to toll
-ceaselessly without remonstrance, 1t
was and is a splendid dream. Its bear
ing is as you be Rawn or Halsey. That
power shall labor for or against man
kind as ourselves shall say.
Shall we blame ourselves. or John
Rawn. in this republic. that he saw
oa ahead only limitiess personal pow
e., iimitless gold, jewels. wine. women,
personal indulgence of any sort that
appealed to him? Shall we blame Hal.
sey for dreading the issue of these
plans, delaying them all he could;
cl,nging to the belief that the earth
Of: and that the Lord gave it to all
mankind? And shall we blame the
stock holders for being impatient at
renewed delays? The wire transmits
sion was installed making every man
In the International rich. Yet every
man In the secret of the real ambi-
ton of this company burned inwardly
at this enforced secrecy and this un-
seemly delay. The mysterious factory
at the edge of the great inland city
still was silent. The directors ragged.
They wanted TO drain to the last drop
the strength even of this tireless
giant They wanted to begin to bot
tie, measure and sell. sell for ever.
the very force which holds the spheres
in their places In time we shall per
haps see completed what these men
planned There is no logical reason
why. II one planet can be owned by
John Rawn or so, yet others should
not
For a long time Jim Sullivan. fore
man at the factory of the Information
al, wondered and pondered as to the
real intent of these strange machines
which he saw little by little growing
up under the uncommunicative direc-
ton of the superintendent. Halsey. He
had never seen anything like them.
with their vast coils Of insulation.
their intricate cogs and wheels, their
centrally-hid huge glass jars, and
the long, toothed ridge, like a delicate
metal comb, which surmounted the
top OF each There was something
mysterious about 1t all. He was sure
that Halsey did something with these
machines when the men were not
about The very air seemed throb
olng with some tense quality OF mys
terry. The men themselves were sus
picious. irritable. Never was the air
in any factory more surcharged alike
with ignorance and with anxiety. Man
after man, good mechanic though he
was ouit the place simply because he
did not know what he was doing. The
feeling Of mystery was tense, oppres
sive.
On one certain Sunday morning Jim
Sullivan strolled over to the vacant
factory. He knew that the superin
tendent had spent almost the entire
night there working alone on one of
these mysterious machines. 1t stood
there now. And-yes! 1t was different
from what 1t had been when Sullivan
last saw It., 1t was now apparently
complete, SO far as he could tell
There was no one near 1t. Halsey had
gone home, to bed. OF late he had
been very tired. pale. haggard; and be
always was at work In the factory.
when good men slept, and know Light
winged dreams.
Jim Sullivan stood now looking at
the grim, uncanny machine. hands in
his pockets, wondering He looked
about him, superstitiously. There
seemed to be something in the air. he
could not explain what. He turned
looking behind him, and tiptoed to the
front door, where Tim Carney. the
blue-coated guardian. stood leaning
against the wall
.'Tim!" he whispered. although there
Was none to hear Come on in here'"
What is 1t, Jim?" asked the watch
uan.