The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1914-10-01
CHAPTER TX.
The Great Silence.

ferCy DhrrOW sat quite calmly,
though a little hungrily, through the
first OF the two hours OF the Great
Silence. AS II fell, he looked at his
watch; then went on reading. Strange
ly terrified faces tiitted by the oren
door Of his little room. About seven
o'clock Darrow. struck by sudden
idea. arose. walked down the corridor
outside. and quite deliberately set to
work to force the light door. As has
been intimated. either by direct order
OF Mccarthy or because OF same vague
ness of the orders. the young man had
been confined. not in the jail proper.
but in one OF the living apartments OF
the wing.
Few realize how important a role
sound plays In what might be called
the defensives of our everyday life.
Sight is important, to be sure. but II
Is more often corroborative than not:
II is more often used to Identify the
source of the alarm that has been com.
municated through other channels
When we are told OF the hero-or the
villain--thst he stood with every
sense alert" our mental picture. in
| spite OF the phrasing. is that OF man
listening intently for the first intima-
tions OF what may threaten.
So II Is In prison, The warders can.
OF necessity. remain within actual
view OF but few OF the prisoners q
small proportion OF the time. But
through those massive and silent cor
r'dors sound stands watchdog for
them. The minute scratch OF a file,
the vibrations attendant on the most
cautious attempts against the stone
structure, the most mufiied football re-
ports to the jailer that mischief is
afoot.
Now the watchdog was asleep. Percy
Darrow reflected that. were II not for
the terror OF these unexplainable
hours. the prisoners within or their
friends without could assail their con-
fines boldly and formidably, even with
dynamite. and no one would be the wi
ser II only none happened to be within
actual visual range OF the operations.
He himself quite coolly used the iron
side piece OF his bed as battering-
ram to break the locks OF the door.
Then he walked down the long corri-
dor and out through the police station.
bowling politely to the bewildered Of
icers. The latter did not attempt 20
stop him.
! The people In the streets we're, ioT
the most part, either standing stock
STILL or moving slowly forward in a
cropping sort OF fashion. Darrow, for
the second time, noticed how anal
ogous to the deprivation of sight was
the total deprivation OF hearing and
feeling vibration.
Traffic was at a standstill. Peoples
1 faces were bewildered, for the most
part; though here and there one show.
ed contorted with the hysteria OF
fright. or exalted with some other
probably religious. emotion The
to Darrow here as in the Atlas Build.
ing. Visual causes were not producing
their wonted aural effect.
This complete severance OF one
cause and effect was sufficient to dis
credit all natural laws. No other
cause and effect was certain. Every
where people we're touching things to
see II they were solid. or wet, or soft,
or hard, as the case might be. Even
Qarrow felt, absurdly enough, that II
would not be greatly serious to Jump
off the top OF any building into the
street.
Darrow swung confidently enough
down the street. He was the only per
son who moved forward at natural
and easy gait. The effect was star
tling, Darrow seemed to be the only
real human being OF the lot All the
rest were phantasmagorlc.
But as he proceeded downtown the
spell was beginning to break. People
we're communicating with one another
by means of pencil and paper, Darrow
was amused, on crossing the park. to
see against the lighted windows on
Newspaper Row the silhouetted forms
o, activity. Evidently. the newspaper