The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-10-20

thOrOughfare Ranked by neat two
story houses. Each had a tiny back
garden surrounded by a high wall.
There was about it an atmosphere. II
not of mystery. at any rate of the re-
tirement common to such backwaters
in the roaring streams OF city life.
The captains was the last house IN
the street. 1t stood u little further
back than the rest, and was turned
slightly askew. facing them Obliquely.
as though it knew itself to be out Of
place and was watching its neighbors
appreheRsively over fits shoulder.
There was no light behind any of
the drawn shades. 4 small dome on
fat roof seemed to contain a tele-
scope.
Donald climbed a fence, walked
round to the back, and went up the
weed-grOwn path. The grass had not
been moved since it sprouted in
spring; the garden was unkempt and
ragged Donald felt sure that there
was nobody within.
AS he trod the flags of the garden
walk, he fancied he heard the foot
steps of man in the street, following
him. He stopped and listened, but
now no sound was TO be heard. He
peered back into the darkness, but
saw nobody. Doubtless it was a hal
Inclination; it was a place of echoes
and hauntings. And it seemed singu-
lariy appropriate for old Masterman
to have had his lonely residence here,
matching his lonely life.
As Donald had anticipated. the front
door was locked, and the window of
the living room was apparently nailed
up. He traveTsed the narrow path
that led to the back of the house. To
his surprise, the kitchen window was
open.
Then it occurred to him that Mas
terman had. of course, gone directly
home on his return from his last
earthly voyage. He swung himself
across the window sill and dropped to
the kitchen floor. He lit match and
found the gas.
The yellow flare disclosed a very
ordinary kitchen. Masterman's coat
hung on a nail beside the window, and
he had been cooking porridge upon
the range. Donald went through into
a room at the back of the house, which
had apparently been built out at a
date subsequent to the completion Of
the structure in its original form.
He stopped short at the threshold,
hearing the "swish. SWISH of water.
It was not falling water, but a
gentle and continuous ripping. 1t oc-
Cured to him that it was, on n smaller
scale, the sound that a seal makes in
the course Of its ceaseIess peregrina-
tons around Its tank.
There was a palm tree in a huge
pot on either side Of what looked like
an enormous goldfish bowl Behind
this was q second bowl, even larger.
In the middle of the room was a COM
pIicated apparatus resembling a re-
tort. He saw a chandelier close to the
wall
Donald lit three gas-jets.
The light fiickered and sputtered as
the air rushed out Then, when it
had grown steady. Donald saw that
Il sort of Photographic lens was at
tached to a box in front of the appa-
ratuS, directed coward the great tank
between the palms.
Approached he perceived that the
top of tke tank was covered with
glass. 4 slender tube of the same
material entered the water from
| above. where it was supported upon
an arm extended from a wall. There
was a connection between the tube
and another which ran upward from
| the top of the retort.
Presently Donald caught sight of a
barometer attached to the front of the
mechanism. Now he began to under
stand. The object in the tank, what
ever it was. was under a pressure OF
a number of atmospheres.
He approached the tank and walked
round it, peering into it from every
side. He saw the ripples on the wa
ter, and there was faint sound as Of
fin brushed against the glass. Blu
he could see nothing in the nature o.