Evening star., 1922-06-29
The Detectophone
By Arthur B. Reeve.
One Of The Stars Weekend Fiction Series.
/, Each story complete in three installments.

first times New York bankers have
had chance to engage in big deal
ings In that part Of the world. I
, suppose fvonne has shown you one
OF the letters ! am rsceiyingT
he drew from q drawer of his desk.
| and continued, not waiting for Ken
; nedy even to nod:
| Here are 4 dozen or more of them.
| I get one or two every day. either
here or at my town house or at the
Kennedy had moved forward to see
| them.
one moment more" Brixton in
terrupted. still holding them. Il
| shall come back to the letters. That
| letters before. Have you noticed this
I room?"
We had both seen and been i'm
! pressed by it.
Let me tell you more about it,
he went on. 1T was designed espe-
solutely soundproof."
| We gazed curiously about the
| strong room. 1t was beautifully
decorated and furnished. On the
walls was sort of heavy. velvety
| green wall paper. Exquisite hang
ings were draped about. and on the
! floor were thick rugs. In all 1 no.
! ticed that the prevailing tint was
green.
Il had experiments carried out"
he explained languidly. with the
, object Of discovering methods and
means for rendering walls and CELL
i ings capable of effective resistance
to sound transmission. One of the
methods devised involved the use
under the ceiling or parallel to the
work of wire stretched tightly by
| means of pulleys in the adjacent
walls and not touching at any point
the surface to be protected against
sound. Upon the wire network is
plastered a composition formed of
granulated cork. 80 as to make nat
slab. between which and the wall or
ceiling is a cushion of confined air.
The method is good in two respects:
the absence Of contact between the
protective and protected surfaces
position used. I have gone into the
thing at length because it will make
all the more remarkable what l am
about to tell you
Kennedy had been listening atten-
lively. AS Brixton proceeded I had
noticed kennedy'S nostrils dilating
almost as II he were hound and
had scented his quarry. I sniffed. too.
Yes. there was a faint odor, almost as
II Of garlic in the rooms 1t was un-
mistakable. Craig was looking about
curiously. as II to discover a window
tered. Brixton. with his eyes follow
ing keenly every move, noticed him.
More than that" he added quickly.
Il have had the most perfect system
Of modern ventilation installed in this
room. absolutely independent from
that in the house"
kennedy said nothing.
"A moment ago. Mr. kennedy.SI saw
you and Mr.. Jameson glancing up al
the ceiling. Soundproof as this
room is. or as 1 believe it to be. Il
hear voices. voices from-not
through. you understand. but from
that very ceiling. do not hear them
now. 1t is only at certain times when
am alone. They repeat the words
in some of these letters-'You must
not take up those bonds; You must
not endanger the peace of the world.
You will never live to get the inter-
est Over and over have heard such
sentences spoken in this very room.
have rushed out and up the corridor.
There has been no one there. l have
heard the voices. And it is absolutely
impossible that a human being could
get close enough to say them without
my knowing and finding out where
he is
Kennedy betrayed by not so much
shade of a doubt of Brixton's incredi
BILE story. Whether because he be-
Eeved it or because he was diplo-
matte, Craig took the thing at its face
value. He moved a blotter SO that he
could stand on the top OF Brixton's s
he unfastened and took down the
glass hemisphere over the light.
TT is an Osram lamp of about
hundred candlepower, l should
Judge" he observed.
Apparently he had satisfied himself
hat there was nothing concealed in
the light itself. Laboriously. with
such assistance as the memory of Mr..
Rrixton could give, he began tracing
out the course of both the electric
light and telephone wires that led
down into the den.
The ceiling and side walls. the floor
the hanEings, the pictures. the rugs
everything Kennedy was tapping
here and there all over the wall. as
| 4 to discover whether there was any
such hollow sound as a cavity might
make. There was none.
] A low exclamation from him at
! :racted my attention. though it es-
!aped Brixton. His tapping had
| .aised the dust from the velvety wall
! PAPER wherever he had tried it.
! Hastily. from a corner where it would
\ uOl De HOllCeu, HC pullcu oll d plcSS
IF the paper and stuffed ii into his
pocket. Then followed a hasty ex-
animation of the intake of the ven
! ,ilating apparatus.
Apparently satisfied with his ex-
! animation of things in the den. Craig
now prepared to trace out the course
of the telephone and light wires in
the house. Brixton excused himself.
asking US to join him in the library
upstairs after Craig had completed
his investigation.
| Nothing was discovered by tracing
| the lines back. az best we could, from
| the den. Kennedy therefore began at
| the other end, and having found the
points in the huge cellar of the house
| where tho main trunk and feed wires
..entered, he began q systematic search
| in that direction.
A separate line led. apparently. to
tho den, and where this line feeding
the Osram lamp passed near a dark
storeroom in a corner Craig examined
more closely than ever. Seemingly
his search was rewarded, for he dived
| into the dark storeroom and COM
menced lighting matches furiously to
discover what was there.
| CONTINUED in Tomorrow's Star.)