Evening star., 1927-11-28

niue the money. ana tney ii Keep on
looking there. 1t will take them a
long while. They will be looking there
tonight-and perhaps tomorrow night,
too. And then they will begin to fol
low me again. But it will be too late
too late for many, many days, because
the time lock will be set-ha, ha-God
| supplies the time lock, young man
you do not understand that-but can
you imagine any one opening a time
lock that God has made?"
Locke took refuge in a cigarette
Apart from some mares nest in an old
hut, it was quite hopeless! The old
| maniac's condition was growing stead
| lily worse. There was a marked
change in even the last "a hours. 1t
did not require any professional eye
| to discern that.
II think" suggested Locke, CONVEX
sationally, that you were going to
show me something in that package,
Mr.. Marlin"
YES" said the old madman instant
ly, and as though quite obivious of
any depression. That is why you are
here. Listen. You will tell your IA
| ther about it. / do not ask others to
do what i do not do myself. Your
| father must do the same. He must
get all the great capitalists of America
to do likewise-it is the only thing
that will save the country from ruin
and disaster. Look"' The old man
ripped off the cord and wrapper, and
there tumbled upon the table. each
held together with two or three elastic
bands. a half dozen or more small bun
dies of bank notes. See! See! Do
| you see. young man.
| Locke with difficulty maintained an
| impassive countenance. He had ex-
pected something of the sort, but it
seemed somehow incredible that a sum
so great as Polly had named should
| be represented by*those few little bum
dies scattered there on the table in
front of him. He picked one of them
up and riffled the notes through his
| fingers. 1t contained perhaps a hun
dred blls-one hundred thousand dol
| lars. He laid the bundle back on the
table. Others were of like denomina-
ton; others again of five hundred.
The full amount was undoubtedly
there
do you know how much is there?"
demanded the old man, sharply.
| Locke regarded the money thought
| fully. To name the exact amount off
hand might aggravate the old ma
MACS already suspicious frame of
mind.
II can see that there is a very large
sum-" he answered cautiously.
"A large sum- echoed the madman
aggressively. And what do you call
a large sum, young man?'
well, at a guess" said Locke,
quietly, land basing it on that pack
age I have just examined, 1 should
say in the neighborhood of half mil
lion dollars
| The old maniac thrust his head for
ward across the table. stared for an
instant, and then suddenly burst into
| a peal of wild. ironical laughter.
Half a million He rocked upon
| his feet. his peals of laughter punctu-
ating his words. Bah. There are
| five millions, ten millions. fifty mil
lions there" He shook his finger IN.
| der Lockes nose. DO you hear what
1 say, young man?'
The blue eyes had become alight
with a mad blaze; hectic spots began
| to burn in the old madmn's cheeks.
Locke nodded his head in a slow, de-
| liberate manner as the most effective
thing he could think of to do by way
of calming the other. The whole
place. the surroundings, the grotesque
shapes swimming around in the tanks
everywhere he looked. the eyes of the
|
| to be fascinated by that fortune which
lay upon the table. the constant drip
| and trickle of water, the craZed old
man who rocked upon his feet and
| laughed. were eerily unreal. The sea
| horse in the tank that faced him from
| just beyond the other side OF the table,
| for instance, seemed to be most ni.
zarre and unnatural creature both in
shape and actions, even for one of his
own species! Half past 2 in the morn
ing, in an aquarium with a madman
and half million dollars!
| Again, by way Of appeasing the
other. he nodded his head.
Listen cried the old maniac,
fiercely. "You must help me- Men
are blind. blind, blind. Europe is
crumbling, nations are bankrupt
chaos-chaos is everywhere. Every.
thing else is decreasing in value; only
| the American dollar climbs up and up
and up. Sell. sell. sell while there is
time. Commercial houses are totter-
| ing, dividends are not being paid. the
employment of labor becomes less and
less-the end Is near. And fools cling
| to their business enterprises, and their
capital shrinks and is swallowed up
and lost. Lost" The man was work
| ing himself into a frenzy. His voice
see? Do you not understand? Money
alone has any value. And the less
money there Is left in the world. and
the more that is lost, the greater will
be the value of what remains. 1t will
multiply itself by the thousandfold.
Look! Look what is on the table
here! 1t will become wealth beyond
counting in any case. and If no one
will believe me, then the more 1t will
be worth. because there will be the
less money to compete with it. Mil
lions, Millions. Hundreds of millions.
But / am not selfish. / don OF wish to
see the ruin of the world. And you
you. You will now be responsible.
They will not listen to me because
they say am mad-I, who alone have
the vision to see and the courage to
act. But your father will listen to
you and he will believe you. and the
great financiers of America will follow
your father, and
Subconsciously Locke was aware
that the old maniac was still talking.
the crazed words rising in shrieks of
passionate intensity--but he was no
longer paying any attention to the
other. He was staring again at the
glass tank, behind and a little to one
side Of the o,d madman. that contained
the sea horse. The creature was most
strange. 1t was only a small and di
minutive thing, but. unless he were
the victim of an hallucination. it had
taken on an extraordinary appearance.
IT seemed to possess human eyes. to
assume almost the shape of face
only there was a shadow across it.
The water rippled a little. The sea
horse moved to the opposite corner of
the tank, but the eyes remained in
exactly the same original spot.
Locke leaned nonchalantly back in
his chair. though his lips were COM
pressed now into a thin, grim line.
They were human eyes. and the
shadow across the face was a mask.
Where did it come from? He began