Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-20

those fall who had been up before him?
The fascination of the teeteri With
all his sense of achievement, he knew
that his fundamental discoveries had
come as sheer accidents TO him. as
come many of the epoch things
to which are attached the names of
men made famous by them. He was a
little amused at the idea of fame for
him. Not that he had the slightest
intention of lodging it; but he had al
ways thought of fame as something to
be Won Yet power-that thing that
moved him to deep thrill and blazing
eXultation. did not account for this
that sparkled in him. 1t was one thing
10 be drunk-Quite another to be merry.
Was it that. after ALL in this thing he
had done there lurked, as others had
first claimed though with different
meaning, a mammoth joke?
A joke! He had not himself sensed
1t before. But these tWo-theSe twin
emperorS of the entertainment world
they were perfect examples of one-half
of humanity in relation to the search
light of the creation He would show
them in a moment. Physically these
two were delightful products of the
sartorial arts; morally he expected
presently to send each man of them
sprinting for home in barrel!
Van Wrinkle had seated them. To-
gether the three of them blinked up at
him as he turned in the brilliantly
lighted room to look at them.
Il have not inquired, gentlemen" he
began, lust how much you know about
the Vicarion and decentralization
Your coming here as you have, and
your method of approaching the sub
ject of control leads me to suppose that
you have been present at one or an
other of the public showings. You evil
IDENTIFY know that there is going to be
quite lot of publicity about the things
that are Shown-publicly. But what
am going to show you here 1 suggest
that we keep just among ourselves"
They continued to blink at him. He
threw his switches. The white room
was plunged in darkness, then af1ame
with red light. And then, dozen feet
from where Ferdinand Mortimer's cigar
was once more going out, another
Ferdinand Mortimer suddenly sat Smok-
ing furiouSly A half-dozen PAGES from
where one Jerry Ballard reclined silent
in his chair, another Jerry Ballard
paced the floor talking tremendously!
And both, who were here apparently
comfortably ensconced as guests in
Radley Brainard'S studio, were there
almost within arms reach, extremely
mcomfortably closeted in their own
extremely private office!
And that Office, so private that 1t had
probably never been photographed, and
buried deep and difficult to access
mile back among Complete Illusions
studios, was here Iniraculously fitted
with an open end to an open end OF
Brainards little trick room, its floor
on a level with his floor, its tobacco
smoke trailing actually out here to the
Aostrils Of smoker who could not re-
member to Smoke
Brainard heard Mortimers gurgle-
death-rattle of dying monopollst!
Then he listened, as he had last night
listened to another condensation OF
this event.
II tell you, Mort" Ballard proclaimed
back there, 2O-odd hours ago, in yes
tcrdays assurance of privacy-"1 tell
you, young Brainard may not know 1t
yet, but he has us for the mere
cracker of his little toy whip. When he
swings it We'll snap! The $150,000,0OO
invested in Complete Illusions isn't 60
ing to be grain of sand on his prl-
gate beach!
THE world is going to beg him to
cake its money. Three months from to-
morrow's public exhibitions of his Wi
carton they will be making pilgrimageS
here from Russia and Hirdustan and
Patagonia and Arkansas The only
hope for US on this little green earth
is that Brainard's a fool and doesn't
know what he's got. If he does, we
might as well touch a match to Com
plete Illusions studios tonight-and
poison off our stock company-they'n
ErrVs hos In m
Of the world"
On the broad brow of yesterdays
Mortimer, who had never perspired
IN public in his life, stood the plain
sweat of yesterdays privacy.
Now, now, Ballard" he protested.
"There's a way TO handle Brainard
There always is. If its not money,
there are other things men want. And
a We can't procure for him just
Don't talk about procuring! Don't
you see, the man can take what ne
wants? He can take it whenever he
wants it, wherever it is! He can take
1t away from anybody who's got it
you and me included"
Whats to prevent our taking his
secret away from him? The man has
to have conf1dantS"
They tell me he makes a con-
fidant of nobody. He doesn't have to.
He has only to tell his employees to
follow certain formulate. and they don't
even know what results they are getting.
as they follow them. I've already had
two or three Of them here, applying
the sweating process. You can buy
what men know-but you can't buy
what they don't know! Inventors may
be able to match his appliances,
chemists analyZe his compounds some
body may be able to copy some of his
methods. But he's got his essentials
surrounded with camouflage, and when
it comes to knowing what it is all about,
or how it fits together, nobody will
discover that except by sheer luck.
And specimens of that kind of luck
are as few and far between as mete-
Orites!"
The Mortimer of yesterdays reality
wrath of todays escaping gases, rose
from his chair, his sheet-metal clothes
falling into their original lines as If
they had never been bent.
If" he said softly, his lips privately
leaning toward his partners private
ear, IF young Mr.. Brainard carries his
secrets in his head-wouldn't it be UNI
fortunate il anything should-happeA
TO young Mr.. Brainard."
The Mortimer who now occupied one
of Brainard's white chairs in the Brain
ard Studio-not the Mortimer back
there among the gases of his natural
environment-Was so still that Brain
ard flung his switches quickly, flooded
the white room with light and looked
at him The two cars of Complete IL
lusions sat gaping like pair of tragedy
masks! They breathed-With some
audible difficulty, indeed-but they
breathed. Brainard smiled upon them
and closed the closet where he kept his
little steel bombs for explosion here.
Perhaps you noticed, gentlemen" he
said, crossing toward them and taking
out cigarette that the clock in your
Office pointed to yesterday afternoon
at 3:l5!"
Mortimer tried to speak. He moved
as if to sit op straight once more. Then
he sagged as if ne expected never to sit
erect again. Ballard licked his lips and