CHAPTER XII
THE UNKNOWN
It will now become necessary to glance in passing at the personalcharacteristics of Professor Eldridge. This man was in about his fortiethyear, tall, spare, keenly intellectual in countenance, cold, possessed ofan absolute reliance on the powers of science, beyond which his mentalprocesses did not stray. His manner was distinguished by a stiff unbendingformality; his expression by a glacial coldness of steel-gray eyes and astraight-line compression of thin lips; his dress by a precise andunvarying formalism, and his speech by a curious polysyllabic stiffness.
This latter idiosyncrasy would, in another, have seemed either priggish orfacetiously intended. With Professor Eldridge it was merely a naturalmethod of speech. Thus, arriving once at the stroke of the dinner hour, hereplied to compliments on his punctuality by remarking:
"I have always considered punctuality a virtue when one is invited topartake of gratuitous nourishment."
Withal, his scientific attainments were not only undoubted, but soconsiderable as to have won for him against many odds the reputation of agreat scientist. His specialty, if such it might be called, was scientificdiagnosis. The exactness of scientific laws was so admirably duplicated bythe exactitudes of his mind that he seemed able, by a bloodless andmechanical sympathy, to penetrate to the most obscure causes of thestrangest events. It might be added that practically his only social tieswere those with the Warfords, and that the only woman with whom he everentered into conversation was Helen.
At sight of him Percy Darrow's lounging gait became accentuated toexaggeration.
"Hello, Prof!" he drawled. "On the job, I see. Good morning, Doctor," hegreeted Knox. "What do you make of it?"
"I make of it that the Atlas Building will shortly be without tenants,"replied the doctor; "me, for one."
Eldridge surveyed Darrow coldly through the glittering toric lenses of hisglasses.
"The cause of these extraordinary phenomena is self-evident," he stated.
"You mean their nature, not their cause," replied Darrow. "In nature, theyrefer back to the interference with etheric and molecular vibrations.That," he added, "is a fact that every boy in the grammar-school physicsclass has figured out for himself. The cause is a different matter."
"I stand corrected," said Eldridge. "Such lapses in accuracy of statementare not usual with me, but may be considered as concomitant with unusualcircumstances."
"Right-o!" agreed Darrow cheerfully. "Well, what about the causes?"
"That I will determine when I am satisfied that all the elements of theproblem are in my hands."
"Right-o!" repeated Darrow. "Well, I'll bet you a new hat I'll land thecause before you do. Be a sport!"
"I never indulge in wagers," replied Eldridge.
"Well," said Darrow to Jack and Hallowell, "come on!"
Without waiting to see if he was followed, the young man again plungedinto the black and clinging darkness.
"Get hold of my coat," his voice came to the others. "We're going toclimb."
Accordingly they climbed, in silence, up many flights of stairs, throughthe cloying darkness. At last Darrow halted, turned sharp to the left,fumbled for a door, and entered a room.
"Simmons?" he said.
"Here!" came a voice.
"I thought you'd be on the job," said Darrow, with satisfaction. "How'syour instrument? Going, eh? We are in the wireless offices," he told theothers. "Sit down, if you can find chairs. We'll wait until the sun isshining brightly, love, before we really try to get down to business. Inthe meantime--"
"In the meantime--" repeated both Jack and Hallowell, in a breath. "Go on,my son," conceded the latter. "I bet we have the same idea."
"Well, I was going to say that I'm not in the grammar-school physicsclass, and I want to know what you meant by your remark to Eldridge," saidJack.
"That's my trouble," said Hallowell.
"It's simple enough," began Darrow. "We have had, first, a failure ofall electricity; second, a failure of all sound; third, a failure ofall light. The logical mind would therefore examine these things to seewhat they have in common. The answer simply jumps at you: _Vibration_.Electricity and light are vibrations in ether; sound is vibration inair or some solid. Therefore, whatever could absolutely stop vibrationwould necessarily stop electricity, light and sound."
"But," objected Jack, "if vibration were absolutely stopped, why wouldn'tthey all three be blotted out at once?"
"Because," explained Darrow, "the vibrations making these three phenomenaare different in character. Sound is made by horizontal waves, forexample, while electricity and light are made by transverse waves.Furthermore, the waves producing electricity and light differ in length.Now, it is conceivable that a condition which would interfere withhorizontal waves would not interfere with transverse waves; or that acondition which would absolutely deaden waves two hundred and seventyten-millionths of an inch long would have absolutely no effect on thoseone hundred and fifty-five ten-millionths of an inch long. Am I clear?"
"Sure!" came the voices of his audience.
"That much Eldridge and any other man trained in elementary sciencealready knows. It is no secret."
"It hasn't been published," observed Hallowell grimly.
"Well, go to it! The task of the independent investigator, of which we aresome, is now to discover, first, what are those conditions, and, second,what causes them. With the exception of Mr. Hallowell, we all know whatthis guiding power is."
"Don't get it," growled Simmons.
"Now, look here, Simmons, you are very loyal to McCarthy, for whateverreason, but your loyalty is misplaced. For one thing, your man hasdisappeared, and will not return. That last message scared him out. Foranother thing, we're going to need you in our campaign, the worst way."
"I'm from Copenhagen; you got to show me," said Simmons.
Darrow laughed softly.
"We'll show you, all right," said he. He sketched briefly for Hallowell'sbenefit the reasoning already followed out, and which it is thereforeunnecessary to repeat here. "So now," he concluded, "we will consider thishypothesis: that these phenomena are caused by one man in control of aforce capable of deadening vibrations in ether and solids within certaindefinite limits."
"Why do you limit it?" cried Hallowell.
"Because we have had but one manifestation at a time. If this Unknown wereout really to frighten--which seems to be his intention--it would be muchmore effective to visit us with absolute darkness and absolute silencecombined. That would be really terrifying. He has not done so. Therefore,I conclude that his power is limited in applicability."
"Isn't that a little doubtful?" spoke up Jack.
"Of course," said Darrow cheerfully. "That's where we're going to win outon this sporting proposition with our dear Brother Eldridge. He won'taccept any hypothesis unless it is absolutely copper-riveted. We will."
"I think you underestimate Eldridge," spoke up Hallowell. "He's the onlyoriginal think-tank in a village of horse troughs."
"I don't underestimate him one bit," countered Darrow; "but we have a headstart on him with our reasoning; that's all. He's absolutely sure to cometo the conclusions I have just detailed, only he'll get there a littlemore slowly. That's why I want you in on this thing, Hallowell."
"How's that?"
"We'll publish everything up to date and cut the ground from under him."
"What's your special grouch on Eldridge, anyway?" asked Jack.
"I like to worry him," replied Percy Darrow non-committally.
At this moment the darkness disappeared as though some one had turned aswitch. The reporter, the operator and the scientist's young assistantmoved involuntarily as though dodging, and blinked. Darrow shaded his eyeswith one hand and proceeded as though nothing had happened.
"Here are the exclusive points of your story," he said to Hallowell,handing him a sheaf of yellow wireless forms. "I got them in McCarthy'soffice. They are messages from the unknown wielder of the mysteriouspowe
r to his enemy, the political boss. There will be plenty who willconclude these messages to be the result of fanaticism, after the fact;that is to say, they will conclude some wireless amateur has takenadvantage of natural phenomena and, by claiming himself the author ofthem, has attempted to use them against his enemy. Of course, the answerto that is that if the Unknown--let's call him Monsieur X--did not causethese strange things, he at least knew enough about them to predict themaccurately."
"You just leave that to me," hummed Hallowell under his breath. Thereporter had been glancing over the wireless forms, and his eyes wereshining with delight.
"Here is the last one," said Darrow, producing a crumpled yellow paperfrom his pocket. "I went back after it."
"McCarthy: My patience is at an end. Your last warning will be sent you at nine thirty this morning. If you do not sail on the Celtic at noon I shall strike. You are of a stubborn and a stiff-necked generation, but I am your lord and master, and my wrath shall be visited on you. Begone, or you shall die the death."
"That bluffed him out," said Darrow, "and I don't blame him. Now,Simmons," said he, turning to the operator, who had sat in utter silence,"how about it? Are you with us, or against us?"
"How do you mean?" demanded Simmons.
"This," said Darrow sharply. "The time has passed for concealment. Everymessage through the ether must now reach the public. We must send messagesback. The case is out of private hands; it has become important to thepeople. Will you agree on your honor faithfully to transmit?" He leanedforward, his indolent frame startlingly tense. "Are you afraid ofMcCarthy?"
"He's been good to me--it's a family matter," muttered the operator.
"Well--" Darrow arose, crossed to the operator, and whispered to him for amoment. "You see the seriousness--you are an intelligent man."
The operator turned pale.
"I hadn't thought of that," he muttered. "I hadn't thought of that. Ofcourse I'm with you."
"I thought you would be," drawled Percy Darrow slowly. "If you hadn'tdecided to be, I'd have had another man put in your place. Hadn't thoughtof that, either, had you?"
"No, sir," replied Simmons.
"Well, I prefer you. It's no job for a quitter, and I believe you'llstick."
"I'll stick," repeated Simmons.
"Well, to work," said Darrow, lighting the cigarette he had been playingwith. "Send this out, and see if you can reach Monsieur X.
"'_M_,'" he dictated slowly. "'Do you get this?' Repeat that until you geta reply."
Without comment the operator turned to his key. The long ripping crashesof the wireless sender followed the movements of his fingers.
"I get his '_I_--_I_,'" he said, after a moment. "It's almighty faint."
"Good!" said Darrow. "Give him this:
"'McCarthy has disappeared. Can no longer reach him with your messages.'"
"He merely answers '_I_--_I_,'" observed the operator.
"By the way," asked Darrow, "what is your shift, anyhow? Weren't you on atnight when this thing began?"
"I'm still on at night; but Mr. McCarthy sent me a message, and asked meto stay on all this morning as a personal favor to him."
"I see. Then you're still on at night?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, tell Monsieur X that fact, put yourself at his disposal, and tellhim he'd better get all his messages to you rather than to the otheroperators here."
"All right."
"There's your story," said Darrow to Hallowell; "it's in those messages.The scientific aspect will probably be done by somebody for the eveningpapers. You better concentrate on Monsieur X's connection with McCarthy."
"Say, my friend," said Hallowell earnestly, "do you think I'm a reporterfor the _Scientific American_ or a newspaper?"
All three rose. The operator was busy crashing away at his Leyden jars.
"What next?" asked Jack.
"That depends on two things."
"Whether or not McCarthy takes the _Celtic_," interposed Hallowellquickly.
"And whether Monsieur X will be satisfied with his mere disappearance,if he does not take the _Celtic_," supplemented Darrow. "In any case,we've got to find him. He's unbalanced; he possesses an immense anddisconcerting and a dangerous power; he is becoming possessed of a_manie des grandeurs_. You remember the phrasing of his last message? 'Iam your lord and master, and my wrath shall be visited on you. Begone!'That is the language of exaltation. Exaltation is not far short ofirresponsible raving."
"What possible clue--" began Jack Warford blankly.
"When a man is somewhere out in the ether there is no clue," repliedDarrow.
"Then how on earth can you hope to find him?"
"By the exercise of pure reason," said Darrow calmly.