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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a7ba9b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50585 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50585) diff --git a/old/50585-8.txt b/old/50585-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9ea98ed..0000000 --- a/old/50585-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3099 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A Thousand Degrees Below Zero, by Murray Leinster - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: A Thousand Degrees Below Zero - -Author: Murray Leinster - -Release Date: December 1, 2015 [EBook #50585] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THOUSAND DEGREES BELOW ZERO *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - A Thousand Degrees Below Zero - - By Murray Leinster - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - The Thrill Book, July 15, 1919.] - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -From some point far overhead a musical humming became audible. It -was not the rasping roar of an aëroplane motor, but a deep, truly -melodious note that seemed to grow rapidly in volume. The soft-voiced -conversations on the upper deck were hushed. Every one listened to -the strange sound from above. It grew and became clear and distinct. -The source seemed to come nearer. At last the sound came from a spot -directly overhead, then passed over and toward the Narrows. - -A cold breeze beat down suddenly. It was not a cool sea breeze, but -a current of air coming down from directly above the Coney Island -steamer. It was actively, actually cold. A chorus of exclamations -arose, full of the wit of the American a-holidaying. - -"Br-r-r-r! I feel a draft!" - -"Say, Min, are you givin' me the cold shoulder?" - -"Sadie, d'you want to borrow all of my coat or only the sleeve?" - -And one young man caused a ripple of laughter by remarking: - -"Feels like my mother-in-law was around somewhere." - -People hastened to put on such wraps as they had with them. On the -lower decks there arose a sound of tired voices, saying with variations -only in the names called: - -"Johnnie, button up your coat. It's getting cold." - -The cold wave lasted only for a few moments, however. As the steamer -forged ahead the strata of cold air seemed to be left behind, and the -humming sound grew fainter. If the passengers on the boat had listened, -they might have heard a faint splash in the water behind them, but -as it was the sound went unnoticed. The humming died away. The boat -went on and docked, and the passengers dispersed to their homes. Every -one of them woke the next morning to find himself or herself locally -celebrated. - -Half an hour after the Coney Island boat had docked a tramp steamer was -nosing her way out of the Narrows. She was traveling at half speed, -the air was clear, the channel was well buoyed, and there seemed no -possibility of any harm or danger befalling her. The lookout leaned -over the bow negligently, watching and listening to the indignant -interchange of whistle signals between two small tugs in a dispute -over the right of way. He dropped his eyes and stiffened, then turned -toward the pilot house and shouted frantically, but too late. The shout -had hardly left his lips before there was a shock and grinding sound, -mingled with the raucous shriek of rent and tormented iron plates. -The tramp steamer shuddered and stopped, and began to sink a trifle -by the head. At the first intimation of danger the man on the bridge -had ordered the water-tight doors, closed, and now he rang for full -speed astern. The tramp swung free of the unknown obstruction, but the -two bow compartments were flooded and the steamer's stern was lifted -until the propeller thrashed helplessly in a useless mixture of air -and water. Her whistle bellowed an appeal for help. "_Want immediate -assistance!_" - -Half a dozen tugs, including the two that had been quarreling by -whistle, responded to the stricken steamer's call. Their small sirens -sent cheery messages promising instant aid, and they began to tear -across the water toward her. One tug reached the helpless vessel's -side. A second rushed up and began to pull the unwieldy tramp away -from the unknown obstacle. The lights of a third could be seen very -near, when there was a crash and a frantic bellow from the tug. It also -had struck the obstruction against which the tramp had run. The tramp -bellowed anew. - -A destroyer shot down the river with a searchlight unshipped, her crew -standing by to rescue any persons who could be reached by lifeboats. -She swung up and saw the tramp being hauled and pulled at by busy, -puffing tugs. The long pencil of light danced over the surface of the -water to find the derelict or wreck that had caused the trouble. Back -and forth it swept, and then stopped with a jerk as if the operator -could not believe his eyes. - -Floating soggily in the water of New York harbor, in late August--the -hottest time of the year--a wide cake of ice lay glistening under the -searchlight rays! The harbor waves ran up to the edge of the ice cake -and stopped. Beyond their stopping point the surface was still and -glassy. The cake floated heavily in the water and showed no sign of -cracks or fissures. It was evidently of considerable thickness. - -A second searchlight reënforced the first. The two white beams moved -back and forth, incredulously examining the expanse of ice. It was -hundreds of yards across. At last one of the beams passed something -at the center of the cake and hastily returned to the thing it had -seen. Rising calmly and quietly from what seemed to be a small crater -at the center of the ice cake, a plume of steam floated placidly into -the air. It was a huge plume, precisely like the flowing of a white -ostrich feather, rising from a small orifice in the center of the mass -of frozen sea water. - -A wail from the siren of the tug that had run against the ice cake -caused the searchlights to turn in its direction. The engine had ceased -to run and a cloud of escaping steam was pouring from the tug's funnel. -Men on the deck gesticulated frantically. The destroyer ran as close -as the commander dared, and he shouted through a mega-phone. It was -impossible to distinguish words in the confused shouts that came back -from half a dozen throats at once, but the searchlights soon showed the -cause of the excitement. The men on the tug pointed over the side. The -small harbor waves rolled unconcernedly up to a point some twenty feet -from the stern of the tug, but there they stopped abruptly. The tug had -become inclosed in the ice floe. As those on the destroyer watched, -the twenty feet became thirty and the thirty forty. The ice cake was -increasing in size with amazing rapidity. - -A boat put off from the destroyer, and the commander shouted to the -crew of the tug to take to the ice. There was a moment's hesitation, -and then they jumped over the side and ran to the edge of the floe. -The lifeboat touched the edge and was instantly frozen fast, but -the sailors managed to break it free again by herculean efforts. It -went back to the destroyer, whose wireless almost instantly began to -crackle. Two other destroyers dashed down from the Brooklyn Navy Yard -and turned their searchlights on the strange visitor in the harbor. -The semaphore of the first destroyer on the scene began to flash, and -the three lean naval craft began to circle around the huge ice cake, -warning away all other craft and constantly measuring and re-measuring -the size of the mass of ice. One of the destroyers at last slipped -outside the Narrows and stayed there, patrolling back and forth to keep -other vessels from running foul of the strange and as yet inexplicable -phenomenon. - -By daybreak the Battery was a black mass of people. They looked eagerly -toward the Narrows, but could see nothing but a wall of mist, from -which the gray shape of a destroyer now and then emerged. High in the -air, however, the plume of steam was visible. It was now more than a -thousand feet high and was dense and white. The first rays of the sun -had gilded the top, while the ground below was still dim and dark, -but now it rose in calm and quietness to an unprecedented height, -mystifying the people who looked at it and causing a sudden silence -to fall upon them all. A warm, moist sea breeze had blown in from the -ocean during the night and had been changed to fog as it passed over -the expanse of ice, so that the ice itself was hidden from view, but -the tall plume of steam told of some mysterious menace to humanity that -the crowd assembled at the Battery feared without understanding. - -As the mass of people watched the supremely calm column of steam rising -high in the air of that August morning, newsboys began to circulate -among them, their strident cries sounding strangely among the silent -multitude. The Narrows were frozen solidly from shore to shore, and all -entrance to and egress from New York harbor was blocked. Small craft -could go out behind Staten Island through the Kill van Kull, and some -vessels could use the other channel which goes from the East River into -the Sound, but the great Ambrose Channel---one-third the size of the -Panama Canal--and the broad opening that made New York the greatest -port on the Atlantic coast was closed. The growth of the ice cake had -greatly lessened, so that it could be predicted that it would not -expand far beyond its present size, but its origin and the means by -which it resisted the disintegrating effect of the August warmth were -utterly unknown. The cause of the plume of steam from the center of the -ice cake was an unfathomable mystery. - -Suddenly, from the empty sky, there came a deep, musical humming. -Instinctively people looked up. The humming grew louder and more -distinct, while curious eyes swept the sky. - -Then a black speck appeared below one of the fleecy white clouds and -dropped toward the earth. A thousand feet, two thousand feet it fell, -then checked and hung steadily in the air. Those who looked with the -naked eye could only discern that it seemed like a wingless black -splinter suspended above the earth, but those who had glasses saw the -whir of dark disks above a black, stream-lined body. A small cabin -was placed amidships, and a misshapen globe hung from chains below. -It was still for several minutes. The passenger or passengers seemed -to be inspecting the earth below, and particularly the ice cake, with -deliberation and care. Then it began to rise with the same deliberation -and certainty, swung around, and sped off with incredible speed toward -the northeast. The humming sound grew fainter and died away, but the -crowd standing on the Battery began to murmur with a nameless sense of -fear. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -New York was frightened, and the newspapers as they appeared did not -allay that fear. The conservative _Tribunal_ ran a scare head: HAS -THE GLACIAL AGE COME AGAIN? and printed underneath a résumé of the -phenomena up to the time of going to press--which did not include the -appearance of the black flyer--with an interview from a prominent -scientist. An enterprising reporter had routed the worthy gentleman out -of bed and rushed him to the scene of the expanding ice cake in a fast -motor boat, taking down in shorthand his comments on the matter. The -scientist had been much puzzled, but spoke at length nevertheless. He -said in part: - - Has the glacial age come again? I do not know. I can only say that - we have no certain knowledge of the original cause of the glacial - period and we cannot say definitely that it did not begin in - precisely this fashion. We have volcanos which radiate incredible - quantities of heat to the country surrounding them. No phenomenon - like this has occurred before, but it may be that some unknown - cause may bring to the surface a condition the antithesis of a - volcano, which, instead of radiating heat, will bring on local - glacierlike conditions. One might go farther and suggest that the - earth may alternate between periods of volcanic activity, during - which it is warm and conditions are favorable for habitation and - growth, and periods of this new antivolcanic activity during which - frigidity is normal, and mankind may be forced to take refuge in - the tropic zones. Still, I cannot say definitely. - -The eminent scientist went on for two full columns, during which he -refused to say anything definite, but suggested so many alarming -possibilities that every one who read the _Tribunal_ was thrown into -a state of mind not far from panic. He offered no explanation of the -plume of steam. - -When the appearance of the black flyer became known in the newspaper -offices, city editors threw up their hands. The less conservative -printed the wildest explanations. They put forth a virulent-organism -theory, which, it must be admitted, was no farther from the truth -than most of the others. The story began with an interview with the -boatswain in charge of the boat crew from the destroyer: - - We were ordered to take the men off the ice and to take especial - care not to be nipped ourselves. We rowed carefully toward the edge - of the ice cake, with the light of the searchlights to guide us. We - would see where the floe began, when the waves dropped back from - it. I've been in Northern seas, but I never saw anything like that. - The edge of the ice wasn't smooth and worn away by the waves. It - was rough with frost crystals that reached out like fingers - grabbing at the things near by. When we came close to the edge some - of the men in my boat were scared, and I don't blame them. I'd - dipped my hand overboard and the water was warm--and twenty feet - away there was that mass of ice! We backed up to the ice cake and - took off the men. I was looking over the side of the life boat, and - saw those long crystals forming and growing while I watched. They - were huge, from two feet long for the largest to three or four - inches for the smallest. They reached out and reached out terribly. - The stern of the boat was touching the ice, and I saw them reaching - for the hull like the tentacles of an octopus. They fastened on and - began to grow thicker. We took oars and smashed them, feeling - frightened as one is frightened in a nightmare. As fast as we broke - them they formed again, and the men on the ice seemed to be rotten - slow getting into the boat, though I don't doubt but they were - hurrying all they knew how. When they were all aboard we had to - work like mad to get clear. - -The paper went on to expound its own idea of what had happened: - - The sinister growth of the ice crystals is significant There has - always been notice of and comment upon the striking similarity - between the growth of crystals and the growth of plants. Until now - all scientific text-books have said that crystals could only grow - in a supersaturate solution of their own substance, and claimed - that they were not organic growths--in the sense of growths caused - by an intelligence within the crystal. Is it not possible that the - scientists have been wrong? Is it not possible that crystals are - growths in the same way that plants are growths? Granting that, what - is to keep a scientist from isolating and cultivating the crystal - embryo? We have done that with germs, and with the life germs in - eggs and plants. We can even use a process of parthenogenesis and - create monsters from the unfertilized eggs of frogs and sea urchins. - Why could not this scientist experiment until the life germ of the - ice crystal could be developed and enlarged? Why could not this - development continue until the germ could not only create its - crystals under the most favorable conditions of temperature, but - _at the normal temperature of water_? At the Harvard laboratories - water has been, kept liquid far below its normal freezing-point, - and under tremendous pressure has been found to remain ice at a - temperature of one hundred degrees Fahrenheit! Can we doubt that - this appearance of ice at this extraordinary season is due to the - malicious activities of a foreign government, envious of our - magnificent merchant marine and commerce? - -The explanation was ingenious, but though the scientific facts quoted -were quite correct the inference was hardly justifiable. Water can -and does reach a temperature several degrees below 32° Fahrenheit -without solidifying--as may be proved by putting a glass of water in -a cold room in winter--but the slightest jar causes the instantaneous -formation of ice crystals, and in a little while the whole mass is -solid. The fact of "hot" ice must also be admitted, but it requires -a pressure of rather more than fifty tons to the square inch, and is -rarely attempted. - -This paper also was forced to admit as inexplicable the plume of steam -which rose from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet into the air. In -any event, the claim that a certain unfriendly foreign government -was trying to ruin the commerce of the United States was effectively -squashed by cablegrams from Gibraltar, Folkestone, and Yokohama. Three -great icebergs had formed in the Straits of Gibraltar and extended -until they joined, when a solid mass of ice made a bridge that once -more rejoined the continents of Africa and Europe, from Ceuta to the -Rock. The plumes of steam were visible here, too. Three mighty columns -of white mist rose at equal distances across the gap. - -Folkestone harbor was a mass of ice. A great transatlantic liner -had been caught in the expanding berg, and the huge hull had been -crushed like so much cardboard. The passengers and crew had escaped -across the ice. The great steam plume made a wonderful sight for miles -around. Yokohama was similarly visited. Three battleships of the -Japanese fleet were frozen in and their hulls cracked and broken. The -plume of steam--nearly two thousand feet high--had aroused the latent -superstition of the Japanese and was being exorcised in every Shinto -temple in the kingdom. - -The panic which was engendered by the mysteries of the icebergs and -the unknown motives of the men so obviously responsible for their -appearance grew in intensity. New York was in a blue funk. The police -felt the tremor that means that at any moment the crowds thronging the -streets might break and from sheer panic become uncontrollable. Every -patrolman wore a worried frown and worked like mad to keep the crowds -moving, moving always. The strain was becoming greater, however, and -troops were being hastily moved into the city when an announcement was -made by the British foreign office: - - It has been decided to make public a communication received at the - foreign office bearing on the blocking of Folkestone harbor, the - Straits of Gibraltar, Yokohama, and New York. The communication is - dated from "The Dictatorial Residence," and reads as follows: - - "TO THE PREMIER OF GREAT BRITAIN: You are informed that the - blocking of Folkestone harbor, as well as that of the Straits of - Gibraltar, New York, and Yokohama, is evidence of my intention and - power to assume control of the governments of the world as dictator. - Present administrations and systems of government will continue in - power under my direction and subject to my commands. The machinery - of the League of Nations is to be used to enforce my decrees. You - will readily understand that the same means I used to block the - harbors and straits now frozen over can be extended indefinitely. - Rivers can be made to cease to flow, lakes to irrigate, and all - commerce and agriculture forced to suspend its activity. This will - be done, if it is made necessary by the refusal of the governments - of the world to accede to my demands. Given under my hand at the - dictatorial residence, - - "(Signed) WLADISLAW VARRHUS." - - The foreign office offers this communication to allay the fears of - the public that a new glacial period may be imminent, but at the - same time it wishes to assure the British people that the demands - of the writer are not taken seriously. It is evident that the maker - of such absurd demands is insane, and though he may be able to - cause perhaps serious inconvenience to commerce, a means of - nullifying his invention will be forthcoming in a short while. - British scientists are studying the Folkestone phenomena and are - confident of a prompt solution of the problem. - -Though it might have been expected that such an announcement as that -of the intention of an unknown and probably insane man to make himself -ruler of the world would have caused even greater panic, the reverse -was actually the case. The motive behind the creation of the icebergs -was made so clear that the world settled back with a sort of sporting -interest to see what would happen. It had not long to wait. - -A hint came by some underground channel that Professor Hawkins -had offered a suggestion to the American government that had been -accepted as a basis for experiment. A reporter went post-haste to the -professor's home. He was admitted, but the professor would not see him -at the moment. The reporter sat down patiently to wait. A motor car -drove up to the house and a man in soldier's uniform stepped out. The -reporter gave a whistle. A second car discharged a quietly dressed man -in civilian clothes attended by two other army officers. The reporter -stared. He recognized the men. Most people on two continents would -have recognized them. They passed through the house to the professor's -laboratory at the rear. A long time passed. The reporter fidgeted -nervously. Some conference of colossal importance was taking place -back there in the laboratory. - -It was an hour later that the visitors left. With them went a young man -the reporter had not seen before. The professor came slowly into the -room and smiled apologetically. - -"I am very sorry to have kept you waiting, but it was necessary. I -think that in about two hours I will have some news for you. In the -meantime there is nothing more to say." - -"Can you tell me what really happened? How did this Varrhus make the -berg?" - -"It's the simplest thing in the world," said the professor with a -smile. "I've managed to duplicate it on a small scale back in my -laboratory. Suppose you come back there and I'll show you." - -A girl appeared in the doorway with a worried frown on her face. - -"Father, has Teddy gone?" - -"Yes. We'll hear in about two hours." The professor turned to the -reporter with instinctive courtesy. "This is my daughter, Evelyn." - -The girl shook hands. - -"You want to know about the iceberg, too? Teddy has gone to break it up -now." - -"To try to break it up," corrected the professor with a smile. "'Teddy' -is my assistant." - -"But how?" insisted the reporter. "You seem to be so confident, and -every one else does nothing but guess." - -"I'll show you quite clearly," the professor said gently, "if you'll -come back to the laboratory." - -They moved toward the rear of the house. A hullabaloo of whistles broke -out in the harbor. The girl turned toward the professor. - -"Teddy already?" - -The professor frowned. - -"He hasn't had time." He went to a window and looked out, inspecting -the sky keenly. A slender black splinter hung suspended in the air. -The professor flung open the window, and a musical humming filled the -room. As they watched a smoking object detached itself from the black -flyer and fell downward. - -"That must be Varrhus," said the professor. - -A winged flyer with the insignia of the American aviation corps painted -on the under surface of its wings darted into their field of vision. -Black smoke trailed behind it as it shot toward the sinister black -craft. There was an instant's pause, and then little puffs of white -mist appeared before the propeller of the aëroplane. - -"He's firing his machine gun!" said the reporter excitedly. - -As he spoke the black flyer dropped like a stone, and the American -plane shot above it. Almost instantly the black flyer checked in -mid-air and rose vertically with amazing speed. The American plane -drove on for a second, and then wavered. It began to climb, stalled, -and dropped toward the earth in a series of side slips and maple-leaf -turns. It came down erratically, crazily. - -"Killed!" said the professor with compressed lips. - -His daughter uttered a cry: - -"And Varrhus is getting away!" - -The black flyer had become but the merest speck. It had attained an -almost unbelievable height. Now it deliberately swung around and headed -off toward the northeast with its same incredible speed. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -Teddy Gerrod was stuffing his feet into heavy, fur-lined arctic boots. -Ten or twelve soldiers were loading clumsy, awkward-looking engines -on improvised sledges resting on the ice at the foot of the fort -embankments. Others were putting equally ungainly iron globes with -winged metal rods attached to them on other sledges. A dozen befurred -and swathed figures came down the slope of the embankment and examined -the preparations. A naval launch ran smartly alongside the edge of the -ice, and a messenger came over at the double to the commandant of the -fort, who stood by Teddy Gerrod. The messenger saluted. - -"Sir, the object dropped from the black flyer was a tin float having a -message attached. The smoke was from a smoke fuse, lighted to attract -attention." - -He handed over the letter, saluted again, and retired. The commandant -tore open the letter and read it through, then swore frankly. - -"A threat to freeze the Croton reservoir and cut off New York City's -water supply if an answer to his previous demands is not given within -forty-eight hours! And he can do it! Mr. Gerrod, you've simply got to -settle this business. New York would go crazy if the people knew this. -There'd be no way to supply the water the city has to have. And seven -million people without water----" - -Teddy smiled grimly. - -"I'm going to try. Professor Hawkins is usually right, and we ought to -be able to do something about this berg." - -A second messenger came up and saluted. - -"Sir, Lieutenant Davis reports that the plane has been recovered and -Lieutenant Curtiss' body examined. There are no bullet marks, and the -body seemed to be frozen solidly. He cannot say, as yet, what caused -Lieutenant Curtiss' death." - -"Frozen," said Teddy laconically. - -"In mid-air?" asked the commandant sharply. "And in a fraction of a -second, wearing heavy aviator's clothing?" - -Teddy nodded, and buttoned up the huge fur coat in which he was -enveloped. - -"I'm ready to start off now, if the sledges are." - -The little party moved away from the shore. The heavy mist still hung -over the expanse of ice, but near the shore the ice was thinner. The -sledges were roped together, and Teddy walked at the head. The party -tugged at the ropes on the sledges, puffing out clouds of frosty breath -at every exhalation. Teddy had taken the compass bearings of the steam -plume, and after he had gone a hundred yards from the shore the wisdom -of his course became apparent. They were completely surrounded by a -thick fog in which objects five yards off were lost to view. Teddy, -leading the small column, could not be seen except as a dim and shadowy -figure by the men hardly more than two paces in his rear. He referred -constantly to his compass, and once or twice glanced at the thermometer -he had strapped on the sleeve of his great coat. - -"Forty degrees," he murmured to himself. "And in New York it's -eighty-four in the shade. The ice must be colder still because it's dry -and hard." - -The party toiled on. Presently small snow crystals crunched underfoot. - -"Frozen mist," said Teddy, and glanced at his thermometer. "H'm! -Twenty-two degrees. Ten below freezing." - -The party stopped for a breathing spell. - -"I hope you men smoke," said Teddy, "because it's going to be cold a -few hundred yards farther on. We'll come clear of this mist presently. -If you smoke, and inhale, it'll probably warm up your lungs a little. -You don't need it yet, though. Any of you who haven't pulled down the -flaps of your helmets had better do so now." - -A moment or so later they took up their march again. The sledges, -with their heavy loads, were cumbersome things to drag over the -uneven surface of the ice. The men panted and gasped as they threw -their weight on the ropes. Teddy felt the air growing colder still, -and presently noticed that the mist no longer seemed to be as thick -as before. He glanced down at the front of his heavy fur coat. It -was covered with tiny white crystals. He held up his hand with the -thick mitten on it to form a dark background, and saw numberless -infinitesimal snowflakes drifting slowly toward the ice under his feet. -His thermometer showed two degrees above zero--and New York, six miles -away, was sweltering in August heat! - -"Not much farther," he called cheerfully. "We're almost there." - -They panted and tugged on, a hundred and fifty yards more. Then they -stopped and stared. - -Three hundred yards away the great column of steam was issuing from the -ice. A hollow hillock of snow and ice rose to a height of twenty feet, -like the miniature crater of a volcano. From it, in an unbroken stream, -the mass of steam emerged with a roaring, rushing sound. It rose five -hundred feet before it broke into the plumelike formation that was so -characteristic. There was a space, perhaps six hundred paces across, -in which there was no mist. The cold was too intense to allow of the -formation of fog. Water vapor condensed instantly in that frigid -atmosphere. But around the clearing the mist rose from the surface of -the ice. It became noticeable when it was merely waist-high, then rose -to the height of a man, and climbed to a height of fifty feet in a -circular wall all about the strange white open space. Teddy, looking at -the top of the wall of vapor, saw that it undulated gently, as if waves -were flowing back and forth around the tall column of steam. - -The men began to unload their sledges. The awkward little trench -mortars were set in place and careful measurements made of the -distance to the steam plume. While the men labored, Teddy moved forward -toward the central cone. Five degrees below zero, fifteen degrees below -zero, thirty degrees below zero----His breath cut sharply when it went -into his lungs. Teddy put his mittened hand over his nose and face to -partially warm the air before he breathed it in. Now, even through the -heavy, arctic clothing he wore, he felt the bitter cold. He detached -the thermometer from his sleeve and clumsily tied it to a cord. He -had hoped to be able to lower it down the rim of the crater, but that -was impossible. He flung it toward the hillock of snow and ice, let -it remain there an instant, then hastily drew it back to read it. The -ether in the thermometer had frozen into a solid mass in the bulb of -the instrument. - -Teddy went back to where the men had made ready. Four of the wicked -little guns would fling their three-hundred-pound bombs into the center -of the column of steam. If all went well, at least one charge of T.N.T. -would explode far down the orifice. - -The propelling charges had been inserted, and now the slender rods were -put into the muzzles of the short, squat weapons. The winged bombs were -balanced on the muzzles like top-heavy oranges on as many sticks. At -half-second intervals, the four guns went off one after the other. - -Before the last had exploded, or just as the flame leaped from its -muzzle, the hillock of ice rose as in an eruption. Four cracking -detonations blended into one colossal roar that half stunned the little -fur-clad party. The rush of air threw them from their feet. When -they rose again a huge hole showed in the center of the clearing, a -gaping chasm that went down deep into the heart of the ice. A cloud of -yellowish smoke floated above them. And the column of steam had ceased! -Only a few stray wisps of white vapor floated up from the opening. - -"It's done!" - -Teddy gave orders for a quick return to the fort. The mortars could be -returned for. At the moment the important thing was to send the news to -England and Japan. - -The return trip was made quickly, and Teddy made hurried explanations -to the commandant of the forts of what should be done. Men should -bore deep holes twenty feet apart, the holes to be along the edges of -clearly defined sections of the ice. Simultaneous blasts should be set -off, and the sections would float free. The iceberg would not grow -again. It was done for. - -Cablegrams were prepared and rushed through to Folkestone, Yokohama, -and Gibraltar. If men took trench mortars and fired shells that would -fall down the holes from which the steam issued, the cause of the ice -cakes would be destroyed and the ice itself could be blasted off and -towed out to sea to melt. - -Teddy rushed back to the professor's home to report to him the full -verification of his theories, and it was there and then that the first -authentic explanation of the ice floe was given to the world. Word of -his effort and of the disappearance of the steam plume had preceded -him, and as he sped uptown in the taxicab newsboys were already on -the streets with their extras. Only the front pages--showing signs of -having hastily been hacked to pieces to make room for the story--had -anything about the latest development, and those extras are singularly -perfect reflections of the public attitude at that time. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Teddy threw himself out of the machine and rushed up the steps. Evelyn -opened the door before he could ring, and his beaming face told her -the news he had to give even without his enthusiastic, "It worked!" - -"The steam plume has stopped?" asked the professor anxiously. - -"Absolutely," said Teddy cheerfully. "Not a sign of steam except from -two or three puddles of hot water that were cooling off when we left to -get back to the fort. The commandant was setting his men to work with -the navy-yard men when I started here." - -"Tell me about this, won't you?" said the reporter briskly. "I'll catch -the devil from the city editor for missing out on that part of it, but -if you'll give me the full story----" - -"What's your paper?" - -The reporter told him. - -"That's all right," said Teddy easily. "They were calling extras of -that paper as I came uptown. The professor has told you the theory of -the thing?" - -"No," said Evelyn. "He was starting to, but the black flyer appeared -and shot down the other aëroplane, and father was so much upset that he -couldn't go into details. Was the pilot of the aëroplane killed?" - -Teddy nodded. - -"Frozen, poor chap. He never knew what struck him." - -"What did happen?" asked the reporter again. "You people seem to take -this so much as a matter of course, and no one else can do anything but -guess." - -"The professor knows more about low temperatures than any other man -in the world," explained Teddy. "It's only natural that he should be -fairly certain of his facts." - -He smiled at the professor as the old man made a deprecating gesture. - -"Father is much upset," said Evelyn. "I think it would be best if Teddy -explained. Will that be all right?" - -"Only, in your account of the matter," said Teddy decidedly, "the -professor must be given credit for the whole thing. It's his work, and -he's entitled to it." - -"No, no," protested the professor. "Teddy did a great deal." - -Evelyn pressed his arm, and he obediently was quiet. The two young -people smiled at him. - -"You see how I am ruled," said the professor in mock tragedy. "My -daughter----" - -"Is going to see that you rest a while," said Evelyn, with a twinkle -in her eyes. "Teddy, you go and explain the whole thing while I take -father out and discipline him." - -With a laugh, she led the old man away. Teddy smiled. - -"We aren't accustomed to reporters," he said, "or I suspect we'd act -differently. Miss Hawkins is a most capable physicist, and helps her -father immensely. The three of us work together so much that----Well, -come along to the laboratory." - -The two went to the rear of the house. On the way they passed through -a long room full of glass cabinets in which odd bits of metal work -glittered brightly. - -"The professor's hobby," said Teddy, with a nod toward the cases. -"Antique jewelry and ancient metal work. He's probably better informed -on low temperatures than any one else I know of, but I really believe -he's as much of an authority on that, too. This is Phoenician, and -that's early Greek. These are Egyptian in this case. This way." - -He opened a small door and they were in the laboratory. - -"I'm afraid I'll have to lecture a bit," said Teddy. "Here's how the -professor used to work out what was taking place out in the harbor." - -He showed an intricate combination of silvered globes, tubes, and half -a dozen thermometers. - -"You see," Teddy began, "the water in the harbor was at a certain -temperature. At this time of the year it would be around 52° -Fahrenheit. The professor knew that fact, and then the fact that a huge -mass of it was turned into ice. When you turn water into ice you have -to take a lot of heat out of it, and that heat has to go somewhere. -When water freezes normally in winter that heat goes into the air, -which is cold. In this case the air was considerably warmer than the -ice, and was as a matter of fact, undoubtedly radiating heat into the -ice, instead of taking it away. The heat that would have to be taken -from say ten pounds of water at 52° to make it freeze, if put into -another smaller quantity of water would turn the smaller quantity of -water into steam. You see?" - -"The steam plume!" exclaimed the reporter. - -"Of course," said Teddy. "We measure heat by calories usually. That's -the amount of heat required to raise a pound of water one degree -Fahrenheit. Suppose you have a mass of water. To make it freeze you -have to take twenty thousand calories of heat out of it. Suppose you -take that heat out. You've got to do something with it. Suppose you put -it into another smaller mass of water. It will make that second mass of -water hot, so hot that it will turn into steam at a high temperature." - -"Then Varrhus," said the reporter thoughtfully, "was taking the heat -from a big bunch of water and putting it into a small bunch, and the -small bunch went up in steam. Is that right?" - -"Precisely." Teddy turned to a file on which hung a number of sheets -of paper covered with figures. "Here are the professor's calculations. -We could only figure approximately, but we knew the size and depth -of the ice cake, very nearly the temperature of the water that had -been frozen, and naturally it was not hard to estimate the number of -calories that had had to be taken out of the harbor water to make -the ice cake. To check up, we figured out how much water that number -of calories would turn into steam. The professor appealed to the -government scientists who had watched the cake from the first. He found -that from the size of the plume and the other means of checking its -volume, he had come within ten per cent of calculating the amount of -water that had actually poured out in the shape of steam." - -"But--but that's amazing!" said the reporter. - -"It was good work," Teddy said in some satisfaction. "Then we knew -what Varrhus had done, and it remained to find out how he'd done it. -Nothing like that had ever happened before. He couldn't very well -have an engine working there in the water. The professor took to his -mathematics again. Assume that I have a stove here that will make it -just so warm at a distance of five feet. I'm leaving warm air out of -consideration now and only thinking of radiated heat. If I put my -thermometer ten feet away how much heat will I get?" - -"Half as much?" asked the reporter. - -"One-quarter as much," said Teddy. "Or three times away I'll get -one-ninth as much, or four times away I'll get one-sixteenth as much. -You see? If I want to make the ends of an iron bar hot, and I can only -heat the middle, the middle has to be red-hot or white-hot to make the -ends even warm. If I have to make the middle of a bar red-hot to have -the ends warm, you see in order to make the ends cold the middle would -have to be very cold indeed." - -"Y-yes, I understand." - -"Well, the professor worked on that principle. He knew the temperature -of the edges, and he knew the size of the ice cake. It was easy to -figure what the temperature must be in the middle. It worked out to -within two degrees of absolute zero!" - -"What's that?" - -"There isn't any limit to high temperatures. You can go up two thousand -degrees, three thousand, four, or five. Some things almost certainly -produce a temperature of as much as eight thousand degrees. But high -temperatures are produced by putting more heat in--by stuffing the -thing with calories. I make an iron bar red-hot by putting calories in. -I make it cold by taking calories out." - -"Well?" - -"If you keep that up you reach the point where there aren't any more -calories left to take out. When you get to that point you have a -temperature of 425° Centigrade, or one thousand and seventy-eight -degrees Fahrenheit below zero. That's absolute zero." - -Teddy spoke quite casually, but the reporter blinked. - -"Rather chilly, then." - -"Rather," Teddy agreed. "But our calculations told us that Varrhus had -reached and was using a temperature within two degrees of that in the -center of his ice cake. And right next to that temperature he had a -very high one, as evidenced by the plume of steam." - -"I can't see how you got anywhere," said the reporter hopelessly. "I'm -all mixed up." - -"It's very simple," said Teddy cheerfully. "On one side of a wall the -man had what amounted to a thousand and some odd degrees below zero. On -the other he had probably as much above zero. Evelyn--Miss Hawkins, you -know--made the suggestion that solved the problem. She showed us this." - -Teddy picked up what seemed to be a square bit of opaque glass. - -"Smoked glass?" - -"Yes, and no." Teddy smiled. "You can't see through it, can you?" - -"No." - -"Come around to this side and look." - -The reporter made an exclamation of astonishment. - -"It's clear glass!" - -"It's a piece of glass on which a thin film of platinum has been -deposited. It lets light through in one direction, but not in the -other. Evelyn suggested that Varrhus had something which did the same -thing with heat. It would let heat through in one direction, but not in -the other. Of course if it would take all the heat from the air on one -side and wouldn't let any come back from the other----" - -"It would be cold?" - -"On one side. The glass looks black because it lets the light go -through and lets none come back. The surface, we have assumed, would be -almost infinitely cold because it would let heat go through and would -let none come back. We decided that Varrhus had made a hollow bomb of -some shape or other, composed of this hypothetical material. Heat from -the outside would be radiated into the interior because the surface -absorbed heat like this glass absorbs light. It would act as a surface -at more than a thousand below zero. Because something had to be done -with the heat that would come in, Varrhus made the bomb hollow and left -two openings in it. The inside of the bomb is intensely hot from the -heat that has been taken out of the surrounding water. The hole at the -bottom radiates a beam of heat straight downward which melts a very -small quantity of ice and lets the water flow into the bomb, where it -is turned into steam. Naturally, it flows out of the other hole at the -top. There you have the whole thing." - -"And you stopped it----" - -"By dropping a T. N. T. bomb down the steam shaft. It went off and blew -the cold bomb to bits. The iceberg will break up and melt now." - -The reporter stood up. - -"I'd like to thank you for this, but it's too big," he said -feverishly. "Man, just wait till I wave this before the city editor's -eyes!" He rushed out of the house. - -The newspapers that afternoon had frantic headlines announcing the -destruction of the steam plume and the fact that noticeable signs -of melting had begun to show themselves on the ice cake. Smaller -captions told of the dynamiting that had begun and of the destruction -of the Yokohama and Folkestone bergs by soldiers acting on cabled -instructions. The Straits of Gibraltar were cleared by salvos fired -from the heavy guns on the Rock at the three great plumes of steam. -The world congratulated itself on the speedy nullification of the -menace to its democratic governments. It did not neglect, however, -to rush detachments of men with trench mortars and hand bombs to its -reservoirs, prepared to destroy any possible cold bombs on their first -appearance. The aviation forces, too, made themselves ready to fight -the black flyer on its next appearance, despite the mysterious means by -which it had killed the American pilot. - -This state of affairs lasted for possibly a week, when, within three -hours of each other, the papers found two occasions to issue extras. -The first extra announced the death by heart failure of Professor -Hawkins, who had been found by his daughter, dead in his laboratory, -holding in his hands an antique silver bracelet he had just opened at -the clasp. The second, three hours later, announced the formation of an -ice cake in the Narrows which grew in size even more rapidly than the -original one, and was entirely unattended by the steam plume which gave -Teddy Gerrod an opportunity to destroy the first. Within three hours -the Narrows were closed, and the ice floe was creeping up toward New -York. - -In rapid succession came the news that Norfolk harbor was frozen -over and Hampton Roads closed, that Charleston was blocked, then -Jacksonville. The next morning delayed cablegrams declared that the -Panama Canal was a mass of ice, and almost simultaneously the Straits -of Gibraltar were again admitted to be firmly locked. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -Teddy put his hand comfortingly on Evelyn's shoulder. - -"There isn't anything I can say, Evelyn," he said awkwardly, "except -that I couldn't have loved him more if he'd been my own father, and it -hurts me terribly to have him go like this." - -Evelyn looked up. - -"Teddy," she said bravely, trying to hold back her sobs, "I've been -fearing this for a long time, but--I can't believe it wasn't caused by -that fearful Varrhus." - -"The professor did work very hard over that problem," admitted Teddy. - -"I don't mean that the work he did caused his heart to fail. I mean I -think Varrhus killed father." Evelyn's eyes were dark and troubled as -she looked at Teddy Gerrod. - -"But, Evelyn, why do you think such a thing? You knew his heart was -weak." - -Tears came again into Evelyn's eyes, but she forced them back -determinedly. - -"Will you go upstairs and look at his fingers--inside? I was--crossing -his hands--on his breast. Please look." - -Teddy went soberly up the stairs to where the professor lay quietly on -the bed he was occupying for the last time. Teddy turned back the sheet -that covered the figure and looked at the gentle old face. A lump came -in his throat, and he hastily turned his eyes away. He lifted the sheet -until the professor's thin hands came into view. He looked, at the -fingers, then lifted one of the white hands and examined the inside. -Small but deep burns disfigured the finger tips. When Teddy went -down-stairs his face was white and set, and a great anger burned in him. - -"You are right, Evelyn," he said grimly. "Where is the bracelet he was -holding when he was found?" - -"On the acids table. He was lying beside it when--when I saw him." -Evelyn was grief-stricken, but she forced herself to be calm. "Do you -think you know what happened?" - -"I'm not sure." - -Teddy went quietly into the laboratory and found the massive silver -bracelet lying where Evelyn had said. He looked at it carefully before -he touched it, and when he lifted it it was in a pair of wooden tongs. - -"That thermo-couple, Evelyn, please. And start the small generator, -won't you?" - -The two worked on the bracelet for half an hour, then stopped and -stared at each other, their suspicions confirmed. - -"Varrhus," said Teddy slowly. "Varrhus caused your father's death. This -earth has gotten too small for both Varrhus and me to live on." - -"He knew father could wreck his plans," Evelyn said in a hard voice, -"and he wished to rule the world. So he killed my father." - -Teddy's lips were compressed. - -"Before God," he burst out, "before God, I'm going to kill Varrhus!" - -The bell rang, and in a moment the commandant of the forts was ushered -in. - -"Mr. Gerrod, Miss Hawkins," he nodded to them, and then said: "They -tell me Professor Hawkins is dead. The Narrows are frozen over again. -Hampton Roads is frozen over. Charleston is frozen over. The Panama -Canal is frozen over! There's no steam plume to blow up. Washington -is worried. They're calling me to clear out the channel. The navy -department is going crazy. If it were a case of fighting men I'd know -something, but I can't fight a chemical combination. What's to be done, -since the professor is dead? Who on earth can fill his place?" - -He looked from one to the other, already beginning to show the strain -under which he was laboring. - -"Professor Hawkins," said Teddy quietly, "was murdered by Varrhus some -four hours ago." - -"Murdered! Varrhus has been here!" - -"No, Varrhus has not been here, but we may be able to trace him. I'll -get the police. Then we'll talk about ice floes. We know Varrhus' -method now. We'll soon be able to anticipate him." - -"But in the meantime," the commandant snapped angrily, "he'll play the -devil with the world." - -"We'll play the devil with him when he is caught," said Teddy evenly. -"I've no intention of letting Varrhus get away. Just now there's a -possibility of catching him in the ordinary way. He mailed a present to -the professor, an antique bracelet. Ancient jewelry was the professor's -hobby. He examined the bracelet and died. - -"I heard he was dead," said the commandant restlessly. "The paper said -heart failure." - -"So did the doctor." Teddy took down the receiver of the telephone. -"Give me police emergency, please." - -In a few moments he hung up again. The statement that Professor Hawkins -had been murdered and that there was a chance of catching Varrhus -was all he needed to say. Hardly five minutes had passed before the -commissioner of police himself was in the room with two of his keenest -men. - -"You'll have to explain what happened," he said at once to Teddy. "When -news of the professor's death came I phoned at once to the doctor -mentioned in the paper and asked if there were any possibility of foul -play. To tell the truth, I'd been rather afraid something like this -might happen. What was it?" - -"Varrhus electrocuted the professor by an antique bracelet." - -He handed over the ornament. The commissioner examined it gingerly. - -"Nothing funny about this except the workmanship." - -"And the surface," said Teddy. His set calm was surprising himself. "It -looks as if it had been lacquered. That's Varrhus' secret." - -"What is it? A powerful battery?" - -Teddy turned to the materials with which he and Evelyn had been working. - -"I'll show you. Here's an instrument that measures the resistance of -a given coil. This is one of the professor's evaporation machines -for producing low temperatures quickly. He evaporates ether in this -sheath that surrounds this oven and objects in the oven are cooled far -below freezing point. Look at this coil of silver wire. We measure -the resistance at room temperature. One hundred and twenty ohms. It -is very fine wire. We put it in the cooling oven and set the engines -going----" For some minutes there was silence while the small electric -pump thumped and rattled. "Now we'll take the coil out. The thermometer -inside the oven says twelve below zero." Teddy handled the small coil -of silver wire with thick gloves. "We'll measure the resistance again. -Fourteen and a half ohms resistance, approximately. Low temperatures -decrease resistance and increase the conductivity of metals. You see?" - -"Yes, but why----" - -"The inside of that bracelet is nine hundred degrees below zero. The -whole thing is coated with Varrhus' lacquer, which, in this case, -radiates all the heat from the inside out, leaving it incredibly cold -within. That cold makes the silver conduct electricity better." - -"Well?" - -"At eight hundred degrees below zero Fahrenheit silver has no -measurable resistance to the passage of an electric current. Now watch." - -Teddy laid the bracelet on top of a frame wound with many turns of -glistening copper wire. He threw on a switch, and a small generator at -one side of the laboratory began to run with a humming purr. - -"Eddy currents are whirling all around that bracelet. A strong current -is running in an endless circle in that closed circuit of silver, -nine hundred degrees below zero. Silver at that temperature offers no -resistance to an electric current. Closed circuits have been left at -that degree of cold for over four hours, and at the end of that time -the electric current was still flowing round and round like a squirrel -in a cage." - -Teddy picked up the bracelet with a pair of wooden tongs. He took a -second pair in his other hand. Rubber handles insulated the tongs from -their handles. - -"There's a current flowing around the inside of this bracelet. There -was one flowing around it when the professor received it in the mail. -He opened it with his bare hands, suspecting nothing. I open it with -these insulated tongs. Watch." - -He jerked on the two tongs. The bracelet parted at the catch, and a -dazzling, blinding flash of light appeared with a sharp crackle at the -parting. - -"I made the current jump the gap. The professor took it through his -body and it killed him. Are you satisfied?" - -"God!" said the commissioner of police, aghast. - -"The box and wrapper," said one of the men who had come with the -commissioner. "Let us have the box and wrapper the bracelet came in and -we'll get the man that mailed it. But we'll handle him with tongs, -too, when we close in on him." - -They took what they wanted and left. Teddy turned to the commandant. - -"Now, sir, we'll see what can be done about the new berg. You say -there's no plume of steam. Have you had an aëroplane fly above it to -make sure?" - -"Yes. The pilot says the whole ice cake is covered with mist, except -for a round spot in the middle, but there's no sign of a steam plume." - -Teddy nodded at Evelyn. - -"No holes in this cold bomb. I wonder what happens to all the heat that -comes in?" - -"Father mentioned that he expected something of the sort, but didn't -say what he thought could be done about it." - -"The same as we did with the other, I suppose," said Teddy -reflectively. "Only this time we'll have to blast down to the bomb and -then break it up." - -"I'll set men to work if you'll find the bomb," said the commandant. - -"Almost any one could find it," Teddy remarked, "but there are going to -be some queer difficulties when you get near the cold bomb. If you'll -allow me, I'd like to be at hand when it is broken up. I may really be -of use there." - -He began to pick out instruments he thought he might need. Among other -things he took what seemed to be two silvered globes with small necks. -They were Dewey bulbs. Several low-temperature thermometers and a -thermocouple connected with a delicate galvanometer completed his -preparations. - -The two men left the house and started for the launch that would take -them to the forts. On the way Teddy was asking crisp questions about -the explosives he could have placed at his disposal, quite ignorant of -what was happening at that moment in Jacksonville. - -The river there was a mass of ice from one shore to the other. All -the little reedy islands and the swampy shores were frozen solidly. To -see the slender palm trees rising from icy shores, their reflections -visible on the narrow strip of mist-free ice that ran along the shores -of the river was an anomaly. To see fur-clad tourists stepping out -of the tropical foliage to step gingerly out on the ice "just to -say they'd done it" was even more strange. At the moment, however, -interest centered on a little group of soldiers out in the central -clearing in the cloud of mist. They were bundled in furs and swathed in -numberless garments until they looked like fat penguins or some strange -arctic animals. A major of engineers was waving them to the right and -left, forward and back until they stood at equal distance around the -clearing. Each man moved backward until the mist that rose gradually -from the ice reached his waist. Then, at a whistle signal from the -major, they began to move forward toward a common center. The major -had reasoned that the cold bomb must be precisely underneath the exact -center of the clearing, and this was a rough-and-ready means of finding -that center. They advanced toward each other, and as they went nearer -the center of the clearing the cold grew more intense. Infinitesimal -ice crystals glittered in little clouds where the moisture of their -breath froze instantly in the terrific cold. At a second whistle from -the major they halted. They formed a fairly even circle about forty -yards across. Each man began to stamp and fling his arms about to keep -from freezing in that more than frigid atmosphere. No man could have -stood that cold, no matter how hardy he might be, for more than a very -few moments. The major trotted around the circle, marking the place -where each man stood. Four small sledge loads of explosives stood out -in the clearing. The major intended to blast down toward the cold bomb -with them. - -The major was marking the position of the last man, completing his -circle under which the cold bomb must lie, when a peculiar tremor was -felt by every man there. It was not like the shiver of an earthquake -or the reverberation of an explosion. It was an infinitely shrill -vibration that a moment later was followed by a creaking sound that -seemed to come from the center of the ice cake. The men on the ice -stopped their stamping and swinging of arms to listen in instinctive -apprehension. - -The center of the circle around which they stood seemed to rise in the -air. The ice on which they stood was shivered into tiny fragments. A -colossal and implacable roar filled the air, and a great sheet of flame -of the unearthly tint of a vaporized metal rose to the heavens. The -swathed and bundled soldiers were annihilated by the blast. A great -hole five hundred feet across gaped in the center of the ice cake. -Jacksonville shook from the concussion, and the plate-glass windows of -its stores and office buildings splintered into a myriad tiny bits that -sprinkled all its streets with sharp-edged, jagged pieces. - -Teddy Gerrod, all unconscious of the fate of those who had attempted to -meddle with the Jacksonville ice cake, went on out to bare and blast -open the cold bomb that blocked New York harbor. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -Teddy Gerrod straightened up and beat his hands together. - -"Forty-seven below," he said to the soldier behind him. "Put a marker -here." - -He moved off to the right. Already a dozen little flags showed where -the temperature reached that degree. Teddy was drawing what he would -have termed an isothermal line--a line where the temperature was the -same. He was making a circle about a large part of the open clearing -on the ice floe. Other flags led back into the mist, marking a path, -and from time to time a party of four or five fur-clad soldiers arrived -from the fort, dragging a loaded sledge behind them. They emptied the -load from the sled, turned, and vanished into the mist again. A small -pile of drills, explosives, and two of the squat trench mortars had -already been made. - -When the circle of little red flags had been completed, two -signal-corps men set up their instruments and accurately located the -center. Directly under that spot, if Teddy's reasoning was correct, -the new cold bomb was resting. The sledge from the fort arrived again, -bearing a curious trench catapult for flinging bombs. Four long strips -of black cloth were unrolled, under direction of the signal-corps men, -pointing accurately to the center of the circle. No one had been able -to approach nearer, thus far, than thirty yards from the center. At -that distance Teddy's thermocouple indicated a temperature of more -than seventy-two degrees below zero, and flesh exposed to the air was -frostbitten on the instant. What the temperature of the air might be -directly above the cold bomb could only be conjectured. - -One of the infantry men from the fort, the best grenade man in the -garrison, now picked up a Mills grenade, and after carefully picking -out the target with his eye, aided by the strips of black cloth, flung -the small missile. A hole perhaps four feet deep and twice as much -across was blasted in the brittle ice. A second, third, and fourth -grenade followed. At the end of that time the size and depth of the -hole had been doubled. - -The trench catapult was set up. Half a dozen grenades were bundled -together and flung into the now much enlarged opening in the surface -of the ice. There was no explosion. One automatically braced oneself -for the report, and the utter silence that succeeded the disappearance -of the grenades came as a peculiar shock. - -"Too cold," remarked Teddy to the young lieutenant in charge. - -The lieutenant nodded stiffly. - -"We'll try again." - -A second batch of grenades was flung into the hole, and the same quiet -resulted. - -"I would suggest----" Teddy begin. - -"We'll fire a trench-mortar bomb," said the young lieutenant. - -The heavy winged projectile flew up into the air, and then descended -squarely into the opening in the ice. Those standing fifty yards away -could hear the crash as it struck, and then a sound as of musical -splintering. The young lieutenant swore. - -"The fuses are no good. Try once more." - -"You can shoot all day and they won't go off," said Teddy mildly. "It's -too cold down there." - -The officer said nothing, but supervised the firing of a second mortar -bomb with precisely the same result. He swore again. - -"It's probably quite as cold as liquid air down there," said Teddy. -"In fact, there's quite possibly a pool of liquified air at the bottom -of the hole. Your bombs fall into that air and are frozen so solidly -before they strike that the metal gets brittle and simply falls to -powder from the shock. You can't do anything going on this way." - -The young lieutenant hesitated, then turned to Teddy somewhat sulkily. - -"What do you suggest, then?" - -"We'd better enlarge the hole first. Blast down the walls of the -present cavity, then use wrapped dynamite until we have a shallow -crater. Then we'll place our explosives by long poles, keeping -them warm by running resistance wires around them and heating them -electrically." - -The young lieutenant considered and agreed. Teddy went back to the fort -to arrange for the heated bombs and the long poles. When he returned -there was only a saucerlike depression in the ice clearing. It was -quite fifty yards across, but no more than twenty deep. Standing near -the edge, one could see the ice near the bottom glistening liquidly. -Air, liquified by the intense cold at the bottom of the crater, wet the -surface of the ice there. - -"And that means the temperature down there is three hundred and -twenty-five degrees or more below zero Fahrenheit," explained Teddy -casually. "Here's where we use our heated explosives." - -For an hour the party worked busily. Storage batteries brought out on -sledges furnished the current that kept the explosives from becoming -inert through cold. Charge after charge was fired, and the bottom of -the crater grew steadily deeper. At the lowest point a little puddle of -liquified air collected. - -"We must be pretty nearly at the cold bomb now," said Teddy -thoughtfully. "There's a mass of liquid air at the bottom of our -crater, and something tells me there's solidified air at the bottom of -that puddle. That means seven hundred-odd degrees below zero." - -He was clad in the warmest garments that could be found, and every one -of the others working in the clearing was quite as warmly clothed, -but the cold was intense. One of the soldiers by the small pile of -explosives was chewing a cud of tobacco. He spat. The brownish liquid -froze in mid-air and bounced merrily away across the ice. The soldier -looked at it with his mouth open, then shut it quickly. A thin film -of ice had formed from the moisture on his teeth. The breast of every -member of the party was covered with sparkling snow crystals from the -congealed moisture of their breath. - -"I begin to doubt if we can keep our stuff from freezing much deeper," -Teddy commented. "We want to go down as deep as we can before we use -our Dewey bulbs, though. I've only two of them." - -The young lieutenant bustled away, and presently returned. - -"The men say that the last bomb won't go off," he said aggrievedly. -"Your heating plan doesn't work." - -"I didn't expect it to work indefinitely," said Teddy mildly. "We want -to clear out that liquid air and shoot our two Dewey globes before it's -had time to reform. Will you please have a charge made ready to be -fired just above the surface of that puddle? That should clear it away. -Immediately after that charge has gone off we'll drop our two T. N. T. -charges in the Dewey bulbs. They ought to show us the cold bomb." - -The dynamite charge was suspended about a foot above the surface of the -watery, bubbling pool. Air was in that pool, air turned to transparent -liquid by the intense cold. At -325° Fahrenheit air becomes a liquid. -Here, exposed to the sunlight and the blue sky, a pool of liquified -gas had collected from the incredible cold of the cold bomb below. The -charge of explosive burst with a shattering roar. The echoes of the -explosion had not died away when the two Dewey bulbs filled with T. N. -T. fell into the bared ice cavity. A Dewey bulb is a combination of -six vacuum bottles placed one outside the other. They are used for the -keeping of liquid gases at a low temperature, but are obviously just -as effective in protecting their contents from exterior cold. They -fell some five yards apart and rolled, then were still. Their fuses -sputtered. They went off together. A huge mass of shattered ice was -thrown aside, and a dark, globular mass was exposed to view. Almost as -soon as it was exposed to the air a crust of frozen air coated it, and -liquified air began to trickle down its misshapen sides. There could be -no doubt but that it was the cold bomb, invented by an insane genius to -make him master of the world. - -Those about the rim of the crater looked at it and turned away. Just as -the intense heat of a blast furnace sears unprotected flesh even yards -from its flame, so the incredible cold of the dark object pinched and -wrung with its freezing rays. Not one man who looked upon the cold bomb -but suffered from a deep frostbite. - -"We can't approach that thing," said Teddy, with his hand over his -eyes. "I'd just as soon, or sooner, try to tinker with burning -thermite. We'll have to shoot armor-piercing shells at it. They'll -freeze when they get near it, but the impact ought to crack the thing." - -He motioned to the fur-clad soldiers to move back from the crater, and -after a hasty consultation with the lieutenant went off toward the fort -to ask for a small-caliber field gun. - -The lieutenant paced back and forth restlessly. He was an ambitious -young man. He did not relish taking orders from a civilian like Teddy. -His eye fell on the heap of equipment that had been brought out from -the fort. Two trench mortars, a trench catapult, a liquid-flame -apparatus--one of the American inventions that had far outdone the -original German _flamenwerfers_! There had been some thought of trying -to reach a point just above the cold bomb and melting the ice down to -it with liquid flame. That had been quickly proven impracticable, but -the liquid-fire apparatus had not been sent back. The young lieutenant -was not stupid. On the contrary, he was a singularly intelligent man. -In a flash he saw how the liquid flame could have been used much more -efficiently than Teddy's resistance coils about his explosive charges. -The idea simply had not occurred to Teddy, or the young lieutenant, -either. Now, however, he became all eagerness. If he succeeded in -breaking up the cold bomb during Teddy's absence it would be a feather -in his cap. If, in addition, he pointed out a method of dealing with -the cold bombs superior to Teddy's plodding system, it would certainly -mean his promotion and a very desirable reputation for himself in his -profession. - -He gave his orders briskly. The liquid-flame tank was set up, and began -to spray out its stream of fire. The young lieutenant had it trained so -that it passed just above the top of the ungainly cold bomb and grazed -the upper edge. Then the two trench mortars were made ready for firing. -The young lieutenant set them at their proper elevation himself. He -was tremendously excited. He pointed the two mortars with the most -meticulous precision. To aim them properly he had to expose his face -again and again to the direct rays from the cold bomb, but he paid no -attention to the searing, freezing rays. - -The stream of liquid fire shot upward in a perfect parabola, and fell -evenly, exactly, where it was aimed. The young lieutenant knew that a -mortar bomb would be frozen by the intense cold if it were fired at -the cold bomb direct, but his plan got around that difficulty. With -the liquid fire playing just above and grazing the cold bomb, when the -shell from the mortar struck the incredibly cold surface, both the -shell and the cold bomb would be bathed in flame. - -All was ready. The lieutenant fixed his eyes on the cold bomb and gave -the signal. The two small trench mortars spouted flame. Two ungainly -bombs rose high in the air and fell hurtling down toward the strange, -frosted object at the bottom of the crater. One of the bombs would -fall a little to the left. The other--squarely on top! - -The cracking explosion of the bomb from the trench mortar was lost in -the greater roar that followed it. Before the young lieutenant or any -of his men could lift a finger they were enveloped by a colossal sheet -of vaporized metal that seemed to fill the earth, the air, and all the -sky. Of a weird and unearthly tint, the white-hot flame leaped into the -air. It sprang up three thousand feet in hardly more than two seconds. -The blast had the velocity of many rifle balls, and the withering heat -of molten metal. The young lieutenant and his men were swept into -nothingness in the fraction of a second. The crater they had worked -for hours to blast out was as a puny ant hole beside the vast chasm -that opened in the ice down to the red clay far beneath the bed of the -Narrows. And New York shook and trembled from the shock of the terrific -explosion. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - -Teddy was thrown down by the concussion, and fell in a heap against -the commandant. He leaped to his feet and rushed to the window, from -which the glass had disappeared. He saw the remnants of the sheet of -flame dying away and saw that the low-lying cloud of mist had been -blown from the surface of the ice. A gaping orifice, five hundred feet -across, showed itself where Teddy and the lieutenant had been working. -Of the lieutenant and his men no trace could be seen. Two or three of -the little red flags that had marked the path through the mist still -remained, however, and a small sledge was lying, overturned, beside the -sledge route. Four tiny black figures lay in twisted attitudes beside -the sledge. As Teddy looked one of them began to struggle feebly. - -Teddy stared, speechless. For a moment he was dazed by the suddenness -and the overwhelming nature of the calamity that had befallen the -young lieutenant and his detachment. Only accident had saved him from -a similar fate. Then his professional instinct re-asserted itself, and -he began to piece together what he knew of the bomb. In a moment the -solution came to him. - -"Varrhus planned this," he said unsteadily. "He filled up his hollow -cold bombs with solid iron. The heat that would come in would first -melt and then vaporize the interior until the pressure inside was more -than the still-solid crust could stand. And all that vaporized iron -would burst out. What a fiend that man must be!" - -An hour later, baffled and discouraged, he was sitting in the -laboratory with his head in his hands, trying desperately to grapple -with this new problem. The new cold bombs apparently could not be -assailed without destruction of those who attacked them. It was -impossible to imagine that volunteers could be found to sacrifice -their lives to destroy each new bomb as it was placed. The horror of -being annihilated by a blast of metallic vapor would deter men who -would not hesitate to face death in a less terrible form. And Varrhus -was evidently able to place them again nearly as fast as they were -blown up. Telegrams announcing the explosion of the Jacksonville and -Charleston ice floes lay before Teddy, supplemented by a cablegram from -Panama saying that the Miraflores Locks had been destroyed by the blast -when the Panama cold bomb had burst. Teddy was nearly certain that the -next morning would find the exploded bombs replaced. Varrhus' black -flyer was evidently capable of carrying a great weight at an immense -speed. It also seemed able to reach an almost incredible height, from -the fact that the second cold bomb had been dropped in the Narrows in -broad daylight without the flyer having been sighted. - -Evelyn turned from the instruments with which she had been working. She -had scraped off a small bit of the lacquerlike surface of the silver -bracelet, and had been analyzing it in the hope of finding what element -or combination had been used to produce the mystifying heat-inductive -effect. - -"Teddy," she said depressedly, "I can't find a thing. The lacquer -effect seems to be simply the appearance of some way he has treated -the metal. The surface gives just the same analysis as the filings from -the inside of the metal. I took a spectro photo and it gives silver -lines with a trace of lead. Analysis by arsenic reduction gives the -same result." - -"Perhaps those detectives will be able to trace Varrhus by the mailing -box they took," said Teddy, without much hope. "It's not very likely, -though. We've _got_ to think of something!" - -Silence fell in the laboratory again, broken only by the faint -whistling sound of the flame Evelyn had used in her analytical work. - -"The trouble is," said Teddy grimly, "that we've been _trailing_ -Varrhus, instead of anticipating him. If we could know where he was -going to be----" - -"He'll have to show up sooner or later," Evelyn commented. "We know, -for instance, that he'll have to replace that bomb in the Narrows or -let the harbor stay open. The use of these new explosive bombs means -that he has to expose himself more than he'd have to with the old ones." - -"There ought to be an aërial patrol above the city----" - -Teddy stood up sluggishly, discouragement in every line of his figure. -A servant tapped on the door of the laboratory. - -"Lieutenant Davis, of the military flying corps, sir." - -"Show him in," said Teddy listlessly. - -A slim young officer came in. His friendly, boyish face was full of a -whimsical humor. - -"This is rather an intrusion, I'm afraid," he said half apologetically, -"but I thought you might be able to help me out." - -"I've done nothing so far," said Teddy in a rather discouraged tone. -"Miss Hawkins and I were just canvassing the situation. You're talking -about the iceberg and Varrhus, aren't you?" - -"Of course. No one talks about anything else nowadays. My taxi had -a tough time getting through the crowds on the streets. They don't -understand about the explosion in the Narrows yet." - -Teddy introduced him to Evelyn. - -"Pleasure, I'm sure," said Davis with a smile. Then his face sobered. -"That was rotten hard luck about your father, Miss Hawkins. I'm not -good at making speeches, but I hope you realize that every one is -sympathizing with you and in a measure sharing your sorrow." - -Evelyn shook hands. - -"I will allow myself to grieve when Varrhus has been disposed of," she -said quietly. "Until then I dare not let myself think." - -Davis released her hand and turned to Teddy. - -"Varrhus--or the chap in the black flyer, anyway--killed my best -friend, Curtiss. He was driving the little Nieuport that attacked -Varrhus the day you blew up the first bomb. I was the first man to -reach the spot where Curtiss had crashed, and I swore I'd get Varrhus -for that." - -"I remember," said Teddy. "Frozen." - -Davis nodded, his face grave. - -"I have what is probably the fastest little machine in the United -States, at the fort. A two-seater, with twin Liberty Motors that shoot -her up to a hundred and fifty miles an hour without any trouble at -all. I think I can get Varrhus with it. I came to you to learn what you -think about Varrhus' weapons. It's only the part of wisdom to learn all -you can about your opponent, you know." - -Teddy found the young man impressing him very favorably. - -"I haven't given the matter much thought," he confessed, "but you -remember Varrhus' tactics?" - -"He dropped like a tumbler pigeon," said Davis, "and Curtiss overshot -him. There wasn't a sign of firing except from Curtiss. He simply -overran the place where Varrhus had been three or four seconds before -and then dropped. He was frozen stiff when I found him." - -"I think," said Teddy carefully, "that Varrhus had shot up a jet of -some liquified gas, probably hydrogen. It hung suspended in the air for -a moment, and in that moment the biplane ran into it. A drop of liquid -hydrogen placed in the palm of your hand would freeze your arm solidly -up well past the elbow. It's something over five hundred degrees below -zero. Your friend ran into what amounted to a shower of it." - -Davis considered: - -"Cheerful thing to fight against, isn't it?" he asked, with a smile. -"Tactics, mustn't run above the black flyer and mustn't run below it. -He can probably shoot it straight down, too." - -"And almost certainly from the sides," said Teddy. "The man must have -been working on this thing for years, and even if he's insane he'd be a -fool not to make his weapon as efficient as possible." - -Davis' expression became rueful. - -"And so I'm supposed to keep my distance," he remarked, "and take pot -shots at him while dancing merrily around in mid-air. Can't we do -anything about that stuff to nullify it?" - -"Burn it," suggested Evelyn. "Liquid hydrogen burns just as readily as -the same gas at normal temperatures." - -The three of them were silent for a moment. - -"Would rockets set it afire?" asked Davis presently. "I could keep a -stream of fire balls shooting out before my machine." - -"They ought to." Teddy was losing his discouragement in this new -prospect of coming to grips with Varrhus. "I say, will your machine -burn readily?" - -"Only the gas tank. The wings and struts are fireproof. New process." - -Davis stood up suddenly. - -"Would it bother you to come over and look at my machine? We could -probably figure out the thing better then." - -Teddy rose almost enthusiastically. - -"We'll go over now if you say so." - -The taxicab bearing Teddy and the young aviator down to the fort was -forced to travel slowly amid the throngs of apprehensive people that -overflowed the sidewalks and made the streets almost impassable. The -launch took them swiftly to the fort, and in a few moments they had -arrived at the small aviation field behind the fortifications on -Staten Island. Davis led Teddy directly to the shed that contained the -swift machine of which he was so proud. It was a splendid product of -the aircraft maker's art. Twin Liberty Motors developed nearly eight -hundred horse power between them, and two great shining propellers -pulled the machine through the air with irresistible force. - -"You see," said Davis, with some enthusiasm, "the motors aren't in the -fusilage, so the gunner sits up here in the bow and can fire freely -in any direction. The one-man planes with synchronized machine guns -firing through the propeller aren't in it with these for real fighting. -They're splendid little machines--I drove one in France--but I honestly -believe this is better than they are. This one responds to the -controls every bit as readily, and with a good gunner----" - -"Machine gunner in France myself," said Teddy, touching his breast. -"Would you take a chance on letting me sit up front to-night?" - -"To-night?" asked Davis. - -"I believe Varrhus will appear to drop another cold bomb to-night. It -will probably be dropped inside the harbor so the ice cake will touch -the Battery. That will set the people frantic, and make them beg the -government to enter into a parley with Varrhus. It's paid no official -attention to him so far, you know." - -Davis' expression became keen and rather stern. - -"We've four hours before dark. We'll have to set to work." - -Teddy went over and stepped up the ladder that leaned against the -cockpit. - -"I want to see your gasoline supply," he remarked. In a moment he -came down, looking a trifle dubious. "If I'm right about Varrhus -using liquid hydrogen for a weapon, and we can set it afire, we'll -dive through half a dozen sheets of flame to-night. Something will -have to be done to protect that gas tank from catching fire, and some -protection for the carburetors, too." - -"We'll fix that in a hurry," said Davis briskly. "Oh, Simpson! Come -here!" - -In twenty minutes there were half a dozen mechanicians at work, and -Teddy was carefully inspecting the machine gun at the bow of the -fusilage. - -Teddy telephoned back to Evelyn what he anticipated would occur that -night and his own share in it. - -"Of course there's some risk in it," he finished, "but I guess we'll -come out." - -Evelyn's voice was more anxious than Teddy had expected. - -"Do be careful, Teddy," she said in a worried tone. "Please be very -careful. Varrhus has so many fiendish weapons. I'm terribly afraid." - -Teddy's voice was grim. - -"With the kind assistance of the German government," he remarked, "we -have a few fiendish inventions, too. I'm using explosive bullets only -to-night. Varrhus is outlawed." - -Evelyn spoke almost faintly. - -"But take good care of yourself, please, Teddy," she urged. "It were -better that Varrhus got away this once than that you should be killed -for nothing." - -Teddy smiled. "I've no intention of being killed, Evelyn, but I have -some intention that Varrhus shall be." - -There was a curious sound from the other end of the wire. - -"But--but----" Evelyn's voice died away. "I'm--I'm going to be praying, -Teddy. Good-by." - -The last was very faint. Teddy turned from the instrument and went -out to where the aëroplane had been rolled from its shed. The sun was -sinking and dusk was falling. Time passed and darkness settled down -upon the earth. Stars twinkled into being. A long searchlight poked a -tentative finger of light into the sky. - -"We'd better be going," said Davis thoughtfully. "We want to be well up -before he appears." - -Teddy clambered up to his seat and adjusted the straps that would -hold him in place. He pulled down the helmet and fitted the telephone -receivers securely over his ears. A telephone was necessary for -communication with Davis, four feet behind him, because of the -tremendous roar of the engines. He took the machine-gun butt and found -the trigger, then made sure the first of a belt of cartridges was in -place. He settled back in his seat as the mechanics began to twirl -the propellers. He was going out to fight the black flyer, but most -incongruously he was not thinking of Varrhus at all. His thoughts dwelt -with strange intensity upon Evelyn. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -New York lay below them. The long, straight lines of lights shining up -through the semidarkness of the moonlit night made a strange appearance -to the two in the swift machine. Davis had mounted to a great height, -some ten thousand feet, and the pin points of light outlined more than -a dozen cities and towns. The Hudson was a faintly silvery ribbon -flowing down placidly from a far-distant source. Because of the ice -cake in the Narrows its level had risen two or three feet, but now it -flowed smoothly over that great obstacle, melting and carrying it away -toward the sea. - -The fighting plane roared around in huge circles, seeming strangely -alone in the vast expanse of air. One searchlight from below moved -restlessly about the sky. A second joined it, then a third. One by -one a dozen or more of long, pencil-like beams of light shot up into -the sky and moved here and there in seeming confusion, but actually -according to a carefully prearranged plan. A hooded red light showed -below the biplane in which Teddy and Davis were awaiting some sign of -the black flyer. That had been agreed upon, and none of the searchlight -beams flashed upon the circling machine. From time to time Davis shut -off the motors, and the two of them lifted the ear flaps of their -helmets to listen eagerly for the musical humming that would herald -Varrhus' approach. - -Far to the east they could see where the faintly luminous waters of -the ocean came up to and stopped at the darker masses of the land. The -harbor below them glittered in the moonlight. The only peculiarity in -the scene was the absence of the little harbor craft that ply about -busily by day and night upon their multifarious errands. They were -all securely docked. The wharves, too, were dark and silent. All the -maritime industry of New York was at a standstill. - -A wide spiral to twelve thousand feet. The motors were hushed -during a two-thousand-feet glide, while the two men in the machine -listened intently. For two hours this maneuver had been repeated and -re-repeated. No sound save the rush of the wind through the guy wires -and past the struts had broken the chilly stillness of the heights. -The sky was a blue dome of a myriad winking lights. A pale silver moon -shone down. - -The nose of the machine pointed down and the motors ceased to roar. -Faintly but unmistakably above the whistling and rushing of the wind -about the surfaces of the biplane a deep, musical humming could be -heard. Abruptly the motors burst into life again. The exhausts began to -bellow out their reassuring thunder. The machine began to climb again, -circling to every point of the compass, while Teddy and Davis scanned -the sky keenly for a sign of the black flyer with its cargo of menace -to New York. - -"I'm going to fifteen thousand." - -Davis' voice sounded with metallic clearness in Teddy's ear. The -telephones between the two helmets were working perfectly. - -"That was Varrhus, all right?" said Teddy quietly. "Did you signal to -the people beneath?" - -Davis pushed a button, and a green light glowed beside the red one in -the hood below the machine. In a moment the receipt of this signal by -those below was evidenced. The searchlights took up their task with -renewed vigor, searching the sky frantically for a sign of the black -flying machine. The hood below the biplane allowed the signal to be -seen by those on the ground, but made the light invisible to any one in -the air. The biplane swung in wide circles, Teddy and Davis with every -nerve taut and every sense alert, aflame with eagerness to sight their -quarry. They saw it, outlined for an instant by the white beam of one -of the circling lights. - -It was dropping like a stone from the clouds. The searchlight rays -glistened from polished black sides and were reflected from shimmering -propeller blades above it. - -"Helicopter," said Davis crisply. "Now!" - -The black flyer was a thousand feet below them and still falling. The -nose of the biplane dipped sharply and it dived straight for the still -falling machine. Teddy gripped the machine gun and sighted along the -barrel. Down, down, the biplane darted, all the power of its eight -hundred horse power aiding in the speed of its fall. The glistening -black machine checked in its drop and hung motionless in mid-air. The -pilot was evidently unconscious of the machine swooping down upon him. - -Five hundred feet down, six hundred----Teddy pulled hard on the -trigger, and his machine gun spurted fire. A stream of explosive -projectiles sped toward the menacing black shape. Teddy saw them strike -the shining sides of the machine and explode with little bursts of -flame. The biplane was rushing with incredible speed toward the other -flyer. Teddy played his machine gun upon it as he might have played a -hose, and apparently with as little effect. The tiny explosive shells -struck and flashed futilely. The black flyer seemed to be unharmed. -After a second's hesitation, it dropped again abruptly. The biplane -shot toward the spot the other machine had occupied. The distance was -too short to turn or swerve, quickly as it responded to the controls. - -"Flares," gasped Davis, but before he spoke Teddy was pressing the -small button that would set them off. - -A burst of tiny lights shot out before the biplane, many-colored -balls of fire driven forward from a tube below the fusilage. They -illuminated the air for a short distance, entering the space from which -the black flyer had just dropped. Teddy and Davis saw a small cloud of -what seemed to be mist or fog hanging in the air. The tiny fire balls -darted into it the fraction of a second before the biplane itself had -to traverse the same space. As the first of the lights struck the -fringe of the whitish cloud it flared up. The fire ball had touched a -droplet of liquified gas and set it flaming. It burned fiercely and -with incredible rapidity, setting fire to the remainder of the cloud. -Teddy ducked his head as the aëroplane shot madly through a huge globe -of blazing gas in mid-air. - -"Great God!" gasped Davis. "Now where's Varrhus?" - -The heavy masks the two aviators had worn had protected them from the -flaming hydrogen, and their goggles had saved their eyes. Now Davis was -only eager to make a second attempt upon the black machine. He swerved -and circled. The searchlights below were waving frantically through -the air. The flare aloft had been seen, and they concentrated upon -the space below the spot. In a second the black flyer was once more -outlined by half a dozen beams. Davis banked sharply and darted toward -it again. - -The pilot of the strange machine seemed to be quite confident that he -had disposed of his antagonist, and was apparently busy with something -inside the cabin. He was probably preparing to release his cold bomb, -but was again interrupted. The biplane approached. Teddy saw his -explosive bullets strike and flash. He knew they struck, but they -seemed incapable of doing harm. The black flyer was clearly defined by -the searchlights, and Teddy could see it distinctly. It was a long, -needlelike body with a glass-inclosed cabin near the center. Above it -four whirring disks of comparatively huge size showed the position of -the vertical propellers that enabled it to rise and fall and to hang -suspended motionless in the air. A fifth propeller spun slowly at the -bow. That was evidently not running at full speed. Below the needlelike -body hung a misshapen globe, like the bulging ovipositor of some -strange insect. - -Flash! Flash! The impact of the explosive bullets was marked by -spiteful cracks as they burst. Teddy was aiming for the cabin of the -machine. - -"Got him!" he exclaimed. - -The glass of the cabin windows had splintered into fragments. The -aëroplane shot toward the motionless black flyer. - -"Shall I ram?" asked Davis in a perfectly even voice. He was quite -prepared to sacrifice both his and Teddy's lives to make absolutely -certain of the destruction of the menacing helicopter with its more -than dangerous occupant. - -Teddy, with lips compressed, nodded. He had forgotten that in the -darkness Davis could not see his movement. As the biplane sped forward -the black machine dropped again. Again the whitish cloud was left -behind it, clearly defined in the searchlight rays. Teddy had barely -time to press the flare button before they reached the cloud. The mist -of atomized liquid hydrogen seemed to burst into flame all about them. -The aëroplane roared through hell-fire for a moment. Flame was before -Teddy's aviator's goggles. He was in a veritable inferno. Then the -aëroplane shot free again. - -"Ram him!" panted Teddy. "Smash him! Do anything, only we've got to get -him!" - -They circled swiftly, searching for the black flyer. The searchlights -were following him now, and they saw that he was rising straight up. -He had not yet dropped his cold bomb. Davis put his machine at the -ascent at as steep an angle as he dared. They climbed almost as -rapidly as the helicopter. The black machine made its first aggressive -move now. Davis was climbing in a jerky spiral, rising at an amazing -speed. Teddy was busily fitting a new belt of cartridges into his -machine gun. The pilot of the other machine darted to one side and a -huge cloud of mist sprang into being just below him, darting downward -like some pale-gray snake, unfolding itself in the sky. Davis zoomed -sharply. Another second and he would have run into the whitish cloud. -The biplane recovered and swerved to one side. Twelve thousand feet. -Thirteen thousand feet. Fourteen thousand feet. Three miles in the -air! Then the black flyer began to drop. The biplane dived after him, -Teddy's machine-gun spitting fire and explosive bullets in a furious, -well-directed blast. Once, twice, bursts of the little flashes that -showed his bullets were striking served to reassure Teddy, but the -biplane could not gain on the falling helicopter. - -Down, down----There were half a dozen quick bursts of flame in the -air. Anti-aircraft guns were firing. The black flyer dropped unharmed. -Barely a thousand feet above the waters of the bay, the propeller -at the bow seemed to be put into motion, for the straight descent -changed into a graceful curve. The curve flattened out, and the black -machine ceased to fall. It sped madly for the Narrows, with a bedlam -of bursting shells all about it and the vengeful, spitting two-seater -darting after it like an avenging Nemesis. Again and again spurts of -flame against the body of the glistening helicopter showed that Teddy's -fire was well directed, but the machine shot onward in a furious rush -for the Narrows. Above the Narrows, without pausing, a black object -that turned to white in the searchlight rays fell from the misshapen -globe below the center of the black flyer's body. The thing that fell -seemed to leave a mist of fog behind it as it dropped. Then, its -mission accomplished, the dark machine fled toward the west. - -Teddy and Davis, in the biplane, sped after it at the topmost speed of -which their aëroplane was capable. Teddy was nearly insane with baffled -rage and disappointment. He knew that he had failed. Another cold bomb -had been dropped in the Narrows, and any attempt to destroy it would -only result in the death of those who made the attempt. - -"Faster, faster!" he pleaded to Davis. "If it gets far ahead of us -we'll lose it in the darkness." - -Davis pressed his lips together and used every artifice he knew of to -increase the speed of his machine, but the glistening black body ahead -of them drew steadily farther away. At last it could barely be seen. -Then, as if in derision, a light appeared in the cabin of the black -flyer. It winked oddly. Dot-dash, dot-dash---- - -"He's signaling," said Davis. - -Dot-dash, dot-dash---- - -"W-a-t-c-h," spelled Davis, "t-h-e -M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i.--V-a-r-r-h-u-s." - -"Watch the Mississippi, Varrhus," repeated Teddy. "He's getting away! -He's getting away!" - -The light ahead of them winked and disappeared. The sky was empty -except for the biplane roaring after a vanished enemy. - -"He's gotten away," half sobbed Davis. "Damn him! He killed Curtiss, -and he's gotten away!" - -Teddy stared into the empty night with something of Davis' -disappointment and despair. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - -Next morning the world read at its breakfast table that the Mississippi -River had frozen over just below St. Louis, and that the water was -rising rapidly. The river had frozen solidly up to the surface. The -level rose, and the water started to flow over the top of the ice cake, -only to be turned into ice as it did so. Hour by hour the level rose, -and hour by hour the solid ice barrier rose with the water level. Men -had tried to blast a way through for the rushing waters, but without -effect. As fast as the water tried to flow through the opening made by -a charge of dynamite it froze again and plugged the hole through which -it was attempting to escape. - -Hastily improvised levees were thrown up, but the water outstripped -the efforts of the builders. The lower part of St. Louis was flooded, -and a great part of the population made homeless. Then low-lying lands -beside the river were gradually submerged. In twenty-four hours there -were calls for help all along the upper part of the Mississippi Valley. -The rising water had flooded immense areas of cultivated land, and even -larger areas were threatened. In another day a thousand square miles -of crops were under water, and the loss in live stock was assuming -formidable proportions. The new cold bomb in New York harbor had crept -up to the Battery, as Teddy had foreseen. The Norfolk cold bomb had -exploded, fortunately without loss of life. Gibraltar had witnessed -three almost simultaneous blasts, and was again free of ice, but the -whole world knew that it was at the mercy of Varrhus. - -Davis, Evelyn, and Teddy were discussing the matter dolefully. Davis -had been coming to the laboratory daily in the hopes of hearing that -Teddy had devised some plan for the frustration of Varrhus' ambitious -schemes. Teddy found himself liking Davis immensely, but with a -peculiarly illogical annoyance that Evelyn seemed to like him quite as -well. When he had phoned her of his safety after the fight with Varrhus -he could hear a flood of thankfulness in her voice, but when he saw -her the next day she was almost distant. He saw traces of real anxiety -on her face, but she had not been really natural until they had worked -nearly all day on the silver bracelet, trying to find what had been -done to the surface to give it its peculiar property of allowing heat -to pass in one direction, but not in the other. They were as far as -ever from the solution. Davis was quite ignorant of abstract chemistry -or physics and could not join in their discussions, but Teddy fancied -that he was much more interested in Evelyn than was necessary. He was -annoyed to find that he resented it. He had always looked on Evelyn -as a comrade, and he could not understand this feeling that took -possession of him. It did not occur to him to speculate upon the fact -that he found ideas coming to him much more readily when working by -Evelyn's side, or that he rarely attempted anything without asking -her opinion. Teddy had never thought much of romance, and he did not -suspect how much Evelyn's companionship meant to him. - -Davis was reiterating for the fortieth time his disappointment at -Varrhus' getting away. - -"We almost had him," he said disgustedly. "Our explosive bullets were -playing all over his infernal flying machine. We'd have landed one -in that little glass cabin of his and smashed him nicely in another -minute, when he skipped off like that. And I'll swear to it we were -doing a hundred and eighty miles an hour." - -"He ran away from us pretty easily," said Teddy dismally. "Isn't there -a faster machine than yours we could get hold of?" - -"Nothing but a single-seater, and not so much faster at that," -said Davis. "A hundred and ninety-five is the best even the latest -single-seater combat planes will do at a low altitude." - -"Even for a short burst of speed?" asked Evelyn. - -"Diving, you'll run up faster than that," Davis explained. "When we -went straight down after Varrhus, we must have gone over two hundred, -but for straightaway work we've nothing that will catch Varrhus." - -"What's the official speed record?" asked Evelyn, toying with a test -tube. She looked singularly pretty in the long white apron she wore in -the laboratory. - -"Two hundred and fifteen, I think," said Davis. "Some Spanish aviator -made it. He'd doped his gas with picric acid, though." - -"What does that do?" asked Teddy quickly. - -"It's explosive, and about doubles the force of your explosions. It -eats your engines right up, though. They used to use it in motor-boat -races until a rule was made against it. You see, an engine is ruined -after twenty minutes or so, and it made the racing unfair for people -who couldn't buy a new engine for every race." - -Teddy's face grew thoughtful. - -"Picric acid," he said meditatively. "Suppose we used it in the gas of -your plane. Would we have a chance of catching Varrhus?" - -"I don't know," Davis said thoughtfully. "I hardly think so. It would -make our speed better, but if it were anything of a chase our motors -would be ruined before we'd gone far." - -"The acid attacks the steel of the cylinders and makes the bore too -large?" Teddy seemed to be thinking rapidly. - -"Yes. You lose all your compression." - -Teddy looked at Evelyn. - -"Suppose the pistons and the interiors of your cylinders were plated -with platinum? Platinum is one of the hardest metals, and should stand -up under a great deal of wear." - -"Would platinum resist the attack of the acid?" Davis grew excited. - -"Surely." - -Davis jumped to his feet. - -"Then we've got him! New piston rings will let you plate the cylinders -without reboring them unless you're going to plate them heavily. Can -you do the plating?" - -"Try," said Teddy. - -"We make a hundred and eighty with straight gasoline," said Davis -excitedly. "With doped gas----How long will it take to fix my motors?" - -"Four or five hours. We'll borrow the acid vats of some electro-plating -concern. Evelyn will mix the solution of platinum salts. I'll go -arrange to borrow the vats while you get your motors disassembled and -brought here on a motor truck." - -Teddy hastily began to put on his coat. - -"You're going to try to fight Varrhus again?" asked Evelyn anxiously. - -"Are we?" asked Davis cheerfully. "Just ask me! We are." - -"You hit him several times in the last fight," said Evelyn faintly, -"and it didn't do any good." - -"We'll use armor-piercing bullets this time," said Davis exuberantly. -"Or we may be able to mount a one-pounder automatic. I think the plane -will stand it. And at worst we can ram him." - -Evelyn turned a trifle pale. "That means you'll both be killed." - -Davis smiled. "Maybe not. We'll take a chance anyway, won't we, Gerrod?" - -Teddy nodded shortly. "I'm going to get Varrhus or he's going to get -me," he said succinctly. - -They started for the front door. The commissioner of police was just -getting out of his car. - -"News, most likely," said Teddy, and they waited. - -The commissioner of police looked worried when he shook hands with -Teddy. - -"My men have been trying to trace that package that contained the -bracelet," he told him, "and have found that it was put in a country -rural-delivery mail box after dark. The mail carrier took it when he -made his morning route. There's absolutely no way of tracing it any -farther. Any one might have passed by in an automobile and have put it -in. The farmer in whose box it was is above suspicion. Now another set -of letters has been sent in the same way from another rural-delivery -box a hundred miles from the first. One is addressed to Miss Hawkins. -I have it here. The postal authorities called me in when they saw the -envelope." - -He showed a huge yellow envelope addressed to Evelyn. In one corner was -a large return card. "_The Dictatorial Residence._" - -"It might be almost anything," said Davis. "Better not let Miss Hawkins -open it. I'll do it, Gerrod." - -Teddy shook his head. - -"We'll tell her about it, and I'll open it in the laboratory." - -Evelyn and Davis waited apprehensively until Teddy emerged from that -room. - -"No cold bombs, no electric shocks, and no poison gas," he said, -smiling. "Just a _billet doux_ to Evelyn. It fits in beautifully with -our plans, Davis." - -Evelyn took the sheet he extended to her, and read: - - THE DICTATORIAL RESIDENCE, August 29th. - - His Excellency Wladislaw Varrhus, dictator of the earth, has been - much annoyed by the efforts of one Theodore Gerrod to obstruct his - plans and desires. He has been informed through the press of the - fact that Miss Evelyn Hawkins has collaborated with and encouraged - Theodore Gerrod in his rash attempts. His excellency the dictator - is pleased to require that Miss Evelyn Hawkins repair to a spot - some five miles due east from Norman's Reef, off the coast of - Maine. Miss Hawkins may bring with her a maid and such baggage as - she may require. She is to be held as security for the cessation of - Theodore Gerrod's efforts to impede the secure establishment of the - dictatorship. The Mississippi River has been closed to traffic, and - will remain closed until this order has been obeyed by Miss - Hawkins. The time set for Miss Hawkins' appearance at that spot is - daybreak of Tuesday, September the third. Given at the dictatorial - residence. - - WLADISLAW VARRHUS. - -Evelyn looked at the three men with a white face. The commissioner of -police looked grave. Davis was smiling, and Teddy was smiling, too, but -with a blaze of anger in his eyes. - -"Gerrod," said Davis whimsically, "I am much depressed that Varrhus -didn't include me with you as making efforts to obstruct his plans and -desires." - -"The government will have to be notified," said the commissioner of -police solemnly. - -"Do--do you think I had better go?" asked Evelyn hesitatingly. - -"No!" exploded Teddy and Davis together. Teddy went on: "Why, Evelyn, -the man is insane! And besides we've just thought of something that's -sure to get him. We'll lay in wait for him, and then he'll walk into -our parlor nicely. When he does------" - -"_Finis_," said Davis cheerfully, "if I may borrow a phrase from the -French." - -"And if it's a long chase," said Teddy even more cheerfully, "the dear -person set the time for dawn, and we'll have light to fight by. Let's -go and set to work on that plane of yours." - -They left together in high spirits. Evelyn stood quite still after -they had gone, absently crushing the letter from Varrhus in her hand. -Presently, with a sob, she went to her room and allowed herself to cry. -They would not let her face danger, but Teddy was going out to fight, -perhaps to die--and for her. - -Over at the hangar, mechanics swarmed upon the fighting plane, -dismounting the motors and disassembling them. The cylinders and -pistons were being carefully packed. A big motor truck had already -backed up at the wide door of the aëroplane shed, and as fast as the -parts were packed they were loaded on it. Davis was here, there, and -everywhere. He had asked permission for the experiment, and it has been -granted. The government was prepared to risk almost anything rather -than allow Varrhus to succeed in his huge blackmailing of the entire -human race. There was no hesitation in allowing anything that might -afford a fighting chance of downing the black flyer. The Mississippi -floods were growing in size and destructiveness. The New York cold -bomb, dropped the night Teddy and Davis had fought the black machine -over the harbor, was expected to explode at any moment. Every window -still intact in the city had been pasted with strips of paper to keep -the fragments from becoming a menace to those on the streets when the -bomb should burst them. - -Davis had conferred with the commandant of the forts, and volunteers -had been asked for among the garrison. A boat was being heavily armed -with concealed guns. It would go to the point where Varrhus would -expect Evelyn to be taken. He would see the small boat, drop down -to take Evelyn on board his evil craft, and the masked batteries of -anti-aircraft guns would open on him in a blast of fire. Teddy's -discovery that flares fired into the cloud of liquified gas would cause -it to burn harmlessly in mid-air had been adapted to protect the crew. -As the guns opened on the hovering black flyer a stream of fire balls -would be made to float overhead to set flaming the stream of liquid -hydrogen Varrhus might be expected to shoot downward. At that, though, -the mission of the boat crew was hazardous in the extreme. - -The telephone rang in the hangar. Teddy was on the wire. He had -commandeered the big wooden acid vats of an electro-plating plant, -and the platinum-plating solution was being mixed even then. If Davis -brought the motors over in parts, the plating might begin immediately. - -The big truck rumbled off, Davis smiling confidently on the seat -beside the chauffeur. Half a dozen mechanics perched on various parts -of the load. When the truck stopped before the electro-plating plant -they leaped off and rushed the glistening cylinders inside. In twenty -minutes they were in the plating solution and an almost infinitely thin -film of platinum was slowly forming within them. - -The workmen of the electro-plating plant labored far into the night -on their task. Teddy had insisted that a film of platinum ten times -the thickness of the usual precious-metal plating be used, and the -process was slow. When the cylinders had been prepared, the pistons -remained, and the exhaust ports and valves. These, too, were coated -with the hard, acid-resisting metal, and Davis' mechanics began their -task of fitting piston rings to the altered motor parts. The rings -themselves had then to be plated, and all the plating burnished and -polished. Teddy and Davis snatched a few hours' sleep while the motor -in its disassembled state was being carried back to the hangar and -re-installed in the aëroplane. They woke, and during all the following -day Davis sat in the pilot's seat, listening with a practiced ear and -aiding in the final tuning up of the changed motors, adjusting the -carburetors to their new fuel. Thirty per cent of picric acid added to -the finest, highest grade gasoline was to be used. No one had dared -use such a percentage before, even for motors that were expected to be -ruined. - -Teddy, in the meantime, was familiarizing himself with the small -one-pounder automatic gun--similar to the German antitank -weapons--that was to be installed in the bow of the aëroplane. By -nightfall all was finished. Teddy ran over to New York and saw Evelyn -for the last time before making his attempt, and the next morning he -and Davis flew to Noman's Reef, where a camouflaged hangar had been -erected on telegraphed instructions from New York. Tuesday dawn found -them alert and anxiously scanning the sky for a sign of the black flyer. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - -The stars winked palely from the graying sky. In the east a pallid -whiteness showed which slowly yellowed and then turned to pink. The -dawn was breaking. - -On the little reef men watched keenly. Far out at sea, its single -funnel tipped with red paint from the crimson sunlight, a little boat -tossed and rolled. That boat contained the men who had offered their -lives for a chance to kill this Varrhus, who threatened the liberty of -the world. Beside the camouflaged hangar two great horns, seeming to -be enlarged megaphones, pointed toward the sky. Little wires ran from -their points to telephone receivers strapped on the ears of intently -listening men. They were microphones to detect the first sound of the -musical humming of the black flyer. Teddy and Davis were befurred and -goggled, but had pushed up their goggles to take powerful glasses and -scan the sky eagerly for a sight of their enemy. Mechanics stood ready -at the propellers of the hidden fighting plane, prepared to spin the -motors into roaring life the instant the two aviators had settled in -their seats. From before the wide doors of the concealed hangar a broad -expanse of beach ran smoothly down to the ocean. The little boat tossed -and rolled. The men at the microphones listened intently. The others -searched the sky. - -Straight down from a wisp of golden cloud a slim black speck fell -toward the earth. At first, so high was it, even those with field -glasses could make out only the thin shape of the glistening black -body. It fell a thousand, two thousand feet----The whirring disks above -the slender body became visible, then the inclosed cabin near the -center. The musical humming filled the air. Lower and lower the strange -machine dropped. Davis and Teddy were in their seats. - -"Now!" said Davis sharply, and the propellers whirled. The motors -caught, sputtered, and began to run with a steady, droning roar. -Davis watched keenly as the black shape slowed in its fall and came -to a standstill above the little, tossing boat. Half a dozen men were -holding the aëroplane back, and the small shed was full of clouds of -choking dust and still more choking fumes from the motor. - -The black flyer hung motionless, barely three hundred yards above the -small boat. There was a long moment of waiting. Then the decks of the -boat seemed to fall in. A dozen threatening muzzles were exposed. A -dozen flashes of flame shot up from the tiny vessel. Simultaneously -Davis cried out, the men released his machine, and it darted forward. -He took off from the beach skimmed the waves, and shot out toward the -strange combat that was taking place. - -The black flyer had been hit. That much was certain. It lurched and -staggered in the air, losing altitude all the while. Then the pilot -seemed to regain control. He swung swiftly to one side and began to -rise. All the time the anti-aircraft guns were firing viciously. -The tossing boat made a poor platform for the gunners, however, and -their aim was inevitably poor. The guns kept up a ceaseless roaring. -Puff after puff of white smoke showed where their shells burst near -Varrhus. He began to swerve, to zigzag, using tactics strangely like -those of a dragon fly. Suddenly he darted to a point exactly above -the small boat, and a smoky cloud began to dart down from below his -machine. Varrhus passed on, but the cloud fell swiftly, precisely like -the cloud of liquified gas he had poured down on Teddy and Davis above -New York harbor. - -"Flares!" cried Davis in an agony of apprehension, though his voice was -only audible to Teddy by means of the telephone connection between the -two helmets. - -As he spoke the men on the boat shot up the little fire balls that had -protected the aëroplane in its former fight. A dozen balls of light -sped up to meet the menacing cloud of liquified gas. They reached it, -sped into it, glowing feebly! The white cloud did not ignite, but fell -on toward the boat. It reached and enveloped the little vessel, and -suddenly the guns were still. - -"Damn him!" said Teddy in a voice that shook with rage. "He's not using -hydrogen. We can't close in on him now. Our flares are no good." - -Davis tilted the nose of his machine upward, and Teddy stared down his -sights. He pulled the trigger. The gun kicked backward, but the recoil -cylinders did their work. The tracer shell left a little line of smoke -behind it. It passed below the black body. - -"Too low," said Teddy grimly, and fired again. - -Varrhus began to climb. Straight up his machine went, but with the -picric acid giving added impetus to the explosions in the cylinders the -two-seater climbed as rapidly. Varrhus' ascent swerved. He was directly -over the aëroplane. A whitish cloud appeared below his machine and -blotted it out for an instant. - -"We zoom," said Davis almost gayly, and the fighting plane seemed to -be dancing on its tail for an instant. The cloud of gas unfolded itself -down to the surface of the water, barely twenty yards before the space -in which Davis had checked his course. - -Around and around a huge circle. The biplane had caught up with the -black flyer, and Davis turned toward it for an instant to give Teddy -an opportunity to fire. There was a flash at the stern of the slender -black body, and the symmetry of the glistening form was marred by a -ragged edge where the tip of the tail had been blown off. - -"Almost," said Teddy grimly. - -"He'll dive now." - -Davis was prepared for the maneuver, and almost as soon as the -helicopter began to drop the biplane darted down after it, Teddy firing -viciously. The streaks of smoke that his shells left behind them told -him where he missed. Varrhus shifted the course of his fall, and again -a cloud drifted in the air just before the pursuing plane. Davis flung -the "joy-stick" forward, and the fighter fell into an absolutely -vertical dive. A second more and it had turned upon its back and was -flying upside down, away from the threatening mist. - -Davis twisted in mid-air and righted his machine. Varrhus was darting -away, barely two hundred feet above the surface of the water. Again the -two-seater dived upon him. Teddy's shells were zipping dangerously near -the black machine. It began to zigzag, to twist and turn like a snake. -It doubled back and shot directly under the biplane, but too far below -for the deadly mist to be used. Davis banked at a suicidal angle and -went after it again. They passed directly above the silent small boat, -drifting aimlessly on the waves. Little icicles were forming on the -bulwarks, showing that the cold of the liquified gas was still intense. - -For one instant Teddy had a perfect sight, and pulled the trigger with -the peculiar confidence of a marksman who knows he is making a perfect -shot. There was a flash upon the upper portion of the black hull. A -dark object shot off at a tangent from one of the whirring disks. The -helicopter sank rapidly. Teddy gave a shout. - -"Landed!" - -The black machine recovered again. One of the disks was badly injured -and now slowed and stopped, showing that the blade of one of the -four sustaining propellers had been broken, but the remaining three -increased their speed. Varrhus seemed to abandon the idea of fighting. -He began to shoot away toward the northeast. He was more than a mile -away, and Teddy had stopped firing. Varrhus had had no difficulty in -distancing the same machine a week before, and anticipated no trouble -in losing it, even with his own flyer partially crippled. He had not -reckoned on the picric compound now being used for fuel. The biplane -sped madly after the fleeing black aircraft. The motors roared hugely, -and the wind was like a solid mass, pushing fiercely against Teddy's -exposed head. A small half-moon of glass protected Davis from the wind, -but for the gunner no such protection was practicable. The rushing of -the wind through the wires and along the sides of the stream-line body -amounted to a shriek. Never had such speed been known before. - -Davis' voice came quietly to Teddy above the sounds outside, muted by -the heavy, padded helmet. The telephone receivers were fast against -Teddy's ears. - -"We're making two hundred and twenty-six." - -"We're not gaining," said Teddy grimly. - -"Wait until he rises. The motor's adjusted to be most efficient at -about seven thousand feet." - -The black speck ahead of them was drawing no nearer, it is true, but -it was not dwindling. The silvery wings of the biplane cut through the -air with fierce impatience. It flew in the straightest of straight -lines after the other craft. Dark-brownish smoke blew backward from the -bellowing exhausts, tinged almost to saffron by the presence of the -explosive acid. The sunlight kissed the upper surfaces of the wings of -the pursuing plane. Below them the ocean rolled and tossed. - -Whistling wind and roaring engines. Speed, speed, speed! The biplane -rushed with incredible swiftness through the air. The black flyer -skimmed lightly on, barely in advance of its white-winged enemy. Twice -Teddy essayed a shot, but the biplane trembled so that accuracy was -impossible, and he could see by the smoke of his tracer shell that he -had gone far wide of the black machine. The space between the black -speck and the waves below it seemed to increase. - -"Rising," said Davis. "Now we'll get him." - -Teddy kept his eyes fixed on Varrhus' slender, needlelike craft. He -was barely conscious of the upward tilt of the machine in which he was -riding, but he saw that they were keeping pace with Varrhus as he rose -in the air. - -"Four thousand feet," said Davis crisply. "And two hundred and -twenty-nine miles an hour. There's land ahead." - -Teddy saw a mountainous coast line becoming visible far away. The black -flyer continued to rise. - -"Six thousand feet," said Davis again, "and two hundred and thirty-two -miles----" - -The pilot of the other machine saw that they were gaining. He dropped -abruptly. - -"Now!" exclaimed Davis fiercely. - -He dived downward. The descent, coupled with the immense power of the -engines--now delivering vastly more than the eight hundred horse power -for which they were designed--made them shoot toward the black flyer -with increasing speed. The other machine was barely more than half -a mile away and every detail of its construction was visible. Teddy -noticed for the first time a slender tube rising between the two center -sustaining propellers. He instantly leaped to the conclusion that it -was the means by which the jets of liquified gas had been shot out. He -fired. - -"A hit!" cried Davis. - -There had been a flash from the top of the cabin. A jagged rent -appeared in the polished roofing, and the slender tube vanished. The -black flyer seemed to abandon all hopes of escape. It sped madly for a -gap between two of the tall mountains that rose along the coast line. -At the unprecedented speed with which both machines had been traveling -the coast seemed fairly to rush at them. No villages were visible, -but it seemed to be a habitable, if not an inhabited, land. The black -flyer swept on across country, Varrhus evidently making every effort to -gain even a few yards on his adversaries, and Davis just as fiercely -determined that he should not. Once, twice, three times Teddy fired. - -A smoothed and inclosed field, almost surrounded with small buildings, -appeared. Varrhus dashed toward it desperately, the white-winged -biplane vengefully after him. The black flyer dropped like a stone and -the biplane dived straight for it. In that last dive Teddy worked his -one-pounder as coolly as if at target practice. Flash! Flash! The black -flyer crumpled and fell the last fifty feet as an inert mass. - -Teddy jumped from the biplane as it flattened out and settled to the -ground. With his automatic pistol drawn and ready, he darted toward -the partly wrecked black machine. As he drew near a sallow face came -weakly to a window of the cabin. An automatic flashed from beside the -face and Teddy heard a queer sound and a fall behind him. He did not -stop, but rushed on, shooting viciously at the face in the opening. He -reached the wreck, wrenched open the door, and swung into the cabin -with utter disregard for danger. - -A tall, lean, sallow man was sitting exhausted in the pilot's seat -of the black flyer. His right arm was crimsoned from a wound in his -shoulder, and blood spurted in little frothy jets from a second wound -in his neck. Teddy's fire had been better directed than he knew. As -he entered with pistol ready, the sallow man raised his head erect by -a tremendous effort. A hooked nose, a merciless mouth, and blazing -eyes filled Teddy with repulsion. The sallow man stared at him -superciliously. - -"I am Wladislaw Varrhus, dictator of all the earth," he said in a -metallic voice. "I command--I--command." - -Speech failed him. His head dropped and he fell limply from the -cushioned seat. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - -Teddy felt the fallen man's breast, but he was not breathing. In any -event there was nothing that could have been done for him. An artery -had been cut by a splinter of the one-pounder shell that had smashed -the roof, and he had bled quietly to death, only trying desperately to -land and get assistance before he died. The sight of Teddy and Davis -sprinting toward him with drawn pistols had been too much for his -hatred, however, and he had fired his automatic at them even as he was -dying. Teddy found Davis lying on the ground with a bullet in his hip. - -"I'm all right, Gerrod," said Davis cheerfully when Teddy went to him. -"Just see if there are any more chaps in these houses before you bother -with me." - -Teddy explored the place thoroughly. There were many signs of human -occupancy, but no one save Varrhus himself had been there when they -landed. He returned to Davis to find him weakly trying to improvise -a pad to stop the bleeding. Teddy lifted him and carried him to the -house that seemed to be most used. In a little while Davis was quite -comfortable and contented. He lit a cigarette and calmly began to read -one of the newspapers that littered the place, while Teddy continued -his explorations. - -The landing field was a small one, no more than a hundred and fifty -yards long by seventy-five wide. At one end was an unpretentious but -comfortable dwelling, in one of whose rooms Davis was at that moment -resting. At the other end a shed evidently formed the hangar for the -black flyer. Along the sides of the inclosure were long sheds, some of -them empty, some containing supplies of various sorts. Half a dozen -cold bombs, complete except for the mysterious treatment of their -surface that gave them their strange property, lay on the floor of one -of the sheds along the sides. Another shed, long disused, had provided -quarters for workmen. Teddy found the single exit that led from the -inclosure. It opened on the wide hillside and afforded a view of miles -without a sign of human habitation. The remnant of a wheel track that -had obviously not been traveled for months led away from the door. -Along that primitive road the materials for building the inclosure and -the black flyer had evidently been brought. Teddy went back to Davis. - -"Gerrod," said Davis amiably, "I'm a fake. I'd lost quite some blood, -you know, and I was pretty weak, but while you were gone I saw a small -black bottle on a shelf over there, and I managed to crawl over to it. -Wherever we are, prohibition hasn't struck in, and I took just enough -to feel all right again. I believe I can drive back. It wasn't more -than a two-hour drive anyway, was it?' - -"Between two and three," said Teddy, smiling. "We were making terrific -speed, though. We're probably in Newfoundland somewhere." - -"Or Iceland. To tell the truth, I'm quite indifferent. Suppose you help -me out to the machine again." - -"I want to see what I can find in the laboratory first," said Teddy. - -The laboratory was of the smallest. Whatever experiments had been -necessary to perfect the cold bombs and the black flyer had been made -elsewhere. Teddy found a number of notebooks, which he took. He found -many chemicals, some in considerable quantities, in receptacles about -the laboratory, but no clew to the mysterious process that had enabled -Varrhus to threaten the world's security. He left Varrhus where he -lay. Both he and Davis confidently expected to return and investigate -thoroughly both the cold bombs and the black flyer. Davis, especially, -was anxious to examine that strange machine in detail, but his wound -was painful and he wished to have it properly dressed. Besides this, -the whole world was waiting anxiously to learn its fate, whether -Varrhus' ambitious plans were to be frustrated or whether it would have -to put its neck beneath the heel of the mad dictator. - -Teddy lifted Davis in the machine, and after some difficulty they -started off. Davis circled above the small clearing until it was tiny -beneath them. - -"Course is southwest," he remarked to Teddy. "We'll notice where we -land and then a northeast course will bring us back here again or -nearly." - -"Right," said Teddy abstractedly. His mind leaped ahead to the moment -when he would see Evelyn again. He had seen her just before starting -for Noman's Reef and she had seemed pale and anxious. He was not sure, -but he hoped he was right in believing that she was more anxious than -she would have been had she looked on him merely as a friend or comrade. - -The biplane sped over the sea across which it had flown in such -desperate haste that morning. Davis was weak, but for straightaway -flying modern machines need but little attention. The new inherently -stable aëroplanes are so safe that an amateur could pilot one in -midflight. And Davis had taken a small quantity of stimulant to -supplement his strength. At that, however, his endurance was severely -taxed before he flattened out and taxied across the landing field on -Staten Island. Mechanics rushed out to greet him and help him from the -machine. - -"Varrhus is dead and the black flyer is smashed," said Davis -cheerfully, and incontinently fainted. - -Teddy made a hasty report to the commandant of the forts and rushed -to New York. The second cold bomb had exploded that morning and the -city was panic-stricken, but as his taxicab sped uptown the extras -began to appear announcing the removal of the menace to the world. The -frightened crowds changed to happy, cheering ones. If Teddy's identity -had been suspected as he passed swiftly through the streets, he would -never have gotten through. He would have been dragged from the motor -car to be cheered and recheered. As it was, he made his way quickly to -Evelyn's home. - -He sprang up the steps and burst open the door, not waiting for the -servant to open it. As he rushed into the hall, Evelyn came into it -through an open door. She saw him, and her face was suffused with joy. - -"You're safe!" she cried joyfully, and burst into happy tears. - -Teddy took her quite naturally into his arms and held her there a -moment. She sobbed quietly on his shoulder for a second, clinging -to him, then pushed him away and stared at him while a hot flush -overspread her face. - -"Oh!" she exclaimed in a rush of shame. "I--I----" She turned and ran -away. Teddy caught her. - -"What's the matter?" he demanded. Her cheeks were still crimson. - -"I--I kissed you," she said desperately, "and you--you hadn't said----" - -Teddy laughed happily. "I hadn't said I loved you? Well, if that's all -that's bothering you, just listen." And Teddy said it several times. - -Davis was up and about in less than a week. His wound had been of -little importance, and with a crutch which he took pride in using with -dexterity he was able to move around almost as well as ever. He came -over to tea with Evelyn one afternoon. Teddy was there, too, of course. -Davis was boyishly showing off how well he could move about Teddy -watched him critically. - -"That's all right, Davis," he said in a paternal tone, "but you want to -get rid of that instrument as soon as you can." - -"What for?" demanded Davis, deftly swinging himself into a chair. - -"We're waiting for you to get well," explained Teddy, with a smile at -Evelyn. "It isn't considered good form to have a groomsman who's a -cripple." - -"Groomsman? Who? What? You two?" Davis stared from one to the other. - -Teddy nodded, and Evelyn turned slightly pink. Davis turned to Teddy. - -"They tell me you and I are to be impressively decorated for smashing -Varrhus," he complained, "and there'll be moving pictures taken of it -and shown everywhere. I want to be a touching picture, all wounded up, -you know, when that happens. A girl threw me over about six months ago -and she likes the movies. When she sees me beautifully mangled and -being kissed by bearded people who pin medals on me she'll be sorry. -Mayn't I wear a crutch until then?" - -Teddy laughed, and Evelyn smiled affectionately at Davis. - -"If it's like that, of course," said Evelyn, "we'll wait. But Teddy's -in an awful hurry." - -"I would be, too, in his place," said Davis promptly. He assumed an -expression of extreme reluctance. "Well, I suppose I'll have to get -well." - -Teddy shamelessly squeezed Evelyn's hand, and she as shamelessly -squeezed back. - -"There are compensations for having to wait," said Teddy generously, -"provided, of course, it isn't too long." - -Davis looked at them and his eyes twinkled. - -"Well, then, in that case----" He started for the rear of the house. - -"Where are you going?" - -Davis looked over his shoulder with a grin. - -"You people compensate each other for waiting," he said amiably. "_I'm_ -going to go out in the laboratory and kiss the galvanometer." - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's A Thousand Degrees Below Zero, by Murray Leinster - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THOUSAND DEGREES BELOW ZERO *** - -***** This file should be named 50585-8.txt or 50585-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/5/8/50585/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/50585-8.zip b/old/50585-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1a57072..0000000 --- a/old/50585-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50585-h.zip b/old/50585-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bbc14d3..0000000 --- a/old/50585-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50585-h/50585-h.htm b/old/50585-h/50585-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index bb82640..0000000 --- a/old/50585-h/50585-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3246 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Thousand Degrees Below Zero, by Murray Leinster. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - -.ph2 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph4 { text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: .75em auto; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's A Thousand Degrees Below Zero, by Murray Leinster - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: A Thousand Degrees Below Zero - -Author: Murray Leinster - -Release Date: December 1, 2015 [EBook #50585] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THOUSAND DEGREES BELOW ZERO *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h1>A Thousand Degrees Below Zero</h1> - -<p>By Murray Leinster</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -The Thrill Book, July 15, 1919.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt=""/> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph2">Contents</p> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> - - -<p>From some point far overhead a musical humming became audible. It -was not the rasping roar of an aëroplane motor, but a deep, truly -melodious note that seemed to grow rapidly in volume. The soft-voiced -conversations on the upper deck were hushed. Every one listened to -the strange sound from above. It grew and became clear and distinct. -The source seemed to come nearer. At last the sound came from a spot -directly overhead, then passed over and toward the Narrows.</p> - -<p>A cold breeze beat down suddenly. It was not a cool sea breeze, but -a current of air coming down from directly above the Coney Island -steamer. It was actively, actually cold. A chorus of exclamations -arose, full of the wit of the American a-holidaying.</p> - -<p>"Br-r-r-r! I feel a draft!"</p> - -<p>"Say, Min, are you givin' me the cold shoulder?"</p> - -<p>"Sadie, d'you want to borrow all of my coat or only the sleeve?"</p> - -<p>And one young man caused a ripple of laughter by remarking:</p> - -<p>"Feels like my mother-in-law was around somewhere."</p> - -<p>People hastened to put on such wraps as they had with them. On the -lower decks there arose a sound of tired voices, saying with variations -only in the names called:</p> - -<p>"Johnnie, button up your coat. It's getting cold."</p> - -<p>The cold wave lasted only for a few moments, however. As the steamer -forged ahead the strata of cold air seemed to be left behind, and the -humming sound grew fainter. If the passengers on the boat had listened, -they might have heard a faint splash in the water behind them, but -as it was the sound went unnoticed. The humming died away. The boat -went on and docked, and the passengers dispersed to their homes. Every -one of them woke the next morning to find himself or herself locally -celebrated.</p> - -<p>Half an hour after the Coney Island boat had docked a tramp steamer was -nosing her way out of the Narrows. She was traveling at half speed, -the air was clear, the channel was well buoyed, and there seemed no -possibility of any harm or danger befalling her. The lookout leaned -over the bow negligently, watching and listening to the indignant -interchange of whistle signals between two small tugs in a dispute -over the right of way. He dropped his eyes and stiffened, then turned -toward the pilot house and shouted frantically, but too late. The shout -had hardly left his lips before there was a shock and grinding sound, -mingled with the raucous shriek of rent and tormented iron plates. -The tramp steamer shuddered and stopped, and began to sink a trifle -by the head. At the first intimation of danger the man on the bridge -had ordered the water-tight doors, closed, and now he rang for full -speed astern. The tramp swung free of the unknown obstruction, but the -two bow compartments were flooded and the steamer's stern was lifted -until the propeller thrashed helplessly in a useless mixture of air -and water. Her whistle bellowed an appeal for help. "<i>Want immediate -assistance!</i>"</p> - -<p>Half a dozen tugs, including the two that had been quarreling by -whistle, responded to the stricken steamer's call. Their small sirens -sent cheery messages promising instant aid, and they began to tear -across the water toward her. One tug reached the helpless vessel's -side. A second rushed up and began to pull the unwieldy tramp away -from the unknown obstacle. The lights of a third could be seen very -near, when there was a crash and a frantic bellow from the tug. It also -had struck the obstruction against which the tramp had run. The tramp -bellowed anew.</p> - -<p>A destroyer shot down the river with a searchlight unshipped, her crew -standing by to rescue any persons who could be reached by lifeboats. -She swung up and saw the tramp being hauled and pulled at by busy, -puffing tugs. The long pencil of light danced over the surface of the -water to find the derelict or wreck that had caused the trouble. Back -and forth it swept, and then stopped with a jerk as if the operator -could not believe his eyes.</p> - -<p>Floating soggily in the water of New York harbor, in late August—the -hottest time of the year—a wide cake of ice lay glistening under the -searchlight rays! The harbor waves ran up to the edge of the ice cake -and stopped. Beyond their stopping point the surface was still and -glassy. The cake floated heavily in the water and showed no sign of -cracks or fissures. It was evidently of considerable thickness.</p> - -<p>A second searchlight reënforced the first. The two white beams moved -back and forth, incredulously examining the expanse of ice. It was -hundreds of yards across. At last one of the beams passed something -at the center of the cake and hastily returned to the thing it had -seen. Rising calmly and quietly from what seemed to be a small crater -at the center of the ice cake, a plume of steam floated placidly into -the air. It was a huge plume, precisely like the flowing of a white -ostrich feather, rising from a small orifice in the center of the mass -of frozen sea water.</p> - -<p>A wail from the siren of the tug that had run against the ice cake -caused the searchlights to turn in its direction. The engine had ceased -to run and a cloud of escaping steam was pouring from the tug's funnel. -Men on the deck gesticulated frantically. The destroyer ran as close -as the commander dared, and he shouted through a mega-phone. It was -impossible to distinguish words in the confused shouts that came back -from half a dozen throats at once, but the searchlights soon showed the -cause of the excitement. The men on the tug pointed over the side. The -small harbor waves rolled unconcernedly up to a point some twenty feet -from the stern of the tug, but there they stopped abruptly. The tug had -become inclosed in the ice floe. As those on the destroyer watched, -the twenty feet became thirty and the thirty forty. The ice cake was -increasing in size with amazing rapidity.</p> - -<p>A boat put off from the destroyer, and the commander shouted to the -crew of the tug to take to the ice. There was a moment's hesitation, -and then they jumped over the side and ran to the edge of the floe. -The lifeboat touched the edge and was instantly frozen fast, but -the sailors managed to break it free again by herculean efforts. It -went back to the destroyer, whose wireless almost instantly began to -crackle. Two other destroyers dashed down from the Brooklyn Navy Yard -and turned their searchlights on the strange visitor in the harbor. -The semaphore of the first destroyer on the scene began to flash, and -the three lean naval craft began to circle around the huge ice cake, -warning away all other craft and constantly measuring and re-measuring -the size of the mass of ice. One of the destroyers at last slipped -outside the Narrows and stayed there, patrolling back and forth to keep -other vessels from running foul of the strange and as yet inexplicable -phenomenon.</p> - -<p>By daybreak the Battery was a black mass of people. They looked eagerly -toward the Narrows, but could see nothing but a wall of mist, from -which the gray shape of a destroyer now and then emerged. High in the -air, however, the plume of steam was visible. It was now more than a -thousand feet high and was dense and white. The first rays of the sun -had gilded the top, while the ground below was still dim and dark, -but now it rose in calm and quietness to an unprecedented height, -mystifying the people who looked at it and causing a sudden silence -to fall upon them all. A warm, moist sea breeze had blown in from the -ocean during the night and had been changed to fog as it passed over -the expanse of ice, so that the ice itself was hidden from view, but -the tall plume of steam told of some mysterious menace to humanity that -the crowd assembled at the Battery feared without understanding.</p> - -<p>As the mass of people watched the supremely calm column of steam rising -high in the air of that August morning, newsboys began to circulate -among them, their strident cries sounding strangely among the silent -multitude. The Narrows were frozen solidly from shore to shore, and all -entrance to and egress from New York harbor was blocked. Small craft -could go out behind Staten Island through the Kill van Kull, and some -vessels could use the other channel which goes from the East River into -the Sound, but the great Ambrose Channel—-one-third the size of the -Panama Canal—and the broad opening that made New York the greatest -port on the Atlantic coast was closed. The growth of the ice cake had -greatly lessened, so that it could be predicted that it would not -expand far beyond its present size, but its origin and the means by -which it resisted the disintegrating effect of the August warmth were -utterly unknown. The cause of the plume of steam from the center of the -ice cake was an unfathomable mystery.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, from the empty sky, there came a deep, musical humming. -Instinctively people looked up. The humming grew louder and more -distinct, while curious eyes swept the sky.</p> - -<p>Then a black speck appeared below one of the fleecy white clouds and -dropped toward the earth. A thousand feet, two thousand feet it fell, -then checked and hung steadily in the air. Those who looked with the -naked eye could only discern that it seemed like a wingless black -splinter suspended above the earth, but those who had glasses saw the -whir of dark disks above a black, stream-lined body. A small cabin -was placed amidships, and a misshapen globe hung from chains below. -It was still for several minutes. The passenger or passengers seemed -to be inspecting the earth below, and particularly the ice cake, with -deliberation and care. Then it began to rise with the same deliberation -and certainty, swung around, and sped off with incredible speed toward -the northeast. The humming sound grew fainter and died away, but the -crowd standing on the Battery began to murmur with a nameless sense of -fear.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> - - -<p>New York was frightened, and the newspapers as they appeared did not -allay that fear. The conservative <i>Tribunal</i> ran a scare head: HAS -THE GLACIAL AGE COME AGAIN? and printed underneath a résumé of the -phenomena up to the time of going to press—which did not include the -appearance of the black flyer—with an interview from a prominent -scientist. An enterprising reporter had routed the worthy gentleman out -of bed and rushed him to the scene of the expanding ice cake in a fast -motor boat, taking down in shorthand his comments on the matter. The -scientist had been much puzzled, but spoke at length nevertheless. He -said in part:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Has the glacial age come again? I do not know. I can only say that we -have no certain knowledge of the original cause of the glacial period -and we cannot say definitely that it did not begin in precisely this -fashion. We have volcanos which radiate incredible quantities of heat -to the country surrounding them. No phenomenon like this has occurred -before, but it may be that some unknown cause may bring to the surface -a condition the antithesis of a volcano, which, instead of radiating -heat, will bring on local glacierlike conditions. One might go farther -and suggest that the earth may alternate between periods of volcanic -activity, during which it is warm and conditions are favorable for -habitation and growth, and periods of this new antivolcanic activity -during which frigidity is normal, and mankind may be forced to take -refuge in the tropic zones. Still, I cannot say definitely.</p></blockquote> - -<p>The eminent scientist went on for two full columns, during which he -refused to say anything definite, but suggested so many alarming -possibilities that every one who read the <i>Tribunal</i> was thrown into -a state of mind not far from panic. He offered no explanation of the -plume of steam.</p> - -<p>When the appearance of the black flyer became known in the newspaper -offices, city editors threw up their hands. The less conservative -printed the wildest explanations. They put forth a virulent-organism -theory, which, it must be admitted, was no farther from the truth -than most of the others. The story began with an interview with the -boatswain in charge of the boat crew from the destroyer:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>We were ordered to take the men off the ice and to take especial care -not to be nipped ourselves. We rowed carefully toward the edge of the -ice cake, with the light of the searchlights to guide us. We would see -where the floe began, when the waves dropped back from it. I've been -in Northern seas, but I never saw anything like that. The edge of the -ice wasn't smooth and worn away by the waves. It was rough with frost -crystals that reached out like fingers grabbing at the things near -by. When we came close to the edge some of the men in my boat were -scared, and I don't blame them. I'd dipped my hand overboard and the -water was warm—and twenty feet away there was that mass of ice! We -backed up to the ice cake and took off the men. I was looking over the -side of the life boat, and saw those long crystals forming and growing -while I watched. They were huge, from two feet long for the largest to -three or four inches for the smallest. They reached out and reached -out terribly. The stern of the boat was touching the ice, and I saw -them reaching for the hull like the tentacles of an octopus. They -fastened on and began to grow thicker. We took oars and smashed them, -feeling frightened as one is frightened in a nightmare. As fast as -we broke them they formed again, and the men on the ice seemed to be -rotten slow getting into the boat, though I don't doubt but they were -hurrying all they knew how. When they were all aboard we had to work -like mad to get clear.</p></blockquote> - -<p>The paper went on to expound its own idea of what had happened:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The sinister growth of the ice crystals is significant There has -always been notice of and comment upon the striking similarity -between the growth of crystals and the growth of plants. Until now -all scientific text-books have said that crystals could only grow -in a supersaturate solution of their own substance, and claimed -that they were not organic growths—in the sense of growths caused -by an intelligence within the crystal. Is it not possible that the -scientists have been wrong? Is it not possible that crystals are -growths in the same way that plants are growths? Granting that, what -is to keep a scientist from isolating and cultivating the crystal -embryo? We have done that with germs, and with the life germs in -eggs and plants. We can even use a process of parthenogenesis and -create monsters from the unfertilized eggs of frogs and sea urchins. -Why could not this scientist experiment until the life germ of the -ice crystal could be developed and enlarged? Why could not this -development continue until the germ could not only create its crystals -under the most favorable conditions of temperature, but <i>at the normal -temperature of water</i>? At the Harvard laboratories water has been, -kept liquid far below its normal freezing-point, and under tremendous -pressure has been found to remain ice at a temperature of one hundred -degrees Fahrenheit! Can we doubt that this appearance of ice at this -extraordinary season is due to the malicious activities of a foreign -government, envious of our magnificent merchant marine and commerce?</p></blockquote> - -<p>The explanation was ingenious, but though the scientific facts quoted -were quite correct the inference was hardly justifiable. Water can -and does reach a temperature several degrees below 32° Fahrenheit -without solidifying—as may be proved by putting a glass of water in -a cold room in winter—but the slightest jar causes the instantaneous -formation of ice crystals, and in a little while the whole mass is -solid. The fact of "hot" ice must also be admitted, but it requires -a pressure of rather more than fifty tons to the square inch, and is -rarely attempted.</p> - -<p>This paper also was forced to admit as inexplicable the plume of steam -which rose from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet into the air. In -any event, the claim that a certain unfriendly foreign government -was trying to ruin the commerce of the United States was effectively -squashed by cablegrams from Gibraltar, Folkestone, and Yokohama. Three -great icebergs had formed in the Straits of Gibraltar and extended -until they joined, when a solid mass of ice made a bridge that once -more rejoined the continents of Africa and Europe, from Ceuta to the -Rock. The plumes of steam were visible here, too. Three mighty columns -of white mist rose at equal distances across the gap.</p> - -<p>Folkestone harbor was a mass of ice. A great transatlantic liner -had been caught in the expanding berg, and the huge hull had been -crushed like so much cardboard. The passengers and crew had escaped -across the ice. The great steam plume made a wonderful sight for miles -around. Yokohama was similarly visited. Three battleships of the -Japanese fleet were frozen in and their hulls cracked and broken. The -plume of steam—nearly two thousand feet high—had aroused the latent -superstition of the Japanese and was being exorcised in every Shinto -temple in the kingdom.</p> - -<p>The panic which was engendered by the mysteries of the icebergs and -the unknown motives of the men so obviously responsible for their -appearance grew in intensity. New York was in a blue funk. The police -felt the tremor that means that at any moment the crowds thronging the -streets might break and from sheer panic become uncontrollable. Every -patrolman wore a worried frown and worked like mad to keep the crowds -moving, moving always. The strain was becoming greater, however, and -troops were being hastily moved into the city when an announcement was -made by the British foreign office:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>It has been decided to make public a communication received at the -foreign office bearing on the blocking of Folkestone harbor, the -Straits of Gibraltar, Yokohama, and New York. The communication is -dated from "The Dictatorial Residence," and reads as follows:</p> - -<p>"<span class="smcap">To the Premier of Great Britain</span>: You are informed that the -blocking of Folkestone harbor, as well as that of the Straits of -Gibraltar, New York, and Yokohama, is evidence of my intention and -power to assume control of the governments of the world as dictator. -Present administrations and systems of government will continue in -power under my direction and subject to my commands. The machinery of -the League of Nations is to be used to enforce my decrees. You will -readily understand that the same means I used to block the harbors -and straits now frozen over can be extended indefinitely. Rivers can -be made to cease to flow, lakes to irrigate, and all commerce and -agriculture forced to suspend its activity. This will be done, if it -is made necessary by the refusal of the governments of the world to -accede to my demands. Given under my hand at the dictatorial residence,</p> - -<p class="ph4">"(Signed) <span class="smcap">Wladislaw Varrhus.</span>"</p> - -<p>The foreign office offers this communication to allay the fears of the -public that a new glacial period may be imminent, but at the same time -it wishes to assure the British people that the demands of the writer -are not taken seriously. It is evident that the maker of such absurd -demands is insane, and though he may be able to cause perhaps serious -inconvenience to commerce, a means of nullifying his invention will -be forthcoming in a short while. British scientists are studying the -Folkestone phenomena and are confident of a prompt solution of the -problem.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Though it might have been expected that such an announcement as that -of the intention of an unknown and probably insane man to make himself -ruler of the world would have caused even greater panic, the reverse -was actually the case. The motive behind the creation of the icebergs -was made so clear that the world settled back with a sort of sporting -interest to see what would happen. It had not long to wait.</p> - -<p>A hint came by some underground channel that Professor Hawkins -had offered a suggestion to the American government that had been -accepted as a basis for experiment. A reporter went post-haste to the -professor's home. He was admitted, but the professor would not see him -at the moment. The reporter sat down patiently to wait. A motor car -drove up to the house and a man in soldier's uniform stepped out. The -reporter gave a whistle. A second car discharged a quietly dressed man -in civilian clothes attended by two other army officers. The reporter -stared. He recognized the men. Most people on two continents would -have recognized them. They passed through the house to the professor's -laboratory at the rear. A long time passed. The reporter fidgeted -nervously. Some conference of colossal importance was taking place -back there in the laboratory.</p> - -<p>It was an hour later that the visitors left. With them went a young man -the reporter had not seen before. The professor came slowly into the -room and smiled apologetically.</p> - -<p>"I am very sorry to have kept you waiting, but it was necessary. I -think that in about two hours I will have some news for you. In the -meantime there is nothing more to say."</p> - -<p>"Can you tell me what really happened? How did this Varrhus make the -berg?"</p> - -<p>"It's the simplest thing in the world," said the professor with a -smile. "I've managed to duplicate it on a small scale back in my -laboratory. Suppose you come back there and I'll show you."</p> - -<p>A girl appeared in the doorway with a worried frown on her face.</p> - -<p>"Father, has Teddy gone?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. We'll hear in about two hours." The professor turned to the -reporter with instinctive courtesy. "This is my daughter, Evelyn."</p> - -<p>The girl shook hands.</p> - -<p>"You want to know about the iceberg, too? Teddy has gone to break it up -now."</p> - -<p>"To try to break it up," corrected the professor with a smile. "'Teddy' -is my assistant."</p> - -<p>"But how?" insisted the reporter. "You seem to be so confident, and -every one else does nothing but guess."</p> - -<p>"I'll show you quite clearly," the professor said gently, "if you'll -come back to the laboratory."</p> - -<p>They moved toward the rear of the house. A hullabaloo of whistles broke -out in the harbor. The girl turned toward the professor.</p> - -<p>"Teddy already?"</p> - -<p>The professor frowned.</p> - -<p>"He hasn't had time." He went to a window and looked out, inspecting -the sky keenly. A slender black splinter hung suspended in the air. -The professor flung open the window, and a musical humming filled the -room. As they watched a smoking object detached itself from the black -flyer and fell downward.</p> - -<p>"That must be Varrhus," said the professor.</p> - -<p>A winged flyer with the insignia of the American aviation corps painted -on the under surface of its wings darted into their field of vision. -Black smoke trailed behind it as it shot toward the sinister black -craft. There was an instant's pause, and then little puffs of white -mist appeared before the propeller of the aëroplane.</p> - -<p>"He's firing his machine gun!" said the reporter excitedly.</p> - -<p>As he spoke the black flyer dropped like a stone, and the American -plane shot above it. Almost instantly the black flyer checked in -mid-air and rose vertically with amazing speed. The American plane -drove on for a second, and then wavered. It began to climb, stalled, -and dropped toward the earth in a series of side slips and maple-leaf -turns. It came down erratically, crazily.</p> - -<p>"Killed!" said the professor with compressed lips.</p> - -<p>His daughter uttered a cry:</p> - -<p>"And Varrhus is getting away!"</p> - -<p>The black flyer had become but the merest speck. It had attained an -almost unbelievable height. Now it deliberately swung around and headed -off toward the northeast with its same incredible speed.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> - - -<p>Teddy Gerrod was stuffing his feet into heavy, fur-lined arctic boots. -Ten or twelve soldiers were loading clumsy, awkward-looking engines -on improvised sledges resting on the ice at the foot of the fort -embankments. Others were putting equally ungainly iron globes with -winged metal rods attached to them on other sledges. A dozen befurred -and swathed figures came down the slope of the embankment and examined -the preparations. A naval launch ran smartly alongside the edge of the -ice, and a messenger came over at the double to the commandant of the -fort, who stood by Teddy Gerrod. The messenger saluted.</p> - -<p>"Sir, the object dropped from the black flyer was a tin float having a -message attached. The smoke was from a smoke fuse, lighted to attract -attention."</p> - -<p>He handed over the letter, saluted again, and retired. The commandant -tore open the letter and read it through, then swore frankly.</p> - -<p>"A threat to freeze the Croton reservoir and cut off New York City's -water supply if an answer to his previous demands is not given within -forty-eight hours! And he can do it! Mr. Gerrod, you've simply got to -settle this business. New York would go crazy if the people knew this. -There'd be no way to supply the water the city has to have. And seven -million people without water——"</p> - -<p>Teddy smiled grimly.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to try. Professor Hawkins is usually right, and we ought to -be able to do something about this berg."</p> - -<p>A second messenger came up and saluted.</p> - -<p>"Sir, Lieutenant Davis reports that the plane has been recovered and -Lieutenant Curtiss' body examined. There are no bullet marks, and the -body seemed to be frozen solidly. He cannot say, as yet, what caused -Lieutenant Curtiss' death."</p> - -<p>"Frozen," said Teddy laconically.</p> - -<p>"In mid-air?" asked the commandant sharply. "And in a fraction of a -second, wearing heavy aviator's clothing?"</p> - -<p>Teddy nodded, and buttoned up the huge fur coat in which he was -enveloped.</p> - -<p>"I'm ready to start off now, if the sledges are."</p> - -<p>The little party moved away from the shore. The heavy mist still hung -over the expanse of ice, but near the shore the ice was thinner. The -sledges were roped together, and Teddy walked at the head. The party -tugged at the ropes on the sledges, puffing out clouds of frosty breath -at every exhalation. Teddy had taken the compass bearings of the steam -plume, and after he had gone a hundred yards from the shore the wisdom -of his course became apparent. They were completely surrounded by a -thick fog in which objects five yards off were lost to view. Teddy, -leading the small column, could not be seen except as a dim and shadowy -figure by the men hardly more than two paces in his rear. He referred -constantly to his compass, and once or twice glanced at the thermometer -he had strapped on the sleeve of his great coat.</p> - -<p>"Forty degrees," he murmured to himself. "And in New York it's -eighty-four in the shade. The ice must be colder still because it's dry -and hard."</p> - -<p>The party toiled on. Presently small snow crystals crunched underfoot.</p> - -<p>"Frozen mist," said Teddy, and glanced at his thermometer. "H'm! -Twenty-two degrees. Ten below freezing."</p> - -<p>The party stopped for a breathing spell.</p> - -<p>"I hope you men smoke," said Teddy, "because it's going to be cold a -few hundred yards farther on. We'll come clear of this mist presently. -If you smoke, and inhale, it'll probably warm up your lungs a little. -You don't need it yet, though. Any of you who haven't pulled down the -flaps of your helmets had better do so now."</p> - -<p>A moment or so later they took up their march again. The sledges, -with their heavy loads, were cumbersome things to drag over the -uneven surface of the ice. The men panted and gasped as they threw -their weight on the ropes. Teddy felt the air growing colder still, -and presently noticed that the mist no longer seemed to be as thick -as before. He glanced down at the front of his heavy fur coat. It -was covered with tiny white crystals. He held up his hand with the -thick mitten on it to form a dark background, and saw numberless -infinitesimal snowflakes drifting slowly toward the ice under his feet. -His thermometer showed two degrees above zero—and New York, six miles -away, was sweltering in August heat!</p> - -<p>"Not much farther," he called cheerfully. "We're almost there."</p> - -<p>They panted and tugged on, a hundred and fifty yards more. Then they -stopped and stared.</p> - -<p>Three hundred yards away the great column of steam was issuing from the -ice. A hollow hillock of snow and ice rose to a height of twenty feet, -like the miniature crater of a volcano. From it, in an unbroken stream, -the mass of steam emerged with a roaring, rushing sound. It rose five -hundred feet before it broke into the plumelike formation that was so -characteristic. There was a space, perhaps six hundred paces across, -in which there was no mist. The cold was too intense to allow of the -formation of fog. Water vapor condensed instantly in that frigid -atmosphere. But around the clearing the mist rose from the surface of -the ice. It became noticeable when it was merely waist-high, then rose -to the height of a man, and climbed to a height of fifty feet in a -circular wall all about the strange white open space. Teddy, looking at -the top of the wall of vapor, saw that it undulated gently, as if waves -were flowing back and forth around the tall column of steam.</p> - -<p>The men began to unload their sledges. The awkward little trench -mortars were set in place and careful measurements made of the -distance to the steam plume. While the men labored, Teddy moved forward -toward the central cone. Five degrees below zero, fifteen degrees below -zero, thirty degrees below zero——His breath cut sharply when it went -into his lungs. Teddy put his mittened hand over his nose and face to -partially warm the air before he breathed it in. Now, even through the -heavy, arctic clothing he wore, he felt the bitter cold. He detached -the thermometer from his sleeve and clumsily tied it to a cord. He -had hoped to be able to lower it down the rim of the crater, but that -was impossible. He flung it toward the hillock of snow and ice, let -it remain there an instant, then hastily drew it back to read it. The -ether in the thermometer had frozen into a solid mass in the bulb of -the instrument.</p> - -<p>Teddy went back to where the men had made ready. Four of the wicked -little guns would fling their three-hundred-pound bombs into the center -of the column of steam. If all went well, at least one charge of T.N.T. -would explode far down the orifice.</p> - -<p>The propelling charges had been inserted, and now the slender rods were -put into the muzzles of the short, squat weapons. The winged bombs were -balanced on the muzzles like top-heavy oranges on as many sticks. At -half-second intervals, the four guns went off one after the other.</p> - -<p>Before the last had exploded, or just as the flame leaped from its -muzzle, the hillock of ice rose as in an eruption. Four cracking -detonations blended into one colossal roar that half stunned the little -fur-clad party. The rush of air threw them from their feet. When -they rose again a huge hole showed in the center of the clearing, a -gaping chasm that went down deep into the heart of the ice. A cloud of -yellowish smoke floated above them. And the column of steam had ceased! -Only a few stray wisps of white vapor floated up from the opening.</p> - -<p>"It's done!"</p> - -<p>Teddy gave orders for a quick return to the fort. The mortars could be -returned for. At the moment the important thing was to send the news to -England and Japan.</p> - -<p>The return trip was made quickly, and Teddy made hurried explanations -to the commandant of the forts of what should be done. Men should -bore deep holes twenty feet apart, the holes to be along the edges of -clearly defined sections of the ice. Simultaneous blasts should be set -off, and the sections would float free. The iceberg would not grow -again. It was done for.</p> - -<p>Cablegrams were prepared and rushed through to Folkestone, Yokohama, -and Gibraltar. If men took trench mortars and fired shells that would -fall down the holes from which the steam issued, the cause of the ice -cakes would be destroyed and the ice itself could be blasted off and -towed out to sea to melt.</p> - -<p>Teddy rushed back to the professor's home to report to him the full -verification of his theories, and it was there and then that the first -authentic explanation of the ice floe was given to the world. Word of -his effort and of the disappearance of the steam plume had preceded -him, and as he sped uptown in the taxicab newsboys were already on -the streets with their extras. Only the front pages—showing signs of -having hastily been hacked to pieces to make room for the story—had -anything about the latest development, and those extras are singularly -perfect reflections of the public attitude at that time.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> - - -<p>Teddy threw himself out of the machine and rushed up the steps. Evelyn -opened the door before he could ring, and his beaming face told her -the news he had to give even without his enthusiastic, "It worked!"</p> - -<p>"The steam plume has stopped?" asked the professor anxiously.</p> - -<p>"Absolutely," said Teddy cheerfully. "Not a sign of steam except from -two or three puddles of hot water that were cooling off when we left to -get back to the fort. The commandant was setting his men to work with -the navy-yard men when I started here."</p> - -<p>"Tell me about this, won't you?" said the reporter briskly. "I'll catch -the devil from the city editor for missing out on that part of it, but -if you'll give me the full story——"</p> - -<p>"What's your paper?"</p> - -<p>The reporter told him.</p> - -<p>"That's all right," said Teddy easily. "They were calling extras of -that paper as I came uptown. The professor has told you the theory of -the thing?"</p> - -<p>"No," said Evelyn. "He was starting to, but the black flyer appeared -and shot down the other aëroplane, and father was so much upset that he -couldn't go into details. Was the pilot of the aëroplane killed?"</p> - -<p>Teddy nodded.</p> - -<p>"Frozen, poor chap. He never knew what struck him."</p> - -<p>"What did happen?" asked the reporter again. "You people seem to take -this so much as a matter of course, and no one else can do anything but -guess."</p> - -<p>"The professor knows more about low temperatures than any other man -in the world," explained Teddy. "It's only natural that he should be -fairly certain of his facts."</p> - -<p>He smiled at the professor as the old man made a deprecating gesture.</p> - -<p>"Father is much upset," said Evelyn. "I think it would be best if Teddy -explained. Will that be all right?"</p> - -<p>"Only, in your account of the matter," said Teddy decidedly, "the -professor must be given credit for the whole thing. It's his work, and -he's entitled to it."</p> - -<p>"No, no," protested the professor. "Teddy did a great deal."</p> - -<p>Evelyn pressed his arm, and he obediently was quiet. The two young -people smiled at him.</p> - -<p>"You see how I am ruled," said the professor in mock tragedy. "My -daughter——"</p> - -<p>"Is going to see that you rest a while," said Evelyn, with a twinkle -in her eyes. "Teddy, you go and explain the whole thing while I take -father out and discipline him."</p> - -<p>With a laugh, she led the old man away. Teddy smiled.</p> - -<p>"We aren't accustomed to reporters," he said, "or I suspect we'd act -differently. Miss Hawkins is a most capable physicist, and helps her -father immensely. The three of us work together so much that——Well, -come along to the laboratory."</p> - -<p>The two went to the rear of the house. On the way they passed through -a long room full of glass cabinets in which odd bits of metal work -glittered brightly.</p> - -<p>"The professor's hobby," said Teddy, with a nod toward the cases. -"Antique jewelry and ancient metal work. He's probably better informed -on low temperatures than any one else I know of, but I really believe -he's as much of an authority on that, too. This is Phœnician, and -that's early Greek. These are Egyptian in this case. This way."</p> - -<p>He opened a small door and they were in the laboratory.</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid I'll have to lecture a bit," said Teddy. "Here's how the -professor used to work out what was taking place out in the harbor."</p> - -<p>He showed an intricate combination of silvered globes, tubes, and half -a dozen thermometers.</p> - -<p>"You see," Teddy began, "the water in the harbor was at a certain -temperature. At this time of the year it would be around 52° -Fahrenheit. The professor knew that fact, and then the fact that a huge -mass of it was turned into ice. When you turn water into ice you have -to take a lot of heat out of it, and that heat has to go somewhere. -When water freezes normally in winter that heat goes into the air, -which is cold. In this case the air was considerably warmer than the -ice, and was as a matter of fact, undoubtedly radiating heat into the -ice, instead of taking it away. The heat that would have to be taken -from say ten pounds of water at 52° to make it freeze, if put into -another smaller quantity of water would turn the smaller quantity of -water into steam. You see?"</p> - -<p>"The steam plume!" exclaimed the reporter.</p> - -<p>"Of course," said Teddy. "We measure heat by calories usually. That's -the amount of heat required to raise a pound of water one degree -Fahrenheit. Suppose you have a mass of water. To make it freeze you -have to take twenty thousand calories of heat out of it. Suppose you -take that heat out. You've got to do something with it. Suppose you put -it into another smaller mass of water. It will make that second mass of -water hot, so hot that it will turn into steam at a high temperature."</p> - -<p>"Then Varrhus," said the reporter thoughtfully, "was taking the heat -from a big bunch of water and putting it into a small bunch, and the -small bunch went up in steam. Is that right?"</p> - -<p>"Precisely." Teddy turned to a file on which hung a number of sheets -of paper covered with figures. "Here are the professor's calculations. -We could only figure approximately, but we knew the size and depth -of the ice cake, very nearly the temperature of the water that had -been frozen, and naturally it was not hard to estimate the number of -calories that had had to be taken out of the harbor water to make -the ice cake. To check up, we figured out how much water that number -of calories would turn into steam. The professor appealed to the -government scientists who had watched the cake from the first. He found -that from the size of the plume and the other means of checking its -volume, he had come within ten per cent of calculating the amount of -water that had actually poured out in the shape of steam."</p> - -<p>"But—but that's amazing!" said the reporter.</p> - -<p>"It was good work," Teddy said in some satisfaction. "Then we knew -what Varrhus had done, and it remained to find out how he'd done it. -Nothing like that had ever happened before. He couldn't very well -have an engine working there in the water. The professor took to his -mathematics again. Assume that I have a stove here that will make it -just so warm at a distance of five feet. I'm leaving warm air out of -consideration now and only thinking of radiated heat. If I put my -thermometer ten feet away how much heat will I get?"</p> - -<p>"Half as much?" asked the reporter.</p> - -<p>"One-quarter as much," said Teddy. "Or three times away I'll get -one-ninth as much, or four times away I'll get one-sixteenth as much. -You see? If I want to make the ends of an iron bar hot, and I can only -heat the middle, the middle has to be red-hot or white-hot to make the -ends even warm. If I have to make the middle of a bar red-hot to have -the ends warm, you see in order to make the ends cold the middle would -have to be very cold indeed."</p> - -<p>"Y-yes, I understand."</p> - -<p>"Well, the professor worked on that principle. He knew the temperature -of the edges, and he knew the size of the ice cake. It was easy to -figure what the temperature must be in the middle. It worked out to -within two degrees of absolute zero!"</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>"There isn't any limit to high temperatures. You can go up two thousand -degrees, three thousand, four, or five. Some things almost certainly -produce a temperature of as much as eight thousand degrees. But high -temperatures are produced by putting more heat in—by stuffing the -thing with calories. I make an iron bar red-hot by putting calories in. -I make it cold by taking calories out."</p> - -<p>"Well?"</p> - -<p>"If you keep that up you reach the point where there aren't any more -calories left to take out. When you get to that point you have a -temperature of 425° Centigrade, or one thousand and seventy-eight -degrees Fahrenheit below zero. That's absolute zero."</p> - -<p>Teddy spoke quite casually, but the reporter blinked.</p> - -<p>"Rather chilly, then."</p> - -<p>"Rather," Teddy agreed. "But our calculations told us that Varrhus had -reached and was using a temperature within two degrees of that in the -center of his ice cake. And right next to that temperature he had a -very high one, as evidenced by the plume of steam."</p> - -<p>"I can't see how you got anywhere," said the reporter hopelessly. "I'm -all mixed up."</p> - -<p>"It's very simple," said Teddy cheerfully. "On one side of a wall the -man had what amounted to a thousand and some odd degrees below zero. On -the other he had probably as much above zero. Evelyn—Miss Hawkins, you -know—made the suggestion that solved the problem. She showed us this."</p> - -<p>Teddy picked up what seemed to be a square bit of opaque glass.</p> - -<p>"Smoked glass?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, and no." Teddy smiled. "You can't see through it, can you?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Come around to this side and look."</p> - -<p>The reporter made an exclamation of astonishment.</p> - -<p>"It's clear glass!"</p> - -<p>"It's a piece of glass on which a thin film of platinum has been -deposited. It lets light through in one direction, but not in the -other. Evelyn suggested that Varrhus had something which did the same -thing with heat. It would let heat through in one direction, but not in -the other. Of course if it would take all the heat from the air on one -side and wouldn't let any come back from the other——"</p> - -<p>"It would be cold?"</p> - -<p>"On one side. The glass looks black because it lets the light go -through and lets none come back. The surface, we have assumed, would be -almost infinitely cold because it would let heat go through and would -let none come back. We decided that Varrhus had made a hollow bomb of -some shape or other, composed of this hypothetical material. Heat from -the outside would be radiated into the interior because the surface -absorbed heat like this glass absorbs light. It would act as a surface -at more than a thousand below zero. Because something had to be done -with the heat that would come in, Varrhus made the bomb hollow and left -two openings in it. The inside of the bomb is intensely hot from the -heat that has been taken out of the surrounding water. The hole at the -bottom radiates a beam of heat straight downward which melts a very -small quantity of ice and lets the water flow into the bomb, where it -is turned into steam. Naturally, it flows out of the other hole at the -top. There you have the whole thing."</p> - -<p>"And you stopped it——"</p> - -<p>"By dropping a T. N. T. bomb down the steam shaft. It went off and blew -the cold bomb to bits. The iceberg will break up and melt now."</p> - -<p>The reporter stood up.</p> - -<p>"I'd like to thank you for this, but it's too big," he said -feverishly. "Man, just wait till I wave this before the city editor's -eyes!" He rushed out of the house.</p> - -<p>The newspapers that afternoon had frantic headlines announcing the -destruction of the steam plume and the fact that noticeable signs -of melting had begun to show themselves on the ice cake. Smaller -captions told of the dynamiting that had begun and of the destruction -of the Yokohama and Folkestone bergs by soldiers acting on cabled -instructions. The Straits of Gibraltar were cleared by salvos fired -from the heavy guns on the Rock at the three great plumes of steam. -The world congratulated itself on the speedy nullification of the -menace to its democratic governments. It did not neglect, however, -to rush detachments of men with trench mortars and hand bombs to its -reservoirs, prepared to destroy any possible cold bombs on their first -appearance. The aviation forces, too, made themselves ready to fight -the black flyer on its next appearance, despite the mysterious means by -which it had killed the American pilot.</p> - -<p>This state of affairs lasted for possibly a week, when, within three -hours of each other, the papers found two occasions to issue extras. -The first extra announced the death by heart failure of Professor -Hawkins, who had been found by his daughter, dead in his laboratory, -holding in his hands an antique silver bracelet he had just opened at -the clasp. The second, three hours later, announced the formation of an -ice cake in the Narrows which grew in size even more rapidly than the -original one, and was entirely unattended by the steam plume which gave -Teddy Gerrod an opportunity to destroy the first. Within three hours -the Narrows were closed, and the ice floe was creeping up toward New -York.</p> - -<p>In rapid succession came the news that Norfolk harbor was frozen -over and Hampton Roads closed, that Charleston was blocked, then -Jacksonville. The next morning delayed cablegrams declared that the -Panama Canal was a mass of ice, and almost simultaneously the Straits -of Gibraltar were again admitted to be firmly locked.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> - - -<p>Teddy put his hand comfortingly on Evelyn's shoulder.</p> - -<p>"There isn't anything I can say, Evelyn," he said awkwardly, "except -that I couldn't have loved him more if he'd been my own father, and it -hurts me terribly to have him go like this."</p> - -<p>Evelyn looked up.</p> - -<p>"Teddy," she said bravely, trying to hold back her sobs, "I've been -fearing this for a long time, but—I can't believe it wasn't caused by -that fearful Varrhus."</p> - -<p>"The professor did work very hard over that problem," admitted Teddy.</p> - -<p>"I don't mean that the work he did caused his heart to fail. I mean I -think Varrhus killed father." Evelyn's eyes were dark and troubled as -she looked at Teddy Gerrod.</p> - -<p>"But, Evelyn, why do you think such a thing? You knew his heart was -weak."</p> - -<p>Tears came again into Evelyn's eyes, but she forced them back -determinedly.</p> - -<p>"Will you go upstairs and look at his fingers—inside? I was—crossing -his hands—on his breast. Please look."</p> - -<p>Teddy went soberly up the stairs to where the professor lay quietly on -the bed he was occupying for the last time. Teddy turned back the sheet -that covered the figure and looked at the gentle old face. A lump came -in his throat, and he hastily turned his eyes away. He lifted the sheet -until the professor's thin hands came into view. He looked, at the -fingers, then lifted one of the white hands and examined the inside. -Small but deep burns disfigured the finger tips. When Teddy went -down-stairs his face was white and set, and a great anger burned in him.</p> - -<p>"You are right, Evelyn," he said grimly. "Where is the bracelet he was -holding when he was found?"</p> - -<p>"On the acids table. He was lying beside it when—when I saw him." -Evelyn was grief-stricken, but she forced herself to be calm. "Do you -think you know what happened?"</p> - -<p>"I'm not sure."</p> - -<p>Teddy went quietly into the laboratory and found the massive silver -bracelet lying where Evelyn had said. He looked at it carefully before -he touched it, and when he lifted it it was in a pair of wooden tongs.</p> - -<p>"That thermo-couple, Evelyn, please. And start the small generator, -won't you?"</p> - -<p>The two worked on the bracelet for half an hour, then stopped and -stared at each other, their suspicions confirmed.</p> - -<p>"Varrhus," said Teddy slowly. "Varrhus caused your father's death. This -earth has gotten too small for both Varrhus and me to live on."</p> - -<p>"He knew father could wreck his plans," Evelyn said in a hard voice, -"and he wished to rule the world. So he killed my father."</p> - -<p>Teddy's lips were compressed.</p> - -<p>"Before God," he burst out, "before God, I'm going to kill Varrhus!"</p> - -<p>The bell rang, and in a moment the commandant of the forts was ushered -in.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Gerrod, Miss Hawkins," he nodded to them, and then said: "They -tell me Professor Hawkins is dead. The Narrows are frozen over again. -Hampton Roads is frozen over. Charleston is frozen over. The Panama -Canal is frozen over! There's no steam plume to blow up. Washington -is worried. They're calling me to clear out the channel. The navy -department is going crazy. If it were a case of fighting men I'd know -something, but I can't fight a chemical combination. What's to be done, -since the professor is dead? Who on earth can fill his place?"</p> - -<p>He looked from one to the other, already beginning to show the strain -under which he was laboring.</p> - -<p>"Professor Hawkins," said Teddy quietly, "was murdered by Varrhus some -four hours ago."</p> - -<p>"Murdered! Varrhus has been here!"</p> - -<p>"No, Varrhus has not been here, but we may be able to trace him. I'll -get the police. Then we'll talk about ice floes. We know Varrhus' -method now. We'll soon be able to anticipate him."</p> - -<p>"But in the meantime," the commandant snapped angrily, "he'll play the -devil with the world."</p> - -<p>"We'll play the devil with him when he is caught," said Teddy evenly. -"I've no intention of letting Varrhus get away. Just now there's a -possibility of catching him in the ordinary way. He mailed a present to -the professor, an antique bracelet. Ancient jewelry was the professor's -hobby. He examined the bracelet and died.</p> - -<p>"I heard he was dead," said the commandant restlessly. "The paper said -heart failure."</p> - -<p>"So did the doctor." Teddy took down the receiver of the telephone. -"Give me police emergency, please."</p> - -<p>In a few moments he hung up again. The statement that Professor Hawkins -had been murdered and that there was a chance of catching Varrhus -was all he needed to say. Hardly five minutes had passed before the -commissioner of police himself was in the room with two of his keenest -men.</p> - -<p>"You'll have to explain what happened," he said at once to Teddy. "When -news of the professor's death came I phoned at once to the doctor -mentioned in the paper and asked if there were any possibility of foul -play. To tell the truth, I'd been rather afraid something like this -might happen. What was it?"</p> - -<p>"Varrhus electrocuted the professor by an antique bracelet."</p> - -<p>He handed over the ornament. The commissioner examined it gingerly.</p> - -<p>"Nothing funny about this except the workmanship."</p> - -<p>"And the surface," said Teddy. His set calm was surprising himself. "It -looks as if it had been lacquered. That's Varrhus' secret."</p> - -<p>"What is it? A powerful battery?"</p> - -<p>Teddy turned to the materials with which he and Evelyn had been working.</p> - -<p>"I'll show you. Here's an instrument that measures the resistance of -a given coil. This is one of the professor's evaporation machines -for producing low temperatures quickly. He evaporates ether in this -sheath that surrounds this oven and objects in the oven are cooled far -below freezing point. Look at this coil of silver wire. We measure -the resistance at room temperature. One hundred and twenty ohms. It -is very fine wire. We put it in the cooling oven and set the engines -going——" For some minutes there was silence while the small electric -pump thumped and rattled. "Now we'll take the coil out. The thermometer -inside the oven says twelve below zero." Teddy handled the small coil -of silver wire with thick gloves. "We'll measure the resistance again. -Fourteen and a half ohms resistance, approximately. Low temperatures -decrease resistance and increase the conductivity of metals. You see?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, but why——"</p> - -<p>"The inside of that bracelet is nine hundred degrees below zero. The -whole thing is coated with Varrhus' lacquer, which, in this case, -radiates all the heat from the inside out, leaving it incredibly cold -within. That cold makes the silver conduct electricity better."</p> - -<p>"Well?"</p> - -<p>"At eight hundred degrees below zero Fahrenheit silver has no -measurable resistance to the passage of an electric current. Now watch."</p> - -<p>Teddy laid the bracelet on top of a frame wound with many turns of -glistening copper wire. He threw on a switch, and a small generator at -one side of the laboratory began to run with a humming purr.</p> - -<p>"Eddy currents are whirling all around that bracelet. A strong current -is running in an endless circle in that closed circuit of silver, -nine hundred degrees below zero. Silver at that temperature offers no -resistance to an electric current. Closed circuits have been left at -that degree of cold for over four hours, and at the end of that time -the electric current was still flowing round and round like a squirrel -in a cage."</p> - -<p>Teddy picked up the bracelet with a pair of wooden tongs. He took a -second pair in his other hand. Rubber handles insulated the tongs from -their handles.</p> - -<p>"There's a current flowing around the inside of this bracelet. There -was one flowing around it when the professor received it in the mail. -He opened it with his bare hands, suspecting nothing. I open it with -these insulated tongs. Watch."</p> - -<p>He jerked on the two tongs. The bracelet parted at the catch, and a -dazzling, blinding flash of light appeared with a sharp crackle at the -parting.</p> - -<p>"I made the current jump the gap. The professor took it through his -body and it killed him. Are you satisfied?"</p> - -<p>"God!" said the commissioner of police, aghast.</p> - -<p>"The box and wrapper," said one of the men who had come with the -commissioner. "Let us have the box and wrapper the bracelet came in and -we'll get the man that mailed it. But we'll handle him with tongs, -too, when we close in on him."</p> - -<p>They took what they wanted and left. Teddy turned to the commandant.</p> - -<p>"Now, sir, we'll see what can be done about the new berg. You say -there's no plume of steam. Have you had an aëroplane fly above it to -make sure?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. The pilot says the whole ice cake is covered with mist, except -for a round spot in the middle, but there's no sign of a steam plume."</p> - -<p>Teddy nodded at Evelyn.</p> - -<p>"No holes in this cold bomb. I wonder what happens to all the heat that -comes in?"</p> - -<p>"Father mentioned that he expected something of the sort, but didn't -say what he thought could be done about it."</p> - -<p>"The same as we did with the other, I suppose," said Teddy -reflectively. "Only this time we'll have to blast down to the bomb and -then break it up."</p> - -<p>"I'll set men to work if you'll find the bomb," said the commandant.</p> - -<p>"Almost any one could find it," Teddy remarked, "but there are going to -be some queer difficulties when you get near the cold bomb. If you'll -allow me, I'd like to be at hand when it is broken up. I may really be -of use there."</p> - -<p>He began to pick out instruments he thought he might need. Among other -things he took what seemed to be two silvered globes with small necks. -They were Dewey bulbs. Several low-temperature thermometers and a -thermocouple connected with a delicate galvanometer completed his -preparations.</p> - -<p>The two men left the house and started for the launch that would take -them to the forts. On the way Teddy was asking crisp questions about -the explosives he could have placed at his disposal, quite ignorant of -what was happening at that moment in Jacksonville.</p> - -<p>The river there was a mass of ice from one shore to the other. All -the little reedy islands and the swampy shores were frozen solidly. To -see the slender palm trees rising from icy shores, their reflections -visible on the narrow strip of mist-free ice that ran along the shores -of the river was an anomaly. To see fur-clad tourists stepping out -of the tropical foliage to step gingerly out on the ice "just to -say they'd done it" was even more strange. At the moment, however, -interest centered on a little group of soldiers out in the central -clearing in the cloud of mist. They were bundled in furs and swathed in -numberless garments until they looked like fat penguins or some strange -arctic animals. A major of engineers was waving them to the right and -left, forward and back until they stood at equal distance around the -clearing. Each man moved backward until the mist that rose gradually -from the ice reached his waist. Then, at a whistle signal from the -major, they began to move forward toward a common center. The major -had reasoned that the cold bomb must be precisely underneath the exact -center of the clearing, and this was a rough-and-ready means of finding -that center. They advanced toward each other, and as they went nearer -the center of the clearing the cold grew more intense. Infinitesimal -ice crystals glittered in little clouds where the moisture of their -breath froze instantly in the terrific cold. At a second whistle from -the major they halted. They formed a fairly even circle about forty -yards across. Each man began to stamp and fling his arms about to keep -from freezing in that more than frigid atmosphere. No man could have -stood that cold, no matter how hardy he might be, for more than a very -few moments. The major trotted around the circle, marking the place -where each man stood. Four small sledge loads of explosives stood out -in the clearing. The major intended to blast down toward the cold bomb -with them.</p> - -<p>The major was marking the position of the last man, completing his -circle under which the cold bomb must lie, when a peculiar tremor was -felt by every man there. It was not like the shiver of an earthquake -or the reverberation of an explosion. It was an infinitely shrill -vibration that a moment later was followed by a creaking sound that -seemed to come from the center of the ice cake. The men on the ice -stopped their stamping and swinging of arms to listen in instinctive -apprehension.</p> - -<p>The center of the circle around which they stood seemed to rise in the -air. The ice on which they stood was shivered into tiny fragments. A -colossal and implacable roar filled the air, and a great sheet of flame -of the unearthly tint of a vaporized metal rose to the heavens. The -swathed and bundled soldiers were annihilated by the blast. A great -hole five hundred feet across gaped in the center of the ice cake. -Jacksonville shook from the concussion, and the plate-glass windows of -its stores and office buildings splintered into a myriad tiny bits that -sprinkled all its streets with sharp-edged, jagged pieces.</p> - -<p>Teddy Gerrod, all unconscious of the fate of those who had attempted to -meddle with the Jacksonville ice cake, went on out to bare and blast -open the cold bomb that blocked New York harbor.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> - - -<p>Teddy Gerrod straightened up and beat his hands together.</p> - -<p>"Forty-seven below," he said to the soldier behind him. "Put a marker -here."</p> - -<p>He moved off to the right. Already a dozen little flags showed where -the temperature reached that degree. Teddy was drawing what he would -have termed an isothermal line—a line where the temperature was the -same. He was making a circle about a large part of the open clearing -on the ice floe. Other flags led back into the mist, marking a path, -and from time to time a party of four or five fur-clad soldiers arrived -from the fort, dragging a loaded sledge behind them. They emptied the -load from the sled, turned, and vanished into the mist again. A small -pile of drills, explosives, and two of the squat trench mortars had -already been made.</p> - -<p>When the circle of little red flags had been completed, two -signal-corps men set up their instruments and accurately located the -center. Directly under that spot, if Teddy's reasoning was correct, -the new cold bomb was resting. The sledge from the fort arrived again, -bearing a curious trench catapult for flinging bombs. Four long strips -of black cloth were unrolled, under direction of the signal-corps men, -pointing accurately to the center of the circle. No one had been able -to approach nearer, thus far, than thirty yards from the center. At -that distance Teddy's thermocouple indicated a temperature of more -than seventy-two degrees below zero, and flesh exposed to the air was -frostbitten on the instant. What the temperature of the air might be -directly above the cold bomb could only be conjectured.</p> - -<p>One of the infantry men from the fort, the best grenade man in the -garrison, now picked up a Mills grenade, and after carefully picking -out the target with his eye, aided by the strips of black cloth, flung -the small missile. A hole perhaps four feet deep and twice as much -across was blasted in the brittle ice. A second, third, and fourth -grenade followed. At the end of that time the size and depth of the -hole had been doubled.</p> - -<p>The trench catapult was set up. Half a dozen grenades were bundled -together and flung into the now much enlarged opening in the surface -of the ice. There was no explosion. One automatically braced oneself -for the report, and the utter silence that succeeded the disappearance -of the grenades came as a peculiar shock.</p> - -<p>"Too cold," remarked Teddy to the young lieutenant in charge.</p> - -<p>The lieutenant nodded stiffly.</p> - -<p>"We'll try again."</p> - -<p>A second batch of grenades was flung into the hole, and the same quiet -resulted.</p> - -<p>"I would suggest——" Teddy begin.</p> - -<p>"We'll fire a trench-mortar bomb," said the young lieutenant.</p> - -<p>The heavy winged projectile flew up into the air, and then descended -squarely into the opening in the ice. Those standing fifty yards away -could hear the crash as it struck, and then a sound as of musical -splintering. The young lieutenant swore.</p> - -<p>"The fuses are no good. Try once more."</p> - -<p>"You can shoot all day and they won't go off," said Teddy mildly. "It's -too cold down there."</p> - -<p>The officer said nothing, but supervised the firing of a second mortar -bomb with precisely the same result. He swore again.</p> - -<p>"It's probably quite as cold as liquid air down there," said Teddy. -"In fact, there's quite possibly a pool of liquified air at the bottom -of the hole. Your bombs fall into that air and are frozen so solidly -before they strike that the metal gets brittle and simply falls to -powder from the shock. You can't do anything going on this way."</p> - -<p>The young lieutenant hesitated, then turned to Teddy somewhat sulkily.</p> - -<p>"What do you suggest, then?"</p> - -<p>"We'd better enlarge the hole first. Blast down the walls of the -present cavity, then use wrapped dynamite until we have a shallow -crater. Then we'll place our explosives by long poles, keeping -them warm by running resistance wires around them and heating them -electrically."</p> - -<p>The young lieutenant considered and agreed. Teddy went back to the fort -to arrange for the heated bombs and the long poles. When he returned -there was only a saucerlike depression in the ice clearing. It was -quite fifty yards across, but no more than twenty deep. Standing near -the edge, one could see the ice near the bottom glistening liquidly. -Air, liquified by the intense cold at the bottom of the crater, wet the -surface of the ice there.</p> - -<p>"And that means the temperature down there is three hundred and -twenty-five degrees or more below zero Fahrenheit," explained Teddy -casually. "Here's where we use our heated explosives."</p> - -<p>For an hour the party worked busily. Storage batteries brought out on -sledges furnished the current that kept the explosives from becoming -inert through cold. Charge after charge was fired, and the bottom of -the crater grew steadily deeper. At the lowest point a little puddle of -liquified air collected.</p> - -<p>"We must be pretty nearly at the cold bomb now," said Teddy -thoughtfully. "There's a mass of liquid air at the bottom of our -crater, and something tells me there's solidified air at the bottom of -that puddle. That means seven hundred-odd degrees below zero."</p> - -<p>He was clad in the warmest garments that could be found, and every one -of the others working in the clearing was quite as warmly clothed, -but the cold was intense. One of the soldiers by the small pile of -explosives was chewing a cud of tobacco. He spat. The brownish liquid -froze in mid-air and bounced merrily away across the ice. The soldier -looked at it with his mouth open, then shut it quickly. A thin film -of ice had formed from the moisture on his teeth. The breast of every -member of the party was covered with sparkling snow crystals from the -congealed moisture of their breath.</p> - -<p>"I begin to doubt if we can keep our stuff from freezing much deeper," -Teddy commented. "We want to go down as deep as we can before we use -our Dewey bulbs, though. I've only two of them."</p> - -<p>The young lieutenant bustled away, and presently returned.</p> - -<p>"The men say that the last bomb won't go off," he said aggrievedly. -"Your heating plan doesn't work."</p> - -<p>"I didn't expect it to work indefinitely," said Teddy mildly. "We want -to clear out that liquid air and shoot our two Dewey globes before it's -had time to reform. Will you please have a charge made ready to be -fired just above the surface of that puddle? That should clear it away. -Immediately after that charge has gone off we'll drop our two T. N. T. -charges in the Dewey bulbs. They ought to show us the cold bomb."</p> - -<p>The dynamite charge was suspended about a foot above the surface of the -watery, bubbling pool. Air was in that pool, air turned to transparent -liquid by the intense cold. At -325° Fahrenheit air becomes a liquid. -Here, exposed to the sunlight and the blue sky, a pool of liquified -gas had collected from the incredible cold of the cold bomb below. The -charge of explosive burst with a shattering roar. The echoes of the -explosion had not died away when the two Dewey bulbs filled with T. N. -T. fell into the bared ice cavity. A Dewey bulb is a combination of -six vacuum bottles placed one outside the other. They are used for the -keeping of liquid gases at a low temperature, but are obviously just -as effective in protecting their contents from exterior cold. They -fell some five yards apart and rolled, then were still. Their fuses -sputtered. They went off together. A huge mass of shattered ice was -thrown aside, and a dark, globular mass was exposed to view. Almost as -soon as it was exposed to the air a crust of frozen air coated it, and -liquified air began to trickle down its misshapen sides. There could be -no doubt but that it was the cold bomb, invented by an insane genius to -make him master of the world.</p> - -<p>Those about the rim of the crater looked at it and turned away. Just as -the intense heat of a blast furnace sears unprotected flesh even yards -from its flame, so the incredible cold of the dark object pinched and -wrung with its freezing rays. Not one man who looked upon the cold bomb -but suffered from a deep frostbite.</p> - -<p>"We can't approach that thing," said Teddy, with his hand over his -eyes. "I'd just as soon, or sooner, try to tinker with burning -thermite. We'll have to shoot armor-piercing shells at it. They'll -freeze when they get near it, but the impact ought to crack the thing."</p> - -<p>He motioned to the fur-clad soldiers to move back from the crater, and -after a hasty consultation with the lieutenant went off toward the fort -to ask for a small-caliber field gun.</p> - -<p>The lieutenant paced back and forth restlessly. He was an ambitious -young man. He did not relish taking orders from a civilian like Teddy. -His eye fell on the heap of equipment that had been brought out from -the fort. Two trench mortars, a trench catapult, a liquid-flame -apparatus—one of the American inventions that had far outdone the -original German <i>flamenwerfers</i>! There had been some thought of trying -to reach a point just above the cold bomb and melting the ice down to -it with liquid flame. That had been quickly proven impracticable, but -the liquid-fire apparatus had not been sent back. The young lieutenant -was not stupid. On the contrary, he was a singularly intelligent man. -In a flash he saw how the liquid flame could have been used much more -efficiently than Teddy's resistance coils about his explosive charges. -The idea simply had not occurred to Teddy, or the young lieutenant, -either. Now, however, he became all eagerness. If he succeeded in -breaking up the cold bomb during Teddy's absence it would be a feather -in his cap. If, in addition, he pointed out a method of dealing with -the cold bombs superior to Teddy's plodding system, it would certainly -mean his promotion and a very desirable reputation for himself in his -profession.</p> - -<p>He gave his orders briskly. The liquid-flame tank was set up, and began -to spray out its stream of fire. The young lieutenant had it trained so -that it passed just above the top of the ungainly cold bomb and grazed -the upper edge. Then the two trench mortars were made ready for firing. -The young lieutenant set them at their proper elevation himself. He -was tremendously excited. He pointed the two mortars with the most -meticulous precision. To aim them properly he had to expose his face -again and again to the direct rays from the cold bomb, but he paid no -attention to the searing, freezing rays.</p> - -<p>The stream of liquid fire shot upward in a perfect parabola, and fell -evenly, exactly, where it was aimed. The young lieutenant knew that a -mortar bomb would be frozen by the intense cold if it were fired at -the cold bomb direct, but his plan got around that difficulty. With -the liquid fire playing just above and grazing the cold bomb, when the -shell from the mortar struck the incredibly cold surface, both the -shell and the cold bomb would be bathed in flame.</p> - -<p>All was ready. The lieutenant fixed his eyes on the cold bomb and gave -the signal. The two small trench mortars spouted flame. Two ungainly -bombs rose high in the air and fell hurtling down toward the strange, -frosted object at the bottom of the crater. One of the bombs would -fall a little to the left. The other—squarely on top!</p> - -<p>The cracking explosion of the bomb from the trench mortar was lost in -the greater roar that followed it. Before the young lieutenant or any -of his men could lift a finger they were enveloped by a colossal sheet -of vaporized metal that seemed to fill the earth, the air, and all the -sky. Of a weird and unearthly tint, the white-hot flame leaped into the -air. It sprang up three thousand feet in hardly more than two seconds. -The blast had the velocity of many rifle balls, and the withering heat -of molten metal. The young lieutenant and his men were swept into -nothingness in the fraction of a second. The crater they had worked -for hours to blast out was as a puny ant hole beside the vast chasm -that opened in the ice down to the red clay far beneath the bed of the -Narrows. And New York shook and trembled from the shock of the terrific -explosion.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> - - -<p>Teddy was thrown down by the concussion, and fell in a heap against -the commandant. He leaped to his feet and rushed to the window, from -which the glass had disappeared. He saw the remnants of the sheet of -flame dying away and saw that the low-lying cloud of mist had been -blown from the surface of the ice. A gaping orifice, five hundred feet -across, showed itself where Teddy and the lieutenant had been working. -Of the lieutenant and his men no trace could be seen. Two or three of -the little red flags that had marked the path through the mist still -remained, however, and a small sledge was lying, overturned, beside the -sledge route. Four tiny black figures lay in twisted attitudes beside -the sledge. As Teddy looked one of them began to struggle feebly.</p> - -<p>Teddy stared, speechless. For a moment he was dazed by the suddenness -and the overwhelming nature of the calamity that had befallen the -young lieutenant and his detachment. Only accident had saved him from -a similar fate. Then his professional instinct re-asserted itself, and -he began to piece together what he knew of the bomb. In a moment the -solution came to him.</p> - -<p>"Varrhus planned this," he said unsteadily. "He filled up his hollow -cold bombs with solid iron. The heat that would come in would first -melt and then vaporize the interior until the pressure inside was more -than the still-solid crust could stand. And all that vaporized iron -would burst out. What a fiend that man must be!"</p> - -<p>An hour later, baffled and discouraged, he was sitting in the -laboratory with his head in his hands, trying desperately to grapple -with this new problem. The new cold bombs apparently could not be -assailed without destruction of those who attacked them. It was -impossible to imagine that volunteers could be found to sacrifice -their lives to destroy each new bomb as it was placed. The horror of -being annihilated by a blast of metallic vapor would deter men who -would not hesitate to face death in a less terrible form. And Varrhus -was evidently able to place them again nearly as fast as they were -blown up. Telegrams announcing the explosion of the Jacksonville and -Charleston ice floes lay before Teddy, supplemented by a cablegram from -Panama saying that the Miraflores Locks had been destroyed by the blast -when the Panama cold bomb had burst. Teddy was nearly certain that the -next morning would find the exploded bombs replaced. Varrhus' black -flyer was evidently capable of carrying a great weight at an immense -speed. It also seemed able to reach an almost incredible height, from -the fact that the second cold bomb had been dropped in the Narrows in -broad daylight without the flyer having been sighted.</p> - -<p>Evelyn turned from the instruments with which she had been working. She -had scraped off a small bit of the lacquerlike surface of the silver -bracelet, and had been analyzing it in the hope of finding what element -or combination had been used to produce the mystifying heat-inductive -effect.</p> - -<p>"Teddy," she said depressedly, "I can't find a thing. The lacquer -effect seems to be simply the appearance of some way he has treated -the metal. The surface gives just the same analysis as the filings from -the inside of the metal. I took a spectro photo and it gives silver -lines with a trace of lead. Analysis by arsenic reduction gives the -same result."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps those detectives will be able to trace Varrhus by the mailing -box they took," said Teddy, without much hope. "It's not very likely, -though. We've <i>got</i> to think of something!"</p> - -<p>Silence fell in the laboratory again, broken only by the faint -whistling sound of the flame Evelyn had used in her analytical work.</p> - -<p>"The trouble is," said Teddy grimly, "that we've been <i>trailing</i> -Varrhus, instead of anticipating him. If we could know where he was -going to be——"</p> - -<p>"He'll have to show up sooner or later," Evelyn commented. "We know, -for instance, that he'll have to replace that bomb in the Narrows or -let the harbor stay open. The use of these new explosive bombs means -that he has to expose himself more than he'd have to with the old ones."</p> - -<p>"There ought to be an aërial patrol above the city——"</p> - -<p>Teddy stood up sluggishly, discouragement in every line of his figure. -A servant tapped on the door of the laboratory.</p> - -<p>"Lieutenant Davis, of the military flying corps, sir."</p> - -<p>"Show him in," said Teddy listlessly.</p> - -<p>A slim young officer came in. His friendly, boyish face was full of a -whimsical humor.</p> - -<p>"This is rather an intrusion, I'm afraid," he said half apologetically, -"but I thought you might be able to help me out."</p> - -<p>"I've done nothing so far," said Teddy in a rather discouraged tone. -"Miss Hawkins and I were just canvassing the situation. You're talking -about the iceberg and Varrhus, aren't you?"</p> - -<p>"Of course. No one talks about anything else nowadays. My taxi had -a tough time getting through the crowds on the streets. They don't -understand about the explosion in the Narrows yet."</p> - -<p>Teddy introduced him to Evelyn.</p> - -<p>"Pleasure, I'm sure," said Davis with a smile. Then his face sobered. -"That was rotten hard luck about your father, Miss Hawkins. I'm not -good at making speeches, but I hope you realize that every one is -sympathizing with you and in a measure sharing your sorrow."</p> - -<p>Evelyn shook hands.</p> - -<p>"I will allow myself to grieve when Varrhus has been disposed of," she -said quietly. "Until then I dare not let myself think."</p> - -<p>Davis released her hand and turned to Teddy.</p> - -<p>"Varrhus—or the chap in the black flyer, anyway—killed my best -friend, Curtiss. He was driving the little Nieuport that attacked -Varrhus the day you blew up the first bomb. I was the first man to -reach the spot where Curtiss had crashed, and I swore I'd get Varrhus -for that."</p> - -<p>"I remember," said Teddy. "Frozen."</p> - -<p>Davis nodded, his face grave.</p> - -<p>"I have what is probably the fastest little machine in the United -States, at the fort. A two-seater, with twin Liberty Motors that shoot -her up to a hundred and fifty miles an hour without any trouble at -all. I think I can get Varrhus with it. I came to you to learn what you -think about Varrhus' weapons. It's only the part of wisdom to learn all -you can about your opponent, you know."</p> - -<p>Teddy found the young man impressing him very favorably.</p> - -<p>"I haven't given the matter much thought," he confessed, "but you -remember Varrhus' tactics?"</p> - -<p>"He dropped like a tumbler pigeon," said Davis, "and Curtiss overshot -him. There wasn't a sign of firing except from Curtiss. He simply -overran the place where Varrhus had been three or four seconds before -and then dropped. He was frozen stiff when I found him."</p> - -<p>"I think," said Teddy carefully, "that Varrhus had shot up a jet of -some liquified gas, probably hydrogen. It hung suspended in the air for -a moment, and in that moment the biplane ran into it. A drop of liquid -hydrogen placed in the palm of your hand would freeze your arm solidly -up well past the elbow. It's something over five hundred degrees below -zero. Your friend ran into what amounted to a shower of it."</p> - -<p>Davis considered:</p> - -<p>"Cheerful thing to fight against, isn't it?" he asked, with a smile. -"Tactics, mustn't run above the black flyer and mustn't run below it. -He can probably shoot it straight down, too."</p> - -<p>"And almost certainly from the sides," said Teddy. "The man must have -been working on this thing for years, and even if he's insane he'd be a -fool not to make his weapon as efficient as possible."</p> - -<p>Davis' expression became rueful.</p> - -<p>"And so I'm supposed to keep my distance," he remarked, "and take pot -shots at him while dancing merrily around in mid-air. Can't we do -anything about that stuff to nullify it?"</p> - -<p>"Burn it," suggested Evelyn. "Liquid hydrogen burns just as readily as -the same gas at normal temperatures."</p> - -<p>The three of them were silent for a moment.</p> - -<p>"Would rockets set it afire?" asked Davis presently. "I could keep a -stream of fire balls shooting out before my machine."</p> - -<p>"They ought to." Teddy was losing his discouragement in this new -prospect of coming to grips with Varrhus. "I say, will your machine -burn readily?"</p> - -<p>"Only the gas tank. The wings and struts are fireproof. New process."</p> - -<p>Davis stood up suddenly.</p> - -<p>"Would it bother you to come over and look at my machine? We could -probably figure out the thing better then."</p> - -<p>Teddy rose almost enthusiastically.</p> - -<p>"We'll go over now if you say so."</p> - -<p>The taxicab bearing Teddy and the young aviator down to the fort was -forced to travel slowly amid the throngs of apprehensive people that -overflowed the sidewalks and made the streets almost impassable. The -launch took them swiftly to the fort, and in a few moments they had -arrived at the small aviation field behind the fortifications on -Staten Island. Davis led Teddy directly to the shed that contained the -swift machine of which he was so proud. It was a splendid product of -the aircraft maker's art. Twin Liberty Motors developed nearly eight -hundred horse power between them, and two great shining propellers -pulled the machine through the air with irresistible force.</p> - -<p>"You see," said Davis, with some enthusiasm, "the motors aren't in the -fusilage, so the gunner sits up here in the bow and can fire freely -in any direction. The one-man planes with synchronized machine guns -firing through the propeller aren't in it with these for real fighting. -They're splendid little machines—I drove one in France—but I honestly -believe this is better than they are. This one responds to the -controls every bit as readily, and with a good gunner——"</p> - -<p>"Machine gunner in France myself," said Teddy, touching his breast. -"Would you take a chance on letting me sit up front to-night?"</p> - -<p>"To-night?" asked Davis.</p> - -<p>"I believe Varrhus will appear to drop another cold bomb to-night. It -will probably be dropped inside the harbor so the ice cake will touch -the Battery. That will set the people frantic, and make them beg the -government to enter into a parley with Varrhus. It's paid no official -attention to him so far, you know."</p> - -<p>Davis' expression became keen and rather stern.</p> - -<p>"We've four hours before dark. We'll have to set to work."</p> - -<p>Teddy went over and stepped up the ladder that leaned against the -cockpit.</p> - -<p>"I want to see your gasoline supply," he remarked. In a moment he -came down, looking a trifle dubious. "If I'm right about Varrhus -using liquid hydrogen for a weapon, and we can set it afire, we'll -dive through half a dozen sheets of flame to-night. Something will -have to be done to protect that gas tank from catching fire, and some -protection for the carburetors, too."</p> - -<p>"We'll fix that in a hurry," said Davis briskly. "Oh, Simpson! Come -here!"</p> - -<p>In twenty minutes there were half a dozen mechanicians at work, and -Teddy was carefully inspecting the machine gun at the bow of the -fusilage.</p> - -<p>Teddy telephoned back to Evelyn what he anticipated would occur that -night and his own share in it.</p> - -<p>"Of course there's some risk in it," he finished, "but I guess we'll -come out."</p> - -<p>Evelyn's voice was more anxious than Teddy had expected.</p> - -<p>"Do be careful, Teddy," she said in a worried tone. "Please be very -careful. Varrhus has so many fiendish weapons. I'm terribly afraid."</p> - -<p>Teddy's voice was grim.</p> - -<p>"With the kind assistance of the German government," he remarked, "we -have a few fiendish inventions, too. I'm using explosive bullets only -to-night. Varrhus is outlawed."</p> - -<p>Evelyn spoke almost faintly.</p> - -<p>"But take good care of yourself, please, Teddy," she urged. "It were -better that Varrhus got away this once than that you should be killed -for nothing."</p> - -<p>Teddy smiled. "I've no intention of being killed, Evelyn, but I have -some intention that Varrhus shall be."</p> - -<p>There was a curious sound from the other end of the wire.</p> - -<p>"But—but——" Evelyn's voice died away. "I'm—I'm going to be praying, -Teddy. Good-by."</p> - -<p>The last was very faint. Teddy turned from the instrument and went -out to where the aëroplane had been rolled from its shed. The sun was -sinking and dusk was falling. Time passed and darkness settled down -upon the earth. Stars twinkled into being. A long searchlight poked a -tentative finger of light into the sky.</p> - -<p>"We'd better be going," said Davis thoughtfully. "We want to be well up -before he appears."</p> - -<p>Teddy clambered up to his seat and adjusted the straps that would -hold him in place. He pulled down the helmet and fitted the telephone -receivers securely over his ears. A telephone was necessary for -communication with Davis, four feet behind him, because of the -tremendous roar of the engines. He took the machine-gun butt and found -the trigger, then made sure the first of a belt of cartridges was in -place. He settled back in his seat as the mechanics began to twirl -the propellers. He was going out to fight the black flyer, but most -incongruously he was not thinking of Varrhus at all. His thoughts dwelt -with strange intensity upon Evelyn.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> - - -<p>New York lay below them. The long, straight lines of lights shining up -through the semidarkness of the moonlit night made a strange appearance -to the two in the swift machine. Davis had mounted to a great height, -some ten thousand feet, and the pin points of light outlined more than -a dozen cities and towns. The Hudson was a faintly silvery ribbon -flowing down placidly from a far-distant source. Because of the ice -cake in the Narrows its level had risen two or three feet, but now it -flowed smoothly over that great obstacle, melting and carrying it away -toward the sea.</p> - -<p>The fighting plane roared around in huge circles, seeming strangely -alone in the vast expanse of air. One searchlight from below moved -restlessly about the sky. A second joined it, then a third. One by -one a dozen or more of long, pencil-like beams of light shot up into -the sky and moved here and there in seeming confusion, but actually -according to a carefully prearranged plan. A hooded red light showed -below the biplane in which Teddy and Davis were awaiting some sign of -the black flyer. That had been agreed upon, and none of the searchlight -beams flashed upon the circling machine. From time to time Davis shut -off the motors, and the two of them lifted the ear flaps of their -helmets to listen eagerly for the musical humming that would herald -Varrhus' approach.</p> - -<p>Far to the east they could see where the faintly luminous waters of -the ocean came up to and stopped at the darker masses of the land. The -harbor below them glittered in the moonlight. The only peculiarity in -the scene was the absence of the little harbor craft that ply about -busily by day and night upon their multifarious errands. They were -all securely docked. The wharves, too, were dark and silent. All the -maritime industry of New York was at a standstill.</p> - -<p>A wide spiral to twelve thousand feet. The motors were hushed -during a two-thousand-feet glide, while the two men in the machine -listened intently. For two hours this maneuver had been repeated and -re-repeated. No sound save the rush of the wind through the guy wires -and past the struts had broken the chilly stillness of the heights. -The sky was a blue dome of a myriad winking lights. A pale silver moon -shone down.</p> - -<p>The nose of the machine pointed down and the motors ceased to roar. -Faintly but unmistakably above the whistling and rushing of the wind -about the surfaces of the biplane a deep, musical humming could be -heard. Abruptly the motors burst into life again. The exhausts began to -bellow out their reassuring thunder. The machine began to climb again, -circling to every point of the compass, while Teddy and Davis scanned -the sky keenly for a sign of the black flyer with its cargo of menace -to New York.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to fifteen thousand."</p> - -<p>Davis' voice sounded with metallic clearness in Teddy's ear. The -telephones between the two helmets were working perfectly.</p> - -<p>"That was Varrhus, all right?" said Teddy quietly. "Did you signal to -the people beneath?"</p> - -<p>Davis pushed a button, and a green light glowed beside the red one in -the hood below the machine. In a moment the receipt of this signal by -those below was evidenced. The searchlights took up their task with -renewed vigor, searching the sky frantically for a sign of the black -flying machine. The hood below the biplane allowed the signal to be -seen by those on the ground, but made the light invisible to any one in -the air. The biplane swung in wide circles, Teddy and Davis with every -nerve taut and every sense alert, aflame with eagerness to sight their -quarry. They saw it, outlined for an instant by the white beam of one -of the circling lights.</p> - -<p>It was dropping like a stone from the clouds. The searchlight rays -glistened from polished black sides and were reflected from shimmering -propeller blades above it.</p> - -<p>"Helicopter," said Davis crisply. "Now!"</p> - -<p>The black flyer was a thousand feet below them and still falling. The -nose of the biplane dipped sharply and it dived straight for the still -falling machine. Teddy gripped the machine gun and sighted along the -barrel. Down, down, the biplane darted, all the power of its eight -hundred horse power aiding in the speed of its fall. The glistening -black machine checked in its drop and hung motionless in mid-air. The -pilot was evidently unconscious of the machine swooping down upon him.</p> - -<p>Five hundred feet down, six hundred——Teddy pulled hard on the -trigger, and his machine gun spurted fire. A stream of explosive -projectiles sped toward the menacing black shape. Teddy saw them strike -the shining sides of the machine and explode with little bursts of -flame. The biplane was rushing with incredible speed toward the other -flyer. Teddy played his machine gun upon it as he might have played a -hose, and apparently with as little effect. The tiny explosive shells -struck and flashed futilely. The black flyer seemed to be unharmed. -After a second's hesitation, it dropped again abruptly. The biplane -shot toward the spot the other machine had occupied. The distance was -too short to turn or swerve, quickly as it responded to the controls.</p> - -<p>"Flares," gasped Davis, but before he spoke Teddy was pressing the -small button that would set them off.</p> - -<p>A burst of tiny lights shot out before the biplane, many-colored -balls of fire driven forward from a tube below the fusilage. They -illuminated the air for a short distance, entering the space from which -the black flyer had just dropped. Teddy and Davis saw a small cloud of -what seemed to be mist or fog hanging in the air. The tiny fire balls -darted into it the fraction of a second before the biplane itself had -to traverse the same space. As the first of the lights struck the -fringe of the whitish cloud it flared up. The fire ball had touched a -droplet of liquified gas and set it flaming. It burned fiercely and -with incredible rapidity, setting fire to the remainder of the cloud. -Teddy ducked his head as the aëroplane shot madly through a huge globe -of blazing gas in mid-air.</p> - -<p>"Great God!" gasped Davis. "Now where's Varrhus?"</p> - -<p>The heavy masks the two aviators had worn had protected them from the -flaming hydrogen, and their goggles had saved their eyes. Now Davis was -only eager to make a second attempt upon the black machine. He swerved -and circled. The searchlights below were waving frantically through -the air. The flare aloft had been seen, and they concentrated upon -the space below the spot. In a second the black flyer was once more -outlined by half a dozen beams. Davis banked sharply and darted toward -it again.</p> - -<p>The pilot of the strange machine seemed to be quite confident that he -had disposed of his antagonist, and was apparently busy with something -inside the cabin. He was probably preparing to release his cold bomb, -but was again interrupted. The biplane approached. Teddy saw his -explosive bullets strike and flash. He knew they struck, but they -seemed incapable of doing harm. The black flyer was clearly defined by -the searchlights, and Teddy could see it distinctly. It was a long, -needlelike body with a glass-inclosed cabin near the center. Above it -four whirring disks of comparatively huge size showed the position of -the vertical propellers that enabled it to rise and fall and to hang -suspended motionless in the air. A fifth propeller spun slowly at the -bow. That was evidently not running at full speed. Below the needlelike -body hung a misshapen globe, like the bulging ovipositor of some -strange insect.</p> - -<p>Flash! Flash! The impact of the explosive bullets was marked by -spiteful cracks as they burst. Teddy was aiming for the cabin of the -machine.</p> - -<p>"Got him!" he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>The glass of the cabin windows had splintered into fragments. The -aëroplane shot toward the motionless black flyer.</p> - -<p>"Shall I ram?" asked Davis in a perfectly even voice. He was quite -prepared to sacrifice both his and Teddy's lives to make absolutely -certain of the destruction of the menacing helicopter with its more -than dangerous occupant.</p> - -<p>Teddy, with lips compressed, nodded. He had forgotten that in the -darkness Davis could not see his movement. As the biplane sped forward -the black machine dropped again. Again the whitish cloud was left -behind it, clearly defined in the searchlight rays. Teddy had barely -time to press the flare button before they reached the cloud. The mist -of atomized liquid hydrogen seemed to burst into flame all about them. -The aëroplane roared through hell-fire for a moment. Flame was before -Teddy's aviator's goggles. He was in a veritable inferno. Then the -aëroplane shot free again.</p> - -<p>"Ram him!" panted Teddy. "Smash him! Do anything, only we've got to get -him!"</p> - -<p>They circled swiftly, searching for the black flyer. The searchlights -were following him now, and they saw that he was rising straight up. -He had not yet dropped his cold bomb. Davis put his machine at the -ascent at as steep an angle as he dared. They climbed almost as -rapidly as the helicopter. The black machine made its first aggressive -move now. Davis was climbing in a jerky spiral, rising at an amazing -speed. Teddy was busily fitting a new belt of cartridges into his -machine gun. The pilot of the other machine darted to one side and a -huge cloud of mist sprang into being just below him, darting downward -like some pale-gray snake, unfolding itself in the sky. Davis zoomed -sharply. Another second and he would have run into the whitish cloud. -The biplane recovered and swerved to one side. Twelve thousand feet. -Thirteen thousand feet. Fourteen thousand feet. Three miles in the -air! Then the black flyer began to drop. The biplane dived after him, -Teddy's machine-gun spitting fire and explosive bullets in a furious, -well-directed blast. Once, twice, bursts of the little flashes that -showed his bullets were striking served to reassure Teddy, but the -biplane could not gain on the falling helicopter.</p> - -<p>Down, down——There were half a dozen quick bursts of flame in the -air. Anti-aircraft guns were firing. The black flyer dropped unharmed. -Barely a thousand feet above the waters of the bay, the propeller -at the bow seemed to be put into motion, for the straight descent -changed into a graceful curve. The curve flattened out, and the black -machine ceased to fall. It sped madly for the Narrows, with a bedlam -of bursting shells all about it and the vengeful, spitting two-seater -darting after it like an avenging Nemesis. Again and again spurts of -flame against the body of the glistening helicopter showed that Teddy's -fire was well directed, but the machine shot onward in a furious rush -for the Narrows. Above the Narrows, without pausing, a black object -that turned to white in the searchlight rays fell from the misshapen -globe below the center of the black flyer's body. The thing that fell -seemed to leave a mist of fog behind it as it dropped. Then, its -mission accomplished, the dark machine fled toward the west.</p> - -<p>Teddy and Davis, in the biplane, sped after it at the topmost speed of -which their aëroplane was capable. Teddy was nearly insane with baffled -rage and disappointment. He knew that he had failed. Another cold bomb -had been dropped in the Narrows, and any attempt to destroy it would -only result in the death of those who made the attempt.</p> - -<p>"Faster, faster!" he pleaded to Davis. "If it gets far ahead of us -we'll lose it in the darkness."</p> - -<p>Davis pressed his lips together and used every artifice he knew of to -increase the speed of his machine, but the glistening black body ahead -of them drew steadily farther away. At last it could barely be seen. -Then, as if in derision, a light appeared in the cabin of the black -flyer. It winked oddly. Dot-dash, dot-dash——</p> - -<p>"He's signaling," said Davis.</p> - -<p>Dot-dash, dot-dash——</p> - -<p>"W-a-t-c-h," spelled Davis, "t-h-e -M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i.—V-a-r-r-h-u-s."</p> - -<p>"Watch the Mississippi, Varrhus," repeated Teddy. "He's getting away! -He's getting away!"</p> - -<p>The light ahead of them winked and disappeared. The sky was empty -except for the biplane roaring after a vanished enemy.</p> - -<p>"He's gotten away," half sobbed Davis. "Damn him! He killed Curtiss, -and he's gotten away!"</p> - -<p>Teddy stared into the empty night with something of Davis' -disappointment and despair.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> - - -<p>Next morning the world read at its breakfast table that the Mississippi -River had frozen over just below St. Louis, and that the water was -rising rapidly. The river had frozen solidly up to the surface. The -level rose, and the water started to flow over the top of the ice cake, -only to be turned into ice as it did so. Hour by hour the level rose, -and hour by hour the solid ice barrier rose with the water level. Men -had tried to blast a way through for the rushing waters, but without -effect. As fast as the water tried to flow through the opening made by -a charge of dynamite it froze again and plugged the hole through which -it was attempting to escape.</p> - -<p>Hastily improvised levees were thrown up, but the water outstripped -the efforts of the builders. The lower part of St. Louis was flooded, -and a great part of the population made homeless. Then low-lying lands -beside the river were gradually submerged. In twenty-four hours there -were calls for help all along the upper part of the Mississippi Valley. -The rising water had flooded immense areas of cultivated land, and even -larger areas were threatened. In another day a thousand square miles -of crops were under water, and the loss in live stock was assuming -formidable proportions. The new cold bomb in New York harbor had crept -up to the Battery, as Teddy had foreseen. The Norfolk cold bomb had -exploded, fortunately without loss of life. Gibraltar had witnessed -three almost simultaneous blasts, and was again free of ice, but the -whole world knew that it was at the mercy of Varrhus.</p> - -<p>Davis, Evelyn, and Teddy were discussing the matter dolefully. Davis -had been coming to the laboratory daily in the hopes of hearing that -Teddy had devised some plan for the frustration of Varrhus' ambitious -schemes. Teddy found himself liking Davis immensely, but with a -peculiarly illogical annoyance that Evelyn seemed to like him quite as -well. When he had phoned her of his safety after the fight with Varrhus -he could hear a flood of thankfulness in her voice, but when he saw -her the next day she was almost distant. He saw traces of real anxiety -on her face, but she had not been really natural until they had worked -nearly all day on the silver bracelet, trying to find what had been -done to the surface to give it its peculiar property of allowing heat -to pass in one direction, but not in the other. They were as far as -ever from the solution. Davis was quite ignorant of abstract chemistry -or physics and could not join in their discussions, but Teddy fancied -that he was much more interested in Evelyn than was necessary. He was -annoyed to find that he resented it. He had always looked on Evelyn -as a comrade, and he could not understand this feeling that took -possession of him. It did not occur to him to speculate upon the fact -that he found ideas coming to him much more readily when working by -Evelyn's side, or that he rarely attempted anything without asking -her opinion. Teddy had never thought much of romance, and he did not -suspect how much Evelyn's companionship meant to him.</p> - -<p>Davis was reiterating for the fortieth time his disappointment at -Varrhus' getting away.</p> - -<p>"We almost had him," he said disgustedly. "Our explosive bullets were -playing all over his infernal flying machine. We'd have landed one -in that little glass cabin of his and smashed him nicely in another -minute, when he skipped off like that. And I'll swear to it we were -doing a hundred and eighty miles an hour."</p> - -<p>"He ran away from us pretty easily," said Teddy dismally. "Isn't there -a faster machine than yours we could get hold of?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing but a single-seater, and not so much faster at that," -said Davis. "A hundred and ninety-five is the best even the latest -single-seater combat planes will do at a low altitude."</p> - -<p>"Even for a short burst of speed?" asked Evelyn.</p> - -<p>"Diving, you'll run up faster than that," Davis explained. "When we -went straight down after Varrhus, we must have gone over two hundred, -but for straightaway work we've nothing that will catch Varrhus."</p> - -<p>"What's the official speed record?" asked Evelyn, toying with a test -tube. She looked singularly pretty in the long white apron she wore in -the laboratory.</p> - -<p>"Two hundred and fifteen, I think," said Davis. "Some Spanish aviator -made it. He'd doped his gas with picric acid, though."</p> - -<p>"What does that do?" asked Teddy quickly.</p> - -<p>"It's explosive, and about doubles the force of your explosions. It -eats your engines right up, though. They used to use it in motor-boat -races until a rule was made against it. You see, an engine is ruined -after twenty minutes or so, and it made the racing unfair for people -who couldn't buy a new engine for every race."</p> - -<p>Teddy's face grew thoughtful.</p> - -<p>"Picric acid," he said meditatively. "Suppose we used it in the gas of -your plane. Would we have a chance of catching Varrhus?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Davis said thoughtfully. "I hardly think so. It would -make our speed better, but if it were anything of a chase our motors -would be ruined before we'd gone far."</p> - -<p>"The acid attacks the steel of the cylinders and makes the bore too -large?" Teddy seemed to be thinking rapidly.</p> - -<p>"Yes. You lose all your compression."</p> - -<p>Teddy looked at Evelyn.</p> - -<p>"Suppose the pistons and the interiors of your cylinders were plated -with platinum? Platinum is one of the hardest metals, and should stand -up under a great deal of wear."</p> - -<p>"Would platinum resist the attack of the acid?" Davis grew excited.</p> - -<p>"Surely."</p> - -<p>Davis jumped to his feet.</p> - -<p>"Then we've got him! New piston rings will let you plate the cylinders -without reboring them unless you're going to plate them heavily. Can -you do the plating?"</p> - -<p>"Try," said Teddy.</p> - -<p>"We make a hundred and eighty with straight gasoline," said Davis -excitedly. "With doped gas——How long will it take to fix my motors?"</p> - -<p>"Four or five hours. We'll borrow the acid vats of some electro-plating -concern. Evelyn will mix the solution of platinum salts. I'll go -arrange to borrow the vats while you get your motors disassembled and -brought here on a motor truck."</p> - -<p>Teddy hastily began to put on his coat.</p> - -<p>"You're going to try to fight Varrhus again?" asked Evelyn anxiously.</p> - -<p>"Are we?" asked Davis cheerfully. "Just ask me! We are."</p> - -<p>"You hit him several times in the last fight," said Evelyn faintly, -"and it didn't do any good."</p> - -<p>"We'll use armor-piercing bullets this time," said Davis exuberantly. -"Or we may be able to mount a one-pounder automatic. I think the plane -will stand it. And at worst we can ram him."</p> - -<p>Evelyn turned a trifle pale. "That means you'll both be killed."</p> - -<p>Davis smiled. "Maybe not. We'll take a chance anyway, won't we, Gerrod?"</p> - -<p>Teddy nodded shortly. "I'm going to get Varrhus or he's going to get -me," he said succinctly.</p> - -<p>They started for the front door. The commissioner of police was just -getting out of his car.</p> - -<p>"News, most likely," said Teddy, and they waited.</p> - -<p>The commissioner of police looked worried when he shook hands with -Teddy.</p> - -<p>"My men have been trying to trace that package that contained the -bracelet," he told him, "and have found that it was put in a country -rural-delivery mail box after dark. The mail carrier took it when he -made his morning route. There's absolutely no way of tracing it any -farther. Any one might have passed by in an automobile and have put it -in. The farmer in whose box it was is above suspicion. Now another set -of letters has been sent in the same way from another rural-delivery -box a hundred miles from the first. One is addressed to Miss Hawkins. -I have it here. The postal authorities called me in when they saw the -envelope."</p> - -<p>He showed a huge yellow envelope addressed to Evelyn. In one corner was -a large return card. "<i>The Dictatorial Residence.</i>"</p> - -<p>"It might be almost anything," said Davis. "Better not let Miss Hawkins -open it. I'll do it, Gerrod."</p> - -<p>Teddy shook his head.</p> - -<p>"We'll tell her about it, and I'll open it in the laboratory."</p> - -<p>Evelyn and Davis waited apprehensively until Teddy emerged from that -room.</p> - -<p>"No cold bombs, no electric shocks, and no poison gas," he said, -smiling. "Just a <i>billet doux</i> to Evelyn. It fits in beautifully with -our plans, Davis."</p> - -<p>Evelyn took the sheet he extended to her, and read:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p><span class="smcap">The Dictatorial Residence</span>, August 29th.</p> - -<p>His Excellency Wladislaw Varrhus, dictator of the earth, has been much -annoyed by the efforts of one Theodore Gerrod to obstruct his plans -and desires. He has been informed through the press of the fact that -Miss Evelyn Hawkins has collaborated with and encouraged Theodore -Gerrod in his rash attempts. His excellency the dictator is pleased -to require that Miss Evelyn Hawkins repair to a spot some five miles -due east from Norman's Reef, off the coast of Maine. Miss Hawkins may -bring with her a maid and such baggage as she may require. She is to -be held as security for the cessation of Theodore Gerrod's efforts to -impede the secure establishment of the dictatorship. The Mississippi -River has been closed to traffic, and will remain closed until this -order has been obeyed by Miss Hawkins. The time set for Miss Hawkins' -appearance at that spot is daybreak of Tuesday, September the third. -Given at the dictatorial residence.</p> - -<p class="ph4"><span class="smcap">Wladislaw Varrhus.</span></p></blockquote> - -<p>Evelyn looked at the three men with a white face. The commissioner of -police looked grave. Davis was smiling, and Teddy was smiling, too, but -with a blaze of anger in his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Gerrod," said Davis whimsically, "I am much depressed that Varrhus -didn't include me with you as making efforts to obstruct his plans and -desires."</p> - -<p>"The government will have to be notified," said the commissioner of -police solemnly.</p> - -<p>"Do—do you think I had better go?" asked Evelyn hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>"No!" exploded Teddy and Davis together. Teddy went on: "Why, Evelyn, -the man is insane! And besides we've just thought of something that's -sure to get him. We'll lay in wait for him, and then he'll walk into -our parlor nicely. When he does———"</p> - -<p>"<i>Finis</i>," said Davis cheerfully, "if I may borrow a phrase from the -French."</p> - -<p>"And if it's a long chase," said Teddy even more cheerfully, "the dear -person set the time for dawn, and we'll have light to fight by. Let's -go and set to work on that plane of yours."</p> - -<p>They left together in high spirits. Evelyn stood quite still after -they had gone, absently crushing the letter from Varrhus in her hand. -Presently, with a sob, she went to her room and allowed herself to cry. -They would not let her face danger, but Teddy was going out to fight, -perhaps to die—and for her.</p> - -<p>Over at the hangar, mechanics swarmed upon the fighting plane, -dismounting the motors and disassembling them. The cylinders and -pistons were being carefully packed. A big motor truck had already -backed up at the wide door of the aëroplane shed, and as fast as the -parts were packed they were loaded on it. Davis was here, there, and -everywhere. He had asked permission for the experiment, and it has been -granted. The government was prepared to risk almost anything rather -than allow Varrhus to succeed in his huge blackmailing of the entire -human race. There was no hesitation in allowing anything that might -afford a fighting chance of downing the black flyer. The Mississippi -floods were growing in size and destructiveness. The New York cold -bomb, dropped the night Teddy and Davis had fought the black machine -over the harbor, was expected to explode at any moment. Every window -still intact in the city had been pasted with strips of paper to keep -the fragments from becoming a menace to those on the streets when the -bomb should burst them.</p> - -<p>Davis had conferred with the commandant of the forts, and volunteers -had been asked for among the garrison. A boat was being heavily armed -with concealed guns. It would go to the point where Varrhus would -expect Evelyn to be taken. He would see the small boat, drop down -to take Evelyn on board his evil craft, and the masked batteries of -anti-aircraft guns would open on him in a blast of fire. Teddy's -discovery that flares fired into the cloud of liquified gas would cause -it to burn harmlessly in mid-air had been adapted to protect the crew. -As the guns opened on the hovering black flyer a stream of fire balls -would be made to float overhead to set flaming the stream of liquid -hydrogen Varrhus might be expected to shoot downward. At that, though, -the mission of the boat crew was hazardous in the extreme.</p> - -<p>The telephone rang in the hangar. Teddy was on the wire. He had -commandeered the big wooden acid vats of an electro-plating plant, -and the platinum-plating solution was being mixed even then. If Davis -brought the motors over in parts, the plating might begin immediately.</p> - -<p>The big truck rumbled off, Davis smiling confidently on the seat -beside the chauffeur. Half a dozen mechanics perched on various parts -of the load. When the truck stopped before the electro-plating plant -they leaped off and rushed the glistening cylinders inside. In twenty -minutes they were in the plating solution and an almost infinitely thin -film of platinum was slowly forming within them.</p> - -<p>The workmen of the electro-plating plant labored far into the night -on their task. Teddy had insisted that a film of platinum ten times -the thickness of the usual precious-metal plating be used, and the -process was slow. When the cylinders had been prepared, the pistons -remained, and the exhaust ports and valves. These, too, were coated -with the hard, acid-resisting metal, and Davis' mechanics began their -task of fitting piston rings to the altered motor parts. The rings -themselves had then to be plated, and all the plating burnished and -polished. Teddy and Davis snatched a few hours' sleep while the motor -in its disassembled state was being carried back to the hangar and -re-installed in the aëroplane. They woke, and during all the following -day Davis sat in the pilot's seat, listening with a practiced ear and -aiding in the final tuning up of the changed motors, adjusting the -carburetors to their new fuel. Thirty per cent of picric acid added to -the finest, highest grade gasoline was to be used. No one had dared -use such a percentage before, even for motors that were expected to be -ruined.</p> - -<p>Teddy, in the meantime, was familiarizing himself with the small -one-pounder automatic gun—similar to the German antitank -weapons—that was to be installed in the bow of the aëroplane. By -nightfall all was finished. Teddy ran over to New York and saw Evelyn -for the last time before making his attempt, and the next morning he -and Davis flew to Noman's Reef, where a camouflaged hangar had been -erected on telegraphed instructions from New York. Tuesday dawn found -them alert and anxiously scanning the sky for a sign of the black flyer.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> - - -<p>The stars winked palely from the graying sky. In the east a pallid -whiteness showed which slowly yellowed and then turned to pink. The -dawn was breaking.</p> - -<p>On the little reef men watched keenly. Far out at sea, its single -funnel tipped with red paint from the crimson sunlight, a little boat -tossed and rolled. That boat contained the men who had offered their -lives for a chance to kill this Varrhus, who threatened the liberty of -the world. Beside the camouflaged hangar two great horns, seeming to -be enlarged megaphones, pointed toward the sky. Little wires ran from -their points to telephone receivers strapped on the ears of intently -listening men. They were microphones to detect the first sound of the -musical humming of the black flyer. Teddy and Davis were befurred and -goggled, but had pushed up their goggles to take powerful glasses and -scan the sky eagerly for a sight of their enemy. Mechanics stood ready -at the propellers of the hidden fighting plane, prepared to spin the -motors into roaring life the instant the two aviators had settled in -their seats. From before the wide doors of the concealed hangar a broad -expanse of beach ran smoothly down to the ocean. The little boat tossed -and rolled. The men at the microphones listened intently. The others -searched the sky.</p> - -<p>Straight down from a wisp of golden cloud a slim black speck fell -toward the earth. At first, so high was it, even those with field -glasses could make out only the thin shape of the glistening black -body. It fell a thousand, two thousand feet——The whirring disks above -the slender body became visible, then the inclosed cabin near the -center. The musical humming filled the air. Lower and lower the strange -machine dropped. Davis and Teddy were in their seats.</p> - -<p>"Now!" said Davis sharply, and the propellers whirled. The motors -caught, sputtered, and began to run with a steady, droning roar. -Davis watched keenly as the black shape slowed in its fall and came -to a standstill above the little, tossing boat. Half a dozen men were -holding the aëroplane back, and the small shed was full of clouds of -choking dust and still more choking fumes from the motor.</p> - -<p>The black flyer hung motionless, barely three hundred yards above the -small boat. There was a long moment of waiting. Then the decks of the -boat seemed to fall in. A dozen threatening muzzles were exposed. A -dozen flashes of flame shot up from the tiny vessel. Simultaneously -Davis cried out, the men released his machine, and it darted forward. -He took off from the beach skimmed the waves, and shot out toward the -strange combat that was taking place.</p> - -<p>The black flyer had been hit. That much was certain. It lurched and -staggered in the air, losing altitude all the while. Then the pilot -seemed to regain control. He swung swiftly to one side and began to -rise. All the time the anti-aircraft guns were firing viciously. -The tossing boat made a poor platform for the gunners, however, and -their aim was inevitably poor. The guns kept up a ceaseless roaring. -Puff after puff of white smoke showed where their shells burst near -Varrhus. He began to swerve, to zigzag, using tactics strangely like -those of a dragon fly. Suddenly he darted to a point exactly above -the small boat, and a smoky cloud began to dart down from below his -machine. Varrhus passed on, but the cloud fell swiftly, precisely like -the cloud of liquified gas he had poured down on Teddy and Davis above -New York harbor.</p> - -<p>"Flares!" cried Davis in an agony of apprehension, though his voice was -only audible to Teddy by means of the telephone connection between the -two helmets.</p> - -<p>As he spoke the men on the boat shot up the little fire balls that had -protected the aëroplane in its former fight. A dozen balls of light -sped up to meet the menacing cloud of liquified gas. They reached it, -sped into it, glowing feebly! The white cloud did not ignite, but fell -on toward the boat. It reached and enveloped the little vessel, and -suddenly the guns were still.</p> - -<p>"Damn him!" said Teddy in a voice that shook with rage. "He's not using -hydrogen. We can't close in on him now. Our flares are no good."</p> - -<p>Davis tilted the nose of his machine upward, and Teddy stared down his -sights. He pulled the trigger. The gun kicked backward, but the recoil -cylinders did their work. The tracer shell left a little line of smoke -behind it. It passed below the black body.</p> - -<p>"Too low," said Teddy grimly, and fired again.</p> - -<p>Varrhus began to climb. Straight up his machine went, but with the -picric acid giving added impetus to the explosions in the cylinders the -two-seater climbed as rapidly. Varrhus' ascent swerved. He was directly -over the aëroplane. A whitish cloud appeared below his machine and -blotted it out for an instant.</p> - -<p>"We zoom," said Davis almost gayly, and the fighting plane seemed to -be dancing on its tail for an instant. The cloud of gas unfolded itself -down to the surface of the water, barely twenty yards before the space -in which Davis had checked his course.</p> - -<p>Around and around a huge circle. The biplane had caught up with the -black flyer, and Davis turned toward it for an instant to give Teddy -an opportunity to fire. There was a flash at the stern of the slender -black body, and the symmetry of the glistening form was marred by a -ragged edge where the tip of the tail had been blown off.</p> - -<p>"Almost," said Teddy grimly.</p> - -<p>"He'll dive now."</p> - -<p>Davis was prepared for the maneuver, and almost as soon as the -helicopter began to drop the biplane darted down after it, Teddy firing -viciously. The streaks of smoke that his shells left behind them told -him where he missed. Varrhus shifted the course of his fall, and again -a cloud drifted in the air just before the pursuing plane. Davis flung -the "joy-stick" forward, and the fighter fell into an absolutely -vertical dive. A second more and it had turned upon its back and was -flying upside down, away from the threatening mist.</p> - -<p>Davis twisted in mid-air and righted his machine. Varrhus was darting -away, barely two hundred feet above the surface of the water. Again the -two-seater dived upon him. Teddy's shells were zipping dangerously near -the black machine. It began to zigzag, to twist and turn like a snake. -It doubled back and shot directly under the biplane, but too far below -for the deadly mist to be used. Davis banked at a suicidal angle and -went after it again. They passed directly above the silent small boat, -drifting aimlessly on the waves. Little icicles were forming on the -bulwarks, showing that the cold of the liquified gas was still intense.</p> - -<p>For one instant Teddy had a perfect sight, and pulled the trigger with -the peculiar confidence of a marksman who knows he is making a perfect -shot. There was a flash upon the upper portion of the black hull. A -dark object shot off at a tangent from one of the whirring disks. The -helicopter sank rapidly. Teddy gave a shout.</p> - -<p>"Landed!"</p> - -<p>The black machine recovered again. One of the disks was badly injured -and now slowed and stopped, showing that the blade of one of the -four sustaining propellers had been broken, but the remaining three -increased their speed. Varrhus seemed to abandon the idea of fighting. -He began to shoot away toward the northeast. He was more than a mile -away, and Teddy had stopped firing. Varrhus had had no difficulty in -distancing the same machine a week before, and anticipated no trouble -in losing it, even with his own flyer partially crippled. He had not -reckoned on the picric compound now being used for fuel. The biplane -sped madly after the fleeing black aircraft. The motors roared hugely, -and the wind was like a solid mass, pushing fiercely against Teddy's -exposed head. A small half-moon of glass protected Davis from the wind, -but for the gunner no such protection was practicable. The rushing of -the wind through the wires and along the sides of the stream-line body -amounted to a shriek. Never had such speed been known before.</p> - -<p>Davis' voice came quietly to Teddy above the sounds outside, muted by -the heavy, padded helmet. The telephone receivers were fast against -Teddy's ears.</p> - -<p>"We're making two hundred and twenty-six."</p> - -<p>"We're not gaining," said Teddy grimly.</p> - -<p>"Wait until he rises. The motor's adjusted to be most efficient at -about seven thousand feet."</p> - -<p>The black speck ahead of them was drawing no nearer, it is true, but -it was not dwindling. The silvery wings of the biplane cut through the -air with fierce impatience. It flew in the straightest of straight -lines after the other craft. Dark-brownish smoke blew backward from the -bellowing exhausts, tinged almost to saffron by the presence of the -explosive acid. The sunlight kissed the upper surfaces of the wings of -the pursuing plane. Below them the ocean rolled and tossed.</p> - -<p>Whistling wind and roaring engines. Speed, speed, speed! The biplane -rushed with incredible swiftness through the air. The black flyer -skimmed lightly on, barely in advance of its white-winged enemy. Twice -Teddy essayed a shot, but the biplane trembled so that accuracy was -impossible, and he could see by the smoke of his tracer shell that he -had gone far wide of the black machine. The space between the black -speck and the waves below it seemed to increase.</p> - -<p>"Rising," said Davis. "Now we'll get him."</p> - -<p>Teddy kept his eyes fixed on Varrhus' slender, needlelike craft. He -was barely conscious of the upward tilt of the machine in which he was -riding, but he saw that they were keeping pace with Varrhus as he rose -in the air.</p> - -<p>"Four thousand feet," said Davis crisply. "And two hundred and -twenty-nine miles an hour. There's land ahead."</p> - -<p>Teddy saw a mountainous coast line becoming visible far away. The black -flyer continued to rise.</p> - -<p>"Six thousand feet," said Davis again, "and two hundred and thirty-two -miles——"</p> - -<p>The pilot of the other machine saw that they were gaining. He dropped -abruptly.</p> - -<p>"Now!" exclaimed Davis fiercely.</p> - -<p>He dived downward. The descent, coupled with the immense power of the -engines—now delivering vastly more than the eight hundred horse power -for which they were designed—made them shoot toward the black flyer -with increasing speed. The other machine was barely more than half -a mile away and every detail of its construction was visible. Teddy -noticed for the first time a slender tube rising between the two center -sustaining propellers. He instantly leaped to the conclusion that it -was the means by which the jets of liquified gas had been shot out. He -fired.</p> - -<p>"A hit!" cried Davis.</p> - -<p>There had been a flash from the top of the cabin. A jagged rent -appeared in the polished roofing, and the slender tube vanished. The -black flyer seemed to abandon all hopes of escape. It sped madly for a -gap between two of the tall mountains that rose along the coast line. -At the unprecedented speed with which both machines had been traveling -the coast seemed fairly to rush at them. No villages were visible, -but it seemed to be a habitable, if not an inhabited, land. The black -flyer swept on across country, Varrhus evidently making every effort to -gain even a few yards on his adversaries, and Davis just as fiercely -determined that he should not. Once, twice, three times Teddy fired.</p> - -<p>A smoothed and inclosed field, almost surrounded with small buildings, -appeared. Varrhus dashed toward it desperately, the white-winged -biplane vengefully after him. The black flyer dropped like a stone and -the biplane dived straight for it. In that last dive Teddy worked his -one-pounder as coolly as if at target practice. Flash! Flash! The black -flyer crumpled and fell the last fifty feet as an inert mass.</p> - -<p>Teddy jumped from the biplane as it flattened out and settled to the -ground. With his automatic pistol drawn and ready, he darted toward -the partly wrecked black machine. As he drew near a sallow face came -weakly to a window of the cabin. An automatic flashed from beside the -face and Teddy heard a queer sound and a fall behind him. He did not -stop, but rushed on, shooting viciously at the face in the opening. He -reached the wreck, wrenched open the door, and swung into the cabin -with utter disregard for danger.</p> - -<p>A tall, lean, sallow man was sitting exhausted in the pilot's seat -of the black flyer. His right arm was crimsoned from a wound in his -shoulder, and blood spurted in little frothy jets from a second wound -in his neck. Teddy's fire had been better directed than he knew. As -he entered with pistol ready, the sallow man raised his head erect by -a tremendous effort. A hooked nose, a merciless mouth, and blazing -eyes filled Teddy with repulsion. The sallow man stared at him -superciliously.</p> - -<p>"I am Wladislaw Varrhus, dictator of all the earth," he said in a -metallic voice. "I command—I—command."</p> - -<p>Speech failed him. His head dropped and he fell limply from the -cushioned seat.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> - - -<p>Teddy felt the fallen man's breast, but he was not breathing. In any -event there was nothing that could have been done for him. An artery -had been cut by a splinter of the one-pounder shell that had smashed -the roof, and he had bled quietly to death, only trying desperately to -land and get assistance before he died. The sight of Teddy and Davis -sprinting toward him with drawn pistols had been too much for his -hatred, however, and he had fired his automatic at them even as he was -dying. Teddy found Davis lying on the ground with a bullet in his hip.</p> - -<p>"I'm all right, Gerrod," said Davis cheerfully when Teddy went to him. -"Just see if there are any more chaps in these houses before you bother -with me."</p> - -<p>Teddy explored the place thoroughly. There were many signs of human -occupancy, but no one save Varrhus himself had been there when they -landed. He returned to Davis to find him weakly trying to improvise -a pad to stop the bleeding. Teddy lifted him and carried him to the -house that seemed to be most used. In a little while Davis was quite -comfortable and contented. He lit a cigarette and calmly began to read -one of the newspapers that littered the place, while Teddy continued -his explorations.</p> - -<p>The landing field was a small one, no more than a hundred and fifty -yards long by seventy-five wide. At one end was an unpretentious but -comfortable dwelling, in one of whose rooms Davis was at that moment -resting. At the other end a shed evidently formed the hangar for the -black flyer. Along the sides of the inclosure were long sheds, some of -them empty, some containing supplies of various sorts. Half a dozen -cold bombs, complete except for the mysterious treatment of their -surface that gave them their strange property, lay on the floor of one -of the sheds along the sides. Another shed, long disused, had provided -quarters for workmen. Teddy found the single exit that led from the -inclosure. It opened on the wide hillside and afforded a view of miles -without a sign of human habitation. The remnant of a wheel track that -had obviously not been traveled for months led away from the door. -Along that primitive road the materials for building the inclosure and -the black flyer had evidently been brought. Teddy went back to Davis.</p> - -<p>"Gerrod," said Davis amiably, "I'm a fake. I'd lost quite some blood, -you know, and I was pretty weak, but while you were gone I saw a small -black bottle on a shelf over there, and I managed to crawl over to it. -Wherever we are, prohibition hasn't struck in, and I took just enough -to feel all right again. I believe I can drive back. It wasn't more -than a two-hour drive anyway, was it?'</p> - -<p>"Between two and three," said Teddy, smiling. "We were making terrific -speed, though. We're probably in Newfoundland somewhere."</p> - -<p>"Or Iceland. To tell the truth, I'm quite indifferent. Suppose you help -me out to the machine again."</p> - -<p>"I want to see what I can find in the laboratory first," said Teddy.</p> - -<p>The laboratory was of the smallest. Whatever experiments had been -necessary to perfect the cold bombs and the black flyer had been made -elsewhere. Teddy found a number of notebooks, which he took. He found -many chemicals, some in considerable quantities, in receptacles about -the laboratory, but no clew to the mysterious process that had enabled -Varrhus to threaten the world's security. He left Varrhus where he -lay. Both he and Davis confidently expected to return and investigate -thoroughly both the cold bombs and the black flyer. Davis, especially, -was anxious to examine that strange machine in detail, but his wound -was painful and he wished to have it properly dressed. Besides this, -the whole world was waiting anxiously to learn its fate, whether -Varrhus' ambitious plans were to be frustrated or whether it would have -to put its neck beneath the heel of the mad dictator.</p> - -<p>Teddy lifted Davis in the machine, and after some difficulty they -started off. Davis circled above the small clearing until it was tiny -beneath them.</p> - -<p>"Course is southwest," he remarked to Teddy. "We'll notice where we -land and then a northeast course will bring us back here again or -nearly."</p> - -<p>"Right," said Teddy abstractedly. His mind leaped ahead to the moment -when he would see Evelyn again. He had seen her just before starting -for Noman's Reef and she had seemed pale and anxious. He was not sure, -but he hoped he was right in believing that she was more anxious than -she would have been had she looked on him merely as a friend or comrade.</p> - -<p>The biplane sped over the sea across which it had flown in such -desperate haste that morning. Davis was weak, but for straightaway -flying modern machines need but little attention. The new inherently -stable aëroplanes are so safe that an amateur could pilot one in -midflight. And Davis had taken a small quantity of stimulant to -supplement his strength. At that, however, his endurance was severely -taxed before he flattened out and taxied across the landing field on -Staten Island. Mechanics rushed out to greet him and help him from the -machine.</p> - -<p>"Varrhus is dead and the black flyer is smashed," said Davis -cheerfully, and incontinently fainted.</p> - -<p>Teddy made a hasty report to the commandant of the forts and rushed -to New York. The second cold bomb had exploded that morning and the -city was panic-stricken, but as his taxicab sped uptown the extras -began to appear announcing the removal of the menace to the world. The -frightened crowds changed to happy, cheering ones. If Teddy's identity -had been suspected as he passed swiftly through the streets, he would -never have gotten through. He would have been dragged from the motor -car to be cheered and recheered. As it was, he made his way quickly to -Evelyn's home.</p> - -<p>He sprang up the steps and burst open the door, not waiting for the -servant to open it. As he rushed into the hall, Evelyn came into it -through an open door. She saw him, and her face was suffused with joy.</p> - -<p>"You're safe!" she cried joyfully, and burst into happy tears.</p> - -<p>Teddy took her quite naturally into his arms and held her there a -moment. She sobbed quietly on his shoulder for a second, clinging -to him, then pushed him away and stared at him while a hot flush -overspread her face.</p> - -<p>"Oh!" she exclaimed in a rush of shame. "I—I——" She turned and ran -away. Teddy caught her.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" he demanded. Her cheeks were still crimson.</p> - -<p>"I—I kissed you," she said desperately, "and you—you hadn't said——"</p> - -<p>Teddy laughed happily. "I hadn't said I loved you? Well, if that's all -that's bothering you, just listen." And Teddy said it several times.</p> - -<p>Davis was up and about in less than a week. His wound had been of -little importance, and with a crutch which he took pride in using with -dexterity he was able to move around almost as well as ever. He came -over to tea with Evelyn one afternoon. Teddy was there, too, of course. -Davis was boyishly showing off how well he could move about Teddy -watched him critically.</p> - -<p>"That's all right, Davis," he said in a paternal tone, "but you want to -get rid of that instrument as soon as you can."</p> - -<p>"What for?" demanded Davis, deftly swinging himself into a chair.</p> - -<p>"We're waiting for you to get well," explained Teddy, with a smile at -Evelyn. "It isn't considered good form to have a groomsman who's a -cripple."</p> - -<p>"Groomsman? Who? What? You two?" Davis stared from one to the other.</p> - -<p>Teddy nodded, and Evelyn turned slightly pink. Davis turned to Teddy.</p> - -<p>"They tell me you and I are to be impressively decorated for smashing -Varrhus," he complained, "and there'll be moving pictures taken of it -and shown everywhere. I want to be a touching picture, all wounded up, -you know, when that happens. A girl threw me over about six months ago -and she likes the movies. When she sees me beautifully mangled and -being kissed by bearded people who pin medals on me she'll be sorry. -Mayn't I wear a crutch until then?"</p> - -<p>Teddy laughed, and Evelyn smiled affectionately at Davis.</p> - -<p>"If it's like that, of course," said Evelyn, "we'll wait. But Teddy's -in an awful hurry."</p> - -<p>"I would be, too, in his place," said Davis promptly. He assumed an -expression of extreme reluctance. "Well, I suppose I'll have to get -well."</p> - -<p>Teddy shamelessly squeezed Evelyn's hand, and she as shamelessly -squeezed back.</p> - -<p>"There are compensations for having to wait," said Teddy generously, -"provided, of course, it isn't too long."</p> - -<p>Davis looked at them and his eyes twinkled.</p> - -<p>"Well, then, in that case——" He started for the rear of the house.</p> - -<p>"Where are you going?"</p> - -<p>Davis looked over his shoulder with a grin.</p> - -<p>"You people compensate each other for waiting," he said amiably. "<i>I'm</i> -going to go out in the laboratory and kiss the galvanometer."</p> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's A Thousand Degrees Below Zero, by Murray Leinster - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THOUSAND DEGREES BELOW ZERO *** - -***** This file should be named 50585-h.htm or 50585-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/5/8/50585/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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