When they were but a little way from their destination Ralph became conscious of a faint hissing2 sound close behind them. Twice he glanced over his shoulder, but the roadway at that hour—it was just before noon—was deserted4.
Yet the sibilant sound persisted, seeming to be getting closer and closer, like some persevering5 insect about to alight.
Alice apparently6 heard nothing, or perhaps she thought it merely one of the noises of the street, for she chattered7 on in the gay animated8 fashion that was one of her charms, oblivious9 to the fact that the man at her side was so preoccupied10 that he scarcely replied to her.
For Ralph had now satisfied himself that there was nothing anywhere around them which could cause that[Pg 119] untiring pursuant hiss3. Then from what secret invisible source did it emanate—and why?
To the scientist, accustomed to explaining the unexplainable, it was ominous—menacing—
Again he turned to look behind him, along the deserted way, and at that moment he heard a stifled11 cry from the girl beside him. He whirled to face her, and faced—nothing! He was alone in the empty street!
Unbelieving, doubting the evidence of his eyes, he stared about him, too astounded12 for the moment, by this mystifying and amazing disappearance13 to think collectively.
Above him the sun shone in a clear blue sky, before and behind him stretched the still roadway. Then he was aware of the silence, the deadly quiet. For the hissing had receded14 into nothingness, and with it, Alice.
As the full force of the catastrophe15 struck him, something akin16 to panic seized him. Danger to himself he could have faced with the calm courage of a brave man, but this unseen and unexpected blow from an invisible source aimed at the girl so close and dear to his heart smote17 him with a chill terror that for an instant held him powerless in its grip.
That he should have been careless when she was in danger—but this was no time for self-reproaches. To act, and to act at once—that was vital.
Thoughts of high frequency radio waves—of X-rays—of Fernand—
"Fernand!" he exclaimed aloud, and with the name coherent thought returned. Putting on all possible speed he covered the distance to his home in a few seconds and dashed up to his laboratory, the while his swiftly-working[Pg 120] brain attacked the greatest personal problem that it had ever been called upon to solve.
Having experimented with ultra-short waves, he knew that it was possible to create total transparency of any object if the object could be made to vibrate approximately at the same rate as light. He was familiar with the theory, and although he had worked on it at times, he had never seen a practical demonstration18 of it.[7] He realized a machine was in the hands of someone, intent on kidnapping Alice. He knew, too, that a police description would be flashed within a radius19 of thousands of miles instantly, it would be necessary for the abductor to keep Alice invisible for some time to come, for fear of some one seeing and recognizing her. All this flashed through his mind as he assembled a detecting apparatus20 consisting of a portable aerial and a small box containing a few radio instruments and a pair of headphones.
The aerial, by being rotated, could determine the point from which the waves emanated21. In ten minutes Ralph had the apparatus rigged up and began rotating the aerial, until a roaring noise was heard in the telephones. He knew that this must be the apparatus producing the invisibility, and within a few seconds he had dashed from the house on his power skates, carrying the detector22 in front of him. Two of his assistants accompanied him.
The pursuit was on. As they approached the kidnapper23 the sounds in the telephones became stronger. They sped along Broadway, while the hastily notified police kept the way open. The rising sound in the 'phones clearly indi[Pg 121]cated they were headed directly toward the abductor.
They gained steadily24 on him while the rolling, flying police cleared Ralph's way with their shrieking25 sirens, while the kidnapper had to pick his way slowly through crowds.
The sound that came through the telephones was now exceedingly loud, indicating that the quarry27 was near by. But this very nearness was confusing to Ralph, for the volume of sound prevented him from exactly locating the invisible kidnapper and the girl. In vain he turned the aerial in all directions, seeking one point from which it came louder than another that would determine the course of his pursuit. For the moment he was halted, and, like some hound baffled by the cunning of the fox, he cast about him eagerly, waiting for what he knew must come, the next move of the pursued man.
And then it came—a deepening tone in the telephones, a gradation of sound that to the trained ear of the scientist told him all that he wished to know. With an exultant28 cry he sprang forward, and dashed through the entrance of a small store.
The proprietor29, whose state of mind may best be described by the word "flabbergasted," struggled for some moments in vain for speech while Ralph and his men, with outstretched hands eagerly swept from wall to wall.
"Here, here, you fellows," he finally managed to gasp30, "what are you after? What are you trying to do? You'll knock something over in a minute. Hey, look out there—there it goes!"
For Ralph had reached around a tailor's dummy31,[Pg 122] knocking it over as his hands closed upon something behind it, something invisible and yet warm and firm; something that quivered and shrunk away at his touch.
The proprietor, rushing forward to pick up the dummy, stopped short, gaping32. Ralph's hands, at the moment of contact, vanished into thin air. But in an instant they re-appeared, as he drew towards him, out of the influence of the ultra-short waves what he knew must be the bound and gagged form of Alice.
Once away from the influence of the apparatus she became visible again. A sack had been tied over her head and shoulders and her hands were tightly bound to her sides. She was still on her roller skates, and her feet had been left free, the sack being sufficient to render her almost wholly helpless, and unable to make any effective resistance.
As Ralph removed the fastenings and released her, she staggered and clung to him, her head dropping in exhaustion33.
"Water!" exclaimed Ralph harshly to those about him, and the fat storekeeper, trembling with excitement, but withal displaying an extraordinary energy for one who could never at any time have been a streamline35 model, made a dive for a vase of flowers on the counter. Grasping the tops of the flowers with one hand he flung them in a corner, and tendered the vase of discolored water to Ralph, panting the while as one who has run his race, and emerged triumphant36.
"I said water—not mud," shouted Ralph in exasperation,[Pg 123] as he rubbed the girl's cold hands between his own warm ones.
"Please," said Alice, trying to withdraw her hands, "I'm all right, indeed I am. I was just a little dizzy for a minute, but it has all passed now."
The color returned to her pale cheeks with a rush, and she straightened herself, and turned away in some confusion, her hands instinctively38 going to her hair, the gesture that women have ever used when at a loss for words.
In the meantime, Ralph's two assistants had found the ultra-wave machine by the very simple method of feeling about the spot where the girl had been discovered. When their hands disappeared they knew that they had it, and Ralph ordered some water thrown upon it, which had the twofold result of stopping its activity and of bringing it into view.
Having assured himself that Alice was unharmed and recovering from the shock resulting from her misadventure, the scientist made a minute examination of the instrument. It was a complicated machine and one totally strange to him. As he studied it he felt a growing conviction that this was no earth-made machine, but one conceived and made by a Martian. Undoubtedly39 it was the work of some master of science, a true mental giant.
Then where, he asked himself, did Fernand—if it was Fernand—secure it, and how? His object, of course, was obvious. He was evidently prepared to go to any lengths to secure the girl for himself. Had he not so threatened her? His method of attack had been ingenious—fiendishly[Pg 124] ingenious. Here was no mean antagonist40, no petty enemy, but one whose cunning would tax Ralph's resourcefulness to the utmost.
When he finally turned away from his inspection41 he found Alice quite herself again. She was listening to the store proprietor's version of the affair, a story that, under the stimulus42 of Alice's dark eyes, lost none in the telling, for where facts failed him, imagination did not.
"—flew open before my very eyes," he was saying when Ralph turned around, "as if by unseen hands. And then this terrible sound—I can't scarcely describe it, more like (his eye fell on the ultra-ray apparatus), more like a great machine than anything else. I says to myself, says I, 'There's something strange about this,' I says, 'I'd better be on the lookout43, I might be needed, for it looks to me,' I says, 'as though someone was up to something'."
As a matter of fact, he had thought the opening of the door due to a passing wind, and the hissing of the machine, which has already been likened to the buzz of an insect, the humming of a bee, let in by the same agency.
"And then that black man, he gave me a fright for fair," he went on.
"What about him? What was he like?" asked Ralph sharply.
"Ah," said the proprietor, swelling44 with importance, "that's just what I've been asking myself. Strange we should hit on the same thoughts ain't it?"
"Very," commented the scientist, with wasted irony45. "Can't you give any description of him? When and how did you see him, anyway?"
The proprietor put his hands into his pockets and swayed backward and forward on the balls of his feet. He[Pg 125] surveyed each member of his little audience with glances of poignant46 meaning, as one who had much of consequence to tell—all in good time.
"Yes, yes," exclaimed Ralph impatiently, "you told us that before. Can't you give us something definite to go by? His face, for instance. What was that like?"
The other leaned forward and tapped him on the chest impressively.
"Ay, that was black too," he said.
"Black!" cried Ralph.
"Black it was—all covered with a black cloth," said the none-too-intelligent shopkeeper smugly. "He come right out of the air before my very eyes, all black, with a black cloth on his face, and rolled out of my store like a cyclone48."
"You should have tried to hold him," said Ralph.
"Well, I gave him a look, I can tell you. He won't forget it in a hurry. I just stood there and looked at him—like this."
He screwed up his face in so alarming a manner that one of Ralph's assistants was moved to remark that it was a wonder he didn't drop dead with a face like that.
"What d'ye mean?" demanded the owner of the countenance49 in question.
"I said," repeated the assistant, "it was a wonder he didn't drop dead. I would have. It's all I can do to look at you right now."
Alice, unable to control her laughter any longer, hastily murmured something about "fresh air" and went to the door.
[Pg 126]
Ralph, keeping his own face straight by a valiant50 effort, ordered his men to lift the ultra-ray machine and take it back to the laboratory to give it a more minute inspection at his leisure.
The girl and the man were very silent on their way back to Ralph's home. A tragedy had been narrowly averted51 and each felt that this first attempt might by no means be the last.
Only once did Alice voice her fears.
"You know," she said, "I am certain it was Fernand." She hesitated for a brief moment and then held out her hand. In the palm lay a small heart-shaped object of a curious translucent52 green, delicately carved. It was pierced for a chain, and indeed, a part of the chain still hung there, but it had been broken off short, and only a few links remained.
"What's that?" asked Ralph.
"A charm that Fernand always carries. He showed it to me once. He's very superstitious53 about it, he told me—and I found it back there in the store when I went to the door."
Ralph looked very thoughtful.
"Then he must have brought that machine from Mars," he said with decision. "And with such resources at his command, I wonder what his next move will be."
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1
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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4
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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5
persevering
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| a.坚忍不拔的 | |
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6
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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7
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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8
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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11
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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12
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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13
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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14
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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18
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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21
emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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22
detector
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| n.发觉者，探测器 | |
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kidnapper
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| n.绑架者，拐骗者 | |
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24
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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25
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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26
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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30
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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dummy
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| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
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32
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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33
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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34
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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35
streamline
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| vt.使成流线型；使简化；使现代化 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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glowered
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| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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39
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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40
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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41
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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42
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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43
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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44
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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45
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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46
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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47
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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48
cyclone
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| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
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49
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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50
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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51
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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52
translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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53
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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