At nine o'clock the following morning five men grouped in McCarthy's office, talking earnestly. Darrow and Jack1 Warford had been the first to arrive. McCarthy did not seem surprised to see them; nor did he greet them with belligerence2.
"Well?" he demanded.
"Well?" repeated Darrow, sinking gracefully3 to one corner of the table. "You're an old fool, McCarthy. What good did you think it would do you to arrest me?"
"I intended to sweat you," confessed the boss frankly4, "but I was too busy."
"Sweat me, eh?" demanded Darrow, with some amusement. "So you decided5 not to, did you--hence the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the police in effecting my recapture. You didn't imagine I caused all this, did you?"
"I don't know," growled6 McCarthy. "But if you, or the other fellow, or whoever or whatever it is, think you can bluff7 me out, you or he or it's left! That's all!"
"So you've been getting more wireless8, have you?" surmised9 Darrow.
McCarthy cast a surly glance toward Jack, whom previously10 he had ignored.
"Yes," he admitted grudgingly11.
Darrow held out his hand. After a moment's hesitation12 McCarthy thrust forward a single yellow paper, and Darrow read aloud in spite of the boss' warning gesture:
"McCarthy: The sign has been sent you and sent your people. You are stubborn, but it shall not avail you. You must go; and within twenty-four hours. It will not avail you unless you go. The _Celtic_ leaves to-morrow at noon. You must go on that ship. I shall know whether or not you obey me. Once more I shall warn you; one more sign shall I send. Then I shall strike!"
"He's getting garrulous," remarked Darrow reflectively; "but he's relieved my mind. You'd better go."
"Go!" cried McCarthy, half starting to his feet. "Not on your life!"
Darrow surveyed him calmly.
"You're getting rattled13," said he, "and it doesn't pay you particularly to try to bluff me. A jack-rabbit of average firmness could stampede you in your present state of mind."
"You think so?" sneered14 McCarthy.
"I know so. And you're quite right. If you attempt the game too long, he'll destroy you."
"How?" demanded McCarthy.
"Take my word for it, _he can do it!_" replied Darrow.
McCarthy ruminated15, drumming his thick fingers on the desk.
"Find him," said he, at last.
"I intend to," replied Darrow.
"That'll be all right about your friend's job," conceded McCarthy, with a nod toward Jack.
"I fancy you won't have anything to do with it," returned Darrow pleasantly.
At this moment the door opened and Hallowell entered. He nodded to Darrow, and greeted McCarthy.
"Nothing for you," growled the latter.
Darrow glanced at his watch.
"He will have in about five minutes," said he to the reporter.
The fifth member of the party now entered in the person of Simmons, the United Wireless operator. On seeing the number gathered in McCarthy's office he came to a halt.
Darrow immediately detached himself from the group and approached this man.
"Anything new?" he inquired in a low voice.
Simmons glanced toward McCarthy.
"New about what?" he demanded stolidly16.
"Any more messages from our mysterious friend out in the ether to our equally mysterious friend at the desk?"
"I don't know what you mean."
Darrow surveyed him reflectively.
"This is a pretty big story," he said at last, "and affects a lot of people. If you really haven't leaked--well, he"--with a jerk of his head toward McCarthy--"must bribe17 high, or have a strangle hold on you for fair."
He looked around to see the boss' eye fixed18 intently on him, smiled pleasantly, and moved to one side. Simmons stepped forward, handed McCarthy a paper, and went out. The boss read the message slowly, and turned a little pale. After a moment or so he surreptitiously drew out his watch. Percy Darrow smiled. He, too, held his watch in his hand.
"Thirty seconds more--about," he remarked pleasantly. The boss looked up startled. The last thing he saw was the faintly smiling, triumphant19 face of the young scientist. Then absolute blackness fell on him.
For several seconds astonishment20 held the inmates21 of the room chained to their places; and for that space of time no sound broke the deathly stillness. Then Percy Darrow spoke22, in his natural voice.
"Well, Jack," he remarked, "it worked out, to a second, almost. Now I'm certain."
As though this breaking of the silence had released a force hitherto held in repression23, the room filled with tumult24 and clamor, with crashing, banging and scurrying25 of heavy bodies. A final concussion26 shook the air, and then, again abruptly27, silence fell.
"Say!" Hallowell's voice spoke up, a trifle uncertainly. "I'll stand for most any kind of a dark seance, but this particular spook business is getting on my nerves. Are you there, Darrow?"
"Yes, I'm here," answered the scientist.
"Well, can you explain _that_ phenomenon?"
"That," drawled Darrow, a slight note of laughter in his voice, "was that extraordinary upheaval28 of natural forces known as Brother McCarthy going away from here--hastily."
"He hit me on the way out," remarked that young man. "I'll testify he was a solid spook."
The reporter was methodically striking match after match, but without result. After a moment the acrid30 smell of burning woolen31 rose in the air.
"Are you dropping those matches?" asked Darrow.
"Sure; they're no good."
"Well, they're good enough to burn holes in McCarthy's rugs. Stamp around a little to put them out; and quit it."
"What next; and how long?" asked Jack. "What is it? Have we gone blind, or is it a total eclipse, or what?"
"I don't know how long," came back Darrow's voice calmly. "Next we will get out of the building. I want to make some observations. Get hold of my hand; we'll have to grope our way out."
"If we could only get a light," muttered Hallowell.
"You can't," stated Darrow.
They felt their way down the ten flights of stairs like blind men. A few inmates of the building they jostled, or passed, or picked up on the way.
"This settles it," one remarked profanely32. "My lease quits. They can sue and be damned. I decline to have anything more to do with any freak-lined skyscraper33 of this description."
In the lower corridors Darrow halted them.
"Here's another thing," said he: "if I'm right, we should run out of this just eleven feet beyond the last elevator cage."
He felt his way along the grill34, made four paces forward, and uttered a little cry of satisfaction. The two men followed him blindly. As though stepping from one room to another they emerged into glaring daylight!
Both involuntarily looked back. The darkness hung there like a curtain, just inside the outer walls of the building. Already a crowd had gathered to observe this new and strange phenomenon of the now celebrated35 Atlas36 Building. It was a curious and a facetious37 crowd, but not awestricken, as it had been at the first manifestations38 of this freakish upset of natural forces.
A man observing the flight of an aeroplane for the first time loses his sense of strangeness inside of a few minutes; and yet flying has been since the days of Icarus considered one of the impossible achievements. So the general public of Manhattan were becoming accustomed to reversals of form in the affairs of the physical world. The frivolous39 majority, having discovered nothing to be apprehended40 from the phenomena41 save a few hours' helplessness of a sort, and much to be gained through the savor42 of novelty, were inclined to an amused or irritated attitude, depending on the extent to which its occupations were interfered44 with. The minority took to religious meetings and interpretations45.
Darrow's exit, and that of his companions, was greeted uproariously.
"'Please go 'way an' let me sleep!'" sang one, at the blinking men.
"Here's another!" shrilled46 a gamin. "Get up! The porter wants to make up your berth47!"
Several of the crowd, pending43 the usual arrival of the police to clear the corridor, had ventured through the wide portals, and were experimenting with this strange palpable quality of darkness. One or two popped inside the curtain, but emerged quickly, looking a little scared.
A bright youth made the discovery that if one lighted a match and stepped within the blackness, the match was immediately extinguished, but that upon emerging into daylight the flame came up again. Some one happened along with a plumber's gasoline torch. Immediately this was lighted and the experiment repeated. The bearer of the torch, astonished at the instant extinguishment of the flame, felt with his hand to see what could be the matter. Instantly he uttered a yelp48 of pain, and leaped outside, displaying a badly burned palm.
"There wasn't no flame; I swear it!" he explained excitedly, "but she burned, just the same!" He rushed about from one to another, displaying his injured palm to whoever would look.
Darrow paid little attention to this gathering49 crowd. First of all, he scanned a paper he held in his hand; then plunged50 back again into the blackness.
Jack Warford and Hallowell, left together, hesitated uncertainly.
"He'll be back," the reporter decided finally, "and he's the man to tie to."
While waiting, he proceeded to pick up what information he could from the bystanders. It seemed that the first intimation of anything wrong was followed very shortly by the emergence51 of McCarthy, disheveled, hatless, staring, gasping52. The boss had stumbled into the street, hesitated, then started south on a run. Before any one could stop him, he had turned a corner and disappeared. The excitement at the Atlas Building had distracted attention from him. Nobody wondered at his getting rattled and running away. The few tenants53 remaining in the building had stumbled forth54, vowing55 never to return to such a--assorted adjectives--building. That was all there seemed to be to say.
In the meantime the crowd had increased from a few hundred to thousands. Police appeared. The corridors were cleared of all but a few. Among these were Hallowell and Jack Warford; the former as a reporter, the latter as the reporter's companion. Doctor Knox and Professor Eldridge arrived shortly. After a time Darrow reappeared, sauntering quite calmly from the pall56 of darkness, as though emerging from behind a velvet57 curtain.
收听单词发音 |
1
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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belligerence
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| n.交战，好战性，斗争性 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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7
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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grudgingly
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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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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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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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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repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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woolen
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| adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的 | |
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profanely
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| adv.渎神地，凡俗地 | |
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skyscraper
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| n.摩天大楼 | |
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grill
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| n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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facetious
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| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
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38
manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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40
apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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savor
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| vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味 | |
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43
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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45
interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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46
shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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48
yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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49
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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50
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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51
emergence
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| n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体 | |
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52
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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53
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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54
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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vowing
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
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56
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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57
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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