The absolute failure of Eldridge's hypothesis immediately threw public confidence into a profound reaction. Certainty gave place to complete distrust. Rumor1 gained ground. The exodus2 increased. Where formerly3 only those who could do so without great sacrifice or inconvenience had left town, now people were beginning to cut loose at any cost. Men resigned their positions in order to get their families away; others began to arrange their affairs as best they might, as though for a long vacation. As yet panic had not appeared openly in the light of day, but she lurked4 in the shadows of men's hearts.
The railroads and steamboats were crowded beyond their capacity. Extra trains followed one another as close together as the block signals would allow them to run. Humanity packed the cars. It was like a continual series of football days. In three of them it was estimated that two hundred thousand people had left Manhattan. It would have been physically5 impossible for the transportation lines to have carried a thousand more. They had reached their capacity; the spigot was wide open.
Percy Darrow showed Jack6 the head-lines to this effect.
"Cheerful thought," he suggested. "Suppose the whole four million should want to get out at the same time!"
Eldridge had come back to the wireless7 office thoroughly8 bewildered. It is a well-known fact that the exact scientist is the hardest man to fool, but the most fooled if fooled at all. Witness the extent to which noted9 scientists have been taken in by faking spiritualist mediums. So with Eldridge. His hypothesis had been so carefully worked out that the failure of its logic10 threw his mind into confusion. Until he could discover the weak link in his chain of reasoning, that confusion must continue.
An hour and a half after the bulletin announcing the failure of the search had been posted, Eldridge rushed into the wireless office. The plague of darkness had lifted after fifteen minutes' duration.
"Call Monsieur X," he gasped11 to the day operator. In fifteen minutes, by rapid substitutions of batteries to weaken or strengthen the sending current, he had redetermined his previous data. Apparently13, without the shadow of a doubt, Monsieur X was within the circle.
"He may be at sea," suggested the operator.
But Eldridge shook his head. The circle of the sea had been well patrolled, and for days.
"Begin over again," drawled Darrow. "I told you that you were on the wrong track."
Eldridge glanced at him.
"I can't say that you've done much!" said he tartly14.
"No?" queried15 Darrow, with one of his slow and exasperating16 smiles. "Perhaps not. But you'd better get to thinking. You won't be able always to take things easy. You may have to hustle17 before long."
"There has been, I admit," said Eldridge stiffly, repeating in substance the interview he had already given out, "some flaw in our chain of reasoning. This it will be necessary to review with the object of revision. Every physical manifestation18 must have some physical and definite cause; and this can be found if time enough is bestowed19 on it. Often the process of elimination20 is the only method by which the truth can be determined12."
"Look out the process of elimination doesn't overtake you," he remarked.
Eldridge detailed22 the same reasoning, at greater length, to the men who had employed him. These were very impatient. Business was being not merely impeded23, but destroyed. Their customers had no time for them; their employees were in many cases leaving their jobs. They called in all the help they could to assist Eldridge's speculations24, but in the end they had to fall back on the scientist as the best on the market. The case was not left in his hands alone, however. After a meeting they offered a reward to any one discovering and putting to an end the disconcerting phenomena25.
"Here's where we make money, Jack, big money," observed Darrow when he read this offer. "It'll be bigger before we get through. You and I can have the little expedition to Volcano Island."
"Nothing suits me better," said Jack. "Are you sure we'll get it?"
"Sure," said Darrow.
Monsieur X had of course honored the waiting world with a message. It followed the fifteen minutes of darkness:
"TO THE PEOPLE: I have been patient and have stayed my hand in order that you may learn the vanity of your endeavor. Who are ye that ye shall strive to take me? Vanity and foolishness is your portion. Now ye know my power and ye will listen unto my words as to the words of the Master. Ye must hunt down this man McCarthy and deliver him over unto me. If every one of you gives himself to the task, lo! it is quickly done. Bestir yourselves against the wrath26 to come!"
These events occupied the three days of the ordered exodus. The time was further filled with rumor that ever grew more dire27. Gradually business was suspended entirely28. Those who could not or would not go away stood about talking matters over, and, as is always the case, matters did not improve in the telling. The only activity in the city was that bent29 on seeking out the abiding-place of Monsieur X.
Eldridge had now come to the conclusion that he had perhaps been mistaken in confining his efforts to so small an area. In fact, further experiments rendered hazy30 the arbitrary outlines formerly determined for the zone of danger. At times Monsieur X answered well within the forty-five-mile mark; at times somewhat beyond the end of the fifty-mile radius31. Eldridge immediately undertook a series of more delicate experiments by means of indicators32 especially designed by him for the occasion. Once more the little wireless office became the focus of repertorial attention.
"Our major premises33 we find still to be correct," announced Eldridge in the coldly didactic manner characteristic of the man. "This unknown operator is at a distance; and probably at a height. One indication we did not take sufficiently34 into consideration--the fact that this instrument alone is capable of communication with the instrument of this individual."
Percy Darrow for the first time began to show signs of attention. He dropped the legs of his chair to the floor and leaned forward.
"That would indicate, gentlemen, that the instrument whose location we are desirous of determining is of a peculiar35 nature. What that nature is we have no means of determining accurately36; but in conjunction with the fact that our previous experiments failed to locate Monsieur X, we may adopt the hypothesis that the wireless apparatus37 of that individual is not so delicately responsive as the average. In other words, the zone within which he may be found is in fact wider than we had supposed."
Darrow leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Eldridge continued, explaining the means he had taken to determine more accurately the exact location of Monsieur X.
1 rumor | |
n.谣言,谣传,传说 | |
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2 exodus | |
v.大批离去,成群外出 | |
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3 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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4 lurked | |
vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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5 physically | |
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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6 jack | |
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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7 wireless | |
adj.无线的;n.无线电 | |
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8 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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9 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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10 logic | |
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性 | |
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11 gasped | |
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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12 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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13 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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14 tartly | |
adv.辛辣地,刻薄地 | |
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15 queried | |
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问 | |
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16 exasperating | |
adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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17 hustle | |
v.推搡;竭力兜售或获取;催促;n.奔忙(碌) | |
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18 manifestation | |
n.表现形式;表明;现象 | |
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19 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 elimination | |
n.排除,消除,消灭 | |
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21 chuckled | |
轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 detailed | |
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的 | |
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23 impeded | |
阻碍,妨碍,阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 speculations | |
n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 );思考;投机活动;推断 | |
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25 phenomena | |
n.现象 | |
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26 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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27 dire | |
adj.可怕的,悲惨的,阴惨的,极端的 | |
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28 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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29 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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30 hazy | |
adj.有薄雾的,朦胧的;不肯定的,模糊的 | |
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31 radius | |
n.半径,半径范围;有效航程,范围,界限 | |
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32 indicators | |
(仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的)指针( indicator的名词复数 ); 指示物; (车辆上的)转弯指示灯; 指示信号 | |
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33 premises | |
n.建筑物,房屋 | |
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34 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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35 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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36 accurately | |
adv.准确地,精确地 | |
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37 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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