Without pause, and three steps at a time, Darrow ran down three flights of stairs. Then, recovering from his initial excitement somewhat, he caught the elevator and shot to the street. There he walked rapidly to the subway, which he took as far as City Hall Square. On emerging from the subway station he started across for the _Despatch_ office as fast as he could walk. By the entrance to the City Hall, however, he came to an abrupt1 halt. From the open doorway2 rushed his friend, Officer Burns, of the City Hall Station. The policeman's face was chalky white; his eyes were staring, his cap was over one side, he staggered uncertainly. As he caught sight of Darrow he stumbled to the young man and clung to his neck, muttering incoherently. People passing in and out looked at him curiously3 and smiled.
"My God!" gasped4 Burns, his eyes roving. "I says to him, 'Mike, I don't wonder you've got cold feet.' And there he was, and the mayor--Heaven save--and his secretary! My God!"
Darrow shook his shoulder.
"Here," he said decisively, "what are you talking about? Get yourself together! Remember you're an officer; don't lose your nerve this way!"
At the touch to his pride Burns did pull himself together somewhat, but went on under evident strong excitement.
"I went in just now to the mayor's office a minute," said he, "and saw my friend Mike Mallory, the doorkeeper, settin' in his chair, as usual. It was cold-like, and I went up to him and says, 'Mike, no wonder you get cold feet down here,' just by way of a joke; and when he didn't answer, I went up to him, and he was dead, there in his chair!"
"Well, you've seen dead men before. There's no occasion to lose your nerve, even if you did know him," said Darrow.
The brutality6 of the speech had its intended effect. Burns straightened.
"That's all very well," said he more collectively. "_But the man was froze_!"
"Frozen!" muttered Darrow, and whistled.
"Yes, and what's more, his little dog, setting by the chair, was froze, too; so when I stepped back sudden and hit against him, he tumbled over _bang_, like a cast-iron dog! That got my goat! I ran!"
"Come with me," ordered Darrow decisively.
They entered the building and ran up the single flight of stairs to the second-story room which the mayor of that term had fitted up as a sort of private office of his own. A sharp chill hung in the hallways; this increased as they neared the executive's office. Outside the door sat the doorkeeper in his armchair. Beside him was a dog, in the attitude of an animal seated on its haunches, but lying on its side, one fore5 leg sticking straight out. Darrow touched the man and stooped over to peer in his face. The attitude was most lifelike; the color was good. A deadly chill ran from Darrow's finger tips up his arm.
He pushed open the door cautiously and looked in.
"All right, Burns," said he. "The atmosphere has become gaseous7 again. We can go in." With which strange remark he entered the room, followed closely, but uncertainly by the officer.
The private office possessed8 the atmosphere of a cold-storage vault9. Four men occupied it. At the desk was seated the mayor, leaning forward in an attitude of attention, his triple chin on one clenched10 fist, his heavy face scowling11 in concentration. Opposite him lounged two men, one leaning against the table, the other against the wall. One had his hand raised in argument, and his mouth open. The other was watching, an expression of alertness on his sharp countenance12. At a typewriter lolled the clerk, his hand fumbling13 among some papers.
The group was exceedingly lifelike, more so, Darrow thought, than any wax figures the Eden Musee had ever placed for the mystification of its country visitors. Indeed, the only indication that the men had not merely suspended action on the entrance of the visitors was a fine white rime14 frost that sparkled across the burly countenance of the mayor. Darrow remembered that, summer and winter, that dignitary had always perspired15!
Burns stood by the door, rooted to the spot, his jaw16 dropped, his eye staring. Darrow quite calmly walked to the desk. He picked up the inkstand and gazed curiously at its solidified17 contents, touched the nearest man, gazed curiously at the papers on the desk, and addressed Burns.
"These seem to be frozen, too," he remarked almost sleepily, "and about time, too. This is a sweet gang to be getting together on this sort of a job!"
Quite calmly he gathered the papers on the desk and stuffed them into his pocket. He picked up the desk telephone, giving a number. "Ouch, this receiver's cold," he remarked to Burns. "Hello, _Despatch_. Is Hallowell in the office? Just in? Send him over right quick, keen jump, City Hall, mayor's second-story office. No, right now. Tell him it's Darrow."
He hung up the receiver.
"Curious phenomenon," he remarked to Burns, who still stood rooted to the spot. "You see, their bodies were naturally almost in equilibrium18, and, as they were frozen immediately, that equilibrium was maintained. And the color. I suppose the blood was congealed19 in the smaller veins20, and did not, as in more gradual freezing, recede21 to the larger blood-vessels. I'm getting frost bitten myself in here. Let's get outside."
But Officer Burns heard none of this. As Darrow moved toward the door he crossed himself and bolted. Darrow heard his heels clattering22 on the cement of the corridors. He smiled.
"And now the deluge23!" he remarked.
The crowds, terrified, inquisitive24, sceptical, and speculative25, gathered. Officials swept them out and took possession. Hallowell and Darrow conferred earnestly together.
"He has the power to stop heat vibrations26, you see," Darrow said. "That makes him really dangerous. His activities here are in line with his other warnings; but he is not ready to go to extremes yet. The city is yet safe."
"Why?" asked Hallowell.
"I know it. But he has the power. If he gets dangerous we must stop him."
"You are sure you can do it?"
"Sure."
"Then, for God's sake, do it! Don't you realize what will happen when news of this gets out, and people understand what it means? Don't you feel your guilt27 at those men's deaths?" He struck his hand in the direction of the City Hall.
"The people will buy a lot of experience, at cost of a little fright and annoyance," replied Percy Darrow carelessly. "It'll do them good. When it's over, they'll come back again and be good. As for that bunch in there--when you look over those papers I think you'll be inclined to agree with what the religious fanatics28 will say--that it was a visitation of God."
"But the old, the sick--there'll be deaths among them--the responsibility is something fearful--"
"Never knew a battle fought yet without some loss," observed Darrow.
Hallowell was staring at him.
"I don't understand you," said the reporter. "You have no heart. You are as bad as this Monsieur X, and between you you hold a city in your power--one way or the other!"
"Well, I rather like being a little god," remarked Darrow.
Hallowell started once more to plead, but Darrow cut him short.
"You are thinking of the present," he said. "I am thinking of the future. It's a good thing for people to find out that there's something bigger than they are, or than anything they can make. That fact is the basis of the idea of a God. These are getting to be a godless people." He turned on Hallowell, his sleepy eyes lighting29 up. "I should be very sorry if I had not intellect enough and imagination enough to see what this may mean to my fellow people; and I should despise myself if I should let an unrestrained compassion30 lose to four million people the rare opportunity vouchsafed31 them."
He spoke32 very solemnly. Hallowell looked at him puzzled.
"Besides," said Darrow whimsically, "I like to devil Eldridge."
He dove into the subway. Hallowell gazed after him.
"There goes either a great man or a crazy fool," he remarked to an English sparrow. He turned over rapidly the papers Darrow had found on the mayor's desk, and smiled grimly. "Of all the barefaced33, bald-headed steals!" he said.
Darrow soon mounted once more the elevator of the Atlas34 Building. He found Jack35 and Helen still waiting. Before entering the wireless36 office Darrow cast a scrutinizing37 glance along the empty hall.
"It's all right," he said. "I'm surer than ever. Everything fits exactly. Now, Helen," he said, "I want you to go home, and I want you to stay there. No matter what happens, do not move from the house. This town is going to have the biggest scare thrown into it that any town ever had since Sodom and Gomorrah got their little jolt38. In the language of the Western prophet, 'Hell will soon be popping.' Let her pop. Sit tight; tell your friends to sit tight. If necessary, tell them Monsieur X is captured, and all his works. Tell them I said so."
His air of languid indifference39 had fallen from him. His eye was bright, and he spoke with authority and vigor40.
"You take her home, Jack," he commanded, "and return here at once. Don't forget that nice new-blued pop-gun of yours; we're coming to the time when we may need it."
Jack rose instantly to his mood.
"Correct, General!" he saluted41. "Where'd you collect the plunder42?" he asked, pointing to a square black bag of some size that Darrow had brought back with him.
"That," said Darrow, "is the first fruit of my larcenous43 tendencies. I stole that from the mayor's office in the City Hall."
"What is it?"
"That," said Darrow, "I do not know."
He deposited the bag carefully by his chair, and turned, smiling, to Helen.
"Good-by," said he. "Sleep tight."
They went out. Darrow seated himself in his chair, drew his hat over his eyes, and fell into a doze44. In the meantime, outside, all through the city, hell was getting ready to pop.
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1
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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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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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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gaseous
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| adj.气体的，气态的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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rime
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| n.白霜；v.使蒙霜 | |
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perspired
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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solidified
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| （使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化 | |
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equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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congealed
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| v.使凝结，冻结( congeal的过去式和过去分词 )；（指血）凝结 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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vibrations
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| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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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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barefaced
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| adj.厚颜无耻的，公然的 | |
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atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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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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wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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larcenous
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| adj.盗窃的 | |
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doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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