When, three hours previous, Darrow had arisen with the remark before chronicled, Jack1 Warford had followed him in the expectation of a long expedition. To the young man's surprise it lasted just to the hall. There Darrow stopped before the blank door of an apparently2 unused office. Into the lock of this he cautiously fitted a key, manipulated it for a moment, and turned to Jack with an air of satisfaction.
"You have your gun with you?" he asked.
Jack patted his outside pocket.
"Very well, now listen here: I am going to leave the key in the lock. If you hear me whistle sharply, get in as quickly as you know how, and get to shooting. Shoot to kill. If it happens to be dark and you can not make us out, shoot both. Take no chances. On your quickness and your accuracy may depend the lives of the whole city. Do you understand?"
"I understand," said Jack steadily3. "Are you sure you can make yourself heard above all this row?"
Darrow nodded, and slipped inside the door.
He found the office chamber4 unlighted save by the subdued5 illumination that came in around the drawn6 shades of the window. Against the dimness he could just make out the gleaming of batteries in rows. An ordinary deal table supported a wireless7 sender. A figure stood before the darkened window, the figure of a little, old, bent8 man facing as though looking out. Through the closed casement9 the roar of the panic-stricken city sounded like a flood. The old man was in the attitude of one looking out intently. Once he raised both arms, the fists clenched10, high above his head.
Darrow stole forward as quietly as he could. When he was about half-way across the room the old man turned and saw him. For the briefest instant he stared at the intruder; then, with remarkable11 agility12, cast himself toward the table on which stood the wireless sender. Darrow, too, sprang forward. They met across the table. Darrow clutched the old man's wrists.
Immediately began a desperate and silent trial of strength. The old man developed an unexpected power. The table lay between them, prohibiting a closer grip. Inch by inch, impelled13 by the man's iron will, his hand forced his way toward the sending key. Darrow put forth14 all his strength to prevent. There was no violent struggle, no noise; simply the pressure of opposing forces. Gradually the scientist's youth prevailed against the older man's desperation. The hand creeping toward the sender came to a stop. Then, all at once, the older man's resistance collapsed15 entirely16. Darrow swept his arm back, stepped around the table, and drew his opponent, almost unresisting, back to the window.
"Jack!" he called.
At the sound of his voice the old man gathered his last vitality17 in a tremendous effort to jerk loose from his captor. Catching18 Darrow unawares, he almost succeeded in getting free. The flash was too brief. He managed only to rap the young man's head rather sharply against a shade-fitting of the window.
The outer door jerked open, and Jack Warford leaped into the room, revolver in hand. Darrow called an instant warning.
"All right!" he shouted. "Turn on the light, next to you somewhere. Shut the door."
These orders were obeyed. The electric flared19. By its light the office was seen to be quite empty save for a cabinet full of books and papers; rows and rows of battery jars; the receiving and sending apparatus20 of a wireless outfit21; the deal table, and one wooden chair. Darrow looked around keenly.
"That's all right, Jack," said he. "Just get around here cautiously and raise the window shade. Look out you don't get near that table. That's it. Now just help me get this man a little away from the table! Good! Now, tie him up. No, bring over the chair. Tie him in that chair. Gently. That's all right. Whew!"
"You're hurt," said Jack.
Darrow touched his forehead.
"A bump," he said briefly22. "Well, Jack, my son, we've done it!"
"You don't mean to say--" cried Jack.
Darrow nodded.
"Now, my friend," he addressed the huddled23 figure in the chair, "the game is up. You are caught, and you must realize it." He surveyed the captive thoughtfully. "Tell me, who are you?" he added. "I should know you, for you are a great discoverer."
The old man stared straight at his interlocutor with his expressionless eyes, behind which no soul, no mind, no vitality even seemed to lie.
Darrow asked him several more questions, to which he received no replies. The man sat like a captured beast.
"I'm sorry," said Darrow to Jack. "I should like to have talked with him. Such a man is worth knowing; he has delved24 deep."
"He'll talk yet, when he gets over his grouch," Jack surmised25.
But Darrow shook his head.
"The man is imbecile," he said. "He has been mentally unbalanced; and his disorder27 has grown on him lately. When I drove back his wrist just now the cord snapped in his brain."
Jack turned to stare at the captive.
"By Jove, I believe you're right!" said he at last.
Darrow was standing28 looking down on the deal table.
"Come here, Jack," said he. "I want you to look at the deadliest engine of destruction ever invented or wielded29 by mortal man. I suspect that if you were to reach out your hand and hold down the innocent-looking telegraph key there you would instantly destroy every living creature in this city."
Jack turned a little pale, and put both hands behind him.
Darrow laughed. "Feel tempted30?" he inquired.
"Makes me a little dizzy, like being on a height," confessed Jack. "How's the trick turned?"
"I don't know," said Darrow. "I'm going to find out if I can."
Without attempting to touch anything, he proceeded to examine carefully every detail of the apparatus.
"The batteries are nothing extraordinary, except in strength," he told Jack, "and as near as I can make out the instrument is like any other. It must be some modification31 in the sending apparatus, some system of 'tuning32', perhaps--it's only a surmise26. We'll just disconnect the batteries," he concluded, "before we go to monkeying."
He proceeded carefully and methodically to carry out his expressed intention. When he had finished the task he heaved a deep sigh of relief.
"I'm glad you feel that way, too," said Jack. "I didn't know what might not happen."
"Me, either," confessed Darrow. "But now I think we're safe."
He proceeded on a methodical search through the intricacies of the apparatus. For a time Jack followed him about, but after a while wearied of so profitless an occupation, and so took to smoking on the window-ledge. Darrow extended his investigations33 to the bookcase, and to a drawer in the deal table. For over two hours he sorted notes, compared, and ruminated34, his brows knit in concentration. Jack did not try to interrupt him. At the end of the time indicated, the scientist looked up and made some trivial remark.
"Got it?" asked Jack.
"Yes," replied Darrow soberly. He reflected for several minutes longer; then moved to the window and looked out over the city. Absolutely motionless there he stood while the night fell, oblivious35 alike to the roar and crash of the increasing panic and to the silent figures in the darkened room behind him. At last he gave a sigh, walked quietly to the electric light, and turned it on.
"It's the biggest thing--and the simplest--the world has ever known in physics, Jack" said he, "but it's got to go."
"What?" asked Jack, rousing from the mood of waiting into which he had loyally forced himself in spite of the turmoil36 outside.
"The man has perfected a combined system of special tuning and definite electrical energy," said Darrow, "by which through an ordinary wireless sender he can send forth into the ether what might be called deadening or nullifying waves. You are no doubt familiar with the common experiment by which two sounds will produce a silence. This is just like that. By means of this, within the radius37 of his sending instrument and for a period of time up to the capacity of his batteries, a man can absolutely stop vibration38 of either heat, sound, light, or electricity length. It is entirely a question of simple formulas. Here they are."
He held out four closely written pages bound together with manuscript fasteners.
"No man has ever before attained39 this knowledge or this power," went on Darrow, after a moment; "and probably never again in the history of the race will exactly this combination of luck and special talent occur. These four pages are unique."
He laid them on the edge of the table, produced a cigarette, lighted it, picked up the four pages of formulas, and held the burning match to their edges. The flame caught, flared up the flimsy paper. Darrow dropped the burning corners as it scorched41 his fingers. It fell to the floor, flickered42, and was gone.
Jack leaped forward with an exclamation43 of dismay. The old man bound to the chair did not wink44, but stared straight in front of him, his eyes fixed45 like those of an owl40 or a wildcat.
"For God's sake, Darrow!" cried Jack Warford. "Do you know what you have done?"
"Perfectly," replied Darrow calmly. "This is probably the greatest achievement of the scientific intellect; but it must go. It would give to men an unchecked power that belongs only to the gods."
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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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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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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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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delved
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| v.深入探究，钻研( delve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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30
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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31
modification
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| n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻 | |
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32
tuning
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| n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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34
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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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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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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vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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42
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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44
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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45
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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