Adrift in the Unknown; or, Queer Adventures in a Queer Realm, Page 2

  *CHAPTER II.*

  *AN UNINVITED GUEST.*

  I used to be one of those who claimed that the world owed him a living,and I went out with a drill and a "jimmy" to collect it.

  Where was the difference, I argued, between the man who cracks yourstrong box and removes a few paltry bills or coins, and the nabob whoskulks behind a "trust" and takes his tax on the necessities of life?

  This was pure sophistry, of course, but I became wedded to it in earlylife, and that I escaped a suit of stripes and measurement on theBertillon system, is due entirely to my experiences with ProfessorQuinn.

  'Twas a blessed night that sent me to his castle with the view ofmulcting it of treasures I felt to be there. Quinn was a queer one. Ido not mean to say that he was unhinged, as some thought, but he wasqueer in his outlook upon life, and in resources which fall under thehead of "ways and means."

  His castle claimed my professional attention. For why should a man builda big steel vault and live in it unless he had portable property worth aburglar's while? I reconnoitered the place for a week before Iconsidered myself possessed of sufficient knowledge for my undertaking.In view of what transpired at the time of my visit, a brief descriptionof the castle, taken from my memorandum book, will prove of interest.

  The structure was cigar-shaped, twenty-nine feet from base to apex andtwenty feet in diameter through its largest part. It was divided intotwo stories by means of a steel floor, leaving head-room of ten feet inthe lower story.

  Four windows pierced the circular walls of the nether room, and two gavelight to the room above; these six openings being guarded on the outersides with latticework of steel.

  The door was an oblong piece of boiler plate--the entire building was ashell composed of plates riveted together--hinged heavily and providedwith a strong lock. As I had yet to find a lock which I could not pick,if given time enough, my designs naturally centred about the door.

  I had hit upon the somewhat early hour of ten in the evening for my callat the professor's. Unless business kept him abroad I knew that he wasusually in bed long before that time. If he chanced to be out, so muchthe better for the success of my foray.

  After the patrolman had passed, I crept through the bushes and was soonbusy with the lock on the steel door. It yielded with much lessresistance than I had anticipated, and I was quickly within, flashing mybull's-eye lantern about me.

  A circular seat upholstered in leather ran around the wall, and a tablebearing an unlighted oil lamp stood in the centre of the floor. I hadbarely completed a hasty survey when a crunch of footsteps on thegraveled walk without smote on my ears.

  Without loss of a moment I snapped the lantern shut and darted up theiron stairway to the room above. It is needless to say that I was verymuch put out because of the interruption. I was a hard man in thosedays, and such an occurrence was apt to anger me and make me say things.

  Lying flat on the floor with my face to the stair opening, I had afairly good view of the circular chamber below. The professor had beenabroad and not in bed, for he appeared now, ushering in callers.

  Four gentlemen, all of distinguished mien and important bearing,followed the owner of the castle, and began glancing about withill-concealed amusement.

  "Gad, but this is an odd place!" exclaimed one.

  This gentleman wore a frock coat and silk hat, but what caught my eyewas a four-carat spark in his scarf, a massive seal on his fob, and ascintillating gem on the third finger of his left hand.

  "Odd, perhaps," returned the professor, "but most suitable to mypurposes, Mr. Gilhooly, as I hope to show you before many minutes havepassed. Be seated, sir. And the rest of you gentlemen; you will findthe divan most comfortable."

  Gilhooly? I went hot and cold at that name. Nearly everybody in NewYork was just then talking about the man who was scheming to makerailroad travel too expensive for ordinary mortals. He was amillionaire several times over, and in the breast of his frock coat Iknew there must be a bulky wallet.

  At once, and while I watched and listened to those in the room below, mymind busied itself with details of a more comprehensive operation than Ihad at first contemplated.

  The professor's four guests had seated themselves on the circular divan.After my eyes had finished with Gilhooly they turned on the other three,and my first impressions were more than confirmed.

  Each of the quartet was a Croesus, and dressed and strutted the part.Fine birds, indeed, and I hugged myself to think how opportunity hadcome knocking at my door.

  Six-shooter in hand, I could descend upon this covey, compel areadjustment of values between them and myself, then back through thesteel door, lock it behind me, and make off.

  The professor, intent on other things no doubt, had turned his key inthe lock and had failed to discover that the bolt was already thrown;therefore my presence in the castle was entirely unsuspected--manifestlyan advantage.

  "You have asked us to come here, Professor Quinn," spoke up one as theprofessor turned higher the wick of the lamp he had just lighted, "andhere we are. You say you have discovered something whose value toscience and the industrial world is beyond compute, and that you wish tointerest capital. Well"--and the speaker surveyed his three companionswith a large smile--"here is the capital."

  "I shall come at my discovery in due course, Mr. Popham," said theprofessor, who was a wiry little man with a bald head and bead-likeblack eyes. "I thank you for coming here. Emmet Gilhooly, AugustusPopham, J. Archibald Meigs, and Hannibal Markham are stars of the firstmagnitude in the skies of speculation, and I esteem myself fortunate inarousing their interest."

  A faintness seized me as these names, each an "open sesame" to the worldof finance, fell glibly from the professor's tongue. I was all butcheek by jowl with representatives of billions.

  Augustus Popham turned his head to give Emmet Gilhooly a plebeian wink.Gilhooly smiled behind his smooth white hand. J. Archibald Meigs leanedover to whisper something to Hannibal Markham, who was affixing a pairof gold eyeglasses to his Roman nose, whereupon both gentlemensuppressed a titter.

  A doubt of the sincerity of all four broke over me. They were there tohave sport with this bald little man with the beady eyes and the bee inhis bonnet. I chuckled grimly as I thought of how the tables wouldpresently be turned. I do not know whether the professor was as keen asI to detect these evidences of insincerity. If he was, he gave no sign.

  "I am sixty-five," said he, "and my life work has been the discoverywhich I am about to bring to your august attention. Perhaps some of yougentlemen have read my paper on 'The Mutability of Newtonian Law'?"

  The gentlemen acknowledged that they had not. Professor Quinn seemeddisappointed.

  "If you had read that," he continued, "you would have preparedyourselves for an understanding of my theory and the demonstration of itwhich I am about to give. Let me ask you this: When an apple leaves itsparent branch, why is it that it falls downward instead of upward?"

  The Napoleons of finance stared at one another. J. Archibald Meigs wentso far as to tap a suggestive finger against his forehead.

  "Gravity," said the professor. "It is that which draws every atom onthe surface of the earth directly toward the earth's centre; it is thatwhich chains our feet to this planet and keeps us from falling throughinterstellar space; it is even that which keeps our little world fromflying apart and dissipating itself in dust throughout the great void.It is a simple proposition simply stated, and I trust you follow me?"

  They did follow him, and so signified.

  "In the paper I read before the Astronomical Society," pursued theprofessor, "I made bold to declare that it was possible to insulate abody against the force of gravitation. In other words, to make it soimmune from Newtonian law that it would spurn the earth and fall from itat a speed even greater than the drawing power of gravity.

  "Can you not comprehend what this means?" cried Quinn, waxing eloquent."It means a new
force in the industrial world--a power that feeds onnothing save a law that transcends that of gravitation. In point offact, it falls little short of perpetual motion.

  "Without the expenditure of even a pound of coal, this new force canturn the wheels of every railroad train on the globe! With its owninherent energy it can give life to the machinery of flour mills, cottonmills, iron foundries; it can----"

  Augustus Popham got up hurriedly and put on his hat.

  "A rattle-brained idea, sir!" he exclaimed. "I have no mind to remainhere and listen to such talk."

  Popham's coal mines ravaged the earth's crust in a thousand and oneplaces. The idea that human industry could get along without his coalwas too much for him.

  Before he could reach the door, Professor Quinn was in front of him,barring his way.

  "Remember, Mr. Popham," said the professor, "if I were to take away yourmines I should yet give you something in their place worth incalculablymore. Hear me out, sir. I beg of you."

  "Theories are cheap things," muttered Popham, as he again seatedhimself. "An ounce of proof is worth a pound of theory."

  "Exactly," cried Quinn, "and the ounce of proof shall be forthcoming."

  With that he pulled the table from the centre of the room, revealing aniron chain some three feet in length, attached at its lower end to astaple in the floor by means of a clevis and pin.

  The chain was not lying loosely, but was rigidly upright, its upper endwound about a white block--a six-inch cube, as I judged.

  Climbing to the table top, the professor stepped thence to the cube,poising himself for a moment on one foot. Then he sprang to the flooragain.

  "This cube," he explained, laying one hand on the block with anaffectionate gesture, "is of steel, and has been treated with myinsulating compound. To all appearance it is falling upward with aforce sufficient to draw the chain rigidly to its full extent and tosupport my weight."

  "Poppycock!" muttered the coal baron.

  "A trick!" exclaimed Meigs.

  The other two remained silent. They were bewildered, perhaps impressed.

  "Let us see whether it is a trick or no," went on Quinn. "Pray comeforward, gentlemen, and lay hold of the chain. There is no danger inthe little experiment with which I am going to amuse you, and I think itwill dispel your doubts."

  The gentlemen hesitated, but finally came forward, got down with somedifficulty, and grasped the chain as directed.

  "Hold tight!" exclaimed the professor, and drew the pin from the clevis.

  Thus released the cube rose to the ceiling, lifting the four gentlemenwith it. They hung in mid-air until Quinn drew the table under them,and they dropped to its top, each in turn, and so reached the floor.

  Bewilderment was written large in the faces of the quartet, theircredulity struggling against the evidence of their senses.

  "You are a good magician, sir," averred Popham, brushing the damp fromhis forehead with a handkerchief.

  "You could make your fortune as an entertainer," declared Gilhooly.

  J. Archibald Meigs chewed briskly on an unlighted cigar, while HannibalMarkham kept his eyes on the cube and dangling chain like onefascinated.

  "It is the fate of a man who makes startling discoveries to be classedamong disciples in black art," observed Quinn calmly. "What is thehour, Mr. Gilhooly?" he asked.

  The head of the railway pool consulted his repeater.

  "Eleven-fourteen," he replied.

  "And high time I was going," added Popham.

  "Just a few moments more," said the professor.

  Turning to the wall behind him, he caught a small lever and turned itover as far as it would go. The castle vibrated slightly, communicatinga perceptible swaying motion to the pendent chain.

  "What's this?" cried Markham, jumping up.

  "Do not be alarmed, my friends," cried Quinn, whirling around.

  His face was pallid as death, and his beady eyes gleamed like coals.Then, wonder of wonders, the white cube settled to the floor.

  "Ha!" shouted Popham. "Your anti-gravity compound is not very longlived, it seems to me."

  "You will find differently, to your cost!" returned the professorthrough his teeth. "Augustus Popham, I, Kenward Quinn, arraign you, andEmmet Gilhooly, and J. Archibald Meigs, and Hannibal Markham as foes ofthe human race! You are leeches who would suck the life-blood from theveins of the poor----"

  With steady forefinger, Quinn had transfixed each of the plutocrats ashe called his name. Markham was already on his feet, and the other threewere not slow in following him.

  "What's this, what's this?" gasped Gilhooly.

  "An insult!" muttered Popham.

  "The old addle-pate is not accountable for what he says or does,"remarked J. Archibald Meigs.

  "We had best leave this steel trap of his while there is yet time,"counseled Markham.

  "While there is yet time!" repeated Quinn, with a wild laugh. "A prettyset of conspirators you are, on my soul! Markham, there, would raisethe price of food until the poor would go hungry; you, Meigs, would somanipulate the cost of clothing that they would not have the wherewithalto cover their nakedness; Popham would make fuel a luxury of the rich;and Gilhooly would so boost passenger and freight rates as to quadrupleto the consumer the tremendous cost of the necessities of life. Deny meif you can, if you dare!"

  Quinn looked like a Nemesis as he confronted the four men and lashedthem with his scorpion whip of words.

  "Fiddlededee!" exclaimed Popham.

  "We deserve it," said Meigs, "for it was the height of folly for us tocome here, in the first place."

  "Is this why you brought us here?" asked Markham, "to air your ownparticular ideas on sociology and to make us the victims of your abuse?"

  The professor threw back his head and straightened his shoulders. Itwas the real thing in dignity that he showed those plutocrats, and mynerves tingled with admiration. I was sorry I had come to the castlewith designs oh Quinn's portable property, and doubly glad that I couldforce tribute from these four who were badgering him.

  "I am not unjust," averred the professor, "and such a thing as abuse isfarthest from my mind; but I love the plain people, the bone and sinewof this glorious republic, and it arouses my indignation when the rightto live and let live is trampled upon by any one man, or set of men."

  "Platitudes!" sneered Popham.

  "To call a truth a platitude is witless argument," answered Quinnserenely.

  "Be that as it may," said Meigs, "we were not invited here for a debatebut to witness a demonstration of what you were pleased to term arevolutionizing discovery."

  "You have seen me overcome the force of gravity," went on the professor,"and to astute minds like yours further explanation seems uncalled for.In destroying gravity I produce a power equalled by no other force inthe world. The 'pull' of an insulated block the size of that one"--andhere he waved his hand toward the cube--"is equal to the strength of ahundred horses. Develop that 'pull' horizontally instead of vertically,and we have a locomotive that runs continuously without the consumptionof a pound of coal. That," cried the professor, his voice ringing withtriumph, "is the apotheosis of power!"

  Gilhooly, judging from his manner, was the victim of uncomfortablethoughts; Meigs wore a startled look, and Markham seemed half convinced.Popham, alone, was brusque and uncompromising.

  "I think we had better get out of here," again suggested Markham. Hishalf convictions appeared to arouse some small amount of apprehension.

  "I'm of the same opinion," spoke up Meigs.

  "Wait a little," suggested Popham, and I saw a gleam in his eyes thatmeant a stroke of some kind. Once more he faced Quinn. "I have nopatience with your harebrained theories," he went on, "and I have seencharlatans work greater wonders than what you are pleased to call your'demonstration.' But it is a business principle of mine to buy up thesepromising theories if they happen to run counter to any pet scheme I amtrying to put through. Sir, rather than be annoyed further with
thischimerical idea of yours, I will pay five thousand dollars, spot cash,just to have you give over your notions and quit experimenting."

  Professor Quinn laughed.

  "Five thousand dollars!" he exclaimed; then added, as though to himself,"He would have me sell the welfare and happiness of the people for fivethousand dollars!"

  "I will add another five thousand to Popham's offer." put in Gilhooly,"not because I am afraid your discoveries will upset the transportationinterests of the country, but simply to clear the commercial atmosphereand keep your visionary ideas from affecting the price of stocks."

  "Let me add another five thousand," said Meigs. "I don't see how yourinvention, even if it is all you claim for it, could affect me or myinterests one way or the other, but I will add my contribution simplybecause Popham has taken the initiative."

  "Count me in for the same amount," supplemented Markham, "on thecondition that Professor Quinn signs over to the four of us all hisright, title and interest in his non-gravity invention, and covenants toleave that field entirely alone in future."

  Quinn seemed to enjoy these propositions, and it was apparent at aglance that he had no intention of accepting twenty thousand dollars andrenouncing his discoveries.

  "Gentlemen," said he, "you are already half convinced that I am nodreamer, for you are financiers, and, while twenty thousand dollars isno more to you than twenty cents is to me, it is not your habit to giveyour money away. I repeat that you are inclined to have faith in me,and before many minutes I shall have made your belief in my abilitiescomplete."

  "Am I to understand that you decline our offer?" demanded Popham.

  "Most decidedly!"

  "Then there is nothing more to be said. Come on, gentlemen," and Pophamstarted toward the door.

  "A moment more, if you please," requested the professor.

  "Not another second!" cried Popham. "Our offer is withdrawn; and, ifyour so-called discoveries amount to anything, we shall find other meansfor making them ineffective."

  I had been interested in proceedings to an extent that had all butcaused me to forget my purpose. The plutocrats were about to leave thecastle in a temper, and if I wrested tribute from them it must be now ornever.

  Starting up, I drew my revolver and ran hastily down the iron stairs.