The Sign at Six
CHAPTER XV
THE MASTER SPEAKS AGAIN
Having thus detailed rather minutely the situation in which the city andthe actors in its drama found themselves, it now becomes necessary to movethe action forward to the point where the moneyed interests took a hand inthe game.
That was brought about in somewhat more than fifty hours.
In the meantime the facts as to vibrations were published in all thepapers; the despatches and the relations between McCarthy and Monsieur Xexclusively in the _Despatch_--to that organ's vast satisfaction andcredit; and the possibilities of tragedy in none. This latter fact wasgreatly to the credit of a maligned class of men. It is common beliefthat no cause is too sacred or no consequence too grave to give pause tothe editorial rapacity for news. The present instance disproved thatsupposition. No journal, yellow or otherwise, contained a line ofsuggestion that anything beyond annoyance was to be feared from thesequeer manifestations.
The consequences on a mixed population like that of New York were verypeculiar. The people naturally divided themselves into three classes. Inthe first were those who had received their warning from logic, friends,or the outside world; and who either promptly left town or, being unableto do so, lived in fear. In the second were all that numerous body who,neurasthenically unbalanced or near the overbalance, shut instinctivelythe eyes of their reason and glowed with a devastating and fanaticalreligious zeal. Among these, so extraordinarily are we constituted,almost immediately grew up various sects, uniting only in the belief thatthe wrath of God was upon an iniquitous people.
By far the largest class of all, comprising the every-day busy bulk ofthe people, were those who accepted the thing at its face value, read itsown papers, went about its business, and spared time to laugh at theabsurdities or growl at the inconveniences of the phenomena. With trueAmerican adaptability, it speedily accustomed itself to both theexpectation of, and the coping with, unusual conditions. It went forthabout its daily affairs; it started for home a little early in order toget there in season; it eschewed subways and theaters; it learned to waitpatiently, when one of the three blights struck its world, as a man waitspatiently for a shower to pass.
This class, as has been said, was preponderantly in the majority, butits mass was being constantly diminished as a little knowledge ofdanger seeped into its substance. News of the possible catastrophepassed from mouth to mouth; a world outside, waiting aghast at suchfatuity, began to get in its messages. Street corner alarmists talkedto such as would listen. Thousands upon thousands left the city.Hundreds of thousands more, tied hard and fast by the strings ofnecessity, waited in an hourly growing dread.
The "sign" had been sent promptly at six o'clock, as promised. It provedDarrow's prediction by turning out to be a stoppage of the electricalsystems. This time it lasted only half an hour-long enough to throw thetraffic and transportation into confusion. It was followed at shortintervals by demonstrations in light and sound; none was of long duration.
After the first few, their occurrence came freakishly, in flashes, asthough the hidden antagonist delighted in confusing his immense audience.The messages he sent over the wireless in the Atlas Building grew more andmore threatening and grandiose. They demanded invariably that McCarthyshould be sought out and delivered up to a rather vaguely describedvengeance; and threatened with dire calamities all the inhabitants ofManhattan if the Unknown's desires were not fulfilled. These threats grewmore definite in character as time went on.
The effect of all this in the long run was, of course, confusion andinstability. People laughed or cursed; but they also listened andreasoned. Gradually, throughout the city, dread was extending theblackness of its terror. A knowledge that would have caused a tremendouspanic if it had been divulged suddenly now gave birth to a deep seateduneasiness.
Where the panic would have torn men up by the roots and flung them interrorized mobs through the congested ways and out into the inhospitablecountry, the uneasiness of dread held them cowering at their accustomedtasks. They were afraid; but they had had time to think, and they realizedwhat it would mean to leave their beloved or accustomed or necessary city,as the case might be. And it must be remembered that the definiteknowledge of what might be feared was not yet disseminated among them.
But this attitude hurt business, and business struck back. The subwayswere practically deserted; the theaters empty; the accustomed carelesslife of the Great White Way thinned; the streams of life slackened.Furthermore, the intelligent criminal immediately discovered that idealshields were being provided him gratis behind which to conduct his crimes.In the silence a man could blow out the side of a bank building withimpunity, provided only he kept out of sight. In the darkness he couldpilfer at will, with only the proviso that he forget not his gum shoes.The possibilities of night crime when electricity lacks have already beentouched upon.
To meet unusual conditions the people individually and collectively roseto heights of forgotten ingenuity. The physical life of a city is so wellestablished that the average city dweller grows out of the pioneer virtueof adaptability. Now once more these people were forced to meet new anduntried conditions, to guard against new dangers, new opposing forces. Inan incredibly short space of time they grew out of aimless panic. Theylearned to sit tight; to guard adequately their lives, their treasure, andeven to a certain extent their time against undue loss.
In the meantime the moneyed powers had been prompt to act. They did notintend to stand idly while their pockets were being picked by untowardcircumstances; nor did they intend to continue indefinitely the unusualexpenditures necessary to guard themselves against even a greater loss. Asthere seemed to be two men to find, they employed the best of detectivesto search for McCarthy; and professor Eldridge, as the greatest livingexpert, to hunt down the Unknown. Thus unexpectedly Eldridge found himselfwith definite backing in his strange duel with Darrow.
It is now desirable to place before the reader samples of the messagessent by Monsieur X and received in the wireless office of the AtlasBuilding, after which we can proceed once more to follow out the sequenceof events.
"TO THE PEOPLE: The sign has been sent you. You must now believe. The traitor is among you, and you must hunt him down. This is your sacred duty, for I, your master, have laid it upon you."
That was one of the first. After a round dozen of similar import, therecame this:
"TO THE PEOPLE: I, your master, am displeased with you. The visitations of darkness and of silence have been sent, but you have heeded little. I doubt not that ye search, as I have commanded, but you do not realize to the full your sacred obligation. You go about your business and you carry on your affairs. Your business and your affairs are not so important as these, my commands. Beware lest you draw down the wrath of the Lord's Anointed. I am patient with your ignorance; but give heed."
The last at present to which your attention is called came just before theevents to be detailed:
"TO THE PEOPLE: Your time is drawing short. You are a stubborn and a stiff-necked generation. My patience is ebbing away. You have been shown the power of my right hand, and you have gone your accustomed ways. You have defied the might of the Right Hand of God. Now I will lay on you my commands.
"You must seek out Apollyon and deliver him even into my hands, and that shortly. I shall be patient yet a little while longer, for I know that you grope in darkness and have not the light that shines upon me. But soon I shall strike."