CHAPTER XXV THE WHISPERER TALKS
Routing out a farmer a half mile north of the Captain's old home, DrewLane got the local sheriff on the wire and told him what had been done.An hour later the four prisoners were behind bars in the county jail, andIggy the Snake, who had put an end to a half-score of useful men, was inthe morgue.
The clock was striking midnight when Drew got Captain Burns on the wire.
"What luck?" he asked the Captain with a voice hard to control.
"Some luck, Drew," the Captain answered. "Tell you about it later.Thought I had something more. It went up like old St. Nick's reindeers,straight into thin air!"
"Drive out early in the morning." There was suppressed animation inDrew's tone. "We got some Christmas presents for you."
"Not what we been after?"
"The same."
"No--N-o-o!" The Captain fairly stuttered.
"All five. One tried, condemned and executed; four behind the bars.
"Turkey weighs twenty-five pounds." He changed his tone hastily. "It'llbe stuffed with oysters and other things. You'll be out?"
"Before you're up," the Captain rumbled. "Merry Christmas!" He hung up.
"It _is_ Christmas at that," Drew murmured after consulting his watch.
It was late when the stockings were filled that night. Is it any wonderthat presents were sadly mixed, that Johnny received a powder-puff andAlice a bright and shiny toy pistol? But what did it matter?
The sun was high when the young people piled out of their bunks in thecold little bedrooms. Already the savory odors of a feast, of a turkeyroasting, cranberries stewing, mince pie baking, was in the air. What didpresents matter? A feast, and joyous and more peaceful times were justahead.
The Captain did not keep his promise. He arrived at ten o'clock insteadof at dawn.
"Had to wait for this young lady," he explained, helping Grace Krowl outof his car. "Wanted her to have a look at one of your friends," hechuckled. "No time to talk of crooks, but that man J. Templeton Semp, thedutiful house detective, is none other than Dapper Dan Drew in othercircles, and Dapper Dan, as you know, is one of the men you have in jail.
"It often happens," he added when the surprise had subsided, "that menwho are so very good at enforcing little unimportant regulations, such asthe J. Templeton Semp Black List, are very bad in other ways.
"But wait!" the Captain exclaimed. "I have still another guest." He gaveJoyce Mills a strange look, then he roared:
"Old Man, come out!"
Out stepped Newton Mills. Like a flash, his daughter was in his arms.
"And might I add," said Grace Krowl, "that he is also the mysteriousWhisperer of the air!"
"That," said the Captain, "calls for a lot of explaining. Suppose weretire to the parlor?"
"There's really nothing very mysterious about that whisper business,"said Newton Mills when they were all gathered about the fire. "I becameinterested in something they call narrow-casting. It's one of the uses ofthe electric eye. You really talk down a beam of light."
"Talk down a beam of light!" someone exclaimed.
"Surely." He smiled. "It's really very simple. You talk into amicrophone. An instrument takes up the sound impulses of your voice andchanges them to light impulses. These impulses may be sent down a beam oflight a mile, ten, twenty, thirty miles. How far? No one knows.
"A very special reflector catches those light impulses. A mechanismcontaining an electric eye changes those light impulses back into soundimpulses. And then you hear my voice thirty miles away.
"The wonderful part is, Captain--" He leaned forward eagerly. "Only aperson with the proper mechanism in the line of that ray of light canhear them! Think of being able to sit in my high tower and send secretmessages to a score of my fellow detectives, and never a crook listeningin! I tell you it is going to be a great thing for crime hunters in thefuture!"
"Do you know," Johnny asked, "that you in your high tower came near beingthe end of this young giant?" He nodded toward Spider.
Newton Mills stared in surprise. Then he said, dryly, "A caller shouldsend in his card."
"But how was it you could see me as well as speak to me?" Grace Krowlasked.
"Television." Newton Mills smiled afresh. "I'd had a set installed inthat room. It's a rather crude set. But you can see a person well enoughto recognize him even now."
"And that must have been why I could see Iggy the Snake and the stolenbonds back there in the 'House of Magic,'" Johnny put in.
"Probably was," Newton Mills agreed.
"Speaking of those bonds," said Captain Burns, "last night I recoveredall but a few of them. Great luck! Fine Christmas present for that closedbank!"
"And for the depositors," Drew Lane added.
"And now," said Madame LeClare, appearing in the doorway, "soup's on!"
"On with the feast!" cried the Captain.
A moment later they were all seated about a broad table that groanedunder its weight of good things to eat.
Bowing their heads, they sang their grace before meat.
"Peace on earth, good will toward men!" the Captain rumbled.
"If only the men of this earth had good will toward one another, we couldthrow away our sticks and guns and come to a peaceful spot like this tolive all our days."
It was a very merry time they had in the Captain's boyhood home thatChristmas day and a joyous journey they made back to the city. And whynot? Had they not been sentenced to death by their enemies and theenemies of all honest men, and had they not escaped and triumphed?
Next day Johnny returned to the "House of Magic." He found, however, thatmuch of its charm had gone with the solving of its many mysteries.
"Yes. It was television that made it possible for you to see your friendIggy and the stolen bonds," Felix admitted freely enough. "It is veryimperfect at present. The time will come, however, when you will be ableto look in upon wrongdoers from some spot miles away, and perhaps," headded with a chuckle, "we will be able to look right through walls ofcement, stone or steel. Who dares say we won't?
"I suppose," he went on a moment later, "you'd like to know what we wereabout in that balloon when the long one and the short one, who beyonddoubt were Iggy and one of his pals, cut us loose in that balloon. Wewere about to talk down a beam of light. Shortly after that I made theacquaintance of Newton Mills. He told me he had been working on that. Wearranged to complete the experiment from the Sky Ride tower. He swore meto secrecy--so you see I couldn't well take you in on it."
"Well," yawned Johnny, "looks as if it were going to be a trifle dullaround here for a time."
"Might be and might not," the inventor's son grinned. "Father is workingon some marvelous things. Don't go far from here without leaving youraddress. We may need you."
"I'll keep in touch," Johnny agreed.
Unfortunately the peace and good will the brave Captain spoke of over theChristmas feast in his old home does not yet exist. The world is still atwar with itself. Because of this we are likely to have more to tell ouryoung adventurers in the near future. If this proves true, you will findit recorded in a book called _Wings of Mystery_.
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Transcriber's note:
--Copyright notice provided as in the original printed text--this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.
--Obvious typographical errors were corrected without comment.
--Variant spellings and dialect were left unchanged.
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