"Well," demanded Hogarth, "what success?"

Dan looked up casually. "Oh," he declared, trying to appear unconcerned, "as much as could be expected."

"What the devil does that mean?" snapped Wiley, projecting his ridged horse-face pugnaciously. "You promised results in a week. Have you had them? Can you put the earth back on its...o...b..t?"

"If you'll give me more time--"

"More time, and we'll all be driven to our deaths!" stormed Malvine.

"Not another day! No, not another hour!"

Wiley, who had been peering into the recesses of the Deflector, was fumbling in an exploratory fashion at its fittings. Suddenly he pulled a half concealed lever, released a panel, and let out a low whistle. "What in blazes is this?"

With an angry wrench, he drew out a ma.s.s of wires, bulbs and batteries.

"Looks to me like a radio transmitter!" he growled.

All three men glared menace at Dan. He had foreseen and dreaded this very event. Confronted with the evidence, it would be folly to attempt a denial. His only course would be to try to turn suspicion in the least dangerous channel.

"Of course it's a radio transmitter," he admitted, quietly. "I'll be frank with you--I was hoping to find a chance to get away."

Ominously the three conspirators closed about him. There was a nasty rumble in Wiley's voice as he decided. "Well then, you d.a.m.ned traitor, it's up to us to put you where you won't get away--not for many a good long day! We were cursed fools to place any trust in you!"

Abruptly he motioned to the guards. "Solitary confinement again--and a bread and water diet!" he barked. "Maybe that'll bring him around to reason!"

But even as Dan, bound and handcuffed, was being dragged off, he had grim satisfaction in reflecting that his persecutors could not guess the real purpose of his radio.

By the first of September, the earth was farther off its course than ever. Eleven million, twelve million, thirteen million miles! And every day the distance widened. Would its...o...b..t, like that of a periodic comet, be lengthened into a long ellipse, taking it into the unthinkable cold beyond Jupiter or Saturn?

This was the question in every one's mind, when on September 2 a full-page advertis.e.m.e.nt appeared in America's leading papers: "$50,000 Reward! For invention to counteract the Cosmic Deflector! All reasonable propositions given immediate personal attention. Hogarth, Wiley and Malvine."

It was on the never-to-be-forgotten third of September that the advertisers received their first applicant for the award. It was a young woman, of sad and earnest appearance; and the clerk who questioned her, perceiving that she had extraordinary information to offer, lost no time about summoning Hogarth.

"My name is Landers--Mary Landers," she introduced herself. "I was a laboratory a.s.sistant of Daniel Holcomb when he invented telurox. I have been trying to increase its power, and have had remarkable success. In fact, I come to claim that fifty thousand."

Hogarth gasped.

The caller went on to explain how, as a result of a long series of computations, she had mixed a small quant.i.ty of a certain bis.m.u.th salt with the telurox; and how this had increased its activity by more than fifty per cent. Fortunately, a huge Deflector had already been set up in the laboratory, for experimental purposes.

"Have you taken any observations today?" she finished. "If so, perhaps you've noticed that the earth is fifty thousand miles nearer the sun than yesterday."

"By glory!" exclaimed Hogarth. "That's just what La.s.son Observatory reported, but I thought those fellows were all soused. Let's see! Got a model machine to show me?"

"Everything's over at Merlin University. If you'll just step into your car, we'll be there in twenty minutes."

"You bet I will!" agreed Hogarth eagerly, as he reached for his hat. "No harm looking at it!"

The young woman started toward the door; then turned back, as if on an after-thought. "Oh, by the way, don't your partners want to join us? I'd like to give a real demonstration, which it would waste a lot of good time and energy to repeat."

"Don't see what they've got on hand more important," muttered Hogarth.

"Wait a minute."

From an adjoining room she could hear Hogarth's voice rising disputatiously. "No harm investigating, anyhow!" And she could not keep back a secret exultation when, after a time, he appeared in company with two men whom he introduced as "Mr. Wiley" and "Mr. Malvine."

Half an hour later, she had led them into the University laboratory, a corner of which had been part.i.tioned off. There a twenty-four-inch telescope-like tube shot up through the ceiling; while nearer at hand was a table covered with complicated electrical devices.

"Well, trot out your discoveries!" barked Wiley.

From a compartment Miss Landers drew three pairs of binoculars, with wires attached. "Adjust these, gentlemen," she instructed.

Automatically each man reached for a pair. And as they took them, a look of triumph crossed the woman's averted face. She pressed a b.u.t.ton--and with what astonishing results!

[Ill.u.s.tration: Her finger sought the b.u.t.ton behind her; found it...]

All three men gasped, and began to writhe. A convulsive shudder shot through each; they sagged, and fell to the floor; then gradually all three stiffened, except for their necks and faces, which still twitched spasmodically.

At the same time, the young woman pressed a buzzer; and three men, in the uniforms of university guards, hastened in with ropes, which they wound around the helpless trio.

"What--what in h.e.l.l's name is this?" sputtered Wiley, as he began to recover from the first shock. "We--we're paralyzed!"

"That's just it," stated the lady, calmly. "You're paralyzed, from the necks down. I merely wanted to introduce you to another little invention of your friend Dan Holcomb. He asked me to show it to you, with his compliments. You see, the rays of telurox, much diluted and carried over a wire, will temporarily paralyze the human nerve centers. But have no fear. The spell will wear off in half an hour."

"This--this is an outrage!" groaned Hogarth, as he lay amid his ropes.

"Not at all. I'm sure, when you're no longer paralyzed, you won't mind signing a little paper, containing an order for the release of Mr.

Holcomb--"

"What the devil makes you so interested in Holcomb?" flared back Wiley.

"Well, it's only that I happen to be his wife. Mary Landers is the name of a cousin of mine. Dan and I have been planning to get him out of your dungeon when you locked him up there again, as we expected you would.

I'm simply carrying out his ideas."

Angry sounds, like the growls of enraged bears, came from the throats of all three prisoners.

"If we sign," demanded Malvine, "will you let us go?"

"There's only one promise I can make. If you don't sign, my friends here"--she designated the three guards--"will see that you remain paralyzed."

The conspirators were trapped, and they knew it; were caught like rats in a corner, beyond rescue by the corrupt system they had built up. And so, after their paralysis had begun to wear off and they had been re-paralyzed several times in succession, they bowed their heads in capitulation.

"Come on," snarled Hogarth, "give us that d.a.m.ned paper!"

He glanced over the sheet, and an even angrier snarl came from his throat.

"You must think we're crazy, young lady!" he roared. "You can go to h.e.l.l before we'll sign!"

The doc.u.ment was not only an order for Dan's release, but a confession of the criminal manner in which he had been seized and detained.