CHAPTER IX.
Next morning the world read at its breakfast table that the MississippiRiver had frozen over just below St. Louis, and that the water wasrising rapidly. The river had frozen solidly up to the surface. Thelevel rose, and the water started to flow over the top of the ice cake,only to be turned into ice as it did so. Hour by hour the level rose,and hour by hour the solid ice barrier rose with the water level. Menhad tried to blast a way through for the rushing waters, but withouteffect. As fast as the water tried to flow through the opening made bya charge of dynamite it froze again and plugged the hole through whichit was attempting to escape.
Hastily improvised levees were thrown up, but the water outstrippedthe efforts of the builders. The lower part of St. Louis was flooded,and a great part of the population made homeless. Then low-lying landsbeside the river were gradually submerged. In twenty-four hours therewere calls for help all along the upper part of the Mississippi Valley.The rising water had flooded immense areas of cultivated land, and evenlarger areas were threatened. In another day a thousand square milesof crops were under water, and the loss in live stock was assumingformidable proportions. The new cold bomb in New York harbor had creptup to the Battery, as Teddy had foreseen. The Norfolk cold bomb hadexploded, fortunately without loss of life. Gibraltar had witnessedthree almost simultaneous blasts, and was again free of ice, but thewhole world knew that it was at the mercy of Varrhus.
Davis, Evelyn, and Teddy were discussing the matter dolefully. Davishad been coming to the laboratory daily in the hopes of hearing thatTeddy had devised some plan for the frustration of Varrhus' ambitiousschemes. Teddy found himself liking Davis immensely, but with apeculiarly illogical annoyance that Evelyn seemed to like him quite aswell. When he had phoned her of his safety after the fight with Varrhushe could hear a flood of thankfulness in her voice, but when he sawher the next day she was almost distant. He saw traces of real anxietyon her face, but she had not been really natural until they had workednearly all day on the silver bracelet, trying to find what had beendone to the surface to give it its peculiar property of allowing heatto pass in one direction, but not in the other. They were as far asever from the solution. Davis was quite ignorant of abstract chemistryor physics and could not join in their discussions, but Teddy fanciedthat he was much more interested in Evelyn than was necessary. He wasannoyed to find that he resented it. He had always looked on Evelynas a comrade, and he could not understand this feeling that tookpossession of him. It did not occur to him to speculate upon the factthat he found ideas coming to him much more readily when working byEvelyn's side, or that he rarely attempted anything without askingher opinion. Teddy had never thought much of romance, and he did notsuspect how much Evelyn's companionship meant to him.
Davis was reiterating for the fortieth time his disappointment atVarrhus' getting away.
"We almost had him," he said disgustedly. "Our explosive bullets wereplaying all over his infernal flying machine. We'd have landed onein that little glass cabin of his and smashed him nicely in anotherminute, when he skipped off like that. And I'll swear to it we weredoing a hundred and eighty miles an hour."
"He ran away from us pretty easily," said Teddy dismally. "Isn't therea faster machine than yours we could get hold of?"
"Nothing but a single-seater, and not so much faster at that,"said Davis. "A hundred and ninety-five is the best even the latestsingle-seater combat planes will do at a low altitude."
"Even for a short burst of speed?" asked Evelyn.
"Diving, you'll run up faster than that," Davis explained. "When wewent straight down after Varrhus, we must have gone over two hundred,but for straightaway work we've nothing that will catch Varrhus."
"What's the official speed record?" asked Evelyn, toying with a testtube. She looked singularly pretty in the long white apron she wore inthe laboratory.
"Two hundred and fifteen, I think," said Davis. "Some Spanish aviatormade it. He'd doped his gas with picric acid, though."
"What does that do?" asked Teddy quickly.
"It's explosive, and about doubles the force of your explosions. Iteats your engines right up, though. They used to use it in motor-boatraces until a rule was made against it. You see, an engine is ruinedafter twenty minutes or so, and it made the racing unfair for peoplewho couldn't buy a new engine for every race."
Teddy's face grew thoughtful.
"Picric acid," he said meditatively. "Suppose we used it in the gas ofyour plane. Would we have a chance of catching Varrhus?"
"I don't know," Davis said thoughtfully. "I hardly think so. It wouldmake our speed better, but if it were anything of a chase our motorswould be ruined before we'd gone far."
"The acid attacks the steel of the cylinders and makes the bore toolarge?" Teddy seemed to be thinking rapidly.
"Yes. You lose all your compression."
Teddy looked at Evelyn.
"Suppose the pistons and the interiors of your cylinders were platedwith platinum? Platinum is one of the hardest metals, and should standup under a great deal of wear."
"Would platinum resist the attack of the acid?" Davis grew excited.
"Surely."
Davis jumped to his feet.
"Then we've got him! New piston rings will let you plate the cylinderswithout reboring them unless you're going to plate them heavily. Canyou do the plating?"
"Try," said Teddy.
"We make a hundred and eighty with straight gasoline," said Davisexcitedly. "With doped gas----How long will it take to fix my motors?"
"Four or five hours. We'll borrow the acid vats of some electro-platingconcern. Evelyn will mix the solution of platinum salts. I'll goarrange to borrow the vats while you get your motors disassembled andbrought here on a motor truck."
Teddy hastily began to put on his coat.
"You're going to try to fight Varrhus again?" asked Evelyn anxiously.
"Are we?" asked Davis cheerfully. "Just ask me! We are."
"You hit him several times in the last fight," said Evelyn faintly,"and it didn't do any good."
"We'll use armor-piercing bullets this time," said Davis exuberantly."Or we may be able to mount a one-pounder automatic. I think the planewill stand it. And at worst we can ram him."
Evelyn turned a trifle pale. "That means you'll both be killed."
Davis smiled. "Maybe not. We'll take a chance anyway, won't we, Gerrod?"
Teddy nodded shortly. "I'm going to get Varrhus or he's going to getme," he said succinctly.
They started for the front door. The commissioner of police was justgetting out of his car.
"News, most likely," said Teddy, and they waited.
The commissioner of police looked worried when he shook hands withTeddy.
"My men have been trying to trace that package that contained thebracelet," he told him, "and have found that it was put in a countryrural-delivery mail box after dark. The mail carrier took it when hemade his morning route. There's absolutely no way of tracing it anyfarther. Any one might have passed by in an automobile and have put itin. The farmer in whose box it was is above suspicion. Now another setof letters has been sent in the same way from another rural-deliverybox a hundred miles from the first. One is addressed to Miss Hawkins.I have it here. The postal authorities called me in when they saw theenvelope."
He showed a huge yellow envelope addressed to Evelyn. In one corner wasa large return card. "_The Dictatorial Residence._"
"It might be almost anything," said Davis. "Better not let Miss Hawkinsopen it. I'll do it, Gerrod."
Teddy shook his head.
"We'll tell her about it, and I'll open it in the laboratory."
Evelyn and Davis waited apprehensively until Teddy emerged from thatroom.
"No cold bombs, no electric shocks, and no poison gas," he said,smiling. "Just a _billet doux_ to Evelyn. It fits in beautifully withour plans, Davis."
Evelyn took the sheet he extended to her, and read:
THE DICTATORIAL RESIDENCE, Augu
st 29th.
His Excellency Wladislaw Varrhus, dictator of the earth, has been much annoyed by the efforts of one Theodore Gerrod to obstruct his plans and desires. He has been informed through the press of the fact that Miss Evelyn Hawkins has collaborated with and encouraged Theodore Gerrod in his rash attempts. His excellency the dictator is pleased to require that Miss Evelyn Hawkins repair to a spot some five miles due east from Norman's Reef, off the coast of Maine. Miss Hawkins may bring with her a maid and such baggage as she may require. She is to be held as security for the cessation of Theodore Gerrod's efforts to impede the secure establishment of the dictatorship. The Mississippi River has been closed to traffic, and will remain closed until this order has been obeyed by Miss Hawkins. The time set for Miss Hawkins' appearance at that spot is daybreak of Tuesday, September the third. Given at the dictatorial residence.
WLADISLAW VARRHUS.
Evelyn looked at the three men with a white face. The commissioner ofpolice looked grave. Davis was smiling, and Teddy was smiling, too, butwith a blaze of anger in his eyes.
"Gerrod," said Davis whimsically, "I am much depressed that Varrhusdidn't include me with you as making efforts to obstruct his plans anddesires."
"The government will have to be notified," said the commissioner ofpolice solemnly.
"Do--do you think I had better go?" asked Evelyn hesitatingly.
"No!" exploded Teddy and Davis together. Teddy went on: "Why, Evelyn,the man is insane! And besides we've just thought of something that'ssure to get him. We'll lay in wait for him, and then he'll walk intoour parlor nicely. When he does------"
"_Finis_," said Davis cheerfully, "if I may borrow a phrase from theFrench."
"And if it's a long chase," said Teddy even more cheerfully, "the dearperson set the time for dawn, and we'll have light to fight by. Let'sgo and set to work on that plane of yours."
They left together in high spirits. Evelyn stood quite still afterthey had gone, absently crushing the letter from Varrhus in her hand.Presently, with a sob, she went to her room and allowed herself to cry.They would not let her face danger, but Teddy was going out to fight,perhaps to die--and for her.
Over at the hangar, mechanics swarmed upon the fighting plane,dismounting the motors and disassembling them. The cylinders andpistons were being carefully packed. A big motor truck had alreadybacked up at the wide door of the a?roplane shed, and as fast as theparts were packed they were loaded on it. Davis was here, there, andeverywhere. He had asked permission for the experiment, and it has beengranted. The government was prepared to risk almost anything ratherthan allow Varrhus to succeed in his huge blackmailing of the entirehuman race. There was no hesitation in allowing anything that mightafford a fighting chance of downing the black flyer. The Mississippifloods were growing in size and destructiveness. The New York coldbomb, dropped the night Teddy and Davis had fought the black machineover the harbor, was expected to explode at any moment. Every windowstill intact in the city had been pasted with strips of paper to keepthe fragments from becoming a menace to those on the streets when thebomb should burst them.
Davis had conferred with the commandant of the forts, and volunteershad been asked for among the garrison. A boat was being heavily armedwith concealed guns. It would go to the point where Varrhus wouldexpect Evelyn to be taken. He would see the small boat, drop downto take Evelyn on board his evil craft, and the masked batteries ofanti-aircraft guns would open on him in a blast of fire. Teddy'sdiscovery that flares fired into the cloud of liquified gas would causeit to burn harmlessly in mid-air had been adapted to protect the crew.As the guns opened on the hovering black flyer a stream of fire ballswould be made to float overhead to set flaming the stream of liquidhydrogen Varrhus might be expected to shoot downward. At that, though,the mission of the boat crew was hazardous in the extreme.
The telephone rang in the hangar. Teddy was on the wire. He hadcommandeered the big wooden acid vats of an electro-plating plant,and the platinum-plating solution was being mixed even then. If Davisbrought the motors over in parts, the plating might begin immediately.
The big truck rumbled off, Davis smiling confidently on the seatbeside the chauffeur. Half a dozen mechanics perched on various partsof the load. When the truck stopped before the electro-plating plantthey leaped off and rushed the glistening cylinders inside. In twentyminutes they were in the plating solution and an almost infinitely thinfilm of platinum was slowly forming within them.
The workmen of the electro-plating plant labored far into the nighton their task. Teddy had insisted that a film of platinum ten timesthe thickness of the usual precious-metal plating be used, and theprocess was slow. When the cylinders had been prepared, the pistonsremained, and the exhaust ports and valves. These, too, were coatedwith the hard, acid-resisting metal, and Davis' mechanics began theirtask of fitting piston rings to the altered motor parts. The ringsthemselves had then to be plated, and all the plating burnished andpolished. Teddy and Davis snatched a few hours' sleep while the motorin its disassembled state was being carried back to the hangar andre-installed in the a?roplane. They woke, and during all the followingday Davis sat in the pilot's seat, listening with a practiced ear andaiding in the final tuning up of the changed motors, adjusting thecarburetors to their new fuel. Thirty per cent of picric acid added tothe finest, highest grade gasoline was to be used. No one had dareduse such a percentage before, even for motors that were expected to beruined.
Teddy, in the meantime, was familiarizing himself with the smallone-pounder automatic gun--similar to the German antitankweapons--that was to be installed in the bow of the a?roplane. Bynightfall all was finished. Teddy ran over to New York and saw Evelynfor the last time before making his attempt, and the next morning heand Davis flew to Noman's Reef, where a camouflaged hangar had beenerected on telegraphed instructions from New York. Tuesday dawn foundthem alert and anxiously scanning the sky for a sign of the black flyer.
A Thousand Degrees Below Zero Page 9