The Project Gutenberg eBook of The invisible master
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The invisible master
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Illustrator: Frank R. Paul
J Ruger
Release date: July 21, 2024 [eBook #74086]
Language: English
Original publication: United States: Techni-Craft Publishing Corporation, 1930
Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INVISIBLE MASTER ***
The Invisible Master
By EDMOND HAMILTON
Author of
_The Hidden World, Cities in the Air, etc._
_Illustrated By RUGER_
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Scientific Detective Monthly April 1930.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
_A thousand alarms are pouring into Police Headquarters! The
Invisible Master broods over the city! Who is He? We defy any
reader to guess the secret! Even the editorial staff of SCIENTIFIC
DETECTIVE MONTHLY was astounded at the conclusion of this
scientific yarn. Write and tell us if you were able to foretell the
ending._
_If you were to ask us which, in our opinion, is the greatest
scientific detective story of the year, we certainly would
pronounce the present story to be that unusual gem._
_Here is a story that will keep you fascinated, not only in
connection with its excellence of science, understandable by
everyone, but by the fast-moving action for which this well-known
author is famous._
_Invisibility in this sort of story is perhaps not a new idea;
but we venture to say that no one can foretell the O. Henry-like
ending, which is as unexpected as it is dramatic._
CHAPTER I
Carton Earns His Salary
"And to think," Charlie Carton exclaimed, "that they pay you a city
editor's salary for ideas like that!"
The other looked up from his desk, nettled. "I didn't say I took any
stock in the thing, Carton," he pointed out. "But I got the tip that
the _Courier_ and the _Sphere_ have their men hurrying out to the
university, and we can't afford to miss anything."
"And I'm to write a breath-holding tale of how Dr. Howard Grantham, the
super-physicist, has discovered the secret of invisibility?" demanded
Carton.
The city-editor smiled. "Write it any way you please," he said, turning
to the papers on his desk. "But whatever you get out of it, see that
the _Courier_ and _Sphere_ men don't get more!"
"I'll get out of it some pointers on the methods of publicity-crazy
scientists, if nothing else," was Carton's parting shot.
It was with this skepticism strong in him that he rode uptown on the
west-side subway, nor had his mood changed by the time he emerged again
into the morning sunlight. East and northward from him stretched the
campus of America University, a sweep of green from which rose the
great gray buildings. Carton walked quickly toward the building, one of
the nearest to him, that held the university's world-famed department
of physical science.
Once inside, he was directed through long corridors and past the doors
of laboratories filled with gleaming apparatus and intent students,
until he reached the door he sought. When he pushed it open he walked
into a small ante-room in which two men of his own age and unscholarly
appearance were lounging and smoking. They greeted him with calls of
joy.
"Carton, you're not stuck with this yarn too?" one asked. "You'll be
graduating to the Sunday supplements if you keep on."
"I can see the _Inquirer's_ headlines tonight," chaffed the other.
"'Noted scientist makes amazing discovery----'"
"Where is our noted scientist?" asked Carton of Burns, the _Courier's_
man.
"Dr. Grantham is even now engaged upon the tremendous work which he
will presently reveal to the eager press," said the other. "In other
words, he and that sour-faced assistant of his, Gray, are cooking up
something to get page-one space."
"I don't know about that, Burns, at that," put in the third
reflectively. "Dr. Grantham's got a great rep among the science boys,
and he's never been any space-hound."
"Well, why his announcement of this stuff, then?" demanded Carton.
"Claiming to be able to make matter invisible at will--rot! It's just
the old cancer-cure dodge the ambitious medics use, worked out in a
different way."
"Perhaps so," said the other, "but--"
He was interrupted by the entrance of a man from the room beyond, at
sight of whom Carton found himself revising some of his conceptions.
Dr. Howard Grantham was a man of over middle age, big and of average
appearance with his graying hair and clean-shaven face, but with very
unaverage eyes, gray and strong and steady. When he spoke his voice
seemed to hold a calm and contained power.
Powers of Invisibility
"I apologize for keeping you waiting, gentlemen," he told them, "but
you will appreciate that a demonstration of my discovery at this stage
is somewhat difficult. However, Gray and I think we can give you an
idea, at least, of the thing."
"You mean you're going to make some matter invisible before us?" Carton
asked incredulously, and as the scientist turned toward him, added
quickly, "I'm Carton--of the _Inquirer_."
Dr. Grantham bowed. "Yes," he said quietly, "we think we can give
you a demonstration of it on a small scale. Will you step this way,
gentlemen?"
As Carton passed after the physicist with his two companions into
the room beyond, he felt his skepticism fading still farther. It was
apparently Dr. Grantham's private laboratory into which they were
ushered. Beside a table in it there awaited them a dark young man of
thirty or so, with quick black probing eyes. When introduced to the
reporters as Gray, Dr. Grantham's assistant, he gave them but a curt
nod.
The room seemed full of physical apparatus for the most part of
outlandish appearance to Carton, he and his two fellow-journalists
looking alertly around them. Upon the table before them, just inside
the casement through which the brilliant sunlight was streaming, rested
a squat cabinet of black metal, but inches square, with a small metal
framework on it and with connections to what seemed small batteries and
a row of three switches.
Dr. Grantham was drawing their attention to this when the door behind
them opened and another entered, an impeccably-dressed older man whose
white head and genial countenance the reporters recognized instantly
as that of Dr. Calvin Ellsworth, America University's very prominent
president. He waved Grantham back as the latter turned toward him.
"Don't let me interrupt, Grantham," he adjured him. "I just wanted to
be a spectator like the rest."
Dr. Grantham nodded in understanding, and turned back to the reporters.
"To describe understandingly what I am going to show you," he told
them, "you must understand something of the principle involved in this.
I can make invisible, and that may seem a strange thing to many, who
have not ever stopped to wonder just why matter is visible at all."
"Why is it, then? Why do we see a house? We see it for two reasons, its
obstruction and reflection of light. The light-rays come to us from all
around it, but not from behind the house because they are stopped by
it. The house, then, is an area of comparative darkness to us, and so
is outlined against the light. Also light is reflected from all sides
upon it and to our eyes."
"But suppose that the light-rays behind, instead of being stopped by
the house, curved round it? Then we would see what was behind the
house, with ease, and the house itself would be quite invisible to us,
granted that light striking it from all sides did not really strike it
but curved around it. Then if I want to make a house, or a tree, or a
stone, invisible, all I need to do is to deflect the light-rays around
it in such a way that they will curve around and avoid it instead of
ever striking it."
"Can that be done? In principle, it has been possible for years, for
years ago we learned that light does not always travel in straight
lines but can be deflected to one side or another by certain forces.
Einstein's discoveries showed that, it being photographically confirmed
after his theory that the light-rays of stars curve in toward the
sun in passing it in space. If there is a force that will attract
light-rays and make them curve in toward an object, why not a force
that will repel the light-rays and make them curve outward to avoid an
object?"
Sought for Years
"It is that force which for years I have sought and which I have
finally found. It is an electromagnetic force which repels light-rays
and by curving them around the zone of force can make all matter in
that zone invisible. Understand, it does not blot out light in any way,
it simply makes the light-rays detour around an object and so makes
that object invisible."
"So much for theory. I have here a small cabinet of black metal in
which is an apparatus for projecting this force upward for a few
inches. Any small object placed on top of the cabinet will become
invisible when the force from within is put into operation. If the
force were more powerful, and radiated out in every direction instead
of upward only, the cabinet itself and all around it would be made
invisible."
Dr. Grantham cast a quick glance around and then picked from the table
a small disk-shaped paper-weight of black, opaque glass.
"I shall endeavor to make this paper-weight invisible to your eyes--by
placing it on the cabinet and using the force within to bend the
light-rays around it."
He was turning with it to the little cabinet when Carton reached forth
a hand.
"May I look at the thing first?" he asked.
Dr. Grantham handed it to him, smiling. "Of course, and I trust you'll
find nothing faked about it."
The three reporters examined it closely, as did with evident interest
President Ellsworth. It was quite obviously no more than a disk of the
black glass used for paper-weights and inkstands. When they handed it
back to Dr. Grantham he leaned forward and placed it upright in the
little metal framework on the cabinet's top. It stood out there against
the brilliant sunlight streaming through the window just behind it, a
dead-black disk against that brilliant light.
Dr. Grantham turned to the assistant. "All ready, Gray?" he queried,
and the other nodded briefly.
"Everything on it set," he said. "The batteries are on."
"Please watch very closely," the physicist told those behind him.
"These tests are rather hard to arrange, and I don't want you to have
any doubts."
He pressed one of the switches beneath his hands, and from the cabinet
came a thin, almost inaudible whining. The three reporters and
President Ellsworth were watching spellbound. A half-dozen feet before
them the black disk of the paper-weight lay as dark as ever against
the sunlight streaming in. But as Dr. Grantham slowly turned a small
rheostat control they all uttered something like a sigh. The black disk
against the sunlight was becoming translucent, transparent. It was
disappearing!
[Illustration: As Dr. Grantham turned the rheostat control ... the
black disc against the sunlight ... began to disappear.]
Dr. Grantham's hand still moved on the rheostat handle and as the
thin whine from the cabinet came louder they saw that the disk was
but a mere ghost-like shape against the sunlight, and then that too
had vanished. The paper-weight was invisible! They gazed silently,
fascinated, and then as Grantham moved back the control in his hand the
shadowy circle of the disk appeared again, it grew quickly more opaque,
and as the switch clicked and the cabinet's whine ceased it rested
there as black and opaque and visible as ever!
Dr. Grantham leaned and grasped it, handed it to the four. Wonderingly
they passed it from hand to hand, seeing it the same as before, quite
black and commonplace and visible. Carton, himself oddly stirred by
what he had seen, heard Burns' exclamation from beside him.
"Good Lord! What a story!"
"And you can do that to anything?" Carton demanded of the physicist.
The Invisible Man
Dr. Grantham nodded. "To any matter. Gray and I are now finishing a
cabinet-projector that will be of sufficient power to make invisible
itself and all for a few feet around it. With it a man would be
perfectly invisible."
"An invisible man?" President Ellsworth was looking at the scientist
keenly. "My dear Grantham--do you mean it would make a man as invisible
as that paper-weight?"
The physicist calmly nodded. "Just that, and if he had the cabinet and
its compact batteries attached to him he could move at will invisibly."
"But the possibilities of that are rather appalling," said President
Ellsworth, his brows knit. "Do you realize that if some criminal were
to get hold of the thing, he could----"
"No criminal is going to hear of that part of it, even," Grantham told
him reassuringly. "I know that you, gentlemen, will at my request
confine your accounts to the principle of the discovery and to my
demonstration without hinting of its possibilities on a larger scale."
Already the reporters were at the door, but Carton turned back. "You
wouldn't mind if I'd take that paper-weight with me?" he asked,
somewhat apologetically. "Of course I know it's all square but editors
are such a skeptical crew--"
"Of course not," the physicist said, handing it to him. "Any valid
scientific discovery will stand all the investigations of it that can
be conceived. I only trust that you'll restrain your imaginations as
much as possible in your descriptions."
A half-hour later Carton was pouring out an excited tale to the city
editor of the _Inquirer_, who heard him with calm, lighting a cigar.
When he had tossed away the match, he looked up.
"It all boils down, then," he commented, "to the fact that Dr. Grantham
has made a claim and then put on some hocus-pocus up there to convince
you of it."
"Hocus-pocus nothing!" exclaimed Carton heatedly. "I tell you I was as
skeptical as you about it until he did the thing before our eyes, made
this paper-weight disappear!"
The editor scratched his chin reflectively. "Well, it can have a column
on page one," he said, "but remember to keep the responsibility on Dr.
Grantham. I'm not going to have this paper mixed up in a silly hoax."
"The biggest story to break in years and you call it a hoax!" Carton
said bitterly. "If the building was burning down around you, you'd wait
for a statement from the fire department before you'd run the story."
"Well, that would be better than retracting the story the next day,"
the other rejoined. "These scientists have brainstorms regularly,
Carton, and this discovery of Grantham's is one if I ever saw one."
It was in that frame of mind, Carton perceived when his story appeared
that afternoon, that it was read by most. The thing was accorded very
considerable space by most of the metropolitan newspapers, but all
of them were one with the _Inquirer_ in presenting Dr. Grantham's
claim and describing his demonstration of it without taking any
responsibility as to its truth. Too many times in the past had the
newspapers been duped by clever scientific hoaxes.
All had more or less accurate statements of Dr. Grantham's principle
of light-bending as a means of invisibility, and some had additional
statements from noted physicists and astro-physicists. These,
respectful for the most part of Dr. Grantham's huge reputation,
ventured no criticism or support of his theory, but corroborated his
statements as to the curving of light-rays in passing the sun. It was
assumed by all of them, and by the greater part of those who read
the articles, that even if true Dr. Grantham's discovery was a mere
laboratory triumph without possibility of any practical application.
Carton saw, with some exasperation, that the thing was being treated
only as another of the lurid pseudo-scientific sensations which had
long ceased to astound the public. Dr. Grantham himself had made no
statements other than to affirm quietly the fact of his discovery, and
Carton would have given much to have been able to spring the sensation
of the physicist's larger projector that would make a man invisible.
Without it, he saw, the thing as a news sensation was doomed to wither
and die quickly. But in this, for once, he was wrong.
For a few hours before the next morning his phone jangled and when he
answered sleepily the voice of the _Inquirer's_ night-editor jolted him
to attention.
"Carton? You handled that Grantham thing yesterday, didn't you? Then
pile out to America at once--Dr. Grantham's been attacked by someone
there, and there's a rumor of an invisibility apparatus of his being
stolen!"
CHAPTER II
The Machine
When Carton hurried a little later for the second time down the long
hall of the physics building of America University, his steps were
quickened by the sight of a little knot of men outside the door of
the rooms he had visited on the preceding day. There was Burns, his
fellow-reporter of the _Courier_, two blue-clad policemen, and another
man in plain clothes. All turned as he approached.
"Carton here saw it the same as I!" Burns was declaring. "He can tell
you, Sergeant Wade!"
The detective-sergeant turned toward Carton, greeting him with a nod.
He was familiar to the reporter, a sleepy-eyed, soft-moving man who
chewed gum unceasingly and slowly.
"What is it I'm supposed to have seen?" Carton demanded. "And where's
Dr. Grantham? And what's happened?"
"One thing at a time, Carton," soothed the sergeant. "Dr. Grantham's
had a nasty crack on the head, and a doctor's in there fixing him up.
In the meantime Burns here has been telling me a story about this
Grantham making something invisible here yesterday with some machine?"
"Don't you read the papers, Wade?" Carton asked. "If you did, you'd
have read last night that Dr. Grantham did just that."
"I never read what you fellows write," the detective assured him. "And
I think I'll do so even less from now on. Making things invisible--you
two haven't had any cracks on the head, have you?"
"Laugh on, ignorance," Carton told him as the other smiled slowly.
"You're the sap, Wade, not to believe it. Grantham pulled the thing not
only in front of three of us but also in front of President Ellsworth
of the university himself."
"President Ellsworth, eh?" queried Wade keenly. "Same that's in there
with Grantham now."
"In there?" they both asked, and the detective nodded. "Yes, it seems
he was the one that found Grantham. And you say he saw this stunt
pulled the same as you?"
He seemed to consider that. Carton was about to riddle him with
questions when the door opened and an elderly man beckoned them inside.
Carton and Burns slipped in with Sergeant Wade, and found Grantham
leaning back in a chair with a thick bandage round his head, his eyes
half-closed, and President Ellsworth bending anxiously over him. The
doctor who beckoned them turned to the detective.
"Simple enough," he stated, "a blow on the skull with something blunt,
more from the side than from behind. He says he was turning when it
came--it probably saved him from concussion."
Who Did It?
Wade nodded quickly, and as the doctor passed out moved over to the
seated scientist, Carton and Burns close behind him.
"Feeling better?" he asked. "Just take your time, Dr. Grantham--but
we'd like to hear something about it."
"There's nothing to tell," said Grantham, spreading his hands
helplessly. "Gray--that's my assistant--and I, had been working almost
all day yesterday on a cabinet-projector of the light-curving force.
We finished it after midnight, and then gave it its first tests on
ourselves. It worked perfectly, as I had been sure it would, giving
complete invisibility for either of us when the cabinet was strapped to
his back."
"Just a moment," interrupted the detective. "Do you mean that this
machine really made you or your assistant quite invisible?"
"Of course," the physicist said, with some wonder. "It was simply a
larger development of the small projector we showed these reporters
yesterday morning. When Gray wore it and turned it on he was absolutely
invisible to me, and it was the same when I tested it. We were both
very tired by then, and I told Gray he could go. When he had gone
I was starting to lock up the projector for safe-keeping, when I
heard a quick step behind me. I turned but was half-around when a
crashing blow descended on my head. As I lost consciousness I felt the
cabinet-projector being torn out of my hands, and then I knew nothing
more until I awoke an hour ago with President Ellsworth bending over
me."
Wade shifted his gum thoughtfully. "And you, sir?" to Ellsworth.
"I'm afraid I can tell you even less," said the President. "I knew
Grantham was working late last night and wanted to see him. It must
have been about three o'clock that I came in, and found him lying on
the floor stunned. I called the doctor first, and then the police."
"You saw no one leaving when you entered?"
"No one."
"But isn't three in the morning a rather unusual time for you to visit
your professors?" Wade asked.
President Ellsworth seemed somewhat perturbed at the question, glancing
toward Grantham and then back to the detective. "My reason was a
private one, but I have no objection to telling you of it. The fact is
that I had become worried over this experiment or theory of Grantham's
during the evening. While perfectly aware of his integrity, I realized
that this work of his had a touch of the sensational that might reflect
upon our institution, and I wanted to ask him to go slowly with the
thing until his work was beyond any chance of criticism."
"Natural enough," Wade commented. "And what of this Gray? You said it
was just after he left that you were struck from behind?"
"Yes, but that hardly makes him the criminal," said Grantham. "Gray
has been absolutely devoted to this work of ours, and though somewhat
silent and forbidding is quite reliable."
"You know where he lives?"
"Of course--not a thousand yards from here--in the rooming house
diagonally opposite this corner of the campus."
Sergeant Wade turned to one of the blue-clad officers and spoke quickly
to him. When the man had left he turned back to the physicist.
"This Gray, though, knew all about your projector just finished,
something but a handful of people did. And since he had seen it
make a man perfectly invisible, he must have been aware what powers
its possession would give anyone who wanted to go in for criminal
activities?"
"Anyone would have been aware of that," Dr. Grantham rejoined.
"President Ellsworth remarked on it at our demonstration yesterday."
"You cannot say, however, that it is impossible that Gray, after
leaving, crept back into the laboratory and struck you down and took
the projector?" Wade pursued.
Gray Did Not Return
Dr. Grantham considered. "No," he said slowly, "but I would say that it
sounds impossible to anyone who knew Gray."
Wade was silent, apparently revolving something in his mind, but before
he could ask another question there entered the officer he had sent
below, who spoke to him briefly in low tones. When he had done, Wade
turned again to the physicist.
"How is it, then, that Gray did not return to his rooms when he left
here, and has not been seen there since he left yesterday morning.”
"Good Lord!" Carton burst in excitedly. "Then it's Gray that--"
Dr. Grantham's face showed his astonishment and trouble. "Gray was not
a criminal type," he persisted. "I simply cannot believe that it was
he. More likely by far some thief who found the building's door open
and who, seeing me about to lock up the projector, struck me down to
get it."
"Well, Gray or another," Wade remarked, "someone is loose in New York
at this moment with a thing which, if you're right, can give him the
power to walk its streets unseen."
"But you'll endeavor to catch him?" President Ellsworth interposed
anxiously. "I know but little about Grantham's mechanism, but surely it
will be a terrible threat until whoever has it is captured?"
"We'll do what we can," Wade told him gloomily. "But it's going to be
pretty hard to keep the force looking for someone they can't see! Even
if they believe in the story at all. But I wouldn't worry about the
thing, sir--visible or invisible, a crook can only keep free so long
when thousands are concentrating on finding him."
"I sincerely hope you're right," said President Ellsworth as he
turned to the door, hat in hand. "I'll see you tomorrow about it,
Grantham--and take care of yourself until then."
When he had gone Dr. Grantham said quietly, "I am glad that he does not
fully realize the appalling nature of this thing. I did not want to
worry him to no purpose. Whether it was Gray who took the projector or
another, is really immaterial now. The fact, the great fact, is that
someone has it who has proved himself ruthless. And with it, he can
loose such a terror upon New York--yes and upon the nation--as might be
utterly without precedent!"
"One man?" asked Wade, skeptically.
"One man--but an invisible one!" Grantham exclaimed. "Have you realized
what this means? It means that there are no limits to this man's power,
whoever he is. It means that he can strike down any he wishes though
that person surround himself with a thousand body-guards. It means that
there is no fortress or strong-room that can keep him out, nothing
that he cannot take for himself in full light of day. He can be, if he
desires, an invisible tyrant ruling the world with terror!"
Wade's face was graver as he turned with Grantham, and with Carton and
Burns to the door.
"Well, the most we can hope for now is to get him before he can use the
thing," he said. "Whether it's Gray or another, we ought to be able
somehow to----"
He halted, and his hand shot forward to a little table just inside the
door. On it rested a big square white envelope addressed in a bold hand
to "Dr. Grantham."
Wade's countenance was impassive as he grasped it. "This wasn't here
when President Ellsworth left," he said. "I saw him take his hat from
that table. Is that Gray's handwriting?"
"That or a good imitation of it," said Grantham slowly.
Who Came In
The detective turned to the two officers lounging outside the door.
"Have you seen anyone come through this door since President Ellsworth
left?" he asked them.
They shook their heads. "No one in or out since then."
Wade looked from Grantham to Carton and Burns for a moment, then
handed the envelope to the former. The physicist tore it open and read
silently the single sheet enclosed, then read aloud to the others.
_My dear Dr. Grantham:_
_It has amused me very much to hear your conversation with these
worthy officers, but I really must be going. (You really should
offer chairs to your guests, whether visible or invisible). I
am obliged to you for developing the projector which now makes
me invisible, but I warn you that any attempt on your part to
regain it or to capture me will end disastrously for you. I am the
Invisible Master, and I begin now my reign of this city. My rule of
it will become evident to all in it soon, for in it from now onward
my will shall be supreme._
_The Invisible Master._
CHAPTER III
The Master Strikes
Carton, two days later, came into the _Inquirer's_ city-room to find it
a babel of excitement. His city-editor hailed him through it.
"Carton! Get to the Vance National Bank double-quick--the Invisible
Master's been there--a robbery!"
"A robbery!" Carton exclaimed. "Then he's struck!"
"Get there and get the dope--Collins and Jansen have already started
and we're holding the presses for the story--get going!"
As Carton hurried into the street and through the throngs that surge
each afternoon in the city's financial section, his excitement was
high. From the crowds about him he heard cries and calls, and as
he neared the giant building of the Vance National Bank on Broad
Street, saw a dense crowd gathered at its doors, held back by a row of
policemen. The news was spreading out over the city like flame. The
Invisible Master had struck!
For two days the Invisible Master had been almost the single center
of New York's interest. The newspapers had made known to all that
Dr. Grantham had been struck down and his projector stolen, and that
the criminal who had done that had had the audacity to venture back
into the very room where he had attacked Grantham, made invisible by
the projector, and to leave a mocking note for the scientist in the
very presence of the police! And in that note the Invisible Master
had promised to make use of his power of invisibility to make himself
supreme in the great city!
The police had been nonplussed. They had searched far and wide for
Gray, the assistant of Grantham whom all held to be the daring thief
of the projector, but they had found no trace of him. But the public
was interested only in the Invisible Master, whether he was Gray or
another. Was there actually such a man as that walking New York's
streets unseen? And if there was would he carry out his threat to make
himself ruler of the city by his power?
Those had been questions of supreme interest in those two days. The
newspapers carried pages concerning the Invisible Master and what he
might do. He could steal, slay and burn with impunity. Nothing was
safe from him, no treasure and no life. A thousand absurd methods were
suggested for capturing him, but when nothing had been heard of him in
the two days, a great part of the city doubted his existence, despite
Grantham's warnings. But there seemed few doubters now, Carton grimly
told himself, as he fought his way through the crowd to the great
bank's doors.
There his badge let him through the circle of sweating policemen who
were holding back the excited crowds. He hurried on into the great
bank's lobby. Blue-clad figures were stationed everywhere at its doors.
The many cages along the marble and brass counters were empty of their
occupants now, but in front of one cage was gathered a group of men.
There were some of the bank's officials, elderly, anxious-looking men,
two or three police officers among whom Carton recognized Sergeant
Wade's sleepy-eyed and gum-chewing countenance, and, somewhat to his
surprise, Dr. Grantham, whom he was later to learn had been summoned
with the police at the robbery's occurrence.
Vanished Money
Carton saw that the center of interest of the group of officials and
police and reporters was a young, immaculately-dressed man whose face
was flushed and who was ejaculating excitedly.
"It was he, I tell you!" he was exclaiming. "It couldn't have been
anyone or anything else but the Invisible Master--the package vanished
right before my eyes!"
"Who's the youngster?" Carton asked of one of the reporters beside him.
"Harkness, the teller," said the other. "He's claiming that a package
of fifty one-thousand dollar bills vanished in front of his eyes,
and it looks as though he's going to have a hard time convincing his
bosses," added the other cynically.
Grantham was calming the excited young teller. "Let's just hear all
about it," he told him. "We know that the thing's unprecedented, and no
one thinks you took the money."
Harkness made an effort to appear calm. "It was just half an hour
ago," he said. "I was arranging some entries in my sheets and the
package was lying with some others beside me, just inside the grille's
opening. It was really in reach from outside, of course, but there was
no danger because everyone knows how impossible it is to snatch money
in a bank and escape with it. I thought I heard someone step up to my
window and looked up, but there was no one there. Then in a minute it
happened--the whole front of the grille and counter seemed to vanish
for a second and then reappear. But when they reappeared the package of
thousand-dollar bills was gone! I could only stare, stupefied, for no
one had been at the window, and then suddenly I remembered about the
Invisible Master and gave a shout. The guards came running--but there
was no one there by then. It was the Invisible Master--and he had gone!
And it was he--I tell you it must have been!"
Harkness' calm broke down at the end of his story, but Grantham
encouraged him with a few words and then turned to Wade.
"The boy's telling the truth, Wade," he said simply. "It was the
Invisible Master--and he's given us the first sample of what his being
loose in this city means!"
The officials and reporters were silent, Wade thoughtful. "Would it be
possible for him to make the whole front of the counter disappear for
an instant like that?" he asked Grantham.
The physicist nodded. "Quite possible. You see, the projector when
attached to the body, projects a force for a radius of a few feet
around the body and makes all in that radius invisible as well as
the person wearing it. Thus when the Invisible Master stepped close
up to the window, it and everything in the projector's radius became
invisible for a second, and in that second he needed only to grasp the
package of bills and then step quickly back and walk out."
"It's a tough problem," Wade admitted. He and Grantham had stepped
aside from the group, who were now sharply questioning Harkness, and
Carton had followed them.
"But how are you going to deal with it?" Grantham demanded. "For all
we know, Wade, the Invisible Master may be even now going through bank
after bank. It's not a question of doing anything about this robbery so
much as of preventing others."
"Well, I can't see anything to do but to follow our regular methods,"
Wade said slowly. "We'll send word out to the banks and stores to watch
for this method of robbery as well as possible, and we'll put a man to
look into Harkness and his story, and broadcast a list of the bills'
numbers if we can get them."
When Fear Broods O'er Us
Grantham shook his head impatiently. "Wade, these ordinary police
methods of yours are utterly useless in a case like this. It's all
right to gather fact after fact and slowly apprehend an ordinary
criminal in that way, but this is not a case of catching a criminal so
much as a case of war! War between this city and the Invisible Master!
And the one hope of catching him lies in making the whole city realize
that the Invisible Master is at large in it, and so put them on their
guard against every unusual incident that may point his presence."
"It seems to me," Wade said dryly, "that when Carton here and his
colleagues get through with this story there's going to be mighty few
in the city who don't know that the Invisible Master's at large."
And by that night, indeed, all New York was aware through the screaming
newspapers that the Invisible Master had begun his threatened
activities. He had, apparently, deliberately chosen for his first
exploit one most calculated to win for himself the city's amazed
attention, in his astounding robbery of the great bank in the full
light of day. The thing was stupefying. It was the one subject of
excited discussion in the city that night.
It was the Invisible Master's work, that was certain. But when would
he strike again, when would he make another of these astounding coups?
Imagination ran riot in the depiction of the things that the Invisible
Master might do. People were warned to go always on the assumption
that he was near, for caution's sake. Scientists and pseudo-scientists
gave forth sensational interviews on how the Invisible Master might be
caught.
The newspapers sought above all else for information from Dr. Grantham,
the man who had unwittingly loosed the terror upon the city. It
was announced late that day that Grantham was foregoing all other
activities to devise a plan for curbing or capturing the Invisible
Master. Some suggested even that he was making another projector with
which one invisible man could hunt the other, forgetful of the fact
that Dr. Grantham's first projector had been the work of months, as he
admitted.
Carton, sent that night for information from Grantham, had evidence
of the importance attached to him in the policemen at the door of the
physics building, and knot of reporters lounging outside. They hailed
him noisily and called after him when Carton, after sending his name
in, was admitted inside.
He found Grantham in his laboratory's ante-room, with Sergeant Wade.
"Carton, I'm glad to see you," the scientist greeted him. "You were
here with us last night when the Invisible Master came in and went out,
and I'd like to hear what you think of a scheme that I've devised for
combatting him."
"You've found a way to capture him?" Carton burst out.
Grantham shook his head. "No, but a way of curbing his activities, I
think. Suppose that inside that bank he robbed today there had been
a steel barrier, and that entrance to the bank was only through a
turnstile like a subway turnstile. Then a guard standing beside it
could watch it and if it turned with no one in sight he would know the
Invisible Master had entered and could give the alarm. There could be
entrance and exit turnstiles like that, and in stores and the like as
well as banks. It would stop these snatch-robberies on the part of the
Invisible Master, to some extent, at least."
"It sounds feasible," Carton admitted. "But it will slow business--do
you think the banks will adopt it?"
"They will," Wade said shortly. "They're scared stiff down in the
financial district over this Vance National robbery today, and they'll
catch at any straw to keep the Invisible Master away from their
vaults."
The Second Blow
"Even this, though," Grantham said broodingly, "won't completely stop
the Invisible Master. The best it can do is to curb him for a time
until we find some way of--"
He stopped as the phone-bell rang, and when he had answered, turned the
receiver over to Wade. Carton saw the detective's sleepy eyes widen a
trifle as he listened to the excited voice on the other end, though his
jaws moved his gum as imperturbably as ever. When he turned back to the
other two they were waiting in breathless silence.
"Headquarters," he said simply. "Less than a half-hour ago the
Invisible Master took forty thousand from the pay-office of the Etna
Construction Company, up in the Bronx, and shot and killed one of the
pay-clerks."
"Good God!" Grantham exclaimed. "And they're sure it was he?"
"No one else," said Wade laconically. "The office is a small wooden
building on the construction lot. The two clerks, Taylor and Barsoff,
had the money ready to pay out through a window in one side. There were
three guards around the building, armed, and one of them saw the door
fly suddenly inward and then heard the shot and scream from inside.
They rushed to the office but when they got there Barsoff was dead,
shot through the heart, and Taylor could only stammer that the door had
flown open, the money had suddenly disappeared, and that Barsoff had
been shot out of empty air when he had grasped after it. The guards and
Taylor searched the lot and called the police instantly but they've
found no trace of him."
"Lord!" Carton exclaimed. "The city will go crazy over this--the
Invisible Master striking again on the same day!"
"It will go more than crazy," Wade commented grimly. "This is going to
make everyone in this town handling money panic-stricken!"
"It is the start of the Invisible Master's rule!" said Grantham
solemnly. "From now on no one in New York is safe from him! He is
deliberately terrorizing the city, and at the same time enriching
himself!"
The door opened and President Ellsworth burst inside, his ordinarily
genial face twisted with emotion. "Grantham!" he exclaimed. "Have you
heard of this latest outrage of this assistant of yours--this Invisible
Master?"
Grantham nodded somberly. "We've just heard."
"But this is horrible!" Ellsworth cried. "To think that Gray, so quiet
and sane to all appearances, should become this unseen thief and
killer!"
"Why should Gray be so crazy after money, anyway?" Wade asked him.
"They tell me he was a scientific rather than business type."
"I think I can understand it," President Ellsworth said. "Gray has long
wanted funds for independent research--even he and Grantham here have
been terribly hampered in their work by lack of money. He has seen the
millions that are spent each year in this city on luxury and pleasure,
has reflected how much good might result to the human race were part of
it applied to scientific research, and has started out with this weapon
of invisibility to get it!"
"You sound almost as though you were in sympathy with him," Wade said.
"My dear sir!" Ellsworth was visibly shocked. "I may believe that a
fraction of the city's riches would be better applied in research, but
I would never condone the murder of helpless clerks to obtain it."
"I was only joking," Wade apologized. "Grantham and I think we have
found a way to curb the Invisible Master's activities, at least."
"Indeed?" asked Ellsworth curiously.
"Yes." And Wade explained the idea of the turnstiles, which the
President at once approved.
A City Terrified
"But it seems that will only limit his activities," he said. "Is there
no chance of capturing him completely? Are you sure, Grantham, that the
projector he stole might not suddenly cease to function and make him
visible?"
"No chance of that," said Grantham hopelessly. "The batteries in its
case are small but enough to keep it running for weeks, at intervals.
And since it's Gray that took it, he'll know how to replace them."
President Ellsworth nodded. "I suppose so. But he'll have to be
captured soon or the city will be in panic."
Grantham shook his head. "This second crime is enough to send it into
panic, almost, without further aid, Ellsworth. And if the Invisible
Master should strike again soon--"
And by morning, Carton saw, Grantham's words were nearly fulfilled
already, since it was panic indeed that had almost settled upon the
city. The newspapers were in a state approaching frenzy. The Invisible
Master had struck again, had followed his daring daylight bank-robbery
by another robbery and cold-blooded murder as terrible. He was abroad,
he was invisible, and he was a killer!
A thousand alarms of the Invisible Master's presence were pouring into
police headquarters from citizens who had heard inexplicable sounds or
the like. The police sought to track down some of these, but were near
the limit of their efforts. They had broadcast photographs of Gray in
case he should assume visibility at times, had endeavored to have a
watch kept for the larger bills stolen, but more they could not do.
Through all that morning a chill of terror hung over New York, the pall
of the Invisible Master's rule. Many stores and banks did not open on
that morning. Others that did had hastily-devised turnstiles and like
devices, and armed guards at every door. Crowds in streets and stores
were at a minimum. Every hour saw new panics as a cry went up that the
Invisible Master was present. All New York, Carton saw, was waiting
with nerves on the ragged edge to hear whether the dread unseen figure
stalking the city's ways would strike again.
Then just at noon fear-mad voices were shouting and presses were
roaring and newsboys were bawling as there came to the city the dread
word it awaited--the news of the Invisible Master's third crime.
Even Carton blanched at the horror of that crime, for in it three
men had gone to death. The three had been partners in the importing
firm of Van Duyck, Jackson, Sunetti and Allen, with offices on lower
Broadway. Upon that morning they had met to dissolve the partnership
in question, there having been some strong differences between them on
business policies. A large amount of cash and negotiable securities
had been brought to their office for the purpose. According to Allen,
the only one of the four to survive, they had been working out their
accounts when in the morning's mail had come a brief letter signed by
the Invisible Master.
He had said that the partners were to gather the sum of one hundred
thousand dollars in cash and securities, place it in a suitcase, and
appoint one of their number to sally forth along Broadway with it at
the exact hour of eleven, when he, the Invisible Master, would take
possession of it. Unless one went forth with it at that hour, he would
enter and their lives would pay the forfeit.
Allen said that when the note was brought in by an excited secretary
they had ignored its threat entirely and had gone on with their
accounts, thinking the thing the work of joking friends, or a crude
attempt to cash in on the dread the Invisible Master had stirred. They
had forgotten its menace by the time the hour of eleven came. At that
hour Van Duyck and Jackson and Sunetti had been seated on one side of
a table with Allen on the other, facing the door. Allen had looked up,
and had, he said, seen the door fly suddenly open and then shut without
anyone entering that he could see!
The Remembered Threat
In an instant he had remembered the Invisible Master's threat but
before he had been able to cry out three shots had crashed out and his
three partners had slumped dead with bullets through their skulls from
behind. In the next instant another shot had crashed out of empty air
and a bullet had buried itself beside Allen in the wall, but as that
shot came he had cried out and there had come cries from all in the
building who had heard. The door instantly had flown open and shut as
the Invisible Master had fled without stopping to grasp at the cash
and securities, and those who rushed in had found Allen standing still
beside the wall, and unable for minutes to speak. The unheeded threat
of the Invisible Master lay crumpled on the table by the dead men.
With that tragedy the chill fear that held New York dissolved into
stark terror, and as Carton pushed his way north to find Wade and
Grantham there was all about him a wild confusion of panic.
Great crowds were forming and rolling toward the City Hall to be held
back by the police and troops drawn up to guard it, where they shouted
their wild demand to the city's officials that the Invisible Master be
captured or killed or bought off at any price. There were wild rumors
of even more terrible crimes the Invisible Master had committed, rumors
of men done to death in the seething East Side, rumors of martial law
to be declared and troops brought to the city.
Had the great crowds that bellowed their terror but known it, the
city's officials were even then face to face with the Invisible
Master's purpose. For in an inner room at City Hall, with Grantham and
Wade there, and Carton too, they were reading the letter that had come
but minutes before to them.
_To the Mayor and Officials of New York:_
_Having shown in these last few days what the rule of the Invisible
Master means to your city, I am ready now without fear of disbelief
on your part to state the terms on which my reign of terror over
this city will end. Those terms are--the immediate payment of
five million dollars in assorted denominations. This money, in a
steel box of moderate size, is to be placed in the following spot:
Two miles north of the village of Pernview, on Long Island, on
the west road, is a milestone. In the forest three hundred yards
east of this milestone is a large oak. You will place the box on
the boulder beneath this tree on tomorrow night, between eleven
and twelve o'clock. You are at liberty to attempt to prevent me
from getting the box, but it will only result disastrously for
yourselves._
_If this is done my activities will cease. If it is not done I will
commence an even greater campaign of terror that will make a chaos
of New York in hours. No troops or forces are of any use against
me. I leave the raising of the money to you, but suggest that the
city's business men be called on for it. Either they pay or I will
make their city a desert of terror._
_The Invisible Master._
CHAPTER IV
Blackmail
Carton spoke softly through the darkness to the man beside him as their
car stopped. "Is this the place, Wade?"
Wade nodded. "There's the milestone--you're ready, Grantham?"
Grantham nodded. "All ready--Kingston has the box."
As they emerged from the car onto the road that gleamed white in the
darkness, Carton glimpsed behind it other cars from which dark shapes
of men were emerging, rifles and pistols gleaming in their hands. All
had turned off their lights, and the scrubby woods that rose on either
side of the road seemed impenetrable walls of blackness.
It had been little more than a day, Carton reflected as he stood in
the road with the others, since the Invisible Master's astonishing
demand had been received by the New York authorities. There had been
no doubt or dispute whatever as to whether that demand should be met.
With wild crowds besieging the City Hall, with all New York's customary
organized life sinking into chaos beneath the panic-pall of the
Invisible Master's presence, there was no other course to follow, and a
subscription for raising the money had instantly been started.
Through the rest of that day and the next the money had poured in,
mostly in great sums from the banks and big business houses of the
city who realized that it was only by payment of this tribute that the
metropolis could be saved from chaotic ruin. Later on, they reasoned,
the Invisible Master could be hunted down and dealt with, but now the
thing was to lift his menace from New York. Five millions was a great
sum, but not in comparison with the daily loss the city's businesses
were undergoing. By the next afternoon the five millions were ready, a
compact mass of securities and highest-denomination bills.
It had been placed in the specified small steel box, and given into
the charge of Kingston, a representative of the city's government who
was to place the money as requested. And since the Invisible Master
had mockingly given full permission for any to attempt his capture who
wished to, Wade and Grantham had worked out the scheme that held a
slender chance of trapping the unseen criminal. With their two-score
of armed men waiting behind them, Grantham explained the plan in the
lowest of voices to Carton and Kingston.
"Kingston and I will take the box in and place it on the boulder," he
whispered, "and when we do so I'll stretch in a circle of yards around
it this thread of wire, and connect it to this pocket-battery and bell.
Kingston and I will wait with the money, behind the big oak, and Wade's
men will lie in a circle all around the spot.
"When the Invisible Master comes he'll make for the boulder, and must
necessarily strike the stretched wire and ring the bell just before he
reaches it. Then your men can rush in from all sides to enclose him in
their circle, while Kingston and I will be there and armed to prevent
the money from being taken by him. It's our one hope of catching him,
for we'll never have this chance again, I think."
The Trap
Wade nodded. "We all understand the plan, Grantham. We'll wait for him
if it takes until daylight."
"I think he'll appear tonight," Grantham said. "I imagine he is rather
anxious to get the money and have it all over with."
"Well, good luck," whispered Wade, extending his hand, which the
physicist grasped. Kingston too, a little nervously, shook hands with
the officer, and then the two disappeared silently into the dark wall
of the wood eastward.
Wade and Carton waited for a moment as silent as the grouped silent men
behind them, and then as Wade passed a whispered order to them, they
all were melting into the dark forest likewise. Swiftly they formed a
circle of a hundred feet in radius around the great oak at whose foot
was the stone the Invisible Master had specified. On that stone by
then, Carton knew, the steel box would be resting, with Grantham and
Kingston watching from close beside for the warning bell. The circle
of men had in a moment crouched down here and there in the brush, Wade
beside Carton, and the wood settled back into its accustomed night
silence.
The trap was ready. Would the Invisible Master dare to enter it?
Carton remembered afterward the time of waiting that followed as a
period of almost infinite length. Crouching silent and motionless with
Wade in a clump of brush he listened tensely. Out to right and left of
him, he knew, were crouching the dozens of men who made up the circle,
each ready with rifle or pistol and electric torch, each listening
as intently as themselves. And at the circle's center, Grantham and
Kingston. All waiting for the unseen man who was to come to claim the
price of the terror he had loosed upon New York.
Was it a twig that snapped somewhere to the left, Carton wondered?
Every slightest sound seemed intensified in the unnatural stillness of
the place. A half-hour had passed but there came still no alarm. Wade
was chewing gum as softly and silently as ever beside him, his heavy
pistol ready in his hand. The desolate hum of crickets came to their
ears.
Through the branches above Carton could see the moon drifting past. He
began to try estimating by it how long they had waited. Then suddenly a
sound came that shattered the stillness of the woods as with a tangible
blow. The jangling of a bell!
"At him!" Wade cried as they leapt up, forward. All around them the
dark shapes of men were running toward the towering oak!
They heard hoarse cries from Kingston and Grantham ahead--a single
brief exclamation in a deeper voice--and then--crash!--crash!--crash!
three shots echoing through the forest from ahead like the crash of
cannon!
"He's there--don't let him get through!" Wade cried. The circle of
running men was contracting and merging in an instant upon the central
oak. Their guns leapt in their hands as they burst into the little
clearing beneath it. They stopped.
Kingston lay on the ground in a grotesque attitude beneath the light of
their torches, shot through the heart. Grantham, blood welling from his
left shoulder, was twisted in a half-sitting position beside him. There
was no one else in the clearing and of the steel box that had rested on
the boulder there was no sign!
"He got it!" Grantham whispered, his face distorted with pain. "He got
it and got away--the Invisible Master!"
"Beat the woods!" Wade's voice flared. "Carry your torches and shoot
at every sound of steps when there's no one visible with them! He's
slipping out somewhere now!"
Grantham shook his head. "No use," he said. "We can't fight him, Wade.
Kingston and I were crouched behind the oak with our wire ready, and
we heard the bell ring, then as we leapt forward an instant later saw
the steel case disappearing from off the stone! Kingston had grasped
him, I think, was struggling with something invisible as we both cried
out, and I heard an exclamation from him and then the shots roared out
of the empty air just beside Kingston. Kingston fell like a stone, I
heard one of the shots rip past me and another caught my shoulder. Then
I heard the sound of leaping feet beside me just a moment before you
burst into the clearing."
Whose Voice?
"But you heard his voice close beside you!" Wade exclaimed. "Was it
Gray's?"
Grantham's pale face took on a certain puzzlement. "It may have been,
Wade--I heard it for but an instant in that exclamation--I don't know
whether that was Gray's or another's, it was a voice I had heard often
before."
Wade nodded decisively. "That ends all doubt as to it's being Gray, at
least. Carton, do what you can for Grantham's shoulder, while I see if
any of the men have run across him."
But in minutes the men were streaming back with Wade, their search
fruitless. They had found no one--could have found no one, Carton
realized, in that search through the darkness for a being invisible.
Wade shook his head.
"It's all over," he said, "and I realize now that we never really had
a chance of capturing him. We can only hope that he'll be content with
the five million and never again loose terror on any city as he did
upon New York. Five millions--well, it may be best, after all."
Silently the party drove back to the city, and after they had taken
Grantham to his rooms near the university and summoned a doctor for his
wound, Carton and Wade rode together downtown. It was with a rueful
shake of the head on the detective's part that they parted; he to his
headquarters and Carton to the _Inquirer's_ city-room to pound out an
abridged account of the night's events. By the time that Carton went
wearily across the city to his own rooms newsboys were shouting in the
streets the welcome news that the Invisible Master had been bought off
and that his reign of terror was ended.
Carton, in his tired sleep, lived again the tense events of the night,
and it seemed to his sleep-numbed mind that the warning bell they had
heard was jangling again and again. It woke him finally, to find that
it was his doorbell, and when he opened it Wade stood before him. The
detective's sleepy eyes were more wakeful than ever Carton had seen
them, but to the reporter's first excited question he snapped but a
single order.
"Dress, Carton--we're going up to the university."
In minutes they were flying out along Riverside Drive through the
growing morning sunlight. Around them the city was waking to a day
of heart-felt rejoicing that the terror was lifted. Wade seemed the
container of a strange grim force, and to Carton's questions returned
no answer. But when they had drawn up before the familiar gray physics
building and had entered the equally familiar little laboratory and
ante-room, Carton found Grantham awaiting them, his shoulder bound and
his face haggard from a sleepless night.
"You called me, Wade?" he asked. "Something you'd found?"
Wade nodded. "Yes. But first I'd like to have President Ellsworth here.
He's near here, isn't he?"
Grantham nodded, frowning. "His home is--yes. I heard he'd been away
for a day or two but he ought to be back by now."
He turned to the telephone, spoke briefly into it, and when he had
finished turned to Wade. "He's coming," he said.
They sat silent until President Ellsworth entered minutes later. As he
came in Carton noted that the two officers who had accompanied Wade and
himself were lounging in the hall outside. The President's ordinarily
genial face held some irritation.
Wade Makes a Statement
"What's this--a sort of post-mortem?" he asked. "I've just heard all
about last night, Sergeant Wade--and it was too bad that the Invisible
Master slipped through yours and Grantham's hands. But perhaps it's
best that it's all over."
"It is not all over yet," Wade said quietly.
Ellsworth stared, as did Grantham and Carton. "You mean--" the
President began.
"I mean that I know at last who the Invisible Master is and where he
is!" said Wade.
Ellsworth seemed too astounded to speak, but Grantham leaned to grasp
Wade's arm. "Is that true, Wade?" he asked. "You've actually found him?"
"I have," Wade told them quietly.
And then as the three others stared at him he went on. "You remember,
Grantham, that you told me that in a case like this the ordinary
police-routine, the gathering of fact after fact to apprehend a
criminal, was useless? You may have been right, but I followed that
routine and I've finally gathered among other facts, three facts that
tell me everything I want to know about the Invisible Master. Had I had
these three facts last night I could have saved us that struggle and
Kingston's life, but I did not have them then. I have them now, though."
"And the three facts?" Grantham asked. Ellsworth was staring as though
bewilderedly, Carton leaning tensely forward.
"The first fact," said Wade, "is something that President Ellsworth
happened to say the other night--when we spoke of Gray--saying how
Grantham and he had been hampered in their scientific work by lack
of funds, and how it would be almost justifiable to take some of the
city's pleasure-spent millions for the aiding of research."
They were all silent. Ellsworth's face had flushed.
"The second fact is one that not all of you may understand and that I
myself was ignorant of until last night--it is the peculiar optical
properties of tourmaline crystals."
Carton and Ellsworth stared at him blankly, but Grantham's eyes gleamed
with sudden understanding.
"The third fact, which I also learned last night and which is the most
significant perhaps of all, is the simple record of a stockbroker's
account carried some weeks ago by Mr. Peter Harkness."
Wade was silent, and Carton, astounded and bewildered, could only stare
at him still. Ellsworth was about to burst into questions but was
interrupted by Grantham's voice. The physicist had risen and turned
from them toward the window. His voice came over his shoulder to them.
"I think I can give you a fourth fact that will clinch it, Wade." His
right arm crooked--
Wade leapt, but an instant too late. For when he spun Grantham around
the physicist was already falling, his lips writhing with cyanide
grains still upon them, a faint peachy odor in the air. He was
still, dead, when Wade lowered his body to the floor. The detective
straightened, mopping his brow.
"I was afraid of that," he panted. "I was afraid of it--but damned if I
don't think it was his best way out!"
Carton and Ellsworth gazed as though petrified. Then Carton's
voice--shaking--
"Then Grantham--Grantham himself--was the Invisible Master?"
Wade turned.
"There never was any Invisible Master at all," he said.
Back to the Laboratory
Carton and Ellsworth stared at him for moments before they could speak.
"But Grantham's power of making things invisible!" Carton finally
cried. "We saw him do it here--"
Wade shook his head. "You didn't Carton, but you thought you did."
He strode to the laboratory's long table, they with him. He searched
along it for a time and found what he sought, a round disk of
glass-like material, clear and transparent. He placed it against one
small pane of the window, through which the sunlight was pouring, and
to their amazement it showed black and opaque against the sunlight.
Wade slowly turned the disk in his hand, keeping its flat side parallel
to the window. As he turned it, it became less and less opaque until by
the time he had given it a quarter-turn it was completely transparent,
and was in fact wholly invisible because of the brilliant sunlight
streaming through it from behind into their eyes!
Slowly Wade revolved the disk another quarter-turn and as he did so it
became cloudy and translucent and then more and more opaque until at
the end of the half-turn it was as dead black and visible against the
sunlight as ever! Carton and Ellsworth stared unbelievingly, and Wade
handed the disk to them.
"A tourmaline-crystal," he said. "There's another set in that small
window pane. Their property is well enough known to physicists, and is
a result and proof of the polarization of light. When two tourmaline
crystals are placed together with their axes parallel, light streams
through both unchecked. If one is turned so that its axis is at right
angles to the axis of the other, though, light cannot pass through them
and they become thus opaque. A quarter-turn of the one will make them
transparent again.
"Grantham had one tourmaline-crystal set in the window-pane and the
other in the disk form. He showed you the black glass paper-weight disk
he was going to make invisible, but when he leaned forward to put it on
the little projector he palmed it and put there instead this tourmaline
disk. It showed black, like the paper-weight, though, because he placed
it on the projector's framework with axis at right angles to that of
the crystal in the window-pane.
"The sunlight was coming straight through the window into your eyes (he
had chosen the hour), and you saw the black disk against it, resting on
the projector's framework. Grantham and Gray had some sort of mechanism
inside the projector to make an appropriate sound, but the switches
Grantham turned actually controlled the framework above the projector,
which was made so as to turn the disk resting in it a quarter-turn when
desired.
"You see how it was done? Grantham turned his switches, and as the
tourmaline disk was turned slowly in its framework you saw it growing
more and more transparent until when it had been turned a quarter-turn
in the framework it was perfectly transparent and so invisible to your
eyes in the strong sunlight streaming through it. Grantham let it
remain so but a moment and then with his switch or rheostat control
turned it back again a quarter-turn. It grew more and more cloudy and
black until at a quarter-turn it was again black and opaque against the
light. He reached for it, and when he turned to you again palmed it and
could hand you the paper-weight disk."
Carton shook his head like one dazed. "And it seemed such a perfectly
open demonstration," he said.
"But that doesn't explain the Invisible Master!" Ellsworth exclaimed.
"If Grantham's power was faked, who committed those three crimes that
no one but an invisible person could have committed? Who took the money
last night?"
Wade Reconstructs
"I think I can reconstruct the thing from the first," Wade said,
"though some of the secret died with Grantham here. You told me
yourself that he and Gray had long been prevented from engaging in the
lines of research they desired because of their lack of funds. Well, I
think that Grantham grew resentful at this, and then determined, and
that he and Gray resolved to lay hands on the money they needed in
their own fashion. To do it they worked out an elaborate and incredibly
ingenious plan, that hinged upon Grantham's known reputation as a great
physicist.
"Grantham and Gray prepared the tourmaline-crystal set-up, and then
let it be known in one way or another that Grantham had discovered a
method of making things invisible. Of course there was excitement, and
of course the reporters, Carton among them, rushed out here to learn
all about it. Then Grantham reluctantly consented to a demonstration,
and after pulling this tourmaline-crystal stunt, sent them away, and
you too, perfectly convinced that he had actually found a way to make
matter invisible. That was his first great step--to implant in the
minds of reputable witnesses the absolute conviction that he had really
the power of making things invisible.
"Just what happened on that afternoon between Grantham and Gray may
never be known fully, but there seems little doubt that Gray, who
had been sullen at the demonstration that morning, had come to the
point where he had resolved not to go on with the scheme. Probably
he threatened to expose Grantham if he did not stop it, and no doubt
Grantham saw exposure and oblivion on the way. Fearing Gray's
confession, he killed him, and disposed of his body here in the
laboratory. He had the knowledge to do that, and I've found that on
that afternoon he received from the supply-rooms here an inordinate
order of acids which were without doubt used in the disposition of
Gray's body. However it was done, there is not the slightest doubt that
on that afternoon Gray, and even his body, passed out of existence in
this laboratory.
"Then Grantham went on with his plan, changing it somewhat, no doubt,
to fit in with this new circumstance. That night he struck himself a
painful but not heavy blow on the head with some wooden object--you
remember the doctor said the blow was from the side?--and pretended
to be lying stunned when you, President Ellsworth, came in. When
the police came he, without seeming to want to do so, threw the
responsibility of the attack on Gray as much as possible, and told of
his projector that had been stolen by his attacker, and that would make
a man invisible. He had already prepared a mocking letter addressed to
himself as from the Invisible Master, and while talking with Carton and
me, laid the letter on the table where I found it. The officers at
the door had seen no one go in or out, we knew or thought we knew that
someone was at large with an apparatus for attaining invisibility, and
since we never dreamed of Grantham having left the letter, we had no
doubt whatever but that the Invisible Master, whether Gray or another,
had actually entered the room invisibly and left the letter for us.
"This was Grantham's second step, his establishing the idea that
someone was at large with a projector that could make him invisible,
that the Invisible Master was at large and ready to commit any crime.
That idea was established in all the city by the newspapers in the next
day or so, and so strong was the evidence in the demonstration of his
discovery that Grantham had given, and the greatness of his reputation
as a scientist, that almost all did believe that such an invisible man,
an Invisible Master, was at large.
"Now what would naturally result when almost all in the city believed
that? Would it not result in many people seeing a chance to commit
crimes and then blame them on the Invisible Master? You know that there
are hundreds of thousands in a city like this who long to commit some
crime, theft or murder or the like, but dare not because there would
be no chance to shift suspicion on someone else. A man in an apartment
with neighbors all around can't shoot his wife and claim someone else
came in and did it, for he knows that in ninety-nine cases out of a
hundred it would soon be established that no one had gone in or out
of his apartment at that time. But if he could blame it on someone
invisible? You see what it means? Grantham had spread, had insisted
upon spreading, over all the city the thought that the Invisible Master
was at large in it. So at once there would be countless people who
would see a chance to commit crimes and blame them on the Invisible
Master! The thing was as certain as human nature!
CHAPTER V
From Beginning to End
"The first was young Harkness, the teller at the Vance National. He had
been speculating in stocks, had lost thousands of the bank's money,
and was desperate, with discovery near. All around him people were
talking of the Invisible Master and of what he could do, and Harkness
saw in that an idea, grasped at it as at a last straw. He arranged his
accounts to show right when it was over, then on that afternoon simply
cried out and gave the alarm, stammering that the money had been taken
by someone invisible who had snatched it from before him. All believed
quite naturally that the Invisible Master had done it! Their thoughts
had been full of him for two days, and what else could they, could we,
believe?
"Thus the Invisible Master was established still farther as a reality,
a criminal who walked unseen. Hardly any in New York doubted his
existence after that first amazing robbery, and it was probably that
robbery that gave Taylor, the pay-clerk at the Etna Construction
Company, his idea for his robbery and murder that night. For it was
Taylor who took the money and who killed his fellow-clerk, Barsoff, on
that night. He believed like everyone else that the bank-robbery that
afternoon had been committed by the Invisible Master, and saw a chance
to commit a crime that would inevitably be blamed upon the same unseen
criminal.
"He and Barsoff were in the pay-office building, both armed. Taylor had
the packages of money ready, and at the moment selected he flung the
door open from inside without showing himself to the guards outside. In
the next instant he drew his gun and shot Barsoff through the heart,
then stuck the gun and money alike into his pockets and was staggering
against the wall a moment later when the guards burst in. They never
thought of questioning or searching him, so strong was their own belief
in the Invisible Master, and that it was he who had rushed unseen into
the little office and committed the murder and theft!
"By the next morning all New York was cold with fear of the Invisible
Master, and hardly a living soul doubted by then his existence. The
evidence was too strong! And seeing this, Allen saw his chance to
commit the triple murder of his partners which was the third crime to
be laid to the Invisible Master's credit. There had been bad blood
between the four partners--they were meeting on that day, you remember,
to dissolve their partnership because of their enmity, and Allen had
resolved to revenge himself on the other three.
"He wrote a letter purporting to be a threat from the Invisible
Master, a demand for a hundred thousand dollars, and mailed it at a
time calculated to bring it to their office before noon on the next
day. They were settling their accounts, the letter was opened and
brought by their excited secretary, and Allen led them in laughing
it down. When the hour of eleven came, though, the hour specified in
the threat, Allen rose and walked behind his three partners, who were
bent over the accounts. Three shots sent quick bullets crashing into
their skulls, from behind, and another shot a bullet into the opposite
wall. Allen leaped back to that wall, pocketing the gun, and when the
others who had heard rushed into the room they found him standing by
the bullet-pierced wall, apparently overcome with horror. There was the
threatening letter lying on the table, and none doubted for a moment
but that the Invisible Master had carried out his threat and had slain
three of the partners but had been forced to flee before he could kill
the fourth or snatch any of the securities on the table.
The Three Crimes
"Thus three crimes had been committed that every soul in the city
believed implicitly had been committed by the Invisible Master! For
the obsession of his presence had been spread so that all believed
him roaming its ways, and no suspicion fell on Harkness or Taylor or
Allen because in the ordinary course of things they would never have
committed crimes which would be blamed so swiftly and inevitably upon
them. What all forgot was that the ordinary course of things had been
changed, and that the three had in each case counted, and counted
correctly, upon the Invisible Master obsession turning away all
suspicion from themselves toward the unseen criminal. As it happened,
I ordered the usual routine investigation of Harkness in the first
crime, though not for a moment believing him guilty, so strong was my
own belief in the Invisible Master. But it was that bit of routine that
shattered the whole great scheme in the end.
"As it was, though, Grantham had achieved his third great step, and
all New York was in panic from the crimes which it believed the
Invisible Master had committed. And Grantham himself had not needed
to be concerned with a single one of those crimes! He had needed only
to sit back, knowing that as surely as human nature was human nature,
crime after crime would be committed by those who would blame it on
the Invisible Master, and that those crimes would as surely raise up a
greater and greater terror for the Invisible Master's name! If it had
not been Harkness and Taylor and Allen, it would have been others!
"Thus the fear of the Invisible Master, as Grantham had foreseen, was
now convulsing all the great city, and that was what he had waited for.
He sent in instantly that letter demanding the payment of five million
dollars as the price of the Invisible Master's departure from the city.
It was sheer, colossal bluff, and it succeeded! For with the peoples of
New York mad with fear of the Invisible Master, with its ordinary life
falling into chaos under that fear, the money was swiftly raised by
the city's leaders who were losing far more than that in this storm of
panic. Kingston was appointed to place the money at the requested spot,
and since the letter had mockingly given the police liberty to attempt
the capture of the Invisible Master, Grantham was able to suggest a
scheme by which he might be captured, using his warning bell.
"That scheme, of course, was devised only to the end that Grantham
might accompany Kingston in to place the money. For Grantham, before he
had written the letter specifying the spot where the money was to be
placed, had been to that spot and had arranged a clever hiding-place
near the boulder, a niche in the earth covered by an earth-masked
trap-door. He and Kingston went in, they placed the steel box on the
boulder, after stretching their wire around, and then waited with drawn
guns, no doubt, while we all waited around them in a great circle.
"Then when Grantham judged the wait long enough, he himself rang the
bell beside him by making contact with its batteries, and as Kingston
naturally cried out in astonishment he cried out with him, then gave
an exclamation in a feigned deeper voice and at the same moment shot
Kingston dead, and sent another bullet through his own left shoulder,
the last touch of verisimilitude needed to remove any trace of
suspicion from him. It was but the work of an instant to grasp the box
and stow it in the niche beside him, all prepared, and slam down the
masked door of it and then crouch beside Kingston. None of us doubted
for a moment his story that the Invisible Master had shot Kingston and
himself and escaped with the money. We came back to town believing that
the whole thing was over.
Over the Trail
"But when I got back to headquarters I found awaiting me the report of
the man I had given the routine job of looking up young Harkness. The
report stated that Harkness was a young man without any known income
but his salary, but stated also that he had in the last few weeks lost
nearly fifty thousand dollars through a certain broker on stocks.
I was amazed. Where had he gotten the money? I recalled that it had
been almost exactly that amount the Invisible Master had been blamed
with taking from the bank, and for the first time I was suspicious of
Harkness.
"I had them bring him to headquarters at once, and we hadn't sweated
him fifteen minutes before he confessed that he'd seen the chance to
cover his embezzlement by blaming a theft on the Invisible Master. I
didn't know what to think. Could it be that the other crimes were the
same in nature? I had them round up Taylor and Allen at once. Taylor
was found on the point of sailing for Europe, having resigned his
position on the ostensible account of shattered nerves. He proved a
harder case than Harkness, but an hour of grilling brought from him the
admission that he too had blamed his theft of the money and killing of
Barsoff on the Invisible Master, and had only planned the crime because
he saw a chance to do it thus free of all suspicion. I don't think he'd
ever have come clean if we hadn't found most of the money involved
there in his grips.
"Allen, though, went to pieces at our first question and confessed
volubly that his crazy hatred of his three partners had made him plan a
killing of them that all would think the Invisible Master's work. The
funny thing, was, too, that each one of the three believed that the
other two crimes had been really the Invisible Master's work!
"I was amazed, stupefied. If the Invisible Master had not committed
those crimes, then his demand for the five millions was simply a
gigantic bluff. Was there, then, any Invisible Master at all? Was
there, the thought flashed over me for the first time, any such power
of invisibility as Grantham claimed to have discovered? I boiled it
all down and found that the only real evidence of the invisibility
part of it was the demonstration Grantham had given. I grabbed all
the books on optics I could find in an effort to learn whether such a
demonstration could be faked, and soon found out about the tourmaline
crystals and their remarkable property. It all fitted in exactly with
the demonstration as it had been described to me. Grantham had made
no demonstrations at all since that first one, nor had we dreamed of
asking him for them, so utter was our belief in his word and in the
Invisible Master's existence.
"I made some swift inquiries and the whole thing burst clear on me.
There had never been any invisibility or any Invisible Master at
all. Grantham had planned the great bluff that was to wring five
millions out of the city, had built it up from the trick of that
first demonstration and from the circumstantial evidence he was able
to gather to support the thing, had used the crimes that inevitably
resulted from the city's belief in the Invisible Master to make that
belief even stronger. I drove out to the place where we were last night
and it took but minutes of searching to find the concealed niche beside
the stone where the money still lay.
"Undoubtedly Grantham meant to retrieve it later on, and undoubtedly
he would have refused ever to give out any information or any
demonstrations of his invisibility-method, by saying that he would take
no chances on loosing another invisible criminal on the world. Gray
would never have been found, and would then have been believed always
the unseen criminal. Almost Grantham won, and would have won had not
that one routine and unthinking step of mine defeated him. Yet he must
have known, too, that there was always a chance of losing, for when I
came out this morning after telling him over the phone to be waiting
here for some new information I was bringing, he had the cyanide with
him. And the rest--you saw how he took his one way out."
When Wade had finished Carton and Ellsworth gazed at him across the
sunlit laboratory, spellbound. It was Carton who at last found his
voice.
"And we never guessed--we never dreamed--that there was never any
Invisible Master!"
Wade was looking thoughtfully out of the window. "Did I say there
wasn't? I think I was wrong in that, after all--I think there was
an Invisible Master whose hand has lain heavy on New York for these
last days. Fear!--the fear that Grantham loosed on the city for his
own ends, the fear that stalked its ways and was by day and night its
unseen lord! It was that that was the true Invisible Master!"
THE END
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INVISIBLE MASTER ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may
do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format
other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.
This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
