“He’s a scientist of some kind,” he explained. “A scientific ‘nut’ or ‘bug’ I think the newsdealer called him. A few days later I saw him looking at me from a window across the street. He stared at me stupidly for a moment and then vanished behind the curtains.”
“Well,” remarked Jim perplexedly, “that simply shows that he was a neighbor of ours.”
“Yes,” said Joe. “And that neighbor of ours bent over two or three times this afternoon and whispered to the worst enemies we have. They know each other. Does that mean anything to you?”
“Not necessarily,” answered Jim, in bewilderment. “A bit of a coincidence, perhaps.”
“Let it go as that for a moment,” said Joe. “Now put your mind on this. You and I live in the same rooms. Our favorite chair is in that bay window of ours. The window is almost directly opposite that of the old scientist, who, bear in mind, is evidently on friendly terms with our worst enemies. I sit there and suddenly go to sleep, an unusual thing in the day time. Shortly afterward I get knocked out of the box. You sit there and go to sleep, also an unusual thing. Shortly afterward you get knocked out of the box. Do you suppose that’s due to coincidence?”
A light burst upon Jim.
“You think then,” he asked in a voice that fairly trembled with excitement, “that that old scientist has been putting something over on us?”
“Exactly,” replied Joe with conviction. “The facts fit into each other like the blades of a pair of shears.”
“But—but—” stammered Jim, “how can he do it? It seems like witchcraft, and the days of witchcraft are over.”
“True,” replied Joe. “But the days of science have just begun. Science is working every day what in the old times would have been looked upon as miracles. Look at the marvels of radio. Marconi would have been burned at the stake as a wizard a few hundred years ago. Have you read about that English scientist who has discovered what he calls the death ray? It seems almost diabolical. He claims that by its use he can stop airplanes in their flight, that he can sink ships, that he can demolish fortifications, that he can kill a whole regiment at a stroke.