A sigh of relief involuntarily passed around the room. Few moved or spoke, but there was a lessening of the strain on many faces. It was too soon yet, of course, to be sure, but—in most hearts there began to dawn a faint ray of hope that, after all, this “dictator of human destiny” might be a myth.
But suddenly Professor Frisby raised his hand to command quiet, and bent more intently over his telephone.
A short silence followed. Then he turned to the gentlemen and announced in a voice that seemed curiously dry:
“The operator reports that no wireless signal accompanied this last earthquake.”
Again the nerve tension in the assembly leaped like an electric spark. Several more minutes passed in silence.
Then came another quake.
Had there been a decrease in its force? Opinion was divided.
All eyes sped to Professor Whiteman, but he remained absorbed at his seismographs.
In this silence and keen suspense eleven minutes and six seconds again dragged by. Another earthquake came and went. Once more Professor Frisby announced that there had been no wireless signal attending the tremor. The savants began to settle themselves for a further wait, when—
Professor Whiteman left his instrument and came slowly forward. In the dim light his face looked lined and gray. Before the rows of seats he stopped and faltered a moment. Then he said: