The whole city was aroused. Thousands came pouring in from the outlying districts by subway, and in motor cars, to visit the scene of disaster. The police were helpless. Many women and children were trampled to death in the crush of the thousands who fought and pressed their way into Times Square. Efforts were made to bring the crowd to its senses, to distract the people's attention from the scene of the catastrophe; sirens sounded, the deep, booming note of bells came from the church towers, but to no avail.
When dawn broke at last, it was estimated that one million persons were massed in and about Times Square. All the diverging cross-town streets were choked with people and traffic. While above the silent hush of the terrified masses, milling about in the sepulchral gray light of dawn, rose the strident voices of news-boys:
"Wuxtra! Wuxtra! Planet Mars speaks to the earth! All about radio communication between earth and Mars! Wuxtra! Wuxtra!"
Thus, upon a sky-minded people, made conscious for the first time, it seemed, of the strange and powerful forces that lurk in the upper regions, by the awe and terror caused by the falling stars, descended the news of Henry's triumphant accomplishment.
A new world of people had been discovered. The inhabitants of Mars were no longer a mythical race. Radio, girdling the earth as quick as thought, had drawn all nations closer together; now, bridging the abyss of outer space, it had drawn into its friendly relationship a new human race. To a nation-wide, or world-circling, hook-up of the radio, Mars could now be included. Mars was now our neighbor, as convenient to reach by wireless as London, Rome or Peiping; made more accessible really than either the Arctic or Antarctic zones.
Our telephone at the castle began to trill about eleven-thirty o'clock, shortly after McGinity's story had been run off the presses and the paper was on the street. The central operator reported "no answer" to hundreds of calls, made by curious-minded people, until a little after two in the morning, when she reported "Busy." Henry, it seems, had seen the meteor fall in New York through his telescope. Immediately he had phoned to Olinski, who was in the city, and Olinski had hurried to Times Square to investigate. The next day, when he came down to the country, to assist Henry in his preparations for the public demonstration, he was able to give us first-hand information of the occurrence.
As early as eight o'clock that morning, reporters swarmed about our lodge-gate. Having no head, or inclination, for handling the press representatives en masse, Henry phoned to McGinity to come down and help him out. McGinity came in a hurry, and took control of the situation in a masterly way. The other reporters, including many foreign correspondents, all seemed to like him.
Pat remained aloof from all the hurly-burly and excitement. Once she got a good look at McGinity from the head of the staircase, as he stood talking to a group of reporters in the entrance hall; but she took care that he did not see her. The situation in which she now found herself was like something read in childhood, a romantic fairy-story; and Henry, to her, was the ogre. What saved her in the whole miserable affair was her superb common-sense. Henry didn't have to explain things to her any further; she instantly realized that, still under his authority, she must obey him, and marry Prince Matani.
Late in the afternoon she came downstairs, on the pretense of getting a book, to have a better look at him, so she told me afterwards, just to make sure he was no different from the time when she first had got him by heart. All the reporters had gone, and McGinity was sitting at the big desk in the library, engaged in writing his follow-up story of Henry's discovery. He was alone, Henry having gone to the observatory.
She looked at him through the open door, from the far side of the dining room. He had his face to her, and his head was bent over his work. Presently he looked up and saw her, but that was all. There was a worried expression on his face; he seemed afraid to smile. What a fool she was to expect anything to happen in the way she made it up in her own mind! So she turned away, and started to leave the room.