That was
enough. I now knew that we had to do with a man next door, and not miles
distant, as purely scientific reasoning would seem to prove."
"But Professor Eldridge's experiments--" began Jack.
"I am coming to that," interrupted Darrow. "When Eldridge began to call up
Monsieur X, that gentleman answered without a thought of suspicion; nor
was he even aware of the very ingenious successive weakenings of the
current. In fact, as merely the thickness of a roof separated his
receiving instrument from the wires from which the messages were sent, it
is probable that Eldridge might have weakened his current down practically
to nihil, and still Monsieur X would have continued to get his message."
"Wouldn't he have noticed the sending getting weaker?" asked Jack
shrewdly.
"Not until the very last. Our sending must have made a tremendous crash,
anyway, and he probably read it by sound through the wall."
"But at about the fifty-mile limit of sending we lost him," objected Jack.
"You mean at about two o'clock in the morning," amended Darrow.
"Eh? Yes, it was about two. But how did he get on to what Eldridge was
doing?"
"He read it in the paper," replied Darrow. "At twelve the reporters left.
At a little before two our enterprising friend, the _Despatch_, issued an
extra in its usual praiseworthy effort to enlighten the late Broadway jag.
Monsieur X read it, and knew exactly what was up.
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