The First Letter

: The Master Of The World

After leaving Mr. Ward I returned to my home in Long Street. There I

had plenty of time to consider this strange case uninterrupted by

either wife or children. My household consisted solely of an ancient

servant, who having been formerly in the service of my mother, had

now continued for fifteen years in mine.



Two months before I had obtained a leave of absence. It had still two

weeks to run, unless indee some unforeseen circumstance interrupted

it, some mission which could not be delayed. This leave, as I have

shown, had already been interrupted for four days by my exploration

of the Great Eyrie.



And now was it not my duty to abandon my vacation, and endeavor to

throw light upon the remarkable events of which the road to Milwaukee

and the shore of New England had been in turn the scene? I would have

given much to solve the twin mysteries, but how was it possible to

follow the track of this automobile or this boat?



Seated in my easy chair after breakfast, with my pipe lighted, I

opened my newspaper. To what should I turn? Politics interested me

but little, with its eternal strife between the Republicans and the

Democrats. Neither did I care for the news of society, nor for the

sporting page. You will not be surprised, then, that my first idea

was to see if there was any news from North Carolina about the Great

Eyrie. There was little hope of this, however, for Mr. Smith had

promised to telegraph me at once if anything occurred. I felt quite

sure that the mayor of Morganton was as eager for information and as

watchful as could have been myself. The paper told me nothing new. It

dropped idly from my hand; and I remained deep in thought.



What most frequently recurred to me was the suggestion of Mr. Ward

that perhaps the automobile and the boat which had attracted our

attention were in reality one and the same. Very probably, at least,

the two machines had been built by the same hand. And beyond doubt,

these were similar engines, which generated this remarkable speed,

more than doubling the previous records of earth and sea.



"The same inventor!" repeated I.



Evidently this hypothesis had strong grounds. The fact that the two

machines had not yet appeared at the same time added weight to the

idea. I murmured to myself, "After the mystery of Great Eyrie, comes

that of Milwaukee and Boston. Will this new problem be as difficult

to solve as was the other?"



I noted idly that this new affair had a general resemblance to the

other, since both menaced the security of the general public. To be

sure, only the inhabitants of the Blueridge region had been in danger

from an eruption or possible earthquake at Great Eyrie. While now, on

every road of the United States, or along every league of its coasts

and harbors, every inhabitant was in danger from this vehicle or this

boat, with its sudden appearance and insane speed.



I found that, as was to be expected, the newspapers not only

suggested, but enlarged upon the dangers of the case. Timid people

everywhere were much alarmed. My old servant, naturally credulous and

superstitious, was particularly upset. That same day after dinner, as

she was clearing away the things, she stopped before me, a water

bottle in one hand, the serviette in the other, and asked anxiously,

"Is there no news, sir?"



"None," I answered, knowing well to what she referred.



"The automobile has not come back?"



"No."



"Nor the boat?"



"Nor the boat There is no news even-in the best informed papers."



"But--your secret police information?"



"We are no wiser."



"Then, sir, if you please, of what use are the police?"



It is a question which has phased me more than once.



"Now you see what will happen," continued the old housekeeper,

complainingly, "Some fine morning, he will come without warning, this

terrible chauffeur, and rush down our street here, and kill us all!"



"Good! When that happens, there will be some chance of catching him."



"He will never be arrested, sir."



"Why not?"



"Because he is the devil himself, and you can't arrest the devil!"



Decidedly, thought I, the devil has many uses; and if he did not

exist we would have to invent him, to give people some way of

explaining the inexplicable. It was he who lit the flames of the

Great Eyrie. It was he who smashed the record in the Wisconsin race.

It is he who is scurrying along the shores of Connecticut and

Massachusetts. But putting to one side this evil spirit who is so

necessary, for the convenience of the ignorant, there was no doubt

that we were facing a most bewildering problem. Had both of these

machines disappeared forever? They had passed like a meteor, like a

star shooting through space; and in a hundred years the adventure

would become a legend, much to the taste of the gossips of the next

century.



For several days the newspapers of America and even those of Europe

continued to discuss these events. Editorials crowded upon

editorials. Rumors were added to rumors. Story tellers of every kind

crowded to the front. The public of two continents was interested. In

some parts of Europe there was even jealousy that America should have

been chosen as the field of such an experience. If these marvelous

inventors were American, then their country, their army and navy,

would have a great advantage over others. The United States might

acquire an incontestable superiority.



Under the date of the tenth of June, a New York paper published a

carefully studied article on this phase of the subject. Comparing the

speed of the swiftest known vessels with the smallest minimum of

speed which could possibly be assigned to the new boat, the article

demonstrated that if the United States secured this secret, Europe

would be but three days away from her, while she would still be five

days from Europe.



If our own police had searched diligently to discover the mystery of

the Great Eyrie, the secret service of every country in the world was

now interested in these new problems.



Mr. Ward referred to the matter each time I saw him. Our chat would

begin by his rallying me about my ill-success in Carolina, and I

would respond by reminding him that success there was only a question

of expense.



"Never mind, my good Strock," said he, "there will come a chance for

our clever inspector to regain his laurels. Take now this affair of

the automobile and the boat. If you could clear that up in advance of

all the detectives of the world, what an honor it would be to our

department! What glory for you!"



"It certainly would, Mr. Ward. And if you put the matter in my

charge--"



"Who knows, Strock? Let us wait a while! Let us wait!"



Matters stood thus when, on the morning of June fifteenth, my old

servant brought me a letter from the letter-carrier, a registered

letter for which I had to sign. I looked at the address. I did not

know the handwriting. The postmark, dating from two days before, was

stamped at the post office of Morganton.



Morganton! Here at last was, no doubt, news from Mr. Elias Smith.



"Yes!" exclaimed I, speaking to my old servant, for lack of another,"

it must be from Mr. Smith at last. I know no one else in Morganton.

And if he writes he has news!"



"Morganton?" said the old woman, "isn't that the place where the

demons set fire to their mountain?"



"Exactly."



"Oh, sir! I hope you don't mean to go back there!"



"Because you will end by being burned up in that furnace of the Great

Eyrie. And I wouldn't want you buried that way, sir."



"Cheer up, and let us see if it is not better news than that."



The envelope was sealed with red sealing wax, and stamped with a sort

of coat of arms, surmounted with three stars. The paper was thick and

very strong. I broke the envelope and drew out a letter. It was a

single sheet, folded in four, and written on one side only. My first

glance was for the signature.



There was no signature! Nothing but three initials at the end of the

last line!



"The letter is not from the Mayor of Morganton," said I.



"Then from whom?" asked the old servant, doubly curious in her

quality as a woman and as an old gossip.



Looking again at the three initials of the signature, I said, "I know

no one for whom these letters would stand; neither at Morganton nor

elsewhere."



The hand-writing was bold. Both up strokes and down strokes very

sharp, about twenty lines in all. Here is the letter, of which I,

with good reason, retained an exact copy. It was dated, to my extreme

stupefaction, from that mysterious Great Eyrie:





Great Eyrie, Blueridge Mtns,



To Mr. Strock: North Carolina, June 13th.



Chief Inspector of Police,



34 Long St., Washington, D. C.



Sir,



You were charged with the mission of penetrating the Great

Eyrie.



You came on April the twenty-eighth, accompanied by the

Mayor of Morganton and two guides.



You mounted to the foot of the wall, and you encircled it,

finding it too high and steep to climb.



You sought a breech and you found none. Know this: none

enter the Great Eyrie; or if one enters, he never returns.



"Do not try again, for the second attempt will not result

as did the first, but will have grave consequences for you.



"Heed this warning, or evil fortune will come to you.



"M. o. W."