Milford High School - Oak Lily and Ivy Yearbook (Milford, MA)

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THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. 25 as though frozen to the spot, then rushed in a body toward a large oaken door at the end of the hall. Tim opened the heavy door slowly. The air that came out was foul, with a peculiar odor, as though the room had been shut up for a long time. With one fearful glance the group took in the blood-stained surroundings and also the stooped, neglected-looking man who was standing in a large open French window. As they started toward him, he gave one backward glance and disappeared from view. There rose to the horrified ears of the group the sound of a dia¬ bolical laugh and a huge splash. Elizabeth Sails, ’28. X THE UNKNOWN. “London Trust Company Looted! Gas Cloud Overcomes Guards. Cypher Message Left in Vaults. Raiders Escape in Mysterious Plane.” Fred Burton was reading the news as it flashed over his television machine. With an exclamation of surprise his usually good-natured face clouded. “Who would have thought it?” he mused. “A plane able to escape the police ships with their 1981 equipment, their Z-ray guns capable of stopping any motor, and their speed. Why, that plane must have been traveling more than 600 miles an hour.” An urgent buzzing on the opposite side of the room interrupted him. Hurriedly he read the message from the instrument, “Ser¬ geant Fred Burton is to report for duty at once at the New York Airport.” A few minutes later Inspector Merriwell was saying to him, “We have solved the cypher message, but the answer seems almost incredible. Here! Read it for yourself.” Fred picked up the typewritten sheet. “You are probably wondering,” he read, “who I am and what my motive is. The first question is immaterial; that I am an inventor is sufficient. My motive is more complex. I have no need of the money, myself, as I am working alone. I am giving time and service for humanity’s sake and am trying to save the world from the curse of wealth. My next move will be at the New York National Bank. This information will be of no use to you, for you can never guard the fourth dimension. Signed X.” “Curse of wealth! Fourth dimension! Why, that’s—but it can’t be! He died escaping from his cell in the asylum.” “So we all thought,” said the Inspector. But no one else could have such ideas. It must be Hilton, the insane inventor.” Monday night was dark and cold. There seemed to be no one around. But inside the vaults of the First National Bank photophones were recording every¬ thing that went on, while ou tside, out of range of the anaesthetic gas, Sergeant Burton, with three police planes, was awaiting the arrival of X. However, all this preparation was in vain. A large gray plane swooped down; a mist of pink gas enveloped the building. A long tube-like projection extended down from the plane and seemed to pass through the roof. The photophones in the vaults showed a man materializing from space; the money-bags were loaded into the

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24 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. Then brushing her short light brown hair out of her hazel eyes, she looked about her. “What a gorgeous place! Oh, look at the lovely birch trees, and over there, that marvelous pine grove. I’ll wager one can get a fine view from that window,” she added, pointing to a large French window high up in the castle and right over the river. “Gee, Dicky, how you do jump around in your conversation. Well, come on, we’ll have to go over part of the castle before the workers from the village arrive. I believe I’ll have all the rooms cleaned, for I guess they’ll need it.” As they worked their way back, they continued their inspection. Tim pointed out to the girl many well known landmarks. “See, Dicky, there is the family graveyard. Over there in that small cot¬ tage lives a hermit. Boy, didn’t he hate us because we lived here! He hates anyone who even enters the castle.” They raced each other up the steep banks to the castle. As they reached the door, the girl hung back as though some ill foreboding breath of air had whispered something repugnant to her. But, perhaps not to be outdone by her friend, or perhaps, more truely, not wishing to stay alone in the strange, unusual, formidable surroundings, she entered the ancient house with an unfathomable apprehension. Tim stepped in ahead of her. He immediately hurried down the hall to the kitchen and began foraging manfashion in a large pantry. “Oh, heck! All of mother’s preserves are gone, and I know when I was camping up here for a few days last fall, there were about a dozen jars left.” “Never mind, Tim. You most likely ate them, or perhaps some of your old chums who knew about them came by, forced their way in, and helped them¬ selves during their stay.” Just then they heard the workers arriving, and they hastened to greet them and give them some orders concerning the future work. As Tim entered the drawing room, he noticed footmarks on the rug. He asked Dicky if she had come in ahead of him., but she answered in the negative. He discovered that the footmarks led up to the davenport and then he noticed its burden. Dicky stopped, turned pale, then hurried forward and examined the piti¬ ful form. Her nursing training now stood her in good stead as she again examined the body. ? It only a child and he was killed by a blow of a dagger from behind. Oh! she added vindictively, “How I would like to get my hands on that cowardly, hateful murderer!” As she stood there, she noticed that a ray of sunlight had filtered in through the dusty windows across the dingy rug spattered with blood. It had stopped at the motionless corpse on the davenport as if to make a bridge by which the soul of the victim might pass from this world into the celestial world above. She shuddered, then turned, and quickly left the room. One of the men recognized the child as one of the children of a well known family in the village. I he child was considered strange because he was always administering to the sick instead of running and playing like others of his age. They immediately formed a searching party to go through the castle and see what other horrors, if any, it held. They searched the first floor methodically, going through the dim dusky mysterious rooms. They found nothing. 1 hey started on the second floor, but before they had gone far in the search, they were stopped by a scream from one of the nearby rooms. They all stood

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26 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. plane. The plane was pursued. The pursuers saw X pull a lever, and then— the plane absolutely disappeared. It was true! There was a fourth dimension! But who had the secret of it? An insane fool who believed that money was the root of all evil. The whole world was terrified. Everywhere people were withdrawing their money from the banks. Thousands of banks were failing. The police admitted defeat. X had made three more successful raids. Twice he had been seen and chased, but had escaped through the fourth dimension. Every member of the force was on duty night and day. Even Inspector Merriwell, who might very well have directed the campaign from his desk at headquarters, was gone for days at a time in his speedy pursuit plane. Fred Burton was thinking of all this as he sped along through the night on his way from Chicago to Washington. Suddenly he looked around. There was no one in sight, but he could have sworn he heard the sound of propellors. Then, far below him, he saw a vague shape, suspended by its helicoptors, slowly set¬ tling to earth. His heart gave a leap. Now was his chance. X must be trying to steal some of Major Strong’s plans. And how easy it would be. The Major, an eccentric inventor, rarely left his work-room and cared little for what was happening in the world. Quickly Fred glided earthward. As he came nearer he could see that X had not used his fourth-dimension tube, but had evidently entered the house through an unlocked window. “If I could only get into the plane,” he thought, “I would have X trapped.” Landing, he sent a code message to headquarters. Then, taking a heavy wrench from his tool kit, he climbed the long rope ladder to the cabin of the mysterious plane. As he had feared, the entrance was locked, but he climbed to one of the windows and, with all his strength, struck it with the wrench. As he was about to enter, his foot slipped. He grasped the nearest support, the lever of the fourth dimension. It yielded to his pull. As he fell, he saw the plane disappear, and his last thoughts before he struck were that he had sent the mystery plane, unpiloted, where no one could ever reach it again. When Burton became conscious, he saw another plane landing. Out of it sprang three patrolmen. They told him that the Inspector had been out on one of his long scouting trips when the message arrived, but they had all started to come without orders. Fred reported what had happened, and they all started for the house. Once inside, they followed the sound of voices to an upstairs room. There, with his back toward them, sat X. They recognized him by his queer leather jacket. Across the table was Major Strong, while between them lay the stolen gold and securities. “But you promised me twice that amount for the use of the plane!” the Major was complaining. “I’ll pay you after a few more raids,” came X’s reply. “Hands up!” shouted Fred. The Major sank weakly into his chair. X sprang to his feet and whirled to confront the speaker. There was a deathlike silence. The suddenness of his movement had swept the mask from his face. X, the unknown, was not Hilton, the insane inventor, but—Inspector Merriwell! Robert Billings, ’ 28 .