* * *

"Yet a man, or an incarnate devil--I don't know which he is--did
control the weather once, as well as the sun. But for the humble
efforts of two Americans, aided by a Russian girl whose brother
Saranoff had murdered, he might be still controlling it."

General Merton was silent now.

"Carnes, let me have that map," went on the doctor. When the detective
had unrolled a map of the United States on Colonel Wesley's table, Dr.
Bird continued, pointing to the map as he spoke.

"On this map," he said, "is plotted the deficiency in rainfall for the
past year, from every reporting station in the United States. These
red lines divide the country into areas of equal deficiency. The area
most affected, as you can see, is longer east and west, than it is
north and south. It is worst in the east, in fact in this very
neighborhood. Even a casual glance at the map will show you that the
center of the drought area, from an intensity standpoint, lies in
Maryland, a few miles south of here."

"In fact, just about where those two planes went down," added Carnes.

"Precisely, old dear. That was why we went over that section with the
fleet. Now, gentlemen, note a few other things about this drought. The
areas of drought follow roughly the great waterways, the Ohio and the
Potomac valleys being especially affected. In other words, the drought
follows the normal air currents from this point. If something were to
be added to the air which would tend to prevent rain, it would in time
drift, just as the drought areas have drifted."

* * * * *

General Merton and Colonel Wesley bent over the map.

"I believe you're right, Doctor," admitted the general.

"Thank you. The President was convinced that I was before he placed
the First Air Division under my orders. Frankly, that search was the
real object of assembling the fleet. The maneuvers are a mere blind."

General Merton colored slightly.

"Now, I'll try to give you some idea of what I think is the method
being used," went on the doctor, ignoring General Merton's rising
color. "In the past, rain has been produced in several cases where
conditions were right--that is, when the air held plenty of moisture
which refused to fall--by the discharge from a plane of a cloud of
positively charged dust particles. Ergo, a heavy negative charge in
the air, which will absorb rather than discharge a positive charge,
should tend to prevent ra