head
rode a body of horsemen, in the midst of which was the Emperor himself.
The people who thronged the sidewalks cheered and waved their hats and
handkerchiefs with enthusiasm, while a band of musicians played a
German air, which Rob could distinctly hear.

While he gazed, spell-bound, the scene changed, and he looked upon a
great warship entering a harbor with flying pennants. The rails were
lined with officers and men straining their eyes for the first sight of
their beloved "VATERLAND" after a long foreign cruise, and a ringing
cheer, as from a thousand throats, came faintly to Rob's ear.

Again the scene changed, and within a dingy, underground room, hemmed
in by walls of stone, and dimly lighted by a flickering lamp, a body of
wild-eyed, desperate men were plighting an oath to murder the Emperor
and overthrow his government.

"Anarchists?" asked Rob, trembling with excitement.

"Anarchists!" answered the Demon, with a faint sneer, and he shut the
cover of the Record with a sudden snap.

"It's wonderful!" cried the boy, with a sigh that was followed by a
slight shiver.

"The Record is, indeed, proof within itself of the marvelous
possibilities of electricity. Men are now obliged to depend upon
newspapers for information; but these can only relate events long after
they have occurred. And newspaper statements are often unreliable and
sometimes wholly false, while many events of real importance are never
printed in their columns. You may guess what an improvement is this
automatic Record of Events, which is as reliable as Truth itself.
Nothing can be altered or falsified, for the vibratory currents convey
the actual events to your vision, even as they happen."

"But suppose," said Rob, "that something important should happen while
I'm asleep, or not looking at the box?"

"I have called this a Record," replied the Demon, "and such it really
is, although I have shown you only such events as are in process of
being recorded. By pressing this spring you may open the opposite
cover of the box, where all events of importance that have occurred
throughout the world during the previous twenty-four hours will appear
before you in succession. You may thus study them at your leisure.
The various scenes constitute a register of the world's history, and
may be recalled to view as often as you desire."

"It's--it's like knowing everything," murmured Rob, deeply impressed
for perhaps the first time in his life.