anged to have him here. He is waiting outside. Shall
I have him brought in?"

"Yes! Yes!" answered Rostoloff. And the others nodded.

The door opened, and Bill Hood, wearing his best new blue suit and
nervously twisting a faded bicycle cap between his fingers, stumbled
awkwardly into the room. His face was bright red with embarrassment and
one of his cheeks exhibited a marked protuberance. He blinked in the
glare of the electric light.

"Mr. Hood," the President addressed him courteously, "I have sent for
you to explain to these gentlemen, who are the ambassadors of the great
European Powers, the circumstances under which you received the wireless
messages from the unknown person describing himself as 'Pax.'"

Hood shifted from his right to his left foot and pressed his lips
together. Von Koenitz fingered the waxed ends of his moustache and
regarded the operator whimsically.

"In the first place," went on the President, "we desire to know whether
the messages which you have reported were received under ordinary or
under unusual conditions. In a word, could you form any opinion as to
the whereabouts of the sender?"

Hood scratched the side of his nose in a manner politely doubtful.

"Sure thing, your Honour," he answered at last. "Sure the conditions was
unusual. That feller has some juice and no mistake."

"Juice?" inquired Von Koenitz.

"Yare--current. Whines like a steel top. Fifty kilowatts sure, and maybe
more! And a twelve-thousand-metre wave."

"I do not fully understand," interjected Rostoloff. "Please explain,
sir."

"Ain't nothin' to explain," returned Hood. "He's just got a hell of a
wave length, that's all. Biggest on earth. We're only tuned for a
three-thousand-metre wave. At first I could hardly take him at all. I
had to throw in our new Henderson ballast coils before I could hear
properly. I reckon there ain't another station in Christendom can get
him."

"Ah," remarked Von Koenitz. "One of your millionaire amateurs, I
suppose."

"Yare," agreed Hood. "I thought sure he was a nut."

"A what?" interrupted Sir John Smith.

"A nut," answered Hood. "A crank, so to speak."

"Ah, 'krank'!" nodded the German. "Exactly--a lunatic! That is precisely
what I say!"

"But I don't think it's no nut now," countered Hood valiantly. "If he is
a bug he's the biggest bug in all creation, that's all I can say. He's
got the goods, that's what he's got. He'll do some damage before he gets
through."

"Are