s built with funds
furnished by the young broker. The foundryman who had constructed the
big torpedo-shaped contrivance had been interviewed. He knew both men,
and they were on the most friendly terms. In a moment of confidence
Doctor Anderwelt had told him the machine was for submarine exploration;
had explained the four-winged rudder, which would make it dive into the
water, rise to the surface, or direct it to right or to left. Moreover,
there were closed living compartments, around which were chambers
containing a supply of air. He himself had pumped them full of
compressed air, and it was so arranged that foul air could be let out
when used and new air admitted. When all had been finished the
foundryman had shipped the new invention, _via_ the Michigan Southern
Railway, to the shore of the Lake near Whiting, Indiana. Next the
_Herald_ had sought and found the conductor whose train had hauled it to
Whiting. He remembered switching off the flat-car there, and he was
surprised on his return trip next morning to see the heavy thing already
unloaded and gone.

Undoubtedly, the two men had made an experiment with the diving boat
under the surface of the water; and its failure to operate as hoped had
resulted in its sinking to the bottom, with the two men imprisoned in
it. On no other hypothesis could its disappearance, and that of the two
men, be so plausibly accounted for. But as they had stores of air, and
probably of food, there was a possibility that they were still alive
inside the thing in the bottom of the Lake! Only three days had elapsed
since it had been launched, and the _Herald_ was willing to head a
subscription to drag the Lake and send divers to search for and rescue
the two unfortunate men!

All this serves to illustrate the untiring energy of newspaper
investigation, as well as the remarkable fertility of journalistic
imagination; for none of these clever theories hit at the real truth, or
explained the correct bearing of the astonishing facts which the
newspapers had so industriously unearthed.

And if the mystery of the disappearance of Isidor Werner was uncommonly
deep and wonderful, the explanation and final solution of it is not less
marvellous. After a delay of more than six years, it has just now come
into my hands whole and perfect. It is in no less satisfactory form than
a complete manuscript written by the very hand of Isidor Werner! I came
strangely into possession of it, and it relates a s