ings over. In rushed
Rastell and Wilson, brushing the indignant butler aside.

"We have heard a thousand rumors," began Rastell, "and read as many
foolish statements in the papers about the rat tragedy, and we just
couldn't wait a minute longer. You just have to tell us what happened.
We are not going to leave you till you do."

"You tell them, Crawford," whispered Willowby. "Whenever I talk about
it, my voice becomes squeaky."

"It happened this way," explained Crawford. "After you started to work,
Mr. Willowby decided to go over and study the story of the Piper right
in the town of Hamelin. We went there and there was no doubt that the
town people really believed that it really happened. They told us all
about it, and the more we listened and paid them, the more they told.
They gave us the very tune the Piper played to make the rats follow him.
It was a simple little thing, and we made some phonograph records of it.
It seems that when the rats hear that tune, they want to get as close as
they can to the source of the music. Then one old man--he gave us some
additional bars which he claimed drove the rats frantic for blood, and
we made a record of that also.

"Afterwards we came back to America and went up into Pike County. Not so
many rats there but enough to experiment with. We tried the short tune
and the long tune and they worked on the American rats just like they
did on the Hamelin ones. We put two and two together and decided that
the rat racketeers in New York were using this method of attracting
rats. Just put a repeating phonograph in a building and start it
playing, and then the rats would come and eat everything to pieces. Of
course, we did not know the psychology of it, but I suppose it has
something to do with the effect of musical vibrations on the rat's
nervous system.

"Then Mr. Willowby thought that it would be a good idea to make a great
rat trap and attract all the rats in the city to it. He had a good deal
of work done in the Empire Trust, and rigged up a phonograph with a lot
of loud speakers in different parts of the basement. He ran a lot of
ropes down a ventilating shaft for the rats to climb on. I think it was
his original idea to have them come up to his office by the millions and
then use some kind of gas on them. At least, he wanted to get rid of the
rats. Someone must have turned on the phonograph with the entire record.
Mr. Willowby left the room, went down the elevator and being som