on! He stared again at
the tangible evidence he held; then shook his head in perplexed
abstraction. No--the man was killed by unknown means.

And now--the _Maryland_! And a visible finger of death--touching,
flashing, feeling its way to the deadly cargo of powder sacks.

Not till he sat alone with his chief did he put into words his
thoughts.

"A time bomb did it," the Chief was saying. "The officials deny it,
but what other answer is there? No one approached that ship--you know
that, Del--no torpedo nor aerial bomb! Nothing as fanciful as that!"

Robert Delamater's lips formed a wry smile. "Nothing at fanciful as
that"--and he was thinking, thinking--of what he hardly dared express.

"We will start with the ship's personnel," the other continued; "find
every man who was not on board when the explosion occurred--"

"No use," the operative interrupted; "this was no inside job, Chief."
He paused to choose his words while the other watched him curiously.

"Someone _did_ reach that ship--reached it from a distance--reached it
in the same way they reached that poor devil I left at room nine
forty-seven. Listen--"

* * * * *

He told his superior of his vigil on the speed-boat--of the almost
invisible flash against the ship's mast. "He reached it, Chief," he
concluded; "he felt or saw his way down and through the side of that
ship. And he fired their ammunition from God knows where."

"I wonder," said the big man slowly; "I wonder if you know just what
you are trying to tell me--just how absurd your idea is. Are you
seriously hinting at long-distance vision through solid
armor-plate--through these walls of stone and steel? And wireless
power-transmission through the same wall--!"

"Exactly!" said the operative.

"Why, Del, you must be as crazy as this Eye of Allah individual. It's
impossible."

"That word," said Delamater, quietly, "has been crossed out of
scientific books in the past few years."

"What do you mean?"

"You have studied some physical science, of course?" Delamater asked.
The Chief nodded.

"Then you know what I mean. I mean that up to recent years science had
all the possibilities and impossibilities neatly divided and
catalogued. Ignorance, as always, was the best basis for positive
assurance. Then they got inside the atom. And since then your real
scientist has been a very humble man. He has seen the impossibility of
yesterday become the established fact of