18. A Narrow Escape
The Auditorium Tower, where "the weather man" sits to flash his
reports throughout the country, offered an inviting place for the boy
to alight. He dropped quietly upon the roof of the great building and
walked down the staircase until he reached the elevators, by means of
which he descended to the ground floor without exciting special attention.
The eager rush and hurry of the people crowding the sidewalks
impressed Rob with the idea that they were all behind time and were
trying hard to catch up. He found it impossible to walk along
comfortably without being elbowed and pushed from side to side; so a
half hour's sight-seeing under such difficulties tired him greatly.
It was a beautiful afternoon, and finding himself upon the Lake Front,
Rob hunted up a vacant bench and sat down to rest.
Presently an elderly gentleman with a reserved and dignified
appearance and dressed in black took a seat next to the boy and drew a
magazine from his pocket. Rob saw that he opened it to an article on
"The Progress of Modern Science," in which he seemed greatly interested.
After a time the boy remembered that he was hungry, not having eaten a
tablet in more than twenty-four hours. So he took out the silver box
and ate one of the small, round disks it contained.
"What are those?" inquired the old gentleman in a soft voice. "You
are too young to be taking patent medicines."
"There are not medicines, exactly," answered the boy, with a smile.
"They are Concentrated Food Tablets, sorted with nourishment by means
of electricity. One of them furnishes a person with food for an
entire day."
The old gentleman stared at Rob a moment and then laid down his magazine
and took the box in his hands, examining the tablets curiously.
"Are these patented?" he asked.
"No," said Rob; "they are unknown to any one but myself."
"I will give you a half million dollars for the recipe to make them,"
said the gentleman.
"I fear I must refuse your offer," returned Rob, with a laugh.
"I'll make it a million," said the gentleman, coolly.
Rob shook his head.
"Money can't buy the recipe," he said; "for I don't know it myself."
"Couldn't the tablets be chemically analyzed, and the secret
discovered?" inquired the other.
"I don't know; but I'm not going to give any one the chance to try,"
declared the boy, firmly.
The old gentleman picked up his magazine without another word, and
resumed his reading.
For amusement Rob took the Record of Events from his pocket and began
looking at the scenes reflected from its polished plate.
Presently he became aware that the old gentleman was peering over his
shoulder with intense interest. General Funston was just then engaged
in capturing the rebel chief, Aguinaldo, and for a few moments both
man and boy observed the occurrence with rapt attention. As the scene
was replaced by one showing a secret tunnel of the Russian Nihilists,
with the conspirators carrying dynamite to a recess underneath the
palace of the Czar, the gentleman uttered a long sigh and asked:
"Will you sell that box?"
"No," answered Rob, shortly, and put it back into his pocket.
"I'll give you a million dollars to control the sale in Chicago alone,"
continued the gentleman, with an eager inflection in his smooth voice.
"You seem quite anxious to get rid of money," remarked Rob,
carelessly. "How much are you worth?"
"Personally?"
"Yes."
"Nothing at all, young man. I am not offering you my own money. But
with such inventions as you have exhibited I could easily secure
millions of capital. Suppose we form a trust, and place them upon the
market. We'll capitalize it for a hundred millions, and you can have
a quarter of the stock--twenty-five millions. That would keep you
from worrying about grocery bills."
"But I wouldn't need groceries if I had the tablets," said Rob, laughing.
"True enough! But you could take life easily and read your newspaper
in comfort, without being in any hurry to get down town to business.
Twenty-five millions would bring you a cozy little income,
if properly invested."
"I don't see why one should read newspapers when the Record of Events
shows all that is going on in the world," objected Rob.
"True, true! But what do you say to the proposition?"
"I must decline, with thanks. These inventions are not for sale."
The gentleman sighed and resumed his magazine, in which he became
much absorbed.
Rob put on the Character Marking Spectacles and looked at him. The
letters "E," "W" and "C" were plainly visible upon the composed,
respectable looking brow of his companion.
"Evil, wise and cruel," reflected Rob, as he restored the spectacles
to his pocket. "How easily such a man could impose upon people. To
look at him one would think that butter wouldn't melt in his mouth!"
He decided to part company with this chance acquaintance and, rising
from his seat, strolled leisurely up the walk. A moment later, on
looking back, he discovered that the old gentleman had disappeared.
He walked down State Street to the river and back again, amused by the
activity displayed in this busy section of the city. But the time
he had allowed himself in Chicago had now expired, so he began
looking around for some high building from the roof of which he
could depart unnoticed.
This was not at all difficult, and selecting one of many stores he
ascended by an elevator to the top floor and from there mounted an
iron stairway leading to the flat roof. As he climbed this stairway
he found himself followed by a pleasant looking young man, who also
seemed desirous of viewing the city from the roof.
Annoyed at the inopportune intrusion, Rob's first thought was to go
back to the street and try another building; but, upon reflecting that
the young man was not likely to remain long and he would soon be
alone, he decided to wait. So he walked to the edge of the roof and
appeared to be interested in the scenery spread out below him.
"Fine view from here, ain't it?" said the young man, coming up to him
and placing his hand carelessly upon the boy's shoulder.
"It is, indeed," replied Rob, leaning over the edge to look
into the street.
As he spoke he felt himself gently but firmly pushed from behind and,
losing his balance, he plunged headforemost from the roof and whirled
through the intervening space toward the sidewalk far below.
Terrified though he was by the sudden disaster, the boy had still wit
enough remaining to reach out his right hand and move the indicator of
the machine upon his left wrist to the zero mark. Immediately he
paused in his fearful flight and presently came to a stop at a
distance of less than fifteen feet from the flagstones which had
threatened to crush out his life.
As he stared downward, trying to recover his self-possession, he saw
the old gentleman he had met on the Lake Front standing just below
and looking at him with a half frightened, half curious expression
in his eyes.
At once Rob saw through the whole plot to kill him and thus secure
possession of his electrical devices. The young man upon the roof who
had attempted to push him to his death was a confederate of the
innocent appearing old gentleman, it seemed, and the latter had calmly
awaited his fall to the pavement to seize the coveted treasures from
his dead body. It was an awful idea, and Rob was more frightened than
he had ever been before in his life--or ever has been since.
But now the shouts of a vast concourse of amazed spectators reached
the boy's ears. He remembered that he was suspended in mid-air over
the crowded street of a great city, while thousands of wondering eyes
were fixed upon him.
So he quickly set the indicator to the word "up," and mounted sky-ward
until the watchers below could scarcely see him. They he fled away
into the east, even yet shuddering with the horror of his recent
escape from death and filled with disgust at the knowledge that there
were people who held human life so lightly that they were willing to
destroy it to further their own selfish ends.
"And the Demon wants such people as these to possess his electrical
devices, which are as powerful to accomplish evil when in wrong hands
as they are good!" thought the boy, resentfully. "This would be a
fine world if Electric Tubes and Records of Events and Traveling
Machines could be acquired by selfish and unprincipled persons!"
So unnerved was Rob by his recent experiences that he determined to
make no more stops. However, he alighted at nightfall in the country,
and slept upon the sweet hay in a farmer's barn.
But, early the next morning, before any one else was astir, he resumed
his journey, and at precisely ten o'clock of this day, which was
Saturday, he completed his flying trip around the world by alighting
unobserved upon the well-trimmed lawn of his own home.
