Jim Sullivan locked the door and left his friend guarding it; then hurried across the street to the superintendent's cottage. Mrs. Sullivan, busy there about her morning duties, would have stopped him, but Jim would have no denial, and hastening up the stairs to Halsey's bedroom, impetuously demanded entrance. Halsey, drawn, haggard, unshorn, greeted him, half sitting up in bed. "What's wrong, Jim?" he demanded. "Has anybody got into the works?" "Hush, boy!" said Jim, his finger on his lips. "You need tell me nothin'. But I know what it's all about." Halsey sat looking at him dumbly. "Fire me if you like, my son," went on Jim Sullivan. "'Tis true I've done what I had no right to do. Mr. Halsey, sir, _I throwed her in_!" "You did _what_?" "I throwed her in. An' she worked--she worked like a bird! Then I throwed her out ag'in an' come away an' locked the door. Tim was there, too. 'Tis none of my business. But I've come to tell you the truth, an' you can fire me if you like! But it's hell, it's harnessed hell ye've got in there. An' others want to stale it." By this time Halsey was getting into his clothing and only half listening to what his foreman said. "What kills _me_ is, I can't see _how_ she works! She runs by herself all the time, chuggin' like a fire ingin. But where does she _git_ it?" [Illustration: (Rawn and Virginia)] Halsey made no answer. He was pale as a dead man. A few moments later they were hurrying down the stair, across the street, and through the long, deserted room with its rows of gaunt enginery. They stood before the completed receiver, whose motor so perfectly had caught the power of the free second current from the air--John Rawn's costless, stolen Power. "What makes her go?" demanded Jim Sullivan. "Fer what is the hole in the roof yon?" Halsey turned to him. "It's the Mississippi River makes it go, Jim. If we didn't leave a hole in the roof how could the river get through? Now do you understand?" "My boy," said Jim kindly, laying a large hand on his shoulder, "you're off your nut, of course. I don't blame ye, workin' so long as ye have, an' worryin'. 'Tis a rest ye must be takin' now, or they'll be puttin' ye in the bughouse fer fair!" "You're right!" said Halsey. "I think I'll just take a little ride this afternoon. Jim, come here and help me. I want to see if we can charge up this electric car. If I can do that, Jim, my boy, I'll be richer by six o'clock than either of us ever dreamed of being!" Shaking his head dubiously, the big foreman lent a hand, and between them they managed to roll the car into place. "Want to throw her down again, Jim?" demanded Halsey, motioning to the lever and grinning. That worthy shook his head. "I'm scared of her, Mr. Halsey, that I am!" "And well you may be!" was Halsey's comment. He himself threw down an arm on the opposite side of the receiver. This time the motor did not resume its purring, the shaft did not revolve.