And the phonograph needle in the adjoining room wrote in mystic scratches upon the wax, “Success to our enterprise.” Then came the shuffling of feet, the sound of a closing door, and the faint buzz of the electric motor until it ceased, and silence reigned. CHAPTER XVIII. “Uncle Sam to the rescue!” David Morning returned to New York three days after the dinner party described in the last chapter. His typewriters were in attendance as usual, and he began opening his accumulated correspondance, when his secretary knocked at the door communicating with the next room, and, entering, said to his employer:— “Mr. Morning, pardon me for disturbing you, but will you please step into the phonograph room. There is a good deal of matter on the cylinders which has been placed there by others in your absence, and, I judge, placed there inadvertently. I think you had better hear it yourself before it is transcribed.” Morning walked into the other room and was for half an hour an interested auditor of the revelations of the wonderful phonograph. He directed his secretary to remove, label, and lock up the cylinders containing the dinner-party conversation, and said in conclusion:— “Mr. Stephens, somebody has evidently been having a dinner party in this room during my absence. It was not a nice thing for the proprietors to do, but I shall not notice it. Try to find out who dined here, without disclosing that I am aware that the room was occupied. I think I recognize the voices of the occupants, but I wish to be sure.” By inquiring among the waiters, the secretary ascertained, and reported to Mr. Morning, that the guests were Claybank, Wolf, and Gray. That night our hero departed for Washington, and early next morning he was closeted with the secretary of the treasury, to whom he revealed the knowledge gathered from the phonograph cylinders. “It is an infamous piece of business,” said the secretary warmly, “but what, Mr. Morning, can I do about it?” “Mr. Secretary,” said Morning, “will you pardon me for saying frankly that it is your duty to baffle these conspirators and restore values to their normal condition. It is the business of the government to provide a supply of money for the needs and uses of commerce. These scoundrels will bring about a panic by locking up in the vaults of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston banks, $300,000,000, which ought to be in circulation among the people. You have three hundred millions of coin and paper money in the treasury. Why not pour this money into Wall Street, break the back of this conspiracy, and relieve the people?” “But I have no authority, Mr. Morning, as you must know, to use one dollar of this money for any other purposes than those designated by law. If I had the power, believe me, I would be only too glad to exercise it as you desire.”