Chapter 42

CLOSING TIME

The Ear Detective, more favored than ever because he had been the means of listing sound-clues, one of which had completely linked Ryder into his crime, was busy.

Astrovox, well recovered from his blow on the temple, was going to "shoot" the stars as they crossed over the lens of his telescope and Roger was getting a sound-film into a camera.

"Why in the world did Ryder have to go to all that trouble?" the old star-reader inquired. "How much simpler to have come in his own clothes. More freedom for his hands, that way, and no need to bring the ape to unlace his animal skin."

"He knew," Roger explained, "about out protective device, and by wearing the skin and bringing the dancing ape, he would never be photographed and he would fool us all the more."

"Well," remarked Astrovox, "you'll remember that Neptune--the planet of deception--was opposed by Saturn, the planet of obstruction, and there was an opposition of Mars, ruling explosives, with Uranus, which is, you might say, the planet that brings up the unexpected."

Roger smiled to himself.

Good old Astrovox, he mused, with his oppositions and "aspects" and all, was, still, a very clever scientist, and must be humored.

"Yes," he chuckled, "and if I remember all you told me, something like this was in the 'horoscope' that day. The 'sixth house' has to do with animals--smaller animals, and Neptune with larger ones."

"That is my astrological teaching."

"Well, Neptune is in that sixth house, and if Saturn is the planet of obstruction it shows why the false doctor in his deceptive disguises, would be obstructed or caught."

"Rats!" Tip snapped.

"Rats are under the sixth house," Astrovox seriously persisted in apparently preposterous ideas, "and Neptune showed how the gas was used and also how the acid test, when Grover applied it to the shoes Ryder had worn, revealed in the paraffin cast the exploded gas of the torpedo he had stepped on to attract attention just when I ran in and recognized him."

"What explains _my_ denseness?" Grover arrived, with a special quartz lens for some prism-and-spectroscope color work, "I was put off the track at first because Ryder knew my favorite axiom, 'dig past appearances that can be falsified, to find truth which is ever the same.' He deliberately hid the culture tubes in his own racks, and I fell into his trap, trusting him, thinking he was being victimized by some one else. It made it possible for him to be here, operate the trick with the Voice of Doom and hand Roger the prepared film supposed to be unexposed, carrying his animal pictures that he took at a special performance given him for good pay by the animal trainer."

"Your density was because Mercury was in the twelfth house, and squared the moon in the third--wrong deductions."

"Maybe those 'houses' are true," chuckled Grover, "I know one house _I_ am going to occupy. My own home. For a good sleep. How about you, Roger?"

"After I see that all our apparatus is fixed for the night."

"You go ahead," Potts grinned fondly at his chum, all suspicions forgiven, "I'll see that everything er--uh--coagulates!"

THE END

The Mystery of the 15 Sounds

_By Van Powell_

When Roger's uncle offered him an opportunity to help in his scientific laboratory while the boy's parents were in Europe, Roger jumped at the chance. His uncle's laboratory--one of the most perfectly equipped--was the most fascinating place in the world.

Even the latest scientific devices, however, could not keep out the "Voice of Doom" which sounded hollowly through the laboratories in the dead of night, or prevent the ghostly antics of the phantom kangaroo and his ape-like companion. These and many other occurrences make THE MYSTERY OF THE 15 SOUNDS one of the best boys' mystery stories of the year.

_Books for Boys_

In selecting the books of this series we, as publishers, have tried to present a varied assortment, which will stir the imaginations of all boys. At the same time we have kept these stories from being nerve-wreckers.

Herman M. Appel Secret of the Flambeau, The.

William Dixon Bell Sacred Scimiter, The. Moon Colony, The. Secret of Tibet, The.

Walter Butts, Jr. Brothers of the Senecas.

Graham M. Dean Agent Nine and the Jewel Mystery. Agent Nine Solves His First Case. Circle 4 Patrol. Daring Wings. Herb Kent, West Point Cadet. Herb Kent, West Point Full Back. Slim Evans and His Horse "Lightning." Treasure Hunt of the S-18.

Edwin Green Air Monster. Secret Flight.

William Heyliger Big Leaguer. Detectives, Inc. Fighting Blood. Loser's End, The.

Norton H. Jonathan Dan Hyland, Police Reporter.

Gilbert A. Lathrop Whispering Rails. Mystery Rides the Rails.

George Morse Circus Dan. Extra. Vanishing Liner.

John A. Moroso Nobody's Buddy.

Ambrose Newcomb Eagles of the Sky. Flying the Coast Sky Ways. Sky Detectives. Trackers of the Fog Pack.

Van Powell Mystery of the 15 Sounds.

Warren F. Robinson "G" Man's Son, The. "G" Man's Son, at Porpoise Island. Phantom Whale, The.

Lieut. Noel Sainsbury Bill Bolton and the Flying Fish. Bill Bolton, Flying Midshipman. Bill Bolton and Hidden Danger. Bill Bolton and Winged Cartwheels.

Harold M. Sherman Captain of the Eleven. Down the Ice. Interference. In Wrong Right. It's A Pass. Over the Line. Strike Him Out. Tahara, Among African Tribes. Tahara, Boy King of the Desert. Tahara, Boy Mystic of India. Tahara, in the Land of Yucatan. Under the Basket.

Wayne Whipple Young Abraham Lincoln. Young Franklin Roosevelt.

THE GOLDSMITH PUBLISHING CO. CHICAGO, ILL.

Transcriber's Notes

--Copyright notice provided as in the original--this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged.

--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)

End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of the Fifteen Sounds, by Van Powell