"--that no steps will be neglected which may prove of value," went on
the President. "The greatest scientists of the country have gathered in
this city in conference and they undoubtedly will soon find a simple and
natural explanation for what is happening. In the meantime--"

* * * * *

The President paused. From the crowd in front of him came a sudden
disturbance. A man sprang free of the crowd and broke through the
restraining cordon of police. In his hand gleamed an ugly blue steel
automatic pistol. Quickly he leveled it and fired. A puff of dust came
from the Capitol. The bullet had landed a few inches from one of the
lower windows, fifty feet from where the President stood. He raised his
weapon for a second shot but it was never fired. The man who had come
down the Capitol steps sprang forward like a cat and grasped the weapon.
For a moment the two men struggled, but only for a moment. From the
crowd, stunned for a moment by the sheer audacity of the attack, came a
roar of rage. The police closed in about the struggling men but the
crowd rolled over them like a wave. The captor shouted his identity and
tried to display the gold badge of the secret service but the mob was
in no state of mind to listen. The police were trampled underfoot and
the would-be assassin torn from the hands of the secret service
operative. Every man in reach tried to strike a blow. The secret service
man was buffeted and thrown aside. Realizing that the affair had been
taken out of his hands, he made his way to the rear of the Capitol where
his badge gained him ready passage through the cordon of police. He
entered the building and reappeared in a few moments by the side of the
President.

* * * * *

Two hours later he leaned forward in his chair in Dr. Bird's private
laboratory in the Bureau of Standards and spoke earnestly.

"Dr. Bird," he said, "that bullet was never meant for the President.
That man was after bigger game."

The famous scientist nodded thoughtfully.

"Even a very rotten pistol shot should have come closer to him," he
replied. "He must have missed by a good forty feet."

"He missed by a matter of inches. Doctor, that bullet struck the Capitol
only two inches from a window. In that window was standing a man. The
bullet was intended for the occupant of that window. I was directly
behind him when he raised his weapon for a second shot and I am sure of