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The Problem of the Hidden Million by
Jacques Foutrell. The gray hand of death

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had already left its ashen mark upon
the wrinkled, venomous face of the old

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man, who lay huddled up in
bed. Save for the feverishly brilliant eyes,

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cunning, vindictive, hateful, there
seemed to be no spark of life

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in the aged form. The withered
lips were mute, and the thin,

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yellow claw like hands lay helplessly outstretched
on the white sheets. All physical power

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was gone. Only the brain remained
doggedly alive. Two men and two women

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stood beside the death bed upon each
and turned the glittering eyes rested with the

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merciless, unreasoning hatred of age.
Crouched on the floor was a huge Saint

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Bernard dog, and on a perch
across the room was a parrot, which

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screeched abominably. The gloom of the
wretched little room was suddenly relieved by a

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ruddy sunbeam, which shot athwart the
bed and lighted the scene fantastically. The

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old man noted it, and his
lips curled into a hideous smile. That's

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the last son I'll ever see,
he piped feebly. I'm dying dying,

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do you hear, And you're all
glad of it, every one of you.

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Yes, you are. You are
glad of it because you want my

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money. You came here to make
me believe you were paying a last tribute

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of respect to your old grandfather.
But that isn't it. It's the money.

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You want the money. But I've
got a surprise for you. You

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never get the money. It's hidden
safely. You'll never get it. You

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all hate me, you have hated
me for years, and after this sun

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dies, you'll all hate me worse, but not more than I hate you.

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You'll all hate me worse then,
because I'll be gone, and you'll

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never know where the money is hidden. It will lie there safely where I

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put it, rotting and crumbling away. But you shall never warm your fingers

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with it. It's hidden, hidden, hidden. There was a rasping in

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the shrunken throat, a deeply drawn
breath. Then the figure stiffened, and

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a distorted soul passed out upon the
eternal way. Martha held a card within

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the blinding light of the reflector,
and Professor Augustus s f X von Duson,

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with his hands immersed to the elbows
in some chemical mess. Squinted at

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it a Doctor Walter Ballard, he
read, show him in. After a

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moment, Doctor Ballard entered. The
scientist was still absorbed in his labors,

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but paused long enough to jerk his
head toward a chair. Doctor Ballard accepted

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this as an invitation, and sat
down, staring curiously at the singular,

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childlike figure of the eminent man of
science, at the mop of tangled straw,

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yellow hair, the enormous brow,
and the peering blue eyes. Well

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demanded the scientist abruptly. I beg
your pardon, began Doctor Ballard, with

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a little start. Your name was
mentioned to me some time ago by a

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newspaper reporter, a Hutchinson Hatch,
whom I chanced to meet in his professional

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capacity. He suggested then that I
come and see you, but I thought

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it useless. Now the affair in
which we were both interested at that time

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seems hopelessly beyond solution, so I
came to you for aid. We want

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to find one million dollars in gold
and United States bonds, which were hidden

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by my grandfather, John Walter Ballard
some time before his death just a month

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ago. The circumstances are altogether out
of the ordinary, the thinking machine abandoned

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his labors and dried his hands carefully, after which he took a seat facing

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doctor Ballard. Tell me about it, he commanded, well, began Doctor

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Ballard reminiscently, as he settled back
in his chair. The old man,

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my grandfather, died, as I
said a month ago. He was nearly

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eighty six. In the last five
or six years of his life he spent

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as a recluse in a little hut
twenty miles from the city, a place

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some distance from any other house.
He had a spot of ground there half

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an acre or so, and lived
like a pauper, despite the fact that

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he was worth at least a million
dollars. Previous to the time he went

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there to live, there had been
an estrangement with my family, his sole

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heirs. My family consists of myself, wife, son, and daughter.

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My grandfather lived in the house with
me for ten years before he went out

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to this hut, and why he
left us then is not clear to any

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member of my family, unless and
he shrugged his shoulders. He was mentally

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unbalanced. Anyway he went, he
would neither come to see us, nor

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would he permit us to go see
him. As far as we know,

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he owned no real property of any
sort except this miserable little place, worth

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altogether furnishing, in all, not
more than a thousand or twelve hundred dollars.

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Well, about a month ago some
one stopped at the hut for something

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and found he was ill. I
was notified, and with my wife,

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son and daughter, went to see
what we could do. He took occasion,

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on his death bed to heap the
tuperation upon us, and incidentally to

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state that something like a million dollars
was left behind, but hidden. For

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the sake of my son and daughter. I undertook to recover this money.

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I consulted attorneys, private detectives,
and in fact exhausted every possible method.

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I ascertained beyond question that the money
was not in a bank anywhere, and

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hardly think he would have left it
there, because, of course, if

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he had, even with a will
disinheriting us, the law would have turned

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it over to us. He had
no safe deposit vault as far as one

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month's close search revealed, and the
money was not hidden in the house or

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grounds. He stated on his death
bed that it was in bonds and gold,

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and that we should never find it. He was just vindictive enough not

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to destroy it, but to leave
it somewhere, believing we should never find

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it. Where did he hide it? The thinking machine sat silent for several

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minutes, with his enormous yellow head
tilted back and slender fingers pressed together.

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The house and the grounds were searched, he asked. The house was searched

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from cellar to garrett. Was the
reply. Workmen, under my directions,

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practically wrecked the building, floors,
ceilings, walls, chimney stairs, everything,

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little cubby holes in the roof,
the foundation of the chimney, the

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pillars, even the flagstones leading from
the gate to the door. Everything was

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examined. The joists were sounded to
see if they were solid, and a

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dozen of them were cut through.
The posts on the verandah were cut to

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pieces, and every stick of furniture
was dissected, mattresses, beds, chairs,

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tables, bureaus, all of it. Outside in the grounds the search

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was just as thorough, not one
square inch, but what was overturned.

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We dug it all up to a
depth of ten feet. Still nothing,

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of course, said the scientist.
At last, the search of the house

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and grounds was useless. The old
man was shrewd enough to know that they

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would be searched. Also, it
would appear that the search of banks and

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safety deposit vaults was equally useless.
He was shrewd enough to foresee that too.

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We shall, for the present assume
that he did not destroy the money

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or give it away, So it
is hidden. If the brain of man

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is clever enough to conceal a thing, the brain of man is clever enough

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to find it. It's a little
problem in subtraction, doctor Ballard, He

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was silent for a moment. Who
was your grandfather's attending physician? I was.

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I was present at his death.
Nothing could be done. It was

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merely the collapse consequent upon old age. I issued the burial certificate, where

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any special directions lie left as to
the place or manner of burial. No,

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have all his papers been examined for
a clue as to the possible hiding

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place everything. There were no papers
to amount to anything. Have you those

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papers now? Doctor Ballard silently produced
a packet and handed it to the scientist.

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I shall examine these at my leisure, said the thinking machine. It

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may be a day or so before
I communicate with you. Doctor Ballard went

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his way. For a dozen hours, the thinking machine sat with the papers

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spread out before him, and the
keen, squinting blue eyes dissected them,

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every paragraph, every sentence, every
word. At the end he arose and

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bundled up the papers impatiently. Dear
me, dear me, he exclaimed,

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irritably, there's no cipher. That's
certain. Then, what devastating hands had

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wrought the wreck of the little hut
where the old man died. Standing in

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the midst of its litter, the
thinking machine regarded it closely and dispassionately.

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For a long time, the work
of destruction had been well done. Can

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you suggest anything, asked doctor Ballard, impatiently. One mind may read another

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mind, said the thinking machine.
When there is some external thing upon which

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there can come concentration as a unit. In other words, when we have

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a given number, the logical brain
can construct either backward or forward. There

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are so many thousands of ways in
which your grandfather could have disposed of this

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money that the task becomes tremendous in
view of the fact that we have no

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starting point. It is a case
for patients rather than any other quality.

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Therefore, for greater speed we must
proceed psychologically. The question then becomes not

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one of where the money is hidden, but one of where that sort of

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man would hide it. Now,
what sort of man was your grandfather,

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the scientist continued, He was crabbed, eccentric, and possibly not mentally sound.

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The cunning of a diseased brain is
greater than the cunning of a normal

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one. He boasted to you that
the money was in existence, and his

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last words were intended to arouse your
curiosity, to hang over you all the

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rest of your life and torment you. You can imagine the vindictive, petty

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brain like that putting a thing safely
beyond your reach, but just beyond it,

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near enough to tantalize, and yet
far enough to remain undiscovered. This

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seems to me to be the mental
attitude in this case. Your grandfather knew

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that you would do just what you
have done here, that is, search

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the house. And he knew too
that you would search banks and safety deposit

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vaults, and with a million at
stake, he knew it would be done

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thoroughly. Knowing this, naturally he
would not put the money in any of

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those places. Then what he doesn't
own any other property as far as we

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know, and we shall assume that
he did not buy property in the name

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of some other persons. Therefore,
what have we left? Obviously, if

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the money is still in existence,
it is hidden on somebody else's property.

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And the minute we say that we
had the whole wide world to search.

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But again, doesn't the devil tree
and maliciousness of the old man narrow that

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down? Wouldn't he have liked to
remember, as a dying thought that the

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money was always just within your reach
and yet safely beyond it. Wouldn't it

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have been a keener revenge to have
you you dig over the whole place while

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the money was hidden just six feet
outside in a spot where you would never

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dig. It might be sixty or
six hundred or six thousand. But then

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we have the law of probability to
narrow those limits. So Professor von Duson

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turned suddenly and strolled across the uneven
ground to the property line, Walking slowly

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and scrutinizing the ground as he went, he circled the lot, returning to

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the starting point. Doctor Ballard had
followed along behind him. Are all your

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grandfather's belongings still in the house,
asked the scientist. Yes, everything just

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as he left it, that is, except his dog and a parrot.

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They are temporarily in charge of a
widow down the road. Here. The

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scientist looked at Doctor Ballard quickly.
What sort of dog is it? He

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inquired, A Saint Bernard, I
think, replied Doctor Ballard, wonderingly.

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Do you happen to have a glove
or something that you know your grandfather war?

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I have a glove. Yes.
From the debris which littered the floor

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of the house, a well worn
glove was recovered. Now the dog,

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please, commanded the scientist. A
short walk along the country road brought them

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to a house, and here they
stopped. The Saint Bernard, a shaggy,

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handsome, boisterous old chap with wise
eyes, was let out on leash.

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The thinking Machine thrust the glove forward, and the dog sniffed at it.

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After a moment, he sank down
on his haunches, and, with

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his head thrust forward and upward,
whined softly. It was the call of

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the brute soul to its master.
The thinking Machine patted the heavy coated head,

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and, with the glove still in
his hand, made as if to

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go away. Again came the wine, but the dog sank down on the

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floor with his head between his four
paws, Regarding him intently for ten minutes,

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the scientists sought to coax the animal
to follow him, but still he

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lay motionless. I don't mind keeping
that dog here, but that parrot is

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powerful noisy, said the woman after
a moment. She had been standing by

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watching the scientist curiously. There ain't
no peace in this house. Noisy,

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how, asked doctor Ballard. He
swears and sings and whistles and does rithmetic

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all day long, the woman explained. It nearly drives me distracted. Does

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arithmetic, inquired the thinking machine,
Yes, replied the woman. And he

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swearses terrible. It's almost like having
a man bout the house. There he

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goes. Now from another room came
a sudden, squawking burst of profanity,

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followed instantly by a whistle, which
caused the dog on the floor to prick

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up his ears. Does the parrot
talk well, asked the scientist. Just

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like a human being, replied the
woman. And jes bout as sensible as

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some I've seen. I don't mind
his whistling, if only he wouldn't swear

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so and do all his figurein out
loud. For a minute or more,

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the scientists stood staring down at the
dog in deep thought. Gradually there came

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some subtle change in his expression.
Doctor Ballard was watching him closely. I

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think perhaps it would be a good
idea for me to keep the parrot for

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a few days, suggested the scientist. Finally, he turned to the woman.

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Just what sort of arithmetic does the
bird do? All kinds? She

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answered promptly, he does all the
multiplication table, but he ain't very good

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in subtraction. I shouldn't be surprised, commented the thinking machine. I'll take

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the bird for a few days,
doctor, if you don't mind. And

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so it came to pass that when
the Thinking Machine returned to his apartments,

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he was accompanied by as noisy and
vociferous a companion as one would care to

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have. Martha, the aged servant, viewed him with horror as he entered

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the professor. Do be gettin' old, she muttered, I suppose there will

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be a cat next. Two days
later, doctor Ballard was called to the

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telephone. The Thinking Machine was at
the other end of the wire. Take

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two men whom you can trust,
and go down to your grandfather's place,

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instructed the scientist. Curtly. Take
picks shovels, a compass, and a

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long tape line. Stand on the
front steps facing east. To your right

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will be an apple tree some distance
off that lot on the adjoining property.

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Go to that apple tree. A
boulder is at its foot measure from the

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edge of that stone twenty six feet
due north by the compass, and from

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that point fourteen feet due west,
you will find your money there. Then,

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please have someone come and take this
bird away. If you don't,

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I'll wring its neck. It's the
most blasphemous creature I ever heard. Goodbye,

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Doctor Ballard slipped the catch on the
suitcase and turned it upside down on

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the laboratory table. It was packed, literally packed with United States bonds.

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The thinking Machine fingered them idly.
And there is this too, said doctor

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Ballard. He lifted a stout sack
from the floor, cut the string,

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and spilled out its contents. Beside
the bonds, it was gold, thousands

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and thousands of dollars. Doctor Ballard
was frankly excited about it. The thinking

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Machine accepted it as he accepted all
material things. How much is there of

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it, he asked quietly. I
don't know, replied doctor Ballard. And

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how did you find it as you
directed, twenty six feet north from the

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boulder, and fourteen feet west from
that point. I knew that, of

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course, snapped the thinking machine.
But how was it hidden? It's rather

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peculiar, explained doctor Ballard. Fourteen
feet brought the man who had measured it

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to the edge of an old,
dried up well twelve or fifteen feet deep.

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Not expecting any such thing, he
tumbled into it. In his efforts

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to get out, he stepped upon
a stone which protruded from one side,

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that fell out and revealed the wooden
box which contained all this. In other

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words, said the scientist, the
money was hidden in such a manner that

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it would in time have come to
be buried twelve or fifteen feet below the

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surface, because the well, being
dry, would ultimately, of course have

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been filled in. Doctor Ballard had
been listening only hazily. His hands had

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been plowing in and out of the
heap of gold. The Thinking Machine regarded

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him with something like contempt about his
thin lipped mouth. How how did you

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ever do it? Asked doctor Ballard. At last, I am surprised that

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you want to know, remarked the
thinking machine, cuttingly. You know how

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I reached the conclusion that the money
was not hidden, either in the house

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or lot. The plain logic of
the thing told me that even before the

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search you made had demonstrated it.
You saw how logic narrowed down the search,

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and you saw my experiment with the
dog. That was purely an experiment.

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I wanted to see the instinct of
the animal. Would it lead him

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anywhere, perhaps to the spot where
the money had been hidden? It did

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not. But the parrot, that
was another matter. It just happens that

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once before I had an interesting experience
with a bird, a cockatoo, which

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figured in a sleep walking case,
and naturally was interested in this bird.

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Now, what were the circumstances in
this case? Here was a bird that

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talked exceptionally well. Yet that bird
had been living for five years alone with

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an old man. It is a
fact that no matter how well a parrot

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may talk, it will forget in
the course of time unless there is someone

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around it who talks. This old
man was the only person near this bird.

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Therefore, from the fact that the
bird talks, we know that the

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old man talked. From the fact
that the bird repeated the multiplication table,

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we know that the old man repeated
it. From the fact that the bird

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whistles, we know that the old
man whistled, perhaps to the dog,

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and in the course of five years, under these circumstances a bird would have

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come to that point where it would
repeat only the words or sounds that the

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old man used. All this shows
two that the old man talked to himself.

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Most people who live alone a great
deal do. That then came a

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question as to whether at any time
the old man had ever repeated the secret

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of the hiding place within the hearing
of the bird, not once, but

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many times, because it takes a
parrot a long time to learn phrases.

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When we know the vindictiveness which lay
behind the old man's actions in hiding the

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money, when we know how the
thing preyed on his mind, coupled with

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the fact that he talked to himself
and was not wholly sound mentally, we

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can imagine him doddering about the place
alone, repeating the very thing of which

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he made so great a secret.
Thus the bird learned it, but learned

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it disjointedly, not connectedly. So
when I brought the parrot here, my

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idea was to know by personal observation
what the bird said that didn't connect,

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That is, that had no obvious
meaning. I hoped to get a clue

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which would result, just as the
clue I did get did result. The

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bird's trick of repeating the multiplication table
means nothing except it shows the strange workings

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of an unbalanced mind. And yet
there is one exception to this. In

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a disjointed sort of way, the
bird knows all the multiplication tables to ten

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except one. For an instance,
listen, the thinking machine crept stealthily to

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a door and opened it softly.
A few inches from somewhere out there came

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the screeching of the parrot. For
several minutes, they listened in silence.

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There was a flood of profanity,
a shrill whistle or two. Then the

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squawking voice ran off into a monotone
six times one or six six time two,

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or twelve six times three or eighteen
six times four or twenty four and

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00:24:33,519 --> 00:24:38,640
ad two. That's it, explained
the scientist as he closed the door.

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Six times four are twenty four and
add two. That's the one table the

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bird doesn't know. The thing is
incoherent, except as applied to a peculiar

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method of remembering a number. That
number is twenty six. On one occasion

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I heard the bird repeat a dozen
times twenty six feet to the polar star.

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That could mean nothing except the direction
of the twenty six feet due north.

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One of the first things I noticed
the bird saying was something about fourteen

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feet to the setting sun or due
west. When set down with the twenty

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six I could readily see that I
had something to go on. But where

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was the starting point? Again,
logic, There was no tree or stone

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inside the lot except the apple tree, which your workmen cut down, and

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00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,480
that was more than twenty six feet
from the boundary of the lot. In

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all directions. There was one tree
in the adjoining lot, an apple tree

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with a boulder at its foot.
I knew that by observation, and there

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00:25:52,559 --> 00:25:57,759
was no other tree I knew also
within several hundred feet. Therefore that tree

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00:25:59,079 --> 00:26:03,759
or boulder rather as a starting point, not the tree so much as the

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boulder. Because the tree might be
cut down or would in time decay,

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the chances are the stone would have
been allowed to remain there indefinitely. Naturally,

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your grandfather would measure from a prominent
point the boulder. That is all

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00:26:22,759 --> 00:26:26,240
I gave you the figures. You
know, the rest for a minute or

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00:26:26,279 --> 00:26:32,279
more. Doctor Ballard stared at him
blankly. How was it you knew,

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00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:37,359
he asked, that the direction should
have been first twenty six feet north,

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00:26:37,839 --> 00:26:44,079
then fourteen feet west, instead of
first fourteen west and then twenty six feet

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00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:48,799
north. I didn't know, replied
the thinking machine. If you had failed

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to find the money by those directions, I should merely have reversed the order.

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Half an hour later, doctor Ballard
went away, carrying the money to

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parrot in its cage. The bird
cursed the thinking machine roundly as doctor Ballard

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went down the steps. End of
the Problem of the Hidden Million by Jacques Foutrelle