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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5163.txt b/5163.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..460b4d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/5163.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8402 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Guy Garrick, by Arthur B. Reeve + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Guy Garrick + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Posting Date: September 15, 2012 [EBook #5163] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: May 24, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUY GARRICK *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES + +GUY GARRICK + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + + +WITH FRONTISPIECE + + + + CONTENTS + + I. The Stolen Motor + + II. The Murder Car + + III. The Mystery of the Thicket + + IV. The Liquid Bullet + + V. The Blackmailer + + VI. The Gambling Den + + VII. The Motor Bandit + + VIII. The Explanation + + IX. The Raid + + X. The Gambling Debt + + XI. The Gangster's Garage + + XII. The Detectaphone + + XIII. The Incendiary + + XIV. The Escape + + XV. The Plot + + XVI. The Poisoned Needle + + XVII. The Newspaper Fake + +XVIII. The Vocaphone + + XIX. The Eavesdropper Again + + XX. The Speaking Arc + + XXI. The Siege of the Bandits + + XXII. The Man Hunt + +XXIII. The Police Dog + + XXIV. The Frame-Up + + XXV. The Scientific Gunman + + + + +An Adventure in the New Crime Science + + +CHAPTER I + +THE STOLEN MOTOR + + +"You are aware, I suppose, Marshall, that there have been considerably +over a million dollars' worth of automobiles stolen in this city during +the past few months?" asked Guy Garrick one night when I had dropped +into his office. + +"I wasn't aware of the exact extent of the thefts, though of course I +knew of their existence," I replied. "What's the matter?" + +"If you can wait a few moments," he went on, "I think I can promise you +a most interesting case--the first big case I've had to test my new +knowledge of crime science since I returned from abroad. Have you time +for it?" + +"Time for it?" I echoed. "Garrick, I'd make time for it, if necessary." + +We sat for several moments, in silence, waiting. + +I picked up an evening paper. I had already read it, but I looked +through it again, to kill time, even reading the society notes. + +"By Jove, Garrick," I exclaimed as my eye travelled over the page, +"newspaper pictures don't usually flatter people, but just look at +those eyes! You can fairly see them dance even in the halftone." + +The picture which had attracted my attention was of Miss Violet +Winslow, an heiress to a moderate fortune, a debutante well known in +New York and at Tuxedo that season. + +As Garrick looked over my shoulder his mere tone set me wondering. + +"She IS stunning," he agreed simply. "Half the younger set are crazy +over her." + +The buzzer on his door recalled us to the case in hand. + +One of our visitors was a sandy-haired, red-mustached, stocky man, with +everything but the name detective written on him from his face to his +mannerisms. + +He was accompanied by an athletically inclined, fresh-faced young +fellow, whose clothes proclaimed him to be practically the last word in +imported goods from London. + +I was not surprised at reading the name of James McBirney on the +detective's card, underneath which was the title of the Automobile +Underwriters' Association. But I was more than surprised when the +younger of the visitors handed us a card with the simple name, Mortimer +Warrington. + +For, Mortimer Warrington, I may say, was at that time one of the +celebrities of the city, at least as far as the newspapers were +concerned. He was one of the richest young men in the country, and good +for a "story" almost every day. + +Warrington was not exactly a wild youth, in spite of the fact that his +name appeared so frequently in the headlines. As a matter of fact, the +worst that could be said of him with any degree of truth was that he +was gifted with a large inheritance of good, red, restless blood, as +well as considerable holdings of real estate in various active sections +of the metropolis. + +More than that, it was scarcely his fault if the society columns had +been busy in a concerted effort to marry him off--no doubt with a +cynical eye on possible black-type headlines of future domestic +discord. Among those mentioned by the enterprising society reporters of +the papers had been the same Miss Violet Winslow whose picture I had +admired. Evidently Garrick had recognized the coincidence. + +Miss Winslow, by the way, was rather closely guarded by a duenna-like +aunt, Mrs. Beekman de Lancey, who at that time had achieved a certain +amount of notoriety by a crusade which she had organized against +gambling in society. She had reached that age when some women naturally +turn toward righting the wrongs of humanity, and, in this instance, as +in many others, humanity did not exactly appreciate it. + +"How are you, McBirney?" greeted Garrick, as he met his old friend, +then, turning to young Warrington, added: "Have you had a car stolen?" + +"Have I?" chimed in the youth eagerly, and with just a trace of +nervousness. "Worse than that. I can stand losing a big +nine-thousand-dollar Mercedes, but--but--you tell it, McBirney. You +have the facts at your tongue's end." + +Garrick looked questioningly at the detective. + +"I'm very much afraid," responded McBirney slowly, "that this theft +about caps the climax of motor-car stealing in this city. Of course, +you realize that the automobile as a means of committing crime and of +escape has rendered detection much more difficult to-day than it ever +was before." He paused. "There's been a murder done in or with or by +that car of Mr. Warrington's, or I'm ready to resign from the +profession!" + +McBirney had risen in the excitement of his revelation, and had handed +Garrick what looked like a discharged shell of a cartridge. + +Garrick took it without a word, and turned it over and over critically, +examining every side of it, and waiting for McBirney to resume. +McBirney, however, said nothing. + +"Where did you find the car?" asked Garrick at length, still examining +the cartridge. "We haven't found it," replied the detective with a +discouraged sigh. + +"Haven't found it?" repeated Garrick. "Then how did you get this +cartridge--or, at least why do you connect it with the disappearance of +the car?" + +"Well," explained McBirney, getting down to the story, "you understand +Mr. Warrington's car was insured against theft in a company which is a +member of our association. When it was stolen we immediately put in +motion the usual machinery for tracing stolen cars." + +"How about the police?" I queried. + +McBirney looked at me a moment--I thought pityingly. "With all +deference to the police," he answered indulgently, "it is the insurance +companies and not the police who get cars back--usually. I suppose it's +natural. The man who loses a car notifies us first, and, as we are +likely to lose money by it, we don't waste any time getting after the +thief." + +"You have some clew, then?" persisted Garrick. + +McBirney nodded. + +"Late this afternoon word came to me that a man, all alone in a car, +which, in some respects tallied with the description of Warrington's, +although, of course, the license number and color had been altered, had +stopped early this morning at a little garage over in the northern part +of New Jersey." + +Warrington, excited, leaned forward and interrupted. + +"And, Garrick," he exclaimed, horrified, "the car was all stained with +blood!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MURDER CAR + + +Garrick looked from one to the other of his visitors intently. Here was +an entirely unexpected development in the case which stamped it as set +apart from the ordinary. + +"How did the driver manage to explain it and get away?" he asked +quickly. + +McBirney shook his head in evident disgust at the affair. + +"He must be a clever one," he pursued thoughtfully. "When he came into +the garage they say he was in a rather jovial mood. He said that he had +run into a cow a few miles back on the road, and then began to cuss the +farmer, who had stung him a hundred dollars for the animal." + +"And they believed it?" prompted Garrick. + +"Yes, the garage keeper's assistant swallowed the story and cleaned the +car. There was some blood on the radiator and hood, but the strange +part was that it was spattered even over the rear seat--in fact, was +mostly in the rear." + +"How did he explain that?" + +"Said that he guessed the farmer who stung him wouldn't get much for +the carcass, for it had been pretty well cut up and a part of it flung +right back into the tonneau." + +"And the man believed that, too?" + +"Yes; but afterward the garage keeper himself was told. He met the +farmer in town later, and the farmer denied that he had lost a cow. +That set the garage keeper thinking. And then, while they were cleaning +up the garage later in the day, they found that cartridge where the car +had been washed down and swept out. We had already advertised a reward +for information about the stolen car, and, when he heard of the reward, +for there are plenty of people about looking for money in that way, he +telephoned in, thinking the story might interest us. It did, for I am +convinced that his description of the machine tallies closely with that +of Mr. Warrington's." + +"How about the man who drove it?" cut in Garrick. + +"That's the unfortunate part of it," replied McBirney, chagrined. +"These amateur detectives about the country rarely seem to have any +foresight. Of course they could describe how the fellow was dressed, +even the make of goggles he wore. But, when it came to telling one +feature of his face accurately, they took refuge behind the fact that +he kept his cap pulled down over his eyes, and talked like a 'city +fellow.'" + +"All of which is highly important," agreed Garrick. "I suppose they'd +consider a fingerprint, or the portrait parle the height of idiocy +beside that." + +"Disgusting," ejaculated McBirney, who, whatever his own limitations +might be, had a wholesome respect for Garrick's new methods. + +"Where did you leave the car?" asked Garrick of Warrington. "How did +you lose it?" + +The young man seemed to hesitate. + +"I suppose," he said at length, with a sort of resigned smile, "I'll +have to make a clean breast of it." + +"You can hardly expect us to do much, otherwise," encouraged Garrick +dryly. "Besides, you can depend on us to keep anything you say +confidential." + +"Why," he began, "the fact is that I had started out for a mild little +sort of celebration, apropos of nothing at all in particular, beginning +with dinner at the Mephistopheles Restaurant, with a friend of mine. +You know the place, perhaps--just on the edge of the automobile +district and the white lights." + +"Yes," encouraged Garrick, "near what ought to be named 'Crime Square.' +Whom were you with?" + +"Well, Angus Forbes and I were going to dine together, and then later +we were to meet several fellows who used to belong to the same +upperclass club with us at Princeton. We were going to do a little +slumming. No ladies, you understand," he added hastily. + +Garrick smiled. + +"It may not have been pure sociology," pursued Warrington, +good-humouredly noticing the smile, "but it wasn't as bad as some of +the newspapers might make it out if they got hold of it, anyhow. I may +as well admit, I suppose, that Angus has been going the pace pretty +lively since we graduated. I don't object to a little flyer now and +then, myself, but I guess I'm not up to his class yet. But that doesn't +make any difference. The slumming party never came off." + +"How?" prompted Garrick again. + +"Angus and I had a very good dinner at the Mephistopheles--they have a +great cabaret there--and by and by the fellows began to drop in to join +us. When I went out to look for the car, which I was going to drive +myself, it was gone." + +"Where did you leave it?" asked McBirney, as if bringing out the +evidence. + +"In the parking space half a block below the restaurant. A chauffeur +standing near the curb told me that a man in a cap and goggles--" + +"Another amateur detective," cut in McBirney parenthetically. + +"--had come out of the restaurant, or seemed to do so, had spun the +engine, climbed in, and rode off--just like that!" + +"What did you do then?" asked Garrick. "Did you fellows go anywhere?" + +"Oh, Forbes wanted to play the wheel, and went around to a place on +Forty-eighth Street. I was all upset about the loss of the car, got in +touch with the insurance company, who turned me over to McBirney here, +and the rest of the fellows went down to the Club." + +"There was no trace of the car in the city?" asked Garrick, of the +detective. + +"I was coming to that," replied McBirney. "There was at least a rumour. +You see, I happen to know several of the police on fixed posts up +there, and one of them has told me that he noticed a car, which might +or might not have been Mr. Warrington's, pull up, about the time his +car must have disappeared, at a place in Forty-seventh Street which is +reputed to be a sort of poolroom for women." + +Garrick raised his eyebrows the fraction of an inch. + +"At any rate," pursued McBirney, "someone must have been having a wild +time there, for they carried a girl out to the car. She seemed to be +pretty far gone and even the air didn't revive her--that is, assuming +that she had been celebrating not wisely but too well. Of course, the +whole thing is pure speculation yet, as far as Warrington's car is +concerned. Maybe it wasn't his car, after all. But I am repeating it +only for what it may be worth." + +"Do you know the place?" asked Garrick, watching Warrington narrowly. + +"I've heard of it," he admitted, I thought a little evasively. + +Then it flashed over me that Mrs. de Lancey was leading the crusade +against society gambling and that that perhaps accounted for +Warrington's fears and evident desire for concealment. + +"I know that some of the faster ones in the smart set go there once in +a while for a little poker, bridge, and even to play the races," went +on Warrington carefully. "I've never been there myself, but I wouldn't +be surprised if Angus could tell you all about it. He goes in for all +that sort of thing." + +"After all," interrupted McBirney, "that's only rumour. Here's the +point of the whole thing. For a long time my Association has been +thinking that merely in working for the recovery of the cars we have +been making a mistake. It hasn't put a stop to the stealing, and the +stealing has gone quite far enough. We have got to do something about +it. It struck me that here was a case on which to begin and that you, +Garrick, are the one to begin it for us, while I carry on the regular +work I am doing. The gang is growing bolder and more clever every day. +And then, here's a murder, too, in all likelihood. If we don't round +them up, there is no limit to what they may do in terrorizing the city." + +"How does this gang, as you call it, operate?" asked Garrick. + +"Most of the cars that are stolen," explained McBirney, "are taken from +the automobile district, which embraces also not a small portion of the +new Tenderloin and the theatre district. Actually, Garrick, more than +nine out of ten cars have disappeared between Forty-second and +Seventy-second Streets." + +Garrick was listening, without comment. + +"Some of the thefts, like this one of Warrington's car," continued +McBirney, warming up to the subject, "have been so bold that you would +be astonished. And it is those stolen cars, I believe, that are used in +the wave of taxicab and motor car robberies, hold-ups, and other crimes +that is sweeping over the city. The cars are taken to some obscure +garage, without doubt, and their identity is destroyed by men who are +expert in the practice." + +"And you have no confidence in the police?" I inquired cautiously, +mindful of his former manner. + +"We have frequently had occasion to call on the police for assistance," +he answered, "but somehow or other it has seldom worked. They don't +seem to be able to help us much. If anything is done, we must do it. If +you will take the case, Garrick, I can promise you that the Association +will pay you well for it." + +"I will add whatever is necessary, too," put in Warrington, eagerly. "I +can stand the loss of the car--in fact, I don't care whether I ever get +it back. I have others. But I can't stand the thought that my car is +going about the country as the property of a gunman, perhaps--an engine +of murder and destruction." + +Garrick had been thoughtfully balancing the exploded shell between his +fingers during most of the interview. As Warrington concluded, he +looked up. + +"I'll take the case," he said simply. "I think you'll find that there +is more to it than even you suspect. Before we get through, I shall get +a conviction on that empty shell, too. If there is a gunman back of it +all, he is no ordinary fellow, but a scientific gunman, far ahead of +anything of which you dream. No, don't thank me for taking the case. My +thanks are to you for putting it in my way." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE MYSTERY OF THE THICKET + + +"You know my ideas on modern detective work," Garrick remarked to me, +reflectively, when they had gone. + +I nodded assent, for we had often discussed the subject. + +"There must be something new in order to catch criminals, nowadays," he +pursued. "The old methods are all right--as far as they go. But while +we have been using them, criminals have kept pace with modern science." + +I had met Garrick several months before on the return trip from abroad, +and had found in him a companion spirit. + +For some years I had been editing a paper which I called "The +Scientific World," and it had taxed my health to the point where my +physician had told me that I must rest, or at least combine pleasure +with business. Thus I had taken the voyage across the ocean to attend +the International Electrical Congress in London, and had unexpectedly +been thrown in with Guy Garrick, who later seemed destined to play such +an important part in my life. + +Garrick was a detective, young, university bred, of good family, alert, +and an interesting personality to me. He had travelled much, especially +in London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, where he had studied the amazing +growth abroad of the new criminal science. + +Already I knew something, by hearsay, of the men he had seen, Gross, +Lacassagne, Reiss, and the now immortal Bertillon. Our acquaintance, +therefore, had rapidly ripened into friendship, and on our return, I +had formed a habit of dropping in frequently on him of an evening, as I +had this night, to smoke a pipe or two and talk over matters of common +interest in his profession. + +He had paused a moment in what he was saying, but now resumed, less +reflectively, "Fortunately, Marshall, the crime-hunters have gone ahead +faster than the criminals. Now, it's my job to catch criminals. Yours, +it seems to me, is to show people how they can never hope to beat the +modern scientific detective. Let's strike a bargain." + +I was flattered by his confidence. More than that, the idea appealed to +me, in fact was exactly in line with some plans I had already made for +the "World," since our first acquaintance. + +And so it came about that the case brought to him by McBirney and young +Warrington was responsible for clearing our ideas as to our mutual +relationship and thus forming this strange partnership that has existed +ever since. + +"Tom," he remarked, as we left the office quite late, after he had +arranged affairs as if he expected to have no time to devote to his +other work for several days, "come along and stay with me at my +apartment to-night. It's too late to do anything now until to-morrow." + +I accepted his invitation without demur, for I knew that he meant it, +but I doubt whether he slept much during the night. Certainly he was up +and about early enough the following morning. + +"That's curious," I heard him remark, as he ran his eye hastily over +the first page of the morning paper, "but I rather expected something +of the sort. Read that in the first column, Tom." + +The story that he indicated had all the marks of having been dropped +into place at the last moment as the city edition went to press in the +small hours of the night. + +It was headed: + +GIRL'S BODY FOUND IN THICKET + +The despatch was from a little town in New Jersey, and, when I saw the +date line, it at once suggested to me, as it had to Guy, that this was +in the vicinity that must have been traversed in order to reach the +point from which had come the report of the bloody car that had seemed +to tally with the description of that which Warrington had lost. It +read: + +"Hidden in the underbrush, not ten feet from one of the most travelled +automobile roads in this section of the state, the body of a murdered +girl was discovered late yesterday afternoon by a gang of Italian +labourers employed on an estate nearby. + +"Suspicion was at first directed by the local authorities at the +labourers, but the manner of the finding of the body renders it +improbable. Most of them are housed in some rough shacks up the road +toward Tuxedo and were able to prove themselves of good character. +Indeed, the trampled condition of the thicket plainly indicates, +according to the local coroner, that the girl was brought there, +probably already dead, in an automobile which drew up off the road as +far as possible. The body then must have been thrown where it would be +screened from sight by the thick growth of trees and shrubbery. + +"There was only one wound, in the chest. It is, however, a most +peculiar wound, and shows that a terrific force must have been exerted +in order to make it. A blow could hardly have accomplished it, so +jagged were its edges, and if the girl had been struck by a passing +high-speed car, as was at first suggested, there is no way to account +for the entire lack of other wounds which must naturally have been +inflicted by such an accident. + +"Neither is the wound exactly like a pistol or gunshot wound, for, +curiously enough, there was no mark showing the exit of a bullet, nor +was any bullet found in the body after the most careful examination. +The local authorities are completely mystified at the possible problems +that may arise out of the case, especially as to the manner in which +the unfortunate girl met her death. + +"Until a late hour the body, which is of a girl perhaps twenty-three or +four, of medium height, fair, good looking, and stylishly dressed, was +still unidentified. She was unknown in this part of the country." + +Almost before I had finished reading, Garrick had his hat and coat on +and had shoved into his pocket a little detective camera. + +"Strange about the bullet," I ruminated. "I wonder who she can be?" + +"Very strange," agreed Garrick, urging me on. "I think we ought to +investigate the case." + +As we hurried along to a restaurant for a bite of breakfast, he +remarked, "The circumstances of the thing, coming so closely after the +report about Warrington's car, are very suspicious--very. I feel sure +that we shall find some connection between the two affairs." + +Accordingly, we caught an early train and at the nearest railroad +station to the town mentioned in the despatch engaged a hackman who +knew the coroner, a local doctor. + +The coroner was glad to assist us, though we were careful not to tell +him too much of our own connection with the case. On the way over to +the village undertaker's where the body had been moved, he volunteered +the information that the New York police, whom he had notified +immediately, had already sent a man up there, who had taken a +description of the girl and finger prints, but had not, so far at +least, succeeded in identifying the girl, at any rate on any of the +lists of those reported missing. + +"You see," remarked Garrick to me, "that is where the police have us at +a disadvantage. They have organization on their side. A good many +detectives make the mistake of antagonizing the police. But if you want +results, that's fatal." + +"Yes," I agreed, "it's impossible, just as it is to antagonize the +newspapers." + +"Exactly," returned Garrick. "My idea of the thing, Marshall, is that I +should work with, not against, the regular detectives. They are all +right, in fact indispensable. Half the secret of success nowadays is +efficiency and organization. What I do believe is that organization +plus science is what is necessary." + +The local undertaking establishment was rather poorly equipped to take +the place of a morgue and the authorities were making preparations to +move the body to the nearest large city pending the disposal of the +case. Local detectives had set to work, but so far had turned up +nothing, not even the report which we had already received from +McBirney regarding the blood-stained car that resembled Warrington's. + +We arrived with the coroner fortunately just before the removal of the +body to the city and by his courtesy were able to see it without any +trouble. + +Death, and especially violent death, are at best grewsome subjects, but +when to that are added the sordid surroundings of a country +undertaker's and the fact that the victim is a woman, it all becomes +doubly tragic. + +She was a rather flashily dressed girl, but remarkably good looking, in +spite of the rouge and powder which had long since spoiled what might +otherwise have been a clear and fine complexion. The roots of her hair +showed plainly that it had been bleached. + +Garrick examined the body closely, and more especially the jagged wound +in the breast. I bent over also. It seemed utterly inexplicable. There +was, he soon discovered, a sort of greasy, oleaginous deposit in the +clotted blood of the huge cavity in the flesh. It interested him, and +he studied it carefully for a long time, without saying a word. + +"Some have said she was wounded by some kind of blunt instrument," put +in the coroner. "Others that she was struck by a car. But it's my +opinion that she was killed by a rifle bullet of some kind, although +what could have become of the bullet is beyond me. I've probed for it, +but it isn't there." + +Garrick finished his minute examination of the wound without passing +any comment on it of his own. + +"Now, if you will be kind enough to take us around to the place where +the body was discovered," he concluded, "I think we shall not trespass +on your time further." + +In his own car, the coroner drove us up the road in the direction of +the New York state boundary to the spot where the body had been found. +It was a fine, well-oiled road and I noticed the number and high +quality of the cars which passed us. + +When we arrived at the spot where the body of the unfortunate girl had +been discovered, Garrick began a minute search. I do not think for a +moment that he expected to find any weapon, or even the trace of one. +It seemed hopeless also to attempt to pick out any of the footprints. +The earth was soft and even muddy, but so many feet had trodden it down +since the first alarm had been given that it would have been impossible +to extricate one set of footprints from another, much less to tell +whether any of them had been made by the perpetrators of the crime. + +Still, there seemed to be something in the mud, just off the side of +the road, that did interest Garrick. Very carefully, so as not to +destroy anything himself which more careless searchers might have left, +he began a minute study of the ground. + +Apparently he was rewarded, for, although he said nothing, he took a +hasty glance at the direction of the sun, up-ended the camera he had +brought, and began to photograph the ground itself, or rather some +curious marks on it which I could barely distinguish. + +The coroner and I looked on without saying a word. He, at least, I am +sure, thought that Garrick had suddenly taken leave of his senses. + +That concluded Garrick's investigation, and, after thanking the +coroner, who had gone out of his way to accommodate us, we started back +to town. + +"Well," I remarked, as we settled ourselves for the tedious ride into +the city in the suburban train, "we don't seem to have added much to +the sum of human knowledge by this trip." + +"Oh, yes, we have," he returned, almost cheerfully, patting the black +camera which he had folded and slipped into his pocket. "We'll just +preserve the records which I have here. Did you notice what it was that +I photographed?" + +"I saw something," I replied, "but I couldn't tell you what it was." + +"Well," he explained slowly as I opened my eyes wide in amazement at +the minuteness of his researches, "those were the marks of the tire of +an automobile that had been run up into the bushes from the road. You +know every automobile tire leaves its own distinctive mark, its thumb +print, as it were. When I have developed my films, you will see that +the marks that have been left there are precisely like those left by +the make of tires used on Warrington's car, according to the +advertisement sent out by McBirney. Of course, that mere fact alone +doesn't prove anything. Many cars may use that make of tires. Still, it +is an interesting coincidence, and if the make had been different I +should not feel half so encouraged about going ahead with this clew. We +can't say anything definite, however, until I can compare the actual +marks made by the tires on the stolen car with these marks which I have +photographed and preserved." + +If any one other than Garrick had conceived such a notion as the "thumb +print" of an automobile tire, I might possibly have ventured to doubt +it. As it was it gave food enough for thought to last the remainder of +the journey back to town. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE LIQUID BULLET + + +On our return to the city, I was not surprised after our conversation +over in New Jersey to find that Garrick had decided on visiting police +headquarters. It was, of course, Commissioner Dillon, one of the +deputies, whom he wanted to see. I had met Dillon myself some time +before in connection with my study of the finger print system, and +consequently needed no second introduction. + +In his office on the second floor, the Commissioner greeted us +cordially in his bluff and honest voice which both of us came to know +and like so well later. Garrick had met him often and the cordiality of +their relations was well testified to by Dillon's greeting. + +"I thought you'd be here before long," he beamed on Garrick, as he led +us into an inner sanctum. "Did you read in the papers this morning +about that murder of a girl whose body was found up in New Jersey in +the underbrush?" + +"Not only that, but I've picked up a few things that your man +overlooked," confided Garrick. + +Dillon looked at him sharply for a moment. "Say," he said frankly, +"that's one of the things I like about you, Garrick. You're on the job. +Also, you're on the square. You don't go gumshoeing it around behind a +fellow's back, and talking the same way. You play fair. Now, look here. +Haven't I always played fair with you, Garrick?" + +"Yes, Dillon," agreed Garrick, "you have always played fair. But what's +the idea?" + +"You came up here for information, didn't you?" persisted the +commissioner. + +Garrick nodded. + +"Well do you know who that girl was who was murdered?" he asked leaning +forward. + +"No," admitted Garrick. + +"Of course not," asserted Dillon triumphantly. "We haven't given it out +yet--and I don't know as we shall." + +"No," pursued Garrick, "I don't know and I'll admit that I'd like to +know. My position is, as it always has been, that we shouldn't work at +cross purposes. I have drawn my own conclusions on the case and, to put +it bluntly, it seemed to me clear that she was of the demi-monde." + +"She was--in a sense," vouchsafed the commissioner. "Now," he added, +leaning forward impressively, "I'm going to tell you something. That +girl--was one of the best stool pigeons we have ever had." + +Both Garrick and I were listening intently at, the surprising +revelation of the commissioner. He was pacing up and down, now, +evidently much excited. + +"As for me," he continued, "I hate the stool pigeon method as much as +anyone can. I don't like it. I don't relish the idea of being in +partnership with crooks in any degree. I hate an informer who worms +himself or herself into a person's friendship for the purpose of +betraying it. But the system is here. I didn't start it and I can't +change it. As long as it's here I must accept it and do business under +it. And, that being the case, I can't afford to let matters like this +killing pass without getting revenge, swift and sure. You understand? +Someone's going to suffer for the killing of that girl, not only +because it was a brutal murder, but because the department has got to +make an example or no one whom we employ is safe." + +Dillon was shouldering his burly form up and down the office in his +excitement. He paused in front of us, to proceed. + +"I've got one of my best men on the case now--Inspector Herman. I'll +introduce you to him, if he happens to be around. Herman's all right. +But here you come in, Garrick, and tell me you picked up something that +my man missed up there in Jersey. I know it's the truth, too. I've +worked with you and seen enough of you to know that you wouldn't say a +thing like that as a bluff to me." + +Dillon was evidently debating something in his mind. + +"Herman'll have to stand it," he went on, half to himself. "I don't +care whether he gets jealous or not." + +He paused and looked Garrick squarely in the eye, as he led up to his +proposal. "Garrick," he said slowly, "I'd like to have you take up the +case for us, too. I've heard already that you are working on the +automobile cases. You see, I have ways of getting information myself. +We're not so helpless as your friend McBirney, maybe, thinks." + +He faced us and it was almost as if he read our minds. + +"For instance," he proceeded, "it may interest you to know that we have +just planned a new method to recover stolen automobiles and apprehend +the thieves. A census of all cars in the questionable garages of the +city has been taken, and each day every policeman is furnished with +descriptions of cars stolen in the past twenty-four hours. The +policeman then is supposed to inspect the garages in his district and +if he finds a machine that shouldn't be there, according to the census, +he sees to it that it isn't removed from the place until it is +identified. The description of this Warrington car has gone out with +extra special orders, and if it's in New York I think we'll find it." + +"I think you'll find," remarked Garrick quietly, "that this machine of +Warrington's isn't in the city, at all." + +"I hardly think it is, myself," agreed Dillon. "Whoever it was who took +it is probably posted about our new scheme. That's not the point I was +driving at. You see, Garrick, our trails cross in these cases in a +number of ways. Now, I have a little secret fund at my disposal. In so +far as the affair involved the murder of that girl--and I'm convinced +that it does--will you consider that you are working for the city, too? +The whole thing dovetails. You don't have to neglect one client to +serve another. I'll do anything I can to help you with the auto cases. +In fact, you'll do better by both clients by joining the cases." + +"Dillon," answered Garrick quickly, "you've always been on the level +with me. I can trust you. Consider that it is a bargain. We'll work +together. Now, who was the girl?" + +"Her name was Rena Taylor," replied Dillon, apparently much gratified +at the success of his proposal. "I had her at work getting evidence +against a ladies' poolroom in Forty-seventh Street--an elusive place +that we've never been able to 'get right.'" + +Garrick shot a quick glance at me. Evidently we were on the right +trail, anyhow. + +"I don't know yet just what happened," continued Dillon, "but I do know +that she had the goods on it. As nearly as I can find out, a stranger +came to the place well introduced, a man, accompanied by a woman. They +got into some of the games. The man seems to have excused himself. +Apparently he found Rena Taylor alone in a room in some part of the +house. No one heard a pistol shot, but then I think they would lie +about that, all right." + +Dillon paused. "The strange thing is, however," he resumed, "that we +haven't been able to find in the house a particle of evidence that a +murder or violence of any kind has been done. One fact is established, +though, incontrovertibly. Rena Taylor disappeared from that gambling +house the same night and about the same time that Warrington's car +disappeared. Then we find her dead over in New Jersey." + +"And I find reports and traces that the car has been in the vicinity," +added Garrick. + +"You see," beamed Dillon, "that's how we work together. Say you MUST +meet Herman." + +He rang a bell and a blue-coated man opened the door. "Call Herman, +Jim," he said, then, as the man disappeared, he went on to us, "I have +given Herman carte-blanche instructions to conduct a thorough +investigation. He has been getting the goods on another swell joint on +the next street, in Forty-eighth, a joint that is just feeding on young +millionaires in this town, and is or will be the cause of more crime +and broken hearts if I don't land it and break it up than any such +place has been for years." The door opened, and Dillon said, "Herman, +shake hands with Mr. Garrick and Mr. Marshall." + +The detective was a quiet, gentlemanly sort of fellow who looked rugged +and strong, a fighter to be respected. In fact I would much rather have +had a man like him with us than against us. I knew Garrick's aversion +to the regular detective and was not surprised that he did not +overwhelm Mr. Herman by the cordiality of his greeting. Garrick always +played a lone hand, preferred it and had taken Dillon into his +confidence only because of his official position and authority. + +"These gentlemen are going to work independently on that Rena Taylor +case," explained Dillon. "I want you to give Mr. Garrick every +assistance, Herman." + +Garrick nodded with a show of cordiality and Herman replied in about +the same spirit. I could not fancy our getting very much assistance +from the regular detective force, with the exception of Dillon. And I +noticed, also, that Garrick was not volunteering any information except +what was necessary in good faith. Already I began to wonder how this +peculiar bargain would turn out. + +"Just who and what was Rena Taylor?" asked Garrick finally. + +Inspector Herman shot a covert glance at Dillon before replying and the +commissioner hastened to reassure him, "I have told Mr. Garrick that +she was one of our best stool pigeons and had been working on the +gambling cases." + +Like all detectives on a case, Herman was averse to parting with any +information, and I felt that it was natural, for if he succeeded in +working it out human nature was not such as to willingly share the +glory. + +"Oh," he replied airily, "she was a girl who had knocked about +considerably in the Tenderloin. I don't know just what her story was, +but I suppose there was some fellow who got her to come to New York and +then left her in the lurch. She wasn't a New Yorker. She seems to have +drifted from one thing to another--until finally in order to get money +she came down and offered her services to the police, in this gambling +war." + +Herman had answered the question, but when I examined the answer I +found it contained precious little. Perhaps it was indeed all he knew, +for, although Garrick put several other questions to him and he +answered quite readily and with apparent openness, there was very +little more that we learned. + +"Yes," concluded Herman, "someone cooked her, all right. They don't +take long to square things with anyone who raps to the 'bulls.'" + +"That's right," agreed Garrick. "And the underworld isn't alone in that +feeling. No one likes a 'snitch.'" + +"Bet your life," emphasized Herman heartily, then edging toward the +door, he said, "Well, gentlemen, I'm glad to meet you and I'll work +with you. I wish you success, all right. It's a hard case. Why, there +wasn't any trace of a murder or violence in that place in which Rena +Taylor must have been murdered. I suppose you have heard that there +wasn't any bullet found in the body, either?" + +"Yes," answered Garrick, "so far it does look inexplicable." + +Inspector Herman withdrew. One could see that he had little faith in +these "amateur" detectives. + +A telephone message for Dillon about another departmental matter +terminated our interview and we went our several ways. + +"Much help I've ever got from a regular detective like Herman," +remarked Garrick, phrasing my own idea of the matter, as we paid the +fare of our cab a few minutes later and entered his office. + +"Yes," I agreed. "Why, he's even stumped at the start by the mystery of +there being no bullet. I'm glad you said nothing about the cartridge, +although I can't see for the life of me what good it is to us." + +I had ventured the remark, hoping to entice Garrick into talking. It +worked, at least as far as Garrick wanted to talk yet. + +"You'll see about the cartridge soon enough, Tom," he rejoined. "As for +there being no bullet, there was a bullet--only it was of a kind you +never dreamed of before." + +He regarded me contemplatively for a moment, then leaned over and in a +voice full of meaning, concluded, "That bullet was composed of +something soft or liquid, probably confined in some kind of thin +capsule. It mushroomed out like a dumdum bullet. It was deadly. But the +chief advantage was that the heat that remained in Rena Taylor's body +melted all evidence of the bullet. That was what caused that greasy, +oleaginous appearance of the wound. The murderer thought he left no +trail in the bullet in the corpse. In other words, it was practically a +liquid bullet." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BLACKMAILER + + +It was late in the afternoon, while Garrick was still busy with a +high-powered microscope, making innumerable micro-photographs, when the +door of the office opened softly and a young lady entered. + +As she advanced timidly to us, we could see that she was tall and gave +promise of developing with years into a stately woman--a pronounced +brunette, with sparkling black eyes. I had not met her before, yet +somehow I could not escape the feeling that she was familiar to me. + +It was not until she spoke that I realized that it was the eyes, not +the face, which I recognized. + +"You are Mr. Garrick?" she asked of Guy in a soft, purring voice which, +I felt, masked a woman who would fight to the end for anyone or +anything she really loved. + +Then, before Guy could answer, she explained, "I am Miss Violet +Winslow. A friend of mine, Mr. Warrington, has told me that you are +investigating a peculiar case for him--the strange loss of his car." + +Garrick hastened to place a chair for her in the least cluttered and +dusty part of the room. There she sat, looking up at him earnestly, a +dainty contrast to the den in which Garrick was working out the capture +of criminals, violent and vicious. + +"I have the honor to be able to say, 'Yes' to all that you have asked, +Miss Winslow," he replied. "Is there any way in which I can be of +service to you?" + +I thought a smile played over his face at the thought that perhaps she +might have come to ask him to work for three clients instead of two. + +At any rate, the girl was very much excited and very much in earnest, +as she opened her handbag and drew from it a letter which she handed to +Garrick. + +"I received that letter," she explained, speaking rapidly, "in the noon +mail to-day. I don't know what to make of it. It worries me to get such +a thing. What do you suppose it was sent to me for? Who could have sent +it?" + +She was leaning forward artlessly on her crossed knee looking +expectantly up into Garrick's face, oblivious to everything else, even +her own enticing beauty. There was something so simple and sincere +about Violet Winslow that one felt instinctively that nothing was too +great a price to shield her from the sordid and the evil in the world. +Yet something had happened that had brought her already into the office +of a detective. + +Garrick had glanced quickly at the outside of the slit envelope. The +postmark showed that it had been mailed early that morning at the +general post office and that there was slight chance of tracing +anything in that direction. + +Then he opened it and read. The writing was in a bold scrawl and +hastily executed: + +You have heard, no doubt, of the alleged loss of an automobile by Mr. +Mortimer Warrington. I have seen your name mentioned in the society +columns of the newspapers in connection with him several times lately. +Let a disinterested person whom you do not know warn you in time. There +is more back of it than he will care to tell. I can say nothing of the +nefarious uses to which that car has been put, but you will learn more +shortly. Meanwhile, let me inform you that he and some of the wilder of +his set had that night planned a visit to a gambling house on +Forty-eighth Street. I myself saw the car standing before another +gambling den on Forty-seventh Street about the same time. This place, I +may as well inform you, bears an unsavory reputation as a gambling +joint to which young ladies of the fastest character are admitted. If +you will ask someone in whom you have confidence and whom you can ask +to work secretly for you to look up the records, you will find that +much of the property on these two blocks, and these two places in +particular, belongs to the Warrington estate. Need I say more? + +The letter was without superscription or date and was signed merely +with the words, "A Well-Wisher." The innuendo of the thing was apparent. + +"Of course," she remarked, as Garrick finished reading, and before he +could speak, "I know there is something back of it. Some person is +trying to injure Mortimer. Still---" + +She did not finish the sentence. It was evident that the "well-wisher" +need not have said more in order to sow the seeds of doubt. + +As I watched her narrowly, I fancied also that from her tone the +newspapers had not been wholly wrong in mentioning their names together +recently. + +"I hadn't intended to say anything more than to explain how I got the +letter," she went on wistfully. "I thought that perhaps you might be +interested in it." + +She paused and studied the toe of her dainty boot. "And, of course," +she murmured, "I know that Mr. Warrington isn't dependent for his +income on the rent that comes in from such places. But--but I wish just +the same that it wasn't true. I tried to call him up about the letter, +but he wasn't at the office of the Warrington estate, and no one seemed +to know just where he was." + +She kept her eyes downcast as though afraid to betray just what she +felt. + +"You will leave this with me?" asked Garrick, still scrutinizing the +letter. + +"Certainly," she replied. "That is what I brought it for. I thought it +was only fair that he should know about it." + +Garrick regarded her keenly for a moment. "I am sure, Miss Winslow," he +said, "that Mr. Warrington will thank you for your frankness. More than +that, I feel sure that you need have no cause to worry about the +insinuations of this letter. Don't judge harshly until you have heard +his side. There's a good deal of graft and vice talk flying around +loose these days. Miss Winslow, you may depend on me to dig the truth +out and not deceive you." + +"Thank you so much," she said, as she rose to go; then, in a burst of +confidence, added, "Of course, after all, I don't care so much about it +myself--but, you know, my aunt--is so dreadfully prim and proper that +she couldn't forgive a thing like this. She'd never let Mr. Warrington +call on me again." + +Violet stopped and bit her lip. She had evidently not intended to say +as much as that. But having once said it, she did not seem to wish to +recall the words, either. + +"There, now," she smiled, "don't you even hint to him that that was one +of the reasons I called." + +Garrick had risen and was standing beside her, looking down earnestly +into her upturned face. + +"I think I understand, Miss Winslow," he said in a low voice, rapidly. +"I cannot tell you all--yet. But I can promise you that even if all +were told--the truth, I mean--your faith in Warrington would be +justified." He leaned over. "Trust me," he said simply. + +As she placed her small hand in Garrick's, she looked up into his face, +and with suppressed emotion, answered, "Thank you--I--I will." + +Then, with a quick gathering of her skirts, she turned and almost fled +from the room. + +She had scarcely closed the door before Garrick was telephoning +anxiously all over the city in order to get in touch with Warrington +himself. + +"I'm not going to tell him too much about her visit," he remarked, with +a pleased smile at the outcome of the interview, though his face +clouded as his eye fell again on the blackmailing letter, lying before +him. "It might make him think too highly of himself. Besides, I want to +see, too, whether he has told us the whole truth about the affair that +night." + +Somehow or other it seemed impossible to find Warrington in any of his +usual haunts, either at his office or at his club. + +Garrick had given it up, almost, as a bad job, when, half an hour +later, Warrington himself burst in on us, apparently expecting more +news about his car. + +Instead, Garrick handed him the letter. + +"Say," he demanded as he ran through it with puckered face, then +slapped it down on the table before Guy, in a high state of excitement, +"what do you make of that?" + +He looked from one to the other of us blankly. + +"Isn't it bad enough to lose a car without being slandered about it +into the bargain?" he asked heatedly, then adding in disgust, "And to +do it in such an underhand way, writing to a girl like Violet, and +never giving me a chance to square myself. If I could get my hands on +that fellow," he added viciously, "I'd qualify him for the coroner!" + +Warrington had flown into a towering and quite justifiable rage. +Garrick, however, ignored his anger as natural under the circumstances, +and was about to ask him a question. + +"Just a moment, Garrick," forestalled Warrington. "I know just what you +are going to say. You are going to ask me about those gambling places. +Now, Garrick, I give you my word of honor that I did not know until +to-day that the property in that neighborhood was owned by our estate. +I have been in that joint on Forty-eighth Street--I'll admit that. But, +you know, I'm no gambler. I've gone simply to see the life, and--well, +it has no attraction for me. Racing cars and motorboats don't go with +poker chips and the red and black--not with me. As for the other place, +I don't know any more about it than--than you do," he concluded +vehemently. + +Warrington faced Garrick, his steel-blue eye unwavering. "You see, it's +like this," he resumed passionately, "since this vice investigation +began, I have read a lot about landlords. Then, too," he interjected +with a mock wry face, "I knew that Violet's Aunt Emma had been a +crusader or something of the sort. You see, virtue is NOT its own +reward. I don't get credit even for what I intended to do--quite the +contrary." + +"How's that?" asked Garrick, respecting the young man's temper. + +"Why, it just occurred to me lately to go scouting around the city, +looking at the Warrington holdings, making some personal inquiries as +to the conditions of the leases, the character of the tenants, and the +uses to which they put the properties. The police have compiled a list +of all the questionable places in the city and I have compared it with +the list of our properties. I hadn't come to this one yet. But I shall +call up our agent, make him admit it, and cancel that lease. I'll close +'em up. I'll fight until every---" + +"No," interrupted Garrick, quickly, "no--not yet. Don't make any move +yet. I want to find out what the game is. It may be that it is someone +who has tried and failed to get your tenant to come across with graft +money. If we act without finding out first, we might be playing into +the hands of this blackmailer." + +Garrick had been holding the letter in his hand, examining it +critically. While he was speaking, he had taken a toothpick and was +running it hastily over the words, carefully studying them. His face +was wrinkled, as if he were in deep thought. + +Without saying anything more, Garrick walked over to the windows and +pulled down the dark shades. Then he unrolled a huge white sheet at one +end of the office. + +From a corner he drew out what looked like a flat-topped stand, about +the height of his waist, with a curious box-like arrangement on it, in +which was a powerful light. For several minutes, he occupied himself +with the adjustment of this machine, switching the light off and on and +focussing the lenses. + +Then he took the letter to Miss Winslow, laid it flat on the machine, +switched on the light and immediately on the sheet appeared a very +enlarged copy of the writing. + +"This is what has been called a rayograph by a detective of my +acquaintance," explained Garrick. "In some ways it is much superior to +using a microscope." + +He was tracing over the words with a pointer, much as he had already +done with the toothpick. + +"Now, you must know," he continued, "or you may not know, but it is a +well-proved fact, that those who suffer from various affections of the +nerves or heart often betray the fact in their handwriting. Of course, +in cases where the disease has progressed very far it may be evident to +the naked eye even in the ordinary handwriting. But, it is there, to +the eye of the expert, even in incipient cases. + +"In short," he continued, engrossed in his subject, "what really +happens is that the pen acts as a sort of sphygmograph, registering the +pulsations. I think you can readily see that when the writing is thrown +on a screen, enlarged by the rayograph, the tremors of the pen are +quite apparent." + +I studied the writing, following his pointer as it went over the lines +and I began to understand vaguely what he was driving at. + +"The writer of that blackmailing letter," continued Garrick, "as I have +discovered both by hastily running over it with a tooth-pick and, more +accurately, by enlarging and studying it with the rayograph, is +suffering from a peculiar conjunction of nervous trouble and disease of +the heart which is latent and has not yet manifested itself, even to +him." + +Garrick studied the writing, then added, thoughtfully, "if I knew him, +I might warn him in time." + +"A fellow like that needs only the warning of a club or of a good pair +of fists," growled Warrington, impatiently. "How are you going to work +to find him?" + +"Well," reasoned Garrick, rolling up the sheet and restoring the room +to its usual condition, "for one thing, the letter makes it pretty +evident that he knows something about the gambling joint, perhaps is +one of the regular habitues of the place. That was why I didn't want +you to take any steps to close up the place immediately. I want to go +there and look it over while it is in operation. Now, you admit that +you have been in the place, don't you?" + +"Oh, yes," he replied, "I've been there with Forbes and the other +fellows, but as I told you, I don't go in for that sort of thing." + +"Well," persisted Garrick, "you are sufficiently known, any way, to get +in again." + +"Certainly. I can get in again. The man at the door will let me in--and +a couple of friends, too, if that's what you mean." + +"That is exactly what I mean," returned Garrick. "It's no use to go +early. I want to see the place in full blast, just as the after-theatre +crowd is coming in. Suppose you meet us, Warrington, about half past +ten or so. We can get in. They don't know anything yet about your +intention to cancel the lease and close up the place, although +apparently someone suspects it, or he wouldn't have been so anxious to +get that letter off to Miss Winslow." + +"Very well," agreed Warrington, "I will meet you at the north end of +'Crime Square,' as you call it, at that time. Good luck until then." + +"Not a bad fellow, at all," commented Garrick when Warrington had +disappeared down the hall from the office. "I believe he means to do +the square thing by every one. It's a shame he has been dragged into a +mess like this, that may affect him in ways that he doesn't suspect. +Oh, well, there is nothing we can do for the present. I'll just add +this clew of the handwriting to the clew of the automobile tires +against the day when we get--pshaw!--he has taken the letter with him. +I suppose it is safe enough in his possession, though. He can't wait +until he has proved to Violet that he is honest. I don't blame him +much. I told you, you know, that the younger set are just crazy over +Violet Winslow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GAMBLING DEN + + +In spite of the agitation that was going on at the time in the city +against gambling, we had no trouble in being admitted to the place in +Forty-eighth Street. They seemed to recognise Warrington, for no sooner +had the lookout at the door peered through a little grating and seen +him than the light woodwork affair was opened. + +To me, with even my slender knowledge of such matters, it had seemed +rather remarkable that only such a door should guard a place that was +so notorious. Once inside, however, the reason was apparent. It didn't. +On the outside there was merely such a door as not to distinguish the +house, a three-story and basement dwelling, of old brownstone, from the +others in the street. + +As the outside door shut quickly, we found ourselves in a sort of +vestibule confronted by another door. Between the two the lookout had +his station. + +The second door was of the "ice-box" variety, as it was popularly +called at the time, of heavy oak, studded with ax-defying bolts, swung +on delicately balanced and oiled hinges, carefully concealed, about as +impregnable as a door of steel might be. + +There were, as we found later, some steel doors inside, leading to the +roof and cellar, though not so thick. The windows were carefully +guarded inside by immense steel bars. The approaches from the back were +covered with a steel network and every staircase was guarded by a +collapsible door. There seemed to be no point of attack that had been +left unguarded. + +Yet, unless one had been like ourselves looking for these +fortifications, they would not have appeared much in evidence in the +face of the wealth of artistic furnishings that was lavished on every +hand. Inside the great entrance door was a sort of marble reception +hall, richly furnished, and giving anything but the impression of a +gambling house. As a matter of fact, the first floor was pretty much of +a blind. The gambling was all upstairs. + +We turned to a beautiful staircase of carved wood, and ascended. +Everywhere were thick rugs into which the feet sank almost ankle deep. +On the walls were pictures that must have cost a small fortune. The +furniture was of the costliest; there were splendid bronzes and objects +of art on every hand. + +Gambling was going on in several rooms that we passed, but the main +room was on the second floor, a large room reconstructed in the old +house, with a lofty ceiling and exquisitely carved trim. Concealed in +huge vases were the lights, a new system, then, which shed its rays in +every direction without seeming to cast a shadow anywhere. The room was +apparently windowless, and yet, though everyone was smoking furiously, +the ventilation must have been perfect. + +There was, apparently, a full-fledged poolroom in one part of the +house, closed now, of course, as the races for the day were run. But I +could imagine it doing a fine business in the afternoon. There were +many other games now in progress, games of every description, from +poker to faro, keno, klondike, and roulette. There was nothing of +either high or low degree with which the venturesome might not be +accommodated. + +As Warrington conducted us from one room to another, Garrick noted each +carefully. Along the middle of the large room stretched a roulette +table. We stopped to watch it. + +"Crooked as it can be," was Garrick's comment after watching it for +five minutes or so. + +He had not said it aloud, naturally, for even the crowd in evening +clothes about it, who had lost or would lose, would have resented such +an imputation. + +For the most part there was a solemn quiet about the board, broken only +by the rattle of the ball and the click of chips. There was an absence +of the clink of gold pieces that one hears as the croupier rakes them +in at the casinos on the continent. Nor did there seem to be the tense +faces that one might expect. Often there was the glint of an eye, or a +quick and muffled curse, but for the most part everyone, no matter how +great a loser, seemed respectable and prosperous. The tragedies, as we +came to know, were elsewhere. + +We sauntered into another room where they were playing keno. Keno was, +we soon found, a development or an outgrowth of lotto, in which cards +were sold to the players, bearing numbers which were covered with +buttons, as in lotto. The game was won when a row was full after +drawing forth the numbers on little balls from a "goose." + +"Like the roulette wheel," said Garrick grimly, "the 'goose' is +crooked, and if I had time I could show you how it is done." + +We passed by the hazard boards as too complicated for the limited time +at our disposal. + +It was, however, the roulette table which seemed to interest Garrick +most, partly for the reason that most of the players flocked about it. + +The crowd around the table on the second floor was several deep, now. +Among those who were playing I noticed a new face. It was of a tall, +young man much the worse, apparently, for the supposed good time he had +had already. The game seemed to have sobered him up a bit, for he was +keen as to mind, now, although a trifle shaky as to legs. + +He glanced up momentarily from his close following of the play as we +approached. + +"Hello, W.," he remarked, as he caught sight of our young companion. + +A moment later he had gone back to the game as keen as ever. + +"Hello, F.," greeted Warrington. Then, aside to us, he added, "You know +they don't use names now in gambling places if they can help it. +Initials do just as well. That is Forbes, of whom I told you. He's a +young fellow of good family--but I am afraid he is going pretty much to +the bad, or will go, if he doesn't quit soon. I wish I could stop him. +He's a nice chap. I knew him well at college and we have chummed about +a great deal. He's here too much of the time for his own good." + +The thing was fascinating, I must admit, no matter what the morals of +it were. I became so engrossed that I did not notice a man standing +opposite us. I was surprised when he edged over towards us slowly, then +whispered to Garrick, "Meet me downstairs in the grill in five minutes, +and have a bite to eat. I have something important to say. Only, be +careful and don't get me 'in Dutch' here." + +The man had a sort of familiar look and his slang certainly reminded me +of someone we had met. + +"Who was it?" I inquired under my breath, as he disappeared among the +players. + +"Didn't you recognize him?" queried Garrick. "Why, that was Herman, +Dillon's man,--the fellow, you know, who is investigating this place." + +I had not recognized the detective in evening clothes. Indeed, I felt +that unless he were known here already his disguise was perfect. + +Garrick managed to leave Warrington for a time under the pretext that +he wanted him to keep an eye on Forbes while we explored the place +further. We walked leisurely down the handsome staircase into the grill +and luncheon room downstairs. + +"Well, have you found out anything?" asked a voice behind us. + +We turned. It was Herman who had joined us. Without pausing for an +answer he added, "I suppose you are aware of the character of this +place? It looks fine, but the games are all crooked, and I guess there +are some pretty desperate characters here, from all accounts. I +shouldn't like to fall afoul of any of them, if I were you." + +"Oh, no," replied Garrick, "it wouldn't be pleasant. But we came in +well introduced, and I don't believe anyone suspects." + +Several others, talking and laughing loudly to cover their chagrin over +losses, perhaps, entered the buffet. + +With the gratuitous promise to stand by us in trouble of any kind, +Herman excused himself, and returned to watch the play about the +roulette table. + +Garrick and I leisurely finished the little bite of salad we had +ordered, then strolled upstairs again. + +The play was becoming more and more furious. Forbes was losing again, +but was sticking to it with a grim determination that was worthy of a +better cause. Warrington had already made one attempt to get him away +but had not succeeded. + +"Well," remarked Garrick, as we three made our way slowly to the +coatroom downstairs, "I think we have seen enough of this for to-night. +It isn't so very late, after all. I wonder if it would be possible to +get into that ladies' poolroom on the next street? I should like to see +that place." + +"Angus could get us in, if anyone could," replied Warrington +thoughtfully. "Wait here a minute. I'll see if I can get him away from +the wheel long enough." + +Five minutes later he came back, with Forbes in tow. He shook hands +with us cordially, in fact a little effusively. Perhaps I might have +liked the young fellow if I could have taken him in hand for a month or +two, and knocked some of the silly ideas he had out of his head. + +Forbes called a taxicab, a taxicab apparently being the open sesame. +One might have gone afoot and have looked ever so much like a "good +thing" and he would not have been admitted. But such is the simplicity +of the sophistication of the keepers of such places that a motor car +opens all locks and bolts. + +It seemed to be a peculiar place and as nearly as I could make out was +in a house almost in the rear of the one we had just come from. + +We were politely admitted by a negro maid, who offered to take our +coats. + +"No," answered Forbes, apparently with an eye to getting out as quickly +as possible, "we won't stay long tonight. I just came around to +introduce my friends to Miss Lottie. I must get back right away." + +For some reason or other he seemed very anxious to leave us. I surmised +that the gambling fever was running high and that he had hopes of a +change of luck. At any rate, he was gone, and we had obtained +admittance to the ladies' pool room. + +We strolled into one of the rooms in which the play was on. The game +was at its height, with huge stacks of chips upon the tables and the +players chatting gayly. There was no large crowd there, however. +Indeed, as we found afterward, it was really in the afternoon that it +was most crowded, for it was rather a poolroom than a gambling joint, +although we gathered from the gossip that some stiff games of bridge +were played there. Both men and women were seated at the poker game +that was in progress before the little green table. The women were +richly attired and looked as if they had come from good families. + +We were introduced to several, but as it was evident that they were +passing under assumed names, whatever the proprietor of the place might +know of them, I made little effort to remember the names, although I +did study the faces carefully. + +It was not many minutes before we met Miss Lottie, as everyone called +the woman who presided over this feminine realm of chance. Miss Lottie +was a finely gowned woman, past middle age, but remarkably well +preserved, and with a figure that must have occasioned much thought to +fashion along the lines of the present slim styles. There seemed to be +a man who assisted in the conduct of the place, a heavy-set fellow with +a closely curling mustache. But as he kept discreetly in the offing, we +did not see much of him. + +Miss Lottie was frankly glad to see us, coming so well introduced, and +outspokenly disappointed that we would not take a seat in the game that +was in progress. However, Garrick passed that over by promising to come +around soon. Excise laws were apparently held in puny respect in this +luxurious atmosphere, and while the hospitable Miss Lottie went to +summon a servant to bring refreshments--at our expense--we had ample +opportunity to glance about at the large room in which we were seated. + +Garrick gazed long and curiously at an arc-light enclosed in a soft +glass globe in the center of the ceiling, as though it had suggested an +idea of some sort to him. + +Miss Lottie, who had left us for a few moments, returned unexpectedly +to find him still gazing at it. + +"We keep that light burning all the time," she remarked, noticing his +gaze. "You see, in the daytime we never use the windows. It is always +just like it is now, night or day. It makes no difference with us. You +know, if we ever should be disturbed by the police," she rattled on, +"this is my house and I am giving a little private party to a number of +my friends." + +I had heard of such places but had never seen one before. I knew that +well-dressed women, once having been caught in the toils of gambling, +and perhaps afraid to admit their losses to their husbands, or, often +having been introduced through gambling to far worse evils, were sent +out from these poker rendezvous to the Broadway cafes, there to flirt +with men, and rope them into the game. + +I could not help feeling that perhaps some of the richly gowned women +in the house were in reality "cappers" for the game. As I studied the +faces, I wondered what tragedies lay back of these rouged and painted +faces. I saw broken homes, ruined lives, even lost honor written on +them. Surely, I felt, this was a case worth taking up if by any chance +we could put a stop or even set a limitation to this nefarious traffic. + +"Have you ever had any trouble?" Garrick asked as we sipped at the +refreshments. + +"Very little," replied Miss Lottie, then as if the very manner of our +introduction had stamped us all as "good fellows" to whom she could +afford to be a little confidential in capturing our patronage, she +added nonchalantly, "We had a sort of wild time a couple of nights ago." + +"How was that?" asked Garrick in a voice of studied politeness that +carefully concealed the aching curiosity he had for her to talk. + +"Well," she answered slowly, "several ladies and gentlemen were here, +playing a little high. They--well, they had a little too much to drink, +I guess. There was one girl, who was the worst of all. She was pretty +far gone. Why, we had to put her out--carry her out to the car that she +had come in with her friend. You know we can't stand for any rough +stuff like that--no sir. This house is perfectly respectable and proper +and our patrons understand it." + +The story, or rather, the version of it, seemed to interest Garrick, as +I knew it would. + +"Who was the girl?" he asked casually. "Did you know her? Was she one +of your regular patrons?" + +"Knew her only by sight," returned Miss Lottie hastily, now a little +vexed, I imagined, at Guy's persistence, "like lots of people who are +introduced here--and come again several times." + +The woman was evidently sorry that she had mentioned the incident, and +was trying to turn the conversation to the advantages of her +establishment, not the least of which were her facilities for private +games in little rooms in various parts of the house. It seemed all very +risque to me, although I tried to appear to think it quite the usual +thing, though I was careful to say that hers was the finest of such +places I had ever seen. Still, the memory of Garrick's questioning +seemed to linger. She had not expected, I knew, that we would take any +further interest in her story than to accept it as proof of how careful +she was of her clientele. + +Garrick was quick to take the cue. He did not arouse any further +suspicion by pursuing the subject. Apparently he was convinced that it +had been Rena Taylor of whom Miss Lottie spoke. What really happened we +knew no more now than before. Perhaps Miss Lottie herself knew--or she +might not know. Garrick quite evidently was willing to let future +developments in the case show what had really happened. There was +nothing to be gained by forcing things at this stage of the game, +either in the gambling den around the corner or here. + +We chatted along for several minutes longer on inconsequential +subjects, treating as important those trivialities which Bohemia +considers important and scoffing at the really good and true things of +life that the demi-monde despises. It was all banality now, for we had +touched upon the real question in our minds and had bounded as lightly +off it as a toy balloon bounds off an opposing surface. + +Warrington had kept silent during the visit, I noticed, and seemed +relieved when it was over. I could not imagine that he was known here +inasmuch as they treated him quite as they treated us. + +Apparently, though, he had no relish for a possible report of the +excursion to get to Miss Winslow's ears. He was the first to leave, as +Garrick, after paying for our refreshments and making a neat remark or +two about the tasteful way in which the gambling room was furnished, +rescued our hats and coats from the negro servant, and said good-night +with a promise to drop in again. + +"What would Mrs. de Lancey think of THAT?" Garrick could not help +saying, as we reached the street. + +Warrington gave a nervous little forced laugh, not at all such as he +might have given had Mrs. de Lancey not been the aunt of the girl who +had entered his life. + +Then he caught himself and said hastily, "I don't care what she thinks. +It's none of her---" + +He cut the words short, as if fearing to be misinterpreted either way. + +For several squares he plodded along silently, then, as we had +accomplished the object of the evening, excused himself, with the +request that we keep him fully informed of every incident in the case. + +"Warrington doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve," commented Garrick as +we bent our steps to our own, or rather his, apartment, "but it is +evident enough that he is thinking all the time of Violet Winslow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MOTOR BANDIT + + +Early the next morning, the telephone bell began to ring violently. The +message must have been short, for I could not gather from Garrick's +reply what it was about, although I could tell by the startled look on +his face that something unexpected had happened. + +"Hurry and finish dressing, Tom," he called, as he hung up the receiver. + +"What's the matter?" I asked, from my room, still struggling with my +tie. + +"Warrington was severely injured in a motor-car accident late last +night, or rather early this morning, near Tuxedo." + +"Near Tuxedo?" I repeated incredulously. "How could he have got up +there? It was midnight when we left him in New York." + +"I know it. Apparently he must have wanted to see Miss Winslow. She is +up there, you know. I suppose that in order to be there this morning, +early, he decided to start after he left us. I thought he seemed +anxious to get away. Besides, you remember he took that letter +yesterday afternoon, and I totally forgot to ask him for it last night. +I'll wager it was on account of that slanderous letter that he wanted +to go, that he wanted to explain it to her as soon as he could." + +There had been no details in the hasty message over the wire, except +that Warrington was now at the home of a Doctor Mead, a local physician +in a little town across the border of New York and New Jersey. The more +I thought about it, the more I felt that it was extremely unlikely that +it could have been an accident, after all. Might it not have been the +result of an attack or a trap laid by some strong-arm man who had set +out to get him and had almost succeeded in accomplishing his purpose of +"getting him right," to use the vernacular of the class? + +We made the trip by railroad, passing the town where the report had +come to us before of the finding of the body of Rena Taylor. There was, +of course, no one at the station to meet us, and, after wasting some +time in learning the direction, we at last walked to Dr. Mead's +cottage, a quaint home, facing the state road that led from Suffern up +to the Park, and northward. + +Dr. Mead, who had telephoned, admitted us himself. We found Warrington +swathed in bandages, and only half conscious. He had been under the +influence of some drug, but, before that, the doctor told us, he had +been unconscious and had only one or two intervals in which he was +sufficiently lucid to talk. + +"How did it happen?" asked Garrick, almost as soon as we had entered +the doctor's little office. + +"I had had a bad case up the road," replied the doctor slowly, "and it +had kept me out late. I was driving my car along at a cautious pace +homeward, some time near two o'clock, when I came to a point in the +road where there are hills on one side and the river on the other. As I +neared the curve, a rather sharp curve, too, I remember the lights on +my own car were shining on the white fence that edged the river side of +the road. I was keeping carefully on my own side, which was toward the +hill. + +"As I was about to turn, I heard the loud purring of an engine coming +in my direction, and a moment later I saw a car with glaring +headlights, driven at a furious pace, coming right at me. It slowed up +a little, and I hugged the hill as close as I could, for I know some of +these reckless young drivers up that way, and this curve was in the +direction where the temptation is for one going north to get on the +wrong side of the road--that is, my side--in order to take advantage of +the natural slope of the macadam in turning the curve at high speed. +Still, this fellow didn't prove so bad, after all. He gave me a wide +berth. + +"Just then there came a blinding flash right out of the darkness. Back +of his car a huge, dark object had loomed up almost like a ghost. It +was another car, back of the first one, without a single light, +travelling apparently by the light shed by the forward car. It had +overtaken the first and had cut in between us with not half a foot to +spare on either side. It was the veriest piece of sheer luck I ever saw +that we did not all go down together. + +"With the flash I heard what sounded like a bullet zip out of the +darkness. The driver of the forward car stiffened out for a moment. +Then he pitched forward, helpless, over the steering wheel. His car +dashed ahead, straight into the fence instead of taking the curve, and +threw the unconscious driver. Then the car wrecked itself." + +"And the car in the rear?" inquired Garrick eagerly. + +"Dashed ahead between us safely around the curve--and was gone. I +caught just one glimpse of its driver--a man all huddled up, his collar +up over his neck and chin, his cap pulled forward over his eyes, +goggles covering the rest of his face, and shrouded in what seemed to +be a black coat, absolutely as unrecognizable as if he had been a +phantom bandit, or death itself. He was steering with one hand, and in +the other he held what must have been a revolver." + +"And then?" prompted Garrick. + +"I had stopped with my heart in my mouth at the narrowness of my own +escape from the rushing black death. Pursuit was impossible. My car was +capable of no such burst of speed as his. And then, too, there was a +groaning man down in the ravine below. I got out, clambered over the +fence, and down in the shrubbery into the pitch darkness. + +"Fortunately, the man had been catapulted out before his car turned +over. I found him, and with all the strength I could muster and as +gently as I was able carried him up to the road. When I held him under +the light of my lamps, I saw at once that there was not a moment to +lose. I fixed him in the rear of my car as comfortably as I could and +then began a race to get him home here where I have almost a private +hospital of my own, as quickly as possible." + +Cards in his pocket had identified Warrington and Dr. Mead remembered +having heard the name. The prompt attention of the doctor had +undoubtedly saved the young man's life. + +Over and over again, Dr. Mead said, in his delirium Warrington had +repeated the name, "Violet--Violet!" It was as Garrick had surmised, +his desire to stand well in her eyes that had prompted the midnight +journey. Yet who the assailant might be, neither Dr. Mead nor the +broken raving of Warrington seemed to afford even the slightest clew. +That he was a desperate character, without doubt in desperate straits +over something, required no great acumen to deduce. + +Toward morning in a fleeting moment of lucidity, Warrington had +mentioned Garrick's name in such a way that Dr. Mead had looked it up +in the telephone directory and then at the earliest moment had called +up. + +"Exactly the right thing," reassured Garrick. "Can't you think of +anything else that would identify the driver of that other car?" + +"Only that he was a wonderful driver, that fellow," pursued the doctor, +admiration getting the better of his horror now that the thing was +over. "I couldn't describe the car, except that it was a big one and +seemed to be of a foreign make. He was crowding Warrington as much as +he dared with safety to himself--and not a light on his own car, too, +remember." + +Garrick's face was puckered in thought. + +"And the most remarkable thing of all about it," added the doctor, +rising and going over to a white enameled cabinet in the corner of his +office, "was that wound from the pistol." + +The doctor paused to emphasize the point he was about to make. +"Apparently it put Warrington out," he resumed. "And yet, after all, I +find that it is only a very superficial flesh wound of the shoulder. +Warrington's condition is really due to the contusions he received +owing to his being thrown from the car. His car wasn't going very fast +at the time, for it had slowed down for me. In one way that was +fortunate--although one might say it was the cause of everything, since +his slowing down gave the car behind a chance to creep up on him the +few feet necessary. + +"Really I am sure that even the shock of such a wound wasn't enough to +make an experienced driver like Warrington lose control of the machine. +It is a fairly wide curve, after all, and--well, my contention is +proved by the fact that I examined the wreck of the car this morning +and found that he had had time to shut off the gas and cut out the +engine. He had time to think of and do that before he lost absolute +control of the car." + +Dr. Mead had been standing by the cabinet as he talked. Now he opened +it and took from it the bullet which he had probed out of the wound. He +looked at it a minute himself, then handed it to Garrick. I bent over +also and examined it as it lay in Guy's hand. + +At first I thought it was an ordinary bullet. But the more I examined +it the more I was convinced that there was something peculiar about it. +In the nose, which was steel-jacketed, were several little round +depressions, just the least fraction of an inch in depth. + +"It is no wonder Warrington was put out, even by that superficial +wound," remarked Garrick at last. "His assailant's aim may have been +bad, as it must necessarily have been from one rapidly approaching car +at a person in another rapidly moving car, also. But the motor bandit, +whoever he is, provided against that. That bullet is what is known as +an anesthetic bullet." + +"An anesthetic bullet?" repeated both Dr. Mead and myself. "What is +that?" + +"A narcotic bullet," Garrick explained, "a sleep-producing bullet, if +you please, a sedative bullet that lulls its victim into almost instant +slumber. It was invented quite recently by a Pittsburgh scientist. The +anesthetic bullet provides the poor marksman with all the advantages of +the expert gunman of unerring aim." + +I marvelled at the ingenuity of the man who could figure out how to +overcome the seeming impossibility of accurate shooting from a car +racing at high speed. Surely, he must be a desperate fellow. + +While we were talking, the doctor's wife who had been attending +Warrington until a nurse arrived, came to inform him that the effect of +the sedative, which he had administered while Warrington was restless +and groaning, was wearing off. We waited a little while, and then Dr. +Mead himself informed us that we might see our friend for a minute. + +Even in his half-drowsy state of pain Warrington appeared to recognise +Garrick and assume that he had come in response to his own summons. +Garrick bent down, and I could just distinguish what Warrington was +trying to say to him. + +"Wh--where's Violet?" he whispered huskily, "Does she know? Don't let +her get--frightened--I'll be--all right." + +Garrick laid his hand on Warrington's unbandaged shoulder, but said +nothing. + +"The--the letter," he murmured ramblingly. "I have it--in my +apartment--in the little safe. I was going to Tuxedo--to see +Violet--explain slander--tell her closing place--didn't know it was +mine before. Good thing to close it--Forbes is a heavy loser. She +doesn't know that." + +Warrington lapsed back on his pillow and Dr. Mead beckoned to us to +withdraw without exciting him any further. + +"What difference does it make whether she knows about Forbes or not?" I +queried as we tiptoed down the hall. + +Garrick shook his head doubtfully. "Can't say," he replied succinctly. +"It may be that Forbes, too, has aspirations." + +The idea sent me off into a maze of speculations, but it did not +enlighten me much. At any rate, I felt, Warrington had said enough to +explain his presence in that part of the country. On one thing, as I +have said, Garrick had guessed right. The blackmailing letter and what +we had seen the night before at the crooked gambling joint had been too +much for him. He had not been able to rest as long as he was under a +cloud with Miss Winslow until he had had a chance to set himself right +in her eyes. + +There seemed to be nothing that we could do for him just then. He was +in excellent hands, and now that the doctor knew who he was, a trained +nurse had even been sent for from the city and arrived on the train +following our own, thus relieving Mrs. Mead of her faithful care of him. + +Garrick gave the nurse strict instructions to make exact notes of +anything that Warrington might say, and then requested the doctor to +take us to the scene of the tragedy. We were about to start, when +Garrick excused himself and hurried back into the house, reappearing in +a few minutes. + +"I thought perhaps, after all, it would be best to let Miss Winslow +know of the accident, as long as it isn't likely to turn out seriously +in the end for Warrington," he explained, joining us again in Dr. +Mead's car which was waiting in front of the house. "So I called up her +aunt's at Tuxedo and when Miss Winslow answered the telephone I broke +the news to her as gently as I could. Warrington need have no fear +about that girl," he added. + +The wrecked car, we found, had not yet been moved, nor had the broken +fence been repaired. It was, in fact, an accident worth studying +topographically. That part of the road itself near the fence seemed to +interest Garrick greatly. Two or three cars passed while we waited and +he noted how carefully each of them seemed to avoid that side toward +the broken fence, as though it were haunted. + +"I hope they've all done that," Garrick remarked, as he continued to +examine the road, which was a trifle damp under the high trees that +shaded it. + +As he worked, I could not believe that it was wholly fancy that caused +me to think of him as searching with dilated nostrils, like a +scientific human bloodhound. For, it was not long before I began to +realize what he was looking for in the marks of cars left on the oiled +roadway. + +During perhaps half an hour he continued studying the road, above and +below the exact point of the accident. At length a low exclamation from +him brought me to his side. He had dropped down in the grease, +regardless of his knees and was peering at some rather deep imprints in +the surface dressing. There, for a few feet, were plainly the marks of +the outside tires of a car, still unobliterated. + +Garrick had pulled out copies of the photographs he had made of the +tire marks that had been left at the scene of the finding of the +unfortunate Rena Taylor's body, and was busy comparing them with the +marks that were before him. + +"Of course," Garrick muttered to me, "if the anti-skid marks of the +tires were different, it would have proved nothing, just as in the +other case where we looked for the tire prints. But here, too, a glance +shows that at least it is the same make of tires." + +He continued his comparison. It did not take me long to surmise what he +was doing. He was taking the two sets of marks and, inch by inch, going +over them, checking up the little round metal insertions that were +placed in this style of tire to give it a firmer grip. + +"Here's one missing, there's another," he cried excitedly. "By Jove, it +can't be mere coincidence. There's one that is worn--another broken. +They correspond. Yes, that MUST be the same car, in each case. And if +it was the stolen car, then it was Warrington's own car that was used +in pursuing him and in almost making away with him!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EXPLANATION + + +We had not noticed a car which had stopped just past us and Garrick was +surprised at hearing his own name called. + +We looked up from contemplating the discovery he had made in the road, +to see Miss Winslow waving to us. She had motored down from Tuxedo +immediately after receiving the message over the telephone, and with +her keen eye had picked out both the place of the accident and +ourselves studying it. + +As we approached, I could see that she was much more pale than usual. +Evidently her anxiety for Warrington was thoroughly genuine. The +slanderous letter had not shaken her faith in him, yet. + +She had left her car and was walking back along the road with us toward +the broken fence. Garrick had been talking to her earnestly and now, +having introduced her to Dr. Mead, the doctor and he decided to climb +down to inspect the wrecked car itself in the ravine below. + +Miss Winslow cast a quick look from the broken fence down at the torn +and twisted wreckage of the car and gave a suppressed little cry and +shudder. + +"How is Mortimer?" she asked of me eagerly, for I had agreed to stay +with her while the others went down the slope. "I mean how is he +really? Is he likely to be better soon, as Mr. Garrick said over the +telephone?" she appealed. + +"Surely--absolutely," I assured her, knowing that if Garrick had said +that he had meant it. "Miss Winslow, believe me, neither Mr. Garrick +nor Dr. Mead is concealing anything. It is pretty bad, of course. Such +things are always bad. But it might be far worse. And besides, the +worst now has passed." + +Garrick had already promised to accompany her over to Dr. Mead's after +he had made his examination of the wrecked car to confirm what the +doctor had already observed. It took several minutes for them to +satisfy themselves and meanwhile Violet Winslow, already highly +unstrung by the news from Garrick, waited more and more nervously. + +In spite of his careful examination of the wrecked car, Garrick found +practically nothing more than Dr. Mead had already told him. It was +with considerable relief that Miss Winslow saw the two again climbing +up the slope in the direction of the road. + +A few minutes later we were on our way back, Dr. Mead and Garrick +leading the way in the doctor's car, while I accompanied Miss Winslow +in her own car. + +She said little, and it was plain to see that she was consumed by +anxiety. Now and then she would ask a question about the accident, and +although I tried in every way to divert her mind to other subjects she +unfailingly came back to that. + +Tempering the details as much as I could I repeated for her just what +had happened to the best of our knowledge. + +"And you have no idea who it could have been?" she asked turning those +liquid eyes of hers on my face. + +If there were any secret about it, it was perhaps fortunate that I did +not know. I don't think I am more than ordinarily susceptible and I +know I did not delude myself that Miss Winslow ever could be anything +except a friend to either Garrick or myself. But I felt I could not +resist the appeal in those eyes. I wondered if even they, by some magic +intuition, might not pierce the very soul of man and uncover a lying +heart. I felt that Warrington could not have been other than he said he +was and still have been hastening to meet those eyes. + +"Miss Winslow," I answered, "I have no more idea than you have who it +could be." + +I was telling the truth and I felt that I could meet her gaze. + +There must have been something about how I had phrased my answer that +caused her to look at me more searchingly than before. Suddenly she +turned her face away and gazed at the passing landscape from the car. + +She said nothing, but as I continued to watch her finely moulded +features, I saw that she was making an effort to control herself. It +flashed over me, somehow, that perhaps, after all, she herself +suspected someone. It was not that she said anything. It was merely an +indefinable impression I received. + +Had Warrington any enemies, not in the underworld, but among those of +his own set, rivals, perhaps, who might even stoop to secure the aid of +those of the underworld who could be bought to commit any crime in the +calendar for a price? I did not pause to examine the plausibility or +the impossibility of such a theory. What interested me was whether in +her mind there was such a thought. Had she, perhaps, really more of an +idea than I who it could be? She betrayed nothing of what her intuition +told her, but I felt sure that, even though she knew nothing, there was +at least something she feared. + +At last we arrived at Dr. Mead's and I handed her out of the car and +into the tastefully furnished little house. There was an air of +quietness about it that often indefinably pervades a house in which +there is illness or a tragedy. + +"May I--see him?" pleaded Miss Winslow, as Dr. Mead placed a chair for +her. + +I wondered what he would have done if there had been some good reason +why he should resist the pleading of her deep eyes. + +"Why--er--for a minute--yes," he answered. "Later, soon, he may see +visitors longer, but just now I think for a few hours the less he is +disturbed the better." + +The doctor excused himself for a moment to look at his patient and +prepare him for the visit. Meanwhile Miss Winslow waited in the +reception room downstairs, still very pale and nervous. + +Warrington was in much less pain now than he had been when we left and +Dr. Mead decided that, since the nurse had made him so much more +comfortable, no further drug was necessary. In fact as his natural +vitality due to his athletic habits and clean living asserted itself, +it seemed as if his injuries which at first had looked so serious were +not likely to prove as bad as the doctor had anticipated. + +Still, he was badly enough as it was. The new nurse smoothed out his +pillows and deftly tried to conceal as much as she could that would +suggest how badly he was injured and at last Violet Winslow was allowed +to enter the room where the poor boy lay. + +Miss Winslow never for a moment let her wonderful self-control fail +her. Quickly and noiselessly, like a ministering angel, she seemed to +float rather than walk over the space from the door to the bed. + +As she bent over him and whispered, "Mortimer!" the simple tone seemed +to have an almost magic effect on him. + +He opened his eyes which before had been languidly closed and gazed up +at her face as if he saw a vision. Slowly the expression on his face +changed as he realized that it was indeed Violet herself. In spite of +the pain of his hurts which must have been intense a smile played over +his features, as if he realized that it would never do to let her know +how serious had been his condition. + +As she bent over her hand had rested on the white covers of the bed. +Feebly, in spite of the bandages that swathed the arm nearest her, he +put out his own brawny hand and rested it on hers. She did not withdraw +it, but passed the other hand gently over his throbbing forehead. Never +have I seen a greater transformation in an invalid than was evident in +Mortimer Warrington. No tonic in all the pharmacopoeia of Dr. Mead +could have worked a more wonderful change. + +Not a word was said by either Warrington or Violet for several seconds. +They seemed content just to gaze into each other's faces, oblivious to +us. + +Warrington was the first to break the silence, in answer to what he +knew must be her unspoken question. + +"Your aunt--gambling," he murmured feebly, trying hard to connect his +words so as to appear not so badly off as he had when he had spoken +before. "I didn't know--till they told me--that the estate owned +it--was coming to tell you--going to cancel the lease--close it up--no +one ever lose money there again--" + +The words, jerky though they were, cost him a great physical effort to +say. She seemed to realize it, but there was a look of triumph on her +face as she understood. + +She had not been mistaken. Warrington was all that she had thought him +to be. + +He was looking eagerly into her face and as he looked he read in it the +answer to the questionings that had sent him off in the early hours of +the morning on his fateful ride to Tuxedo. + +Dr. Mead cleared his throat. Miss Winslow recognised it as a signal +that the time was growing short for the interview. + +Reluctantly, she withdrew her hand from his, their eyes met another +instant, and with a hasty word of sympathy and encouragement she left +the room, conscious now that other eyes were watching. + +"Oh, to think it was to tell me that that he got into it all," she +cried, as she sank into a deep chair in the reception room, +endeavouring not to give way to her feelings, now that the strain was +off and she had no longer to keep a brave face. "I--I feel guilty!" + +"I wouldn't say that," soothed Garrick. "Who knows? Perhaps if he had +stayed in the city--they might have succeeded,--whoever it was back of +this thing." + +She looked up at Garrick, startled, I thought, with the same expression +I had seen when she turned her face away in the car and I got the +impression that she felt more than she knew of the case. + +"I may--see--Mr. Warrington again soon?" she asked, now again mistress +of her feelings after Garrick's interruption that had served to take +her mind off a morbid aspect of the affair. + +"Surely," agreed Dr. Mead. "I expect his progress to be rapid after +this." + +"Thank you," she murmured, as she slowly rose and prepared to make the +return trip to her aunt's home. + +"Oh, Mr. Garrick," she confided, as he helped her on with the wraps she +had thrown carelessly on a chair when she entered, "I can't help it--I +do feel guilty. Perhaps he thinks I am--like Aunt Emma---" + +"Perhaps it was quite as much to convince your aunt as you that he took +the trip," suggested Garrick. + +Miss Winslow understood. "Why is it," she murmured, "that sometimes +people with the best intentions manage to bring about things that +are--more terrible?" + +Garrick smiled. Quite evidently she and her aunt were not exactly in +tune. He said nothing. + +As for Dr. Mead he seemed really pleased, for the patient had +brightened up considerably after even the momentary glimpse he had had +of Violet. Altogether I felt that although they had seen each other +only for a moment, it had done both good. Miss Winslow's fears had been +quieted and Warrington had been encouraged by the realisation that, in +spite of its disastrous ending, his journey had accomplished its +purpose anyway. + +There was, as Dr. Mead assured us, every prospect now that Warrington +would pull through after the murderous assault that had been made on +him. + +We saw Miss Winslow safely off on her return trip, much relieved by the +promise of the doctor that she might call once a day to see how the +patient was getting along. + +Warrington was now resting more easily than he had since the accident +and Garrick, having exhausted the possibilities of investigation at the +scene of the accident, announced that he would return to the city. + +At the railroad terminus he called up both the apartment and the office +in order to find out whether we had had any visitors during our +absence. No one had called at the apartment, but the office boy +downtown said that there was a man who had called and was coming back +again. + +A half hour or so later when we arrived at the office we found McBirney +seated there, patiently determined to find Garrick. + +Evidently the news of the assault on Warrington had travelled fast, for +the first thing McBirney wanted to know was how it happened and how his +client was. In a few words Garrick told him as much about it as was +necessary. McBirney listened attentively, but we could see that he was +bursting with his own budget of news. + +"And, McBirney," concluded Garrick, without going into the question of +the marks of the tires, "most remarkable of all, I am convinced that +the car in which his assailant rode was no other than the Mercedes that +was stolen from Warrington in the first place." + +"Say," exclaimed McBirney in surprise, "that car must be all over at +once!" + +"Why--what do you mean?" + +"You know I have my own underground sources of information," explained +the detective with pardonable pride at adding even a rumour to the +budget of news. "Of course you can't be certain of such things, but one +of my men, who is scouting around the Tenderloin looking for what he +can find, tells me that he saw a car near that gambling joint on +Forty-eighth Street and that it may have been the repainted and +renumbered Warrington car--at least it tallies with the description +that we got from the garage keeper in north Jersey. + +"Did he see who drove it?" asked Garrick eagerly. + +"Not very well. It was a short, undersized man, as nearly as he could +make out. Someone whom he did not recognize jumped in it from the +gambling house and they disappeared. Even though my man, his suspicions +aroused, tried to follow them in a taxicab they managed to leave him +behind." + +"In what direction did they go?" asked Garrick. + +"Toward the West Side--where those fly-by-night garages are all +located." + +"Or, perhaps, the Jersey ferries," suggested Garrick. + +"Well, I thought you might like to know about this undersized driver," +said McBirney a little sulkily because Garrick had not displayed as +much enthusiasm as he expected. + +"I do," hastened Garrick. "Of course I do. And it may prove to be a +very important clew. But I was just running ahead of your story. The +undersized man couldn't have figured in the case afterward, assuming +that it was the car. He must have left it, probably in the city. Have +you any idea who it could be?" + +"Not unless he might be an employee or a keeper of one of those +night-hawk garages," persisted McBirney. "That is possible." + +"Quite," agreed Garrick. + +McBirney had delivered his own news and in turn had received ours, or +at least such of it as Garrick chose to tell at present. He was +apparently satisfied and rose to go. + +"Keep after that undersized fellow, will you?" asked Garrick. "If you +could find out who he is and he should happen to be connected with one +of those garages we might get on the right trail at last." + +"I will," promised McBirney. "He's evidently an expert driver of motor +cars himself; my man could see that." + +McBirney had gone. Garrick sat for several minutes gazing squarely at +me. Then he leaned back in his chair, with his hands behind his head. + +"Mark my words, Marshall," he observed slowly, "someone connected with +that gambling joint in some way has got wind of the fact that +Warrington is going to revoke the lease and close it up. We've got to +beat them to it--that's all." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RAID + + +Garrick was evidently turning over and over in his mind some plan of +action. + +"This thing has gone just about far enough," he remarked meditatively, +looking at his watch. It was now well along in the afternoon. + +"But what do you intend doing?" I asked, regarding the whole affair so +far as a hopeless mystery from which I could not see that we had +extracted so much as a promising clew. + +"Doing?" he echoed. "Why, there is only one thing to do, and that is to +take the bull by the horns, to play the game without any further +attempt at finessing. I shall see Dillon, get a warrant, and raid that +gambling place--that's all." + +I had no counter suggestion to offer. In fact the plan rather appealed +to me. If any blow were to be struck it must be just a little bit ahead +of any that the gamblers anticipated, and this was a blow they would +not expect if they already had wind of Warrington's intention to cancel +the lease. + +Garrick called up Dillon and made an appointment to meet him early in +the evening, without telling him what was afoot. + +"Meet me down at police headquarters, Tom," was all that Garrick said +to me. "I want to work here at the office for a little while, first, +testing a new contrivance, or, rather, an old one that I think may be +put to a new use." + +Meanwhile I decided to employ my time by visiting some newspaper +friends that I had known a long time on the Star, one of the most +enterprising papers in the city. Fortunately I found my friend, +Davenport, the managing editor, at his desk and ready to talk in the +infrequent lulls that came in his work. + +"What's on your mind, Marshall?" he asked as I sat down and began to +wonder how he ever conducted his work in the chaotic clutter of stuff +on the top of his desk. + +"I can't tell you--yet, Davenport," I explained carefully, "but it's a +big story and when it breaks I'll promise that the Star has the first +chance at it. I'm on the inside--working with that young detective, +Garrick, you know." + +"Garrick--Garrick," he repeated. "Oh, yes, that fellow who came back +from abroad with a lot of queer ideas. I remember. We had an interview +with him when he left the steamer. Good stuff, too,--but what do you +think of him? Is he--on the level?" + +"On the level and making good," I answered confidently. "I'm not at +liberty to tell much about it now, but--well, the reason I came in was +to find out what you could tell me about a Miss Winslow,--Violet +Winslow and her aunt, Mrs. Beekman de Lancey." + +"The Miss Winslow who is reported engaged to young Warrington?" he +repeated. "The gossip is that he has cut out Angus Forbes, entirely." + +I had hesitated to mention all the names at once, but I need not have +done so, for on such things, particularly the fortunes in finance and +love of such a person as Warrington, the eyes of the press were +all-seeing. + +"Yes," I answered carefully, "that's the Miss Winslow. What do you know +of her?" + +"Well," he replied, fumbling among the papers on his desk, "all I know +is that in the social set to which she belongs our society reporters +say that of all the young fellows who have set out to capture her--and +she's a deuced pretty girl, even in the pictures we have published--it +seems to have come down to Mortimer Warrington and Angus Forbes. Of +course, as far as we newspapermen are concerned, the big story for us +would be in the engagement of young Warrington. The eyes of people are +fixed on him just now--the richest young man in the country, and all +that sort of thing, you know. Seems to be a pretty decent sort of +fellow, too, I believe--democratic and keen on other things besides +tango and tennis. Oh, there's the thing I was hunting for. Mrs. de +Lancey's a nut on gambling, I believe. Read that. It's a letter that +came to us from her this morning." + +It was written in the stilted handwriting of a generation ago and read: + +"To the Editor of the Star, Dear Sir:--I believe that your paper prides +itself on standing for reform and against the grafters. If that is so, +why do you not join in the crusade to suppress gambling in New York? +For the love that you must still bear towards your own mother, listen +to the stories of other mothers torn by anxiety for their sons and +daughters, and if there is any justice or righteousness in this great +city close up those gambling hells that are sending to ruin scores of +our finest young men--and women. You have taken up other fights against +gambling and vice. Take up this one that appeals to women of wealth and +social position. I know them and they are as human as mothers in any +other station in life. Oh, if there is any way, close up these gilded +society resorts that are dissipating the fortunes of many parents, +ruining young men and women, and, in one case I know of, slowly +bringing to the grave a grey-haired widow as worthy of protection as +any mother of the poor whose plea has closed up a little poolroom or +policy shop. One place I have in mind is at ---- West Forty-eighth +Street. Investigate it, but keep this confidential. + +"Sincerely, + +"(MRS.) EMMA DE LANCEY." + +"Do you know anything about it?" I asked casually handing the letter +back. + +"Only by hearsay. I understand it is the crookedest gambling joint in +the city, at least judging by the stories they tell of the losses +there. And so beastly aristocratic, too. They tell me young Forbes has +lost a small fortune there--but I don't know how true it is. We get +hundreds of these daintily perfumed and monogramed little missives in +the course of a year." + +"You mean Angus Forbes?" I asked. + +"Yes," replied the managing editor, "the fellow that they say has been +trying to capture your friend Miss Winslow." + +I did not reply for the moment. Forbes, I had already learned, was +deeply in debt. Was it part of his plan to get control of the little +fortune of Violet to recoup his losses? + +"Do you know Mrs. de Lancey?" pursued the editor. + +"No--not yet," I answered. "I was just wondering what sort of person +she is." + +"Oh I suppose she's all right," he answered, "but they say she's pretty +straight-laced--that cards and all sorts of dissipation are an +obsession with her." + +"Well," I argued, "there might be worse things than that." + +"That's right," he agreed. "But I don't believe that such a puritanical +atmosphere is--er--just the place to bring up a young woman like Violet +Winslow." + +I said nothing. It did not seem to me that Mrs. de Lancey had succeeded +in killing the natural human impulses in Violet, though perhaps the +girl was not as well versed in some of the ways of the world as others +of her set. Still, I felt that her own natural common sense would +protect her, even though she had been kept from a knowledge of much +that in others of her set was part of their "education." + +My friend's telephone had been tinkling constantly during the +conversation and I saw that as the time advanced he was getting more +and more busy. I thanked Davenport and excused myself. + +At least I had learned something about those who were concerned in the +case. As I rode uptown I could not help thinking of Violet Winslow and +her apparently intuitive fear concerning Warrington. I wondered how +much she really knew about Angus Forbes. Undoubtedly he had not +hesitated to express his own feelings toward her. Had she penetrated +beneath the honeyed words he must have spoken to her? Was it that she +feared that all things are fair in war and love and that the favour she +must have bestowed on Warrington might have roused the jealousy of some +of his rivals for her affections? + +I found no answer to my speculations, but a glance at my watch told me +that it was nearing the time of my appointment with Guy. + +A few minutes later I jumped off the car at Headquarters and met +Garrick, waiting for me in the lower hall. As we ascended the broad +staircase to the second floor, where Dillon's office was, I told him +briefly of what I had discovered. + +"The old lady will have her wish," he replied grimly as I related the +incident of the letter to the editor. "I wonder just how much she +really does know of that place. I hope it isn't enough to set her +against Warrington. You know people like that are often likely to +conceive violent prejudices--and then refuse to believe something +that's all but proved about someone else." + +There was no time to pursue the subject further for we had reached +Dillon's office and were admitted immediately. + +"What's the news?" asked Dillon greeting us cordially. + +"Plenty of it," returned Garrick, hastily sketching over what had +transpired since we had seen him last. + +Garrick had scarcely begun to outline what he intended to do when I +could see from the commissioner's face that he was very sceptical of +success. + +"Herman tells me," he objected, "that the place is mighty well +barricaded. We haven't tried raiding it yet, because you know the new +plan is not only to raid those places, but first to watch them, trace +out some of the regular habitues, and then to be able to rope them in +in case we need them as evidence. Herman has been getting that all in +shape so that when the case comes to trial, there'll be no slip-up." + +"If that's all you want, I can put my finger on some of the wildest +scions of wealth that you will ever need for witnesses," Garrick +replied confidently. + +"Well," pursued Dillon diffidently, "how are you going to pull it off, +down through the sky-light, or up through the cellar?" + +"Oh, Dillon," returned Garrick reproachfully, "that's unworthy of you." + +"But, Garrick," persisted Dillon, "don't you know that it is a +veritable National City Bank for protection. It isn't one of those +common gambling joints. It's proof against all the old methods. Axes +and sledgehammers would make no impression there. Why, that place has +been proved bomb-proof--bomb-proof, sir. You remember recently the +so-call 'gamblers' war' in which some rivals exploded a bomb on the +steps because the proprietor of this place resented their intrusion +uptown from the lower East Side, with their gunmen and lobbygows? It +did more damage to the house next door than to the gambling joint." + +Dillon paused a moment to enumerate the difficulties. "You can get past +the outside door all right. But inside is the famous ice-box door. It's +no use to try it at all unless you can pass that door with reasonable +quickness. All the evidence you will get will be of an innocent social +club room downstairs. And you can't get on the other side of that door +by strategy, either. It is strategy-proof. The system of lookouts is +perfect. Herman---" + +"Can't help it," interrupted Garrick, "we've got to go over Herman's +head this time. I'll guarantee you all the evidence you'll ever need." + +Dillon and Garrick faced each other for a moment. + +It was a supreme test of Dillon's sincerity. + +Finally he spoke slowly. "All right," he said, as if at last the die +were cast and Garrick had carried his point, "but how are you going to +do it? Won't you need some men with axes and crowbars?" + +"No, indeed," almost shouted Garrick as Dillon made a motion as if to +find out who were available. "I've been preparing a little surprise in +my office this afternoon for just such a case. It's a rather cumbersome +arrangement and I've brought it along stowed away in a taxicab outside. +I don't want anyone else to know about the raid until the last moment. +Just before we begin the rough stuff, you can call up and have the +reserves started around. That is all I shall want." + +"Very well," agreed Dillon, after a moment. + +He did not seem to relish the scheme, but he had promised at the outset +to play fair and he had no disposition to go back on his word now in +favor even of his judgment. + +"First of all," he planned, "we'll have to drop in on a judge and get a +warrant to protect us." + +Garrick hastily gave me instructions what to do and I started uptown +immediately, while they went to secure the secret warrant. + +I had been stationed on the corner which was not far from the +Forty-eighth Street gambling joint that we were to raid. I had a keen +sense of wickedness as I stood there with other loiterers watching the +passing throng under the yellow flare of the flaming arc light. + +It was not difficult now to loiter about unnoticed because the streets +were full of people, all bent on their own pleasure and not likely to +notice one person more or less who stopped to watch the passing throng. + +From time to time I cast a quick glance at the house down the street, +in order to note who was going in. + +It must have been over an hour that I waited. It was after ten, and it +became more difficult to watch who was going into the gambling joint. +In fact, several times the street was so blocked that I could not see +very well. But I did happen to catch a glimpse of one familiar figure +across the street from me. + +It was Angus Forbes. Where he kept himself in the daytime I did not +know, but he seemed to emerge at night, like a rat, seeking what to him +was now food and drink. I watched him narrowly as he turned the corner, +but there was no use in being too inquisitive. He was bound as +certainly for the gambling joint as a moth would have headed toward one +of the arc lights. Evidently Forbes was making a vocation of gambling. + +Just then a taxicab pulled up hurriedly at the curb near where I was +standing and a hand beckoned me, on the side away from the gambling +house. + +I sauntered over and looked in through the open window. It was Garrick +with Dillon sunk back into the dark corner of the cab, so as not to be +seen. + +"Jump in!" whispered Garrick, opening the door. "We have the warrant +all right. Has anything happened? No suspicion yet?" + +I did so and reassured Garrick while the cab started on a blind cruise +around the block. + +On the floor was a curiously heavy instrument, on which I had stubbed +my toe as I entered. I surmised that it must have been the thing which +Garrick had brought from his office, but in the darkness I could not +see what it was, nor was there a chance to ask a question. + +"Stop here," ordered Garrick, as we passed a drug store with a +telephone booth. + +Dillon jumped out and disappeared into the booth. + +"He is calling the reserves from the nearest station," fretted Garrick. +"Of course, we have to do that to cover the place, but we'll have to +work quickly now, for I don't know how fast a tip may travel in this +subterranean region. Here, I'll pay the taxi charges now and save some +time." + +A moment later Dillon rejoined us, his face perspiring from the +closeness of the air in the booth. + +"Now to that place on Forty-eighth Street, and we're square," ordered +Garrick to the driver, mentioning the address. "Quick!" + +There had been, we could see, no chance for a tip to be given that a +raid was about to be pulled off. We could see that, as Garrick and I +jumped out of the cab and mounted the steps. + +The door was closed to us, however. Only someone like Warrington who +was known there could have got us in peacefully, until we had become +known in the place. Yet though there had been no tip, the lookout on +the other side of the door, with his keen nose, had seemed to scent +trouble. + +He had retreated and, we knew, had shut the inside, heavy door--perhaps +even had had time already to give the alarm inside. + +The sharp rap of a small axe which Garrick had brought sounded on the +flimsy outside door, in quick staccato. There was a noise and scurry of +feet inside and we could hear the locks and bolts being drawn. + +Banging, ripping, tearing, the thin outer door was easily forced. +Disregarding the melee I leaped through the wreckage with Garrick. The +"ice-box" door barred all further progress. How was Garrick to surmount +this last and most formidable barrier? + +"A raid! A raid!" cried a passer-by. + +Another instant, and the cry, taken up by others, brought a crowd +swarming around from Broadway, as if it were noon instead of midnight. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GAMBLING DEBT + + +There was no time to be lost now. Down the steps again dashed Garrick, +after our expected failure both to get in peaceably and to pass the +ice-box door by force. This time Dillon emerged from the cab with him. +Together they were carrying the heavy apparatus up the steps. + +They set it down close to the door and I scrutinized it carefully. It +looked, at first sight, like a short stubby piece of iron, about +eighteen inches high. It must have weighed fifty or sixty pounds. Along +one side was a handle, and on the opposite side an adjustable hook with +a sharp, wide prong. + +Garrick bent down and managed to wedge the hook into the little space +between the sill and the bottom of the ice-box door. Then he began +pumping on the handle, up and down, up and down, as hard as he could. + +Meanwhile the crowd that had begun to collect was getting larger. +Dillon went through the form of calling on them for aid, but the call +was met with laughter. A Tenderloin crowd has no use for raids, except +as a spectacle. Between us we held them back, while Garrick worked. The +crowd jeered. + +It was the work of only a few seconds, however, before Garrick changed +the jeers to a hearty round of exclamations of surprise. The door +seemed to be lifted up, literally, until some of its bolts and hinges +actually bulged and cracked. It was being crushed, like the flimsy +outside door, before the unwonted attack. + +Upwards, by fractions of an inch, by millimeters, the door was being +forced. There was such straining and stress of materials that I really +began to wonder whether the building itself would stand it. + +"Scientific jimmying," gasped Garrick, as the door bulged more and more +and seemed almost to threaten to topple in at any moment. + +I looked at the stubby little cylinder with its short stump of a lever. +Garrick had taken it out now and had wedged it horizontally between the +ice-box door and the outer stonework of the building itself. Then he +jammed some pieces of wood in to wedge it tighter and again began to +pump at the handle vigorously. + +"What is it?" I asked, almost in awe at the titanic power of the +apparently insignificant little thing. + +"My scientific sledgehammer," he panted, still working the lever more +vigorously than ever backward and forward. "In other words, a hydraulic +ram. There is no swinging of axes or wielding of crow-bars necessary +any more, Dillon, in breaking down a door like this. Such things are +obsolete. This little jimmy, if you want to call it that, has a power +of ten tons. I think that's about enough." + +It seemed as if the door were buckling and being literally wrenched off +its hinges by the irresistible ten-ton punch of the hydraulic ram. + +Garrick sprang back, grasping me by the arm and pulling me too. But +there was no need of caution. What was left of the door swung back on +its loosened hinges, seemed to tremble a moment, and then, with a dull +thud crashed down on the beautiful green marble of the reception hall, +reverberating. + +We peered beyond. Inside all was darkness. At the very first sign of +trouble the lights had been switched out downstairs. It was deserted. +There was no answer to our shouts. It was as silent as a tomb. + +The clang of bells woke the rapid echoes. The crowd parted. It was the +patrol wagons, come just in time, full of reserves, at Dillon's order. +They swarmed up the steps, for there was nothing to do now, in the +limelight of the public eye, except their duty. Besides Dillon was +there, too. + +"Here," he ordered huskily, "four of you fellows jump into each of the +next door houses and run up to the roof. Four more men go through to +the rear of this house. The rest stay here and await orders," he +directed, detailing them off quickly, as he endeavoured to grasp the +strange situation. + +On both sides of the street heads were out of windows. On other houses +the steps were full of spectators. Thousands of people must have +swarmed in the street. It was pandemonium. + +Yet inside the house into which we had just broken it was all darkness +and silence. + +The door had yielded to the scientific sledge-hammering where it would +have shattered, otherwise, all the axes in the department. What was +next? + +Garrick jumped briskly over the wreckage into the building. Instead of +the lights and gayety which we had seen on the previous night, all was +black mystery. The robbers' cave yawned before us. I think we were all +prepared for some sort of gunplay, for we knew the crooks to be +desperate characters. As we followed Garrick closely we were surprised +to encounter not even physical force. + +Someone struck a light. Garrick, groping about in the shadows, found +the switch, and one after another the lights in the various rooms +winked up. + +I have seldom seen such confusion as greeted us as, with Dillon waiving +his "John Doe" warrant over his head, we hurried upstairs to the main +hall on the second floor, where the greater part of the gambling was +done. Furniture was overturned and broken, and there had been no time +to remove the heavier gambling apparatus. Playing cards, however, +chips, racing sheets from the afternoon, dice, everything portable and +tangible and small enough to be carried had disappeared. + +But the greatest surprise of all was in store. Though we had seen no +one leave by any of the doors, nor by the doors of any of the houses on +the block, nor by the roofs, or even by the back yard, according to the +report of the police who had been sent in that direction, there was not +a living soul in the house from roof to cellar. Search as we did, we +could find not one of the scores of people whom I had seen enter in the +course of the evening while I was watching on the corner. + +Dillon, ever mindful of some of the absurd rules of evidence in such +cases laid down by the courts, had had an official photographer +summoned and he was proceeding from room to room, snapping pictures of +apparatus that was left in place and preserving a film record of the +condition of things generally. + +Garrick was standing ruefully beside the roulette wheel at which so +many fortunes had been dissipated. + +"Get me an axe," he asked of one of Dillon's men who was passing. + +With a well-directed blow he smashed the wheel. + +"Look," he exclaimed, "this is what they were up against." + +His forefinger indicated an ingenious but now twisted and tangled +series of minute wires and electro-magnets in the delicate mechanism +now broken open before us. Delicate brushes led the current into the +wheel. + +With another blow of the axe, Garrick disclosed wires running down +through the leg of the table to the floor and under the carpet to +buttons operated by the man who ran the game. + +"What does it mean?" I asked blankly. + +"It means," he returned, "that they had little enough chance to win at +a straight game of roulette. But this wheel wasn't even straight with +all the odds in favor of the bank, as they are naturally. This game was +electrically controlled. Others are mechanically controlled by what are +called the 'mule's ear,' and other devices. You CAN'T win. These wires +and magnets can be made to attract the little ball into any pocket the +operator desires. Each one of the pockets contains an electro-magnet. +One set of electro-magnets in the red pockets is connected with one +button under the carpet and a set of batteries. The other series of +little magnets in the black pockets is connected with another button +and the batteries." + +He had picked up the little ball. "This ball," he said as he examined +it, "is not really of ivory, but of a composition that looks like +ivory, coating a hollow, soft-iron ball inside. Soft iron is attracted +by an electro-magnet. Whichever set of magnets is energized attracts +the ball and by this simple method it is in the power of the operator +to let the ball go to red or black as he may wish. Other similar +arrangements control the odd or even, and other combinations, also from +push buttons. There isn't an honest gambling machine in the whole +place. The whole thing is crooked from start to finish,--the men, the +machines,----" + +"Then a fellow never had a chance?" repeated Dillon. + +"Not a chance," emphasized Garrick. + +We gathered about and gazed at magnets and wires, the buttons and +switches. He did not need to say anything more to expose the character +of the place. + +Amazing as we found everything about us in the palace of crooks, +nothing made so deep an impression on me as the fact that it was +deserted. It seemed as if the gamblers had disappeared as though in a +fairy tale. Search room after room as Dillon's men did they were unable +to find a living thing. + +One of the men had discovered, back of the gambling rooms on the second +floor, a little office evidently used by those who ran the joint. It +was scantily furnished, as though its purpose might have been merely a +place where they could divide up the profits in private. A desk, a +cabinet and a safe, besides a couple of chairs, were all that the room +contained. + +Someone, however, had done some quick work in the little office during +those minutes while Garrick was opening the great ice-box door with his +hydraulic ram, for on every side were scattered papers, the desk had +been rifled, and even from the safe practically everything of any value +had been removed. It was all part of the general scheme of things in +the gambling joint. Practically nothing that was evidential that could +be readily removed had been left. Whoever had planned the place must +have been a genius as far as laying out precautions against a raid were +concerned. + +Garrick, Dillon and I ran hastily through some scattered correspondence +and other documents that spilled out from some letter files on the +floor, but as far as I could make out there was nothing of any great +importance that had been overlooked. + +Dillon ordered the whole mass to be bundled up and taken off when the +other paraphernalia was removed so that it could be gone through at our +leisure, and the search continued. + +From the "office" a staircase led down by a back way and we followed +it, looking carefully to see where it led. + +A low exclamation from Garrick arrested our attention. In a curve +between landings he had kicked something and had bent down to pick it +up. An electric pocket flashlight which one of the men had picked up +disclosed under its rays a package of papers evidently dropped by +someone who was carrying away in haste an armful of stuff. + +"Markers with the house," exclaimed Garrick as he ran over the contents +of the package hurriedly. "I. O. U.'s for various amounts and all +initialed--for several hundred thousands. Hello, here's a bunch with an +'F.' That must mean Forbes--thousands of dollars worth." + +The markers were fastened together with a slip in order to separate +them from the others, evidently. + +Garrick was hastily totalling them up and they seemed to amount to a +tidy sum. + +"How can he ever pay?" I asked, amazed as the sum crept on upward in +the direction of six figures. + +"Don't you see that they're cancelled?" interjected Garrick, still +adding. + +I had not examined them closely, but as I now bent over to do so I saw +that each bore the words, "Paid by W." + +Warrington himself had settled the gambling debts of his friend! + +In still greater amazement I continued to look and found that they all +bore dates from several weeks before, down to within a few days. The +tale they told was eloquent. Forbes, his own fortune gone, had gambled +until rescued by his friend. Even that had not been sufficient to curb +his mania. He had kept right on, hoping insanely to recoup. And the +gamblers had been willing to take a chance with him, knowing that they +already had so much of his money that they could not possibly lose. + +A horrid thought flashed over me. What if he had really planned to pay +his losses by marrying a girl with a fortune? Forbes was the sort who +would have gambled on even that slender prospect. + +As we stood on the landing while Garrick went over the markers, I found +myself wondering, even, where Forbes had been that night after he +hurried away from us at the ladies' poolroom and Warrington had taken +the journey that had ended so disastrously for him. The more I learned +of what had been taking place, the more I saw that Warrington stood out +as a gentleman. Undoubtedly Violet Winslow had heard, had been informed +by some kind unknown of the slight lapses of Warrington. I felt sure +that the gross delinquencies of Forbes were concealed from her and from +her aunt, at least as far as Warrington had it in his power to shield +the man who was his friend--and rival. + +The voice of Dillon recalled me from a train of pure speculation to the +more practical work in hand before us. + +"Well, at any rate, we've got evidence enough to protect ourselves and +close the place, even if we didn't make any captures," congratulated +Dillon, as he rejoined us, after a momentary excursion from which he +returned still blinking from the effects of the flashlight powders +which his photographer had been using freely. "After we get all the +pictures of the place, I'll have the stuff here removed to +headquarters--and it won't be handed back on any order of the courts, +either, if I can help it!" + +Garrick had shoved the markers into his pocket and now was leading the +way downstairs. + +"Still, Dillon," he remarked, as we followed, "that doesn't shed any +light on the one remaining problem. How did they all manage to get out +so quickly?" + +We had reached the basement which contained the kitchens for the buffet +and quarters for the servants. A hasty excursion into the littered back +yard under the guidance of Dillon's men who had been sent around that +way netted us nothing in the way of information. They had not made +their escape over the back fences. Such a number of people would +certainly have left some trail, and there was none. + +We looked at Garrick, perplexed, and he remarked, with sudden energy, +"Let's take a look at the cellar." + +As we groped down the final stairway into the cellar, it was only too +evident that at last he had guessed right. Down in the subterranean +depths we quickly discovered, at the rear, a sheet-iron door. Battering +it down was the work of but a moment for the little ram. Beyond it, +where we expected to see a yawning tunnel, we found nothing but a pile +of bricks and earth and timbers that had been used for shoring. + +There had been a tunnel, but the last man who had gone through had +evidently exploded a small dynamite cartridge, and the walls had been +caved in. It was impossible to follow it until its course could be +carefully excavated with proper tools in the daylight. + +We had captured the stronghold of gambling in New York, but the +gamblers had managed to slip out of our grasp, at least for the present. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE GANGSTER'S GARAGE + + +"I have it," exclaimed Garrick, as we were retracing our steps upstairs +from the dank darkness of the cellar. "I would be willing to wager that +that tunnel runs back from this house to that pool-room for women which +we visited on Forty-seventh Street, Marshall. That must be the secret +exit. Don't you see, it could be used in either direction." + +We climbed the stairs and stood again in the wreck of things, taking a +hasty inventory of what was left, in hope of uncovering some new clew, +even by chance. + +Garrick shook his head mournfully. + +"They had just time enough," he remarked, "to destroy about everything +they wanted to and carry off the rest." + +"All except the markers," I corrected. + +"That was just a lucky chance," he returned. "Still, it throws an +interesting sidelight on the case." + +"It doesn't add much in my estimation to the character of Forbes," I +ventured, voicing my own suspicions. + +The telephone bell rang before Garrick had a chance to reply. Evidently +in their haste they had not had time to cut the wires or to spread the +news, yet, of the raid. Someone who knew nothing of what had happened +was calling up. + +Garrick quickly unhooked the receiver, with a hasty motion to us to +remain silent. + +"Hello," we heard him answer. "Yes, this is it. Who is this?" + +He had disguised his voice. We waited anxiously and watched his face to +gather what response he received. + +"The deuce!" he exclaimed, with his hand over the transmitter so that +his voice would not be heard at the other end. + +"What's the matter?" I asked eagerly. + +"Whoever he was," replied Garrick, "he was too keen for me. He caught +on. There must have been some password or form that they used which we +don't know, for he hung up the receiver almost as soon as he heard me." + +Garrick waited a minute or two. Then he whistled into, the transmitter. +It was done apparently to see whether there was anyone listening. But +there was no answer. The man was gone. + +"Operator, operator!" Guy was calling, insistently moving the hook up +and down rapidly. "Yes--I want Central. Central, can you tell me what +number that was which just called up?" + +We all waited anxiously to learn whether the girl could find out or not. + +"Bleecker seven--one--eight--o? Thank you very much. Give me +information, please." + +Again we waited as Garrick tried to trace the call out. + +"Hello! What is the street address of Bleecker seven--one--eight--o? +Three hundred West Sixth. Thank you. A garage? Good-bye." + +"A garage?" echoed Dillon, his ears almost going up as he realized the +importance of the news. + +"Yes," cried Garrick, himself excited. "Tom, call a cab. Let us hustle +down there as quickly as we can." + +"One of those garages on the lower West Side," I heard Dillon say as I +left. "Perhaps they did work for the gambling joint--sent drunks home, +got rid of tough customers and all that. You know already that there +are some pretty tough places down there. This is bully. I shouldn't be +surprised if it gave us a line on the stealing of Warrington's car at +last." + +I found a cab and Dillon and Garrick joined me in it. + +"I tried to get McBirney," said Garrick as we prepared to start on our +new quest, "but he was out, and the night operator at his place didn't +seem to know where he was. But if they can locate him, I imagine he'll +be around at least shortly after we get there. I left the address." + +Dillon had issued his final orders to his raiders about guarding the +raided gambling joint and stationing a man at the door. A moment later +we were off, threading our way through the crowd which in spite of the +late hour still lingered to gape at the place. + +On the way down we speculated much on the possibility that we might be +going on a wild goose chase. But the very circumstances of the call and +the promptness with which the man who had called had seemed to sense +when something was wrong and to ring off seemed to point to the fact +that we had uncovered a good lead of some kind. + +After a quick run downtown through the deserted avenues, we entered a +series of narrow and sinuous streets that wound through some pretty +tough looking neighborhoods. On the street corners were saloons that +deserved no better name than common groggeries. They were all vicious +looking joints and uniformly seemed to violate the law about closing. +The fact was that they impressed one as though it would be as much as +one's life was worth even to enter them with respectable looking +clothes on. + +The further we proceeded into the tortuous twists of streets that stamp +the old Greenwich village with a character all its own, the worse it +seemed to get. Decrepit relics of every style of architecture from +almost the earliest times in the city stood out in the darkness, like +so many ghosts. + +"Anyone who would run a garage down here," remarked Garrick, "deserves +to be arrested on sight." + +"Except possibly for commercial vehicles," I ventured, looking at the +warehouses here and there. + +"There are no commercial vehicles out at this hour," added Garrick +dryly. + +At last our cab turned down a street that was particularly dark. + +"This is it," announced Garrick, tapping on the glass for the driver to +stop at the corner. "We had better get out and walk the rest of the +way." + +The garage which we sought proved to be nothing but an old brick +stable. It was of such a character that even charity could not have +said that it had seen much better days for generations. It was dark, +evil looking. Except for a slinking figure here and there in the +distance the street about us was deserted. Even our footfalls echoed +and Garrick warned us to tread softly. I longed for the big stick, that +went with the other half of the phrase. + +He paused a moment to observe the place. It was near the corner and a +dim-lighted Raines law saloon on the next cross street ran back almost +squarely to the stable walls, leaving a narrow yard. Apparently the +garage itself had been closed for the night, if, indeed, it was ever +regularly open. Anyone who wanted to use it must have carried a key, I +surmised. + +We crossed over stealthily. Garrick put his ear to an ordinary sized +door which had been cut out of the big double swinging doors of the +stable, and listened. + +Not a sound. + +Dillon, with the instinct of the roundsman in him still, tried the +handle of the door gently. To our surprise it moved. I could not +believe that anyone could have gone away and left it open, trusting +that the place would not be looted by the neighbours before he +returned. I felt instinctively that there must be somebody there, in +spite of the darkness. + +The commissioner pushed in, however, followed closely by both of us, +prepared for an on-rush or a hand-to-hand struggle with anything, man +or beast. + +A quick succession of shots greeted us. I do not recall feeling the +slightest sensation of pain, but with a sickening dizziness in the head +I can just vaguely remember that I sank down on the oil and grease of +the floor. I did not fall. It seemed as if I had time to catch myself +and save, perhaps, a fractured skull. But then it was all blank. + +It seemed an age, though it could not have been more than ten minutes +later when I came to. I felt an awful, choking sensation in my throat +which was dry and parched. My lungs seemed to rasp my very ribs, as I +struggled for breath. Garrick was bending anxiously over me, himself +pale and gasping yet. The air was reeking with a smell that I did not +understand. + +"Thank heaven, you're all right," he exclaimed, with much relief, as he +helped me struggle up on my feet. My head was still in a whirl as he +assisted me over to a cushioned seat in one of the automobiles standing +there. "Now I'll go back to Dillon," he added, out of breath from the +superhuman efforts he was putting forth both for us and to keep himself +together. "Wh--what's the matter? What happened?" I gasped, gripping +the back of the cushion to steady myself. "Am I wounded? Where was I +hit? I--I don't feel anything--but, oh, my head and throat!" + +I glanced over at Dillon. He was pale and white as a ghost, but I could +see that he was breathing, though with difficulty. In the glare of the +headlight of a car which Garrick had turned on him, he looked ghastly. +I looked again to discover traces of blood. But there was none anywhere. + +"We were all put out of business," muttered Garrick, as he worked over +Dillon. Dillon opened his eyes blankly at last, then struggled up to +his feet. "You got it worst, commissioner," remarked Garrick to him. +"You were closest." + +"Got what?" he sputtered, "Was closest to what?" + +We were all still choking over the peculiar odor in the fetid air about +us. + +"The bulletless gun," replied Garrick. + +Dillon looked at him a moment incredulously, in spite even of his +trying physical condition. + +"It is a German invention," Garrick went on to explain, clearing his +throat, "and shoots, instead of bullets, a stupefying gas which +temporarily blinds and chokes its victims. The fellow who was in here +didn't shoot bullets at us. He evidently didn't care about adding any +more crimes to his list just now. Perhaps he thought that if he killed +any of us there would be too much of a row. I'm glad it was as it was, +anyway. He got us all, this way, before we knew it. Perhaps that was +the reason he used the gun, for if he had shot one of us with a pistol +I had my own automatic ready myself to blaze away. This way he got me, +too. + +"A stupefying gun!" repeated Dillon. "I should say so. I don't know +what happened--yet," he added, blinking. + +"I came to first," went on Garrick, now busily looking about, as we +were all recovered. "I found that none of us was wounded, and so I +guessed what had happened. However, while we were unconscious the +villain, whoever he was, succeeded in running his car out of the garage +and getting away. He locked the door after him, but I have managed to +work it open again." + +Garrick was now examining the floor of the garage, turning the +headlight of the machine as much as he could on successive parts of the +floor. + +"By George, Tom," he exclaimed to me suddenly, "see those marks in the +grease? Do you recognize them by this time? It is the same tire-mark +again--Warrington's car--without a doubt!" + +Dillon had taken the photographs which Garrick had made several days +before from the prints left by the side of the road in New Jersey, and +was comparing them himself with the marks on the floor of the garage, +while Garrick explained them to him hurriedly, as he had already done +to me. + +"We are getting closer to him, every time,'" remarked Garrick. "Even if +he did get away, we are on the trail and know that it is the right one. +He could not have been at the gambling joint, or he would never have +called up. Yet he must have known all about it. This has turned out +better than I expected. I suppose you don't feel so, but you must think +so." + +It was difficult not to catch the contagion of Garrick's enthusiasm. +Dillon grunted assent. + +"This garage," he put in, looking it over critically, "must act as a +fence for stolen cars and parts of cars. See, there over in the corner +is the stuff for painting new license numbers. Here's enough material +to rebuild a half dozen cars. Yes, this is one of the places that ought +to interest you and McBirney, Garrick. I'll bet the fellow who owns +this place is one of those who'd engage to sell you a second-hand car +of any make you wanted to name. Then he'd go out on the street and hunt +around until he got one. Of course, we'll find out his name, but I'll +wager that when we get the nominal owner we won't be able to extract a +thing from him in the way of actual facts." + +Garrick had continued his examination of the floor. In a corner, near +the back, he had picked up an empty shell of a cartridge. He held it +down in the light of the car, and examined it long and carefully. As he +turned it over and over he seemed to be carefully considering it. +Finally, he dropped it carefully into his inside vest pocket, as though +it were a rare treasure. + +"As I said at the start," quoted Garrick, turning to me, "we might get +a conviction merely on these cartridges. Anyhow, our man has escaped +from here. You can be sure that he won't come back--perhaps +never--certainly not at least for a long time, until he figures that +this thing has completely blown over." + +"I'm going to keep my eye on the place, just the same," stoutly +insisted Dillon. + +"Of course, by all means," reiterated Garrick. "The fact is, I expect +our next important clew will come from this place. The only thing I +want you to be careful of, Dillon, is not to be hasty and make an +arrest." + +"Not make an arrest?" queried Dillon, who still felt the fumes in his +throat, and evidently longed to make someone pay the price--at least by +giving him the satisfaction of conducting a "third degree" down at +headquarters. + +"No. You won't get the right man, and you may lose one who points +straight at him. Take my advice. Watch the place. There's more to be +gained by going at it cautiously. These people understand the old +hammer-and-tongs game." + +Just then the smaller outside door grated on its rusty hinges. We +sprang to our feet, startled. Dillon leaped forward. Stupefying guns +had no taming effect on his nationality. + +"Well, commish, is that the way you greet an old friend?" laughed +McBirney, as a threatened strangle-hold was narrowly averted and turned +into a handshake. "How are you fellows? I got your message, Garrick, +and thought I'd drop around. What's the matter? You all look as if +you'd been drawn through a wringer." + +Briefly, to the accompaniment of many expressions of astonishment from +the insurance detective, Garrick related what had happened, from the +raid to the gas-gun. + +"Well," gasped McBirney, sniffing the remains of the gas in the air, +"this is some place, isn't it? Neat, cozy, well-located--for a +murder--hello!--that's that ninety horsepower Despard that was stolen +from Murdock the other day, or I'll eat my hat." + +He had raised the hood and was straining his eyes to catch a glimpse of +the maker's number on the engine, which had been all but obliterated by +a few judicious blows of a hammer. + +Garrick was busy telling McBirney also about the marks of the tire on +the floor, as the detective looked over one car after another, as if he +had unearthed a veritable treasure-trove. + +"No, your man could not have been at either of the gambling joints," +agreed McBirney, as Garrick finished, "or he wouldn't have called up. +But he must have known them intimately. Perhaps he was in the pay of +someone there." + +McBirney was much interested in what had been discovered, and was +trying to piece it together with what we had known before. "I wonder +whether he's the short fellow who drove the car when it was seen up +there, or the big fellow who was in the car when Warrington was shot, +up-state?" + +The question was, as yet, unanswerable. None of us had been able to +catch a glimpse of his figure, muffled, in the darkness when he shot us. + +All we knew was that even this man was unidentified and at large. The +murderer, desperate as he was, was still free and unknown, too. Were +they one and the same? What might not either one do next? + +We sat down in one of the stolen cars and held a midnight council of +war. There were four of us, and that meant four different plans. Dillon +was for immediate and wholesale arrests. McBirney was certain of one +thing. He would claim the cars he could identify. The garage people +could not help knowing now that we had been there, and we conceded the +point to him with little argument, though it took great tact on +Garrick's part to swing over Dillon. + +"I'm for arresting the garage-keeper, whoever he proves to be," +persisted Dillon, however. + +"It won't do any good," objected Garrick. + +"Don't you see that it will be better to accept his story, or rather +seem to, and then watch him?" + +"Watch him?" I asked, eager to propose my own plan of waiting there and +seizing each person who presented himself. "How can you watch one of +these fellows? They are as slippery as eels,--and as silent as a +muffler," I added, taking good-humouredly the general laugh that +greeted my mixed metaphor. + +"You've suggested the precise idea, Marshall, by your very objection," +broke in Garrick, who up to this time had been silent as to his own +plan. + +"I've a brand-new system of espionage. Trust it to me, and you can all +have your way." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DETECTAPHONE + + +I found it difficult to share Garrick's optimism, however. It seemed to +me that again the best laid plans of one that I had come to consider +among the cleverest of men had been defeated, and it is not pleasant to +be defeated, even temporarily. But Garrick was certainly not +discouraged. + +As he had said at the start, it was no ordinary criminal with whom we +had to deal. That was clear. There had been gunmen and gangmen in New +York for years, we knew, but this fellow seemed to be the last word, +with his liquid bullets, his anesthetic shells and his stupefying gun. + +We had agreed that the garage keeper would, of course, shed little +light on the mystery. He was a crook. But he would find no difficulty, +doubtless, in showing that there was nothing on which to hold him. + +Still, Garrick had evidently figured out a way to go ahead while we had +all been floundering around, helpless. His silence had merely masked +his consideration of a plan. + +"You three stay here," he ordered. "If anyone should come in, hold him. +Don't let anyone get away. But I don't think there will be anyone. I'll +be back within an hour or so." + +It was far past midnight already, as we sat uncomfortably in the +reeking atmosphere of the garage. The hours seemed to drag +interminably. Almost I wished that something would happen to break the +monotony and the suspense. Our lonely vigil went unrewarded, however. +No one came; there was not even a ring at the telephone. + +As nearly as I could figure it out, McBirney was the only one who +seemed to have gained much so far. He had looked over the cars most +carefully. There were half a dozen of them, in all. + +"I don't doubt," he concluded, "that all of them have been stolen. But +there are only two here that I can identify. They certainly are clever +at fixing them up. Look at all the parts they keep ready for use. They +could build a car, here." + +"Yes," agreed Dillon, looking at the expensive "junk" that was lying +about. "There is quite enough to warrant closing the place, only I +suppose Garrick is right. That would defeat our own purpose." + +At last Garrick returned from his hurried trip down to the office. I +don't know what it was we expected him to bring, but I think we were +more or less disappointed when it proved to be merely a simple oblong +oak box with a handle. + +He opened it and we could see that it contained in reality nothing but +a couple of ordinary dry cells, and some other paraphernalia. There +were two black discs, attached to a metal headpiece, discs about two +and a half inches in diameter, with a circular hole in the centre of +each, perhaps an inch across, showing inside what looked like a piece +of iron or steel. + +Garrick carefully tested the batteries with a little ammeter which he +carried in a case. + +"Sixteen amperes," he remarked to himself, "I don't attempt to use the +batteries when they fall below five. These are all right." + +From a case he took a little round black disc, about the same size as +the other two. In its face it had a dozen or so small holes perforated +and arranged in the shape of a six-pointed star. + +"I wonder where I can stow this away so that it won't attract +attention?" he asked. + +Garrick looked about for the least used part of the garage and decided +that it was the back. Near the barred window lay a pile of worn tires +which looked as if it had been seldom disturbed except to be added to. +When one got tires as cheaply as the users of this garage did, it was +folly to bother much about the repair of old ones. + +Back of this pile, then, he threw the little black disc carelessly, +only making sure that it was concealed. That was not difficult, for it +was not much larger than a watch in size. + +To it, I noticed, he had attached two plugs that were +"fool-proof"--that is, one small and the other large, so that they +could not be inserted into the wrong holes. A long flexible green silk +covered wire, or rather two wires together, led from the disc. By +carefully moving the tires so as to preserve the rough appearance they +had of being thrown down hastily into the discard, he was able to +conceal this wire, also, in such a way as to bring it secretly to the +barred window and through it. + +Next he turned his attention to the telephone itself. Another +instrument which he had brought with him was inserted in place of the +ordinary transmitter. It looked like it and had evidently been prepared +with that in view. I assumed that it must act like the ordinary +transmitter also, although it must have other uses as well. It was more +of a job to trace out the course of the telephone wires and run in a +sort of tap line at a point where it would not be likely to be noted. +This was done by Garrick, still working in silence, and the wires from +it led behind various things until they, too, reached another window +and so went to the outside. + +As Garrick finished his mysterious tinkering and rose from his dusty +job to brush off his clothes, he remarked, "There, now you may have +your heart's desire, Dillon, if all you want to do is to watch these +fellows." + +"What is it?" I hastened to ask, looking curiously at the oak box which +contained still everything except the tiny black disc and the wires +leading out of the window from it and from the new telephone +transmitter. + +"This little instrument," he answered slowly, "is much more sensitive, +I think, than any mechanical or electrical eavesdropper that has ever +been employed before. It is the detectaphone--a new unseen listener." + +"The detectaphone?" repeated Dillon. "How does it work?" + +"Well, for instance," explained Garrick, "that attachment which I +placed on the telephone is much more than a sensitive transmitter such +as you are accustomed to use. It is a form of that black disc which you +saw me hide behind the pile of tires. There are, in both, innumerable +of the minutest globules of carbon which are floating around, as it +were, making it alive at all times to every sound vibration and +extremely sensitive even to the slightest sound waves. In the case of +the detectaphone transmitter, it only replaces the regular telephone +transmitter and its presence will never be suspected. It operates just +as well when the receiver is hung up as when it is off the hook, as far +as the purpose I have in mind is concerned, as you shall see soon. I +have put both forms in so that even if they find the one back of the +tires, even the most suspicious person would not think that anything +was contained in the telephone itself. We are dealing with clever +people and two anchors to windward are better than one." + +Dillon nodded approval, but by the look on his face it was evident that +he did not understand the whole thing yet. + +"That other disc, back of the tires," went on Garrick, "is the ordinary +detective form. All that we need now is to find a place to install this +receiving box--all this stuff that is left over--the two batteries, the +earpieces. You see the whole thing is very compact. I can get it down +to six inches square and four inches thick, or I can have it arranged +with earpieces so that at least six people can 'listen in' at +once--forms that can be used in detective work to meet all sorts of +conditions. Then there is another form of the thing, in a box about +four inches square and, perhaps, nine or ten inches long which I may +bring up later for another purpose when we find out what we are going +to do with the ends of those wires that are now dangling on the outside +of the window. We must pick up the connection in some safe and +inconspicuous place outside the garage." + +The window through which the wires passed seemed to open, as I had +already noticed, on a little yard not much larger than a court. Garrick +opened the window and stuck his head out as far as the iron bars would +permit. He sniffed. The odor was anything but pleasant. It was a +combination of "gas" from the garage and stale beer from the saloon. + +"No doubt about it, that is a saloon," remarked Garrick, "and they must +pile empty kegs out there in the yard. Let's take a walk around the +corner and see what the front of the place looks like." + +It was a two and a half story building, with a sloping tin roof, of an +archaic architecture, in a state of terrible decay and dilapidation, +and quite in keeping with the neighbourhood. Nevertheless a bright gilt +sign over a side door read, "Hotel Entrance." + +"I think we can get in there to-morrow on some pretext," decided +Garrick after our inspection of the "Old Tavern," as the crazy letters, +all askew, on one of the windows denoted the place. "The Old Tavern +looks as if it might let lodgings to respectable gentlemen--if they +were roughly enough dressed. We can get ourselves up as a couple of +teamsters and when we get in that will give us a chance to pick up the +ends of those wires to-morrow. That will be time enough, I'm sure, and +it is the best we can do, anyhow." + +We returned from our walk around the block to the garage where Dillon +and McBirney were waiting for us. + +"I leave you free to do what you please, Dillon," answered Garrick to +the commissioner's inquiry, "as long as you don't pinch this place +which promises to be a veritable gold-mine. McBirney, I know, will +reduce the number of cars here tomorrow by at least two. But don't, for +heaven's sake, let out any suspicion about those things I have just +hidden here. And now, as for me, I'm going uptown and get a few hours' +sleep." + +Dillon and McBirney followed, leaving us, shortly, to get a couple of +men from the nearest police station to see that none of the cars were +taken out before morning. + +We rode up to our apartment, where a message was awaiting us, telling +that Warrington had passed a very good day and was making much more +rapid progress than even Dr. Mead had dared hope. I could not help +wondering how much was due to the mere tonic presence daily of Violet +Winslow. + +I had a sound sleep, although it was a short one. Garrick had me up +early, and, by digging back in his closet, unearthed the oldest clothes +he had. We improved them by sundry smears of dirt in such a way that +when we did start forth, no one would have accused us of being other +than we were prepared to represent ourselves--workmen who had been laid +off from a job on account of bad business conditions. We decided to say +that we were seeking another position. + +"How do I look?" I asked seriously, for this was serious business to me. + +"I don't know whether to give you a meal ticket, or to call a cop when +I look at you, Marshall," laughed Garrick. + +"Well, I feel a good deal safer in this rig than I did last night, in +this part of the city," I replied as we hopped off a surface car not +far from our destination. "I almost begin to feel my part. Did you see +the old gink with the gold watch on the car? If he was here I believe +I'd hold him up, just to see what it is like. I suppose we are going to +apply for lodgings at the famous hostelry, the Old Tavern?" + +"I had that intention," replied Garrick who could see no humour in the +situation, now that we were on the scene of action. "The place looks +even more sordid in daylight than at night. Besides, it smells worse." + +We entered the tavern, and were greeted with a general air of rough +curiosity, which was quickly dispelled by our spending ten cents, and +getting change for a bill. At least we were good for anything +reasonable, and doubts on that score settled by the man behind the bar, +he consented to enter into conversation, which ultimately resulted in +our hiring a large back room upstairs in the secluded caravansary which +supplied "Furnished Rooms for Gentlemen Only." + +Garrick said that we would bring our things later, and we went +upstairs. We were no sooner settled than he was at work. He had brought +a rope ladder, and, after fastening it securely to the window ledge, he +let himself down carefully into the narrow court below. + +That was the only part of the operation that seemed to be attended with +any risk of discovery and it was accomplished safely. For one thing the +dirt on the windows both of the garage and the tavern was so thick that +I doubt whether so much caution was really necessary. Nevertheless, it +was a relief when he secured the ends of the wires from the +detectaphone and brought them up, pulling in the rope ladder after him. + +It was now the work of but a minute to attach one of the wires that led +from the watchcase disc back of the pile of tires to the oak box with +its two storage batteries. Garrick held the ear-pieces, one to each +ear, then shoved them over his head, in place. + +"It works--it works," he cried, with as much delight as if he had not +been positive all along that it would. + +"Here, try it yourself," he added, taking the headgear off and handing +the receivers to me. + +I put the black discs at my ears, with the little round holes over the +ear openings. It was marvellous. I could hear the men washing down one +of the cars, the swash of water, and, best of all, the low-toned, gruff +gossip. + +"Just a couple of the men there, now," explained Garrick. "I gather +that they are talking about what happened last night. I heard one of +them say that someone they call 'the Chief' was there last night and +that another man, 'the Boss,' gave him orders to tell no one outside +about it. I suppose the Chief is our friend with the stupefying gun. +The Boss must be the fellow who runs the garage. What are they saying +now? They were grumbling about their work when I handed the thing over +to you." + +I listened, fascinated by the marvel of the thing. I could hear +perfectly, although the men must have been in the front of the garage. + +"Well, there's two of them yer won't haveter wash no more," one man was +saying. "A feller from the perlice come an' copped off two--that sixty +tin can and the ninety Despard." + +"Huh--so the bulls are after him?" + +"Yeh. One was here all night after the fight." + +"Did they follow the Chief?" + +"Follow the Chief? Say, when anyone follows the Chief he's gotter be +better than any bull that ever pounded a beat." + +"What did the Boss say when he heard it?" + +"Mad as---. We gotter lay low now." + +"The Chief's gone up-state, I guess." + +"We can guess all we want. The Boss knows. I don't." + +"Why didn't they make a pinch? Ain't there nobody watchin' now?" + +"Naw. They ain't got nothin' on us. Say, the Chief can put them fellers +just where he wants 'em. See the paper this morning? That was some raid +up at the joint--eh?" + +"You bet. That Garrick's a pretty smooth chap. But the Chief can put it +all over him." + +"Yep," agreed the other speaker. + +I handed the receivers back to Garrick with a smile. + +"You are not without some admirers," I remarked, repeating the +conversation substantially to him. "They'd shoot up the neighbourhood, +I imagine, if they knew the truth." + +Hour after hour we took turns listening at the detectaphone. We +gathered a choice collection of slang and epithets, but very little +real news. However, it was evident that they had a wholesome respect +for both the Chief and the Boss. It seemed that the real head of the +gang, if it was a gang, had disappeared, as one of the men had already +hinted "up-state." + +Garrick had meanwhile brought out the other detectaphone box, which was +longer and larger than the oak box. + +"This isn't a regular detactaphone," he explained, "but it may vary the +monotony of listening in and sometime I may find occasion to use it in +another way, too." + +In one of the long faces were two square holes, from the edges of which +the inside walls focussed back on two smaller, circular diaphragms. +That made the two openings act somewhat like megaphone horns to still +further magnify the sound which was emitted directly from this receiver +without using any earpieces, and could be listened to anywhere in the +room, if we chose. This was attached to the secret arrangement that had +been connected with the telephone by replacing the regular by the +prepared transmitter. + +One of us was in the room listening all the time. I remember once, +while Guy had gone uptown for a short time, that I heard the telephone +bell ring in the device at my ear. Out of the larger box issued a voice +talking to one of the men. + +It was the man whom they referred to as the Chief. He had nothing to +say when he learned that the Boss had not showed up since early morning +after he had been quizzed by the police. But he left word that he would +call up again. + +"At least I know that our gunman friend, the Chief, is going to call up +to-night," I reported to Garrick on his return. + +"I think he'll be here, all right," commented Garrick. "I called up +Dillon while I was out and he was convinced that the best way was, as I +said, to seem to let up on them. They didn't get a word out of the +fellow they call the Boss. He lives down here a couple of streets, I +believe, in a pretty tough place, even worse than the Old Tavern. I let +Dillon get a man in there, but I haven't much hope. He's only a tool of +the other whom they call Chief. By the way, Forbes has disappeared. I +can't find a trace of him since the raid on the gambling joint." + +"Any word from Warrington?" I asked. + +"Yes, he's getting along finely," answered Guy mechanically, as if his +thoughts were far away from Warrington. "Queer about Forbes," he +murmured, then cut himself short. "And, oh," he added, "I forgot to +tell you that speaking about Forbes reminds me that Herman has been +running out a clew on the Rena Taylor case. He has been all over the +country up there, he reports to Dillon, and he says he thinks the car +was seen making for Pennsylvania. + +"They have a peculiar license law there, you know--at least he says +so--that enables one to conceal a car pretty well. Much good that does +us." + +"Yes," I agreed, "you can always depend on a man like Herman to come +along with something like that---" + +Just then the "master station" detectaphone connected with the +telephone in the garage began to talk and I cut myself short. We seemed +now at last about to learn something really important. It was a new +voice that said, "Hello!" + +"Evidently the Boss has come in without making any noise," remarked +Guy. "I certainly heard no one through the other instrument. I fancy he +was waiting for it to get dark before coming around. Listen." + +It was a long distance call from the man they called Chief. Where he +was we had no means of finding out, but we soon found out where he was +going. + +"Hello, Boss," we heard come out of the detectaphone box. + +"Hello, Chief. You surely got us nearly pinched last night. What was +the trouble?" + +"Oh, nothing much. Somehow or other they must have got on to us. I +guess it was when I called up the joint on Forty-eighth Street. Three +men surprised me, but fortunately I was ready. If they hadn't stopped +at the door before they opened it, they might have got me. I put 'em +all out with that gun, though. Say, I want you to help me on a little +job that I am planning. + +"Yes? Is it a safe one? Don't you think we'd better keep quiet for a +little while?" + +"But this won't keep quiet. Listen. You know I told you about writing +that letter regarding Warrington to Miss Winslow, when I was so sore +over the report that he was going to close up the Forty-eighth Street +joint, right on top of finding that Rena Taylor had the 'goods' on the +Forty-seventh Street place? Well, I was a fool. You said so, and I was." + +"You were--that's right." + +"I know it, but I was mad. I hadn't got all I wanted out of those +places. Well, anyhow, I want that letter back--that's all. It's bad to +have evidence like that lying around. Why, if they ever get a real +handwriting expert they might get wise to something from that +handwriting, I'm afraid. I must have been crazy to do it that way." + +"What became of the letter?" + +"She took it to that fellow Garrick and I happen to know that +Warrington that night, after leaving Garrick, went to his apartment and +put something into the safe he has there. Oh, Warrington has it, all +right. What I want to do is to get that letter back while he is laid up +near Tuxedo. It isn't much of a safe, I understand. I think a can +opener would do the job. We can make the thing look like a regular +robbery by a couple of yeggs. Are you on?" + +"No, I don't get you, Chief." + +"Why?" + +"It's too risky." + +"Too risky?" + +"Yes. That fellow Garrick is just as likely as not to be nosing around +up there. I'd go but for that." + +"I know. But suppose we find that he isn't there, that he isn't in the +house--has been there and left it. That would be safe enough. You're +right. Nothing doing if he's there. We must can him in some way. But, +say,--I know how to get in all right without being seen. I'll tell you +later. Come on, be a sport. We won't try it if anybody's there. +Besides, if we succeed it will help to throw a scare into Warrington." + +The man on our end of the telephone appeared to hesitate. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do, Chief," he said at length. "I'll meet you +at the same place as we met the other day--you know where I mean--some +time after twelve. We'll talk it over. You're sure about the letter?" + +"As sure as if I'd seen it." + +"All right. Now, be there. I won't promise about this Warrington +business. We'll talk that over. But I have other things I want to tell +you--about this situation here at the garage. I want to know how to +act." + +"All right. I'll be there. Good-bye." + +"So long, Chief." + +The conversation stopped. I looked anxiously at Garrick to see how he +had taken it. + +"And so," he remarked simply, as after a moment's waiting we made sure +that the machine had stopped talking, "it appears that our friends, the +enemy, are watching us as closely as we are watching them--with the +advantage that they know us and we don't know them, except this garage +fellow." + +Garrick lapsed into silence. I was rapidly turning over in my mind what +we had just overheard and trying to plan some way of checkmating their +next move. + +"Here's a plot hatching to rob Warrington's safe," I exclaimed +helplessly. + +"Yes," repeated Garrick slowly, "and if we are going to do anything +about it, it must be done immediately, before we arouse suspicion and +scare them off. Did you hear those footsteps over the detectaphone? +That was the Boss going out of the garage. So, they expect me around +there, nosing about Warrington's apartment. Well, if I do go there, and +then ostentatiously go away again, that will lure them on." + +He reached his decision quickly. Grabbing his hat, he led the way out +of the Old Tavern and up the street until we came to a drug store with +a telephone. + +I heard him first talking with Warrington, getting from him the +combination of the safe, over long distance. Then he called up his +office and asked the boy to meet him at the Grand Central subway +station with a package, the location of which he described minutely. + +"We'll beat them to it," he remarked joyously, as we started leisurely +uptown to meet the boy. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +THE INCENDIARY + + +"The Warrington estate owns another large apartment house, besides the +one where Warrington has his quarters, on the next street," remarked +Garrick, half an hour later, after we had met the boy from his office. +"I have arranged that we can get in there and use one of the empty +suites." + +Garrick had secured two rather good-sized boxes from the boy, and was +carrying them rather carefully, as if they contained some very delicate +mechanism. + +Warrington, we found, occupied a suite in a large apartment on +Seventy-second Street, and, as we entered, Garrick stopped and +whispered a few words to the hall-boy. + +The boy seemed to be more than usually intelligent and had evidently +been told over the telephone by Warrington that we were coming. At +least we had no trouble, so far. + +Warrington's suite was very tastefully furnished for bachelor quarters. +In the apartment, Garrick unwrapped one of the packages, and laid it +open on the table, while he busied himself opening the safe, using the +combination that Warrington had given him. + +I waited nervously, for we could not be sure that no one had got ahead +of us, already. There was no need for anxiety, however. + +"Here's the letter, just as Warrington left it," reported Garrick in a +few minutes, with some satisfaction, as he banged the safe door shut +and restored things so that it would not look as though the little +strong box had been touched. + +Meanwhile, I had been looking curiously at the box on the table. It did +not seem to be like anything we had ever used before. One end was open, +and the lid lifted up on a pair of hinges. I lifted it and looked in. +About half way down the box from the open end was a partition which +looked almost as if some one had taken the end of the box and had just +shoved it in, until it reached the middle. + +The open half was empty, but in the other half I saw a sort of plate of +some substance covering the outside of the shoved-in end. There was +also a dry cell and several arrangements for adjustments which I did +not understand. Back of the whole thing was a piece of mechanism, a +clockwork interrupter, as I learned later. Wires led out from the +closed end of the box. + +Garrick shoved the precious letter into his pocket and then placed the +box in a corner, where it was hidden by a pile of books, with the open +end facing the room in the direction of the antiquated safe. The wires +from the box were quickly disposed of and dropped out of the window to +the yard, several stories below, where we could pick them up later as +we had done with the detectaphone. + +"What's that?" I asked curiously, when at last he had finished and I +felt at liberty to question him. + +"Well, you see," he explained, "there is no way of knowing yet just how +the apartment will be entered. They apparently have some way, though, +which they wouldn't discuss over the telephone. But it is certain that +as long as they know that there is anyone up here, they will put off +the attempt. They said that." + +He was busily engaged restoring everything in the room as far as +possible to its former position. + +"My scheme," he went on, "is for us now to leave the apartment +ostentatiously. I think that is calculated to insure the burglary, for +they must have someone watching by this time. Then we can get back to +that empty apartment in the house on the next street, and before they +can get around to start anything, we shall be prepared for them." + +Garrick stopped to speak to the hall-boy again as we left, carrying the +other box. What he said I did not hear but the boy nodded intelligently. + +After a turn down the street, a ride in a surface car for a few blocks +and back again, he was satisfied that no one was following us and we +made our way into the vacant apartment on Seventy-third Street, without +being observed. + +Picking up the wires from the back yard of Warrington's and running +them across the back fence where he attached them to other wires +dropped down from the vacant apartment was accomplished easily, but it +all took time, and time was precious, just now. + +In the darkness of the vacant room he uncovered and adjusted the other +box, connected one set of wires to those we had led in and another set +to an apparatus which looked precisely like the receiver of a wireless +telegraph, fitting over the head with an earpiece. He placed the +earpiece in position and began regulating the mechanism of the queer +looking box. + +"I didn't want to use the detectaphone again," he explained as he +worked, "because we haven't any assurance that they'll talk, or, if +they do, that it will be worth while to listen. Besides, there may be +only one of them." + +"Then what is this?" I asked. + +"Well," he argued, "they certainly can't work without light of some +kind, can they?" + +I acquiesced. + +"This is an instrument which literally makes light audible," he pursued. + +"Hear light?" I repeated, in amazement. + +"Exactly," he reiterated. "You've said it. It was invented to assist +the blind, but I think I'll be able to show that it can be used to +assist justice--which is blind sometimes, they say. It is the +optophone." + +He paused to adjust the thing more accurately and I looked at it with +an added respect. + +"It was invented," he resumed, "by Professor Fournier d'Albe, a +lecturer on physics at the University of Birmingham, England, and has +been shown before many learned societies over there." + +"You mean it enables the blind to see by hearing?" I asked. + +"That's it," he nodded. "It actually enables the blind to locate many +things, purely by the light reflected by them. Its action is based on +the peculiar property of selenium, which, you probably know, changes +its electrical conductivity under the influence of light. Selenium in +the dark is a poor conductor of electricity; in the light it, strange +to say, becomes a good conductor. Variations of light can thus be +transmuted into variations of sound. That pushed-in end of the box +which we hid over in Warrington's had, as you might have noticed, a +selenium plate on the inside partition, facing the open end of the box." + +"I understand," I agreed, vaguely. + +"Now," he went on, "this property of selenium is used for producing or +rather allowing to be transmitted an electric current which is +interrupted by a special clockwork interrupter, and so is made audible +in this wireless telephone receiver which I have here connected with +this second box. The eye is replaced by the ear as the detector of +light--that is all." + +It might have been all, but it was quite wonderful to me, even if he +spoke of it so simply. He continued to adjust the thing as he talked. + +"The clockwork has been wound up by means of a small handle, and I have +moved that rod along a slit until I heard a purring sound. Then I moved +it until the purring sound became as faint as possible. The instrument +is at the present moment in its most sensitive state." + +"What does it sound like?" I asked. + +"Well, the passage of a hand or other object across the aperture is +indicated by a sort of murmuring sound," he replied, "the loudest sound +indicating the passage of the edges where the contrast is greatest. In +a fairly bright light, even the swiftest shadow is discoverable. +Prolonged exposure, however, blinds the optophone, just as it blinds +the eye." + +"Do you hear anything now?" I asked watching his face curiously. + +"No. When I turned the current on at first I heard a ticking or rasping +sound. I silenced that. But any change in the amount of light in that +dark room over there would restore the sound, and its intensity would +indicate the power of the light." + +He continued to listen. + +"When I first tried this, I found that a glimpse out of the window in +daylight sounded like a cinematograph reeling off a film. The ticking +sank almost into silence as the receiving apparatus was held in the +shadow of the office table, and leaped into a lively rattle again when +I brought it near an electric-light bulb. I blindfolded myself and +moved a piece of blotting paper between the receiver and the light. I +could actually hear the grating of the shadow, yes, I heard the shadow +pass. At night, too, I have found that it is even affected by the light +of the stars." + +He glanced out of the window in the direction of Warrington's, which we +could not see, however, since it was around an angle of the building. + +"See," he went on, "the moon is rising, and in a few minutes, I +calculate, it will shine right into that room over there on +Seventy-second Street. By using this optophone, I could tell you the +moment it does. Try the thing, yourself, Tom." + +I did so. Though my ear was untrained to distinguish between sounds I +could hear just the faintest noise. + +Suddenly there came a weird racket. Hastily I looked up at Garrick in +surprise. + +"What is that?" I asked endeavouring to describe it. "Are they there +now?" + +"No," he laughed. "That was the moon shining in. I wanted you to hear +what a difference it makes. When a ray of the sun, for instance, +strikes that 'feeler' over there, a harmonious and majestic sound like +the echo of a huge orchestra is heard. The light of the moon, on the +other hand, produces a different sound--lamenting, almost like the +groans of the wounded on a battlefield." + +"So you can distinguish between various kinds of light?" + +"Yes. Electric light, you would find if anyone came in and switched it +on over there, produces a most unpleasant sound, sometimes like two +pieces of glass rubbed against each other, sometimes like the tittering +laugh of ghosts, and I have heard it like the piercing cry of an +animal. Gaslight is sobbing and whispering, grating and ticking, +according to its intensity. By far the most melodious and pleasing +sound is produced by an ordinary wax candle. It sounds just like an +aeolian harp on which the chords of a solemn tune are struck. I have +even tried a glow-worm and it sounded like a bee buzzing. The light +from a red-hot piece of iron gives the shrillest and most ear-splitting +cry imaginable." + +He took the receiver back from me and adjusted it to his own ear. + +"Yes," he confirmed, "that was the moon, as I thought. It's a peculiar +sound. Once you have heard it you're not likely to forget it. I must +silence the machine to that." + +We had waited patiently for a long time, and still there was no +evidence that anyone had entered the room. + +"I'm afraid they decided not to attempt it after all," I said, finally. + +"I don't think so," replied Garrick. "I took particular pains to make +it seem that the road was clear. You remember, I spoke to the hall-boy +twice, and we lingered about long enough when we left. It isn't much +after midnight. I wonder how it was that they expected to get in. +Ah--there goes the moon. I can hear it getting fainter all the time." + +Suddenly Garrick's face was all animation. "What is it?" I asked +breathlessly. + +"Someone has entered the room. There is a light which sounds just like +an electric flashlight which is being moved about. They haven't +switched on the electric light. Now, if I were sufficiently expert I +think I could tell by the varying sounds at just what that fellow is +flashing the light. There, something passed directly between the light +and the box. Yes, there must be two of them--that was the shadow of a +human being, all right. They are over in the corner by the safe, now. +The fellow with the flashlight is bending down. I can tell, because the +other fellow walked between the light and the box and the light must be +held very low, for I heard the shadows of both of his legs." + +Garrick was apparently waiting only until the intruders, whoever they +were, were busily engaged in their search before he gave the alarm and +hurried over in an attempt to head off their escape by their secret +means of entrance. + +"Tom," he cried, as he listened attentively, "call up the apartment +over there and get that hall-boy. Tell him he must not run that +elevator up until we get there. No one must leave or enter the +building. Tell him to lock the front door and conceal himself in the +door that leads down to the cellar. I will ring the night bell five +times to let him know when to let us in." + +I was telephoning excitedly Garrick's instructions and as he waited for +me to finish he was taking a last turn at the optophone before we made +our dash on Warrington's. + +A suppressed exclamation escaped him. I turned toward him quickly from +the telephone and hung up the receiver. + +"What's the matter?" I asked anxiously. + +For a moment he did not reply, but seemed to be listening with an +intensity that I knew betokened something unexpected. + +"Tom," he cried abruptly, stripping the receiver from his head with a +jerk and clapping it over my own ears, "quick!--tell me what you hear. +What does it sound like to you? What is it? I can't be mistaken." + +I listened feverishly. Not having had a former acquaintance with the +machine, I did not know just what to make of it. But from the receiver +of the little optophone there seemed to issue the most peculiar noise I +had ever heard a mechanical instrument make. + +It was like a hoarse rumbling cry, now soft and almost plaintive, again +louder and like a shriek of a damned soul in the fires of the nether +world. Then it died down, only to spring up again, worse than before. + +If I had been listening to real sounds instead of to light I should +have been convinced that the thing was recording a murder. + +I described it as best I could. The fact was that the thing almost +frightened me by its weird novelty. + +"Yes--yes," agreed Garrick, as the sensations I experienced seemed to +coincide with his own. "Exactly what I heard myself. I felt sure that I +could not be mistaken. Quick, Tom,--get central on that wire!" + +A moment later he seized the telephone from me. I had expected him to +summon the police to assist us in capturing two crooks who had, +perhaps, devised some odd and scientific method of blowing up a safe. + +"Hello, hello!" he shouted frantically over the wire. "The fire +department! This is eight hundred Seventy-second--on the corner; yes, +yes--northeast. I want to turn in an alarm. Yes--quick! There is a +fire--a bad one--incendiary--top floor. No, no--I'm not there. I can +see it. Hurry!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE ESCAPE + + +He had dropped the telephone receiver without waiting to replace it on +the hook and was now dashing madly out of the empty apartment and down +the street. + +The hall-boy at Warrington's had done exactly as I had ordered him. +There was the elevator waiting as Garrick gave the five short rings at +the nightbell and the outside door was unlocked. No one had yet +discovered the fire which we knew was now raging on the top floor of +the apartment. + +We were whirled up there swiftly, just as we heard echoing through the +hall and the elevator shaft from someone who had an apartment on the +same floor the shrill cry of, "Fire, fire!" + +Tenants all the way up were now beginning to throw open their doors and +run breathlessly about in various states of undress. The elevator bell +was jangling insistently. + +In the face of the crisis the elevator boy looked at Garrick +appealingly. + +"Run your car up and down until all are out who want to go," ordered +Garrick. "Only tell them all that an alarm has already been turned in +and that there is no danger except to the suite that is on fire. You +may leave us here." + +We had reached the top floor and stepped out. I realised fully now what +had happened. Either the robbers had found out only too quickly that +they had been duped or else they had reasoned that the letter they +sought had been hidden in a place in the apartment for which they had +no time to hunt. + +It had probably been the latter idea which they had had and, instead of +hunting further, they had taken a quicker and more unscrupulous method +than Garrick had imagined and had set the room on fire. Fortunately +that had been promptly and faithfully reported to us over the optophone +in time to localize the damage. + +"At least we were able to turn in an alarm only a few seconds after +they started the fire," panted Garrick, as he strained to burst in the +door. + +Together we managed to push it in, and rushed into the stifle of +Warrington's suite. The whole thing was in flames and it was impossible +for us to remain there longer than to take in the situation. + +Accordingly we retreated slowly before the fierce blaze. One of the +other tenants came running with a fire extinguisher in either hand from +wall rack down the hall on this floor. As well try to drown a blast +furnace. They made no impression whatever. + +Personally I had expected nothing like this. I had been prepared up to +the time the optophone reported the fire to dash over and fight it out +at close quarters with two as desperate and resourceful men as +underworld conditions in New York at that time had created. Instead we +saw no one at all. + +The robbers had evidently worked in seconds instead of minutes, +realizing that they must take no risks in a showdown with Garrick. +Rooms that might perhaps have given some clew of their presence, +perhaps finger-prints which might have settled their identity at once, +were now being destroyed. We had defeated them. We had the precious +letter. But they had again slipped away. + +Firemen were now arriving. A hose had been run up, and a solid stream +of water was now hissing on the fire. Smoke and steam were everywhere +as the men hacked and cut their way at the very heart of the hungry red +monster. + +"We are only in the way here, Tom," remarked Garrick, retreating +finally. "Our friends must have entered and escaped by the roof. There +is no other way." + +He had dashed up ahead of the firemen. I followed. Sure enough, the +door out on the roof had been broken into. A rope tied around a chimney +showed how they had pulled themselves up and later let themselves down +to the roof of the next apartment some fifteen feet lower. We could see +an open door leading to the roof there, which must also have been +broken open. That had evidently been the secret method of which the +Chief had spoken to the Boss, whoever they might be, who bore these +epithets. + +Pursuit was useless, now. All was excitement. From the street we could +hear the clang of engines and trucks arriving and taking their +positions, almost as if the fire department had laid out the campaign +beforehand for this very fire. + +Anyone who had waited a moment or so in the other apartment down the +street might have gone downstairs without attracting any attention. +Then he might have disappeared in or mingled with the very crowd on the +street which he had caused to gather. Late as it was, the crowd seemed +to spring from nowhere, and to grow momentarily as it had done during +the raid on the gambling joint. It was one of the many interesting +night phenomena of New York. + +What had been intended to be one of the worst fires and to injure a +valuable property of the Warrington estate had, thanks to the prompt +action of Garrick, been quickly turned into only a minor affair, at the +worst. The fire had eaten its way into two other rooms of Warrington's +own suite, but there it had been stopped. The building itself was +nearly fireproof, and each suite was a unit so that, to all intents and +purposes, it might burn out without injury to others. + +Still, it was interesting to watch the skill and intuition of the +smoke-eaters as they took in the situation and almost instantly seemed +to be able to cope with it. + +Sudden and well-planned though the incendiary assault had been, it was +not many minutes before it was completely under control. Men in rubber +coats and boots were soon tramping through the water-soaked rooms of +Warrington. Windows were cracked open and the air in the rooms was +clearing. + +We followed in cautiously after one of the firemen. Everywhere was the +penetrating smell of burnt wood and cloth. In the corner was the safe, +still hot and steaming. It had stood the strain. But it showed marks of +having been tampered with. + +"Somebody used a 'can-opener' on it," commented Garrick, looking at it +critically and then ruefully at the charred wreck of his optophone that +had tumbled in the ashes of the pile of books under which it had been +hidden, "Yes, that was the scheme they must have evolved after their +midnight conference,--a robbery masked by a fire to cover the trail, +and perhaps destroy it altogether." + +"If we had only known that," I agreed, "we might have saved what little +there was in that safe for Warrington. But I guess he didn't keep much +there." + +"No," answered Garrick, "I don't think he did. All I saw was some +personal letters and a few things he apparently liked to have around +here. I suppose all the really valuable stuff he has was in a +safety-deposit vault somewhere. There was a packet of--it's gone! What +do you think of that?" he exclaimed looking up from the safe to me in +surprise. + +"Packet of what?" I asked. "What is gone?" + +"Why," replied Garrick, "I couldn't help noticing it when I opened the +safe before, but Warrington had evidently saved every line and scrap of +writing that Violet Winslow had ever given him and it was all in one of +the compartments of the safe. The compartment is empty!" + +Neither of us could say a word. What reason might there be why anyone +should want Warrington's love letters? Was it to learn something that +might be used to embarrass him? Might it be for the purpose of holding +him up for money? Did the robber want them for himself or was he +employed by another? These and a score of other questions flashed, +unanswered, through my mind. + +"I wonder who this fellow is that they call the Chief?" I ventured at +last. + +"I can't say--yet," admitted Garrick. "But he's the cleverest I have +ever met. His pace is rapid, but I think we are getting up with it, at +last. There's no use sticking around here any longer, though. The place +for us, I think, is downtown, getting an earful at the other end of +that detectaphone." + +The engines and other apparatus were rolling away from the fire when we +regained the street and things were settling themselves down to normal +again. + +We rode downtown on the subway, and I was surprised when Garrick, +instead of going all the way down to the crosstown line that would take +us to the Old Tavern, got off at Forty-second Street. + +"What's the idea of this?" I asked. + +"Do you think I'm going to travel around the city with that letter in +my pocket?" he asked. "Not much, since they seem to set such a value on +getting it back. Of course, they don't know that I have it. But they +might suspect it. At any rate I'm not going to run any chances of +losing it." + +He had stopped at a well-known hotel where he knew the night clerk. +There he made the letter into a little package, sealed it, and +deposited it in the safe. + +"Why do you leave it here?" I asked. + +"If I go near the office, they might think I left it there, and I +certainly won't leave it in my own apartment. They may or may not +suspect that I have it. At any rate, I'd hate to risk meeting them down +in their own region. But here we are not followed. I can leave it +safely and to-morrow I'll get it and deposit it in a really safe place. +Now, just to cover up my tracks, I'm going to call up Dillon, but I'm +going up Broadway a bit before I do so, so that even he will not know +I've been in this hotel. I think he ought to know what has happened +to-day." + +"What did he say?" I asked as Garrick rejoined me from the telephone +booth, his face wearing a scowl of perplexity. + +"Why, he knew about it already," replied Garrick. "I got him at his +home. Herman, it seems, got back from some wild-goose chase over in New +Jersey and saw the report in the records filed at police headquarters +and telephoned him." + +"Herman is one of the brightest detectives I ever met," I commented in +disgust. "He always manages to get in just after everybody else. Has he +any more news?" + +"About the car?" asked Garrick absently. "Nothing except that he ran +down the Pennsylvania report and found there was nothing in it. Now he +says that he thinks the car may have returned to New York, perhaps by +way of Staten Island, for he doubts whether it could have slipped in by +New Jersey." + +"Clever," I ejaculated. "I suppose that occurred to him as soon as he +read about the fire. I have to hand it to him for being a deducer." + +Garrick smiled. + +"There's one thing, though, he does know," he added, "and that is the +gossip of the underworld right here in New York." + +"I should hope so," I replied. "That was his business to know. Why, has +he found out anything really new?" + +"Why--er--yes. Dillon tells me that it now appears that Forbes had been +intimate with that Rena Taylor." + +"Yes?" I repeated, not surprised. + +"At least that's what Herman has told him." + +"Well," I exclaimed in disgust, "Forbes is a fine one to run around +with stool-pigeons and women of the Tenderloin, in addition to his +other accomplishments, and then expect to associate with a girl like +Violet Winslow." + +"It is scandalous," he agreed. "Why, according to Dillon and Herman, +she must have been getting a good deal of evidence through her intimacy +with Forbes. They probably gambled together, drank together, and---" + +"Do you suppose Forbes ever found out that she was really using him?" + +Garrick shook his head. "I can't say," he replied. "There isn't much +value in this deductive, long distance detective work. You reason a +thing out to your satisfaction and then one little fact knocks all your +clever reasoning sky-high. The trouble here is that on this aspect of +the case the truth seems to have been known by only two persons--and +one of them is dead, while the other has disappeared." + +"Strange what has become of Forbes," I ruminated. + +"It is indeed," agreed Garrick. "But then he was such a night-hawk that +anything might easily have happened and no one be the wiser. Since you +saw him enter the gambling joint the night of the raid, I've been +unable to get a line on him. He must have gone through the tunnel to +the ladies' poolroom, but after he left that, presumably, I can't find +a trace of him. Where he went no one seems to know. This bit of gossip +that Herman has unearthed is the first thing I've heard of him, +definitely, for two days." + +"If Rena Taylor were alive," I speculated, "I don't think you'd have to +look further for Forbes than to find her." + +"But she isn't alive," concluded Garrick, "and there is nothing to show +that there was anyone else at the poolroom for women who interested +him--and--well, this isn't getting back to business." + +He turned toward the street. + +"Let's go down on a surface car," he said. "I think we ought to learn +something down there at the Old Tavern, now. If these people have done +nothing more, they'll think they have at least given an example of +their resourcefulness and succeeded in throwing another scare into +Warrington. But there's one thing I'd like to be able to tell Mr. +Chief, however. He can't throw any scare into me, if that's his game." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PLOT + + +We had been able to secure a key to the hotel entrance of the Old +Tavern, so that we felt free to come and go at any hour of the day or +night. We let ourselves in and mounted the stairs cautiously to our +room. + +"At least they haven't discovered anything, yet," Garrick congratulated +himself, looking about, as I struck a light, and finding everything as +we had left it. + +Late as it was, he picked up the detective receiver of the mechanical +eavesdropper and held it to his ears, listening intently several +moments. + +"There's someone in the garage, all right," he exclaimed. "I can hear +sounds as if he were moving about among the cars. It must be the garage +keeper himself--the one they call the Boss. I don't think our clever +Chief would have the temerity to show up here yet, even at this hour." + +We waited some time, but not the sound of a voice came from the +instrument. + +"It would be just like them to discover one of these detectaphones," +remarked Garrick at length. "This is a good opportunity. I believe I'll +just let myself down there in the yard again and separate those two +wires, further. There's no use in risking all the eggs in one basket." + +While I listened in, Garrick cautiously got out the rope ladder and +descended. Through the detectaphone I could hear the noise of the man +walking about the garage and was ready at the window to give Garrick +the first alarm of danger if he approached the back of the shop, but +nothing happened and he succeeded in accomplishing his purpose of +further hiding the two wires and returning safely. Then we resumed +listening in relays. + +It was early in the morning when there came a telephone call to the +garage and the garage keeper answered it. + +"Where did you go afterward?" he asked of the man who was calling him. + +Garrick had quickly shifted to the instrument by which we could +overhear what was said over the telephone. + +A voice which I recognised instantly as that of the man they called the +Chief replied, "Oh, I had a little business to attend to--you +understand. Say, they got that fire out pretty quickly, didn't they? +How do you suppose the alarm could have been turned in so soon?" + +"I don't know. But they tell me that Garrick and that other fellow with +him showed up, double quick. He must have been wise to something." + +"Yes. Do you know, I've been thinking about that ever since. Ever hear +of a little thing called a detectaphone? No? Well, it's a little +arrangement that can be concealed almost anywhere. I've been wondering +whether there might not be one hidden about your garage. He might have +put one in that night, you know. I'm sure he knows more about us than +he has any right to know. Hunt around there, will you, and see if you +can find anything?" + +"Hold the wire." + +We could hear the Boss poking around in corners, back of the piles of +accessories, back of the gasoline tank, lifting things up and looking +under them, apparently flashing his light everywhere so that nothing +could escape him. + +A hasty exclamation was recorded faithfully over our detectaphone, +close to the transmitter, evidently. + +"What the deuce is this?" growled a voice. + +Then over the telephone we could hear the Boss talking. + +"There's a round black thing back of a pile of tires, with a wire +connected to it. One side of it is full of little round holes. Is that +one of those things?" + +"Yes," came back the voice, "that's it." Then excitedly, "Smash it! Cut +the wires--no, wait--look and see where they run. I thought you'd find +something. Curse me for a fool for not thinking of that before." + +Garrick had quickly himself detached the wire from the receiving +instrument in our room and, sticking his head cautiously out of the +window, he swung the cut ends as far as he could in the direction of a +big iron-shuttered warehouse down the street in the opposite direction +from us. + +Then he closed the window softly and pulled down the switch on the +other detectaphone connected with the fake telephone receiver. + +He smiled quietly at me. The thing worked still. We had one connection +left with the garage, anyway. + +There was a noise of something being shattered to bits. It was the +black disc back of the pile of tires. We could hear the Boss muttering +to himself. + +"Say," he reported back over the telephone, "I've smashed the thing, +all right, and cut the wires, too. They ran out of the back window to +that mercantile warehouse, down the street, I think. I'll look after +that in the morning. It's so dark over there now I can't see a thing." + +"Good!" exclaimed the other voice with satisfaction. "Now we can talk. +That fellow Garrick isn't such a wise guy, after all. I tell you, Boss, +I'm going to throw a good scare into them this time--one that will +stick." + +"What is it?" + +"Well, I got Warrington, didn't I?" + +"Yes." + +"You know I can't always be following that fellow, Garrick. He's too +clever at dodging shadows. Besides, unless we give him something else +to think about he may get a line on one of us,--on me. Don't you +understand? Warrington's out of it for the present. I saw to that. Now, +the thing is to fix up something to call them off, altogether, +something that we can use to hold them up." + +"Yes--go on--what?" + +"Why--how about Violet Winslow?" + +My heart actually skipped beating for a second or two as I realised the +boldness and desperation of the plan. + +"What do you mean--a robbery up there in Tuxedo?" + +"No, no, no. What good would a robbery do? I mean to get her--kidnap +her. I guess Warrington would call the whole thing off to release +her--eh?" + +"Say, Chief, that's going it pretty strong. I'd rather break in up +there and leave a threat of some kind, something that would frighten +them. But, this,--I'm afraid--" + +"Afraid--nothing. I tell you, we've got to do it. They're getting too +close to us. We've either got to get Garrick or do something that'll +call him off for good. Why, man, the whole game is up if he keeps on +the way he has been going--let alone the risk we have of getting +caught." + +The Boss seemed to be considering. + +"How will you get a chance to do it?" he asked at length. + +"Oh, I'll get a chance, all right. I'll make a chance," came back the +self-confident reply. + +It sent a shiver through me merely to contemplate what might happen if +Violet Winslow fell into such hands. Mentally I blessed Garrick for his +forethought in having the phony 'phone in the garage against possible +discovery of the detective instrument. + +"You know this poisoned needle stuff that's been in the papers?" +pursued the Chief. + +"Bunk--all bunk," came back the Boss promptly. + +"Is that so?" returned the Chief. "Well, you're right about it as far +as what has been in the papers is concerned. I don't know but I doubt +about ninety-nine and ninety-nine hundredths per cent of it, too. But, +I'll tell you,--it can be done. Take it from me--it can be done. I've +got one of the best little sleepmakers you ever saw--right from Paris, +too. There, what do you know about that?" + +I glanced hastily, in alarm, at Garrick. His face was set in hard +lines, as he listened. + +"Sleepmaker--Paris," I heard him mutter under his breath, and just a +flicker of a smile crossed the set lines of his fine face. + +"Yes, sir," pursued the voice of the Chief, "I can pull one of those +poisoned needle cases off and I'm going to do it, if I get half a +chance." + +"When would you do it?" asked the Boss, weakening. + +"As soon as I can. I've a scheme. I'm not going to tell you over the +wire, though. Leave it to me. I'm going up to our place, where I left +the car. I'll study the situation out, up there. Maybe I'll run over +and look over the ground, see how she spends her time and all that sort +of thing. I've got to reckon in with that aunt, too. She's a Tartar. +I'll let you know. In the meantime, I want you to watch that place on +Forty-seventh Street. Tell me if they make any move against it. Don't +waste any time, either. I can't be out of touch with things the way I +was the last time I went away. You see, they almost put one across on +us--in fact they did put one across with that detectaphone thing. Now, +we can't let that happen again. Just keep me posted, see?" + +They had finished talking and that was apparently all we were to get +that night, or rather that morning, by way of warning of their plot for +the worst move yet. + +It was enough. If they would murder and burn, what would they stop at +in order to strike at us through the innocent figure of Violet Winslow? +What might not happen to such a delicate slip of a girl in the power of +such men? + +"At least," rapped out Garrick, himself smothering his alarm, "they +can't do anything immediately. It gives us time to prepare and warn. +Besides, before that we may have them rounded up. The time has come for +something desperate. I won't be trifled with any longer. This last +proposal goes just over the limit." + +As for me, I was speechless. The events of the past two days, the +almost sleepless nights had sapped my energy. Even Garrick, though he +was a perfect glutton for work, felt the strain. + +It was very late, or rather very early, and we determined to snatch a +few moments of sleep at the Old Tavern before the rest of the world +awoke to the new day. It was only a couple of hours that we could +spare, but it was absolutely necessary. + +In spite of our fatigue, we were up again early and after another try +at the phony 'phone which told us that only the men were working in the +garage, we were on our way up to Garrick's apartment. + +We had scarcely entered when the telephone boy called up to say that +there was a Mr. Warrington on long distance trying to get us. Garrick +eagerly asked to have him put on our wire. + +Warrington, it seemed, had been informed of the fire by one of his +agents and was inquiring anxiously for details, especially about the +letter. Garrick quickly apologised for not calling up himself, and +relieved his anxiety by assuring him that the letter was safe. + +"And how are you?" he asked of Warrington. + +"Convalescing rapidly," laughed back the patient, to whom the loss of +anything was a mere bagatelle beside the letter. Garrick had not told +him yet of the stealing of the other letters. "Getting along +fine,--thanks to a new tonic which Dr. Mead has prescribed for me." + +"I can guess what it is." + +Warrington laughed again. "Yes--I've been allowed to take short motor +trips with Violet," he explained. + +The natural manner in which "Violet" replaced "Miss Winslow" indicated +that the trips had not been without result. + +"Say, Warrington," burst out Garrick, seeing an opportunity of +introducing the latest news, "I hate to butt in, but if you'll take my +advice, you'll just cut out those trips a few days. I don't want to +alarm you unnecessarily, but after to-day I want Miss Winslow never to +be out of sight of friends--friends, I said; not one, but several." + +"Why--what's the matter?" demanded Warrington in alarm. + +"I can't explain it all over the telephone," replied Garrick, sketching +out hastily something of what we had overheard. "I'll try to see you +before long--perhaps to-day. Don't forget. I want you to warn Miss +Winslow yourself. You can't put it too strongly. Use your judgment +about Mrs. de Lancey. I don't want to get you in wrong with her. But, +remember, it's a matter of life or death--or perhaps worse. Try to do +it without unnecessarily alarming Miss Winslow, if you can. Just fix it +up as quietly as possible. But be positive about it. No, I can't +explain more over the wire now. But--no more outings for either of you, +and particularly Miss Winslow, until I raise the ban." + +Warrington had been inclined to argue the matter at first, but Garrick +of course quickly prevailed, the more so because Warrington realised +that in his condition he was anything but an adequate body-guard for +her if something unexpected should happen. + +"Oh--I had a call the other day," reported Warrington as an +afterthought before hanging up the receiver. "It was from McBirney. He +says one of his unofficial scouts has told him of seeing a car that +might have been mine up this way lately." + +Garrick acquiesced to the information which, to us, was not new. "Yes," +he said, "there have been several such reports. And, by the way, that +reminds me of something. You will have to put at our disposal one of +your cars down here." + +"Go as far as you like. What do you want--a racer?" + +"Why--yes, if it's in perfect condition. You see, we may have to do +some unexpected sleuthing in it." + +"Go as far as you like," repeated Warrington, now thoroughly aroused by +the latest development of the case. "Spare nothing, Garrick--nothing. +Curse my luck for being laid up! Every dollar I have is at your +disposal, Garrick, to protect her from those scoundrels--damn them!" + +"Trust me, Warrington," called back Garrick. "I give you my word that +it's my fight now." + +"Garrick--you're a brick," came back Warrington as the conversation +closed. + +"Good heavens, Guy," I exclaimed when he hung up the receiver after +calling up Warrington's garage and finding out what cars were +available, "Are we going to have to extend operations over the whole +State, after all?" + +"We may have to do almost anything," he replied, "if our scientific +murderer tries some of his smooth kidnapping tricks. It's possible that +McBirney may be right about that car being up there. Certainly we know +that it has been up there, whether it is now or not." + +"And Herman wrong about its being in the city?" I suggested. "Well, one +guess is as good as another in a case like this, I suppose." + +It had been a great relief to get back to our rooms and live even for a +few minutes like civilised beings. I suggested that we might have a +real breakfast once more. + +I could tell, however, that Garrick's mind was far away from the +thought of eating, and that he realised that a keen, perhaps the +keenest, test of his ability lay ahead of him, if he was to come out +successfully and protect Violet Winslow in the final battle with the +scientific gunman. I did not interrupt him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE POISONED NEEDLE + + +Over a still untasted grapefruit Garrick was considering what his next +move should be. As for me, even this temporary return to a normal life +caused me to view things in a different light. + +There had been, as the Chief and the Boss had hinted at in their +conversation, a wave of hysteria which had swept over the city only a +short time before regarding what had come to be called the "poisoned +needle" cases. Personally I had doubted them and I had known many +doctors and scientists as well as vice and graft investigators who had +scouted them, too. + +"Garrick," I said at length, "do you really think that we have to deal +with anything in this case but just plain attempted kidnapping of the +old style?" + +He shook his head doubtfully. I knew him to be anything but an alarmist +and waited impatiently for him to speak. + +"I wouldn't think so," he said at length slowly, "except for one thing." + +"What's that?" I asked eagerly. + +"His mention of the 'sleepmakers' and Paris," he replied briefly. + +Garrick had risen and walked over to a cabinet in the corner of his +room. When he returned it was with something gleaming in the morning +sunshine as he rolled it back and forth on a piece of paper, just a +shining particle. He picked it up carefully. + +I bent over to look at it more closely and there, in Garrick's hand, +was a tiny bit of steel, scarcely three-eighths of an inch long, a mere +speck. It was like nothing of which I had ever heard or read. Yet +Garrick himself seemed to regard the minute thing with a sort of awe. +As for me, I knew not what to make of it. I wondered whether it might +not be some new peril. + +"What is it?" I asked at length, seeing that Garrick might be disposed +to talk, if I prompted him. + +"Well," he answered laconically, holding it up to the light so that I +could see that it was in reality a very minute, pointed hollow tube, +"what would you say if I told you it was the point of a +new--er--poisoned needle?" + +He said it in such a simple tone that I reacted from it toward my own +preconceived notions of the hysterical newspaper stories. + +"I've heard about all the poisoned needle stories," I returned. "I've +investigated some of them and written about them for my paper, Guy. And +I must say still that I doubt them. Now in the first place, the mere +insertion of a hypodermic needle--of course, you've had it done, +Guy--is something so painful that anyone in his senses would cry aloud. +Then to administer a drug that way requires a great deal of skill and +knowledge of anatomy, if it is to be done with full and quick effect." + +Garrick said nothing, but continued to regard the hollow point which he +had obtained somewhere, perhaps on a previous case. + +"Why, such an injection," I continued, recalling the result of my +former careful investigations on the subject, "couldn't act +instantaneously anyhow, as it must if they are to get away with it. +After the needle is inserted, the plunger has to be pushed down, and +the whole thing would take at least thirty seconds. And then, the +action of the drug. That would take time, too. It seems to me that in +no case could it be done without the person's being instantly aware of +it and, before lapsing into unconsciousness, calling for help or--" + +"On the contrary," interrupted Garrick quietly, "it is absurdly easy. +Waiving the question whether they might not be able to get Violet +Winslow in such a situation where even the old hypodermic method which +you know would serve as well as any other, why, Marshall, just the hint +that fellow dropped tells me that he could walk up to her on the street +or anywhere else, and--" + +He did not finish the sentence, but left it to my imagination. It was +my turn, now, to remain silent. + +"You are right, though, Tom, in one respect," he resumed a moment +later. "It is not easy by the old methods that everyone now knows. For +instance, take the use of chloral-knock-out drops, you know. That is +crude, too. Hypodermics and knock-out drops may answer well enough, +perhaps, for the criminals whose victims are found in cafes and dives +of a low order. But for the operations of an aristocratic criminal of +to-day--and our friend the Chief seems to belong to the aristocracy of +the underworld--far more subtle methods are required. Let me show you +something." + +Carefully, from the back of a drawer in the cabinet, where it was +concealed in a false partition, he pulled out a little case. He opened +it, and in it displayed a number of tiny globes and tubes of thin +glass, each with a liquid in it, some lozenges, some bonbons, and +several cigars and cigarettes. + +"I'm doing this," he remarked, "to show you, Tom, that I'm not unduly +magnifying the danger that surrounds Violet Winslow, after hearing what +I did over that detectaphone. Perhaps it didn't impress you, but I +think I know something of what we're up against." + +From another part of the case he drew a peculiar looking affair and +handed to me without a word. It consisted of a glass syringe about two +inches long, fitted with a glass plunger and an asbestos washer. On the +other end of the tube was a hollow point, about three-eighths of an +inch long--just a shiny little bit of steel such as he had already +showed me. + +I looked at it curiously and, in spite of my former assurance, began to +wonder whether, after all, the possibility of a girl being struck down +suddenly, without warning, in a public place and robbed--or +worse--might not take on the guise of ghastly reality. + +"What do you make of it?" asked Garrick, evidently now enjoying the +puzzled look on my face. + +I could merely shrug my shoulders. + +"Well," he drawled, "that is a weapon they hinted at last night. The +possibilities of it are terrifying. Why, it could easily be plunged +through a fur coat, without breaking." + +He took the needle and made an imaginary lunge at me. + +"When people tell you that the hypodermic needle cannot be employed in +a case like this that they are planning," he continued, "they are +thinking of ordinary hypodermics. Those things wouldn't be very +successful usually, anyhow, under such circumstances. But this is +different. The very form of this needle makes it particularly effective +for anyone who wishes to use it for crime. For instance--take it on a +railroad or steamship or in a hotel. Draw back the plunger--so--one +quick jab--then drop it on the floor and grind it under your heel. The +glass is splintered into a thousand bits. All evidence of guilt is +destroyed, unless someone is looking for it practically with a +microscope." + +"Yes," I persisted, "that is all right--but the pain and the moments +before the drug begins to work?" + +With one hand Garrick reached into the case, selecting a little thin +glass tube, and with the other he pulled out his handkerchief. + +"Smell that!" he exclaimed, bending over me so that I could see every +move and be prepared for it. + +Yet it was done so quickly that I could not protect myself. + +"Ugh!" I ejaculated in surprise, as Garrick manipulated the thing with +a legerdemain swiftness that quite baffled me, even though he had given +me warning to expect something. + +Everyone has seen freak moving picture films where the actor suddenly +bobs up in another place, without visibly crossing the intervening +space. The next thing I knew, Garrick was standing across the room, in +just that way. The handkerchief was folded up and in his pocket. + +It couldn't have been done possibly in less than a minute. What had +happened? Where had that minute or so gone? I felt a sickening +sensation. + +"Smell it again?" Garrick laughed, taking a step toward me. + +I put up my hand and shook my head negatively, slowly comprehending. + +"You mean to tell me," I gasped, "that I was--out?" + +"I could have jabbed a dozen needles into you and you would never have +known it," asserted Garrick with a quiet smile playing over his face. + +"What is the stuff?" I asked, quite taken aback. + +"Kelene--ethyl chloride. Whiff!--and you are off almost in a second. It +is an anaesthetic of nearly unbelievable volatility. It comes in little +hermetically sealed tubes, with a tiny capillary orifice, to prevent +its too rapid vaporising, even when opened for use. Such a tube may be +held in the palm of the hand and the end crushed off. The warmth of the +hand alone is sufficient to start a veritable spray. It acts violently +on the senses, too. But kelene anaesthesia lasts only a minute or so. +The fraction of time is long enough. Then comes the jab with the real +needle--perhaps another whiff of kelene to give the injection a chance. +In two or three minutes the injection itself is working and the victim +is unconscious, without a murmur--perhaps, as in your case, without any +clear idea of how it all happened--even without recollection of a +handkerchief, unable to recall any sharp pain of a needle or anything +else." + +He was holding up a little bottle in which was a thick, colorless syrup. + +"And what is that?" I asked, properly tamed and no longer disposed to +be disputatious. + +"Hyoscine." + +"Is it powerful?" + +"One one-hundredth of a grain of this strength, perhaps less, will +render a person unconscious," replied Garrick. "The first symptom is +faintness; the pupils of the eyes dilate; speech is lost; vitality +seems to be floating away, and the victim lapses into unconsciousness. +It is derived from henbane, among ether things, and is a rapid, +energetic alkaloid, more rapid than chloral and morphine. And, preceded +by a whiff of kelene, not even the sensations I have described are +remembered." + +I could only stare at the outfit before me, speechless. + +"In Paris, where I got this," continued Garrick, "they call these +people who use it, 'endormeurs'--sleepmakers. That must have been what +the Chief meant when he used that word. I knew it." + +"Sleepmakers," I repeated in horror at the very idea of such a thing +being attempted on a young girl like Violet Winslow. + +"Yes. The standard equipment of such a criminal consists of these +little thin glass globes, a tiny glass hypodermic syringe with a sharp +steel point, doped cigars and cigarettes. They use various derivatives +of opium, like morphine and heroin, also codeine, dionin, narcein, +ethyl chloride and bromide, nitrite of amyl, amylin,--and the skill +that they have acquired in the manipulation of these powerful drugs +stamps them as the most dangerous coterie of criminals in existence. +Now," he concluded, "doubt it or not, we have to deal with a man who is +a proficient student of these sleepmakers. Who is he, where is he, and +when will he strike?" + +Garrick was now pacing excitedly up and down the room. + +"You see," he added, "the police of Europe by their new scientific +methods are driving such criminals out of the various countries. Thank +heaven, I am now prepared to meet them if they come to America." + +"Then you think this is a foreigner?" I asked meekly. + +"I didn't say so," Garrick replied. "No. I think this is a criminal +exceptionally wide awake, one who studies and adopts what he sees +whenever he wants it. If you recall, I warned you to have a wholesome +respect for this man at the very start, when we were looking at that +empty cartridge." + +I could restrain my admiration of him no longer. "Guy," I exclaimed, +heartily, astounded by what I had seen, "you--you are a wonder!" + +"No," he laughed, "not wonderful, Tom,--only very ordinary. I've had a +chance to learn some things abroad, fortunately. I've taken the time to +show you all this because I want you to appreciate what it is we are up +against in this case of Violet Winslow. You can understand now why I +was so particular about instructing Warrington not to let her go +anywhere unattended by friends. There's nothing inherently impossible +in these poisoned needle stories--given the right conjunction of +circumstances. What we have to guard against principally is letting her +get into any situation where the circumstances make such a thing +possible. I've almost a notion to let the New York end of this case go +altogether for a while and take a run up to Tuxedo to warn her and Mrs. +de Lancey personally. Still, I think I put it strongly enough with +Warrington so that--" + +Our telephone tinkled insistently. + +"Hello," answered Garrick. "Yes, this is Garrick. Who is this? +Warrington? In Tuxedo? Why, my dear boy, you needn't have gone +personally. Are you sure you're strong enough for such exertion? +What--what's that? Warrington--it--it isn't--not to New York?" + +Garrick's face was actually pale as he fairly started back from the +telephone and caught my eye. + +"Tom," he exclaimed huskily to me, "Violet Winslow left for New York on +the early train this morning!" + +I felt my heart skip a beat, then pound away like a sledge-hammer at my +ribs as the terrible possibilities of the situation were seared into my +brain. + +"Yes, Warrington--a letter to her? Read it--quick," I heard Garrick's +tense voice repeating. "I see. Her maid Lucille was taken very ill a +few days ago and she allowed her to go to her brother who lives on +Ninth Street. I understand. Now--the letter." + +I could not hear what was said over the telephone, but later Garrick +repeated it to me and I afterwards saw the letter itself which I may as +well reproduce here. It said: + +"Since I left you, mademoiselle, I am very ill here at the home of my +brother. I have a nice room in the back of the house on the first floor +and now that I am getting better I can sit up and look out of the +window. + +"I am very ill yet, but the worst is past and some time when you are in +New York I wish I could see you. You have always been so good to me, +mademoiselle, that I hope I may soon be back again, if you have not a +maid better than your poor Lucille. + +"Your faithful servant, + +"LUCILLE DE VEAU." + +"And she's already in the city?" asked Garrick of Warrington as he +finished reading the letter. "Mrs. de Lancey has gone with her--to do +some shopping. I see. That will take all day, she said? She is going to +call on Lucille--to-night--that's what she told her new maid there? +To-night? That's all right, my boy. I just wanted to be sure. Don't +worry. We'll look out for her here, all right. Now, Warrington, you +just keep perfectly quiet. No relapses, you know, old fellow. We can +take care of everything. I'm glad you told me. Good-bye." + +Garrick had finished up his conversation with Warrington in a confident +and reassuring tone, quite the opposite to that with which he had +started and even more in contrast with the expression on his face as he +talked. + +"I didn't want to alarm the boy unnecessarily," he explained to me, as +he hung up the receiver. "I could tell that he was very weak yet and +that the trip up to Tuxedo had almost done him up. It seems that she +thought a good deal of Lucille--there's the address--99 Ninth. You can +never tell about these maids, though. Lucille may be all right--or the +other maid may be all bad, or vice versa. There's no telling. The worst +of it is that she and her aunt are somewhere in the city, perhaps +shopping. It only needs that they become separated for something, +anything, to happen. There's been no time to warn her, either, and +she's just as likely to visit that Lucille to-night alone as not. +Gad--I'm glad I didn't fly off up there to Tuxedo, after all. She'll +need someone here to protect her." + +Garrick was considering hastily what was to be done. Quickly he mapped +out his course of action. + +"Come, Tom," he said hurriedly to me, as he wrapped up a little cedar +box which he took from the cabinet where he kept the endormeur outfit. +"Come--let's investigate that Ninth Street address while we have time." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEWSPAPER FAKE + + +Within a few minutes we were sauntering with enforced leisure along +Ninth Street, in a rather sordid part, inhabited largely, I made out, +by a slightly better class of foreigners than some other sections of +the West Side. + +As we walked along, I felt Garrick tugging at my arm. + +"Slow up a bit," he whispered under his breath. "There's the house +which was mentioned in the maid's note." + +It was an old three-story brownstone building with an entrance two or +three steps up from the sidewalk level. Once, no doubt, it had housed +people of some means, but the change in the character of the +neighbourhood with shifting population had evidently brought it to the +low estate where it now sheltered one family on each floor, if not +more. At least that was the general impression one got from a glance at +the cheapened air of the block. + +Garrick passed the house so as not to attract any attention, and a +little further on paused before an apartment house, not of the modern +elevator construction, but still of quiet and decent appearance. At +least there were no children spilling out from its steps into the +street, in imminent danger of their young lives from every passing +automobile, as there were in the tenements of the block below. + +He entered the front door which happened to be unlatched and we had no +trouble in mounting the stairs to the roof. + +What he intended doing I had no idea yet, but he went ahead with +assurance and I followed, equally confident, for he must have had +adventures something like this before. On the roof, a clothesline, +which he commandeered and tied about a chimney, served to let him down +the few feet from the higher apartment roof to that of the dwelling +house next to it, one of the row in which number 99 was situated. + +Quickly he tiptoed over to the chimney of the brownstone house a few +doors down and, as he did so, I saw him take from his pocket the cedar +box. A string tied to a weight told him which of the flues reached down +to the room on the first floor, back. + +That determined, he let the little cedar box fastened to an entwined +pair of wires down the flue. He then ran the wires back across the roof +to the apartment, up, and into a little storm shed at the top of the +last flight of stairs which led from the upper hall to the roof. + +"There is nothing more that we can do here just yet," he remarked after +he had hauled himself back to me on the higher roof. "We are lucky not +to have been disturbed, but if we stay here we are likely to be +observed." + +Cautiously we retraced our steps and were again on the street without +having alarmed any of the tenants of the flat through which we had +gained access to the roofs. + +It was now the forenoon and, although Garrick instituted a search in +every place that he could think of where Mrs. de Laacey and Violet +Winslow might go, including the homes of those of their friends whose +names we could learn, it was without result. I don't think there can be +many searches more hopeless than to try to find someone in New York +when one has no idea where to look. Only chance could possibly have +thrown them in our way and chance did not favour us. + +There was nothing to do but wait for the time when Miss Winslow might, +of her own accord, turn up to visit her former maid for whom she +apparently had a high regard. + +Inquiries as to the antecedents of Lucille De Veau were decidedly +unsatisfactory, not that they gave her a bad character, but because +there simply seemed to be nothing that we could find out. The maid +seemed to be absolutely unknown. Her brother was a waiter, though where +he worked we could not find out, for he seemed to be one of those who +are constantly shifting their positions. + +Garrick had notified Dillon of what he had discovered, in a general +way, and had asked him to detail some men to conduct the search +secretly for Miss Winslow and her aunt, but without any better results +than we had obtained. Apparently the department stores had swallowed +them up for the time being and we could only wait impatiently, trusting +that all would turn out right in the end. Still, I could not help +having some forebodings in the matter. + +It was in the middle of the afternoon that we had gone downtown to +Garrick's office, after stopping to secure the letter from the safe in +the uptown hotel where it had been deposited for security during the +night and placing it in a safety deposit vault where Garrick kept some +of his own valuables. Garrick had selected his office as a vantage +point to which any news of Miss Winslow and her aunt might be sent by +those whom we had out searching. No word came, however, and the hours +of suspense seemed to drag interminably. + +"You're pretty well acquainted on the STAR?" Garrick asked me at last, +after we had been sitting in a sort of mournful silence wondering +whether those on the other side might not be stealing a march on us. + +"Why, yes, I know several people there," I replied. "Why do you ask?" + +"I was just thinking of a possible plan of campaign that might be +mapped out to bring these people from under cover," he remarked +thoughtfully. "Do you think you could carry part of it through?" + +I said I would try and Garrick proceeded to unfold a scheme which he +had been revolving all day. It consisted of as ingenious a "plant" as I +could well imagine. + +"You see," he outlined, "if you could go over to the Star office and +get them to run off a few copies of the paper, after they are through +with the regular editions, I believe we can get the Chief started and +then all we should have to do would be to follow him up--or someone who +would lead us to him." + +The "plant," in short, consisted in writing a long and circumstantial +story of the discovery of new evidence against the ladies' poolroom, +which so far had been scarcely mentioned in the case. As Garrick laid +it out, the story was to tell of a young gambler who was said to be in +touch with the district attorney, in preference to saying the police. + +In fact, his idea was to write up the whole gambling situation as we +knew it on lines that he suggested. Then a "fake" edition of the paper +was to be run off, bearing our story on the front page. Only a few +copies were to be printed, and they were to be delivered to us. The +thing had been done before by detectives, I knew, and in this case +Warrington was to foot the bill, which might prove to be considerable. + +At least it offered me some outlet for my energies during the rest of +the afternoon when the failure to receive any reports about the two +women whom we were seeking began to wear on my nerves. + +It took some time to arrange the thing with those in authority on the +Star, but at last that was done and I hastened back to Garrick at his +office to tell him that all that remained to do was the actual writing +of the story. + +Garrick had just finished testing an arrangement in a large case, +almost the size of a suitcase, and had stood it in a corner, ready to +be picked up and carried off the instant there was any need for it. +There was still no word of Miss Winslow and Mrs. de Lancey and it began +to look as if we should not hear from them until Violet Winslow turned +up on her visit to her former maid. + +Together we plunged into the preparation of the story, the writing of +which fell to me while Garrick now and then threw in a suggestion or a +word of criticism to make it sound stronger for his purpose. Thus the +rest of the afternoon passed in getting the thing down "pat." + +I flatter myself that it was not such a bad piece of work when we got +through with it. By dint of using such expressions as "It is said," "It +is rumoured," "The report about the Criminal Courts Building is," "An +informant high in the police department," and crediting much to a +mythical "gambler who is operating quietly uptown," we managed to tell +some amazing facts. + +The fake story began: + +"Since the raid by the police on the luxurious gambling house in +Forty-eighth Street, a remarkable new phase of sporting life has been +unfolded to the District Attorney, who is quietly gathering evidence +against another place situated in the same district. + +"A former gambler who frequented the raided place has put many +incriminating facts about the second place in the hands of the +authorities who are contemplating an exposure that will stir even New +York, accustomed as it is to such startling revelations. It involves +one of the cleverest and most astute criminals who ever operated in +this city. + +"This place, which is under observation, is one which has brought +tragedy to many. Young women attracted by the treacherous lure of the +spinning roulette wheel or the fascination of the shuffle of cards have +squandered away their own and their husband's money with often tragic +results, and many of them have gone even further into the moral +quagmire in the hope of earning enough money to pay their losses and +keep from their families the knowledge of their gambling. + +"This situation, one of the high lights in the city of lights and +shadows, has been evolved, according to the official informant, through +the countless number of gambling resorts that have gained existence in +the most fashionable parts of the city. + +"The record of crime of the clever and astute individual already +mentioned is being minutely investigated, and, it is said, shows some +of the most astounding facts. It runs even to murder, which was +accomplished in getting rid of an informer recently in the pay of the +police. + +"Against those conducting the crusade every engine of the underworld +has been used. The fight has been carried on bitterly, and within less +than twenty-four hours arrests are promised as a result of confessions +already in the hands of the authorities and being secretly and widely +investigated by them before the final blow is delivered simultaneously, +both in the city and in a town up-state where the criminal believes +himself unknown and secure." + +There was more of the stuff, which I do not quote, describing the +situation in detail and in general terms which could all have only one +meaning to a person acquainted with the particular case with which we +were dealing. It threw a scare, in type, as hard as could be done. I +fancied that when it was read by the proper person he would be amazed +that so much had, apparently, become known to the newspapers, and would +begin to wonder how much more was known that was not printed. + +"That ought to make someone sit up and take notice," remarked Garrick +with some satisfaction, as he corrected the typewritten copy late in +the afternoon. "The printing of that will take some time and I don't +suppose we shall get copies until pretty late. You can take it over to +the Star, Tom, and complete the arrangements. I have a little more work +to do before we go up there on Ninth Street. Suppose you meet me at +eight in Washington Square, near the Arch?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE VOCAPHONE + + +Promptly to the dot I met Garrick at the appointed place. Not a word so +far had been heard, either from Violet Winslow or Mrs. de Lancey. There +was one thing encouraging about it, however. If they had become +separated while shopping, as sometimes happens, we should have been +likely to hear of it, at least from her aunt. + +Garrick was tugging the heavy suitcase which I had seen standing ready +down in his office during the afternoon, as well as a small package +wrapped up in paper. + +"Let me carry that suitcase," I volunteered. + +We trudged along across the park, my load getting heavier at every step. + +"I'm not surprised at your being winded," I panted, soon finding myself +in the same condition. "What's in this--lead?" + +"Something that we may need or may not," Garrick answered +enigmatically, as we stopped in the shadow to rest. + +He carefully took an automatic revolver from an inside pocket and +stowed it where it would be handy, in his coat. + +We resumed our walk and at last had come nearly up to the house on the +first floor of which the maid Lucille was. The suitcase was engaging +all my attention, as I shifted it from one hand to the other. Not so +Garrick, however. He was looking keenly about us. + +"Gad, I must be seeing things to-night!" he exclaimed, his eyes fixed +on a figure slouching along, his hat pulled down over his eyes, passing +just about opposite us on the other side of the street. I looked also +in the gathering dusk. The figure had something indefinably familiar +about it, but a moment later it was gone, having turned the corner. + +Garrick shook his head. "No," he said half to himself, "it couldn't +have been. Don't stop, Tom. We mustn't do anything to rouse suspicion, +now." + +We came a moment later to the flat-house through the hall of which we +had reached the roof that morning and in the excitement of the +adventure I forgot, for the time, the mysterious figure across the +street, which had attracted Garrick's attention. + +Again, we managed to elude the tenants, though it was harder in the +early evening than it had been in the daytime. However, we reached the +roof apparently unobserved. There at least, now that it was dark, we +felt comparatively safe. No one was likely to disturb us there, +provided we made no noise. + +Unwrapping the smaller, paper-covered package, Garrick quickly attached +the wires, as he had left them, to another cedar box, like that which +he had already let down the chimney up the street. + +I now had a chance to examine it more closely under the light of +Garrick's little electric bull's-eye. I was surprised to find that it +resembled one of the instruments we had used down in the room in the +Old Tavern. + +It was oblong, with a sort of black disc fixed to the top. In the face +of the box, just as in the other we had used, were two little square +holes, with sides also of cedar, converging inward, making a pair of +little quadrangular pyramidal holes which seemed to end in a small +round black circle in the interior, small end. + +I said nothing, but I could see that it was a new form, to all intents +and purposes, of the detectaphone which we had already used. + +The minutes that followed seemed like hours, as we waited, not daring +to talk lest we should attract attention. + +I wondered whether Miss Winslow would come after all, or, if she did, +whether she would come alone. + +"You're early," said a voice, softly, near us, of a sudden. + +I leaped to my feet, prepared to meet anything, man or devil. Garrick +seized me and pulled me down, a strong hint to be quiet. Too surprised +to remonstrate, since nothing happened, I waited, breathless. + +"Yes, but that is better than to be too late. Besides, we've got to +watch that Garrick," said another voice. "He might be around." + +Garrick chuckled. + +I had noticed a peculiar metallic ring in the voices. + +"Where are they?" I whispered, "On the landing below?" + +Garrick laughed outright, not boisterously, but still in a way which to +me was amazing in its bravado, if the tenants were really so near. + +"What's this?" I asked. + +"Don't you recognize it?" he answered. + +"Yes," I said doubtfully. "I suppose it's like that thing we used down +at the Old Tavern." + +"Only more so," nodded Garrick, aloud, yet careful not to raise his +voice, as before, so as not to disturb the flat dwellers below us. "A +vocaphone." + +"A vocaphone?" I repeated. + +"Yes, the little box that hears and talks," he explained. "It does more +than the detectaphone. It talks right out, you know, and it works both +ways." + +I began to understand his scheme. + +"Those square holes in the face of it are just like the other +instrument we used," Garrick went on. "They act like little megaphones +to that receiver inside, you know,--magnify the sound and throw it out +so that we can listen up here just as well, perhaps better than if we +were down there in the room with them." + +They were down there in the back room, Lucille and a man. + +"Have you heard from her?" asked the man's voice, one that I did not +recognise. + +"Non,--but she will come. Voila, but she thought the world of her +Lucille, she did. She will come." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because--I know." + +"Oh, you women!" + +"Oh, you men!" + +It was evident that the two had a certain regard for each other, a sort +of wild, animal affection, above, below, beyond, without the law. They +seemed at least to understand each other. + +Who the man was I could not guess. It was a voice that sounded +familiar, yet I could not place it. + +"She will come to see her Lucille," repeated the woman. "But you must +not be seen." + +"No--by no means." + +The voice of the man was not that of a foreigner. + +"Here, Lucille, take this. Only get her interested--I will do the +rest--and the money is yours. See--you crush it in the +handkerchief--so. Be careful--you WILL crush it before you want to use +it. There. Under her nose, you know. I shall be there in a moment and +finish the work. That is all you need do--with the handkerchief." + +Garrick made a motion, as if to turn a switch in the little vocaphone, +and rested his finger on it. + +"I could make those two jump out of the window with fright and +surprise," he said to me, still fingering the switch impatiently. "You +see, it works the other way, too, as I told you, if I choose to throw +this switch. Suppose I should shout out, and they should hear, +apparently coming from the fireplace, 'You are discovered. Thank you +for telling me all your plans, but I am prepared for them already.' +What do you suppose they would--" + +Garrick stopped short. + +From the vocaphone had come a sound like the ringing of a bell. + +"Sh!" whispered Lucille hoarsely. "Here she comes now. Didn't I tell +you? Into the next room!" + +A moment later came a knock at a door and Lucille's silken rustle as +she hurried to open it. + +"How do you do, Lucille?" we heard a sweetly tremulous voice repeated +by the faithful little vocaphone. + +"Comment vous portez-vous, Mademoiselle?" + +"Tres bien." + +"Mademoiselle honours her poor Lucille beyond her dreams. Will you not +be seated here in this easy chair?" + +"My God!" exclaimed Garrick, starting back from the vocaphone. "She is +there alone. Mrs. de Lancey is not with her. Oh, if we could only have +prevented this!" + +I had recognized, too, even in the mechanical reproduction, the voice +of Violet Winslow. It came as a shock. Even though I had been expecting +some such thing for hours, still the reality meant just as much, +perhaps more. + +Independent, self-reliant, Violet Winslow had gone alone on an act of +mercy and charity, and it had taken her into a situation full of danger +with her faithless maid. + +At once I was alive to the situation. All the stories of kidnappings +and white slavery that I had ever read rioted through my head. I felt +like calling out a warning. Garrick had his finger on the switch. + +"Since I have been ill, Mademoiselle, I have been doing some +embroidery--handkerchiefs--are they not pretty?" + +It was coming. There was not time for an instant's delay now. + +Garrick quickly depressed the switch. + +Clear as a bell his voice rang out. + +"Miss Winslow--this is Garrick. Don't let her get that handkerchief +under your nose. Out of the door--quick. Run! Call for help! I shall be +with you in a minute!" + +A little cry came out of the machine. + +There was a moment of startled surprise in the room below. Then +followed a mocking laugh. + +"Ha! Ha! I thought you'd pull something like that, Garrick. I don't +know where you are, but it makes no difference. There are many ways of +getting out of this place and at one of them I hare a high-powered car. +Violet--will go--quietly--" there were sounds of a struggle--"after the +needle--" + +A scream had followed immediately after a sound of shivering glass +through the vocaphone. It was not Violet Winslow's scream, either. + +"Like hell, she'll go," shouted a wildly familiar voice. + +There was a gruff oath. + +We stayed to hear no more. Garrick had already picked up the heavy +suitcase and was running down the steps two at a time, with myself hard +after him. + +Without waiting to ring the bell at 99, he dashed the suitcase through +the plate glass of the front door, reached in and turned the lock. We +hurried into the back room. + +Violet was lying across a divan and bending over her was Warrington. + +"She--she's unconscious," he gasped, weak with the exertion of his +forcible entrance into the place and carrying from the floor to the +divan the lovely burden which he had found in the room. "They--they +fled--two of them--the maid, Lucille--and a man I could not see." + +Down the street we heard a car dashing away to the sound of its +changing gears. + +"She's--not--dying--is she, Garrick?" he panted bending closer over her. + +Garrick bent over, too, felt the fluttering pulse, looked into her +dilated eyes. + +I saw him drop quickly on his knees beside the unconscious girl. He +tore open the heavy suitcase and a moment later he had taken from it a +sort of cap, at the end of a rubber tube, and had fastened it carefully +over her beautiful, but now pale, face. + +"Pump!" Garrick muttered to me, quickly showing me what to do. + +I did, furiously. + +"Where did you come from?" he asked of Warrington. "I thought I saw +someone across the street who looked like you as we came along, but you +didn't recognise us and in a moment you were gone. Keep on with that +pulmotor, Tom. Thank heaven I came prepared with it!" + +Eagerly I continued to supply oxygen to the girl on the divan before us. + +Garrick had stooped down and picked up both the handkerchief with its +crushed bits of the kelene tube and near it a shattered glass +hypodermic. + +"Oh, I got thinking about things, up there at Mead's," blurted out +Warrington, "and I couldn't stand it. I should have gone crazy. While +the doctor was out I managed to slip away and take a train to the city. +I knew this address from the letter. I determined to stay around all +night, if necessary. She got in before I could get to her, but I rang +the bell and managed to get my foot in the door a minute later. I heard +the struggle. Where were you? I heard your voice in here but you came +through the front door." + +Garrick did not take time to explain. He was too busy over Violet +Winslow. + +A feeble moan and a flutter of the eyelids told that she was coming out +from the effects of the anaesthetic and the drug. + +"Mortimer--Mortimer!" she moaned, half conscious. "Don't let them take +me. Oh where is--" + +Warrington leaned over, as Garrick removed the cap of the pulmotor, and +gently raised her head on his arm. + +"It's all right--Violet," he whispered, his face close to hers as his +warm breath fanned her now flushed and fevered cheek. + +She opened her eyes and vaguely understood as the mist cleared from her +brain. + +Instinctively she clung to him as he pressed his lips lightly on her +forehead, in a long passionate caress. + +"Get a cab, Tom," said Garrick turning his back suddenly on them and +placing his hand on my shoulder as he edged me toward the hall. "It's +too late to pursue that fellow, now. He's slipped through our fingers +again--confound him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE EAVESDROPPER AGAIN + + +It took our combined efforts now to take care not only of Violet +Winslow but Warrington himself, who was on the verge of collapse after +his heroic rescue of her. + +I found the cab and in perhaps half an hour Miss Winslow was so far +recovered that she could be taken to the hotel where she and her aunt +had engaged rooms for the night. + +We drew up at an unfrequented side carriage entrance of the hotel in +order to avoid the eyes of the curious and Warrington jumped out to +assist Violet. The strain had told on him and in spite of his desire to +take care of her, he was glad to let Garrick guide him to the elevator, +while I took Miss Winslow's arm to assist her. + +Our first object had been to get our two invalids where they could have +quiet and so regain their strength and we rode up in the elevator, +unannounced, to the suite of Violet and her aunt. + +"For heaven's sake--Violet--what's all this?" exclaimed Mrs. de Lancey +as we four entered the room. + +It was the first time we had seen the redoubtable Aunt Emma. She was a +large woman, well past middle age, and must have been handsome, rather +than pretty, when she was younger. Everything about Mrs. de Lancey was +correct, absolutely correct. Her dress looked like a form into which +she had been poured, every line and curve being just as it should be, +having "set" as if she had been made of reinforced concrete. In short, +she was a woman of "force." + +An incursion such as we made seemed to pain her correct soul acutely. +And yet, I fancied that underneath the marble exterior there was a +heart and that secretly she was both proud and jealous of her dainty +niece. + +Violet sank into a chair and Garrick deposited Warrington, thoroughly +exhausted, on a couch. + +Mrs. de Lancey looked sternly at Warrington, as though in some way he +might be responsible. I could not help feeling that she had a peculiar +sense of conscientiousness about him, that she was just a bit more +strict in gauging him than she would have been if he had not been the +wealthy young Mr. Warrington whom scores and hundreds of mothers and +guardians in society would have welcomed for the sake of marriageable +daughters no matter how black and glaring his faults. I was glad to see +the way Warrington took it. He seemed to want to rest not on the merits +of the Warrington blood nor the Warrington gold, but on plain Mortimer +Warrington himself. + +"What HAS happened, Violet?" repeated Mrs. de Lancey. + +Violet had, woman-like, in spite of her condition caught the stern look +that her aunt had shot at Warrington. + +"Nothing, now," she replied with a note of defiance. "Lucille--seems to +have been a--a bad woman--friendly with bad men. Mr. Garrick overheard +a plot to carry me off and telephoned Mortimer. Fortunately when +Mortimer went up home to warn us, he found the letter and knew where I +was going to-night. Ill as he was, he came all the way to the city, +followed me into that house, saved me--even before Mr. Garrick could +get there." + +Violet's duenna was considerably mollified, though she tried hard not +to admit it. Garrick seized the opportunity and poured forth a brief +but connected story of what had happened. + +"Well," exclaimed Mrs. de Lancey as he finished, "you children ought to +be very thankful it isn't worse. Violet, I think I'll call up the house +physician. You certainly need a doctor. And as for you, Mortimer,--you +can't go to your apartment. Violet tells me it is all burned out. +There's an empty suite across the hall. I'll telephone the room clerk +and engage it for you. And you need a doctor, too. Now--there's going +to be no more foolishness. You're both going to stay right here in this +hotel until you're all right. Your mother and I were great friends, +Mortimer, when we were girls. I--you must let me PLAY mother--for her +sake." + +I had been right about Mrs. de Lancey. Her voice softened and I saw a +catch in Warrington's throat, too, at the mention of the mother he +remembered only hazily as a small boy. + +Violet and Warrington exchanged glances. I fancied the wireless said, +"We've won the old lady over, at last," for Warrington continued to +look at her, while she blushed a bit, then dropped her eyes to hide a +happy tear. + +Mrs. de Lancey was bustling about and I felt sure that in another +minute every available bellhop in the hotel would be at work. As +Warrington might have said in his slang, "Action is her middle name." + +Garrick rose and bade our two patients a hasty good-night, tactfully +forgetting to be offended by their lack of interest now in anything +except each other. + +"I doubt if they get much chance to be alone--not with that woman +mothering them," he smiled to me, drawing me toward the door. "Don't +let's spoil this chance." + +Mrs. de Lancey was busy in the next room, as we stopped to say good-bye +to her. + +"I--I can't talk to you--now, Mr. Garrick," she cried, with a sudden, +unwonted show of emotion, taking both his hands in hers. "You--you've +saved my girl--there--there's nothing in this world you could have done +for me--greater." + +"Mrs. de Lancey," replied Garrick, deftly changing the subject, +"there's just one thing. I'm afraid you are--have been, I mean,--a +little hard on Mr. Warrington. He isn't what you think--" + +"Mr. Garrick," she returned, in a sudden burst of confidence, "I'm +afraid you, too, misunderstand me. I am not hard on the boy. But, +remember. I knew his mother and father--intimately. Think of it, +sir--the responsibilities that rest on that young man. Do you wonder +that I--I want him better than others? Don't you see--that is why I +want to hold him up to the highest standard. If Violet--marries him," +she seemed to choke over the word,--"they must meet tests that ordinary +people never know. Don't you understand? I've seen other young men and +other young women in our circle--they were our babies once--I've seen +them--go down. But I--I am proud. The Winslows, yes, and the +Warringtons, they,--they SHAN'T go down--not while I have an ounce of +strength or a grain of sanity. Nothing--nothing but the best that is in +us--counts." + +I think Mrs. de Lancey and Garrick understood each other perfectly +after that. He said nothing, in fact did not need to say anything, for +he looked it. + +"I feel that I can safely resign my job as guardian," was all he +remarked, finally. "Neither of them could be in better hands. Only, +keep that boy quiet a few days. You can do it better than I can--you +and Miss Winslow. Trust me to do the rest." + +A moment later we were passing out through the hotel lobby, as Garrick +glanced at his watch. + +"A wonderful woman, after all," he mused, in the manner of one who +revises an estimate formed hastily on someone else's hearsay. "Well, +it's too late to do anything more to-night. I suppose those papers are +printed down at the Star. We'll stop and get them in the morning. Did +you recognise the voice over the vocaphone?" + +"I can't say I did," I confessed. + +"Perhaps you aren't used to it and things sound too metallic to you. +But I did. It was the Chief." + +"I suspected as much," I replied. "Where do you suppose he went?" + +Garrick shrugged his shoulders. + +"I doubt whether we could find him in New York to-night," he answered, +slowly. "I think he must feel by this time that the town is getting too +hot for him." + +There was nothing that I could say, and I played the part admirably. + +"Come," he decided, as he turned from the hotel in the direction, now, +of our apartment. "Let's snatch a little rest. We'll need it to-morrow +for the final spurt." + +Tired and exhausted though I was I cannot say that I slept. At least, +it may have been physical rest that I got. Certainly my mind never +stopped in its dream play, as the kaleidoscopic stream of events passed +before me, now in their true form, now in the fantastic shapes that +constitute one of the most interesting studies of the modern psychology. + +I was glad when I heard Garrick stirring in his room in the early +daylight and heard him call out, "Are you awake, Tom? There are some +things I want to attend to, while you drop into the Star for those +papers. I'm afraid you'll have to breakfast alone. Meet me at my office +as soon as you can." + +He was off a few minutes later, as fresh as though he had been on a +vacation instead of plunged into the fight of his life. I followed him, +more leisurely, and then rode down in the infernal jam in the subway to +execute his commission. + +Then for an hour or two I fidgeted impatiently in his office waiting +for him, until finally he came downtown in the racing car which +Warrington had placed at his disposal. + +He said nothing, but it was all the same to me. I had reached that +nervous state where I craved something doing, as a drug-fiend craves +the dope that sets his brain on fire again. + +I did not ask where he was going, for I knew it intuitively, and it was +not long before we were again in the part of the city where the +gangster's garage was located. + +We stopped and Garrick beckoned to an urchin, a couple of blocks below +the garage. + +"Do you want to make a dollar, kid?" he asked, jingling four quarters +enticingly. + +The boy's eyes never left the fist that held the tempting bait. +"Betcherlife," he answered. + +"Well, then," instructed Garrick, "take these newspapers. I don't want +you to sell any of them on the street. But when you come to that garage +over there--see it?--I want you to yell, 'Extra--special extra! All +about the great gambling exposure. Warrants out!' Just go in there. +They'll buy, all right. And if you say a word about anyone giving you +these papers to sell--I'll chase you and get back this dollar to the +last cent. You'll go to the Gerry Society--get me?" + +The boy did. The bait was as alluring as the threat terrible. After +Garrick had given him final instructions not to start with the papers +for at least five minutes, we slipped quietly around the next street +and came out near the Old Tavern, but not in front of it. + +Garrick left the car--I had been riding almost on the mud guard--in +charge of Warrington's man, who was to appear to be tinkering with the +engine as an excuse for waiting there, and to keep an eye on anything +that happened down the street. + +We made our way into our room at the Tavern with more than ordinary +caution, for fear that something might have been discovered. +Apparently, however, the discovery of one detectaphone had been enough +to disarm further suspicion, and the garage keeper had not thought it +necessary to examine the telephone wires to see whether they had been +tampered with in any way. The wire which he had thought led to the +warehouse had seemed quite sufficient to explain everything. + +In the room which we had used so much, we found the other detectaphone +working splendidly. Garrick picked it up. + +By the sound, evidently, someone in the garage was overhauling a car. +It may have been that they were fixing one up so that its rightful +owner would never recognize it, or they may have been getting ready to +take one out. There was no way of determining. + +We could hear one of the workmen helping about the car, a man whom we +had listened to when the instrument first introduced us to the place. +The second machine, connected with the telephone, did not transmit +quite as clearly as the broken detective device had done, but it served +and, besides, we could both hear through this and could confirm +anything that might be indistinct to either of us alone. + +"The Chief has gone up-state," remarked Garrick, piecing together the +conversation where we had broken into it. + +"We had to hustle to make that boat," remarked a voice which I +recognised as that of one of the men. + +"But she got off all right, didn't she?" + +"Sure--he had the tickets and everything, and her baggage had already +gone aboard." + +"That's Lucille, I suppose," supplied Garrick. "No doubt part of her +bribe for getting Miss Winslow into their power was free passage back +to France. We can't stop to take up her case, yet." + +"My--but the Chief was mad," continued the voice of the man who must +have been not only a machinist but a chauffeur when occasion demanded. +"He had a package of letters. I don't know what they were--looked as if +they might be from some woman." + +"What did he do with them?" asked the Boss in a tone that showed that +he knew something, at least, about them already. + +"Why, he was so mad after that fellow Garrick and the other fellow beat +him out, that when we went down along West Street to the boat with that +other woman, he tore them up and threw them in the river." + +"Did he say anything?" + +"Why, I tell you he was mad. He tore 'em up and threw them in the +river. I think he said there wasn't a damn thing in 'em except a lot of +mush, anyhow." + +An amused smile crossed Garrick's face as he added, parenthetically, +"Good-bye to Warrington's love letters that they took from his safe." + +"At least there has been nothing they managed to get that night of the +fire that they have been able to use against Warrington," I remarked, +with satisfaction. + +"Listen," cautioned Garrick. "What's that they are saying? Someone has +told the Boss--he's talking--that they can go over Dillon's head and +get back all the gambling paraphernalia? Well, I've been there, at the +raided place, to-day, and it doesn't look so. The stuff has all been +taken down to headquarters. Ah, so that is the game that is in the +wind, is it? Get it all back by a court order and open somewhere else. +Here's our boy." + +The improvised newsboy had apparently stuck his head in the door as he +had been instructed, for we could hear them greet him with a growl, +until he yelled lustily, "Extry, special extry! All about the big +gambling exposure! Warrants out! Extry!" + +"Hey, you kid," came a voice from the detectaphone, "let's see that +paper. What is it--the Star? Well, I'll be--! Read that. Someone's +snitched to the district attorney, I'll bet. That'll make the Chief +sore, all right--and he's 'way up in the country, too. I don't dare +wire it to him. No, someone'll have to take a copy of this paper up +there to him and tip him off. He'll be redheaded if he doesn't know +about it. He was the last time anything happened. Hurry up. Finish with +this car. I'll take it myself." + +Garrick laughed, almost gleefully. + +"The plant has begun to work," he cried. "We'll wait here until just +before he's ready to start. Three of us around our car on the street +are too many. He must be getting ready for a long run." + +"How much gas is there in this tank?" the gruff voice of the Boss +demanded. "You dummy--not two gallons! No, you finish what you're +doing. I'll fill it myself. There isn't any time for fooling now." + +There was the steady trickle of the stream of gasoline as he drew it. + +"Any extra tires? What! Not a new shoe in the place? Give me a couple +of the best of those old ones. Never mind. Here are two over by the +telephone. Say, what the devil is this wire back here--cut in on the +telephone wire? Well,--rip it out! That's some more of that fellow +Garrick's work. We got rid of one thing the other night. Well, thank +heaven, I didn't have any telephone calls to-day. While I'm gone, you +go over this place thoroughly. God knows how many other things he may +have put in here." + +"Confound it!" muttered Garrick, as a pair of pliers made our second +detectaphone die with an expiring gasp in the middle of a sentence of +profanity. + +"Come on, Tom," he shouted. + +There was no use now in remaining any longer in the room. Gathering up +the receiving apparatus, Garrick quickly carried it down and tossed it +into the waiting car around the corner. Then he sent Warrington's man +to hang around, up the street, and watch what was going on at the +garage. + +Garrick was to drive the car himself, and we were going to leave +Warrington's man behind. We could tell by the actions of the man as he +stood down the street that something was taking place at the garage. + +We could hear a horn blow, and I knew that the doors had opened and a +big car had been backed out, slowly. Our own engine was running +perfectly in spite of the seeming trouble with which we had covered up +our delay. Garrick jumped in at the wheel, and I followed. The man on +the corner was signalling that the car was going in the opposite +direction. We leaped ahead. + +As the big car ahead slipped along eastward, we followed at such a +distance as not to attract attention. It was easy enough to do that, +but not so easy to avoid getting tied up among the trucks laden with +foodstuffs of every description which blocked the streets over in this +part of town. + +Where the car ahead was bound, we did not know, but I could see that +the driver was a stocky fellow, who slouched down into his seat, and +handled his car almost as if it had been a mere toy. It was, I felt +positive, the man whom McBirney had reported one night about the +neighbourhood of Longacre Square in the car which had once been +Warrington's. This, at least, was a different car, I knew. Now I +realised the wisdom of allowing this man, whom they called the Boss, to +go free. Under the influence of Garrick's "plant," he was to lead us to +the right trail to the Chief. + +It was easier now to follow the car since it had worked its way into +lower Fifth Avenue. On uptown it went. We hung on doggedly in the mass +of traffic going north at this congested hour. + +At last it turned into Forty-seventh Street. It was stopping at the +ladies' gambling joint, apparently to confirm the news. I had thought +that the place was closed, until the present trouble blew over, but it +seemed that there must be someone there. The Boss was evidently well +known, for he was immediately admitted. + +Garrick did not stop. He kept on around the corner to the raided +poolroom on the next street. Dillon's man, who had been stationed there +to watch the place, bowed and admitted him. + +"I'm going to throw it into him good, this time," remarked Garrick, as +he entered. "I've been planning this stunt for an emergency--and it's +here. Now for the big scare!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SPEAKING ARC + + +"Looks pretty deserted here," remarked Garrick to Dillon's man, who had +accompanied us from the door into the now deserted gambling den. + +"Yes," he grinned, "there's not much use in keeping me here since they +took all the stuff to headquarters. Now and then one of the old +rounders who has been out of town and hasn't heard of the raid comes +in. You should see their faces change when they catch sight of my +uniform. They never stop to ask questions," he chuckled. "They just +beat it." + +I was wondering how the police regarded Garrick's part in the matter, +and while Garrick was busy I asked, "Have you seen Inspector Herman +lately?" + +The man laughed. + +"What's the matter?" I asked, "Is he sore at having the raid pulled off +over his head?" + +"Sore?" the roundsman repeated, "Oh, not a bit, not a bit. He enjoyed +it. It gave him so much credit," the man added sarcastically, +"especially after he fell down in getting the evidence against that +other place around the corner." + +"Was that his case, too?" I asked. + +"Sure," replied the policeman. "Didn't you know that? That Rena Taylor +was working under his orders when she was killed. They tell me at +headquarters he's working overtime on the case and other things +connected with it. He hasn't said much, but there's someone he is +after--I know. Mark my words. Herman is always most dangerous when he's +quiet. The other day he was in here, said there was a man who used to +be seen here a good deal in the palmy days, who had disappeared. I +don't know who he was, but Herman asked me to keep a particular lookout +to see if he came back for any purpose. There's someone he suspects, +all right." + +I wondered why the man told me. He must have seen, by the look on my +face, that I was thinking that. + +"I wouldn't tell it to everybody," he added confidentially, "only, most +of us don't like Herman any too well. He's always trying to hog it +all--gets all the credit if we pick up a clew, and,--well, most of us +wouldn't be exactly disappointed to see Mr. Garrick succeed--that's +all." + +Garrick was calling from the back room to me, and I excused myself, +while the man went back to his post at the front door. Garrick +carefully closed the door into the room. + +While I had been busy getting the copies of the faked edition of the +Star, which had so alarmed the owner of the garage and had set things +moving rapidly, Garrick had also been busy, in another direction. He +had explored not only the raided gambling den, but the little back yard +which ran all the way to an extension on the rear of the house in the +next street, in which was situated the woman's poolroom. + +He had explored, also, the caved-in tunnel enough to make absolutely +certain that his suspicions had been correct in the first place, and +that it ran to this other joint, from which the gamblers had made their +escape. That had satisfied him, however, and he had not unearthed the +remains of the tunnel or taken any action in the matter yet. Something +else appeared to interest him much more at the present moment. + +"I found," he said when he was sure that we were alone, "that the feed +wire of the arc light that burns all the time in that main room over +there in the place on Forty-seventh Street--you recall it?--runs in +through the back of the house." + +He was examining two wires which, from his manner, I inferred were +attached to this feed wire, leading to it from the room in which we now +were. What the purpose of the connection was I had no idea. Perhaps, I +thought, it was designed to get new evidence against the place, though +I could not guess how it was to be done. So far, except for what we had +seen on our one visit, there had appeared to be no real evidence +against the place, except, possibly, that which had died with the +unfortunate Rena Taylor. + +"What's that?" I asked, as Garrick produced a package from a closet +where he had left it, earlier in the day. + +I saw, after he had unwrapped it, that it was a very powerful +microphone and a couple of storage cells. He attached it to the wire +leading out to the electric light feed wire. + +"I had provided it to be used in an emergency," he replied. "I think +the time has come sooner than I anticipated." + +I watched him curiously, wondering what it would be that would come +next. + +There followed a most amazing series of groanings and mutterings from +Garrick. I could not imagine what he was up to. The whole proceeding +seemed so insane that, for the moment, it left me nonplussed and +speechless. + +Garrick caught the puzzled look on my face. + +"What's the matter?" he laughed heartily, cutting out the microphone +momentarily and seeming to enjoy the joke to the utmost. + +"Would you prefer to be sent to a State or a private institution?" I +rasped, testily. "What insanity is all this? It sounds like the +fee-faw-fum and mummery of a voodoo man." + +"Come, now, Tom," he rejoined, argumentatively. "You know as well as I +do what sort of people those gamblers are--superstitious as the deuce. +I did this once before to-day. This is a good time to do it again, +before they persuade themselves that there is nothing in that story +which we printed in the Star. That fellow is in there now, probably in +that room where we were, and it is possible that they may reassure him +and settle his fears. Now, just suppose a murder had been committed in +a room, and you knew it, and heard groanings and mutterings--from +nowhere, just in the air, about you, overhead--what would you do, if +you were inclined to be superstitious?" + +Before I could answer, he had resumed the antics which before I had +found so inexplicable. + +"Cut out and run, I suppose," I replied. "But what has that to do with +the case? The groanings are here--not there. You haven't been able to +get in over there to attach anything, have you? What do you mean?" + +"No," he admitted, "but did you ever hear what you could do with a +microphone, a rheostat, and a small transformer coil if you attached +them properly to a direct-current electric lighting circuit? No? Well, +an amateur with a little knowledge of electricity could do it. The +thing is easily constructed, and the result is a most complicated +matter." + +"Well?" I queried, endeavouring to follow him. + +"The electric arc," he continued, "isn't always just a silent electric +light. You know that. You've heard them make noises. Under the right +conditions such a light can be made to talk--the 'speaking arc,' as +Professor Duddell calls it. In other words, an arc light can be made to +act as a telephone receiver." + +I could hardly believe the thing possible, but Garrick went on +explaining. + +"You might call it the arcophone, I suppose. The scientific fact of the +matter is that the arc is sensitive to very small variations of the +current. These variations may run over a wide range of frequency. That +suggested to Duddell that a direct-current arc might be used as a +telephone receiver. All that you need is to add a microphone current to +the main arc current. The arc reproduces sounds and speech distinctly, +loud enough, even, to be heard several feet away from the light." + +He had cut out the microphone again while he was talking to me. He +switched it in again with the words, "Now, get ready, Tom. Just one +more; then we must hurry around in that car of ours and watch the fun." + +This time he was talking into the microphone. In a most solemn, +sepulchral voice he repeated, "Let the slayer of Rena Taylor beware. +She will be avenged! Beware! It will be a life for a life!" + +Three times he repeated it, to make sure that it would carry. Then, +grabbing up his hat and coat, he dashed out of the room, past the +surprised policeman at the door, and took the steps in front of the +house almost at a bound. + +We hardly had time to enter our own car and reach the corner of +Forty-seventh Street, when the big black automobile which we had +followed uptown shot by almost before the traffic man at the crossing +could signal a clear road. + +"We must hang onto him!" cried Garrick, turning to follow. "Did you +catch a glimpse of his face? It's our man, the go-between, the keeper +of the garage whom they call the Boss. He was as pale as if he had seen +a ghost. I guess he did think he heard one. Between the news-paper fake +and the speaking arc, I think we've got him going. There he is." + +It was an exciting ride, for the man ahead was almost reckless, though +he seemed to know instinctively still just when to put on bursts of +speed and when to slow down to escape being arrested for speeding. We +hung on, managing to keep something less than a couple of blocks behind +him. It was evident that he was making for the ferry uptown across the +river to New Jersey, and, taking advantage of this knowledge, Garrick +was able to drop back a little, and approach the ferry by going down a +different street so that there was no hint yet that we were following +him. + +By judicious jockeying we succeeded in getting on the boat on the +opposite side from the car we were following, and in such a way that we +could get off as soon as he could. We managed to cross the ferry, and, +in the general scramble that attends the landing, to negotiate the hill +on the other side of the river without attracting the attention of the +man in the other car. His one idea seemed to be speed, and he had no +suspicion, apparently, that in his flight he was being followed. + +As we bowled along, forced by circumstances to take the fellow's dust, +Garrick would quietly chuckle now and then to himself. + +"Fancy what he must have thought," he chortled. "First the newspaper +that sent him scurrying up to the gambling place for more news, or to +spread the alarm, and then, while they were sitting about, perhaps +while someone was talking about the strange voices they had already +heard this morning, suddenly the voice from nowhere. Can you blame them +if they thought it was a warning from the grave?" + +Whatever actually had happened in the gambling house, the practical +effect was all that even Garrick could have desired. Hour after hour, +we hung to that car ahead, leaving behind the cities, and passing along +the regular road through town after town. + +Sometimes the road was well oiled, and we would have to drop back a bit +to escape too close observation. Then we would strike a stretch where +it was dry. The clouds of dust served to hide us. On we went until it +was apparent that the man was now headed at least in the direction of +Tuxedo. + +We now passed the boundary between New York state and New Jersey and +soon after that came to the house of Dr. Mead where Warrington had been +convalescing until Garrick's warning had brought him, still half ill, +down to the city to protect Violet Winslow. In fact, the road seemed +replete with interesting reminiscences of the case, for a few miles +back was the spot where Rena Taylor's body had been found, as well as +the garage whence had come the rumour of the blood-stained car. There +was no chance to stop and tell the surprised Dr. Mead just what had +become of his patient and we had to trust that Warrington would explain +his sudden disappearance himself. In fact, Garrick scarcely looked to +either the right or left, so intent was he on not missing for an +instant the car that was leading us in this long chase. + +On we sped, around the bend where Warrington had been held up. It was a +nasty curve, even in the daytime. + +"I think this fellow ahead noticed the place," gritted Garrick, leaning +forward. "He seemed to slow up a bit as he turned. I hope he didn't +notice us as he turned his head back slightly." + +It made no difference, if he did, for, the curve passed, he was +evidently feeding the gas faster than ever. We turned the curve also, +the forward car something more than a quarter of a mile ahead of us. + +"We must take a chance and close up on him," said Garrick, as he, too, +accelerated his speed, not a difficult thing to do with the almost +perfect racer of Warrington's. "He may turn off at a crossroad at any +time, now." + +Still our man kept on, bowling northward along the fine state road that +led to one of the richest parts of the country. + +He came to the attractive entrance to Tuxedo Park. Almost, I had +expected him to turn in. At least I should not have been surprised if +he had done so. + +However, he kept on northward, past the entrance to the Park. We hung +doggedly on. + +Where was he going? I wondered whether Garrick might have been wrong, +after all. Half a mile lengthened into a mile. Still he was speeding on. + +But Garrick had guessed right. Sure enough, at a cross road, the other +car slowed down, then quickly swung around, off the main road. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked Garrick quickly. "If we turn also, +that will be too raw. Surely he'll notice that." + +"Going to stop," cried Garrick, taking in the situation instantly. +"Come on, Tom, jump out. We'll fake a little tire trouble, in case he +should look around and see us stopping here. I'll keep the engine +running." + +We went back and stood ostentatiously by the rear wheel. Garrick bent +over it, keeping his eye fixed on the other car, now perhaps half a +mile along on the narrow crossroad. + +It neared the top of a hill on the other side of the valley across +which the road wound like a thin brown line, then dipped down over the +crest and was lost on the other side. + +Garrick leaped back into our car and I followed. He turned the bend +almost on two wheels, and let her out as we swept down a short hill and +then took the gentle incline on high speed, eating up the distance as +though it had been inches instead of nearly a mile. + +A short distance from the top of the hill, Garrick applied the brake, +just in time so that the top of our car would not be visible to one who +had passed on down the next incline into the valley beyond. + +"Let us walk up the rest of the way," he said quickly, "and see what is +on the other side of this hill." + +We did so cautiously. Far down below us we could see the car which we +had been trailing all the way up from the city, threading its way along +the country road. We watched it, and as we did so, it slowed up and +turned out, running up a sort of lane that led to what looked like a +trim little country estate. + +The car had stopped at an unpretentious house at the end of the lane. +The driver got out and walked up to the back door, which seemed to be +stealthily opened to admit him. + +"Good!" exclaimed Garrick. "At last we are on a hot trail!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE SIEGE OF THE BANDITS + + +As we watched from the top of the hill, I wondered what Garrick's next +move was to be. Surely he would not attempt to investigate the place +yet. In fact, there seemed to be nothing that could be done now, as +long as it was day-light, for any movement in this half-open country +would have been viewed with suspicion by the occupants of the little +house in the valley, whoever they might be. + +We could not help viewing the place with a sort of awe. What secrets +did the cottage hide, nestled down there in the valley among these +green hills? Often I had heard that the gunmen of New York, when hard +pressed, sought refuge in the country districts and mountains within a +few miles of the city. There was something incongruous about it. Nature +seemed so perfectly peaceful here that it was the very antithesis of +those sections of the city in which he had found the gunman, whoever he +was, indulging in practically every crime and vice of decadent +civilization. + +"So--the one they call the Boss has led up to the refuge of the Chief, +the scientific gunman, at last," Garrick exclaimed, with marked +satisfaction, as we turned and walked slowly back again to our car. + +"Yes," I assented, "and now that we have found them--what are we to do +with them?" + +"It is still early in the day," Garrick remarked, looking at his watch. +"They suspect no trouble up here. Here they evidently feel safe. No +doubt they think we are still hunting for them fruitlessly in New York. +I think we can afford to leave them here for a few hours. At any rate, +I feel that I must return to the city. I must see Dillon, and then drop +into my office, if we are to accomplish anything against them." + +He had turned the car around and we made our way back to the main road, +and then southward again, taking up in earnest the long return trip to +the city and covering the distance in Warrington's racer in a much +shorter time, now that we had not to follow another car and keep under +cover. It was late in the afternoon, however, when we arrived and +Garrick went directly to police headquarters where he held a hasty +conference with Dillon. + +Dillon was even more excited than we were when he learned how far we +had gone in tracing out the scant clews that we had uncovered. As +Garrick unfolded his plan, the commissioner immediately began to make +arrangements to accompany us out into the country that night. + +I did not hear all that was said, as Garrick and Dillon laid out their +plans, but I could see that they were in perfect accord. + +"Very well," I overheard Garrick, as we parted. "I shall go out in the +car again. You will be up on the train?" + +"Yes--on the seven-fifty," returned Dillon. "You needn't worry about my +end of it. I'll be there with the goods--just the thing that you want. +I have it." + +"Fine," exclaimed Garrick, "I have to make a call at the office. I'll +start as soon as I can, and try to beat you out." + +They parted in good humour, for Dillon's passion for adventure was now +thoroughly aroused and I doubt if we could have driven him off with a +club, figuratively speaking. + +At the office Garrick tarried only long enough to load the car with +some paraphernalia which he had there, much of which, I knew, he had +brought back with him after his study of police methods abroad. There +were three coats of a peculiar texture, which he took from a wardrobe, +a huge arrangement which looked like a reflector, a little thing that +looked merely like the mouthpiece of a telephone transmitter, and a +large heavy package which might have been anything from a field gun to +a battering ram. + +It was twilight when we arrived at the nearest railroad station to the +little cottage in the valley, after another run up into the country in +the car. Dillon who had come up by train to meet us, according to the +arrangement with Garrick, was already waiting, and with him was one of +the most trustworthy and experienced of the police department +chauffeurs. Garrick looked about at the few loungers curiously, but +there did not seem to be any of them who took any suspicious interest +in new arrivals. + +We four managed to crowd into a car built only for two, and Garrick +started off. A few minutes later we arrived at the top of the hill from +which we had already viewed the mysterious house earlier in the day. It +was now quite dark. We had met no one since turning off into the +crossroad, and could hear no sound except the continuous music of the +night insects. + +Just before crossing the brow of the last hill, we halted and Garrick +turned out all the lights on the car. He was risking nothing that might +lead to discovery yet. With the engine muffled down, we coasted slowly +down the other side of the hill into the shadowy valley. There was no +moon yet and we had to move cautiously, for there was only the faint +light of the sky and stars to guide us. + +What was the secret of that unpretentious little house below us? We +peered out in the gathering blackness eagerly in the direction where we +knew it must be, nestled among the trees. Whoever it sheltered was +still there, and we could locate the place by a single gleam that came +from an upper window. Whether there were lights below, we could not +tell. If there were they must have been effectively concealed by blinds +and shades. + +"We'll stop here," announced Garrick at last when we had reached a +point on the road a few hundred yards from the house. + +He ran the car carefully off the road and into a little clearing in a +clump of dark trees. We got out and pushed stealthily forward through +the underbrush to the edge of the woods. There, on the slope, just a +little way below us, stood the house of mystery. + +Garrick and Dillon were busily conferring in an undertone, as I helped +them bring the packages one after another from the car to the edge of +the woods. Garrick had slipped the little telephone mouthpiece into his +pocket, and was carrying the huge reflector carefully, so that it might +not be injured in the darkness. I had the heavy coats of the peculiar +texture over my arm, while Dillon and his man struggled along over the +uncertain pathway, carrying between them the heavy, long, cylindrical +package, which must have weighed some sixty pounds or so. + +Garrick had selected as the site of our operations a corner of the +grove where a very large tree raised itself as a landmark, silhouetted +in black against a dark sky. We deposited the stuff there as he +directed. + +"Now, Jim," ordered Dillon, walking back to the car with his man, "I +want you to take the car and go back along this road until you reach +the top of the hill." + +I could not hear the rest of the order, but it seemed that he was to +meet someone who had preceded us on foot from the railway station and +who must be about due to arrive. I did not know who or what it might +be, but even the thought of someone else made me feel safer, for in so +ticklish a piece of business as this, in dealing with at least a pair +of desperate men such as we knew them to be in the ominously quiet +little house, a second and even a third line of re-enforcements was +not, I felt, amiss. + +Garrick in the meantime had set to work putting into position the huge +reflector. At first I thought it might be some method of throwing a +powerful light on the house. But on closer examination I saw that it +could not be a light. The reflector seemed to have been constructed so +that in the focus was a peculiar coil of something, and to the ends of +this coil, Garrick attached two wires which he fastened to an +instrument, cylindrical, with a broadened end, like a telephone +receiver. + +Dillon, who had returned by this time, after sending his chauffeur back +on his errand, appeared very much interested in what Garrick was doing. + +"Now, Tom," said Garrick, "while I am fixing this thing, I wish you +would help me by undoing that large package carefully." + +While I was thus engaged, he continued talking with Dillon in a low +voice, evidently explaining to him the use to which he wished the large +reflector put. + +I was working quickly to undo the large package, and as the wrappings +finally came off, I could see that it was some bulky instrument that +looked like a huge gun, or almost a mortar. It had a sort of barrel +that might have been, say, forty inches in length, and where the +breechlock should have been on an ordinary gun was a great +hemispherical cavity. There was also a peculiar arrangement of springs +and wheels in the butt. + +"The coats?" he asked, as he took from the wrappings of the package +several rather fragile looking tubes. + +I had laid them down near us and handed them over to him. They were +quite heavy, and had a rough feel. + +"So-called bullet-proof cloth," explained Garrick. "At close range, +quite powerful lunges of a dagger or knife recoil from it, and at a +distance ordinary bullets rebound from it, flattened. We'll try it, +anyway. It will do no harm, and it may do good. Now we are ready, +Dillon." + +"Wait just a minute," cautioned Dillon. "Let me see first whether that +chauffeur has returned. He can run that engine so quietly that I myself +can't hear it." + +He had disappeared into the darkness toward the road, where he had +despatched the car a few minutes before. Evidently the chauffeur had +been successful in his mission, for Dillon was back directly with a +hasty, "Yes, all right. He's backing the car around so that he can run +it out on the road instantly in either direction. He'll be here in a +moment." + +Garrick had in the meantime been roughly sketching on the back of an +old envelope taken from his pocket. Evidently he had been estimating +the distance of the house from the tree back of which he stood, and +worked with the light of a shaded pocket flashlight. + +"Ready, then," he cried, jumping up and advancing to the peculiar +instrument which I had unwrapped. He was in his element now. After all +the weary hours of watching and preparation, here was action at last, +and Garrick went to it like a starved man at food. + +First he elevated the clumsy looking instrument pointed in the general +direction of the house. He had fixed the angle at approximately that +which he had hastily figured out on the envelope. Then he took a +cylinder about twelve inches long, and almost half as much in diameter, +a huge thing, constructed, it seemed, of a substance that was almost as +brittle as an eggshell. Into the large hemispherical cavity in the +breech of the gun he shoved it. He took another quick look at the light +gleaming from the house in the darkness ahead of us. + +"What is it?" I asked, indicating the "gun." + +"This is what is known as the Mathiot gun," he explained as he brought +it into action, "invented by a French scientist for the purpose, +expressly, of giving the police a weapon to use against the automobile +bandits who entrench themselves, when cornered, in houses and garages, +as they have done in the outskirts of Paris, and as some anarchists did +once in a house in London." + +"What does it do?" asked Dillon, who had taken a great interest in the +thing. + +"It throws a bomb which emits suffocating gases without risking the +lives of the police," answered Garrick. "In spite of the fragility of +the bombs that I have here, it has been found that they will penetrate +a wooden door or even a thin brick partition before the fuse explodes +them. One bomb will render a room three hundred feet off uninhabitable +in thirty seconds. Now--watch!" + +He had exploded the gun by hand, striking the flat head of a hammer +against the fulminating cap. The gun gave a bark. A low, whistling +noise and a crash followed. + +"Too short," muttered Garrick, elevating the angle of the gun a trifle. + +Quite evidently someone was moving in the house. There was a shadow, as +of someone passing between the light in the upper story and the window +on our side of the house. + +Again the gun barked, and another bomb went hurtling through the air. +This time it hit the house squarely. Another followed in rapid +succession, and the crash of glass told that it had struck a window. +Garrick was sending them now as fast as he could. They had taken +effect, too, for the light was out, whether extinguished by gases or by +the hand of someone who realized that it afforded an excellent mark to +shoot at. Still, it made no difference, now, for we had the range. + +"The house must be full of the stifling gases," panted Garrick, as he +stopped to wipe the perspiration from his face, after his rapid work, +clad in the heavy coat. "No man could stand up against that. I wonder +how our friend of the garage likes it, Tom? It is some of his own +medicine--the Chief, I mean. He tried it on us on a small scale very +successfully that night with his stupefying gun." + +"I hope one of them hit him," ground out Dillon, who had no relish even +for the recollection of that night. "What next? Do you have to wait +until the gases clear away before we can make a break and go in there?" + +Garrick had anticipated the question. Already he was buttoning up his +long coat. We did the same, mechanically. + +"No, Dillon. You and Jim stay here," ordered Garrick. "You will get the +signal from us what to do next. Tom, come on." + +He had already dashed ahead into the darkness, and I followed blindly, +stumbling over a ploughed field, then a fence over which we climbed +quickly, and found ourselves in the enclosure where was the house. I +had no idea what we were running up against, but a dog which had been +chained in the rear broke away from his fastening at sight of us, and +ran at us with a lusty and savage growl. Garrick planted a shot +squarely in his head. + +Without wasting time on any formalities, such as ringing the bell, we +kicked and battered in the back door. We paused a moment, not from fear +but because the odor inside was terrific. No one could have stayed in +that house and retained his senses. One by one, Garrick flung open the +windows, and we were forced to stick our heads out every few minutes in +order to keep our own breath. + +From one room to another we proceeded, without finding anyone. Then we +mounted to the second floor. The odour was worse there, but still we +found no one. + +The light on the third floor had been extinguished, as I have said. We +made our way toward the corner where it had been. Room after room we +entered, but still found no one. At last we came to a door that was +locked. Together we wrenched it open. + +There was surely nothing for us to fear in this room, for a bomb had +penetrated it, and had filled it completely. As we rushed in, Garrick +saw a figure sprawled on the floor, near the bed, in the corner. + +"Quick, Tom!" he shouted, "Open that other window. I'll attend to this +man. He's groggy, anyhow." + +Garrick had dropped down on his knees and had deftly slipped a pair of +handcuffs on the unresisting wrists of the man. Then he staggered to my +side at the open window, for air. + +"Heavens--this is awful!" he gasped and sputtered. "I wonder where they +all went?" + +"Who is this fellow?" I asked. + +"I don't know yet. I couldn't see." + +A moment later, together, we had dragged the unconscious man to the +window with us, while I fanned him with my hat and Garrick was wetting +his face with water from a pitcher of ice on the table. + +"Good Lord!" Garrick exclaimed suddenly, as in the fitful light he bent +over the figure. "Do you see who it is?" + +I bent down too and peered more closely. + +It was Angus Forbes. + +Strange to say, here was the young gambler whom we had seen at the +gambling joint before it was raided, the long-lost and long-sought +Forbes who had disappeared after the raid, and from whom no one had yet +heard a word. + +I did not know his story, but I knew enough to be sure that he had been +in love with Violet himself, and, although Warrington had once come to +his rescue and settled thousands of dollars of his gambling debts, was +sore at Warrington for closing the gambling joint where he hoped +ultimately to recoup his losses. More than that, he was probably +equally sore at Warrington for winning the favour of the girl whose +fortune might have settled his own debts, if he had had a free field to +court her. + +Why was Forbes here, I asked myself. The fumes of the bombs from the +Mathiot gun may have got into my head but, at least as far as I could +see, they had not made my mind any the less active. I felt that his +presence here, apparently as one of the gang, explained many things. + +Who, I reasoned, would have been more eager to "get" Warrington at any +cost than he? I never had any love for the fellow, who had allowed his +faults and his temptations so far to get the upper hand of him. I had +felt a sort of pity at first, but the incident of the cancelled markers +in the gambling joint and now the discovery of him here had changed +that original feeling into one that was purely of disgust. + +These thoughts were coursing through my fevered brain while Garrick was +working hard to bring him around. + +Suddenly a mocking voice came from the hall. + +"Yes, it's Forbes, all right, and much good may it do you to have him!" + +The door to the room, which opened outward, banged shut. The lock had +been broken by us in forcing an entrance. There must have been two of +them out in the hall, for we heard the noise and scraping of feet, as +they piled up heavy furniture against the door, dragging it from the +next room before we could do anything. Piece after piece was wedged in +between our door and the opposite wall. + +We could hear them taunt us as they worked, and I thought I recognised +at once the voice of the stocky keeper of the garage, the Boss, whom I +had heard so often before over our detectaphone. The other voice, which +seemed to me to be disguised, I found somewhat familiar, yet I could +not place it. It must have been, I thought, that of the man whom we had +come to know and fear under the appellation of the Chief. + +We could hear them laugh, now, as they cursed us and wished us luck +with our capture. It was galling. + +Evidently, too, they had not much use for Forbes, and, indeed, at such +a crisis I do not think he would have been much more than an additional +piece of animated impedimenta. Dissipation had not added anything to +the physical prowess of Forbes. + +With a parting volley of profanity, they stamped down the narrow stairs +to the ground floor, and a few seconds afterward we could hear them +back of the house, working over the machine which we had followed up +from New York earlier in the day. Evidently there were several machines +in the barn which served them as garage, but this was the handiest. + +They had cranked it up, and were debating which way they should go. + +"The shots came from the direction of the main road," the Boss said. +"We had better go in the opposite direction. There may be more of them +coming. Hurry up!" + +At least, it seemed, there had been only three of them in this refuge +which they had sought up in the hills and valleys of the Ramapos. Of +that we could now be reasonably certain. One of them we had +captured--and had ourselves been captured into the bargain. + +I stuck my head out of the window to look at the other two down below, +only to feel myself dragged unceremoniously back by Garrick. + +"What's the use of taking that risk, Tom?" he expostulated. "One shot +from them and you would be a dead one." + +Fortunately they had not seen me, so intent were they on getting away. +They had now seated themselves in the car and, as Garrick had +suspected, could not resist delivering a parting shot at us, emptying +the contents of an automatic blindly up at our window. Garrick and I +were, as it happened, busy on the opposite side of the room. + +All thought of Forbes was dropped for the present. Garrick said not a +word but continued at work in the corner of the room by the other +broken window. + +"Either they must have succeeded in getting out after the first shot +and so escaped the fumes," muttered Garrick finally, "and hid in the +stable, or, perhaps, they were out there at work anyhow. Still that +makes little difference now. They must have seen us go in, have +followed us quietly, and then caught us here." + +With a hasty final imprecation, the car below started forward with a +jerk and was swallowed up in the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE MAN HUNT + + +Here we were, locked in a little room on the top floor of the +mysterious house. I looked out of both windows. There was no way to +climb down and it was too far to jump, especially in the uncertain +darkness. I threw myself at the door. It had been effectually braced by +our captors. + +Garrick, in the meantime, had lighted the light again, and placed it by +the window. + +Forbes, now partly recovered, was rambling along, and Garrick, with one +eye on him and the other on something which he was working over in the +light, was too busy to pay much attention to my futile efforts to find +a means of escape. + +At first we could not make out what it was that Forbes was trying to +tell us, but soon, as the fresh air in the room revived him, his voice +became stronger. Apparently he recognised us and was trying to offer an +explanation of his presence here. + +"He kidnapped me--brought me here," Forbes was muttering. "Three +days--I've been shut up in this room." + +"Who brought you here?" I demanded sharply. + +"I don't know his name--man at the gambling place--after the raid--said +he'd take me in his car somewhere--from the other place back of +it--last I remember--must have drugged me--woke up here--all I know." + +"You've been a prisoner, then?" I queried. + +"Yes," he murmured. + +"A likely story," I remarked, looking questioningly at Garrick who had +been listening but had not ceased his own work, whatever it was. "What +are you going to do, Guy? We can't stay here and waste time over such +talk as this while they are escaping. They must be almost to the road +now, and turning down in the opposite direction from Dillon and his +man." + +Garrick said nothing. Either he was too busy solving our present +troubles or he was, like myself, not impressed by Forbes' incoherent +story. He continued to adjust the little instrument which I had seen +him draw from his pocket and now recognised as the thing which looked +like a telephone transmitter. Only, the back of it seemed to gleam with +a curious brightness under the rays of the light, as he handled it. + +"They have somehow contrived to escape the effect of the bombs," he was +saying, "and have surprised us in the room on the top floor where the +light is. We are up here with a young fellow named Forbes, whom we have +captured. He's the young man that I saw several times at the gambling +joint and was at dinner with Warrington the night when the car was +stolen. He was pretty badly overcome by the fumes, but I've brought him +around. He either doesn't know much or won't tell what he knows. That +doesn't make any difference now, though. They have escaped in a car. +They are leaving by the road. Wait. I'll see whether they have reached +it yet. No, it's too dark to see and they have no light on the car. But +they must have turned. They said they were going in the direction +opposite from you." + +"Well?" I asked, mystified. "What of it? I know all that, already." + +"But Dillon doesn't," replied Garrick, in great excitement now. "I knew +that we should have to have some way of communicating with him +instantly if this fellow proved to be as resourceful as I believed him +to be. So I thought of the radiophone or photophone of Dr. Alexander +Graham Bell. I have really been telephoning on a beam of light." + +"Telephoning on a beam of light?" I repeated incredulously. + +"Yes," he explained, feeling now at liberty to talk since he had +delivered his call for help. "You see, I talk into this transmitter. +The simplest transmitter for this purpose is a plane mirror of flexible +material, silvered mica or microscope glass. Against the back of this +mirror my voice is directed. In the carbon transmitter of the telephone +a variable electrical resistance is produced by the pressure on the +diaphragm, based on the fact that carbon is not as good a conductor of +electricity under pressure as when not. Here, the mouthpiece is just a +shell supporting a thin metal diaphragm to which the mirror on the back +is attached, an apparatus for transforming the air vibrations produced +by the voice into light vibrations of the projected beam, which is +reflected from this light here in the room. The light reflected is thus +thrown into vibrations corresponding to those in the diaphragm." + +"And then?" I asked impatiently. + +"That varying beam of light shoots out of this room, and is caught by +the huge reflector which you saw me set up at the foot of that tall +tree which you can just see against the dark sky over there. That +parabolic mirror gathers in the scattered rays, focusses them on the +selenium cell which you saw in the middle of the reflector, and that +causes the cell to vary the amount of electric current passing through +it from a battery of storage cells. It is connected with a very good +telephone receiver. Every change in the beam of light due to the +vibrations of my voice is caught by that receiving mirror, and the +result is that the diaphragm in the receiver over there which Dillon is +holding to his ear responds. The thing is good over several hundred +yards, perhaps miles, sometimes. Only, I wish it would work both ways. +I would like to feel sure that Dillon gets me." + +I looked at the simple little instrument with a sort of reverence, for +on it depended the momentous question of whether we should be released +in time to pursue the two who were escaping in the automobile. + +"You'll have to hurry," continued Garrick, speaking into his +transmitter. "Give the signal. Get the car ready. Anything, so long as +it is action. Use your own judgment." + +There he was, flashing a message out of our prison by an invisible ray +that shot across the Cimmerian darkness to the point where we knew that +our friends were waiting anxiously. I could scarcely believe it. But +Garrick had the utmost faith in the ability of the radiophone to make +good. + +"They MUST have started by this time," he cried, craning his neck out +of the window and looking in every direction. + +Forbes was still rambling along, but Garrick was not paying any +attention to him. Instead, he began rummaging the room for possible +evidence, more for something to do than because he hoped to find +anything, while we were waiting anxiously for something to happen. + +An exclamation from Garrick, however, brought me to his side. Tucked +away in a bureau drawer under some soiled linen that plainly belonged +to Forbes, he drew out what looked like a single blue-steel tube about +three inches long. At its base was a hard-rubber cap, which fitted +snugly into the palm of the hand as he held it. His first and middle +fingers encircled the barrel, over a steel ring. A pull downward and +the thing gave a click. + +"Good that it wasn't loaded," Garrick remarked. "I knew what the thing +was, all right, but I didn't think the spring was as delicate as all +that. It is a new and terrible weapon of destruction of human life, one +that can be carried by the thug or the burglar and no one be the wiser, +unless he has occasion to use it. It is a gun that can be concealed in +the palm of the hand. A pull downward on that spring discharges a +thirty-two calibre, centre fire cartridge. The most dangerous feature +of it is that the gun can be carried in an upper vest pocket as a +fountain pen, or in a trousers pocket as a penknife." + +I looked with added suspicion now, if not a sort of respect, on the +young man who was tossing, half conscious, on the bed. Was he, after +all, not the simple, gullible Forbes, but a real secret master of crime? + +Garrick, keen though he had been over the discovery, was in reality +much more interested just now in the result of his radiophone message. +What would be the outcome? + +I had been startled to see that almost instantly after his second call +over the radiophone there seemed to rise on all sides of us lights and +the low baying of dogs. + +"What's all that?" I asked Garrick. + +"Dillon had a dozen or so police dogs shipped up here quietly," +answered Garrick, now straining his eyes and ears eagerly. "He started +them out each in charge of an officer as soon as they arrived. I hope +they had time to get around in that other direction and close in. That +was what he sent the chauffeur back to see about, to make sure that +they were placed by the man who is the trainer of the pack." + +"What kind of dogs are they?" + +"Some Airedales, but mostly Belgian sheep dogs. There is one in the +pack, Cherry, who has a wonderful reputation. A great deal depends, +now, on our dog-detectives." + +"But," I objected, "what good will they be? Our men are in an +automobile." + +"We thought of that," replied Garrick confidently. "Here they are, at +last," he cried, as a car swung up the lane from the road and stopped +with a rush under our window. He leaned out and shouted, "Dillon--up +here--quick!" + +It was Dillon and his chauffeur, Jim. A moment later there was a +tremendous shifting and pulling of heavy pieces of furniture in the +hall, and, as the door swung open, the honest face of the commissioner +appeared, inquiring anxiously if we were all right. + +"Yes, all right," assured Garrick. "Come on, now. There isn't a minute +to lose. Send Jim up here to take charge of Forbes. I'll drive the car +myself." + +Garrick accomplished in seconds what it takes minutes to tell. The +chauffeur had already turned the car around and it was ready to start. +We jumped in, leaving him to go upstairs and keep the manacled Forbes +safely. + +We gained the road and sped along, our lights now lighted and showing +us plainly what was ahead. The dust-laden air told us that we were +right as we turned into the narrow crossroad. I wondered how we were +ever going to overtake them after they had such a start, at night, too, +over roads which were presumably familiar to them. + +"Drive carefully," shouted Dillon soon, "it must be along here, +somewhere, Garrick." + +A moment before we had been almost literally eating the dust the car +ahead had raised. Garrick slowed down as we approached a bend in the +road. + +There, almost directly in our path, stood a car, turned half across the +road and jammed up into a fence. I could scarcely believe it. It was +the bandit's car--deserted! + +"Good!" exclaimed Dillon as Garrick brought our own car to a stop with +a jerk only a few feet away. + +I looked about in amazement, first at the empty car and then into the +darkness on either side of the road. For the moment I could not explain +it. Why had they abandoned the car, especially when they had every +prospect of eluding us in it? + +They had not been forced to turn out for anybody, for no other vehicle +had passed us. Was it tire trouble or engine trouble? I turned to the +others for an explanation. + +"I thought it must be about here," cried Dillon. "We had one of my men +place an obstruction in the road. They didn't run into it, which shows +clever driving, but they had to turn so sharply that they ran into the +fence. I guess they realised that there was no use in turning and +trying to go back." + +"They have taken to the open country," shouted Garrick, leaping up on +the seat of our car and looking about in a vain endeavour to catch some +sign of them. + +All was still, save here and there the sharp, distant bark of a dog. + +"I wonder which way they went?" he asked, looking down at us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE POLICE DOG + + +Dillon pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew a short blast sharply. +Far down the road, we could hear faintly an answering bark. It came +nearer. + +"They're taught to obey a police whistle and nothing else," remarked +Dillon, with satisfaction. "I wonder which one of the dogs that was. By +the way, just keep out of sight as much as you can--get back up in our +car. They are trained to worry anyone who hasn't a uniform. I'll take +this dog in charge. I hope it's Cherry. She ought to be around here, if +the men obeyed my orders. The others aren't keen on a scent even when +it is fresh, but Cherry is a dandy and I had the man bring her up +purposely." + +We got back into our car and waited impatiently. Across the hills now +and then we could catch the sounds of dogs scouting around here and +there. It seemed as if every dog in the valley had been aroused. On the +other slope of the hill from the main road we could see lights in the +scattered houses. + +"I doubt whether they have gone that way," commented Garrick following +my gaze. "It looks less settled over here to the right of the road, in +the direction of New York." + +The low baying of the dog which had answered Dillon's call was growing +nearer every moment. At last we could hear it quite close, at the +deserted car ahead. + +Cherry seemed to have many of the characteristics of the wild, +prehistoric animal, among them the full, upright ears of the wild dog, +which are such a great help to it. She was a fine, alert, up-standing +dog, hardy, fierce, and literally untiring, of a tawny light brown like +a lioness, about the same size and somewhat of the type of the +smooth-coated collie, broad of chest and with a full brush of tail. + +Untamed though she seemed, she was perfectly under Dillon's control, +and rendered him absolute and unreasoning obedience. + +"Now, Cherry, nice dog," we heard Dillon encouraging, "Here, up here. +And here." + +He was giving the dog the scent from the deserted car. His voice rang +out sharply in the night air, "Come on Garrick and Marshall. She's got +it. I've got her on leash. Follow along, now, just a few feet behind." + +Cherry was on the trail and it was a hot one. We could just see her +magnificent head, narrow and dome-like, between the keen ears. She was +working like a regular sleuthhound, now, too, slowly, picking up the +trail and following it, baying as she went. + +She was now going without a halt or falter. Nose to the ground, she had +leaped from the bandit's car and made straight across a field in the +direction that Garrick had suspected they would take, only a little to +the west. + +"This is a regular, old-fashioned man hunt," called back Dillon, as we +followed the dog and himself, as best we could. + +It was pitch dark, but we plunged ahead over fields and through little +clumps of trees, around hedges, and over fences. + +There was no stopping, no cessation of the deep baying of the dog. +Cherry was one of the best and most versatile that the police had ever +acquired and trained. + +We came to the next crossroad, and the dog started up in the direction +of the main road, questing carefully. + +We had gone not a hundred feet when a dark object darted out of the +bushes at the side of the road, and I felt myself unceremoniously +tumbled off my feet. + +Garrick leaped aside, with a laugh. + +"Dillon," he shouted ahead at the top of his voice, "one of the +Airedales has discovered Marshall. Come back here. Lie still, Tom. The +dog is trained to run between the legs and trip up anyone without a +police uniform. By Jupiter--here's another one--after me. Dillon--I +say--Dillon!" + +The commissioner came back, laughing at our plight, and called off the +dogs, who were now barking furiously. We let him get a little ahead, +calling the Airedales to follow him. They were not much good on the +scent, but keen and intelligent along the lines of their training, and +perfectly willing to follow Dillon, who was trusting to the keen sense +of Cherry. + +A little further down, the fugitives had evidently left the road after +getting their bearings. + +"They must have heard the dogs," commented Garrick. "They are doubling +on their tracks, now, and making for the Ramapo River in the hope of +throwing the dogs off the scent. That's the game. It's an old trick." + +We came, sure enough, in a few minutes to the river. That had indeed +been their objective point. Cherry was baffled. We stuck close to +Dillon, after our previous experience, as we stopped to talk over +hastily what to do. + +Had they gone up or down, or had they crossed? There was not much time +that we could afford to lose here in speculation if we were going to +catch them. + +Cherry was casting backward in an instinctive endeavour to pick up the +trail. Dillon had taken her across and she had not succeeded in finding +the scent on the opposite bank for several hundred yards on either side. + +"They started off toward the southwest," reasoned Garrick quickly. +"Then they turned in this direction. The railroads are over there. Yes, +that is what they would make for. Dillon," he called, "let us follow +the right bank of the river down this way, and see if we can't pick +them up again." + +The river was shallow at this point, but full of rocks, which made it +extremely hard, if not dangerous, to walk even close to the bank in the +darkness. "I don't think they'd stand for much of this sort of going," +remarked Garrick. "A little of it would satisfy them, and they'd strike +out again." + +He was right. Perhaps five minutes later, after wading in the cold +water, clinging as close to the bank as we could, we came to a sort of +rapids. Cherry, who had been urged on by Dillon, gave a jerk at her +leash, as she sniffed along the bank. + +"She has it," cried Garrick, springing up the bank after Dillon. + +I followed and we three men and three dogs struck out again in earnest +across country. + +We had come upon a long stretch of woods, and the brambles and thick +growth made the going exceedingly difficult. Still, if it was hard for +us now, it must have been equally hard for them as they broke through +in the first place. + +At last we came to the end of the woods. The trail was now fresher than +ever, and Dillon had difficulty in holding Cherry back so that the rest +of us could follow. As we emerged from the shadow of the trees into the +open field, it seemed as if guns were blazing on all sides of us. + +We were almost up with them. They had separated and were not half a +mile away, firing at random in our direction, as they heard the dogs. +Dillon drew up, Cherry tugging ahead. He turned to the Airedales. They +had already taken in the situation, and were now darting ahead at what +they could see, if not scent. + +I felt a "ping!" on my chest. I scarcely realized what it was until I +heard something drop the next instant in the stubble at my feet, and +felt a smarting sensation as if a sharp blow had struck me. I bent down +and from the stubble picked up a distorted bullet. + +"These bullet-proof coats are some good, anyhow, at a distance," +remarked Garrick, close beside me, as he took the bullet from my +fingers. "Duck! Back among the trees--until we get our bearings!" + +Another bullet had whizzed just past his arm as he spoke. + +We dodged back among the trees, and slowly skirted the edge of the +wood, where it bent around a little on the flank of the position from +which the continuous firing was coming. + +At the edge we stopped again. We could go no further without coming out +into the open, and the moon, just rising, above the trees, made us an +excellent mark under such conditions. Garrick peered out to determine +from just where they were firing. + +"Lucky for us that we had these coats," he muttered, "or they would +have croaked us, before we knew it. These are our old friends, the +anaesthetic bullets, too. Even a little scratch from one of them and we +should be hors de combat for an hour or two." + +"Shall we take a chance?" urged Dillon. + +"Just a minute," cautioned Garrick, listening. + +The barking of the Airedales had ceased suddenly. Cherry was straining +at her leash to go. + +"They have winged the two dogs," exclaimed Garrick. "Yes--we must try +it now--at any cost." + +We broke from the cover, taking a chance, separating as much as we +could, and pushing ahead rapidly, Dillon under his breath keeping +Cherry from baying as much as possible. + +I had expected a sharp fusillade to greet us as we advanced and +wondered whether the coats would stand it at closer range. Instead, the +firing seemed to have ceased altogether. + +A quick dash and we had crossed the stretch of open field that +separated us from a dark object which now loomed up, and from behind +which it seemed had come the firing. As we approached, I saw it was a +shed beside the railroad, which was depressed at this point some twelve +or fifteen feet. + +"They kept us off just long enough," exclaimed Garrick, glancing up at +the lights of the block signals down the road. "They must be desperate, +all right. Why, they must have jumped a freight as it slowed down for +the curve, or perhaps one of them flagged it and held it up. See? The +red signal shows that a train has just gone through toward New York. +There is no chance to wire ahead, either, from this Ducktown siding. +Here's where they stood--look!" + +Garrick had picked up a handful of exploded cartridge shells, while he +was speaking. They told a mute story of the last desperate stand of the +gunmen. + +"I'll keep these," he said, shoving them into his pocket. "They may be +of some use later on in connecting to-night's doings with what has gone +before." + +We looked at each other blankly. There was nothing more to do that +night but to return to the now deserted house in the valley where we +had left Forbes in charge of Dillon's man. + +Toilsomely and disgusted, we trudged back in silence. + +Garrick, however, refused to be discouraged. Late as it was, he +insisted on making a thorough search of the captured house. It proved +to be a veritable arsenal. Here it seemed that all the new and deadly +weapons of the scientific gunman had been made. The barn, turned into +half garage and half workshop, was a mine of interest. + +We found it unlocked and entered, Garrick flashing a light about. + +"There's a sight that would do McBirney's eyes good," he exclaimed as +he bent the rays of the light before us. + +Before us, in the back of the barn, stood Warrington's stolen car--at +last. + +"They won't plot anything more--at least not up here," remarked +Garrick, bending over it. + +In the house, we found Jim still with Forbes, who was now completely +recovered. In the possession of his senses, Forbes' tongue which the +anaesthetic gases seemed to have loosened, now became suddenly silent +again. But he stuck doggedly to his story of kidnapping, although he +would not or could not add anything to it. Who the kidnapper was he +swore he did not know, except that he had known his face well, by +sight, at the gambling joint. + +I could make nothing of Forbes. But of one thing I was sure. Even if we +had not captured the scientific gunman, we had dealt him a severe and +crushing blow. Like Garrick, I had begun to look upon the escape +philosophically. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE FRAME-UP + + +Although I felt discouraged on our return to the city, the morning +following our exciting adventure at the mysterious house in the Ramapo +valley, Garrick, who never let anything ruffle him long, seemed quite +cheerful. + +"Cheer up, Tom," he encouraged. "We are on the home stretch now." + +"Perhaps--if they don't beat us to the tape," I answered +disconsolately. "What are you going to do next?" + +"While you were snatching a little sleep, I was rummaging around and +found a number of letters in a table drawer, up there. One was a note, +evidently to the garage keeper, and signed merely, 'Chief.' I'll wager +that the handwriting is the same as that in the blackmailing letter to +Miss Winslow." + +"What of it?" I asked, refusing to be comforted. "We haven't got him +and the prospects--" + +"No, we haven't got him," interrupted Garrick, "but the note was just a +line to tell the Boss, who seemed to have been up there in the country +at the time, to meet the Chief at 'the Joint,' on Second Avenue." + +I nodded, but before I could speak, he added, "It didn't say any more, +but I think I know the place. It is the old International Cafe, a +regular hang-out for crooks, where they come to gamble away the +proceeds of their crimes in stuss, the great game of the East Side, +now. Anyhow, we'll just drop into the place. We may not find them, but +we'll have an interesting time. Then, there is the possibility of +getting a strangle hold on someone, anyhow." + +Garrick was evidently figuring on having driven our gunman back into +the haunts of the underworld. + +There seemed to be no other course that presented itself and therefore, +rather than remain inactive until something new turned up, I consented +to accompany him in his excursion. + +Forbes, still uncommunicatively protesting that he would say nothing +until he had an opportunity to consult a lawyer, had been taken down to +New York by Dillon during the morning and was lodged in a West Side +prison under a technical charge which was sufficient to hold him until +Garrick could investigate his case and fix his real status. + +We had taken a cross-town car, with the intention of looking over the +dive where Garrick believed the crooks might drop in. The ride itself +was uninteresting, but not so by any means the objective point of our +journey. + +Over on the East Side, we found the International Cafe, and slouched +into the back room. It was not the room devoted to stuss, but the +entrance to it, which Garrick informed me was through a heavy door +concealed in a little hallway, so that its very existence would not be +suspected except by the initiate. + +We made no immediate attempt to get into the hang-out proper, which was +a room perhaps thirty feet wide and seventy feet deep. Instead, we sat +down at one of the dirty, round tables, and ordered something from the +waiter, a fat and oily Muscowitz in a greasy and worn dinner coat. + +It seemed that in the room where we were had gathered nearly every +variety of the populous underworld. I studied the men and women at the +tables curiously, without seeming to do so. But there could be no +concealment here. Whatever we might be, they seemed to know that we +were not of them, and they greeted us with black looks and now and then +a furtive scowl. + +It was not long, however, before it became evident that in some way +word had been passed that we were not mere sightseers. Perhaps it was +by a sort of wireless electric tension that seemed to pervade the air. +At any rate, it was noticeable. + +"There's no use staying here," remarked Garrick to me under his breath, +affecting not to notice the scowls, "unless we do something. Are you +game for trying to get into the stuss joint?" + +He said it with such determination to go himself that I did not refuse. +I had made up my mind that the only thing to do was to follow him, +wherever he went. + +Garrick rose, stretched himself, yawned as though bored, and together +we lounged out into the public hall, just as someone from the outside +clamoured for admission to the stuss joint through the strong door. + +The door had already been opened, when Garrick deftly inserted his +shoulder. Through the crack in the door, I could see the startled +roomful of players of all degrees in crookdom, in the thick, curling +tobacco smoke. + +The man at the door called out to Garrick to get out, and raised his +arm to strike. Garrick caught his fist, and slowly with his powerful +grip bent it back until the man actually writhed. As his wrist went +back by fractions of an inch, his fingers were forced to relax. I knew +the trick. It was the scientific way to open a clenched fist. As the +tendons refused to stretch any farther, his fingers straightened, and a +murderous looking blackjack clattered to the floor. + +All was confusion. Money which was on the various tables disappeared as +if by magic. Cards were whisked away as if a ghost had taken them. In a +moment there was no more evidence of gambling than is afforded by any +roomful of men, so easy was it to hide the paraphernalia, or, rather, +lack of paraphernalia of stuss. + +It was the custom, I knew, for criminals, after they had made a haul to +retire into such places as these stuss parlors, not only to spend the +proceeds of their robberies, but for protection. Even though they were +unmercifully fleeced by the gamblers, they might depend on them to warn +of the approach of the "bulls" and if possible count on being hidden or +spirited off to safety. + +Apparently we had come just at a time when there were some criminals in +hiding among the players. It was the only explanation I could offer of +the strange action that greeted our simple attempt to gain admission to +the stuss room. Whether they were criminals who had really made a haul +or mere fugitives from justice, I could not guess. But that a warning +had been given the man at the door to be on his guard, seemed evident +from the manner in which we had been met. + +There was a rush of feet in the room. I expected that we would be +overwhelmed. Instead, as together we pushed on the now half-open door, +the room emptied like a sieve. Whoever it might be who had taken refuge +there had probably disappeared, among the first, by tacit understanding +of the rest, for the whole thing had the air of being run off according +to instructions. + +"It's a collar!" had sounded through the room, the moment we had +appeared at the door, and it was now empty. + +I wondered whether the letter which Garrick had found might not, after +all, have brought us straight to the last resort of those whom we +sought. + +"Where have they gone?" I panted, as the door opened at last, and we +found only one man in the place. + +There he stood apparently ready to be arrested, in fact courting it if +we could show the proper authority, since he knew that it would be only +a question of hours when he would be out again and the game would be +resumed, in full blast. + +The man shook his head blankly in answer to my question. + +"There must be a trap door somewhere," cried Garrick. "It is no use to +find it. They are all on the street by this time. Quick--before anyone +catches us in the rear." + +We had been not a moment too soon in gaining the street. Though we had +done nothing but attempt to get into the stuss room, ostensibly as +players, the crowd in the cafe was pressing forward. + +On the street, we saw men filing quickly from a cellar, a few doors +down the block. We mingled with the excited crowd in order to cover +ourselves. + +"That must have been where the trap door and passage led," whispered +Garrick. + +A familiar figure ducked out of the cellar, surrounded by others, and +the crowd made for two taxicabs standing on the opposite side of the +street near a restaurant which was really not a tough joint but made a +play at catering to people from uptown who wanted a taste of near-crime +and did not know when they were being buncoed. + +Another cab swung up to the stand, just as the first two pulled away. +Its sign was up: "Vacant." + +Quick as a flash, Garrick was in it, dragging me after him. The driver +must have thought that we, too, were escaping, for he needed only one +order from Garrick to leap ahead in the wake of the cabs which had +already started. + +A moment later, Garrick's head was out of the window. He had drawn his +revolver and was pegging away at the tires of the cabs ahead. An +answering shot came back to us. Meanwhile, a policeman at a corner +leaped on a passing trolley and urged the motorman to put on the full +power in a vain effort to pursue us as we swept by up the broad avenue. + +Even the East Side, accustomed to frequent running fights on the +streets between rival gunmen and gangs, was roused by such an outburst. +The crack of revolver shots, the honking of horns, the clang of the +trolley bell, and the shouts of men along the street brought hundreds +to the windows, as the cars lurched and swayed up the avenue. + +The cars ahead swerved to dodge a knot of pedestrians, but their pace +never slackened. Then the rearmost of the two began to buck and almost +leap off the roadway. There came a rattle and roar from the rear wheels +which told that the tires had been punctured and that the heavy wheels +were riding on their rims, cutting the deflated tubes. At a cross +street the first car turned, just in time to avoid a truck, and dodged +down a maze of side streets, but the second ran squarely into the truck. + +As the first car disappeared we caught a glimpse of a man leaning out +of it. He seemed to be swinging something around and around at arm's +length. Suddenly he let it go and it shot high up in the air on the +roof of a tenement house. + +"The automobile is the most dangerous weapon ever used by criminals," +muttered Garrick, as the first car shot down through a mass of trucking +which had backed up and shifted, making pursuit momentarily more +impossible for us. "These people know how to use the automobile, too. +But we've got someone here, anyhow," he cried, leaping out and pushing +aside the crowd that had collected about the wrecked car. + +In the bottom of it we found a man, stunned and crumpled into a heap. +Blood flowed from his arm where one of the bullets had struck him. +Several bullets had struck the back of the cab and both tires were cut +by them. + +As I came up and looked over Garrick's shoulder at the prostrate and +unconscious figure in the car, I could not restrain an exclamation of +surprise. + +It was the garage keeper, the Boss--at last! + +Policemen had come up in the meantime, and several minutes were +consumed while Garrick proved to them his identity. + +"What was that thing the fellow in the forward car whirled over his +head?" I whispered. + +"A revolver, I think," returned Garrick. "That's a favourite trick of +the gunmen. With a stout cord tied to a gun you can catapult it far +enough to destroy the evidence that will hold you under the Sullivan +law, at least. I mean to get that gun as soon as we are through with +this fellow here." + +Someone had turned in a call for an ambulance which came jangling up +soon after, and we stood in a group close to the young surgeon as he +worked to bring around the captured gangster. + +"Where's the Chief?" he mumbled, dazed. + +Garrick motioned to us to be quiet. + +The man rambled on with a few inconsequential remarks, then opened his +eyes, caught sight of the white coated surgeon working over him, of us +standing behind, and of the crowd about him. + +Memory of what had happened flitted back to him. With an effort he was +himself again, close-mouthed, after the manner of the gangsters. + +The surgeon had done all in his power and the man was sufficiently +recovered to be taken to the hospital, now, under arrest. As far as we +were concerned, our work was done. The Boss could be found now, at any +time that we needed him, but that he would speak all the traditions of +gangland made impossible. + +I wondered what Garrick would do. As for myself, I had no idea what +move to make. + +It surprised me, therefore, to see him with a smile of satisfaction on +his face. + +"I'll see you this afternoon, Tom," he said merely, as the ambulance +bore the wounded Boss away. "Meanwhile, I wish you'd take the time to +go over to headquarters and give Dillon our version of this affair. +Tell him to hold to-night open, too. I have a little work to do this +afternoon, and I'll call him up later." + +Dillon, I found, was overjoyed when I reported to him the capture of at +least one man whom we had failed to get the night before. + +"Things seem to be clearing up, after all," he remarked. "Tell Garrick +I shall hold open to-night for him. Meanwhile, good luck, and let me +know the moment you get any word about the Chief. He must have been in. +that first cab, all right." + +As I left Dillon's office, I ran into Herman in the hall, coming in. I +bowed to him and he nodded surlily. Evidently, I thought, he had heard +of the result of our activities. I did not ask him what progress he had +made in the case, for I had had experience with professional jealousy +before, and thought that the less said on the subject the better. + +Recalling what Garrick had said, I curbed my impatience as best I +could, in order to give him ample time to complete the work that he had +to do. It was not until the middle of the afternoon that I rejoined him +in his office. + +I found him at work at a table, still, with a microscope and an +arrangement which I recognised as the apparatus for making +microphotographs. Several cartridges, carefully labelled, were lying +before him, as well as the peculiar pistol we had found when we had +captured Forbes in the little room. There were also the guns we had +captured in the garage and one found in the cab which we had chased and +wrecked. + +On the end of the table was a large number of photographs of a most +peculiar nature. I picked up one. It looked like an enlarged photograph +of an orange, or like some of the pictures which the astronomers make +of the nearer planets. + +"What are these?" I asked curiously, as he leaned back from his work, +with a smile of quiet satisfaction. + +"That is a collection of microphotographs which I have gathered," he +answered, adding, "as well as some that I have just made. I hope to use +them in a little stereopticon entertainment I am arranging to-night for +those who have been interested in the case." + +Garrick smiled. "Have you ever heard?" he asked, "that the rounded end +of the firing pin of every rifle when it is examined under a microscope +bears certain irregularities of marking different from those of every +other firing pin and that the primer of every shell fired in a rifle is +impressed with the particular markings of that firing pin?" + +I had not, but Garrick went on, "I know that it is true. Such markings +are distinctive for each rifle and can be made by no other. I have +taken rifles bearing numbers preceding and following that of a +particular one, as well as a large number of other firing pins. I have +tried the rifles and the firing pins, one by one, and after I made +microphotographs of the firing pins with special reference to the +rounded ends and also photographs of the corresponding rounded +depressions in the primers fired by them, it was forced upon me that +cartridges fired by each individual firing pin could be positively +identified." + +I had been studying the photographs. It was a new idea, and it appealed +to me strongly. "How about revolvers?" I asked quickly. + +"Well, Dr. Balthazard, the French criminologist, has made experiments +on the identification of revolver bullets and has a system that might +be compared to that of Bertillon for identifying human beings. He has +showed by greatly enlarged photographs that every gun barrel leaves +marks on a bullet and that the marks are always the same for the same +barrel but never identical for two different barrels. He has shown that +the hammer of a revolver, say a centre fire, strikes the cartridge at a +point which is never the exact centre of the cartridge, but is always +the same for the same weapon. He has made negatives of bullets nearly a +foot wide. Every detail appears very distinctly and it can be decided +with absolute certainty whether a certain bullet or cartridge was fired +by a certain revolver." + +He had picked up one of the microphotographs and was looking at it +attentively through a small glass. + +"You will see," he explained, "on the edge of this photograph a rough +sketch calling attention to a mark like an L which is the chief +characteristic of this hammer, although there are other detailed +markings which show well under the microscope but not in a photograph. +You will note that the marks on a hammer are reversed on the primer in +the same way that a metal type and the character printed by it are +reversed as regards one another. Moreover, depressions on the end of a +hammer become raised on the primer and raised markings on the hammer +become depressions on the primer. + +"Now, here is another. You can see that it is radically different from +the first, which was from the cartridge used in killing poor Rena +Taylor. This second one is from that gun which I found on the tenement +roof this morning. It lacks the L mark as well as the concentric +circles. Here is another. Its chief characteristics are a series of +pits and elevations which, examined under the microscope and measured, +will be found to afford a set of characters utterly different from +those of any other hammer. + +"In short," he concluded with an air of triumph, "the ends of firing +pins are turned and finished in a lathe by the use of tools designed +for that purpose. The metal tears and works unevenly so that +microscopical examination shows many pits, lines, circles, and +irregularities. The laws of chance are as much against two of these +firing pins or hammers having the same appearance under the microscope +as they are against the thumb prints of two human subjects being +identical." + +I picked up the curious little arrangement which we had found in the +drawer in Forbes' room and examined it closely. + +"I have been practicing with that pistol, if you may call it that," he +remarked, "on cartridges of my own and examining the marks made by the +peculiar hammer. I have studied marks of the gun which we found on the +roof. I have compared them with the marks on cartridges which we have +picked up at the finding of Rena Taylor's body, at the garage that +night of the stupefying bullet, with bullets such as were aimed at +Warrington, with others, both cartridges and bullets, at various times, +and the conclusion is unescapable." + +Who, I asked myself, was the scientific gunman? I knew it was useless +to try to hurry Garrick. First, by a sort of intuition he had picked +him out, then by the evidence of hammer and bullet he had made it +practically certain. But I knew that to his scientific mind nothing but +absolute certainty would suffice. + +While I was waiting for him to proceed, he had already begun to work on +some apparatus behind a screen at the end of his office. Close to the +wall at the left was a stereopticon which, as nearly as I could make +out, shot a beam of light through a tube to a galvanometer about three +feet distant. In front of this beam whirled a five-spindled wheel +governed by a chronometer which was so accurate, he said, that it erred +only a second a day. + +Between the poles of the galvanometer was stretched a slender thread of +fused quartz plated with silver. It was the finest thread I could +imagine, only a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter, far too tenuous +to be seen. Three feet further away was a camera with a moving plate +holder which carried a sensitized photographic plate. Its movement was +regulated by a big fly-wheel at the extreme right. + +"You see," remarked Garrick, now engrossed on the apparatus and +forgetting the hammer evidence for the time, "the beam of light +focussed on that fine thread in the galvanometer passes to this +photographic plate. It is intercepted by the five spindles of the +wheel, which turns once a second, thus marking the picture off in exact +fifths of a second. The vibrations of the thread are enormously +magnified on the plate by a lens and produce a series of wavy or zigzag +lines. I have shielded the sensitized plate by a wooden hood which +permits no light to strike it except the slender ray that is doing the +work. The plate moves across the field slowly, its speed regulated by +the fly-wheel. Don't you think it is neat and delicate? All these +movements are produced by one of the finest little electric motors I +ever saw." + +I could not get the idea of the revolvers out of my head so quickly. I +agreed with him, but all I could find to say was, "Do you think there +was more than this one whom they call the Chief engaged in the +shootings?" + +"I can't say absolutely anything more than I have told you, yet," he +answered in a tone that seemed to discourage further questioning along +that line. + +He continued to work on the delicate apparatus with its thread +stretched between the stationary magnets of the galvanometer, a thread +so delicate that it might have been spun by a microscopic spider, so +light that no scales made by human hands could weigh it, so slender +that the mind could hardly grasp it. It was about one-third the +diameter of a red corpuscle of blood and its weight had been estimated +as about .00685 milligrams, truly a fairy thread. It was finer than the +most delicate cobweb and could be seen with the naked eye only when a +strong light was thrown on it so as to catch the reflection. + +"All I can say is," he admitted, "that the bullets which committed this +horrible series of crimes have been proven all to be shot from the same +gun, presumably, I think I shall show, by the same hand, and that hand +is the same that wrote the blackmailing letter." + +"Whose gun was it?" I asked. "Was there a way to connect it and the +bullets and the cartridges with the owner--four things, all +separated--and then that owner with the curious and tragic succession +of events that had marked the case since the theft of Warrington's car?" + +Garrick had apparently completed his present work of adjusting the +delicate apparatus. He was now engaged on another piece which also had +a powerful light in it and an attachment which bore a strong +resemblance to a horn. + +He paused a moment, regarding me quizzically. "I think you'll find it +sufficiently novel to warrant your coming, Tom," he added. "I have +already invited Dillon and his man, Herman, over the telephone just +before you came in. McBirney will be there, and Forbes, of course. +He'll have to come, if I want him. By the way, I wish you'd get in +touch with Warrington and see how he is. If it is all right, tell him +that I'd like to have him escort Miss Winslow and her aunt here, +to-night. Meanwhile I shall find out how our friend the Boss is getting +on. He ought to be here, at any cost, and I've put it off until +to-night to make sure that he'll be in fit condition to come. To-night +at nine--here in this office--remember," he concluded gayly. "In the +meantime, not a word to anybody about what you have seen here this +afternoon." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE SCIENTIFIC GUNMAN + + +Our little audience arrived one by one, and, as master of ceremonies, +it fell to me to greet them and place them as much at ease as the +natural tension of the occasion would permit. Garrick spoke a word or +two to each, but was still busy putting the finishing touches on the +preparations for the "entertainment," as he called it facetiously, +which he had arranged. + +"Before I put to the test a rather novel combination which I have +arranged," began Garrick, when they had all been seated, "I want to say +a few words about some of the discoveries I have already made in this +remarkable case." + +He paused a moment to make sure that he had our attention, but it was +unnecessary. We were all hanging eagerly on his words. + +"There is, I believe," he resumed slowly, "no crime that is ever +without a clew. The slightest trace, even a drop of blood no larger +than a pin-head, may suffice to convict a murderer. So may a single +hair found on the clothing of a suspect. In this case," he added +quickly, "it is the impression made by the hammer of a pistol on the +shell of a cartridge which leads unescapably to one conclusion." + +The idea was so startling that we followed Garrick's every word as if +weighted with tremendous importance, as indeed it was in the clearing +up of this mysterious affair. + +"I have made a collection from time to time," he pursued, "of the +various exploded cartridges, the bullets, and the weapons left behind +by the perpetrator of the dastardly series of crimes, from the shooting +of the stool pigeon of the police, Rena Taylor, and the stealing of Mr. +Warrington's car, down to the peculiar events of last night up in the +Ramapos and the running fight through the streets of New York in +taxicabs this morning. + +"I have studied this evidence with the microscope and the +microphotographic apparatus. I have secured excellent microphotographs +of the marks made by various weapons on the cartridges and bullets. +Taking those used in the commission of the greater crimes in this +series, I find that the marks are the same, apparently, whether the gun +shot off a bullet of wax or tallow which became liquid in the body, +whether it discharged a stupefying gas, or whether the deadly +anaesthetic bullet was fired. I have obtained a gun"--he threw it on +the table with a clang--"the marks from the hammer of which correspond +with the marks made on all the cartridges I have mentioned. One person +owned that gun and used it. That is proved. It remains only to connect +that gun positively and definitely, as a last link, with that person." + +I noticed with a start that the revolver still had a stout cord tied to +it. + +As he concluded, Garrick had begun fitting a curious little device to +each of our forearms. It looked to me like an electrode consisting of +large plates of German silver, covered with felt and saturated with +salt solution. From each electrode wires ran across the floor to some +hidden apparatus. + +"Back of this screen," he went on, indicating it in the corner of the +room, "I have placed what is known as the string galvanometer, +invented, or, perhaps better, perfected by Dr. Einthoven, of Leyden. It +was designed primarily for the study of the beating of the heart in +cases of disease, but it also may be used to record and study emotions +as well,--love and hate, fear, joy, anger, remorse, all are revealed by +this uncanny, cold, ruthlessly scientific instrument. + +"The machine is connected by wires to each of you, and will make what +are called electrocardiographs, in which every emotion, every +sentiment, every passion is recorded inevitably, inexorably. For, the +electric current that passes from each of you to the machine over these +wires carrying the record of the secrets of your hearts is one of the +feeblest currents known to science. Yet it can be caught and measured. +The dynamo which generates this current is not a huge affair of steel +castings and endless windings of copper wire. It is merely the heart of +the sitter. + +"The heart makes only one three-thousandth of a volt of electricity at +each beat. It would take thousands of hearts to light one electric +light, hundreds of thousands to run one trolley car. Yet just that +slight little current from the heart is enough to sway a gossamer +strand of quartz fibre in what I may call my 'heart station' here. This +current, as I have told you, passes from each of you over a wire and +vibrates a fine quartz fibre in unison with it, one of the most +delicate bits of mechanism ever made, recording the result on a +photographic film by means of a beam of light reflected from a delicate +mirror." + +We sat spellbound as Garrick unfolded the dreadful, awe-inspiring +possibilities of the machine behind the screen. He walked slowly to the +back of the room. + +"Now, here I have one of the latest of the inventions of the Wizard of +West Orange--Edison," he resumed. "It is, as you perhaps have already +guessed, the latest product of this genius of sound and sight, the +kinetophone, the machine that combines moving pictures with the talking +machine." + +A stranger stepped in from an outer office. He was the skilled operator +of the kinetophone, whom Garrick had hired. In a few terse sentences he +explained that back of a curtain which he pulled down before us was a +phonograph with a megaphone, that from his booth behind us he operated +the picture films, and that the two were absolutely synchronized. + +A moment later a picture began to move on the screen. Sounds and voices +seemed to emerge as if from the very screen itself. There, before us, +we saw a gambling joint operating in full blast. It was not the +Forty-eighth Street resort. But it was strongly reminiscent of it. From +the talking machine proceeded all the noises familiar to such a scene. + +Garrick had moved behind the screen that cut off our view of the +galvanometer. One after another, he was studying the emotions of each +of his audience. + +Suddenly the scene changed. A door was burst in, cards and gambling +paraphernalia were scattered about and hidden, men rushed to escape, +and the sounds were much like those on the night of the raid. Garrick +was still engrossed in the study of what the galvanometer was showing. + +The film stopped. Without warning, the operator started another. It was +a group of men and women playing cards. A man entered, and engaged in +conversation with one of the women who was playing. They left the room. + +The next scene was in an entirely different room. But the connection +which was implied with the last scene was obvious. Different actors +entered the room, a man and a woman. There was a dispute--there was a +crack of a revolver--and the woman fell. People rushed in. Everything +was done to hide the crime. The girl was carried out into a waiting +automobile, propped in as if overcome by alcohol and whisked away. I +found myself almost looking to see if the car was of the make of +Warrington's, so great was the impression the scene made on me. Of +course it was not, but it all seemed so real that one might be pardoned +for expecting the impossible, especially when her body was thrown, with +many a muttered imprecation, by the roadside, and in the last picture +the man was cleaning the exploded gun. One single still picture +followed. It was a huge, enlarged cartridge. + +I followed the thing with eager eyes and ears. From a long list of +canned and reeled plays, Garrick had selected here and there such +scenes and acts as, interspersed with a few single, original pictures +of his own, like the cartridge, would serve best to recapitulate the +very case which we had been investigating. It carried me along step by +step, wonderfully. + +Another moving and talking picture was under way. This time it seemed +to be a race between two automobiles. They were tearing along, and the +sound of the rapidly working cylinders was most real. The rearmost was +rapidly overhauling that in front. Imagine our surprise as it crept up +on the other to see the driver rise, whip out a pistol, and fire point +blank at the other as he dashed ahead, and the picture stopped. + +A suppressed scream escaped Violet Winslow. It was too much like what +had happened to Mortimer Warrington for her to repress the shudder that +swept over her, and an involuntary movement toward him to make sure +that it was not real. + +Still Garrick did not move from his post at the galvanometer. He was +taking no chances. He had us thrilled, tense, and he meant to take +advantage to the full in reading the truth in the dramatic situation he +had so skilfully created. + +Another picture started almost on the heels of the last. It was of the +robbery of a safe. Then came another, a firebug at work in starting a +conflagration. We could hear the crackling of flames, the shouts of the +people, the clang of bells, and the hasty tread of the firemen as they +advanced and put out the blaze. The film play was one of those which +never fail to attract, where the makers had gone to the utmost extent +of realism and had actually set fire to a house to get the true effect. + +The next was a scene from a detective play, pure and simple, in which +that marvellous little instrument which had served us in such good +stead in this case was played up strongly, the detectaphone. Then +followed a scene from another play in which a young girl was kidnapped +and rescued by her lover just in the nick of time. Nothing could have +been selected to arouse the feelings of the little audience to a higher +pitch. + +The last of the series, which I knew was to be a climax, was not an +American picture. It was quite evidently made in Paris and was from +actual life. I myself had been startled when the title was announced by +the voice and on the screen simultaneously, "The Siege of the Motor +Bandits by the Paris Police." + +It was terrific. It began with the shouts of the crowd urging on the +police, the crack of revolvers and guns from a little house or garage +in the suburbs, the advance and retreat of the gendarmes on the +stronghold. Back and forth the battle waged. One could hear the sharp +orders of the police, the shrill taunts of the bandits, the sounds of +battle. + +Then at a point where the bandits seemed to have beaten off the attack +successfully, there came an automobile. From it I could see the police +take an object which I now knew must be a Mathiot gun. The huge thing +was set up and carefully aimed. Then with a dull roar it was fired. + +We could see the bomb hurtling through the air, see it strike the +little house with a cloud of smoke and dust, hear the report of the +explosion, the shouts of dismay of the bandits--then silence. A cry +went up from the crowd as the police now pressed forward in a mass and +rushed into the house, disclosing the last scene--in which the bandits +were suffocated. + +The film suddenly stopped. Garrick's office, which had been ringing +with firearms and shouts from the kinetophone, was again silent. It was +an impressive silence, too. No one of us but had felt and lived the +whole case over again in the brief time that the talking movies had +been shown. + +The lights flashed up, and before we realised that the thing was over, +Garrick was standing before us, holding in his hand a long sheet of +paper. The look on his face told plainly that his novel experiment had +succeeded. + +"I may say," he began, still studying the paper in his hand, although I +knew he must have arrived at his conclusion already or he would never +have quitted his "heart station," so soon, "I may say that some time +ago a letter was sent to Miss Winslow purporting to reveal some of Mr. +Warrington's alleged connections and escapades. It is needless to say +that as far as the accusations were concerned he was able to meet them +all adequately and, as for the innuendoes, they were pure baseless +fabrications. The sender was urged on to do it by someone else who also +had an interest of another kind in placing Mr. Warrington in a bad +light with Miss Winslow. But the sender soon realised his mistake. The +fact that he was willing to go to the length of a dangerous robbery +accompanied by arson in order to get back or destroy the letter showed +how afraid he was to have a sample of his handwriting fall into my +hands. He blundered, but even then he did not realise how badly. + +"For, in certain cases the handwriting shows a great deal more than +would be recognised even by the ordinary handwriting expert. This +letter showed that the writer was, as I have already explained to Mr. +Marshall, the victim of a peculiar kind of paralysis which begins to +show itself in nerve tremours for days before the attack and exhibits +itself even in the handwriting. + +"Now, my string galvanometer shows not only the effects of these moving +and talking pictures on the emotions, but also, as it was really +designed to do, the state of the heart with reference to normality. It +shows to me plainly the effect of disease on the heart, even if it is +latent in the subject. While I have been using the psychological law of +suggestion, and have been recapitulating as well as I was able under +the circumstances the whole story of the crime briefly in moving and +talking pictures, I have found, in addition, that the same heart which +shows the emotions I expected also shows the disease which I discovered +in the blackmailing letter. + +"There was surprise at the sight of the gambling den, rage at the raid, +fear at the murder of the girl in the other den and the disposal of her +body, excitement over the racing motor cars, passion over the +kidnapping of the girl, anger over the little detectaphone, and panic +at the siege of the bandits, as I showed by the selection of the films +that I was getting closer and closer to the truth. And there was the +same abnormality of the heart exhibited throughout." + +Garrick paused. I scarcely breathed, nor did I move my eyes, which were +riveted on his face. What was he going to reveal next? Was he going to +accuse someone in the room? + +"Mr. Marshall," he resumed with a smile toward me, "I am glad to say is +quite normal and innocent of all wrongdoing--in this instance," he +added with a momentary flash of humour. "Commissioner Dillon also +passes muster. Mr. Warrington--I shall come back to, later." + +I thought Violet Winslow gave a little, startled gasp. She turned +toward him, anyhow, and I saw that not even science now could shake her +faith in him. + +"Mr. Forbes," he continued, speaking rapidly as I bent forward to catch +every word, "incriminated himself quite sufficiently in connection with +the gambling joint, the raid and the slanderous letter, so that I +should advise him when this case comes to trial to tell the whole truth +and nothing but the truth about his helping a gunman in order to +further what proved a hopeless love affair on his own part. Here, too, +is a little vest-pocket gun that was found under such circumstances as +would be likely to connect Forbes in the popular mind with the +shootings." + +"My lawyer has my statement about that. I'll read--" + +"No, Forbes," interrupted Garrick. "You needn't read. Your lawyer may +be interested to add this to the statement, however. A pistol that has +been shot off has potassium sulphide from the powder in the barrel. +Later, it oxidizes and iron oxide is found. This weapon has neither the +sulphide nor the oxide, as far as I can determine. It has never even +been discharged. No, it was not the pistol found on Forbes that figured +in this case. + +"As far as that new-fangled gun goes, Forbes, it was a frame-up. You +were kidnapped by a man whom you thought was your friend, and it was +done for a purpose. He knew the situation you were in, your jealousy--I +won't dwell on that here. He held you at the house up in the valley. +You told the truth about that. He did it, the man who wrote the letter, +because he hoped ultimately to shift all the guilt on you and himself +go scot-free." + +Forbes stared dumbly. I knew he had known what was coming but had held +back for fear of what he knew had always happened to informers in the +circle to which he had sunk. + +"McBirney," continued Garrick, "your emotions, mostly astonishment, +show that you have much to learn in this new business of modern +detection, besides the recovery of stolen cars." + +Garrick had paused for effect again. + +"And now we come to the keeper of a nighthawk garage on the West Side, +a man whom they seem to call the Boss. That is getting higher up. I +find that he points, according to this scientific third degree, to one +whom I have for a long time suspected--" + +A dull thud startled us. + +I turned. A man was lying, face down, on the floor. + +Before any of us could reach him, Garrick concluded, "This is the man +who framed up the case against Forbes, who stole Warrington's car to +use to get rid of the body of the informer, Rena Taylor, because she by +her success interfered with his gambling graft, who wrote the letter to +Miss Winslow to injure Warrington because he, too, was interfering with +his graft collection from the gambling house by threatening to close it +up. He committed the arson to cover up his identity by getting back the +letter; he planned and nearly executed the kidnapping of Miss Winslow +in order to hold up Warrington, and then hid in the country where we +ferreted him out, not far from the very scene of a murderous attack on +Warrington for his brave stand in suppressing gambling--from which this +man was weekly shaking down a huge profit as the price of police +protection of the vice." + +Garrick was kneeling by the prostrate form now, not so much the accuser +as the scientist, studying a new phase of crime. + +The threatened paralysis had struck Inspector Herman sooner than even +Garrick had expected. + +When we had made Herman as comfortable as we could, Garrick added to +Dillon, who stood over us, speechless, "You had under you one of the +strong links in the secret system of police protection of vice and +crime, and you never knew it--the greatest grafter and scientific +gunman that I ever knew. It has been a long, hard fight. But I have the +goods on him at last." + +The exposure was startling in the extreme. Herman had gained for +himself the reputation of being one of the shrewdest and most efficient +men in the department. But he had felt the lure of graft. With the aid +of the gamblers and unscrupulous politicians he had built up a huge, +secret machine for collection of the profits from the sale of police +protection against the enforcement of the law he was sworn to uphold. + +He had begun to mix with doubtful characters. But he was a genius and +had become, by degrees, the worst of the gangmen and gunmen who ever +operated in the metropolis. Detailed to catch the gamblers and +gangsters, with official power to do almost as he pleased, he had +enjoyed a fine holiday and employed his leisure both for new crimes and +in covering up so successfully his tracks in the old ones, even with +Garrick on his trail, that he had been able to completely hoodwink his +superior, Dillon, by his long, detailed reports which sounded very +convincing but which really meant nothing. + +As the strange truth of the case was established by Garrick, Dillon was +the most amazed of us all. He had trusted Herman, and the revulsion of +feeling was overwhelming. + +"And to think," he exclaimed, in disgust, "that I actually placed his +own case in his own hands, with carte blanche instructions to go ahead. +No wonder he never produced a clew that amounted to anything. Well, +I'll be--" + +Words failed him, as he looked down and glared savagely at the man in +silence. + +All were now crowding around Garrick eager to thank him for what he had +done. As Warrington, now almost his former hearty wholesome self again, +grasped Garrick's hand in the heartiness of his thanks, Garrick, with +the electrocardiogram paper still in his other hand, smiled. + +He released himself and turned to touch the dainty little hand of +Violet Winslow, whose eyes were so full of happy tears that she could +scarcely speak. + +"Miss Winslow," he beamed, gazing earnestly and admiringly into her +sweet face, "I promised to attend to the case of that man later,--" he +added, with a nod at Warrington. "It may interest you to know +scientifically what you already know by something that is greater than +science, a woman's intuition." + +She blushed as he added, "Mr. Warrington has a good, strong, healthy +heart. He wouldn't be alive to-day if he hadn't. But, more than that, I +have observed throughout the evening that he has hardly taken his eyes +off you. Even the 'talkies' and the 'movies' failed to stir him until +the kidnapping scene overwhelmed him. Here on this strip of paper I +have a billet-doux. His heart registers the current that only that +consummate electrician, little Dan Cupid, can explain." + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Guy Garrick, by Arthur B. Reeve + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUY GARRICK *** + +***** This file should be named 5163.txt or 5163.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/6/5163/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Guy Garrick + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5163] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 24, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GUY GARRICK *** + + + + +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + +THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES + +GUY GARRICK + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + + +WITH FRONTISPIECE + + + + CONTENTS + + I. The Stolen Motor + + II. The Murder Car + + III. The Mystery of the Thicket + + IV. The Liquid Bullet + + V. The Blackmailer + + VI. The Gambling Den + + VII. The Motor Bandit + + VIII. The Explanation + + IX. The Raid + + X. The Gambling Debt + + XI. The Gangster's Garage + + XII. The Detectaphone + + XIII. The Incendiary + + XIV. The Escape + + XV. The Plot + + XVI. The Poisoned Needle + + XVII. The Newspaper Fake + +XVIII. The Vocaphone + + XIX. The Eavesdropper Again + + XX. The Speaking Arc + + XXI. The Siege of the Bandits + + XXII. The Man Hunt + +XXIII. The Police Dog + + XXIV. The Frame-Up + + XXV. The Scientific Gunman + + + + +An Adventure in the New Crime Science + + +CHAPTER I + +THE STOLEN MOTOR + + +"You are aware, I suppose, Marshall, that there have been +considerably over a million dollars' worth of automobiles stolen +in this city during the past few months?" asked Guy Garrick one +night when I had dropped into his office. + +"I wasn't aware of the exact extent of the thefts, though of +course I knew of their existence," I replied. "What's the matter?" + +"If you can wait a few moments," he went on, "I think I can +promise you a most interesting case--the first big case I've had +to test my new knowledge of crime science since I returned from +abroad. Have you time for it?" + +"Time for it?" I echoed. "Garrick, I'd make time for it, if +necessary." + +We sat for several moments, in silence, waiting. + +I picked up an evening paper. I had already read it, but I looked +through it again, to kill time, even reading the society notes. + +"By Jove, Garrick," I exclaimed as my eye travelled over the page, +"newspaper pictures don't usually flatter people, but just look at +those eyes! You can fairly see them dance even in the halftone." + +The picture which had attracted my attention was of Miss Violet +Winslow, an heiress to a moderate fortune, a debutante well known +in New York and at Tuxedo that season. + +As Garrick looked over my shoulder his mere tone set me wondering. + +"She IS stunning," he agreed simply. "Half the younger set are +crazy over her." + +The buzzer on his door recalled us to the case in hand. + +One of our visitors was a sandy-haired, red-mustached, stocky man, +with everything but the name detective written on him from his +face to his mannerisms. + +He was accompanied by an athletically inclined, fresh-faced young +fellow, whose clothes proclaimed him to be practically the last +word in imported goods from London. + +I was not surprised at reading the name of James McBirney on the +detective's card, underneath which was the title of the Automobile +Underwriters' Association. But I was more than surprised when the +younger of the visitors handed us a card with the simple name, +Mortimer Warrington. + +For, Mortimer Warrington, I may say, was at that time one of the +celebrities of the city, at least as far as the newspapers were +concerned. He was one of the richest young men in the country, and +good for a "story" almost every day. + +Warrington was not exactly a wild youth, in spite of the fact that +his name appeared so frequently in the headlines. As a matter of +fact, the worst that could be said of him with any degree of truth +was that he was gifted with a large inheritance of good, red, +restless blood, as well as considerable holdings of real estate in +various active sections of the metropolis. + +More than that, it was scarcely his fault if the society columns +had been busy in a concerted effort to marry him off--no doubt +with a cynical eye on possible black-type headlines of future +domestic discord. Among those mentioned by the enterprising +society reporters of the papers had been the same Miss Violet +Winslow whose picture I had admired. Evidently Garrick had +recognized the coincidence. + +Miss Winslow, by the way, was rather closely guarded by a duenna- +like aunt, Mrs. Beekman de Lancey, who at that time had achieved a +certain amount of notoriety by a crusade which she had organized +against gambling in society. She had reached that age when some +women naturally turn toward righting the wrongs of humanity, and, +in this instance, as in many others, humanity did not exactly +appreciate it. + +"How are you, McBirney?" greeted Garrick, as he met his old +friend, then, turning to young Warrington, added: "Have you had a +car stolen?" + +"Have I?" chimed in the youth eagerly, and with just a trace of +nervousness. "Worse than that. I can stand losing a big nine- +thousand-dollar Mercedes, but--but--you tell it, McBirney. You +have the facts at your tongue's end." + +Garrick looked questioningly at the detective. + +"I'm very much afraid," responded McBirney slowly, "that this +theft about caps the climax of motor-car stealing in this city. Of +course, you realize that the automobile as a means of committing +crime and of escape has rendered detection much more difficult to- +day than it ever was before." He paused. "There's been a murder +done in or with or by that car of Mr. Warrington's, or I'm ready +to resign from the profession!" + +McBirney had risen in the excitement of his revelation, and had +handed Garrick what looked like a discharged shell of a cartridge. + +Garrick took it without a word, and turned it over and over +critically, examining every side of it, and waiting for McBirney +to resume. McBirney, however, said nothing. + +"Where did you find the car?" asked Garrick at length, still +examining the cartridge. "We haven't found it," replied the +detective with a discouraged sigh. + +"Haven't found it?" repeated Garrick. "Then how did you get this +cartridge--or, at least why do you connect it with the +disappearance of the car?" + +"Well," explained McBirney, getting down to the story, "you +understand Mr. Warrington's car was insured against theft in a +company which is a member of our association. When it was stolen +we immediately put in motion the usual machinery for tracing +stolen cars." + +"How about the police?" I queried. + +McBirney looked at me a moment--I thought pityingly. "With all +deference to the police," he answered indulgently, "it is the +insurance companies and not the police who get cars back--usually. +I suppose it's natural. The man who loses a car notifies us first, +and, as we are likely to lose money by it, we don't waste any time +getting after the thief." + +"You have some clew, then?" persisted Garrick. + +McBirney nodded. + +"Late this afternoon word came to me that a man, all alone in a +car, which, in some respects tallied with the description of +Warrington's, although, of course, the license number and color +had been altered, had stopped early this morning at a little +garage over in the northern part of New Jersey." + +Warrington, excited, leaned forward and interrupted. + +"And, Garrick," he exclaimed, horrified, "the car was all stained +with blood!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MURDER CAR + + +Garrick looked from one to the other of his visitors intently. +Here was an entirely unexpected development in the case which +stamped it as set apart from the ordinary. + +"How did the driver manage to explain it and get away?" he asked +quickly. + +McBirney shook his head in evident disgust at the affair. + +"He must be a clever one," he pursued thoughtfully. "When he came +into the garage they say he was in a rather jovial mood. He said +that he had run into a cow a few miles back on the road, and then +began to cuss the farmer, who had stung him a hundred dollars for +the animal." + +"And they believed it?" prompted Garrick. + +"Yes, the garage keeper's assistant swallowed the story and +cleaned the car. There was some blood on the radiator and hood, +but the strange part was that it was spattered even over the rear +seat--in fact, was mostly in the rear." + +"How did he explain that?" + +"Said that he guessed the farmer who stung him wouldn't get much +for the carcass, for it had been pretty well cut up and a part of +it flung right back into the tonneau." + +"And the man believed that, too?" + +"Yes; but afterward the garage keeper himself was told. He met the +farmer in town later, and the farmer denied that he had lost a +cow. That set the garage keeper thinking. And then, while they +were cleaning up the garage later in the day, they found that +cartridge where the car had been washed down and swept out. We had +already advertised a reward for information about the stolen car, +and, when he heard of the reward, for there are plenty of people +about looking for money in that way, he telephoned in, thinking +the story might interest us. It did, for I am convinced that his +description of the machine tallies closely with that of Mr. +Warrington's." + +"How about the man who drove it?" cut in Garrick. + +"That's the unfortunate part of it," replied McBirney, chagrined. +"These amateur detectives about the country rarely seem to have +any foresight. Of course they could describe how the fellow was +dressed, even the make of goggles he wore. But, when it came to +telling one feature of his face accurately, they took refuge +behind the fact that he kept his cap pulled down over his eyes, +and talked like a 'city fellow.'" + +"All of which is highly important," agreed Garrick. "I suppose +they'd consider a fingerprint, or the portrait parle the height of +idiocy beside that." + +"Disgusting," ejaculated McBirney, who, whatever his own +limitations might be, had a wholesome respect for Garrick's new +methods. + +"Where did you leave the car?" asked Garrick of Warrington. "How +did you lose it?" + +The young man seemed to hesitate. + +"I suppose," he said at length, with a sort of resigned smile, +"I'll have to make a clean breast of it." + +"You can hardly expect us to do much, otherwise," encouraged +Garrick dryly. "Besides, you can depend on us to keep anything you +say confidential." + +"Why," he began, "the fact is that I had started out for a mild +little sort of celebration, apropos of nothing at all in +particular, beginning with dinner at the Mephistopheles +Restaurant, with a friend of mine. You know the place, perhaps-- +just on the edge of the automobile district and the white lights." + +"Yes," encouraged Garrick, "near what ought to be named 'Crime +Square.' Whom were you with?" + +"Well, Angus Forbes and I were going to dine together, and then +later we were to meet several fellows who used to belong to the +same upperclass club with us at Princeton. We were going to do a +little slumming. No ladies, you understand," he added hastily. + +Garrick smiled. + +"It may not have been pure sociology," pursued Warrington, good- +humouredly noticing the smile, "but it wasn't as bad as some of +the newspapers might make it out if they got hold of it, anyhow. I +may as well admit, I suppose, that Angus has been going the pace +pretty lively since we graduated. I don't object to a little flyer +now and then, myself, but I guess I'm not up to his class yet. But +that doesn't make any difference. The slumming party never came +off." + +"How?" prompted Garrick again. + +"Angus and I had a very good dinner at the Mephistopheles--they +have a great cabaret there--and by and by the fellows began to +drop in to join us. When I went out to look for the car, which I +was going to drive myself, it was gone." + +"Where did you leave it?" asked McBirney, as if bringing out the +evidence. + +"In the parking space half a block below the restaurant. A +chauffeur standing near the curb told me that a man in a cap and +goggles--" + +"Another amateur detective," cut in McBirney parenthetically. + +"--had come out of the restaurant, or seemed to do so, had spun +the engine, climbed in, and rode off--just like that!" + +"What did you do then?" asked Garrick. "Did you fellows go +anywhere?" + +"Oh, Forbes wanted to play the wheel, and went around to a place +on Forty-eighth Street. I was all upset about the loss of the car, +got in touch with the insurance company, who turned me over to +McBirney here, and the rest of the fellows went down to the Club." + +"There was no trace of the car in the city?" asked Garrick, of the +detective. + +"I was coming to that," replied McBirney. "There was at least a +rumour. You see, I happen to know several of the police on fixed +posts up there, and one of them has told me that he noticed a car, +which might or might not have been Mr. Warrington's, pull up, +about the time his car must have disappeared, at a place in Forty- +seventh Street which is reputed to be a sort of poolroom for +women." + +Garrick raised his eyebrows the fraction of an inch. + +"At any rate," pursued McBirney, "someone must have been having a +wild time there, for they carried a girl out to the car. She +seemed to be pretty far gone and even the air didn't revive her-- +that is, assuming that she had been celebrating not wisely but too +well. Of course, the whole thing is pure speculation yet, as far +as Warrington's car is concerned. Maybe it wasn't his car, after +all. But I am repeating it only for what it may be worth." + +"Do you know the place?" asked Garrick, watching Warrington +narrowly. + +"I've heard of it," he admitted, I thought a little evasively. + +Then it flashed over me that Mrs. de Lancey was leading the +crusade against society gambling and that that perhaps accounted +for Warrington's fears and evident desire for concealment. + +"I know that some of the faster ones in the smart set go there +once in a while for a little poker, bridge, and even to play the +races," went on Warrington carefully. "I've never been there +myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if Angus could tell you all +about it. He goes in for all that sort of thing." + +"After all," interrupted McBirney, "that's only rumour. Here's the +point of the whole thing. For a long time my Association has been +thinking that merely in working for the recovery of the cars we +have been making a mistake. It hasn't put a stop to the stealing, +and the stealing has gone quite far enough. We have got to do +something about it. It struck me that here was a case on which to +begin and that you, Garrick, are the one to begin it for us, while +I carry on the regular work I am doing. The gang is growing bolder +and more clever every day. And then, here's a murder, too, in all +likelihood. If we don't round them up, there is no limit to what +they may do in terrorizing the city." + +"How does this gang, as you call it, operate?" asked Garrick. + +"Most of the cars that are stolen," explained McBirney, "are taken +from the automobile district, which embraces also not a small +portion of the new Tenderloin and the theatre district. Actually, +Garrick, more than nine out of ten cars have disappeared between +Forty-second and Seventy-second Streets." + +Garrick was listening, without comment. + +"Some of the thefts, like this one of Warrington's car," continued +McBirney, warming up to the subject, "have been so bold that you +would be astonished. And it is those stolen cars, I believe, that +are used in the wave of taxicab and motor car robberies, hold-ups, +and other crimes that is sweeping over the city. The cars are +taken to some obscure garage, without doubt, and their identity is +destroyed by men who are expert in the practice." + +"And you have no confidence in the police?" I inquired cautiously, +mindful of his former manner. + +"We have frequently had occasion to call on the police for +assistance," he answered, "but somehow or other it has seldom +worked. They don't seem to be able to help us much. If anything is +done, we must do it. If you will take the case, Garrick, I can +promise you that the Association will pay you well for it." + +"I will add whatever is necessary, too," put in Warrington, +eagerly. "I can stand the loss of the car--in fact, I don't care +whether I ever get it back. I have others. But I can't stand the +thought that my car is going about the country as the property of +a gunman, perhaps--an engine of murder and destruction." + +Garrick had been thoughtfully balancing the exploded shell between +his fingers during most of the interview. As Warrington concluded, +he looked up. + +"I'll take the case," he said simply. "I think you'll find that +there is more to it than even you suspect. Before we get through, +I shall get a conviction on that empty shell, too. If there is a +gunman back of it all, he is no ordinary fellow, but a scientific +gunman, far ahead of anything of which you dream. No, don't thank +me for taking the case. My thanks are to you for putting it in my +way." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE MYSTERY OF THE THICKET + + +"You know my ideas on modern detective work," Garrick remarked to +me, reflectively, when they had gone. + +I nodded assent, for we had often discussed the subject. + +"There must be something new in order to catch criminals, +nowadays," he pursued. "The old methods are all right--as far as +they go. But while we have been using them, criminals have kept +pace with modern science." + +I had met Garrick several months before on the return trip from +abroad, and had found in him a companion spirit. + +For some years I had been editing a paper which I called "The +Scientific World," and it had taxed my health to the point where +my physician had told me that I must rest, or at least combine +pleasure with business. Thus I had taken the voyage across the +ocean to attend the International Electrical Congress in London, +and had unexpectedly been thrown in with Guy Garrick, who later +seemed destined to play such an important part in my life. + +Garrick was a detective, young, university bred, of good family, +alert, and an interesting personality to me. He had travelled +much, especially in London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, where he +had studied the amazing growth abroad of the new criminal science. + +Already I knew something, by hearsay, of the men he had seen, +Gross, Lacassagne, Reiss, and the now immortal Bertillon. Our +acquaintance, therefore, had rapidly ripened into friendship, and +on our return, I had formed a habit of dropping in frequently on +him of an evening, as I had this night, to smoke a pipe or two and +talk over matters of common interest in his profession. + +He had paused a moment in what he was saying, but now resumed, +less reflectively, "Fortunately, Marshall, the crime-hunters have +gone ahead faster than the criminals. Now, it's my job to catch +criminals. Yours, it seems to me, is to show people how they can +never hope to beat the modern scientific detective. Let's strike a +bargain." + +I was flattered by his confidence. More than that, the idea +appealed to me, in fact was exactly in line with some plans I had +already made for the "World," since our first acquaintance. + +And so it came about that the case brought to him by McBirney and +young Warrington was responsible for clearing our ideas as to our +mutual relationship and thus forming this strange partnership that +has existed ever since. + +"Tom," he remarked, as we left the office quite late, after he had +arranged affairs as if he expected to have no time to devote to +his other work for several days, "come along and stay with me at +my apartment to-night. It's too late to do anything now until to- +morrow." + +I accepted his invitation without demur, for I knew that he meant +it, but I doubt whether he slept much during the night. Certainly +he was up and about early enough the following morning. + +"That's curious," I heard him remark, as he ran his eye hastily +over the first page of the morning paper, "but I rather expected +something of the sort. Read that in the first column, Tom." + +The story that he indicated had all the marks of having been +dropped into place at the last moment as the city edition went to +press in the small hours of the night. + +It was headed: + +GIRL'S BODY FOUND IN THICKET + +The despatch was from a little town in New Jersey, and, when I saw +the date line, it at once suggested to me, as it had to Guy, that +this was in the vicinity that must have been traversed in order to +reach the point from which had come the report of the bloody car +that had seemed to tally with the description of that which +Warrington had lost. It read: + +"Hidden in the underbrush, not ten feet from one of the most +travelled automobile roads in this section of the state, the body +of a murdered girl was discovered late yesterday afternoon by a +gang of Italian labourers employed on an estate nearby. + +"Suspicion was at first directed by the local authorities at the +labourers, but the manner of the finding of the body renders it +improbable. Most of them are housed in some rough shacks up the +road toward Tuxedo and were able to prove themselves of good +character. Indeed, the trampled condition of the thicket plainly +indicates, according to the local coroner, that the girl was +brought there, probably already dead, in an automobile which drew +up off the road as far as possible. The body then must have been +thrown where it would be screened from sight by the thick growth +of trees and shrubbery. + +"There was only one wound, in the chest. It is, however, a most +peculiar wound, and shows that a terrific force must have been +exerted in order to make it. A blow could hardly have accomplished +it, so jagged were its edges, and if the girl had been struck by a +passing high-speed car, as was at first suggested, there is no way +to account for the entire lack of other wounds which must +naturally have been inflicted by such an accident. + +"Neither is the wound exactly like a pistol or gunshot wound, for, +curiously enough, there was no mark showing the exit of a bullet, +nor was any bullet found in the body after the most careful +examination. The local authorities are completely mystified at the +possible problems that may arise out of the case, especially as to +the manner in which the unfortunate girl met her death. + +"Until a late hour the body, which is of a girl perhaps twenty- +three or four, of medium height, fair, good looking, and stylishly +dressed, was still unidentified. She was unknown in this part of +the country." + +Almost before I had finished reading, Garrick had his hat and coat +on and had shoved into his pocket a little detective camera. + +"Strange about the bullet," I ruminated. "I wonder who she can +be?" + +"Very strange," agreed Garrick, urging me on. "I think we ought to +investigate the case." + +As we hurried along to a restaurant for a bite of breakfast, he +remarked, "The circumstances of the thing, coming so closely after +the report about Warrington's car, are very suspicious--very. I +feel sure that we shall find some connection between the two +affairs." + +Accordingly, we caught an early train and at the nearest railroad +station to the town mentioned in the despatch engaged a hackman +who knew the coroner, a local doctor. + +The coroner was glad to assist us, though we were careful not to +tell him too much of our own connection with the case. On the way +over to the village undertaker's where the body had been moved, he +volunteered the information that the New York police, whom he had +notified immediately, had already sent a man up there, who had +taken a description of the girl and finger prints, but had not, so +far at least, succeeded in identifying the girl, at any rate on +any of the lists of those reported missing. + +"You see," remarked Garrick to me, "that is where the police have +us at a disadvantage. They have organization on their side. A good +many detectives make the mistake of antagonizing the police. But +if you want results, that's fatal." + +"Yes," I agreed, "it's impossible, just as it is to antagonize the +newspapers." + +"Exactly," returned Garrick. "My idea of the thing, Marshall, is +that I should work with, not against, the regular detectives. They +are all right, in fact indispensable. Half the secret of success +nowadays is efficiency and organization. What I do believe is that +organization plus science is what is necessary." + +The local undertaking establishment was rather poorly equipped to +take the place of a morgue and the authorities were making +preparations to move the body to the nearest large city pending +the disposal of the case. Local detectives had set to work, but so +far had turned up nothing, not even the report which we had +already received from McBirney regarding the blood-stained car +that resembled Warrington's. + +We arrived with the coroner fortunately just before the removal of +the body to the city and by his courtesy were able to see it +without any trouble. + +Death, and especially violent death, are at best grewsome +subjects, but when to that are added the sordid surroundings of a +country undertaker's and the fact that the victim is a woman, it +all becomes doubly tragic. + +She was a rather flashily dressed girl, but remarkably good +looking, in spite of the rouge and powder which had long since +spoiled what might otherwise have been a clear and fine +complexion. The roots of her hair showed plainly that it had been +bleached. + +Garrick examined the body closely, and more especially the jagged +wound in the breast. I bent over also. It seemed utterly +inexplicable. There was, he soon discovered, a sort of greasy, +oleaginous deposit in the clotted blood of the huge cavity in the +flesh. It interested him, and he studied it carefully for a long +time, without saying a word. + +"Some have said she was wounded by some kind of blunt instrument," +put in the coroner. "Others that she was struck by a car. But it's +my opinion that she was killed by a rifle bullet of some kind, +although what could have become of the bullet is beyond me. I've +probed for it, but it isn't there." + +Garrick finished his minute examination of the wound without +passing any comment on it of his own. + +"Now, if you will be kind enough to take us around to the place +where the body was discovered," he concluded, "I think we shall +not trespass on your time further." + +In his own car, the coroner drove us up the road in the direction +of the New York state boundary to the spot where the body had been +found. It was a fine, well-oiled road and I noticed the number and +high quality of the cars which passed us. + +When we arrived at the spot where the body of the unfortunate girl +had been discovered, Garrick began a minute search. I do not think +for a moment that he expected to find any weapon, or even the +trace of one. It seemed hopeless also to attempt to pick out any +of the footprints. The earth was soft and even muddy, but so many +feet had trodden it down since the first alarm had been given that +it would have been impossible to extricate one set of footprints +from another, much less to tell whether any of them had been made +by the perpetrators of the crime. + +Still, there seemed to be something in the mud, just off the side +of the road, that did interest Garrick. Very carefully, so as not +to destroy anything himself which more careless searchers might +have left, he began a minute study of the ground. + +Apparently he was rewarded, for, although he said nothing, he took +a hasty glance at the direction of the sun, up-ended the camera he +had brought, and began to photograph the ground itself, or rather +some curious marks on it which I could barely distinguish. + +The coroner and I looked on without saying a word. He, at least, I +am sure, thought that Garrick had suddenly taken leave of his +senses. + +That concluded Garrick's investigation, and, after thanking the +coroner, who had gone out of his way to accommodate us, we started +back to town. + +"Well," I remarked, as we settled ourselves for the tedious ride +into the city in the suburban train, "we don't seem to have added +much to the sum of human knowledge by this trip." + +"Oh, yes, we have," he returned, almost cheerfully, patting the +black camera which he had folded and slipped into his pocket. +"We'll just preserve the records which I have here. Did you notice +what it was that I photographed?" + +"I saw something," I replied, "but I couldn't tell you what it +was." + +"Well," he explained slowly as I opened my eyes wide in amazement +at the minuteness of his researches, "those were the marks of the +tire of an automobile that had been run up into the bushes from +the road. You know every automobile tire leaves its own +distinctive mark, its thumb print, as it were. When I have +developed my films, you will see that the marks that have been +left there are precisely like those left by the make of tires used +on Warrington's car, according to the advertisement sent out by +McBirney. Of course, that mere fact alone doesn't prove anything. +Many cars may use that make of tires. Still, it is an interesting +coincidence, and if the make had been different I should not feel +half so encouraged about going ahead with this clew. We can't say +anything definite, however, until I can compare the actual marks +made by the tires on the stolen car with these marks which I have +photographed and preserved." + +If any one other than Garrick had conceived such a notion as the +"thumb print" of an automobile tire, I might possibly have +ventured to doubt it. As it was it gave food enough for thought to +last the remainder of the journey back to town. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE LIQUID BULLET + + +On our return to the city, I was not surprised after our +conversation over in New Jersey to find that Garrick had decided +on visiting police headquarters. It was, of course, Commissioner +Dillon, one of the deputies, whom he wanted to see. I had met +Dillon myself some time before in connection with my study of the +finger print system, and consequently needed no second +introduction. + +In his office on the second floor, the Commissioner greeted us +cordially in his bluff and honest voice which both of us came to +know and like so well later. Garrick had met him often and the +cordiality of their relations was well testified to by Dillon's +greeting. + +"I thought you'd be here before long," he beamed on Garrick, as he +led us into an inner sanctum. "Did you read in the papers this +morning about that murder of a girl whose body was found up in New +Jersey in the underbrush?" + +"Not only that, but I've picked up a few things that your man +overlooked," confided Garrick. + +Dillon looked at him sharply for a moment. "Say," he said frankly, +"that's one of the things I like about you, Garrick. You're on the +job. Also, you're on the square. You don't go gumshoeing it around +behind a fellow's back, and talking the same way. You play fair. +Now, look here. Haven't I always played fair with you, Garrick?" + +"Yes, Dillon," agreed Garrick, "you have always played fair. But +what's the idea?" + +"You came up here for information, didn't you?" persisted the +commissioner. + +Garrick nodded. + +"Well do you know who that girl was who was murdered?" he asked +leaning forward. + +"No," admitted Garrick. + +"Of course not," asserted Dillon triumphantly. "We haven't given +it out yet--and I don't know as we shall." + +"No," pursued Garrick, "I don't know and I'll admit that I'd like +to know. My position is, as it always has been, that we shouldn't +work at cross purposes. I have drawn my own conclusions on the +case and, to put it bluntly, it seemed to me clear that she was of +the demi-monde." + +"She was--in a sense," vouchsafed the commissioner. "Now," he +added, leaning forward impressively, "I'm going to tell you +something. That girl--was one of the best stool pigeons we have +ever had." + +Both Garrick and I were listening intently at, the surprising +revelation of the commissioner. He was pacing up and down, now, +evidently much excited. + +"As for me," he continued, "I hate the stool pigeon method as much +as anyone can. I don't like it. I don't relish the idea of being +in partnership with crooks in any degree. I hate an informer who +worms himself or herself into a person's friendship for the +purpose of betraying it. But the system is here. I didn't start it +and I can't change it. As long as it's here I must accept it and +do business under it. And, that being the case, I can't afford to +let matters like this killing pass without getting revenge, swift +and sure. You understand? Someone's going to suffer for the +killing of that girl, not only because it was a brutal murder, but +because the department has got to make an example or no one whom +we employ is safe." + +Dillon was shouldering his burly form up and down the office in +his excitement. He paused in front of us, to proceed. + +"I've got one of my best men on the case now--Inspector Herman. +I'll introduce you to him, if he happens to be around. Herman's +all right. But here you come in, Garrick, and tell me you picked +up something that my man missed up there in Jersey. I know it's +the truth, too. I've worked with you and seen enough of you to +know that you wouldn't say a thing like that as a bluff to me." + +Dillon was evidently debating something in his mind. + +"Herman'll have to stand it," he went on, half to himself. "I +don't care whether he gets jealous or not." + +He paused and looked Garrick squarely in the eye, as he led up to +his proposal. "Garrick," he said slowly, "I'd like to have you +take up the case for us, too. I've heard already that you are +working on the automobile cases. You see, I have ways of getting +information myself. We're not so helpless as your friend McBirney, +maybe, thinks." + +He faced us and it was almost as if he read our minds. + +"For instance," he proceeded, "it may interest you to know that we +have just planned a new method to recover stolen automobiles and +apprehend the thieves. A census of all cars in the questionable +garages of the city has been taken, and each day every policeman +is furnished with descriptions of cars stolen in the past twenty- +four hours. The policeman then is supposed to inspect the garages +in his district and if he finds a machine that shouldn't be there, +according to the census, he sees to it that it isn't removed from +the place until it is identified. The description of this +Warrington car has gone out with extra special orders, and if it's +in New York I think we'll find it." + +"I think you'll find," remarked Garrick quietly, "that this +machine of Warrington's isn't in the city, at all." + +"I hardly think it is, myself," agreed Dillon. "Whoever it was who +took it is probably posted about our new scheme. That's not the +point I was driving at. You see, Garrick, our trails cross in +these cases in a number of ways. Now, I have a little secret fund +at my disposal. In so far as the affair involved the murder of +that girl--and I'm convinced that it does--will you consider that +you are working for the city, too? The whole thing dovetails. You +don't have to neglect one client to serve another. I'll do +anything I can to help you with the auto cases. In fact, you'll do +better by both clients by joining the cases." + +"Dillon," answered Garrick quickly, "you've always been on the +level with me. I can trust you. Consider that it is a bargain. +We'll work together. Now, who was the girl?" + +"Her name was Rena Taylor," replied Dillon, apparently much +gratified at the success of his proposal. "I had her at work +getting evidence against a ladies' poolroom in Forty-seventh +Street--an elusive place that we've never been able to 'get +right.'" + +Garrick shot a quick glance at me. Evidently we were on the right +trail, anyhow. + +"I don't know yet just what happened," continued Dillon, "but I do +know that she had the goods on it. As nearly as I can find out, a +stranger came to the place well introduced, a man, accompanied by +a woman. They got into some of the games. The man seems to have +excused himself. Apparently he found Rena Taylor alone in a room +in some part of the house. No one heard a pistol shot, but then I +think they would lie about that, all right." + +Dillon paused. "The strange thing is, however," he resumed, "that +we haven't been able to find in the house a particle of evidence +that a murder or violence of any kind has been done. One fact is +established, though, incontrovertibly. Rena Taylor disappeared +from that gambling house the same night and about the same time +that Warrington's car disappeared. Then we find her dead over in +New Jersey." + +"And I find reports and traces that the car has been in the +vicinity," added Garrick. + +"You see," beamed Dillon, "that's how we work together. Say you +MUST meet Herman." + +He rang a bell and a blue-coated man opened the door. "Call +Herman, Jim," he said, then, as the man disappeared, he went on to +us, "I have given Herman carte-blanche instructions to conduct a +thorough investigation. He has been getting the goods on another +swell joint on the next street, in Forty-eighth, a joint that is +just feeding on young millionaires in this town, and is or will be +the cause of more crime and broken hearts if I don't land it and +break it up than any such place has been for years." The door +opened, and Dillon said, "Herman, shake hands with Mr. Garrick and +Mr. Marshall." + +The detective was a quiet, gentlemanly sort of fellow who looked +rugged and strong, a fighter to be respected. In fact I would much +rather have had a man like him with us than against us. I knew +Garrick's aversion to the regular detective and was not surprised +that he did not overwhelm Mr. Herman by the cordiality of his +greeting. Garrick always played a lone hand, preferred it and had +taken Dillon into his confidence only because of his official +position and authority. + +"These gentlemen are going to work independently on that Rena +Taylor case," explained Dillon. "I want you to give Mr. Garrick +every assistance, Herman." + +Garrick nodded with a show of cordiality and Herman replied in +about the same spirit. I could not fancy our getting very much +assistance from the regular detective force, with the exception of +Dillon. And I noticed, also, that Garrick was not volunteering any +information except what was necessary in good faith. Already I +began to wonder how this peculiar bargain would turn out. + +"Just who and what was Rena Taylor?" asked Garrick finally. + +Inspector Herman shot a covert glance at Dillon before replying +and the commissioner hastened to reassure him, "I have told Mr. +Garrick that she was one of our best stool pigeons and had been +working on the gambling cases." + +Like all detectives on a case, Herman was averse to parting with +any information, and I felt that it was natural, for if he +succeeded in working it out human nature was not such as to +willingly share the glory. + +"Oh," he replied airily, "she was a girl who had knocked about +considerably in the Tenderloin. I don't know just what her story +was, but I suppose there was some fellow who got her to come to +New York and then left her in the lurch. She wasn't a New Yorker. +She seems to have drifted from one thing to another--until finally +in order to get money she came down and offered her services to +the police, in this gambling war." + +Herman had answered the question, but when I examined the answer I +found it contained precious little. Perhaps it was indeed all he +knew, for, although Garrick put several other questions to him and +he answered quite readily and with apparent openness, there was +very little more that we learned. + +"Yes," concluded Herman, "someone cooked her, all right. They +don't take long to square things with anyone who raps to the +'bulls.'" + +"That's right," agreed Garrick. "And the underworld isn't alone in +that feeling. No one likes a 'snitch.'" + +"Bet your life," emphasized Herman heartily, then edging toward +the door, he said, "Well, gentlemen, I'm glad to meet you and I'll +work with you. I wish you success, all right. It's a hard case. +Why, there wasn't any trace of a murder or violence in that place +in which Rena Taylor must have been murdered. I suppose you have +heard that there wasn't any bullet found in the body, either?" + +"Yes," answered Garrick, "so far it does look inexplicable." + +Inspector Herman withdrew. One could see that he had little faith +in these "amateur" detectives. + +A telephone message for Dillon about another departmental matter +terminated our interview and we went our several ways. + +"Much help I've ever got from a regular detective like Herman," +remarked Garrick, phrasing my own idea of the matter, as we paid +the fare of our cab a few minutes later and entered his office. + +"Yes," I agreed. "Why, he's even stumped at the start by the +mystery of there being no bullet. I'm glad you said nothing about +the cartridge, although I can't see for the life of me what good +it is to us." + +I had ventured the remark, hoping to entice Garrick into talking. +It worked, at least as far as Garrick wanted to talk yet. + +"You'll see about the cartridge soon enough, Tom," he rejoined. +"As for there being no bullet, there was a bullet--only it was of +a kind you never dreamed of before." + +He regarded me contemplatively for a moment, then leaned over and +in a voice full of meaning, concluded, "That bullet was composed +of something soft or liquid, probably confined in some kind of +thin capsule. It mushroomed out like a dumdum bullet. It was +deadly. But the chief advantage was that the heat that remained in +Rena Taylor's body melted all evidence of the bullet. That was +what caused that greasy, oleaginous appearance of the wound. The +murderer thought he left no trail in the bullet in the corpse. In +other words, it was practically a liquid bullet." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BLACKMAILER + + +It was late in the afternoon, while Garrick was still busy with a +high-powered microscope, making innumerable micro-photographs, +when the door of the office opened softly and a young lady +entered. + +As she advanced timidly to us, we could see that she was tall and +gave promise of developing with years into a stately woman--a +pronounced brunette, with sparkling black eyes. I had not met her +before, yet somehow I could not escape the feeling that she was +familiar to me. + +It was not until she spoke that I realized that it was the eyes, +not the face, which I recognized. + +"You are Mr. Garrick?" she asked of Guy in a soft, purring voice +which, I felt, masked a woman who would fight to the end for +anyone or anything she really loved. + +Then, before Guy could answer, she explained, "I am Miss Violet +Winslow. A friend of mine, Mr. Warrington, has told me that you +are investigating a peculiar case for him--the strange loss of his +car." + +Garrick hastened to place a chair for her in the least cluttered +and dusty part of the room. There she sat, looking up at him +earnestly, a dainty contrast to the den in which Garrick was +working out the capture of criminals, violent and vicious. + +"I have the honor to be able to say, 'Yes' to all that you have +asked, Miss Winslow," he replied. "Is there any way in which I can +be of service to you?" + +I thought a smile played over his face at the thought that perhaps +she might have come to ask him to work for three clients instead +of two. + +At any rate, the girl was very much excited and very much in +earnest, as she opened her handbag and drew from it a letter which +she handed to Garrick. + +"I received that letter," she explained, speaking rapidly, "in the +noon mail to-day. I don't know what to make of it. It worries me +to get such a thing. What do you suppose it was sent to me for? +Who could have sent it?" + +She was leaning forward artlessly on her crossed knee looking +expectantly up into Garrick's face, oblivious to everything else, +even her own enticing beauty. There was something so simple and +sincere about Violet Winslow that one felt instinctively that +nothing was too great a price to shield her from the sordid and +the evil in the world. Yet something had happened that had brought +her already into the office of a detective. + +Garrick had glanced quickly at the outside of the slit envelope. +The postmark showed that it had been mailed early that morning at +the general post office and that there was slight chance of +tracing anything in that direction. + +Then he opened it and read. The writing was in a bold scrawl and +hastily executed: + +You have heard, no doubt, of the alleged loss of an automobile by +Mr. Mortimer Warrington. I have seen your name mentioned in the +society columns of the newspapers in connection with him several +times lately. Let a disinterested person whom you do not know warn +you in time. There is more back of it than he will care to tell. I +can say nothing of the nefarious uses to which that car has been +put, but you will learn more shortly. Meanwhile, let me inform you +that he and some of the wilder of his set had that night planned a +visit to a gambling house on Forty-eighth Street. I myself saw the +car standing before another gambling den on Forty-seventh Street +about the same time. This place, I may as well inform you, bears +an unsavory reputation as a gambling joint to which young ladies +of the fastest character are admitted. If you will ask someone in +whom you have confidence and whom you can ask to work secretly for +you to look up the records, you will find that much of the +property on these two blocks, and these two places in particular, +belongs to the Warrington estate. Need I say more? + +The letter was without superscription or date and was signed +merely with the words, "A Well-Wisher." The innuendo of the thing +was apparent. + +"Of course," she remarked, as Garrick finished reading, and before +he could speak, "I know there is something back of it. Some person +is trying to injure Mortimer. Still---" + +She did not finish the sentence. It was evident that the "well- +wisher" need not have said more in order to sow the seeds of +doubt. + +As I watched her narrowly, I fancied also that from her tone the +newspapers had not been wholly wrong in mentioning their names +together recently. + +"I hadn't intended to say anything more than to explain how I got +the letter," she went on wistfully. "I thought that perhaps you +might be interested in it." + +She paused and studied the toe of her dainty boot. "And, of +course," she murmured, "I know that Mr. Warrington isn't dependent +for his income on the rent that comes in from such places. But-- +but I wish just the same that it wasn't true. I tried to call him +up about the letter, but he wasn't at the office of the Warrington +estate, and no one seemed to know just where he was." + +She kept her eyes downcast as though afraid to betray just what +she felt. + +"You will leave this with me?" asked Garrick, still scrutinizing +the letter. + +"Certainly," she replied. "That is what I brought it for. I +thought it was only fair that he should know about it." + +Garrick regarded her keenly for a moment. "I am sure, Miss +Winslow," he said, "that Mr. Warrington will thank you for your +frankness. More than that, I feel sure that you need have no cause +to worry about the insinuations of this letter. Don't judge +harshly until you have heard his side. There's a good deal of +graft and vice talk flying around loose these days. Miss Winslow, +you may depend on me to dig the truth out and not deceive you." + +"Thank you so much," she said, as she rose to go; then, in a burst +of confidence, added, "Of course, after all, I don't care so much +about it myself--but, you know, my aunt--is so dreadfully prim and +proper that she couldn't forgive a thing like this. She'd never +let Mr. Warrington call on me again." + +Violet stopped and bit her lip. She had evidently not intended to +say as much as that. But having once said it, she did not seem to +wish to recall the words, either. + +"There, now," she smiled, "don't you even hint to him that that +was one of the reasons I called." + +Garrick had risen and was standing beside her, looking down +earnestly into her upturned face. + +"I think I understand, Miss Winslow," he said in a low voice, +rapidly. "I cannot tell you all--yet. But I can promise you that +even if all were told--the truth, I mean--your faith in Warrington +would be justified." He leaned over. "Trust me," he said simply. + +As she placed her small hand in Garrick's, she looked up into his +face, and with suppressed emotion, answered, "Thank you--I--I +will." + +Then, with a quick gathering of her skirts, she turned and almost +fled from the room. + +She had scarcely closed the door before Garrick was telephoning +anxiously all over the city in order to get in touch with +Warrington himself. + +"I'm not going to tell him too much about her visit," he remarked, +with a pleased smile at the outcome of the interview, though his +face clouded as his eye fell again on the blackmailing letter, +lying before him. "It might make him think too highly of himself. +Besides, I want to see, too, whether he has told us the whole +truth about the affair that night." + +Somehow or other it seemed impossible to find Warrington in any of +his usual haunts, either at his office or at his club. + +Garrick had given it up, almost, as a bad job, when, half an hour +later, Warrington himself burst in on us, apparently expecting +more news about his car. + +Instead, Garrick handed him the letter. + +"Say," he demanded as he ran through it with puckered face, then +slapped it down on the table before Guy, in a high state of +excitement, "what do you make of that?" + +He looked from one to the other of us blankly. + +"Isn't it bad enough to lose a car without being slandered about +it into the bargain?" he asked heatedly, then adding in disgust, +"And to do it in such an underhand way, writing to a girl like +Violet, and never giving me a chance to square myself. If I could +get my hands on that fellow," he added viciously, "I'd qualify him +for the coroner!" + +Warrington had flown into a towering and quite justifiable rage. +Garrick, however, ignored his anger as natural under the +circumstances, and was about to ask him a question. + +"Just a moment, Garrick," forestalled Warrington. "I know just +what you are going to say. You are going to ask me about those +gambling places. Now, Garrick, I give you my word of honor that I +did not know until to-day that the property in that neighborhood +was owned by our estate. I have been in that joint on Forty-eighth +Street--I'll admit that. But, you know, I'm no gambler. I've gone +simply to see the life, and--well, it has no attraction for me. +Racing cars and motorboats don't go with poker chips and the red +and black--not with me. As for the other place, I don't know any +more about it than--than you do," he concluded vehemently. + +Warrington faced Garrick, his steel-blue eye unwavering. "You see, +it's like this," he resumed passionately, "since this vice +investigation began, I have read a lot about landlords. Then, +too," he interjected with a mock wry face, "I knew that Violet's +Aunt Emma had been a crusader or something of the sort. You see, +virtue is NOT its own reward. I don't get credit even for what I +intended to do--quite the contrary." + +"How's that?" asked Garrick, respecting the young man's temper. + +"Why, it just occurred to me lately to go scouting around the +city, looking at the Warrington holdings, making some personal +inquiries as to the conditions of the leases, the character of the +tenants, and the uses to which they put the properties. The police +have compiled a list of all the questionable places in the city +and I have compared it with the list of our properties. I hadn't +come to this one yet. But I shall call up our agent, make him +admit it, and cancel that lease. I'll close 'em up. I'll fight +until every---" + +"No," interrupted Garrick, quickly, "no--not yet. Don't make any +move yet. I want to find out what the game is. It may be that it +is someone who has tried and failed to get your tenant to come +across with graft money. If we act without finding out first, we +might be playing into the hands of this blackmailer." + +Garrick had been holding the letter in his hand, examining it +critically. While he was speaking, he had taken a toothpick and +was running it hastily over the words, carefully studying them. +His face was wrinkled, as if he were in deep thought. + +Without saying anything more, Garrick walked over to the windows +and pulled down the dark shades. Then he unrolled a huge white +sheet at one end of the office. + +From a corner he drew out what looked like a flat-topped stand, +about the height of his waist, with a curious box-like arrangement +on it, in which was a powerful light. For several minutes, he +occupied himself with the adjustment of this machine, switching +the light off and on and focussing the lenses. + +Then he took the letter to Miss Winslow, laid it flat on the +machine, switched on the light and immediately on the sheet +appeared a very enlarged copy of the writing. + +"This is what has been called a rayograph by a detective of my +acquaintance," explained Garrick. "In some ways it is much +superior to using a microscope." + +He was tracing over the words with a pointer, much as he had +already done with the toothpick. + +"Now, you must know," he continued, "or you may not know, but it +is a well-proved fact, that those who suffer from various +affections of the nerves or heart often betray the fact in their +handwriting. Of course, in cases where the disease has progressed +very far it may be evident to the naked eye even in the ordinary +handwriting. But, it is there, to the eye of the expert, even in +incipient cases. + +"In short," he continued, engrossed in his subject, "what really +happens is that the pen acts as a sort of sphygmograph, +registering the pulsations. I think you can readily see that when +the writing is thrown on a screen, enlarged by the rayograph, the +tremors of the pen are quite apparent." + +I studied the writing, following his pointer as it went over the +lines and I began to understand vaguely what he was driving at. + +"The writer of that blackmailing letter," continued Garrick, "as I +have discovered both by hastily running over it with a tooth-pick +and, more accurately, by enlarging and studying it with the +rayograph, is suffering from a peculiar conjunction of nervous +trouble and disease of the heart which is latent and has not yet +manifested itself, even to him." + +Garrick studied the writing, then added, thoughtfully, "if I knew +him, I might warn him in time." + +"A fellow like that needs only the warning of a club or of a good +pair of fists," growled Warrington, impatiently. "How are you +going to work to find him?" + +"Well," reasoned Garrick, rolling up the sheet and restoring the +room to its usual condition, "for one thing, the letter makes it +pretty evident that he knows something about the gambling joint, +perhaps is one of the regular habitues of the place. That was why +I didn't want you to take any steps to close up the place +immediately. I want to go there and look it over while it is in +operation. Now, you admit that you have been in the place, don't +you?" + +"Oh, yes," he replied, "I've been there with Forbes and the other +fellows, but as I told you, I don't go in for that sort of thing." + +"Well," persisted Garrick, "you are sufficiently known, any way, +to get in again." + +"Certainly. I can get in again. The man at the door will let me +in--and a couple of friends, too, if that's what you mean." + +"That is exactly what I mean," returned Garrick. "It's no use to +go early. I want to see the place in full blast, just as the +after-theatre crowd is coming in. Suppose you meet us, Warrington, +about half past ten or so. We can get in. They don't know anything +yet about your intention to cancel the lease and close up the +place, although apparently someone suspects it, or he wouldn't +have been so anxious to get that letter off to Miss Winslow." + +"Very well," agreed Warrington, "I will meet you at the north end +of 'Crime Square,' as you call it, at that time. Good luck until +then." + +"Not a bad fellow, at all," commented Garrick when Warrington had +disappeared down the hall from the office. "I believe he means to +do the square thing by every one. It's a shame he has been dragged +into a mess like this, that may affect him in ways that he doesn't +suspect. Oh, well, there is nothing we can do for the present. +I'll just add this clew of the handwriting to the clew of the +automobile tires against the day when we get--pshaw!--he has taken +the letter with him. I suppose it is safe enough in his +possession, though. He can't wait until he has proved to Violet +that he is honest. I don't blame him much. I told you, you know, +that the younger set are just crazy over Violet Winslow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GAMBLING DEN + + +In spite of the agitation that was going on at the time in the +city against gambling, we had no trouble in being admitted to the +place in Forty-eighth Street. They seemed to recognise Warrington, +for no sooner had the lookout at the door peered through a little +grating and seen him than the light woodwork affair was opened. + +To me, with even my slender knowledge of such matters, it had +seemed rather remarkable that only such a door should guard a +place that was so notorious. Once inside, however, the reason was +apparent. It didn't. On the outside there was merely such a door +as not to distinguish the house, a three-story and basement +dwelling, of old brownstone, from the others in the street. + +As the outside door shut quickly, we found ourselves in a sort of +vestibule confronted by another door. Between the two the lookout +had his station. + +The second door was of the "ice-box" variety, as it was popularly +called at the time, of heavy oak, studded with ax-defying bolts, +swung on delicately balanced and oiled hinges, carefully +concealed, about as impregnable as a door of steel might be. + +There were, as we found later, some steel doors inside, leading to +the roof and cellar, though not so thick. The windows were +carefully guarded inside by immense steel bars. The approaches +from the back were covered with a steel network and every +staircase was guarded by a collapsible door. There seemed to be no +point of attack that had been left unguarded. + +Yet, unless one had been like ourselves looking for these +fortifications, they would not have appeared much in evidence in +the face of the wealth of artistic furnishings that was lavished +on every hand. Inside the great entrance door was a sort of marble +reception hall, richly furnished, and giving anything but the +impression of a gambling house. As a matter of fact, the first +floor was pretty much of a blind. The gambling was all upstairs. + +We turned to a beautiful staircase of carved wood, and ascended. +Everywhere were thick rugs into which the feet sank almost ankle +deep. On the walls were pictures that must have cost a small +fortune. The furniture was of the costliest; there were splendid +bronzes and objects of art on every hand. + +Gambling was going on in several rooms that we passed, but the +main room was on the second floor, a large room reconstructed in +the old house, with a lofty ceiling and exquisitely carved trim. +Concealed in huge vases were the lights, a new system, then, which +shed its rays in every direction without seeming to cast a shadow +anywhere. The room was apparently windowless, and yet, though +everyone was smoking furiously, the ventilation must have been +perfect. + +There was, apparently, a full-fledged poolroom in one part of the +house, closed now, of course, as the races for the day were run. +But I could imagine it doing a fine business in the afternoon. +There were many other games now in progress, games of every +description, from poker to faro, keno, klondike, and roulette. +There was nothing of either high or low degree with which the +venturesome might not be accommodated. + +As Warrington conducted us from one room to another, Garrick noted +each carefully. Along the middle of the large room stretched a +roulette table. We stopped to watch it. + +"Crooked as it can be," was Garrick's comment after watching it +for five minutes or so. + +He had not said it aloud, naturally, for even the crowd in evening +clothes about it, who had lost or would lose, would have resented +such an imputation. + +For the most part there was a solemn quiet about the board, broken +only by the rattle of the ball and the click of chips. There was +an absence of the clink of gold pieces that one hears as the +croupier rakes them in at the casinos on the continent. Nor did +there seem to be the tense faces that one might expect. Often +there was the glint of an eye, or a quick and muffled curse, but +for the most part everyone, no matter how great a loser, seemed +respectable and prosperous. The tragedies, as we came to know, +were elsewhere. + +We sauntered into another room where they were playing keno. Keno +was, we soon found, a development or an outgrowth of lotto, in +which cards were sold to the players, bearing numbers which were +covered with buttons, as in lotto. The game was won when a row was +full after drawing forth the numbers on little balls from a +"goose." + +"Like the roulette wheel," said Garrick grimly, "the 'goose' is +crooked, and if I had time I could show you how it is done." + +We passed by the hazard boards as too complicated for the limited +time at our disposal. + +It was, however, the roulette table which seemed to interest +Garrick most, partly for the reason that most of the players +flocked about it. + +The crowd around the table on the second floor was several deep, +now. Among those who were playing I noticed a new face. It was of +a tall, young man much the worse, apparently, for the supposed +good time he had had already. The game seemed to have sobered him +up a bit, for he was keen as to mind, now, although a trifle shaky +as to legs. + +He glanced up momentarily from his close following of the play as +we approached. + +"Hello, W.," he remarked, as he caught sight of our young +companion. + +A moment later he had gone back to the game as keen as ever. + +"Hello, F.," greeted Warrington. Then, aside to us, he added, "You +know they don't use names now in gambling places if they can help +it. Initials do just as well. That is Forbes, of whom I told you. +He's a young fellow of good family--but I am afraid he is going +pretty much to the bad, or will go, if he doesn't quit soon. I +wish I could stop him. He's a nice chap. I knew him well at +college and we have chummed about a great deal. He's here too much +of the time for his own good." + +The thing was fascinating, I must admit, no matter what the morals +of it were. I became so engrossed that I did not notice a man +standing opposite us. I was surprised when he edged over towards +us slowly, then whispered to Garrick, "Meet me downstairs in the +grill in five minutes, and have a bite to eat. I have something +important to say. Only, be careful and don't get me 'in Dutch' +here." + +The man had a sort of familiar look and his slang certainly +reminded me of someone we had met. + +"Who was it?" I inquired under my breath, as he disappeared among +the players. + +"Didn't you recognize him?" queried Garrick. "Why, that was +Herman, Dillon's man,--the fellow, you know, who is investigating +this place." + +I had not recognized the detective in evening clothes. Indeed, I +felt that unless he were known here already his disguise was +perfect. + +Garrick managed to leave Warrington for a time under the pretext +that he wanted him to keep an eye on Forbes while we explored the +place further. We walked leisurely down the handsome staircase +into the grill and luncheon room downstairs. + +"Well, have you found out anything?" asked a voice behind us. + +We turned. It was Herman who had joined us. Without pausing for an +answer he added, "I suppose you are aware of the character of this +place? It looks fine, but the games are all crooked, and I guess +there are some pretty desperate characters here, from all +accounts. I shouldn't like to fall afoul of any of them, if I were +you." + +"Oh, no," replied Garrick, "it wouldn't be pleasant. But we came +in well introduced, and I don't believe anyone suspects." + +Several others, talking and laughing loudly to cover their chagrin +over losses, perhaps, entered the buffet. + +With the gratuitous promise to stand by us in trouble of any kind, +Herman excused himself, and returned to watch the play about the +roulette table. + +Garrick and I leisurely finished the little bite of salad we had +ordered, then strolled upstairs again. + +The play was becoming more and more furious. Forbes was losing +again, but was sticking to it with a grim determination that was +worthy of a better cause. Warrington had already made one attempt +to get him away but had not succeeded. + +"Well," remarked Garrick, as we three made our way slowly to the +coatroom downstairs, "I think we have seen enough of this for to- +night. It isn't so very late, after all. I wonder if it would be +possible to get into that ladies' poolroom on the next street? I +should like to see that place." + +"Angus could get us in, if anyone could," replied Warrington +thoughtfully. "Wait here a minute. I'll see if I can get him away +from the wheel long enough." + +Five minutes later he came back, with Forbes in tow. He shook +hands with us cordially, in fact a little effusively. Perhaps I +might have liked the young fellow if I could have taken him in +hand for a month or two, and knocked some of the silly ideas he +had out of his head. + +Forbes called a taxicab, a taxicab apparently being the open +sesame. One might have gone afoot and have looked ever so much +like a "good thing" and he would not have been admitted. But such +is the simplicity of the sophistication of the keepers of such +places that a motor car opens all locks and bolts. + +It seemed to be a peculiar place and as nearly as I could make out +was in a house almost in the rear of the one we had just come +from. + +We were politely admitted by a negro maid, who offered to take our +coats. + +"No," answered Forbes, apparently with an eye to getting out as +quickly as possible, "we won't stay long tonight. I just came +around to introduce my friends to Miss Lottie. I must get back +right away." + +For some reason or other he seemed very anxious to leave us. I +surmised that the gambling fever was running high and that he had +hopes of a change of luck. At any rate, he was gone, and we had +obtained admittance to the ladies' pool room. + +We strolled into one of the rooms in which the play was on. The +game was at its height, with huge stacks of chips upon the tables +and the players chatting gayly. There was no large crowd there, +however. Indeed, as we found afterward, it was really in the +afternoon that it was most crowded, for it was rather a poolroom +than a gambling joint, although we gathered from the gossip that +some stiff games of bridge were played there. Both men and women +were seated at the poker game that was in progress before the +little green table. The women were richly attired and looked as if +they had come from good families. + +We were introduced to several, but as it was evident that they +were passing under assumed names, whatever the proprietor of the +place might know of them, I made little effort to remember the +names, although I did study the faces carefully. + +It was not many minutes before we met Miss Lottie, as everyone +called the woman who presided over this feminine realm of chance. +Miss Lottie was a finely gowned woman, past middle age, but +remarkably well preserved, and with a figure that must have +occasioned much thought to fashion along the lines of the present +slim styles. There seemed to be a man who assisted in the conduct +of the place, a heavy-set fellow with a closely curling mustache. +But as he kept discreetly in the offing, we did not see much of +him. + +Miss Lottie was frankly glad to see us, coming so well introduced, +and outspokenly disappointed that we would not take a seat in the +game that was in progress. However, Garrick passed that over by +promising to come around soon. Excise laws were apparently held in +puny respect in this luxurious atmosphere, and while the +hospitable Miss Lottie went to summon a servant to bring +refreshments--at our expense--we had ample opportunity to glance +about at the large room in which we were seated. + +Garrick gazed long and curiously at an arc-light enclosed in a +soft glass globe in the center of the ceiling, as though it had +suggested an idea of some sort to him. + +Miss Lottie, who had left us for a few moments, returned +unexpectedly to find him still gazing at it. + +"We keep that light burning all the time," she remarked, noticing +his gaze. "You see, in the daytime we never use the windows. It is +always just like it is now, night or day. It makes no difference +with us. You know, if we ever should be disturbed by the police," +she rattled on, "this is my house and I am giving a little private +party to a number of my friends." + +I had heard of such places but had never seen one before. I knew +that well-dressed women, once having been caught in the toils of +gambling, and perhaps afraid to admit their losses to their +husbands, or, often having been introduced through gambling to far +worse evils, were sent out from these poker rendezvous to the +Broadway cafes, there to flirt with men, and rope them into the +game. + +I could not help feeling that perhaps some of the richly gowned +women in the house were in reality "cappers" for the game. As I +studied the faces, I wondered what tragedies lay back of these +rouged and painted faces. I saw broken homes, ruined lives, even +lost honor written on them. Surely, I felt, this was a case worth +taking up if by any chance we could put a stop or even set a +limitation to this nefarious traffic. + +"Have you ever had any trouble?" Garrick asked as we sipped at the +refreshments. + +"Very little," replied Miss Lottie, then as if the very manner of +our introduction had stamped us all as "good fellows" to whom she +could afford to be a little confidential in capturing our +patronage, she added nonchalantly, "We had a sort of wild time a +couple of nights ago." + +"How was that?" asked Garrick in a voice of studied politeness +that carefully concealed the aching curiosity he had for her to +talk. + +"Well," she answered slowly, "several ladies and gentlemen were +here, playing a little high. They--well, they had a little too +much to drink, I guess. There was one girl, who was the worst of +all. She was pretty far gone. Why, we had to put her out--carry +her out to the car that she had come in with her friend. You know +we can't stand for any rough stuff like that--no sir. This house +is perfectly respectable and proper and our patrons understand +it." + +The story, or rather, the version of it, seemed to interest +Garrick, as I knew it would. + +"Who was the girl?" he asked casually. "Did you know her? Was she +one of your regular patrons?" + +"Knew her only by sight," returned Miss Lottie hastily, now a +little vexed, I imagined, at Guy's persistence, "like lots of +people who are introduced here--and come again several times." + +The woman was evidently sorry that she had mentioned the incident, +and was trying to turn the conversation to the advantages of her +establishment, not the least of which were her facilities for +private games in little rooms in various parts of the house. It +seemed all very risque to me, although I tried to appear to think +it quite the usual thing, though I was careful to say that hers +was the finest of such places I had ever seen. Still, the memory +of Garrick's questioning seemed to linger. She had not expected, I +knew, that we would take any further interest in her story than to +accept it as proof of how careful she was of her clientele. + +Garrick was quick to take the cue. He did not arouse any further +suspicion by pursuing the subject. Apparently he was convinced +that it had been Rena Taylor of whom Miss Lottie spoke. What +really happened we knew no more now than before. Perhaps Miss +Lottie herself knew--or she might not know. Garrick quite +evidently was willing to let future developments in the case show +what had really happened. There was nothing to be gained by +forcing things at this stage of the game, either in the gambling +den around the corner or here. + +We chatted along for several minutes longer on inconsequential +subjects, treating as important those trivialities which Bohemia +considers important and scoffing at the really good and true +things of life that the demi-monde despises. It was all banality +now, for we had touched upon the real question in our minds and +had bounded as lightly off it as a toy balloon bounds off an +opposing surface. + +Warrington had kept silent during the visit, I noticed, and seemed +relieved when it was over. I could not imagine that he was known +here inasmuch as they treated him quite as they treated us. + +Apparently, though, he had no relish for a possible report of the +excursion to get to Miss Winslow's ears. He was the first to +leave, as Garrick, after paying for our refreshments and making a +neat remark or two about the tasteful way in which the gambling +room was furnished, rescued our hats and coats from the negro +servant, and said good-night with a promise to drop in again. + +"What would Mrs. de Lancey think of THAT?" Garrick could not help +saying, as we reached the street. + +Warrington gave a nervous little forced laugh, not at all such as +he might have given had Mrs. de Lancey not been the aunt of the +girl who had entered his life. + +Then he caught himself and said hastily, "I don't care what she +thinks. It's none of her---" + +He cut the words short, as if fearing to be misinterpreted either +way. + +For several squares he plodded along silently, then, as we had +accomplished the object of the evening, excused himself, with the +request that we keep him fully informed of every incident in the +case. + +"Warrington doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve," commented +Garrick as we bent our steps to our own, or rather his, apartment, +"but it is evident enough that he is thinking all the time of +Violet Winslow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MOTOR BANDIT + + +Early the next morning, the telephone bell began to ring +violently. The message must have been short, for I could not +gather from Garrick's reply what it was about, although I could +tell by the startled look on his face that something unexpected +had happened. + +"Hurry and finish dressing, Tom," he called, as he hung up the +receiver. + +"What's the matter?" I asked, from my room, still struggling with +my tie. + +"Warrington was severely injured in a motor-car accident late last +night, or rather early this morning, near Tuxedo." + +"Near Tuxedo?" I repeated incredulously. "How could he have got up +there? It was midnight when we left him in New York." + +"I know it. Apparently he must have wanted to see Miss Winslow. +She is up there, you know. I suppose that in order to be there +this morning, early, he decided to start after he left us. I +thought he seemed anxious to get away. Besides, you remember he +took that letter yesterday afternoon, and I totally forgot to ask +him for it last night. I'll wager it was on account of that +slanderous letter that he wanted to go, that he wanted to explain +it to her as soon as he could." + +There had been no details in the hasty message over the wire, +except that Warrington was now at the home of a Doctor Mead, a +local physician in a little town across the border of New York and +New Jersey. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that it +was extremely unlikely that it could have been an accident, after +all. Might it not have been the result of an attack or a trap laid +by some strong-arm man who had set out to get him and had almost +succeeded in accomplishing his purpose of "getting him right," to +use the vernacular of the class? + +We made the trip by railroad, passing the town where the report +had come to us before of the finding of the body of Rena Taylor. +There was, of course, no one at the station to meet us, and, after +wasting some time in learning the direction, we at last walked to +Dr. Mead's cottage, a quaint home, facing the state road that led +from Suffern up to the Park, and northward. + +Dr. Mead, who had telephoned, admitted us himself. We found +Warrington swathed in bandages, and only half conscious. He had +been under the influence of some drug, but, before that, the +doctor told us, he had been unconscious and had only one or two +intervals in which he was sufficiently lucid to talk. + +"How did it happen?" asked Garrick, almost as soon as we had +entered the doctor's little office. + +"I had had a bad case up the road," replied the doctor slowly, +"and it had kept me out late. I was driving my car along at a +cautious pace homeward, some time near two o'clock, when I came to +a point in the road where there are hills on one side and the +river on the other. As I neared the curve, a rather sharp curve, +too, I remember the lights on my own car were shining on the white +fence that edged the river side of the road. I was keeping +carefully on my own side, which was toward the hill. + +"As I was about to turn, I heard the loud purring of an engine +coming in my direction, and a moment later I saw a car with +glaring headlights, driven at a furious pace, coming right at me. +It slowed up a little, and I hugged the hill as close as I could, +for I know some of these reckless young drivers up that way, and +this curve was in the direction where the temptation is for one +going north to get on the wrong side of the road--that is, my +side--in order to take advantage of the natural slope of the +macadam in turning the curve at high speed. Still, this fellow +didn't prove so bad, after all. He gave me a wide berth. + +"Just then there came a blinding flash right out of the darkness. +Back of his car a huge, dark object had loomed up almost like a +ghost. It was another car, back of the first one, without a single +light, travelling apparently by the light shed by the forward car. +It had overtaken the first and had cut in between us with not half +a foot to spare on either side. It was the veriest piece of sheer +luck I ever saw that we did not all go down together. + +"With the flash I heard what sounded like a bullet zip out of the +darkness. The driver of the forward car stiffened out for a +moment. Then he pitched forward, helpless, over the steering +wheel. His car dashed ahead, straight into the fence instead of +taking the curve, and threw the unconscious driver. Then the car +wrecked itself." + +"And the car in the rear?" inquired Garrick eagerly. + +"Dashed ahead between us safely around the curve--and was gone. I +caught just one glimpse of its driver--a man all huddled up, his +collar up over his neck and chin, his cap pulled forward over his +eyes, goggles covering the rest of his face, and shrouded in what +seemed to be a black coat, absolutely as unrecognizable as if he +had been a phantom bandit, or death itself. He was steering with +one hand, and in the other he held what must have been a +revolver." + +"And then?" prompted Garrick. + +"I had stopped with my heart in my mouth at the narrowness of my +own escape from the rushing black death. Pursuit was impossible. +My car was capable of no such burst of speed as his. And then, +too, there was a groaning man down in the ravine below. I got out, +clambered over the fence, and down in the shrubbery into the pitch +darkness. + +"Fortunately, the man had been catapulted out before his car +turned over. I found him, and with all the strength I could muster +and as gently as I was able carried him up to the road. When I +held him under the light of my lamps, I saw at once that there was +not a moment to lose. I fixed him in the rear of my car as +comfortably as I could and then began a race to get him home here +where I have almost a private hospital of my own, as quickly as +possible." + +Cards in his pocket had identified Warrington and Dr. Mead +remembered having heard the name. The prompt attention of the +doctor had undoubtedly saved the young man's life. + +Over and over again, Dr. Mead said, in his delirium Warrington had +repeated the name, "Violet--Violet!" It was as Garrick had +surmised, his desire to stand well in her eyes that had prompted +the midnight journey. Yet who the assailant might be, neither Dr. +Mead nor the broken raving of Warrington seemed to afford even the +slightest clew. That he was a desperate character, without doubt +in desperate straits over something, required no great acumen to +deduce. + +Toward morning in a fleeting moment of lucidity, Warrington had +mentioned Garrick's name in such a way that Dr. Mead had looked it +up in the telephone directory and then at the earliest moment had +called up. + +"Exactly the right thing," reassured Garrick. "Can't you think of +anything else that would identify the driver of that other car?" + +"Only that he was a wonderful driver, that fellow," pursued the +doctor, admiration getting the better of his horror now that the +thing was over. "I couldn't describe the car, except that it was a +big one and seemed to be of a foreign make. He was crowding +Warrington as much as he dared with safety to himself--and not a +light on his own car, too, remember." + +Garrick's face was puckered in thought. + +"And the most remarkable thing of all about it," added the doctor, +rising and going over to a white enameled cabinet in the corner of +his office, "was that wound from the pistol." + +The doctor paused to emphasize the point he was about to make. +"Apparently it put Warrington out," he resumed. "And yet, after +all, I find that it is only a very superficial flesh wound of the +shoulder. Warrington's condition is really due to the contusions +he received owing to his being thrown from the car. His car wasn't +going very fast at the time, for it had slowed down for me. In one +way that was fortunate--although one might say it was the cause of +everything, since his slowing down gave the car behind a chance to +creep up on him the few feet necessary. + +"Really I am sure that even the shock of such a wound wasn't +enough to make an experienced driver like Warrington lose control +of the machine. It is a fairly wide curve, after all, and--well, +my contention is proved by the fact that I examined the wreck of +the car this morning and found that he had had time to shut off +the gas and cut out the engine. He had time to think of and do +that before he lost absolute control of the car." + +Dr. Mead had been standing by the cabinet as he talked. Now he +opened it and took from it the bullet which he had probed out of +the wound. He looked at it a minute himself, then handed it to +Garrick. I bent over also and examined it as it lay in Guy's hand. + +At first I thought it was an ordinary bullet. But the more I +examined it the more I was convinced that there was something +peculiar about it. In the nose, which was steel-jacketed, were +several little round depressions, just the least fraction of an +inch in depth. + +"It is no wonder Warrington was put out, even by that superficial +wound," remarked Garrick at last. "His assailant's aim may have +been bad, as it must necessarily have been from one rapidly +approaching car at a person in another rapidly moving car, also. +But the motor bandit, whoever he is, provided against that. That +bullet is what is known as an anesthetic bullet." + +"An anesthetic bullet?" repeated both Dr. Mead and myself. "What +is that?" + +"A narcotic bullet," Garrick explained, "a sleep-producing bullet, +if you please, a sedative bullet that lulls its victim into almost +instant slumber. It was invented quite recently by a Pittsburgh +scientist. The anesthetic bullet provides the poor marksman with +all the advantages of the expert gunman of unerring aim." + +I marvelled at the ingenuity of the man who could figure out how +to overcome the seeming impossibility of accurate shooting from a +car racing at high speed. Surely, he must be a desperate fellow. + +While we were talking, the doctor's wife who had been attending +Warrington until a nurse arrived, came to inform him that the +effect of the sedative, which he had administered while Warrington +was restless and groaning, was wearing off. We waited a little +while, and then Dr. Mead himself informed us that we might see our +friend for a minute. + +Even in his half-drowsy state of pain Warrington appeared to +recognise Garrick and assume that he had come in response to his +own summons. Garrick bent down, and I could just distinguish what +Warrington was trying to say to him. + +"Wh--where's Violet?" he whispered huskily, "Does she know? Don't +let her get--frightened--I'll be--all right." + +Garrick laid his hand on Warrington's unbandaged shoulder, but +said nothing. + +"The--the letter," he murmured ramblingly. "I have it--in my +apartment--in the little safe. I was going to Tuxedo--to see +Violet--explain slander--tell her closing place--didn't know it +was mine before. Good thing to close it--Forbes is a heavy loser. +She doesn't know that." + +Warrington lapsed back on his pillow and Dr. Mead beckoned to us +to withdraw without exciting him any further. + +"What difference does it make whether she knows about Forbes or +not?" I queried as we tiptoed down the hall. + +Garrick shook his head doubtfully. "Can't say," he replied +succinctly. "It may be that Forbes, too, has aspirations." + +The idea sent me off into a maze of speculations, but it did not +enlighten me much. At any rate, I felt, Warrington had said enough +to explain his presence in that part of the country. On one thing, +as I have said, Garrick had guessed right. The blackmailing letter +and what we had seen the night before at the crooked gambling +joint had been too much for him. He had not been able to rest as +long as he was under a cloud with Miss Winslow until he had had a +chance to set himself right in her eyes. + +There seemed to be nothing that we could do for him just then. He +was in excellent hands, and now that the doctor knew who he was, a +trained nurse had even been sent for from the city and arrived on +the train following our own, thus relieving Mrs. Mead of her +faithful care of him. + +Garrick gave the nurse strict instructions to make exact notes of +anything that Warrington might say, and then requested the doctor +to take us to the scene of the tragedy. We were about to start, +when Garrick excused himself and hurried back into the house, +reappearing in a few minutes. + +"I thought perhaps, after all, it would be best to let Miss +Winslow know of the accident, as long as it isn't likely to turn +out seriously in the end for Warrington," he explained, joining us +again in Dr. Mead's car which was waiting in front of the house. +"So I called up her aunt's at Tuxedo and when Miss Winslow +answered the telephone I broke the news to her as gently as I +could. Warrington need have no fear about that girl," he added. + +The wrecked car, we found, had not yet been moved, nor had the +broken fence been repaired. It was, in fact, an accident worth +studying topographically. That part of the road itself near the +fence seemed to interest Garrick greatly. Two or three cars passed +while we waited and he noted how carefully each of them seemed to +avoid that side toward the broken fence, as though it were +haunted. + +"I hope they've all done that," Garrick remarked, as he continued +to examine the road, which was a trifle damp under the high trees +that shaded it. + +As he worked, I could not believe that it was wholly fancy that +caused me to think of him as searching with dilated nostrils, like +a scientific human bloodhound. For, it was not long before I began +to realize what he was looking for in the marks of cars left on +the oiled roadway. + +During perhaps half an hour he continued studying the road, above +and below the exact point of the accident. At length a low +exclamation from him brought me to his side. He had dropped down +in the grease, regardless of his knees and was peering at some +rather deep imprints in the surface dressing. There, for a few +feet, were plainly the marks of the outside tires of a car, still +unobliterated. + +Garrick had pulled out copies of the photographs he had made of +the tire marks that had been left at the scene of the finding of +the unfortunate Rena Taylor's body, and was busy comparing them +with the marks that were before him. + +"Of course," Garrick muttered to me, "if the anti-skid marks of +the tires were different, it would have proved nothing, just as in +the other case where we looked for the tire prints. But here, too, +a glance shows that at least it is the same make of tires." + +He continued his comparison. It did not take me long to surmise +what he was doing. He was taking the two sets of marks and, inch +by inch, going over them, checking up the little round metal +insertions that were placed in this style of tire to give it a +firmer grip. + +"Here's one missing, there's another," he cried excitedly. "By +Jove, it can't be mere coincidence. There's one that is worn-- +another broken. They correspond. Yes, that MUST be the same car, +in each case. And if it was the stolen car, then it was +Warrington's own car that was used in pursuing him and in almost +making away with him!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EXPLANATION + + +We had not noticed a car which had stopped just past us and +Garrick was surprised at hearing his own name called. + +We looked up from contemplating the discovery he had made in the +road, to see Miss Winslow waving to us. She had motored down from +Tuxedo immediately after receiving the message over the telephone, +and with her keen eye had picked out both the place of the +accident and ourselves studying it. + +As we approached, I could see that she was much more pale than +usual. Evidently her anxiety for Warrington was thoroughly +genuine. The slanderous letter had not shaken her faith in him, +yet. + +She had left her car and was walking back along the road with us +toward the broken fence. Garrick had been talking to her earnestly +and now, having introduced her to Dr. Mead, the doctor and he +decided to climb down to inspect the wrecked car itself in the +ravine below. + +Miss Winslow cast a quick look from the broken fence down at the +torn and twisted wreckage of the car and gave a suppressed little +cry and shudder. + +"How is Mortimer?" she asked of me eagerly, for I had agreed to +stay with her while the others went down the slope. "I mean how is +he really? Is he likely to be better soon, as Mr. Garrick said +over the telephone?" she appealed. + +"Surely--absolutely," I assured her, knowing that if Garrick had +said that he had meant it. "Miss Winslow, believe me, neither Mr. +Garrick nor Dr. Mead is concealing anything. It is pretty bad, of +course. Such things are always bad. But it might be far worse. And +besides, the worst now has passed." + +Garrick had already promised to accompany her over to Dr. Mead's +after he had made his examination of the wrecked car to confirm +what the doctor had already observed. It took several minutes for +them to satisfy themselves and meanwhile Violet Winslow, already +highly unstrung by the news from Garrick, waited more and more +nervously. + +In spite of his careful examination of the wrecked car, Garrick +found practically nothing more than Dr. Mead had already told him. +It was with considerable relief that Miss Winslow saw the two +again climbing up the slope in the direction of the road. + +A few minutes later we were on our way back, Dr. Mead and Garrick +leading the way in the doctor's car, while I accompanied Miss +Winslow in her own car. + +She said little, and it was plain to see that she was consumed by +anxiety. Now and then she would ask a question about the accident, +and although I tried in every way to divert her mind to other +subjects she unfailingly came back to that. + +Tempering the details as much as I could I repeated for her just +what had happened to the best of our knowledge. + +"And you have no idea who it could have been?" she asked turning +those liquid eyes of hers on my face. + +If there were any secret about it, it was perhaps fortunate that I +did not know. I don't think I am more than ordinarily susceptible +and I know I did not delude myself that Miss Winslow ever could be +anything except a friend to either Garrick or myself. But I felt I +could not resist the appeal in those eyes. I wondered if even +they, by some magic intuition, might not pierce the very soul of +man and uncover a lying heart. I felt that Warrington could not +have been other than he said he was and still have been hastening +to meet those eyes. + +"Miss Winslow," I answered, "I have no more idea than you have who +it could be." + +I was telling the truth and I felt that I could meet her gaze. + +There must have been something about how I had phrased my answer +that caused her to look at me more searchingly than before. +Suddenly she turned her face away and gazed at the passing +landscape from the car. + +She said nothing, but as I continued to watch her finely moulded +features, I saw that she was making an effort to control herself. +It flashed over me, somehow, that perhaps, after all, she herself +suspected someone. It was not that she said anything. It was +merely an indefinable impression I received. + +Had Warrington any enemies, not in the underworld, but among those +of his own set, rivals, perhaps, who might even stoop to secure +the aid of those of the underworld who could be bought to commit +any crime in the calendar for a price? I did not pause to examine +the plausibility or the impossibility of such a theory. What +interested me was whether in her mind there was such a thought. +Had she, perhaps, really more of an idea than I who it could be? +She betrayed nothing of what her intuition told her, but I felt +sure that, even though she knew nothing, there was at least +something she feared. + +At last we arrived at Dr. Mead's and I handed her out of the car +and into the tastefully furnished little house. There was an air +of quietness about it that often indefinably pervades a house in +which there is illness or a tragedy. + +"May I--see him?" pleaded Miss Winslow, as Dr. Mead placed a chair +for her. + +I wondered what he would have done if there had been some good +reason why he should resist the pleading of her deep eyes. + +"Why--er--for a minute--yes," he answered. "Later, soon, he may +see visitors longer, but just now I think for a few hours the less +he is disturbed the better." + +The doctor excused himself for a moment to look at his patient and +prepare him for the visit. Meanwhile Miss Winslow waited in the +reception room downstairs, still very pale and nervous. + +Warrington was in much less pain now than he had been when we left +and Dr. Mead decided that, since the nurse had made him so much +more comfortable, no further drug was necessary. In fact as his +natural vitality due to his athletic habits and clean living +asserted itself, it seemed as if his injuries which at first had +looked so serious were not likely to prove as bad as the doctor +had anticipated. + +Still, he was badly enough as it was. The new nurse smoothed out +his pillows and deftly tried to conceal as much as she could that +would suggest how badly he was injured and at last Violet Winslow +was allowed to enter the room where the poor boy lay. + +Miss Winslow never for a moment let her wonderful self-control +fail her. Quickly and noiselessly, like a ministering angel, she +seemed to float rather than walk over the space from the door to +the bed. + +As she bent over him and whispered, "Mortimer!" the simple tone +seemed to have an almost magic effect on him. + +He opened his eyes which before had been languidly closed and +gazed up at her face as if he saw a vision. Slowly the expression +on his face changed as he realized that it was indeed Violet +herself. In spite of the pain of his hurts which must have been +intense a smile played over his features, as if he realized that +it would never do to let her know how serious had been his +condition. + +As she bent over her hand had rested on the white covers of the +bed. Feebly, in spite of the bandages that swathed the arm nearest +her, he put out his own brawny hand and rested it on hers. She did +not withdraw it, but passed the other hand gently over his +throbbing forehead. Never have I seen a greater transformation in +an invalid than was evident in Mortimer Warrington. No tonic in +all the pharmacopoeia of Dr. Mead could have worked a more +wonderful change. + +Not a word was said by either Warrington or Violet for several +seconds. They seemed content just to gaze into each other's faces, +oblivious to us. + +Warrington was the first to break the silence, in answer to what +he knew must be her unspoken question. + +"Your aunt--gambling," he murmured feebly, trying hard to connect +his words so as to appear not so badly off as he had when he had +spoken before. "I didn't know--till they told me--that the estate +owned it--was coming to tell you--going to cancel the lease--close +it up--no one ever lose money there again--" + +The words, jerky though they were, cost him a great physical +effort to say. She seemed to realize it, but there was a look of +triumph on her face as she understood. + +She had not been mistaken. Warrington was all that she had thought +him to be. + +He was looking eagerly into her face and as he looked he read in +it the answer to the questionings that had sent him off in the +early hours of the morning on his fateful ride to Tuxedo. + +Dr. Mead cleared his throat. Miss Winslow recognised it as a +signal that the time was growing short for the interview. + +Reluctantly, she withdrew her hand from his, their eyes met +another instant, and with a hasty word of sympathy and +encouragement she left the room, conscious now that other eyes +were watching. + +"Oh, to think it was to tell me that that he got into it all," she +cried, as she sank into a deep chair in the reception room, +endeavouring not to give way to her feelings, now that the strain +was off and she had no longer to keep a brave face. "I--I feel +guilty!" + +"I wouldn't say that," soothed Garrick. "Who knows? Perhaps if he +had stayed in the city--they might have succeeded,--whoever it was +back of this thing." + +She looked up at Garrick, startled, I thought, with the same +expression I had seen when she turned her face away in the car and +I got the impression that she felt more than she knew of the case. + +"I may--see--Mr. Warrington again soon?" she asked, now again +mistress of her feelings after Garrick's interruption that had +served to take her mind off a morbid aspect of the affair. + +"Surely," agreed Dr. Mead. "I expect his progress to be rapid +after this." + +"Thank you," she murmured, as she slowly rose and prepared to make +the return trip to her aunt's home. + +"Oh, Mr. Garrick," she confided, as he helped her on with the +wraps she had thrown carelessly on a chair when she entered, "I +can't help it--I do feel guilty. Perhaps he thinks I am--like Aunt +Emma---" + +"Perhaps it was quite as much to convince your aunt as you that he +took the trip," suggested Garrick. + +Miss Winslow understood. "Why is it," she murmured, "that +sometimes people with the best intentions manage to bring about +things that are--more terrible?" + +Garrick smiled. Quite evidently she and her aunt were not exactly +in tune. He said nothing. + +As for Dr. Mead he seemed really pleased, for the patient had +brightened up considerably after even the momentary glimpse he had +had of Violet. Altogether I felt that although they had seen each +other only for a moment, it had done both good. Miss Winslow's +fears had been quieted and Warrington had been encouraged by the +realisation that, in spite of its disastrous ending, his journey +had accomplished its purpose anyway. + +There was, as Dr. Mead assured us, every prospect now that +Warrington would pull through after the murderous assault that had +been made on him. + +We saw Miss Winslow safely off on her return trip, much relieved +by the promise of the doctor that she might call once a day to see +how the patient was getting along. + +Warrington was now resting more easily than he had since the +accident and Garrick, having exhausted the possibilities of +investigation at the scene of the accident, announced that he +would return to the city. + +At the railroad terminus he called up both the apartment and the +office in order to find out whether we had had any visitors during +our absence. No one had called at the apartment, but the office +boy downtown said that there was a man who had called and was +coming back again. + +A half hour or so later when we arrived at the office we found +McBirney seated there, patiently determined to find Garrick. + +Evidently the news of the assault on Warrington had travelled +fast, for the first thing McBirney wanted to know was how it +happened and how his client was. In a few words Garrick told him +as much about it as was necessary. McBirney listened attentively, +but we could see that he was bursting with his own budget of news. + +"And, McBirney," concluded Garrick, without going into the +question of the marks of the tires, "most remarkable of all, I am +convinced that the car in which his assailant rode was no other +than the Mercedes that was stolen from Warrington in the first +place." + +"Say," exclaimed McBirney in surprise, "that car must be all over +at once!" + +"Why--what do you mean?" + +"You know I have my own underground sources of information," +explained the detective with pardonable pride at adding even a +rumour to the budget of news. "Of course you can't be certain of +such things, but one of my men, who is scouting around the +Tenderloin looking for what he can find, tells me that he saw a +car near that gambling joint on Forty-eighth Street and that it +may have been the repainted and renumbered Warrington car--at +least it tallies with the description that we got from the garage +keeper in north Jersey. + +"Did he see who drove it?" asked Garrick eagerly. + +"Not very well. It was a short, undersized man, as nearly as he +could make out. Someone whom he did not recognize jumped in it +from the gambling house and they disappeared. Even though my man, +his suspicions aroused, tried to follow them in a taxicab they +managed to leave him behind." + +"In what direction did they go?" asked Garrick. + +"Toward the West Side--where those fly-by-night garages are all +located." + +"Or, perhaps, the Jersey ferries," suggested Garrick. + +"Well, I thought you might like to know about this undersized +driver," said McBirney a little sulkily because Garrick had not +displayed as much enthusiasm as he expected. + +"I do," hastened Garrick. "Of course I do. And it may prove to be +a very important clew. But I was just running ahead of your story. +The undersized man couldn't have figured in the case afterward, +assuming that it was the car. He must have left it, probably in +the city. Have you any idea who it could be?" + +"Not unless he might be an employee or a keeper of one of those +night-hawk garages," persisted McBirney. "That is possible." + +"Quite," agreed Garrick. + +McBirney had delivered his own news and in turn had received ours, +or at least such of it as Garrick chose to tell at present. He was +apparently satisfied and rose to go. + +"Keep after that undersized fellow, will you?" asked Garrick. "If +you could find out who he is and he should happen to be connected +with one of those garages we might get on the right trail at +last." + +"I will," promised McBirney. "He's evidently an expert driver of +motor cars himself; my man could see that." + +McBirney had gone. Garrick sat for several minutes gazing squarely +at me. Then he leaned back in his chair, with his hands behind his +head. + +"Mark my words, Marshall," he observed slowly, "someone connected +with that gambling joint in some way has got wind of the fact that +Warrington is going to revoke the lease and close it up. We've got +to beat them to it--that's all." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RAID + + +Garrick was evidently turning over and over in his mind some plan +of action. + +"This thing has gone just about far enough," he remarked +meditatively, looking at his watch. It was now well along in the +afternoon. + +"But what do you intend doing?" I asked, regarding the whole +affair so far as a hopeless mystery from which I could not see +that we had extracted so much as a promising clew. + +"Doing?" he echoed. "Why, there is only one thing to do, and that +is to take the bull by the horns, to play the game without any +further attempt at finessing. I shall see Dillon, get a warrant, +and raid that gambling place--that's all." + +I had no counter suggestion to offer. In fact the plan rather +appealed to me. If any blow were to be struck it must be just a +little bit ahead of any that the gamblers anticipated, and this +was a blow they would not expect if they already had wind of +Warrington's intention to cancel the lease. + +Garrick called up Dillon and made an appointment to meet him early +in the evening, without telling him what was afoot. + +"Meet me down at police headquarters, Tom," was all that Garrick +said to me. "I want to work here at the office for a little while, +first, testing a new contrivance, or, rather, an old one that I +think may be put to a new use." + +Meanwhile I decided to employ my time by visiting some newspaper +friends that I had known a long time on the Star, one of the most +enterprising papers in the city. Fortunately I found my friend, +Davenport, the managing editor, at his desk and ready to talk in +the infrequent lulls that came in his work. + +"What's on your mind, Marshall?" he asked as I sat down and began +to wonder how he ever conducted his work in the choatic clutter of +stuff on the top of his desk. + +"I can't tell you--yet, Davenport," I explained carefully, "but +it's a big story and when it breaks I'll promise that the Star has +the first chance at it. I'm on the inside--working with that young +detective, Garrick, you know." + +"Garrick--Garrick," he repeated. "Oh, yes, that fellow who came +back from abroad with a lot of queer ideas. I remember. We had an +interview with him when he left the steamer. Good stuff, too,--but +what do you think of him? Is he--on the level?" + +"On the level and making good," I answered confidently. "I'm not +at liberty to tell much about it now, but--well, the reason I came +in was to find out what you could tell me about a Miss Winslow,-- +Violet Winslow and her aunt, Mrs. Beekman de Lancey." + +"The Miss Winslow who is reported engaged to young Warrington?" he +repeated. "The gossip is that he has cut out Angus Forbes, +entirely." + +I had hesitated to mention all the names at once, but I need not +have done so, for on such things, particularly the fortunes in +finance and love of such a person as Warrington, the eyes of the +press were all-seeing. + +"Yes," I answered carefully, "that's the Miss Winslow. What do you +know of her?" + +"Well," he replied, fumbling among the papers on his desk, "all I +know is that in the social set to which she belongs our society +reporters say that of all the young fellows who have set out to +capture her--and she's a deuced pretty girl, even in the pictures +we have published--it seems to have come down to Mortimer +Warrington and Angus Forbes. Of course, as far as we newspapermen +are concerned, the big story for us would be in the engagement of +young Warrington. The eyes of people are fixed on him just now-- +the richest young man in the country, and all that sort of thing, +you know. Seems to be a pretty decent sort of fellow, too, I +believe--democratic and keen on other things besides tango and +tennis. Oh, there's the thing I was hunting for. Mrs. de Lancey's +a nut on gambling, I believe. Read that. It's a letter that came +to us from her this morning." + +It was written in the stilted handwriting of a generation ago and +read: + +"To the Editor of the Star, Dear Sir:--I believe that your paper +prides itself on standing for reform and against the grafters. If +that is so, why do you not join in the crusade to suppress +gambling in New York? For the love that you must still bear +towards your own mother, listen to the stories of other mothers +torn by anxiety for their sons and daughters, and if there is any +justice or righteousness in this great city close up those +gambling hells that are sending to ruin scores of our finest young +men--and women. You have taken up other fights against gambling +and vice. Take up this one that appeals to women of wealth and +social position. I know them and they are as human as mothers in +any other station in life. Oh, if there is any way, close up these +gilded society resorts that are dissipating the fortunes of many +parents, ruining young men and women, and, in one case I know of, +slowly bringing to the grave a grey-haired widow as worthy of +protection as any mother of the poor whose plea has closed up a +little poolroom or policy shop. One place I have in mind is at---- +West Forty-eighth Street. Investigate it, but keep this +confidential. + +"Sincerely, + +"(MRS.) EMMA DE LANCEY." + +"Do you know anything about it?" I asked casually handing the +letter back. + +"Only by hearsay. I understand it is the crookedest gambling joint +in the city, at least judging by the stories they tell of the +losses there. And so beastly aristocratic, too. They tell me young +Forbes has lost a small fortune there--but I don't know how true +it is. We get hundreds of these daintily perfumed and monogramed +little missives in the course of a year." + +"You mean Angus Forbes?" I asked. + +"Yes," replied the managing editor, "the fellow that they say has +been trying to capture your friend Miss Winslow." + +I did not reply for the moment. Forbes, I had already learned, was +deeply in debt. Was it part of his plan to get control of the +little fortune of Violet to recoup his losses? + +"Do you know Mrs. de Lancey?" pursued the editor. + +"No--not yet," I answered. "I was just wondering what sort of +person she is." + +"Oh I suppose she's all right," he answered, "but they say she's +pretty straight-laced--that cards and all sorts of dissipation are +an obsession with her." + +"Well," I argued, "there might be worse things than that." + +"That's right," he agreed. "But I don't believe that such a +puritanical atmosphere is--er--just the place to bring up a young +woman like Violet Winslow." + +I said nothing. It did not seem to me that Mrs. de Lancey had +succeeded in killing the natural human impulses in Violet, though +perhaps the girl was not as well versed in some of the ways of the +world as others of her set. Still, I felt that her own natural +common sense would protect her, even though she had been kept from +a knowledge of much that in others of her set was part of their +"education." + +My friend's telephone had been tinkling constantly during the +conversation and I saw that as the time advanced he was getting +more and more busy. I thanked Davenport and excused myself. + +At least I had learned something about those who were concerned in +the case. As I rode uptown I could not help thinking of Violet +Winslow and her apparently intuitive fear concerning Warrington. I +wondered how much she really knew about Angus Forbes. Undoubtedly +he had not hesitated to express his own feelings toward her. Had +she penetrated beneath the honeyed words he must have spoken to +her? Was it that she feared that all things are fair in war and +love and that the favour she must have bestowed on Warrington +might have roused the jealousy of some of his rivals for her +affections? + +I found no answer to my speculations, but a glance at my watch +told me that it was nearing the time of my appointment with Guy. + +A few minutes later I jumped off the car at Headquarters and met +Garrick, waiting for me in the lower hall. As we ascended the +broad staircase to the second floor, where Dillon's office was, I +told him briefly of what I had discovered. + +"The old lady will have her wish," he replied grimly as I related +the incident of the letter to the editor. "I wonder just how much +she really does know of that place. I hope it isn't enough to set +her against Warrington. You know people like that are often likely +to conceive violent prejudices--and then refuse to believe +something that's all but proved about someone else." + +There was no time to pursue the subject further for we had reached +Dillon's office and were admitted immediately. + +"What's the news?" asked Dillon greeting us cordially. + +"Plenty of it," returned Garrick, hastily sketching over what had +transpired since we had seen him last. + +Garrick had scarcely begun to outline what he intended to do when +I could see from the commissioner's face that he was very +sceptical of success. + +"Herman tells me," he objected, "that the place is mighty well +barricaded. We haven't tried raiding it yet, because you know the +new plan is not only to raid those places, but first to watch +them, trace out some of the regular habitues, and then to be able +to rope them in in case we need them as evidence. Herman has been +getting that all in shape so that when the case comes to trial, +there'll be no slip-up." + +"If that's all you want, I can put my finger on some of the +wildest scions of wealth that you will ever need for witnesses," +Garrick replied confidently. + +"Well," pursued Dillon diffidently, "how are you going to pull it +off, down through the sky-light, or up through the cellar?" + +"Oh, Dillon," returned Garrick reproachfully, "that's unworthy of +you." + +"But, Garrick," persisted Dillon, "don't you know that it is a +veritable National City Bank for protection. It isn't one of those +common gambling joints. It's proof against all the old methods. +Axes and sledgehammers would make no impression there. Why, that +place has been proved bomb-proof--bomb-proof, sir. You remember +recently the so-call 'gamblers' war' in which some rivals exploded +a bomb on the steps because the proprietor of this place resented +their intrusion uptown from the lower East Side, with their gunmen +and lobbygows? It did more damage to the house next door than to +the gambling joint." + +Dillon paused a moment to enumerate the difficulties. "You can get +past the outside door all right. But inside is the famous ice-box +door. It's no use to try it at all unless you can pass that door +with reasonable quickness. All the evidence you will get will be +of an innocent social club room downstairs. And you can't get on +the other side of that door by strategy, either. It is strategy- +proof. The system of lookouts is perfect. Herman---" + +"Can't help it," interrupted Garrick, "we've got to go over +Herman's head this time. I'll guarantee you all the evidence +you'll ever need." + +Dillon and Garrick faced each other for a moment. + +It was a supreme test of Dillon's sincerity. + +Finally he spoke slowly. "All right," he said, as if at last the +die were cast and Garrick had carried his point, "but how are you +going to do it? Won't you need some men with axes and crowbars?" + +"No, indeed, almost shouted Garrick as Dillon made a motion as if +to find out who were available. "I've been preparing a little +surprise in my office this afternoon for just such a case. It's a +rather cumbersome arrangement and I've brought it along stowed +away in a taxicab outside. I don't want anyone else to know about +the raid until the last moment. Just before we begin the rough +stuff, you can call up and have the reserves started around. That +is all I shall want." + +"Very well," agreed Dillon, after a moment. + +He did not seem to relish the scheme, but he had promised at the +outset to play fair and he had no disposition to go back on his +word now in favor even of his judgment. + +"First of all," he planned, "we'll have to drop in on a judge and +get a warrant to protect us." + +Garrick hastily gave me instructions what to do and I started +uptown immediately, while they went to secure the secret warrant. + +I had been stationed on the corner which was not far from the +Forty-eighth Street gambling joint that we were to raid. I had a +keen sense of wickedness as I stood there with other loiterers +watching the passing throng under the yellow flare of the flaming +arc light. + +It was not difficult now to loiter about unnoticed because the +streets were full of people, all bent on their own pleasure and +not likely to notice one person more or less who stopped to watch +the passing throng. + +From time to time I cast a quick glance at the house down the +street, in order to note who was going in. + +It must have been over an hour that I waited. It was after ten, +and it became more difficult to watch who was going into the +gambling joint. In fact, several times the street was so blocked +that I could not see very well. But I did happen to catch a +glimpse of one familiar figure across the street from me. + +It was Angus Forbes. Where he kept himself in the daytime I did +not know, but he seemed to emerge at night, like a rat, seeking +what to him was now food and drink. I watched him narrowly as he +turned the corner, but there was no use in being too inquisitive. +He was bound as certainly for the gambling joint as a moth would +have headed toward one of the arc lights. Evidently Forbes was +making a vocation of gambling. + +Just then a taxicab pulled up hurriedly at the curb near where I +was standing and a hand beckoned me, on the side away from the +gambling house. + +I sauntered over and looked in through the open window. It was +Garrick with Dillon sunk back into the dark corner of the cab, so +as not to be seen. + +"Jump in!" whispered Garrick, opening the door. "We have the +warrant all right. Has anything happened? No suspicion yet?" + +I did so and reassured Garrick while the cab started on a blind +cruise around the block. + +On the floor was a curiously heavy instrument, on which I had +stubbed my toe as I entered. I surmised that it must have been the +thing which Garrick had brought from his office, but in the +darkness I could not see what it was, nor was there a chance to +ask a question. + +"Stop here," ordered Garrick, as we passed a drug store with a +telephone booth. + +Dillon jumped out and disappeared into the booth. + +"He is calling the reserves from the nearest station," fretted +Garrick. "Of course, we have to do that to cover the place, but +we'll have to work quickly now, for I don't know how fast a tip +may travel in this subterranean region. Here, I'll pay the taxi +charges now and save some time." + +A moment later Dillon rejoined us, his face perspiring from the +closeness of the air in the booth. + +"Now to that place on Forty-eighth Street, and we're square," +ordered Garrick to the driver, mentioning the address. "Quick!" + +There had been, we could see, no chance for a tip to be given that +a raid was about to be pulled off. We could see that, as Garrick +and I jumped out of the cab and mounted the steps. + +The door was closed to us, however. Only someone like Warrington +who was known there could have got us in peacefully, until we had +become known in the place. Yet though there had been no tip, the +lookout on the other side of the door, with his keen nose, had +seemed to scent trouble. + +He had retreated and, we knew, had shut the inside, heavy door-- +perhaps even had had time already to give the alarm inside. + +The sharp rap of a small axe which Garrick had brought sounded on +the flimsy outside door, in quick staccato. There was a noise and +scurry of feet inside and we could hear the locks and bolts being +drawn. + +Banging, ripping, tearing, the thin outer door was easily forced. +Disregarding the melee I leaped through the wreckage with Garrick. +The "ice-box" door barred all further progress. How was Garrick to +surmount this last and most formidable barrier? + +"A raid! A raid!" cried a passer-by. + +Another instant, and the cry, taken up by others, brought a crowd +swarming around from Broadway, as if it were noon instead of +midnight. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GAMBLING DEBT + + +There was no time to be lost now. Down the steps again dashed +Garrick, after our expected failure both to get in peaceably and +to pass the ice-box door by force. This time Dillon emerged from +the cab with him. Together they were carrying the heavy apparatus +up the steps. + +They set it down close to the door and I scrutinized it carefully. +It looked, at first sight, like a short stubby piece of iron, +about eighteen inches high. It must have weighed fifty or sixty +pounds. Along one side was a handle, and on the opposite side an +adjustable hook with a sharp, wide prong. + +Garrick bent down and managed to wedge the hook into the little +space between the sill and the bottom of the ice-box door. Then he +began pumping on the handle, up and down, up and down, as hard as +he could. + +Meanwhile the crowd that had begun to collect was getting larger. +Dillon went through the form of calling on them for aid, but the +call was met with laughter. A Tenderloin crowd has no use for +raids, except as a spectacle. Between us we held them back, while +Garrick worked. The crowd jeered. + +It was the work of only a few seconds, however, before Garrick +changed the jeers to a hearty round of exclamations of surprise. +The door seemed to be lifted up, literally, until some of its +bolts and hinges actually bulged and cracked. It was being +crushed, like the flimsy outside door, before the unwonted attack. + +Upwards, by fractions of an inch, by millimeters, the door was +being forced. There was such straining and stress of materials +that I really began to wonder whether the building itself would +stand it. + +"Scientific jimmying," gasped Garrick, as the door bulged more and +more and seemed almost to threaten to topple in at any moment. + +I looked at the stubby little cylinder with its short stump of a +lever. Garrick had taken it out now and had wedged it horizontally +between the ice-box door and the outer stonework of the building +itself. Then he jammed some pieces of wood in to wedge it tighter +and again began to pump at the handle vigorously. + +"What is it?" I asked, almost in awe at the titanic power of the +apparently insignificant little thing. + +"My scientific sledgehammer," he panted, still working the lever +more vigorously than ever backward and forward. "In other words, a +hydraulic ram. There is no swinging of axes or wielding of crow- +bars necessary any more, Dillon, in breaking down a door like +this. Such things are obsolete. This little jimmy, if you want to +call it that, has a power of ten tons. I think that's about +enough." + +It seemed as if the door were buckling and being literally +wrenched off its hinges by the irresistible ten-ton punch of the +hydraulic ram. + +Garrick sprang back, grasping me by the arm and pulling me too. +But there was no need of caution. What was left of the door swung +back on its loosened hinges, seemed to tremble a moment, and then, +with a dull thud crashed down on the beautiful green marble of the +reception hall, reverberating. + +We peered beyond. Inside all was darkness. At the very first sign +of trouble the lights had been switched out downstairs. It was +deserted. There was no answer to our shouts. It was as silent as a +tomb. + +The clang of bells woke the rapid echoes. The crowd parted. It was +the patrol wagons, come just in time, full of reserves, at +Dillon's order. They swarmed up the steps, for there was nothing +to do now, in the limelight of the public eye, except their duty. +Besides Dillon was there, too. + +"Here," he ordered huskily, "four of you fellows jump into each of +the next door houses and run up to the roof. Four more men go +through to the rear of this house. The rest stay here and await +orders," he directed, detailing them off quickly, as he +endeavoured to grasp the strange situation. + +On both sides of the street heads were out of windows. On other +houses the steps were full of spectators. Thousands of people must +have swarmed in the street. It was pandemonium. + +Yet inside the house into which we had just broken it was all +darkness and silence. + +The door had yielded to the scientific sledge-hammering where it +would have shattered, otherwise, all the axes in the department. +What was next? + +Garrick jumped briskly over the wreckage into the building. +Instead of the lights and gayety which we had seen on the previous +night, all was black mystery. The robbers' cave yawned before us. +I think we were all prepared for some sort of gunplay, for we knew +the crooks to be desperate characters. As we followed Garrick +closely we were surprised to encounter not even physical force. + +Someone struck a light. Garrick, groping about in the shadows, +found the switch, and one after another the lights in the various +rooms winked up. + +I have seldom seen such confusion as greeted us as, with Dillon +waiving his "John Doe" warrant over his head, we hurried upstairs +to the main hall on the second floor, where the greater part of +the gambling was done. Furniture was overturned and broken, and +there had been no time to remove the heavier gambling apparatus. +Playing cards, however, chips, racing sheets from the afternoon, +dice, everything portable and tangible and small enough to be +carried had disappeared. + +But the greatest surprise of all was in store. Though we had seen +no one leave by any of the doors, nor by the doors of any of the +houses on the block, nor by the roofs, or even by the back yard, +according to the report of the police who had been sent in that +direction, there was not a living soul in the house from roof to +cellar. Search as we did, we could find not one of the scores of +people whom I had seen enter in the course of the evening while I +was watching on the corner. + +Dillon, ever mindful of some of the absurd rules of evidence in +such cases laid down by the courts, had had an official +photographer summoned and he was proceeding from room to room, +snapping pictures of apparatus that was left in place and +preserving a film record of the condition of things generally. + +Garrick was standing ruefully beside the roulette wheel at which +so many fortunes had been dissipated. + +"Get me an axe," he asked of one of Dillon's men who was passing. + +With a well-directed blow he smashed the wheel. + +"Look," he exclaimed, "this is what they were up against." + +His forefinger indicated an ingenious but now twisted and tangled +series of minute wires and electro-magnets in the delicate +mechanism now broken open before us. Delicate brushes led the +current into the wheel. + +With another blow of the axe, Garrick disclosed wires running down +through the leg of the table to the floor and under the carpet to +buttons operated by the man who ran the game. + +"What does it mean?" I asked blankly. + +"It means," he returned, "that they had little enough chance to +win at a straight game of roulette. But this wheel wasn't even +straight with all the odds in favor of the bank, as they are +naturally. This game was electrically controlled. Others are +mechanically controlled by what are called the 'mule's ear,' and +other devices. You CAN'T win. These wires and magnets can be made +to attract the little ball into any pocket the operator desires. +Each one of the pockets contains an electro-magnet. One set of +electro-magnets in the red pockets is connected with one button +under the carpet and a set of batteries. The other series of +little magnets in the black pockets is connected with another +button and the batteries." + +He had picked up the little ball. "This ball," he said as he +examined it, "is not really of ivory, but of a composition that +looks like ivory, coating a hollow, soft-iron ball inside. Soft +iron is attracted by an electro-magnet. Whichever set of magnets +is energized attracts the ball and by this simple method it is in +the power of the operator to let the ball go to red or black as he +may wish. Other similar arrangements control the odd or even, and +other combinations, also from push buttons. There isn't an honest +gambling machine in the whole place. The whole thing is crooked +from start to finish,--the men, the machines,----" + +"Then a fellow never had a chance?" repeated Dillon. + +"Not a chance," emphasized Garrick. + +We gathered about and gazed at magnets and wires, the buttons and +switches. He did not need to say anything more to expose the +character of the place. + +Amazing as we found everything about us in the palace of crooks, +nothing made so deep an impression on me as the fact that it was +deserted. It seemed as if the gamblers had disappeared as though +in a fairy tale. Search room after room as Dillon's men did they +were unable to find a living thing. + +One of the men had discovered, back of the gambling rooms on the +second floor, a little office evidently used by those who ran the +joint. It was scantily furnished, as though its purpose might have +been merely a place where they could divide up the profits in +private. A desk, a cabinet and a safe, besides a couple of chairs, +were all that the room contained. + +Someone, however, had done some quick work in the little office +during those minutes while Garrick was opening the great ice-box +door with his hydraulic ram, for on every side were scattered +papers, the desk had been rifled, and even from the safe +practically everything of any value had been removed. It was all +part of the general scheme of things in the gambling joint. +Practically nothing that was evidential that could be readily +removed had been left. Whoever had planned the place must have +been a genius as far as laying out precautions against a raid were +concerned. + +Garrick, Dillon and I ran hastily through some scattered +correspondence and other documents that spilled out from some +letter files on the floor, but as far as I could make out there +was nothing of any great importance that had been overlooked. + +Dillon ordered the whole mass to be bundled up and taken off when +the other paraphernalia was removed so that it could be gone +through at our leisure, and the search continued. + +From the "office" a staircase led down by a back way and we +followed it, looking carefully to see where it led. + +A low exclamation from Garrick arrested our attention. In a curve +between landings he had kicked something and had bent down to pick +it up. An electric pocket flashlight which one of the men had +picked up disclosed under its rays a package of papers evidently +dropped by someone who was carrying away in haste an armful of +stuff. + +"Markers with the house," exclaimed Garrick as he ran over the +contents of the package hurriedly. "I. O. U.'s for various amounts +and all initialed--for several hundred thousands. Hello, here's a +bunch with an 'F.' That must mean Forbes--thousands of dollars +worth." + +The markers were fastened together with a slip in order to +separate them from the others, evidently. + +Garrick was hastily totalling them up and they seemed to amount to +a tidy sum. + +"How can he ever pay?" I asked, amazed as the sum crept on upward +in the direction of six figures. + +"Don't you see that they're cancelled?" interjected Garrick, still +adding. + +I had not examined them closely, but as I now bent over to do so I +saw that each bore the words, "Paid by W." + +Warrington himself had settled the gambling debts of his friend! + +In still greater amazement I continued to look and found that they +all bore dates from several weeks before, down to within a few +days. The tale they told was eloquent. Forbes, his own fortune +gone, had gambled until rescued by his friend. Even that had not +been sufficient to curb his mania. He had kept right on, hoping +insanely to recoup. And the gamblers had been willing to take a +chance with him, knowing that they already had so much of his +money that they could not possibly lose. + +A horrid thought flashed over me. What if he had really planned to +pay his losses by marrying a girl with a fortune? Forbes was the +sort who would have gambled on even that slender prospect. + +As we stood on the landing while Garrick went over the markers, I +found myself wondering, even, where Forbes had been that night +after he hurried away from us at the ladies' poolroom and +Warrington had taken the journey that had ended so disastrously +for him. The more I learned of what had been taking place, the +more I saw that Warrington stood out as a gentleman. Undoubtedly +Violet Winslow had heard, had been informed by some kind unknown +of the slight lapses of Warrington. I felt sure that the gross +delinquencies of Forbes were concealed from her and from her aunt, +at least as far as Warrington had it in his power to shield the +man who was his friend--and rival. + +The voice of Dillon recalled me from a train of pure speculation +to the more practical work in hand before us. + +"Well, at any rate, we've got evidence enough to protect ourselves +and close the place, even if we didn't make any captures," +congratulated Dillon, as he rejoined us, after a momentary +excursion from which he returned still blinking from the effects +of the flashlight powders which his photographer had been using +freely. "After we get all the pictures of the place, I'll have the +stuff here removed to headquarters--and it won't be handed back on +any order of the courts, either, if I can help it!" + +Garrick had shoved the markers into his pocket and now was leading +the way downstairs. + +"Still, Dillon," he remarked, as we followed, "that doesn't shed +any light on the one remaining problem. How did they all manage to +get out so quickly?" + +We had reached the basement which contained the kitchens for the +buffet and quarters for the servants. A hasty excursion into the +littered back yard under the guidance of Dillon's men who had been +sent around that way netted us nothing in the way of information. +They had not made their escape over the back fences. Such a number +of people would certainly have left some trail, and there was +none. + +We looked at Garrick, perplexed, and he remarked, with sudden +energy, "Let's take a look at the cellar." + +As we groped down the final stairway into the cellar, it was only +too evident that at last he had guessed right. Down in the +subterranean depths we quickly discovered, at the rear, a sheet- +iron door. Battering it down was the work of but a moment for the +little ram. Beyond it, where we expected to see a yawning tunnel, +we found nothing but a pile of bricks and earth and timbers that +had been used for shoring. + +There had been a tunnel, but the last man who had gone through had +evidently exploded a small dynamite cartridge, and the walls had +been caved in. It was impossible to follow it until its course +could be carefully excavated with proper tools in the daylight. + +We had captured the stronghold of gambling in New York, but the +gamblers had managed to slip out of our grasp, at least for the +present. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE GANGSTER'S GARAGE + + +"I have it," exclaimed Garrick, as we were retracing our steps +upstairs from the dank darkness of the cellar. "I would be willing +to wager that that tunnel runs back from this house to that pool- +room for women which we visited on Forty-seventh Street, Marshall. +That must be the secret exit. Don't you see, it could be used in +either direction." + +We climbed the stairs and stood again in the wreck of things, +taking a hasty inventory of what was left, in hope of uncovering +some new clew, even by chance. + +Garrick shook his head mournfully. + +"They had just time enough," he remarked, "to destroy about +everything they wanted to and carry off the rest." + +"All except the markers," I corrected. + +"That was just a lucky chance," he returned. "Still, it throws an +interesting sidelight on the case." + +"It doesn't add much in my estimation to the character of Forbes," +I ventured, voicing my own suspicions. + +The telephone bell rang before Garrick had a chance to reply. +Evidently in their haste they had not had time to cut the wires or +to spread the news, yet, of the raid. Someone who knew nothing of +what had happened was calling up. + +Garrick quickly unhooked the receiver, with a hasty motion to us +to remain silent. + +"Hello," we heard him answer. "Yes, this is it. Who is this?" + +He had disguised his voice. We waited anxiously and watched his +face to gather what response he received. + +"The deuce!" he exclaimed, with his hand over the transmitter so +that his voice would not be heard at the other end. + +"What's the matter?" I asked eagerly. + +"Whoever he was," replied Garrick, "he was too keen for me. He +caught on. There must have been some password or form that they +used which we don't know, for he hung up the receiver almost as +soon as he heard me." + +Garrick waited a minute or two. Then he whistled into, the +transmitter. It was done apparently to see whether there was +anyone listening. But there was no answer. The man was gone. + +"Operator, operator!" Guy was calling, insistently moving the hook +up and down rapidly. "Yes--I want Central. Central, can you tell +me what number that was which just called up?" + +We all waited anxiously to learn whether the girl could find out +or not. + +"Bleecker seven--one--eight--o? Thank you very much. Give me +information, please." + +Again we waited as Garrick tried to trace the call out. + +"Hello! What is the street address of Bleecker seven--one--eight-- +o? Three hundred West Sixth. Thank you. A garage? Good-bye." + +"A garage?" echoed Dillon, his ears almost going up as he realized +the importance of the news. + +"Yes," cried Garrick, himself excited. "Tom, call a cab. Let us +hustle down there as quickly as we can." + +"One of those garages on the lower West Side," I heard Dillon say +as I left. "Perhaps they did work for the gambling joint--sent +drunks home, got rid of tough customers and all that. You know +already that there are some pretty tough places down there. This +is bully. I shouldn't be surprised if it gave us a line on the +stealing of Warrington's car at last." + +I found a cab and Dillon and Garrick joined me in it. + +"I tried to get McBirney," said Garrick as we prepared to start on +our new quest, "but he was out, and the night operator at his +place didn't seem to know where he was. But if they can locate +him, I imagine he'll be around at least shortly after we get +there. I left the address." + +Dillon had issued his final orders to his raiders about guarding +the raided gambling joint and stationing a man at the door. A +moment later we were off, threading our way through the crowd +which in spite of the late hour still lingered to gape at the +place. + +On the way down we speculated much on the possibility that we +might be going on a wild goose chase. But the very circumstances +of the call and the promptness with which the man who had called +had seemed to sense when something was wrong and to ring off +seemed to point to the fact that we had uncovered a good lead of +some kind. + +After a quick run downtown through the deserted avenues, we +entered a series of narrow and sinuous streets that wound through +some pretty tough looking neighborhoods. On the street corners +were saloons that deserved no better name than common groggeries. +They were all vicious looking joints and uniformly seemed to +violate the law about closing. The fact was that they impressed +one as though it would be as much as one's life was worth even to +enter them with respectable looking clothes on. + +The further we proceeded into the tortuous twists of streets that +stamp the old Greenwich village with a character all its own, the +worse it seemed to get. Decrepit relics of every style of +architecture from almost the earliest times in the city stood out +in the darkness, like so many ghosts. + +"Anyone who would run a garage down here," remarked Garrick, +"deserves to be arrested on sight." + +"Except possibly for commercial vehicles," I ventured, looking at +the warehouses here and there. + +"There are no commercial vehicles out at this hour," added Garrick +dryly. + +At last our cab turned down a street that was particularly dark. + +"This is it," announced Garrick, tapping on the glass for the +driver to stop at the corner. "We had better get out and walk the +rest of the way." + +The garage which we sought proved to be nothing but an old brick +stable. It was of such a character that even charity could not +have said that it had seen much better days for generations. It +was dark, evil looking. Except for a slinking figure here and +there in the distance the street about us was deserted. Even our +footfalls echoed and Garrick warned us to tread softly. I longed +for the big stick, that went with the other half of the phrase. + +He paused a moment to observe the place. It was near the corner +and a dim-lighted Raines law saloon on the next cross street ran +back almost squarely to the stable walls, leaving a narrow yard. +Apparently the garage itself had been closed for the night, if, +indeed, it was ever regularly open. Anyone who wanted to use it +must have carried a key, I surmised. + +We crossed over stealthily. Garrick put his ear to an ordinary +sized door which had been cut out of the big double swinging doors +of the stable, and listened. + +Not a sound. + +Dillon, with the instinct of the roundsman in him still, tried the +handle of the door gently. To our surprise it moved. I could not +believe that anyone could have gone away and left it open, +trusting that the place would not be looted by the neighbours +before he returned. I felt instinctively that there must be +somebody there, in spite of the darkness. + +The commissioner pushed in, however, followed closely by both of +us, prepared for an on-rush or a hand-to-hand struggle with +anything, man or beast. + +A quick succession of shots greeted us. I do not recall feeling +the slightest sensation of pain, but with a sickening dizziness in +the head I can just vaguely remember that I sank down on the oil +and grease of the floor. I did not fall. It seemed as if I had +time to catch myself and save, perhaps, a fractured skull. But +then it was all blank. + +It seemed an age, though it could not have been more than ten +minutes later when I came to. I felt an awful, choking sensation +in my throat which was dry and parched. My lungs seemed to rasp my +very ribs, as I struggled for breath. Garrick was bending +anxiously over me, himself pale and gasping yet. The air was +reeking with a smell that I did not understand. + +"Thank heaven, you're all right," he exclaimed, with much relief, +as he helped me struggle up on my feet. My head was still in a +whirl as he assisted me over to a cushioned seat in one of the +automobiles standing there. "Now I'll go back to Dillon," he +added, out of breath from the superhuman efforts he was putting +forth both for us and to keep himself together. "Wh--what's the +matter? What happened?" I gasped, gripping the back of the cushion +to steady myself. "Am I wounded? Where was I hit? I--I don't feel +anything--but, oh, my head and throat!" + +I glanced over at Dillon. He was pale and white as a ghost, but I +could see that he was breathing, though with difficulty. In the +glare of the headlight of a car which Garrick had turned on him, +he looked ghastly. I looked again to discover traces of blood. But +there was none anywhere. + +"We were all put out of business," muttered Garrick, as he worked +over Dillon. Dillon opened his eyes blankly at last, then +struggled up to his feet. "You got it worst, commissioner," +remarked Garrick to him. "You were closest." + +"Got what?" he sputtered, "Was closest to what?" + +We were all still choking over the peculiar odor in the fetid air +about us. + +"The bulletless gun," replied Garrick. + +Dillon looked at him a moment incredulously, in spite even of his +trying physical condition. + +"It is a German invention," Garrick went on to explain, clearing +his throat, "and shoots, instead of bullets, a stupefying gas +which temporarily blinds and chokes its victims. The fellow who +was in here didn't shoot bullets at us. He evidently didn't care +about adding any more crimes to his list just now. Perhaps he +thought that if he killed any of us there would be too much of a +row. I'm glad it was as it was, anyway. He got us all, this way, +before we knew it. Perhaps that was the reason he used the gun, +for if he had shot one of us with a pistol I had my own automatic +ready myself to blaze away. This way he got me, too. + +"A stupefying gun!" repeated Dillon. "I should say so. I don't +know what happened--yet," he added, blinking. + +"I came to first," went on Garrick, now busily looking about, as +we were all recovered. "I found that none of us was wounded, and +so I guessed what had happened. However, while we were unconscious +the villain, whoever he was, succeeded in running his car out of +the garage and getting away. He locked the door after him, but I +have managed to work it open again." + +Garrick was now examining the floor of the garage, turning the +headlight of the machine as much as he could on successive parts +of the floor. + +"By George, Tom," he exclaimed to me suddenly, "see those marks in +the grease? Do you recognize them by this time? It is the same +tire-mark again--Warrington's car--without a doubt!" + +Dillon had taken the photographs which Garrick had made several +days before from the prints left by the side of the road in New +Jersey, and was comparing them himself with the marks on the floor +of the garage, while Garrick explained them to him hurriedly, as +he had already done to me. + +"We are getting closer to him, every time,'" remarked Garrick. +"Even if he did get away, we are on the trail and know that it is +the right one. He could not have been at the gambling joint, or he +would never have called up. Yet he must have known all about it. +This has turned out better than I expected. I suppose you don't +feel so, but you must think so." + +It was difficult not to catch the contagion of Garrick's +enthusiasm. Dillon grunted assent. + +"This garage," he put in, looking it over critically, "must act as +a fence for stolen cars and parts of cars. See, there over in the +corner is the stuff for painting new license numbers. Here's +enough material to rebuild a half dozen cars. Yes, this is one of +the places that ought to interest you and McBirney, Garrick. I'll +bet the fellow who owns this place is one of those who'd engage to +sell you a second-hand car of any make you wanted to name. Then +he'd go out on the street and hunt around until he got one. Of +course, we'll find out his name, but I'll wager that when we get +the nominal owner we won't be able to extract a thing from him in +the way of actual facts." + +Garrick had continued his examination of the floor. In a corner, +near the back, he had picked up an empty shell of a cartridge. He +held it down in the light of the car, and examined it long and +carefully. As he turned it over and over he seemed to be carefully +considering it. Finally, he dropped it carefully into his inside +vest pocket, as though it were a rare treasure. + +"As I said at the start," quoted Garrick, turning to me, "we might +get a conviction merely on these cartridges. Anyhow, our man has +escaped from here. You can be sure that he won't come back-- +perhaps never--certainly not at least for a long time, until he +figures that this thing has completely blown over." + +"I'm going to keep my eye on the place, just the same," stoutly +insisted Dillon. + +"Of course, by all means," reiterated Garrick. "The fact is, I +expect our next important clew will come from this place. The only +thing I want you to be careful of, Dillon, is not to be hasty and +make an arrest." + +"Not make an arrest?" queried Dillon, who still felt the fumes in +his throat, and evidently longed to make someone pay the price--at +least by giving him the satisfaction of conducting a "third +degree" down at headquarters. + +"No. You won't get the right man, and you may lose one who points +straight at him. Take my advice. Watch the place. There's more to +be gained by going at it cautiously. These people understand the +old hammer-and-tongs game." + +Just then the smaller outside door grated on its rusty hinges. We +sprang to our feet, startled. Dillon leaped forward. Stupefying +guns had no taming effect on his nationality. + +"Well, commish, is that the way you greet an old friend?" laughed +McBirney, as a threatened strangle-hold was narrowly averted and +turned into a handshake. "How are you fellows? I got your message, +Garrick, and thought I'd drop around. What's the matter? You all +look as if you'd been drawn through a wringer." + +Briefly, to the accompaniment of many expressions of astonishment +from the insurance detective, Garrick related what had happened, +from the raid to the gas-gun. + +"Well," gasped McBirney, sniffing the remains of the gas in the +air, "this is some place, isn't it? Neat, cozy, well-located--for +a murder--hello!--that's that ninety horsepower Despard that was +stolen from Murdock the other day, or I'll eat my hat." + +He had raised the hood and was straining his eyes to catch a +glimpse of the maker's number on the engine, which had been all +but obliterated by a few judicious blows of a hammer. + +Garrick was busy telling McBirney also about the marks of the tire +on the floor, as the detective looked over one car after another, +as if he had unearthed a veritable treasure-trove. + +"No, your man could not have been at either of the gambling +joints," agreed McBirney, as Garrick finished, "or he wouldn't +have called up. But he must have known them intimately. Perhaps he +was in the pay of someone there." + +McBirney was much interested in what had been discovered, and was +trying to piece it together with what we had known before. "I +wonder whether he's the short fellow who drove the car when it was +seen up there, or the big fellow who was in the car when +Warrington was shot, up-state?" + +The question was, as yet, unanswerable. None of us had been able +to catch a glimpse of his figure, muffled, in the darkness when he +shot us. + +All we knew was that even this man was unidentified and at large. +The murderer, desperate as he was, was still free and unknown, +too. Were they one and the same? What might not either one do +next? + +We sat down in one of the stolen cars and held a midnight council +of war. There were four of us, and that meant four different +plans. Dillon was for immediate and wholesale arrests. McBirney +was certain of one thing. He would claim the cars he could +identify. The garage people could not help knowing now that we had +been there, and we conceded the point to him with little argument, +though it took great tact on Garrick's part to swing over Dillon. + +"I'm for arresting the garage-keeper, whoever he proves to be," +persisted Dillon, however. + +"It won't do any good," objected Garrick. + +"Don't you see that it will be better to accept his story, or +rather seem to, and then watch him?" + +"Watch him?" I asked, eager to propose my own plan of waiting +there and seizing each person who presented himself. "How can you +watch one of these fellows? They are as slippery as eels,--and as +silent as a muffler," I added, taking good-humouredly the general +laugh that greeted my mixed metaphor. + +"You've suggested the precise idea, Marshall, by your very +objection," broke in Garrick, who up to this time had been silent +as to his own plan. + +"I've a brand-new system of espionage. Trust it to me, and you can +all have your way." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DETECTAPHONE + + +I found it difficult to share Garrick's optimism, however. It +seemed to me that again the best laid plans of one that I had come +to consider among the cleverest of men had been defeated, and it +is not pleasant to be defeated, even temporarily. But Garrick was +certainly not discouraged. + +As he had said at the start, it was no ordinary criminal with whom +we had to deal. That was clear. There had been gunmen and gangmen +in New York for years, we knew, but this fellow seemed to be the +last word, with his liquid bullets, his anesthetic shells and his +stupefying gun. + +We had agreed that the garage keeper would, of course, shed little +light on the mystery. He was a crook. But he would find no +difficulty, doubtless, in showing that there was nothing on which +to hold him. + +Still, Garrick had evidently figured out a way to go ahead while +we had all been floundering around, helpless. His silence had +merely masked his consideration of a plan. + +"You three stay here," he ordered. "If anyone should come in, hold +him. Don't let anyone get away. But I don't think there will be +anyone. I'll be back within an hour or so." + +It was far past midnight already, as we sat uncomfortably in the +reeking atmosphere of the garage. The hours seemed to drag +interminably. Almost I wished that something would happen to break +the monotony and the suspense. Our lonely vigil went unrewarded, +however. No one came; there was not even a ring at the telephone. + +As nearly as I could figure it out, McBirney was the only one who +seemed to have gained much so far. He had looked over the cars +most carefully. There were half a dozen of them, in all. + +"I don't doubt," he concluded, "that all of them have been stolen. +But there are only two here that I can identify. They certainly +are clever at fixing them up. Look at all the parts they keep +ready for use. They could build a car, here." + +"Yes," agreed Dillon, looking at the expensive "junk" that was +lying about. "There is quite enough to warrant closing the place, +only I suppose Garrick is right. That would defeat our own +purpose." + +At last Garrick returned from his hurried trip down to the office. +I don't know what it was we expected him to bring, but I think we +were more or less disappointed when it proved to be merely a +simple oblong oak box with a handle. + +He opened it and we could see that it contained in reality nothing +but a couple of ordinary dry cells, and some other paraphernalia. +There were two black discs, attached to a metal headpiece, discs +about two and a half inches in diameter, with a circular hole in +the centre of each, perhaps an inch across, showing inside what +looked like a piece of iron or steel. + +Garrick carefully tested the batteries with a little ammeter which +he carried in a case. + +"Sixteen amperes," he remarked to himself, "I don't attempt to use +the batteries when they fall below five. These are all right." + +From a case he took a little round black disc, about the same size +as the other two. In its face it had a dozen or so small holes +perforated and arranged in the shape of a six-pointed star. + +"I wonder where I can stow this away so that it won't attract +attention?" he asked. + +Garrick looked about for the least used part of the garage and +decided that it was the back. Near the barred window lay a pile of +worn tires which looked as if it had been seldom disturbed except +to be added to. When one got tires as cheaply as the users of this +garage did, it was folly to bother much about the repair of old +ones. + +Back of this pile, then, he threw the little black disc +carelessly, only making sure that it was concealed. That was not +difficult, for it was not much larger than a watch in size. + +To it, I noticed, he had attached two plugs that were "fool- +proof"--that is, one small and the other large, so that they could +not be inserted into the wrong holes. A long flexible green silk +covered wire, or rather two wires together, led from the disc. By +carefully moving the tires so as to preserve the rough appearance +they had of being thrown down hastily into the discard, he was +able to conceal this wire, also, in such a way as to bring it +secretly to the barred window and through it. + +Next he turned his attention to the telephone itself. Another +instrument which he had brought with him was inserted in place of +the ordinary transmitter. It looked like it and had evidently been +prepared with that in view. I assumed that it must act like the +ordinary transmitter also, although it must have other uses as +well. It was more of a job to trace out the course of the +telephone wires and run in a sort of tap line at a point where it +would not be likely to be noted. This was done by Garrick, still +working in silence, and the wires from it led behind various +things until they, too, reached another window and so went to the +outside. + +As Garrick finished his mysterious tinkering and rose from his +dusty job to brush off his clothes, he remarked, "There, now you +may have your heart's desire, Dillon, if all you want to do is to +watch these fellows." + +"What is it?" I hastened to ask, looking curiously at the oak box +which contained still everything except the tiny black disc and +the wires leading out of the window from it and from the new +telephone transmitter. + +"This little instrument," he answered slowly, "is much more +sensitive, I think, than any mechanical or electrical eavesdropper +that has ever been employed before. It is the detectaphone--a new +unseen listener." + +"The detectaphone?" repeated Dillon. "How does it work?" + +"Well, for instance," explained Garrick, "that attachment which I +placed on the telephone is much more than a sensitive transmitter +such as you are accustomed to use. It is a form of that black disc +which you saw me hide behind the pile of tires. There are, in +both, innumerable of the minutest globules of carbon which are +floating around, as it were, making it alive at all times to every +sound vibration and extremely sensitive even to the slightest +sound waves. In the case of the detectaphone transmitter, it only +replaces the regular telephone transmitter and its presence will +never be suspected. It operates just as well when the receiver is +hung up as when it is off the hook, as far as the purpose I have +in mind is concerned, as you shall see soon. I have put both forms +in so that even if they find the one back of the tires, even the +most suspicious person would not think that anything was contained +in the telephone itself. We are dealing with clever people and two +anchors to windward are better than one." + +Dillon nodded approval, but by the look on his face it was evident +that he did not understand the whole thing yet. + +"That other disc, back of the tires," went on Garrick, "is the +ordinary detective form. All that we need now is to find a place +to install this receiving box--all this stuff that is left over-- +the two batteries, the earpieces. You see the whole thing is very +compact. I can get it down to six inches square and four inches +thick, or I can have it arranged with earpieces so that at least +six people can 'listen in' at once--forms that can be used in +detective work to meet all sorts of conditions. Then there is +another form of the thing, in a box about four inches square and, +perhaps, nine or ten inches long which I may bring up later for +another purpose when we find out what we are going to do with the +ends of those wires that are now dangling on the outside of the +window. We must pick up the connection in some safe and +inconspicuous place outside the garage." + +The window through which the wires passed seemed to open, as I had +already noticed, on a little yard not much larger than a court. +Garrick opened the window and stuck his head out as far as the +iron bars would permit. He sniffed. The odor was anything but +pleasant. It was a combination of "gas" from the garage and stale +beer from the saloon. + +"No doubt about it, that is a saloon," remarked Garrick, "and they +must pile empty kegs out there in the yard. Let's take a walk +around the corner and see what the front of the place looks like." + +It was a two and a half story building, with a sloping tin roof, +of an archaic architecture, in a state of terrible decay and +dilapidation, and quite in keeping with the neighbourhood. +Nevertheless a bright gilt sign over a side door read, "Hotel +Entrance." + +"I think we can get in there to-morrow on some pretext," decided +Garrick after our inspection of the "Old Tavern," as the crazy +letters, all askew, on one of the windows denoted the place. "The +Old Tavern looks as if it might let lodgings to respectable +gentlemen--if they were roughly enough dressed. We can get +ourselves up as a couple of teamsters and when we get in that will +give us a chance to pick up the ends of those wires to-morrow. +That will be time enough, I'm sure, and it is the best we can do, +anyhow." + +We returned from our walk around the block to the garage where +Dillon and McBirney were waiting for us. + +"I leave you free to do what you please, Dillon," answered Garrick +to the commissioner's inquiry, "as long as you don't pinch this +place which promises to be a veritable gold-mine. McBirney, I +know, will reduce the number of cars here tomorrow by at least +two. But don't, for heaven's sake, let out any suspicion about +those things I have just hidden here. And now, as for me, I'm +going uptown and get a few hours' sleep." + +Dillon and McBirney followed, leaving us, shortly, to get a couple +of men from the nearest police station to see that none of the +cars were taken out before morning. + +We rode up to our apartment, where a message was awaiting us, +telling that Warrington had passed a very good day and was making +much more rapid progress than even Dr. Mead had dared hope. I +could not help wondering how much was due to the mere tonic +presence daily of Violet Winslow. + +I had a sound sleep, although it was a short one. Garrick had me +up early, and, by digging back in his closet, unearthed the oldest +clothes he had. We improved them by sundry smears of dirt in such +a way that when we did start forth, no one would have accused us +of being other than we were prepared to represent ourselves-- +workmen who had been laid off from a job on account of bad +business conditions. We decided to say that we were seeking +another position. + +"How do I look?" I asked seriously, for this was serious business +to me. + +"I don't know whether to give you a meal ticket, or to call a cop +when I look at you, Marshall," laughed Garrick. + +"Well, I feel a good deal safer in this rig than I did last night, +in this part of the city," I replied as we hopped off a surface +car not far from our destination. "I almost begin to feel my part. +Did you see the old gink with the gold watch on the car? If he was +here I believe I'd hold him up, just to see what it is like. I +suppose we are going to apply for lodgings at the famous hostelry, +the Old Tavern?" + +"I had that intention," replied Garrick who could see no humour in +the situation, now that we were on the scene of action. "The place +looks even more sordid in daylight than at night. Besides, it +smells worse." + +We entered the tavern, and were greeted with a general air of +rough curiosity, which was quickly dispelled by our spending ten +cents, and getting change for a bill. At least we were good for +anything reasonable, and doubts on that score settled by the man +behind the bar, he consented to enter into conversation, which +ultimately resulted in our hiring a large back room upstairs in +the secluded caravansary which supplied "Furnished Rooms for +Gentlemen Only." + +Garrick said that we would bring our things later, and we went +upstairs. We were no sooner settled than he was at work. He had +brought a rope ladder, and, after fastening it securely to the +window ledge, he let himself down carefully into the narrow court +below. + +That was the only part of the operation that seemed to be attended +with any risk of discovery and it was accomplished safely. For one +thing the dirt on the windows both of the garage and the tavern +was so thick that I doubt whether so much caution was really +necessary. Nevertheless, it was a relief when he secured the ends +of the wires from the detectaphone and brought them up, pulling in +the rope ladder after him. + +It was now the work of but a minute to attach one of the wires +that led from the watchcase disc back of the pile of tires to the +oak box with its two storage batteries. Garrick held the ear- +pieces, one to each ear, then shoved them over his head, in place. + +"It works--it works," he cried, with as much delight as if he had +not been positive all along that it would. + +"Here, try it yourself," he added, taking the headgear off and +handing the receivers to me. + +I put the black discs at my ears, with the little round holes over +the ear openings. It was marvellous. I could hear the men washing +down one of the cars, the swash of water, and, best of all, the +low-toned, gruff gossip. + +"Just a couple of the men there, now," explained Garrick. "I +gather that they are talking about what happened last night. I +heard one of them say that someone they call 'the Chief' was there +last night and that another man, 'the Boss,' gave him orders to +tell no one outside about it. I suppose the Chief is our friend +with the stupefying gun. The Boss must be the fellow who runs the +garage. What are they saying now? They were grumbling about their +work when I handed the thing over to you." + +I listened, fascinated by the marvel of the thing. I could hear +perfectly, although the men must have been in the front of the +garage. + +"Well, there's two of them yer won't haveter wash no more," one +man was saying. "A feller from the perlice come an' copped off +two--that sixty tin can and the ninety Despard." + +"Huh--so the bulls are after him?" + +"Yeh. One was here all night after the fight." + +"Did they follow the Chief?" + +"Follow the Chief? Say, when anyone follows the Chief he's gotter +be better than any bull that ever pounded a beat." + +"What did the Boss say when he heard it?" + +"Mad as---. We gotter lay low now." + +"The Chief's gone up-state, I guess." + +"We can guess all we want. The Boss knows. I don't." + +"Why didn't they make a pinch? Ain't there nobody watchin' now?" + +"Naw. They ain't got nothin' on us. Say, the Chief can put them +fellers just where he wants 'em. See the paper this morning? That +was some raid up at the joint--eh?" + +"You bet. That Garrick's a pretty smooth chap. But the Chief can +put it all over him." + +"Yep," agreed the other speaker. + +I handed the receivers back to Garrick with a smile. + +"You are not without some admirers," I remarked, repeating the +conversation substantially to him. "They'd shoot up the +neighbourhood, I imagine, if they knew the truth." + +Hour after hour we took turns listening at the detectaphone. We +gathered a choice collection of slang and epithets, but very +little real news. However, it was evident that they had a +wholesome respect for both the Chief and the Boss. It seemed that +the real head of the gang, if it was a gang, had disappeared, as +one of the men had already hinted "up-state." + +Garrick had meanwhile brought out the other detectaphone box, +which was longer and larger than the oak box. + +"This isn't a regular detactaphone," he explained, "but it may +vary the monotony of listening in and sometime I may find occasion +to use it in another way, too." + +In one of the long faces were two square holes, from the edges of +which the inside walls focussed back on two smaller, circular +diaphragms. That made the two openings act somewhat like megaphone +horns to still further magnify the sound which was emitted +directly from this receiver without using any earpieces, and could +be listened to anywhere in the room, if we chose. This was +attached to the secret arrangement that had been connected with +the telephone by replacing the regular by the prepared +transmitter. + +One of us was in the room listening all the time. I remember once, +while Guy had gone uptown for a short time, that I heard the +telephone bell ring in the device at my ear. Out of the larger box +issued a voice talking to one of the men. + +It was the man whom they referred to as the Chief. He had nothing +to say when he learned that the Boss had not showed up since early +morning after he had been quizzed by the police. But he left word +that he would call up again. + +"At least I know that our gunman friend, the Chief, is going to +call up to-night," I reported to Garrick on his return. + +"I think he'll be here, all right," commented Garrick. "I called +up Dillon while I was out and he was convinced that the best way +was, as I said, to seem to let up on them. They didn't get a word +out of the fellow they call the Boss. He lives down here a couple +of streets, I believe, in a pretty tough place, even worse than +the Old Tavern. I let Dillon get a man in there, but I haven't +much hope. He's only a tool of the other whom they call Chief. By +the way, Forbes has disappeared. I can't find a trace of him since +the raid on the gambling joint." + +"Any word from Warrington?" I asked. + +"Yes, he's getting along finely," answered Guy mechanically, as if +his thoughts were far away from Warrington. "Queer about Forbes," +he murmured, then cut himself short. "And, oh," he added, "I +forgot to tell you that speaking about Forbes reminds me that +Herman has been running out a clew on the Rena Taylor case. He has +been all over the country up there, he reports to Dillon, and he +says he thinks the car was seen making for Pennsylvania. + +"They have a peculiar license law there, you know--at least he +says so--that enables one to conceal a car pretty well. Much good +that does us." + +"Yes," I agreed, "you can always depend on a man like Herman to +come along with something like that---" + +Just then the "master station" detectaphone connected with the +telephone in the garage began to talk and I cut myself short. We +seemed now at last about to learn something really important. It +was a new voice that said, "Hello!" + +"Evidently the Boss has come in without making any noise," +remarked Guy. "I certainly heard no one through the other +instrument. I fancy he was waiting for it to get dark before +coming around. Listen." + +It was a long distance call from the man they called Chief. Where +he was we had no means of finding out, but we soon found out where +he was going. + +"Hello, Boss," we heard come out of the detectaphone box. + +"Hello, Chief. You surely got us nearly pinched last night. What +was the trouble?" + +"Oh, nothing much. Somehow or other they must have got on to us. I +guess it was when I called up the joint on Forty-eighth Street. +Three men surprised me, but fortunately I was ready. If they +hadn't stopped at the door before they opened it, they might have +got me. I put 'em all out with that gun, though. Say, I want you +to help me on a little job that I am planning. + +"Yes? Is it a safe one? Don't you think we'd better keep quiet for +a little while?" + +"But this won't keep quiet. Listen. You know I told you about +writing that letter regarding Warrington to Miss Winslow, when I +was so sore over the report that he was going to close up the +Forty-eighth Street joint, right on top of finding that Rena +Taylor had the 'goods' on the Forty-seventh Street place? Well, I +was a fool. You said so, and I was," + +"You were--that's right." + +"I know it, but I was mad. I hadn't got all I wanted out of those +places. Well, anyhow, I want that letter back--that's all. It's +bad to have evidence like that lying around. Why, if they ever get +a real handwriting expert they might get wise to something from +that handwriting, I'm afraid. I must have been crazy to do it that +way." + +"What became of the letter?" + +"She took it to that fellow Garrick and I happen to know that +Warrington that night, after leaving Garrick, went to his +apartment and put something into the safe he has there. Oh, +Warrington has it, all right. What I want to do is to get that +letter back while he is laid up near Tuxedo. It isn't much of a +safe, I understand. I think a can opener would do the job. We can +make the thing look like a regular robbery by a couple of yeggs. +Are you on?" + +"No, I don't get you, Chief." + +"Why?" + +"It's too risky." + +"Too risky?" + +"Yes. That fellow Garrick is just as likely as not to be nosing +around up there. I'd go but for that." + +"I know. But suppose we find that he isn't there, that he isn't in +the house--has been there and left it. That would be safe enough. +You're right. Nothing doing if he's there. We must can him in some +way. But, say,--I know how to get in all right without being seen. +I'll tell you later. Come on, be a sport. We won't try it if +anybody's there. Besides, if we succeed it will help to throw a +scare into Warrington." + +The man on our end of the telephone appeared to hesitate. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do, Chief," he said at length. "I'll meet +you at the same place as we met the other day--you know where I +mean--some time after twelve. We'll talk it over. You're sure +about the letter?" + +"As sure as if I'd seen it." + +"All right. Now, be there. I won't promise about this Warrington +business. We'll talk that over. But I have other things I want to +tell you--about this situation here at the garage. I want to know +how to act." + +"All right. I'll be there. Good-bye." + +"So long, Chief." + +The conversation stopped. I looked anxiously at Garrick to see how +he had taken it. + +"And so," he remarked simply, as after a moment's waiting we made +sure that the machine had stopped talking, "it appears that our +friends, the enemy, are watching us as closely as we are watching +them--with the advantage that they know us and we don't know them, +except this garage fellow." + +Garrick lapsed into silence. I was rapidly turning over in my mind +what we had just overheard and trying to plan some way of +checkmating their next move. + +"Here's a plot hatching to rob Warrington's safe," I exclaimed +helplessly. + +"Yes," repeated Garrick slowly, "and if we are going to do +anything about it, it must be done immediately, before we arouse +suspicion and scare them off. Did you hear those footsteps over +the detectaphone? That was the Boss going out of the garage. So, +they expect me around there, nosing about Warrington's apartment. +Well, if I do go there, and then ostentatiously go away again, +that will lure them on." + +He reached his decision quickly. Grabbing his hat, he led the way +out of the Old Tavern and up the street until we came to a drug +store with a telephone. + +I heard him first talking with Warrington, getting from him the +combination of the safe, over long distance. Then he called up his +office and asked the boy to meet him at the Grand Central subway +station with a package, the location of which he described +minutely. + +"We'll beat them to it," he remarked joyously, as we started +leisurely uptown to meet the boy. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +THE INCENDIARY + + +"The Warrington estate owns another large apartment house, besides +the one where Warrington has his quarters, on the next street," +remarked Garrick, half an hour later, after we had met the boy +from his office. "I have arranged that we can get in there and use +one of the empty suites." + +Garrick had secured two rather good-sized boxes from the boy, and +was carrying them rather carefully, as if they contained some very +delicate mechanism. + +Warrington, we found, occupied a suite in a large apartment on +Seventy-second Street, and, as we entered, Garrick stopped and +whispered a few words to the hall-boy. + +The boy seemed to be more than usually intelligent and had +evidently been told over the telephone by Warrington that we were +coming. At least we had no trouble, so far. + +Warrington's suite was very tastefully furnished for bachelor +quarters. In the apartment, Garrick unwrapped one of the packages, +and laid it open on the table, while he busied himself opening the +safe, using the combination that Warrington had given him. + +I waited nervously, for we could not be sure that no one had got +ahead of us, already. There was no need for anxiety, however. + +"Here's the letter, just as Warrington left it," reported Garrick +in a few minutes, with some satisfaction, as he banged the safe +door shut and restored things so that it would not look as though +the little strong box had been touched. + +Meanwhile, I had been looking curiously at the box on the table. +It did not seem to be like anything we had ever used before. One +end was open, and the lid lifted up on a pair of hinges. I lifted +it and looked in. About half way down the box from the open end +was a partition which looked almost as if some one had taken the +end of the box and had just shoved it in, until it reached the +middle. + +The open half was empty, but in the other half I saw a sort of +plate of some substance covering the outside of the shoved-in end. +There was also a dry cell and several arrangements for adjustments +which I did not understand. Back of the whole thing was a piece of +mechanism, a clockwork interrupter, as I learned later. Wires led +out from the closed end of the box. + +Garrick shoved the precious letter into his pocket and then placed +the box in a corner, where it was hidden by a pile of books, with +the open end facing the room in the direction of the antiquated +safe. The wires from the box were quickly disposed of and dropped +out of the window to the yard, several stories below, where we +could pick them up later as we had done with the detectaphone. + +"What's that?" I asked curiously, when at last he had finished and +I felt at liberty to question him. + +"Well, you see," he explained, "there is no way of knowing yet +just how the apartment will be entered. They apparently have some +way, though, which they wouldn't discuss over the telephone. But +it is certain that as long as they know that there is anyone up +here, they will put off the attempt. They said that." + +He was busily engaged restoring everything in the room as far as +possible to its former position. + +"My scheme," he went on, "is for us now to leave the apartment +ostentatiously. I think that is calculated to insure the burglary, +for they must have someone watching by this time. Then we can get +back to that empty apartment in the house on the next street, and +before they can get around to start anything, we shall be prepared +for them." + +Garrick stopped to speak to the hall-boy again as we left, +carrying the other box. What he said I did not hear but the boy +nodded intelligently. + +After a turn down the street, a ride in a surface car for a few +blocks and back again, he was satisfied that no one was following +us and we made our way into the vacant apartment on Seventy-third +Street, without being observed. + +Picking up the wires from the back yard of Warrington's and +running them across the back fence where he attached them to other +wires dropped down from the vacant apartment was accomplished +easily, but it all took time, and time was precious, just now. + +In the darkness of the vacant room he uncovered and adjusted the +other box, connected one set of wires to those we had led in and +another set to an apparatus which looked precisely like the +receiver of a wireless telegraph, fitting over the head with an +earpiece. He placed the earpiece in position and began regulating +the mechanism of the queer looking box. + +"I didn't want to use the detectaphone again," he explained as he +worked, "because we haven't any assurance that they'll talk, or, +if they do, that it will be worth while to listen. Besides, there +may be only one of them." + +"Then what is this?" I asked. + +"Well," he argued, "they certainly can't work without light of +some kind, can they?" + +I acquiesced. + +"This is an instrument which literally makes light audible," he +pursued. + +"Hear light?" I repeated, in amazement. + +"Exactly," he reiterated. "You've said it. It was invented to +assist the blind, but I think I'll be able to show that it can be +used to assist justice--which is blind sometimes, they say. It is +the optophone." + +He paused to adjust the thing more accurately and I looked at it +with an added respect. + +"It was invented," he resumed, "by Professor Fournier d'Albe, a +lecturer on physics at the University of Birmingham, England, and +has been shown before many learned societies over there." + +"You mean it enables the blind to see by hearing?" I asked. + +"That's it," he nodded. "It actually enables the blind to locate +many things, purely by the light reflected by them. Its action is +based on the peculiar property of selenium, which, you probably +know, changes its electrical conductivity under the influence of +light. Selenium in the dark is a poor conductor of electricity; in +the light it, strange to say, becomes a good conductor. Variations +of light can thus be transmuted into variations of sound. That +pushed-in end of the box which we hid over in Warrington's had, as +you might have noticed, a selenium plate on the inside partition, +facing the open end of the box." + +"I understand," I agreed, vaguely. + +"Now," he went on, "this property of selenium is used for +producing or rather allowing to be transmitted an electric current +which is interrupted by a special clockwork interrupter, and so is +made audible in this wireless telephone receiver which I have here +connected with this second box. The eye is replaced by the ear as +the detector of light--that is all." + +It might have been all, but it was quite wonderful to me, even if +he spoke of it so simply. He continued to adjust the thing as he +talked. + +"The clockwork has been wound up by means of a small handle, and I +have moved that rod along a slit until I heard a purring sound. +Then I moved it until the purring sound became as faint as +possible. The instrument is at the present moment in its most +sensitive state." + +"What does it sound like?" I asked. + +"Well, the passage of a hand or other object across the aperture +is indicated by a sort of murmuring sound," he replied, "the +loudest sound indicating the passage of the edges where the +contrast is greatest. In a fairly bright light, even the swiftest +shadow is discoverable. Prolonged exposure, however, blinds the +optophone, just as it blinds the eye." + +"Do you hear anything now?" I asked watching his face curiously. + +"No. When I turned the current on at first I heard a ticking or +rasping sound. I silenced that. But any change in the amount of +light in that dark room over there would restore the sound, and +its intensity would indicate the power of the light." + +He continued to listen. + +"When I first tried this, I found that a glimpse out of the window +in daylight sounded like a cinematograph reeling off a film. The +ticking sank almost into silence as the receiving apparatus was +held in the shadow of the office table, and leaped into a lively +rattle again when I brought it near an electric-light bulb. I +blindfolded myself and moved a piece of blotting paper between the +receiver and the light. I could actually hear the grating of the +shadow, yes, I heard the shadow pass. At night, too, I have found +that it is even affected by the light of the stars." + +He glanced out of the window in the direction of Warrington's, +which we could not see, however, since it was around an angle of +the building. + +"See," he went on, "the moon is rising, and in a few minutes, I +calculate, it will shine right into that room over there on +Seventy-second Street. By using this optophone, I could tell you +the moment it does. Try the thing, yourself, Tom." + +I did so. Though my ear was untrained to distinguish between +sounds I could hear just the faintest noise. + +Suddenly there came a weird racket. Hastily I looked up at Garrick +in surprise. + +"What is that?" I asked endeavouring to describe it. "Are they +there now?" + +"No," he laughed. "That was the moon shining in. I wanted you to +hear what a difference it makes. When a ray of the sun, for +instance, strikes that 'feeler' over there, a harmonious and +majestic sound like the echo of a huge orchestra is heard. The +light of the moon, on the other hand, produces a different sound-- +lamenting, almost like the groans of the wounded on a +battlefield." + +"So you can distinguish between various kinds of light?" + +"Yes. Electric light, you would find if anyone came in and +switched it on over there, produces a most unpleasant sound, +sometimes like two pieces of glass rubbed against each other, +sometimes like the tittering laugh of ghosts, and I have heard it +like the piercing cry of an animal. Gaslight is sobbing and +whispering, grating and ticking, according to its intensity. By +far the most melodious and pleasing sound is produced by an +ordinary wax candle. It sounds just like an aeolian harp on which +the chords of a solemn tune are struck. I have even tried a glow- +worm and it sounded like a bee buzzing. The light from a red-hot +piece of iron gives the shrillest and most ear-splitting cry +imaginable." + +He took the receiver back from me and adjusted it to his own ear. + +"Yes," he confirmed, "that was the moon, as I thought. It's a +peculiar sound. Once you have heard it you're not likely to forget +it. I must silence the machine to that." + +We had waited patiently for a long time, and still there was no +evidence that anyone had entered the room. + +"I'm afraid they decided not to attempt it after all," I said, +finally. + +"I don't think so," replied Garrick. "I took particular pains to +make it seem that the road was clear. You remember, I spoke to the +hall-boy twice, and we lingered about long enough when we left. It +isn't much after midnight. I wonder how it was that they expected +to get in. Ah--there goes the moon. I can hear it getting fainter +all the time." + +Suddenly Garrick's face was all animation. "What is it?" I asked +breathlessly. + +"Someone has entered the room. There is a light which sounds just +like an electric flashlight which is being moved about. They +haven't switched on the electric light. Now, if I were +sufficiently expert I think I could tell by the varying sounds at +just what that fellow is flashing the light. There, something +passed directly between the light and the box. Yes, there must be +two of them--that was the shadow of a human being, all right. They +are over in the corner by the safe, now. The fellow with the +flashlight is bending down. I can tell, because the other fellow +walked between the light and the box and the light must be held +very low, for I heard the shadows of both of his legs." + +Garrick was apparently waiting only until the intruders, whoever +they were, were busily engaged in their search before he gave the +alarm and hurried over in an attempt to head off their escape by +their secret means of entrance. + +"Tom," he cried, as he listened attentively, "call up the +apartment over there and get that hall-boy. Tell him he must not +run that elevator up until we get there. No one must leave or +enter the building. Tell him to lock the front door and conceal +himself in the door that leads down to the cellar. I will ring the +night bell five times to let him know when to let us in." + +I was telephoning excitedly Garrick's instructions and as he +waited for me to finish he was taking a last turn at the optophone +before we made our dash on Warrington's. + +A suppressed exclamation escaped him. I turned toward him quickly +from the telephone and hung up the receiver. + +"What's the matter?" I asked anxiously. + +For a moment he did not reply, but seemed to be listening with an +intensity that I knew betokened something unexpected. + +"Tom," he cried abruptly, stripping the receiver from his head +with a jerk and clapping it over my own ears, "quick!--tell me +what you hear. What does it sound like to you? What is it? I can't +be mistaken." + +I listened feverishly. Not having had a former acquaintance with +the machine, I did not know just what to make of it. But from the +receiver of the little optophone there seemed to issue the most +peculiar noise I had ever heard a mechanical instrument make. + +It was like a hoarse rumbling cry, now soft and almost plaintive, +again louder and like a shriek of a damned soul in the fires of +the nether world. Then it died down, only to spring up again, +worse than before. + +If I had been listening to real sounds instead of to light I +should have been convinced that the thing was recording a murder. + +I described it as best I could. The fact was that the thing almost +frightened me by its weird novelty. + +"Yes--yes," agreed Garrick, as the sensations I experienced seemed +to coincide with his own. "Exactly what I heard myself. I felt +sure that I could not be mistaken. Quick, Tom,--get central on +that wire!" + +A moment later he seized the telephone from me. I had expected him +to summon the police to assist us in capturing two crooks who had, +perhaps, devised some odd and scientific method of blowing up a +safe. + +"Hello, hello!" he shouted frantically over the wire. "The fire +department! This is eight hundred Seventy-second--on the corner; +yes, yes--northeast. I want to turn in an alarm. Yes--quick! There +is a fire--a bad one--incendiary--top floor. No, no--I'm not +there. I can see it. Hurry!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE ESCAPE + + +He had dropped the telephone receiver without waiting to replace +it on the hook and was now dashing madly out of the empty +apartment and down the street. + +The hall-boy at Warrington's had done exactly as I had ordered +him. There was the elevator waiting as Garrick gave the five short +rings at the nightbell and the outside door was unlocked. No one +had yet discovered the fire which we knew was now raging on the +top floor of the apartment. + +We were whirled up there swiftly, just as we heard echoing through +the hall and the elevator shaft from someone who had an apartment +on the same floor the shrill cry of, "Fire, fire!" + +Tenants all the way up were now beginning to throw open their +doors and run breathlessly about in various states of undress. The +elevator bell was jangling insistently. + +In the face of the crisis the elevator boy looked at Garrick +appealingly. + +"Run your car up and down until all are out who want to go," +ordered Garrick. "Only tell them all that an alarm has already +been turned in and that there is no danger except to the suite +that is on fire. You may leave us here." + +We had reached the top floor and stepped out. I realised fully now +what had happened. Either the robbers had found out only too +quickly that they had been duped or else they had reasoned that +the letter they sought had been hidden in a place in the apartment +for which they had no time to hunt. + +It had probably been the latter idea which they had had and, +instead of hunting further, they had taken a quicker and more +unscrupulous method than Garrick had imagined and had set the room +on fire. Fortunately that had been promptly and faithfully +reported to us over the optophone in time to localize the damage. + +"At least we were able to turn in an alarm only a few seconds +after they started the fire," panted Garrick, as he strained to +burst in the door. + +Together we managed to push it in, and rushed into the stifle of +Warrington's suite. The whole thing was in flames and it was +impossible for us to remain there longer than to take in the +situation. + +Accordingly we retreated slowly before the fierce blaze. One of +the other tenants came running with a fire extinguisher in either +hand from wall rack down the hall on this floor. As well try to +drown a blast furnace. They made no impression whatever. + +Personally I had expected nothing like this. I had been prepared +up to the time the optophone reported the fire to dash over and +fight it out at close quarters with two as desperate and +resourceful men as underworld conditions in New York at that time +had created. Instead we saw no one at all. + +The robbers had evidently worked in seconds instead of minutes, +realizing that they must take no risks in a showdown with Garrick. +Rooms that might perhaps have given some clew of their presence, +perhaps finger-prints which might have settled their identity at +once, were now being destroyed. We had defeated them. We had the +precious letter. But they had again slipped away. + +Firemen were now arriving. A hose had been run up, and a solid +stream of water was now hissing on the fire. Smoke and steam were +everywhere as the men hacked and cut their way at the very heart +of the hungry red monster. + +"We are only in the way here, Tom," remarked Garrick, retreating +finally. "Our friends must have entered and escaped by the roof. +There is no other way." + +He had dashed up ahead of the firemen. I followed. Sure enough, +the door out on the roof had been broken into. A rope tied around +a chimney showed how they had pulled themselves up and later let +themselves down to the roof of the next apartment some fifteen +feet lower. We could see an open door leading to the roof there, +which must also have been broken open. That had evidently been the +secret method of which the Chief had spoken to the Boss, whoever +they might be, who bore these epithets. + +Pursuit was useless, now. All was excitement. From the street we +could hear the clang of engines and trucks arriving and taking +their positions, almost as if the fire department had laid out the +campaign beforehand for this very fire. + +Anyone who had waited a moment or so in the other apartment down +the street might have gone downstairs without attracting any +attention. Then he might have disappeared in or mingled with the +very crowd on the street which he had caused to gather. Late as it +was, the crowd seemed to spring from nowhere, and to grow +momentarily as it had done during the raid on the gambling joint. +It was one of the many interesting night phenomena of New York. + +What had been intended to be one of the worst fires and to injure +a valuable property of the Warrington estate had, thanks to the +prompt action of Garrick, been quickly turned into only a minor +affair, at the worst. The fire had eaten its way into two other +rooms of Warrington's own suite, but there it had been stopped. +The building itself was nearly fireproof, and each suite was a +unit so that, to all intents and purposes, it might burn out +without injury to others. + +Still, it was interesting to watch the skill and intuition of the +smoke-eaters as they took in the situation and almost instantly +seemed to be able to cope with it. + +Sudden and well-planned though the incendiary assault had been, it +was not many minutes before it was completely under control. Men +in rubber coats and boots were soon tramping through the water- +soaked rooms of Warrington. Windows were cracked open and the air +in the rooms was clearing. + +We followed in cautiously after one of the firemen. Everywhere was +the penetrating smell of burnt wood and cloth. In the corner was +the safe, still hot and steaming. It had stood the strain. But it +showed marks of having been tampered with. + +"Somebody used a 'can-opener' on it," commented Garrick, looking +at it critically and then ruefully at the charred wreck of his +optophone that had tumbled in the ashes of the pile of books under +which it had been hidden, "Yes, that was the scheme they must have +evolved after their midnight conference,--a robbery masked by a +fire to cover the trail, and perhaps destroy it altogether." + +"If we had only known that," I agreed, "we might have saved what +little there was in that safe for Warrington. But I guess he +didn't keep much there." + +"No," answered Garrick, "I don't think he did. All I saw was some +personal letters and a few things he apparently liked to have +around here. I suppose all the really valuable stuff he has was in +a safety-deposit vault somewhere. There was a packet of--it's +gone! What do you think of that?" he exclaimed looking up from the +safe to me in surprise. + +"Packet of what?" I asked. "What is gone?" + +"Why," replied Garrick, "I couldn't help noticing it when I opened +the safe before, but Warrington had evidently saved every line and +scrap of writing that Violet Winslow had ever given him and it was +all in one of the compartments of the safe. The compartment is +empty!" + +Neither of us could say a word. What reason might there be why +anyone should want Warrington's love letters? Was it to learn +something that might be used to embarrass him? Might it be for the +purpose of holding him up for money? Did the robber want them for +himself or was he employed by another? These and a score of other +questions flashed, unanswered, through my mind. + +"I wonder who this fellow is that they call the Chief?" I ventured +at last. + +"I can't say--yet," admitted Garrick. "But he's the cleverest I +have ever met. His pace is rapid, but I think we are getting up +with it, at last. There's no use sticking around here any longer, +though. The place for us, I think, is downtown, getting an earful +at the other end of that detectaphone." + +The engines and other apparatus were rolling away from the fire +when we regained the street and things were settling themselves +down to normal again. + +We rode downtown on the subway, and I was surprised when Garrick, +instead of going all the way down to the crosstown line that would +take us to the Old Tavern, got off at Forty-second Street. + +"What's the idea of this?" I asked. + +"Do you think I'm going to travel around the city with that letter +in my pocket?" he asked. "Not much, since they seem to set such a +value on getting it back. Of course, they don't know that I have +it. But they might suspect it. At any rate I'm not going to run +any chances of losing it." + +He had stopped at a well-known hotel where he knew the night +clerk. There he made the letter into a little package, sealed it, +and deposited it in the safe. + +"Why do you leave it here?" I asked. + +"If I go near the office, they might think I left it there, and I +certainly won't leave it in my own apartment. They may or may not +suspect that I have it. At any rate, I'd hate to risk meeting them +down in their own region. But here we are not followed. I can +leave it safely and to-morrow I'll get it and deposit it in a +really safe place. Now, just to cover up my tracks, I'm going to +call up Dillon, but I'm going up Broadway a bit before I do so, so +that even he will not know I've been in this hotel. I think he +ought to know what has happened to-day." + +"What did he say?" I asked as Garrick rejoined me from the +telephone booth, his face wearing a scowl of perplexity. + +"Why, he knew about it already," replied Garrick. "I got him at +his home. Herman, it seems, got back from some wild-goose chase +over in New Jersey and saw the report in the records filed at +police headquarters and telephoned him." + +"Herman is one of the brightest detectives I ever met," I +commented in disgust. "He always manages to get in just after +everybody else. Has he any more news?" + +"About the car?" asked Garrick absently. "Nothing except that he +ran down the Pennsylvania report and found there was nothing in +it. Now he says that he thinks the car may have returned to New +York, perhaps by way of Staten Island, for he doubts whether it +could have slipped in by New Jersey." + +"Clever," I ejaculated. "I suppose that occurred to him as soon as +he read about the fire. I have to hand it to him for being a +deducer." + +Garrick smiled. + +"There's one thing, though, he does know," he added, "and that is +the gossip of the underworld right here in New York." + +"I should hope so," I replied. "That was his business to know. +Why, has he found out anything really new?" + +"Why--er--yes. Dillon tells me that it now appears that Forbes had +been intimate with that Rena Taylor." + +"Yes?" I repeated, not surprised. + +"At least that's what Herman has told him." + +"Well," I exclaimed in disgust, "Forbes is a fine one to run +around with stool-pigeons and women of the Tenderloin, in addition +to his other accomplishments, and then expect to associate with a +girl like Violet Winslow." + +"It is scandalous," he agreed. "Why, according to Dillon and +Herman, she must have been getting a good deal of evidence through +her intimacy with Forbes. They probably gambled together, drank +together, and---" + +"Do you suppose Forbes ever found out that she was really using +him?" + +Garrick shook his head. "I can't say," he replied. "There isn't +much value in this deductive, long distance detective work. You +reason a thing out to your satisfaction and then one little fact +knocks all your clever reasoning sky-high. The trouble here is +that on this aspect of the case the truth seems to have been known +by only two persons--and one of them is dead, while the other has +disappeared." + +"Strange what has become of Forbes," I ruminated. + +"It is indeed," agreed Garrick. "But then he was such a night-hawk +that anything might easily have happened and no one be the wiser. +Since you saw him enter the gambling joint the night of the raid, +I've been unable to get a line on him. He must have gone through +the tunnel to the ladies' poolroom, but after he left that, +presumably, I can't find a trace of him. Where he went no one +seems to know. This bit of gossip that Herman has unearthed is the +first thing I've heard of him, definitely, for two days." + +"If Rena Taylor were alive," I speculated, "I don't think you'd +have to look further for Forbes than to find her." + +"But she isn't alive," concluded Garrick, "and there is nothing to +show that there was anyone else at the poolroom for women who +interested him--and--well, this isn't getting back to business." + +He turned toward the street. + +"Let's go down on a surface car," he said. "I think we ought to +learn something down there at the Old Tavern, now. If these people +have done nothing more, they'll think they have at least given an +example of their resourcefulness and succeeded in throwing another +scare into Warrington. But there's one thing I'd like to be able +to tell Mr. Chief, however. He can't throw any scare into me, if +that's his game." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PLOT + + +We had been able to secure a key to the hotel entrance of the Old +Tavern, so that we felt free to come and go at any hour of the day +or night. We let ourselves in and mounted the stairs cautiously to +our room. + +"At least they haven't discovered anything, yet," Garrick +congratulated himself, looking about, as I struck a light, and +finding everything as we had left it. + +Late as it was, he picked up the detective receiver of the +mechanical eavesdropper and held it to his ears, listening +intently several moments. + +"There's someone in the garage, all right," he exclaimed. "I can +hear sounds as if he were moving about among the cars. It must be +the garage keeper himself--the one they call the Boss. I don't +think our clever Chief would have the temerity to show up here +yet, even at this hour." + +We waited some time, but not the sound of a voice came from the +instrument. + +"It would be just like them to discover one of these +detectaphones," remarked Garrick at length. "This is a good +opportunity. I believe I'll just let myself down there in the yard +again and separate those two wires, further. There's no use in +risking all the eggs in one basket." + +While I listened in, Garrick cautiously got out the rope ladder +and descended. Through the detectaphone I could hear the noise of +the man walking about the garage and was ready at the window to +give Garrick the first alarm of danger if he approached the back +of the shop, but nothing happened and he succeeded in +accomplishing his purpose of further hiding the two wires and +returning safely. Then we resumed listening in relays. + +It was early in the morning when there came a telephone call to +the garage and the garage keeper answered it. + +"Where did you go afterward?" he asked of the man who was calling +him. + +Garrick had quickly shifted to the instrument by which we could +overhear what was said over the telephone. + +A voice which I recognised instantly as that of the man they +called the Chief replied, "Oh, I had a little business to attend +to--you understand. Say, they got that fire out pretty quickly, +didn't they? How do you suppose the alarm could have been turned +in so soon?" + +"I don't know. But they tell me that Garrick and that other fellow +with him showed up, double quick. He must have been wise to +something." + +"Yes. Do you know, I've been thinking about that ever since. Ever +hear of a little thing called a detectaphone? No? Well, it's a +little arrangement that can be concealed almost anywhere. I've +been wondering whether there might not be one hidden about your +garage. He might have put one in that night, you know. I'm sure he +knows more about us than he has any right to know. Hunt around +there, will you, and see if you can find anything?" + +"Hold the wire." + +We could hear the Boss poking around in corners, back of the piles +of accessories, back of the gasoline tank, lifting things up and +looking under them, apparently flashing his light everywhere so +that nothing could escape him. + +A hasty exclamation was recorded faithfully over our detectaphone, +close to the transmitter, evidently. + +"What the deuce is this?" growled a voice. + +Then over the telephone we could hear the Boss talking. + +"There's a round black thing back of a pile of tires, with a wire +connected to it. One side of it is full of little round holes. Is +that one of those things?" + +"Yes," came back the voice, "that's it." Then excitedly, "Smash +it! Cut the wires--no, wait--look and see where they run. I +thought you'd find something. Curse me for a fool for not thinking +of that before." + +Garrick had quickly himself detached the wire from the receiving +instrument in our room and, sticking his head cautiously out of +the window, he swung the cut ends as far as he could in the +direction of a big iron-shuttered warehouse down the street in the +opposite direction from us. + +Then he closed the window softly and pulled down the switch on the +other detectaphone connected with the fake telephone receiver. + +He smiled quietly at me. The thing worked still. We had one +connection left with the garage, anyway. + +There was a noise of something being shattered to bits. It was the +black disc back of the pile of tires. We could hear the Boss +muttering to himself. + +"Say," he reported back over the telephone, "I've smashed the +thing, all right, and cut the wires, too. They ran out of the back +window to that mercantile warehouse, down the street, I think. +I'll look after that in the morning. It's so dark over there now I +can't see a thing." + +"Good!" exclaimed the other voice with satisfaction. "Now we can +talk. That fellow Garrick isn't such a wise guy, after all. I tell +you, Boss, I'm going to throw a good scare into them this time-- +one that will stick." + +"What is it?" + +"Well, I got Warrington, didn't I?" + +"Yes." + +"You know I can't always be following that fellow, Garrick. He's +too clever at dodging shadows. Besides, unless we give him +something else to think about he may get a line on one of us,--on +me. Don't you understand? Warrington's out of it for the present. +I saw to that. Now, the thing is to fix up something to call them +off, altogether, something that we can use to hold them up." + +"Yes--go on--what?" + +"Why--how about Violet Winslow?" + +My heart actually skipped beating for a second or two as I +realised the boldness and desperation of the plan. + +"What do you mean--a robbery up there in Tuxedo?" + +"No, no, no. What good would a robbery do? I mean to get her-- +kidnap her. I guess Warrington would call the whole thing off to +release her--eh?" + +"Say, Chief, that's going it pretty strong. I'd rather break in up +there and leave a threat of some kind, something that would +frighten them. But, this,--I'm afraid--" + +"Afraid--nothing. I tell you, we've got to do it. They're getting +too close to us. We've either got to get Garrick or do something +that'll call him off for good. Why, man, the whole game is up if +he keeps on the way he has been going--let alone the risk we have +of getting caught." + +The Boss seemed to be considering. + +"How will you get a chance to do it?" he asked at length. + +"Oh, I'll get a chance, all right. I'll make a chance," came back +the self-confident reply. + +It sent a shiver through me merely to contemplate what might +happen if Violet Winslow fell into such hands. Mentally I blessed +Garrick for his forethought in having the phony 'phone in the +garage against possible discovery of the detective instrument. + +"You know this poisoned needle stuff that's been in the papers?" +pursued the Chief. + +"Bunk--all bunk," came back the Boss promptly. + +"Is that so?" returned the Chief. "Well, you're right about it as +far as what has been in the papers is concerned. I don't know but +I doubt about ninety-nine and ninety-nine hundredths per cent of +it, too. But, I'll tell you,--it can be done. Take it from me--it +can be done. I've got one of the best little sleepmakers you ever +saw--right from Paris, too. There, what do you know about that?" + +I glanced hastily, in alarm, at Garrick. His face was set in hard +lines, as he listened. + +"Sleepmaker--Paris," I heard him mutter under his breath, and just +a flicker of a smile crossed the set lines of his fine face. + +"Yes, sir," pursued the voice of the Chief, "I can pull one of +those poisoned needle cases off and I'm going to do it, if I get +half a chance." + +"When would you do it?" asked the Boss, weakening. + +"As soon as I can. I've a scheme. I'm not going to tell you over +the wire, though. Leave it to me. I'm going up to our place, where +I left the car. I'll study the situation out, up there. Maybe I'll +run over and look over the ground, see how she spends her time and +all that sort of thing. I've got to reckon in with that aunt, too. +She's a Tartar. I'll let you know. In the meantime, I want you to +watch that place on Forty-seventh Street. Tell me if they make any +move against it. Don't waste any time, either. I can't be out of +touch with things the way I was the last time I went away. You +see, they almost put one across on us--in fact they did put one +across with that detectaphone thing. Now, we can't let that happen +again. Just keep me posted, see?" + +They had finished talking and that was apparently all we were to +get that night, or rather that morning, by way of warning of their +plot for the worst move yet. + +It was enough. If they would murder and burn, what would they stop +at in order to strike at us through the innocent figure of Violet +Winslow? What might not happen to such a delicate slip of a girl +in the power of such men? + +"At least," rapped out Garrick, himself smothering his alarm, +"they can't do anything immediately. It gives us time to prepare +and warn. Besides, before that we may have them rounded up. The +time has come for something desperate. I won't be trifled with any +longer. This last proposal goes just over the limit." + +As for me, I was speechless. The events of the past two days, the +almost sleepless nights had sapped my energy. Even Garrick, though +he was a perfect glutton for work, felt the strain. + +It was very late, or rather very early, and we determined to +snatch a few moments of sleep at the Old Tavern before the rest of +the world awoke to the new day. It was only a couple of hours that +we could spare, but it was absolutely necessary. + +In spite of our fatigue, we were up again early and after another +try at the phony 'phone which told us that only the men were +working in the garage, we were on our way up to Garrick's +apartment. + +We had scarcely entered when the telephone boy called up to say +that there was a Mr. Warrington on long distance trying to get us. +Garrick eagerly asked to have him put on our wire. + +Warrington, it seemed, had been informed of the fire by one of his +agents and was inquiring anxiously for details, especially about +the letter. Garrick quickly apologised for not calling up himself, +and relieved his anxiety by assuring him that the letter was safe. + +"And how are you?" he asked of Warrington. + +"Convalescing rapidly," laughed back the patient, to whom the loss +of anything was a mere bagatelle beside the letter. Garrick had +not told him yet of the stealing of the other letters. "Getting +along fine,--thanks to a new tonic which Dr. Mead has prescribed +for me." + +"I can guess what it is." + +Warrington laughed again. "Yes--I've been allowed to take short +motor trips with Violet," he explained. + +The natural manner in which "Violet" replaced "Miss Winslow" +indicated that the trips had not been without result. + +"Say, Warrington," burst out Garrick, seeing an opportunity of +introducing the latest news, "I hate to butt in, but if you'll +take my advice, you'll just cut out those trips a few days. I +don't want to alarm you unnecessarily, but after to-day I want +Miss Winslow never to be out of sight of friends--friends, I said; +not one, but several." + +"Why--what's the matter?" demanded Warrington in alarm. + +"I can't explain it all over the telephone," replied Garrick, +sketching out hastily something of what we had overheard. "I'll +try to see you before long--perhaps to-day. Don't forget. I want +you to warn Miss Winslow yourself. You can't put it too strongly. +Use your judgment about Mrs. de Lancey. I don't want to get you in +wrong with her. But, remember, it's a matter of life or death--or +perhaps worse. Try to do it without unnecessarily alarming Miss +Winslow, if you can. Just fix it up as quietly as possible. But be +positive about it. No, I can't explain more over the wire now. +But--no more outings for either of you, and particularly Miss +Winslow, until I raise the ban." + +Warrington had been inclined to argue the matter at first, but +Garrick of course quickly prevailed, the more so because +Warrington realised that in his condition he was anything but an +adequate body-guard for her if something unexpected should happen. + +"Oh--I had a call the other day," reported Warrington as an +afterthought before hanging up the receiver. "It was from +McBirney. He says one of his unofficial scouts has told him of +seeing a car that might have been mine up this way lately." + +Garrick acquiesced to the information which, to us, was not new. +"Yes," he said, "there have been several such reports. And, by the +way, that reminds me of something. You will have to put at our +disposal one of your cars down here." + +"Go as far as you like. What do you want--a racer?" + +"Why--yes, if it's in perfect condition. You see, we may have to +do some unexpected sleuthing in it." + +"Go as far as you like," repeated Warrington, now thoroughly +aroused by the latest development of the case. "Spare nothing, +Garrick--nothing. Curse my luck for being laid up! Every dollar I +have is at your disposal, Garrick, to protect her from those +scoundrels--damn them!" + +"Trust me, Warrington," called back Garrick. "I give you my word +that it's my fight now." + +"Garrick--you're a brick," came back Warrington as the +conversation closed. + +"Good heavens, Guy," I exclaimed when he hung up the receiver +after calling up Warrington's garage and finding out what cars +were available, "Are we going to have to extend operations over +the whole State, after all?" + +"We may have to do almost anything," he replied, "if our +scientific murderer tries some of his smooth kidnapping tricks. +It's possible that McBirney may be right about that car being up +there. Certainly we know that it has been up there, whether it is +now or not." + +"And Herman wrong about its being in the city?" I suggested. +"Well, one guess is as good as another in a case like this, I +suppose." + +It had been a great relief to get back to our rooms and live even +for a few minutes like civilised beings. I suggested that we might +have a real breakfast once more. + +I could tell, however, that Garrick's mind was far away from the +thought of eating, and that he realised that a keen, perhaps the +keenest, test of his ability lay ahead of him, if he was to come +out successfully and protect Violet Winslow in the final battle +with the scientific gunman. I did not interrupt him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE POISONED NEEDLE + + +Over a still untasted grapefruit Garrick was considering what his +next move should be. As for me, even this temporary return to a +normal life caused me to view things in a different light. + +There had been, as the Chief and the Boss had hinted at in their +conversation, a wave of hysteria which had swept over the city +only a short time before regarding what had come to be called the +"poisoned needle" cases. Personally I had doubted them and I had +known many doctors and scientists as well as vice and graft +investigators who had scouted them, too. + +"Garrick," I said at length, "do you really think that we have to +deal with anything in this case but just plain attempted +kidnapping of the old style?" + +He shook his head doubtfully. I knew him to be anything but an +alarmist and waited impatiently for him to speak. + +"I wouldn't think so," he said at length slowly, "except for one +thing." + +"What's that?" I asked eagerly. + +"His mention of the 'sleepmakers' and Paris," he replied briefly. + +Garrick had risen and walked over to a cabinet in the corner of +his room. When he returned it was with something gleaming in the +morning sunshine as he rolled it back and forth on a piece of +paper, just a shining particle. He picked it up carefully. + +I bent over to look at it more closely and there, in Garrick's +hand, was a tiny bit of steel, scarcely three-eighths of an inch +long, a mere speck. It was like nothing of which I had ever heard +or read. Yet Garrick himself seemed to regard the minute thing +with a sort of awe. As for me, I knew not what to make of it. I +wondered whether it might not be some new peril. + +"What is it?" I asked at length, seeing that Garrick might be +disposed to talk, if I prompted him. + +"Well," he answered laconically, holding it up to the light so +that I could see that it was in reality a very minute, pointed +hollow tube, "what would you say if I told you it was the point of +a new--er--poisoned needle?" + +He said it in such a simple tone that I reacted from it toward my +own preconceived notions of the hysterical newspaper stories. + +"I've heard about all the poisoned needle stories," I returned. +"I've investigated some of them and written about them for my +paper, Guy. And I must say still that I doubt them. Now in the +first place, the mere insertion of a hypodermic needle--of course, +you've had it done, Guy--is something so painful that anyone in +his senses would cry aloud. Then to administer a drug that way +requires a great deal of skill and knowledge of anatomy, if it is +to be done with full and quick effect." + +Garrick said nothing, but continued to regard the hollow point +which he had obtained somewhere, perhaps on a previous case. + +"Why, such an injection," I continued, recalling the result of my +former careful investigations on the subject, "couldn't act +instantaneously anyhow, as it must if they are to get away with +it. After the needle is inserted, the plunger has to be pushed +down, and the whole thing would take at least thirty seconds. And +then, the action of the drug. That would take time, too. It seems +to me that in no case could it be done without the person's being +instantly aware of it and, before lapsing into unconsciousness, +calling for help or--" + +"On the contrary," interrupted Garrick quietly, "it is absurdly +easy. Waiving the question whether they might not be able to get +Violet Winslow in such a situation where even the old hypodermic +method which you know would serve as well as any other, why, +Marshall, just the hint that fellow dropped tells me that he could +walk up to her on the street or anywhere else, and--" + +He did not finish the sentence, but left it to my imagination. It +was my turn, now, to remain silent. + +"You are right, though, Tom, in one respect," he resumed a moment +later. "It is not easy by the old methods that everyone now knows. +For instance, take the use of chloral-knock-out drops, you know. +That is crude, too. Hypodermics and knock-out drops may answer +well enough, perhaps, for the criminals whose victims are found in +cafes and dives of a low order. But for the operations of an +aristocratic criminal of to-day--and our friend the Chief seems to +belong to the aristocracy of the underworld--far more subtle +methods are required. Let me show you something." + +Carefully, from the back of a drawer in the cabinet, where it was +concealed in a false partition, he pulled out a little case. He +opened it, and in it displayed a number of tiny globes and tubes +of thin glass, each with a liquid in it, some lozenges, some +bonbons, and several cigars and cigarettes. + +"I'm doing this," he remarked, "to show you, Tom, that I'm not +unduly magnifying the danger that surrounds Violet Winslow, after +hearing what I did over that detectaphone. Perhaps it didn't +impress you, but I think I know something of what we're up +against." + +From another part of the case he drew a peculiar looking affair +and handed to me without a word. It consisted of a glass syringe +about two inches long, fitted with a glass plunger and an asbestos +washer. On the other end of the tube was a hollow point, about +three-eighths of an inch long--just a shiny little bit of steel +such as he had already showed me. + +I looked at it curiously and, in spite of my former assurance, +began to wonder whether, after all, the possibility of a girl +being struck down suddenly, without warning, in a public place and +robbed--or worse--might not take on the guise of ghastly reality. + +"What do you make of it?" asked Garrick, evidently now enjoying +the puzzled look on my face. + +I could merely shrug my shoulders. + +"Well," he drawled, "that is a weapon they hinted at last night. +The possibilities of it are terrifying. Why, it could easily be +plunged through a fur coat, without breaking." + +He took the needle and made an imaginary lunge at me. + +"When people tell you that the hypodermic needle cannot be +employed in a case like this that they are planning," he +continued, "they are thinking of ordinary hypodermics. Those +things wouldn't be very successful usually, anyhow, under such +circumstances. But this is different. The very form of this needle +makes it particularly effective for anyone who wishes to use it +for crime. For instance--take it on a railroad or steamship or in +a hotel. Draw back the plunger--so--one quick jab--then drop it on +the floor and grind it under your heel. The glass is splintered +into a thousand bits. All evidence of guilt is destroyed, unless +someone is looking for it practically with a microscope." + +"Yes," I persisted, "that is all right--but the pain and the +moments before the drug begins to work?" + +With one hand Garrick reached into the case, selecting a little +thin glass tube, and with the other he pulled out his +handkerchief. + +"Smell that!" he exclaimed, bending over me so that I could see +every move and be prepared for it. + +Yet it was done so quickly that I could not protect myself. + +"Ugh!" I ejaculated in surprise, as Garrick manipulated the thing +with a legerdemain swiftness that quite baffled me, even though he +had given me warning to expect something. + +Everyone has seen freak moving picture films where the actor +suddenly bobs up in another place, without visibly crossing the +intervening space. The next thing I knew, Garrick was standing +across the room, in just that way. The handkerchief was folded up +and in his pocket. + +It couldn't have been done possibly in less than a minute. What +had happened? Where had that minute or so gone? I felt a sickening +sensation. + +"Smell it again?" Garrick laughed, taking a step toward me. + +I put up my hand and shook my head negatively, slowly +comprehending. + +"You mean to tell me," I gasped, "that I was--out?" + +"I could have jabbed a dozen needles into you and you would never +have known it," asserted Garrick with a quiet smile playing over +his face. + +"What is the stuff?" I asked, quite taken aback. + +"Kelene--ethyl chloride. Whiff!--and you are off almost in a +second. It is an anaesthetic of nearly unbelievable volatility. It +comes in little hermetically sealed tubes, with a tiny capillary +orifice, to prevent its too rapid vaporising, even when opened for +use. Such a tube may be held in the palm of the hand and the end +crushed off. The warmth of the hand alone is sufficient to start a +veritable spray. It acts violently on the senses, too. But kelene +anaesthesia lasts only a minute or so. The fraction of time is +long enough. Then comes the jab with the real needle--perhaps +another whiff of kelene to give the injection a chance. In two or +three minutes the injection itself is working and the victim is +unconscious, without a murmur--perhaps, as in your case, without +any clear idea of how it all happened--even without recollection +of a handkerchief, unable to recall any sharp pain of a needle or +anything else." + +He was holding up a little bottle in which was a thick, colorless +syrup. + +"And what is that?" I asked, properly tamed and no longer disposed +to be disputatious. + +"Hyoscine." + +"Is it powerful?" + +"One one-hundredth of a grain of this strength, perhaps less, will +render a person unconscious," replied Garrick. "The first symptom +is faintness; the pupils of the eyes dilate; speech is lost; +vitality seems to be floating away, and the victim lapses into +unconsciousness. It is derived from henbane, among ether things, +and is a rapid, energetic alkaloid, more rapid than chloral and +morphine. And, preceded by a whiff of kelene, not even the +sensations I have described are remembered." + +I could only stare at the outfit before me, speechless. + +"In Paris, where I got this," continued Garrick, "they call these +people who use it, 'endormeurs'--sleepmakers. That must have been +what the Chief meant when he used that word. I knew it." + +"Sleepmakers," I repeated in horror at the very idea of such a +thing being attempted on a young girl like Violet Winslow. + +"Yes. The standard equipment of such a criminal consists of these +little thin glass globes, a tiny glass hypodermic syringe with a +sharp steel point, doped cigars and cigarettes. They use various +derivatives of opium, like morphine and heroin, also codeine, +dionin, narcein, ethyl chloride and bromide, nitrite of amyl, +amylin,--and the skill that they have acquired in the manipulation +of these powerful drugs stamps them as the most dangerous coterie +of criminals in existence. Now," he concluded, "doubt it or not, +we have to deal with a man who is a proficient student of these +sleepmakers. Who is he, where is he, and when will he strike?" + +Garrick was now pacing excitedly up and down the room. + +"You see," he added, "the police of Europe by their new scientific +methods are driving such criminals out of the various countries. +Thank heaven, I am now prepared to meet them if they come to +America." + +"Then you think this is a foreigner?" I asked meekly. + +"I didn't say so," Garrick replied. "No. I think this is a +criminal exceptionally wide awake, one who studies and adopts what +he sees whenever he wants it. If you recall, I warned you to have +a wholesome respect for this man at the very start, when we were +looking at that empty cartridge." + +I could restrain my admiration of him no longer. "Guy," I +exclaimed, heartily, astounded by what I had seen, "you--you are a +wonder!" + +"No," he laughed, "not wonderful, Tom,--only very ordinary. I've +had a chance to learn some things abroad, fortunately. I've taken +the time to show you all this because I want you to appreciate +what it is we are up against in this case of Violet Winslow. You +can understand now why I was so particular about instructing +Warrington not to let her go anywhere unattended by friends. +There's nothing inherently impossible in these poisoned needle +stories--given the right conjunction of circumstances. What we +have to guard against principally is letting her get into any +situation where the circumstances make such a thing possible. I've +almost a notion to let the New York end of this case go altogether +for a while and take a run up to Tuxedo to warn her and Mrs. de +Lancey personally. Still, I think I put it strongly enough with +Warrington so that--" + +Our telephone tinkled insistently. + +"Hello," answered Garrick. "Yes, this is Garrick. Who is this? +Warrington? In Tuxedo? Why, my dear boy, you needn't have gone +personally. Are you sure you're strong enough for such exertion? +What--what's that? Warrington--it--it isn't--not to New York?" + +Garrick's face was actually pale as he fairly started back from +the telephone and caught my eye. + +"Tom," he exclaimed huskily to me, "Violet Winslow left for New +York on the early train this morning!" + +I felt my heart skip a beat, then pound away like a sledge-hammer +at my ribs as the terrible possibilities of the situation were +seared into my brain. + +"Yes, Warrington--a letter to her? Read it--quick," I heard +Garrick's tense voice repeating. "I see. Her maid Lucille was +taken very ill a few days ago and she allowed her to go to her +brother who lives on Ninth Street. I understand. Now--the letter." + +I could not hear what was said over the telephone, but later +Garrick repeated it to me and I afterwards saw the letter itself +which I may as well reproduce here. It said: + +"Since I left you, mademoiselle, I am very ill here at the home of +my brother. I have a nice room in the back of the house on the +first floor and now that I am getting better I can sit up and look +out of the window. + +"I am very ill yet, but the worst is past and some time when you +are in New York I wish I could see you. You have always been so +good to me, mademoiselle, that I hope I may soon be back again, if +you have not a maid better than your poor Lucille. + +"Your faithful servant, + +"LUCILLE DE VEAU." + +"And she's already in the city?" asked Garrick of Warrington as he +finished reading the letter. "Mrs. de Lancey has gone with her--to +do some shopping. I see. That will take all day, she said? She is +going to call on Lucille--to-night--that's what she told her new +maid there? To-night? That's all right, my boy. I just wanted to +be sure. Don't worry. We'll look out for her here, all right. Now, +Warrington, you just keep perfectly quiet. No relapses, you know, +old fellow. We can take care of everything. I'm glad you told me. +Good-bye." + +Garrick had finished up his conversation with Warrington in a +confident and reassuring tone, quite the opposite to that with +which he had started and even more in contrast with the expression +on his face as he talked. + +"I didn't want to alarm the boy unnecessarily," he explained to +me, as he hung up the receiver. "I could tell that he was very +weak yet and that the trip up to Tuxedo had almost done him up. It +seems that she thought a good deal of Lucille--there's the +address--99 Ninth. You can never tell about these maids, though. +Lucille may be all right--or the other maid may be all bad, or +vice versa. There's no telling. The worst of it is that she and +her aunt are somewhere in the city, perhaps shopping. It only +needs that they become separated for something, anything, to +happen. There's been no time to warn her, either, and she's just +as likely to visit that Lucille to-night alone as not. Gad--I'm +glad I didn't fly off up there to Tuxedo, after all. She'll need +someone here to protect her." + +Garrick was considering hastily what was to be done. Quickly he +mapped out his course of action. + +"Come, Tom," he said hurriedly to me, as he wrapped up a little +cedar box which he took from the cabinet where he kept the +endormeur outfit. "Come--let's investigate that Ninth Street +address while we have time." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEWSPAPER FAKE + + +Within a few minutes we were sauntering with enforced leisure +along Ninth Street, in a rather sordid part, inhabited largely, I +made out, by a slightly better class of foreigners than some other +sections of the West Side. + +As we walked along, I felt Garrick tugging at my arm. + +"Slow up a bit," he whispered under his breath. "There's the house +which was mentioned in the maid's note." + +It was an old three-story brownstone building with an entrance two +or three steps up from the sidewalk level. Once, no doubt, it had +housed people of some means, but the change in the character of +the neighbourhood with shifting population had evidently brought +it to the low estate where it now sheltered one family on each +floor, if not more. At least that was the general impression one +got from a glance at the cheapened air of the block. + +Garrick passed the house so as not to attract any attention, and a +little further on paused before an apartment house, not of the +modern elevator construction, but still of quiet and decent +appearance. At least there were no children spilling out from its +steps into the street, in imminent danger of their young lives +from every passing automobile, as there were in the tenements of +the block below. + +He entered the front door which happened to be unlatched and we +had no trouble in mounting the stairs to the roof. + +What he intended doing I had no idea yet, but he went ahead with +assurance and I followed, equally confident, for he must have had +adventures something like this before. On the roof, a clothesline, +which he commandeered and tied about a chimney, served to let him +down the few feet from the higher apartment roof to that of the +dwelling house next to it, one of the row in which number 99 was +situated. + +Quickly he tiptoed over to the chimney of the brownstone house a +few doors down and, as he did so, I saw him take from his pocket +the cedar box. A string tied to a weight told him which of the +flues reached down to the room on the first floor, back. + +That determined, he let the little cedar box fastened to an +entwined pair of wires down the flue. He then ran the wires back +across the roof to the apartment, up, and into a little storm shed +at the top of the last flight of stairs which led from the upper +hall to the roof. + +"There is nothing more that we can do here just yet," he remarked +after he had hauled himself back to me on the higher roof. "We are +lucky not to have been disturbed, but if we stay here we are +likely to be observed." + +Cautiously we retraced our steps and were again on the street +without having alarmed any of the tenants of the flat through +which we had gained access to the roofs. + +It was now the forenoon and, although Garrick instituted a search +in every place that he could think of where Mrs. de Laacey and +Violet Winslow might go, including the homes of those of their +friends whose names we could learn, it was without result. I don't +think there can be many searches more hopeless than to try to find +someone in New York when one has no idea where to look. Only +chance could possibly have thrown them in our way and chance did +not favour us. + +There was nothing to do but wait for the time when Miss Winslow +might, of her own accord, turn up to visit her former maid for +whom she apparently had a high regard. + +Inquiries as to the antecedents of Lucille De Veau were decidedly +unsatisfactory, not that they gave her a bad character, but +because there simply seemed to be nothing that we could find out. +The maid seemed to be absolutely unknown. Her brother was a +waiter, though where he worked we could not find out, for he +seemed to be one of those who are constantly shifting their +positions. + +Garrick had notified Dillon of what he had discovered, in a +general way, and had asked him to detail some men to conduct the +search secretly for Miss Winslow and her aunt, but without any +better results than we had obtained. Apparently the department +stores had swallowed them up for the time being and we could only +wait impatiently, trusting that all would turn out right in the +end. Still, I could not help having some forebodings in the +matter. + +It was in the middle of the afternoon that we had gone downtown to +Garrick's office, after stopping to secure the letter from the +safe in the uptown hotel where it had been deposited for security +during the night and placing it in a safety deposit vault where +Garrick kept some of his own valuables. Garrick had selected his +office as a vantage point to which any news of Miss Winslow and +her aunt might be sent by those whom we had out searching. No word +came, however, and the hours of suspense seemed to drag +interminably. + +"You're pretty well acquainted on the STAR?" Garrick asked me at +last, after we had been sitting in a sort of mournful silence +wondering whether those on the other side might not be stealing a +march on us. + +"Why, yes, I know several people there," I replied. "Why do you +ask?" + +"I was just thinking of a possible plan of campaign that might be +mapped out to bring these people from under cover," he remarked +thoughtfully. "Do you think you could carry part of it through?" + +I said I would try and Garrick proceeded to unfold a scheme which +he had been revolving all day. It consisted of as ingenious a +"plant" as I could well imagine. + +"You see," he outlined, "if you could go over to the Star office +and get them to run off a few copies of the paper, after they are +through with the regular editions, I believe we can get the Chief +started and then all we should have to do would be to follow him +up--or someone who would lead us to him." + +The "plant," in short, consisted in writing a long and +circumstantial story of the discovery of new evidence against the +ladies' poolroom, which so far had been scarcely mentioned in the +case. As Garrick laid it out, the story was to tell of a young +gambler who was said to be in touch with the district attorney, in +preference to saying the police. + +In fact, his idea was to write up the whole gambling situation as +we knew it on lines that he suggested. Then a "fake" edition of +the paper was to be run off, bearing our story on the front page. +Only a few copies were to be printed, and they were to be +delivered to us. The thing had been done before by detectives, I +knew, and in this case Warrington was to foot the bill, which +might prove to be considerable. + +At least it offered me some outlet for my energies during the rest +of the afternoon when the failure to receive any reports about the +two women whom we were seeking began to wear on my nerves. + +It took some time to arrange the thing with those in authority on +the Star, but at last that was done and I hastened back to Garrick +at his office to tell him that all that remained to do was the +actual writing of the story. + +Garrick had just finished testing an arrangement in a large case, +almost the size of a suitcase, and had stood it in a corner, ready +to be picked up and carried off the instant there was any need for +it. There was still no word of Miss Winslow and Mrs. de Lancey and +it began to look as if we should not hear from them until Violet +Winslow turned up on her visit to her former maid. + +Together we plunged into the preparation of the story, the writing +of which fell to me while Garrick now and then threw in a +suggestion or a word of criticism to make it sound stronger for +his purpose. Thus the rest of the afternoon passed in getting the +thing down "pat." + +I flatter myself that it was not such a bad piece of work when we +got through with it. By dint of using such expressions as "It is +said," "It is rumoured," "The report about the Criminal Courts +Building is," "An informant high in the police department," and +crediting much to a mythical "gambler who is operating quietly +uptown," we managed to tell some amazing facts. + +The fake story began: + +"Since the raid by the police on the luxurious gambling house in +Forty-eighth Street, a remarkable new phase of sporting life has +been unfolded to the District Attorney, who is quietly gathering +evidence against another place situated in the same district. + +"A former gambler who frequented the raided place has put many +incriminating facts about the second place in the hands of the +authorities who are contemplating an exposure that will stir even +New York, accustomed as it is to such startling revelations. It +involves one of the cleverest and most astute criminals who ever +operated in this city. + +"This place, which is under observation, is one which has brought +tragedy to many. Young women attracted by the treacherous lure of +the spinning roulette wheel or the fascination of the shuffle of +cards have squandered away their own and their husband's money +with often tragic results, and many of them have gone even further +into the moral quagmire in the hope of earning enough money to pay +their losses and keep from their families the knowledge of their +gambling. + +"This situation, one of the high lights in the city of lights and +shadows, has been evolved, according to the official informant, +through the countless number of gambling resorts that have gained +existence in the most fashionable parts of the city. + +"The record of crime of the clever and astute individual already +mentioned is being minutely investigated, and, it is said, shows +some of the most astounding facts. It runs even to murder, which +was accomplished in getting rid of an informer recently in the pay +of the police. + +"Against those conducting the crusade every engine of the +underworld has been used. The fight has been carried on bitterly, +and within less than twenty-four hours arrests are promised as a +result of confessions already in the hands of the authorities and +being secretly and widely investigated by them before the final +blow is delivered simultaneously, both in the city and in a town +up-state where the criminal believes himself unknown and secure." + +There was more of the stuff, which I do not quote, describing the +situation in detail and in general terms which could all have only +one meaning to a person acquainted with the particular case with +which we were dealing. It threw a scare, in type, as hard as could +be done. I fancied that when it was read by the proper person he +would be amazed that so much had, apparently, become known to the +newspapers, and would begin to wonder how much more was known that +was not printed. + +"That ought to make someone sit up and take notice," remarked +Garrick with some satisfaction, as he corrected the typewritten +copy late in the afternoon. "The printing of that will take some +time and I don't suppose we shall get copies until pretty late. +You can take it over to the Star, Tom, and complete the +arrangements. I have a little more work to do before we go up +there on Ninth Street. Suppose you meet me at eight in Washington +Square, near the Arch?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE VOCAPHONE + + +Promptly to the dot I met Garrick at the appointed place. Not a +word so far had been heard, either from Violet Winslow or Mrs. de +Lancey. There was one thing encouraging about it, however. If they +had become separated while shopping, as sometimes happens, we +should have been likely to hear of it, at least from her aunt. + +Garrick was tugging the heavy suitcase which I had seen standing +ready down in his office during the afternoon, as well as a small +package wrapped up in paper. + +"Let me carry that suitcase," I volunteered. + +We trudged along across the park, my load getting heavier at every +step. + +"I'm not surprised at your being winded," I panted, soon finding +myself in the same condition. "What's in this--lead?" + +"Something that we may need or may not," Garrick answered +enigmatically, as we stopped in the shadow to rest. + +He carefully took an automatic revolver from an inside pocket and +stowed it where it would be handy, in his coat. + +We resumed our walk and at last had come nearly up to the house on +the first floor of which the maid Lucille was. The suitcase was +engaging all my attention, as I shifted it from one hand to the +other. Not so Garrick, however. He was looking keenly about us. + +"Gad, I must be seeing things to-night!" he exclaimed, his eyes +fixed on a figure slouching along, his hat pulled down over his +eyes, passing just about opposite us on the other side of the +street. I looked also in the gathering dusk. The figure had +something indefinably familiar about it, but a moment later it was +gone, having turned the corner. + +Garrick shook his head. "No," he said half to himself, "it +couldn't have been. Don't stop, Tom. We mustn't do anything to +rouse suspicion, now." + +We came a moment later to the flat-house through the hall of which +we had reached the roof that morning and in the excitement of the +adventure I forgot, for the time, the mysterious figure across the +street, which had attracted Garrick's attention. + +Again, we managed to elude the tenants, though it was harder in +the early evening than it had been in the daytime. However, we +reached the roof apparently unobserved. There at least, now that +it was dark, we felt comparatively safe. No one was likely to +disturb us there, provided we made no noise. + +Unwrapping the smaller, paper-covered package, Garrick quickly +attached the wires, as he had left them, to another cedar box, +like that which he had already let down the chimney up the street. + +I now had a chance to examine it more closely under the light of +Garrick's little electric bull's-eye. I was surprised to find that +it resembled one of the instruments we had used down in the room +in the Old Tavern. + +It was oblong, with a sort of black disc fixed to the top. In the +face of the box, just as in the other we had used, were two little +square holes, with sides also of cedar, converging inward, making +a pair of little quadrangular pyramidal holes which seemed to end +in a small round black circle in the interior, small end. + +I said nothing, but I could see that it was a new form, to all +intents and purposes, of the detectaphone which we had already +used. + +The minutes that followed seemed like hours, as we waited, not +daring to talk lest we should attract attention. + +I wondered whether Miss Winslow would come after all, or, if she +did, whether she would come alone. + +"You're early," said a voice, softly, near us, of a sudden. + +I leaped to my feet, prepared to meet anything, man or devil. +Garrick seized me and pulled me down, a strong hint to be quiet. +Too surprised to remonstrate, since nothing happened, I waited, +breathless. + +"Yes, but that is better than to be too late. Besides, we've got +to watch that Garrick," said another voice. "He might be around." + +Garrick chuckled. + +I had noticed a peculiar metallic ring in the voices. + +"Where are they?" I whispered, "On the landing below?" + +Garrick laughed outright, not boisterously, but still in a way +which to me was amazing in its bravado, if the tenants were really +so near. + +"What's this?" I asked. + +"Don't you recognize it?" he answered. + +"Yes," I said doubtfully. "I suppose it's like that thing we used +down at the Old Tavern." + +"Only more so," nodded Garrick, aloud, yet careful not to raise +his voice, as before, so as not to disturb the flat dwellers below +us. "A vocaphone." + +"A vocaphone?" I repeated. + +"Yes, the little box that hears and talks," he explained. "It does +more than the detectaphone. It talks right out, you know, and it +works both ways." + +I began to understand his scheme. + +"Those square holes in the face of it are just like the other +instrument we used," Garrick went on. "They act like little +megaphones to that receiver inside, you know,--magnify the sound +and throw it out so that we can listen up here just as well, +perhaps better than if we were down there in the room with them." + +They were down there in the back room, Lucille and a man. + +"Have you heard from her?" asked the man's voice, one that I did +not recognise. + +"Non,--but she will come. Voila, but she thought the world of her +Lucille, she did. She will come." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because--I know." + +"Oh, you women!" + +"Oh, you men!" + +It was evident that the two had a certain regard for each other, a +sort of wild, animal affection, above, below, beyond, without the +law. They seemed at least to understand each other. + +Who the man was I could not guess. It was a voice that sounded +familiar, yet I could not place it. + +"She will come to see her Lucille," repeated the woman. "But you +must not be seen." + +"No--by no means." + +The voice of the man was not that of a foreigner. + +"Here, Lucille, take this. Only get her interested--I will do the +rest--and the money is yours. See--you crush it in the +handkerchief--so. Be careful--you WILL crush it before you want to +use it. There. Under her nose, you know. I shall be there in a +moment and finish the work. That is all you need do--with the +handkerchief." + +Garrick made a motion, as if to turn a switch in the little +vocaphone, and rested his finger on it. + +"I could make those two jump out of the window with fright and +surprise," he said to me, still fingering the switch impatiently. +"You see, it works the other way, too, as I told you, if I choose +to throw this switch. Suppose I should shout out, and they should +hear, apparently coming from the fireplace, 'You are discovered. +Thank you for telling me all your plans, but I am prepared for +them already.' What do you suppose they would--" + +Garrick stopped short. + +From the vocaphone had come a sound like the ringing of a bell. + +"Sh!" whispered Lucille hoarsely. "Here she comes now. Didn't I +tell you? Into the next room!" + +A moment later came a knock at a door and Lucille's silken rustle +as she hurried to open it. + +"How do you do, Lucille?" we heard a sweetly tremulous voice +repeated by the faithful little vocaphone. + +"Comment vous portez-vous, Mademoiselle?" + +"Tres bien." + +"Mademoiselle honours her poor Lucille beyond her dreams. Will you +not be seated here in this easy chair?" + +"My God!" exclaimed Garrick, starting back from the vocaphone. +"She is there alone. Mrs. de Lancey is not with her. Oh, if we +could only have prevented this!" + +I had recognized, too, even in the mechanical reproduction, the +voice of Violet Winslow. It came as a shock. Even though I had +been expecting some such thing for hours, still the reality meant +just as much, perhaps more. + +Independent, self-reliant, Violet Winslow had gone alone on an act +of mercy and charity, and it had taken her into a situation full +of danger with her faithless maid. + +At once I was alive to the situation. All the stories of +kidnappings and white slavery that I had ever read rioted through +my head. I felt like calling out a warning. Garrick had his finger +on the switch. + +"Since I have been ill, Mademoiselle, I have been doing some +embroidery--handkerchiefs--are they not pretty?" + +It was coming. There was not time for an instant's delay now. + +Garrick quickly depressed the switch. + +Clear as a bell his voice rang out. + +"Miss Winslow--this is Garrick. Don't let her get that +handkerchief under your nose. Out of the door--quick. Run! Call +for help! I shall be with you in a minute!" + +A little cry came out of the machine. + +There was a moment of startled surprise in the room below. Then +followed a mocking laugh. + +"Ha! Ha! I thought you'd pull something like that, Garrick. I +don't know where you are, but it makes no difference. There are +many ways of getting out of this place and at one of them I hare a +high-powered car. Violet--will go--quietly--" there were sounds of +a struggle--"after the needle--" + +A scream had followed immediately after a sound of shivering glass +through the vocaphone. It was not Violet Winslow's scream, either. + +"Like hell, she'll go," shouted a wildly familiar voice. + +There was a gruff oath. + +We stayed to hear no more. Garrick had already picked up the heavy +suitcase and was running down the steps two at a time, with myself +hard after him. + +Without waiting to ring the bell at 99, he dashed the suitcase +through the plate glass of the front door, reached in and turned +the lock. We hurried into the back room. + +Violet was lying across a divan and bending over her was +Warrington. + +"She--she's unconscious," he gasped, weak with the exertion of his +forcible entrance into the place and carrying from the floor to +the divan the lovely burden which he had found in the room. "They- +-they fled--two of them--the maid, Lucille--and a man I could not +see." + +Down the street we heard a car dashing away to the sound of its +changing gears. + +"She's--not--dying--is she, Garrick?" he panted bending closer +over her. + +Garrick bent over, too, felt the fluttering pulse, looked into her +dilated eyes. + +I saw him drop quickly on his knees beside the unconscious girl. +He tore open the heavy suitcase and a moment later he had taken +from it a sort of cap, at the end of a rubber tube, and had +fastened it carefully over her beautiful, but now pale, face. + +"Pump!" Garrick muttered to me, quickly showing me what to do. + +I did, furiously. + +"Where did you come from?" he asked of Warrington. "I thought I +saw someone across the street who looked like you as we came +along, but you didn't recognise us and in a moment you were gone. +Keep on with that pulmotor, Tom. Thank heaven I came prepared with +it!" + +Eagerly I continued to supply oxygen to the girl on the divan +before us. + +Garrick had stooped down and picked up both the handkerchief with +its crushed bits of the kelene tube and near it a shattered glass +hypodermic. + +"Oh, I got thinking about things, up there at Mead's," blurted out +Warrington, "and I couldn't stand it. I should have gone crazy. +While the doctor was out I managed to slip away and take a train +to the city. I knew this address from the letter. I determined to +stay around all night, if necessary. She got in before I could get +to her, but I rang the bell and managed to get my foot in the door +a minute later. I heard the struggle. Where were you? I heard your +voice in here but you came through the front door." + +Garrick did not take time to explain. He was too busy over Violet +Winslow. + +A feeble moan and a flutter of the eyelids told that she was +coming out from the effects of the anaesthetic and the drug. + +"Mortimer--Mortimer!" she moaned, half conscious. "Don't let them +take me. Oh where is--" + +Warrington leaned over, as Garrick removed the cap of the +pulmotor, and gently raised her head on his arm. + +"It's all right--Violet," he whispered, his face close to hers as +his warm breath fanned her now flushed and fevered cheek. + +She opened her eyes and vaguely understood as the mist cleared +from her brain. + +Instinctively she clung to him as he pressed his lips lightly on +her forehead, in a long passionate caress. + +"Get a cab, Tom," said Garrick turning his back suddenly on them +and placing his hand on my shoulder as he edged me toward the +hall. "It's too late to pursue that fellow, now. He's slipped +through our fingers again--confound him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE EAVESDROPPER AGAIN + + +It took our combined efforts now to take care not only of Violet +Winslow but Warrington himself, who was on the verge of collapse +after his heroic rescue of her. + +I found the cab and in perhaps half an hour Miss Winslow was so +far recovered that she could be taken to the hotel where she and +her aunt had engaged rooms for the night. + +We drew up at an unfrequented side carriage entrance of the hotel +in order to avoid the eyes of the curious and Warrington jumped +out to assist Violet. The strain had told on him and in spite of +his desire to take care of her, he was glad to let Garrick guide +him to the elevator, while I took Miss Winslow's arm to assist +her. + +Our first object had been to get our two invalids where they could +have quiet and so regain their strength and we rode up in the +elevator, unannounced, to the suite of Violet and her aunt. + +"For heaven's sake--Violet--what's all this?" exclaimed Mrs. de +Lancey as we four entered the room. + +It was the first time we had seen the redoubtable Aunt Emma. She +was a large woman, well past middle age, and must have been +handsome, rather than pretty, when she was younger. Everything +about Mrs. de Lancey was correct, absolutely correct. Her dress +looked like a form into which she had been poured, every line and +curve being just as it should be, having "set" as if she had been +made of reinforced concrete. In short, she was a woman of "force." + +An incursion such as we made seemed to pain her correct soul +acutely. And yet, I fancied that underneath the marble exterior +there was a heart and that secretly she was both proud and jealous +of her dainty niece. + +Violet sank into a chair and Garrick deposited Warrington, +thoroughly exhausted, on a couch. + +Mrs. de Lancey looked sternly at Warrington, as though in some way +he might be responsible. I could not help feeling that she had a +peculiar sense of conscientiousness about him, that she was just a +bit more strict in gauging him than she would have been if he had +not been the wealthy young Mr. Warrington whom scores and hundreds +of mothers and guardians in society would have welcomed for the +sake of marriageable daughters no matter how black and glaring his +faults. I was glad to see the way Warrington took it. He seemed to +want to rest not on the merits of the Warrington blood nor the +Warrington gold, but on plain Mortimer Warrington himself. + +"What HAS happened, Violet?" repeated Mrs. de Lancey. + +Violet had, woman-like, in spite of her condition caught the stern +look that her aunt had shot at Warrington. + +"Nothing, now," she replied with a note of defiance. "Lucille-- +seems to have been a--a bad woman--friendly with bad men. Mr. +Garrick overheard a plot to carry me off and telephoned Mortimer. +Fortunately when Mortimer went up home to warn us, he found the +letter and knew where I was going to-night. Ill as he was, he came +all the way to the city, followed me into that house, saved me-- +even before Mr. Garrick could get there." + +Violet's duenna was considerably mollified, though she tried hard +not to admit it. Garrick seized the opportunity and poured forth a +brief but connected story of what had happened. + +"Well," exclaimed Mrs. de Lancey as he finished, "you children +ought to be very thankful it isn't worse. Violet, I think I'll +call up the house physician. You certainly need a doctor. And as +for you, Mortimer,--you can't go to your apartment. Violet tells +me it is all burned out. There's an empty suite across the hall. +I'll telephone the room clerk and engage it for you. And you need +a doctor, too. Now--there's going to be no more foolishness. +You're both going to stay right here in this hotel until you're +all right. Your mother and I were great friends, Mortimer, when we +were girls. I--you must let me PLAY mother--for her sake." + +I had been right about Mrs. de Lancey. Her voice softened and I +saw a catch in Warrington's throat, too, at the mention of the +mother he remembered only hazily as a small boy. + +Violet and Warrington exchanged glances. I fancied the wireless +said, "We've won the old lady over, at last," for Warrington +continued to look at her, while she blushed a bit, then dropped +her eyes to hide a happy tear. + +Mrs. de Lancey was bustling about and I felt sure that in another +minute every available bellhop in the hotel would be at work. As +Warrington might have said in his slang, "Action is her middle +name." + +Garrick rose and bade our two patients a hasty good-night, +tactfully forgetting to be offended by their lack of interest now +in anything except each other. + +"I doubt if they get much chance to be alone--not with that woman +mothering them," he smiled to me, drawing me toward the door. +"Don't let's spoil this chance." + +Mrs. de Lancey was busy in the next room, as we stopped to say +good-bye to her. + +"I--I can't talk to you--now, Mr. Garrick," she cried, with a +sudden, unwonted show of emotion, taking both his hands in hers. +"You--you've saved my girl--there--there's nothing in this world +you could have done for me--greater." + +"Mrs. de Lancey," replied Garrick, deftly changing the subject, +"there's just one thing. I'm afraid you are--have been, I mean,--a +little hard on Mr. Warrington. He isn't what you think--" + +"Mr. Garrick," she returned, in a sudden burst of confidence, "I'm +afraid you, too, misunderstand me. I am not hard on the boy. But, +remember. I knew his mother and father--intimately. Think of it, +sir--the responsibilities that rest on that young man. Do you +wonder that I--I want him better than others? Don't you see--that +is why I want to hold him up to the highest standard. If Violet-- +marries him," she seemed to choke over the word,--"they must meet +tests that ordinary people never know. Don't you understand? I've +seen other young men and other young women in our circle--they +were our babies once--I've seen them--go down. But I--I am proud. +The Winslows, yes, and the Warringtons, they,--they SHAN'T go +down--not while I have an ounce of strength or a grain of sanity. +Nothing--nothing but the best that is in us--counts." + +I think Mrs. de Lancey and Garrick understood each other perfectly +after that. He said nothing, in fact did not need to say anything, +for he looked it. + +"I feel that I can safely resign my job as guardian," was all he +remarked, finally. "Neither of them could be in better hands. +Only, keep that boy quiet a few days. You can do it better than I +can--you and Miss Winslow. Trust me to do the rest." + +A moment later we were passing out through the hotel lobby, as +Garrick glanced at his watch. + +"A wonderful woman, after all," he mused, in the manner of one who +revises an estimate formed hastily on someone else's hearsay. +"Well, it's too late to do anything more to-night. I suppose those +papers are printed down at the Star. We'll stop and get them in +the morning. Did you recognise the voice over the vocaphone?" + +"I can't say I did," I confessed. + +"Perhaps you aren't used to it and things sound too metallic to +you. But I did. It was the Chief." + +"I suspected as much," I replied. "Where do you suppose he went?" + +Garrick shrugged his shoulders. + +"I doubt whether we could find him in New York to-night," he +answered, slowly. "I think he must feel by this time that the town +is getting too hot for him." + +There was nothing that I could say, and I played the part +admirably. + +"Come," he decided, as he turned from the hotel in the direction, +now, of our apartment. "Let's snatch a little rest. We'll need it +to-morrow for the final spurt." + +Tired and exhausted though I was I cannot say that I slept. At +least, it may have been physical rest that I got. Certainly my +mind never stopped in its dream play, as the kaleidoscopic stream +of events passed before me, now in their true form, now in the +fantastic shapes that constitute one of the most interesting +studies of the modern psychology. + +I was glad when I heard Garrick stirring in his room in the early +daylight and heard him call out, "Are you awake, Tom? There are +some things I want to attend to, while you drop into the Star for +those papers. I'm afraid you'll have to breakfast alone. Meet me +at my office as soon as you can." + +He was off a few minutes later, as fresh as though he had been on +a vacation instead of plunged into the fight of his life. I +followed him, more leisurely, and then rode down in the infernal +jam in the subway to execute his commission. + +Then for an hour or two I fidgeted impatiently in his office +waiting for him, until finally he came downtown in the racing car +which Warrington had placed at his disposal. + +He said nothing, but it was all the same to me. I had reached that +nervous state where I craved something doing, as a drug-fiend +craves the dope that sets his brain on fire again. + +I did not ask where he was going, for I knew it intuitively, and +it was not long before we were again in the part of the city where +the gangster's garage was located. + +We stopped and Garrick beckoned to an urchin, a couple of blocks +below the garage. + +"Do you want to make a dollar, kid?" he asked, jingling four +quarters enticingly. + +The boy's eyes never left the fist that held the tempting bait. +"Betcherlife," he answered. + +"Well, then," instructed Garrick, "take these newspapers. I don't +want you to sell any of them on the street. But when you come to +that garage over there--see it?--I want you to yell, 'Extra-- +special extra! All about the great gambling exposure. Warrants +out!' Just go in there. They'll buy, all right. And if you say a +word about anyone giving you these papers to sell--I'll chase you +and get back this dollar to the last cent. You'll go to the Gerry +Society--get me?" + +The boy did. The bait was as alluring as the threat terrible. +After Garrick had given him final instructions not to start with +the papers for at least five minutes, we slipped quietly around +the next street and came out near the Old Tavern, but not in front +of it. + +Garrick left the car--I had been riding almost on the mud guard-- +in charge of Warrington's man, who was to appear to be tinkering +with the engine as an excuse for waiting there, and to keep an eye +on anything that happened down the street. + +We made our way into our room at the Tavern with more than +ordinary caution, for fear that something might have been +discovered. Apparently, however, the discovery of one detectaphone +had been enough to disarm further suspicion, and the garage keeper +had not thought it necessary to examine the telephone wires to see +whether they had been tampered with in any way. The wire which he +had thought led to the warehouse had seemed quite sufficient to +explain everything. + +In the room which we had used so much, we found the other +detectaphone working splendidly. Garrick picked it up. + +By the sound, evidently, someone in the garage was overhauling a +car. It may have been that they were fixing one up so that its +rightful owner would never recognize it, or they may have been +getting ready to take one out. There was no way of determining. + +We could hear one of the workmen helping about the car, a man whom +we had listened to when the instrument first introduced us to the +place. The second machine, connected with the telephone, did not +transmit quite as clearly as the broken detective device had done, +but it served and, besides, we could both hear through this and +could confirm anything that might be indistinct to either of us +alone. + +"The Chief has gone up-state," remarked Garrick, piecing together +the conversation where we had broken into it. + +"We had to hustle to make that boat," remarked a voice which I +recognised as that of one of the men. + +"But she got off all right, didn't she?" + +"Sure--he had the tickets and everything, and her baggage had +already gone aboard." + +"That's Lucille, I suppose," supplied Garrick. "No doubt part of +her bribe for getting Miss Winslow into their power was free +passage back to France. We can't stop to take up her case, yet." + +"My--but the Chief was mad," continued the voice of the man who +must have been not only a machinist but a chauffeur when occasion +demanded. "He had a package of letters. I don't know what they +were--looked as if they might be from some woman." + +"What did he do with them?" asked the Boss in a tone that showed +that he knew something, at least, about them already. + +"Why, he was so mad after that fellow Garrick and the other fellow +beat him out, that when we went down along West Street to the boat +with that other woman, he tore them up and threw them in the +river." + +"Did he say anything?" + +"Why, I tell you he was mad. He tore 'em up and threw them in the +river. I think he said there wasn't a damn thing in 'em except a +lot of mush, anyhow." + +An amused smile crossed Garrick's face as he added, +parenthetically, "Good-bye to Warrington's love letters that they +took from his safe." + +"At least there has been nothing they managed to get that night of +the fire that they have been able to use against Warrington," I +remarked, with satisfaction. + +"Listen," cautioned Garrick. "What's that they are saying? Someone +has told the Boss--he's talking--that they can go over Dillon's +head and get back all the gambling paraphernalia? Well, I've been +there, at the raided place, to-day, and it doesn't look so. The +stuff has all been taken down to headquarters. Ah, so that is the +game that is in the wind, is it? Get it all back by a court order +and open somewhere else. Here's our boy." + +The improvised newsboy had apparently stuck his head in the door +as he had been instructed, for we could hear them greet him with a +growl, until he yelled lustily, "Extry, special extry! All about +the big gambling exposure! Warrants out! Extry!" + +"Hey, you kid," came a voice from the detectaphone, "let's see +that paper. What is it--the Star? Well, I'll be--! Read that. +Someone's snitched to the district attorney, I'll bet. That'll +make the Chief sore, all right--and he's 'way up in the country, +too. I don't dare wire it to him. No, someone'll have to take a +copy of this paper up there to him and tip him off. He'll be +redheaded if he doesn't know about it. He was the last time +anything happened. Hurry up. Finish with this car. I'll take it +myself." + +Garrick laughed, almost gleefully. + +"The plant has begun to work," he cried. "We'll wait here until +just before he's ready to start. Three of us around our car on the +street are too many. He must be getting ready for a long run." + +"How much gas is there in this tank?" the gruff voice of the Boss +demanded. "You dummy--not two gallons! No, you finish what you're +doing. I'll fill it myself. There isn't any time for fooling now." + +There was the steady trickle of the stream of gasoline as he drew +it. + +"Any extra tires? What! Not a new shoe in the place? Give me a +couple of the best of those old ones. Never mind. Here are two +over by the telephone. Say, what the devil is this wire back here- +-cut in on the telephone wire? Well,--rip it out! That's some more +of that fellow Garrick's work. We got rid of one thing the other +night. Well, thank heaven, I didn't have any telephone calls to- +day. While I'm gone, you go over this place thoroughly. God knows +how many other things he may have put in here." + +"Confound it!" muttered Garrick, as a pair of pliers made our +second detectaphone die with an expiring gasp in the middle of a +sentence of profanity. + +"Come on, Tom," he shouted. + +There was no use now in remaining any longer in the room. +Gathering up the receiving apparatus, Garrick quickly carried it +down and tossed it into the waiting car around the corner. Then he +sent Warrington's man to hang around, up the street, and watch +what was going on at the garage. + +Garrick was to drive the car himself, and we were going to leave +Warrington's man behind. We could tell by the actions of the man +as he stood down the street that something was taking place at the +garage. + +We could hear a horn blow, and I knew that the doors had opened +and a big car had been backed out, slowly. Our own engine was +running perfectly in spite of the seeming trouble with which we +had covered up our delay. Garrick jumped in at the wheel, and I +followed. The man on the corner was signalling that the car was +going in the opposite direction. We leaped ahead. + +As the big car ahead slipped along eastward, we followed at such a +distance as not to attract attention. It was easy enough to do +that, but not so easy to avoid getting tied up among the trucks +laden with foodstuffs of every description which blocked the +streets over in this part of town. + +Where the car ahead was bound, we did not know, but I could see +that the driver was a stocky fellow, who slouched down into his +seat, and handled his car almost as if it had been a mere toy. It +was, I felt positive, the man whom McBirney had reported one night +about the neighbourhood of Longacre Square in the car which had +once been Warrington's. This, at least, was a different car, I +knew. Now I realised the wisdom of allowing this man, whom they +called the Boss, to go free. Under the influence of Garrick's +"plant," he was to lead us to the right trail to the Chief. + +It was easier now to follow the car since it had worked its way +into lower Fifth Avenue. On uptown it went. We hung on doggedly in +the mass of traffic going north at this congested hour. + +At last it turned into Forty-seventh Street. It was stopping at +the ladies' gambling joint, apparently to confirm the news. I had +thought that the place was closed, until the present trouble blew +over, but it seemed that there must be someone there. The Boss was +evidently well known, for he was immediately admitted. + +Garrick did not stop. He kept on around the corner to the raided +poolroom on the next street. Dillon's man, who had been stationed +there to watch the place, bowed and admitted him. + +"I'm going to throw it into him good, this time," remarked +Garrick, as he entered. "I've been planning this stunt for an +emergency--and it's here. Now for the big scare!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SPEAKING ARC + + +"Looks pretty deserted here," remarked Garrick to Dillon's man, +who had accompanied us from the door into the now deserted +gambling den. + +"Yes," he grinned, "there's not much use in keeping me here since +they took all the stuff to headquarters. Now and then one of the +old rounders who has been out of town and hasn't heard of the raid +comes in. You should see their faces change when they catch sight +of my uniform. They never stop to ask questions," he chuckled. +"They just beat it." + +I was wondering how the police regarded Garrick's part in the +matter, and while Garrick was busy I asked, "Have you seen +Inspector Herman lately?" + +The man laughed. + +"What's the matter?" I asked, "Is he sore at having the raid +pulled off over his head?" + +"Sore?" the roundsman repeated, "Oh, not a bit, not a bit. He +enjoyed it. It gave him so much credit," the man added +sarcastically, "especially after he fell down in getting the +evidence against that other place around the corner." + +"Was that his case, too?" I asked. + +"Sure," replied the policeman. "Didn't you know that? That Rena +Taylor was working under his orders when she was killed. They tell +me at headquarters he's working overtime on the case and other +things connected with it. He hasn't said much, but there's someone +he is after--I know. Mark my words. Herman is always most +dangerous when he's quiet. The other day he was in here, said +there was a man who used to be seen here a good deal in the palmy +days, who had disappeared. I don't know who he was, but Herman +asked me to keep a particular lookout to see if he came back for +any purpose. There's someone he suspects, all right." + +I wondered why the man told me. He must have seen, by the look on +my face, that I was thinking that. + +"I wouldn't tell it to everybody," he added confidentially, "only, +most of us don't like Herman any too well. He's always trying to +hog it all--gets all the credit if we pick up a clew, and,--well, +most of us wouldn't be exactly disappointed to see Mr. Garrick +succeed--that's all." + +Garrick was calling from the back room to me, and I excused +myself, while the man went back to his post at the front door. +Garrick carefully closed the door into the room. + +While I had been busy getting the copies of the faked edition of +the Star, which had so alarmed the owner of the garage and had set +things moving rapidly, Garrick had also been busy, in another +direction. He had explored not only the raided gambling den, but +the little back yard which ran all the way to an extension on the +rear of the house in the next street, in which was situated the +woman's poolroom. + +He had explored, also, the caved-in tunnel enough to make +absolutely certain that his suspicions had been correct in the +first place, and that it ran to this other joint, from which the +gamblers had made their escape. That had satisfied him, however, +and he had not unearthed the remains of the tunnel or taken any +action in the matter yet. Something else appeared to interest him +much more at the present moment. + +"I found," he said when he was sure that we were alone, "that the +feed wire of the arc light that burns all the time in that main +room over there in the place on Forty-seventh Street--you recall +it?--runs in through the back of the house." + +He was examining two wires which, from his manner, I inferred were +attached to this feed wire, leading to it from the room in which +we now were. What the purpose of the connection was I had no idea. +Perhaps, I thought, it was designed to get new evidence against +the place, though I could not guess how it was to be done. So far, +except for what we had seen on our one visit, there had appeared +to be no real evidence against the place, except, possibly, that +which had died with the unfortunate Rena Taylor. + +"What's that?" I asked, as Garrick produced a package from a +closet where he had left it, earlier in the day. + +I saw, after he had unwrapped it, that it was a very powerful +microphone and a couple of storage cells. He attached it to the +wire leading out to the electric light feed wire. + +"I had provided it to be used in an emergency," he replied. "I +think the time has come sooner than I anticipated." + +I watched him curiously, wondering what it would be that would +come next. + +There followed a most amazing series of groanings and mutterings +from Garrick. I could not imagine what he was up to. The whole +proceeding seemed so insane that, for the moment, it left me +nonplussed and speechless. + +Garrick caught the puzzled look on my face. + +"What's the matter?" he laughed heartily, cutting out the +microphone momentarily and seeming to enjoy the joke to the +utmost. + +"Would you prefer to be sent to a State or a private institution?" +I rasped, testily. "What insanity is all this? It sounds like the +fee-faw-fum and mummery of a voodoo man." + +"Come, now, Tom," he rejoined, argumentatively. "You know as well +as I do what sort of people those gamblers are--superstitious as +the deuce. I did this once before to-day. This is a good time to +do it again, before they persuade themselves that there is nothing +in that story which we printed in the Star. That fellow is in +there now, probably in that room where we were, and it is possible +that they may reassure him and settle his fears. Now, just suppose +a murder had been committed in a room, and you knew it, and heard +groanings and mutterings--from nowhere, just in the air, about +you, overhead--what would you do, if you were inclined to be +superstitious?" + +Before I could answer, he had resumed the antics which before I +had found so inexplicable. + +"Cut out and run, I suppose," I replied. "But what has that to do +with the case? The groanings are here--not there. You haven't been +able to get in over there to attach anything, have you? What do +you mean?" + +"No," he admitted, "but did you ever hear what you could do with a +microphone, a rheostat, and a small transformer coil if you +attached them properly to a direct-current electric lighting +circuit? No? Well, an amateur with a little knowledge of +electricity could do it. The thing is easily constructed, and the +result is a most complicated matter." + +"Well?" I queried, endeavouring to follow him. + +"The electric arc," he continued, "isn't always just a silent +electric light. You know that. You've heard them make noises. +Under the right conditions such a light can be made to talk--the +'speaking arc,' as Professor Duddell calls it. In other words, an +arc light can be made to act as a telephone receiver." + +I could hardly believe the thing possible, but Garrick went on +explaining. + +"You might call it the arcophone, I suppose. The scientific fact +of the matter is that the arc is sensitive to very small +variations of the current. These variations may run over a wide +range of frequency. That suggested to Duddell that a direct- +current arc might be used as a telephone receiver. All that you +need is to add a microphone current to the main arc current. The +arc reproduces sounds and speech distinctly, loud enough, even, to +be heard several feet away from the light." + +He had cut out the microphone again while he was talking to me. He +switched it in again with the words, "Now, get ready, Tom. Just +one more; then we must hurry around in that car of ours and watch +the fun." + +This time he was talking into the microphone. In a most solemn, +sepulchral voice he repeated, "Let the slayer of Rena Taylor +beware. She will be avenged! Beware! It will be a life for a +life!" + +Three times he repeated it, to make sure that it would carry. +Then, grabbing up his hat and coat, he dashed out of the room, +past the surprised policeman at the door, and took the steps in +front of the house almost at a bound. + +We hardly had time to enter our own car and reach the corner of +Forty-seventh Street, when the big black automobile which we had +followed uptown shot by almost before the traffic man at the +crossing could signal a clear road. + +"We must hang onto him!" cried Garrick, turning to follow. "Did +you catch a glimpse of his face? It's our man, the go-between, the +keeper of the garage whom they call the Boss. He was as pale as if +he had seen a ghost. I guess he did think he heard one. Between +the news-paper fake and the speaking arc, I think we've got him +going. There he is." + +It was an exciting ride, for the man ahead was almost reckless, +though he seemed to know instinctively still just when to put on +bursts of speed and when to slow down to escape being arrested for +speeding. We hung on, managing to keep something less than a +couple of blocks behind him. It was evident that he was making for +the ferry uptown across the river to New Jersey, and, taking +advantage of this knowledge, Garrick was able to drop back a +little, and approach the ferry by going down a different street so +that there was no hint yet that we were following him. + +By judicious jockeying we succeeded in getting on the boat on the +opposite side from the car we were following, and in such a way +that we could get off as soon as he could. We managed to cross the +ferry, and, in the general scramble that attends the landing, to +negotiate the hill on the other side of the river without +attracting the attention of the man in the other car. His one idea +seemed to be speed, and he had no suspicion, apparently, that in +his flight he was being followed. + +As we bowled along, forced by circumstances to take the fellow's +dust, Garrick would quietly chuckle now and then to himself. + +"Fancy what he must have thought," he chortled. "First the +newspaper that sent him scurrying up to the gambling place for +more news, or to spread the alarm, and then, while they were +sitting about, perhaps while someone was talking about the strange +voices they had already heard this morning, suddenly the voice +from nowhere. Can you blame them if they thought it was a warning +from the grave?" + +Whatever actually had happened in the gambling house, the +practical effect was all that even Garrick could have desired. +Hour after hour, we hung to that car ahead, leaving behind the +cities, and passing along the regular road through town after +town. + +Sometimes the road was well oiled, and we would have to drop back +a bit to escape too close observation. Then we would strike a +stretch where it was dry. The clouds of dust served to hide us. On +we went until it was apparent that the man was now headed at least +in the direction of Tuxedo. + +We now passed the boundary between New York state and New Jersey +and soon after that came to the house of Dr. Mead where Warrington +had been convalescing until Garrick's warning had brought him, +still half ill, down to the city to protect Violet Winslow. In +fact, the road seemed replete with interesting reminiscences of +the case, for a few miles back was the spot where Rena Taylor's +body had been found, as well as the garage whence had come the +rumour of the blood-stained car. There was no chance to stop and +tell the surprised Dr. Mead just what had become of his patient +and we had to trust that Warrington would explain his sudden +disappearance himself. In fact, Garrick scarcely looked to either +the right or left, so intent was he on not missing for an instant +the car that was leading us in this long chase. + +On we sped, around the bend where Warrington had been held up. It +was a nasty curve, even in the daytime. + +"I think this fellow ahead noticed the place," gritted Garrick, +leaning forward. "He seemed to slow up a bit as he turned. I hope +he didn't notice us as he turned his head back slightly." + +It made no difference, if he did, for, the curve passed, he was +evidently feeding the gas faster than ever. We turned the curve +also, the forward car something more than a quarter of a mile +ahead of us. + +"We must take a chance and close up on him," said Garrick, as he, +too, accelerated his speed, not a difficult thing to do with the +almost perfect racer of Warrington's. "He may turn off at a +crossroad at any time, now." + +Still our man kept on, bowling northward along the fine state road +that led to one of the richest parts of the country. + +He came to the attractive entrance to Tuxedo Park. Almost, I had +expected him to turn in. At least I should not have been surprised +if he had done so. + +However, he kept on northward, past the entrance to the Park. We +hung doggedly on. + +Where was he going? I wondered whether Garrick might have been +wrong, after all. Half a mile lengthened into a mile. Still he was +speeding on. + +But Garrick had guessed right. Sure enough, at a cross road, the +other car slowed down, then quickly swung around, off the main +road. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked Garrick quickly. "If we turn +also, that will be too raw. Surely he'll notice that." + +"Going to stop," cried Garrick, taking in the situation instantly. +"Come on, Tom, jump out. We'll fake a little tire trouble, in case +he should look around and see us stopping here. I'll keep the +engine running." + +We went back and stood ostentatiously by the rear wheel. Garrick +bent over it, keeping his eye fixed on the other car, now perhaps +half a mile along on the narrow crossroad. + +It neared the top of a hill on the other side of the valley across +which the road wound like a thin brown line, then dipped down over +the crest and was lost on the other side. + +Garrick leaped back into our car and I followed. He turned the +bend almost on two wheels, and let her out as we swept down a +short hill and then took the gentle incline on high speed, eating +up the distance as though it had been inches instead of nearly a +mile. + +A short distance from the top of the hill, Garrick applied the +brake, just in time so that the top of our car would not be +visible to one who had passed on down the next incline into the +valley beyond. + +"Let us walk up the rest of the way," he said quickly, "and see +what is on the other side of this hill." + +We did so cautiously. Far down below us we could see the car which +we had been trailing all the way up from the city, threading its +way along the country road. We watched it, and as we did so, it +slowed up and turned out, running up a sort of lane that led to +what looked like a trim little country estate. + +The car had stopped at an unpretentious house at the end of the +lane. The driver got out and walked up to the back door, which +seemed to be stealthily opened to admit him. + +"Good!" exclaimed Garrick. "At last we are on a hot trail!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE SIEGE OF THE BANDITS + + +As we watched from the top of the hill, I wondered what Garrick's +next move was to be. Surely he would not attempt to investigate +the place yet. In fact, there seemed to be nothing that could be +done now, as long as it was day-light, for any movement in this +half-open country would have been viewed with suspicion by the +occupants of the little house in the valley, whoever they might +be. + +We could not help viewing the place with a sort of awe. What +secrets did the cottage hide, nestled down there in the valley +among these green hills? Often I had heard that the gunmen of New +York, when hard pressed, sought refuge in the country districts +and mountains within a few miles of the city. There was something +incongruous about it. Nature seemed so perfectly peaceful here +that it was the very antithesis of those sections of the city in +which he had found the gunman, whoever he was, indulging in +practically every crime and vice of decadent civilization. + +"So--the one they call the Boss has led up to the refuge of the +Chief, the scientific gunman, at last," Garrick exclaimed, with +marked satisfaction, as we turned and walked slowly back again to +our car. + +"Yes," I assented, "and now that we have found them--what are we +to do with them?" + +"It is still early in the day," Garrick remarked, looking at his +watch. "They suspect no trouble up here. Here they evidently feel +safe. No doubt they think we are still hunting for them +fruitlessly in New York. I think we can afford to leave them here +for a few hours. At any rate, I feel that I must return to the +city. I must see Dillon, and then drop into my office, if we are +to accomplish anything against them." + +He had turned the car around and we made our way back to the main +road, and then southward again, taking up in earnest the long +return trip to the city and covering the distance in Warrington's +racer in a much shorter time, now that we had not to follow +another car and keep under cover. It was late in the afternoon, +however, when we arrived and Garrick went directly to police +headquarters where he held a hasty conference with Dillon. + +Dillon was even more excited than we were when he learned how far +we had gone in tracing out the scant clews that we had uncovered. +As Garrick unfolded his plan, the commissioner immediately began +to make arrangements to accompany us out into the country that +night. + +I did not hear all that was said, as Garrick and Dillon laid out +their plans, but I could see that they were in perfect accord. + +"Very well," I overheard Garrick, as we parted. "I shall go out in +the car again. You will be up on the train?" + +"Yes--on the seven-fifty," returned Dillon. "You needn't worry +about my end of it. I'll be there with the goods--just the thing +that you want. I have it." + +"Fine," exclaimed Garrick, "I have to make a call at the office. +I'll start as soon as I can, and try to beat you out." + +They parted in good humour, for Dillon's passion for adventure was +now thoroughly aroused and I doubt if we could have driven him off +with a club, figuratively speaking. + +At the office Garrick tarried only long enough to load the car +with some paraphernalia which he had there, much of which, I knew, +he had brought back with him after his study of police methods +abroad. There were three coats of a peculiar texture, which he +took from a wardrobe, a huge arrangement which looked like a +reflector, a little thing that looked merely like the mouthpiece +of a telephone transmitter, and a large heavy package which might +have been anything from a field gun to a battering ram. + +It was twilight when we arrived at the nearest railroad station to +the little cottage in the valley, after another run up into the +country in the car. Dillon who had come up by train to meet us, +according to the arrangement with Garrick, was already waiting, +and with him was one of the most trustworthy and experienced of +the police department chauffeurs. Garrick looked about at the few +loungers curiously, but there did not seem to be any of them who +took any suspicious interest in new arrivals. + +We four managed to crowd into a car built only for two, and +Garrick started off. A few minutes later we arrived at the top of +the hill from which we had already viewed the mysterious house +earlier in the day. It was now quite dark. We had met no one since +turning off into the crossroad, and could hear no sound except the +continuous music of the night insects. + +Just before crossing the brow of the last hill, we halted and +Garrick turned out all the lights on the car. He was risking +nothing that might lead to discovery yet. With the engine muffled +down, we coasted slowly down the other side of the hill into the +shadowy valley. There was no moon yet and we had to move +cautiously, for there was only the faint light of the sky and +stars to guide us. + +What was the secret of that unpretentious little house below us? +We peered out in the gathering blackness eagerly in the direction +where we knew it must be, nestled among the trees. Whoever it +sheltered was still there, and we could locate the place by a +single gleam that came from an upper window. Whether there were +lights below, we could not tell. If there were they must have been +effectively concealed by blinds and shades. + +"We'll stop here," announced Garrick at last when we had reached a +point on the road a few hundred yards from the house. + +He ran the car carefully off the road and into a little clearing +in a clump of dark trees. We got out and pushed stealthily forward +through the underbrush to the edge of the woods. There, on the +slope, just a little way below us, stood the house of mystery. + +Garrick and Dillon were busily conferring in an undertone, as I +helped them bring the packages one after another from the car to +the edge of the woods. Garrick had slipped the little telephone +mouthpiece into his pocket, and was carrying the huge reflector +carefully, so that it might not be injured in the darkness. I had +the heavy coats of the peculiar texture over my arm, while Dillon +and his man struggled along over the uncertain pathway, carrying +between them the heavy, long, cylindrical package, which must have +weighed some sixty pounds or so. + +Garrick had selected as the site of our operations a corner of the +grove where a very large tree raised itself as a landmark, +silhouetted in black against a dark sky. We deposited the stuff +there as he directed. + +"Now, Jim," ordered Dillon, walking back to the car with his man, +"I want you to take the car and go back along this road until you +reach the top of the hill." + +I could not hear the rest of the order, but it seemed that he was +to meet someone who had preceded us on foot from the railway +station and who must be about due to arrive. I did not know who or +what it might be, but even the thought of someone else made me +feel safer, for in so ticklish a piece of business as this, in +dealing with at least a pair of desperate men such as we knew them +to be in the ominously quiet little house, a second and even a +third line of re-enforcements was not, I felt, amiss. + +Garrick in the meantime had set to work putting into position the +huge reflector. At first I thought it might be some method of +throwing a powerful light on the house. But on closer examination +I saw that it could not be a light. The reflector seemed to have +been constructed so that in the focus was a peculiar coil of +something, and to the ends of this coil, Garrick attached two +wires which he fastened to an instrument, cylindrical, with a +broadened end, like a telephone receiver. + +Dillon, who had returned by this time, after sending his chauffeur +back on his errand, appeared very much interested in what Garrick +was doing. + +"Now, Tom," said Garrick, "while I am fixing this thing, I wish +you would help me by undoing that large package carefully." + +While I was thus engaged, he continued talking with Dillon in a +low voice, evidently explaining to him the use to which he wished +the large reflector put. + +I was working quickly to undo the large package, and as the +wrappings finally came off, I could see that it was some bulky +instrument that looked like a huge gun, or almost a mortar. It had +a sort of barrel that might have been, say, forty inches in +length, and where the breechlock should have been on an ordinary +gun was a great hemispherical cavity. There was also a peculiar +arrangement of springs and wheels in the butt. + +"The coats?" he asked, as he took from the wrappings of the +package several rather fragile looking tubes. + +I had laid them down near us and handed them over to him. They +were quite heavy, and had a rough feel. + +"So-called bullet-proof cloth," explained Garrick. "At close +range, quite powerful lunges of a dagger or knife recoil from it, +and at a distance ordinary bullets rebound from it, flattened. +We'll try it, anyway. It will do no harm, and it may do good. Now +we are ready, Dillon." + +"Wait just a minute," cautioned Dillon. "Let me see first whether +that chauffeur has returned. He can run that engine so quietly +that I myself can't hear it." + +He had disappeared into the darkness toward the road, where he had +despatched the car a few minutes before. Evidently the chauffeur +had been successful in his mission, for Dillon was back directly +with a hasty, "Yes, all right. He's backing the car around so that +he can run it out on the road instantly in either direction. He'll +be here in a moment." + +Garrick had in the meantime been roughly sketching on the back of +an old envelope taken from his pocket. Evidently he had been +estimating the distance of the house from the tree back of which +he stood, and worked with the light of a shaded pocket flashlight. + +"Ready, then," he cried, jumping up and advancing to the peculiar +instrument which I had unwrapped. He was in his element now. After +all the weary hours of watching and preparation, here was action +at last, and Garrick went to it like a starved man at food. + +First he elevated the clumsy looking instrument pointed in the +general direction of the house. He had fixed the angle at +approximately that which he had hastily figured out on the +envelope. Then he took a cylinder about twelve inches long, and +almost half as much in diameter, a huge thing, constructed, it +seemed, of a substance that was almost as brittle as an eggshell. +Into the large hemispherical cavity in the breech of the gun he +shoved it. He took another quick look at the light gleaming from +the house in the darkness ahead of us. + +"What is it?" I asked, indicating the "gun." + +"This is what is known as the Mathiot gun," he explained as he +brought it into action, "invented by a French scientist for the +purpose, expressly, of giving the police a weapon to use against +the automobile bandits who entrench themselves, when cornered, in +houses and garages, as they have done in the outskirts of Paris, +and as some anarchists did once in a house in London." + +"What does it do?" asked Dillon, who had taken a great interest in +the thing. + +"It throws a bomb which emits suffocating gases without risking +the lives of the police," answered Garrick. "In spite of the +fragility of the bombs that I have here, it has been found that +they will penetrate a wooden door or even a thin brick partition +before the fuse explodes them. One bomb will render a room three +hundred feet off uninhabitable in thirty seconds. Now--watch!" + +He had exploded the gun by hand, striking the flat head of a +hammer against the fulminating cap. The gun gave a bark. A low, +whistling noise and a crash followed. + +"Too short," muttered Garrick, elevating the angle of the gun a +trifle. + +Quite evidently someone was moving in the house. There was a +shadow, as of someone passing between the light in the upper story +and the window on our side of the house. + +Again the gun barked, and another bomb went hurtling through the +air. This time it hit the house squarely. Another followed in +rapid succession, and the crash of glass told that it had struck a +window. Garrick was sending them now as fast as he could. They had +taken effect, too, for the light was out, whether extinguished by +gases or by the hand of someone who realized that it afforded an +excellent mark to shoot at. Still, it made no difference, now, for +we had the range. + +"The house must be full of the stifling gases," panted Garrick, as +he stopped to wipe the perspiration from his face, after his rapid +work, clad in the heavy coat. "No man could stand up against that. +I wonder how our friend of the garage likes it, Tom? It is some of +his own medicine--the Chief, I mean. He tried it on us on a small +scale very successfully that night with his stupefying gun." + +"I hope one of them hit him," ground out Dillon, who had no relish +even for the recollection of that night. "What next? Do you have +to wait until the gases clear away before we can make a break and +go in there?" + +Garrick had anticipated the question. Already he was buttoning up +his long coat. We did the same, mechanically. + +"No, Dillon. You and Jim stay here," ordered Garrick. "You will +get the signal from us what to do next. Tom, come on." + +He had already dashed ahead into the darkness, and I followed +blindly, stumbling over a ploughed field, then a fence over which +we climbed quickly, and found ourselves in the enclosure where was +the house. I had no idea what we were running up against, but a +dog which had been chained in the rear broke away from his +fastening at sight of us, and ran at us with a lusty and savage +growl. Garrick planted a shot squarely in his head. + +Without wasting time on any formalities, such as ringing the bell, +we kicked and battered in the back door. We paused a moment, not +from fear but because the odor inside was terrific. No one could +have stayed in that house and retained his senses. One by one, +Garrick flung open the windows, and we were forced to stick our +heads out every few minutes in order to keep our own breath. + +From one room to another we proceeded, without finding anyone. +Then we mounted to the second floor. The odour was worse there, +but still we found no one. + +The light on the third floor had been extinguished, as I have +said. We made our way toward the corner where it had been. Room +after room we entered, but still found no one. At last we came to +a door that was locked. Together we wrenched it open. + +There was surely nothing for us to fear in this room, for a bomb +had penetrated it, and had filled it completely. As we rushed in, +Garrick saw a figure sprawled on the floor, near the bed, in the +corner. + +"Quick, Tom!" he shouted, "Open that other window. I'll attend to +this man. He's groggy, anyhow." + +Garrick had dropped down on his knees and had deftly slipped a +pair of handcuffs on the unresisting wrists of the man. Then he +staggered to my side at the open window, for air. + +"Heavens--this is awful!" he gasped and sputtered. "I wonder where +they all went?" + +"Who is this fellow?" I asked. + +"I don't know yet. I couldn't see." + +A moment later, together, we had dragged the unconscious man to +the window with us, while I fanned him with my hat and Garrick was +wetting his face with water from a pitcher of ice on the table. + +"Good Lord!" Garrick exclaimed suddenly, as in the fitful light he +bent over the figure. "Do you see who it is?" + +I bent down too and peered more closely. + +It was Angus Forbes. + +Strange to say, here was the young gambler whom we had seen at the +gambling joint before it was raided, the long-lost and long-sought +Forbes who had disappeared after the raid, and from whom no one +had yet heard a word. + +I did not know his story, but I knew enough to be sure that he had +been in love with Violet himself, and, although Warrington had +once come to his rescue and settled thousands of dollars of his +gambling debts, was sore at Warrington for closing the gambling +joint where he hoped ultimately to recoup his losses. More than +that, he was probably equally sore at Warrington for winning the +favour of the girl whose fortune might have settled his own debts, +if he had had a free field to court her. + +Why was Forbes here, I asked myself. The fumes of the bombs from +the Mathiot gun may have got into my head but, at least as far as +I could see, they had not made my mind any the less active. I felt +that his presence here, apparently as one of the gang, explained +many things. + +Who, I reasoned, would have been more eager to "get" Warrington at +any cost than he? I never had any love for the fellow, who had +allowed his faults and his temptations so far to get the upper +hand of him. I had felt a sort of pity at first, but the incident +of the cancelled markers in the gambling joint and now the +discovery of him here had changed that original feeling into one +that was purely of disgust. + +These thoughts were coursing through my fevered brain while +Garrick was working hard to bring him around. + +Suddenly a mocking voice came from the hall. + +"Yes, it's Forbes, all right, and much good may it do you to have +him!" + +The door to the room, which opened outward, banged shut. The lock +had been broken by us in forcing an entrance. There must have been +two of them out in the hall, for we heard the noise and scraping +of feet, as they piled up heavy furniture against the door, +dragging it from the next room before we could do anything. Piece +after piece was wedged in between our door and the opposite wall. + +We could hear them taunt us as they worked, and I thought I +recognised at once the voice of the stocky keeper of the garage, +the Boss, whom I had heard so often before over our detectaphone. +The other voice, which seemed to me to be disguised, I found +somewhat familiar, yet I could not place it. It must have been, I +thought, that of the man whom we had come to know and fear under +the appellation of the Chief. + +We could hear them laugh, now, as they cursed us and wished us +luck with our capture. It was galling. + +Evidently, too, they had not much use for Forbes, and, indeed, at +such a crisis I do not think he would have been much more than an +additional piece of animated impedimenta. Dissipation had not +added anything to the physical prowess of Forbes. + +With a parting volley of profanity, they stamped down the narrow +stairs to the ground floor, and a few seconds afterward we could +hear them back of the house, working over the machine which we had +followed up from New York earlier in the day. Evidently there were +several machines in the barn which served them as garage, but this +was the handiest. + +They had cranked it up, and were debating which way they should +go. + +"The shots came from the direction of the main road," the Boss +said. "We had better go in the opposite direction. There may be +more of them coming. Hurry up!" + +At least, it seemed, there had been only three of them in this +refuge which they had sought up in the hills and valleys of the +Ramapos. Of that we could now be reasonably certain. One of them +we had captured--and had ourselves been captured into the bargain. + +I stuck my head out of the window to look at the other two down +below, only to feel myself dragged unceremoniously back by +Garrick. + +"What's the use of taking that risk, Tom?" he expostulated. "One +shot from them and you would be a dead one." + +Fortunately they had not seen me, so intent were they on getting +away. They had now seated themselves in the car and, as Garrick +had suspected, could not resist delivering a parting shot at us, +emptying the contents of an automatic blindly up at our window. +Garrick and I were, as it. happened, busy on the opposite side of +the room. + +All thought of Forbes was dropped for the present. Garrick said +not a word but continued at work in the corner of the room by the +other broken window. + +"Either they must have succeeded in getting out after the first +shot and so escaped the fumes," muttered Garrick finally, "and hid +in the stable, or, perhaps, they were out there at work anyhow. +Still that makes little difference now. They must have seen us go +in, have followed us quietly, and then caught us here." + +With a hasty final imprecation, the car below started forward with +a jerk and was swallowed up in the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE MAN HUNT + + +Here we were, locked in a little room on the top floor of the +mysterious house. I looked out of both windows. There was no way +to climb down and it was too far to jump, especially in the +uncertain darkness. I threw myself at the door. It had been +effectually braced by our captors. + +Garrick, in the meantime, had lighted the light again, and placed +it by the window. + +Forbes, now partly recovered, was rambling along, and Garrick, +with one eye on him and the other on something which he was +working over in the light, was too busy to pay much attention to +my futile efforts to find a means of escape. + +At first we could not make out what it was that Forbes was trying +to tell us, but soon, as the fresh air in the room revived him, +his voice became stronger. Apparently he recognised us and was +trying to offer an explanation of his presence here. + +"He kidnapped me--brought me here," Forbes was muttering. "Three +days--I've been shut up in this room." + +"Who brought you here?" I demanded sharply. + +"I don't know his name--man at the gambling place--after the raid- +-said he'd take me in his car somewhere--from the other place back +of it--last I remember--must have drugged me--woke up here--all I +know." + +"You've been a prisoner, then?" I queried. + +"Yes," he murmured. + +"A likely story," I remarked, looking questioningly at Garrick who +had been listening but had not ceased his own work, whatever it +was. "What are you going to do, Guy? We can't stay here and waste +time over such talk as this while they are escaping. They must be +almost to the road now, and turning down in the opposite direction +from Dillon and his man." + +Garrick said nothing. Either he was too busy solving our present +troubles or he was, like myself, not impressed by Forbes' +incoherent story. He continued to adjust the little instrument +which I had seen him draw from his pocket and now recognised as +the thing which looked like a telephone transmitter. Only, the +back of it seemed to gleam with a curious brightness under the +rays of the light, as he handled it. + +"They have somehow contrived to escape the effect of the bombs," +he was saying, "and have surprised us in the room on the top floor +where the light is. We are up here with a young fellow named +Forbes, whom we have captured. He's the young man that I saw +several times at the gambling joint and was at dinner with +Warrington the night when the car was stolen. He was pretty badly +overcome by the fumes, but I've brought him around. He either +doesn't know much or won't tell what he knows. That doesn't make +any difference now, though. They have escaped in a car. They are +leaving by the road. Wait. I'll see whether they have reached it +yet. No, it's too dark to see and they have no light on the car. +But they must have turned. They said they were going in the +direction opposite from you." + +"Well?" I asked, mystified. "What of it? I know all that, +already." + +"But Dillon doesn't," replied Garrick, in great excitement now. "I +knew that we should have to have some way of communicating with +him instantly if this fellow proved to be as resourceful as I +believed him to be. So I thought of the radiophone or photophone +of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. I have really been telephoning on a +beam of light." + +"Telephoning on a beam of light?" I repeated incredulously. + +"Yes," he explained, feeling now at liberty to talk since he had +delivered his call for help. "You see, I talk into this +transmitter. The simplest transmitter for this purpose is a plane +mirror of flexible material, silvered mica or microscope glass. +Against the back of this mirror my voice is directed. In the +carbon transmitter of the telephone a variable electrical +resistance is produced by the pressure on the diaphragm, based on +the fact that carbon is not as good a conductor of electricity +under pressure as when not. Here, the mouthpiece is just a shell +supporting a thin metal diaphragm to which the mirror on the back +is attached, an apparatus for transforming the air vibrations +produced by the voice into light vibrations of the projected beam, +which is reflected from this light here in the room. The light +reflected is thus thrown into vibrations corresponding to those in +the diaphragm." + +"And then?" I asked impatiently. + +"That varying beam of light shoots out of this room, and is caught +by the huge reflector which you saw me set up at the foot of that +tall tree which you can just see against the dark sky over there. +That parabolic mirror gathers in the scattered rays, focusses them +on the selenium cell which you saw in the middle of the reflector, +and that causes the cell to vary the amount of electric current +passing through it from a battery of storage cells. It is +connected with a very good telephone receiver. Every change in the +beam of light due to the vibrations of my voice is caught by that +receiving mirror, and the result is that the diaphragm in the +receiver over there which Dillon is holding to his ear responds. +The thing is good over several hundred yards, perhaps miles, +sometimes. Only, I wish it would work both ways. I would like to +feel sure that Dillon gets me." + +I looked at the simple little instrument with a sort of reverence, +for on it depended the momentous question of whether we should be +released in time to pursue the two who were escaping in the +automobile. + +"You'll have to hurry," continued Garrick, speaking into his +transmitter. "Give the signal. Get the car ready. Anything, so +long as it is action. Use your own judgment." + +There he was, flashing a message out of our prison by an invisible +ray that shot across the Cimmerian darkness to the point where we +knew that our friends were waiting anxiously. I could scarcely +believe it. But Garrick had the utmost faith in the ability of the +radiophone to make good. + +"They MUST have started by this time," he cried, craning his neck +out of the window and looking in every direction. + +Forbes was still rambling along, but Garrick was not paying any +attention to him. Instead, he began rummaging the room for +possible evidence, more for something to do than because he hoped +to find anything, while we were waiting anxiously for something to +happen. + +An exclamation from Garrick, however, brought me to his side. +Tucked away in a bureau drawer under some soiled linen that +plainly belonged to Forbes, he drew out what looked like a single +blue-steel tube about three inches long. At its base was a hard- +rubber cap, which fitted snugly into the palm of the hand as he +held it. His first and middle fingers encircled the barrel, over a +steel ring. A pull downward and the thing gave a click. + +"Good that it wasn't loaded," Garrick remarked. "I knew what the +thing was, all right, but I didn't think the spring was as +delicate as all that. It is a new and terrible weapon of +destruction of human life, one that can be carried by the thug or +the burglar and no one be the wiser, unless he has occasion to use +it. It is a gun that can be concealed in the palm of the hand. A +pull downward on that spring discharges a thirty-two calibre, +centre fire cartridge. The most dangerous feature of it is that +the gun can be carried in an upper vest pocket as a fountain pen, +or in a trousers pocket as a penknife." + +I looked with added suspicion now, if not a sort of respect, on +the young man who was tossing, half conscious, on the bed. Was he, +after all, not the simple, gullible Forbes, but a real secret +master of crime? + +Garrick, keen though he had been over the discovery, was in +reality much more interested just now in the result of his +radiophone message. What would be the outcome? + +I had been startled to see that almost instantly after his second +call over the radiophone there seemed to rise on all sides of us +lights and the low baying of dogs. + +"What's all that?" I asked Garrick. + +"Dillon had a dozen or so police dogs shipped up here quietly," +answered Garrick, now straining his eyes and ears eagerly. "He +started them out each in charge of an officer as soon as they +arrived. I hope they had time to get around in that other +direction and close in. That was what he sent the chauffeur back +to see about, to make sure that they were placed by the man who is +the trainer of the pack." + +"What kind of dogs are they?" + +"Some Airedales, but mostly Belgian sheep dogs. There is one in +the pack, Cherry, who has a wonderful reputation. A great deal +depends, now, on our dog-detectives." + +"But," I objected, "what good will they be? Our men are in an +automobile." + +"We thought of that," replied Garrick confidently. "Here they are, +at last," he cried, as a car swung up the lane from the road and +stopped with a rush under our window. He leaned out and shouted, +"Dillon--up here--quick!" + +It was Dillon and his chauffeur, Jim. A moment later there was a +tremendous shifting and pulling of heavy pieces of furniture in +the hall, and, as the door swung open, the honest face of the +commissioner appeared, inquiring anxiously if we were all right. + +"Yes, all right," assured Garrick. "Come on, now. There isn't a +minute to lose. Send Jim up here to take charge of Forbes. I'll +drive the car myself." + +Garrick accomplished in seconds what it takes minutes to tell. The +chauffeur had already turned the car around and it was ready to +start. We jumped in, leaving him to go upstairs and keep the +manacled Forbes safely. + +We gained the road and sped along, our lights now lighted and +showing us plainly what was ahead. The dust-laden air told us that +we were right as we turned into the narrow crossroad. I wondered +how we were ever going to overtake them after they had such a +start, at night, too, over roads which were presumably familiar to +them. + +"Drive carefully," shouted Dillon soon, "it must be along here, +somewhere, Garrick." + +A moment before we had been almost literally eating the dust the +car ahead had raised. Garrick slowed down as we approached a bend +in the road. + +There, almost directly in our path, stood a car, turned half +across the road and jammed up into a fence. I could scarcely +believe it. It was the bandit's car--deserted! + +"Good!" exclaimed Dillon as Garrick brought our own car to a stop +with a jerk only a few feet away. + +I looked about in amazement, first at the empty car and then into +the darkness on either side of the road. For the moment I could +not explain it. Why had they abandoned the car, especially when +they had every prospect of eluding us in it? + +They had not been forced to turn out for anybody, for no other +vehicle had passed us. Was it tire trouble or engine trouble? I +turned to the others for an explanation. + +"I thought it must be about here," cried Dillon. "We had one of my +men place an obstruction in the road. They didn't run into it, +which shows clever driving, but they had to turn so sharply that +they ran into the fence. I guess they realised that there was no +use in turning and trying to go back." + +"They have taken to the open country," shouted Garrick, leaping up +on the seat of our car and looking about in a vain endeavour to +catch some sign of them. + +All was still, save here and there the sharp, distant bark of a +dog. + +"I wonder which way they went?" he asked, looking down at us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE POLICE DOG + + +Dillon pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew a short blast +sharply. Far down the road, we could hear faintly an answering +bark. It came nearer. + +"They're taught to obey a police whistle and nothing else," +remarked Dillon, with satisfaction. "I wonder which one of the +dogs that was. By the way, just keep out of sight as much as you +can--get back up in our car. They are trained to worry anyone who +hasn't a uniform. I'll take this dog in charge. I hope it's +Cherry. She ought to be around here, if the men obeyed my orders. +The others aren't keen on a scent even when it is fresh, but +Cherry is a dandy and I had the man bring her up purposely." + +We got back into our car and waited impatiently. Across the hills +now and then we could catch the sounds of dogs scouting around +here and there. It seemed as if every dog in the valley had been +aroused. On the other slope of the hill from the main road we +could see lights in the scattered houses. + +"I doubt whether they have gone that way," commented Garrick +following my gaze. "It looks less settled over here to the right +of the road, in the direction of New York." + +The low baying of the dog which had answered Dillon's call was +growing nearer every moment. At last we could hear it quite close, +at the deserted car ahead. + +Cherry seemed to have many of the characteristics of the wild, +prehistoric animal, among them the full, upright ears of the wild +dog, which are such a great help to it. She was a fine, alert, up- +standing dog, hardy, fierce, and literally untiring, of a tawny +light brown like a lioness, about the same size and somewhat of +the type of the smooth-coated collie, broad of chest and with a +full brush of tail. + +Untamed though she seemed, she was perfectly under Dillon's +control, and rendered him absolute and unreasoning obedience. + +"Now, Cherry, nice dog," we heard Dillon encouraging, "Here, up +here. And here." + +He was giving the dog the scent from the deserted car. His voice +rang out sharply in the night air, "Come on Garrick and Marshall. +She's got it. I've got her on leash. Follow along, now, just a few +feet behind." + +Cherry was on the trail and it was a hot one. We could just see +her magnificent head, narrow and dome-like, between the keen ears. +She was working like a regular sleuthhound, now, too, slowly, +picking up the trail and following it, baying as she went. + +She was now going without a halt or falter. Nose to the ground, +she had leaped from the bandit's car and made straight across a +field in the direction that Garrick had suspected they would take, +only a little to the west. + +"This is a regular, old-fashioned man hunt," called back Dillon, +as we followed the dog and himself, as best we could. + +It was pitch dark, but we plunged ahead over fields and through +little clumps of trees, around hedges, and over fences. + +There was no stopping, no cessation of the deep baying of the dog. +Cherry was one of the best and most versatile that the police had +ever acquired and trained. + +We came to the next crossroad, and the dog started up in the +direction of the main road, questing carefully. + +We had gone not a hundred feet when a dark object darted out of +the bushes at the side of the road, and I felt myself +unceremoniously tumbled off my feet. + +Garrick leaped aside, with a laugh. + +"Dillon," he shouted ahead at the top of his voice, "one of the +Airedales has discovered Marshall. Come back here. Lie still, Tom. +The dog is trained to run between the legs and trip up anyone +without a police uniform. By Jupiter--here's another one--after +me. Dillon--I say--Dillon!" + +The commissioner came back, laughing at our plight, and called off +the dogs, who were now barking furiously. We let him get a little +ahead, calling the Airedales to follow him. They were not much +good on the scent, but keen and intelligent along the lines of +their training, and perfectly willing to follow Dillon, who was +trusting to the keen sense of Cherry. + +A little further down, the fugitives had evidently left the road +after getting their bearings. + +"They must have heard the dogs," commented Garrick. "They are +doubling on their tracks, now, and making for the Ramapo River in +the hope of throwing the dogs off the scent. That's the game. It's +an old trick." + +We came, sure enough, in a few minutes to the river. That had +indeed been their objective point. Cherry was baffled. We stuck +close to Dillon, after our previous experience, as we stopped to +talk over hastily what to do. + +Had they gone up or down, or had they crossed? There was not much +time that we could afford to lose here in speculation if we were +going to catch them. + +Cherry was casting backward in an instinctive endeavour to pick up +the trail. Dillon had taken her across and she had not succeeded +in finding the scent on the opposite bank for several hundred +yards on either side. + +"They started off toward the southwest," reasoned Garrick quickly. +"Then they turned in this direction. The railroads are over there. +Yes, that is what they would make for. Dillon," he called, "let us +follow the right bank of the river down this way, and see if we +can't pick them up again." + +The river was shallow at this point, but full of rocks, which made +it extremely hard, if not dangerous, to walk even close to the +bank in the darkness. "I don't think they'd stand for much of this +sort of going," remarked Garrick. "A little of it would satisfy +them, and they'd strike out again." + +He was right. Perhaps five minutes later, after wading in the cold +water, clinging as close to the bank as we could, we came to a +sort of rapids. Cherry, who had been urged on by Dillon, gave a +jerk at her leash, as she sniffed along the bank. + +"She has it," cried Garrick, springing up the bank after Dillon. + +I followed and we three men and three dogs struck out again in +earnest across country. + +We had come upon a long stretch of woods, and the brambles and +thick growth made the going exceedingly difficult. Still, if it +was hard for us now, it must have been equally hard for them as +they broke through in the first place. + +At last we came to the end of the woods. The trail was now fresher +than ever, and Dillon had difficulty in holding Cherry back so +that the rest of us could follow. As we emerged from the shadow of +the trees into the open field, it seemed as if guns were blazing +on all sides of us. + +We were almost up with them. They had separated and were not half +a mile away, firing at random in our direction, as they heard the +dogs. Dillon drew up, Cherry tugging ahead. He turned to the +Airedales. They had already taken in the situation, and were now +darting ahead at what they could see, if not scent. + +I felt a "ping!" on my chest. I scarcely realized what it was +until I heard something drop the next instant in the stubble at my +feet, and felt a smarting sensation as if a sharp blow had struck +me. I bent down and from the stubble picked up a distorted bullet. + +"These bullet-proof coats are some good, anyhow, at a distance," +remarked Garrick, close beside me, as he took the bullet from my +fingers. "Duck! Back among the trees--until we get our bearings!" + +Another bullet had whizzed just past his arm as he spoke. + +We dodged back among the trees, and slowly skirted the edge of the +wood, where it bent around a little on the flank of the position +from which the continuous firing was coming. + +At the edge we stopped again. We could go no further without +coming out into the open, and the moon, just rising, above the +trees, made us an excellent mark under such conditions. Garrick +peered out to determine from just where they were firing. + +"Lucky for us that we had these coats," he muttered, "or they +would have croaked us, before we knew it. These are our old +friends, the anaesthetic bullets, too. Even a little scratch from +one of them and we should be hors de combat for an hour or two." + +"Shall we take a chance?" urged Dillon. + +"Just a minute," cautioned Garrick, listening. + +The barking of the Airedales had ceased suddenly. Cherry was +straining at her leash to go. + +"They have winged the two dogs," exclaimed Garrick. "Yes--we must +try it now--at any cost." + +We broke from the cover, taking a chance, separating as much as we +could, and pushing ahead rapidly, Dillon under his breath keeping +Cherry from baying as much as possible. + +I had expected a sharp fusillade to greet us as we advanced and +wondered whether the coats would stand it at closer range. +Instead, the firing seemed to have ceased altogether. + +A quick dash and we had crossed the stretch of open field that +separated us from a dark object which now loomed up, and from +behind which it seemed had come the firing. As we approached, I +saw it was a shed beside the railroad, which was depressed at this +point some twelve or fifteen feet. + +"They kept us off just long enough," exclaimed Garrick, glancing +up at the lights of the block signals down the road. "They must be +desperate, all right. Why, they must have jumped a freight as it +slowed down for the curve, or perhaps one of them flagged it and +held it up. See? The red signal shows that a train has just gone +through toward New York. There is no chance to wire ahead, either, +from this Ducktown siding. Here's where they stood--look!" + +Garrick had picked up a handful of exploded cartridge shells, +while he was speaking. They told a mute story of the last +desperate stand of the gunmen. + +"I'll keep these," he said, shoving them into his pocket. "They +may be of some use later on in connecting to-night's doings with +what has gone before." + +We looked at each other blankly. There was nothing more to do that +night but to return to the now deserted house in the valley where +we had left Forbes in charge of Dillon's man. + +Toilsomely and disgusted, we trudged back in silence. + +Garrick, however, refused to be discouraged. Late as it was, he +insisted on making a thorough search of the captured house. It +proved to be a veritable arsenal. Here it seemed that all the new +and deadly weapons of the scientific gunman had been made. The +barn, turned into half garage and half workshop, was a mine of +interest. + +We found it unlocked and entered, Garrick flashing a light about. + +"There's a sight that would do McBirney's eyes good," he exclaimed +as he bent the rays of the light before us. + +Before us, in the back of the barn, stood Warrington's stolen car- +-at last. + +"They won't plot anything more--at least not up here," remarked +Garrick, bending over it. + +In the house, we found Jim still with Forbes, who was now +completely recovered. In the possession of his senses, Forbes' +tongue which the anaesthetic gases seemed to have loosened, now +became suddenly silent again. But he stuck doggedly to his story +of kidnapping, although he would not or could not add anything to +it. Who the kidnapper was he swore he did not know, except that he +had known his face well, by sight, at the gambling joint. + +I could make nothing of Forbes. But of one thing I was sure. Even +if we had not captured the scientific gunman, we had dealt him a +severe and crushing blow. Like Garrick, I had begun to look upon +the escape philosophically. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE FRAME-UP + + +Although I felt discouraged on our return to the city, the morning +following our exciting adventure at the mysterious house in the +Ramapo valley, Garrick, who never let anything ruffle him long, +seemed quite cheerful. + +"Cheer up, Tom," he encouraged. "We are on the home stretch now." + +"Perhaps--if they don't beat us to the tape," I answered +disconsolately. "What are you going to do next?" + +"While you were snatching a little sleep, I was rummaging around +and found a number of letters in a table drawer, up there. One was +a note, evidently to the garage keeper, and signed merely, +'Chief.' I'll wager that the handwriting is the same as that in +the blackmailing letter to Miss Winslow." + +"What of it?" I asked, refusing to be comforted. "We haven't got +him and the prospects--" + +"No, we haven't got him," interrupted Garrick, "but the note was +just a line to tell the Boss, who seemed to have been up there in +the country at the time, to meet the Chief at 'the Joint,' on +Second Avenue." + +I nodded, but before I could speak, he added, "It didn't say any +more, but I think I know the place. It is the old International +Cafe, a regular hang-out for crooks, where they come to gamble +away the proceeds of their crimes in stuss, the great game of the +East Side, now. Anyhow, we'll just drop into the place. We may not +find them, but we'll have an interesting time. Then, there is the +possibility of getting a strangle hold on someone, anyhow." + +Garrick was evidently figuring on having driven our gunman back +into the haunts of the underworld. + +There seemed to be no other course that presented itself and +therefore, rather than remain inactive until something new turned +up, I consented to accompany him in his excursion. + +Forbes, still uncommunicatively protesting that he would say +nothing until he had an opportunity to consult a lawyer, had been +taken down to New York by Dillon during the morning and was lodged +in a West Side prison under a technical charge which was +sufficient to hold him until Garrick could investigate his case +and fix his real status. + +We had taken a cross-town car, with the intention of looking over +the dive where Garrick believed the crooks might drop in. The ride +itself was uninteresting, but not so by any means the objective +point of our journey. + +Over on the East Side, we found the International Cafe, and +slouched into the back room. It was not the room devoted to stuss, +but the entrance to it, which Garrick informed me was through a +heavy door concealed in a little hallway, so that its very +existence would not be suspected except by the initiate. + +We made no immediate attempt to get into the hang-out proper, +which was a room perhaps thirty feet wide and seventy feet deep. +Instead, we sat down at one of the dirty, round tables, and +ordered something from the waiter, a fat and oily Muscowitz in a +greasy and worn dinner coat. + +It seemed that in the room where we were had gathered nearly every +variety of the populous underworld. I studied the men and women at +the tables curiously, without seeming to do so. But there could be +no concealment here. Whatever we might be, they seemed to know +that we were not of them, and they greeted us with black looks and +now and then a furtive scowl. + +It was not long, however, before it became evident that in some +way word had been passed that we were not mere sightseers. Perhaps +it was by a sort of wireless electric tension that seemed to +pervade the air. At any rate, it was noticeable. + +"There's no use staying here," remarked Garrick to me under his +breath, affecting not to notice the scowls, "unless we do +something. Are you game for trying to get into the stuss joint?" + +He said it with such determination to go himself that I did not +refuse. I had made up my mind that the only thing to do was to +follow him, wherever he went. + +Garrick rose, stretched himself, yawned as though bored, and +together we lounged out into the public hall, just as someone from +the outside clamoured for admission to the stuss joint through the +strong door. + +The door had already been opened, when Garrick deftly inserted his +shoulder. Through the crack in the door, I could see the startled +roomful of players of all degrees in crookdom, in the thick, +curling tobacco smoke. + +The man at the door called out to Garrick to get out, and raised +his arm to strike. Garrick caught his fist, and slowly with his +powerful grip bent it back until the man actually writhed. As his +wrist went back by fractions of an inch, his fingers were forced +to relax. I knew the trick. It was the scientific way to open a +clenched fist. As the tendons refused to stretch any farther, his +fingers straightened, and a murderous looking blackjack clattered +to the floor. + +All was confusion. Money which was on the various tables +disappeared as if by magic. Cards were whisked away as if a ghost +had taken them. In a moment there was no more evidence of gambling +than is afforded by any roomful of men, so easy was it to hide the +paraphernalia, or, rather, lack of paraphernalia of stuss. + +It was the custom, I knew, for criminals, after they had made a +haul to retire into such places as these stuss parlors, not only +to spend the proceeds of their robberies, but for protection. Even +though they were unmercifully fleeced by the gamblers, they might +depend on them to warn of the approach of the "bulls" and if +possible count on being hidden or spirited off to safety. + +Apparently we had come just at a time when there were some +criminals in hiding among the players. It was the only explanation +I could offer of the strange action that greeted our simple +attempt to gain admission to the stuss room. Whether they were +criminals who had really made a haul or mere fugitives from +justice, I could not guess. But that a warning had been given the +man at the door to be on his guard, seemed evident from the manner +in which we had been met. + +There was a rush of feet in the room. I expected that we would be +overwhelmed. Instead, as together we pushed on the now half-open +door, the room emptied like a sieve. Whoever it might be who had +taken refuge there had probably disappeared, among the first, by +tacit understanding of the rest, for the whole thing had the air +of being run off according to instructions. + +"It's a collar!" had sounded through the room, the moment we had +appeared at the door, and it was now empty. + +I wondered whether the letter which Garrick had found might not, +after all, have brought us straight to the last resort of those +whom we sought. + +"Where have they gone?" I panted, as the door opened at last, and +we found only one man in the place. + +There he stood apparently ready to be arrested, in fact courting +it if we could show the proper authority, since he knew that it +would be only a question of hours when he would be out again and +the game would be resumed, in full blast. + +The man shook his head blankly in answer to my question. + +"There must be a trap door somewhere," cried Garrick. "It is no +use to find it. They are all on the street by this time. Quick-- +before anyone catches us in the rear." + +We had been not a moment too soon in gaining the street. Though we +had done nothing but attempt to get into the stuss room, +ostensibly as players, the crowd in the cafe was pressing forward. + +On the street, we saw men filing quickly from a cellar, a few +doors down the block. We mingled with the excited crowd in order +to cover ourselves. + +"That must have been where the trap door and passage led," +whispered Garrick. + +A familiar figure ducked out of the cellar, surrounded by others, +and the crowd made for two taxicabs standing on the opposite side +of the street near a restaurant which was really not a tough joint +but made a play at catering to people from uptown who wanted a +taste of near-crime and did not know when they were being buncoed. + +Another cab swung up to the stand, just as the first two pulled +away. Its sign was up: "Vacant." + +Quick as a flash, Garrick was in it, dragging me after him. The +driver must have thought that we, too, were escaping, for he +needed only one order from Garrick to leap ahead in the wake of +the cabs which had already started. + +A moment later, Garrick's head was out of the window. He had drawn +his revolver and was pegging away at the tires of the cabs ahead. +An answering shot came back to us. Meanwhile, a policeman at a +corner leaped on a passing trolley and urged the motorman to put +on the full power in a vain effort to pursue us as we swept by up +the broad avenue. + +Even the East Side, accustomed to frequent running fights on the +streets between rival gunmen and gangs, was roused by such an +outburst. The crack of revolver shots, the honking of horns, the +clang of the trolley bell, and the shouts of men along the street +brought hundreds to the windows, as the cars lurched and swayed up +the avenue. + +The cars ahead swerved to dodge a knot of pedestrians, but their +pace never slackened. Then the rearmost of the two began to buck +and almost leap off the roadway. There came a rattle and roar from +the rear wheels which told that the tires had been punctured and +that the heavy wheels were riding on their rims, cutting the +deflated tubes. At a cross street the first car turned, just in +time to avoid a truck, and dodged down a maze of side streets, but +the second ran squarely into the truck. + +As the first car disappeared we caught a glimpse of a man leaning +out of it. He seemed to be swinging something around and around at +arm's length. Suddenly he let it go and it shot high up in the air +on the roof of a tenement house. + +"The automobile is the most dangerous weapon ever used by +criminals," muttered Garrick, as the first car shot down through a +mass of trucking which had backed up and shifted, making pursuit +momentarily more impossible for us. "These people know how to use +the automobile, too. But we've got someone here, anyhow," he +cried, leaping out and pushing aside the crowd that had collected +about the wrecked car. + +In the bottom of it we found a man, stunned and crumpled into a +heap. Blood flowed from his arm where one of the bullets had +struck him. Several bullets had struck the back of the cab and +both tires were cut by them. + +As I came up and looked over Garrick's shoulder at the prostrate +and unconscious figure in the car, I could not restrain an +exclamation of surprise. + +It was the garage keeper, the Boss--at last! + +Policemen had come up in the meantime, and several minutes were +consumed while Garrick proved to them his identity. + +"What was that thing the fellow in the forward car whirled over +his head?" I whispered. + +"A revolver, I think," returned Garrick. "That's a favourite trick +of the gunmen. With a stout cord tied to a gun you can catapult it +far enough to destroy the evidence that will hold you under the +Sullivan law, at least. I mean to get that gun as soon as we are +through with this fellow here." + +Someone had turned in a call for an ambulance which came jangling +up soon after, and we stood in a group close to the young surgeon +as he worked to bring around the captured gangster. + +"Where's the Chief?" he mumbled, dazed. + +Garrick motioned to us to be quiet. + +The man rambled on with a few inconsequential remarks, then opened +his eyes, caught sight of the white coated surgeon working over +him, of us standing behind, and of the crowd about him. + +Memory of what had happened flitted back to him. With an effort he +was himself again, close-mouthed, after the manner of the +gangsters. + +The surgeon had done all in his power and the man was sufficiently +recovered to be taken to the hospital, now, under arrest. As far +as we were concerned, our work was done. The Boss could be found +now, at any time that we needed him, but that he would speak all +the traditions of gangland made impossible. + +I wondered what Garrick would do. As for myself, I had no idea +what move to make. + +It surprised me, therefore, to see him with a smile of +satisfaction on his face. + +"I'll see you this afternoon, Tom," he said merely, as the +ambulance bore the wounded Boss away. "Meanwhile, I wish you'd +take the time to go over to headquarters and give Dillon our +version of this affair. Tell him to hold to-night open, too. I +have a little work to do this afternoon, and I'll call him up +later." + +Dillon, I found, was overjoyed when I reported to him the capture +of at least one man whom we had failed to get the night before. + +"Things seem to be clearing up, after all," he remarked. "Tell +Garrick I shall hold open to-night for him. Meanwhile, good luck, +and let me know the moment you get any word about the Chief. He +must have been in. that first cab, all right." + +As I left Dillon's office, I ran into Herman in the hall, coming +in. I bowed to him and he nodded surlily. Evidently, I thought, he +had heard of the result of our activities. I did not ask him what +progress he had made in the case, for I had had experience with +professional jealousy before, and thought that the less said on +the subject the better. + +Recalling what Garrick had said, I curbed my impatience as best I +could, in order to give him ample time to complete the work that +he had to do. It was not until the middle of the afternoon that I +rejoined him in his office. + +I found him at work at a table, still, with a microscope and an +arrangement which I recognised as the apparatus for making +microphotographs. Several cartridges, carefully labelled, were +lying before him, as well as the peculiar pistol we had found when +we had captured Forbes in the little room. There were also the +guns we had captured in the garage and one found in the cab which +we had chased and wrecked. + +On the end of the table was a large number of photographs of a +most peculiar nature. I picked up one. It looked like an enlarged +photograph of an orange, or like some of the pictures which the +astronomers make of the nearer planets. + +"What are these?" I asked curiously, as he leaned back from his +work, with a smile of quiet satisfaction. + +"That is a collection of microphotographs which I have gathered," +he answered, adding, "as well as some that I have just made. I +hope to use them in a little stereopticon entertainment I am +arranging to-night for those who have been interested in the +case." + +Garrick smiled. "Have you ever heard?" he asked, "that the rounded +end of the firing pin of every rifle when it is examined under a +microscope bears certain irregularities of marking different from +those of every other firing pin and that the primer of every shell +fired in a rifle is impressed with the particular markings of that +firing pin?" + +I had not, but Garrick went on, "I know that it is true. Such +markings are distinctive for each rifle and can be made by no +other. I have taken rifles bearing numbers preceding and following +that of a particular one, as well as a large number of other +firing pins. I have tried the rifles and the firing pins, one by +one, and after I made microphotographs of the firing pins with +special reference to the rounded ends and also photographs of the +corresponding rounded depressions in the primers fired by them, it +was forced upon me that cartridges fired by each individual firing +pin could be positively identified." + +I had been studying the photographs. It was a new idea, and it +appealed to me strongly. "How about revolvers?" I asked quickly. + +"Well, Dr. Balthazard, the French criminologist, has made +experiments on the identification of revolver bullets and has a +system that might be compared to that of Bertillon for identifying +human beings. He has showed by greatly enlarged photographs that +every gun barrel leaves marks on a bullet and that the marks are +always the same for the same barrel but never identical for two +different barrels. He has shown that the hammer of a revolver, say +a centre fire, strikes the cartridge at a point which is never the +exact centre of the cartridge, but is always the same for the same +weapon. He has made negatives of bullets nearly a foot wide. Every +detail appears very distinctly and it can be decided with absolute +certainty whether a certain bullet or cartridge was fired by a +certain revolver." + +He had picked up one of the microphotographs and was looking at it +attentively through a small glass. + +"You will see," he explained, "on the edge of this photograph a +rough sketch calling attention to a mark like an L which is the +chief characteristic of this hammer, although there are other +detailed markings which show well under the microscope but not in +a photograph. You will note that the marks on a hammer are +reversed on the primer in the same way that a metal type and the +character printed by it are reversed as regards one another. +Moreover, depressions on the end of a hammer become raised on the +primer and raised markings on the hammer become depressions on the +primer. + +"Now, here is another. You can see that it is radically different +from the first, which was from the cartridge used in killing poor +Rena Taylor. This second one is from that gun which I found on the +tenement roof this morning. It lacks the L mark as well as the +concentric circles. Here is another. Its chief characteristics are +a series of pits and elevations which, examined under the +microscope and measured, will be found to afford a set of +characters utterly different from those of any other hammer. + +"In short," he concluded with an air of triumph, "the ends of +firing pins are turned and finished in a lathe by the use of tools +designed for that purpose. The metal tears and works unevenly so +that microscopical examination shows many pits, lines, circles, +and irregularities. The laws of chance are as much against two of +these firing pins or hammers having the same appearance under the +microscope as they are against the thumb prints of two human +subjects being identical." + +I picked up the curious little arrangement which we had found in +the drawer in Forbes' room and examined it closely. + +"I have been practicing with that pistol, if you may call it +that," he remarked, "on cartridges of my own and examining the +marks made by the peculiar hammer. I have studied marks of the gun +which we found on the roof. I have compared them with the marks on +cartridges which we have picked up at the finding of Rena Taylor's +body, at the garage that night of the stupefying bullet, with +bullets such as were aimed at Warrington, with others, both +cartridges and bullets, at various times, and the conclusion is +unescapable." + +Who, I asked myself, was the scientific gunman? I knew it was +useless to try to hurry Garrick. First, by a sort of intuition he +had picked him out, then by the evidence of hammer and bullet he +had made it practically certain. But I knew that to his scientific +mind nothing but absolute certainty would suffice. + +While I was waiting for him to proceed, he had already begun to +work on some apparatus behind a screen at the end of his office. +Close to the wall at the left was a stereopticon which, as nearly +as I could make out, shot a beam of light through a tube to a +galvanometer about three feet distant. In front of this beam +whirled a five-spindled wheel governed by a chronometer which was +so accurate, he said, that it erred only a second a day. + +Between the poles of the galvanometer was stretched a slender +thread of fused quartz plated with silver. It was the finest +thread I could imagine, only a thousandth of a millimeter in +diameter, far too tenuous to be seen. Three feet further away was +a camera with a moving plate holder which carried a sensitized +photographic plate. Its movement was regulated by a big fly-wheel +at the extreme right. + +"You see," remarked Garrick, now engrossed on the apparatus and +forgetting the hammer evidence for the time, "the beam of light +focussed on that fine thread in the galvanometer passes to this +photographic plate. It is intercepted by the five spindles of the +wheel, which turns once a second, thus marking the picture off in +exact fifths of a second. The vibrations of the thread are +enormously magnified on the plate by a lens and produce a series +of wavy or zigzag lines. I have shielded the sensitized plate by a +wooden hood which permits no light to strike it except the slender +ray that is doing the work. The plate moves across the field +slowly, its speed regulated by the fly-wheel. Don't you think it +is neat and delicate? All these movements are produced by one of +the finest little electric motors I ever saw." + +I could not get the idea of the revolvers out of my head so +quickly. I agreed with him, but all I could find to say was, "Do +you think there was more than this one whom they call the Chief +engaged in the shootings?" + +"I can't say absolutely anything more than I have told you, yet," +he answered in a tone that seemed to discourage further +questioning along that line. + +He continued to work on the delicate apparatus with its thread +stretched between the stationary magnets of the galvanometer, a +thread so delicate that it might have been spun by a microscopic +spider, so light that no scales made by human hands could weigh +it, so slender that the mind could hardly grasp it. It was about +one-third the diameter of a red corpuscle of blood and its weight +had been estimated as about .00685 milligrams, truly a fairy +thread. It was finer than the most delicate cobweb and could be +seen with the naked eye only when a strong light was thrown on it +so as to catch the reflection. + +"All I can say is," he admitted, "that the bullets which committed +this horrible series of crimes have been proven all to be shot +from the same gun, presumably, I think I shall show, by the same +hand, and that hand is the same that wrote the blackmailing +letter." + +"Whose gun was it?" I asked. "Was there a way to connect it and +the bullets and the cartridges with the owner--four things, all +separated--and then that owner with the curious and tragic +succession of events that had marked the case since the theft of +Warrington's car?" + +Garrick had apparently completed his present work of adjusting the +delicate apparatus. He was now engaged on another piece which also +had a powerful light in it and an attachment which bore a strong +resemblance to a horn. + +He paused a moment, regarding me quizzically. "I think you'll find +it sufficiently novel to warrant your coming, Tom," he added. "I +have already invited Dillon and his man, Herman, over the +telephone just before you came in. McBirney will be there, and +Forbes, of course. He'll have to come, if I want him. By the way, +I wish you'd get in touch with Warrington and see how he is. If it +is all right, tell him that I'd like to have him escort Miss +Winslow and her aunt here, to-night. Meanwhile I shall find out +how our friend the Boss is getting on. He ought to be here, at any +cost, and I've put it off until to-night to make sure that he'll +be in fit condition to come. To-night at nine--here in this +office--remember," he concluded gayly. "In the meantime, not a +word to anybody about what you have seen here this afternoon." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE SCIENTIFIC GUNMAN + + +Our little audience arrived one by one, and, as master of +ceremonies, it fell to me to greet them and place them as much at +ease as the natural tension of the occasion would permit. Garrick +spoke a word or two to each, but was still busy putting the +finishing touches on the preparations for the "entertainment," as +he called it facetiously, which he had arranged. + +"Before I put to the test a rather novel combination which I have +arranged," began Garrick, when they had all been seated, "I want +to say a few words about some of the discoveries I have already +made in this remarkable case." + +He paused a moment to make sure that he had our attention, but it +was unnecessary. We were all hanging eagerly on his words. + +"There is, I believe," he resumed slowly, "no crime that is ever +without a clew. The slightest trace, even a drop of blood no +larger than a pin-head, may suffice to convict a murderer. So may +a single hair found on the clothing of a suspect. In this case," +he added quickly, "it is the impression made by the hammer of a +pistol on the shell of a cartridge which leads unescapably to one +conclusion." + +The idea was so startling that we followed Garrick's every word as +if weighted with tremendous importance, as indeed it was in the +clearing up of this mysterious affair. + +"I have made a collection from time to time," he pursued, "of the +various exploded cartridges, the bullets, and the weapons left +behind by the perpetrator of the dastardly series of crimes, from +the shooting of the stool pigeon of the police, Rena Taylor, and +the stealing of Mr. Warrington's car, down to the peculiar events +of last night up in the Ramapos and the running fight through the +streets of New York in taxicabs this morning. + +"I have studied this evidence with the microscope and the +microphotographic apparatus. I have secured excellent +microphotographs of the marks made by various weapons on the +cartridges and bullets. Taking those used in the commission of the +greater crimes in this series, I find that the marks are the same, +apparently, whether the gun shot off a bullet of wax or tallow +which became liquid in the body, whether it discharged a +stupefying gas, or whether the deadly anaesthetic bullet was +fired. I have obtained a gun"--he threw it on the table with a +clang--"the marks from the hammer of which correspond with the +marks made on all the cartridges I have mentioned. One person +owned that gun and used it. That is proved. It remains only to +connect that gun positively and definitely, as a last link, with +that person." + +I noticed with a start that the revolver still had a stout cord +tied to it. + +As he concluded, Garrick had begun fitting a curious little device +to each of our forearms. It looked to me like an electrode +consisting of large plates of German silver, covered with felt and +saturated with salt solution. From each electrode wires ran across +the floor to some hidden apparatus. + +"Back of this screen," he went on, indicating it in the corner of +the room, "I have placed what is known as the string galvanometer, +invented, or, perhaps better, perfected by Dr. Einthoven, of +Leyden. It was designed primarily for the study of the beating of +the heart in cases of disease, but it also may be used to record +and study emotions as well,--love and hate, fear, joy, anger, +remorse, all are revealed by this uncanny, cold, ruthlessly +scientific instrument. + +"The machine is connected by wires to each of you, and will make +what are called electrocardiographs, in which every emotion, every +sentiment, every passion is recorded inevitably, inexorably. For, +the electric current that passes from each of you to the machine +over these wires carrying the record of the secrets of your hearts +is one of the feeblest currents known to science. Yet it can be +caught and measured. The dynamo which generates this current is +not a huge affair of steel castings and endless windings of copper +wire. It is merely the heart of the sitter. + +"The heart makes only one three-thousandth of a volt of +electricity at each beat. It would take thousands of hearts to +light one electric light, hundreds of thousands to run one trolley +car. Yet just that slight little current from the heart is enough +to sway a gossamer strand of quartz fibre in what I may call my +'heart station' here. This current, as I have told you, passes +from each of you over a wire and vibrates a fine quartz fibre in +unison with it, one of the most delicate bits of mechanism ever +made, recording the result on a photographic film by means of a +beam of light reflected from a delicate mirror." + +We sat spellbound as Garrick unfolded the dreadful, awe-inspiring +possibilities of the machine behind the screen. He walked slowly +to the back of the room. + +"Now, here I have one of the latest of the inventions of the +Wizard of West Orange--Edison," he resumed. "It is, as you perhaps +have already guessed, the latest product of this genius of sound +and sight, the kinetophone, the machine that combines moving +pictures with the talking machine." + +A stranger stepped in from an outer office. He was the skilled +operator of the kinetophone, whom Garrick had hired. In a few +terse sentences he explained that back of a curtain which he +pulled down before us was a phonograph with a megaphone, that from +his booth behind us he operated the picture films, and that the +two were absolutely synchronized. + +A moment later a picture began to move on the screen. Sounds and +voices seemed to emerge as if from the very screen itself. There, +before us, we saw a gambling joint operating in full blast. It was +not the Forty-eighth Street resort. But it was strongly +reminiscent of it. From the talking machine proceeded all the +noises familiar to such a scene. + +Garrick had moved behind the screen that cut off our view of the +galvanometer. One after another, he was studying the emotions of +each of his audience. + +Suddenly the scene changed. A door was burst in, cards and +gambling paraphernalia were scattered about and hidden, men rushed +to escape, and the sounds were much like those on the night of the +raid. Garrick was still engrossed in the study of what the +galvanometer was showing. + +The film stopped. Without warning, the operator started another. +It was a group of men and women playing cards. A man entered, and +engaged in conversation with one of the women who was playing. +They left the room. + +The next scene was in an entirely different room. But the +connection which was implied with the last scene was obvious. +Different actors entered the room, a man and a woman. There was a +dispute--there was a crack of a revolver--and the woman fell. +People rushed in. Everything was done to hide the crime. The girl +was carried out into a waiting automobile, propped in as if +overcome by alcohol and whisked away. I found myself almost +looking to see if the car was of the make of Warrington's, so +great was the impression the scene made on me. Of course it was +not, but it all seemed so real that one might be pardoned for +expecting the impossible, especially when her body was thrown, +with many a muttered imprecation, by the roadside, and in the last +picture the man was cleaning the exploded gun. One single still +picture followed. It was a huge, enlarged cartridge. + +I followed the thing with eager eyes and ears. From a long list of +canned and reeled plays, Garrick had selected here and there such +scenes and acts as, interspersed with a few single, original +pictures of his own, like the cartridge, would serve best to +recapitulate the very case which we had been investigating. It +carried me along step by step, wonderfully. + +Another moving and talking picture was under way. This time it +seemed to be a race between two automobiles. They were tearing +along, and the sound of the rapidly working cylinders was most +real. The rearmost was rapidly overhauling that in front. Imagine +our surprise as it crept up on the other to see the driver rise, +whip out a pistol, and fire point blank at the other as he dashed +ahead, and the picture stopped. + +A suppressed scream escaped Violet Winslow. It was too much like +what had happened to Mortimer Warrington for her to repress the +shudder that swept over her, and an involuntary movement toward +him to make sure that it was not real. + +Still Garrick did not move from his post at the galvanometer. He +was taking no chances. He had us thrilled, tense, and he meant to +take advantage to the full in reading the truth in the dramatic +situation he had so skilfully created. + +Another picture started almost on the heels of the last. It was of +the robbery of a safe. Then came another, a firebug at work in +starting a conflagration. We could hear the crackling of flames, +the shouts of the people, the clang of bells, and the hasty tread +of the firemen as they advanced and put out the blaze. The film +play was one of those which never fail to attract, where the +makers had gone to the utmost extent of realism and had actually +set fire to a house to get the true effect. + +The next was a scene from a detective play, pure and simple, in +which that marvellous little instrument which had served us in +such good stead in this case was played up strongly, the +detectaphone. Then followed a scene from another play in which a +young girl was kidnapped and rescued by her lover just in the nick +of time. Nothing could have been selected to arouse the feelings +of the little audience to a higher pitch. + +The last of the series, which I knew was to be a climax, was not +an American picture. It was quite evidently made in Paris and was +from actual life. I myself had been startled when the title was +announced by the voice and on the screen simultaneously, "The +Siege of the Motor Bandits by the Paris Police." + +It was terrific. It began with the shouts of the crowd urging on +the police, the crack of revolvers and guns from a little house or +garage in the suburbs, the advance and retreat of the gendarmes on +the stronghold. Back and forth the battle waged. One could hear +the sharp orders of the police, the shrill taunts of the bandits, +the sounds of battle. + +Then at a point where the bandits seemed to have beaten off the +attack successfully, there came an automobile. From it I could see +the police take an object which I now knew must be a Mathiot gun. +The huge thing was set up and carefully aimed. Then with a dull +roar it was fired. + +We could see the bomb hurtling through the air, see it strike the +little house with a cloud of smoke and dust, hear the report of +the explosion, the shouts of dismay of the bandits--then silence. +A cry went up from the crowd as the police now pressed forward in +a mass and rushed into the house, disclosing the last scene--in +which the bandits were suffocated. + +The film suddenly stopped. Garrick's office, which had been +ringing with firearms and shouts from the kinetophone, was again +silent. It was an impressive silence, too. No one of us but had +felt and lived the whole case over again in the brief time that +the talking movies had been shown. + +The lights flashed up, and before we realised that the thing was +over, Garrick was standing before us, holding in his hand a long +sheet of paper. The look on his face told plainly that his novel +experiment had succeeded. + +"I may say," he began, still studying the paper in his hand, +although I knew he must have arrived at his conclusion already or +he would never have quitted his "heart station," so soon, "I may +say that some time ago a letter was sent to Miss Winslow +purporting to reveal some of Mr. Warrington's alleged connections +and escapades. It is needless to say that as far as the +accusations were concerned he was able to meet them all adequately +and, as for the innuendoes, they were pure baseless fabrications. +The sender was urged on to do it by someone else who also had an +interest of another kind in placing Mr. Warrington in a bad light +with Miss Winslow. But the sender soon realised his mistake. The +fact that he was willing to go to the length of a dangerous +robbery accompanied by arson in order to get back or destroy the +letter showed how afraid he was to have a sample of his +handwriting fall into my hands. He blundered, but even then he did +not realise how badly. + +"For, in certain cases the handwriting shows a great deal more +than would be recognised even by the ordinary handwriting expert. +This letter showed that the writer was, as I have already +explained to Mr. Marshall, the victim of a peculiar kind of +paralysis which begins to show itself in nerve tremours for days +before the attack and exhibits itself even in the handwriting. + +"Now, my string galvanometer shows not only the effects of these +moving and talking pictures on the emotions, but also, as it was +really designed to do, the state of the heart with reference to +normality. It shows to me plainly the effect of disease on the +heart, even if it is latent in the subject. While I have been +using the psychological law of suggestion, and have been +recapitulating as well as I was able under the circumstances the +whole story of the crime briefly in moving and talking pictures, I +have found, in addition, that the same heart which shows the +emotions I expected also shows the disease which I discovered in +the blackmailing letter. + +"There was surprise at the sight of the gambling den, rage at the +raid, fear at the murder of the girl in the other den and the +disposal of her body, excitement over the racing motor cars, +passion over the kidnapping of the girl, anger over the little +detectaphone, and panic at the siege of the bandits, as I showed +by the selection of the films that I was getting closer and closer +to the truth. And there was the same abnormality of the heart +exhibited throughout." + +Garrick paused. I scarcely breathed, nor did I move my eyes, which +were riveted on his face. What was he going to reveal next? Was he +going to accuse someone in the room? + +"Mr. Marshall," he resumed with a smile toward me, "I am glad to +say is quite normal and innocent of all wrongdoing--in this +instance," he added with a momentary flash of humour. +"Commissioner Dillon also passes muster. Mr. Warrington--I shall +come back to, later." + +I thought Violet Winslow gave a little, startled gasp. She turned +toward him, anyhow, and I saw that not even science now could +shake her faith in him. + +"Mr. Forbes," he continued, speaking rapidly as I bent forward to +catch every word, "incriminated himself quite sufficiently in +connection with the gambling joint, the raid and the slanderous +letter, so that I should advise him when this case comes to trial +to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth about his +helping a gunman in order to further what proved a hopeless love +affair on his own part. Here, too, is a little vest-pocket gun +that was found under such circumstances as would be likely to +connect Forbes in the popular mind with the shootings." + +"My lawyer has my statement about that. I'll read--" + +"No, Forbes," interrupted Garrick. "You needn't read. Your lawyer +may be interested to add this to the statement, however. A pistol +that has been shot off has potassium sulphide from the powder in +the barrel. Later, it oxidizes and iron oxide is found. This +weapon has neither the sulphide nor the oxide, as far as I can +determine. It has never even been discharged. No, it was not the +pistol found on Forbes that figured in this case. + +"As far as that new-fangled gun goes, Forbes, it was a frame-up. +You were kidnapped by a man whom you thought was your friend, and +it was done for a purpose. He knew the situation you were in, your +jealousy--I won't dwell on that here. He held you at the house up +in the valley. You told the truth about that. He did it, the man +who wrote the letter, because he hoped ultimately to shift all the +guilt on you and himself go scot-free." + +Forbes stared dumbly. I knew he had known what was coming but had +held back for fear of what he knew had always happened to +informers in the circle to which he had sunk. + +"McBirney," continued Garrick, "your emotions, mostly +astonishment, show that you have much to learn in this new +business of modern detection, besides the recovery of stolen +cars." + +Garrick had paused for effect again. + +"And now we come to the keeper of a nighthawk garage on the West +Side, a man whom they seem to call the Boss. That is getting +higher up. I find that he points, according to this scientific +third degree, to one whom I have for a long time suspected--" + +A dull thud startled us. + +I turned. A man was lying, face down, on the floor. + +Before any of us could reach him, Garrick concluded, "This is the +man who framed up the case against Forbes, who stole Warrington's +car to use to get rid of the body of the informer, Rena Taylor, +because she by her success interfered with his gambling graft, who +wrote the letter to Miss Winslow to injure Warrington because he, +too, was interfering with his graft collection from the gambling +house by threatening to close it up. He committed the arson to +cover up his identity by getting back the letter; he planned and +nearly executed the kidnapping of Miss Winslow in order to hold up +Warrington, and then hid in the country where we ferreted him out, +not far from the very scene of a murderous attack on Warrington +for his brave stand in suppressing gambling--from which this man +was weekly shaking down a huge profit as the price of police +protection of the vice." + +Garrick was kneeling by the prostrate form now, not so much the +accuser as the scientist, studying a new phase of crime. + +The threatened paralysis had struck Inspector Herman sooner than +even Garrick had expected. + +When we had made Herman as comfortable as we could, Garrick added +to Dillon, who stood over us, speechless, "You had under you one +of the strong links in the secret system of police protection of +vice and crime, and you never knew it--the greatest grafter and +scientific gunman that I ever knew. It has been a long, hard +fight. But I have the goods on him at last." + +The exposure was startling in the extreme. Herman had gained for +himself the reputation of being one of the shrewdest and most +efficient men in the department. But he had felt the lure of +graft. With the aid of the gamblers and unscrupulous politicians +he had built up a huge, secret machine for collection of the +profits from the sale of police protection against the enforcement +of the law he was sworn to uphold. + +He had begun to mix with doubtful characters. But he was a genius +and had become, by degrees, the worst of the gangmen and gunmen +who ever operated in the metropolis. Detailed to catch the +gamblers and gangsters, with official power to do almost as he +pleased, he had enjoyed a fine holiday and employed his leisure +both for new crimes and in covering up so successfully his tracks +in the old ones, even with Garrick on his trail, that he had been +able to completely hoodwink his superior, Dillon, by his long, +detailed reports which sounded very convincing but which really +meant nothing. + +As the strange truth of the case was established by Garrick, +Dillon was the most amazed of us all. He had trusted Herman, and +the revulsion of feeling was overwhelming. + +"And to think," he exclaimed, in disgust, "that I actually placed +his own case in his own hands, with carte blanche instructions to +go ahead. No wonder he never produced a clew that amounted to +anything. Well, I'll be--" + +Words failed him, as he looked down and glared savagely at the man +in silence. + +All were now crowding around Garrick eager to thank him for what +he had done. As Warrington, now almost his former hearty wholesome +self again, grasped Garrick's hand in the heartiness of his +thanks, Garrick, with the electrocardiogram paper still in his +other hand, smiled. + +He released himself and turned to touch the dainty little hand of +Violet Winslow, whose eyes were so full of happy tears that she +could scarcely speak. + +"Miss Winslow," he beamed, gazing earnestly and admiringly into +her sweet face, "I promised to attend to the case of that man +later,--" he added, with a nod at Warrington. "It may interest you +to know scientifically what you already know by something that is +greater than science, a woman's intuition." + +She blushed as he added, "Mr. Warrington has a good, strong, +healthy heart. He wouldn't be alive to-day if he hadn't. But, more +than that, I have observed throughout the evening that he has +hardly taken his eyes off you. Even the 'talkies' and the 'movies' +failed to stir him until the kidnapping scene overwhelmed him. +Here on this strip of paper I have a billet-doux. His heart +registers the current that only that consummate electrician, +little Dan Cupid, can explain." + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GUY GARRICK *** + +This file should be named gygrr10.txt or gygrr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, gygrr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, gygrr10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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