"Goodness!" said Vida Carlaw, eyes roving over the place. "I am beginning to comprehend why you have such a fabulous reputation!"
Doc undoubtedly heard this compliment, but his sh.e.l.l of calm disinterest did not crack, a fact that piqued pretty Vida Carlaw somewhat. She had decided to try a little flattery and see what would happen.
Vida hadn"t been able to make the bronze man out yet. She wasn"t sure he approved of her; certainly he was not following the example of his three aids, who were giving her the gallant attention which a ravishing beauty deserved.
Doc Savage, leaving them in the reception room, entered the library. New York City has several telephone directories, among them one with a red cover which is known as the "red book" and which lists under proper headings, the names of persons and firms following the various professions.Doc Savage took this directory to the telephone. The manner in which he seated himself and adjusted the light indicated he was tackling a lengthy job.
In the reception room, his three men talked with their pretty guest. Vida, as the conversation continued, was agreeably surprised when it dawned on her that the men were remarkably clever fellows. It was at this point that she got an inkling of the truth-each of Doc Savage"s aids was something of a wizard in his particular profession.
WHILE they were talking, Monk"s attractive secretary arrived from his penthouse chemical laboratory near Wall Street. This pretty young woman-Monk claimed he had the snappiest secretary in New York-was escorting a remarkable-looking pig.
The pig had ears made for flying, legs for running, a snout for inquiry, and a scrawny body. The pig gave evidence of careful grooming. There was about him the aroma of expensive perfume.
Monk"s secretary left immediately after delivering the pig.
"This is Habeas Corpus, my pet," Monk told Vida Carlaw.
The young woman studied the unique-looking porker.
Ham said loudly, "That insect should be exterminated!"
Ham went to another telephone-there were several-and called his exclusive club.
"Bring my Chemistry down in the morning," Ham directed.
After hanging up, Ham listened, and could hear Doc Savage talking over the other telephone, making one call after another. Ham could not distinguish the bronze man"s words.
Monk was asking Vida Carlaw, "Do you believe a mysterious jellylike creature did any killing?"
The girl hesitated, nipping at her lips. "You probably think I"m foolish, but, after all, no one really knows what is in the depths of the earth. Of course, scientists have a general idea, but there may be-things-down there that they don"t know anything about."
Monk agreed. "I"ve run up against enough queer stuff in my time to learn never to be too surprised."
"Our oil well is deep," said the pretty girl. "It might have happened-"
Doc Savage came in from the library.
"Everything possible to locate your would-be kidnapper, has been done," he said. "Only thing now is to wait.
And it might be advisable for all of you to get some sleep in the meantime."
Chapter V. HE WANTED TO HELP.
WINDOWS of Doc Savage"s skysc.r.a.per headquarters were of unusual type. The gla.s.s, perfected by the bronze man himself, was of a new variety which permitted occupants of the office to look out with ease, but which prevented any one outside looking in. The special gla.s.s admitted a rather diffused light.
Morning sun had the reception room full of gentle light when a tapping on the door awakened homely Monk from sleep in a chair near the inlaid table.
Before he started for the door, Monk felt in a trousers pocket to make sure a certain coin was still there.
Ostensibly, this coin was a half dollar; actually it was made of a radioactive metal which worked upon a hidden relay and electroscope combination which opened and closed the door. The device opened the door as Monk neared it.A neat-looking fellow stood outside. He had ruddy cheeks and a distinctly English manner. Monk knew he was from Ham"s club.
The flunky was leading an animal which was almost an exact replica of Monk himself. Whether this creature was ape, chimpanzee, monkey, or some other variety of anthropoid, would be difficult to tell. In truth, experts had disagreed on that point.
"Take that blankety-blankety-blankety-blatherskite of a thing over to the river and tie a rock to it!" Monk yelled.
Ham got out of the chair where he had been sleeping.
"That"s my pet Chemistry!" he shouted indignantly.
"Bless me!" Monk said, gloomily. "Don"t you think I know it?"
The messenger departed.
Bony Johnny, still apparently sound asleep, said without opening his eyes, "An ichorous enigma of lobelia pigmentation!"
"Blazes!" said Monk. "It"s a wonder he don"t choke on them words! Anybody know what he just said in his sleep?"
"He"s muttering about the red monster out of the ground," Ham said.
From the library, Vida Carlaw called, "May I come in?"
They said she could, and she did. She looked radiant.
The telephone rang. Doc Savage, standing near the window, scooped it up and said, "Yes. . . . Requested immediate duplication, eh? . . . when will he return? . . .Yes. That earns the reward for you."
The bronze man hung up.
"We now have a line on the man who tried to kill Miss Carlaw," he said. "We will try to trap him and induce him to tell us what is behind this mystery."
"Don"t see how you worked it, Doc," Monk said.
The bronze man made no explanation. Monk, after he had waited for a reply until he was sure he was not going to get it, pa.s.sed it off with a humorous suggestion that, "Somebody get a hammer, so we can awaken Johnny."
THE See-Well Optical Co. was not an elaborate establishment, which probably accounted for the proprietor having opened his doors an hour earlier than was customary for such firms. He was a round, bald man.
Doc Savage asked, "The man said he would be back when?"
"In about twenty minutes," replied the rotund proprietor.
Doc said, "It is not necessary for you to do anything about him. Just give him what he comes for."
"That"s swell!" gasped the fat man. "I was afraid I was gonna mix up in something!"
Doc Savage returned to his companions, who were waiting in a car down the street. The machine, a long, discreetly dark sedan, had little outward appearance of armor plate and bulletproof gla.s.s construction.
"I take it our man is going to show up here," Vida Carlaw said. "But how did you find it out?""Remember his gla.s.ses?"
"Of course. They were broken when you saved me."
"I picked up the pieces," Doc explained. "Examination showed the man would be very far-sighted without the gla.s.ses. In fact, he would just about have to have new gla.s.ses at once. Naturally, he would get them as soon as possible."
Monk squeaked, "So you phoned optical concerns, offering a reward to be tipped off when anybody had such a prescription for gla.s.ses filled!"
The street was full of noisy cars carrying people to work and newsboys calling morning editions. One newsboy came along the street, howling a headline.
"Oklahoma outlaw escapes!" the boy squawled. "Tomahawk Tant evades airplanes and posses!"
Monk said to the young woman, "Your native land seems to have made the headlines this morning."
"Tomahawk Tant!" The girl sniffed. "They won"t catch him!"
"No?" Monk grinned at her. "The outlaw has never lived who beat the law for long. Look at them. Al Spencer, Matt Kimes, Pretty Boy Floyd-all bad ones. And they all got licked."
Doc put in casually, "What about Tomahawk Tant? Not much about him has reached the East."
"He"s one of the old-time types of outlaw out there," Vida explained. "One of the cleverest. No one really knows much about him."
Monk began, "Well the law will get him-"
"Down!" Doc Savaged rapped. "Here comes our man!"
THE wiry man appeared, walking, wearing a dark-blue topcoat, which he must have purchased somewhere, and a dark hat. His black gloves appeared to be the same ones he had worn in the plane. He entered the optical concern.
Five minutes later, the man came out, stood and beckoned for a taxicab. One drew up and he stepped in.
"The usual method for trailing him!" Doc Savage directed his aids.
The trailing method was not Doc"s invention. Monk, Ham and Johnny each got a taxi, and they took turns, one on the trail, while the other got ahead. By switching about casually, they made it almost impossible for the man in the taxi to learn he was being trailed.
The quarry went to an obscure hotel in the theatrical district. He had his cab wait, and entered.
A moment later, Doc eased into the hotel and noted several innocent-looking loafers in the lobby. The bronze man purchased a newspaper, seated himself, and held the paper so it concealed his face. He kept watch through peepholes in the paper.
On Doc"s lap lay a black instrument which might have been mistaken by a photographer for a light meter or photometer.
In a few moments, the wiry man came down in an elevator, carrying a small, new briefcase. He pa.s.sed Doc Savage without his slightest suspicions being aroused, and left the hotel.
Doc was watching the unusual instrument on his lap. As the man pa.s.sed-the indicator needle crept up on the scale, then came back again when he had gone.
The instrument was a compact, suspersensitive device which registered the presence of any magneticmetal-steel, iron, etc.-in the immediate neighborhood. Surge of the needle probably had been caused by a quant.i.ty of steel in the briefcase. Guns?
Doc Savage went to the hotel clerk, made his ident.i.ty known, exhibited some money, and received a volley of information. The wiry man had registered the previous evening-but there was a surprising angle to this.
The fellow had not been alone! Nearly a dozen men had registered with him! All of these men had been sunburned. None of them were now at the hotel.
Doc Savage returned to his car, where Vida Carlaw waited. Since the bronze man had now lost track of the quarry, and his own aids, he drove toward his headquarters. Any report would come there, as Doc"s men trailed their quarry.
"I have been trying to figure out why I was attacked in the plane," Vida Carlaw said. "It has me baffled."
"The idea was to stop you soliciting the aid of my men and myself."
"But why?"
Doc did not answer that one.
THEY had not been in Doc"s skysc.r.a.per headquarters reception room for long when incredibly bony Johnny put in an appearance. He fiddled with his monocle.
"A superabundant expenditure of indefatigation," he said.
Vida Carlaw blinked. "Would somebody translate that?"
"He says we have been wasting our time," Doc explained.
"Yes," added bony Johnny. "The wiry man and his pals are watching this very building!"
Johnny replied, continuing to use small words. "They don"t want us to investigate this mystery of the red things out of the ground."
Doc Savage directed Vida Carlaw, "You stay here."
"Alone?" She looked uneasy. "They tried to kill me once, and maybe-"
"This place," Doc Savage told her, "is practically impossible for an outsider to enter."
The girl studied the bronze man.
"Right," she agreed.
Long ago, Doc Savage had installed in the building a private high-speed elevator which admitted directly to his personal garage in the bas.e.m.e.nt. So far as was possible, existence of both elevator and garage were secret.
The elevator deposited Doc and Johnny in the bas.e.m.e.nt garage.
They followed a pa.s.sage which admitted to a near-by subway tunnel, down which they ran, avoiding the electrified third rail, and crouching close to the sides of the tunnel to let trains go past with a deafening uproar. They came to the surface some blocks distant.
It was late enough in the morning that the streets were full of sunlight. Doc had a knowledge of the vicinity, so he and Johnny did not take to the sidewalks, but kept inside stores and business establishments, working from one to the other, sometimes going to the roofs to accomplish this.