Doc Savage took the listening device back to the car and replaced it in its compartment.
The bronze man returned to the storehouse carrying a small cylindrical metal container holding anaesthetic gas under pressure. The container was equipped with a nozzle and valve. He inserted the nozzle in a crack at the bottom of the storehouse door and turned the valve.
With a hiss, gas rushed out of the container into the storehouse. Doc waited, depending on the sound of rain on the tin storehouse roof to keep the "ghosts" inside from hearing the gas. Evidently the rain on the roof was the reason they had not heard his car coming.
The girl pointed at the cylinder. "I don"t get this."
"Gas. Anaesthetic. Practically no odor or color. There are men inside the storehouse, and the gas will make them unconscious without doing them any lasting harm."
"Oh."
Eventually the bronze man tried the storehouse door. It wasn"t fastened; it came open at his shove.
Inside, there was a cavern of gloom inhabited by the strange crouching shadow monsters that were the machinery. The place was full of the sound of the rain on the roof.Doc Savage waited until the gas lost its potency-it underwent a chemical reaction with the oxygen of the air and became impotent usually in about a minute-then went into the storehouse. The flashlight which he used-he had taken it from a door pocket-threw a beam that was like one long white finger.
There were four unconscious men in the storehouse.
One man was very long, with a body which gave the impression of being a tube filled with round things.
He had an Adam"s apple like a golf ball, a large melon for a stomach, but not much of anything for a chest. His eyes were closed in senselessness, but it was evident that they must be very large. His nose, his mouth, his ears, were also large. His face had a benevolent expression.
The other three men were policemen in blue uniforms.
All three policemen were slumped in the cab of the steam shovel. The long-looking loose-limbed man was lying beside the caterpillar tread of the shovel.
Doc Savage went out and got the girl and took her in to look at the men.
"You recognize any of these?" he asked.
Miami Davis shook her head while examining the policemen, but frowned when she came to the loose-jointed man. She seemed a bit doubtful about him.
"This one"-she pointed at the long-looking man vaguely-"sure needs some exercise."
"You know him?"
"I thought for a minute I had seen him somewhere. I guess I was wrong."
DOC SAVAGE was a scientific product. He had undergone specialized training from childhood to fit him for the unusual work which he was doing. Surgery had been his first training and his most specialized; but through patient effort he had managed to acquire an amazing amount of knowledge concerning geology, chemistry, electricity and other sciences.
This anaesthetic gas was a product of the bronze man"s chemical skill. He had managed to keep the composition of the stuff a secret. Victims of the gas, however, could be revived by the administration of a proper stimulant made up in the form of tablets, pills that were large and a deep-blue color.
After Doc Savage administered stimulant pills to the men he had made unconscious-the tablets came from his carryall vest he wore-it took about fifteen minutes for the victims to revive.
The cops came out of it first, and squirmed around, got their eyes open, then sat up, one at a time, acting like men who had been in a sound sleep.
Doc Savage and the girl were both keeping out of sight behind the steam shovel. Doc wanted to listen.
The cops looked at each other for several moments before they spoke. Finally one giggled, then asked, "What the blazes happened?"
The trio scratched their heads, rubbed jaws, and giggled.
"It seemed," one said, "like we got the giggles, then went to sleep.""That"s crazy!"
The other pointed at the loose-jointed man, who was snoring softly.
"Birmingham Lawn looks like he is asleep, don"t he?" he demanded by way of proof.
The first policeman scrambled over to the long-looking man.
"I hope he"s all right," the cop said. "He"s a swell old guy. Funny-looking, but swell. Always whistling."
"Whistling?"
"Sure. Whistles all the time."
"You"re sure he ain"t a giggling ghost, then?"
"Ghosts-h.e.l.l! Don"t let"s start believing such lop-eared stuff. I"ve known Birmingham Lawn for years. I bought my little home through the real estate firm he runs." The officer went over and shook the long-looking, loose-limbed man. "Wake up, Lawn! Wake up, dang it!"
Birmingham Lawn opened one eye, then closed it. He licked his large lips, then opened both eyes, and worked his face around in puzzled shapes. He sat up and felt of himself, then started giggling a little.
Apparently in an effort to stop giggling, he whistled, pursed his lips and whistled a bar or two from a popular song.
"You feel all right, Mister Lawn?" asked the policeman who knew him.
"I do not feel," Birmingham Lawn said, "in the least like giggling. And yet I cannot help giggling."
Doc Savage came from behind the steam shovel and asked, "Did you gentlemen follow a giggling ghost here, too?"
The cops stared at the bronze man; then they gave him a brisk salute. They had recognized him and remembered that he held a high honorary commission on both the New York and New Jersey police forces.
Birmingham Lawn stared, looking puzzled, then amazed, then delighted. He giggled.
"Look here!" he exploded. "Aren"t you Doc Savage?"
Doc admitted it, and Birmingham Lawn became as excited as a movie fan meeting a picture star. He bounced up, rubbed his hands together and glowed.
"Marvelous!" Lawn exclaimed. "I am delighted! I have read about you and I have heard about you. I have certainly wanted to meet you. This"-he was very earnest-"is a high point in my life."
Doc Savage looked uncomfortable. Being the focus of admiration was something he found embarra.s.sing, which was one of the reasons he kept out of the public eye as much as possible.
IN a calm voice, Doc began telling the policeman and Birmingham Lawn what had happened.
"I thought from the giggling I overheard," Doc explained, "that the-er-ghost the girl followed was still here.""That checks exactly!" Lawn e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed.
"Checks with what?" Doc asked.
"I own this storehouse," Lawn said. "This is my construction equipment here. I heard about the girl having caught the giggles when she followed a ghost to the storehouse, so I got these policemen and came to investigate. We were here only a few minutes when we-well, we got the giggles, too."
Doc Savage asked the policemen, "You searched the place?"
The cops said they had, and that they had found nothing. They added that they didn"t believe in ghosts, giggling or otherwise.
"Mind if I look around?" Doc asked.
They didn"t mind.
The bronze man moved around, pointing his flashlight at different objects. After a while, he went to the car, came back with his fingerprint paraphernalia. Birmingham Lawn trailed Doc closely, watching every move the bronze man made with hero-worshipping earnestness. Judging from his expression, Lawn expected to see a procession of miracles performed. Doc was busy trying to find prints.
At last Lawn looked disappointed when nothing startling occurred. He began to poke around for himself, ambled about aimlessly. He was drawing near the girl, Miami Davis, when he doubled over abruptly, then straightened.
"Huh!" he grunted. "Here"s something!"
Miami Davis came over and looked at it.
She emitted a strangled gasp. "Oh!" she choked. "I-dropped that!"
"But-"
"It"s mine!" The girl s.n.a.t.c.hed the object.
Lawn shrugged, looked puzzled. He walked back and devoted his energies to watching Doc Savage.
Miami Davis went to the bronze man. She had a pale, desperate expression.
"I"m sorry," she said, "but I lied to you."
Doc looked at her.
"You what?" he asked.
"I lied to you," the girl said. "I wasn"t even in this storehouse. I didn"t have any giggling fit. It"s all a lie. A big lie."
Chapter IV. WAR OVER A WATCH.
THE men gathered around the girl and stared at her in astonishment. The cops frowned, Birmingham Lawn looked amazed, and Doc Savage"s metallic features remained composed.The girl looked at them wildly.
"Don"t you understand?" she gasped. "I didn"t tell you the truth! Nothing that I told you was the truth!"
A cop shook his head skeptically.
"Then how come you went to Doc Savage with the yarn?" he asked.
The girl laughed; she seemed to get the laugh out with the greatest difficulty.
"Why wouldn"t I want to see Doc Savage?" she demanded. "He"s famous. I"ve read about him. I just-well, I wanted to see him. That"s all."
The cop began, "Now, look-"
The girl whirled and raced wildly to the storehouse door and flung through the drizzling rain, not looking back, flight her only object.
As the girl fled, she held, clenched in her right hand, the object which she had taken from Birmingham Lawn.
The policemen started to chase the girl.
"Let her go!" Doc Savage said.
"But-"
"Let her go," the bronze man repeated, but didn"t elaborate his instructions.
The cops stared at Doc, apparently wondering what his object might be.
The bronze man turned to Birmingham Lawn. "You gave the girl something?" he asked Lawn.
"You-you saw it?" Lawn seemed startled.
"Yes."
"I-it was a small article I found," Lawn explained.
"What was it?"
"It was a girl"s wrist watch. I picked it up off the floor."
"Woman"s watch?"
Lawn nodded. "It was back there in the corner where someone must have dropped it."
"And it excited the young woman?" Doc demanded.
"It did seem to," Lawn admitted.
"What do you make of it?" Doc asked him.
"Me? I-I-why-why should I make anything of it?"
The bronze man did not comment, and this seemed to confuse Birmingham Lawn.A policeman jammed his clenched fists on his hips angrily. "That girl was lyin"!" the cop said. "She was lyin" like n.o.body"s business!"