"No, you wouldn"t," says I "May not work, at that. But we can try. She"s a reg"lar person, Miss Callahan."
Anyway, she knew right where to put her fingers on Joe Bruzinski"s card and shoots us back his mailin" address by lunch time. It"s Coffee Creek, Pa.
"What an absurd place to live in!" says Waddy. "And how on earth can we ever find it."
"Eh?" says I. "We?"
"But I couldn"t possibly get there by myself," says Waddy. "I"ve never been west of Philadelphia. Oh, yes, I"ve traveled a lot abroad, but that"s different. One hires a courier. Really, I should be lost out of New York. Besides, you know Mr. Robert said you were to--oh, there he is now. I say, Bob, isn"t Torchy to stay with me until I find Bruzinski?"
"Absolutely," says Mr. Robert, throwin" a grin over his shoulder at me as he slips by.
"Maybe he thinks that"s a life sentence," says I. "Chuck me that Pathfinder from the case behind you, will you? Now let"s see. Here we are, page 937--Coffee Creek, Pa. Inhabitants 1,500. Flag station on the Lackawanna below Wilkes-Barre. That"s in the Susquehanna valley. Must be a coal town. Chicago limited wouldn"t stop there. But we can probably catch a jitney or something from Wilkes-Barre. Just got time to make the 1:15, too. Come on. Lunch on train."
I expect Waddy ain"t been jumped around so rapid before in his whole career. I allows him only time enough to lay in a fresh supply of cigarettes on the way to the ferry and before he"s caught his breath we are sittin" in the dinin" car zoomin" through the north end of New Jersey. I tried to get him interested in the scenery as we pounded through the Poconos and galloped past the Water Gap, but it couldn"t be done. When he gets real set on anything it seems Waddy has a single track mind.
"I trust he still has that ring," he remarks.
"That"ll ride until we"ve found your ex-top sergeant," says I. "What was his line before he went in the army--plumber, truck driver, or what?"
Waddy hadn"t the least idea. Not having been mixed up in industry himself, he hadn"t been curious. Now that I mentioned it he supposed Joe had done something for a living. Yes, he was almost sure. He had noticed that Joe"s hands were rather rough and calloused.
"What would that indicate?" asks Waddy.
"Most anything," says I, "from the high cost of gloves to a strike of lady manicures. Don"t strain your intellect over it, though. If he"s still in Coffee Creek there shouldn"t be much trouble findin" him."
Which was where I took a lot for granted. When we piled off the express at Wilkes-Barre I charters a flivver taxi, and after a half hour"s drive with a speed maniac who must have thought he was pilotin" a DeHaviland through the clouds we"re landed in the middle of this forsaken, one horse dump, consistin" of a double row of punk tenement blocks and a sprinklin" of near-beer joints that was givin" their last gasp. I tried out three prominent citizens before I found one who savvied English.
"Sure!" says he. "Joe Bruzinski? He must be the mine boss by Judson"s yet. First right hand turn you take and keep on the hill up."
"Until what?" says I.
"Why, Judson"s operation--the mine," says he. "Can"t miss. Road ends at Judson"s."
Uh-huh. It did. High time, too. A road like that never should be allowed to start anywhere. But the flivver negotiated it and by luck we found the mine superintendent in the office--a grizzled, chunky little Welshman with a pair of shrewd eyes. Yes, he says Bruzinski is around somewhere. He thinks he"s down on C level plotting out some new contracts for the night shift.
"What luck!" says Waddy. "I say, will you call him right up?"
"That I will, sir," says the superintendent, "if you"ll tell me how."
"Why," says Waddy, "couldn"t you--er--telephone to him, or send a messenger?"
It seems that can"t be done. "You might try shouting down, the shaft though," says the Welshman, with a twinkle in his eyes.
Waddy would have gone hoa.r.s.e doin" it, too, if I hadn"t given him the nudge. "Wake up," says I. "You"re being kidded."
"But see here, my man----" Waddy begins.
"Mr. Llanders is the name," says the superintendent a bit crisp.
"Ah, yes. Thanks," says Waddy. "It is quite important, Mr. Llanders, that I find Bruzinski at once."
"Mayhap he"ll be up by midnight for a bite to eat," says Llanders.
"Then we"ll just have to go down where he is," announces Waddy.
Llanders stares at him curious. "You"d have an interesting time doing that, young man," says he; "very interesting."
"But I say," starts in Waddy again, which was where I shut him off.
"Back up, Waddy," says I, "before you bug the case entirely. Let me ask Mr. Llanders where I can call up your good friend Judson."
"That I couldn"t rightly say, sir," says Llanders. "It might be one place, and it might be another. Maybe they"d know better at the office of his estate in Scranton, but as he"s been dead these eight years----"
"Check!" says I. "It would have been a swell bluff if it had worked though, wouldn"t it?"
Llanders indulges in a grim smile. "But it didn"t," says he.
"That"s the sad part," says I, "for Mr. Fiske here is in a great stew to see this Bruzinski party right away. There"s a lady in the case, as you might know; one they met while they were soldierin" abroad. So if there"s any way you could fix it for them to get together----"
"Going down"s the only way," says Llanders, "and that"s strictly against orders."
"Except on a pa.s.s, eh?" says I. "Lucky we brought that along. Waddy, slip it to Mr. Llanders. No, don"t look stupid. Feel in your right hand vest pocket. That"s it, one of those yellow-backed ones with a double X in the corners. Ah, here! Don"t you know how to present a government pa.s.s?" And I has to take it away from him and tuck it careless into the superintendent"s coat pocket.
"Of course," says Llanders, "if you young gentlemen are on official business, it makes a difference."
"Then let"s hurry along," says Waddy, startin" impatient.
"Dressed like that?" says Llanders, starin" at Waddy"s Fifth Avenue costume. "I take it you"ve not been underground before, sir?"
"Only in the subway," says Waddy.
"You"ll find a coal mine quite unlike the subway," says Llanders. "I think we can fix you up for it, though."
They did. And when Waddy had swapped his frock coat for overalls and jumper, and added a pair of rubber boots and a greasy cap with an acetylene lamp stuck in the front of it he sure wouldn"t have been recognized even by his favorite waiter at the club. I expect I looked about as tough, too. And I"ll admit that all this preparation seemed kind of foolish there in the office. Ten minutes later I knew it wasn"t.
Not a bit.
"Do we go down in a car or something?" asks Waddy.
"Not if you go with me," says Llanders. "We"ll walk down Slope 8. Before we start, however, it will be best for me to tell you that this was a drowned mine."
"Listens excitin"," says I. "Meanin" what?"
"Four years ago the creek came in on us," says Llanders, "flooded us to within ten feet of the shaft mouth. We lost only a dozen men, but it was two years before we had the lower levels clear. We manage to keep it down now with the pumps, Bruzinski is most likely at the further end of the lowest level."
"Is he?" says Waddy. "I must see him, you know."
Whether he took in all this about the creek"s playful little habits or not I don"t know. Anyway, he didn"t hang back, and while I"ve started on evenin" walks that sounded a lot pleasanter I wasn"t going to duck then.
If Waddy could stand it I guessed I could.