by Unknown
"This is evidently their landing place," whispered Dr. Bird. "The nextthing to find is their hiding place."
* * * * *
He rose and started forward but sank at once to the ground and draggedCarnes down with him. On the hill which formed the opposite side ofthe hollow a line of light showed for an instant as though a door hadbeen opened. The light disappeared and then reappeared, and as theywatched it widened and against an illuminated background four menappeared, carrying a fifth. The door shut behind them and they madetheir way slowly toward the waiting globe. They laid down their burdenand one of them turned a flash-light on the globe and opened a door inits side through which they hoisted their burden. They all entered theglobe, the door closed and with a slight whirring sound it rose in theair and moved rapidly toward the northeast.
"That's the place we're looking for," muttered Dr. Bird. "We'll goaround this hollow and look for it. Be careful where you step; theymust have ventilation somewhere if their laboratory is underground."
Followed by the secret service operative, the doctor made his wayalong the edge of the hollow. They did not dare to show a light and itwas slow work feeling their way forward, inch by inch. When they hadreached a point above where the doctor thought the light had been hepaused.
"There must be a ventilation shaft somewhere around here," hewhispered, his mouth not an inch from Carnes' ear, "and we've got tofind it. It would never do to try the door; if any of them are stillhere it is sure to be guarded. You go up the hill for five yards andI'll go down. Quarter back and forth on a two hundred yard front andwork carefully. Don't fall in, whatever you do. We'll return to thispoint every time we pass it and report."
The operative nodded and walked a few yards up the hill and made hisway slowly forward. He went a hundred yards as nearly as he couldjudge and then stepped five yards further up the hill and made his wayback. As he passed the starting point he approached and Dr. Bird'sfigure rose up.
"Any luck?" he whispered.
Dr. Bird shook his head.
"Well try further," he said. "I think it is probably beyond us, sosuppose you go fifteen yards up and quarter the same as before."
* * * * *
Carnes nodded and stole silently away. Fifteen yards up the hill hewent and then paused. He stood on the crest of the hill and before himwas a steep, almost precipitous slope. He made his way along the edgefor a few yards and then paused. Faintly he could detect a murmur ofvoices. Inch by inch he crept forward, going over the ground underfoot. He paused and listened intently and decided that the sound mustcome from the slope beneath him. A glance at his watch told him thathe had spent ten minutes on this trip and he made his way back to themeeting place.
Dr. Bird was waiting for him, and in a low whisper Carnes reported hisdiscovery. The doctor went back with him and together they renewed thesearch. The slope of the hill was almost sheer and Carnes lookeddubiously over the edge.
"I wish we had brought the parachutes," he whispered to the doctor."We could have taken the ropes off them and you could have lowered meover the edge."
Dr. Bird chuckled softly and tugged at his middle. Carnes watched himwith astonishment in the dim light, but he understood when Dr. Birdthrust the end of a strong but light silk cord into his hands. Helooped it under his arms and the doctor with whispered instructions,lowered him over the cliff. The doctor lowered him for a few feet andthen stopped in response to a jerk on the free end. A moment laterCarnes signaled to be drawn up and soon stood beside the doctor.
"That's the place all right," he whispered. "The whole cliff iscovered with creepers and there is a tree growing right close to it.If we can anchor the cord here, I think that we can slide down to asafe hold on the tree."
A tree stood near and the silk cord was soon fastened. Carnesdisappeared over the cliff and in a few moments Dr. Bird slid down thecord to join him. He found the detective seated in the crotch of atree only a few feet from the face of the cliff. From the cliff came apronounced murmur of voices. Dr. Bird drew in his breath in excitementand moved forward along the branch. He touched the stone and after amoment of searching he cautiously raised one corner of a paintedcanvas flap and peered into the cliff. He watched for a few secondsand then slid back and silently pulled Carnes toward him.
* * * * *
Together the two men made their way toward the cliff and Dr. Birdraised the corner of the flap and they peered into the hill. Beforethem was a cave fitted up as a cross between a laboratory and ahospital. Almost directly opposite them and at the left of a door inthe farther wall was a ray machine of some sort. It was a puzzle toCarnes, and even Dr. Bird, although he could grasp the principle at aglance, was at a loss to divine its use. From a set of coils attachedto a generator was connected a tube of the Crookes tube type with therays from it gathered and thrown by a parabolic reflector onto thespace where a man's head would rest when he was seated in a whitemetal chair with rubber insulated feet, which stood beneath it. Anoperating table occupied the other side of the room while a gascylinder and other common hospital apparatus stood around ready foruse.
Seated at a table which occupied the center of the room were threemen. The sound of their voices rose from an indistinct murmur toaudibility as the flap was raised and the watchers could readilyunderstand their words. Two of them sat with their faces toward themain entrance and the third man faced them. Carnes bit his lip as helooked at the man at the head of the table. He was twisted andmisshapen in body, a grotesque dwarf with a hunched back, not overfour feet in height. His massive head, sunken between his hunchedshoulders, showed a tremendous dome of cranium and a brow wider andeven higher than Dr. Bird's. The rest of his face was lined and drawnas though by years of acute suffering. Sharp black eyes glaredbrightly from deep sunk caverns. The dwarf was entirely bald; even thebushy eyebrows which would be expected from his face, were missing.
* * * * *
"They ought to be getting back," said the dwarf sharply.
"If they get back at all," said one of the two figures facing him.
"What do you mean?" growled the dwarf, his eyes glittering ominously."They'll return all right; they know they'd better."
"They'll return if they can, but I tell you again, Slavatsky, I thinkit was a piece of foolishness to try to take two men in one night. Wegot Bird all right, but it is getting late for a second one, and theyhad to take Bird over a hundred miles and then go nearly three hundredmore for Williams. The news about Bird may have been discovered andspread and others may be looking out for us. Carnes might haverecovered."
"Didn't he get a full dose of lethane?"
"So Frick says, and Bird certainly had a full dose, but I can't helpbut feel uneasy. Our operations were going too nicely on schedule andyou had to break it up and take on an extra case in the same night asa scheduled one. I tell you, I don't like it."
"I'm sorry that I did it, Carson, but only because the results were sopoor. We had planned on Williams for a month and I wanted him. AndBird was so easy that I couldn't resist it."
"And what did you get? Not as much menthium as would have come from anordinary bookkeeper."
"I'll admit that Bird is a grossly overrated man. He must have workedin sheer luck in his work in the past, for there was nothing in hisbrain to show it above average. We got barely enough menthium toreplace what we used in capturing him."
"We ought to have taken Carnes and left Bird alone," snorted Carson."Even a wooden-headed detective ought to have given us a better supplythan Bird yielded."
"We are bound to meet with disappointments once in a while. I hadmarked Bird down long ago as soon as I could get a chance at him."
"Well, you ran that show, Slavatsky, but I'll warn you that we aren'tgoing to let you pull off another one like it. I take no more crazychances, even on your orders."
* * * * *
The hunchback rose to his feet, his eyes glittering ominously.
"What do you mean, Carson?" he asked slowly, his hand slipping behindhim as he spoke.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" protested the third man rising, "we are alltoo deep in this to quarrel. Sit down and let's talk this over. Carsonis just worried."
"What is there to be worried about?" grunted the dwarf as he slid backinto his chair. "Everything has gone nicely so far and no suspicionhas been raised."
"Maybe it has and then again maybe it hasn't," growled Carson. "Ithink this Bird episode to-night looks bad. In the first place, itcame too opportunely and too easily. In the second place Bird shouldhave yielded more menthium, and in the third place, did you notice hishands? They weren't the type of hands to expect on a man of his type."
"Nonsense, they were acid stained."
"Acid stains can be put on. It may be all right, but I am worried.While we are talking about this matter, there is another thing I wantcleared up."
"What is it?"
"I think, Slavatsky, that you are holding out on us. You are gettingmore than your share of the menthium."
Again the dwarf leaped to his feet, but the peace-maker intervened.
"Carson has a right to look at the records, Slavatsky," he said. "I amsatisfied, but I'd like to look at them, too. None of us have seenthem for two months."
The dwarf glared at first one and then the other.
"All right," he said shortly and limped to a cabinet on the wall. Hedrew a key from his pocket and opened it and pulled out aleather-bound book. "Look all you please. I was supposed to get themost. It was my idea."
"You were to get one share and a half, while Willis, Frink and I gotone share each and the rest half a share," said Carson. "I know howmuch has been given and it won't take me but a minute to check up."
* * * * *
He bent over the book, but Willis interrupted.
"Better put it away, Carson," he said, "here come the rest and wedon't want them to know we suspect anything."
He pointed toward a disc on the wall which had begun to glow.Slavatsky looked at it and grasped the book from Carson and replacedit in the cabinet. He moved over and started the generator and thetube began to glow with a violet light. A noise came from the outsideand the door opened. Four men entered carrying a fifth whom theypropped up in the chair under the glowing tube.
"Did everything go all right?" asked the dwarf eagerly.
"Smooth as silk," replied one of the four. "I hope we get some resultsthis time."
The dwarf bent over the ray apparatus and made some adjustments andthe head of the unconscious man was bathed with a violet glow. Forthree minutes the flood of light poured on his head and then the dwarfshut off the light and Carson and Willis lifted the figure and laid iton the operating table. The dwarf bent over the man and inserted theneedle of a hypodermic syringe into the back of the neck at the baseof the brain. The needle was an extremely long one, and Dr. Birdgasped as he saw four inches of shining steel buried in the brain ofthe unconscious man.
Slowly Slavatsky drew back the plunger of the syringe and Dr. Birdcould see it was being filled with an amber fluid. For two minutes theslow work continued, until a speck of red appeared in the glasssyringe barrel.
"Seven and a half cubic centimeters!" cried the dwarf in a tone ofdelight.
"Fine!" cried Carson. "That's a record, isn't it?"
"No, we got eight once. Now hold him carefully while I return some ofit."
* * * * *
Slavatsky slowly pressed home the plunger and a portion of the amberfluid was returned to the patient's skull. Presently he withdrew theneedle and straightened up and held it toward the light.
"Six centimeters net," he announced. "Take him back, Frink. I'll giveCarson and Willis their share now and we'll take care of the rest ofyou when you return. Is the ship well stocked?"
"Enough for two or three more trips."
"In that case, I'll inject this whole lot. Better get going, Frink,it's pretty late."
The four men who had brought the patient in stepped forward and liftedhim from the table and bore him out. Dr. Bird dropped the canvasscreen and strained his ears. A faint whir told him that the globe hadtaken to the air. He slid back along the limb of the tree until hetouched the rope and silently climbed hand over hand until he gainedthe crest. He bent his back to the task of raising Carnes, and theoperative soon stood beside him on the ledge surmounting the cliff.
"What on earth were they doing?" asked Carnes in a whisper.
"That was Professor Williams of Yale. They were depriving him of hismemory. There will be another amnesia case in the papers to-morrow. Ihaven't time to explain their methods now: we've got to act. You havea flash-light?"
"Yes, and my gun. Shall we break in? There are only three of them, andI think we could handle the lot."
"Yes, but the others may return at any time and we want to bag thewhole lot. They've done their damage for to-night. You heard my ordersto Lieutenant Maynard, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"He should be somewhere in these hills to the south with assistance ofsome sort. The signal to them is three long flashes followed in turnby three short ones and three more long. Go and find them and bringthem here. When you get close give me the same light signal and don'ttry to break in unless I am with you. I am going to reconnoitre alittle more and make sure that there is no back entrance through whichthey can escape. Good luck. Carnes: hurry all you can. There is notime to be lost."
* * * * *
The secret service operative stole away into the night and Dr. Birdclimbed back down the rope and took his place at the window. Willislay on the operating table unconscious, while Slavatsky and Carsonstudied the now partially emptied syringe.
"You gave him his full share all right," Carson was saying. "I guessyou are playing square with us. I'll take mine now."
He lay down on the operating table and the dwarf fitted an anesthesiacone over his face and opened the valve of the gas cylinder. In amoment he closed it and rolled the unconscious man on his face anddeftly inserted the long needle. Instead of injecting a portion of thecontents of the syringe as Dr. Bird had expected to do, he drew backon the plunger for a minute and then took out the needle and held thesyringe to the light.
"Well, Mr. Carson," he said with a malignant glance at the unconsciousfigure, "that recovers the dose you got a couple of weeks ago whileWillis watched me. I don't think you really need any menthium; yourbrain is too active to suit me as it is."
He gave an evil chuckle and walked to the far side of the cave andopened a secret panel. He drew from a recess a flask and carefullyemptied a portion of the contents of the syringe into it. He replacedthe flask and closed the panel, and with another chuckle he limpedover to a chair and threw himself down in it. For an hour he satmotionless and Dr. Bird carefully worked his way back along the branchand climbed the rope and started for the hollow.
* * * * *
A faint whirring noise attracted his attention, and he could see thefaintly luminous globe in the distance, rapidly approaching. It cameto a stop at the spot where it had previously landed and four men gotout. Instead of going toward the cave, they towed the globe, whichfloated a few inches from the earth, toward the side of the hillfarthest from where the doctor stood. Three of them held it, while thefourth went forward and bent over some controls on the ground. Acreaking sound came through the night and the men moved forward withthe globe. Presently its movement stopped and men reappeared. Againcame the creaking sound and the glow faded out as though a screen hadbeen drawn in front of it. The four men walked toward the door of thecave.
Dr. Bird dropped flat on the ground and saw them pause a few yardsbelow him on the hill and again work some hidden controls. A glare oflight showed for an instant and they disappeared and everything wasagain quiet. Dr. Bird debated the advisability of returning to thewindow but decided against it and moved down the face of the hill.
Inch by inch he went over the ground, but found nothing. In t
hedarkness he could not locate the door and he made his way around tothe back of the hill. The precipice loomed above him and he swept itwith his gaze, but he could locate no opening in the darkness and hedared not use a flash-light. As he turned he faced the east and notedwith a start of surprise that the sky was getting red. He glanced athis watch and found that Carnes had been gone for nearly three hours.
"Great Scott!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Time has gone faster than Irealized. He ought to be back at any time now."
* * * * *
He mounted the highest point of the hill and sent three long flashes,followed in turn by three short and three more long to the south andwatched eagerly for an answer. He waited five minutes and repeated thesignal, but no answering flashes came from the empty hills. With agrunt which might have meant anything, he turned and made his waytoward the opposite side of the hollow where the globe haddisappeared. Here he met with more luck. He had marked the locationwith extreme care and he had not spent over twenty minutes feelingover the ground before his hand encountered a bit of metal. As hepulled on it his eyes sought the side of the hill.
The dawn had grown sufficiently bright for him to see the result ofhis action. A portion of the hill folded back and the faintly glowingship became visible. With a muttered exclamation of triumph heapproached it.
The globe was about nine feet in diameter and was without visibledoors or windows. Around and around it the doctor went, searching foran entrance. The ship now rested solidly on the ground. He failed tofind what he sought and his sensitive hands began to go over itsearching for an irregularity. He had covered nearly half of it beforehis finger found a hidden button and pressed it. Silently a door inthe side of the craft opened and he advanced to enter.
"Keep them up!" said a sharp voice behind him.
Dr. Bird froze into instant immobility and the voice spoke again.
"Turn around!"
Dr. Bird turned and looked full into the eye of a revolver held by theman the dwarf had addressed as Frink. Behind Frink stood the dwarf andthree other men.