Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-27

with me all that has happened? Who could
be my mate and face the future as you're
doing? Oh if you only understood my
estimate of you!
But now let's get atlthose records again.
Times passing, and there must be still no
end of things to do! !"
He recovered his ak, and with another
blow demolished the last fragment of the
staple so that by no possibility could the
door catch again.
Then for the second time they pene-
trated the crypt and the tunnel and once
more reached the alcove of the records.
Beatrice -
What is it, Allan?"
Look! Gone--all gone"
Gone? why, what do you mean?
They re"
Gone / tell you, My God Just a
mass of rubbish powder, dust
"But-but how"
THE concussion of the AK That must
have done it The violent sound-waves---
the air in commoton"'
But, Allan, it can't be Surely there
must be something left :"
You see?"
He pointed at the shelves. She stood
and peered, with him, at the sad havoc
wrought there. Then she stretched out a
tentative finger and stirred little Of the
detritus
Catastrophe !" she cried.
"Yes and no. At any rate, it may have
been inevitable"
.Inevitable?".
He nodded.
Even IL this hadn't happened. Beatrice
I'm afraid we never could have moved any
OF these parchments, or read them, or ham
died them in any way. Perhaps if we'd
had all kinds of proper appliances, glass
plates, transparent adhesives and so on
and year or two at our disposal we
might have made something out of them,
but even so, it's doubtful,
"Of course, in detective stories, Hawk
shaw can take the ashes right out of the
crate and piece them together and pour
chemicals on them and decipher the mys-
terry of the lost rubies, and all that. But
this isn't a story, you see and what's more
Hawkshaw doesn't have to work with ashes
nearly thousand years old. Ten CEN
turies of ry-rot-that's some problem :"
She stood aghast, hardly able to believe
her eyes.
But - but" she finally articulated,
there's the other cache out there in Medi-
cine Bow Range. The cave, you know
And we have the bearings. And some time
when we've got all the leisure in the world
and all the necessary appliances"
Eyes, perhaps. Although. of course you
realize the earth is seventeen degrees ont
of its normal plane, and every reckoning's
shifted. Still, it's possibility. But for
tho present there's strictly nothing doing,
after ALL"
"How about that leaden chest?"
She wheeled about and pointed AT the
other side of the alcove, where stood the
metal box, sulen defiant, secure
by Jove, that's so. too Why. I'd all
but forgotten that You're a brick, Beta
The box, by all means. Perhaps the most
important things Of all are still in safety
there. Who knows?"
"Open it, Allan, and let's ee,'
Her recent terror almost forgotten in this
new excitement, the girl had begun to get
back some of her splendid color And now
as she stood gazing at the metal chest
which STILL perhaps, held the most vital eof
the records, she felt again a thrill Of ey-
element at thought of all its possibiIities
The man, too, gazed at it with keen emo
ton
We've got to be careful this time Bea-
trice J! said he No more mistakes II we
lose the contents of this chest heaven onIv
knows when we may be able to get anotber
glimpse into the past Frankly, the ioh
of opening it, without running the contents
looks pretty stiff Still, with care il NAV
against hereG' w
He took the torch from her and mnuto,,,
examined the leaden casket eiS
1t stood on the concrete floor. massive
and solid, about three and a half feet bigb
py HNe lois anu Iouf wide. So far h.
could see there were neither locks No.
hinges. The cover seemed to have been har
meticaly sealed on Still visible were ,ha
marks Of the soldering iron, in a ragged ,,no
about three inches from theNop. s'
The only way to get in here is to emf
1t open," said Allan at last, "If we had
any means of melting the solder that womtS
be better of course, but there's no wav
to heat a tool in this crypt take IL the
men who did this work had plumbers
gasoline torch or something of that sort
We have virtually nothing. AS for building
fire in here and heating one of the aero.
plane tools. that's out of the question, n
would stifie us both. No, we must cut
That's the best We can do"
He drew his hunting knife from its sheath
and, giving the torch back to Beatrice. knelt
by the chest. Close under the line OF SOL
dering he dug the blade into the soft metal
and, boring with It. soon made a punctnre
through the leaden sheet
only quarter of an inch thick, ba
announced with satisfaction. This ouehtn't
to be such, q bad job!"
Z. Already he was At work. with infanife "a ~
~ 's<'s e s3oeS = 5er re precious centensS