Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-29

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out into the hall.
You bone-headed young cub" I
heard the older man slowly intone to
the younger in voice of steel-cold
rage which l scarcely thought him
capable of. ! simply gathered up my
fiuted skirts and scurried down the
hall toward my own door.
l was still pink and prickly with an
afterglow Of anger as l unearthed a
coil of insulated wire from one OF the
locked drawers of my bureau trunk
and also took out the nickel pliers
which I'd used while installing my
dictaphone circuits. So slipped out
along the hall toward the back of the
wing and tiptoed down the second
stairway at it's farther end. I'd de-
cided to rewire my contact mat in
the study where the wall safe was.
But this time 1 intended to conceal
that mat under rug. across the door
way. so that my bedside buzzer would
announce the entrance of any prowler
into that room.
But this wasn't as easy as I'd first
imagined. The house, in the first
place, was huge one. The darkness,
in the second place, interfered with
my freedom of movement. And from
the gloom OF any door, I remembered,
an enemy might confront me. So it
was only after a great deal Of circling
about and barking my shins on fur
niture corners and patting along cool
walls and carved woodwork, that /
made my way to the room that held
the hidden stronghold. l stood at the
door of that room. listening intently
for several minutes before l even
ventured to step into it. Then, find-
ing myself confronted by absolute
silence, l crept inside and swung the
door shut. A moment later l switched
on the light.
Then I discovered something which
brought me up with start. 1t
prompted my right hand to slip in
under my kimono cape at the same
time that my body instinctively
sought shelter by crouching low be-
hind the heavy Florentine reading
table beside which i had stood. For
instead Of seeing n panel Of carved
mahogany, where the wall safe faced
me, l. saw something quite different
1t was an oddly constructed little
canopy of blankets covering the en-
tire front of the safe screen. Rum
ming it We're two insulated wires
which twined along the base OF the
book shelves fianking the room. They
had been concealed as far as / could
judge, with the house circuit in some
obscure corner of the study. And
at once understood that an expert
safebreaker was preparing. or had
prepared. to drill through the dial
face. insert charge of soup" and
detonate sufficiently powerful ex-
plosiVe to crumple up the inner lock.
l had my automatic in my hand as
l advanced step by step toward that
tent which. l saw. was big enough to
conceal man behind it's heavy folds.
Yet neither light nor movement came
from its depths although could
actually hear my heart beat as 1
cautiously lifted draps Of the
doubled blankets.
No one was beneath them. But
could see that the mahogany panel
had been removed from it's hinges.
could also see the glitter Of an cleo
trio drill that lay on the floor and an
extension light nesting on a chair be-
side it. On the safe front. too, could
make out a number Of chalk marks,
put there to act as guide apparent
ly, for it's prospective ravisher That
intruder. it was reasonable to believe,
had either been disturbed in his mid
night activities, or. what was more
probable. had found that the tapped
house circuit was not of sufficient
strength for his drill work. Or l my
SELF l suddenly remembered, might
have been the cause of disturbance.
There was a ponderable chance that
even at that moment l stood under
his eye.
! knew then that there was no more
time to be lost. ! was face to face
with a situation much too serious for
half measures. couldn't even afford
to act alone. wanted help. immedi-
ate and substantial help. Reluctant
as I was to rouse that whole house,
hold. ! knew that even Ferrie and l
were inadequate for this newer situa-
ton. SO ! then and there decided to
call on Benchley.
Benchley.
TO call on Benchley, however, i'm
piled knowledge of his wherea bouts.
60 the Ynonapt ia ont the