The Washington times., 1920-09-12

nrst anu leu tne way aiohs the cor
ridor. There was a turn at right
angles. At the last door of the
turn he stopped and produced a
Yale key to which was attached a
metal tab. The door was TO all
appearances exactly the same as
the other doors OF the corridor
except for its number, which was
727. Swandleton inserted the latch
key, turned II and then put his
shoulder to the door. Behind his
shoulder was the entire weight and
strength of his bocy.
The door swung slowly open
very slowly Prince Mpak gasped
with admiration as he perceived its
structure.
The wooden exterior, with It's
raneling, its handle and It's number,
was a mere blind-an outer cover
ing fitted on to the door itself,
which was Of massive eight-inch
steel.
hO ihSh OhtOiO iOu NhO ioom
"a sitting room sparsely furnished.
wholly out Of keeping with the
ornate style Of the Astorbilt. A
table, two upright chairs, one arm
chair and a writing table completed
its equipment. In the wall opposite
the door folding doors gave on to q
bedroom, furnished with the same
note of simplicity. Instead of q
bathroom the bath itself was
plainly visible behind its screen In
the bedroom.
This Is your suite, Prince" said
Swandleton. 1T Is very simple, as
you perceive. But l think you will
sleep more comfortably here than
elsewhere. And, Of course, you un-
derstand the reason why"
"Assuredly," said the Prince,
with a nervous glance over his
shoulder as his two equerry-secre-
taries entered the room. followed
Immediately by six men, recogniza-
BILE to the initiated as plain-clothes
men. The six men, divided into
pairs. were carrying between them
three large iron chests, which they
deposited silently. one on top OF
the other, In the bedroom and i'm.
mediately withdrew. The two
equerry-secretaries remained.
Almost Immediately hotel SER
wants appeared with the Princes
personal luggage.
AS soon as the hotel servants had
Withdrawn the Prince introduced
his equerries to the manager OF the
Astorbilt. When the introductions
were complete Inspector Dolan
said:
MAY I suggest that you explain
the mechanism OF that door to His
Excellency. Mr.. Swandleton?"
Certainly" replied the manager.
And then to the Prince: "You can
see what the sides of this door are
like. The walls, the floor and the
roof Of these apartments are OF ex-
actly the same structure. The two
rooms, in fact, are simply huge
safe. The windows, which, as you
perceive, are narrow, are heavily
barred. I will show you how to
open and close the door"
AS he spoke he again put his
shoulder to the door and gradually
forced it shut.
at is now merely on the Yale
latch" explained the manager, land
can be opened from the outside as
you saw me open it just now"
He pulled a brass knob lever on
the door and there came the sound
Of well-oiled bolts slipping into
place.
"Now," said the manager proudly,
at cannot be opened from the out
side at all That is to say" he
added. "a gang OF expert safe me-
chanics, using the latest imple-
ments known to science, could not
open 1t in less than forty-eight
hours. A bomb hurled against it
would produce no effect whatever.
II by any inconceivable chance the
mechanism OF this door we're to
break at this moment all Of us who
are in this room would be CON-
pletely cut off from the rest OF the
world for forty-eight hours"
More than that I should say. Mr..
Swandleton. for none would know
we were missing until tomorrow
morning"
"Oh, no, Mr.. Dolan." corrected
the manager. "There's the tele-
phone.
On the writing table was an or
dinary telephone receiver.
That telephone" said the man
.ger to the Prince, sis connected
with our private exchange. Through
it you can give your orders for
your personal comfort-order your
meals and so forth. There is one
point would impress on you, how
ever. Say, for example, you were
to order your breakfast at nine
o'clock, It would be necessary for
you to open the door at the time
you had specified, for the servants
could not be heard knocking on
the door. You could not hear a re-
volver shot fred in the corridor
The Prince listened with steadily
growing approval to the managers
explanation.
81 thank you, Mr.. Swandleton,'
n a u.