Evening star., 1922-04-08

&C" people, returned, hotly resent
ing the criticism Of Kennedy. Ken
| nedy affected not to hear.
When l shut off the oxygen in this
| secohd jet, he resumed, as II nothing
mad been said, you see the torch
merely heats the steel. / can get a
heat of approximately sixty-three
hundred degrees Fahrenheit. and the
Name name wiz exert a pressure of fifty
pounds TO the square inch.'
Wonderfuli' exclaimed O'Connor.
who had not heard the remark OF
ms subordinate and was watching
with undissuised admiration. Ken
nedy. how did you ever think of such
| a thing"
Why, it's used for welding, you
Know, answered Craig, as he con-
tlhueo TO work calmly in the grow
ing excitement. Il first saw IL in
actual use in mending a cracked CYL
liloer IN an automobile. The cylln-
DER was repaired without being taken
out at all. I've seen it weld new teeth
ana build up old worn teeth On gear
ing. as good as new"
he paused to let US see the ter
rincally heated metal under the flame
You remember when We were
taking on the drive about the raid
| oCohnor! carload of scrap iron
went by on the railroad below US
they use this blowpipe TO cut it up
frequently That's what gave me the
IDEA: See, l turn on the oxygen now
IN this second nozzle. The bIowpipe
Is no longer an Instrument for join-
! ing metals together. but for cutting
, them asunder. The steel burns Just
you, perhaps, have Seen watch
spring Durn IN d jar of oxygen. Steel
! nara or soft, tempered, annealeG
chrome or Harveyized, ii all burns
Just as fast and just as easily. And
It's cheap, too. This raid may cost
a couple of dollars. as far as tfe
ence from the thousands of dollars
loss that would follow an attenpt TO
blow the door in
Ihe last remark was directed
fHIlefly gu bya at no,, the doubting detective
IN awestruck aniazement as IN
torch slowly, inexorably, traced a
thin line along the edge Of the door
minute after minute sped by. as
lne line burned by the blowpipe cut
seemed hours to me. Was Kennedy
gong TO slit the whole door and ler
II fall in with a crash?
NO. could see that even in his
cursory examination OF the door he
mad gained pretty good knowledfa
Of the location of the bolts efnbedde,I
IN the steel One after another n.
was cutting clear through and sever
ing them. as If with a superhuman
knife. al
he
side of the door. / wondered. couId
scarcely imagine the CONSERVATION
trap.
With quick motion Kennedy turn
ed on the acetylene and oxygen Tbe
last bolt had been severed, A genti..
push of the hand. and he swung the
once impregnable door on its deli
cately poised hinges as easily as il
ne mad merely said, open sesame
Inc ronoers cave yawned before US
we made rush UP the stairs
Kennedy was first. O'Connor next. and
myself scarcely step behind. with
| heels.
l think we all prepared for some
Sort OF gun play, for the crooks were
desperate characters, and mvself
was surprised to encounter nothing
out physical force. which was quickly
overcome.
In the now disordered richness Of
the rooms. waving his "John Doc"
warrants in one hand and his pisrol
in the other. O'Connor shouted
You're all under arrest. gentlemen.
II you resist further it will go hard
with you"
Crowded now in one end o, tho
room in speechless amazement was
the late gay party Of gamblers. in
Guiding Senator Danfield himself
Ihey had reckoned on coping with
diis cHdHCes Dut THIS The pale
white face of DeLong among them
was like A specter, as he stood star
ing blankly about and still insane!y
twisting the roulette wheel before
| him.
Kennedy advanced toward the ia
Bile with an AK which he had seized
from one of our men. A well direct
ed blow shattered the mechanism of
the delicate wheel
"DeLong," he said. I'm not going
n ~o1 IL
fessor at the university nor like your
recent friend the Frenchman. with a
system. This is what you have been
up against. my boy. Look"
HIS forefnger indicated an ingen-
ioud but now tangled and twisted Sc
ries' of minute wires and electro
magnets in the broken wheel before
US Delicate brushes led the current
into the wheel. With another blow
of his AK Craig disclosed wires run
ming down through the leg of the
table to the floor and under the car
pet to buttons operated by the man
who ran the game.
"Wh-what does it mean?" asked
DeLong blankly.
1T means that you had little enough
chance to win at a straight game OF
roulette. But the wheel is rarely
straight. even with all the odds in
favor of the bank, as they are. This
game was electrically controlled.
by what IS sometimes called th-
mules ear and other devices You
can't win. These wires and magnets
can be made 10 attract the little ball
into any pocket the operator desires.
Each one of those pockets contains
a little electro-magnet. One set OF
magnets in the red pockets is con-
nected with one button under the
carpet and battery. The other set
in the black pockets is connected
y lar hut 4 . ha f.s.s
This ball is not really of platinum.
Platinum is non-magnetic. 1t is sim
ply soft iron hollow ball plated
with platinum. Whichever set of
electro-magnets is energized attracts
the ball, and by this simple method
it is in the power of the operator to
let the ball go TO red or black. as he
may wish. Other similar arrange
ments control the odd or even, and
other combinations from other push
care of that IL freak. There isn'i
an honest gambling machine in the
whole place. might almost say the
whole city. The whole thing is
crooked from start to finish-the
men. the machines, the
THAT machine could he made Ia
beat me by turning upon a run Of
IL any number of times. or red or
| black. or odd or even. over 'lS or
| under 1s,' or anything"
Anything, DeLong.
And / never had a chance" he re-
peated. meditatively lingering the
wires. They broke me tonight.
Danfield'-DeLong turned. looking
dazedly about in the crowd for his
! former friend then his hand shot into
his pocket, and little ivory-handled
pistol flashed out-"Danfield. your
| blood is on your own head. You
have ruined me-
| Kennedy must have been expecting
\ something of the sort. for he seized