Evening star., 1922-04-08

AneehiSent account OF the
chances they were taking. Two rou-
lette tables were now going full blast,
the larger crowd still about De Longs.
Snatches of conversation came to US
now and then, and I caught one SEN
tence' DE Longs in for over a hun
ored thousand now on the weeks
play, 1 understand; poor boy-that
about cleans him up,'
The tragedy of it, Craig" 1 whis-
pered, but he did not hear.
With his hat tilted at a rakish an
ne sauntered over for a last look.
lessly
The devil-no," returned the boy.
DO you know what my advice TO
you is, the advice of man who has
Monte Carlo to Shanghsi?"
"What?"
Play until your luck changes IL it
takes until tomorrow"
A supercilious smile crossed Sena-
tor Danfield's fat face.
Il intend to-" and the haRgard Young
lace turned again to the table and for
got us.
For heavens sake, Kennedy" 1
saspeo. as we went down the stair
way, what do you mean by giving
hlm such advic&-you?"
Not SO loua, Walter. He'd have
done 1t anyhow. l suppose, but L
want him to ksep at it. This night
means life or death to Percival De
Long and his Mother, too. Come on.
lets get out of this
We passed the formidable steel
ooor and gained the street. jostled by
the late comers. who had left the
| after-theater restaurants for a few
moments of play at the famous club
! that so long had defied the police
Almost gayiy Kennedy swung along
toward Broadway. At the corner he
nesitated, glarced up and down, caught
sight of the furniture van in the mid
die of the neJt block. The driver was
tugging at the harness of the horses.
apparently fixing it. We walked
along and stopped beside it,
Drive around in front of the Ves-
per Club slowly" said Kennedy, as
| the driver at last looked up.
the van numbered ahead. and we
followed it casually. Around the
corner it turned. We turned also
NY heart was going like a sledge
| hammer as the critical moment ap-
! preached My head was in a whirl.
What would that gay throng back
| Of those darkened windows down
the street think If they knew what
was being prepared for them?
l
numbered: A man went into the
/ Vesper Club. and 1 saw the negro
at the door eye the oncoming van
suspiciously. The door banged shut.
The next thing 1 knew. Kennedy
had ripped off his disguise. had hung
swung the doors open. A dozen men
with axes and sledge hammers
swarmed out and up the steps of the
club.
Call the reserves. o'Connor," cried
Kennedy, Watch the roof and the
back yard"
The driver Of the van hastened to
send in the call.
The sharp raps of the hammers and
the axes sounded on the thick brass
quick succession. There was a scurry
Of feet inside. and We could hear a
grating noise and a terrific jar as the
inner steel door shut.
"A raid. A raid on the Vesper
Club.' shouted a belated passerby.
The crowd swarmed around from
Broadway, as il it were noon instead
of midnight.
Banging and ripping and tearing.
the outer door was slowly forced. AS
ii crashed in. the quick gongs of sew
eral police patrols sounded. The re-
serves had been called out at the
proper moment, too late for them to
tip or the club that there was 60
ing to be raid, as frequently occurs.
Disregarding the melee behind me,
leaped, through the wreckage with
the other raiders. The steel door
barred all further progress with its
cold blue impassability. How were
we to Surmount this last and most
formidable barrier?
l turned in time to SEQ Kennedy
and O'Connor hurrying up the steps
with huge tank studded with bolts,
like boiler. while TWO other men
carried a second tank.
There" ordered Craig, 'set the
oxygen there" as he placed his own
tank on the opposite side.
Out of the tanks stout tubes led,
with stopcocks and gauges at the
top. From case under his arm
kennedy produced a curious arrange
ment, like hugo hook with a curved
neck and a sharp beak. Really it
consisted of two metal tubes which
ran into a sort of cylinder. or mix
ing chamber, above the nozzle. while
parallel to them ran third separate
tube with second nozzle of it's own.
Quickly he Joined the ends of the
tubees from the tanks to the metal
hook, the oxygen tank being Joined
the second tank being Joined to the
other. With a match he touched the
nozzle gingerly. Instantly kissing.
splitting noise followed, and an in
tense, binding needle flame.
Now for the oKy-acetylene blow
pipe" cried Kennedy. as he advanced
toward the steel door. "Well make
short work Of this
Almost as he said it the steel be-
meath the blowpipe became incandes-
cent.
Just to test it, he cut off the head
of a three-quarter-inch steel rivet-
taking about a quarter of a minute
to do it. 1t was evident, though,
that that would not weaken the door
appreciably, even If the rivets were
, a starting point for the flame of the
high-pressure acetylene torch.
1t was brilliant sight. The ter
| rife heat from the first nozzle caused
the metal to glow under the torch
| as il in an open-hearth furnace.
stream of oxygen under which the hot
| metal of the door was completely con-
| sumed. The force of the blast as the
| compressed oxygen and acetylene
| were expelled carried a fine spray of
| the disintegrated metal visibly before
it made-scarcely an eighth Of an
inch wide, but clear and sharp as
| if a buzz saw were eating its way
through a three-inch plank of white
pine.
With tense muscles Kennedy held
! this terrible engine of destruction
and moved it as easily as IL it had
been a mere pencil of light. He was
easily the calmest of US all as we
| crowded about him at a respectful
| distance.
! "Acetylene, as you may know" he
hastily explained, never pausing for
| a moment in his work, sis composed
/ of carbon and hydrogen. AS it burns
| at the end of the nozzle it is broken
into carbon and hydrogen-the car
bon gives the high temperature, and
| the hydrogen forms a cone that pro-
tects the end of blowpipe from being
| itself burnt up"
/ D.,f Irnt la q Had