The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-04-10
CHAPTER xI-Continued

two small pieces Of electrical ap-
paratus screwed to the wall above the
door. One Of them he recognized as
an electric buzzer, and this, as he
thought about it, seemed rather queer.
Why wasn't it the other way around
the push button on this side and the
bu2zer in Forster's apartment? Why
should anyone already in the apart
ment have to ring door bell to get
into this public Office? The door was
locked against the Office and into the
apartment. Well then, it wasn't a
door bell.
OF course it wasn't. 1t was a signal,
and once 1t sounded in the stenogra-
piers room it seemed a reasonable in
ference that 1t was Forster's way Of
summoning stenographer. But what
good was it to buzz for her If she
couldn't get through the door? Was
the door left unlocked during office
hours? No, Forster would want to
feel better guarded against intrusion
than that.
Martin held up the lighter again in
an attempt to identify the other thing.
He had bunch that it would be worth
looking into. He'd have to have some
thing to stand on, though. The ledge
of the door was two feet above his
head. The top step wasn't wide enough
to balance chair on, but one Of those
big steel waste-paper baskets down in
the stenographers' room would prob
ably hold him up, and would just about
give him the added height he needed.
He brought one Of them up and tried
it. 1t was going to be pretty pre-
carious perch and the easy possibility
of his falling the whole length of the
flight with the basket on top of him
wasn't a pleasant one. Well, there
was no use thinking about things like
that. He'd got to have look at the
little sheet iron box that was screwed
to the wall beside the buzzer.
He got out his penknife and dropped
it, open, into the side pocket Of his
coat. It and the cigarette lighter were
all he had by way of tools. Then,
putting one foot on the rim of the
basket he made sort of spring and
clutched the top of the door frame.
He found he could hold himself with
one hand, so he got out his cigarette
lighter. lighted 1t and stood it on the
ledge made by the door frame.
He recognized the little sheet iron
box now. It was a transformer such
as he'd had when he was a small
boy to run his electric train with. The
110-volt house current came into one
side of 1t from steel cable. A pair
of low voltage wires went out the
other side, connecting with the buzzer,
but also going down through hole
in the door frame. Well, he under
stood it now. The door was held by
an electric catch such as they use for
inner vestibule doors Of apartment
houses. A button, probably on Forster's
desk, sounded the buzzer and at the
same time released the catch. The
stenographer had to get to the door
before Forster took his finger off the
button.
What afforded Martin broad grin
was the thought of Forster's precious
security being betrayed by the careless
electrician who had put the trans
former outside the locked door instead
of in. All Martin had to do was to
scrape the insulation off the wires and
close the circuit and the door would
be unlocked.
Wait minute, though. He'd have
to disconnect the buzzer first. He'd
nearly forgotten that, and he turned
cold for an instant at the narrowness
of his escape. But two minutes work
with his penknife sufficed to accom-
plish his purpose. AS he twisted the
two bare ends Of the wire into contact
he heard a sharp click which an
nounced that the door was unlocked.
He sprang down from the basket and
opened the door. Luck was still with
him. There was no one on the other
side. The whole corridor was de-
serted.
For moment after he'd closed the
door he stood still and listened. He
heard mans voice, momentarily
raised in anger; not on old mans voice
and not Conley's voice, yet again one
that he somehow felt that he should
remember. 1t guided him down the
short transverse corridor and to the
left down longer one until it brought
him to halt outside door. At that
point the words became distinguishable
and the voice identified itself at the
same time.
"Oh to hi with the three hundred
dollars! All right, took it. What
are you going to do about it?''
The speaker was Enthusiastically Max
Lewis, and it seemed equally beyond
doubt to Martin that the person he
was speaking to was Rhoda. With no
warning knock he opened the door
and STEPPED inside.
There was good deal more light
in here than in the corridor and he
had to blink his eyes into focus be-
fore he could see very well. 1t was a
girl MAXI was talking to but she wasn't
Rhoda. She was facing him and be-
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