10 Story Detective, July 1942 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

eS more than an hour ago, and now it’s gone.” “Then it has something to do with all this,” Stuart mused. “The fact that it was stolen also goes further to indicate someone else is in or near this house. I’m going to search the estate. Neither of you will leave the house and stay in the same room, will you? I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Stuart circled the house and kept one hand gt ied to the butt of his gun. He examined the garages and found nothing. The car motors were stone cold. HERE was a small toolhouse far at the rear of the estate and rather close to the cliff against which the surf was methodically pounding. Inside the toolhouse Stuart discov- ered four bags of cement and a pile of sand. From marks on the floor he knew that two bags of cement had been very recently removed and the sand dug into. Maybe Meredith and Terry had acquired a couple of con- crete caskets. There were several coils of rope, too, and a number of tools. Stuart paid little attention to these. He shut off his flashight and walked quietly toward the brink of the clifl Far be- low he could see the rocky shore. The tide was just beginning to come in. He lay prone and stuck his head over the edge. About thirty feet be- low he could see a smali ledge. His flash bathed it in light and he knew that behind that ledge was a cave of some sort. He checked the ground where he lay, for footprints, but found none. It was so packed and stony that only the deepest would have been ceen anyhow. The cave intrigued him. There was a perfect spot to hide the two missing bodies. At least it warranted an in- vestigation. Stuart hurried back to the toolhouse, took a coil of rope and returned to the cliff’s edge. He tied one end of the rope around a big 10-STORY DETECTIVE—_——_———_- rock, lowered the rest of it and saw that it reached beyond the ledge. After a careful look around, he stuffed the flash into his pocket, took a firm grip on the rope and let him- self over the edge. Heights had al- ways bothered him and he resolutely reiused to glance down. Foot by foot he descended while sweat poured over his face. If anyone was inside that cave and heard him, a good yank at the rope would send him swinging so violently he’d be bound to lose his grip and fall to certain death. Then his feet touched the ledge and he gave a sigh of relief. A mo- ment later he was crouched on the ledge, just outside the cave. He drew both gun and flash before he moved inside the intensely dark cavern. His flash cut away some of the darkness and he realized just how large a place it was. Kerrigan’s entire house could have fitted into it without much trouble. Listening, Stuart heard no sound and decided he’d picked a lemon this time. But, having gone this far, he had to investigate as much of the cavern as possible. Step by step he advanced, using his flash all the time. Directly across the huge main room, he saw a smaller opening that led deeper into the cliffside. Something warned Stuart that he was playing with danger, told him to retreat until more help arrived. There were places here where twen- ty men could hide with ease. But his gun was comfortably heavy in his fist and the flashlight helped immeas- urably, so Stuart kept on going. He reached the opening to another cav- ern, wriggled through it and found himself in a narrow passage about ten feet long. His flash showed that it led into a smaller cave. TUART reached the end of the passage, took a single step be- yond it and something that felt like a thick club came down on his left wrist, The flashlight was forcibly hurled to the stone fleor where it MIGoOo (C(O) S (C(O) im