Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 1 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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32 and gave him a smile and a nod. ‘A clatter on the wire told him the man had hung up. Goodwin leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He was satisfied now that his caller was indeed the clever, mysterious, uncatchable platinum pirate who so far had evaded every trap laid for him. The scientist was certain, too, that he had not alarmed the’man. Rather, he believed that if anyone had slipped, in those few minutes’ conversation, it had been his caller, for the man had lied and Goodwin had detected the lie. Why hadn’t he said the platinum came from Russia, once the greatest exporting country for the metal, but since the beginning of the war negligi- ble? Or from Colombia, where a large find of plati- num would not be surprising in view of the little really known about the South American republic’s resources? Or from one of the Western states where it was known to be present? Why had he picked on Ontario and particularly the Parry Sound region? Why name Canada at all, when the do- minion produces an average of only twenty-five troy ounces of platinum a year? The man was ab- solutely ignorant of the sources of platinum pro- duction, for Ontario, of all the Canadian provinces, the metal. Goodwin shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, well,” he said, preparing to return to his interrupted prob- I’d like to go after that fellow in my own way.” CHAPTER II Setting the Trap for the Suspected Thief; It Is From the Government Vaults SHOULD like to try and catch this fellow myself.” ing his wish of the afternoon to Barry, when at the government man’s invitation, the scientist had dropped in at the latter’s office in the federal build- and the detective, and Barry had availed himself of the other man’s knowledge when first the platinum piracies had been assigned to the Chicago office by “Why don’t you have a go at it, then?” inquired the detective. ‘I believe in scientific methods in crime detection, of course, but I do not believe they supplant the tried and tested methods of Scotland Yard, Mulbexry street or Le Sureté of Paris.” The scientist smiled. “There are Doubting few years back the deductive reasonings of such fictitious detectives as Sherlock Holmes, Lecoq and Dupin were greeted by flesh-and-blood sleuths as Today the exploits of those creatures born in au- thors’ brains seem feeble when compared with what is accomplished along the same line by our best ment as represented by detectives and their stool pigeons, with all of a human being’s liability to err badly and often, and substitute the inventions and never had been known to produce a single gram of lem, “it’s not my affair, but Barry’s, now. Still— Believed the Metal Has Been Stolen Tt [ Goodwin, several hours later, was repeat- ing. They were old friends, these two, the scientist his chief in Washington. have yet reached the stage where they can begin to Thomases in every day and age,” he replied. “A interesting, but impossible to carry out in real life. crime-detectors. Why not eliminate the human ele- devices of science which cannot go wrong?” . ? Oy ag F > - * . ‘ r ~~ oe o ; - 7 é Peal ® Dew’! | 2 ba = mT oe PS ee Se es em ~ “4 - ~™* it : Fa ” — - 4 Md ; AMAZING STORIES | “You would say that, of course, being a scientist yourself,” retorted Barry. “I am not. I am a de- tective; not altogether a poor one, I hope. On this platinum piracy I have not shown results. After lying dormant for several months the case. has bobbed up again. You have a chance to go after this chap according to science. I think I can catch him in my way. Let’s make it a sporting proposi- tion, the winner to enjoy a dinner at the Drake and an evening at the theater at the expense of the loser ?” Goodwin held out his hand. “You’re on,” he agreed. “We must not, however, lose sight of the fact that this fellow’s capture is, after all, the main thing. Feeling that I may obtain information you could not possibly get in any other way, I’m go- ing to stipulate that I shall keep you informed of my progress. On the other hand, I do not want to know what you find out.” Barry protested at first, but in the end he yielded. Goodwin would have it no other way. It was undoubtedly a clever man—this man whom they were setting out to trap. His depredations were not such as to attract attention in the public prints, but in scientific and industrial circles he had caused a great deal of grief following the end of the war. Prior to 1914 the United States had found the avail- able supply of platinum, while small, adequate for its needs. Then the great World War. In a twinkling the United States became the greatest munitions pro- ducer in the world. In the making of high ex- plosives, sulphuric acid is essential and in making sulphuric acid platinum is required. The demand for the metal went sky-high, and the supply dropped. Russia no longer produced’ any for ex- port. The price for platinum was doubled, tripled, quadrupled. Wise heads at Washington foresaw that inevitably the United States would be dragged into the mael- strom. Officials upon whom would devolve the mak- ing of munitions for the war department entered into competition with the private munitions- makers for what platinum was to be had. The government managed to get a lot of it and stored it away in great steel vaults, surrounded by con- crete walls, at its explosives plants. Nor did the government, which had maintained its reserve by appealing to its people’s patriotism to refrain from ordering jewelry with platinum set- tings or teeth fillings of the precious metal, reduce its supply when peace came again. Industry, struggling to get back on a normal basis and at the same time profit by the extravagance which marked the reaction from the war, found it- self woefully short of the “white gold.” Wherever platinum was used, it began to dis- appear. Laboratories lost their crucibles and re- torts of platinum, invaluable because of their high melting point and acid-resisting properties. Lump metal vanished mysteriously. The climax came when the Bureau of Standards at Washington was robbed of metal worth several thousand dollars. Then the Department of Justice took a hand. In- quiries pointed to one man’as the master mind of the platinum thefts. He had boldly counted on hu- man nature to net him a fortune, too, and he guessed rightly. There were unscrupulous: buyers enough ‘co nm ,OO0KS col tet lito err 3s