Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 1 — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

ai 4 é 36 “Surely, though, it did not tell you he was a tall man,” cried Barry. “You mentioned that, you know.” “Science did not tell me that,” admitted Goodwin. “It was the maid. Porter has acquired the British habit of putting his shoes outside a hotel room door, expecting them to be shined during the night. The maid saw his shoes. They were unusually long and narrow, indicating their owner was tall and not overly heavy. _Moreover, they were not in need of much polishing. It is only the neat dresser who de- mands immaculate shoes, so I judged Porter is careful about his personal appearance.” “You verified this through the hotel attachés?” -asked the government man. “Tried to and ran up against a stone wall. The man had made absolutely no impression on any of them. They could not recall him at all.” Barry considered that thoughtfully. British, then, in your opinion?” he asked. “More likely a Southerner, who has lived in Canada,” was the reply. “He is an American, all right, and his voice has a Southern drawl. I’m guessing at the Canada part for two reasons. One is the fact he put his shoes outside the door. The other that he gave Canada as the locatiom of his fictitious unregistered mining claim.” “IT see,” said Barry. “His is a voice that*once heard, would be hard to forget,” Goodwin went on. “There is something distinctive. about it.” “He’s “T once arrested a man because’he could not dis- guise his voice,” interrupted Barry. “I had heard it only once, in pitch darkness at that, but when I heard it again I nabbed its owner. Convicted him, too. I should like to have heard Porter talk.” Goodwin tugged at his coat pocket and produced a package. “Ask and you shall receive,” he said. “I present you with his voice. I shall not need it again.” “What’s this thing?” Barry wanted to know, tearing off the paper and turning over in his hands the phonograph record he found. “You mean to say you got Porter to make a record of this voice of his?” “Unwittingly, yes,” replied the scientist. “I rigged up an amplifier to my telephone receiver to make his voice louder as it came over the wire and in front of the amplifier my assistant cranked a re- cording machine and embalmed Mr. Porter’s peculiar tones on a wax record. He hardened the record later and there you are. Take it home and put it on your talking machine and amuse yourself, old man.” . “Thanks,” said Barry briefly, “I would, however, rather have him caged than to have his voice canned.” Goodwin chuckled, “Perhaps that will come later,” he predicted. “One thing at a time, you know. You have his fingerprints, his description to some ex- tent, his voice, his handwriting. Suppose you did have him. What good would it do unless you knew where his platinum came from? How would you prove it was stolen?” “After what you have shown me this night I defer to you, Goodwin,” returned the detective. “But I cannot believe that even as smart a thief as the platinum pirate could coolly get into the vault of the 4 Fy 1 * ) % es ® Ua s pe > ? m S XS om ~ —_ » —; ' ‘ ' * - t a ein nal rae mae” & . rel ples vite j a * 4 ae » aw = - ed as 4 Poem (Pal * fy amis “ ~, mT, * oe ree i ee? eee me } = AMAZING STORIES Ee EE eo eS ee ea f f . ” * plant at Jackson, lift the government’s platinum . and not break the wax seals on the cracks of the doors of the vault. I think that when that permis- sion I asked for comes and we open that vault at Jackson we shall find that for once your science has gone astray. I think that we shall find the platinum there in its aluminum containers. If we do,” there was mockery in his voice, “I warn you I am going to laugh, Goodwin. So far, I haven’t had a chance to do that. It’s all been on your side.” “Why wait for permission?” asked the scientist. “I dare not remove those seals without orders,” was the reply. “It would mean my scalp.” “No need to do that,” urged Goodwin. “You know the officer in charge at Jackson. He will per- mit us to visit the plant. I happen to know that there is an exceptionally well-equipped laboratory there. If it boasts an X-ray machine we can get a view of the interior of the vault and determine at once whether the cans are there, as you maintain, or whether they have been stolen, as I believe. What do you say?” “What do I say?” cried Barry. “I say, ‘Yes,’ of course, and we will go to Jackson tomorrow.” CHAPTER VI The Government Vault Is X-rayed by the Detectives his job as custodian of the plant at Jackson an easy, but lonesome, one. However, having seen active service in the Signal Corps, he found it gave him an opportunity to exercise his hobby of scientific experimentation in the laboratory of the plant. : He welcomed Goodwin and Barry warmly. The government man he already knew. He had heard a great deal of the scientist and their mission brought into the routine of his daily life a thrill as seldom fell to his lot any more. He laughed, however, when Goodwin voiced his belief that the supply of platinum under his charge had been tapped. “I hardly see how that could be possible,” he said. “The metal is contained in five hundred odd aluminum cans, the door is locked and the vault is sealed, as Mr. Barry has told you. Most of my time on the island is spent in the laboratory adjoining.” “That is during the day,’ replied Goodwin. “Granted no thief would dare work on the vault then. But how about the nights?” : For the first time the captain’s face assumed a worried look. “I do spend a great many nights on the mainland,” he admitted. “But the laboratory building has a watchman all its own. Old Peter has been on duty there virtually ever since the plant was built. I’d stake my life on it he wouldn’t be a party to anything crooked. And, then, no one could get into the vault unless he tampered with the seals. You will find them unbroken, just as they were the day they were put on. But, shucks, what’s the use of standing here arguing about it. As Dr. Goodwin says, the little X-ray will tell in a minute whether the cans still are in the vault. (Cis THOMPSON, U. S. A., had found There’s a good machine in the laboratory. I'll have the electrician who is on the staff here take it into the vault room and get it ready. He’s quite a handy comicbooks.c ee eke | Ate > fw