Air Wonder Stories, July 1929 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

14 ATR WONDER STORIES I said to McGrath. “Was the Post Office gassed and tobbed, too?” “No. I wouldn’t say that. I haven’t got the rights av wt yet, but ut’s just queer on-goin’s that’s rumoured.” “Ut’s a queer affair, so ut is,” he went on, “and the more ye think av ut, the queerer ut is. There’s me locket, now. D’ye think I can get the polish back on the thing? Not wan bit av ut. Ut’s all pitted an’ dirty-lookin’, What the girl will say, Hivin knows.” “TE you don't mind letting me have it,” I volun- teered, “I'll give you enough to buy another like it, and something for the girl as well. I’m interested in it.” “Have ut, and welcome,’ said McGrath. “I'd been thinkin’ I’d better get a new wan, an’ say nothin’ to Norah about ut, for I wouldn’t like her to see ut that dirty, I know the store where ut was bought. Let me get the photy av her out av ut, an’ ut’s yours.” He handed over the damaged trinket, and I gave him two ten-dollar bills. He was mightily pleased, for with the twenty dollars he could buy half a dozen lockets of the same kind, and when I turned into the bank he was grinning broadly as he went off to shoulder his way up the street. I added the locket to my tissue-wrapped trophies. My next concern was to interview Jaxon and his five men again. Normally they would have left the bank by this hour, but they were still hanging around in some faint hope of cheering news. I collected the six of them in a spare room, and questioned them along the same lines as I had used with McGrath. They all reiterated their former statement that there had been no odour, but three of them, including Jaxon, recalled having heard a faint pop before dropping off to sleep, and their descriptions of the noise were, on the whole, fairly close to that given me by the policeman. Four of them, also including Jaxon, now positively remem- bered a faint luminosity, and the other two thought they did. ce Jimmy Takes Counsel . I NOW took my exhibits, as the police would call them, and my theory uptown to a friend of mine who has a great reputation in chemistry and physics, a clever little fellow called Dan Lamont, so well off that he can afford to have a first-class laboratory, and keep a big staff of assistants working on valuable but unremunerative research. He is a per- fect little wizard, and many a time I had gone to him to be pulled out when the physics side of my work had me bogged. “Hullo, Jimmy!” he said, as soon as he saw me. “What's the trouble this time? Won’t the coeffici- ents come unsttick from the dihedrals, or is it that the helicopter still refuses to copt?”’ “You're wasted as a physicist, Dan,” I told him. “You ought to go into vaudeville as the Un- funniest Back-chat Comedian Alive. Haven't you heard about the robbery?” “T'll bite—and then you can say your smart an- swer,” he grinned. “What robbery ?” There are days when Dan doesn’t see a daily journal, and I guessed from his readiness to chaff that he had not heard about the banks. I told him. As I expected, he at once showed the liveliest in- terest. “Well, Jimmy!” he exclaimed. “What do you know about that? Most interesting; Christopher Columbus and the hard-boiled egg! Are you telling me that Wall Street was put to sleep for two hours while a gang of crooks helped themselves?” “That's just what I do tell you.” ~ “Phew!” He stood up and stared at me. Then he took out his loose change and rattled it in his cupped hands—a trick he has when very excited. “What makes you think the crooks used gas?” be demanded. “T can think of no other way in which they could dope the district,” I said. “Can you?” “They might have fixed the water supply,” he said softly. “No. Water isn’t popular enough with the police and the watchmen to make that method effective. But, gas te? “What's your kick at the gas theory, Dan?” “Haven't you said that the people who went to sleep smelled no odour?” “That’s right. Not a thing.” “Then there isn’t any gaseous anaesthetic known could do it,” said Dan. “Let’s see. The absence of odour rules out chloroform and ether straight off. Ethyl chloride—no—too smelly—and too lethal. You say nobody’s dead?” “Not a soul so far.” “Queer, queer! Nitrous oxide has no smell, but its effects last barely a minute. There may be a-gas could do it, Jimmy, but I’ve never heard of it. What makes you so keen on the gas idea, anyhow?” I told him about the powdered glass, and showed it to him. Then I brought out the locket and my father’s gold coin. Dan’s excitement grew. “This is mighty interesting, Jimmy—mighty in- teresting,” he purred. “I never heard of anything to tarnish gold in this way. Chlorine ?—chlor—— Hey?” he broke off as he examined McGrath’s locket. “Who told you this was gold?” “It is gold,” I insisted. “Looks more like copper to me.” “Oh, shucks, Dan! It probably has a large per- centage of copper in the alloy.” I brought forward the instance of Jaxon’s watch, but he took little notice of what I said. He was off on some scientific daydream. “This coin, too,” he brooded. “At first sight I'd say it was copper.” “That’s where you fall down, young fellow,” I said, “That coin was kept by my father as being a remarkably pure piece of gold. He had it tested.” “May be so, my dear Jimmy—may be so,” he said absently, “Dll tell you what, I'll analyze this tar- nishing. Leave the locket and coin with me. They look to me to be impure alloys of copper—both of them. Most interesting! I can think of nothing to affect gold so.” “No more can I, Dan,’ I said, “but I can think of none more likely to find out than yourself. When can [ come back?” “Eh? Oh—ah—yes! Come back, eh? Oh, some- time this afternoon,” he muttered, his gaze fixed on the coin and locket. “Gas, eh? Must think about it. Good fellow, Jimmy—to give me these. A new thing—mighty interesting, Good-bye, old man——” comnliclooolks.com