The big man jarred me a little, however, by saying, "We'll see what can be done with the fellow in the hospital."This indicated a certain firm judgment the man might have.

But, unfortunately, it was not the sole shock. Because, when we had driven to the hospital, we did not enter. We parked nearly a block distant. And immediately we were approached by a uniformed policeman who saluted Doc Savage respectfully, then queried, "Ready for it?"

"Yes. Turn him loose," Savage replied.

Mayfair grinned like the ape he was. "So you got to work on this as soon as I phoned you, Doc," he said.

Savage nodded. He produced from a glove compartment in the car several small cases resembling hearing-aids. He handed these to Mayfair.

"Monk," he said. "There's four cabs waiting in line in front of the hospital. Go to each of them in succession, tell the drivers you're looking for an object which was lost, and open the back doors of the machines and feel over the cushions, as if searching. As you do that, plant one of these gadgets, shoving it down between the cushions of the seat and the back. Can do?"

"Duck soup," said Mayfair.

"The gadgets are numbered," Doc warned him. "Put number one in the first cab, number two in the second, and so on."

"It's done," said Mayfair optimistically.

The homely fellow departed and proceeded to do his job. For a person with no manners and such violent ways, he seemed to deceive the cab drivers smoothly.

Doc Savage himself left our car, walked to the entrance of the hospital, and loitered for a time there, but moving back and forth while he was loitering. I could not imagine what he was doing, although it did seem that he had a purpose.

When Savage returned, he at once removed a small container from his pocket and placed it in the glove compartment. The container had a perforated top, and evidently held some sort of powdered substance.

"What did you do?" I asked curiously.

"Scattered some dust on the steps." he replied. "It might seem a bit childish. On the other hand, there's nothing like a precaution."

The man, I reflected, must be on the idiotic side.

AFTER Mayfair returned, we moved the car to an inconspicuous spot from which the entrance of the hospital could be watched, and there we waited.

"What are we hanging around for?" I asked.

Mayfair glanced at me as if the query were extremely stupid. "For smooth-talker to come out," he said.

"What!"

"Yeah.""You mean the chap is going to be released?"

Monk glanced at Doc Savage and said, "That's the idea, isn't it?"

"But he's wounded!" I exclaimed.

"Not very seriously," Savage replied. "The knife entered high, and did not go in deeply. He can get around all right. And as he gets around, we're going to trail him and see where he leads us."

"But he was bleeding from the lungs!" I cried. "I saw him! His wound was serious."

"A bitten tongue. He was struck on the head, as well as stabbed, and he bit his tongue when struck."

"Oh!" But this still didn't make sense to me. "But surely-you say he's being turned loose! Surely the police wouldn't be such fools!"

"The police," Savage explained quietly, "are cooperating with me."

I suppose he spoke with modesty, but the implication of his words was ridiculous. The police turning this fellow loose to accommodate Savage! Preposterous!

"You mean you asked them to let him go, and they are?" I said coldly. "That is ridiculous!"

Mayfair said, "Oh, shut up, Henry. You're always zigging when you should be zagging."

I subsided. This was beyond me. I tried to think that it was a coincidence, that the young man was going to be released from the hospital at this time anyway-but the appearance of the uniformed officer a while ago rather belied this theory. It seemed that the police were cooperating with this Savage, all right. I wondered what kind of prevarications he had told them to accomplish a thing like that. Someone should warn the police about being so gullible.

Miss Farrar was gazing at the big bronze man with a fawn-eyed look. She was more beautiful to me than ever, and I felt an overwhelming wish to protect her from the influences of this big bronze bluffer.

Presently the gentlemanly-mannered young man did appear from the hospital.

He took one of the cabs in which Mayfair had planted a gadget.

"On the hook," said Mayfair dryly.

Chapter VI.

THE taxicab carrying our quarry moved completely out of sight. It vanished.

"You've lost him!" I said.

"Henry," Monk Mayfair said. "It's going to be a pleasure to disappoint you."

And he did disappoint me. Because they followed the polite young man with ease. They did it with a device which, because I am a scientist myself, I at once recognized. The thing they were using was absurdly simple-I understand that airplane drivers use it every day in a less complex form. It was a radio direction-finder. The objects which Mayfair had planted behind the cab cushions were obviously small continuous-signal transmitters utilizing peanut tubes and a compact battery supply that was self-contained. It was not unbelievable, because quite powerful aircraft radio transmitters are oftencompact enough to be held easily in the palm of the hand.

Lila thought it was wonderful.

"Why, this is amazing!" she declared. "I've heard a great deal about you, Mr. Savage-how your methods are almost magical! I'm delighted for this chance to see you at work."

He seemed to color slightly in discomfort, but it was probably another trick he had mastered.

"Isn't this a little theatrical and small-boyish?" I inquired.

Monk Mayfair thought this amusing. He said, "Henry, you're quite a guy. You're a character, you are."

Displeasure kept me in silence for a while, but presently curiosity too strong to be denied moved me to ask, "What was the powder you sprinkled on the hospital steps?"

Mayfair answered that. "Oh, it's something we use quite often, Henry."

"What is it?"

"Goofer dust."

Savage said sharply, "Stop ribbing him, Monk." Savage then turned to me, explaining, "It's simply a chemical preparation which, even in the very smallest traces, will fluoresce under ultra-violet light. You're doubtless quite well acquainted with the properties of the preparation, Mr. Jones." And he gave me the chemical symbols of the ingredients and it was as he had said. It had never occurred to me that the substance might be used in this fashion, although it was true that I had heard of sneak thieves being trapped by handling objects on which the police had placed a similar powder in microscopic quant.i.ties.

Monk Mayfair, unwelcomed by me, gave me added information. He said: "In case he didn't take a cab, and the radio gadgets would have been a flop, we had this powder to fall back on."

"The stuff is also radio-active," I remarked. "Couldn't you follow it, much as you are following now, by using an extremely sensitive Geiger counter instead of a radio receiving loop?"

"That," said Monk, "is the idea."

I was silent. I didn't wish to betray any amazement.

THE apartment house stood on Park Avenue. A huge place, ma.s.sive, impressive, with a genteel facade and a discreetly uniformed doorman, and another uniformed lackey, a footman, to open car doors, it bespoke the luxury of fine living and of richness within. Mr. Mayfair, who seemed to disrespect anything genteel, remarked that it reminded him of a harem queen's jewel box. "But I'll bet there's a lot of bra.s.s along with the gold in there," he added. Then, observing the address numerals on the elaborate awning from the entrance to the curb, Mr. Mayfair stiffened.

"Oh, oh!" he said. "We've brought somebody home!"

My wits seemed to be fuzzy this afternoon, because the significance escaped me.

"Yes," confessed Miss Lila Farrar grimly. "I live here."

Her voice was small, strained; she was very embarra.s.sed and also shocked."You mean-this apartment-your father-this is where you live?" I asked as coherently as my own stunned disbelief permitted.

"Yes."

"And we've followed that polite rascal here!" I blurted. Unwittingly, I'd made it sound like an accusation.

She was too upset to reply.

Mayfair then remarked comfortingly, "Just because the guy came here doesn't necessarily mean anything for you to be worried about, baby. He may live here, or he may be looking for Dido Alstrong, or he might have ten other reasons."

Miss Farrar touched the baboon's arm in a grateful fashion. I wished gloomily that I had thought of those comforting words to say.

Doc Savage parked some distance down the block, and he turned to me. "Henry," he said, "it would be a good idea if someone remained here to watch the entrance of the building-someone who knows by sight young Alstrong, the two phony hold-up men, the junior grade wolf, and the polite fellow. In other words, Henry, you could help us greatly by remaining in the car, as lookout." He indicated the others.

"The rest of us will go inside with a Geiger counter, and see if we can spot our quarry."

Probably he thought he had phrased this cleverly. But the inference was clear to me. He considered me an impediment to his plans, and wished to sidetrack me.

I said nothing coolly.

Savage continued: "This car, if you haven't observed, is a special job-armor plate body and bulletproof gla.s.s. It is also gas-tight, and the doors, when this b.u.t.ton"-he indicated a switch on the dash-"is pressed, cannot be opened until the b.u.t.ton is depressed a second time. So you will be secure here."

The man was casting an aspersion on my courage, it seemed to me. I had not, however, noticed that the car was armor-plated, but a closer inspection confirmed this.

A grown man driving around in an armored car! It was ridiculous, as well as fantastic.

Savage spoke further. He said: "In case you see anyone who is involved-Dido Alstrong or any of the others-leaving the building, or entering, pick up the microphone here, press the b.u.t.ton to put the carrier on the air, and state the fact. Monk and myself will have pocket receivers tuned in."

"Very well," I said bitterly.

Lila Farrar was regarding Savage with that I-think-you're-wonderful look again.

I WATCHED the three of them enter the great apartment building, and it galled me to realize that my stature had been diminishing in the eyes of Miss Farrar. She was completely ravishing; my heart had difficulty doing its work whenever she was near me; little tingles would go up and down my spine. This was a completely new effect for a female to have upon me, and my mind logically accepted the explanation-I was madly in love with her. Nothing else would explain it. I even had-and this was quite unique for me-an absurd wish to be a hero, to accomplish a manly feat.

My mind is logical, accustomed to a.n.a.lysis and reason-grasping, so that it was clear to me that mygrowing disfavor in the lovely girl's eyes was not my fault, but due to the fantastic-and cheap, I felt-spectacularity with which this Doc Savage person and his stooge, Mayfair, were operating. They were not my type, and in comparison I suffered. In the long run, of course, Miss Farrar would certainly recognize my superior qualities. But the trouble was, I couldn't seem to compose myself for a long run. I was impatient. I wished to shine before the young lady, and shine now.

It was undeniable that, in permitting the courteous young man to take Dido Alstrong's wrapping-paper-covered box, I had acted unfortunately. The young man had met misfortune as a result. I was sorry for him. Frankly, I still believed the young man to be of good character. The suspicions of the oaf, Mayfair, and of the showy Savage, seemed to me to be very bad reasoning.

I am always sure that a courteous man is a good-hearted man.

All this was in my mind like worms. And then, as lightning flashes, an idea came: Why not beat them to Mr. Farrar, Lila's father, and create a favorable impression? A wonderful idea! I would explain the situation, and offer my services. An important man like Mr. Farrar would be quick to recognize true worth. And I imagined the favor of a parent to be no mean a.s.set in the suit of a lady's heart.

I left the car at once.

It troubled me not at all that this was contrary to Doc Savage's instructions. The man had no right to give me orders anyway.

THE footman and the doorman were both impressed by my gentlemanly bearing, and so was the PBX telephone operator in the lobby, because she at once rang the Farrar apartment. I had told her to announce Mr. Henry A. E. Jones, D. Sc., President, Jones Research Laboratory, on important business of a personal nature, and she did so.

"You may go up," advised the telephone operator. "Twenty-second floor. Mr. Farrar's apartment occupies the entire floor."

A man whose living establishment occupied an entire floor of a structure of this cla.s.s would indeed be affluent.

Doc Savage, Mayfair and Lila Farrar were not in evidence. I visualized Savage being a man of such cunning ways that he would not think of using an open door, but would contrive around to climb in through a window-figuratively speaking. My own clear-headed methods were superior.

The elevator wafted me happily upward. Presently I stepped into a truly cathedral-like entrance hallway which, rather to my disappointment, contained no butler. It contained, in fact, no one.

Diffidently, I waited. I had no intention of jeopardizing my first good impression by being forward enough to call out, or make a racket. But, after some time dragged, I did cough discreetly.

A hard object jabbed into my back.

"Get 'em up, pie-face!" ordered a most ugly voice.

Horrified, too upset to realize the deadly danger the move posed for me. I started to turn. I didn't get clear around, but my face did revolve sufficiently that I could view my greeter.It was the courteous young man. He was pale. He had a gun jammed in my backbone. He slapped my face. Quick, like a snake striking.

"d.a.m.n you! I said getcha hands up!" he snarled.

I complied.

"But-you seemed so courteous!" I mumbled.