039 - The Seven Agate Devils PDF

THE SEVEN AGATE DEVILS
A Doc Savage Adventure by Kenneth Robeson
Originally published in “Doc Savage” magazine May 1936.
Chapter I everywhere. Presumably, this was intended

THE CAMPHOR WRAITH to mean that many persons contact
adventure and fail to recognize it.
SOME ONE who made his living This was undoubtedly the case at
with words once said that drama is the Los Angeles airport on one particular
Monday evening. There was something
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sinister underway. But no one was sharp- told, and probably was not too particular
eyed enough to realize it. about what it was. His clothes were flashy
This was explained by the fact that and in bad taste.
the two men in the black coupé were good The second man began to speak.
actors. There was nothing furtive or “That airship came from Europe,
suspicious about the manner in which the and is a new type, making an experimental
car drove into the parking lot, where flight around the world,” he said. “Doc
hundreds of other machines were already Savage joined the crew unexpectedly in
stationed. New York. He is not going on around the
The two did not leave their car world, but is getting off here; so there’s not
immediately. They might have been just much doubt about what he’s coming for.”
two more spectators. This man was rather slender,
It was an inspiring scene over remarkably well dressed, and would have
which their eyes roved. The airport been handsome had it not been for the
administration building, around which the lower part of his face. He had a hybrid
milling throng was most dense, was visage. His eyes, his forehead, were fine
washed with brilliant light. Beacons cut and delicate. The rest of his countenance
great swaths through the darkness, and out was rather terrible. Something had
on the field ground lights were rows of happened to it in the past, making the skin
colored dots. Every available source of and flesh below loose and rubbery. The
illumination at the airport appeared to have folds of tissue lay in gullied lines.
been tapped. The lower part of this man’s face
Somewhere among the parked had a somewhat hair-raising way of
cars, a pint-size newsboy with a barrel-size retaining whatever expression was on it. It
voice was shouting: “World-girdling airship seemed incapable of changing expression
to touch Los Angeles! Read about it!” voluntarily. The man had a discomfiting
The two in the coupé listened icily habit of fingering his countenance.
to the boy’s shouting. He would push up the corners of
“Doc Savage and two aids aboard his mouth with his fingers, giving his face a
airship!” yelled the news-vending urchin. grim smile, and the smile would stay there.
The two men in the coupé looked The other man, the one with the
as if a hornet had suddenly blown into the muscles, growled. “I’ve heard things about
car. this bronze guy. He’s arsenic to some.”
The newsboy howled, “Doc Savage “We’ll stop him,” grunted the hybrid-
making mystery trip!” faced man.
“Mystery trip!” one snarled. “Yeah?”
“Savage ain’t kiddin’ nobody! He’s found “A little agate devil will take care of
out about them agate devils! He’s maybe that.”
got a line on our whole—” All the muscles of the other
“Shut up, you nut!” gritted the other. seemed to swell and harden. His voice
“Somebody might overhear!” whispered, “You mean we’re gonna kill Doc
The other put out his jaw angrily. Savage?”
“Who you gettin’ tough with?” The first man absently touched his
“You, you dope! Talking about lips, straightening them. They remained
agate satans! Next thing you’ll be straight, due to the weird condition of his
broadcasting to the world that in China and facial muscles.
Germany and England and—” The man “There is too much at stake to take
stopped and swallowed. “This is too big to chances,” he said, “Sure, we’ll have to kill
take any chances with.” him!”
A new sound came into the night
air. It might have been a big swarm of metal
HE was a large man, who had the bumble-bees in the distance. The crowd by
look of one who made his living with his the administration building milled more
muscles. There was little intelligence violently, surging toward the confining rail.
perceptible in his heavy-featured, brutal Faces turned upward. The distant buzz
face. He was the type who did what he was became louder, a deep-throated drone.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx THE SEVEN AGATE DEVILS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 3
The airport searchlights darted up “There goes Doc Savage and his
like great rapiers, probing the black belly of two aids!” he hissed at his stupid-looking
the night. The tip of one of these beams assistant. “Let’s get our job done!”
picked up a silvery glint. Play of all the
searchlights concentrated on that point. A
huge strange shape began to take on form
and outline.
It was the world-circling dirigible.
The airship descended. A ground
crew laid hold of its dangling hand lines,
and it was snugged down to a temporary
mooring. Pandemonium broke loose. The
crowd surged through perspiring police
lines.
It became evident that many of the
spectators were interested in more than a
mere glimpse of the airship. They wanted to
see some one else, an individual of whom
they had heard a great deal. The throng
surrounded the dirigible passengers as they
began to alight. These latter wore ordinary
business garments, for the dirigible Doc Savage entered the airport
accommodations were the height of comfort operations office and lifted the goggle flap
and luxury. of the stratosphere suit and chucked back
Whenever a passenger of more the hood. Perhaps the most striking thing
than ordinary size appeared, a roar went up about the features thus revealed was their
from the crowd. bronze hue and the fine texture of the skin.
“There’s Doc Savage!” The modeling of the face—the wide
A moment later, they would find forehead, straight nose, firm mouth—
they were mistaken. bespoke rigidly directed force. Sinews of
Men garbed as the dirigible crew the neck, almost startling in size, indicated
got little attention. It was easy to sort these tremendous physical strength.
men out. They wore rather unusual cover- The bronze man’s eyes lent a
all suits—a special stratosphere garment, touch of weirdness to his countenance.
with attached hood. They were like pools of flake gold, swirled
Thus it happened that the crowd by hidden current. The bronze man spoke
overlooked a little group of three figures, and his voice, clear and resonant, perfectly
clad in the stratosphere suits, that moved modulated, was as attention-arresting as a
across the field to the operations office. police siren.
One of the trio was short, immensely broad, “Take care of this, Monk,” he
with long simian arms which dangled hairy requested, and handed his aid a pouchlike
hands below his knees. The other figure bag.
was slender, of medium height, and carried “Monk” pursed a tremendous
one article oddly at variance with his aërial mouth and handled the pouch gingerly. “I
garb: a thin, black cane. don’t like the dang thing that’s inside this.”
The third member was far the most Doc made no reply.
dominating of the trio. His size was Monk continued, musingly, “What I
remarkable. The stratosphere suit hood mean, it’s queer! The whole thing is queer!
was over his head, and there was a flap It’s a dag-gone mystery, and I hate
with goggle attachment down over his mysteries!”
features, concealing them completely. Instead of replying, Doc Savage
It was possible that, among the said, “Wait here. I’ll look after the baggage.
spectators, only one individual recognized In the excitement, some of it might not be
the trio. This was the fellow with the unloaded.”
unlovely hybrid face. A moment later, he was gone.
Monk had a pleasant homely face, Unexpectedly, Monk’s hand which

which bore out his resemblance to an ape. held the document case made a flicking
He turned the document case in his hands, gesture.
looking puzzled.
Ham, staring at the hand, was

“Do not strain your one brain cell puzzled; but only for an instant. Ham did
over it,” the other man of the trio that had not turn around. Instead, he whipped a
departed the airship, advised. hand inside his stratosphere suit to an
This individual was slender, armpit where was holstered a machine
dapper, with a high forehead, intelligent pistol of Doc’s own design.
eyes and the flexible mouth of an orator. He “Leave it there!”
still held his thin black cane. The voice came from behind Ham,
“The great Ham speaking!” Monk and sounded as if the speaker were
sneered. “Knows all, sees all, says all!” delivering the words entirely through his
The two glared at each other. nose.
An old acquaintance of the two Ham raised his hands, not too
would not have been surprised. No one briskly, then came around to face the door.
could remember either of the pair having The stranger was standing half across the
addressed a civil word to the other. sill of the door, one foot in and one foot out,
Contrarily enough, each had found past as if ready to go in either direction. His gun
occasions to risk his life to aid the other. was a small cannon, the kind of weapon
Monk was Lieutenant Colonel with which Mr. Colt had cornered the
Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, the chemist of frontier trade when men liked their
Doc Savage’s group of five aids. “Ham” hardware substantial to the eye. The gun
was Brigadier General Theodore Marley did not waver.
Brooks, and one of the smartest lawyers The man behind the weapon had
ever turned out of Harvard. the face of a beet and the neck of a turkey.
Doc’s three other aids were not So far as could be seen; there were only
accompanying him on this adventure, for two teeth in his mouth; one was in the
they were practicing their various pro- upper jaw, the other directly below it, and
fessions in other parts of the world. They they were tobacco-stained until they
were “Renny”—Colonel John Renwick— resembled a pair of mahogany pegs.
famous for his engineering accom- “They’ve got it!” this strange-
plishments; “Johnny”—William Harper looking individual said to some one out of
Littlejohn—one of the greatest living sight behind him. “You can come in and get
experts of geology and archaeology; and it!”
“Long Tom”—Major Thomas J. Roberts—a The one who had been spoken to
wizard with electricity. was a woman—a girl, in her early twenties.
She was very beautiful.
It was not her clothing that made document folder, which the girl still held.
her such. She wore carelessly a She extended it toward him, as if glad to
nondescript felt hat, leather jacket, and one get rid of it.
of those rough and ready tweed skirts What happened next gave the
which look as if they wrap around. homely chemist one of the genuine shocks
Evidently she had definite ideas of his career.
about what she wanted. She walked The girl dropped the leather folder.
soundlessly in tennis shoes, reached Monk, And before Monk could stiffen, resist in any
and snatched the leather document case way, she had seized his arm and the arm
from under his arm. had become a lever by which he was
“Here’s a tip!” she snapped. “Clear yanked toward her, twisted, and sent
out, see? Get back on that airship and go spinning across the room. It was beautiful
around the world, or something!” jujutsu.
She had a nice enough voice. Monk’s bulk crashed Ham. The big
Monk growled, “Just what’s the big revolver filled the room with noise, and its
idea?” bullet dug plaster out of the ceiling.
The girl eyed him intently. “You The girl had lost her hair. In the
know what you’re mixing into?” sudden exertion, the wig which she wore
“No!” Monk exclaimed heartily. had been dislodged. The girl’s head was
“Fine!” said the girl. “Maybe you absolutely bald.
won’t be killed.” She started forward, as if to seize
“Haw!” Monk jeered. “Am I scared!” the document case.
“You would be,” the girl snapped, “if “No!” barked her companion. “The
you knew just what you are running up dude’ll use the gun before you can get it!”
against—” The girl surrendered ideas of
“Get movin’!” advised the man with securing the case, spun, sprinted out of the
the beet face and turkey neck. room. Her companion followed, and they
Carrying the document case, the made quite a clatter running down the
girl began to back toward the door. corridor leading to the outside.
Then the red-faced, turkey-necked
individual holding the gun got a surprise of
his own. A voice gritted behind him. MONK and Ham were as tangled
“Just let go of that cannon!” on the floor as a pair of quarreling
octopuses. Their separation was delayed
somewhat by the tendency each displayed
THE scrawny-necked man let his to be as rough with the other as possible.
arm bend down, and the gun fell out of his Finally they separated, stood erect, and ran
hand. in pursuit of their two assailants.
Ham darted to the dropped “She was bald-headed,” Monk
revolver, scooped it up, and used it to gulped. “Notice that?”
gesture its discomfited owner inside the Ham stared at Monk, and a quick
room. succession of emotions swept his face—
Monk’s pleasantly unlovely features rage, utter scorn, superior contempt.
were now wearing a smirk of supreme Then—most galling of all to Monk—derisive
satisfaction. mirth. Ham emitted a roar of laughter.
“Boy, was my ventriloquism good!” “He flies through the air with the
he chortled. “If I had a stuffed doll to sit on greatest of ease,” he jeered. “When the
my knee, I’d join a circus!” lady his arm does seize—”
The turkey-necked man and the Monk’s ears got red.
attractive girl registered surprise. They Then came the sound of a car. It
stared at the door, as if loath to believe that was a machine leaving the parking lot in a
no one was there, and that the voice had hurry. Monk and Ham raced toward the
merely been a ventriloquial effort on Monk’s sound.
part. It was hopeless, of course. The car
Then Monk proceeded to spoil got away into the night. As it passed under
everything. He reached for the leather a distant floodlight at the entrance arch,
Monk got a glimpse of the occupants—the and hailed an airport attendant. Doc
woman, and the man with the scrawny handed him the suit.
neck. Monk endeavored furiously to find a “In my baggage you will find an
car which was unlocked, but failed. unlocked duffle bag,” he told the attendant.
He was still at the task, when Doc “Put this suit there, please.”
Savage and Ham came up. Ham had The attendant took the suit and
dropped back to find Doc. Ham was still walked off.
chuckling. Monk squinted curiously at Doc
“Monk was going to join the circus,” Savage. “What was the idea?”
he smirked. “He’s a ventriloquist. And you “That odor,” Doc told him. “So far,
should have seen him rehearse an we have experienced no symptoms of toxic
acrobatic act with the bald-headed girl!” action; so, presumably, it was not a poison
The miserable sound that came out gas. Yet the odor was strange, quite
of Monk’s throat made Ham look very different. An analysis of it, during spare
happy. time, might be interesting.”
Doc Savage asked, “What were “I see,” Monk said, vaguely.
they after?” Ham flourished his black cane,
“That document case,” Ham caught it, then untwisted the handle in a
declared. manner that showed the innocent-looking
They worked back toward the thing was, in reality, a sword cane.
operations office and, wishing to avoid the “That pair wanted the document
throng, made for the rear door. case!” he snapped.
Doc Savage stopped suddenly. The homely chemist, Monk, still
“Wait!” carried the document case. He tapped it
Monk and Ham halted. Anxious with a finger.
peering into the surrounding darkness “Let’s look the things in here over
showed them nothing. again,” he said, “and see if we can figure
“What is it?” Monk demanded. out—”
“Detect that odor?” Doc queried. The words seemed to freeze in his
Monk sniffed. Ham did likewise. throat—freeze because of a sound that
They both caught the scent. came through the door from the hallway
“Moth balls,” Monk grunted. outside. It carried a quality utterly blood-
“Camphor,” Ham corrected. curdling. The product of a human throat, a
“That does somewhat describe the cry with agony in its every pulsation.
odor,” Doc said. “But it probably is neither. Doc Savage was already diving
It has a distinctly different quality of its own. into the hall. The other two followed him.
See if you can detect the stuff on your They headed for the shrieks, running down
persons.” a dark hall.
Monk and Ham sniffed. The light!
“Not on us,” they declared. They saw it, quite unexpectedly. It
“It is distinctly noticeable on my must have been a tremendous light,
stratosphere suit,” Doc told them. because it was reflected down corridors;
The bronze man finally moved and even then, its intensity blinded. It had a
forward again toward the operations office. reddish quality—or was it yellowish? It
“Queer business,” Ham murmured. lasted only a moment, and then vanished.
“First, the attempt to seize the document They ran on. Doc Savage produced
case. Second, that odor.” a small flashlight and sprayed light over two
“I told you it was all a dag-gone lumps on the hall floor.
mystery!” Monk grunted. One of the lumps was the
stratosphere suit which Doc had given to
the attendant to place in the duffle bag.
THEY entered through the rear of The other lump was a human body,
the brightly lighted main operations office, contorted in a manner that was utterly
and Doc Savage removed his stratosphere grisly.
suit. He made a bundle of the garments The shouts had attracted the
throng. People began to run up, many of
them to take a look at the thing in the “Lookit, Doc!” he gulped.

flashlight glow, then regret their “Remember the funny odor? It was on that
impulsiveness. suit!”
Most hideous was the hole in the Instead of answering that question,
center of the dead man’s chest. A cannon Doc Savage, who had paused to examine
ball going through might have left such a the little satan image, said, “Here’s
path. something almost as strange. Notice the
The dead man was the attendant to face of this image.” The bronze man
whom Doc Savage had given the suit. handed Monk a tiny magnifying glass.
“Blaze!” the homely Monk choked. Monk observed the face of the little
“Lookit!” devil image. The workmanship was
A miniature devil carved from agate exquisite.
stood on the floor near the corpse. “Recognize the face?” Doc asked.
The floor was of concrete, and the “Yours!” Monk squalled. “Doc, this
little devil stood perfectly upright on it. The thing has your face!”
height of the thing could be more than “Exactly!” Doc Savage said. “Now,
spanned by a man’s hand; but the let us look around.”
workmanship of it, the proportioning, the The bronze man had spent almost
carving, was perfect. no time around the body of the slain
It was a rather glassy red in color. attendant, but this did not mean he was not
Monk leaned over to pick the thing going to make an investigation, for he now
up. He touched it, howled and wrenched his roamed over the operations office, flake-
hand back. gold eyes searching. Finding nothing, he
“It’s hot!” he squalled. went outside. He was soon recognized, and
became the center of a seething throng of
autograph hunters. He gave up the search.
Chapter II Some time later, Monk stood on
ACCIDENT CASE tiptoe under the brightly lighted marquee of
the administration building and stared over
MONK GASPED, “what killed the the thinning mass of parked cars. He
guy, Doc?” frowned and shook his small head.
Doc Savage, apparently not “A car was to meet us, wasn’t it,
hearing, dropped a handkerchief over the Doc?” he asked. “Funny it don’t show up.”
little satanic image. It was too hot to hold in “Nothing was said about the car
the bare hands, but did not quite burn the having a driver,” Doc Savage reminded
handkerchief. He picked it up. him.
“Come on!” he rapped.
They ran through the hallway
searching, but found nothing before the MONK still carried the black
crowd, drawn by the cries and finding of the document case, and Doc now took this,
body, overran the place. opened it. It held, among other things,
“Hm-m-m,” Monk scratched the money and at least two, folded telegrams.
bristles atop his bullet-shaped head. “It Doc removed one of the telegrams, opened
would be kinda hard to find anything now. it and extended it for the scrutiny of Monk
But, say, this is the queerest dang thing I and Ham. It read:
ever saw!”
Monk started to say something DOC SAVAGE
else, then gave a violent jerk. He had just NEW YORK CITY
noted that Doc was carrying a bundle under BLUE CAR LICENSE CALIFORNIA
his right arm—the stratosphere suit which 9K7376 WILL BE AT AIRPORT FOR
the airport attendant had been directed to YOUR USE.
put with the rest of the baggage. This MONTGOMERY MEDWIG PELL
suggested things to Monk.
“Uh-huh,” Monk grunted. “Let’s look
around.”
They found the car shortly. It MONTGOMERY MEDWIG PELL

surprised them somewhat, for it was a very Attorney at Law
big, very expensive town car, with the Suite 720 Western Bldg
driver’s compartment open.
“Match you shyster, to see who Doc Savage turned the card over.
drives,” Monk suggested to Ham. The back of it bore a penciled inscription:
“Nothing doing!” snorted Ham. “You
look the part! The job is yours.” DOC SAVAGE:
Monk got behind the wheel. Doc Please come immediately to my
and Ham entered the rear, and the machine office in the Western Building.
was put in motion. Doc Savage rolled down PELL.
the glass partition which separated them
from the driver’s compartment, in order that “That,” Monk said, “seems to fix us
Monk might hear what was being said. up.”
Progress proved very slow. There
was something of a traffic jam near the
airport. THE Western Building proved to be
From the front seat, Monk called, a gaudy piece of showmanship. The terra
“Hey, read that first telegram we got, will cotta facade was illuminated much too
you? I’d like to hear it again.” brightly by a profusion of floodlamps. It had
Doc Savage drew back the flap of a distinctly cheap look.
the document case and extracted a second The neighborhood bore out the
folded telegram. The traffic jam was holding feeling of cheap flash. It had been given
their speed down, so Monk had time to what is slangily called a “front” at the outlay
read it: of the least expense possible. The
sidewalks were too wide, and too cheap,
DOC SAVAGE because they were beginning to crack.
NEW YORK CITY There was an alley alongside the
HAVE CLIENT WHO HAS AUTHORIZED Western Building.
ME ENCAGE YOUR SERVICES FOR JOB Monk suggested, “I’d better run our
OF SAVING NUMBER OF LIVES STOP bus in the alley and get it out of sight. Some
CLIENT SAYS WILL PAY FOR YOUR crook might annex the tires.”
SERVICES BY CONVERTING ANY “Very well,” Doc Savage agreed.
REASONABLE SUM TO ANY CHARITY The bronze man and Ham alighted
YOU NAME STOP CAN YOU COME LOS in front of the Western Building, and Doc
ANGELES AT ONCE STOP IT MIGHT BE said, “We will wait here for you.”
ADVISABLE USE PRECAUTIONS Monk drove into the alley and
MONTGOMERY MEDWIG PELL discovered a small court recessed into the
LAWYER rear of the office building. Provided,
probably, for the loading and unloading of
Monk passed the message back, trucks.
said, “And so we wired him we could come, Monk drove into this, turned off the
and he sent us the other message about ignition, and got out.
the blue car being at the airport.” Monk’s small eyes were sharp, and
Ham said, “It looks as if it were walking much in the paths of danger had
advisable to use precautions. Wonder just given him an almost animal alertness. This
what’s back of this?” accounted now for his observing of
No one answered. The big car something suspicious.
worried at the traffic stream, making a little The something was a man who had
better time. popped his head around the corner of a
“Blazes!” Monk exploded, door which opened on the little freight court.
suddenly. “Look! This was fastened to the The fellow had obviously been watching
brake lever with a rubber and I just noticed Monk, and he jerked back suddenly.
it!” Monk scowled, taking a moment to
He passed back a bit of cardboard. make up his mind. He was in a suspicious
A business card, it bore on the front:
mood after the events at the airport, so he The lower portion of his face was
dashed for the doorway. loose and rubbery. The folds of it lay in
The man he had discovered, ran. gullied lines.
His feet made noise in a passage. Monk “What’re we gonna do with him?”
charged after him. The rapidity with which pondered the gun-wielder aloud. “There’s
he gained on his quarry surprised even too much involved in this, and too many
himself. men have died already, to let one guy mess
The fleeing man was short, but the works.”
very fat. He was not built for fast “Savage isn’t wise to what it’s all
movement. Somehow, he resembled a about,” growled the man whose lower face
gorged buzzard trying to get started in was like rubber. “We will give this fellow the
flight. He even flapped his arms in a way same thing we were giving the other one.”
that carried out that impression. Mention of another victim caused
The fleeing man was running past Monk to peer around again.
open doors, the rooms beyond which were The room was a ground floor
darkened. Monk kept on his trail, centering garage, rather large, and the ceiling was
all attention on catching him. That was a supported by a number of pillars—heavy
mistake. girders of steel encased in a covering of
A chair swung out of a darkened concrete.
doorway and broke itself to bits on Monk’s To one pillar, a man was tied. The
nubbin of a skull. Monk put his head down, manner in which the fellow’s head sagged
turned a perfect somersault, landed flat on down on his chest indicated he was
his back, and did not move. senseless. A rope, passed around the man
and the pillar many times, held him erect.
The fellow had dark and very baggy
MONK was not entirely senseless, clothing, and rather gray hair.
but the effect was about the same. He A vicious jab from the gun took
could not see very well, and there was no Monk’s attention away from the other
strength in his body for resistance. He felt prisoner.
hands half drag, half walk him down the “Over by that post!” directed the
passage. They were going back the way heavily built thug.
they had come. Monk was never loath to fight. He
The homely chemist heard the made a grab at the gun, but he was too
rumble of sliding doors, then caught that dazed. He missed it, and the thug promptly
distinctive gasoline-and-oil odor which employed it to crack him over the head.
garages have. He got his eyes open, and Dazed, Monk was rushed over to the same
bright light made his eyeballs ache. This post to which the other man was tied. A
slight pain seemed to help dissolve the wadded handkerchief was used for a gag.
mists in his head. Monk was jerked around so that his
He felt something making new pain back was to the post, and they began to tie
against his side, looked down and saw a him.
gun. Monk was mad, but not too greatly
The man who held the gun was big, worried. Doc Savage was close. These
had a heavy-featured, brutal face. He men would surely say something—at least
looked like a man who would use the gun. ask questions before they did anything
“Who the devil is this ape?” he drastic. Doc would come to investigate
demanded. before long.
“He’s Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, A moment later, Monk came to the
commonly called Monk,” said a new voice. chilly conclusion that he had been too
“One of Doc Savage’s men.” optimistic. The men finished tying him.
Monk twisted to scowl at the They went to the back of the garage, got
speaker. The fellow made interesting into a car. They started the engine.
inspection. He was a well-built man, who “Everything set?” asked the man
would have been handsome but for one behind the wheel.
thing—the lower part of his face. “Everything set,” agreed the man
with the hybrid face.
The automobile was going to smash not only Monk, but

the other prisoner!
THE car started forward. It came somehow. The front of the car seemed to
fast. Monk experienced exactly such a get bigger and bigger.
feeling as would result were the contents of Came the rescue. It was not
an ice water cooler emptied down his back. exactly in the proverbial nick of time. It had
The automobile was going to been necessary for the dramatics to reach
smash not only himself, but the other this crucial point before the thing could be
prisoner! executed properly.
It was a clumsy way of doing Doc Savage was inside the garage,
murder. Also, it was a grimly reasonable behind one of the pillars. And it was
one. The bodies could be dumped beside a necessary for the car to come abreast
road somewhere and, when found, they before he could act without being
would look as if they had been victims of a discovered. He moved now, his form a
hit-and-run driver. bronze blur as he leaped.
Monk twisted, squirmed. He tried to Both feet thumped the forward
jump up, and he tried to sink down. But the edge of the front wheel on the left side. The
ropes held him. He tried shutting his eyes. impact knocked both front wheels almost as
That did not work. He had to look, far to the right as they would go, steering
wheel spinning in the hands of the man “Whereas, the parties of the first
who held it. part and second part, having with malicious
Rubber screamed. The car intent—” The man’s dazed, mumbling
swerved. It hit the front of the garage, the words became unintelligible.
doors. The crash, the yells of the men Monk said, “Sounds like shyster
inside, made explosive bedlam. The garage lingo to me.”
doors were fragile, and the car went on Doc Savage shook the gray-haired
through into the loading areaway. man gently, and, after a bit, the fellow’s
The driver could think fast. He eyes began to lose their glazed look. He
straightened the wheel frantically, and straightened and, when Doc released him,
skidded into the alley. Down came his foot managed to stand, weaving only a little. He
on the accelerator, and the machine made blinked at them.
much noise and departed rapidly. “Doc Savage!” he said, hoarsely.
Doc Savage ran to the town car “I’ve seen—your—pictures!”
Monk had parked. But the keys were not in The bronze man nodded slightly.
it. Monk had taken the keys, had lost them “And you?”
sometime during the skirmish. “Montgomery Medwig Pelt is my
The two would-be killers and their name,” said the man.
car were gone before pursuit could be “Blazes!” Monk exploded. “This is
organized. the guy who wired us to come to Los
Angeles!”
“What was behind this attack on
DOC SAVAGE came back to the you?” Doc Savage asked Montgomery
pillar where Monk and his fellow victim Medwig Pelt.
were roped. Ham was unwinding the still- “I do not know,” the man with the
dazed chemist. old hair and the young skin answered.
“What happened, Monk?” the “Who were the attackers?”
lawyer asked. “I never saw them before,” said
“Saw a guy actin’ funny,” Monk Pelt. The tall, thin, stooped barrister waved
growled. “I followed him, and him and his in the general direction of the upper part of
pals got me.” the building. “Why not go to my suite of
“So I see,” Ham said, dryly. offices?” he suggested. “Talk will be easier
“The two guys were fixin’ to kill this there; maybe safer.”
fellow here,” Monk said, ignoring the The white-haired attorney led the
sarcasm. “They must have thought I was way to a door in one corner of the
wise, and wanted to get me out of the way.” basement garage and climbed stairs to the
Doc Savage’s metallic fingers were first-floor lobby, where a lone elevator took
plucking at the lashings which upheld the them upward.
baggy-suited, gray-haired man beside
Monk. The cords were half-inch cotton
rope, and the knots were very difficult to LAWYER Montgomery Medwig
untie. Doc Savage simply broke them, his Pell’s offices strove hard for an effect of
cabled bronze hands accomplishing this spaciousness. The two rooms were large;
somewhat amazing feat without much but they had hardly enough furniture to
apparent difficulty. keep from seeming bare. Cheap desks,
Doc held the limp form erect. An cheap chairs. The set-up was not
ominous blue swelling showed back of the impressive. The inner sanctum contained a
senseless man’s left ear. His eyelids began case full of legal tomes that looked as if
to flutter. The unconscious man’s face was they had been picked up secondhand.
pinch-lipped, angular. But the startling thing Pell, looking seedy, sank weakly
about him was his skin; it was surprisingly into a chair behind a large desk. There was
youthful, almost boyish. Yet his rumpled dust on the unused parts of the desk.
thatch of graying hair went with advanced Doc Savage waited for Pell to
years. His eyes were still glazed, but his begin speaking. When the attorney showed
lips began moving. no sign of doing so, the bronze man asked
a question.
“You summoned us from New “I obeyed instructions and put it in a

York?” Doc queried. safe-deposit box in the Cinema Trust
Montgomery Medwig Pell promptly Company.”
got down to brass tacks. “What disposition were you to
“Here are the facts,” he said. “A make finally of the package?”
week ago, I received a package and a “I was getting to that. I was to turn it
letter. This is the letter.” over to you, when you arrived. And that,
He sorted through some papers, gentlemen, is everything I know about this
and handed over a typewritten sheet: mysterious affair. Why those men a while
ago tried to kill me, I do not know. They
MONTGOMERY M. PELL, neglected to explain.”
Suite 720, Western Bldg., Doc asked, “Did this C. Wraith
Los Angeles, Cal. happen to mention his full name?”
Pell frowned. “Oh, yes. Camphor
DEAR SIR: Wraith.”
I am seeking your services in a “What?” Monk howled.
rather unusual matter. Enclosed is the sum “Camphor Wraith. Strange, eh?
of five thousand dollars ($5,000) as a Obviously a faked name.”
retainer. I hope the amount will be “Doc!” Monk roared. “That stuff at
satisfactory. the airport—the stuff that got on your flying
My life is in danger. The lives of suit—it had a camphor smell!”
several other persons are also in danger. In “Camphor Wraith,” Doc Savage
fact, we are about to become the victims of repeated, slowly. “The name might have
an incredible terrible thing. But this letter is significance.”
not one of explanation. “It is all utterly baffling to me,”
You probably think by now that I Montgomery Medwig Pell murmured,
am perhaps insane. The five thousand is to weakly.
persuade you otherwise. Doc Savage suggested, “Perhaps
At present, I can think of only one the package you put in the bank vault will
man capable of aiding myself and the help explain.”
others. He is a man who makes a business Pell heaved up out of his creaking
of getting people out of trouble. His name is chair. “An excellent thought!”
Doc Savage. Monk frowned at him, said, “You
Arrange to secure the help of Doc sound kinda relieved?”
Savage, please. “I can assure you,” Pell murmured,
Hold the enclosed package for “that I shall be very glad to get this affair off
instructions. Do not open. my hands. And that will be as soon as I
I will telephone you later. transfer the package to you.”
Sincerely, Doc Savage led the way out of the
C. WRAITH office into the hallway. Since the others
were slow in following—Monk and Pell
“That,” said Monk, “don’t tell us a were still a bit dazed—the bronze man
heck of a lot.” waited for a moment. His flake-gold eyes
Pell sighed. “Nor me.” roved the corridor, searching everywhere.
“Know anything else?” Doc asked. Doc had long ago found it necessary to
“A little,” said Pell. “The next day, make alertness habitual.
the fellow who wrote the letter telephoned The bronze man’s eyes steadied
and wanted to know if you were coming. I on a crack in the hallway ceiling.
said you were. I was instructed to rent a
safe-deposit box in the Cinema Trust
Company and place the package in it.” A PECULIAR line, that crack. It was
“Had you opened it?” very long, wandering from a spot near
“Oh, no! The letter said not to open Pell’s door, across the hall ceiling, and
it.” down to the top of a door opposite the
“Where is the package now?” attorney’s office.
Monk, Ham and Pell came out into Chapter III

the hallway. Doc Savage accompanied THE SECOND CORPSE
them to the elevator. They all rode down
silently. DOC SAVAGE did not make further
In the cheap and gaudy lobby of examination of the elaborate set-up by
the building, Doc Savage spoke. which the spy hidden in the room across
“Wait here,” he directed. the hallway must have heard every word
The others looked blank. Monk spoken in Pell’s office.
began, “But what—” Doc Savage moved with an almost
Doc Savage was already gone, phantom soundlessness, down the hall to
mounting the stairway which zigzagged the window through which the thick-bodied
upward near the elevator shaft. The bronze eavesdropper had disappeared. Rows of
man climbed swiftly until he reached the metal bars, dimly visible outside, indicated
level of lawyer Pell’s office. He did not step the means of departure—a fire escape.
boldly into the corridor, but paused, out of There was an alley below. Doc
sight. descended.
A bronze hand went into an inside Reaching the alley, he gilded
pocket, and came out with an object that toward its mouth. He stopped for a
resembled a fountain pen. A tug at one end moment, just before reaching the sidewalk,
of this caused it to elongate, telescope and used the periscope. His quarry was
fashion. There were detachable caps at making swift progress down a side street.
each end. The ingenious contrivance The fellow twisted his head frequently for a
became a telescope, microscope, or backward glance. He was nervous. That
periscope, merely by altering the lenses. would not make trailing him any easier.
Doc Savage employed it as a The man ahead turned into an all-
periscope, to examine the hallway. The night drug store at a corner.
periscope showed the figure of a burly man Doc Savage did not abandon his
coming out of the door opposite Pell’s caution, it not being entirely improbable that
office—the door to which Doc had noticed his quarry might have adopted the simple
ran the rather unusual ceiling crack. There ruse of going into the drug store and
was furtiveness in the burly fellow’s watching through the show windows to see
manner. He ran to a window at the end of if he were being trailed.
the corridor, glancing frequently over his The bronze man hugged the
shoulder, but not discovering the periscope. building fronts as he approached the
He was one of the pair who had brightly lighted window of the pharmacy,
tried to murder Monk and Pell in the then used his periscope device again.
basement garage. Inside, staring anxiously out of the
He raised the window, scrambled window, stood the burly fellow whom Doc
through it and disappeared, probably on a was trailing. Doc held the periscope tube
fire escape. perfectly still. The man had not seen it, and
Doc Savage ran forward, swiftly, it was doubtful if he would, as long as it was
soundlessly. He produced a penknife. By not moved.
standing on tiptoe, he could insert the point The man seemed to be watching
of the knife in the ceiling crack. He pried. A something fixedly—something across the
fine wire came out. This wire led from Pell’s street. Doc drew back from the periscope
office to the room across the hallway. tube and, turning his head only slightly,
Doc Savage traced the wire. In surveyed the street.
Pell’s office, concealed behind a picture, he Across the thoroughfare, near the
uncovered a sensitive pick-up microphone. corner, a black coupé stood at the curb. Its
The room across the hall held a engine was running, but so quietly that
small box of apparatus—a vacuum tube even Doc’s trained ears could barely detect
amplifier to which the wires from the pick- its purring. The car was dark.
up microphone ran. There was also a It remained dark for only an instant.
telephone headset, for listening purposes. Then its interior was filled with a brief faint
dab of light. This was followed shortly by a
longer dab, also faint. The dome light in the for a writing pad. He ripped off the cover,
coupé was being used to signal in the folded the thick, heavy sheet and
Morse code! consigned it to an inner pocket of his
Of the appearance of the person in clothing.
the coupé, switching the dome light on and A moment later, Doc Savage was
off, little could be seen. making a cautious survey from the side
door by which his quarry had departed. The
fellow was on a side street, running.
A nighthawking taxicab was parked
at the distant corner. Doc’s quarry reached
this, yanked the rear door open and popped
inside. The cab began to move.
Doc Savage glanced about in
search of another taxicab. There was none
in sight.
Small trees lined the sidewalk,
making dark shadows. The bronze man
took to this murk and ran. Doc, in perfect
physical condition and in possession of
muscles developed by a lifetime of
intensive training, was a remarkable runner.
He could travel at a pace which some
adjudged as superhuman. Yet his ability to
run was fabulous only when compared to
THE coupé suddenly went into the speed other men could make. Pitted
motion. It traveled down the street and against an automobile, he was distinctly
disappeared. outclassed. The cab began to draw ahead.
Doc turned his attention to the Three blocks distant, a traffic light
periscope and the man in the drug store. was red. The cab obeyed the law and
The fellow no longer stood at the window, stopped. Doc began to regain the ground
but was going toward the back of the store. he had lost. The cab rolled on. Doc
There was haste in his movements. increased his speed—then the unexpected
The drug store followed the current happened.
policy of dealing in everything from bathing The quarry got out of the cab. Doc
suits to garden hose. The man purchased a caught a glimpse of him as he sought
package of stationery and some rather shelter in the darkness along the sidewalk.
gaudy pink envelopes. The cab turned around in the
He carried his purchases to a middle of the street and came back,
telephone booth in the rear. He selected a passing under a street lamp. The driver had
sheet of the stationery, produced a pencil the pink envelope. Clutched with it was a
and began to write. He was not an wad of green paper. Money. What the
accomplished scribe, but had difficulty with combination of letter and money meant,
the composition. was not hard to fathom: The driver had
He finally employed the telephone been paid to deliver the note.
directory as a foundation on which to rest
his paper while he wrote.
Tucking the single sheet of THERE came the sound of a motor
stationery into one of the pink envelopes, car approaching. Doc Savage saw the
the man quitted the phone booth. He left machine itself, an instant later. It was the
the rest of the stationery and the envelopes same black coupé that had been parked
behind in the booth. He departed from the before the drug store, the dome light
drug store by a side door. winking.
Doc Savage promptly entered by The car came along the street and
the front door. The bronze man made swung in, as if to pick up the man Doc was
directly for the telephone booth, and following.
grasped the directory which had been used
In doing this, it was necessary for coordination and agility. This man lacked
the machine to pass the bronze man; and one or the other, for his rather large feet
Doc, peering intently, got a look at the face became entangled and he hit the alley
of the driver. The lower part of it was paving with a squawk and a thud. The man
rubbery, line-gullied. The visage of another was up again almost instantly, and
of the men who had escaped from the continued running down the alley.
basement garage of the Western Building Doc reached the alley mouth. He
after attempting to kill Monk and the lawyer, went in quickly, but warily, resorting to the
Montgomery Medwig Pell. gait known to football players as a change
Doc Savage hurtled out of the of pace. His rate of speed was not the
shadows, angling diagonally across the same from one instant to another, and
street toward the slowing machine and the made him a difficult target for a gun.
man it was preparing to pick up. Doc made Then he caught the odor.
no attempt at concealment. He wanted to It was faint, so faint that attempting
be seen. He even shouted. to ascertain its actual existence only
The man Doc had been following worried the nostrils. A moment or two was
whirled at the shout. He saw the big bronze required for Doc’s olfactory sense even to
figure bearing down on him. The identify it.
significance of the situation struck him Camphor—or moth balls! That
instantly. He could not reach the coupé described it as accurately as any
before Doc cut him off! description could, although there was a
The thug emitted one sharp squeak vague difference which led to the suspicion
of fear, gave up all ideas of reaching the it was neither of these.
coupé, and fled. He drew a revolver and
began to fire backward over his shoulder in
a manner so reckless that only rank luck DOC slowed almost to a stop, his
could have let him hit anything. movements very wary. The only light in the
The hybrid-faced driver of the alley was yellow overflow from a night lamp
coupé also got a gun in action. He showed burning in the back of some store.
no such carelessness with his Then came a sound that jerked the
marksmanship. Orange flame and gun roar bronze man into swift motion. It was a
came out of the coupé window with quivering sound, and made one think of
measured precision. razor blades gritting on glass. A man’s
Doc felt cold air stir, and the snap scream. Utter terror it held, and it came
of a bullet almost against his face. He from ahead.
veered, seeking shadows. The gun in the There were foot noises ahead—not
coupé roared five times—evidently all of the sounds which might be made by a man
shells it held, because silence followed. walking or even running. They were
The man whose lower face was frenzied foot-slappings and scrapings, a
rubbery leaned out of the coupé window struggle.
and shouted at the fleeing one. The screams came again and
“Know where to head for?” he again. They were not nice to listen to. The
squalled. shrill screams suddenly became fainter.
“Where?” screeched the fleeing The victim must have ducked into one of
man, without slackening his pace. the buildings which lined the alley.
“The place I signaled you with the It took Doc Savage only split-
dome light!” howled the man in the coupé. seconds to find the door through which the
After that, the car got in motion. It cries still came. The door was closed. The
left the scene completely in the space of bronze man found fastenings. The portal
seconds. remained closed; it was wrenched. Barred
Doc Savage’s quarry reached an on the inside. The door was thick—a slab of
alley. As he entered it, the man turned to wood. Doc jarred it with his shoulder. It
see how far behind was his bronze held.
nemesis. Then, muffled by the thick panel,
Turning to look over a shoulder the screaming voice began to make words.
while running is a feat which requires
The victim must have heard Doc at the A moment later, the newcomers
door. appeared—Monk and Ham, trailed by
“Who’s there?” he squalled. lawyer Pell.
There were, perhaps, a number of “Doc!” Monk howled. “That you?”
reasons why Doc Savage should not reveal “Here,” Doc Savage called.
his identity; but the bronze man, appraising “What in blazes happened?”
them all swiftly in his mind, found none demanded Monk. “That screaming! We
worth considering. heard it back in Pell’s office building! Man, it
“Doc Savage!” he identified himself sounded like somebody was plenty scared!”
through the door. If the bronze man Doc Savage did not make
expected the victim within to be frightened explanations.
or become silent at the news, he got a “We must get this door open,” he
surprise. said.
“Savage!” squalled the fellow. “The The bronze man now took from a
damn thing is tryin’ to kill me!” pocket a small affair of folded leather that
The weird odor, like moth balls, yet might have suggested a needle case. The
different, was very strong. contents of this somewhat resembled
“The Agate Devil!” the man inside needles, except that they were longer and
screamed suddenly. “It’s been killing—all curved in various strange shapes. It was
over the world—gonna kill—plan under the lock-picking outfit which the bronze man
way—go to Solar Seven—” always carried. He employed the little
He broke off and bawled out in probes on the door.
utter horror. There was the stamping of The door seemed to be secured by
feet, as if he struggled madly. a stout spring lock, which, no doubt, had
Doc hit the door again. It resisted. sprung when the fleeing man slammed the
“The Agate Devil!” the man inside panel. There ensued some minutes, when
screamed. “Savage! Get to Solar Seven— only the slight clicking of Doc’s instrument
Solar Seven—” could be heard. Then the door came open.
That was all he said. While Doc So intense was the darkness within
Savage hit the door with a force which only that it seemed to flow out of the opening.
alloy-hard muscles could withstand, the No flicker of emotion showed on Doc’s
cries of the man within trailed away, as if metallic features, as he stepped through.
something had dragged him into a deep The place became brilliantly white
hole. with light as Doc found an electric switch.
Then the fantastic light appeared. Monk, Ham, and Pell sidled gingerly
through the door.
It was a shabby room, apparently
THE lurid yellow glow, the same long unused. The instant they were inside,
unholy luminance which Doc had seen at Monk and Ham stopped short. Pell also
the airport—it was, if anything, now more seemed to freeze in his tracks.
unnatural. “Blazes!” Monk gulped, hoarsely.
Only around the edges of the door They all looked at what was on the
was the unearthly light visible. Doc Savage floor.
sought to get an eye to these cracks to It was a man, a corpse. The dead
peer inside, but the apertures were situated visage was that of the thick-bodied fellow
so that this was impossible. whom Doc had trailed after catching the
Then the mystifying ocherous glow man eavesdropping outside Montgomery
disappeared. There was no noise, no Medwig Pell’s law office.
commotion. The eerie luminance simply Horrible contortion had come upon
faded, and complete darkness took its the dead man’s features in his last
place. There was silence. moments, and still lingered. Yet that mask
The alley began to echo with the was not what gripped their attention and
sound of running feet. These noises made Monk and Ham look somewhat
approached Doc, coming from the direction strange, and made lawyer Pell become
of the street: Three men racing furiously, white and trembling.
judging from the sound.
The chest of the dead man had a “Don’t you know anything about
hole in it. Had it been possible to find some this?” he demanded.
one callous enough to do so, an arm could “Nothing!” Lawyer Pell wrung his
have been thrust through the hole. hands. “I wish I had never become involved
“Lookit!” Monk leveled an arm at in this, indeed I do! It is all utterly
the concrete floor of the chamber. confounding to me!”
On the floor stood a devil of agate. Monk went back into the death
room and found Doc Savage kneeling on
the floor. The bronze man had upset the
Chapter IV devil of red agate, and was using a small
pocket microscope—the periscope device
THE VAULT TRAP converted by the substitution of lenses—to
examine the repulsive statuette.
HOMELY, APISH Monk’s little eyes From the small scarlet thing, Doc
seemed on the point of jumping out of their shifted his attention to the face of the dead
pits of gristle, as he stared at the tiny man.
statuette. Monk swallowed several times, and
“The airport—that hole in the then demanded, “Don’t tell me that—”
body—the red devil—” Monk, for once, had “Exactly the same thing as at the
difficulty finding words. “Was there that airport,” Doc Savage told him. “The face on
glow of light, too, Doc?” this satanlike statuette is quite distinct,
“The light came for a moment,” Doc small as the thing is, and it matches the
Savage admitted. face of the dead man.”
They all stared at the little scarlet “Queerest blame thing I ever heard
devil. It was an unlovely thing, infinitely of,” Monk grunted.
satanic. The statuette could not have been The bronze man lifted the red
six inches over all. Droplets of what looked statuette. He wrapped it in a handkerchief,
like molten stone clung to it, and a little knotted the corners of the cloth and carried
puddle about the feet of the thing was still the statuette with him as he went over to
smoking. Montgomery Medwig Pell.
Monk waddled over, reached down “Have you any idea why this dead
toward the devil, then jerked his hand back. man, before his death, was eavesdropping
“It’s hot as—as—hell!” he muttered. with a dictograph upon the proceedings in
“Search the place,” Doc directed. your office?” Doc Savage asked.
The building was not old, but The reaction of that upon
whoever owned it had let it go to wrack, Montgomery Medwig Pell was surprising.
and, patently, none of it had been in use for The attorney shut his eyes tightly, put his
a long time. They went over everything with arms down stiffly at his sides, and made
the utmost thoroughness. fists of his hands. He fell backward, rigidly,
They found exactly nothing. as a tree falls.
Monk wound up in the alley and
sniffed curiously.
“There’s that camphor smell,” he DOC SAVAGE caught Pell,
said. “Still here.” lowered him to the floor.
“Moth balls,” corrected Ham. “What’s wrong with him?” Ham
Monk scowled. “You know so demanded, anxiously.
much—maybe you can explain what “This thing must have been more
happened to that guy inside? How’d that than he could stomach,” diagnosed Monk,
little red devil get there? An’ what’s it who knew practically nothing about
mean?” medicine. “Boy, for thirty cents, I’d faint,
Ham, rather than confess to Monk too!”
that the whole thing had him bewildered, Some moments later, Pell’s eyelids
turned and walked off. did a fluttery dance. In time, he managed to
Monk shifted his frown to lawyer get shakily to his feet.
Montgomery Medwig Pell. “I guess I can’t—take it,” he said,
feebly.
“Maybe you had better go home,” patrons over closely to keep out touts and
Doc Savage suggested. gamblers and like gentry.
“No, no!” Pell rejected the Doc Savage, inquiring at the desk,
suggestion with surprising vigor. “I think I learned that their luggage had been taken
shall be quite all right, now.” to a four-room suite on the top floor. They
Doc Savage nodded, then was rode the elevator up. Approaching the door
silent for a time. Finally, he asked, “Where of the suite, they began to hear noises.
is the Cinema Trust Company?” The noises were of two kinds. One
“In the business district,” said Pell. was a squeaking and chattering, almost
“I can guide you there.” humanlike. The other sounds were grunts
Monk put in, “There ain’t no banks and squeals.
open at this hour.” The instant he heard the sounds,
Lawyer Pell shook his head, and Monk looked very indignant.
said hastily, “Wrong. The Cinema Trust “That blasted Chemistry!” he
remains open twenty-four hours a day. It is growled. “He’s picking on Habeas again!”
near a number of movie studios which work The dapper Ham looked very
day and night. There are also night shifts at cheerful.
a near-by factory. The Cinema Trust They entered the suite.
remains open to accommodate these
workmen.”
A police siren began wailing in the ABOUT the living room stood
distance. They could tell that it was numerous stout-looking metal cases and a
approaching. few hand bags. The metal cases held Doc
“Some one has telephoned the Savage’s equipment—innumerable
police,” Ham said, dryly. “Probably some scientific gadgets which he frequently found
one who heard the screams and the shots.” occasion to use. The bags, of course,
“We will go,” Doc Savage said, contained their clothing.
abruptly. “Explanations to the police can be “Hey!” Monk howled, and lunged
made later.” forward. “Blast that Chemistry! I’m gonna
They hurried away from the vicinity. make a grease spot outta him!”
As they reached the street, it could be Chemistry, it now developed, was a
noticed that Montgomery Medwig Pell was very remarkable-looking tailless monkey—
glancing about almost continuously, remarkable-looking because of the almost
peering into the murk of the dimly lighted startling resemblance he bore to Monk.
streets. Chemistry belonged to Ham. He
“You lose something?” Monk asked had gotten the monkey in South America, in
him. the Republic of Santa Amoza, while on an
“My town car—the one you drove expedition with Doc Savage.
from the airport. We can use that instead of Chemistry had been tied by a lead
a taxi.” chain to a chair leg; but the chain had
They got the car from behind Pell’s enough scope to permit him to capture
office building, and, with Montgomery Habeas Corpus. Chemistry was holding
Medwig Pell himself at the wheel, drove Habeas Corpus by one oversize ear and
through streets that were at first quiet, then, industriously parting the animal’s hair as if
as they neared the main business district, he expected to find something interesting
noisier. therein.
“The Martel Hotel,” Doc Savage Habeas Corpus was Monk’s pet
directed. pig. Monk had found him in Arabia. Habeas
It was to the Martel that Doc had had some qualities of appearance all his
ordered their equipment and baggage own. He had elephantine ears, a
taken. The Martel was not a large hostelry, tremendous inquisitive nose, a body of no
but was among the better ones in the city. consequence, and legs of amazing length.
Not that its equipment was luxurious. The “Get your animal away from mine!”
quality of the Martel was due to its Monk yelled, and launched a kick at
management, which happened to look the Chemistry, which missed.
Ham snapped, “Stop that!” and Doc Savage led the way into the
partially unsheathed his sword cane. marble lobby of the bank. Everything
Chemistry and Habeas Corpus got seemed normal and sleepy inside. Tellers
along together about as smoothly as did were in some of the cages. There was a
Monk and Ham. substantial sprinkling of big men in gray
Doc Savage gave no attention to uniforms—guards. No doubt the fact that
the quarrel of his two aids. They were the bank was open at night, increased the
always squabbling. likelihood of robbery. Hence the augmented
From a pocket, Doc brought forth force of guards.
the cover of the telephone book which he At the far end of the lobby a neon
had secured in the drug store. It was on this sign said:
cover that the man who had later died had
placed his paper to write the note which the SAFEDEPOSIT VAULT
taxi driver had carried away.
Next, Doc Savage opened an Doc Savage and his party walked
equipment case. From it he took a phial of under the sign, descended a staircase and
very white powder, which he sprinkled over were confronted by a guard who stood in
the directory cover, making an even film. front of a grilled wire enclosure. The gate in
He shook the powder off. this was shut. Beyond was the round door
Out of the same case, the bronze of the vault, through which could be
man brought a small projector of ultra-violet glimpsed tiers of deposit boxes.
light. He darkened the room, and played Doc Savage showed the
the rays of the ultra-violet projector on the credentials which lawyer Montgomery
telephone book cover. The results might Medwig Pell had supplied. The uniformed
have surprised one not acquainted with man considered, frowned over the
modern scientific detective methods. credentials, then made an entry in a book,
Writing became visible in thin lines and said, “Sign, please.”
of fluorescence. They all gathered around Doc Savage did so. The guard
to decipher it: unlocked the gate.
Obeying a slight gesture from Doc
Savage and men told of Safe- Savage, Monk and Ham were first through
deposit Box 1772 at Cinema Trust. Better the gate. Lawyer Pell trailed them.
beat them to it. Doc Savage did a strange thing
before he followed the other three—
The note was unsigned. strange, that is, to any one knowing the
Lawyer Montgomery Medwig Pell bronze man well. Doc drew a pipe from his
seemed dumbfounded at the manner in pocket and clamped the stem between his
which the latent writing had been brought teeth. The action was strange, simply
out, and demanded, “How did you do that?” because the bronze man had never been
“The pencil point pressed the paper known to use tobacco.
fibers together,” Doc Savage explained. There was a reason for the pipe.
“The white powder was of a type which Around its bowl was a ring of brightly
glows when subjected to ultra-violet light. polished metal. This, at first glance,
That is a common property. Ordinary seemed a perfectly simple ornament. As a
aspirin has it, among other substances. The matter of fact, the brightly polished surface
powder remains in the depression, in many of the ring served as a mirror.
cases in quantities invisible to the naked By carrying the pipe in his teeth at
eye, and the ultra-violet light brought it out.” a jaunty angle, Doc could see most of what
Monk growled, “I’m thinking we’d went on behind him.
better head for that bank.” He saw plenty. The uniformed
“Exactly!” the bronze man said. guard had followed them through the gate
and locked the gate behind him. He fol-
lowed them into the vault. There the
THE Cinema Trust Company was guard’s features changed, became a
not a large bank. It was wedged in among snarling mask. The fellow turned, seized
other and bulkier buildings. the heavy vault door, got it closed. Then he
turned back, dipping a hand into a pocket great moan of sound, like the humming of a
for a gun. gigantic bullfiddle.
Doc Savage went to a knee, got Two of the uniformed men on the
both hands on the uniformed man’s ankles, stairs cried out, wheeled and tried to run.
jerked. The fellow crashed on his back to But the chemical in the mercy bullets
the floor with a loud smack. worked quickly. The men collapsed, came
The shock made the man’s gun go thumping down the steps.
off. The report all but split their ears in the Dropping two members of the party
confines of the vault. Dizzily the guard tried had a marked effect on the other uniformed
to turn the gun muzzle on Doc Savage. men. There was sudden panic, hasty flight
A second gun explosion did not back up the steps. Some of them, though,
come. Instead, there was a milder report— kept their nerve, seized the two who had
the brisk crack of Doc Savage’s bronze fist fallen, dragged them out of sight
contacting the man’s jaw. The fellow went “Them guys are fakes!” Monk
to sleep. roared. “Where’s the real bank guards?”
“The vault door!” Monk bawled. Monk and Ham darted to the stairs,
“We’re locked in here!” went up together on hands and knees,
Doc Savage had dived forward with machine pistols ready. Pell was shivering
amazing agility to land his blow. He behind them. They popped their heads over
continued his dive, straightened, got to the the top step, then jerked back as guns
vault door. The thing was equipped in such made noise and bullets whined at them.
a manner that, should bank employees be Doc Savage was running down a
locked in by robbers, they might free small hallway to the right of the vault. At the
themselves. end of this there seemed to be another
Doc got the door open. flight of steps. He reached them, mounted
Outside a gun went off, making a and disappeared.
booming sound in the confines of the bank A hissing started and vapor fell
basement. A bullet came through the wire from small and previously unnoticed vents
enclosure and into the vault, wailing and in the ceiling.
whizzing as it ricocheted. Monk and Ham began gasping,
Uniformed men were coming down choking, as they crouched on the steps.
the stairs toward the safe-deposit vault. “Tear gas!” Monk gasped.
More bank guards! They were shooting as The tear gas, they knew enough
they came. about banks to realize, was coming from
“No!” Doc Savage barked. the regulation protective devices. One of
“Everything is all right now!” the fake guards must have actuated the
The men in uniforms continued controls which released the stuff.
shooting. Knowledge that the vapor would
“Get that bronze guy!” one of them soon blind them, made Monk and Ham
yelled. desperate. They did an apparently insane
“We’re in a trap!” Monk barked. thing. They came erect and charged up the
‘Them guys are all here to kill us!” steps toward their foes.
The move was not entirely
madness, however, for both Monk and Ham
MONK and Ham produced wore light bulletproof undergarments. They
weapons from under-arm holsters. These habitually wore these when walking in the
were guns that resembled oversize paths of trouble, and they had donned them
automatics, but really were supermachine at the hotel.
pistols, capable of firing at a tremendous They were more than a little
rate of speed. Bullets they discharged were surprised when no shots greeted their
the type commonly called “mercy bullets,” appearance. They strained tear-streaming
slugs which merely produced quick eyes. They saw the unexpected. The
unconsciousness without inflicting more uniformed raiders were making a hasty exit
than a superficial wound. through the bank’s front doors.
The rather grotesque-looking
weapons began to vibrate and give off a
Cars drew up to the curbing. The near the chair where Doc had placed the
uniformed fake guards piled into the unconscious man.
machines, and the cars roared away. The prisoner was obviously
Doc, who had come up another senseless. Yet he did a strange thing. He
stairway, ran to Pell’s town car. He made a jumped completely out of the chair. He
move as if to get in, but did not, and walked stood there as rigid and stiff as if he were
around to the rear. The gasoline tank had turned to stone. Then he made dull noise
been punctured, probably with a stout knife. falling to the floor. A little fountain of
All of its contents had leaked out. crimson began to play out of his throat.
“That,” Monk growled, “sinks us!” “He’s been shot!” a woman
It did. They did not find another car screamed.
in time to take up pursuit. “The bullet came through the
window!” Doc rapped.
The bronze man flashed to the
THE bank had not been robbed. door. Monk and Ham were close on his
The uniformed raiders had simply walked heels. Policemen flocked behind them.
in, overpowered any resistance, then forced Across the thoroughfare, a car was
every one to act as if nothing unusual were rolling slowly as if just getting in motion.
happening. Police machines parked up and down the
The genuine bank guards had been street had their headlights turned on, and
locked in a vice president’s office. these illuminated the occupants of the
“I cannot understand it!” declared a rolling machine. Doc and his two aids
bank employee. “There was money in plain recognized them.
sight. They took none. What do you “The bald-headed girl!” Monk
suppose it could mean?” howled. “She shot the guy!”
Monk and Ham, in the confusion, “Her partner is along!” Ham
discovered Doc Savage coming up the echoed.
steps from the vault room with the limp There was no mistaking the
body of a uniformed fake guard in his arms. identification. The oddly matched pair of the
The prisoner was the fellow who had airport attack—the attractive, competent girl
opened the vault for them, and who had who was a master of jujutsu, and the
tried to crush the bronze man’s skull with a strange-looking man with the neck of a
gun. turkey—were in the machine, and their
Doc carried his burden into one of manner showed plainly that they were
the low-railed enclosures in the bank and anxious to get away from the spot. The girl
sat the fellow down in a chair, so that he drove.
faced a large desk lamp. “They shot that guy inside to shut
“He still out?” Monk demanded. his mouth!” Monk bawled again.
“Still,” Doc agreed. Doc Savage ran for the machine.
Monk grinned. “Well, we got His two aids trailed him. The car was
somethin’ outta the scrap, anyway. We got moving very swiftly, too fast for the bronze
that fella. He can give us some idea of man to catch it.
what’s behind this.” “They’re gonna get away!” Monk
Monk spoke as if he took it for wailed.
granted that the unconscious man would A moment later, it looked as if he
talk when he awakened. Monk was were wrong.
acquainted with some of the unusual and
highly effective means which Doc Savage
used to make unwilling men talk. Chapter V
Around them, the bank people THE ROCK DEVIL
milled curiously. Police were circulating,
asking questions. There was somewhat of ANOTHER CAR had been parked
a tumult of voices. near the end of the block. A large sedan. It
Came a sudden crash. It was loud, wheeled out from the curb and stopped
over the voice babble. A hole surrounded directly crosswise in the street. The street
by a web of cracks appeared in a window
was narrow, and the car was long enough The heavy car took the corner on
to block the thoroughfare. two wheels and was gone into the night.
The spectators were now treated to There was now gusty noise of
a bit of quick thinking. For split-seconds, it many motors in the street, as the police
seemed inevitable that the girl would crash cars got into motion, taking up a furious
into the other machine. pursuit. The police machines went off quite
Then the girl spun her steering triumphantly, officers occupying them filled
wheel hard to the right. She headed for the with confidence, which, as it developed,
spot at the curb vacated by the blockading was not justified. The chase proved a flop.
car. Her machine hit the curb hard, and They found no trace of either of the two
held together. It hopped the sidewalk. machines which they sought.
A clothing store window was Back in the bank, Monk and Ham
directly ahead. The car hit it. The crash was had recovered enough from the excitement
unbelievably loud. Plate glass flew high in to start quarreling again.
the air and showered the street. The car “The guy was shot so that we
disappeared into the store. couldn’t question him,” Monk said. “But who
After they lost sight of the machine, was that bird in black, an’ why’d he beat it
they could hear a great roaring of its motor after he tried to stop the girl’s get-away?”
and a crashing and thumping of show “Oh, get a recording made of it!”
cases being knocked about. Then there snapped Ham. “None of it makes sense!
was a second crash of plate glass. None of it will make sense, until we see
The store into which the girl had what’s in that safe-deposit box.”
driven was a corner one. She had simply Getting access to the safe-deposit
wheeled through the fragile show cases box proved to be not so easy. There was
and driven out through the other window. explaining and much persuasion on the part
All four tires of her machine must have of Montgomery Medwig Pell before Doc
been flat. It made a great racket going Savage was given permission to enter the
away down a side street. box.
“That gal sure believes in takin’ her During the argument, Doc occupied
chances!” Monk barked. himself by making an examination of the
Doc sprinted down the street. dead fake guard. His search was thorough,
“Where you goin’?” Monk yelled, and it brought to light only one thing which
legging after the bronze man. seemed to interest the bronze man.
“The blockading car!” Doc rapped. “What’s that?” Monk demanded.
That reminded Monk to do Doc Savage passed over an object
something he had not thought of before. He which he had taken from a pocket of the
stared in an effort to get a look at the driver dead man’s vest. It was an oblong wooden
of the blockading car. box, which bore no label at all. It had a slide
The occupant was a man whose top. Monk shifted this back.
very black clothing was his distinguishing Inside the little box reposed a cigar
feature. His suit was black, and his hat, that was of obvious excellence. There was
also, which was not uncommon; but he no band on it, and no label; no printing
wore also a black shirt and a black necktie. whatever was in the box.
The fellow had a face somehow remindful Doc took cigar and box and stowed
of the countenance of a bird of prey, the them carefully in a pocket.
nose a beak. Montgomery Medwig Pell came
The bird-beaked man fought over and said, “They will now let us
steering wheel and gearshift lever. The examine the safe-deposit box.”
heavy car jumped back and forth, The box contained one package. It
straightening itself out in the street. With a was wrapped in ordinary paper such as
protesting squawk from spinning tires, the might have come from any grocery store.
car got under way. The package was about the size of a loaf of
Doc Savage was incredibly fast on bread.
his feet, but there is a limit to the ability of Doc removed the paper. A
even the best of tendons. He failed to cardboard container was disclosed: a shoe
overtake the car.
box. It was encircled with string, which Doc least, I might figure out what this is,” he
snapped. He removed the lid. said. “Chemistry is my line.”
“Blazes!” Monk said. He uncorked the bottle. The result
The box held three objects: was highly discomfiting. There was a swish!
One was a small bottle of syrupy- Vapor spurted out of the bottle, as the liquid
looking liquid, unlabeled. contents vaporized instantly. The stuff
The second object was a folded bit sprayed over Monk.
of paper. Doc Savage opened this. They all The reek of an odor that was like
read it: camphor, yet not like it, filled the vault.
GO TO S. P. F. L. 7 FOR INFORMATION
“Very illuminating,” Ham said, dryly.

“This gets stranger and stranger,”
Monk agreed. “Open that other thing.”
The “other thing”—the third and last
object in the box—was wrapped in cotton.
Doc Savage picked the cotton apart.
“Whe-ew!” Monk gasped.
It was a small and exquisitely
carved statuette of blue stone. It was the
likeness of a devil, complete even to horns
and spiked tail.
There was utter silence in the vault,
as the men looked at these objects. Ham
broke it.
“Give the devil to Monk!” he
suggested. “Kindred souls should MONK emitted a howl, dropped the
associate.” bottle, turned and ran. Why he did this, it
Monk scratched his head, trying to was hard to say. He already had the stuff
think of a sufficiently biting retort, then gave all over him.
it up. But, feeling no ill effects, the
“Lookit!” he grunted. “This statue is homely chemist stopped. Great anxiety was
a different color!” on his homely features for a few moments.
They had all noted that. The stone Then he began to look less thoughtful.
of which the thing was made was of a “The stuff—ain’t—poison—I guess,”
different hue and texture. Its color was that he said, hesitantly.
of a cold winter day. It was almost “You were your usual bright self
transparent. when you opened that bottle,” Ham told
“Agate,” Ham decided. him.
Monk held the thing up. “Wonder if “Aw-w!” Monk growled. “How was I
the face of the thing is the likeness of to know what was in it?”
anybody we know?” “Do you know now?” Ham
He scrutinized the features; but not countered.
until Doc produced a tiny pocket magnifier “No!” Monk growled. “An’ quit ridin’
and offered it, were they sure. me, or I’ll walk over you like I would a
“Blazes!” Monk gurgled. “It’s a bridge!”
woman’s face!” Ham sneered, “The only thing we
“It’s the face of that bald-headed had that might have been a clue, and you
girl we had the run-in with at the airport!” got rid of it nicely!”
Ham echoed. Lawyer Montgomery Medwig Pell
They stood in silence for some had withdrawn to the end of the vault and
time. was standing there, trembling a little, pale.
At last, Monk picked up the bottle The avalanche of exciting action had
which had been in the safe-deposit box. “At apparently gotten the best of him.
“Do you—gentlemen—need me the bronze man now employed the

any longer?” he asked shakily. telephone to call the main studio. The
“Have you any more information?” individual who answered was apparently a
Doc Savage asked him. watchman.
“No!” Pell said, promptly. “This is all “Have you a Field Location No. 7?”
a terrific mystery to me. It really is!” Doc Savage asked.
Monk whispered to Doc so that Pell “Yes,” said the watchman.
could not hear: “The poor guy’s got the “Where is it?” the bronze man
jitters, for which you can’t blame him asked.
much.” “In the desert below Palm Springs,”
Doc Savage studied lawyer Pell for he was told.
some moments. “‘Go to Solar Productions’ Field
“We will not subject you to further Location No. 7 for information,’” Ham said
danger by asking that you accompany us,” slowly, repeating the cipher message as he
the bronze man said. “If you wish to leave, had decided Doc Savage had translated it.
you may.” “Brothers, let’s set sail for the
“Thank you,” said Montgomery place!” Monk suggested. “Information is
Medwig Pell. “I am at the Flower Hotel, if what we want!”
you want me.”
Montgomery Medwig Pell now
departed. He looked as if he were a man HOURS later in the night, they
about to become a nervous wreck. came around a shoulder of San Jacinto
Monk fingered the blue satan Mountain, and caught sight of the movie
statuette, examining it closely. He company location.
grumbled, “It looks just like them other two There were lights about the place,
we found, except for the color.” but they saw more than the lights. Judging
Ham was scrutinizing the paper from the number of luminous spots, the
which bore the cryptic message. The location was of considerable size.
dapper lawyer, it chanced, made somewhat This was correct, as it later
of a hobby of the study of ciphers. He had developed, for Solar Productions had
taken the paper with high hopes; but it had moved a complete studio out here to the
baffled him. edge of the desert, to film a desert picture
“The meaning of this thing is an which chanced to be their major production
absolute mystery to me,” he said. for the year.
“Suppose we consult a telephone Doc Savage was driving. They still
book,” Doc suggested. rode in Montgomery Medwig Pell’s big town
Ham blinked. “You mean you have car. Repairs had been made to the
an idea?” damaged gasoline tank. They had the
“The S. P. F. L. 7 is the mystifying windows open. Ham insisted on this,
part,” Doc Savage replied. “However, it may declaring that he could not stand Monk’s
mean—but we will consult a telephone odor.
book first.” The strange, camphor-like smell
The bank switchboard operator still clung to Monk with an annoying
produced a telephone directory. Doc persistence. The homely chemist had tried
Savage turned to the “S” section and ran removing his outer clothing. As a matter of
rapidly down the columns of names and fact, he now wore only his underwear. The
numbers. results had not been encouraging.
“Here,” he said, and pointed to: “The smell of you would scare a
moth to death,” Ham told the homely
“SOLAR PRODUCTIONS.” chemist.
Monk kept his council. He was
“Hm-m-m,” Monk grunted. “The secretly a little worried by the smell which
‘Solar Productions’ takes care of letters ‘S. clung to him, and of which he could not rid
P.’” himself. He pretended to devote his
“Solar Productions is a movie attention to keeping his pig, Habeas
concern, it seems,” Doc Savage said; and
Corpus, out of the clutches of Ham’s pet On either side stood the false fronts
ape. of buildings intended to depict an old-
Doc Savage had driven past their fashioned western cow town. Doc wheeled
hotel to pick up more equipment, and Monk the car in between a corral and a structure
and Ham had added their two strange- marked, “Drinking Emporium.”
looking and quarrelsome pets to the The man on the running board
entourage. began speaking in a hoarse voice. It was
They drew near the movie location, not loud enough to be heard very far.
which was surrounded by a high wooden “The blue devil!” he gasped. “You
fence to keep out the curious. They have it?”
bounced along the miserable trail to the “Devil?” Monk gulped. “Say, what
gate. A uniformed gateman confronted the dickens—”
them. “Shut up, dope!” Ham said, and
“Now the argument starts,” Monk nudged the homely chemist.
whispered. “I’ve heard these guys are “The blue devil!” went on the man
tough.” in black, gasping in his haste. “It must be
The gateman looked the car over, like mine. It must be blue! It is very
did not recognize it, and snapped, “There’s important!”
no admittance to the lot at this time of He fumbled in his clothing and
night.” drew out an object wrapped in a
Just what line of argument would handkerchief. He unwound it and held it up.
have gotten them past the guard, they The thing was one of the little satan
never did learn. It was not necessary. A statuettes. It was blue.
figure appeared inside the gate. It was a Monk and Ham looked exceedingly
man. The headlights illuminated him blank at sight of the object. Doc Savage
distinctly. said nothing, showed no emotion; but the
“Good night!” Monk breathed, after bronze man’s small, strange trilling sound
one look. “That’s the bird-beaked guy who came briefly into being and ran its eerie
tried to block the bald-headed girl’s get- way up and down the musical scale,
away!” seeming to adhere to no definite tune, yet
It did look like the same man. He distinctly melodious in its fantastic fashion.
wore black, even to necktie and shirt. He “Please!” exploded the man in
had a beak of a nose, and his jowls hung black. “This must be done quickly. Is yours
down like those of a Newfoundland dog. like mine?”
“Gateman!” the black-clothed fellow “You mean you want to compare
called sharply. “It is all right! Admit these your statuette with ours?” Monk demanded.
people!” “Oh, yes!” gasped the other.
The gateman turned to the “Please! Quickly! Thousands of lives may
speaker, who was evidently a person of depend on this! Persons all over the
consequence. world—”
“Admit them!” snapped the man Monk got a package out of a door
with the hooked nose and the dark raiment. pocket, a package Doc Savage had given
“I was expecting them.” him. It consisted of a paper-wrapped
The gate was promptly opened by cardboard box. Monk had not understood
the guard, and Doc drove inside. The man why Doc had put the statuette in the box,
in the dark garments sprang on the running unless to keep them from being separated
board. and lost. He took the package in one hand
“Drive to the right!” he rapped. and got out of the car.
“Turn out your headlights! Make as little
noise as possible!”
THE next move of the bird-beaked
man in black was almost an insane thing,
DOC SAVAGE complied with the and such a complete surprise that it caught
suggestions. His machine rolled past huge Monk off guard. The fellow was holding out
stacks of scenery. his rock fragment for Monk’s inspection.
Suddenly, he swung it, driving it upward.
Before the homely chemist could get his “That guy’ll get clean away!” Monk
head aside, the thing caught him between groaned.
the eyes. Doc Savage said nothing, and
It was a terrible blow. Monk made a dabbed at the cut made by the piece of
bubbling sound and landed on his face in carved rock in the assailant’s hand.
the sand. Ham said suddenly, “Phe-w-w!
The beak-nosed man was quick Monk, aren’t you ever going to get rid of
with his hands. He managed to get that awful smell?”
possession of the package Monk had been “I can’t shed my skin, can I?” Monk
carrying. demanded, a bit plaintively. “That stuff sure
A gun had appeared in the black- sticks with a guy. It kinda worries me.”
clothed man’s hand. He cocked it as he “Aren’t we going to follow that
shoved it forward. There was not the fellow in black who got the package?” Ham
slightest doubt but that he intended to demanded again.
shoot. “Wait,” Doc Savage said.
Doc Savage and Ham both got The bronze man snapped off the
doors open on the opposite side of the car, car headlights. Then he did a strange thing.
scrambled out and lay where the frame of He climbed atop the car and began to look
the car would protect them. on all sides. Monk and Ham, puzzled,
Footsteps ran away in the climbed up and joined him.
darkness. When Doc Savage and Ham got “I don’t get the idea of this,” Monk
to their feet, the assailant had disappeared. grunted.
And almost immediately, he
emitted a squeaky gasp and demanded,
Chapter VI “Am I nuts? Or do you see that, too?”
THE BALD-HEADED Off to the right, a patch of
transplanted desert growth was carefully
GIRL AGAIN arranged to give movie fans the idea that
the desert was a great deal more horrible
DOC SAVAGE whipped away from thing than it actually was. A huge yucca
the car. The bronze man did not start in was the central part of this arrangement. Its
hurried pursuit, but stood listening. vague silhouette had the distinct outlines of
Whatever sounds would be made by a balled fist.
running feet in the smooth desert sand, But the strange shape of the tree
inside the studio lot, would not carry far. was not what got their attention. Out of the
Doc heard nothing. tree, growing and spreading, came an even
He did, after a moment, hear a low more fantastic shape. It climbed into the air.
groan. The sound came from Monk, on the It was a form of intense black,
sand near the side of the car. More groans eerily writhing and swelling up into the
turned into a thick-tongued mumble. night. One moment it looked like a huge
“I’ll—I’ll wring that guy’s—neck!” hooded figure. The next, its outline had
The homely chemist was getting himself dissolved, and reformed to make the bent
shakily erect. A slow trickle of scarlet was shape of a grotesque something in flight.
staining one side of his face. Doc Savage got clown off the car
“Where’d that baby go?” Monk top and moved toward the apparition. Monk
demanded, fiercely. and Ham followed. As they approached the
Ham interposed. “We’re wasting fantastic monster in the air above the
time, Doc. We should be trying to catch that yucca, the nature of the thing became
fellow.” apparent.
Doc Savage seemed unconcerned “Blazes!” Monk breathed. “Smoke!”
with immediate pursuit of the beaked Ham exploded, “Look! Two people!
individual who had knocked Monk out and Senseless!”
stole their package. The bronze man Doc Savage snapped on his
helped the unwilling Monk to sit on the flashlight, played the white funnel over the
running board of the car, and began minor two prone forms.
repairs on the forehead wound.
One was the individual who had nose, he pulled. Part of the nose came
seized Monk’s package. away with his fingers. It was reddish
One look at the other, and Monk theatrical makeup wax.
nearly upset. Monk and Ham stared at the face
“The bald-headed dame!” he of the unconscious man.
gasped. “Blazes!” Monk choked.
“The lady who flung you about like “Lawyer Montgomery Medwig Pell!”
the well-known gentleman on the flying Ham gasped.
trapeze!” Ham agreed. Monk looked at Doc Savage, wiped
“Yeah,” Monk growled. “And her imaginary perspiration off his forehead, and
face was also on that blue statuette!” growled, “This is the last dang thing I
It was unmistakably the bald- expected. I thought that lawyer was on the
headed girl, attractive even when she did up-and-up. I mighta knowed that all lawyers
not have her hair. is crooked, though.”
“Now we can find out what these Ham ignored this dig, and felt over
two were afraid the guy they killed in the Montgomery Medwig Pell’s limp form. “No
bank would tell us,” Ham said. wonder Monk said he felt funny.”
In the hand of the hairless girl was “Padded!” Doc Savage said,
the package the bird-beaked man had tersely. “Pell used pads to make himself
stolen from Monk. It was open, and both appear much heavier.”
wrappings and box were partially burned. For some moments, there was
“They will not be unconscious for silence. It was quite evident that although
long,” said Doc Savage. Pell had been masquerading as the beak-
“What got them?” Ham demanded. faced, black-clothed individual, there must
“The package which Monk was be such a person. For Pell had been in the
taking care of,” said Doc Savage. “It was a bank with Doc and his men at the time the
dummy. It contained a quantity of the car driven by the beak-faced man had
anaesthetic gas that we use to produce swerved crosswise in the street in an
temporary unconsciousness. And with the attempt to stop the get-away of the bald-
gas was mixed another chemical headed girl and her turkey-necked
concoction which, when exposed to the air, companion.
will burn and give off that smoke.” “What’ll we do with these two?”
Ham opened his mouth, shut it, and Monk queried, after a while.
said no more. He did not ask how Doc had “We will let them recover
come to make this particular preparation. consciousness together, and make sure
Ham could guess. The bronze man they think they are alone,” Doc Savage
habitually took every precaution, and this explained. “They will then talk freely to each
matter of the fake package was probably other, let us hope.”
just one of many measures which Doc had,
no doubt, taken.
Monk bent to pick up the limp figure DOC SAVAGE now cast about for
of the bird-beaked individual. The apish a spot where they could secure privacy
chemist barely began to heave, then suitable for their project.
relaxed suddenly. His face, in the flashlight “What we need is a joint that’s
glow, showed ludicrous puzzlement. soundproof,” Monk offered.
“This guy feels kinda funny,” he Monk picked up the girl, and Doc
declared. took the senseless form of Pell. They
Ham snorted. “It’s probably that carried their prisoners to the door of a
crack on the head you got!” building which had the shape of a huge flat-
Monk shook his head. “No, the guy roofed barn. Doc Savage tried the door, got
is—” it open and went inside.
Doc Savage bent over the prone Monk looked around. “What’s this
form of the beak-faced man. His bronze place?”
fingers made exploring passes over the Doc played his flashlight about and
fellow’s features. Grasping the hooked tip the beam revealed much intricate
of the unconscious individual’s beakish equipment.
“Sound studio!” Monk said. have the slightest notion of how big it really
“Exactly,” Doc Savage agreed. is.”
“And, if the equipment is intact, it will make “Let’s try to get out of here,” said
our task much simpler.” the girl.
The bronze man now moved Then things happened. A sharp
across the great barn of a sound studio to a crackling came out of the loud-speaker.
small room which was separated from the The noise of something breaking! The bald-
studio by a large plate-glass window. Inside headed girl of a sudden cried out shrilly.
this, there was a great deal of equipment.
Doc Savage began to examine the
apparatus, to make a change in the wiring DOC SAVAGE lunged for the light
here and there. Then he came out in the switch, which he had located previously,
studio again, and made adjustments on a snapped it. Nothing happened. The current
device which, at first glance, could have had been shut off somewhere.
been mistaken for an oversize electric The girl cried out again. This time,
heater. This was really a beam microphone. there was utter terror in her voice.
The dishlike reflector caught sound waves “Somebody’s grabbed ‘em!” Monk
and directed them down at the microphone, roared.
which was mounted at the focal point. The homely chemist pitched for the
Doc placed the “mike” at a point control-room door. So headlong was
where it would not be noticed by the bald- Monk’s dash across the floor of the sound
headed girl and Pell, when they revived. He studio that he did not notice that Doc and
connected the wires, then went into the Ham were not with him. The bronze man
control room. Various switches were and the dapper lawyer had adopted a
turned. The monitor loudspeaker came different method of procedure. They were
alive, as denoted by a soft hissing. circling, moving around the edge of the
Monk and Ham, at Doc’s sound studio for the doors, their intention
suggestion, made a round of the sound being to cut off any attempted retreat.
studio and locked all of the doors on the Monk was running in complete
inside. Then they joined the bronze man in darkness, and promptly fell over something.
the control room. Judging from the noise, he ruined a
There was silence for some time camera. He got up, stumbled forward, and
before the loud-speaker began emitting found the spot where Montgomery Medwig
scrapings and scuffings. A groan came. Pell and the bald-headed girl had been.
The pair inside the sound studio were Both were gone.
beginning to revive. Monk listened. He could hear Doc
The bald-headed girl was first to and Ham moving; but of the two prisoners
speak. Her voice was fairly distinct. “Well, there was no trace. Monk was about to call
Pell, you sure put your fast one over!” she out, suggesting that Doc turn on the
snapped. flashlight, when he saw something that
“We got the agate devils,” Pell silenced him.
mumbled, thickly. The something was a faint string of
“Wake up!” The girl sounded bitter. darkness before his eyes. He touched it. A
“They weren’t in that package. Something rope.
has happened to us!” Then he saw a shadow on the floor
“Oh, shut up!” said Pell. “I did my of the room. It was an incredible shadow,
best. Where are we?” for the simple reason that there seemed to
This new voice of Pell’s was a be no light that could create a shadow in
marked change from the one Doc Savage that position.
had heard him use previously. It sounded a The studio inside was almost totally
great deal younger. dark. Nor was the mystery of its source the
“We’ve got to get those agate only queer thing about the shadow.
statuettes,” the girl said. The shape of the thing was
“I may be able to manage,” Pell grotesque, a hideous distortion of a vaguely
groaned. “Savage suspects nothing of the human form, perhaps; a grisly caricature of
real thing behind all of this. He does not humanity. Peculiarities of light angles could
hardly account for the somewhat startling dapper lawyer immediately raced to the
shape of the outline. The thing suggested center of the sound studio. They stared
the head of a carrion bird on the body of a upward at the skylight.
spider. “Here is a rope,” Doc snapped.
The bronze man seized the cord
and began to climb. He was about ten feet
MONK gaped at the floor for only a up when it was cut from above. He fell
moment, then lifted his eyes, seeking the back, landing on Ham, who had also
only possible explanation: a skylight. Yes, started to climb. They got to their feet.
there was one. The rope was hanging down “There may be a way to get up
from it. from outside,” Doc said.
The object which had made the They ran to the door, shoved it
shadow, however, was gone. open, and both dived outside.
Monk now did something typical of Flashlight beams blazed at them.
him. Without saying anything, he grasped At least half a dozen masked men pointed
the rope and tested its tightness. It would guns at them in a businesslike manner.
hold his weight. He began to climb, hand Sound studios are purposely built
over hand, with great rapidity. noiseproof. That is their function. An army
Monk gained the lip of the skylight, might well have approached the outside of
hung there almost as much at ease as if he this place without those within hearing,
had been on the ground. He heard no even with hearing as developed as that
sound. possessed by Doc Savage.
At length, deciding to take a “I hope,” said one of the men, “that
chance, Monk swung up through the you use good sense.”
skylight and let himself down lightly on the It was as efficient a method of
roof. trapping as could have been seized upon.
The next instant something Guns at close range are an unanswerable
grasped his arms, forced them to his sides. argument, even to a person who is armed.
He strained. To his astonishment, he could Doc and Ham put their hands up.
not loosen the thing that grasped him. Curt commands directed the
“Doc!” Monk squalled. “Ham!” Not bronze man and the dapper lawyer to a big
that he was scared, but assistance was touring car, which now wheeled up silently,
always a nice thing where the odds are a seventh man driving. Crowding gun
unknown. muzzles dictated a hasty entry into the rear
Monk liked noise with his fights. seat of the car. Their captors sat with them,
The present situation had developed to a stood on the running board of the car. The
point where noise was in order. The homely machine rolled toward the gate.
chemist roared, squalled, jumped up and The gate guard saw them coming
down. He knew by now what had seized and ran out.
him. He had been lassoed, cowboy-fashion. “Hey?” the fellow yelled. “What the
He located the spot where the hell’s this?”
individual holding the rope stood, and ran in Two men leaped off the running
that direction. This slackened the rope. board, ran at him, and before the guard
Monk threw the loop off, and continued his could escape, he was felled by hard-swung
charge. A flashlight beam dashed into his revolvers.
eyes, blinded him. His quarry dodged, got The touring car vanished into the
away. desert, bearing Doc Savage and Ham as
Then he was ganged. Came captives.
movement at one side. The flashlight
whitened out again. There was a whistling
sound and something hit Monk’s head. He Chapter VII
cried out and fell into infinite blackness. THE OMINOUS BEQUEST
MONK’S HEAD felt as if
DOC SAVAGE and Ham heard firecrackers were going off inside it. His big
Monk’s shout. The bronze man and the
muscles simply would not work for some chemist did not take time to realize that the
time. When he finally got into shape that he clump of palms probably indicated a prop
could move again, and began to search, he oasis on the movie lot.
discovered that the rooftop was empty. He His failing to take this into account
found a length of rope dangling down the made his sudden and headlong stumble
side of the building. into a pool of water totally unexpected. He
Monk climbed down the rope, then went completely under the surface of the
stood peering into the night blackness. The water. The pool was shallow, and there was
homely chemist could see nothing, but he mud in the bottom.
could hear, off to the right, sounds of Monk wallowed, managed to get
movement. He scuttled in that direction. thoroughly coated with mud and water
Then he paused, listening for some before he got out on the other side of the
sound which might tell him which way to pool and continued his sprint. He ran a
continue his pursuit of the escaped number of yards. Then he stopped, feeling
prisoners—Pell and the bald girl—and their rather foolish.
rescuer—Monk was sure now that there The rasping noise no longer
had been a rescuer. pursued him.
It was then he heard the peculiar Monk stood there and strained his
noise. ears. He caught sounds, recognizable as
It was a rasping noise of a rather the movements of something among the
strange nature. He concentrated, trying to trees of the prop oasis. There was no
identify it, make it fit somewhere in his past suggestion of a rasp, a clack or a whir. That
experience with sounds. He failed. The was encouraging.
rasping—slightly metallic, it seemed, was Monk made an elaborate and quite
more like an insect noise than anything else excellent stalk. Shortly, he was within what
the homely chemist could imagine. he judged to be a few feet of the noises of
It dawned on Monk that the sound furtive movement. He set himself and
was coming toward him, coming fast. pounced.
Darkness where the homely His judgment had been good. His
chemist stood was intense enough to seem hands got a firm grip on a body that was
nearly solid. Monk might as well have been unmistakably human. Monk squeezed
blind, for all he could see. experimentally. The squawk this brought
Suddenly, he did not know why forth was like the noise made by squeezing
exactly, there came to Monk’s mind a vivid a child’s rubber ball of the whistling variety.
remembrance of the horrible condition of Monk transferred his grip to what
the bodies beside which the devil statuettes he judged to be a man’s throat, squeezed,
had been found. The homely chemist and the squawks shut off. He shook his
abruptly decided he did not want that victim. When the fellow was moderately
rasping noise any closer. limp, he hurriedly conducted a search with
Monk ran. Hands out in front of him patting hands.
encountered a building wall, and he It was a man. Monk found a
bounced off that. His running became faster revolver and took it.
with the realization that the rasping noise The prisoner revived enough to
was definitely pursuing him. It came along begin to scream shrilly. There was
behind with unexpected speed. Gaining! unmistakable terror in his voice. The movie
Monk completely forgot the two set had not been aroused before, but it was
prisoners. This thing was after him! He awakened now. Luminance sprouted at a
twisted, dodged, making desperate efforts number of points. Men with electric lanterns
to elude the unearthly thing that rasped came running. Lights were turned on,
behind him. making much of the location nearly as
He smashed a tree trunk, glanced bright as day.
from that to another tree. The trunks were Some one caught sight of Monk
smooth. Palms! and his captive.
Concerned with nothing except his “Hey!” yelled the fellow. “What’s the
desire to put distance between himself and idea?”
the rasping mystery behind, the homely
“Help!” squalled Monk’s captive. They milled about. Obviously, Del

“This guy is trying to kill me!” Ling was a man of some importance, and
The homely chemist growled, “Let there were a number anxious to gain favor
out another squawk, and you’ll really need in his eyes.
a coffin!” Some one demanded of Monk, “Do
Monk did not wait for the running you know who this man is?”
men to reach him. He advanced to meet “It won’t make any difference,”
them, propelling his captive ahead. Monk said.
A large number of the movie “He is Del Ling, chief director for
personnel seemed to live on the set. These Solar Productions,” said the informant.
individuals, mostly in piecemeal attire, Monk snorted, entirely
began to form an unfriendly convoy around unimpressed by this.
the homely chemist and his prisoner. Director Del Ling said suddenly to
Flashlights began to spray whiteness over Monk, “Suppose we talk this over in my
them. bungalow?”
“Take your hands off that man!” Monk considered, decided the best
somebody told Monk. policy was to accept. If he did not, there
“Don’t get tough with me, you was certain to be a general fight.
guys!” Monk advised. “I’m gonna ask my “O. K.,” he said.
friend here some questions.”
Monk’s captive yelled, “This man is
a prowler! I was trying to seize him!” DIRECTOR Del Ling’s bungalow
For the first time, Monk made a was on the other side of the fenced
close scrutiny of the man whom he had location. There was a cheerful living room,
seized. He had seen the individual before, mattings on the floor, gayly cushioned
under conditions anything but pleasant. wicker furniture. Not until they were inside
The man’s face was striking in a did Monk release his grip on Del Ling’s
hideous way. There was fineness in the arm. And then Monk sat down beside the
modeling of his forehead and deep-set only door by which the other could leave
eyes; but the lower part of the face was a the room.
grotesque mismatch. The flesh had a “You helped that bald-headed girl
rubbery aspect. Some accident had and Pell escape,” Monk snapped. “What
deadened the muscles. was the idea? And what was that thing that
It was the man who had seized was chasin’ me in the darkness a minute
Monk at Montgomery Medwig Pell’s office ago?”
building and had attempted killing him in “My dear fellow,” Del Ling
the basement garage, along with Pell, when murmured. “I do not know what you are
Doc Savage interfered. His pal had been talking about.”
the hard-faced thug killed in the old alley Monk bounded out of his chair,
building by the menace that left behind the hurried forward, and fastened his hands to
agate devils. Del Ling’s neck. He exerted some pressure.
A man in uniform, evidently a The rubbery part of the fellow’s face felt
special guard for the movie company, came cold under his fingers.
up and showed Monk the muzzle of a gun “I like to play rough,” Monk
and said, “Kindly release Mr. Del Ling, and growled, grimly. “Doc Savage has got
explain the meaning of this!” better methods of makin’ you talk, but I’m
Monk was in a bad humor. Events gonna try mine first. It ain’t gonna be nice.”
had piled on him during the night, not Then he released Del Ling’s face
pleasant ones. He suddenly shoved Del so the man could speak. The words were
Ling into the guard. The latter turned his surprising.
gun aside. The next instant, Monk had “You are one of Doc Savages
knocked the guard sprawling. aids?” the hybrid-faced man gasped.
Seizing Del Ling again, Monk “Yeah,” Monk admitted.
surveyed the crowd, growled, “Anybody Del Ling’s attitude changed
else who wants any can have it!” completely.
“I have a remarkable story to tell was just a name that was used over the
you,” he said. telephone.”
Monk shoved him into a chair. “I’m Monk gulped, when he tried to
a guy who likes to hear remarkable stories.” swallow.
“A world-wide plot is behind this,” “But this Camphor Wraith was the
Del Ling said. one who—” Monk swallowed quickly. He
Del Ling had a queer way of had been about to state that Camphor
speaking without moving the lower part of Wraith had been the one who summoned
his face; yet his words were quite clear. Doc Savage.
“How many persons have you met, “Don’t you know—what—it is—all
that are connected with this?” Del Ling about?” Monk asked, haltingly.
demanded. Del Ling put his forefingers to the
Monk growled. “You tryin’ to pump corners of his mouth and exchanged a
me?” faintly satyrical smile to one of somberness
“No,” denied Del Ling. “I am merely by simply pressing upward.
trying to name those connected with the “No one knows,” he said. “None of
mystery.” us has the slightest idea!”
“Well,” grunted Monk. “We ran into Del Ling went over, sat in a chair
a lawyer—Montgomery Medwig Pell.” and seemed to be ready for questions.
“One of the marked men,” said Del Monk promptly put them.
Ling. “You say Montgomery Medwig Pell
“Yeah?” Monk looked very curious. was a victim along with you?” the homely
“There was a bald-headed girl—” chemist growled. “Yet I found you an’ that
“Named Kateen MacRoy,” said Del thug-faced guy tryin’ to crack Pell.”
Ling. “Also marked for death, it seems.” “We were not going to kill him,” Del
“Heck she is!” Monk gulped. “Well, Ling denied, promptly. “We—the other man
there is a guy who has a beak like a bird was a friend of mine—were merely trying
an’ wears black clothes—” an experiment on Pell. You see, we
“Samuel Wartz Gime,” Del Ling suspected Pell of being the mysterious
identified. “Also on the list.” Camphor Wraith. We were trying to scare
“There’s an old goat with a scrawny proof out of him, when you interrupted.”
turkey neck an’ two peg teeth, who runs “Hm-m-m.” Monk rubbed his jaw,
around with the bald-headed girl—” wondering if he should believe that. “What
“That’s Old Dan. He is on the death about that attack at the bank?”
list.” “I do not know what you are talking
Monk put his jaw out “Listen, you! about,” Del Ling said.
What kinda rattle-brained movie thriller plot Del Ling now got up and went to a
you trying to feed me?” desk which stood in one corner of the room.
Monk followed, watching alertly. Del Ling
removed a large envelope and shook out
DEL LING looked perfectly sober; newspaper clippings.
indeed, his strange face made it impossible “These will interest you.”
for him to look any other way. Monk rifled through them, reading
“Attempts have been made to kill headlines. There were at least a dozen of
these people,” he said. “They were called the clippings, and each one told of a
by a strange voice over the telephone, and mysterious death. Not all the deaths had
each was told the names of the other to be been in Los Angeles. Nor were all of them
killed.” in the United States. There was one in
“That don’t make sense!” Monk Japan—a prominent diplomat. There was
grunted. one in Germany—a wealthy industrialist. A
“It certainly does not,” Del Ling lawyer had been killed in England. While all
agreed. “Just why this Camphor Wraith of these clippings were from Los Angeles,
should want to kill all—” they bore the credit lines of telegraphic
“Who?” Monk howled. news associations.
“Camphor Wraith,” said Del Ling. All the deaths had one thing in
“But the name doesn’t mean anything. It common: the bones of the victims had been
broken, and large holes had been one. The fellow was moved to chuckle a
perforated in the bodies. And near each little to himself, as he observed Monk’s
body had been found a tiny statuette, unconventional conduct.
carved in agate—a devil. “Boy, that ape sure likes to make
“Blazes!” Monk gulped. “This things happen!” the man chuckled.
Camphor Wraith guy’s been working all The fellow grinned, exposing gums
over the world!” entirely empty of teeth except for two
“Exactly!” Del Ling agreed. incisors stained a rich brown by tobacco
Monk thought this over at some chewing. The two teeth resembled a pair of
length. He believed he could see holes in mahogany pegs.
the story. “Let’s talk to Doc Savage about The man was gaunt and weather-
this,” he said, grimly. beaten. He had a wrinkled visage, to which
“Where is he?” Del Ling demanded. the absence of teeth gave a pinchmouthed
Monk opened his mouth, shut it. It aspect. His scrawny, extraordinarily long
had suddenly dawned on him that after the neck was full of wrinkles—a neck which
excitement, there had been no sign of Doc made one think of a turkey.
and Ham. The turkey-necked man proceeded
“Doc must be around somewhere!” to trail Monk, using every care in the
Monk growled. “We’ll look him up.” darkness to avoid notice. He did not even
They had no more than left the leave the movie location through the gate,
bungalow, when they received bad news. but scuttled down the fence several yards
The guard at the gate had been found and climbed over, negotiating the feat in a
senseless, and had been revived. The manner which indicated he was better
fellow recovered enough to talk. muscled than he appeared to be.
Monk learned from the gate guard The follower observed Monk for
that Doc Savage and Ham had been taken some time—if keeping track of the homely
away by a number of men in an automobile. chemist by the sounds he made could be
called observing. He became satisfied that
Monk was moving down the road, following
Chapter VIII the tracks of automobile tires.
TURKEY-NECK The turkey-necked man gave up
spying. He moved with set purposefulness
MONK’S REACTION to the back toward the motion picture location. He
information was a loud bellow. He spun on made his way, without being observed by
Del Ling. any one, to a room which held a pay
“I want you around where we can telephone. He fed a nickel into the
ask you more questions,” Monk growled. instrument, spoke to the operator, then put
“I shall be here!” Del Ling snapped. in several more coins, proof that the call
“You darn bet you will!” Monk was a long distance one. When he had his
assured him, and swung a hairy fist. party, he came straight to the point.
If Del Ling saw the fist coming, he “This is Old Dan,” he said. Then he
had no time to duck. He hit the sand; his gave a rough word sketch of what Monk
heels flew up, thumped back, and he lay was now doing.
still. He listened to the reply. What he
Angry growls went up from the was hearing evidently did not please him
movie people at seeing their director greatly.
manhandled. Monk, however, did not wait “So I have to handle this Monk
for them to do anything about it. He ran for myself, eh?” he snapped.
the gate, ducked through it and started After that, he cracked the receiver
down the road. on the hook, scowled, spun and made for
The homely chemist’s wrathful the door of the room. He reached for the
departure from the movie location had one knob, but did not get it. The door whipped
observer who remained unnoticed. This open in his face.
watcher kept well in the background, being Monk came in, stopped, put both
very careful to attract the attention of no hairy fists on his hips and looked very
accusing.
“You can start handlin’ me now, “Don’t be like that, lady,” Monk
you old gobbler!” he announced. growled at her. “Right now, I can’t ask the
guy who made the call. This is important;
studio business!”
He listened intently, said, “Samuel
Wartz Gime? What’s the address. . . . 13
Seacrest Drive. In Palomar. Where’s
Palomar?”
The operator gave him that
information.
“Just south of Los Angeles?” Monk
repeated. “O. K. Thanks.”
Monk hung up, backed away from
the phone, reached down, got his hands full
of his prisoner’s coat and jerked the fellow
erect. He slapped the man briskly. This had
the effect of a stimulant. The victim’s limply
dangling legs began to scissor back and
forth and his eyes opened.
“Start walkin’!” Monk ordered.
THE weather-reddened, scrawny- The turkey-necked man gasped,
necked individual reacted much as if made choking noises, then got words out.
lightning had struck near him. His clawing “You’re throwin’ your rope in the
right hand managed to get a big revolver wrong corral!” he gritted.
from under his coat before Monk was upon “We’ll have a long talk about it in
him. due time,” Monk informed him.
Monk tied two long, furry arms By main strength and some
around his opponent. There was violence, Monk got the fellow outside, and
squeezing, heaving, grunting on both sides. to the gloomy spot where stood the town
They hit the floor, spun over and over. car in which Doc’s party had come to the
The gun dropped out of the mêlée. studio. Monk secured a length of slender
Monk managed to keep his arms around stout rope from under the car seat and
the other and put his bullet of a head bound his prisoner securely.
against the man’s chest. He pulled inward “That’s so you can meditate,” the
with his arms, pushed outward with his feet homely chemist explained.
and knees. The turkey-necked man bent. Monk left “Old Dan” in the car and
His face got redder. To keep his spine from went to the group of studio attendants who
snapping, he gave up, relaxing. were administering to Director Del Ling. Del
Instantly, Monk released his grip Ling was still senseless. Monk waded to the
and swung a huge fist against the man’s center of the group and grasped the
jaw. When the fellow hit the floor, his unconscious Del Ling’s collar.
eyelids were doing a queer dance. The very boldness of Monk’s move
Monk secured the revolver which nonplused every one for a moment.
the man had dropped, and pocketed it. He Perhaps the homely chemist’s belligerent
examined his victim. The fellow would appearance had something to do with it.
remain unconscious for some time. Then the crowd moved forward
Monk was grinning widely. He threateningly.
crossed to the pay phone which the red- “We’re gonna hold you for the
faced man had used. Inserting a nickel, he cops,” a man growled. “You can’t go around
got the long distance operator. here boppin’ people and get away with it!”
“Where’d that call, go that was With his free hand, Monk produced
made from this phone a minute ago?” he the turkey-necked man’s big revolver from
demanded. a coat pocket. He waved it, motioning the
Evidently, the operator demurred at crowd back.
divulging that information. “Keep outta my hair!” he warned. “I
got a very short temper!”
Monk tucked his captive under an Palomar. The steep narrow road curved
arm, backed away, spun and darted through pine trees and underbrush.
through the night to the car. The car horn The excellence of this natural cover
suddenly emitted a loud bleat. The at either side of the road intrigued Monk. At
unexpectedness of this ear-splitting noise the first opportunity, he directed the car off
caused Monk nearly to make that move the road into the grove. He drove a hundred
commonly designated as “jumping out of yards and concealed the car.
one’s skin.” Monk shut off the motor, got out
The horn hooted again. Monk and opened the rear door.
peered into the front seat to discern the “Turn us loose!” Del Ling grated.
cause. Then he reached in, grabbed and “Can’t hear you!” Monk said.
brought the offender out. Inspection convinced the homely
It was Ham’s remarkable-looking chemist that his two prisoners could not
monkey, Chemistry. free themselves. Just to decrease the
“You got about as much judgment likelihood of such a thing happening, he
as the guy who owns you,” Monk grunted. separated them, putting one in the front and
The homely chemist swung the one in the back of the car.
simian to the floorboards where Habeas In the tool box, Monk found a large
Corpus, the pig, rested, sleeping blissfully sponge, evidently used for washing the car.
through the confusion. Then Monk bound He divided it into halves, forming the base
Del Ling. for two excellent gags. The captives could
The motor throbbed, roared, the make sounds only through their noses.
car churned sand and got under way. Then Monk cranked up the thick
The gate was closed. Monk did not glass windows, making it unlikely that the
even slow for it. Two men who had ideas of pair would attract attention.
stopping him by their mere presence in the He left Habeas and Chemistry
road, got out of the way with wild leaps. locked in the car with the prisoners and
There was a crash and Monk was through moved through the pine woods, mounting
the gate. until he came to the flat area atop the cliff. It
Monk drove furiously in the was from this that the Palomar mansions
direction of Palomar and the residence of looked out over the sea.
one Samuel Wartz Gime—which Old Dan Having in mind the police alarm
had telephoned. which might have been broadcast for him,
When he drew near populated Monk did not wish to show himself while
districts, Monk took to side roads. He had a searching for 13 Seacrest Drive. From his
hunch that the movie people would have concealment in the brush, Monk could see
caused a police alarm to be spread for him. that Palomar possessed only one
It was possible that he might stand accused thoroughfare—a poplar-bordered drive
of the offense of kidnaping. which ran along the cliff top. That would be
The movie location was well out in Seacrest Drive, and No. 13 would be the
the desert. Palomar was a seashore town. thirteenth house down the line. So Monk
The distance between the two points was figured—correctly, it developed.
considerable.
Director Del Ling and turkey-
necked Old Dan regained consciousness in MONK worked toward his
the back seat. They ridded themselves of destination.
long and pointed orations concerning Monk The house—13 Seacrest Drive—
and his ancestry. They would give no real was blocked off by a thick hedge, over
information. which Monk could glimpse colored tiles and
Daylight had come. stucco chimneys of what was probably an
By mid-morning, the homely imposing example of the popular Spanish
chemist was tooling the car over the gravel style of architecture.
road which twisted upward to the top of a Monk crawled to the hedge, worked
cliff facing the sea. Along this cliff perched along it, looking for an opening through
a score or so of aloof estates, comprising which he might wriggle without too much
the reserved community of wealth that was commotion. He found one and got down
and crawled through. He made a slight tersely. “Doc had a phial of it in the lining of
noise, rustling and scraping. As a his coat, where they didn’t find it. He broke
precaution, he paused and listened. it. They just keeled over. We held our
He heard sounds almost at once. breaths and kept the stuff from affecting
Some one approaching, creeping us.”
cautiously, it seemed. Monk remained “You’re waitin’ for this mysterious
perfectly quiet. The hedge was thick and he chief to show up?”
could not see what was on the other side. “Exactly!”
The prowler came closer. Then a Monk expanded visibly. “I’ve got
trousered leg appeared in front of the the whole thing cleared up already.”
opening in the hedge. Monk knew Ham sniffed. “I expected that.
instinctively that the other was going to Having a little time to work unhampered,
bend down and look into the hole. you could accomplish wonders!”
Monk lunged, grabbed the ankles “I’ve got the dirty low-down on the
and jerked. An instant later, he was tangled whole thing,” Monk assured him. “Where’s
with an opponent and the hedge. Fast work Doc?”
was necessary, or the other would be able “At the house,” said Ham,
to call out an alarm. Monk started a fist in a Doc Savage was on a veranda
great haymaker swing. upon which opened large French windows.
At the last possible instant, he Inside these windows, the prisoners were
changed his mind and managed to miss his arrayed. Apparently, they had not yet
captive. recovered from the effects of the
“Blazes!” Monk gulped. anaesthetic gas.
His captive was the dapper Ham. “Look, Doc!” Monk said. “I’ve got
the dope on this!”
“Excellent,” Doc Savage said.
Chapter IX Ham grunted at Monk, “Well, tell us
ONE MILLION the solution.”
Monk grinned. “What I mean is that
HAM SQUIRMED, got loose, gave I’ve got two guys who do know what it is all
the surprised Monk a vicious kick in the about.”
midriff. Monk upset. Ham grabbed his Ham looked as if he were about to
sword cane, which he had dropped in the choke. He jabbed a finger at the prisoners
confusion, and unsheathed the blade. on the floor. “We’ve got the same thing
“You blundering anthropoid!” he here!”
snarled. “Yeah.” Monk looked only slightly
“I wish I’d gone ahead and hit you!” downcast “That’s right!”
Monk told him. Ham scowled blackly at Monk,
The two glared, as if on the point of opened his mouth, then shut it, and struck a
doing mutual murder. The fact was that listening attitude.
each was delighted to see the other. “What’s that?” he demanded,
“What are you doing here, stupid?” sharply.
Ham asked. Monk stepped to the door, and
“Looking for four-leaf clovers,” something struck his legs, all but upsetting
Monk advised. “How come you’re still him. He looked down.
alive?” “Habeas Corpus!” he grunted.
Ham explained: “The gang that “And Chemistry!” declared Ham,
grabbed us at the movie location brought sighting his ungainly pet chimpanzee in the
us up here and held us in the house under wake of Monk’s pet pig.
guard. It seems they were waiting for their The homely Monk leaned down,
big boss.” grasped one of Habeas’s oversize ears and
“How’d you get away from ‘em?” swung the shote back and forth. For a
Monk asked, curiously. moment, Monk looked rather happy to see
“That odorless and colorless his pet. Then a startled expression
anaesthetic gas of Doc’s,” Ham explained, convulsed his homely features.
“What’s wrong, you missing link?” Ham said, “That camphor smell is
Ham demanded. still on you, Monk. Stronger than before.”
“Habeas and Chemistry!” Monk “It’s on me,” the girl corrected. Her
gulped. “I left ‘em shut up in the car with voice sounded strained.
those two prisoners!” “What became of the two guys I left
in the car?” Monk demanded.
“They were taken away by the men
DOC, Ham and Monk lunged who brought me here.”
outdoors, began covering ground with great “What way’d they go?” Monk
leaps. The glint of the big enclosed car demanded.
could be seen ahead through the trees and “I’m not sure,” evaded the young
brush. Doc and Monk put on an added woman.
burst of speed and reached the machine. “You might as well stop lying,” Ham
“Empty!” Monk howled. “Lookit! The snapped. “You turned those two prisoners
doors are open!” The machine was not loose!”
empty, however, as Monk discovered an “I did not!” was the retort.
instant later. “You did!” Ham assured her. “And
The homely chemist pointed an now you are taking up our time, until they
arm excitedly. What he was seeing seemed have an opportunity to escape. That is why
to have rendered him inarticulate. you remained behind—to hold us up, to
“There—there—-” He swallowed give us a bum steer, so they could get
twice. “Look! Whatcha know about that?” away.”
Ham came up. He also stared. The young woman looked at Monk,
“So that is who you have been and requested, “Untie my arms.”
riding around with all night,” he told Monk. “Why?” Monk asked.
Monk shook his head in a slow, “I’m going to gouge his eyes out,”
bewildered way. He reached into the car, she said, indicating Ham.
carefully lifted a limp form. Ham snapped, “Young lady, it will
It was the girl—the very attractive take a mighty good explanation to account
young woman who had treated Monk so for your presence here.”
roughly at the airport, and who had proved “I have a good explanation!” she
to be bald-headed. She had escaped them fired back.
at the movie location. “Yes?”
The young woman was bound “My death is to be a warning to
securely and gagged. you!”
Monk walked around the car, Monk and Ham stared at her,
craned his neck and looked through the frankly astounded. Doc Savage also
brush. There was no sign of Del Ling or watched the young woman, but there was
turkey-necked Old Dan. nothing in the bronze man’s flake-gold eyes
Doc Savage, in the meantime, was and on his metallic face to show whether he
removing the girl’s gag. The instant she believed or disbelieved, or was even greatly
was free, she began to explode excited surprised.
words. Monk broke the tension with, “Your
“They’re going to kill me!” she death? Going to be killed?”
wailed. “You’ve got to do something!” “There’s not a chance of my
Monk came to a stop in front of her. escaping,” the girl said, quietly.
His nostrils were apprising him of “This doesn’t make sense,” Ham
something he had previously missed. said.
Almost at the same moment, Doc Savage’s The young woman looked at them
tuneless, yet melodious, trilling came into levelly. “I’ll tell you anything I can,” she
being. The fantastic sound, apparently said.
coming from no particular spot, wavered up “Suppose you tell us the whole
and down the musical scale and trailed into story,” Doc Savage suggested.
nothingness, leaving the young woman She began talking.
looking vastly puzzled.
THE young woman spoke crisply, DOC SAVAGE nodded, as if this

making a few words convey a great deal. cleared everything up perfectly.
Her story paralleled exactly that told by “What was that about your death
Director Del Ling. Camphor Wraith was a being a warning?” the bronze man queried.
sinister mastermind who had perfected an “They—Camphor Wraith and his
unusual, and unescapable, form of death— men—are going to try to scare you. They
and was killing, apparently aimlessly. The left me in that car. I was told to tell you that
young woman—she said her name was I am to be killed. They want you to see just
Kateen MacRoy—had merely received a how helpless you are against them, their
telephone call that she was one of the idea being that they can convince you you
victims. had best drop the whole thing.”
The girl denied that she knew why Ham, still playing the part of the
she had been selected as a victim. skeptical cross-examiner, shook his head
“Why were you and Old Dan at the and advised, “It sounds thin to me.”
airport?” Monk interrupted. For a young woman who had been
The girl seemed to hesitate for the promised death, Kateen MacRoy had been
briefest of moments. holding her composure very well. Now she
“We heard that Camphor Wraith showed the first symptoms of a flare-up.
had sent for you,” she explained. “We She took a step—they had untied her
couldn’t understand why. We were afraid during her recital—toward Ham, and looked
that—afraid that—well, you won’t like this.” as if she were about to strike the dapper
“What were you afraid of?” Doc lawyer.
Savage prodded. “I don’t like people calling me a
“Afraid you were going to help liar!” she shrilled.
Camphor Wraith,” the girl snapped. Ham now demonstrated that he
If the bronze man detected was well versed in feminine psychology.
anything amiss about this explanation, he Women are always sensitive about their
said nothing. appearance.
“And you appeared at the bank “Why is it you are bald-headed?”
later,” he reminded. Ham asked.
“Old Dan and myself were watching If Ham had intended to make
Montgomery Medwig Pell,” she explained. Kateen MacRoy more indignant, he
“Why?” certainly succeeded. She made sputtering
“Well, we thought he might be sounds of rage, apparently tried to find
Camphor Wraith.” something that would express her feeling
“Any proof of that?” adequately, then gave it up.
“No,” she admitted. “Not at that “I’m a movie double,” she
time. But later, Old Dan and I separated. explained. “An oil lamp blew up and burned
Pell seized me. I do not know what he my hair.”
intended to do. I was out at the studio. You Doc Savage asked her quietly,
know what happened. Pell went off, came “Can you be of any further assistance to
back disguised to look like Samuel Wartz us?”
Gime—” “I think I can,” she said.
“Like who?” Doc interrupted. “How?”
“Samuel Wartz Gime,” the girl “I think I know where you can find
explained. “His face is beaked like a bird’s.” Camphor Wraith,” said Kateen MacRoy.
“Who is he?” “Look here,” Ham snapped. “A
“Another of the victims,” said moment ago, you said you were trailing Pell
Kateen MacRoy. “Anyway, Pell was around in hopes of finding out whether or
overcome with some kind of gas when he not he was Camphor Wraith. Now you tell
opened that package he grabbed from your us you know—”
man. Then we woke up in that studio, after “I didn’t say I knew who Camphor
which some of Camphor Wraith’s men Wraith was!” the girl retorted. “I know where
carried us away.” he is—I think.”
“Is it close?” Doc Savage
interposed.
“It is. Very close.” Ham got up sheepishly from the

“Which way?” floor.
“We will go to the house first,” she
said.
The four of them moved away from KATEEN MACROY led the way
the car, trailed by the two grotesque-looking across the shrub-dotted lawn until they
pets, Habeas Corpus and Chemistry. They reached the edge. Before them, blue and
mounted the hill in almost complete silence. sun-splashed stretched the Pacific. The
Doc Savage, moving ahead, paused coast was ragged with little headlands, and
frequently to listen. If his trained ears the particular vantage point on which they
picked up any ominous sounds, he made stood was situated above a tiny cove which
no mention of them. had a remarkably narrow beach.
They crawled through the hole in Edging the beach were gaudy little
the hedge and advanced on the house. bungalows—cabañas—used for bathing
Monk surveyed the palatial dwelling and facilities and lounging around.
decided it was one of the fanciest he had Kateen MacRoy pointed at a
ever seen. cabaña directly below.
The group approached the veranda “There!” she said.
with the French windows, inside which the “You mean Camphor Wraith is
bronze man’s prisoners had been reposing. down there?” Monk demanded.
“Doc!” Ham screeched, suddenly. “I think so,” she said.
“The prisoners—” Ham, still looking very indignant,
“Gone!” Monk barked. squinted at the girl as if to make sure he
A wild five minutes ensued. The was well out of her reach.
house was searched from top to bottom. “If you ask me, it’s a trap,” he said.
The grounds were gone over thoroughly. “She’s trying to send us into something.”
No trace of the captives could be found. “Oh, go sour a bottle of milk!” the
Ham confronted Kateen MacRoy, girl suggested.
and said, “You should be able to call it a “Is it dangerous for you to go down
day, now!” there?” Doc Savage asked the girl.
“What’s that?” snapped the girl. “I didn’t think any one was believing
“I mean, you did a good job,” Ham anything I said,” she retorted. “Yes, it’s
said, frigidly. “You kept us occupied while dangerous.”
those thugs were being released.” Doc Savage asked her, “Can you
Ham should have known better. He give us any idea of what this Camphor
had seen the violence with which the young Wraith looks like?”
woman had performed upon Monk at the “No,” she said. “I have no more
airport. She did even better now. There idea of what the creature looks like than I
were two loud sounds—one made by the have idea of why he has killed so many
girl’s fist, and the other by Ham hitting the people.”
floor. Doc Savage addressed Monk and
Monk looked as if he were going to Ham. “You two wait here,” he said.
choke to death on his laughter. The bronze man turned away, but
“Pipe down, you tree climber!” the he took only a single step and halted. His
girl snapped. flake-gold eyes were focused on something
“Huh?” Monk stopped laughing. below. Monk and Ham, startled by the
“There’s no need of showing them intensity with which he was staring, moved
we are back here,” the young woman said. forward to his side.
“Mean they might hear us? They’re The girl also advanced. Suddenly,
that close?” she gasped and her hand, clutching in
“They are.” excitement, closed upon Monk’s arm, a
Doc Savage said, “Suppose you circumstance which obviously pleased the
guide us to this spot where you think we homely chemist.
may find Camphor Wraith.” “There!” she breathed. “Look!”
She nodded. “Come on.” The others did not need to be told
to look. A figure had appeared from the
cabaña. This figure was beginning to climb was literally dragging her along. She held
the steep slope of the cliff. back, hampering him all she could.
It was a grisly specter, this figure
that climbed—an apparition oddly at
variance with the peaceful noonday setting Chapter X
of turquoise sea, white beach and brown CAMPHOR WRAITH UNMASKED
rock cliff. Up and up it clambered, like a
tarantula making for a remote den. The THEY RECEIVED a grim warning
man, if it was a man, wore a long loose that the mysterious Camphor Wraith had
cloak. A darksome hood made the head ideas about being captured. The warning
seem only an elongated neck. Thin legs came in the form of three kinds of sound—
carried the form. yells, gun explosions, the whistle of lead.
“Quiet,” Doc Savage breathed. All the sounds issued from the beach
It had become apparent that the cabaña.
climber was heading directly toward them. Up above, Ham hauled the girl into
There was a path down the cliff, and it a rock cranny.
began almost at their feet. They had but to Doc grasped a slab of stone which
wait and the quarry would be in their hands. was a part of the cliff face, and tilted the
The homely chemist looked at the slab upright, providing perhaps a square
girl who crouched beside him. Monk was yard of thick stone shield that would turn
reflecting that he had never seen a more almost any bullet. Monk crouched beside
personable young woman, when suddenly him.
she did something he would never forget. “Ham!” Doc Savage called. “Are
The girl screamed. you all right?”
“Camphor Wraith!” she shrieked. “Yes!” Ham called down. “But this
“Run!” girl keeps kicking me in the shins!”
Monk was held motionless by Bullets still came from the cabaña.
surprise. Ham, however, whipped toward The men there were not wasting lead,
the girl; but Doc Savage was ahead of him. however. The frequency of shots subsided,
The bronze man clasped a hand over her as the targets disappeared.
mouth. Then voices called from the
It was too late. The girl’s shriek cabaña, voices shrill with horror.
reached the climbing creature below. The “Doc Savage!” they yelled. “They’re
figure stopped. It hung there on the side of going to kill us!”
the cliff, poised in motionless intensity for a Doc glanced at Monk. “Ever hear
moment. Then it whirled and started those voices before?” he said.
downward in wild leaps. “Del Ling, the movie director with
The very haste of the descent led the dead-pan face!” Monk explained. “And
to disaster for the spidery figure. Lost that turkey-necked old slicker, Old Dan!”
footing caused a fall. A rolling, threshing The shooting suddenly increased.
bundle of arms and legs, the being went Gun sound made whooping thunder. Slugs
down the steep slope. hammered the rock shield, chipped its
Almost miraculously, the fleeing edges.
apparition came out of the fall and was Doc and Monk were forced to
once more an upright, vaguely humanlike concentrate on keeping themselves
figure. It ran for the cabaña, gained the completely covered by their protective
door. shield of stone. It would have been fatal to
“Come on!” Doc Savage said. make any effort at retaliation.
Doc descended the cliff with Not once had they caught sight of
surprising speed. The others followed him. the men firing up the side of the hill from
Monk nearly took a wild tumble, having the cabaña. Yet they knew, from the gun
forgotten to use the necessary amount of sound, that the little beach structure must
caution. contain at least half a dozen gunmen. The
Ham went more slowly. He had concentrated fire kept Doc, Monk and Ham
secured a tight grip on the girl’s wrist and trapped on the side of the cliff. Yet the men
in the cabañas could not flee without an in the water, a few yards from the beach in
excellent chance of stopping bullets from front of the cabaña.
the revolver which Monk still carried. Suddenly, like a covey of frightened
“Looks like it’s fixed up so nobody quail, half a dozen figures rushed out of the
could do anything,” cabaña, scurried across the narrow strip of
Monk complained. beach and plunged for the motor boat.
“Blast it!” Monk gritted. “They’re
gettin’ away!”
DOC extracted from a coat pocket He heaved erect, only to be
half a dozen little flat metal cases, not much dragged back by Doc Savage. A moment
larger than a wrist watch. later, the reason for the bronze man’s
“Where’d you get those?” Monk action was apparent. From the deck cabin
demanded. of the motor cruiser came the firecracker
“From the door pocket of Pell’s rattle of a machine gun, raking the cliff face
town car, where I had placed them with a leaden sickle of death.
previously,” the bronze man explained. “Whew!” Monk gasped. “These
Doc moved a lever on the side of guys sure mean business!”
one of the little metal cases, then drew Doc Savage said nothing. He
back his arm and made a long throw. The moved the lever on another of the tiny
thing fell almost against the side of the grenades, heaved it. There was a crashing
cabaña. and roaring. The whole side of the cliff face
As the little metal object landed, seemed to be coming down. Dust arose in
there was a blast that made the previous gigantic clouds. Monk, not sure whether he
noises of the battle trivial in comparison. should flee or retain the shelter of the stone
The side of the cabaña that faced the cliff block, was in a quandary. Doc Savage left
seemed to receive the thrust of a giant fist. his side.
It was obvious that the metal object which “Doc!” Monk barked. “Where you
Doc Savage had flung was a compact goin’?”
grenade, holding an explosive of high The bronze man did not answer.
order. Down the cliff side he hurtled, seemingly
Monk, popping his head over the with winged feet, and vanished in a fog of
top of the slab at the sound of the rock dust.
explosion, could see the inside of the Bullets had stopped coming from
cabaña. The front wall had been caved in. the cruiser. Those on the craft could not
A man was scurrying for the back. see their target; dust from the rock slide
Monk distinctly heard a yell. had shut off their view completely. In fact,
“That scow better be gettin’ here the rock slide was extending into the water,
quick!” screamed a man in the cabaña. even menacing the cruiser itself.
“Doc!” barked Monk. “They’re A breeze blew the dust to one side,
expectin’ a boat!” and Monk could see the cabaña, the boat,
Doc merely pointed. but he could see no sign of the bronze
Monk followed the gesture, and man.
saw what the bronze man meant. It was a Monk stared, puzzled, wondering
sleek motor cruiser, plowing around the where Doc Savage had gone. The bronze
headland to the north of the cove and man had disappeared.
heading for the beach in front of the Then another figure interested
cabaña. Monk, a runner. The fellow had appeared
The gunmen inside the now from the cabaña, was making for the
wrecked structure sent another volley up cruiser. It was the grotesque figure the girl
the hill. Monk and Doc were driven to had hailed as Camphor Wraith.
cover. Then the gunfire trickled away to “Hurry!” the men aboard the boat
occasional desultory shots. Doc Savage were squalling.
and Monk took another look. The cloaked-and-hooded figure of
The cabin cruiser, a craft nearly Camphor Wraith reached the water,
forty feet in length, was almost motionless plunged in. The cruiser had backed out
from shore a little, to be safe from the rock
slide. This made it necessary for the

spiderlike being to swim.
There was a blast that made the previous noises of the battle trivial in comparison.
The side of the cabaña that faced the cliff seemed to receive the thrust of a giant fist.
The spiderlike one had still some round the headland. It disappeared a few
yards to go when something happened to minutes later.
him. His motions became convulsively Monk, long before the craft’s
violent; his long arms windmilled wildly. disappearance, had come out from behind
Camphor Wraith disappeared beneath the his sheltering slab. He began a recklessly
surface. hasty descent of the steep hill. He had
There was shouting, howling, almost reached the wrecked cabaña, when
jumping about on the deck of the cruiser. the gaping hole in the side of the structure
The men lined the rail. Some dived for their emitted a familiar figure. The newcomer
chief. The frantic search seemed to have was a beak-nosed, pursy-jowled man in
no success. uniformly black attire.
Monk started to leave his Samuel Wartz Gime, motion picture
concealment. Rifle bullets, excellently director Del Ling had said this man’s name
placed, convinced him he had better keep was.
to shelter. “Such an ordeal!” the man groaned.
The men on the cabin cruiser were “Believe me, I would not have insured
howling and cursing at each other. myself for ten cents, an hour ago!”
“Get aboard, you mutts!” screamed Monk stared about intently. There
the one who seemed to have taken charge. was still no trace of Doc.
“He’s done for! He’s drowned!”
Those who had dived overboard to
save their chief swam back and were “HOW’D you get here?” Monk
helped on deck. The motor cruiser plowed yelled.
a deep gash in the quiet sea, making to
“They made us prisoners!” groaned made it evident that Camphor Wraith might
the beak-nosed Gime. He pointed at the be revived.
cabaña. “Del Ling and Old Dan—they are in Monk leaned down and tugged at
there, too. Prisoners the same as myself, the hood. It was fastened by a chin strap
only those sons of guns were in too big a arrangement, and he did not succeed in
hurry to take us with them when they left.” removing it. A mouth hole permitted
“How come this gang was hangin’ breathing.
out at your place?” Monk demanded. “Hold his tongue,” Doc directed.
Gime waved his arms. “Could I help Monk complied, although he would
it? They point a gun at me, and they say we rather have finished stripping the hood off
stay here, and what are you going to do so that he could inspect the man’s face.
about it.” Holding the tongue, Monk knew, was a
Monk ambled into the cabaña. necessary precaution in resuscitation
From the clifftop it had seemed a small efforts. The tongue of drowning victims
structure. But it was imposing enough. It sometimes clog their throats.
had several rooms. He searched Bird-beaked Gime, hybrid-faced
industriously. Groans drew him to a closet Del Ling, and gaunt turkey-necked Old Dan
and he opened the door. came up. They stood in a silent group and
Del Ling and Old Dan tumbled out, looked expectant.
both bound and gagged securely. “Do you know who Camphor Wraith
Monk left the bird-faced Gime to is?” Doc asked them.
free them. Monk had something else on his They all shook their heads.
mind—Doc Savage’s safety. The homely “I’ve had more suspicions than you
chemist ran outside and to the pile of rocks could shake a stick at,” Old Dan grumbled.
which the slide had deposited at the foot of The unconscious individual who
the cliff. It had struck Monk that Doc might had used the name of Camphor Wraith was
be buried beneath that mass of stone. squirming with returning consciousness.
A call drew Monk’s attention to the Monk yelped and released the tongue, as
water. He whirled. the fellow bit his fingers. The grotesque
“Doc!” he howled. figure heaved to a sitting position.
Something was coming out of the “We got you red-handed, hombre!”
sea. But it bore no resemblance to Doc growled Old Dan. “Don’t try to give us no
Savage. stall!”
It was the limp, bedraggled figure Bird-faced Samuel Wartz Gime
of the apparition called Camphor Wraith. snapped, “Well, why not unmask him!”
The fellow seemed to be unconscious and Monk unmasked him. “For the love
he was rising slowly from the sea, moving of little fairy tales!” he gasped.
toward the shore. The reason for the The unmasked man was lawyer
seemingly mysterious phenomenon Montgomery Medwig Pell.
became apparent. Underneath the sodden
bundle, carrying it, was the giant form of
Doc Savage. LAWYER PELL, if he saw them,
Monk grinned from ear to ear. He was strangely undemonstrative of that fact.
knew what had happened. There was a look of utter blankness in his
Under cover of the dust and noise eyes. Doc passed a hand close to Pell’s
of the rock slide, Doc had reached the eyes. The man did not blink.
water, dived in. The bronze man, through Monk said, “Pell, what’s the idea of
years of practice, had developed a killing guys all over the world?”
remarkable ability to stay beneath the Pell seemed not to hear.
surface. He had swum to Camphor Wraith, “And how’d you do the killin’?”
seized the fellow and drew him under. Monk continued.
Camphor Wraith, who was still He got no answer. Pell continued to
wearing the enveloping hood, seemed to be stare. He did not move, or otherwise seem
senseless. The haste with which the bronze aware of their presence.
man threw the figure on the sand and “What ails him?” Monk asked,
began to administer artificial respiration finally.
“Nervous shock,” Doc said. “I hope,” Ham groaned, feeling his

“Huh?” head, “I never see her again.”
“He’s faking!” yelled bird-faced
Gime.
Doc said, “The man has been Chapter XI
under some kind of a terrific nervous strain, END AND BEGINNING
and the shock of recent happenings has
temporarily unbalanced him.” THE EDGEWORTH Clinic—where
“He’s faking!” howled Gime. Doc Savage had sent Montgomery Medwig
“Sure, he is!” shouted turkey- Pell to be treated—did not look like a
necked Old Dan. psychopathic hospital. It was a rambling,
Doc Savage ignored them. “Give a Spanish style house in Beverly Hills. There
hand with him.” was abundant tropical shrubbery about its
“Where are you taking Pell?” Del spacious grounds. A tall hedge enclosed
Ling snapped. the whole. That there was a high wire fence
“To an institution equipped to behind this hedge, was something an
handle psychopathic cases,” Doc Savage observer would have to look closely to see.
explained. It certainly did not look like a hospital for
With scant willingness, Old Dan, mental patients.
Del Ling and Samuel Wartz Gime assisted. It was night, but the interior of the
They were nearing the top of the clinic was, nevertheless, a lively place, and
cliff when something occurred to Monk. brightly lighted. The interior of Edgeworth
“Ham!” Monk yelled. Clinic maintained the formal appearance
There was no response. which characterized its exterior. It looked
Monk, suddenly alarmed, bawled, like a rather sumptuously furnished town
“Ham! Where are you and the girl?” house.
Considering his frequently The nurses did not wear uniforms.
expressed sentiments that nothing on earth There were no internes in white coats.
would please him more than the privilege of Indeed, it was difficult, in some cases, to
skinning Ham alive, and that one of his separate the patients from the staff.
main objects in life was the hope of some An evening get-together was in
day doing this, Monk’s alarm, as now progress, a social gathering of the inmates.
displayed, was remarkable. He bounded up Every one was well dressed—the men in
the cliff face in a way which proved that tail coats, the women in evening gowns.
Ham was his dearest friend. Suddenly, There was one individual present
Monk was pulling a limp body from a rock who could not possibly have been mistaken
crevice. for an inmate. He was a huge, white-haired
“Ham! Ham!” Monk exploded. “Are man with a ruddy face—a face that was
you hurt?” deeply lined. They were strong lines,
Ham opened one eye a faint crack. however, and the features were almost
“Hold the world still,” he requested, “and I’ll classically regular. This man was obviously
try to sit up.” a physician.
Convinced Ham was not badly He was talking to a girl, a tall,
damaged, Monk’s attitude changed broad-shouldered young woman whose
completely. lovely face was clouded as from an inner
“You overdressed shyster!” gritted trouble. Her hair was black. Judging from
the homely chemist. “What became of that her youthful figure, her hair should have
girl?” been a glossy black, but it was not. It was
“If she wasn’t a lady, I could gladly dull, streaked with gray.
hope she broke her neck,” Ham told him. This woman was a nurse. The big,
“What happened?” white-haired man was addressing a
“That young lady is a firecracker,” question to her.
Ham mumbled. “She blew up in my face. “Do you find your profession a
And that is as near as I can describe it.” strain?” he asked.
“She’s gone?” Monk howled.
She tried to smile up at him, but Montgomery Medwig Pell was

failed, and the failure was a little pathetic. awakening. He yawned, stretched, then lay
“Sometimes it terrifies me!” she there for a time without moving. Finally, he
said. got up and went to a wall switch and turned
“That is an unhealthy trend of on a flood of brilliance from a ceiling bulb.
thought,” the big man told her. “When the He walked over to the door and
nurses here begin to identify themselves listened. He began to make a sound, a
with their charges, they are courting rather horrible sound. It was a thin, high
trouble. It is not good. You have only been wail, a whimpering. It was like the cry of a
here a week. It has affected you quickly.” lost soul, the sound of a completely
The girl made no effort to reply. darkened mind.
“There is one case which seems to And all the time Montgomery
affect you more than the others,” suggested Medwig Pell was making this ghastly
the big, white-haired physician. sound, he was acting in a very normal
“Yes,” the troubled young woman manner. He moved to a bureau, ran a comb
admitted. “The young man in Room 16.” through his hair. He put on a striped flannel
Then, as if she found the robe, picked up a newspaper and began to
conversation distasteful, she walked off, read it. Every now and then, he would
crossing the big room and mounting the stamp his foot on the floor. To any one
stairs. outside, it would surely sound as if the
Shortly afterward, the giant form of person in the room were fighting the
the elderly doctor climbed the stairs. It demons of a diseased mind. He kept up his
might have been noted that the white- mewing noises.
haired man’s step was surprisingly light, The attendants must have grown
considering his aged appearance. At the accustomed to this performance, for no one
top of the stairs, the big man stood listening came. It was not uncommon for insane
for a moment. The girl had mounted these people to act in the manner in which Pell
same stairs, but she had disappeared. was performing.
With an easy smoothness, the Pell laid down the newspaper, went
white-haired man walked down the hall and to the dresser and peered at himself in the
quietly opened the door which bore the mirror. This mirror, as a precautionary
number, 16. The room was unlighted, but measure, was constructed of polished
there was enough moonlight to reveal it as metal instead of glass. Pell seemed to be
a bedchamber. There were bars across the examining his head and apparently was not
window. satisfied with what he saw.
A young man lay on a bed in the He seized a can of white talcum
room. He wore pajamas, a striped and began to carefully sprinkle it in his
bathrobe. He was sound asleep, a tall, scalp. The results of this did not satisfy him,
cadaverously thin young fellow with a tight- either. He was now looking somewhat
lipped, angular face. His hair was very gray. worried.
It was lawyer Montgomery Medwig At this point, the big, white-haired
Pell. watcher glided out of the bathroom. He
moved soundlessly, and was almost beside
Pell before he spoke.
THE white-haired physician began “Pell,” he said, “you are not what
to act very strangely. He went to a door, could be called a skilled actor!”
which he opened to reveal gleaming white Pell gave a violent start, and
tile of a bathroom. Moving with no whirled. His eyes for an instant were
perceptible sound, the big man stepped astounded, but perfectly sane. Then they
inside and closed the door, but not became fixed, staring; but the manner in
completely. He left a narrow crack through which they did this showed that the action
which he could observe Pell. was deliberate.
There was a wait that literally The white-haired man reached out
stretched into hours. The institution fell and touched Pell’s hair. “Your hair, which
quiet. Not that it had been noisy at any you had dyed gray, is beginning to grow
time.
out. You were trying to hide that with of a doubt that there was a being known as
talcum.” Camphor Wraith!”
Pell began speaking monotonously, Pell moistened his lips again.
“I am Napoleon Bonaparte, the mighty Little “How do you know this?” he
Corporal! How dare you address me—” gulped.
The white-haired man laughed. “Simply because the story the
There was not much humor in the laugh. young woman told did not hold together,”
“You do not even have enough medical Doc Savage told him. “And her flight and
knowledge of insanity types to act the part her warning shout to you, if you need
of a madman. You were for a time actually further proof.”
unbalanced by nervous shock. But you Pell swallowed. He did not seem to
recovered suddenly, early this morning, and know what to say.
since then, for reasons which you are going “You took the part of Camphor
to tell me, you have been acting a part.” Wraith,” Doc Savage told Pell. “That was
“What do—you mean?” Pell for deception. Some one wanted us to think
stuttered, giving up the pretense. we had captured Camphor Wraith, some
“You are a young man,” said the one who had hold enough over you to
other. “You have disguised yourself as a make you take orders—even orders that
middle-aged lawyer. Why?” might mean your own death.”
Pell peered closely at the big white-
haired man who held him.
“Doc Savage!” he gulped. PELL stumbled to a chair. He sat
down in it. His arms hung weakly, his whole
being seeming to droop.
THE giant, white-haired “What you’ve—discovered is—
physician—Doc Savage—suggested incredible!” he muttered. “You will be telling
quietly, “Why not tell the truth of what is me next that you know the whole thing!”
behind all of this, Pell?” “Suppose you talk,” Doc
“I tell you, I am an—an insane suggested.
man,” Pell began, desperately. Pell went through facial motions of
“You were willing to take the whole a man reaching a tremendous decision.
burden of the Camphor Wraith business,” “I will,” he said.
Doc said. “Pell, what is behind this?” He did not, however.
Pell’s face was a procession of Suddenly, there was no light in the
patterns presenting desperate, goaded room. The electric illumination whisked out.
fear. Then there was the sound of glass
“Would you care to hear some breaking. Some one outside had broken the
things which have become pretty apparent window. An odor came into the room. It was
in the course of events?” Doc Savage a scent very distinct, as real as the
asked. presence of death, strangely camphor-like.
“You mean—what you know,” Pell “The Agate Devil!” Pell screamed.
demanded. Doc Savage whipped to the
“Exactly!” window and peered out. Montgomery
Pell moistened his lips. “It might Medwig Pell ran in the other direction, tore
help,” he said. the door open, dived through.
“All right,” Doc Savage told him. Doc Savage remained at the
“When the girl, Kateen MacRoy, appeared window only long enough to make sure he
near Gime’s house, her purpose was to could discern no one below. Not that there
lead us to that cabaña hide-out.” was no one there. There must have been,
The bronze man paused for this to but it was more necessary to keep track of
sink in. Pell. Doc raced out of the bedroom and
“She was not, however, leading us down the hallway after the fleeing Pell.
into a trap,” he continued. “She wanted my The bronze man would have
men and myself to see you. In short, she overtaken Pell before the man got halfway
wanted to convince us beyond the shadow down the stairs, had not an obstacle flung
herself at him. It was the girl of the troubled
face and the gray-streaked hair. She Monk and Ham—they had been
seemed to have been waiting there in the awaiting Doc outside the grounds of the
hall, perhaps listening. clinic—appeared almost at once, running
She had remarkable strength for a from the direction of the road.
woman. Doc grasped the girl and shook “We had a heck of time gettin’ in!”
her. The shaking caused the young Monk barked.
woman’s hair to fall off. “What happened?” barked Ham.
It was the bald-headed girl, Kateen The dapper lawyer thumbed a
MacRoy. flashlight on, played the beam over the
“Let him alone!” she screamed at features of Doc Savage’s limp burden.
Doc Savage. “Do you have to keep “Pell!” Ham yelled. “They killed
hounding him?” him!”
Doc Savage rapped, “His life is in “Get the devil statuette,” Doc
danger!” ordered. “You’ll find it back there in the
“Of course it is!” she shrieked. shrubbery.”
“They know you have guessed too much, Monk and Ham, trying to pick the
so they’re going to kill Pell to keep him from devil up, burned themselves. Ham solved
talking!” that problem by unsheathing his sword
Doc shoved her gently away and cane, hooking the blade under the curled
leaped down the stairs in pursuit of Pell. tail of the devil and lifting the thing. They
Pell had apparently dashed out into moved back to the path.
the night. There was a flutter of feet on the
walk and Kateen MacRoy appeared. Her
gray-haired wig was slightly askew.
OUTSIDE, there was enough “Pell!” she gasped. “What
moonlight for Doc Savage to see the madly happened to him?”
sprinting form of Pell. The man was racing “That infernal mystery death got
toward the gate. him,” Ham told her, callously.
Doc Savage lunged in pursuit. Kateen MacRoy drew herself up
When his ears notified him of sudden very straight. Air went out of her lungs in a
silence ahead, he stopped. long sigh. Monk jumped, but failed to catch
Then came an ear-splitting shriek, her before she fell heavily.
such sound as would be made by a man in Doc Savage was calling, “Hurry!
the grip of extreme terror. Bring Pell and the girl!”
Then the light appeared, fantastic,
yellowish luminance so brilliant that it hurt
the eyes. But it began to diminish in Chapter XII
strength at once, and went out with a DEATH WARNING
swiftness almost equal to that with which it
had appeared. WHEN KATEEN MACROY
Doc raced through the shrubbery recovered from her faint, she peered about
toward the vanishing glow. There was curiously. Hotel rooms are pretty much the
silence ahead now. No more screaming. same the world over. She was in one—Doc
Back in the clinic, there was a noise of Savage’s suite in the Martel Hotel in Los
much shouting. Angeles.
Doc reached the red glow. All that “Pell!” she asked weakly, after a
remained of it was a little statuette, and it time.
stood in what looked like a pool of glowing “It’s no use,” Monk told her, not
red rock. unkindly. “You wouldn’t want to look at
Pell’s body sprawled near by, him.”
twisted in ghastly fashion. There was wet “Where is he?” she asked.
scarlet on his chest, on his tattered, striped “We left him—at an undertaking
bathrobe. Bathrobe and body were both establishment,” Monk said, slowly.
wet with water. A fountain splashed near The girl began to sob, but not
by. It looked as if Pell might have run loudly.
through it in the course of his wild flight.
“We just got here at the hotel,”

Monk told her, as if that meant anything.
The girl continued to sob, and the “IT will at least relieve your mind to
very quietness of her grief made it more tell what you know,” Doc Savage
painful to watch. suggested, gently.
Monk asked finally, “What were you She nodded apathetically, and
doing at the hospital?” began to talk in a flat, inflectionless voice.
The girl’s answer came brokenly. “I “Montgomery Medwig Pell was my
was afraid—they would try—to kill Pell. I fiancé,” she told them. “We were to be
disguised myself—bribed the head nurse to married next month. He was a private
hire me. I wanted to—keep them from detective.”
killing Pell, if I could.” “Huh!” Monk grunted, looking
“Who is them?” Monk asked. “Why disappointed. “So that’s the connection!”
should they want to kill Pell?” Kateen MacRoy continued dully,
Kateen MacRoy looked at the “About a year ago, Monty took up some
homely chemist. special work. He had to travel a lot. He
“Get Doc Savage,” she said. “Pell is went to Europe, China, all over the world.
dead. There is no reason now why I can’t He seemed to like it for a while.”
tell you the whole story.” “Do you know what he was doing?”
Monk dived into a connecting room, Doc Savage asked.
where Doc Savage stood examining the “No,” replied the girl. “The work was
little red satan statuette which had been secret. Monty was to tell no one what he
found in the hospital yard after the attack was doing. Not even me.”
on Pell. “I see,” said the bronze man.
“Remarkable!” the bronze man “About three months ago, he began
said, quietly. “The features of this satan are to get worried,” the girl went on. “I could
the features of Pell!” see he was concerned over something. I
Monk grunted, “The girl says she talked to him about it. He said that my
was sure they were going to kill Pell.” knowing anything would probably mean my
“They?” death. We had a quarrel. I finally wormed
“Aw, heck!” Monk growled. out of him that some one was holding a
“Whoever is behind this. Anyhow, the girl death threat over his head, to make him do
says she is willing to tell us the whole yarn.” things he loathed doing.”
Ham, standing near by, interjected, “What kind of things?”
“Pell seems to have been the reason the “He would never say.”
girl didn’t talk before,” he said. “How did you get yourself involved
They went back into the other in the affair?” Doc asked.
room. The girl lay on the divan, seemingly The girl spoke listlessly. “I was
interested not at all in what was going on. determined to help him. I suggested calling
She did not even look at them, as they you. He agreed to do so, but insisted on
drew close. doing it in such a manner that you would
not suspect him.”
Doc said, “The fact that he had
DOC SAVAGE studied the young telegraphed me was found out?”
woman for some moments. Then he went “Yes,” she said, tonelessly. “They
back into the other room and opened his must have suspected him and been
portable equipment case. For some watching. At any rate, a voice telephoned
moments he clinked glasses, concocting me. It was a man’s voice, and it said that
some kind of a chemical ingredient. He Monty would be killed unless he and I did
offered this to the young woman. everything we were told to do. My first order
“A stimulant,” he explained. “It will was to go to the airport with Old Dan and
help overcome the depressive effects of rob you of the telegrams which Monty Pell
shock.” had sent you. We failed. Then Old Dan and
She took the glass and emptied it I were ordered to be in a car near the bank
without as much as even looking to see in which Monty had put the clues in a safe-
what was in it. deposit box.”
“Clues?” Doc interposed. “I do not know,” she said, voice

“The satan statuette, the bottle of emotionless.
liquid with the camphor odor, and the note Ham, who liked nothing better than
directing you to the movie location,” the girl to be cross-questioning some one, put in,
replied, dully. “What has Old Dan got to do with this
“That satan statuette!” Monk mystery?”
grunted, abruptly. “It had your features, “He claimed he was involved—at
remember?” first, innocently, and was now in so deep
She added dully, “That one was that he was afraid to back out.”
sent to Monty, to warn him that I would be “And where does that guy with the
killed unless he did exactly as he was told. queer face, Del Ling, come in?” Ham
Later, they demanded he return it. He told added.
them he had destroyed it, for he got the “I can’t tell you.”
idea from their wanting it back, that in some “And how about black clothed,
way, it was a clue that could be used beak-faced Samuel Wartz Gime?” snapped
against them.” Ham.
“They didn’t believe he had “I do not know that, either,” said the
destroyed it?” Monk asked. girl. “I only know that they take orders from
“Oh, no! They hoped to get it by this mysterious mastermind, whoever he
keeping track of Doc Savage until he got it. is.”
They did not know it was in the vault at the Ham looked thwarted.
bank, until Doc got it out and one of their “What’s that thing they use to kill
men saw it from a distance.” people?”
Monk considered, then asked with “I do not know what it is.”
difficulty, “Did you shoot that man at the “What is the significance of the red
bank? The man we were about to question satan statuettes?” Ham snapped.
and who was shot through the window?” She only shook her head.
“No,” the girl denied, without Ham blew up. “Blast it, woman!
emotion. “He was shot by some one in a Don’t you know anything? I think you’re
building across the street. I didn’t see the lying to me!”
killer. He got away.” Doc drew Ham aside.
Doc was silent for a moment, “She told the truth,” said the bronze
apparently checking her story against man.
known facts. “I don’t see how you can be sure,”
“At the movie location, you were Ham complained.
doing what?” “That mixture which I gave her to
“Helping Old Dan try to get the blue drink,” Doc explained, “was a truth serum.”
satan statuette away from you,” explained
the girl.
“The blue statuette?” Doc THE telephone emitted a sudden
interposed. jangle. Homely Monk, being nearest the
“The blue one,” she agreed. “They instrument, swung over to answer it.
did not seem to be interested in the red “Yeah?” he said, and added a
ones.” moment later, “speaking.”
Monk listened intently. He began to
scowl. As the conversation drew to an end,
MONK whirled on Doc, and gulped. Monk looked as if he could cheerfully have
“Where’s that blue devil, Doc?” bitten the heads off any nails that might
“I still have it,” the bronze man have been around.
admitted. “In a safe place.” Monk emitted a roar, threw the
“The blue one has some special telephone to the floor and jumped on it. He
significance!” Monk pointed out. He turned kicked a chair over. He beat his own chest
to the girl. “What significance does it have? with his fists.
Why does it mean any more than the red “I won’t do it!” he squawked.
devils?” “A perfect picture of an ape in a
tantrum,” Ham said, sarcastically.
Monk glared as if he would gladly The next instant, the hack slid a to
take his spleen out on the dapper lawyer. stop. The other cars likewise braked to a
“What is it?” Doc Savage halt. Men sprang out of them.
interposed. Monk’s captor had produced a
“Complications!” Monk gritted. revolver. He let the homely chemist look
“That was the district attorney. That hybrid- into the barrel.
faced mug, Del Ling, has entered a “What’s the meaning of this?” Monk
complaint charging me with kidnaping!” demanded. “You birds aren’t from the
Monk jumped up and down some district attorney’s office.”
more. “No?” The stolid man leered. “If it
“The lug!” the homely chemist would interest you, we’re from the particular
howled. “I shoulda throwed him in the corner of hell where they make them little
ocean the day we caught Pell.” red devils—and one blue one!”
“What are they going to do about Monk sat perfectly still. It was
it?” Doc Savage asked. useless to resist.
“There’s a cop comin’ to get me,”
Monk growled. “I think I’ll spank him or
send him back or something!” BACK in the hotel suite, Ham was
Doc Savage suggested, “It might showing concern.
be wise to get Del Ling and bring him to “Can they keep Monk in jail, Doc?”
see the district attorney, too. You are in a the dapper lawyer asked, in a worried tone.
position to ask some embarrassing “Doubtful,” Doc Savage reassured
questions of Del Ling.” him.
That remark spread a smile over Then Doc went into one of the
Monk’s gloom. bedrooms and began delving into the metal
“You bet I will! Now I’ll drift equipment cases. He produced a black box
downstairs and look for the cop, who’s of a thing, about the size of a lady’s week-
coming.” end case. From one end of this projected a
Monk went out. large lens, camera-like. The lens looked
Monk took his time getting down to like ordinary glass, except that it was
the lobby. purplish-black.
A burly, rather stolid-looking man Ham asked, “What’s the idea of the
came into the lobby from the street. He ultra-violet lantern, Doc?”
peered about, saw Monk and approached. “There is one clue in this whole
He tapped Monk on the shoulder, affair which we have never investigated
simultaneously drawing aside his coat to thoroughly,” Doc Savage said.
reveal a badge which said the man was a Ham scratched his head. He
special investigator from the Los Angeles thought deeply.
district attorney’s office. “I don’t remember any such clue,”
“They didn’t need to send a flatfoot he declared.
after me,” Monk growled. “The cigar,” Doc told him.
“My orders are to handcuff you,” “What cigar?”
the badge wearer told him, unkindly. “The one in an oblong wooden box
Monk looked very black, and of its own,” Doc reminded.
seemed of half a mind to start a fight. Then “Oh, yes,” Ham recalled. “You
he sighed, and submitted to having the found that in the pocket of the man who
handcuffs clicked over his wrist. was killed at the bank.”
The stolid man led Monk outside, Doc Savage went to a case
flagged a taxi, prodded the homely chemist containing chemicals. He opened a large
into it, and they drove away. jar filled with a black liquid. He poured this
The cab turned into a side street. out. Cleverly mounted in the center of the
Monk suddenly discovered that there was a large jar was a smaller container with an
car ahead, one on either side, and a fourth airtight, screw top. Doc Savage unscrewed
behind. this and lifted out the cigar.
“Hey!” Monk barked. “What’s goin’ “Think there’s something queer
on?” about it?” Ham asked.
Instead of replying directly, Doc “Yes,” Ham admitted, “that is

handed the cigar to Ham, and queried, logical.”
“What do you think?” “The quick brown fox jumped over
Ham looked the cigar over closely. the lazy sleeping dog,” Doc Savage said,
He sniffed of it. slowly.
“Good tobacco,” he said. “What?” Ham eyed the bronze man
“See anything suspicious?” Doc as if he thought the latter had become
Savage asked him. suddenly unbalanced.
“No,” Ham replied, after another Doc Savage seemed on the point
inspection. “There is no writing on the of explaining, but the telephone rang. Doc
cigar.” went to the instrument, lifted the receiver.
Doc Savage said nothing. He “Yes,” he said.
moved to a table and carefully unrolled the He listened intently. The
outside leaf wrapper of the cigar. The cigar expression on his metallic features had not
was fresh, so the leaf could be unrolled changed, as he hung up. He took the
without cracking or falling apart. receiver off the hook again and dialed a
Doc Savage spread the wrapper number.
leaf of the cigar out on the table. He turned “Let me speak to Samuel Wartz
off the lights in the room and pulled the Gime,” he requested.
shades. Then, in semidarkness, he picked Doc Savage had changed his voice
up the ultra-violet projector and focused its until it was doubtful if any one could have
dark lens at the wrapper leaf. He pressed a recognized it over the telephone as
switch on the side of the box. belonging to the bronze man.
Ultra-violet light has some peculiar “Not there?” he said into the
properties. Itself invisible to the naked eye, mouthpiece, after listening. “Thank you.” He
it causes a peculiar phenomenon upon hung up.
striking certain substances. For instance, “What is it?” Ham demanded.
ultra-violet light played upon ordinary “Monk has been seized,” Doc
vaseline causes the vaseline to glow, or Savage said. “That first call was to advise
fluoresce. me that, unless we are back in New York in
“Jove!” Ham gasped. “There’s twenty-four hours, Monk will be killed.”
something printed on the leaf with an “But what was the idea of your
invisible ink that the ultra-violet light brings making the second call?” Ham gasped.
out!” “I called the Samuel Wartz Gime
residence at Palomar,” Doc Savage said.
“But why?”
THE glowing figures were quite “A voice informed me that Gime
distinct. They had been printed there with was not there,” Doc replied.
some kind of stamping apparatus, it “Which proved what?”
seemed: “The voice was the same that
made the call telling of Monk’s seizure.”
PATENT NO. 1 9 3 22 1 24 “Jove!” exploded Ham. “How’d you
REGISTERED JUNE 1, 1911 know where to call?”
“It was no hunch,” Doc told him.
“I don’t see anything unusual about “My intention was to call Gime, Del Ling,
that,” Ham said, “except that the figures in and Old Dan in succession, but it happened
the patent number seems to be spaced a that the first call gave me the information.”
little irregularly. But say, isn’t it queer that a Doc Savage got another jar from
patent number should be placed on these his case of chemical supplies. This one,
cigars?” opened, disgorged from a second inner jar
“These are very fine cigars,” Doc the blue devil statue.
Savage reminded. “No doubt they bring a “The blue one!” Ham grunted. “The
high price, and it is logical that the maker one that seems to be important.”
would place on them some mark of The bronze man passed the blue
identification, to distinguish his product from image to Ham.
cheaper imitations.” “Take care of it,” he directed.
Ham examined the thing, then “I’ve seen the big bronze fellow
carefully pocketed it, shaking his head. “I somewhere before,” he said.
don’t see what’s queer about it.” “You might have,” Ham admitted,
Doc Savage took the cigar wrapper absently.
to the window shade, pulled the shade “Who is he?” queried the operator.
down to its greatest length, and rolled the “Doc Savage,” Ham said. There
wrapper up inside of it. was no point in trying to keep it a secret.
“It may be found there,” he said. Doc was registered under his own name at
“But it will not make a great deal of the hotel.
difference. Do you remember the figures of “Good night!” gasped the operator.
that patent number, Ham?” “I’ve read about this Doc Savage! He’s got
“Yes,” said Ham, who had a good a reputation!”
memory. “One, nine, three, twenty-two, Ham went outside and walked
one, twenty-four.” around the corner to the garage where they
Doc Savage led the way into the were keeping Pell’s town car. Ham started
next room. Kateen MacRoy seemed to the motor, drove to the front of the building,
have recovered somewhat from her parked and waited.
lethargy. She eyed them, and noticed the Ham was wondering just why Doc
excitement in Ham’s manner. had remained behind with the girl. The
“Something up?” she asked. bronze man was telling her something, of
“They have Monk,” Doc told her. course. But what?
She got to her feet. “If I can help in Up in the hotel suite, Doc said,
any way, count on me.” “You understand the plan, now?”
“We will,” Doc Savage told her. A striking change had come over
“Come with us.” Kateen MacRoy. Her listlessness was
completely gone, and she seemed afire
with an inner excitement.
Chapter XIII “You are an incredible person!” she
GRIM MANSION gasped. “You know the whole thing—what
is behind it—”
AS THE three of them left the hotel Doc asked, “You are willing to do
suite, Doc Savage was carrying his ultra- your part, should it be necessary?”
violet lantern. He also carried, wrapped in a “Absolutely!” the girl said, fervently.
newspaper, a pair of goggles—at least, “After what you have told me about Pell
they vaguely resembled goggles. They had, being—”
however, lenses which were nearly as large “Don’t talk too much!” Doc warned
as condensed milk cans. her. “They may have dictaphones planted
They rang for an elevator. The in this place!”
cage arrived shortly and the door opened. The girl nipped her lips. “Righto!”
Ham stepped inside, as the operator held “You will have to look gloomy,” Doc
the door open. warned her.
“Wait a moment!” Doc Savage said, She proved she was an actress by
suddenly. looking very gloomy indeed. They walked
“Down?” queried the operator. out into the elevator.
“In a few moments,” Doc said. In the midst of the descent, Kateen
The bronze man grasped Kateen MacRoy gave a slight start. Not enough,
MacRoy’s elbow and drew her from the however, to attract Doc Savage’s attention.
cage. Ham made a move to step out also. The girl glanced down at her hand. It held a
“You might get the car ready,” Doc folded paper.
Savage suggested. The elevator operator had shoved
Ham nodded, stepped back into the that paper into her hand.
elevator and rode down to the street level. “Some very interesting things have
As he descended, the elevator operator been written about you, Mr. Savage,” said
made casual conversation. the elevator operator.
Kateen MacRoy knew that this was
an order to read the note. She caught the
elevator operator’s eye. He shifted his of the jam, when it became apparent that
glance to Doc Savage and shook his head he was not.
slightly. That, of course, meant that Doc Ahead, two cars tried to cross an
was not to see the note. intersection at the same time. There was
The young woman hesitated, then screeching of tires. Horns blatted frantically.
nodded, as if to herself. But she knew the The two machines stopped, almost against
elevator operator was watching her and each other. The drivers began to exchange
would know the nod meant she was hard names.
agreeing to comply with his order. Traffic piled up at the street
Doc Savage strode ahead across intersection like a log jam in an overworked
the lobby. This gave Kateen MacRoy a flume. In a few moments, there was a
chance to open the note in cupped hands considerable tangle of cars.
and glance at it. It was typewritten and easy A green coupé pulled up alongside
to read: their town car.
That seemed to be what Kateen
Get that blue devil statuette and MacRoy was waiting for.
you will not be killed. Man in green coupé The young woman went into action.
will help you escape. She grabbed for Ham’s coat pocket. The
dapper lawyer, his attention centered on
Doc Savage and Kateen MacRoy the traffic jam, was totally unprepared.
reached Ham, who was waiting in the town Before he knew what was happening, the
car at the curb. young woman had grasped the stone satan
“I think I should rather sit in front,” carving. Then, moving with amazing speed,
Kateen MacRoy said. she started to get out of the car.
To preclude the likelihood of Doc Savage met that move. He
argument, she climbed in beside Ham. The reached over the back of the front seat,
only strange thing about this action was grasped her, held her back. They struggled
that the young woman and Ham had furiously.
certainly not been getting along together. Doc Savage seemed to be
Ham had treated her with frank suspicion concentrating entirely on keeping the stone
throughout. statuette. He succeeded. But the girl got
Doc Savage rode alone in the rear. out of his clutch. She popped out of the car
Ham got the car in motion. Then he onto the pavement.
rolled down the glass partition separating “Drat her!” Ham yelled, and made a
the driver’s compartment from the rear move to lunge in pursuit.
seat. He did this so that he could converse A revolver began blasting from the
with Doc. green coupé. The first bullet all but parted
“Think we’ve got a chance of taking Ham’s hair. He changed his mind about
Monk’s captors by surprise?” he asked. following the girl. He flung himself
Doc Savage seemed to be backward, got out of the car on the
watching Kateen MacRoy with rather opposite side. Doc Savage was beside
unusual intentness. Ham, almost instantly.
“It is hard to tell,” the bronze man They heard the coupé door bang.
said. The car engine made a great deal of noise.
“The whole thing might be a trap,” There was a thumping as the machine
Ham reminded. hurtled the curb, turned and went back up
“Of course,” Doc agreed. the street away from the traffic jam.
“I hope they haven’t got Monk at Ham, making inarticulate sounds of
all,” Ham growled. impotent rage, scrambled into the car. Doc
That ended the conversation for a was beside him. Ham got the engine
while. Ham found that the job of jockeying started, backed the big machine and turned
the sedan through the night traffic of it around. The shooting had created a good
downtown Los Angeles completely deal of excitement.
absorbed his attention. The dapper lawyer “Doc!” Ham gasped. “Did you see
had begun to think he was out of the worst who was in that coupé?”
“The man called Old Dan,” Doc operation of the mechanism within be
Savage admitted. heard. It was very silent.
The black light was not strong
enough to cause any fluorescing
HAM took the corner on two phenomena which might betray their
wheels. The coupé was not in sight ahead. presence. As seen through the fluoroscopic
“I thought that girl was on the level goggles, the world presented a weird
this time,” Ham gritted. aspect of shadows and highlights.
Doc Savage said nothing. They moved along the hedge,
Ham groaned, “Doc, I thought you directing the ultra-violet projector at the
said you gave her truth serum?” base of the green growth—it certainly did
“Correct,” the bronze man admitted. not look green as they saw it now—until
“She must have a lot of will power,” they found the aperture which Ham had
Ham complained. “Otherwise she would mentioned.
have told the truth when under the Ham got down on his hands and
influence of the serum.” knees and started to crawl through. What
“The performance of truth serum is happened as soon as he touched the
very erratic,” Doc Savage told him. “On foliage of the hedge was ample proof that
some individuals, it will work hardly at all.” their visit had not been unexpected.
“She must be one of them.” The entire hedge sprang out in a
Ham drove in a manner which blaze of light. Floodlights seemed to go on
alarmed many traffic cops. He searched the everywhere. An alarm gong racketed.
neighborhood thoroughly. The hedge had obviously been
They did not find the green coupé. equipped with an effective alarm system.
“Blast the luck!” Ham wailed. “The “It looks,” said Ham, grimly, “as if
girl will tip them off that we know who’s got we were all set for a party.”
Monk! What’ll we do?” They were. It developed
“The only thing we can do,” Doc immediately that gunmen were a part of the
told him: “Hunt for Monk.” entertainment. Orange flame leaped from
the hedge and shrubbery. Lead snipped the
foliage where Doc Savage and Ham were
TWO hours later, the complex lying. They changed their position hurriedly.
problem presented by the actions of Kateen Ham listened. He decided fully a
MacRoy had ceased to be Ham’s chief dozen men were shooting.
topic. By that time, Doc Savage and Ham “This might be an occasion when
were approaching Samuel Wartz Gime’s discretion is the better part of valor,” he
Palomar estate. suggested.
They were crawling along the Doc Savage seemed not to hear
hedge which surrounded the estate. him. The bronze man was crawling along
“We might as well go in through the hedge, making for one of the
that hole where Monk got me the other floodlights.
day,” Ham suggested in a whisper. “Putting one of those lights out
“Good enough,” Doc agreed. won’t help much,” Ham barked.
It was still night—very black night. Doc Savage paid no attention. He
That Doc Savage and Ham were able to reached up, grasped the floodlight and
move without noise, was in large part due hauled it down. The movement of the light
to the ultra-violet or “black light” lantern and drew a storm of lead. There was, however,
the special goggles which they had brought a small ditch at that point, and Doc Savage
along. The mechanism of these goggles was sheltered effectively.
was infinitely complicated. They consisted He managed to get the lens from
of filters, rotating screens of a fluorescent the light. He unscrewed the bulb, using a
nature, and rapid shutters. This mechanism handkerchief to protect his fingers from the
was all contained inside the lenses that heat. He turned the reflector toward the
were like condensed milk cans. Only by sky. A small coin came out of his pocket
placing an ear against the cans could the and went into the socket from which he had
removed the bulb.
A moment later, there was a fizzing The prospective victim was a

and spitting of blue flame, as the coin wizened fellow. The dapper lawyer set
accomplished a short circuit. All the himself and pounced. He held the man and
floodlights went out. let him scream.
Having secured several lusty
shouts, Ham swung a fist. The victim
HAM gave quite a start a moment became senseless.
later, when Doc Savage spoke at his side. Then Ham made his mistake. He
“Blew the fuses,” the bronze man decided to search the fellow. There was a
explained. chance the man’s pockets might disgorge
Both Doc Savage and Ham had something of interest.
temporarily removed their fluoroscopic Doc Savage tarried long enough to
spectacles, these being considerably worse note that Ham had succeeded in
than useless where there was brilliant overcoming his captive. Then the bronze
normal light. Now they put them on again. man went on. It was necessary that they
Doc carried the projector of ultra-violet light. work in a hurry. At any moment, their foes
The bronze man worked through might manage to repair the lights.
the hole in the hedge. Ham followed him. Then to Doc’s ears came sounds
“We will stay together,” Doc which indicated misfortune had befallen
Savage breathed. Ham.
They crept forward. They could “Doc!” Ham squalled. “Doc!”
hear some very disgusted cursing. A few Doc Savage spun, dashed to the
guns still banged. spot from which the cries had come.
The black light picked up a skulking Ham was sitting beside a bush,
gunman. Doc and Ham crept up on him. unharmed, except for a gash on his head;
Since it was intensely dark, the thug could he was holding his head with both hands.
not see the bronze man and his aid. They “Three of them!” he gulped. “They
made no sounds he could hear. ganged me!”
Doc Savage grabbed him. It was The man whom Ham had
within the bronze man’s abilities to have overcome was also gone. Evidently the
made the fellow unconscious without a dapper lawyer’s assailants had rescued
sound; but Doc Savage did not choose to him.
do this. Instead, he held the fellow in a grip “They socked me with something,”
that was almost steel. The man emitted one Ham muttered, dazedly. “I think it was a
squawk after another. monkey wrench.”
Doc Savage transferred his grip to “What about the blue satan
the fellow’s neck. His powerful fingers did statuette?” Doc Savage prodded.
something to certain spinal nerve centers. Ham gave a violent start, darted a
The man went limp, seemingly paralyzed. hand into his pockets.
He would remain that way for some time. “Gone!” he gulped. “They took the
“We will get a few of them, letting blue devil!”
each one yell,” Doc Savage whispered.
“That will start them worrying.”
Ham grinned fiercely. He could THEY listened. To their ears came
imagine the effectiveness of that form of sounds of activity. Their foes were
attack. The fact that they could see in the undoubtedly in retreat.
dark and their foes could not, would make “They’re heading for the house,”
things simple. Ham said, grimly. “They’re going to hole up
Doc Savage advanced toward there.”
another victim. Ham also looked around. Doc Savage, as if something had
He saw a bush shake, ahead and to the occurred to him, ran back to the point
right. He crept for that spot. The ultra-violet where he had overcome the first victim. The
lantern threw a wide span of illumination, man was gone. He must have been carried
and, although Doc was carrying the lamp, off.
Ham could see his own quarry. “These fellows work fast,” Ham
said, grimly.
“Come on,” Doc Savage directed. was still fixed in the crevice. It was gone.
They crept toward the house. Fifty He had a horrible moment, when he
yards from it, they realized that things were thought the thing had given way. Then he
not going exactly as they had thought. realized Doc must have flipped the cord
“They’re not retreating into the from below and freed it.
house,” Ham corrected his earlier What the bronze man planned to
conclusion. “They’re going down the cliff!” do was now clear. He would refasten the
This was true. Stones were grapple hook below and continue down the
clattering. Men were grunting, swearing. All cord. He must have found a ledge suitable
of these sounds came from the cliff face. for that purpose. The noise of the plane
Doc Savage and Ham ran for the spot. motors became louder. The ship was in
A light sprang up. A small flame at motion.
first, it spread over the ground. It took off a moment later.
“They’ve set fire to dry grass along Ham ran to the path, wading
the cliff edge!” Ham yelled. “That’s so they through the brisk fire. He descended, using
can see us, if we come close!” all of the haste consistent with safety. He
That this move of their enemies found Doc Savage at the bottom.
was going to be effective, was proven an “They got away,” Doc said, quietly.
instant later. Doc and Ham must have “Descending that cliff was something of a
come close enough that the glow of the fire job.”
was reflected upon them. Guns whanged. Ham listened. The sound of the
The lead came much too close for comfort. plane was dying away to the southward.
“This way,” Doc Savage said. “They took the prisoners with
The bronze man guided Ham to the them!” Ham groaned.
right. They reached the cliff edge some
distance from the fire, peered over.
“Can we get down?” Ham SINCE there was nothing else they
demanded. could do, Doc Savage and Ham clambered
“It will be slow work,” Doc Savage back up the path. The fire at the top had
said. almost burned out. They approached the
Doc produced from inside his house, going warily, lest some sort of death
clothing a device which he always carried. trap might have been left behind.
It was a long silk cord attached to a They entered the house by the
collapsible grappling hook. He managed to back door, and found themselves in a wide,
wedge the grapple into a rock cranny. Doc low hall. It seemed to be open at the
glided down the cord. The cord, of course, opposite end. They advanced and entered
long as it was, lacked a great deal of an inside patio, or court. The sort of
reaching the cliff’s bottom. What he would enclosure that is nearly a fixture in all types
do when he reached the end of the strand of Spanish and Mexican architectures.
was problematical. There was no slightest indication of
A rumbling sound came out of the a human presence in the mansion—until
cove at the foot of the cliff. Ham recognized they got to the far side of the patio. There
it instantly: an airplane motor. He squinted they heard a sound. It was a groan, and it
intently. One of the men below flicked a sounded as if the one making it were nearly
flashlight on briefly. The glow illuminated a beyond the stage of causing any sound
plane—a large, two-motored ship. It was a whatever.
seaplane, an amphibian rather, resting on Doc Savage dipped a hand into a
the water. The men were loading aboard. pocket. He brought out a flashlight
Ham caught a glimpse of two operating with a spring generator. Doc
prisoners. At least, their wrists were tied, adjusted the beam until it was a wide funnel
and they were gagged. They were the of light, and raked this over the inside of the
hybrid-faced movie director, Del Ling, and court.
bird-beaked Samuel Wartz Gime. “Look!” Ham choked.
There was no sign of Monk. Monk had become visible in the
Ham heard a sound beside him. He flashlight glow. The presence of the homely
reached hastily to ascertain if the grapple chemist, of course, was somewhat of a
surprise. That alone, however, did not too. I couldn’t make heads or tails of what
account for Ham’s ejaculation of horror. they meant.”
Monk’s appearance was the cause of that. Ham interposed, “Monk, did you
Monk was naked, except for get any idea of what is behind all this?”
underwear shorts. His squatty powerful hulk “No,” said Monk.
showed evidence of a terrible ordeal. Livid Ham said, “It looks like we’re sunk.”
welts crisscrossed almost every inch of his “You forget,” Doc Savage told him,
torso. He seemed to be standing with his “the cigars.”
arms extending rigidly above his head.
A moment later, they could see
what was wrong. Monk’s feet were inches Chapter XIV
off the ground. His heavy body was AGATE DEVIL AGAIN
suspended—by the thumbs!
AN HOUR later, Doc Savage was
guiding the town car through downtown Los
HAM made a wordless sound of Angeles. Monk had, by now, demonstrated
utter rage at Monk’s tormentors, now gone. that he possessed unusual powers of
He sprang forward. Doc Savage said recuperation. He sat in the back with Ham.
nothing, but, if there had been light to see, The two of them were quarreling.
it was doubtful if his metallic features would “The next time I catch that flea-
have shown their usual impassivity. bitten ape of yours bothering Habeas,”
Doc’s flashlight beam, leaping Monk promised, “the monkey population is
upward, revealed that Monk was swinging gonna be reduced by one!”
by his thumbs from an overhead beam, the “Chemistry bothering Habeas?”
suspending medium being wires. The beam Ham snapped. “Ridiculous! That worthless
to which these were tied was part of the pig bit my monkey! He all but chewed a leg
support for a small balcony overhanging the off him!”
patio. Doc Savage spoke over his
Doc Savage and Ham cut Monk shoulder from the front seat.
down and stretched him out on the stone “Monk, in the talk you overheard
flags of the patio. from your captors, was there any mention
It was ten minutes before he could of this affair having an international
speak coherently. Then his voice was low aspect?” the bronze man asked.
and his words slow. Monk considered, then nodded.
“Fake cop,” Monk said, “led me into “Yeah, there was, now that I think
a trap. Brought me here.” of it,” he admitted. “One of them mentioned
Doc Savage asked pointedly, some Asiatic country—something they
“Why?” were interested in, in connection with that
“Ask questions?” Monk muttered. country. The others told him to shut up.”
“What questions?” Newsboys were crying papers on
“They wanted to know if you had the corner. Their shouts were loud,
shown any great interest in the blue Satan raucous. “Extra! Extra! Foreign diplomat
statuette,” Monk explained. “They seem to murdered!” seemed to be the trend of their
have suddenly realized that the blue one is cry.
a clue, or something, which may betray Doc Savage pulled the car to the
them. They’re trying to get the blue one out curb. He got out, purchased a paper and
of your possession.” returned with it, spread it open, glanced at
“They’ve succeeded,” Ham the headlines:
interjected, grimly.
“That’s tough,” said Monk. “The FOREIGN DIPLOMAT MURDERED;
blue statuette was important. And there STRANGE SATAN STATUE FOUND
was something about cigars, too.”
“Cigars?” Doc queried. The story had a San Francisco
“Yeah,” Monk replied. “They dateline. Doc Savage put a finger on the
wanted to know if you’d talked of cigars, name of the country which the slain
diplomat had represented. He held the The last structure on the right hand
paper so Monk could see. “That the country side of the street was marked with a sign
you heard mentioned?” bearing a Spanish word:
“You bet!” Monk gulped.
The homely chemist looked more CIGARROS
closely at the story, read part of it.
“Blazes!” he exploded. “It musta “That is the place,” Doc said.
been that murder I heard ‘em talkin’ about.” “Strange they’d be open at this time
“Who was the dead man?” Ham of night,” Ham said.
asked. They walked in and waited. No one
“The murdered man was one of the appeared.
most influential politicians of his native The front of the establishment was
country,” the bronze man explained. “The furnished with a show case which held
story says he arrived by steamship today opened cigar boxes. Back of the counter,
and was bound for Washington on a good- on shelves, were more boxes, most of
will mission.” these unopened.
“Good-will mission can cover a On a shelf apart were a number of
multitude of sins,” said Ham. boxes, wrapped and addressed for
“Exactly,” Doc Savage agreed. shipping. Farther back in the shop, behind
“The fellow might have been carrying a a waist-high wooden fence, were benches
treaty. He might have come to negotiate and tools. Tobacco scraps littered the
trade agreements.” benches. There were a few clamp cutters
Ham fingered his sword cane and knives.
absently, at the same time scratching the “Old-fashioned place,” Ham
back of his pet monkey, Chemistry. commented, as he looked around. “They
“This diplomat is not the first make their cigars by hand.”
foreigner to be killed by the little devil Doc Savage made no reply.
murder method, whatever it is,” he pointed Instead, he walked behind the counter and
out. took some of the wrapped cigar boxes from
Monk said, “This thing still don’t behind the shelf. He examined these.
make any sense to me.” “Find something?” Monk queried.
Doc Savage vouchsafed nothing Doc held up several of the boxes
further. He drove rapidly. He stopped for Monk’s inspection, calling attention with
before a rather exclusive tobacco store, a metallic finger to the addresses. These
which was open at this hour. He entered, were varied, and somewhat surprising. One
was there perhaps ten minutes. When he box was addressed to Paris, France.
came out, he offered no explanation, but Another was destined for a recipient in
drove the car to another tobacco store. Moscow, Soviet Russia. Others were
“Trying to trace them cigars,” Monk addressed to New York, Rome, Shanghai.
guessed. “Boy, this place has customers
“Have any luck?” Ham asked. everywhere!” Monk grunted. Abruptly, the
“The excellence of the tobacco in bronze man replaced the boxes and moved
the cigar made it traceable,” Doc Savage around in front of the counter, making an
replied. “They are made here in Los elaborate pretense of being interested in
Angeles, at a small, private plant in the the display.
Spanish section.”
A LITTLE brown man appeared, a

THE big town car rolled a number half-anxious, half apologetic smile on his
of blocks. It entered a street which proved face. He came from behind the wooden
to end abruptly at the edge of a deep gash fence.
in the earth, a small canyon of the type “A thousand pardons, señores,” he
locally called an arroyo. A dry stream bed it mumbled. “I was eating my nightly lunch.”
really was, providing drainage from the hills Doc Savage matched his
during the sudden rains. politeness.
“You have some cigars on display He reached the door in the rear,
here,” the bronze man said. “Evidently, all got through, and slammed it behind him. A
are of the very finest quality.” lock rattled.
The little brown man smiled widely. Doc hit the door. It was solid,
He got behind the counter and rubbed his smashed him back. He hit it again. The
hands. wood creaked, gave a little. Monk joined
“You like to see some of my stock, him. Together they slammed. The door
señor?” he asked. went down.
“If you don’t mind.” The three men piled through.
The little man began to show Almost instantly, Doc Savage’s arms
cigars, naming prices, qualities, sizes, knocked Monk and Ham back.
shapes. “Careful!” he warned.
“You do a great deal of shipping?” Monk and Ham drew back,
Doc suggested. involuntarily. The rear of the yard was on
“But yes, señor. My customers, the brink of the arroyo. A black depth gaped
they remember me.” below them. They had no way of telling how
Doc pointed at the wrapped boxes. far it was to the bottom.
“May I see the quality of the cigars which They listened. They could hear
you ship?” running feet, down in the arroyo.
The small proprietor smiled Doc Savage held a coin at arm’s
apologetically. length over the brink, dropped it. He
“I am sorry,” he said. “Those calculated the depth of the little canyon
particular boxes are wrapped, as you can accurately from the time it took the coin to
see, señor. But these I have been showing reach bottom. Then he stepped outward
you are of the same quality.” into space. He hit the bottom with what
“My particular interest is in the sounded like considerable force.
quality of the cigar which you ship,” Doc “Better not try it!” he called up at
Savage told him. “Please show me some of Monk and Ham. “The thing is deep!”
those.” “What’ll we do?” yelled Monk.
The small brown man shook his “Watch those cigars wrapped for
head. “I cannot, señor.” shipping!” Doc Savage retorted.
“Show them to me,” Doc Savage “Righto!” said Ham, and he and
repeated, quietly. Monk dived back into the cigar factory.
The small brown fellow moistened Doc Savage listened again.
his lips. The color of his skin was changing, Running feet were going down the arroyo
becoming a hue of lead. some distance away. The bronze man set
“Very well, señor,” he mumbled, out in pursuit. There was gravel on the
and moved back toward the boxes. arroyo floor. It was impossible to travel
But he made not the slightest silently. He made a little noise.
gesture to open one of the boxes. Instead, The man ahead must have heard.
he suddenly dived headlong for the back of He began to run more swiftly. Doc
the little factory. quickened his own pace.
Doc Savage scooped up one of the Then the bronze man stopped.
boxes wrapped for shipping and popped it He had caught the sharp scent of
inside his shirt, making sure the clerk did the strange camphor-like odor here in the
not see. blackness. He advanced a few paces. It
became more pungent. He paused again,
seemed of half a mind to retreat.
“HE’S runnin’ for it!” howled Monk. Then there came the sound that
But Doc Savage was already seemed to be the inevitable
rushing in pursuit. The little brown man, accompaniment of the horribly suggestive
however, was acting as he ran. He thrust camphor-like odor. A man howled out in
out his hands, knocked chairs over, mortal terror. His screaming was wordless
hampering pursuit. and prolonged.
Suddenly, there was light, a glare
that was blinding. Strain his eyes as he
could, Doc failed to penetrate it. Even his

trained pupils required moments to adjust
themselves to such brilliance, and before
that happened, the light was dying, fading.
Suddenly there was a light, a glare that was blinding.

Strain his eyes as he could, Doc failed to penetrate it.
The cry had stopped a moment the head was a hole that seemed to go
before the light appeared, and had not completely through the skull.
sounded again. Doc Savage moved his flashlight
Doc ran forward, dragging his beam slightly, and picked up one of the
flashlight from a pocket. He snapped the satan statuettes.
beam on. The little devil was red.
The body of the little brown cigar
clerk lay with face to the stars. The body
was broken and mangled, and in the side of
DOC extinguished his flashlight, otherwise taking pains to avoid a trap. Then
then retreated swiftly. All of his faculties he hurriedly delved into his equipment.
were alert, but, particularly, was he He brought out one of the strange-
listening. looking lanterns which projected ultra-violet
He heard a sound shortly, and it light.
was certainly not one which he had Doc still had the box of cigars
expected. It was a howl, full of surprise and which he purloined from the tobacco
pain. Monk’s voice. factory, inside his shirt. He drew it out now.
“Doc!” Monk bawled. “This place is The wrapper bore the address of a
a trap! It’s alive with guys—” consignee in Berlin, Germany.
Monk went silent. Something had Doc Savage was taking no
happened to the homely chemist up in the chances. His equipment held an X-ray
cigar factory. Doc spun and plunged back machine. He put this in operation, with the
up the arroyo. The unfortunate cigar clerk box under it. The X-ray examination
had descended from the rear of the cigar showed no bomb; only cigars.
store by a rope ladder, which now lay on Doc then opened the box. With
the arroyo floor. infinite care, he removed wrappers from the
The bronze man could hear violent cigars. They were very high-grade
sounds in the tobacco factory. Fighting! wrappers, almost as substantial as onion-
Doc ran on and covered almost a hundred skin paper.
yards, playing his light on the side of the When ultra-violet light was played
arroyo, before he found a place where it upon the wrappers, a printed patent
could be climbed with any degree of speed. number and date appeared on each. No
Even then, he had some difficulty in doubt, it was put there with some chemical
mounting. which fluoresced under the black light. Doc
An automobile motor was making a Savage scrutinized the numbers. At first
great deal of noise in the street near the glance, they all seemed alike. There was,
tobacco factory. Then the machine however, a material difference.
departed into the night. Doc Savage sorted over the
Climbing with all the blinding speed wrappers, until he had placed three, one
he could muster, Doc Savage reached the above the other. The legends on these
factory. The show case was broken, its read:
contents strewn. There was a smear of
scarlet on the floor. Back in the factory REGISTERED MAY 3, 1908
portion, two work tables were upset. Every PATENT NO. 16 3 13 3 13
one of the cigar boxes wrapped for shipping REGISTERED MAY 4, 1908
was gone. PATENT NO. 10 3 21 6 3 20 3 25
Monk and Ham had disappeared. REGISTERED MAY 5, 1908
Doc Savage went out into the PATENTNO. 18 10 11 3 3 19
street. The town car in which he and his
two aids had come, was missing. There The spacing between the figures of
was not much doubt but that this was the the patent numbers was very small, hardly
machine which had departed at such high enough to be noticeable. Several times,
speed. Doc Savage was forced to make a very
Doc Savage went back into the close examination to make out any
factory. He searched the place thoroughly, irregularity whatever in the spacing.
found nothing except evidence that several It was a cipher, obviously. The
men had lived in the rear. bronze man went to work on it. He did not
There were no bills, no receipts to cover sheets of paper with figures before
show to whom the proprietor of the shop beginning actual operations, but stared at
had shipped cigars in the past. the cipher, mentally trying a variety of
Slightly less than half an hour later, combinations.
Doc Savage turned up at the hotel which he It was not so very difficult He wrote
had made his headquarters. He entered his down that alphabetical sentence which
rooms cautiously, scrutinizing the typists like to write, the sentence which
doorknob, listening for a long time, and contains every letter in the alphabet:
seemed to change his mind. He leaned

THE QUICK BROWN FOX forward and directed the driver to a new
JUMPED OVER THE LAZY SLEEPING destination.
DOG. It was before a bungalow on the
outskirts of the city, that the machine
Doc Savage now started at the first stopped. Doc Savage alighted. He rapped
and numbered the letters of the alphabet as on the door. A peculiar signal: three pairs of
they appeared. For instance, the word “the” rapid knocks, then a single one.
became the figures one, two and three. The The door opened. Since it was dark
word “quick” became the figures four, five, inside, it was impossible to see the
six, seven and eight. When he came to a occupant of the bungalow.
letter which had already appeared, he “The whole affair is coming to a
skipped it The “G” in “sleeping” was last, head,” Doc Savage said. “Do you want to
number twenty-six. be in on the finish?”
He now had the key to the code. “Do I?” rapped a grim voice from
He took the first patent number, that of May within. “Be with you in a minute!”
3, 1908. The figure “16” proved to be “J”; It was too dark to distinguish much
the figure “3” proved to be “E”; “13” was about the man who came out of the
“N”; bungalow and joined Doc. But they seemed
“3” another “E”; and another “13” to know each other very well.
was “N.” That gave him the word, “Jenen.” Doc Savage and his strange
That did not make much sense. He companion entered the taxicab.
continued. The next word—from the “We will go to the mineralogy
numbers following the May 4, 1908, department of the university now,” Doc
registry—did make sense. It was Savage said.
“Relieves.” The taxi rolled, and once more the
The May 5, 1908, numbers proved bronze man settled back in the cushions
to be the word “Proceed.” and seemed faintly worried, as if again
Doc found three other wrappers concerning himself over the safety of Monk
with patent registry numbers on them; and and Ham.
when he unciphered them and added the
words to the first three, the message read:
Chapter XV
JENEN RELIEVES. PROCEED TOKIO. DESTINATION UNKOWN
TAKE CAMERA.
MONK AND HAM, at the moment,
The results of the brain tester might could have used a little of the brand of
have been a bit disappointing. However, assistance which Doc Savage was capable
Doc Savage showed no outward disgust. of rendering.
He gathered up the wrappers, made a neat Monk was lying on his back, and
package of them and left the hotel. just beginning to come aware that his head
Down on the street, he hailed a was a throbbing mass of pain. How long he
taxi. had been senseless, he had no way of
“The mineralogy department of the judging. It was still dark, however.
State Mining University,” Doc Savage The attack in the cigar factory had
directed. come without warning. Ham and he had
The bronze man settled back on been hopelessly outnumbered. The affair
the cushion and for one of the few times in had been short and violent. A hard-swung
his career, his metallic features held a trace rifle had dropped Monk, unless he was
of worry. It was obvious that he was mistaken. He wondered what had become
concerned over the safety of his two aids, of Ham.
Monk and Ham. He let his eyes come open
gradually, and realized that he might as
well have kept them shut. He was in a
THE taxicab had covered only a cramped space that was very dark. Then it
few blocks, however, when Doc Savage
came to him that not all of the noise he was “You sure they’re prisoners?” Monk
hearing was inside his own head. Part of persisted.
the racket was outside. He frowned, “They were handcuffed when they
concentrated. were brought aboard,” Ham informed him.
He was in a flying plane! “Where we headed for?”
Monk tried to move his hands and “Your guess,” muttered Ham, “is as
discovered that they were behind him, good as mine.”
handcuffed. He strained. He did not get
free, but he learned that there were more
than one pair of handcuffs on his wrists. He MONK was silent for a time. He
twisted and strained furiously. He could feel found it difficult to digest the information he
no weakening of his fastenings, but his had just received. All of his imaginings had
efforts were not entirely unproductive of pictured either Gime, Del Ling, Old Dan, or
results. even the girl, Kateen MacRoy, in the role of
“Lay still, maverick!” creaked a villain, perhaps mastermind. Now, however,
voice in the darkness. they were all prisoners. Monk felt
“Blazes!” Monk gulped. “Are you somewhat thwarted.
who I think you are?” Old Dan snorted. “I guess you birds
“Quit jumpin’ around!” gritted the had me figured out as one of these here
other. “Quit kickin’ me, you ranny!” devil hombres?”
Monk shut his eyes tightly, and “Well,” said Monk. “Could anybody
then opened them. He knew that voice. blame us?”
The speaker was the turkey- “Not a heck of a lot.” Old Dan
necked man called Old Dan! chuckled. It was not a very hearty chuckle.
“What are you doin’ here?” Monk “If the dadburned truth has gotta be told, I
demanded. have been sort of a coyote. In fact, I reckon
“Takin’ a joyride for my health!” whatever happens to me won’t be none too
growled Old Dan, showing bad temper. good. A feller hadn’t oughta muss himself
Monk continued his efforts to get up in things, if he ain’t willin’ to cut in on the
free, and even went out of his way to kick payoff.”
Old Dan a few times. “What is behind all this?” Monk
“Cut it out, hombre!” rumbled Old asked.
Dan. “I’m a prisoner in here with you.” “Let me start at the first, and sorta
Monk desisted in his efforts to get progress,” Old Dan suggested. “Feller
loose. come to me about two year ago, when I
“Where’s Ham?” he asked. was punchin’ cows in Nevady close to
“Behind you!” snapped Ham’s where they was buildin’ that Boulder Dam.
voice. He had a little camera. He gimme it, and he
“Were you knocked out?” Monk gimme five hundred dollars. All I had to do
asked. was ride up on them hills above the dam
“No,” said Ham. “But I might as well once a day and take a picture.”
have been. They grabbed me, tied me up.” “I see,” Monk interposed. “Some
“Who else is here?” Monk one wanted to know the exact structure of
demanded. that dam.”
“Kateen MacRoy,” explained Ham. “Yes,” said Old Dan. “That’s what I
“Gosh!” said Monk. figgered. Anyway, I was to mail them
“Samuel Wartz Gime,” added Old pictures to an address in Los Angeles. I
Dan, “and that movie feller, Del Ling.” done that. It was easy money. But one
“The whole crowd?” Monk said, thing follied another. This guy gimme a
astounded. thousand to take some packages across
“Exactly!” Ham agreed. the Mexican border. There’s been a lot of
“They all prisoners?” other things. I ain’t gonna tell ‘em to you,
“Yes,” said Ham. “This is a big tri- ‘cause this ain’t no confession. But I ain’t
motored plane. We are in a kind of killed nobody.”
baggage compartment. The other prisoners “I see,” said Monk. “You’re just a
are in the cabin,” hired hand.”
“A hired damn fool!” corrected Old “Hades will probably look like that,”
Dan. Monk muttered, proving he was at least no
“What’s behind this?” Monk asked optimist.
again. The plane tilted abruptly in
“I ain’t got no idea,” said Old Dan. “I preparation for a landing.
never did have. The whole shebang is
crazy as a locoed steer! I never could make
heads or tails of it. I just took their money THE spot chosen for landing was a
and their orders.” canyon which had nothing extraordinary to
“Now look here,” Monk growled, distinguish it outwardly. It was not as large
“You surely can tell me somethin’ that’ll as a number of other canyons they had
gimme a hint.” passed. Since it was very early morning,
“It’s no use, Monk,” said Ham. “I’ve the bottom of the canyon was in shadow.
been all over this with him while you were The plane was quite low before Monk could
unconscious. He doesn’t really know a make out details.
thing.” The plane now made its landing.
“What about Gime and Del Ling?” Monk, who was an expert flyer himself,
Monk asked. considered it a very bad landing. He was
Old Dan said, “They don’t know surprised that the ship held together.
any more than I do, and that’s a fact. They He was more surprised when the
got mixed up in the affair somethin’ like I craft turned at right angles and ran for what
did. I’ve talked to ‘em.” seemed to be a solid side of the canyon.
At this point, the door opened. The homely chemist’s jaw sagged when a
Arms reached in, seized Monk and dragged great cavity opened mysteriously in the
him out. The same thing was done to Old canyon wall. An instant later, he realized
Dan and Ham. Monk peered about. He was how that was accomplished.
in the interior of a large-sized cabin There was a canvas curtain on a
monoplane. track. The canvas was painted to resemble
Kateen MacRoy, Gime and Del native rock. Men came running out of the
Ling occupied seats in the cabin. They opening. They took hold of the plane wings
were handcuffed. They were not, however, and helped guide it into the strange hangar.
gagged. Other men took rakes and began to
The man who had dragged Monk wipe out traces of the plane’s landing.
and the others out of the baggage Peering about, Monk decided the cavity in
compartment was a burly fellow with a the side of the cliff had been hollowed out
squint in one eye. by nature. They had simply taken
“Want you where we can keep an advantage of it by hanging a curtain across
eye on you!” this worthy warned. the front.
Monk spent the next several There were two planes in the place.
minutes wondering where the plane could One of these riveted Monk’s interest. The
be heading. He squirmed around and, since ship itself did not intrigue him as much as
no one offered objection, heaved himself the contents. He could see directly into its
erect. He could look out of the cabin. cabin—there were electric lights in the big
The hour must have been rather cavern.
late, or early. It was beginning to get light Monk knew something about radio;
outside. Below the plane was some of the a great deal, in fact. The cabin of that other
most unprepossessing terrain Monk had plane held what Monk decided was the
ever been privileged to scrutinize. It was most powerful compact radio transmitter-
rock, a wilderness of rock. There was not a and-receiver he had ever seen. He could
tree in sight as far as the eye could see some of the transmitting tubes. Unless
penetrate. Canyons and peaks of stone. he was mistaken, that set was capable of
The elements had worked out grotesque sending a message halfway around the
formations in the rocky waste. The rising world, on the short-wave bands, of course.
sun cast an unholy red glow over the whole All of the prisoners were now
thing. hauled out of the plane.
Monk looked their captors over “Later,” advised another. “He’s

closely. Some of them had brutal faces and gotta answer some questions first.”
more brutal manners. Others were more
intelligent-looking, and possessed of a
politeness which was even more deadly MONK ignored these threats,
than the brutality of their fellows. Monk although they sent tickling sensations
decided that none of them looked as if he through his nervous system. They had not
were the mastermind. gone to the trouble of bringing him this far
“Walk!” a man with a gun directed. alive, without some reason. He peered from
The prisoners obeyed. They were side to side and tried to see everything.
escorted across the large cavern and His next discovery was a chamber
entered what seemed to be the mouth of an which looked as if it were a storeroom. On
underground stream. Plainly, this had been the floor of this stood racks made of wood,
enlarged by human hands. Electric bulbs which supported hammocks of what looked
were strung along the ceiling. like fish netting. On these hammocks lay
Monk had progressed only a few some articles which resembled eggs,
yards when he stopped and stared, his except that no dinosaur ever laid an egg as
attention riveted on the rock formation. It large as these were. They were all quite
was blue stuff that looked like glass. black. Moreover, there was more to them
“Blazes!” Monk barked. “That blue than just the egg shape. There seemed to
devil statuette was made out of this rock!” be at least forty or fifty of the things. The
“You want your ribs kicked in?” the painstaking way in which they rested in the
man with the gun asked. hammock, with cotton padding around
Monk didn’t. He moved on hastily. them, indicated they received great care.
They came to a very clever door which The urgent pressure of a gun
looked like a solid wall, until a man yelled muzzle moved Monk to go on. He heard
and it was opened by some one on the clinking sounds from ahead. These were
other side. The prisoners were marched interrupted by a shrill whining, such as a
through. They were in a narrow hallway. grindstone makes when a tool is placed
Rooms, no doubt excavated with great upon it for sharpening.
difficulty, opened on either side. A moment later, Monk discerned
Monk became particularly the source of these sounds. At a bench in a
interested in a room to the right. It was the tiny cubby, a swarthy man, clothed only in a
largest of all the rooms, but it did not seem pair of khaki shorts, was occupied. He was
nearly big enough to accommodate the bending over a fragment of rock held in a
stuff which it held. In that room was more vise at a worktable. He was chipping at the
complicated-looking apparatus than Monk rock with a tiny chisel and a wooden mallet.
thought he had ever seen before. Even Doc From time to time, he used an electric
Savage’s skyscraper laboratory could not grinding machine. Pinched in his eye was a
equal it. jeweler’s magnifying glass, and as he
A great deal of the stuff seemed to worked, he looked up frequently at the
be metal-working tools. There were retorts, ground-glass panel of an enlarging box on
electric furnaces. There was also chemical which was thrown a greatly magnified
equipment, which, for completeness, image of a human face.
surprised Monk. The face was that of a slant-eyed
Monk, having stopped to peer into Oriental. It looked familiar.
the room, received a violent shove from “So!” Monk told himself. “The
behind, which propelled him onward. The source of the devil statuettes!”
homely chemist shook his head Monk was kicked suddenly and
wonderingly. He seemed to see every detail silently for his effort to see everything.
of that room distinctly in his mind. Monk Monk resented physical mistreatment; he
suddenly decided on a name for that room. could stand all kinds of mental torture, but
“The Birthplace of the Satans of when pain was inflicted, he always wanted
Death,” he remarked. to fight.
“I think I’ll shoot this ape,” one of By a remarkable acrobatic feat,
the men said. Monk jumped in the air and planted both
feet on the chest of the man who had fact, unless Monk was mistaken, Old Dan
kicked his shins. The man moved fully thirty was downright scared.
feet, end over end. There came a rattling from the door
as it opened. A flashlight spiked brilliance
into their eyes. There were four men, all
MONK’S hands were handcuffed with guns. They kept Monk back with the
behind him, so they were of little use to him menace of the weapons, seized Old Dan
in the present emergency. However, his and dragged him out. The door was locked
legs were remarkably dexterous. He felled again.
another captor by running over the fellow. Monk listened, rather anxiously. He
Ham came to life. So did Kateen heard them drag Old Dan away. He heard a
MacRoy and the others. The passage filled voice apparently putting questions, heard
with noise of fighting. Blows smacked. Feet Old Dan make a violent rejoinder. Then Old
were wielded with effect. Dan screamed. He had seemed like a
The fray was doomed to defeat. tough old codger, but there was utter fright
They were hopelessly outnumbered. in his crying. A gun went off, and Old Dan’s
Moreover, they were all handcuffed. The scream stopped.
sheer ponderance of opposition forced
them down the passage.
Monk got a glimpse of one more Chapter XVI
room, an ordinary room, except that it was THE DEVIL’S BREW
filled with large, green, metal filing cases.
There were three desks in the room, and BLACK HOURS of time dragged
papers lay on these, which made it look as on. How many, Monk had no idea. They
if men had been working there. had taken his watch, so he could only
At the end of the hallway was a estimate.
metal door, perforated by a barred window. He worked at his handcuffs, and, at
Some one got this door open. All the the door of his cell, but might as well have
prisoners were shoved into what seemed to saved his time, for he made no headway
be almost a regulation prison cell house whatever. Since there was nothing else to
excavated in the stone. do, he leaned against his cell door and
The doors of the cells were of steel. made conversation through the tiny
For ventilation purposes, each door was ventilating holes.
drilled with a number of small holes, not “Any of the rest of you get a look at
more than an inch in diameter. the layout as we came in?” he asked.
In quick succession, the prisoners “I did,” said Ham.
were shoved into the cells and locked “What do you make of it?”
there. Ham said, “Well, they make those
Monk found himself with Old Dan. devil statuettes here.”
“This is sure a dang-blasted pickle!” “Sure,” agreed Monk. “But what’s
complained Old Dan. the idea of the rest. Take that room filled
“You said it!” Monk grunted. with filing cabinets, for instance. Looked
Old Dan made grumbling sounds in like quite an office layout.”
the darkness. “You figure there’s any “That was not what interested me
chance of Doc Savage helpin’ us out?” most,” Ham retorted.
Monk considered. “I don’t know,” “What interested you more?”
the homely chemist said finally. “Doc is a “The workshop,” Ham replied. “And
deep one. I’ve seen him confronted with the especially that storeroom where those
blamedest mysteries and it turned out that funny-looking black eggs rested in the
he knew all of the time what it was about hammocks. What in the devil were those
and was playing the whole thing along like things?”
a director staging a show.” “I’ve worked up a headache
“If he’s staging this, I don’t care for wondering about them myself,” Monk
his methods!” said Old Dan. admitted.
Old Dan seemed to be a congenial
enough soul, but he sounded worried. In
Then the door into the outer cavern Monk got the impression that his
opened. Men paraded in, stripped above own voice sounded as if he were lying. As a
the waist, for it was quite hot. The foremost matter of fact, he was telling the truth.
members of the group carried blackjacks. The man who had been doing the
These were tied to their wrists with stout interrogating stepped back.
thongs, so that they could not be jerked He looked in the direction of the
away from the owners. The other men had room which held the metal filing cases and
firearms. the desk. The door of this room was now
Apprehension flooded Monk as closed.
they opened the door of his cell. He was “What about it, chief?” called the
seized and hauled out. interrogator.
“What’s the idea?” Monk blustered. Monk looked around at those
“Pipe down!” he was ordered. assembled. A great understanding flooded
“You’ll have your chance to talk!” the homely chemist. There was an air about
The homely chemist was hauled the group. It was as if the room with filing
out into the long hallway and flung on the cabinets harbored a fire-eating dragon.
rock floor. Near by was a crimson stain, Monk understood perfectly. The
which still looked somewhat moist. Monk mastermind was in that closed room!
stared gloomily at this. Evidently, the mastermind was not
“You heard what Old Dan got?” a going to show himself, because he spoke
man asked the homely chemist. without coming out of the room. He used a
Monk nodded. very shrill voice, obviously disguised. The
“That is the spot,” said the man, tricky acoustics of the cavern made it
and pointed at the wet red stain. impossible to identify the voice.
Monk was seized with a not “Shoot him!” directed the voice.
unreasonable thought. “Then drag his body in where the others
“What’s the idea of bringing me all can see it! We’ve got to show them we will
the way down here just to shoot me?” he not stand for holding back of information.”
demanded. The preliminaries were
“Shooting may not be necessary at distressingly short. A man stepped forward,
all—unless you get bull-headed. Old Dan cocked his gun, aimed at Monk. He was
was bull-headed.” going to shoot the homely chemist in the
Monk scowled, waited. stomach. Monk knew the reason why. Men
“All you have to do is give straight with bullets in that part of their anatomy
answers to a few questions,” he was almost invariably emit horrible screams.
informed. Monk shut his eyes. His stomach
“Shoot,” Monk directed. He was felt as if it were full of green persimmons.
surprised at how worried his own voice Then the man who was about to
sounded. shoot jumped backward, barked out in
“How much does Doc Savage surprise. He stared down at his chest. Tiny
know about this?” glass particles hung there. In the center
“I can’t tell for sure,” Monk said. was a wet patch.
“Why not?” The overpowering moth ball-like
“Simply because Doc never tells scent filled the room.
anybody all he knows,” Monk explained.
“But you are one of his aids, aren’t
you?” “HEY!” squalled the man with the
“That don’t make any difference.” gun. “Who put that stuff on me?”
Monk tried to sound convincing. “Doc is a The lights went out.
strange character. You can never tell Monk knew instinctively what to do.
exactly what will happen, when he is He flopped to one side, where he would be
around.” out of the way. A gun went off. Its red flash
“Then Doc Savage may know was too brief to furnish any illumination.
things that he has not told you?” said one of The concussion was terrific. Men yelled.
the men with the guns. Inside the office room where the
“That’s the idea.” filing cabinets stood, the shrill, disguised
voice of the leader was yelling questions, “Doc!” grinned the homely chemist.
demanding to know what had happened. “How’d you get here?”
Despite the excitement, Monk gave
close attention to that voice. It was not
disguised as perfectly as before. He knew “THE blue agate devil guided us,”
he had heard it in the past. He strove to the bronze man said.
place it in his memory. He could not quite “How could it?” Monk countered.
do this. “A geologist can tell pretty closely
Was it Del Ling? Was it Samuel from what part of the world any given
Wartz Gime? Was it even the girl? Monk sample of rock comes,” the bronze man
could not tell for sure. explained. “It happened that the mineralogy
He had thought all of these department of the university had specimens
individuals were locked in the cells; but, of of blue agate peculiar to this region. It was
course, he might be mistaken. They could not hard to spot the canyon as the hiding
have been taken out in the darkness, and place.”
no one would have noticed. “Golly!” said Monk. “How’d you get
Some one stepped on Monk. The here.”
homely chemist doubled, lying on his back, “Plane.”
and kicked. Whoever had stepped on him Doc Savage was working over
sailed away, cursing. The scuffle caused a Monk’s wrists. The handcuff locks he
burst of shots to crash. Men were swearing picked with a small metal probe, which he
wrathfully, fearfully. had developed long ago for that purpose.
Then Monk heard something that There was noise outside. Men were
electrified him. It was a voice. But an shouting, charging about. It was only a
entirely different voice. It was not speaking matter of moments until they would realize
English. that the one who had precipitated the
The words were couched in Mayan, outburst was no longer in their midst. Then
an ancient language which very few men in a search would begin.
the so-called civilized world could have “Free the others!” Doc directed.
understood. Monk had learned to speak it “Work fast.”
on a jaunt to Central America some years “I’ll have trouble with their
ago. Doc Savage’s aids used it when they handcuffs!” Monk grunted.
wished to communicate with each other “Never mind that! Hurry!”
without being understood by those who Monk hurried.
overheard. A light appeared in the hallway
The Mayan words directed Monk to outside. One of the men must have gotten
roll to the rear of the hall, and wait against a flashlight. Its beam raced about. The
the door to the prison cells. He proceeded fellow with the light cursed.
to do this. He made some noise, but it was “Blast it!” he yelled. “There’s
not enough to amount to anything in the nobody but us in here!”
uproar about him. Once against the door, Doc Savage was now at the door.
he lay there and waited. He opened it a crack. His hand dipped into
Plenty was happening in the a pocket and brought out a metal case.
hallway. The odor of moth balls was This was opened and proved to hold small
stronger, more sharp. Shots slammed. glass bulbs.
Every one was yelling for flashlights. There Doc Savage spoke in Mayan,
seemed to be none at hand. directing Monk and Ham to hold their
Then Monk felt powerful hands breaths.
upon him. He was lifted. The door of the Monk and Ham—Ham was still in a
prison compartment was opened and he cell—knew instantly what the bronze man
was carried inside. The door slammed. The was going to do. The glass bulbs held his
powerful individual who had carried him in, odorless, colorless anaesthetic which
turned on a flashlight. The glow of this produced quick unconsciousness, and
identified the rescuer. This was hardly which dissipated and became harmless
necessary, as Monk already knew. after mingling with the air for perhaps a
minute. It had to be inhaled to be effective.
All holding their breath over the minute “Not unless it is in very strong
period would escape the stuff. concentration,” Doc Savage corrected.
The bronze man threw several of “This is a weak mixture.”
the glass containers into the hallway. The The bronze man seemed about to
men there saw the glass pellets falling, explain more, but there was a noise
bursting, and guessed what that meant. outside: a man running. Doc Savage threw
“Gas!” one of them yelled. “Get his flashlight beam through the bars of the
outta here!” door. Monk and Ham crowded close to him
There was a wild charge for the to see what was happening.
outer air. They saw a man running down the
It required a remarkably short time hallway, fleeing. But that was not what held
for all of the men to get out. Monk now had their attention.
the cells open. Ham, Kateen MacRoy, Behind the man, floating out of one
Gime and Del Ling joined them. Monk was of the rooms, came an object which
somewhat surprised to see all of these resembled a black egg. It seemed to be
people. He had suspected one of them as somewhat lighter than air, and it was driven
the mastermind. He had concluded that the by a large propeller which turned rather
prisoner missing would be that one. slowly. The thing, in fact, looked like
That the chief, whichever one he nothing so much as a black blimp built on a
was, had pretended to be a prisoner as a vastly diminished scale.
matter of precautionary deception, had The black egg, however, floated
been Monk’s conviction. The mastermind’s upright. To the front of it was attached
voice had been vaguely familiar. some complicated apparatus, the most
Doc Savage opened the hall door, impressive part of which was a pair of long,
the anaesthetic now having become spidery arms.
harmless. He stepped out. “Blazes!” Monk exploded. “Them’s
With striking swiftness he was back the things that were in the hammocks in
inside again. He slammed the door. The that room!”
reason for this move was evident an instant Ham let out a yell. “Some of them
later. are coming this way!”
There was a loud squash of a Several of the strange things had
sound. Liquid had been splashed through appeared and were floating swiftly for the
the bars, but hit no one. An almost choking door. Only when they were very close,
reek of moth balls filled the place. could the men in the room hear the
remarkably silent mechanism which
propelled them, the breathlike sound which
“WHAT the blazes!” Monk the large propeller made in turning. The
exploded. only evidence of the motor which drove the
“Keep away from the door!” Doc propeller was a faint metallic rasping
Savage ordered. “Do not let any of that stuff sound, a suggestion of clack and whir.
get on you!” One of the things reached the door.
“What is it?” Monk asked. It touched the spot where the man who had
“A liquefied concoction of particles fled had thrown the radioactive liquid. The
of radioactive nature!” Doc Savage long arms on the front of the egglike thing
explained. seemed to grasp as if a trigger had been
“Huh?” Monk gulped. released, as it no doubt had. There was a
“Did you ever smell the water from loud chug! A vicious-looking knife, a three-
so-called health springs?” Doc Savage edged blade of a thing, stabbed out from
demanded. the front of the mechanical monstrosity.
“Sure,” Monk admitted. “Boy, did it This had little effect on the steel door,
smell!” however, despite the fact that the thrust
“This liquid is similar to that,” Doc was sufficient to have penetrated the chest
Savage explained. “It contains radioactive of a man.
ingredients.” The thing was going through some
Ham interposed. “But I thought mechanical process. Convulsions of the
radioactive stuff glowed or made a light?”
arms threw it backward. And an instant brilliant beam ahead of him. He jerked out a
later, it burst into yellow flame. drawer in one of the cases, inspected the
A few moments later, nothing was contents.
left of the thing but a small puddle of “Doc!” Ham yelled. “This stuff here
glowing, lavalike remains in which a small explains what is behind the whole thing.”
crimson satan image sprawled. The devil “Photographs?” Doc Savage
must have been concealed in the thing asked.
somewhere. “Yes!” Ham shouted. “Photographs
“Made of stuff like celluloid, metals of fortifications of different countries!
that will burn at a moderately low There’re maps, too! Here are sheets
temperature,” Monk grunted. “Boy, whoever covered with dates, on the size and location
made that thing had a brain!” of guns! There’re some copies of things
“The satan statuette,” Doc Savage here which look like treaties between world
offered, “is there merely as a trademark. powers!”
They wanted their murders to be known; to “Blazes!” Monk breathed. “I catch
create terror which they could use.” on! An international commercial spy
The men centered their attention organization!”
on the other strange black egglike things. “A group which made a business of
These were floating along the hall, and out obtaining military and political secrets and
of the place. selling them to the highest bidders,” the
Comprehension dawned on Monk. bronze man assured him.
“Those things go toward that Monk exploded. “You already
camphor smell!” he declared. knew?”
“Exactly,” Doc Savage agreed. “If Doc Savage did not reply to that.
you will notice closely, you can distinguish Instead, the bronze man started toward the
a number of tiny modules scattered over exit.
the gas bags. These are miniature, “We had better find out what has
supersensitive electroscopes, which happened,” he said. “It has become
register the circuits which propel the device strangely quiet.”
in that direction. The bags are filled with an They ran forward. Rather to their
inflammable gas which helps the surprise, they were not molested. They
destruction.” burst out into the large overhang which held
Every one of the machines had the planes.
now passed outdoors. Some one had raised the canvas
“What made them go out there?” curtain which concealed the front of the
Monk wanted to know. place. Doc and others stepped out, to
“In the plane coming down here, I witness a scene which they were to
mixed a chemical of radioactive nature,” remember for a long time.
Doc explained. “I threw some of the stuff Monk observed his late captors
over the men—but it only hit one pf them. running furiously down the canyon floor.
That was to make them afraid their infernal They were not far away. They must have
murder devices would turn on their masters loafed around outside, until they had made
if released. It does not seem to have a horrible discovery.
worked.” Their own death machines were
Monk squinted through the bars. “Is pursuing them. Clumsy as the objects
it safe to go out?” looked, they seemed to be able to travel
“It should be,” Doc Savage said, faster than a man could run, after they
and opened the door. gathered momentum. They were slowly
They advanced, keeping a sharp overhauling the fleeing group.
lookout. There seemed to be no danger. The first of the things struck.
“I’m going to settle something that Naturally, it was the rearmost man who fell
has been puzzling me,” Ham snapped. a victim, and this was the fellow who had
The dapper lawyer found a lurked behind in the hide-out to release the
flashlight which some one had dropped in things.
the confusion and went into the room which The swiftness with which the killing
held the metal filing cases, poking the was executed was not pleasant to watch.
The thing pounced. The spidery arms man. They were clinging together as if this
clasped the victim for the briefest moment. were the happiest moment of their lives.
The knife stabbed, making a great aperture Monk stared intently at the youth.
which brought instant death. Then the thing Then Monk looked utterly astounded.
bounced back and burned itself. “Montgomery Medwig Pell!” the
Others of the men began to fall. homely chemist exploded.
Not all of them received fatal wounds, “It was Pell who first called us into
however. Some merely got their arms or this affair,” Doc explained. “He was a
their legs perforated. Two or three were not private detective who got involved with the
touched at all, and they fled, screaming, espionage ring accidentally, as was
into the waste of rock. explained earlier. He called me on the
The things seemed to carry a fuel scene. Old Dan, head of the espionage
supply—compressed air, they learned ring, learned what Pell had done, then
later—for a limited flight, after which they forced Pell and threatened to kill Kateen
fell to the earth and burned. MacRoy unless Pell helped trap me.”
The creator of the contrivances had “Whew!” Monk said.
never intended for one of them to be found “Pell finally agreed to work with
intact after it had done its work. me,” Doc Savage said, “so we arranged to
Monk ran forward. fake his death—on the Edgeworth Clinic
“I’m beginning to have a hunch who grounds. As long as Old Dan thought he
the big big-shot behind this was,” he said. was dead, he would be safe. I had Pell
“But I’m gonna look to make sure.” hiding out in a bungalow in Los Angeles,
Monk reached for the prone figure and brought him here with me by plane.”
of the first man who had fallen a victim. The “Bless me!” said Monk. “Did Kateen
body lay face up. MacRoy know he was alive?”
“I thought so,” Monk grunted. “That “Yes,” said Doc. “She was helping
guy pretended to be a prisoner with us, just me, too. Unfortunately, she was not a great
to keep his ears open and find out if we deal of assistance, when she permitted
knew anything. Then he let out a yell, herself to fall again into the hands of the
spilled some red ink on the floor and fired a organization. The purpose of her doing that
shot to make us think he was dead.” was to gather what information she could.”
They stood looking at the dead “I,” said Monk, “am dumfounded!”
chief of the international espionage
organization.
It was the man they knew as Old A LITTLE questioning unearthed an
Dan. explanation of how Old Dan and the others
Doc. Savage seemed vaguely had gotten the radioactive liquid upon their
puzzled. persons. Doc Savage had left Montgomery
“There is one mystery that needs Medwig Pell—he persisted in going by that
explaining,” he said slowly. “How did these name—on guard in the darkness just inside
men get that radioactive liquid on them? I the cavern. In Pell’s possession had been a
threw one bottle of it in the hall, but that number of bottles of the radioactive fluid,
only struck one man.” which Doc Savage had concocted on the
The bronze man spun, as if way south in the plane.
determined to solve the problem. He strode Pell had seen the gang fleeing from
back to the cliff overhang. Monk trailed him, the hide-out. He had done the only thing
anxious to be in at the windup of the which had occurred to him. He had hurled
mystery. The instant he stepped under the the glass bottles of the fluid. The phials
overhang, Monk stopped. His jaw sagged. having very thin walls and the fleeing men
He looked both stunned and somewhat being in an intolerable hurry, his action had
angry. passed unobserved. He had, of course,
Pretty Kateen MacRoy—the fact missed a number of his targets, which
that she was baldheaded did not keep her accounted for the men who had escaped.
from being pretty—was wrapped in a fond Pell seemed to be a sensitive
embrace with a tall, dark-haired young young man, and he was gloomy over the
number of deaths he had caused.
“I figured they might have some of Doc Savage decided to confine

their infernal machines hid out somewhere!” Gime and Del Ling in a peculiar institution
he explained. “I was trying to fix it so they which the bronze man maintained in
would not release the things.” upstate New York. In this place, Gime and
It could be noticed that Doc Savage Del Ling would undergo brain operations
now moved slowly, casually. He seemed to which would cause them to completely
have relaxed. The mystery of the agate forget their pasts; after which they would be
devils had been cleared up, and there given an intensive training in the ways of
remained only the disposition of Del Ling upright citizenship and equipped with a
and old Samuel Wartz Gime. These two trade by which they could earn a good
individuals protested vehemently that they living.
had been lured into the affair by the love of Doc Savage planned the
money alone, and that they had not actually disposition of Gime and Del Ling as he
been guilty of any murders. went over the records in the filing room.
That they were lying to a degree, Then he smiled to himself—for he could
was brought out by an examination of the hear Monk and Ham squabbling. They
records in the filing room. Old Dan, chief of seemed to be excited. As a matter of fact,
the espionage organization, had been, it they were trying to locate their pets, the pig
developed, a businesslike soul. He had and the monkey.
kept an accurate record of the wrongdoings They found them in a compartment
of all his associates, probably as a club to of the plane Doc had come down in from
hold over them later. Los Angeles.
These records showed that Gime
and Del Ling were not as innocent as they
claimed to be. THE END
ADVENTURE-FIGHTERS—that best describes Doc Savage and his five aids. For the wide
world is their home and on it they rove from continent to continent and sea to sea, seeking
adventure in the righting of wrongs the world over and helping all who are defenseless
against those who prey on the weak.
As leader, Doc Savage has been trained from the cradle to the great cause he is
serving—and physically and mentally he is the great leader, for he has to be great to enable
him to command the five men under him. Leaders in their respective fields of learning—
engineering, chemistry, law, electricity and archaeology-geology—each of these men in
knowledge is equaled or surpassed by Doc Savage alone.
Bronze in coloring is Doc Savage—skin, hair and eyes—and thus he is known to
friends and enemies alike as the "Bronze Man." And shading the color of bronze into gold
gives one the understanding of Doc Savage's enormous fortune—for at his command lies an
inexhaustible supply of the golden metal. Doc has but to ask and to him from a secret valley
in Central America comes millions of dollars in the precious metal.
This gigantic fortune Doc puts to work in helping him to overcome the evils of the
world, and gives him scientific equipment second to none. For Doc is not the type to fritter
away his fortune on self-pleasures, but extends its influence to aid all mankind.
Doc Savage never refuses the plea of one in trouble—if the can for aid is a
legitimate one. And, if in his adventures he gains monetary rewards, it is only that he may
help some needy charity or organization.
At times, during a lull in his strenuous life of adventure, Doc Savage, without any
leave-taking from his companions, disappears for weeks and months at a time. But his men
do not worry, for they realize Doc has gone to his "Fortress of Solitude," a hidden retreat
somewhere in the arctic wastes.
It is here, away from the annoyances of civilization, that Doc performs his greatest
research work. Alone, he gives complete concentration to the tasks before him. No one but
Doc knows what the "Fortress of Solitude" looks like, or its definite location.
And Doc stays there until, at his own choice, experiments completed, he returns to
civilization.
Set sail on the
Haunted Ocean
and ride along with Doc Savage and his
scrappy companions on a voyage of thrills,
danger, suspense and chills, to solve this
weird mystery, this uncanny power that
menaces the civilized world. It's a whale of a
yarn; you don't want to miss it. Have your
dealer reserve the June issue of
DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE

Ten Cents Every Month
June issue on sale, Friday, May 15th

039 - The Seven Agate Devils PDF

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THE SEVEN AGATE DEVILS

A Doc Savage Adventure by Kenneth Robeson

Originally published in “Doc Savage” magazine May 1936.

Chapter I everywhere. Presumably, this was intended

Monk had a pleasant homely face, Unexpectedly, Monk’s hand which

Ham, staring at the hand, was

them to take a look at the thing in the “Lookit, Doc!” he gulped.

They found the car shortly. It MONTGOMERY MEDWIG PELL

The automobile was going to smash not only Monk, but

“You summoned us from New “I obeyed instructions and put it in a

Monk, Ham and Pell came out into Chapter III

“Very illuminating,” Ham said, dryly.

“Do you—gentlemen—need me the bronze man now employed the

“Help!” squalled Monk’s captive. They milled about. Obviously, Del

THE young woman spoke crisply, DOC SAVAGE nodded, as if this

“It is. Very close.” Ham got up sheepishly from the

slide. This made it necessary for the

“Nervous shock,” Doc said. “I hope,” Ham groaned, feeling his

She tried to smile up at him, but Montgomery Medwig Pell was

“We just got here at the hotel,”

“Clues?” Doc interposed. “I do not know,” she said, voice

Instead of replying directly, Doc “Yes,” Ham admitted, “that is

A moment later, there was a fizzing The prospective victim was a

A LITTLE brown man appeared, a

could, Doc failed to penetrate it. Even his

Suddenly there was a light, a glare that was blinding.

seemed to change his mind. He leaned

Monk looked their captors over “Later,” advised another. “He’s

“I figured they might have some of Doc Savage decided to confine

Set sail on the

DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE

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