CHAPTER V
It was a strange game the men were playing, something far less quiet andcontrolled than poker, or any of the other American games that Lawrencewas accustomed to see played by the men working round the planes. Therewas much slapping down of cards and a great deal of laughter from threeof the players, while the fourth poured forth a steady stream of abuseand profanity. Strangely enough, while Lawrence was sure that they wereforeigners, they all spoke English with no more accent than a slighttwist of the syllables.
The game went on, and Lawrence gathered that one man was losingsteadily.
Luck fluctuated between the others and they accepted gains or loss withcareless unconcern. Not so the fourth man. He lost money as painfully asa man loses his very blood. It put him in a sort of wild panic, yet hecould not leave the game. He kept hoping for a turn in the bad luckwhich pursued him and played on, cursing his luck, the cards, theunsteady light, and his partners themselves. Finally his evil tempercommenced to grate on the mood of the other three. They too commenced tobe faultfinding, until the dealer swept the cards together and announcedthat the game was over.
The men did not trouble to rise; they merely kicked the table over, andleaned back in their chairs.
"What of the night?" said one of them, peering out the crack of the bigdoor.
"Clear as a bell," said another, "and the moon big as the dial of theclock at Nuremberg. I say we take the two planes and go out."
Lawrence felt a small chill travel down his spine. He held his breathfor the answer, while all his muscles tautened for a quick retreat.
"Not tonight," answered the oldest man. "The machines both need tuningup. I have worked on that dirigible so constantly that I have neglectedall else. But there is no haste. No haste whatever, with their brokendirigible and what happened last night." He commenced to laugh, and inresponse the man who had lost at cards began to swear again.
"Yes; what happened last night?" he said. "A knock-out staged by a pairof fools!"
"It was an accident," said another man sulkily. "Fifteen minutes beforeI saw him at the Army and Navy Club. Then I opened the door, afterseeing that every servant in the place was sleeping sweetly, and therehe sat and he _saw_ me. There was nothing else to do. The Chief hadforbidden a fight. I gave him a good knock. Wonder if I killed him!"
"I don't think so," said the oldest man. "I stepped on his leg as I wasgoing around the table, after we had looked over his papers, and therewas a live feel to the flesh. You should have struck to kill. Then therewould have been a hue and cry and we could have worked so much better.He is the master mind."
"We have nothing to do with him, of course, but it galls me to think anyman can be so close. Not a soul knows what he will do next, thatRidgeway; no one knows where he will turn. I cannot understand why hewas so careless with that dirigible, leaving it there in that hangar forall the world to see. And advertising it for traffic! Now as soon as itis in shape again, I must deface our dirigible with just the same marksand mends. It must be so similar that not even the driver of theRidgeway machine, after we kidnap him, will feel the least hesitationabout taking our dirigible where he has been ordered to go."
"When will we see the Chief?" asked the loser at cards.
"I have been expecting him since yesterday," said the oldest man, "buthe won't take the chance of coming out in daylight now."
They sat smoking, and Lawrence, whose chances seemed to be gettingslimmer every moment, wondered how he could escape before the men made amove. He was not sure that his feet were not sticking out at the otherside of the plane, and although the hangar was pitch dark except wherethe dim light above the group of men made it possible for them to see,Lawrence did not like to feel that they might at any moment make a movetoward the small door back of him, and trip over him. But there was nota chance of moving while they sat silently smoking. If they would _only_commence to talk!
As they sat engrossed in their pipes a current of air fanned Lawrenceand he knew that the big door of the hangar had silently swung open. Heheard the four men spring to their feet as a soft voice said, "Goodevening!"
"Good evening, Excellency," said the four, and the newcomer replied inan irritated tone:
"Not that! How many times have I told you not to call me Excellency?There are no longer any Excellencies. I am plain Mr. Smith. Such a good,honest name and a good, honest man! You know I travel for a bookconcern, and all my anxiety is for the number of copies of their book Isell. Do you understand?"
"Yes, your--Mr. Smith," said the men, and Mr. Smith sat down on thenearest chair.
"Shut that door," he ordered. "Why do you infernal blockheads leave itopen with all this light streaming out?"
"It was closed until you came in, Mr. Smith," said the oldest man in anapologetic, submissive tone.
"Then all the more reason for shutting it!" said the newcomer.
He felt in his pocket and drew out a silver cigarette case. One of thelittle tubes fell out as he fumbled for it, and selecting another, theman lighted it and commenced to smoke. His back was squarely towardLawrence, and even his figure was not discernible in the poor light.
Lawrence settled himself for whatever was to come. He knew somehow thata single move on his part would be detected by a pair of ears far keenerthan those others. In fact, there was something so sinister about thecarriage and tone of the man who called himself Mr. Smith that Lawrencewas not at all sure that he would not turn at any moment and say, "Comeout of your hiding place, Lawrence Petit!" He felt himself grow cold allover. Once a rattlesnake had crawled over his foot and he had stood likea statue waiting for the deadly thing to creep away without beingstirred to anger, and the same feeling of oppression chilled him now. Heknew instinctively that he was in the presence of the most deadly andmerciless human being he had ever encountered. Yet all he could pin hisfeeling to was the dim shadow of a form and the sound of a voice whichwas certainly soft and agreeable to the ear.
The cigarette which had fallen out lay on the ground and added to theboy's danger. If Smith or one of the others should stoop to pick it up,they might easily discover him. As the oldest man commenced to talk,Lawrence made a cautious movement backward. That instant Smith held up ahand and whispered, "Silence!"
Lawrence stilled his very heart beats. For an interminable time therewas not a sound, then Smith lowered his hand and said, "Go on! I wassure I heard something, but I must have been mistaken. If I lose mysense of hearing I will be out of luck."
The men laughed in a guarded way. "If you lose nine-tenths of it andnine-tenths of your eyesight, you will be about like the rest of us,"said the oldest man.
"Thanks!" said Mr. Smith dryly. "Now for a report. Did you discoveranything at all at the Ridgeways? I presume you went, as I ordered."
"Yes, we went all right," someone answered out of the gloom. "It camenear being a good deal of a mess. We got in the house all right. I hadbeen there for two days looking over the electric wiring for the city,and had seen to it that all the servants went to bed with just enoughdope in their food to insure them a good night's sleep. Then we wentoutside to look things over, and I went downtown and ran right into thegentleman. So I dogged him, and he went into the Army and Navy Club, andI came back. I walked, and he must have taxied because when we openedthe door from the hall, there he was sitting in the library in the dark.I can't imagine what he was doing that for. He was wide awake and when Iopened the door he turned round. Of course I had to hit him."
"Well, what next?" asked Smith as the other paused.
"It was a good one," said the man. "He fell like a sack of sand, and weswitched on a light and went through everything in two minutes. There isnot a thing there. Not a thing, and no wall safe, and no secretdrawers!"
"Well, that is odd," mused the newcomer. "You left him unconscious?"
"Yes, but he was alive," said the man.
"I don't understand," said Smith. "There was not a thing in the morningpaper about this, and no mention of i
llness or anything else. I rememberespecially noticing that Hamilton Ridgeway would lay the cornerstone fora new orphanage or something of the sort this morning. I don't believeyou hit him at all!"
"He did!" said the third man. "It was such a crack that I was sure hehad killed him."
"Well, it is strange," muttered the man called Smith. "We must find outmore about this. Are you through with your electrical job?"
"Yes. I was careful to finish that up yesterday. That was why the butlerasked me to supper in the servants' hall. I made a hit with all of thembelowstairs."
Smith sat for a long while thinking. "All right," he said finally. "Iwill have a look at things. You had better go back to your old job atthe Ridgeway field. Say you have been off because you were sick. And putdown a note of every scratch and dent and seam on that dirigible oftheirs so you can reproduce it. Remember one thing. There are powerfulforces back of us, but all they want is the papers that will sooner orlater go across in that dirigible.
"What _we_ want is money, and I tell you, men, if this thing goesthrough, it will bring us millions. Just that: millions!"
A sort of stifled groan of covetousness went up from the listeners.
"If we succeed there will never be a time when we will any of us have todo another stroke of work. If we fail, it will mean death. Fail? Why,you won't _dare_ to fail! I will kill any man of you with my own hand ifhe shows the white feather."
He laughed, and Lawrence thought he heard the rattles of the coiledsnake ready to spring. The men listened in silence. Lawrence wondered ifhis face carried the same chill as his words and voice.
After a pause, one of the men spoke. "I think we are all taking bigchances," he said. "All I object to is working in the dark. Here we areworking and plotting, killing if necessary, all on the promise ofimmense rewards, yet you will not tell us where these rewards arehidden. It all rests on your word."
"Did I ever fail you?" asked Smith violently, striking his hand on hisknee. "What about the jewel robbery in Paris? The diamonds in New York?Did I even send them to Amsterdam for recutting before showing them toyou, and weighing them up? Was there not a fair division when the jobwas done? You thankless dogs, you would be picking pockets if I had nottaken charge of you!"
"That is all right, Chief," said the big man, "but it would give us agood deal more interest if we could know where all this money is beingkept."
Smith laughed. "I suppose you want to know so if I should get a tap onthe head myself some night you could go after it. Isn't that about it?"
"No," said the man, "but part of it is true. What if anything _should_really happen to you? Where would _we_ be?"
"And suppose I should tell you on my word of honor that the riches areburied here, right here in this hangar, where would _I_ be?"
Somehow Lawrence sensed a straining forward of the four listeners.
"Sit still, sit still!" said Smith. "It is not here, so it won't pay youto dig a nice hole in search of it, and incidentally bury me after youhave finished. No, the treasure--ah, _such_ treasure, glittering,golden, jewelled treasure such as you have never dreamed of, is nothere. It is quite safe elsewhere. Quite, quite safe!"
Again he laughed.
"Where is it?" asked the oldest man again. "We want to know!"
"Perhaps it is only fair," said Smith, shrugging his shoulders. He tookout another cigarette and lighted it leisurely. "Perhaps it is onlyfair," he repeated. "Besides, you might like to go and look at thebeautiful strong old casket that holds the jewels and treasure. Well,then if you must know," he blew a cloud of smoke tantalizingly towardthem. "Your treasure, and mine, is in the United States Treasury."
"You, you--" sputtered the oldest man.
"Don't tell me I _lie_," warned the smooth voice. "I do occasionally,but no man dares to _tell_ me that I do. And this is the truth. Yourtreasure and mine is in the Treasury Building. Until it is taken out, wemust wait. Even I cannot offer to break into that stronghold."
"I don't understand," said the loser at cards.
"Of course you don't!" said Smith. "You don't have to! Only one head isneeded on a body. _I_ am the head. Do my bidding, you hands and feet,and all will be well. Millions, remember; _millions_, and one-fourth tobe divided amongst you. I am going," he said, abruptly dismissing thetopic. "Come!"
He rose, and before Lawrence could gather himself for the shock ofdiscovery, the group, led by the rattlesnake, passed out the big door ofthe hangar, and Lawrence heard the lock snap loudly.