As Eva hurried down the dock, looking for the renegade, Flint she found
herself cornered between the emissary and the terrible Automaton
himself. With a scream of terror she ran until she came to a door that
divided the dock into fireproof sections. Through it she darted, the
Automaton following relentlessly.
Meanwhile Locke, his lungs almost bursting and the blood surging to his
head, had managed to free himself from his shackles and had floated to
the surface of the water. As he came up he swam to the piles of the dock
just as several boatmen saw him and hurried to his aid.
They heard the screams of Eva, and all started running up the dock, but
not in time to capture the Automaton, who, warned by the emissaries,
crashed through the side of the dock house nearest the shore and
escaped.
A moment later Locke, searching through the piles of boxes, bales, and
crates, found Eva, just recovering from her fright, and in the joy of
having saved her by his timely return forgot, for the moment, to pursue
the terrible villain, who managed to reach a waiting closed car and was
whisked away.
Thus it was that after their return to Brent Rock, on the following day
Eva was ministering to her father, still hopelessly insane through the
failure to discover the antidote to the madness.
While Eva was engaged in her ministrations up-stairs Locke was finishing
some experiment in his laboratory. Down-stairs, Balcom had just arrived
in the hall, where he was met by Zita with a report of what had happened
the day before.
"Tell it to me in the strong-room while I place this package there,"
Balcom whispered, indicating the package which he had brought.
Together Balcom and Zita descended to the cellar and made their way to
the Graveyard of Genius as Zita poured forth her story, unmindful of the
fact that the butler had seen them go down and was watching very
skeptically. In the Graveyard Balcom unwrapped a small model of a motor
and placed it on the shelf.
Eva, having left her father, came upon Locke in the hall, and there they
stood talking for a moment, when the butler approached apologetically.
"Begging your pardon, Miss Brent," he reported, "but I just saw Mr.
Balcom go down to the strong-room with Miss Zita, and I thought you
might like to know."
"Thank you," nodded Eva, dismissing the butler and trying to show no
concern in the matter.
But Locke shot a quick glance at her as the servant left, and it was
evident that both felt the same suspicion, for Locke immediately excused
himself and hurried down-stairs.
In the Graveyard Balcom and Zita were talking in subdued tones as Zita
whispered.
"I suppose you know," she nodded, "that before Mr. Brent went mad he
wrote a confession with a list of these inventions which International
Patents has suppressed?"
Balcom could scarcely conceal his rage. "Yes, I know it," he replied,
savagely. "That confession would cause a great deal of trouble."
Low as they were talking, they would have been even more careful had
they known that Locke was listening outside and that, even as they
turned to leave the strong-room, he had sidled out of the way and was
rejoining Eva in the library.
Locke had scarcely told Eva what he had heard when she moved over to the
safe and would have tried to open it had he not stopped her. For he had
heard the other two coming from the cellar, and even as it was they were
at the hall door.
"My dear," remarked Balcom as he entered and went to Eva, "since your
father is not likely to recover, I must ask you to transfer all the
company papers from his private safe to the office of the company."
Eva did not respond to the fatherly manner assumed by Balcom. Instead
she almost point-blank refused to do as he had requested.
Just then Locke, whom Balcom had almost ignored up to the present, heard
the noise of some one coming through the conservatory. It was Paul
Balcom, his coat on his arm, his sleeves rolled up, and a tennis-racquet
in his hand, as he had come just from the courts.
Paul glanced surlily at Locke, who bowed pleasantly to him, as well he
might, considering their relative positions in Eva's real affections.
Catching sight of his father with Eva, Paul paused a moment.
It was just at that instant that Balcom had been saying to her: "Why
don't you marry Paul, as you promised your father and me? That would
settle all the difficulties."
Paul had suspected the nature of the conversation, though he approached
as if ignorant of it. Apparently catching the drift, he deftly urged
her, but Eva tactfully changed the subject, greatly to Paul's chagrin
and his father's ill-suppressed anger.
The suspense of the situation was relieved for Eva by the nearer
approach of Locke, who must have had some inkling of what was going on.
Paul and his father exchanged glances as the young chemist and detective
joined Eva, and it was evident that no love toward him was wasted by
either.
"Excuse me," she apologized, walking away with Locke, "but there is
something very important that I must attend to for my father's
interests."
Locke and Eva walked to the safe, while Balcom and Paul watched like
hawks.
A moment later Eva was kneeling before the safe, after giving Locke a
paper which contained the combination numbers to open the bolts. Locke
glanced at it, then held it where Eva could read:
Combination of Safe
Turn once left to 40
Three right to 18
Once left to 40
As Locke held the paper and Eva's slender hand spun the combination
lock, Balcom and Paul moved silently forward. Although Locke was holding
the paper with the combinations for Eva, he heard them come up behind
him and knew that they were watching. With a quiet smile to himself he
moved the paper over so that they could see it, nor were they slow to
take advantage of the chance. Locke's mind was working fast, and he had
a purpose in what seemed to be carelessness or even foolishness.
A moment later Eva opened the safe and from it she took a typewritten
document of many pages.
It read:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS,
International Patents, Inc.,
New York.
GENTLEMEN,--In view of the government's anti-trust investigation,
I have prepared this list of inventions we have suppressed.
I think we should discuss at our annual meeting
the advisability of surrendering our rights to these inventions,
no matter what may happen to the corporations we have
been protecting.
Very truly yours,
PETER BRENT.
Following this letter was a bulky paper, or rather set of papers, which
detailed the inventions and their history, exposing some of the
nefarious operations of the corporation.
Balcom, as he read the top letter, showed great agitation. As Locke took
the package from Eva, Balcom interrupted:
"That's very dangerous," he said. "If it gets out, the corporations are
ruined."
Locke scarcely replied. Instead, he very ostentatiously replaced the
document in the safe, refusing to intrust it either to Balcom or to
Paul, who withdrew sullenly, leaving Eva alone with Locke in the library
as Locke whirled the combination of the closed safe door.
It was perhaps half an hour later in the secret den of the Automaton in
the rock-hewn foundation of Brent Rock that the emissaries were watching
the arched and dark passage. Suddenly there was the warning clank, and
the huge steel monster strode in.
For some time he stood before the table, giving his instructions by
means of mysterious, cryptic motions.
Meantime, above in Brent Rock, Locke had been busy, for he had conceived
an entirely new plan to capture the Automaton. It was nothing short of
an electric trap, and deadly in its simplicity.
From the wall switch Locke had led wires carrying the house current.
Already, also, he had let Eva in on his secret plan, and she was all
eagerness as he planted his trap.
Before the safe, now, Locke paused, and there for a moment twisted the
combination so that he could get his correct position. That done, he
noted the place where he had been standing, and removed a mat from the
floor in front of the safe. At that place he set in on the floor a
fairly large iron plate. To this iron plate he attached a wire, then
replaced the rug, but in such a way that a part of the plate was
exposed, though it would never be noticed.
"If the Automaton attempts to open the safe," he remarked to Eva, as he
worked, "he will complete the electric circuit and it will hold him
until we capture him."
"How clever!" Eva exclaimed, involuntarily.
"Now for making my signaling connection to the laboratory," continued
Locke. "Then I must get some of my men up here from the department."
However, while Locke and Eva were busy arranging this electric trap,
they did not notice that they were being watched by Zita, who had stolen
into the conservatory and was eying them eagerly from the protection of
the fronds of a palm. Zita, moreover, was greatly excited, as she
gathered with her quick perception just what it was that they were
doing. Nor did she wait to see the work finished, but stole out of the
door and away hurriedly.
Locke had finished his preparations, and as he and Eva were discussing
the possibilities of what he had devised, he remarked, in answer to her
eager inquiry about his suspicions, "I am sure we shall prove that there
is a man inside the terrible machine that attacks us."
"Then you don't think it is really an automaton?" asked Eva, with great
respect for Locke's opinion, though it was sufficiently in evidence that
she was not at all convinced that the monster was not really of steel
and controlled by something that resembled a human brain.
Locke was non-committal. "This trap will tell us," was all that he would
say.
Zita, hurrying out from the conservatory, and wishing to waste not an
instant in notifying Balcom, sought a near-by telephone pay-station, and
there in frantic haste she demanded Balcom's number.
It was some moments before Central could make the connection, and then
it was only to Zita's disappointment and growing fear. The Madagascan
servant of Balcom answered in the absence of his master.
"Is Mr. Balcom there?" asked Zita, adding, "Or Mr. Paul?"
The black shook his head. "Neither Mr. Balcom nor Mr. Paul is at home,"
he replied.
Zita was now thoroughly alarmed. Had she some connection with the
Automaton? Or was it her fear that either Balcom or Paul might know more
than they would care to have the authorities know? Or was the Automaton
really an iron monster, after all?
That and many other questions were surging through the minds of all who
had encountered this unique mystery.