GORDON TACKLES NICK’S SAFE.
Green-eye Gordon stood looking at the safe that was built into the wall
of Nick’s study, and, as he stared at it, his eyes were very greedy in
expression.
For one thing, he felt certain that the famous detective kept money
there—very likely a large sum—for, in Nick’s profession, it is often
essential to lay one’s hands on plenty of cash at very short notice.
Expensive journeys have to be undertaken on little warning, often at
hours when the banks are closed, for instance, and there are many other
ways in which ready money comes in handy. It remained to be seen, of
course, whether the detective’s absence had made any difference in this
respect.
This, however, was but a very small item in Gordon’s expectations.
As we have seen, he was after very much bigger game, in the shape of
the secret records of Nick’s most important cases, records which he
hoped would be the means of netting him a very much larger sum than
that represented by the missing relief fund.
The rascal’s mouth fairly watered now as he thought of the
possibilities. The possession of the papers he desired would mean a
chance of blackmail, such as the world had never known. Until now,
these papers had been perfectly safe in Nick Carter’s possession, but
should they tail into Gordon’s hands, they would suddenly acquire a
destructive power far more terrible than that of dynamite.
What a prospect! Aside from the enormous advantage which he expected to
reap from it, Green Eye could conceive of no more effective retaliation
for Nick’s part in sending him to prison.
“A fool would only think of killing Carter, or at most, of giving him a
taste of physical torture,” thought the criminal. “But I can understand
his point of view, and I know that the loss of such papers—and the use
I shall make of them—will be infinitely worse than death itself in his
eyes.”
Gordon started as he heard the front door open, and moved across the
room. He felt sure that it was Mrs. Peters returning from her afternoon
constitutional, and he wished to give her an order, but he paused, as
he remembered the police dog. It would be better to have Prince out of
the way before he sent for the housekeeper.
He waited ten minutes, therefore, before ringing the bell, and
presently Mrs. Peters arrived, somewhat out of breath.
“If any one calls, say that I’m away,” the masquerader said sharply.
“On no account am I to be disturbed by any one—by any one, mind you. If
Joseph is about, tell him so, too.”
“Very well, sir,” Mrs. Peters answered. “Is that all?”
“Yes.”
Despite Green Eye’s eagerness to get at the safe, he remembered
Prince’s alarming behavior, and narrowly watched the housekeeper’s
face. He felt sure she could not deceive him. If she had the slightest
suspicion that all was not as it should be, her face and manner would
be sure to reveal the fact.
“No, she hasn’t tumbled to me,” he assured himself, as Mrs. Peters
left the room. “It was not to be supposed that she would, but she
must have thought the beast’s actions very peculiar. Thank Heaven,
all of Carter’s assistants are away. I’ll have to keep the butler at
a distance, too, as much as possible. I don’t believe he’s capable of
seeing through the deception, but he’s a man, and he’s been with Carter
for a good while. His eyes may be sharper than I think.”
He turned the key in the lock hurriedly, took off his coat, and began
to roll up his sleeves.
“Now, where, does he keep the outfit?” he muttered, his pale, keen eyes
darting about the room.
With quick steps he crossed to the cabinet and tried that, but,
obviously, he did not find there what he sought, for he turned away
from it with a snarl of impatience.
The desk was the next thing he examined, but it was not until he had
picked the lock of one of the hitherto unopened drawers that he found
what he sought—a small black bag.
When he had opened the latter, his lips curled into an ugly grin.
“What a burglar he would have made,” he muttered, as he emptied the
contents of the bag carefully on the floor in front of the safe.
There were bits of various sizes, ordinary drills and wheel drills,
jimmies, glass cutters, skeleton keys, acids—in fact, everything that
goes to make up the outfit of the most up-to-date burglar.
Green-eye Gordon turned them over caressingly, but it was not for long
that he was idle. He knelt before the safe, his eyes roving over it at
close range. Soon he smiled with satisfaction.
It was scarcely as modern a safe as he would have expected Nick Carter
to possess, but that was probably because the last thing in the world
the famous detective expected was a burglary in his own house.
Among other accomplishments, most of which had brought him into
conflict with the law, Ernest Gordon numbered safe-cracking, and,
as he knelt before the massive steel door, with its shining nickel
fittings, he had no doubt that he would be able to master this one in a
comparatively short time.
After a brief examination of the lock, to make sure that he could not
open the combination by ear, the masquerader picked up the powerful
wheel drill, fitted a bit to it, and, pressing the other end against
his stomach, set to work.
At first the bit seemed to make little impression upon the specially
hardened metal, but presently a little hole appeared, and grew deeper
and deeper as Gordon kept the wheel in motion.
For the time being, the criminal forgot the relief fund that he hoped
to appropriate, forgot even the great, unique haul he counted on
obtaining from that very safe, and was lost in the joy of being at his
old trade again, and handling the old, familiar tools with undiminished
skill.
Gh-r-rh!
Gordon paused to squirt oil into the deepening hole, as the note of the
revolving bit changed and grew harsher. It was working smoothly again
after a moment, and the particles of metal were rapidly accumulating.
Thus the work went on. One hole was sunk to the required depth, then
another, and finally, after various deft operations, the inner secrets
of the lock were disclosed, and the thick door swung back on noiseless
hinges.
A little chuckle of satisfaction sounded as the door began to move,
but, by the time it was wide open, a snarl of surprise and rage burst
from the criminal’s lips.