THE COUNTERFEITER'S DEN.
They passed the patrol just as they reached the ferry and all crossed
together. Reaching the other side, the machine soon distanced the
patrol, and, after running for about ten minutes, the captain told the
driver to stop and the car drew up at the curb.
"The place is only two squares away," he explained, "and we'll wait
here for the patrol."
It came dashing up in a few moments and the men got out.
"Now, two of you go round by Clear street, and come up by the back
way," ordered the captain, "and two more go up Clover a couple of
blocks and then turn down Front, which will bring you to the front of
the house. The rest of you wait here a few moments, and then go
straight there and we'll follow about a square behind. Now, don't make
any noise till we are all there, but if you see any one leave the
house, arrest him at once."
Four of the men saluted and started off in the directions ordered,
and, after waiting five minutes, the other two left, followed a moment
later by the captain and the Goldens. Arriving at the house, they
found the four officers there.
"Are the others round back?" asked the captain.
"Yes, sir," answered one of the men.
"See any one?"
"No, sir."
"All right then, you wait here and I'll ring the bell." This he did,
but no one answered the summons.
"Guess they've skipped," said one of the men.
After ringing several times, Captain Long said:
"Two of you stay here and the rest of us will go round to the rear,
and see if we can get in without smashing a door, and," he added,
"keep an eye on those side windows."
They found the two officers waiting at the rear.
"Seen anything?" asked Captain Long.
"Not a thing," was the reply.
They found the back door locked with the key on the inside, and,
remarking that he guessed they would have to break a window, the
captain took a small diamond glass cutter from his pocket and
scratched a circle about six inches in diameter on the window pane,
just above the catch. A quick push shoved it in, and reaching his hand
through, he soon had the window open.
"Now, Bill," he said, turning to one of the men, "you jump in and
unlock the door."
"In a minute they were in the house, and passing through to the front
door, admitted the others. Leaving one man on guard at the front door,
another at the rear, while a third was stationed in the middle room,
the rest made a thorough search of the upper part of the house. But,
to their disappointment, they found no one. They returned to the first
floor and the captain said:
"Now we'll go down to the basement."
Bob found the room looking about as he had left it earlier in the day,
except that King was no longer there. He showed them the cylinder, on
which he had been at work, and which he found lying on the floor. They
made a careful search of the room, but found nothing of an
incriminating nature and were about to return upstairs, when Jack, had
been looking over a desk in one corner of the room shouted:
"Come over here a minute, I believe I've found something."
He had noticed a piece of paper lying partly concealed, under one
corner of the desk and had moved it slightly to get the paper without
tearing it, when he noticed a break in the flooring, and on moving the
desk a little farther, he saw a small ring in the floor.
"I believe there's a trap door here," he declared as they came over to
where he was.
It was but a moment's work to shove the desk out of the way, and sure
enough, there was a trap door about two feet square. One of the
officers took hold of the ring, and a second later they were gazing
down into a pitch-black hole. Captain Long kneeled down and flashed
the light from an electric torch into the space below.
"Jove," he shouted, "here's a find sure enough; I'm going down and the
rest of you follow."
It was a large room about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide. The
walls were of brick, and so far as they could see, there was no break
in them. The room was lighted by several incandescent electric lights,
which one of the men had turned on. Looking around, they found that
the room contained an electric furnace, such as is used for melting
bullion, a small printing press, and several other pieces of
machinery, which the captain recognized as pertaining to the making of
counterfeit money. They also found several dies for stamping quarters
and half dollars, as well as a number of plates for printing bills of
ten and twenty dollar denominations. Several pounds of lead and
copper, together with a smaller amount of silver and gold was also
found.
"I'm mighty sorry that we didn't get the rascals," declared Captain
Long, "but this find is well worth our while."
He started to mount the ladder, telling the others to follow him, when
a very astonishing thing happened. Suddenly the trap door banged down
and at the same time the lights went out, while a mocking laugh
sounded from above. Quickly, the captain sprang up the ladder, and
bracing himself, pushed with all his strength against the door, but it
did not so much as budge.
"We're trapped, sure as fate," he said, as he gave it up and came down
the ladder. "Where do you suppose those fellows were hid all the
time?"
"They probably had some secret hiding place which we didn't find,"
declared Mr. Golden.
"I guess that's about the size of it. Here, Bill, I guess you and Fred
are the strongest, you two get up on that ladder and see if you can
make any impression on that door. I wonder how, in the name of all
that's funny, they have fastened it, for I didn't see any lock on it."
The two officers did as ordered, but in spite of their most strenuous
efforts, they could make no impression on it. They did, however, make
a most decided impression on the ladder, for suddenly it broke near
the middle, and the two came tumbling down in a heap. Fortunately,
they were not hurt by the fall and laughed as they picked themselves
up.
"Well, we're in a pretty fix, sure enough," declared Captain Long. "I
should have left one of you on guard, but I never thought of those
fellows being in hiding there after the way we searched the place.
It's a good thing I left word at the station where we were going, but
the rest of the force will sure have the laugh on us."
"Say, do you smell anything?" suddenly asked Bob.
"Seem's though I do," replied two of the officers sniffing.
No one spoke for a moment and then Captain Long said:
"My God, men, that's coal gas and it's getting stronger every minute.
Those devils have turned it in here somehow. Quick," he almost
shouted, "we've got to get out of here at once or we'll all be dead
men in less than ten minutes."
By this time the odor of the gas was very strong and was rapidly
getting stronger. Several of the officers were equipped with electric
torches, and using them, they made a hurried search of the walls to
see if by chance there was any opening which they had overlooked
before, but nothing of the kind could they find.
"Gee, but I'm getting sleepy," said one of the men.
"We'll all be worse than sleepy in about a minute," groaned another.
"Well," spoke up Mr. Golden, "It's hard to die penned up like this,
but if it's God's will, let us meet it like men."
"Oh, what'll my poor wife and babies do?" groaned the man who had
spoken before.
But little more was said. Bob got hold of Jack's hand and whispered:
"It'll be an easy death, old man."
"I know," replied Jack. "I'm not afraid, but I do wish we could see
the folks."
The deadly gas was rapidly getting in it's work, and three of the
officers were already stretched on the floor, while the others were
breathing heavily. Bob's head was swimming and he knew that he would
be unconscious in another moment. He stretched himself out on the
floor, putting one arm around the neck of Jack, who was already lying
down. The other arm he stretched out along the floor, and as he did
so, suddenly his fingers felt an iron ring. Hardly knowing what he
did, he began to pull on it. To his surprise, he felt it give, and
summoning all his remaining strength, he rose to his knees and gave a
quick yank to it. A trap door opened, letting in a rush of cool fresh
air. It partially revived him and he shouted.
"Quick, here's a way out."
Only Mr. Golden and the captain were conscious, and they dragged
themselves, as quickly as possible, to the opening.
The inrush of air had cleared the gas away from the open door
somewhat, and Mr. Golden had strength enough to whisper:
"You and the captain go down the hole quickly and I'll try to pass the
others down to you."
Quickly lowering himself over the edge, Bob found himself in a passage
way about three feet wide where the air was perfectly fresh, and
coming through with a strong draft. He felt much stronger at once. In
an instant, the captain had followed him, dragging Jack with him.
"I'm afraid we'll never be able to get them all out," he gasped, "but
this draft is carrying the gas out and it's not so bad as it was."
Mr. Golden succeeded in dragging two of the men to the opening, where
they were grabbed by Bob and the captain, and dragged a few feet along
the passageway. But now his strength gave out, and as Bob grabbed the
third man and pulled him through, Mr. Golden fell unconscious half way
through the opening. The captain caught him and dragged him through
and Bob said:
"I'll get the rest."
Without waiting for a reply, he lifted himself through the opening, an
electric torch in his hand. The gas had been driven out so that it
was not so very bad, and he soon succeeded in getting the last man
out. As he again lowered himself through the opening, he closed the
trap door after him. Jack and three of the men, as well as Mr. Golden
had, by this time, somewhat revived, and in a short time two others
came to and were able to sit up, but the last one brought out still
lay as one dead.
"Now, let's see where this passage leads to," said Captain Long, "but
two of you stay with Ed and keep moving his arms up and down and I
guess he'll come round all right."
The rest started forward, by the light of their torches, and after
walking about a block, they came to a flight of stone steps. Mounting
these they found themselves in the kitchen of an old house, which
seemed to be deserted.
"Two of you fellows go back and get the rest and we'll wait here,"
ordered Captain Long.
In a short time they returned with the others. The man called Ed had
revived, but was not able to walk, and two of the officers had carried
him through the passageway.
"We were certainly fortunate to get out of that alive," declared Uncle
Ben, solemnly.
"Indeed we were," agreed Captain Long. "If Bob hadn't hit on that ring
just when he did, we'd all been past help by this time." Then, turning
to the officers, he asked, "How are you fellows feeling now?"
All declared that they were all right, with the exception of Ed, who
was still pretty weak.
"All right then, one of you take him to the patrol and the rest of us
will go back to that house and see if we can find those fellows this
time."