Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 082 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER XIII. CRIME COMES THROUGH

CLIFF MARSLAND, reporting to The Shadow, knew that crime was in the making. How close it was to completion, Cliff had not guessed.

For at the very time that Cliff had started to call Burbank, a group of men were participating in a most remarkable scene, close by the foundation of the big building which housed the wealthy Colonnade Trust Company.

The men where crouched in a circular tunnel that measured five feet in diameter. Extending from the cellar of a vacant house, the tribe had been burrowing for a distance of thirty feet. Along the floor of the tunnel ran an insulated wire which hooked with a mechanism at the inner end.

There, a five-foot concave bowl was faced against solid concrete. The glow of burning light showed from its rim. A singing buzz was coming from the device, with occasional crackles. Matt Theblaw, close against the back of the machine, was pressing it forward in a slow, regular manner, while Digger Wight and others watched him in the dim glow.

The disintegrating ray was eating through the stone foundations of the Colonnade Trust building.

Concrete was melting away as if before a sand blast. But Professor Jark's invention was smoother and more efficient than any old-type device. It conquered steel and other metals as effectively as it withered rock.

"We're there," came Matt's growled announcement, heard despite the crackles of the ray. "Move back -

all of you."

He clicked a switch. The glare of the ray machine flickered into oblivion. Matt swung the shallow bowl sidewise and drew the base of the machine toward him.

"Flashlights," he ordered in the darkness.

Glimmers came. Digger and Louie aided in pulling the machine edgewise back through the tunnel. Matt groped through to the finish of the cavity; then clicked his own flashlight. He chuckled as he saw the interior of a huge vault. He had picked the right goal.

Crooks went to work at Matt's order. In and out, in and out, they rifled the contents of the nest to which they had penetrated. Stacks of currency, piles of negotiable securities, boxes of silver coin constituted their spoils.

The Colonnade Trust Company had connections with banks that did a large business in foreign markets.

Its vault - the one that Matt had reached - was used to store large quantities of foreign as well as domestic currency. The crooks were making a haul that meant huge profits.

Dragging boxes as they worked with speed, Matt's picked henchmen brought the spoils into the cellar of the empty house from which the tunneling had begun. Digger was in charge there; he had dismantled the ray machine and boxed it. Matt ordered his crew to carry the boxed machine up with the swag. The workers were to load cars that were parked on streets close by.

DIGGER was engaged in a new task. The short crook had gained his nickname because of his ability to carve his way through barriers. Tonight's job was one that he could not possibly have accomplished; but it was his work to make it look as though some force other than the ray had done the trick.

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