The Great Spy System by John R. Coryell

Author:John R. Coryell [Coryell, John R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Detective, Mystery
Publisher: Anncona Media AB
Published: 1907-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

VII. Nick Carter's Bold Defiance.

"Would you mind telling me how you are going to do it?" asked the senator.

"Not at all, since there seems to be plenty of time."

"I confess that I am curious to hear."

"I thought of the plan last night before I started Chick off to come here in advance of me. I told him exactly what to do. He was to visit the electric company which supplies the light and power here, and get them to assist him, after which it was a mere question of his being able to secure help enough to do the wiring before the time set when all must be in readiness."

"Well?"

"He got the consent of the company, and he evidently found the men, for he has told me that everything is in readiness."

"So you know what has been done, the same as if you had seen to it all yourself, eh?"

"Precisely."

"What has been done?"

"Step out here a moment, and I will show you."

Nick took the senator into the hallway, and pointed toward the balustrade that ascended beside the stairs.

"Don't you notice," he said, "that there is a strip of metal, lying along the top of the rail?"

"Yes."

"Look closer, and you will see that there is also a strip of insulation beneath it, to protect the woodwork."

"I see it."

"Well, every place in the house where a stranger, upon entering, would be likely to rest his hand, is wired and insulated in just that manner-for those strips of metal are what you might call flat wires; no?"

"Yes."

"Very good. Now you must understand that the other house-the one back of this one-is protected in the same manner."

"But-"

"Wait a moment, senator."

"All right."

"There is a wire run into each of the houses, which brings in the strong current that operates the arc-lights of the street. Have you gotten onto that?"

"Yes; but won't it kill a man?"

"It might; but I haven't finished explaining yet."

"Go on, then."

"There is a switchboard arranged with resistance-coils, in the front room of the second floor of each house,and from either of those switchboards I can turn onwhatever amount of current I please. If you werestanding here, holding to this rail, and I were at theswitchboard, I could give you enough of a shock toknock you galley west, or I could give you just enoughto astonish and frighten you, as I happened to wish todo. See?"

"Jingo, but that's great!"

"I believed that I could induce these men of Mustushimi's, or, at least, enough of them to make it worth while, to attack me in this house, and to force an entrance here. I laid my plans to that effect before I left New York. I even had Chick cause a notice to appear in the Star to-night, that Nick Carter was in town on an important case, connected with a certain Japanese gentleman who had once been ordered out of the country. You may be sure that some of his associates saw that, and called his attention to it."

"You seem to have forgotten nothing, Carter.

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