CHAPTER XXVII THE CONTENTS OF THE BLACK BAG
Johnny found the fire chief in a sour mood next morning. Two disastrousfires in a single night, both probable cases of arson. One had beentipped off to him beforehand and he had sent Johnny and some of his bestmen to watch. Yet they had found nothing. It was enough to break thestaunchest heart.
"Buck up, Chief," smiled Johnny, "the firebug's dead."
"He is, is he!" roared the Chief. "Didn't I see him not two hours ago?Ain't he goin' to get out of jail unless we can pin something definite onhim?"
It was Johnny's turn to lose heart. The firebug in jail, about to escapefor lack of a charge? What did this mean?
"Where--where did you catch him?" he stammered.
"Where'd you expect? By the fire he set, to be sure; the Randolph Streetfire."
"Oh!" Johnny breathed more easily. "You got Knobs Whittaker?"
"Who'd you think? Wasn't he the man I set you to watch?"
"Why yes--one of them."
"And didn't we catch him wandering round in the crowd, big as life andstaring round as if he was looking for somebody he'd lost?"
"Did he describe the man he was looking for?" Johnny smiled as he askedthis.
"No, why should he? Why should we care?"
"Probably you shouldn't. Only I thought it might be me he was lookingfor."
"You? Why?"
"I had a bit of property of his." At this Johnny held up the black bagthat he had taken from Knobs.
"Where'd you get that?"
"I'll tell you," said Johnny, calmly sitting down.
He did tell, and after the Chief had listened with all his ears heexclaimed at the finish:
"Open it up. You're right, it may contain some evidence and evidence iswhat we need."
"Do you know, Johnny," he said as the boy struggled to break the lock,"that was the hottest fire I ever experienced. There were enoughchemicals in that lower story to charge a volcano. It's a wonder therewasn't an explosion. Those boys will forfeit their insurance."
"I might have a little evidence on that point, too," said Johnny. "Youremember my telling of the truck that unloaded there just before thefire? Well, that may have been a plant. Perhaps the company had notordered those chemicals. Knobs Whittaker may have had them put there."
"Why?"
"How did the diamond company's property fare?"
"Total loss. Never saw anything to equal it. Safe just over thechemicals. Dropped right into the mess of those flaming chemicals. Thesafe was melted to a solid mass."
"And the diamonds?"
"Diamonds? In the safe, I guess. Or maybe they melted, too. Diamonds arecarbon you know, same as coal. Wouldn't expect them to withstand theheat, would you?"
"Not if they were there," said Johnny. "I thought it might be----"
At this moment the lock to the black bag gave way. Johnny threw up thecover.
"Shade my eyes!" exclaimed the Chief. "What have we here?"
"Looks like diamonds to me," said Johnny with a grin.
"So they are!" exclaimed the Chief, seizing a small case and examiningits contents closely. "And that was the game. Knobs was in with thediamond merchant! Man! What a haul they would have made!"
The next instant he dashed to the telephone.
"That you, Cassidy?" he said a moment later. "The Fire Chief speaking.Hold Knobs without bail. We've got the goods on him. A dead open and shutcase. He'll do twenty years for last night's work.
"Now," he said to Johnny after resuming his usual composed manner, "whatwas this you were telling me about the firebug being dead?"
"That was something else."
"Another one?"
"The one who set fire to Forest City, and all those other places ofpublic pleasure, the enemy of happiness. Do you remember the tall stoopedman with a hook-nose and a limp that I spoke to you about?"
"Yes."
"That was the man."
"Can you prove it?"
"I think I can."
"Well, if you can you're mighty well off. You're well off as it is. I'llmake the insurance companies come through with a fat reward on this," hepatted the black bag. "But there's a reward offered by the city for thefirebug. If you can prove that his work is over you'll be doing yourselfa service as well as every law-abiding citizen of this old town."
"I'll do it before dark."
"Go to it, Johnny. More power to your good right arm." The Chief graspedhis hand in a hearty grip, then escorted him to the door.
CHAPTER XXVIII THE FIREBUG'S SECRET REVEALED
"Johnny," said Pant, as their train sped along, "what did Knobs Whittakerhave to do with that string of fires--the schools, the Zoo, and ForestCity?"
"Not a thing, I guess. It was that man with the hooked nose who set themall."
"You haven't proved that."
"That's why we are now on our way out to the black shack by the edge ofthe swamp. I think we'll find some proof out there."
They were on the train speeding southward toward the marsh.
"If Knobs wasn't in with old hook-nose, why were they together in thatdive where I came near getting bumped off?" asked Pant.
"Doubtless they were acquainted. Men of the same trade, even if it's of acriminal nature, usually are. Birds of a feather, you know. It may be,too, that Knobs was encouraging this other man. If the fires set by himcould keep the eyes of the police and inspectors off Knobs, then he wouldhave easy going.
"His big game, though, was the diamond shop. It looked easy. To plant allthose chemicals beneath his safe, to set a fire, then beat it with thediamonds, leaving everyone to believe they were lost, seemed simpleenough. It would have been, too, if it hadn't been my luck to hit himbehind the ear. Got that picture?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes."
Pant took a small snapshot from his pocket and handed it to Johnny.
"Pretty good, even if it was taken under difficult circumstances," hesaid, holding it up to the light.
It was a picture of a large man wearing a mask and holding a silver creampitcher in his hand. It was the picture he and Mazie had taken at thebooth just before the fire started.
"Mask sort of spoils it, but I think they'll recognize that stoop."
"Who?"
"The people who have seen him before."
For a time they rode in silence. Then Johnny spoke again.
"If there is any reward for all this work, Tillie McFadden gets half ofit. She gave me the first good hunch."
"What was the hunch?"
"That the man who set the fires wasn't in the building when they wereset."
"You expect to prove that?"
"To-day."
"With a mechanism?"
"No other mechanism than you'll find in any building of consequence. Herewe are!" he exclaimed suddenly.
They were at the station near the marsh.
A half hour later found them creeping on hands and knees, making theirway from sand dune to sand dune. In his hand Johnny gripped the blackautomatic he had taken from Knobs.
"One more dune," he breathed, "then we'll have to make a break for it."
As he rose to creep forward again he caught sight of the roof of theblack shack.
The next moment, somewhat excited and breathless, they were dashing forthe shack.
Once within the shadow of its side they paused to calm their wildlybeating hearts. Then gripping his automatic hard, Johnny popped his headup before the window.
"Huh!" he grunted a second later. "I thought it might be that way. Not asoul here."
The lock on the door was a simple one and they were soon inside.
"It's the hook-nosed one's shack all right," said Johnny. "I've seen himwear this long rain-coat." He took the coat from its hook. "Bring italong as evidence. And these." He walked to the corner where were fourblack cylinders standing on end. They were what remained of the pile hehad seen there some time before.
Handling them with great care, as if afraid they might explode, he firstwrapped them in a piece of paper he had taken from his pocket, thenbuckled a strap tightly about them.
For a moment he stood looking about the cabin. Then turning toward thedoor, he said:
"Come on. I think we have all that is of any value to us here."
Once back on the beach, they did not return directly to the station, butpaused first to interview some fishermen who were mending their nets, andthen later to knock at a cabin farther down the beach.
At the cabin a woman said that a man resembling the one in the snapshothad sometimes come to her house for milk. The fishermen were even morepositive in their identification.
"Yes sir," said one of them, "that was his shack out there by the marsh.I've often seen him. But what's the mask for?"
"Carnival," said Johnny.
"Oh!"
"So you think it was old Hook-nose who shot at you and went hunting youand Mazie out here on the marsh?" said Pant as they walked on.
"I am sure of it. And I'm equally sure that he killed poor old Ben Zook.The last evidence against him will be put to the test this afternoon inthe Fire Chief's office at three. Will you be there?"
"I sure will."
True to his promise, Pant was there at the appointed hour. So were Mazieand the Fire Chief.
"Now," said Johnny, as if about to perform some scientific experiment,"I'll ask you to examine this scrap of black cardboard which Ben Zook andI found on his island after the mysterious blaze out there. Compare itwith the outer covering of the four cylinders I have here. Same material,isn't it, Chief?"
"I'd say it was the same."
"Now," said Johnny, "take a look at this telephone which I took from theburning Zoo. As you will see, it is equipped with two pairs of wires. Theends of the smaller wires are scorched.
"If you don't mind, Chief, I'll just disconnect these wires and hook themup with your own phone." He unstrapped the tubes and, selecting one, setthe others some distance away. "Now I will connect the other ends bymeans of the screw contact points which you will see already convenientlyplaced at the top of this black tube.
"Now," he smiled, as he stepped back quickly as if expecting somethingsudden, "if you will be kind enough to take down your receiver and askthe operator to give you a ring?"
For a second the Chief hesitated, then complied with his request. At thesame time Mazie crowded herself into the most remote corner.
"Operator," called the Chief, "give us a ring, will you?" His handtrembled slightly as he hung up the receiver. In the room, for the spaceof seconds, all was silence, a silence so complete that the buzzing of afly far up on the ceiling sounded distinctly.
Then came the jangle of the bell. Instantly, as if by magic, the blacktube split straight down the middle into two perfect halves, toppledover, revealing a fan-shaped mass of tissue paper which promptly burstinto flame. So suddenly did it all happen that had not Johnny seen to itthat there was a chemical fire extinguisher right at hand, the Chiefmight have found himself in the embarrassing position of being obliged toturn in a fire alarm from his own office.
As it was, the fire was soon out. After that Johnny's three friends satstaring at him.
"The explanation is simple enough," he smiled. "In the case of every fireset by this misguided man--who was a crank and perhaps a radical aswell--he pretended to be a telephone wireman. Having in this way gotteninside, always just at closing time, he connected his wires with thephone, then planted a fire trap such as this in some store-room wherethere was plenty of combustibles. After making sure that he was the lastone out, he left the building.
"Since everyone associated with the office knew that everyone in theoffice left at a definite hour, there were no phone calls after the traphad been set.
"At his appointed hour, ten, eleven, or twelve o'clock at night, thefirebug, by this time perhaps ten miles away, would go to some phone andcalmly call the number.
"And Bam! The telephone rings; a spark traveling down one of those finewires, loosens a spring that throws the trap open, tissue paper unfoldslike a fan, a taper is lighted that fires the trap, and all is preparedfor the fire alarm."
"What a pity that so much ingenuity should be used for so dire apurpose," said the Chief.
"So you think this firebug is dead?"
"I know it. I have a report to that effect, and plenty of proof that hewas the man."
"You shall have the reward. You deserve it." The Chief turned to grasphis hand.
It would probably not have seemed strange if Johnny Thompson, after suchstrenuous experiences as these, should have decided to take a long rest.So he did decide, but fate ruled differently. By chance, on that verynight, he walked into the shop of an old man who was a wizard at workingin wood--ebony, mahogany, teak and rosewood. He showed Johnny somemarvels and in the end told him a tale that set Johnny's blood racingfast.
It was this tale that led the boy off on a most thrilling adventure,which you will find recorded in our next book, "The Red Lure."
Transcriber's Notes
--Copyright notice provided as in the original printed text--this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.
--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged.
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