CHAPTER XV.
THE COUNTERFEITER'S DEN.
They passed the patrol just as they reached the ferry and all crossedtogether. Reaching the other side, the machine soon distanced thepatrol, and, after running for about ten minutes, the captain told thedriver to stop and the car drew up at the curb.
"The place is only two squares away," he explained, "and we'll waithere 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 backway," ordered the captain, "and two more go up Clover a couple ofblocks and then turn down Front, which will bring you to the front ofthe house. The rest of you wait here a few moments, and then gostraight there and we'll follow about a square behind. Now, don't makeany noise till we are all there, but if you see any one leave thehouse, 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 momentlater by the captain and the Goldens. Arriving at the house, theyfound 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, thecaptain took a small diamond glass cutter from his pocket andscratched a circle about six inches in diameter on the window pane,just above the catch. A quick push shoved it in, and reaching his handthrough, he soon had the window open.
"Now, Bill," he said, turning to one of the men, "you jump in andunlock the door."
"In a minute they were in the house, and passing through to the frontdoor, 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 firstfloor 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, onwhich he had been at work, and which he found lying on the floor. Theymade a careful search of the room, but found nothing of anincriminating nature and were about to return upstairs, when Jack, hadbeen 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 onecorner of the desk and had moved it slightly to get the paper withouttearing it, when he noticed a break in the flooring, and on moving thedesk 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 towhere he was.
It was but a moment's work to shove the desk out of the way, and sureenough, there was a trap door about two feet square. One of theofficers took hold of the ring, and a second later they were gazingdown into a pitch-black hole. Captain Long kneeled down and flashedthe light from an electric torch into the space below.
"Jove," he shouted, "here's a find sure enough; I'm going down and therest of you follow."
It was a large room about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide. Thewalls were of brick, and so far as they could see, there was no breakin them. The room was lighted by several incandescent electric lights,which one of the men had turned on. Looking around, they found thatthe room contained an electric furnace, such as is used for meltingbullion, a small printing press, and several other pieces ofmachinery, which the captain recognized as pertaining to the making ofcounterfeit money. They also found several dies for stamping quartersand half dollars, as well as a number of plates for printing bills often and twenty dollar denominations. Several pounds of lead andcopper, together with a smaller amount of silver and gold was alsofound.
"I'm mighty sorry that we didn't get the rascals," declared CaptainLong, "but this find is well worth our while."
He started to mount the ladder, telling the others to follow him, whena very astonishing thing happened. Suddenly the trap door banged downand at the same time the lights went out, while a mocking laughsounded from above. Quickly, the captain sprang up the ladder, andbracing himself, pushed with all his strength against the door, but itdid not so much as budge.
"We're trapped, sure as fate," he said, as he gave it up and came downthe ladder. "Where do you suppose those fellows were hid all thetime?"
"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 Fredare the strongest, you two get up on that ladder and see if you canmake any impression on that door. I wonder how, in the name of allthat'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 strenuousefforts, they could make no impression on it. They did, however, makea most decided impression on the ladder, for suddenly it broke nearthe middle, and the two came tumbling down in a heap. Fortunately,they were not hurt by the fall and laughed as they picked themselvesup.
"Well, we're in a pretty fix, sure enough," declared Captain Long. "Ishould have left one of you on guard, but I never thought of thosefellows 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, butthe 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 almostshouted, "we've got to get out of here at once or we'll all be deadmen in less than ten minutes."
By this time the odor of the gas was very strong and was rapidlygetting stronger. Several of the officers were equipped with electrictorches, and using them, they made a hurried search of the walls tosee if by chance there was any opening which they had overlookedbefore, 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 hadspoken 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 seethe folks."
The deadly gas was rapidly getting in it's work, and three of theofficers were already stretched on the floor, while the others werebreathing heavily. Bob's head was swimming and he knew that he wouldbe unconscious in another moment. He stretched himself out on thefloor, putting one arm around the neck of Jack, who was already lyingdown. The other arm he stretched out along the floor, and as he didso, suddenly his fingers felt an iron ring. Hardly knowing what hedid, he began to pull on it. To his surprise, he felt it give, andsummoning all his remaining strength, he rose to his knees and gave aquick yank to it. A trap door opened, letting in a rush of cool freshair. It partially revived him and he shouted
.
"Quick, here's a way out."
Only Mr. Golden and the captain were conscious, and they draggedthemselves, as quickly as possible, to the opening.
The inrush of air had cleared the gas away from the open doorsomewhat, and Mr. Golden had strength enough to whisper:
"You and the captain go down the hole quickly and I'll try to pass theothers down to you."
Quickly lowering himself over the edge, Bob found himself in a passageway about three feet wide where the air was perfectly fresh, andcoming through with a strong draft. He felt much stronger at once. Inan 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, "butthis 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, wherethey were grabbed by Bob and the captain, and dragged a few feet alongthe passageway. But now his strength gave out, and as Bob grabbed thethird man and pulled him through, Mr. Golden fell unconscious half waythrough the opening. The captain caught him and dragged him throughand Bob said:
"I'll get the rest."
Without waiting for a reply, he lifted himself through the opening, anelectric torch in his hand. The gas had been driven out so that itwas not so very bad, and he soon succeeded in getting the last manout. As he again lowered himself through the opening, he closed thetrap door after him. Jack and three of the men, as well as Mr. Goldenhad, by this time, somewhat revived, and in a short time two otherscame to and were able to sit up, but the last one brought out stilllay as one dead.
"Now, let's see where this passage leads to," said Captain Long, "buttwo of you stay with Ed and keep moving his arms up and down and Iguess he'll come round all right."
The rest started forward, by the light of their torches, and afterwalking about a block, they came to a flight of stone steps. Mountingthese they found themselves in the kitchen of an old house, whichseemed 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 hadrevived, but was not able to walk, and two of the officers had carriedhim through the passageway.
"We were certainly fortunate to get out of that alive," declared UncleBen, solemnly.
"Indeed we were," agreed Captain Long. "If Bob hadn't hit on that ringjust when he did, we'd all been past help by this time." Then, turningto the officers, he asked, "How are you fellows feeling now?"
All declared that they were all right, with the exception of Ed, whowas still pretty weak.
"All right then, one of you take him to the patrol and the rest of uswill go back to that house and see if we can find those fellows thistime."