CHAPTER VII
_Strange Interview_
Bentley and Tyler were to learn in the next few minutes how great wasthe executive ability of Caleb Barter. He had created a mighty puzzle,each and every bit of which must fit together exactly. Time wasimportant in making the puzzle complete--and the puzzle changed witheach passing second. As the anthropoid went slowly down the face ofthe Clinton Building, Bentley was sure that Barter controlled everymove and saw every slightest thing that transpired. He knew very wellthat of all the great organization which had been set to prevent thetaking of Saret Balisle, not a man would now shoot at the ape for fearof jeopardizing the life of Balisle.
And yet Balisle was being spirited away to pass through an experiencewhich would be far worse than a merciful bullet through the brain orthe heart. Bentley knew he would be justified in the eyes of humanityif he ordered his men to fire upon the anthropoid, even if he weresure that Balisle would die. But as long as there was life there washope, too, and he couldn't bring himself to give the order.
The ape dropped down the face of the building as easily as he wouldhave dropped from limb to limb of a jungle tree. The sixteenstories under him did not disconcert him at all. Bentley had asuspicion about this particular ape, but he wouldn't know for atime yet whether his suspicion had a basis in fact. He couldn't thinkof a man--especially an old man like Harold Hervey--making thathair-raising descent. Yet ... if he were controlled, mind and soul,by Caleb Barter the Mind Master...?
"Tyler," said Bentley tersely. "The instant the ape reaches the streetI'm going to order your men to fire. You will shout out to them now,designating which ones shall fire. Be sure they are crack marksmen whowill drill the ape without hitting Balisle--and, by all means, havethem wait so that the ape's fall won't send Balisle crashing todeath."
"Maybe I'd better tell them to rush him?"
"Maybe that's better, but remember they're dealing with a giantanthropoid, in strength at least, and that somebody is likely to befatally injured. In addition the ape may tear Balisle apart as soon asmen start to close in on him. Barter will have thought of that, andall he'll have to do to make his puppet perform is to will him to doit. No, they'll have to shoot--and tell them to aim at his head andheart."
- - -
Tyler leaned out of the window and shouted to the men across thestreet.
"Shoot as soon as the ape reaches the sidewalk!" he cried. "Be carefulyou don't hit Balisle."
And from Balisle himself, muffled and frightened, came a sudden cry.
"Shoot now! I'd rather fall and have it over with!"
There was a moment of silence. Bentley almost gave the order to firewhen the ape was at the twelfth story, but he held his tongue by asupreme effort of will.
Balisle looked down. It must have been a terrifying experience toswing above such a horrible abyss by one leg, and for a moment Balislelost his head. He screamed and started to grapple with his grimcaptor.
"Don't, Balisle!" shouted Tyler. "You'll make him lose his balance.Hang on as you are and we'll get him when he reaches the street."
"What good will it do?" screamed Balisle, his voice taking on a highkeening note as the ape dropped again, this time from the twelfth tothe eleventh floor. "He slipped it over a hundred men to get me thisfar. He'll find a way to beat you when he reaches the street, too."
Bentley had a sinking feeling that Balisle spoke the truth; but evenso, he could not see how anybody, even Barter, could walk through thetrap which was being tightened around the descending anthropoid.
It made Bentley dizzy to watch the slow methodical descent of theanthropoid. He could fancy himself in Balisle's position and it madehim sick and faint. He understood the desperation which caused Balisleto make yet another attempt to battle with the ape.
Then the ape did a grim thing.
He paused on the eleventh floor, and crouching on a window sill,deliberately snapped Balisle's head against the wall of the ClintonBuilding! In his time Bentley had slain rabbits exactly like that.Balisle hung now as limp as a rag and blood dripped from his mouth andnose. But Bentley knew, as his face went white at the sound of thatsharp, thudding blow that Balisle had not been killed by it.
- - -
Savage oaths burst from the lips of policemen who saw the action ofthe ape.
"He acts like a human being! An ape wouldn't have thought of that!"
The words came hysterically from the lips of a woman who, frightenedthough she was, could not tear herself from the window to the right ofwhere Bentley and Tyler leaned out to stare down.
Bentley smiled grimly. What would she think if he told her gravelythat the creature crawling down the face of the building was not quitean ape?
So far the public didn't know what the Mind Master schemed. He'dspoken of stealing brains, but that had meant nothing to the generalpublic. Just the maunderings of a madman, perhaps.
At the third floor the anthropoid hesitated. He seemed to be gazingall around, noting the preparations which were being made to trap himat the street level.
"An ape wouldn't do that," muttered Bentley. "A man would. The man inthat manape is showing through--but he won't be able to force himselffree of Barter's domination. If he could he'd probably throw Balisledown now to keep him from being ... well, treated as Barter intends totreat him."
The ape dropped to the second floor. Silence seemed to hang over FifthAvenue. Ugly gun muzzles protruded from every window across thestreet. Scores of rifles were aimed down from windows in the ClintonBuilding, to drill the ape through from above.
At that instant a limousine whirled into Fifth Avenue, traveling fast,and ground to a stop under the ape.
"What's this?" cried Bentley.
"That's Saret Balisle's car," said Tyler. "There's nobody in it buthis chauffeur. The fool! Does he think he can take his master awayfrom the ape singlehanded?"
"That looks like foolhardy loyalty, but I'm not so sure that it'sBalisle's chauffeur at the wheel. Tyler, send somebody down towherever it is that Balisle parks his car."
- - -
But before Tyler could move to obey, the anthropoid ape made hissurprise move, and did a thing which no ape would have thought ofdoing. He hurled Balisle toward the limousine. The somersaulting bodystruck the roof of the car, crashed through the fabric, and droppedinto the tonneau.
At the same instant the limousine leaped to full speed ahead.
A shower of bullets smashed windows and scored deeply and menacinglythe brick walls all around the giant anthropoid which for a secondstill crouched on the second-story ledge. The ape whirled and crashedthrough the window at his back.
"Tyler, send half a dozen cars after that limousine. They simply haveto catch it. But they mustn't fire for fear of killing Balisle. Havethe car followed right to Barter's hideout. The men in this buildingwill scatter at once through the building. We must trap that ape!"
The whole police organization was in a turmoil.
Sirens screamed as police cars flashed after the fleeing limousinewhich carried Saret Balisle away. Doors slammed and windows crashed astwo score policemen scattered through the building, armed with riotguns and pistols, seeking the ape.
Tyler, after barking the staccato orders which set his men in motion,turned to Balisle's secretary.
"Quickly, the number Balisle calls when he wants his automobile sentaround."
The girl gave it, and Tyler called the number.
"Are Mr. Balisle's car and chauffeur there?" he asked.
He swore explosively and hung up the receiver.
"Another killing," he said. "Balisle's car is gone and the garagepeople have just found his chauffeur, almost ripped to pieces, inanother car left at the garage for storage.
"That means this ape is armed with metal fingernails, just like theone that killed the insurance man in the Flatiron Building. That meanshe'll be doubly dangerous when caught. The murdered chauffeur willhave to wait for a few moments while we capture the ape."
r /> - - -
Shouts and shots rang through the Clinton Building. The ape was goingwild, crashing through doors and windows as if they weren't there. Hismad bellowing sounded terrifying in the extreme, so deep and rumblingthat the air seemed to tremble with its menace.
But in the end there came a chorus of triumphant shouts which toldthat the giant ape had been surrounded.
Bentley and Tyler raced in the direction of the sounds. From alldirections came the sounds of footfalls as other plain-clothes menraced to be in at the death. Bentley held his automatic tightlygripped in his right hand. He knew exactly where he was going to aimif the ape were not dead when he reached him.
The creature had been cornered in the areaway between two banks ofelevators and had climbed up the cage as high as he could go. He wasjust out of reach of human hands, even had there been any men therewith the courage to try to take him alive. A white foam dripped fromthe chattering lips of the anthropoid. His red-rimmed eyes flashedfire. Bentley noted the little metal ball on top of the creature'shead.
Deliberately he stopped, raised his automatic, and held it steadywhile he pressed the trigger with the extreme care which asharp-shooter knows to be necessary ... and a bullet ploughed throughthe top of the ape's head.
The little ball vanished, and the ape released his grip suddenly. Hischattering died away to an uncertain murmur, the fire went out of hiseyes, and he fell to the floor. No bullet had yet actually struck him,for he had whirled into the window from the second-story ledgesimultaneously with the barking of the policemen's rifles and pistols.He had escaped there--but here he was not to escape.
Bentley and Tyler both lifted their voices to shout warnings to thepolicemen, but their voices were drowned in the savage explosions of adozen weapons, in the hands of men who probably thought the creaturewas in the act of charging ... and the ape sprawled on the floor, hislegs and arms quivering.
- - -
Half a dozen men rushed forward, weapons extended.
"Keep back!" yelled Bentley, rushing in.
He stood over the ape, staring intently at his glazing eyes.
"Tyler," snapped Bentley, "have everybody fall back beyond earshot."
Tyler issued the orders. Bentley shouted, "Quickly, quickly!" knowinghe had little time.
Then, with Tyler beside him, he knelt beside the ape.
"I know you can't talk, but you can answer me by nodding or shakingyour head. You are Harold Hervey, aren't you?"
The eyes of the ape were hopeless. Tyler gasped, staring at Bentley asthough for a moment he thought him crazy. But in the next instant hedoubted his own sanity, for the ape, slowly and ponderously, noddedhis head.
"I'm going to name a number of places where I think you might havebeen taken," went on Bentley. "In each case nod or shake your head. Isit near Sixth Avenue?"
Slowly the great head moved, more slowly even than before; but itnodded.
"Where? Below Twenty-third Street?"
Again the ponderous, agonizing nod.
Bentley went on.
"Below Fourteenth Street?"
Again the nod, barely perceptible this time.
"Below Christopher Street?" asked Bentley.
This time the head shook from side to side, ever so slightly.
"Two blocks above Christopher?"
But this question was never destined to be answered. The giantanthropoid in whose skull-pan was the brain of Harold Hervey, entirelycontrolled by Caleb Barter, until Bentley had shot the little metalball from his head, had died.
Bentley rose and looked down at the anthropoid for several seconds.
"Barter will hate to lose this creature," he said. "He probably hasjust the number of apes he needs--and Tyler, here's a hunch: he'llneed an ape to take the place of this one! Get me the best surgeon tobe found in Manhattan, and get him as fast as you can!"
"Good God!" ejaculated Tyler. "What do you want a surgeon for? Whatare you going to do?"
"Barter needs an ape to take the place of this one. I shall be thatape!"
* * * * *
The Mind Master
By Arthur J. Burks
_Conclusion_
_"Now, Bentley," said Barter, "I'll explainwhat I intend doing."_]