Anthony M. Rud

“ Look here and here!” Masters touched other checks lightly. “Here is a responsible employee, getting a good salary.”
“Brooks—hundred a week,” assented O'Sann expectantly.
“And here is an office-boy!” Masters stopped, and I noticed that a far-away, dull expression crept for an instant into his blue eyes. This meant concentrated thought.
“Yes—what do you make of it?” O'Sann's voice was still quiet, but a little of the pleasantness had vanished. As he stood there, bent forward a little over the chart, I shivered at the thought of how fatally he would strike, once he had located the criminal. ”

“ That is true, but by to-morrow morning I shall be able to tell you. There is just one possibility in the realm of science.”
“What is that?” O'Sann asked breathlessly.
“Radium! We must find out whether there is or has been any of that valuable element in the building. Do you know of any?”
O'Sann made a curt gesture of negation. “No, this company doesn't use it, to the best of my knowledge. How can you make sure?”
“Electric brush,” answered Masters laconically. “I'll get one to-night, and we'll go over everything on these three floors. If there's radium here, it will glow in the dark. ”

“ The upshot of the interview was that Masters did go to work for the Miltonvale Company. He took the desk of the unfortunate who had dropped out the day Masters was called. Because I was used to the swift methods that always had distinguished Masters in previous cases, I asked for and secured a place as ledger-clerk a few desks from my friend. Before I went to college, I had done routine work of a similar character, and so my position was not embarrassing. Masters made little pretense of really filling his job, but there was not much need; several capable subordinates shouldered the burden. ”

“ THE steely eyes had taken on a faint trace of amusement while watching Lasher, but now they narrowed and became cold again. “As Chief Bennett says, this may be nothing but misfortune,” said O'Sann, and I was surprised mightily to hear the pleasant, musical inflection of his voice, “but here are the facts as we know them: The general offices of the Miltonvale Steel Company, as you doubtless know, occupy the first three floors of the Hercules Building. Over three hundred male employees, and at least as many girls, are to be found in these offices.” ”

“ When you see that one or another is getting genuinely scared, and ready to throw up his place, go to him, tell him to send in a report the next morning that he is too sick to come to work, and then put him to work in another office somewhere downtown. Gradually you will transfer a goodly portion of your force in this way, and also you will accomplish more than that, if I am not mistaken. The man who is killing off your employees will know that he is not responsible for the new sick ones; so he will be puzzled, stop and let the other fellow—as he will think—finish the job. ”

“ Each victim wore his hat several hours each day for weeks, and then the rays acted on the cortex of the cerebrum, causing a lesion, paralysis, insanity or death. Oh, I don't know but that I regret our civilization! I should like to kill that man by slow torture.” Masters emphasized his words by a blow of the fist on O'Sann's desk.
THE latter arose. “Well, the law will take care of him,” he said, extending a blue slip of paper to both Masters and myself. “Your salaries,” he said awkwardly, “as employees in the requisition-department!” ”

“ That scientist, who discovered the element in uraninite, says that a single gram of the substance, if properly placed and used upon each person individually, would kill or render hopelessly paralytic every soul in the city of Paris! ”

“ Lasher, who at that moment was examining disgustedly the tip of his patent-leather shoe. “I don't want you to think that—” He broke off suddenly, evidently considering his half-phrased sentence a waste of time. “The size of it is that we have lost irrevocably sixteen of our most dependable employees through a mysterious affliction—I hesitate to call it an illness, yet that is probably what it is; and now, just within the past three days, four more have dropped out! Many more are showing signs of uneasiness for a still different reason—they think that the building is unhealthy. ”

“ These properties, of course, do not mean that much radium is present; and that, probably, is why I never thought to look for a wire. I was seeking an elusive gram or more of radium all the time.
“Simms doubtless has had several hundred of these wires charging all the time. As soon as one got strong enough, he simply clipped it off, brought it down here in lead foil and inserted it in the sweat-band of the first hat he came across in the locker-room. He did not pick and choose much. Doubtless he intended to kill every employee who came to work here, if necessary. ”

“ The three of us then lifted Simms to a sitting position in the chair we had prepared. Masters tied him securely to the arms. Then he took up the green velours hat from the desk and silently showed the prisoner the single copper wire under the band. Then, with no comment, my friend gingerly undid the lead-foil package, dropping four of the deadly wires to his knee. These he pushed under the hatband just as the other wire was placed. ”

“ O'Sann smiled. “The sincere thanks of all the Miltonvale owners and employees go with it,” he said. “It's not overtime. Now run along, both of you, and get some sleep. I'm going to tell the boys in the office.”
“The Giant Footprints,” which describes perhaps the strangest and most exciting of all Detective Masters' exploits, will appear in the next—the August—GREEN BOOK MAGAZINE.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929. ”