Henry Leverage

“ Do you know that if that vault is taken by either an electric-arc or an oxy-acetylene blow-pipe, I will be suspected?”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“It is a fact! You see the police and the private agencies know a man by his work. How can we take that vault in a new way? How can I go through three layers of vanadium steel?” ”

“ Perhaps the police had sent her to Short Hills in order to arrange a trap. He dismissed this thought, however. The police of Los Angeles would have been anxious to make a quick arrest. The price on his head amounted to five figures.
“I’ll chance you!” he said. “The only motive I see for your actions is the one you’ve explained. You want to rob a robber—cheat a cheater. Frank Robertson Pope, which is only one of ‘The Black Cougar’s’ names, has amassed too much money, in too rotten a way. I understand he has the longest and most complete sucker-list of any bucket-shop broker in this country.” ”

“ Fay had already searched for any break in the metal of the vault. It was smooth and enameled. He regarded the remaining objects.
“The spools of iron wire are here.”
“Give one of them to me. Put it in my hands.”
“It’s very heavy. We might as well leave them.”
“No! We must not overlook a single thing. Hand me a spool. I can lift it.”
Fay poised a heavy spool between his fingers. Saidee drew it through the opening. He waited until she lowered a short piece of clothes-line. He went up this, hooked his knee over the edge of the plate, and rose to her side. ”

“ The girl tilted her parasol so that her face was in a shadow.
“Are you game?” she asked.
“The proposition strikes me as being peculiar. Suppose I am Chester Fay. How do I know that you are Charlie Laurie's daughter?”
“Would this convince you?” The girl reached in her breast and laid a folded photograph on the table. Fay picked it up. It was a good likeness taken in a rogues' gallery. A tag with a number was about the girl's neck. Her eyes were straight before her. Beneath the card was the notation:
“Saidee Laurie, alias Saidee Isaacs, alias English Kitty. ”

“ He's a telegraph operator and an electrician of sorts. I think he was mixed up with Larry Anderson and 'Blondie' in a phantom-circuit around a pool-room's fast wire. I expected to find the vault protected on top, but they overlooked that. Queer, isn't it, that a clever man like him—a fiend for money and a brain-worker of the first class—should neglect an important trifle?”
Saidee Isaacs said: “They all overlook the essential trifle. We must be careful we don't overlook anything. I'm not afraid of the police half as much as 'The Black Cougar.'”
Fay glanced at the matting over the trapdoor. ”

“ He burned a larger hole, set the lens and allowed the high swing of the overhead sun to trace out a line. Smoke and vapor rose from the sizzling pencil of light. Drops of molten metal fell within the vault, the floor of which was not carpeted.
THE job was finished soon after noon on Sunday. Fay looped a wire around the plate and tapped its edges with a hammer. The last of the metal cracked. The plate swung free. The way was open.
“I'll go down!” exclaimed Saidee.
“No, not yet. Let the things cool off. Help me get the lens apart. We'll destroy it. We'll clean up everything incriminating.” ”

“ He may have a fast wire and a slow wire in his offices. The customer trades on the slow wire while the firm sells on the fast wire. But then, I understand ‘The Black Cougar’s’ business is done mostly through the mails. That spool he has down there has something to do with his mail game. Maybe it’s a system to beat the market.”
“There never will be such a thing!”
Fay nodded. “You’re very wise,” he mused, staring directly at her. “You don’t remind me of your old man, at all. ”

“ Tonight I start work over the safe. We shall enter the vault by Sunday, when no one is in Pope’s office.”
“How are you going to cut that vanadium steel? Father told me once it was the hardest kind of metal.”
Fay glanced at the skylight which had been changed to a new position. “I told you,” he smiled, “that I had an idea. It’s so far out of my line that the police wont suspect me. I’ve been accused of using thermite, the oxy-acetylene blow-pipe, the electric-arc, with a water-rheostat, and other devices. This time I’ll go everybody one better. ”

“ IN the argot of the underworld, Chester Fay, alias Edward Letchmere, an expert on other people's strong-boxes, had lammistered to Short Hills, California, where an excellent golf-links surrounds a half-hotel, half-clubhouse of the superior order. ”

“ It was far from being accurate.
“A burning-glass,” said Fay, “does not necessarily need to be solid. I intend to paste the edges together with plaster of Paris and fill the whole thing with clear water.”
“Going to make a sun-motor?” asked the artisan.
“Something like that. Wrap it in tissue paper. I don’t want to break it on my way to Pasadena.”
Having thus thrown off all clues, Fay carried the hollow lens to the studio. Saidee Isaacs had received the package, left it unopened on the dark-room floor and pinned a brief note to the table in the reception-room. ”

“ It consists of three layers of vanadium steel and two layers of fireproofing. The circular door has two dials and a time-lock. The inner door has one dial. The day door has a flat-key lock.”
“What is above the vault?”
“A photograph studio.”
“What is in the basement?”
“The basement is occupied by a cigar-store. It doesn't close until twelve o'clock. There's a pool-room in the back. Sometimes men play poker there all night.”
“How many watchmen in the building?”
“One, employed by 'The Black Cougar.' He can't be bought. I've tried.” ”

“ Fay, and how I found where you were here in California and—so many things that take up time, I’ve got a proposition to make which should be mutually advantageous. In other words you are the only man in the world I would let in on a great, big job. ”

“ A small opening was left at the top. Through this aperture the air rushed out as the liquid ran in. This hole was finally stopped with chewing-gum.
“Useful stuff,” said the girl. “With that and a hair-pin you could fix anything.”
Fay climbed upon the table and adjusted the hollow lens. He blocked one edge so that it could be shifted. He raised and lowered the frame upon which it rested. A sudden flash, followed by a small cloud of smoke, indicated that the focused rays had touched the woodwork at the edge of the trapdoor.
“Hotter than any electric-arc,” he said. ”

“ He deserves no mercy?”
“None.”
“He is a disgrace to all the good crooks in the world—a coward and a hypocrite. He has served time—for usury. He got out of San Quentin by squealing on his pals. He is trimming suckers right and left. ”

“ This is the only way we could have done it. The electric-arc requires a heavy amperage—far more than can be obtained from a lamp-circuit. Besides, the coppers would suspect me if I used an arc.”
“They’re going to think this was done by electricity.” ”