Gradually, as that purpose formed in his mind, the effects of the gas wore off. Strength came back into his body, and his mind cleared fully; and presently he was able to sit up, and then stand up and get to his bed. A little later he was as well as ever, save for a slight shakiness that went away as soon as he got to the window and opened it.
A swift brushing of his suit, a brief look in the glass to see that he appeared all right, arid Barry went down to the desk hurriedly. His question there was answered speedily. A young woman had checked out from that floor less than five minutes before.
A bell boy had taken her bags to a taxi. He did not know what her destination had been.
He would not easily find out either, Barry thought as he turned away. She had gotten clear away, and by now was safe in the wastes of the city, the best place in the world to hide.
It took him one brief moment to realize that he was stumped, unless he could get hold of Dan Brady. And he had not thought to ask Dan where he was staying now. Half an hour of telephoning produced no results. Dan Brady had never been heard of, it seemed, even by some who should have known him.
Barry did not bother to report the case to the police. They might help, and they might not. It would only serve to drag the whole thing out in the papers, to no good cause. That was the last thing he wished. He decided to wait until Dan called him over the telephone in the morning.
Chapter VI
Perilous Adventure
Barry was up the next morning, finished with his breakfast, and reading the paper when Dan called.
“You’re just the man I wanted to see,” Barry told him thankfully. “I’ve got some important news to tell you. Come on up.”
Dan chuckled. “I’m not calling from the lobby,” he said. “What is the news?”
“The girl — Olga — paid me a call after you were here yesterday afternoon, and got some stuff that belonged to her. Stuff she had left in the lining of my best kit bag.”
“Are you trying to kid me?” Dan demanded severely.
“No. It’s the last thing in the world I’m thinking of. She put me out with a shot of poison gas, and got away with an envelope. There must have been something very important in it from the way she acted.”
“Listen,” Dan ordered swiftly, “you sound like you’ve had a brain wave. But if any part of it’s true, don’t say anything more. Tell me about it face to face where there is no chance of anyone hearing you. I can’t come up there to see you this morning. You’ll have to meet me in the park. Say along the south shore of the lagoon. Be there as soon as you can.”
“I’ll start right away,” Barry agreed.
He wondered, as he walked into the park with long strides, what the reason was that prevented Dan from coming up to see him. Wondered also why Dan had cut him off so quickly, and insisted that the story come when they were face to face. It seemed a little far-fetched — and yet Dan knew his business.
Dan was not on the walk that skirted the south side of the lagoon. Two nurse-maids were there, pausing a few moments in their slow promenade for a few bits of gossip. A young policeman stood near, looking at them now and then as though he would welcome a chance to make the twosome a trio. And last but not least a shabby and unshaven individual carrying a seedy valise stood at one corner of the lagoon eying the water vacantly, back to the policeman, the nurse-maids, and Barry.
Even as Barry looked at him, he turned and trudged slowly away.
The walk caught Barry’s eye. After a moment he started rapidly after the other. And as he came up, he looked sidewise at the other’s face.
It was Dan, more unshaven, dirtier, far shabbier than he had been the day before. By subtle methods he had completely transformed himself, until he looked thoroughly down and out.
Dan grinned as Barry caught his eye. “Mister,” he whined under his breath, “how about a dime for a cuppa caw-fee? I ain’t had a bite of breakfas’.”
“Go to the devil,” Barry replied, smiling. “What’s the idea of this getup?”
“Business,” said Dan. “Can I sell you a good knife sharpener? One that’s guaranteed to put an edge on the best and poorest steel? Only fifty cents, and cheap at half the price.” He opened the shabby valise that he carried and displayed a stock of slim whetstones.
“Doesn’t the government pay you enough to live on?”
“Shhhh,” Dan husked, closing up the valise and walking along beside Barry. “I’m not working for the government. I never heard the name before, hardly. Whetstones is my line, and I live off of it.” And then Dan’s levity departed and he said: “What’s this you were trying to tell me over the phone? Let’s get a quiet bench arid keep out of sight while we talk.”
They found a bench back in the bushes that fringed a stretch of the walk, and Barry told his story. Dan listened closely, frowning slightly at the last, where the matter of the gun and the poisoned gas came in.
“That’s a new one,” he muttered. “I didn’t know they were getting so scientific. Have to keep an eye out for more gas guns.”
“What do you make of it?” Barry asked.
“Guess there’s no doubt that she’s Olga Cassarova now.”
“No. I’m perfectly willing to believe that.”
“Those papers,” said Dan, “must have been pretty important, or incriminating, for her to take all that trouble with them.”
Barry said: “They must have been important. If they’d just been incriminating, she could have got rid of them before friend Harris caught up with her.”
“That’s right. Your head is working nicely. Have you still got that box and the razor blade?”
“Yes.”
Dan fell into a thoughtful silence.
Barry broke it. “I could have called up the police, and given them her name, description, and the razor blade. They should have hauled her in very shortly. But I thought there might be better ways of dealing with the matter. Some way that would give better results. I tried to get hold of you, but you seemed to be out of sight.”
“Was,” Dan said. “Working blind, and the department and most every one else have lost sight of me. Then, too, they’re not giving out information. If I’d been there they might have called me to the phone; but there wasn’t a chance of them telling where I could be found. How did they know who wanted me? Might have been some one on the other side, who merely wanted to get a line on me. All the brains aren’t with the government, you know.”
“Yes, that’s what I thought. Anyway, I made up my mind to wait until I had a talk with you before I did anything.”
“Glad you did, old man. It looks like you’ve stumbed on something that comes pretty close to what I’m working on. There ought to be a way of getting some good out of it. If Olga Cassarova was bringing such important papers over with her, it jibes in with other things that are happening. Gad — I wish you could have kept that envelope so we could have seen what was inside.”
“I tried to. But I didn’t have any idea she was going to give me a dose of gas.”
“Of course not. Better luck next time. Question is now — how to make the best of it. She’s probably lost herself in the city. The papers are taken care of by now. Won’t do any good to have her up. Just put her and the rest of them on their guard, and give them notice that some one knew more about them than they thought.”
Barry spoke earnestly. “Look — isn’t there some way that I could get in this thing and help work against her and her crowd? She’s made a fool of me, and it certainly looks as if some one ought to take a hand against them. I don’t mean that in any way that slights you fellows.”
“I know.”