It had the peculiar quality of seeming to come from everywhere rather than from a definite spot. It might have been emanating from inside the office. Yet Doc Savage was certainly nowhere about.
A commotion burst in the corridor outside.
A man screamed. It was a terrified scream. A pistol exploded. It filled the corridor with deafening echoes.
A moan followed.
Then silence came.
THE corridor door opened swiftly. An amazing picture was revealed.
In mid-air before the door, a man was suspended. Bandages which had swathed the man's features were disarranged. A yellow-haired wig hung askew, revealing hair that was black and slick as the back of a greased turtle.
It was the man who had attempted the life of Big Eric and Edna in the passenger air liner. He must have raced to New York in a chartered plane.
But the slick-haired man was forgotten as Big Eric and Edna stared at the arm and hand which held the fellow in mid-air.
Such an arm! It was Herculean, yet so perfectly formed that Its great size was evident only in comparison to the man it held as effortlessly as it would suspend a rag.
The muscles and tendons were like bundles of piano wire. The fingers were long, yet so muscular that they had utterly paralyzed the slick-haired man by their mere grasp upon his scrawny neck.
Most remarkable of all was the unusual deep bronze color of the flesh. Indeed, the skin seemed to be simply a bronze lacquer applied to the corded steel of the tendons.
The remainder of a mighty bronze form which had been masked by the door now appeared. The slick-haired victim was carried easily, his feet twitching weakly several inches off the floor.
"Doc Savage!" Ham said softly once more.
Pretty Edna Danielsen was stunned. Could thisbe the famous Doc Savage, who she had pictured as a shriveled runt, with whiskers and bottle-bottom glasses?
Why, this man was the most astounding physical specimen she had ever seen! The muscular development of that bronze body was little short of incredible.
And the bronze face! The beautiful Louisiana girl knew she had never gazed upon more striking features. They were perfect in their strong regularity. The hair, of a slightly darker bronze, lay back smoothly.
It was Doc Savage's eyes that held her though. They were strange, marvelous eyes. They glittered like pools of flake gold as they caught little lights from the ceiling chandelier. Those golden eyes seemed to have a power of conveying commands solely by their expressive quality.
Doc Savage released the slick-haired man. So terrible had been the grip upon his neck, the fellow fell to the floor as though paralyzed.
"He was listening outside the door," Doc said. "He had a gun in his hand, as though he were going to leap in here, shooting. Fortunately, the gun missed me when it went off as I seized him."
Doc's voice was capable of wondrous tonal changes.
"He's one of the Gray Spider's men!" said Big Eric.
Big Eric's words were little more than a whisper. He was awed by the impressive presence of this great man of bronze.
And it was the first time Big Eric had been awed by any man!
DOC SAVAGE moved into the laboratory. His going was so light and effortless that he seemed to flow like a quick puff of bronze smoke across the carpet.
"I've seen what I thought were strong men!" Big Eric mumbled. "But I never saw anythinguntil a minute ago!"
Beautiful Edna Danielsen added a thought which reached nobody's ears. "I can say the same thing about his good looks!"
Doc Savage came back. He carried a small leather case. This held, on a plush bed, two hypodermic needles.
Doc applied one of the needles to the eavesdropper's arm.
Nothing seemed to happen. The fellow merely sat there, absently rubbing the spot where the needle had pricked.
"Get up and sit in a chair!" Doc commanded compellingly.
The man obeyed meekly.
Noting the astounded faces of the others, Doc tapped the hypodermic needles and explained.
"The first holds a drug which affects a certain portion of the brain, rendering the victim incapable of thinking. This fellow, for instance, will now do anything I tell him because he cannot think of reasons why he shouldn't. I could tell him to go over and jump out of the window, and he'd do it without being able to think that the fall meant certain death. This drug is one of my late developments."
Doc indicated the second hypo needle. "This contains a drug which neutralizes the first. In other words, this man will remain in his present condition for days, unless he receives the second drug."
Big Eric and Edna had listened to this in a sort of frozen wonder. Ham, however, did not seem surprised. He was accustomed to the remarkable things Doc Savage did.
Ham delivered belated introductions.
Attractive Edna Danielsen was mildly vexed when Doc Savage showed no signs of being moved by her beauty. This was something new for Edna. Most young men would have all but toppled over after an enthralling smile such as the one that seemed wasted on Doc. Strangely, she felt a desire to impress this remarkable bronze man, a desire that was unusual to Edna, in whose life young men meant nothing.
Doc Savage killed no time in getting down to business.
"I am sorry I was not here to receive you," he said. He let it go at that—not troubling to explain that he had been for the past weeks at his "Fortress of Solitude," whence he always retired for his experiments and study. This retreat was on a rocky island within the bleak fastness of the arctic. No one knew where it was, other than Doc.
"Tell your story," Doc commanded.
"I am president of Danielsen & Haas, the largest lumber concern in the South," explained Big Eric. "For some months past, I have noticed strange happenings in the Southern lumber industry. The first of these revolved around Worldwide Sawmills, a rather large concern.
"The president and vice president of Worldwide Sawmills were the principal owners of the company. They dropped suddenly from sight. The word went out that they were taking an extended world cruise. But I had private detective investigate, and no trace of their sailing on such a cruise could be found.
"Simultaneous with their disappearance, two strangers took charge of Worldwide Sawmills. Everything was legal. The vanished vice president and president of Worldwide had signed over absolute control of the company to these men. There was no doubt of that."
Big Eric paused to make an angry growling noise in his big throat.
"The two strangers are looting Worldwide Sawmills! I'm sure of it! They're liquidating the company, which is worth many millions! They're selling out slowly, and pocketing the proceeds.
"A few weeks later, almost the identical thing happened to Bayou Sash & Door, another large concern. The next was the Little Giant Lumber Corporation. And others followed. In each case, the owners dropped from sight, and strangers took charge."
Big Eric struck the inlaid table for emphasis.
"I tell you, a highly organized gang is stealing millions!" he exclaimed.
"I BECAME suspicious," Big Eric continued. "As I mentioned, I put private detectives to work. They found little of value. But they did unearth strange rumors of a sinister being known as the Gray Spider, who is moving slowly but surely upon a gigantic plan to loot the lumber industry of the South."
"That all you know of the Gray Spider?" Doc inquired.
"Yes, except that queer, uncanny things are told of this Gray Spider. One tale has it that his organization is a fanatic group known as the Cult of the Moccasin, and that they give human sacrifices. Those rumors are strange things to be connected with high finance and thievery."
"Sounds like voodoo," said Doc Savage. "Cults of voodooism are known to flourish right here in New York. Indeed, cases of human sacrifices have been proven. But you have not told what brings you here. Has the Gray Spider made attempts to throw his web about you?"
"Exactly!" rumbled Big Eric. "First, an attempt was made to kidnap myself and my daughter. Evil-looking little brown men attacked our car, but I beat them off. Twice after that, we were shot at. I became worried, and started for New York. The man you just seized tried to murder us by disabling the plane, and fixing our parachutes so they were worthless."
"Who takes charge of your company in case you are put out of the way?"
"My daughter," said Big Eric proudly.
"In case you both are eliminated?"
"Why, Horace Haas," Big Eric replied hesitatingly. "He owns a portion of the concern, and is the junior partner. He's a harmless cuss. Not even a good business man. But he furnished the capital for my first business venture, and for that reason, I guarantee you he will share in my fortune as long as there is such a thing."