Show ri black box of silence by francis lynde by 0 irwin myers service by cullam grard SYNOPSIS quera bandla inventor has developed an extraordinary silencer which la stolen from a safe in his laboratory landals tells wally markham his chum the only person beside himself know ing tho combination of the safe Is betly lawson with whom the inventor Is in love SIar kham takes a plaster cast of a woman s toot print found beneath the window of the laboratory and takes an opportunity port unity to fit it to one of bettys agoes they are identical betty tells markham herbert canby a stranger posing as a promoter aad driven her home the previous night and that she had dozed in the car markham does not tell of his discovery the safe in the bank at Pert hdale Is blown open and looted the noise of the explosion being unheard satisfied that his black box Is in the hands of crooks landals with markham goes to Pert hdale three strangers claiming to be business men of louisville are the only possible suspects markham and landals decide to follow them although advises advices from louisville seems to guarantee the standing of the three at st joseph markham learns canby la driving west with betty lawson and her father as his guests in the car while h and landals are sleep ing markham s car is stolen and wrecked ll 11 buys another and they go on at a hotel in colah they meet betty she Is surprised at their presence in the west and explains the reason for her and her fathers journey CHAPTER VI continued daddy and I 1 oh no we just rested until dinner time but when did you two leave carthage markham named the date and she said why we must have been right along the road together 1 or no you said you came by train dlan t you 1 I said part of the way we got tired of the train so I 1 bought a car and we came on in that but where are you going ask owen im merely his chaut beur thua dragged in landeg played up as best he could 1 I dont know any more than the cat betty we ve just trundled along from one place to another never knowing where the next stop would be it must be simply to drift about that way with no les it Is landis agreed im er having the time of my life yet you don t look it asserted the frank one fixing him with an ap eye you look haggard and worried you ought to stop in the and go fossil hunting with daddy markham had been keeping an eye on the group of three below and now he stood up and turned to face the balustrade for canby had joined the three and was giving one of them a folded paper markham excused himself and raught a descending elevator and when cabby and the three moved away toward a side exit he was able to follow without being seen the chase was a short one ending at the hotel garage which the four men entered together markham clipping in upon the heels of the four was able to conceal himself in a few minutes a handsome eight came rolling velvet footed to pause with its front wheels on the threshold of the entrance As the car came to a stand canby got out aa ive told you you 11 have to use your head he was saying to the man at the wheel of the eight the sketch map layout I 1 gave you 11 the best I 1 could do your route book will shiow you where to turn off no chance for a break on the date Is there came in low tones from the interior of the car I 1 dont make breaks was the brittle retort youve got a monopoly in that field among you you ve balled things up beautifully I 1 the h 1 you say I 1 growled the voice in the interior darkness how could we know it was your business to know 1 you had the whole thing in your hands three days ago all you had to do was to sit down and wait until the flurry was over and all you did was to yell for help but a back number let it go and get out of here and don t fall down on this business tonight ill meet you as arranged get a movel the big car rolled out across the sidewalk and canby walked quickly around to the side entrance of the hotl markharo followed but not dl beyond the hotel counter he found a hardware merchant just clos ing for the night and persuaded the man to go back and sell him a couple 0 serviceable automatics then he returned to the hotel lobby where he found I 1 andla waiting for him what did you find out landals demanded enough to warrant us in getting quick action where Is bettyl she said it was leaving time for her and her father and went to get arcidy canby went up in an elevator old he see you no I 1 kept out of bis sight but no doubt he knawa we are here naturally betty will tell him if lie chasn t found out any other way you say action what Is it to be A swift getaway get your dun cage and wait at the aide entrance be there with the car inside of five in rather less than five minutes markham was placing the roadster at the side entrance to the hotel bandla stowed the suitcases in the rumble and climbed to hla place saying cant you tell me now wait until we get out of town bandla waited and he was still waiting ahen the roadster bumped oer the final railroad crossing in the red buttle western yarda and shot out upon the broad silent expanse of ahe red desert CHAPTER VII at the cinnabar something but not as much as I 1 loped to said barkham in answer to landals repeated question as to what he had learned by following canby and the three and he recounted the talk he had overheard all I 1 can make out of it Is hat canby Is hooked up with these men in some sort of a deal in which he Is the kingpin you say canby gave the others a map something of the sort he called it the layout what did he mean by saying that the three had yelled for help that Is just another of the mys you heard what betty told us that they had bought their train tickets and then canby changed his mind and asked them if they dlan t want to drive im wondering if it the yell for help that made him change his mind and plans it may have been landals apoe of something else you asked betty what time they got into colah aad her answer was about five also she said she and her father watched the sunset from the mesa road and not very long after that canby with two people in his car overtook us in the outskirts of town how do you make that fit in 1 I dont said markham shortly nothing fits in step by step each new development or half development pointed to canby as the thief of the black box of silence but it canby were the thief betty lawson was just as certainly his accessory and that he told himself was unbelievable yet there wa the great stone tumbling down the mountain side in utter silence to point the finger of implication at canby what desperate undertaking w as canby engaged in that would warrant a cold blooded double murder as one of its conditions the lights of colah had long since vanished in the eastward distance before markham spoke again sorry our time with betty was cut so short owen but maybe well sea more of her later the time was long enough liaa the sober reply and then half besl bantly im out of it with betty wally canby s the man no he not if our suspicions are justified landals smile was a mere baring of the teeth you ought to enow women better than that wally business deals straight or crooked dont mean anything to a woman in love if you think betty would wink at criminality even in her lover we anything to base a charge of criminality on nothing positive maybe but what I 1 overheard in colah seems to lean that way not to go any farther back in the mess do you think so im thinking so hard enough to make me run the wheels oft this wagon to keep in touch with that eight somewhere ahead of us As he spoke the roadster was topping a slight rise and landals pointed out a faint red dot in the forward distance you ve got the touch he re marked after for an interminable time the two flying cars held their relative positions from time to time landals looked over his shoulder there were no headlights in sight to the rear if canby was making the moonlight run as planned the headlights of his car were not yet visible needa t look for him I 1 guess markham offered at length were hitting it up a good bit faster than hell vant to hurry his passengers it was not until they began to draw in toward the foothills at the northwestern edge of the desert that they lost permanently of the red dot in advance they came to the little way station of atropia on the railroad where the road forked heres where we balk markham announced slowing down then he recalled what canby had said to the man who was driving the 1 your route book will show you where to turn off but which was the turn ot to the left with the railroad or to the right up the mountain climbing out they crossed the tracks to the railroad station when they stepped inside they almost ran into the arms of a group of roughly dressed men each man nursing a win chester markham apologized for stumbling over the feet of one of the men my fault said the one whose feet had suffered 1 I looting tor anybody to open the door are you traveling or juat going somewhere both said markham with a grin more particularly we are trying to keep in touch with three er arlenda jut ahead of us in a fight and we dont know which road ve tak en you can help us do both of these roads go over to in the they do th speaker wa dently the leader of the squad of armed men the one to the left fol lows the railroad as far as it can and then climbs the range by way of led horse pass the other begins to climb right here and goes in damp mountain and the two come together as one in the big bill south of brewster thaila Th aiLs said markham but we don t know which way our the went 1 I can help you there it went up the mountain that helps us earlham asserted then A mining man are you I 1 know there were any mines over here there are not many ours the cinnabar Is about the only one shipping ore just now my name markham Is mine was the prompt rejoinder and this imy friend owen landals much obliged for the information about the roads well be getting along before our party pets too far ahead of us As they went out the young mine owner followed them im no alarmist he said but are you gentlemen heeled 1 as we aay out in this part of the world markham grinned and pulled out his two automatics much to landals astonishment ment since markham had neg lecter to mention his purchase will these do fine and dandy if you know how to use em reason I 1 spoke was that we re dow n here for our payroll money it s coming in on forty one and I 1 had a hint that red and his gang might try to grab it off why so many of us are here with the bells on but it theres anything in the rumor and they are after us they likely wouldn t bother with you so long and he went back into the station building As the two friends reached the car the distance diminished bellow of a locomotive co whittle broke the silence of the desert night there comes Brough tons train said landals lets get away ahead of his truck then we wont have to pass it on the mountain road you speak soon enough markham grumbled kicking a flat tire under the roadster 1 I wonder what did that whatever had done it the tire had to be changed and they fell to work when it came to the replacement they found that the spare was only about half inflated and would have to be pumped up by hand while they were rigging the pump the train came thundering in made its brief halt and went clamoring on shortly after the disappearance of the train they heard the starting roar of the mine truck s motor and a moment later the truck with its load of armed men passed them the young mine owner was at the wheel after the truck had gone they found the tire pump in their roadsters equipment lit had a leaky check valve and wouldn t hold long enough to put the proper pressure into the halt in tire while they were taking turns at the leaky pump the railroad agent came across on his way home and asked it he could help them out not unless you can tell us where we can borrow a decent tire pump said landals why es was the friendly answer lie got a flivver and a tire pump Is about the most useful attachment it has walt and fetch it he crossed to a shed behind the nearest of the half dozen darkened houses and presently returned with the pump good natu taking a hand and helping them fill the big spare youve saved our lives markham said returning the borrowed pump thanks a thousand times good night As he started the motor he glanced at the dash clock jt waa just midnight when wa stopped and now its a quarter to one three quarters of an hour wasted time enough to put tant miles ahead I 1 that the toughest piece of luck weve struck yet but as they were soon to learn ill luck was not through with them before they had made more than a couple of miles up the oteff mountain grade the roadsters motor sputtered began to miss and then stopped dead the brakes slipped and let the car drift backward I 1 andas caught at the emergency brake and stopped the drift As he did it he pointed at the gasoline gauge on the dash and said look at that will you I 1 markham looked what do you know about that I 1 I 1 told those garage fellows at colah to be sure and fill her up you heard me I 1 what the devil and tom walker are we to do now id like to know I 1 the little railroad man back there at the station bandla suggested mabe he has an extra can of gas markham turned the car and let it drift down to the railroad hamlet the agent had gone to bed and they had to get him up again western kindliness came to tha tore just wait till I 1 can get dressed and well see they waited perforce and hen the little man came out ha said mcdowell he keeps atia iture may have a can or two there was another wait while the agent hammered on the door of mc dowells emporium and when it vac finally opened more uncertainty sued the bared lie might have some hed come down and see TO OS |