They set it down close to the door and I scrutinized2 it carefully. It looked, at first sight, like a short stubby piece of iron, about eighteen inches high. It must have weighed fifty or sixty pounds. Along one side was a handle, and on the opposite side an adjustable3 hook with a sharp, wide prong.
Garrick bent4 down and managed to wedge the hook into the little space between the sill and the bottom of the ice-box door. Then he began pumping on the handle, up and down, up and down, as hard as he could.
Meanwhile the crowd that had begun to collect was getting larger. Dillon went through the form of calling on them for aid, but the call was met with laughter. A Tenderloin crowd has no use for raids, except as a spectacle. Between us we held them back, while Garrick worked. The crowd jeered5.
It was the work of only a few seconds, however, before Garrick changed the jeers6 to a hearty7 round of exclamations9 of surprise. The door seemed to be lifted up, literally10, until some of its bolts and hinges actually bulged11 and cracked. It was being crushed, like the flimsy outside door, before the unwonted attack.
Upwards12, by fractions of an inch, by millimeters, the door was being forced. There was such straining and stress of materials that I really began to wonder whether the building itself would stand it.
"Scientific jimmying," gasped13 Garrick, as the door bulged more and more and seemed almost to threaten to topple in at any moment.
I looked at the stubby little cylinder14 with its short stump15 of a lever. Garrick had taken it out now and had wedged it horizontally between the ice-box door and the outer stonework of the building itself. Then he jammed some pieces of wood in to wedge it tighter and again began to pump at the handle vigorously.
"What is it?" I asked, almost in awe16 at the titanic17 power of the apparently18 insignificant19 little thing.
"My scientific sledgehammer," he panted, still working the lever more vigorously than ever backward and forward. "In other words, a hydraulic20 ram21. There is no swinging of axes or wielding23 of crow-bars necessary any more, Dillon, in breaking down a door like this. Such things are obsolete24. This little jimmy, if you want to call it that, has a power of ten tons. I think that's about enough."
It seemed as if the door were buckling25 and being literally wrenched26 off its hinges by the irresistible27 ten-ton punch of the hydraulic ram.
Garrick sprang back, grasping me by the arm and pulling me too. But there was no need of caution. What was left of the door swung back on its loosened hinges, seemed to tremble a moment, and then, with a dull thud crashed down on the beautiful green marble of the reception hall, reverberating28.
We peered beyond. Inside all was darkness. At the very first sign of trouble the lights had been switched out downstairs. It was deserted29. There was no answer to our shouts. It was as silent as a tomb.
The clang of bells woke the rapid echoes. The crowd parted. It was the patrol wagons30, come just in time, full of reserves, at Dillon's order. They swarmed31 up the steps, for there was nothing to do now, in the limelight of the public eye, except their duty. Besides Dillon was there, too.
"Here," he ordered huskily, "four of you fellows jump into each of the next door houses and run up to the roof. Four more men go through to the rear of this house. The rest stay here and await orders," he directed, detailing them off quickly, as he endeavoured to grasp the strange situation.
On both sides of the street heads were out of windows. On other houses the steps were full of spectators. Thousands of people must have swarmed in the street. It was pandemonium32.
Yet inside the house into which we had just broken it was all darkness and silence.
The door had yielded to the scientific sledge-hammering where it would have shattered, otherwise, all the axes in the department. What was next?
Garrick jumped briskly over the wreckage33 into the building. Instead of the lights and gayety which we had seen on the previous night, all was black mystery. The robbers' cave yawned before us. I think we were all prepared for some sort of gunplay, for we knew the crooks34 to be desperate characters. As we followed Garrick closely we were surprised to encounter not even physical force.
Someone struck a light. Garrick, groping about in the shadows, found the switch, and one after another the lights in the various rooms winked35 up.
I have seldom seen such confusion as greeted us as, with Dillon waiving36 his "John Doe" warrant over his head, we hurried upstairs to the main hall on the second floor, where the greater part of the gambling37 was done. Furniture was overturned and broken, and there had been no time to remove the heavier gambling apparatus. Playing cards, however, chips, racing38 sheets from the afternoon, dice39, everything portable and tangible40 and small enough to be carried had disappeared.
But the greatest surprise of all was in store. Though we had seen no one leave by any of the doors, nor by the doors of any of the houses on the block, nor by the roofs, or even by the back yard, according to the report of the police who had been sent in that direction, there was not a living soul in the house from roof to cellar. Search as we did, we could find not one of the scores of people whom I had seen enter in the course of the evening while I was watching on the corner.
Dillon, ever mindful of some of the absurd rules of evidence in such cases laid down by the courts, had had an official photographer summoned and he was proceeding41 from room to room, snapping pictures of apparatus that was left in place and preserving a film record of the condition of things generally.
Garrick was standing42 ruefully beside the roulette wheel at which so many fortunes had been dissipated.
"Get me an axe22," he asked of one of Dillon's men who was passing.
With a well-directed blow he smashed the wheel.
"Look," he exclaimed, "this is what they were up against."
His forefinger43 indicated an ingenious but now twisted and tangled44 series of minute wires and electro-magnets in the delicate mechanism45 now broken open before us. Delicate brushes led the current into the wheel.
With another blow of the axe, Garrick disclosed wires running down through the leg of the table to the floor and under the carpet to buttons operated by the man who ran the game.
"What does it mean?" I asked blankly.
"It means," he returned, "that they had little enough chance to win at a straight game of roulette. But this wheel wasn't even straight with all the odds46 in favor of the bank, as they are naturally. This game was electrically controlled. Others are mechanically controlled by what are called the 'mule's ear,' and other devices. You CAN'T win. These wires and magnets can be made to attract the little ball into any pocket the operator desires. Each one of the pockets contains an electro-magnet. One set of electro-magnets in the red pockets is connected with one button under the carpet and a set of batteries. The other series of little magnets in the black pockets is connected with another button and the batteries."
He had picked up the little ball. "This ball," he said as he examined it, "is not really of ivory, but of a composition that looks like ivory, coating a hollow, soft-iron ball inside. Soft iron is attracted by an electro-magnet. Whichever set of magnets is energized47 attracts the ball and by this simple method it is in the power of the operator to let the ball go to red or black as he may wish. Other similar arrangements control the odd or even, and other combinations, also from push buttons. There isn't an honest gambling machine in the whole place. The whole thing is crooked48 from start to finish,—the men, the machines,——"
"Then a fellow never had a chance?" repeated Dillon.
"Not a chance," emphasized Garrick.
We gathered about and gazed at magnets and wires, the buttons and switches. He did not need to say anything more to expose the character of the place.
Amazing as we found everything about us in the palace of crooks, nothing made so deep an impression on me as the fact that it was deserted. It seemed as if the gamblers had disappeared as though in a fairy tale. Search room after room as Dillon's men did they were unable to find a living thing.
One of the men had discovered, back of the gambling rooms on the second floor, a little office evidently used by those who ran the joint49. It was scantily50 furnished, as though its purpose might have been merely a place where they could divide up the profits in private. A desk, a cabinet and a safe, besides a couple of chairs, were all that the room contained.
Someone, however, had done some quick work in the little office during those minutes while Garrick was opening the great ice-box door with his hydraulic ram, for on every side were scattered51 papers, the desk had been rifled, and even from the safe practically everything of any value had been removed. It was all part of the general scheme of things in the gambling joint. Practically nothing that was evidential that could be readily removed had been left. Whoever had planned the place must have been a genius as far as laying out precautions against a raid were concerned.
Garrick, Dillon and I ran hastily through some scattered correspondence and other documents that spilled out from some letter files on the floor, but as far as I could make out there was nothing of any great importance that had been overlooked.
Dillon ordered the whole mass to be bundled up and taken off when the other paraphernalia52 was removed so that it could be gone through at our leisure, and the search continued.
From the "office" a staircase led down by a back way and we followed it, looking carefully to see where it led.
A low exclamation8 from Garrick arrested our attention. In a curve between landings he had kicked something and had bent down to pick it up. An electric pocket flashlight which one of the men had picked up disclosed under its rays a package of papers evidently dropped by someone who was carrying away in haste an armful of stuff.
"Markers with the house," exclaimed Garrick as he ran over the contents of the package hurriedly. "I. O. U.'s for various amounts and all initialed—for several hundred thousands. Hello, here's a bunch with an 'F.' That must mean Forbes—thousands of dollars worth."
The markers were fastened together with a slip in order to separate them from the others, evidently.
Garrick was hastily totalling them up and they seemed to amount to a tidy sum.
"How can he ever pay?" I asked, amazed as the sum crept on upward in the direction of six figures.
"Don't you see that they're cancelled?" interjected Garrick, still adding.
I had not examined them closely, but as I now bent over to do so I saw that each bore the words, "Paid by W."
Warrington himself had settled the gambling debts of his friend!
In still greater amazement53 I continued to look and found that they all bore dates from several weeks before, down to within a few days. The tale they told was eloquent54. Forbes, his own fortune gone, had gambled until rescued by his friend. Even that had not been sufficient to curb55 his mania56. He had kept right on, hoping insanely to recoup. And the gamblers had been willing to take a chance with him, knowing that they already had so much of his money that they could not possibly lose.
A horrid57 thought flashed over me. What if he had really planned to pay his losses by marrying a girl with a fortune? Forbes was the sort who would have gambled on even that slender prospect58.
As we stood on the landing while Garrick went over the markers, I found myself wondering, even, where Forbes had been that night after he hurried away from us at the ladies' poolroom and Warrington had taken the journey that had ended so disastrously59 for him. The more I learned of what had been taking place, the more I saw that Warrington stood out as a gentleman. Undoubtedly60 Violet Winslow had heard, had been informed by some kind unknown of the slight lapses61 of Warrington. I felt sure that the gross delinquencies of Forbes were concealed62 from her and from her aunt, at least as far as Warrington had it in his power to shield the man who was his friend—and rival.
The voice of Dillon recalled me from a train of pure speculation63 to the more practical work in hand before us.
"Well, at any rate, we've got evidence enough to protect ourselves and close the place, even if we didn't make any captures," congratulated Dillon, as he rejoined us, after a momentary64 excursion from which he returned still blinking from the effects of the flashlight powders which his photographer had been using freely. "After we get all the pictures of the place, I'll have the stuff here removed to headquarters—and it won't be handed back on any order of the courts, either, if I can help it!"
Garrick had shoved the markers into his pocket and now was leading the way downstairs.
"Still, Dillon," he remarked, as we followed, "that doesn't shed any light on the one remaining problem. How did they all manage to get out so quickly?"
We had reached the basement which contained the kitchens for the buffet65 and quarters for the servants. A hasty excursion into the littered back yard under the guidance of Dillon's men who had been sent around that way netted us nothing in the way of information. They had not made their escape over the back fences. Such a number of people would certainly have left some trail, and there was none.
We looked at Garrick, perplexed66, and he remarked, with sudden energy,
"Let's take a look at the cellar."
As we groped down the final stairway into the cellar, it was only too evident that at last he had guessed right. Down in the subterranean67 depths we quickly discovered, at the rear, a sheet-iron door. Battering68 it down was the work of but a moment for the little ram. Beyond it, where we expected to see a yawning tunnel, we found nothing but a pile of bricks and earth and timbers that had been used for shoring.
There had been a tunnel, but the last man who had gone through had evidently exploded a small dynamite69 cartridge70, and the walls had been caved in. It was impossible to follow it until its course could be carefully excavated71 with proper tools in the daylight.
We had captured the stronghold of gambling in New York, but the gamblers had managed to slip out of our grasp, at least for the present.
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1
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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adjustable
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| adj.可调整的，可校准的 | |
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4
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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5
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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jeers
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| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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8
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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10
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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11
bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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12
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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13
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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14
cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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15
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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16
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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17
titanic
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| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
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18
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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19
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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20
hydraulic
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| adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的 | |
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21
ram
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| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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22
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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wielding
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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25
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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26
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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27
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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reverberating
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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30
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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31
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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32
pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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33
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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crooks
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| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
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35
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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36
waiving
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| v.宣布放弃( waive的现在分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等） | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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42
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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43
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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44
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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45
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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46
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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energized
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| v.给予…精力，能量( energize的过去式和过去分词 )；使通电 | |
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48
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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49
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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50
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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51
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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52
paraphernalia
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| n.装备；随身用品 | |
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53
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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54
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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56
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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57
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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disastrously
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| ad.灾难性地 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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61
lapses
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| n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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62
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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63
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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64
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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65
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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66
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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68
battering
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| n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 ) | |
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69
dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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70
cartridge
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| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
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excavated
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| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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