Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/224



T was ten o'clock the next morning that Sadie Wimpel presented herself at Kestner's door, in response to her superior officer's summons.

"Sit down," said that superior officer, without his customary smile. Sadie, eying him, sank into a chair.

"I suppose you know that we missed Wallaby Sam by half an hour last night?"

"He always was a headliner on the get-away circuits!" acknowledged the girl.

"But the thing I can't understand, Sadie, is why you neglected to call us up the moment you knew where Breitman's plant was. I'm not saying that this code stuff wasn't a magnificent haul. But it would have been twice as valuable if we'd been able to round up Wallaby Sam himself. And it was quite bad enough losing Andelman."

The girl betrayed a tendency to fidget.

"Well, there's one remark I wantta make, Mista Kestner. When this work turns into a three-ring 210