Page:Arthur Stringer - The Hand of Peril.djvu/176

 ear on the other. But a half hour had slipped away before he had conquered the combination.

He sighed with relief as the plungers slid back, in response to his pressure on the nickelled handle. He rose to his feet, swung open the heavy door, and again switched on his flash-light. Then he proceeded to search the safe.

The contents of that carefully concealed vault were eminently disappointing. There were a number of guide-books and passports and railway-maps, revealing the innocent fact that the gentleman from Saginaw was a surprisingly extensive and an apparently unwearied traveller. There was a canvas bag of French gold, and a few hundred dollars in American yellow-backs. Under these was a plate of etched steel, such as might be used for an exceptionally large business card. There were also a package or two of letters, banded and sealed, and a larger package of unmounted photographs, carefully tied together and as carefully sealed where the yellow tape-ends had been knotted together.

The one thing that caught and held Kestner's attention was a despatch-box of metal covered with an outer case of worn pig-skin. He drew this to the front of the safe, turning it over and over and flashing his light interrogatively about it. It was locked, and his "spider" was too large to be of use.

He hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment. Then he caught up the plate of etched steel, held the box under his knee, and worked the edge of the plate between the box and its lid. Then he pried with all his force. That force was sufficient to make the