Page:The Master of Mysteries (1912).djvu/455

 "I kept it down-cellar in my table drawer, near the foot of the elevator shaft. I have no idea what has become of it!" he pleaded.

Astro touched the officer who had been holding Moffett. "Take the elevator and go down to the cellar. Open the door of the nearest furnace and look in and see if you can find a gun."

"Is it there?" said McGraw. "How in blazes did you know that, you wizard?"

"Where would you hide a gun better?" said Astro, smiling. "If it isn't there, you'll find it in some corner, or in one of the ash barrels. It doesn't matter much, anyway."

Valeska, meanwhile, was trying to comfort Miss Wilson, who was crying and talking intermittently. The two blondes made a pretty picture together. McGraw, who since his first visit to the Seer's studio, had always admired Valeska, looked on, apparently touched. Finally he could endure his curiosity no longer.

"For God's sake, sir, it ain't the girl, is it?" he asked in a whisper.

Astro laughed, and waited. The elevator boy sat on a bench, a picture of dejection, waiting for the outcome. It was ten minutes before the officer reappeared from the basement. As he threw open the elevator door he showed, hanging from a bent wire, the distorted metal work of a revolver, still glowing a dull red.

"It was just where you said, sir," he explained.

Astro gave a glance at it, then turned to Thompson. "What have you to say?" he asked.

"I don't know how it got there," said Thompson dully.