Back of the house, Clutching Hand and the other crooks were now passing through a bricked passage. The fire had got so far beyond control by this time that it drove the police back from their efforts to open the secret door. Thus the Clutching Hand had made good his escape through the passage which led out, as we later discovered, to the railroad tracks along the river.
"Down there—Mr. Kennedy—and Mr. Jameson," cried Elaine, pointing at the trap which was hidden in the stifle.
The fire had gained terrific headway, but the police seized a ladder and stuck it down into the basement.
Choking and sputtering, half suffocated, we staggered up.
"Are you hurt?" asked Elaine anxiously, taking Craig's arm.
"Not a bit—thanks to you!" he replied, forgetting all in meeting the eager questioning of her wonderful eyes.
CHAPTER X
THE LIFE CURRENT
Assignments were being given out on the Star one afternoon, and I was standing talking with several other reporter in the busy hum of typewriters and clicking telegraphs.
"What do you think of that?" asked one of the fellows. "You're something of a scientific detective, aren't you?"