The men laughed in a guarded way. “If you lose nine-tenths of it and nine-tenths of your eyesight, you will be about like the rest of us,” said the oldest man.
“Thanks!” said Mr. Smith dryly. “Now for a report. Did you discover anything at all at the Ridgeways? I presume you went, as I ordered.”
“Yes, we went all right,” someone answered out of the gloom. “It came near being a good deal of a mess. We got in the house all right. I had been there for two days looking over the electric wiring for the city, and had seen to it that all the servants went to bed with just enough dope in their food to insure them a good night’s sleep. Then we went outside to look things over, and I went downtown and ran right into the gentleman. So I dogged him, and he went into the Army and Navy Club, and I came back. I walked, and he must have taxied because when we opened the door from the hall, there he was sitting in the library in the dark. I can’t imagine what he was doing that for. He was wide awake and when I opened the door he turned round. Of course I had to hit him.”
“Well, what next?” asked Smith as the other paused.
“It was a good one,” said the man. “He fell like a sack of sand, and we switched on a light and went through everything in two minutes. There is not a thing there. Not a thing, and no wall safe, and no secret drawers!”
“Well, that is odd,” mused the newcomer. “You left him unconscious?”
“Yes, but he was alive,” said the man.
“I don’t understand,” said Smith. “There was not a thing in the morning paper about this, and no mention of illness or anything else. I remember especially noticing that Hamilton Ridgeway would lay the cornerstone for a new orphanage or something of the sort this morning. I don’t believe you hit him at all!”
“He did!” said the third man. “It was such a crack that I was sure he had killed him.”
“Well, it is strange,” muttered the man called Smith. “We must find out more about this. Are you through with your electrical job?”