He kept a close watch. He saw one of the men dart forward. Then the fellow came to a stop in front of a small gray object. He seemed to pull open a little door and, all at once, the room was flooded with a golden glow of a small gas furnace, the brick lining of which was at white heat.
The men pulled something from the interior of the furnace with a long-handled affair like a rake.
“Get ready to pour,” he heard one man say.
“I guess they’re nothing but chemists,” thought Larry. “They probably have a new invention, and want to get it in working order secretly to keep it from other people. I guess there’s no mystery about this.” But Larry did not know what the next development was to be.
CHAPTER XXII
TRAPPING A THIEF
As he watched he heard the men moving quickly about in the room below. Then a brighter glow suffused the apartment and Larry, looking through the crack, saw that one man had what seemed to be an iron pot filled with a gleaming mass.
“Steady now!” said someone in a low tone.
Larry was all impatience to observe what would come next. He strained his eyes to see better. He drew himself along the floor.
This last move was an unfortunate one. Larry’s foot scraped along on the bare boards and his hand moved a chair slightly. In the silence it sounded quite loud.