Gold Dust and Star Dust by Cyril G Page 2

  produce a magnifying glass and begin a long

  not trouble you any further. No doubt you

  hunt for fingerprints, footmarks and other

  have other business to occupy your time. I

  clues, but I was doomed to disappointment.

  will notify you when I have located the gold.”

  After a very casual inspection of the room, he The Secretary looked at Corwin as if

  turned to the four guards.

  he could hardly believe his ears. Evidently he

  “I presume that you are in command,”

  was not accustomed to being dismissed in

  he said briskly, addressing one of the four,

  such a summary manner.

  whose yellow tunic was bordered with blue.

  “But, really, Dr. Corwin,” he

  “Yes, sir,” answered the sergeant,

  Amazing Stories

  6

  saluting.

  “I can’t say, sir,” replied the sergeant.

  “In that event,” said Corwin, seating

  “You see, it didn’t move or flicker at all but himself in one of the chairs, “will you kindly just got brighter and brighter until we could state briefly the circumstances surrounding the hardly bear to look at it. Blake heard our

  disappearance of the gold? Please omit remarks and came over to see what we were nothing of importance but endeavor to refrain looking at. Just as he got to the window, the from the unnecessary loquacity which seems

  light went out and at the same instant there

  to be characteristic of the Treasury officials.”

  was a most tremendous crash, followed by a

  “I will try to do so, sir,” answered the

  rumble.”

  sergeant, stiffly, though his eyes twinkled at

  “A crash!” Corwin exclaimed. “What

  Corwin’s analysis of their superior, and the

  sort of crash, and where?”

  glee of the other three was obvious.

  “Right here in the room, sir,” replied

  “We accompanied the shipment from

  the sergeant. “It sounded like a lot of heavy the Mint last night, sir,” the guard went on, boxes rolling down a flight of stairs. The

  “arriving here at half past six. After the cases sound got fainter and fainter and then died

  had been counted by Mr. Cogswell and away altogether. At the first bang we all myself, I signed a receipt for them and he left, turned around and saw—well, sir, I don’t

  locking the door on the outside.

  know as I can explain properly what we saw.”

  “Our orders were not to let the cases

  “Do your best, but make it short,” said

  out of our sight, although it’s hard to see how Corwin, encouragingly.

  anything could happen to them in here.

  “Well, sir, don’t blame me if it sounds

  However, I decided to take no chances and

  crazy, but we saw the cases, only we couldn’t ordered Blake here to sit on one of the chests.

  see them. They were tumbling all over each

  The other two watched the windows and I

  other, but they were standing perfectly still.

  spent most of the night walking round and

  They looked misty, kind of, and for a moment

  round the room.

  I could see the gold inside quite distinctly.

  “Just before daybreak———”

  And next thing we knew, they weren’t there at

  “Time!” snapped Corwin.

  all. That’s everything, sir.”

  “Beg pardon, sir!” said the sergeant,

  “4:45 a. m. as near as I can tell.”

  “Go on,” ordered Corwin, “and please

  try to be accurate.”

  “Well, sir, at about 4:45 a. m. one of

  the men who was watching the windows

  called me over to see a funny light in the sky.

  It was a narrow band, almost like a

  searchlight, only it didn’t spread at all. It was bluish in color and passed directly overhead, running east and west.”

  “In which direction did it seem to

  originate?” queried Corwin, leaning forward. I was wondering what possible bearing a light

  in the sky could have on the stolen gold, but I WATCHED Corwin during this amazing

  my friend seemed to be intensely interested.

  farrago, expecting every moment that he

  Gold Dust and Star Dust

  7

  would cut the sergeant short. Even a child

  room, holding them close to the floor. Cover

  could see that the whole story was a tissue of the whole area in regular bands.”

  lies, very unskillfully designed to conceal the real facts. No doubt existed in my mind that

  I FOLLOWED his instructions without

  the four guards were in collusion with the

  protest, although I was completely at a loss to actual thieves. A duplicate key, a gang of men understand what he was attempting to do.

  to carry the chests to a plane, hidden at a

  Corwin made no comment as I carried the

  distance—why the whole plot was obvious!

  coils backwards and forwards until I reached

  But to my surprise, Corwin seemed to

  the center of the floor.

  be paying the closest attention to the

  “Ah! Stop there!” he cried, excitedly.

  sergeant’s wild story, and several times he

  “A little to the left. No, not quite so far. Now, nodded his head as though in approval, just a little this way. There, stop there. Leave especially at the mention of the beam of light the coils lying and come here.”

  in the sky and at the impossible account of the When I donned the receivers, my ears

  disappearance of the gold.

  were assailed by a high pitched singing. When

  “Thank you, Sergeant,” he said, when

  Corwin picked up the exploring coils as he

  the other had ceased speaking. “Your called them, and moved them in various conciseness and accuracy are most refreshing.

  directions, I noticed that the sound grew

  Now, Frank, please give me a hand with the

  fainter, being loudest at a point near the center apparatus.”

  of the room and about three feet above the

  The various appliances which Corwin

  floor.

  had brought from his laboratory included four

  “Beg, pardon, sir,” remarked the

  large coils of wire, fastened together in pairs, sergeant, who had been watching Corwin’s

  each pair being provided with terminals or

  antics with great interest, “that’s where the binding posts. There was also a pair of boxes were piled.”

  receivers of the radio type, an amplifier and

  “So I judged,” replied Corwin, shortly.

  the necessary high and low tension batteries

  “They are still here. You were quite correct

  for its operation.

  when you said that they did not appear to

  Corwin set up the amplifier and move.”

  connected one of the pairs of coils to it. The

  “Still here?” questioned the sergeant,

  other pair were attached to a handle about

  gaping.

  eight feet long and were also connected to the

  “Yes, right here in the middle of the

  amplifier by means of a long, flexible cable.

  room and also a million miles or more away,

  When the connections were complete,

  maybe,” answered Corwin calmly, as he

  Corwin put on the head receiver and began to

  turned to dismantle his apparatus.

  adjust the rheostats of the amplifier. A puzzled Familiar with his methods, I knew

  expression passed over his features and he

  Corwin too well to bother him with questions.

  rubbed his finger up and down his long nose

  He would explain when he was ready to

  thoughtfully. Presently his face cleared and he explain; not a moment before. Although I had

  nodded vigorously.

  gathered nothing from our visit to the store-

  “Take those exploring coils, Frank,”

  room save the mere skeleton of a theory,

  he ordered, pointing to the pair which were

  Corwin, I knew, had done much more. The

  provided with a handle. “I want you to carry

  satisfaction on his gaunt face betrayed the fact them backwards and forwards across the that he regarded the “job” as practically

  Amazing Stories

  8

  finished.

  bearing this had upon the Rhodesian gold, I

  “We are going for a little walk,” he

  failed to see.

  remarked to the sergeant. “My friend and I

  “Because, if you do, I should advise

  have never seen the hangars and the you to sell,” Corwin went on, without waiting opportunity is too good to miss. Kindly have

  for an answer. “Vrilol will soon be as obsolete these boxes put in my plane. By the way,

  as gasoline.”

  sergeant, I regret that it will be necessary for

  “How so?” I asked. “Some new

  you and your men to remain here until this

  discovery of yours going to replace it?”

  evening to guard the gold. You must not

  “It is quite evident that you do not

/>   forget that it is still there in the middle of the keep abreast of the times, my dear Frank.

  room, even though you can’t see it! Come

  Surely you have heard that the Marconi

  along, Frank.”

  interests have at last perfected Beam Power

  And he walked out, leaving the guards

  Transmission. In three months’ time passenger open-mouthed.

  planes will draw their power from the ether. In When we were out of ear-shot, I could

  fact the first Beam plane will cross the

  contain myself no longer.

  Atlantic from here to-morrow.”

  “Your acting was admirable, Hil,” I

  burst out. “What a splendid detective you AS we were talking, we approached a large would have made! You deceived those guards

  building at some distance from the hangars

  completely. Why, when you were pretending

  and about four hundred yards west of the

  to go through some mysterious rigmarole with

  stone store-room. In front of this building was the amplifier, you even deceived me for a

  a double row of steel towers, each bearing a

  moment.”

  highly polished globe or rather ellipsoid of

  Corwin stared at me as though I had

  copper.

  taken leave of my senses.

  “The Paris beam station,” exclaimed

  “Acting! Deceiving! Rigmarole!” he Corwin. “The first of its kind. Want to go up exclaimed. “I am afraid I don’t quite get you.”

  and have a look? I happen to know the

  “You certainly gave the sergeant a engineer in charge.”

  Roland for his Oliver,” I went on, laughing,

  My friend was greeted with the utmost

  “with your jargon about the gold being right

  cordiality by the engineer who was

  there and a million miles away. And then, to

  superintending the final adjustments of the

  make them stay to stand guard over nothing!

  great plant. He escorted us around the

  What a joke!”

  building, explaining everything with a flood

  “Oh! I see what you mean,” replied

  of technicalities, which left me gasping for

  Corwin, his face clearing. “Yes, very clever of breath, but which my friend seemed to

  me, wasn’t it? Ha-ha! By the way, you don’t

  understand perfectly.

  happen to own any stock in the Vrilol

  “This is the Generator Room,” he

  company, do you? That might make a explained. “Eight Sawchuk Alternators direct difference.”

  driven by Ralston High Pressure Vrilol

  Now it was my turn to stare. As it

  Turbines. Those are the Oscillators, the

  happened, I did not own any stock in the great Modulators and the Mixers”—he pointed to a

  corporation which had the monopoly of bank of huge vacuum tubes, similar to the Vrilol, the universal fuel for airplane engines, tubes in our television amplifiers, but fully and I had often regretted the fact, but what

  twenty feet in height.

  Gold Dust and Star Dust

  9

  “You see, Frank,” remarked Corwin,

  coincidence. It would almost appear so, yet

  “the Power Beam is only about ten feet wide

  the idea was so unreasonable, that I could not where it leaves the station and not over fifty bring myself to entertain it.

  feet wide at Paris. It is possible to confine the During the short walk to the hangars

  waves to a narrow path by utilizing the and the flight back to his house, Corwin did principle of interference or heterodyning, as it not speak and I refrained from intruding upon is called. Have you given the plant a try-out?”

  the mine of thought in which he buried

  he asked, turning to the engineer.

  himself and from which, by past experience, I

  “We turned on the power for a few

  believed that he would emerge with what he

  minutes this morning and ran a thousand horse sought.

  motor in Paris successfully, but the main

  circuit breaker blew out after about three WHEN we entered the laboratory, Corwin minutes. We’ve been readjusting it today.”

  aroused himself from his brown study and

  “At what time did the breaker go out?”

  clapped me on the back.

  asked Corwin.

  “Well, Frank,” he cried cheerfully,

  “It would be about a quarter before

  “another little job finished. What did you

  five, I guess. It was a pretty sight while the think of it?”

  test lasted. The ionization of the air particles

  “Think of it!” I repeated. “What can I

  in the path of the beam lights up the country think except that you have failed?”

  for a mile or more on each side. The pilots

  “Ah! You think so?” he smiled, and

  won’t have any trouble in keeping their course walking across to the telephone, dialed a

  at night, even without the automatic controls number.

  for which we have you to thank, Doctor!”

  “Mr. Cogswell? Yes, this is Corwin

  My growing feeling that Corwin had

  speaking. Will you kindly be at the store-room not suggested visiting the new Beam Station

  at ten o’clock to receive [he Rhodesian Gold?

  simply to satisfy my curiosity, became a What’s that? No. no. I haven’t got it back, certainty with the Engineer’s description of

  because it’s still there. Oh! Yes. You might

  the morning test. This, then, was the strange bring four more guards. It will hardly do to

  light which the Treasury guards had seen and

  ask the same men to take duty for another

  which I had put down as a deliberate invention night.”

  designed to conceal their complicity in the

  As he hung the receiver on the hook I

  crime.

  could hear Cogswell’s voice, shrill with

  Corwin, with his scientific knowledge

  excitement, pouring forth a stream of

  and sense of logic, had instantly jumped at the unanswered questions.

  correct explanation, but why he should have

  “Now then, Frank,” said Corwin,

  wasted time in checking the accuracy of his

  perching himself on his favorite stool, “I take theory was quite beyond me. The appearance

  it from your remark about failure that you are of the beam of light was an unfortunate not quite clear on some points. Forgive my accident which served to distract the attention seeming discourtesy, but you know I never

  of the guards just at the moment when the

  like to talk until I have finished with a job.

  robbery took place; nothing more. Surely Now I’m ready to answer any questions you Corwin did not suppose that the disappearance care to ask.”

  of the gold at the exact moment when the

  “Well, in the first place, what was the

  beam was shut off, was anything but a contraption with the amplifier and the coils?”

  Amazing Stories

  10

  I queried.

  “But I still don’t understand, Hil,” I

  “Nothing very mysterious about that,

  protested, utterly mystified. “You say the gold Frank,” he replied. “It was simply a Kelvin

  is still there. If so, why can’t we see and feel Balance. One of the tubes in the amplifier is it.”

  arranged to deliver an oscillating current at

  “Simply because it has fallen through

  audio frequency; that was the shrill whistle

  what is vulgarly known as the Fourth

  you heard. The four coils are inductances Dimension,” stated Corwin, calmly.