The Wire Devils

Chapter VI: Some of the Little Spiders

-VISOME OF THE LITTLE SPIDERS T HE Hawk reached the door, as Calhoun stepped into the corridor from the general office and passed by outside, evidently making for the main entrance of the building. He opened the door cautiously the width of a crack-and held it in that position. A man's voice, low, guarded, from the corridor, but from the opposite direction to that taken by Calhoun, reached him. "Here I Calhoun! Here I" Calhoun halted. There was silence for an instant , then Calhoun retraced his steps and passed by the door again. There were a few hurried words in a whisper, which the Hawk could not catch; and then the footsteps of both men retreated along the corridor. The Hawk opened the door wider, and peered out. The two men were well down the corridor now; and now, as they passed the single incandescent that lighted that end of the hall, Calhoun's companion reached up and turned it out. "Why, say-thanks!" murmured the Hawk, and stepped out into the corridor himself. 88 SOME OF THE LITTI..E SPIDERS 89 It was now quite dark at that end, and the men had disappeared. The Hawk moved silently and swiftly along, keeping close to the wall. Presently he caught the sound of their voices again, and nodded to himself. He remembered that in going out this way yesterday he had noticed that the corridor, for some architectural reason, made a sharp, right-angled jut just before it gave on the side-street entrance. He stepped now across to the other side of the corridor , and stole forward to a position where he could look diagonally past the projecting angle of the jut. The two men, standing there, showed plainly in the light from a street arc that shone into the entranceway through the large plate-glass square over the door. The Hawk, quite secure from observation, nestled back against the wall-and an ominous smile settled on the Hawk's lips. The face of Calhoun's companion was covered with a mask. "There's nothing to be leery about here," the man was saying. "There's no one goes out or comes in this way at night. Well, it's a nice mess, eh? So the old Shylock called the turn on you, did he ?" There seemed to be a helpless note in Calhoun's voice. He passed his hand heavily across his eyes. "What's the meaning of this?" he cried out. "What do you know about what happened in there ?" "Nothing much," said the other coolly. "Except that I'm the guy that pinched the swag, and hit Kirschell that welt on the head." uyoul" Calhoun involuntarily stepped back. "Yes, sure-me!" The man shrugged his shoul.. 90 THE WIRE DEVILS ders. "Me and a pal who was outside. He's away now putting the cash box where it won't come to any harm-savvy? He'll be back pretty soon." The Hawk's lips moved. "Number Three and Number Seven," whispered the Hawk gently. "1-1 don't understand," said Calhoun dazedly. "Then why are you telling me this. And why are you staying here? And how did you know that Kirschell accused me of being in it?" "That's another one that's easy," announced the man evenly. "Because it was part of the game to make him think so." Calhoun seemed to stiffen up. "What! You mean, you--" "You're getting itI" said the other shortly. "But you'd better wait until you get it all before you start spitting your teeth out! Mabbe you've heard of a little interference with the telegraph wires, and a few small jobs pulled off around here where some innocent parties accidentally got croaked? Ah-you have, eh! Well, that's where you come in, Calhoun. We want you-and when we want anything, we get it I See ? We knew about that note, and we've been expecting the railroad crowd to wake up some time, and we had you picked out to place our bets on against them. They woke up to-day and began to nose over the line. It ain't likely to do them much good, but there's a chance-and we ain't taking chances. We don't want much from you, Calhoun, just a little thing, and it'll bring you more money SOME...