Читать книгу Hidden Foes; Or, A Fatal Miscalculation онлайн

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“There must be a gang at work, then.”

“It appears so.”

“Did the victim in each case experience the same sensations as those described by Wagner?”

“Very similar, though the circumstances were not always the same. All agree, however, that they suddenly became unconscious from an unknown cause, while talking with a person who had accosted them on one pretense or another. One stock broker was robbed in that way while alone in his business office. The police are all at sea, and the community is on nettles as to who will be the next victim of the mysterious and elusive plunderers. That’s why Gleason sent secretly for me to aid him.”

“How do you size it up, chief?” Patsy inquired. “What do you make of it?”

“Well, take the case of Wagner,” Carter replied. “He is very much mystified by the breath of air he felt on his face. His assailant’s lips were closed around a cigar, and Wagner is sure he could not have exhaled the breath he suddenly felt.”

“Surely not, chief, in that case,” said Patsy.

“Don’t be so sure of it,” Carter returned. “When a man confronts another and has a full-length cigar between his teeth, the outer end of it may be very near the other’s face.”