Still, it was interesting to watch the skill and intuition of the
smoke-eaters as they took in the situation and almost instantly
seemed to be able to cope with it.
Sudden and well-planned though the incendiary assault had been, it
was not many minutes before it was completely under control. Men
in rubber coats and boots were soon tramping through the water-
soaked rooms of Warrington. Windows were cracked open and the air
in the rooms was clearing.
We followed in cautiously after one of the firemen. Everywhere was
the penetrating smell of burnt wood and cloth. In the corner was
the safe, still hot and steaming. It had stood the strain. But it
showed marks of having been tampered with.
"Somebody used a 'can-opener' on it," commented Garrick, looking
at it critically and then ruefully at the charred wreck of his
optophone that had tumbled in the ashes of the pile of books under
which it had been hidden, "Yes, that was the scheme they must have
evolved after their midnight conference,--a robbery masked by a
fire to cover the trail, and perhaps destroy it altogether.
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