Part 18 (1/2)

”There are wavy lines leading around back of the block,” said Marable, in answer to their questions.

The young man disappeared behind the block, and then he called to them excitedly to join him. Betty Young pressed closer, and finally slipped past the corpse and stood by her father.

Before her, she saw a large pool of black liquid. It had been hidden by the corner of the block, so that they had not noticed it, so busy were they looking at Rooney.

And there was a great cavity in the heart of the amber block. Pieces of the yellow brown ma.s.s lay about, as though they had fallen off and allowed the inky substance to escape.

”It's hardened or dried out in the air,” said Young.

”It looks like black lacquer,” said Betty.

The musky smell was stronger here. The great amber block seemed to stifle them with its size.

”Our chipping and hammering and the heat of the radiator causing it to expand must have forced out the sepia, or whatever it is,” said Young.

There was a disappointed note in his voice ”I had hoped that inside the liquid we would discover a fossil of value,” he went on.

Marable looked at Betty Young. They stared at one another for some seconds, and both knew that the same thought had occurred to the other.

The frightful eyes--had they then been but figments of the imagination?

Marable began looking around carefully, here and there. Betty realized what he was doing, and she was frightened. She went to his side. ”Oh, be careful,” she whispered.

”The giant block has been moved a little,” he replied, looking into her pretty face. ”Have you noticed that?”

Now that she was told to look, she could see the extremely heavy amber block was no longer in the position it had been in. Marks on the floor showed where it had been dragged or s.h.i.+fted from its original resting place.

Betty Young gasped. What force could be so powerful that it could even budge so many tons? A derrick had been used, and rollers placed under the block when men had moved it.

Reason tried to a.s.sert itself. ”It--it must have exploded. That would cause it to s.h.i.+ft,” she said faintly.

Marable shrugged. His examination was interrupted by the arrival of the museum's chemist, sent for by Young. The chemist took a sample of the black liquid for a.n.a.lysis. Reports were coming in from all over the museum, different departments declaring, one after another, that nothing had been disturbed or stolen from their sections.

Betty Young went again to Marable's side. She followed the direction of his eyes, and saw long, clawlike marks on the floor, radiating from the sepia.

”Doctor Marable,” she said, ”please don't--don't look any longer. Leave this terrible place for the day, anyway, until we see what happens in the next twenty-four hours.”

He smiled and shook his head. ”I must make a search,” he replied. ”My brain calls me a fool, but just the same, I'm worried.”

”Do you really think ...?”

He nodded, divining her thought. The girl s.h.i.+vered. She felt terror mounting to her heart, and the matter-of-fact att.i.tudes of the others in the great laboratory did not allay her fears.

Rooney's body was removed. The place was cleaned up by workmen, and Marable's search--if that was what his constant roving about the laboratory could be called--ceased for a time. The chemist's report came in. The black liquid was some sort of animal secretion, melonotic probably.

In spite of the fact that they had learned so many facts about the murder, they as yet had not solved the mystery. Who had murdered Rooney, and why? And where had his blood gone to? In no other rooms could be found any traces of a struggle.