The Bradys and the Girl Smuggler | Page 7

passed through the pair as the falling car went
plunging down at lightning speed.
They expected to get dashed to death at the bottom as they went flying
down past the different floors, and heard a fiendish chuckle from the
Frenchman above their heads.
Like rats in a trap, the two detectives were held so they could do
nothing to aid themselves.
All they could do was to wait for the final crash, and visions of the
wrecked car and their bodies crushed to a pulp flashed across their
minds.
The desperation of their situation was appalling.
The speed of their fall took their breath away and both instinctively
grasped the sides of the car and clung to it tenaciously.
Down three stories they plunged.
Then there suddenly sounded a sharp "click."
The car paused, slid a few feet, then came to a sudden stop.
At the last moment the clutches flew out and tightened on the pilot rods,
holding the falling car in midair.
The sudden stopping hurled the detectives to the floor, but they quickly
scrambled to their feet, overjoyed at their salvation.
For an instant neither could speak.

To be so suddenly snatched from the very jaws of death was such a
strain upon their nerves that they could hardly stand it.
Old King Brady was the first to recover, and glancing upward he saw
that their enemy had disappeared from the beam overhead.
"By thunder!" he exclaimed. "La Croix is baffled!"
"I never expected such good luck," replied Harry, delightedly.
"The car is holding, all right."
"Yes, but how are we to get out of it?"
They were caught midway between the second and third floors.
But the parting of the cable had been detected by the engineer and the
conductor of an ascending car in the next shaft as the falling elevator
flew down past him, and help was coming.
As the news spread, people flocked out in the hall, filled with dread lest
the two officers had been killed.
They peered down the shafts through the grill work and when some
saw the car, a shout of relief went up, and a man yelled at the Bradys:
"Were you hurt?"
"No. We are all right, so far."
"Wait, and we'll have the car lowered."
Up came men with ropes, and the end of a line was passed down from
the floor above the car and Old King Brady made it fast.
When the danger of the car falling was obviated, another gang secured
the cut cable, passed it over the drum, brought it down to the roof of the
car and spliced it to the piece remaining there.

The elevator was then lowered to the ground floor and opening the door
the detectives passed out, none the worse for their adventure.
A crowd of anxious people surrounded them, but they quickly avoided
them by dodging into another car and saying to the conductor:
"Top floor--quick!"
Bang! went the gate and up they shot.
Reaching the upper story the detectives made a rush for the room La
Croix had been occupying and found it empty.
"The birds have flown!" muttered Old King Brady in disgust.
"No wonder. We were caged up in the elevator so long they had ample
time."
"They may have left some clew behind. Let us search the room."
This was done, and in the slop basin they found a letter torn up in small
pieces.
Harry carefully gathered up the fragments and put them in his
pocketbook.
"It's written in French," he commented, "but it may be of some use. I'll
put the pieces together and we'll have it translated."
They failed to find anything else and went downstairs.
Returning to the clerk, they asked if La Croix had been seen.
"He did not come out this way," replied the man, shaking his head.
"Sure?"
"Positive!"

"Well, he and his family are gone."
"Ain't they up in their room?"
"No."
"That's queer."
"Not at all. You heard how the elevator fell with us?"
"Yes."
"Well, La Croix saw us and cut the cable."
"Good Lord! Tried to kill you?"
"Exactly. That's why they fled."
"What a villain that fellow must be."
"Is there any other exit from here?"
"Yes, indeed. I'll have a boy show you."
He rang a hand-bell and a uniformed boy approached, to whom he gave
an order and the Bradys were escorted away.
By questioning the help they soon found that the smuggler, his wife
and his daughter had left the hotel by another exit.
A policeman in the street had seen them hire a cab and drive away
through Broadway at a rapid pace.
Unable to learn anything else, the detectives went home. They had very
comfortable apartments and spent the day there piecing out the torn
letter so