Doc Savage - The Derrick Devil Part 15

"d.a.m.ned if I ain't a tough hombre!" said the burly fellow casually. "I shoot one guy and scare another one to death!"

DOC SAVAGE, un.o.bserved, noted all of this from the top of the stairs. This was something of an accomplishment, because one raider had his eye and his rifle trained on the stairs, just on the chance that some one might appear there. But he did not see the tiny periscope, the little portable instrument, which Doc Savage always carried and which he was now using.

The burly man threw out his chest and stamped across the floor, manner reminiscent of the fierceness attributed to the pirates of olden days. He confronted the proprietor.

"This is my day to kill men!" he yelled. "Where's your chief?"

"He ain't here!" gulped the proprietor.

"I didn't ask you that!" The burly man lifted his rifle.

The other man sank to the floor.

"Don't-don't!" he screamed. "I don't know where the boss is! But I can take you to the girl, Vida Carlaw!"

The burly man shoved his head forward and roared, "What was that last you said?""I can take you to Vida Carlaw!"

"Well, d.a.m.n me!" howled the Tant outlaw. "Won't Tant be tickled to see her! He thinks she's dead! He's been madder'n a skinned cat over it!"

"She's upstairs!" gulped the frightened proprietor.

The man led the way to the stairs at the top of which Doc Savage stood. The proprietor's knees quaked, until he had to hold onto things as he pa.s.sed them to keep from falling down.

Any one who had observed the entire fight would not have blamed him for his fear, either. He was in the clutches of men so calloused that they would kill for no more reason than to be doing something dramatic.

Doc Savage backed away-and things went wrong. There was a sliding noise and a click, and there was across the head of the stairs, with embarra.s.sing suddenness, a panel of steel.

Attached in some way to the steps, no doubt, it closed automatically when the wrong stair tread was stepped upon. Doc knew, instinctively, which one it was-the third from the top-but it was too late to do anything about it.

He was trapped. Men below had heard the click.

"What's that?" the burly fellow snarled. "Get up there, you men, with lights! Keep your guns ready! Shoot anybody that moves!'

They started up the stairway, rifles ready.

DOC SAVAGE had no chance whatever against the men coming up the stairs. True, he had overcome half a dozen earlier in the evening, but that had been by taking them unexpectedly. The men approaching now were ready for trouble.

The bronze man stretched out his arms, and was able to put a hand against each wall of the narrow hall. He stripped off his shoes and socks, stuffed them into his pockets, then put his hands against the wall, swung up, and put a foot against each wall.

By a series of gymnastic efforts, employing his tremendous strength, he climbed upward and forward until he was close to the roof of the hallway, out over the stairs.

Men coming up the stairs would naturally have their eyes on the tread and the door at the top. To see Doc where he crouched, they would have to look straight up, and they weren't likely to do that.

They came to the door, and kicked and wrenched at it.

"Oughta be back doors!" they declared, and went around to hunt for them.

There was shouting. Two shots were fired. Then Johnny and Vida Carlaw were led outside. A few shots were fired at random into the roadhouse, to keep those inside from getting brave.

Doc got down from his perch over the stairs during the shooting, and eased out.

The raiders were questioning the proprietor of the Fujiyama.

"Where's your boss?"

"I told you I don't know!"

"You better know! It's the only thing that'll save your skin!"

Doc Savage eased away from the vicinity and ran with great speed to the spot where he and Johnny had left their car. From the rear, the bronze man extracted a small fibroid box, to which were affixed two substantialthumbscrew clamps. Doc took this back to the roadhouse.

The raiders were still questioning the proprietor. They had loaded guns jammed into his face. "Where's this guy who's layin' things on Tant? Who is he?"

Doc found the cars in which the raiders had come, big, fast tourings. He approached them, his box ready, the clamps distended. He got down on all fours and reached under the nearest car, his purpose being to affix the box to the underside of the cha.s.sis, where it would not be discovered.

A flashlight splashed over him. A gun prodded him in the back.

"You don't think we'd leave these cars unguarded, did you?" a voice asked, harshly.

DOC SAVAGE lay perfectly still. Any movement on his part might persuade the gunman to shoot.

"Come out!" said the fellow.

Doc came out. It was a relief that the gunman pointed his revolver at Doc's chest, because the bronze man wore a chain mail unders.h.i.+rt which would keep out revolver bullets.

"Whew!" The gunman's eyes bulged when he saw whom he had caught. He howled at his companions, "C'mere, quick!"

They came running and stood about Doc, squinting at him as if he were something new in the form of mankind. One reached forward gingerly and punched and pinched the bronze man.

"Man alive!" the fellow exclaimed. "Feel them muscles! That guy is made of bronze!"

The burly leader came close to Doc, but his manner was not so boisterous now. The man, however, was not all bluff; rather, he was a genuinely tough guy who knew when a loud mouth would be effective and when it wouldn't.

"This is a h.e.l.l of a note!" he told Doc. "You're the last guy we wanted to catch!"

Bony Johnny murmured, "A Machiavellianism!"

"Look!" The burly man registered great rage. "He's been spouting them jawbreakers since we caught him!

What's that word mean?"

"Johnny does not believe you did not want to catch me," Doc said.

"And why the h.e.l.l should we want you?" roared the burly man. "You're after the guy who's trying to pull this big oil field steal, ain't you? So're we! Why? Because the mug is tryin' to frame the blame onto Tant! We're fightin' the same mug!"

Doc said, "I am also after Tant."

"Yeah, that's the trouble!" The man eyed Doc hopefully. "Why don't you just concentrate first on catchin' this other guy?"

Doc did not reply.

Johnny said, "We're ambidexterous!"

"I'll look that one up," said the burly man, "if Tant's got a dictionary around."

They searched Doc, expressing wonder when they found he carried no gun, commenting curiously over the contents of the remarkable vest of pockets when they found it, and especially exclaiming over the bulletproof undergarment."He let 'imself be caught!" yelled the man who had captured Doc. "He done it on purpose! I'm in favor of lettin'

'im go!"

"We'll see what Tant says."

"You gonna take 'im to Tant?"

"Think I want Tant to shoot me? Savage don't know who Tant really is."

They got their cars onto the road and drove fast. Pretty Vida Carlaw sat between two men, to whom she was handcuffed, and watched the road listlessly. There was no chance for her to talk because they had used a sponge gag. Doc Savage and Johnny were tied.

"We're goin' to a place where it's safe to telephone Tant," said the leader. "It's a hang-out we use sometimes. We want to find out what Tant wants done with you."

DOC SAVAGE, after a time, asked, "How did Tant get involved in this?"

The burly man scowled at Doc. "Reckon it won't hurt to tell you. Tant is a guy with a rep, see. This bird, this guy who can control them red devil things, got in touch with Tant and wanted Tant to join up with 'im. You savvy by now what's behind this, don't you?"

"The red monster method of murder is going to be used to kill off and frighten oil men," the man of bronze said, "and to cause so much trouble that the oil operators will be broke financially, or scared out, and will sell out their holdings cheaply. The plan is to buy up these leases, or take them over whenever possible."

The burly man nodded. "It don't sound so big when you tell it casual like that. But it is big! Take that Sands-Carlaw-Hill lease alone! It's worth a million or two the minute that wildcat well hits oil, and everybody knows it is!"

Doc Savage was silent for a time. The cars were traveling fast, and swinging wide of Tulsa, following side roads.

"If this fellow got in touch with Tant," Doc said finally, "how does it come that Tant does not know his ident.i.ty?"

"The fellow was no sucker," retorted the Tant outlaw. "He used a go-between and a regular system, like as if he was mixed up in a s.n.a.t.c.h racket and contacting a go-between. Tant never got a whiff of who he was!"

The cars began to head into the Osage oil field country. They pa.s.sed trucks, nitro wagons, touring and roadsters, cars ranging from big imported jobs to the smallest "whoopies." There was a lot of activity in the district. Indian Dome Field was not far distant, Doc realized.

"Them man-eatin' red jellyfish outta the ground has sure got the oil fields around here worked up," a man offered.

One fellow, in the front seat, had been prying into the box which Doc Savage had been on the point of attaching to the underside of their car.

"Whatcha know!" this man e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "This durn thing seems to be a radio transmitter! I know a little about radio. He was gonna use a direction finder to spot this radio set, and keep track of us that way. Whatcha know!"

"I know I wish you'd clam up!" he was told.

THE car was traversing a deserted-looking road. Headlights heaved up ahead, spilling light across a brush patch, and proved to be a truck with rear wheels in the ditch, and two men working around with shovels. Its load was canvas-covered.The truck was askew across the road, and had the thoroughfare blocked, but it was evident that the driver of the truck could back slightly and let them past without jeopardizing its own chances of escaping.

"Hey!" yelled the leader of the Tant outlaw squad. "How 'bout lettin' us past, buddy?"

The two men with shovels walked around to the front of their truck.

"You'll be asking Saint Peter that same question dang quick, feller!" one yelled. Then they both jumped behind the truck.

"Hey!" howled the Tant man. "What's-"

The tarpaulin cover slid off the load of the truck, which was nearly a dozen men, all armed with rifles.

Chapter XVII. THE TANK TERROR.

A TANT man who had not gotten a good look at proceedings, because he was sitting in the back of the car, called, "Say, who do them guys think they are?"

"Imagine they know!" said the burly Tant lieutenant, hoa.r.s.ely. "They ain't none of Tant's men! They ain't law!

They've gotta belong to the crowd that's framin' Tant-"

A rifle whacked from the truck, and its bullet came into the car and made a small fountain of crimson come out of a man's leg. The cars were not armored, so high-powered slugs would riddle them. Bullets began to knock out the window gla.s.s.

Swearing, the outlaws piled out of their cars. They had nerve, and were not afraid of a fight. And they had plenty of firearms.

Doc rolled out of the truck with the others, on the side of the machine opposite the truck. Johnny did likewise, and the girl. It was Doc who doused the lights.

That dousing of the lights undoubtedly saved the situation. It left only the truck lights, which were pointed out over the field.

Doc rolled madly, a bit of car window gla.s.s between his hands. He located the girl.

"Still!" he directed, and tried to cut her free.

Men were charging, firing as they came, from the truck.

"Johnny!" Doc called, his remarkable voice still calm.

"I'm O. K.!" yelled Johnny. "Cutting myself loose with a piece of window gla.s.s!"

That was not exactly the truth. Johnny had a piece of gla.s.s, but he was tied in such a manner that he could not use it. Johnny wanted Doc to get clear. He held his breath, for Doc was hard to deceive. But the bronze man scuttled away in the night, carrying the girl.