"
The last remark was directed quietly at the doubting detective.
He had nothing to say. We stood in awe-struck amazement as the
torch slowly, inexorably, traced a thin line along the edge of
the door.
Minute after minute sped by, as the line burned by the blowpipe
cut straight from top to bottom. It seemed hours to me. Was
Kennedy going to slit the whole door and let it fall in with a
crash?
No, I could see that even in his cursory examination of the door
he had gained a pretty good knowledge of the location of the
bolts imbedded in the steel. One after another he was cutting
clear through and severing them, as if with a superhuman knife.
What was going on on the other side of the door, I wondered. I
could scarcely imagine the consternation of the gamblers caught
in their own trap.
With a quick motion Kennedy turned off the acetylene and oxygen.
The last bolt had been severed. A gentle push of the hand, and he
swung the once impregnable door on its delicately poised hinges
as easily as if he had merely said, "Open Sesame." The robbers'
cave yawned before us.
We made a rush up the stairs. Kennedy was first, O'Connor next,
and myself scarcely a step behind, with the rest of O'Connor's
men at our heels.
I think we were all prepared for some sort of gun-play, for the
crooks were desperate characters, and I myself was surprised to
encounter nothing but physical force, which was quickly,
overcome.
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