criminals are generally the best liars, he had
Colonel Samons looked shocked. discovered.
“Murder, you say? And who was the victim?”
They were walking along towards
“A professor by the name of Scolar.
Kalvin Hall, Colonel Samons morose and
You’re probably acquainted with him.”
silent, walking between Kemper and Marco.
“Oh, yes,” Samons muttered. “Organic
Suddenly, Kemper spoke:
chemistry professor. You found the body in
“Marco, you’re holding out on me.
the coffin, I presume?”
Who is the killer?”
Marco nodded. “And have you
Marco pursed his lips and uttered a
discovered where the coffin came from?”
long, low whistle. “How the hell should I
Secret Agent X
10
know? But just permitting a guess, I think
was surprised to see the Chinese student, Hsin,
there is one person whom I should nominate
and with him a bespectacled and determined
for the electric chair! But isn’t that our friend
little man introduced as Mr. Welsh of the
Mundy coming towards us?”
history department.
Marco had immediately recognized the
Dr. Koslof waved them all to chairs
bow-legged figure as that of the campus and, while he was passing his flat black constable. As soon as he had sighted Marco,
Russian cigarettes among his guests, he said,
Mundy came running towards them. “Mr. “Mr. Marco, have you ever heard of that Marco!” he gasped out. “I’ve gone and done
interesting little mystery that happened here
it! I’ve let him get away—slip right through
about a week ago? Our local paper
my fingers by the damnedest trick you can
dramatically labeled it ‘The Case of Six
imagine!”
Coffins.’”
“Let who slip?” rapped Marco.
Marco shook his head. “Please
“The killer, Professor Letchman! Dr.
enlighten me. You think it may have some
Durn revived him soon as he got him to the
bearing on the murder of Professor Scolar?”
’firmary. The doc goes out of the room a
Dr. Koslof nodded. “The local
minute, and what should happen but when I
undertaker was expecting a shipment of six
turns around Letchman had beat it. The caskets. They were to come overland by truck.
window was open and he had vanished. Oh,
Truck, truckster, caskets, and all disappeared.
I’ll lose my job!” he moaned. “I guess it’s my
That’s all there is to it.”
rheumatics. Gettin’ too old for this hectic
“Not by a ding sight!” exclaimed
business.”
Mundy. “That ain’t the third of it. The driver
“It looks bad, all right,” said Marco.
of the truck was a man by the name of
Then seeing the look of dismay on Mundy’s
Winters. He had been seen in the line-up?”
face, he hastily added, “I meant bad for
“You mean he had a police record?”
Letchman, you understand. No one could asked Marco.
blame you. Why, I don’t suspect Letchman
“That’s exactly what I mean!”
any more that I do the colonel, here.”
“You see. Mr. Marco,” said
Colonel Samons snorted.
bespectacled Mr. Welsh, “it is logical to
“Thanks, sir, for makin’ light of my
assume that the coffin in which the body of
fault,” said Mundy, fervently. “But what I was
Professor Scolar was found was one of those
sent out here to tell you was that Dr. Koslof is
stolen ones.”
callin’ a conference. He would like to talk to
Colonel Samons slapped his thigh. “I
you about somethin’. Him and I got an idea,
have it! Find this Winters and you’ll have the
that may help out. ’Course Colonel Samons
killer!”
and Mr. Kemper can come along if they
“Tell you what I think,” said Constable
want.”
Mundy. “I think that when I pick up Professor
“Try and keep me out,” said Kemper.
Letchman, I’ll have the murderer. Looks
Marco shrugged. “Where do we go?”
mighty suspicious for him to jump out the
“The physics building, sir,” replied window in Dr. Durn’s office.”
Mundy. “You can see the light shinin’ from
“I think not.”
his office window through them trees. You’ll
“All heads turned towards Mr. Hsin.
find Dr. Koslof a pretty smart man.”
The Chinese, who evidently was a strong
There were two other men in the believer in the value of silence, was grinning Russian’s office when they got there. Marco
like a jack-o’-lantern. “I think not. Professor
Shrieking Coffins
11
Letchman very wise. Wise men keep on right
Letchman in it!”
side of the law. I think Professor Letchman
“Don’t worry,” Mr. Welsh sneered,
probably at home in his own bed.”
“you won’t!”
Dr. Koslof regarded Hsin through
Though somewhat puzzled by Welsh’s
squinted eyes. “We can find out at once. I
speech, Marco ran down the steps and
shall call Professor Letchman.” The Russian
rounded the corner of the physics building.
went to the phone that was located directly
Behind the building, sidewalks ended, and
behind Marco.
running became difficult because of the deep
From force of habit, Marco consulted
snow.
the open palm of his own left hand. Attached
For ten minutes, he weaved in and put
to the gold band of a large cameo ring that he
between buildings. Every shadow in the snow
always wore, was a small, convex mirror. he expected to reveal another coffin and some Marco used the mirror in many stage tricks. It
gruesome, once-living contents. He had just
was almost as good as having eyes in the back
skirted the university power house when he
of his head. He thought it extremely odd that
saw something that put coffins momentarily
Koslof dialed a number beginning with three.
out of his mind. Perhaps a hundred yards
But he was not at all surprised when Koslof
ahead of him, a tall figure wandered aimlessly
hung up to announce that Letchman had not
near a snow-laden clump of pines. Suddenly,
answered. He was about to question the from among the trees, a shadowy form Russian, when something happened that appeared—a man crouching in the attitude of knocked all thought from his head.
a hunting beast. The man sprang like a cat,
lighted upon the back of the tall man, and
OUT of the night, tocsining across the cold,
bowled him over.
black sky, came a soulless wail that ended
Marco shouted hoarsely. He started
abruptly in a dull, clumping sound.
across the snow, running, plowing through
Marco’s eyes flicked from one face t
o
deep drifts. He jerked out his automatic, fired
another. With the possible exception of Hsin
three times straight up in the air. The tall man
and Will Kemper, stark terror was written on
and his assailant rolled in the snow, arms and
every face.
legs tangling so that Marco dared not risk a
Marco found his tongue. “Is that the
shot. But as he approached, the shorter of the
noise, Mundy? Is that it? The sound you heard
two leaped to his feet. Marco fired low and
just before—”
missed. The man was gone running in his
“God, sir!” breathed Mundy. “It’s the
crouching attitude back through the clump of
very same!”
pines.
To a man, they sprang from their
Marco followed, saving his shots until
chairs and started through the door. The seven
he reached the open. Pine branches tore at his
men stood for a moment on the steps of the
clothes, deluged him with snow. Suddenly, he
physics building. Seven pairs of eyes scanned
broke into the open. The little man was ahead
the white campus, looking for the ugly, black,
of him, running along the sidewalk. Marco
and foreboding bulk of another coffin. But the
fired again at the man’s legs, saw him
white blanket was unmarred save for shadows
stumble, and fall forward. Had his shot
of snow-covered shrubbery.
landed? Then suddenly Marco stopped,
“Scatter!” Marco commanded. “You’ll
rubbed his eyes.
find another coffin somewhere not far away. I
The man had vanished! A manhole!
hope to heaven we don’t find Professor He saw the round black opening directly
Secret Agent X
12
ahead of him. Could it be that the man whom
the side wall was a small opening, large
he pursued had deliberately prepared this enough to permit a small person to pass avenue of escape?
through, but too small to permit Marco to
Marco approached the manhole, follow Hsin’s slayer. He saw, too, a black walking cautiously, lest his footsteps on the
hooded head, mere slits of eyes, and a hand
sidewalk warn the man in the steam tunnel
that held an automatic. Marco switched off his
below. He stooped to the manhole, realizing at
light, dropped flat on the floor, and rolled to
the moment what an excellent target his head
the other side of the tunnel. A bullet flattened
would make had the man in the tunnel wanted
against the side of the opposite wall. Marco
to shoot at him. He beamed his flashlight
retaliated with two quick shots that he hoped
down through the opening. Snowy footprints
found the opening and the sinister eyes that
on the floor below. Marco put out his light,
had watched him with intent to kill. A sharp,
dropped to the sidewalk, and let himself down
grating laugh echoed along the tunnel.
through the manhole. For an instant, he
“Another time, Marco!” a voice called.
flashed his light to determine which direction
Then there came the sound of running feet
the man had taken. Then he started up the dark
quickly diminishing into silence along the
tunnel.
passage ahead that was blocked off by the
Ahead of him came a steady hissing
coffin.
sound—the rush of steam, perhaps. Then he
Marco drew a little sigh. It was evident
came to a dead stop and flattened himself
that the masked man had followed Hsin into
against the wall. Something was moving just
the tunnel, entering by another manhole.
ahead of him—soft, padded footsteps. Marco
Perhaps the killer actually feared Marco.
inched his way forward, suppressing his Perhaps the killer was saving Marco for a breath, flash and automatic ready for instant
more horrible death. He shuddered as he
action.
thought of the coffin that bulked ahead of him.
A momentary flash of orange-red
Marco turned on his light, got up, and
flame, and the tunnel was filled with the roar
went over to the Chinese. Hsin was dead. Two
of a shot. Another and another shot crashed
of the masked man’s slugs had drilled his
out. A bullet struck the wall opposite Marco.
chest. Marco began a deliberate search of
Ahead of him, something struck the floor—a
Hsin’s garments. Two narrow knives of the
dull, slumping sound, like that of a body same pattern as the one that had been thrown falling. At the risk of drawing fire, Marco
at Will Kemper were tucked in the Oriental’s
pressed the switch of his flashlight. The sleeves. The inner pocket of his coat revealed passage ahead was clouded with escaping two narrow folded papers sealed with wax and steam, and beyond the cloud something bearing Chinese characters. These Marco put blocked the tunnel. A section of the concrete
into his own pocket. Then he got up and went
sidewalk and a battered mass of gray steel that
over to the coffin.
He realized that the heavy coffin must
But between Marco and the coffin was
have dropped from considerable height in
the form of a man. Blood crawled along on the
order to break through the sidewalk. It had
passage floor from beneath the body. Arms
struck one of the steam pipes and caused a
and legs twitched convulsively. The broad small leak. One end of the coffin was crimped, yellow face was twisted in agony. Hsin!
and the hinges had sprung beneath the strain.
He was about to attempt to pull the coffin
THEN Marco saw that between the coffin and
down where he could open it when his eyes
Shrieking Coffins
13
lighted on something else—a brown, steer-
you got down there?”
hide wallet lying on the floor near the coffin.
“Come down and give me a hand,”
Marco picked it up and unfolded it. It called Marco. “Here’s another hellish coffin contained a few bills, an identification card
and something else.”
that proclaimed the wallet the property of
Kemper’s legs dangled for a moment
Colonel Ramon Samons.
through the opening. Then he dropped to
“Samons!” Marco muttered. “Could he
Marco’s side. His startled eyes looked
have been the masked man and did he drop the
bewilderedly about the tunnel. “Hsin!” he
wallet in this passage, or did Hsin steal the
exclaimed. “What happened?”
wallet from Samons and drop it when he was
“Don’t ask questions. Give me a hand
shot?” If he knew that, he’d know enough to
with this coffin.”
hang somebody!
“Okeh. But take it easy. We don’t want
He was about to put Samon’s wallet in
the rest of this sidewalk down the back of our
his own pocket, when a small piece of paper
necks.”
dropped from one
of the compartments. He
They took hold of the coffin, one on
picked it up and examined it. The writing was
each side, tugged it away from its supporting
almost as puzzling to him as the characters on
piece of concrete, and brought it down to the
the paper he had taken from the body of Hsin.
floor. The lid pulled away easily. It contained
The scrap had apparently been torn from a
the twisted, horribly broken body of an old
larger piece of paper and was covered with
man whose cheeks were gray with a two days’
chemical symbols that had little meaning for
beard stubble.
Marco. But certainly, providing that the wallet
“God! Ifs Professor Brandon!”
had been stolen from Colonel Samons, this
exclaimed Kemper. “And,” he breathed in a
scrap from a chemical formula was the only
horrified whisper, “he must have been kept
thing that could have had enough value to
alive in that coffin for some time. He was
motivate theft.
always so careful, about his appearance. See
Marco folded the scrap of paper into a
what I mean?”
tiny square. Then he inserted his fingernail
Marco nodded. “The stubble on his
beneath the black cameo setting of the ring on
face. If it hadn’t been for the lining of the
his left hand. He flipped back the cameo and
coffin, he would have been smashed beyond
revealed a small compartment. He often used
recognition, I’m afraid. You see, in the
this compartment to conceal small objects that
previous instance, that of Professor Scolar’s
constituted parts of his sleight-of-hand murder, the coffin fell upon a snow-covered performance. He put the folded piece of paper
bed of evergreens.”
into the opening in his ring and closed the