Sucks books

He balanced it in his hand a moment, then shook his
head.
"Too heavy for a Malacca," he ruminated. Then an idea seemed to
occur to him. He gave the handle a twist. Sure enough, it came
off, and as it did so a bright little light flashed up.
"Well, what do you think of that?" he exclaimed. "For a scientific
dark-lantern that is the neatest thing I have ever seen. An
electric light cane, with a little incandescent lamp and a battery
hidden in it. This grows interesting. We must at last have found
the cache of a real gentleman burglar such as Bertillon says
exists only in books. I wonder if he has anything else hidden back
here."
He reached down and pulled out a peculiar little instrument--a
single blue steel cylinder. He fitted a hard rubber cap snugly
into the palm of his hand, and with the first and middle fingers
encircled the cylinder over a steel ring near the other end.
A loud report followed, and a vase, just unpacked, at the opposite
end of the basement was shattered as if by an explosion.


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