But counterfeiting and anarchy are not ordinarily found together. The
anarchist is not a criminal in the more sordid sense. He is the enemy
of society as at present organized. He considers society to be built
on a thieving basis; he is not himself a thief. He scorns and hates
society, wishes to see it overturned, and believes himself superior to
it. He will commit the most savage atrocities for the cause and
cheerfully die for his principles. The anarchist is not a crook. He
is an idealist.
Convinced that the unpainted oblong box would furnish a clew to the
man's real personality, Cleggett, assisted by Lady Agatha and Dr.
Farnsworth, opened it in the cabin.
They first took out a number of plates, some broken, some intact, for
the manufacture of counterfeit notes of various denominations. There
was some of the fibrous paper used in this process. There was a
quantity of the apparatus essential to engraving the plates. This
stuff more than half filled the box. Then there were a number of books.
"Elementary textbooks," said Dr. Farnsworth, glancing at them. On the
flyleaf of one of them was written in a bold, firm hand: "Logan Black."
"Loge--or Logan Black," said Dr. Farnsworth, "has been giving himself
an education in the manufacture of high explosives."
"But THESE aren't textbooks," said Lady Agatha, who had pulled out
three long, narrow volumes from the pile. "They're in manuscript, and
they look more like account books."
The first of them, in Loge's handwriting, contained a series of notes,
mostly unintelligible to Cleggett, dealing with experiments in two
sorts of manufacture: first, the preparation of counterfeit money;
second, the production of dynamite bombs.
The second of the manuscript books was in cipher. Cleggett might have
deciphered it without assistance, for he was skilled in these matters,
but the labor was not necessary. The book was for Loge's own eye. A
loose sheet of paper folded between the leaves gave the key.
The book showed that Loge had been employed as an expert operator, in
the pay of a certain radical organization, to pull off dynamiting jobs
in various parts of the country. This was his account book with the
organization. He had done his work and taken his pay as methodically
as a plumber might. And he had been paid well. Cleggett guessed that
Loge was not particularly interested in the work in its relationship to
the revolutionary cause; it was the money to be made in this way, and
not any particular sympathy with his employers, which attracted Loge,
so Cleggett divined. Cleggett was astonished at the number of jobs
which Loge had engineered. The book threw light on mysterious
explosions which had occurred throughout a period of five years.
But it was the third manuscript book which displayed the real Logan
Black.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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