but by Wolfe too, who can move well enough when there's something he thinks is worth moving for. He took the package from me and headed for the kitchen, followed by Fritz and me.
The small carton was sealed with tape. In the kitchen Wolfe put it on the long table, reached to the rack for a knife, cut the tape, and pulled the flaps up.
My reflexes are quick, and the instant the hissing noise started I grabbed
Wolfe's arm to haul him back, yelling at Fritz, “Watch out! Drop!
Wolfe can move all right, considering what he has to move. He and I were through the open door into the hall before the explosion came, and Fritz came bounding after, pulling the door with him. We all kept going, along the short stretch of hall to the office door, and into the office.
There we stopped dead. No explosion yet.
“It's still hissing, I said, and moved.
“Come back here! Wolfe commanded.
“Be quiet, I commanded back, and dropped to my hands and knees and made it into the hall. There I stopped to sniff, crawled to within a yard of the crack under the kitchen door, and sniffed again.
I arose, returned to the office on my feet, and told them, “Gas. Tear gas, I think. The hissing has stopped.
Wolfe snorted.
“No sausage, Fritz said grimly.
“If it had been a trigger job on a grenade, I told him, 'there would have been plenty of sausage. Not for us, of us. Now it's merely a damn' nuisance. You'd better sit here and chat a while.
I marched to the hall and shut the door behind me, went and opened the front door wide, came back and stood at the kitchen door and took a full breath, opened the door, raced through and opened the back door into the courtyard, and ran back again to the front. Even there the air current was too gassy for comfort, so I moved out to the stoop. I had been there only a moment when I heard my name called.
“Archie!
I turned. Wolfe's head with its big oblong face was protruding from a window of the front room.
“Yes, sir, I said brightly.
“Who brought that package?
I told him Fleet Messenger Service.
When the breeze through the hall had cleared the air I returned to the kitchen and Fritz joined me. We gave the package a look and found it was quite simple: a metal cylinder with a valve, with a brass rod that had been adjusted so that when the package was opened so was the valve. There was still a strong smell, close up, and Fritz took it to the basement. I went to the office and found
Wolfe behind his desk, busy at the phone.
I dropped into my chair and dabbed at my runny eyes with my handkerchief. When he hung up I asked, “Any luck?
“I didn't expect any, he growled.
“Right. Shall I call a cop?
“No.
I nodded. “The question was rhetorical. I dabbed at my eyes some more, and blew my nose. “Nero Wolfe does not call cops. Nero Wolfe opens his own packages of sausage and makes his own enemies bite the dust. I blew my nose again. “Nero
Wolfe is a man who will go far if he opens one package too many. Nero Wolfe has never-
“The question was not rhetorical, Wolfe said rudely. “That is not what rhetorical means.
“No? I asked it. I meant it to be rhetorical. Can you prove that I don't know what rhetorical means? I blew my nose. “When you ask me a question, which God knows is often, do I assume-
The phone rang. One of the million things I do to earn my salary is to answer it, so I did. And then a funny thing happened. There is absolutely no question that it was a shock to me to hear that voice, I know that, because I felt it in my stomach. But partly what makes a shock a shock is that it is unexpected, and
I do not think the sound of that voice in my ear was unexpected. I think that
Wolfe and I had been sitting there talking just to hear ourselves because we both expected, after what had happened, to hear that voice sooner or later-and probably sooner.
What it said was only, “May I speak to Mr Wolfe, please?
I felt it in my stomach, sharp and strong, but damned if I was going to let him know it. I said, but not cordially, “Oh, hallo there. If I get you. Was your name Duncan, once? “Yes. Mr Wolfe, please.
“Hold the wire. I covered the transmitter and told Wolfe, “Whosis.
“Who? he demanded.
“You know who from my face. Mr X. Mr Z. Him.
With his lips pressed tight, Wolfe reached for his phone. “This is Nero Wolfe.
