daughter, and myself sailed from Africa on the liner Oceanic. We were bound for England.
'But an enemy sea raider chased the liner northward. The enemy boat could not overhaul us, but it pursued our craft for days. Indeed, the Oceanic sailed far within the arctic ice pack before escaping. '
'The liner was trapped in the ice. It drifted for months, and was carried by the ice far within the polar regions.'
Victor Vail paused to puff his cigar.
'Trouble with the crew arose as food ran short,' he continued. 'A shell from the enemy raider had destroyed our wireless. We could not advise the outside world of our difficulty. The crew wanted to desert the liner. although the master of the vessel assured them the ice pack was impassable.'
Victor Vail touched his eyes. 'You understand. I am telling this only as I heard it. I, of course, saw nothing. I only heard.
'The leaders of the crew were two men Ben O'Gard was one. Keelhaul de Rosa was the other. They were persuaded not to desert the liner.'
Victor Vail suddenly covered his face with his hands.
'Then came the disaster. The liner was crushed in the ice. Only Ben O'Gard. Keelhaul de Rosa, and about thirty of the Oceanic's crew escaped. I was also among the survivors, although that is a mystery I do not yet understand.'
'What do you mean?'
'I was seized by members of the crew two days before the disaster, and made unconscious with an anaesthetic. I did not revive until the day following the destruction of the Oceanic. Then I awakened with a strange pain in my back.'
'Describe the pain, suggested Doc.
'It was a sort of smarting, as though I had been burned.'
'Any scars on your back now?'
'None. That is the mysterious part.'
'Who saved you when the liner was lost?'
'Ben O'Gard,' said the blind violinist. 'He was hauling me across the ice on a crude sledge when I revived. I owe Ben O'Gard my life. Not only for that, but, some days later, Keelhaul de Rosa seized me and tried to carry me off by force. He and Ben O'Gard had a terrific fight, O'Gard rescuing me. After that, Keelhaul de Rosa fled with several of his followers. We never got trace of them again.'
'Until to-night,' Doc put in mildly.
'That is right — until to-night,' Victor Vail agreed. 'It was Keelhaul de Rosa who tried to seize me!'
The sightless musician now put his face in his hands again. His shoulders convulsed a little. He was sobbing!
'My poor wife,' he choked. 'And my darling little daughter, Roxey! Ben O'Gard told me he tried to save them, but they perished.'
Doc Savage was silent. He knew Victor Vail's story must have brought back memories of his wife and infant daughter.
'Little Roxey, that was my daughter's name,' murmured the musician.
DOC SAVAGE finally spoke.
'It strikes me as rather strange that the story about the fate of the liner Oceanic did not appear in the newspapers. Such a yarn would have made all the front pages.'
Victor Vail gave a start of surprise. 'But — didn't it?'
'That is strange! Ben O'Gard told me it had. Personally, I never mentioned the incident. The memory is too painful.' The sightless violinist paused. He made a finger-snapping gesture of surprise.
'That is another mystery! Why should Ben O'Gard tell me falsely that every one knew the story of the awful fate of the Oceanic?'
'Perhaps he desired to keep the fate of the liner a secret,' Doc offered. 'Did he suggest that you keep quiet?'
'Why — why — I recall that he did bring up the subject! And I told him I never wanted to hear of the ghastly affair again!'
Doc's great voice suddenly acquired a purr of interest.
'I should like very much to know what actually happened during that period you were unconscious!' he said.
Victor Vail stiffened slightly.
'I refuse to listen to anything against Ben O'Gard!' he snapped. 'The man saved my life! He tried to save my wife and baby daughter!'
'You will hear nothing against him,' Doc smiled. 'I judge no one without proof.'
Doc did not point out that Victor Vail only had Ben O'Gard's word about that life-saving business.
The blind man rubbed his jaw in a puzzled way.
'Perhaps I should mention another strange thing which may be connected with this,' he said. 'The mystery which I call the 'Clicking Danger'!'
'By all means! Leave out nothing.'
'It has been nearly fifteen years since I last met Ben O'Gard,' muttered Victor Vail. 'With Ben O'Gard's faction of the survivors was a sailor with a nervous ailment of his jaws. This malady caused his teeth to chatter together at intervals, making a weird clicking noise. The sound used to get on my nerves.
'Here is the mystery: At frequent intervals during the
last fifteen years, I have heard, or thought I heard, that clicking noise. I have gotten into the habit of playfully calling it the 'Clicking Danger.'
'Actually, nothing has ever come of it. In fact, I rather thought it was my imagination entirely, instead of the sailor. Why should the fellow follow me all over the world for fifteen years.'
'It is possible Ben O'Gard has been keeping track of you,' Doc replied.
The sightless master of the violin considered this in a somewhat offended silence.
Doc Savage studied Victor Vail's eyes intently. After a bit, he came over to the musician. He led the man across an adjacent room. This was a vast library. It held hundreds of thousands of ponderous volumes concerning every conceivable branch of science. This was probably the second most complete scientific library in existence.
The one collection of such tomes greater than this was unknown to the world. No one but Doc Savage was aware of its existence. For that superb library was at the spot he called his Fortress of Solitude. a retreat in a corner of the globe so remote and inaccessible that only Doc knew its whereabouts.
To this Fortress of Solitude the giant man of bronze retired periodically. On such occasions, he seemed to vanish completely from the earth, for no living soul could find him. He worked and studied absolutely alone.
It was in these periods of terrific concentration and study that Doc Savage accomplished many of the marvelous things for which he was noted.
BEYOND skyscraper library lay another room — a vast scientific laboratory. This, too, was of a completeness equaled by but one other — the laboratory at Doc's Fortress of Solitude.
'What are you going to do?' asked Victor Vail curiously.
'I came backstage to-night to see you for two reasons,' Doc replied. 'The first was to tell you how I enjoyed your rendition of my violin composition. The second was to examine your eyes.'
'You mean — '
'I mean an artist as great as you, Victor Vail, should have the use of his eyes. I wish to examine them to see if vision cannot be returned.'
Victor Vail choked. His sightless orbs filled with tears. For an instant, he seemed about to break down.
'It is impossible!' he gulped. 'I have been to the greatest eye specialists in the world. They say nothing less than a magician can help me.'
'Then we'll try some magic,' Doc smiled.
'Please — don't joke about it!' moaned the blind man.
