It was hard for Tom to distinguish much about the phantom intruder through the peephole. The reflected glow of the man’s flashlight only partly revealed his figure. But he appeared to be tall and slender. His face was hidden by the mask and his hair was concealed by a dark hat pulled low over his forehead.
Tom’s first impulse was to rush in and overpower the man. But after pondering a moment, he decided on another course of action. “I’ll shoot motion pictures of the thief right in the act, with my infrared movie camera!” Tom grinned with satisfaction. “That’s one kind of evidence he’ll never be able to talk his way out of in court.”
But first Tom opened a secret panel in the wall 108
BEHIND THE MASK 109
and pressed a button which sounded an alarm in the security building. He then tiptoed to a cabinet and took out a special portable motion-picture camera. It was loaded with supersensitive infrared film which would photograph every movement of the intruder by the infrared heat waves given off by his body.
Meanwhile, Tom’s phantom visitor seemed in no hurry. He was slowly leafing through a sheaf of drawings as if searching for one particular design.
Tom placed the lens of the camera into the peephole and pressed the starter button. As the film whirred softly, Tom kept his ear close to the wall. Presently he heard the rustling of papers, followed by the sound of the file drawer closing.
“I’d better remove the camera and take a look myself,” Tom thought.
Peering into the laboratory, he could see the ghostly figure moving toward the workbench. He held several sheets in one hand.
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