
Chapter 3. THE GIRL JOURNALIST
DOC SAVAGE, when the warden’s phaëton brought him through the prison gates, created quite a sensation.
It was now daylight, and a bright, sunny day well lighting the bronze man’s arrival.
The prisoners had been kept in their cells, and from the windows of these, a great many could look out and
witness the coming of Doc Savage. More than one of these observers had a cold chill and hastily ducked
back. For Doc Savage was the nemesis of evildoers.
The sensation of the bronze man’s arrival did not extend alone to the prisoners. The guards craned their
necks and their mouths came open and their eyes went wide. They had been wondering what to expect.
When they saw Doc Savage, they were not let down.
The bronze man was a physical giant. After he had stepped out of the car and a bit away from it, so that he
was not close to anything to which his size might well be compared, he did not seem so large. This was due
to the remarkable symmetry of his physical development.
There were other striking things about Doc Savage. His skin was of an unusual bronze hue, as if burned by
countless tropical suns; his hair was straight, fitting like a metal skullcap, and of a bronze hue only slightly
darker than his skin.
Most striking of all, perhaps, were his eyes. Weird they were, like pools of flake gold always stirred by tiny
gales. They seemed to possess a hypnotic power, an ability to compel.
Doc Savage was taken to the warden’s office. There were a number of newspapermen and one
newspaperwoman present. The newspapermen had the usual baggy suits and worldly looks, but the
newspaperwoman was different. She did not look as if she belonged. She kept in the background and did not
seem to care about having her face show.
Doc Savage was presented to the warden. The warden was an honest tough guy who did not believe in
beating around bushes and who would have stood up for his rights against the president as quickly as he
would have stood up against one of his guards.
"A dying prison guard named John Winer stated that you shot him this morning," said the warden bluntly.
"The shooting occurred at a quarter of five this morning. Have you an alibi?"
"No," Doc Savage said.
The bronze man had a voice in keeping with his appearance. It was not loud, nor low either, but it had a
timbre, a quality of vibrant power and pleasantly musical undertone which marked it instantly. It was a voice
which obviously had received years of intensive training.
"Then you’re under arrest," said the prison warden.
The State prison official who had gone to get Doc Savage shoved himself forward.
"I’m afraid arrest is not the wise thing," he said. "I found this Doc Savage giving a lecture on something or
other—"
"On electrokinetics," Doc Savage supplied.
"On electro—electro—well, he was lecturing," said the official. "He was lecturing to a fellowhood of big-shot
scientists and they had been in session, and this bronze man had been talking to them, all night."
"Are you sure?" asked the warden.
"Sure I’m sure. And the scientists raised hell when I broke up the lecture!"
"It was an important lecture and demonstration," said Doc Savage dryly. "We hoped it would lead to the
solution of the problem of transmission of energy by Hertzian waves."