
"If Doc Savage shows up, tip him off,” Monk finished.
MONK and Ham, departing, rode down to the basement in a private high-speed elevator which had
undoubtedly cost a young fortune to install, and came out in a subterranean garage which held several
motor vehicles, ranging from an open roadster of expensive manufacture and quiet color scheme to a
large delivery van which, although it did not look the part, was literally an armored tank.
The elevator, the garage, the assortment of cars, as well the establishment on the eighty-sixth floor—there
was an enormous scientific laboratory and a highly complete scientific library up there in addition to the
reception room—were all a part of the New York headquarters maintained by Doc Savage.
A strange individual, this Doc Savage. Probably one of the most remarkable of living men. A genius, a
mental marvel and a giant of fabulous physical strength.
He was literally a product of science himself, was this Savage, for he had been trained from birth for one
single purpose in life—the fantastic career which he now followed. Every trick of science had been
utilized in his training. In no sense had he led a life that might be regarded as normal
Two hours of each day since childhood had been devoted to a routine of intense exercises calculated to
develop not only muscles, but physical senses and mental sharpness. All of his early life had been
devoted to study under masters of trades, sciences, professions, until he possessed a knowledge that
was, to the ordinary man, uncanny.
The result of this studied upbringing was an individual who was a remarkable combination of scientific
genius and physical capacity.
Stranger even than the man himself was the career to which his life was dedicated—the business of
helping others out of trouble, of aiding the oppressed, of dealing with those evildoers who seemed
beyond the touch of the law. For all of which Doc Savage made it an unbending rule to accept no
payment in money, under any circumstances.
Long ago, Doc Savage had assembled five men as his assistants, five men who were world-famed
specialists in their respective lines, five men who associated themselves with him because they loved
adventure, excitement, and because they were drawn by admiration for the giant of bronze who was Doc
Savage.
Monk, the chemist, and Ham, the lawyer, were two of the five aides. Johnny, the archaeologist, was
another. Two others—Colonel John “Renny” Renwick, engineer, and Major Thomas J. “long Tom”
Roberts, electrical wizard—were, at the moment, elsewhere in the city, engaged in the private business
which they carried on when not actively assisting Doc Savage.
The present whereabouts of Doc Savage himself was something that no one knew. The bronze man had
vanished. He had told no one where he was going. No one, not even his five aides, knew how to reach
him. But they were not worried, these five, for they were confident that the bronze man had gone away to
some mysterious rendezvous, where he could he alone for intensive study.
And, although Doc's five aides were not sure, they believed this place to which the bronze man retired,
this remote trysting place with reflection which he called his Fortress of Solitude, was located on an island
in the remote Arctic. It was certain, though, that no one would hear of Doc Savage until he should return,
mysteriously as he had gone.