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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Valley of Fear, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Valley of Fear
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Posting Date: May 15, 2009 [EBook #3776]
+Release Date: February, 2003
+First Posted: September 3, 2001
+Last Updated: February 10, 2005
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VALLEY OF FEAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Toby F. Charkin.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Valley Of Fear
+
+
+by
+
+Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PART 1--The Tragedy of Birlstone
+
+Chapter
+
+  1  The Warning
+  2  Sherlock Holmes Discourses
+  3  The Tragedy of Birlstone
+  4  Darkness
+  5  The People Of the Drama
+  6  A Dawning Light
+  7  The Solution
+
+
+PART 2--The Scowrers
+
+  1  The Man
+  2  The Bodymaster
+  3  Lodge 341, Vermissa
+  4  The Valley of Fear
+  5  The Darkest Hour
+  6  Danger
+  7  The Trapping of Birdy Edwards
+
+
+
+
+PART 1
+
+The Tragedy of Birlstone
+
+
+
+Chapter 1
+
+The Warning
+
+"I am inclined to think--" said I.
+
+"I should do so," Sherlock Holmes remarked impatiently.
+
+I believe that I am one of the most long-suffering of mortals; but I'll
+admit that I was annoyed at the sardonic interruption.
+
+"Really, Holmes," said I severely, "you are a little trying at times."
+
+He was too much absorbed with his own thoughts to give any immediate
+answer to my remonstrance. He leaned upon his hand, with his untasted
+breakfast before him, and he stared at the slip of paper which he had
+just drawn from its envelope. Then he took the envelope itself, held it
+up to the light, and very carefully studied both the exterior and the
+flap.
+
+"It is Porlock's writing," said he thoughtfully. "I can hardly doubt
+that it is Porlock's writing, though I have seen it only twice before.
+The Greek e with the peculiar top flourish is distinctive. But if it is
+Porlock, then it must be something of the very first importance."
+
+He was speaking to himself rather than to me; but my vexation
+disappeared in the interest which the words awakened.
+
+"Who then is Porlock?" I asked.
+
+"Porlock, Watson, is a nom-de-plume, a mere identification mark; but
+behind it lies a shifty and evasive personality. In a former letter he
+frankly informed me that the name was not his own, and defied me ever
+to trace him among the teeming millions of this great city. Porlock is
+important, not for himself, but for the great man with whom he is in
+touch. Picture to yourself the pilot fish with the shark, the jackal
+with the lion--anything that is insignificant in companionship with
+what is formidable: not only formidable, Watson, but sinister--in the
+highest degree sinister. That is where he comes within my purview. You
+have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?"
+
+"The famous scientific criminal, as famous among crooks as--"
+
+"My blushes, Watson!" Holmes murmured in a deprecating voice.
+
+"I was about to say, as he is unknown to the public."
+
+"A touch! A distinct touch!" cried Holmes. "You are developing a
+certain unexpected vein of pawky humour, Watson, against which I must
+learn to guard myself. But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are
+uttering libel in the eyes of the law--and there lie the glory and the
+wonder of it! The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every
+deviltry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might
+have made or marred the destiny of nations--that's the man! But so
+aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, so
+admirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very
+words that you have uttered he could hale you to a court and emerge
+with your year's pension as a solatium for his wounded character. Is he
+not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which
+ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said
+that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing
+it? Is this a man to traduce? Foul-mouthed doctor and slandered
+professor--such would be your respective roles! That's genius, Watson.
+But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely come."
+
+"May I be there to see!" I exclaimed devoutly. "But you were speaking
+of this man Porlock."
+
+"Ah, yes--the so-called Porlock is a link in the chain some little way
+from its great attachment. Porlock is not quite a sound link--between
+ourselves. He is the only flaw in that chain so far as I have been able
+to test it."
+
+"But no chain is stronger than its weakest link."
+
+"Exactly, my dear Watson! Hence the extreme importance of Porlock. Led
+on by some rudimentary aspirations towards right, and encouraged by the
+judicious stimulation of an occasional ten-pound note sent to him by
+devious methods, he has once or twice given me advance information
+which has been of value--that highest value which anticipates and
+prevents rather than avenges crime. I cannot doubt that, if we had the
+cipher, we should find that this communication is of the nature that I
+indicate."
+
+Again Holmes flattened out the paper upon his unused plate. I rose and,
+leaning over him, stared down at the curious inscription, which ran as
+follows:
+
+         534 C2    13 127 36 31   4  17   21 41
+
+           DOUGLAS 109 293  5  37   BIRLSTONE
+
+             26   BIRLSTONE 9   47     171
+
+
+"What do you make of it, Holmes?"
+
+"It is obviously an attempt to convey secret information."
+
+"But what is the use of a cipher message without the cipher?"
+
+"In this instance, none at all."
+
+"Why do you say 'in this instance'?"
+
+"Because there are many ciphers which I would read as easily as I do
+the apocrypha of the agony column: such crude devices amuse the
+intelligence without fatiguing it. But this is different. It is clearly
+a reference to the words in a page of some book. Until I am told which
+page and which book I am powerless."
+
+"But why 'Douglas' and 'Birlstone'?"
+
+"Clearly because those are words which were not contained in the page
+in question."
+
+"Then why has he not indicated the book?"
+
+"Your native shrewdness, my dear Watson, that innate cunning which is
+the delight of your friends, would surely prevent you from inclosing
+cipher and message in the same envelope. Should it miscarry, you are
+undone. As it is, both have to go wrong before any harm comes from it.
+Our second post is now overdue, and I shall be surprised if it does not
+bring us either a further letter of explanation, or, as is more
+probable, the very volume to which these figures refer."
+
+Holmes's calculation was fulfilled within a very few minutes by the
+appearance of Billy, the page, with the very letter which we were
+expecting.
+
+"The same writing," remarked Holmes, as he opened the envelope, "and
+actually signed," he added in an exultant voice as he unfolded the
+epistle. "Come, we are getting on, Watson." His brow clouded, however,
+as he glanced over the contents.
+
+"Dear me, this is very disappointing! I fear, Watson, that all our
+expectations come to nothing. I trust that the man Porlock will come to
+no harm.
+
+
+  "DEAR MR. HOLMES [he says]:
+
+  "I will go no further in this matter. It is too dangerous--he
+  suspects me. I can see that he suspects me. He came to me
+  quite unexpectedly after I had actually addressed this envelope
+  with the intention of sending you the key to the cipher.
+  I was able to cover it up. If he had seen it, it would have
+  gone hard with me. But I read suspicion in his eyes. Please
+  burn the cipher message, which can now be of no use to you.
+
+                                              FRED PORLOCK."
+
+
+Holmes sat for some little time twisting this letter between his
+fingers, and frowning, as he stared into the fire.
+
+"After all," he said at last, "there may be nothing in it. It may be
+only his guilty conscience. Knowing himself to be a traitor, he may
+have read the accusation in the other's eyes."
+
+"The other being, I presume, Professor Moriarty."
+
+"No less! When any of that party talk about 'He' you know whom they
+mean. There is one predominant 'He' for all of them."
+
+"But what can he do?"
+
+"Hum! That's a large question. When you have one of the first brains of
+Europe up against you, and all the powers of darkness at his back,
+there are infinite possibilities. Anyhow, Friend Porlock is evidently
+scared out of his senses--kindly compare the writing in the note to
+that upon its envelope; which was done, he tells us, before this
+ill-omened visit. The one is clear and firm. The other hardly legible."
+
+"Why did he write at all? Why did he not simply drop it?"
+
+"Because he feared I would make some inquiry after him in that case,
+and possibly bring trouble on him."
+
+"No doubt," said I. "Of course." I had picked up the original cipher
+message and was bending my brows over it. "It's pretty maddening to
+think that an important secret may lie here on this slip of paper, and
+that it is beyond human power to penetrate it."
+
+Sherlock Holmes had pushed away his untasted breakfast and lit the
+unsavoury pipe which was the companion of his deepest meditations. "I
+wonder!" said he, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "Perhaps
+there are points which have escaped your Machiavellian intellect. Let
+us consider the problem in the light of pure reason. This man's
+reference is to a book. That is our point of departure."
+
+"A somewhat vague one."
+
+"Let us see then if we can narrow it down. As I focus my mind upon it,
+it seems rather less impenetrable. What indications have we as to this
+book?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Well, well, it is surely not quite so bad as that. The cipher message
+begins with a large 534, does it not? We may take it as a working
+hypothesis that 534 is the particular page to which the cipher refers.
+So our book has already become a large book which is surely something
+gained. What other indications have we as to the nature of this large
+book? The next sign is C2. What do you make of that, Watson?"
+
+"Chapter the second, no doubt."
+
+"Hardly that, Watson. You will, I am sure, agree with me that if the
+page be given, the number of the chapter is immaterial. Also that if
+page 534 finds us only in the second chapter, the length of the first
+one must have been really intolerable."
+
+"Column!" I cried.
+
+"Brilliant, Watson. You are scintillating this morning. If it is not
+column, then I am very much deceived. So now, you see, we begin to
+visualize a large book printed in double columns which are each of a
+considerable length, since one of the words is numbered in the document
+as the two hundred and ninety-third. Have we reached the limits of what
+reason can supply?"
+
+"I fear that we have."
+
+"Surely you do yourself an injustice. One more coruscation, my dear
+Watson--yet another brain-wave! Had the volume been an unusual one, he
+would have sent it to me. Instead of that, he had intended, before his
+plans were nipped, to send me the clue in this envelope. He says so in
+his note. This would seem to indicate that the book is one which he
+thought I would have no difficulty in finding for myself. He had
+it--and he imagined that I would have it, too. In short, Watson, it is
+a very common book."
+
+"What you say certainly sounds plausible."
+
+"So we have contracted our field of search to a large book, printed in
+double columns and in common use."
+
+"The Bible!" I cried triumphantly.
+
+"Good, Watson, good! But not, if I may say so, quite good enough! Even
+if I accepted the compliment for myself I could hardly name any volume
+which would be less likely to lie at the elbow of one of Moriarty's
+associates. Besides, the editions of Holy Writ are so numerous that he
+could hardly suppose that two copies would have the same pagination.
+This is clearly a book which is standardized. He knows for certain that
+his page 534 will exactly agree with my page 534."
+
+"But very few books would correspond with that."
+
+"Exactly. Therein lies our salvation. Our search is narrowed down to
+standardized books which anyone may be supposed to possess."
+
+"Bradshaw!"
+
+"There are difficulties, Watson. The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous
+and terse, but limited. The selection of words would hardly lend itself
+to the sending of general messages. We will eliminate Bradshaw. The
+dictionary is, I fear, inadmissible for the same reason. What then is
+left?"
+
+"An almanac!"
+
+"Excellent, Watson! I am very much mistaken if you have not touched the
+spot. An almanac! Let us consider the claims of Whitaker's Almanac. It
+is in common use. It has the requisite number of pages. It is in double
+column. Though reserved in its earlier vocabulary, it becomes, if I
+remember right, quite garrulous towards the end." He picked the volume
+from his desk. "Here is page 534, column two, a substantial block of
+print dealing, I perceive, with the trade and resources of British
+India. Jot down the words, Watson! Number thirteen is 'Mahratta.' Not,
+I fear, a very auspicious beginning. Number one hundred and
+twenty-seven is 'Government'; which at least makes sense, though
+somewhat irrelevant to ourselves and Professor Moriarty. Now let us try
+again. What does the Mahratta government do? Alas! the next word is
+'pig's-bristles.' We are undone, my good Watson! It is finished!"
+
+He had spoken in jesting vein, but the twitching of his bushy eyebrows
+bespoke his disappointment and irritation. I sat helpless and unhappy,
+staring into the fire. A long silence was broken by a sudden
+exclamation from Holmes, who dashed at a cupboard, from which he
+emerged with a second yellow-covered volume in his hand.
+
+"We pay the price, Watson, for being too up-to-date!" he cried. "We are
+before our time, and suffer the usual penalties. Being the seventh of
+January, we have very properly laid in the new almanac. It is more than
+likely that Porlock took his message from the old one. No doubt he
+would have told us so had his letter of explanation been written. Now
+let us see what page 534 has in store for us. Number thirteen is
+'There,' which is much more promising. Number one hundred and
+twenty-seven is 'is'--'There is'"--Holmes's eyes were gleaming with
+excitement, and his thin, nervous fingers twitched as he counted the
+words--"'danger.' Ha! Ha! Capital! Put that down, Watson. 'There is
+danger--may--come--very--soon--one.' Then we have the name 'Douglas'--
+'rich--country--now--at--Birlstone--House--Birlstone--confidence--is--
+pressing.' There, Watson! What do you think of pure reason and its
+fruit? If the greengrocer had such a thing as a laurel wreath, I
+should send Billy round for it."
+
+I was staring at the strange message which I had scrawled, as he
+deciphered it, upon a sheet of foolscap on my knee.
+
+"What a queer, scrambling way of expressing his meaning!" said I.
+
+"On the contrary, he has done quite remarkably well," said Holmes.
+"When you search a single column for words with which to express your
+meaning, you can hardly expect to get everything you want. You are
+bound to leave something to the intelligence of your correspondent. The
+purport is perfectly clear. Some deviltry is intended against one
+Douglas, whoever he may be, residing as stated, a rich country
+gentleman. He is sure--'confidence' was as near as he could get to
+'confident'--that it is pressing. There is our result--and a very
+workmanlike little bit of analysis it was!"
+
+Holmes had the impersonal joy of the true artist in his better work,
+even as he mourned darkly when it fell below the high level to which he
+aspired. He was still chuckling over his success when Billy swung open
+the door and Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard was ushered into the
+room.
+
+Those were the early days at the end of the '80's, when Alec MacDonald
+was far from having attained the national fame which he has now
+achieved. He was a young but trusted member of the detective force, who
+had distinguished himself in several cases which had been entrusted to
+him. His tall, bony figure gave promise of exceptional physical
+strength, while his great cranium and deep-set, lustrous eyes spoke no
+less clearly of the keen intelligence which twinkled out from behind
+his bushy eyebrows. He was a silent, precise man with a dour nature and
+a hard Aberdonian accent.
+
+Twice already in his career had Holmes helped him to attain success,
+his own sole reward being the intellectual joy of the problem. For this
+reason the affection and respect of the Scotchman for his amateur
+colleague were profound, and he showed them by the frankness with which
+he consulted Holmes in every difficulty. Mediocrity knows nothing
+higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius, and
+MacDonald had talent enough for his profession to enable him to
+perceive that there was no humiliation in seeking the assistance of one
+who already stood alone in Europe, both in his gifts and in his
+experience. Holmes was not prone to friendship, but he was tolerant of
+the big Scotchman, and smiled at the sight of him.
+
+"You are an early bird, Mr. Mac," said he. "I wish you luck with your
+worm. I fear this means that there is some mischief afoot."
+
+"If you said 'hope' instead of 'fear,' it would be nearer the truth,
+I'm thinking, Mr. Holmes," the inspector answered, with a knowing grin.
+"Well, maybe a wee nip would keep out the raw morning chill. No, I
+won't smoke, I thank you. I'll have to be pushing on my way; for the
+early hours of a case are the precious ones, as no man knows better
+than your own self. But--but--"
+
+The inspector had stopped suddenly, and was staring with a look of
+absolute amazement at a paper upon the table. It was the sheet upon
+which I had scrawled the enigmatic message.
+
+"Douglas!" he stammered. "Birlstone! What's this, Mr. Holmes? Man, it's
+witchcraft! Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get
+those names?"
+
+"It is a cipher that Dr. Watson and I have had occasion to solve. But
+why--what's amiss with the names?"
+
+The inspector looked from one to the other of us in dazed astonishment.
+"Just this," said he, "that Mr. Douglas of Birlstone Manor House was
+horribly murdered last night!"
+
+
+
+Chapter 2
+
+Sherlock Holmes Discourses
+
+It was one of those dramatic moments for which my friend existed. It
+would be an overstatement to say that he was shocked or even excited by
+the amazing announcement. Without having a tinge of cruelty in his
+singular composition, he was undoubtedly callous from long
+over-stimulation. Yet, if his emotions were dulled, his intellectual
+perceptions were exceedingly active. There was no trace then of the
+horror which I had myself felt at this curt declaration; but his face
+showed rather the quiet and interested composure of the chemist who
+sees the crystals falling into position from his oversaturated solution.
+
+"Remarkable!" said he. "Remarkable!"
+
+"You don't seem surprised."
+
+"Interested, Mr. Mac, but hardly surprised. Why should I be surprised?
+I receive an anonymous communication from a quarter which I know to be
+important, warning me that danger threatens a certain person. Within an
+hour I learn that this danger has actually materialized and that the
+person is dead. I am interested; but, as you observe, I am not
+surprised."
+
+In a few short sentences he explained to the inspector the facts about
+the letter and the cipher. MacDonald sat with his chin on his hands and
+his great sandy eyebrows bunched into a yellow tangle.
+
+"I was going down to Birlstone this morning," said he. "I had come to
+ask you if you cared to come with me--you and your friend here. But
+from what you say we might perhaps be doing better work in London."
+
+"I rather think not," said Holmes.
+
+"Hang it all, Mr. Holmes!" cried the inspector. "The papers will be
+full of the Birlstone mystery in a day or two; but where's the mystery
+if there is a man in London who prophesied the crime before ever it
+occurred? We have only to lay our hands on that man, and the rest will
+follow."
+
+"No doubt, Mr. Mac. But how do you propose to lay your hands on the
+so-called Porlock?"
+
+MacDonald turned over the letter which Holmes had handed him. "Posted
+in Camberwell--that doesn't help us much. Name, you say, is assumed.
+Not much to go on, certainly. Didn't you say that you have sent him
+money?"
+
+"Twice."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"In notes to Camberwell post-office."
+
+"Did you ever trouble to see who called for them?"
+
+"No."
+
+The inspector looked surprised and a little shocked. "Why not?"
+
+"Because I always keep faith. I had promised when he first wrote that I
+would not try to trace him."
+
+"You think there is someone behind him?"
+
+"I know there is."
+
+"This professor that I've heard you mention?"
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+Inspector MacDonald smiled, and his eyelid quivered as he glanced
+towards me. "I won't conceal from you, Mr. Holmes, that we think in the
+C. I. D. that you have a wee bit of a bee in your bonnet over this
+professor. I made some inquiries myself about the matter. He seems to
+be a very respectable, learned, and talented sort of man."
+
+"I'm glad you've got so far as to recognize the talent."
+
+"Man, you can't but recognize it! After I heard your view I made it my
+business to see him. I had a chat with him on eclipses. How the talk
+got that way I canna think; but he had out a reflector lantern and a
+globe, and made it all clear in a minute. He lent me a book; but I
+don't mind saying that it was a bit above my head, though I had a good
+Aberdeen upbringing. He'd have made a grand meenister with his thin
+face and gray hair and solemn-like way of talking. When he put his hand
+on my shoulder as we were parting, it was like a father's blessing
+before you go out into the cold, cruel world."
+
+Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. "Great!" he said. "Great! Tell
+me, Friend MacDonald, this pleasing and touching interview was, I
+suppose, in the professor's study?"
+
+"That's so."
+
+"A fine room, is it not?"
+
+"Very fine--very handsome indeed, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"You sat in front of his writing desk?"
+
+"Just so."
+
+"Sun in your eyes and his face in the shadow?"
+
+"Well, it was evening; but I mind that the lamp was turned on my face."
+
+"It would be. Did you happen to observe a picture over the professor's
+head?"
+
+"I don't miss much, Mr. Holmes. Maybe I learned that from you. Yes, I
+saw the picture--a young woman with her head on her hands, peeping at
+you sideways."
+
+"That painting was by Jean Baptiste Greuze."
+
+The inspector endeavoured to look interested.
+
+"Jean Baptiste Greuze," Holmes continued, joining his finger tips and
+leaning well back in his chair, "was a French artist who flourished
+between the years 1750 and 1800. I allude, of course to his working
+career. Modern criticism has more than indorsed the high opinion formed
+of him by his contemporaries."
+
+The inspector's eyes grew abstracted. "Hadn't we better--" he said.
+
+"We are doing so," Holmes interrupted. "All that I am saying has a very
+direct and vital bearing upon what you have called the Birlstone
+Mystery. In fact, it may in a sense be called the very centre of it."
+
+MacDonald smiled feebly, and looked appealingly to me. "Your thoughts
+move a bit too quick for me, Mr. Holmes. You leave out a link or two,
+and I can't get over the gap. What in the whole wide world can be the
+connection between this dead painting man and the affair at Birlstone?"
+
+"All knowledge comes useful to the detective," remarked Holmes. "Even
+the trivial fact that in the year 1865 a picture by Greuze entitled La
+Jeune Fille a l'Agneau fetched one million two hundred thousand
+francs--more than forty thousand pounds--at the Portalis sale may start
+a train of reflection in your mind."
+
+It was clear that it did. The inspector looked honestly interested.
+
+"I may remind you," Holmes continued, "that the professor's salary can
+be ascertained in several trustworthy books of reference. It is seven
+hundred a year."
+
+"Then how could he buy--"
+
+"Quite so! How could he?"
+
+"Ay, that's remarkable," said the inspector thoughtfully. "Talk away,
+Mr. Holmes. I'm just loving it. It's fine!"
+
+Holmes smiled. He was always warmed by genuine admiration--the
+characteristic of the real artist. "What about Birlstone?" he asked.
+
+"We've time yet," said the inspector, glancing at his watch. "I've a
+cab at the door, and it won't take us twenty minutes to Victoria. But
+about this picture: I thought you told me once, Mr. Holmes, that you
+had never met Professor Moriarty."
+
+"No, I never have."
+
+"Then how do you know about his rooms?"
+
+"Ah, that's another matter. I have been three times in his rooms, twice
+waiting for him under different pretexts and leaving before he came.
+Once--well, I can hardly tell about the once to an official detective.
+It was on the last occasion that I took the liberty of running over his
+papers--with the most unexpected results."
+
+"You found something compromising?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing. That was what amazed me. However, you have now
+seen the point of the picture. It shows him to be a very wealthy man.
+How did he acquire wealth? He is unmarried. His younger brother is a
+station master in the west of England. His chair is worth seven hundred
+a year. And he owns a Greuze."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Surely the inference is plain."
+
+"You mean that he has a great income and that he must earn it in an
+illegal fashion?"
+
+"Exactly. Of course I have other reasons for thinking so--dozens of
+exiguous threads which lead vaguely up towards the centre of the web
+where the poisonous, motionless creature is lurking. I only mention the
+Greuze because it brings the matter within the range of your own
+observation."
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, I admit that what you say is interesting: it's more
+than interesting--it's just wonderful. But let us have it a little
+clearer if you can. Is it forgery, coining, burglary--where does the
+money come from?"
+
+"Have you ever read of Jonathan Wild?"
+
+"Well, the name has a familiar sound. Someone in a novel, was he not? I
+don't take much stock of detectives in novels--chaps that do things and
+never let you see how they do them. That's just inspiration: not
+business."
+
+"Jonathan Wild wasn't a detective, and he wasn't in a novel. He was a
+master criminal, and he lived last century--1750 or thereabouts."
+
+"Then he's no use to me. I'm a practical man."
+
+"Mr. Mac, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would
+be to shut yourself up for three months and read twelve hours a day at
+the annals of crime. Everything comes in circles--even Professor
+Moriarty. Jonathan Wild was the hidden force of the London criminals,
+to whom he sold his brains and his organization on a fifteen per cent
+commission. The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It's all
+been done before, and will be again. I'll tell you one or two things
+about Moriarty which may interest you."
+
+"You'll interest me, right enough."
+
+"I happen to know who is the first link in his chain--a chain with this
+Napoleon-gone-wrong at one end, and a hundred broken fighting men,
+pickpockets, blackmailers, and card sharpers at the other, with every
+sort of crime in between. His chief of staff is Colonel Sebastian
+Moran, as aloof and guarded and inaccessible to the law as himself.
+What do you think he pays him?"
+
+"I'd like to hear."
+
+"Six thousand a year. That's paying for brains, you see--the American
+business principle. I learned that detail quite by chance. It's more
+than the Prime Minister gets. That gives you an idea of Moriarty's
+gains and of the scale on which he works. Another point: I made it my
+business to hunt down some of Moriarty's checks lately--just common
+innocent checks that he pays his household bills with. They were drawn
+on six different banks. Does that make any impression on your mind?"
+
+"Queer, certainly! But what do you gather from it?"
+
+"That he wanted no gossip about his wealth. No single man should know
+what he had. I have no doubt that he has twenty banking accounts; the
+bulk of his fortune abroad in the Deutsche Bank or the Credit Lyonnais
+as likely as not. Sometime when you have a year or two to spare I
+commend to you the study of Professor Moriarty."
+
+Inspector MacDonald had grown steadily more impressed as the
+conversation proceeded. He had lost himself in his interest. Now his
+practical Scotch intelligence brought him back with a snap to the
+matter in hand.
+
+"He can keep, anyhow," said he. "You've got us side-tracked with your
+interesting anecdotes, Mr. Holmes. What really counts is your remark
+that there is some connection between the professor and the crime. That
+you get from the warning received through the man Porlock. Can we for
+our present practical needs get any further than that?"
+
+"We may form some conception as to the motives of the crime. It is, as
+I gather from your original remarks, an inexplicable, or at least an
+unexplained, murder. Now, presuming that the source of the crime is as
+we suspect it to be, there might be two different motives. In the first
+place, I may tell you that Moriarty rules with a rod of iron over his
+people. His discipline is tremendous. There is only one punishment in
+his code. It is death. Now we might suppose that this murdered
+man--this Douglas whose approaching fate was known by one of the
+arch-criminal's subordinates--had in some way betrayed the chief. His
+punishment followed, and would be known to all--if only to put the fear
+of death into them."
+
+"Well, that is one suggestion, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"The other is that it has been engineered by Moriarty in the ordinary
+course of business. Was there any robbery?"
+
+"I have not heard."
+
+"If so, it would, of course, be against the first hypothesis and in
+favour of the second. Moriarty may have been engaged to engineer it on
+a promise of part spoils, or he may have been paid so much down to
+manage it. Either is possible. But whichever it may be, or if it is
+some third combination, it is down at Birlstone that we must seek the
+solution. I know our man too well to suppose that he has left anything
+up here which may lead us to him."
+
+"Then to Birlstone we must go!" cried MacDonald, jumping from his
+chair. "My word! it's later than I thought. I can give you, gentlemen,
+five minutes for preparation, and that is all."
+
+"And ample for us both," said Holmes, as he sprang up and hastened to
+change from his dressing gown to his coat. "While we are on our way,
+Mr. Mac, I will ask you to be good enough to tell me all about it."
+
+"All about it" proved to be disappointingly little, and yet there was
+enough to assure us that the case before us might well be worthy of the
+expert's closest attention. He brightened and rubbed his thin hands
+together as he listened to the meagre but remarkable details. A long
+series of sterile weeks lay behind us, and here at last there was a
+fitting object for those remarkable powers which, like all special
+gifts, become irksome to their owner when they are not in use. That
+razor brain blunted and rusted with inaction.
+
+Sherlock Holmes's eyes glistened, his pale cheeks took a warmer hue,
+and his whole eager face shone with an inward light when the call for
+work reached him. Leaning forward in the cab, he listened intently to
+MacDonald's short sketch of the problem which awaited us in Sussex. The
+inspector was himself dependent, as he explained to us, upon a
+scribbled account forwarded to him by the milk train in the early hours
+of the morning. White Mason, the local officer, was a personal friend,
+and hence MacDonald had been notified much more promptly than is usual
+at Scotland Yard when provincials need their assistance. It is a very
+cold scent upon which the Metropolitan expert is generally asked to run.
+
+
+"DEAR INSPECTOR MACDONALD [said the letter which he read to us]:
+
+"Official requisition for your services is in separate envelope. This
+is for your private eye. Wire me what train in the morning you can get
+for Birlstone, and I will meet it--or have it met if I am too
+occupied. This case is a snorter. Don't waste a moment in getting
+started. If you can bring Mr. Holmes, please do so; for he will find
+something after his own heart. We would think the whole thing had been
+fixed up for theatrical effect if there wasn't a dead man in the middle
+of it. My word! it is a snorter."
+
+
+"Your friend seems to be no fool," remarked Holmes.
+
+"No, sir, White Mason is a very live man, if I am any judge."
+
+"Well, have you anything more?"
+
+"Only that he will give us every detail when we meet."
+
+"Then how did you get at Mr. Douglas and the fact that he had been
+horribly murdered?"
+
+"That was in the enclosed official report. It didn't say 'horrible':
+that's not a recognized official term. It gave the name John Douglas.
+It mentioned that his injuries had been in the head, from the discharge
+of a shotgun. It also mentioned the hour of the alarm, which was close
+on to midnight last night. It added that the case was undoubtedly one
+of murder, but that no arrest had been made, and that the case was one
+which presented some very perplexing and extraordinary features. That's
+absolutely all we have at present, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Then, with your permission, we will leave it at that, Mr. Mac. The
+temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the
+bane of our profession. I can see only two things for certain at
+present--a great brain in London, and a dead man in Sussex. It's the
+chain between that we are going to trace."
+
+
+
+Chapter 3
+
+The Tragedy of Birlstone
+
+Now for a moment I will ask leave to remove my own insignificant
+personality and to describe events which occurred before we arrived
+upon the scene by the light of knowledge which came to us afterwards.
+Only in this way can I make the reader appreciate the people concerned
+and the strange setting in which their fate was cast.
+
+The village of Birlstone is a small and very ancient cluster of
+half-timbered cottages on the northern border of the county of Sussex.
+For centuries it had remained unchanged; but within the last few years
+its picturesque appearance and situation have attracted a number of
+well-to-do residents, whose villas peep out from the woods around.
+These woods are locally supposed to be the extreme fringe of the great
+Weald forest, which thins away until it reaches the northern chalk
+downs. A number of small shops have come into being to meet the wants
+of the increased population; so there seems some prospect that
+Birlstone may soon grow from an ancient village into a modern town. It
+is the centre for a considerable area of country, since Tunbridge
+Wells, the nearest place of importance, is ten or twelve miles to the
+eastward, over the borders of Kent.
+
+About half a mile from the town, standing in an old park famous for its
+huge beech trees, is the ancient Manor House of Birlstone. Part of this
+venerable building dates back to the time of the first crusade, when
+Hugo de Capus built a fortalice in the centre of the estate, which had
+been granted to him by the Red King. This was destroyed by fire in
+1543, and some of its smoke-blackened corner stones were used when, in
+Jacobean times, a brick country house rose upon the ruins of the feudal
+castle.
+
+The Manor House, with its many gables and its small diamond-paned
+windows, was still much as the builder had left it in the early
+seventeenth century. Of the double moats which had guarded its more
+warlike predecessor, the outer had been allowed to dry up, and served
+the humble function of a kitchen garden. The inner one was still there,
+and lay forty feet in breadth, though now only a few feet in depth,
+round the whole house. A small stream fed it and continued beyond it,
+so that the sheet of water, though turbid, was never ditch-like or
+unhealthy. The ground floor windows were within a foot of the surface
+of the water.
+
+The only approach to the house was over a drawbridge, the chains and
+windlass of which had long been rusted and broken. The latest tenants
+of the Manor House had, however, with characteristic energy, set this
+right, and the drawbridge was not only capable of being raised, but
+actually was raised every evening and lowered every morning. By thus
+renewing the custom of the old feudal days the Manor House was
+converted into an island during the night--a fact which had a very
+direct bearing upon the mystery which was soon to engage the attention
+of all England.
+
+The house had been untenanted for some years and was threatening to
+moulder into a picturesque decay when the Douglases took possession of
+it. This family consisted of only two individuals--John Douglas and his
+wife. Douglas was a remarkable man, both in character and in person. In
+age he may have been about fifty, with a strong-jawed, rugged face, a
+grizzling moustache, peculiarly keen gray eyes, and a wiry, vigorous
+figure which had lost nothing of the strength and activity of youth. He
+was cheery and genial to all, but somewhat offhand in his manners,
+giving the impression that he had seen life in social strata on some
+far lower horizon than the county society of Sussex.
+
+Yet, though looked at with some curiosity and reserve by his more
+cultivated neighbours, he soon acquired a great popularity among the
+villagers, subscribing handsomely to all local objects, and attending
+their smoking concerts and other functions, where, having a remarkably
+rich tenor voice, he was always ready to oblige with an excellent song.
+He appeared to have plenty of money, which was said to have been gained
+in the California gold fields, and it was clear from his own talk and
+that of his wife that he had spent a part of his life in America.
+
+The good impression which had been produced by his generosity and by
+his democratic manners was increased by a reputation gained for utter
+indifference to danger. Though a wretched rider, he turned out at every
+meet, and took the most amazing falls in his determination to hold his
+own with the best. When the vicarage caught fire he distinguished
+himself also by the fearlessness with which he reentered the building
+to save property, after the local fire brigade had given it up as
+impossible. Thus it came about that John Douglas of the Manor House had
+within five years won himself quite a reputation in Birlstone.
+
+His wife, too, was popular with those who had made her acquaintance;
+though, after the English fashion, the callers upon a stranger who
+settled in the county without introductions were few and far between.
+This mattered the less to her, as she was retiring by disposition, and
+very much absorbed, to all appearance, in her husband and her domestic
+duties. It was known that she was an English lady who had met Mr.
+Douglas in London, he being at that time a widower. She was a beautiful
+woman, tall, dark, and slender, some twenty years younger than her
+husband, a disparity which seemed in no wise to mar the contentment of
+their family life.
+
+It was remarked sometimes, however, by those who knew them best, that
+the confidence between the two did not appear to be complete, since the
+wife was either very reticent about her husband's past life, or else,
+as seemed more likely, was imperfectly informed about it. It had also
+been noted and commented upon by a few observant people that there were
+signs sometimes of some nerve-strain upon the part of Mrs. Douglas, and
+that she would display acute uneasiness if her absent husband should
+ever be particularly late in his return. On a quiet countryside, where
+all gossip is welcome, this weakness of the lady of the Manor House did
+not pass without remark, and it bulked larger upon people's memory when
+the events arose which gave it a very special significance.
+
+There was yet another individual whose residence under that roof was,
+it is true, only an intermittent one, but whose presence at the time of
+the strange happenings which will now be narrated brought his name
+prominently before the public. This was Cecil James Barker, of Hales
+Lodge, Hampstead.
+
+Cecil Barker's tall, loose-jointed figure was a familiar one in the
+main street of Birlstone village; for he was a frequent and welcome
+visitor at the Manor House. He was the more noticed as being the only
+friend of the past unknown life of Mr. Douglas who was ever seen in his
+new English surroundings. Barker was himself an undoubted Englishman;
+but by his remarks it was clear that he had first known Douglas in
+America and had there lived on intimate terms with him. He appeared to
+be a man of considerable wealth, and was reputed to be a bachelor.
+
+In age he was rather younger than Douglas--forty-five at the most--a
+tall, straight, broad-chested fellow with a clean-shaved, prize-fighter
+face, thick, strong, black eyebrows, and a pair of masterful black eyes
+which might, even without the aid of his very capable hands, clear a
+way for him through a hostile crowd. He neither rode nor shot, but
+spent his days in wandering round the old village with his pipe in his
+mouth, or in driving with his host, or in his absence with his hostess,
+over the beautiful countryside. "An easy-going, free-handed gentleman,"
+said Ames, the butler. "But, my word! I had rather not be the man that
+crossed him!" He was cordial and intimate with Douglas, and he was no
+less friendly with his wife--a friendship which more than once seemed
+to cause some irritation to the husband, so that even the servants were
+able to perceive his annoyance. Such was the third person who was one
+of the family when the catastrophe occurred.
+
+As to the other denizens of the old building, it will suffice out of a
+large household to mention the prim, respectable, and capable Ames, and
+Mrs. Allen, a buxom and cheerful person, who relieved the lady of some
+of her household cares. The other six servants in the house bear no
+relation to the events of the night of January 6th.
+
+It was at eleven forty-five that the first alarm reached the small
+local police station, in charge of Sergeant Wilson of the Sussex
+Constabulary. Cecil Barker, much excited, had rushed up to the door and
+pealed furiously upon the bell. A terrible tragedy had occurred at the
+Manor House, and John Douglas had been murdered. That was the
+breathless burden of his message. He had hurried back to the house,
+followed within a few minutes by the police sergeant, who arrived at
+the scene of the crime a little after twelve o'clock, after taking
+prompt steps to warn the county authorities that something serious was
+afoot.
+
+On reaching the Manor House, the sergeant had found the drawbridge
+down, the windows lighted up, and the whole household in a state of
+wild confusion and alarm. The white-faced servants were huddling
+together in the hall, with the frightened butler wringing his hands in
+the doorway. Only Cecil Barker seemed to be master of himself and his
+emotions; he had opened the door which was nearest to the entrance and
+he had beckoned to the sergeant to follow him. At that moment there
+arrived Dr. Wood, a brisk and capable general practitioner from the
+village. The three men entered the fatal room together, while the
+horror-stricken butler followed at their heels, closing the door behind
+him to shut out the terrible scene from the maid servants.
+
+The dead man lay on his back, sprawling with outstretched limbs in the
+centre of the room. He was clad only in a pink dressing gown, which
+covered his night clothes. There were carpet slippers on his bare feet.
+The doctor knelt beside him and held down the hand lamp which had stood
+on the table. One glance at the victim was enough to show the healer
+that his presence could be dispensed with. The man had been horribly
+injured. Lying across his chest was a curious weapon, a shotgun with
+the barrel sawed off a foot in front of the triggers. It was clear that
+this had been fired at close range and that he had received the whole
+charge in the face, blowing his head almost to pieces. The triggers had
+been wired together, so as to make the simultaneous discharge more
+destructive.
+
+The country policeman was unnerved and troubled by the tremendous
+responsibility which had come so suddenly upon him. "We will touch
+nothing until my superiors arrive," he said in a hushed voice, staring
+in horror at the dreadful head.
+
+"Nothing has been touched up to now," said Cecil Barker. "I'll answer
+for that. You see it all exactly as I found it."
+
+"When was that?" The sergeant had drawn out his notebook.
+
+"It was just half-past eleven. I had not begun to undress, and I was
+sitting by the fire in my bedroom when I heard the report. It was not
+very loud--it seemed to be muffled. I rushed down--I don't suppose it
+was thirty seconds before I was in the room."
+
+"Was the door open?"
+
+"Yes, it was open. Poor Douglas was lying as you see him. His bedroom
+candle was burning on the table. It was I who lit the lamp some minutes
+afterward."
+
+"Did you see no one?"
+
+"No. I heard Mrs. Douglas coming down the stair behind me, and I rushed
+out to prevent her from seeing this dreadful sight. Mrs. Allen, the
+housekeeper, came and took her away. Ames had arrived, and we ran back
+into the room once more."
+
+"But surely I have heard that the drawbridge is kept up all night."
+
+"Yes, it was up until I lowered it."
+
+"Then how could any murderer have got away? It is out of the question!
+Mr. Douglas must have shot himself."
+
+"That was our first idea. But see!" Barker drew aside the curtain, and
+showed that the long, diamond-paned window was open to its full extent.
+"And look at this!" He held the lamp down and illuminated a smudge of
+blood like the mark of a boot-sole upon the wooden sill. "Someone has
+stood there in getting out."
+
+"You mean that someone waded across the moat?"
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+"Then if you were in the room within half a minute of the crime, he
+must have been in the water at that very moment."
+
+"I have not a doubt of it. I wish to heaven that I had rushed to the
+window! But the curtain screened it, as you can see, and so it never
+occurred to me. Then I heard the step of Mrs. Douglas, and I could not
+let her enter the room. It would have been too horrible."
+
+"Horrible enough!" said the doctor, looking at the shattered head and
+the terrible marks which surrounded it. "I've never seen such injuries
+since the Birlstone railway smash."
+
+"But, I say," remarked the police sergeant, whose slow, bucolic common
+sense was still pondering the open window. "It's all very well your
+saying that a man escaped by wading this moat, but what I ask you is,
+how did he ever get into the house at all if the bridge was up?"
+
+"Ah, that's the question," said Barker.
+
+"At what o'clock was it raised?"
+
+"It was nearly six o'clock," said Ames, the butler.
+
+"I've heard," said the sergeant, "that it was usually raised at sunset.
+That would be nearer half-past four than six at this time of year."
+
+"Mrs. Douglas had visitors to tea," said Ames. "I couldn't raise it
+until they went. Then I wound it up myself."
+
+"Then it comes to this," said the sergeant: "If anyone came from
+outside--if they did--they must have got in across the bridge before
+six and been in hiding ever since, until Mr. Douglas came into the room
+after eleven."
+
+"That is so! Mr. Douglas went round the house every night the last
+thing before he turned in to see that the lights were right. That
+brought him in here. The man was waiting and shot him. Then he got away
+through the window and left his gun behind him. That's how I read it;
+for nothing else will fit the facts."
+
+The sergeant picked up a card which lay beside the dead man on the
+floor. The initials V. V. and under them the number 341 were rudely
+scrawled in ink upon it.
+
+"What's this?" he asked, holding it up.
+
+Barker looked at it with curiosity. "I never noticed it before," he
+said. "The murderer must have left it behind him."
+
+"V. V.--341. I can make no sense of that."
+
+The sergeant kept turning it over in his big fingers. "What's V. V.?
+Somebody's initials, maybe. What have you got there, Dr. Wood?"
+
+It was a good-sized hammer which had been lying on the rug in front of
+the fireplace--a substantial, workmanlike hammer. Cecil Barker pointed
+to a box of brass-headed nails upon the mantelpiece.
+
+"Mr. Douglas was altering the pictures yesterday," he said. "I saw him
+myself, standing upon that chair and fixing the big picture above it.
+That accounts for the hammer."
+
+"We'd best put it back on the rug where we found it," said the
+sergeant, scratching his puzzled head in his perplexity. "It will want
+the best brains in the force to get to the bottom of this thing. It
+will be a London job before it is finished." He raised the hand lamp
+and walked slowly round the room. "Hullo!" he cried, excitedly, drawing
+the window curtain to one side. "What o'clock were those curtains
+drawn?"
+
+"When the lamps were lit," said the butler. "It would be shortly after
+four."
+
+"Someone had been hiding here, sure enough." He held down the light,
+and the marks of muddy boots were very visible in the corner. "I'm
+bound to say this bears out your theory, Mr. Barker. It looks as if the
+man got into the house after four when the curtains were drawn and
+before six when the bridge was raised. He slipped into this room,
+because it was the first that he saw. There was no other place where he
+could hide, so he popped in behind this curtain. That all seems clear
+enough. It is likely that his main idea was to burgle the house; but
+Mr. Douglas chanced to come upon him, so he murdered him and escaped."
+
+"That's how I read it," said Barker. "But, I say, aren't we wasting
+precious time? Couldn't we start out and scour the country before the
+fellow gets away?"
+
+The sergeant considered for a moment.
+
+"There are no trains before six in the morning; so he can't get away by
+rail. If he goes by road with his legs all dripping, it's odds that
+someone will notice him. Anyhow, I can't leave here myself until I am
+relieved. But I think none of you should go until we see more clearly
+how we all stand."
+
+The doctor had taken the lamp and was narrowly scrutinizing the body.
+"What's this mark?" he asked. "Could this have any connection with the
+crime?"
+
+The dead man's right arm was thrust out from his dressing gown, and
+exposed as high as the elbow. About halfway up the forearm was a
+curious brown design, a triangle inside a circle, standing out in vivid
+relief upon the lard-coloured skin.
+
+"It's not tattooed," said the doctor, peering through his glasses. "I
+never saw anything like it. The man has been branded at some time as
+they brand cattle. What is the meaning of this?"
+
+"I don't profess to know the meaning of it," said Cecil Barker; "but I
+have seen the mark on Douglas many times this last ten years."
+
+"And so have I," said the butler. "Many a time when the master has
+rolled up his sleeves I have noticed that very mark. I've often
+wondered what it could be."
+
+"Then it has nothing to do with the crime, anyhow," said the sergeant.
+"But it's a rum thing all the same. Everything about this case is rum.
+Well, what is it now?"
+
+The butler had given an exclamation of astonishment and was pointing at
+the dead man's outstretched hand.
+
+"They've taken his wedding ring!" he gasped.
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes, indeed. Master always wore his plain gold wedding ring on the
+little finger of his left hand. That ring with the rough nugget on it
+was above it, and the twisted snake ring on the third finger. There's
+the nugget and there's the snake, but the wedding ring is gone."
+
+"He's right," said Barker.
+
+"Do you tell me," said the sergeant, "that the wedding ring was below
+the other?"
+
+"Always!"
+
+"Then the murderer, or whoever it was, first took off this ring you
+call the nugget ring, then the wedding ring, and afterwards put the
+nugget ring back again."
+
+"That is so!"
+
+The worthy country policeman shook his head. "Seems to me the sooner we
+get London on to this case the better," said he. "White Mason is a
+smart man. No local job has ever been too much for White Mason. It
+won't be long now before he is here to help us. But I expect we'll have
+to look to London before we are through. Anyhow, I'm not ashamed to say
+that it is a deal too thick for the likes of me."
+
+
+
+Chapter 4
+
+Darkness
+
+At three in the morning the chief Sussex detective, obeying the urgent
+call from Sergeant Wilson of Birlstone, arrived from headquarters in a
+light dog-cart behind a breathless trotter. By the five-forty train in
+the morning he had sent his message to Scotland Yard, and he was at the
+Birlstone station at twelve o'clock to welcome us. White Mason was a
+quiet, comfortable-looking person in a loose tweed suit, with a
+clean-shaved, ruddy face, a stoutish body, and powerful bandy legs
+adorned with gaiters, looking like a small farmer, a retired
+gamekeeper, or anything upon earth except a very favourable specimen of
+the provincial criminal officer.
+
+"A real downright snorter, Mr. MacDonald!" he kept repeating. "We'll
+have the pressmen down like flies when they understand it. I'm hoping
+we will get our work done before they get poking their noses into it
+and messing up all the trails. There has been nothing like this that I
+can remember. There are some bits that will come home to you, Mr.
+Holmes, or I am mistaken. And you also, Dr. Watson; for the medicos
+will have a word to say before we finish. Your room is at the Westville
+Arms. There's no other place; but I hear that it is clean and good. The
+man will carry your bags. This way, gentlemen, if you please."
+
+He was a very bustling and genial person, this Sussex detective. In ten
+minutes we had all found our quarters. In ten more we were seated in
+the parlour of the inn and being treated to a rapid sketch of those
+events which have been outlined in the previous chapter. MacDonald made
+an occasional note, while Holmes sat absorbed, with the expression of
+surprised and reverent admiration with which the botanist surveys the
+rare and precious bloom.
+
+"Remarkable!" he said, when the story was unfolded, "most remarkable! I
+can hardly recall any case where the features have been more peculiar."
+
+"I thought you would say so, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason in great
+delight. "We're well up with the times in Sussex. I've told you now how
+matters were, up to the time when I took over from Sergeant Wilson
+between three and four this morning. My word! I made the old mare go!
+But I need not have been in such a hurry, as it turned out; for there
+was nothing immediate that I could do. Sergeant Wilson had all the
+facts. I checked them and considered them and maybe added a few of my
+own."
+
+"What were they?" asked Holmes eagerly.
+
+"Well, I first had the hammer examined. There was Dr. Wood there to
+help me. We found no signs of violence upon it. I was hoping that if
+Mr. Douglas defended himself with the hammer, he might have left his
+mark upon the murderer before he dropped it on the mat. But there was
+no stain."
+
+"That, of course, proves nothing at all," remarked Inspector MacDonald.
+"There has been many a hammer murder and no trace on the hammer."
+
+"Quite so. It doesn't prove it wasn't used. But there might have been
+stains, and that would have helped us. As a matter of fact there were
+none. Then I examined the gun. They were buckshot cartridges, and, as
+Sergeant Wilson pointed out, the triggers were wired together so that,
+if you pulled on the hinder one, both barrels were discharged. Whoever
+fixed that up had made up his mind that he was going to take no chances
+of missing his man. The sawed gun was not more than two foot long--one
+could carry it easily under one's coat. There was no complete maker's
+name; but the printed letters P-E-N were on the fluting between the
+barrels, and the rest of the name had been cut off by the saw."
+
+"A big P with a flourish above it, E and N smaller?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Pennsylvania Small Arms Company--well-known American firm," said
+Holmes.
+
+White Mason gazed at my friend as the little village practitioner looks
+at the Harley Street specialist who by a word can solve the
+difficulties that perplex him.
+
+"That is very helpful, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right. Wonderful!
+Wonderful! Do you carry the names of all the gun makers in the world in
+your memory?"
+
+Holmes dismissed the subject with a wave.
+
+"No doubt it is an American shotgun," White Mason continued. "I seem to
+have read that a sawed-off shotgun is a weapon used in some parts of
+America. Apart from the name upon the barrel, the idea had occurred to
+me. There is some evidence then, that this man who entered the house
+and killed its master was an American."
+
+MacDonald shook his head. "Man, you are surely travelling overfast,"
+said he. "I have heard no evidence yet that any stranger was ever in
+the house at all."
+
+"The open window, the blood on the sill, the queer card, the marks of
+boots in the corner, the gun!"
+
+"Nothing there that could not have been arranged. Mr. Douglas was an
+American, or had lived long in America. So had Mr. Barker. You don't
+need to import an American from outside in order to account for
+American doings."
+
+"Ames, the butler--"
+
+"What about him? Is he reliable?"
+
+"Ten years with Sir Charles Chandos--as solid as a rock. He has been
+with Douglas ever since he took the Manor House five years ago. He has
+never seen a gun of this sort in the house."
+
+"The gun was made to conceal. That's why the barrels were sawed. It
+would fit into any box. How could he swear there was no such gun in the
+house?"
+
+"Well, anyhow, he had never seen one."
+
+MacDonald shook his obstinate Scotch head. "I'm not convinced yet that
+there was ever anyone in the house," said he. "I'm asking you to
+conseedar" (his accent became more Aberdonian as he lost himself in his
+argument) "I'm asking you to conseedar what it involves if you suppose
+that this gun was ever brought into the house, and that all these
+strange things were done by a person from outside. Oh, man, it's just
+inconceivable! It's clean against common sense! I put it to you, Mr.
+Holmes, judging it by what we have heard."
+
+"Well, state your case, Mr. Mac," said Holmes in his most judicial
+style.
+
+"The man is not a burglar, supposing that he ever existed. The ring
+business and the card point to premeditated murder for some private
+reason. Very good. Here is a man who slips into a house with the
+deliberate intention of committing murder. He knows, if he knows
+anything, that he will have a deeficulty in making his escape, as the
+house is surrounded with water. What weapon would he choose? You would
+say the most silent in the world. Then he could hope when the deed was
+done to slip quickly from the window, to wade the moat, and to get away
+at his leisure. That's understandable. But is it understandable that he
+should go out of his way to bring with him the most noisy weapon he
+could select, knowing well that it will fetch every human being in the
+house to the spot as quick as they can run, and that it is all odds
+that he will be seen before he can get across the moat? Is that
+credible, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Well, you put the case strongly," my friend replied thoughtfully. "It
+certainly needs a good deal of justification. May I ask, Mr. White
+Mason, whether you examined the farther side of the moat at once to see
+if there were any signs of the man having climbed out from the water?"
+
+"There were no signs, Mr. Holmes. But it is a stone ledge, and one
+could hardly expect them."
+
+"No tracks or marks?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Ha! Would there be any objection, Mr. White Mason, to our going down
+to the house at once? There may possibly be some small point which
+might be suggestive."
+
+"I was going to propose it, Mr. Holmes; but I thought it well to put
+you in touch with all the facts before we go. I suppose if anything
+should strike you--" White Mason looked doubtfully at the amateur.
+
+"I have worked with Mr. Holmes before," said Inspector MacDonald. "He
+plays the game."
+
+"My own idea of the game, at any rate," said Holmes, with a smile. "I
+go into a case to help the ends of justice and the work of the police.
+If I have ever separated myself from the official force, it is because
+they have first separated themselves from me. I have no wish ever to
+score at their expense. At the same time, Mr. White Mason, I claim the
+right to work in my own way and give my results at my own
+time--complete rather than in stages."
+
+"I am sure we are honoured by your presence and to show you all we
+know," said White Mason cordially. "Come along, Dr. Watson, and when
+the time comes we'll all hope for a place in your book."
+
+We walked down the quaint village street with a row of pollarded elms
+on each side of it. Just beyond were two ancient stone pillars,
+weather-stained and lichen-blotched bearing upon their summits a
+shapeless something which had once been the rampant lion of Capus of
+Birlstone. A short walk along the winding drive with such sward and
+oaks around it as one only sees in rural England, then a sudden turn,
+and the long, low Jacobean house of dingy, liver-coloured brick lay
+before us, with an old-fashioned garden of cut yews on each side of it.
+As we approached it, there was the wooden drawbridge and the beautiful
+broad moat as still and luminous as quicksilver in the cold, winter
+sunshine.
+
+Three centuries had flowed past the old Manor House, centuries of
+births and of homecomings, of country dances and of the meetings of fox
+hunters. Strange that now in its old age this dark business should have
+cast its shadow upon the venerable walls! And yet those strange, peaked
+roofs and quaint, overhung gables were a fitting covering to grim and
+terrible intrigue. As I looked at the deep-set windows and the long
+sweep of the dull-coloured, water-lapped front, I felt that no more
+fitting scene could be set for such a tragedy.
+
+"That's the window," said White Mason, "that one on the immediate right
+of the drawbridge. It's open just as it was found last night."
+
+"It looks rather narrow for a man to pass."
+
+"Well, it wasn't a fat man, anyhow. We don't need your deductions, Mr.
+Holmes, to tell us that. But you or I could squeeze through all right."
+
+Holmes walked to the edge of the moat and looked across. Then he
+examined the stone ledge and the grass border beyond it.
+
+"I've had a good look, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason. "There is nothing
+there, no sign that anyone has landed--but why should he leave any
+sign?"
+
+"Exactly. Why should he? Is the water always turbid?"
+
+"Generally about this colour. The stream brings down the clay."
+
+"How deep is it?"
+
+"About two feet at each side and three in the middle."
+
+"So we can put aside all idea of the man having been drowned in
+crossing."
+
+"No, a child could not be drowned in it."
+
+We walked across the drawbridge, and were admitted by a quaint,
+gnarled, dried-up person, who was the butler, Ames. The poor old fellow
+was white and quivering from the shock. The village sergeant, a tall,
+formal, melancholy man, still held his vigil in the room of Fate. The
+doctor had departed.
+
+"Anything fresh, Sergeant Wilson?" asked White Mason.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then you can go home. You've had enough. We can send for you if we
+want you. The butler had better wait outside. Tell him to warn Mr.
+Cecil Barker, Mrs. Douglas, and the housekeeper that we may want a word
+with them presently. Now, gentlemen, perhaps you will allow me to give
+you the views I have formed first, and then you will be able to arrive
+at your own."
+
+He impressed me, this country specialist. He had a solid grip of fact
+and a cool, clear, common-sense brain, which should take him some way
+in his profession. Holmes listened to him intently, with no sign of
+that impatience which the official exponent too often produced.
+
+"Is it suicide, or is it murder--that's our first question, gentlemen,
+is it not? If it were suicide, then we have to believe that this man
+began by taking off his wedding ring and concealing it; that he then
+came down here in his dressing gown, trampled mud into a corner behind
+the curtain in order to give the idea someone had waited for him,
+opened the window, put blood on the--"
+
+"We can surely dismiss that," said MacDonald.
+
+"So I think. Suicide is out of the question. Then a murder has been
+done. What we have to determine is, whether it was done by someone
+outside or inside the house."
+
+"Well, let's hear the argument."
+
+"There are considerable difficulties both ways, and yet one or the
+other it must be. We will suppose first that some person or persons
+inside the house did the crime. They got this man down here at a time
+when everything was still and yet no one was asleep. They then did the
+deed with the queerest and noisiest weapon in the world so as to tell
+everyone what had happened--a weapon that was never seen in the house
+before. That does not seem a very likely start, does it?"
+
+"No, it does not."
+
+"Well, then, everyone is agreed that after the alarm was given only a
+minute at the most had passed before the whole household--not Mr. Cecil
+Barker alone, though he claims to have been the first, but Ames and all
+of them were on the spot. Do you tell me that in that time the guilty
+person managed to make footmarks in the corner, open the window, mark
+the sill with blood, take the wedding ring off the dead man's finger,
+and all the rest of it? It's impossible!"
+
+"You put it very clearly," said Holmes. "I am inclined to agree with
+you."
+
+"Well, then, we are driven back to the theory that it was done by
+someone from outside. We are still faced with some big difficulties;
+but anyhow they have ceased to be impossibilities. The man got into the
+house between four-thirty and six; that is to say, between dusk and the
+time when the bridge was raised. There had been some visitors, and the
+door was open; so there was nothing to prevent him. He may have been a
+common burglar, or he may have had some private grudge against Mr.
+Douglas. Since Mr. Douglas has spent most of his life in America, and
+this shotgun seems to be an American weapon, it would seem that the
+private grudge is the more likely theory. He slipped into this room
+because it was the first he came to, and he hid behind the curtain.
+There he remained until past eleven at night. At that time Mr. Douglas
+entered the room. It was a short interview, if there were any interview
+at all; for Mrs. Douglas declares that her husband had not left her
+more than a few minutes when she heard the shot."
+
+"The candle shows that," said Holmes.
+
+"Exactly. The candle, which was a new one, is not burned more than half
+an inch. He must have placed it on the table before he was attacked;
+otherwise, of course, it would have fallen when he fell. This shows
+that he was not attacked the instant that he entered the room. When Mr.
+Barker arrived the candle was lit and the lamp was out."
+
+"That's all clear enough."
+
+"Well, now, we can reconstruct things on those lines. Mr. Douglas
+enters the room. He puts down the candle. A man appears from behind the
+curtain. He is armed with this gun. He demands the wedding ring--Heaven
+only knows why, but so it must have been. Mr. Douglas gave it up. Then
+either in cold blood or in the course of a struggle--Douglas may have
+gripped the hammer that was found upon the mat--he shot Douglas in this
+horrible way. He dropped his gun and also it would seem this queer
+card--V. V. 341, whatever that may mean--and he made his escape through
+the window and across the moat at the very moment when Cecil Barker was
+discovering the crime. How's that, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Very interesting, but just a little unconvincing."
+
+"Man, it would be absolute nonsense if it wasn't that anything else is
+even worse!" cried MacDonald. "Somebody killed the man, and whoever it
+was I could clearly prove to you that he should have done it some other
+way. What does he mean by allowing his retreat to be cut off like that?
+What does he mean by using a shotgun when silence was his one chance of
+escape? Come, Mr. Holmes, it's up to you to give us a lead, since you
+say Mr. White Mason's theory is unconvincing."
+
+Holmes had sat intently observant during this long discussion, missing
+no word that was said, with his keen eyes darting to right and to left,
+and his forehead wrinkled with speculation.
+
+"I should like a few more facts before I get so far as a theory, Mr.
+Mac," said he, kneeling down beside the body. "Dear me! these injuries
+are really appalling. Can we have the butler in for a moment? . . .
+Ames, I understand that you have often seen this very unusual mark--a
+branded triangle inside a circle--upon Mr. Douglas's forearm?"
+
+"Frequently, sir."
+
+"You never heard any speculation as to what it meant?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"It must have caused great pain when it was inflicted. It is
+undoubtedly a burn. Now, I observe, Ames, that there is a small piece
+of plaster at the angle of Mr. Douglas's jaw. Did you observe that in
+life?"
+
+"Yes, sir, he cut himself in shaving yesterday morning."
+
+"Did you ever know him to cut himself in shaving before?"
+
+"Not for a very long time, sir."
+
+"Suggestive!" said Holmes. "It may, of course, be a mere coincidence,
+or it may point to some nervousness which would indicate that he had
+reason to apprehend danger. Had you noticed anything unusual in his
+conduct, yesterday, Ames?"
+
+"It struck me that he was a little restless and excited, sir."
+
+"Ha! The attack may not have been entirely unexpected. We do seem to
+make a little progress, do we not? Perhaps you would rather do the
+questioning, Mr. Mac?"
+
+"No, Mr. Holmes, it's in better hands than mine."
+
+"Well, then, we will pass to this card--V. V. 341. It is rough
+cardboard. Have you any of the sort in the house?"
+
+"I don't think so."
+
+Holmes walked across to the desk and dabbed a little ink from each
+bottle on to the blotting paper. "It was not printed in this room," he
+said; "this is black ink and the other purplish. It was done by a thick
+pen, and these are fine. No, it was done elsewhere, I should say. Can
+you make anything of the inscription, Ames?"
+
+"No, sir, nothing."
+
+"What do you think, Mr. Mac?"
+
+"It gives me the impression of a secret society of some sort; the same
+with his badge upon the forearm."
+
+"That's my idea, too," said White Mason.
+
+"Well, we can adopt it as a working hypothesis and then see how far our
+difficulties disappear. An agent from such a society makes his way into
+the house, waits for Mr. Douglas, blows his head nearly off with this
+weapon, and escapes by wading the moat, after leaving a card beside the
+dead man, which will when mentioned in the papers, tell other members
+of the society that vengeance has been done. That all hangs together.
+But why this gun, of all weapons?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"And why the missing ring?"
+
+"Quite so."
+
+"And why no arrest? It's past two now. I take it for granted that since
+dawn every constable within forty miles has been looking out for a wet
+stranger?"
+
+"That is so, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Well, unless he has a burrow close by or a change of clothes ready,
+they can hardly miss him. And yet they have missed him up to now!"
+Holmes had gone to the window and was examining with his lens the blood
+mark on the sill. "It is clearly the tread of a shoe. It is remarkably
+broad; a splay-foot, one would say. Curious, because, so far as one can
+trace any footmark in this mud-stained corner, one would say it was a
+more shapely sole. However, they are certainly very indistinct. What's
+this under the side table?"
+
+"Mr. Douglas's dumb-bells," said Ames.
+
+"Dumb-bell--there's only one. Where's the other?"
+
+"I don't know, Mr. Holmes. There may have been only one. I have not
+noticed them for months."
+
+"One dumb-bell--" Holmes said seriously; but his remarks were
+interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.
+
+A tall, sunburned, capable-looking, clean-shaved man looked in at us. I
+had no difficulty in guessing that it was the Cecil Barker of whom I
+had heard. His masterful eyes travelled quickly with a questioning
+glance from face to face.
+
+"Sorry to interrupt your consultation," said he, "but you should hear
+the latest news."
+
+"An arrest?"
+
+"No such luck. But they've found his bicycle. The fellow left his
+bicycle behind him. Come and have a look. It is within a hundred yards
+of the hall door."
+
+We found three or four grooms and idlers standing in the drive
+inspecting a bicycle which had been drawn out from a clump of
+evergreens in which it had been concealed. It was a well used
+Rudge-Whitworth, splashed as from a considerable journey. There was a
+saddlebag with spanner and oilcan, but no clue as to the owner.
+
+"It would be a grand help to the police," said the inspector, "if these
+things were numbered and registered. But we must be thankful for what
+we've got. If we can't find where he went to, at least we are likely to
+get where he came from. But what in the name of all that is wonderful
+made the fellow leave it behind? And how in the world has he got away
+without it? We don't seem to get a gleam of light in the case, Mr.
+Holmes."
+
+"Don't we?" my friend answered thoughtfully. "I wonder!"
+
+
+
+Chapter 5
+
+The People Of the Drama
+
+"Have you seen all you want of the study?" asked White Mason as we
+reentered the house.
+
+"For the time," said the inspector, and Holmes nodded.
+
+"Then perhaps you would now like to hear the evidence of some of the
+people in the house. We could use the dining-room, Ames. Please come
+yourself first and tell us what you know."
+
+The butler's account was a simple and a clear one, and he gave a
+convincing impression of sincerity. He had been engaged five years
+before, when Douglas first came to Birlstone. He understood that Mr.
+Douglas was a rich gentleman who had made his money in America. He had
+been a kind and considerate employer--not quite what Ames was used to,
+perhaps; but one can't have everything. He never saw any signs of
+apprehension in Mr. Douglas: on the contrary, he was the most fearless
+man he had ever known. He ordered the drawbridge to be pulled up every
+night because it was the ancient custom of the old house, and he liked
+to keep the old ways up.
+
+Mr. Douglas seldom went to London or left the village; but on the day
+before the crime he had been shopping at Tunbridge Wells. He (Ames) had
+observed some restlessness and excitement on the part of Mr. Douglas
+that day; for he had seemed impatient and irritable, which was unusual
+with him. He had not gone to bed that night; but was in the pantry at
+the back of the house, putting away the silver, when he heard the bell
+ring violently. He heard no shot; but it was hardly possible he would,
+as the pantry and kitchens were at the very back of the house and there
+were several closed doors and a long passage between. The housekeeper
+had come out of her room, attracted by the violent ringing of the bell.
+They had gone to the front of the house together.
+
+As they reached the bottom of the stair he had seen Mrs. Douglas coming
+down it. No, she was not hurrying; it did not seem to him that she was
+particularly agitated. Just as she reached the bottom of the stair Mr.
+Barker had rushed out of the study. He had stopped Mrs. Douglas and
+begged her to go back.
+
+"For God's sake, go back to your room!" he cried. "Poor Jack is dead!
+You can do nothing. For God's sake, go back!"
+
+After some persuasion upon the stairs Mrs. Douglas had gone back. She
+did not scream. She made no outcry whatever. Mrs. Allen, the
+housekeeper, had taken her upstairs and stayed with her in the bedroom.
+Ames and Mr. Barker had then returned to the study, where they had
+found everything exactly as the police had seen it. The candle was not
+lit at that time; but the lamp was burning. They had looked out of the
+window; but the night was very dark and nothing could be seen or heard.
+They had then rushed out into the hall, where Ames had turned the
+windlass which lowered the drawbridge. Mr. Barker had then hurried off
+to get the police.
+
+Such, in its essentials, was the evidence of the butler.
+
+The account of Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, was, so far as it went, a
+corroboration of that of her fellow servant. The housekeeper's room was
+rather nearer to the front of the house than the pantry in which Ames
+had been working. She was preparing to go to bed when the loud ringing
+of the bell had attracted her attention. She was a little hard of
+hearing. Perhaps that was why she had not heard the shot; but in any
+case the study was a long way off. She remembered hearing some sound
+which she imagined to be the slamming of a door. That was a good deal
+earlier--half an hour at least before the ringing of the bell. When Mr.
+Ames ran to the front she went with him. She saw Mr. Barker, very pale
+and excited, come out of the study. He intercepted Mrs. Douglas, who
+was coming down the stairs. He entreated her to go back, and she
+answered him, but what she said could not be heard.
+
+"Take her up! Stay with her!" he had said to Mrs. Allen.
+
+She had therefore taken her to the bedroom, and endeavoured to soothe
+her. She was greatly excited, trembling all over, but made no other
+attempt to go downstairs. She just sat in her dressing gown by her
+bedroom fire, with her head sunk in her hands. Mrs. Allen stayed with
+her most of the night. As to the other servants, they had all gone to
+bed, and the alarm did not reach them until just before the police
+arrived. They slept at the extreme back of the house, and could not
+possibly have heard anything.
+
+So far the housekeeper could add nothing on cross-examination save
+lamentations and expressions of amazement.
+
+Cecil Barker succeeded Mrs. Allen as a witness. As to the occurrences
+of the night before, he had very little to add to what he had already
+told the police. Personally, he was convinced that the murderer had
+escaped by the window. The bloodstain was conclusive, in his opinion,
+on that point. Besides, as the bridge was up, there was no other
+possible way of escaping. He could not explain what had become of the
+assassin or why he had not taken his bicycle, if it were indeed his. He
+could not possibly have been drowned in the moat, which was at no place
+more than three feet deep.
+
+In his own mind he had a very definite theory about the murder. Douglas
+was a reticent man, and there were some chapters in his life of which
+he never spoke. He had emigrated to America when he was a very young
+man. He had prospered well, and Barker had first met him in California,
+where they had become partners in a successful mining claim at a place
+called Benito Canyon. They had done very well; but Douglas had suddenly
+sold out and started for England. He was a widower at that time. Barker
+had afterwards realized his money and come to live in London. Thus they
+had renewed their friendship.
+
+Douglas had given him the impression that some danger was hanging over
+his head, and he had always looked upon his sudden departure from
+California, and also his renting a house in so quiet a place in
+England, as being connected with this peril. He imagined that some
+secret society, some implacable organization, was on Douglas's track,
+which would never rest until it killed him. Some remarks of his had
+given him this idea; though he had never told him what the society was,
+nor how he had come to offend it. He could only suppose that the legend
+upon the placard had some reference to this secret society.
+
+"How long were you with Douglas in California?" asked Inspector
+MacDonald.
+
+"Five years altogether."
+
+"He was a bachelor, you say?"
+
+"A widower."
+
+"Have you ever heard where his first wife came from?"
+
+"No, I remember his saying that she was of German extraction, and I
+have seen her portrait. She was a very beautiful woman. She died of
+typhoid the year before I met him."
+
+"You don't associate his past with any particular part of America?"
+
+"I have heard him talk of Chicago. He knew that city well and had
+worked there. I have heard him talk of the coal and iron districts. He
+had travelled a good deal in his time."
+
+"Was he a politician? Had this secret society to do with politics?"
+
+"No, he cared nothing about politics."
+
+"You have no reason to think it was criminal?"
+
+"On the contrary, I never met a straighter man in my life."
+
+"Was there anything curious about his life in California?"
+
+"He liked best to stay and to work at our claim in the mountains. He
+would never go where other men were if he could help it. That's why I
+first thought that someone was after him. Then when he left so suddenly
+for Europe I made sure that it was so. I believe that he had a warning
+of some sort. Within a week of his leaving half a dozen men were
+inquiring for him."
+
+"What sort of men?"
+
+"Well, they were a mighty hard-looking crowd. They came up to the claim
+and wanted to know where he was. I told them that he was gone to Europe
+and that I did not know where to find him. They meant him no good--it
+was easy to see that."
+
+"Were these men Americans--Californians?"
+
+"Well, I don't know about Californians. They were Americans, all right.
+But they were not miners. I don't know what they were, and was very
+glad to see their backs."
+
+"That was six years ago?"
+
+"Nearer seven."
+
+"And then you were together five years in California, so that this
+business dates back not less than eleven years at the least?"
+
+"That is so."
+
+"It must be a very serious feud that would be kept up with such
+earnestness for as long as that. It would be no light thing that would
+give rise to it."
+
+"I think it shadowed his whole life. It was never quite out of his
+mind."
+
+"But if a man had a danger hanging over him, and knew what it was,
+don't you think he would turn to the police for protection?"
+
+"Maybe it was some danger that he could not be protected against.
+There's one thing you should know. He always went about armed. His
+revolver was never out of his pocket. But, by bad luck, he was in his
+dressing gown and had left it in the bedroom last night. Once the
+bridge was up, I guess he thought he was safe."
+
+"I should like these dates a little clearer," said MacDonald. "It is
+quite six years since Douglas left California. You followed him next
+year, did you not?"
+
+"That is so."
+
+"And he had been married five years. You must have returned about the
+time of his marriage."
+
+"About a month before. I was his best man."
+
+"Did you know Mrs. Douglas before her marriage?"
+
+"No, I did not. I had been away from England for ten years."
+
+"But you have seen a good deal of her since."
+
+Barker looked sternly at the detective. "I have seen a good deal of him
+since," he answered. "If I have seen her, it is because you cannot
+visit a man without knowing his wife. If you imagine there is any
+connection--"
+
+"I imagine nothing, Mr. Barker. I am bound to make every inquiry which
+can bear upon the case. But I mean no offense."
+
+"Some inquiries are offensive," Barker answered angrily.
+
+"It's only the facts that we want. It is in your interest and
+everyone's interest that they should be cleared up. Did Mr. Douglas
+entirely approve your friendship with his wife?"
+
+Barker grew paler, and his great, strong hands were clasped
+convulsively together. "You have no right to ask such questions!" he
+cried. "What has this to do with the matter you are investigating?"
+
+"I must repeat the question."
+
+"Well, I refuse to answer."
+
+"You can refuse to answer; but you must be aware that your refusal is
+in itself an answer, for you would not refuse if you had not something
+to conceal."
+
+Barker stood for a moment with his face set grimly and his strong black
+eyebrows drawn low in intense thought. Then he looked up with a smile.
+"Well, I guess you gentlemen are only doing your clear duty after all,
+and I have no right to stand in the way of it. I'd only ask you not to
+worry Mrs. Douglas over this matter; for she has enough upon her just
+now. I may tell you that poor Douglas had just one fault in the world,
+and that was his jealousy. He was fond of me--no man could be fonder of
+a friend. And he was devoted to his wife. He loved me to come here, and
+was forever sending for me. And yet if his wife and I talked together
+or there seemed any sympathy between us, a kind of wave of jealousy
+would pass over him, and he would be off the handle and saying the
+wildest things in a moment. More than once I've sworn off coming for
+that reason, and then he would write me such penitent, imploring
+letters that I just had to. But you can take it from me, gentlemen, if
+it was my last word, that no man ever had a more loving, faithful
+wife--and I can say also no friend could be more loyal than I!"
+
+It was spoken with fervour and feeling, and yet Inspector MacDonald
+could not dismiss the subject.
+
+"You are aware," said he, "that the dead man's wedding ring has been
+taken from his finger?"
+
+"So it appears," said Barker.
+
+"What do you mean by 'appears'? You know it as a fact."
+
+The man seemed confused and undecided. "When I said 'appears' I meant
+that it was conceivable that he had himself taken off the ring."
+
+"The mere fact that the ring should be absent, whoever may have removed
+it, would suggest to anyone's mind, would it not, that the marriage and
+the tragedy were connected?"
+
+Barker shrugged his broad shoulders. "I can't profess to say what it
+means." he answered. "But if you mean to hint that it could reflect in
+any way upon this lady's honour"--his eyes blazed for an instant, and
+then with an evident effort he got a grip upon his own emotions--"well,
+you are on the wrong track, that's all."
+
+"I don't know that I've anything else to ask you at present," said
+MacDonald, coldly.
+
+"There was one small point," remarked Sherlock Holmes. "When you
+entered the room there was only a candle lighted on the table, was
+there not?"
+
+"Yes, that was so."
+
+"By its light you saw that some terrible incident had occurred?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"You at once rang for help?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And it arrived very speedily?"
+
+"Within a minute or so."
+
+"And yet when they arrived they found that the candle was out and that
+the lamp had been lighted. That seems very remarkable."
+
+Again Barker showed some signs of indecision. "I don't see that it was
+remarkable, Mr. Holmes," he answered after a pause. "The candle threw a
+very bad light. My first thought was to get a better one. The lamp was
+on the table; so I lit it."
+
+"And blew out the candle?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+Holmes asked no further question, and Barker, with a deliberate look
+from one to the other of us, which had, as it seemed to me, something
+of defiance in it, turned and left the room.
+
+Inspector MacDonald had sent up a note to the effect that he would wait
+upon Mrs. Douglas in her room; but she had replied that she would meet
+us in the dining room. She entered now, a tall and beautiful woman of
+thirty, reserved and self-possessed to a remarkable degree, very
+different from the tragic and distracted figure I had pictured. It is
+true that her face was pale and drawn, like that of one who has endured
+a great shock; but her manner was composed, and the finely moulded hand
+which she rested upon the edge of the table was as steady as my own.
+Her sad, appealing eyes travelled from one to the other of us with a
+curiously inquisitive expression. That questioning gaze transformed
+itself suddenly into abrupt speech.
+
+"Have you found anything out yet?" she asked.
+
+Was it my imagination that there was an undertone of fear rather than
+of hope in the question?
+
+"We have taken every possible step, Mrs. Douglas," said the inspector.
+"You may rest assured that nothing will be neglected."
+
+"Spare no money," she said in a dead, even tone. "It is my desire that
+every possible effort should be made."
+
+"Perhaps you can tell us something which may throw some light upon the
+matter."
+
+"I fear not; but all I know is at your service."
+
+"We have heard from Mr. Cecil Barker that you did not actually
+see--that you were never in the room where the tragedy occurred?"
+
+"No, he turned me back upon the stairs. He begged me to return to my
+room."
+
+"Quite so. You had heard the shot, and you had at once come down."
+
+"I put on my dressing gown and then came down."
+
+"How long was it after hearing the shot that you were stopped on the
+stair by Mr. Barker?"
+
+"It may have been a couple of minutes. It is so hard to reckon time at
+such a moment. He implored me not to go on. He assured me that I could
+do nothing. Then Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, led me upstairs again. It
+was all like some dreadful dream."
+
+"Can you give us any idea how long your husband had been downstairs
+before you heard the shot?"
+
+"No, I cannot say. He went from his dressing room, and I did not hear
+him go. He did the round of the house every night, for he was nervous
+of fire. It is the only thing that I have ever known him nervous of."
+
+"That is just the point which I want to come to, Mrs. Douglas. You have
+known your husband only in England, have you not?"
+
+"Yes, we have been married five years."
+
+"Have you heard him speak of anything which occurred in America and
+might bring some danger upon him?"
+
+Mrs. Douglas thought earnestly before she answered. "Yes." she said at
+last, "I have always felt that there was a danger hanging over him. He
+refused to discuss it with me. It was not from want of confidence in
+me--there was the most complete love and confidence between us--but it
+was out of his desire to keep all alarm away from me. He thought I
+should brood over it if I knew all, and so he was silent."
+
+"How did you know it, then?"
+
+Mrs. Douglas's face lit with a quick smile. "Can a husband ever carry
+about a secret all his life and a woman who loves him have no suspicion
+of it? I knew it by his refusal to talk about some episodes in his
+American life. I knew it by certain precautions he took. I knew it by
+certain words he let fall. I knew it by the way he looked at unexpected
+strangers. I was perfectly certain that he had some powerful enemies,
+that he believed they were on his track, and that he was always on his
+guard against them. I was so sure of it that for years I have been
+terrified if ever he came home later than was expected."
+
+"Might I ask," asked Holmes, "what the words were which attracted your
+attention?"
+
+"The Valley of Fear," the lady answered. "That was an expression he has
+used when I questioned him. 'I have been in the Valley of Fear. I am
+not out of it yet.'--'Are we never to get out of the Valley of Fear?' I
+have asked him when I have seen him more serious than usual. 'Sometimes
+I think that we never shall,' he has answered."
+
+"Surely you asked him what he meant by the Valley of Fear?"
+
+"I did; but his face would become very grave and he would shake his
+head. 'It is bad enough that one of us should have been in its shadow,'
+he said. 'Please God it shall never fall upon you!' It was some real
+valley in which he had lived and in which something terrible had
+occurred to him, of that I am certain; but I can tell you no more."
+
+"And he never mentioned any names?"
+
+"Yes, he was delirious with fever once when he had his hunting accident
+three years ago. Then I remember that there was a name that came
+continually to his lips. He spoke it with anger and a sort of horror.
+McGinty was the name--Bodymaster McGinty. I asked him when he recovered
+who Bodymaster McGinty was, and whose body he was master of. 'Never of
+mine, thank God!' he answered with a laugh, and that was all I could
+get from him. But there is a connection between Bodymaster McGinty and
+the Valley of Fear."
+
+"There is one other point," said Inspector MacDonald. "You met Mr.
+Douglas in a boarding house in London, did you not, and became engaged
+to him there? Was there any romance, anything secret or mysterious,
+about the wedding?"
+
+"There was romance. There is always romance. There was nothing
+mysterious."
+
+"He had no rival?"
+
+"No, I was quite free."
+
+"You have heard, no doubt, that his wedding ring has been taken. Does
+that suggest anything to you? Suppose that some enemy of his old life
+had tracked him down and committed this crime, what possible reason
+could he have for taking his wedding ring?"
+
+For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile
+flickered over the woman's lips.
+
+"I really cannot tell," she answered. "It is certainly a most
+extraordinary thing."
+
+"Well, we will not detain you any longer, and we are sorry to have put
+you to this trouble at such a time," said the inspector. "There are
+some other points, no doubt; but we can refer to you as they arise."
+
+She rose, and I was again conscious of that quick, questioning glance
+with which she had just surveyed us. "What impression has my evidence
+made upon you?" The question might as well have been spoken. Then, with
+a bow, she swept from the room.
+
+"She's a beautiful woman--a very beautiful woman," said MacDonald
+thoughtfully, after the door had closed behind her. "This man Barker
+has certainly been down here a good deal. He is a man who might be
+attractive to a woman. He admits that the dead man was jealous, and
+maybe he knew best himself what cause he had for jealousy. Then there's
+that wedding ring. You can't get past that. The man who tears a wedding
+ring off a dead man's--What do you say to it, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest
+thought. Now he rose and rang the bell. "Ames," he said, when the
+butler entered, "where is Mr. Cecil Barker now?"
+
+"I'll see, sir."
+
+He came back in a moment to say that Barker was in the garden.
+
+"Can you remember, Ames, what Mr. Barker had on his feet last night
+when you joined him in the study?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes. He had a pair of bedroom slippers. I brought him his
+boots when he went for the police."
+
+"Where are the slippers now?"
+
+"They are still under the chair in the hall."
+
+"Very good, Ames. It is, of course, important for us to know which
+tracks may be Mr. Barker's and which from outside."
+
+"Yes, sir. I may say that I noticed that the slippers were stained with
+blood--so indeed were my own."
+
+"That is natural enough, considering the condition of the room. Very
+good, Ames. We will ring if we want you."
+
+A few minutes later we were in the study. Holmes had brought with him
+the carpet slippers from the hall. As Ames had observed, the soles of
+both were dark with blood.
+
+"Strange!" murmured Holmes, as he stood in the light of the window and
+examined them minutely. "Very strange indeed!"
+
+Stooping with one of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper
+upon the blood mark on the sill. It exactly corresponded. He smiled in
+silence at his colleagues.
+
+The inspector was transfigured with excitement. His native accent
+rattled like a stick upon railings.
+
+"Man," he cried, "there's not a doubt of it! Barker has just marked the
+window himself. It's a good deal broader than any bootmark. I mind that
+you said it was a splay-foot, and here's the explanation. But what's
+the game, Mr. Holmes--what's the game?"
+
+"Ay, what's the game?" my friend repeated thoughtfully.
+
+White Mason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands together in his
+professional satisfaction. "I said it was a snorter!" he cried. "And a
+real snorter it is!"
+
+
+
+Chapter 6
+
+A Dawning Light
+
+The three detectives had many matters of detail into which to inquire;
+so I returned alone to our modest quarters at the village inn. But
+before doing so I took a stroll in the curious old-world garden which
+flanked the house. Rows of very ancient yew trees cut into strange
+designs girded it round. Inside was a beautiful stretch of lawn with an
+old sundial in the middle, the whole effect so soothing and restful
+that it was welcome to my somewhat jangled nerves.
+
+In that deeply peaceful atmosphere one could forget, or remember only
+as some fantastic nightmare, that darkened study with the sprawling,
+bloodstained figure on the floor. And yet, as I strolled round it and
+tried to steep my soul in its gentle balm, a strange incident occurred,
+which brought me back to the tragedy and left a sinister impression in
+my mind.
+
+I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled the garden. At the
+end farthest from the house they thickened into a continuous hedge. On
+the other side of this hedge, concealed from the eyes of anyone
+approaching from the direction of the house, there was a stone seat. As
+I approached the spot I was aware of voices, some remark in the deep
+tones of a man, answered by a little ripple of feminine laughter.
+
+An instant later I had come round the end of the hedge and my eyes lit
+upon Mrs. Douglas and the man Barker before they were aware of my
+presence. Her appearance gave me a shock. In the dining-room she had
+been demure and discreet. Now all pretense of grief had passed away
+from her. Her eyes shone with the joy of living, and her face still
+quivered with amusement at some remark of her companion. He sat
+forward, his hands clasped and his forearms on his knees, with an
+answering smile upon his bold, handsome face. In an instant--but it was
+just one instant too late--they resumed their solemn masks as my figure
+came into view. A hurried word or two passed between them, and then
+Barker rose and came towards me.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," said he, "but am I addressing Dr. Watson?"
+
+I bowed with a coldness which showed, I dare say, very plainly the
+impression which had been produced upon my mind.
+
+"We thought that it was probably you, as your friendship with Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes is so well known. Would you mind coming over and
+speaking to Mrs. Douglas for one instant?"
+
+I followed him with a dour face. Very clearly I could see in my mind's
+eye that shattered figure on the floor. Here within a few hours of the
+tragedy were his wife and his nearest friend laughing together behind a
+bush in the garden which had been his. I greeted the lady with reserve.
+I had grieved with her grief in the dining-room. Now I met her
+appealing gaze with an unresponsive eye.
+
+"I fear that you think me callous and hard-hearted." said she.
+
+I shrugged my shoulders. "It is no business of mine," said I.
+
+"Perhaps some day you will do me justice. If you only realized--"
+
+"There is no need why Dr. Watson should realize," said Barker quickly.
+"As he has himself said, it is no possible business of his."
+
+"Exactly," said I, "and so I will beg leave to resume my walk."
+
+"One moment, Dr. Watson," cried the woman in a pleading voice. "There
+is one question which you can answer with more authority than anyone
+else in the world, and it may make a very great difference to me. You
+know Mr. Holmes and his relations with the police better than anyone
+else can. Supposing that a matter were brought confidentially to his
+knowledge, is it absolutely necessary that he should pass it on to the
+detectives?"
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Barker eagerly. "Is he on his own or is he
+entirely in with them?"
+
+"I really don't know that I should be justified in discussing such a
+point."
+
+"I beg--I implore that you will, Dr. Watson! I assure you that you will
+be helping us--helping me greatly if you will guide us on that point."
+
+There was such a ring of sincerity in the woman's voice that for the
+instant I forgot all about her levity and was moved only to do her will.
+
+"Mr. Holmes is an independent investigator," I said. "He is his own
+master, and would act as his own judgment directed. At the same time,
+he would naturally feel loyalty towards the officials who were working
+on the same case, and he would not conceal from them anything which
+would help them in bringing a criminal to justice. Beyond this I can
+say nothing, and I would refer you to Mr. Holmes himself if you wanted
+fuller information."
+
+So saying I raised my hat and went upon my way, leaving them still
+seated behind that concealing hedge. I looked back as I rounded the far
+end of it, and saw that they were still talking very earnestly
+together, and, as they were gazing after me, it was clear that it was
+our interview that was the subject of their debate.
+
+"I wish none of their confidences," said Holmes, when I reported to him
+what had occurred. He had spent the whole afternoon at the Manor House
+in consultation with his two colleagues, and returned about five with a
+ravenous appetite for a high tea which I had ordered for him. "No
+confidences, Watson; for they are mighty awkward if it comes to an
+arrest for conspiracy and murder."
+
+"You think it will come to that?"
+
+He was in his most cheerful and debonair humour. "My dear Watson, when
+I have exterminated that fourth egg I shall be ready to put you in
+touch with the whole situation. I don't say that we have fathomed
+it--far from it--but when we have traced the missing dumb-bell--"
+
+"The dumb-bell!"
+
+"Dear me, Watson, is it possible that you have not penetrated the fact
+that the case hangs upon the missing dumb-bell? Well, well, you need
+not be downcast; for between ourselves I don't think that either
+Inspector Mac or the excellent local practitioner has grasped the
+overwhelming importance of this incident. One dumb-bell, Watson!
+Consider an athlete with one dumb-bell! Picture to yourself the
+unilateral development, the imminent danger of a spinal curvature.
+Shocking, Watson, shocking!"
+
+He sat with his mouth full of toast and his eyes sparkling with
+mischief, watching my intellectual entanglement. The mere sight of his
+excellent appetite was an assurance of success, for I had very clear
+recollections of days and nights without a thought of food, when his
+baffled mind had chafed before some problem while his thin, eager
+features became more attenuated with the asceticism of complete mental
+concentration. Finally he lit his pipe, and sitting in the inglenook of
+the old village inn he talked slowly and at random about his case,
+rather as one who thinks aloud than as one who makes a considered
+statement.
+
+"A lie, Watson--a great, big, thumping, obtrusive, uncompromising
+lie--that's what meets us on the threshold! There is our starting
+point. The whole story told by Barker is a lie. But Barker's story is
+corroborated by Mrs. Douglas. Therefore she is lying also. They are
+both lying, and in a conspiracy. So now we have the clear problem. Why
+are they lying, and what is the truth which they are trying so hard to
+conceal? Let us try, Watson, you and I, if we can get behind the lie
+and reconstruct the truth.
+
+"How do I know that they are lying? Because it is a clumsy fabrication
+which simply could not be true. Consider! According to the story given
+to us, the assassin had less than a minute after the murder had been
+committed to take that ring, which was under another ring, from the
+dead man's finger, to replace the other ring--a thing which he would
+surely never have done--and to put that singular card beside his
+victim. I say that this was obviously impossible.
+
+"You may argue--but I have too much respect for your judgment, Watson,
+to think that you will do so--that the ring may have been taken before
+the man was killed. The fact that the candle had been lit only a short
+time shows that there had been no lengthy interview. Was Douglas, from
+what we hear of his fearless character, a man who would be likely to
+give up his wedding ring at such short notice, or could we conceive of
+his giving it up at all? No, no, Watson, the assassin was alone with
+the dead man for some time with the lamp lit. Of that I have no doubt
+at all.
+
+"But the gunshot was apparently the cause of death. Therefore the shot
+must have been fired some time earlier than we are told. But there
+could be no mistake about such a matter as that. We are in the
+presence, therefore, of a deliberate conspiracy upon the part of the
+two people who heard the gunshot--of the man Barker and of the woman
+Douglas. When on the top of this I am able to show that the blood mark
+on the windowsill was deliberately placed there by Barker, in order to
+give a false clue to the police, you will admit that the case grows
+dark against him.
+
+"Now we have to ask ourselves at what hour the murder actually did
+occur. Up to half-past ten the servants were moving about the house; so
+it was certainly not before that time. At a quarter to eleven they had
+all gone to their rooms with the exception of Ames, who was in the
+pantry. I have been trying some experiments after you left us this
+afternoon, and I find that no noise which MacDonald can make in the
+study can penetrate to me in the pantry when the doors are all shut.
+
+"It is otherwise, however, from the housekeeper's room. It is not so
+far down the corridor, and from it I could vaguely hear a voice when it
+was very loudly raised. The sound from a shotgun is to some extent
+muffled when the discharge is at very close range, as it undoubtedly
+was in this instance. It would not be very loud, and yet in the silence
+of the night it should have easily penetrated to Mrs. Allen's room. She
+is, as she has told us, somewhat deaf; but none the less she mentioned
+in her evidence that she did hear something like a door slamming half
+an hour before the alarm was given. Half an hour before the alarm was
+given would be a quarter to eleven. I have no doubt that what she heard
+was the report of the gun, and that this was the real instant of the
+murder.
+
+"If this is so, we have now to determine what Barker and Mrs. Douglas,
+presuming that they are not the actual murderers, could have been doing
+from quarter to eleven, when the sound of the shot brought them down,
+until quarter past eleven, when they rang the bell and summoned the
+servants. What were they doing, and why did they not instantly give the
+alarm? That is the question which faces us, and when it has been
+answered we shall surely have gone some way to solve our problem."
+
+"I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an understanding
+between those two people. She must be a heartless creature to sit
+laughing at some jest within a few hours of her husband's murder."
+
+"Exactly. She does not shine as a wife even in her own account of what
+occurred. I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind, as you are
+aware, Watson, but my experience of life has taught me that there are
+few wives, having any regard for their husbands, who would let any
+man's spoken word stand between them and that husband's dead body.
+Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with some
+feeling which would prevent her from being walked off by a housekeeper
+when my corpse was lying within a few yards of her. It was badly
+stage-managed; for even the rawest investigators must be struck by the
+absence of the usual feminine ululation. If there had been nothing
+else, this incident alone would have suggested a prearranged conspiracy
+to my mind."
+
+"You think then, definitely, that Barker and Mrs. Douglas are guilty of
+the murder?"
+
+"There is an appalling directness about your questions, Watson," said
+Holmes, shaking his pipe at me. "They come at me like bullets. If you
+put it that Mrs. Douglas and Barker know the truth about the murder,
+and are conspiring to conceal it, then I can give you a whole-souled
+answer. I am sure they do. But your more deadly proposition is not so
+clear. Let us for a moment consider the difficulties which stand in the
+way.
+
+"We will suppose that this couple are united by the bonds of a guilty
+love, and that they have determined to get rid of the man who stands
+between them. It is a large supposition; for discreet inquiry among
+servants and others has failed to corroborate it in any way. On the
+contrary, there is a good deal of evidence that the Douglases were very
+attached to each other."
+
+"That, I am sure, cannot be true." said I, thinking of the beautiful
+smiling face in the garden.
+
+"Well at least they gave that impression. However, we will suppose that
+they are an extraordinarily astute couple, who deceive everyone upon
+this point, and conspire to murder the husband. He happens to be a man
+over whose head some danger hangs--"
+
+"We have only their word for that."
+
+Holmes looked thoughtful. "I see, Watson. You are sketching out a
+theory by which everything they say from the beginning is false.
+According to your idea, there was never any hidden menace, or secret
+society, or Valley of Fear, or Boss MacSomebody, or anything else.
+Well, that is a good sweeping generalization. Let us see what that
+brings us to. They invent this theory to account for the crime. They
+then play up to the idea by leaving this bicycle in the park as proof
+of the existence of some outsider. The stain on the windowsill conveys
+the same idea. So does the card on the body, which might have been
+prepared in the house. That all fits into your hypothesis, Watson. But
+now we come on the nasty, angular, uncompromising bits which won't slip
+into their places. Why a cut-off shotgun of all weapons--and an
+American one at that? How could they be so sure that the sound of it
+would not bring someone on to them? It's a mere chance as it is that
+Mrs. Allen did not start out to inquire for the slamming door. Why did
+your guilty couple do all this, Watson?"
+
+"I confess that I can't explain it."
+
+"Then again, if a woman and her lover conspire to murder a husband, are
+they going to advertise their guilt by ostentatiously removing his
+wedding ring after his death? Does that strike you as very probable,
+Watson?"
+
+"No, it does not."
+
+"And once again, if the thought of leaving a bicycle concealed outside
+had occurred to you, would it really have seemed worth doing when the
+dullest detective would naturally say this is an obvious blind, as the
+bicycle is the first thing which the fugitive needed in order to make
+his escape."
+
+"I can conceive of no explanation."
+
+"And yet there should be no combination of events for which the wit of
+man cannot conceive an explanation. Simply as a mental exercise,
+without any assertion that it is true, let me indicate a possible line
+of thought. It is, I admit, mere imagination; but how often is
+imagination the mother of truth?
+
+"We will suppose that there was a guilty secret, a really shameful
+secret in the life of this man Douglas. This leads to his murder by
+someone who is, we will suppose, an avenger, someone from outside. This
+avenger, for some reason which I confess I am still at a loss to
+explain, took the dead man's wedding ring. The vendetta might
+conceivably date back to the man's first marriage, and the ring be
+taken for some such reason.
+
+"Before this avenger got away, Barker and the wife had reached the
+room. The assassin convinced them that any attempt to arrest him would
+lead to the publication of some hideous scandal. They were converted to
+this idea, and preferred to let him go. For this purpose they probably
+lowered the bridge, which can be done quite noiselessly, and then
+raised it again. He made his escape, and for some reason thought that
+he could do so more safely on foot than on the bicycle. He therefore
+left his machine where it would not be discovered until he had got
+safely away. So far we are within the bounds of possibility, are we
+not?"
+
+"Well, it is possible, no doubt," said I, with some reserve.
+
+"We have to remember, Watson, that whatever occurred is certainly
+something very extraordinary. Well, now, to continue our supposititious
+case, the couple--not necessarily a guilty couple--realize after the
+murderer is gone that they have placed themselves in a position in
+which it may be difficult for them to prove that they did not
+themselves either do the deed or connive at it. They rapidly and rather
+clumsily met the situation. The mark was put by Barker's bloodstained
+slipper upon the window-sill to suggest how the fugitive got away. They
+obviously were the two who must have heard the sound of the gun; so
+they gave the alarm exactly as they would have done, but a good half
+hour after the event."
+
+"And how do you propose to prove all this?"
+
+"Well, if there were an outsider, he may be traced and taken. That
+would be the most effective of all proofs. But if not--well, the
+resources of science are far from being exhausted. I think that an
+evening alone in that study would help me much."
+
+"An evening alone!"
+
+"I propose to go up there presently. I have arranged it with the
+estimable Ames, who is by no means whole-hearted about Barker. I shall
+sit in that room and see if its atmosphere brings me inspiration. I'm a
+believer in the genius loci. You smile, Friend Watson. Well, we shall
+see. By the way, you have that big umbrella of yours, have you not?"
+
+"It is here."
+
+"Well, I'll borrow that if I may."
+
+"Certainly--but what a wretched weapon! If there is danger--"
+
+"Nothing serious, my dear Watson, or I should certainly ask for your
+assistance. But I'll take the umbrella. At present I am only awaiting
+the return of our colleagues from Tunbridge Wells, where they are at
+present engaged in trying for a likely owner to the bicycle."
+
+It was nightfall before Inspector MacDonald and White Mason came back
+from their expedition, and they arrived exultant, reporting a great
+advance in our investigation.
+
+"Man, I'll admeet that I had my doubts if there was ever an outsider,"
+said MacDonald, "but that's all past now. We've had the bicycle
+identified, and we have a description of our man; so that's a long step
+on our journey."
+
+"It sounds to me like the beginning of the end," said Holmes. "I'm sure
+I congratulate you both with all my heart."
+
+"Well, I started from the fact that Mr. Douglas had seemed disturbed
+since the day before, when he had been at Tunbridge Wells. It was at
+Tunbridge Wells then that he had become conscious of some danger. It
+was clear, therefore, that if a man had come over with a bicycle it was
+from Tunbridge Wells that he might be expected to have come. We took
+the bicycle over with us and showed it at the hotels. It was identified
+at once by the manager of the Eagle Commercial as belonging to a man
+named Hargrave, who had taken a room there two days before. This
+bicycle and a small valise were his whole belongings. He had registered
+his name as coming from London, but had given no address. The valise
+was London made, and the contents were British; but the man himself was
+undoubtedly an American."
+
+"Well, well," said Holmes gleefully, "you have indeed done some solid
+work while I have been sitting spinning theories with my friend! It's a
+lesson in being practical, Mr. Mac."
+
+"Ay, it's just that, Mr. Holmes," said the inspector with satisfaction.
+
+"But this may all fit in with your theories," I remarked.
+
+"That may or may not be. But let us hear the end, Mr. Mac. Was there
+nothing to identify this man?"
+
+"So little that it was evident that he had carefully guarded himself
+against identification. There were no papers or letters, and no marking
+upon the clothes. A cycle map of the county lay on his bedroom table.
+He had left the hotel after breakfast yesterday morning on his bicycle,
+and no more was heard of him until our inquiries."
+
+"That's what puzzles me, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason. "If the fellow
+did not want the hue and cry raised over him, one would imagine that he
+would have returned and remained at the hotel as an inoffensive
+tourist. As it is, he must know that he will be reported to the police
+by the hotel manager and that his disappearance will be connected with
+the murder."
+
+"So one would imagine. Still, he has been justified of his wisdom up to
+date, at any rate, since he has not been taken. But his
+description--what of that?"
+
+MacDonald referred to his notebook. "Here we have it so far as they
+could give it. They don't seem to have taken any very particular stock
+of him; but still the porter, the clerk, and the chambermaid are all
+agreed that this about covers the points. He was a man about five foot
+nine in height, fifty or so years of age, his hair slightly grizzled, a
+grayish moustache, a curved nose, and a face which all of them
+described as fierce and forbidding."
+
+"Well, bar the expression, that might almost be a description of
+Douglas himself," said Holmes. "He is just over fifty, with grizzled
+hair and moustache, and about the same height. Did you get anything
+else?"
+
+"He was dressed in a heavy gray suit with a reefer jacket, and he wore
+a short yellow overcoat and a soft cap."
+
+"What about the shotgun?"
+
+"It is less than two feet long. It could very well have fitted into his
+valise. He could have carried it inside his overcoat without
+difficulty."
+
+"And how do you consider that all this bears upon the general case?"
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes," said MacDonald, "when we have got our man--and you
+may be sure that I had his description on the wires within five minutes
+of hearing it--we shall be better able to judge. But, even as it
+stands, we have surely gone a long way. We know that an American
+calling himself Hargrave came to Tunbridge Wells two days ago with
+bicycle and valise. In the latter was a sawed-off shotgun; so he came
+with the deliberate purpose of crime. Yesterday morning he set off for
+this place on his bicycle, with his gun concealed in his overcoat. No
+one saw him arrive, so far as we can learn; but he need not pass
+through the village to reach the park gates, and there are many
+cyclists upon the road. Presumably he at once concealed his cycle among
+the laurels where it was found, and possibly lurked there himself, with
+his eye on the house, waiting for Mr. Douglas to come out. The shotgun
+is a strange weapon to use inside a house; but he had intended to use
+it outside, and there it has very obvious advantages, as it would be
+impossible to miss with it, and the sound of shots is so common in an
+English sporting neighbourhood that no particular notice would be
+taken."
+
+"That is all very clear," said Holmes.
+
+"Well, Mr. Douglas did not appear. What was he to do next? He left his
+bicycle and approached the house in the twilight. He found the bridge
+down and no one about. He took his chance, intending, no doubt, to make
+some excuse if he met anyone. He met no one. He slipped into the first
+room that he saw, and concealed himself behind the curtain. Thence he
+could see the drawbridge go up, and he knew that his only escape was
+through the moat. He waited until quarter-past eleven, when Mr. Douglas
+upon his usual nightly round came into the room. He shot him and
+escaped, as arranged. He was aware that the bicycle would be described
+by the hotel people and be a clue against him; so he left it there and
+made his way by some other means to London or to some safe hiding place
+which he had already arranged. How is that, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Well, Mr. Mac, it is very good and very clear so far as it goes. That
+is your end of the story. My end is that the crime was committed half
+an hour earlier than reported; that Mrs. Douglas and Barker are both in
+a conspiracy to conceal something; that they aided the murderer's
+escape--or at least that they reached the room before he escaped--and
+that they fabricated evidence of his escape through the window, whereas
+in all probability they had themselves let him go by lowering the
+bridge. That's my reading of the first half."
+
+The two detectives shook their heads.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, if this is true, we only tumble out of one mystery
+into another," said the London inspector.
+
+"And in some ways a worse one," added White Mason. "The lady has never
+been in America in all her life. What possible connection could she
+have with an American assassin which would cause her to shelter him?"
+
+"I freely admit the difficulties," said Holmes. "I propose to make a
+little investigation of my own to-night, and it is just possible that
+it may contribute something to the common cause."
+
+"Can we help you, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"No, no! Darkness and Dr. Watson's umbrella--my wants are simple. And
+Ames, the faithful Ames, no doubt he will stretch a point for me. All
+my lines of thought lead me back invariably to the one basic
+question--why should an athletic man develop his frame upon so
+unnatural an instrument as a single dumb-bell?"
+
+It was late that night when Holmes returned from his solitary
+excursion. We slept in a double-bedded room, which was the best that
+the little country inn could do for us. I was already asleep when I was
+partly awakened by his entrance.
+
+"Well, Holmes," I murmured, "have you found anything out?"
+
+He stood beside me in silence, his candle in his hand. Then the tall,
+lean figure inclined towards me. "I say, Watson," he whispered, "would
+you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic, a man with
+softening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip?"
+
+"Not in the least," I answered in astonishment.
+
+"Ah, that's lucky," he said, and not another word would he utter that
+night.
+
+
+
+Chapter 7
+
+The Solution
+
+Next morning, after breakfast, we found Inspector MacDonald and White
+Mason seated in close consultation in the small parlour of the local
+police sergeant. On the table in front of them were piled a number of
+letters and telegrams, which they were carefully sorting and docketing.
+Three had been placed on one side.
+
+"Still on the track of the elusive bicyclist?" Holmes asked cheerfully.
+"What is the latest news of the ruffian?"
+
+MacDonald pointed ruefully to his heap of correspondence.
+
+"He is at present reported from Leicester, Nottingham, Southampton,
+Derby, East Ham, Richmond, and fourteen other places. In three of
+them--East Ham, Leicester, and Liverpool--there is a clear case against
+him, and he has actually been arrested. The country seems to be full of
+the fugitives with yellow coats."
+
+"Dear me!" said Holmes sympathetically. "Now, Mr. Mac and you, Mr.
+White Mason, I wish to give you a very earnest piece of advice. When I
+went into this case with you I bargained, as you will no doubt
+remember, that I should not present you with half-proved theories, but
+that I should retain and work out my own ideas until I had satisfied
+myself that they were correct. For this reason I am not at the present
+moment telling you all that is in my mind. On the other hand, I said
+that I would play the game fairly by you, and I do not think it is a
+fair game to allow you for one unnecessary moment to waste your
+energies upon a profitless task. Therefore I am here to advise you this
+morning, and my advice to you is summed up in three words--abandon the
+case."
+
+MacDonald and White Mason stared in amazement at their celebrated
+colleague.
+
+"You consider it hopeless!" cried the inspector.
+
+"I consider your case to be hopeless. I do not consider that it is
+hopeless to arrive at the truth."
+
+"But this cyclist. He is not an invention. We have his description, his
+valise, his bicycle. The fellow must be somewhere. Why should we not
+get him?"
+
+"Yes, yes, no doubt he is somewhere, and no doubt we shall get him; but
+I would not have you waste your energies in East Ham or Liverpool. I am
+sure that we can find some shorter cut to a result."
+
+"You are holding something back. It's hardly fair of you, Mr. Holmes."
+The inspector was annoyed.
+
+"You know my methods of work, Mr. Mac. But I will hold it back for the
+shortest time possible. I only wish to verify my details in one way,
+which can very readily be done, and then I make my bow and return to
+London, leaving my results entirely at your service. I owe you too much
+to act otherwise; for in all my experience I cannot recall any more
+singular and interesting study."
+
+"This is clean beyond me, Mr. Holmes. We saw you when we returned from
+Tunbridge Wells last night, and you were in general agreement with our
+results. What has happened since then to give you a completely new idea
+of the case?"
+
+"Well, since you ask me, I spent, as I told you that I would, some
+hours last night at the Manor House."
+
+"Well, what happened?"
+
+"Ah, I can only give you a very general answer to that for the moment.
+By the way, I have been reading a short but clear and interesting
+account of the old building, purchasable at the modest sum of one penny
+from the local tobacconist."
+
+Here Holmes drew a small tract, embellished with a rude engraving of
+the ancient Manor House, from his waistcoat pocket.
+
+"It immensely adds to the zest of an investigation, my dear Mr. Mac,
+when one is in conscious sympathy with the historical atmosphere of
+one's surroundings. Don't look so impatient; for I assure you that even
+so bald an account as this raises some sort of picture of the past in
+one's mind. Permit me to give you a sample. 'Erected in the fifth year
+of the reign of James I, and standing upon the site of a much older
+building, the Manor House of Birlstone presents one of the finest
+surviving examples of the moated Jacobean residence--'"
+
+"You are making fools of us, Mr. Holmes!"
+
+"Tut, tut, Mr. Mac!--the first sign of temper I have detected in you.
+Well, I won't read it verbatim, since you feel so strongly upon the
+subject. But when I tell you that there is some account of the taking
+of the place by a parliamentary colonel in 1644, of the concealment of
+Charles for several days in the course of the Civil War, and finally of
+a visit there by the second George, you will admit that there are
+various associations of interest connected with this ancient house."
+
+"I don't doubt it, Mr. Holmes; but that is no business of ours."
+
+"Is it not? Is it not? Breadth of view, my dear Mr. Mac, is one of the
+essentials of our profession. The interplay of ideas and the oblique
+uses of knowledge are often of extraordinary interest. You will excuse
+these remarks from one who, though a mere connoisseur of crime, is
+still rather older and perhaps more experienced than yourself."
+
+"I'm the first to admit that," said the detective heartily. "You get to
+your point, I admit; but you have such a deuced round-the-corner way of
+doing it."
+
+"Well, well, I'll drop past history and get down to present-day facts.
+I called last night, as I have already said, at the Manor House. I did
+not see either Barker or Mrs. Douglas. I saw no necessity to disturb
+them; but I was pleased to hear that the lady was not visibly pining
+and that she had partaken of an excellent dinner. My visit was
+specially made to the good Mr. Ames, with whom I exchanged some
+amiabilities, which culminated in his allowing me, without reference to
+anyone else, to sit alone for a time in the study."
+
+"What! With that?" I ejaculated.
+
+"No, no, everything is now in order. You gave permission for that, Mr.
+Mac, as I am informed. The room was in its normal state, and in it I
+passed an instructive quarter of an hour."
+
+"What were you doing?"
+
+"Well, not to make a mystery of so simple a matter, I was looking for
+the missing dumb-bell. It has always bulked rather large in my estimate
+of the case. I ended by finding it."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Ah, there we come to the edge of the unexplored. Let me go a little
+further, a very little further, and I will promise that you shall share
+everything that I know."
+
+"Well, we're bound to take you on your own terms," said the inspector;
+"but when it comes to telling us to abandon the case--why in the name
+of goodness should we abandon the case?"
+
+"For the simple reason, my dear Mr. Mac, that you have not got the
+first idea what it is that you are investigating."
+
+"We are investigating the murder of Mr. John Douglas of Birlstone
+Manor."
+
+"Yes, yes, so you are. But don't trouble to trace the mysterious
+gentleman upon the bicycle. I assure you that it won't help you."
+
+"Then what do you suggest that we do?"
+
+"I will tell you exactly what to do, if you will do it."
+
+"Well, I'm bound to say I've always found you had reason behind all
+your queer ways. I'll do what you advise."
+
+"And you, Mr. White Mason?"
+
+The country detective looked helplessly from one to the other. Holmes
+and his methods were new to him. "Well, if it is good enough for the
+inspector, it is good enough for me," he said at last.
+
+"Capital!" said Holmes. "Well, then, I should recommend a nice, cheery
+country walk for both of you. They tell me that the views from
+Birlstone Ridge over the Weald are very remarkable. No doubt lunch
+could be got at some suitable hostelry; though my ignorance of the
+country prevents me from recommending one. In the evening, tired but
+happy--"
+
+"Man, this is getting past a joke!" cried MacDonald, rising angrily
+from his chair.
+
+"Well, well, spend the day as you like," said Holmes, patting him
+cheerfully upon the shoulder. "Do what you like and go where you will,
+but meet me here before dusk without fail--without fail, Mr. Mac."
+
+"That sounds more like sanity."
+
+"All of it was excellent advice; but I don't insist, so long as you are
+here when I need you. But now, before we part, I want you to write a
+note to Mr. Barker."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I'll dictate it, if you like. Ready?
+
+      "Dear Sir:
+
+        "It has struck me that it is our duty to drain the moat, in
+      the hope that we may find some--"
+
+
+"It's impossible," said the inspector. "I've made inquiry."
+
+"Tut, tut! My dear sir, please do what I ask you."
+
+"Well, go on."
+
+
+      "--in the hope that we may find something which may bear
+      upon our investigation. I have made arrangements, and the
+      workmen will be at work early to-morrow morning diverting
+      the stream--"
+
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+
+      "--diverting the stream; so I thought it best to explain
+      matters beforehand.
+
+
+"Now sign that, and send it by hand about four o'clock. At that hour we
+shall meet again in this room. Until then we may each do what we like;
+for I can assure you that this inquiry has come to a definite pause."
+
+Evening was drawing in when we reassembled. Holmes was very serious in
+his manner, myself curious, and the detectives obviously critical and
+annoyed.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," said my friend gravely, "I am asking you now to put
+everything to the test with me, and you will judge for yourselves
+whether the observations I have made justify the conclusions to which I
+have come. It is a chill evening, and I do not know how long our
+expedition may last; so I beg that you will wear your warmest coats. It
+is of the first importance that we should be in our places before it
+grows dark; so with your permission we shall get started at once."
+
+We passed along the outer bounds of the Manor House park until we came
+to a place where there was a gap in the rails which fenced it. Through
+this we slipped, and then in the gathering gloom we followed Holmes
+until we had reached a shrubbery which lies nearly opposite to the main
+door and the drawbridge. The latter had not been raised. Holmes
+crouched down behind the screen of laurels, and we all three followed
+his example.
+
+"Well, what are we to do now?" asked MacDonald with some gruffness.
+
+"Possess our souls in patience and make as little noise as possible,"
+Holmes answered.
+
+"What are we here for at all? I really think that you might treat us
+with more frankness."
+
+Holmes laughed. "Watson insists that I am the dramatist in real life,"
+said he. "Some touch of the artist wells up within me, and calls
+insistently for a well-staged performance. Surely our profession, Mr.
+Mac, would be a drab and sordid one if we did not sometimes set the
+scene so as to glorify our results. The blunt accusation, the brutal
+tap upon the shoulder--what can one make of such a denouement? But the
+quick inference, the subtle trap, the clever forecast of coming events,
+the triumphant vindication of bold theories--are these not the pride
+and the justification of our life's work? At the present moment you
+thrill with the glamour of the situation and the anticipation of the
+hunt. Where would be that thrill if I had been as definite as a
+timetable? I only ask a little patience, Mr. Mac, and all will be clear
+to you."
+
+"Well, I hope the pride and justification and the rest of it will come
+before we all get our death of cold," said the London detective with
+comic resignation.
+
+We all had good reason to join in the aspiration; for our vigil was a
+long and bitter one. Slowly the shadows darkened over the long, sombre
+face of the old house. A cold, damp reek from the moat chilled us to
+the bones and set our teeth chattering. There was a single lamp over
+the gateway and a steady globe of light in the fatal study. Everything
+else was dark and still.
+
+"How long is this to last?" asked the inspector finally. "And what is
+it we are watching for?"
+
+"I have no more notion than you how long it is to last," Holmes
+answered with some asperity. "If criminals would always schedule their
+movements like railway trains, it would certainly be more convenient
+for all of us. As to what it is we--Well, that's what we are watching
+for!"
+
+As he spoke the bright, yellow light in the study was obscured by
+somebody passing to and fro before it. The laurels among which we lay
+were immediately opposite the window and not more than a hundred feet
+from it. Presently it was thrown open with a whining of hinges, and we
+could dimly see the dark outline of a man's head and shoulders looking
+out into the gloom. For some minutes he peered forth in furtive,
+stealthy fashion, as one who wishes to be assured that he is
+unobserved. Then he leaned forward, and in the intense silence we were
+aware of the soft lapping of agitated water. He seemed to be stirring
+up the moat with something which he held in his hand. Then suddenly he
+hauled something in as a fisherman lands a fish--some large, round
+object which obscured the light as it was dragged through the open
+casement.
+
+"Now!" cried Holmes. "Now!"
+
+We were all upon our feet, staggering after him with our stiffened
+limbs, while he ran swiftly across the bridge and rang violently at the
+bell. There was the rasping of bolts from the other side, and the
+amazed Ames stood in the entrance. Holmes brushed him aside without a
+word and, followed by all of us, rushed into the room which had been
+occupied by the man whom we had been watching.
+
+The oil lamp on the table represented the glow which we had seen from
+outside. It was now in the hand of Cecil Barker, who held it towards us
+as we entered. Its light shone upon his strong, resolute, clean-shaved
+face and his menacing eyes.
+
+"What the devil is the meaning of all this?" he cried. "What are you
+after, anyhow?"
+
+Holmes took a swift glance round, and then pounced upon a sodden bundle
+tied together with cord which lay where it had been thrust under the
+writing table.
+
+"This is what we are after, Mr. Barker--this bundle, weighted with a
+dumb-bell, which you have just raised from the bottom of the moat."
+
+Barker stared at Holmes with amazement in his face. "How in thunder
+came you to know anything about it?" he asked.
+
+"Simply that I put it there."
+
+"You put it there! You!"
+
+"Perhaps I should have said 'replaced it there,'" said Holmes. "You
+will remember, Inspector MacDonald, that I was somewhat struck by the
+absence of a dumb-bell. I drew your attention to it; but with the
+pressure of other events you had hardly the time to give it the
+consideration which would have enabled you to draw deductions from it.
+When water is near and a weight is missing it is not a very far-fetched
+supposition that something has been sunk in the water. The idea was at
+least worth testing; so with the help of Ames, who admitted me to the
+room, and the crook of Dr. Watson's umbrella, I was able last night to
+fish up and inspect this bundle.
+
+"It was of the first importance, however, that we should be able to
+prove who placed it there. This we accomplished by the very obvious
+device of announcing that the moat would be dried to-morrow, which had,
+of course, the effect that whoever had hidden the bundle would most
+certainly withdraw it the moment that darkness enabled him to do so. We
+have no less than four witnesses as to who it was who took advantage of
+the opportunity, and so, Mr. Barker, I think the word lies now with
+you."
+
+Sherlock Holmes put the sopping bundle upon the table beside the lamp
+and undid the cord which bound it. From within he extracted a
+dumb-bell, which he tossed down to its fellow in the corner. Next he
+drew forth a pair of boots. "American, as you perceive," he remarked,
+pointing to the toes. Then he laid upon the table a long, deadly,
+sheathed knife. Finally he unravelled a bundle of clothing, comprising
+a complete set of underclothes, socks, a gray tweed suit, and a short
+yellow overcoat.
+
+"The clothes are commonplace," remarked Holmes, "save only the
+overcoat, which is full of suggestive touches." He held it tenderly
+towards the light. "Here, as you perceive, is the inner pocket
+prolonged into the lining in such fashion as to give ample space for
+the truncated fowling piece. The tailor's tab is on the neck--'Neal,
+Outfitter, Vermissa, U. S. A.' I have spent an instructive afternoon in
+the rector's library, and have enlarged my knowledge by adding the fact
+that Vermissa is a flourishing little town at the head of one of the
+best known coal and iron valleys in the United States. I have some
+recollection, Mr. Barker, that you associated the coal districts with
+Mr. Douglas's first wife, and it would surely not be too far-fetched an
+inference that the V. V. upon the card by the dead body might stand for
+Vermissa Valley, or that this very valley which sends forth emissaries
+of murder may be that Valley of Fear of which we have heard. So much is
+fairly clear. And now, Mr. Barker, I seem to be standing rather in the
+way of your explanation."
+
+It was a sight to see Cecil Barker's expressive face during this
+exposition of the great detective. Anger, amazement, consternation, and
+indecision swept over it in turn. Finally he took refuge in a somewhat
+acrid irony.
+
+"You know such a lot, Mr. Holmes, perhaps you had better tell us some
+more," he sneered.
+
+"I have no doubt that I could tell you a great deal more, Mr. Barker;
+but it would come with a better grace from you."
+
+"Oh, you think so, do you? Well, all I can say is that if there's any
+secret here it is not my secret, and I am not the man to give it away."
+
+"Well, if you take that line, Mr. Barker," said the inspector quietly,
+"we must just keep you in sight until we have the warrant and can hold
+you."
+
+"You can do what you damn please about that," said Barker defiantly.
+
+The proceedings seemed to have come to a definite end so far as he was
+concerned; for one had only to look at that granite face to realize
+that no peine forte et dure would ever force him to plead against his
+will. The deadlock was broken, however, by a woman's voice. Mrs.
+Douglas had been standing listening at the half opened door, and now
+she entered the room.
+
+"You have done enough for now, Cecil," said she. "Whatever comes of it
+in the future, you have done enough."
+
+"Enough and more than enough," remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely. "I
+have every sympathy with you, madam, and should strongly urge you to
+have some confidence in the common sense of our jurisdiction and to
+take the police voluntarily into your complete confidence. It may be
+that I am myself at fault for not following up the hint which you
+conveyed to me through my friend, Dr. Watson; but, at that time I had
+every reason to believe that you were directly concerned in the crime.
+Now I am assured that this is not so. At the same time, there is much
+that is unexplained, and I should strongly recommend that you ask Mr.
+Douglas to tell us his own story."
+
+Mrs. Douglas gave a cry of astonishment at Holmes's words. The
+detectives and I must have echoed it, when we were aware of a man who
+seemed to have emerged from the wall, who advanced now from the gloom
+of the corner in which he had appeared. Mrs. Douglas turned, and in an
+instant her arms were round him. Barker had seized his outstretched
+hand.
+
+"It's best this way, Jack," his wife repeated; "I am sure that it is
+best."
+
+"Indeed, yes, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes, "I am sure that you
+will find it best."
+
+The man stood blinking at us with the dazed look of one who comes from
+the dark into the light. It was a remarkable face, bold gray eyes, a
+strong, short-clipped, grizzled moustache, a square, projecting chin,
+and a humorous mouth. He took a good look at us all, and then to my
+amazement he advanced to me and handed me a bundle of paper.
+
+"I've heard of you," said he in a voice which was not quite English and
+not quite American, but was altogether mellow and pleasing. "You are
+the historian of this bunch. Well, Dr. Watson, you've never had such a
+story as that pass through your hands before, and I'll lay my last
+dollar on that. Tell it your own way; but there are the facts, and you
+can't miss the public so long as you have those. I've been cooped up
+two days, and I've spent the daylight hours--as much daylight as I
+could get in that rat trap--in putting the thing into words. You're
+welcome to them--you and your public. There's the story of the Valley
+of Fear."
+
+"That's the past, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes quietly. "What we
+desire now is to hear your story of the present."
+
+"You'll have it, sir," said Douglas. "May I smoke as I talk? Well,
+thank you, Mr. Holmes. You're a smoker yourself, if I remember right,
+and you'll guess what it is to be sitting for two days with tobacco in
+your pocket and afraid that the smell will give you away." He leaned
+against the mantelpiece and sucked at the cigar which Holmes had handed
+him. "I've heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I never guessed that I should meet
+you. But before you are through with that," he nodded at my papers,
+"you will say I've brought you something fresh."
+
+Inspector MacDonald had been staring at the newcomer with the greatest
+amazement. "Well, this fairly beats me!" he cried at last. "If you are
+Mr. John Douglas of Birlstone Manor, then whose death have we been
+investigating for these two days, and where in the world have you
+sprung from now? You seemed to me to come out of the floor like a
+jack-in-a-box."
+
+"Ah, Mr. Mac," said Holmes, shaking a reproving forefinger, "you would
+not read that excellent local compilation which described the
+concealment of King Charles. People did not hide in those days without
+excellent hiding places, and the hiding place that has once been used
+may be again. I had persuaded myself that we should find Mr. Douglas
+under this roof."
+
+"And how long have you been playing this trick upon us, Mr. Holmes?"
+said the inspector angrily. "How long have you allowed us to waste
+ourselves upon a search that you knew to be an absurd one?"
+
+"Not one instant, my dear Mr. Mac. Only last night did I form my views
+of the case. As they could not be put to the proof until this evening,
+I invited you and your colleague to take a holiday for the day. Pray
+what more could I do? When I found the suit of clothes in the moat, it
+at once became apparent to me that the body we had found could not have
+been the body of Mr. John Douglas at all, but must be that of the
+bicyclist from Tunbridge Wells. No other conclusion was possible.
+Therefore I had to determine where Mr. John Douglas himself could be,
+and the balance of probability was that with the connivance of his wife
+and his friend he was concealed in a house which had such conveniences
+for a fugitive, and awaiting quieter times when he could make his final
+escape."
+
+"Well, you figured it out about right," said Douglas approvingly. "I
+thought I'd dodge your British law; for I was not sure how I stood
+under it, and also I saw my chance to throw these hounds once for all
+off my track. Mind you, from first to last I have done nothing to be
+ashamed of, and nothing that I would not do again; but you'll judge
+that for yourselves when I tell you my story. Never mind warning me,
+Inspector: I'm ready to stand pat upon the truth.
+
+"I'm not going to begin at the beginning. That's all there," he
+indicated my bundle of papers, "and a mighty queer yarn you'll find it.
+It all comes down to this: That there are some men that have good cause
+to hate me and would give their last dollar to know that they had got
+me. So long as I am alive and they are alive, there is no safety in
+this world for me. They hunted me from Chicago to California, then they
+chased me out of America; but when I married and settled down in this
+quiet spot I thought my last years were going to be peaceable.
+
+"I never explained to my wife how things were. Why should I pull her
+into it? She would never have a quiet moment again; but would always be
+imagining trouble. I fancy she knew something, for I may have dropped a
+word here or a word there; but until yesterday, after you gentlemen had
+seen her, she never knew the rights of the matter. She told you all she
+knew, and so did Barker here; for on the night when this thing happened
+there was mighty little time for explanations. She knows everything
+now, and I would have been a wiser man if I had told her sooner. But it
+was a hard question, dear," he took her hand for an instant in his own,
+"and I acted for the best.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, the day before these happenings I was over in
+Tunbridge Wells, and I got a glimpse of a man in the street. It was
+only a glimpse; but I have a quick eye for these things, and I never
+doubted who it was. It was the worst enemy I had among them all--one
+who has been after me like a hungry wolf after a caribou all these
+years. I knew there was trouble coming, and I came home and made ready
+for it. I guessed I'd fight through it all right on my own, my luck was
+a proverb in the States about '76. I never doubted that it would be
+with me still.
+
+"I was on my guard all that next day, and never went out into the park.
+It's as well, or he'd have had the drop on me with that buckshot gun of
+his before ever I could draw on him. After the bridge was up--my mind
+was always more restful when that bridge was up in the evenings--I put
+the thing clear out of my head. I never dreamed of his getting into the
+house and waiting for me. But when I made my round in my dressing gown,
+as was my habit, I had no sooner entered the study than I scented
+danger. I guess when a man has had dangers in his life--and I've had
+more than most in my time--there is a kind of sixth sense that waves
+the red flag. I saw the signal clear enough, and yet I couldn't tell
+you why. Next instant I spotted a boot under the window curtain, and
+then I saw why plain enough.
+
+"I'd just the one candle that was in my hand; but there was a good
+light from the hall lamp through the open door. I put down the candle
+and jumped for a hammer that I'd left on the mantel. At the same moment
+he sprang at me. I saw the glint of a knife, and I lashed at him with
+the hammer. I got him somewhere; for the knife tinkled down on the
+floor. He dodged round the table as quick as an eel, and a moment later
+he'd got his gun from under his coat. I heard him cock it; but I had
+got hold of it before he could fire. I had it by the barrel, and we
+wrestled for it all ends up for a minute or more. It was death to the
+man that lost his grip.
+
+"He never lost his grip; but he got it butt downward for a moment too
+long. Maybe it was I that pulled the trigger. Maybe we just jolted it
+off between us. Anyhow, he got both barrels in the face, and there I
+was, staring down at all that was left of Ted Baldwin. I'd recognized
+him in the township, and again when he sprang for me; but his own
+mother wouldn't recognize him as I saw him then. I'm used to rough
+work; but I fairly turned sick at the sight of him.
+
+"I was hanging on the side of the table when Barker came hurrying down.
+I heard my wife coming, and I ran to the door and stopped her. It was
+no sight for a woman. I promised I'd come to her soon. I said a word or
+two to Barker--he took it all in at a glance--and we waited for the
+rest to come along. But there was no sign of them. Then we understood
+that they could hear nothing, and that all that had happened was known
+only to ourselves.
+
+"It was at that instant that the idea came to me. I was fairly dazzled
+by the brilliance of it. The man's sleeve had slipped up and there was
+the branded mark of the lodge upon his forearm. See here!"
+
+The man whom we had known as Douglas turned up his own coat and cuff to
+show a brown triangle within a circle exactly like that which we had
+seen upon the dead man.
+
+"It was the sight of that which started me on it. I seemed to see it
+all clear at a glance. There were his height and hair and figure, about
+the same as my own. No one could swear to his face, poor devil! I
+brought down this suit of clothes, and in a quarter of an hour Barker
+and I had put my dressing gown on him and he lay as you found him. We
+tied all his things into a bundle, and I weighted them with the only
+weight I could find and put them through the window. The card he had
+meant to lay upon my body was lying beside his own.
+
+"My rings were put on his finger; but when it came to the wedding
+ring," he held out his muscular hand, "you can see for yourselves that
+I had struck the limit. I have not moved it since the day I was
+married, and it would have taken a file to get it off. I don't know,
+anyhow, that I should have cared to part with it; but if I had wanted
+to I couldn't. So we just had to leave that detail to take care of
+itself. On the other hand, I brought a bit of plaster down and put it
+where I am wearing one myself at this instant. You slipped up there,
+Mr. Holmes, clever as you are; for if you had chanced to take off that
+plaster you would have found no cut underneath it.
+
+"Well, that was the situation. If I could lie low for a while and then
+get away where I could be joined by my 'widow' we should have a chance
+at last of living in peace for the rest of our lives. These devils
+would give me no rest so long as I was above ground; but if they saw in
+the papers that Baldwin had got his man, there would be an end of all
+my troubles. I hadn't much time to make it all clear to Barker and to
+my wife; but they understood enough to be able to help me. I knew all
+about this hiding place, so did Ames; but it never entered his head to
+connect it with the matter. I retired into it, and it was up to Barker
+to do the rest.
+
+"I guess you can fill in for yourselves what he did. He opened the
+window and made the mark on the sill to give an idea of how the
+murderer escaped. It was a tall order, that; but as the bridge was up
+there was no other way. Then, when everything was fixed, he rang the
+bell for all he was worth. What happened afterward you know. And so,
+gentlemen, you can do what you please; but I've told you the truth and
+the whole truth, so help me God! What I ask you now is how do I stand
+by the English law?"
+
+There was a silence which was broken by Sherlock Holmes.
+
+"The English law is in the main a just law. You will get no worse than
+your deserts from that, Mr. Douglas. But I would ask you how did this
+man know that you lived here, or how to get into your house, or where
+to hide to get you?"
+
+"I know nothing of this."
+
+Holmes's face was very white and grave. "The story is not over yet, I
+fear," said he. "You may find worse dangers than the English law, or
+even than your enemies from America. I see trouble before you, Mr.
+Douglas. You'll take my advice and still be on your guard."
+
+And now, my long-suffering readers, I will ask you to come away with me
+for a time, far from the Sussex Manor House of Birlstone, and far also
+from the year of grace in which we made our eventful journey which
+ended with the strange story of the man who had been known as John
+Douglas. I wish you to journey back some twenty years in time, and
+westward some thousands of miles in space, that I may lay before you a
+singular and terrible narrative--so singular and so terrible that you
+may find it hard to believe that even as I tell it, even so did it
+occur.
+
+Do not think that I intrude one story before another is finished. As
+you read on you will find that this is not so. And when I have detailed
+those distant events and you have solved this mystery of the past, we
+shall meet once more in those rooms on Baker Street, where this, like
+so many other wonderful happenings, will find its end.
+
+
+
+
+PART 2
+
+The Scowrers
+
+
+
+Chapter 1
+
+The Man
+
+It was the fourth of February in the year 1875. It had been a severe
+winter, and the snow lay deep in the gorges of the Gilmerton Mountains.
+The steam ploughs had, however, kept the railroad open, and the evening
+train which connects the long line of coal-mining and iron-working
+settlements was slowly groaning its way up the steep gradients which
+lead from Stagville on the plain to Vermissa, the central township
+which lies at the head of Vermissa Valley. From this point the track
+sweeps downward to Bartons Crossing, Helmdale, and the purely
+agricultural county of Merton. It was a single-track railroad; but at
+every siding--and they were numerous--long lines of trucks piled with
+coal and iron ore told of the hidden wealth which had brought a rude
+population and a bustling life to this most desolate corner of the
+United States of America.
+
+For desolate it was! Little could the first pioneer who had traversed
+it have ever imagined that the fairest prairies and the most lush water
+pastures were valueless compared to this gloomy land of black crag and
+tangled forest. Above the dark and often scarcely penetrable woods upon
+their flanks, the high, bare crowns of the mountains, white snow, and
+jagged rock towered upon each flank, leaving a long, winding, tortuous
+valley in the centre. Up this the little train was slowly crawling.
+
+The oil lamps had just been lit in the leading passenger car, a long,
+bare carriage in which some twenty or thirty people were seated. The
+greater number of these were workmen returning from their day's toil in
+the lower part of the valley. At least a dozen, by their grimed faces
+and the safety lanterns which they carried, proclaimed themselves
+miners. These sat smoking in a group and conversed in low voices,
+glancing occasionally at two men on the opposite side of the car, whose
+uniforms and badges showed them to be policemen.
+
+Several women of the labouring class and one or two travellers who
+might have been small local storekeepers made up the rest of the
+company, with the exception of one young man in a corner by himself. It
+is with this man that we are concerned. Take a good look at him, for he
+is worth it.
+
+He is a fresh-complexioned, middle-sized young man, not far, one would
+guess, from his thirtieth year. He has large, shrewd, humorous gray
+eyes which twinkle inquiringly from time to time as he looks round
+through his spectacles at the people about him. It is easy to see that
+he is of a sociable and possibly simple disposition, anxious to be
+friendly to all men. Anyone could pick him at once as gregarious in his
+habits and communicative in his nature, with a quick wit and a ready
+smile. And yet the man who studied him more closely might discern a
+certain firmness of jaw and grim tightness about the lips which would
+warn him that there were depths beyond, and that this pleasant,
+brown-haired young Irishman might conceivably leave his mark for good
+or evil upon any society to which he was introduced.
+
+Having made one or two tentative remarks to the nearest miner, and
+receiving only short, gruff replies, the traveller resigned himself to
+uncongenial silence, staring moodily out of the window at the fading
+landscape.
+
+It was not a cheering prospect. Through the growing gloom there pulsed
+the red glow of the furnaces on the sides of the hills. Great heaps of
+slag and dumps of cinders loomed up on each side, with the high shafts
+of the collieries towering above them. Huddled groups of mean, wooden
+houses, the windows of which were beginning to outline themselves in
+light, were scattered here and there along the line, and the frequent
+halting places were crowded with their swarthy inhabitants.
+
+The iron and coal valleys of the Vermissa district were no resorts for
+the leisured or the cultured. Everywhere there were stern signs of the
+crudest battle of life, the rude work to be done, and the rude, strong
+workers who did it.
+
+The young traveller gazed out into this dismal country with a face of
+mingled repulsion and interest, which showed that the scene was new to
+him. At intervals he drew from his pocket a bulky letter to which he
+referred, and on the margins of which he scribbled some notes. Once
+from the back of his waist he produced something which one would hardly
+have expected to find in the possession of so mild-mannered a man. It
+was a navy revolver of the largest size. As he turned it slantwise to
+the light, the glint upon the rims of the copper shells within the drum
+showed that it was fully loaded. He quickly restored it to his secret
+pocket, but not before it had been observed by a working man who had
+seated himself upon the adjoining bench.
+
+"Hullo, mate!" said he. "You seem heeled and ready."
+
+The young man smiled with an air of embarrassment.
+
+"Yes," said he, "we need them sometimes in the place I come from."
+
+"And where may that be?"
+
+"I'm last from Chicago."
+
+"A stranger in these parts?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You may find you need it here," said the workman.
+
+"Ah! is that so?" The young man seemed interested.
+
+"Have you heard nothing of doings hereabouts?"
+
+"Nothing out of the way."
+
+"Why, I thought the country was full of it. You'll hear quick enough.
+What made you come here?"
+
+"I heard there was always work for a willing man."
+
+"Are you a member of the union?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Then you'll get your job, I guess. Have you any friends?"
+
+"Not yet; but I have the means of making them."
+
+"How's that, then?"
+
+"I am one of the Eminent Order of Freemen. There's no town without a
+lodge, and where there is a lodge I'll find my friends."
+
+The remark had a singular effect upon his companion. He glanced round
+suspiciously at the others in the car. The miners were still whispering
+among themselves. The two police officers were dozing. He came across,
+seated himself close to the young traveller, and held out his hand.
+
+"Put it there," he said.
+
+A hand-grip passed between the two.
+
+"I see you speak the truth," said the workman. "But it's well to make
+certain." He raised his right hand to his right eyebrow. The traveller
+at once raised his left hand to his left eyebrow.
+
+"Dark nights are unpleasant," said the workman.
+
+"Yes, for strangers to travel," the other answered.
+
+"That's good enough. I'm Brother Scanlan, Lodge 341, Vermissa Valley.
+Glad to see you in these parts."
+
+"Thank you. I'm Brother John McMurdo, Lodge 29, Chicago. Bodymaster J.
+H. Scott. But I am in luck to meet a brother so early."
+
+"Well, there are plenty of us about. You won't find the order more
+flourishing anywhere in the States than right here in Vermissa Valley.
+But we could do with some lads like you. I can't understand a spry man
+of the union finding no work to do in Chicago."
+
+"I found plenty of work to do," said McMurdo.
+
+"Then why did you leave?"
+
+McMurdo nodded towards the policemen and smiled. "I guess those chaps
+would be glad to know," he said.
+
+Scanlan groaned sympathetically. "In trouble?" he asked in a whisper.
+
+"Deep."
+
+"A penitentiary job?"
+
+"And the rest."
+
+"Not a killing!"
+
+"It's early days to talk of such things," said McMurdo with the air of
+a man who had been surprised into saying more than he intended. "I've
+my own good reasons for leaving Chicago, and let that be enough for
+you. Who are you that you should take it on yourself to ask such
+things?" His gray eyes gleamed with sudden and dangerous anger from
+behind his glasses.
+
+"All right, mate, no offense meant. The boys will think none the worse
+of you, whatever you may have done. Where are you bound for now?"
+
+"Vermissa."
+
+"That's the third halt down the line. Where are you staying?"
+
+McMurdo took out an envelope and held it close to the murky oil lamp.
+"Here is the address--Jacob Shafter, Sheridan Street. It's a boarding
+house that was recommended by a man I knew in Chicago."
+
+"Well, I don't know it; but Vermissa is out of my beat. I live at
+Hobson's Patch, and that's here where we are drawing up. But, say,
+there's one bit of advice I'll give you before we part: If you're in
+trouble in Vermissa, go straight to the Union House and see Boss
+McGinty. He is the Bodymaster of Vermissa Lodge, and nothing can happen
+in these parts unless Black Jack McGinty wants it. So long, mate! Maybe
+we'll meet in lodge one of these evenings. But mind my words: If you
+are in trouble, go to Boss McGinty."
+
+Scanlan descended, and McMurdo was left once again to his thoughts.
+Night had now fallen, and the flames of the frequent furnaces were
+roaring and leaping in the darkness. Against their lurid background
+dark figures were bending and straining, twisting and turning, with the
+motion of winch or of windlass, to the rhythm of an eternal clank and
+roar.
+
+"I guess hell must look something like that," said a voice.
+
+McMurdo turned and saw that one of the policemen had shifted in his
+seat and was staring out into the fiery waste.
+
+"For that matter," said the other policeman, "I allow that hell must be
+something like that. If there are worse devils down yonder than some we
+could name, it's more than I'd expect. I guess you are new to this
+part, young man?"
+
+"Well, what if I am?" McMurdo answered in a surly voice.
+
+"Just this, mister, that I should advise you to be careful in choosing
+your friends. I don't think I'd begin with Mike Scanlan or his gang if
+I were you."
+
+"What the hell is it to you who are my friends?" roared McMurdo in a
+voice which brought every head in the carriage round to witness the
+altercation. "Did I ask you for your advice, or did you think me such a
+sucker that I couldn't move without it? You speak when you are spoken
+to, and by the Lord you'd have to wait a long time if it was me!" He
+thrust out his face and grinned at the patrolmen like a snarling dog.
+
+The two policemen, heavy, good-natured men, were taken aback by the
+extraordinary vehemence with which their friendly advances had been
+rejected.
+
+"No offense, stranger," said one. "It was a warning for your own good,
+seeing that you are, by your own showing, new to the place."
+
+"I'm new to the place; but I'm not new to you and your kind!" cried
+McMurdo in cold fury. "I guess you're the same in all places, shoving
+your advice in when nobody asks for it."
+
+"Maybe we'll see more of you before very long," said one of the
+patrolmen with a grin. "You're a real hand-picked one, if I am a judge."
+
+"I was thinking the same," remarked the other. "I guess we may meet
+again."
+
+"I'm not afraid of you, and don't you think it!" cried McMurdo. "My
+name's Jack McMurdo--see? If you want me, you'll find me at Jacob
+Shafter's on Sheridan Street, Vermissa; so I'm not hiding from you, am
+I? Day or night I dare to look the like of you in the face--don't make
+any mistake about that!"
+
+There was a murmur of sympathy and admiration from the miners at the
+dauntless demeanour of the newcomer, while the two policemen shrugged
+their shoulders and renewed a conversation between themselves.
+
+A few minutes later the train ran into the ill-lit station, and there
+was a general clearing; for Vermissa was by far the largest town on the
+line. McMurdo picked up his leather gripsack and was about to start off
+into the darkness, when one of the miners accosted him.
+
+"By Gar, mate! you know how to speak to the cops," he said in a voice
+of awe. "It was grand to hear you. Let me carry your grip and show you
+the road. I'm passing Shafter's on the way to my own shack."
+
+There was a chorus of friendly "Good-nights" from the other miners as
+they passed from the platform. Before ever he had set foot in it,
+McMurdo the turbulent had become a character in Vermissa.
+
+The country had been a place of terror; but the town was in its way
+even more depressing. Down that long valley there was at least a
+certain gloomy grandeur in the huge fires and the clouds of drifting
+smoke, while the strength and industry of man found fitting monuments
+in the hills which he had spilled by the side of his monstrous
+excavations. But the town showed a dead level of mean ugliness and
+squalor. The broad street was churned up by the traffic into a horrible
+rutted paste of muddy snow. The sidewalks were narrow and uneven. The
+numerous gas-lamps served only to show more clearly a long line of
+wooden houses, each with its veranda facing the street, unkempt and
+dirty.
+
+As they approached the centre of the town the scene was brightened by a
+row of well-lit stores, and even more by a cluster of saloons and
+gaming houses, in which the miners spent their hard-earned but generous
+wages.
+
+"That's the Union House," said the guide, pointing to one saloon which
+rose almost to the dignity of being a hotel. "Jack McGinty is the boss
+there."
+
+"What sort of a man is he?" McMurdo asked.
+
+"What! have you never heard of the boss?"
+
+"How could I have heard of him when you know that I am a stranger in
+these parts?"
+
+"Well, I thought his name was known clear across the country. It's been
+in the papers often enough."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Well," the miner lowered his voice--"over the affairs."
+
+"What affairs?"
+
+"Good Lord, mister! you are queer, if I must say it without offense.
+There's only one set of affairs that you'll hear of in these parts, and
+that's the affairs of the Scowrers."
+
+"Why, I seem to have read of the Scowrers in Chicago. A gang of
+murderers, are they not?"
+
+"Hush, on your life!" cried the miner, standing still in alarm, and
+gazing in amazement at his companion. "Man, you won't live long in
+these parts if you speak in the open street like that. Many a man has
+had the life beaten out of him for less."
+
+"Well, I know nothing about them. It's only what I have read."
+
+"And I'm not saying that you have not read the truth." The man looked
+nervously round him as he spoke, peering into the shadows as if he
+feared to see some lurking danger. "If killing is murder, then God
+knows there is murder and to spare. But don't you dare to breathe the
+name of Jack McGinty in connection with it, stranger; for every whisper
+goes back to him, and he is not one that is likely to let it pass. Now,
+that's the house you're after, that one standing back from the street.
+You'll find old Jacob Shafter that runs it as honest a man as lives in
+this township."
+
+"I thank you," said McMurdo, and shaking hands with his new
+acquaintance he plodded, gripsack in hand, up the path which led to the
+dwelling house, at the door of which he gave a resounding knock.
+
+It was opened at once by someone very different from what he had
+expected. It was a woman, young and singularly beautiful. She was of
+the German type, blonde and fair-haired, with the piquant contrast of a
+pair of beautiful dark eyes with which she surveyed the stranger with
+surprise and a pleasing embarrassment which brought a wave of colour
+over her pale face. Framed in the bright light of the open doorway, it
+seemed to McMurdo that he had never seen a more beautiful picture; the
+more attractive for its contrast with the sordid and gloomy
+surroundings. A lovely violet growing upon one of those black
+slag-heaps of the mines would not have seemed more surprising. So
+entranced was he that he stood staring without a word, and it was she
+who broke the silence.
+
+"I thought it was father," said she with a pleasing little touch of a
+German accent. "Did you come to see him? He is downtown. I expect him
+back every minute."
+
+McMurdo continued to gaze at her in open admiration until her eyes
+dropped in confusion before this masterful visitor.
+
+"No, miss," he said at last, "I'm in no hurry to see him. But your
+house was recommended to me for board. I thought it might suit me--and
+now I know it will."
+
+"You are quick to make up your mind," said she with a smile.
+
+"Anyone but a blind man could do as much," the other answered.
+
+She laughed at the compliment. "Come right in, sir," she said. "I'm
+Miss Ettie Shafter, Mr. Shafter's daughter. My mother's dead, and I run
+the house. You can sit down by the stove in the front room until father
+comes along--Ah, here he is! So you can fix things with him right away."
+
+A heavy, elderly man came plodding up the path. In a few words McMurdo
+explained his business. A man of the name of Murphy had given him the
+address in Chicago. He in turn had had it from someone else. Old
+Shafter was quite ready. The stranger made no bones about terms, agreed
+at once to every condition, and was apparently fairly flush of money.
+For seven dollars a week paid in advance he was to have board and
+lodging.
+
+So it was that McMurdo, the self-confessed fugitive from justice, took
+up his abode under the roof of the Shafters, the first step which was
+to lead to so long and dark a train of events, ending in a far distant
+land.
+
+
+
+Chapter 2
+
+The Bodymaster
+
+McMurdo was a man who made his mark quickly. Wherever he was the folk
+around soon knew it. Within a week he had become infinitely the most
+important person at Shafter's. There were ten or a dozen boarders
+there; but they were honest foremen or commonplace clerks from the
+stores, of a very different calibre from the young Irishman. Of an
+evening when they gathered together his joke was always the readiest,
+his conversation the brightest, and his song the best. He was a born
+boon companion, with a magnetism which drew good humour from all around
+him.
+
+And yet he showed again and again, as he had shown in the railway
+carriage, a capacity for sudden, fierce anger, which compelled the
+respect and even the fear of those who met him. For the law, too, and
+all who were connected with it, he exhibited a bitter contempt which
+delighted some and alarmed others of his fellow boarders.
+
+From the first he made it evident, by his open admiration, that the
+daughter of the house had won his heart from the instant that he had
+set eyes upon her beauty and her grace. He was no backward suitor. On
+the second day he told her that he loved her, and from then onward he
+repeated the same story with an absolute disregard of what she might
+say to discourage him.
+
+"Someone else?" he would cry. "Well, the worse luck for someone else!
+Let him look out for himself! Am I to lose my life's chance and all my
+heart's desire for someone else? You can keep on saying no, Ettie: the
+day will come when you will say yes, and I'm young enough to wait."
+
+He was a dangerous suitor, with his glib Irish tongue, and his pretty,
+coaxing ways. There was about him also that glamour of experience and
+of mystery which attracts a woman's interest, and finally her love. He
+could talk of the sweet valleys of County Monaghan from which he came,
+of the lovely, distant island, the low hills and green meadows of which
+seemed the more beautiful when imagination viewed them from this place
+of grime and snow.
+
+Then he was versed in the life of the cities of the North, of Detroit,
+and the lumber camps of Michigan, and finally of Chicago, where he had
+worked in a planing mill. And afterwards came the hint of romance, the
+feeling that strange things had happened to him in that great city, so
+strange and so intimate that they might not be spoken of. He spoke
+wistfully of a sudden leaving, a breaking of old ties, a flight into a
+strange world, ending in this dreary valley, and Ettie listened, her
+dark eyes gleaming with pity and with sympathy--those two qualities
+which may turn so rapidly and so naturally to love.
+
+McMurdo had obtained a temporary job as bookkeeper; for he was a
+well-educated man. This kept him out most of the day, and he had not
+found occasion yet to report himself to the head of the lodge of the
+Eminent Order of Freemen. He was reminded of his omission, however, by
+a visit one evening from Mike Scanlan, the fellow member whom he had
+met in the train. Scanlan, the small, sharp-faced, nervous, black-eyed
+man, seemed glad to see him once more. After a glass or two of whisky
+he broached the object of his visit.
+
+"Say, McMurdo," said he, "I remembered your address, so I made bold to
+call. I'm surprised that you've not reported to the Bodymaster. Why
+haven't you seen Boss McGinty yet?"
+
+"Well, I had to find a job. I have been busy."
+
+"You must find time for him if you have none for anything else. Good
+Lord, man! you're a fool not to have been down to the Union House and
+registered your name the first morning after you came here! If you run
+against him--well, you mustn't, that's all!"
+
+McMurdo showed mild surprise. "I've been a member of the lodge for over
+two years, Scanlan, but I never heard that duties were so pressing as
+all that."
+
+"Maybe not in Chicago."
+
+"Well, it's the same society here."
+
+"Is it?"
+
+Scanlan looked at him long and fixedly. There was something sinister in
+his eyes.
+
+"Isn't it?"
+
+"You'll tell me that in a month's time. I hear you had a talk with the
+patrolmen after I left the train."
+
+"How did you know that?"
+
+"Oh, it got about--things do get about for good and for bad in this
+district."
+
+"Well, yes. I told the hounds what I thought of them."
+
+"By the Lord, you'll be a man after McGinty's heart!"
+
+"What, does he hate the police too?"
+
+Scanlan burst out laughing. "You go and see him, my lad," said he as he
+took his leave. "It's not the police but you that he'll hate if you
+don't! Now, take a friend's advice and go at once!"
+
+It chanced that on the same evening McMurdo had another more pressing
+interview which urged him in the same direction. It may have been that
+his attentions to Ettie had been more evident than before, or that they
+had gradually obtruded themselves into the slow mind of his good German
+host; but, whatever the cause, the boarding-house keeper beckoned the
+young man into his private room and started on the subject without any
+circumlocution.
+
+"It seems to me, mister," said he, "that you are gettin' set on my
+Ettie. Ain't that so, or am I wrong?"
+
+"Yes, that is so," the young man answered.
+
+"Vell, I vant to tell you right now that it ain't no manner of use.
+There's someone slipped in afore you."
+
+"She told me so."
+
+"Vell, you can lay that she told you truth. But did she tell you who it
+vas?"
+
+"No, I asked her; but she wouldn't tell."
+
+"I dare say not, the leetle baggage! Perhaps she did not vish to
+frighten you avay."
+
+"Frighten!" McMurdo was on fire in a moment.
+
+"Ah, yes, my friend! You need not be ashamed to be frightened of him.
+It is Teddy Baldwin."
+
+"And who the devil is he?"
+
+"He is a boss of Scowrers."
+
+"Scowrers! I've heard of them before. It's Scowrers here and Scowrers
+there, and always in a whisper! What are you all afraid of? Who are the
+Scowrers?"
+
+The boarding-house keeper instinctively sank his voice, as everyone did
+who talked about that terrible society. "The Scowrers," said he, "are
+the Eminent Order of Freemen!"
+
+The young man stared. "Why, I am a member of that order myself."
+
+"You! I vould never have had you in my house if I had known it--not if
+you vere to pay me a hundred dollar a week."
+
+"What's wrong with the order? It's for charity and good fellowship. The
+rules say so."
+
+"Maybe in some places. Not here!"
+
+"What is it here?"
+
+"It's a murder society, that's vat it is."
+
+McMurdo laughed incredulously. "How can you prove that?" he asked.
+
+"Prove it! Are there not fifty murders to prove it? Vat about Milman
+and Van Shorst, and the Nicholson family, and old Mr. Hyam, and little
+Billy James, and the others? Prove it! Is there a man or a voman in
+this valley vat does not know it?"
+
+"See here!" said McMurdo earnestly. "I want you to take back what
+you've said, or else make it good. One or the other you must do before
+I quit this room. Put yourself in my place. Here am I, a stranger in
+the town. I belong to a society that I know only as an innocent one.
+You'll find it through the length and breadth of the States, but always
+as an innocent one. Now, when I am counting upon joining it here, you
+tell me that it is the same as a murder society called the Scowrers. I
+guess you owe me either an apology or else an explanation, Mr. Shafter."
+
+"I can but tell you vat the whole vorld knows, mister. The bosses of
+the one are the bosses of the other. If you offend the one, it is the
+other vat vill strike you. We have proved it too often."
+
+"That's just gossip--I want proof!" said McMurdo.
+
+"If you live here long you vill get your proof. But I forget that you
+are yourself one of them. You vill soon be as bad as the rest. But you
+vill find other lodgings, mister. I cannot have you here. Is it not bad
+enough that one of these people come courting my Ettie, and that I dare
+not turn him down, but that I should have another for my boarder? Yes,
+indeed, you shall not sleep here after to-night!"
+
+McMurdo found himself under sentence of banishment both from his
+comfortable quarters and from the girl whom he loved. He found her
+alone in the sitting-room that same evening, and he poured his troubles
+into her ear.
+
+"Sure, your father is after giving me notice," he said. "It's little I
+would care if it was just my room, but indeed, Ettie, though it's only
+a week that I've known you, you are the very breath of life to me, and
+I can't live without you!"
+
+"Oh, hush, Mr. McMurdo, don't speak so!" said the girl. "I have told
+you, have I not, that you are too late? There is another, and if I have
+not promised to marry him at once, at least I can promise no one else."
+
+"Suppose I had been first, Ettie, would I have had a chance?"
+
+The girl sank her face into her hands. "I wish to heaven that you had
+been first!" she sobbed.
+
+McMurdo was down on his knees before her in an instant. "For God's
+sake, Ettie, let it stand at that!" he cried. "Will you ruin your life
+and my own for the sake of this promise? Follow your heart, acushla!
+'Tis a safer guide than any promise before you knew what it was that
+you were saying."
+
+He had seized Ettie's white hand between his own strong brown ones.
+
+"Say that you will be mine, and we will face it out together!"
+
+"Not here?"
+
+"Yes, here."
+
+"No, no, Jack!" His arms were round her now. "It could not be here.
+Could you take me away?"
+
+A struggle passed for a moment over McMurdo's face; but it ended by
+setting like granite. "No, here," he said. "I'll hold you against the
+world, Ettie, right here where we are!"
+
+"Why should we not leave together?"
+
+"No, Ettie, I can't leave here."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"I'd never hold my head up again if I felt that I had been driven out.
+Besides, what is there to be afraid of? Are we not free folks in a free
+country? If you love me, and I you, who will dare to come between?"
+
+"You don't know, Jack. You've been here too short a time. You don't
+know this Baldwin. You don't know McGinty and his Scowrers."
+
+"No, I don't know them, and I don't fear them, and I don't believe in
+them!" said McMurdo. "I've lived among rough men, my darling, and
+instead of fearing them it has always ended that they have feared
+me--always, Ettie. It's mad on the face of it! If these men, as your
+father says, have done crime after crime in the valley, and if everyone
+knows them by name, how comes it that none are brought to justice? You
+answer me that, Ettie!"
+
+"Because no witness dares to appear against them. He would not live a
+month if he did. Also because they have always their own men to swear
+that the accused one was far from the scene of the crime. But surely,
+Jack, you must have read all this. I had understood that every paper in
+the United States was writing about it."
+
+"Well, I have read something, it is true; but I had thought it was a
+story. Maybe these men have some reason in what they do. Maybe they are
+wronged and have no other way to help themselves."
+
+"Oh, Jack, don't let me hear you speak so! That is how he speaks--the
+other one!"
+
+"Baldwin--he speaks like that, does he?"
+
+"And that is why I loathe him so. Oh, Jack, now I can tell you the
+truth. I loathe him with all my heart; but I fear him also. I fear him
+for myself; but above all I fear him for father. I know that some great
+sorrow would come upon us if I dared to say what I really felt. That is
+why I have put him off with half-promises. It was in real truth our
+only hope. But if you would fly with me, Jack, we could take father
+with us and live forever far from the power of these wicked men."
+
+Again there was the struggle upon McMurdo's face, and again it set like
+granite. "No harm shall come to you, Ettie--nor to your father either.
+As to wicked men, I expect you may find that I am as bad as the worst
+of them before we're through."
+
+"No, no, Jack! I would trust you anywhere."
+
+McMurdo laughed bitterly. "Good Lord! how little you know of me! Your
+innocent soul, my darling, could not even guess what is passing in
+mine. But, hullo, who's the visitor?"
+
+The door had opened suddenly, and a young fellow came swaggering in
+with the air of one who is the master. He was a handsome, dashing young
+man of about the same age and build as McMurdo himself. Under his
+broad-brimmed black felt hat, which he had not troubled to remove, a
+handsome face with fierce, domineering eyes and a curved hawk-bill of a
+nose looked savagely at the pair who sat by the stove.
+
+Ettie had jumped to her feet full of confusion and alarm. "I'm glad to
+see you, Mr. Baldwin," said she. "You're earlier than I had thought.
+Come and sit down."
+
+Baldwin stood with his hands on his hips looking at McMurdo. "Who is
+this?" he asked curtly.
+
+"It's a friend of mine, Mr. Baldwin, a new boarder here. Mr. McMurdo,
+may I introduce you to Mr. Baldwin?"
+
+The young men nodded in surly fashion to each other.
+
+"Maybe Miss Ettie has told you how it is with us?" said Baldwin.
+
+"I didn't understand that there was any relation between you."
+
+"Didn't you? Well, you can understand it now. You can take it from me
+that this young lady is mine, and you'll find it a very fine evening
+for a walk."
+
+"Thank you, I am in no humour for a walk."
+
+"Aren't you?" The man's savage eyes were blazing with anger. "Maybe you
+are in a humour for a fight, Mr. Boarder!"
+
+"That I am!" cried McMurdo, springing to his feet. "You never said a
+more welcome word."
+
+"For God's sake, Jack! Oh, for God's sake!" cried poor, distracted
+Ettie. "Oh, Jack, Jack, he will hurt you!"
+
+"Oh, it's Jack, is it?" said Baldwin with an oath. "You've come to that
+already, have you?"
+
+"Oh, Ted, be reasonable--be kind! For my sake, Ted, if ever you loved
+me, be big-hearted and forgiving!"
+
+"I think, Ettie, that if you were to leave us alone we could get this
+thing settled," said McMurdo quietly. "Or maybe, Mr. Baldwin, you will
+take a turn down the street with me. It's a fine evening, and there's
+some open ground beyond the next block."
+
+"I'll get even with you without needing to dirty my hands," said his
+enemy. "You'll wish you had never set foot in this house before I am
+through with you!"
+
+"No time like the present," cried McMurdo.
+
+"I'll choose my own time, mister. You can leave the time to me. See
+here!" He suddenly rolled up his sleeve and showed upon his forearm a
+peculiar sign which appeared to have been branded there. It was a
+circle with a triangle within it. "D'you know what that means?"
+
+"I neither know nor care!"
+
+"Well, you will know, I'll promise you that. You won't be much older,
+either. Perhaps Miss Ettie can tell you something about it. As to you,
+Ettie, you'll come back to me on your knees--d'ye hear, girl?--on your
+knees--and then I'll tell you what your punishment may be. You've
+sowed--and by the Lord, I'll see that you reap!" He glanced at them
+both in fury. Then he turned upon his heel, and an instant later the
+outer door had banged behind him.
+
+For a few moments McMurdo and the girl stood in silence. Then she threw
+her arms around him.
+
+"Oh, Jack, how brave you were! But it is no use, you must fly!
+To-night--Jack--to-night! It's your only hope. He will have your life.
+I read it in his horrible eyes. What chance have you against a dozen of
+them, with Boss McGinty and all the power of the lodge behind them?"
+
+McMurdo disengaged her hands, kissed her, and gently pushed her back
+into a chair. "There, acushla, there! Don't be disturbed or fear for
+me. I'm a Freeman myself. I'm after telling your father about it. Maybe
+I am no better than the others; so don't make a saint of me. Perhaps
+you hate me too, now that I've told you as much?"
+
+"Hate you, Jack? While life lasts I could never do that! I've heard
+that there is no harm in being a Freeman anywhere but here; so why
+should I think the worse of you for that? But if you are a Freeman,
+Jack, why should you not go down and make a friend of Boss McGinty? Oh,
+hurry, Jack, hurry! Get your word in first, or the hounds will be on
+your trail."
+
+"I was thinking the same thing," said McMurdo. "I'll go right now and
+fix it. You can tell your father that I'll sleep here to-night and find
+some other quarters in the morning."
+
+The bar of McGinty's saloon was crowded as usual, for it was the
+favourite loafing place of all the rougher elements of the town. The
+man was popular; for he had a rough, jovial disposition which formed a
+mask, covering a great deal which lay behind it. But apart from this
+popularity, the fear in which he was held throughout the township, and
+indeed down the whole thirty miles of the valley and past the mountains
+on each side of it, was enough in itself to fill his bar; for none
+could afford to neglect his good will.
+
+Besides those secret powers which it was universally believed that he
+exercised in so pitiless a fashion, he was a high public official, a
+municipal councillor, and a commissioner of roads, elected to the
+office through the votes of the ruffians who in turn expected to
+receive favours at his hands. Assessments and taxes were enormous; the
+public works were notoriously neglected, the accounts were slurred over
+by bribed auditors, and the decent citizen was terrorized into paying
+public blackmail, and holding his tongue lest some worse thing befall
+him.
+
+Thus it was that, year by year, Boss McGinty's diamond pins became more
+obtrusive, his gold chains more weighty across a more gorgeous vest,
+and his saloon stretched farther and farther, until it threatened to
+absorb one whole side of the Market Square.
+
+McMurdo pushed open the swinging door of the saloon and made his way
+amid the crowd of men within, through an atmosphere blurred with
+tobacco smoke and heavy with the smell of spirits. The place was
+brilliantly lighted, and the huge, heavily gilt mirrors upon every wall
+reflected and multiplied the garish illumination. There were several
+bartenders in their shirt sleeves, hard at work mixing drinks for the
+loungers who fringed the broad, brass-trimmed counter.
+
+At the far end, with his body resting upon the bar and a cigar stuck at
+an acute angle from the corner of his mouth, stood a tall, strong,
+heavily built man who could be none other than the famous McGinty
+himself. He was a black-maned giant, bearded to the cheek-bones, and
+with a shock of raven hair which fell to his collar. His complexion was
+as swarthy as that of an Italian, and his eyes were of a strange dead
+black, which, combined with a slight squint, gave them a particularly
+sinister appearance.
+
+All else in the man--his noble proportions, his fine features, and his
+frank bearing--fitted in with that jovial, man-to-man manner which he
+affected. Here, one would say, is a bluff, honest fellow, whose heart
+would be sound however rude his outspoken words might seem. It was only
+when those dead, dark eyes, deep and remorseless, were turned upon a
+man that he shrank within himself, feeling that he was face to face
+with an infinite possibility of latent evil, with a strength and
+courage and cunning behind it which made it a thousand times more
+deadly.
+
+Having had a good look at his man, McMurdo elbowed his way forward with
+his usual careless audacity, and pushed himself through the little
+group of courtiers who were fawning upon the powerful boss, laughing
+uproariously at the smallest of his jokes. The young stranger's bold
+gray eyes looked back fearlessly through their glasses at the deadly
+black ones which turned sharply upon him.
+
+"Well, young man, I can't call your face to mind."
+
+"I'm new here, Mr. McGinty."
+
+"You are not so new that you can't give a gentleman his proper title."
+
+"He's Councillor McGinty, young man," said a voice from the group.
+
+"I'm sorry, Councillor. I'm strange to the ways of the place. But I was
+advised to see you."
+
+"Well, you see me. This is all there is. What d'you think of me?"
+
+"Well, it's early days. If your heart is as big as your body, and your
+soul as fine as your face, then I'd ask for nothing better," said
+McMurdo.
+
+"By Gar! you've got an Irish tongue in your head anyhow," cried the
+saloon-keeper, not quite certain whether to humour this audacious
+visitor or to stand upon his dignity.
+
+"So you are good enough to pass my appearance?"
+
+"Sure," said McMurdo.
+
+"And you were told to see me?"
+
+"I was."
+
+"And who told you?"
+
+"Brother Scanlan of Lodge 341, Vermissa. I drink your health
+Councillor, and to our better acquaintance." He raised a glass with
+which he had been served to his lips and elevated his little finger as
+he drank it.
+
+McGinty, who had been watching him narrowly, raised his thick black
+eyebrows. "Oh, it's like that, is it?" said he. "I'll have to look a
+bit closer into this, Mister--"
+
+"McMurdo."
+
+"A bit closer, Mr. McMurdo; for we don't take folk on trust in these
+parts, nor believe all we're told neither. Come in here for a moment,
+behind the bar."
+
+There was a small room there, lined with barrels. McGinty carefully
+closed the door, and then seated himself on one of them, biting
+thoughtfully on his cigar and surveying his companion with those
+disquieting eyes. For a couple of minutes he sat in complete silence.
+McMurdo bore the inspection cheerfully, one hand in his coat pocket,
+the other twisting his brown moustache. Suddenly McGinty stooped and
+produced a wicked-looking revolver.
+
+"See here, my joker," said he, "if I thought you were playing any game
+on us, it would be short work for you."
+
+"This is a strange welcome," McMurdo answered with some dignity, "for
+the Bodymaster of a lodge of Freemen to give to a stranger brother."
+
+"Ay, but it's just that same that you have to prove," said McGinty,
+"and God help you if you fail! Where were you made?"
+
+"Lodge 29, Chicago."
+
+"When?"
+
+"June 24, 1872."
+
+"What Bodymaster?"
+
+"James H. Scott."
+
+"Who is your district ruler?"
+
+"Bartholomew Wilson."
+
+"Hum! You seem glib enough in your tests. What are you doing here?"
+
+"Working, the same as you--but a poorer job."
+
+"You have your back answer quick enough."
+
+"Yes, I was always quick of speech."
+
+"Are you quick of action?"
+
+"I have had that name among those that knew me best."
+
+"Well, we may try you sooner than you think. Have you heard anything of
+the lodge in these parts?"
+
+"I've heard that it takes a man to be a brother."
+
+"True for you, Mr. McMurdo. Why did you leave Chicago?"
+
+"I'm damned if I tell you that!"
+
+McGinty opened his eyes. He was not used to being answered in such
+fashion, and it amused him. "Why won't you tell me?"
+
+"Because no brother may tell another a lie."
+
+"Then the truth is too bad to tell?"
+
+"You can put it that way if you like."
+
+"See here, mister, you can't expect me, as Bodymaster, to pass into the
+lodge a man for whose past he can't answer."
+
+McMurdo looked puzzled. Then he took a worn newspaper cutting from an
+inner pocket.
+
+"You wouldn't squeal on a fellow?" said he.
+
+"I'll wipe my hand across your face if you say such words to me!" cried
+McGinty hotly.
+
+"You are right, Councillor," said McMurdo meekly. "I should apologize.
+I spoke without thought. Well, I know that I am safe in your hands.
+Look at that clipping."
+
+McGinty glanced his eyes over the account of the shooting of one Jonas
+Pinto, in the Lake Saloon, Market Street, Chicago, in the New Year week
+of 1874.
+
+"Your work?" he asked, as he handed back the paper.
+
+McMurdo nodded.
+
+"Why did you shoot him?"
+
+"I was helping Uncle Sam to make dollars. Maybe mine were not as good
+gold as his, but they looked as well and were cheaper to make. This man
+Pinto helped me to shove the queer--"
+
+"To do what?"
+
+"Well, it means to pass the dollars out into circulation. Then he said
+he would split. Maybe he did split. I didn't wait to see. I just killed
+him and lighted out for the coal country."
+
+"Why the coal country?"
+
+"'Cause I'd read in the papers that they weren't too particular in
+those parts."
+
+McGinty laughed. "You were first a coiner and then a murderer, and you
+came to these parts because you thought you'd be welcome."
+
+"That's about the size of it," McMurdo answered.
+
+"Well, I guess you'll go far. Say, can you make those dollars yet?"
+
+McMurdo took half a dozen from his pocket. "Those never passed the
+Philadelphia mint," said he.
+
+"You don't say!" McGinty held them to the light in his enormous hand,
+which was hairy as a gorilla's. "I can see no difference. Gar! you'll
+be a mighty useful brother, I'm thinking! We can do with a bad man or
+two among us, Friend McMurdo: for there are times when we have to take
+our own part. We'd soon be against the wall if we didn't shove back at
+those that were pushing us."
+
+"Well, I guess I'll do my share of shoving with the rest of the boys."
+
+"You seem to have a good nerve. You didn't squirm when I shoved this
+gun at you."
+
+"It was not me that was in danger."
+
+"Who then?"
+
+"It was you, Councillor." McMurdo drew a cocked pistol from the side
+pocket of his peajacket. "I was covering you all the time. I guess my
+shot would have been as quick as yours."
+
+"By Gar!" McGinty flushed an angry red and then burst into a roar of
+laughter. "Say, we've had no such holy terror come to hand this many a
+year. I reckon the lodge will learn to be proud of you.... Well, what
+the hell do you want? And can't I speak alone with a gentleman for five
+minutes but you must butt in on us?"
+
+The bartender stood abashed. "I'm sorry, Councillor, but it's Ted
+Baldwin. He says he must see you this very minute."
+
+The message was unnecessary; for the set, cruel face of the man himself
+was looking over the servant's shoulder. He pushed the bartender out
+and closed the door on him.
+
+"So," said he with a furious glance at McMurdo, "you got here first,
+did you? I've a word to say to you, Councillor, about this man."
+
+"Then say it here and now before my face," cried McMurdo.
+
+"I'll say it at my own time, in my own way."
+
+"Tut! Tut!" said McGinty, getting off his barrel. "This will never do.
+We have a new brother here, Baldwin, and it's not for us to greet him
+in such fashion. Hold out your hand, man, and make it up!"
+
+"Never!" cried Baldwin in a fury.
+
+"I've offered to fight him if he thinks I have wronged him," said
+McMurdo. "I'll fight him with fists, or, if that won't satisfy him,
+I'll fight him any other way he chooses. Now, I'll leave it to you,
+Councillor, to judge between us as a Bodymaster should."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"A young lady. She's free to choose for herself."
+
+"Is she?" cried Baldwin.
+
+"As between two brothers of the lodge I should say that she was," said
+the Boss.
+
+"Oh, that's your ruling, is it?"
+
+"Yes, it is, Ted Baldwin," said McGinty, with a wicked stare. "Is it
+you that would dispute it?"
+
+"You would throw over one that has stood by you this five years in
+favour of a man that you never saw before in your life? You're not
+Bodymaster for life, Jack McGinty, and by God! when next it comes to a
+vote--"
+
+The Councillor sprang at him like a tiger. His hand closed round the
+other's neck, and he hurled him back across one of the barrels. In his
+mad fury he would have squeezed the life out of him if McMurdo had not
+interfered.
+
+"Easy, Councillor! For heaven's sake, go easy!" he cried, as he dragged
+him back.
+
+McGinty released his hold, and Baldwin, cowed and shaken gasping for
+breath, and shivering in every limb, as one who has looked over the
+very edge of death, sat up on the barrel over which he had been hurled.
+
+"You've been asking for it this many a day, Ted Baldwin--now you've got
+it!" cried McGinty, his huge chest rising and falling. "Maybe you think
+if I was voted down from Bodymaster you would find yourself in my
+shoes. It's for the lodge to say that. But so long as I am the chief
+I'll have no man lift his voice against me or my rulings."
+
+"I have nothing against you," mumbled Baldwin, feeling his throat.
+
+"Well, then," cried the other, relapsing in a moment into a bluff
+joviality, "we are all good friends again and there's an end of the
+matter."
+
+He took a bottle of champagne down from the shelf and twisted out the
+cork.
+
+"See now," he continued, as he filled three high glasses. "Let us drink
+the quarrelling toast of the lodge. After that, as you know, there can
+be no bad blood between us. Now, then the left hand on the apple of my
+throat. I say to you, Ted Baldwin, what is the offense, sir?"
+
+"The clouds are heavy," answered Baldwin
+
+"But they will forever brighten."
+
+"And this I swear!"
+
+The men drank their glasses, and the same ceremony was performed
+between Baldwin and McMurdo.
+
+"There!" cried McGinty, rubbing his hands. "That's the end of the black
+blood. You come under lodge discipline if it goes further, and that's a
+heavy hand in these parts, as Brother Baldwin knows--and as you will
+damn soon find out, Brother McMurdo, if you ask for trouble!"
+
+"Faith, I'd be slow to do that," said McMurdo. He held out his hand to
+Baldwin. "I'm quick to quarrel and quick to forgive. It's my hot Irish
+blood, they tell me. But it's over for me, and I bear no grudge."
+
+Baldwin had to take the proffered hand, for the baleful eye of the
+terrible Boss was upon him. But his sullen face showed how little the
+words of the other had moved him.
+
+McGinty clapped them both on the shoulders. "Tut! These girls! These
+girls!" he cried. "To think that the same petticoats should come
+between two of my boys! It's the devil's own luck! Well, it's the
+colleen inside of them that must settle the question for it's outside
+the jurisdiction of a Bodymaster--and the Lord be praised for that! We
+have enough on us, without the women as well. You'll have to be
+affiliated to Lodge 341, Brother McMurdo. We have our own ways and
+methods, different from Chicago. Saturday night is our meeting, and if
+you come then, we'll make you free forever of the Vermissa Valley."
+
+
+
+Chapter 3
+
+Lodge 341, Vermissa
+
+On the day following the evening which had contained so many exciting
+events, McMurdo moved his lodgings from old Jacob Shafter's and took up
+his quarters at the Widow MacNamara's on the extreme outskirts of the
+town. Scanlan, his original acquaintance aboard the train, had occasion
+shortly afterwards to move into Vermissa, and the two lodged together.
+There was no other boarder, and the hostess was an easy-going old
+Irishwoman who left them to themselves; so that they had a freedom for
+speech and action welcome to men who had secrets in common.
+
+Shafter had relented to the extent of letting McMurdo come to his meals
+there when he liked; so that his intercourse with Ettie was by no means
+broken. On the contrary, it drew closer and more intimate as the weeks
+went by.
+
+In his bedroom at his new abode McMurdo felt it safe to take out the
+coining moulds, and under many a pledge of secrecy a number of brothers
+from the lodge were allowed to come in and see them, each carrying away
+in his pocket some examples of the false money, so cunningly struck
+that there was never the slightest difficulty or danger in passing it.
+Why, with such a wonderful art at his command, McMurdo should
+condescend to work at all was a perpetual mystery to his companions;
+though he made it clear to anyone who asked him that if he lived
+without any visible means it would very quickly bring the police upon
+his track.
+
+One policeman was indeed after him already; but the incident, as luck
+would have it, did the adventurer a great deal more good than harm.
+After the first introduction there were few evenings when he did not
+find his way to McGinty's saloon, there to make closer acquaintance
+with "the boys," which was the jovial title by which the dangerous gang
+who infested the place were known to one another. His dashing manner
+and fearlessness of speech made him a favourite with them all; while
+the rapid and scientific way in which he polished off his antagonist in
+an "all in" bar-room scrap earned the respect of that rough community.
+Another incident, however, raised him even higher in their estimation.
+
+Just at the crowded hour one night, the door opened and a man entered
+with the quiet blue uniform and peaked cap of the mine police. This was
+a special body raised by the railways and colliery owners to supplement
+the efforts of the ordinary civil police, who were perfectly helpless
+in the face of the organized ruffianism which terrorized the district.
+There was a hush as he entered, and many a curious glance was cast at
+him; but the relations between policemen and criminals are peculiar in
+some parts of the States, and McGinty himself standing behind his
+counter, showed no surprise when the policeman enrolled himself among
+his customers.
+
+"A straight whisky, for the night is bitter," said the police officer.
+"I don't think we have met before, Councillor?"
+
+"You'll be the new captain?" said McGinty.
+
+"That's so. We're looking to you, Councillor, and to the other leading
+citizens, to help us in upholding law and order in this township.
+Captain Marvin is my name."
+
+"We'd do better without you, Captain Marvin," said McGinty coldly; "for
+we have our own police of the township, and no need for any imported
+goods. What are you but the paid tool of the capitalists, hired by them
+to club or shoot your poorer fellow citizen?"
+
+"Well, well, we won't argue about that," said the police officer
+good-humouredly. "I expect we all do our duty same as we see it; but we
+can't all see it the same." He had drunk off his glass and had turned
+to go, when his eyes fell upon the face of Jack McMurdo, who was
+scowling at his elbow. "Hullo! Hullo!" he cried, looking him up and
+down. "Here's an old acquaintance!"
+
+McMurdo shrank away from him. "I was never a friend to you nor any
+other cursed copper in my life," said he.
+
+"An acquaintance isn't always a friend," said the police captain,
+grinning. "You're Jack McMurdo of Chicago, right enough, and don't you
+deny it!"
+
+McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not denying it," said he. "D'ye
+think I'm ashamed of my own name?"
+
+"You've got good cause to be, anyhow."
+
+"What the devil d'you mean by that?" he roared with his fists clenched.
+
+"No, no, Jack, bluster won't do with me. I was an officer in Chicago
+before ever I came to this darned coal bunker, and I know a Chicago
+crook when I see one."
+
+McMurdo's face fell. "Don't tell me that you're Marvin of the Chicago
+Central!" he cried.
+
+"Just the same old Teddy Marvin, at your service. We haven't forgotten
+the shooting of Jonas Pinto up there."
+
+"I never shot him."
+
+"Did you not? That's good impartial evidence, ain't it? Well, his death
+came in uncommon handy for you, or they would have had you for shoving
+the queer. Well, we can let that be bygones; for, between you and
+me--and perhaps I'm going further than my duty in saying it--they could
+get no clear case against you, and Chicago's open to you to-morrow."
+
+"I'm very well where I am."
+
+"Well, I've given you the pointer, and you're a sulky dog not to thank
+me for it."
+
+"Well, I suppose you mean well, and I do thank you," said McMurdo in no
+very gracious manner.
+
+"It's mum with me so long as I see you living on the straight," said
+the captain. "But, by the Lord! if you get off after this, it's another
+story! So good-night to you--and goodnight, Councillor."
+
+He left the bar-room; but not before he had created a local hero.
+McMurdo's deeds in far Chicago had been whispered before. He had put
+off all questions with a smile, as one who did not wish to have
+greatness thrust upon him. But now the thing was officially confirmed.
+The bar loafers crowded round him and shook him heartily by the hand.
+He was free of the community from that time on. He could drink hard and
+show little trace of it; but that evening, had his mate Scanlan not
+been at hand to lead him home, the feted hero would surely have spent
+his night under the bar.
+
+On a Saturday night McMurdo was introduced to the lodge. He had thought
+to pass in without ceremony as being an initiate of Chicago; but there
+were particular rites in Vermissa of which they were proud, and these
+had to be undergone by every postulant. The assembly met in a large
+room reserved for such purposes at the Union House. Some sixty members
+assembled at Vermissa; but that by no means represented the full
+strength of the organization, for there were several other lodges in
+the valley, and others across the mountains on each side, who exchanged
+members when any serious business was afoot, so that a crime might be
+done by men who were strangers to the locality. Altogether there were
+not less than five hundred scattered over the coal district.
+
+In the bare assembly room the men were gathered round a long table. At
+the side was a second one laden with bottles and glasses, on which some
+members of the company were already turning their eyes. McGinty sat at
+the head with a flat black velvet cap upon his shock of tangled black
+hair, and a coloured purple stole round his neck, so that he seemed to
+be a priest presiding over some diabolical ritual. To right and left of
+him were the higher lodge officials, the cruel, handsome face of Ted
+Baldwin among them. Each of these wore some scarf or medallion as
+emblem of his office.
+
+They were, for the most part, men of mature age; but the rest of the
+company consisted of young fellows from eighteen to twenty-five, the
+ready and capable agents who carried out the commands of their seniors.
+Among the older men were many whose features showed the tigerish,
+lawless souls within; but looking at the rank and file it was difficult
+to believe that these eager and open-faced young fellows were in very
+truth a dangerous gang of murderers, whose minds had suffered such
+complete moral perversion that they took a horrible pride in their
+proficiency at the business, and looked with deepest respect at the man
+who had the reputation of making what they called "a clean job."
+
+To their contorted natures it had become a spirited and chivalrous
+thing to volunteer for service against some man who had never injured
+them, and whom in many cases they had never seen in their lives. The
+crime committed, they quarrelled as to who had actually struck the
+fatal blow, and amused one another and the company by describing the
+cries and contortions of the murdered man.
+
+At first they had shown some secrecy in their arrangements; but at the
+time which this narrative describes their proceedings were
+extraordinarily open, for the repeated failures of the law had proved
+to them that, on the one hand, no one would dare to witness against
+them, and on the other they had an unlimited number of stanch witnesses
+upon whom they could call, and a well-filled treasure chest from which
+they could draw the funds to engage the best legal talent in the state.
+In ten long years of outrage there had been no single conviction, and
+the only danger that ever threatened the Scowrers lay in the victim
+himself--who, however outnumbered and taken by surprise, might and
+occasionally did leave his mark upon his assailants.
+
+McMurdo had been warned that some ordeal lay before him; but no one
+would tell him in what it consisted. He was led now into an outer room
+by two solemn brothers. Through the plank partition he could hear the
+murmur of many voices from the assembly within. Once or twice he caught
+the sound of his own name, and he knew that they were discussing his
+candidacy. Then there entered an inner guard with a green and gold sash
+across his chest.
+
+"The Bodymaster orders that he shall be trussed, blinded, and entered,"
+said he.
+
+The three of them removed his coat, turned up the sleeve of his right
+arm, and finally passed a rope round above the elbows and made it fast.
+They next placed a thick black cap right over his head and the upper
+part of his face, so that he could see nothing. He was then led into
+the assembly hall.
+
+It was pitch dark and very oppressive under his hood. He heard the
+rustle and murmur of the people round him, and then the voice of
+McGinty sounded dull and distant through the covering of his ears.
+
+"John McMurdo," said the voice, "are you already a member of the
+Ancient Order of Freemen?"
+
+He bowed in assent.
+
+"Is your lodge No. 29, Chicago?"
+
+He bowed again.
+
+"Dark nights are unpleasant," said the voice.
+
+"Yes, for strangers to travel," he answered.
+
+"The clouds are heavy."
+
+"Yes, a storm is approaching."
+
+"Are the brethren satisfied?" asked the Bodymaster.
+
+There was a general murmur of assent.
+
+"We know, Brother, by your sign and by your countersign that you are
+indeed one of us," said McGinty. "We would have you know, however, that
+in this county and in other counties of these parts we have certain
+rites, and also certain duties of our own which call for good men. Are
+you ready to be tested?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Are you of stout heart?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Take a stride forward to prove it."
+
+As the words were said he felt two hard points in front of his eyes,
+pressing upon them so that it appeared as if he could not move forward
+without a danger of losing them. None the less, he nerved himself to
+step resolutely out, and as he did so the pressure melted away. There
+was a low murmur of applause.
+
+"He is of stout heart," said the voice. "Can you bear pain?"
+
+"As well as another," he answered.
+
+"Test him!"
+
+It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming out, for an
+agonizing pain shot through his forearm. He nearly fainted at the
+sudden shock of it; but he bit his lip and clenched his hands to hide
+his agony.
+
+"I can take more than that," said he.
+
+This time there was loud applause. A finer first appearance had never
+been made in the lodge. Hands clapped him on the back, and the hood was
+plucked from his head. He stood blinking and smiling amid the
+congratulations of the brothers.
+
+"One last word, Brother McMurdo," said McGinty. "You have already sworn
+the oath of secrecy and fidelity, and you are aware that the punishment
+for any breach of it is instant and inevitable death?"
+
+"I am," said McMurdo.
+
+"And you accept the rule of the Bodymaster for the time being under all
+circumstances?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Then in the name of Lodge 341, Vermissa, I welcome you to its
+privileges and debates. You will put the liquor on the table, Brother
+Scanlan, and we will drink to our worthy brother."
+
+McMurdo's coat had been brought to him; but before putting it on he
+examined his right arm, which still smarted heavily. There on the flesh
+of the forearm was a circle with a triangle within it, deep and red, as
+the branding iron had left it. One or two of his neighbours pulled up
+their sleeves and showed their own lodge marks.
+
+"We've all had it," said one; "but not all as brave as you over it."
+
+"Tut! It was nothing," said he; but it burned and ached all the same.
+
+When the drinks which followed the ceremony of initiation had all been
+disposed of, the business of the lodge proceeded. McMurdo, accustomed
+only to the prosaic performances of Chicago, listened with open ears
+and more surprise than he ventured to show to what followed.
+
+"The first business on the agenda paper," said McGinty, "is to read the
+following letter from Division Master Windle of Merton County Lodge
+249. He says:
+
+     "DEAR SIR:
+
+       "There is a job to be done on Andrew Rae of Rae &
+     Sturmash, coal owners near this place. You will remember
+     that your lodge owes us a return, having had the service of
+     two brethren in the matter of the patrolman last fall. You
+     will send two good men, they will be taken charge of by
+     Treasurer Higgins of this lodge, whose address you know.
+     He will show them when to act and where. Yours in freedom,
+
+                                   "J. W. WINDLE D. M. A. O. F.
+
+
+"Windle has never refused us when we have had occasion to ask for the
+loan of a man or two, and it is not for us to refuse him." McGinty
+paused and looked round the room with his dull, malevolent eyes. "Who
+will volunteer for the job?"
+
+Several young fellows held up their hands. The Bodymaster looked at
+them with an approving smile.
+
+"You'll do, Tiger Cormac. If you handle it as well as you did the last,
+you won't be wrong. And you, Wilson."
+
+"I've no pistol," said the volunteer, a mere boy in his teens.
+
+"It's your first, is it not? Well, you have to be blooded some time. It
+will be a great start for you. As to the pistol, you'll find it waiting
+for you, or I'm mistaken. If you report yourselves on Monday, it will
+be time enough. You'll get a great welcome when you return."
+
+"Any reward this time?" asked Cormac, a thick-set, dark-faced,
+brutal-looking young man, whose ferocity had earned him the nickname of
+"Tiger."
+
+"Never mind the reward. You just do it for the honour of the thing.
+Maybe when it is done there will be a few odd dollars at the bottom of
+the box."
+
+"What has the man done?" asked young Wilson.
+
+"Sure, it's not for the likes of you to ask what the man has done. He
+has been judged over there. That's no business of ours. All we have to
+do is to carry it out for them, same as they would for us. Speaking of
+that, two brothers from the Merton lodge are coming over to us next
+week to do some business in this quarter."
+
+"Who are they?" asked someone.
+
+"Faith, it is wiser not to ask. If you know nothing, you can testify
+nothing, and no trouble can come of it. But they are men who will make
+a clean job when they are about it."
+
+"And time, too!" cried Ted Baldwin. "Folk are gettin' out of hand in
+these parts. It was only last week that three of our men were turned
+off by Foreman Blaker. It's been owing him a long time, and he'll get
+it full and proper."
+
+"Get what?" McMurdo whispered to his neighbour.
+
+"The business end of a buckshot cartridge!" cried the man with a loud
+laugh. "What think you of our ways, Brother?"
+
+McMurdo's criminal soul seemed to have already absorbed the spirit of
+the vile association of which he was now a member. "I like it well,"
+said he. "'Tis a proper place for a lad of mettle."
+
+Several of those who sat around heard his words and applauded them.
+
+"What's that?" cried the black-maned Bodymaster from the end of the
+table.
+
+"'Tis our new brother, sir, who finds our ways to his taste."
+
+McMurdo rose to his feet for an instant. "I would say, Eminent
+Bodymaster, that if a man should be wanted I should take it as an
+honour to be chosen to help the lodge."
+
+There was great applause at this. It was felt that a new sun was
+pushing its rim above the horizon. To some of the elders it seemed that
+the progress was a little too rapid.
+
+"I would move," said the secretary, Harraway, a vulture-faced old
+graybeard who sat near the chairman, "that Brother McMurdo should wait
+until it is the good pleasure of the lodge to employ him."
+
+"Sure, that was what I meant; I'm in your hands," said McMurdo.
+
+"Your time will come, Brother," said the chairman. "We have marked you
+down as a willing man, and we believe that you will do good work in
+these parts. There is a small matter to-night in which you may take a
+hand if it so please you."
+
+"I will wait for something that is worth while."
+
+"You can come to-night, anyhow, and it will help you to know what we
+stand for in this community. I will make the announcement later.
+Meanwhile," he glanced at his agenda paper, "I have one or two more
+points to bring before the meeting. First of all, I will ask the
+treasurer as to our bank balance. There is the pension to Jim
+Carnaway's widow. He was struck down doing the work of the lodge, and
+it is for us to see that she is not the loser."
+
+"Jim was shot last month when they tried to kill Chester Wilcox of
+Marley Creek," McMurdo's neighbour informed him.
+
+"The funds are good at the moment," said the treasurer, with the
+bankbook in front of him. "The firms have been generous of late. Max
+Linder & Co. paid five hundred to be left alone. Walker Brothers sent
+in a hundred; but I took it on myself to return it and ask for five. If
+I do not hear by Wednesday, their winding gear may get out of order. We
+had to burn their breaker last year before they became reasonable. Then
+the West Section Coaling Company has paid its annual contribution. We
+have enough on hand to meet any obligations."
+
+"What about Archie Swindon?" asked a brother.
+
+"He has sold out and left the district. The old devil left a note for
+us to say that he had rather be a free crossing sweeper in New York
+than a large mine owner under the power of a ring of blackmailers. By
+Gar! it was as well that he made a break for it before the note reached
+us! I guess he won't show his face in this valley again."
+
+An elderly, clean-shaved man with a kindly face and a good brow rose
+from the end of the table which faced the chairman. "Mr. Treasurer," he
+asked, "may I ask who has bought the property of this man that we have
+driven out of the district?"
+
+"Yes, Brother Morris. It has been bought by the State & Merton County
+Railroad Company."
+
+"And who bought the mines of Todman and of Lee that came into the
+market in the same way last year?"
+
+"The same company, Brother Morris."
+
+"And who bought the ironworks of Manson and of Shuman and of Van Deher
+and of Atwood, which have all been given up of late?"
+
+"They were all bought by the West Gilmerton General Mining Company."
+
+"I don't see, Brother Morris," said the chairman, "that it matters to
+us who buys them, since they can't carry them out of the district."
+
+"With all respect to you, Eminent Bodymaster, I think it may matter
+very much to us. This process has been going on now for ten long years.
+We are gradually driving all the small men out of trade. What is the
+result? We find in their places great companies like the Railroad or
+the General Iron, who have their directors in New York or Philadelphia,
+and care nothing for our threats. We can take it out of their local
+bosses, but it only means that others will be sent in their stead. And
+we are making it dangerous for ourselves. The small men could not harm
+us. They had not the money nor the power. So long as we did not squeeze
+them too dry, they would stay on under our power. But if these big
+companies find that we stand between them and their profits, they will
+spare no pains and no expense to hunt us down and bring us to court."
+
+There was a hush at these ominous words, and every face darkened as
+gloomy looks were exchanged. So omnipotent and unchallenged had they
+been that the very thought that there was possible retribution in the
+background had been banished from their minds. And yet the idea struck
+a chill to the most reckless of them.
+
+"It is my advice," the speaker continued, "that we go easier upon the
+small men. On the day that they have all been driven out the power of
+this society will have been broken."
+
+Unwelcome truths are not popular. There were angry cries as the speaker
+resumed his seat. McGinty rose with gloom upon his brow.
+
+"Brother Morris," said he, "you were always a croaker. So long as the
+members of this lodge stand together there is no power in the United
+States that can touch them. Sure, have we not tried it often enough in
+the law courts? I expect the big companies will find it easier to pay
+than to fight, same as the little companies do. And now, Brethren,"
+McGinty took off his black velvet cap and his stole as he spoke, "this
+lodge has finished its business for the evening, save for one small
+matter which may be mentioned when we are parting. The time has now
+come for fraternal refreshment and for harmony."
+
+Strange indeed is human nature. Here were these men, to whom murder was
+familiar, who again and again had struck down the father of the family,
+some man against whom they had no personal feeling, without one thought
+of compunction or of compassion for his weeping wife or helpless
+children, and yet the tender or pathetic in music could move them to
+tears. McMurdo had a fine tenor voice, and if he had failed to gain the
+good will of the lodge before, it could no longer have been withheld
+after he had thrilled them with "I'm Sitting on the Stile, Mary," and
+"On the Banks of Allan Water."
+
+In his very first night the new recruit had made himself one of the
+most popular of the brethren, marked already for advancement and high
+office. There were other qualities needed, however, besides those of
+good fellowship, to make a worthy Freeman, and of these he was given an
+example before the evening was over. The whisky bottle had passed round
+many times, and the men were flushed and ripe for mischief when their
+Bodymaster rose once more to address them.
+
+"Boys," said he, "there's one man in this town that wants trimming up,
+and it's for you to see that he gets it. I'm speaking of James Stanger
+of the Herald. You've seen how he's been opening his mouth against us
+again?"
+
+There was a murmur of assent, with many a muttered oath. McGinty took a
+slip of paper from his waistcoat pocket.
+
+                     "LAW AND ORDER!
+
+That's how he heads it.
+
+       "REIGN OF TERROR IN THE COAL AND IRON DISTRICT
+
+     "Twelve years have now elapsed since the first assassinations
+   which proved the existence of a criminal organization in our
+   midst. From that day these outrages have never ceased, until
+   now they have reached a pitch which makes us the opprobrium
+   of the civilized world. Is it for such results as this that
+   our great country welcomes to its bosom the alien who flies
+   from the despotisms of Europe? Is it that they shall
+   themselves become tyrants over the very men who have given
+   them shelter, and that a state of terrorism and lawlessness
+   should be established under the very shadow of the sacred
+   folds of the starry Flag of Freedom which would raise horror
+   in our minds if we read of it as existing under the most
+   effete monarchy of the East? The men are known. The organization
+   is patent and public. How long are we to endure it? Can we
+   forever live--"
+
+"Sure, I've read enough of the slush!" cried the chairman, tossing the
+paper down upon the table. "That's what he says of us. The question I'm
+asking you is what shall we say to him?"
+
+"Kill him!" cried a dozen fierce voices.
+
+"I protest against that," said Brother Morris, the man of the good brow
+and shaved face. "I tell you, Brethren, that our hand is too heavy in
+this valley, and that there will come a point where in self-defense
+every man will unite to crush us out. James Stanger is an old man. He
+is respected in the township and the district. His paper stands for all
+that is solid in the valley. If that man is struck down, there will be
+a stir through this state that will only end with our destruction."
+
+"And how would they bring about our destruction, Mr. Standback?" cried
+McGinty. "Is it by the police? Sure, half of them are in our pay and
+half of them afraid of us. Or is it by the law courts and the judge?
+Haven't we tried that before now, and what ever came of it?"
+
+"There is a Judge Lynch that might try the case," said Brother Morris.
+
+A general shout of anger greeted the suggestion.
+
+"I have but to raise my finger," cried McGinty, "and I could put two
+hundred men into this town that would clear it out from end to end."
+Then suddenly raising his voice and bending his huge black brows into a
+terrible frown, "See here, Brother Morris, I have my eye on you, and
+have had for some time! You've no heart yourself, and you try to take
+the heart out of others. It will be an ill day for you, Brother Morris,
+when your own name comes on our agenda paper, and I'm thinking that
+it's just there that I ought to place it."
+
+Morris had turned deadly pale, and his knees seemed to give way under
+him as he fell back into his chair. He raised his glass in his
+trembling hand and drank before he could answer. "I apologize, Eminent
+Bodymaster, to you and to every brother in this lodge if I have said
+more than I should. I am a faithful member--you all know that--and it
+is my fear lest evil come to the lodge which makes me speak in anxious
+words. But I have greater trust in your judgment than in my own,
+Eminent Bodymaster, and I promise you that I will not offend again."
+
+The Bodymaster's scowl relaxed as he listened to the humble words.
+"Very good, Brother Morris. It's myself that would be sorry if it were
+needful to give you a lesson. But so long as I am in this chair we
+shall be a united lodge in word and in deed. And now, boys," he
+continued, looking round at the company, "I'll say this much, that if
+Stanger got his full deserts there would be more trouble than we need
+ask for. These editors hang together, and every journal in the state
+would be crying out for police and troops. But I guess you can give him
+a pretty severe warning. Will you fix it, Brother Baldwin?"
+
+"Sure!" said the young man eagerly.
+
+"How many will you take?"
+
+"Half a dozen, and two to guard the door. You'll come, Gower, and you,
+Mansel, and you, Scanlan, and the two Willabys."
+
+"I promised the new brother he should go," said the chairman.
+
+Ted Baldwin looked at McMurdo with eyes which showed that he had not
+forgotten nor forgiven. "Well, he can come if he wants," he said in a
+surly voice. "That's enough. The sooner we get to work the better."
+
+The company broke up with shouts and yells and snatches of drunken
+song. The bar was still crowded with revellers, and many of the
+brethren remained there. The little band who had been told off for duty
+passed out into the street, proceeding in twos and threes along the
+sidewalk so as not to provoke attention. It was a bitterly cold night,
+with a half-moon shining brilliantly in a frosty, star-spangled sky.
+The men stopped and gathered in a yard which faced a high building. The
+words "Vermissa Herald" were printed in gold lettering between the
+brightly lit windows. From within came the clanking of the printing
+press.
+
+"Here, you," said Baldwin to McMurdo, "you can stand below at the door
+and see that the road is kept open for us. Arthur Willaby can stay with
+you. You others come with me. Have no fears, boys; for we have a dozen
+witnesses that we are in the Union Bar at this very moment."
+
+It was nearly midnight, and the street was deserted save for one or two
+revellers upon their way home. The party crossed the road, and, pushing
+open the door of the newspaper office, Baldwin and his men rushed in
+and up the stair which faced them. McMurdo and another remained below.
+From the room above came a shout, a cry for help, and then the sound of
+trampling feet and of falling chairs. An instant later a gray-haired
+man rushed out on the landing.
+
+He was seized before he could get farther, and his spectacles came
+tinkling down to McMurdo's feet. There was a thud and a groan. He was
+on his face, and half a dozen sticks were clattering together as they
+fell upon him. He writhed, and his long, thin limbs quivered under the
+blows. The others ceased at last; but Baldwin, his cruel face set in an
+infernal smile, was hacking at the man's head, which he vainly
+endeavoured to defend with his arms. His white hair was dabbled with
+patches of blood. Baldwin was still stooping over his victim, putting
+in a short, vicious blow whenever he could see a part exposed, when
+McMurdo dashed up the stair and pushed him back.
+
+"You'll kill the man," said he. "Drop it!"
+
+Baldwin looked at him in amazement. "Curse you!" he cried. "Who are you
+to interfere--you that are new to the lodge? Stand back!" He raised his
+stick; but McMurdo had whipped his pistol out of his hip pocket.
+
+"Stand back yourself!" he cried. "I'll blow your face in if you lay a
+hand on me. As to the lodge, wasn't it the order of the Bodymaster that
+the man was not to be killed--and what are you doing but killing him?"
+
+"It's truth he says," remarked one of the men.
+
+"By Gar! you'd best hurry yourselves!" cried the man below. "The
+windows are all lighting up, and you'll have the whole town here inside
+of five minutes."
+
+There was indeed the sound of shouting in the street, and a little
+group of compositors and pressmen was forming in the hall below and
+nerving itself to action. Leaving the limp and motionless body of the
+editor at the head of the stair, the criminals rushed down and made
+their way swiftly along the street. Having reached the Union House,
+some of them mixed with the crowd in McGinty's saloon, whispering
+across the bar to the Boss that the job had been well carried through.
+Others, and among them McMurdo, broke away into side streets, and so by
+devious paths to their own homes.
+
+
+
+Chapter 4
+
+The Valley of Fear
+
+When McMurdo awoke next morning he had good reason to remember his
+initiation into the lodge. His head ached with the effect of the drink,
+and his arm, where he had been branded, was hot and swollen. Having his
+own peculiar source of income, he was irregular in his attendance at
+his work; so he had a late breakfast, and remained at home for the
+morning writing a long letter to a friend. Afterwards he read the Daily
+Herald. In a special column put in at the last moment he read:
+
+        OUTRAGE AT THE HERALD OFFICE--EDITOR
+                   SERIOUSLY INJURED.
+
+It was a short account of the facts with which he was himself more
+familiar than the writer could have been. It ended with the statement:
+
+      The matter is now in the hands of the police; but it can
+    hardly be hoped that their exertions will be attended by any
+    better results than in the past. Some of the men were
+    recognized, and there is hope that a conviction may be
+    obtained. The source of the outrage was, it need hardly be
+    said, that infamous society which has held this community
+    in bondage for so long a period, and against which the
+    Herald has taken so uncompromising a stand. Mr. Stanger's
+    many friends will rejoice to hear that, though he has been
+    cruelly and brutally beaten, and though he has sustained
+    severe injuries about the head, there is no immediate danger
+    to his life.
+
+Below it stated that a guard of police, armed with Winchester rifles,
+had been requisitioned for the defense of the office.
+
+McMurdo had laid down the paper, and was lighting his pipe with a hand
+which was shaky from the excesses of the previous evening, when there
+was a knock outside, and his landlady brought to him a note which had
+just been handed in by a lad. It was unsigned, and ran thus:
+
+    I should wish to speak to you, but would rather not do so
+    in your house. You will find me beside the flagstaff upon
+    Miller Hill. If you will come there now, I have something
+    which it is important for you to hear and for me to say.
+
+McMurdo read the note twice with the utmost surprise; for he could not
+imagine what it meant or who was the author of it. Had it been in a
+feminine hand, he might have imagined that it was the beginning of one
+of those adventures which had been familiar enough in his past life.
+But it was the writing of a man, and of a well educated one, too.
+Finally, after some hesitation, he determined to see the matter through.
+
+Miller Hill is an ill-kept public park in the very centre of the town.
+In summer it is a favourite resort of the people; but in winter it is
+desolate enough. From the top of it one has a view not only of the
+whole straggling, grimy town, but of the winding valley beneath, with
+its scattered mines and factories blackening the snow on each side of
+it, and of the wooded and white-capped ranges flanking it.
+
+McMurdo strolled up the winding path hedged in with evergreens until he
+reached the deserted restaurant which forms the centre of summer
+gaiety. Beside it was a bare flagstaff, and underneath it a man, his
+hat drawn down and the collar of his overcoat turned up. When he turned
+his face McMurdo saw that it was Brother Morris, he who had incurred
+the anger of the Bodymaster the night before. The lodge sign was given
+and exchanged as they met.
+
+"I wanted to have a word with you, Mr. McMurdo," said the older man,
+speaking with a hesitation which showed that he was on delicate ground.
+"It was kind of you to come."
+
+"Why did you not put your name to the note?"
+
+"One has to be cautious, mister. One never knows in times like these
+how a thing may come back to one. One never knows either who to trust
+or who not to trust."
+
+"Surely one may trust brothers of the lodge."
+
+"No, no, not always," cried Morris with vehemence. "Whatever we say,
+even what we think, seems to go back to that man McGinty."
+
+"Look here!" said McMurdo sternly. "It was only last night, as you know
+well, that I swore good faith to our Bodymaster. Would you be asking me
+to break my oath?"
+
+"If that is the view you take," said Morris sadly, "I can only say that
+I am sorry I gave you the trouble to come and meet me. Things have come
+to a bad pass when two free citizens cannot speak their thoughts to
+each other."
+
+McMurdo, who had been watching his companion very narrowly, relaxed
+somewhat in his bearing. "Sure I spoke for myself only," said he. "I am
+a newcomer, as you know, and I am strange to it all. It is not for me
+to open my mouth, Mr. Morris, and if you think well to say anything to
+me I am here to hear it."
+
+"And to take it back to Boss McGinty!" said Morris bitterly.
+
+"Indeed, then, you do me injustice there," cried McMurdo. "For myself I
+am loyal to the lodge, and so I tell you straight; but I would be a
+poor creature if I were to repeat to any other what you might say to me
+in confidence. It will go no further than me; though I warn you that
+you may get neither help nor sympathy."
+
+"I have given up looking for either the one or the other," said Morris.
+"I may be putting my very life in your hands by what I say; but, bad as
+you are--and it seemed to me last night that you were shaping to be as
+bad as the worst--still you are new to it, and your conscience cannot
+yet be as hardened as theirs. That was why I thought to speak with you."
+
+"Well, what have you to say?"
+
+"If you give me away, may a curse be on you!"
+
+"Sure, I said I would not."
+
+"I would ask you, then, when you joined the Freeman's society in
+Chicago and swore vows of charity and fidelity, did ever it cross your
+mind that you might find it would lead you to crime?"
+
+"If you call it crime," McMurdo answered.
+
+"Call it crime!" cried Morris, his voice vibrating with passion. "You
+have seen little of it if you can call it anything else. Was it crime
+last night when a man old enough to be your father was beaten till the
+blood dripped from his white hairs? Was that crime--or what else would
+you call it?"
+
+"There are some would say it was war," said McMurdo, "a war of two
+classes with all in, so that each struck as best it could."
+
+"Well, did you think of such a thing when you joined the Freeman's
+society at Chicago?"
+
+"No, I'm bound to say I did not."
+
+"Nor did I when I joined it at Philadelphia. It was just a benefit club
+and a meeting place for one's fellows. Then I heard of this
+place--curse the hour that the name first fell upon my ears!--and I
+came to better myself! My God! to better myself! My wife and three
+children came with me. I started a dry goods store on Market Square,
+and I prospered well. The word had gone round that I was a Freeman, and
+I was forced to join the local lodge, same as you did last night. I've
+the badge of shame on my forearm and something worse branded on my
+heart. I found that I was under the orders of a black villain and
+caught in a meshwork of crime. What could I do? Every word I said to
+make things better was taken as treason, same as it was last night. I
+can't get away; for all I have in the world is in my store. If I leave
+the society, I know well that it means murder to me, and God knows what
+to my wife and children. Oh, man, it is awful--awful!" He put his hands
+to his face, and his body shook with convulsive sobs.
+
+McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "You were too soft for the job," said
+he. "You are the wrong sort for such work."
+
+"I had a conscience and a religion; but they made me a criminal among
+them. I was chosen for a job. If I backed down I knew well what would
+come to me. Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe it's the thought of my poor
+little woman and the children that makes me one. Anyhow I went. I guess
+it will haunt me forever.
+
+"It was a lonely house, twenty miles from here, over the range yonder.
+I was told off for the door, same as you were last night. They could
+not trust me with the job. The others went in. When they came out their
+hands were crimson to the wrists. As we turned away a child was
+screaming out of the house behind us. It was a boy of five who had seen
+his father murdered. I nearly fainted with the horror of it, and yet I
+had to keep a bold and smiling face; for well I knew that if I did not
+it would be out of my house that they would come next with their bloody
+hands and it would be my little Fred that would be screaming for his
+father.
+
+"But I was a criminal then, part sharer in a murder, lost forever in
+this world, and lost also in the next. I am a good Catholic; but the
+priest would have no word with me when he heard I was a Scowrer, and I
+am excommunicated from my faith. That's how it stands with me. And I
+see you going down the same road, and I ask you what the end is to be.
+Are you ready to be a cold-blooded murderer also, or can we do anything
+to stop it?"
+
+"What would you do?" asked McMurdo abruptly. "You would not inform?"
+
+"God forbid!" cried Morris. "Sure, the very thought would cost me my
+life."
+
+"That's well," said McMurdo. "I'm thinking that you are a weak man and
+that you make too much of the matter."
+
+"Too much! Wait till you have lived here longer. Look down the valley!
+See the cloud of a hundred chimneys that overshadows it! I tell you
+that the cloud of murder hangs thicker and lower than that over the
+heads of the people. It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The
+terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk to the dawn. Wait,
+young man, and you will learn for yourself."
+
+"Well, I'll let you know what I think when I have seen more," said
+McMurdo carelessly. "What is very clear is that you are not the man for
+the place, and that the sooner you sell out--if you only get a dime a
+dollar for what the business is worth--the better it will be for you.
+What you have said is safe with me; but, by Gar! if I thought you were
+an informer--"
+
+"No, no!" cried Morris piteously.
+
+"Well, let it rest at that. I'll bear what you have said in mind, and
+maybe some day I'll come back to it. I expect you meant kindly by
+speaking to me like this. Now I'll be getting home."
+
+"One word before you go," said Morris. "We may have been seen together.
+They may want to know what we have spoken about."
+
+"Ah! that's well thought of."
+
+"I offer you a clerkship in my store."
+
+"And I refuse it. That's our business. Well, so long, Brother Morris,
+and may you find things go better with you in the future."
+
+That same afternoon, as McMurdo sat smoking, lost in thought beside the
+stove of his sitting-room, the door swung open and its framework was
+filled with the huge figure of Boss McGinty. He passed the sign, and
+then seating himself opposite to the young man he looked at him
+steadily for some time, a look which was as steadily returned.
+
+"I'm not much of a visitor, Brother McMurdo," he said at last. "I guess
+I am too busy over the folk that visit me. But I thought I'd stretch a
+point and drop down to see you in your own house."
+
+"I'm proud to see you here, Councillor," McMurdo answered heartily,
+bringing his whisky bottle out of the cupboard. "It's an honour that I
+had not expected."
+
+"How's the arm?" asked the Boss.
+
+McMurdo made a wry face. "Well, I'm not forgetting it," he said; "but
+it's worth it."
+
+"Yes, it's worth it," the other answered, "to those that are loyal and
+go through with it and are a help to the lodge. What were you speaking
+to Brother Morris about on Miller Hill this morning?"
+
+The question came so suddenly that it was well that he had his answer
+prepared. He burst into a hearty laugh. "Morris didn't know I could
+earn a living here at home. He shan't know either; for he has got too
+much conscience for the likes of me. But he's a good-hearted old chap.
+It was his idea that I was at a loose end, and that he would do me a
+good turn by offering me a clerkship in a dry goods store."
+
+"Oh, that was it?"
+
+"Yes, that was it."
+
+"And you refused it?"
+
+"Sure. Couldn't I earn ten times as much in my own bedroom with four
+hours' work?"
+
+"That's so. But I wouldn't get about too much with Morris."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Well, I guess because I tell you not. That's enough for most folk in
+these parts."
+
+"It may be enough for most folk; but it ain't enough for me,
+Councillor," said McMurdo boldly. "If you are a judge of men, you'll
+know that."
+
+The swarthy giant glared at him, and his hairy paw closed for an
+instant round the glass as though he would hurl it at the head of his
+companion. Then he laughed in his loud, boisterous, insincere fashion.
+
+"You're a queer card, for sure," said he. "Well, if you want reasons,
+I'll give them. Did Morris say nothing to you against the lodge?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor against me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, that's because he daren't trust you. But in his heart he is not
+a loyal brother. We know that well. So we watch him and we wait for the
+time to admonish him. I'm thinking that the time is drawing near.
+There's no room for scabby sheep in our pen. But if you keep company
+with a disloyal man, we might think that you were disloyal, too. See?"
+
+"There's no chance of my keeping company with him; for I dislike the
+man," McMurdo answered. "As to being disloyal, if it was any man but
+you he would not use the word to me twice."
+
+"Well, that's enough," said McGinty, draining off his glass. "I came
+down to give you a word in season, and you've had it."
+
+"I'd like to know," said McMurdo, "how you ever came to learn that I
+had spoken with Morris at all?"
+
+McGinty laughed. "It's my business to know what goes on in this
+township," said he. "I guess you'd best reckon on my hearing all that
+passes. Well, time's up, and I'll just say--"
+
+But his leavetaking was cut short in a very unexpected fashion. With a
+sudden crash the door flew open, and three frowning, intent faces
+glared in at them from under the peaks of police caps. McMurdo sprang
+to his feet and half drew his revolver; but his arm stopped midway as
+he became conscious that two Winchester rifles were levelled at his
+head. A man in uniform advanced into the room, a six-shooter in his
+hand. It was Captain Marvin, once of Chicago, and now of the Mine
+Constabulary. He shook his head with a half-smile at McMurdo.
+
+"I thought you'd be getting into trouble, Mr. Crooked McMurdo of
+Chicago," said he. "Can't keep out of it, can you? Take your hat and
+come along with us."
+
+"I guess you'll pay for this, Captain Marvin," said McGinty. "Who are
+you, I'd like to know, to break into a house in this fashion and molest
+honest, law-abiding men?"
+
+"You're standing out in this deal, Councillor McGinty," said the police
+captain. "We are not out after you, but after this man McMurdo. It is
+for you to help, not to hinder us in our duty."
+
+"He is a friend of mine, and I'll answer for his conduct," said the
+Boss.
+
+"By all accounts, Mr. McGinty, you may have to answer for your own
+conduct some of these days," the captain answered. "This man McMurdo
+was a crook before ever he came here, and he's a crook still. Cover
+him, Patrolman, while I disarm him."
+
+"There's my pistol," said McMurdo coolly. "Maybe, Captain Marvin, if
+you and I were alone and face to face you would not take me so easily."
+
+"Where's your warrant?" asked McGinty. "By Gar! a man might as well
+live in Russia as in Vermissa while folk like you are running the
+police. It's a capitalist outrage, and you'll hear more of it, I
+reckon."
+
+"You do what you think is your duty the best way you can, Councillor.
+We'll look after ours."
+
+"What am I accused of?" asked McMurdo.
+
+"Of being concerned in the beating of old Editor Stanger at the Herald
+office. It wasn't your fault that it isn't a murder charge."
+
+"Well, if that's all you have against him," cried McGinty with a laugh,
+"you can save yourself a deal of trouble by dropping it right now. This
+man was with me in my saloon playing poker up to midnight, and I can
+bring a dozen to prove it."
+
+"That's your affair, and I guess you can settle it in court to-morrow.
+Meanwhile, come on, McMurdo, and come quietly if you don't want a gun
+across your head. You stand wide, Mr. McGinty; for I warn you I will
+stand no resistance when I am on duty!"
+
+So determined was the appearance of the captain that both McMurdo and
+his boss were forced to accept the situation. The latter managed to
+have a few whispered words with the prisoner before they parted.
+
+"What about--" he jerked his thumb upward to signify the coining plant.
+
+"All right," whispered McMurdo, who had devised a safe hiding place
+under the floor.
+
+"I'll bid you good-bye," said the Boss, shaking hands. "I'll see Reilly
+the lawyer and take the defense upon myself. Take my word for it that
+they won't be able to hold you."
+
+"I wouldn't bet on that. Guard the prisoner, you two, and shoot him if
+he tries any games. I'll search the house before I leave."
+
+He did so; but apparently found no trace of the concealed plant. When
+he had descended he and his men escorted McMurdo to headquarters.
+Darkness had fallen, and a keen blizzard was blowing so that the
+streets were nearly deserted; but a few loiterers followed the group,
+and emboldened by invisibility shouted imprecations at the prisoner.
+
+"Lynch the cursed Scowrer!" they cried. "Lynch him!" They laughed and
+jeered as he was pushed into the police station. After a short, formal
+examination from the inspector in charge he was put into the common
+cell. Here he found Baldwin and three other criminals of the night
+before, all arrested that afternoon and waiting their trial next
+morning.
+
+But even within this inner fortress of the law the long arm of the
+Freemen was able to extend. Late at night there came a jailer with a
+straw bundle for their bedding, out of which he extracted two bottles
+of whisky, some glasses, and a pack of cards. They spent a hilarious
+night, without an anxious thought as to the ordeal of the morning.
+
+Nor had they cause, as the result was to show. The magistrate could not
+possibly, on the evidence, have held them for a higher court. On the
+one hand the compositors and pressmen were forced to admit that the
+light was uncertain, that they were themselves much perturbed, and that
+it was difficult for them to swear to the identity of the assailants;
+although they believed that the accused were among them. Cross examined
+by the clever attorney who had been engaged by McGinty, they were even
+more nebulous in their evidence.
+
+The injured man had already deposed that he was so taken by surprise by
+the suddenness of the attack that he could state nothing beyond the
+fact that the first man who struck him wore a moustache. He added that
+he knew them to be Scowrers, since no one else in the community could
+possibly have any enmity to him, and he had long been threatened on
+account of his outspoken editorials. On the other hand, it was clearly
+shown by the united and unfaltering evidence of six citizens, including
+that high municipal official, Councillor McGinty, that the men had been
+at a card party at the Union House until an hour very much later than
+the commission of the outrage.
+
+Needless to say that they were discharged with something very near to
+an apology from the bench for the inconvenience to which they had been
+put, together with an implied censure of Captain Marvin and the police
+for their officious zeal.
+
+The verdict was greeted with loud applause by a court in which McMurdo
+saw many familiar faces. Brothers of the lodge smiled and waved. But
+there were others who sat with compressed lips and brooding eyes as the
+men filed out of the dock. One of them, a little, dark-bearded,
+resolute fellow, put the thoughts of himself and comrades into words as
+the ex-prisoners passed him.
+
+"You damned murderers!" he said. "We'll fix you yet!"
+
+
+
+Chapter 5
+
+The Darkest Hour
+
+If anything had been needed to give an impetus to Jack McMurdo's
+popularity among his fellows it would have been his arrest and
+acquittal. That a man on the very night of joining the lodge should
+have done something which brought him before the magistrate was a new
+record in the annals of the society. Already he had earned the
+reputation of a good boon companion, a cheery reveller, and withal a
+man of high temper, who would not take an insult even from the
+all-powerful Boss himself. But in addition to this he impressed his
+comrades with the idea that among them all there was not one whose
+brain was so ready to devise a bloodthirsty scheme, or whose hand would
+be more capable of carrying it out. "He'll be the boy for the clean
+job," said the oldsters to one another, and waited their time until
+they could set him to his work.
+
+McGinty had instruments enough already; but he recognized that this was
+a supremely able one. He felt like a man holding a fierce bloodhound in
+leash. There were curs to do the smaller work; but some day he would
+slip this creature upon its prey. A few members of the lodge, Ted
+Baldwin among them, resented the rapid rise of the stranger and hated
+him for it; but they kept clear of him, for he was as ready to fight as
+to laugh.
+
+But if he gained favour with his fellows, there was another quarter,
+one which had become even more vital to him, in which he lost it. Ettie
+Shafter's father would have nothing more to do with him, nor would he
+allow him to enter the house. Ettie herself was too deeply in love to
+give him up altogether, and yet her own good sense warned her of what
+would come from a marriage with a man who was regarded as a criminal.
+
+One morning after a sleepless night she determined to see him, possibly
+for the last time, and make one strong endeavour to draw him from those
+evil influences which were sucking him down. She went to his house, as
+he had often begged her to do, and made her way into the room which he
+used as his sitting-room. He was seated at a table, with his back
+turned and a letter in front of him. A sudden spirit of girlish
+mischief came over her--she was still only nineteen. He had not heard
+her when she pushed open the door. Now she tiptoed forward and laid her
+hand lightly upon his bended shoulders.
+
+If she had expected to startle him, she certainly succeeded; but only
+in turn to be startled herself. With a tiger spring he turned on her,
+and his right hand was feeling for her throat. At the same instant with
+the other hand he crumpled up the paper that lay before him. For an
+instant he stood glaring. Then astonishment and joy took the place of
+the ferocity which had convulsed his features--a ferocity which had
+sent her shrinking back in horror as from something which had never
+before intruded into her gentle life.
+
+"It's you!" said he, mopping his brow. "And to think that you should
+come to me, heart of my heart, and I should find nothing better to do
+than to want to strangle you! Come then, darling," and he held out his
+arms, "let me make it up to you."
+
+But she had not recovered from that sudden glimpse of guilty fear which
+she had read in the man's face. All her woman's instinct told her that
+it was not the mere fright of a man who is startled. Guilt--that was
+it--guilt and fear!
+
+"What's come over you, Jack?" she cried. "Why were you so scared of me?
+Oh, Jack, if your conscience was at ease, you would not have looked at
+me like that!"
+
+"Sure, I was thinking of other things, and when you came tripping so
+lightly on those fairy feet of yours--"
+
+"No, no, it was more than that, Jack." Then a sudden suspicion seized
+her. "Let me see that letter you were writing."
+
+"Ah, Ettie, I couldn't do that."
+
+Her suspicions became certainties. "It's to another woman," she cried.
+"I know it! Why else should you hold it from me? Was it to your wife
+that you were writing? How am I to know that you are not a married
+man--you, a stranger, that nobody knows?"
+
+"I am not married, Ettie. See now, I swear it! You're the only one
+woman on earth to me. By the cross of Christ I swear it!"
+
+He was so white with passionate earnestness that she could not but
+believe him.
+
+"Well, then," she cried, "why will you not show me the letter?"
+
+"I'll tell you, acushla," said he. "I'm under oath not to show it, and
+just as I wouldn't break my word to you so I would keep it to those who
+hold my promise. It's the business of the lodge, and even to you it's
+secret. And if I was scared when a hand fell on me, can't you
+understand it when it might have been the hand of a detective?"
+
+She felt that he was telling the truth. He gathered her into his arms
+and kissed away her fears and doubts.
+
+"Sit here by me, then. It's a queer throne for such a queen; but it's
+the best your poor lover can find. He'll do better for you some of
+these days, I'm thinking. Now your mind is easy once again, is it not?"
+
+"How can it ever be at ease, Jack, when I know that you are a criminal
+among criminals, when I never know the day that I may hear you are in
+court for murder? 'McMurdo the Scowrer,' that's what one of our
+boarders called you yesterday. It went through my heart like a knife."
+
+"Sure, hard words break no bones."
+
+"But they were true."
+
+"Well, dear, it's not so bad as you think. We are but poor men that are
+trying in our own way to get our rights."
+
+Ettie threw her arms round her lover's neck. "Give it up, Jack! For my
+sake, for God's sake, give it up! It was to ask you that I came here
+to-day. Oh, Jack, see--I beg it of you on my bended knees! Kneeling
+here before you I implore you to give it up!"
+
+He raised her and soothed her with her head against his breast.
+
+"Sure, my darlin', you don't know what it is you are asking. How could
+I give it up when it would be to break my oath and to desert my
+comrades? If you could see how things stand with me you could never ask
+it of me. Besides, if I wanted to, how could I do it? You don't suppose
+that the lodge would let a man go free with all its secrets?"
+
+"I've thought of that, Jack. I've planned it all. Father has saved some
+money. He is weary of this place where the fear of these people darkens
+our lives. He is ready to go. We would fly together to Philadelphia or
+New York, where we would be safe from them."
+
+McMurdo laughed. "The lodge has a long arm. Do you think it could not
+stretch from here to Philadelphia or New York?"
+
+"Well, then, to the West, or to England, or to Germany, where father
+came from--anywhere to get away from this Valley of Fear!"
+
+McMurdo thought of old Brother Morris. "Sure, it is the second time I
+have heard the valley so named," said he. "The shadow does indeed seem
+to lie heavy on some of you."
+
+"It darkens every moment of our lives. Do you suppose that Ted Baldwin
+has ever forgiven us? If it were not that he fears you, what do you
+suppose our chances would be? If you saw the look in those dark, hungry
+eyes of his when they fall on me!"
+
+"By Gar! I'd teach him better manners if I caught him at it! But see
+here, little girl. I can't leave here. I can't--take that from me once
+and for all. But if you will leave me to find my own way, I will try to
+prepare a way of getting honourably out of it."
+
+"There is no honour in such a matter."
+
+"Well, well, it's just how you look at it. But if you'll give me six
+months, I'll work it so that I can leave without being ashamed to look
+others in the face."
+
+The girl laughed with joy. "Six months!" she cried. "Is it a promise?"
+
+"Well, it may be seven or eight. But within a year at the furthest we
+will leave the valley behind us."
+
+It was the most that Ettie could obtain, and yet it was something.
+There was this distant light to illuminate the gloom of the immediate
+future. She returned to her father's house more light-hearted than she
+had ever been since Jack McMurdo had come into her life.
+
+It might be thought that as a member, all the doings of the society
+would be told to him; but he was soon to discover that the organization
+was wider and more complex than the simple lodge. Even Boss McGinty was
+ignorant as to many things; for there was an official named the County
+Delegate, living at Hobson's Patch farther down the line, who had power
+over several different lodges which he wielded in a sudden and
+arbitrary way. Only once did McMurdo see him, a sly, little gray-haired
+rat of a man, with a slinking gait and a sidelong glance which was
+charged with malice. Evans Pott was his name, and even the great Boss
+of Vermissa felt towards him something of the repulsion and fear which
+the huge Danton may have felt for the puny but dangerous Robespierre.
+
+One day Scanlan, who was McMurdo's fellow boarder, received a note from
+McGinty inclosing one from Evans Pott, which informed him that he was
+sending over two good men, Lawler and Andrews, who had instructions to
+act in the neighbourhood; though it was best for the cause that no
+particulars as to their objects should be given. Would the Bodymaster
+see to it that suitable arrangements be made for their lodgings and
+comfort until the time for action should arrive? McGinty added that it
+was impossible for anyone to remain secret at the Union House, and
+that, therefore, he would be obliged if McMurdo and Scanlan would put
+the strangers up for a few days in their boarding house.
+
+The same evening the two men arrived, each carrying his gripsack.
+Lawler was an elderly man, shrewd, silent, and self-contained, clad in
+an old black frock coat, which with his soft felt hat and ragged,
+grizzled beard gave him a general resemblance to an itinerant preacher.
+His companion Andrews was little more than a boy, frank-faced and
+cheerful, with the breezy manner of one who is out for a holiday and
+means to enjoy every minute of it. Both men were total abstainers, and
+behaved in all ways as exemplary members of the society, with the one
+simple exception that they were assassins who had often proved
+themselves to be most capable instruments for this association of
+murder. Lawler had already carried out fourteen commissions of the
+kind, and Andrews three.
+
+They were, as McMurdo found, quite ready to converse about their deeds
+in the past, which they recounted with the half-bashful pride of men
+who had done good and unselfish service for the community. They were
+reticent, however, as to the immediate job in hand.
+
+"They chose us because neither I nor the boy here drink," Lawler
+explained. "They can count on us saying no more than we should. You
+must not take it amiss, but it is the orders of the County Delegate
+that we obey."
+
+"Sure, we are all in it together," said Scanlan, McMurdo's mate, as the
+four sat together at supper.
+
+"That's true enough, and we'll talk till the cows come home of the
+killing of Charlie Williams or of Simon Bird, or any other job in the
+past. But till the work is done we say nothing."
+
+"There are half a dozen about here that I have a word to say to," said
+McMurdo, with an oath. "I suppose it isn't Jack Knox of Ironhill that
+you are after. I'd go some way to see him get his deserts."
+
+"No, it's not him yet."
+
+"Or Herman Strauss?"
+
+"No, nor him either."
+
+"Well, if you won't tell us we can't make you; but I'd be glad to know."
+
+Lawler smiled and shook his head. He was not to be drawn.
+
+In spite of the reticence of their guests, Scanlan and McMurdo were
+quite determined to be present at what they called "the fun." When,
+therefore, at an early hour one morning McMurdo heard them creeping
+down the stairs he awakened Scanlan, and the two hurried on their
+clothes. When they were dressed they found that the others had stolen
+out, leaving the door open behind them. It was not yet dawn, and by the
+light of the lamps they could see the two men some distance down the
+street. They followed them warily, treading noiselessly in the deep
+snow.
+
+The boarding house was near the edge of the town, and soon they were at
+the crossroads which is beyond its boundary. Here three men were
+waiting, with whom Lawler and Andrews held a short, eager conversation.
+Then they all moved on together. It was clearly some notable job which
+needed numbers. At this point there are several trails which lead to
+various mines. The strangers took that which led to the Crow Hill, a
+huge business which was in strong hands which had been able, thanks to
+their energetic and fearless New England manager, Josiah H. Dunn, to
+keep some order and discipline during the long reign of terror.
+
+Day was breaking now, and a line of workmen were slowly making their
+way, singly and in groups, along the blackened path.
+
+McMurdo and Scanlan strolled on with the others, keeping in sight of
+the men whom they followed. A thick mist lay over them, and from the
+heart of it there came the sudden scream of a steam whistle. It was the
+ten-minute signal before the cages descended and the day's labour began.
+
+When they reached the open space round the mine shaft there were a
+hundred miners waiting, stamping their feet and blowing on their
+fingers; for it was bitterly cold. The strangers stood in a little
+group under the shadow of the engine house. Scanlan and McMurdo climbed
+a heap of slag from which the whole scene lay before them. They saw the
+mine engineer, a great bearded Scotchman named Menzies, come out of the
+engine house and blow his whistle for the cages to be lowered.
+
+At the same instant a tall, loose-framed young man with a clean-shaved,
+earnest face advanced eagerly towards the pit head. As he came forward
+his eyes fell upon the group, silent and motionless, under the engine
+house. The men had drawn down their hats and turned up their collars to
+screen their faces. For a moment the presentiment of Death laid its
+cold hand upon the manager's heart. At the next he had shaken it off
+and saw only his duty towards intrusive strangers.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked as he advanced. "What are you loitering there
+for?"
+
+There was no answer; but the lad Andrews stepped forward and shot him
+in the stomach. The hundred waiting miners stood as motionless and
+helpless as if they were paralyzed. The manager clapped his two hands
+to the wound and doubled himself up. Then he staggered away; but
+another of the assassins fired, and he went down sidewise, kicking and
+clawing among a heap of clinkers. Menzies, the Scotchman, gave a roar
+of rage at the sight and rushed with an iron spanner at the murderers;
+but was met by two balls in the face which dropped him dead at their
+very feet.
+
+There was a surge forward of some of the miners, and an inarticulate
+cry of pity and of anger; but a couple of the strangers emptied their
+six-shooters over the heads of the crowd, and they broke and scattered,
+some of them rushing wildly back to their homes in Vermissa.
+
+When a few of the bravest had rallied, and there was a return to the
+mine, the murderous gang had vanished in the mists of morning, without
+a single witness being able to swear to the identity of these men who
+in front of a hundred spectators had wrought this double crime.
+
+Scanlan and McMurdo made their way back; Scanlan somewhat subdued, for
+it was the first murder job that he had seen with his own eyes, and it
+appeared less funny than he had been led to believe. The horrible
+screams of the dead manager's wife pursued them as they hurried to the
+town. McMurdo was absorbed and silent; but he showed no sympathy for
+the weakening of his companion.
+
+"Sure, it is like a war," he repeated. "What is it but a war between us
+and them, and we hit back where we best can."
+
+There was high revel in the lodge room at the Union House that night,
+not only over the killing of the manager and engineer of the Crow Hill
+mine, which would bring this organization into line with the other
+blackmailed and terror-stricken companies of the district, but also
+over a distant triumph which had been wrought by the hands of the lodge
+itself.
+
+It would appear that when the County Delegate had sent over five good
+men to strike a blow in Vermissa, he had demanded that in return three
+Vermissa men should be secretly selected and sent across to kill
+William Hales of Stake Royal, one of the best known and most popular
+mine owners in the Gilmerton district, a man who was believed not to
+have an enemy in the world; for he was in all ways a model employer. He
+had insisted, however, upon efficiency in the work, and had, therefore,
+paid off certain drunken and idle employees who were members of the
+all-powerful society. Coffin notices hung outside his door had not
+weakened his resolution, and so in a free, civilized country he found
+himself condemned to death.
+
+The execution had now been duly carried out. Ted Baldwin, who sprawled
+now in the seat of honour beside the Bodymaster, had been chief of the
+party. His flushed face and glazed, blood-shot eyes told of
+sleeplessness and drink. He and his two comrades had spent the night
+before among the mountains. They were unkempt and weather-stained. But
+no heroes, returning from a forlorn hope, could have had a warmer
+welcome from their comrades.
+
+The story was told and retold amid cries of delight and shouts of
+laughter. They had waited for their man as he drove home at nightfall,
+taking their station at the top of a steep hill, where his horse must
+be at a walk. He was so furred to keep out the cold that he could not
+lay his hand on his pistol. They had pulled him out and shot him again
+and again. He had screamed for mercy. The screams were repeated for the
+amusement of the lodge.
+
+"Let's hear again how he squealed," they cried.
+
+None of them knew the man; but there is eternal drama in a killing, and
+they had shown the Scowrers of Gilmerton that the Vermissa men were to
+be relied upon.
+
+There had been one contretemps; for a man and his wife had driven up
+while they were still emptying their revolvers into the silent body. It
+had been suggested that they should shoot them both; but they were
+harmless folk who were not connected with the mines, so they were
+sternly bidden to drive on and keep silent, lest a worse thing befall
+them. And so the blood-mottled figure had been left as a warning to all
+such hard-hearted employers, and the three noble avengers had hurried
+off into the mountains where unbroken nature comes down to the very
+edge of the furnaces and the slag heaps. Here they were, safe and
+sound, their work well done, and the plaudits of their companions in
+their ears.
+
+It had been a great day for the Scowrers. The shadow had fallen even
+darker over the valley. But as the wise general chooses the moment of
+victory in which to redouble his efforts, so that his foes may have no
+time to steady themselves after disaster, so Boss McGinty, looking out
+upon the scene of his operations with his brooding and malicious eyes,
+had devised a new attack upon those who opposed him. That very night,
+as the half-drunken company broke up, he touched McMurdo on the arm and
+led him aside into that inner room where they had their first interview.
+
+"See here, my lad," said he, "I've got a job that's worthy of you at
+last. You'll have the doing of it in your own hands."
+
+"Proud I am to hear it," McMurdo answered.
+
+"You can take two men with you--Manders and Reilly. They have been
+warned for service. We'll never be right in this district until Chester
+Wilcox has been settled, and you'll have the thanks of every lodge in
+the coal fields if you can down him."
+
+"I'll do my best, anyhow. Who is he, and where shall I find him?"
+
+McGinty took his eternal half-chewed, half-smoked cigar from the corner
+of his mouth, and proceeded to draw a rough diagram on a page torn from
+his notebook.
+
+"He's the chief foreman of the Iron Dike Company. He's a hard citizen,
+an old colour sergeant of the war, all scars and grizzle. We've had two
+tries at him; but had no luck, and Jim Carnaway lost his life over it.
+Now it's for you to take it over. That's the house--all alone at the
+Iron Dike crossroad, same as you see here on the map--without another
+within earshot. It's no good by day. He's armed and shoots quick and
+straight, with no questions asked. But at night--well, there he is with
+his wife, three children, and a hired help. You can't pick or choose.
+It's all or none. If you could get a bag of blasting powder at the
+front door with a slow match to it--"
+
+"What's the man done?"
+
+"Didn't I tell you he shot Jim Carnaway?"
+
+"Why did he shoot him?"
+
+"What in thunder has that to do with you? Carnaway was about his house
+at night, and he shot him. That's enough for me and you. You've got to
+settle the thing right."
+
+"There's these two women and the children. Do they go up too?"
+
+"They have to--else how can we get him?"
+
+"It seems hard on them; for they've done nothing."
+
+"What sort of fool's talk is this? Do you back out?"
+
+"Easy, Councillor, easy! What have I ever said or done that you should
+think I would be after standing back from an order of the Bodymaster of
+my own lodge? If it's right or if it's wrong, it's for you to decide."
+
+"You'll do it, then?"
+
+"Of course I will do it."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Well, you had best give me a night or two that I may see the house and
+make my plans. Then--"
+
+"Very good," said McGinty, shaking him by the hand. "I leave it with
+you. It will be a great day when you bring us the news. It's just the
+last stroke that will bring them all to their knees."
+
+McMurdo thought long and deeply over the commission which had been so
+suddenly placed in his hands. The isolated house in which Chester
+Wilcox lived was about five miles off in an adjacent valley. That very
+night he started off all alone to prepare for the attempt. It was
+daylight before he returned from his reconnaissance. Next day he
+interviewed his two subordinates, Manders and Reilly, reckless
+youngsters who were as elated as if it were a deer-hunt.
+
+Two nights later they met outside the town, all three armed, and one of
+them carrying a sack stuffed with the powder which was used in the
+quarries. It was two in the morning before they came to the lonely
+house. The night was a windy one, with broken clouds drifting swiftly
+across the face of a three-quarter moon. They had been warned to be on
+their guard against bloodhounds; so they moved forward cautiously, with
+their pistols cocked in their hands. But there was no sound save the
+howling of the wind, and no movement but the swaying branches above
+them.
+
+McMurdo listened at the door of the lonely house; but all was still
+within. Then he leaned the powder bag against it, ripped a hole in it
+with his knife, and attached the fuse. When it was well alight he and
+his two companions took to their heels, and were some distance off,
+safe and snug in a sheltering ditch, before the shattering roar of the
+explosion, with the low, deep rumble of the collapsing building, told
+them that their work was done. No cleaner job had ever been carried out
+in the bloodstained annals of the society.
+
+But alas that work so well organized and boldly carried out should all
+have gone for nothing! Warned by the fate of the various victims, and
+knowing that he was marked down for destruction, Chester Wilcox had
+moved himself and his family only the day before to some safer and less
+known quarters, where a guard of police should watch over them. It was
+an empty house which had been torn down by the gunpowder, and the grim
+old colour sergeant of the war was still teaching discipline to the
+miners of Iron Dike.
+
+"Leave him to me," said McMurdo. "He's my man, and I'll get him sure if
+I have to wait a year for him."
+
+A vote of thanks and confidence was passed in full lodge, and so for
+the time the matter ended. When a few weeks later it was reported in
+the papers that Wilcox had been shot at from an ambuscade, it was an
+open secret that McMurdo was still at work upon his unfinished job.
+
+Such were the methods of the Society of Freemen, and such were the
+deeds of the Scowrers by which they spread their rule of fear over the
+great and rich district which was for so long a period haunted by their
+terrible presence. Why should these pages be stained by further crimes?
+Have I not said enough to show the men and their methods?
+
+These deeds are written in history, and there are records wherein one
+may read the details of them. There one may learn of the shooting of
+Policemen Hunt and Evans because they had ventured to arrest two
+members of the society--a double outrage planned at the Vermissa lodge
+and carried out in cold blood upon two helpless and disarmed men. There
+also one may read of the shooting of Mrs. Larbey when she was nursing
+her husband, who had been beaten almost to death by orders of Boss
+McGinty. The killing of the elder Jenkins, shortly followed by that of
+his brother, the mutilation of James Murdoch, the blowing up of the
+Staphouse family, and the murder of the Stendals all followed hard upon
+one another in the same terrible winter.
+
+Darkly the shadow lay upon the Valley of Fear. The spring had come with
+running brooks and blossoming trees. There was hope for all Nature
+bound so long in an iron grip; but nowhere was there any hope for the
+men and women who lived under the yoke of the terror. Never had the
+cloud above them been so dark and hopeless as in the early summer of
+the year 1875.
+
+
+
+Chapter 6
+
+Danger
+
+It was the height of the reign of terror. McMurdo, who had already been
+appointed Inner Deacon, with every prospect of some day succeeding
+McGinty as Bodymaster, was now so necessary to the councils of his
+comrades that nothing was done without his help and advice. The more
+popular he became, however, with the Freemen, the blacker were the
+scowls which greeted him as he passed along the streets of Vermissa. In
+spite of their terror the citizens were taking heart to band themselves
+together against their oppressors. Rumours had reached the lodge of
+secret gatherings in the Herald office and of distribution of firearms
+among the law-abiding people. But McGinty and his men were undisturbed
+by such reports. They were numerous, resolute, and well armed. Their
+opponents were scattered and powerless. It would all end, as it had
+done in the past, in aimless talk and possibly in impotent arrests. So
+said McGinty, McMurdo, and all the bolder spirits.
+
+It was a Saturday evening in May. Saturday was always the lodge night,
+and McMurdo was leaving his house to attend it when Morris, the weaker
+brother of the order, came to see him. His brow was creased with care,
+and his kindly face was drawn and haggard.
+
+"Can I speak with you freely, Mr. McMurdo?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"I can't forget that I spoke my heart to you once, and that you kept it
+to yourself, even though the Boss himself came to ask you about it."
+
+"What else could I do if you trusted me? It wasn't that I agreed with
+what you said."
+
+"I know that well. But you are the one that I can speak to and be safe.
+I've a secret here," he put his hand to his breast, "and it is just
+burning the life out of me. I wish it had come to any one of you but
+me. If I tell it, it will mean murder, for sure. If I don't, it may
+bring the end of us all. God help me, but I am near out of my wits over
+it!"
+
+McMurdo looked at the man earnestly. He was trembling in every limb. He
+poured some whisky into a glass and handed it to him. "That's the
+physic for the likes of you," said he. "Now let me hear of it."
+
+Morris drank, and his white face took a tinge of colour. "I can tell it
+to you all in one sentence," said he. "There's a detective on our
+trail."
+
+McMurdo stared at him in astonishment. "Why, man, you're crazy," he
+said. "Isn't the place full of police and detectives and what harm did
+they ever do us?"
+
+"No, no, it's no man of the district. As you say, we know them, and it
+is little that they can do. But you've heard of Pinkerton's?"
+
+"I've read of some folk of that name."
+
+"Well, you can take it from me you've no show when they are on your
+trail. It's not a take-it-or-miss-it government concern. It's a dead
+earnest business proposition that's out for results and keeps out till
+by hook or crook it gets them. If a Pinkerton man is deep in this
+business, we are all destroyed."
+
+"We must kill him."
+
+"Ah, it's the first thought that came to you! So it will be up at the
+lodge. Didn't I say to you that it would end in murder?"
+
+"Sure, what is murder? Isn't it common enough in these parts?"
+
+"It is, indeed; but it's not for me to point out the man that is to be
+murdered. I'd never rest easy again. And yet it's our own necks that
+may be at stake. In God's name what shall I do?" He rocked to and fro
+in his agony of indecision.
+
+But his words had moved McMurdo deeply. It was easy to see that he
+shared the other's opinion as to the danger, and the need for meeting
+it. He gripped Morris's shoulder and shook him in his earnestness.
+
+"See here, man," he cried, and he almost screeched the words in his
+excitement, "you won't gain anything by sitting keening like an old
+wife at a wake. Let's have the facts. Who is the fellow? Where is he?
+How did you hear of him? Why did you come to me?"
+
+"I came to you; for you are the one man that would advise me. I told
+you that I had a store in the East before I came here. I left good
+friends behind me, and one of them is in the telegraph service. Here's
+a letter that I had from him yesterday. It's this part from the top of
+the page. You can read it yourself."
+
+This was what McMurdo read:
+
+    How are the Scowrers getting on in your parts? We read
+    plenty of them in the papers. Between you and me I expect
+    to hear news from you before long. Five big corporations
+    and the two railroads have taken the thing up in dead
+    earnest. They mean it, and you can bet they'll get there!
+    They are right deep down into it. Pinkerton has taken hold
+    under their orders, and his best man, Birdy Edwards, is
+    operating. The thing has got to be stopped right now.
+
+"Now read the postscript."
+
+      Of course, what I give you is what I learned in business;
+    so it goes no further. It's a queer cipher that you handle by
+    the yard every day and can get no meaning from.
+
+McMurdo sat in silence for some time, with the letter in his listless
+hands. The mist had lifted for a moment, and there was the abyss before
+him.
+
+"Does anyone else know of this?" he asked.
+
+"I have told no one else."
+
+"But this man--your friend--has he any other person that he would be
+likely to write to?"
+
+"Well, I dare say he knows one or two more."
+
+"Of the lodge?"
+
+"It's likely enough."
+
+"I was asking because it is likely that he may have given some
+description of this fellow Birdy Edwards--then we could get on his
+trail."
+
+"Well, it's possible. But I should not think he knew him. He is just
+telling me the news that came to him by way of business. How would he
+know this Pinkerton man?"
+
+McMurdo gave a violent start.
+
+"By Gar!" he cried, "I've got him. What a fool I was not to know it.
+Lord! but we're in luck! We will fix him before he can do any harm. See
+here, Morris, will you leave this thing in my hands?"
+
+"Sure, if you will only take it off mine."
+
+"I'll do that. You can stand right back and let me run it. Even your
+name need not be mentioned. I'll take it all on myself, as if it were
+to me that this letter has come. Will that content you?"
+
+"It's just what I would ask."
+
+"Then leave it at that and keep your head shut. Now I'll get down to
+the lodge, and we'll soon make old man Pinkerton sorry for himself."
+
+"You wouldn't kill this man?"
+
+"The less you know, Friend Morris, the easier your conscience will be,
+and the better you will sleep. Ask no questions, and let these things
+settle themselves. I have hold of it now."
+
+Morris shook his head sadly as he left. "I feel that his blood is on my
+hands," he groaned.
+
+"Self-protection is no murder, anyhow," said McMurdo, smiling grimly.
+"It's him or us. I guess this man would destroy us all if we left him
+long in the valley. Why, Brother Morris, we'll have to elect you
+Bodymaster yet; for you've surely saved the lodge."
+
+And yet it was clear from his actions that he thought more seriously of
+this new intrusion than his words would show. It may have been his
+guilty conscience, it may have been the reputation of the Pinkerton
+organization, it may have been the knowledge that great, rich
+corporations had set themselves the task of clearing out the Scowrers;
+but, whatever his reason, his actions were those of a man who is
+preparing for the worst. Every paper which would incriminate him was
+destroyed before he left the house. After that he gave a long sigh of
+satisfaction; for it seemed to him that he was safe. And yet the danger
+must still have pressed somewhat upon him; for on his way to the lodge
+he stopped at old man Shafter's. The house was forbidden him; but when
+he tapped at the window Ettie came out to him. The dancing Irish
+deviltry had gone from her lover's eyes. She read his danger in his
+earnest face.
+
+"Something has happened!" she cried. "Oh, Jack, you are in danger!"
+
+"Sure, it is not very bad, my sweetheart. And yet it may be wise that
+we make a move before it is worse."
+
+"Make a move?"
+
+"I promised you once that I would go some day. I think the time is
+coming. I had news to-night, bad news, and I see trouble coming."
+
+"The police?"
+
+"Well, a Pinkerton. But, sure, you wouldn't know what that is, acushla,
+nor what it may mean to the likes of me. I'm too deep in this thing,
+and I may have to get out of it quick. You said you would come with me
+if I went."
+
+"Oh, Jack, it would be the saving of you!"
+
+"I'm an honest man in some things, Ettie. I wouldn't hurt a hair of
+your bonny head for all that the world can give, nor ever pull you down
+one inch from the golden throne above the clouds where I always see
+you. Would you trust me?"
+
+She put her hand in his without a word. "Well, then, listen to what I
+say, and do as I order you, for indeed it's the only way for us. Things
+are going to happen in this valley. I feel it in my bones. There may be
+many of us that will have to look out for ourselves. I'm one, anyhow.
+If I go, by day or night, it's you that must come with me!"
+
+"I'd come after you, Jack."
+
+"No, no, you shall come with me. If this valley is closed to me and I
+can never come back, how can I leave you behind, and me perhaps in
+hiding from the police with never a chance of a message? It's with me
+you must come. I know a good woman in the place I come from, and it's
+there I'd leave you till we can get married. Will you come?"
+
+"Yes, Jack, I will come."
+
+"God bless you for your trust in me! It's a fiend out of hell that I
+should be if I abused it. Now, mark you, Ettie, it will be just a word
+to you, and when it reaches you, you will drop everything and come
+right down to the waiting room at the depot and stay there till I come
+for you."
+
+"Day or night, I'll come at the word, Jack."
+
+Somewhat eased in mind, now that his own preparations for escape had
+been begun, McMurdo went on to the lodge. It had already assembled, and
+only by complicated signs and counter-signs could he pass through the
+outer guard and inner guard who close-tiled it. A buzz of pleasure and
+welcome greeted him as he entered. The long room was crowded, and
+through the haze of tobacco smoke he saw the tangled black mane of the
+Bodymaster, the cruel, unfriendly features of Baldwin, the vulture face
+of Harraway, the secretary, and a dozen more who were among the leaders
+of the lodge. He rejoiced that they should all be there to take counsel
+over his news.
+
+"Indeed, it's glad we are to see you, Brother!" cried the chairman.
+"There's business here that wants a Solomon in judgment to set it
+right."
+
+"It's Lander and Egan," explained his neighbour as he took his seat.
+"They both claim the head money given by the lodge for the shooting of
+old man Crabbe over at Stylestown, and who's to say which fired the
+bullet?"
+
+McMurdo rose in his place and raised his hand. The expression of his
+face froze the attention of the audience. There was a dead hush of
+expectation.
+
+"Eminent Bodymaster," he said, in a solemn voice, "I claim urgency!"
+
+"Brother McMurdo claims urgency," said McGinty. "It's a claim that by
+the rules of this lodge takes precedence. Now Brother, we attend you."
+
+McMurdo took the letter from his pocket.
+
+"Eminent Bodymaster and Brethren," he said, "I am the bearer of ill
+news this day; but it is better that it should be known and discussed,
+than that a blow should fall upon us without warning which would
+destroy us all. I have information that the most powerful and richest
+organizations in this state have bound themselves together for our
+destruction, and that at this very moment there is a Pinkerton
+detective, one Birdy Edwards, at work in the valley collecting the
+evidence which may put a rope round the necks of many of us, and send
+every man in this room into a felon's cell. That is the situation for
+the discussion of which I have made a claim of urgency."
+
+There was a dead silence in the room. It was broken by the chairman.
+
+"What is your evidence for this, Brother McMurdo?" he asked.
+
+"It is in this letter which has come into my hands," said McMurdo. He
+read the passage aloud. "It is a matter of honour with me that I can
+give no further particulars about the letter, nor put it into your
+hands; but I assure you that there is nothing else in it which can
+affect the interests of the lodge. I put the case before you as it has
+reached me."
+
+"Let me say, Mr. Chairman," said one of the older brethren, "that I
+have heard of Birdy Edwards, and that he has the name of being the best
+man in the Pinkerton service."
+
+"Does anyone know him by sight?" asked McGinty.
+
+"Yes," said McMurdo, "I do."
+
+There was a murmur of astonishment through the hall.
+
+"I believe we hold him in the hollow of our hands," he continued with
+an exulting smile upon his face. "If we act quickly and wisely, we can
+cut this thing short. If I have your confidence and your help, it is
+little that we have to fear."
+
+"What have we to fear, anyhow? What can he know of our affairs?"
+
+"You might say so if all were as stanch as you, Councillor. But this
+man has all the millions of the capitalists at his back. Do you think
+there is no weaker brother among all our lodges that could not be
+bought? He will get at our secrets--maybe has got them already. There's
+only one sure cure."
+
+"That he never leaves the valley," said Baldwin.
+
+McMurdo nodded. "Good for you, Brother Baldwin," he said. "You and I
+have had our differences, but you have said the true word to-night."
+
+"Where is he, then? Where shall we know him?"
+
+"Eminent Bodymaster," said McMurdo, earnestly, "I would put it to you
+that this is too vital a thing for us to discuss in open lodge. God
+forbid that I should throw a doubt on anyone here; but if so much as a
+word of gossip got to the ears of this man, there would be an end of
+any chance of our getting him. I would ask the lodge to choose a trusty
+committee, Mr. Chairman--yourself, if I might suggest it, and Brother
+Baldwin here, and five more. Then I can talk freely of what I know and
+of what I advise should be done."
+
+The proposition was at once adopted, and the committee chosen. Besides
+the chairman and Baldwin there were the vulture-faced secretary,
+Harraway, Tiger Cormac, the brutal young assassin, Carter, the
+treasurer, and the brothers Willaby, fearless and desperate men who
+would stick at nothing.
+
+The usual revelry of the lodge was short and subdued: for there was a
+cloud upon the men's spirits, and many there for the first time began
+to see the cloud of avenging Law drifting up in that serene sky under
+which they had dwelt so long. The horrors they had dealt out to others
+had been so much a part of their settled lives that the thought of
+retribution had become a remote one, and so seemed the more startling
+now that it came so closely upon them. They broke up early and left
+their leaders to their council.
+
+"Now, McMurdo!" said McGinty when they were alone. The seven men sat
+frozen in their seats.
+
+"I said just now that I knew Birdy Edwards," McMurdo explained. "I need
+not tell you that he is not here under that name. He's a brave man, but
+not a crazy one. He passes under the name of Steve Wilson, and he is
+lodging at Hobson's Patch."
+
+"How do you know this?"
+
+"Because I fell into talk with him. I thought little of it at the time,
+nor would have given it a second thought but for this letter; but now
+I'm sure it's the man. I met him on the cars when I went down the line
+on Wednesday--a hard case if ever there was one. He said he was a
+reporter. I believed it for the moment. Wanted to know all he could
+about the Scowrers and what he called 'the outrages' for a New York
+paper. Asked me every kind of question so as to get something. You bet
+I was giving nothing away. 'I'd pay for it and pay well,' said he, 'if
+I could get some stuff that would suit my editor.' I said what I
+thought would please him best, and he handed me a twenty-dollar bill
+for my information. 'There's ten times that for you,' said he, 'if you
+can find me all that I want.'"
+
+"What did you tell him, then?"
+
+"Any stuff I could make up."
+
+"How do you know he wasn't a newspaper man?"
+
+"I'll tell you. He got out at Hobson's Patch, and so did I. I chanced
+into the telegraph bureau, and he was leaving it.
+
+"'See here,' said the operator after he'd gone out, 'I guess we should
+charge double rates for this.'--'I guess you should,' said I. He had
+filled the form with stuff that might have been Chinese, for all we
+could make of it. 'He fires a sheet of this off every day,' said the
+clerk. 'Yes,' said I; 'it's special news for his paper, and he's scared
+that the others should tap it.' That was what the operator thought and
+what I thought at the time; but I think differently now."
+
+"By Gar! I believe you are right," said McGinty. "But what do you allow
+that we should do about it?"
+
+"Why not go right down now and fix him?" someone suggested.
+
+"Ay, the sooner the better."
+
+"I'd start this next minute if I knew where we could find him," said
+McMurdo. "He's in Hobson's Patch; but I don't know the house. I've got
+a plan, though, if you'll only take my advice."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"I'll go to the Patch to-morrow morning. I'll find him through the
+operator. He can locate him, I guess. Well, then I'll tell him that I'm
+a Freeman myself. I'll offer him all the secrets of the lodge for a
+price. You bet he'll tumble to it. I'll tell him the papers are at my
+house, and that it's as much as my life would be worth to let him come
+while folk were about. He'll see that that's horse sense. Let him come
+at ten o'clock at night, and he shall see everything. That will fetch
+him sure."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"You can plan the rest for yourselves. Widow MacNamara's is a lonely
+house. She's as true as steel and as deaf as a post. There's only
+Scanlan and me in the house. If I get his promise--and I'll let you
+know if I do--I'd have the whole seven of you come to me by nine
+o'clock. We'll get him in. If ever he gets out alive--well, he can talk
+of Birdy Edwards's luck for the rest of his days!"
+
+"There's going to be a vacancy at Pinkerton's or I'm mistaken. Leave it
+at that, McMurdo. At nine to-morrow we'll be with you. You once get the
+door shut behind him, and you can leave the rest with us."
+
+
+
+Chapter 7
+
+The Trapping of Birdy Edwards
+
+As McMurdo had said, the house in which he lived was a lonely one and
+very well suited for such a crime as they had planned. It was on the
+extreme fringe of the town and stood well back from the road. In any
+other case the conspirators would have simply called out their man, as
+they had many a time before, and emptied their pistols into his body;
+but in this instance it was very necessary to find out how much he
+knew, how he knew it, and what had been passed on to his employers.
+
+It was possible that they were already too late and that the work had
+been done. If that was indeed so, they could at least have their
+revenge upon the man who had done it. But they were hopeful that
+nothing of great importance had yet come to the detective's knowledge,
+as otherwise, they argued, he would not have troubled to write down and
+forward such trivial information as McMurdo claimed to have given him.
+However, all this they would learn from his own lips. Once in their
+power, they would find a way to make him speak. It was not the first
+time that they had handled an unwilling witness.
+
+McMurdo went to Hobson's Patch as agreed. The police seemed to take
+particular interest in him that morning, and Captain Marvin--he who had
+claimed the old acquaintance with him at Chicago--actually addressed
+him as he waited at the station. McMurdo turned away and refused to
+speak with him. He was back from his mission in the afternoon, and saw
+McGinty at the Union House.
+
+"He is coming," he said.
+
+"Good!" said McGinty. The giant was in his shirt sleeves, with chains
+and seals gleaming athwart his ample waistcoat and a diamond twinkling
+through the fringe of his bristling beard. Drink and politics had made
+the Boss a very rich as well as powerful man. The more terrible,
+therefore, seemed that glimpse of the prison or the gallows which had
+risen before him the night before.
+
+"Do you reckon he knows much?" he asked anxiously.
+
+McMurdo shook his head gloomily. "He's been here some time--six weeks
+at the least. I guess he didn't come into these parts to look at the
+prospect. If he has been working among us all that time with the
+railroad money at his back, I should expect that he has got results,
+and that he has passed them on."
+
+"There's not a weak man in the lodge," cried McGinty. "True as steel,
+every man of them. And yet, by the Lord! there is that skunk Morris.
+What about him? If any man gives us away, it would be he. I've a mind
+to send a couple of the boys round before evening to give him a beating
+up and see what they can get from him."
+
+"Well, there would be no harm in that," McMurdo answered. "I won't deny
+that I have a liking for Morris and would be sorry to see him come to
+harm. He has spoken to me once or twice over lodge matters, and though
+he may not see them the same as you or I, he never seemed the sort that
+squeals. But still it is not for me to stand between him and you."
+
+"I'll fix the old devil!" said McGinty with an oath. "I've had my eye
+on him this year past."
+
+"Well, you know best about that," McMurdo answered. "But whatever you
+do must be to-morrow; for we must lie low until the Pinkerton affair is
+settled up. We can't afford to set the police buzzing, to-day of all
+days."
+
+"True for you," said McGinty. "And we'll learn from Birdy Edwards
+himself where he got his news if we have to cut his heart out first.
+Did he seem to scent a trap?"
+
+McMurdo laughed. "I guess I took him on his weak point," he said. "If
+he could get on a good trail of the Scowrers, he's ready to follow it
+into hell. I took his money," McMurdo grinned as he produced a wad of
+dollar notes, "and as much more when he has seen all my papers."
+
+"What papers?"
+
+"Well, there are no papers. But I filled him up about constitutions and
+books of rules and forms of membership. He expects to get right down to
+the end of everything before he leaves."
+
+"Faith, he's right there," said McGinty grimly. "Didn't he ask you why
+you didn't bring him the papers?"
+
+"As if I would carry such things, and me a suspected man, and Captain
+Marvin after speaking to me this very day at the depot!"
+
+"Ay, I heard of that," said McGinty. "I guess the heavy end of this
+business is coming on to you. We could put him down an old shaft when
+we've done with him; but however we work it we can't get past the man
+living at Hobson's Patch and you being there to-day."
+
+McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "If we handle it right, they can never
+prove the killing," said he. "No one can see him come to the house
+after dark, and I'll lay to it that no one will see him go. Now see
+here, Councillor, I'll show you my plan and I'll ask you to fit the
+others into it. You will all come in good time. Very well. He comes at
+ten. He is to tap three times, and me to open the door for him. Then
+I'll get behind him and shut it. He's our man then."
+
+"That's all easy and plain."
+
+"Yes; but the next step wants considering. He's a hard proposition.
+He's heavily armed. I've fooled him proper, and yet he is likely to be
+on his guard. Suppose I show him right into a room with seven men in it
+where he expected to find me alone. There is going to be shooting, and
+somebody is going to be hurt."
+
+"That's so."
+
+"And the noise is going to bring every damned copper in the township on
+top of it."
+
+"I guess you are right."
+
+"This is how I should work it. You will all be in the big room--same as
+you saw when you had a chat with me. I'll open the door for him, show
+him into the parlour beside the door, and leave him there while I get
+the papers. That will give me the chance of telling you how things are
+shaping. Then I will go back to him with some faked papers. As he is
+reading them I will jump for him and get my grip on his pistol arm.
+You'll hear me call and in you will rush. The quicker the better; for
+he is as strong a man as I, and I may have more than I can manage. But
+I allow that I can hold him till you come."
+
+"It's a good plan," said McGinty. "The lodge will owe you a debt for
+this. I guess when I move out of the chair I can put a name to the man
+that's coming after me."
+
+"Sure, Councillor, I am little more than a recruit," said McMurdo; but
+his face showed what he thought of the great man's compliment.
+
+When he had returned home he made his own preparations for the grim
+evening in front of him. First he cleaned, oiled, and loaded his Smith
+& Wesson revolver. Then he surveyed the room in which the detective was
+to be trapped. It was a large apartment, with a long deal table in the
+centre, and the big stove at one side. At each of the other sides were
+windows. There were no shutters on these: only light curtains which
+drew across. McMurdo examined these attentively. No doubt it must have
+struck him that the apartment was very exposed for so secret a meeting.
+Yet its distance from the road made it of less consequence. Finally he
+discussed the matter with his fellow lodger. Scanlan, though a Scowrer,
+was an inoffensive little man who was too weak to stand against the
+opinion of his comrades, but was secretly horrified by the deeds of
+blood at which he had sometimes been forced to assist. McMurdo told him
+shortly what was intended.
+
+"And if I were you, Mike Scanlan, I would take a night off and keep
+clear of it. There will be bloody work here before morning."
+
+"Well, indeed then, Mac," Scanlan answered. "It's not the will but the
+nerve that is wanting in me. When I saw Manager Dunn go down at the
+colliery yonder it was just more than I could stand. I'm not made for
+it, same as you or McGinty. If the lodge will think none the worse of
+me, I'll just do as you advise and leave you to yourselves for the
+evening."
+
+The men came in good time as arranged. They were outwardly respectable
+citizens, well clad and cleanly; but a judge of faces would have read
+little hope for Birdy Edwards in those hard mouths and remorseless
+eyes. There was not a man in the room whose hands had not been reddened
+a dozen times before. They were as hardened to human murder as a
+butcher to sheep.
+
+Foremost, of course, both in appearance and in guilt, was the
+formidable Boss. Harraway, the secretary, was a lean, bitter man with a
+long, scraggy neck and nervous, jerky limbs, a man of incorruptible
+fidelity where the finances of the order were concerned, and with no
+notion of justice or honesty to anyone beyond. The treasurer, Carter,
+was a middle-aged man, with an impassive, rather sulky expression, and
+a yellow parchment skin. He was a capable organizer, and the actual
+details of nearly every outrage had sprung from his plotting brain. The
+two Willabys were men of action, tall, lithe young fellows with
+determined faces, while their companion, Tiger Cormac, a heavy, dark
+youth, was feared even by his own comrades for the ferocity of his
+disposition. These were the men who assembled that night under the roof
+of McMurdo for the killing of the Pinkerton detective.
+
+Their host had placed whisky upon the table, and they had hastened to
+prime themselves for the work before them. Baldwin and Cormac were
+already half-drunk, and the liquor had brought out all their ferocity.
+Cormac placed his hands on the stove for an instant--it had been
+lighted, for the nights were still cold.
+
+"That will do," said he, with an oath.
+
+"Ay," said Baldwin, catching his meaning. "If he is strapped to that,
+we will have the truth out of him."
+
+"We'll have the truth out of him, never fear," said McMurdo. He had
+nerves of steel, this man; for though the whole weight of the affair
+was on him his manner was as cool and unconcerned as ever. The others
+marked it and applauded.
+
+"You are the one to handle him," said the Boss approvingly. "Not a
+warning will he get till your hand is on his throat. It's a pity there
+are no shutters to your windows."
+
+McMurdo went from one to the other and drew the curtains tighter. "Sure
+no one can spy upon us now. It's close upon the hour."
+
+"Maybe he won't come. Maybe he'll get a sniff of danger," said the
+secretary.
+
+"He'll come, never fear," McMurdo answered. "He is as eager to come as
+you can be to see him. Hark to that!"
+
+They all sat like wax figures, some with their glasses arrested halfway
+to their lips. Three loud knocks had sounded at the door.
+
+"Hush!" McMurdo raised his hand in caution. An exulting glance went
+round the circle, and hands were laid upon hidden weapons.
+
+"Not a sound, for your lives!" McMurdo whispered, as he went from the
+room, closing the door carefully behind him.
+
+With strained ears the murderers waited. They counted the steps of
+their comrade down the passage. Then they heard him open the outer
+door. There were a few words as of greeting. Then they were aware of a
+strange step inside and of an unfamiliar voice. An instant later came
+the slam of the door and the turning of the key in the lock. Their prey
+was safe within the trap. Tiger Cormac laughed horribly, and Boss
+McGinty clapped his great hand across his mouth.
+
+"Be quiet, you fool!" he whispered. "You'll be the undoing of us yet!"
+
+There was a mutter of conversation from the next room. It seemed
+interminable. Then the door opened, and McMurdo appeared, his finger
+upon his lip.
+
+He came to the end of the table and looked round at them. A subtle
+change had come over him. His manner was as of one who has great work
+to do. His face had set into granite firmness. His eyes shone with a
+fierce excitement behind his spectacles. He had become a visible leader
+of men. They stared at him with eager interest; but he said nothing.
+Still with the same singular gaze he looked from man to man.
+
+"Well!" cried Boss McGinty at last. "Is he here? Is Birdy Edwards here?"
+
+"Yes," McMurdo answered slowly. "Birdy Edwards is here. I am Birdy
+Edwards!"
+
+There were ten seconds after that brief speech during which the room
+might have been empty, so profound was the silence. The hissing of a
+kettle upon the stove rose sharp and strident to the ear. Seven white
+faces, all turned upward to this man who dominated them, were set
+motionless with utter terror. Then, with a sudden shivering of glass, a
+bristle of glistening rifle barrels broke through each window, while
+the curtains were torn from their hangings.
+
+At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bear and plunged
+for the half-opened door. A levelled revolver met him there with the
+stern blue eyes of Captain Marvin of the Mine Police gleaming behind
+the sights. The Boss recoiled and fell back into his chair.
+
+"You're safer there, Councillor," said the man whom they had known as
+McMurdo. "And you, Baldwin, if you don't take your hand off your
+pistol, you'll cheat the hangman yet. Pull it out, or by the Lord that
+made me--There, that will do. There are forty armed men round this
+house, and you can figure it out for yourself what chance you have.
+Take their pistols, Marvin!"
+
+There was no possible resistance under the menace of those rifles. The
+men were disarmed. Sulky, sheepish, and amazed, they still sat round
+the table.
+
+"I'd like to say a word to you before we separate," said the man who
+had trapped them. "I guess we may not meet again until you see me on
+the stand in the courthouse. I'll give you something to think over
+between now and then. You know me now for what I am. At last I can put
+my cards on the table. I am Birdy Edwards of Pinkerton's. I was chosen
+to break up your gang. I had a hard and dangerous game to play. Not a
+soul, not one soul, not my nearest and dearest, knew that I was playing
+it. Only Captain Marvin here and my employers knew that. But it's over
+to-night, thank God, and I am the winner!"
+
+The seven pale, rigid faces looked up at him. There was unappeasable
+hatred in their eyes. He read the relentless threat.
+
+"Maybe you think that the game is not over yet. Well, I take my chance
+of that. Anyhow, some of you will take no further hand, and there are
+sixty more besides yourselves that will see a jail this night. I'll
+tell you this, that when I was put upon this job I never believed there
+was such a society as yours. I thought it was paper talk, and that I
+would prove it so. They told me it was to do with the Freemen; so I
+went to Chicago and was made one. Then I was surer than ever that it
+was just paper talk; for I found no harm in the society, but a deal of
+good.
+
+"Still, I had to carry out my job, and I came to the coal valleys. When
+I reached this place I learned that I was wrong and that it wasn't a
+dime novel after all. So I stayed to look after it. I never killed a
+man in Chicago. I never minted a dollar in my life. Those I gave you
+were as good as any others; but I never spent money better. But I knew
+the way into your good wishes and so I pretended to you that the law
+was after me. It all worked just as I thought.
+
+"So I joined your infernal lodge, and I took my share in your councils.
+Maybe they will say that I was as bad as you. They can say what they
+like, so long as I get you. But what is the truth? The night I joined
+you beat up old man Stanger. I could not warn him, for there was no
+time; but I held your hand, Baldwin, when you would have killed him. If
+ever I have suggested things, so as to keep my place among you, they
+were things which I knew I could prevent. I could not save Dunn and
+Menzies, for I did not know enough; but I will see that their murderers
+are hanged. I gave Chester Wilcox warning, so that when I blew his
+house in he and his folk were in hiding. There was many a crime that I
+could not stop; but if you look back and think how often your man came
+home the other road, or was down in town when you went for him, or
+stayed indoors when you thought he would come out, you'll see my work."
+
+"You blasted traitor!" hissed McGinty through his closed teeth.
+
+"Ay, John McGinty, you may call me that if it eases your smart. You and
+your like have been the enemy of God and man in these parts. It took a
+man to get between you and the poor devils of men and women that you
+held under your grip. There was just one way of doing it, and I did it.
+You call me a traitor; but I guess there's many a thousand will call me
+a deliverer that went down into hell to save them. I've had three
+months of it. I wouldn't have three such months again if they let me
+loose in the treasury at Washington for it. I had to stay till I had it
+all, every man and every secret right here in this hand. I'd have
+waited a little longer if it hadn't come to my knowledge that my secret
+was coming out. A letter had come into the town that would have set you
+wise to it all. Then I had to act and act quickly.
+
+"I've nothing more to say to you, except that when my time comes I'll
+die the easier when I think of the work I have done in this valley.
+Now, Marvin, I'll keep you no more. Take them in and get it over."
+
+There is little more to tell. Scanlan had been given a sealed note to
+be left at the address of Miss Ettie Shafter, a mission which he had
+accepted with a wink and a knowing smile. In the early hours of the
+morning a beautiful woman and a much muffled man boarded a special
+train which had been sent by the railroad company, and made a swift,
+unbroken journey out of the land of danger. It was the last time that
+ever either Ettie or her lover set foot in the Valley of Fear. Ten days
+later they were married in Chicago, with old Jacob Shafter as witness
+of the wedding.
+
+The trial of the Scowrers was held far from the place where their
+adherents might have terrified the guardians of the law. In vain they
+struggled. In vain the money of the lodge--money squeezed by blackmail
+out of the whole countryside--was spent like water in the attempt to
+save them. That cold, clear, unimpassioned statement from one who knew
+every detail of their lives, their organization, and their crimes was
+unshaken by all the wiles of their defenders. At last after so many
+years they were broken and scattered. The cloud was lifted forever from
+the valley.
+
+McGinty met his fate upon the scaffold, cringing and whining when the
+last hour came. Eight of his chief followers shared his fate. Fifty-odd
+had various degrees of imprisonment. The work of Birdy Edwards was
+complete.
+
+And yet, as he had guessed, the game was not over yet. There was
+another hand to be played, and yet another and another. Ted Baldwin,
+for one, had escaped the scaffold; so had the Willabys; so had several
+others of the fiercest spirits of the gang. For ten years they were out
+of the world, and then came a day when they were free once more--a day
+which Edwards, who knew his men, was very sure would be an end of his
+life of peace. They had sworn an oath on all that they thought holy to
+have his blood as a vengeance for their comrades. And well they strove
+to keep their vow!
+
+From Chicago he was chased, after two attempts so near success that it
+was sure that the third would get him. From Chicago he went under a
+changed name to California, and it was there that the light went for a
+time out of his life when Ettie Edwards died. Once again he was nearly
+killed, and once again under the name of Douglas he worked in a lonely
+canyon, where with an English partner named Barker he amassed a
+fortune. At last there came a warning to him that the bloodhounds were
+on his track once more, and he cleared--only just in time--for England.
+And thence came the John Douglas who for a second time married a worthy
+mate, and lived for five years as a Sussex county gentleman, a life
+which ended with the strange happenings of which we have heard.
+
+
+
+
+Epilogue
+
+
+The police trial had passed, in which the case of John Douglas was
+referred to a higher court. So had the Quarter Sessions, at which he
+was acquitted as having acted in self-defense.
+
+"Get him out of England at any cost," wrote Holmes to the wife. "There
+are forces here which may be more dangerous than those he has escaped.
+There is no safety for your husband in England."
+
+Two months had gone by, and the case had to some extent passed from our
+minds. Then one morning there came an enigmatic note slipped into our
+letter box. "Dear me, Mr. Holmes. Dear me!" said this singular epistle.
+There was neither superscription nor signature. I laughed at the quaint
+message; but Holmes showed unwonted seriousness.
+
+"Deviltry, Watson!" he remarked, and sat long with a clouded brow.
+
+Late last night Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, brought up a message that a
+gentleman wished to see Holmes, and that the matter was of the utmost
+importance. Close at the heels of his messenger came Cecil Barker, our
+friend of the moated Manor House. His face was drawn and haggard.
+
+"I've had bad news--terrible news, Mr. Holmes," said he.
+
+"I feared as much," said Holmes.
+
+"You have not had a cable, have you?"
+
+"I have had a note from someone who has."
+
+"It's poor Douglas. They tell me his name is Edwards; but he will
+always be Jack Douglas of Benito Canyon to me. I told you that they
+started together for South Africa in the Palmyra three weeks ago."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"The ship reached Cape Town last night. I received this cable from Mrs
+Douglas this morning:--
+
+"Jack has been lost overboard in gale off St Helena. No one knows how
+accident occurred.--Ivy Douglas."
+
+"Ha! It came like that, did it?" said Holmes, thoughtfully. "Well, I've
+no doubt it was well stage-managed."
+
+"You mean that you think there was no accident?"
+
+"None in the world."
+
+"He was murdered?"
+
+"Surely!"
+
+"So I think also. These infernal Scowrers, this cursed vindictive nest
+of criminals--"
+
+"No, no, my good sir," said Holmes. "There is a master hand here. It is
+no case of sawed-off shot-guns and clumsy six-shooters. You can tell an
+old master by the sweep of his brush. I can tell a Moriarty when I see
+one. This crime is from London, not from America."
+
+"But for what motive?"
+
+"Because it is done by a man who cannot afford to fail--one whose whole
+unique position depends upon the fact that all he does must succeed. A
+great brain and a huge organization have been turned to the extinction
+of one man. It is crushing the nut with the hammer--an absurd
+extravagance of energy--but the nut is very effectually crushed all the
+same."
+
+"How came this man to have anything to do with it?"
+
+"I can only say that the first word that ever came to us of the
+business was from one of his lieutenants. These Americans were well
+advised. Having an English job to do, they took into partnership, as
+any foreign criminal could do, this great consultant in crime. From
+that moment their man was doomed. At first he would content himself by
+using his machinery in order to find their victim. Then he would
+indicate how the matter might be treated. Finally, when he read in the
+reports of the failure of this agent, he would step in himself with a
+master touch. You heard me warn this man at Birlstone Manor House that
+the coming danger was greater than the past. Was I right?"
+
+Barker beat his head with his clenched fist in his impotent anger.
+
+"Do you tell me that we have to sit down under this? Do you say that no
+one can ever get level with this king-devil?"
+
+"No, I don't say that," said Holmes, and his eyes seemed to be looking
+far into the future. "I don't say that he can't be beat. But you must
+give me time--you must give me time!"
+
+We all sat in silence for some minutes, while those fateful eyes still
+strained to pierce the veil.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Valley of Fear, by Arthur Conan Doyle
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