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diff --git a/old/52084-8.txt b/old/52084-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8907097..0000000 --- a/old/52084-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8521 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wire Devils, by Frank L. Packard - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Wire Devils - -Author: Frank L. Packard - -Release Date: May 16, 2016 [EBook #52084] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIRE DEVILS *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - -THE WIRE DEVILS - -By Frank L. Packard - -Author Of - -"Greater Love Hath No Man," - -"The Adventure of Jimmie Dale," Etc. - -A. L. Burt Company Publishers New York - -1918 - -[Illustration: 0001] - -[Illustration: 0007] - - - - -THE WIRE DEVILS - - - - -I--THE SECRET CODE - -TWO switch lights twinkled; one at the east, and one at the west end of -the siding. For the rest all was blackness. Half way between the -switch lights, snuggled close against the single-tracked main line, -the station, little more than a shanty and too insignificant to boast a -night operator, loomed up shadowy and indistinct. Away to the westward, -like jagged points sticking up into the night and standing out in relief -against the skyline, the Rockies reared their peaks. And the spell of -the brooding mountains seemed to lie over all the desolate, butte-broken -surrounding country--for all was utter silence. - -And then there came a sound, low at first, like a strange muttering from -somewhere to the westward. - -It died away, grew louder, was hushed again--and broke into a sustained -roar. Came then the quick, short gasps of the exhaust--it was a -freight, and a heavy one. And suddenly, from up the track, circling -an intervening butte, an electric headlight cut streaming through the -black. It touched the little station in a queerly inquisitive way in the -sweep of its arc, lingered an instant over the platform, then swung to -the right of way, and held there, the metals glistening like polished -silver ribbons under the flood of light. - -Straining, panting at its load, reddening the sky as the fire-box door -was flung open, the big tenwheeler stormed by, coughing the sparks -heavenward from its stack. The roar in the still night grew deafening, -as boxcar, flat and gondola, lurching, swaying, clanking, groaning, -an endless string, tugging at one another, grinding their flanges, -screaming as they took up the axle play, staggered with a din infernal -past the lonely and unlighted station. - -The roar sank into a gradually diminishing murmur. The tail-lights -winked like mischievous little red eyes in the distance--and vanished. - -All was stillness and that brooding silence again. - -And then a man's form, like a black shadow in the darkness, rose from -the trackside, and crept to the platform, and along the platform to the -station door. - -The man bent forward, and the round, white ray of a pocket flashlight -played upon the lock. He examined the lock for an instant appraisingly, -then drew a bunch of skeleton keys from his pocket, and, selecting one -of the number without hesitation, unlocked the door, stepped inside, and -closed the door behind him. - -The flashlight swept in a circle around the interior of the little -station. There were but two rooms--the small waiting room which he had -entered, and in which he now stood; and, partitioned off from this, the -door open, a still smaller inner room, the agent's office. He moved at -once into the latter, and his flashlight, swiftly now, searched around -the walls and held upon the clock. It was six minutes to ten. - -"Pretty close work!" muttered the man. "Six minutes to wait." - -The ray travelled now over the operator's table, and from the table to -the switchboard. He reached out, "cut in" the office circuit, listened -for an instant as the sounder began to chatter--then the ray swept over -the table again. Under a newspaper, that the day man had apparently -flung down at haphazard on leaving the office, he found a pad of -telegraph blanks, from which, evidently wary of the consequences of -using a pad with its resultant tell-tale impressions on the under -sheets, he tore off a sheet and laid it down ready to hand before him. - -This done, he nodded complacently, sat down in the operator's chair, -tilted the chair back, put his feet up on the table, and coolly picked -up the newspaper. It was the evening edition of the Selkirk City -_Journal_, that had presumably been tossed off at the station by a -charitable train crew of some late afternoon train out from the city. -He held the paper in one hand, the flashlight in the other, scanned the -page, which happened to be an inner one, cursorily, turned it over, -and suddenly leaned forward a little in his seat. He was staring at the -headline at the top right-hand corner of the front page. - -NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL RELEASED FROM SING SING - -POLICE ARE WARNED THAT MAN MAY BE IN THIS VICINITY - -HARRY MAUL, ALIAS THE HAWK, KNOWN TO BE IN THE WEST - -The telegraph sounder chattered volubly for an instant, as though to -challenge and silence the raucous ticking of the clock, and ended in a -splutter of wrath, as it were, at the futility of its attempt. The clock -ticked on. There was no other sound. And then the man spoke aloud. - -"That's me," he said. "The Hawk." The paper rattled in his hand. There -was a twisted smile on his lips in the darkness. "I guess I'm pretty -well known." - -The Hawk's eyes fixed on the text, and he began to read: - -"It is reported that Harry Maul, better known to the police as the Hawk, -safe-breaker, forger and thief, one of the cleverest 'gentleman' crooks -in the country, who is at large again after a five-years' penitentiary -term, is somewhere in the West. - -"The crime wave that has recently been sweeping over Selkirk City -and its vicinity, and particularly the daring and, in too many cases, -successful outrages with which the railroad officials and detectives -have been called upon to cope of late, may, as a very plausible theory, -have lured the Hawk here as to a promising field in which to resume his -criminal operations. Certain it is that, while we have been the victims -of a band of mysterious desperadoes for some time past, the last week -or so has seen a very marked increase in the number of crimes that have -been committed--a significant coincidence with the Hawk's release from -Sing Sing. - -"A twenty-thousand-dollar diamond necklace was stolen from a private car -two nights ago; there was an express car robbery on Monday of this week; -and a sleeping car was thoroughly and systematically looted the night -before. True, it is mere conjecture to connect the Hawk with these in -any way, since the gang that has been operating in this neighbourhood -has proved itself quite capable of all and more than this without any -outside and highly specialised assistance, and it would appear is in no -whit inferior in resource and devilish ingenuity to the best, or worst, -that Sing Sing has to offer in the shape of this so-called Hawk; but, -out of conjecture, one question naturally suggests itself. - -"Granting the presence of the Hawk, is he here as a rival of the -criminals of whose existence we are already only too well aware, or -is he one of them through old-time associations before Sing Sing put a -temporary check upon his activities?" - -There was more--a virulent outpouring of wrath at the intolerable extent -to which the community, its life and property, was being endangered, and -a promise of summary vengeance upon the criminals if caught. - -"Quite so!" murmured the Hawk, lowering his feet slowly to the floor. "I -guess it wouldn't be healthy to get caught around these parts. I have a -feeling that it would be the nearest telegraph pole instead of a trial!" - -He tossed the newspaper back on the table. The sounder, spasmodic in its -chatter, for the moment was still. All was silence, profound, absolute. -Then the clock struck, loud, resonant, smashing through the silence, -startling. And at the same instant the sounder broke into a quick -tattoo. The Hawk snatched a pencil from his pocket, and jerked his body -forward--then relaxed again. - -"Stray stuff," he muttered. "Got in ahead of him. We'll get it in a -minute now." - -Pencil poised in his hand, the flashlight playing on the blank sheet -of paper before him, the Hawk waited. The sounder ceased--and almost -instantly broke again, rattling sharply through the room. The Hawk -nodded, as his pencil began to travel across the paper. - -"'mtlky'--stroke at five. Two-three-one tonight," he said aloud. - -Without pause, without hesitation, without the slightest indication of -spacing to break its continuity, the sounder rattled on--and finally, as -abruptly as it had begun, it stopped. - -On the sheet of paper the Hawk had written this: - -_mtlkyeqodktrpcvkqlmtp kpwrtrgtftuqcyqtnt tsghv ukopgfkxtiku kqprelcn -rcatocuvgdatf gumttlvgpvjf qwucpmtfkp uckjihg vqptkijvrsa wvpxodtt dgtqprg -qplqosd_ - -He reached out for the pad, tore off another sheet, and in two parallel -columns set down the letters of the alphabet, one column transposed. -There was a faint smile on his lips, as he turned again to the cipher -and began to write in another line of letters under the original -message. - -"I wonder what Poe and his predominant 'e' would do with this!" he -chuckled. "'Combi'--stroke two. Key letter--stroke three." He frowned -the next instant. "What's this! Ah--stroke three, instead of one." He -completed the transposition, stared at the several lines which were now -scattered with vertically crossed-out letters, whistled low under his -breath, and a grim look settled on his face. - -The message now read: - -_---combi--natio---ninup-perdr--eftsi--dediv--sion--al -paymasterdesk--fousan dinsaj--feton-ight-autnum---beron-eonjob_ - -Mechanically, he separated words and sentences, and, eliminating the -superfluous letters, wrote out the translation at the bottom of the -sheet: - -_"Combination in upper drawer left side divisional paymaster ('s) desk. -Ten thousand in safe to-night. Put Number One on job_." - -The Hawk stood up, "plugged out" the station circuit, and, gathering -up the two sheets of paper he had used, put them in his pocket; then, -leaving the door of the operator's room open behind him, as he had -found it, he stepped out from the station to the platform, and, with his -skeleton key, relocked the station door. He stood for a moment -staring up and down the track. The switchlights blinked back at him -confidentially. He listened. The eastbound freight, from which he -had jumped some twenty minutes before, would cross Extra No. 83, the -westbound way freight, at Elkton, seven miles away, but there was no -sound of the latter as yet. - -He turned then, and, jumping from the platform to the track, swung into -a dog-trot along the roadbed. The Hawk smiled contentedly to himself. -It was all timed to a nicety! A mile or so to the west, the right of way -rose in a stiff grade that the way freight would be able to negotiate at -no better speed than the pace at which a man could crawl. He could make -the distance readily, board her there, and the way freight would get him -to Selkirk--and the divisional paymaster's office!--by about midnight. - -He ran on, the swing and ease of a trained athlete in his stride. And, -as he ran, he took the sheets of paper from his pocket, and, tearing -them into small fragments, scattered the pieces at intervals here and -there. - -He reached the foot of the grade, and paused to look back along the -track, as suddenly from behind him came the hoarse scream of an engine -whistle. That was the way freight now, whistling perfunctorily for the -deserted station! He had made the grade in plenty of time, though the -nearer to the top he could get the better, for the freight, requiring -all the initial impetus it could attain, would hit the foot of the grade -wide open. - -The Hawk broke into a run again, glancing constantly back over his -shoulder as he sped on up the grade. And then, when he was well on -toward the summit, opening the night like a blazing disk as it rounded a -curve, he caught the gleam of the headlight. It grew larger and -larger, until, beginning to fling a luminous pathway up the track -that, gradually lengthening, crept nearer and nearer to him, he -swerved suddenly, plunged down the embankment, and, well away from the -trackside, dropped flat upon the ground. - -The engine, slowed, was grunting heavily on the incline as it strained -by the spot where he lay; there was the glimmer of the front-end -brakeman's lamp from the top of one of the forward cars--and, with a -quick, appraising glance to measure the length of the train, the Hawk, -on hands and knees, crawled forward, and up the embankment, and, in the -shadow of the rolling cars themselves, stood up. There would be sharp -eyes watching from the cupola of the caboose. He laughed a little. And -not only the train crew there, perhaps! The railroad detectives, at -their wits' ends, had acquired the habit of late of turning up in the -most unexpected places! - -A boxcar rolled by him, another, and still another--but the Hawk's eyes -were fixed a little further along toward the rear on an open space, -where, in the darkness, a flat car gave the appearance of a break in the -train. The flat car came abreast of him. He caught the iron foot-rung, -jumped, and, with a powerful, muscular swing, flung himself aboard. - -The car was loaded with some kind of carriage, or wagon, -tarpaulin-covered. The Hawk crawled in under the tarpaulin, and lay down -upon his back, pillowing his head on a piece of timber that blocked the -carriage wheels. - -The train topped the grade, gained speed, and roared on through the -night. Occasionally, during what was close to a two-hours' run, it -stopped at intermediate stations, and the Hawk peered furtively out from -under the tarpaulin to locate the surroundings, with which he appeared -to be intimately familiar; and once, nearing the end of the run, as the -faint-suffused glow from the city's lights in the distance showed under -the shadows of the towering peaks, he spoke aloud, "Ten thousand -dollars," remarked the Hawk pleasantly. "Nice picking for a few hours' -work--ten thousand dollars!" - - - - -II--THE TEN-DOLLAR COUNTERFEIT NOTE - -THE Hawk crawled out from under the tarpaulin and dropped to the -ground, as the freight, slowing down, began to patter in over the spur -switches of the Selkirk yard. He darted, bent low, across several spurs -to escape the possibility of observation from the freight's caboose; -then began to make his way toward the roundhouse ahead of him. He would -have to pass around behind the roundhouse in order to get up opposite -the station and the divisional offices. The Hawk glanced sharply -about him as he moved along. He dodged here and there like some queer, -irresponsible phantom flitting amongst the low, myriad red, green and -purple lights that dotted the yard; and he carefully avoided those other -lights, the white lights of the yardsmen, now bobbing as the men ran up -and down, now swinging from the footboard of a passing switcher, that -seemed to be unusually ubiquitous--for the Hawk was secretive, and for -certain good and valid reasons was possessed of an earnest desire that -no stranger should be reported prowling around the railroad yard that -night. - -He reached the roundhouse, stepped close up against the wall to take -advantage of the security afforded by the shadows, and began to circle -the building. The Hawk was treading silently now. Halfway around the -building he halted abruptly, his head cocked suddenly in a listening -attitude toward a small, open and lighted window on a level with his -shoulders, and in order to pass which he had just been on the point of -stooping down. - -"I think," said the Hawk softly to himself, "I think this sounds as -though it interested me." - -He crept cautiously forward, and from the edge of the window glanced -inside. It was the turner's "cubbyhole," or office. The door was closed, -and two men were standing there, talking earnestly. The Hawk's face, -dimly outlined now in the window light, smooth-shaven, square-jawed, the -eyes and forehead hidden by the brim of the slouch hat that was pulled -forward almost to the bridge of his nose, set with a curious and -significant smile. It was not a bad place for a private conference! He -had thought he had recognised the voice--and he had not been mistaken. -The big, heavy-built, thin-lipped, pugnacious-faced man was MacVightie, -the head of the railroad's detective force; the other, a smaller man, -with alert grey eyes, his forehead furrowed anxiously, whose clenched -hand rested on the table, was Lanson, the division superintendent. - -"I don't know, damn it, MacVightie!" Lanson was saying savagely. "I -don't know what to think, or believe--I only know that a Pullman hold-up -one night, a twenty-thousand-dollar necklace stolen the next, an express -car looted, and several other little pleasant episodes all jammed one on -top of the other, means hell to pay out here and nothing to pay it with, -unless we can do something almighty quick!" - -"Any more of those messages?" inquired MacVightie--there was an ominous -abstraction in his tones. - -"Yes--to-night." - -"Make anything of it?" - -"No," said Lanson; "and I think it's about time to put a kink in that -little business, whether they mean anything or not. This cat-and-mouse -game we've been playing isn't----" - -"We'll get back to that in a minute," interrupted MacVightie quietly. -"Here's a little something else that may possibly fit into the -combination." He reached into his pocket, took out his pocketbook, -opened it, and handed the division superintendent a crisp new ten-dollar -note. - -The Hawk's lips thinned instantly, and he swore sharply under his -breath. - -"What's this?" asked Lanson, in surprise. "Phony!" said MacVightie -laconically. "Counterfeit!" Lanson turned the note over in his hands, -staring at first one side and then the other. "Are you sure? I'd take it -any time." - -"You'd have lots of company with you"--there was a sudden rasp in the -detective's voice. "Pretty good one, isn't it? The East is being -flooded with them. Two of them showed up in the banks here in the city -yesterday, and one to-day." - -Lanson frowned perplexedly. - -"I don't get you, MacVightie," he said. - -"Suppose they were being struck off around here," suggested MacVightie -curtly. "I don't say they are, but suppose it were so. They'd likely -be shoved out as far away from this locality as possible, wouldn't -they--back East, say. They're so good that a jag of them got by before -they began to be detected--and now suppose we assume that they're -beginning to sift back around the country." - -"Well?" - -"Well"--MacVightie caught the superintendent up quickly--"I didn't say -I could prove it; but, coupled with the fact that I happen to know that -the police have traced the work back to somewhere west of Chicago, I've -got a hunch that the gang that is operating around here and the crowd -that is turning out the phony money is the same outfit. The Lord -knows"--he smiled bitterly--"they're clever enough! And to go back to -those messages now. If there was anything in them at all, anything more -than some irresponsible idiot tampering with a key somewhere, we -were face to face, not with a mere gang of train robbers, but with an -organised criminal league as dangerous and powerful as has ever existed -in this country--and that's what made me hesitate. We couldn't afford to -take any chances, to start out after a mare's nest, and we had to make -as nearly sure of our ground as possible before we played a card. We -went on the principle that if it was only somebody playing the goat, -he'd get tired of it before long if no one paid any attention to him; if -it meant anything more than that, he'd keep on." MacVightie's pugnacious -face screwed up into a savage grimace. "Well, maybe this counterfeiting -idea has had something to do with deciding me, but, anyway, I'm -satisfied now. He _has_ kept on. And I'm satisfied now that those -messages are a cipher code that the gang is using, and that our -cat-and-mouse play, as you call it, instead of being abortive, is -exactly what's going to land our men for us. That's one thing I came -to tell you to-night--that I'm ready now to take the gloves off on this -wire game." - -Lanson smashed his fist down on the table top. "Good!" he exclaimed -grimly. "I'd like to make things hot for somebody, and it'll at least -be easy enough to catch whoever is using the wire." MacVightie shook his -head. - -"Oh, no; it won't!" he said evenly. "I didn't mean to give you that -impression, and don't you make the mistake of under-estimating the -brains we're up against, Lanson. I'm no expert on telegraphy, that's -your end of it, but I know they wouldn't sit in on any game where they -didn't hold trumps up their sleeves. Get me? Now let's see what it looks -like. As I understand it, these messages, no matter from what point -on the division they are sent, would be heard on every sounder on the -line--that's right, isn't it?" - -"Yes--sure! Of course!" agreed Lanson. - -"And it might be an operator working with them as an inside man; or, -with the necessary outfit, the wire could be tapped at any point, -couldn't it?" - -"Yes," said Lanson; "but the minute he starts in, we could begin to -'ground' him out." - -"Go on!" invited MacVightie. "I'm listening." - -"We could tell whether he was working east or west of any given point," -explained the superintendent; "and, with the operators instructed -beforehand, practically narrow him down to, say, between two stations." - -The Hawk, as he, too, listened, permitted an amused smile to flicker -across his lips. - -"Um!" said MacVightie. "And would he be aware that this 'grounding' -process was going on?" - -"Yes--naturally," admitted Lanson. "We can't prevent that." - -MacVightie shook his head again. - -"That doesn't sound good to me," he said slowly. "All he'd have to do -would be to beat it then--and the next time start in fifty miles away, -and you'd have to begin all over again. And, besides, who's _receiving_ -the messages? You can't put any tabs on that. Every sounder from -Selkirk City to Rainy River registers them, and all a man's got to do is -_listen_. You see, Lanson, it's not so easy--eh?" - -Lanson frowned. - -"Well, what do you suggest?" he asked uncomfortably. "We can stop it." - -"But we don't _want_ to stop it!" returned MacVightie. "We could have -done that from the first. What we want is our man now. And it strikes -me that the first thing to do is to find out whether one of our own -operators is in on this or not. Unless the line is tapped somewhere, -it's a cinch that a station key is being used, isn't it? Send some -linemen that you can trust over the division. If they find anything at -all, they'll find the spot where the messages are coming from, won't -they? If they find nothing, we'll know we've got to look nearer -home--amongst our own men." - -Lanson, in his turn, shook his head. - -"Not necessarily," he objected. "We've a number of small stations where -there's no night operator. They might have got into one of those. The -messages all come through at night." - -"Well, I'll call the turn there!" responded Mac-Vightie, with a short -laugh. "See that I get a list of those stations in the morning, and I'll -detail men to take care of that end of it." - -The Hawk drew back a little, shifting his strained position--the amused -smile was no longer on his lips. - -"And as for that 'ground' business," went on Mac-Vightie, "go slow with -it till you get your linemen's report. Don't do any more than try it out -with some operator you can absolutely depend upon, say, about halfway -down the line. You say you would be able to tell whether the messages -were coming from east or west of that point; that'll cut the division in -half for us as far as our search is concerned, and that's worth taking a -chance on. But don't overdo it, Lanson. We don't want to throw any scare -into him--yet." - -"All right," agreed Lanson. "I'll start things moving to-night. Martin, -at Bald Creek, will be the best man, I guess. I'll send a letter down to -him on No. 8." - -"And warn him to make no reports by _wire_," cautioned MacVightie. - -"All right--yes, naturally," agreed the superintendent again. Then, -after a short pause, anxiously: "Anything turned up at all, MacVightie? -Any clue to that necklace? The governor's wife is making a holler that's -reached from here to the road's directors down in Wall Street." - -"Damn it," growled MacVightie. "I'm well enough aware of it--but the -necklace isn't any more important than any one of the other affairs, is -it? No; there's nothing--not a blamed thing!" - -"Well, what about this Sing Sing convict, the Hawk, that the papers are -featuring to-night?" Lanson asked. "Anything in that?" - -"I don't know--maybe," McVightie answered viciously. "He's only one -more, anyway. This gang was operating before he was released--and it's -likely enough, if they're old pals of his, that he's come out here to -give them a hand. The New York police say he went to Chicago immediately -after his release, two weeks ago. The Chicago police reported him there, -and then he disappeared; then Denver spotted him a few days later--and -that's the last that's been seen of him. You can make what you like of -that. He's certainly been hitting a pretty straight trail west. He -wasn't stopped, of course, because he isn't 'wanted' at present; he's -only a man with a bad record, and labelled dangerous. We were warned to -look out for him, that's all." - -"Got his description?" inquired Lanson. - -"Yes"--MacVightie's laugh was a short bark. "Medium height, -broad-shouldered, muscular, black hair, black eyes, straight nose, -good-looking, and gentlemanly in appearance and manner, dresses well, -age twenty-four to twenty-six, no distinctive marks or disfigurement." - -"There's probably not more than twenty-five thousand men in Selkirk -City who would answer to every detail of that!" Lanson commented -sarcastically. - -"Exactly!" admitted MacVightie. "And that's----" - -The Hawk was creeping forward again in the shadows of the roundhouse. - -"Yes, I guess it interested me," muttered the Hawk; "I guess it did. I -guess I'm playing in luck to-night." - - - - -III-THE PAYMASTER'S SAFE - -FROM the roundhouse it was only a few yards to the rear of the long, -low-lying freight sheds and, unobserved, the Hawk gained this new -shelter. He stole quickly along to the further end of the sheds; and -there, crouched down again in the shadows, halted to make a critical -survey of his surroundings. . - -Just in front of him, divided only by a sort of driveway for the -convenience of the teamsters, was the end wall of the station, and, in -the end wall--the window of the divisional paymaster's office. The -Hawk glanced to his left. The street upon which the station fronted, an -ill-savoured section of the city, was dark, dimly lighted, and deserted; -the only sign of life being the lighted windows of a saloon on -the corner of a narrow lane that bisected the block of somewhat -disreputable, tumble-down wooden structures that faced the station. To -his right, on the other side of the freight shed, the railroad yard -had narrowed down to the station tracks and a single spur alongside the -shed. There was no one in sight in either direction. - -The Hawk's eyes strayed back to the paymaster's window. The station, -like its surrounding neighbours, was an old wooden building; and, being -low and only two-storied, the second-story window offered inviting -possibilities. From the sill of the lower window, a man who was at all -agile had the upper window at his mercy. Against this mode of attack, -however, was the risk of being seen by any one who might pass along -the street, or by any one who might chance upon the end of the station -platform. - -"What's the use!" decided the Hawk, with an abrupt shrug of his -shoulders. "Play safe. There's a better way." - -The Hawk crept across the driveway, reached the street side of the -station, peered cautiously around the corner of the building, and, -satisfied that he was unobserved, edged down along the building for -a short distance, paused in a doorway, glanced quickly about him -again--and then the door opened and closed, and he was standing in a -murky passageway, that was lighted only by a single incandescent far -back by a stair well. - -He stood motionless, listening. From above, through the stillness, came -the faint drumming of a telegraph key. There should be no one upstairs -now but the dispatcher, whose room was at the opposite end of -the building from the paymaster's office--and, possibly, with the -dispatcher, a call boy or two. And the hallway above, he could see, was -dark. - -Moving stealthily forward, as noiseless as a cat in his tread, the Hawk -took a mask from his pocket, slipped it over his face, and began to -mount the stairs. He gained the landing--and halted again. It was pitch -black here, since even the door of the dispatcher's room, where there -would be a light, was closed. - -And then once more the Hawk moved forward--and an instant later, the -paymaster's door at the extreme end of the corridor, under the deft -persuasion of his skeleton keys, had closed behind him. - -It was not quite so dark here. The lights from the platform and the yard -filtered in through the window in a filmy sort of way; but it was too -dark to distinguish objects in anything more than grotesque, shapeless -outlines. - -The Hawk produced his flashlight, and turned it upon the lock he had -just picked. It was a spring lock, opened readily from the inside by the -mere turning of the doorhandle. He tried it carefully, assuring himself -that it could not be opened from the corridor without a key--and then -his light swept around the room. It played in its circuit upon the -paymaster's flat-topped desk against the wall, and upon a large safe -in the corner, near the window, whose polished nickel dial sent back -an answering flash under the darting ray; but the Hawk, for the moment, -appeared to be interested in neither desk nor safe. The flashlight was -holding in a kind of dogged inquisitiveness upon another door close to -the window, and directly opposite the safe. - -He stepped without a sound across the room, and, reaching this door, -snapped off his flashlight. He tried the door cautiously, found it -unlocked, and very softly opened it the space of an inch. He listened -attentively. There was no sound. He pushed the door open, switched on -his flashlight again, and stepped through the doorway. It appeared to be -a clerks' office--for the paymaster's staff, presumably. The Hawk seemed -to possess a peculiar penchant for doors. The only thing in the room -that apparently held any interest for him now was the door that opened, -like the paymaster's, upon the corridor. He slipped quickly across the -room, and, as before, examined the lock. Like the other, it was a spring -lock; and, like the other, he tested it to make sure it was locked on -the outside. - -"Ten thousand dollars," confided the Hawk to the lock, "isn't to be -picked up every night; and we can't afford to take any chances, you -know." - -He began to retrace his steps toward the paymaster's office, but now, -obviously, with more attention to the details of his surroundings, for -his flashlight kept dancing quick, jerky flashes in all directions about -him. - -"Ah!" The exclamation, low-breathed, came suddenly. "I thought there -ought to be something like this around here!" - -From, beside a desk, he stooped and picked up an empty pay satchel; -then, returning at once to the other office, but leaving the connecting -door just ajar, he dropped the pay bag in front of the safe, and went -silently over to the desk--a mouse running across the floor would have -made more commotion than the Hawk had made since his entry into the -station. - -"... Upper drawer, left side," he muttered, "Locked, of course--ah!" -A tiny key, selected from its fellow outlaws, was inserted in the -lock--and the Hawk pulled out the drawer, and began to rummage through -its contents. - -From the back of the drawer, after perhaps a minute's search, he picked -up a card, and with a nod of satisfaction began to study it. - -"'Left--two right; eighty-seven, one quarter--left; three... '" The -Hawk's eyes travelled swiftly over the combination. He read it over -again, "Thank you!" murmured the Hawk whimsically--and dropped the card -back in the drawer, and locked the drawer. - -A moment more, and the white beam of the flashlight was playing on the -face of the safe, and the silence of the room was broken by the faint, -musical, metallic whirring of the dial. Bent forward, a crouching form -in the darkness, the Hawk worked swiftly, a sure, deft accuracy in every -movement of his fingers. With a low thud, as he turned the handle, the -heavy bolt shot back in its grooves, and the ponderous door swung open. -And now the flashlight's ray flooded the interior of the safe, and the -Hawk laughed low--before him, lying on the bottom of the safe, neatly -banded as they had come from the bank, were a dozen or fifteen little -packages of banknotes. - -The Hawk dropped on his knees, and reached for the pay bag. Ten thousand -dollars was not so bulky, after all--if the denominations of the notes -were large enough. He riffled one package through his fingers--twenties! -Gold, yellow-back twenties! - -There was a sort of beatific smile on the Hawk's lips. He dropped the -package into the bag. - -Tens, and twenties, and fives--the light, in a curiously caressing way, -was lingering on the little fortune as it lay there on the bottom of the -safe. There was only a pile or two of ones, and the rest was--_what was -that!_ - -The smile vanished from the Hawk's lips, and, in a rigid, tense, -strained attitude, he hung there, motionless. What was that--that dull, -rasping, sound! It was like some one clawing at the wall outside. The -_window!_ - -With a single motion, as though stirred to life by some galvanic shock, -the Hawk's hand shot out and swept the packages of banknotes into the -bag. He snapped off his flashlight. The room was in darkness. - -That sound again! And now a creak! The window was being opened. -Something black was bulking there on the sill outside--and something -queerly white, a man's face, was pressed against the pane, peering in. - -The Hawk glanced sharply around him. Inch by inch he was pushing the -safe door shut. He could not reach the door leading to the clerks' -office, for he would have to pass by the window, and--he shrank back -quickly, the safe door closed but still unlocked, and crouched low in -the corner against the wall. The window slid up to the top, and with a -soft _pad_, like some animal alighting on the floor, the man had sprung -into the room. - -The Hawk's fingers crept into his pocket and out again, tight-closed now -upon an automatic pistol. The other's flashlight winked, went out, then -shot across the room, locating the desk--and once more all was darkness. - -There was not a sound now, save the short, hurried breathing of the -other, panting from the exertion of his climb. Then the man's step -squeaked faintly crossing the room--and the Hawk, a few inches at a -time, began to edge along the wall away from the neighbourhood of the -safe. - -Then the man's flashlight gleamed again, lighting up the top of the -desk. There was a sharp, ripping sound, as of the tearing of wood under -pressure, and the upper drawer, forced open by a steel jimmy, was pulled -out. - -"Birds of a feather!" said the Hawk grimly to himself. "Number One, of -the Wire Devils! I didn't beat him to it by as much margin as I thought -I would!" - -The Hawk shifted his automatic to the hand that was clutching the pay -bag, and, with the other hand, began to feel in wide sweeps over the -wall above his head. The electric-light switch, he had noticed in that -first quick glance when he had entered the room, a glance that had -seemed to notice nothing, and yet in which nothing had escaped the -sharp, trained eyes, was somewhere about here. - -"Dangerous--for both of us--if it's seen outside," communed the Hawk -with himself again. "But when he finds the safe unlocked, and the goods -gone, there'll be trouble. If he gets a flashlight on me, he's got -me where he wants me. Ah--here it is!" The Hawk's fingers touched the -switch. He lowered the pay bag cautiously to the floor between his feet, -his automatic free in his hand again. - -There was a rustling of papers in the drawer; then the man's hand, -holding a card, was outlined as though thrown upon a screen, as, with -his other hand, he focused his flashlight upon it. Then the flashlight -swung an arc over the opposite wall, and pointed a pathway to the safe, -as the man turned abruptly and stepped back across the room. - -The Hawk, one hand raised to the switch on the wall, his automatic -outflung a little in the other, tense, like an animal in leash, watched -the other's movements. - -The dark-outlined form was in shadowy relief against the light, that -played now upon the glistening knob and dial of the safe. The man gave -a preliminary, tentative twist at the handle. Came a quick, dismayed, -hissing sound, like the sharp intake of 'breath. The safe door was -wrenched open with a jerk. There was a low, angry cry now. The man -sprang back, and as though involuntarily, in a sort of uncertain, -panic-struck search, his flashlight shot along the wall--and fell full -upon the Hawk. - -The Hawk's finger pressed the switch. The room was ablaze with light. -With a startled, furious oath, the man's hand was sweeping significantly -toward his pocket. - -"No, you don't!" snarled the Hawk, covering the other. "No, you don't! -Cut that out!" His eyes, behind the mask, narrowed suddenly. "Hello!" -he sneered. "It's 'Butcher' Rose--I might have known from the way you -opened that drawer!" - -It was a moment before the man answered. - -"Blast you!" he whispered finally. "You gave me a bit of a start, you -did! I thought at first you were a 'bull'!" His eyes fastened on the -pay bag at the Hawk's feet. The top gaped open, disclosing the banknotes -inside. The man raised his eyes to the Hawk's, and a cunning look came -over his thin, hatchet-like face. "Caught with the goods this time, eh?" -he jerked out. - -The Hawk smiled unpleasantly. - -"Yes," he said. "The nest's empty. What is it they used to tell us in -the nursery?--it's the early bird that grabs the worm. How long you been -out in these parts, Butcher?" - -"Look here," said the Butcher ingratiatingly, ignoring the question, "I -guess it's a case of split--eh?" - -"You've got a nerve!" ejaculated the Hawk coolly. - -"Well, put that light out, then, and we'll talk it over," suggested the -Butcher. "If it's seen from outside, we'll both get caught." - -"I'd rather take a chance on that, than a chance on you," replied the -Hawk curtly. "There's nothing to talk over. I've got the coin, and -you've got a frost--all you've got to do now is beat it." - -Sharp, little, black, ferret eyes the Butcher had, and they roamed -around the room now in an apparently aimless fashion--only to come back -and fix hungrily on the bag of banknotes again. A sullen look came into -his face, and the jaw muscles twitched ominously. - -"So you're the Hawk they're talking about, eh?" he said, trying to speak -smoothly. "Well, there's no use of us quarrelling. If you know me, we -must be old pals. Take off that mask, and let's have a look at you. -There ain't any reason why we can't be pals again." - -"Nix!" said the Hawk softly. "Nothing doing, Butcher! It suits me pretty -well the way it is. I've made it a rule all my life to play a lone hand, -and the more I see of the raw work that guys like you try to get -away with, the more I pat myself on the back. Savvy? Why, say, even a -drag-worker on Canal Street wouldn't show his face to a self-respecting -crook for a month, he'd be so ashamed, if he took a crowbar to a desk -drawer the way you did, you poor boob!" - -The Butcher's face flushed, and he scowled. - -"You're looking for trouble, ain't you!" he said hoarsely. "Well, mabbe -you'll get it--and mabbe you'll get more than you're looking for. How'd -you get wise to this game to-night?" - -"It's the way I make my living--getting wise. How'd you suppose?" -queried the Hawk insolently. - -The Butcher was chewing at his lips angrily; his eyes, closed to slits, -searched the Hawk's masked face. - -"This is the second time!" he said, between his teeth. "You pinched that -necklace, and----" - -"O-ho!" exclaimed the Hawk, with a grin. "So _you_ were after that, too, -were you?" - -The Butcher's flush deepened. - -"That's none of your damned business!" he gritted. "And if I -thought----" He bit his lips quickly. - -"Go on!" invited the Hawk sweetly. "Don't mind me. If you -thought--what?" - -"You've had the luck with you," mumbled the Butcher, half to himself. -"It can't be anything else, there's no chance of a leak. But I'm going -to tell you something--your luck's going to get a hole kicked in it. -I'll tell you something more. There's a few of us that have picked -out this little stamping ground for ourselves, and we ain't fond of -trespassers. Get that? It ain't going to be healthy for you to linger -around here over more than one train!" - -"Are the rest of 'em all like you?" inquired the Hawk maliciously. - -"You'll find out quicker than you'll want to, perhaps!" the Butcher -retorted furiously. - -"All right!" said the Hawk. "And now I'll tell you a little something. -I don't know who are in this gang of yours, but you might take them a -little message from me. If they're finding it crowded out here, they'd -better move on to somewhere where competition isn't so likely to -put them out of business through lack of brains, because I'm kind of -figuring on hanging around until it gets time to open my château down at -Palm Beach and stick my feet up on the sofa for a well-earned rest. -Do you stumble to that? And"--the Hawk was drawling now--"I might -say, Butcher, that I don't like you. My fingers are crossed on that -trespassing gag. It don't go! I don't scare for any half-baked outfit -of near-crooks! I stick here as long as there's anything worth sticking -for." - -The Butcher's eyes seemed to be fascinated by the pay bag--they were on -it again. He choked a little, swallowing hard; and, attempting a change -of front, forced a smile. - -"Well, don't get sore!" he said, in a whining tone. "Mabbe I was only -trying to chuck a bluff, and got called. But, say, how'd you like to -break in here to-night like I did, and find another fellow'd got all -the swag? Say, it's damned rough, ain't it? Say, it's fierce! And, look -here, I'm in on it now, anyhow. I know who took it. I'm going to keep -my mouth shut, ain't I? You ain't going to leave me out in the cold, are -you? All I ask is a split." - -"It's not much!" said the Hawk, in a velvet voice. "It hardly seems -enough. You're too modest, Butcher. Why don't you ask for the whole of -it? You might as well--you'd stand just as much chance of getting it!" - -The smile faded from the Butcher's lips, and his face became contorted -with rage again. He raised his fist and shook it at the Hawk. He cursed -in abandon, his lips livid, beside himself with passion. - -"You'll get yours for this!" He choked, in his fury, over his words. -"You think you're slick! I'll show you what you're up against inside of -twenty-four hours! You'll crawl for this, d'ye hear, blast you--you'll -_crawl!_--you'll----" - -The Hawk's automatic, dangling nonchalantly in his hand, swung suddenly -upward to a level with the other's eyes. - -"That's enough, you cheap skate!"--there was a cold, menacing ring in -the Hawk's voice now. "I've heard enough from you. You and your hot-air -crowd of moth-eaten lags! If you, or any of you, run foul of me again, -you won't get off so easy! Tell 'em that! Tell 'em the Hawk said so! And -you beat it! And beat it--_now!_" He caught up the pay bag, and advanced -a step. - -The Butcher retreated sullenly. - -"Get out of that window!" ordered the Hawk evenly. "And take a last tip -from me. If you try to plant me, if you let a peep out of you while I'm -making my own getaway, I'll _get_ you for it, Butcher, if it's the last -thing I ever do. Go on, now! Step quicker!" - -Still sullenly, mumbling, his mouth working, the Butcher retreated -backward toward the window. The Hawk, his lips like a thin straight line -just showing under the mask, followed grimly, step by step. And then, -suddenly, both men halted, and their eyes met and held each other's in a -long tense gaze. - -From outside in the corridor came the sound of voices and footsteps. The -footsteps drew nearer; the voices grew louder. The Hawk shot a glance -toward the door. He drew in his breath sharply. No, there was -no fanlight, the light would not show in the hall. That was the -superintendent's voice. That letter Lanson was going to send down on -No. 8! The other, probably, was MacVightie. Yes; it _was_ MacVightie--he -caught the detective's gruff tones now. The door on the opposite side of -the corridor from the paymaster's room opened. - -The Butcher licked his lips. - -"Me for the window, and for it quick!" he muttered under his breath. - -He turned, and, his back to the Hawk now, tiptoed to the window, turned -again sideways, as though to throw one leg over the sill--and his right -hand, hidden, suddenly lifted the side of his coat. - -It came quick, quick as the winking of an eye. Racketing through room -and building, like the detonation of a cannon in the silence, came the -roar of a revolver shot, as the Butcher fired through his coat pocket. -Mechanically, the Hawk staggered backward; and then, the quick, keen -brain working like lightning, he reeled, dropped the pay bag, and -clutched wildly at his side. He was not hit. The Butcher had missed. -So that was the man's game! Clever enough! They'd break in here at the -sound of the shot, and find him dead or wounded on the floor! - -The Butcher, a devil's triumph in his face now, came leaping back from -the window, and, stooping, snatched at the pay bag. - -"I'd put another in you to make sure," whispered the Butcher fiercely; -"only they'll get you anyway, you----" - -The Hawk straightened, his arm streaked outward from his side, his -pistol butt crashed on the Butcher's skull, and he was upon the other -like a flash, his free hand at the Butcher's throat. - -From the room opposite came startled cries; across the corridor came the -rush of feet--then the doorhandle was tried, the door shaken violently. - -The Butcher was struggling but feebly, making only a pitiful effort to -loosen the Hawk's clutch upon his throat, hanging almost limply in the -Hawk's arms, half dazed by the blow upon his head. White to the lips -with passion, the Hawk whipped his hand into the other's pocket, whipped -out the other's revolver, and flung the man away from him. And then, -as the Butcher reeled and lurched backward to the window, and, clawing -frantically at the sill, attempted to work his way out, the Hawk ran -silently back, picked up the pay bag, and, jumping to the window again, -caught the Butcher roughly by the collar of the coat. - -The Butcher, white, haggard-faced with fear, moaned. - -"For God's sake!" he pleaded piteously. "Let me go! Let me go! For God's -sake, let me go--they'll get me!" - -There was a terrific crash upon the door, as of some heavy body hurled -against it. The Hawk laughed mirthlessly. - -"If I let you go, you'd break your neck!"--the Hawk's words were coming -through clenched teeth. "Don't worry, Butcher! They'll not get you. I -don't want _them_ to get you. I want to get you myself for this. Some -day, Butcher, some day _I'll_ do the getting!" He pushed the Butcher's -feet over the sill. "Feel with your toes for the window casing beneath! -Quick!" He leaned out, gripping at the Butcher's collar, lowering the -man--his lips were close against the Butcher's ear. "Some day--for -this--you yellow cur--you and me, Butcher--remember--_some day!_" - -A crash again upon the door! The Butcher's feet were on the lower sill; -but here the man lost his hold, and toppled to the ground. The Hawk -glanced backward into the room. The door was yielding now. He looked out -of the window again. The Butcher had regained his feet, and was swaying -against the wall, holding to it, making his way slowly, weakly toward -the corner. - -The Hawk threw one leg over the sill. With a rip and tear, the door -smashed inward, sagging from its lower hinge. Came a hoarse yell. -MacVightie was plunging through the doorway. - -Instantly the Hawk, hugging the pay bag, drew back his leg, and dove -into the clerk's room through the door which he had left ajar. There -would have been no use in letting the Butcher go at all if he led the -chase through the window--the man was barely crawling away. Across the -room, light enough now from the open doorway behind him to point the -way, raced the Hawk. He reached the corridor door, as MacVightie lunged -through the connecting door in pursuit. - -MacVightie's voice rose in a bellow of warning: - -"Look out there, Lanson! The next door--quick!" - -But the Hawk was the quicker. He tore the door open, and dashed -through, just eluding the superintendent and another man--the dispatcher -probably, attracted by the row--as they sprang forward from the -paymaster's door. - -Running like a deer, the Hawk made for the stairway. It was lighter now -in the hall. The dispatcher's door along at the farther end was open. At -the head of the stairs, a call boy, wide-eyed, gaped, openmouthed. The -Hawk brushed the boy aside incontinently, and, taking the stairs three -and four at a time, leaped downward, MacVightie's bull-like roar echoing -behind him, the top stairs creaking under the detective's rush. - -The street door opened outward, and as the Hawk reached it, and, -wrenching at the knob, pushed it open, there was a flash, the report of -a revolver shot--and, with a venomous _spat_, the bullet buried itself -in the door jamb, not an inch from his head, it seemed, for the wind of -the bullet was on his cheek. - -Cries sounded now from the railroad yard; but the street in front of -him, deserted, was still undisturbed. He was across it in a twinkling, -and, passing the saloon that was now closed, darted into the lane. - -He flung a glance over his shoulder--and his lips set hard. MacVightie, -big man though he was, was no mean antagonist in a race. The detective, -quicker in initiative, quicker on his feet, had outdistanced both Lanson -and the dispatcher, and was already halfway across the street. - -Again MacVightie fired. - -On the Hawk ran. If he could reach the next corner--providing there was -no one about the street--there was a way, a risky way, but still a -way, his best chance of escape. The cheap combination lodging house and -saloon, that was just around the corner, was where he had a room. Yes, -it was his _one_ chance! He must get to cover somewhere without an -instant's delay. With MacVightie firing now, emptying his revolver up -the lane, with the yells and shouts growing constantly in volume from -farther back toward the station, it was only a question of minutes -before the whole neighbourhood would be aroused. - -Again he glanced behind him. It was very dark in the lane. He was -grimly conscious that it was the blackness, and not MacVightie's poor -marksmanship, that had saved him so far. That flash of the other's -revolver was perhaps fifty yards away. He had gained a little, then! If -there was any one around the corner, the plan of reaching his room would -not serve him, and he would still have to run for it. Well, he would see -in an instant--it was only two yards more--a yard--now! - -Without slackening his pace, at top speed he swung from the lane--and, -with a gasp of relief at sight of an empty street, slipped into a -doorway just beyond the now dark entrance to a saloon that occupied most -of the ground floor of a dirty and squalid three-story building. - -The door gave on a narrow flight of stairs, and up these the Hawk sprang -swiftly and with scarcely a sound. And now, as he ran, he pulled his -mask from his face and thrust it into the pay bag; a pocket-book from -his inside coat pocket followed the mask, and, with the pocketbook, the -flashlight, and the two pistols, his own and the Butcher's. He opened -a door at the head of the landing, and stepped into a room, leaving the -door partly open. - -He was not safe yet--far from it! He did not under-estimate MacVightie. -It would be obvious to MacVightie that he was not far enough ahead to -have disappeared in any but one way--into some building within a very -few yards of the lane! And the presumption, at least, would be that this -was the one. - -The Hawk worked now with almost incredible speed. He switched on the -light, ran to the window that opened on the rear of the building, felt -with one hand along the sill outside, lifted the pay bag out of the -window, let go of it, and turned instantly back into the room. He -hung up his hat on a wall peg, and tearing off his jacket, flung it -haphazardly upon the bed. There was a small table against the wall near -the foot of the bed. The Hawk opened a drawer, snatched up a pack of -cards, and sat down at the table. - -The street door opened and closed. A quick, heavy tread sounded on the -stairs. - -In his shirt sleeves, his back to the door, the Hawk was coolly playing -solitaire. - -"I guess I'd better be smoking," murmured the Hawk. "Maybe I'm breathing -a little hard." - -He picked up a pipe from the table, lighted a match--and, half the deck -of cards in one hand, the lighted match in the other, swung around in -his chair with a startled jerk. - -The door slammed back against the wall. MacVightie had unceremoniously -kicked it wide open. MacVightie was standing on the threshold. - -The Hawk, in a sort of surprised gasp, sucked the flame of the match -down into the bowl of his pipe, and stared at MacVightie through a -curtain of tobacco smoke. The detective's eyes travelled sharply from -the Hawk around the room, came back to the Hawk, narrowed, and, stepping -into the room, he shut the door with equal lack of ceremony behind him. - -"Say, you got a gall!" ejaculated the Hawk. - -"You bet your life I have!" flung out MacVightie. "Now then, my bucko, -what are you doing, here?" - -"Say," said the Hawk, as though obsessed with but a single idea, "say, -you got a gall! You got a gall, busting into a fellow's room and asking -him what he's doing there! Say, maybe you might answer the same question -yourself--eh? What are you doing here?" - -"Your room, is it?" snapped MacVightie. - -"Sure it's my room!" replied the Hawk, a little tartly. - -"How long you been here?" - -"'Bout a week"--the Hawk was growing ungracious. - -"Boarding here?" - -"Yes." - -"Where'd you come from?" MacVightie was clipping off his words. "What do -you do for a living?" - -"Say," said the Hawk politely, "you go to hell!" - -MacVightie stepped forward toward the Hawk, with an ominous scowl; and, -throwing back the lapel of his coat, tapped grimly with his forefinger -on a shield that decorated his vest. - -The Hawk whistled low. - -"O-ho!" said the Hawk, with sudden cordiality. "Well, why didn't you say -so before?" - -"I'm saying it now!" snarled MacVightie. "Well, where do you come from?" - -"Chicago," said the Hawk. - -"What's your business?"--MacVightie's eyes were roving sharply again -around the room. - -"Barkeep--when I can get a job," answered the Hawk; and then, -insinuatingly: "And, say, I'm looking for one now, and if you can put me -on to anything I'd----" - -"I guess you've got to show me!" growled Mac-Vightie, uncompromisingly. - -"Look here," ventured the Hawk, "what's up?" - -"I'm waiting!" prompted MacVightie significantly. - -"Oh, all right!" The Hawk flared up a little. "If you love your grouch, -keep on hugging it tight!" He jerked his hand toward the coat that was -lying on the bed. "I must have lost the letter the pastor of my church -gave me, but there's a couple there from the guys back in Chicago that I -worked for, and there's my union card with them. Help yourself!" - -MacVightie picked up the coat brusquely, shoved his hand into the inside -pocket, brought out several letters, and began to read them. - -The Hawk shuffled the half deck of cards in his hand monotonously. - -There was a puzzled frown on MacVightie's face, as he finally tossed the -letters down on the bed. - -"Satisfied?" inquired the Hawk pleasantly. - -MacVightie's frown deepened. - -"Yes, as far as that goes," he said tersely; and then, evenly, his eyes -boring into the Hawk: "About five minutes ago a man ran into this house -from the street. What's become of him?" - -The Hawk started in amazement--and slowly shook his head. - -"I guess you've got the wrong dope, ain't you?" he suggested earnestly. - -"Don't try that game!" cautioned MacVightie grimly. "And don't lie! He -had to come up these stairs, your door was partly open, and he couldn't -have passed without you knowing it." - -"That's what I'm saying," agreed the Hawk, even more earnestly. "That's -why I'm saying you must have got the wrong dope. Of course, he couldn't -have got by without me hearing him! That's a cinch! And, I'm telling you -straight, he didn't." - -"Didn't he?" MacVightie's smile was thin. "Then he came in _here_--into -this room." - -"In here?" echoed the Hawk weakly. His gaze wandered helplessly around -the room. "Well, all you've got to do is look." - -"I'm going to!" announced MacVightie curtly--and with a sudden jerk he -yanked the single bed out from the wall. He peered behind and beneath -it; then, stepping over to a cretonne curtain in the corner that served -as wardrobe, he pulled it roughly aside. - -There were no other places of possible concealment. MacVightie chewed at -his under lip, and eyed the Hawk speculatively. - -The Hawk's eyes were still travelling bewilderedly about the room, as -though he still expected to find something. - -"Are you dead sure he came into this house," he inquired heavily, as -though the problem were entirely beyond him. - -MacVightie hesitated. - -"Well--no," he acknowledged, after a moment. "I guess you're straight -all right, and I'll admit I didn't see him come in; but I'd have pretty -near taken an oath on it." - -"Then I guess he must have ducked somewhere else," submitted the Hawk -sapiently. "There wasn't no one went by that door--I'm giving it to you -on the level." - -MacVightie's reluctant smile was a wry grimace. - -"Yes, I reckon it's my mistake." His voice lost its snarl, and his -fingers groped down into his vest pocket. "Here, have a cigar," he -invited placatingly. - -"Why, say--thanks"--the Hawk beamed radiantly. "Say, I----" - -"All right, young fellow"--with a wave of his hand, MacVightie moved to -the door. "All right, young fellow. No harm done, eh? Good-night!" - -The door closed. The footsteps without grew fainter, and died away. - -The Hawk, staring at the door, apostrophised the doorknob. - -"Well, say, what do you know about that!" he said numbly. "I wonder -what's up?" - -He rose from his chair after a moment as though moved by a sort of -subconscious impulse, mechanically pushed his bed back against the wall, -and returned to his chair. - -He dug out his pipe abstractedly, filled it, and lighted it. He gathered -up the cards, shuffled them, and began to lay them out again on the -table--and paused, and drummed with his fingers on the table top. - -"They're after some guy that's ducked his nut somewhere around here," he -decided aloud. "I wonder what's up?" - -The Hawk spread out his remaining cards--and swept them away from him -into an indiscriminate heap. - -"Aw, to blazes with cards!" he ejaculated impatiently. - -He put his feet up on the table, and sucked steadily at his pipe. - -"It's a cinch he never went by that door," the Hawk assured the toe of -his boot. "I guess he handed that 'bull' one, all right, all right." - -The minutes passed. The Hawk, engrossed, continued to suck on his pipe. -Then from far down the stairs there came a faint creak, and an instant -later the outer door closed softly. - -The Hawk's feet came down from the table, and the Hawk smiled--grimly. - -"Tut, tut!" chided the Hawk. "That treadmill diminuendo on the top step -and the keyhole stunt is pretty raw, Mr. MacVightie--pretty raw! You -forgot the front door, Mr. MacVightie--I don't seem to remember having -heard it open or close until just now!" - -The back of the Hawk's chair, as he pushed it well away from the table -and stood up, curiously enough now intercepted itself between the -keyhole and the interior of the room. He stepped to the door, and -slipped the bolt quietly into place; then, going to the window, he -reached out, and, from where it hung upon a nail driven into the sill, -picked up the pay bag. - -"That's a pretty old gag, too," observed the Hawk almost apologetically. -"I was lucky to get by with it." - -The Hawk's attention was now directed to his trunk, that was between the -table and the foot of the bed. He lifted the lid back against the wall, -and removed an ingeniously fashioned false top, in the shape of a tray, -that fitted innocently into the curvature of the lid. The Hawk stared at -a magnificent diamond necklace that glittered and gleamed on the bottom -of the tray, as its thousand facets caught the light--and grinned. - -"If you'd only known, eh--Mr. MacVightie!" he murmured. - -From the pay bag the Hawk took out the packages of banknotes, the -flashlight, the mask, the two pistols, and packed them neatly away in -the tray. The only article left in the bag was his pocketbook. He opened -this, disclosing a number of crisp, new ten-dollar bills. He held one of -them up to the light for a moment, studying it admiringly. - -"I guess these won't be much more good around here, according to that -little conversation between MacVightie and the superintendent," he -muttered--and, with a shrug of his shoulders, tossed the entire number -into the tray. - -He fitted the false top back into the lid, and closed the trunk. There -remained the empty pay bag. He frowned at it for an instant; then, -picking it up, he tucked it under the mattress of his bed. - -"I'll get rid of that in the morning"--he nodded his head, as he turned -down the bed covers. - -The Hawk began to undress, and at intervals voiced snatches of his -thoughts aloud. - -"Pretty close shave," said the Hawk, "pretty close.... Ten thousand -dollars is some haul.... All right as long as they don't find out I've -got the key to their cipher.... And so Butcher Rose is one of the gang, -eh?... Number One--Butcher Rose.... Guess he got away all right--from -MacVightie.... He nearly did me.... Pretty close shave...." - -The Hawk turned out the light, and got into bed. - -"I guess I played in luck to-night," said the Hawk softly, and for the -second time that night. "Yes, I guess I did." - - - - -IV--AT BALD CREEK STATION - -IT was twenty-four hours later. A half mile away, along a road that -showed like a grey thread in the night, twinkled a few lights from the -little cluster of houses that made the town of Bald Creek. At the rear -of the station itself, in the shadow of the walls, it was inky black. - -There was stillness! Then the chattering of a telegraph instrument--and, -coincident with this, low, scarcely audible, a sound like the gnawing of -a rat. - -The chattering of the instrument ceased; and, coincident again, the -low, gnawing sound ceased--and, crouched against a rear window, the Hawk -chuckled a little grimly to himself. Within, and diagonally across from -the window, an otherwise dark interior was traversed by a dull ray -of light that filtered in through the open connecting door of the -operator's room beyond. Inside there were Lan-son, the division -superintendent, and Martin, the trusted Bald Creek operator; while at -any minute now, MacVightie would be up on No. 12. They were preparing -to spring their trap for the Wire Devils to-night! The Hawk was quite -well-informed on this point, for the very simple reason that the Hawk -himself had not been entirely idle during those twenty-four hours that -were just past! - -Again the sounder broke into a splutter; but this time the gnawing sound -was not resumed--the window fastenings were loosened now. - -Came then the distant rumble of an approaching train; the rumble -deepening into a roar; the roar disintegrating itself into its component -sounds, the wheel trucks beating at the rail joints, the bark of the -exhaust; then the scream of the brakeshoes biting at the wheel tires; -the hiss of steam--and in the mimic pandemonium, the Hawk raised the -window, and crawled in over the sill. - -And again the Hawk chuckled to himself. Up and down the line to-night, -at all stations where there were no night operators, the road's -detectives, stood guard over the telegraph instruments. It had been -MacVightie's plan, originated the night before. It was very clever of -MacVightie--if somewhat abortive! Also, quite irrelevant of course, and -quite apart from that little matter of ten thousand dollars which he, -the Hawk, had taken from the paymaster's safe last night, MacVightie -to-night was likely to be in no very pleasant mood! - -The engine without, blowing from a full head of steam, drowned out all -other sounds. The Hawk picked his way across the room to a position near -the connecting door, and composedly seated himself upon the floor behind -a number of piled-up boxes and parcels. With a grin of acknowledgment to -the escaping steam, he coolly moved two of the parcels a few inches to -right and left, thus providing himself with an excellent view into -the operator's room. From one pocket he took an exceedingly small -flashlight, and from another a notebook, and from his hip pocket his -automatic pistol. This latter he transferred to his right-hand coat -pocket. Bunching the bottom of his coat over his hand, he flashed on the -tiny ray, found a convenient ledge formed by one of the boxes, and upon -this laid down his notebook. The first page, as he opened the book, -contained a neatly drawn sketch of the interior of Bald Creek station. -He turned this over, leaving the book open at a blank page, and switched -off his light. - -The door from the platform opened and closed, as the train pulled out -again, a man stepped into the operator's room--and in the darkness the -Hawk smiled appreciatively. It was MacVightie, and Mac-Vightie's thin -lips were drawn tighter than usual, and the brim of the slouch hat, -though pulled far forward, did not hide the scowl upon MacVightie's -countenance. - -"Well, you're here all right, Lanson, eh?" he flung out brusquely. -"Nothing yet, by any chance, of course?" - -Lanson, from a chair at the operator's elbow, nodded a greeting. - -"Not yet," he said. - -MacVightie was glancing sharply around him. - -"Martin," he ordered abruptly, "close those two ticket wickets!" - -The operator rose obediently, and pulled down the little windows that -opened, one on each side of the office, on the men's and women's waiting -rooms. - -"What's that door there?" demanded MacVightie, pointing toward the rear -room. - -"Just a place I had partitioned off for stores and small express stuff," -Martin answered. "There's no back entrance." - -"All right, then," said MacVightie. He pulled up a chair for himself -on the other side of the operator, as Martin returned to his seat. "You -know what you're here for, Martin--what you've to do? Mr. Lanson has -told you?" - -"Yes," Martin replied. "I'm to test out for east or west, if there's any -of that monkeying on the wire to-night." - -"Show me how it's done," directed MacVightie tersely. . - -The operator reached over to the switchboard and picked up a key-plug. - -"I've only got to plug this in--here--or here. Those are my ground wires -east and west. The main batteries are west of us at Selkirk, you know. -If I ground out everything east, for instance, and he's working to the -east of us the sounder'll stop because I've cut him off from the main -batteries, and we'll hear nothing unless I adjust the relay down to get -the weak circuit from the local batteries. If he's working west of us -the sounder will be much stronger because the main batteries at Selkirk, -with the eastern half of the division cut out, will be working on a -shorter circuit." - -"'T see." MacVightie frowned. "And he'd know it--so Mr. Lanson told me -last night." - -"Yes; he'd know it," said Martin. "The same as we would." - -"Well, you can do it pretty quick, can't you?" suggested MacVightie. -"Sort of accidentally like! We don't want to throw a scare into him. -You'd know almost instantly whether he was east or west, wouldn't you? -That's all that's necessary--_to-night!_ Then let him go ahead again. -We'll have found out what we want to know." He turned to Lanson, his -voice rasping suddenly. "Did you see the _Journal_ on the 'Crime Wave' -this afternoon?" - -Lanson's alert, grey eyes took on an angry glint. "No; I didn't see it, -but I suppose it's the old story. I wish they'd cut it out! It hurts the -road, and it doesn't get them anywhere." - -"Perhaps not," said MacVightie, with a thin smile; "but it gets _me!_ -Yes, it's about the same--all except the last of it. Big headlines: 'Ten -thousand dollars stolen from paymaster's safe last night--What is being -done to stop this reign of assassination, theft, outrage, crime?--Has -the clue afforded by the Hawk's release from Sing Sing been thoroughly -investigated?' And then a list of the crimes committed in the last ten -days--two murders, one in the compartment of that sleeping car; the -theft of the diamond necklace; the express robbery; and so on through -the list, ending up with last night. Then a nasty shot at the local -police; and, finally, prefacing the remark with the statement that the -crimes were all connected with the railroad, a thinly veiled hint that I -am either a boy on a man's job, or else asleep, in either of which cases -I ought to be--well, you understand?" MacVightie's fist came down with a -crash on the operator's table. - -Lanson, with a worried look, nodded his head. - -"Damn it!" said MacVightie. "I----" He stopped abruptly, and laid his -hand on the operator's sleeve. "Look here, Martin," he said evenly, -"you're the one man that Mr. Lanson has picked out of the division, -you're the one man outside of Mr. Lanson and myself who has any inkling -that these secret messages coming over our wires have anything to -do with these crimes--you understand that, don't you? This is pretty -serious business. The newspaper didn't exaggerate any. We're up against -a gang of crooks, cleverly organised, who will stop at nothing. Murder -appears to be a pastime with them! Do you get me--Martin?" - -For a long second the two men looked each other steadily in the eyes. - -"Yes," said Martin simply. - -"All right!" said MacVightie. "I just want you to realise the necessity -of keeping anything you may hear, or anything that may happen here -to-night, under your hat." He turned to Lanson again, the scowl heavy -upon his face once more. "I was going to say that I know who the man is -that slipped through my fingers last night." - -"You--_what!_" Lanson leaned sharply forward in his chair. "But he got -away! You said he----" - -"It was the Hawk"--MacVightie bit off the words. - -"The Hawk?" - -"The Hawk!" - -"But how do you know?" demanded Lanson incredulously. "You said yourself -that he had left no clue to his identity. How do you know?" MacVightie -reached into his pocket, took out his pocketbook, and from the -pocketbook passed a new, crisp ten-dollar banknote to Lanson. - -"What's this?" inquired Lanson. "The counterfeit ten-dollar bill you -showed me last night?" - -"No--another one," MacVightie answered curtly. "Look on the other side." - -Lanson turned the banknote over, stared at it, and whistled suddenly -under his breath. - -"'With the compliments of the Hawk!'" he read aloud. He stared now at -MacVightie. "Perhaps it's a fake, inspired by that newspaper article -yesterday evening," he suggested. - -"It's no fake," declared MacVightie grimly. "The Hawk wrote that there -all right--it was inside the _pay bag_ in which the ten thousand was -carried away from the paymaster's office last night." - -"You mean--you recovered the bag?" cried Lanson eagerly. "Where? When?" - -The Hawk, watching MacVightie's face, grinned wickedly. MacVightie's -jaws were clamped belligerently, and upon MacVightie's cheeks was an -angry flush. - -"Oh, yes, I 'recovered' it!" MacVightie snapped. "He's got his nerve -with him! The bag was found reposing in full view on the baggage counter -at Selkirk this afternoon--addressed to me. Nobody knows how it got -there. But"--MacVightie's fist came down again upon the operator's -table--"this time he's overplayed his hand. We knew he had been released -from Sing Sing, and that he had come West, but it was only surmise that -he was actually around here--now we _know_. In the second place, it's -pretty good evidence that he's in with the gang that's flooded the -country with those counterfeit tens, and you'll remember I told you -last night I had a hunch it was the same gang that was operating out -here--well, two and two make four!" - -"You think he's----?" Lanson swept his hand suggestively toward the -telegraph instruments. - -"Yes--and the leader of 'em, now he's out here on the ground!" returned -MacVightie gruffly. - -The Hawk had taken a pencil from his pocket, and was scribbling -aimlessly at the top of the page in his notebook. - -"Sure!" confided the Hawk to himself. "I thought maybe you'd dope it out -like that." - -There was silence for a moment in the office, save for the intermittent -clicking of the sounder, to which the Hawk now gave his attention. His -pencil still made aimless markings on the top of the page--it was only -routine business going over the wire. Then Lanson moved uncomfortably in -his chair, and the chair legs squeaked on the bare floor. - -MacVightie spoke again: - -"Well," he said bluntly, "you've got all of my end of it, except that -I've placed men in hiding at every station on the line where there -are no night operators. What about you? Started your outside line -inspection?" - -"Yes," Lanson answered. "I've had three men out with section crews -working from different points. But it's slow business making an -inspection that's careful enough to be of any use, and even then it's a -pretty tall order to call the turn on anything when there's already so -many legitimate splices and repairs on the wires." - -"Well--any results?" asked MacVightie. - -Lanson shook his head. - -"We found what we thought was a new splice in one place, but it turned -out to have been made by one of our own men two weeks ago, only he had -forgotten to report it." - -MacVightie's eyes narrowed. - -"One of our _own_ men--eh?" he repeated curtly. "Who was it?" - -"Nothing doing there!" Lanson shook his head again, emphatically this -time. "It was Calhoun." - -"Calhoun--eh?" observed MacVightie softly. - -Lanson bridled slightly. - -"What's the matter with Calhoun?" he inquired testily. "Got anything -against him?" - -"Never heard of him before," said MacVightie, with a short laugh. "But -I'll take pains to make his acquaintance." - -"Then you might as well spare yourself the trouble," advised Lanson. "I -can tell you before-hand that he carries a good record on this division, -and that he's one of the best linemen we've got." - -"I daresay," admitted MacVightie coolly. "But amongst other things we're -looking for _good_ linemen to-night--who forget to make reports. You -needn't get touchy, Lanson, because one of your men's names comes up. -You can make up your mind to it there's an inside end to this, and----" - -The tiny ray of the Hawk's flashlight shot suddenly upon the notebook's -open page, as the sounder broke into a sharp tattoo. - -";wtaz'--stroke at four," he muttered, as he began to write. -"Three--one--two. They've changed the code to-night--'qxpetlk----'" - -There was a sharp exclamation from the other room. - -"Listen! There he is now!" Martin cried. Chairs were pushed back--the -three men were on their feet. - -"What's he sending?" questioned MacVightie instantly. - -The Hawk scowled at the disturbance, as, over their voices, he -concentrated his attention upon the sounder. He wrote steadily on: - -"... huwkmuh hdtlqgvh... - -"Same as usual," Martin replied. "Just a jumble of letters." - -"Well then, get ready to throw that ground, or whatever you call it, -into him!" ordered MacVightie tensely. - -"I'm ready," said Martin. - -"All right then--_now!_" - -The Hawk nodded to himself, as his pencil unflaggingly noted down letter -after letter. The sounder was very perceptibly stronger. - -"West!" Martin cried out. "You noticed the difference in strength, -didn't you? He's somewhere between here and Selkirk. That's----" - -The sounder had suddenly ceased. - -"But he's stopped," said MacVightie; "and you said if he stopped----" - -"That's nothing to do with it!" Martin interposed hurriedly. "The wire -isn't grounded now." - -"He's taken to cover, I guess," said Lanson. "I was afraid he would -scare, no matter how----" He broke off abruptly. "Wait! What's that!" - -The sounder was clicking again; but the sharp, quick tattoo was gone, -and in its place, as though indeed it drawled, the sending came in -leisurely, deliberate fashion. - -The Hawk's pencil resumed its labours--and then, with a queer smile, the -Hawk scratched out what he had just written. It was no longer code--it -was in exceedingly plain English. - -Martin was reading directly from the sounder: - - -"'Try--that--game--just--once--more--and--the--division--goes--up-- -in--the--air--and--a--train--or--two--maybe--to--a-- -place--that--Mister--MacVightie--will--some--day--honour--with-- -his--presence. That's--quite--plain--isn't--it? -If--you--think--this--is--a--bluff--call--it. -Now--keep--off--the--wire--or--have--it--cut. Suit--yourselves.'" - -"Well, of all the infernal nerve!" exploded MacVightie furiously. - -"And the worst of it," said Lanson shortly, "is that he's got us where -he wants us!" - -Once more the sounder broke into the old quick tattoo. The Hawk was -writing steadily again. There was silence now between the three in the -office. - -A minute, two, three went by--the sounder ceased--the Hawk closed his -notebook. Then in its leisurely drawl the sounder broke again; and again -Martin read aloud: - -"'Pleasant--evening--isn't--it? -Ask--MacVightie--if--he--has--seen--anything--of--the--Hawk. -Good-night.'" - -But this time there was only a menacing smile on MacVightie's lips. - -"He's west of here, you say?" he shot at Martin. "Yes," said Martin -briefly. - -"And that splice of Calhoun's, Lanson? Where was that?" - -Lanson, drumming with his fingers on the edge of the operator's table, -looked up with a frown. - -"Nothing but coincidence," he said tersely. "Yes, it was west of -here--pretty near Selkirk." He moved toward the door. "There's nothing -more we can do here to-night. I'm going back on No. 17. Let's get out on -the platform until she shows up." - -The Hawk very carefully replaced his notebook, his flashlight and his -pencil in his pockets, and, as MacVightie and the superintendent went -out of the door, he retreated softly back to the rear window. The window -being up, he quite as noiselessly slipped out over the sill. He debated -a moment about the window, and decided that if any significance were -attached to the fact that it was found open, MacVightie, for instance, -was fully entitled to make the most of the significance! Then, the -rattle of a wagon sounding from the direction of the road, the Hawk -moved along to the end of the station, and waited. - -The wagon, in the light of its own smoky oil lamps, proved to be the -town hotel bus. There were evidently other passengers for Selkirk -besides himself and the two officials, as several people alighted from -the bus. In view of this fact the Hawk calmly lighted a cigarette, -though the glow of the match exposed his face only to the blank wall of -the station, and walked around to the front platform. - -He located MacVightie and Lanson; and, thereafter, at a safe distance, -did not lose sight of them. MacVightie's memory for faces would hardly -be over-rated if credited with being able to bridge a matter of some -twenty-four hours, particularly as MacVightie had evidenced unusual -interest in the occupant of the room on the first landing over a -certain ill-favoured saloon the night before! The Hawk, therefore, was -unostentatiously attentive to MacVightie's movements; so much so that, -when No. 17 pulled in and MacVightie and Lanson boarded the chair car at -the rear of the train, the Hawk, when No. 17 pulled out, quite logically -boarded the smoking car at the forward end. - -The Hawk chose the most uncomfortable seat in the car--the rear seat -with stiff, upright, unyielding back, that was built against the -wash-room--and, settling himself down, produced his notebook and pencil. -The water-cooler could be quite confidentially trusted not to peer over -his shoulder! - -On the second page of the notebook--the first having been devoted to -the sketch of Bald Creek Station---the Hawk, as he had taken it from the -sounder, had written this: - -"_wtaz qxpetlkhu wkmuh hdtlq gvhmmpy hqltvd df rmnluvpo nfkhomovfdh -gvkerkmmawrq fljkwte dvsoedtdqqh mgfdoifk rxqkuvwruh gsruwmtdoo -ommtlqhvksol foghvklst rvrzqmqxpe mkhurqjkh hvdbfvkdzc mnvohrtpqg -hutzklwkj hkdqm mo g v pdlqlfxoq uhgpifthglxg pkhlmfj kwhttwb hv d p q -g kdrllu eomosdfnhta shqkjvlyhtg mwdlomruhgegf orwmpqk hvwtzrwk -mmrxvddg iqggrqo odusnvrx wmfkriu hkvhuymt hixqljtg wrqpxpeh houwkdmd -gwsxws vdexmuooh wtjqlqklmp_" - -The Hawk tore out a page from the back of the notebook, and set down the -letters of the alphabet in a column. Opposite these he painstakingly set -down another column of letters. After that the Hawk worked slowly. It -was not quite so simple as it looked--not merely the substitution of -letters in a different order of rotation. Nor, apparently, from the -Hawk's observations as he muttered to himself, were all messages to -be deciphered alike--the code appeared to possess within itself an -elasticity for variation. - -"At four... key letter changed... stroke!" muttered the Hawk. -"N-u-m-b... pass three... e-r-t-h... stroke one...." - -The Hawk's notebook, closed, was reposing idly on the window ledge and -the Hawk was lighting another cigarette, as the conductor came down the -aisle. The Hawk presented the return stub of a ticket to Selkirk. The -conductor punched it, and passed on--and the Hawk picked up his notebook -again. - -Again he was interrupted--and again. The water-cooler, after all, was -not proving an unmixed blessing. It seemed as though every man in the -car were possessed of an inordinate thirst. They were well on toward -Selkirk when the Hawk finally completed the deciphering of the message. - -It now ran: - -[Illustration: 0074] - -He arranged the scattered letters into words, and the words into -sentences: - -_"Number Three and Seven Isaac Kir-schell(')s cash box to-night as -planned. Calhoun to report all line splices his own. Number One says -Hawk slender white hands, manicured, medium height, eyes and hair black, -expensive tailored clothes. Two thousand dollars out of reserve fund to -Number that puts a bullet in him._" - -The Hawk inspected his hands, and smiled whimsically. Number One was -the Butcher. He had not given the Butcher credit for being so observant! -Presently he stared out of the window. - -"Wonder how much of a haul I can make tonight?" he murmured. "Regular -El Dorado--having 'em work it all up and handing it to you on a gold -platter. Pretty soft! Hope they won't get discouraged and quit picking -the chestnuts out of the fire for me--while there's any chestnuts left!" - -And then the Hawk frowned suddenly. The chestnuts appeared to be only -partially picked for him to-night. What was the game--as planned? -There must have been a previous message that had got by him. His frown -deepened. There was no way of remedying that. To hope to intercept them -all was to expect too much. There was no way whereby he could spend -twenty-four hours out of twenty-four in touch with a sounder. He -shrugged his shoulders philosophically after a moment. Perhaps it was -just as well. They credited him with playing a lone hand, believing -that his and their depredations were clashing with one another simply -by virtue of the fact that their mutual pursuits were of a competitive -criminal nature, that was all. If it happened with _too_ much -regularity, they might begin to suspect that he had the key to their -cipher, and then--the Hawk did not care to contemplate that eventuality. -There would be no more chestnuts! - -The Hawk read the first part of the message over again. Who was Isaac -Kirschell? The name seemed to be familiar. The Hawk studied the toe of a -neatly-fitting and carefully polished shoe thoughtfully. When he looked -up again, he nodded. He remembered now. He had lunched the day before -in a restaurant that occupied a portion of the ground floor of an office -building, the corridor of which ran through from street to street. In -going out, he had passed along the corridor and had seen the name on the -door panels of two of the offices. - -He resumed the study of his boot toe. It was not a very vital matter. -A moment spent in consulting the city directory would have supplied the -information in any case. He nodded again. MacVightie was unquestionably -right. Some one on the inside, some railroader, and probably more than -one, was in on the game with the Wire Devils--and it was perhaps as well -for this Calhoun that MacVightie, already suspicious, was not likewise -possessed of the key to the cipher! Also, Lanson had been right. It was -no easy task to locate a new splice on a wire that was already scarred -with countless repairs. Still, if Lanson's men went at it systematically -and narrowed down the radius of operations, it was not impossible that -they might stumble upon a clue--if Calhoun did not placidly inform them -that it was but another of his own making! But even then, granted that -the wire was found to have been tapped in a certain place one night, -that was no reason why it should not, as Mr. MacVightie had already -suggested, be tapped fifty miles away the next! The Hawk grinned. -Mr. Lanson and his associates, backed even by Mr. MacVightie, were -confronted with a problem of considerable difficulty! - -"I wonder," communed the Hawk with himself, "who's the spider that spun -the web; and I wonder how many little spiders he's got running around on -it?" - -He perused the message once more; but this time he appeared to be -concerned mainly with the latter portion. He read it over several times: -"Two thousand dollars to the Number that puts a bullet in him." - -"Nobody seems to like me," complained the Hawk softly. "MacVightie. -doesn't; and the Butcher's crowd seem peeved. Two thousand dollars for -my hide! I guess if I stick around here long enough maybe it'll get -exciting--for somebody!" - -The Hawk tore up the message, the sheet on which he had deciphered it, -the sketch of Bald Creek station, tore all three into small fragments, -opened the window a little, and let the pieces flutter out into -the night. He closed the window, returned the notebook, innocent of -everything now but its blank pages, to his pocket--and, pulling his -slouch hat down over his eyes, appeared to doze. - - - - -V--IN WHICH A CASH BOX DISAPPEARS - -TWENTY minutes later, as No. 17 pulled into Selkirk, the Hawk, his -erstwhile drowsiness little in evidence, dropped to the platform while -the train was still in motion, and before MacVightie and Lanson in -the rear car, it might be fairly assumed, had thought of leaving their -seats. The Hawk was interested in MacVightie for the balance of the -night only to the extent of keeping out of MacVightie's sight--his -attention was centered now on the office of one Isaac Kirschell, and the -possibilities that lay in the said Isaac Kirschell's cash box. - -He glanced at the illuminated dial of the tower clock. It was eighteen -minutes after ten. - -"That's the worst of getting the dope a long way down the line," he -muttered, as he hurried through the station and out to the street. -"But I had to get a look at MacVightie's cards to-night." He struck off -toward the downtown business section of the city at a brisk pace. "It -ought to be all right though tonight--more than enough time to get in -ahead of them--they're not likely to pull any break in that locality -until well after midnight. Wonder what Kirschell's got in his cash box -that's so valuable? I suppose they _know_, or they wouldn't be after it! -They don't hunt small game, but"--the Hawk sighed lugubriously--"there's -no chance of any such luck as last night again. Ten thousand dollars in -cash! _Some_ haul! Yes, I guess maybe they're peeved!" - -The Hawk, arrived at his destination, surveyed the office building from -the opposite side of the street. The restaurant on the ground floor was -dark, but a lighted window here and there on the floors above indicated -that some of the tenants were working late. It was therefore fairly safe -to presume that the entrance door, though closed, was unlocked. The Hawk -crossed the street unconcernedly, and tried the door. It opened under -his hand--' but noiselessly, and to the extent only of a bare inch, in -view of the possibility of a janitor being somewhere about. Detecting -no sound from within, however, the Hawk pushed the door a little further -open, and was confronted with a dimly lighted vestibule, and a long, -still more dimly lighted corridor beyond. There was no one in sight. -He slipped inside--and, quick and silent now in his movements, darted -across the vestibule and into the corridor. - -Halfway along the corridor, he halted before a door, on whose glass -panel he could just make out the words "Isaac Kirschell," and, beneath -the name, in smaller letters, the intimation that the entrance was next -door. The Hawk's decision was taken in the time it required to produce -from his pocket a key-ring equipped with an extensive assortment of -skeleton keys. If by any chance he should be disturbed and had entered -by the designated office door, his escape would be cut off; if, on the -other hand, he entered by this unused door, and left it unlocked behind -him, he would still be quite comfortably the master of the situation in -almost any emergency. - -The door seemed to offer unusual difficulties. Even when unlocked, it -stuck. The Hawk worked at it by the sense of touch alone, his eyes busy -with sharp glances up and down the corridor. Finally, succeeding -in opening it a little way, it was only to find it blocked by some -obstruction within. He scowled. A desk, probably, close against it! The -door was certainly never used. He would have to enter by the other -one, after all, and--no! He had reached his arm inside. It was only a -coat-stand, or something of the sort He lifted it aside, stepped in, and -closed the door behind him. - -The Hawk's flashlight--not the diminutive little affair that had served -him for his notebook--began to circle his surroundings inquisitively. He -was in a small, plainly furnished private office. There was a desk, two -chairs, and a filing cabinet. Also there were two doors. The Hawk opened -the one at his left, and peered out. It gave on what was presumably the -general office; and at the upper end was a partition with the name, "Mr. -Kirschell," upon the door. He looked at the panel of the door he had -just opened. It bore no name. - -"This belongs to Kirschell's secretary probably," he decided. "The other -door from here opens, of course, into Kirschell's private office. Wonder -what Mr. Isaac Kirschell's business is?" - -He closed the door leading into the outer office, and moved across -the room to the second door that already stood wide open, and almost -directly faced what he had taken for granted was the secretary's desk. -He stepped over the threshold. Mr. Kirschell's sanctum was somewhat more -elaborately furnished. Apart from a rather expensive flat-topped desk -in the centre of the room, there was a massive safe, new and of modern -design, a heavy rug upon the floor, and several very comfortable -leather-up holstered chairs. A washstand, the metal taps highly -polished, and a mahogany towel rack occupied the far corner. The Hawk -inspected the safe with the eye of a connoisseur, scowled unhappily by -way of expressing his opinion of it, and turned to the desk. He opened -a drawer, and picked up a sheet of business stationery. The letterhead -read: - -ISAAC KIRSCHELL - -LOANS, MORTGAGES & GENERAL EXCHANGE - -"Ho, ho!" observed the Hawk. "Sort of a glorified pawnbroker, eh? I----" - -The sheet of paper was shot back into the drawer, the flashlight was -out--and on the instant the Hawk was back in the other office, and -crouched on the floor behind the desk. Some one had halted outside in -the corridor before the main office door, and now a key was turned in -the lock. The door was opened and closed, footsteps crossed the general -office, paused for a moment outside Mr. Kirschell's door, then the -lights in Mr. Kirschell's room went on, a man entered, tossed his hat -on a chair, and sat down at the desk. It was obviously Mr. Kirschell -himself. - -Through the wide opening between the ends of the desk that sheltered -him, the Hawk, flat on the floor, took stock of the other. The man was -rather small in stature, with a thin, palish face, sharp, restless, very -small black eyes, and he was extremely well dressed--the Hawk noted the -dainty little boutonničre in the lapel of the man's coat, and smiled -queerly. From Mr. Kirschell's face he glanced at the face of Mr. -Kirschell's safe, then back at Mr. Kirschell again--and fingered his -automatic in the pocket of his coat. - -The Hawk, however, made no further movement--Mr. Kirschell's actions -suggested that it would be unwise. The man, though apparently occupied -with some mail which he had taken from his pocket, kept glancing -impatiently at his watch. It was quite evident that he was expecting -some one every moment. The Hawk frowned perplexedly. The message that -night, even when deciphered, left much, too much, to the imagination! It -was quite possible that Mr. Kirschell was to be relieved of his cash box -with more address and finesse than by the bald expedient of ruining Mr. -Kirschell's safe! This appointment, for instance, might--and then the -Hawk smiled queerly again. - -The corridor door had opened and closed for the second time. A heavy -step traversed the outer office, and a man, hat in hand, in cheap store -clothes, stood before Mr. Krischell's desk. - -"Mentioned in dispatches!" said the Hawk very softly to himself. "I -guess that's Calhoun. So that's the game--eh?" - -"You're late, Mr. Calhoun!" Kirschell greeted the other sharply. "Five -minutes late! I have put myself to considerable inconvenience to give -you this appointment." - -Calhoun's hair was tossed, there was a smudge across his cheek, and his -hands were grimy, as though he had just come from work. He was a big -man, powerfully shouldered. His grey eyes were not friendly as they met -Kirschell's. - -"I couldn't help it," he said shortly. "I've been up the line all day. I -told you I couldn't get here until about this time." - -"Well, all right, all right!" said Kirschell impatiently. "But, now that -you are here, are you prepared to settle?" - -"I can give you a small payment on account, that's the best I can do," -Calhoun answered. - -Kirschell tilted back in his swivel chair, and frowned as he tapped the -edge of his desk with a paper cutter. - -"How much?" he demanded coldly. - -"Forty dollars"--Calhoun's hand went tentatively toward his pocket. - -"Forty dollars!" There was derision in Kirschell's voice, an uninviting -smile on Kirschell's lips. "That's hardly more than the interest!" - -"Yes," said Calhoun, snarling suddenly, "at the thieving rates you, and -the bloodsuckers like you, charge." - -Kirschell's uninviting smile deepened. - -"Considering the security, the rate is very moderate," he said evenly. -"Now, see here, Calhoun, I told you plainly enough this thing had to be -settled to-day. You don't want to run away with the impression that I'm -a second Marakof, to be staved off all the time. I bought your note from -the pawnbroker's estate because the executors didn't like the look of -it, and weren't any too sure they could collect it. Well, I can! I'm new -out here, but I'm not new at my business. Excuses with me don't take the -place of cash. I hold your note for five hundred dollars, which is past -due, to say nothing of six months' interest besides--and you come here -to-night and offer me forty dollars!" - -"I would have paid Marakof," said Calhoun, in a low voice; "and I'll pay -you as fast as I can. You know what I'm up against--I told you when you -first got after me, as soon as you got that note. My brother got into -trouble back East. What would you have done? That five hundred kept -him out of the 'pen.' He's only a kid. Damn it, don't play the shark! -Marakof renewed the note--why can't you?" - -"Because I don't do business that way," said Kir-schell curtly. - -Calhoun's voice grew hard. - -"How much did you pay for that note, anyway?" - -Kirschell shrugged his shoulders. - -"I didn't say I wasn't taking _any_ risk with you," he replied tersely. -"That's the profit on my risk. And as far as you are concerned--it's -none of your business!" - -Calhoun shrugged his shoulders in turn, and, taking a small roll of -bills from his pocket, smoothed them out between his fingers. - -"I got a wife, and I got kids," said Calhoun slowly. "And I'm doing the -best I can. Do you want this forty, or not?" - -"It depends," said Kirschell, tapping again with his paper cutter. "How -about the rest?" - -"I'll pay you what I can every month," Calhoun answered. - -"How much?"--bluntly. - -"What I can!" returned Calhoun defiantly. - -The two men eyed each other for a moment--and then Kirschell tossed the -paper cutter down on the desk. - -"Well, all right!" he decided ungraciously. "I'll take a chance for a -month--and see how you live up to it. Hand it over, and I'll give you a -receipt." - -Calhoun shook his head. - -"I don't trust the man who don't trust me," he said gruffly. "I don't -want that kind of a receipt. You'll indorse the payment on the back of -the note, Mr. Kirschell, if you want this forty." - -"What?" inquired Kirschell, staring. - -"You heard what I said," said Calhoun coolly. "I'm in the hands of a -shark, and I know it. That's plain talk, isn't it?" - -"But," Kirschell flared up angrily, "I----" - -Calhoun calmly returned the money to his pocket. - -"Suit yourself!" he suggested indifferently. "I ain't asking for -anything more than I have a right to." - -"Very well, my man!" said Kirschell icily. "If our dealings are to be -on this basis, I hope you will remember that the basis is of your own -choosing." He swung around in his chair, and, rising, walked over to the -safe. - -And then, for the first time, the Hawk moved. He edged silently back -along the floor until far enough away from the doorway to be fully -protected by the darkness of the room, and stood up. Kirschell was -swinging the heavy door of the safe open. The cash box was to be -produced! Lying down, the Hawk could not hope to see its contents if it -were opened on the desk; standing up, he might be able to form a very -good idea of how tempting its contents would prove to be. - -Kirschell took a black-enamelled steel box from the safe, and returned -to the desk. He opened this with a key, threw back the cover--and -the Hawk stuck his tongue in his cheek. A few papers lay on the -top--otherwise it was crammed to overflowing with banknotes. Kirschell -selected one of the papers, and picked up a pen in frigid silence. - -But the Hawk was no longer watching the scene. His head was cocked to -one side, in a curious, bird-like, listening attitude. He could have -sworn he had heard the outer office door being stealthily opened. And -now Calhoun was speaking--rapidly, his voice raised noticeably in a -louder tone than any he had previously employed. - -"I ain't looking for trouble, Mr. Kirschell," he stated Hurriedly, as -though relenting, "and I don't want you to think I am, but----" - -There was a sharp cry from Kirschell. The room was in darkness. Came a -quick step running in from the outer office, no longer stealthy now--the -crash of a toppling chair--a gasping moan in Kirschell's voice--the thud -of a falling body--a tense whisper: "All right, I've got it!"--then the -steps running back across the outer office--the closing of the corridor -door--and silence. - -The Hawk, grim-lipped, had backed up against the wall of the room. - -Calhoun's voice rose hoarsely: - -"Good God, what's happened! Where's the electric-light switch?" - -Kirschell answered him faintly: - -"At--at the side of the door--just--outside the partition." - -The lights went on again, and the Hawk leaned intently forward. Calhoun -was standing now in the doorway between the outer and the private -office, his eyes fixed on Kirschell. The swivel chair had been -overturned; and Kirschell, a great crimson stream running down his cheek -from above his temple, was struggling to his knees, clutching at the -edge of the desk for support. The cash box was gone. - -Kirschell's eyes swept the top of the desk haggardly, as though hoping -against hope. He gained his feet, lurching unsteadily. A crimson drop -splashed to the desk. - -"My chair!" he cried out weakly. "Help me!" - -Calhoun stepped forward mechanically, and picked up the chair. Kirschell -dropped into it. - -"You're hurt!" Calhoun said huskily. "You're badly hurt!" - -"Yes," Kirschell answered; "but it--can wait. The police first--there -was--three thousand dollars--in my cash box." With an effort he reached -out across the desk for the telephone, pulled it toward him--and, on the -point of lifting the receiver from the hook, slowly drew back his hand. -A strange look settled on his face, a sort of dawning, though puzzled -comprehension; and then, swaying in his chair, his lips thinned. He -drew his hand still further back until it hovered over the handle of the -desk's middle drawer. His eyes, on Calhoun, were narrowing. - -"You devil!" he rasped out suddenly. "This is your work! I was a fool -that I did not see it at first!" - -Calhoun's face went white. - -"What do you mean?" he said thickly. - -"What I say!" Kirschell's voice was ominously clear now, though he sat -none too steadily in his chair. - -"Then you lie!" said Calhoun fiercely. "You lie--and if you weren't -hurt, I'd----" - -"No, you wouldn't!"--Kirschell had whipped the drawer open, and, -snatching out a revolver, was covering Calhoun. He laughed a -little--bitterly. "I'm not so bad that I can't take care of myself. It -was pretty clever, I'll give you credit for that. You almost fooled me." - -"Damn you!" snarled Calhoun. "Do you mean to say I've got your cash -box?" - -"Oh, no," said Kirschell. "I can _see_ you haven't. I don't even know -which of you two struck me. But I do know that you and the man who _has_ -my cash box worked up this plant together." - -Calhoun stepped forward threateningly--only to retreat again before the -lifted muzzle of the revolver. - -"You're a fool!" he snarled. "You've nothing on me!" - -"That's for the police to decide," returned Kirschell evenly. "It would -have been a pleasant way of disposing of that note, wouldn't it--if you -hadn't under-rated me! And your pal for his share, I daresay, was to -take his chance on whatever there might be in the cash box! Why did you -say you couldn't come until _night_, when I gave you until to-day as -the last day in which to settle? Why did you insist on my indorsing the -payment on the note, which necessitated my opening the safe and taking -out the cash box in which you knew the note was kept, for you saw me -put it there a week ago, when you first came here? And just after I -was knocked down I heard your accomplice whisper: '_All right, I've got -it._" - -"It's possible the police might form the same opinion I have as to _whom_ -those words were addressed!" Calhoun's face had grown whiter. - -"It's a lie!" he said scarcely above a whisper. "It's a lie! I had -nothing to do with it!" - -"I want my three thousand dollars!" Kirschell's lips were set. He held a -red-stained handkerchief to his cheek. "If I call the police now they'll -get _you_--but it's your accomplice that's got my money. And it's my -money that I want! I'll give you half an hour to go to him, and bring -the money back here--and leave the police out of it. If you're not here -in that time, I put it up to the police. Half an hour is time enough -for you to find your pal; and it's not time enough for you to attempt to -leave the city--and get very far!" Kirschell laid his watch on the desk. -"You'd better go--I mean half an hour from _now_." - -Calhoun hung hesitant for a moment, staring at the muzzle of Kirschell's -revolver. He made as though to say something--and instead, abruptly, -with a short, jarring laugh, turned on his heel, and passed out of the -room. - -The Hawk was already edging his way along the wall toward the corridor -door. - -"Three thousand dollars!"--the Hawk rolled the words like so many dainty -morsels on his tongue, as he communed with himself. "I guess it's my -play to stick to Mr. Calhoun!" - - - - -VI--SOME OF THE LITTLE SPIDERS - -THE Hawk reached the door, as Calhoun stepped into the corridor from -the general office and passed by outside, evidently making for the main -entrance of the building. He opened the door cautiously the width of a -crack--and held it in that position. A man's voice, low, guarded, from -the corridor, but from the opposite direction to that taken by Calhoun, -reached him. - -"Here! Calhoun! Here!" - -Calhoun halted. There was silence for an instant, then Calhoun retraced -his steps and passed by the door again. There were a few hurried words -in a whisper, which the Hawk could not catch; and then the footsteps of -both men retreated along the corridor. - -The Hawk opened the door wider, and peered out. The two men were well -down the corridor now; and now, as they passed the single incandescent -that lighted that end of the hall, Calhoun's companion reached up and -turned it out. - -"Why, say---thanks!" murmured the Hawk, and stepped out into the -corridor himself. - -It was now quite dark at that end, and the men had disappeared. The Hawk -moved silently and swiftly along, keeping close to the wall. Presently -he caught the sound of their voices again, and nodded to himself. He -remembered that in going out this way yesterday he had noticed that the -corridor, for some architectural reason, made a sharp, right-angled jut -just before it gave on the side-street entrance. He stepped now across -to the other side of the corridor, and stole forward to a position where -he could look diagonally past the projecting angle of the jut. The two -men, standing there, showed plainly in the light from a street arc that -shone into the entranceway through the large plate-glass square over the -door. The Hawk, quite secure from observation, nestled back against -the wall--and an ominous smile settled on the Hawk's lips. The face of -Calhoun's companion was covered with a mask. - -"There's nothing to be leery about here," the man was saying. "There's -no one goes out or comes in this way at night. Well, it's a nice mess, -eh? So the old Shylock called the turn on you, did he?" - -There seemed to be a helpless note in Calhoun's voice. He passed his -hand heavily across his eyes. - -"What's the meaning of this?" he cried out. "What do you know about what -happened in there?" - -"Nothing much," said the other coolly. "Except that I'm the guy that -pinched the swag, and hit Kirschell that welt on the head." - -"_You!_" Calhoun involuntarily stepped back. "Yes, sure--me!" The man -shrugged his shoulders. "Me and a pal who was outside. He's away now -putting the cash box where it won't come to any harm--savvy? He'll be -back pretty soon." - -The Hawk's lips moved. - -"Number Three and Number Seven," whispered the Hawk gently. - -"I--I don't understand," said Calhoun dazedly. "Then why are you -telling me this. And why are you staying here? And how did you know that -Kirschell accused me of being in it?" - -"That's another one that's easy," announced the man evenly. "Because it -was part of the game to _make_ him think so." - -Calhoun seemed to stiffen up. - -"What! You mean, you----" - -"You're getting it!" said the other shortly. "But you'd better wait -until you get it all before you start spitting your teeth out! Mabbe -you've heard of a little interference with the telegraph wires, and -a few small jobs pulled off around here where some innocent parties -accidentally got croaked? Ah--you have, eh! Well, that's where you come -in, Calhoun. We want you--and when we want anything, we get it! See? -We knew about that note, and we've been expecting the railroad crowd -to wake up some time, and we had you picked out to place our bets on -against them. They woke up to-day and began to nose over the line. It -ain't likely to do them much good, but there's a chance--and we ain't -taking chances. We don't want much from you, Calhoun, just a little -thing, and it'll bring you more money than you ever saw in your life -before and without you running any risk. All you've got to do is stand -for anything in the shape of a splice or tap on the line that they're -suspicious of--you can say it's a repair job of your own, see?" - -An angry flush was tinging Calhoun's cheeks. - -"Is that all?" he burst out passionately. "Well, I'll see you damned -first!" - -"Will you?" returned the other calmly. "All right, my bucko! It's your -funeral. Take your choice. That--or twenty years in the penitentiary. -You're in cold on this. Think it over a bit. For instance, how did you -come to make the break of wanting Kirschell to indorse the payment on -the back of the note, which made him open his safe?" - -"How do you know I did?" Calhoun flashed back sharply. - -"Mabbe I'm only guessing at it," said the man nonchalantly; "and mabbe I -was back in the outside room when you did. But, say, you don't happen -to remember, do you, a little talk you had with a stranger up the line -to-day? And how the conversation got around to loan sharks, and how he -told about a trick they had of giving receipts that were phony, and -how he beat one of them to it by making the shark indorse on the paper -itself? Kind of sunk in, and you bit--eh, Calhoun? We don't do things by -halves. We happen to _need_ you. And what do you think I made the break -of whispering so Kirschell would hear me for?" - -The color was ebbing from Calhoun's face. - -"It's not proof!" The defiant ring in his voice was forced. "I----" - -"It's enough to make Kirschell believe it, and that's all we wanted for -a starter. We'll take care of the rest!" stated the man grimly. "What -did he say to you?" - -Calhoun answered mechanically: - -"He said if I didn't return in half an hour with the cash box, he'd -notify the police." - -"Oh, ho!" The man's lips widened in a grin under the edge of his mask. -"So he's going to wait here, eh? Well, so much the better! It'll save us -a trip to his house. Now, see here, Calhoun, let this sink in!" He put -his hand in his pocket and drew out a slip of paper. "Here's your note. -It was on the desk where Kirschell was writing on it, and I pinched it -when I pinched the cash box. We didn't figure we were going to make the -haul we did to-night--we were after you. But there's _some_ money in -that cash box, as you saw for yourself. Here's the idea: Kirschell's -read a thing or two about what's going on around here--enough to make -him know that there ain't much our gang'll stop at. If you say you're -with us, me and my pal 'll go in there and throw the fear of God into -him. Do you get it? He'll think himself lucky to get off by keeping his -mouth shut about to-night when he finds out who he's up against. Also -you get the note back, and a share of the cash--and more to come later -on." - -"No!" Calhoun cried out. "No! I'm no thief!" - -"All right!" agreed the other indifferently. - -"That's one side of it. Here's the other: Kirschell certainly believes -you took it. He's a shark all right, and he thinks more of his money -than he does of anything else, or he wouldn't have given you the chance -he did. But when you don't show back there with the coin, he'll take -the only other hope he's got of getting his money and turn on the police -tap--see? What are you going to do then? Make a break for it, or let -'em get you? Well, it doesn't matter which. This note and a chunk of the -cash gets mailed to-night--and the police get tipped off to watch your -mail in the morning. Kind of reasonable, isn't it? Your pal, not being -able to find you, and not tumbling to the fact that the police have got -you until too late, comes across with your share like an honest little -man! I think you said something about proof, Calhoun? And I think I told -you before that we didn't do things by halves. How about that on top of -Kirschell's story--do you think it would cinch a jury, or do you think -they'd believe any little fairy story you might tell them, say, about -meeting me? Does it look any more like twenty years than it did?" - -There was a sudden agony in Calhoun's face. - -"My God!" he whispered. "You--you wouldn't do that?" - -The man made no answer. He still held the note-in his hand--but in the -other now he carelessly dangled a revolver. - -"You wouldn't! You wouldn't!" Calhoun's voice was broken now. "I've a -wife and children, and--my God, what am I to do!" - -"That half-hour Kirschell gave you is slipping along," suggested the -other uncompromisingly. "Here's the note, and there's easy money waiting -for you." - -Calhoun turned on the other like a man demented. - -"Do you think I'd touch that cash! Or touch that note--I _owe_ it! I may -not have been able to pay it--but I owe it!" - -"Oh, well, suit yourself as to that, too!" said the man cynically. "It's -the other thing _we_ want. What's the wife and the kids you're talking -about going to do if you go up for twenty years?" - -Calhoun, with a miserable cry, buried his face in his hands. - -There was silence--a minute dragged by. - -"Well?" prompted the man curtly. - -Calhoun dropped his hands, met the other's eyes for an instant--and -turned his head away. - -"Ah, I thought you would!" said the man calmly. "My pal ought to be back -by now, and as soon as he comes we'll go in there and hand Kirschell -his little jolt, and----" He stopped. There was a light rapping on the -entrance door. "Here he is now! We'll----" - -The Hawk was retreating back along the corridor. Again he opened the -door of what he had designated to himself as the secretary's office, and -for the second time that night stepped silently into the room, closing -the door behind him. The sound of running water came from Kirschell's -private office, but there was no other sound--the Hawk made none as he -once more gained his place of vantage behind the desk. Kirschell was -bending over the washbowl, his back turned, bathing his temple and face, -and now, straightening up, he bound a towel tightly around his head. - -The Hawk watched the proceedings impassively, his head, in that -bird-like, listening attitude, cocked on one shoulder toward the outer -door. Steps were coming along the corridor. But this time Kirschell, -too, heard them--for he turned, and, as the corridor door opened, -started toward his desk. He reached it and sat down, as Calhoun entered -the room. - -"Ah, ha!" snapped Kirschell triumphantly. "So you've thought better of -it, have you? I imagined you would! Well, where's the----" The words -seemed to freeze on his lips; there was a sudden terror in his face. -"What--what does this mean?" he faltered. - -Two masked men, the one who had been with Calhoun in the corridor, and a -taller, more heavily built man, had stepped in behind Calhoun, and were -advancing toward the desk. - -The short man pointed a revolver at Kirschell's head. - -"Calhoun says he keeps a gun in the middle drawer of the desk," he -grunted to his companion. "Get it!" - -The other, leaning over, pulled the drawer open, and, appropriating -Kirschell's revolver, stuck it in his pocket. - -Kirschell's tongue circled his lips. He looked wildly from one to the -other. - -"We just dropped in to make a confession, Mr. Kirschell," said the -short man, with an ugly jeer. "We don't like to see an innocent man -suffer--understand? I'm the one that lifted your cash box, you measly -shark--me and my pal there. I heard you trying to stick it on Calhoun. -We ain't asking any favours for ourselves, and when we get through with -you, you can tell the police it was us, and that we're part of the crowd -that's been making things lively around these parts--you've been reading -the papers, ain't you?--but you open your mouth about Calhoun, you put -him in bad when he had nothing to do with it, and inside of twenty-four -hours you'll be found in a dark alley somewhere with a bullet through -you! Get me? You know who you're up against now, and you've got fair -warning!" - -Kirschell was huddled in his chair. His little black eyes were no longer -restless--they were fixed in a sort of terrified fascination on the -speaker. - -"Yes." He licked his lips again. "Yes, I--I understand," he mumbled. - -From his pocket the Hawk took a mask, which he slipped over his face; -and from his pocket he took his automatic. - -"I don't think he believes you," sneered the second masked man, with -a wicked grin. "Perhaps mabbe we'd better twist his windpipe a little, -just to show him in a friendly way that there ain't any mistake about -it--eh?" - -"No, no!" Kirschel's voice was full of fear. "No, no! I believe--I----" -His words ended in a choked scream. - -The man's hands had shot swiftly out, and closed on Kirschell's throat. -He was shaking, twisting, and turning Kirschell's head from side to -side. His companion laughed brutally. Came a series of guttural moans -from Kirschell--and Kirschel's body began to slip limply down in his -chair. - -Calhoun had gone white to the lips. - -"Stop it! My God, stop it!" he burst out frantically. "You promised me -you wouldn't do him any harm." - -"You mind your own business!" snarled the man with the revolver. "We -know how to handle his breed. Give him enough to hold him for a while -Jim! We----" - -"Drop that revolver! _Drop it!_" The Hawk was standing in the doorway. - -There was a startled oath from the leader of the two men as he whirled -around, a gasp as he faced the Hawk's automatic--and his weapon -clattered to the floor. The other, in a stunned way, still hung over -Kirschell, but his hands had relaxed their hold on Kirschel's throat. - -"Thank you!" drawled the Hawk. "I must say I agree with Mr. Calhoun. -It's not a pleasant sight to watch a man being throttled." His voice -rang suddenly cold. "You, there!" His automatic indicated the man beside -Kirschell. "Stand back at the end of the desk, and put up your hands!" - -Calhoun had not moved. He was staring numbly at the Hawk. Kirschell, -making guttural sounds, was clawing at his throat. - -"Mr. Calhoun," requested the Hawk coolly, "as I happen to know that you -have little reason to love either of these two gentlemen, will you be -good enough to pick up that revolver and hand it to me?" Calhoun stooped -mechanically, and extended it to the Hawk. - -"And now our friend over there with his hands up, Mr. Calhoun," -purred the Hawk. "You will find two in his pockets--his own, and Mr. -Kirschell's. Mr. Kirschell, I am sure, is already fairly well convinced -that you are in no way connected with the robbery of his cash box, and -I am equally sure that in no way could you better dispel any lingering -doubts he might still entertain than by helping to draw these -gentlemen's teeth." - -Calhoun laughed a little grimly now. - -"I don't know who you are," he said, his lips set, as he started toward -the man; "but I guess you're right. I'd like to see them get what's -coming to them." - -"Quite so!" said the Hawk pleasantly. He accepted the two remaining -revolvers from Calhoun; and from his pocket produced his skeleton keys. -He handed them to Calhoun, designating one of the keys on the ring. "One -more request, Mr. Calhoun," he said. "I entered by the door that opens -on the corridor from this other office here. Will you please lock it; -and, on your way back, also lock this connecting door through which I -have just come in--the key of the latter, I noticed, is in the lock." - -Calhoun nodded, took the keys, and stepped quickly from the room. -Kirschell, evidently not seriously hurt from the handling he had -received, though still choking a little and clearing his throat with -short coughs, was regarding the Hawk with a questioning stare. The eyes -of the other two men were on the Hawk's revolver. The shorter of the two -suddenly raised a clenched fist. - -"The Hawk!" he flashed out furiously. "You cursed snitch! You'll wish -you were dead before we're through with you!" - -"So the Butcher told me last night." The Hawk smiled plaintively. "Move -a little closer together, you two--yes, like that, at the far end of -the desk beside each other. Thank you! You are much easier to cover that -way." - -Calhoun returned, locking the connecting door behind him, and handed the -door key, together with the key-ring, back to the Hawk. - -The Hawk moved forward to the desk. He was alert, quick, ominous now. -The drawl, the pleasantry was gone. - -"Out there in the hall," he said coldly, "I heard Mr. Calhoun refuse -to take back his note--from a thief. You"--his revolver muzzle jerked -toward the short man--"hand it out!" - -The man reached viciously into his pocket, and tossed the note on the -desk. - -The Hawk pushed it toward Kirschell. - -"Mr. Kirschell," he said quietly, "you no doubt had good reasons for it, -but you have none the less falsely accused Mr. Calhoun. Furthermore, Mr. -Calhoun has been instrumental in laying these two who have confessed by -the heels. Under the circumstances, if you are the man I think you are, -you will tear that up." - -Kirschell lingered the note for an instant. He looked from Calhoun to -the Hawk, and back at Calhoun again. - -"Yes," he said abruptly--and tore it into several pieces. "I suppose -I could hardly do less. You are quite right! And, Mr. Calhoun, I--I -apologise to you." - -A flush spread over Calhoun's face. He swallowed hard, and his lips -quivered slightly. - -"Mr. Kirschell," he stammered, "I--I----" - -"That's all right!" interposed the Hawk whimsically. "Don't start -any mutual admiration society. I dislike embarrassing situations; and -besides, Mr. Calhoun"--his eyes travelled from one to the other of the -two masked men--"I think you had better go now." - -"Go?" repeated Calhoun, somewhat bewilderedly. - -"Yes," supplemented the Hawk. "As far as you are concerned, you are -clear and out of this now. Stay out of it, and say nothing--that's the -best thing you can do." - -"Well, that suits me," said Calhoun with a wry smile, "if Mr. -Kirschell----" - -"Exactly! I see!" approved the Hawk. "It does you credit. But Mr. -Kirschell and I are quite capable of settling with these two; and you -can thank Mr. Kirschell further to-morrow if you like--when I'm not -here! Now--if you please!" - -Calhoun turned, and walked to the door. His footsteps echoed back from -the general office. Then the corridor door closed behind him. - -The Hawk addressed the two masked men. - -"Last night," remarked the Hawk gently, "it was the Butcher, and -to-night it is--pardon me"--he was close in front of the two now, and, -with a jerk, snatched the masks from their faces--"Whitie Jim, and the -Bantam! Well, I might have known from the Butcher! You're all out of the -same kind of cocoons! The poor old simp at the head of your gang is sure -stuck with a moth-eaten lot! He's sure collected a bunch of left-overs! -Why, say, back there in New York, where a _real_ crook couldn't keep the -grin off his face every time he met you, even the police had you passed -up as harmless cripples!" - -"You go to blazes!" growled the Bantam, with an oath. "You'll sing -through the other side of your mouth for this yet!" - -"You are not nice to me, Bantam," said the Hawk, in a pained voice. "You -don't appreciate what I'm doing for you. It was a piker game you tried -to hand Calhoun; but, even at that, I wouldn't have queered it if it -would have helped you work out a few more little deals, so that I could -skim the cream off them. But it wouldn't! I don't see what you gain by -interfering with the telegraph lines, but I'll let you in on something. -I've been keeping an eye on MacVightie because MacVightie's been -keeping an eye on me, and I overheard him talking to the superintendent -to-night. MacVightie's got an idea that Calhoun's fooling with the wires -now. See where you would have been? If Calhoun had ever got started on -the real thing, some of you would have been nipped--and, say, there's -nothing like that going to happen if I can help it! You and your crowd -are too valuable to me to take any chances of your getting in wrong -anywhere. I'm not wringing the neck of the goose that lays my golden -eggs! Tell that to the guy that's supposed to have the brains of your -outfit, will you? And you might add that I don't want any thanks. I'm -getting well paid." - -"You'll get paid, curse you!" The Bantam's voice was hoarse with fury. -"You butted in once too often last night. The Butcher warned you. -There ain't any more warnings. You've got the drop on us here to-night, -but----" - -"It's getting late," said the Hawk wearily. "And I'm sure Mr. Kirschell -agrees with me that it is about time to produce that cash box--do you -not, Mr. Kirschell?" - -Kirschell made no reply. - -The Hawk smiled--unhappily. - -"I don't think you put it back in the safe--I see that the door is still -wide open. A drawer in the desk, then, perhaps? Ah--_would you!_" There -was a sudden deadly coldness in the Hawk's voice. The Bantam had edged -around the corner of the desk. "If any of you move another inch, I'll -drop you as quick as I'd drop a mad dog! Now then--if the Cricket will -oblige? I'll give him until I count three. One--two----" - -"Damn you!--Kirschell's face was livid and contorted. He wrenched a -lower drawer open, and flung the cash box on the desk. - -"The Butcher, Whitie Jim, the Bantam, and the Cricket," murmured the -Hawk. "It's good to see old New York faces out here, even if you do size -up like bush-leaguers trying to bust into high society. You can -take that towel off, if you like, Cricket, it doesn't become you -particularly--and, as you've washed off the heart-rending effect of that -little bag of liquid stain you smashed over your temple, I'm sure you'll -look less like a comic opera star! No? Well, please yourself!" The Hawk -was coolly transferring the contents of the cash box to his pockets -with his left hand. "These papers," mused the Hawk deliberately aloud, -"appear to be some securities you lifted on that Pullman car raid. -Rather neat idea, this, establishing this office--sort of a clearing -house, I take it, for the gang's drag-net--'loans, mortgages and general -exchange!' I take back part of what I said--this shows a first faint -glimmer of brains. Well, keep the office going, your interests are mine! -You'll notice that I was considerate enough to get Calhoun out of the -way before the show-down. You were very generous, magnanimous even, -Cricket--I admire you! Calhoun'll swear Mr. Kirschell is the squarest -man on earth--and don't forget that's another little debt of gratitude -you owe the Hawk. Three thousand dollars!" The Hawk's pockets were -bulging. "Must have been what you separated some one from when I wasn't -looking! Glad you weren't stingy with your bait for Calhoun! I heard -to-day that Mr. Kirschell kept a good deal of cash in his safe, but I -had no idea that Mr. Kirschell was the Cricket--not till I came here -this evening to take a look at Mr. Kirschell's safe. I must say it has -been a surprise--a very pleasant surprise." - -The cash box was empty. The Hawk backed away from the desk. - -None of the three men spoke--they were eying him like caged and -infuriated beasts. - -The Hawk reached the doorway. - -"You will observe," smiled the Hawk engagingly, "that this is now the -only exit, and that as I walk backward across the outer office any one -who steps into this doorway will be directly in the line of fire." He -bowed facetiously, backed through the doorway and across the general -office, and, still facing the inner room, opened the corridor door and -stepped out. - -And then the Hawk spoke again. - -"I bid you good evening, gentlemen!" said the Hawk softly. "You will -pardon me if I put you to the inconvenience of locking this door--on the -outside." - - - - -VII--WANTED--THE HAWK--DEAD OR ALIVE - -MACVIGHTIE had become troublesome. For two days MacVightie had very -seriously annoyed the Hawk. It was for that reason that the Hawk now -crept stealthily up the dark, narrow stairs, and, on the landing, -listened in strained attention before the door of his own room. - -Reassured finally, he opened the door inch by inch, noiselessly. The -bolt, in grooves that were carefully oiled, made no sound in slipping -into place, as the Hawk entered and closed the door behind him. So far, -so good! He was quick, alert, but still silent, as, in the darkness, -he crossed swiftly to the window, and crouched down against the wall. -A minute, two, went by. The fire-escape, passing at an angle a short -distance below the window sill, and at first nebulous in the blackness, -gradually took on distinct and tangible shape. Still the Hawk held there -motionless, searching it with his eyes--and then, abruptly, satisfied -that it sheltered no lurking shadow, he straightened up, thrust his -automatic back into his pocket, pulled down the shade, and, turning back -into the room, switched on the light. - -MacVightie, it appeared, still had lingering suspicions of this room -over the somewhat disreputable saloon below, and still had lingering -suspicions of its occupant. All that afternoon the Hawk was quite well -aware that he had been shadowed--but the result had been rather in his -favour than in Mac-Vightie's. From the moment he had discovered that he -was being followed, he had devoted his time to making applications for -a job--for MacVightie's benefit--that being the reason he had given -MacVightie for his presence in Selkirk. Later on, when it had grown -dark, having business of his own, he had left MacVightie's satellite -standing on a street corner somewhat puzzled just which way to turn! -That, however, had no bearing on the watch that had been, or might be at -the present moment, set upon this room. - -The Hawk, in apparent abstraction, was flipping a coin up in the air and -catching it. There was a slight frown on the Hawk's face. MacVightie's -suspicions were still lingering for the simple reason that MacVightie, -utterly at sea, was clutching at the only straw in sight, unless--the -coin slipped through the Hawk's fingers and fell beside his trunk. He -stooped to pick it up--yes, not only had the room been searched, but the -trunk had been opened! The single strand of hair, almost indiscernible -against the brass and quite innocently caught in the lock, was broken. -Well, he had not finished that mental sentence. Unless--_what?_ - -He tucked the coin into his pocket, and, standing up, yawned and -stretched himself. With the toe of his boot he lazily pushed a chair -out from the wall. The chair fell over. The Hawk picked it up, and quite -casually set it down--near the door. He took off his coat, and flung it -over the back of the chair. - -The Hawk's face was greyer now, as it set in rigid lines, but there was -no tremor in the hand that inserted the key in the lock of the trunk. -He flung back the lid--and his eyes, for an instant, searched the room -again sharply. The window shade was securely drawn; the coat over -the back of the chair completely screened the keyhole of the door. He -laughed a little then--mirthlessly. Well, the trunk had been opened! Had -MacVightie found _all_--or nothing? - -His fingers were working swiftly, deftly now around the inside edges -of the lid. He was either caught here, cornered, at bay--or MacVightie, -once for all, would be satisfied, and, as far as MacVightie was -concerned, the coast would hereafter be clear. The Hawk's dark eyes -narrowed, the square under jaw crept out and set doggedly. It had been a -close call, perilously close, that other night when he had taken the ten -thousand dollars from the paymaster's safe, and MacVightie had followed -him here to this room. He had pulled the wool over MacVightie's eyes for -the moment--but MacVightie had returned to the old trail again. Well, -the cards were on the table now, and it was a gamble that was grim -enough! Either he was quit of MacVightie, could even count on MacVightie -as a sort of sponsor for his innocence; or--"Ah!" The ingeniously -fashioned false tray in the curvature of the lid had come away in -the Hawk's hands. He was safe! MacVightie had missed it! In the tray, -untouched, where he had left them, lay the packages of banknotes from -the paymaster's safe; in the tray still glittered the magnificent -diamond necklace, whose theft from the wife of His Excellency the -Governor of the State had already furnished more than one of the big -dailies back in the East with attractive copy for their Sunday editions; -and there, undisturbed, were the contents of Isaac Kirschell's cash box, -a trifling matter of some three thousand dollars; and there too, snugly -tucked away in one corner, was the bundle of crisp, new, counterfeit -ten-dollar bills. The Hawk grinned maliciously, as his eyes rested -on the counterfeit notes. The one he had sent, inscribed with his -compliments, to MacVightie, when he had returned the otherwise empty -paymaster's bag to the detective, had not pleased MacVightie! - -Quite at his ease now, the Hawk fitted the false top back into the lid, -closed the trunk, locked it, drew a chair up to the table, and sat down. -With MacVightie removed as a possible factor of interruption, there was -another, and very pressing little matter to which he was now at liberty -to give his attention. He produced a folded sheet of paper from his -inside vest pocket, spread it out on the table before him, and inspected -it with a sort of cynical curiosity. In each corner were tack holes. -He had removed it less than half an hour ago--not through any misguided -dislike to publicity, but simply because he had urgently required a -piece of paper--from a conspicuous position on the wall of the railroad -station. It was a police circular. The Hawk had not before had an -opportunity to absorb more than the large type captions--he filled his -pipe calmly now, as he read it in its entirety: - -$5,000 REWARD--FOR EX-SING SING CONVICT - -Five Thousand Dollars Reward Will Be Paid For Information Leading to the -Arrest and Conviction of THE HAWK, Alias HARRY MAUL. - -Here followed a description tallying with the one given by MacVightie -to Lanson, the division superintendent, and which Lanson had caustically -remarked would not fit more than twenty-five thousand men in Selkirk -City; followed after that a résumé of the crimes recently committed on -the railroad, amongst them the theft of the diamond necklace and the -robbery of the paymaster's safe; and, at the end, in bold-faced type -again: - -$2,000 REWARD - -Two Thousand Dollars Reward Will Also be Paid For Information Leading -to the Arrest and Conviction of Each and Every One of THE HAWK'S -Confederates. - -The Hawk smiled broadly, as he held the flame of a match to his pipe -bowl. The last paragraph was exquisitely ironical. Those whom MacVightie -so blithely called the "Hawk's confederates" were vying with each other -at that exact moment, and for the exact amount of two thousand dollars -offered by the Master Spider of the gang, for the privilege of putting -an even more conclusive end--in the shape of a knife thrust, a bullet, -or a blackjack--to the Hawk! - -"And," said the Hawk softly, as he turned the circular over, "I guess -they'd make it a whole lot more if they knew that I had--_this!_" - -The back of the circular was covered with line after line of what, -seemingly, was but a meaningless jumble of scribbled letters--nor, in -this case, were the letters any too well formed. The Hawk had laboured -under difficulties when the telegraph sounder had "broke" unexpectedly -with the message. He had been listening--as he was always listening when -within sound of a telegraph instrument--but he had never known a message -from the Wire Devils to come through at so early an hour in the evening -before. He had shaken MacVightie's man off the trail and had gone down -to the depot, intending to go up the line to the first small station, -where, with little chance of being discovered, he could spend the night -within earshot of the operator's instrument--in the hope that his vigil -would not, as it sometimes did, prove futile. He had been standing -under the dispatcher's open window waiting for a train, when the police -circular tacked on the station wall had caught his eye. The large type -was readily decipherable, but the platform lights were poor, and he -had stepped closer to read the remainder--and instead, glancing quickly -about him to see that he was not observed, he had snatched the circular -from the wall, and, whipping a pencil from his pocket, had scrawled on -the reverse side, as best he could, the message that was rattling -in over the dispatcher's sounder from the room above. He had taken -chances--but he had played in luck. No one had noticed him, and--well, -he was here now with the message; and, since it must sooner or later -have been put to the proof in any case, he was back here, too, to find -that he was quit of MacVightie. - -"Yes," confided the Hawk to himself, as he reached for a blank sheet of -paper in the drawer of the table, "I guess I played in luck--both ways. -Wonder if there's another ripe little melon here going to be shoved my -way on a gold platter by the Butcher and his crowd?" - -The Hawk studied the cipher for a moment. - -"lqrtvy... key letter... stroke at six...two-three-one," he murmured. - -He drew the fresh sheet of paper toward him, and began to work busily. -Occasionally he paused, staring dubiously at a letter--he had taken the -message under far from ideal conditions, and a mistake here and there, -if not fatal, was annoying and confusing. Finally, however, the Hawk -leaned back in his chair, and whistled low under his breath. The -message, deciphered and arranged into words and sentences, ran: - -_Final orders. Number One, Three, and Six hold up Fast Mail three miles -east of Burke's Siding to-night. Cut wires on approach. Express car next -to engine. Uncouple and proceed. Diamond shipment in safe. Messenger -drugged. No interference with remainder of train. Deliver safe five-mile -crossing to Number Four and Seven. Number One, Three, and Six take -engine and car further along the line. Return separately to Selkirk._ - -Again the Hawk whistled low under his breath--and for the second time -reached into his inside vest pocket. He took out a letter that was -addressed, care of general delivery, to Mr. J. P. Carrister. The Hawk -puffed pleasantly at his pipe as he read it: - -"Dear Friend: The folks are all well, and hope you are the same. I -haven't had time to write much lately. I like my new job fine. Say, I -felt like a Fifth Avenue dook for about umpty seconds to-day. One of the -fellows in the office let me hold a package of diamonds in my hand just -to see what it felt like. Gee! Say, you could almost shove it in your -vest pocket, and it was invoiced through customs at twenty thousand -plunks. They were unset stones, and came in from Amsterdam. It made me -feel queer. - -"I wouldn't like to be the fellow that has to keep his eye on it any -of the way from here to San Francisco, where it's going to-morrow by -express. If you see any bright lights flashing around your burg that you -can't account for about 11:15 next Wednesday night, you'll know it's the -diamonds going through in the express-car safe. I'm getting to be some -joker, eh? We all went down to Coney last Sunday. It's been fierce and -hot here. Say, don't be a clam, write us a line. Well, I guess there -ain't any more news. Yours truly, Bud." - -The Hawk, instead of folding up the letter and returning it to his -pocket, began meditatively to tear it into minute shreds, and with it -the police circular and the sheet of paper on which he had worked out -the cipher message. The Fast Mail scheduled Selkirk at 11:15--_and this -was Wednesday night!_ - -"Twenty thousand dollars," said the Hawk gently under his breath. -"Thanks, Bud, old boy! You were there with the goods all right, but it -wasn't a one-man job, and I didn't think there was going to be anything -doing." The Hawk grinned at the ceiling. "And just as I was about -passing up the last check, here they go and fix it for me to scoop the -whole pot! Three miles east of Burke's Siding, eh?" - -The Hawk relapsed into silence for a moment; then he spoke again. - -"Yes," said the Hawk, "I guess that ought to work. She won't make the -three miles from the siding under five or six minutes. She's due -at Burke's at ten-ten. I can make it on the local out of here at -eight-thirty. Twenty thousand dollars--in _unset_ stones! Just as good -as cash--and a lot easier to carry!" - -The Hawk looked at his watch. It was five minutes of eight. He rose -leisurely from his chair, stooped for a precautionary inspection of the -trunk lock, put on his coat, and, moving toward the door, switched off -the light. - -"If I get away with this," observed the Hawk, as he went down the stairs -and let himself out through the street door, "it'll be good-night for -keeps if any of the gang ever pick up my trail--and they won't quit -until they do! And then there's MacVightie and the police. I guess -there'll be some little side-stepping to do--what? Oh, well"--he -shrugged his shoulders--"I guess I'll get a bite of supper, -anyway--there's no telling when I'll have a chance to eat again!" - - - - -VIII--THREADS IN THE WEB - -IT was not far to the station--down through the lane from the Palace -Saloon--and close to the station, he remembered, there was a little -short-order house that was generally patronised by the railroad men. Old -Mother Barrett's short-order house, they called it. She was the wife of -an engineer who had been killed, he had heard, and she had a boy working -somewhere on the railroad. Not that he was interested in these details; -in fact, as he walked along, the Hawk was not interested in old Mother -Barrett in a personal sense at all--but, as he reached the short-order -house and entered, his eyes, as though magnetically drawn in that -direction, fixed instantly on the little old woman behind the counter. - -The Hawk was suddenly very much interested in old Mother Barrett. It was -not that she made a somewhat pathetic figure, that she drooped a little -at the shoulders, that her face under her grey hair looked tired, or -that, though scrupulously neat, her clothes were a little threadbare--it -was none of these things--it was old Mother Barrett's hands that for -the moment concerned the Hawk. She was in the act of adjusting her -spectacles and picking up a very new and crisp ten-dollar bill, that -a customer from the stool in front of her had evidently tendered in -payment for his meal. The Hawk shot a quick glance up and down the room. -There were several other customers at the long counter, but the stool -beside the owner of the ten-dollar bill was vacant--and the Hawk -unostentatiously straddled it. - -He glanced casually at the man at his elbow; allowed his eyes to stray -to the kindly, motherly old face with its grey Irish eyes, that was -puckered now in a sort of hesitant indecision--and glanced a little -more than casually at the banknote she kept turning over and over in her -hands. No, he had not been mistaken. It was one of those counterfeits -which, according to MacVightie, had flooded the East and were now making -their appearance in Selkirk, and it was a duplicate of those in the -false tray of his trunk. His eyes perhaps were sharper than old Mother -Barrett's--in any case, his identification was the quicker, for his gaze -had wandered to the coffee urn, and he was drumming idly on the counter -with his finger tips before the little old woman finally spoke. - -"I--I'm afraid I can't take this," she said slowly, handing the banknote -back across the counter. - -"What's the matter with it?" demanded the man gruffly. - -"Why--it's--it's counterfeit," she said a little anxiously, as though -she were fearful of giving offence. - -The Hawk's eyes, with mild and quite impersonal interest, were on the -man's face now. The man had picked up the bill, and was pretending to -examine it critically. - -"Counterfeit!" echoed the man shortly. "Say, what are you giving us! -It's as good as wheat! Give me my change, and let me get out--I'm in a -hurry!" He pushed the bill toward her again. - -She did not pick it up from the counter this time. - -"I'm sorry." She seemed genuinely disturbed, and the sweet old face was -full of sympathy. "I'm sure you did not know that it was not good, and -ten dollars is a great deal to lose, isn't it? It's too bad. Do you -remember where you got it?" - -"Look here, you're dippy!" snapped the man. "I tell you it's not -counterfeit. Anyway, it's all I've got. If you want your pay, take it!" - -"You owe me thirty-five cents, but I can't take it out of this." She -shook her head in a troubled way. "This is a counterfeit." - -"You seem to be pretty well posted--on counterfeits!" sneered the man -offensively. "How do you know it's a counterfeit--eh?" - -"Because I've seen one like this before," she said simply. "My son -showed me one the last time he was in from his run, and he warned me to -be careful about taking any." - -"Oh, your son--eh?" sneered the man again. "Some son! Wised you up, did -he? Carries it around with him--eh? And who does _he_ shove it off on?" - -There was a queer little sound from the old lady--like a quick, hurt -catch of her breath. The Hawk's eyes travelled swiftly to her face. She -had turned a little pale, and her lips were trembling--but she was drawn -up very proudly, and the thin shoulders were squared back. - -"I love my boy," she said in a low voice, and tears came suddenly into -her eyes, "I love him with all my heart, but I should a thousand times -rather see him dead than know him for a thief. And a man who attempts to -pass these things knowingly is a--_thief_. I have been very respectful -to you, sir, and I do not deserve what you have said. I assumed that -you had been swindled yourself, and that you were perfectly honest in -offering the bill to me, but now from your----" - -"What's the trouble, Mother Barrett?"--a big railroader farther up the -counter had laid down his knife and fork, and swung round on his stool. - -With a hurried glance in that direction, the man hastily thrust the -counterfeit note into his pocket, laid down thirty-five cents on the -counter--and, with a dive across the room, disappeared through the door. - -The Hawk stared thoughtfully after him. - -"I couldn't butt in on that, and hand him one," said the Hawk to himself -almost apologetically. "Not with twenty thousand in sight! I couldn't -afford to get into a row, and maybe miss the local, and spill the beans, -could I?" - -He looked around again to find the little old woman wiping her -spectacles, and smiling at him a little wistfully. - -"I'm sorry that you had to listen to any unpleasantness," she said. "My -little place isn't very pretentious, but I would not like to have you, -a stranger, think that sort of thing was customary here. What can I get -you, sir?" - -It was no wonder that the railroaders evidently swore by old Mother -Barrett, and that one of them had been quick to shift her trouble to his -own shoulders! - -"I guess he was a bad one, all right!" growled the Hawk. - -She shook her head regretfully. There was no resentment left--it was as -though, indeed, the man was a charge upon her own conscience. - -"He meant to be dishonest, I am afraid," she admitted reluctantly; "but -I am sure he cannot be thoroughly bad, for he wasn't very old--just a -young man." - -She was a very simple, trusting little old lady--as well as a sweet -little old lady. Why should her illusions be dispelled? The Hawk nodded -gravely. - -"Perhaps," suggested the Hawk, "perhaps he hasn't had any one to -keep him straight. Perhaps he hasn't got what keeps a good many chaps -straight--a good mother." - -The mist was quick in her eyes again. He had not meant to bring that--he -had meant only to show her a genuine admiration and respect. - -"Perhaps not," she answered slowly. "But if he has, I hope she will -never know." She shook her head again; and then: "But you have not told -me yet what you would like, sir?" - -The Hawk gave his order. He ate mechanically. Back in his mind he was -reviewing a rather extensive acquaintanceship with certain gentry whose -morals were not wholly above reproach. Failing, however, to identify the -individual with the counterfeit note as one of this select number, he -finally dismissed the man somewhat contemptuously from his mind. - -"Just a piker crook, I guess," decided the Hawk. "I'd like to have found -out though how many more of those he's got, and who the fool was that -let an amateur skate like that loose with any of the goods!" - -He finished his meal, paid his bill, smiled a goodnight to old Mother -Barrett, walked out of the short-order house, and made his way over to -the station. Five minutes later, having purchased a magazine, the Hawk, -with a ticket in his pocket for a station a number of miles beyond -Burke's Siding, curled himself up with his pipe on a seat in the smoker -of the local. - -The train started, and the Hawk apparently became immersed in his -magazine. The Hawk, however, though he turned a page from time to time, -was concerned with matters very far removed from the printed words -before him. The game to-night was more hazardous, more difficult, and -for a vastly greater stake than any in which he had before pitted his -wits or played his lone hand against the combined brains of the Butcher, -his fellows, and their unknown leader, who collectively were referred to -by the papers as--the Wire Devils. - -The Hawk tamped down the ash in the bowl of his pipe with a wary -forefinger. He, the Hawk, according to MacVightie, was the leader -of this ingenious criminal league! It was very complimentary of -MacVightie--very! Between MacVightie and the Wire Devils themselves, he -was a personage much sought after! MacVightie, however, was not without -grounds for his assertion and belief--the Hawk grinned pleasantly--he, -the Hawk, had certainly, and for some time back, helped himself to the -leader's share of the spoils, and helped himself very generously! - -The grin died away. He had beaten them so far, appropriated from under -their very noses the loot they had so carefully planned to obtain, and -he had mocked and taunted them contemptuously in the doing of it; but -the cold fact remained that luck sometimes was known to turn, and -that the pitcher that went too often to the well ran the risk of -getting--smashed! If they ever caught him, his life would not be worth -an instant's purchase. He knew some of them, and he knew them well for -what they were, and he laboured under no delusions on that score! The -Butcher, for example, who was the Number One of the message, had already -nearly done for him once; and the Butcher had nothing on Number Three, -who was the Bantam, or on Number Seven, who was Whitie Jim--or, it -was safe to presume, on any of the others that he had not yet -identified--this Number Four and Number Six, for instance, who were -mentioned in the cipher message to-night. And how many more were there? -He did not know--except that there was the Master Spider of them all. - -The Hawk had ceased now even to turn cursorily the pages of the -magazine. He was staring out of the window. - -"I wonder," muttered the Hawk grimly, "when I'll run up against _him?_ -And who he is? And where the head office is?" - -He nodded his head after a moment. MacVightie had called the turn. The -Wire Devils formed as powerful and dangerous a criminal organisation as -had probably ever existed anywhere. And not for very long would they put -all their resources at work to pull off some coup, only to find that he, -the Hawk, had made use of their preparations to snatch the prize away -from them; they were much more likely to put all their resources at -work--with the Hawk as their sole objective! - -The Hawk's lips tightened. He might under-estimate, but he could not -exaggerate, his danger! The man in the seat behind him might be one of -them for all he knew. Somewhere, hidden away in his web, at the end of -a telegraph wire, was the Master Spider directing the operations; and -there must be very many of them--the little spiders--spread all over the -division. Where there was a telegraph sounder that sounder carried -the messages, the plans, the secret orders of the brain behind the -organisation; and the very audaciousness with which they made themselves -free of the railroad's telegraph system to communicate with each other -was in itself a guarantee of success. If one of their messages was -interfered with, they threatened to cut the wires; and that meant, if -luckily it meant no more, that train operating was at an end until -the break could be located and repaired. Were they tapping the wire -somewhere? What chance was there to find out where? There were hundreds -of old splices on the wires. Or, if found, what would prevent them -tapping the wire on the next occasion many miles away? Also the sources -of information that they tapped must be far-flung. How, for instance, -unless they too had a "Bud" back there in New York, did they know of -this diamond shipment coming through to-night? - -The Hawk's lips grew still a little tighter. His safety so far had -depended on the fact that he possessed the key to their cipher messages, -which not only enabled him to reap where they had sown, but warned -him of any move they might make against him. But it was becoming -increasingly difficult to intercept those messages. He had MacVightie -to thank for that. Where before he had only to crawl into some little -way-station where there was no night operator, MacVightie now had every -one of those stations securely guarded. Yes, it had become exceedingly -more difficult! If only he could find out _where_ those messages -emanated from, or the system in force for receiving them! - -The Hawk slid further down in his seat, tossed the magazine to one -side, pulled his hat over his eyes, and appeared to sleep. All that was -neither here nor there--_to-night_. He _had_ the message to-night--but -he had not yet got that twenty thousand dollars in unset stones! He -would perhaps do well, now that he had the leisure, to give the details -of that matter a little more critical attention than they had received -when he had made up his mind that his best chance lay in the three -miles between Burke's Siding and the point where the Butcher and his men -planned to hold up the train. According to the message, the implication -was that there would be nobody in the express car at that time except -a drugged messenger. And now, somehow, he did not quite like the -appearance of that. It seemed a little queer. What was the object of -drugging the man if they did not take immediate advantage of it? He -pondered the problem for a long time. No, after all, it was logical -enough--since they meant to remove the safe bodily. There evidently was -not a specialised cracksman amongst them who had lifted his profession -to the plane of art, no "knob-twirler" such as--well, such as himself! -The Hawk opened his eyes sleepily to inspect the tips of his carefully -manicured fingers. Otherwise, with no one to interfere but a drugged -messenger, they could have opened the safe, looted it, and, since the -Fast Mail carried only through express matter, have slipped away from -the car at the first stop, with no one being the wiser until, somewhere -up the line, the messenger returned to life and gave the alarm. - -Yes, it was very craftily worked out. The Master Spider was far from -a fool! They would have to "soup" the safe, and blow it open. If they -attempted that while the train was en route they ran the risk of being -heard, and trapped like rats in the car; and if they were heard, even -if they managed to stop the train and make their escape, they invited -instant and definite pursuit on the spot. The reason for drugging the -express messenger became quite evident now. If the man were already -helpless when they held up the train, they, at one and the same time, -assured their access to an otherwise guarded car without danger to -themselves, and without danger of being balked at the last moment of -their reward--which the messenger, with a small package like that, might -easily have been able to accomplish if he were a game man. He could have -opened the safe, say, the instant the first alarm came as they tried to -force the car door, taken out the package, and secreted it somewhere. -It needed only the nerve after that to defy them, and they had evidently -given him credit for it whether he possessed it or not. - -Yes, decidedly, the Master Spider was no fool in the spinning of his -web! As it was, the safe, which would only be a small affair anyhow, -would disappear bodily; and between the point where the train was held -up and the point where they finally left the engine and express car -there would be a distance of at least ten miles, even allowing that they -approached no nearer than within two miles of Bradley, the first station -west of Burke's Siding. With the wires cut and the coaches of the Fast -Mail stalled three miles out of Burke's, considerable time must elapse -before any one could make a move against them; and even when the pursuit -finally started, MacVightie, for instance, would be confronted with that -somewhat illusive stretch of ten miles in which to decide _where_ the -pursuit should begin. Ten miles was some little distance! MacVightie -would be quite at liberty to make his guess, and there was the chance, -with the trifling odds of some few odd thousand to one against it, that -he might guess right--unless he guessed that the safe had been removed -at the point where the engine and car were finally left, in which case -MacVightie would guess wrong. - -If the Hawk was asleep, he was perhaps dreaming--for the Hawk smiled. -The chances were just about those few odd thousand to one that -MacVightie would guess exactly that way--wrong. Yes, it was an -exceedingly neat little web that the Master Spider had spun. If he, the -Hawk, were permitted to make a guess, he would guess that the safe would -never be found! - -His mind reverted to the cipher message. The safe was to be delivered at -"five-mile crossing." Where that was the Hawk did not know--except that -it must necessarily be somewhere between the point where the train -was held up and Bradley. However, that was a detail with which he -need hardly concern himself. Long before this "five-mile crossing" -was reached, his vest pocket, if he played in luck, would be very -comfortably lined! He would enter the express car as the Fast Mail -pulled out of Burke's Siding, trust to certain long and intimate -experience to open the safe--and get off the train as it slowed down -at the Butcher's very thoughtful request! For the rest, the -details--circumstances must govern there. In the main, that would be his -plan. - -The Hawk "slept" on. Station after station was passed. His mind now -dealt in little snatches of thought. There was MacVightie and the police -circular; and the search of his room that day; and speculation as to -how they had managed to drug the express messenger; and the man with the -counterfeit ten-dollar bill in old Mother Barrett's short-order house; -and the little old woman herself, with her shabby clothes and her tired, -gentle face--and finally the Hawk stirred, glanced at his watch, and, -as the train whistled, picked up his magazine and sauntered down the car -aisle to the door. - -They were approaching Burke's Siding. The Hawk opened the door, went out -on the platform, and descended to the lowest step. The train slowed. -A water-tank loomed up, receded--and the Hawk dropped to the ground. -A minute later, as the tail-lights winked by and came to a stop at the -station a short distance down the track, he had made his way back, to -the water-tank, crossed to the opposite side of the track, and stretched -himself out on the grass in the hollow at the foot of the embankment. -The Fast Mail's sole excuse for a stop at Burke's Siding was the -water-tank--which would bring the express car to a halt directly in -front of the spot where he now lay. - -The local pulled out, and racketed away into the night. The tail-lights -vanished. Silence fell. There was only the chirping of the insects -now, and the strange, queer, indefinable medley of little night-sounds. -Burke's Siding was a lonely place. There was a faint yellow gleam from -the station windows, and there was the twinkle of the switch lights--no -other sign of life. It was pitch black--so black that the Hawk could -just barely distinguish the outline of the water-tank across the track. - -"It's a nice night," observed the Hawk pleasantly to himself. "A very -nice night! It's strange how some people prefer a moon!" - - - - -IX--THE LOOTING OF THE FAST MAIL - -THE minutes went by, ten, fifteen, twenty of them--a half hour--and -then, from far down the track, hoarse through the night, came the -scream of a whistle. From his pocket the Hawk took out his diminutive -flashlight, thin as a pencil. It might have been the winking of a -firefly, as he played it on the dial of his watch. - -"On the dot!" murmured the Hawk. "Some train--the Fast Mail! I guess, -though, she'll be a little late, at that, to-night--when she pulls into -Selkirk!" A roar and rumble was in the night again, increasing steadily -in volume. Down the right of way, in the distance, a flash of light -stabbed through the black. It grew brighter and brighter. The Hawk, wary -of the spread of the powerful electric headlight, edged further away -from the trackside. And now the rails gleamed like polished silver--and -the water-tank stood up out of the darkness, a thing of monstrous size. -There was the hiss of steam, the rasp and grind of the setting brakes, -the glinting rays from the windows of a long string of coaches that -trailed back to the station platform, and a big ten-wheeler, like some -human thirsty thing, was panting beside the water-tank. - -The engineer, with his torch, swung from the gangway for an oil around. -There was the creak of the descending spout, the rush of water, and, -silhouetted against the water-tank, the Hawk could make out the -fireman standing on the back of the tender. And now, poking with his -long-spouted oil can, weirdly swallowed up in the darkness at intervals -as he thrust the torch far in under the big machine, the engineer moved -slowly along the side of the engine, and finally disappeared around the -end of the pilot. - -The Hawk stole forward closer to the track again, his eyes on the -fireman, who, now that the engineers torch was on the other side, was -more sharply outlined than before. Came then the swish and gush of water -as it overflowed, the spout banged back against the water-tank, and the -fireman scrambled back over the tender into the cab. It was the -moment the Hawk had been waiting for. Swiftly, but still crawling as a -safeguard against being seen by any of the train crew in the rear, he -moved up the embankment, and in an instant had swung himself up between -the tender and the forward door of the express car. There was no -platform here, of course, but the end beam of the car, making a sort of -wide threshold, gave him ample room on which to stand. - -The roar of escaping steam drowned out all other sounds; the back of the -tender hid him from any chance of observation from the cab. He tried the -door cautiously. It was locked, of course--there were twenty thousand -dollars' worth of stones in the safe inside! The Hawk felt carefully -over the lock with his fingers, classifying it in the darkness, as it -were, by the sense of touch, and produced from his packet his bunch of -skeleton keys. He inserted one of the keys, worked with it for a -moment, then shook his head, and selected another. This time he felt -the lock-bolt slide back. The train was jerking into motion now. He -exchanged his keys for his automatic, turned the knob softly, opened the -door an inch, and listened. Even the Wire Devils were not infallible, -and if by any chance the messenger-- - -The Hawk whistled low and contentedly under his breath. He had caught a -glimpse of the interior of the car--and now he slipped quickly through -the door, closing the door behind him. - -A quarter length down the car, in the aisle made by the express packages -which were piled high on either side, the messenger, a young man of -perhaps twenty-two, was huddled, apparently unconscious, in his chair. -In a flash the Hawk was down the car, and bending sharply over the -other. The man sat in a helpless, sagging attitude; he was breathing -heavily, and his head, hanging forward and a little to one side, swayed -limply with the motion of the car. There was no question as to the -messenger's condition--he was drugged, and well drugged. From the man, -the Hawk's eyes travelled to a sort of desk, or ledge, built out from -the side of the car, and topped by a pigeonholed rack stuffed with -express forms and official-looking manila envelopes. On the desk was a -small leather satchel containing some lunch, and a bottle of what was -evidently cold tea, now but barely a quarter full; and, as though to -supply further evidence that the man had succumbed in the midst of his -meal, a little to one side lay a meat sandwich, half eaten. - -The Hawk nodded quietly to himself, as again his eyes shifted--this time -to a small safe, about three feet square, that stood beneath the -desk. It was quite easy to understand now. The Wire Devils had only to -ascertain the fact that it was the messenger's habit to eat his lunch -at a certain time, choose the point of attack on the line to correspond -therewith, and see that a sufficient quantity of knockout drops was -introduced into the cold tea--not a very weighty undertaking for the -Wire Devils! - -Well, it was a bit rough on the boy--the Hawk was kneeling now in front -of the safe--but he, the Hawk, was greatly indebted to the Wire Devils! -Twenty thousand dollars was a snug little sum--quite a snug little sum! - -The figure in the chair, with swaying head, breathed stertorously; there -was the pound, quick in its tempo, of the trucks beating at the rail -joints; the give-and-take of the car in protesting little creaks; and, -over all, a muffled roar as the Fast Mail tore through the night--but -the Hawk heard none of this. His ear was pressed close against the face -of the safe listening for the tumblers' fall, as his fingers twirled the -dial knob. - -After a little while the Hawk spoke aloud. - -"Left, twenty-eight, one quarter... two right, fourteen... two left, -eighteen, one-half," he said. - -He straightened up, swung the handle of the safe--and a dismayed, -anxious look flashed across his face. There was not much time, very -little time---and he had missed it! How far along those three miles from -Burke's Siding to where the Butcher was waiting had the train already -come? - -He tried again, coolly, methodically--and again he missed. - -"I guess I'm out of practice to fall down on a tin box like this!" he -muttered grimly. "But the first two are right, that's sure--it's the -last turn that's wrong somewhere. Give me another minute or two"--he was -twirling the dial knob with deft, quick fingers once more--"that's all I -ask, and----" - -A sudden jolt flung him forward against the safe. Came the scream of the -whistle, the screech of the tight-set brakes, the bump, and jerk, and -pound, and grind of the flying train coming to an emergency stop. The -limp form of the messenger, sliding down, was almost doubled over the -arm of the chair. - -In an instant the Hawk had recovered his balance, and, his face set like -iron, his jaws clamped hard, he snatched at the knob, and with desperate -haste now made another attempt. There were a few seconds left, a few -seconds before the train would come finally to a standstill and--no, -they were gone now, those seconds--and he had missed again! - -His automatic was in his hand as he stood up. It was no longer a -question of twenty thousand dollars' worth of unset diamonds--it was a -question of his life. There was a bitter smile on his lips, as he ran -for the forward door. It looked as though the pitcher had at last gone -once too often to the well! The train had stopped now. He reached the -door, and opened it guardedly a little way. A great red flare from -somewhere ahead lighted up the night. He heard and recognised the -Butcher's voice, menacing, raucous, punctuated with vicious oaths: - -"Get out of that cab, and get out _damned_ quick! Down you come--jump -now! Now, boys, run 'em back, and keep firing down the length of the -train as you go; and if these guys don't run faster than you do, let 'em -have it in the back! Beat it now--beat it like hell! I'll pull out the -minute you're uncoupled. You two grab the rear end as she moves, there's -room enough for you, and you can bust in the door, and----" - -A fusilade of shots rang out. Flashes cut the black. The Butcher's two -companions, evidently driving the engineer and fireman before them, were -coming on the run along the trackside from the cab. The Hawk retreated -back a step, and closed the car door. He heard the men rush past -outside. The fusilade seemed to redouble in intensity; and now, added to -it, were shouts and yells from the rear of the train itself, and--if he -were not mistaken--answering shots. - -His hand on the doorknob, he stood waiting tensely. With the Butcher on -guard out there in front, it would have been equivalent to suicide -to have opened the door again until he knew the other was back in the -cab--against the background of the lighted interior he would have made a -most excellent mark for the Butcher! - -His eyes swept past the huddled form of the young messenger in the -chair, and fixed speculatively on the safe. He nodded suddenly, grimly. -Twenty thousand dollars! Well, he wasn't beaten yet--not till he threw -down his own hand of his own accord--not till he lost sight of the safe -for keeps! - -Over the shouts and revolver shots came the sharp, vicious hiss of the -air-hose, as it was uncoupled; and then, with a violent jerk, the car -started forward, as the Butcher evidently whipped the throttle open. -And, coincidently, there was a smash upon the rear door--and the Hawk -opened the forward door and slipped out again. - -A din infernal was in his ears. Like a maddened thing under the -Butcher's unscientific spur, the big ten-wheeler was coughing the sparks -heavenward in a volleying stream, while the huge drivers raced like -pinwheels in another shower of sparks as the tires sought to bite and -hold. And now the rear door of the car crashed inward; the shots came -fast as a gatling, and shouts, screams and yells added their quota to -the uproar. - -The Hawk, crouched by the door, moved suddenly to one side, as he caught -the dull, ominous _spat_ of a bullet against one of the panels. The -train crew and those of the passengers who were armed were, very -obviously, keeping up a running fight from the stalled section of the -train, and pumping their bul-lets through the broken rear door and up -the aisle of the express car as long as they could hold the range; and, -from within, he could distinguish the duller, muffled reports of the -Butcher's confederates firing in return, preventing any attempt being -made to rush the rear of the car. - -And then the sounds began to recede and die away. The men inside the car -ceased firing, and he could hear them now moving the safe out from the -side of the car. It seemed as though a very long interval of time had -been consumed in the hold-up; but in reality he knew it had been little -more than a matter of seconds--the time it had taken the two men to run -the length of the car, uncouple it, and leap on the rear end. The fight -afterwards could hardly count, for once the express car began to pull -away the thing was done. - -They were moving fast now, and with every instant the speed was -increasing. The Hawk clutched at the handrail, and lowered himself to -the iron foot-rung which, on the express car, served in lieu of steps. -Here, having chosen the opposite side to that of the Butcher at the -throttle in the cab, he ran no risk of being observed. This "five-mile -crossing," wherever it was, promised to concern him a great deal more -than he had anticipated! He leaned out, and clung there, staring ahead. - -The big ten-wheeler was swaying and staggering like a drunken thing; the -rush of the wind whipped at his face; a deafening roar sang in his ears. -The Fast Mail usually ran _fast_; but the Butcher was running like a -dare-devil, and the bark of the exhaust had quickened now into a single -full-toned note deep as thunder. - -With a sort of grim placidity, the Hawk clung to the lurching rail. Far -ahead along the right of way, a shaft of light riven through walls of -blackness, played the headlight. Shadowy objects, trees that loomed up -for an instant and were gone, showed on the edge of the wavering ray. -They tore through a rock cut, and, in the confined space and in the -fraction of a second it took to traverse it, the roar was metamorphosed -into an explosion. And then suddenly, as though by magic, the headlight -shot off at a tangent, and the glistening lines of steel, that were -always converging but never meeting, were gone, and the ray fell full -upon a densely wooded tract where leaves and foliage became a soft and -wonderful shade of green under the artificial light. The Hawk braced -himself--and just in time. The ten-wheeler, unchecked, swung the curve -with a mighty lurch, off drivers fairly lifted from the rails. She -seemed to hang there hesitantly for a breathless instant, then with a -crunch, staggering, settled back and struck into her stride again. - -The thunder of the exhaust ceased abruptly, and the speed began to -slacken. The Butcher had slammed the throttle shut. At the end of the -headlight's ray, that was straight along the track again, a red light -flashed up suddenly three times and vanished. The Hawk leaned farther -out, tense now, straining his eyes ahead. It was evidently Number Four -and Number Seven signalling from "five-mile crossing." - -The Butcher began to check with the "air." And now, in the headlight's -glare, the distance shortened, the Hawk could discern a large wagon, -drawn by two horses, that appeared to be backed up close to the -right-hand side of the track. Two forms seemed to be tugging at the -horses, which equally seemed to be plunging restively--and then, being -on the wrong side of the car, the angle of vision narrowed and he could -see no more. - -The Hawk turned now--his eyes on the door of the car. There was a -possibility, a little more than a possibility, that the men inside, -knowing that they had reached their destination, would come out this -way. No--he had only to keep hidden from the men out there with the -wagon until the car stopped--the men within were sliding back the side -door. He swung himself still farther out on the foot-rung; then, curving -back with the aid of the handrail, flattened himself against the side of -the car. - -They were close up to the wagon now, and he could hear voices cursing -furiously at the horses, as the frightened animals stamped and pawed. -And then the car bumped and jerked to a standstill, and the Butcher was -bawling from the cab: - -"Take the horses out, you blamed fools, and tie 'em back there on the -road a bit till we're gone! We'd have a sweet time loading the wagon -with them doing the tango every second! Take 'em out! We'll back the -wagon up against the car." - -The Hawk lowered himself silently to the ground--to find that the car -had come to a stop directly over a road crossing. The men in the car had -joined their voices with the Butcher's, and in the confusion now the -Hawk slipped quickly along the side of the car, stole around the rear -end, and from that point of vantage stood watching the Butcher and his -men at work. - -He could see quite plainly, thanks to the light from the car's wide-open -side door that flooded the scene. The horses had been unharnessed, and -were being led away along the road. One of the men in the car jumped -to the ground, as the Butcher called out, and together they backed the -wagon close up against the car doorway; and then, presently, the men who -had accompanied the horses, one carrying a lantern, came running back. -The Hawk's eyes, from a general and comprehensive survey of the scene, -fixed on the man who until now had not left the car, but who had now -sprung down into the wagon and was running a short plank, to be used -as a skid evidently, up to the threshold of the car door, which was a -little above the level of the wagon. The light shone full in the man's -face. - -"Number Six--Crusty Kline!" confided the Hawk softly to himself. "I'm -glad to know that. The last time I chummed with Crusty was back in -little old Sing Sing. Guess he got out for good behaviour--thought he -was elected for five spaces yet!" - -Crusty spoke now, as he jumped back into the car. - -"Look here, Butcher, I'm telling you again, this guy in here's in pretty -bad shape." - -"Never mind about that!" replied the Butcher roughly. "Get the safe out! -All hands now! We've got no time to monkey with him. He'll come around -all right, I guess--anyway, it's none of our lookout!" - -The men were bunched together now, three in the doorway of the car and -two in the wagon, the safe between them. The Hawk was studying one of -the two who stood in the wagon. One was Whitie Jim, as he already knew, -but the other had had his back half turned, and the Hawk had not been -able to see his face. The safe slid down the plank, and was levered and -pushed forward into the middle of the wagon. - -"French Pete!" said the Hawk suddenly and as softly as before, as the -man he had been watching straightened up and turned around. "Say, I -guess Sing Sing's gone out of business--or else somebody left the door -open!" - -But if the Hawk's words were indicative of a facetious mood, his actions -were not. There was a sort of dawning inspiration in the dark, narrowed -eyes; and the strong jaw, as it was outthrust, drew his lips into a -grim, hard smile. They were spreading a huge tarpaulin over the wagon -and safe--and abruptly the Hawk drew back, dropped to his hands and -knees, crawled along the trackside on the opposite side of the car again -until almost opposite the wagon, and there lay flat and motionless at -the side of the road. There was a chance yet, still a chance, a very -good chance--for that twenty thousand dollars' worth of unset stones. - -"All right, now!" It was the Butcher's voice. "Pull her away a few feet -into the clear!" The wagon creaked and rattled. "That's enough! Now get -a move on--everybody!" - -Steps crunched along the trackside--the Butcher and his two companions -obviously making for the cab--and a moment later came the cough of the -engine's exhaust, and the express car began to glide past the spot where -the Hawk lay. - -The Hawk raised himself cautiously on his elbows. Two dark forms and a -bobbing lantern were already speeding toward where the horses had been -left. The Hawk crawled forward, crossed the track--and paused. The -engine and express car were fast disappearing in the distance; the -lantern glimmered amongst the trees at the side of the road a good -hundred yards away. - -There was no shadow to fall across the back of the wagon. - -"I said it was a nice night, and that it was strange how some people -preferred a moon!" observed the Hawk cheerfully--and, lifting the end -of the tarpaulin, he swung noiselessly under it into the wagon, and -stretched himself out beside the safe. - - - - -X--THE THIRD PARTY - -The Hawk felt upward with his hand over the safe. It was faced, he -found, toward the rear of the wagon. This necessitated a change in his -own position. He listened tensely. They were coming back with the horses -now, but they were still quite a little way off. He shifted quickly -around until his head and shoulders were in front of the safe. - -"It was the last turn of the combination that I fell down on, though I -don't see how it happened!" muttered the Hawk. - -He felt above his head again, this time rubbing his fingers critically -over the tarpaulin--and then the diminutive little flashlight winked, -winked again as it played around him, and finally held steadily on the -nickel dial. There were no inadvertent openings, and, particularly, no -holes in the tarpaulin, and the texture of the tarpaulin was a guarantee -that the tiny rays of light would not show through. - -They were harnessing the horses into the wagon now. The Hawk, in a -somewhat cramped position, due to the wagon's narrow width, his legs -twisted at right angles to his body as he lay on his back, reached up -and began to twirl the dial knob slowly and with painstaking care. - -"Left, twenty-eight, one quarter," murmured the Hawk; and, a moment -later: "Two right, four----" - -The Hawk swore earnestly under his breath. The jolt of the wagon, coming -unexpectedly as it started forward, had caused him to spin the knob too -far around. - -It was hot, stifling hot, under the heavy tarpaulin, that, slanting -downward from the little safe, lay almost against his face. A bead of -sweat had gathered on his forehead. He brushed it away, and began -again to work at the dial. It was more difficult now--the wagon bumped -infernally. And as he worked, he could hear the muffled clatter of the -horses' hoofs, and occasionally the voices of the two men on the seat. - -And then suddenly the Hawk's fingers travelled from the dial knob to the -handle. Had he got it this time, or--yes! The handle swung easily--there -was a low metallic thud--the bolt had slipped back to the end of its -grooves. The safe was unlocked! - -"Twenty thousand dollars!" said the Hawk very softly--and, without the -slightest sound, he edged his body backwards to afford space for the -swing of the opening door. "Twenty thousand doll----" - -The word died, half uttered, on the Hawk's lips. The flashlight was -illuminating the interior of the safe. On the bottom lay a single, -crisp, ten-dollar counterfeit note, over the face of which was scrawled -in ink--"_With the Hawk's compliments!_" Otherwise the safe was empty. - -For a moment, like a man dazed, he stared at the counterfeit note. -He could not seem to believe his eyes, Empty--the safe was empty! The -diamonds were gone--gone! Gone--and these poor fools were driving an -empty safe to the Master Spider--and another poor fool, with dropped -jaw, was staring, gaping like an imbecile, into one! And then, a grip -upon himself again, he laughed low, grimly, unpleasantly. "With the -Hawk's compliments!" He had sent a bill like that once to MacVightie -inscribed--"With the Hawk's compliments!" This was very neat, very -clever of--_somebody_. Of somebody--who must have known what the Wire -Devils were up to to-night! There would be no doubt in the minds of -the Wire Devils, who would have heard of that little episode with -MacVightie, but that the Hawk had again forestalled them, and left them -a ten-dollar counterfeit bill in exchange for--twenty thousand dollars' -worth of unset diamonds! Only it was this somebody, and not he, the -Hawk, who was twenty thousand dollars the richer for it! - -He reached in, picked up the bill to put it in his, pocket--and suddenly -laid it back again, and closed and locked the safe. Why deprive the -Master Spider of a little joy; and, besides, it would carry a message -not perhaps so erroneous after all--for, in a flash, logically, -indisputably, apparently impossible though it appeared to be on the -surface, he knew who that _somebody_ was. The shelving of the theft to -the Hawk's shoulders would have defeated its own object unless the -theft were committed and discovered on this particular division of -the railroad where the Hawk and, incidentally, his supposed gang of -desperadoes were known to be operating. The messenger certainly had not -been in a drugged condition when he went on duty, and, since it was only -reasonable to assume that he would have satisfied himself everything was -all right at that time, it was evident, as he had given no alarm, that -the contents of the safe had been intact when he took charge--whether as -a "through" man in New York, or at the eastern terminus of the road, -or at the last divisional point--it did not matter which. The robbery, -then, had been committed while the messenger was present in the car--and -it had been committed on this division. The safe had not been forced, -it showed not the slightest sign of violence--it had been opened on the -combination. Some one then, an expert safe-worker, in the first stages -of the messenger's drugged condition, had happened into the car just -ahead of him, the Hawk, and had done exactly what he, the Hawk, had -intended to do? - -"No," said the Hawk. "No, I guess not." He was wriggling noiselessly -backward, and his feet were hanging out now over the end of the wagon. -"No--coincidences like that don't happen--not very often!" The Hawk's -head and shoulders were still under the tarpaulin, but his feet now -could just feel the ground beneath them. "I guess," said the Hawk, as he -suddenly withdrew his head, and, crouching low, ran a few steps with the -wagon, then dropped full length in the road, "I guess it's--the third -party." - -The wagon disappeared in the darkness. The Hawk rose, and, turning, -broke into a run back along the road. - -He had been longer in the wagon than he had thought--it took him ten -minutes to regain the railroad tracks. - -Here, without pause, still running, he kept on along the right of -way--but there was a hard twist to his lips, and the clenching of his -fists was not wholly due to runner's "form." How far had the Butcher -taken the car before deserting it? A mile? Two miles--three? He could -not run three miles under half an hour, and that would be _fast_ over -railroad ties! How long would it be before the train crew of the stalled -Mail got back to Burke's Siding and managed somehow, in spite of the cut -wires, to give the alarm--or how long before the dispatcher at Selkirk, -with the Fast Mail reported "out" at Burke's Siding and no "O. S." from -Bradley, would smell a rat? It would take time after that, of course, -before anything could be done; but, at best, the margin left for him was -desperately narrow. - -He ran on and on; his eyes, grown accustomed to the darkness, enabling -him to pick out the ties with a fair degree of accuracy. There was not -a sound save that of his own footsteps. He stopped for breath again and -again; and again and again ran on at top speed. It seemed as though he -had run not three miles, but six, when finally, far ahead, he caught a -glow of light. The Butcher and his confederates had evidently not taken -the trouble to close the side door of the car! - -Instinctively, the Hawk, in caution, slowed his pace--and the next -instant, smiling pityingly at himself for the act, ran on the faster. -The Butcher and the other two would long since have made their getaway! -There was only the messenger--and the messenger was drugged. That was -all that need concern him now--the messenger--to find some way to rouse -the man so that he could talk. - -The Hawk reached the car, ran along the side to the open door--and stood -suddenly still. And then, with a low, startled cry, he swung himself -up and through the doorway, and running forward, knelt beside a huddled -form on the floor. It was the messenger, sprawled on his face now, -motionless, and it was no longer a case of being drugged--_the man had -been shot!_ There was a dark, ugly pool on the flooring, and a thin red -stream had trickled away in a zigzag course along one of the planks. The -Hawk's lips were tight. The Butcher's work! But why? _Why?_ Yes! Yes, -he understood! The Butcher, too, in some way had discovered that the -messenger was--the third party! - -The boy--he was even more of a boy now in appearance, it seemed to the -Hawk, with his ashen face and colourless lips--the boy moaned a little, -and, as the Hawk lifted him up, opened his eyes. - -The Hawk produced a flask, and forced a few drops between the other's -lips. - -"Listen!" he said distinctly. "Try and understand what I am saying. Did -they get the diamonds from you after they shot you?" - -The boy's eyes widened with a quick, sudden fear. Perhaps the drug had -begun to wear off--perhaps it was the wound and the loss of blood that -had cleared his brain. - -"The diamonds?" he faltered. - -"Yes," said the Hawk grimly. "The diamonds! You took them. Did you tell -those men where they were?" - -"It's--it's a lie!" The boy seemed to shiver convulsively. Then, his -voice scarcely audible: "No, it's--it's true. I--I did. I--I guess I'm -going out--ain't I? It's--it's true. But I--I didn't tell. -There weren't any men--I----" He had fainted in the Hawk's arms. - -"My God!" whispered the Hawk solemnly. "It's true--the kid's dying." - -He held the flask to the other's lips again. It wasn't the Butcher, -then, who had shot the boy; and, besides, he saw now that the wound was -in a strangely curious place--in the back, below the shoulder blade; the -boy had been sitting in his shirt sleeves, and the back of his vest was -soaked with blood. And the Hawk remembered the fusillade of bullets that -had swept up the interior of the car, and the _spat_ upon the forward -door panel as he had crouched there outside--and he understood. The -boy, sitting in a stupor in his chair facing the forward door, had been -directly in the line of fire, and a stray bullet had found its mark. - -"I--I don't know how you knew"--the boy had roused, and was speaking -again--"but--but I'm going out--and--and it's true. Two days ago, a man -gave me a hundred dollars to stand for--for knockout drops on the run -to-night. I--I couldn't get caught--I--I was safe--whatever happened. -I'd be found drugged--and--and no blame coming to me--and----" He -motioned weakly toward the flask in the Hawk's hand. "Give me--give me -some more of that!" - -He did not speak for a moment. - -"And, instead," prompted the Hawk quietly, "you double-crossed the -game." - -"I--I had a counterfeit ten-dollar bill," the boy went on with an -effort. "I'd heard about the Hawk--and--and MacVightie. I knew from -what:--the fellow said--that the Hawk--wasn't one of them. I--I got to -thinking. All I had to do was empty the safe--and--and write just what -the Hawk did on the bill--and--and shove it in the safe--and--and take -the diamonds--and--and then drink the tea that had the drops in it. I--I -would be drugged, and they--they'd think the Hawk did it while I was -drugged before they--they got here--and--and that's what I did." - -The boy was silent again. It was still outside, very still--only the -chirpings of the insects and the night-sounds the Hawk had listened to -while he had lain below the embankment waiting for the train at Burke's -Siding. There was a set, strained look on the Hawk's face. The kid -was paying the long price--for twenty thousand dollars' worth of unset -diamonds! - -"To make it look like--like the real thing"--the boy's lips were moving -again--"I--I cleaned out everything in the safe--but--but of course -there mustn't any of that be found--and--and I tied the stuff -up--and--and weighted it, and dropped it--into--the--river as we came -over the bridge at Moosehead. And then I had to--to hide the diamonds so -they wouldn't be found on me, and yet so's they--they'd come along with -me--and--and not be left in the car. I was afraid that when some of the -train crew found me drugged--they--they'd undress me--and--and put me to -bed--and--and so I didn't dare hide the diamonds in my clothes. -They're--they're--in----" He raised himself up suddenly, clutched -frantically at the Hawk's shoulders and his voice rang wildly through -the car. "Hold me tight--hold me tight--don't let me go out yet--I--I -got something more to say! Don't tell her! Don't tell her! I'll tell -you where the stones are, they're in the lining of my lunch satchel--but -don't--oh, for God's sake, don't tell her--don't let her know that--that -I'm a--thief! You don't have to, do you? Say you don't! I'm--I'm -going out--I--I've got what's coming to me, and that's--enough--isn't -it--without her knowing too? It--it would kill her. She was a good -mother--do you hear!" - -He was stiffening back in the Hawk's arms. "And this ain't coming to -her. She was a good mother--do you hear--everybody called her mother, -but she's _my_ mother--you know--old Mother Barrett--short-order -house--you know--old--Mother--Barrett--good----" - -The boy never spoke again. - -The Hawk laid the still form gently back on the floor of the car, and -stood up. And there was a mist in the Hawk's eyes that blotted out his -immediate surroundings, and in the mist he seemed to see another scene, -and it was the picture of a gentle, kindly-faced old woman, who had -silver hair, and who wore clothes that were a little threadbare, and -whose grey Irish eyes behind the spectacles were filled with tears, and -he seemed to see the thin shoulders square proudly back, and he seemed -to hear her speak again: "I love my boy, I love him with all my heart, -but I should a thousand times rather see him dead than know him for a -thief." - -Mechanically the Hawk moved over to the desk where the lunch satchel -still lay, and emptied out the remainder of the food. - -"No," said the Hawk, "I guess she'll never know; and I guess I'd have to -take the stuff now, anyway, whether I wanted to or not--if she's not -to know." He was examining the inside of the satchel. It was an old and -well-worn affair, and a torn piece of the lining, stuck down with paste -at the edges, would ordinarily have attracted no attention. The Hawk -loosened this, and felt inside. At the bottom, carefully packed away, -were strips of cotton wadding. He took one out. Embedded in this were -a number of diamonds, which, as he drew the wadding apart, flashed -brilliantly in the light of the oil lamps above his head. He wrapped the -stones up again, and put them in his pocket--took out the remainder from -the satchel, put these also in his pocket, and replaced in the satchel -the portion of the lunch he had removed. It mattered little about the -torn lining now! - -"He kind of put it up to me," said the Hawk slowly. "Yes, and she did -too--without knowing it--old Mother Barrett. It's kind of queer she -should have said that--kind of queer." The Hawk pulled the drawer of the -desk open, and nodded as he found and took out the messenger's revolver. -"Thought he'd have one, and that it would most likely be here," he -muttered. - -He crossed the car, and listened intently at the open side door. There -was no sound--nothing, for instance, coming from Bradley yet. He closed -the door, and stood for an instant looking down at the boy's form on the -floor. - -"I guess I can fix it for you, kid--maybe," he said simply. "I guess I -can." - -In rapid succession he fired five of the seven shots from the revolver; -then, stooping, laid the weapon, as though it had dropped at last -from nerveless fingers, just beside the boy's outstretched hand. He -straightened up, stepped to the side door, and slid it open again. - -"It'll let the smoke out before anybody gets here," said the Hawk. "The -Butcher isn't coming forward with any testimony, and with all those -shots fired at the time of the hold-up who's to know the boy didn't -fight till he went down and out? And now I guess I'll make my own -getaway!" He dropped to the trackside, and started forward at a brisk -pace. "I'll keep on a bit until I hear something coming," he decided. -"Then I'll lay low while they're cleaning up the line, and wait till I -can hop a freight, east or west, that will get me out of this particular -locality. After that, there's nothing to it!" - -A hundred yards farther on the Hawk spoke again, and there was a twisted -smile on the Hawk's lips. - -"It'll break her heart anyway, I guess," he said; "but it'll help -some maybe to be proud of him. Yes, I guess they'll tell her that, all -right--that he died a game kid." - - - - -XI--THE LEAD CAPSULE - -THE Hawk yawned. He had been almost forty-eight hours without sleep. He -had slept all day after he had regained his room, following the night at -"Five-Mile Crossing," but after that---- - -He frowned in a perturbed and puzzled way. Ensconced now in a wicker -lounging chair in the observation car of the Coast Limited, he was -apparently engrossed in the financial page of his newspaper, and -apparently quite oblivious of his fellow travellers, some four or five -of whom lounged and smoked in their own respective wicker chairs around -him. On a little pad of paper, which he held in his left hand, he might -even, without serious tax upon the imagination, have appeared to be -calculating the effect of the market's fluctuations upon personal, and -perhaps narrowly held, margins--for again he scowled unhappily. The -Hawk, however, at the moment, was engrossed solely with a few curiously -assorted letters of the alphabet, which were scrawled across the top of -the pad. They ran: - -pzudl kmlqpb. - -Beneath this his pencil had already been at work, and he had transformed -the line as follows: - -He was staring at this result now in a bewildered way. Then his pencil -picked out the remaining five unscored letters, and mechanically set -them down as a third line: - -"Rainy"--there was one word, just one word--"rainy." What did it mean? -What was the significance of the word? No message in the Wire Devils' -cipher, once the message was decoded, but had been at once clear and -unmistakable in its meaning before. Had they resorted now to _code_ -words as well, to a cipher within a cipher? Into the grimness of the -Hawk's smile there crept a hint of weariness, as he slipped the pad into -his pocket, allowed the newspaper to drop to his knees, and, edging his -chair around, gazed out of the window. - -For once his knowledge of their cipher was obviously useless to him--and -useless when a foreknowledge of their plans at that moment meant -scarcely less than a matter of life and death to him in a very -unpleasantly real and literal sense. Not a word had come from them; not -a message had gone over the wires on either of the two preceding nights; -not a sign of existence had they given since three nights ago when, with -an empty safe as the sole reward for their elaborately laid plans, he, -the Hawk, had enriched himself with the twenty thousand dollars' worth -of diamonds it had once contained. There had been something sinister, -something ominous in their silence, as compared with the almost insane -ravings of MacVightie, the police, and the press--yes, and the railroad -men as well, who were particularly incensed over the "murder" of the -young messenger found dead at his post in the express car with his -revolver partially emptied on the floor beside him. - -The Hawk drummed abstractedly with his finger tips upon the window pane. -MacVightie, the police, and the press made no doubt but that he, the -Hawk, was the leader of the desperadoes who were terrorising that -particular section of the country; on the other hand, the gang itself -had already had occasions enough and in plenty to be painfully aware -that he, the Hawk, played always a lone hand--and won! A smile, grim and -ironical, parted the firm, set lips. The police and the Wire Devils had -a common interest--the Hawk. He was the storm centre. - -The smile faded, the strong jaws clamped, and the dark eyes narrowed on -the flying landscape. It was not the police who concerned him, it was -not the impotent frothings of the press--it was the _silence_ that the -Wire Devils had not broken since that night until they had broken it -this morning with the single word that, now that he had deciphered -it, still meant nothing to him. A dozen times, stealing their cipher -messages, he had turned all their carefully prepared plans to his own -account, and snatched away the prize, even as they were in the act -of reaching for it. But he was not a fool to close his eyes to the -inevitable result. He was pitted against the cleverest brains in the -criminal world; all the cunning that they knew would be ruthlessly -turned against him; and, already out to "get" him, a price already -guaranteed to the lucky member of the band out of the common funds, -the empty safe of three nights before, with its jeering ten-dollar -counterfeit bill flung in their faces, crowned, he feared, their -injuries at his hands, and marked the turning point where they would -leave no stone unturned to wreak their vengeance upon him. - -And he did not like this silence of theirs since that night. Were they -suspicious at last that he had the key to their cipher? He did not think -so, and yet he did not know--it was always a possibility. But in any -case, wary of any move they might make, he had, as far as it was humanly -possible, remained within sound of a telegraph instrument ever since. -Last night, for example, taking advantage of some repairs that were -being made on the station at Elk Head, fifty miles east of Selkirk, he -had lain hidden behind a mass of building material in the dismantled -waiting room within earshot of the telegraph sounder--and there had been -nothing. Forced to retire from there by the advent of the workmen, he -had eaten a very leisurely breakfast at the lunch counter--still within -earshot of the sounder. He had lingered around the station as long as -he had dared without running the risk of exciting suspicion, and then he -had taken the local east for Bald Creek--and taken the chance, because -he had no choice, that nothing would "break" over the wires during -the three-quarters of an hour that he was on the train. The Limited -scheduled Bald Creek, and that would give him an excuse for remaining -there, an innocent and prospective patron of the road, until the -Limited's arrival some two hours later. After that, if nothing happened, -he had intended to go back on the Limited to Selkirk--and get some -sleep. - -The Hawk yawned heavily again. Yes, after an almost uninterrupted vigil -of forty-eight hours one needed sleep. Well, he was on his way back to -Selkirk now--on the Limited. Only something _had_ happened. Almost at -the moment that the Limited had pulled into Bald Creek, the Wire Devils -had broken their silence, and a cipher message had flashed over the -wires. He had waited for it, fought for it, schemed for it, gone without -sleep for two days and nights for it--and he had been rewarded. He had -intercepted the message, deciphered it, he had got it at last--he had it -now! It was the one word--"rainy." And the word to him meant--nothing! - -The Hawk's fingers ceased their drumming on the window pane, his head -inclined slightly to one side, and he listened. His fellow travellers -had evidently scraped up acquaintanceship. The conversation had become -general--and suddenly interesting. - -"... Yes, unquestionably! The amount I have with me is worth quite -easily a half million francs--a hundred thousand dollars. It is not -my personal property, I regret to say. Quantities sufficient to be of -material service are for the most part institutionally held." - -The Hawk swung around in his chair, and with frank interest surveyed -the little group. He had scanned them once already, critically, -comprehensively--at the moment he had first entered the car. The man -who sat nearest to him was a doctor from Selkirk; and, it being the -ingrained policy of the Hawk to know a reporter as he would know a -plain-clothes man, he had recognised one of the others as a young -reporter on the staff of the Selkirk _Evening Journal_. The others -again, of whom there were three, were strangers to him. His eyes -rested--with frank interest--on the man who had just spoken. There had -been just a trace of accent in the other's perfect English, and it bore -out the man's appearance. The man was perhaps forty-five years of age, -rather swarthy in complexion, and, though slight in build, commanding -in presence. The black Vandyke beard, as well as the mustache, was -carefully trimmed; and his face had an air of the student about it, an -air that was enhanced by the extraordinarily heavy-lensed spectacles -which he wore. The excellent clothes were unmistakably of foreign cut. - -"Great Scott!" ejaculated the reporter. "Is that straight?" He twisted -his cigar excitedly from one corner of his mouth to the other. "I say, I -don't suppose there's a chance of getting a squint at it, eh?" - -"A--squint?" The foreigner's face was politely puzzled. - -"I mean a chance to see it--to see what it looks like," interpreted the -reporter, with a laugh. - -"Oh, yes, of course--a squint. I will remember that!" The foreigner -joined in the laugh. "One learns, monsieur, always, eh--if one keeps -one's ears open!" He reached down and picked up a small black bag from -the floor beside his chair. "No, I am afraid I cannot actually show it -to you, monsieur, owing to the nature of the container; but perhaps -even the manner in which it is carried may be of interest, and, if so, I -shall be delighted." - -The others, the Hawk among them, leaned spontaneously forward in their -chairs. From the bag the man produced a lead box, some four inches -square. He opened this, and, from where it was nested in wadding, took -out what looked like a cylindrical-shaped piece of lead of the thickness -and length of one's little finger. He held it out in the palm of his -hand for their inspection. - -"Inside this sealed lead covering," he explained, "is a glass tube -hermetically sealed. The lead, of course, absorbs the rays, which -otherwise would render the radium extremely dangerous to handle. You -perhaps remember the story--if not, it may possibly be of interest. -Radium, you know, was discovered in 1898 by Monsieur and Madame Curie; -but the action of radium on human tissues was unknown until 1901, when -Professor Becquerel of Paris, having incautiously carried a tube in his -waistcoat pocket, there appeared on the skin within two weeks the severe -inflammation which has become known as the famous 'Becquerel burn.' -Since that time, I may add, active investigation into the action of -radium has been carried on, resulting in the establishment in Paris in -1906 of the Laboratoire Biologique du Radium." - -The doctor from Selkirk reached out, and, obtaining a smiling -permission, picked up the lead cylinder from the other's hand. The -reporter sucked noisily on the butt of his cigar. - -"And d'ye mean to say _that's_ worth one hundred thousand dollars?" he -demanded helplessly. - -"Fully!" replied the foreigner gravely. "I should consider myself very -fortunate if I had the means and the opportunity of purchasing it at -that price. There are only a few grains there, it is true, and yet even -that is a very appreciable percentage of the world's entire output for -a single year. The Austrian Government, when it bought the -radium-producing pitchblende mines at Joachimsthal, you know, acquired -what is practically a world's monopoly of radium. And since the annual -production of ore from those mines is but about twenty-two thousand -pounds, and that from those twenty-two thousand pounds only something -like forty-six grains of radium are obtained, it is not difficult to -understand the enormous price which it commands." - -The little lead cylinder passed from hand to hand. It came last to the -Hawk. He examined it with no more and no less interest than had been -displayed by the others, and returned it to its owner, who replaced it -in the black handbag. - -"Look here," said the reporter impulsively, "I don't want to nose into -personal affairs; but, if it's a fair question, what are you going to do -with the stuff?" - -It was the doctor from Selkirk who spoke before the foreigner had time -to reply. - -"I was being tempted to ask the same question myself," he said quickly. -"I am a physician--Doctor Moreling is my name--and from what you have -said I imagine that possibly you are a medical man yourself?" - -"And you are quite right," the other answered cordially. "I am Doctor -Meunier, and I come from Paris." - -"What!" exclaimed the Selkirk physician excitedly. "Not Doctor Meunier, -the famous cancer specialist and surgeon of the Salpętričre Hospital!" - -The other shrugged his shoulders protestingly. - -"Well," he smiled, a little embarrassed, "my name is certainly -Meunier, and it is true that I have the honour to be connected with the -institution you have mentioned." - -The reporter had a notebook in his hand. - -"Gee!" he observed softly. "You don't mind, do you, Doctor Meunier? This -looks like luck to me. I'm on the _Evening Journal_--Selkirk." - -"Ah--a reporter!" The dark eyes seemed to twinkle humorously from behind -the heavy lenses. "I have met some--when I landed in New York. They were -very nice. I liked them very much. Certainly, young man, why should you -not say anything I have told you? You have my permission." - -"Fine!" cried the reporter enthusiastically. "And now, Doctor Meunier, -if you'll just round out the story by telling us why the celebrated -Paris surgeon is travelling in America with a hundred thousand dollars' -worth of radium, I'll be glad I got panned on the story I went after -this morning and so had to take this train back." - -"Panned?" inquired the other gravely. - -"Yes." The reporter nodded. "It blew up, you know." - -"Blew up! Ah!" The foreigner's face was at once concerned. "So! You were -in an accident, then?" - -"No, no," laughed the reporter. "There wasn't anything in the story. It -didn't have any foundation." - -"Again I learn," observed the foreigner, with an amused drawl. He -studied the reporter for an instant quizzically. "And so I am to supply -the place of the panned story that blew up--is that it? Well, very well! -Why not? I see no reason against it, if it will be of service to you. -Very well, then. I have been summoned to Japan to attend a case of -cancer--radium treatment--and I am on my way there now." He smiled -again. "I have noticed that American reporters are observant, and it may -occur to you that I might have reached my destination quicker by way -of Russia. As a matter of fact, however, I was in New York attending -a convention when I received the summons. I cabled for the radium, -and--well, young man, that pretty well completes the story." - -"Yes--thanks!" said the reporter. He wrote rapidly. "Operation on a -Japanese?" - -"Why, yes, of course--on a Japanese." - -"'Summoned,' you said. That listens as though it might be for one of the -Emperor's family," prodded the reporter shrewdly. - -"I did not say so," smiled the other imperturbably. - -"And even if it were so----" He shrugged his shoulders significantly. - -"I get you!" grinned the reporter. "Well, there's no harm in saying a -'High Personage' then, is there? That sounds good, and it would have -to be some one on the top of the heap to bring a man like you all this -way." - -"Let us be discreet, young man, and say--well, let us say, a member of -prominent family," suggested the other, still smiling. - -"All right," agreed the reporter. "I won't put anything over on you, I -promise you. And now, doctor, tell us something more about radium, -how it acts and all that, and how an operation is performed with it, -and----" - -The Hawk had apparently lost interest. He settled back in his chair, and -picked up his previously discarded newspaper--yet occasionally his eyes -strayed over the top of his newspaper, and rested meditatively on the -little black handbag on the car floor beside the Frenchman's chair. The -doctor from Selkirk, the reporter, and the French specialist talked on. -The Limited reached the last stop before Selkirk. As the train pulled -out again, the Hawk, as it were, summed up his thoughts. - -"A hundred thousand dollars," confided the Hawk softly to himself. -"Maybe it wouldn't be easy to sell, but it would make a very nice -haul--a very nice haul. It would tempt--almost anybody. Yes, bad stuff -to handle; the fences would be leery probably, because I guess every -last grain on this little old globe is catalogued as to ownership, and -they'd be afraid it would be an open-and-shut game that what they -were trying to shove would be spotted as the stolen stuff--not that -it couldn't be done though, at that! There's always somebody to take a -chance--on a hundred thousand dollars! And what about the institution -that owns it coming across big and no questions asked to get it back -again? Yes, I guess it would make a nice haul--a very nice haul. I -wonder----" - -The conductor had entered the car, had said something that the Hawk had -not caught--and now the French specialist was on his feet. - -"How long did you say?" he demanded excitedly. - -"I didn't say," replied the conductor; "I only guessed--twelve hours -anyway, and if we're through under twenty-four it'll be because some one -has performed a miracle." - -"Twelve hours--twenty-four!" echoed the Frenchman wildly. "But, _mon -Dieu_, I have not that to spare to catch my steamer for Japan in San -Francisco!" - -"But what's wrong, conductor?" asked the Selkirk doctor. "You haven't -told us that." - -"The Rainy River bridge is out," the conductor answered. - -The _Rainy_ River bridge! The Hawk reached into his pocket, withdrew his -cigarette case, and made a critical choice of one of the six identical -cigarettes the case contained. - -"Out! How?" the doctor from Selkirk persisted. - -"No details," said the conductor; "except that it was blown up a little -while ago and that they think it's the work of the Hawk's gang. They -just got word over the wire at the last stop." - -"Jumping whiskers!" yelled the reporter. "Is that right, conductor?" - -"Yes, I guess it's right, fast enough," said the conductor grimly. He -turned to the Frenchman. "It's tough luck, sir, to miss transpacific -connections; but I guess that's the man you've got to thank for it--the -Hawk." - -"The Hawk? What is that? Who is the Hawk?" The Frenchman had lost his -poise; he was gesticulating violently now. - -"I'll tell you," said the reporter briskly. "He's the man that's got -your original reign of terror skinned a mile--believe me! He's an -ex-Sing Sing convict, and he's the head, brains and front of a gang of -criminals operating out here compared with whom, for pure, first-water -deviltry, any one of Satan's picked cohorts would look as shy and -retiring as a maiden lady of sixty who suddenly found herself in a -one-piece bathing suit--in public. That's the Hawk! Yes, sir--believe -me!" - -Doctor Meunier waved his hands, as though to ward off a swarm of buzzing -bees. - -"I do not understand!" he spluttered angrily. "I do not care to -understand! You do not speak English! I understand only of the delay!" -He caught at the conductor's sleeve. "You, monsieur--is there not -something that can be done?" - -"I don't know, sir," said the conductor. "We'll be in Selkirk now in -a few minutes, and the best thing you can do is to see Mr. Lanson, the -superintendent." - -The conductor retired. - -The Frenchman sat down in his chair, mopped his face with a -handkerchief, and stared from one to another of his fellow passengers. - -"Messieurs, it is necessary, it is imperative, that I catch the -steamer!" he cried frantically. "What am I to do?" - -"Lanson's a good head; he'll fix you up some way," said the reporter -soothingly. "Don't you worry. I'm mighty sorry for you, Doctor Meunier, -upon my soul--but, say, this is _some_ story--whale of a climax!" - -The Frenchman glared for an instant; then, leaning forward, suddenly -shook his fist under the other's nose. - -"Young man, damn your story!" he snarled distractedly. - -The Hawk retired once more behind his newspaper. The reporter was -pacifying the excited Frenchman. The Hawk was not interested in that. -The message, that single word which had puzzled him, was transparently -clear now--and had been from the moment the conductor had spoken. The -surmise of the railroad officials, even if it were no more than surmise -on their part, was indubitably correct--barring the slight detail of his -own participation in the affair! The Wire Devils had blown up the -Rainy River bridge. This, as a detached fact, did not interest him -either--they were quite capable of blowing up a bridge, or anything -else. That was a detail. But they were quite incapable of doing it -without a very good and sufficient reason, and one that promised returns -of a very material nature to themselves. What was the game? Why the -Rainy River bridge? Why this morning? Why at this time? The Rainy River -bridge was but a few miles west of Selkirk, and--the Hawk's eyes strayed -over his newspaper again, and rested mildly upon the Frenchman's little -black handbag, that was quite slim, and not over long, that was of such -a size, in fact, that it might readily be concealed under one's coat, -for instance, without attracting undue attention--and with the bridge -out a passenger, say on the Coast Limited this noon would experience -an annoying, somewhat lengthened, but unavoidable interruption in -his journey. The passenger might even be forced to spend the night in -Selkirk, and very much might happen in a night--in Selkirk! It was -a little elaborate, it seemed as though it might perhaps have been -accomplished with a little less fuss--though lack of finesse and -exceeding cunning was, in his experience, an unmerited reproach where -that unknown brain that planned and plotted the Wire Devils' acts was -concerned; but, however that might be, the reason that the Rainy River -bridge was out now appeared quite obviously attributable--to a very -excited foreigner, and a little black handbag whose contents were valued -at the modest sum of one hundred thousand dollars. - -"And I wonder," said the Hawk almost plaintively to himself, "I wonder -which of us will cash in on that!" - -The Hawk rose leisurely from his chair, as the train reached Selkirk. -He permitted the Frenchman, the Selkirk physician and the reporter to -descend to the platform in advance of him; but, as they hurried -through the station and around to the entrance leading upstairs to the -divisional offices, obviously with the superintendent's office as their -objective, the Hawk, in the privileged character of an interested fellow -traveller, fell into step with the reporter. - -The four entered the superintendent's office, and from an unobtrusive -position just inside the door the Hawk listened to the conversation. He -heard Lan-son, the superintendent, confirm the conductor's story, and -express genuine regret at the Frenchman's plight, as he admitted it to -be a practical certainty that the other would miss his connection in -San Francisco. The Frenchman but grew the more excited. He suggested a -special train from the western side of the bridge--they could get him -across in a boat, he said. The superintendent explained that traffic -in the mountains beyond was already demoralised. The Frenchman raved, -begged, pleaded, implored--and suddenly the Hawk sucked in his breath -softly. The Frenchman was backing his appeal for a special with the -offer to pay any sum demanded, and had taken a well-filled pocketbook -from his pocket. The Hawk's eyes aimlessly sought the toes of his boots. -He had caught a glimpse of a fat wad of bills, a very fat wad, whose -denominations were of a large and extremely interesting nature. The -official shook his head. It was not a question of money; nor was the -other's ability to pay in question. Later on, he, Lanson, would know -better what the situation was; meanwhile he suggested that Doctor -Meunier should go to the hotel and wait--that there was nothing else to -do for the moment. The Selkirk physician here intervened, and, agreeing -with the superintendent, offered to escort the Frenchman to the Corona -Hotel. - -The Hawk, as one whose curiosity was satiated, but satiated at the -expense of time he could ill afford, nodded briefly to the reporter who -stood nearest to him, and quietly left the room. - - - - -XII--BLINDMAN'S-BUFF - -FIVE minutes later, standing in another room--his own--the Hawk rapidly -changed the light-grey suit he had been wearing for one of a darker -material. From the pockets of the discarded suit he transferred to -the pockets of the suit he had just put on, amongst other things, his -automatic and his bunch of skeleton keys. He opened his trunk, removed -the false tray, and smiled with a sort of grim complacency as his glance -inventoried its unhallowed contents; and particularly he smiled, as, -opening a little box, he allowed a stream of gleaming stones to trickle -out into the palm of his hand--the twenty thousand dollars' worth of -diamonds robbed from the Fast Mail three nights ago. - -"Some haul!" observed the Hawk softly. "And, with any luck, there'll be -something else there worth the whole outfit put together before to-night -is over." He replaced the diamonds in the box, the box in the tray, -and spoke again, but now his smile was hard and twisted; not an article -there but he had scooped from under the noses of the gang. "Yes, I guess -I'd go out like you'd snuff a candle if they ever get me, and I guess -they're getting--querulous!" - -The Hawk, however, had not opened the trunk purely for the opportunity -it afforded of inspecting these few mementos, interesting as they might -be. It was an excellent safeguard to change his clothes, but it would -avail him very little if--well, any one, say--were still permitted to -recognise--his face! From the top of the tray, where it lay upon the -packages of banknotes that had once reposed in the paymaster's safe, -the Hawk picked up a mask and slipped it into his pocket. He fitted the -false tray back into the lid of the trunk, closed the trunk, locked it, -put on a wide-brimmed, soft felt hat, locked the door of his room behind -him, descended the narrow staircase, and stepped out on the street. - -His destination was the Corona Hotel, but there was no particular hurry. -Undoubtedly from the moment the Frenchman had left the train some, or -one, of the gang had fastened on the man's trail; but the companionship -of the Selkirk physician guaranteed the Frenchman's immediate safety. -His own plan, as far as it was matured, was very simple. He meant to -"spot" if he could, should that particular member, or members, of the -gang be unknown to him personally, the man, or men, selected by the Wire -Devils to shadow the Frenchman--and then watch the _gang!_ The Hawk had -no intention whatever of making an attempt on the Frenchman's property -with the gang watching him--that would have been little less than the -act of a fool who was bent on suicide! Since, therefore, he had no -choice in the matter, he was quite content to have the gang take -the initiatory risk in relieving the Frenchman of the handbag! After -that--the Hawk's old twisted smile was back on his lips as he walked -along--after that it became his business to see that the bag did not get -very far out of his sight! - -He reached and crossed the city park upon which the Corona Hotel -fronted, entered the hotel, and, sauntering leisurely through the -lobby, approached the desk. He glanced casually over the register; then, -lighting a cigar, he selected a chair near the front windows where he -could command a general view of the lobby, and sat down. - -Doctor Meunier's room was Number 106. - -Once the Hawk's eyes lazily surveyed the lobby; thereafter they appeared -to be intent on what was passing in the street. He was in luck! The -first trick, at least, had gone to him. Lolling in a chair near the -elevator doors, and apparently drowsy from a heavy luncheon, was--the -Bantam. The Hawk smoked on. Half an hour went by. The Bantam appeared to -awaken with a start, smiled sheepishly about him, went over to the news -stand, bought a paper--and returned to his seat. The Hawk finished his -cigar, rose, strolled to the main entrance, and went out. The Bantam -could be safely trusted to see that Doctor Meunier did not vanish into -thin air! He would do the like for the Bantam! He crossed over into the -park. - -The Hawk chose a bench--strategically. Sheltered by a row of trees, he -had the corner upon which the hotel was built diagonally before him, -and could see both the side entrance on the cross street and the front -entrance on the main thoroughfare. - -The Hawk's vigil, however, was not immediately rewarded. An hour -passed--and yet another--and the greater portion of the afternoon. Five -o'clock came. A newsboy passed, crying the _Evening Journal_. The Hawk -bought one. A headline in heavy type on the front page instantly caught -his eye: - -ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS IN A LEAD CAPSULE - -And beneath this, still in assertive type: - -Famous French Surgeon en route to Japan with Fortune in Radium Misses -Connections Through Destruction of Railroad Bridge. - -Offers Company Large Sum of Money for Special Train to the Coast. - -"Yes," observed the Hawk caustically, "and even if I hadn't known -anything about it before, I'd have had a look-in thanks to this! Sting -you, wouldn't it! The papers hand you a come-on--and then they wonder at -crime!" - -The "story" itself ran a column and a half. The Hawk began to read--or, -rather, to divide his attention between the story and the hotel -entrances. The reporter had certainly set out with the intention of -overlooking no detail that could be turned to account. His meeting and -conversation with the Frenchman in the car were breezily set forth; the -member of a "prominent family" in Japan artfully disguised, or, perhaps -better, disclosed no less august a personage than the Emperor himself; -the value of radium, both intrinsically and scientifically, was -interestingly dealt with; and the surgeon's black handbag, with its -priceless contents, was minutely described and featured. - -The Hawk had reached this point, when suddenly the newspaper and the -reporter's version of the story lost interest for him. Doctor Meunier, -gripping his little black handbag tenaciously, had stepped out through -the main entrance of the hotel, and was walking briskly down the street. -A moment later, the Bantam sauntered through the doorway and started in -the same direction, a hundred yards behind the Frenchman. The Hawk, with -a grim smile, folded his paper, stuffed it into his pocket, rose from -the bench, crossed the street, and fell into the procession--a hundred -yards behind the Bantam. - -It was still light, though it was beginning to grow dusk--too light for -any highway thuggery, and yet--the Hawk gradually closed the gap between -himself and the Bantam to half the original distance. - -The chase led on for a half dozen blocks, then turned into one of the -crowded streets of the shopping district, and proceeded in a downtown -direction. And then, abruptly, the Hawk dropped further behind the -Bantam again, and crossed to the opposite sidewalk. It was perhaps -only fancy, but intuitively he felt that he, too, in turn, was being -followed. His hat brim, hiding his face, was pulled a little farther -forward over his eyes, as he hurried now until he was abreast of the -Frenchman. Intuition or not, it was quite possible and even likely that -one of the gang might "cover" the Bantam. - -The Hawk scowled. He could not be sure; and he dared not put it to more -than a casual test, for he could not afford to lose sight of the Bantam. -He paused, took a slip of paper from his pocket, and, as though having -consulted it for an address, appeared to scan the signs and numbers on -the stores in his immediate vicinity. The Frenchman had passed by; the -Bantam was directly opposite to him now across the street. The Hawk's -keen eyes searched the stream of pedestrians behind the Bantam. And -then suddenly he shrugged his shoulders, and returned the paper to his -pocket--a man, in a light suit and brown derby hat, had stepped out -of the crowd, and was leisurely lighting a cigarette in a doorway just -across from where he, the Hawk, stood. - -The Hawk went on, but keeping in the rear of the Bantam now on the -opposite side of the street. He was still not sure; but, in any case, -neither could the man in the brown derby be _sure_ that he, the Hawk, -was following the Bantam. So far then, granted that he _was_ being -followed, it was an even break! - -At the next crossing the Frenchman accosted a policeman, and, as though -he had received directions, at once turned down the cross street. The -Hawk, as he followed, smiled grimly. The cross street automatically -verified the suspicions of the man in the brown derby--if the man in the -brown derby had any suspicions to verify; but, at one and the same time, -it also answered the Hawk's own question. - -The Hawk, in turn, made use of a doorway. He could afford to allow the -Bantam, temporarily, the lead of an extra half block now, for there were -fewer people on the cross street and he would still be able to keep the -other in sight. A minute, two, elapsed--and then the Hawk picked up the -Bantam's trail again. The man in the brown derby hat had passed by the -corner and continued on along the main street. - -And yet still the Hawk was not satisfied. And it was not until after -he had repeated the same manouvre some four or five times, as the -Frenchman, leading, turned into different streets, that he was finally -convinced that neither the man in the brown derby hat, nor any one else, -was interested in his movements. - -The chase, since leaving the main street, had wound its way through the -less populous wholesale district--it ended at the railway station. -The Frenchman passed along the front of the building, and disappeared -through the doorway leading upstairs to the divisional offices, his -object being, it now appeared obvious, to obtain another interview with -the superintendent; the Bantam disappeared inside the main entranceway -of the station, evidently to await the Frenchman's reappearance; and -the Hawk, on the far side of the street, slipped into the lane that had -served him many times as a thoroughfare between the station and his room -over the saloon two blocks away. - -It was growing dark now. A half hour went by. Still the Hawk crouched -in the shadow of the building that bordered the lane. The street lights -went on. The six o'clock whistle blew from the shops over across the -tracks. Either the Frenchman was a visitor not easy to get rid of, or -Lanson was out and the other was awaiting the superintendent's return. -But the Hawk's patience was infinite. - -Another fifteen minutes dragged away; then the office door opened, the -Frenchman emerged, and started back uptown. The Bantam appeared from -the main entranceway, and started after him. The chase was on again. The -Hawk followed. - -The Frenchman, seemingly sticking to rule of thumb and following the -directions he had received on the way down, took exactly the same -route on the way back. But now the neighborhood presented an entirely -different aspect. The wholesale houses were closed; the streets -deserted, dark, and poorly lighted. - -The Hawk hugged the shadows of the buildings craftily on the opposite -side of the street. Was it coming now? Certainly the gang would go -far before finding a more ideal opportunity, and the Bantam, if he had -realised that fact, could easily have sent, or telephoned, a message -from the station. He, the Hawk, had not cared to take the risk of -following the Bantam inside--the Bantam _might_ remember having seen him -in the hotel lobby. - -And then the Hawk's lips thinned. Yes--it was the old, old game! They -were on the cross street, a little less than a block distant from the -main street ahead. The Bantam began to close up on the Frenchman. -The Hawk now, crouching low, slipped almost literally from doorway to -doorway. Two men, apparently drunk and quarrelling, were coming down the -block toward the Frenchman. The Bantam closed to within a few yards of -his quarry. The brawl attained its height as the two men reached the -Frenchman. One man struck the other. They clenched, and, smashing into -the Frenchman knocked him down. His hat flew in one direction, the -handbag in another. The brawlers curiously did not resume their quarrel, -but lounged a few paces away--within call of the Bantam. The Hawk, -squeezed in his doorway directly opposite the scene, kept his eyes on -the Bantam. If the play had lacked originality before, it did not lack -it now! The Bantam stooped, picked up the handbag, and, as he stooped -again for the hat, slipped the handbag under his coat, and slipped -another bag--evidently a carefully prepared duplicate--out from under -his coat and into his hand. The Frenchman was rising dazedly to his -feet. The Bantam stepped hurriedly forward, holding out hat and bag. - -"I hope you're not hurt, sir," the Hawk heard him say--and then the two -moved on together toward the corner. - -The Hawk shook his shoulders in a queer, almost self-apologetic sort of -way, as he followed again. And then he smiled as queerly. The Bantam had -the bag now, and, if he, the Hawk, were permitted to hazard an opinion, -the Wire Devils had very kindly picked the fruit again for him to eat! - -At the corner, the Bantam shook hands with the Frenchman, and, stepping -out into the street, signalled an approaching car. Quick, alert on the -instant, the Hawk, safe in the protection of the crowded sidewalk, -moved swiftly along in the direction that the car would take, his eyes -searching the street on both sides for a taxicab. The street car passed -him, but stopped at the next corner, and he caught up with it again. And -then, over his shoulder, he saw a taxi coming up behind him. He stepped -from the curb, and stopped it. - -"Sorry, sir," said the chauffeur. "I'm going after a fare." - -"You've got one now--and a good one," said the Hawk quietly. He had -opened the door--a ten-dollar bill lay in the chauffeur's hand. - -"Yes, but look here, sir," said the chauffeur, a little dubiously, "I'll -get into trouble for this, and----" - -The Hawk had stepped inside, and lowered the window between himself and -the chauffeur. - -"Follow that car," said the Hawk pleasantly. "And while we're on the -crowded streets don't get so far behind it that you can't close up near -enough to see who gets off every time it stops. And don't worry about -your trouble--there's another ten coming on top of the regular fare. -That's good enough, isn't it?" - -"I guess I'm not kicking!" admitted the chauffeur. The taxi started -forward. He looked back over his shoulder at the Hawk. "What's the lay? -Fly-cop?" - -"Maybe!" said the Hawk. "Mind yourself! It's stopping again. Keep where -I can see both sides of the car." - -"I get you!" said the chauffeur. "Leave it to me!" - -Block after block was passed, the street car stopping frequently. The -Hawk, in the body of the taxi, knelt behind the chauffeur's back, his -eyes held steadily on the street car ahead. The Bantam did not alight. -The street car began to run out into the suburbs. The taxicab, with -lights out now, risking the city ordinance, dropped back to a more -respectful distance in the rear. The district became less settled, the -houses farther apart; the street lights were single incandescents now, -and these few and far between. There was one passenger left in the -car--the Bantam. - -The chauffeur spoke abruptly. - -"We're pretty near the end of the line," he said. - -"All right," the Hawk answered. "Stop when the car stops--keep about -this distance, we're not likely to be noticed." A moment later he -stepped from the taxi. "Wait for me here!" he directed. - -The Bantam, leaving the street car, had started off at a sharp pace past -the end of the car line. It was little more than a country road now; -only a house here and there. The Bantam, just discernible in the -darkness, had a lead of perhaps a hundred yards, and the Hawk, moving -stealthily, began to creep nearer, and still nearer, until the hundred -yards were fifty--and then suddenly, with a low muttered exclamation, -he threw himself flat on the ground. The Bantam, abreast of a house from -which there showed a light in the side window, had turned in abruptly -from the road. A glow of light spread out as the front door opened. The -Hawk lay motionless. Then the Bantam entered, and the door was closed -again. A little later, a form appeared at the side window, a hand -reached up, and the shade was drawn. - -"Nice respectable neighborhood, too!" observed the Hawk tersely. "Wonder -if it's _the_ lair, and if the Master Spider's in there now?" - -He was creeping forward now across a small lawn. He neared the side -window; it was open, and the shade lacked a tiny, though inviting, space -of reaching to the sill. A murmur of voices came from within. There was -not a sound from the Hawk. And then, from beneath the window, which was -low and not more than four feet from the ground, he raised himself up -cautiously, and suddenly his dark eyes narrowed. It was not the Master -Spider--it was the Butcher, whose treachery had nearly done for him that -night in the paymaster's office, the man whom he had promised should one -day _remember!_ - -He could hear now, and he could see. It was a sitting room such as -one might find anywhere in a house whose occupants were in comfortable -circumstances. It was cosily and tastefully furnished. It bore no sign -of criminal affiliation; it was, as it were, a sort of alibi in itself. -A telephone stood on the table beside a pile of magazines, the latter -flanked by an ornamental reading lamp; deep leather lounging chairs -added to the inviting and homelike appearance of the room--the -incongruity was in the Butcher's thin, hatchet-like face, and in the -coarse, vicious features of the short, stocky Bantam, as they faced each -other across the table. - -"Where's the others, d'ye say?" demanded the Bantam. - -"Out," said the Butcher. "The chief called 'em an hour ago. I don't know -what's up. I guess you and I keep house here to-night; he said you were -to stay. Mouser and Jack were to report to Kirschell, weren't they?" - -"Yes, that's what they said." - -"Well, all right!" The Butcher shrugged his shoulders. "That's none of -our hunt. I suppose you got it, didn't you--or you wouldn't be here?" - -"Sure, I got it!" answered the Bantam. "What d'ye think?" - -"Let's have a look," said the Butcher eagerly. "The chief says we can -cash in on it for fifty thousand." - -"Fifty thousand!" The Bantam growled, as he unbuttoned his coat, and, -taking out the bag, laid it on the table. "I thought it was worth a -hundred thousand!" - -"So it is." The Butcher was opening the bag. "But it's no cinch to turn -it into money without a big split--savvy?" - -The Butcher opened the lead box, took out the lead cylinder, and -balanced it speculatively in the palm of his hand. - -The Bantam regarded it distrustfully. - -"It don't look like fifty cents to me!" he commented finally. - -"I know," said the Butcher facetiously; "but your eyesight's bum, -Bantam! Have any trouble?" - -The Bantam grinned. - -"Not what you'd notice! After the Mouser and Jack smashed into him, the -poor old boob didn't know what had happened till I was handing him his -hat and the other bag. I guess he bumped his bean kind of hard on the -sidewalk." - -The Butcher nodded approvingly. He was still twisting the lead cylinder -around and around in his hand. - -"Say," suggested the Bantam impatiently, after a moment, "when you've -done chucking it under the chin, put it to bed somewhere, and if there's -any grub in the house lead me to it. I'm hungry!" - -"All right!" agreed the Butcher. He replaced the lead cylinder in its -box, and the box in the bag, crossed the room, opened a little cupboard -in the wall opposite the window, laid the bag inside, and closed the -cupboard door again. "Come on!" he said. - - - - -XIII--THE MAN WITH THE SCAR - -THE two men left the room. The Hawk did not move. He was fingering in -a curiously absent-minded sort of way the edges of the newspaper that -still protruded from his pocket. It was very simple, very easy. The -window was open, the cupboard was not locked, the room was empty, there -were only the Bantam and the Butcher to look out for, and they were in -another part of the house; he had only to lift aside the window -shade, step in, steal across the room, and steal out again--with a -hundred-thou-sand-dollar prize. It was very inviting. It seemed suddenly -as though it were a pressing invitation to enter that room--_and never -leave it alive!_ - -Flashing quick through the Hawk's brain now was a résumé of the -afternoon, of each separate and individual occurrence since he had left -the train. Had he, after all, been followed? If so--how? Had the Bantam -been warned? He shook his head, as though impatient with himself. Even -apart from that, what he had begun to suspect now would be thoroughly -logical on the part of the gang. The newspaper supplied the key. He -would unquestionably have seen the newspaper that afternoon, and he -would, apart from being spared several aimless hours in the park, have -done exactly as he had done, and just as unquestionably be where he was -now at this precise moment even if he had not been with the Frenchman on -the train. The newspaper placed him in possession of the same facts -that the Wire Devils possessed. They must know that. They were therefore -justified in assuming that he, quite as rabidly as themselves, would -make an attempt to steal the bag. They knew, in that case, that he would -have discovered that they were already at work; and they knew that, on -a dozen occasions before, that had not prevented him from snatching the -prize they had already counted within their grasp. Were they on their -guard now--or a little more than on their guard! Were they offering -him, on the chance or with the knowledge that he was here now, the -opportunity to snatch another prize--and seeing to it that it was for -the _last_ time! - -The Hawk edged back from the window; and, silent as a shadow now, -began to circuit the house. And then suddenly his suspicion became a -certainty. It was only a little thing--a slip--but it was enough. The -Butcher had made a misplay! There was no light in any other window--and -a man did not usually eat in the dark! It was fairly, even painfully, -evident now that the Bantam and the Butcher were in, say, the adjoining -room, waiting for him to enter through that window into their trap. - -But there was still the little black bag--and one hundred thousand -dollars! The Hawk's smile was more ominous than pleasant. There were -other ways apart from a window--and even two men, especially if -they were caught napping, had been known to be quite amenable to the -influence of the muzzle of an automatic! - -The Hawk found the back door entrance, found it locked--and used a -skeleton key. He was perhaps five minutes in opening the door; but in -those five minutes there was no click of lock as the handle turned by -infinitesimal fractions of an inch, no creak of hinge as the door little -by little swung back and was closed again. - -The silence was almost uncanny. It was utter blackness. By feeling out -with his hand he discovered he was in a passageway. He moved along, -guiding himself by the sense of touch against the wall, his weight -balanced and full upon one foot before he lifted the other for the next -step. - -It seemed a passage of interminable length, that led on and on through -blackness and silence. In reality he had come possibly thirty feet, -and had passed one door. And then he began to catch the sound of voices -whispering. The whisperings grew more distinct and became low, guarded -tones, as he moved forward--and now he could distinguish words. He -flattened back against the side of the passage. Opposite to him was an -open door; and within the room, instead of blackness now, was a sort of -murky gloom which was created by a ray of light that seeped in through -a partially open door at the far side of the room. The Hawk's fingers -slipped into his pocket--and slipped his mask over his face. He had his -bearings now. The room from which the light came was the baited trap; -the room immediately in front of him was the room from which the trap -was to be sprung! His hand went to his pocket again, and came out -with his automatic. It was their move now. If, when they finally grew -impatient, they went back into the lighted room, or turned on the light -in the room where they were now waiting, they sprang the trap upon -themselves. - -Came the Bantam's low growl--and the twitching of the Hawk's jaw -muscles. - -"I don't like it, I tell you! Where is he? What's he waiting for? I know -he followed me. You saw him yourself from the front room creeping across -the lawn out there. 'Twouldn't take him all this time to get in through -that window." - -"Aw, shut up!" snarled the Butcher. "You'd give any one the creeps!" - -"That's all right," whispered the Bantam hoarsely; "but I said from -the start it was a fool game not to cover him close on the way back, -and----" - -"Yes--and scare him off!" sneered the Butcher. "There ain't but one guy -that'd pick up that trail--and that's the Hawk. He's butted in enough, -but he's butted in for the last time to-night! The two of us are -aplenty, aren't we? Sure--cover him close on the way back--and scare him -off! D'ye think he's a fool!" - -"No, I don't, curse him!" retorted the Bantam. "And if I'd had my way, -I'd have croaked him in broad daylight with a bullet through his bean, -and finished him for keeps the minute Jack spotted him following me! -Instead of that, Jack never even gets a look at his mug." - -"You're some bright guy!" grunted the Butcher. "We'd have had a hot -chance making a dead man tell us where he'd planted those diamonds off -the Fast Mail, not to speak of a few other little trifles the swine did -us out of!" - -"And you think----" - -"You bet, I do!" the Butcher cut in viciously. "He'll talk to-night to -save his life--and then I'll toss you, Bantam, if you like, to see who -bumps him off!" - -The Hawk's fingers played in a curious, caressing motion over the -stock of the automatic in his hand; the twist on his lips grew a little -harder, a little more merciless. - -There was movement in the room now. One of the two, the Bantam -undoubtedly, in growing uneasiness, was moving softly, erratically, up -and down the room. It proved to be the Bantam. - -"Well then, where the blazes is he!" he burst out nervously. - -"Aw, shut up!" snarled the Butcher savagely for the second time. - -The Bantam's shadow, as the man paced up and down, passed the doorway, -repassed, and passed again. - -"I tell you, I don't like it!" he flung out suddenly. "Something's -wrong! If he's outside the house, he can't see, anyway. I'm going to -take a chance, and----" - -There was a click, the light in the passageway went on--then a yell -from the Bantam in the doorway--a lightning spring from the Hawk, as the -other jerked a weapon upward--and the Bantam went down in a heap, as -the Hawk's clubbed weapon caught him on the head. It was quick, like the -winking of an eye. From back in the room, the Butcher sprang forward for -the doorway--and fired--and missed--and the Hawk's left hand, as they -came upon each other, darting out, closed with the strength of a steel -vise on the Butcher's right wrist, and with a terrific wrench twisted -the other's arm halfway around. It was lighter now in the room--light -enough to see. The two forms swayed strangely--a little apart--the -Butcher's body bent over, as though queerly deformed. Slowly, -remorselessly, the Hawk turned the other's arm in its socket. Sweat -sprang to the Butcher's forehead, his face writhed with pain--and, with -a scream of agony, his revolver clattered to the floor. - -"You're breaking it--for God's sake, let go!" he moaned. - -The Hawk kicked the revolver to the other side of the room. - -"Take the Bantam by the shoulders and drag him into that lighted room!" -The Hawk's tones were flat, unpleasant. "I don't think I hit him hard -enough to take the chance of leaving him there alone!" - -The Butcher obeyed--with the muzzle of the Hawk's automatic pressed -persuasively against the small of his back. He left the Bantam in the -middle of the sitting room floor, and himself accepted a chair--at the -Hawk's invitation. - -"You again--eh, Butcher?" The Hawk's voice had become a drawl. With his -automatic covering the Butcher, he had backed to the cupboard, opened -it, and was feeling inside with his left hand. "My grateful thanks, and -you'll convey my compliments--the Hawk's, you know--to our friend--the -chief." He had slipped the little black bag under his arm, and now his -hand was back in the cupboard again; he had felt a ball of heavy -cord there. "Sorry I haven't a phony ten-spot with me--my card, you -know--unpardonable breach of etiquette--really!" He smiled suddenly. The -ball of cord was in his hand, as he advanced toward the Butcher's chair. -He set the little black bag down on the table. - -The Butcher seemed to have lost all his characteristic ferocity; the -sharp little ferret eyes rested anywhere but on the Hawk, and on his -face was a sickly grin. - -"Stand up!" commanded the Hawk curtly--he was knotting the end of the -cord into a noose. "Now--your hands behind your back--and together! -Thank you!" He slipped the noose over the Butcher's hands, and began to -wind the cord around the other's wrists. - -The Butcher winced. - -"I'm sorry," said the Hawk apologetically; "but it's all I have. The -cord is rather thin, and I'm afraid it may cut into you--not strong -enough to allow you any play, you know. And, by the way, Butcher, I -heard the Bantam say that I was spotted on the way down--I presume -he meant on the way down to the station. I'll be honest and admit I'm -disappointed in myself. Would you mind explaining, Butcher--I was quite -convinced there was no one behind me." - -"There wasn't!" The Butcher risked a sneer. "Mabbe the French guy was -heard telephoning to the station, and the Bantam passed on the word. -Nobody had to follow behind. All there was to do, knowing where the -Frenchy was going, was to dodge around the blocks ahead, and keep hidden -down the different intersecting streets, and see if the same guy kept -going by the corners after the Bantam." - -"Thank you, Butcher," murmured the Hawk gratefully. "That lets me out -a little, doesn't it?" He wound the cord again and again around the -Butcher's wrists, knotted it, shoved the other unceremoniously back into -the chair, and tied the Butcher's legs. - -The Hawk then gave his attention to the Bantam. The Bantam was just -beginning to regain consciousness. The Hawk knelt down, rolled the -man over on his side, and secured him in the same manner as he had the -Butcher. But with the Bantam he went a little farther. He transferred -the Bantam's handkerchief from the Bantam's pocket to the Bantam's -mouth--and tied it there. - -He turned once more to the Butcher. - -"I must apologise again," he said softly. "I hate to do this"--he -felt for, and obtained, the Butcher's handkerchief--"but the house -is unfortunately close to the road, and you might inadvertently make -yourself heard before I got decently away." - -The Butcher's reply was a shrug of the shoulders. - -The Hawk, about to cram the handkerchief into the other's mouth, paused. - -"Butcher," said the Hawk, almost plaintively, "if you'll permit me to -deal in mixed metaphors, you appear to have shed your spots--you're too -awfully docile!" - -"You got the goods," muttered the Butcher sullenly. "What more do -you----" - -He stopped suddenly. His eyes met the Hawk's. The telephone on the table -was ringing. - -The Hawk hesitated. Into the Butcher's eyes, narrowed now, there seemed -to have come a mocking gleam. The telephone rang again. And then the -Hawk reached out abruptly, and took the receiver from the hook. - -"Hello!" he said gruffly. - -"Four X. Who's that?" responded a voice. - -There was something familiar about the voice, but he could not on the -instant place it. The Hawk's mind, even as he answered, was swiftly -cataloguing every member of the gang known to him in an effort to -identify it. - -"The Bantam," he said. - -"All right," replied the voice. "Give me the Butcher." - -"Hold the line," answered the Hawk. - -He placed his hand over the transmitter. The voice was still eluding -him. He turned, and eyed the Butcher. - -"Four X wants you, Butcher." All the drawl, all the insouciance was gone -now; his voice was hard with menace, cold as death. "And you're going to -speak to him--but you're going to say what I tell you to say. But before -you begin, I want you to remember the little account between us that's -been hanging over since that night in the paymaster's office. If you -make a break, if you try to frame me--_I'll settle that account here -to-night_, while you sit in that chair. If you hesitate on a word, I'll -fire--and not through my pocket, you yellow cur! Understand? Don't kid -yourself on this, Butcher! If I nod my head, say 'yes'--and no more. -Now!" - -The Butcher had sunk back in his chair. There was fear in his face; it -was white, and he circled his lips with his tongue. - -Beneath the mask, the Hawk's lips were a straight line. He laid down his -automatic on the table, placed the receiver to his own ear, and held the -transmitter to the Butcher's lips. - -"Go ahead!" ordered the Hawk. "Ask him what he wants." His fingers, -cupped and pressed over the transmitter, lifted. - -"Hello!" said the Butcher. "What is it?" - -"That you, Butcher? Everything all right?" inquired the voice. - -The Hawk nodded. - -"Yes," said the Butcher. - -"Well, open up a bit!" complained the voice. "Did you get him, and----" - -The voice was speaking on. The Hawk's lips had set a little tighter. -He had recognised the voice now. His fingers were pressed over the -transmitter again. - -"Tell him you laid me out cold," instructed the Hawk; "and that -I haven't regained consciousness, yet. Now!" The voice had ceased -speaking; the Hawk's fingers lifted again. - -"We beaned him," said the Butcher morosely.. "He's still asleep." - -"Good!" chuckled the voice. "I'll be up there by and by, and----" - -"Tell him to stay where he is, that it will be--_safer_." The Hawk -clipped off his words. - -The Butcher delivered the message, the snarl in his voice entirely to -the Hawk's liking. - -"What?" questioned the voice. "I didn't get you." - -"Repeat!" whispered the Hawk. - -The Butcher repeated. - -"O. K.," came back the answer. "Yes, I guess you're right. So long, -Butcher." - -"Say 'good-night,'" prompted the Hawk. - -"'Night!" growled the Butcher. - -The Hawk replaced the receiver on the hook, and the instrument on the -table. - -The Butcher's lips were livid. - -The Hawk picked up his automatic and leaned forward, his eyes on a level -with the Butcher's. - -"What's that fellow's moniker, Butcher?" - -The Butcher hesitated. - -The automatic crept forward an inch. - -"Parson Joe." The Butcher's voice choked with mingled rage and fear. - -"Parson Joe, eh?" repeated the Hawk ruminatingly. "Was he the chap who -pulled that con game on the Riverdale Bank back in New York State -about six years ago, and afterwards got cornered by the police in Ike -Morrissey's gambling hell, and was caught because he nearly bled to -death, with his wrist half off, trying to get through a broken window -pane? He got four spaces. That him?" - -"If you say so, it must have been!" There was a leer in the Butcher's -voice. - -"_Was it?_" The automatic touched the Butcher's breast. - -"Yes," said the Butcher. - -"Thank you!" smiled the Hawk. "Now----!" - -He gagged the Butcher with the handkerchief, tied it securely into -place, stood up, picked up the little black bag, switched off the -electric reading lamp, moved to the window, and drew aside the shade. -"We'll let that account stand open for a little while longer, Butcher," -he said softly. "Just a little while longer--good-night!" - -He swung out of the window, dropped to the ground, ran across the lawn, -and gained the road. His mask and automatic were back in his pockets. -His fingers felt and patted the little black bag under his coat. - -"Always play your luck," whispered the Hawk confidentially to himself. -"It seems to me I saw a little loose change in Doctor Meunier's -pocket-book, and I don't think he's opened the duplicate bag yet and -stirred up a fuss. It isn't much compared with a hundred thousand, or -even fifty, to quote the Butcher, but 'every little bit added to what -you've got----'" He fell to whistling the tune pleasantly under his -breath, as he hurried along the road. - -A minute later he had regained the taxicab. - -"Drop me a block this side of the Corona--and give her all she's got!" -he directed crisply. - -"D'ye get him?" demanded the chauffeur eagerly. - -"My friend," replied the Hawk gently, as he stepped into the taxi, "if -you'll think it over, you'll come to the conclusion that you really -don't want to know. Take it from me that the less you're wise about -to-night the wiser you will be to-morrow. Now, cut her loose!" - -It had taken a good thirty minutes on the trip up; it took less than -half of that, by a more direct route, for the return journey. At -the corner, a block from the hotel, the Hawk crumpled two generous -bank-notes into the chauffeur's hand, and bade the man good-night. -He traversed the block, entered the hotel lobby, and, ignoring the -elevators, leisurely and nonchalantly ascended the staircase to the -first floor. From the landing he noted the room numbers opposite to -him, and with these as a guide passed on along the corridor to where it -turned at right angles at the corner of the building, and halted before -room No. 106. A light showing above the transom indicated that the -Frenchman was within. He had passed one or two people. No one had paid -any attention to him. Why should they! He glanced up and down. The -corridor, for the moment, was empty. He tried the door gently--it was -locked. His right hand, in his side pocket, closed over his automatic. -He pressed close to the door, knocked gently with his left hand--and -with his left hand reached quickly into his pocket for his mask. - -"Who's there?" the Frenchman called out. - -"Message for you, sir," the Hawk answered. - -Footsteps crossed the room, the key turned in the lock--and, in a flash, -the Hawk, slipping on his mask, had pushed the door open, closed -it behind him, and the Frenchman was staring into the muzzle of the -automatic. - -"_Mon Dieu!_" gasped the Frenchman faintly. - -"That's right!" said the Hawk coolly, "Don't speak any louder than that, -or----" He shrugged his shoulders significantly, as he locked the door. - -The Frenchman, white-faced, was evidently fighting for his nerve. - -"What--what is it?" he stammered. "What is it that you want?" - -It was almost a reassuring smile that flickered on the Hawk's lips, and -his voice did not belie it--it was purely conversational in its tones. - -"I was reading in the paper this afternoon about the famous Doctor -Meunier. I'm a bit of a scientist myself, in an amateur way, and I'm -particularly interested in radium when there's enough of it to----" - -"Ah! My radium! That is what you want!" cried out the Frenchman wildly. -The duplicate bag lay on the bed. He ran for it, and snatched it up. -"No! That you shall not have! You come to steal my radium, you----" - -"You jump at conclusions, doctor," said the Hawk patiently. "Since it is -already stolen, I----" - -"Stolen!" The Frenchman stared--and then with feverish fingers opened -the bag. He looked inside. The bag dropped to the floor, his hands -went up in the air. "It is empty--empty!" he cried distractedly. "It is -gone--gone! _Mon Dieu_, my radium is gone! What shall I do!" His hands -were rumpling through his hair like one demented. "What shall I do--it -is gone!" - -"Well," suggested the Hawk suavely, "I thought perhaps you might like to -buy it back again." - -"Buy it back! Are you crazy? Am I crazy?" The man appeared to be beside -himself; he flung out his arms in mad gesticulation. "With what would -I buy it back? It is worth a hundred thousands dollars--a half million -francs!" - -"You are excited, Doctor Meunier," said the Hawk calmly. From where it -bulged under his coat he drew out the black bag. "I said nothing about a -hundred thousand dollars." - -The Frenchman reached out a shaking hand, pointing at the bag. - -"It is you then, after all, who stole it--eh? The bags--they are -identical! _Mon Dieu_, what does this mean? I am mad! I do not -understand!" - -There was a chair on each side of the small table near the bed. - -"Sit down!" invited the Hawk, indicating one with the muzzle of his -automatic. The Frenchman sat down with a helpless and abandoned gesture -of despair. The Hawk took the other chair. He opened the bag, opened -the lead box, and laid the lead capsule on the table. "Do you identify -this?" he inquired pleasantly. - -The Frenchman reached for it eagerly. - -The Hawk drew it back. - -"One moment, please, Doctor Meunier!" he murmured. "You recognise it? -You are satisfied that it is your tube of radium?" - -"Yes, yes--_mon Dieu!_ But, yes!" - -"And it is worth, you say, a hundred thousand dollars?" - -"But, yes, I tell you!" cried the Frenchman. "A hundred -thousand--certainly, it is worth that!" - -"Quite so!" said the Hawk placidly. "Therefore, Doctor Meunier, a -comparatively small sum--eh?--you would be willing to pay that--a sum, I -might add, that would be quite within your means." - -"Quite within my means?" repeated the Frenchman a little dazedly. - -"Yes," said the Hawk sweetly. "And to be specific, let us say--whatever -is in your pocketbook." The Frenchman drew back in his chair. His face -blanched. - -"You--you mean to rob me!" he exclaimed hoarsely. - -"I do not see it quite in that light." The Hawk's voice was pained. "But -we will not discuss the ethics involved--we probably should not agree. -I did not steal your precious capsule from you, and I am returning it, -not, I might say, without having incurred considerable personal risk in -so doing. Perhaps we might better agree if we called it--a reward." - -"No!" said the Frenchman desperately. - -The Hawk's automatic tapped the table top with a hint of petulance. - -"And--and what guarantee have I," the Frenchman burst out, "that you -will give me the tube after you have taken my money?" - -"My word," said the Hawk evenly. "And--I am waiting, Doctor Meunier!" - -The Frenchman hesitated, then, with an oath, flung his pocketbook upon -the table. The Hawk opened it, extracted the wad of bills that he had -seen exhibited in the superintendent's office, smiled as he fingered -them, and put them in his pocket. He pushed the lead capsule across the -table--and suddenly, as the other reached for it, the Hawk was on his -feet, his automatic flung forward, his left hand grasping the other's -sleeve. - -They held that way for an instant, eying each other--the Hawk's left -hand slowly pushing back the other's right-hand sleeve. And then the -Hawk's eyes shifted--to a long, jagged, white scar on the bare forearm -just above the wrist. - -"Shall I introduce myself--Parson Joe?" purred the Hawk. - -The other's face was a mottled red--it deepened to purple. - -"No, blast you!" he said between his teeth. "I know you--but I didn't -think you knew me. So you called the turn when the Bantam followed -me--eh?" - -The Hawk shook his head. - -"I never saw you in my life before to-day," he said grimly; "and, if it -will do you any good to know it, I fell for that radium plant--until you -telephoned the Butcher half an hour ago." - -"And how did you know me, then?" The other flung the question fiercely. - -Again the Hawk shook his head. He had no desire that Parson Joe should -know he had been on the Limited that morning--Parson Joe might possess -an inconveniently retentive memory for faces, and he, the Hawk, did not -always wear a mask. - -"Maybe I guessed it, Parson!" he said insolently. "I must have--it was -the only thing that wasn't in the paper! What encyclopedia did you get -that 'Becquerel burn' dope out of? And was the reporter lying, or how -did you work it to get him on the train?" - -Parson Joe was leaning forward over the table, fingering the lead -capsule. He suddenly crushed it with a blow of his fist, twisted it in -two, and hurled the pieces across the floor. - -"We got him up the line on a fake that didn't come off!" he snarled. - -There was an instant's silence, then the Hawk spoke. - -"Nice, amiable crowd, you are, Parson!" The Hawk's voice was silken. -"I'm just beginning to appreciate you. Let's see! You had to pull a -story that any newspaper would jump at and _feature_, didn't you? And -you had to have a big enough bait to make sure I'd rise to it. And you -had to account for the celebrated Doctor Meunier's layover in Selkirk; -and, not expecting I'd pick up the trail quite so quickly, say, not -until after the paper had been out a little longer and you had made -another baiting trip or two to Lanson's office, you had to account for -the famous gentleman's enforced stay through the night if necessary; and -it gave a big swing to the story, and let you work your stunt for the -special train that you knew you couldn't get; and you figured I'd be -even more sure to see it in the paper if it was connected with some -pleasant little episode of yours--and so, on several counts, you blew up -the bridge." - -The man's teeth were clamped together. - -"Yes!" he choked. "And we'd blow a dozen more to get you!" - -"You flatter me!" said the Hawk dryly. "I'm afraid I've put you to quite -a little trouble--for nothing!" - -Sullen, red, furious, Parson Joe's face twitched. - -"You win to-night"--the heavy-lensed spectacles were off, and the black -eyes, the pupils gone, burned on the Hawk--"but you're going out! As -sure as God gave you breath, we'll get you yet, and----" - -"The Butcher told me that, and so did the Cricket--some time ago," said -the Hawk wearily. "I'm--_keep your hands above the table_--I'm sure you -mean well!" He was backing toward the door. "I won't bother to relieve -you of your revolver; and I don't think you'll telephone down to the -office. It might be awkward explaining to the police how Doctor Meunier -lost his pocketbook--and got his medical degree! I shall, however, lock -the door on the outside, as I shall require a minute or two to reach -the street, and I cannot very well go through the hotel corridor -with--this"--he jerked his hand toward his mask. - -The other's hands were above the table, obediently in plain view--but -they were clenching and unclenching now, the knuckles white. - -The Hawk reached behind him, took the key from the lock, listened, -opened the door slightly, and, still facing into the room, still -covering the other with his automatic, reached around the door and -fitted the key into the outside of the lock. - -"When you get out," said the Hawk, as though it were an afterthought, -"I'm sure the Butcher will be glad to see you--I am afraid he is not as -comfortable as he might be!" - -The black eyes, with a devil's fury in them, had never left the Hawk's. -And now the other lifted one of his clenched hands above his head. - -"I'd give five years--_five years_ of my life--for a look at your face!" -he whispered hoarsely. - -The Hawk was backing through the door. - -"It's not enough, Parson," he said softly. "Make it -another--pocketbook." - - - - -XIV--THE CLUE - -TWO days had passed--two days, and a night. The Hawk's fingers drummed -abstractedly without sound on the table top; his eyes, in a curiously -introspective stare, were fixed on the closely drawn window shade across -the room. From the ill-favoured saloon below his unpretentious lodgings, -there came, muffled, a chorus of voices in inebriated and discordant -song--an over-early evening celebration, for it was barely seven -o'clock. - -The finger tips drummed on. At times, the strong, square chin was -doggedly outthrust; at times, a frown gathered in heavy furrows on -the Hawk's forehead. The net at last was beginning to tighten -ominously--every sign pointed to it. He would be a blind fool indeed who -could not read the warning, and a fool of fools who would not heed it! - -His eyes strayed from the window, and rested upon the trunk that stood -between the table and the foot of the bed; and his fingers abruptly -ceased their restless movements. Within that trunk, concealed in its -false lid, was the loot, totalling many thousands of dollars, obtained -through his knowledge of the Wire Devils' secret code, which had enabled -him to-turn their elaborately prepared plans on more occasions than one -to his own account. But it was no longer a question of outwitting -them in order to add to that purloined store; it was a question of -outwitting them in order that--in very plain English--he, the Hawk, -might _live!_ - -Nor was it the Wire Devils alone who threatened disaster. There were -other factors; and, even if these factors were less imminent, as it -were, less in a measure to be feared, they were by no means to be -ignored. The police were showing increasing activity. The police -circular, which he had once torn down from the station wall, was now -replaced by another, only with this difference that, where the reward -for the Hawk's capture had then stood at five thousand dollars, it now -stood at ten. Also, last night--quite inadvertently!--while crouched -under the window of the turner's "cubbyhole" at the rear of the -roundhouse, the chosen spot for Lanson's and MacVightie's confidential -conferences, he had overheard a conversation between the division -superintendent and the head of the railroad's detective force that was -certainly not intended for his ears. According to MacVightie, a man by -the name of Birks, the sharpest man in the United States Secret Service, -had been detailed by the Washington authorities to the case. MacVightie -had even taken a generous share of the credit for this move to himself. -Thefts there might be until the country rang with them, murders might -add their quota to the reign of terror, yet all this was outside the -province of the Secret Service. It was, so MacVightie had said, through -MacVightie's insistence that the systematised thefts and murders were -inseparable with the counterfeit notes then flooding the country that -had induced Washington to act. The Hawk and his gang, according to -MacVightie again, were at the bottom of both one and the other--and -counterfeiting _was_, very pertinently, within the province of the -Secret Service! - -The Hawk permitted a twisted smile to flicker across his lips. -MacVightie, the police in general, and Birks of the Secret Service in -particular, might be classed as complications, even decidedly _awkward_ -complications, but his immediate peril lay, not in that direction, but -from those whose leadership MacVightie so blandly credited to--the Hawk! - -The smile twisted deeper--into one of grim irony. While MacVightie -placarded the country with circulars offering rewards for the capture of -the Hawk and his gang, the "gang" was moving heaven and earth to capture -the Hawk for its own exclusive purposes--which purposes, in a word, were -an intense desire to recover the proceeds of the robberies that he, the -Hawk, had filched from under the gang's nose, and thereafter, with -such finality as might be afforded by a blackjack, a knife thrust, or -a revolver bullet, to expedite the Hawk's departure from this vale of -tears! - -The Hawk's hand curled suddenly into a clenched fist, and his face -grew set. He was facetious--and he had little enough warrant for -facetiousness! They had already shown their teeth. They had shown the -grim, ugly _deadliness_ of their challenge in the thrust with which -they had opened their attack upon him. He had parried the thrust, it was -true--but there would be another--and another. There was something of -remorseless promise, that would stop at nothing, in the extravagantly -laid plans with which they had just attempted to lure him into the -open and trap him. They had failed, it was true, and he had even scored -against them again--but their cunning, their power, their resources, -their malignity remained unimpaired. They would try again. It was like -two adversaries in a dark room, each conscious of the other's presence, -each striving to _place_ the other, each conscious that the death of one -was life for the other. That was the pith of the situation. - -The Hawk's teeth clamped together. It was quite certain that they would -run him to earth--unless he were first at the same game! An organisation -as widespread as the one against which he had elected to pit his wits -and play a lone hand, an organisation clever enough to have seized and -put to its own use the entire divisional telegraph system of a railroad, -an organisation callous enough to have counted a score of murders but -incidents in its schemes, and, above all, an organisation guided by an -unknown brain that was a master of cunning and unhampered by scruples, -was an antagonist as sinister as it was powerful. For days now, in the -great majority of cases, he, the Hawk, had turned their plans to his own -account, skimmed, as it were, the cream from their milk--and there could -be but one answer. And they _had_ answered--and in the opening attack -they had just launched against him it was obvious enough that every -resource at their command was to be thrown into the balance to settle -scores with him. They might, and did, laugh at the police, but to have -their prizes pocketed and carried off by a competitor admitted of but -one solution--the annihilation of the competitor! - -The Hawk rose abruptly from his seat, stepped over to the trunk, opened -it, and in an instant had removed the secret tray from the curvature of -the lid. He laid the tray down upon the table; and his fingers, brushing -aside a certain magnificent diamond necklace whose thousand facets -glittered in the light, delved swiftly in amongst pile after pile of -banknotes, and secured a package of papers. - -He pushed the tray to one side, sat down again at the table, removed the -elastic band from the package, and began to examine the papers. It was -not the first time he had done this--he did it again now in a sort of -desperation, and simply because it presented the one possibility at -which he might grasp in the hope of obtaining a clue. There were many -papers here, loose sheets, documents in envelopes, and, careful as -he had been before, there _was_ a chance that he had missed the one -thing--in a sentence, in perhaps only a word, or a pencilled note-on the -back of an envelope--that would save him from disaster now. - -It was the night before last that Parson Joe, with his fake tube of -radium, had headed the gang in the attempt upon his, the Hawk's, life. -The twisted smile returned to the Hawk's lips, as he turned first one -paper and then another over in his hands. He had been fool enough to -imagine that, besides failure, they had left a well-marked and clearly -defined trail behind them--in the shape of that very comfortably, very -cosily furnished house just on the outskirts of the city, where the -Butcher had proposed to play the rôle of spider to his, the Hawk's, rôle -of fly! It had even seemed a childishly simple matter to pick up such -a thread and follow it. A house was neither rented nor furnished out of -thin air. But the next morning the house was closed and deserted. It had -been sublet--furnished. The subtenant, whose name was of no consequence, -since it was of course assumed, had vanished--that was all. As far as -the gang was concerned the house had lost its usefulness, and, having -lost its usefulness, had simply been evacuated, and, together with the -furniture, left to its own resources! - -And it had been the same, on a previous occasion, with Isaac Kirschell's -office. The morning after he, the Hawk, had appropriated the contents -of Kirschell's cash box and had recognised Kirschell as one of the gang, -the suite of rooms in the office building had been vacant. - -The Hawk withdrew the last paper in the pile from its envelope, and -read it with a sort of miserable realisation that its perusal, like -the others, was foredoomed to futility. It was an alleged mortgage, -spurious, of course, for these were Kirschell's papers that had been in -the cash box, and, in the very nature of things, Kirschell's business -had been only a blind to cover a sort of branch headquarters for the -gang. He read it through, however, doggedly--and for his pains the -printed words in their precise legal phraseology seemed to mock at him -and chuckle with devilishly perverted humour. - -He tossed the document upon the table, and, his face strained, pushed -back his chair, got up, and began to pace the length of the room with -a tread that, in its quick, nervous litheness and its silence, was like -the pacing of a panther in its cage. - -Nothing! And yet there must be something--somewhere! It was his move -now, and there was little time to spare. It had become simply a -question of which of the two, he or the gang, would win this game of -blindman's-buff. It no longer sufficed that he should intercept those -secret code messages in the former haphazard way, for, consistently as -he had haunted the telegraph sounders, he was well enough aware that he -must of necessity have missed many of the messages. He could afford to -miss _none_ of them now. Formerly, a message missed meant but a lost -opportunity to thwart their plans, to add a little more to the contents -of the trunk's false lid; now, since they had shown that they would -stop at nothing to trap him, his life was dependent on having, with -certainty, foreknowledge of their every plan. His defense lay in attack. -He must trace those messages to their source, and trace them quickly -before the Wire Devils should strike again, or leave the field to the -Wire Devils--in other words, quit and run for it! - -"Quit!" It was the first sound the Hawk had made, and it was only a -whisper--but the whisper was gritted out through set teeth. Quit! -He laughed a little, low, with menace, without mirth. It was not an -alternative--it was the sting of a curling whip-lash to spur him on. - -Well? What was he to do then? It was his move--and there was no time to -spare. He approached the table again, and began to rearrange the papers -into a pile, preparatory to replacing them in the tray. It was veritably -a game of blindman's-buff! They knew him through personal contact, but -only as a man who had always been masked; he knew many of them, and knew -them personally--but only in the play-off of their schemes, when he had, -as it were, snatched the plunder from their hands as he made his own -escape, had he ever seen any of them. Well--the question came again, -more insistent, more imperative, more vital--well, his life was in the -balance, what was he to do? Go out again to-night and haunt a telegraph -sounder, trust to---- - -He turned suddenly, the spurious mortgage, and the long envelope that -had contained it, in his hand. The document, for some reason or other, -refused to fit into the envelope as neatly or as readily as it had -previously done. He held the envelope up to the light--and the next -instant, flinging the document down on the table, he had ripped the -envelope apart, and from under the inner flap, where it had undoubtedly -been forced by the document itself and afterwards, as he had handled the -envelope, had obviously worked its way partially out again, he extracted -a small, thin slip of yellow paper. - -And then for a moment the Hawk stood motionless, but into the dark eyes -there leaped a triumphant flash. In his hand was the return portion of a -railroad ticket that read: - -Conmore to Selkirk City. - -He whipped the ticket over to scrutinise the date stamp on the back--it -was that of the day prior to his visit to Kirschell's office. And he -laughed a little again, but there was no bitterness in the laugh now. -The clue that he had sought, the clue that Lanson's men had in vain -patrolled and scoured the division's right of way to obtain, was in his -possession. - -"It fits--like a glove!" muttered the Hawk, with grim complacence. -"Kirschell had the envelope in his pocket, of course, and in putting -his return ticket in his pocket it slipped into the envelope without his -knowing it, got crowded under the flap, and he thought he had lost it!" -The Hawk turned sharply to the table. "Conmore--eh?" He was working with -feverish haste now, replacing the papers in the tray, and fitting the -tray back into the curvature of the trunk lid. "Number Thirty-Eight, -if she's on time, is due at seven-thirty." He pulled out his watch. -"Seven-twenty! Conmore--eh?" The light was out, the door locked behind -him. "That's twenty-miles east of here, and _between_ here and Bald -Creek." He was out of the house now, and running along the lane that -gave on the station street. "Yes," said the Hawk again, and there was -suppressed elation in his voice, "it fits! It fits--like a glove!" - -The Hawk reached the station, and purchased a ticket; but, as usual, the -ticket did not indicate his destination--it read, not to Conmore, but to -several stations farther along the line. The local pulled in on time. As -it pulled out again, the Hawk, having appropriated the rear seat of the -smoker, lighted, though he inclined little toward that particular form -of tobacco, a cigar. - -His slouch hat was jerked a little forward over his eyes. He settled -back in his seat. Like links in a chain, the keen, alert brain was -welding the events of the days gone by into a concrete whole. The -headquarters of the gang, the heart of the web from which the Wire -Devils operated was, logically, as he had known, as MacVightie had -known, _outside_ the city, where the telegraph line could be tapped -without observation and at will. MacVightie's initial and only attempt -to "ground out" the "tap" had indicated that the wire was being tampered -with _between_ Selkirk and Bald Creek. Conmore was between Selkirk and -Bald Creek. And what interest could Kirschell, a New York crook, have -in a place like Conmore, that was little more than a hamlet? What, then, -had prompted Kirschell's trip to Conmore and return? The Hawk smiled -whimsically. - -It was not proof absolute, but in his own mind it was proof quite -sufficient. Kirschell's visit to Conmore had been a visit to the -headquarters of the gang. Also, material proof apart, he sensed -intuitively that he had struck the right trail. Those messages, keeping -the unknown brain that schemed and plotted each move in instant touch -with every unit of the widespread organisation, making it possible for -them to strike at a moment's warning at any point over a hundred miles -of country, emanated--from Conmore. - -The train stopped at a station, and went on again. The Hawk nursed his -cigar sedulously, and stared out of the window. Twenty minutes went by. -And then the train stopped again--at Conmore. - -The Hawk did not move, save that his eyes rested casually on a passenger -who was making a hurried and belated dash for the door. It was quite -possible that the man was not one of the gang, and equally possible that -the man was--he, the Hawk, did not recognise the other. But he would do -the Wire Devils less than justice to credit them with lack of interest -in passengers for Conmore--or in any occupant of any car who might have -left his seat and found the platform attractive, say, just _before_ -Conmore was reached! If the man was a spy, then--well--the Hawk smiled -at his now burned-to-the-butt cigar--the man would have little to -report! - -The train jerked forward into motion again. The station was on the same -side as the Hawk's seat--the Hawk did not look out of the window, but he -was far from being oblivious to the fact that _no_ platform lights had -shown through the car windows on the opposite side of the aisle. The -speed increased a little, but still the Hawk did not stir. The train -rattled over the east-end siding switch of the Conmore yard. And then -the Hawk rose languidly, tossed his cigar butt into the cuspidor, -brushed a very noticeable quantity of cigar ash from his vest, paused -for a drink at the water-cooler, and, as though, his smoke finished, he -was seeking the clearer atmosphere of a rear car, opened the door, and -stepped out on the platform. - -The Hawk dropped to the right of way from the side of the train opposite -to that of the station, landed as sure-footed as a cat, flung himself -instantly flat down at the edge of the embankment, and lay still. -The local racketed its way past--the red tail-lights winked, and -vanished--and there fell a silence, a drowsy night silence, broken -only by the chirp of insects and the far-distant mutter of the receding -train. The Hawk raised his head, and looked about him. A few hundred -yards away glinted the station semaphore and window lights; the siding -switch light, nearer, showed green like a huge glowing emerald in -the black; there was nothing else. There was no sign of -habitation--nothing--the little hamlet lay hidden in a hollow a mile -away on the station side of the track. - - - - -XV--THE LADYBIRD - -THE Hawk rose, and began to move forward. Conmore was certainly an -idealistic spot--from the Wire Devils' standpoint! He frowned a little. -There was no doubt in his mind but that in a general way he had solved -the problem, that somewhere in this vicinity the right of way held the -wire tappers' secret; but, as he was well aware, his difficulties were -far from at an end, and that particular spot might be anywhere within -several miles of Conmore, and it might, with equal reason, be east or -west of the station. And then the Hawk shrugged his shoulders. The night -was early yet, early enough to enable him to cover several miles of -track on both sides of the station, if necessary, before daylight came. -If he had luck with him, he was on the right side now; if not, then, by -midnight, he would start in on the other. It required the exercise of a -little philosophical patience, nothing more. - -It was black along the track--a black night, no moon, no stars. And it -was silent. A half hour passed. Like a shadow, and as silent as one, the -Hawk moved forward--from telegraph pole to telegraph pole. A pin point -of light showed far down the right of way, grew larger, brighter, more -luminous--and the Hawk-sought refuge, crouched beneath a culvert, as -a big ten-wheeler and its string of coaches, trucks beating at the -fishplates, quick like the tattoo of a snare drum, roared by over his -head. - -Still another half hour passed. It was slow work. He was perhaps, at -most, a mile and a half from the Conmore station. And then, suddenly, -the Hawk dropped to his hands and knees and crawled down the embankment, -and lay flat and motionless in the grass--faint, almost inaudible, a -footstep had crunched on the gravel of the roadbed ahead of him. The -Hawk's only movement now was the tightening of his fingers around the -stock of his automatic, as, out of the blackness, a blacker shape loomed -up, and a man sauntered by along the track. - -The Hawk's lips compressed into a grim smile. His caution had not been -exaggerated! The Wire Devils' guard! Luck, at least initial luck, was -with him, then! The "tap" was here _east_ of the station, and at the -next pole probably. But it was more than likely that there was another -guard patrolling on the other side. They would certainly take no -chances, either of surprise, or of being unable to dismantle their -apparatus instantly at the first alarm--and it would almost necessarily -require more than one man for that. He crept forward again, and again -lay still. The man on the track returned--passed by--and, close to the -telegraph pole now, two blurred shapes showed; and then, low, there came -voices, and a laugh. - -But now the Hawk was wriggling swiftly away from the track. There was -no longer any need to examine the telegraph poles--the sense of touch -guiding him, he was following an insulated wire, two wires, that lay -along the ground, and, following these wires, he reached the barbed-wire -fence that enclosed the right of way, worked his way through, and here -paused. The wires had apparently disappeared abruptly into the ground. - -For perhaps a minute the Hawk lay still, save that his fingers worked -and dug at loose earth; and then, his coat extended on either side of -him, he raised himself an inch or two from the ground, and, beneath his -body, his tiny flashlight glowed for a brief instant, and was restored -to his pocket. - -The Hawk began to crawl forward again. He was on the edge of a ploughed -field--a piece of farm land. It was all very simple, and it was very -clear now. In the loose earth there was embedded a small, rough, wooden -box. In this receptacle was a junction box, and from the junction box, -through holes bored in the outer wooden casing, the wires continued -on into a small, flexible conduit. The Hawk smiled grimly. Lanson, and -Lanson's section men might search a thousand years and never solve -the problem. The Wire Devils were not limited to any one single or -particular telegraph pole. They were limited only in the radius of their -operations by the length of the "tap" wires they used. They had only to -tap the line, run their "tap" back, brush the loose earth away from the -top of the wooden casing, open the latter, connect with the junction -box, and their "tap" became an integral part of the railroad's telegraph -system. It was very simple! When they were not operating--they reversed -the process. They disconnected from the main line, coiled their "tap" -wires up, hid them in the wooden casing, restored the loose earth over -the latter's surface, and, save for one of those thousands of splices on -the main line incident to years of service and differing in no way -from any of its fellows, no sign or vestige of their work remained. It -required, of course, a lineman's outfit and the necessary appliances -for work at the top of the telegraph pole--but that the Wire Devils -were adequately equipped in this respect was so obvious as to make any -consideration of that detail absurd. For the rest, the little conduit -laid in a ploughed furrow with the earth spread back over it completed -in perfection and simplicity the unholy little scheme! - -On the Hawk crawled across the field. All this premised a house, a farm -house probably, in the immediate vicinity. The ploughed field must, -of course, never be disturbed, therefore the tenancy of the land -axiomatically was for the moment vested in the Wire Devils, and----ah! -The Hawk, far enough from the railroad now to be secure from -observation, had risen from his hands and knees, and, in a crouched -position, was moving forward more rapidly. A small, wooded tract of -land was showing a little way in front of him; the house undoubtedly was -there. - -He gained the trees, made his way through what appeared to be an open -grove of pines, and, on the other side, at the edge of the clearing, -halted, and listened intently. He could just make out a little group of -buildings--the house itself, a barn, and one or two smaller structures, -probably wagon and implement sheds. No light showed from anywhere, -nor was there any sound. Cautiously, silently, the Hawk crossed the -clearing, and began to circuit the house. It was a little strange! The -place seemed absolutely deserted. Had he made a mistake? Naturally, he -could not follow the direction of the buried conduit! Was there another -house in the neighbourhood? He shook his head. There might be another -house, many of them for that matter, but the ploughed field, from its -location, surely belonged to this one. And yet--he halted once more, -and, listening again intently, looked sharply about him. - -He was around on the other side of the house now, and now his eyes were -fixed on one of the lower windows. It was not the window of a lighted -room, yet still a faint glow seemed to emanate most curiously from it. -He crept toward it, crouched beneath it, listened again, then partially -straightening up--the window sill was but breast high--peered in. Of the -room itself he could see nothing--only the dull glow of light, extremely -faint, that came, he now discovered, from an open door across the room. -He tried the window; and then, finding the catch unfastened, with a -deft pressure of his fingers upon the sash, he began to raise it slowly, -silently. - -And now into the Hawk's dark eyes there leaped for the second time that -night a triumphant flash. Yes, beyond doubt, beyond question, beyond -cavil, here was the heart of the spider's web at last! Muffled, low, -indistinct, barely audible, but equally unmistakable, there came the -clicking of a telegraph instrument. - -The Hawk drew his mask from his pocket, slipped it over his face, swung -noiselessly over the window sill, and began to creep across the room -toward the opened door and the glow of light. And, as the clicking of -the sounder grew more distinct and there mingled with it now a murmur -of voices, the Hawk's lips compressed into a thin, straight line. If -he were caught, if a single inadvertent sound betrayed his presence; it -needed no effort of the imagination to picture what would follow. Death, -if it were sudden, would be a very merciful ending--but it would not -be death, if the Wire Devils could prevent it, until they had exhausted -every means, torture ingenious and devilish, for instance, to extort -from him the whereabouts of the plunder taken from them, and which they -knew to be in his possession. He knew much now, he knew their lair at -last, and for a moment, as these thoughts flashed across his mind, he -was prompted to retreat again while he had the chance. An inner voice -called him a fool to persist; another bade him go on. But the latter -voice was right. He knew much--but he did not know enough. - -If his life was in peril in the one sense, it was equally in peril in -the other. He did not know _enough_. Who, for instance, was the master -brain behind the organisation? Where and how, for instance, was the next -trap they would set for him to be laid? - -Brief snatches of conversation now began to reach the Hawk, as he drew -nearer to the door: - -"... Twenty-five thousand dollars... Traders' National Bank... -superintendent's car... dummy package... counterfeit seals... that's all -right, but MacVightie says the Secret Service is sending a man by the -name of Birks out here...." - -And then a voice at which the Hawk involuntarily held his breath, and to -which, at the door now, he listened in a sort of stunned incredulity, -as though he were indeed the sport of his own ears. It was a very quiet -voice, very soft, a velvet voice, a voice whose tones were cultured -tones--and whose language was the language of a pirate of the Spanish -Main. - -"Time enough to attend to this Birks personage--what I want is the -Hawk!" came in limpid tones. "And if I were not tied down here in this -damned and double-damned wheel chair, I would have twisted his throat -for him long ago. I furnish brains--and I am cursed with a miserable, -crawling mob of gnats upon whom they are wasted! That's it--gnats! -Gnats--insects--moths--anything that, if shown the light, knows nothing -but to singe its own wings!" The voice was not raised; it was like -a mother's, like a woman's voice, talking plaintively to a spoiled -child--but there was something absolutely deadly in its inflection. - -"The Ladybird!" The Hawk's lips framed the words without sound, and in a -sort of numbed hesitant way. "I--I thought he was dead." - -The telegraph sounder kept on spluttering at intervals, but it was only -stray stuff, routine railroad business, going over the wires. The Hawk, -flat on the floor and at one side of the jamb now, stared through the -doorway. It was the doorway leading to the cellar. The stairs, halfway -down, turned abruptly at right angles. The Hawk was rewarded with a view -of the stone foundation wall of the house, nothing more. But for the -moment the Hawk was lost to his immediate surroundings. The Hawk's -criminal acquaintanceship was wide, varied and intimate, and his mind -was still not entirely recovered from the startled amazement which the -recognition of that voice had brought him. He was quite fully conversant -with the Ladybird's record--only he had thought the Ladybird dead! - -The Ladybird was not an ordinary criminal; instead of having spent -twenty years in Sing Sing, as was very justly his due, the police had -spent those twenty years in trying to put him there--and the Ladybird -was still to know the restrictions of a cage! Clever, fearless, cunning, -Napoleonic in the scope and breadth of his operations, the biggest -scoops on the blotters of the New York police, and, higher up, on -the Federal records, were laid to the Ladybird's door; but always, -somewhere, the thread of evidence broke--sometimes not till the door -itself was reached--but always it broke; the thread had never crossed -the threshold. The man himself was highly educated, a man now well on -toward fifty. In the underworld there were a thousand different stories -of his early life--that he had been a professor of science in a great -university; that he came of a rich family high up in the social scale; -that he had been, in fact, everything that the spice of imagination -could supply to enhance the glamour that surrounded him in the sordid -empire of Crimeland, where so many were his followers and worshippers. -But here, too, the thread was broken. None knew who he had been; -none knew where he had come from. They knew him only as one who was -invulnerable against the attacks and efforts of the police, as a peer -of their own unholy realm, as one whose name was a name to conjure -with--for in the name, the "moniker" they themselves had given the -Ladybird on account of his effeminate voice and manner, derision was -neither intended nor implied. There were limits and bounds to even the -underworld's temerity, and none knew better than the underworld the -sinister incongruity of those effeminate characteristics. Where another -might bellow and roar his rage, and threaten, the Ladybird lisped his -words--and _struck_. - -But he, the Hawk, had thought the Ladybird dead! The man had been badly -hurt a year ago in a railroad accident somewhere in the East, and the -report had spread, and had been credited even in the inner circles of -the underworld, that he was dead. The Hawk's lips twisted grimly. The -Ladybird had seen to it evidently that the report was not denied! And -so, instead, the man was a cripple now, weaving his plots, and scheming -with that black, cunning brain of his from a wheel chair! Well, he---- - -The Hawk reached quickly into his pocket for pencil and paper--there -would be just light enough to enable him to see. The sounder was -rattling a brisk, tattoo, but it was no longer stray stuff. The message, -in quick, sure "sending," was coming in the Wire Devils' secret code. -Letter by letter the Hawk jotted it down: - -"pikxtfbmez byqetbqfsl kgqmbokufec srfijojeremb -sthfgsbk bnfebvwq jduuvsfpq xwfsnlipb ouflmnfsbg jeborr ettjupuj ohllsppn." - -The sounder ceased abruptly. There was silence. The Hawk replaced pencil -and paper in his pocket. The minutes passed--the message was evidently -being decoded. Then the Ladybird's voice: - -"Very well! Code a message to Number One, and tell him Number Seven -has completed his work. Tell him again to take no chances by hurrying -things; that he is to wait until they are asleep. And warn him again -that under no circumstances is our hand to show in this to-night." - -A slight confusion followed from below--the scuf-, fling of feet, the -murmur of voices mingling with curious, indefinable metallic sounds. And -then suddenly the Ladybird's voice again: - -"No--never mind that message! Damn my cursed, useless legs!" A flow of -unbridled oaths followed--the sacrilege the more horrible, the menace -the more ghastly for the languid, conversational tones in which the -blasphemy rolled so smoothly from the man's lips. "I'll trust to no -message tonight! Curse my legs! If I could only get there myself! -Failure! Failure! Failure! Gnats! But I will not have my plans ruined -to-night by any fool! Here, you, Dixer! Where's Dixer?" - -"I'm here," a voice answered. - -"Listen, them!" murmured the Ladybird. "You haven't got any more brains -than any of the rest of them, but you're so cautious you wouldn't take -a chance on swapping a Mexican dollar for a gold eagle unless you had -a bottle of acid in your pocket--for fear the eagle was bad! I want -caution tonight, and I want orders obeyed to the letter, and that's all -I want. You take the runabout and go down there. You've lots of time. -Tell Number One you're in charge. I'll wire him to that effect. And now -pay attention to me so you won't have ignorance for an excuse! It's time -the police and the rags they call newspapers around here had a little -something to divert their attention--from us. They're getting to be -pests, and I want a lull in which to devote a little more attention -to--the Hawk. It's about time they understood we are modest enough -not to hog all the lime-light!" He laughed a little, a low, modulated, -dulcet laugh, that rippled like a woman's--but in the ripple there was -something that was akin to a shudder. "Twice in the last month, the -Traders' National has made remittances to its banking correspondent -at Elkhead for the mine country pay rolls and on account of general -business. They did it very neatly, they fooled us completely--because -the remittances were only piker amounts, and because it was only a -question of letting them get fed up enough with their own cleverness to -pull a good one! They're pulling a good one to-night!" The Ladybird's -laugh rippled out again. "To outwit us, and paying us the compliment of -not daring to trust to ordinary means of shipment, they've had a little -arrangement in force with Lanson, the division superintendent. It was -very simple. Lanson, in his car, making a trip over the division, could -never interest us--certainly not! Why should it? Only they did not -count on Number Eleven _inside_ the bank. Very well! They wrapped -their banknotes up in small packages, sealed them with the bank's seal, -wrapped these small packages up again into an innocent looking parcel -_without_ a seal, and handed it over to a trusted young employé by the -name of Meridan--Paul Meridan. On both the former occasions, Meridan -left the bank at the usual closing hour, took the parcel with him, -and went home; but, later on, in the evening, he slipped down to the -railroad yard, boarded Lanson's private car, locked the parcel up in -a small cupboard at the bottom of the bookcase with which the main -compartment of the car is equipped, smoked a cigar with Lanson, turned -in, the car was coupled to the night express, and in the morning Meridan -delivered his package in Elkhead. - -"That was the way it was done before, Dixer"--the Ladybird's voice, -if anything, grew softer--"and that's the way it is being done this -time--only there are _more_ little sealed packages in the parcel -to-night. And to-night Meridan will sneak out of his home again, and go -down to the private car with the money as usual. _Your_ way, yours and -the Butcher's, and that of the rest of you, would be to lay a blackjack -over Meridan's head on the way to the railroad yard, and snatch the -parcel. It's not _my_ way. It's too hot, as it is, around here now, and -there's got to be a big enough noise made to attract attention to the -other side of the fence and give us a breathing spell. _Paul Meridan -stands for this to-night_. There's nothing new about one of those -ubiquitous 'trusted employés' going wrong, but everybody sucks in their -breaths just the same every time it happens, and the splash is always -just as big. Understand? Number One has got a dummy package identical in -appearance with Meridan's--each of the small packages is sealed with -the bank's seal in dark-green wax, and the whole is wrapped up with the -bank's special wrapping paper and tied precisely as is the one Meridan -has in his possession. Number Eleven did his work well. There was, of -course, no opportunity to effect the exchange in the bank itself, and -the dummy parcel had to be made up outside, but there was no difficulty -in carrying away enough wrapping paper and wax for the purpose--and, as -far as the seal was concerned, it was you, Dixer, who engraved it a week -ago, wasn't it?" - -"Yes," said Dixer. "You took me off the new twenty-spot plate for that." - -"Exactly!" lisped the Ladybird. "Well, though this exchange could not -be effected in the bank, there was no great ingenuity required to get -Meridan to handle, perhaps only to lift, say, a pile of the bank's -wrapping paper from one position on a table or desk to another. If -the under sheet happened to be slightly smeared, and so left a not too -evident, but still well-defined finger print, it was, I am afraid, our -friend Meridan's great misfortune! That was one of the sheets Number -Eleven took away with him. Very good! Meridan delivers his package to -his bank's correspondent in Elkhead to-morrow morning. When the seals -are broken, the little packages are found to contain--piles of blotting -paper, neatly and carefully cut to the size of banknotes! There could -be no reason for suspecting Meridan, the trusted employé--no one -would think of such a thing. He had simply been the victim of a clever -substitution. He was entirely blameless. Naturally! That would be the -way Meridan would reason, and that would be the way they would figure -_he had reasoned_ when they read the letter from 'a friend' that we are -sending to-night, and which they will receive in the morning. Meridan -_did_ have an ample opportunity to effect the substitution himself. The -letter simply suggests a close inspection of the wrappers for finger -prints, and directs attention to Apartment B, on the ground floor of The -Linden--a rather fashionable abode for a young and newly married bank -clerk--where there might possibly be found certain articles such as, -say, a counterfeit of the bank's seal, a quantity of the bank's special -dark-green wax, and some _superfluous_ sheets of the bank's particular -wrapping paper!" - -There was utter silence from the cellar below for an instant, then there -came a callous guffaw. - -"_Some_ plant, all right!" applauded a voice hoarsely. "And it was -twenty-five thousand dollars, you said, wasn't it, chief?" - -Again that rippling laugh, soft, low and silvery. - -"Twenty-five thousand dollars is correct," corroborated the Ladybird. -"And now, Dixer, if you fail, you'll talk to me--you've seen all -the cards. Number One has a duplicate key to the private car, and a -duplicate key to the bookcase cupboard. Don't enter the car until -you are sure Meridan, Lanson and the porter are asleep. I want -_caution_--and I will settle with the man until he will wish he had -never been born who lets our hand show in this tonight. The car won't be -moved from the siding until the Eastern Express is made up at midnight, -but don't touch the car while it is on the siding at all if it means -taking any chances; in that case you and Number One can get berths in -the Pullman, and, with the private car right behind you, you can then -make the exchange sometime during the night. You'll find Number One and -the rest of them in the old freight shed near the roundhouse, and, with -the private car right behind you, you can then make the exchange -sometime during the night. You'll find Number One and the rest of them -in the old freight shed near the roundhouse, and----" - -The Hawk was wriggling silently back across the floor. There was no -scheme on foot to-night that was aimed at him; there was, instead, -twenty-five thousand dollars--_in cash_. He gained the window, and -swung to the sill. Footsteps, hurried, sounded from the direction of the -cellar stairs. The Hawk dropped to the ground, stole noiselessly around -the rear of the house, and reached the shelter of the grove of trees. -Here, he paused, slipped his mask into his pocket, and, for a moment, -a look of puzzled hesitation was in his face; then, running again, -but making a wide detour to avoid the guarded section of the track, he -headed for a point that would intercept the right of way quite close to -the Conmore station. And, as he ran, he jerked his watch and flashlight -from his pockets. It was a quarter past nine. It was early yet, very -early, and they certainly would not make any attempt on the car much -before midnight, but, for all that, the Hawk, who was intimately -conversant with the train schedules, shook his head impatiently, as he -sped along--there were twenty miles between himself and Selkirk, and the -quickest, as indeed the only way to get there, since, unlike Dixer, -he was not possessed of a runabout, was slow at best. There were no -westbound passenger trains scheduling Conmore for two hours or more, -and he would scarcely have dared to risk boarding one at the station if -there had been--there remained, then, not by choice, but by necessity, -the way freight. The way freight "made" Conmore at about ten o'clock, -and Selkirk at about eleven-thirty. - -It would serve admirably, of course, if----He shook his head again, and -then laughed shortly. There were no "ifs"--he would be a passenger on -the way freight. - - - - -XVI--AN EVEN BREAK - -IT took the Hawk some twenty-five minutes to reach the spot he had -selected as his objective, a spot some fifty yards east of the Conmore -siding switch, and here he lay down in the grass under the shelter of -the embankment. It was very quiet, very still, very dark; there was -nothing in sight save the winking station lights in the distance, and -the siding switch light nearer at hand. - -"Twenty-five thousand dollars!" said the Hawk very softly to himself. -He rolled the words like some sweet morsel on his tongue. "Twenty-five -thousand dollars--_in cash!_" - -The Hawk spread out one side of his coat, and under its protection, in -a diminutive but steady little glow of light, the tiny flashlight played -its ray upon the sheet of paper across which he had scrawled the Wire -Devils' code message. - -"Key letter--x. One-two-three--stroke at four," muttered the Hawk--and -in parallel columns set down the letters of the alphabet, one column -transposed. - -It took the Hawk much longer to decode the message than it had taken -those in the house to perform the same task. The Hawk was working under -difficulties. A stone, none too flat, served to rest his paper upon, and -he had only two hands with which to manipulate pencil, flashlight and -coat. At the expiration of perhaps half an hour the result of his work -looked like this: - -[Illustration: 0242] - -(plkx) tfbm (*e) zbyq (et) bqfs (1kg) qmbo seal waxp aper plan - -(k) ufec (sr) fijo (jer) embs (t) hfgs (bk) - -tedb ehin dlar gefr bnfe (bvw) qjdu (u) vsfp (qn) wfsn (ljp) bouf amed -pict ureo verm ante - -(l) mnfs (bg) jebo (rre) ttju (p) ujoh (II) - -lmer idan ssit ting sppn room - -And then the Hawk looked up--the throb and mutter of a distant train was -in the air. Pencil, paper and flashlight were restored to his pockets, -and he drew further back from the right of way. Far down the track the -way freight's headlight flashed into view. A minute passed, another, and -still another. And now, where the Hawk had lain, the ground was ablaze -with light--then black again; there was the roar of steam, a grind and -clash and shatter ricochetting down the string of cars, the scream and -shriek of brake-shoes, and then, a panting thing, as though the big -mogul were drawing in deep breaths after great exertion, the way freight -came to a standstill a few yards from the siding switch. - -The Hawk crept forward, his eyes sweeping down the length of the train -in a keen, tense gaze. There was a flat car--it showed in a curious open -space, like a break in the black thread stretched along the track--but -it was too far away, and too perilously close to the caboose. His -eyes travelled back; and, being nearer to the train now he discerned a -boxcar, empty, its door open, almost in front of him. He crawled forward -until he was abreast of it, and until he lay close up against the rails, -looked cautiously up and down the length of the train, sprang to his -feet, and in an instant lay stretched out far back in the interior of -the car. - -The train moved forward, stopped again at the station, and again moved -forward. The Hawk reverted to his pencil, paper and flashlight. The code -message now read: - -seal waxp aper plan tedb ehin dlar gefr amed pict ureo verm ante lmer -idan ssit ting room - -It was now simply a matter of grouping the letters properly, and the -Hawk wrote out the message at the bottom of the sheet: - -Seal, wax (and) paper planted behind large framed picture over mantel -Meridan(')s sitting room. - -The Hawk stared at it grimly. - -"'Yea," said the Hawk, "I guess that's right! I guess the job is wished -on the young fellow to a finish; he wouldn't have a hope, and MacVightie -would never look any further." The Hawk was silent for a moment. -"Twenty-five thousand dollars--in cash!" murmured the Hawk again. - -The way freight ran slowly, very slowly--and it had already been from -ten to fifteen minutes late in reaching Conmore. At the next station -the train crew seemed possessed of a perversity infernal for shifting, -shunting and lifting cars. The Hawk, fuming with impatience, consulted -his watch, as they finally pulled out into the clear again. It was -twenty-five minutes of eleven. - -The train rattled, bumped and jerked its way along--and at the remaining -intermediate stations there was more delay. And when, approaching -Selkirk at last, the Hawk consulted his watch again as the train -whistled, he was conscious that his impatience was tempered with a sort -of sullen, philosophical expectation of defeat. His luck had been too -abundant during the early part of the evening! It was now ten minutes -of twelve. He leaned out of the doorway, peering ahead. They were just -rolling into the Selkirk yard. - -The Hawk swung himself out from the car, dropped to the ground, darted -quickly to one side over several spur tracks, and stood still. The way -freight, like a snail, dragged past him, opening, as it were, a panorama -of the scene in the yard: the low switch lights, red, green, purple and -white, like myriad and variegated fireflies hovering everywhere over -the ground; the bobbing lantern of a yardman here and there; the dancing -gleam of a headlight, as the little yard engine shot fussily away from -a string of lighted coaches--the Eastern Express--which it had evidently -just made up and backed down on the main line beside the station; while -to his right, up the yard, on one of the spurs, perhaps a hundred yards -away, its platform showing in the glow of the dome light, stood the -superintendent's car; and to his left, not quite so far up the yard, and -therefore nearer to him than the private car, the Hawk could make out -the black, irregular outline of the old freight shed. - -The yard engine wheezed its way importantly up past the station, -stopped, a switch light winked, changed colour, and the shunter began to -puff its way back. The Hawk shrugged his shoulders resignedly. The game -was up and he was too late, unless Dixer had been forced to defer his -attempt until some time during the run that night, which was -hardly likely. The yard engine was backing down now to take the -superintendent's car up to the main line, preparatory to running it back -and coupling it to the string of coaches beside the station platform. -The Hawk smiled in the darkness without mirth, as he lost sight of the -little switcher on the other side of the private car. Well, at least, he -could gamble on the one chance that was left! There was only one thing -to do--go over to the station and get a Pullman berth. If Dixer and the -Butcher--the Butcher was "Number One"--were on the Pullman, the money -was still in the private car, and---- - -The Hawk's eyes narrowed suddenly. A man, crouched and running swiftly, -circled the end of the private car, and headed in the direction of the -freight shed--and like a flash the Hawk whirled and leaped forward, -running silently toward the same goal. The Hawk's brain, stimulated, -keen, alert, worked with lightning speed, and suddenly a strange low -laugh was on his lips. Their courses were convergent, his and that black -running shape's, and the other had not noticed him, and there appeared -to be something, a package, under the other's arm. The Hawk, as he -ran, slipped his mask over his face. Was it the dummy package--or the -twenty-five thousand in cash? Had the man succeeded, or had the yard -engine, backing down to couple on, disturbed him in his attempt just at -the psychological instant? Again that strange low laugh, in a panting -breath, was on the Hawk's lips. It did not matter! There was a way -now. He was not too late. If he got _both_ of the packages he could not -lose--and there was a way to accomplish that, a wild, dare-devil way, -but a _sure_ way! - -It was black, pitch black, in near the shed, and the Hawk, with -the shorter distance to cover, reached the edge of the freight shed -platform, and crouched down on the track. Came the faint crash and bump -of the yard engine coupling to the private car; then the short, quick -gasps of a runner out of breath, and a flying form bounded across -the tracks, sprang to the platform, and dashed for the freight shed -door--and the Hawk, his muscles, rigid, taut as steel, released -suddenly, as a coiled spring is released, leaped and hurled himself upon -the other. - -There was a yell of dismay, of surprise and fury, that seemed to echo -from one end of the yard to the other. The man went down in a heap -from the impact. The package, from under his arm, rolled off along the -platform--and the Hawk in a swoop was upon it. He snatched it up, and -running like a deer now, headed for the yard engine and the private car. - -Came another yell from behind him. He heard the freight shed door flung -violently open; and then, in grim emphasis of a sudden chorus of wild, -infuriated shouts from Dixer's waiting companions, the vicious tongue -flame of a revolver split the black, and the roar of the report -reverberated through the yard like a cannon shot. - -And now from the yard itself, the roundhouse and the station came -answering shouts. On the Hawk ran--he was alongside the private car now, -which was already in motion--and now he was opposite the cab of the yard -engine. The fireman, at the sudden pandemonium, head thrust out, was -hanging in the gangway. The Hawk's automatic swung to a line with the -other's head. - -"Get out!" gritted the Hawk coldly. "Both of you--you and your mate! Get -out--_on the other side!_" - -The man, with a dazed oath, retreated, and the Hawk sprang through the -gangway. The engineer, jumping from his seat, hesitated, and in the -yellow light of the cab lamp looked for the fraction of a second into -the muzzle of the Hawk's automatic, and into the hard, uncompromising -black eyes behind the mask--and followed the fireman in a hasty exit -through the opposite gangway. - -The Hawk snatched at the throttle, pulled it wider--and, like a beast -stung to sudden madness under the spur, the yard engine quivered, and in -a storm of exhausts, coughing the red sparks skyward from the stack, the -drivers racing, spitting fire as they sought to bite and hold the -steel, plunged forward. Ahead the way was clear to the main line, but -behind----The Hawk dropped his package on the floor of the cab, leaned -suddenly far out through the gangway, and as suddenly fired, his -automatic cutting a lane of flame through the darkness. He had fired -at the ground, but his shot had been effective. The engineer or the -fireman, he could not distinguish which, leaping to board the private -car by the rear platform, leaped back instead, and with a series of wild -gesticulations, in which arms and fists waved furiously, vanished in the -darkness. - -The yard engine, as though playing snap-the-whip with the private car -behind it, took the main line switch with a stagger and a lurch, and -straightened away into the clear. There was speed now, and the speed -was increasing with every second. The shouts, the yells, the cries, the -pandemonium from the yard was blotted out in the pound of the drivers -and the belch of the exhaust; and the station and switch lights -were lost to sight as engine and car flew on, heading west into the -foothills. The Hawk chuckled to himself. There would be wild confusion -in the dispatcher's office, and wild confusion all along the line west -of Selkirk, as regulars, extras and traffic of all sorts scurried for -safety to the sidings--but there would be no interference with _him!_ -Where they would otherwise have ditched him, given him an open switch -at the first station and sent him to destruction without compunction, he -possessed, as it was, a most satisfactory hostage in the person of -the division superintendent, whom they would hesitate about sending to -eternity at the same time! - -Possibly a minute and a half, two at the outside, had passed since he -had jumped through the gangway. He eased the throttle a little now, -reducing the speed to a rate more nearly commensurate with safety; -and, placing the package on the driver's seat, ripped off the outside -wrapper. There was a queer, hard smile on the Hawk's lips, as his -fingers tore at the covering of one of the small sealed packets within. -Was it the dummy parcel--or the twenty-five thousand in cash? Had Dixer -succeeded--or was the money still behind him there in the private car? - -The cab lamp above the dancing gauge needles seemed to throw its meagre -yellow glow with strained inquisitiveness over the Hawk's shoulder--and -then the Hawk laughed softly, and laughed again. In his hands were -banknotes. He riffled the stack through his fingers. It was here, in his -possession--_twenty-five thousand dollars in cash!_ - -And he laughed again, and glanced around him--through the cab glass -at the white ribbons of steel glistening under the headlight's glare, -around the murky cab that in its sway and jolt seemed to endow a legion -of shadowy with movement, vitality and life, at the platform of the -private car, which he could see by looking along the edge of the tender, -and which, like its fellow at the rear, was bathed in the soft radiance -of a dome light. Well, he might have known from the fact that the -occupants of the car had not made any move as yet, at least from the -forward end, that they had been in bed and asleep when the disturbance -began; and he might, on that count, if he had stopped to think, have -known that Dixer had succeeded even before he, the Hawk, had put it to -the proof by opening the parcel. - -A lurch of the cab sent him against the seat, and scattered the sealed -packages. He gathered them together again hurriedly. He had only to slow -down the engine a little more, jump to the ground, let the engine and -car go on, make his own way back through the fields, and he would be -safe unless--that strange, queer smile, half grim, half whimsical, was -flickering across his lips--unless he cared to risk his life for that -dummy package back there in the car behind, that contained nothing more -valuable than neatly trimmed pieces of blotting paper! - -The smile lost its whimsicality, and the grimness gathered until his -lips drooped in sharp, hard lines at the corners of his mouth--and, -abruptly, lifting up the seat, he swept the packages of banknotes into -the engineer's box, leaped across the cab, and began to claw his way up -over the coal, making for the back of the tender. - -"Twenty-five thousand in cash for me, and twenty years in the 'pen' -for the kid, doesn't look like an even break," muttered the Hawk, as he -clawed his way up. "Maybe I'm a fool--I guess maybe I am--but it doesn't -look like an even break. You see," said the Hawk, continuing to commune -with himself, "they'll know, of course, that some one who wasn't Meridan -tried to get the package, but with the package still there they'll think -that the 'some one' made a bull of it, and to-morrow morning when they -open the package and spot the finger prints, and get that bank seal in -Meridan's home, they'll hold him for it cold, because what's happened -around here to-night'll only look like somebody making a try for the -goods without knowing they were already gone. The kid wouldn't have a -hope--the Ladybird wasn't dealing any aces except to himself--the kid -would go up for having _previously_ stolen the goods on his own account. -Yes, I guess he would--wax, seal and paper in his house to make dummy -packages with--yes, I guess the kid would stand a hot chance!" - -The Hawk rose to his feet at the rear of the tender, preparing to -negotiate a leap down over the ornamental brass platform railing of the -private car--and instantly flung himself back flat on his face on the -coal. The car door was flung open, and Lanson, the superintendent, in -pajamas, a revolver in his hand, stepped out on the platform. He -was closely followed by a young man--Meridan, the bank clerk, -obviously--also in pajamas, but apparently unarmed; and, behind Meridan -again, came the negro porter. - -Lanson's voice, raised excitedly, carried to the Hawk: - -"Damn it, there's no one in the cab! What the devil sort of a game is -this!" - -The Hawk edged up to the top of the coal again--and the next instant, -with catlike agility, he launched himself forward. Lanson, clambering -over the platform railing, with the very evident intention of making his -way via the tender to the throttle, gasped audibly over the racket of -the beating trucks, and in a sort of stunned surprise and irresolution -remained poised inertly on the railing, as the Hawk, clinging now with -one hand to the rear handrail of the switcher, his feet planted on the -buffer beam, thrust the muzzle of his automatic into Lanson's face. - -"Drop that gun!" invited the Hawk in a monotone. - -The weapon, from Lanson's hand, clattered down, struck the coupling, and -dropped to the track. - -The Hawk spoke again--with unpleasant curtness: - -"You--Sambo! Move back, and stand in the doorway! Yes--there! Now, you, -young man, you stand in front of Sambo--your back to him!" And then, as -Meridan too obeyed, though more slowly than the porter and with a sort -of defiant reluctance, the Hawk addressed the superintendent: "Now, -you--your name's Lanson, isn't it?" he snapped. "You, Lanson, back up -against the young fellow. Yes--that's it! Sambo, put your hands on -the young fellow's shoulders--and you, young fellow, do the same on -Lanson's!" The Hawk swung over to the' car platform--and then the -Hawk smiled uninvitingly. "It's the lock-step backwards," he explained -insolently. "You get the idea, don't you? If either of you two behind -lift your hands, Lanson in front here pays for it. Now--back with you!" - -They shuffled backward into the observation compartment of the car, -through this, and through a narrow side corridor, and emerged into the -main compartment of the car. The Hawk, guiding their movements by the -simple expedient of prodding the muzzle of his automatic none too gently -into Lanson's body, here ranged the three along the side of the car; -and, backing over to the opposite side himself, halted in front of the -bookcase, and stood surveying his captives with his former insolent -stare. The porter was patently reduced to a state of nervous terror; -Meridan, young, clean-cut, was white to the lips, and his lips quivered, -but his eyes, a hard, bitter light in them, never left the Hawk's face; -Lanson, too, was white, but there was a stern composure in his face that -was absent from the younger man's. - -It was Lanson who spoke. - -"I presume," he said evenly, "that you are the abandoned scoundrel, -known as the Hawk, whom one of these days we are going--_to hang_." - -The Hawk shrugged his shoulders. - -"I haven't a calling card with me, but we'll let it go at that," he -answered flippantly. - -The car swayed and lurched suddenly; the trucks beat a louder tattoo -as they clattered over a switch; lights, a row of them from without, -scintillated through the car windows--and were gone. They were not -running perilously fast, but fast enough to prohibit the possibility -of any one, even an acrobatic brakeman from a stalled train, swinging -aboard. The Hawk laughed low. Also, he had been quite right--they had -just passed a station, and, thanks to the superintendent's presence, no -attempt had been made to interfere with the train. - -From one of the Hawk's pockets--with his left hand--the Hawk produced -a small steel jimmy. He knelt down, and, still covering the three men, -inserted the jimmy in between the cupboard doors. There was a creak, -the rip and split and tear of rending wood and lock, and the doors flew -apart. The Hawk reached in, laughed again, as, with the dummy package -under his arm, he stood up and began to back away toward the corridor -leading to the forward end of the car--and the laugh died on his lips. -In the winking of an eye Meridan had swung his hands from Lanson's -shoulders, and was springing forward. - -"You'll never get it!" The boy's voice was a hoarse whisper. "Not while -I----" - -"Keep away, you fool!" snarled the Hawk, and fired--at the floor. His -brain seemed instantly in a riot of ironical mockery. He could not fire -at the boy--it was the boy who had brought him here--and now the other -was upon him--like a wild cat--snatching at the automatic. - -It was only another step backward to the opening of the corridor, and -the Hawk gained it; but still the boy clung on, fighting furiously. He -saw Lanson and the porter leap forward, but for the moment that mattered -little--no more than one at a time could get at him in the confined and -narrow space here. To hold the package rendered his left arm useless. He -dropped the package to the floor, and kicked it deftly back behind him, -as the boy, with both hands, wrenched and battled madly for possession -of the automatic. - -They were swaying now, the two of them, bumping their shoulders and -their arms and elbows against first one side of the corridor and then -the other. There was the crash of splintering glass as they lunged into -a window--another crash, louder, more ominous, and with it a tongue of -flame, as the automatic went off in their hands--and something like a -red-hot iron seared the Hawk's side, and a blur came before his eyes. - -He reeled, recovered himself, and, massing all his strength for the -effort, as, with a cry of triumph, Meridan closed again, he tore -himself free from the other's grasp. There was one way--he was still in -possession of the automatic--only one way now. - -With a lightning swing he whipped the hutt of the weapon to the other's -head, backed rapidly away as the boy slid a limp thing to the floor, -and, picking up the package as he moved backward, holding the narrow -corridor with his automatic, though Lanson was kneeling now at Meridan's -side, he reached the observation compartment, whirled, ran for the door, -opened it, and stepped out on the platform. - -He stood panting here, a little dizzy, a sort of nauseating weakness -upon him, as he fumbled in his pocket. He was not as quick as usual -in his work, not as expert now in the use of his skeleton keys, but, -swiftly for all that, he locked the car door. - -The car and the engine seemed to sway and lurch and pitch and toss -as they had never done before. Was the speed greater? What was it? He -stumbled and nearly fell as he climbed to the tender. He fell, unable to -maintain his footing in the shifting coal, as he reached the cab. There -was something hot and wet that seemed to be working its way down his -leg; his side was giving him intolerable pain. - -He looked at the package in his hands, looked at it queerly for a -moment, and then his drawn lips parted in the old whimsical smile, as -he lurched forward and opened the fire-box door. The red glow filled the -cab and spread upward, tinging the sky with a rosy light--and the Hawk -thrust the package into the fire, and, swaying unsteadily, watched it -burst into flame. - -He glanced at the gauge now. The steam was dropping rapidly. He swept -his hand across his eyes. He had two things to do, and it seemed as -though his brain clogged in its decision as to which he should do -first--he had to get more coal on the fire, or else the engine would run -down, and he did not want it to run down, for it must keep on going a -long way, a very long way if possible, after he left it; and he must -stop the flow of blood from his wound somehow, or else---- - -He put coal into the fire-box. It was painful, dizzy work, and he -spilled a great deal of it, and the lumps rolled over the floor of the -cab, and he stumbled over the lumps. - -The Hawk's teeth were biting into his bloodless lips, as he finally shut -the fire-box door, and, staggering to the side of the cab, lifted up the -engineer's seat again. Here, under the packages of banknotes, he found -a bunch of waste and some cord; and then, reeling with the lurch of the -cab, reeling with his own weakness that only an iron nerve held back -from mastering him, he examined his wound, found it, though painful and -bleeding profusely, to be only a bad flesh wound, and, making a thick -pad of the waste, he laid it against his side, and bound it there by -passing the cord tightly several times around his body. It was a crude -bandage, but it should, at least, check the flow of blood--afterwards, -if he had luck, there would be opportunity for a better one! - -His mind reverted, seemingly without volition of his, to the fight in -the car, and he spoke aloud. - -"I guess," said the Hawk, "I didn't hit him as hard as twenty years in -the 'pen' would have hit him--I guess I didn't hit him that hard." - -He rested for a moment, sitting on the floor of the cab; then from the -engineer's box he removed the sealed packages, the torn outside wrapper, -and likewise an evening newspaper which he found there. He wrapped -up the banknotes in the newspaper, tied the bundle securely with the -remainder of his cord, replaced the seat, and, crouched low enough on -the floor to be protected by the tender from, say, a shot fired through -the observation window of the private car, kept his eyes fastened on the -right of way ahead. - -The next station must be close at hand, and there was but one way in -which he could get back to Selkirk--and he _must_ get back. There was -that letter--the Ladybird's letter--that would be received in Elkhead in -the morning! His brain was clearer now. He must be on Extra No. 92, the -eastbound fast freight's, running time, and she must be somewhere very -near here, must have taken to the siding at the next station probably -to avoid him, and to give clearance to what was, undoubtedly now, -coming behind him--a detective's special, with MacVightie, naturally, in -command. - -He straightened up painfully. Ahead, he had caught the glint of switch -and station lights. The siding was on the left-hand side. He moved to -the left-hand side of the cab, and lay on the cab floor by the gangway. -That letter! It seemed to obsess him now. If, when the letter was read, -the bank seal, the wax, and the wrapping paper were _found_ hidden in -the boy's home, the fact that some one--he, the Hawk--had stolen the -package from the car in no way changed anything. The boy's apparent -prior guilt was as glaring as ever. On the other hand, with the package -gone, and if the seal and those other things were _not_ found, the -letter became simply the expression of some practical joker's perverted -sense of humour, or the irresponsible work of some fool or crank. He -frowned in a sort of dazed irritation. He had known that all along, -hadn't he? He had known when he started after that dummy package in the -first place that he would have to go _all_ the way--so why was his mind -dwelling now on useless repetitions! - -The Hawk raised his head slightly--a deafening racket was in his ears. -The freight was here--on the siding. He was roaring past it now. He -could not hope for an open boxcar on the fast freight. His eyes were -searching eagerly for a flat car--a flat car loaded with anything that -would afford him shelter. Yes--there was one--two of them--loaded with -steel girders. - -The roar subsided; he was past the station and into the clear again--and -now the Hawk was at the throttle, easing the speed craftily. He did -not dare to "shut off" entirely, for, behind there at the station, they -would know, if the sound of the exhaust ceased, that he had stopped. -He checked a little with the "air" now. And now, calculating the speed -reduced enough to risk a jump, he opened the throttle to its former -notch, took up his newspaper package, lowered himself to the bottom -gangway step, and swung off. - -He rolled down the embankment. The switcher and private car went by, -and, gradually gaining speed again, racketed on up the right of way. -With a groan, the Hawk readjusted his displaced and makeshift bandage, -and began to make his way back toward the station. If he had slowed -enough to allow of a safe landing for himself, he had, of course, given -Lanson the same opportunity--but he had no fear of that. Lanson might -have jumped, but Meri-dan, whom he had left unconscious, _couldn't_, and -Lanson would stick to Meridan. As for the porter--the Hawk shrugged his -shoulders, as he looked about him--the porter had _not_ jumped. - -He stumbled on. If he were right, if they had started a posse on a -special in pursuit, he had plenty of time. The fast freight could -not pull out until the special had gone by. It seemed a long way, an -interminable way, an immeasurably greater distance than he had covered -coming up on the switcher. And then, at last, the tail-lights of the -stalled freight came into sight around a bend, and grew brighter. And -then, too, there came from the eastward the rumble of an approaching -train. He grew cautious now, and, creeping far out from the side of -the track, passed the caboose, crept in again toward the line of cars, -located the position of the flat cars, climbed aboard one of them, and -crawled in under the shored-up girders. - -The Hawk lay very quiet. He was weak again, and his head swam, and -he was dizzy. An engine and car--MacVightie and his posse -presumably--passed by on the main line; and then, presently, the -freight, with a clatter and bang echoing from one to another down the -length of cars, drew out of the station. - -When the Hawk moved again, it was as the train whistled and slowed for -the Selkirk yard. Perhaps twenty minutes had passed--the fast freight, -with no stops and already late, had made time. He put his mask in his -pocket, wormed his way out from under the girders, and peered ahead and -behind. They were just crawling into the upper end of the yard. He slid -to the ground, found himself a little more steady on his feet, slipped -across the spur tracks, dodged in between two buildings that flanked the -side of the yard, and came out on the street. - -Under a street lamp the Hawk looked at his watch. It was one o'clock. -He swayed a little again, but his lips set hard. There was not very much -time. Somewhere up the line the switcher and the private car would come -to a stop, and they would bring Meridan home--and once that happened, -with its consequent stir in Meridan's apartment, it would be impossible -to get in there, and the game, as far as the boy was concerned, would be -up. - -"Yes," said the Hawk, as he forced himself along the street, "I guess -maybe that's right--I guess maybe I'm a fool--but it wasn't an even -break." - -A street car at the next corner took him across town; and fifteen -minutes more found him standing in the unlighted vestibule of the -Linden Apartments. The tiny flashlight swept the ground floor apartment -doors--and an instant later the door of Apartment B yielded noiselessly -to the deft manipulation of a skeleton key. - -The Hawk closed the door, and stole forward. It was a rather fashionable -apartment, as the Ladybird had said, but it was also a very small one, -small enough to warrant the presumption that the young couple did not -keep a servant, and that there would probably be no one there except -Meridan's wife. A door at his right, as he felt out in the darkness, -he found to be open. He listened--for the sound of breathing. There was -nothing. The flashlight winked--and the Hawk stepped forward into the -room. It was the sitting room. The flashlight was sweeping about now in -an inquisitive little ray. A door, closed, leading to an inner room, was -on his right; facing him was a heavily portičred window, the portičres -drawn; and a little to the left of the window was the mantel. - -The flashlight's ray wavered suddenly, unsteadily--and the Hawk caught -at the nearest thing to him, the table in the centre of the room, for -support, a sense of disaster upon him, a realisation that, lashed on as -it might be by force of will, there was a limit _to_ physical endurance, -and that the limit had well nigh been reached. His hand brushed across -his eyes, and brushed across them again to clear his sight, as he tried -to follow the flashlight's ray to where it played jerkily on a massively -framed picture over the mantel. He bit his lips now, bit them until they -bled--and moved forward--and laid his parcel of banknotes on the floor -that he might have the use of both hands--and climbed upon a chair, and -felt in behind the picture. Yes--it was there! His fingers closed on a -roll of paper, twitched and shook a little as they pulled it out--and -a small package from inside the roll fell with a slight thud to the -mantel, and from the mantel bounded off to the floor. - -The Hawk caught his breath, as he listened, and descended from the -chair. - -"Clumsy fool!" he gritted fiercely, as he knelt on the floor. "I--I -guess I'm pretty near the count to do a thing like that." - -The flashlight came into play again, and disclosed a metal seal and -several pieces of dark-green wax peeping through the paper wrapper that -had been split apart in the fall. He picked them up, and put them in his -pocket; then, loosening his vest, he tucked the roll of wrapping paper -inside his shirt. Well, it was done now; he had only to get back to his -room, and there was surely strength enough left for that. Again his hand -swept across his eyes, and pressed hard against his temples--and then, -stooping swiftly, he clutched at his package of banknotes on the floor -beside him, and stood up, rigid and tense. - -Out of the darkness, almost at his elbow, with a startling clamour that -clashed and shattered through the silence, and seemed to set a -thousand echoes reverberating through the room, came the ringing of the -telephone. - -Some one in the inner room stirred. The Hawk drew back hurriedly into -the window recess behind the portičres. The telephone rang again. There -came a step now, and now the room was flooded with light, and a woman, -a dressing gown flung hastily over her shoulders, crossed from the inner -doorway to the table, and picked up the instrument. - -"Yes?... Hello!... What is it?" she asked, a little sleepily. "Yes, this -is Mrs. Meridan... _What?_... My husband!" Her voice rang out in sudden -terror. "What did you say?" she cried frantically. "Yes, yes--the -Hawk--my husband--unconscious... You are not telling me all the -truth--you are trying to keep the worst from me--for God's sake tell me -the truth!... Not dangerous?... You are sure--you are _sure?_... Yes, -yes, I understand!... At the station in half an hour... I will be -there." - -Mechanically she hung the receiver on the hook, and clung for a moment -to the table's edge, her face grey and bloodless; and then her lips -moved, and one hand clenched until the tight-drawn skin across the -knuckles was an ivory white. - -"I pray God they get this Hawk!" she whispered. "I pray God they do! And -I pray God they _kill_ him! The coward! The miserable, pitiful coward!" - -The Hawk's fingers were digging at the window sill, because somehow his -knees were refusing to support his weight. What was she saying? He did -not quite understand. Well, it did not matter, she was gone now into -that other room--only she had left the light on. It was very strange the -way his hand on the window sill seemed to keep pulling his body around -in circles! - -Time had lost concrete significance to the Hawk. She appeared again, -fully dressed now, and, switching off the light, went out into the hall, -and the front door closed behind her. - -The Hawk parted the portičres, and staggered across the room--and, a -moment later, a dark form, a newspaper parcel clutched under its arm, -emerged stealthily from the vestibule, and, reeling like a drunken man, -disappeared in the darkness down the street. - - - - -XVII--A HOLE IN THE WALL - -THE wound was healed--partially, at least. If the Hawk had unduly -shortened his period of convalescence, he was perhaps justified, and not -wholly without excuse! He stood now in the black shadows, hugged close -to the wall of the roundhouse. And now he moved stealthily forward, -until, from a crouched position, he straightened up against the wall -at the side of one of the few windows which were lighted. Lanson had -strolled aimlessly across the tracks from the station some ten minutes -before, and, five minutes later, MacVightie had followed Lanson--to -their chosen spot for secret conferences, this little "cubbyhole" of -a turner's office in the roundhouse, as the Hawk, from more than one -experience in the past, had very good reason to know. They were in there -now, and, as the Hawk was likewise exceedingly well aware, the events -of the next few hours, and incidentally his own particular movements, -depended very pertinently upon the movements of MacVightie and Lanson. - -Lanson's voice in quietly modulated tones reached the Hawk: - -"Yes, both trains are on time to the minute; I've taken care of that. -And so far there doesn't seem to be a hitch anywhere, and with your men -boarding the trains west of here at different stations along the line, -and mixing quietly with the passengers, I don't see how any one could -be the wiser on that score. Yes, it looks as though everything were all -right--eh, MacVightie?" - -"I don't know; I hope so," MacVightie's deep growl came in reply. -"Anyhow, we've carried out instructions from Washington, and it's up to -the Secret Service crowd as to how it pans out." - -"No, it isn't!" declared Lanson, still quietly. "It isn't up to a soul -on earth except those of us who have got the responsibility of this -division on our shoulders! I believe the plan is a good one, but because -it came from Washington doesn't let us out--not for a minute! What about -Birks; has he shown up yet?" - -"Not yet," MacVightie answered--and swore suddenly under his breath. -"And I don't mind admitting that the crowd down there in Washington make -me tired! It's over two weeks ago that I put it up to them. They said -they would take the matter under consideration, and in any case would -send one of their men, this Birks, out here to make an investigation. -But nothing doing! Then, as you know, I wrote them again a week ago, -when we knew this Alaskan gold shipment was coming through, and you know -their reply; they outlined a plan for us, and stated definitely that -Birks would be on deck to-night. Maybe he will--in time to tell us what -we _should_ have done!" - -"The Secret Service isn't a police force," said Lanson tersely. "The -only excuse they would have for acting at all would be if your pet -theory were correct--that the Hawk and his gang, apart from their -systematised murders and robberies, were also the ones who have been -flooding the country with those counterfeit ten-dollar notes. You had -no actual proof to offer, and Washington evidently hasn't felt quite -so sure about it as you have. However, there's no use discussing that -to-night. If Birks shows up, all right; if he doesn't--well, I don't see -that he could make any difference one way or the other now." - -There was silence for a moment, then Lanson spoke again. - -"What worries me as much as anything," he said slowly, "is the express -company making a shipment of money at the same time--forty thousand -dollars in the car's safe. Of course, it's logical enough with a half -million to guard anyway, but it's an added incentive to those, devils, -that's all. A half million In raw gold isn't any easy thing to pick up -and walk off with, and there's more than an even chance that the Wire -Devils might pass it up on that account; but with banknotes alone in so -large an amount----" - -"If they know about it!" interrupted MacVightie brusquely. "And it's not -likely they do! You can't send a heavily guarded express car on from the -coast and keep it mum that gold is going through, especially when the -papers print pictures of the cases being swung out of the steamer's hold -on arrival from Alaska--but the other's different. I'm not banking on -them passing up the gold on any account, though they may, at that; but -in any case they'll be welcome to open the safe now, won't they?" - -Again there was an instant's silence; and the Hawk now, as though -fearful of losing a word that might be spoken, strained forward closer -still to the side of the window. - -"Yes, that's right!" Lanson laughed now in a grimly humorous way. "It's -in the biggest case of all! Yes, I guess it's all right, MacVightie; -anyway, another hour or two will tell the story. The shift should have -been made at Mornleigh without any trouble, and the Limited will come -through here without a thing in the express car except the guards! If -they hold her up anywhere on the division, that's all they'll find--the -guards, and one of your posses. Yes, it ought to work." Lanson's voice -took on a curiously monotonous drone, as though he were checking over -the details in his own mind, and unconsciously doing so audibly. "The -Limited takes water at Mornleigh, and No. 18 always takes the siding -there to let the Limited pass, so there's nothing in that to arouse -suspicion. In the darkness, with the door of the Limited's express car -only a foot or so away from the door of No. 18's baggage car, and a -picked crew to transfer the gold, I don't see how there could be -any 'leak.' The Limited pulls in here with its guarded express -car--everything looks just as those Wire Devils would expect it to -look--and they know the gold left the coast on that train, and in that -car. Yes, I think we win to-night. If they hold up the Limited they'll -catch a Tartar, and without any risk on our part as far as the gold is -concerned. How many men in the posse scattered through the cars on that -train?" - -"Twenty," said MacVightie tersely. - -"Good!" said Lanson approvingly. "That ought to be enough to round them -up--if they nibble at the bait at all. And if they don't, if they let -the Limited go through unmolested, it will be pretty nearly safe to -assume, as I said before, that they figure gold in the bulk is too -awkward a thing to handle, and too hard to get away with. But even there -we are not taking any chances; they _might_ have discovered that it had -been transferred. How many men in the posse on No. 18?" - -"The same number," replied MacVightie--and then MacVightie's fist -crashed down into the palm of his hand. "I hope they start something!" -he exclaimed savagely. "I'd give a year's salary to get to grips with -them, and if I ever do I'll clean 'em out! And I'll see that some -of them, and particularly that damned Hawk, swing for it! I haven't -forgotten the murder of old Mother Barrett's boy in the express car that -night, or a dozen others, or----" - -"That's your end of it, MacVightie," said Lanson grimly. "Mine's to see -five hundred thousand dollars' worth of bullion and forty thousand in -cash over this division and safely on its way East. If the plan----" - -The Hawk, slipping silently out of the shadows, began to cross the -railroad yard, heading for the station. - -"Forty thousand dollars," said the Hawk softly to himself--and chuckled -suddenly. "Forty thousand dollars in a big packing case! The _biggest_ -case of the lot, he said, wasn't it?" The chuckle died away, and the -Hawk's face grew hard. "I don't know!" muttered the Hawk. "It's no -cinch! I guess there'll be something doing to-night!" - -A glance at the illuminated dial of the clock on the station tower -showed it to be half past eight, as the Hawk stepped to the platform. -He hesitated an instant in indecision, then went on into the general -waiting room. There was ample time. The Limited was not due for another -hour; and No. 18--in which alone he had now any concern--did not -schedule Selkirk until forty minutes after the Limited. Nearly two -hours! - -The Hawk, standing in the doorway of the waiting room, ostentatiously -consulted a time-table which he drew from his pocket, frowned, glanced -about him, and, finally, approaching the news-counter, which appeared -for the moment to be minus an attendant, helped himself to a newspaper, -tossed a copper on top of the pile, and appropriated the nearest seat. -The Hawk opened his paper in front of him--and over the top of the paper -inspected with some interest the view afforded by the open doorway of -the news-counter, which was directly facing him and but a few feet away. -The news-counter was a long, narrow affair, glass enclosed, with big -sliding windows, making one corner of the waiting room, and at its -further end boasted a little office of its own. The door of this private -domain was closed, but it, too, was glass panelled, and the apparent -absence of any attendant was explained. The Hawk permitted a curious -smile to flicker across his lips behind his newspaper. Inside the little -office a man, sprawled forward in a chair, his head resting on his arms, -which were outflung across the desk in front of him, appeared to be -sound asleep and magnificently oblivious to anything so grossly material -as business. - -The Hawk shifted his glance, this time for a more critical survey of the -waiting room. He found himself, strangely enough, quite sheltered from -observation. True, it was "between trains," and there were very few -people in the room--he had noted several women and an elderly man with a -little boy, as he had come in--but these were now screened from his view -by the large, boxed-in posts, or pillars, that, in the remodelling and -enlargement of the station some years before, had sought to combine, -evidently, ornamentation with stability. - -The Hawk's eyes, under cover of his newspaper, reverted to the man at -the desk. The minutes passed--five, ten of them. The man's hours -were long undoubtedly, and usually there were two in charge of the -news-counter, which might perhaps account for the man's weariness, and -the profound slumber that was possible even in such an uncomfortable -position! The Hawk turned to the editorial page of his newspaper. There -were almost two hours before No. 18 was due, and, though he had a little -business of a purely personal and intimate nature to transact before -then, there was time in abundance and to spare, and it might possibly -be utilised as profitably here as anywhere else. In any case, there was -usually an editorial diatribe, interesting principally for the virulent -language in which it was couched, anent the Hawk and the Wire Devils, -with whose leadership he, the Hawk, was universally credited. The Hawk -smiled thinly. If leadership was vested in the lion's portion of the -spoils, then MacVightie, and Lanson, and the newspapers, and the public -generally were unquestionably right--but, since those spoils had -been snatched from under the noses of the Wire Devils, thanks to his -possession of their secret code, the Wire Devils and the Ladybird in -particular, that peer of the underworld who, as he had discovered a few -nights ago, was the moving spirit of the gang, held a very different and -even more decided opinion on the subject! - -He folded the paper over, and sprawled himself out lazily on his -seat--but if the editorial in question was on the sheet before him, he -did not see it. The man at the desk raised his head, yawned, stretched -himself, and, as though wearily resuming his work, reached into a small -drawer that stood open in the upper section of the roll-top desk, took -out a pad of paper, and began to write. - -Still another five minutes passed; and then the man tossed his pencil -away from him, and reached out for the telephone at his elbow. But now -he seemed to hesitate, then evidently changed his mind. He pushed -back his chair, stood up, tore the sheet of paper on which he had been -writing from the pad, replaced the pad in the drawer, closed the drawer, -and, turning quickly, opened the office door. He came down the narrow -space behind the news-counter itself, stepped out into the waiting -room, glanced hurriedly about him, and, breaking suddenly into a run, -disappeared through the waiting room door in the direction of the -platform. - -The Hawks lassitude seemed suddenly to have vanished. In a flash he had -covered the few feet of space that separated his seat from the doorway -of the news-counter, and now, crouched low, hidden by the counter -itself, he darted silently for the little office, gained it, wrenched -open the drawer of the desk--and over the Hawk's set, tense features -there flickered again that curious smile. Faint, muffled, but none the -less distinctly, there came from the interior of the drawer, which, -as he reached in his hand, he found was open through to the wall, the -clicking of a telegraph sounder. But, while he listened, the Hawk was -working with breathless haste. His fingers closed on the pad of paper, -and tore off the topmost sheet. Without folding or crushing the paper, -he laid it carefully inside his vest, buttoned his vest over it again, -closed the drawer of the desk noiselessly--and in another instant was -lolling again in his seat in the waiting room, apparently immersed once -more in his newspaper. - -It had taken the Hawk a matter of less than a minute to go and come, -but for all that his margin of safety had been small. The man returned -almost instantly, and again entered the office. The Hawk, finding that -for once the editorial which might have afforded him a genuine, if -passing, interest, was absent, turned another page of the paper, spent -a few minutes in the somewhat unprofitable perusal of what proved to be -massed columns of "Help Wanted" and "Situations Vacant" advertisements, -and, finally, throwing the paper down on the seat beside him, got up -leisurely, and strolled out through the main entrance of the station to -the street. - -The Hawk crossed the road, and slipped into the lane that was almost -opposite the station. This being accustomed ground to the Hawk, he made -his way quickly along in the blackness, reached the first intersecting -street, dove through the doorway of the dirty and squalid three-story -building, the ground floor of which was occupied by a saloon, and, -mounting the narrow staircase, entered the room that was directly over -the saloon on the first landing. The Hawk locked the door behind him. If -his temporary abode in Selkirk City could be so designated, the Hawk was -at home. - -He switched on the electric light, drew a chair up to the cheap and -somewhat dilapidated table that stood against the wall opposite the -door, and from under his vest took out the sheet of paper he had -purloined a few minutes before. He spread it out eagerly before him on -the table, scanned it closely, and into his dark eyes there came a half -mocking, half triumphant gleam. - -"I thought so!" murmured the Hawk. "He didn't dare telephone it. I -thought the messages must be coming in pretty hot to-night--the other -fellow must have gone up to the East End to shoot some mighty important -reply back, or else he'd never have left his pal short-handed. It's no -wonder I never tumbled to that lay until the Ladybird opened the bag! -I didn't recognise those news-counter fellows, did I? Why should I? -They're new ones just breaking into the game, or they'd never have -pulled a fool stunt like this!" - -The Hawk bent over the paper. In places the impression left by the -pencil was faint and, indeed, illegible, and had not come through from -the upper sheet at all; but the Hawk patiently and painstakingly settled -himself to his task. The first few lines were but a confused and, to all -outward appearances, meaningless jumble of letters run together--one of -the Wire Devils' code messages. And here, if this had been all, the Hawk -would have been hopelessly astray; but lower down on the sheet the -man had decoded the cipher, and here, where letters and words were too -faintly impressed on the paper or were missing altogether, the Hawk was -able to supply them by following the general sense of the message. -He began by tracing over the impressions carefully with a sharp lead -pencil, and at the expiration of a few minutes was staring, a grim smile -on his lips, at the following: - -"Gold transferred to No. 18 at Momleigh. Keep away from Limited. -Probably big posse on No. 18. Every man will join Number One on Train -18 to-night. Those boarding No. 18 at Selkirk must on no account excite -suspicion. All other details to stand." - -The Hawk's remark, as he reached into his inside coat pocket and brought -out several small slips of paper, which he laid on the table in front of -him, was seemingly quite irrelevant. - -"Yes," said the Hawk. "I've been curious ever since yesterday to get a -look at that desk--yes, I guess the Ladybird's no fool!" - -The Hawk arranged the slips of paper in what appeared to be a sort -of chronological order, and studied them for a moment. Prefacing -the message he had just obtained, these others, messages that he had -intercepted at intervals during the preceding few days, made a complete -and decidedly enlightening record. The first one, decoded, read: - -"Reported movement of half million in gold to be made from coast. Number -Three will proceed to coast, verify, and secure details." - -The Hawk nodded shortly. Number Three was the Bantam. He passed on to -the next message: - -"Gold coming through on Limited on Thursday night. Express car well -guarded. Numbers One, Seven, Eight, Six and Four will board Limited -at different stopping points west of Mornleigh; all others to hold -themselves in readiness at Selkirk." - -Again the Hawk nodded. This was Thursday night! Mornleigh was the -Limited's last stop west of Selkirk. Number One was the Butcher, and -the others were--he shrugged his shoulders. As he had once facetiously -remarked, somebody must have left the door of Sing Sing open! - -There was still another message: - -"Hold up train three miles East of Echo Rock. Detach express car, and -run to Willow Creek bridge. Load gold on wagon, and disperse." - -The Hawk consulted his watch. It was a quarter past nine. He took -out his pipe, lighted it, put his feet up on the table, and gathering -together the various slips of paper abstractedly began to tear them into -shreds. - -Pieced together, the whole affair was quite simple. In a word, every -move that had been made by Larson and MacVightie at the instigation of -the Secret Service men, and, presumably, in particular by one Birks, -was known to the Ladybird and the Wire Devils. Lanson and MacVightie had -waited until the last moment before making the transfer at Mornleigh, -the final stop before Selkirk, but the Bantam was already accompanying -the gold east on the Limited, and, added to the Bantam by that: time, -there would have been those others who were detailed to board the -Limited at the various points still further west of Mornleigh. - -It was very simple. The Bantam had not been asleep at Mornleigh, and it -was not the contents of the express car alone that had been transferred -there--the Bantam and his companions had likewise transferred themselves -to No. 18! Also, either because the Bantam had spotted some of -MacVightie's men, or because logical deductions in the Ladybird's -very shrewd brain had led to that conclusion, it was known that No. 18 -harboured a posse. It was evident, however, that this in no way -dismayed the Ladybird; and it was equally evident that both Lan-son -and MacVightie were very far astray, in their estimate of the nerve and -resourcefulness of the brain behind the Wire Devils' organisation, to -have, even considered it as a possibility that the physical difficulty -in the way of handling a half million in raw gold would have caused the -Ladybird to hesitate an instant in an effort to get his hands upon it. -A half million--was a half million! That was the answer! The only change -the Ladybird had seen fit to make was to mobilise, as it were, the -entire, strength of the Wire Devils to offset MacVightie's posse. Apart -from that, according to the final message, the prearranged plan was to -stand. - -It was not a plan that was markedly original, paralleling very closely, -as it did, the Wire Devils' removal of the safe from the express car -of the last Mail on a certain night not very long since, but this -could hardly be held up against the Ladybird--there were limitations to -originality, and originality was a secondary consideration as compared -with feasibility and success. Echo Rock station was two stations east -of Conmore, the Wire Devils' headquarters--just far enough distant to -preclude the immediate search from spreading to the neighbourhood of -Conmore, and yet not too far away to make the transport of the gold to -the isolated old farmhouse impractical before daylight. The details of -the holdup itself required little elucidation. In whatever manner they -might elect to bring the train to a stop, all that was necessary, -once that was accomplished, was to keep MacVightie's men from No. 18's -baggage car while the car itself, into which the Wire Devils would -naturally retreat, moved off down the line to the Willow Creek bridge -some two or three miles further on. - -The Hawk took his pipe from his lips, polished the bowl by rubbing it -along the side of his nose, and inspected the result critically. And -then the Hawk smiled pleasantly to himself. In none of the messages had -the Wire Devils given the slightest evidence of any knowledge of a fact -that was very near to his, the Hawk's, heart. It was quite possible, -even probable, that on one point, at least, Lanson and MacVightie were -right--that the Wire Devils were ignorant of the presence of that forty -thousand dollars in bills--but even supposing that they _did_ know, they -would scarcely give him, the Hawk, credit for being in possession of the -knowledge as well. Therefore, bitter as was the feud between them, the -Ladybird would be almost certain to ignore his, the Hawk's existence in -so far as this night's work was concerned. The Hawk's smile broadened. -It was quite true, single-handed he would have no excuse on earth for -attempting the impossible feat of carrying away a half million in -gold--but forty thousand dollars in banknotes was not as prohibitory in -its weight! His problem, therefore, simplified itself into an intimate -investigation of No. 18's baggage car before Echo Rock was reached, and -before either MacVightie's posse, or the Butcher and his ungentle crowd -in the cars behind, should have started anything on their own account. - -"Yes," said the Hawk confidentially to the toe of his boot, "yes, I -guess I'll sit in for a hand in the game myself; yes, I guess it looks -pretty good--if the luck holds." - -The Hawk relapsed into silence, still studying the toe of his boot. His -last remark seemed suddenly to have obsessed him, and he frowned. If -the luck still held! It wasn't altogether luck--indeed, it was far from -luck. The Ladybird, and, for that matter, a half dozen others of the -Wire Devils whom he could name, were not to be lightly reckoned with. He -had no delusions on that score! Since the day he had begun to trespass -on the Wire Devils preserves, listening when and where he could, he had -intercepted enough of their cipher messages as they came over the wires -to enable him to pull from the fire and pocket for himself the chestnuts -they had been so carefully roasting for themselves, to turn in fact the -entire labour and effort of their organisation to his own account--and -in their turn they had sought by every means within their power to trap -him. And they had nearly caught him, very nearly caught him once, and -he had realised that the haphazard method in which, not knowing their -source, he had been able to obtain the cipher messages would no longer -do. It was through those messages alone that he could hope to get a hint -of, and thereby forestall, the _next_ trap they might set for him. And -then the way had seemed to clear a little when he had at last discovered -that source in the old farmhouse near Conmore, and had discovered that -the Ladybird, thought dead and mourned by the underworld as one of its -greatest, from a wheel chair now, a maimed thing in all save brain, -moved and guided what MacVightie had been pleased to call the most -powerful and dangerous criminal organisation that had ever known -existence. Only on the night that he, the Hawk, had made those -discoveries he had been wounded! That was a week ago. For three days, -not daring to let it be known that a _wounded_ man was in the house, he -had remained here in his room, nursing his hurt as best he could. It had -only been a flesh wound, and those three days were all he had allowed -himself to remain inactive; for in those three days, temporarily -blindfolded as to any move against him that the Ladybird might make, -he had lived like a hunted man, wary of every passing moment, of every -sound without his door, his automatic never for an instant out of reach. -After that, during the past four nights, he had resumed his vigil at the -farmhouse again. - -The Hawk smiled grimly. No, he laboured under no delusions as to the -craft, the cunning, and the power of those against whom he had elected -to play a lone hand! The four nights just past had resulted in something -more than the mere accumulation of those code messages he had just read, -in something besides a more intimate acquaintanceship with the farmhouse -and its surroundings, even including the underground passage, for -instance, that led from the wagon shed to a trapdoor in the cellar--it -had resulted, last night, in a still further insight into the ingenuity -and the sort of remorseless mastery of detail through which the -organisation attained its ends. The method by which they tapped the -wires, commandeering the telegraph system of the railroad, the -primary purpose of which was undoubtedly to supply them with the vital -information that must of necessity pass over the wires and on which they -based their own plans, this gold shipment to-night, for example, or the -shipment of diamonds from New York of a few weeks back, was ingenious -enough; but still more ingenious, when using their secret code and -putting the wires to another purpose, that of enabling the Ladybird to -direct his operations and send his orders as he had done to-night, was -the method by which those messages were received. Every sounder on the -line carried them, of course, and when, in isolated cases, the gang was -working at smaller places along the line, they could readily enough, if -expecting a message, as he, the Hawk, had often done, keep within sound -of an instrument by the simple expedient of occupying a waiting room, or -of lounging on the platform outside the operator's window; but the vast -majority of the messages were for those of the gang who maintained a -sort of branch headquarters in Selkirk, and such a method was neither -practical nor possible, since the first essential in making the scheme -of value was that, without the chance of a single message being missed, -the messages should reach their destination at any hour of the day and -night. - -Again the Hawk smiled grimly. It had puzzled him a good many times--but -it puzzled him no longer! Last night the Ladybird, quite unconscious -of a rapt audience, had, by a chance remark, disclosed the secret; and -to-night he, the Hawk, had seen the plan in operation! The news-counter! -It was simple enough; but it held a deadly significance in its proof of -the fact that there were no obstacles too great, no details too minute -to stand in the way between the Ladybird and the end he sought. The -news-counter was directly beneath the operator's room upstairs. In the -old days, before the station had been enlarged and modernised, it had -been a somewhat diminutive affair, and where the news-counter now stood -had been the superintendent's office. This had connected with the room -above by means of an old-fashioned speaking tube. When the alterations -had been made, the mouthpieces, both above and below, had been removed, -the room above had been papered over, and the waiting room had been -plastered; but, as the wall had been left intact, the speaking tube had -remained embedded--in the wall. Yes, it was very simple! Say, a dint in -the wall in the operator's room above, and a slight tear in the paper -that, if it attracted any attention at all in surroundings where the -call boys backed their chairs against the wall and kept their hair on -end with nickel thrillers, would at least never excite suspicion! And -below, with the desk in the little office of the news-counter backed up -against it, who was to know that a hole had been punched in the -wall, or, for that matter, in the back of the desk itself behind the -convenient little drawer, so that one could sit there and listen to the -sounder upstairs! Also, it was quite obvious now why, several months -ago, the old lessee of the news-counter had been bought out by some -newcomers! - -The Hawk's lips tightened. The game to its full extent was wide open -now. The news-counter ran day and night, operated by four of the gang -in pairs, one always on duty at the desk; while, should there, by any -chance or at any time, be an unwelcome intruder in the office, the -drawer had only to be shut and the sound was thereby eliminated. When -a message "broke" over the wires above, the man on duty had only to -decipher it and telephone it to what the Ladybird had referred to as the -"boarding house"--the disguise, it appeared now, under which the gang -maintained its headquarters in the city. That was all there was to it! -To-night, it was true, the operation had been a little different; but -the reason for that, as the Hawk had already decided in his own mind, -was obvious enough. With MacVigh-tie, Lanson, and the authorities -generally, on the alert, due to the gold shipment coming through, the -man had not dared to take the risk of telephoning any such message as -he had received, but had taken it outside to where one of the gang, -undoubtedly, in view of the importance of the night's work, was on -additional duty and in readiness to receive and transmit it on the -instant, say, to the local headquarters. As for the absence of the -second man at the news-counter, who ordinarily preserved the pretence of -catering to the public, it was quite possible, and indeed likely, that -he had gone on a similar errand with a previous message; or, if one of -the rare occasions when it was necessary to telegraph a cipher message -_from_ Selkirk had arisen, he might have gone--according to the Ladybird -again--to the little suburban station at the East End of the city, which -was closed at night, but to which an entry and the subsequent use of the -wire would present little difficulty, since MacVightie had finally given -up as impossible the task of guarding all the numerous stations of that -description on the division. - -"Yes," said the Hawk suddenly, under his breath, "I guess they'd go a -long way to get their hands on what I've got off their bat; and I guess, -after that, I'd go out--like a pricked bubble!" He sucked meditatively -at his brier for a moment; then a mirthless smile parted his lips, and -he spoke again. "Forty thousand dollars," whispered the Hawk. "Yes, I -guess that's the play--and the last one! If I win out to-night, and I -guess I will, this is where the curtain drops, and the Hawk makes his -fade-away for parts unknown!" - - - - -XVIII--THE HAWK PACKS HIS VALISE - -THE Hawk looked at his watch again, removed his feet from the table, -knocked the ashes from the bowl of his pipe, stood up, and crossed -leisurely to the window. The window gave on the fire escape. He lifted -aside the shade, and stood there for a moment staring out into the -darkness, then drew the shade very carefully back into place again. From -the window he crossed to the door, reassured himself that it was locked, -and, as an extra precaution, draped his handkerchief on the door handle, -completely screening the keyhole. - -He returned now to the other side of the room, and from under the bed -pulled out a large, black valise. He laid this on the bed, and opened -it. It was quite empty. - -Between the bed and the table stood his trunk. He unlocked the trunk, -and threw back the lid. - -"It's quite possible," muttered the Hawk, as his fingers worked deftly -and swiftly around the edges of the lid, "that I may not return. I've -forgotten just how I stand on my rent, though, I fancy I've paid up for -a week in advance! In any case, there's the trunk for old Seidelberger -downstairs, and likewise its contents, with the exception, scarcely -worth mentioning--of this!" There was a grim chuckle on the Hawk's lips, -as the false tray came away in his hands. "Yes," said the Hawk, as he -laid the tray on the bed beside the valise, "I hardly think that I'll be -back! I guess they're pretty peeved as it is, and after to-night I've a -notion their sentiments aren't going to improve any!" - -He stood looking down at the tray, that bulged to repletion with the -proceeds of a dozen robberies that were almost country-wide in fame, -and which, more pertinent still as far as the Hawk was concerned, -represented the loot that the Wire Devils had already counted their -own--when he, the Hawk, instead, had helped himself to the prize at -their expense! - -The Hawk began to transfer the contents of the tray to the valise. - -"I don't know how big the lot would size up, but it looks like a garden -villa at Palm Beach--which is going some!" observed the Hawk softly. -"Yes, just one more little play to-night, and I guess I retire!" - -He held the magnificent diamond necklace up to the light, causing its -thousand facets to leap and gleam and scintillate in fiery flashes, -then laid it in a curiously caressing sort of way in the bottom of the -valise. The Hawk seemed peculiarly entranced with diamonds, as though -in their touch and in their responsive life and fire he found a pure and -unalloyed delight. From their little box he allowed the score or two of -unset stones to trickle into the palm of his hand, and again he brought -the light to flash and play upon them. And for a moment he held them -there--then a sudden hardness set his jaws and lips, and impulsively he -thrust the stones back into the box, and tossed the box into the valise. - -"Damn it!" said the Hawk through compressed lips. "They make me think of -the kid--and old Mother Barrett." - -He laughed harshly, and shrugged his shoulders as though literally to -throw off the weight of an unpleasant memory--and reached again into -the tray. He worked more quickly now. Into the valise he packed away in -rapid succession a very large collection of valuables, amongst them the -ten thousand dollars in banknotes that he had taken from the paymaster's -safe, the contents of the cash box, amounting to some three thousand -dollars, of which he had once relieved one Isaac Kirschell, and, still -in its newspaper wrapper, the Trader's National Bank's twenty-five -thousand dollars, likewise in banknotes, which had been his last -venture, and which he had appropriated on the night he had been wounded. - -The tray was empty now, save for a black mask, a steel jimmy, and a -neat little package of crisp, new, ten-dollar counterfeit notes. The two -former articles the Hawk laid aside on the table; and the latter, after -an instant's hesitation, was added to the horde in the valise. He closed -and locked the valise. There remained now but the empty tray. He stared -at this ruefully. - -"I hate to lose that trunk, upon my soul, I do!" he muttered. "But I -can't afford to take any chances of spilling the beans by trying to get -it out of here!" - -He took out his knife, and slashed away the canvas bottom of the tray, -then broke the framework into a dozen pieces. The lid of the trunk -itself was innocent of fastenings, or of any evidence that it had ever -concealed a tray; and the tray itself, when the Hawk was through with -it, was an unrecognisable debris of splintered wood and ribbons of torn -canvas. He made a bundle of this, tying it together with a strip of the -canvas. - -The Hawk now emptied his pockets, and proceeded to change his clothes. -If he were destined to sacrifice the greater part of his wardrobe, he at -least need not linger long in indecision over the choice of what should -be preserved! There was an exceedingly useful and ingeniously devised -pocket concealed in the back lining of a certain one of his coats. The -suit, of which this coat was an integral part, was a trifle worn and -threadbare, not in quite as good repair as any of the rest of his -clothing, and for that reason he had not worn it of late; but one could -not at all times afford to be fastidious! What he left behind would -be minutely searched and examined. The secret of that pocket, a little -invention of his own, was worth preserving from the vulgar eye, even at -the expense of sacrificing a better suit of clothes for the sake of it! -He resurrected the suit in question from the bottom of the trunk, and -put it on. And into the concealed pocket he tucked away his mask and his -bunch of skeleton keys. A side coat pocket, more instantly accessible, -served for his automatic--the other pockets for his various other -belongings, including the steel jimmy. - -The Hawk made a final and comprehensive survey of the room, then closed -and locked the trunk, and again consulted his watch. It was five minutes -after ten, and No. 18 scheduled Selkirk at ten-twenty. The Hawk nodded. -It was time to go--just time. He took from his pocket his automatic, -tested and examined its mechanism critically, and restored it to his -pocket. He crossed the room, turned out the light, unlocked the door -without opening it, and took his handkerchief from the keyhole. Without -a sound now the Hawk moved back to the bed, picked up the valise, tucked -the bundle of what had once been the tray under his arm, returned to -the door, opened it silently, and stood peering out into the dark -hallway--and the next instant, the Hawk, stealing like a shadow down the -stairs, gained the street, and in another had swung around the corner -into the lane. - -It was only the length of a block to the station, but here in the lane -the Hawk found means of disposing of the irksome bundle under his arm by -the simple expedient of dropping pieces of the wreckage in the various -refuse barrels as he went along. Nor had the Hawk, evidently, any -intention either of hampering his movements with the care of the valise, -or of risking the valise's contents in the night's work that lay ahead -of him. The Hawk was, perhaps, possessed of a certain ironical sense of -humour. Since his possession of the loot which the valise contained -was due in a more or less intimate degree to the railroad, it seemed -eminently fitting that it should be restored to the railroad for -safekeeping temporarily. The Hawk, as he entered the station, -nonchalantly exchanged his valise for a parcel-room check, paid down -the dime for the service to be rendered, and passed on into the general -waiting room. - -He glanced at the news-counter on his way through to the platform. Its -full complement of two attendants were present now; but, contrary to all -precedent, it being an all-night stand, obvious preparations for closing -it for the night were in progress--the two men were engaged in removing -the magazines, newspapers, and various small wares from the outside -ledge of the counter, and in pulling down the large sliding windows -that enclosed the place. The Hawk's dark eyes flashed a gleam of grim -appreciation. It was then literally a mobilisation of the Wire Devils -to the last man to-night! A half million in gold--was a half million in -gold! - -The Hawk bought a mileage book in lieu of a ticket to any specific -destination, both because his immediate destination was peculiarly his -own private concern, and because in the very near future he expected to -put a considerable quantity of mileage to excellent use. He strolled out -to the platform, and along to the east end of the station. - -Here, quite unobtrusively, he awaited the arrival of No. 18. The -platform was fairly well crowded--but not unusually so, or rather, -perhaps, not noticeably so. A half dozen, or even a dozen, extra men -circulating amongst the ordinary press of traffic would hardly be -expected to make any appreciable difference. The Hawk, back under -the shadows of the building, surveyed the lighted stretch of platform -narrowly. They were there, the Wire Devils' reserve, he knew; but -he recognised none of them. He smiled a little whimsically. His -acquaintanceship with the gang so far had been with its more prominent -members, as it were, and these, as likewise Mac-Vightie's posse, had -already boarded the train far west of Selkirk--that each might not -excite the other's suspicion! Nor was MacVightie himself in evidence. -Not that this surprised the Hawk! He was interested, that was all. It -was simply a question of whether MacVightie had elected to stay with -the gold, or had gone on with the first posse on the Limited on the -assumption that the Limited was the more likely to be attacked. It made -little difference, of course, as far as he, the Hawk, was concerned, -whether it was MacVightie or some one else who was in command of the -posse--his own plans would in no way be affected on that account. - -There was a stir along the platform. Up the yard, past the twinkling -switch lights on the spurs, the glare of a headlight flashed into sight -around the bend. Came the roar and rumble of a heavy train, and a -moment later No. 18, its big mogul panting like a thing of life from a -breathless run, its long string of coaches behind it, rolled into the -station. - -The Hawk did not stir. By coincidence, perhaps, the baggage car had come -to a stop directly opposite the position he had chosen. The rearmost -sliding door of the car was slammed back, and the baggageman, a -powerfully built, muscular fellow of perhaps thirty, appeared in -the doorway. The Hawk, from his place of vantage, eyed the other -appraisingly, and then his glance travelled on into the interior of the -car--what he could see of it. What he saw was a mass of trunks, some -of which the man now unloaded on the waiting trucks, and in turn piled -others, as they were heaved up to him from the platform, into the -formers' places. The Hawk nodded his head shortly. True, the forward -door of the car had not been, opened, but MacVigh-tie had done his work -well. There was no hint of concealment, the baggage car of No. 18 was as -frankly innocent in appearance on its run tonight as it had ever been. - -The train was starting into motion again when the Hawk finally moved. -He crossed the platform, and swung himself on the forward steps of the -smoker, that was immediately behind the baggage car. His slouch hat -pulled a little over his eyes, he opened the door, stepped into the car, -sauntered down the aisle, and out of the rear door to the vestibuled -platform of the first-class day coach behind. But here, the Hawk paused -a moment, and his face, impassive before, was stamped now with a twisted -smile. His reconnaissance of the train so far had proved fruitful. The -four men in the forward double seat of the smoker, a lap board across -their knees, and apparently engrossed in their card game, were the -Butcher, Whitie Jim, the Cricket and the Bantam! And further down -the aisle, unwittingly rubbing shoulders quite probably with some of -MacVightie's men, Parson Joe occupied a seat, and the keen, pale, thin -face of Kirschell peered out from another. - -"Yes, they're all here," decided the Hawk, his voice drowned in the -rattle of the train. "Counting those who got on at Selkirk, they're all -here to the last man--except the Ladybird and his wheel chair!" - -The Hawk moved forward, reached out for the handle of the day coach -door--and sucked in his breath, as he drew sharply back again. Through -the glass panel he had caught sight of two men he had not expected to -see. Sitting together on the right-hand side about a quarter of the -way down the aisle were MacVightie and Lanson. The Hawk frowned. He had -waited until the train was in motion, and he had not seen them get on; -and _they_, as witness that little conference in the roundhouse of a -while back, had not been amongst those who had boarded the train west of -Selkirk. And then the frown gave place to a sort of self-commiserating -expression. Where were his wits to-night! It was simple enough! They -had boarded the car from the yard side of the train, and not from the -platform, of course! - -Well, that put an end to any further reconnaissance through the train! -In one sense it was not altogether true that it made no difference -whether MacVightie was aboard or not. He and MacVightie were not -altogether strangers. They had met once in his, the Hawk's, room, and on -that occasion, the night, to be precise, he had cleaned out the -paymaster's safe of that ten thousand dollars, MacVightie had been in a -decidedly suspicious frame of mind. MacVightie, it was quite certain, -had not forgotten that night; nor, it was quite equally safe to assume, -had MacVightie forgotten his, the Hawk's face--and at that exact moment -the Hawk had no desire that MacVightie should recognise him again! - -The Hawk turned, re-entered the smoker, found the always unpopular -crosswise seat behind the door vacant, and appropriated it. His eyes -straying forward over the car located two more acquaintances in the -person of Crusty Kline and French Pete, and came back to fix musingly on -the worn nickel faucet of the water-cooler. No. 18's first stop was at -Barne's Junction, fifteen miles out from Selkirk, and some five miles -this side of Conmore; the next stop was Lorraine, and Lorraine was on -the _other_ side--in fact a good many miles on the other side--of Echo -Rock and the Willow Creek bridge. The deduction was obvious; and the -Hawk's destination, in so far as his occupancy of a seat in the smoker -was concerned, was therefore quite plainly--the Junction. - -"Three miles east of Echo Rock," repeated the Hawk to himself. "No, I -don't think so! This is where the Ladybird has another guess! Maybe I -couldn't get away with a half million--but maybe I'm not the only one! -There's one or two guys in this car that haven't got the high-sign to -my lodge! It seems to me I promised the Butcher something the night he -tried to shoot me through his pocket, and it seems as though I promised -Parson Joe something too--yes, it seems to me I did!" - - - - -XIX--BIRDS OF A FEATHER - -IT took twenty minutes for the run to the Junction. And at the -Junction, as far as the Hawk could tell, since, yielding to what had -become a sort of habit with him, he descended to the ground on the -opposite side from the station, he was the only passenger for that -stop. It was dark here; strangely silent, and strangely lonely. Barne's -Junction owed its existence neither to a town site, nor to commercial -importance--it existed simply as a junction, and for purely railroad -operating purposes only. It was, in fact, the other extreme as compared -to Selkirk with its lighted and busy platform, its extensive yard, and -its ubiquitous and, perhaps, too inquisitive yardmen! - -The Hawk dropped on all fours and began to creep along the side of the -smoker toward the forward end of the train, his eyes strained warily -through the darkness against the possibility of one or other of the -engine crew descending from the cab. He passed the smoker and kept on -along the length of the baggage car, still crawling, moving without -a sound. When he rose from his knees finally, he was crouched down in -between the tender and the forward end of the baggage car; and a -moment later, as the train jerked forward into motion, he was crouched -again--this time on the end beam of the baggage car which, in lieu of -platform, served as a sort of wide threshold for the door. - -The train was beginning to gain momentum now, and against the jolt and -swing of the increasing speed the Hawk steadied himself by clinging with -one hand to the iron handrail at the side of the door--with the other -hand he tried the door cautiously, and found it locked. - -From the pocket in the back lining of his coat he produced his mask, -fingered it speculatively for an instant, then slipped it over his face. -True, this was to be his last venture in the Wire Devils' preserves, but -he had always worn a mask, and--there came a twisted grin--they perhaps -would not recognise him _without_ it. And it was quite necessary that -they should recognise the Hawk--if he was to keep that promise to the -Butcher! It might be a farewell, as far as he was concerned, but he -intended that it should be a memorable one, and that no doubt should -be permitted to linger in their minds as to the identity of the parting -guest they had so lavishly, if ungraciously, entertained! - -From the same pocket came his skeleton keys. The Hawk now felt -tentatively with his finger over the keyhole, nodded his head briskly, -and from the bunch of keys, still by the sense of touch, selected one -without hesitation. The Hawk, however, for the moment, made no effort -to open the door. The rush of the wind was in his face now; like some -black, monstrous, uncanny wall confronting him, the tender clashed and -clattered, and swayed in dizzy lurches before his eyes; while heavenward -the sky was tinged with a deep red glow, and the cab was ablaze with -light from the wide-flung fire-box door, and the top of the baggage car -door, and the individual particles of coal on the top of the tender's -heap stood out in sharp relief against the background of the night. - -And then the darkness fell again. - -The Hawk's hand shot forward to the keyhole, lingered there an instant, -as he crouched again swaying with the lurch of the train, then the -skeleton keys were returned to the pocket in the back lining of his -coat--and the Hawk was in action. In a flash he had opened and closed -the door behind him, and, with his back against it, his automatic flung -significantly forward in his hand, he stood staring down the length of -the car. - -There was a hoarse, startled yell, that was lost in the roar of the -flying train, and the baggageman, from his chair at one side of the car -and in front of a shelf-like desk topped with a rack of pigeonholes, -leaped to his feet. - -"Sit down!" invited the Hawk coldly. - -The man hesitated, but the next instant dropped back into his chair, as -the Hawk moved suddenly forward to his side. - -"What do you want?" he demanded sullenly. - -"This--to begin with!" The Hawk's voice was an insolent drawl now, as -his deft fingers, like a streak of lightning, were into the other's -pocket and out again with the man's revolver. "How long since they've -been arming the baggagemen on this road? You needn't answer--I'm only -talking to myself. Those are the cases up there by the forward door, -aren't they? And the big one's got the green boys--eh?" He was backing -away from the man now. "Don't move, my bucko--understand? That chair -you're sitting in is the only health resort in this car!" - -The man's hands clenched, as his eyes narrowed on the Hawk. - -"You damned thief!" he rasped out. "I--I'd like to----" - -"Quite so!" said the Hawk softly. "I know how you feel about it, and if -it helps any to get it off your chest, go to it! Nobody'll hear you but -me, and I'll try and make the best of it!" - -Piled along the side of the car from the doorway were a number of -solidly made, heavy-looking cases that obviously contained the gold -shipment. In front of these, between them and where the baggageman sat, -and acting too perhaps as a screen when the rear sliding door was -open, as, for instance, it had been at Selkirk, was a large, -innocent-appearing, flimsily-constructed packing case. The Hawk, beside -this now, moved it slightly. It was very light, so light as to warrant -the presumption that it might even be empty. - -The baggageman had relapsed into a scowling silence, his eyes still on -the Hawk. The Hawk took his steel jimmy from his pocket, shifted his -automatic to his left hand, and inserted the jimmy under the cover of -the case. There was a rip and tear of rending wood; the operation was -twice repeated--and the Hawk threw the shattered cover on the floor. -He glanced inside. At the bottom of the case lay a large paper package, -strongly tied, and heavily sealed with red wax. - -Under his mask, the Hawk's lips parted in a smile, as, his eyes on -the baggageman again, he noted that the other was watching his every -movement now with a sort of intense expectancy. The Hawk, however, made -no effort to reach down into the four-foot depth of the packing case; -he canted the box over, and picked up the package from the floor of -the car. With the point of his jimmy he tore a rent in the paper -wrapper--and his smile broadened. - -"I apologise," said the Hawk, with an engaging nod to the sullen figure -in the chair. "They're not green boys--they're yellow backs!" - -"You damned thief!" said the man, in a choked voice. - -The roar and sway of the train seemed suddenly to increase, as the -wheel trucks, jolting and beating at a siding switch, set up a sort -of infernal tattoo. They were passing the first station after the -Junction--Conmore. - -The smile left the Hawk's face. A little further along, and _they_ -would stop the train. There came a sort of dare-devil set to the Hawk's -clamped jaws. - -He was taking chances, but he had already weighed those chances well. -The Wire Devils, the Butcher and his crowd, would be on the alert; but -equally so would be MacVightie--and the posse that must far outnumber -the gang. And there was that promise to the Butcher! With their -plans awry, and taken by surprise, instead of profiting by surprise -themselves, their chances, rather than of securing a half million in -gold, were most excellent of securing quite as generous a reward, though -of another nature--at the hands of MacVightie! - -"I'm going to get off here," said the Hawk coolly to the figure in the -chair. "And the only way to get off without cracking my bean is to let -that guy there in the engine know that he's infringing the speed laws! -You remember what I told you--the only healthy place in this car for you -is where you're sitting now. Something may crack loose around here--keep -out of the wet!" - -The Hawk reached above his head for the bell cord, and pulled it -sharply. The engine crew, too, were evidently on the alert! The shrill -blast of the whistle answered the signal instantly. There was a sudden -jerk that almost threw the Hawk from his feet, the pound and slam of -buffer plates, and the vicious shriek of the "air." The Hawk recovered -himself, and, cool and quick in every movement now, thrust his jimmy -into his pocket to free his hands, flung the package of banknotes up the -aisle made by trunks and boxes behind him, and began to retreat toward -the forward door, pulling the empty case along as a shield between -himself and the other end of the car. - -The rear door of the car smashed inward. The Hawk caught a blurred -glimpse of faces and forms surging through the doorway, and streaming -across the platform from the smoker behind--and, in the lead, the -Butcher's crafty face, with its little black, restless, ferret eyes -fixed down the trunk-made aisle of the car on _him!_ - -"_The Hawk!_"--it came in a scream of abandoned fury from the -Butcher--then a headlong rush--a flash, the roar of the report, as the -Butcher fired--another, as the Hawk's automatic answered--and the _spat_ -of a bullet splitting the panel of the forward door. - -The Hawk, stooped low behind the packing case now, still edged backward -toward the door, still dragging the case after him. A smile that was -deadly grim and far removed from mirth curved his lips downward in hard, -merciless lines. He had, at least, attained his object! There was no -doubt concerning their recognition of him as the Hawk! Well, he had -weighed the chances. They would be on him now, but only one at a time; -there was not room for more, with the packing case blocking the way--and -it would be the Butcher first. After that--well, after that, he counted -on MacVightie creating a diversion from the rear, and---- - -The Butcher had flung himself against the packing case. It toppled to -one side, and the Hawk, like a crouched tiger, sprang and closed, making -of the Butcher's body, as a substitute for the packing case now, -a shield from the onrush behind. There was a furious oath from the -Butcher; a lurch, a stagger, as the train jerked and jerked again--and -both men, gripped and locked together, went to the floor. - -For an instant they rolled over and over, the Butcher snarling like -a mad beast, wrenching and twisting for an opening at the Hawk's -throat--and then suddenly the car was in an inferno. A voice, -MacVightie's, rang out sternly from the rear door. It was echoed by -a yell from one of the Hawk's companions, then a shot, another, a -fusillade of them--and then a voice above the uproar: - -"It's MacVightie, an' de bulls!" - -There was a scurrying of feet, a stampede for cover behind trunks and -boxes by the Butcher's men--and the Butcher's grip was tense upon the -Hawk. - -"Cut it out!" he whispered hoarsely. "My God, we're trapped--the lot of -us! Make a break for the door--get me? Crawl--that's the only chance!" -Blue eddies of smoke hung in queer, wavering, hesitant suspension up -and down the length of the car; the air was full of the acrid smell of -powder. The firing broke out again. The Hawk released his hold. - -"All right!" he panted. "I'm with you!" - -The Butcher was right, it was the only chance--and a chance that was -theirs alone, for, as they lay on the floor, the packing case hid them, -and it was barely two yards to the door. The train was almost at a -standstill now. MacVightie's men had gained an entrance and a position -for themselves behind the trunks at the lower end, firing as they crept -forward, while back on the smoker's platform, through the baggage car's -open door, others commanded the sweep down the center of the car. - -The Hawk snatched at the package of banknotes, snuggled it under his -coat, and, with the Butcher beside him, began to wriggle toward the -door. - -MacVightie's voice rang out again from the rear of the car: - -"Marston, take ten men, and surround the car! And----" His voice rose -suddenly in a bull-like roar. "The forward door, there--two of them! -Watch which way they jump--not a man of them gets away to-night! -_Quick!_" - -The Hawk had wrenched the door open, and, with the Butcher behind him, -flung himself out, and leaped to the ground. With the Hawk leading, -running like hares, the two men dashed down the embankment, and hurled -themselves over the barbed-wire fence that enclosed the right of way. -Shouts, the crackle of shots, echoed from behind them--the short, -vicious tongue-flames of the revolvers, a myriad of them, it seemed, -stabbed yellow through the blackness. - -The Hawk glanced back over his shoulder. He could just make out perhaps -a half dozen dark forms in pursuit--and perhaps fifty yards away. The -darkness and the distance made the shooting at best uncertain. It was -only a chance shot that would get either the Butcher or himself, and -ahead, unless he was mistaken, for the train must have come to a stop at -just about that distance from Conmore, must be the wooded tract of land -that surrounded the old farmhouse. Yes--there it was! The old dare-devil -set clamped his jaws again. Yes, and so was the Ladybird--there! Well, -it was obvious enough that there was no other cover! He glanced at the -Butcher's face that he could just discern in the darkness. The Butcher -might decide against it, but the Butcher evidently had not recognised -his surroundings. The man's lips were working, and he was cursing in -abandon as he ran. - -The Hawk spoke in short, gasping breaths: "There's some trees over -there--to the right--a little--make for them--cover!" - -The Butcher swerved automatically in the direction indicated. - -"Curse you!" he wheezed out. "This is all your infernal, nosey work! -What did you want to butt in for to-night--you fool--you couldn't have -got that gold, anyway!" - -"You close your face!" snapped back the Hawk. "I'm running my own show! -There was a little cash--forty thousand bucks along with that gold, that -maybe you didn't know about. That's what I was after--see? And that's -what I got--see?" - -"Yes"--the Butcher's voice broke in infuriated passion--"yes, and you -got them all pinched, every last one of them--blast you! I----" - -"You save your breath, and put it into running," retorted the Hawk -savagely, "or else maybe you'll get pinched yourself! It's their -lookout! I don't owe any of you any candy, do I!" - -MacVightie himself was evidently one of those in pursuit behind, for -again the Hawk recognised the other's voice: - -"Spread out there to the right! And try and shoot a little -straighter--before they get into that belt of trees!" - -A renewed outburst of firing came in response--and the Hawk measured -grimly the few yards that still separated him from the trees, as a -bullet, drumming the air venomously, seemed to miss his cheek by but -the fraction of an inch. MacVightie's presence was evidence that the -detective was so well satisfied that the gang penned up in the car could -not escape, that he obviously counted his temporary absence from the -scene well warranted if thereby the clean-up were made complete in the -capture of-----The Hawk's mental soliloquy came to an abrupt end. There -was a low cry from the Butcher, and the man, as they ran shoulder to -shoulder, lurched against him. - -"What's wrong?" flung out the Hawk sharply. - -"They got me!" gasped the Butcher--and lurched again. "They got me--in -the leg." - -The Hawk glanced backward again. They were still those fifty yards -behind, those dark, flitting, oncoming forms, those vicious yellow stabs -of flame in the blackness--it had been a dead heat so far, here to the -fringe of the trees. - -The Butcher stumbled. The Hawk swung his free arm around the other's -waist, and plunged in amongst the trees. It was slower work now, -desperately slow. He clutched at the package of banknotes beneath his -coat, and with his other hand tightened his grip upon the Butcher. The -man was evidently badly hit, and was beginning to sag limply. Came the -thrashing and branches, and the rush of feet behind them. The fifty -yards was ten now--the Hawk, with his burden, struggled on--and then -there came a cry again from the Butcher--they had gained the edge of the -clearing, and the old farmhouse and its outbuildings loomed up before -them. - -"It's--it's----" the Butcher's voice choked weakly. - -"I--I know where we are--my God, _quick!_ They'll search the house! I -got to warn him now--quick!" The man, as though under a stimulant, with -new strength, had sprung forward alone into the clear, making for the -farmhouse door. It was only a few yards, but halfway there he stumbled -again--and again the Hawk pulled him to his feet. - -A yell went up behind them. MacVightie and his men, too, were now in the -clearing, and the ten yards' lead was cut to five, to three--and then -the door before them was flung suddenly open, and a voice challenged -hoarsely from within: - -"Who's there? What's----" - -The Butcher pitched across the threshold, dragging the Hawk down with -him in his fall. - -"The door, Jim--quick--slam it!" screamed the Butcher. "We're done--the -cellar!" - -The Hawk had leaped to his feet. The room was dark, unlighted, but from -across it came, as there had come that other night, the faint glow from -the open door of the cellarway. The Butcher had staggered up again, and -was making in that direction--and then the Hawk, too, was across the -room--but the next instant, turning to meet the rush from without, as -the front door, evidently before the man whom the Butcher had addressed -as Jim could fasten it, burst inward and crashed against the wall, he -was borne backward, and, losing his balance, half pitched, half rolled -down the cellar stairs. - -The fall must have stunned him for a moment. He realised that as he -struggled to his feet--to find himself staring into the muzzle of -MacVightie's revolver, and to find that the bulging package of banknotes -was gone from under his coat, as, too, were his automatic, his jimmy and -the baggageman's revolver that had been in the side pockets of his coat. -He raised his hand dazedly toward his eyes--and MacVightie, reaching -out, knocked his hand away. - -"I'll do that for you--we were just getting around to it!" said -MacVightie roughly--and jerked the Hawk's mask from his face. And then -MacVightie leaned sharply forward. "O-ho!" he exclaimed grimly. "So it's -_you_--is it? I guess you put it over me the night that ten thousand was -lifted at the station--but I've got you now!" - -The Hawk made no answer. He was staring, still in an apparently dazed -way, about him. The cellar was a veritable maze of work benches and -elaborate equipment--for counterfeiting work. A printing press stood -over in one corner; on the benches, plates and engravers' tools of all -descriptions were scattered about; and, near the wall by the stairway, -he made out a telegraph set. But the Hawk's glance did not linger on any -of these things--it fastened on a bent and twisted form that craned its -neck forward from a rubber-tired wheel chair; on a livid face, out -of which the coal-black eyes, narrowed to slits, smouldered in deadly -menace, and from whose thin lips, that scarcely moved, there poured -forth now a torrent of hideous blasphemy in that soft, silken voice -that had earned the Ladybird his name; on the hand, crooked into a claw, -that, pushing away the man who stood guard over him, reached out toward -where the Butcher lay upon the floor. - -"You ape, you gnat, you brainless pig! And you led them -here--here--_here!_" - -"I didn't know where I was until I was right on the house," mumbled the -Butcher miserably. - -"I----" - -"Shut up--both of you!" ordered MacVightie gruffly. "What do you say, -Lanson? Is this the Hawk?" - -The Hawk had not seen the superintendent, and he turned now quickly. -Lanson's steel-grey eyes were boring into him coldly. - -"Yes," said Lanson evenly, "I think I could swear he was the man who -held us up in the private car the other night--but it's easily proved. -If he is the Hawk, he has got a wound in his right side. I saw him clap -his hand there when the pistol went off in his fight with Meridan." - -"Well, we'll soon see!" snapped MacVightie. - -The Hawk licked his lips. - -"You needn't look," he said morosely. "It's there." - -"So you admit it, do you?" MacVightie's smile was unpleasant. "Well, -then, since you seem to be so thick with that pack of curs back there in -the train, perhaps you'll admit to a hand in this little counterfeiting -plant as well?" - -"No; I won't!" said the Hawk shortly. "I never had anything to do with -this! I don't admit anything of the kind! Ask him!"--the Hawk jerked his -hand toward the Ladybird. - -"Oh, all right!" MacVightie smiled unpleasantly again. "Let it go at -that for now, if you like it that way. It doesn't much matter. You're -birds of a feather, anyway, and there's enough on all of you to go -around!" He reached behind him, and picked up the package of banknotes -from where he had evidently laid it on the nearest bench. "How did you -know this was on the train, and how did you know where it was in the -car--and tell the truth about it!" - -"I heard you and Mr. Lanson talking about it tonight," said the Hawk. - -"Where?" - -"In the roundhouse. I was outside the window. And"--the Hawk's voice -thinned in a sudden snarl--"you go to the devil with your questions!" - -The Ladybird was craned forward again in the wheel chair listening -intently, he sank back now and scowled murderously at the Hawk. -MacVightie shrugged his shoulders, handed the package to one of his -three men who were with him in the cellar, and drew a pair of handcuffs -from his pocket. - -"Get that cash down to the train, and put it back with the gold where -it will be under guard, MacGregor!" he ordered brusquely. "And you -two carry this fellow"--he rattled his handcuffs in the Butcher's -direction--"down there, too. Tell Marston to let you have three or four -more men. The chap that Williams has got upstairs there will have to be -carried, too, I guess; and our friend here, in the invalid buggy, with -the thanksgiving expression on his face, will have to have somebody to -push him along over the ruts. Yes, and I'll want a couple to put in -the night here--tell Marston to make it four. And now, beat it! You run -ahead, MacGregor, and get back as soon as you can--we don't want to tie -up the traffic all night!" - -The two men picked up the Butcher, and, preceded by their companion -with the package of banknotes, went up the stairs. MacVightie caught the -Hawk's arm roughly, snapped one link of the steel cuffs over the Hawk's -right wrist, and yanked the Hawk ungently over to a position beside the -wheel chair. - -He snapped the other link over the Ladybird's left wrist, and smiled -menacingly. - -"I guess there's dead weight enough there to anchor you for a few -minutes while I take a look around here!" he said curtly--and turned to -Lan-son. - -The Hawk was licking at his lips again. Upstairs, the tramp of feet was -dying away: There would be no one there now but the other member of the -gang who, it seemed, had been hurt when the house was rushed, and the -one man who was guarding the prisoner. The Ladybird's cultured voice at -the Hawk's side poured out an uninterrupted stream of abandoned oaths -that were like a shudder in the nonchalant, conversational tones in -which they fell from the twitching lips. MacVightie and Lanson were -moving here and there about the place. Snatches of their conversation -reached the Hawk: - -...Well, I reckon I called the turn, all right, when I said it was -the same crowd that was turning out the phony stuff, eh?... Yes, the -telegraph set. - -... Can't trace the wires until daylight, of course. - -... Sure, a clean-up...." - -The Hawk's eyes travelled furtively around the cellar. They rested -hungrily on a spot in front of him, where, in the centre of the floor, -but partially hidden by one of the workbenches, was the bolted trapdoor -of the underground passage that led out to the wagon shed. He circled -his lips with his tongue again, and furtively again, his glance -travelled on--to the door at the head of the cellar stairs that had a -massive bolt, and that, evidently swinging back of its own accord -after the men had passed through, now hung just ajar--to a long, narrow -window, most tantalising of all because it was wide open, that was -shoulder high, just above the stonework of the cellar and evidently on a -level with the ground outside. - -And then suddenly the Hawk's lids drooped--to hide a quick flash and -gleam that lighted the dark eyes. MacVightie had stooped, and throwing -back the bolt, had lifted up the trapdoor. - -"Hello!" he ejaculated. "What's this? Here, Lanson! It looks like a -passage of some sort." He was leaning down into the opening. "Yes, so -help me, that's what it is!" He lowered himself hurriedly through the -trapdoor, and his voice came back muffled into the cellar. "Come down -here a minute, Lanson; they certainly had things worked out to a fine -point!" - -Lanson's back, as, following MacVightie, he lowered himself through the -opening, was turned to the Hawk--and in a flash the Hawk's free hand -had swept behind him under his coat to the concealed pocket in the back -lining, and his eyes were thrust within an inch of the Ladybird's as he -lowered his head. - -"You understand?"--the Hawk's lips did not move, he was breathing -his words, while a skeleton key worked swiftly at the handcuff on his -wrist--"you understand? It's you or me! You make a sound to queer me, -and I'll get you--_first!_" - -The livid face was contorted, working with impotent fury, but, perhaps -for the first time that it had ever been there, there was fear In -the Ladybird's burning eyes. The Hawk's hand was free now. Lanson's -shoulders were just disappearing through the opening, and with a -lightning spring the Hawk reached the trapdoor, swung it down, bolted -it, and, running without a sound, gained the head of the cellar stairs, -pulled the door gently shut, slid the bolt silently into place--and the -next moment the Hawk, returning, darted to the window, swung himself up -to the ledge, and vanished. - - - - -XX--"CONFIDENTIAL" CORRESPONDENCE - -TWO days later MacVightie received a letter that had been posted the -day before from a city quite a number of miles nearer the East than -Selkirk was. In the left-hand, lower corner of the envelope, heavily -underscored, was the word: "Confidential." What MacVightie read, when he -opened the letter, was this: - -"Dear Mr. MacVightie:-- - -"I feel that you are entitled to an explanation--I will not call it an -apology, for I am sure you will recognise with me the unavoidable nature -of the circumstances existing at the time--of my somewhat informal -leave-taking of you two evenings ago; and I am afraid that my actions on -that occasion have not enhanced your opinion of--the Hawk. I shall try -and redeem myself. You have, I make no doubt, already searched that room -where I first had the pleasure of making your acquaintance--and have -found nothing. Let me begin, then, by saying that the diamond necklace -belonging to His Excellency the Governor's wife, a certain well-known -shipment of unset stones, and cash in varying amounts derived from -sources with which you are acquainted, are in a black valise which you -will find in the parcel room of the Selkirk station--and for which I -enclose herewith the parcel-room check. - -"I imagine that you are sceptical. I wonder, then, if it would also -occasion you surprise to know that Birks of the Secret Service was, -after all, 'on deck' the night that the Wire Devils fell into your -hospitable hands? Yes, it is quite true--I am Birks. The newspaper -biographies of the Hawk, the apparent authenticity of his prison record -and release from Sing Sing was but 'inspired' fiction supplied from -'authoritative' sources. The East was being swamped with one of the -cleverest counterfeit notes that the Federal authorities, popularly -called the Secret Service, had ever had to deal with; and it was evident -at once that the gang at work possessed an organisation against which -ordinary methods would be of no avail. Facts in the possession of the -Federal authorities indicated that the headquarters of the gang was -in the West, and, indeed, as you later concluded yourself, that the -so-called Wire Devils, who were just beginning to operate over the wires -around Selkirk, were the men we wanted. That, because of my knowledge of -telegraphy, I was detailed to the case, and how, almost at the outset, I -was fortunate enough to secure the key to their cipher, need not be gone -into here. Knowing their code, then, it would have been a simple enough -matter to have run one or two of them to earth at almost any time, but -that was not enough; it was necessary that the entire organisation, and -especially its head, should be caught. The rôle of the Hawk furnished -the solution to the problem. It enabled me to frustrate their plans, -while at the same time I was working on the case, and it enabled me to -do this without arousing their suspicions that the Secret Service was -on the track of their counterfeiting plant. 'Birds of a feather,' you -called us, Mr. Mac-Vightie; and 'birds of a feather' I am going to ask -you to allow us, in the public's eyes, and particularly in the eyes of -those you now have behind the bars, to remain. - -"I am sure you will readily acquiesce in this. You will instantly see -that my usefulness would be destroyed if the Hawk became known and -recognised as Birks of the Secret Service by every crook in the country, -as would result if he now figured in the case in his proper person. And -this leads to a word of explanation in reference to the final act in our -little drama of two nights ago. I had discovered the headquarters of the -gang, and I had found that cleverest of unhung crooks, the Ladybird, -to be in command. The plan outlined to you from Washington was at my -suggestion, and was simply a trap to collect them _all_ into one net; a -trap, I might add, which they walked into, as they believed, with their -eyes wide open, for they were well aware of every move _you_ had made. -The purpose of the money in banknotes accompanying the gold shipment was -to supply the Hawk with a _reason_ for his appearance on the scene. It -was not altogether a question of coincidence that the train was stopped -just outside Con-more; nor that the chase led you to the farmhouse -and the Ladybird. The rest you know. It was necessary that I should -be captured and arrested in their presence, be caught in fact with the -'goods,' and also that my escape should in their eyes appear equally -genuine, if I was to preserve the Hawk's identity. As for this last -point, things turned out a little differently than I had planned, for -I had expected to be taken to jail with the common herd, and there had -intended to arrange some sort of an escape to keep up appearances. As -it turned out, however, I am sure you will agree with me that there are -worse things at times than a trapdoor in a cellar floor! - -"I think that is all--save for one little detail. I would suggest that -you account for the recovery of the 'swag' and the black valise through -the fact that, dissatisfied with your first search of that room over -our friend Seidel-berger's saloon, you searched it again more minutely, -found a parcel-room check ingeniously hidden, say, behind the wall -bracket of the electric-light fixture--and by so doing permit me to -remain, - -"Ever and most sincerely yours, - -"The Hawk." - - -THE END - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wire Devils, by Frank L. 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