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diff --git a/old/62740-0.txt b/old/62740-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3608a29..0000000 --- a/old/62740-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8258 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Walker of the Secret Service, by Melville -Davisson Post - - -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: Walker of the Secret Service - - -Author: Melville Davisson Post - - - -Release Date: July 23, 2020 [eBook #62740] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALKER OF THE SECRET SERVICE*** - - -E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/postmelvilledavissonwalkerofthesecretservice1924zpexciter - - - - - -WALKER OF THE SECRET SERVICE - - - * * * * * * - - By - MELVILLE DAVISSON POST - - WALKER OF THE SECRET SERVICE - MONSIEUR JONQUELLE: PREFECT OF POLICE OF PARIS - THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL-TEACHER - THE SLEUTH OF ST. JAMES’S SQUARE - THE MYSTERY AT THE BLUE VILLA - UNCLE ABNER, MASTER OF MYSTERIES - - These Are Appleton Books - - D. APPLETON AND COMPANY - Publishers New York - - * * * * * * - - -WALKER OF THE SECRET SERVICE - -by - -MELVILLE DAVISSON POST - -Author of “Monsieur Jonquelle: Prefect of Police -of Paris,” “The Sleuth of St. James’ Square,” -“Uncle Abner,” etc. - - - - - - -D. Appleton and Company -New York :: London :: MCMXXIV - -Copyright, 1924, by D. Appleton and Company - -Copyright, 1920, by International Magazine Company. -Copyright, 1920, 1921, by The Ridgway Company. -Copyright, 1921, by The Pictorial Review Company. -Copyright, 1921, 1922, by The Consolidated Magazines Corporation. -Copyright, 1923, by The McCall Company. - -Printed in the United States of America - - - - - CONTENTS - - I. The Outlaw - II. The Holdup - III. The Bloodhounds - IV. The Secret Agent - V. The Big Haul - VI. The Passing of Mooney - VII. The Diamond - VIII. The Expert Detective - IX. The “Mysterious Stranger” Defense - X. The Inspiration - XI. The Girl in the Picture - XII. The Menace - XIII. The Symbol - - - - - WALKER OF THE SECRET SERVICE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - The Outlaw - - -Near the entrance of the great circus tent there was a little man in -a canvas chair. He sat at the end of the long alley, which was hung -with painted signs. - -Nothing had escaped me. - -I had no money to see any wonder, and so had to be content with what -was displayed outside. It was early in the morning. The grass before -the tents had not yet been trodden down; few persons were about, and -I had the marvels of this fantastic alley to myself. - -I had advanced slowly along every foot of it, and now I stood just -beyond the roped-off entrance to the big tent, and the little man in -the canvas chair. - -There was something in the appearance of this man that drew my eye. -He sat in the chair as though every muscle were relaxed, his eyes -closed, his head drooping. Now and then he put up his hand and -pressed the fingers over his face. It seemed a habit, as though his -face had the sensation of being swollen. - -No one disturbed him. He had been there for some time. I had noticed -him at the end of the alley when I arrived, precisely in this -posture, as of one worn out with some exertion. - -I was looking at him as I had looked at the painted signs when the -canvas of the big tent was thrust up and a man came out. He was a -big young man in the overalls of a mechanic and he had some device -in his hand like a dome-shaped metallic box. - -He went directly to the man in the canvas chair. - -“Mooney,” he said, “there’s something wrong with this damned thing; -make it go.” - -The little man opened his eyes without moving a muscle of his body. -Then he put out his hand, took the metallic device, rested it on his -knee, flicked a penknife out of his waistcoat pocket, and with a -screw-driver blade took a plate off at the bottom of the thing. Then -he adjusted something deftly inside, replaced the plate and returned -the device to the mechanic. - -It had taken only a moment; his fingers had moved with the precision -of a pianist, and he had scarcely changed his position. - -I had been greatly interested and had drawn a little closer. And -when I looked up, the eyes of the big mechanic were on me; he had a -hard, determined face and a sharp, piercing eye. I felt that he -easily summed me up and had the measure of me. The little man in the -canvas chair spoke as the mechanic turned away. - -“White,” he said, “who’s it goin’ to be?” - -“I don’t know yet,” replied the mechanic. “I’ll look ’em over.” - -Then he disappeared under the circus tent. - -I realized now that I was very close to the man in the canvas chair, -and I stepped back across the green alley. A little group of tent -hands were speaking as I came up. - -“I wonder why they stick,” one of them was saying. “They can’t get -much out of the boss for fixing these jimcracks.... The big one’s an -expert mechanic and the dope Jimmy’s a wizard.” - -It was late in the afternoon when I again saw the big mechanic. - -The crowd from the circus was scattering. I had nowhere to go and -was standing idly in the road when the man came up. He looked me -over very carefully. - -“Young fellow,” he said, “you don’t seem to be in much of a hurry; -perhaps you could take a note over to the Red Sign Bar.” - -I explained that I was a stranger in the town, but he pointed out -very definitely how I could find the way. - -“You will go into the bar,” he said, “and go straight through to the -back room. There you will find the tired man who fixed the dynamo. -Give him this note.” - -He handed me a blank envelope sealed, and half a dollar. I needed -the half dollar, for I was hungry. I had not a cent in the world and -I had walked that afternoon ten miles into the town. - -It was not possible to mistake the directions. I followed the road -the circus wagons had made from the meadow where the tents were -stretched, to the town. One could not miss the main street through -it. - -Presently I found the Red Sign Bar. The bar was crowded, so my -passage was not marked. I opened the door at the end and went into a -room. - -Immediately the man sitting at the table sprang up. - -On the table before him were a number of railroad folders and a map, -and he was making some calculations on a blank sheet of paper. - -He was the same man whom I had seen in the canvas chair in the alley -of side shows before the big tent of the circus. But he was visibly -changed. He was like a cat, incredibly active. His hands were in his -pockets and he did not move after he was on his feet. - -I closed the door and, going forward, put the envelope on the table. - -“A gentleman out at the circus,” I said, “sent you this letter.” - -He sat down with the same soft, quick feline motion, tore the -envelope open with his finger and read the contents. But I had the -feeling that while his eyes were on the paper they were also very -carefully on me. Then suddenly he spoke. - -“Do you know why White picked you?” - -“Picked me for what?” I said. - -He folded the paper over his finger and, reaching across the table, -showed me the lower half of what the note contained. - -It was written in pencil in a large clear hand: - - The same baby that we spotted at the Junction goes to - the tank at 10:15 to-night. She always takes a drink at - this trough. I think there is money in her clothes, and - here’s a fellow to help. - - White. - -He whisked the note back into his pocket. - -“So you are going to help us,” he said. “You look like a husky -youngster.” - -I was completely puzzled, but, as you will presently realize, I was -ready for almost any adventure. My first clash with organized -society had left me bewildered, and ready for any revenge that might -present itself. - -The little nervous man, Mooney, regarded me searchingly for some -moments before he spoke. Then he said: - -“Damn the Mexican government! There is some of its money going south -to-night. How would you like to have a piece of it?” - -As I have said, I was ready for nearly any adventure, but especially -an adventure directed against a government with which we had lately -been at war, and which was still, one felt, a potential enemy. - -I did not reply. - -Mooney leaned back in his chair and regarded me for some time, his -hand moving about his face. - -“You will be a stranger here,” he said, “and a reliable person or -White would have passed you up. He has the eye of the devil for -seeing through a man. Here’s a dollar.” - -He took a paper dollar out of his waistcoat pocket and handed it to -me. - -“Do two things,” he said, “and don’t talk; go out and get something -to eat and after that hunt up a piece of quarter-inch pipe about two -feet long; slip it up your coat sleeve and be at the entrance of the -big circus tent at eight o’clock.” - -I went out like a person who has suddenly fallen from the -commonplace world into some story of the _Arabian Nights_. - -There was about me and over the world a haze of adventure. The -details of this adventure were not clear, but it was one directed -against the crooked Mexican government, and it involved a treasure -like the treasure of the sunken Armadas. - -It was the alluring stuff of the storybooks. I was ready for it with -these strange adventurers. - -This state of feeling requires a word here. - -After my father’s death, as I was now alone, I came down out of the -great blue mountains to seek my fortune, as the storybooks say. I -walked, and on the road I was overtaken by an adventure. Near a -little village I passed one of those local trains, common to this -country: an engine, one or two cars, and an old passenger coach. The -highway passed close beside the track, and as I trudged along a -fireman leaned out of the tender and called to me. - -“Hey, Reuben,” he said, “ring your bell when you pass.” - -I told him with some heat, that I would ring his neck if he came -down out of his iron box, and I went on. - -But the thing was not ended. The train presently pulled on and, as -it passed, the fireman threw a lump of coal at me. I countered at -him with a stone, that missed the tender and struck the passenger -car behind it. - -At the next village I was arrested and taken before a justice of the -peace. There I was told that it was a felony, under the laws of the -state, to throw a stone at a passenger train, and that the railroad -intended to put me into the penitentiary. - -“And what are you going to do with the fireman who threw a lump of -coal at me?” I said. - -“Nothing,” replied the justice. “He didn’t hit you.” - -“Then you’ll not do anything with me,” I said, and I rose. - -The little office of the Justice was at the end of the village. A -railroad detective sat beside me; the fireman who had made the -charge lolled in the door. - -It all happened in a moment. - -I threw off the railroad detective who caught at my arm and as the -big fireman swung around into the door I struck him as hard as I -could in the chest. He went crashing down the steps. I jumped -through the door and ran. The railroad detective followed me, firing -his pistol. But he was no match for my youth across the fields, and -he was soon out of sight. - -I turned back the way I had come, crossed to another highway; and -here on this afternoon I was. I did not know how far I had traveled -and hardly the direction. You will see then how ready I was for any -adventure—and especially if a railroad was included. It had become, -by virtue of the injustice of this incident, an enemy open to -revenge. - -I had no trouble to find a dinner, but I found myself beset with -difficulty about the piece of pipe. I tramped about the town during -the afternoon, but I could think of no place where a piece of -quarter-inch pipe could be obtained. It did not occur to me to go to -a plumbing shop, and if I had thought of that I would not have known -what excuse to make for my purchase. Besides, I had no money. You -will remember that I was young and extremely hungry and the dollar -and a half had disappeared in carrying out Mooney’s first direction. - -I thought I should have to give it up. - -Finally in a blacksmith shop I found a rusted rod that had been part -of a wagon brake. I asked the blacksmith to give it to me. -Naturally, he wished to know what I was going to do with it, and for -a moment I was in difficulty for an answer. Then I told him that -they wanted such a piece of iron out at the circus, and had promised -to give me a ticket in if I could find it. He laughed. - -“I’m glad,” he said, “that there’s something else they want, if the -elephant ain’t thirsty.” - -He flung me the rod and wished that I might enjoy the circus. - -I had it in my sleeve when White appeared in the grass alley before -the circus entrance. - -I got out of the crowd and followed him. It was now dark. We went -around the big tent, through the stables for the horses, then struck -out across the meadow in a direction opposite from the town. - -I walked beside him with my piece of rod in my sleeve, very much as -a child, it now seems to me, might set out on a fairy expedition -with an all-abiding confidence in the resources of those conducting -him, and with no clear idea of what he might come to, unconcerned -and careless of events. - -White had very few words during the long walk through the dark in -the meadow. - -“You are a husky youngster,” he said. “You could shove along a bull -wagon or I miss my guess.” - -He was correct in that estimate. I was a sturdy youngster, hardened -by the out-of-doors. Physically I was developed, but I seemed in my -conception of affairs to have been still a child, albeit approaching -that stage of youth where, instantly, as by merely awaking in the -morning, one becomes a man. - -We came finally to the railroad track. There was a short switch with -a little red house beside it. It was less a house than a sort of box -with a low door. Leaning against this door, when we arrived, was -Mooney. - -He was smoking a cigarette; the tiny point of light had been visible -to us as we approached. - -“Young man,” he said, “did you bring the piece of pipe?” - -I drew the rod out of my sleeve and handed it to him. He struck a -match and examined the door; there was a padlock on it. He thrust -the rod through the bow of the padlock and with a quick twist broke -it out of the lock. Inside was a hand car, and then it was that I -realized why these men were concerned to have what they called a -“husky” assistant. - -It was with difficulty that we were able to get the car on the -track. Finally it was accomplished and we started away in the -darkness. I knew nothing about the operation of a hand car, but I -was quickly shown. We set out in the direction which I took to be -south of the town. White and I on opposite sides pumped the car and -Mooney squatted on the platform. He had under him what looked like a -feed sack, filled with something that had a considerable bulk. He -carried also the iron rod in his hand, but it had served his -purpose. At the first stream we crossed he tossed it into the water. - -It was a piece of possible evidence and he did not wish it to be -picked up along the track. True, it connected neither him nor White -with the thing which we were undertaking, but perhaps I might be -remembered by it, and it was this man’s policy to leave no point at -which any one could begin with his investigation. - -We went on for some time into the night. - -Once in a while we passed a house lighted in the distance, but no -village and no dwelling near the track. There was hardly any sound -except that of the car on the rails. I wondered at how still the -world could be. For a long time we continued to move south, White -and I at the pump handles of the car and Mooney, as I have said, -squatted on the platform. - -Suddenly in the silence he swore softly. - -“What’s the matter?” said White. - -The little nervous man replied, drawling out the words. - -“It’s an ax,” he said. “We ought to have an ax.” - -“That’s easy,” replied White. “We’ll pull up at the next house and -send our young friend to borrow one.” - -And they followed that plan. At a turn of the road we made out a -house a few hundred yards above us on the slope of the hill. The car -stopped and I went to borrow an ax. - -I do not know how it happened that there was no dog about, for there -are dogs at all these houses in the south. I looked outside, but -there was no ax to be found. Then I looked in at the window. - -There was a wood fire dying down in the fireplace, and a ladder -leading to the loft. The person who lived there was evidently in his -bed above. The man’s coat and boots were on the floor by the ladder, -and beside the chimney there were some tools—a mattock, a hoe, and -the ax for which I was looking. It was a hinged window secured on -the inside by a button. The ax was safe from any method that I knew, -and I went back to the hand car. - -I told the men what I had found. - -Mooney got up from his sack on the platform. - -“My son,” he said, “I will show you something useful; let us go back -for the ax.” - -As we went along he took a newspaper out of his pocket and dipped it -in a ditch until it was thoroughly wet. When we reached the window -he spread the wet paper against the glass and with the pressure of -his hand broke the pane out. - -The broken glass stuck to the paper and it made almost no sound. - -Then he put his hand through and unbuttoned the latch, opened the -window and climbed in noiselessly like a cat, got the ax and came -out. - -We were very near to our destination, it proved, and in half an hour -we reached a water tank. It was near a little creek and in a strip -of wood. I had judged that we were on our way to a water tank from -the few lines Mooney had shown me, and what he had said. The money -of the Mexican government would be on a train that would stop here -for water, and, like the pirates of the Spanish Main, it was our -affair to capture the treasure. - -We stopped. Mooney got down and removed from the car a bundle upon -which he had been sitting. White and I upended the hand car and sent -it down the embankment into the thick bushes; then we moved around -behind the water tank to prepare for the undertaking. - -The night had long ceased to be dark. There was no moon, but the sky -was sown with stars, and there was a sort of faint white light in -the world. We could see distinctly what we were about, even in the -thicket behind the water tank, shaded somewhat by the wood. Here -Mooney untied his bundle. - -It contained three suits of overalls such as are worn by railroad -men, blue trousers and a sort of blue coat; they were not new. -Mooney was too clever a person, as I came afterward to realize, to -make his party conspicuous by any new article. - -This was the disguise for our bodies. For head covering Mooney had -three sugar sacks dyed black, with round holes for the eyes and -mouth. These we pulled over our heads. He had also an ordinary -burlap feed sack—the “loot sack,” he called it. - -Then he brought out the weapons. - -He made a little speech about these weapons. They were the latest -model of automatic pistols, each precisely like the others. He said -it was a great mistake to go out with a different variety of weapons -because in a protracted fight there could be no exchange of -ammunition. - -His voice drawled with nervous jerks at the end of it. He might have -been lecturing to a Sunday school. He asked me if I understood the -weapon. I did not understand it and said so. - -“Well,” he said, “it is simple enough. You have only to pull the -trigger and keep on pulling it; whatever happens will be over by the -time you get to the last cartridge. Don’t worry about it, my son.” - -He added another direction: - -“Turn the muzzle up when you shoot; it don’t do any good to hit -’em.” - -He made a little ridiculous gesture. - -“The maneuvers of train robbing,” he said, “are directed against the -mind.” - -Then he explained what each of us was to do. - -White was to use the ax in order to break in the door of the express -car. He, Mooney, would be the gunman, and it was my part in the -business to stand on the platform between the express car and the -next passenger coach to keep back the conductor or any one else who -might attempt to go forward into the train. - -They seemed to know precisely what the trainmen would do, and were -prepared to meet it. Either the man called White had watched this -train on some previous night or he had taken some other precaution -to discover precisely what would happen when the train stopped at -the tank, for they went into their parts when the event arrived -precisely as though they had drilled for it and were entering at the -cue of some director. - -We were hidden in the bushes close beside the tank when the train -rolled in. - -To me it seemed immense, gigantic, in the darkness. The blinding -headlight, the roar, and grating of the brakes seemed to make a -bewildering confusion. I think I should not have moved from the -bushes, in such confusion was I thrown, had I not been between the -two men; and as it happened, I got up with them. - -We waited until the engine had taken water and the conductor and -porter had made their round of the train; then we slipped out of our -hiding place as the train pulled out. We swung on to the rear -platform of the express car precisely at the moment that the porter -climbed on to the steps of the same platform at the other side. - -Mooney jammed his gun into the man’s face. - -The porter nearly lost his hold on the rail of the car with terror. - -“My God!” he muttered. “Don’t shoot.” - -We must have presented every element of terror to him—the deadly -weapons and the three looming figures in their black peaked caps. - -“Keep still,” said Mooney. “Do what you are told and you won’t get -hurt.” - -White tried the door to the express car; it was open. He pitched -away the ax, seized the porter by the shoulders, and he and Mooney -rushed the express car, using the body of the terrorized porter for -a shield against any bullet that might be fired. - -To their surprise they found the baggage master, mail clerk and -express messenger all sitting on the floor eating lunch from dinner -buckets. - -There was no resistance. - -They all threw up their hands almost with a single motion. - -“Which is the express messenger?” said Mooney. - -“I am,” replied one of the men. - -“I want what you have in the way box,” he said. - -The messenger denied having anything. - -“Give me your key and I will find out.” - -Mooney went about the thing with deliberation. He unlocked the box, -took out all packages, and put them in his loot sack. Then he left -White to stand guard over the men while he took the mail clerk into -the mail car to see what he could get there. - -All this time I was standing at my post between the two cars looking -through the glass door into the faces of the passengers. I could see -the faces of the men before me clearly, for I was looking from the -dark into the lamplight. Nevertheless I felt as though their eyes -were fixed on me and each man had a weapon in his pocket; but no one -moved toward my end of the car. - -There was no suspicion of the events that were going forward a few -feet beyond the door and I doubt, even if it had been known, whether -any one would have taken the chance of coming out of the door. - -I must have been a formidable, mysterious figure. Although the -youngest, I was the largest of the three men, and with the pistol in -my hand and the “spook cap,” as Mooney called it, it would have -taken courage to have advanced against me. - -It was the plan that when Mooney had finished with his work and had -the loot in the sack ready to go he would pull the emergency air -brake. This would stop the train instantly and we should all get off -on the fireman’s side of the train. He had explained to us in his -lecture behind the water tank that train officials always look on -the engineer’s side when any trouble arises. - -I do not know how it happened, but for some reason Mooney directed -White to make this signal and by mistake he pulled the wrong cord. - -That warned the engineer. - -I felt the automatic air begin to clamp the brake shoes. The -engineer blew four long sharp blasts to call the conductor forward. -The conductor with the flagman at his heels started on the run. They -had been sitting in the car before me, all the time under my eyes. -Now they plunged through the door on to the platform. - -I shouted at them as they advanced. - -“Go back or I’ll shoot you to death.” - -In my excitement I roared the words. They stopped suddenly like men -who had come up against an invisible wall, dropped back through the -door and closed it with a bang. - -I heard Mooney call to me as he jumped down. I jumped with him. - -By this time the train had stopped. The engineer was still blowing. -The conductor had run to the rear of the train, it seems, when I had -driven him back, and got a rifle, and was on the ground when I got -off. He was shooting at Mooney and White as they disappeared through -the bushes. He was almost up to me as I stood there on the step -uncertain what to do. Then I remembered the direction Mooney had -given, elevated the muzzle of the automatic and fired it in his -face. - -I did not hit him, but I got the result Mooney predicted. - -He dropped the gun and fell back with a startled cry. I took the -chance and plunged into the bushes after my companions. But my -assault on his mind did not permanently disable him; he stooped -over, groped for the rifle, got it in his hands, and began firing at -me as I ran. Once he hit a tree so close to me that the splinters -flew in my face, but in a moment I was covered by the wood. - -I ran on for some distance and then squatted down behind a tree. But -no one followed. For some time there were confused noises, voices -scarcely audible at the distance; then the train moved on. - -It was Mooney’s direction that after the train had passed we should -return to the water tank. “It would be better to go back at once,” -he said. There would be no posse for the train to leave, but later -the authorities would be informed and search would be made for us. - -I followed his direction. - -But I must have gone farther than the others, for both he and White -were behind the tank when I came up. He had lighted a little fire of -twigs and leaves and in this we burned the “spook caps.” I did not -see the “loot sack” and I asked him about the Mexican money. - -“No luck, my son,” he said. “White had the wrong tip, but I am not a -man to disappoint a lad. Here’s twenty dollars for you. Meet the -circus at Marysville.” - -He pointed out the direction through the fields. - -I gave him back the automatic pistol and the railroad clothes and -prepared to set out on my journey. It was not above half a dozen -miles, he said, and I could not miss the way. He would show me. He -climbed up on the crossbars of the water tank and pointed out the -direction, the distant hilltop where I would find a turn of the -road. - -I was about to set out when he stopped me. - -“Wait a moment,” he said, “and I will put you clear of the -bloodhounds.” - -He stooped and in the darkness carefully passed his hand over the -soles of my shoes. - -I went up the railroad track until I was clear of the wood, climbed -the hill, and got down into the road. I had become an outlaw, a -member of the most daring gang of train robbers in all the annals of -that high-handed crime. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - The Holdup - - -I slept that morning in the hay beyond the horse stalls. - -It was afternoon before I wakened. I had gotten into the town just -as the circus was unloading, and, as it happened, the road upon -which I approached came first to the switch on which the horse cars -were standing. - -The one thing about which I had any knowledge, in the whole circus, -was horses. - -I stopped at the car and helped the man get the horses out. It was -doubtless a fortunate coincidence, because I fell in as a sort of -assistant to the man who had charge of the horse car, and it gave me -a kind of connection with the circus. I helped him get the animals -over to the field and under the horse tent, and when they had been -cared for I went to sleep. - -I had now some money in my pocket and I sauntered about on that -afternoon, pleased with everything. - -The experience of robbing my first train did not seem to affect me. -It was a sort of adventure whose elements of danger I had escaped, -and it was now ended. I seemed not to realize that there was any -further peril about it. - -I saw Mooney in the afternoon in his canvas chair. He paid no -attention to me. White I saw a little later. It was at the evening -performance. I was helping to take away the horses that appeared in -the ring. I was not in the main circus tent but in an attached tent -in which the performers mounted. - -I was bringing out a horse for one of these riders when White came -up. - -There were two persons standing near the horse: a young girl dressed -like a fairy—dainty and lovely, I thought, in her gauze skirts and -gilded butterfly wings—and a little woman. This woman was small and -dark haired with narrow eyes and flat ears set close to her head. -She turned viciously on White when he came up. - -“Don’t go near her!” she cried. “Don’t even look at her!” - -“You are a fool, Maggie,” he said. “I want to speak to the boy.” - -She turned suddenly toward me as though she had not noticed me -before. - -“Where did you come from?” she said. Then she laughed. “It don’t -matter. I know where you are going.” - -And she went out toward the entrance to the circus tent, following -the big white horse that carried the fairy. - -White said only a few words to me when she was gone. - -“Hang along with the circus; we have got straight dope on that -Mexican money and we’ll pick it up in a few days.” - -I traveled with the circus as one might travel with a fairy caravan. -Everything was of the deepest and newest interest. - -But the greatest wonder was the girl who rode the white horse. The -little, determined, black-haired woman was always with her. I saw -her only when I helped her into the saddle and took away the horse. - -She stood between the girl and everybody. - -There was no exception, but she did not seem to consider me. Once or -twice I saw her looking curiously at me when I brought the horse to -help the girl into the saddle. - -Sometimes she talked with Mooney. - -I suppose a week passed in this fashion; then one evening, as I was -helping to bed down the horses, White came into the tent. The -evening performance had ended and it was perhaps midnight. - -“We are going to take a little motor ride,” he said. “Come along.” - -I went with him. - -We made a detour of the circus field and came into the border of the -town. It was a residence street of the better class of houses. It -was late and the lights of the street had been put out. We stopped -finally before a garage in a lot between two houses. The door to the -garage was locked and White turned the lock with some implement -which I could not see. - -Then we went inside and carefully pushed the car out into the -street. - -White locked the door again behind us. We pushed the car along the -street for perhaps a hundred yards before we got in. The man -understood the motor perfectly and we slipped along the street and -out of the town. - -At a bridge on the outskirts we picked up Mooney. He had his bundle -as on our first adventure. - -White ran the car at great speed for perhaps two hours; then we -pulled up by the roadside and stopped. - -Before we got out of the car I had an explanation of Mooney’s occult -device against the bloodhound. - -There was a mist of fog. It had begun to gather over the lowland. We -had noticed it—a white blanket lying on the fields as we came along. -It was now rising, but it came up slowly as though it were a sort of -impalpable stratum formed mysteriously out of the earth and -extending, under some mathematical direction, upward. It was like a -piece of enchantment in the manner in which the thing arose. It now -lay on the world about us extending to the macadam road. - -Mooney took a flash light out of his pocket. - -It was not the usual cylinder affair. It was, rather, a little squat -lantern with a bull’s-eye bulb; thick—necessarily so, I imagine—for -there was a powerful light concentrated on the small disc and it, -therefore, required a considerable battery. - -He looked at the clock on the motor. - -“We shall have some time to wait,” he said, “but the fog may -increase and we ought to look over the ground.” - -I got up to get out of the car, when he put his hand on my arm. - -“My son,” he said, “the bloodhound will be no friend of ours; let us -think of him before he thinks of us.” - -He went on in a drawling voice. - -“Every little sheriff,” he said, “has fitted himself out with one of -these trailing beasts.” - -Then he laughed. - -“They will be valuable, no doubt, for Little Eva and the ice, but -for us they will hardly constitute a menace.” - -He reached into his pocket and took out a flask of what one might -imagine to be brandy. - -“I have here,” he said, “a lotion to confuse his nose.” - -He drew out the stopper, poured the liquid into his hand, and rubbed -it carefully over our shoes. I knew on the instant, by the odor, it -was turpentine. Mooney was very careful about this thing. The whole -of our shoes were carefully painted with the turpentine. He -explained the theory of the thing while he was at work. - -“It makes me laugh,” he said, “to think how our brethren of the road -have been chased about by dogs.... It is ridiculous to be chased by -anything, especially a creature depending on its nose. It is the -fine discriminating sense of odors that distinguishes the -bloodhound. If our footweary predecessors had only thought about it -they might have saved themselves the walking. - -“How does one destroy a delicate odor? - -“The solution is simple—by laying down over it a heavier, gross one. -And here one must consider the instinct of the bloodhound. He will -follow the trail of a man, that is, something living, a thing which -he has observed to move, but he will not follow the trail of a pine -tree. Turpentine, to the dog’s sensitive nose, is a tremendous -stench that he will walk away from.” - -The road, as I have said, ran parallel to the track. We got out now -and went directly across the field to the railroad. Here, close -beside the track, Mooney set up a piece of rotten cross tie. It was -to be a signal, as I later discovered; and we should return this -way. - -Then he walked back along the track. I was perhaps at something more -than half a mile that we came to a semaphore. It was only in the -knowledge of future events that I understood what we were about to -do; and it is in the light of this knowledge that I am able to -describe what happened. - -The men had determined to hold up the through passenger train from -Washington to New Orleans. Their original intention was to stop this -train at a water tank but for some reason they gave up this plan; I -think it was because knowledge of the other train robbery made them -fear that the usual stopping places would be watched. So they -determined upon another device. A macadamized road paralleled the -railroad track and they decided to commandeer a motor car, follow -the track to some isolated point, and there stop the train. - -This road had what is known as the block system of signals; that is -to say, every mile along the track there was a semaphore which -informed the engineer whether or not there was another train in the -same block or on the same track. - -In the day this signaling is done by painted arms and at night by -red, green, and white lights: the red light meaning to come to a -full stop until the white light is shown; the green light meaning -that the train is in the block and half through it; and the white -light meaning that the train is through the block and is at least a -mile distant. - -It was Mooney’s plan to short circuit two of the wires of the -semaphore and make such connection that the red light would show. - -When we were on the ground before the track, White, who seemed the -mechanic, tried to accomplish this. But the semaphore arm kept -turning around and around and would not stop. - -It was the ingenious Mooney who found a way out of this difficulty. - -“Take off the short-circuit wire,” he said; “climb the semaphore -pole and tie the red arm down so it will show all the time.” - -When White found out that the semaphore could be thus managed he -left it as it was, restoring its proper connections. - -Mooney had practically the same outfit we had used on the previous -occasion, except that he had invented a new kind of mask. This mask -was made so that it was placed in the hat and could not be seen. It -had a hem at the bottom, entirely around, and filled with shot so -that, immediately on lifting the hat, the mask dropped over the face -and stayed there. - -There were no holes in it except two round ones for eyes. - -We got into our disguises and waited for the train. - -In order to make no mistake, it was the plan of this man to sit fast -until we heard the through train blow for a station, two miles away. -That would give us time to fix the semaphore. - -It seemed a long time as we sat there in the darkness waiting for -the train; but it was perhaps, in fact, less than half an hour. -Directly we heard the whistle in the distance and we went down to -the track; White had got a piece of fence wire and he now climbed -the pole and tied the red semaphore arm down over the green and -white lights. Mooney went about fifty yards along the track in the -direction from which the train was coming, and waited at the place -where he thought the engine would stop. White and I hid ourselves -where he thought the baggage and express cars would stop. - -But our calculations were not accurate. - -Instead of the engine stopping where we thought it would, it ran on -for at least a hundred yards past the red light. There was a fog, -and the engineer did not see the red signal soon enough. The train -roared past us. We knew the engineer had thrown on the emergency, -“goosed the air” as White called it. The fire from the brake shoes -grinding on the wheels showed up red along the whole train. The -engineer reversed and brought back his engine to the point where -Mooney was hidden behind a tree on the right of way. The engineer -was following a rule of the road that one must not under any -circumstances run past a red light. - -We jumped at once. - -Mooney climbed into the engine and took charge of the fireman and -engineer. They made no resistance to the masked man with a weapon in -his hand. White rushed in and uncoupled the mail and express cars -from the rest of the train. - -Now, on these through first-class passenger trains, a power -velocipede, or what is known in the dialect of the road as a -“gasoline speeder,” is always carried in the baggage car. It is an -emergency vehicle in order to enable one of the crew to get to a -telegraph station in case of a wreck or any accident. When the -engine stopped under this unexpected red light of the semaphore a -negro porter, seeing two masked men, ran to the baggage car and got -the vehicle out on the ground. He was lifting it on his shoulder. - -I did not understand what the thing meant at the time, but I called -to White and he came out from behind the two cars. - -The porter found himself before the round end of an automatic. - -“Put that thing back,” said White, “or I’ll blow your head off.” - -The man turned with the vehicle in his hands, thrust it back into -the baggage car and dropped where he stood, his face down, by the -side of the track. - -By this time the passengers began to come off to see what had -happened to the train. - -I don’t know precisely what I did, but to White there was no -confusion. He ordered every one back into the train and began to -fire along the sides to hurry them into the covering of the cars. In -the meantime, Mooney had brought the engineer and fireman back to -the mail car and had taken the mail clerks out of the car. - -There had been no resistance to this man. - -He shot out one or two of the windows to add emphasis to his -directions, but it was an emphasis that had not been needed. No -thought of resistance had occurred to anybody. Mooney sent the -trainmen to the rear. He impressed upon them that any man appearing -outside of the train would be killed. - -In the whirl of these events I seemed to be little more than a -spectator. - -To the train crew I was the third menacing figure, masked and armed, -but I am not certain what benefit I would have been to the two men -in a sudden emergency. It was my direction to stay with White and I -now ran with him to the engine. Mooney took charge of the end of the -train where White had cut it off. He stood on the platform of the -mail car. - -We climbed up into the engine, White and I, and at once I saw that -this man knew precisely what to do. He threw the air brake into -release, dropped his reversing lever forward, opened the throttle -and started out like a skilled engineer. - -He put me to shoveling coal into the engine. - -“Make a green fire,” he said. “We shall stop shortly, and if we need -to start again we shall have a heavy fire ready.” - -I did not know at the time what he meant by a green fire, but I knew -that he wished coal shoveled into the engine; I followed that -direction. We pulled down the track perhaps a half mile until we -reached the piece of rotten cross tie that Mooney had set up. Then -we stopped. - -In every detail White handled the engine with skill. - -Long afterward I realized fully what he was about. Before we got -down he put on the injector and filled the boiler with water up to -the third gauge so there would be no danger of its running dry and -burning out the crown sheet. He wished that train to go on and he -did not propose to disable it. - -When we were on the ground he gave me definite orders. - -I was to stand beside the engine and if anybody appeared in any -direction of the track I was to fire the automatic. He even stopped -to show me how the weapon worked, slipping back the top of it with -his hand so that, cocked and released, I had only to pull the -trigger with my finger. - -Then he went down the side of the train to the express car. - -I did not know until afterward the trouble in that car. - -The men could find nothing of value. They ripped open the sealed -express, but they got little. As it afterward developed there was, -in fact, forty thousand dollars in currency in the car. But the -express messenger had taken a precaution against a holdup. - -He had wrapped the packages of currency in old newspapers and laid -them on the floor of the car. - -When it came out in the newspaper reports of the holdup White cursed -viciously; he had kicked these packages out of the way, with his -foot, when he and Mooney had searched the car. - -The two men were gone a long time; disappointed in the express, they -had searched the registered mail. - -As I stood there on the track before the engine I had a strange -sensation. It was very still; there was a ghostly fog, and somewhere -beyond me, as though out of the sky, I heard whispering voices. - -I strained my ears to listen, standing as one does on tiptoe. - -But I could not be certain. No word was audible to me nor any -decided voice, but now and then there seemed to be a murmuring in -the fog, and, what was beyond understanding, it seemed behind the -engine in the clouded sky. - -What human creatures could thus whisper in the sky? - -Mooney and White returned presently in no very pleasant mood. I -think the time taken with the thing made them uneasy. White had the -loot sack and we started along across the field, to where we had -left the automobile on the road. - -It was then that I got the explanation of the mysterious voices. - -There were three hobos riding on the top of the mail car. They had -been witnesses of everything that had occurred. They sat there like -immense buzzards outlined against the dim light of the sky. Mooney -stopped a moment. He seemed to reflect, turning his weapon about in -his hand. Then he spoke to the derelicts on the top of the car. - -“If they pinch you for this job,” he said, “write me a letter.” - -And he went on. - -I thought for a moment that he intended to shoot the men, but no -such idea was passing through his mind. It had occurred to him that, -perhaps, these unfortunate derelicts would be charged with the -robbery. - -And, as it happened, they were in very grave danger. - -The posse that gathered, seeing them on the top of the car, opened a -fusillade. It was very lucky that the idea occurred to Mooney, for, -as it happened, these men drew all the suspicion of the officials. -Three men had held up the train. They were three men. They were -afterwards tried before the District Court of the United States and -very nearly convicted. No doubt they often recalled those -significant words of Mooney’s. But unfortunately he had left them no -address to which their communication could be sent. - -When we got to the car Mooney again turned his lantern on the clock. -He swore softly; then he stood back a moment in reflection. - -“We’re late,” he said, “I don’t see how we could have taken up so -much time on this job; it was the cursed mail.” - -White did not speak and I remained silent, standing by the little -man now motionless in reflection. - -I suppose it must have been five minutes ticked off by the clock -while he stood there. Then suddenly he came to a conclusion. - -“Give me the spook faces,” he said. - -He meant the masks under the hats. I handed him my hat, pulling the -mask up over my face. He seized White’s, drew off his own, and -disappeared in the direction of the track from which we had just -come. - -I did not understand what the man was about, and I think White was -equally in the dark. But it was clear that the unexpected lateness -of the hour had put some of his calculations out of joint. White got -into the car and sat down at the wheel. The loot sack was already in -the tonneau and I got in beside it. - -The fog had now come up thinly above the road. - -It seemed to me that we had scarcely occupied the time it required -to get into the car when Mooney returned. He seemed to appear as an -apparition out of the mist. He got at once into the car and spoke to -White. - -“Here’s the engineer’s cap,” he said. “I got it out of the box under -the seat in the engine.” He put it on. - -“Now swing her round and step on her.” - -He meant for White to turn the car and go back at the greatest speed -he could. The man, as I have said, was an expert with a motor. He -was only a moment at the turn and we were presently racing along the -road. - -I did not understand what Mooney meant. - -We all wore the blue jackets and overalls in which we had held up -the train. It was the distinguishing uniform of the train crew, and -now with Mooney wearing the engineer’s cap it seemed to me that we -had simply marked ourselves for certain identification. - -But it was the reflection of inexperience. - -Mooney, when he looked at the clock, foresaw what we were certain to -meet on the road and he skillfully prepared for it. Two miles down -the road was the station. - -We raced toward it. - -Suddenly, it seemed to me, a light loomed in the road, and another, -and in a moment we had come into a crowd of motor cars, trucks, and -the like, packed with men. It was the posse that Mooney knew would -come out from the town in the unexpected lapse of time. He foresaw -that the train crew would get the information of the holdup to the -town and it was this posse that we must be prepared to meet. If we -had got away earlier we could have passed the town before the posse -had assembled, but having taken so much time it was certain to be on -the way. - -Had I been in control of the party, or White or any man of lesser -resources than this clever bandit, the search for the train robbers -would have ended there in the road. - -But this person, called Mooney, was an extraordinary human creature. - -It was not the bloodhound alone that he was able to outwit. When he -found the posse must be met, he prepared to meet it in the only way -certain of success. - -He leaned over and whispered some direction to White when the lights -appeared, and we pulled up into the very crowd of motors. - -My heart seemed to rise and fill my throat. - -I saw, in a sort of confusion, the vehicles in the road; a motor -just a little ahead of us with some men; a truck before us driven by -a negro; a man in a hunting coat with a shotgun and two dogs—the -bloodhounds for which we had prepared; a low roadster almost beside -us. - -It was the posse keeping together. - -They had seen our lights and were prepared to stop us. The men stood -up with their weapons in their hands, an array of indiscriminate -firearms. Our motor did not entirely stop. We slowed down, running -into the crowd of men. Mooney got on his feet, shouting: - -“We have ’em surrounded in the express car. Get there as fast as you -can; we’ve got to go into the town for gasoline.... Don’t stand -here. Hurry!” - -To the posse the explanation was complete. - -We were a party of the train crew; one could clearly see that. What -Mooney said coincided with the report that had come in to them. - -We did not wait for these men to reflect about it. We ran on past, -Mooney shouting to them to make haste; that there was a man in the -road with a lantern to stop them. - -“Let your cars out,” he cried, “for God’s sake.” - -And we went on. - -It was the only adventure on the way. The road skirted the town, and -once past it Mooney considered the peril ended. We took off the -trainmen’s uniforms and put them into the sack. - -The fog increased, it seemed to me, but its very density covered the -close of our adventure. We ran along the street to the garage from -which we had borrowed the car. White handled it with skill. He -entered the street with a spurt of speed, then he cut off the engine -and we glided almost noiselessly along to the very door of the -garage. We got down. White unlocked the door and we pushed the car -in; then he locked it again carefully. - -I don’t think he had a key; I think he manipulated that lock with a -bent nail. But at any rate we walked away, having restored the car -to its house, Mooney with the loot sack on his shoulder. It was -Saturday night and the circus remained over until Sunday in the -meadow beyond the town. - -Only the top of the great tent stood now above the sheet of fog as -we set out across the field toward it. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - The Bloodhounds - - -I think the third holdup undertaken by these men was the most -remarkable that ever occurred in all the history of train robberies. - -I do not mean that the result of it was so remarkable or that it was -attended by peculiar adventures. But the cool nerve exhibited by -Mooney—his deliberate assumption of enormous risk, and his plan to -draw the attention of the authorities from his confederate—marks the -affair as without equal. The plan, too, to get away with what was -taken in the robbery was wholly original. In all record of criminal -methods I have never known this plan to be adopted by anybody else. - -I think it was worked out by Mooney to meet a situation which he -knew now existed. - -The two train robberies which we had undertaken had aroused the -country. The authorities could be expected to make every effort to -run down and capture the highwayman who should undertake a -repetition of these affairs. Mooney knew this and he worked out a -plan to meet it. - -The circus was loaded and moving when I first learned of this new -adventure. - -I was sitting in the box car with the horses. We had pulled up on a -siding near some little town. The door was open and Mooney and White -came in. White was very carefully dressed. He wore a new overcoat -and derby hat and he carried a leather suit case. He looked -precisely like one of the thousand traveling men who go about over -the country. When the two men got into the car, I did not know who -was with White, Mooney was so changed. - -I looked at him with astonishment. I could not believe that the -person before me was the man with whom I had been so closely -associated. He had a heavy drooping mustache, long black hair and -deep-lined face. His eyes seemed lengthened and narrowed, and he -appeared taller and more erect. - -Now, the man naturally in life was stooped, and with a weary, -nervous appearance, as though every motion were an effort. This -attitude, as I have come to know, was the languor of a drug and his -common appearance was the result of the use of it. - -But to-day, by some powerful effort, or perhaps by virtue of an -excessive injection of the drug itself, his whole manner had -changed. Of course the appearance of the man was merely the result -of the make-up, amazingly skillful, which he had undertaken for the -thing he had in hand. - -He explained to me that they had finally located the treasure train -and that they were going to hold it up to-night. He said that we -would probably be noticed and that it was necessary to change our -appearance so descriptions of us, which would be published abroad -over the country, would be wholly misleading. - -I had been sleeping on some blankets in the horse car. There was -only a box for a chair. He directed me to sit down on the box; -fastened a horse blanket under my coat, between the shoulders, to -make a hump; and then he began to transform me into somebody else. -The man worked very carefully on my face and hair for perhaps an -hour, in the horse car. It was nearly dark. The train had gone on -and the door was closed. Mooney worked by the light of a lantern -which I carried in the horse car. Finally, when he had finished, he -held up a little hand mirror so that I might see the result of his -work. - -I was astonished at the face I saw. - -In that hour, under Mooney’s skillful manipulation, I had become -middle aged. My hair was streaked with gray; my face was lined. The -thing was like a piece of sorcery. There was a delicate network of -wrinkles about the eyes; there was even the sagging of age beginning -to appear in the outline of jaw and throat. - -The man’s skill was uncanny. - -He had transformed himself into a straight, vigorous motion-picture -desperado of middle life, turning the evidences of age backward in -his own case, while he carried them forward in mine. No one could -have known us for the same men; the transformation was too complete. -We were, in fact, not the same men; there could be no possibility of -those who would recognize us now ever being able to identify us when -these disguises were removed. - -Mooney had with him a second of these leather suit cases, precisely -in every detail like the large one which White carried. He told me -nothing except that I was to go with him. - -It was late of a Sunday evening. The circus train was making a long -run. About dark, as the train was going slowly, White got out. I -afterward learned that it was his plan to take a street car from -this point to a station where we were to board a through express. - -About nine o’clock the train pulled into a town. - -When it began to slow up, Mooney and I got out and closed the door. -We followed a road into town. Turning into the main street, we -walked leisurely over to the railroad station. Mooney, walking with -a brisk, active step, carried the leather suit case, and I trudged -beside him. - -The town was evidently not very large and the through express made -only a short stop. - -There was a line of people waiting to get on the train, standing -outside the station on the wooden platform. We went down through -this crowd to one end of it, for it was Mooney’s intention to take -the day coach nearest to the express car. Here I saw White waiting -with his suit case, as though he were an ordinary traveler. - -When the train pulled in we got on with the other passengers. - -We sat down about midway of the coach, but I noticed that White, who -was among the first to get on the train, went forward to the very -end of the coach and sat down on the last seat. At the next station -Mooney and I got off; we walked to the head end of the train and -when it started we climbed up the steps of this forward coach next -to the express car, as though we were going into the car from the -forward end of it. But we did not go in. We stopped on the steps -while the train pulled out. - -I suppose we remained there for perhaps twenty minutes, until the -lights of the town disappeared and the train trailed out into the -great open country. - -Then Mooney proceeded to put his plan for the holdup into operation. - -He went over to the door of the express car and knocked on it. One -of the biggest men I have ever seen opened the door. Mooney’s weapon -seemed to appear suddenly almost in the man’s face. He stepped back -with a little cry, and we were instantly in the express car with the -door closed and locked behind us. There were two other men in this -car, and on top of the safe were a rifle and a short automatic -shotgun. The men for whom these weapons were provided made no effort -to avail themselves of them. They stood in the middle of the car -with their hands up as far as they could reach, their eyes wide, -their mouths gaping. - -I think our appearance struck them with more terror than if we had -been masked highwaymen. Mooney was so evidently the stage type of -Western desperado; and I must have been, myself, a sinister figure—a -strange figure, with the big leather suit case in one hand and an -automatic pistol in the other. Mooney ordered the two men at the end -of the car to lie down on their faces; this they did with ludicrous -haste; one of them nearly fell in his effort to obey the order -quickly. They went even further than Mooney directed; they lay flat -with their arms around their faces as though to convince the outlaw -that they would make no efforts to see what was going on. - -Mooney ordered the big man to open the safe. - -The man was evidently in terror, but he was a sensible person. He -pointed out that he could not open it; that it had a time lock on -it. He went ahead of Mooney to the safe, squatted down in the car -and put his big finger on the lock. - -“You can see,” he said, “I can’t open it.” - -The man’s face was distended with anxiety. - -What he said was the truth, but he was not certain that the -highwayman, standing a few feet behind him covering him with a -weapon, would believe what he said. He knew the stories of such -holdups: how express messengers had been ordered to open safes and -when they refused, or where unable to do so, they had been promptly -shot. - -I think the man expected to be shot, as he squatted there beside the -safe, his big body loose, his face covered with sweat. Mooney saw -instantly that the man was telling the truth. I do not know that he -was, in fact, paying any attention to what the man said. He knew at -a glance that the safe was fitted with a time lock. - -He advanced toward the man, and the express messenger’s face seemed -to puff out as though it were becoming suddenly swollen; I think he -was now convinced that the highwayman was about to kill him. But -instead, Mooney ordered him to lie down. He turned over on the floor -precisely like one who collapses from fatigue. - -Mooney took the leather suit case from my hand. - -“Shoot any man that moves,” he said hoarsely. - -Then he went to work at the safe. The big messenger was so close to -the safe door that Mooney had literally to push his body out of the -way with his foot. Mooney got some tools out of the dress-suit case, -drilled the combination, and put in a charge of nitroglycerine. - -He did it quickly, with incredible skill. - -Then he ordered the express messenger to move up to the end of the -car. - -“Go ahead,” he said, “or you will be shot full of scrap iron.” - -The big man got up on his hands and knees and without turning his -head crawled to the end of the car and lay down. - -Mooney took the horse blanket from under my coat, and whatever else -he could find in the car, and heaped them against the door of the -safe. Then he fired the nitroglycerine. He had gauged the explosion -to do exactly what he wished it to do. There was a dull sound and a -jar, but far less noise than I expected. The blanket and coats that -Mooney had heaped up against the safe were hardly thrown down, but -the combination was broken open and the man was able to manipulate -the tumblers. - -In a very few minutes he succeeded in opening the safe. - -There was another small steel door fastened with a lock. Mooney did -not even take time to get the key for this door from the express -messenger. He took a bunch of keys out of his own pocket, selected a -flat one, and turned the lock. He did it instantly, as though a lock -of this sort could be opened by a twist of the fingers. - -There were a number of big brown envelopes sealed with red wax. -These Mooney packed in the dress-suit case; then he got up and we -went back to the door of the car through which we had entered. -Mooney opened the door and motioned me to step through it out on the -platform; then he spoke as though I still remained in the car. - -“Keep these men covered,” he said, in the same harsh voice, “and if -one of them moves shoot him. I am going through the passenger -coaches.” - -He stepped through the door and slammed it behind him. We were both -now on the outside of the express car. But in the imagination of the -men lying on the floor within it, one of the desperate highwaymen -remained, covering them with his weapon. - -Mooney went ahead of me to the passenger car. He had the leather -dress-suit case in one hand and his automatic pistol in the other. I -followed behind him. He opened the door, and, entering the car, he -stood a moment looking at the amazed passengers. There was hardly a -sound, but astonishment brought everybody in the car even those half -asleep, up straining in their seats. - -The highwayman of the storybooks was before them. - -Mooney remained thus motionless for a moment until everybody in the -car could get the picture in his mind, then he spoke quick and -sharp. - -“Turn,” he said, “—everybody—and face the other way.” - -The passengers turned instantly; no man hesitated. The direction was -obeyed as though it were an order of a drill sergeant. White, who -sat at the end of the car, turned with the others. - -Mooney stood in the aisle just beside this last seat in which White -had been sitting. He now put down his suit case and reached up, -pulled the emergency cord, and stopped the train. Then he picked up -the suit case and stepped back through the door to where I stood on -the platform. - -Here a puzzling thing happened. - -Mooney did not pick up the same suit case he put down; but he slid -the case into the seat where White was sitting and took up the case -White had beside him. They were precisely alike, and no one but -myself saw the exchange made. The passengers were facing the other -way. - -When the train slowed up we jumped down. Mooney gave me the suit -case to carry. There was nothing in it, as I afterward discovered, -but a couple of bricks. - -It was pitch dark. We both started straight off from the train. I -was ahead of Mooney. - -I suppose I was about a hundred feet from the track when I went down -suddenly into a ditch; the dirt was soft and I was not hurt. I must -have fallen at least six feet. The train was still standing; the -people in the coaches had gotten out. We could hear them talking and -we could, of course, see the lights of the train. Mooney must have -seen me fall, for he slipped down into the ditch and spoke to me -softly. There might be a guard of some sort on the train and it was -advisable for us to keep in the ditch instead of climbing out on the -farther side. - -We moved along the ditch as quickly as we could, for, I suppose, a -distance of some three hundred feet. Here we found a railroad tie -which some one had put across for a foot bridge. Mooney reached up -and caught the tie with his hands and climbed out; I followed his -example, passing up the suit case for him to hold until I got out. -We stood still for a moment, listening; presently we heard the train -pull out. - -Mooney then led the way back to the railroad track. He seemed to -wish to get his bearings of the country. He seemed to know where he -was, although as I have said the night was dark, and we started down -the track in the direction from which the train had come. We -followed the track for about a mile until we came to a deep rock -cut. This cut seemed to be the indicatory point for which Mooney was -looking, and he at once began to run. - -I followed him. - -The cut seemed endless, and in spite of our speed I could see the -outlines rise higher and higher against the sky until the walls -seemed perpendicular, as though the track was cut down through solid -rock. The cut must have been over a mile long, for I was nearly worn -out when we reached the end of it. - -Then we turned off sharply to the right. The country seemed open and -I followed Mooney, who walked swiftly across fields, until finally -we got into a road. I had no idea where we were going, or the -direction, except that it seemed to be at right angles to the -railway and through a country that Mooney knew. Taking the rock cut -for a point of departure, he was endeavoring to find this road which -we finally came into. - -When we reached the road Mooney took the suit case, opened it, threw -away the bricks, carried it on for perhaps a mile, and tossed it -into a fence corner. I now understood what the man was doing. He was -making a deliberate trail for any one who should follow; this would -enable White to escape easily with the suit case which contained -what had been taken out of the express safe. - -The posse which would presently come to the scene of the robbery -with the inevitable bloodhound would have no difficulty in following -our trail. Any number of persons on the train could identify us and -would remember that we carried the dress-suit case. The expressman -would identify it as being the one he had seen in Mooney’s hand and -into which we had packed the contents of the safe. - -We continued to travel the road, running, as I afterward discovered, -due east, and about daylight we came to another railroad line. When -we reached this track Mooney stopped. - -He explained then what he had been about. - -It was his intention that there should be a plain trail which the -posse could follow across the country. The trail should end here, so -it would be evident that the robbers had boarded some train passing -on this track, perhaps a freight. The energies of the authorities -would then be directed toward the search of this railroad. They -would endeavor to find what trains passed in the night, and their -destination, and the whole search would be turned in this direction. - -He now turpentined our shoes very carefully, and our clothing. - -It was beginning to be daylight, and I could see something of the -lie of the country. We had come through a valley, but off to our -right there was the loom of a mountain. We went down the track for -perhaps half a mile; then we turned up into a wood and began the -ascent of the mountain. - -The sun was up and we finally stopped in a wooded thicket on a sort -of knoll that overlooked the country. The valley we had crossed -stretched away to the west. The mountain seemed also to lie in that -direction. The railroad track extended at the foot of the mountain -below us, and from the point where we were hidden in the thicket, on -the little shoulder or knoll, I could see clearly the way over which -we had come and the point where we had emerged on the track. - -Mooney had some food: dried meat and hard biscuit. We ate our -breakfast, and he went to sleep, curling up in the leaves of the -thicket as though nothing extraordinary had happened, and he was -peacefully in a bed. - -I could not go to sleep. - -The incidents of the adventure in which I had become involved ran -vaguely through my mind. - -I am now certain that the explanation these men gave of their -failure to find anything of value in the two preceding holdups was -false; but it was clear that they were disappointed. They were on -the lookout for some large shipment of money which they expected to -obtain. I do not know whether they had any definite information -about such a probable shipment or whether they were merely trying -chances for it. - -The story of the Mexican government money was, of course, merely a -pretense. - -Looking at the thing now, it seems to me that I was not very much -impressed with that feature of the affair. It was a series of -adventures directed against my enemy, the railroad, somewhat as the -fairy adventures of the storybooks were directed against a dragon. - -Mooney had given me a hundred dollars, not as part of the loot—for -they continued to insist that they had not found what they were -looking for—but as an honorarium out of his own pocket. - -This was a large sum of money to me. - -I do not remember precisely to what use I put the money except in -one shining instance. I bought a bracelet for the girl who rode the -white horse in the circus. It was a gold chain fastened with a lock. - -And it very nearly caused a tragedy. - -The little dark-haired woman Maggie, who was with the girl always, -like her shadow, noticed it immediately. I had given it to the girl -when she went into the afternoon performances. When she came out -Maggie seized her wrist, indicating the bracelet with some query. -The girl pointed toward me where, at some distance, I stood by White -near the horse tent. The little woman thought she meant White, and -she rushed at him like a mad dog. From somewhere about her, as -though out of the air, a knife flashed in her hand. - -The thing happened in a moment. - -White caught her by the shoulder and threw his body backward, but -she swung under his arm and struck at him. Fortunately her reach was -not quite long enough and the knife only slashed his coat. I caught -the woman’s arm. But it was all the two of us could manage to hold -her. She cursed and struggled like a harpy. - -Mooney came sauntering up. - -“It wasn’t White, Maggie,” he drawled; “it was the boy.” - -The woman instantly ceased to struggle. We released her and she -stood for a moment looking at me, as though in some deep reflection. -Then she spoke. - -“Why did you give it to her?” - -I was embarrassed to reply. Finally I stammered it out. - -“I don’t know.... I like her.” - -She remained looking at me, her eyes narrowed, her hand extended -across the lower part of her face. But she did not go any farther -with her inquiry. Mooney continued in his relaxed drawl. - -“What’s the notion, Maggie?” he said. “The girl’s not your child.” - -She swung slowly toward him. - -“Not your cursed notion!” she said, indicating me with a gesture. -And then she walked away. - -I thought the thing out and in my youthful fancy the girl became the -fairy princess for which she each day made up. This woman was not -her mother. She was some royal foundling, changed by the fairies or -stolen at her birth. I treasured every word with her, every touch of -her hand, every look she gave me. - -I thought about it as I sat there hidden by the undergrowth. - -Then, suddenly, something caught my eye. - -Far out in the valley in the direction from which we had come I -noticed a sort of blur; presently it became a group of dots moving -about, as one has observed minute organisms under a microscope. The -tiny things advanced until I presently saw that it was a crowd of -men; then in the distance I heard the baying of the dogs. - -They seemed to come slowly. - -The sound of the dogs increased and in a little while I could make -out individuals of the posse. A tall man moved in front holding two -dogs on the leash. They came along our trail right down to the -railroad. There the dogs stopped and I realized the efficacy of -Mooney’s precaution against the bloodhound. When the dogs reached -the place where we had turpentined our shoes, they stopped instantly -and began to howl. - -The man led them about in circles, across the track and beyond it, -in every direction, but the dogs would not take up our trail. The -turpentine was a complete safeguard against them; they would not -follow it. The big man handled the dogs with skill; he moved out in -an ever widening circle; he covered the ground for a hundred yards -in every direction, from the point where our trail stopped, but it -was no use. - -The dogs would not take up a trail fouled with turpentine. - -The posse then gathered in a sort of council, and I sat watching -them through the thicket. They evidently came to the one obvious -solution of the matter—that the train robbers whom they had followed -to the track had, here, boarded some passing train; and they set out -southward along the track to what I imagine was the closest railway -station. - -This was precisely the thing Mooney intended them to do. - -He was so certain that they would do it that he slept peacefully -while this posse was within a quarter of a mile of us, and the dogs -baying along the edge of the mountain in which we were at that -moment concealed. I felt a vast relief when the posse departed, and -I lay back on the dry leaves with my hands linked under my head. - -I must have fallen asleep, for when I awoke it was midday. Mooney -had found a little stream and had removed all the evidences of his -disguise. The wig he had buried under a stone and the make-up he had -removed from his face. - -He took me through the bushes to the little rivulet, a mere thread -of water from some spring, and very carefully restored me to my -normal appearance. He removed the make-up with some sort of grease -and I washed my hair in the water which he had dammed up into a tiny -pool. - -We now bore no relation, in our outward appearance, to the men who -had held up the train. - -It was afternoon and we set out west through the edge of the -mountain. The going was rough and dangerous. We found deep gullies -and ravines that ran almost from the top of the mountain into the -very valleys. Some of these walls were almost perpendicular. They -looked to stand sheer for a hundred feet. - -We had to follow these gullies for a great distance up the mountain -before we could cross them. Then, we came to ledges of rock which it -was impossible for us to scale; these we had to follow down the -mountain. - -I suggested to Mooney that it would be easier to take a road, but he -replied that the news of the holdup would be generally over the -country and that it would be dangerous for strangers to be found on -any of the roads. He said the plan was to follow the mountain until -we came to the river about twenty miles farther west, and then to go -down the river to a town from which we could take a train. - -As night came on we descended to the border of the mountain and -followed it west. About daylight we reached the river. We traveled -two or three miles over muddy ground and through weeds and grasses -to our waists, following down the river, looking for some chance -boat. Finally by a fallen tree we found a skiff. This boat had been -anchored in low water and the river afterward had risen and covered -it. It was now half full of mud. - -We had to clean it out; there were no oars but Mooney got a piece of -board from a fence and we shoved off the boat and started down the -river. It was a heavenly sensation after the immense labor of that -night’s travel through the mountain. Mooney was trying to locate the -town at which he intended to stop and take a passenger train. He -thought the town was nearer to the river than it actually was, but, -as the river was low and the banks high, we failed to locate it -until we had passed it for a mile. - -And here we came very nearly into a tragedy. - -It seemed that this river was the highway of bootleggers who were -accustomed to bring liquor down into the state from a neighboring -city. We did not know this. But we discovered, later, that every -boat going down the river was searched. We were moving slowly -between the high banks when we heard a motor boat and saw that we -were being followed. - -Mooney realized at once that it was of no use to endeavor to escape. - -He told me to put my hand down into the water and drop the automatic -pistol; he did the same, and before the boat was on us we were rid -of any incriminating evidence. We did not know why we were being -followed or why there was a motor boat on the river. It was barely -possible that it was a party of the posse on the lookout for the men -who had held up the train. - -There was only one course open to us—to face them as though we were -without concern. - -Mooney stopped the skiff when the motor boat appeared and waited for -it to come up. Some one—I think it was a constable—called to us when -they approached. - -“Hello, boys!” he said. “What have you got this morning?” - -Mooney replied that he did not understand, and, without a further -word, they pulled up where they could see into our boat. We did not -know what they were about to do. - -“We thought you might have a cargo of wet goods,” the constable -said. - -Mooney did not reply and the man added: - -“You boys live down the river, don’t you?” - -“Yes,” said Mooney. - -And with that the conversation ended and the motor boat went on. - -We drifted down the river until we were out of sight of the motor -boat. Then we returned along the road to the town which we had -passed. Here we got our dinner at a restaurant, and calmly, like any -other passengers, walked over to the station and a train. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - The Secret Agent - - -Mooney’s experience with the last holdup made him consider a plan -more daring than any former adventure. - -When the men came to examine the packages which Mooney had taken out -of the safe on the through express and which White had so skillfully -carried away through the trick of the exchanged suit case, they -found that what they had taken to be money was, in fact, bonds of an -industrial corporation, being shipped by sealed express. - -This was a profound disappointment. - -The bonds could not be negotiated, for they were registered. Mooney -thought he might be able to obtain some reward, and I think he did -take the matter up with a “fence” in one of the eastern cities. - -The result of this ill fortune was that he determined on some plan -by which he would be able, at his leisure, to examine the sealed -express before taking it out of the car, for Mooney had always hated -having to hurry away without sorting the loot. And, with this -intention as a moving factor, he formulated a holdup so daring that -it would never have occurred to a person of less determined -assurance. - -I have thought it advisable not to set out here the name of the -town, as it would serve to identify persons who ought not to be held -responsible for the fact that they were taken in by Mooney’s -ingenious plan. - -We had resorted to no sort of disguise, except that both Mooney and -White were very well dressed. White had with him a small telegraphic -instrument in a paper box, and Mooney had one of those strapped -leather bags that are sometimes carried by physicians. Mooney and I -went on into the town, but White left the train some distance east -of that point. - -It was about six o’clock when Mooney and I arrived. We went directly -from the railroad station to the sheriff’s office, in the basement -of the courthouse. Black letters painted on the window indicated it. - -Mooney and I went down into the basement of the building, entered -this office, and inquired for the sheriff. A girl was making out -some tax receipts at a long wooden table. She said the sheriff was -in the other room, got up, opened the door, and we entered. - -The sheriff was a little red-haired man. He looked up as we came in, -and turned over quickly a telegram which he had, apparently, just -opened and which was lying on the table before him. - -Mooney at once addressed him. - -“My name is Jarvis,” he said, “of the United States Secret Service. -I suppose the Department has advised you that I would be in here -this evening.” - -The little man jumped up at that. - -“Ah, yes!” he said. “I have just gotten a telegram. Have a chair.” - -He thrust the telegram across the table towards Mooney, went around, -and closed the door. - -I could see Mooney smile as he read the telegram. - -It was marked from Washington and advised the sheriff that an agent -of the United States Secret Service would call on him some time this -afternoon. It named this agent as Inspector Jarvis. It requested the -sheriff to regard the communication as confidential in every -respect, and to be governed by the wishes of the agent. It was -signed by the Department of Justice. - -This was a telegram that Mooney had written out on the train and -which it was White’s business to send by cutting the wire. - -It was possible, of course, that Mooney could have impersonated an -agent of the Secret Service, but it was far safer to have this -impersonation preceded by a telegram from Washington. Mooney -believed that the average officer, in a small locality, would be -absolutely convinced by such a telegram, and that it would not occur -to him to verify it—which was, in fact, the case. - -The procedure was precisely what this sheriff imagined the -government would follow if it wished his assistance in any matter. -It would send a telegram, directly to him, naming the agent and the -time of his arrival. - -When the man came back from closing the door, Mooney at once began -his explanation. - -He said that the government had information to the effect that a -gang of train robbers, who had been operating through the country, -intended to hold up the express that passed west over the line that -night at 1:30. The holdup would be attempted at the coal tipple west -of this town where the engine stopped. He said it was impossible to -be certain about this information—such sources of information were -necessarily not wholly reliable—nevertheless, there was fairly good -reason to believe that such an attempt would be undertaken. - -He said that the Department was extremely anxious to round up these -bandits who had so far eluded capture. A plan had been determined -on, which he wished to carry out with the aid of the sheriff. - -He then explained what he intended to do. - -He said that the point of attack by the train robbers would be the -express car. He did not wish the sheriff, or any posse, to take part -in the effort to capture these outlaws; untrained men in an -undertaking of this kind would be of little use. The employment of -such persons usually resulted in someone being killed. - -He would have two Secret Service men—he indicated me, and added that -the other would arrive on the midnight express; the train to be held -up. - -He wanted the sheriff to come with him to the train. - -He wished the conductor and the train officials to be impressed with -the fact that the Department of Justice was very anxious to effect -the capture of the men who might undertake to hold up the train at -the coal tipple, and to realize the necessity of following, -precisely, the directions which the Secret Service had outlined for -this undertaking. - -He said he would be glad if the sheriff would take charge of the -express messenger and hold his force, in reserve, to come to the -assistance of the Secret Service men if it should be necessary. He -said it might happen that the Department’s information was -incorrect, or it might happen that for some reason the highwaymen -would not undertake to hold up the express on this night. In which -event it was of the utmost importance for every move in this affair -to be kept absolutely secret. If it were told, or found its way into -the newspapers, the gang of outlaws would discover the plan which -the Department of Justice had undertaken for their capture. - -It was now about seven o’clock. - -Mooney said he would go over to the hotel, get supper, and sleep -until the train came in. He would depend upon the sheriff to call at -the hotel for him about half an hour before the arrival of the -train. - -That is the substance of Mooney’s conversation with the sheriff. - -He had assumed a decided, rather abrupt manner, as of one accustomed -to being obeyed, and whose orders were to the point and accurate. -The sheriff promised to carry out his directions precisely, as he -wished, and we left his office and went over to the hotel. - -We had supper and afterwards went up to our room. I was outwardly -calm enough, I suppose, but inside of me every nerve was on edge. -There were two beds in the room. Mooney advised me to go to sleep, -as we would certainly be up all night. - -To me sleep was out of the question. - -But my extraordinary companion lay down on the bed and in a very -short time was asleep; he continued to sleep up to the moment at -which the sheriff knocked on the door. - -I sat by the window for a long time and looked out at the little -town and the hills beyond it until the night descended; then I lay -down on one of the beds. But I did not sleep. - -I had not understood the plan upon which Mooney had determined. I -had seen him writing something on the train which he gave to White, -and I knew that White had a telegraphic instrument, but I did not -know the other details. The opening of this adventure was now -becoming clear to me. But what further plan Mooney expected to carry -out, I could not imagine. - -The sheriff came for us at about half-past eleven, and we went over -to the railroad station. The man was very mysterious. The gravity of -the matter in which he had been asked to take part greatly affected -the sheriff. He felt the weight of responsibility and his -importance. The government had called upon him to assist it in one -of those secret undertakings about which he had always conjectured, -and now, at the opening of this adventure, he could not wholly -conceal his concern. - -It was only a short distance to the station; nevertheless, the -sheriff had brought a hack, with a negro driver, to convey us. - -When the train pulled in, the sheriff went at once to find the -conductor. A moment later an extraordinary conference took place. -The sheriff introduced Mooney to the conductor and showed his -telegram from the Department of Justice. - -Mooney did not give the conductor opportunity to think very much -about the matter. - -He said it was important for the endeavor to be kept as secret as -possible, as it might fail, and the government might wish to attempt -it in some other direction. He explained to the conductor as he had -explained to the sheriff, that the Secret Service was not entirely -certain about its information, and that the undertaking was in a -certain sense precautionary; nevertheless, nothing must be neglected -that might insure its success. - -He pointed out that the fewest possible persons ought to be -permitted to know anything about it; that the train should go on, -precisely on its schedule; that nothing must be done to give any -official an idea of what was in hand; and, of course, no passengers -on the train must have any information as to what was about to take -place. The stop at this station was one of the briefest, and Mooney -hurried everybody into the train. - -White, who had come on this train, now joined us, and Mooney -explained to the conductor what course he wished to pursue. The plan -of the Department was to effect the capture of the men who would -undertake to hold up the train at the coal tipple. He pointed out -that these bandits would enter the express car, as it was the sealed -express against which their endeavor would be directed. He said that -he, and his two men, would take charge of the express car, that the -express agent should go to the rear of the train and act with the -sheriff as a reserve force. In this difficult matter he preferred to -have with him only the trained Secret Service men, who were -accustomed to things of this sort. He said the express agent, or -untrained persons, would be of no benefit to him; they, in fact, -constituted a menace. - -When the train moved out of the station the whole party went forward -to the express car. - -The sheriff and conductor explained the matter to the express agent, -and introduced Mooney. Strange as it may seem, the express agent was -less astonished than any of the others had been. He was aware of the -holdups that had taken place throughout the country and he was, in -fact, expecting something of the sort to happen. He had a short riot -pump gun lying on the top of the safe and a big Colt revolver in his -pocket. - -Mooney here took charge of the matter without any further -consultation with anybody. He told the express agent to go to the -rear of the train with the sheriff. They were not to do anything -unless they received a signal from Mooney. - -This was the plan and it was immediately put into effect by Mooney. - -But before the express agent left the car Mooney told him that he -wanted to place a package of marked bills in the safe. It might -happen, by some accident, that the bandits attacking the train would -get the best of it. In such event the package of marked bills would -serve in tracking them down. He said this precaution had been -determined upon by the Department in all cases. - -He produced an envelope—a brown manila envelope—sealed and stamped -with red wax, and handed it to the express agent. The agent squatted -down by the safe, opened it quickly, and put the envelope in among -the other packages; then he closed the safe and locked it. - -This device gave Mooney the combination to the safe. - -He was standing close beside the express agent, stooping over with -the envelope in his hand, so that it could be placed in the safe -when the door was open, and he was therefore able to observe -precisely what turns were made on the dial. For one with the skill -of this extraordinary man, a glance was enough. When the express -agent had swung the door back, Mooney knew every detail of the -combination precisely. - -The man now left the car. - -Mooney fastened the door and proceeded at his leisure. He had -explained to the sheriff that the small black leather bag which he -carried contained handcuffs and weapons for his men. But it in fact -contained a variety of quite different articles. - -He now opened it and sat down before the safe. - -The bag contained drills which Mooney had intended to use if the -safe proved to be equipped with a modern time lock; as it was, these -implements were not required. It also held a plumber’s candle, a -tube of liquid glue, and a bundle of newspapers. - -He opened the safe without any difficulty whatever, for he had the -combination directly from the express agent. - -Inside of the safe were a number of sealed packages in large -envelopes. These envelopes were not only sealed with the gummed-down -flap, but they were also sealed with wax. Mooney removed all of -them. He lighted the plumber’s candle and very carefully held the -wax seals close to the flame until they were soft enough for him to -slip a knife blade under them. - -When the wax seals on the packages were all thus softened and lifted -up without being broken, he opened the envelopes by rolling the -point of a pencil carefully along under the flap. There were quite a -number of these envelopes, all consigned to one bank and, while they -all contained new currency, the men were astonished to discover that -this currency was in small bills. - -The whole of it was in one-and two-dollar bills. There was not a -bill of any larger denomination in the whole consignment. - -It was possible, of course, if these men were acting on information, -that the persons forwarding that information to them knew this train -would carry a consignment of money but did not know the value of -that consignment. They may have estimated the value of it by its -bulk. - -From the big stack of sealed envelopes, we all imagined that we had -now made the great haul always expected. But, while the volume of -currency was large, the actual value was in fact small; not, at the -farthest, above a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars. - -Mooney cursed as the denominations of these bills continued to -appear in the packages. But there was nothing to do but go ahead. -And he carried it out, in every detail, precisely as he had planned -it. He removed the money from the envelopes, and packed it into his -bag. Then he filled the envelopes with newspaper until they appeared -to be the same bulk. - -He had not enough newspaper for all the packages and we looked about -the car for anything we could find for the purpose. - -When the envelopes were filled with paper so they resembled, in -bulk, their former appearance, Mooney gummed down the flaps and -pasted down the sealing-wax seals. The packages were now all -precisely in appearance as they had been when they were taken out of -the safe. The seals were not broken because they had been thoroughly -softened by the heat of the plumber’s candle before they had been -removed, and so were easily gummed back into position. - -This was all carefully done. No one could have told that the -packages had been in any sense tampered with. Mooney had noted the -exact position they occupied in the safe, and he returned them -precisely to this position. The envelope, which he had given the -express agent to put in with them, he also restored to the position -it had occupied when the agent thrust it in. He had plenty of -leisure to carry this out unhurriedly. It had all been accomplished -by the time the train arrived at the coal tipple. - -Mooney closed the safe. The train stopped to take coal and went on. - -The sheriff, the nervous conductor, and the armed express agent -waited in vain for the signal to bring them forward into a desperate -encounter with outlaws. - -When the train pulled out Mooney opened the door to the express car -and sent me back for the conductor and his associates. - -They came immediately and Mooney acted out the last scene in his -comedy. - -He told the men that the Department’s information about the holdup -at this tipple had been probably intended as misleading. One never -knew whether one had precisely any criminal plan. This information -may have been given out to the Department with the primary intention -of leading it to look for the train robbers at a point distant from -that at which they were intending to put their criminal operations -into effect. - -He directed everybody, by order of the Department of Justice, to say -nothing about this matter. All were warned, under no circumstances, -to say anything about it, no matter if there should be an -investigation on account of the robbery having taken place at some -other point. The United States Secret Service had put into effect -here, on this train, a plan upon which it was accustomed to depend, -and this plan must not become public. - -The man’s nerve and assurance were without limit. - -When he had finished, he requested the express agent to return to -him the dummy package of marked bills which he had given him to put -into the safe. Any one else in the world would have hesitated to -have the safe opened, and would either have removed the dummy -envelope when he took out the packages of money, or would have left -it; but not Mooney. He had set out to do every detail in this -undertaking with precision and order, and he did not intend to leave -any item unaccomplished. - -The express agent opened the safe, took out the envelope, gave it to -him, and locked the safe again. And at the next station we shook -hands with everybody and got down. - -We took a through train east, having carried out what I felt at the -time, and what I now feel, to have been a criminal adventure of -unequaled assurance. So successful was it that we never heard -anything more about it. Nothing concerning it was ever published or -made known so far as I have been able to find out. - -The robbery, of course, appeared when the packages of currency were -delivered at the bank. But nobody knew at what place this robbery -had been accomplished; whether it was done at the point of shipment, -some place along the line, or where the packages were delivered to -the banks. - -It was likely that neither the sheriff nor any of the train -officials ever said anything about the government agent who took -charge of the express car on that night. There was no reason for -them to give any information. - -Was it not the work of the United States Secret Service? And had -they not been warned to silence? - - - - - CHAPTER V - - The Big Haul - - -It was a soft October night with a bare threat of frost in the air; -the sky gray with stars, and a vast silence. - -Three men were lying out before a fire of tree limbs in a forest. It -was a country of mountains, the foothills of the Alleghenies -extending westward toward the Ohio. In every direction were wooded -hills, the rough mountainous foothills of the great range as it -broke down westward toward the flat lands. - -For some reason that I do not know, Mooney was confident that he had -finally located the treasure train for which he had been always -looking. - -As I have said before, in this narrative, I did not know what -sources of information were available to this man, but I think he -had some cue to what was being shipped. At any rate he was confident -that, at last, he was about to make “the great haul.” - -We had come into this country together and had got off at a town -some fifty miles distant from the point at which we were now lying -before our wood fire. From this town we had each taken a different -train to a station in the direction of the place at which Mooney -intended to make the holdup. I had gone to a station farthest along -the line; from the two other stations, Mooney and White had walked -along the track until they picked me up. We came finally to the -water tank in the mountains, at which point Mooney had determined to -hold up the New York & St. Louis Express. - -He knew all about this train; knew that it stopped at this water -tank in the mountains on schedule time, and knew what it carried on -this night. - -We had all gone about a mile and a half east of the tank where a -small stream came down out of the mountain. We had followed this -stream perhaps a quarter of a mile into the wood and there we had -built the fire. - -At midnight we got up and followed the little stream down to the -track; here we divided; White was to go about two miles west along -the track, while Mooney and I were to take up a position in the -shadow of the water tank. - -We were barely in position, in the heavy shadow, when I heard the -train; it seemed far off, a low rumble in the mountains. Then -suddenly it thundered through a gap in the hills and pulled up by -the tank. It required only a few moments to take water, and as the -train pulled out Mooney and I slipped from the heavy shadow and -swung up on the rear of the tender. - -We climbed very quickly down towards the engine cab. - -Here I very nearly had a serious accident. I caught hold of -something in the darkness which looked like a hand rail. It proved -to be a rake used by the fireman, and it was hot. The inside of my -hand was scorched. I made some exclamation unconsciously indicating -that my hand was burned. The fireman and engineer both turned toward -us. - -They were met by Mooney, the black mask over his face and a pistol -in his hand. - -I had recovered myself and stood now beside him, also masked and -with a weapon. It was the old form of mask which Mooney had -invented; attached to the inside of the hat and loaded with shot to -hold it down. The men in the engine cab made no resistance. The -fireman merely stood with his mouth open, like a child before a -ghost. The engineer had some composure. - -“Don’t shoot,” he said; “what’s the order?” - -Mooney told the engineer to stop opposite a fire he would see on the -right hand side of the track about a mile further on. With the -pistol at his temple the engineer was not slow to obey this -direction. Mooney had told White to build a fire beside the track -when he reached the point about two miles west. - -White had suggested a flash light as being better for this purpose. - -But Mooney said there was always a possibility of a wrecking train, -or some special, passing, and if so, the man with the flash light -would stop the wrong train, but if it were a fire, built in the -woods, a passing train would give it no attention, as merely a hobo -camp. - -White had followed his direction and we presently pulled up by the -fire. Mooney left me to guard the engineer while he took the fireman -in front of him and went down the side of the train. He made the -fireman cut the train in two back of the mail car. - -I stood in the door of the cab with my weapon on the engineer. I -knew when the train had been cut, and, as Mooney had directed me, I -ordered the engineer to pull forward for fifty yards and stop. -Mooney sent the fireman back to the rear of the train after the mail -car had been uncoupled, then he went forward and joined White. - -The two men took the clerks out of the mail car; they selected the -chief clerk, then they sent the remainder of the mail clerks to the -rear of the train. There was a touch of thoughtfulness in Mooney’s -consideration for these men; there was a chill of frost in the air -and he told them to put on their coats before they went out into the -night. - -When these men had gone back to the rear of the train, Mooney, -White, and the chief clerk got into the mail car, then they signaled -the engineer to move ahead. I understood the signal and when the -engineer paid no attention to it I spoke to him as roughly as I -could. - -“Go ahead,” I said, “until you are stopped with the air signal.” - -He pulled the train out without a word, and when he got the air -signal he stopped. - -Here Mooney left White in the car with the clerk and got down on the -ground in order to keep watch for any one who might be coming. I -learned afterwards precisely what happened in that car. The clerk -made some objections and Mooney spoke to him from the darkness -before the open door: - -“Friend,” he said, “you are steppin’ on a trigger.” - -It was the end of every form of hesitation. - -The man pointed out the mail sacks at once. White cut the straps and -dumped the contents on the floor. He found a lot of securely sealed -packages which he knew from experience contained money. Tearing open -the corners of a few of them he discovered that they were bank -notes. He spoke to Mooney who now came up to the door of the car. - -White was amazed; he realized that they had found the -long-looked-for big haul. - -They selected one of the light mail sacks and put the packages into -it. Mooney then came forward to the engine. White sent the mail -clerk back down the track. Mooney now took charge of the engineer. - -He made him pull down the track for perhaps half a mile, then he -stopped and put him off. He ran the engine, himself, for perhaps a -mile farther, then stopped again. White and I got out of the train -and Mooney gave the engine just enough steam at the throttle so that -it would move off slowly and stop a mile or so farther on, then he -swung down on the ground and joined us. He did not open the throttle -of the engine for he knew that on the twisting road through the -mountain the train might go off the track on the sharp curves. - -It was his policy never to do unnecessary damage. He did not wish to -wreck the train or cause the possible wreck of any other train -traveling in the night. - -We turpentined our shoes, and started in a due line north by west -toward a town on the Ohio River. We traveled all night. When -daylight appeared we stopped and hid ourselves in the mountains. -Here, Mooney and White opened the mail sack and examined the -packages of money. - -They had one hundred and two thousand dollars in bank notes. - -But it was not in the form of such bank notes as one is accustomed -to see. The notes were in sheets and unsigned, in the form that the -United States Treasury is accustomed to send currency to the -national banks. - -This discovery did not seem to impress Mooney but it put White in -despair. - -For a long time Mooney said nothing; finally he took White to one -side and talked with him; presently they came back to me. He showed -me the sheets of notes and pointed out that they could not be used. -They lacked the signatures of the bank officers and an attempt to -pass them would lead immediately to one’s arrest. - -They determined now to hide the money and go on. - -It was necessary to put it in some place where it would not be open -to the rain. For this purpose they looked about for a hollow tree. -Finally they found a chestnut on the wooded ridge of the hill. They -put the mail sack into the hollow of this tree—crowding it up -tightly so that it would not fall down—then they skillfully filled -the hollow of the tree with leaves and a few broken branches, -removing with care every trace of their work. - -We went on. - -We slept during the day, in the leaves, hidden by a tree top or -covered by a log and traveled at night. It was a long tiresome -journey. We carried provisions for three days. We had a compass, -flash lights, and a map; but it was heavy traveling in the night, -over the ridges of hills, across ravines, and through the dense -undergrowth of the valleys. - -Finally, we came out before the town on the Ohio. Here Mooney handed -me five hundred dollars and told me to return to the circus; giving -me the name of the town for which I should purchase a ticket at the -station. - -I never saw either of the two men again. - -But I learned afterward what happened to them. - -It was by no means the intention of these two men to abandon this -fortune in bank notes. - -They brought the money in after I was gone. White went into the town -and bought a big traveling bag in a pawnshop. They put the notes -into it and checked it to a city in the southwest. But first Mooney -examined the notes, taking down the names of the national banks to -which they were consigned. - -Then they made a rather extended tour together. - -They went to the cities in which these national banks were located -and picked up there bills issued by the banks; this gave them the -signatures their money required. - -Mooney showed White how to get the signatures on the currency. - -He used a simple and ingenious method. He placed the bill of which -he wished to take off the signature on a piece of glass about 3 x 6 -inches. He procured a pasteboard box and cut a hole in it somewhat -larger than the length and width of the signature; then he placed -the glass with the bill on it over this hole. He then laid a piece -of white paper over the glass and put a high candlepower light -inside the box. It was then an easy matter to trace the signature he -wanted on the white paper. - -They then made a rubber stamp of the signature; making first a steel -etching of the traced signature and after that the stamp. They then -cut the bills, stamped them with the proper signatures, divided the -money and separated. - -It seemed that the two men were not of one mind about the risk that -would follow the use of this money. Each adhered to his own -judgment. They were agreed upon one thing, that having made their -great haul, this form of criminal adventure was ended. They were -through with train holdups. They had each some fifty thousand -dollars in currency. - -After having divided the money, Mooney followed the old plan of -trusting his share of it in the traveling bag. He checked it to -another point farther into the southwest, while White remained where -he was. - -I am going to tell you what happened to White. - -This daring robbery, with the loss of the big consignment of bank -notes of the Treasury, produced immense excitement in the country. - -At two o’clock on the night of the holdup, the conductor in charge -of this train reported from the first telegraph office that he could -reach, that his train had been held up one mile west of that point, -by masked men who compelled the members of the crew, except the -chief mail clerk and engineer, to get off, and cut the mail car from -the rest of the train, taking it west with the engine. - -The chief clerk returned at three o’clock in the morning and -reported that the robbers had stopped and compelled him and the -engineer to get off. They had then taken the engine and car farther -west. - -At 3:00 o’clock the engineer reported that he was on his way west -looking for the engine. - -At 4:15 o’clock he called from a way station, saying that he had -found the engine and would come back at once for the rest of the -train. - -Immediately special trains were sent out, taking United States -Marshals, the sheriffs of neighboring counties, officers, and -bloodhounds. In a very short time Secret Service men, post-office -inspectors, and all the best experts in the service of the -government were on the scene. - -But they were totally unable to discover anything. - -The turpentine which we had used made the use of the bloodhounds of -no benefit to the detectives, and it was not possible to discover -the point at which we had left the engine and mail car. Nevertheless -the search was not abandoned. - -It extended itself now in wider directions. - -The banks throughout the country were notified of the serial numbers -of this currency; and the thing which Mooney, wiser than White, -foresaw, presently occurred. A clearing house in the southwestern -city to which White had gone, notified the Treasury Department at -Washington that one of these serial numbers had passed through. - -The Treasury Department acted at once. - -It sent two officials to this city to run the matter down. These men -were careful, experienced and able detectives. They set on foot -every investigation which seemed likely to have any result; but they -were not able to discover the source of the note which had been -observed by the clearing house. - -But they remained in charge of the undertaking. - -Finally fortune favored them. One day, a young girl came in to the -post office to deposit part of her salary at the Postal Savings -window. A bill which she offered was of the serial numbers of the -stolen currency. The post-office clerk who had been instructed to -look out for these numbers immediately called the two government -detectives to the window. - -When questioned, the girl said she had gotten this bill from a -machinery company as part of her salary. - -The two detectives went to this company. - -They found that this particular note had been brought in by one of -their drivers who had received it from a man named White. They -discovered that this man White had a machine shop in the city. - -They did not at once undertake to interview White. - -They shadowed the machine shop until they had an opportunity to get -very careful observations of White. They had little data to go on, -but they thought he was about the size of one of the bandits -described by the mail clerks. - -They examined the names attached to the note and finally determined -they had been made with a rubber stamp. They, then, interviewed all -the local stamp dealers, but could find no one who had any knowledge -of such a stamp. - -However, they remained in the city and continued to shadow White. - -They followed him from place to place, and wherever he made -purchases they would go in after him and demand of the storekeeper -the note which White had passed, giving another in place of it. They -would, then, have the person from whom they had obtained the note -write his name on it so that it could later be identified as having -been received from this man White. - -In this manner they finally got a number of bills bearing the serial -numbers of the notes which had been taken in the train robbery. But -this was all the evidence they were able to obtain. - -Finally when investigations in other directions all failed to bring -anything more to light, they determined to arrest White. Accordingly -one day they followed him when he got on a street car at his machine -shop, and when he got down, at some place of business in the city, -they stepped up to him and asked him if his name was White. He said -it was; they then asked him to go with them to help in regard to -some forgeries. White very willingly said that he would be glad to -help them in any way he could and would go if they insisted; but -that he knew nothing about any forgeries. - -They took him to their office in the post-office building. - -Here he was searched and a roll of these lost bills found in his -possession. They were all on the same bank, and, what seemed -significant, their serial numbers ran consecutively. - -When questioned about where he had obtained this money, White -replied that he had won it in a poker game from two men who had come -into his shop several days before. - -The two government detectives did not believe this story. - -They talked to White a long time, but his statement could not be -shaken. He described the two men with whom he had played poker, gave -in detail their inquiries about some work they wished done at his -shop, pointing out the exact time at which the thing occurred, and -how the poker game had been led up to. He did not know the names of -the two men, but gave precisely their description. - -The two government detectives remained unconvinced and they -determined upon an old experiment. - -They took White to jail and locked him into a cell. Then they went -out, returned by the rear entrance and placed themselves where they -could watch the man in the cell. Here White, now very much -concerned, fell unconsciously into habits which he had acquired in -similar surroundings. He put his hands behind him and began to pace -up and down the cell—three steps down, three steps up, slowly, back -and forth—his head dropped forward in reflection. - -The two government detectives watched him for a few minutes, then -they went out. They decided that White must have a penitentiary -record somewhere on account of his actions in the cell. The two -detectives went down to the telegraph office and sent a message to -every penitentiary in the United States, giving an accurate -description of White, and the holdup in which they believed him to -have taken part. They received a reply from the warden of a -penitentiary in the northwest, saying that a man answering that -description had served time for train robbery. - -The detectives now determined to take White north for trial. - -On this trip White escaped from the custody of the officials. The -manner of his escape was extraordinarily clever. It was done without -a struggle of any character. White simply disappeared. - -The two detectives were traveling with White in the stateroom of a -pullman. The design of these staterooms is familiar to every one. On -the right of the entrance door is a couch running the full length of -the side of the room. On the immediate left is the lavatory and next -to that, also on the left, are the two double seats facing each -other across a small aisle. White sat next to the window on the -first seat beside a guard. The two government detectives were on the -couch facing White. - -About ten o’clock at night and just before the train pulled into a -station, one of the government detectives went out into the car to -look up a porter in order to have the berths made up for the night. -As he left the stateroom, the other detective arose and stood in the -open door. - -White, who had been sitting apparently asleep, got up slowly, -yawned, extended his arms and started leisurely toward the lavatory -door. The main door to the stateroom stood open. It was hinged to -swing inward and when so open covered the door to the lavatory. This -door to the stateroom was now about half open and the government -detective was standing in the door. - -White had barely space enough to pass behind this door in order to -reach the lavatory, but he edged himself deliberately through -without arousing the slightest suspicion. Before the government -detective could step around the stateroom door in order to follow -White, he had entered the lavatory, slammed the door and locked it. - -The government detective, now alarmed, began to beat on the steel -door and demand that White open it. - -He received no answer, and, as it was impossible to break in the -door, he ordered the train stopped. Leaving the guard before the -door of the stateroom the two government detectives now jumped down -from either end of the car. These two men hurried toward each other -along the side of the car on which the stateroom was located. But -they found no sign of White. They then discovered that White had -made his way through the small window in the lavatory and dropped -off the moving train. - -The authorities had now a definite description of White. - -This they put out over the country, and another great man hunt -began. It was the theory of the officials that White, like any other -criminal who was being sought after, would at once undertake to -leave the country. White knew this and he determined upon precisely -the reverse of this course. He selected the most conspicuous and -consequently the very last place that detectives on the search for a -criminal would be likely to look. - -They were finally able to trace him to Cincinnati. They had his -photograph and thousands of circulars were struck off from it and -posted in every depot and public place in the country; sent out -broadcast to every city and every federal officer. The clew in -Cincinnati mysteriously vanished. - -But this man, clever and resourceful, was not fated to escape. - -One day a medical student in a college in the middle west called on -the local post-office inspector. He said that he had seen the poster -describing White, which had been placed all over the country and had -observed the resemblance to a fellow student in the college. There -was a reward of $1000, and he wished to obtain this reward. The -student studied the description given in the poster. One of the -items of description was that the man wanted had a split thumb nail. -The student waited for an opportunity to observe his suspected -associate’s thumb. He found that the man’s hand corresponded to the -description; “ridge extending the full length of the thumb nail on -the left hand ... the thumb nail has evidently been split open and -the ridge left as a scar ... the third finger of the left hand is -somewhat crooked and stiff.” - -The government authorities were at once notified by the post-office -inspector. The suspected student was shadowed, identified as White -and arrested. - -He was brought north; this time attended with every precaution and -handcuffed to a guard. Here he was tried for the robbery, convicted -and sentenced to twenty-five years in the penitentiary. - -Thus closed the career of White. The finish of Mooney was more -adventurous and spectacular. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - The Passing of Mooney - - -A strange fatality seemed to follow White and Mooney. - -These two men were perhaps the most accomplished highwaymen that -ever operated in any country, and yet something unforeseen—something -they seemed unable to anticipate—always interfered to prevent them -from obtaining the great fortune they expected. - -In one of the earlier robberies, the packages done up in old -newspapers which they kicked out of the way, when they were -searching for the shipment of money, contained the very treasure for -which they were looking; while the only thing they carried away from -that night’s work was an inconsiderable sum of money gathered from -the rifled registered mail. - -The sealed packages that Mooney took out of the safe on the night -that he and I, in such theatrical fashion, held up the through -express, proved, upon examination, to be registered bonds of some -industrial corporation which were being delivered in the south, -while the loot from the last holdup had been about a thousand -dollars in small bills. - -And now, finally in the great haul which they were at last able to -make, the only result was White’s capture and imprisonment for a -term of years, equal practically, for life. The thing ended also in -disaster no less for Mooney. - -I have often wondered who this man really was and what was his -origin. - -I think he had been in nearly every country, and he was familiar -with practically every device that could be of service to his -profession. He was a skilled electrician; a very wizard at it. The -manager of the circus was glad to carry him along although he had -practically no duties. But the skill with which he was able to -adjust anything of a mechanical nature that happened, for the -moment, to be out of repair, made him invaluable. And he seemed to -do it with no effort; with practically no preliminary inquiry, as -though, by a sort of instinct, he was able to locate the difficulty -and adjust it. I have always felt that given any sort of an even -chance the government officials would never have been able to outwit -this man. It was not any plan laid for him that tripped him up. It -was the inevitable tragedy of life. - -I did not think about this very much at the time. I was young enough -for events to make little impression on me. The whole thing was a -sort of adventure, without, as it seemed to me, any moral relations. - -I traveled on for some weeks with the circus precisely as I had been -accustomed to do. - -I helped with the horses. My disappearance caused no comment in the -organization where my status was practically that of a roustabout. I -continued to adore the girl who rode the white horse, and whenever I -had an opportunity I talked to her. I could not have been very -skillful in dissimulation for my admiration was apparent to -everybody. Maggie did not say anything to me; she never even -mentioned White or Mooney, but I found her often regarding me as -though I were something she did not precisely comprehend, or as -though she were considering me in some plan about which she was very -much concerned. - -They were careless and happy days. - -Strange as it may appear, I never anticipated any after affect to -these adventures. I did not realize that I was in danger from the -law, or that what had happened to White might on any day happen to -me. - -About two weeks later Maggie disappeared from the circus. - -I learned the fact next morning from the girl who had been placed -under the chaperonage of one of the clowns’ wives, a morose wizened -old woman, whose husband, the life of the circus when the -performance was under way, was at all other times the most -melancholy person one could imagine, and whose withered wife seemed -never to escape from this depression. I learned also that the girl -was not related to Maggie, as Mooney had once intimated. She had -been adopted by this curious, capable woman, probably out of a -hospital. - -I learned afterwards what this disappearance of Maggie meant. She -had received a telegram from Mooney who was involved in his last -adventure. - -This woman was not in any sense an accomplice of Mooney. - -I think he had never seen her until he joined this circus. I am sure -there was no understanding of any character between them. In his -extremity, Mooney merely turned toward her as perhaps the only -person he could think of. - -He had been overtaken by an unforeseen misfortune. - -After the bank notes had all been signed and made ready for -circulation, he left White in the south. He was convinced the plan -which White proposed to follow would bring him to misfortune. He -pointed out very clearly what would happen, and he was right. He had -no faith in White’s assurance and he had no intention to submit -himself to the possibility of any such disaster. - -He had shipped his money to a city in the southwest and he followed -it there. - -I do not know whether he intended to cross into Mexico or whether he -planned that the government officials who might be looking for him -should finally be able to trace him in that direction, and, from -this, to formulate the theory that he had crossed the southern -border. - -This would be quite in line with the man’s character. - -At any rate the fact was, that, having made this false trail toward -southern territory, he turned suddenly about and came north. He -brought the money with him in the traveling bag. But here in a -northern city he was overtaken by a misfortune which no man could -foresee and to which all are subject, no matter how wily or -skillful. - -He was taken desperately ill and he realized his condition -immediately. He took the traveling bag to an express company and -shipped it to Canada to a fictitious person. Then he looked about -for a lodging house. He was afraid to go to a hospital; and, yet, -from what Maggie afterward said, Mooney was even then, in the first -few hours of his illness, certain that he had reached the end of his -career. - -The man had no difficulty in finding what he was looking for; but -here he was met with one of those inexplicable vagaries of chance -for which there seems to be no adequate explanation. - -It was night when Mooney got out of the cab and was helped into the -lodging which he had selected. In the preoccupation of his illness -he did not very closely regard the person who maintained this -lodging house. But in the morning when the man came up to the room -Mooney knew him instantly. - -Years before in a holdup in which Mooney had been engaged there had -been a German mail clerk. More than once when Mooney had been in the -mood of reminiscence I had heard him talk about this ridiculous -person; a pale mild-mannered German, who had been simply unnerved -with terror when the bandit had entered the mail car. This man had -been physically unable, from sheer fright, to get down out of the -car when the mail clerks at the point of a weapon had been ordered -out. - -He sat on the floor with his mouth open and his hands clasped -together. - -Mooney used to laugh about it; about the ridiculous appearance the -creature presented and what he had done. He had pulled an empty mail -sack down over the man’s head and shoulders and left him there; and -there he had been found three hours later when the train pulled into -one of the central cities of the west. The German had not moved and -the mail sack was still pulled down over his shoulders when the -train men at the station came into the car. - -The man had been laughed out of the service and had gone from one -undertaking to another, until, finally, destiny established him here -in this boarding house to meet Mooney when he should arrive ill in a -hired cab. - -Mooney, as I have said, knew the man instantly, but it was not -likely that the man recognized the awe-inspiring bandit in his sick -lodger. But he looked at Mooney as at some person whom he had seen, -and the highwayman knew that it was only a question of time until -his host would be able to place him. - -The impressions of fright are conspicuously vivid. - -It was certain that this man’s mind retained the precise picture of -the one who had put him into such abject terror. The picture would -be clear in every detail. Time does not blur impressions like this. -It would be merely a question of the mental connecting up of his -impressions about this lodger whom, he felt, he had seen somewhere, -and the identity of the highwayman who had put him so desperately -into fear. - -It was then that Mooney sent the telegram to Maggie. He got the -German to take it out to the telegraph office, and he awaited her -arrival. He did not send for a doctor. He knew perfectly well that -death was on him. He had contracted the swift deadly pneumonia which -at that time was devastating the country like a plague. - -Maggie reached the city that evening and Mooney told her what to do. -He pointed out that the German lodging-house keeper had already hit -upon his identity and the house was being watched, for he had -noticed a window across the street, back of a barber shop, that -always had the shade pulled down. The window was visible from his -bed and he could see, by watching it, that this shade moved -occasionally. - -He observed it closely and at one time saw a man’s hand, which was -all the evidence a person like Mooney needed. He knew perfectly well -that the German had recognized him and reported the fact to the -police. - -He explained it all to Maggie when she came in. She knew then that -she would be shadowed when she went out of the house. He told her, -precisely, what he wished her to do. - -It was about five o’clock in the afternoon. - -Maggie presently left the house and was of course shadowed. She went -along the street until she came to a doctor’s office. She rang the -bell and entered. This destination seemed reasonable to the -plain-clothes man who was keeping her in sight. This was precisely -what one summoned to the bedside of an ill man would be expected to -do; go at once for a physician. - -But it was not a doctor that Maggie was after. - -It was an opportunity to call up the office of the express company -in Canada and tell them to ship the bag back to this city. If the -doctor were in, she would consult him about Mooney and ask to use -his telephone, and if he were not in she would ask the same -privilege, saying that she would return when the doctor should be at -home. - -As it happened the doctor was not in the house, but the person in -charge of his office permitted Maggie to use the telephone. She -called up the express company in Canada and ordered the bag -reshipped. She left with the servant money to pay for the telephone -call and went out. - -It was a very clever device because it did not occur to the -detective, who was keeping her in sight, that it was worth while to -go into the doctor’s office to inquire what she was doing there. - -What she would be doing there was too obvious. - -He therefore contented himself with shadowing her back to the -lodging house and keeping the place under his eye from the curtained -window behind the barber shop. - -Maggie remained with the sick man that night. She endeavored in vain -to persuade him to have a doctor or to permit her to undertake such -simple remedies as might be at hand. Mooney knew he was dying. He -had no faith whatever in anything that might be done for him. - -He was only concerned that Maggie should carry out his directions. - -In the morning she again left the house; and was again shadowed as -every one was shadowed who came into it or went out of it. This time -Maggie went to the nearest drug store—about three blocks distant, at -the corner of a street—went in, spoke to the clerk and then went -around the counter into the back part of the store. - -The detective who was watching her from the opposite side of the -street naturally concluded she was having some remedy prepared for -the sick man. - -What Maggie had in fact done was to say to the clerk that she was -packing up some articles, which she had to move, and that she wanted -to get some empty boxes. The boxes were in the rear of the store and -the clerk told her she could go through and pick out what she -wished. She went through, went out the back door, down a neighboring -alley and took a taxicab to the railway station. - -The detective waited in vain for her to appear. When finally she did -not come out he went in and discovered what had happened; too late -to overtake her. - -Maggie went to the station, got the traveling bag, put it into the -taxicab and set about to carry out the remainder of Mooney’s -directions. - -The detective called up headquarters and gave the alarm. The police -at once went about spreading the usual net for Maggie and then they -determined to arrest Mooney. They were now convinced that the man’s -illness was a pretense; and, a few minutes later, the detective and -three officers suddenly burst into the room where Mooney sat in bed -propped up with pillows, gasping for breath, in the closing stages -of pneumonia. - -Mooney was painfully writing something on the blank sheet of a -letter pad with a stump of a pencil. - -The officers covered him with weapons. - -Mooney looked at them with a queer, ghastly smile: - -“You are in time,” he said, “to witness my will.” - -He extended his arm with the sheet of paper in his fingers. - -The astonished officers took the paper to the window and read it in -amazement. - -It ran as follows: - - “I, John Mooney, being at the end of life, do hereby - make this my last will and testament. - - “Inasmuch as the United States Government, with a tender - regard beyond that of friend or relative, has, now for a - long time, been extremely solicitous to provide me with - food, clothing and the necessities of life: - - “Now, therefore, in appreciative remembrance, I do, by - these Presents, give and bequeath to the said United - States Government fifty-one thousand dollars in bank - notes, which I have caused on this day to be delivered - to the Federal District Attorney of this city; - - “In the hope that the said United States Government, - having thus esteemed me in life, may now, in death, - cherish my memory. - - (Signed) “John Mooney.” - -They realized now that the man was in the very extremity of death. -He was dying as he had lived, with a cynical disregard of everybody. -His very last words were in character: - -“Tell ’em—no flowers.” - -His voice was a gasping stutter. - -In the meantime Maggie had gone to the railroad station, found the -traveling bag which had been reshipped, and had taken a taxicab to -the office of the District Attorney; precisely as Mooney had -directed in his will. - -But there she had not carried out his directions in its exact -details. - -I would like to write into this record that it was Mooney, on his -deathbed, who thought of the course that Maggie followed, but it -would not be the truth. He thought only of the cynical jest that he -endeavored to carry out in his death. It was Maggie who was thinking -of some one else. What she did will presently appear. - -I suppose it was about a week later when a man came into the horse -tent, and walked up to me as though he were an old acquaintance: - -“How do you do?” he said. - -His greeting was so cordial, that, although I did not know him, I -put out my hand to shake hands with him. But instead of grasping my -hand as I expected, he took hold of it and turned it suddenly over -so he could see the palm. - -There, still visible, was the red discoloration from the burn when I -had taken hold of the hot iron rod, on the night when we had climbed -down from the tender into the cab of the locomotive, in our last -holdup. - -The man seemed surprised, as though at finding some confirmatory -evidence of which he had been in doubt. - -He looked me over. - -“You are only a boy,” he said. “How did you get mixed up in this -business?” - -I was, myself, now astonished. I realized that the man was an -officer and that I had finally, in some manner, got into the -clutches of the law. It all seemed so incredible that I did not -undertake to make any reply to the man’s inquiry. He asked me to go -with him and I put on my hat and went without a word. - -The circus was on that day at a rather large city. - -We took a street car to the post-office, a big, white building in -the center of a public square. We got into the elevator and went up -to the second floor. The man took me along a narrow hall and into a -room which was entirely empty. Here he bade me wait, and went -through a door into an adjoining room. - -I remained for some time quite alone. The sounds of the city came up -to me, but I seemed in some deserted place far from any one. - -Finally the officer, who had arrested me, came back, opened the door -and asked me to go in. He closed the door behind me and went out -into the hall. - -I found myself in a big sunlit room. - -There was a table with several leather-bound books on it, some -folded papers in their wrappers and some written memoranda, on -sheets, lying about, and a chair where some one had just been -sitting. Then I saw the other person in the room; a figure standing -by the window; a big man with thick gray hair, tall and broad -shouldered. - -He had been looking down into the street and now he turned about; -his face lighted with a friendly, quizzical smile. The smile -deepened; extended itself until it became a merry chuckle. - -“So you are the desperate train robber!” he said. - -“Well, sit down, Mr. Train Robber, I want to have a little -conversation with you.” - -I was as embarrassed as a child and I sat down primly in the chair -and put my hands together in my lap. I must have presented a -ridiculous appearance, a big overgrown boy as uneasy as though he -were being photographed for his mother. - -The man came over and sat down in his chair. He put his elbows on -the table and looked at me across the line of books. - -“Is this all really true?” he said. - -“Yes, sir,” I replied. - -I knew of course what he meant although he made no explanation. - -“Well,” he said, “it is incredible; it is entirely beyond belief.” - -Then he got up and began to walk about the room. - -“My boy,” he said, “you have been associated with two of the worst -crooks in the world and you have engaged in a desperate business. -What do you suppose we ought to do with you?” - -“I don’t know,” I said. - -I was still greatly embarrassed and these were the only words I -could think of. - -The big man stopped at that, put his hands in his pockets and looked -at me: - -“Neither do I,” he said. - -Then he went on: - -“You have courage—a dependable sort of courage. It is a quality rare -enough in the world; too rare, it seems to me, to be thoughtlessly -broken up. I am going to try an experiment. - -“I don’t see why the courage which you possess should not be brought -to the service of the government instead of against it. Do you think -you could stick to us as faithfully as you have stuck to these two -inconsiderate blacklegs?” - -He did not wait for me to reply; but he went on: - -“Crime always fails,” he said. “There never was any man able to get -away with it. No matter how clever he is, there is always some point -at which his plans go to pieces; sooner or later something turns up -against which he is wholly unable to protect himself. The thing is -so certain to happen that it seems to look as though there were a -power in the universe determined on the maintenance of justice; a -power that is opposed to criminal endeavor and always at work to -destroy the criminal agent—just as it destroyed White and just as it -has destroyed Mooney.” - -He went on as though he were speaking to himself. - -“But it does not act as though it wished to destroy you.... I -suppose one’s large view in this matter ought to be consistent. If -one assumes that this Authority has exercised itself for the -ultimate destruction of these two hardened offenders, then one must -also believe that what has happened in your behalf has happened also -with an equal design.” - -He began to walk about the room, his hands in his pockets, his chin -lifted as in some reflection. - -“Well,” he said, “at any rate I am going to take it that way. I am -going to turn you over to Dix for a tryout in the Secret Service. We -have got to seize a number of dangerous Reds and your holdup -experience ought to make you a useful assistant for Dix. Besides,” -he added, “we are involved in a sort of promise about you.” - -I said “Yes, sir.” - -I was still embarrassed and astonished almost beyond any expression; -and, sitting thus primly on the edge of the chair, with my big hands -folded in my lap, I must have seemed to the man irresistibly -ridiculous, for he suddenly began to laugh. - -“All right, Mr. Train Robber,” he said, “you will find some of your -friends just outside of the door, and when you have spoken with -them, go along the hall to the end of the building.... Dix is in the -room on the right.” - -I got up awkwardly and backed out of the room and through the door -behind me. - -It was only long afterwards that I learned by what agency these -events had come to pass. - -When Maggie had taken the traveling bag containing the stolen bank -notes to the United States District Attorney on the day of Mooney’s -death, she had not handed them over to him, straight out, as Mooney -had directed. Instead, she had used the advantages of the situation -to bring me clear of the business. - -I do not know the details. - -But she seems to have gone over the whole thing with the Federal -authorities that morning, explaining all about my relations with the -two highwaymen, how I had come to get into it and how I had been -carried along; and then she promised to deliver the money to them -provided the government would grant me immunity. The matter was -taken up and discussed there in detail on that morning. The result -was that Maggie got the promise, that, if everything proved to be as -she described it, I should not be held responsible for the desperate -crimes that these men had carried out. - -She was in fact a very skillful person and she conducted it with -immense cleverness. - -They were amazed to find that she had the money in what they -imagined, when she came, was merely a personal traveling bag. And -they were astonished to discover that I was, in fact, merely the big -awkward, thoughtless youth that she had described to them; as they -were astonished to find the confirmatory discoloration of my burned -hand. - -On the outside of the door I found Maggie and my fairy sweetheart. - -The girl was in tears, but Maggie was a grim figure, with her little -crumpled ears lying tight to her head, her beady eyes and her hard -features—precisely like the devil, which she was not. - -“You can kiss her, just once!” she said. - -I stood like one in a dream, but the girl came up and put her arms -around my neck ... and I kissed her. - -And then, through the rosy haze of the world, Maggie pushed in -between us. - -“That’ll do,” she said. “You are to go to work now and make a man -out of yourself ... and then ... in three years we shall see about -it.” - -I went along the corridor, to Dix ... in the room on the right. - - * * * * * - -And so came Walker into the United States Secret Service. The story -of his way upward in that service is not written out here. If you -wish to hear it ask his charming wife whose memories go back to the -time when the big tent of a circus was the Kingdom of Romance. But -you will find in the chapters to follow, some adventures in mystery -with which he was connected. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - The Diamond - - -The thing that keeps life keen is that you can never figure out -what’s ahead. - -There’s always a surprise around the corner. The thing changes on -you, to use an expression of the vernacular. One begins in an -English drawing-room and winds up on the Gobi Desert. You never know -where the road’s going. Take it in big things, or take it in the -trivialities of life—it’s the same system. - -But I am not going to lecture on philosophy; I am going to cite a -case—a case that had an immense surprise in it to me, and a series -of events that started out in one direction and concluded in -another. I saw them start simply enough, but they “changed on me,” -to keep our colloquialism. - -I had just come down from Bar Harbor. I had an artificial diamond -made in Germany, and I was looking for Walker. Walker is chief of -the United States Secret Service, and he knows more about artificial -stones than any other man in America, unless it is Bartoldi. - -Gems are a fad with Walker, and a profession with Bartoldi. - -I do not know which of these motive impulses moves a man to the -higher efficiency. The keen man with the fad gets to be an expert, -and the necessities of trade makes the other one. Anyway, I wanted -to show my diamond to both of them. - -I found Walker in the Forty-seventh National Bank on lower Fifth -Avenue. He waved a recognition and went on with what he was saying -to the cashier behind the grill: - -“There was no robbery; that’s what puzzles me. How did they get the -thing? It’s lucky the bank discovered that it was missing almost -immediately and sent out the word. The package had just come in, and -was lying on a shelf under the bookkeeper’s desk.... But how did -they get it?” - -And so I found Walker. - -Nobody would ever have taken Walker for the chief of the government -Secret Service. In appearance he was the last person any one would -have picked out for a secret agent. - -He looked like a practical person, and that is precisely what he -was. You never could think that the man had any imagination; and he -didn’t have any. At least, he didn’t have any imagination in the -sense that we usually understand it. I suppose he had the kind of -imagination that the inventor has, or the mathematician when he -figures the orbit of the stars, or the engineer when he has to make -some calculation on the stresses of a bridge. - -I asked him to look at my diamond when he came out. His face took on -a decided expression of interest. - -“Go up and see Bartoldi,” he said. “I will be along in an hour.” - -He added with a sort of smile: - -“There is no leisure in my trade. Somebody’s always either robbing a -national bank or trying to rob—boring from within or setting up some -game on the outside.” - -Then he laughed. - -Now, that is how I happened to find Walker—just when I wanted to -find him. By accident I stepped into something, as you would say. - -Well, it was not explained to me. In fact, to say plain truth, -behind a lot of courteous indirections, he put me out of the bank -and sent me up to Bartoldi’s to await his coming in an hour. I do -not mean that he ordered me out. He enticed me out; he edged me out, -a good deal as one would do with a child that had wandered into a -rather tense conference. - -I went up to Bartoldi’s. Everybody knows where it is. - -He has a mammoth place on Fifth Avenue, rather far up—the trade is -going up. The big retailers saw that a dozen years ago. Bartoldi is -not the greatest jewel dealer in the world, but he is one of the -greatest. The greatest jewel dealer in the world is Mahadol in -Bombay; then come Vanderdick in Amsterdam, and Hauseman in Paris. - -It is a big shop, as I have said. But you know it—there is no reason -to describe it here. A huge place with glass cases like every -American shop, and the jewels displayed, as is the almost universal -custom in America. Not like some of the foreign places, where you -see only a square of black velvet, and the jewel, when you have -named the kind you want, is brought out of a vault. - -I was in this shop before the long counter that contains the tray of -diamonds, when Bartoldi appeared. - -Appeared is precisely the word; I did not see him until suddenly he -was before me on the other side of the glass case. - -He does not look like a jeweler. In fact, he does not look like -anybody in active life. He is big and gaunt, and, in spite of the -best tailor, he gives one the impression of an immense human body -dried out in some desert. But he is alive, all right. I would like -to see the man who could fool him about a jewel. - -I showed him my diamond. It was a big diamond, unset, and I had it -folded up in a piece of tissue paper. - -He squinted at it between his thumb and finger. - -“Good specimen,” he said, “first-class specimen. You can see the -stratifications with your eye.” - -He paused; then he went on: - -“I never believed chemists could build up a diamond. Of course they -build up rubies, and they do it cleverly, deuced cleverly, but you -can always tell by the bubbles in them; they can’t get the bubbles -out.” - -He moved my diamond out a little farther from his eye. - -“I suppose it is insufficient pressure. If they could get the -angular cavities that are in corundum, they would be on the way; of -course they would never get the steady glow of the genuine ruby. But -they would fool the old ladies in a drawing-room.” - -Then his voice went into a piping note. - -“You would pass for the owner of rubies if you were rich enough to -back up the hypothesis.” - -He twisted my stone around in his fingers; then he pointed to the -case under his hand, and set out a tray of diamonds. - -He selected a table diamond as large as my false one and set above a -platinum band. I could not have told the difference. - -My diamond was worth four hundred dollars. Bartoldi said there was -not a stone in the tray under five thousand dollars. - -I stepped back to look at them from a little distance, about the -distance one would observe a diamond on a woman’s hand at dinner -across the table. I could not see any difference between the two -stones. They could have been interchanged, and they would have -fooled me at the distance. But they didn’t fool Bartoldi. - -“Not much alike,” he said; “your stone has a sleek look.” - -I did not see that. I told him I didn’t see it. - -I knew that aspect of artificial stones, that appearance as if they -were pressed instead of cut. But it was the aspect of artificial -stones of a lower order than the one I had shown to Bartoldi. This -one was cut, and it looked crisp to me, very nearly as crisp as the -best one. But there is where the trained eye comes in. Walker knew -it was false, and Bartoldi knew it instantly. He could see the -stratifications with his eye. - -I could see them with a good lens, but I could not see the sleek -look, and I moved toward the tray on the counter to get a close -view. I did not move directly ahead; I moved to one side—and I -discovered two persons who had come into the shop behind me. - -I took up my diamond, and stood out of the way at once. I had no -wish to delay a customer. I was only idling with a laboratory -diamond, and Bartoldi had to sell jewels to keep his shop going. I -could not take up his time unless he happened to be at leisure. - -The two persons who had come in at once attracted my attention. They -would have attracted the attention of anybody, even if there had -been nothing to follow. If one had chanced to observe them, one -would have stopped and considered them anywhere. - -One would have been forced to think about them. They would have -stimulated one’s curiosity. No one could have passed those two -persons without undertaking to formulate some explanation; and to me -there was something more than their mere appearance. - -In my mind there was a vague impression that I had seen them in some -other place. I could not at the moment remember the place; it was -what psychologists call subconscious, I suppose. At any rate it did -not crystallize into a memory. But it remained as a sort of -atmosphere behind the vivid impression they made on me. - -The two persons were an old man and a girl. The two words go -together, but the two persons did not go together in any sense. The -girl was not past sixteen, and the man was past seventy. That would -be all right, an old man and his granddaughter, you would say. - -But it was not all right. That was just exactly the impression that -was so cryingly conspicuous. It was not all right! - -The man was very well dressed; everything about him was of the best -quality, and distinguished—perhaps just a little too distinguished, -a little too vivid. When one thought about it, one saw that he was -dressed somewhat for a younger part. There was a bit of color, a -suggestion of youth that the man did not have. - -He was an old man, but he was a vigorous old man, and he had the air -and manner of wealth about him. I can’t precisely point out these -indicatory signs, but they were easily to be marked, and they are -not often successfully assumed. I suppose a clever actor could do -it. Walker used to say that the best actors were not on the stage; -they were in Joliet. - -Now, that is what the man looked like—one of the idle rich, grown -old in an atmosphere of luxury. He ought to have had, as I figured -him up, a town house, a country estate, a yacht, and very nearly -every vice! His eyes, his bad mouth and his fat ears were good -evidential signs. I thought I knew the type! - -The girl filled me with a sort of wonder. She wore a little cheap -hand-me-down dress that must have come from a village shop, and it -looked as though she had slept in it. She had slept in it! - -The sort of crumpled-up appearance of that cheap material could not -be mistaken. She wore a straw hat lined with vivid color and loaded -with soiled artificial flowers. Her shoes were run down a bit. She -was generally soiled, as she would have been if she had traveled in -a day coach and slept in her clothes—and that is precisely what she -had done. - -But all this could not obscure the fact that she was pretty, in a -sort of way. She had a pliant figure, and the charms that go along -with youth. Sleeping in one’s clothes, and the grime of a journey -can’t obscure that. She was young, and she had what youth has. - -Now you understand why I said that the two together puzzled me. -Either alone would not attract a glance, and certainly not a line of -speculation. But the two together, as I have insisted, called upon -you for an explanation. - -They puzzled me but they did not puzzle Bartoldi. I suppose he -understood it quicker than I. I understood it pretty quickly, just -as you have, no doubt, understood it all along, and as Bartoldi -understood it at a glance. - -They came up to the glass counter, and the man asked to see a -diamond ring. - -The girl did not look up. She did not say anything. She seemed to -wish to get as far as possible under the soiled hat. - -Bartoldi set out some trays beside the one already on the table. The -old man moved a little to one side and the girl came quite close to -the glass counter. She bent her head down over the stones as though -she wished to see the rings and at the same time keep under cover of -the soiled hat. - -She did not say a word. But she knew precisely what she wanted, for -she suddenly put out her hand and picked up the table diamond that -had lain beside my artificial stone on the glass case. She slipped -the stone on her finger and stepped back as though to be hidden a -little by the old man. - -I got a surprise. - -“Gad,” I said to myself, “big wages! Will he stand for it?” - -Well, he did stand for it. He was a royal old sport; I will say that -for him. - -Bartoldi said the price was five thousand dollars, and the old boy -never turned an eyelash. He made a careless gesture. I don’t think -he even O.K.’d the thing with a word. - -He took a flat leather case out of his pocket, got out a draft, -asked Bartoldi for a pen, or rather indicated the wish for a pen -with a fiddling of his fingers, and when he got it, indorsed the -draft. Then he showed Bartoldi a letter that was in the envelope -that had contained the draft. - -I followed them to the door. There was a taxicab waiting; they got -in and went up the Avenue. - -That type of man ought to have a house somewhere on the Avenue; it -was August; the house would be closed; I began to put things -together. - -I was standing there when Walker came up. I hailed him. - -“Walker,” I said, “you got here a moment too late. You see that -taxicab?” - -He made a little whimsical gesture. - -“I see everything,” he said, “that the devil puts out to annoy me; -what’s in the taxicab?” - -“There’s a case in it,” I said, “for the District Court of the -United States, on the criminal side, or I’m a poor detective.” - -“All detectives are poor,” said Walker. “If they were rich, they -would have a town house, a country place and a string of hunters.” - -“Well,” I said, “that’s what the old boy in the taxicab has got; and -he’s got something else that the United States doesn’t allow him to -take across a state line.” - -Walker looked at me queerly. He put the tip of his finger to his -forehead. - -“Touch of the heat?” - -“Look here,” I said, “isn’t this sort of thing just as much in your -line of duty as trying to prevent the crooked cashier from boring -from within? Isn’t the United States by a fairly recent statute, -helping virtue to evade the dragon?” - -Walker’s face wrinkled into a twisted smile. - -“It’s helping the clever _fille de joie_ to levy a little blackmail -on the side.” - -“Wrong dope, in this instance,” I said. - -I began to describe to him the incident and the two persons. I -described them carefully, minutely, and he listened without a word -and without a motion. He stood perfectly still, there in the hot -street before Bartoldi’s mammoth shop. - -But his manner had changed. He had now, I noted from the very -impassive aspect of the man, a deep, a profound, a moving interest -in this affair. He cursed softly as though he chopped the words with -his teeth. - -“Ten minutes too late!” he said. “Where did they go?” - -Walker was motionless for a moment, his head down, his eyes narrowed -in a profound reflection. - -I interrupted him with a repetition of his words. - -“Ten minutes too late!” I said. “You are two minutes too late. The -taxicab has hardly disappeared in the traffic yonder.” - -I pointed up the Avenue. Walker did not look up. - -“I was thinking of Bartoldi,” he said. “I am ten minutes too late -for Bartoldi.” - -“That’s right,” I said. “Bartoldi could have told you who this man -was. He must have known him.” - -“Oh, no,” said Walker. “Bartoldi didn’t know him.” - -I was astonished. - -“Surely Bartoldi knew him,” I said. - -Walker’s voice became a sort of drawl. - -“Surely he did not know him. Bartoldi would not have been a party to -this man’s criminal adventures.” - -I laughed. - -“What does Bartoldi care about criminal adventures? He’s a dealer in -jewels.” - -“He will care about this criminal adventure,” said Walker. - -Then he looked suddenly at me. - -“Where do you think they went?” - -I told him what I thought. This type of person would have a house on -the Avenue; it would be closed in August. - -Walker shook his head. - -“I think I know where they have gone,” he said. - -Again I looked at him in astonishment. - -“Then you know who this man is?” - -Walker replied with an abrupt query: - -“Did you see the inside of his hand—the right hand? That was the -thing to see.” - -“How about the girl?” I replied, for Walker’s indirections were -putting me on my mettle. “Her hand will be the thing to see; it’s -got Bartoldi’s diamond on it.” - -He looked up rather vaguely. - -“I am puzzled about the girl; I do not understand what the girl has -to do with it.” - -I laughed. - -“Bartoldi understood,” I said. - -“Bartoldi!” - -Walker seemed to bounce out of his reflection. - -“The devil! We’ve got to get back his diamond.” - -He darted suddenly out to the traffic of the Avenue, hailed a -taxicab and beckoned me to get in with him. - -I got in and we went up Fifth Avenue. We were held in a jam of -vehicles a block or two farther on. - -“And so,” I said, “you think the girl is a nice little country -cousin, an esteemed relative—esteemed to the tune of a -five-thousand-dollar diamond?” - -Walker was fingering his face in reflection. - -“Nonsense!” he said. “The girl’s no relation to him.” - -“Then why the five-thousand-dollar diamond?” - -“That’s what I would like to know,” said Walker. - -I laughed. The thing was too absurd. - -“If the wage of a sin is a five-thousand-dollar diamond, there’s got -to be the sin to earn it. That old sport was not taking any chance -on getting the value of his money.” - -“O. K.,” said Walker. - -“Then you think he has been paid for it?” I said. - -“Surely,” said Walker, “that man has been paid for it.” - -The taxicab turned out of the Avenue presently when the jam of -vehicles was released, and stopped before the Grand Central Station. - -Walker paused a moment when we got down. - -“If I put the thing together correctly,” he said, “they will be -here. The girl came in for her diamond.... How she earned it puzzles -me.... The man had to get through with it as quickly as he could.” - -He made a little gesture. - -“From the station to Bartoldi’s in a taxicab and back to the first -train out—that would be his plan—to hurry.” - -He added: “It was a risk, a big risk. But he had to take it. He -couldn’t trust anybody; he had to do it himself.” - -I looked at Walker with what I imagined was an ironical smile. - -“Then he would not be guilty under the statute,” I said, “for he -only brought the little baggage in to buy her a diamond.” - -Walker seemed in a sort of reflection. - -“Oh, yes,” he said, “he is guilty.” - -“Then you want him?” I asked. - -Walker suddenly looked at me with his eyes wide. - -“Surely,” he said. - -“Then why don’t you hurry?” I demanded. - -He looked at me with a leisurely interest. - -“If he’s here,” he said, “he can’t get out. I’ve got three of the -best agents of the Department in there—sent them up when I started -to Bartoldi’s to meet you.” - -“But how would they know him?” I asked. - -“They would know him by a scar in his hand,” replied Walker. - -“They ought to know him by a girl on his arm,” I said. - -Walker’s voice became reflective. - -“I wonder if she could be his granddaughter, after all!” - -I laughed. That laugh was like the key to a memory. I at once -remembered where I had seen this man and the girl. - -It was at the end of the path that follows the sea south at Bar -Harbor. There is a great house where the path ends. It was closed; -the shutters were up, and the grounds only casually kept; I -remembered it now. I had undertaken one afternoon to get through -from this sea-path to the village street, and had wandered into an -immense sunken garden. I was making no sound. - -The grass and leaves had covered the paths; it was very still, and -presently I heard the murmur of voices. I wondered who could be -here, for as I have said, the place was closed, and I was -discovering that there was no way through to the village street. I -went forward a few steps, and beyond me, standing in an angle of the -garden, obscured by an immense flowering vine, were this old man and -this girl. - -I remembered the scene perfectly, now that I had the key to it. - -The old man was speaking in a low voice, as though he urged -something, offered something, and the girl was listening in the -attitude in which I had observed her this afternoon, her head down, -her arms hanging. I had gone out quietly; I remember the explanation -that presented itself. The old man must be the owner of the place, -and the girl a keeper’s daughter, perhaps. The memory bore out my -impression, the impression which I received to-day and the -impression which had evidently convinced Bartoldi. - -I told it all to Walker, very carefully and in detail, as we went -into the great lobby and down to the train exits. Walker caught my -arm in his big hand. - -“That explains it,” he commented. - -Then he stopped abruptly. - -“By the way,” he said, as though it had just occurred to him and he -had now leisure to think about it, “let me have a look at that -artificial diamond.” - -I took the piece of tissue paper out of my waistcoat pocket and -handed it to him. He unfolded the paper, took the diamond out and -retained it in his hand. We crossed through the throngs of people -everywhere grouped about in the great station, to the exit -indicating the evening train to Bar Harbor. We entered the little -group, and I realized suddenly that we were close behind the old man -and the girl. They were facing toward the gate. - -Suddenly Walker opened his hand and dropped my diamond to the floor. -It clattered at the feet of the girl, and Walker stooped swiftly and -picked it up. - -“Your daughter,” he said, speaking to the old man, “has dropped the -setting out of her ring; permit me to return it.” - -The man turned instantly like a trapped animal. For a moment both of -his hands went into the pockets of his coat, and for an instant his -face was uncertain, vague, deadly; then he put out his hand for the -diamond. - -Walker gave it to him and turned to me. - -“Perhaps,” he said, “we had better see if the trunks got on. We have -nearly ten minutes to wait.” - -And he walked away toward the great stair leading to the baggage -room. - -The girl did not move; she did not speak; she remained as she had -stood in Bartoldi’s shop, her head down, concealed as far as she was -able to conceal it, under the drooping hat loaded with soiled roses. -Walker was crossing toward the great stair in his long stride and I -hurrying in my astonishment to overtake him. - -“The devil, man!” I cried when I came up. “Why did you give him my -diamond?” - -“I wanted to see if there was a scar in his hand,” said Walker. “He -had it.” - -“Then you know him?” - -“Surely,” said Walker. - -“Aren’t you going to arrest him?” - -Walker had returned to his careless manner. - -“No,” he said, “I am not going to arrest him. You saw his hands go -into his pockets. There would have been a lot of people killed if it -hadn’t been for your diamond. It’s lucky I thought of it; besides, I -had to see the inside of his hand.” - -“But my diamond,” I said, “when will I get it?” - -Walker continued in his leisurely drawl: - -“You will get your diamond when Bartoldi gets his.” - -“When will that be?” I insisted. - -“Right now,” replied Walker. - -Then he paused in his stride, took off his hat and extended it for a -moment above his head like a tired person who would relax from the -fatigue of travel. - -Immediately three persons, two men and a woman between them, -carrying bags, coats and the usual articles of travel, came out from -the crowd pouring into the station from the street and crossed -hurriedly into the group waiting at the entrance for the Bar Harbor -train. - -Then a dramatic thing happened. - -I could see the old man clearly; he was watching Walker out of the -tail of his eye, and he kept his hands in his pockets, but he was -not watching the three persons who came into the group as though -seeking the train for which he was bound; and as they passed, -quicker than the eye, the man’s hands were seized, dragged out of -his pockets and snapped into handcuffs. The pistols gripped in his -hands were swept out; they fell to the floor. - -“The devil!” I cried. “The old boy is the most dangerous Lothario I -ever saw.” - -Walker replied in his leisurely drawl: - -“He’s the most dangerous bank swindler you ever saw.” - - * * * * * - -The girl had been questioned, and the thing was now clear. Walker -explained it all on the way to Bartoldi’s in a taxicab. I had my -diamond in my pocket, and Walker had Bartoldi’s to exchange for the -forged draft. The old man was Vronsky, the most notorious forger in -the world. He had bribed this girl, the janitress of the Empire Bank -at Bar Harbor, to steal a book of blank drafts and some sheets of -stationery. It was easy to do; the book of blanks was lying on the -bookkeeper’s desk in the package as it had come from the printer, -and the stationery had never been locked up. - -With the blanks bearing the secret water mark of the bank, Vronsky -was able to forge drafts on New York and place them, establishing -his identity by a letter from the bank officials on this stationery, -in which they said they were sending him the draft which he intended -to pay out, and giving its amount and number. - -“It was a clever scheme,” Walker added. “The secret water mark on -the draft blanks would show that they were genuine—that’s what -convinced Bartoldi; and the forged letter would show the identity of -the man who undertook to place it. The forgery gave Vronsky no -trouble; the problem was how to get the blanks and letter paper.” - -“And he got them with a diamond,” I said. - -Walker’s drawl lengthened. - -“Precisely as we got him.” - -And so this adventure opened with a diamond and closed with the -arrest of one of the worst criminals in the world. What was it I -wrote in the opening paragraph of this case? Go back and read it. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - The Expert Detective - - -Walker kept two dog-eared magazines in a pigeonhole of his desk, -with a story marked in each. He kept them, he said, to reduce -enthusiasm, as a doctor keeps a drug to reduce a fever. They were -handed, with the regularity of a habit, to two types of visitors who -annoyed him: those persons who volubly admired the professional -detective; and that other class who assured him that the inspired -amateur, as, for example, some local prosecutor in a criminal case, -could outwit the acutest counselors of darkness. - -I include the two stories in their instructive order. - - * * * * * - -The State had completed its case. - -The conviction of the prisoners seemed beyond question. - -Incident by incident, the expert detective, Barkman, had coupled up -the circumstantial evidence until it seemed to link the prisoners -inevitably to the crime. He was a big man, with eyes blue like a -piece of crockery, a wide face and a cruel, irregular jaw. One felt -that no sentiment restrained him; that he would carry out any -undertaking to its desperate end. - -He sat now in the witness chair. He was the last witness for the -State, and, now that the case was complete, he had been turned over -for cross-examination. - -It was afternoon. A sheet of sunlight entering through open windows -lay on the court room. It was a court room of a little city in the -South; a city but newly awakened to industrial activities, and the -conduct of its administration of justice still adhered to older and -more deliberate forms. - -The court room was crowded with people down to the very railing that -separated the attorneys’ tables from the crowd. - -The judge, a tall man, with a long, mild, unhealthy face, sat on the -bench. To the right of him and a step below was the clerk. The jury -were in chairs along the wall to the left of the bench. And between -the bench and jurors sat the witness. - -The prosecuting attorney was before his table, a little to the right -of the first step to the bench. There were law books on his table, -and two polka-dot handkerchiefs lying loosely on some papers. The -man was no longer concerned with these articles. He sat back from -the table, his fingers linked together, his face lifted as in some -reflection. - -Farther to the right, in two chairs against the railing, were the -prisoners. One, a big old man with a splotched, dissipated face and -his hair cropped close to his skull. Folds of fat lay along the base -of his neck, partly concealed by a white silk handkerchief held in -place under his chin by a long old-fashioned garnet pin. His -companion was a little, thin, fox-faced man who moved nervously in -his chair. - -The most striking figure in the court room was the attorney for the -prisoners. - -He sat between them, a chair’s width in advance, before his table. -There was nothing whatever on this table except an ink pot, two pens -and a big blotting sheet. There was also a thick pad of foolscap -paper provided for the convenience of the attorney in taking any -note of the testimony, but there was no word written on it. - -The lawyer was a huge bulk of a man. He sat relaxed in his chair. -His thick, black hair was brushed smoothly. It was of an oily, -glossy blackness. His big, thick features were putty-colored, as -though the man’s skin had no vitality. His eyes were very nearly -closed; his mouth sagged open, the thick lips holding a cigar that -was not lighted. - -Every detail of his dress was immaculate and arranged with extreme -care. - -The man was perhaps sixty, but, in the big relaxed body and heavy -face, age was indefinite. He now took the cigar out of his mouth and -laid it down on the table. He moved like one coming out of a dream. - -He had not immediately taken charge of the witness when the -prosecutor had released him for examination. But now, finally, at -the judge’s words, “Proceed, Colonel,” he at last looked up. - -“You are an expert detective, Mr. Barkman.” - -The voice had a strange dwindling whine as though it came from some -cavernous depth in the man’s immense body. - -The witness looked about with a vague smile. “Well, Colonel,” he -said, “I have had some experience.” - -“You have had a great deal of experience. You were Chief of Police, -then you set up a detective agency. You have had a lot of experience -in criminal investigation. And you have usually been right.” - -This was generous treatment when the reverse was indicated. - -The detective was not conspicuous for the confidence of the -community in a profession too often subject to cloud. His employment -in the bank affairs had followed from his intimate association with -Halloway, an association, as all knew, resulting from the handling -of a questionable matter in the banker’s private life. - -The bank did not require a retained detective. - -Was this man’s sinecure gratitude in the banker, or a sort of -blackmail? Here was material with which a reflection on the witness -could have been assembled. But the attorney chose rather to admit -the man’s superior mental acumen in criminal affairs. - -The witness moved in his chair. “Well, Colonel,” he said, “I try to -be right.” - -“And you have nearly always been right,” continued the attorney. “In -the Deal case you maintained that the decedent had not been killed -by a bullet fired from a cellar grating at a hundred yards along the -street east of the man’s window, and it was afterward shown that the -trajectory of a bullet fired from that point would have crashed into -an electric light midway of the distance. And in the Littlewood -case, you said the evidences of a struggle were manufactured, -because the slant of wood fibers in the broken window sash showed -that the pressure had been exerted from within the room and not from -without.” - -The voice ascended into a lighter drawl with a facetious note in it. - -“You have had a lot of experience, and you have had a lot of work, -but you have not got rich at it. You would like to be rich, wouldn’t -you?” - -The witness laughed. “I suppose everybody would like to be rich, -Colonel.” - -The attorney smiled, a big, loose, vacuous sort of smile. - -“Old Bill,” he said, “here behind me, and Lyin’ Louie would like to -be rich, but they are more likely to be hanged.” He laughed again. -“You are not afraid of being hanged, Mr. Barkman?” - -Everybody laughed. The eccentricities of this attorney were one of -the attractions of the court room. They were good-naturedly -overlooked by the officers of the court, who had been associated -with the man for a lifetime in an old-fashioned civilization, -leisurely and considerate. - -The attorney made a gesture as of one putting by a pleasantry of the -moment. - -“This was a very ingeniously constructed crime?” - -The witness was now in an excellent humor. “I’d say it was, -Colonel,” he replied. “It was slick enough to fool me.” - -“Ah!” The attorney continued. “I had forgotten that. It was your -theory in the beginning that the president of the Trader’s Bank, Mr. -Halloway, had accomplished the robbery himself, and, afterward, -dropped dead in his own house. He lay on the floor, when the body -was discovered, by the side of the library table. It was thought -that in falling his head had struck the heavy carved foot of the -table, causing the injury to the skull that resulted in death. The -physicians first called in were inclined to agree with that theory. -The immense strain of a criminal adventure might have caused the -accident after the man had returned to his house. Emotional -cataclysms have been known to bring on attacks of acute indigestion -or the rupture of a defective heart.” - -“Sure, Colonel,” the witness assented, “that’s what the thing looked -like; and I was fooled about it; I admit it. There was no evidence -of a struggle in the room. It was only after Doctor North said the -man had been killed by a blow, probably with the poker, that I got -onto the right track.” - -The attorney made a drawling assent. - -“Yes,” he said, “that was a bad find.” - -His voice went again into a strange laugh. - -“It was mighty near a hangin’ find for Old Bill and Lyin’ Louie! You -got on better then, Mr. Barkman. You found two polka-dot -handkerchiefs that had been stuffed down into a vase in the library, -and then you found Old Bill and Lyin’ Louie. Now you are goin’ to -hang ’em, I reckon.” - -There was a suppressed giggle in the court room. It was not shared -by the prisoners. - -The big, old man of the close-cropped skull plucked the attorney by -the sleeve and spoke in an audible whisper. - -“Looka here, Colonel,” he said, “I thought you was defendin’ us.” - -The attorney replied, a higher note in his deep drawl. - -“Yes,” he said, “that’s what I am doing. But you’ve got no sense, -Bill! You never had any sense. If you had had any sense you would -not have been in the pen-i-ten-tia-ry house. There was no reason for -you going to the pen-i-ten-tia-ry. Old Lansky tried to make a -bank-cracker out of you—I was in the cell with him on the night he -was hanged—he said you had no sense. He said you would never make -anything but a fence, and a damned poor fence ... that’s what he -said, Bill.” - -He interrupted the long narrative by getting ponderously on his -feet. He reached out and took the two handkerchiefs from the table -of the prosecuting attorney and laid them down on his own. - -Then he addressed the witness. - -“Now, Mr. Barkman,” he said, “I’d like you to tell us precisely what -you think happened on the night of the twenty-seventh. I want you to -reconstruct this crime for us. I want you to show us just how Old -Bill and Lyin’ Louie went about this thing.” - -The witness moved as though rearranging himself in his chair. He -shifted his shoulder a little to one side and he looked around -toward the jury. - -“Well, Colonel,” he said, “I think I can tell you just exactly what -happened.” - -He was not expecting to be interrupted. But he was interrupted by a -sort of explosive assent. - -The big attorney was looking at him, resting his huge body on both -hands, on the table. The witness was for a moment disconcerted, then -he went on: - -“It was like this,” he said, “as I figure it out. Everybody knows -that Old Bill was a bank-cracker.” - -Again there was a sort of booming interruption. - -“He was never a good bank-cracker,” the lawyer exploded; “he was a -poor bank-cracker. He was such a damn poor bank-cracker that he got -into the pen-i-ten-tia-ry house!” - -The witness laughed. - -“Anyway, Colonel,” he said, “when Louie drifted in here, the two of -them fixed up this game and they carried it out slick.” - -Again the lawyer introduced an interruption. - -“Now, that is just what I am anxious to know, Mr. Barkman. I am -anxious to know precisely what they did and how they did it. I want -to know, in detail, everything that happened that night.” - -“Well,” replied the witness, “this is the way I figure it out, -Colonel, and I think it’s straight dope: these men fixed up their -plan and Louie hung around until he found that the bank president -was alone in his house. That was the night his family went to the -Springs. It was in the newspapers. Everybody knew it. Then about -midnight they went up to Mr. Halloway’s house.” - -“And how did they get into the house?” inquired the lawyer. - -“That was no trouble,” said the witness. “They rang the bell. They -wanted Mr. Halloway to come down just as he did come down, with his -dressing gown on, like he was found dead in the library.” - -The attorney had changed his posture. He was idly fingering the two -polka-dot handkerchiefs. - -The witness went on: - -“When Mr. Halloway opened the door, one of these crooks jammed a -pistol against him. They shut the door and marched him into the -library. And there they told him what they were going to do. They -held him up, right there in the library, and forced him to give them -the combination to the bank safe.” - -“And how were they to know,” inquired the attorney, “that the -combination which the banker gave them was the correct one? Would -not his impulse be—would not any one’s impulse be—to give an -incorrect combination of figures?” - -The witness laughed. - -“Old Bill would know the trick,” he said. “They would ask the banker -to give the combination. They would write it down as he gave it; -then they would wait a little while and ask him again, and if he had -made it up, he would not be able to remember. That’s an old trick. -It was done in the North Hampton bank robbery, where they burned the -cashier’s feet for lying.” - -The big attorney swung around toward his clients. - -“Did you ever hear of that, Bill?” - -“No,” said the prisoner, “I never did.” - -Again the attorney laughed that vague, futile laugh. - -“I believe you, Bill,” he said, “although nobody else does—I’m paid -to believe you.” - -He turned back to the witness. - -“What happened then?” - -The big prisoner with the folded white handkerchief for a cravat was -mumbling incoherently. - -The attorney paid no attention. - -He looked at the witness. “Go on, Mr. Barkman,” he said. “What did -they do next?” - -“Well,” said the witness, “when they had got the correct combination -written down, they put a gun against Mr. Halloway and made him go -over to the telephone. They made him call up the watchman at the -bank and tell him just what he has sworn here Mr. Halloway told him -that night: that his child was sick and the doctor wanted him to -come right home. Mr. Halloway had to say just what they told him to -say, because there they stood with a gun against him. They could -hear every word he said. The bank watchman asked him what he could -do about leaving the bank, and they made Mr. Halloway say to him -over the telephone, to go ahead out to his house at once and that he -himself would drive over in his car and stay in the bank until the -watchman got back; then they hung up the receiver.” - -The lawyer put a query: - -“How do you suppose they were standing while Mr. Halloway was -calling the bank?” - -The witness got up. - -“Mr. Halloway was of course facing the telephone and the man with -the gun was standing behind him with the muzzle jammed against his -back. That would be the way they would be standing.” - -He was about to sit down, but the lawyer interrupted him: - -“Just a minute.” - -He turned to the prisoner sitting on his left. - -“Louie,” he said, “I want you to go over to Mr. Barkman and show us -just how you were holding that pistol against the banker’s back -while he was talking over the telephone. We’ll say Mr. Barkman’s the -banker.” - -Everybody in the court room was astonished at this slip of the -attorney. - -It would appear that he, like every one else, was convinced of the -guilt of the prisoners, and that this conviction had thus -unconsciously appeared in his words. - -The man seemed not to realize what he had said. But the prisoner saw -it at once. - -“Colonel,” he objected, “how can I show him how it was done when I -didn’t do it?” - -The attorney made an exasperated gesture. - -“Oh, Louie,” he said, “you are such a liar that nobody believes -anything you say. Do what I tell you.” - -Then he stooped over the prisoner. - -“Just a moment, Judge,” he explained; “I have got to encourage my -client.” - -He whispered something in the man’s ear. - -The prisoner rose and went over to the witness; he took him by the -shoulders and turned him around toward the judge, so that his back -was to the jury. He moved him until he got him in precisely the -position which he wished and then he thrust his long forefinger in -the man’s back, with the other fingers doubled up. - -“How’s that, Colonel?” he said. - -“Well,” said the attorney, “what do you think about it, Louie? Do -you think it’s O.K.?” - -“Sure,” said the prisoner. - -Then he came back and sat down in the chair. - -The whole court room was amused and astonished. It was as good as a -theater. - -The attorney returned to his examination of the witness. - -“Proceed, Mr. Barkman,” he said. “What did they do next? Did they -make Mr. Halloway go over to the bank? His car was seen there and he -was, himself, seen going in, by some persons passing at the end of -the street. He was alone. How did they make him go over there alone, -accomplish the robbery, and come back to his house?” - -Again the witness smiled shrewdly. - -“They didn’t make him do it,” he said. “Old Bill there, he’s about -the size of Mr. Halloway.” - -He turned about to the jurors. - -“Mr. Halloway was a man, as you all know, about as big as I am. Old -Bill put on the banker’s hat and his long light overcoat. The -runabout stood under the porte-cochère outside. He went out, got in -this car and drove it over to the bank. He had the banker’s key to -the door and he had the combination to the safe, so he went in, -opened the safe, picked out the money and brought it back with him.” - -The attorney suddenly interrupted. - -“Now, there,” he said, “right there. Why did they take only big -bills and not smaller currency? There were twenty thousand dollars -taken in big bills—five-hundred and one-thousand-dollar bills. Why -did they take that and not the smaller currency?” - -“I can explain that,” said the witness. “You see they had to hide -this money after they got it—they had to look out for that; they -might have to move pretty quickly. They could not trust anybody to -keep it for them and they were afraid to conceal it, so they would -have to carry it around with them. That’s the reason they took big -bills.” - -“Ah,” said the attorney, “I understand it now. It puzzled me a lot. -I could not see what they meant by taking big bills and leaving the -rest of the money; but it’s clear now.” - -He swung suddenly around to the prisoners. “Louie,” he said, “you -never told me that.” - -The creature grinned, his face broken into a queer extended smile. - -But the big prisoner to the right showed evidence of no such -conciliatory mood. - -He got up. - -“Judge,” he said, “we’re bein’ double crossed. I paid the Colonel, -here, a hundred dollars in honest money to defend us, and just look -what he’s doin’ to us.” - -Everybody laughed. - -The lawyer turned about and spoke to the man as he might have spoken -to an impertinent child. - -“Sit down, Bill,” he said. “Louie knows that I am making a proper -defense, don’t you, Louie?” - -The little fox-faced man continued to grin. But he said nothing. - -“Now, Bill,” the lawyer went on gently as to a child, “Louie’s got -some sense; not much. He learned how to open registered envelopes, -when he started in to be a mail clerk, by watching the post-office -inspectors rolling a pen handle under the flap; and he learned to -feel for money in the envelope before he opened it. The post-office -inspectors taught him that. Louie had sense enough to learn it. He -learned it well. He can tell the feel of a bill through the thickest -envelope that was ever mailed. But you are a fool, Bill; Lansky told -me that. Nobody but a fool, after he robbed the Norristown bank, -would have hidden the money in the loft of an abandoned schoolhouse, -with a trail of cinders leading from the window up to the trap in -the ceiling. Anybody but a fool would have wiped his feet off before -he climbed in the window.” - -The whole court room was convulsed with laughter; even the judge -smiled. - -Nothing could have been more of the essence of comedy than these -passages between the attorney and his client. - -The big lawyer turned again to the witness. “Now, Mr. Barkman,” he -said, “what did they do when Bill got back with the money?” - -“They finished the job,” replied the witness. - -“Well,” said the attorney, “what did they do?” - -“It is clear what they did,” replied the detective; “they killed Mr. -Halloway with the fire poker, then they hid the two handkerchiefs -they had over their faces when they came in, and then they got out -of town.” - -The witness sat back in his chair as though he had finished with his -testimony. - -The big attorney stood up. The whole aspect of the man, as by the -snap of a switch, had undergone a transformation. The huge bulk of -him was vital. His heavy slack face was firm. - -“Mr. Barkman,” he said, “why did the men who killed Hiram Halloway -wear no masks on their faces?” - -“They did wear masks on their faces—they’re on the table before -you.” - -The lawyer did not look down at the articles before him. His voice -was now hard and accurate like the point of a steel tool. - -“Take it as a hypothetical question then. Suppose they wore no -masks. What would that fact indicate?” - -The attorney for the State rose. - -“I object,” he said. “There must be evidence in the case tending to -support the assumed facts in a hypothetical question.” - -“The evidence shall be presently indicated,” replied the lawyer. - -The judge passed on the objection at once. - -“The Colonel promises to point out the evidence later. He may go on; -the witness has been introduced as an expert.” - -The lawyer again faced the man in the chair. He repeated his -question. - -The witness seemed doubtful. - -“I don’t know,” he said. - -“You don’t know! Reflect, Mr. Barkman. Would it not mean that the -person or persons who accomplished this criminal act felt that they -were so well known to Hiram Halloway that no ordinary disguise could -conceal their identity?” - -The witness did not immediately reply, and the lawyer went on: - -“And is not this the reason why Hiram Halloway was killed?” - -“Why he was killed!” repeated the man in the chair. - -“Yes, precisely the reason. One must credit even a common thief with -some intelligence. No one uselessly adds the crime of murder to a -lesser crime. Masked assassins wholly unknown to the decedent would -have gagged and bound him. It would have answered their purpose as -well. But not the purpose of a known, unmasked assassin. Safety for -him lay only in the banker’s death.” - -The attorney added: - -“That death was so unavoidably necessary—to cover the identity of -the assassin—that the evidences of an accidental death were arranged -with elaborate care. Is it not true?” - -The witness had been twisting his feet about; his face uncertain. -Now it took on a dogged look. - -“It’s true that the thing was a slick job.” - -The attorney took one step toward the witness. “Now, Mr. Barkman,” -he said, “can you tell me why assassins who had so carefully staged -this tragedy to appear accidental should leave behind them two -handkerchiefs, with eye-holes cut in them, thrust carelessly into a -vase on a table? They might be found, and that discovery would, at -once, negative the theory of accidental death.” - -“They wanted to get rid of the masks.” - -“But if they wore no masks? Is it not inconceivable that they would -have placed them there to jeopardize all that they had so carefully -planned?” - -The witness was watching the attorney, the dogged look deepening in -his face. - -“If they didn’t wear masks, of course they wouldn’t have put them -there—it would have been a fool thing.” - -The attorney moved out closer to the witness. The point, as one -might say, of his voice seemed to sharpen. - -“Now, Mr. Barkman, if these masks were not put into the vase on the -table by the assassins, then they were put there by somebody else; -and if they were not put there on the night of the robbery, they -were put there later; and if they were put there by some one later, -it was one who had access to the house later; and if they were put -there by one having access to the house after it was established the -banker did not die from a natural cause, then they were put there to -deceive.” - -He paused, and his final sentence descended like a hammer: - -“And the deception in presenting false evidence of _two_ men would -consist in the fact that but _one_ man had, in fact, accomplished -the crime.” - -The prosecuting attorney was on his feet. - -“Your honor,” he said, “this is all built up on the theory that the -assassins did not wear masks. There is no evidence to support such a -theory. The handkerchiefs that the assassins took off of their faces -and hid in the vase are here in the case for everybody to see.” - -The attorney for the prisoners put out his hand and took up the two -polka-dot handkerchiefs which were lying on the table before him. - -“It is the cleverest criminal,” he said, “who always makes the most -striking blunder. The accomplished assassin of Lord William Russell -carried away the knife with which his victim was supposed to have -cut his own throat. When the human intelligence, set on murder, -undertakes to falsify the order of events, the absurdity of its -error increases with its cunning.” - -He shook the two handkerchiefs out and stretched them in his -fingers. - -“They are here for everybody to see,” he echoed, “and if everybody -will look, he will see that these two handkerchiefs were never tied -around the faces of assassins; he will see—everybody—that, while -these handkerchiefs have eye-holes cut in them, the corners of them -are as smooth and uncreased as though they had been ironed; if they -had been tied around the faces of assassins, they would show the -strain and the fold of the knot!” - -He turned now toward the judge. - -“Your Honor,” he said, “the elaborate ingenuity of this whole -criminal plan is utterly beyond the feeble intelligence of these -prisoners. It is the work of some competent person; some person well -known to the decedent; some person who knew a disguise to be -useless; some one who had access to the house and was able to set up -the evidence of a second theory after the first had failed—such an -one was the assassin of Hiram Halloway.” - -There was absolute silence in the court room. The witness sat -gripping the arms of his chair, his face distended as with some -physical pressure. - -The big attorney, at the end of his significant pause, added a final -sentence: - -“And now, that we have found the money, we can name the man!” - -The prosecuting attorney, utterly astonished, put the question, the -answer to which the whole court room awaited: - -“Found the money! Where?” - -The big lawyer sat down in his chair; his huge body relaxed; his -face assumed its vague placidity and his voice descended into its -old, deep-seated, dwindling whine: - -“It’s sewed up in the lining of Mr. Barkman’s coat. Lyin’ Louie felt -it when he posed him for the jury.” - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - The “Mysterious Stranger” Defense - - -“Now, Ellen,” said the attorney, “I want you to tell us precisely -why you called to me when you ran out of the house—why you said, -‘Save me, Colonel.’” - -“I was scared,” replied the witness. “I didn’t know what was going -to happen to me.” - -“You thought the same thing that had happened to the lawyer, Mr. -Collander, might also happen to you.” - -“I don’t know, Colonel. I was scared.” - -It was the third day of the criminal trial. Colonel Armant had put -the prisoner on the stand in her own defense. It seemed a desperate -hazard. A woman remains an experiment as a witness. The old experts -about the court room were pretty nearly a unit against the -experiment in this case. The prisoner was too much of an enigma; one -of those little, faded, blonde women, with a placid, inscrutable -face—capable of everything or of nothing, as one chose to assume it. - -The big attorney went on. - -“You did know that something had happened to Mr. Collander?” - -“I heard the shots—yes, I knew something had happened to him.” - -“Just a moment, on this feature,” continued the attorney. “You do -not agree with the chief of police about the number of shots fired; -you thought there were three shots; one, and then two together, or -almost together?” - -The prosecuting attorney interrupted. - -“If you are going to lead the witness, Colonel,” he said, “why don’t -you lead her to some purpose? Why don’t you lead her to say there -was only _one_ shot?” - -The huge counsel for the prisoner put out his hand toward the -speaker, in the gesture of one who brushes aside a disturbing fly, -but he did not otherwise move in his chair. His whole body was in -repose. He spoke without moving a muscle. - -“Now, Ellen,” he said, “the prosecuting attorney makes it a point -against you that you were expecting something to happen. What do you -say about that? You don’t deny it, do you?” - -“Well, Colonel,” replied the witness, “I thought something might -happen to Mr. Collander. I thought it all along.” - -“Then you did expect it?” - -“Yes,” replied the witness, “I suppose you could say I did expect -it.” - -The attorney rose. - -“That brings us to another point made against you.” - -He took up a weapon lying on the table before him. It was a -thirty-two-caliber cylinder revolver of the usual type. - -“You can identify this weapon?” the attorney asked. - -“It is the revolver that Mr. Collander kept in his bedroom.” - -“Now, Ellen,” said the attorney, “the State has introduced testimony -to show that you took this pistol to the gunsmith, Mr. Parks, and -had him clean it and load it for you. That was on Tuesday, a week -before Mr. Collander’s death. The prosecuting attorney calls on me -to explain that incident on some theory, if I can, which will be -inconsistent with his theory that you thereby provided yourself with -a weapon in order to kill Mr. Collander.” He paused. “We are not -concerned with anybody’s theory, Ellen, but what is the truth about -it?” - -“I was afraid, Colonel, just as I have said. I thought there ought -to be a pistol in the house that would shoot.” - -The attorney paused a moment as in reflection; then he went on. - -“That’s the second point the State makes against you. There is still -another; let us get them all together so we can tell the jury -precisely what they mean. The prosecuting attorney has shown, here, -by a number of witnesses, that you sometimes threatened the lawyer, -Mr. Collander; that you have been known to quarrel with him, and -that you have more than once said you would kill him. Now, isn’t -that true?” - -The witness hesitated a moment. She looked vaguely about the court -room; presently her eyes rested on the floor. - -“Yes,” she said, “it’s all true; but I was not the only person who -wanted to kill him.” She hesitated. “What I said was talk—just talk; -the other people who wanted to kill him meant it.” - -The big attorney lifted his body with a little gesture. - -“The fact is, Ellen, that you were always fond of him.” - -The witness continued to look down at the floor. - -“Yes,” she said, “too fond of him, Colonel.” - -The attorney seemed to draw his big body together. He stood up -before his table. - -“Now,” he went on, “let us get all the bad features of this case -together. You say other persons wished this man’s death. What makes -you say that, Ellen?” - -“Well, Colonel,” replied the witness, “that’s pretty hard for me to -answer. Everybody knows that Mr. Collander had a lot of enemies, a -lot of people didn’t like him; a lot of people who had just as much -reason to threaten to kill him as I had, and they must have meant it -when I didn’t mean it.” - -“Ellen,” said the attorney, “let us try to be a little more precise -about this. You say that there were persons who wished to kill the -lawyer, Collander; that you thought he was in danger, and that you -had this weapon cleaned and loaded so he would have some means of -defending himself.” - -The prosecuting attorney interrupted. - -“Just a moment, Colonel,” he said. “The witness hasn’t said anything -of the sort.” - -The attorney made an irrelevant gesture. - -“Perhaps not entirely in those words,” he said, “but it is the -substance and intent of the answers. I shall permit her to reply for -herself. What do you say about that, Ellen?” - -The witness answered at once. - -“That’s it,” she said, “that’s exactly it. I thought Mr. Collander -was in danger of being killed, and I thought he ought to have a -pistol that was loaded and would shoot. That’s why I took it to Mr. -Parks.” - -The big attorney nodded in assent. - -“Now, what made you think that the decedent was in danger of his -life? You must have had some reason for it?” - -“Well,” said the witness, “people were always coming to see Mr. -Collander. I have often heard him in a quarrel with people who came -in to see him. His study opens out on the porch; they sometimes came -to the porch and knocked on the door.” - -“They didn’t always knock on the door, did they?” inquired the -attorney. “Sometimes they called him?” - -The witness looked at the lawyer as though she did not precisely -follow his question. - -“Yes,” she said, “sometimes they called him.” - -“And then they would be standing down on the ground,” continued the -attorney. “The porch before the door is narrow; that would put them -below Mr. Collander if he were standing in the door.” - -“Yes, sir,” said the witness, “the ground is lower than the porch; -anybody standing on the ground would be below Mr. Collander.” - -Again the prosecuting attorney interrupted. - -“What’s that go to do with it?” he said. “Are you going to drag in -the ‘mysterious stranger’ defense?” - -The big lawyer swung around on his feet. - -“Your Honor,” he said, addressing the judge, “I object to this -expression. It is an unfair expression. It has no place in a -judicial trial of which the sole object is to arrive at the truth. -The prosecuting attorney has no right to undertake to prejudice the -prisoner before the jury. That is an ungenerous expression. If the -prisoner did not kill Mr. Collander, some one else did kill him, and -if we don’t know, precisely, who that other person was we cannot -dismiss him as mythical, as a ‘mysterious stranger,’ as though he -were a figment of the imagination.” - -The judge did not reply. He was accustomed to these passages between -the attorneys, staged always for effect, and he took no part in them -if he could avoid it. - -The prosecuting attorney replied with ill-concealed irony. - -“If the prisoner did not kill him!” he echoed. - -“Quite so,” replied the Colonel, “and for your benefit, sir, I will -say that I propose to show, in a moment, that she not only did not -kill him, but that she could not have killed him.” - -The prosecuting attorney made a vague gesture in the air with his -extended fingers. The aspect of irony remained. - -“Go to it,” he said. - -“Now, Ellen,” continued the attorney, “what made you think there was -some one outside of the house on the ground below the porch who -called Mr. Collander to the door?” - -The prosecuting attorney was on his feet before the sentence was -ended. - -“Your Honor,” he said, “this thing is ridiculous. Colonel Armant has -started in at the end of this case to set up one of the old stock -defenses. Your Honor knows ’em; everybody knows ’em; they are the -last resort of the guilty; the ‘alibi’ and the ‘mysterious -stranger.’ He could not use the alibi because everybody saw this -woman on the spot. Not even Colonel Armant with all his acuteness -could get in an alibi. As it happened, Robert McNagel, the chief of -police, was out at the engine house just below Collander’s -residence. Colonel Armant was there; they were sitting in the engine -house when they heard the shots. McNagel ran with the Colonel to -Collander’s house; they were the first persons on the ground. -McNagel was there when the woman ran out of the house and when she -shouted, ‘Save me, Colonel.’ He went after her and brought her back, -so the alibi had to be given up. The only thing left is the -‘mysterious stranger.’” - -The prosecuting attorney laughed. - -“Colonel Armant has to get something to make a defense out of. We -have shown that this woman had a motive for killing Collander. It is -the oldest motive in the world. She lived there as housekeeper. I -don’t say that other persons did not want to kill him. I have not -undertaken to mislead the court about him. Everybody knows our -brother Collander was a pretty gay old dog who took a lot of chances -on somebody killing him, no doubt. And somebody did kill him, but it -was not a ‘mysterious stranger.’ We have shown who it was. It was -the person who had a motive to kill him, the opportunity to kill -him, and who not only threatened to do it, but who had prepared a -weapon with which to do it. Here are the elements that the law -requires; time, place, opportunity, motive and conduct. Why, she as -good as said it when McNagel ran after her to bring her back into -the house. It was lucky McNagel was on the ground.” - -The big attorney made an explosive assent. - -“It is lucky,” he said, “that McNagel was on the ground. It’s the -very luckiest thing that ever happened.” - -He turned about toward the prosecuting attorney, now returning to -his chair. - -“It is true,” he said, “I was sitting in the engine house with -McNagel when we heard the shots. He ran with me and we were the -first persons on the ground. And that reminds me, I want to ask -McNagel a question or two just here.” - -He looked around. The chief of police was sitting in a chair inside -the rail, just behind the prosecuting attorney. - -He made a motion as though about to rise. - -“Don’t get up,” said the lawyer. “You can answer where you are. Now, -Bobby,” he said, “we heard two shots close together. They were very -close together, were they not?” - -“Yes, Colonel,” replied the chief of police, “the two shots were -fired in rapid succession.” - -“But there was interval enough,” said the lawyer, “for us to be -certain that there were two shots.” - -“That’s right, Colonel,” replied the chief, “they were close -together, but there were two shots; and that was confirmed by the -fact that the pistol on the floor had been twice discharged; there -were two empty cartridges in it when we picked it up. It had been -fired twice.” - -“Just a moment, Bobby,” the lawyer interrupted. “I want to be -absolutely certain about this; there could be no mistake about the -fact that you heard two shots; isn’t that true?” - -“Yes, it’s true,” said the chief, “we heard two shots, there -couldn’t be any mistake about it.” - -“Sometimes,” said the colonel, “it happens that shots are fired so -close together that they make one report. I mean several shots may -be fired so rapidly that at a little distance one hears but one -report, or so confuses all of the reports that they appear to make -but one; isn’t that true?” - -“Yes, it’s true,” replied the chief of police. “It happened when -Jones was killed over at the power plant, and it happened in our -fight with the Lett burglars; I could not say how many times the man -had shot at me. I thought he shot at me three times, but he must -have shot at me five or six times, for every chamber in his pistol -was empty.” - -“Ah!” said the colonel. “Now, Bobby, that’s just exactly what I -wanted to find out. Sometimes shots are fired so close together that -the most experienced person—a competent person like yourself—could -not say whether there was one report or several reports.” - -The chief of police took hold of the lapels of his coat in either -hand and looked at the attorney. - -“You have got it right, Colonel. But you are not trying to make out -that only one shot was fired on the night Collander was killed, are -you?” - -The lawyer’s face took on an expression of immense surprise. - -“Oh, Bobby,” he said, “of course not. What I particularly wish to -establish, make certain, is that there were two shots close -together; but certainly two shots. Now, isn’t that absolutely the -fact, Bobby? There may have been more shots fired, simultaneously -with these—there may have been three shots or four shots—but beyond -question, beyond doubt, there were at least two. We heard them; you -heard two shots; isn’t that right, Bobby?” - -“That’s right,” replied the chief of police, “there were two, sure.” - -“Bobby,” continued the lawyer, “you are chief of police; you and I -were the first persons on the ground. You know more about this than -anybody else, and your statement about it is worth more than the -statements of all other persons put together; now, listen to me -carefully and correct me if I make any mistake. Isn’t this what -happened? You and I, and some of the boys, were sitting in the -engine house; we were talking; I was telling you about the Baker -case—strangest case in the world—when we heard these shots; one -right after the other. I do not know how many, but two certainly. -You and I ran up to the Collander residence which stands just across -the street from the engine house. As we went in, the prisoner here, -Ellen, ran out, and as she ran out she shouted ‘Save me, Colonel.’ -You ran after her to catch her and I went on into the house. By that -time Scalley, on the route out here, had come up; you turned the -woman over to him and came back. I was standing in the door that led -into Collander’s study.” - -The Colonel stopped. He looked intently at the chief of police. - -“Now, Bobby,” he said, “you won’t mind if I say that I have always -taken a great deal of interest in you. When you were first appointed -I tried to give you the benefit of my experience. I pointed out what -ought to be done when a crime was discovered. You are a capable man, -Bobby; you saw what I meant and you have profited by it. You know -what to do when you get on the scene of a crime. You know how -important it is that every precaution shall be taken to preserve the -scene of a criminal act, in every detail, precisely as it happened -when the crime was discovered; isn’t that so, Bobby?” - -“Yes, it’s so. I don’t deny that you put me on to a lot of things -and, also, I have learned some for myself. Anyhow, that’s right. The -first thing to do is to see that everything stays just the way it -is.” - -“Precisely!” replied the attorney. “Now, Bobby, isn’t it true that -Collander was lying on the floor dead, that his pistol was lying on -the floor beside him—two chambers in it empty—and all doors and -windows were closed? There were bookcases around the room with glass -doors; these were all closed. Now, the first thing you did, Bobby, -was to take every precaution to see that all articles in the room -should remain precisely as they were found; you put seals on all -doors and windows, on all drawers of the tables, and on the doors of -the bookcases, so that they would remain closed precisely as they -were found. You also carefully chalked on the floor the position of -the articles that had to be removed—such, for example, as the weapon -and the decedent’s body; isn’t that precisely true?” - -“Yes, it’s true, Colonel, that’s what I did.” - -“Now,” said the lawyer, “from the appearance of the table in that -room was it not evident that Collander was at work on a brief—there -was a pad on the table before him, and the papers in the case of the -Bridge Company against the Western Railroad? We know that he was at -work on this brief because the case was coming on for a hearing, and -because his notes on the pad were in ink and the ink was not dry; -isn’t that true?” - -“Yes,” replied the chief of police, “that’s true.” - -“Every paragraph written on the pad,” the attorney continued, “was -part of an opinion from a U. S. Report. It was half of a long -syllabus of the opinion; he had it about half written out. As I say, -the ink was not yet dry on it; it still blurred a little when one -rubbed one’s finger on it. Now, we see what the man was doing. He -was sitting at the table copying this syllabus when he was -interrupted; isn’t that true, Bobby?” - -“It must have been that way,” said the chief of police. “Collander -must have been sitting there when the thing began.” - -The Colonel continued. - -“Collander was killed by a bullet that entered the chest and ranged -upward. It was found against the shoulder blade, so flattened that -no one could say precisely the caliber of the bullet; isn’t that -true?” - -The prosecuting attorney interrupted. - -“There’s nothing in that, Colonel,” he said. “The surgeons say that -the bulk of the bullet was about the size of a thirty-two caliber; -there was the pistol on the floor from which it had been fired.” - -The big attorney made a gesture with his hand. “Let us adhere -precisely to the truth,” he said, “and the truth is that the bullet -was so battered that no one can say accurately what caliber it was. -Doctor Hull says that he thinks it was a thirty-two, but he also -says that he does not know.” - -The prosecuting attorney persisted. - -“But there on the floor was the pistol from which two bullets had -been fired.” - -“Ah!” said the attorney. “Now, we have got to the very point by -which the innocence of this prisoner is established. If two bullets -were fired in that room, with the doors and windows closed, and one -of them killed Collander, where did the other one go that did not -kill him?” - -He turned to the chief of police. He advanced toward him. His voice -became low—became confidential—as of one who discusses a secret, -covert, hidden matter with another. - -“Now, Bobby,” he said, “I directed you to go over that room from top -to bottom carefully, every inch of it, precisely as it stood after -you had sealed the doors and windows. For what purpose? To -determine, Bobby, what became of that other bullet. A bullet cannot -vanish. It cannot disappear. It has to hit something. Did you find -what it hit?” - -The chief of police moved in his chair. His figure lost some aspect -of its assurance. He became perplexed. His voice took on a sort of -apology. He looked at the judge, at the prosecuting attorney, at the -jury. - -“I have to tell the truth about it,” he said finally. “I couldn’t -find where that other bullet hit. I never could find it.” - -“You went over everything in the room, didn’t you?” continued the -Colonel. “You went over it with Doctor Hull and with Scalley. You -went over every inch of it.” - -“Yes,” replied the chief of police, “we went over every inch of it.” - -“And you didn’t find the mark of the bullet?” - -The chief of police addressed the judge. - -“No, your Honor, we couldn’t find it. It’s a mystery what became of -that other bullet. The person who shot at Collander must have missed -him the first time because only one bullet hit him and there were -two shots fired. I heard ’em, and there were two empty cartridges in -the pistol. Whoever killed him must have shot at him and missed him. -But if they did, that bullet had to hit something in the room; and -it never hit anything in the room!” - -“Ah!” The attorney’s voice returned to its normal volume. “You -couldn’t be mistaken about that, Bobby?” - -“No,” the chief of police answered, “there can’t be any mistake -about it. I went over it too carefully, too many times; there’s no -bullet mark in that room.” - -He said it with an energy of final decision that dismissed the -question conclusively. - -The court room was now awake. The packed audience leaned forward. It -had now a deep, new interest; the interest of a doubt; the interest -of a mystery. - -Colonel Armant closed his case at this point. - -He had, now, the two elements for which every attorney labors in a -desperate criminal defense; a doubt and an involving mystery. The -doubt he would build up in his argument, and for the mystery he had -the solution ready. - -But he was too wise, too greatly a master of effect, to disclose -that solution before the proper dramatic moment. He had no intention -to permit the attorney for the State to discount his explanation in -the opening speech to the jury. - -It was after that, when in his argument he had prepared the way, -when his defense had been carefully built up, and the state of -feeling in the court room—tense and expectant as before a closed -door, that he uncovered the solution, like one who, with a -magnificent gesture, flings that closed door open. - -McNagel could find no bullet mark in the room, because there had -been no shot in the room. - -The assassin, on that night, had called Collander to the door; he -had gone with his own pistol in his hand. And there with the door -open, looking out on to the porch, the shooting had occurred. - -It had been an instantaneous duel. - -Collander had fired twice and the assassin simultaneously with the -last report of the pistol. It was this third shot that the prisoner -had distinguished. - -How clear it was! - -Collander was fearful of this thing. He was looking for it to -happen; and so he went to the door with the weapon in his hand, and -he fired on the instant the menace appeared. - -The lawyer reënacted the dramatic scene; the man feeling the impact -of the bullet, sprang back, closing the door, then he staggered, the -pistol fell out of his hand, he tried to reach his chair, but the -wound was mortal, and he lurched, falling behind it, as they had -found him. - -The confirmatory facts were now conspicuous; no mark of a bullet in -the room, and the range of the bullet upward from the assassin -standing on the ground below the decedent! - -It was an impressive piece of tragic acting. And under its vivid -dominance the jury believed themselves to look on at the very act of -murder. They saw the thing as it had happened, and the stamp of the -attorney’s vigor impressed it as with a die. - -No array of subsequent argument could dislodge it. - -Not guilty, was the verdict within an hour. - - * * * * * - -Colonel Armant and the now vindicated prisoner went out of the court -room, down the steps and into his office in the basement of the -court house. - -The woman sank relaxed into a chair. - -“Colonel,” she said, “you saved me to-day!” - -The lawyer looked at her in surprise. - -“Why no,” he replied, “I didn’t save you to-day!” - -His voice descended into its long dwindling whine. - -“I saved you, Ellen, when you asked me to save you. While McNagel -ran to fetch you I put back into the bookcase the law book from -which Collander was copying out the citation for his brief—the law -book that he held up before him to ward off your first shot—the -bullet-hole is in the cover of it. - -“Ellen,” he said, “if you had fired down over that book the second -time instead of up under it, as you did, I don’t know how in hell I -could have managed to clear you!” - - - - - CHAPTER X - - The Inspiration - - -“Will there be a bobby to hear her scream, north of the Zambezi?” - -There were two persons in the room. - -It was a small room, looking out over St. James’s Park, and attached -to the library of the great London house. It was meant for the -comfort of one who wished to withdraw from the library in order to -examine some book at his leisure, or to make some annotation. There -were a table, two comfortable chairs, and a painting, rather large -for the room, representing an affair of honor on a snow-covered -highway in the rear of a French column, presumably Napoleon’s army -in Russia. - -The conversation between the two persons in the room, Lord Donald -Muir and Walker, of the American Secret Service, had passed its -preliminary stage. - -The youth seated in one of the great chairs was a typical product of -the aristocracy of England. He was little more than a boy, but he -had already something of the reserve, the almost pretentious -restraint, of his race. But he was not entirely within this -discipline; an intensity of feeling broke out. It appeared now and -then in a word, in an inflection of his voice, in a gesture. - -He sat very straight in the chair, in his well-cut evening -clothes—his gloves crushed together and gripped in a firm hand that -could not remain idle under his intensity of feeling. He was a very -good-looking boy, with a single startling feature, his eyebrows were -straight and dark, while his hair, weathered by the outdoors, was -straw-colored. It gave his blue eyes at all times a somewhat tense -expression. - -Walker had come to London for a conference with the American -Ambassador on the passport forgeries, and he had remained a guest at -the Embassy ball. And when the Ambassador had asked him to hear the -boy and help him if he could, he had gone with Lord Donald Muir into -the little room beyond the great library. - -The Ambassador had explained the matter. He had given him each -detail; the girl’s mother was American; she had married the Earl of -Rexford; she was dead; Rexford was dead, and here was this dilemma. -Walker knew each of the persons in this drama, especially Sir Henry -Dercum, who had been in the English foreign service, and at one time -attached to the Embassy in Washington. - -Walker was standing, now, before a window, looking out into the -night that enveloped London. The boy continued to speak. - -“Will he not have the right to take her anywhere he likes?” - -The Secret Service agent made a slight gesture, as of one rejecting -a suggestion. The gesture was unconscious. The man was thinking of -what Lord Donald Muir was saying to him. - -“I suppose he has the right to take her anywhere he likes, provided -he remains within the jurisdiction of the English law.” - -“Surely,” replied the boy. “Dercum is a clever beast; he will keep -within the jurisdiction of the English law.” - -Walker turned slightly, his face was outlined against the black -square of the night framed in the window. - -“Then why do you have this fear about it?” he said. - -There came a sudden energy into Lord Muir’s voice. - -“That is all very well as a theory,” he said, “but it is quite -different in fact.... The English law runs in South Africa; that is -the theory. It is a very fine theory, as it used to be lectured into -us at the Hill—a great empire providing precisely the same measure -of protection for its subject at the most distant point of its -dominion that it provided for him in the very capital itself. That -is as nearly as I can remember it. It is a fine theory.” - -“It is a magnificent theory,” replied the Secret Service agent, “and -England has always endeavored to maintain it.” - -Lord Muir twisted his gloves; his brown hands gripped them. - -“But England can’t maintain it; that is the very thing I mean. What -protection can the law of England give her in northwestern Rhodesia? -The law of England will run there in theory, but it’s Dercum’s -damned will that will run there in fact.” - -He gripped the gloves suddenly with both hands, as though he were -about to destroy them. - -“Will there be a bobby to hear her scream?” - -He leaned forward in his intensity. - -“And what will she be when she comes out? And she won’t come out -until Dercum’s ready. I will tell you what she will be, she will be -what Dercum intends her to be.” - -He looked at the Secret Service agent, his face covered with sweat. -Then he continued: - -“Do you think this fine English law will do her any good then?” - -Walker came a step or two away from the window. He looked down at -the boy. His face was composed, with that vague expression it always -took on when his interest was very much awakened. - -“Sir Henry Dercum,” he said, “will have some instincts of a -gentleman.” - -“If he has any instincts of a gentleman,” replied the boy, with a -sudden energy, “he has kept them so far concealed. London does not -know about this man. I have had him looked up. He was unspeakable in -Hongkong. No members of the English colony came down to the boat to -see him off, although he did represent the empire. But he is a -clever beast; one can’t get at him. - -“I wanted my solicitor to resist his confirmation as guardian, but -he said I was not a party in interest.” - -The boy’s voice was charged with an intense vigor. - -“I wonder why the law is always so helpless about anything that is -important. I had rather see her go to the devil than to Dercum. The -devil has a reputation for what he is, and Dercum has a carefully -built up reputation in London for what he is not—an explorer, with -that sporting instinct that is dear to the English, and a gentleman, -when the fact is, he is a crook, a thief when it comes to the -accumulation of scientific data, and a bounder! But he is not a -fool, and that’s what makes him so damnably dangerous; he is -infinitely clever.” - -Walker remained where he had been standing, looking down at the man -in the chair, his face in its vague repose. The dilemma of Lord -Donald Muir profoundly impressed him. - -“I am very much puzzled about this matter,” he said. “I cannot say -that I trust Dercum, but I can say that I have no reason not to -trust him. In fact, he has acted, the American Ambassador tells me, -with extreme delicacy. The property which the girl takes from her -mother lies in America. He has made no effort to exercise any -control over it; he has, in fact, advised the Ambassador that he -would be pleased to have the trustees of her mother’s estate -continue to administer this property until the girl comes of age to -receive it. That did not sound like a man with a design. - -“It was quite possible for him to obtain the sale of this property -in America and the transfer of the funds into his custody under the -English law, but he takes the other course. This does not seem -precisely consistent with your estimate of the man.” - -There was a note as of a bitter laugh under Lord Muir’s answer. - -“It’s precisely consistent with my estimate of him. What the brute’s -after is the girl; when he gets her, he will get everything with -her. Why hurry? When Dercum has degraded her enough, he will get all -the rest of it; he knows what he is doing.” - -The boy got up suddenly. - -“And I can’t stop him,” he said, “unless I go and kill him; and the -beast is too clever to be killed except in the nastiest way. ‘The -duel has gone out with the lace coat,’ he laughs at me with his -little reptilian eyes under the heavy eyelids. ‘Have a bit of -patience, my boy; I have no objection to you, if you please my ward. -But you must wait a little; she is quite young. It is admirable to -be youthful and impetuous, but it makes life difficult for a -guardian.’ That’s what he says. And I know what he thinks, and I -know what he is going to do.” - -The Secret Service agent interrupted: - -“What, precisely?” - -“It will be just what I told you a moment ago,” replied Lord Muir. -“He is laying plans now; she’s quite keen to get into any queer -corner of the earth. It is easy enough to get a girl worked up, -especially when she has a big legend of her father before her. He -will do precisely what I have said, take her into South Africa.” - -He got up with sudden energy. - -“The law can’t stop him, but there must be something, and that’s why -I come to you, sir,” he added. - -“To me,” said Walker, “—because you believe in providence?” - -“Yes, sir,” the boy continued, “that is precisely the reason I came -to you. It is true that the American Ambassador has a point of -attack with Dercum because of these American properties, but that is -not the thing I depended upon. My uncle, when he was chief of the -criminal investigation department of Scotland Yard, used to say when -we had a perplexed thing to take up with America: ‘We can unravel -it, if Captain Walker comes up with one of his inspirations from -heaven.’ Well, sir, I have come to you for one of these -inspirations.” - -Walker laughed softly. The reputation was perhaps his greatest -asset—a sort of intuition arising at certain complicated stages of -an affair, the sudden swift realization of some essential hitherto -unobserved. - -Walker continued to smile. - -The young man was looking at him with a tense, serious expression. - -“You will have one of these inspirations, Captain Walker?” - -The Secret Service agent began to walk about the room. - -He was disturbed that Lord Donald Muir should come to him with this -affair. It was not a thing in which he ought to take any part. -Outside of some courteous discussion at the request of the American -Ambassador, he did not see how it was possible for him to have -anything to do with the matter. And further, it disturbed him that -this youth should come depending upon what was to him the absurd -phase of a detective reputation. - -Scotland Yard called his sudden swift insight into some complicated -matter, “the inspirations from heaven of the Chief of the American -Secret Service,” and not precisely with a complimentary accent. The -thing annoyed him. But he smiled at the youth in the chair—that -vague, placid smile for which the man was famous. - -“I do not see what I can do, my dear Lord Muir,” he said; “but I -shall be receptive to any inspiration that may arrive. Let us go -down.” - -They went out of the little room into the great library. - -It was a long, immense room, and the doors were closed. As they -passed through, the music from below ascended, and the vast -confusion of human voices, like the hum of some distant insect hive. -Walker opened the door, and they were at once above an immense sea -of human figures, gay, brilliant. - -The crowded Embassy ball moved below them. The jewels, the gowns of -women, the color of uniforms gave the thing the aspect of an almost -barbaric saturnalia. The dense crowd overflowed onto the bronze -stairway. - -Lord Muir entered and was lost in the immense throng, seeking the -one about whom he was so greatly concerned. The Chief of the -American Secret Service went slowly down the stairway, moving his -hand along the mahogany rail under which, in a magnificent frieze, a -wood-nymph entangled in a flowering vine fled from the pursuit of -satyrs. He was more disturbed than he had been willing to admit. - -This girl was the daughter of that charming American woman who had -married the Earl of Rexford. - -Captain Walker had not cared greatly for the Earl of Rexford; he was -too typically an Englishman, following conventions that seemed a -trifle out of modern times; but he was compelled, in a measure, to -admire him. While other men wasted their fortunes in the frivolities -of London, this man had spent what he could get in exploration, in -fitting out expeditions to discover unknown places of the earth. And -he went with them, enduring the hardship and peril. - -He had died in his greatest venture. The whole expedition had -perished on one of the wind-swept plateaus of the Antarctic. It was -Dercum who had gone in to find him, and he had found him frozen to -death—the very dogs frozen, in one of those fearful depressions of -temperature that sometimes descend in an immense blizzard on this -wind-swept plateau. - -From Dercum’s report he had very nearly reached Rexford alive. The -expedition had evidently held out for days against the blizzard. The -Earl of Rexford had been the last man to go. In the snow hut, on the -canvas table, was his diary, written up. Beside it, on the blank -sheet, were a dozen paragraphs in which he had directed the -appointment of Dercum as guardian for his minor daughter, with all -custody and direction of his estate. - -The Secret Service agent passed these things through his mind as he -descended—the brilliant laughter, the murmur of voices below, making -a swirl of noises. He remembered some of the details arising in the -formal matter of Dercum’s appointment after his return. A solicitor -or some official authority had ventured a doubt about the -handwriting on the page beside the last entry in the diary. But it -was shown to him that the writing of innumerable pages of the diary -varied, due to the cold or to the physical condition of the writer -at the time. - -The persons in Dercum’s expedition, persons whose integrity could -not be doubted, had been but a few minutes behind him in entering -this snow hut in which the Earl of Rexford had been found, and they -had at once, at Dercum’s direction, written their signatures at the -bottom of the page. - -The diary had been immediately authenticated. It could not have been -afterward changed. And it was shown that these signatures, written -in that immense cold by benumbed fingers, varied from the normal -signatures of the individuals returning to their common environment -of life. In fact, no one could have said who had written these -signatures if the men who had written them that day, at Dercum’s -direction, in the snow hut on the canvas table, had not been present -in England to establish the fact. The diary, the ink, the pen were -there on the canvas table, and these men had established by their -signatures the authenticity of this writing beyond question. - -At this moment a tall man wearing a distinguished order passed the -Chief of the American Secret Service. - -“Sir,” he said, “are you perhaps receiving an inspiration from -heaven on our Hyde Park murders?” - -Walker smiled. - -“It would be my only hope,” he said, “against the superior -intelligence of Scotland Yard.” - -And he went on. He was annoyed by the incident. Would he never -escape from this ridiculous pretension! - -As he entered the crowd overflowing on the bottom of the stairway, -he caught a glimpse of Sir Henry Dercum and the girl in an eddy -beyond where the great newel post turned. Dercum’s big shoulders -would be anywhere conspicuous. He was a massive Englishman, with a -wide, Oriental face, purpled by good feeding, and little reptilian -eyes under heavy lids that very nearly obscured them. The man had a -habit of lifting his head when he was very much concerned, as though -to get a better view of his subject without the effort or the danger -of raising his eyelids. - -The girl before him was in the splendid lure of youth; her dark hair -was lifted, by some subtlety of the coiffeur’s art, into a -beautiful, soft background for her face; her dark eyes and her -delicate skin were exquisitely brought out by it. She was in the -first bud of life, and she was very lovely. But there was more than -mere physical beauty; there was the charm of inexperience, the charm -of adventurous youth that does not question, and, like charity, -believeth all things—that inexperience which is gayly ready for any -adventure into what it beautifully imagines to be a fairy world. - -The Secret Service agent saw the expression bedded into Dercum’s -heavy face, and he knew what it meant. He heard also the sentence he -was speaking. - -“You will need a bit of change from all this artificiality.” - -“Do I look stale so soon, Sir Henry?” - -The girl laughed. - -His eyes traveled over her, his head thrown back in a slow, -heavy-lidded expression as though it were a physical caress. - -“Ah, no,” he said; “but you will have inherited some of your -father’s interest in the waste places of the earth. How would you -like to go with me and find a lost river?” - -“I should love it,” she said. “Where is your lost river, Sir Henry?” - -He looked about him. - -“Let us find a seat somewhere,” he said, “and I will show you a -map.” - -They got out of the crowd, traversed the long hall that runs -parallel to St. James’s Park, and entered the conservatory. - -Walker followed. Dercum’s words had almost the sting of a blow. It -was the verification of Lord Donald Muir’s anxiety. If love were -blind, Walker reflected, it had surely the intuition of the saints. -Dercum’s plan, the plan which Walker had considered academic and -unlikely, was practical and on the way. - -The Chief of the American Secret Service went on into the -conservatory, through fringes of the gay crowd floating everywhere -like gorgeous butterflies disentangled from the mass. He stopped -beside an immense vase filled with Japanese chrysanthemums of a -peculiar color, huge like a shock of hair on an immense stem. They -entirely obscured him, and he did not move. - -It was not in any definite plan that he had entered the conservatory -and stopped behind this mass of flowers. He had been surprised, -shocked by the swift verification of this boy’s fear, and he wished -to reflect on it. It was not that he had followed to hear what -Dercum said; the details of what he said would be now unimportant. -It was the man’s intention alone that mattered, and this intention -required no further explanatory word. - -He felt a sudden and desperate anxiety. This girl, lovely and -inexperienced, was entirely at Dercum’s will; as her guardian he -would have exclusive control of her, and, with the man’s cleverness, -what he wished he would accomplish. The English law, having put the -girl into his charge, would not concern itself about intentions that -could not be established. It would concern itself only with the -overt act, and when Dercum resorted to that he would be beyond a -running of the King’s writ. - -Walker felt himself pressed for reflection, and he stopped here -unmoving, without a plan. But as chance would have it, he stopped -precisely at the place he would have selected if he had followed in -determination to hear every word that Dercum was about to say. Sir -Henry and the girl were just beyond him—beyond the screen of -flowers, on a bench by the window. Their words, although -under-uttered, came clearly to him; and in his vague reflection, the -skill with which Dercum moved in his plan was conspicuously evident. - -The man was getting the lure of a land of mystery into his story; he -was deftly stimulating the girl’s fancy; he was calling her interest -in her father’s adventures to his aid; he was making a wonder -expedition out of this thing he had in mind. No element of thrill, -or color, in this adventure was lacking. - -Walker could almost see Dercum’s finger on the map. But the map -would be only a property of the thing he was staging. He did not -explain precisely where this river lay, or the route to it. But on -some golden afternoon they would unship at a seaport, assemble a -fantastic company and go into some lost country that would be like -the Wood beyond the World, or the waste regions of some fairy -kingdom. And they would go now, this very summer, when the London -season had slacked a little. - -Dercum was beginning to specify dates. Walker could not see him, but -he knew that the bit of pencil moved on the map; he would arrange -everything. From the few words of the girl, reaching him across the -Japanese chrysanthemums, she was entranced. A butterfly entangled in -illusions—she was ready to go, and she would go. - -And with his clear vision, the vision not accustomed to be obscured -by detail, the Chief of the American Secret Service saw that the -thing could not be prevented. One could interfere with the custody -of a guardian only with an established intent in an English court. -This intent must be based on evidence, and there would be no -evidence; there would not be even the knowledge that the thing was -contemplated. With infinite cleverness Dercum had drawn the girl -into a conspiracy of silence. They would arrange it; they would keep -their own counsels, and they would go. It would have all the secret, -alluring charm of a fairy adventure. - -Walker heard the pledge of silence, and knew that they were coming -out. He saw, also, looking down the long hall toward the -drawing-room, Lord Donald Muir advancing in his search. He would be -here in a moment; the three of them would meet, in a moment, just -beyond where he stood behind the chrysanthemums. Already Dercum and -the girl were very nearly up to him. - -What would he do? - -There was something surely to be done. The world behind its harsh, -indifferent machinery must be controlled by some immense considerate -impulse. All the operations of life could not be abandoned to a mere -physical fatalism, to laws that were unthinking, or to a tendency -that could not change. There must be something in the universe to -interfere against the iniquity of human intentions and this -indifference of nature! And suddenly, with a flash of vision, Walker -saw what had happened in Rexford’s snow hut, on the plateau of the -Antarctic, during the twenty minutes that Dercum had been there -before his expedition had come up—he saw it as clearly as though he -had been looking on. - -He called to Lord Donald Muir, and he advanced to meet Dercum and -the girl. - -“Sir Henry,” he said, “will you release these young people to the -dance and walk a moment with me?” - -Dercum lifted his big Oriental face, looking out under his heavy -eyelids. He moved the tips of the girl’s fingers to his lips, and he -nodded to Muir. - -“You will be a very brilliant couple,” he said. “I shall be charmed -to observe you.” - -And then he turned to the Chief of the American Secret Service. - -“Ah, Walker,” he said, “I have not seen you since the old days in -Washington.” - -The Chief of the American Secret Service put his hand through -Dercum’s arm and drew him along beside him, down the hall, with an -ease of manner as though he were the warm companion of a lifetime. - -“My friend,” he said, “I am going to ask you to release this -guardianship and go on your expedition alone.” - -Dercum stopped suddenly, his body rigid. - -“You have overheard,” he said. - -Walker smiled. He made a slight gesture. - -“It is one of the perquisites of the Secret Service,” he said. “You -will grant my request, Sir Henry.” - -“Your request?” Dercum’s voice was almost a stutter. “I grant it?” - -The Chief of the American Secret Service took a firmer hold of his -arm. - -“Walk with me,” he said; “we may be noticed.... Ah, yes, my friend, -you will grant it.” - -“Why should I grant it, pray?” said the amazed Dercum. - -“You will grant it,” replied Walker, “because you will not wish to -answer in the English courts—in the English criminal courts—a -question that has just occurred to me.” - -The Chief of the American Secret Service laughed; two persons -connected with a Continental Embassy were regarding him. Then he -went on: - -“How did it happen, Sir Henry, that when you came on Lord Rexford’s -expedition on the Antarctic plateau, that morning, when you entered -his snow hut some twenty minutes ahead of the other members of your -expedition, and in that low temperature, in that deadly Antarctic -temperature, you found everything frozen, the food, the very mercury -in the thermometer, the bodies of the dead—how did it happen, Sir -Henry”—and his hand moved on Dercum’s arm like a caress—“how did it -happen that the ink on the canvas table was not also frozen?” - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - The Girl in the Picture - - -I advanced to meet the man with a sense of victory. The United -States Secret Service had searched the world for him. He had been -long concealed. But my sense of victory vanished when I saw him. - -He sat in a great chair on the long terrace that overlooked the -sweep of lawn and the dark, rapid river. He had been, all the time, -under our very noses. We had thought of every other place except an -English country house within a jump of London. And he had been -sitting here in every comfort that money could assemble. - -He did not rise when I was brought out to him. - -He leaned back in the chair, lifted his heavy face, and laughed! - -“And so,” he said, “you finally wormed it out of her.” - -I could not keep my voice level—so effectively was the man escaping -us after all this search. - -And I did not know what the huge creature meant. On the night -before, some one had called up Scotland Yard and said our man was -here; the English Secret Service was giving us all the aid it could. -The call from some shop in Regent Street could not be traced—so it -had been a woman! I replied as though I were in his secret. - -“She knew you were safe.” - -He laughed again. “Sure, she knew it!” - -He pointed to a chair a few feet beyond him across a table. - -“Sit down,” he said. “I want to talk about her—that’s the reason I -wanted you to come.” He laughed again. “You thought you’d sleuthed -it out, eh? Not by a jugful. I sent her word to put you wise. I -wanted to clear some things up before I cashed in. But it was a -clean lie. What I wanted was somebody to listen while I talked about -her. Sit down.” - -It was a strange introductory. But it was a mystery that had puzzled -everybody, and I was willing to hear all that he had to say about -it. I took the chair beyond him. - -He shot his head forward suddenly, in a tense gesture. - -“She’s a heavenly angel!” he said. “I don’t know what God Almighty -meant by setting her in the game with the bunch of crooks that He’s -got running the world—unless He counted on me.” The laugh became a -sort of chuckle in his big throat—“Ain’t she a heavenly angel?” - -He whipped a worn photograph out of his pocket and reached it across -the table to me. - -It was the photograph of a girl with a narrow slit cut out across -the face. It had been taken from a painting; one could tell from the -flat surface. A strange background of beauty and an indescribable -charm in the pose of the girl remained even in the mutilated -picture. - -“I cut the face,” he added, “so she wouldn’t come into the case if -you caught me; your little Westridge must have been slaughtered at -the loss of her.” - -Again he touched me at an unexpected point. - -Shortly after the thing had happened, Lord Westridge returned to -England. He had come to visit some rich Americans, and there was a -rumor that some adventure had befallen him. Nothing definite ever -came to me, and I liked the man too little to inquire; all the blood -from the original Glasgow solicitor would “bite a shilling.” But -again I replied as though I were in his secret. - -“What happened to Westridge?” I said. - -The man twisted around in his chair. - -“Friend,” he said, “you’ve got a head full of brains or you wouldn’t -be Chief of the United States Secret Service; now answer me a -question—What’s the biggest notion in the Christian Church?” - -“I don’t know,” I answered him truthfully. - -“Well, I know,” he went on. “It’s the notion that you’ll get what’s -a-comin’ to you!” - -He looked at me with a big, cynical leer. - -“That’s what happened to your little Westridge—and the next time you -see him he’s a-goin’ to get another jolt. He will be damned sorry -that you found me. He couldn’t squeal, any place along the line, but -I’ll bet a finger he didn’t let Scotland Yard forget about me.” - -And again I saw an incident of this long search, for the man before -me, from another angle. The Blackacre Bank had kept the search hot -for him, pretending the public welfare. I saw it now, that was -Westridge’s money box—that would be little Westridge in the -background. - -He eyed me curiously in a moment’s pause. - -“He kept slippin’ you the word, eh? Well, she blocked him at that, -even if she didn’t know it.” - -There came a sudden energy into his voice. - -“An’ if the plague hadn’t got me I’d ’a’ saved her that trouble; I’d -’a’ played ring-a-round-a-rosy with you.” - -He lifted himself in the chair with the strength of his hands on the -broad arm-rests. And I realized more fully what a physical wreck he -was—the lower part of his body was motionless. - -“I want to tell you about this thing,” he said. “And then you can go -ahead with your warrant.” - -“I fear,” I replied, “that a somewhat higher authority has got in -before the King’s writ.” - -He chuckled as though the deadly fact were a sort of pleasantry. - -“Sure,” he said, “the big Judge has beat you to it.” - -He looked out, a moment, at the woolly Highland cattle in the -distant meadow, at the age-old beech-trees and the dark, swift, -silent water, and then the upper part of his big body settled in the -chair. - -“I thought it was a slick trick, but maybe it was God Almighty. -Anyway when the thing was pulled off I slid up to Bar Harbor and set -down in a hotel. I figured it out like this—you look for a crook in -the places that crooks go, and you look for a gentleman in the -places where gentlemen go. I’ll switch it. - -“I got me some quiet clothes. I limped a little to show that I -wasn’t golf-fit and I didn’t talk. I just set about with the New -York _Times_ and the _Financial Register_ and let the days pass. -When there was doings in the hotel I was there in my all-right -evening clothes, in a chair against the wall, and I limped along the -sea path in the afternoon for a little exercise. - -“I looked some bored to keep the proper form. But I wasn’t bored. I -was seeing something new and I was getting more light on it all the -time. - -“I was seeing that this bunch was living up to a standard that -nearly all the people I’d ever seen were only pretending. That was -the difference, I soon figured it out.” - -He flung up his hand in a curious, expressive gesture. - -“I’m a crook, keep that in your head, and the thing was like a -theater to me. I began to watch the actors; then I saw _her_ and -Westridge.” - -He moved in his chair. - -“She was there with an old faded grandmother that read novels and -smoked cigarettes—and was a lady. And right there is where this real -bunch has got the goods! They don’t let down because they do some -things that would make you cross your fingers on the other set.” - -He leaned back in the chair. - -“Well! I got to watching her and your Englishman. I watched them -dancing in the hotel, and riding, and playing tennis at the -Casino—I’d never seen any people like them. - -“And pretty soon I got on to something; this Westridge gentleman was -trying to buy the girl, but he didn’t want to pay for her. He was -putting out the bait, but he had a string to it. - -“I got on to his dope. - -“If he could dazzle her into marrying him she’d get her board and -clothes. The real thing that was next to his hide was his money. -‘All for _me_,’ that was the notion.” - -He went on with no break in his words. - -“I got to thinking about it. This little Westridge was forty; he’d -never change; and the girl was at the age when the things he was -dangling were all mixed up with moonshine. He might win, and if he -did she was headed for hell. - -“I saw it all clean out to the end.” - -He moved in the chair. - -“I used to set about, and look at her, and it made me cold all over. -The devil was on the job right here just as he was in the -Tenderloin. He was working on a higher-class line, but it was only a -different sort of road to his same old hell. - -“It would be a heavenly angel flung to a wolf no matter how you -dressed the situation up; an’ I said to myself, ‘You can’t beat him. -The devil’s got a set of traps for any kind of a layout!’” - -He lifted himself on his great hands and turned the whole of his -body toward me. - -“Now,” he said, “what’s the difference how you ruin a woman? When -you got the job finished, ain’t it finished? If you string it out -over a dozen years and kill everything nice and generous and lovely -in her with your little, contemptible ‘all for _me_’ meanness, -inside of a preacher’s permit, ain’t you ruined her, just the same -as if you’d white-slaved her? And ain’t it the same motive, ‘all for -_me_,’ darn the difference? - -“I tell you,” he shook the arms of the chair in his great hands, -“the thing begun to get my goat. Her father, a lawyer in the South, -was dead. She had only the old Boston grandmother (I heard the talk -among the women) and the coin was getting scarce. Your little -Englishman played in form, every point correct, and he was goin’ to -get her. - -“I seen it! - -“She was standing before the hotel desk with the bill that the clerk -puts in your box at the end of the week, when his big motor snorted -in against the wooden steps. Your little Westridge understood it for -the grin started. It was the same old grin that goes with the -job—I’ve seen it on all of ’em. - -“An’ that settled it!” - -His voice became cold, level, even like a metallic click. - -“‘Now, my little gentleman,’ I said to myself, ‘we’ll just see if -you do! Right here is where “Alibi Al” sets in with a stack of -blues.’ - -“I got up, folded my newspaper, and took a turn up and down the -veranda, as though I was trying out my game leg, an’ then I limped -down to the fashionable church just across from the library. - -“I stepped up inside the door.” - -He paused, and his voice changed to its former note. - -“You see I had to have a little help on this job. It had a big loose -end. - -“I went in and sat down in a pew. It was dim and quiet and I got -right down to business. I didn’t run in any of the prayer-book -curtain-raisers. I put the thing right up to the boss. - -“‘Now, look here, Governor,’ I said, ‘has a helpless little girl got -a pull with you, or is it bunk? Because I’m a-goin’ to call you, and -if the line your barkers are putting out is on the level, you’ve got -to come across with the goods. If there’s nothing to it, the -Government ought to shut ’em up on a fraud order—I’m a-goin’ to -carry one end of this thing; get busy at the other end!’ - -“Then I went out. - -“That night I went over to see little Westridge. - -“They’d been to dinner at Jordan’s Pond and had come in early. -Westridge wasn’t in the hotel; he was stopping with the -Lesterfields; a big, gray stone house facing the sea. The butler -showed me in. There wasn’t anybody about but Westridge. The -Lesterfields were down at Newport. - -“He was surprised to see me—didn’t understand it; he’d never met me -in the social line. But it was America where anything might happen, -even a man come to see you that you hadn’t been introduced to.” - -The speaker paused to move one of his knees; he lifted it with his -hands. - -“I didn’t waste any time cutting brush before Mr. Westridge. I went -right in to what I had to say. My line was: friend of the girl’s -father, blunt old Western business man, no manners, and don’t give a -cuss for you. Easy stuff, you see, and the kind of thing your -Englishman expects in the ‘States.’ - -“He was mighty formal, as you’d say, but he didn’t throw any -stuttering into Alibi Al. I set down, just as if the place belonged -to me, and I waved a hand at him. I said to myself, ‘You’re a little -piker; line up and take what’s coming to you.’ - -“But what I said out loud was like this, - -“‘Carrots has got a little bunch of stuff that’s goin’ to be wiped -out if it ain’t covered.’ - -“That was her nickname among the youngsters, because her blue-black -hair in the sun had a heavenly copper glint. - -“He looked mixed up. - -“‘What, precisely, do you mean?’ he says. - -“I didn’t pay any attention to him. I went on just as if he hadn’t -said a word. - -“‘Women’s got no sense about business—she’s agoin’ to lose it?’ - -“‘Lose what?’ he says. - -“‘Rotten the way they bring girls up,’ I says, the same as if he -hadn’t spoke. ‘Here’s this steel bunch beating the stuff down; her -broker wires for somethin’ to cover it, an’ she sticks the telegram -up against the lookin’-glass so she’ll remember to write to him next -week—can you beat it?’ - -“I saw everything that was goin’ through him, same as if you’d -rolled it out on the picture reel. - -“The ‘old friend, no manners, darn the difference’ stuff had hooked -him. And there were two other hooks: this girl had some property -that he didn’t know of, and the friends of the family, like me, was -a-coming to him about it. - -“Because what? - -“Because it was settled stuff on our side that she was goin’ to take -his arm up the church aisle. It was the first straight dope he’d -had, an’ it bucked him, same as it bucked me to know that she was -dangling him with no word passed. - -“He set up now pleasant as you please. - -“‘Ah—er, yes,’ he says; he hadn’t got the name I was playing under. - -“I bellowed at him, an’ he mighty near jumped. - -“‘Johnson!’ I said. ‘Alonzo Johnson, Kansas City!’ - -“‘Quite so, Mr. Johnson,’ he says, quick, same as you’d apologize, -‘there’s some business affair to discuss, I fauncy?’ - -“He fell right in with the line of dope mighty easy and comfortable. -You see it was something like the way they do things up in his -country. The old uncle or the family lawyer calls on you, when ma -thinks that things are pretty well understood with the young people, -and gits down to figgerin’. It was near enough to my line to go -across with him. He knew that the girl hadn’t got any men folk, so -an old friend of the family would fit the form as a sort of -next-of-kin, as the law-books say.” - -The big man linked his fingers together on the chair arm. - -“As I was sayin’, he walked right in and made himself at home with -the notion. He called her ‘Carrots’ straight back at me; it was -‘Kiss her, pap; she’s our’n now,’ and he begun to grin. - -“On the soul of Satan, man, it was all I could do to keep my foot -away from him. I wanted to hoist him out of that chair and skite him -around among the furniture—but I had to keep my poker face on. - -“He bounced up and got a box of cigars and a little dish full of -matches and shoved them across the table. I took one, bit the end -off, scratched the match on my foot, lighted it, and went ahead. - -“‘It’s the butt end of what she’s got,’ I says, ‘an’ it’s in the -door.’ - -“He knew all about business, and he picked the things right out. - -“‘You mean,’ he says, ‘that her solicitor has invested her fortune -in a stock on margin and the market is declining?’ - -“‘You got it,’ I says, ‘only she done it herself, on some tip from -her swell friends.’ - -“‘How extraordinary!’ he piped; his voice got thin when it hit -money. ‘Is it a legitimate stock?’ - -“‘Sure,’ I answered, ‘one of the six good ones.’ I didn’t know how -many good ones there was. - -“‘Why does it decline?’ His voice went up like a singing school. - -“‘The steel bunch are clubbing it,’ I says. - -“He understood that, and began to finger around his little wax -mustache. - -“‘Quite so,’ he cheeped, ‘quite so.’ Then he squared toward me. - -“‘Ah—er, Mr. Johnson,’ he says, ‘I fauncy you came with some plan -about it.’ - -“‘Plan nothin’,’ I says; ‘the stuff’s got to be covered—they’ll git -it beat under her figger in another day’s poundin’.’ - -“‘Ah—er—quite so,’ he was cool as a julep; ‘you are intending, I -fauncy, to cover the margin?’ - -“I leaned over the table and blew a mouthful of smoke on him. - -“‘Sure!’ I roared in his face, ‘if I can get fifty thousand dollars, -quick.’ - -“He ducked out of the smoke. - -“‘That’s a very large sum of money,’ he says. - -“I lolled over the table an’ smoked on him like a Dutch uncle. - -“‘Big money!’ I gurgled it, like a man choking on a laugh. ‘Do you -know how much Carrots has got hanging on it?’ - -“He didn’t answer that; I knew he wouldn’t. - -“‘Where, precisely, do you expect to get this money?’ he says. - -“I set up more calm like at that. - -“‘Well,’ I says, ‘I thought maybe we could raise it together.’ - -“He wanted that fake fortune saved for him, so it would come along -with the girl, but he wanted somebody else to carry the chance. - -“I knew it, and I smoked on him. I hung over the table and puffed it -in his face. He tried to duck out of it, and I followed him around. -It done me good. I couldn’t spit on the little tightwad. - -“‘Now, look here, Mr. Westridge,’ I says, ‘don’t you get a wrong -notion in your head; I’m not a-goin’ to let you take any risk on -this. I’m a-goin’ to take the risk; there ain’t none, in fact; the -stuff’s got to bounce back. It’ll go to the sky when the steel bunch -get all they can grab of it. But whatever risk there may be,’ I -sputtered it out on him, ‘is _mine_. I’ll put up the backing an’ you -get me the money by to-morrow at noon.’ I was nearly across the -table, an’ I didn’t wait for him to cut in with a question. I took a -big envelope out of my pocket and flashed the stuff on him. He came -up with a chirp. - -“‘My word!’ he says, ‘where did you get this?’ - -“‘Well,’ I answered, ‘London’s a big selling point with us—you can’t -trade with the English and not take their stuff, can you? The Johnny -whose name’s on that stuff put it up with me—same as I’m putting it -up with you. There’s fourteen of them. Ain’t they good for fifty -thousand?’” - -“He spread the certificates out on the table and run his fingers -over them. It was old-fashioned love-touchin’. - -“‘Oh!’ his voice flickered up, ‘beyond question.’ - -“‘Done!’ I says. ‘Keep it until I come back with your money—an’ get -me the cash before noon to-morrow.’ - -“‘Don’t you want a memorandum?’ he says. - -“I waved my hand, careless, like it was nothin’. - -“‘That’s all right,’ I says; ‘I don’t want any promises about that, -but there is a thing that I do want a promise about.’ - -“I threw my cigar in the fireplace and set down. - -“‘I want you to promise me that you won’t ever say anything to -Carrots about this, nor to anybody; it’s between us—she’s a -high-strung youngster,’ I added; ‘this thing’s got to be buried with -us, no matter what happens. Is it a trade?’ - -“We shook hands on it and I got out. - -“Before twelve the next day he sent me a draft on New York for the -money—an’ I’d won a lap.” - -The afternoon sun lay on the terrace of the gray stone house, where -the big creature, dead to the middle, talked from his chair, -clearing the mystery that had covered his disappearance from the -world. It was an extraordinary story, and I wished to get it, in -detail, precisely clear. - -“It was fiction,” I asked, “this explanation to Westridge?” - -He looked at me in a sort of wonder. - -“Sure,” he said. “I made it up.” - -“There wasn’t any of it true?” - -“Not a word,” he answered. “Don’t you understand? This was a little -game that me and God Almighty was settin’ up on the side.” - -“You knew nothing of the girl’s affairs?” The thing seemed -incredible to me. - -“That’s right,” he replied, “not a thing, except that her father, a -lawyer in the South, was dead, and the small coin was beginning to -mean something—an’ of course the little game of this Westridge -person—it was a blind pool; nobody in on it but God Almighty.” - -I could not forbear a comment. - -“He seems to have helped you in the opening.” - -The big creature turned heavily toward me. - -“With little Westridge?” There was deep irony in his voice. “I -didn’t need any help to handle him. That was ABC stuff. The big -trouble was ahead.” - -“With the girl?” the query escaped me. - -“No,” he replied; “that was my job too. You listen. I’m comin’ to -it. - -“I looked out for a chance to get the girl by herself, an’ about -four o’clock I got it. There had been a fog in; it cleared a little -and she went for a walk. She took the path along the sea toward -Cromwell’s Harbor and I followed her. She turned back where the path -ends at the harbor, and just before a big house, that hadn’t been -opened that season, I met her. - -“I stopped in the path. - -“‘Missie,’ I said, ‘could I speak to you a minute?’ - -“There was no sham business about her. She was clean and straight -and afraid of nothin’, like an angel of God. - -“‘Certainly,’ she said. ‘What is it, sir?’ - -“‘It’s about something I owe to your father,’ I said. - -“She looked me straight in the face. - -“‘My father’s executor, Mr. Lewis, would be the one to see,’ she -said. ‘I know nothing about business.’ - -“‘It ain’t business,’ I said, ‘it’s honor. Could I walk along with -you a step?’ - -“‘Why, yes,’ she answered, ‘if you like.’” - -The big man moved his loose bulk in the chair. - -“I know something about stories,” he said. “I’ve had to make ’em up -so a jury would believe ’em, an’ I done my best as I limped along by -her. - -“‘I ain’t always been rich,’ I says. ‘I was down an’ out in the -eighties, an’ I was a-goin’ to do somethin’ that would have ruined -me, when by God’s luck I met Harry in Louisville.’ (I’d heard the -old women call her father Harry, so I had that much to go on.) - -“‘Al,’ he says, ‘what’s the trouble?’ - -“I suppose it was in my face. I was broke down an’ I told him. He -got it all in his head, an’ then he patted me on the shoulder. ‘Old -man,’ he said, ‘a little money ain’t goin’ to do you any good. I’ll -get you fifty thousand dollars an’ you go out to the race course -this afternoon an’ pick a winner.’ - -“I tried to turn it down. I didn’t want to lose his money, I didn’t -know one horse from another. But he just laughed and kept patting me -on the back. ‘A beginner for luck,’ he says. ‘Where’s your nerve, -Al?’ Well, I picked that big Dercum colt that nobody had ever heard -of, a five-to-one shot, an’ he romped in! - -“I was a-limpin’ along the sea-path, a-proddin’ the gravel with my -cane an’ a-talkin’ to my feet, same as if I was afraid the -recollection would get away with me if I wasn’t careful. The girl -didn’t say nothin’ and I went on. - -“‘Harry wouldn’t touch the winnin’s; he picked out his fifty -thousand and put me out of the room.’ - -“I limped on, talking to my feet. - -“‘And it saved me two ways, for the thing I was agoin’ to do would -have ruined me.’ - -“My voice got down pretty near in a whisper. - -“‘I never saw Harry after that,’ I says, ‘until last night.’ - -“She stopped quick, an’ I went on a step or two. - -“‘My father?’ she said. - -“‘Yes,’ I says, not looking up, ‘Harry, just as he looked that -morning in Louisville—only he was troubled.’ - -“Then I turned on her like I was makin’ a clean breast of it. I had -the tears startin’ and the right choke-up, an’ it wasn’t all jury -dope. I didn’t want that heavenly angel fouled over by little -Westridge. It balled the heart out of me. - -“‘Now, Missie,’ I said, ‘you’ve got to help me even this thing up. I -don’t know nothin’ about your affairs—I don’t want to know. But -you’ve got to take that same bunch of money and chance it on -something.’ - -“She shook her head, and I had a bad hour. All along that sea-path, -with the fog dodging in and out, I kept right at her; I never lost a -step. I was old and rich; money was nothin’ to me. I didn’t have a -soul in the world. I couldn’t take it with me, an’ I couldn’t face -‘Harry’ with the debt hanging over—‘Have a heart! have a heart!’ -That was my line of dope. I was pleading for myself—an’ it was the -only line that ever would have got her. - -“‘But what should I do with the money?’ she said finally, in a sort -of queer hesitation. - -“‘I’ll tell you that to-night,’ I answered.” - -The huge creature seemed to relax, as though there had been a vital -tension in the mere memory of the thing. - -“That cleaned up my end of it,” he continued, “and after dinner when -it was getting a little dark, I limped over to the church. I had the -last copy of the _Financial Register_ in my hand. I stopped in the -door. The church was closed and it was dark, but I didn’t need any -light for the business I come on. - -“‘Governor,’ I says, ‘the rest of this job’s up to you. I’m a-goin’ -to open this magazine here in the dark and the first thing that’s -advertised at the top of the page on the right-hand side is the -thing I’m a-goin’ to tell her to put the coin on—Ready,’ I says, ‘go -to it!’ and I folded back the page and went over to the hotel.” - -Again he paused. - -“I got a jolt when I saw the page. It was some sort of Canadian gold -mine, so fishy that the letters had scales on ’em. But I says to -myself, ‘That’s the Governor’s business,’ an’ I cut it out, put it -into an envelope with the draft, and left it at the desk for her.” - -He paused. - -“The next morning I slid out. Eight months later the plague struck -me. I crippled into England, asked her to hide me while I died, and -she put me here.” - -“And the gold stock,” I said, “I suppose it turned her out a -fortune?” - -The energy came back for an instant into his voice. - -“It was so rotten,” he replied, “that the Governor General of Canada -summoned all the victims to meet with him for a conference in -Montreal.” - -At this moment I caught the sound of a motor entering the gates at -some distance through the park. The huge paralytic also heard it, -and his attention was no longer toward me. It was on the great -coach-colored limousine drawing up at the end of the avenue of -ancient beech trees. - -I looked with him. - -A girl helped out by footmen stepped down into the avenue, carpeted -now with the yellow autumn leaves. Even at the distance it was -impossible to mistake her; her charm, her beauty were the wonder of -England. And on the instant, as in a flash of the eye, I recalled -the painted picture hanging in the great house in Berkeley Square, -the picture from which this creature’s mutilated photograph had been -taken, the picture of a young girl, in an ancient chair, with no -ornament but a bit of jade on a cord about her neck. - -“It’s the young Duchess of Hurlingham,” I said. - -The big creature beside me was struggling to rise, his voice in an -excited flutter. - -“Sure,” he said, “God Almighty didn’t throw me down. When she went -up to that conference in Montreal, He had young Hurlingham on the -spot—fine, straight, clean youngster as ever was born. It was love -her at sight; an’ now”—he made a great gesture as though to include -something without a visible limit—“she’s got all these places in -England, an’ all that Standard Oil money that belonged to his -mother’s people.” - -The girl, radiant as a vision, was advancing on the carpet of golden -beech leaves, and I hastened to put a final query, the thing I had -come here to find out. I had given up the idea of an arrest. The man -was dying. - -“What did you do with the registered bonds that you got when you -cracked the vault of the British Embassy in Washington the night -before you went to Bar Harbor? They had Lord Dovedale’s name on -them, and they could not be negotiated.” - -The whole sagging body of the unsteady creature strained toward the -advancing vision as toward an idol. His voice reached me, stuttering -as with fatigue. - -“That’s the stuff I put up with Westridge for the loan—go and take -it away from him!” - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - The Menace - - -We never could persuade Walker to discuss his adventures in -enforcing the prohibition Amendment: perhaps because the methods of -the service were in use and could not be revealed. - -But one night, when we pressed him, he took the proofs of a magazine -story out of a locked file and gave them to us. - -“Here,” he said, “is the great peril to the Amendment. We had to -suppress the whole magazine issue to get this story out. Of course -the elements in this story are fictitious, but on any day they may -become an appalling reality.” - -We read the story. And here it is: - - “Five Millions is a Big Sum of Money.” - - * * * * * - -“Sure, it’s a big sum of money. But I’m going to do this thing up -right! You heard me wishin’ the other day that I could double cross -the bunch of cranks that’s a-runnin’ this country. Well, I’ve done -stopped wishin’. I’m goin’ to do something to double-cross ’em. You -hear what I say, Stetman! I’m a-goin’ to offer five millions of -dollars to any chemist who can find the active principle in -alcohol!” - -The attorney, tall, angular, incisive, did not move. - -Arnbush pounded on the table with his fat clenched hand. - -“The rest of the bunch can keep on wishin’ and startin’ little -lawsuits. I’m goin’ after this thing good and proper.” - -He was a stout, heavy man, advanced in life. His hair was white and -thick, his eyes gray. His manner was heavy and determined, like that -of one accustomed to crush out, by superior mass, opposition before -him. One thought of the steam roller as the man’s ideal of an -attacking engine. - -It was night. The two were at a table in the corner of the big -Waldorf dining room that looks out on Fifth Avenue. It was beyond -the hour at which even the late arrival dined. It was drawing on -toward midnight. A less known or a less valuable guest would hardly -have kept a place in the big dining room at this hour. An old waiter -hung about, evidently attached by impressive gratuities to this -guest; peculiar, but with an open and enormous purse to sustain it. - -The man was accustomed to obtaining what he wanted, and at any cost -in money. Avarice was not a motive in the man. The motive in him, -deep-seated and dominant, was power. Money was a jinn to be -commanded, to fetch and carry and break open as he wished. - -Arnbush and the attorney, Stetman, sat at the table after the -fragments of the dinner had been removed. They were at the end of -days of innumerable meetings, conferences, and legal discussions -with the owners and lawyers of a business now threatened with -destruction. - -The great distiller chewed an unlighted cigar. - -The lawyer smoked a cigarette, flicking the ashes, with care and -precision, into a metal tray on the table beside his arm. - -He was an able man in his profession: fertile in resources, -accurate, but with a large daring that fitted him for adventuring -beyond the conceptions of little counselors in the law. And he was -not too elevated in his own esteem to disregard any notion of his -client, however bizarre it might appear in its raw suggestion. - -The distiller’s big hand was thumping on the table. - -“You hear what I say, Stetman! I’m goin’ to land this bunch of -cranks! On the day you discover the active principle in alcohol -they’re done! There’s nothin’ to it, they’re done! The whole country -will get drunk and stay drunk! God Almighty couldn’t stop it when -you get the kickdrop out of the bottle of water that’s in a quart of -alcohol. - -“It’ll take an army of agents to stop the smuggling of liquor as it -is; how will they stop it if a man can carry the punch of a barrel -of whisky in an ounce bottle?” - -Arnbush’s voice thickened with an indignant energy. - -“And I’m a-goin’ to put up the money to get it. I’m a-goin’ to put -up five millions of dollars! - -“You hear what I say, Stetman! You cut out the lawsuits. This -country’s goin’ to hell, an’ I’m goin’ to give it a shove along.” - -He extended his big hand, with a determined gesture, across the -table. - -“You go down to your office in the morning and write a codicil, or -whatever you call it, to my will offering five millions of dollars -to any chemist who discovers the active principle in alcohol.” - -He flung out his fat fingers. - -“No ifs an’ ands, Stetman, you do what I tell you!” - -The lawyer very carefully removed the ashes from his cigarette. “I -shall have to think about that a little,” he said. - -“I’ve already done the thinkin’,” cried the distiller. “You do what -I tell you!” - -The explosion of his client did not disturb the lawyer. He was -accustomed to this energy; and the magnitude of his fees compensated -for the manner. - -“It is not your intent,” he said, “that I shall wish to consider; it -is the form that it might take. A bald offer would hardly do. We -shall have to stage the thing in some scientific purpose; perhaps a -foundation of some sort would be required with your intention -attached as a rider.” - -He paused and fingered the cigarette. - -“It will be a delicate thing to handle, if one would not have the -first Congress emasculate it. It may be necessary to put this fund -under some other government, and to include some benefit to the arts -or to the public welfare.” - -He paused again and one could see that he traveled in his mind, -swiftly like a scouting plane, above the field of the idea. The -unusual features of the thing and the obvious difficulties in the -way did not drive him in upon the reply: “It cannot be done.” - -This was an answer he avoided. It was the secret of the man’s -career. To find a way, he took in every case, to be the purpose of -his employment; and he climbed into a fortune on it. He held Arnbush -and others of his kind because they were never met with that reply. -He found a way in some sort of fashion. - -Arnbush was quieted by this reflection. - -“Sure!” he said. “That’s what I pay you for, Stetman. You fix the -thing so it’ll hold water.” - -The lawyer continued, as though he were suggesting devices to -himself: - -“It might be advisable to indicate the existence of this offer to -the leading chemists in the country. There is Lang and Neinsoul, -just beyond us here on Park Avenue. No better man in America than -Lang; fine type of Swiss. I don’t know why he holds on to the German -name in the firm, except that it is one of the most celebrated firm -names in the world.... Great genius, Neinsoul; no doubt about -it—incredible things to his name. I suppose Lang feels that the firm -name is a sort of trade-mark.” - -The lawyer paused. - -“I might see Lang on the way down—and sound him a bit; he’s a late -owl, usually in Keator’s after midnight.... I’d like to know what a -first-class chemist like Lang would think about the possibilities of -a discovery of this sort.... Surely somebody has undertaken it. -There must be an active principle, as you say, in alcohol—some -chemical element upon which it depends for its effect. And it might -be possible to separate that from the other medium. It may be, in -fact, some powerful element, of which there are only slight traces -in the alcohol of commercial liquors.” - -The big distiller thrust himself forward in his chair. - -“Sure, Stetman!” he said. “Ain’t our chemists been saying that all -along? And ain’t they been huntin’ it?... But they’re too little for -the job! Sure, there’s something in alcohol that gives it the -punch.” - -“Well,” the lawyer replied, “Lang is a pretty big man.... I’ll see -you in the morning.” - -He rose. Arnbush went out with him into the corridor and, when the -lawyer had gone, he took the elevator to his room. - -But Arnbush did not go at once to bed. He sat down by the window, -looking out on the avenue and the passing vehicles, and through the -cañons and vistas of the city, blue in the starlit night. - -He was bitter and determined. - -The great business of which he was the leading spirit had been -ruined. He saw clearly that this was the end. He had a larger vision -and a sounder judgment than his associates. Their desperate legal -writhings almost amused him. They were plainly useless. - -Revenge was the only consolation open. - -He had an immense fortune, an incredible fortune; well, he would use -a portion of it to nullify the victory of his enemies. He would sow -their hopes with ruin, such ruin as the half-mad creatures never -imagined. They could regulate and limit the use of commercial -liquor, but the thing he would discover they could neither control -nor regulate. Like Samson he would lay hold of the pillars of the -house and all should go down to ruin with him. He would offer a sum -so great that the ablest chemists of the world would be in his -service. Five millions of dollars should go into this discomfiture -of his enemies. - -He sat a long time before the window; finally a sound disturbed him. -The telephone bell was ringing. He rose and went over to it. The -voice speaking seemed far away, and the man thought it was a -long-distance call from some remote point. - -“This is Neinsoul,” the voice said. “Come to our laboratory on Park -Avenue; I think we have discovered the thing you are looking for.” - -It was a moment before Arnbush realized the message. Evidently -Stetman had seen his man. And the chemists were keen; their interest -could not wait. Well, five millions was a huge sum. They might very -well fear that a cooler mood in the rich distiller would reduce the -offer. But the hour was late, and Arnbush replied with some urgency -upon the point. - -The thin, distant voice was insistent. - -“I shall not be here in the morning; you must come to-night.” - -This repeated answer seemed final and decisive. In the course of an -ordinary affair Arnbush would have ordered the speaker to remain and -await his arrival in the morning. But the voice seemed one not -easily to be ordered. And Arnbush was still hot with the moving -impulses of his affair. There was no mood for sleep on him, although -the night was advanced. And he determined to go. He got his coat and -hat and descended into the street. - -A few minutes brought him to the number. - -The building, gaunt with its lightless windows, was abandoned. But -the door to the dark entrance opened as he approached. - -“We shall have to walk up,” a voice said. “It is not far.” - -Arnbush could not see the man; but he recognized the voice, and he -went in. It seemed a long journey up the stairs. Finally they came -into a room lighted dimly, above a table, with a gas jet. - -The room was fitted with all the devices of a chemist’s trade; there -was the faint, pungent odor of such a place about it. Two tall -windows looked out above the city, and there was a chair and a stool -beside the table. - -The chemist was now visible to Arnbush: a tall, stooped figure in a -sort of smock; a big, nearly naked head, bulging above the brows and -fringed with straw-colored hair; a pasty face, livid and unhealthy; -and thick, myopic glasses that reduced the eyes behind them. - -The chemist took the stool behind the table and indicated the chair -before it for his guest. - -Arnbush was fatigued with the long climb, and he at once sat down. - -The chemist came directly to the point; he made no disquisition on -his wealthy patron, the hour, or the affair. - -“I have discovered the thing you are seeking,” he said. “I will show -it to you.” - -He took a little glass tube from a rack before him and held it -under the light. It was partly filled with a thick, viscous, -golden-colored stuff. - -“That is circine,” he said. “It is the element of virtue in all -distillations. In alcohol,” he continued, “one finds it imperfectly -produced. This sample I am showing you is pure.” - -He rose, got a glass, filled it halfway with water from a spigot, -added a drop of the fluid from the tube and handed it to Arnbush. - -“Drink that,” he said. - -The golden-colored essence had disappeared completely into the -water, making a rich amber liquid, and the man thought that he was -about to taste something peculiar or unpleasant. - -He got the staggering shake-up of his life. - -At the first touch of the liquid to his tongue, the man paused, -removed the glass, and sat back in his chair, looking in wonder at -the chemist. - -He had tasted something heavenly! The aroma of a soft, aged, velvety -liquor was in his mouth; a liquor beyond the product of any human -distillation; the liquor that one has dreamed of, forgotten in some -ancient cask, bedded down in cobwebs in a warehouse, or hidden by -one’s father through a lifetime. - -The man was too shaken to be coherent. He began to stutter. - -The chemist was undisturbed. - -“Drink it,” he said. - -Arnbush leaned over and drank off the fluid, And at once every -sensation in his body changed: a warm glow extended to his fingers; -there was soft, insidious stimulation, and the fatigue of his -exertions vanished. - -And there was more than this. - -The ego in the man was elevated. It took on dominance and majesty; -bothered and hectored, heretofore, it was now a king. And the spirit -of the man, rising as though newly born in some womb of the sun, -realized that this was the thing that every human creature tasting -of liquors eternally longed for. It was the thing for which the -world had been going to alcohol to seek—the supreme, moving motive -of all drunkenness! It released, and strengthened, and ennobled that -thing within the human body which every man thinks of as himself. - -Or at least it seemed like that to Arnbush. - -And there was with this heavenly taste of liquor the alluring -enchantment of a drug. The world softened and became a place of -pleasure, but it was the pleasure of a mental dominance, and it was -the softness of a plastic kingdom. The individuality in the man was -glorified. - -What alcohol promised, this amazing fluid gave! - -Arnbush put down the empty glass, and regarded the chemist, across -the table, with a growing wonder. - -“You have found it!” he said. - -It was the comment of one who finds a treasure; the comment of one -who, after a doubtful search, looks down on a heap of gold-pieces -gleaming under the broken lid-boards of a chest. - -“You have found it!” - -It was the supreme expression of a victory immense and final. He had -now within his hand the ruin of his enemies. And the stimulated ego -in the man exulted. He would destroy their victory over him beyond -the wildest conceptions of disaster. They were now trapped and -huddled, and the weapon was in his hand. - -His revenge stood out a shining figure before his face! - -No need now for the trust fund in a death testament. He should live -to see it. And he put the eager query, foremost in his mind. - -“Is it difficult to manufacture?” - -The chemist had been sitting with his elbow on the table, his jaw -bedded in the fork of his hand, his pale eyes behind the myopic -lenses on Arnbush. - -It was a strange reflective watching, as of one who was beyond the -common motives of a normal life; as of one who sat at a window, -before a world that it no longer interested him to enter, or out of -which he had been ejected—and who, being thus, had found a medium -for vicarious influence. - -He replied without a change in his peculiar posture. - -“It is the widest distributed of all known elements,” he said, “and -the easiest to isolate.... Anybody can make it and the material is -before every door. I bid you observe how simple the process is.” - -He removed his hand, drew forth a drawer in the table and took out a -candle, an ordinary clay pipe and some green, little seed. He packed -the seed into the pipe bowl with his thumb and set it above the -flame. - -Arnbush looked on, astonished. - -The temperature of the night had changed. A faint premonition of the -morning was on the way. There was a suggestion of chill entering -through the window. And there was silence. - -The dim flame of the gas jet overhead and the candle on the table -threw a flickering arc of light about the pale hand, the clay pipe -with its bowl of seed sitting in the flame, and the big, nearly -naked, head extended toward them. - -And while the distiller watched, there appeared, at the mouth end of -the pipe stem, a drop of green. It lengthened and widened slowly -until it hung there like a pear-shaped emerald. - -The chemist removed the pipe from the flame of the candle. - -“That is circine,” he said. “It is present in all vegetable life, -especially in the seed. Any of the plants of the Ambrosia family are -rich in it. I have used here the common green seed of the ragweed -and a little heat. - -“But I bid you mark that in this form the circine is not free. It is -locked up in the molecule. If you tasted this drop of green, it -would be bitter and have no effect. The circine is, as I have said, -cased off in the molecule. It must be freed to have any virtue.” - -He rose, got a broken-handled cup and from a plate beside it a pinch -of substance that looked like a gray mold, pulverized it between his -fingers, placed it in the cup, and added the drop of green liquid on -the pipe stem. - -He warmed the cup above the candle, and presently, when he had -finished, handed it to Arnbush. - -Within lay a globule of the golden fluid! - -“Here,” he said, “we have the circine free. Taste it.” - -He took the cup and added a little water. - -The distiller touched it to his lips, and with a great effort of the -will replaced it on the table. In his mouth was, again, the taste of -that rich, heavenly liquor, seasoned, an age long, in some hidden -cask. - -The chemist went back to his stool. - -“The substance I have added to the drop of green is a fungus -culture. Among the innumerable varieties of fungi there is, alone, -one culture which has the power to destroy the shell about the -molecule and set the incased circine free. And as it happens, this -fungus is of almost universal distribution; is as available as bread -mold.” - -He paused, and added: - -“As I have said, circine is the very commonest of all elements, and -the simplest to obtain. A workman can make it with his pipe, adding -a pinch of this fungus—as I have shown you with these humble -implements.” - -The chemist paused and resumed his posture, his chin gathered into -his hand; his eyes, diminished by the thick lenses, on Arnbush, in -that reflective watching as of one looking from a window. - -And the distiller saw, in a vast sweep of vision, the effect of this -discovery. - -As by the rubbing of a lamp he had obtained the thing he wished for, -more perfectly adapted than his wish could hope. From this day the -whole world would be drunken. No human creature, having tasted of -this heavenly liquor, would return to abstinence; no laws could -possibly prevent its use. A thing that any man could make with a -clay pipe, some seeds, and a pinch of fungus was beyond a sumptuary -law. Once known, even a death sentence on the thing would be a dead -letter in a statute. - -And the man thrilled, in a great upward sweep of the heart, at this -ruin of his enemies. - -He saw what he would do. He would hold the secret, buy advertising -space in every newspaper, and on a given day make the whole thing -known. Once the discovery was known, he saw clearly, not even the -infinity of God could prevent a drunken world. - -Arnbush rose and went over to the window. The city lay dumb and -silent before him. His enemies were sleeping in their beds, and he -stood above them, with their ruin in his hand. - -It was a great, expanded moment. - -Arnbush remained with his hands behind him, looking out. There was -no sound or evidence of life behind him. When, finally, he turned, -the chemist was sitting in that watchful pose. - -The distiller spoke, in the vigor of his victory. - -“This is the greatest thing that was ever discovered!” - -Neinsoul replied without moving, without a gesture. - -“We consider circine,” he said, “the most important element so far -released by us. The habit-forming drugs upon which we have -heretofore depended are limited in their influence, and we have -obtained from them only a fragmentary result. We have long sought -something of universal appeal.” - -“Well, you got it,” interrupted Arnbush; “the country’ll drink -itself into hell on this stuff.” - -In his satisfaction he overlooked the chemist’s plural pronoun. - -The muscles about Neinsoul’s lips distended in a sort of weird -smile. - -“We shall hardly hope for that,” he said. “In fact, the effect of -circine on the human body is not deleterious. Neither depression nor -nausea follows its use; there are none of the unpleasant -after-effects of alcohol, or the so-called habit-forming drugs. In -truth, many persons of weak individuality will be physically -advanced by circine.” - -He continued to speak distinctly, in his thin, distant voice. - -“It is the prime virtue in circine that it builds up and hardens the -individuality of the user. It makes him, in the end, wholly -self-sufficient. He will not go to another for any element of -sensation. It is the influence of exterior organisms that the -circine continually resists. - -“All drugs released by us have had some psychic effect, as for -example, the degenerative moral effect of opium. This psychic -influence of circine is not degenerative in the individual, but it -is eliminative of all influences psychic, exterior to the -individual. I do not mean that it touches ordinary sensation which -is of physical origin. But it removes all response to foreign -psychic stimuli or physical stimuli moving from a psychic -origin—as, for example, the love lure in its various psychic and -psycho-physical expressions. - -“Under the influence of circine, that basic element of the -individual which he calls himself is built up to a completeness -which will wholly reject any sensation depending upon another, -whether that sensation be psychic, as in morals, or psycho-physical, -as in the love lure.” - -He paused abruptly, and looked up. The air entering through the -window was beginning to freshen; a faint gray haze was appearing in -the sky behind the city. And the chemist acted like one in haste to -an appointment. He seized a tablet, in the drawer before him, tore -off a sheet, wrote hastily upon it, and thrust it across the table -to Arnbush. - -“There is the chemical formula of circine,” he said, “and the name -of the fungus. I must go.” - -The distiller began to speak about his offer, the lawyer Stetman, -the other partner, Lang, and what should now be done in payment and -the legal transfer. - -But the chemist hurried him; he could not listen; he had no time, -and it was unimportant. - -In some confusion and as swiftly as he could, Arnbush descended the -stair and went out into the street. The door clicked behind him, and -he heard the footsteps of the chemist going down as though to pass -out through the basement. - -Morning had now arrived. And Arnbush returned across the city to the -Waldorf. - -But he returned like one entering with a triumph. He walked, his -shoulders thrown back, his head up, like a conquerer. The effect of -this wondrous fluid, even from his taste of it, remained. He would -impose his will on this crank-ridden country, and he had the power -folded in his pocket. - -He began to go over in his mind the things Neinsoul had said. - -He had some knowledge of the phraseology of such a trade, from the -chemists employed about his manufactories; and he understood the -substance of the discourse. He reviewed it now carefully in detail. -This stuff was circine. It was the active principle in all -fermentation; one got it from green seed, heat, and a pinch of -fungus. And he passed on into a scrutiny of Neinsoul’s statement -about the effect of circine. - -He was in this abstraction when, at the entrance to the hostelry, he -stopped. - -There was some bustle about the door. A limousine stood open and a -young man and a girl were getting out. There was rice scattered on -its fenders; and the two were radiant. Their manner was infectious; -passers stopped, the hall boys and the porters had come out—all were -smiling. - -Arnbush followed them inside. - -He drew near to the young man and the girl, and he observed them -closely. It was no new incident in the common life. But before the -formula he carried in his pocket the scene had a peculiar interest. - -It was scheduled in his plan to cease. - -He marked the power, the stimulus, the resistless charm of this -thing Neinsoul had called the love lure. The hardest creature about -his task paused and stood up smiling, as though the incident -released within him some memory or some hope. - -Arnbush walked about, thrusting through the group of persons, to -keep the two within the sweep of his eye. He would miss no detail. -And when they passed out of his sight and hearing he stood for some -time looking at the elevator as at the abandoned spot of some -transfiguration. - -Then he filled his big lungs and shrugged his shoulders. Well, there -would be no more of this thing! And he went in to breakfast. - -The old waiter was slow this morning and, Arnbush thought, -inattentive. He spoke to him sharply. - -The man was obsequious and apologetic. His wife was ill; he was in -acute distress. They had been long together, and happy; dependent on -each other; the twain one flesh, as the mystic words expressed -it.... If she should die! - -Arnbush plunged his hand into his pocket, drew out his purse and -gave the man a bill. It was in three figures. But the distiller was -accustomed to add substance to his sympathy—not words only, although -the words were from the heart. - -“There, there, Henry! She’ll pull through.” And he patted the old -man on the shoulder. - -This was impulse. Upon reflection he moved a little in the chair. - -The memory of Neinsoul watching as from a window occurred to him. - -He drank a little coffee and got up. But he could find no cigar to -suit him. He tried a handful and threw them down. He wandered awhile -about the corridors and finally went out. He would walk down to -Stetman’s office. It was early, but the lawyer was accustomed to -come in early, in order to be undisturbed at his morning’s work. - -The air had come in from the sea; it was fresh and vital, and as the -man walked he began to recover some measure of his poise. Several -blocks down Fifth Avenue, he stopped. - -A procession of small children in some religious ceremony was coming -up on the other side. He waited until they were opposite; then he -crossed. He walked slowly along the line, paused, and, returning, -passed it again. He looked with a profound, a consuming, an eager -interest at each child. - -He watched the procession disappear, took a step or two, and then, -hurrying to the curb, began to gesticulate wildly with his stick. A -taxicab answered; he plunged in and shouted an address. - -Stetman was among his law books when his client entered. He rose -from his stooped posture. - -“I was working on your matter,” he said. - -Arnbush came forward, shouting from the threshold: - -“Well! You don’t have to work on it no longer. I got it. Do you see -that, Stetman? Do you see what’s on that paper?” - -He thrust Neinsoul’s formula before the astonished lawyer. The man -looked at the chemical hieroglyphics and the text below it, written -in a fine, accurate, thin hand. - -“Where did you get this?” he said. - -“Where did I get it!” cried the distiller. “You know where I got it. -I got it from your firm of chemists, Lang and Neinsoul.” - -The lawyer stepped back from his table. - -“I didn’t see Lang,” he said, “he was not at Keator’s.” - -Arnbush went on shouting in his excitement. - -“Anyhow, I got it of Neinsoul! An’ you see what I’m goin’ to do with -it!” - -He flourished the paper a moment, wildly, before the lawyer’s -strange, contracted face, and then he tore it into bits, scattering -the fragments about the room. - -And, oblivious to the amazement in Stetman, he went on shouting. The -very act of tearing the formula seemed to increase the fury of his -manner. - -“You think I’m crazy, eh! Well, I ain’t crazy! What for do I want to -stop a young feller from falling in love with his sweetheart?... -What for do I want to break up the companionship of old people?... -What for do I want to keep all the little children out of the -world?... You hear what I say, Stetman?” - -The lawyer thought his client was insane. He came around the table, -his face drawn. - -“Who have you seen?” he said. - -Arnbush was now in a fury of declamation. - -“Neinsoul!” he shouted. “Ain’t I told you! ... Neinsoul! He called -me up on the telephone after you left. An’ I went over to their -laboratory on Park Avenue.” - -“And Neinsoul was there?” - -The lawyer’s voice was low, tense, amazed. - -“Sure, he was there,” Arnbush roared. “Ain’t I told you!” - -The lawyer made a single exclamation. - -“Good God!” he said. - -Arnbush turned on him, swinging heavily on his big feet, as on some -ponderous hinges. - -“What for do you say, ‘Good God’?” - -“Because,” replied the lawyer, “if Neinsoul was there, he got out of -hell to come.... He died three years ago in Essen, poisoned by a -blinding gas that he had invented for the German army.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - The Symbol - - -To Marion Dillard there was mockery in the symbolism of the night. - -She was alone. On the table before her was an open telegram—the -grating fitted into the last opening of the trap. She was a -dark-haired, slender girl with that aspect of capacity and -independence with which the great war endowed our women: the high -courage that no assault of evil fortune could bludgeon into -servility. She sat in her chair before the table, to the eye, -unconquered. - -But it was to the eye only. In the magnificence about her the -wreckage impending was incredible; the great house fitted with every -luxury, the library in which she sat, its rug the treasure of a -temple, its walls paneled! - -To Marion Dillard, in her chair before the table, with the telegram -open before her, the whole setting was grotesque. All over the city, -white with newly fallen snow, were the symbols of this majestic -celebration of the birth of the Saviour. They were not absent in -this room. Holly wreaths hung in the windows, and the strange ivory -image, representing the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, which her -father had always so greatly prized, had been brought out, after the -usual custom on this night, and placed on the table. It sat on a -black silk cloth embroidered with a white cross. As a work of art it -was not conspicuously excellent; but her father prized it for the -memory of a great adventure. - -Marion Dillard leaned back in the chair, reviewing the events that -had moved against her as though with some sinister design. Her -father was dead. A cross of white marble stood on a hilltop in -France to his memory. It had been erected by every people in the -great war, for her father, moved by a high, adventurous idealism, -too old for longer service in the American army, had taken his own -fortune—and, alas, the fortune which he held in trust for -another—and with it maintained a hospital base on the western front -for the benefit of every injured man, friend or enemy. - -Marion Dillard reflected: Of what avail was it that her father had -not realized that this trust money was going into his big -conception? He had drawn on his resources in America until every -item of his great fortune was pledged, and by some error, this -estate, in trust, had gone into the common fund. Appalled, when she -came to examine the accounts, Marion had endeavored to cover the -matter, hoping that the decision of the United States Circuit Court -of Appeals in a suit to recover a tract of coal lands in the south -would be decided in favor of her father’s estate, and thus furnish -the money to replace this trust. And so she had somehow managed to -go on. - -This telegram on the table was the end. “Reversed and dismissed,” -were the sinister words of it. On this night commemorating the birth -of that great founder of brotherhood, whose idealistic conceptions -her father had always so magnificently followed, she must decide -what she would do. - -The thing was sharp and clear before her. She must either wreck the -majestic legend of her father, or degrade herself! As she had -carried the thing along by various shifts since her father’s death, -she could easily make it appear that she had, herself, embezzled -this trust fund. That would leave the memory of her father clean; -but it clearly meant that she herself could not escape the criminal -courts. The heirs of her father’s friend were insistent and hostile. -They would have the pound of flesh, now that the fortune was gone. - -For a time she sat motionless, her eyes vaguely on the carved ivory -image on the table before her. Then, she got up, and, with her hands -clasped behind her back, stood looking down at the crucifix. - -It was about ten inches high, rudely carved in the Chinese fashion -out of the segment of an elephant’s tusk four inches in diameter. -The cross represented the trunk of a tree, the roots thrust out for -the base. The figure, with arms extended, was nailed to the broken -limbs of this tree-trunk, forming the cross. The whole top of the -tree-trunk made the head of the figure, thrown back under a crown of -thorns. And there in the quaint English letters cut around the base -was the legend: “Inasmuch as you have turned your head to save us, -may He turn His head to save you.” - -Well, the thing was an idle hope. There was no help in the world: -either her own life or the memory of her father was on the way to -dreadful wreckage! - -Then desperation overcame her. She went out of the library through -the great hall to the door. A maid helped her into her coat. She -gave a direction that the servants should be dismissed for the -night, no one should remain up, she would let herself in with her -latchkey when she returned. She went out. - -At the bronze gates as she passed into the street a man sauntering -along the wall spoke to her. She knew him at once. It was Walker of -the Secret Service. So they were already beginning to keep her under -surveillance! The explanation of this detective did not mislead her. -He was looking for a dangerous criminal, he said, who had come into -the city and had made inquiries about this house. - -Marion Dillard replied with some polite appreciation of the -thoughtfulness of the police for her security, and went on. At the -end of the bronze fence, as she passed, she observed another figure -crouched against the wall as though it also kept guard on her house; -but it moved away as she approached, as though to conceal itself -around the turn of the wall inclosing the spacious grounds. She -smiled grimly. The watch kept on her would be efficient; here was -another. She went along the street to the great bridge. - -She paused for a moment before the immense stone lions on their -great pedestals at the bridge head. They looked old, haggard, -changing into monsters under a draping of snow! Then she set out to -walk across the bridge into the country beyond, past the cathedral -on the hill, lighted, and from which the melody of vague and distant -music descended. And the feeling in the girl as she moved dreadfully -in the night, became a sort of wonder. Was this a vast delusion, -or was there in fact a Will in the universe determined on -righteousness, and moving events to the aid of those who devoted -their lives to its service? - -She went on, walking stiffly like a dead body hypnotized into a -pretension of life. - - * * * * * - -There was no sound on the sea. It was a vast, endless desert of -water on which the sun lay as though fixed. Only the chugging of the -rusted freighter broke the immobility of the silence. The tramp -looked like a battered derelict, not battered by the stormy elements -of the sea; but haggard by the creeping detritus of inactivities in -crowded tropical ports. The steel hull was covered with rust; the -stack leprous, and the metal devices of the deck newly covered with -a cheap paint. - -There was no breath of air in the world, either to disturb the -immense placidity of the sea or to vary the thin line of smoke -vaguely blending into the distant sky line. - -Two men sat against a drum on the rear of the ship. If one had been -searching the world for types of the worst human derelicts, the -search would have ended at the drum on the rear of this tramp. The -types were villainous, but they were distinct—in marked contrast. -The little man was speaking. - -“Cut along with it, Colonel,” he said. “How much did the Chink give -you?” - -He was a thin, nervous creature, with a habit of fingering his face, -as though to remove some invisible thing clinging to it. It was -impossible to place the man, either in nationality or environment of -life. He might have been a Cockney, born under the Bow Bells; but it -was more probable that he was a New York gunman. He had picked up -habits of speech in every degraded port of the east, as a traveling -rat picks up a scurvy. - -The man he addressed was big, with a putty-colored face, dead-black -hair plastered down with water over an immense head beginning to -grow bald. He was dressed in a worn frock coat—the clothes of a -clergyman—threadbare, but clean. His shoes, even, showed evidences -of an attempt at polish. He wore a clean, white, starched shirt and -a low collar with a black string tie. A huge black stogy hung in the -corner of his mouth. He sat relaxed in a heap against the drum, he -had a white handkerchief over his shirt front, tucked into the -collar in order to protect his linen from the ash and while his body -remained immobile he whittled a piece of pine board. The long knife -blade polished to the edge of a razor, moved on the wood as in some -grotesque manner of caress. He gave the appearance of one -unutterably weary; an immense sagging body in which all the fibers -were relaxed. - -He was devitalized with opium. - -His voice, when he spoke, presented the same evidence of utter -languor. His lips scarcely moved, and the sound seemed to creep out -in a slow drawl. - -“The Chink gave me two yellow boys. He had six in his hand. ‘You -bring Major Dillard of the American Division here to-night,’ he -said, ‘and you get the other four.’ Of course, he didn’t speak -English. He spoke the Manchu dialect. I know the Manchu dialect. -That’s where I had a flock; but I came in when the Boxers started. -That’s how I came to be on hand when the Allied armies began their -march under old von Waldersee.... You understand, I had left the -mission.” - -He spoke with a nice discriminating care in the selection of his -words, as though it were a thing in which he had a particular and -consuming pride. The gunman laughed. - -“You mean you had been kicked to hell out of it, and were livin’ on -the country.” - -There was a faint protest in the Colonel’s drawl. - -“It’s true I was not sent out by any of the great sectarian -missions. I adopted the work, and I was not in favor with the -regular organizations in China. They resisted my endeavors.” - -“I’d say they did,” his companion interrupted. “You’re the worst -crook in the world barrin’ one, not so far away.” He laughed. -“There’s a circular posted up in every mission in Asia givin’ your -mug, and tellin’ what a damned impostor you are. Some vitriol in the -descriptions of you, Colonel. I’ve seen ’em.” - -The man was not disturbed. The drawl continued: - -“Yes, Mr. Bow Bell,” he said; “quite true, quite true. I was not in -favor with the regular organizations.” - -The names which the two derelicts applied to one another they had -themselves selected, inspired by the impression produced upon each -other at the time of their meeting on the ship. The big man had -called the gunman Mr. Bow Bell, and the gunman had named his -companion Colonel Swank. They had made no further inquiry. Men of -this character are not concerned about names. - -Bow Bell put his fingers over his face, drawing them gently down and -removing them together from the point of his chin, as though he -brushed something away. - -“So you crawled out of your rat hole, when the column started, to -see what you could pinch. Good pickin’, eh, what?” - -Colonel Swank made a low, murmured exclamation. - -“History tells us,” he said, “how the rich cities of antiquity were -looted by the soldiery of invading armies; but there can hardly have -been a parallel to this in any known case. The whole country for a -considerable distance on either side of the line of march was -denuded of every article of value, even the venerated images of -Buddha in the holy temple of Ten Thousand Ages were broken to pieces -with dynamite, under the impression that they concealed articles of -value. Of course, the Chinese population stowed away everything they -could; but they could not hide the women, and they were not always -able to conceal their treasures; such as carved ivory, cloisonné, -vases, silks, furs, and the like.” - -“The lid was off,” said Bow Bell, “about as it would be in India if -the English went out. I once asked a Rajah in the Punjab what he -would do if the English left India, and you ought to have seen his -grin. ‘I’d take my regiment and go down to the coast, and there -wouldn’t be a virgin or a ten-anna bit left in Bombay.’ ... Cut -along with your story. The Chink gave you two gold twenties to bring -in Major Dillard, with four more in his hand if you put it over. You -brought him in, didn’t you? Gawd, is there anything you wouldn’t do -for a hundred and twenty dollars! Name it, Colonel, let me hear what -it sounds like.” - -Swank’s voice did not change. He was unresponsive to the taunt. - -“Yes,” he said, “I was so fortunate as to induce Major Dillard to -visit the monastery under my guidance, though it required some -diplomatic effort, and some insistence; but the Major had confidence -in my cloth, and he was making every effort to prevent a looting of -the country along the line of march.” - -Bow Bell laughed in a high staccato. - -“Confidence in your cloth! It was just a piece of your damned luck -that the American officer never heard of you. He thought you were an -honest-to-God missionary. You’d know all the tricks. You’d be -sanctimonious enough to fool the Devil, for a handful of yellow boys -minted in America. I’d lay a quid on the Saints that you fooled him -all right.... Well, go on and tell me about it. You say the old -Viceroy, with the Boxers on one side and the foreign devils on the -other, was cooped up in a monastery along the line of march, with -the women of all the important families in the Province, and -everything of value that they hadn’t time to bury. You’d nose it -out, Johnny-on-the-spot. You couldn’t get it yourself—some Chink -would have put a knife in you—and it was no good to you for the -foreign devils to get it, so you took your little old hundred and -twenty, and went in to the American Headquarters to see Major -Dillard, eh, what!” - -He went on condensing the unessentials in the hope of getting -Colonel Swank forward with his narrative. - -“The viceroy was sick, and too old to travel. It was all he could do -to sit up. His only chance was to put himself under the protection -of the American Expeditionary Force. The English were on ahead, and -he knew what the Russians and Germans would do to him. Gawd! He’d -gathered it up for ’em! It was like saying, ‘Come along, boys. I’ve -got the stuff corralled for you. Here’s the girlies, and here’s the -pieces of eight. Go to it. Gawd!... No wonder they dug up the yellow -boys.... You’d ’a’ got more if you had held out. Did that occur to -you?” - -Swank made a vague gesture,—a languorous moving of his hand over his -threadbare knee. - -“One should not consider a reward for aiding others in distress; -besides my resources were very low at the time, and American gold in -the East was at a premium.” - -“Too hungry to trade, eh, what?” said Bow Bell. “I have been like -that; but you must have been damned hungry, Colonel. Gawd! You must -have been starved to the bone ... cut along. Was it night?” - -“It was evening,” continued Colonel Swank. “Night was coming on by -the time I had persuaded Major Dillard to come with me. I had a good -deal of difficulty to get him to come with me alone, without a -guard. Not that he was afraid. This American officer was not afraid. -You could tell that by his face. There was no way to frighten him; -but it was irregular, and he had practically to go incognito. The -Viceroy had stipulated with me that I should bring the American -officer alone. He did not wish the common soldiers to know what the -monastery contained. I had some difficulty to convince Major -Dillard; but as I have said, he had faith in my cloth.” - -“Gawd,” said the gunman, and he spat violently on the deck. “Suppose -he had been on to you, you damned old renegade. My word, you were in -luck!... Did they send a yellow chair?” - -The placidity of Swank was unmoved. - -“No,” he said, “as it happened, the chairs were red. It was some of -the chairs in which the women had been brought in. You know, a bride -in China is always sent to the house of her husband in a red chair. -All the red chairs in the province had been commandeered to bring in -the young daughters of the high Chinese residents, to the protection -of the Viceroy. They sent what they had. Yellow is the Royal color -in China. The Viceroy couldn’t use it.” - -Bow Bell interrupted with a sort of vehemence. - -“Damn it, man, get on. You’re the slowest brute I ever saw to get -into a story. It was night when you set out with Major Dillard in -the red chairs. How far was it to the monastery?” - -But the deliberation of Swank’s narration was not to be hurried. His -hand moved the long sharp blade of his knife slowly along the piece -of soft wood, removing a shaving like a ribbon. He went on in his -slow drawl. - -“The monastery was a few miles west of the advancing column. The -American Division had just come up; behind it was a smart regiment -from Berlin; and behind that, farther down, were the Russians. You -see the whole Expeditionary Force in China had been put under the -command of Count von Waldersee. The German Emperor had intrigued for -this supreme command; had, in fact, openly solicited it from the -Chancelleries of Europe. You will find it all described in the -memoirs of von Eckerman. The German Emperor thought he would make a -great point in the world if the supreme command of the allied forces -in China should be put under a German officer. The Asiatic would be -impressed with the superior importance of German Arms—‘Observe, if -you please, how all Nations looking about for a leader have selected -a German general!’” - -Swank paused as from the weariness of effort. - -“The Emperor was immensely keen about it; but it only made the -Chancelleries of Europe laugh. It was Wilhelm II at his theatricals; -besides, any Prime Minister of discretion could see the awkward -situations that would confront the nominal head of the Expeditionary -Forces; and so the Chancelleries of Europe laughed, and, turning -away their faces, gravely acceded to the Emperor’s request. That is -how von Waldersee came to command the column. He was a big, -purple-faced German, wearing a helmet with a black eagle on the top -of it, and a white chin strap; and he always rode a black charger. -The theatrical conceptions of the Emperor must be carried out in -detail. And the officious von Waldersee was overlooking no occasion. -An orderly had just arrived from the German High Command as I -entered to interview Major Dillard, and as it happened the American -general put the message, that this orderly carried, into his pocket -as he came out with me.” - -Bow Bell cursed under his breath. - -“I know all that,” he said. “Everybody knows it. Get on to the real -thing. What happened to the Viceroy, and the girlies, and the loot?” - -Undisturbed, unmoved, and deliberate, Colonel Swank continued with -his narrative. - -“We set out in the red chairs. I was in front, for I was to lead the -way, and Major Dillard was directly behind. We traveled for about -three miles west, across the fields, and then through a wood to a -slight elevation on which the monastery was situated. We passed -first under that queer thing which is to be found in China—a sort of -gateway, and triumphal arch; but without any supporting wall about -it. This arch had now a big tarpaulin stretched across it on which -was painted an immense white cross. Through the arch, on a -flag-paved road we approached the main structure of the monastery. -True to the usual form of architecture, the lower part was of stone, -and the upper part of wood. It was crowned by towers, roofed with -yellow tiles, and painted in vivid colors. On the corner of the roof -were innumerable bells, that rang weirdly in the slight wind. On -either side of it, standing on immense pedestals were two enormous -lions. Very strange these lions appeared before us as we entered the -paved court. They had that old haggard, sinister aspect that the -Oriental alone can give to the features of a beast; that aspect of -merging, as by some degeneration, into a monster. Before us was a -double-roofed square tower, with a door on either side. - -“We got down from the chairs and went in. At the door stood the old -Chinese official who had given me the two yellow boys. He now handed -me the remaining four, and we entered the monastery. Within there -was an immense image of Buddha, covered with gold leaf. The temple -was lofty, and dimly lighted, and the colossal image of Buddha, -glittering as though of pure gold, and holding the sacred lotus in -his hand, ascended into the lofty upper spaces of the temple. A -circular stairway, mounted around the inner walls of the temple so -that one might go up to the very face of the Buddha, sitting in his -eternal calm. - -“All along this stairway there were images in clay, painted in -divers colors. - -“About us as we entered the temple were crowds of Buddhist priests, -their heads shaven, and wearing the characteristic dress—the long -yellow robe confined at the waist by a sash, and felt-soled -slippers. They moved noiselessly, as though they were the spirit -company attendant on this immense image. However, we were not come -to idle before the wonders of a Buddhist monastery. The Chinese -official went on and we followed behind him. He passed through a -door at the rear of the shrine, and we were at once in an immense, -low room. It was a very big room. - -“One was not able to see what decorations the walls had contained, -as they were heaped on all sides to the ceiling with bales of silks, -furs, and embroideries; and all about were chests and boxes, piled -in some confusion, as though they had just been brought in. The -whole chamber was a warehouse, and it was filled to the ceiling, -except for a narrow passage through the middle. This we traversed, -and, coming to the end of it, passed through a yellow door into -another chamber. We entered here a room of lesser dimensions; but it -was fitted up after the usual idea of Chinese luxury—great mirrors -around the walls; rich rugs on the floor; a variety of clocks, all -going at a different hour; and many screens and tapestries. - -“In the middle of the room in a chair padded with silk cushions sat -the Viceroy. He was an ancient man, evidently at the end of life. -His face was like wrinkled parchment. The white, straggling beard -remained on his face; but the whole dome of his skull was bald. It -was as bare as the palm of a hand. It was yellow with age. - -“But the most striking thing in the place was the women. - -“The whole room was literally crowded with young Chinese women; the -daughters of the important men of the province. They sat about on -the priceless carpets, clothed in exquisite silks, embroidered with -designs of their hereditary houses. They looked like quaint dolls, -their hair knotted in the usual Chinese fashion with gum, and thrust -through with ornaments of jade, and gold pins; their mouths -painted.” - -“Gawd,” said Bow Bell, “what a layout for the Hun! Mohammed couldn’t -beat it in his heaven. Get along!” - -Colonel Swank continued in his dreary, monotonous voice. - -“The Viceroy was too ill to rise; but he made a salute in the German -fashion with his hand when Major Dillard entered; and he began at -once to address the American through the Chinese official who -accompanied us, and whose English was as good as my own. He asked -for protection to the Monastery, and a guard; and extending his hand -to the great storeroom through which we had passed, he offered the -American anything that he wished in payment for this protection. -Major Dillard endeavored to explain that the Allied Armies were not -on a quest of loot; but were merely endeavoring to relieve the -legations at Pekin, and establish order in the country; that they -could receive no compensation for this service; and that he would -endeavor to protect the Monastery. - -“But he was disturbed about a guard. - -“The American Expeditionary Force was not large, and he was easily -able to see the international complications that might arise if he -left here an American guard to clash, perhaps, with the German -division behind him.” - -Swank moved slightly in his position against the drum of the -freighter. The ash from the half-burned stogy fell on the white -cotton handkerchief. There came a shadow of interest into his voice. - -“At this moment,” he said, “while Major Dillard was engaged with the -difficult problem before him, an extraordinary event occurred. There -was a clamor of voices outside. A Chinese guard hurtled through the -door, and fell on the floor before the Viceroy. There was a sound of -heavy footsteps, the clang of side arms, the echo of guttural -voices, and a moment later a dozen German officers entered the room. - -“They were young Prussian under-officers from the portion of the -German company behind the American Division. They stopped inside the -door, lost for a moment in wonder at the very miracle of the thing -they were seeking. Then they noticed Major Dillard standing beside -the Viceroy’s chair. They brought their heels together and made him -a formal military salute; but it was clear they regarded him as of -no particular importance—as merely a soldier from the American -Division to be accorded the usual amenities; but not to be permitted -to interfere with any design they had in mind. - -“There followed a brief, verbal passage at arms, with a shattering -dramatic sequel. - -“Major Dillard explained that the Monastery was under the protection -of the American Division; that it must not be disturbed; and -requested the German officers to withdraw. They replied with a -courtesy in which there was a high contempt; that as the American -Division had passed on, and the German Company arrived on the -ground, the Monastery was under the _protection_—they got a -sneering, contemptuous note in the word—of the German Expeditionary -Force, and they must insist on their right of control. - -“They looked about at the rich loot, the ancient Viceroy, and the -painted women, and what they meant by protection to the monastery -was as clear as light. - -“They were all under the influence of liquor; one or two of them -were plainly drunk. It was evident that Major Dillard could not -control them, and it was clear that their contention of their right -of control over the Chinese territory adjacent to their Division was -in point of legal virtue superior to that of the American Division -that had passed on, and from which Major Dillard had returned here. -They spoke with an exaggerated courtesy to the American; but they -were clearly intending to seize the monastery, to ignore any claim -of the Americans over it, and they made that intention insolently -evident. The old Chinese Viceroy understood it at once. Despair -enveloped him. His chin dropped on his bosom, and he put out his -hands like one resigned to the inevitable. The young, insolent -Prussians advanced into the room. - -“It was at this moment that the dramatic sequel arrived.” - -Colonel Swank paused; he made a slight gesture with the hand in -which the long sharp blade of his knife moved on the soft wood. - -“I have mentioned,” he said, “how in character were the acts of -Wilhelm II in this international affair, and now one of these -theatrical gestures intervened with a shattering dénouement. Major -Dillard offered no further argument. He took out of his pocket the -message which he had received from von Waldersee as we were setting -out and read it: It was an order of the High Command putting a -portion of a German Company under the command of that foreign -general whose division it followed. And, thus, this order put the -German advance guard, of which these Prussians were officers under -the command of the American General. It was the Emperor’s gracious -return for the grant of the supreme command to von Waldersee. Major -Dillard made no comment. He gave a curt order as though he were -addressing a sergeant’s squad: - -“The Prussians were to remain and guard the Monastery during the -whole of the Allied occupation; nothing should be disturbed; they -would be held responsible for every life and every article, and for -the rigid preservation of order. It was a hard, clear, comprehensive -direction: And they were to report to him in Pekin. - -“The amazement of the young Prussian officers was beyond any word to -express. Their jaws dropped; their very eyes bulged. The drunken -ones were instantly sober. They recognized the black eagle and the -signature of the German High Command. Every vestige of human -initiative vanished out of them. Von Waldersee’s order was an ukase -of the All Highest—the direction of the Emperor—a command of the War -Lord. They formed in a line before the American, clicked their -heels, and saluted. And he set them about the outside of the -Monastery as a guard; and went away in his chair.” - -Bow Bell threw himself forward from the iron drum of the tramp with -a great cackle of laughter. - -“Gawd!” he cried. “Could you beat it! A look-in, and then to be -snapped up like that! Gawd!” He rocked himself on the deck, his -hands clasped about his knees. “I can see ’em,” he stuttered. “Oh, -my word!” He continued to rock in his paroxysms of laughter. “And -they couldn’t touch a girlie or a cash piece. Gawd! what a neat -little hell!” - -He turned toward his companion. - -“And what did you do, you fat, old crook? What did you do? Stay on -for a little of the loot the American wouldn’t take?” - -Colonel Swank resumed his narrative as though there had been no -interruption. - -“I remained,” he said, “though not entirely at my own initiative. -The old Viceroy had drawn the conclusion from some remarks of Major -Dillard that the white cross which the monks had put up before the -gate of the Monastery was a protecting symbol of the great Christian -religions, and that in some manner its effect on Major Dillard had -produced the result which followed. This impression doubtless arose -from the fact that in his order to the Prussian officers Major -Dillard had directed that the cross should be permitted to remain. -It was his idea doubtless that this religious symbol would help to -protect the Monastery from the remainder of the Expeditionary Force. -They might take it to be a hospital, or some missionary place of -refuge. But the Viceroy got the idea that it was to the sacredness -of this symbol that he owed his protection, and he began to inquire -of me upon the point. Why was the cross a sacred symbol in our -religion? - -“I explained it to him: that, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of the -Christians, had been crucified on a tree, and that this cross was -symbolical of that crucifixion; of that vicarious atonement for the -sins of the world. He did not understand the metaphysics of my -explanation; but he understood its physical essentials; that the God -of the Christians had been crucified on a tree, and that this -concrete representation was, therefore, sacred, as the images of -Buddha in his eternal calm, with the lotus flower in his hand; that -the cross meant to all Western religions what the image of Buddha -meant to Asia. - -“He understood crucifixion. It was a torture of death known to the -Chinese; but reserved only for the lowest criminals. It had been -supplanted in later years by the _lingchi_, or death of a thousand -cuts; but it was an old practice, and the archives of his province -contained ancient paintings of it. He interrogated me minutely upon -the details of this crucifixion, and I gave him an accurate picture -of it: The Man of Sorrows crowned with thorns, and nailed to the -cross. But in the translation I made use always of the Chinese word -for tree. A lack of precision in language which had presently a -definite result.” - -Again Bow Bell spat upon the deck. - -“The hell you did,” he said. “You sanctimonious old crook. You ought -to have had your tongue cut out. No missionary society would put up -with you for a minute. You used to be a faro dealer in Hongkong -until you got too cursed crooked for even a Chinese gambler to stand -you.” - -Colonel Swank did not resent this digression. - -“For a week,” he said, “I remained in the Monastery as a guest of -the Viceroy. I was treated like a prince. I dined on roast quail -covered with clotted cream, and candied rose leaves; and then I was -given a present for Major Dillard and sent on to the American -Division. I traveled in a chair like an envoy, parallel to, but at -some distance from, the line of march, and I overtook him before he -reached Pekin.” - -“And what was the present?” said Bow Bell. “Twelve she asses laden -with gold?” - -“No,” replied the Colonel in his weary drawl, “it was not. It was a -carving in ivory representing the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth -as I had described it, wrapped in a piece of black silk embroidered -with a white cross, not worth a pound and six pence. The carving, a -mediocre work of art, might have been worth a hundred dollars in -America. - -“You will recall that I used the word tree in my description to the -Viceroy, and this carving represented an ivory tree made of the -whole segment of an elephant tusk. It was about four inches in -diameter, and ten inches high. The base represented the roots of the -tree spread out, so that the thing would stand in balance. Broken -limbs represented the cross pieces to which the hands of the figure -were nailed. The feet were spiked together on the trunk; the head -thrown back, and encircled with a crown of thorns, made the entire -top of the carving, that is to say, the top of the tree.” - -“Well, for Gawd’s sake,” said Bow Bell. “A piece of carved -elephant’s tusk for a job like that!... Did you steal it?” - -Colonel Swank went on: - -“And it was carved in tiny English letters around the base with a -legend, not badly worded for a pagan imitation of the Scriptures: -‘Inasmuch as you turned your head to save us, may He turn His head -to save you’.... No, I didn’t steal it. How could I steal it? There -was a Chinese runner on each side of the chair. I was never out of -sight of them, and they each had a knife. I delivered it to the -Major.” - -“Well, he didn’t get much for his trouble,” said Bow Bell. “It’s no -good to be good!” - -His voice descended into a confidential note; he leaned a little -toward his companion. - -“Now, you said you had a notion about this thing at the beginning of -your talk. What was that notion, Colonel?” - -“As I recall,” Swank continued, “it was a discourse about the -exaggerated value which devotees of a religion place upon their -symbols. They all seem to feel that the sacredness of these symbols -is an ample payment for any immensity of service. It is a very -strange and universal belief. The English resident of a native state -in India once received a gold Buddha for saving a Rajah’s life, and -it was not even gold. It was only plated.” - -“But that’s not all you said,” interrupted Bow Bell. “You said you -were going to America. You said you were going to find that -crucifix. You said you had a notion about it. What is your notion?” - -For a moment Colonel Swank did not reply. His hand moved the long -sharp blade of the knife peeling off ribbons of pine from the piece -of soft wood. The sun was going down, and the sea continued to be as -placid as a sheet of glass. There was no one in sight on the rear of -the deck of the freighter; but at the moment Swank began to speak -one of the Chinese crew appeared. The Colonel lowered his voice, and -what he said passed in a whisper to his companion. - -What happened after that was fatal and unforeseen for this -ill-omened person. - -Bow Bell looked quickly about the deck. The individual of the -Chinese crew had passed behind the leprous stack of the freighter. -Bow Bell spoke softly, and leaned over toward his companion. - -“You’re going to get a lot of ash on your shirt, Colonel,” he said; -and taking hold of the hand in which his companion held the knife -with which he had been whittling the piece of packing board, he -brought it up with a firm grasp, and drove the long blade into the -man’s chest just under the heart, guiding it carefully with the -fingers of his left hand so that the blade would enter in the -interstice between the ribs. - -For a moment the huge body of the man did not move. Then, his eyes -widened, and his mouth extended in a sort of wonder. - -“Why, you dirty little beast!” he drawled. “You dirty little beast!” - -Then his head fell forward, the great, slack body quivered, -shuddered, and was motionless. - -Bow Bell turned the handle of the knife down, pressed the blade in -against the chest to prevent hemorrhage, buttoned the frock coat -over the knife, tucked the disturbed, cotton handkerchief into the -man’s collar: And to the eye, Colonel Swank, drunk with opium, had -fallen asleep over his narrative, his chin sunk comfortably on his -chest, the body propped against the drum, and supported by Bow -Bell’s shoulder. - -A moment later the Chinese deck hand came out from behind the stack, -and moved along the rail of the rear deck, making his inspection of -the ship. And the iron nerve of Bow Bell presented itself. - -“Hey, John,” he said. “Speakee Linglish?” - -“Vellee good,” replied the Chinaman, continuing to move along -the rail. “Speakum Plittsburg: Hullee-lup, hullee-lup, lu -lalle—bastard!—Speakum Hongkong pololo plony belong-house.” His -voice, went suddenly up in a high, sharp, whining cry: “Lide ’im -off, Major. Oh, damn!” - -Then he shuffled off unconcernedly along the rail around the rear of -the ship, and disappeared toward the prow. - -Night descended. - -A little later Bow Bell lifted the apparently opium-drunken body of -Colonel Swank to his feet, and helped him to the rail of the ship. -There the two stood for a moment close together as in confidential -talk, until, as the gunman turned away, the opium-drunken Colonel, -by some loss of balance, fell forward over the rail into the sea. - -With a great cry Bow Bell ran forward to report the accident. - - * * * * * - -It was midnight when Marion Dillard returned. - -Despair like an opiate had finally drugged her into a sort of -physical submission, and she had turned back to the comfort of her -house as one on his way to death warms himself before a fire. She -let herself in. - -The house was silent. The servants, pleased to obtain a holiday on -this night, had gone out. She removed her coat and hat, and laid -them on a console in the hall; and went into the library. She moved -softly, as one will under a breaking mental tension. It was -midnight; the great clocks of the city were beginning to strike. - -The door to the library was open. Marion Dillard turned from the -hall into the room; but on the threshold she stopped. The figure of -a man leaned over the library table, a cap pulled over his eyes, a -dark handkerchief tied around the lower part of his face. He held -the massive, carved ivory crucifix in his hands, and he was intent -on some undertaking with it. - -The girl took a step forward, and, at the sound, the figure turned, -and a weapon flashed in his hand. Immediately the silence in the -room was shattered by the explosion of a shot. Marion Dillard -imagined that the burglar had fired at her; but, if so, why did the -creature sway, put out a convulsive hand, drop his weapon on the -rug, and crumple in a heap. - -The voice of the detective, whom she had found on guard at the gate -as she went out gave the explanation. Walker came forward from -behind the curtain of a window. - -“Bad gunman,” he said, “wanted all over the world. I had to kill -him.” - -And he indicated the crumpled body of Mr. Bow Bell. - -“But what was he doing to that ivory crucifix? It looked like he was -trying to twist it.” - -Marion Dillard went forward and took up the heavy piece of carved -ivory. - -The head thrown back crowned with thorns, making the top of the tree -on which the figure was impaled, had been twisted around until it -faced backward. It was loose, and she lifted the head out of the -carving. - -The whole interior of the ivory tree was hollow, and packed with -rice powder. - -The girl picked up a metal paper knife, and loosened the powder in -the hollow ivory. Hard pellets were embedded in the rice powder, and -when she released them, great oriental pearls appeared—huge, -magnificent—a double handful of them; unequaled, matchless, -priceless, worth the ransom of a province. - -And at the moment, the last stroke of the clocks sounded above the -city, commemorating the hour of the birth of the Saviour of the -World. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALKER OF THE SECRET SERVICE*** - - -******* This file should be named 62740-0.txt or 62740-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/7/4/62740 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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