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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db1e80e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66758 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66758) diff --git a/old/66758-0.txt b/old/66758-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4ec6ad2..0000000 --- a/old/66758-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5403 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No 120 - 160 / Dec 26, -1914 - Oct 2, 1915, by Nick Carter - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Nick Carter Stories No 120 - 160 / Dec 26, 1914 - Oct 2, 1915 - The Pressing Peril; Dared for Los Angeles - -Author: Nick Carter - Roland Ashford Phillips - -Editor: Chickering Carter - -Release Date: November 17, 2021 [eBook #66758] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: David Edwards, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern Illinois - University Digital Library) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO 120 - 160 / -DEC 26, 1914 - OCT 2, 1915 *** - - - - - NICK CARTER STORIES - - _Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post - Office, by_ STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Copyright, - 1915, by_ STREET & SMITH. _O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors._ - - -Statement of the ownership, management, circulation, etc., required by -the Act of August 24, 1912, of NICK CARTER STORIES, published weekly, at -New York, N. Y., for April 1, 1915.... Editor, F. E. Blackwell, 79 -Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y.... Managing editors, business managers and -publishers, Street & Smith, 79-89 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y.... -Owners, Street & Smith, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y., a firm -composed of Ormond G. Smith, 89 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y., George C. -Smith, 89 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y..... Known bondholders, -mortgagees, and other security holders, holding 1 per cent. or more of -total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: None.... Signed -by George C. Smith, of the firm of Street & Smith, publisher.... Sworn -to and subscribed before me this 24th day of March, 1915, Charles W. -Ostertag, Notary Public No. 29, New York County. (My commission expires -March 30th, 1917.) - -Terms to NEW BUFFALO BILL WEEKLY Mail Subscribers. - -(_Postage Free._) - -Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. - - 3 months 65c. - 4 months 85c. - 6 months $1.25 - One year 2.50 - 2 copies one year 4.00 - 1 copy two years 4.00 - -=How to Send Money=--By post-office or express money order, registered -letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by -currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. - -=Receipts=--Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of -number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once. - -=No. 139.= NEW YORK, May 8, 1915. =Price Five Cents.= - - - - - THE PRESSING PERIL; - - Or, NICK CARTER AND THE STAR LOOTERS. - - Edited by CHICKERING CARTER. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE WOMAN WHO VANISHED. - - -“Oh, I say, old top!” - -Nick Carter stopped short and looked at the speaker. - -There was no mistaking his nationality. - -He was English to the bone. English in aspect, attitude, attire, and -accent. English of the most pronounced and impressive type--but -impressive upon as keen and thoroughbred an American observer as the -famous New York detective chiefly because of the insipid and mildly -obtrusive aristocracy that stuck out all over him. - -He was tall and slender. He wore a suit of pronounced plaid. He was -about twenty-three years old, with yellow hair and the fair skin of a -straight-bred Anglo-Saxon. He wore a monocle with a cord dangling from -it, and through which one watery blue eye glared larger and brighter -than the other. - -He had been hurrying up Fifth Avenue for about five minutes in a sort of -subdued and desperate agitation, threading his way quite rudely through -the stream of pedestrians always in that fashionable thoroughfare -shortly before six on a pleasant October afternoon, and he incidentally -had overtaken Nick Carter near the corner of Fifty-ninth Street. - -He did not accost the detective because he knew him, or had the -slightest idea of his vocation. It was purely by chance that he had -appealed to the man he most needed. He obeyed a sudden, irrepressible -impulse, that of one who scarce knew what else to do, when he grasped -Nick’s arm and stopped him, exclaiming apologetically: - -“Oh, I say, old top!” - -Nick sized him up with a glance. He saw more than others would have -seen, that this stranger not only was deeply disturbed, but also in -doubt what course to pursue. Nick merely said, nevertheless, -tentatively: - -“Well?” - -The other responded with a forward thrust of his head, a more appealing -scrutiny, and with native accent and characteristics that no attempt -will be made to even suggest on paper. - -“You’ll pardon a chap, old top, won’t you? I’m in a bally bad mess, so I -am, and jolly well upset. Would you tell me where I could find an -inspector--what your blooming people call a detective? I don’t want any -gumshoe bobbie, don’t you know, but a ripping roarer who knows his -beastly business and can keep his mouth closed. You see, old top----” - -“What’s the trouble, young man?” Nick interposed. “I may be able to aid -you, or advise you. I am a detective--what your blooming English people -call an inspector.” - -The subtle retort in the last was wasted upon his hearer. He gazed more -sharply at Nick through his monocle, nevertheless, saying quickly: - -“That’s blasted lucky, then, don’t you know? I can’t account for it, -’pon my word, this running bunk against a man I wanted. What name, sir, -may I ask?” - -“My name is Nick Carter,” replied the detective indifferently. “But -what----” - -“There it is again!” exclaimed the Englishman, interrupting with -countenance lighting. “This is a blooming, blasted good wheeze. I’ve -heard of you, sir. You’re bally well known by name even in old Lunnon. -I’m deuced well pleased, Mr. Carter, so I am.” - -He seemed to have temporarily forgotten his trouble, in his surprise and -pleasure upon discovering the detective’s identity. He even smiled and -extended his hand, which was accepted and shaken in a perfunctory way. - -Nick saw plainly, in fact, that the young man really was instinctively -very frank and genuine, and that under his somewhat insipid and -superficial personality he was possessed of true manly sentiments and -probably some depth of character. - -That he was a well-bred gentleman was equally manifest, moreover, and -Nick was impelled to assist him, if possible. He brought him to the -point at once, nevertheless, by replying: - -“Granting all that, young man, what is your trouble? Why do you need a -detective?” - -“Because I’m blasted hard hit, don’t you know?” he replied, serious -again. “I’ve been jolly well robbed.” - -“Robbed of what?” - -“My wife, sir.” - -“Robbed of your wife?” questioned Nick, surprised and almost inclined to -laugh. - -“That’s the blooming truth, Mr. Carter, or how it looks to me. I’m as -hard hit as if I’d got a jolly bash on the beak. She’s a bally American -girl, is Mollie, and----” - -“Stop a moment,” Nick interrupted again. “My time is valuable. I cannot -listen to your digressions. Answer my questions briefly and to the -point. I then may be able to aid you, if there is any real occasion.” - -“That’s deuced kind, old top, on my word. If----” - -“When did you lose your wife, and where?” Nick cut in a bit sharply. - -“I didn’t lose her. She was jolly well stolen; I’m sure of that.” - -“Where and when? By whom?” - -“Blast it, how can I tell?” protested the Englishman, with wagging head. -“We were walking down the avenue, Mollie and I, don’t you know? A -limousine shot by us, heading uptown. I heard it come to a blooming -quick stop. A chauffeur came running back, a bally bounder in -bottle-green livery. He tipped his lid, respectfullike, and said as how -his fare had caught sight of Mollie when passing us and wanted to speak -to her.” - -“His fare, eh? He was the driver of a taxicab, then?” put in Nick -inquiringly. - -“I reckon that’s right, sir, but I won’t be cock-sure.” - -“What more did he say?” - -“Mollie asked the name of his fare, but he could not tell her. He said -she had sent him to say a friend wanted to speak to her.” - -“His passenger was a woman, then?” - -“I’m jolly well sure of that. I saw her hat and veil through the -window.” - -“The taxicab must, then, have stopped quite near you,” said Nick. - -“A matter of thirty yards, sir, not more.” - -“Your wife went to see who was in the conveyance?” - -“That’s precisely what she did,” nodded the Englishman. “Wait here, -Archie, she said, and I’ll return in a moment. I was jolly well -surprised, don’t you know, but what else could I do?” - -“Nothing at all, perhaps.” - -“I always do what Mollie says. She hurried to the taxicab and stuck her -head through the door. She shook hands with some one, too, as well as I -could tell. Then the bally chauffeur shoved her into the car, or so it -looked to me, and bounded to his seat and drove away at top speed. Dash -it, what d’ye think of that?” - -“What did you think of it?” Nick inquired. - -“I was so beastly hard hit I couldn’t think,” cried the Englishman. “I -chased after the bally cab as fast as possible, hoping it would stop and -let Mollie down, but it sped out of sight into the park, and here I am. -I’m deuced well convinced there’s something wrong. Mollie wouldn’t bolt -off in that fashion. She’s above serving me a scurvy trick. She----” - -“One moment,” Nick again interposed. “You feel quite sure, you say, that -you saw the chauffeur force your wife into the cab?” - -“It looked jolly well like it, Mr. Carter.” - -“Did you hear her speak, or utter a cry?” - -“I did not, sir.” - -“Were there other persons near the taxicab at the time?” - -“None nearer than I, sir, nor quite as near. I ran after it as fast as I -could. I felt cock-sure, even then, it was a beastly job of some kind.” - -“Do you know of any reason for which your wife might be abducted?” Nick -asked, more gravely. - -“No, no reason at all, Mr. Carter. There can’t be any reason.” - -“And you know of no person who might have designs upon her?” - -“I do not,” said the Englishman, with a groan at the mere suggestion. -“What designs could one have? Mollie is my wife. She thinks the world of -me. She’s true-blue and deucedly clever and self-reliant. She----” - -“Wait!” said Nick, checking him again. “You are English, I judge.” - -“Yes, of course.” - -“And your wife is an American girl?” - -“She is, sir, and none better.” - -“Do you reside here in the city?” - -“We are here only for a time. We are boarding in Fifty-third Street, -near the avenue.” - -“Let’s walk that way,” said Nick. “It’s barely possible that your wife -will have been dropped at the boarding house before we reach it. How -long before you appealed to me did this incident occur?” - -“Not more than three or four minutes. We were about three blocks below -here.” - -Nick remembered having seen a taxicab speeding up the avenue noticeably -faster than usual at about that time. He had not observed it -particularly, however, nor could he recall anything distinctive about -it. - -There were other reasons than that, moreover, for the interest he was -taking in this stranger. He regarded the episode quite as seriously as -the young Englishman himself. He knew much better than the other what -daring and audacious crimes are committed in New York, and he began to -suspect that this might be one of them. - -Nick had decided to look at least a little deeper into the matter, -therefore, and it was with that object in view that he suggested going -to the Englishman’s lodging house, which was only a few blocks south of -where the two men had met. - -Nick continued to question him while they walked briskly down the -avenue. - -“How long have you been in New York?” he inquired. - -“I have been here only two weeks, Mr. Carter, this time,” was the reply. - -“Your second visit?” - -“Yes. I was here about two months ago for the first time. I have been -out in the bally Cripple Creek country to invest in some mines. Deucedly -rough section, old top, with a beastly lot of bally bounders, but they -dig out a jolly quantity of rich ore. ’Pon my word, I----” - -“You are a man of means, then, I infer,” put in Nick. - -“Well, I have a bit of a fortune in my own name.” - -“By the way, speaking of that, what is your name?” Nick pointedly -inquired. - -The Englishman hesitated for half a second. Most men would not have -noticed it. Nick was quick to detect it, suspecting deception, however, -as well as some secret occasion for it. - -“My name is Archie Waldron.” - -“Archie Waldron, eh?” - -“Yes. I am English, you know, as you remarked, though I’m jolly well -puzzled as to how you discovered it.” - -Nick did not inform him. Instead, as they turned into Fifty-third Street -and approached the boarding house occupied by the Englishman, he -inquired, more earnestly: - -“Where had you been with your wife, or where were you going, Mr. -Waldron, when this strange separation occurred?” - -A tinge of red appeared in the Englishman’s cheeks. He appeared somewhat -embarrassed. He gazed at Nick for a moment, then said: - -“We went out for a bit of a walk, Mr. Carter. It’s deuced tiresome, you -know, sitting around a bally boarding house. Here we are, too, and----” - -“Wait one moment,” Nick interrupted, as they arrived at the steps of the -house. “I have something to say to you, Mr. Waldron.” - -“Glad of it, old top, on my word. What is it?” - -“You already anticipate it,” Nick replied impressively. “I can read that -in your face. Now, young man, this matter may be even more serious than -you really think. I have no idea that we shall find your wife here. -There is no telling when she will return, by whom she was carried away, -or how she can be traced and the truth discovered--unless you tell me -the truth.” - -“But----” - -“Your name is not Archie Waldron. You did not come out merely for a walk -with your wife. You were going, or had been somewhere, with a definite -object in view, and that possibly may have some bearing upon what -followed.” - -“’Pon my word, sir----” - -“Oh, there is nothing to it,” Nick insisted. “I mean just what I say. -You will be perfectly safe, Mr. Waldron, in frankly confiding in me. -You must do so, too, or I shall drop this matter immediately. Under no -other conditions will I enter this house.” - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -DOWN TO CASES. - - -Nick Carter had a way of making himself felt under such circumstances. -His impressive remarks were immediately effective. The Englishman turned -even more pale and grave, gazing apprehensively at the detective, while -he replied, with agitated voice: - -“You’re deucedly well right. I’d be a blooming idiot, Mr. Carter, if I -couldn’t see that. Come into the house, sir, and I’ll tell you the whole -beastly business. Your word is as good as a Bank of England note, sir, -and I’ll keep nothing from you.” - -“You have decided wisely,” said Nick, while they mounted the steps. “In -so far as the circumstances permit, I shall consider your disclosure -strictly confidential.” - -“That’s mighty kind, sir, and I’ll pay you handsomely.” - -“Payment is an afterconsideration. I will accept no more than my -services warrant.” - -“You’re deucedly clever, old top, and I’m proud to know you. Some jolly -good fairy must have sent you my way in an hour of need. Come up to my -room, sir.” - -The Englishman had opened the door with a latchkey, and he now led the -way to an attractively furnished room on the second floor. - -Among the first articles to catch Nick’s eye, amid other evidence of -feminine taste and sentiment, were two artistic photographs on the -mantel. One was a likeness of his companion. - -The other was that of a very beautiful girl still under twenty, a face -that reflected culture and vivacity, and the winsome features and -expression of which, with the finely poised head and shapely shoulders, -might have been the ideal of a Raphael or Correggio. - -Nick at once inferred rightly that this was the girl who apparently had -been spirited away so boldly, as well as mysteriously, in so far as a -motive had yet appeared. - -The young Englishman looked disappointed when Nick’s prediction was -verified, his wife not being found there, and he at once waved the -detective to a chair, saying with nervous haste and in his own peculiar -fashion, which was much less frivolous than appears: - -“You were jolly well right, Mr. Carter, and I’m confoundedly upset. What -the devil can a poor chap do? I’m going to tell you all about it. How -the dickens did you know, old top, that my name isn’t Archie Waldron?” - -“Because you hesitated when I questioned you,” said Nick. “No man would -shrink from stating his true name under such circumstances.” - -“Dash it! that was blasted clever, don’t you know? I was a fall guy not -to think of that. But you hit the bally nail on the nob. My name is not -Waldron, ’pon my honor. I’m the fifth son of the Earl of Eggleston, and -an only son by his second wife, the late Countess of Waldmere, from whom -I got my title and a bally bit of a fortune. She died when I was born, -and I became Lord Waldmere.” - -“I suspected something of the kind,” Nick replied. “I find that I sized -you up correctly.” - -“Did you really, now? Well, that’s deuced kind and clever, ’pon my word. -What’s to be done, my dear fellow? We can’t stay here, old top, while -Mollie----” - -“Now, Lord Waldmere, you’re talking,” Nick interrupted. “We must get -down to rock-bottom as quickly as possible. You must leave me to -determine what shall be done. I know more about New York and its -deviltry than you could possibly imagine.” - -“That’s jolly well right, sir, of course.” - -“All I require of you, Waldmere, is to tell me a straight story, as -briefly as possible,” Nick added familiarly. “What are you doing over -here? Who was your American wife? Why are you living under an assumed -name in a New York boarding house? Tell me all about it with as few -words as possible.” - -Nick then obtained a straight story, in so far as the essential facts -were concerned, but not without comments and digressions, from which -Lord Waldmere appeared utterly unable to refrain, and which divested his -story of anything like desirable brevity. - -Briefly stated, however, it appeared that his young lordship, who in -most respects was a worthy representative of one of the wealthy and most -conservative families of the English aristocracy, had fallen deeply in -love with a beautiful American chorus girl about three months before, -who then was one of an American opera company singing in London. - -In spite of the violent opposition and threats of his father, Lord -Waldmere had married the girl, one Mary Royal, then only nineteen, but a -girl of remarkable beauty and many accomplishments, and of unblemished -and enviable reputation. - -What followed was in line with the old, old story. His lordship was -promptly disowned and disinherited. He at once left England and came to -America with his bride, already having small interests in several -Colorado mines, and bent upon investing in others a part of his personal -fortune, which amounted to something like fifty thousand pounds, then -tied up in English securities and mortgages. - -Lord Waldmere had remained only ten days in New York after his arrival. -He then went to Colorado with his wife to investigate various mining -properties, concerning which he already was partly informed, and in -which he anticipated investing quite heavily. - -Lack of ready money, however, and his inability to realize immediately -upon his home investments, had led him to take an unusual step, one -taken upon the suggestion and advice of his wife, pending receipt of -funds from a London agent. - -Lord Waldmere had, in fact, raised ten thousand dollars by placing in -pawn with the Imperial Loan Company his wife’s valuable jewels, given to -her before her marriage, and valued at about thirty thousand dollars. -This not only had been done upon his wife’s suggestion, but she also had -made the deal and conducted the entire transaction, having had far more -experience and being of a much more practical business mind than her -husband himself. All of this money had since been invested in Colorado. - -Returning to New a week before, Waldmere then communicated by cable with -his London agent, who, during the interval, had converted some of his -lordship’s property into cash, and drafts were immediately sent him -more than doubly sufficient to redeem the pledged jewels. - -These funds had arrived that afternoon and were immediately placed on -deposit. A little later Waldmere went with his wife to the office of the -Imperial Loan Company to redeem the jewels, arriving there soon after -five o’clock. - -They were told, however, that the jewels were in a time-lock vault that -had just been closed for the day, and which could not be opened until -nine o’clock the following morning, when the jewels could be redeemed -and the transaction ended. - -This was perfectly satisfactory under the circumstances, of course, and -Lady Waldmere promised to call with her husband the following morning. -It was while they were returning to the boarding house, however, that -they were separated in the extraordinary manner described. - -Such was his lordship’s story, told in his own peculiar way, and to -which Nick Carter very attentively listened. It revealed the truth in so -far as Waldmere could reveal it--but it by no means explained the -disappearance of her ladyship, the beautiful American chorus girl for -whom Waldmere had lost his heart and sacrificed his prestige. - -Nick smiled somewhat significantly when the Englishman had finished. He -glanced at the photograph on the mantel, remarking agreeably: - -“Well, well, Waldmere, you were hard hit indeed by the pretty American -girl. In view of the incentive to many of our international marriages, -your conduct is really quite refreshing. I rather like you for it. That -is a photograph of Lady Waldmere, I infer.” - -“Yes, taken in London,” bowed Waldmere, evidently deeply pleased with -the detective’s comments. - -“A very beautiful girl, indeed.” - -“She jolly well is, Mr. Carter, and worthy of----” - -“Of all your devotion, Waldmere, no doubt,” Nick familiarly interrupted. -“But we must not drift away from the matter. We must get onto our job -and stick to it, or valuable time may be lost.” - -“I agree with you.” - -“None of the circumstances you have stated seem to present, on the -surface at least, any reasonable explanation of what has occurred, nor -any consistent motive for felonious designs upon her,” Nick added. -“Unless she soon returns, nevertheless, there can be no doubt that she -is a victim of knavery of some kind, that does not appear on the -surface. Let me ask you a few questions. I then may hit upon some theory -to fit the case.” - -“That’s a ripping good idea, old top,” Lord Waldmere nodded. “Come on -with them.” - -“To begin with, then, has your wife many acquaintances here in town?” - -“Hardly any, sir, ’pon my word. She is a Kentucky girl, and has spent -but little time in this bally city. We have met none during either of -our visits. We live very privately.” - -“It is quite improbable, then, that the occupant of the taxicab was a -friend, or even an acquaintance,” Nick pointed out. “Deception having -been employed, therefore, we must assume that she was forcibly carried -away. That also appears in the fact that you think the driver thrust -her into the cab.” - -“I’m deuced well sure of that, Mr. Carter,” Waldmere again declared. -“The bally bounder placed his hand squarely on her shoulder, sir, and -gave her a push. I can almost swear to that. If she----” - -“Let me do most of the talking, Waldmere,” Nick interrupted. “I wish to -get at the salient points as quickly as possible. Answer me with merely -an affirmative, or negative, when you can.” - -“Very well, sir.” - -“Has your father, or any of your family, ever threatened the girl -because of your marriage?” Nick then inquired. “In other words, -Waldmere, do you believe any of them capable of a conspiracy against -her?” - -“No, sir,” protested the Englishman quickly. “They are above anything of -that kind. Besides, Mr. Carter, they have jolly well cast us both out. -No one knows where to find us.” - -“You think, then, that they may be safely eliminated from any connection -with this affair?” - -“Yes, absolutely.” - -“We must seek nearer home, then, for a motive,” said Nick. “Had Miss -Royal any former admirer who might----” - -“No, no; nothing of the kind.” Lord Waldmere quickly shook his head. -“Her sweet heart has been an open book for me to read at will. There is -nothing in that, sir.” - -“And you recall no incentive, or circumstance, that might have a bearing -upon this matter?” - -“No, none, Mr. Carter.” - -“Let’s consider, then, the one nearest to it--your visit to the Imperial -Loan Company,” said Nick. “I think you said that Lady Waldmere did most -of the business.” - -“She did the whole blooming business,” Lord Waldmere quickly assured -him. “She’s jolly well fitted for it, is Mollie, while I’m a doughhead -and----” - -“I understand,” Nick cut in. “You went with her to redeem the jewels, -which had been pledged for ten thousand dollars. Did she have the money -on her person? That may have been the incentive for the crime, if such -it turns out to be.” - -“But that can’t be, don’t you know?” Waldmere at once protested. “Mollie -had the bally ticket for the pledge, but she had no money. I had a -certified bank check for the amount. Here it is, sir. See for yourself.” - -Nick merely glanced at the check, which Lord Waldmere hastily drew from -his pocketbook. It bore the current date and corroborated the -Englishman’s statements. - -“It seems to knock that theory on the head,” Nick said thoughtfully, -after a moment. “Nevertheless, by Jove, it may be that the jewels----” - -Nick broke off abruptly, not stating what he had in mind. Instead, -drawing forward in his chair, he said, more earnestly: - -“By the way, Lord Waldmere, did your wife transact this business under -her own name, or a fictitious one?” - -“An assumed name, of course.” - -“The one by which you are known here?” - -“No. She used another.” - -“What was it?” - -Lord Waldmere scratched his head, staring desperately at the carpet for -several moments. - -“Dash it, sir! I’ve jolly well forgotten,” he cried dubiously. “’Pon my -honor, Mr. Carter, I can’t remember.” - -“Rack your brains for a moment,” Nick suggested, though he had no great -hope of any desirable result. - -“Hang it, sir! I’m giving them a ripping racking. But Mollie always kept -the bally ticket, you see, and I had no hand in the blooming business. -She has a head for it, don’t you know, and I always let her run things -for me. Blast it, sir, I can’t remember!” - -“Well, well, never mind,” Nick said, a bit bluntly. “Whom did you see in -the loan office?” - -“The jolly manager, I think.” - -“Do you remember his name?” - -“’Pon my word, sir, I don’t,” said Waldmere, with a groan over his -inability to be of any material aid. “I don’t know that I heard his -bally name, sir, as far as that goes. Molly did all of the talking.” - -“What was said, or done?” - -“Very little, sir, ’pon my word. Mollie turned in the ticket to a dinky -clerk in a window. He took it to a back room, as I remember, and in -about five minutes the bally manager came out.” - -“What did he say?” Nick inquired. - -“He said as how the jewels were in the vault, which had been closed -about five o’clock for the day, and that it couldn’t be opened until -to-morrow morning.” - -“He stated that it had a time lock, didn’t he?” - -“Exactly. That’s just what he said.” - -“And that your wife could redeem the jewels if she were to call -to-morrow morning?” - -“Precisely,” Lord Waldmere nodded. “That’s all there was to the blooming -business.” - -Nick did not feel so sure of it. He saw plainly, however, that there was -nothing more to be learned from the titled Englishman, who obviously -knew as little of business as a lad in knickerbockers. - -More than an hour had passed since the episode on the avenue. There was -no indication of Lady Waldmere’s return, nor did Nick really expect it. -He glanced at his watch and found that it was nearly seven o’clock. - -“Dash it! I’m deucedly upset,” Waldmere remarked, and he really looked -so. “What the dickens am I to do? What----” - -Nick interrupted him kindly, but impressively. - -“There is only one wise thing for you to do, Lord Waldmere,” said he. -“You must leave this matter to me and do precisely what I direct. If -your wife has been abducted, or is a victim of other knavery, I will -leave no stone unturned to find her and punish the crooks. I can -accomplish both, perhaps, while you would surely fail.” - -“You’re jolly well right, Mr. Carter, as far as that goes,” Waldmere -frankly admitted. - -“You must see, then, that my advice is sound,” said Nick. “I will take -the case, if you wish, but you must promise to follow my instructions.” - -“That’s deucedly kind, sir, and I’ll do so. I will, sir, ’pon my honor.” - -“Very good,” said Nick. Give the matter no publicity, then, at present. -Remain here quietly until to-morrow morning, stating to others in the -house merely that your wife is away for a short time. I don’t want the -matter to reach the newspapers.” - -“Dear me, no!” - -“Be silent, then, and discreet. Here is a card with my address and -telephone number. Is there a telephone in this house?” - -“There is, sir,” Waldmere nodded. - -“If your wife returns before morning, then, call up my office and inform -whomever answers you,” Nick directed. “That would probably end the -matter. If she does not return, however, which now seems more probable, -you may expect me here at half past eight to-morrow morning. I then will -begin a thorough investigation. In other words, Lord Waldmere, I’m going -at this like a bull at a gate.” - -The last was added chiefly to encourage the down-hearted Englishman, -who, strange to say, appeared to detect it. For he pulled himself -together with a manly effort, then adjusted his monocle to gaze more -intently at the detective, whose hand he warmly grasped with both of -his. - -“’Pon my honor, old top, I can’t find words to thank you,” he said -gratefully. “I really can’t, don’t you know.” - -“Don’t try, Lord Waldmere,” Nick replied, pressing his hand. “Merely do -only what I have directed. Keep a stiff upper lip and leave this matter -to me. I’ll call the turn, all right, as sure as you’re a foot high.” - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -HOW NICK SIZED IT UP. - - -Nick Carter came out from dinner in his Madison Avenue residence after -eight o’clock, two hours later than usual. Instead of going to his -business office, he entered his private library, saying to Joseph, his -butler, as he passed him in the deep, attractively furnished hall: - -“Send Chick and Patsy to me. They’re in the office.” - -Nick had waited only a few moments, when he was joined by his chief -assistant, Chick Carter, who was presently followed by Patsy Garvan. -Both knew that something of importance was in the wind, and Nick at once -proceeded to tell them of what it consisted, covering all of the -essential points of the case. - -“Gee, that’s some puzzle, chief, for fair!” commented Patsy, after -listening attentively. “What’s the game? His royal nob from England must -be a decent sort of a chap, after all, don’t you know. He sure has been -dead square with the chorus girl.” - -“So he is, Patsy, and less shallow than he appears,” Nick replied. “But -he don’t know enough about business to last him overnight. Evidently, -however, his wife is a keen and clever girl, as well as handsome.” - -“Why not? She’s an American girl,” said Patsy. - -“That’s one reason why I took on the case,” smiled Nick. - -“The Imperial Loan Company,” put in Chick. “Why, I know that concern. -It’s nothing else but a high-grade pawnshop. It was established by Isaac -Meyer several years ago. I knew him when he had a shop in the Bowery. -But he’s nearly down and out, now with creeping paralysis. He never -leaves home.” - -“Where is that?” Nick inquired. - -“Over in Columbus Avenue.” - -“Who runs his business?” - -“His manager,” said Chick. “A man named Morris Garland. He has been with -Meyer since he opened the Fifth Avenue place. It’s only a few blocks -from where you met the Englishman.” - -“I know the place very well, Chick, but none of the inmates,” said Nick. -“What do you know about Garland?” - -“He’s all aboveboard, Nick, as far as I know,” Chick replied. “There is -only one out about him, if that really cuts any ice.” - -“What is that?” - -“I have seen him quite frequently with Stuart Floyd. They appear to be -very friendly. You know Floyd, of course. He’s about as keen and slick a -fellow as can be found in this old town.” - -“Do you think so?” - -“Don’t you?” - -“I don’t know much about him, Chick, save that he is a well-known man -about town. The police have nothing on him, have they?” - -“No, nothing that I know of,” Chick admitted. “Floyd has no record, to -be sure, barring a record that makes him a mystery to me, at least.” - -“Why a mystery?” - -“Because he has no visible means of support, yet he always has plenty of -money, or appears to have,” said Chick. “He inherited nothing, -nevertheless, for I knew his people, as I have known him for years.” - -“I see.” - -“He has lived by his wits since he was fifteen. I never knew him to do a -stroke of work. At thirty, nevertheless,” Chick pointed out, “he -frequents the best hotels and restaurants, lives like a lord, dresses -like a millionaire, and spends money more lavishly than most of them. He -apparently is a thoroughbred sport and man about town. But where does -the coin come from? How does he get by? If that don’t constitute a -mystery, Nick, what the dickens does? I’m from Missouri. You’ll have to -show me.” - -Nick laughed. - -“We are drifting from the more important matter,” said he. “You know of -nothing wrong in his relations with Morris Garland, do you?” - -“No, nothing,” Chick allowed. “I’ve told you all I know about him.” - -“He is not alone in those respects,” Nick replied. “There are hundreds -like him. I have heard, of course, that Stuart Floyd is a slick fellow. -He really looks it, as far as that goes, for he is as clean-cut, -attractive a man as one often meets. That’s neither here nor there, -however, at this stage of the game. We’ll get back to Hecuba.” - -“Do you suspect the Imperial Loan Company, chief, in connection with -Lady Waldmere’s disappearance?” asked Patsy. - -“I do.” - -“Why?” - -“For two reasons,” said Nick. “First, because there seems to be no one -else to suspect. Second, because the episode occurred so soon after her -visit to the loan company. That suggests a possible connection between -them.” - -“I see the point.” - -“Furthermore, there are ten thousand dollars involved, or jewels valued -at close upon thirty,” Nick added. “Those may be the incentive to -knavery of some kind. There seems to be no other motive for a crime, in -fact, assuming that a crime really has been committed.” - -“That’s right, too, chief,” nodded Patsy. “There seems to be nothing -else to be gained, if Lord Waldmere had told a straight story.” - -“I have no doubt of that.” - -“But what could the loan company gain by abducting the woman?” Chick -questioned, perplexed. “The jewels must be in their possession.” - -“Very true,” Nick admitted. “They knew that Lady Waldmere had called to -redeem them, and that she must have brought the funds with which to do -so. They may not have known, however, that she intended redeeming the -pledge with a certified check. They may have thought that she had the -ten thousand dollars in cash on her person.” - -“Gee! that listens good to me, chief!” cried Patsy, quick to see the -point. “That seems to be the only way to size it up.” - -“That is one way, at least,” Nick replied, smiling a bit oddly. - -“But it must have been a mighty slick job, Nick, in that case,” Chick -objected, with manifest doubt of the theory advanced by the other. - -“It was a slick job.” - -“But how could they have framed it up so quickly?” - -“What are you driving at?” Patsy demanded, turning upon Chick. “Why -quickly?” - -“That ought to be plain enough even to you,” Chick retorted. “Lord -Waldmere stated that he and his wife were in the office of the loan -company only about five minutes.” - -“Well, I admit that.” - -“It is obvious, too, that their visit could not have been anticipated,” -Chick proceeded to argue. “Neither Morris Garland, nor the assistant -manager, Moses Hart, could have known that Lady Waldmere had any -intention of redeeming the jewelry at just that time.” - -“True again, old man,” nodded Patsy, with an expression of perplexity -returning to his face. - -“That’s what I mean, then, by their having framed up the job so -quickly,” Chick forcibly added. - -“I get you.” - -“They would have had only five minutes in which to have laid their plans -and made all the arrangements for executing them. That’s a mighty short -time in which to shape up such a job, to say nothing of getting ready to -carry it out. It’s not a simple stunt to pick up a woman on Fifth Avenue -and get away with her from under her husband’s eyes.” - -“Say, you’re getting wiser every minute, Chick,” cried Patsy, laughing. -“I begin to think there really is something in what you say.” - -“You ought to have seen it before.” - -“What do you say, chief?” - -Nick laughed and knocked the ashes from the cigar he was smoking. - -“Chick’s argument is all right, Patsy, as far as it goes,” he replied. -“We know that the couple were only a short time in the office of the -loan company, and that their visit could not have been anticipated. We -are not pinned down to five minutes, however.” - -“What do you mean?” questioned Chick. - -“What Lord Waldmere really said was this--that, after talking with one -of the clerks, who very likely was the assistant manager, the latter -went into Garland’s private office, where he remained about five minutes -before either of them came out to resume the discussion.” - -“Gee! that’s right, too,” nodded Patsy. - -“And it is quite significant,” Nick added. “It certainly would not have -taken Hart five minutes to state merely what the couple wanted.” - -“Surely not.” - -“Garland could have come out and joined them in half a minute, as far as -that goes. Why, then, did he not do so? What were the two men doing that -occupied five full minutes? It looks very much to me as if they were -framing a job.” - -“But----” - -“One moment, Chick,” Nick interposed. “I know you’re going to object -again to my theory. I advanced that, however, as a matter of fact, only -to point out that there could have been a reasonable motive for -knavery.” - -“Ah, that’s different,” said Chick, smiling. - -“I have no idea, nevertheless, assuming that Garland and Hart are back -of this business, that they aimed to rob Lady Waldmere of money supposed -to be on her person,” Nick continued. “They would not have acted upon a -mere supposition. They first would have made absolutely sure that she -had the money.” - -“Certainly,” Chick nodded. “That goes without saying.” - -“All the same, chief, there was a job framed up for some reason during -those five minutes,” Patsy said roundly. “I’d wager my bankroll on -that.” - -“I think so, too,” Nick agreed. - -“But what’s the game?” Chick questioned, still doubtful. - -“Can’t you think of one that may have been necessary?” - -“Not on the spur of the moment.” - -“I can,” said Nick, smiling. - -“Well, well, out with it,” laughed Chick, coloring slightly. “What do -you suspect?” - -Nick laid aside his cigar. - -“Pull up a little nearer,” said he. “I can tell you with very few words -what I suspect--and how we may contrive to clinch my suspicions.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -NICK DECLARES HIMSELF. - - -Nick Carter’s anticipation proved to be correct. He received no -telephone communication from Lord Waldmere, informing him that his -pretty American wife had returned. In accord with his promise to the -Englishman, therefore, while Chick and Patsy prepared to carry out the -instructions given them, Nick appeared at the boarding house in -Fifty-third Street at precisely half past eight that morning and rang -the bell. - -As the saying goes, however, Nick’s own mother would not have recognized -him. He was clad in a rather obtrusive plaid suit of pronounced English -cut. He looked portly and imposing. He carried a heavy ebony cane. His -strong, clean-cut face was artfully disguised. He could have walked -through the Strand or Piccadilly, and readily have been taken for a Bond -Street banker on his way to business. - -Nick directed the servant to inform Mr. Waldron that the friend he was -expecting had arrived, and the detective was presently conducted to the -first-floor front, which he entered and closed the door. - -Lord Waldmere, looking white and haggard after a sleepless night, stared -at him in blank amazement. - -“Oh, I say!” he exclaimed. “There is some beastly mistake. I’m not -expecting----” - -“Yes, you are, Waldmere,” Nick interrupted, smiling and speaking in his -customary tones. “There is no mistake. I told you, you know, that I was -going at this case like a bull at a gate.” - -Waldmere’s face lighted wondrously. - -“Oh, by Jove!” he cried, hand extended. “You are----” - -“The man you expect,” Nick interposed, more seriously. “Don’t be -surprised at seeing me thus disguised. My face is very well known to the -denizens of the underworld, and I frequently must get in my work under -cover.” - -“You are jolly well covered, sir, as to that,” Waldmere replied, smiling -significantly. “I’d never know you. I’d take you for some blooming -banker, or----” - -“That is precisely what I aimed at,” Nick replied. “But we have no time -to waste. You have heard nothing from your wife, of course?” - -“Not a word, or----” - -“Or you would have advised me, certainly,” Nick cut in again. “We will -get right at this matter, then. Sit down while I give you a few -instructions.” - -Lord Waldmere complied, all attention. - -Half an hour later, or about quarter past nine, a taxicab stopped in -front of the quarters of the Imperial Loan Company, which Nick and his -companion entered, or that part of the establishment open to its -patrons. - -There was an atmosphere of dignity and business solidarity in the place. -A long counter with a high brass lattice divided the public room. Back -of it were two clerks and the assistant manager, Moses Hart, the former -talking in whispers to customers through narrow windows. Three large -steel safes and a vault in one of the walls had an imposing appearance. -Off to the right were two private rooms, accessible only through the -latticed inclosure. The doors of both were partly open. - -There were half a dozen customers engaged at the windows, or waiting -their turn, when Nick and Waldmere entered. - -One among them was a seedily clad man with a sallow countenance and a -scraggly brown beard, who appeared decidedly down in the world. A rusty -derby hat was pulled nearly down to his ears. He was waiting to pawn a -bit of jewelry, and a certain shifty light in his restless eyes denoted -that he awaited the transaction with some misgivings, indicating that -where he had obtained the bauble might consistently be questioned. He -glanced suspiciously at Nick and the Englishman, then turned his head, -as if to avoid observation. - -Nick paid no attention to the fellow, however, but at once approached a -window at one end of the long counter and nearer the private office, -Lord Waldmere following at his elbow. - -Moses Hart came to meet them at the window, a short dark man of forty, -with gold-bowed spectacles astride his somewhat prominent nose. - -“Good morning, gentlemen,” said he, rubbing his hands and leaning over -the counter. “What can I do for you this morning?” - -Nick already had directed Waldmere to let him do all of the talking. - -“Are you the manager here?” he inquired. - -“The assistant manager,” Hart corrected, smiling and bowing -obsequiously. “What is your business?” - -“We wish to redeem some valuable jewels which you are holding as -collateral,” said Nick. “You loaned my friend, here, ten thousand -dollars on them, which he now is ready to pay, with the accrued -interest. He called yesterday afternoon with his wife, who----” - -“Dear me!” Hart quietly exclaimed, interrupting. “Yes, yes, I remember -that one of the clerks mentioned it. Unfortunately, the vault containing -the jewels had been closed for the day and could not be opened. Let me -have our ticket, or voucher, given you for the pledge and I will get -them.” - -Nick had had a constant eye on Hart’s face. He saw that the man lost -color, that an apprehensive expression in his squinted eyes evinced a -perturbation that he could not entirely conceal. This convinced Nick -that he was on the right track, though he realized that he still was -laboring under some difficulties. - -“Unfortunately, too, we are not in possession of the ticket for the -loan,” he replied. “It is in the keeping of his wife, who has gone away -for a time with a friend.” - -“You must communicate with her, then, and have her send you the ticket,” -Hart rejoined. - -“We cannot do that.” - -“Not do it?” - -“No. We are not informed of her address.” - -“But you cannot expect us to redeem the pledge to any person except the -holder of the ticket,” Hart quickly protested. “That is the only -safeguard for both parties. You must bring the ticket, of course, in -order to obtain the jewels. Otherwise, we cannot possibly let you have -them.” - -“But----” - -“Oh, there is nothing to it,” Hart insisted. “We do business in no other -way.” - -“See here!” Nick exclaimed, and his voice took on a somewhat threatening -ring. “Unless you----” - -“One moment, sir,” Hart again interrupted. “I will speak to our manager, -Mr. Garland. He will talk with you. Wait just one moment.” - -Hart vanished from the window, and through the brass lattice Nick saw -him hasten into one of the private offices. - -Five minutes passed and he did not reappear. - -“This looks deucedly like not getting them, by Jove,” whispered -Waldmere, gazing dubiously at the detective. - -“I don’t expect to get them,” Nick muttered. - -“No?” - -“I came here only to size up these fellows and hear what they would -say,” Nick quietly added. “Say nothing while I am talking with the -manager, if he ever decides to show up.” - -“You think----” - -“There’s nothing to it. The two men are discussing the situation. They -don’t like it for some reason. I must find later of what that reason -consists. It may be the key to the whole business.” - -“I’m jolly well convinced that----” - -“Quiet. Here comes the manager.” - -A tall, somewhat cadaverous man of forty was approaching from the -private office. His bushy brows were knit, and he had an aggressive -aspect that gave promise of nothing favorable. He came straight to the -window at which Nick and Waldmere were standing. - -“Are you the gentlemen who wish to redeem some jewels?” he asked -abruptly. - -“Yes,” said Nick shortly. - -“I am Mr. Garland, the manager. My assistant has told me what you have -said. There really is nothing we can do for you. You will have to bring -the ticket for the pledge in order to redeem it.” - -“But we cannot get the ticket until this gentleman’s wife returns,” Nick -replied. - -“Where has she gone?” - -“We don’t know. She is away with a friend.” - -“Is the ticket in her name?” - -“Yes.” - -“What name?” - -“We don’t know that, either,” said Nick. “She used a fictitious name -when she negotiated the loan.” - -“Why did she do that?” Garland demanded. “There should have been no -occasion for it. We do all of our business aboveboard and expect no less -of our patrons. Really, gentlemen, this matter don’t look quite right to -me. You will have to wait until the woman returns, or sends you the -ticket.” - -Nick Carter’s disguised face took on a more threatening frown. He -pressed nearer the window, replying, in peppery tones: - -“This don’t look right to you, eh? What is it, sir, that don’t look -right to you.” - -“We will not discuss that point,” said Garland curtly. “I have told you -the only way by which you can redeem the pledge and obtain the jewels.” - -“No, you haven’t,” snapped Nick hotly. “I can appeal to the authorities. -I can call in the police. I’ll do it, too, unless you come down from -your high horse.” - -“Don’t be foolish, my man,” said Garland, frowning. - -“I’m not at all sure that the jewels are here. I’ll find out--I’ll make -it a point to find out.” - -“Nonsense! You talk like an ass,” Garland protested. - -“Produce them, then,” frothed Nick. “Let’s have a look at them, at -least. If they----” - -“They are in the time-lock vault, with a thousand other pledges,” -Garland hurriedly explained. “I cannot produce them without searching -the entire vault. You cannot tell me the name under which they are -pledged. I have no other means of finding them immediately. It would -take me half a day to go through the vault and identify them. You talk -like a fool, sir. Bring the ticket and the amount of the loan, and you -shall have the jewels within half a minute.” - -Nick continued to storm and argue. - -While this was in progress, attracting the attention of all in the -place, Moses Hart came from the private office. He did not pause to join -in the dissension, however, but at once went on to a narrow window at -the lower end of the long counter--that at which the seedy, -sinister-looking man then was waiting. - -Bending close to the window, Hart winked significantly and said, with -his voice lowered: - -“Do you want to make a bit of money?” - -The fellow’s shifty eyes lighted eagerly. - -“Does a hungry cat want meat?” he returned, in an expressive whisper. - -“What’s your name?” Hart asked. - -“Jerry Nolan.” - -“I want to find out who that man is who----” - -“The gink doing the talking?” - -“Yes.” - -“I get you, boss.” - -“I want you to follow him when he leaves here, and find out,” Hart went -on. “Pick both of them up when they leave.” - -“I’ll do it, boss! I’ll find out for you, or break a leg,” Nolan -earnestly assured him. - -“Don’t return here to tell me, however,” Hart added. “I want you to -inform my partner.” - -“The geeser having the spiel with the hothead?” - -“Yes. I will tell you where you must meet him.” - -“Come over with it,” nodded Nolan. - -Hart hastily informed him. - -“I get you, boss,” Nolan repeated. “I’m on to the job, and will be -there, all right.” - -“Make sure you’re not detected,” Hart cautioned. - -“Leave me alone for that.” - -“And say nothing about this.” - -“And for that, too,” whispered Nolan, with an expressive leer. - -“That’s all, then. Go ahead.” - -Nolan turned away from the window. He bestowed another swift, furtive -glance upon the detective, then hitched up his baggy trousers and -sneaked out of the place. - -Nick Carter, after an apparently vain mission, departed with Lord -Waldmere five minutes later. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -NOLAN MAKES A DISCOVERY. - - -Jerry Nolan proved as good as his word, in so far as what he had been -directed to accomplish was concerned. - -He followed Nick Carter and Lord Waldmere from the quarters of the loan -company, and something like an hour following their departure after -their apparently vain mission, Nolan put in an appearance in the upper -section of Amsterdam Avenue, where he had been directed to await the -coming of Mr. Morris Garland. - -If one were to have judged from the expression on Nolan’s sinister face, -however, one would have felt reasonably sure that he could not be wisely -trusted, that he had sized up the circumstances from his own evil -standpoint, and was bent upon taking further advantage of them than he -seemed likely to derive. In other words, Nolan appeared to suspect that -there was something crooked in the wind, and was resolved to make the -most of it. - -All this would have been even more obvious to an observer of Nolan’s -actions upon approaching the appointed rendezvous. - -He did not wait on the corner, as he had been directed. Instead, he -slunk around it, apparently watching the pedestrians within his range of -vision in the avenue, and presently he stole over to an opposite -doorway, which seemed to afford a more desirable vantage point, and from -which he continued his sinister vigil. - -Presently he sighted among the comparatively few people then in that -part of the avenue the man he was expecting. He recognized him at once, -though he then was nearly a block away and on the opposite side of the -thoroughfare. - -There could be no mistaking the tall figure and dark, cadaverous face of -the head manager of the Imperial Loan Company. - -Nolan’s eyes lighted when Garland appeared in the near distance. One -would have said that he was thinking of the reward for the scurrilous -work he had agreed to do. - -“Here’s where I’ll get mine, all right,” he said to himself. “I’ll make -him settle sooner or later. I reckon I’d better hike over to the corner -where I’m to meet him, or he might suspect that I----” - -Nolan’s train of thought was brought to an abrupt end by a sudden, -unexpected move of the other. - -Morris Garland turned from the sidewalk and quickly crossed the avenue. -He then walked quite slowly, with his gaze directed to the side from -which he had come, and once he paused for a moment to gaze at the door -and windows of an opposite house, one of a long brick block. - -Nolan took a look at it, also, but he could discover nothing warranting -Garland’s manifest interest in the house. - -The door was closed. The curtains at most of the windows were drawn -down. Some of the windows were dusty, and the front steps had not -recently been swept. The house looked, in fact, aside from its -furnishings, as if it was unoccupied. - -“What’s hit him, now?” Nolan asked himself. “Why is he sizing up that -crib? Nobody home but the gas, and that’s leaking out. I wonder----” - -Another move by Garland broke Nolan’s train of thought. - -Garland quickly recrossed the avenue, then hastened up to the appointed -corner, glancing sharply in all directions. - -“Looking for me,” Nolan tersely thought, slinking back in the doorway. -“I’ll let him look for half a minute and see what he’ll do next.” - -Garland did not look as long as half a minute. He evidently assumed that -Nolan had not yet completed his work and arrived there. He turned -abruptly and hastened to a house on the opposite corner of the -cross-street, entering with a key. - -“That must be where the bloke lives,” Nolan reasoned. “That’s why I was -told to come up here to report. I’ll see--huh! there he is again.” - -Nolan caught sight of him at one of the front windows. He could see his -dark face between the lace draperies. He watched it intently, with even -a more sinister look in his own keen eyes. - -Garland evidently was watching for the expected man. - -“I’ll sneak out when he isn’t watching, and then show up on the corner,” -Nolan said to himself. “He won’t be wise, then, to the fact that I got -here first. I’ll put something over on him, all right, or I’ve doped out -this business all wrong.” - -Something like five minutes later, after waiting for a favorable -opportunity, Nolan appeared on the street corner opposite Garland’s -residence. He had been waiting only a moment when the latter emerged -from the house and hastened over to join him. - -“Well, you’re here, Nolan, at last,” he said, a bit curtly. - -“Sure I’m here, boss,” Nolan nodded. “You can always bank on my making -good.” - -“Have you done what Hart directed?” - -“The geeser who hired me? Yes, of course. I sure have done it. If I -hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” said Nolan, with an expressive leer. - -“Well, what did you learn?” Garland demanded, more sharply eying him. - -“I followed the two blokes down Fifth Avenue about three blocks, but I -couldn’t get next to anything they were saying,” Nolan proceeded to -report. “They parted on a corner, and then I followed the big guy, him -as put the peppery spiel in the pawnshop.” - -“Where did he go?” - -“Over to a house in Madison Avenue.” - -“Did you find out his name?” - -“Sure I did,” Nolan declared, much as if such a question was needless. -“Trust me for that. I was wise to it, all right, when I piped him going -in that crib.” - -“Who is he? What do you know about him?” - -“He’s a fly gun, boss; that’s what he is. He’s the biggest squeeze in -the whole dick outfit. His name is Carter.” - -“Not Nick Carter?” - -“That’s what.” - -“Are you sure of it, absolutely sure of it?” - -“As sure as if a house fell on me,” Nolan forcibly asserted. “Why -wouldn’t I be? I’ve had him after me more’n once. He was made up with -grease paint and spinach, all right, but I was wise to his true mug when -he went up the steps and into the house. I knew before where the dick -lived. What’s the game, boss? I could help you further, if you fancied -putting me wise.” - -Garland’s dark face had, upon learning the name of Waldmere’s companion -that morning, taken on a look of more serious concern. It vanished -almost instantly, however, and his teeth met with a vicious snap, -smacking defiance, which evidently impelled Nolan to venture offering -his further assistance. - -Garland received the suggestion with a darker frown, however, and -quickly shook his head. - -“There isn’t any game, my man,” he said, quite sternly. “You put that -idea out of your head, and keep it out. You were not employed for this -work because of any game, but because we had no one else whom we could -send conveniently at that time.” - -“Beg pardon, boss,” Nolan quickly responded. “I’m wise, all right, now -that you’ve put me next. It was the two coveys, Carter and the other -gink, whom you think were playing some kind of a game.” - -“That’s just the size of it,” Garland hastened to assure him. - -“I’m wise, all right, boss, now that you’ve told me.” - -“Both men were strangers to me,” Garland added, in an explanatory way. -“We suspected them of trickery and wanted to learn who they were, or -more particularly the one you say is Nick Carter.” - -“You can bank on that, boss.” - -“It’s all right, then, no doubt, for Nick Carter would not have engaged -in any crooked work,” Garland proceeded. “He must have had some other -object in view. I shall probably be informed sooner or later. What do I -owe you for your services?” - -“That’s up to you, boss,” said Nolan, apparently content to drop the -matter and accept what was offered, as well as the explanation just -made. - -“Will a ten-dollar note pay you?” questioned Garland, taking out a roll -of money. - -“Sure thing, boss, and then some.” - -“Let it keep your mouth closed, also,” Garland added, stripping off a -bank note from the roll. “I wouldn’t want Carter to think I have any -reason to have suspected him.” - -“I’m dumb,” Nolan assured him, eagerly accepting the money. - -“You will say nothing about it, eh?” - -“On my word.” - -“Not even if----” - -“Forget it!” Nolan cut in pointedly. “Forget it, boss; I have.” - -“Very good,” Garland said approvingly. “See that you don’t recall it.” - -He turned away with the last, quickly crossing the street and entering -his residence. From one of the windows, however, he proceeded to watch -Nolan down the avenue, until the seedy, sinister fellow vanished around -a distant corner. - -But Mr. Jerry Nolan was nothing if not crafty. He did not so much as -glance back before turning the corner. Nor did he then pay further -attention to Garland to see whether he left his house. - -As he was passing that at which the pawnbroker had paused to gaze, -however, Nolan glanced furtively at the door. He saw there was no name -plate on it. He saw the dust on the steps and the soiled windows on the -second floor, and he came to a perfectly natural conclusion. - -“There’s been something doing in this crib, or that Pawnee Indian would -not have had so much interest in it,” he said to himself. “It appears to -be unoccupied. I’ll nose around a bit and make sure of it. Then I’ll -find out whether there’s only ten bucks for me in this job.” - -Nolan fixed in his mind the precise location of the house by counting -from the end of the block. He then walked around to the next street, -from which he stealthily picked his way through an alley until he could -see the back of the suspected dwelling. - -It would have confirmed the suspicions of any discerning man. The drawn -curtains, the soiled windows, the closed shutters of those in the rear -yard--all denoted that the house, though furnished, had not been -recently occupied, unless for some covert purpose. - -Nolan promptly came to another conclusion--that he would sneak into the -house and see what more he could learn. - -He went about it with the skill and caution of a professional sneak -thief, which he looked more like than anything else. He crept through -the alley and into the yard back of the house, where he crouched briefly -under the high board fence to study the back windows of all the near -dwellings. - -Feeling sure that he had not been seen, he then took several skeleton -keys from his pocket, quickly selecting one which he thought would serve -his purpose. - -It did. - -Within half a minute Nolan had quietly unlocked the rear door and -stepped noiselessly into a back basement hall, closing the door after -him. - -There he waited and listened, scarce breathing, until five full minutes -had passed. - -Not a sound came from any part of the house. - -Not a sign of life could be seen in the dusty, dimly lighted hall. - -Nolan then crept up the narrow stairway, still listening and alert. - -There seemed to be, however, no occasion for such exquisite caution. -Nolan reached the next floor, that on the level with the front street. -He peered into one room after another, but discovered nothing wrong. - -The kitchen looked cold and out of commission. The shutters were closed. -The range and iron sink were smeared with vaseline to prevent rusting. -Dust had collected on them, and they looked gray and dirty. - -The dining room was uninviting. The sideboard was destitute, the -polished table bare. The library, sitting room, and parlor, all were in -order, but dim, cheerless, and deserted. - -Nolan crept up to the next floor. - -He peered into two front chambers, both neatly furnished, but he saw -nothing of special interest. - -He then stole toward the rear of the house. - -He came to the open door of an interior room, one having no window. It -was lighted only from the hall, save the artificial light, then switched -off. - -Nolan stopped and peered into this dim bedroom. Something on the -unopened bed caught his eye--and Nolan involuntarily caught his breath. - -He beheld a motionless figure, clad in a dark-blue suit, with shapely -white hands crossed on its breast, with upturned, hueless face, as -colorless as if death had lately claimed her--the face and figure of a -surpassingly beautiful woman. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -HOW IT WAS DONE. - - -Jerry Nolan was not rattled by the discovery he had made. It was not in -his nature to be upset by anything short of a cyclone or an earthquake. - -He gazed in for several moments at the motionless form on the bed, then -tiptoed into the room to make a closer inspection. - -“Is she dead?” he asked himself. “Has she been croaked by crooks?” - -Nolan paused beside the bed, bending above her. - -It seemed to him that he had never beheld a more beautiful face. - -He touched her hand and found it cold, then listened and looked in vain -for any sign that she was breathing. - -There was an ugly gleam in Nolan’s eyes when he straightened up and -turned toward the door. He caught sight of a switch key on the wall, and -realized that with more light he could better determine the woman’s -condition. He turned the key and a flood of electric light filled the -room. - -When he swung round again other objects met Nolan’s gaze. The woman’s -hat and jacket were lying on a chair. Beside them lay an open hand bag. -It contained only a dainty lace handkerchief. Her purse and other -valuables evidently had been stolen. - -Her kid gloves had been tossed upon a bureau. Near them on the bureau, -placed in a small china tray, was a slender object, that glistened -brightly in the electric light. - -Nolan approached and gazed at it. - -It was a small glass hypodermic syringe, nearly filled with a colorless -fluid. - -A scrap of paper, on which a few words were typewritten, had been placed -under the tray. - -Nolan drew it out and read: - -“This woman is only drugged. Inject the contents of the syringe into her -arm to revive her.” - -Nolan did not hesitate. - -He took up the syringe with the familiarity of a physician, or of a dope -fiend accustomed to using one, and again approached the bed. - -Drawing up the sleeve from the woman’s shapely arm, he plunged the -needle through the fair skin and injected the contents of the syringe, -which he then replaced on the bureau. - -Nolan then put a chair near the side of the bed and sat down to await -the result of this treatment. - -He had not long to wait. - -Scarce five minutes had passed when a tinge of color appeared in the -woman’s pale cheeks. - -Her lips parted slightly and Nolan then could detect that she was -breathing. Another minute brought a deep-drawn sigh and a low moan, soon -followed by a fluttering of her eyelids. - -“She’s still in the ring, all right,” Nolan congratulated himself. “They -were a clever bunch, for fair, that did this job. Ten bucks, eh? I’ll -soon see about that ten bucks’ gag. They’ll come down handsomely for -this, those two rats. Ah, now her lamps are lighted!” - -The woman had opened her eyes. - -She stared up at Nolan vacantly for several moments, too dazed and -prostrated for returning consciousness to bring any immediate -appreciation of her surroundings and what had befallen her. - -Nolan did not speak, but waited patiently, knowing it then would be vain -to question her. - -The woman broke the silence. She seemed to be slowly grasping the -situation, for she suddenly faltered vacantly, scarce above a whisper: - -“Where am I?” - -Nolan saw that she could not be moved immediately. He asked, a bit -indifferently: - -“Don’t you know where you are?” - -“No.” - -“Or how you came here?” - -“No. I----” - -“Wait a bit,” Nolan interrupted. “Your head will clear in a few more -minutes. Then you’ll be able to tell me. What is your name? Can’t you -remember that?” - -“Yes, of course,” she replied, with more strength. “My name is Mary -Waldmere.” - -“Ah!” - -“I am Lady Waldmere, of----” - -She broke off abruptly, starting up from the pillow, only to sink back -again, too weak to rise. A frightened look in her eyes, however, told -that she was beginning to remember. - -“Where am I? Where is his lordship?” she cried, with lips quivering. -“Why am I here? Who are you?” - -“Hush!” Nolan cautioned. “Don’t get excited, madam. It might not be good -for you. Wait until you can recall all that happened to you. Then I’ll -see what can be done for----” - -“Oh, oh, I remember--I remember it now!” cried Lady Waldmere, rising to -her elbow. “I was seized and carried away by wicked men--and a woman! -Tell me where I am. Tell me why I was brought here, and----” - -“You calm yourself,” Nolan interrupted, with some authority. “Keep cool -and tell me the whole business. Do you know the men who brought you -here?” - -“No, no; I do not,” moaned the woman. - -“Or the woman who was with them?” - -“No, nor the woman. She was veiled.” - -“How did they get away with you?” - -“With the help of their chauffeur,” Lady Waldmere brokenly explained. -“He enticed me to the taxicab he was driving. I was told that a friend -wished to see me. I did not know--did not suspect. I went with him to -the taxicab door, leaving my husband waiting on the avenue.” - -“And then?” Nolan tersely questioned. - -“There were two men and a woman in the taxicab,” Lady Waldmere went on, -quite hysterically. “The woman was veiled, as I told you. She held out -her hand to me and I supposed that she knew me. I did not dream of -anything wrong.” - -“Sure not,” Nolan nodded. - -“But when she grasped my hand, she seized it firmly and drew me into the -taxicab. At the same time I felt the chauffeur push me from behind. I -fell on the floor of the cab. One of the men seized me and held me, -while the other covered my mouth with his hand.” - -“Brutes!” - -“I nearly fainted,” Lady Waldmere went on, moaning. “I knew, then, that -I was being abducted. I tried to struggle and scream, when the taxicab -sped away, but my efforts were futile. Then I felt a sharp pricking -sensation in my shoulder----” - -“The needle of a syringe,” put in Nolan. - -“I don’t know--I don’t know!” moaned the woman. “I know only that I -fainted or lost consciousness. That is all I remember till now. I cannot -tell who or why I----” - -“One moment,” said Nolan. “Were the men smooth shaved, or----” - -“No, no! Both wore beards.” - -“They were in disguise.” - -“I cannot tell. I know only that I am in despair. I know----” - -“Try to be calm,” Nolan again interrupted. “Wait till you regain your -strength. You then will be able to leave here, and----” - -“Leave here?” - -Lady Waldmere looked at him with a sudden wild hope leaping up in her -tear-filled eyes. - -“That’s what I said,” Nolan nodded. - -“Do you mean--do you mean that you are not in the employ of my -abductors?” Lady Waldmere asked, in faltering, frantic whispers. “Do you -mean----” - -“Oh, I’m in their employ, all right,” Nolan dryly put in. - -“Alas, then----” - -“But not as you infer,” Nolan added. - -“Tell me what you do mean, then,” entreated the woman, white and -trembling. “Don’t keep me in suspense. Am I to remain here and----” - -“Not by a long chalk!” - -“You will take me away? You will restore me to my husband?” Lady -Waldmere’s voice took on a hopeful ring. “Oh, I will pay you any sum if -you will do so. Tell me----” - -“Do you feel able to leave here?” - -“Able--yes!” - -“At once?” - -“Heavens, man, yes!” Lady Waldmere started up from the bed. “But don’t -deceive me! I beg that you’ll not deceive me. Will you take me away from -here? Will you restore me to my husband? Will you----” - -“You bet I will, madam!” cried Nolan. “That’s what I’m here for.” - -“But if in the employ of those men----” - -“Oh, that’s another story,” Nolan again interrupted, assisting the woman -to rise. “I am also in the employ of your husband.” - -“My husband!” - -“I am a detective. My name is Chick Carter.” - -The last was instantly taken up by a fierce, threatening voice in the -adjoining hall. - -“Throw up your hands, then, and keep them up! Let the woman alone--or -you’ll be a dead one!” - -Chick swung round like a flash. - -In the open doorway stood Morris Garland, with face as black as midnight -and as threatening as his leveled weapon. - -Behind him loomed the burly figure of a red-featured cabman, with blood -in his eye and a blackjack in his hand. - -Two other figures, those of women, were crouching against the wall -farther down the hall--out of view of the startled detective. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -NICK CARTER’S DOINGS. - - -It now is obvious, of course, that Chick Carter lied to Mr. Morris -Garland--which was entirely warranted by the circumstances, since -knavery can be successfully met only with its own weapons. - -Nick Carter had turned only the nearest corner after leaving the -quarters of the loan company, when he was overtaken by Chick, who, in -reality, had been there only to note what followed Nick’s visit with -Waldmere, and to watch any move that either Garland or Hart might -afterward make. - -It so happened, however, owing to an unexpected opportunity afforded -Chick, that their own respective designs were reversed. - -“Well, what was doing?” Nick immediately questioned, when Chick hastened -across the street and joined him. “I saw Hart talking to you through the -window. - -Chick hastily informed him, and Nick’s face underwent a decided change. - -“That does settle it,” said he. “We have given them a fright, and now -have them on the run. It’s dollars to fried rings, now, that my -suspicions are correct. It is necessary only to clinch them and nail all -of the culprits involved in the game.” - -“What game?” asked Lord Waldmere curiously. “I’m jolly well mystified by -this. Why----” - -“Don’t question,” Nick interrupted. “Be patient, Waldmere, until I have -got in my work. I then will answer all the questions you care to ask.” - -“But, hang it, old top, I----” - -“You must do what I say,” Nick cut in. “Time never was more valuable. -One minute’s delay may queer all of my work.” - -“What next?” Chick tersely asked, when Waldmere subsided. - -“We’ll change mounts,” Nick replied pointedly. “Go ahead and keep the -appointment with Garland. Meet him, as directed, though he’ll not be -likely to show up there for some little time, providing I rightly -anticipate what’s coming.” - -“What shall I tell him?” - -“Tell him who I am,” Nick directed. “Give it to him straight, in your -own way, but only what will be consistent with your assumed character. -Got me?” - -“Dead to rights,” Chick nodded. - -“Be off, then, and I’ll do the rest,” said Nick. “I have left Patsy in -the office, in case of sudden need. Call him up yourself, if occasion -requires it.” - -Chick responded with another nod and hurried away. - -“Now, Waldmere, you return to your lodgings,” said Nick. “You will only -be in my way, if you remain. Wait right there until I come.” - -“But----” - -“Don’t stop to question, dear fellow,” Nick interrupted. “Every minute -is of value.” - -“By Jove, I’m all at sea, don’t you know, but here goes!” exclaimed his -lordship, seeming suddenly to realize that he was indeed in the way. - -He smiled with the last, nevertheless, and hurried across the street, -presently vanishing around the nearest corner. - -Nick Carter stepped into the corridor of a near building. The janitor, -with a broom and a pail of rubbish, the result of his morning’s -cleaning, was just approaching a small storeroom under the rise of -stairs. - -Nick overtook him at the open door. - -“One moment, janitor,” said he, stepping into the narrow room. “I am -Nick Carter, the detective, and I’m on a rush case. Hang onto this cane -and disguise until I call for them, will you? I then will make it worth -your while.” - -“Sure, sor, I’m glad to do it,” cried the janitor, eyes lighting. “Who -don’t know Nick Carter?” - -“Good on your head,” Nick nodded. “I want to reverse my trousers and -coat, also, which will take but half a minute.” - -“Go ahead, sor. The room is yours for the asking.” - -Nick emerged from it in precisely thirty seconds, so changed in looks -and attire, the latter expressly made to be quickly reversed, that he -bore not even a remote resemblance to the man who had entered it. Then -wearing no facial disguise, he again thanked the janitor and hurried -away from the building, retracing his steps to Fifth Avenue. - -Not more than five minutes had passed since he departed from the loan -company office, when, from a doorway on the opposite side of the avenue, -he was in a position to cautiously watch the place. - -He had returned none too soon. He scarce had turned his gaze in that -direction, when Garland came from the loan office in company with a -handsome, flashily dressed woman of twenty-five, whom Nick had seen at a -typewriter through the partly open door of Garland’s private office. - -“Garland’s stenographer,” he muttered. “I thought I recognized her, -though she sat with her face averted. Vera Vantoon, eh? I have seen her -with Stuart Floyd, of whom Chick was speaking last evening. She may be a -connecting link in this chain. By Jove, they are off at a canter, for -fair. On the run is right.” - -Garland and Vera Vantoon, a pronounced brunette with a striking face and -figure, were hurrying up Fifth Avenue, evidently on as important a -mission as the detective had been led to suspect. - -Nick immediately followed them, though on the opposite side of the -avenue. - -They had covered less than two blocks, however, when an approaching -taxicab swerved to the curbing and a man sprang out, who evidently had -seen them from within the conveyance. - -“By Jove, there’s Stuart Floyd himself,” thought Nick, stepping into a -near doorway to watch them. “He was bound for Garland’s office, as sure -as I’m a foot high. I have forced the game, all right, plainly enough.” - -The last was occasioned by the earnest conference at once begun by the -three, Garland doing most of the talking, and presently slipping a small -cloth parcel into Floyd’s coat pocket--a move undetected by Nick because -of the intervening taxicab. - -Floyd was an erect, splendidly built man with a smoothly shaved, -clean-cut face, with regular features of an almost classic cast, an -intellectual brow, and remarkably keen and expressive gray eyes. He was -scrupulously well dressed and in strict accord with the dictates of -fashion. He would readily have passed, as Chick had stated, for a -millionaire or a prominent figure in the Gotham smart set. He was very -well known, too, from Harlem to the Battery, though for more and varied -reasons than any was yet led to suspect. - -Nick saw plainly that he could not wisely undertake to overhear what the -three were discussing so earnestly, nor did he attempt to do so. He knew -very well, or thought he did, and was content to await what followed. - -Nick had not long to wait. After an earnest conference lasting about -five minutes, Garland and the woman entered the taxicab, which sped -rapidly away, while Stuart Floyd walked briskly down the avenue. - -“What’s the meaning of that?” Nick asked himself. “They may have gone to -make sure the abducted woman is still in safe keeping. Be that as it -may, it’s long odds that Floyd will rejoin them sooner or later. I have -no course but to stick to him. I’ll head him off, by Jove, and see what -he will say for himself.” - -Nick did not immediately do so. He shadowed Floyd, instead, to one of -the leading jewelry firms, who were large importers of diamonds and -other gems, and through one of the broad plate windows he saw Floyd -speak to the senior member of the firm and then retire with him to his -private office. - -Half an hour passed before Floyd emerged. He paused and shook hands with -the merchant, bowing and smiling as if he had not a care on his mind, -much less a burden, and he then left the store and walked briskly to a -near hotel, entering the barroom and buying a drink. - -Nick suspected what he was doing all the while, but he was not -absolutely sure of it, and he continued the espionage. Passing through -the hotel office to keep an eye on his quarry, he suddenly came face to -face with Floyd in the adjoining corridor, the latter having just left -the barroom. - -It was an opportunity for which Nick had been waiting. He stepped -directly in front of the man, saying familiarly: - -“Hello! You’re just the man I want to see, Mr. Floyd. Give me half a -minute, will you?” - -Floyd knew Nick Carter by sight. If he had seen a ghost, he would not -have turned more pale for a moment. That he was a man of extraordinary -nerve and self-possession, however, appeared in that, aside from his -momentary paleness, not a feature of his clean-cut face evinced a sign -of fear, or even secret perturbation. - -“You are Mr. Carter, I believe,” he replied, looking Nick straight in -the eye. - -“Yes.” - -“Why have you stopped me? What can I do for you?” - -“Tell me what you know about the Imperial Loan Company,” said Nick, -straight from the shoulder. - -Floyd heard him without a change of countenance. - -“All that I know may be told with a single word--nothing,” he replied. - -“You know of the concern, don’t you?” - -“Yes.” - -“Are you acquainted with the managers?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well acquainted?” - -“So well acquainted, Mr. Carter, that I am not inclined to discuss them -with any detective, not excluding yourself, before knowing the purpose -of his inquiries,” Floyd said coldly. - -“If you know only good of them, Mr. Floyd, a detective is the very man -with whom you should be most willing to discuss them,” Nick retorted. - -“I will not argue the point,” Floyd said, flushing slightly. - -“There is no occasion,” said Nick. “Do you know anything about the -inside workings of this loan company?” - -“What do you mean, sir, by inside workings?” - -“The methods they employ.” - -“I already have said, Carter, that I know nothing about them, aside from -a personal acquaintance with the two managers,” Floyd stiffly asserted. -“Mr. Garland is a gentleman. Mr. Hart is another. That is all I can tell -you.” - -“All that you will tell me, Mr. Floyd, is what you mean,” Nick said -pointedly. “You should have learned, nevertheless, that reticence is -equivalent to----” - -“Stop a moment,” Floyd interrupted, with lips curling. “What’s the big -idea? What’s it all about? Do you suspect the loan company of anything -wrong?” - -“Frankly, Mr. Floyd, I do,” Nick nodded. - -“Of what?” - -“Of having abducted, or caused to be abducted, a woman known as Mrs. -Archie Waldron. Did you ever hear of her?” - -“Never! Permit me to add, Carter, that I never heard of anything more -absurd.” - -“Than what?” questioned Nick, still sharply regarding him. - -“Such a suspicion,” snapped Floyd, his eyes dilating. “What earthly -motive could they have for abducting a woman, or for any other breach of -the law? Both are married and have families. Both are men of eminent -respectability, of sterling integrity, and they manage a very profitable -business. What earthly incentive could they have for committing crime? -That’s absurd, utterly improbable. You detectives go over the traces -much too often, Carter, in your still-hunts after victims. You are worse -in a way than the crooks, for you smirch the reputation of honorable -men, while crooks get only their purses. Good morning, sir. That is all -I have to say.” - -Floyd apparently had worked himself up to a state of righteous -indignation, and none could better feign any sentiment he chose. He drew -himself up and turned to go, but Nick detained him with a gesture. - -“One moment,” he replied. “You have said considerable, Floyd, for one -who knew nothing about the Imperial Loan Company. I should be blind, -indeed, if I did not see that. You extol them in order to divert my -suspicions. But the fact that you think it is necessary to do so proves -quite conclusively, not only that you know much more than you have -stated, but also that my suspicions are correct. I could logically go -even a step further, Floyd, and suspect you of being in their game.” - -Floyd’s thin red lips parted scornfully, revealing a double row of sharp -white teeth. It gave him for a moment the vicious expression of a dog -about to bite. Instead, he vented a cold and mirthless laugh, as cold -and mirthless as the ring from rapiers crossed in mortal combat. - -“You go to thunder, Carter,” said he, sneering contemptuously. “I would -not lower myself by even denying your slanderous insinuations. In their -game, or in any game--bah! You disgust me! Go to thunder!” - -And Mr. Stuart Floyd, with the air and aspect of one who felt that he -had squelched the famous detective, turned on his heel and entered the -hotel office. - -Nick Carter smiled and passed into the barroom. - -“That will keep you going, all right,” he said to himself. “That’s all I -want of you. I’ll get you hands down at the finish.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -HOW NICK MADE GOOD. - - -Nick Carter did not remain long in the barroom, only long enough to -deftly put on a simple disguise, unobserved by any person in the room. -He then passed out to the street and approached the hotel office--just -as Stuart Floyd came out, departing quite hurriedly. - -He walked by Nick, nearly touching him, but he did not recognize him. He -glanced furtively into the barroom when passing it, nevertheless, which -convinced Nick that he still was supposed to be there, and that his -quarry was bent upon making a quick get-away. - -Nick followed him cautiously, as before, noting that Floyd now appeared -more hurried and apprehensive, but evidently not suspecting that he was -being shadowed. - -Floyd hastened over to Broadway, where he entered the quarters of the -Crosstown Collateral Trust Company, one of the largest concerns of this -kind in the country, if not in the world. - -Nick watched him from outside. - -Floyd appeared remarkably familiar with the place. He nodded to several -of the clerks, waving his hand to the bookkeeper, and at the same time -he proceeded directly to the private office of the president of the -company, which he entered without the formality of knocking. - -Nick Carter’s eyes took on a gleam of increasing satisfaction. He -continued to wait and watch. - -Presently a clerk hurried into the private office, evidently having been -summoned. He emerged in a few moments and vanished into the business -inclosure, where the doors of several huge vaults in the rear wall gave -the place the appearance of a safety deposit, or a wealthy banking -institution. - -Five minutes later the same clerk again visited the private office, -remaining only a moment, and half a minute later Floyd came out and -started for the street. - -Nick stole into a near doorway. - -Floyd emerged in a moment and walked rapidly to a drug store on an -opposite corner, proceeding directly to a telephone booth in the rear of -the store, quickly entering and tightly closing the door. - -Nick already was at the open door of the store. He saw that the booth -stood in an angle formed by two of the counters. He saw, too, that there -then were no customers and only one clerk in the store, just then -engaged in wiping one of the show cases. - -Nick stepped in and instantly caught the clerk’s eye, though one of his -own was constantly fixed upon the back of Floyd’s head, visible through -the window in the door of the booth. Floyd then was hurriedly looking up -a number in the telephone-exchange book. - -Nick cautioned the clerk with a significant glance and by holding up his -forefinger. He then turned the lapel of his vest and displayed his -detective’s badge. - -The clerk appeared to grasp the situation. He nodded and continued his -work. - -Nick stepped back of the opposite counter, quickly crouching out of -sight behind it. He then crept to the rear of the store and within half -a minute he was directly opposite one side of the telephone booth. - -On hands and knees under the counter, he placed one ear against the side -of the booth--and he then could faintly hear the voice of the man -within. - -The following broken remarks reached his ears, broken by the occasional -responses from the person with whom Floyd was talking, whom the -detective of course could not hear: - -“There is no question about it,” Floyd was forcibly saying. “I know -positively that he is on the case.... Yes, yes, of course! But we can -prevent that and bluff him to a standstill. He cannot prove that you -know anything about her.... That’s true, but I’ve got the goods and will -show up shortly. The best way, then, will be to phone directly to his -office and state where she can be found. That probably would end the -matter, and there will be no way of telling from whom the information -came. He could only guess at that.... The sooner the better, of course. -I have hastened to notify you only to put you on your guard in case he -shows up there again before I arrive. Stave him off in some way until I -come. It then will be soft walking. I’ll come at once. So long!” - -Nick heard the sharp click of the hook when the receiver was replaced. - -Floyd came from the booth almost immediately and left the store without -so much as a glance at the clerk. - -Nick crept from under the counter and entered the booth. He paused -briefly to size up what he had heard. He felt sure Floyd had telephoned -either to Hart, or Garland, at their place of business. He turned to the -telephone and rang up his own business office. - -“Line’s busy!” called the exchange operator. - -Nick waited. - -“Who is on it?” he asked himself. “Patsy must be there. I directed him -not to leave. Chick may have called him up, as I suggested, but for what -reason? Hang this delay! It may prove expensive.” - -Nick tried again and succeeded. He heard the familiar voice of Patsy -Garvan over the wire. - -“This is the chief talking,” said Nick. - -“Oh, gee!” Patsy exclaimed. “I was just wondering how I could get next -to you.” - -“What’s up?” Nick questioned, deferring his own communication. - -“Some one just phoned here that the woman we’re seeking can be found at -No. 1680B Amsterdam Avenue. The speaker evidently was a man, but I did -not know his voice, nor could I get anything more from him.” - -“I can guess who,” said Nick. “I was about to tell you that you would -soon receive that information.” - -“What shall I do?” - -“Take Danny and a couple of plain-clothes men to aid you,” Nick quickly -directed. “Raid the house quietly. I hardly think you will find any one -else there. If you do, however, make sure that none escapes.” - -“Trust me for that.” - -“I’ll nail the culprits elsewhere.” - -“Good enough! I’ve got you.” - -“That’s all, then.” - -Nick came from the booth, said a few words of explanation to the -astonished clerk, and he then hurriedly left the store and hailed a -passing taxicab. - -Ten minutes later, still in disguise, he entered the quarters of the -Imperial Loan Company--not more than an hour after his visit with Lord -Waldmere. - -The first person he caught sight of was Moses Hart, and he saw at once -that Stuart Floyd had not yet arrived. - -The assistant manager, nevertheless, appeared much more at ease than an -hour ago. He was engaged in the latticed inclosure. He was smiling and -humming a popular air. He saw Nick approach one of the windows and he -turned to meet him. - -“Is Mr. Garland busy?” Nick blandly inquired, bowing and smiling. - -“Mr. Garland is absent just now,” Hart suavely rejoined. - -“H’m, is that so?” - -“I think he will return before noon,” Hart added. “Is there anything I -can do for you?” - -“Are you the assistant manager?” - -“I am.” - -“Perhaps, then, you will do as well, though Mr. Garland was mentioned to -me,” said Nick. “It’s about a loan I wish to negotiate on some valuable -jewelry. The amount is considerable, and----” - -“Ah!” - -Hart breathed an expressive sigh, one of avaricious anticipation, and he -then hastened to open a door leading into the inclosure. - -“Walk in, sir,” he said cordially. “Step into our private office. We -then can discuss the matter without interruptions.” - -Nick was waiting only for an interruption. - -“Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary,” he demurred. “I can tell you -briefly what I require.” - -“Very well.” - -Hart stepped out and joined him. - -“My name is Peterson,” Nick continued. “I have in my charge a quantity -of valuable jewelry. It is part of the estate of a very wealthy widow. -The estate has not been settled, owing to long litigation, and it has -become necessary to raise quite a sum of cash with which to meet legal -expenses.” - -“I follow you,” Hart nodded, anticipating an unusually profitable deal. - -“I may require ten thousand dollars, possibly more.” - -“What is the value of the jewelry?” - -“Fifty thousand, at least.” - -“Ah! In that case, Mr. Peterson, we will be delighted to accommodate -you,” Hart warmly assured him. “No loan is too large for us to make on -satisfactory collateral. Our capital is unlimited. We can refer you -to----” - -He broke off abruptly. - -Stuart Floyd had entered and was hurriedly approaching. - -“One moment, Hart!” he exclaimed, diving into his coat pocket and -failing to recognize Nick. “Excuse yourself for one moment. Here is that -package which----” - -“Let me have it, instead,” Nick interrupted, thrusting Hart aside. - -Floyd recoiled as if struck on the head. - -“You!” he gasped involuntarily. - -Nick whipped off his disguise. - -“Yes,” he said sternly. “I may need it to prove my case--and your -relations with the Imperial Loan Company. Let me have it.” - -Floyd staggered and then uttered a cry and pulled himself together. - -“Not by a long shot!” he shouted. “Get rid of this, Hart, before he can -learn what it----” - -But he got no further, for Nick Carter did not stand on ceremony. He -leaped at Floyd and wrenched the package from him, as the latter was -about to toss it to Hart, and then he forced him fiercely against the -wall. - -Then came the jingle and snapping of steel--and Floyd was in handcuffs. - -“Let those keep you quiet,” said Nick sharply. “I think, now, we are in -a fair way to settle this business--and settle it right!” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE LOOTING GAME. - - -The situation in which Chick Carter suddenly found himself with Lady -Waldmere was not an enviable one. Without knowing just how it had come -about, Chick realized on the instant that he was caught like a rat in a -corner, the interior room having no window, nor any way of egress save -through the door, then barred by the tall figure and threatening weapon -of Morris Garland, to say nothing of the burly cabman behind him. - -Chick was not blind, however, to one offsetting advantage the room -afforded, or might possibly be made to afford. If he could escape only -through the door, he also could be attacked only from that direction. - -Chick took that in on the instant, also, and he was in no mood to yield -submissively to the two threatening miscreants in the hall. - -He threw up his hands, nevertheless, while a shriek of terror came from -Lady Waldmere--both sufficient to throw Garland off his guard for the -fraction of a second. - -Instantly Chick took advantage of it. - -Without dropping his hands, lest the knave might shoot, Chick raised his -right foot under one of the rounds of the chair on which he had been -seated, then kicked it with all his strength straight at the open door. - -It went direct and went like a flash. - -It struck Garland squarely on the arm and breast, diverting his aim, and -then fell to the floor. - -Garland fired on the instant, nevertheless, and the bullet went into the -ceiling. - -Lady Waldmere uttered another shriek and fainted dead away on the bed. - -The deafening report of the weapon was instantly followed by the bang of -Chick’s revolver, whipped like a flash from his hip pocket. - -In his haste, however, he had fired almost at random. The bullet clipped -a lock of hair from Garland’s head, then passed within an inch of the -cabman’s ear. - -Both uttered a yell. Both leaped instinctively, as it were, to one side -of the open door, bringing the wall between them and the detective. - -That was all that Chick wanted at that moment, and he had accomplished -it by taking his life in his hand. - -He now laughed aloud, however, and cried: - -“Two can play at that game, you see. If either of you rats shows his -head at the door, I’ll not miss it with my next bullet.” - -This brought no response for a moment. - -Chick heard the two men whispering in the hall, and also the rustle of -skirts. - -“By Jove, there may have been another woman in the house when I stole -in,” he said to himself, constantly alert. “She may have heard me, or -saw me, and afterward sent word to Garland. That may be how they caught -me in this fashion.” - -Chick’s theory was quite nearly correct. As a matter of fact, a sister -of Vera Vantoon, who had figured in the episode in the taxicab, had been -left in the hurriedly rented furnished house, rented expressly after the -abduction had been accomplished, in order that the identity of none of -the culprits should afterward be discovered. - -This sister, Leah Vantoon, had seen Chick stealing into the house. She -later had stolen out and got word to Garland, happening to meet Vera and -the chauffeur, then on their way to the house. All of them had stolen in -and up the stairs, unheard by the detective, while Chick was talking -with Lady Waldmere. - -Morris Garland had, of course, then realized how craftily he had been -duped by Nick Carter himself. - -He did not realize it all, however, for Stuart Floyd and Moses Hart were -at that moment under arrest by the famous detective. - -Chick’s taunting remark was answered in a few seconds by Garland. - -At the same moment, too, Chick saw that Lady Waldmere had revived and -was sitting on the edge of the bed. He held up his finger, warning her -to be silent, then signed for her to seek a remote corner of the room, -where a bullet from the hall could not possibly hit her. - -He, in the meantime, remained crouching some six feet from the open -door, revolver in hand. - -“I say!” called Garland, from the hall. - -“Say ahead,” called Chick coolly. “Come on with it.” - -“You’d better quit and throw up your hands again,” Garland advised. - -“May they wither, Garland, if I do,” replied Chick. “If you cannot think -of anything better to say, you’d better keep quiet.” - -“Oh, we’ll get you finally.” - -“Is that so?” - -“You bet it’s so. There is no way for you to get out.” - -“Nor for you to get in,” Chick retorted. - -“We can starve you out.” - -“Not much.” - -“Think not, eh?” - -“I know it,” Chick declared confidently. “Before you could do that, -Garland, the entire police force will be in search of me. They’ll find -me, too.” - -“Why do you think so?” - -“Because your running mate in the game you have been playing will throw -up his hands and squeal,” Chick asserted. “He probably is under arrest -by this time.” - -“By whom?” Garland demanded incredulously. - -“By Nick Carter.” - -“I guess not. What do you mean by the game we’ve been playing?” - -“Nick knows. He suspected it from the first.” - -“Knows what?” - -Chick laughed and clicked the revolver suggestively. - -“Don’t come any nearer that door, Garland, or there’ll be something -doing,” he advised. “I wouldn’t shrink an instant from sending a bullet -into your block of solid ivory. We’ve got your game down pat, now, and -we’re going to get you.” - -“What game?” Garland again demanded. “What do you mean?” - -“Your looting game,” said Chick. “That’s a good name for it, too. You -two rascals, evidently with others to help you, have taken advantage of -the fact that the head of the business you only manage, Mr. Isaac Meyer, -is a helpless paralytic and confined to his home.” - -“How taken advantage?” - -“You have been looting his business of all that it would stand without -immediate detection,” said Chick. “You have been loaning small amounts -on gems and jewels and the like, and then pawning the collateral -elsewhere for a much larger sum, and whacking up the difference. When a -customer shows up to redeem a pledge, if it happens to be one that you -have put elsewhere, you stave him off until you can raise the dust to -redeem it yourselves, in case you don’t have it on hand, that you may -turn it over to the proper owner and thus avert exposure. But it’s bound -to come, Garland; it’s bound to come. In fact, it already is here.” - -“That’s what Nick Carter suspects, is it?” - -Garland spoke with a sneer, but his voice had a quaking uncertainty that -told of utter dismay, of a realization that he had played a losing game -and must pay the price. - -“Sure that’s what he suspects,” Chick replied complacently. “You’re a -bunch of star looters, that’s what you are. When the books and vaults of -the Imperial Loan Company are examined, you’ll be found to be a hundred -thousand short, at least.” - -“Confound you Carters, anyway!” Garland cried, with a snarl. “You know -too much.” - -“Too much for most crooks whom we get after,” Chick dryly admitted. - -“It may cost you something one of these days.” - -“It already has cost you something,” Chick retorted. “Nick tumbled to it -almost off the reel. You were in pressing peril when the woman -unexpectedly showed up to redeem her ten-thousand-dollar pledge. You -have shoved up the jewels somewhere else, and probably for fifteen or -twenty thousand. You did not have the jewels when she called yesterday, -nor the money with which to redeem them this morning. Nick suspected it, -Garland, and we got right at you to drive you to the wall. We have done -it, all right.” - -Chick heard a growl from the cabman, one Buck Morgan, who had driven the -taxicab the previous afternoon, and Chick also heard the remark that -followed it. - -“The cursed dick is right, Morris. We’d better make a quick get-away.” - -“Not on your life,” snarled Garland. “I’ll get him first, or--hark! What -was that?” - -There was little need to ask, nor had Morgan any time in which to answer -the question. - -The hurried tread of several men sounded in the lower hall and then on -the near stairway. They came rushing up at top speed, Patsy Garvan in -the lead. - -“It’s all off, Mr. Garland; all off!” he shouted, while he came, at the -same time brandishing a ready revolver. “Don’t attempt any funny -business, or there’ll be a dead pawnbroker here. Shut up, you two women, -or we’ll put you in irons with these two gazabos.” - -The raid, quietly made, indeed, as Nick had directed, was already a -success. Both Garland and Morgan collapsed the moment they saw Patsy and -the other detectives. They were capable of thieving and abduction, but -not of murder and bloodshed. - -Within five minutes Patsy had all four of the culprits in irons, and in -five more they were on their way to the Tombs, to which Stuart Floyd and -Hart already had preceded them. - -Half an hour later Lady Waldmere was restored to the arms of her anxious -husband, who, it seems needless to say, was jolly well pleased. - -It later appeared that all of Nick Carter’s suspicions, as set forth in -brief by Chick, were entirely correct. Nick had felt reasonably sure of -it from the first, but knew that he must secure absolute proof of it, -which he set about doing in the manner described. - -He knew that Garland and Hart would have to work lively to raise the -money to recover the Waldmere jewels, that they might be turned over to -her that morning, and that that was Garland’s mission when he left his -office with Vera Vantoon, afterward meeting Floyd. - -That the latter then had undertaken the mission, and that he was in -league with the others, became obvious to Nick when Floyd visited the -jewelry firm. He rightly reasoned that Garland had provided him with a -parcel of diamonds, or other costly gems, from those in pawn with the -loan company, upon which Floyd could obtain a loan from the jeweler. It -afterward was shown to be eighteen thousand dollars. - -That Floyd then went and redeemed the jewels from the Crosstown -Collateral Trust Company. Nick had not had a doubt, and he shaped his -course accordingly, meeting with complete success and later showing that -Mr. Isaac Meyer had, indeed, been almost utterly ruined by his -treacherous managers. - -“They now will get theirs,” Nick observed, speaking of the case that -evening. “I have no doubt that Floyd was the genius back of the whole -job, but we may not be able to prove even that. However, be that as it -may, it was very quick work, cleaned up within twenty-four hours.” - -“Yes, chief,” supplemented Patsy. “And as his blooming English nobs -would say, and has said--deucedly keen and clevah work, bah Jove, -deucedly keen and clevah!” - - -THE END. - - -Some men are never beaten, regardless how great may be the odds against -them. Such was the case of Stuart Floyd, notwithstanding the fact that -Nicholas Carter had succeeded in bringing him to justice, the clever -rogue was to give the famous detective another battle of wits, which you -will read about in “The Melting Pot; or, Nick Carter and the Waldmere -Plate,” which will appear in the next issue, No. 140, of the NICK CARTER -STORIES, out May 15th. - - - - -Dared for Los Angeles. - -By ROLAND ASHFORD PHILLIPS. - - (This interesting story was commenced in No. 134 of NICK CARTER - STORIES. Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer - or the publishers.) - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -THE CONFESSION. - - -It was a long time before either Miss Trask or Nash spoke again. The -girl was sitting, wet-eyed and silent, in the chair, the book open upon -her lap. Nash had walked to the window, and stood gazing out upon the -road, which, under the magic of the moonlight, wound along the slope -like a wide, silver ribbon. - -The notes of a song came faintly through the still night air; in a -neighboring cabin some of the men were making merry. The words were -silly and meaningless, the tune of a dance-hall variety. Yet both the -girl and Nash waited until the song was finished. - -Then resolutely Nash turned. - -“How long have you been here, Miss Trask?” - -“In California? Only a few months. I--I came from New York immediately -after my brother was buried. I had given him this book only at -Christmas. Out of all his effects--I kept it. I was living at a little -hotel near Central Park, and used to go over and pass away the hours -reading. I suppose I dropped it--and that man who spoke to you must have -picked it up.” - -“What led you to take up--this work?” Nash asked. - -“I--don’t know. Maybe it was because--because I had hopes of finding my -brother’s murderer.” - -“You knew him?” - -She shook her head. “No. Oh, I hadn’t any set plan. I just imagined, -somehow, that on this great engineering project I might come face to -face with the man who----” - -“And if you had?” Nash interrupted. - -A quick, hard light flamed to her eyes, only to die away as suddenly as -it had come. “I don’t know,” she faltered. “I am only a woman, and----” - -“Did it ever occur to you, Miss Trask,” Nash ventured to ask, “that your -brother might have been as much to blame as--the other man?” - -“But--but he was my brother,” she replied. - -“Of course.” Nash smiled faintly. “A year ago, Miss Trask, I worked on -the New York Aqueduct.” - -“You?” She raised her eyes quickly. “Then maybe you knew----” - -“Your brother?” Nash nodded. “Yes, I knew him.” - -“And you knew about--about his death? You have heard how a man shot him, -and----” - -“I did not know of his death,” Nash answered gravely. “That is, I was -not positive.” - -She was facing him now. “How strangely you talk, Mr. Nash!” - -“Possibly it is because I am placed in a strange position,” Nash -replied. - -She started to speak, then stopped. The chugging of a motor interrupted, -and instinctively both man and woman understood. Nash stepped swiftly to -the window. The flashing lights of a big car were dancing down the road. - -“It--it’s the officers!” the girl exclaimed. She had followed the -engineer, and was peering over his shoulder. - -“I’m afraid so,” Nash responded. - -“They’ve come to-night--instead of in the morning. They must have -suspected you would try to escape.” - -Nash dropped the curtain and went back to the table. - -“It’s too--too late for you to get away now,” she stammered, breathing -hard. “What--what are you going to do?” - -“That isn’t the question which troubles me,” Nash said quietly. “How are -you to explain your presence here?” - -“I won’t need to,” she retorted. - -“Oh, but you will have to. You are employed by these people. Do you want -them to suspect you of double-dealing? Remember, Miss Trask, it is the -law you are fighting now.” - -“I shall tell them the truth.” - -“You must tell them that you came here--to arrest me. I am your -prisoner. You must tell them that.” - -“I won’t!” she exclaimed. - -“You must do this, Miss Trask. You must protect yourself.” - -“I will tell them it is all a mistake--that you are innocent,” she said. -“I will tell them that you are not the man they want.” - -“What good will it do?” Nash asked. “What good, Miss Trask? You have no -proofs.” - -“Oh, but I cannot tell them what you wish me to!” she protested, over -and over again. “I cannot!” - -“Listen to me, Miss Trask,” Nash answered, speaking swiftly now, for the -pounding of the motor on the up grade was becoming more and more -distinct. “It is the right way--the only way. It will protect your -reputation. Think of what it all means. You have informed them of my -supposedly crooked dealings, and now they discover you in my -cabin--apparently aiding me to escape. Can’t you understand what a -serious matter it will be?” - -“But I refuse to tell them that I----” - -The machine had stopped outside of the door. In another moment the -detectives would be inside the cabin. There was but one method open to -Nash; it was a brutal one, but to clear the girl’s name, he resolved to -take it. - -“Miss Trask,” he said, “you must not help me. You must do as I have -said. A moment ago you told me that there was but one object which led -you to accept this work. Well, you have succeeded. I am the man you -wanted to find.” - -She stared at him dully, unable to grasp his meaning. Footsteps came -heavily across the board porch. - -“I--I don’t understand!” she gasped. “I don’t----” - -Nash clenched his hands. “Miss Trask--I am the man who shot your -brother. Now you must do as I say.” - -The color drained from her face and she sank back against the wall, as -if Nash’s declaration had been a stinging lash. Her lips moved, but no -sound issued from them. Then, reverberating in the silence, came a loud -knock upon the door. It was not answered. A second one came, louder and -more determined. - -“Come in!” Nash said. - -The door was thrown open, and two men stepped inside. They were both -strangers to Nash. - -While one of the men stood near the door, as if to prevent any escape, -the other moved warily toward Nash. - -“Are you Elliot Nash?” he demanded. - -“I am,” the engineer responded. - -“Then I’m sorry to say I’ve a warrant here for your arrest.” As he spoke -he drew back his coat, and Nash found himself looking upon a detective’s -badge. - -Nash only smiled, and looked across at the girl, who all this time had -been standing weakly against the wall. - -“I’m afraid you’re too late, gentlemen,” he announced. “I have already -surrendered to Miss Breen.” - -Both men looked toward the girl. Then the spokesman laughed, and nodded, -apparently acquainted with her. - -“Well, congratulations, Miss Breen,” he said. “You have got your nerve, -haven’t you? Wanted all the honors in this deal, eh? Leave it to a woman -every time,” he added, in an undertone. - -Nash flashed a curious glance at the girl. He wondered how she would -accept the situation, and he had not long to wait. She drew herself -erect, and a trace of color stole into her cheeks. - -“You may take Mr. Nash to the city with you,” she said, her voice never -more calm. “I--I will appear against him in the morning. Good night, -gentlemen.” - -She walked across the floor, drawing on her heavy riding gloves. Then -she stepped out into the night. - -Presently the sharp thudding of her pony’s hoofs sounded clearly upon -the hard road. Minute by minute they died away, and when they had been -swallowed by the night’s silence, Nash, for the first time in months, -felt a great, crushing sense of loneliness. - -The girl had gone--out of his life--forever. And, somehow, he had begun -to have a deeper feeling than that of mere friendship toward her. He had -even begun to dream those glorious, rose-colored dreams which come to -all men, soon or late. - -And what an end they had come to! His air castles were toppling about -his shoulders. - -To-morrow she would appear against him before the engineering board in -Los Angeles. He would face her--not as a man wrongly accused of -betraying his city, but as a self-confessed murderer of her brother--a -creature to be despised and shunned. - -She, whom once he thought would champion his cause, and fight for the -opportunity to undo what she at first fancied was her duty, would now be -only too glad to see him condemned. - -And so this was to be the end of everything, he soliloquized bitterly. -All his efforts and endeavors were to go for naught. He would be made an -example of before the whole State of California. - -“What a penalty!” he murmured to himself. - -“We want to get that midnight train from San Fernando,” the detective -said sharply. - -“I am ready,” Nash responded quietly. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -BEFORE THE BOARD. - - -At ten o’clock the following morning Nash was ushered into the big -directors’ room, where the governing board of aqueduct engineers was to -pass judgment. - -The two detectives had brought him into San Fernando by automobile, and -they had been just in time to catch the last train to Los Angeles. -Despite the cloud which hung over his head, Nash had been treated with -the utmost consideration. - -Very little sleep came to him in the few remaining hours of the night. -He was well aware of the serious situation, and tried to fix upon some -definite method of procedure. The examining board would expect him to -defend himself. He resolved to tell the whole truth, from the very day -he discovered the letter in the book of verse to the present. As for -proofs, one way or another, he could offer nothing better than his word. - -It was a beautiful, balmy morning when he walked down Spring Street in -the custody of the two detectives, a morning such as only Los Angeles -can boast of--tempered by ocean breezes, and with the air heavy with the -perfume of orange blossoms. Nash drank deep of the sunshine; how -marvelous it seemed; doubly so now, when his liberty might be but a -question of---- - -Before they reached the new city hall on South Broadway a half dozen -newspaper men were trailing them; a camera or two appeared. Somehow, the -news of Nash’s arrest and the expected upheaval in Camp Forty-seven had -reached the ears of the vigilant press. - -The chimes on the city-hall tower were striking eleven when Nash finally -took the seat set aside for him in the big directors’ room. The majority -of the engineers were gathered about the long table, waiting. - -Nash was surprised to see at the far end the familiar face of Jim -Sigsbee. The politician had evidently decided to forego his proposed -trip to San Francisco and remain on the scene. - -The preliminaries were brief and to the point. - -“Our private detective in this affair, Miss Breen, has not shown up,” -the spokesman of the board announced gravely, “but we can proceed. The -prisoner is probably aware of the nature of the crime for which he has -been arrested.” - -Nash admitted that he understood. - -The president of the board continued: “What have you to say in your -defense, Mr. Nash?” - -Nash got to his feet and calmly faced the assembly. - -“Upon my arrival in this city, gentlemen, I happened upon a letter -directed to a Mr. Hooker, at that time the foreman of Camp Forty-seven. -The man to whom the note was issued did not care for the position. As -no names were mentioned, I took the letter, gave it to Mr. Hooker, and -was engaged.” - -“This letter,” interrupted the president, “was written by whom?” - -“By Mr. Sigsbee.” - -Finding himself the center of all eyes, Sigsbee nodded. - -“I remember giving a letter to a man who claimed to be an Eastern -engineer,” he explained. “He pleaded so hard for a position that I -offered him a chance on Camp Forty-seven.” - -Nash was asked to continue. - -“I began in the camp as a sort of clerk,” he said. “After a week, -because I proved my value, I was made a subforeman, and given charge of -the conduit construction. One day, when Mr. Hooker was--ill, I helped -the city inspector check over the pay roll. Having kept a memorandum of -my own, I found it differed from the foreman’s statement to the extent -of being just about half of the amount that----” - -Sigsbee was instantly upon his feet. - -“That’s a lie, gentlemen!” he cried. “You all know me better than that. -Why, it was at my instigation that this engineer was charged with----” - -Nash ignored the politician’s interruption and continued his remarks -directly to the president. “When I threatened to inform the authorities -of the truth, Mr. Hooker asked me to call upon Mr. Sigsbee. I did so. -Mr. Sigsbee, instead of discharging me, as I had expected, admitted -things were not as they should be, placed the blame on his foreman’s -shoulders, and offered me the position, with the understanding that I -should be directly responsible, and that Camp Forty-seven was to be -forever above suspicion.” - -The engineers were paying close attention, and appeared to be convinced -of Nash’s statements. Sigsbee was still on his feet, and when Nash had -finished he spoke again. - -“Gentlemen,” he began smilingly, “you have all known me, most of you, -for the past ten years. You all know how faithfully I have worked that -this great waterway might be made an actuality. The insinuations just -now cast upon myself and upon the affairs of Camp Forty-seven are -absurd. I was attracted to Mr. Nash by his apparent knowledge of -engineering matters, his earnestness, and the fact that he was a native -of this city. Mr. Hooker was ill, and had long before asked for a -vacation. I considered it my opportunity, and made the change. There -were no hard feelings at all, I can assure you. I would like to ask Mr. -Nash, if I may, what proofs he is prepared to offer to substantiate his -claims.” - -Nash realized his helplessness. Sigsbee must have known, too, otherwise -he would never have asked the question. - -“I have no proofs, gentlemen,” he declared, “other than my word.” - -Sigsbee smiled, and sat down. The president nodded for the engineer to -resume. - -“I accepted the position as foreman of Camp Forty-seven, and since then -have worked faithfully in the discharge of my duties. The specifications -given me by Mr. Sigsbee have been followed to the letter. I had no -suspicions as to the trick being played upon me until Miss Breen -arrested me last night.” - -“What trick was played upon you?” asked the president. - -“Changing the specifications,” Nash answered. “False ones were given me. -I followed them. When I attempted to prove my innocence to Miss Breen I -found they had been taken and the rightful ones substituted.” - -“Did those specifications come from the board, Mr. Sigsbee?” the -president inquired. - -“Certainly, sir,” Sigsbee nodded. “If I am not mistaken, they are now in -Mr. Nash’s cabin, on file. Are they not, Mr. Nash?” - -“They were placed there some time yesterday afternoon, by Mr. Hooker,” -Nash responded. - -Sigsbee looked around at the circle of anxious faces and shook his head. -“Did you ever hear of a more absurd statement, gentlemen?” he asked -solicitously. “Why, the thing is farcical!” - -By their expressions, the men about the table seemed to agree with -Sigsbee. The president spoke again, after the interval: - -“I suppose, Mr. Nash, you have proofs to substantiate these claims -against Mr. Sigsbee?” - -“As the false specifications are gone, I am unable to give you any,” -Nash responded. “Mr. Sigsbee and his confederate, Mr. Hooker, have -planned a shrewd game, and have left few loopholes. As the matter stands -at the present I am helpless.” - -Sigsbee was upon his feet instantly, his cheeks flaming. “I won’t stand -for such insinuations!” he roared. “I won’t stand for a man of Mr. -Nash’s reputation to----” - -The president of the board put up his hand. “Just a moment, Mr. -Sigsbee,” he cautioned. “I think we can straighten out this matter with -the aid of these new witnesses.” - -The door had opened. Every eye in the room instantly turned. Miss Breen -and Hooker advanced into the room and were seated. - -Miss Breen and Hooker! Nash felt the hot blood mount to his temples. So -she had gone over to the other side! He knew she must do so, yet, deep -in his heart, he hoped---- - -Miss Trask, or Miss Breen, as she was known to all the men in the room, -save one, did not look in Nash’s direction. She appeared unusually pale -and concerned. - -“We have been waiting for you, Miss Breen,” the president announced. -“Our evidence appears to be somewhat confused. Will you kindly state -your knowledge of the affair to the board?” - -Miss Trask arose, facing the president. Her voice was low and evenly -pitched, and never once did she falter. - -“I became acquainted with Mr. Nash through an accident, and in his -company, later, I was taken around the camp. One day he allowed me to -inspect the steel sections on the Soledad Siphon. Unknown to him, I -measured the steel, and later on compared the measurements with the -specifications. It was then I learned the truth; that the steel he had -been using was a quarter of an inch too thin. I then reported the -facts.” - -Nash listened eagerly. Miss Trask’s declaration explained her actions -and questions that day when he had willingly guided her about the camp. - -“Have you any answer to make, Mr. Nash?” the president asked. - -“None whatever,” Nash answered quietly. “Miss Breen has told you the -whole truth. I have not denied that my steel was a quarter of an inch -too thin.” - -For the smallest part of a minute Miss Trask allowed her eyes to rest -upon him. Nash’s heart responded. Was it possible that he could read -within those depths a message of---- - -Hooker was called upon. The president handed him a copy of the true -specifications. - -“These are similar to the ones you delivered to Mr. Nash?” - -Hooker nodded. “Yes, sir.” - -“Mr. Nash claims you changed the copies yesterday afternoon,” the -president declared. “That you took the false ones and substituted -these.” - -“Such an idea never entered my head,” replied Hooker. - -“Where were you yesterday afternoon?” - -“I was in Camp Forty-seven for about an hour.” - -“To see whom?” - -“Mr. Nash. He was out. I waited around a short time and finally left in -Mr. Sigsbee’s machine.” - -Sigsbee was plainly nervous. His fingers were drumming upon his chair -arm, and he shifted about uncomfortably. - -“Where did you go from Camp Forty-seven?” the president asked. - -“Up the usual road.” - -“But you only arrived in Los Angeles this morning, I understand.” - -“Yes, sir. About two miles below the camp my gasoline tank sprang a -leak, and I was forced to spend the night at the Elkhorn Ranch.” - -“That is where Miss Breen is staying, is it not?” - -“Yes, sir. She came in with me this morning.” - -Sigsbee was ready to interrupt once more. He seemed particularly anxious -to have Hooker silent. - -“Gentlemen of the board,” he began impressively, “it seems to me that -all the necessary arguments have been heard. Miss Breen has testified, -and also Mr. Hooker. Both parties are known to you, and you must be -forced to admit that the claims suggested by Mr. Nash are not alone -preposterous, but impossible as well.” - -The president nodded, and many of the others did the same. - -“Then I move that we hold Mr. Nash guilty of the charges brought against -him, and turn him over for trial before the proper authorities,” Sigsbee -resumed. - -The president of the board hesitated a moment. “There are a number of -points which do not seem quite clear to me as they stand, but which will -probably come to light during the trial. However, to me, at least, Mr. -Nash appears to be prompt with his answers, and, to all appearances, -telling a straightforward story. Of course, his word, against----” - -Sigsbee interrupted. “One moment, if I may. It seems that Mr. Nash is -unable to give us any proofs as to the existence of these so-called -frauds, and perhaps, if we are to weigh his words with any consideration -at all, we might ask him why he left a responsible position in New York -and came here to Los Angeles, willing to accept a minor one.” - -Nash’s fingers clenched themselves. He had been fearing that question, -not so much because of himself as because of Miss Trask. - -“When we are to consider a man’s word, and weigh it conscientiously,” -Sigsbee went on to say, “we ought to convince ourselves that his past is -one to warrant it.” - -He turned directly to Nash. - -“Perhaps you will tell us why you left the New York Aqueduct so -abruptly, Mr. Nash?” - -“That has nothing to do with the charge you are bringing against me,” -Nash answered hotly. - -“Oh, hasn’t it?” Sigsbee sneered. “Well, perhaps the gentlemen of this -board will think differently. Perhaps you do not relish the idea of -telling them that you are a murderer! That you left New York to escape -paying the penalty.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -THE UNEXPECTED. - - -The effect of Sigsbee’s declaration upon the rest of the listeners was -dynamic. Every eye swung around and rested upon Nash’s white face. - -“What have you to say, Mr. Nash?” the president questioned, first to -find his voice. - -“I have nothing to say,” replied Nash. - -“But I have!” a clear, commanding voice arose. - -Nash lifted his eyes. Miss Trask, who had so abruptly interrupted, was -upon her feet. She looked at the president, who appeared to be as much -surprised as the others. - -“May I explain?” she asked. - -The president nodded. Sigsbee brought himself erect in his chair, a -frown chiseled between his brows. - -“Why, surely, Miss Breen,” he said anxiously, “this affair cannot -interest you.” - -“On the contrary, Mr. Sigsbee, it is of vital interest to me,” she -answered swiftly. “The man whom you have accused Mr. Nash of murdering -was my brother!” - -Sigsbee could only sit and gasp; the others about the long table leaned -forward in their chairs. So abrupt and startling was the announcement -that in the hush which followed one might have heard the dropping of a -pin. - -“Your brother?” It was the president who first regained his voice. - -“Yes,” said Miss Trask. - -“And this man”--indicating Nash--“this man killed him?” - -“That is what Mr. Sigsbee would have us believe,” the girl answered -quietly. - -“But we have it from his own lips,” broke in Hooker, who, up to the -present, had remained dumb. “Nash told me himself that----” - -“I know,” Miss Trask nodded. “I, too, have heard it from his own lips. -He told me last night--just before the detectives arrived from Los -Angeles.” - -“And he knew, at the time, that you intended arresting him?” asked the -president. - -“Yes.” - -“Then why----” - -“Why am I defending him??” Miss Trask interrupted. “Because there has -been a mistake--a horrible mistake. Mr. Nash is as innocent of the crime -as any one in the room.” - -Nash caught at his breath, staring dumbly, wonderingly, into her face. -What motive, he asked himself, had prompted Miss Trask to change so -abruptly? - -“Until this morning--an hour ago,” Miss Trask continued, “I believed his -confession. Then I received a wire from New York saying that one of the -aqueduct engineers, dying, has confessed to the murder. I did not -understand at first, but after a time it became clear to me. Mr. Nash -had a quarrel with my brother; a gun was fired somehow. The shot cut -across my brother’s cheek. I distinctly remember, because he was brought -home, and remained there for a week. Two weeks later he was engaged in -another fight--and this one proved fatal. Mr. Nash believed all the -time--as I did at first--that he was responsible; that it was in his -quarrel my brother had met his death. My brother was quick-tempered, and -he provoked the fight. I want Mr. Nash to be freed of all blame.” - -Nash listened as a man in a dream, and finally, when Miss Trask had -finished, and had smiled upon him, he spoke: - -“The fight took place in a café,” he said, bringing back the vivid -picture. “It was a harmless one at first. We began sparring; he dropped -to the floor. Then he jerked out a gun--I was unarmed. But suddenly a -shot rang out behind me, your brother cried out, and when I looked down -his face was bathed in crimson. Somebody grabbed me, forced me out of -the room. They told me my opponent was dying, and that I must run for -it. Explanations were useless.” Nash stopped, and looked around at the -circle of interested faces. - -“That--that is all,” he said, “except that I packed my things that night -and took the first train for California.” - -With the exception of Sigsbee and Hooker, the others in the room were -visibly impressed. Sigsbee, instantly aware that the issue at hand was -being forgotten, got to his feet. - -“A very remarkable little romance,” he sneered. “Very remarkable, -indeed! But I’m afraid we are wandering from the subject. While Miss -Breen has apparently proven that Mr. Nash did not murder her brother, -the fact remains that he was a trouble-maker, and----” - -“Just a moment, Mr. Sigsbee,” interrupted Miss Trask. “Whatever Mr. Nash -did in the past is of no concern at the present time. May I have -permission to speak at length?” She looked over at the president, who, -understanding, nodded. - -“Since I became engaged upon this case, gentlemen,” she continued, “I -have had the opportunity of learning a few unexpected truths. Convinced, -as I was at first, of Mr. Nash’s disloyalty, I was amazed at his manner -toward me and the men under him, and his enthusiasm for his work. It was -only after a severe struggle with myself, and after I had found what I -concluded was the final proof of his unfaithfulness, that I took up the -matter with the board of engineers.” - -“Do we understand that you retract the evidence you have only just -offered?” demanded the president. - -“Certainly not, Mr. President,” she answered. “Every word I have said in -the matter of the siphons is true. Even Mr. Nash agrees with me.” - -Nash nodded. “I have denied nothing,” he said. “Miss Breen’s statements -are perfectly correct.” - -In a puzzled way he waited for her to continue. - -“Several days ago Mr. Nash saved my life,” the girl resumed. “It was -then, half crazed by what I had gone through, that I confessed -everything to him. I told him who I was, and what I had done.” - -“That was before his arrest?” leaped to Sigsbee’s lips. - -“Yes, before his arrest.” - -Sigsbee shrugged. “It’s a wonder, carried away by your feelings for this -man, that you didn’t urge him to escape,” he said. - -“That is exactly what I did do, Mr. Sigsbee.” - -The politician stared. “You--you tried to----” - -“I told him the truth, and urged him to get away before he was arrested. -Not only then did I plead with him, but I went into camp an hour before -his arrest and begged him to leave.” - -“What prevented him from doing so?” asked the president. - -Miss Breen smiled. “His innocence, gentlemen. Why, do you think, being -guilty of this crime, he would have remained in camp? It was because he -was innocent that he remained.” - -“Do you mean to say, Miss Breen,” the president asked, “that you believe -Mr. Nash was ignorant of the offense for which----” - -“I do!” - -“But you have already testified----“ began Sigsbee. - -“I testified to the facts exactly as they were, exactly as I found them; -exactly, gentlemen, as Mr. Nash admits they were. He does not deny that -his steel was different from the specifications. What he does deny is -that he was given those specifications there on the table.” - -“If he was given other specifications, which he claims to have -followed,” Sigsbee declared, “why does he not show them? What we want at -this inquiry is proofs, not words.” - -Miss Breen allowed her eyes to rest upon the insolent, flushed face of -the speaker. “‘Why doesn’t he show the proofs?’ you ask,” she replied -calmly. “Because you took particular pains to put them out of his reach, -Mr. Sigsbee.” - -“Look here!” Sigsbee exclaimed, forgetting, or indifferent to the fact, -that he was addressing a woman. “I won’t stand for any such -insinuations!” - -“You’ll stand for some things you don’t expect,” the girl answered -swiftly, not in the least ruffled by the man’s declaration. “You laid -your plans very carefully, Mr. Sigsbee; you imagined them to be perfect. -Most criminals do. It is the unexpected that steps in and clogs the -smoothest running gear.” - -“I--I demand----“ spluttered the politician. - -“Very well,” announced the girl, apparently enjoying the situation, -which to all others in the room, Nash included, was more than -mystifying. “I’ll satisfy you.” - -She looked around at the circle of interested engineers. Nash found her -eyes, and held them. Something mirrored in their depths sent his pulses -racing. - -“Last night, after leaving Mr. Nash in charge of the detectives,” she -resumed, “I rode back to the ranch. Arrived there, I found Mr. Hooker, -who, as he has previously explained, was preparing to stop overnight. -When I discovered him he was flat on his back under the machine, coat -off, sleeves rolled up, his hands covered with grease and dirt. At his -suggestion, I volunteered to hold the lantern, and later he asked me to -carry his coat into the house. I did so. As I picked up the garment from -the ground, some papers dropped out. I was on the point of returning -them when----” - -Hooker, with a loud cry, suddenly leaped to his feet, flung aside the -chair in which he had been sitting, and which blocked his way, and -bolted for the door. - -“Don’t let him get away!” Miss Breen cried. - -Instantly several of the men sprang into action, and two of them caught -Hooker as he was about to disappear. They brought him back to the table, -and forced him into a chair, where he sat huddled, white-lipped and -trembling. - -“I’m sorry Mr. Hooker spoiled my climax,” Miss Breen said, smiling. -“Evidently he has just searched his pockets, and discovered the false -specifications which he took from Mr. Nash’s cabin yesterday afternoon -are missing. However,” she added, opening a little hand bag which she -carried, “they are not lost. Here, gentlemen, are Mr. Nash’s proofs.” - -A bomb, thrown through the window, would not have caused greater -confusion. The false specifications were hurriedly examined by all the -men. Nash’s writing and figures on the margins were instantly -identified. - -Sigsbee, stunned by the unexpected twist in his carefully laid plot, sat -as one stricken dumb. - -“What have you to say, Mr. Hooker?” asked the president, after the -excitement had subsided. - -Hooker seemed to realize his hopeless position. His actions had proven -his guilt. “Camp Forty-seven was rotten with graft,” he said -reluctantly, dully. “Sigsbee and I had to throw the blame on some one’s -shoulders--so we picked Nash. That’s all.” - -The president of the board walked over to Nash. “I guess there’s a great -big apology coming to you, Mr. Nash.” He gripped the engineer’s hand. “I -feel we can depend upon you, and I hope you will continue to represent -us in Camp Forty-seven.” - -“I shall do my best,” Nash answered. “My motto has been, and always will -be, ‘All for Los Angeles.’” - -“That must be our motto as well,” responded the president. “And with -this in view, we must be careful not to allow the faintest whisper of -this meeting to reach the ears of the public. Los Angeles has always -been free from graft and political deals. It must be kept so. The public -must have the utmost confidence in the men who are constructing its -wonderful aqueduct. I believe all the members present understand the -delicate situation. And as for these two gentlemen”--he looked across to -Sigsbee and Hooker--“we must see that they are sent away. We will -withdraw all charges against them. To air this matter in court would be -a detriment to our clean record of the past. And while these men deserve -punishment, severe punishment, we must consider, above all else, the -welfare of our city. Therefore, I move that these men be placed in the -custody of a detective and taken East.” - -The suggestion of the president was unanimously upheld by the board of -engineers. - -Following the verdict, Nash slipped away and found Miss Trask. - -“If it hadn’t been for you,” he murmured, pressing her hand, “I -might----” - -“If it hadn’t been for you,” she interrupted, “that night at the coyote -I might have----” - -The remembrance of that night, and the one particular incident, rushed -to Nash’s mind. - -“And why--why did you lie to me about the time?” he asked. “Why did you -wish to remain with me when you knew that the explosion was to----” - -She looked away, and the color trembled in her cheeks. - -“C-can’t you guess?” she faltered. - -Nash had arrived at a solution a long time previous to this moment, but -it seemed too good to be true. Now he knew it was true. - -“Let’s go over to the Alexandria for lunch,” he suggested. “I can talk -better there.” - -And, once in that big, cosmopolitan hotel, and in a secluded corner of -the grillroom, Elliot Nash amazed the stolid-faced waiter by his order. -And what he said later to the girl who shared the feast was meant only -for her ears. - - -THE END. - - - - -AN IMPORTANT EXCEPTION. - - -An old man who entered the meteorological office, the other day, said: - -“This ’ere’s where you give out weather predictions, ain’t it?” - -The clerk nodded. - -“Well,” continued the old man, “I thought as how I could come up and -give you some tips.” - -“Yes,” said the clerk politely. - -“Yes; I’ve thought it out a little, an’ I find that ye ain’t al’ays -right.” - -“No; we sometimes make mistakes.” - -“Course ye do. We all does, some time. Now, I was thinkin’ as how a line -that used to be on the auction handbills down in our county might do -first-rate on your weather predictions an’ save ye a lot of explainin’.” - -“What was the line?” - -“Wind an’ weather permittin’.” - -He went off without waiting to say good-by. - - - - -Saving the Building and Loan Money. - -By E. E. YOUMANS. - - -“Paul, I want you to go down to the Building and Loan with this money -to-night,” said Mrs. Brown, as she came into the room where her son was -seated, reading a book. “I’d go myself, but I expect Mrs. Carson here to -see me, and must be on hand when she comes. I guess you can attend to it -all right enough, don’t you think so?” - -“Sure,” said the youth, laying aside his book; “I’ll start at once.” - -He secured his hat, and prepared to leave. - -“Look out you don’t lose the money,” cautioned his mother. “There are -some fifty dollars in the roll.” - -“No fear,” answered Paul; and a moment later he was on his way down the -road. - -The place where the Building and Loan Association met was at a small -village, some two miles from Mrs. Brown’s farm, and it was necessary for -Paul to pass through a lonely woods on the way. - -This he did not mind, however, for he was used to the road, and had -often gone through the woods at night. It was just turning dusk when he -left the house, but before he reached the forest, darkness had fallen in -full. - -The moon did not rise till late, and he could not see far ahead when he -passed in under the trees. But he pressed on, the money tucked safely -away in the inside of his vest, and had just reached the end of the -woods, when the sudden glimmer of a light in the edge of the trees -attracted his attention. - -“Why, that’s near the old cave,” muttered the boy, stopping and looking -toward the gleam. “Wonder what it means?” - -He was about passing on, when the impulse to go forward and investigate -seized upon him, and he turned toward the cave. - -“It won’t take but a minute,” he told himself. “I’ll just sneak up near -enough to see who’s prowling around. It may be some of the boys, though -it’s been a long time since any of us have been down this way.” - -He climbed over the fence, and stole toward the light. It was still -shining, but before he got halfway to it, it suddenly went out. - -He kept on, however, and soon reached the vicinity of the cave. This was -situated in a small and rocky ravine, and had been formed by several -large bowlders rolling down from the sides of the gorge, and lodging in -such a manner as to leave a considerable cavity underneath. - -Paul and his friends had for a long time used this place as a sort of -rendezvous in some of their sports. But they had lost interest in it, -and had not been there for some time. - -In a few minutes he was near enough to the cave to hear the sound of -strange voices. - -“That’s none of the fellows,” he muttered, beginning to feel a little -uneasy. “But who can it be?” - -He paused for a moment in uncertainty. Then his curiosity urged him on -again, and he soon gained a position behind one of the bowlders that -formed a side of the cave. - -Here he crouched down, and listened. In a little while the party within -began talking again. - -“There’s no doubt about it. He’ll have all the money with him, and, if -we’re smart, we’ll make a clean haul of three or four thousand dollars.” - -“All the same, it’s blamed risky,” said another voice. - -“Well, what of it? I reckon we’re smart enough to make our escape. We’ll -just stay here till twelve or one o’clock, then we’ll make tracks for -Bolton’s house. Take my word for it, bub, he’ll never put that money in -the bank to-morrow.” - -Paul almost betrayed his proximity by the start he gave as these words -reached his ears. Mr. Bolton was the treasurer of the Building and Loan -Association into which he was going to pay the fifty dollars that night, -and these two men were concocting a scheme to rob him at his home. - -The youth soon decided what to do. He must hurry away at once, and tell -the treasurer what he had discovered. - -“It’s the greatest piece of rascality I ever heard of,” thought Paul, as -he cautiously rose to his feet and turned away. - -But he was not destined to escape. He stepped upon a small stone which -slid out from under his foot with a sharp noise, and nearly threw him -down. - -“What’s that?” cried one of the men, and the next second both were heard -starting from the cave. - -Paul did not wait. Knowing he was sure to be caught, he broke into a -run. - -The next moment the men saw him, and started in pursuit with a shout of -rage. - -“Stop, you young eavesdropper,” cried the foremost ruffian; “stop, I -say, or I’ll shoot you.” - -Paul paid no attention. He dashed back toward the road, expecting to -have a bullet sent after him each moment, but for some reason it did not -come. - -Straining every muscle, he soon came near the fence, and at the same -moment he heard the pursuers close behind him. He had no time to climb -the fence, and gathered himself for a spring. - -When he reached it, he placed his hand on the top rail, and made a -tremendous leap. He would have cleared it all right, but the rail gave -way under him, and he fell headlong into the grass on the roadside. - -He sprang up, but it was too late. A heavy hand was laid on his collar, -and he was jerked violently around. - -“Now I’ve got you,” said a rough voice. “I’ve a good mind to break your -head.” - -“Let me go!” panted Paul. - -“I’ll let you go, confound you,” roared his captor, shaking him -savagely. “Who are you?” - -“None of your business,” said Paul fearlessly. “If you don’t let me go, -it’ll be worse for you.” - -“Careful with that tongue of yours. Just come along back here.” - -With a quick move the youth struck the man a stinging blow in the face. -The ruffian uttered a howl, and put up his hand. Paul broke loose, and -dashed away. - -“Stop him, Dick,” cried the fellow he had hit. “Shoot him down; don’t -let him escape.” - -Paul was running for all he was worth. Dick promptly gave chase. He was -a good runner, and, despite the boy’s desperate exertion, rapidly -overhauled him. - -When he got near enough he struck at the boy with his fist, and once -more Paul sprawled into the road. He was partially stunned, and, before -he could recover, both men were upon him. - -“Let me smash him,” cried the one savagely. “He nearly broke my nose. -Just let me get at him.” - -“Oh, what’s the use!” said the other. “We’ve no time to fool with him. -Give me your handkerchief.” - -The man did so, and in a few minutes Paul’s hands were secured behind -him, he was lifted between them, and carried back to the cave. - -Here he was laid down, and Dick began searching him. - -“We may as well take whatever you’ve got of value,” he said. “We deserve -something for that blasted run you gave us.” - -Paul’s heart sank. His mother’s hard-earned fifty dollars would be -stolen. - -The man soon found the book and the bills, and chuckled as he saw the -money. Then, by the light of the lantern which he had relighted, he -examined the book, and uttered a low whistle. - -“Well, I’ll be hanged, Joe,” he cried, “if here isn’t one o’ the -Buildin’ and Loan books; fifty dollars along with it, too, by the great -thunder! Well, youngster, we’d only get this money anyhow, so we’ll take -it now. Wish we could get all that’ll be paid in to-night as easy as we -get this.” - -He put the bills into his pocket, after which Paul was thrown into the -cave. A large stone lying near was rolled against the entrance, and -Paul’s capture was complete. - -Hour after hour passed till the boy knew it must be after midnight. Then -the men prepared to leave. - -“I reckon you’ll be comfortable there for some time, bub,” said one, as -they moved away. “You can thank your lucky stars that we didn’t kill -you.” - -The next moment they were gone. Paul tugged at the bandage confining his -wrists. - -“I must get away and warn Mr. Bolton,” he reflected excitedly. “They may -kill him.” - -But the handkerchief was well tied, and he could not weaken it. - -“What shall I do?” he cried desperately. “I must get away.” - -Then an idea flashed into his mind. He rolled over, with his back -against the rock, and, despite the pain, began rubbing the handkerchief -against it. - -His hands were soon bruised and bleeding, but he kept on, until finally -the linen was worn through, and dropped off. - -He groped his way to the entrance, and tried to move the rock. He could -not budge it. He sank back again with a groan of dismay. - -“Too bad,” was his despairing cry. “I can’t get out, after all. The men -must be almost there now. If----” - -He thrust his hand into his pocket, and uttered a low cry. They had not -robbed him of his jackknife, and he soon had it out, digging away the -dirt for life. - -How the boy worked! In half an hour he had dug a large cavity under one -side of the stone, and a hard push sent it over so that he managed to -squeeze through on the other side, and crawl from the cave. - -Then off he started across fields for the house of Gilbert, the town -marshal. He had to cross a brook, but he did not lose time. He waded -through, and, with the water dripping from his garments, reached the -marshal’s house ten minutes later. - -As soon as possible that individual was aroused, and Paul told his -story. - -“Hurry,” he concluded. “You may be too late.” - -In less than five minutes they were hurrying toward the treasurer’s -home. The marshal had two revolvers, one of which he handed to Paul. - -“Don’t be afraid to use it,” he said, and a few minutes after they came -in sight of Mr. Bolton’s house. - -They looked cautiously around as they approached, but all was silent. -Evidently the thieves had not arrived yet. - -When they reached the house, the marshal rang the bell long and hard. A -moment later an upper window was raised, and Mr. Bolton called out: - -“Who’s there?” - -“It’s I, Gus,” said the marshal, stepping back and looking up. “Come -down, quick as you can, and open the door.” - -Mr. Bolton knew the officer, and lost no time in admitting him. - -“What is up?” he asked, when they were all inside. - -The officer explained: - -“They’ll be here soon,” he concluded. “We must be ready for ’em.” - -Hasty preparations were made. Believing that the thieves were acquainted -with Mr. Bolton’s house, the officer concluded they would force an -entrance into the room where the treasurer kept his safe, and to this -apartment they all repaired. - -A large, high-backed sofa was drawn up under the gas jet, the gas was -lighted and turned down low, and the three watchers crouched down behind -the safe. - -“We’ll wait till they get in the room,” said the officer; “then I’ll -give you a nudge, Paul, and you must turn on the gas in full. Bolton and -I will cover ’em with our revolvers, and if they don’t surrender, we’ll -let ’em have it.” - -Paul was much excited. But he tried to remember what the marshal had -told him, and held himself in readiness to turn on the gas when the -signal was given. - -Suddenly a slight noise was heard near the window. - -“Hist!” said the officer. “There they are!” - -Two or three peculiar scratches were heard, then the sash was carefully -raised. In a moment the men climbed through the window and stood out on -the floor. - -The marshal nudged Paul. A broad glare of light flooded the room, and at -the same moment Marshal Gilbert cried sternly: - -“Surrender, or we’ll shoot you down!” - -Startled into confusion by the sudden illumination of the room and the -ominous command, the two robbers became panic-stricken, and made a dash -for the window. - -But the officer and Bolton were too quick for them. Their revolvers -cracked simultaneously, and both men went down, badly wounded. After -this their capture was easy, and they were soon disarmed and secured. - -They were taken to jail, where their wounds were dressed, and when they -finally recovered were sent to prison. - -Paul, of course, recovered his money, but the members of the Building -and Loan Association were so grateful for the valuable service he had -rendered them that they clubbed together and paid up his mother’s book -for several months to come. - - - - -THE PLUMAGE HUNTER. - - -Not very long ago the writer accompanied a gold-mining expedition into -the tropical forests of Guiana, and stumbled across an English traveler -who was collecting birds for a London and Parisian firm of merchants. He -was settled in a village of Acawois Indians, far from any of the haunts -of the white man. Every male Indian of the village was in his service, -and at the conclusion of each week they received pay, according to -results, in cheap knives, powder, hatchets, cooking utensils, et cetera; -pay day being usually celebrated by a feast, in which all the men got -fearfully intoxicated on a filthy compound called paiwarri. - -We started out every morning immediately after breakfast. The Indians -were armed with bows and arrows and blowpipes. The collector divided -them into sections, and sent them off into the bush, himself -accompanying one group, but without doing any shooting. I fastened on to -a man and a boy, and kept close in their wake all day. With the skill of -a denizen of the woods, my man did not walk a step without rousing a -feathered creature of some sort. Sometimes a large bird--a toucan or a -macaw--would flap clumsily out of a bush, and the twang of the bowstring -would announce its death. Small birds fluttered across our path -constantly, and these were promptly brought down with the pipe. Now and -then a flight of a score or two would suddenly settle all over in the -branches about our heads, and on these occasions the Indian managed to -kill a dozen or so before they appeared to realize their danger. It was -kill, kill, kill, without a moment’s pause. As the birds fell, the boy -secured the bodies and dropped them into a long wicker basket, which was -strapped across his forehead and hung down his back. - -On our return to the village the men were coming in and emptying their -baskets onto a long table in the middle of the Englishman’s hut. Many of -the birds were of the most brilliant plumage; but there were hundreds of -birds, not boasting any brightness of color, that were of no use. The -slaughter, in fact, is much greater in regard to the birds that are not -wanted than those which reach the English market. The collector, -stripped to the shirt, and with his sleeves rolled up, set to work at -once, going through the game. He handled every bird, dropping those -pretty enough for a bonnet or valuable enough for a collection into one -heap, and the useless ones into another. Not more than one bird in ten -was retained; the rest had been slaughtered uselessly. When I reproached -my friend with this wanton waste of feathered life, he replied that he -could not attempt to kill the birds himself, and it was impossible to -get Indians to discriminate between valuable and worthless specimens. - - - - -JOKES FROM JERROLD. - - -Douglas Jerrold, once the keenest of wits, a remarkable combination of -Thackeray and Hood, is now almost forgotten. It is a pity. His jests -were singularly ripe and racy. He had no mercy on the sentimentalists. - -“I love nature,” said one of these dawdles to him one day. “I often take -a book, retire into some unfrequented field, lie down, gaze on the -heavens, then study. If there are any animals in the field, so much the -better. The cow approaches, and looks down upon me; and I--I look up to -her.” - -“Exactly,” said Jerrold, “you look up to her with a filial smile!” - -A delightful way of telling him he was a calf. - -Another sentimentalist got a beautiful settler in this way: Walking in -the country, Jerrold and a small party of friends stopped to notice the -antics of a small donkey in a field. A gushing poet in the party said: - -“Dear little thing; how I should like to buy it and give it to my -mother!” - -“Do,” said Jerrold--“do, and tie this sweet motto round its neck: ‘When -this you see, remember me.’” - -He had little mercy for pretentious prigs, who always abound in -“literary circles.” A young author had written on the same subject as -Lamartine, and bragged of it. - -“Ah,” said he, “Lamartine and I row in the same boat.” - -“Yes,” said Jerrold, “but not with the same skulls.” - -Another of these gentry, praising one of his own plays, said to Jerrold: - -“Do you remember the baroness in that play?” - -“Oh, yes,” said Jerrold. “I never read anything of yours without being -struck with its barrenness!” - -At the same time he always had a friendly hand for a man who was too -hard hit. A newspaper called the _Chronicle_, once attacked a young -friend of his, savagely assailing his work. Jerrold took up the cudgels -and wrote in his defense. He began by telling how, in some countries, -the too luxuriant growth of the vine is prevented by sending asses in to -crop the rising shoots. Then he gravely added: - -“Even so young authors require pruning; and how thankful we all ought to -be that the _Chronicle_ keeps an ass!” - -Walking one day in the Haymarket, then a rather disreputable promenade, -some one met him, and thus accosted him: - -“What, Jerrold, you here? Looking about for characters, I suppose.” - -“Yes,” said Jerrold quietly; “I am told a good many are lost about -here.” - - * * * * * - - - THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS. - -Michigan on Gridiron. - -Six of the eight games which will make up the University of Michigan’s -1915 football schedule were announced recently by the board in control -of the athletics. The midweek games have not yet been decided upon. - -The schedule follows: - -October 9, Mount Union; October 16, Case; October 23, Michigan -Agricultural College; October 30, Syracuse; November 6, Cornell; -November 13, Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. - -With the exception of the Pennsylvania game on Franklin Field, Michigan -will fight all her battles on the home gridiron next fall. - - - - -Hen and High-bred Chickens. - -A hen of high-flying propensities advertised her character when a barred -Plymouth Rock, the property of Mr. Gushee, of Hastings, N. Y., announced -from a cedar tree on the Longue Vue estate, that she had a remarkable -secret to impart. - -Those who answered the frenzied squawks for aid found with her a brood -of thirteen chicks. M. C. Cronin, who superintends the poultry stock at -Longue Vue, removed the flock from the tree crotch, which was twenty -feet from the ground, and installed the family in a comfortable house. -The hen had been missing for days, but no one thought to look for her at -such a height. Now they are trying to decide whether the birds are cedar -birds or plain chickens. - - - - -Destroying Odor of Smoke. - -A new invention is a lamp which consumes smoke. It resembles an ordinary -alcohol lamp in appearance. At the tip of its burner is a piece of -platinum. When the platinum is made to glow by the alcohol flame arising -from the burner it gives off formaldehyde in great quantities. This -overcomes the smoke or any other impurity in the atmosphere. When the -lamp is lighted in a room where smoking is in progress it prevents the -accumulation of stale smoke. It can also be used as a disinfector. - - - - -Ex-slave Ill at 102. - -Mrs. Minerva Gillies, whose father, Richard Washington, was George -Washington’s slave, was taken to the Harlem Hospital, in New York -recently, suffering from ailments that come with old age. She is 102 -years old, and lived with her daughter at 58 West 133d Street. - -Richard Washington was a stableboy at Mount Vernon. After the death of -George Washington, he was sold and went to Petersburg, Va. There Minerva -was born. She remained in slavery until the end of the Civil War, when -she came North. - - - - -From Gate to President. - -At a meeting of the directors of Yale & Towne, of Stamford, Conn., the -largest hardware manufacturing concern in the country, if not in the -world, Walter C. Allen, who twenty-three years ago applied for a job at -the gate of the works, was elected president in the place of Henry R. -Towne, who retires after forty-six years in that position. - -Mr. Towne was made chairman of the board of directors. - - - - -Death Takes Four of Family. - -For the first time in the history of Loganville, Ga., according to the -older inhabitants, four deaths occurred in one family within four days. -Edgar Rickets, who lives about four miles west of the place, experienced -this affliction recently. - -On a Monday he attended the funeral of his mother. That night his baby -died, and the next day his wife and little boy, about two years old, -also died, all being victims of pneumonia fever. The three bodies were -buried Wednesday in a local cemetery. This is the first time that a -triple funeral has ever occurred from one family in this section. - - - - -Dog Rescues an Old Soldier. - -Wanderer, a smart collie, is being showered with attention as a hero in -Woodside, Md., for saving from death Charles McCallion, an aged veteran -of the Civil War. “Wan,” as the dog is commonly known, is owned by Edson -B. Olds, treasurer of the Union Trust Company. - -Mr. Olds’ attention was attracted to the continuous barking and peculiar -antics of the dog on Sunday morning. Wan would dash up to the house and -bark for a few minutes, then run to a field near by and bark again. - -When Mr. Olds followed Wan on one of the trips, he found McCallion lying -in the middle of the field, unconscious from the cold. A physician was -summoned, and the aged veteran was taken to the Soldiers’ Hospital. He -will recover. - - - - -Ding Dong! Go Bells for Wong Chungs. - -Mr. Wong Chung, late of China, whose head is said to be worth $10,000 to -certain bloodthirsty officials of his native land, and Mrs. Chung Fong, -more recently of the Celestial republic, who has traveled 10,000 miles -to wed the political refugee with the precious cranium, were married in -New York recently at the First Chinese Presbyterian Church by the -Reverend Huie Kin. - -The flavor of romance which one might expect from the above was absent -at the ceremony. Mr. Chung is tall and thin, with the face of a student. -He was attired in the official gala dress of the new republic, which -consists of gray trousers, Prince Albert, high collar, and ascot tie. -His bride, who is a slim, elderly lady, with gold-rimmed spectacles, -wore a native Chinese costume of white silk, with a loose tunic effect -and a short white veil. She bought this just before she set out in -search of the prospective husband, whom she had not seen in ten years. - -Many of the elite of the Chinese colony, which is not to be confused -with Chinatown, witnessed the ceremony. Miss Fun Hin Liu, a Wellesley -graduate, was the bridesmaid, and Mr. Lo Lam, a student from Columbia, -was best man. After the ceremony, which was the simple Presbyterian -ritual, delivered in English by the pastor of the church, Professor Ou, -of the Canton Chinese College, made singing noises while the newly -married pair had their pictures taken. - -Mrs. Fong met her husband ten years ago while he was serving as dean of -the Canton Christian College. Since then the two have kept up a -correspondence, which grew so ardent on his side that it finally lured -Mrs. Fong across the Pacific and to Chicago, where her husband-to-be met -her and brought her to New York. - - -Starved, Fight for Food. - -Owing to the extended shutdown of the mines in Venetia, a small mining -town in Washington County, Pa., 480 persons, including many women and -children, are slowly starving to death. This message was received in a -letter sent to a local newspaper. Barks and herbs are the only food that -the starving people can obtain, and the pangs of hunger have so affected -many that they fight one another for the bark and herbs that can be -found in the fields and woods. - - - - -New Flag for Marshall. - -Vice President Marshall is the first vice president of the United States -to have a naval flag all his own. The necessity for the creation of such -an ensign was brought about by the intended visit of Mr. Marshall, as -the president’s representative to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San -Francisco. - -When the vice president determined to go, and arrangements for his -reception were in progress, the navy department found that, while the -president and the secretary and assistant secretary of the navy each had -a flag, the vice president had none. The duty of providing a vice -president’s flag proved simple. The new banner will be the reverse of -the president’s flag in the color distribution. It will be of white, -with the arms of the United States--a spread eagle bearing on its breast -a shield of stars and stripes. The eagle will be of blue and the shield -in red, white, and blue. - - - - -J. B. Brady Aids Woman. - -James B. Brady, noted as “Diamond Jim,” while sitting as a member of the -New York grand jury, was so touched by the story of one of the witnesses -that he suggested taking up a collection for her. Just to start things -off, he tossed a brand-new one-hundred-dollar bill on the stenographer’s -table, and when the other jurors had added their contributions, there -was $130 in the purse. - -Mrs. Marka Buila, of 1324 First Avenue, was the woman whose plight -touched Mr. Brady’s heart. She told the jury that she had been robbed of -all her money, jewelry, and clothing, and when she was summoned to -testify last Monday, had to walk to the Criminal Courts Building from -her home in Harlem. - -The man against whom the woman was testifying was indicted. - - - - -Army of Institutions. - -Charitable, civic, and religious organizations exceeding 3,800 are -working for the betterment of people and things in New York City, -according to the directory issued by the Charity Organization Society. - -There are 1,800 churches. Social centers and settlements, 150 in -Manhattan and forty-one in the other boroughs, lead the remainder of -the list, which includes hospitals, kindergartens, homes, nurseries, and -missionary societies. Included in the directory are the names of twelve -war-relief bodies. About 6,000 persons are associated with charitable -agencies. - - - - -Anarchist Plot Revealed. - -One of the exhibits at the next county fair in Metuchen, N. J., will be -a prize Jersey anarchist, guaranteed to give results any place at any -time. - -A farm where anarchists will be reared in proper anarchistic atmosphere -was purchased recently by a man who said he was Harry Kelly, chairman of -the Ferrer Settlement, of New York City. He bought the sixty-nine-acre -farm of Walter Rush, in Raritan Township, where, he declared, the -headquarters of the Ferrer School will be established about May 1st. - -“Our main object,” he said, “in establishing the colony is to produce -genuine anarchists, and we must rear our children in a thoroughly -anarchistic atmosphere.” - -The plot will be cut up into building lots. To each anarchist will be -given one plot, upon which he is expected to sow the seeds of anarchy, -tomatoes, and turnips. Kelly says the settlement will be the anarchist -headquarters in the East. - -This town is all excited. It remembers with painful distinctness what -happened four years ago, when the socialists established a colony near -the site of the contemplated anarchist farm. Professor George D. Herron -and Eugene V. Debs took the leading part in the formation of the -socialist pasture ground. - -Nobody took more than the usual curious interest in the project until -the announcement seeped into this town that Herron was going to bring -Miss Carrie Rand to live with him “according to the new and simple form -of marriage ceremony.” - -Metuchen isn’t exactly puritan, but when that news reached it, every -Metuchenite dug his Bible out of the attic and joined his neighbor in -excited protest. Metuchen was willing to tolerate some things, but when -it came to winking at free love, never! - -So highly excited did the townsfolk become that Herron and his wife left -for Florence, Italy, where they lived until her death a year ago. And -even though the socialist farm was established, nothing that resembled -free love ever made its appearance. - -That’s why Metuchen sizzles with palpitating expectation and teems with -a throbbing skepticism. It knows what the I. W. W. folk have done in -Paterson, another Jersey town, and it has read what the anarchists in -New York are reputed to have done. - -Metuchen was able to repel the socialists when they would have set up a -free-love colony in the neighborhood. But it is not so sure that it can -stand off genuine anarchists. - - - - -Rowing Dates for Year. - -In addition to the announcement on Saturday night that the championship -meet of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen would be held at -Springfield, Mass., on August 13th and 14th, the following rowing dates -were made public by the Amateur American Rowing Association: - -May 22--American Rowing Association, at Philadelphia; May 31--New York -Rowing Association, on the Harlem River, New York; June 19--Schuylkill -Navy Regatta, at Philadelphia; July 3--Hudson River Rowing Association -meet; July 5--People’s regatta, at Philadelphia; New England regatta, at -Charles Basin, Boston; Western Massachusetts Rowing Association, at -Springfield, Mass.; Rosedale Boat Club open regatta, on Hackensack -River, New Jersey; September 6--Middle States Rowing Association, meet -date not yet fixed; New England Rowing Association regatta, at Boston; -Detroit River Rowing Association, at Detroit; September 9 to 15--Pacific -Coast Association meet at Pan-American Fair, San Francisco; September -15--Detroit River Rowing Association, at Detroit. - - - - -Reduce World Armies Plan. - -A movement to bring about a world-wide restriction of armies and navies -by international agreement after the European War is ended is announced -by the American League to Limit Armaments. The crusade is being -organized through conferences and correspondence with leaders of public -opinion in several foreign countries, it was stated. - -“We are undertaking to solidify the movement and co-ordinate the efforts -along this line while the war is still in progress, in order to make the -strongest possible presentation of the issue at the earliest opportune -moment,” says the league’s announcement. “We are not proposing methods -to bring peace to Europe until Europe is ready to stop fighting of its -own accord. We stand by what we hold to be the main proposition--that -the reduction of all armaments to the least proportions consistent with -the demands of normal tranquillity and the use of the money now going -into destructive engines of war for the constructive agencies of peace -is the true solution of the peace problem.” - - - - -To Sell a Pilgrim’s House. - -The only remaining house in America which has sheltered persons who came -to Plymouth on the _Mayflower_ in 1620 is to be sold at auction by order -of the court. - -The house was built in 1666 by a son of John Howland, the last -_Mayflower_ survivor. In course of time the building fell into decay, -but upon the organization in 1911 of the Society of the Descendants of -Pilgrim John Howland of the ship _Mayflower_, the property was acquired -and restored by that body. - - - - -Lieutenant Shares Meal with Private. - -Some excitement was created in a Piccadilly grill at luncheon time when -a private English “Tommy” walked in and sat down at a table with a young -lieutenant. The private is the young officer’s father, and before the -war held a high position in a London bank. His lunching with the officer -caused some discussion, and some said it was too much democracy even for -the English army. - -After the meal the young officer said: “Should you refuse to let the -governor buy you a lunch merely because he is a Tommy?” - - - - -Skipper of Six-master at Twenty-one. - -Shortly after the _E. R. Sterling_, the only six-masted barkentine in -the world, arrived in San Francisco, Cal., from Nanaimo, B. C., laden -with coal, she was boarded by Federal operatives, who made a thorough -search of the hold for a high-power wireless apparatus which officials -have been informed is destined to be transferred at sea to a foreign -warship from some American vessel in the near future. No apparatus was -found. - -Captain Edward Sterling, junior, son of the owner of the _E. R. -Sterling_, is only twenty-one years old, and is said to be the youngest -skipper of a deep-water ship to possess a master’s license. The vessel -requires a crew of only twelve men, as her sails are raised by donkey -engines. - - - - -Canary Sings in Trenches. - -A private of the English Second Rifle Brigade, writing to a friend at -Sheffield, England, tells this story of a canary which he says sings and -cheers his comrades through the smoke of battle: - -“Our only companion--in the trenches--is a little canary we rescued from -a deserted house, which had been almost shelled to atoms. On the cage -was a ticket: ‘Please look after this little bird.’ It has made itself -quite at home with us. When we leave the trenches, we hand it over to -the next regiment. So you may guess it’s made quite a fuss of. Last time -we went into the trenches our canary was almost black through the smoke -from shell fire, but it seems as cheerful as ever. Really, it gets so -black with smoke that it’s a job to distinguish it from a sparrow.” - - - - -Dickens is German Soldiers’ Favorite. - -Dickens is the German soldiers’ favorite novelist. He stands first in a -list of fifty authors prepared by the great publishing house of Reclam, -of Leipzig, famous for its cheap reprints. - -Of the total number of orders from the German troops at the front -forty-eight per cent calls for fiction, nineteen per cent for serious -reading, comprising philosophy, religion, and arts; seventeen per cent -for poetry and drama, and sixteen per cent for light miscellaneous -stuff, including humorous works. - -The German soldier is catholic in his taste when it comes to fiction, -for not only does he top his list with Dickens, but includes twenty-one -other foreign novelists, among whom appear Bulwer, Defoe, Scott, Dumas, -Daudet, Merimée, Prevost, and Victor Hugo. - - - - -Forests Fired by Sparks. - -Of the 503 fires reported by the United States Forest Service as having -occurred in 1914 in the national forest purchase areas in the White -Mountains of New England and the Southern Appalachians, 319, or sixty -per cent, were caused by sparks from locomotives. More than half of -these fires, or 272, occurred in Virginia alone, and of these 227 were -from locomotive sparks. - -Three hundred and seventy-nine of the fires were confined to areas of -less than ten acres each, and 296 were put out before a quarter of an -acre had been burned. The total loss amounted to $2,192, and the cost of -fire fighting to $1,300, an infinitesimal sum compared with the value of -the timber and reproduction protected. As the areas swept by fire were -mostly cut over, the greater part of the damage was suffered by young -growth. - - - - -Expert Stump Blower Has Narrow Escape. - -Jake Bodine, prominent tailor and stump blower of Kenton, Ohio, sat at -his ease and smoked his pipe. - -When it went out, he lighted it again. When it went out a second time, -he decided he had had enough, and laid the pipe aside. - -He had been blowing stumps with dynamite during the day, and had brought -four large caps home in his pocket. - -Reaching into his pocket in which he had put the caps, and in which he -carried his smoking tobacco as well, he found three caps instead of -four. - -When he emptied the ashes from his pipe in search of the fourth cap, -that fourth cap rattled out, badly scorched. - -“It’s a good thing my pipe went out when it did,” he says. “If that cap -had gone off, like as not it would have ruined one of the best stump -blowers in Kenton.” - - - - -Killed Nineteen California Lions. - -Nineteen California lions fell before the guns of the bounty hunters in -February. Four were killed in Humboldt County; three in Siskiyou; three -in Lake; two in Mendocino; two in Ventura, and one each in San Benito, -Del Norte, Monterey, Tehama, and Tuolumne. The State paid twenty dollars -to each successful hunter, and in addition to this the pelts brought as -much more. Some counties also give a special bounty for lions’ scalps. - - - - -Officers Applaud New Box Wireless. - -Under the direction of the secretary of war a new wireless apparatus, -the invention of Doctor Otto F. Reinhold, of 77 Nye Avenue, Newark, N. -J., was tested at Bedloe’s Island by First Lieutenant J. G. Taylor, of -the Signal Corps, and M. B. Dilley, master signal electrician. The -government men declared afterward that the apparatus gave promise of -revolutionizing the entire system of wireless telegraphy. - -The apparatus, inclosed in a box about fifteen inches long, six inches -wide, and eight inches high, may be styled a secret radio plant, and is -intended primarily for use in the army field. The astounding feature of -it, according to Lieutenant Taylor, is that it was fully demonstrated -that the little contrivance sends out its sound waves without antennæ. - -The experiment enabled the government officials to communicate with Fort -Totten, about fifteen miles away in one direction, and Fort Hancock, -about twenty miles distant in another. The navy-yard wireless station -called a halt on the tests as the inventor was about to try to reach -Fort H. G. Wright, one hundred and twenty miles away, at New London, -Conn. - -Doctor Reinhold said his apparatus could be connected wherever direct or -alternating current is available. He said it could be used on an -automobile and operated while the machine was at top speed by using -current supplied from the automobile dynamo. - -The inventor claimed for his apparatus that in a recent test he sent a -message three hundred miles. - - - - -Echoes of War in London Want Ads. - -Want advertisements are always interesting because of the varied and -intimate side lights which they give on what people are doing and -thinking about. As war topics fill the news and editorial columns of the -English newspapers, so is the war the all-absorbing subject in the -classified department. Following are a few of the advertisements -appearing in the London _Times_, sent to the _Blade_ by Mr. Boyce as -showing how England is taking the war: - -Dogs and cats of the empire!--The kaiser said: “Germany will fight to -last dog and cat.” Will British dogs and cats give 6d. each to provide -Y. M. C. A. soldiers’ hut at front? Any dog or cat sending five pounds -can have his or her picture hung in “our” hut.--“Tom,” care of Miss Maud -Field, Mortimer West, Berks. - -Request from sailors and soldiers at the front to send large -consignments of flint and tinder lighters; matches, when procurable, -being unreliable in wet weather. Money to help purchase direct from -makers solicited.--Address Haden Crawford, esquire, Marlow, Bucks. - -Ninth Seaforth Highlanders.--Field glasses are required for the use of -N. C. O.’s and scouts, and will be gratefully received and acknowledged -by Captain Petty, Salamanca Barracks, Aldershot. - -Playing Cards (used) urgently required for wounded soldiers.--Gratefully -received by Miss Peck, Maidencombe, St. Mary Church, Devon. - -Urgently needed, socks for the Eighth Irish Service Battalion, King’s -Liverpool regiment, shortly leaving for the front.--Gratefully -acknowledged by Miss Cox, The Priory, Royston, Herts. - -Elizabeth Motor Ambulance.--Will every one named “Elizabeth” in Great -Britain and Ireland send me contribution toward above--in connection -with Lady Bushman’s Ambulance Fleet--and save our soldiers much -unnecessary suffering?--Mrs. F. Ford, Rushmere, Wimbledon Common, S. W. - -Wounded Soldiers “Margaret” Fund.--“Lady Margarets” subscribe a guinea. -“Margarets” over sixteen, half guinea; “Little Margarets,” 2s. 6d. Lady -Margaret Hospital, Bromley, Kent. Lady Margaret Campbell, Hon. -Treasurer. - - - - -Loses Leg After Fifty Years. - -Fifty years after a Confederate shell had struck and injured his right -leg, Ellet Ramsey, of Huntingdon, Pa., had the leg removed at the Blair -Hospital. The amputation was made necessary by suffering from the old -wound received half a century ago. He stood the operation well and will -recover. - - - - -Angry Lamb Injures Woman. - -Mrs. Garret Smith, of Liberty, Pa., is suffering from severe injuries -received by being butted by an angry lamb. Dan Carroll, a neighbor of -the Smith family, is the owner of the lamb, which escaped from its -premises and went into the Smith yard. Before Mrs. Smith realized what -had happened, she was knocked to the ground and seriously injured, one -of her arms being broken. - - - - -Lost Boys Found in Abandoned Mine. - -After searching a week for two small boys who were missing from their -homes during that time, the searchers found the body of William Hale, -five years old, and his companion, Albert Tomlinson, aged ten, still -alive, in an abandoned mine near Banksville, Pa. The boys had been lost -in the mine all that time. Young Tomlinson was almost exhausted from -exposure and hunger. - -The boys were in a small five-foot drop in a mine pit which had several -inches of water in it. The body of the Hale boy was partly submerged in -the water, but his head was resting in the lap of his companion, who -could barely sit erect. The younger boy had starved to death. - -After searching for several days for the missing lads, the party entered -the mine pit. They had progressed only a short distance when they heard -a faint voice crying: “Oh, Thomas; oh, Thomas!” It was young Tomlinson -calling for his older brother. - -When rescued, young Tomlinson said: “Thank God you found us.” - -Tomlinson told an incoherent story. He said he had no idea of time, but -as nearly as he could tell Hale had been dead about two days. He said -they walked hand in hand many miles, endeavoring to find a way out. -After his comrade died, Tomlinson said, he carried the body around with -him. Overcome with exhaustion, he gave up all efforts and had not -sufficient strength to get out of the pool of poisonous water in which -he and Hale’s body was found. - -It is not known how the Tomlinson boy survived the ordeal, but it is -supposed that he subsisted on bark from old timber in the mine. He is in -a hospital now. - - -Catches Baby Boy on Roof of Moving Train. - -An escape from death without precedent occurred in Pittsburgh, recently, -on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Walter Betle, four years old, was playing -on the bridge at Thirty-third Street, near where the flooring was being -repaired. He stumbled at a hole and started to fall to the tracks, -twenty-five feet below. - -A freight train was within a few feet of the bridge, running at high -speed. On the roof of the first box car was Richard Roundtree, a -brakeman, saw the boy stumble through the bridge. He braced himself and -managed to catch him as he fell. Roundtree staggered dangerously near -the edge of the roof, but managed to keep his footing until the train -was stopped. - - - - -Has Wonderful “Peace” Egg. - -Sam Marks’ Plymouth Rock hen, of Orville, Cal., which recently laid an -egg bearing the Hebrew word for “peace” neatly inscribed thereon, is -bringing her owner much fame and large daily mail. The president of the -Panama-Pacific Exposition has written to Marks, inclosing a free pass to -the exposition and asking Marks to bring the wonderful egg and “Martha,” -the remarkable hen, with him. - - - - -Lands 975 War Horses Across Ocean Safely. - -Doctor E. R. Forbes, of Fort Worth, Texas, who, early in January, -resigned as State veterinarian to return to British service, recently -took the record on animal transportation, having landed in Europe 975 -head of animals without losing one. - -Doctor Forbes was in good health when the letter containing the news of -his safe arrival at his destination in England was written, and -signified his intention of remaining in the animal-transport service of -Great Britain as long as his services were required during the war. - -Doctor Forbes was employed by the British government during the Boer War -in the same position he now occupies. At that time he took two cargoes -of horses from New Orleans to South Africa, and, after demonstrating how -to care for the animals on shipboard during such a long voyage, returned -to New Orleans, where he continued to pass upon the soundness and -stamina of horses and mules for the British army while the Boer War -lasted. - -Taking 975 head of animals across the Atlantic in mid-winter was a feat -in maritime equine transportation never before equaled, and especially -when it is taken into consideration that not an animal was lost during -the voyage. - -This is quite in contradistinction to the fate of a shipload of horses -consigned to the Italian government by the steamer _Evelyn_. When the -steamer neared the Bermuda Islands, the condenser on the vessel broke, -and, no water being available, the cargo, 366 head, was driven into the -sea. - -Another shipment to Italy arrived at its destination with only -seventy-eight alive out of 345 when the vessel left an American port. - - - - -Michigan Has Climbing Cow. - -Marshall Rust, a farmer, of Lapeer, Mich., possesses several cows that -are as graceful examples of bovine femininity as ever chewed a cud, but, -in addition, one of them has some athletic ability. - -Mr. Rust recently turned his cows into a field in which was also a wagon -partly loaded with bean pods. One night he went out to milk his cows -just after darkness had set in and found one missing. He searched over -the near-by fields for several hours, but to no avail. - -When morning came, the lost cow was found sleeping peacefully on the -load of bean pods. The cow had climbed on the wagon, six feet from the -ground. - - - - -Timber Inspector Slays Three Bears. - -Mat Jordan, expert timber inspector, living in Turner, Mich., is the -hero of the hour just now in that town and vicinity. Old residents, -especially those who came from the East many years ago, declare that if -Mat had lived in the good old pioneer days of which J. Fenimore Cooper -so charmingly wrote, Mat would have made as interesting a story hero as -did Natty Bumpo, the famous deer slayer, only Mat’s long suit is bears, -no matter how many. - -Mat was strolling through the woods near here with a double-bladed ax on -his shoulder. He was there to look over some timber land, with a -prospective dicker looming up in his speculative mind. While pausing to -inspect a likely looking log that lay half concealed with dead brush, he -heard a noise. Stepping toward the sound to investigate, he beheld a -large black bear emerging from its den. - -“Great siege guns!” exclaimed Mat, “this looks like war.” - -It was war, and it started right away, for Mat swung his double-edged ax -and soon had the enemy at his feet, registering its final kicks and last -gasps. While he was surveying his conquered foe with a gleam of triumph -in his weather eye, he suddenly had occasion to exclaim: - -“Well, for the love of Mike, look who’s here!” - -Two more bears, but young, half-grown ones, which were quickly -dispatched and laid alongside their mother. The large bear weighed 175 -pounds. - -Mat went after help, and the carcasses were brought to town, where they -were viewed by hundreds of persons all of whom were of the opinion that -Mat Jordan is the champion bear slayer of Michigan. - - - - -Strangest Fresh-water Fish. - -George Welscher, who lives in Illinois, opposite Commerce, Mo., caught a -strange-looking fish in the Mississippi River the other day. He had been -told that if one would break the ice near the shore and drop a baited -hook in the water, he could sure catch fish. He decided to try it, and -had only been fishing a few minutes when he landed a queer specimen, to -describe it mildly. It had a head like a dog’s, but the body was like a -fish. Where the fins should be it had something like wings, which it -could open and close. It had a tail similar to a cat’s, with fur on it -like a cat’s, and on which the water seemed to have no effect. - -Near the end of the tail there were three prongs, each having a -different color of fur on them--one blue, one white, and the other a -shade of yellow. It had a tusk about two inches long in its mouth. Its -eyes were in the tip of its tail, and instead of having two eyes, it had -three. Welscher said he had no trouble landing the fish, and as soon as -landed it began to bark like a dog. - - - - -Saved Russian from Big Bear. - -Andy Williams, an employee of the Gagen Lumber and Cedar Company, of -Gagen, Wis., in one of their camps, two miles from this village, killed -what is thought to be the largest bear ever seen in this vicinity, it -weighing nearly 500 pounds. - -A Russian who was swamping out logs suddenly aroused a monster bear, -and, in his excitement, accidentally hit bruin on the head. The bear, -furious at being struck, made for the Russian, who was now fleeing down -the road at his utmost speed. The Russ no doubt imagined that his end -was near and that there was at least one Russian who would never get -back across the big pond to face a German gun. He probably never would -have if Andy Williams hadn’t come to his rescue and dispatched the bear -with an ax. - -They went back and found three cubs in a hollow log, and they are now -getting the best of care at the camp. - - - - -Tiny Locomotive is Wonder in Details. - -A perfect model of an oil-burning railway locomotive, forty-two inches -long, is to be put on exhibition at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. -Arthur H. Johnson, of Seattle, Wash., who built the model, has been -requested by the San Francisco authorities to enter the locomotive as an -exhibit, and he has consented. - -Johnson, who is a young electrician, spent three years in making the -model to try out an invention of his on the fire box. The engine is -equipped with air brakes, an electric-light system, and everything else -that a modern locomotive has. The boiler has been tested out at 150 -pounds working pressure. - -A Massachusetts man has built a miniature battleship, thirteen feet in -length, which has all the features of a real dreadnaught, including guns -that fire, range finders, wireless instruments, gunners, and even a band -that plays martial music. The vessel is propelled by electricity, and -can make ten miles an hour in smooth water.... - - - -Santa’s Aids Honored. - -A large statue of Santa Claus, made of paper pulp molded from five -thousand letters written by poor children of the city to Kris Kringle, -was presented at the Hotel Astor, in New York City, to William C. and F. -A. Muschenheim, two of Santa’s aids. It is the gift of the Santa Claus -Association and the Waterman’s Ideal Ten-year Club. - -John D. Gluck, founder of the Santa Claus Association, presented the -figure to the Muschenheims. The statue is three-quarters life size and -rests on a base of Italian marble. Kratina, the sculptor, spent two -months in molding it. - -The inscription says the gift is in recognition of “assistance rendered -to the children of the poor, who wrote to Santa Claus. A fortune was -sent to poor kiddies, for fuel, food, and toys, and five thousand of -them no longer say there is no Santa Claus.” - - -Find Missing Man in Shark. - -The mystery surrounding the disappearance three years ago at St. -Augustine, Fla., of John B. Mooney, of Mooney Brothers’ Company, was -cleared up when his son, Edgar J. Mooney, of Cleveland, Ohio, received -word from Miami, Fla., that the upper portion of a human skeleton, which -is thought to be that of J. B. Mooney, had been found in the stomach of -a shark caught near there this week. - -In 1912 the elder Mooney was in bathing at St. Augustine when he -suddenly disappeared in the surf. It was thought that a strong undertow -had carried him out to sea, but it is now believed a shark seized him. - - -Interesting New Inventions. - -The “bicycle built for two” about which there used to be a song was -followed by the motor cycle carrying two passengers. This has now been -improved upon. The newest kind has two chair seats, one behind the -other, instead of saddles. - -To save neckties from the wear and tear of pinholes, a scarfpin has been -patented that clips on the edge of a tie. - -In the interest of cleanliness, an Iowa inventor has patented a wire -frame to hold a milk pail up from the ground. - -A Frenchman has invented a machine for dealing cards that is said to -make misdeals impossible. - -A microthermometer has been invented that is so delicate that it is -capable of registering sea-water temperature changes to one-thousandth -of a degree. The instrument is intended to enable ship’s officers to -detect their approach to icebergs. - -A novel wrench that will hold a nut of almost any size is made of a -single piece of steel, the handle being split so that the jaws are -sprung together as a strain is applied. - - -Snake Poison Fails to Cure. - -Rattlesnake venom as a cure for epilepsy proved a failure in official -tests conducted by the State of Kansas. A report filed in Chicago by -Doctor M. L. Perry, superintendent of the State Hospital for Epileptics, -at Parsons, notes the effect of the venom on six patients at the -institution who received the treatment for two months. - -“In two cases there were more attacks than before; another was -unchanged, and one patient’s condition grew so alarming that the -treatment was discontinued in two weeks,” the report says. - - TOBACCO HABIT You can conquer it easily in 5 days, improve your - health, prolong your life. No more stomach trouble, no foul breath, - no heart weakness. Regain manly vigor, calm nerves, clear eyes & - superior mental strength. Whether you chew; or smoke pipe, - cigarettes, cigars, get my interesting Tobacco Book. Worth its - weight in gold. Mailed free. E. J. WOODS, 230 K, Station E. New - York, N.Y. - - -The Nick Carter Stories - -ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS - - -When it comes to detective stories worth while, the =Nick Carter Stories= -contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn -tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest -minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar -all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in -twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of -time so well as those contained in the =Nick Carter Stories=. It proves -conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of -the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt -of the price in money or postage stamps. - -704--Written in Red. -707--Rogues of the Air. -709--The Bolt from the Blue. -710--The Stockbridge Affair. -711--A Secret from the Past. -712--Playing the Last Hand. -713--A Slick Article. -714--The Taxicab Riddle. -717--The Master Rogue’s Alibi. -719--The Dead Letter. -720--The Allerton Millions. -728--The Mummy’s Head. -729--The Statue Clue. -730--The Torn Card. -731--Under Desperation’s Spur. -732--The Connecting Link. -733--The Abduction Syndicate. -736--The Toils of a Siren. -738--A Plot Within a Plot. -739--The Dead Accomplice. -741--The Green Scarab. -746--The Secret Entrance. -747--The Cavern Mystery. -748--The Disappearing Fortune. -749--A Voice from the Past. -752--The Spider’s Web. -753--The Man With a Crutch. -754--The Rajah’s Regalia. -755--Saved from Death. -756--The Man Inside. -757--Out for Vengeance. -758--The Poisons of Exili. -759--The Antique Vial. -760--The House of Slumber. -761--A Double Identity. -762--“The Mocker’s” Stratagem. -763--The Man that Came Back. -764--The Tracks in the Snow. -765--The Babbington Case. -766--The Masters of Millions. -767--The Blue Stain. -768--The Lost Clew. -770--The Turn of a Card. -771--A Message in the Dust. -772--A Royal Flush. -774--The Great Buddha Beryl. -775--The Vanishing Heiress. -776--The Unfinished Letter. -777--A Difficult Trail. -782--A Woman’s Stratagem. -783--The Cliff Castle Affair. -784--A Prisoner of the Tomb. -785--A Resourceful Foe. -789--The Great Hotel Tragedies. -795--Zanoni, the Transfigured. -796--The Lure of Gold. -797--The Man With a Chest. -798--A Shadowed Life. -799--The Secret Agent. -800--A Plot for a Crown. -801--The Red Button. -802--Up Against It. -803--The Gold Certificate. -804--Jack Wise’s Hurry Call. -805--Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase. -806--Nick Carter and the Broken Dagger. -807--Nick Carter’s Advertisement. -808--The Kregoff Necklace. -810--The Copper Cylinder. -811--Nick Carter and the Nihilists. -812--Nick Carter and the Convict Gang. -813--Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor. -814--The Triangled Coin. -815--Ninety-nine--and One. -816--Coin Number 77. - - -NEW SERIES - -NICK CARTER STORIES - - -1--The Man from Nowhere. -2--The Face at the Window. -3--A Fight for a Million. -4--Nick Carter’s Land Office. -5--Nick Carter and the Professor. -6--Nick Carter as a Mill Hand. -7--A Single Clew. -8--The Emerald Snake. -9--The Currie Outfit. -10--Nick Carter and the Kidnapped Heiress. -11--Nick Carter Strikes Oil. -12--Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure. -13--A Mystery of the Highway. -14--The Silent Passenger. -15--Jack Dreen’s Secret. -16--Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case. -17--Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves. -18--Nick Carter’s Auto Chase. -19--The Corrigan Inheritance. -20--The Keen Eye of Denton. -21--The Spider’s Parlor. -22--Nick Carter’s Quick Guess. -23--Nick Carter and the Murderess. -24--Nick Carter and the Pay Car. -25--The Stolen Antique. -26--The Crook League. -27--An English Cracksman. -28--Nick Carter’s Still Hunt. -29--Nick Carter’s Electric Shock. -30--Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess. -31--The Purple Spot. -32--The Stolen Groom. -33--The Inverted Cross. -34--Nick Carter and Keno McCall. -35--Nick Carter’s Death Trap. -36--Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle. -37--The Man Outside. -38--The Death Chamber. -39--The Wind and the Wire. -40--Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase. -41--Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend. -42--The Queen of the Seven. -43--Crossed Wires. -44--A Crimson Clew. -45--The Third Man. -46--The Sign of the Dagger. -47--The Devil Worshipers. -48--The Cross of Daggers. -49--At Risk of Life. -50--The Deeper Game. -51--The Code Message. -52--The Last of the Seven. -53--Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful. -54--The Secret Order of Associated Crooks. -55--The Golden Hair Clew. -56--Back From the Dead. -57--Through Dark Ways. -58--When Aces Were Trumps. -59--The Gambler’s Last Hand. -60--The Murder at Linden Fells. -61--A Game for Millions. -62--Under Cover. -63--The Last Call. -64--Mercedes Danton’s Double. -65--The Millionaire’s Nemesis. -66--A Princess of the Underworld. -67--The Crook’s Blind. -68--The Fatal Hour. -69--Blood Money. -70--A Queen of Her Kind. -71--Isabel Benton’s Trump Card. -72--A Princess of Hades. -73--A Prince of Plotters. -74--The Crook’s Double. -75--For Life and Honor. -76--A Compact With Dazaar. -77--In the Shadow of Dazaar. -78--The Crime of a Money King. -79--Birds of Prey. -80--The Unknown Dead. -81--The Severed Hand. -82--The Terrible Game of Millions. -83--A Dead Man’s Power. -84--The Secrets of an Old House. -85--The Wolf Within. -86--The Yellow Coupon. -87--In the Toils. -88--The Stolen Radium. -89--A Crime in Paradise. -90--Behind Prison Bars. -91--The Blind Man’s Daughter. -92--On the Brink of Ruin. -93--Letter of Fire. -94--The $100,000 Kiss. -95--Outlaws of the Militia. -96--The Opium-Runners. -97--In Record Time. -98--The Wag-Nuk Clew. -99--The Middle Link. -100--The Crystal Maze. -101--A New Serpent in Eden. -102--The Auburn Sensation. -103--A Dying Chance. -104--The Gargoni Girdle. -105--Twice in Jeopardy. -106--The Ghost Launch. -107--Up in the Air. -108--The Girl Prisoner. -109--The Red Plague. -110--The Arson Trust. -111--The King of the Firebugs. -112--“Lifter’s” of the Lofts. -113--French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves. -114--The Death Plot. -115--The Evil Formula. -116--The Blue Button. -117--The Deadly Parallel. -118--The Vivisectionists. -119--The Stolen Brain. -120--An Uncanny Revenge. -121--The Call of Death. -122--The Suicide. -123--Half a Million Ransom. -124--The Girl Kidnapper. -125--The Pirate Yacht. -126--The Crime of the White Hand. -127--Found in the Jungle. -128--Six Men in a Loop. -129--The Jewels of Wat Chang. -130--The Crime in the Tower. -131--The Fatal Message. -132--Broken Bars. - -Dated March 27th, 1915. - -133--Won by Magic. - -Dated April 3d, 1915. - -134--The Secret of Shangore. - -Dated April 10th, 1915. - -135--Straight to the Goal. - -Dated April 17th, 1915. - -136--The Man They Held Back. - -PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. If you want any back numbers of our weeklies -and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be obtained -direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as money. - -STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., NEW YORK CITY - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO 120 - 160 / -DEC 26, 1914 - OCT 2, 1915 *** - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/66758-0.zip b/old/66758-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8798f87..0000000 --- a/old/66758-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66758-h.zip b/old/66758-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2f19174..0000000 --- a/old/66758-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66758-h/66758-h.htm b/old/66758-h/66758-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 85f6336..0000000 --- a/old/66758-h/66758-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5426 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> - <head> <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> -<title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pressing Peril, by Nick Carter. -</title> -<style type="text/css"> - -a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - - link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - -a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} - -a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} - -.big {font-size:130%;} - -.big250 {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold; -font-size:250%;} - -body{margin-left:4%;margin-right:6%;background:#ffffff;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} - -.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.clft {margin-left:8%;} - -.cb {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} - -.fint {text-align:center;text-indent:0%; -margin-top:2em;} - -.figcenter {margin:3% auto 3% auto;clear:both; -text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - - h1 {margin-top:5%;text-align:center;clear:both; -font-weight:normal;} - - h2 {margin-top:4%;margin-bottom:2%;text-align:center;clear:both; - font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;} - - h3 {margin:4% auto 2% auto;text-align:center;clear:both; -font-size:100%;font-weight:bold;} - - hr {width:90%;margin:2em auto 2em auto;clear:both;color:black;} - - hr.full {width: 60%;margin:2% auto 2% auto;border-top:1px solid black; -padding:.1em;border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left:none;border-right:none;} - - img {border:none;} - -.lftspc {margin-left:.25em;} - -.nind {text-indent:0%;} - - p {margin-top:.2em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.2em;text-indent:4%;} - -.pagenum {font-style:normal;position:absolute;display: none; -left:95%;font-size:55%;text-align:right;color:gray; -background-color:#ffffff;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0em;} - -small {font-size: 70%;} - -.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:120%;} - -table {margin-top:2%;margin-bottom:2%;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;} - -th {padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.5em;} -</style> - </head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No 120 - 160 / Dec 26, 1914 - Oct 2, 1915, by Nick Carter</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Nick Carter Stories No 120 - 160 / Dec 26, 1914 - Oct 2, 1915</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0;'>The Pressing Peril; Dared for Los Angeles</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Nick Carter and Roland Ashford Phillips</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Chickering Carter</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 17, 2021 [eBook #66758]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Edwards, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern Illinois University Digital Library)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO 120 - 160 / DEC 26, 1914 - OCT 2, 1915 ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="" /></a> -</div> - -<table cellpadding="1" summary="deprecated" -style="border:3px solid black; -padding:.5em;"> -<tr class="c"><th><a href="#THE_PRESSING_PERIL">THE PRESSING PERIL;</a></th></tr> -<tr class="c"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER: I., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. </a></td></tr> - -<tr class="c"><th><a href="#Dared_for_Los_Angeles">DARED FOR LOS ANGELES.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER: XXIII., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. </a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="big250"> -<img src="images/nickcarter.png" -width="500" -alt="NICK CARTER STORIES" /></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span></p> - -<p class="c"><i>Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post -Office, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <i>79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Copyright, -1915, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>. <i>O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors.</i></p> - -<p>Statement of the ownership, management, circulation, etc., required by -the Act of August 24, 1912, of <span class="smcap">Nick Carter Stories</span>, published weekly, at -New York, N. Y., for April 1, 1915.... Editor, F. E. Blackwell, 79 -Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y.... Managing editors, business managers and -publishers, Street & Smith, 79-89 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y.... -Owners, Street & Smith, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y., a firm -composed of Ormond G. Smith, 89 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y., George C. -Smith, 89 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y..... Known bondholders, -mortgagees, and other security holders, holding 1 per cent. or more of -total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: None.... Signed -by George C. Smith, of the firm of Street & Smith, publisher.... Sworn -to and subscribed before me this 24th day of March, 1915, Charles W. -Ostertag, Notary Public No. 29, New York County. (My commission expires -March 30th, 1917.)</p> - -<p class="c">Terms to NEW BUFFALO BILL WEEKLY Mail Subscribers.</p> - -<p class="c">(<i>Postage Free.</i>)</p> - -<p class="c">Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</p> - -<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="deprecated"> -<tr><td align="left">3 months</td><td align="left">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">4 months</td><td align="left">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">6 months</td><td align="left">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">One year</td><td align="left">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">2 copies one year</td><td align="left">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">1 copy two years</td><td align="left">4.00</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><b>How to Send Money</b>—By post-office or express money order, registered -letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by -currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter.</p> - -<p><b>Receipts</b>—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of -number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> - -<p class="c"> -<b>No. 139.</b> <span style="margin-left: 2em; -margin-right:2em;">NEW YORK, May 8, 1915.</span> <b>Price Five Cents.</b><br /> -</p> - -<h1><a name="THE_PRESSING_PERIL" id="THE_PRESSING_PERIL"></a>THE PRESSING PERIL;<br /><br /> -<small>Or, NICK CARTER AND THE STAR LOOTERS.</small></h1> - -<p class="cb">Edited by CHICKERING CARTER.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> -<small>THE WOMAN WHO VANISHED.</small></h2> - -<p>“Oh, I say, old top!”</p> - -<p>Nick Carter stopped short and looked at the speaker.</p> - -<p>There was no mistaking his nationality.</p> - -<p>He was English to the bone. English in aspect, attitude, attire, and -accent. English of the most pronounced and impressive type—but -impressive upon as keen and thoroughbred an American observer as the -famous New York detective chiefly because of the insipid and mildly -obtrusive aristocracy that stuck out all over him.</p> - -<p>He was tall and slender. He wore a suit of pronounced plaid. He was -about twenty-three years old, with yellow hair and the fair skin of a -straight-bred Anglo-Saxon. He wore a monocle with a cord dangling from -it, and through which one watery blue eye glared larger and brighter -than the other.</p> - -<p>He had been hurrying up Fifth Avenue for about five minutes in a sort of -subdued and desperate agitation, threading his way quite rudely through -the stream of pedestrians always in that fashionable thoroughfare -shortly before six on a pleasant October afternoon, and he incidentally -had overtaken Nick Carter near the corner of Fifty-ninth Street.</p> - -<p>He did not accost the detective because he knew him, or had the -slightest idea of his vocation. It was purely by chance that he had -appealed to the man he most needed. He obeyed a sudden, irrepressible -impulse, that of one who scarce knew what else to do, when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span> grasped -Nick’s arm and stopped him, exclaiming apologetically:</p> - -<p>“Oh, I say, old top!”</p> - -<p>Nick sized him up with a glance. He saw more than others would have -seen, that this stranger not only was deeply disturbed, but also in -doubt what course to pursue. Nick merely said, nevertheless, -tentatively:</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>The other responded with a forward thrust of his head, a more appealing -scrutiny, and with native accent and characteristics that no attempt -will be made to even suggest on paper.</p> - -<p>“You’ll pardon a chap, old top, won’t you? I’m in a bally bad mess, so I -am, and jolly well upset. Would you tell me where I could find an -inspector—what your blooming people call a detective? I don’t want any -gumshoe bobbie, don’t you know, but a ripping roarer who knows his -beastly business and can keep his mouth closed. You see, old top——”</p> - -<p>“What’s the trouble, young man?” Nick interposed. “I may be able to aid -you, or advise you. I am a detective—what your blooming English people -call an inspector.”</p> - -<p>The subtle retort in the last was wasted upon his hearer. He gazed more -sharply at Nick through his monocle, nevertheless, saying quickly:</p> - -<p>“That’s blasted lucky, then, don’t you know? I can’t account for it, -’pon my word, this running bunk against a man I wanted. What name, sir, -may I ask?”</p> - -<p>“My name is Nick Carter,” replied the detective indifferently. “But -what——”</p> - -<p>“There it is again!” exclaimed the Englishman, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span>terrupting with -countenance lighting. “This is a blooming, blasted good wheeze. I’ve -heard of you, sir. You’re bally well known by name even in old Lunnon. -I’m deuced well pleased, Mr. Carter, so I am.”</p> - -<p>He seemed to have temporarily forgotten his trouble, in his surprise and -pleasure upon discovering the detective’s identity. He even smiled and -extended his hand, which was accepted and shaken in a perfunctory way.</p> - -<p>Nick saw plainly, in fact, that the young man really was instinctively -very frank and genuine, and that under his somewhat insipid and -superficial personality he was possessed of true manly sentiments and -probably some depth of character.</p> - -<p>That he was a well-bred gentleman was equally manifest, moreover, and -Nick was impelled to assist him, if possible. He brought him to the -point at once, nevertheless, by replying:</p> - -<p>“Granting all that, young man, what is your trouble? Why do you need a -detective?”</p> - -<p>“Because I’m blasted hard hit, don’t you know?” he replied, serious -again. “I’ve been jolly well robbed.”</p> - -<p>“Robbed of what?”</p> - -<p>“My wife, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Robbed of your wife?” questioned Nick, surprised and almost inclined to -laugh.</p> - -<p>“That’s the blooming truth, Mr. Carter, or how it looks to me. I’m as -hard hit as if I’d got a jolly bash on the beak. She’s a bally American -girl, is Mollie, and——”</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment,” Nick interrupted again. “My time is valuable. I cannot -listen to your digressions. Answer my questions briefly and to the -point. I then may be able to aid you, if there is any real occasion.”</p> - -<p>“That’s deuced kind, old top, on my word. If——”</p> - -<p>“When did you lose your wife, and where?” Nick cut in a bit sharply.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t lose her. She was jolly well stolen; I’m sure of that.”</p> - -<p>“Where and when? By whom?”</p> - -<p>“Blast it, how can I tell?” protested the Englishman, with wagging head. -“We were walking down the avenue, Mollie and I, don’t you know? A -limousine shot by us, heading uptown. I heard it come to a blooming -quick stop. A chauffeur came running back, a bally bounder in -bottle-green livery. He tipped his lid, respectfullike, and said as how -his fare had caught sight of Mollie when passing us and wanted to speak -to her.”</p> - -<p>“His fare, eh? He was the driver of a taxicab, then?” put in Nick -inquiringly.</p> - -<p>“I reckon that’s right, sir, but I won’t be cock-sure.”</p> - -<p>“What more did he say?”</p> - -<p>“Mollie asked the name of his fare, but he could not tell her. He said -she had sent him to say a friend wanted to speak to her.”</p> - -<p>“His passenger was a woman, then?”</p> - -<p>“I’m jolly well sure of that. I saw her hat and veil through the -window.”</p> - -<p>“The taxicab must, then, have stopped quite near you,” said Nick.</p> - -<p>“A matter of thirty yards, sir, not more.”</p> - -<p>“Your wife went to see who was in the conveyance?”</p> - -<p>“That’s precisely what she did,” nodded the Englishman. “Wait here, -Archie, she said, and I’ll return in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span> moment. I was jolly well -surprised, don’t you know, but what else could I do?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing at all, perhaps.”</p> - -<p>“I always do what Mollie says. She hurried to the taxicab and stuck her -head through the door. She shook hands with some one, too, as well as I -could tell. Then the bally chauffeur shoved her into the car, or so it -looked to me, and bounded to his seat and drove away at top speed. Dash -it, what d’ye think of that?”</p> - -<p>“What did you think of it?” Nick inquired.</p> - -<p>“I was so beastly hard hit I couldn’t think,” cried the Englishman. “I -chased after the bally cab as fast as possible, hoping it would stop and -let Mollie down, but it sped out of sight into the park, and here I am. -I’m deuced well convinced there’s something wrong. Mollie wouldn’t bolt -off in that fashion. She’s above serving me a scurvy trick. She——”</p> - -<p>“One moment,” Nick again interposed. “You feel quite sure, you say, that -you saw the chauffeur force your wife into the cab?”</p> - -<p>“It looked jolly well like it, Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>“Did you hear her speak, or utter a cry?”</p> - -<p>“I did not, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Were there other persons near the taxicab at the time?”</p> - -<p>“None nearer than I, sir, nor quite as near. I ran after it as fast as I -could. I felt cock-sure, even then, it was a beastly job of some kind.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know of any reason for which your wife might be abducted?” Nick -asked, more gravely.</p> - -<p>“No, no reason at all, Mr. Carter. There can’t be any reason.”</p> - -<p>“And you know of no person who might have designs upon her?”</p> - -<p>“I do not,” said the Englishman, with a groan at the mere suggestion. -“What designs could one have? Mollie is my wife. She thinks the world of -me. She’s true-blue and deucedly clever and self-reliant. She——”</p> - -<p>“Wait!” said Nick, checking him again. “You are English, I judge.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course.”</p> - -<p>“And your wife is an American girl?”</p> - -<p>“She is, sir, and none better.”</p> - -<p>“Do you reside here in the city?”</p> - -<p>“We are here only for a time. We are boarding in Fifty-third Street, -near the avenue.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s walk that way,” said Nick. “It’s barely possible that your wife -will have been dropped at the boarding house before we reach it. How -long before you appealed to me did this incident occur?”</p> - -<p>“Not more than three or four minutes. We were about three blocks below -here.”</p> - -<p>Nick remembered having seen a taxicab speeding up the avenue noticeably -faster than usual at about that time. He had not observed it -particularly, however, nor could he recall anything distinctive about -it.</p> - -<p>There were other reasons than that, moreover, for the interest he was -taking in this stranger. He regarded the episode quite as seriously as -the young Englishman himself. He knew much better than the other what -daring and audacious crimes are committed in New York, and he began to -suspect that this might be one of them.</p> - -<p>Nick had decided to look at least a little deeper into the matter, -therefore, and it was with that object in view<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span> that he suggested going -to the Englishman’s lodging house, which was only a few blocks south of -where the two men had met.</p> - -<p>Nick continued to question him while they walked briskly down the -avenue.</p> - -<p>“How long have you been in New York?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“I have been here only two weeks, Mr. Carter, this time,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“Your second visit?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I was here about two months ago for the first time. I have been -out in the bally Cripple Creek country to invest in some mines. Deucedly -rough section, old top, with a beastly lot of bally bounders, but they -dig out a jolly quantity of rich ore. ’Pon my word, I——”</p> - -<p>“You are a man of means, then, I infer,” put in Nick.</p> - -<p>“Well, I have a bit of a fortune in my own name.”</p> - -<p>“By the way, speaking of that, what is your name?” Nick pointedly -inquired.</p> - -<p>The Englishman hesitated for half a second. Most men would not have -noticed it. Nick was quick to detect it, suspecting deception, however, -as well as some secret occasion for it.</p> - -<p>“My name is Archie Waldron.”</p> - -<p>“Archie Waldron, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I am English, you know, as you remarked, though I’m jolly well -puzzled as to how you discovered it.”</p> - -<p>Nick did not inform him. Instead, as they turned into Fifty-third Street -and approached the boarding house occupied by the Englishman, he -inquired, more earnestly:</p> - -<p>“Where had you been with your wife, or where were you going, Mr. -Waldron, when this strange separation occurred?”</p> - -<p>A tinge of red appeared in the Englishman’s cheeks. He appeared somewhat -embarrassed. He gazed at Nick for a moment, then said:</p> - -<p>“We went out for a bit of a walk, Mr. Carter. It’s deuced tiresome, you -know, sitting around a bally boarding house. Here we are, too, and——”</p> - -<p>“Wait one moment,” Nick interrupted, as they arrived at the steps of the -house. “I have something to say to you, Mr. Waldron.”</p> - -<p>“Glad of it, old top, on my word. What is it?”</p> - -<p>“You already anticipate it,” Nick replied impressively. “I can read that -in your face. Now, young man, this matter may be even more serious than -you really think. I have no idea that we shall find your wife here. -There is no telling when she will return, by whom she was carried away, -or how she can be traced and the truth discovered—unless you tell me -the truth.”</p> - -<p>“But——”</p> - -<p>“Your name is not Archie Waldron. You did not come out merely for a walk -with your wife. You were going, or had been somewhere, with a definite -object in view, and that possibly may have some bearing upon what -followed.”</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">’</span>Pon my word, sir——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, there is nothing to it,” Nick insisted. “I mean just what I say. -You will be perfectly safe, Mr. Waldron,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span> in frankly confiding in me. -You must do so, too, or I shall drop this matter immediately. Under no -other conditions will I enter this house.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> -<small>DOWN TO CASES.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter had a way of making himself felt under such circumstances. -His impressive remarks were immediately effective. The Englishman turned -even more pale and grave, gazing apprehensively at the detective, while -he replied, with agitated voice:</p> - -<p>“You’re deucedly well right. I’d be a blooming idiot, Mr. Carter, if I -couldn’t see that. Come into the house, sir, and I’ll tell you the whole -beastly business. Your word is as good as a Bank of England note, sir, -and I’ll keep nothing from you.”</p> - -<p>“You have decided wisely,” said Nick, while they mounted the steps. “In -so far as the circumstances permit, I shall consider your disclosure -strictly confidential.”</p> - -<p>“That’s mighty kind, sir, and I’ll pay you handsomely.”</p> - -<p>“Payment is an afterconsideration. I will accept no more than my -services warrant.”</p> - -<p>“You’re deucedly clever, old top, and I’m proud to know you. Some jolly -good fairy must have sent you my way in an hour of need. Come up to my -room, sir.”</p> - -<p>The Englishman had opened the door with a latchkey, and he now led the -way to an attractively furnished room on the second floor.</p> - -<p>Among the first articles to catch Nick’s eye, amid other evidence of -feminine taste and sentiment, were two artistic photographs on the -mantel. One was a likeness of his companion.</p> - -<p>The other was that of a very beautiful girl still under twenty, a face -that reflected culture and vivacity, and the winsome features and -expression of which, with the finely poised head and shapely shoulders, -might have been the ideal of a Raphael or Correggio.</p> - -<p>Nick at once inferred rightly that this was the girl who apparently had -been spirited away so boldly, as well as mysteriously, in so far as a -motive had yet appeared.</p> - -<p>The young Englishman looked disappointed when Nick’s prediction was -verified, his wife not being found there, and he at once waved the -detective to a chair, saying with nervous haste and in his own peculiar -fashion, which was much less frivolous than appears:</p> - -<p>“You were jolly well right, Mr. Carter, and I’m confoundedly upset. What -the devil can a poor chap do? I’m going to tell you all about it. How -the dickens did you know, old top, that my name isn’t Archie Waldron?”</p> - -<p>“Because you hesitated when I questioned you,” said Nick. “No man would -shrink from stating his true name under such circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“Dash it! that was blasted clever, don’t you know? I was a fall guy not -to think of that. But you hit the bally nail on the nob. My name is not -Waldron, ’pon my honor. I’m the fifth son of the Earl of Eggleston, and -an only son by his second wife, the late Countess of Waldmere, from whom -I got my title and a bally bit of a fortune. She died when I was born, -and I became Lord Waldmere.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I suspected something of the kind,” Nick replied. “I find that I sized -you up correctly.”</p> - -<p>“Did you really, now? Well, that’s deuced kind and clever, ’pon my word. -What’s to be done, my dear fellow? We can’t stay here, old top, while -Mollie——”</p> - -<p>“Now, Lord Waldmere, you’re talking,” Nick interrupted. “We must get -down to rock-bottom as quickly as possible. You must leave me to -determine what shall be done. I know more about New York and its -deviltry than you could possibly imagine.”</p> - -<p>“That’s jolly well right, sir, of course.”</p> - -<p>“All I require of you, Waldmere, is to tell me a straight story, as -briefly as possible,” Nick added familiarly. “What are you doing over -here? Who was your American wife? Why are you living under an assumed -name in a New York boarding house? Tell me all about it with as few -words as possible.”</p> - -<p>Nick then obtained a straight story, in so far as the essential facts -were concerned, but not without comments and digressions, from which -Lord Waldmere appeared utterly unable to refrain, and which divested his -story of anything like desirable brevity.</p> - -<p>Briefly stated, however, it appeared that his young lordship, who in -most respects was a worthy representative of one of the wealthy and most -conservative families of the English aristocracy, had fallen deeply in -love with a beautiful American chorus girl about three months before, -who then was one of an American opera company singing in London.</p> - -<p>In spite of the violent opposition and threats of his father, Lord -Waldmere had married the girl, one Mary Royal, then only nineteen, but a -girl of remarkable beauty and many accomplishments, and of unblemished -and enviable reputation.</p> - -<p>What followed was in line with the old, old story. His lordship was -promptly disowned and disinherited. He at once left England and came to -America with his bride, already having small interests in several -Colorado mines, and bent upon investing in others a part of his personal -fortune, which amounted to something like fifty thousand pounds, then -tied up in English securities and mortgages.</p> - -<p>Lord Waldmere had remained only ten days in New York after his arrival. -He then went to Colorado with his wife to investigate various mining -properties, concerning which he already was partly informed, and in -which he anticipated investing quite heavily.</p> - -<p>Lack of ready money, however, and his inability to realize immediately -upon his home investments, had led him to take an unusual step, one -taken upon the suggestion and advice of his wife, pending receipt of -funds from a London agent.</p> - -<p>Lord Waldmere had, in fact, raised ten thousand dollars by placing in -pawn with the Imperial Loan Company his wife’s valuable jewels, given to -her before her marriage, and valued at about thirty thousand dollars. -This not only had been done upon his wife’s suggestion, but she also had -made the deal and conducted the entire transaction, having had far more -experience and being of a much more practical business mind than her -husband himself. All of this money had since been invested in Colorado.</p> - -<p>Returning to New a week before, Waldmere then communicated by cable with -his London agent, who, during the interval, had converted some of his -lord<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span>ship’s property into cash, and drafts were immediately sent him -more than doubly sufficient to redeem the pledged jewels.</p> - -<p>These funds had arrived that afternoon and were immediately placed on -deposit. A little later Waldmere went with his wife to the office of the -Imperial Loan Company to redeem the jewels, arriving there soon after -five o’clock.</p> - -<p>They were told, however, that the jewels were in a time-lock vault that -had just been closed for the day, and which could not be opened until -nine o’clock the following morning, when the jewels could be redeemed -and the transaction ended.</p> - -<p>This was perfectly satisfactory under the circumstances, of course, and -Lady Waldmere promised to call with her husband the following morning. -It was while they were returning to the boarding house, however, that -they were separated in the extraordinary manner described.</p> - -<p>Such was his lordship’s story, told in his own peculiar way, and to -which Nick Carter very attentively listened. It revealed the truth in so -far as Waldmere could reveal it—but it by no means explained the -disappearance of her ladyship, the beautiful American chorus girl for -whom Waldmere had lost his heart and sacrificed his prestige.</p> - -<p>Nick smiled somewhat significantly when the Englishman had finished. He -glanced at the photograph on the mantel, remarking agreeably:</p> - -<p>“Well, well, Waldmere, you were hard hit indeed by the pretty American -girl. In view of the incentive to many of our international marriages, -your conduct is really quite refreshing. I rather like you for it. That -is a photograph of Lady Waldmere, I infer.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, taken in London,” bowed Waldmere, evidently deeply pleased with -the detective’s comments.</p> - -<p>“A very beautiful girl, indeed.”</p> - -<p>“She jolly well is, Mr. Carter, and worthy of——”</p> - -<p>“Of all your devotion, Waldmere, no doubt,” Nick familiarly interrupted. -“But we must not drift away from the matter. We must get onto our job -and stick to it, or valuable time may be lost.”</p> - -<p>“I agree with you.”</p> - -<p>“None of the circumstances you have stated seem to present, on the -surface at least, any reasonable explanation of what has occurred, nor -any consistent motive for felonious designs upon her,” Nick added. -“Unless she soon returns, nevertheless, there can be no doubt that she -is a victim of knavery of some kind, that does not appear on the -surface. Let me ask you a few questions. I then may hit upon some theory -to fit the case.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a ripping good idea, old top,” Lord Waldmere nodded. “Come on -with them.”</p> - -<p>“To begin with, then, has your wife many acquaintances here in town?”</p> - -<p>“Hardly any, sir, ’pon my word. She is a Kentucky girl, and has spent -but little time in this bally city. We have met none during either of -our visits. We live very privately.”</p> - -<p>“It is quite improbable, then, that the occupant of the taxicab was a -friend, or even an acquaintance,” Nick pointed out. “Deception having -been employed, therefore, we must assume that she was forcibly carried -away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> That also appears in the fact that you think the driver thrust -her into the cab.”</p> - -<p>“I’m deuced well sure of that, Mr. Carter,” Waldmere again declared. -“The bally bounder placed his hand squarely on her shoulder, sir, and -gave her a push. I can almost swear to that. If she——”</p> - -<p>“Let me do most of the talking, Waldmere,” Nick interrupted. “I wish to -get at the salient points as quickly as possible. Answer me with merely -an affirmative, or negative, when you can.”</p> - -<p>“Very well, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Has your father, or any of your family, ever threatened the girl -because of your marriage?” Nick then inquired. “In other words, -Waldmere, do you believe any of them capable of a conspiracy against -her?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir,” protested the Englishman quickly. “They are above anything of -that kind. Besides, Mr. Carter, they have jolly well cast us both out. -No one knows where to find us.”</p> - -<p>“You think, then, that they may be safely eliminated from any connection -with this affair?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, absolutely.”</p> - -<p>“We must seek nearer home, then, for a motive,” said Nick. “Had Miss -Royal any former admirer who might——”</p> - -<p>“No, no; nothing of the kind.” Lord Waldmere quickly shook his head. -“Her sweet heart has been an open book for me to read at will. There is -nothing in that, sir.”</p> - -<p>“And you recall no incentive, or circumstance, that might have a bearing -upon this matter?”</p> - -<p>“No, none, Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s consider, then, the one nearest to it—your visit to the Imperial -Loan Company,” said Nick. “I think you said that Lady Waldmere did most -of the business.”</p> - -<p>“She did the whole blooming business,” Lord Waldmere quickly assured -him. “She’s jolly well fitted for it, is Mollie, while I’m a doughhead -and——”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” Nick cut in. “You went with her to redeem the jewels, -which had been pledged for ten thousand dollars. Did she have the money -on her person? That may have been the incentive for the crime, if such -it turns out to be.”</p> - -<p>“But that can’t be, don’t you know?” Waldmere at once protested. “Mollie -had the bally ticket for the pledge, but she had no money. I had a -certified bank check for the amount. Here it is, sir. See for yourself.”</p> - -<p>Nick merely glanced at the check, which Lord Waldmere hastily drew from -his pocketbook. It bore the current date and corroborated the -Englishman’s statements.</p> - -<p>“It seems to knock that theory on the head,” Nick said thoughtfully, -after a moment. “Nevertheless, by Jove, it may be that the jewels——”</p> - -<p>Nick broke off abruptly, not stating what he had in mind. Instead, -drawing forward in his chair, he said, more earnestly:</p> - -<p>“By the way, Lord Waldmere, did your wife transact this business under -her own name, or a fictitious one?”</p> - -<p>“An assumed name, of course.”</p> - -<p>“The one by which you are known here?”</p> - -<p>“No. She used another.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“What was it?”</p> - -<p>Lord Waldmere scratched his head, staring desperately at the carpet for -several moments.</p> - -<p>“Dash it, sir! I’ve jolly well forgotten,” he cried dubiously. “<span class="lftspc">’</span>Pon my -honor, Mr. Carter, I can’t remember.”</p> - -<p>“Rack your brains for a moment,” Nick suggested, though he had no great -hope of any desirable result.</p> - -<p>“Hang it, sir! I’m giving them a ripping racking. But Mollie always kept -the bally ticket, you see, and I had no hand in the blooming business. -She has a head for it, don’t you know, and I always let her run things -for me. Blast it, sir, I can’t remember!”</p> - -<p>“Well, well, never mind,” Nick said, a bit bluntly. “Whom did you see in -the loan office?”</p> - -<p>“The jolly manager, I think.”</p> - -<p>“Do you remember his name?”</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">’</span>Pon my word, sir, I don’t,” said Waldmere, with a groan over his -inability to be of any material aid. “I don’t know that I heard his -bally name, sir, as far as that goes. Molly did all of the talking.”</p> - -<p>“What was said, or done?”</p> - -<p>“Very little, sir, ’pon my word. Mollie turned in the ticket to a dinky -clerk in a window. He took it to a back room, as I remember, and in -about five minutes the bally manager came out.”</p> - -<p>“What did he say?” Nick inquired.</p> - -<p>“He said as how the jewels were in the vault, which had been closed -about five o’clock for the day, and that it couldn’t be opened until -to-morrow morning.”</p> - -<p>“He stated that it had a time lock, didn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly. That’s just what he said.”</p> - -<p>“And that your wife could redeem the jewels if she were to call -to-morrow morning?”</p> - -<p>“Precisely,” Lord Waldmere nodded. “That’s all there was to the blooming -business.”</p> - -<p>Nick did not feel so sure of it. He saw plainly, however, that there was -nothing more to be learned from the titled Englishman, who obviously -knew as little of business as a lad in knickerbockers.</p> - -<p>More than an hour had passed since the episode on the avenue. There was -no indication of Lady Waldmere’s return, nor did Nick really expect it. -He glanced at his watch and found that it was nearly seven o’clock.</p> - -<p>“Dash it! I’m deucedly upset,” Waldmere remarked, and he really looked -so. “What the dickens am I to do? What——”</p> - -<p>Nick interrupted him kindly, but impressively.</p> - -<p>“There is only one wise thing for you to do, Lord Waldmere,” said he. -“You must leave this matter to me and do precisely what I direct. If -your wife has been abducted, or is a victim of other knavery, I will -leave no stone unturned to find her and punish the crooks. I can -accomplish both, perhaps, while you would surely fail.”</p> - -<p>“You’re jolly well right, Mr. Carter, as far as that goes,” Waldmere -frankly admitted.</p> - -<p>“You must see, then, that my advice is sound,” said Nick. “I will take -the case, if you wish, but you must promise to follow my instructions.”</p> - -<p>“That’s deucedly kind, sir, and I’ll do so. I will, sir, ’pon my honor.”</p> - -<p>“Very good,” said Nick. Give the matter no publicity, then, at present. -Remain here quietly until to-morrow morning, stating to others in the -house merely<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> that your wife is away for a short time. I don’t want the -matter to reach the newspapers.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, no!”</p> - -<p>“Be silent, then, and discreet. Here is a card with my address and -telephone number. Is there a telephone in this house?”</p> - -<p>“There is, sir,” Waldmere nodded.</p> - -<p>“If your wife returns before morning, then, call up my office and inform -whomever answers you,” Nick directed. “That would probably end the -matter. If she does not return, however, which now seems more probable, -you may expect me here at half past eight to-morrow morning. I then will -begin a thorough investigation. In other words, Lord Waldmere, I’m going -at this like a bull at a gate.”</p> - -<p>The last was added chiefly to encourage the down-hearted Englishman, -who, strange to say, appeared to detect it. For he pulled himself -together with a manly effort, then adjusted his monocle to gaze more -intently at the detective, whose hand he warmly grasped with both of -his.</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">’</span>Pon my honor, old top, I can’t find words to thank you,” he said -gratefully. “I really can’t, don’t you know.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t try, Lord Waldmere,” Nick replied, pressing his hand. “Merely do -only what I have directed. Keep a stiff upper lip and leave this matter -to me. I’ll call the turn, all right, as sure as you’re a foot high.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> -<small>HOW NICK SIZED IT UP.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter came out from dinner in his Madison Avenue residence after -eight o’clock, two hours later than usual. Instead of going to his -business office, he entered his private library, saying to Joseph, his -butler, as he passed him in the deep, attractively furnished hall:</p> - -<p>“Send Chick and Patsy to me. They’re in the office.”</p> - -<p>Nick had waited only a few moments, when he was joined by his chief -assistant, Chick Carter, who was presently followed by Patsy Garvan. -Both knew that something of importance was in the wind, and Nick at once -proceeded to tell them of what it consisted, covering all of the -essential points of the case.</p> - -<p>“Gee, that’s some puzzle, chief, for fair!” commented Patsy, after -listening attentively. “What’s the game? His royal nob from England must -be a decent sort of a chap, after all, don’t you know. He sure has been -dead square with the chorus girl.”</p> - -<p>“So he is, Patsy, and less shallow than he appears,” Nick replied. “But -he don’t know enough about business to last him overnight. Evidently, -however, his wife is a keen and clever girl, as well as handsome.”</p> - -<p>“Why not? She’s an American girl,” said Patsy.</p> - -<p>“That’s one reason why I took on the case,” smiled Nick.</p> - -<p>“The Imperial Loan Company,” put in Chick. “Why, I know that concern. -It’s nothing else but a high-grade pawnshop. It was established by Isaac -Meyer several years ago. I knew him when he had a shop in the Bowery. -But he’s nearly down and out, now with creeping paralysis. He never -leaves home.”</p> - -<p>“Where is that?” Nick inquired.</p> - -<p>“Over in Columbus Avenue.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Who runs his business?”</p> - -<p>“His manager,” said Chick. “A man named Morris Garland. He has been with -Meyer since he opened the Fifth Avenue place. It’s only a few blocks -from where you met the Englishman.”</p> - -<p>“I know the place very well, Chick, but none of the inmates,” said Nick. -“What do you know about Garland?”</p> - -<p>“He’s all aboveboard, Nick, as far as I know,” Chick replied. “There is -only one out about him, if that really cuts any ice.”</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“I have seen him quite frequently with Stuart Floyd. They appear to be -very friendly. You know Floyd, of course. He’s about as keen and slick a -fellow as can be found in this old town.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think so?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know much about him, Chick, save that he is a well-known man -about town. The police have nothing on him, have they?”</p> - -<p>“No, nothing that I know of,” Chick admitted. “Floyd has no record, to -be sure, barring a record that makes him a mystery to me, at least.”</p> - -<p>“Why a mystery?”</p> - -<p>“Because he has no visible means of support, yet he always has plenty of -money, or appears to have,” said Chick. “He inherited nothing, -nevertheless, for I knew his people, as I have known him for years.”</p> - -<p>“I see.”</p> - -<p>“He has lived by his wits since he was fifteen. I never knew him to do a -stroke of work. At thirty, nevertheless,” Chick pointed out, “he -frequents the best hotels and restaurants, lives like a lord, dresses -like a millionaire, and spends money more lavishly than most of them. He -apparently is a thoroughbred sport and man about town. But where does -the coin come from? How does he get by? If that don’t constitute a -mystery, Nick, what the dickens does? I’m from Missouri. You’ll have to -show me.”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed.</p> - -<p>“We are drifting from the more important matter,” said he. “You know of -nothing wrong in his relations with Morris Garland, do you?”</p> - -<p>“No, nothing,” Chick allowed. “I’ve told you all I know about him.”</p> - -<p>“He is not alone in those respects,” Nick replied. “There are hundreds -like him. I have heard, of course, that Stuart Floyd is a slick fellow. -He really looks it, as far as that goes, for he is as clean-cut, -attractive a man as one often meets. That’s neither here nor there, -however, at this stage of the game. We’ll get back to Hecuba.”</p> - -<p>“Do you suspect the Imperial Loan Company, chief, in connection with -Lady Waldmere’s disappearance?” asked Patsy.</p> - -<p>“I do.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“For two reasons,” said Nick. “First, because there seems to be no one -else to suspect. Second, because the episode occurred so soon after her -visit to the loan company. That suggests a possible connection between -them.”</p> - -<p>“I see the point.”</p> - -<p>“Furthermore, there are ten thousand dollars involved,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> or jewels valued -at close upon thirty,” Nick added. “Those may be the incentive to -knavery of some kind. There seems to be no other motive for a crime, in -fact, assuming that a crime really has been committed.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, too, chief,” nodded Patsy. “There seems to be nothing -else to be gained, if Lord Waldmere had told a straight story.”</p> - -<p>“I have no doubt of that.”</p> - -<p>“But what could the loan company gain by abducting the woman?” Chick -questioned, perplexed. “The jewels must be in their possession.”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” Nick admitted. “They knew that Lady Waldmere had called to -redeem them, and that she must have brought the funds with which to do -so. They may not have known, however, that she intended redeeming the -pledge with a certified check. They may have thought that she had the -ten thousand dollars in cash on her person.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! that listens good to me, chief!” cried Patsy, quick to see the -point. “That seems to be the only way to size it up.”</p> - -<p>“That is one way, at least,” Nick replied, smiling a bit oddly.</p> - -<p>“But it must have been a mighty slick job, Nick, in that case,” Chick -objected, with manifest doubt of the theory advanced by the other.</p> - -<p>“It was a slick job.”</p> - -<p>“But how could they have framed it up so quickly?”</p> - -<p>“What are you driving at?” Patsy demanded, turning upon Chick. “Why -quickly?”</p> - -<p>“That ought to be plain enough even to you,” Chick retorted. “Lord -Waldmere stated that he and his wife were in the office of the loan -company only about five minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I admit that.”</p> - -<p>“It is obvious, too, that their visit could not have been anticipated,” -Chick proceeded to argue. “Neither Morris Garland, nor the assistant -manager, Moses Hart, could have known that Lady Waldmere had any -intention of redeeming the jewelry at just that time.”</p> - -<p>“True again, old man,” nodded Patsy, with an expression of perplexity -returning to his face.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I mean, then, by their having framed up the job so -quickly,” Chick forcibly added.</p> - -<p>“I get you.”</p> - -<p>“They would have had only five minutes in which to have laid their plans -and made all the arrangements for executing them. That’s a mighty short -time in which to shape up such a job, to say nothing of getting ready to -carry it out. It’s not a simple stunt to pick up a woman on Fifth Avenue -and get away with her from under her husband’s eyes.”</p> - -<p>“Say, you’re getting wiser every minute, Chick,” cried Patsy, laughing. -“I begin to think there really is something in what you say.”</p> - -<p>“You ought to have seen it before.”</p> - -<p>“What do you say, chief?”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed and knocked the ashes from the cigar he was smoking.</p> - -<p>“Chick’s argument is all right, Patsy, as far as it goes,” he replied. -“We know that the couple were only a short time in the office of the -loan company, and that their visit could not have been anticipated. We -are not pinned down to five minutes, however.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” questioned Chick.</p> - -<p>“What Lord Waldmere really said was this—that, after talking with one -of the clerks, who very likely was the assistant manager, the latter -went into Garland’s private office, where he remained about five minutes -before either of them came out to resume the discussion.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! that’s right, too,” nodded Patsy.</p> - -<p>“And it is quite significant,” Nick added. “It certainly would not have -taken Hart five minutes to state merely what the couple wanted.”</p> - -<p>“Surely not.”</p> - -<p>“Garland could have come out and joined them in half a minute, as far as -that goes. Why, then, did he not do so? What were the two men doing that -occupied five full minutes? It looks very much to me as if they were -framing a job.”</p> - -<p>“But——”</p> - -<p>“One moment, Chick,” Nick interposed. “I know you’re going to object -again to my theory. I advanced that, however, as a matter of fact, only -to point out that there could have been a reasonable motive for -knavery.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, that’s different,” said Chick, smiling.</p> - -<p>“I have no idea, nevertheless, assuming that Garland and Hart are back -of this business, that they aimed to rob Lady Waldmere of money supposed -to be on her person,” Nick continued. “They would not have acted upon a -mere supposition. They first would have made absolutely sure that she -had the money.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” Chick nodded. “That goes without saying.”</p> - -<p>“All the same, chief, there was a job framed up for some reason during -those five minutes,” Patsy said roundly. “I’d wager my bankroll on -that.”</p> - -<p>“I think so, too,” Nick agreed.</p> - -<p>“But what’s the game?” Chick questioned, still doubtful.</p> - -<p>“Can’t you think of one that may have been necessary?”</p> - -<p>“Not on the spur of the moment.”</p> - -<p>“I can,” said Nick, smiling.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, out with it,” laughed Chick, coloring slightly. “What do -you suspect?”</p> - -<p>Nick laid aside his cigar.</p> - -<p>“Pull up a little nearer,” said he. “I can tell you with very few words -what I suspect—and how we may contrive to clinch my suspicions.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> -<small>NICK DECLARES HIMSELF.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter’s anticipation proved to be correct. He received no -telephone communication from Lord Waldmere, informing him that his -pretty American wife had returned. In accord with his promise to the -Englishman, therefore, while Chick and Patsy prepared to carry out the -instructions given them, Nick appeared at the boarding house in -Fifty-third Street at precisely half past eight that morning and rang -the bell.</p> - -<p>As the saying goes, however, Nick’s own mother would not have recognized -him. He was clad in a rather obtrusive plaid suit of pronounced English -cut. He looked portly and imposing. He carried a heavy ebony cane. His -strong, clean-cut face was artfully disguised. He could have walked -through the Strand or Piccadilly, and readily have been taken for a Bond -Street banker on his way to business.</p> - -<p>Nick directed the servant to inform Mr. Waldron that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> the friend he was -expecting had arrived, and the detective was presently conducted to the -first-floor front, which he entered and closed the door.</p> - -<p>Lord Waldmere, looking white and haggard after a sleepless night, stared -at him in blank amazement.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I say!” he exclaimed. “There is some beastly mistake. I’m not -expecting——”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you are, Waldmere,” Nick interrupted, smiling and speaking in his -customary tones. “There is no mistake. I told you, you know, that I was -going at this case like a bull at a gate.”</p> - -<p>Waldmere’s face lighted wondrously.</p> - -<p>“Oh, by Jove!” he cried, hand extended. “You are——”</p> - -<p>“The man you expect,” Nick interposed, more seriously. “Don’t be -surprised at seeing me thus disguised. My face is very well known to the -denizens of the underworld, and I frequently must get in my work under -cover.”</p> - -<p>“You are jolly well covered, sir, as to that,” Waldmere replied, smiling -significantly. “I’d never know you. I’d take you for some blooming -banker, or——”</p> - -<p>“That is precisely what I aimed at,” Nick replied. “But we have no time -to waste. You have heard nothing from your wife, of course?”</p> - -<p>“Not a word, or——”</p> - -<p>“Or you would have advised me, certainly,” Nick cut in again. “We will -get right at this matter, then. Sit down while I give you a few -instructions.”</p> - -<p>Lord Waldmere complied, all attention.</p> - -<p>Half an hour later, or about quarter past nine, a taxicab stopped in -front of the quarters of the Imperial Loan Company, which Nick and his -companion entered, or that part of the establishment open to its -patrons.</p> - -<p>There was an atmosphere of dignity and business solidarity in the place. -A long counter with a high brass lattice divided the public room. Back -of it were two clerks and the assistant manager, Moses Hart, the former -talking in whispers to customers through narrow windows. Three large -steel safes and a vault in one of the walls had an imposing appearance. -Off to the right were two private rooms, accessible only through the -latticed inclosure. The doors of both were partly open.</p> - -<p>There were half a dozen customers engaged at the windows, or waiting -their turn, when Nick and Waldmere entered.</p> - -<p>One among them was a seedily clad man with a sallow countenance and a -scraggly brown beard, who appeared decidedly down in the world. A rusty -derby hat was pulled nearly down to his ears. He was waiting to pawn a -bit of jewelry, and a certain shifty light in his restless eyes denoted -that he awaited the transaction with some misgivings, indicating that -where he had obtained the bauble might consistently be questioned. He -glanced suspiciously at Nick and the Englishman, then turned his head, -as if to avoid observation.</p> - -<p>Nick paid no attention to the fellow, however, but at once approached a -window at one end of the long counter and nearer the private office, -Lord Waldmere following at his elbow.</p> - -<p>Moses Hart came to meet them at the window, a short dark man of forty, -with gold-bowed spectacles astride his somewhat prominent nose.</p> - -<p>“Good morning, gentlemen,” said he, rubbing his hands<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span> and leaning over -the counter. “What can I do for you this morning?”</p> - -<p>Nick already had directed Waldmere to let him do all of the talking.</p> - -<p>“Are you the manager here?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“The assistant manager,” Hart corrected, smiling and bowing -obsequiously. “What is your business?”</p> - -<p>“We wish to redeem some valuable jewels which you are holding as -collateral,” said Nick. “You loaned my friend, here, ten thousand -dollars on them, which he now is ready to pay, with the accrued -interest. He called yesterday afternoon with his wife, who——”</p> - -<p>“Dear me!” Hart quietly exclaimed, interrupting. “Yes, yes, I remember -that one of the clerks mentioned it. Unfortunately, the vault containing -the jewels had been closed for the day and could not be opened. Let me -have our ticket, or voucher, given you for the pledge and I will get -them.”</p> - -<p>Nick had had a constant eye on Hart’s face. He saw that the man lost -color, that an apprehensive expression in his squinted eyes evinced a -perturbation that he could not entirely conceal. This convinced Nick -that he was on the right track, though he realized that he still was -laboring under some difficulties.</p> - -<p>“Unfortunately, too, we are not in possession of the ticket for the -loan,” he replied. “It is in the keeping of his wife, who has gone away -for a time with a friend.”</p> - -<p>“You must communicate with her, then, and have her send you the ticket,” -Hart rejoined.</p> - -<p>“We cannot do that.”</p> - -<p>“Not do it?”</p> - -<p>“No. We are not informed of her address.”</p> - -<p>“But you cannot expect us to redeem the pledge to any person except the -holder of the ticket,” Hart quickly protested. “That is the only -safeguard for both parties. You must bring the ticket, of course, in -order to obtain the jewels. Otherwise, we cannot possibly let you have -them.”</p> - -<p>“But——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, there is nothing to it,” Hart insisted. “We do business in no other -way.”</p> - -<p>“See here!” Nick exclaimed, and his voice took on a somewhat threatening -ring. “Unless you——”</p> - -<p>“One moment, sir,” Hart again interrupted. “I will speak to our manager, -Mr. Garland. He will talk with you. Wait just one moment.”</p> - -<p>Hart vanished from the window, and through the brass lattice Nick saw -him hasten into one of the private offices.</p> - -<p>Five minutes passed and he did not reappear.</p> - -<p>“This looks deucedly like not getting them, by Jove,” whispered -Waldmere, gazing dubiously at the detective.</p> - -<p>“I don’t expect to get them,” Nick muttered.</p> - -<p>“No?”</p> - -<p>“I came here only to size up these fellows and hear what they would -say,” Nick quietly added. “Say nothing while I am talking with the -manager, if he ever decides to show up.”</p> - -<p>“You think——”</p> - -<p>“There’s nothing to it. The two men are discussing the situation. They -don’t like it for some reason. I must find later of what that reason -consists. It may be the key to the whole business.”</p> - -<p>“I’m jolly well convinced that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span>——”</p> - -<p>“Quiet. Here comes the manager.”</p> - -<p>A tall, somewhat cadaverous man of forty was approaching from the -private office. His bushy brows were knit, and he had an aggressive -aspect that gave promise of nothing favorable. He came straight to the -window at which Nick and Waldmere were standing.</p> - -<p>“Are you the gentlemen who wish to redeem some jewels?” he asked -abruptly.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Nick shortly.</p> - -<p>“I am Mr. Garland, the manager. My assistant has told me what you have -said. There really is nothing we can do for you. You will have to bring -the ticket for the pledge in order to redeem it.”</p> - -<p>“But we cannot get the ticket until this gentleman’s wife returns,” Nick -replied.</p> - -<p>“Where has she gone?”</p> - -<p>“We don’t know. She is away with a friend.”</p> - -<p>“Is the ticket in her name?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“What name?”</p> - -<p>“We don’t know that, either,” said Nick. “She used a fictitious name -when she negotiated the loan.”</p> - -<p>“Why did she do that?” Garland demanded. “There should have been no -occasion for it. We do all of our business aboveboard and expect no less -of our patrons. Really, gentlemen, this matter don’t look quite right to -me. You will have to wait until the woman returns, or sends you the -ticket.”</p> - -<p>Nick Carter’s disguised face took on a more threatening frown. He -pressed nearer the window, replying, in peppery tones:</p> - -<p>“This don’t look right to you, eh? What is it, sir, that don’t look -right to you.”</p> - -<p>“We will not discuss that point,” said Garland curtly. “I have told you -the only way by which you can redeem the pledge and obtain the jewels.”</p> - -<p>“No, you haven’t,” snapped Nick hotly. “I can appeal to the authorities. -I can call in the police. I’ll do it, too, unless you come down from -your high horse.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be foolish, my man,” said Garland, frowning.</p> - -<p>“I’m not at all sure that the jewels are here. I’ll find out—I’ll make -it a point to find out.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense! You talk like an ass,” Garland protested.</p> - -<p>“Produce them, then,” frothed Nick. “Let’s have a look at them, at -least. If they——”</p> - -<p>“They are in the time-lock vault, with a thousand other pledges,” -Garland hurriedly explained. “I cannot produce them without searching -the entire vault. You cannot tell me the name under which they are -pledged. I have no other means of finding them immediately. It would -take me half a day to go through the vault and identify them. You talk -like a fool, sir. Bring the ticket and the amount of the loan, and you -shall have the jewels within half a minute.”</p> - -<p>Nick continued to storm and argue.</p> - -<p>While this was in progress, attracting the attention of all in the -place, Moses Hart came from the private office. He did not pause to join -in the dissension, however, but at once went on to a narrow window at -the lower end of the long counter—that at which the seedy, -sinister-looking man then was waiting.</p> - -<p>Bending close to the window, Hart winked significantly and said, with -his voice lowered:</p> - -<p>“Do you want to make a bit of money?”</p> - -<p>The fellow’s shifty eyes lighted eagerly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Does a hungry cat want meat?” he returned, in an expressive whisper.</p> - -<p>“What’s your name?” Hart asked.</p> - -<p>“Jerry Nolan.”</p> - -<p>“I want to find out who that man is who——”</p> - -<p>“The gink doing the talking?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“I get you, boss.”</p> - -<p>“I want you to follow him when he leaves here, and find out,” Hart went -on. “Pick both of them up when they leave.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it, boss! I’ll find out for you, or break a leg,” Nolan -earnestly assured him.</p> - -<p>“Don’t return here to tell me, however,” Hart added. “I want you to -inform my partner.”</p> - -<p>“The geeser having the spiel with the hothead?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I will tell you where you must meet him.”</p> - -<p>“Come over with it,” nodded Nolan.</p> - -<p>Hart hastily informed him.</p> - -<p>“I get you, boss,” Nolan repeated. “I’m on to the job, and will be -there, all right.”</p> - -<p>“Make sure you’re not detected,” Hart cautioned.</p> - -<p>“Leave me alone for that.”</p> - -<p>“And say nothing about this.”</p> - -<p>“And for that, too,” whispered Nolan, with an expressive leer.</p> - -<p>“That’s all, then. Go ahead.”</p> - -<p>Nolan turned away from the window. He bestowed another swift, furtive -glance upon the detective, then hitched up his baggy trousers and -sneaked out of the place.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter, after an apparently vain mission, departed with Lord -Waldmere five minutes later.</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> -<small>NOLAN MAKES A DISCOVERY.</small></h2> - -<p>Jerry Nolan proved as good as his word, in so far as what he had been -directed to accomplish was concerned.</p> - -<p>He followed Nick Carter and Lord Waldmere from the quarters of the loan -company, and something like an hour following their departure after -their apparently vain mission, Nolan put in an appearance in the upper -section of Amsterdam Avenue, where he had been directed to await the -coming of Mr. Morris Garland.</p> - -<p>If one were to have judged from the expression on Nolan’s sinister face, -however, one would have felt reasonably sure that he could not be wisely -trusted, that he had sized up the circumstances from his own evil -standpoint, and was bent upon taking further advantage of them than he -seemed likely to derive. In other words, Nolan appeared to suspect that -there was something crooked in the wind, and was resolved to make the -most of it.</p> - -<p>All this would have been even more obvious to an observer of Nolan’s -actions upon approaching the appointed rendezvous.</p> - -<p>He did not wait on the corner, as he had been directed. Instead, he -slunk around it, apparently watching the pedestrians within his range of -vision in the avenue, and presently he stole over to an opposite -doorway, which seemed to afford a more desirable vantage point, and from -which he continued his sinister vigil.</p> - -<p>Presently he sighted among the comparatively few peo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span>ple then in that -part of the avenue the man he was expecting. He recognized him at once, -though he then was nearly a block away and on the opposite side of the -thoroughfare.</p> - -<p>There could be no mistaking the tall figure and dark, cadaverous face of -the head manager of the Imperial Loan Company.</p> - -<p>Nolan’s eyes lighted when Garland appeared in the near distance. One -would have said that he was thinking of the reward for the scurrilous -work he had agreed to do.</p> - -<p>“Here’s where I’ll get mine, all right,” he said to himself. “I’ll make -him settle sooner or later. I reckon I’d better hike over to the corner -where I’m to meet him, or he might suspect that I——”</p> - -<p>Nolan’s train of thought was brought to an abrupt end by a sudden, -unexpected move of the other.</p> - -<p>Morris Garland turned from the sidewalk and quickly crossed the avenue. -He then walked quite slowly, with his gaze directed to the side from -which he had come, and once he paused for a moment to gaze at the door -and windows of an opposite house, one of a long brick block.</p> - -<p>Nolan took a look at it, also, but he could discover nothing warranting -Garland’s manifest interest in the house.</p> - -<p>The door was closed. The curtains at most of the windows were drawn -down. Some of the windows were dusty, and the front steps had not -recently been swept. The house looked, in fact, aside from its -furnishings, as if it was unoccupied.</p> - -<p>“What’s hit him, now?” Nolan asked himself. “Why is he sizing up that -crib? Nobody home but the gas, and that’s leaking out. I wonder——”</p> - -<p>Another move by Garland broke Nolan’s train of thought.</p> - -<p>Garland quickly recrossed the avenue, then hastened up to the appointed -corner, glancing sharply in all directions.</p> - -<p>“Looking for me,” Nolan tersely thought, slinking back in the doorway. -“I’ll let him look for half a minute and see what he’ll do next.”</p> - -<p>Garland did not look as long as half a minute. He evidently assumed that -Nolan had not yet completed his work and arrived there. He turned -abruptly and hastened to a house on the opposite corner of the -cross-street, entering with a key.</p> - -<p>“That must be where the bloke lives,” Nolan reasoned. “That’s why I was -told to come up here to report. I’ll see—huh! there he is again.”</p> - -<p>Nolan caught sight of him at one of the front windows. He could see his -dark face between the lace draperies. He watched it intently, with even -a more sinister look in his own keen eyes.</p> - -<p>Garland evidently was watching for the expected man.</p> - -<p>“I’ll sneak out when he isn’t watching, and then show up on the corner,” -Nolan said to himself. “He won’t be wise, then, to the fact that I got -here first. I’ll put something over on him, all right, or I’ve doped out -this business all wrong.”</p> - -<p>Something like five minutes later, after waiting for a favorable -opportunity, Nolan appeared on the street corner opposite Garland’s -residence. He had been waiting only a moment when the latter emerged -from the house and hastened over to join him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, you’re here, Nolan, at last,” he said, a bit curtly.</p> - -<p>“Sure I’m here, boss,” Nolan nodded. “You can always bank on my making -good.”</p> - -<p>“Have you done what Hart directed?”</p> - -<p>“The geeser who hired me? Yes, of course. I sure have done it. If I -hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” said Nolan, with an expressive leer.</p> - -<p>“Well, what did you learn?” Garland demanded, more sharply eying him.</p> - -<p>“I followed the two blokes down Fifth Avenue about three blocks, but I -couldn’t get next to anything they were saying,” Nolan proceeded to -report. “They parted on a corner, and then I followed the big guy, him -as put the peppery spiel in the pawnshop.”</p> - -<p>“Where did he go?”</p> - -<p>“Over to a house in Madison Avenue.”</p> - -<p>“Did you find out his name?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I did,” Nolan declared, much as if such a question was needless. -“Trust me for that. I was wise to it, all right, when I piped him going -in that crib.”</p> - -<p>“Who is he? What do you know about him?”</p> - -<p>“He’s a fly gun, boss; that’s what he is. He’s the biggest squeeze in -the whole dick outfit. His name is Carter.”</p> - -<p>“Not Nick Carter?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure of it, absolutely sure of it?”</p> - -<p>“As sure as if a house fell on me,” Nolan forcibly asserted. “Why -wouldn’t I be? I’ve had him after me more’n once. He was made up with -grease paint and spinach, all right, but I was wise to his true mug when -he went up the steps and into the house. I knew before where the dick -lived. What’s the game, boss? I could help you further, if you fancied -putting me wise.”</p> - -<p>Garland’s dark face had, upon learning the name of Waldmere’s companion -that morning, taken on a look of more serious concern. It vanished -almost instantly, however, and his teeth met with a vicious snap, -smacking defiance, which evidently impelled Nolan to venture offering -his further assistance.</p> - -<p>Garland received the suggestion with a darker frown, however, and -quickly shook his head.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t any game, my man,” he said, quite sternly. “You put that -idea out of your head, and keep it out. You were not employed for this -work because of any game, but because we had no one else whom we could -send conveniently at that time.”</p> - -<p>“Beg pardon, boss,” Nolan quickly responded. “I’m wise, all right, now -that you’ve put me next. It was the two coveys, Carter and the other -gink, whom you think were playing some kind of a game.”</p> - -<p>“That’s just the size of it,” Garland hastened to assure him.</p> - -<p>“I’m wise, all right, boss, now that you’ve told me.”</p> - -<p>“Both men were strangers to me,” Garland added, in an explanatory way. -“We suspected them of trickery and wanted to learn who they were, or -more particularly the one you say is Nick Carter.”</p> - -<p>“You can bank on that, boss.”</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, then, no doubt, for Nick Carter would not have engaged -in any crooked work,” Garland proceeded. “He must have had some other -object in view. I shall probably be informed sooner or later. What do I -owe you for your services?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“That’s up to you, boss,” said Nolan, apparently content to drop the -matter and accept what was offered, as well as the explanation just -made.</p> - -<p>“Will a ten-dollar note pay you?” questioned Garland, taking out a roll -of money.</p> - -<p>“Sure thing, boss, and then some.”</p> - -<p>“Let it keep your mouth closed, also,” Garland added, stripping off a -bank note from the roll. “I wouldn’t want Carter to think I have any -reason to have suspected him.”</p> - -<p>“I’m dumb,” Nolan assured him, eagerly accepting the money.</p> - -<p>“You will say nothing about it, eh?”</p> - -<p>“On my word.”</p> - -<p>“Not even if——”</p> - -<p>“Forget it!” Nolan cut in pointedly. “Forget it, boss; I have.”</p> - -<p>“Very good,” Garland said approvingly. “See that you don’t recall it.”</p> - -<p>He turned away with the last, quickly crossing the street and entering -his residence. From one of the windows, however, he proceeded to watch -Nolan down the avenue, until the seedy, sinister fellow vanished around -a distant corner.</p> - -<p>But Mr. Jerry Nolan was nothing if not crafty. He did not so much as -glance back before turning the corner. Nor did he then pay further -attention to Garland to see whether he left his house.</p> - -<p>As he was passing that at which the pawnbroker had paused to gaze, -however, Nolan glanced furtively at the door. He saw there was no name -plate on it. He saw the dust on the steps and the soiled windows on the -second floor, and he came to a perfectly natural conclusion.</p> - -<p>“There’s been something doing in this crib, or that Pawnee Indian would -not have had so much interest in it,” he said to himself. “It appears to -be unoccupied. I’ll nose around a bit and make sure of it. Then I’ll -find out whether there’s only ten bucks for me in this job.”</p> - -<p>Nolan fixed in his mind the precise location of the house by counting -from the end of the block. He then walked around to the next street, -from which he stealthily picked his way through an alley until he could -see the back of the suspected dwelling.</p> - -<p>It would have confirmed the suspicions of any discerning man. The drawn -curtains, the soiled windows, the closed shutters of those in the rear -yard—all denoted that the house, though furnished, had not been -recently occupied, unless for some covert purpose.</p> - -<p>Nolan promptly came to another conclusion—that he would sneak into the -house and see what more he could learn.</p> - -<p>He went about it with the skill and caution of a professional sneak -thief, which he looked more like than anything else. He crept through -the alley and into the yard back of the house, where he crouched briefly -under the high board fence to study the back windows of all the near -dwellings.</p> - -<p>Feeling sure that he had not been seen, he then took several skeleton -keys from his pocket, quickly selecting one which he thought would serve -his purpose.</p> - -<p>It did.</p> - -<p>Within half a minute Nolan had quietly unlocked the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span> rear door and -stepped noiselessly into a back basement hall, closing the door after -him.</p> - -<p>There he waited and listened, scarce breathing, until five full minutes -had passed.</p> - -<p>Not a sound came from any part of the house.</p> - -<p>Not a sign of life could be seen in the dusty, dimly lighted hall.</p> - -<p>Nolan then crept up the narrow stairway, still listening and alert.</p> - -<p>There seemed to be, however, no occasion for such exquisite caution. -Nolan reached the next floor, that on the level with the front street. -He peered into one room after another, but discovered nothing wrong.</p> - -<p>The kitchen looked cold and out of commission. The shutters were closed. -The range and iron sink were smeared with vaseline to prevent rusting. -Dust had collected on them, and they looked gray and dirty.</p> - -<p>The dining room was uninviting. The sideboard was destitute, the -polished table bare. The library, sitting room, and parlor, all were in -order, but dim, cheerless, and deserted.</p> - -<p>Nolan crept up to the next floor.</p> - -<p>He peered into two front chambers, both neatly furnished, but he saw -nothing of special interest.</p> - -<p>He then stole toward the rear of the house.</p> - -<p>He came to the open door of an interior room, one having no window. It -was lighted only from the hall, save the artificial light, then switched -off.</p> - -<p>Nolan stopped and peered into this dim bedroom. Something on the -unopened bed caught his eye—and Nolan involuntarily caught his breath.</p> - -<p>He beheld a motionless figure, clad in a dark-blue suit, with shapely -white hands crossed on its breast, with upturned, hueless face, as -colorless as if death had lately claimed her—the face and figure of a -surpassingly beautiful woman.</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> -<small>HOW IT WAS DONE.</small></h2> - -<p>Jerry Nolan was not rattled by the discovery he had made. It was not in -his nature to be upset by anything short of a cyclone or an earthquake.</p> - -<p>He gazed in for several moments at the motionless form on the bed, then -tiptoed into the room to make a closer inspection.</p> - -<p>“Is she dead?” he asked himself. “Has she been croaked by crooks?”</p> - -<p>Nolan paused beside the bed, bending above her.</p> - -<p>It seemed to him that he had never beheld a more beautiful face.</p> - -<p>He touched her hand and found it cold, then listened and looked in vain -for any sign that she was breathing.</p> - -<p>There was an ugly gleam in Nolan’s eyes when he straightened up and -turned toward the door. He caught sight of a switch key on the wall, and -realized that with more light he could better determine the woman’s -condition. He turned the key and a flood of electric light filled the -room.</p> - -<p>When he swung round again other objects met Nolan’s gaze. The woman’s -hat and jacket were lying on a chair. Beside them lay an open hand bag. -It contained only a dainty lace handkerchief. Her purse and other -valuables evidently had been stolen.</p> - -<p>Her kid gloves had been tossed upon a bureau. Near<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> them on the bureau, -placed in a small china tray, was a slender object, that glistened -brightly in the electric light.</p> - -<p>Nolan approached and gazed at it.</p> - -<p>It was a small glass hypodermic syringe, nearly filled with a colorless -fluid.</p> - -<p>A scrap of paper, on which a few words were typewritten, had been placed -under the tray.</p> - -<p>Nolan drew it out and read:</p> - -<p>“This woman is only drugged. Inject the contents of the syringe into her -arm to revive her.”</p> - -<p>Nolan did not hesitate.</p> - -<p>He took up the syringe with the familiarity of a physician, or of a dope -fiend accustomed to using one, and again approached the bed.</p> - -<p>Drawing up the sleeve from the woman’s shapely arm, he plunged the -needle through the fair skin and injected the contents of the syringe, -which he then replaced on the bureau.</p> - -<p>Nolan then put a chair near the side of the bed and sat down to await -the result of this treatment.</p> - -<p>He had not long to wait.</p> - -<p>Scarce five minutes had passed when a tinge of color appeared in the -woman’s pale cheeks.</p> - -<p>Her lips parted slightly and Nolan then could detect that she was -breathing. Another minute brought a deep-drawn sigh and a low moan, soon -followed by a fluttering of her eyelids.</p> - -<p>“She’s still in the ring, all right,” Nolan congratulated himself. “They -were a clever bunch, for fair, that did this job. Ten bucks, eh? I’ll -soon see about that ten bucks’ gag. They’ll come down handsomely for -this, those two rats. Ah, now her lamps are lighted!”</p> - -<p>The woman had opened her eyes.</p> - -<p>She stared up at Nolan vacantly for several moments, too dazed and -prostrated for returning consciousness to bring any immediate -appreciation of her surroundings and what had befallen her.</p> - -<p>Nolan did not speak, but waited patiently, knowing it then would be vain -to question her.</p> - -<p>The woman broke the silence. She seemed to be slowly grasping the -situation, for she suddenly faltered vacantly, scarce above a whisper:</p> - -<p>“Where am I?”</p> - -<p>Nolan saw that she could not be moved immediately. He asked, a bit -indifferently:</p> - -<p>“Don’t you know where you are?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Or how you came here?”</p> - -<p>“No. I——”</p> - -<p>“Wait a bit,” Nolan interrupted. “Your head will clear in a few more -minutes. Then you’ll be able to tell me. What is your name? Can’t you -remember that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course,” she replied, with more strength. “My name is Mary -Waldmere.”</p> - -<p>“Ah!”</p> - -<p>“I am Lady Waldmere, of——”</p> - -<p>She broke off abruptly, starting up from the pillow, only to sink back -again, too weak to rise. A frightened look in her eyes, however, told -that she was beginning to remember.</p> - -<p>“Where am I? Where is his lordship?” she cried, with lips quivering. -“Why am I here? Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“Hush!” Nolan cautioned. “Don’t get excited, madam. It might not be good -for you. Wait until you can re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span>call all that happened to you. Then I’ll -see what can be done for——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, oh, I remember—I remember it now!” cried Lady Waldmere, rising to -her elbow. “I was seized and carried away by wicked men—and a woman! -Tell me where I am. Tell me why I was brought here, and——”</p> - -<p>“You calm yourself,” Nolan interrupted, with some authority. “Keep cool -and tell me the whole business. Do you know the men who brought you -here?”</p> - -<p>“No, no; I do not,” moaned the woman.</p> - -<p>“Or the woman who was with them?”</p> - -<p>“No, nor the woman. She was veiled.”</p> - -<p>“How did they get away with you?”</p> - -<p>“With the help of their chauffeur,” Lady Waldmere brokenly explained. -“He enticed me to the taxicab he was driving. I was told that a friend -wished to see me. I did not know—did not suspect. I went with him to -the taxicab door, leaving my husband waiting on the avenue.”</p> - -<p>“And then?” Nolan tersely questioned.</p> - -<p>“There were two men and a woman in the taxicab,” Lady Waldmere went on, -quite hysterically. “The woman was veiled, as I told you. She held out -her hand to me and I supposed that she knew me. I did not dream of -anything wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Sure not,” Nolan nodded.</p> - -<p>“But when she grasped my hand, she seized it firmly and drew me into the -taxicab. At the same time I felt the chauffeur push me from behind. I -fell on the floor of the cab. One of the men seized me and held me, -while the other covered my mouth with his hand.”</p> - -<p>“Brutes!”</p> - -<p>“I nearly fainted,” Lady Waldmere went on, moaning. “I knew, then, that -I was being abducted. I tried to struggle and scream, when the taxicab -sped away, but my efforts were futile. Then I felt a sharp pricking -sensation in my shoulder——”</p> - -<p>“The needle of a syringe,” put in Nolan.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know—I don’t know!” moaned the woman. “I know only that I -fainted or lost consciousness. That is all I remember till now. I cannot -tell who or why I——”</p> - -<p>“One moment,” said Nolan. “Were the men smooth shaved, or——”</p> - -<p>“No, no! Both wore beards.”</p> - -<p>“They were in disguise.”</p> - -<p>“I cannot tell. I know only that I am in despair. I know——”</p> - -<p>“Try to be calm,” Nolan again interrupted. “Wait till you regain your -strength. You then will be able to leave here, and——”</p> - -<p>“Leave here?”</p> - -<p>Lady Waldmere looked at him with a sudden wild hope leaping up in her -tear-filled eyes.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said,” Nolan nodded.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean—do you mean that you are not in the employ of my -abductors?” Lady Waldmere asked, in faltering, frantic whispers. “Do you -mean——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m in their employ, all right,” Nolan dryly put in.</p> - -<p>“Alas, then——”</p> - -<p>“But not as you infer,” Nolan added.</p> - -<p>“Tell me what you do mean, then,” entreated the woman, white and -trembling. “Don’t keep me in suspense. Am I to remain here and——”</p> - -<p>“Not by a long chalk!<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“You will take me away? You will restore me to my husband?” Lady -Waldmere’s voice took on a hopeful ring. “Oh, I will pay you any sum if -you will do so. Tell me——”</p> - -<p>“Do you feel able to leave here?”</p> - -<p>“Able—yes!”</p> - -<p>“At once?”</p> - -<p>“Heavens, man, yes!” Lady Waldmere started up from the bed. “But don’t -deceive me! I beg that you’ll not deceive me. Will you take me away from -here? Will you restore me to my husband? Will you——”</p> - -<p>“You bet I will, madam!” cried Nolan. “That’s what I’m here for.”</p> - -<p>“But if in the employ of those men——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s another story,” Nolan again interrupted, assisting the woman -to rise. “I am also in the employ of your husband.”</p> - -<p>“My husband!”</p> - -<p>“I am a detective. My name is Chick Carter.”</p> - -<p>The last was instantly taken up by a fierce, threatening voice in the -adjoining hall.</p> - -<p>“Throw up your hands, then, and keep them up! Let the woman alone—or -you’ll be a dead one!”</p> - -<p>Chick swung round like a flash.</p> - -<p>In the open doorway stood Morris Garland, with face as black as midnight -and as threatening as his leveled weapon.</p> - -<p>Behind him loomed the burly figure of a red-featured cabman, with blood -in his eye and a blackjack in his hand.</p> - -<p>Two other figures, those of women, were crouching against the wall -farther down the hall—out of view of the startled detective.</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> -<small>NICK CARTER’S DOINGS.</small></h2> - -<p>It now is obvious, of course, that Chick Carter lied to Mr. Morris -Garland—which was entirely warranted by the circumstances, since -knavery can be successfully met only with its own weapons.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter had turned only the nearest corner after leaving the -quarters of the loan company, when he was overtaken by Chick, who, in -reality, had been there only to note what followed Nick’s visit with -Waldmere, and to watch any move that either Garland or Hart might -afterward make.</p> - -<p>It so happened, however, owing to an unexpected opportunity afforded -Chick, that their own respective designs were reversed.</p> - -<p>“Well, what was doing?” Nick immediately questioned, when Chick hastened -across the street and joined him. “I saw Hart talking to you through the -window.</p> - -<p>Chick hastily informed him, and Nick’s face underwent a decided change.</p> - -<p>“That does settle it,” said he. “We have given them a fright, and now -have them on the run. It’s dollars to fried rings, now, that my -suspicions are correct. It is necessary only to clinch them and nail all -of the culprits involved in the game.”</p> - -<p>“What game?” asked Lord Waldmere curiously. “I’m jolly well mystified by -this. Why——”</p> - -<p>“Don’t question,” Nick interrupted. “Be patient, Waldmere, until I have -got in my work. I then will answer all the questions you care to ask.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“But, hang it, old top, I——”</p> - -<p>“You must do what I say,” Nick cut in. “Time never was more valuable. -One minute’s delay may queer all of my work.”</p> - -<p>“What next?” Chick tersely asked, when Waldmere subsided.</p> - -<p>“We’ll change mounts,” Nick replied pointedly. “Go ahead and keep the -appointment with Garland. Meet him, as directed, though he’ll not be -likely to show up there for some little time, providing I rightly -anticipate what’s coming.”</p> - -<p>“What shall I tell him?”</p> - -<p>“Tell him who I am,” Nick directed. “Give it to him straight, in your -own way, but only what will be consistent with your assumed character. -Got me?”</p> - -<p>“Dead to rights,” Chick nodded.</p> - -<p>“Be off, then, and I’ll do the rest,” said Nick. “I have left Patsy in -the office, in case of sudden need. Call him up yourself, if occasion -requires it.”</p> - -<p>Chick responded with another nod and hurried away.</p> - -<p>“Now, Waldmere, you return to your lodgings,” said Nick. “You will only -be in my way, if you remain. Wait right there until I come.”</p> - -<p>“But——”</p> - -<p>“Don’t stop to question, dear fellow,” Nick interrupted. “Every minute -is of value.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, I’m all at sea, don’t you know, but here goes!” exclaimed his -lordship, seeming suddenly to realize that he was indeed in the way.</p> - -<p>He smiled with the last, nevertheless, and hurried across the street, -presently vanishing around the nearest corner.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter stepped into the corridor of a near building. The janitor, -with a broom and a pail of rubbish, the result of his morning’s -cleaning, was just approaching a small storeroom under the rise of -stairs.</p> - -<p>Nick overtook him at the open door.</p> - -<p>“One moment, janitor,” said he, stepping into the narrow room. “I am -Nick Carter, the detective, and I’m on a rush case. Hang onto this cane -and disguise until I call for them, will you? I then will make it worth -your while.”</p> - -<p>“Sure, sor, I’m glad to do it,” cried the janitor, eyes lighting. “Who -don’t know Nick Carter?”</p> - -<p>“Good on your head,” Nick nodded. “I want to reverse my trousers and -coat, also, which will take but half a minute.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead, sor. The room is yours for the asking.”</p> - -<p>Nick emerged from it in precisely thirty seconds, so changed in looks -and attire, the latter expressly made to be quickly reversed, that he -bore not even a remote resemblance to the man who had entered it. Then -wearing no facial disguise, he again thanked the janitor and hurried -away from the building, retracing his steps to Fifth Avenue.</p> - -<p>Not more than five minutes had passed since he departed from the loan -company office, when, from a doorway on the opposite side of the avenue, -he was in a position to cautiously watch the place.</p> - -<p>He had returned none too soon. He scarce had turned his gaze in that -direction, when Garland came from the loan office in company with a -handsome, flashily dressed woman of twenty-five, whom Nick had seen at a -typewriter through the partly open door of Garland’s private office.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Garland’s stenographer,” he muttered. “I thought I recognized her, -though she sat with her face averted. Vera Vantoon, eh? I have seen her -with Stuart Floyd, of whom Chick was speaking last evening. She may be a -connecting link in this chain. By Jove, they are off at a canter, for -fair. On the run is right.”</p> - -<p>Garland and Vera Vantoon, a pronounced brunette with a striking face and -figure, were hurrying up Fifth Avenue, evidently on as important a -mission as the detective had been led to suspect.</p> - -<p>Nick immediately followed them, though on the opposite side of the -avenue.</p> - -<p>They had covered less than two blocks, however, when an approaching -taxicab swerved to the curbing and a man sprang out, who evidently had -seen them from within the conveyance.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, there’s Stuart Floyd himself,” thought Nick, stepping into a -near doorway to watch them. “He was bound for Garland’s office, as sure -as I’m a foot high. I have forced the game, all right, plainly enough.”</p> - -<p>The last was occasioned by the earnest conference at once begun by the -three, Garland doing most of the talking, and presently slipping a small -cloth parcel into Floyd’s coat pocket—a move undetected by Nick because -of the intervening taxicab.</p> - -<p>Floyd was an erect, splendidly built man with a smoothly shaved, -clean-cut face, with regular features of an almost classic cast, an -intellectual brow, and remarkably keen and expressive gray eyes. He was -scrupulously well dressed and in strict accord with the dictates of -fashion. He would readily have passed, as Chick had stated, for a -millionaire or a prominent figure in the Gotham smart set. He was very -well known, too, from Harlem to the Battery, though for more and varied -reasons than any was yet led to suspect.</p> - -<p>Nick saw plainly that he could not wisely undertake to overhear what the -three were discussing so earnestly, nor did he attempt to do so. He knew -very well, or thought he did, and was content to await what followed.</p> - -<p>Nick had not long to wait. After an earnest conference lasting about -five minutes, Garland and the woman entered the taxicab, which sped -rapidly away, while Stuart Floyd walked briskly down the avenue.</p> - -<p>“What’s the meaning of that?” Nick asked himself. “They may have gone to -make sure the abducted woman is still in safe keeping. Be that as it -may, it’s long odds that Floyd will rejoin them sooner or later. I have -no course but to stick to him. I’ll head him off, by Jove, and see what -he will say for himself.”</p> - -<p>Nick did not immediately do so. He shadowed Floyd, instead, to one of -the leading jewelry firms, who were large importers of diamonds and -other gems, and through one of the broad plate windows he saw Floyd -speak to the senior member of the firm and then retire with him to his -private office.</p> - -<p>Half an hour passed before Floyd emerged. He paused and shook hands with -the merchant, bowing and smiling as if he had not a care on his mind, -much less a burden, and he then left the store and walked briskly to a -near hotel, entering the barroom and buying a drink.</p> - -<p>Nick suspected what he was doing all the while, but he was not -absolutely sure of it, and he continued the espionage. Passing through -the hotel office to keep an eye on his quarry, he suddenly came face to -face with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span> Floyd in the adjoining corridor, the latter having just left -the barroom.</p> - -<p>It was an opportunity for which Nick had been waiting. He stepped -directly in front of the man, saying familiarly:</p> - -<p>“Hello! You’re just the man I want to see, Mr. Floyd. Give me half a -minute, will you?”</p> - -<p>Floyd knew Nick Carter by sight. If he had seen a ghost, he would not -have turned more pale for a moment. That he was a man of extraordinary -nerve and self-possession, however, appeared in that, aside from his -momentary paleness, not a feature of his clean-cut face evinced a sign -of fear, or even secret perturbation.</p> - -<p>“You are Mr. Carter, I believe,” he replied, looking Nick straight in -the eye.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Why have you stopped me? What can I do for you?”</p> - -<p>“Tell me what you know about the Imperial Loan Company,” said Nick, -straight from the shoulder.</p> - -<p>Floyd heard him without a change of countenance.</p> - -<p>“All that I know may be told with a single word—nothing,” he replied.</p> - -<p>“You know of the concern, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Are you acquainted with the managers?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well acquainted?”</p> - -<p>“So well acquainted, Mr. Carter, that I am not inclined to discuss them -with any detective, not excluding yourself, before knowing the purpose -of his inquiries,” Floyd said coldly.</p> - -<p>“If you know only good of them, Mr. Floyd, a detective is the very man -with whom you should be most willing to discuss them,” Nick retorted.</p> - -<p>“I will not argue the point,” Floyd said, flushing slightly.</p> - -<p>“There is no occasion,” said Nick. “Do you know anything about the -inside workings of this loan company?”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean, sir, by inside workings?”</p> - -<p>“The methods they employ.”</p> - -<p>“I already have said, Carter, that I know nothing about them, aside from -a personal acquaintance with the two managers,” Floyd stiffly asserted. -“Mr. Garland is a gentleman. Mr. Hart is another. That is all I can tell -you.”</p> - -<p>“All that you will tell me, Mr. Floyd, is what you mean,” Nick said -pointedly. “You should have learned, nevertheless, that reticence is -equivalent to——”</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment,” Floyd interrupted, with lips curling. “What’s the big -idea? What’s it all about? Do you suspect the loan company of anything -wrong?”</p> - -<p>“Frankly, Mr. Floyd, I do,” Nick nodded.</p> - -<p>“Of what?”</p> - -<p>“Of having abducted, or caused to be abducted, a woman known as Mrs. -Archie Waldron. Did you ever hear of her?”</p> - -<p>“Never! Permit me to add, Carter, that I never heard of anything more -absurd.”</p> - -<p>“Than what?” questioned Nick, still sharply regarding him.</p> - -<p>“Such a suspicion,” snapped Floyd, his eyes dilating. “What earthly -motive could they have for abducting a woman, or for any other breach of -the law? Both are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> married and have families. Both are men of eminent -respectability, of sterling integrity, and they manage a very profitable -business. What earthly incentive could they have for committing crime? -That’s absurd, utterly improbable. You detectives go over the traces -much too often, Carter, in your still-hunts after victims. You are worse -in a way than the crooks, for you smirch the reputation of honorable -men, while crooks get only their purses. Good morning, sir. That is all -I have to say.”</p> - -<p>Floyd apparently had worked himself up to a state of righteous -indignation, and none could better feign any sentiment he chose. He drew -himself up and turned to go, but Nick detained him with a gesture.</p> - -<p>“One moment,” he replied. “You have said considerable, Floyd, for one -who knew nothing about the Imperial Loan Company. I should be blind, -indeed, if I did not see that. You extol them in order to divert my -suspicions. But the fact that you think it is necessary to do so proves -quite conclusively, not only that you know much more than you have -stated, but also that my suspicions are correct. I could logically go -even a step further, Floyd, and suspect you of being in their game.”</p> - -<p>Floyd’s thin red lips parted scornfully, revealing a double row of sharp -white teeth. It gave him for a moment the vicious expression of a dog -about to bite. Instead, he vented a cold and mirthless laugh, as cold -and mirthless as the ring from rapiers crossed in mortal combat.</p> - -<p>“You go to thunder, Carter,” said he, sneering contemptuously. “I would -not lower myself by even denying your slanderous insinuations. In their -game, or in any game—bah! You disgust me! Go to thunder!”</p> - -<p>And Mr. Stuart Floyd, with the air and aspect of one who felt that he -had squelched the famous detective, turned on his heel and entered the -hotel office.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter smiled and passed into the barroom.</p> - -<p>“That will keep you going, all right,” he said to himself. “That’s all I -want of you. I’ll get you hands down at the finish.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> -<small>HOW NICK MADE GOOD.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter did not remain long in the barroom, only long enough to -deftly put on a simple disguise, unobserved by any person in the room. -He then passed out to the street and approached the hotel office—just -as Stuart Floyd came out, departing quite hurriedly.</p> - -<p>He walked by Nick, nearly touching him, but he did not recognize him. He -glanced furtively into the barroom when passing it, nevertheless, which -convinced Nick that he still was supposed to be there, and that his -quarry was bent upon making a quick get-away.</p> - -<p>Nick followed him cautiously, as before, noting that Floyd now appeared -more hurried and apprehensive, but evidently not suspecting that he was -being shadowed.</p> - -<p>Floyd hastened over to Broadway, where he entered the quarters of the -Crosstown Collateral Trust Company, one of the largest concerns of this -kind in the country, if not in the world.</p> - -<p>Nick watched him from outside.</p> - -<p>Floyd appeared remarkably familiar with the place. He nodded to several -of the clerks, waving his hand to the bookkeeper, and at the same time -he proceeded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span> directly to the private office of the president of the -company, which he entered without the formality of knocking.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter’s eyes took on a gleam of increasing satisfaction. He -continued to wait and watch.</p> - -<p>Presently a clerk hurried into the private office, evidently having been -summoned. He emerged in a few moments and vanished into the business -inclosure, where the doors of several huge vaults in the rear wall gave -the place the appearance of a safety deposit, or a wealthy banking -institution.</p> - -<p>Five minutes later the same clerk again visited the private office, -remaining only a moment, and half a minute later Floyd came out and -started for the street.</p> - -<p>Nick stole into a near doorway.</p> - -<p>Floyd emerged in a moment and walked rapidly to a drug store on an -opposite corner, proceeding directly to a telephone booth in the rear of -the store, quickly entering and tightly closing the door.</p> - -<p>Nick already was at the open door of the store. He saw that the booth -stood in an angle formed by two of the counters. He saw, too, that there -then were no customers and only one clerk in the store, just then -engaged in wiping one of the show cases.</p> - -<p>Nick stepped in and instantly caught the clerk’s eye, though one of his -own was constantly fixed upon the back of Floyd’s head, visible through -the window in the door of the booth. Floyd then was hurriedly looking up -a number in the telephone-exchange book.</p> - -<p>Nick cautioned the clerk with a significant glance and by holding up his -forefinger. He then turned the lapel of his vest and displayed his -detective’s badge.</p> - -<p>The clerk appeared to grasp the situation. He nodded and continued his -work.</p> - -<p>Nick stepped back of the opposite counter, quickly crouching out of -sight behind it. He then crept to the rear of the store and within half -a minute he was directly opposite one side of the telephone booth.</p> - -<p>On hands and knees under the counter, he placed one ear against the side -of the booth—and he then could faintly hear the voice of the man -within.</p> - -<p>The following broken remarks reached his ears, broken by the occasional -responses from the person with whom Floyd was talking, whom the -detective of course could not hear:</p> - -<p>“There is no question about it,” Floyd was forcibly saying. “I know -positively that he is on the case.... Yes, yes, of course! But we can -prevent that and bluff him to a standstill. He cannot prove that you -know anything about her.... That’s true, but I’ve got the goods and will -show up shortly. The best way, then, will be to phone directly to his -office and state where she can be found. That probably would end the -matter, and there will be no way of telling from whom the information -came. He could only guess at that.... The sooner the better, of course. -I have hastened to notify you only to put you on your guard in case he -shows up there again before I arrive. Stave him off in some way until I -come. It then will be soft walking. I’ll come at once. So long!”</p> - -<p>Nick heard the sharp click of the hook when the receiver was replaced.</p> - -<p>Floyd came from the booth almost immediately and left the store without -so much as a glance at the clerk.</p> - -<p>Nick crept from under the counter and entered the booth. He paused -briefly to size up what he had heard. He felt<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span> sure Floyd had telephoned -either to Hart, or Garland, at their place of business. He turned to the -telephone and rang up his own business office.</p> - -<p>“Line’s busy!” called the exchange operator.</p> - -<p>Nick waited.</p> - -<p>“Who is on it?” he asked himself. “Patsy must be there. I directed him -not to leave. Chick may have called him up, as I suggested, but for what -reason? Hang this delay! It may prove expensive.”</p> - -<p>Nick tried again and succeeded. He heard the familiar voice of Patsy -Garvan over the wire.</p> - -<p>“This is the chief talking,” said Nick.</p> - -<p>“Oh, gee!” Patsy exclaimed. “I was just wondering how I could get next -to you.”</p> - -<p>“What’s up?” Nick questioned, deferring his own communication.</p> - -<p>“Some one just phoned here that the woman we’re seeking can be found at -No. 1680B Amsterdam Avenue. The speaker evidently was a man, but I did -not know his voice, nor could I get anything more from him.”</p> - -<p>“I can guess who,” said Nick. “I was about to tell you that you would -soon receive that information.”</p> - -<p>“What shall I do?”</p> - -<p>“Take Danny and a couple of plain-clothes men to aid you,” Nick quickly -directed. “Raid the house quietly. I hardly think you will find any one -else there. If you do, however, make sure that none escapes.”</p> - -<p>“Trust me for that.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll nail the culprits elsewhere.”</p> - -<p>“Good enough! I’ve got you.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all, then.”</p> - -<p>Nick came from the booth, said a few words of explanation to the -astonished clerk, and he then hurriedly left the store and hailed a -passing taxicab.</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later, still in disguise, he entered the quarters of the -Imperial Loan Company—not more than an hour after his visit with Lord -Waldmere.</p> - -<p>The first person he caught sight of was Moses Hart, and he saw at once -that Stuart Floyd had not yet arrived.</p> - -<p>The assistant manager, nevertheless, appeared much more at ease than an -hour ago. He was engaged in the latticed inclosure. He was smiling and -humming a popular air. He saw Nick approach one of the windows and he -turned to meet him.</p> - -<p>“Is Mr. Garland busy?” Nick blandly inquired, bowing and smiling.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Garland is absent just now,” Hart suavely rejoined.</p> - -<p>“H’m, is that so?”</p> - -<p>“I think he will return before noon,” Hart added. “Is there anything I -can do for you?”</p> - -<p>“Are you the assistant manager?”</p> - -<p>“I am.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps, then, you will do as well, though Mr. Garland was mentioned to -me,” said Nick. “It’s about a loan I wish to negotiate on some valuable -jewelry. The amount is considerable, and——”</p> - -<p>“Ah!”</p> - -<p>Hart breathed an expressive sigh, one of avaricious anticipation, and he -then hastened to open a door leading into the inclosure.</p> - -<p>“Walk in, sir,” he said cordially. “Step into our private office. We -then can discuss the matter without interruptions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Nick was waiting only for an interruption.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary,” he demurred. “I can tell you -briefly what I require.”</p> - -<p>“Very well.”</p> - -<p>Hart stepped out and joined him.</p> - -<p>“My name is Peterson,” Nick continued. “I have in my charge a quantity -of valuable jewelry. It is part of the estate of a very wealthy widow. -The estate has not been settled, owing to long litigation, and it has -become necessary to raise quite a sum of cash with which to meet legal -expenses.”</p> - -<p>“I follow you,” Hart nodded, anticipating an unusually profitable deal.</p> - -<p>“I may require ten thousand dollars, possibly more.”</p> - -<p>“What is the value of the jewelry?”</p> - -<p>“Fifty thousand, at least.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! In that case, Mr. Peterson, we will be delighted to accommodate -you,” Hart warmly assured him. “No loan is too large for us to make on -satisfactory collateral. Our capital is unlimited. We can refer you -to——”</p> - -<p>He broke off abruptly.</p> - -<p>Stuart Floyd had entered and was hurriedly approaching.</p> - -<p>“One moment, Hart!” he exclaimed, diving into his coat pocket and -failing to recognize Nick. “Excuse yourself for one moment. Here is that -package which——”</p> - -<p>“Let me have it, instead,” Nick interrupted, thrusting Hart aside.</p> - -<p>Floyd recoiled as if struck on the head.</p> - -<p>“You!” he gasped involuntarily.</p> - -<p>Nick whipped off his disguise.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said sternly. “I may need it to prove my case—and your -relations with the Imperial Loan Company. Let me have it.”</p> - -<p>Floyd staggered and then uttered a cry and pulled himself together.</p> - -<p>“Not by a long shot!” he shouted. “Get rid of this, Hart, before he can -learn what it——”</p> - -<p>But he got no further, for Nick Carter did not stand on ceremony. He -leaped at Floyd and wrenched the package from him, as the latter was -about to toss it to Hart, and then he forced him fiercely against the -wall.</p> - -<p>Then came the jingle and snapping of steel—and Floyd was in handcuffs.</p> - -<p>“Let those keep you quiet,” said Nick sharply. “I think, now, we are in -a fair way to settle this business—and settle it right!”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> -<small>THE LOOTING GAME.</small></h2> - -<p>The situation in which Chick Carter suddenly found himself with Lady -Waldmere was not an enviable one. Without knowing just how it had come -about, Chick realized on the instant that he was caught like a rat in a -corner, the interior room having no window, nor any way of egress save -through the door, then barred by the tall figure and threatening weapon -of Morris Garland, to say nothing of the burly cabman behind him.</p> - -<p>Chick was not blind, however, to one offsetting advantage the room -afforded, or might possibly be made to afford. If he could escape only -through the door, he also could be attacked only from that direction.</p> - -<p>Chick took that in on the instant, also, and he was in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span> no mood to yield -submissively to the two threatening miscreants in the hall.</p> - -<p>He threw up his hands, nevertheless, while a shriek of terror came from -Lady Waldmere—both sufficient to throw Garland off his guard for the -fraction of a second.</p> - -<p>Instantly Chick took advantage of it.</p> - -<p>Without dropping his hands, lest the knave might shoot, Chick raised his -right foot under one of the rounds of the chair on which he had been -seated, then kicked it with all his strength straight at the open door.</p> - -<p>It went direct and went like a flash.</p> - -<p>It struck Garland squarely on the arm and breast, diverting his aim, and -then fell to the floor.</p> - -<p>Garland fired on the instant, nevertheless, and the bullet went into the -ceiling.</p> - -<p>Lady Waldmere uttered another shriek and fainted dead away on the bed.</p> - -<p>The deafening report of the weapon was instantly followed by the bang of -Chick’s revolver, whipped like a flash from his hip pocket.</p> - -<p>In his haste, however, he had fired almost at random. The bullet clipped -a lock of hair from Garland’s head, then passed within an inch of the -cabman’s ear.</p> - -<p>Both uttered a yell. Both leaped instinctively, as it were, to one side -of the open door, bringing the wall between them and the detective.</p> - -<p>That was all that Chick wanted at that moment, and he had accomplished -it by taking his life in his hand.</p> - -<p>He now laughed aloud, however, and cried:</p> - -<p>“Two can play at that game, you see. If either of you rats shows his -head at the door, I’ll not miss it with my next bullet.”</p> - -<p>This brought no response for a moment.</p> - -<p>Chick heard the two men whispering in the hall, and also the rustle of -skirts.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, there may have been another woman in the house when I stole -in,” he said to himself, constantly alert. “She may have heard me, or -saw me, and afterward sent word to Garland. That may be how they caught -me in this fashion.”</p> - -<p>Chick’s theory was quite nearly correct. As a matter of fact, a sister -of Vera Vantoon, who had figured in the episode in the taxicab, had been -left in the hurriedly rented furnished house, rented expressly after the -abduction had been accomplished, in order that the identity of none of -the culprits should afterward be discovered.</p> - -<p>This sister, Leah Vantoon, had seen Chick stealing into the house. She -later had stolen out and got word to Garland, happening to meet Vera and -the chauffeur, then on their way to the house. All of them had stolen in -and up the stairs, unheard by the detective, while Chick was talking -with Lady Waldmere.</p> - -<p>Morris Garland had, of course, then realized how craftily he had been -duped by Nick Carter himself.</p> - -<p>He did not realize it all, however, for Stuart Floyd and Moses Hart were -at that moment under arrest by the famous detective.</p> - -<p>Chick’s taunting remark was answered in a few seconds by Garland.</p> - -<p>At the same moment, too, Chick saw that Lady Waldmere had revived and -was sitting on the edge of the bed. He held up his finger, warning her -to be silent, then signed for her to seek a remote corner of the room, -where a bullet from the hall could not possibly hit her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span></p> - -<p>He, in the meantime, remained crouching some six feet from the open -door, revolver in hand.</p> - -<p>“I say!” called Garland, from the hall.</p> - -<p>“Say ahead,” called Chick coolly. “Come on with it.”</p> - -<p>“You’d better quit and throw up your hands again,” Garland advised.</p> - -<p>“May they wither, Garland, if I do,” replied Chick. “If you cannot think -of anything better to say, you’d better keep quiet.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we’ll get you finally.”</p> - -<p>“Is that so?”</p> - -<p>“You bet it’s so. There is no way for you to get out.”</p> - -<p>“Nor for you to get in,” Chick retorted.</p> - -<p>“We can starve you out.”</p> - -<p>“Not much.”</p> - -<p>“Think not, eh?”</p> - -<p>“I know it,” Chick declared confidently. “Before you could do that, -Garland, the entire police force will be in search of me. They’ll find -me, too.”</p> - -<p>“Why do you think so?”</p> - -<p>“Because your running mate in the game you have been playing will throw -up his hands and squeal,” Chick asserted. “He probably is under arrest -by this time.”</p> - -<p>“By whom?” Garland demanded incredulously.</p> - -<p>“By Nick Carter.”</p> - -<p>“I guess not. What do you mean by the game we’ve been playing?”</p> - -<p>“Nick knows. He suspected it from the first.”</p> - -<p>“Knows what?”</p> - -<p>Chick laughed and clicked the revolver suggestively.</p> - -<p>“Don’t come any nearer that door, Garland, or there’ll be something -doing,” he advised. “I wouldn’t shrink an instant from sending a bullet -into your block of solid ivory. We’ve got your game down pat, now, and -we’re going to get you.”</p> - -<p>“What game?” Garland again demanded. “What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Your looting game,” said Chick. “That’s a good name for it, too. You -two rascals, evidently with others to help you, have taken advantage of -the fact that the head of the business you only manage, Mr. Isaac Meyer, -is a helpless paralytic and confined to his home.”</p> - -<p>“How taken advantage?”</p> - -<p>“You have been looting his business of all that it would stand without -immediate detection,” said Chick. “You have been loaning small amounts -on gems and jewels and the like, and then pawning the collateral -elsewhere for a much larger sum, and whacking up the difference. When a -customer shows up to redeem a pledge, if it happens to be one that you -have put elsewhere, you stave him off until you can raise the dust to -redeem it yourselves, in case you don’t have it on hand, that you may -turn it over to the proper owner and thus avert exposure. But it’s bound -to come, Garland; it’s bound to come. In fact, it already is here.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what Nick Carter suspects, is it?”</p> - -<p>Garland spoke with a sneer, but his voice had a quaking uncertainty that -told of utter dismay, of a realization that he had played a losing game -and must pay the price.</p> - -<p>“Sure that’s what he suspects,” Chick replied complacently. “You’re a -bunch of star looters, that’s what you are. When the books and vaults of -the Imperial Loan<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span> Company are examined, you’ll be found to be a hundred -thousand short, at least.”</p> - -<p>“Confound you Carters, anyway!” Garland cried, with a snarl. “You know -too much.”</p> - -<p>“Too much for most crooks whom we get after,” Chick dryly admitted.</p> - -<p>“It may cost you something one of these days.”</p> - -<p>“It already has cost you something,” Chick retorted. “Nick tumbled to it -almost off the reel. You were in pressing peril when the woman -unexpectedly showed up to redeem her ten-thousand-dollar pledge. You -have shoved up the jewels somewhere else, and probably for fifteen or -twenty thousand. You did not have the jewels when she called yesterday, -nor the money with which to redeem them this morning. Nick suspected it, -Garland, and we got right at you to drive you to the wall. We have done -it, all right.”</p> - -<p>Chick heard a growl from the cabman, one Buck Morgan, who had driven the -taxicab the previous afternoon, and Chick also heard the remark that -followed it.</p> - -<p>“The cursed dick is right, Morris. We’d better make a quick get-away.”</p> - -<p>“Not on your life,” snarled Garland. “I’ll get him first, or—hark! What -was that?”</p> - -<p>There was little need to ask, nor had Morgan any time in which to answer -the question.</p> - -<p>The hurried tread of several men sounded in the lower hall and then on -the near stairway. They came rushing up at top speed, Patsy Garvan in -the lead.</p> - -<p>“It’s all off, Mr. Garland; all off!” he shouted, while he came, at the -same time brandishing a ready revolver. “Don’t attempt any funny -business, or there’ll be a dead pawnbroker here. Shut up, you two women, -or we’ll put you in irons with these two gazabos.”</p> - -<p>The raid, quietly made, indeed, as Nick had directed, was already a -success. Both Garland and Morgan collapsed the moment they saw Patsy and -the other detectives. They were capable of thieving and abduction, but -not of murder and bloodshed.</p> - -<p>Within five minutes Patsy had all four of the culprits in irons, and in -five more they were on their way to the Tombs, to which Stuart Floyd and -Hart already had preceded them.</p> - -<p>Half an hour later Lady Waldmere was restored to the arms of her anxious -husband, who, it seems needless to say, was jolly well pleased.</p> - -<p>It later appeared that all of Nick Carter’s suspicions, as set forth in -brief by Chick, were entirely correct. Nick had felt reasonably sure of -it from the first, but knew that he must secure absolute proof of it, -which he set about doing in the manner described.</p> - -<p>He knew that Garland and Hart would have to work lively to raise the -money to recover the Waldmere jewels, that they might be turned over to -her that morning, and that that was Garland’s mission when he left his -office with Vera Vantoon, afterward meeting Floyd.</p> - -<p>That the latter then had undertaken the mission, and that he was in -league with the others, became obvious to Nick when Floyd visited the -jewelry firm. He rightly reasoned that Garland had provided him with a -parcel of diamonds, or other costly gems, from those in pawn with the -loan company, upon which Floyd could obtain a loan from the jeweler. It -afterward was shown to be eighteen thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>That Floyd then went and redeemed the jewels from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span> the Crosstown -Collateral Trust Company. Nick had not had a doubt, and he shaped his -course accordingly, meeting with complete success and later showing that -Mr. Isaac Meyer had, indeed, been almost utterly ruined by his -treacherous managers.</p> - -<p>“They now will get theirs,” Nick observed, speaking of the case that -evening. “I have no doubt that Floyd was the genius back of the whole -job, but we may not be able to prove even that. However, be that as it -may, it was very quick work, cleaned up within twenty-four hours.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, chief,” supplemented Patsy. “And as his blooming English nobs -would say, and has said—deucedly keen and clevah work, bah Jove, -deucedly keen and clevah!”</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END.</p> - -<p>Some men are never beaten, regardless how great may be the odds against -them. Such was the case of Stuart Floyd, notwithstanding the fact that -Nicholas Carter had succeeded in bringing him to justice, the clever -rogue was to give the famous detective another battle of wits, which you -will read about in “The Melting Pot; or, Nick Carter and the Waldmere -Plate,” which will appear in the next issue, No. 140, of the <span class="smcap">Nick Carter -Stories</span>, out May 15th.</p> - -<hr /> - -<h1><a name="Dared_for_Los_Angeles" id="Dared_for_Los_Angeles"></a>Dared for Los Angeles.<br /><br /> -<small>By ROLAND ASHFORD PHILLIPS.</small></h1> - -<p>(This interesting story was commenced in No. 134 of <span class="smcap">Nick Carter -Stories</span>. Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer -or the publishers.)</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /><br /> -<small>THE CONFESSION.</small></h2> - -<p>It was a long time before either Miss Trask or Nash spoke again. The -girl was sitting, wet-eyed and silent, in the chair, the book open upon -her lap. Nash had walked to the window, and stood gazing out upon the -road, which, under the magic of the moonlight, wound along the slope -like a wide, silver ribbon.</p> - -<p>The notes of a song came faintly through the still night air; in a -neighboring cabin some of the men were making merry. The words were -silly and meaningless, the tune of a dance-hall variety. Yet both the -girl and Nash waited until the song was finished.</p> - -<p>Then resolutely Nash turned.</p> - -<p>“How long have you been here, Miss Trask?”</p> - -<p>“In California? Only a few months. I—I came from New York immediately -after my brother was buried. I had given him this book only at -Christmas. Out of all his effects—I kept it. I was living at a little -hotel near Central Park, and used to go over and pass away the hours -reading. I suppose I dropped it—and that man who spoke to you must have -picked it up.”</p> - -<p>“What led you to take up—this work?” Nash asked.</p> - -<p>“I—don’t know. Maybe it was because—because I had hopes of finding my -brother’s murderer.”</p> - -<p>“You knew him?”</p> - -<p>She shook her head. “No. Oh, I hadn’t any set plan. I just imagined, -somehow, that on this great engineering project I might come face to -face with the man who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span>——”</p> - -<p>“And if you had?” Nash interrupted.</p> - -<p>A quick, hard light flamed to her eyes, only to die away as suddenly as -it had come. “I don’t know,” she faltered. “I am only a woman, and——”</p> - -<p>“Did it ever occur to you, Miss Trask,” Nash ventured to ask, “that your -brother might have been as much to blame as—the other man?”</p> - -<p>“But—but he was my brother,” she replied.</p> - -<p>“Of course.” Nash smiled faintly. “A year ago, Miss Trask, I worked on -the New York Aqueduct.”</p> - -<p>“You?” She raised her eyes quickly. “Then maybe you knew——”</p> - -<p>“Your brother?” Nash nodded. “Yes, I knew him.”</p> - -<p>“And you knew about—about his death? You have heard how a man shot him, -and——”</p> - -<p>“I did not know of his death,” Nash answered gravely. “That is, I was -not positive.”</p> - -<p>She was facing him now. “How strangely you talk, Mr. Nash!”</p> - -<p>“Possibly it is because I am placed in a strange position,” Nash -replied.</p> - -<p>She started to speak, then stopped. The chugging of a motor interrupted, -and instinctively both man and woman understood. Nash stepped swiftly to -the window. The flashing lights of a big car were dancing down the road.</p> - -<p>“It—it’s the officers!” the girl exclaimed. She had followed the -engineer, and was peering over his shoulder.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid so,” Nash responded.</p> - -<p>“They’ve come to-night—instead of in the morning. They must have -suspected you would try to escape.”</p> - -<p>Nash dropped the curtain and went back to the table.</p> - -<p>“It’s too—too late for you to get away now,” she stammered, breathing -hard. “What—what are you going to do?”</p> - -<p>“That isn’t the question which troubles me,” Nash said quietly. “How are -you to explain your presence here?”</p> - -<p>“I won’t need to,” she retorted.</p> - -<p>“Oh, but you will have to. You are employed by these people. Do you want -them to suspect you of double-dealing? Remember, Miss Trask, it is the -law you are fighting now.”</p> - -<p>“I shall tell them the truth.”</p> - -<p>“You must tell them that you came here—to arrest me. I am your -prisoner. You must tell them that.”</p> - -<p>“I won’t!” she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“You must do this, Miss Trask. You must protect yourself.”</p> - -<p>“I will tell them it is all a mistake—that you are innocent,” she said. -“I will tell them that you are not the man they want.”</p> - -<p>“What good will it do?” Nash asked. “What good, Miss Trask? You have no -proofs.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but I cannot tell them what you wish me to!” she protested, over -and over again. “I cannot!”</p> - -<p>“Listen to me, Miss Trask,” Nash answered, speaking swiftly now, for the -pounding of the motor on the up grade was becoming more and more -distinct. “It is the right way—the only way. It will protect your -reputation. Think of what it all means. You have informed them of my -supposedly crooked dealings, and now they discover you in my -cabin—apparently aiding me to escape. Can’t you understand what a -serious matter it will be?”</p> - -<p>“But I refuse to tell them that I——”</p> - -<p>The machine had stopped outside of the door. In an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span>other moment the -detectives would be inside the cabin. There was but one method open to -Nash; it was a brutal one, but to clear the girl’s name, he resolved to -take it.</p> - -<p>“Miss Trask,” he said, “you must not help me. You must do as I have -said. A moment ago you told me that there was but one object which led -you to accept this work. Well, you have succeeded. I am the man you -wanted to find.”</p> - -<p>She stared at him dully, unable to grasp his meaning. Footsteps came -heavily across the board porch.</p> - -<p>“I—I don’t understand!” she gasped. “I don’t——”</p> - -<p>Nash clenched his hands. “Miss Trask—I am the man who shot your -brother. Now you must do as I say.”</p> - -<p>The color drained from her face and she sank back against the wall, as -if Nash’s declaration had been a stinging lash. Her lips moved, but no -sound issued from them. Then, reverberating in the silence, came a loud -knock upon the door. It was not answered. A second one came, louder and -more determined.</p> - -<p>“Come in!” Nash said.</p> - -<p>The door was thrown open, and two men stepped inside. They were both -strangers to Nash.</p> - -<p>While one of the men stood near the door, as if to prevent any escape, -the other moved warily toward Nash.</p> - -<p>“Are you Elliot Nash?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“I am,” the engineer responded.</p> - -<p>“Then I’m sorry to say I’ve a warrant here for your arrest.” As he spoke -he drew back his coat, and Nash found himself looking upon a detective’s -badge.</p> - -<p>Nash only smiled, and looked across at the girl, who all this time had -been standing weakly against the wall.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid you’re too late, gentlemen,” he announced. “I have already -surrendered to Miss Breen.”</p> - -<p>Both men looked toward the girl. Then the spokesman laughed, and nodded, -apparently acquainted with her.</p> - -<p>“Well, congratulations, Miss Breen,” he said. “You have got your nerve, -haven’t you? Wanted all the honors in this deal, eh? Leave it to a woman -every time,” he added, in an undertone.</p> - -<p>Nash flashed a curious glance at the girl. He wondered how she would -accept the situation, and he had not long to wait. She drew herself -erect, and a trace of color stole into her cheeks.</p> - -<p>“You may take Mr. Nash to the city with you,” she said, her voice never -more calm. “I—I will appear against him in the morning. Good night, -gentlemen.”</p> - -<p>She walked across the floor, drawing on her heavy riding gloves. Then -she stepped out into the night.</p> - -<p>Presently the sharp thudding of her pony’s hoofs sounded clearly upon -the hard road. Minute by minute they died away, and when they had been -swallowed by the night’s silence, Nash, for the first time in months, -felt a great, crushing sense of loneliness.</p> - -<p>The girl had gone—out of his life—forever. And, somehow, he had begun -to have a deeper feeling than that of mere friendship toward her. He had -even begun to dream those glorious, rose-colored dreams which come to -all men, soon or late.</p> - -<p>And what an end they had come to! His air castles were toppling about -his shoulders.</p> - -<p>To-morrow she would appear against him before the engineering board in -Los Angeles. He would face her—not as a man wrongly accused of -betraying his city, but as a self-confessed murderer of her brother—a -creature to be despised and shunned.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span></p> - -<p>She, whom once he thought would champion his cause, and fight for the -opportunity to undo what she at first fancied was her duty, would now be -only too glad to see him condemned.</p> - -<p>And so this was to be the end of everything, he soliloquized bitterly. -All his efforts and endeavors were to go for naught. He would be made an -example of before the whole State of California.</p> - -<p>“What a penalty!” he murmured to himself.</p> - -<p>“We want to get that midnight train from San Fernando,” the detective -said sharply.</p> - -<p>“I am ready,” Nash responded quietly.</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /><br /> -<small>BEFORE THE BOARD.</small></h2> - -<p>At ten o’clock the following morning Nash was ushered into the big -directors’ room, where the governing board of aqueduct engineers was to -pass judgment.</p> - -<p>The two detectives had brought him into San Fernando by automobile, and -they had been just in time to catch the last train to Los Angeles. -Despite the cloud which hung over his head, Nash had been treated with -the utmost consideration.</p> - -<p>Very little sleep came to him in the few remaining hours of the night. -He was well aware of the serious situation, and tried to fix upon some -definite method of procedure. The examining board would expect him to -defend himself. He resolved to tell the whole truth, from the very day -he discovered the letter in the book of verse to the present. As for -proofs, one way or another, he could offer nothing better than his word.</p> - -<p>It was a beautiful, balmy morning when he walked down Spring Street in -the custody of the two detectives, a morning such as only Los Angeles -can boast of—tempered by ocean breezes, and with the air heavy with the -perfume of orange blossoms. Nash drank deep of the sunshine; how -marvelous it seemed; doubly so now, when his liberty might be but a -question of——</p> - -<p>Before they reached the new city hall on South Broadway a half dozen -newspaper men were trailing them; a camera or two appeared. Somehow, the -news of Nash’s arrest and the expected upheaval in Camp Forty-seven had -reached the ears of the vigilant press.</p> - -<p>The chimes on the city-hall tower were striking eleven when Nash finally -took the seat set aside for him in the big directors’ room. The majority -of the engineers were gathered about the long table, waiting.</p> - -<p>Nash was surprised to see at the far end the familiar face of Jim -Sigsbee. The politician had evidently decided to forego his proposed -trip to San Francisco and remain on the scene.</p> - -<p>The preliminaries were brief and to the point.</p> - -<p>“Our private detective in this affair, Miss Breen, has not shown up,” -the spokesman of the board announced gravely, “but we can proceed. The -prisoner is probably aware of the nature of the crime for which he has -been arrested.”</p> - -<p>Nash admitted that he understood.</p> - -<p>The president of the board continued: “What have you to say in your -defense, Mr. Nash?”</p> - -<p>Nash got to his feet and calmly faced the assembly.</p> - -<p>“Upon my arrival in this city, gentlemen, I happened upon a letter -directed to a Mr. Hooker, at that time the foreman of Camp Forty-seven. -The man to whom the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> note was issued did not care for the position. As -no names were mentioned, I took the letter, gave it to Mr. Hooker, and -was engaged.”</p> - -<p>“This letter,” interrupted the president, “was written by whom?”</p> - -<p>“By Mr. Sigsbee.”</p> - -<p>Finding himself the center of all eyes, Sigsbee nodded.</p> - -<p>“I remember giving a letter to a man who claimed to be an Eastern -engineer,” he explained. “He pleaded so hard for a position that I -offered him a chance on Camp Forty-seven.”</p> - -<p>Nash was asked to continue.</p> - -<p>“I began in the camp as a sort of clerk,” he said. “After a week, -because I proved my value, I was made a subforeman, and given charge of -the conduit construction. One day, when Mr. Hooker was—ill, I helped -the city inspector check over the pay roll. Having kept a memorandum of -my own, I found it differed from the foreman’s statement to the extent -of being just about half of the amount that——”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee was instantly upon his feet.</p> - -<p>“That’s a lie, gentlemen!” he cried. “You all know me better than that. -Why, it was at my instigation that this engineer was charged with——”</p> - -<p>Nash ignored the politician’s interruption and continued his remarks -directly to the president. “When I threatened to inform the authorities -of the truth, Mr. Hooker asked me to call upon Mr. Sigsbee. I did so. -Mr. Sigsbee, instead of discharging me, as I had expected, admitted -things were not as they should be, placed the blame on his foreman’s -shoulders, and offered me the position, with the understanding that I -should be directly responsible, and that Camp Forty-seven was to be -forever above suspicion.”</p> - -<p>The engineers were paying close attention, and appeared to be convinced -of Nash’s statements. Sigsbee was still on his feet, and when Nash had -finished he spoke again.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen,” he began smilingly, “you have all known me, most of you, -for the past ten years. You all know how faithfully I have worked that -this great waterway might be made an actuality. The insinuations just -now cast upon myself and upon the affairs of Camp Forty-seven are -absurd. I was attracted to Mr. Nash by his apparent knowledge of -engineering matters, his earnestness, and the fact that he was a native -of this city. Mr. Hooker was ill, and had long before asked for a -vacation. I considered it my opportunity, and made the change. There -were no hard feelings at all, I can assure you. I would like to ask Mr. -Nash, if I may, what proofs he is prepared to offer to substantiate his -claims.”</p> - -<p>Nash realized his helplessness. Sigsbee must have known, too, otherwise -he would never have asked the question.</p> - -<p>“I have no proofs, gentlemen,” he declared, “other than my word.”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee smiled, and sat down. The president nodded for the engineer to -resume.</p> - -<p>“I accepted the position as foreman of Camp Forty-seven, and since then -have worked faithfully in the discharge of my duties. The specifications -given me by Mr. Sigsbee have been followed to the letter. I had no -suspicions as to the trick being played upon me until Miss Breen -arrested me last night.”</p> - -<p>“What trick was played upon you?” asked the president.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Changing the specifications,” Nash answered. “False ones were given me. -I followed them. When I attempted to prove my innocence to Miss Breen I -found they had been taken and the rightful ones substituted.”</p> - -<p>“Did those specifications come from the board, Mr. Sigsbee?” the -president inquired.</p> - -<p>“Certainly, sir,” Sigsbee nodded. “If I am not mistaken, they are now in -Mr. Nash’s cabin, on file. Are they not, Mr. Nash?”</p> - -<p>“They were placed there some time yesterday afternoon, by Mr. Hooker,” -Nash responded.</p> - -<p>Sigsbee looked around at the circle of anxious faces and shook his head. -“Did you ever hear of a more absurd statement, gentlemen?” he asked -solicitously. “Why, the thing is farcical!”</p> - -<p>By their expressions, the men about the table seemed to agree with -Sigsbee. The president spoke again, after the interval:</p> - -<p>“I suppose, Mr. Nash, you have proofs to substantiate these claims -against Mr. Sigsbee?”</p> - -<p>“As the false specifications are gone, I am unable to give you any,” -Nash responded. “Mr. Sigsbee and his confederate, Mr. Hooker, have -planned a shrewd game, and have left few loopholes. As the matter stands -at the present I am helpless.”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee was upon his feet instantly, his cheeks flaming. “I won’t stand -for such insinuations!” he roared. “I won’t stand for a man of Mr. -Nash’s reputation to——”</p> - -<p>The president of the board put up his hand. “Just a moment, Mr. -Sigsbee,” he cautioned. “I think we can straighten out this matter with -the aid of these new witnesses.”</p> - -<p>The door had opened. Every eye in the room instantly turned. Miss Breen -and Hooker advanced into the room and were seated.</p> - -<p>Miss Breen and Hooker! Nash felt the hot blood mount to his temples. So -she had gone over to the other side! He knew she must do so, yet, deep -in his heart, he hoped——</p> - -<p>Miss Trask, or Miss Breen, as she was known to all the men in the room, -save one, did not look in Nash’s direction. She appeared unusually pale -and concerned.</p> - -<p>“We have been waiting for you, Miss Breen,” the president announced. -“Our evidence appears to be somewhat confused. Will you kindly state -your knowledge of the affair to the board?”</p> - -<p>Miss Trask arose, facing the president. Her voice was low and evenly -pitched, and never once did she falter.</p> - -<p>“I became acquainted with Mr. Nash through an accident, and in his -company, later, I was taken around the camp. One day he allowed me to -inspect the steel sections on the Soledad Siphon. Unknown to him, I -measured the steel, and later on compared the measurements with the -specifications. It was then I learned the truth; that the steel he had -been using was a quarter of an inch too thin. I then reported the -facts.”</p> - -<p>Nash listened eagerly. Miss Trask’s declaration explained her actions -and questions that day when he had willingly guided her about the camp.</p> - -<p>“Have you any answer to make, Mr. Nash?” the president asked.</p> - -<p>“None whatever,” Nash answered quietly. “Miss Breen has told you the -whole truth. I have not denied that my steel was a quarter of an inch -too thin.”</p> - -<p>For the smallest part of a minute Miss Trask allowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span> her eyes to rest -upon him. Nash’s heart responded. Was it possible that he could read -within those depths a message of——</p> - -<p>Hooker was called upon. The president handed him a copy of the true -specifications.</p> - -<p>“These are similar to the ones you delivered to Mr. Nash?”</p> - -<p>Hooker nodded. “Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Nash claims you changed the copies yesterday afternoon,” the -president declared. “That you took the false ones and substituted -these.”</p> - -<p>“Such an idea never entered my head,” replied Hooker.</p> - -<p>“Where were you yesterday afternoon?”</p> - -<p>“I was in Camp Forty-seven for about an hour.”</p> - -<p>“To see whom?”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Nash. He was out. I waited around a short time and finally left in -Mr. Sigsbee’s machine.”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee was plainly nervous. His fingers were drumming upon his chair -arm, and he shifted about uncomfortably.</p> - -<p>“Where did you go from Camp Forty-seven?” the president asked.</p> - -<p>“Up the usual road.”</p> - -<p>“But you only arrived in Los Angeles this morning, I understand.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir. About two miles below the camp my gasoline tank sprang a -leak, and I was forced to spend the night at the Elkhorn Ranch.”</p> - -<p>“That is where Miss Breen is staying, is it not?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir. She came in with me this morning.”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee was ready to interrupt once more. He seemed particularly anxious -to have Hooker silent.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen of the board,” he began impressively, “it seems to me that -all the necessary arguments have been heard. Miss Breen has testified, -and also Mr. Hooker. Both parties are known to you, and you must be -forced to admit that the claims suggested by Mr. Nash are not alone -preposterous, but impossible as well.”</p> - -<p>The president nodded, and many of the others did the same.</p> - -<p>“Then I move that we hold Mr. Nash guilty of the charges brought against -him, and turn him over for trial before the proper authorities,” Sigsbee -resumed.</p> - -<p>The president of the board hesitated a moment. “There are a number of -points which do not seem quite clear to me as they stand, but which will -probably come to light during the trial. However, to me, at least, Mr. -Nash appears to be prompt with his answers, and, to all appearances, -telling a straightforward story. Of course, his word, against——”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee interrupted. “One moment, if I may. It seems that Mr. Nash is -unable to give us any proofs as to the existence of these so-called -frauds, and perhaps, if we are to weigh his words with any consideration -at all, we might ask him why he left a responsible position in New York -and came here to Los Angeles, willing to accept a minor one.”</p> - -<p>Nash’s fingers clenched themselves. He had been fearing that question, -not so much because of himself as because of Miss Trask.</p> - -<p>“When we are to consider a man’s word, and weigh it conscientiously,” -Sigsbee went on to say, “we ought to convince ourselves that his past is -one to warrant it.”</p> - -<p>He turned directly to Nash.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Perhaps you will tell us why you left the New York Aqueduct so -abruptly, Mr. Nash?”</p> - -<p>“That has nothing to do with the charge you are bringing against me,” -Nash answered hotly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, hasn’t it?” Sigsbee sneered. “Well, perhaps the gentlemen of this -board will think differently. Perhaps you do not relish the idea of -telling them that you are a murderer! That you left New York to escape -paying the penalty.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.<br /><br /> -<small>THE UNEXPECTED.</small></h2> - -<p>The effect of Sigsbee’s declaration upon the rest of the listeners was -dynamic. Every eye swung around and rested upon Nash’s white face.</p> - -<p>“What have you to say, Mr. Nash?” the president questioned, first to -find his voice.</p> - -<p>“I have nothing to say,” replied Nash.</p> - -<p>“But I have!” a clear, commanding voice arose.</p> - -<p>Nash lifted his eyes. Miss Trask, who had so abruptly interrupted, was -upon her feet. She looked at the president, who appeared to be as much -surprised as the others.</p> - -<p>“May I explain?” she asked.</p> - -<p>The president nodded. Sigsbee brought himself erect in his chair, a -frown chiseled between his brows.</p> - -<p>“Why, surely, Miss Breen,” he said anxiously, “this affair cannot -interest you.”</p> - -<p>“On the contrary, Mr. Sigsbee, it is of vital interest to me,” she -answered swiftly. “The man whom you have accused Mr. Nash of murdering -was my brother!”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee could only sit and gasp; the others about the long table leaned -forward in their chairs. So abrupt and startling was the announcement -that in the hush which followed one might have heard the dropping of a -pin.</p> - -<p>“Your brother?” It was the president who first regained his voice.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Miss Trask.</p> - -<p>“And this man”—indicating Nash—“this man killed him?”</p> - -<p>“That is what Mr. Sigsbee would have us believe,” the girl answered -quietly.</p> - -<p>“But we have it from his own lips,” broke in Hooker, who, up to the -present, had remained dumb. “Nash told me himself that——”</p> - -<p>“I know,” Miss Trask nodded. “I, too, have heard it from his own lips. -He told me last night—just before the detectives arrived from Los -Angeles.”</p> - -<p>“And he knew, at the time, that you intended arresting him?” asked the -president.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then why——”</p> - -<p>“Why am I defending him??” Miss Trask interrupted. “Because there has -been a mistake—a horrible mistake. Mr. Nash is as innocent of the crime -as any one in the room.”</p> - -<p>Nash caught at his breath, staring dumbly, wonderingly, into her face. -What motive, he asked himself, had prompted Miss Trask to change so -abruptly?</p> - -<p>“Until this morning—an hour ago,” Miss Trask continued, “I believed his -confession. Then I received a wire from New York saying that one of the -aqueduct engineers, dying, has confessed to the murder. I did not -understand at first, but after a time it became clear to me. Mr. Nash -had a quarrel with my brother; a gun<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span> was fired somehow. The shot cut -across my brother’s cheek. I distinctly remember, because he was brought -home, and remained there for a week. Two weeks later he was engaged in -another fight—and this one proved fatal. Mr. Nash believed all the -time—as I did at first—that he was responsible; that it was in his -quarrel my brother had met his death. My brother was quick-tempered, and -he provoked the fight. I want Mr. Nash to be freed of all blame.”</p> - -<p>Nash listened as a man in a dream, and finally, when Miss Trask had -finished, and had smiled upon him, he spoke:</p> - -<p>“The fight took place in a café,” he said, bringing back the vivid -picture. “It was a harmless one at first. We began sparring; he dropped -to the floor. Then he jerked out a gun—I was unarmed. But suddenly a -shot rang out behind me, your brother cried out, and when I looked down -his face was bathed in crimson. Somebody grabbed me, forced me out of -the room. They told me my opponent was dying, and that I must run for -it. Explanations were useless.” Nash stopped, and looked around at the -circle of interested faces.</p> - -<p>“That—that is all,” he said, “except that I packed my things that night -and took the first train for California.”</p> - -<p>With the exception of Sigsbee and Hooker, the others in the room were -visibly impressed. Sigsbee, instantly aware that the issue at hand was -being forgotten, got to his feet.</p> - -<p>“A very remarkable little romance,” he sneered. “Very remarkable, -indeed! But I’m afraid we are wandering from the subject. While Miss -Breen has apparently proven that Mr. Nash did not murder her brother, -the fact remains that he was a trouble-maker, and——”</p> - -<p>“Just a moment, Mr. Sigsbee,” interrupted Miss Trask. “Whatever Mr. Nash -did in the past is of no concern at the present time. May I have -permission to speak at length?” She looked over at the president, who, -understanding, nodded.</p> - -<p>“Since I became engaged upon this case, gentlemen,” she continued, “I -have had the opportunity of learning a few unexpected truths. Convinced, -as I was at first, of Mr. Nash’s disloyalty, I was amazed at his manner -toward me and the men under him, and his enthusiasm for his work. It was -only after a severe struggle with myself, and after I had found what I -concluded was the final proof of his unfaithfulness, that I took up the -matter with the board of engineers.”</p> - -<p>“Do we understand that you retract the evidence you have only just -offered?” demanded the president.</p> - -<p>“Certainly not, Mr. President,” she answered. “Every word I have said in -the matter of the siphons is true. Even Mr. Nash agrees with me.”</p> - -<p>Nash nodded. “I have denied nothing,” he said. “Miss Breen’s statements -are perfectly correct.”</p> - -<p>In a puzzled way he waited for her to continue.</p> - -<p>“Several days ago Mr. Nash saved my life,” the girl resumed. “It was -then, half crazed by what I had gone through, that I confessed -everything to him. I told him who I was, and what I had done.”</p> - -<p>“That was before his arrest?” leaped to Sigsbee’s lips.</p> - -<p>“Yes, before his arrest.”</p> - -<p>Sigsbee shrugged. “It’s a wonder, carried away by your feelings for this -man, that you didn’t urge him to escape,” he said.</p> - -<p>“That is exactly what I did do, Mr. Sigsbee.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The politician stared. “You—you tried to——”</p> - -<p>“I told him the truth, and urged him to get away before he was arrested. -Not only then did I plead with him, but I went into camp an hour before -his arrest and begged him to leave.”</p> - -<p>“What prevented him from doing so?” asked the president.</p> - -<p>Miss Breen smiled. “His innocence, gentlemen. Why, do you think, being -guilty of this crime, he would have remained in camp? It was because he -was innocent that he remained.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say, Miss Breen,” the president asked, “that you believe -Mr. Nash was ignorant of the offense for which——”</p> - -<p>“I do!”</p> - -<p>“But you have already testified——“ began Sigsbee.</p> - -<p>“I testified to the facts exactly as they were, exactly as I found them; -exactly, gentlemen, as Mr. Nash admits they were. He does not deny that -his steel was different from the specifications. What he does deny is -that he was given those specifications there on the table.”</p> - -<p>“If he was given other specifications, which he claims to have -followed,” Sigsbee declared, “why does he not show them? What we want at -this inquiry is proofs, not words.”</p> - -<p>Miss Breen allowed her eyes to rest upon the insolent, flushed face of -the speaker. “‘Why doesn’t he show the proofs?’ you ask,” she replied -calmly. “Because you took particular pains to put them out of his reach, -Mr. Sigsbee.”</p> - -<p>“Look here!” Sigsbee exclaimed, forgetting, or indifferent to the fact, -that he was addressing a woman. “I won’t stand for any such -insinuations!”</p> - -<p>“You’ll stand for some things you don’t expect,” the girl answered -swiftly, not in the least ruffled by the man’s declaration. “You laid -your plans very carefully, Mr. Sigsbee; you imagined them to be perfect. -Most criminals do. It is the unexpected that steps in and clogs the -smoothest running gear.”</p> - -<p>“I—I demand——“ spluttered the politician.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” announced the girl, apparently enjoying the situation, -which to all others in the room, Nash included, was more than -mystifying. “I’ll satisfy you.”</p> - -<p>She looked around at the circle of interested engineers. Nash found her -eyes, and held them. Something mirrored in their depths sent his pulses -racing.</p> - -<p>“Last night, after leaving Mr. Nash in charge of the detectives,” she -resumed, “I rode back to the ranch. Arrived there, I found Mr. Hooker, -who, as he has previously explained, was preparing to stop overnight. -When I discovered him he was flat on his back under the machine, coat -off, sleeves rolled up, his hands covered with grease and dirt. At his -suggestion, I volunteered to hold the lantern, and later he asked me to -carry his coat into the house. I did so. As I picked up the garment from -the ground, some papers dropped out. I was on the point of returning -them when——”</p> - -<p>Hooker, with a loud cry, suddenly leaped to his feet, flung aside the -chair in which he had been sitting, and which blocked his way, and -bolted for the door.</p> - -<p>“Don’t let him get away!” Miss Breen cried.</p> - -<p>Instantly several of the men sprang into action, and two of them caught -Hooker as he was about to disappear. They brought him back to the table, -and forced him into a chair, where he sat huddled, white-lipped and -trembling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’m sorry Mr. Hooker spoiled my climax,” Miss Breen said, smiling. -“Evidently he has just searched his pockets, and discovered the false -specifications which he took from Mr. Nash’s cabin yesterday afternoon -are missing. However,” she added, opening a little hand bag which she -carried, “they are not lost. Here, gentlemen, are Mr. Nash’s proofs.”</p> - -<p>A bomb, thrown through the window, would not have caused greater -confusion. The false specifications were hurriedly examined by all the -men. Nash’s writing and figures on the margins were instantly -identified.</p> - -<p>Sigsbee, stunned by the unexpected twist in his carefully laid plot, sat -as one stricken dumb.</p> - -<p>“What have you to say, Mr. Hooker?” asked the president, after the -excitement had subsided.</p> - -<p>Hooker seemed to realize his hopeless position. His actions had proven -his guilt. “Camp Forty-seven was rotten with graft,” he said -reluctantly, dully. “Sigsbee and I had to throw the blame on some one’s -shoulders—so we picked Nash. That’s all.”</p> - -<p>The president of the board walked over to Nash. “I guess there’s a great -big apology coming to you, Mr. Nash.” He gripped the engineer’s hand. “I -feel we can depend upon you, and I hope you will continue to represent -us in Camp Forty-seven.”</p> - -<p>“I shall do my best,” Nash answered. “My motto has been, and always will -be, ‘All for Los Angeles.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“That must be our motto as well,” responded the president. “And with -this in view, we must be careful not to allow the faintest whisper of -this meeting to reach the ears of the public. Los Angeles has always -been free from graft and political deals. It must be kept so. The public -must have the utmost confidence in the men who are constructing its -wonderful aqueduct. I believe all the members present understand the -delicate situation. And as for these two gentlemen”—he looked across to -Sigsbee and Hooker—“we must see that they are sent away. We will -withdraw all charges against them. To air this matter in court would be -a detriment to our clean record of the past. And while these men deserve -punishment, severe punishment, we must consider, above all else, the -welfare of our city. Therefore, I move that these men be placed in the -custody of a detective and taken East.”</p> - -<p>The suggestion of the president was unanimously upheld by the board of -engineers.</p> - -<p>Following the verdict, Nash slipped away and found Miss Trask.</p> - -<p>“If it hadn’t been for you,” he murmured, pressing her hand, “I -might——”</p> - -<p>“If it hadn’t been for you,” she interrupted, “that night at the coyote -I might have——”</p> - -<p>The remembrance of that night, and the one particular incident, rushed -to Nash’s mind.</p> - -<p>“And why—why did you lie to me about the time?” he asked. “Why did you -wish to remain with me when you knew that the explosion was to——”</p> - -<p>She looked away, and the color trembled in her cheeks.</p> - -<p>“C-can’t you guess?” she faltered.</p> - -<p>Nash had arrived at a solution a long time previous to this moment, but -it seemed too good to be true. Now he knew it was true.</p> - -<p>“Let’s go over to the Alexandria for lunch,” he suggested. “I can talk -better there.”</p> - -<p>And, once in that big, cosmopolitan hotel, and in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span> secluded corner of -the grillroom, Elliot Nash amazed the stolid-faced waiter by his order. -And what he said later to the girl who shared the feast was meant only -for her ears.</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END.</p> - -<h3><a name="AN_IMPORTANT_EXCEPTION" id="AN_IMPORTANT_EXCEPTION"></a>AN IMPORTANT EXCEPTION.</h3> - -<p>An old man who entered the meteorological office, the other day, said:</p> - -<p>“This ’ere’s where you give out weather predictions, ain’t it?”</p> - -<p>The clerk nodded.</p> - -<p>“Well,” continued the old man, “I thought as how I could come up and -give you some tips.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the clerk politely.</p> - -<p>“Yes; I’ve thought it out a little, an’ I find that ye ain’t al’ays -right.”</p> - -<p>“No; we sometimes make mistakes.”</p> - -<p>“Course ye do. We all does, some time. Now, I was thinkin’ as how a line -that used to be on the auction handbills down in our county might do -first-rate on your weather predictions an’ save ye a lot of explainin’.”</p> - -<p>“What was the line?”</p> - -<p>“Wind an’ weather permittin’.”</p> - -<p>He went off without waiting to say good-by.</p> - -<h3><a name="Saving_the_Building_and_Loan_Money" id="Saving_the_Building_and_Loan_Money"></a>Saving the Building and Loan Money.</h3> - -<p>By E. E. YOUMANS.</p> - -<p>“Paul, I want you to go down to the Building and Loan with this money -to-night,” said Mrs. Brown, as she came into the room where her son was -seated, reading a book. “I’d go myself, but I expect Mrs. Carson here to -see me, and must be on hand when she comes. I guess you can attend to it -all right enough, don’t you think so?”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said the youth, laying aside his book; “I’ll start at once.”</p> - -<p>He secured his hat, and prepared to leave.</p> - -<p>“Look out you don’t lose the money,” cautioned his mother. “There are -some fifty dollars in the roll.”</p> - -<p>“No fear,” answered Paul; and a moment later he was on his way down the -road.</p> - -<p>The place where the Building and Loan Association met was at a small -village, some two miles from Mrs. Brown’s farm, and it was necessary for -Paul to pass through a lonely woods on the way.</p> - -<p>This he did not mind, however, for he was used to the road, and had -often gone through the woods at night. It was just turning dusk when he -left the house, but before he reached the forest, darkness had fallen in -full.</p> - -<p>The moon did not rise till late, and he could not see far ahead when he -passed in under the trees. But he pressed on, the money tucked safely -away in the inside of his vest, and had just reached the end of the -woods, when the sudden glimmer of a light in the edge of the trees -attracted his attention.</p> - -<p>“Why, that’s near the old cave,” muttered the boy, stopping and looking -toward the gleam. “Wonder what it means?”</p> - -<p>He was about passing on, when the impulse to go forward and investigate -seized upon him, and he turned toward the cave.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span></p> - -<p>“It won’t take but a minute,” he told himself. “I’ll just sneak up near -enough to see who’s prowling around. It may be some of the boys, though -it’s been a long time since any of us have been down this way.”</p> - -<p>He climbed over the fence, and stole toward the light. It was still -shining, but before he got halfway to it, it suddenly went out.</p> - -<p>He kept on, however, and soon reached the vicinity of the cave. This was -situated in a small and rocky ravine, and had been formed by several -large bowlders rolling down from the sides of the gorge, and lodging in -such a manner as to leave a considerable cavity underneath.</p> - -<p>Paul and his friends had for a long time used this place as a sort of -rendezvous in some of their sports. But they had lost interest in it, -and had not been there for some time.</p> - -<p>In a few minutes he was near enough to the cave to hear the sound of -strange voices.</p> - -<p>“That’s none of the fellows,” he muttered, beginning to feel a little -uneasy. “But who can it be?”</p> - -<p>He paused for a moment in uncertainty. Then his curiosity urged him on -again, and he soon gained a position behind one of the bowlders that -formed a side of the cave.</p> - -<p>Here he crouched down, and listened. In a little while the party within -began talking again.</p> - -<p>“There’s no doubt about it. He’ll have all the money with him, and, if -we’re smart, we’ll make a clean haul of three or four thousand dollars.”</p> - -<p>“All the same, it’s blamed risky,” said another voice.</p> - -<p>“Well, what of it? I reckon we’re smart enough to make our escape. We’ll -just stay here till twelve or one o’clock, then we’ll make tracks for -Bolton’s house. Take my word for it, bub, he’ll never put that money in -the bank to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>Paul almost betrayed his proximity by the start he gave as these words -reached his ears. Mr. Bolton was the treasurer of the Building and Loan -Association into which he was going to pay the fifty dollars that night, -and these two men were concocting a scheme to rob him at his home.</p> - -<p>The youth soon decided what to do. He must hurry away at once, and tell -the treasurer what he had discovered.</p> - -<p>“It’s the greatest piece of rascality I ever heard of,” thought Paul, as -he cautiously rose to his feet and turned away.</p> - -<p>But he was not destined to escape. He stepped upon a small stone which -slid out from under his foot with a sharp noise, and nearly threw him -down.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” cried one of the men, and the next second both were heard -starting from the cave.</p> - -<p>Paul did not wait. Knowing he was sure to be caught, he broke into a -run.</p> - -<p>The next moment the men saw him, and started in pursuit with a shout of -rage.</p> - -<p>“Stop, you young eavesdropper,” cried the foremost ruffian; “stop, I -say, or I’ll shoot you.”</p> - -<p>Paul paid no attention. He dashed back toward the road, expecting to -have a bullet sent after him each moment, but for some reason it did not -come.</p> - -<p>Straining every muscle, he soon came near the fence, and at the same -moment he heard the pursuers close behind him. He had no time to climb -the fence, and gathered himself for a spring.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span></p> - -<p>When he reached it, he placed his hand on the top rail, and made a -tremendous leap. He would have cleared it all right, but the rail gave -way under him, and he fell headlong into the grass on the roadside.</p> - -<p>He sprang up, but it was too late. A heavy hand was laid on his collar, -and he was jerked violently around.</p> - -<p>“Now I’ve got you,” said a rough voice. “I’ve a good mind to break your -head.”</p> - -<p>“Let me go!” panted Paul.</p> - -<p>“I’ll let you go, confound you,” roared his captor, shaking him -savagely. “Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“None of your business,” said Paul fearlessly. “If you don’t let me go, -it’ll be worse for you.”</p> - -<p>“Careful with that tongue of yours. Just come along back here.”</p> - -<p>With a quick move the youth struck the man a stinging blow in the face. -The ruffian uttered a howl, and put up his hand. Paul broke loose, and -dashed away.</p> - -<p>“Stop him, Dick,” cried the fellow he had hit. “Shoot him down; don’t -let him escape.”</p> - -<p>Paul was running for all he was worth. Dick promptly gave chase. He was -a good runner, and, despite the boy’s desperate exertion, rapidly -overhauled him.</p> - -<p>When he got near enough he struck at the boy with his fist, and once -more Paul sprawled into the road. He was partially stunned, and, before -he could recover, both men were upon him.</p> - -<p>“Let me smash him,” cried the one savagely. “He nearly broke my nose. -Just let me get at him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, what’s the use!” said the other. “We’ve no time to fool with him. -Give me your handkerchief.”</p> - -<p>The man did so, and in a few minutes Paul’s hands were secured behind -him, he was lifted between them, and carried back to the cave.</p> - -<p>Here he was laid down, and Dick began searching him.</p> - -<p>“We may as well take whatever you’ve got of value,” he said. “We deserve -something for that blasted run you gave us.”</p> - -<p>Paul’s heart sank. His mother’s hard-earned fifty dollars would be -stolen.</p> - -<p>The man soon found the book and the bills, and chuckled as he saw the -money. Then, by the light of the lantern which he had relighted, he -examined the book, and uttered a low whistle.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll be hanged, Joe,” he cried, “if here isn’t one o’ the -Buildin’ and Loan books; fifty dollars along with it, too, by the great -thunder! Well, youngster, we’d only get this money anyhow, so we’ll take -it now. Wish we could get all that’ll be paid in to-night as easy as we -get this.”</p> - -<p>He put the bills into his pocket, after which Paul was thrown into the -cave. A large stone lying near was rolled against the entrance, and -Paul’s capture was complete.</p> - -<p>Hour after hour passed till the boy knew it must be after midnight. Then -the men prepared to leave.</p> - -<p>“I reckon you’ll be comfortable there for some time, bub,” said one, as -they moved away. “You can thank your lucky stars that we didn’t kill -you.”</p> - -<p>The next moment they were gone. Paul tugged at the bandage confining his -wrists.</p> - -<p>“I must get away and warn Mr. Bolton,” he reflected excitedly. “They may -kill him.”</p> - -<p>But the handkerchief was well tied, and he could not weaken it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span></p> - -<p>“What shall I do?” he cried desperately. “I must get away.”</p> - -<p>Then an idea flashed into his mind. He rolled over, with his back -against the rock, and, despite the pain, began rubbing the handkerchief -against it.</p> - -<p>His hands were soon bruised and bleeding, but he kept on, until finally -the linen was worn through, and dropped off.</p> - -<p>He groped his way to the entrance, and tried to move the rock. He could -not budge it. He sank back again with a groan of dismay.</p> - -<p>“Too bad,” was his despairing cry. “I can’t get out, after all. The men -must be almost there now. If——”</p> - -<p>He thrust his hand into his pocket, and uttered a low cry. They had not -robbed him of his jackknife, and he soon had it out, digging away the -dirt for life.</p> - -<p>How the boy worked! In half an hour he had dug a large cavity under one -side of the stone, and a hard push sent it over so that he managed to -squeeze through on the other side, and crawl from the cave.</p> - -<p>Then off he started across fields for the house of Gilbert, the town -marshal. He had to cross a brook, but he did not lose time. He waded -through, and, with the water dripping from his garments, reached the -marshal’s house ten minutes later.</p> - -<p>As soon as possible that individual was aroused, and Paul told his -story.</p> - -<p>“Hurry,” he concluded. “You may be too late.”</p> - -<p>In less than five minutes they were hurrying toward the treasurer’s -home. The marshal had two revolvers, one of which he handed to Paul.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be afraid to use it,” he said, and a few minutes after they came -in sight of Mr. Bolton’s house.</p> - -<p>They looked cautiously around as they approached, but all was silent. -Evidently the thieves had not arrived yet.</p> - -<p>When they reached the house, the marshal rang the bell long and hard. A -moment later an upper window was raised, and Mr. Bolton called out:</p> - -<p>“Who’s there?”</p> - -<p>“It’s I, Gus,” said the marshal, stepping back and looking up. “Come -down, quick as you can, and open the door.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Bolton knew the officer, and lost no time in admitting him.</p> - -<p>“What is up?” he asked, when they were all inside.</p> - -<p>The officer explained:</p> - -<p>“They’ll be here soon,” he concluded. “We must be ready for ’em.”</p> - -<p>Hasty preparations were made. Believing that the thieves were acquainted -with Mr. Bolton’s house, the officer concluded they would force an -entrance into the room where the treasurer kept his safe, and to this -apartment they all repaired.</p> - -<p>A large, high-backed sofa was drawn up under the gas jet, the gas was -lighted and turned down low, and the three watchers crouched down behind -the safe.</p> - -<p>“We’ll wait till they get in the room,” said the officer; “then I’ll -give you a nudge, Paul, and you must turn on the gas in full. Bolton and -I will cover ’em with our revolvers, and if they don’t surrender, we’ll -let ’em have it.”</p> - -<p>Paul was much excited. But he tried to remember what the marshal had -told him, and held himself in readiness to turn on the gas when the -signal was given.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a slight noise was heard near the window.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Hist!” said the officer. “There they are!”</p> - -<p>Two or three peculiar scratches were heard, then the sash was carefully -raised. In a moment the men climbed through the window and stood out on -the floor.</p> - -<p>The marshal nudged Paul. A broad glare of light flooded the room, and at -the same moment Marshal Gilbert cried sternly:</p> - -<p>“Surrender, or we’ll shoot you down!”</p> - -<p>Startled into confusion by the sudden illumination of the room and the -ominous command, the two robbers became panic-stricken, and made a dash -for the window.</p> - -<p>But the officer and Bolton were too quick for them. Their revolvers -cracked simultaneously, and both men went down, badly wounded. After -this their capture was easy, and they were soon disarmed and secured.</p> - -<p>They were taken to jail, where their wounds were dressed, and when they -finally recovered were sent to prison.</p> - -<p>Paul, of course, recovered his money, but the members of the Building -and Loan Association were so grateful for the valuable service he had -rendered them that they clubbed together and paid up his mother’s book -for several months to come.</p> - -<h3><a name="THE_PLUMAGE_HUNTER" id="THE_PLUMAGE_HUNTER"></a>THE PLUMAGE HUNTER.</h3> - -<p>Not very long ago the writer accompanied a gold-mining expedition into -the tropical forests of Guiana, and stumbled across an English traveler -who was collecting birds for a London and Parisian firm of merchants. He -was settled in a village of Acawois Indians, far from any of the haunts -of the white man. Every male Indian of the village was in his service, -and at the conclusion of each week they received pay, according to -results, in cheap knives, powder, hatchets, cooking utensils, et cetera; -pay day being usually celebrated by a feast, in which all the men got -fearfully intoxicated on a filthy compound called paiwarri.</p> - -<p>We started out every morning immediately after breakfast. The Indians -were armed with bows and arrows and blowpipes. The collector divided -them into sections, and sent them off into the bush, himself -accompanying one group, but without doing any shooting. I fastened on to -a man and a boy, and kept close in their wake all day. With the skill of -a denizen of the woods, my man did not walk a step without rousing a -feathered creature of some sort. Sometimes a large bird—a toucan or a -macaw—would flap clumsily out of a bush, and the twang of the bowstring -would announce its death. Small birds fluttered across our path -constantly, and these were promptly brought down with the pipe. Now and -then a flight of a score or two would suddenly settle all over in the -branches about our heads, and on these occasions the Indian managed to -kill a dozen or so before they appeared to realize their danger. It was -kill, kill, kill, without a moment’s pause. As the birds fell, the boy -secured the bodies and dropped them into a long wicker basket, which was -strapped across his forehead and hung down his back.</p> - -<p>On our return to the village the men were coming in and emptying their -baskets onto a long table in the middle of the Englishman’s hut. Many of -the birds were of the most brilliant plumage; but there were hundreds of -birds, not boasting any brightness of color, that were of no use. The -slaughter, in fact, is much greater in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span> regard to the birds that are not -wanted than those which reach the English market. The collector, -stripped to the shirt, and with his sleeves rolled up, set to work at -once, going through the game. He handled every bird, dropping those -pretty enough for a bonnet or valuable enough for a collection into one -heap, and the useless ones into another. Not more than one bird in ten -was retained; the rest had been slaughtered uselessly. When I reproached -my friend with this wanton waste of feathered life, he replied that he -could not attempt to kill the birds himself, and it was impossible to -get Indians to discriminate between valuable and worthless specimens.</p> - -<h3><a name="JOKES_FROM_JERROLD" id="JOKES_FROM_JERROLD"></a>JOKES FROM JERROLD.</h3> - -<p>Douglas Jerrold, once the keenest of wits, a remarkable combination of -Thackeray and Hood, is now almost forgotten. It is a pity. His jests -were singularly ripe and racy. He had no mercy on the sentimentalists.</p> - -<p>“I love nature,” said one of these dawdles to him one day. “I often take -a book, retire into some unfrequented field, lie down, gaze on the -heavens, then study. If there are any animals in the field, so much the -better. The cow approaches, and looks down upon me; and I—I look up to -her.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” said Jerrold, “you look up to her with a filial smile!”</p> - -<p>A delightful way of telling him he was a calf.</p> - -<p>Another sentimentalist got a beautiful settler in this way: Walking in -the country, Jerrold and a small party of friends stopped to notice the -antics of a small donkey in a field. A gushing poet in the party said:</p> - -<p>“Dear little thing; how I should like to buy it and give it to my -mother!”</p> - -<p>“Do,” said Jerrold—“do, and tie this sweet motto round its neck: ‘When -this you see, remember me.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>He had little mercy for pretentious prigs, who always abound in -“literary circles.” A young author had written on the same subject as -Lamartine, and bragged of it.</p> - -<p>“Ah,” said he, “Lamartine and I row in the same boat.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Jerrold, “but not with the same skulls.”</p> - -<p>Another of these gentry, praising one of his own plays, said to Jerrold:</p> - -<p>“Do you remember the baroness in that play?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” said Jerrold. “I never read anything of yours without being -struck with its barrenness!”</p> - -<p>At the same time he always had a friendly hand for a man who was too -hard hit. A newspaper called the <i>Chronicle</i>, once attacked a young -friend of his, savagely assailing his work. Jerrold took up the cudgels -and wrote in his defense. He began by telling how, in some countries, -the too luxuriant growth of the vine is prevented by sending asses in to -crop the rising shoots. Then he gravely added:</p> - -<p>“Even so young authors require pruning; and how thankful we all ought to -be that the <i>Chronicle</i> keeps an ass!”</p> - -<p>Walking one day in the Haymarket, then a rather disreputable promenade, -some one met him, and thus accosted him:</p> - -<p>“What, Jerrold, you here? Looking about for characters, I suppose.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Jerrold quietly; “I am told a good many are lost about -here.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span>”</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2><span class="big">THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.</span></h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span></p> - -<h3>Michigan on Gridiron.</h3> - -<p>Six of the eight games which will make up the University of Michigan’s -1915 football schedule were announced recently by the board in control -of the athletics. The midweek games have not yet been decided upon.</p> - -<p>The schedule follows:</p> - -<p>October 9, Mount Union; October 16, Case; October 23, Michigan -Agricultural College; October 30, Syracuse; November 6, Cornell; -November 13, Pennsylvania at Philadelphia.</p> - -<p>With the exception of the Pennsylvania game on Franklin Field, Michigan -will fight all her battles on the home gridiron next fall.</p> - -<h3><a name="Hen_and_High-bred_Chickens" id="Hen_and_High-bred_Chickens"></a>Hen and High-bred Chickens.</h3> - -<p>A hen of high-flying propensities advertised her character when a barred -Plymouth Rock, the property of Mr. Gushee, of Hastings, N. Y., announced -from a cedar tree on the Longue Vue estate, that she had a remarkable -secret to impart.</p> - -<p>Those who answered the frenzied squawks for aid found with her a brood -of thirteen chicks. M. C. Cronin, who superintends the poultry stock at -Longue Vue, removed the flock from the tree crotch, which was twenty -feet from the ground, and installed the family in a comfortable house. -The hen had been missing for days, but no one thought to look for her at -such a height. Now they are trying to decide whether the birds are cedar -birds or plain chickens.</p> - -<h3><a name="Destroying_Odor_of_Smoke" id="Destroying_Odor_of_Smoke"></a>Destroying Odor of Smoke.</h3> - -<p>A new invention is a lamp which consumes smoke. It resembles an ordinary -alcohol lamp in appearance. At the tip of its burner is a piece of -platinum. When the platinum is made to glow by the alcohol flame arising -from the burner it gives off formaldehyde in great quantities. This -overcomes the smoke or any other impurity in the atmosphere. When the -lamp is lighted in a room where smoking is in progress it prevents the -accumulation of stale smoke. It can also be used as a disinfector.</p> - -<h3><a name="Ex-slave_Ill_at_102" id="Ex-slave_Ill_at_102"></a>Ex-slave Ill at 102.</h3> - -<p>Mrs. Minerva Gillies, whose father, Richard Washington, was George -Washington’s slave, was taken to the Harlem Hospital, in New York -recently, suffering from ailments that come with old age. She is 102 -years old, and lived with her daughter at 58 West 133d Street.</p> - -<p>Richard Washington was a stableboy at Mount Vernon. After the death of -George Washington, he was sold and went to Petersburg, Va. There Minerva -was born. She remained in slavery until the end of the Civil War, when -she came North.</p> - -<h3><a name="From_Gate_to_President" id="From_Gate_to_President"></a>From Gate to President.</h3> - -<p>At a meeting of the directors of Yale & Towne, of Stamford, Conn., the -largest hardware manufacturing concern in the country, if not in the -world, Walter C. Allen, who twenty-three years ago applied for a job at -the gate of the works, was elected president in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> place of Henry R. -Towne, who retires after forty-six years in that position.</p> - -<p>Mr. Towne was made chairman of the board of directors.</p> - -<h3><a name="Death_Takes_Four_of_Family" id="Death_Takes_Four_of_Family"></a>Death Takes Four of Family.</h3> - -<p>For the first time in the history of Loganville, Ga., according to the -older inhabitants, four deaths occurred in one family within four days. -Edgar Rickets, who lives about four miles west of the place, experienced -this affliction recently.</p> - -<p>On a Monday he attended the funeral of his mother. That night his baby -died, and the next day his wife and little boy, about two years old, -also died, all being victims of pneumonia fever. The three bodies were -buried Wednesday in a local cemetery. This is the first time that a -triple funeral has ever occurred from one family in this section.</p> - -<h3><a name="Dog_Rescues_an_Old_Soldier" id="Dog_Rescues_an_Old_Soldier"></a>Dog Rescues an Old Soldier.</h3> - -<p>Wanderer, a smart collie, is being showered with attention as a hero in -Woodside, Md., for saving from death Charles McCallion, an aged veteran -of the Civil War. “Wan,” as the dog is commonly known, is owned by Edson -B. Olds, treasurer of the Union Trust Company.</p> - -<p>Mr. Olds’ attention was attracted to the continuous barking and peculiar -antics of the dog on Sunday morning. Wan would dash up to the house and -bark for a few minutes, then run to a field near by and bark again.</p> - -<p>When Mr. Olds followed Wan on one of the trips, he found McCallion lying -in the middle of the field, unconscious from the cold. A physician was -summoned, and the aged veteran was taken to the Soldiers’ Hospital. He -will recover.</p> - -<h3><a name="Ding_Dong_Go_Bells_for_Wong_Chungs" id="Ding_Dong_Go_Bells_for_Wong_Chungs"></a>Ding Dong! Go Bells for Wong Chungs.</h3> - -<p>Mr. Wong Chung, late of China, whose head is said to be worth $10,000 to -certain bloodthirsty officials of his native land, and Mrs. Chung Fong, -more recently of the Celestial republic, who has traveled 10,000 miles -to wed the political refugee with the precious cranium, were married in -New York recently at the First Chinese Presbyterian Church by the -Reverend Huie Kin.</p> - -<p>The flavor of romance which one might expect from the above was absent -at the ceremony. Mr. Chung is tall and thin, with the face of a student. -He was attired in the official gala dress of the new republic, which -consists of gray trousers, Prince Albert, high collar, and ascot tie. -His bride, who is a slim, elderly lady, with gold-rimmed spectacles, -wore a native Chinese costume of white silk, with a loose tunic effect -and a short white veil. She bought this just before she set out in -search of the prospective husband, whom she had not seen in ten years.</p> - -<p>Many of the elite of the Chinese colony, which is not to be confused -with Chinatown, witnessed the ceremony. Miss Fun Hin Liu, a Wellesley -graduate, was the bridesmaid, and Mr. Lo Lam, a student from Columbia, -was best man. After the ceremony, which was the simple Presbyterian -ritual, delivered in English by the pastor of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> the church, Professor Ou, -of the Canton Chinese College, made singing noises while the newly -married pair had their pictures taken.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Fong met her husband ten years ago while he was serving as dean of -the Canton Christian College. Since then the two have kept up a -correspondence, which grew so ardent on his side that it finally lured -Mrs. Fong across the Pacific and to Chicago, where her husband-to-be met -her and brought her to New York.</p> - -<p>Starved, Fight for Food.</p> - -<p>Owing to the extended shutdown of the mines in Venetia, a small mining -town in Washington County, Pa., 480 persons, including many women and -children, are slowly starving to death. This message was received in a -letter sent to a local newspaper. Barks and herbs are the only food that -the starving people can obtain, and the pangs of hunger have so affected -many that they fight one another for the bark and herbs that can be -found in the fields and woods.</p> - -<h3><a name="New_Flag_for_Marshall" id="New_Flag_for_Marshall"></a>New Flag for Marshall.</h3> - -<p>Vice President Marshall is the first vice president of the United States -to have a naval flag all his own. The necessity for the creation of such -an ensign was brought about by the intended visit of Mr. Marshall, as -the president’s representative to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San -Francisco.</p> - -<p>When the vice president determined to go, and arrangements for his -reception were in progress, the navy department found that, while the -president and the secretary and assistant secretary of the navy each had -a flag, the vice president had none. The duty of providing a vice -president’s flag proved simple. The new banner will be the reverse of -the president’s flag in the color distribution. It will be of white, -with the arms of the United States—a spread eagle bearing on its breast -a shield of stars and stripes. The eagle will be of blue and the shield -in red, white, and blue.</p> - -<h3><a name="J_B_Brady_Aids_Woman" id="J_B_Brady_Aids_Woman"></a>J. B. Brady Aids Woman.</h3> - -<p>James B. Brady, noted as “Diamond Jim,” while sitting as a member of the -New York grand jury, was so touched by the story of one of the witnesses -that he suggested taking up a collection for her. Just to start things -off, he tossed a brand-new one-hundred-dollar bill on the stenographer’s -table, and when the other jurors had added their contributions, there -was $130 in the purse.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Marka Buila, of 1324 First Avenue, was the woman whose plight -touched Mr. Brady’s heart. She told the jury that she had been robbed of -all her money, jewelry, and clothing, and when she was summoned to -testify last Monday, had to walk to the Criminal Courts Building from -her home in Harlem.</p> - -<p>The man against whom the woman was testifying was indicted.</p> - -<h3><a name="Army_of_Institutions" id="Army_of_Institutions"></a>Army of Institutions.</h3> - -<p>Charitable, civic, and religious organizations exceeding 3,800 are -working for the betterment of people and things in New York City, -according to the directory issued by the Charity Organization Society.</p> - -<p>There are 1,800 churches. Social centers and settlements, 150 in -Manhattan and forty-one in the other boroughs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span> lead the remainder of -the list, which includes hospitals, kindergartens, homes, nurseries, and -missionary societies. Included in the directory are the names of twelve -war-relief bodies. About 6,000 persons are associated with charitable -agencies.</p> - -<h3><a name="Anarchist_Plot_Revealed" id="Anarchist_Plot_Revealed"></a>Anarchist Plot Revealed.</h3> - -<p>One of the exhibits at the next county fair in Metuchen, N. J., will be -a prize Jersey anarchist, guaranteed to give results any place at any -time.</p> - -<p>A farm where anarchists will be reared in proper anarchistic atmosphere -was purchased recently by a man who said he was Harry Kelly, chairman of -the Ferrer Settlement, of New York City. He bought the sixty-nine-acre -farm of Walter Rush, in Raritan Township, where, he declared, the -headquarters of the Ferrer School will be established about May 1st.</p> - -<p>“Our main object,” he said, “in establishing the colony is to produce -genuine anarchists, and we must rear our children in a thoroughly -anarchistic atmosphere.”</p> - -<p>The plot will be cut up into building lots. To each anarchist will be -given one plot, upon which he is expected to sow the seeds of anarchy, -tomatoes, and turnips. Kelly says the settlement will be the anarchist -headquarters in the East.</p> - -<p>This town is all excited. It remembers with painful distinctness what -happened four years ago, when the socialists established a colony near -the site of the contemplated anarchist farm. Professor George D. Herron -and Eugene V. Debs took the leading part in the formation of the -socialist pasture ground.</p> - -<p>Nobody took more than the usual curious interest in the project until -the announcement seeped into this town that Herron was going to bring -Miss Carrie Rand to live with him “according to the new and simple form -of marriage ceremony.”</p> - -<p>Metuchen isn’t exactly puritan, but when that news reached it, every -Metuchenite dug his Bible out of the attic and joined his neighbor in -excited protest. Metuchen was willing to tolerate some things, but when -it came to winking at free love, never!</p> - -<p>So highly excited did the townsfolk become that Herron and his wife left -for Florence, Italy, where they lived until her death a year ago. And -even though the socialist farm was established, nothing that resembled -free love ever made its appearance.</p> - -<p>That’s why Metuchen sizzles with palpitating expectation and teems with -a throbbing skepticism. It knows what the I. W. W. folk have done in -Paterson, another Jersey town, and it has read what the anarchists in -New York are reputed to have done.</p> - -<p>Metuchen was able to repel the socialists when they would have set up a -free-love colony in the neighborhood. But it is not so sure that it can -stand off genuine anarchists.</p> - -<h3><a name="Rowing_Dates_for_Year" id="Rowing_Dates_for_Year"></a>Rowing Dates for Year.</h3> - -<p>In addition to the announcement on Saturday night that the championship -meet of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen would be held at -Springfield, Mass., on August 13th and 14th, the following rowing dates -were made public by the Amateur American Rowing Association:</p> - -<p>May 22—American Rowing Association, at Philadelphia; May 31—New York -Rowing Association, on the Harlem River, New York; June 19—Schuylkill -Navy Regatta, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span> Philadelphia; July 3—Hudson River Rowing Association -meet; July 5—People’s regatta, at Philadelphia; New England regatta, at -Charles Basin, Boston; Western Massachusetts Rowing Association, at -Springfield, Mass.; Rosedale Boat Club open regatta, on Hackensack -River, New Jersey; September 6—Middle States Rowing Association, meet -date not yet fixed; New England Rowing Association regatta, at Boston; -Detroit River Rowing Association, at Detroit; September 9 to 15—Pacific -Coast Association meet at Pan-American Fair, San Francisco; September -15—Detroit River Rowing Association, at Detroit.</p> - -<h3><a name="Reduce_World_Armies_Plan" id="Reduce_World_Armies_Plan"></a>Reduce World Armies Plan.</h3> - -<p>A movement to bring about a world-wide restriction of armies and navies -by international agreement after the European War is ended is announced -by the American League to Limit Armaments. The crusade is being -organized through conferences and correspondence with leaders of public -opinion in several foreign countries, it was stated.</p> - -<p>“We are undertaking to solidify the movement and co-ordinate the efforts -along this line while the war is still in progress, in order to make the -strongest possible presentation of the issue at the earliest opportune -moment,” says the league’s announcement. “We are not proposing methods -to bring peace to Europe until Europe is ready to stop fighting of its -own accord. We stand by what we hold to be the main proposition—that -the reduction of all armaments to the least proportions consistent with -the demands of normal tranquillity and the use of the money now going -into destructive engines of war for the constructive agencies of peace -is the true solution of the peace problem.”</p> - -<h3><a name="To_Sell_a_Pilgrims_House" id="To_Sell_a_Pilgrims_House"></a>To Sell a Pilgrim’s House.</h3> - -<p>The only remaining house in America which has sheltered persons who came -to Plymouth on the <i>Mayflower</i> in 1620 is to be sold at auction by order -of the court.</p> - -<p>The house was built in 1666 by a son of John Howland, the last -<i>Mayflower</i> survivor. In course of time the building fell into decay, -but upon the organization in 1911 of the Society of the Descendants of -Pilgrim John Howland of the ship <i>Mayflower</i>, the property was acquired -and restored by that body.</p> - -<h3><a name="Lieutenant_Shares_Meal_with_Private" id="Lieutenant_Shares_Meal_with_Private"></a>Lieutenant Shares Meal with Private.</h3> - -<p>Some excitement was created in a Piccadilly grill at luncheon time when -a private English “Tommy” walked in and sat down at a table with a young -lieutenant. The private is the young officer’s father, and before the -war held a high position in a London bank. His lunching with the officer -caused some discussion, and some said it was too much democracy even for -the English army.</p> - -<p>After the meal the young officer said: “Should you refuse to let the -governor buy you a lunch merely because he is a Tommy?”</p> - -<h3><a name="Skipper_of_Six-master_at_Twenty-one" id="Skipper_of_Six-master_at_Twenty-one"></a>Skipper of Six-master at Twenty-one.</h3> - -<p>Shortly after the <i>E. R. Sterling</i>, the only six-masted barkentine in -the world, arrived in San Francisco, Cal., from Nanaimo, B. C., laden -with coal, she was boarded by Federal operatives, who made a thorough -search of the hold for a high-power wireless apparatus which officials -have been informed is destined to be transferred at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> sea to a foreign -warship from some American vessel in the near future. No apparatus was -found.</p> - -<p>Captain Edward Sterling, junior, son of the owner of the <i>E. R. -Sterling</i>, is only twenty-one years old, and is said to be the youngest -skipper of a deep-water ship to possess a master’s license. The vessel -requires a crew of only twelve men, as her sails are raised by donkey -engines.</p> - -<h3><a name="Canary_Sings_in_Trenches" id="Canary_Sings_in_Trenches"></a>Canary Sings in Trenches.</h3> - -<p>A private of the English Second Rifle Brigade, writing to a friend at -Sheffield, England, tells this story of a canary which he says sings and -cheers his comrades through the smoke of battle:</p> - -<p>“Our only companion—in the trenches—is a little canary we rescued from -a deserted house, which had been almost shelled to atoms. On the cage -was a ticket: ‘Please look after this little bird.’ It has made itself -quite at home with us. When we leave the trenches, we hand it over to -the next regiment. So you may guess it’s made quite a fuss of. Last time -we went into the trenches our canary was almost black through the smoke -from shell fire, but it seems as cheerful as ever. Really, it gets so -black with smoke that it’s a job to distinguish it from a sparrow.”</p> - -<h3><a name="Dickens_is_German_Soldiers_Favorite" id="Dickens_is_German_Soldiers_Favorite"></a>Dickens is German Soldiers’ Favorite.</h3> - -<p>Dickens is the German soldiers’ favorite novelist. He stands first in a -list of fifty authors prepared by the great publishing house of Reclam, -of Leipzig, famous for its cheap reprints.</p> - -<p>Of the total number of orders from the German troops at the front -forty-eight per cent calls for fiction, nineteen per cent for serious -reading, comprising philosophy, religion, and arts; seventeen per cent -for poetry and drama, and sixteen per cent for light miscellaneous -stuff, including humorous works.</p> - -<p>The German soldier is catholic in his taste when it comes to fiction, -for not only does he top his list with Dickens, but includes twenty-one -other foreign novelists, among whom appear Bulwer, Defoe, Scott, Dumas, -Daudet, Merimée, Prevost, and Victor Hugo.</p> - -<h3><a name="Forests_Fired_by_Sparks" id="Forests_Fired_by_Sparks"></a>Forests Fired by Sparks.</h3> - -<p>Of the 503 fires reported by the United States Forest Service as having -occurred in 1914 in the national forest purchase areas in the White -Mountains of New England and the Southern Appalachians, 319, or sixty -per cent, were caused by sparks from locomotives. More than half of -these fires, or 272, occurred in Virginia alone, and of these 227 were -from locomotive sparks.</p> - -<p>Three hundred and seventy-nine of the fires were confined to areas of -less than ten acres each, and 296 were put out before a quarter of an -acre had been burned. The total loss amounted to $2,192, and the cost of -fire fighting to $1,300, an infinitesimal sum compared with the value of -the timber and reproduction protected. As the areas swept by fire were -mostly cut over, the greater part of the damage was suffered by young -growth.</p> - -<h3><a name="Expert_Stump_Blower_Has_Narrow_Escape" id="Expert_Stump_Blower_Has_Narrow_Escape"></a>Expert Stump Blower Has Narrow Escape.</h3> - -<p>Jake Bodine, prominent tailor and stump blower of Kenton, Ohio, sat at -his ease and smoked his pipe.</p> - -<p>When it went out, he lighted it again. When it went out a second time, -he decided he had had enough, and laid the pipe aside.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span></p> - -<p>He had been blowing stumps with dynamite during the day, and had brought -four large caps home in his pocket.</p> - -<p>Reaching into his pocket in which he had put the caps, and in which he -carried his smoking tobacco as well, he found three caps instead of -four.</p> - -<p>When he emptied the ashes from his pipe in search of the fourth cap, -that fourth cap rattled out, badly scorched.</p> - -<p>“It’s a good thing my pipe went out when it did,” he says. “If that cap -had gone off, like as not it would have ruined one of the best stump -blowers in Kenton.”</p> - -<h3><a name="Killed_Nineteen_California_Lions" id="Killed_Nineteen_California_Lions"></a>Killed Nineteen California Lions.</h3> - -<p>Nineteen California lions fell before the guns of the bounty hunters in -February. Four were killed in Humboldt County; three in Siskiyou; three -in Lake; two in Mendocino; two in Ventura, and one each in San Benito, -Del Norte, Monterey, Tehama, and Tuolumne. The State paid twenty dollars -to each successful hunter, and in addition to this the pelts brought as -much more. Some counties also give a special bounty for lions’ scalps.</p> - -<h3><a name="Officers_Applaud_New_Box_Wireless" id="Officers_Applaud_New_Box_Wireless"></a>Officers Applaud New Box Wireless.</h3> - -<p>Under the direction of the secretary of war a new wireless apparatus, -the invention of Doctor Otto F. Reinhold, of 77 Nye Avenue, Newark, N. -J., was tested at Bedloe’s Island by First Lieutenant J. G. Taylor, of -the Signal Corps, and M. B. Dilley, master signal electrician. The -government men declared afterward that the apparatus gave promise of -revolutionizing the entire system of wireless telegraphy.</p> - -<p>The apparatus, inclosed in a box about fifteen inches long, six inches -wide, and eight inches high, may be styled a secret radio plant, and is -intended primarily for use in the army field. The astounding feature of -it, according to Lieutenant Taylor, is that it was fully demonstrated -that the little contrivance sends out its sound waves without antennæ.</p> - -<p>The experiment enabled the government officials to communicate with Fort -Totten, about fifteen miles away in one direction, and Fort Hancock, -about twenty miles distant in another. The navy-yard wireless station -called a halt on the tests as the inventor was about to try to reach -Fort H. G. Wright, one hundred and twenty miles away, at New London, -Conn.</p> - -<p>Doctor Reinhold said his apparatus could be connected wherever direct or -alternating current is available. He said it could be used on an -automobile and operated while the machine was at top speed by using -current supplied from the automobile dynamo.</p> - -<p>The inventor claimed for his apparatus that in a recent test he sent a -message three hundred miles.</p> - -<h3><a name="Echoes_of_War_in_London_Want_Ads" id="Echoes_of_War_in_London_Want_Ads"></a>Echoes of War in London Want Ads.</h3> - -<p>Want advertisements are always interesting because of the varied and -intimate side lights which they give on what people are doing and -thinking about. As war topics fill the news and editorial columns of the -English newspapers, so is the war the all-absorbing subject in the -classified department. Following are a few of the advertisements -appearing in the London <i>Times</i>, sent to the <i>Blade</i> by Mr. Boyce as -showing how England is taking the war:</p> - -<p>Dogs and cats of the empire!—The kaiser said: “Germany will fight to -last dog and cat.” Will British dogs<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span> and cats give 6d. each to provide -Y. M. C. A. soldiers’ hut at front? Any dog or cat sending five pounds -can have his or her picture hung in “our” hut.—“Tom,” care of Miss Maud -Field, Mortimer West, Berks.</p> - -<p>Request from sailors and soldiers at the front to send large -consignments of flint and tinder lighters; matches, when procurable, -being unreliable in wet weather. Money to help purchase direct from -makers solicited.—Address Haden Crawford, esquire, Marlow, Bucks.</p> - -<p>Ninth Seaforth Highlanders.—Field glasses are required for the use of -N. C. O.’s and scouts, and will be gratefully received and acknowledged -by Captain Petty, Salamanca Barracks, Aldershot.</p> - -<p>Playing Cards (used) urgently required for wounded soldiers.—Gratefully -received by Miss Peck, Maidencombe, St. Mary Church, Devon.</p> - -<p>Urgently needed, socks for the Eighth Irish Service Battalion, King’s -Liverpool regiment, shortly leaving for the front.—Gratefully -acknowledged by Miss Cox, The Priory, Royston, Herts.</p> - -<p>Elizabeth Motor Ambulance.—Will every one named “Elizabeth” in Great -Britain and Ireland send me contribution toward above—in connection -with Lady Bushman’s Ambulance Fleet—and save our soldiers much -unnecessary suffering?—Mrs. F. Ford, Rushmere, Wimbledon Common, S. W.</p> - -<p>Wounded Soldiers “Margaret” Fund.—“Lady Margarets” subscribe a guinea. -“Margarets” over sixteen, half guinea; “Little Margarets,” 2s. 6d. Lady -Margaret Hospital, Bromley, Kent. Lady Margaret Campbell, Hon. -Treasurer.</p> - -<h3><a name="Loses_Leg_After_Fifty_Years" id="Loses_Leg_After_Fifty_Years"></a>Loses Leg After Fifty Years.</h3> - -<p>Fifty years after a Confederate shell had struck and injured his right -leg, Ellet Ramsey, of Huntingdon, Pa., had the leg removed at the Blair -Hospital. The amputation was made necessary by suffering from the old -wound received half a century ago. He stood the operation well and will -recover.</p> - -<h3><a name="Angry_Lamb_Injures_Woman" id="Angry_Lamb_Injures_Woman"></a>Angry Lamb Injures Woman.</h3> - -<p>Mrs. Garret Smith, of Liberty, Pa., is suffering from severe injuries -received by being butted by an angry lamb. Dan Carroll, a neighbor of -the Smith family, is the owner of the lamb, which escaped from its -premises and went into the Smith yard. Before Mrs. Smith realized what -had happened, she was knocked to the ground and seriously injured, one -of her arms being broken.</p> - -<h3><a name="Lost_Boys_Found_in_Abandoned_Mine" id="Lost_Boys_Found_in_Abandoned_Mine"></a>Lost Boys Found in Abandoned Mine.</h3> - -<p>After searching a week for two small boys who were missing from their -homes during that time, the searchers found the body of William Hale, -five years old, and his companion, Albert Tomlinson, aged ten, still -alive, in an abandoned mine near Banksville, Pa. The boys had been lost -in the mine all that time. Young Tomlinson was almost exhausted from -exposure and hunger.</p> - -<p>The boys were in a small five-foot drop in a mine pit which had several -inches of water in it. The body of the Hale boy was partly submerged in -the water, but his head was resting in the lap of his companion, who -could barely sit erect. The younger boy had starved to death.</p> - -<p>After searching for several days for the missing lads, the party entered -the mine pit. They had progressed only a short distance when they heard -a faint voice cry<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span>ing: “Oh, Thomas; oh, Thomas!” It was young Tomlinson -calling for his older brother.</p> - -<p>When rescued, young Tomlinson said: “Thank God you found us.”</p> - -<p>Tomlinson told an incoherent story. He said he had no idea of time, but -as nearly as he could tell Hale had been dead about two days. He said -they walked hand in hand many miles, endeavoring to find a way out. -After his comrade died, Tomlinson said, he carried the body around with -him. Overcome with exhaustion, he gave up all efforts and had not -sufficient strength to get out of the pool of poisonous water in which -he and Hale’s body was found.</p> - -<p>It is not known how the Tomlinson boy survived the ordeal, but it is -supposed that he subsisted on bark from old timber in the mine. He is in -a hospital now.</p> - -<p>Catches Baby Boy on Roof of Moving Train.</p> - -<p>An escape from death without precedent occurred in Pittsburgh, recently, -on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Walter Betle, four years old, was playing -on the bridge at Thirty-third Street, near where the flooring was being -repaired. He stumbled at a hole and started to fall to the tracks, -twenty-five feet below.</p> - -<p>A freight train was within a few feet of the bridge, running at high -speed. On the roof of the first box car was Richard Roundtree, a -brakeman, saw the boy stumble through the bridge. He braced himself and -managed to catch him as he fell. Roundtree staggered dangerously near -the edge of the roof, but managed to keep his footing until the train -was stopped.</p> - -<h3><a name="Has_Wonderful_Peace_Egg" id="Has_Wonderful_Peace_Egg"></a>Has Wonderful “Peace” Egg.</h3> - -<p>Sam Marks’ Plymouth Rock hen, of Orville, Cal., which recently laid an -egg bearing the Hebrew word for “peace” neatly inscribed thereon, is -bringing her owner much fame and large daily mail. The president of the -Panama-Pacific Exposition has written to Marks, inclosing a free pass to -the exposition and asking Marks to bring the wonderful egg and “Martha,” -the remarkable hen, with him.</p> - -<h3><a name="Lands_975_War_Horses_Across_Ocean_Safely" id="Lands_975_War_Horses_Across_Ocean_Safely"></a>Lands 975 War Horses Across Ocean Safely.</h3> - -<p>Doctor E. R. Forbes, of Fort Worth, Texas, who, early in January, -resigned as State veterinarian to return to British service, recently -took the record on animal transportation, having landed in Europe 975 -head of animals without losing one.</p> - -<p>Doctor Forbes was in good health when the letter containing the news of -his safe arrival at his destination in England was written, and -signified his intention of remaining in the animal-transport service of -Great Britain as long as his services were required during the war.</p> - -<p>Doctor Forbes was employed by the British government during the Boer War -in the same position he now occupies. At that time he took two cargoes -of horses from New Orleans to South Africa, and, after demonstrating how -to care for the animals on shipboard during such a long voyage, returned -to New Orleans, where he continued to pass upon the soundness and -stamina of horses and mules for the British army while the Boer War -lasted.</p> - -<p>Taking 975 head of animals across the Atlantic in mid-winter was a feat -in maritime equine transportation never before equaled, and especially -when it is taken into consideration that not an animal was lost during -the voyage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span></p> - -<p>This is quite in contradistinction to the fate of a shipload of horses -consigned to the Italian government by the steamer <i>Evelyn</i>. When the -steamer neared the Bermuda Islands, the condenser on the vessel broke, -and, no water being available, the cargo, 366 head, was driven into the -sea.</p> - -<p>Another shipment to Italy arrived at its destination with only -seventy-eight alive out of 345 when the vessel left an American port.</p> - -<h3><a name="Michigan_Has_Climbing_Cow" id="Michigan_Has_Climbing_Cow"></a>Michigan Has Climbing Cow.</h3> - -<p>Marshall Rust, a farmer, of Lapeer, Mich., possesses several cows that -are as graceful examples of bovine femininity as ever chewed a cud, but, -in addition, one of them has some athletic ability.</p> - -<p>Mr. Rust recently turned his cows into a field in which was also a wagon -partly loaded with bean pods. One night he went out to milk his cows -just after darkness had set in and found one missing. He searched over -the near-by fields for several hours, but to no avail.</p> - -<p>When morning came, the lost cow was found sleeping peacefully on the -load of bean pods. The cow had climbed on the wagon, six feet from the -ground.</p> - -<h3><a name="Timber_Inspector_Slays_Three_Bears" id="Timber_Inspector_Slays_Three_Bears"></a>Timber Inspector Slays Three Bears.</h3> - -<p>Mat Jordan, expert timber inspector, living in Turner, Mich., is the -hero of the hour just now in that town and vicinity. Old residents, -especially those who came from the East many years ago, declare that if -Mat had lived in the good old pioneer days of which J. Fenimore Cooper -so charmingly wrote, Mat would have made as interesting a story hero as -did Natty Bumpo, the famous deer slayer, only Mat’s long suit is bears, -no matter how many.</p> - -<p>Mat was strolling through the woods near here with a double-bladed ax on -his shoulder. He was there to look over some timber land, with a -prospective dicker looming up in his speculative mind. While pausing to -inspect a likely looking log that lay half concealed with dead brush, he -heard a noise. Stepping toward the sound to investigate, he beheld a -large black bear emerging from its den.</p> - -<p>“Great siege guns!” exclaimed Mat, “this looks like war.”</p> - -<p>It was war, and it started right away, for Mat swung his double-edged ax -and soon had the enemy at his feet, registering its final kicks and last -gasps. While he was surveying his conquered foe with a gleam of triumph -in his weather eye, he suddenly had occasion to exclaim:</p> - -<p>“Well, for the love of Mike, look who’s here!”</p> - -<p>Two more bears, but young, half-grown ones, which were quickly -dispatched and laid alongside their mother. The large bear weighed 175 -pounds.</p> - -<p>Mat went after help, and the carcasses were brought to town, where they -were viewed by hundreds of persons all of whom were of the opinion that -Mat Jordan is the champion bear slayer of Michigan.</p> - -<h3><a name="Strangest_Fresh-water_Fish" id="Strangest_Fresh-water_Fish"></a>Strangest Fresh-water Fish.</h3> - -<p>George Welscher, who lives in Illinois, opposite Commerce, Mo., caught a -strange-looking fish in the Mississippi River the other day. He had been -told that if one would break the ice near the shore and drop a baited -hook in the water, he could sure catch fish. He decided to try it, and -had only been fishing a few minutes when he landed a queer specimen, to -describe it mildly. It had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span> a head like a dog’s, but the body was like a -fish. Where the fins should be it had something like wings, which it -could open and close. It had a tail similar to a cat’s, with fur on it -like a cat’s, and on which the water seemed to have no effect.</p> - -<p>Near the end of the tail there were three prongs, each having a -different color of fur on them—one blue, one white, and the other a -shade of yellow. It had a tusk about two inches long in its mouth. Its -eyes were in the tip of its tail, and instead of having two eyes, it had -three. Welscher said he had no trouble landing the fish, and as soon as -landed it began to bark like a dog.</p> - -<h3><a name="Saved_Russian_from_Big_Bear" id="Saved_Russian_from_Big_Bear"></a>Saved Russian from Big Bear.</h3> - -<p>Andy Williams, an employee of the Gagen Lumber and Cedar Company, of -Gagen, Wis., in one of their camps, two miles from this village, killed -what is thought to be the largest bear ever seen in this vicinity, it -weighing nearly 500 pounds.</p> - -<p>A Russian who was swamping out logs suddenly aroused a monster bear, -and, in his excitement, accidentally hit bruin on the head. The bear, -furious at being struck, made for the Russian, who was now fleeing down -the road at his utmost speed. The Russ no doubt imagined that his end -was near and that there was at least one Russian who would never get -back across the big pond to face a German gun. He probably never would -have if Andy Williams hadn’t come to his rescue and dispatched the bear -with an ax.</p> - -<p>They went back and found three cubs in a hollow log, and they are now -getting the best of care at the camp.</p> - -<h3><a name="Tiny_Locomotive_is_Wonder_in_Details" id="Tiny_Locomotive_is_Wonder_in_Details"></a>Tiny Locomotive is Wonder in Details.</h3> - -<p>A perfect model of an oil-burning railway locomotive, forty-two inches -long, is to be put on exhibition at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. -Arthur H. Johnson, of Seattle, Wash., who built the model, has been -requested by the San Francisco authorities to enter the locomotive as an -exhibit, and he has consented.</p> - -<p>Johnson, who is a young electrician, spent three years in making the -model to try out an invention of his on the fire box. The engine is -equipped with air brakes, an electric-light system, and everything else -that a modern locomotive has. The boiler has been tested out at 150 -pounds working pressure.</p> - -<p>A Massachusetts man has built a miniature battleship, thirteen feet in -length, which has all the features of a real dreadnaught, including guns -that fire, range finders, wireless instruments, gunners, and even a band -that plays martial music. The vessel is propelled by electricity, and -can make ten miles an hour in smooth water....</p> - -<p>Santa’s Aids Honored.</p> - -<p>A large statue of Santa Claus, made of paper pulp molded from five -thousand letters written by poor children of the city to Kris Kringle, -was presented at the Hotel Astor, in New York City, to William C. and F. -A. Muschenheim, two of Santa’s aids. It is the gift of the Santa Claus -Association and the Waterman’s Ideal Ten-year Club.</p> - -<p>John D. Gluck, founder of the Santa Claus Association, presented the -figure to the Muschenheims. The statue is three-quarters life size and -rests on a base of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span> Italian marble. Kratina, the sculptor, spent two -months in molding it.</p> - -<p>The inscription says the gift is in recognition of “assistance rendered -to the children of the poor, who wrote to Santa Claus. A fortune was -sent to poor kiddies, for fuel, food, and toys, and five thousand of -them no longer say there is no Santa Claus.”</p> - -<p>Find Missing Man in Shark.</p> - -<p>The mystery surrounding the disappearance three years ago at St. -Augustine, Fla., of John B. Mooney, of Mooney Brothers’ Company, was -cleared up when his son, Edgar J. Mooney, of Cleveland, Ohio, received -word from Miami, Fla., that the upper portion of a human skeleton, which -is thought to be that of J. B. Mooney, had been found in the stomach of -a shark caught near there this week.</p> - -<p>In 1912 the elder Mooney was in bathing at St. Augustine when he -suddenly disappeared in the surf. It was thought that a strong undertow -had carried him out to sea, but it is now believed a shark seized him.</p> - -<p>Interesting New Inventions.</p> - -<p>The “bicycle built for two” about which there used to be a song was -followed by the motor cycle carrying two passengers. This has now been -improved upon. The newest kind has two chair seats, one behind the -other, instead of saddles.</p> - -<p>To save neckties from the wear and tear of pinholes, a scarfpin has been -patented that clips on the edge of a tie.</p> - -<p>In the interest of cleanliness, an Iowa inventor has patented a wire -frame to hold a milk pail up from the ground.</p> - -<p>A Frenchman has invented a machine for dealing cards that is said to -make misdeals impossible.</p> - -<p>A microthermometer has been invented that is so delicate that it is -capable of registering sea-water temperature changes to one-thousandth -of a degree. The instrument is intended to enable ship’s officers to -detect their approach to icebergs.</p> - -<p>A novel wrench that will hold a nut of almost any size is made of a -single piece of steel, the handle being split so that the jaws are -sprung together as a strain is applied.</p> - -<p>Snake Poison Fails to Cure.</p> - -<p>Rattlesnake venom as a cure for epilepsy proved a failure in official -tests conducted by the State of Kansas. A report filed in Chicago by -Doctor M. L. Perry, superintendent of the State Hospital for Epileptics, -at Parsons, notes the effect of the venom on six patients at the -institution who received the treatment for two months.</p> - -<p>“In two cases there were more attacks than before; another was -unchanged, and one patient’s condition grew so alarming that the -treatment was discontinued in two weeks,” the report says.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span></p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p><span class="big250"><b>TOBACCO HABIT</b></span> You can conquer it easily in 8 days, improve your health, -prolong your life. No more stomach trouble, no foul breath, no heart -weakness. Regain manly vigor, calm nerves, clear eyes & superior mental -strength. Whether you chew; or smoke pipe, cigarettes, cigars, get my -interesting Tobacco Book. Worth its weight in gold. Mailed free. E. J. -WOODS, 230 K, Station E. New York, N.Y.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span></p> - -<p class="big250">The Nick Carter Stories</p> - -<p class="c"> -ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY <span style="margin-left: 2em;">BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>When it comes to detective stories worth while, the <b>Nick Carter Stories</b> -contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn -tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest -minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar -all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in -twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of -time so well as those contained in the <b>Nick Carter Stories</b>. It proves -conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of -the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt -of the price in money or postage stamps.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind"> -704—Written in Red.<br /> -707—Rogues of the Air.<br /> -709—The Bolt from the Blue.<br /> -710—The Stockbridge Affair.<br /> -711—A Secret from the Past.<br /> -712—Playing the Last Hand.<br /> -713—A Slick Article.<br /> -714—The Taxicab Riddle.<br /> -717—The Master Rogue’s Alibi.<br /> -719—The Dead Letter.<br /> -720—The Allerton Millions.<br /> -728—The Mummy’s Head.<br /> -729—The Statue Clue.<br /> -730—The Torn Card.<br /> -731—Under Desperation’s Spur.<br /> -732—The Connecting Link.<br /> -733—The Abduction Syndicate.<br /> -736—The Toils of a Siren.<br /> -738—A Plot Within a Plot.<br /> -739—The Dead Accomplice.<br /> -741—The Green Scarab.<br /> -746—The Secret Entrance.<br /> -747—The Cavern Mystery.<br /> -748—The Disappearing Fortune.<br /> -749—A Voice from the Past.<br /> -752—The Spider’s Web.<br /> -753—The Man With a Crutch.<br /> -754—The Rajah’s Regalia.<br /> -755—Saved from Death.<br /> -756—The Man Inside.<br /> -757—Out for Vengeance.<br /> -758—The Poisons of Exili.<br /> -759—The Antique Vial.<br /> -760—The House of Slumber.<br /> -761—A Double Identity.<br /> -762—“The Mocker’s” Stratagem.<br /> -763—The Man that Came Back.<br /> -764—The Tracks in the Snow.<br /> -765—The Babbington Case.<br /> -766—The Masters of Millions.<br /> -767—The Blue Stain.<br /> -768—The Lost Clew.<br /> -770—The Turn of a Card.<br /> -771—A Message in the Dust.<br /> -772—A Royal Flush.<br /> -774—The Great Buddha Beryl.<br /> -775—The Vanishing Heiress.<br /> -776—The Unfinished Letter.<br /> -777—A Difficult Trail.<br /> -782—A Woman’s Stratagem.<br /> -783—The Cliff Castle Affair.<br /> -784—A Prisoner of the Tomb.<br /> -785—A Resourceful Foe.<br /> -789—The Great Hotel Tragedies.<br /> -795—Zanoni, the Transfigured.<br /> -796—The Lure of Gold.<br /> -797—The Man With a Chest.<br /> -798—A Shadowed Life.<br /> -799—The Secret Agent.<br /> -800—A Plot for a Crown.<br /> -801—The Red Button.<br /> -802—Up Against It.<br /> -803—The Gold Certificate.<br /> -804—Jack Wise’s Hurry Call.<br /> -805—Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase.<br /> -806—Nick Carter and the Broken Dagger.<br /> -807—Nick Carter’s Advertisement.<br /> -808—The Kregoff Necklace.<br /> -810—The Copper Cylinder.<br /> -811—Nick Carter and the Nihilists.<br /> -812—Nick Carter and the Convict Gang.<br /> -813—Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor.<br /> -814—The Triangled Coin.<br /> -815—Ninety-nine—and One.<br /> -816—Coin Number 77.<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> </p> - -<p class="clft">NEW SERIES</p> - -<p class="clft">NICK CARTER STORIES</p> - -<p class="nind"> -1—The Man from Nowhere.<br /> -2—The Face at the Window.<br /> -3—A Fight for a Million.<br /> -4—Nick Carter’s Land Office.<br /> -5—Nick Carter and the Professor.<br /> -6—Nick Carter as a Mill Hand.<br /> -7—A Single Clew.<br /> -8—The Emerald Snake.<br /> -9—The Currie Outfit.<br /> -10—Nick Carter and the Kidnapped Heiress.<br /> -11—Nick Carter Strikes Oil.<br /> -12—Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure.<br /> -13—A Mystery of the Highway.<br /> -14—The Silent Passenger.<br /> -15—Jack Dreen’s Secret.<br /> -16—Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case.<br /> -17—Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves.<br /> -18—Nick Carter’s Auto Chase.<br /> -19—The Corrigan Inheritance.<br /> -20—The Keen Eye of Denton.<br /> -21—The Spider’s Parlor.<br /> -22—Nick Carter’s Quick Guess.<br /> -23—Nick Carter and the Murderess.<br /> -24—Nick Carter and the Pay Car.<br /> -25—The Stolen Antique.<br /> -26—The Crook League.<br /> -27—An English Cracksman.<br /> -28—Nick Carter’s Still Hunt.<br /> -29—Nick Carter’s Electric Shock.<br /> -30—Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess.<br /> -31—The Purple Spot.<br /> -32—The Stolen Groom.<br /> -33—The Inverted Cross.<br /> -34—Nick Carter and Keno McCall.<br /> -35—Nick Carter’s Death Trap.<br /> -36—Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle.<br /> -37—The Man Outside.<br /> -38—The Death Chamber.<br /> -39—The Wind and the Wire.<br /> -40—Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase.<br /> -41—Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend.<br /> -42—The Queen of the Seven.<br /> -43—Crossed Wires.<br /> -44—A Crimson Clew.<br /> -45—The Third Man.<br /> -46—The Sign of the Dagger.<br /> -47—The Devil Worshipers.<br /> -48—The Cross of Daggers.<br /> -49—At Risk of Life.<br /> -50—The Deeper Game.<br /> -51—The Code Message.<br /> -52—The Last of the Seven.<br /> -53—Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful.<br /> -54—The Secret Order of Associated Crooks.<br /> -55—The Golden Hair Clew.<br /> -56—Back From the Dead.<br /> -57—Through Dark Ways.<br /> -58—When Aces Were Trumps.<br /> -59—The Gambler’s Last Hand.<br /> -60—The Murder at Linden Fells.<br /> -61—A Game for Millions.<br /> -62—Under Cover.<br /> -63—The Last Call.<br /> -64—Mercedes Danton’s Double.<br /> -65—The Millionaire’s Nemesis.<br /> -66—A Princess of the Underworld.<br /> -67—The Crook’s Blind.<br /> -68—The Fatal Hour.<br /> -69—Blood Money.<br /> -70—A Queen of Her Kind.<br /> -71—Isabel Benton’s Trump Card.<br /> -72—A Princess of Hades.<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span>73—A Prince of Plotters.<br /> -74—The Crook’s Double.<br /> -75—For Life and Honor.<br /> -76—A Compact With Dazaar.<br /> -77—In the Shadow of Dazaar.<br /> -78—The Crime of a Money King.<br /> -79—Birds of Prey.<br /> -80—The Unknown Dead.<br /> -81—The Severed Hand.<br /> -82—The Terrible Game of Millions.<br /> -83—A Dead Man’s Power.<br /> -84—The Secrets of an Old House.<br /> -85—The Wolf Within.<br /> -86—The Yellow Coupon.<br /> -87—In the Toils.<br /> -88—The Stolen Radium.<br /> -89—A Crime in Paradise.<br /> -90—Behind Prison Bars.<br /> -91—The Blind Man’s Daughter.<br /> -92—On the Brink of Ruin.<br /> -93—Letter of Fire.<br /> -94—The $100,000 Kiss.<br /> -95—Outlaws of the Militia.<br /> -96—The Opium-Runners.<br /> -97—In Record Time.<br /> -98—The Wag-Nuk Clew.<br /> -99—The Middle Link.<br /> -100—The Crystal Maze.<br /> -101—A New Serpent in Eden.<br /> -102—The Auburn Sensation.<br /> -103—A Dying Chance.<br /> -104—The Gargoni Girdle.<br /> -105—Twice in Jeopardy.<br /> -106—The Ghost Launch.<br /> -107—Up in the Air.<br /> -108—The Girl Prisoner.<br /> -109—The Red Plague.<br /> -110—The Arson Trust.<br /> -111—The King of the Firebugs.<br /> -112—“Lifter’s” of the Lofts.<br /> -113—French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves.<br /> -114—The Death Plot.<br /> -115—The Evil Formula.<br /> -116—The Blue Button.<br /> -117—The Deadly Parallel.<br /> -118—The Vivisectionists.<br /> -119—The Stolen Brain.<br /> -120—An Uncanny Revenge.<br /> -121—The Call of Death.<br /> -122—The Suicide.<br /> -123—Half a Million Ransom.<br /> -124—The Girl Kidnapper.<br /> -125—The Pirate Yacht.<br /> -126—The Crime of the White Hand.<br /> -127—Found in the Jungle.<br /> -128—Six Men in a Loop.<br /> -129—The Jewels of Wat Chang.<br /> -130—The Crime in the Tower.<br /> -131—The Fatal Message.<br /> -132—Broken Bars.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="clft">Dated March 27th, 1915.</p> - -<p class="nind"> -133—Won by Magic.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="clft">Dated April 3d, 1915.</p> - -<p class="nind"> -134—The Secret of Shangore.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="clft">Dated April 10th, 1915.</p> - -<p class="nind"> -135—Straight to the Goal.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="clft">Dated April 17th, 1915.</p> - -<p class="nind"> -136—The Man They Held Back.<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span></p> - -<p class="c">PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. If you want any back numbers of our weeklies -and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be obtained -direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as money.</p> - -<p class="c">STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., NEW YORK CITY</p> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO 120 - 160 / DEC 26, 1914 - OCT 2, 1915 ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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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