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diff --git a/old/66986-0.txt b/old/66986-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2b77633..0000000 --- a/old/66986-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5106 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Seal of Gijon, 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: The Seal of Gijon - Or, Nick Carter’S Ice-House Fight - -Author: Nick Carter - -Editor: Chickering Carter - -Release Date: December 21, 2021 [eBook #66986] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: David Edwards, Thomas Frost and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern Illinois - University Digital Library) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEAL OF GIJON *** - - - - - 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._ - - +------------------------------------------------------------------+ - | Terms to NICK CARTER STORIES Mail Subscribers. | - | (_Postage Free._) | - | Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. | - | | - | 3 months 65c. One year $2.50 | - | 4 months 85c. 2 copies one year $4.00 | - | 6 months $1.25 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. 137. NEW YORK, April 24, 1915. =Price Five Cents.= - - - THE SEAL OF GIJON; - - Or, NICK CARTER’S ICE-HOUSE FIGHT. - - Edited by CHICKERING CARTER. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -SLIPPED AWAY. - - -“Look out! You’ll run us down!” - -The response was a growling oath, as the heavy launch came on, full -speed, straight across the river. - -Nick Carter, sitting at the wheel of another craft of the same type, -saw the danger, even before his assistant shouted this warning. - -“Keep quiet, Chick!” he ordered, in his calm tones. “I’ll make it!” - -The famous detective had handled motor boats before, and he knew he -could dodge the erratic craft cutting across his bows, unless the other -man changed his course at the crucial moment. - -They were abreast of Yonkers, and at that point the lordly Hudson is -swift, as well as wide. - -The launch coming across the river had suddenly appeared from the -shadow of the Palisades, apparently bound straight for the busy city on -the opposite shore. - -In it were three men. - -The one at the wheel, who appeared to be in general command, had a -square, bulldog sort of face, with heavy jaw, outstanding ears, and -other features that make more for physical determination than beauty. - -Another man, who scowled at Nick Carter and Chick with an evil -intentness that made the latter long to jump on him and have it out -there and then, sat in the stern and whispered something in the ear of -the engineer. - -This second man was lean of face and evidently long of body. He had -deep-set, unwinking eyes, and a square face at the bottom which -suggested that he was at enmity with most of his kind. - -With it all, there was a restless cunning in the far-buried eyes which -made him even more unpleasant to contemplate than the man to whom he -was whispering. - -As if to counterbalance to some extent the preponderance of brutal -humanity in the launch, the third passenger was a rather small, slight -young man, who looked hardly old enough to vote. His face was pale and -his eyes had a gentle, appealing expression, almost like that of a very -innocent, unsophisticated girl. - -Appearances are deceitful very often. So let it be stated at once that -this gentle young fellow, barely out of his teens, and whose voice -was as mild as his looks, was none other than Pet Carlin, one of the -cruelest, most unscrupulous gangsters in New York City. - -Carlin’s name was supposed to be Peter. That had been shortened by his -associates to “Pete.” Afterward the final “e” had been clipped off, -because of his inoffensive appearance and manner, and he was known as -“Pet.” - -Nick Carter shut off his power, and manipulated the wheel carefully, as -he saw that the man in the other boat was recklessly driving straight -toward him. - -There was only a narrow margin for the two launches to pass each -other, but it would have been done successfully had not the stranger -deliberately turned his wheel just as Nick Carter was gliding past in -safety by the most skillful management of his helm. - -“Larry!” exclaimed Pet, in a startled tone. - -He was staring hard at the two passengers in Nick Carter’s boat--two -men who wore handcuffs on their wrists--and a quick look of recognition -had passed back to him. - -“What?” growled the man at the wheel, Larry Dugan. “What’s biting yer, -Pet?” - -“Look!” - -All three of the men in the launch gazed at the two handcuffed men, and -all three expressed their astonishment in low grunts. - -“Get ’em!” whispered the man behind the steersman--he of the deep-set, -cunning eyes. “We’ve got to do it!” - -It was just as this was said that the collision came. - -The launch coming across the river headed straight for the middle of -the other. Only because Nick Carter swung his wheel around, thus -receiving a glancing blow, instead of one head-on, was his boat saved -from being cut in two. - -As it was, the two launches hung motionless for a moment, as two men -might before they fell after receiving a mortal blow. - -Then, as Nick gave another quick turn to his wheel, and at the same -time opened the throttle, he slid past the other launch and was free, -in the open water. - -It was only for a moment, however. - -The detective had seen, at the first glance, that the launch occupied -by the three forbidding-looking men was superior to his own in the case -with which it could be manipulated. - -It was narrower in the beam, and the engine was more powerful. Besides, -it answered to its helm more smoothly and promptly than his own. - -Nevertheless, as Nick Carter, in that short instant, managed to get a -full view of the faces of the men, he recognized them all. Also, he saw -that they knew his two handcuffed passengers. - -Further proof of this came at once, when, as Nick swung his launch -clear, the man at the wheel of the other boat, with a snarl, twisted -his wheel and again brought the two launches against each other, -parallel, with a crash. - -“Look out, Chick! Hold the gunwale of that other boat!” shouted Nick -Carter. “Don’t let them get away!” - -“I should say not!” was Chick’s response. “Don’t you see who they are?” - -“Of course I do!” shouted back Nick Carter. “That fellow at the wheel -is Larry Dugan.” - -The detective had seen that three of the worst ruffians in New -York--men who could be hired to beat, or even kill, a man, for -pay--were in the launch, and he could not keep a horrible suspicion -out of his mind which implicated Don Solado and Prince Miguel, his two -handcuffed prisoners. - -It was Nick Carter’s determination now to catch the three thugs. He had -little doubt that they had been hired by Solado and Miguel to make away -with a man they wanted to keep out of sight, for a time at least. - -The man’s name was Prince Marcos. - -In this supposition he was right. But he did not give the rascals -credit for quite so much audacity as they possessed. - -As Nick reached over the sides of the two launches which were rubbing -against each other, and grabbed the man nearest to him, who happened to -be Pet Carlin, there was a loud shout from Chick. - -“Look out, chief! They’re getting our men!” - -The launches sprang violently apart, and Nick was obliged to let go of -Pet to save himself from going overboard. - -With his throttle wide open, sending the boat along at full speed, Nick -swung around in pursuit of the other craft. - -He had special reason to do this now, for, as Chick had warned him, -the trio of ruffians had actually snatched away Don Solado and Prince -Miguel, his handcuffed prisoners, under his very nose. - -Only the fact that Nick had been hampered by his position at the wheel -and the levers of the engine had enabled the rascals to be successful. - -It was impossible for the detectives to move quickly--even if it had -been safe to leave the launch to its own devices. He was obliged to -keep his hand on the steering wheel, and to see that the engine was not -running wild. - -Larry Dugan, Foxey, and Pet all understood this, and they had taken -instant advantage of the odds in their favor. - -Pulling the two prisoners from one boat to the other, they had allowed -them to lie down in the bottom, while Dugan, with a skill equal to Nick -Carter’s own, had sent his launch full speed toward the wharves and -tangle of shipping that one always sees on the water front of Yonkers. - -It was the multitude of craft of all kinds hiding the wharves that gave -the three thugs their advantage. - -Larry Dugan was unusually skillful in handling the launch, and he had -a long start of Nick Carter before the latter could get his launch -around, headed for shore. - -It was broad daylight, but there was a bone-racking fog on the river, -and it hid the escaping boat even as it plunged in among the anchored -shipping and big lumber barges that stretched for a quarter of a mile, -at least. - -“They can’t be far away,” said Nick, as he pushed his launch along. -“Keep a bright lookout, Chick!” - -“All right!” - -But the rascals knew this part of the river and the peculiarities of -the water front of Yonkers as well as did Nick Carter, and they got -clear away. - -The fog helped them materially. They might never have dodged the -pursuing boat otherwise. - -The detective also knew Yonkers. But, because he did know it, he was -quite aware that it would not be so very difficult for Larry Dugan to -elude him, especially with the fog to help. - -“They’ve beaten us, chief!” grumbled Chick, a quarter of an hour later. -“They’ve gone along inside this line of barges and shot out at the end. -While we have been poking about here, they’ve headed down the river.” - -“I think you’re right, Chick,” conceded Nick. “They’d hardly go up the -river, of course. Well, we’ll go down, too. We’ve lost our prisoners, -but I don’t care so much for that if they don’t get hold of Prince -Marcos.” - -“What is all this about Prince Marcos?” asked Chick. “I don’t think I -have ever got the story straight, in spite of all I’ve heard.” - -“It can be told in a few words,” answered Nick. “Prince Marcos is the -hereditary ruler of Joyalita, a small monarchy near the Caribbean Sea. -He is a decent fellow, from all I’ve seen of him.” - -“Yes, I understand that,” was Chick’s quiet comment. - -“Well, there is a party of grafters in Joyalita who would like the -country, such as it is, to be annexed to another one adjoining. That -would probably throw Prince Marcos out, and his Cousin Miguel who has -just got away from us on that boat, would be made provisional ruler.” - -“I see. Miguel would get Marcos’ job. But what is this about Marcos -wanting to get home by the eighteenth?” - -“If he gets to Joyalita on or before that date, he will be able to use -his power to prevent the annexation.” - -“By a casting vote?” asked Chick. - -“No. As head of the country and government, he won’t have to vote. His -word controls the situation.” - -“What they call a royal prerogative in Europe, eh?” - -“Yes.” - -“And this other citizen in the handcuffs, Don Solado--where does he -come in?” - -“He is prime minister, and he is on the side of Miguel.” - -“It’s all clear enough to me now,” remarked Chick. “Don Solado and -Miguel are trying to hold Marcos here till it will be too late for him -to stop this big grafting annexation?” - -“Exactly! We shall have to work like Trojans now to enable Marcos to -win. I’ve pledged myself to do it, however, and we shall have to manage -it, somehow,” was Nick Carter’s steady conclusion, as he turned the -launch downstream. “We have Larry Dugan and his crowd against us, as -well as Solado and Miguel. That will make it harder. But we can beat -the gang if we stick to it.” - -“We’ll stick to it, all right!” responded Chick, with that determined -note in his voice which his chief knew meant business. - -“That’s what I like to hear, Chick. It won’t be an easy task, but we -have simply got to get Prince Marcos to Joyalita by the eighteenth of -this month.” - -“You bet!” added Chick. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -SECRET FOES AT WORK. - - -In spite of the sharp lookout maintained by Nick Carter and his -assistant for the launch with the five rascals in it all the way down -to that upper part of Manhattan Island where New York City has reached -only to give certain favored persons semirural homes, they saw nothing -of the evil-faced Larry Dugan and his companions. - -“There’s Crownledge,” pointed out Chick, as they came opposite the -handsome house, in its own grounds, which Marcos and his mother had -taken for a temporary residence. - -The launch ran up to the landing, and Nick Carter, leaving his -assistant to take care of the boat, went into the house. - -He was met at the door by Claudia Solado, Marcos’ cousin. The girl was -delighted to see the detective. - -“Mr. Carter, I am so glad you have come,” she said, as she put her -soft hand into his. “Marcos wants to start for Joyalita at once, and, -really, he is not well enough. After all he passed through in escaping -from Prince Miguel and my uncle, and being so nearly drowned, he is -weak and feverish. I am sure that if he will stay in the house until -to-morrow morning, he will be so much better that there will be no -danger.” - -“You have not seen Don Solado, your uncle, or Prince Miguel, near -Crownledge this morning, have you?” he asked. - -“No. The last I saw of them was when you saved Marcos from drowning and -allowed those two men to capture you to save him.” - -“That didn’t hurt me much, you see,” laughed Nick Carter. “They seemed -to think they could hold me on that hired yacht of theirs up the river. -But I got the better of them. If I had not, probably I should not be -here now.” - -“Where are they?” - -“I don’t know. But so long as they are not bothering Marcos, I don’t -think we need care. Where is the prince?” - -“In the library.” - -“May I see him?” - -“Of course. He is anxious for you to go in. He saw you through the -window, coming up from the river.” - -Marcos was a well-built, robust young man at ordinary times. But he did -not look robust just now. His face was pale and his movements lacked -their usual resiliency. - -Notwithstanding all this, his resemblance to Nick Carter was startling. -The features were alike, and even the poise of the head, the set of the -shoulders, and the general attitude, were identical. - -“This is a pleasure, Mr. Carter!” - -As Prince Marcos said this, the girl actually looked closely at her -cousin to make sure that he was speaking, and not the detective. - -“Glad to see you are all right, sir,” returned Carter. “You’ll pardon -my not calling you ‘your highness,’ will you not? In the first place, -I do not think it would be wise for you to use your title while in New -York, and then again I must confess it is much easier to me to speak as -if you were an ordinary American or Englishman.” - -“Quite right, my dear Carter!” returned Marcos heartily. “I wish you -would address me as plain Mr. Joyal. That will suggest my country to -me, and the name does not smell of royalty, does it?” - -He asked this with a naïveté that pleased the detective. There was no -nonsense about Marcos. - -“Very well, Mr. Joyal. That shall be your name hereafter. Where is your -valet?” - -“He is here. In the adjoining room. Phillips!” - -As he called this name, Phillips came in, a tall, quiet-mannered young -man in a plain business suit. He did not look like a valet. It was part -of his latest instructions from his employer that he should not appear -to be what he was. Marcos had wisely come to the conclusion that there -must not be any suggestion of royalty about him or his entourage if he -meant to get back in safety to his own realm within the time limit. - -“You were hurt by those men who stole Prince Marcos--I mean, Mr. -Joyal--from Crownledge, the night before last, were you not?” asked -Nick Carter. - -“Yes. But I am quite well now,” answered Phillips composedly. - -“I am glad to hear it. Mr. Joyal may need your help. He will be -starting for Joyalita to-night.” - -“Very good, sir.” - -Phillips would have said “Very good!” if he had been told that he -was to be led to execution that night, or if it had been decided to -make him Prince of Joyalita. Which is by way of saying that he was a -perfectly trained man-servant of the European type. Impassiveness was -his trade-mark. - -He withdrew now, without another word. - -“My mother is at Newport, visiting friends, and desires to stay there -for a month,” remarked Marcos. “After that she will spend another month -or two in this country. I am glad of it.” - -“So am I,” said Nick Carter quietly. “It is better for the party that -goes to Joyalita to be as small and unobtrusive as possible.” - -“Is it necessary to wait until to-night before Marcos goes?” asked -Claudia. “Don’t you think it will be dangerous for him to remain in New -York all day?” - -“I don’t think so. But there would be some likelihood of the enemy -spying out our doings in the daylight. We must get away without any -brass-band accompaniment.” - -“Do you know where my Uncle Solado is now?” asked the girl. - -“I do not,” replied the detective. - -This was the absolute truth. He did not know. He could have told how -Solado and Miguel had been dragged away by Larry Dugan and his two -fellow ruffians and carried off in a power launch. But that would only -have led to more questioning, which he did not want. - -“What time should we start?” asked Marcos. - -“Not before nine o’clock,” replied the detective decidedly. “It will -be quite dark by that time, and we shall have a chance to slip away -without being noticed.” - -“I suppose that is the better plan,” assented Marcos. “It will seem -like a long day, however.” - -“All the better,” rejoined Nick. “You need a rest. These four hours may -do you a world of good.” - -“You will not remain with me, I suppose?” - -“I want to go down to my home to look after my mail and so on. But I -will come back early in the afternoon.” - -“You have not had breakfast yet, have you?” - -“I shall breakfast at home, with my assistant. And, by the way, he -is waiting for me down by the river. Before I go, there is one thing -I want to speak about. The other night, at the ball in the Hotel -Supremacy, there came into my possession, in a curious way, a valuable -jewel-incrusted watch, on which was the letter ‘M’ in diamonds, and----” - -“Mr. Carter!” interrupted Marcos eagerly. “Have you that watch still? -Can you get it?” - -“The watch is in my safe. I intend to bring it to you to-day.” - -“Can you? Can you?” cried Marcos excitedly. “That watch means so much -to me. It is more than a mere timekeeper or ornament. It is bound up in -the destinies of the ruling house of Joyalita. I cannot tell you how -important it is. The watch, with the fob attached, is known as the Seal -of Gijon.” - -“The watch shall be restored to you when I come back this afternoon.” - -“You found it, you say?” - -“At the Hotel Supremacy. It is claimed by Prince Miguel, your cousin,” -returned Nick Carter. “Mrs. van Raikes, who gave the ball at the hotel -that night, enlisted my services to find the watch. I had it then, but -I did not say so. I was sure that there was a significance attached to -it which required that it should not be lightly passed along without my -being sure that it did not get into improper hands.” - -“As a matter of fact, Mr. Carter, I may as well tell you that that -watch is the insignia of the ruler of Joyalita. It has the character of -the great seal used in most monarchies. I did not take it to the Hotel -Supremacy that night. In fact, I never have been in the hotel at any -time. It could have been taken there only by my cousin, Prince Miguel.” - -“How did he get it?” - -“It disappeared from my desk, where I had it in a secret drawer.” - -“Who knew of that secret drawer besides yourself?” - -“No one that I know of.” - -“Phillips?” - -“Phillips is above suspicion,” returned Marcos coldly. - -“No doubt. But did he know of the secret drawer?” persisted Nick. - -“He did not. I am sure of it.” - -“What other servants have had access to your room?” - -“Only the maid who attended to the room, and she never was long enough -there to get at the drawer. Phillips always makes it a point to go in -and out of my apartment at short intervals when any one is there doing -work of any kind.” - -“Hum!” was all Nick Carter replied to this. Adding: “Don’t speak of -what I have told you to anybody.” - -He went away, giving the assurance that he would return in the -afternoon, and, after telling Chick to come home as soon as he had -returned the boat to the man from whom it had been hired, Joe Travers, -he hustled downtown as fast as a subway express could take him. - -After breakfast and a change of clothing, Nick Carter’s first action -was to look in his safe to make sure that the jewel watch was safe. - -He took it out and looked at it. When he had examined it for a few -moments, he saw that there was a spring, evidently intended to be -secret, hidden beneath the catch that opened the outer case. - -“I should like to know what that spring controls,” he muttered, as he -looked at the watch under a strong light on his large library table. -“But it is not my secret. If it has any bearing on the attack of Solado -and Miguel upon Marcos, or if it was the principal inducement to Miguel -to steal the article, I may learn something about it later. At all -events, if there is anything more to interfere with the departure of -Marcos from New York, I will keep this secret spring in mind.” - -The detective was accustomed to take clews wherever he found them, and -it was his experience that trifles like this spring in the valuable -watch often led to discoveries very much worth while. - -He was still musing over the watch when his telephone bell rang. - -Something seemed to tell him that there was a communication of -importance trembling on the wire, and he responded with a sharp “Hello!” - -“This is Claudia,” was the response. “That you, Mr. Carter?” - -“Yes. What is it, Miss Solado?” - -“Your assistant, Mr. Chickering Carter----” - -“Yes, yes?” cried the detective, as the girl paused. - -“He has gone!” - -“Gone? Where?” - -“I can’t tell you everything on the telephone,” rejoined the girl. “But -if you will hurry up to Crownledge, you will know what to do.” - -“I’ll come right away,” answered Nick. “But I wish you’d tell me where -my assistant was when he disappeared.” - -“There was a scuffle in the house, and when Phillips and Jason went to -see what it was all about, Mr. Chickering had gone. Please hurry!” - -“I’ll come at once, of course--be with you in about twenty minutes. But -one more question. Who is Jason?” - -“Phillips’ assistant. The ‘second man,’ as they call him. He is a -chauffeur in Joyalita, but has not acted in that capacity in New York.” - -“Mr. Marcos’--I mean Mr. Joyal’s--servant, eh?” - -“Yes. Under Phillips.” - -“I understand,” replied Nick. “Good-by! I’ll soon be with you.” - -“You will find me waiting for you,” was the girl’s agitated answer. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -NICK CARTER TASTES SALT. - - -When Nick Carter dashed up to the front entrance of Crownledge in his -own big touring car, with Danny Maloney at the wheel, he found Claudia -Solado on the porch, looking for him. - -“Oh, Mr. Carter! I’m so glad you have come. He’s gone!” - -“Who? My assistant?” - -“Marcos, my cousin.” - -“What do you mean? That there have been two disappearances?” - -“Yes. Did they go together?” - -“We don’t know.” - -“Where was Marcos when he vanished?” - -“The last seen of him was when he went into his bedroom to lie down for -a nap. He is not strong, and Phillips advised him to take a sleep. He -thought that a good idea, and Phillips went with him. My cousin leaned -on his arm, and I noticed how pale and weak he seemed as he left the -library, where he had been sitting.” - -“What does Phillips say about the disappearance? How long did he stay -in the bedroom?” - -“Only while my cousin lay down on the outside of the bed, with a quilt -over him. Phillips put the quilt on, saw that he was comfortable, and -that the electric-bell button, hanging loosely to a wire, was within -reach of his hand on the pillow, so that he could call any one he might -want without getting up. He told Jason to look in now and then, without -disturbing my cousin.” - -“Who is this Jason? Was he born in Joyalita?” - -“No. I think he came from New York about a year ago,” replied the girl. -“I am not sure. You know, English is the tongue generally spoken in -Joyalita, although there is some little Spanish. Jason speaks English, -but I fancy I detect a certain twang that you hear from many people in -New York, especially those who were born there.” - -“We’ll have Jason into the library and hear what he has to say,” -announced Nick, as he went into that room with Claudia. - -“Jason has gone!” - -It was the cool voice of Phillips. He had heard the conversation -between Claudia and the detective, and had followed them into the -library. - -“Where’s he gone?” demanded Nick Carter. - -“I don’t know, sir. I might say, if you please, that I have not been -quite satisfied with Jason since we have been here,” ventured Phillips. - -“Why?” - -“He has twice, to my knowledge, been away all night, without any one -knowing it but me. He seemed very tired when he returned on both -occasions. He told me he had been sitting up with a friend of his who -was sick, and who lived downtown somewhere.” - -“Did you prove that to be untrue?” asked the detective. - -“No, sir. But I took the liberty of examining his trunk one day when I -had sent him on an errand that would keep him away for two hours. In -the trunk I found two valuable watch movements----” - -“Watch movements?” - -“Yes, sir. The cases were not there. Just the movements. I was a -watchmaker once, and I know the value of such things, although they -are not easily disposed of, except to a watchmaker who might happen to -want them.” - -“I understand,” interrupted Nick. “What else did you find in his trunk? -Anything suspicious?” - -“Yes. There were two chisels, a pointed crowbar, or ‘jimmy,’ a pair of -fine steel pliers, and an automatic revolver.” - -“I wonder whether they are in his trunk now?” - -“No, sir. I have looked in it, and there is nothing but the ordinary -clothing, and not much of that.” - -“He is in his regular livery, is he?” - -“No, sir. He never wears that when he goes out on his private business. -Even the trousers he changes, although there is nothing distinctive -about them except a blue stripe down the outside of each leg, which -would hardly be seen at night, anyhow.” - -“How did you open the trunk? Wasn’t it locked?” - -“No. And that is where I look upon Jason as a man of particular -cunning,” replied Phillips. “He must have found out that I had been -examining his belongings--or suspected it. So he had shut down the -trunk, without locking it, and put some of his clothes on top. That -would enable him to see if I disturbed anything.” - -“Not if you put them back the same way,” suggested Nick. “You could do -that, couldn’t you?” - -“I tried. But Jason is a cunning rascal, I’m afraid, and he would be -pretty sure to see that some one had been at his trunk.” - -“If you think he is dishonest, why do you keep him here? Mr. Joyal--the -prince--would allow you to discharge him if you thought it well to do -so, wouldn’t he?” - -“Yes. But I want to keep Jason till I can catch him in the act. Then I -may find out several things that are distressing me. Mr.--er--Joyal has -missed some valuable property, and we think Jason is the man who took -it.” - -“What kind of property?” - -Phillips looked from side to side, as if to make sure no one should -overhear. Then he whispered: - -“The Seal of Gijon is gone.” - -“I have heard of it,” answered the detective. “It is a jeweled watch, -with a diamond-mounted fob.” - -“That’s it, sir,” nodded Phillips. “The prince--I mean, Mr. Joyal--lost -it several days ago. He is very anxious about it.” - -“Does he suspect Jason?” - -“No, sir. There would have been no use in telling him that Jason was -acting peculiarly until I had proof.” - -“What theory have you of the disappearance of Mr. Joyal?” asked the -detective, changing the subject abruptly. - -“None at all, sir. I can’t account for it.” - -“Well, you keep a close watch around Crownledge. I may be back here -this evening.” - -“I hope you will find Mr. Joyal.” - -“I will try,” returned Nick, as he went out of the room, with Claudia -by his side. - -They walked to the front porch together. When Nick Carter had thrown -a glance around, to make sure they were not followed, and that no one -could overhear, he said to the girl, in a low tone: - -“I wish you would stay at Crownledge for the remainder of the day, if -you can. Keep a watchful eye on everything. It may be that Marcos has -gone out for something that he thinks he should attend to promptly in -his own person, and that my assistant has gone with him as a sort of -bodyguard.” - -Claudia shook her head incredulously. - -“I can hardly think that. My cousin would most likely have told me or -Phillips, or both of us, if he had intended to be away even for half an -hour. Besides, he was lying down when last seen by Phillips.” - -“Well, at all events, if you can stay here for the remainder of the -day, it may help us materially. I still intend to leave here to-night -with Marcos for Joyalita, if possible. If not, we will go not later -than to-morrow.” - -“Do you know where Marcos is, then?” - -“I know where he may be,” answered Nick. “I am going to see.” - -His touring car was still at the front steps. With a smiling farewell -and lifting of his hat to the girl, the detective took his place in the -car and directed Maloney to take him home. - -When Nick Carter told Claudia that he knew where Marcos might be, he -was not speaking without reason. Nor was his guess so wild as to be -almost uncertainty. - -True, as he had come to his conclusion by a process of induction only. -But it was a process that had served him well at every stage of his -career, and he had the faith in it that is based on proven tests. - -When he reached the porch of Crownledge with Claudia Solado, and -glanced around him, his eye lighted on a trifle which his quick brain -told him might not be such a trifle, after all. - -Without the girl observing him, he stopped suddenly and picked up a -small cake of mud and grass that evidently had dropped from somebody’s -shoe. From the shape of it, Nick knew that it had been wedged into the -instep of a rather large shoe which must have belonged to a man. - -The mass of soil, with half a dozen clipped-off blades of grass -embedded in it, had filled all the space in the instep between the heel -and the beginning of the sole. - -When the detective picked it up, he held it carefully in the fingers of -his left hand, so that it should preserve its shape until he was ready -to examine it at his leisure. He held his hand at his side, and the -girl took no notice of it. - -Until the car reached Madison Avenue, and he had told Danny Maloney, -the chauffeur, that he might want him again at night, but that he need -not stay any longer then, Nick Carter contented himself with surveying -his prize casually as it lay flat on the palm of his hand. - -No sooner was he locked in his library, however, than he closed the -blinds, and, having lighted a cigar, turned his strong incandescent -light down upon his table. - -On a sheet of white paper he laid the mass of mud and grass. - -It was nearly dry. Therefore, it was possible to handle it without its -losing its shape. - -“I don’t think I can be mistaken,” muttered Nick. “I think I know this -wiry grass too well, and this sandy mud is of a kind that is not found -in many places hereabouts. However, I’ll look at it through my glass.” - -He took a very strong magnifying glass from his table drawer and -studied the mixture for nearly half a minute. - -As he put the glass down, a satisfied smile flickered across his strong -face. - -“There is just one more test,” he muttered. “Although I believe it is -superfluous. However, here goes.” - -He put the tuft of grass to his tongue. - -“I knew it,” was his soft exclamation. “Salt! It could not be anything -else.” - -He pressed a push button at the side of his table, and then unfastened -the door of the room. As he returned to his seat, he puffed contentedly -at his cigar, still regarding the mud and tuft of grass on the white -paper. - -“Want me, chief?” - -A young fellow, with the bright, alert expression on his rather thin -features that tells of an active brain, stood in the doorway. - -“Yes, Patsy! Close the door and come over here.” - -The young man obeyed, and Nick Carter pointed to the stuff on the paper -on his table. - -“What’s that, Patsy?” - -Patsy Garvan--for it was the trusted young assistant of that name who -had come in--bent closely over the paper and studied the grass for a -moment. - -“I should say it is salt meadow grass,” he answered. - -“Why do you think so?” - -“It is coarse, and there is a color to it you don’t see in any other -kind. If you’ll let me taste it, I can tell you.” - -Nick Carter laughed and drew several whiffs of smoke from his cigar -before he spoke again. - -“That’s just what I did, Patsy,” he said, at last. “Put your tongue to -it and let me know what you think.” - -Patsy lifted the paper and put out his tongue. - -“I should say so,” was his remark, as he replaced the paper and its -contents on the table. “Gee! You couldn’t fool me on that. Where did -you get it?” - -“Never mind about that, Patsy. Where do you suppose this grass and mud -came from?” - -“Hackensack meadows, of course! Have you been over there?” - -“No. But the man from whose shoe this came must have been. Look here -Patsy! Chick has been taken away against his will----” - -“What?” blurted out Patsy Garvan. “Chick? Say! Let me----” - -“And one of the men who took him dropped this mud and grass from his -shoe.” - -“He did? Say, chief! We’re going after Chick right away, ain’t we?” - -Patsy was on his feet, his fists clenched, and anger blazing all over -his face. - -He had a regard for Chick only second to that he felt for Nick Carter -himself. The thought of his chum being held anywhere made him frantic. - -“Keep cool, Patsy! We’ll go, of course! But we’ll have to be careful.” - -“How do you mean careful?” - -“This is the open season for duck hunting, and there are any number of -ducks over there, in the meadows.” - -“Sure! But I don’t quite get you? What do I care for the darned ducks?” - -“Put on that leather coat you have,” directed Nick calmly. “And your -high boots, as well as your big corduroy cap. Get your double-barreled -gun and that string of wooden decoy ducks we used down on the -Chesapeake two years ago. You have them, haven’t you?” - -“Yes.” - -“Very well. Don’t be more than ten minutes. Then come down to the -library again. I’m going to put on my duck-hunting rig, too.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE ICE HOUSE IN THE SWAMP. - - -It was hardly ten minutes later when Patsy came again into the library. -But, rapid as he had been in his movements, he had not been able to -beat his chief. - -Nick Carter was already in the room, dressed in about the same kind -of clothes as he had told his assistant to put on. That is, he wore a -heavy leather coat, with pockets of various sizes all over it, a cap -that hid most of his face, and rubber boots which came up to his hips. - -He carried a handsome repeating shotgun--light, but deadly, in the -hands of a sure shot like the detective. - -Glancing at himself in a mirror, Nick was satisfied that he would -not be easily recognized. To make sure, he put on a heavy beard and -mustache, with the result that he did not look any more like the real -Nick Carter, than he did like Mrs. Pankhurst. - -“Keep your cap well down, Patsy,” he directed. “Your face is not well -known to these people we are going after. But some of them may have -seen you.” - -“What’s the plan of campaign?” asked Patsy, as they crossed in a -ferryboat to Hoboken. - -“That will develop as we go on,” replied Nick. “Here’s a street car -that will take us across the meadows--or as far as we want to go.” - -The Hackensack meadows cover a very wide expanse in New Jersey, -a little way back from the bay and Hudson River. They are called -“meadows.” Really, they are marshes over most of their extent, and duck -shooting and fishing are the uses most people make of them. - -There are solid spreads of ground here and there, and several lines of -railroad cross and recross them. - -As a rule, however, the meadows are decidedly sloppy, and as the water -that floods them comes from the sea, everything is salt about them. The -grass cut from these meadows is used mainly for bedding for cattle. As -fodder it is useless. - -It was at a dreary, desolate spot in the middle of the marshes that -Nick Carter got off the car, with Patsy Garvan, and waited in the road -as the car went spinning away farther into the back country. - -“We’ll get a boat here, Patsy,” said Nick. - -This was soon arranged. There was a boathouse close by, and from it -any one could hire a flat-bottomed rowboat, warranted not to capsize -easily, in which the occupant could penetrate the high grass, and thus -lie in wait for ducks as long as suited him. - -He could fish, too, if he liked. There is a great deal of fish in the -waters of the meadows, and it is a favorite resort for anglers, as well -as duck hunters. - -It was a dull day, and there was a heavy fog. But that was not enough -to discourage an enthusiastic duck hunter, as Nick remarked to the boat -owner before they started. - -He did not tell that smiling individual that fog was just what he -wanted, although, if he had, he would have been telling the exact truth. - -“Do you see that barn over there, Patsy?” he asked, when they were well -among the reeds and rushes. “It’s a big one, over to the right.” - -“An ice house, isn’t it?” was Patsy’s response. - -“It was at one time, but it hasn’t been used for that purpose lately. -Do you see some smoke coming from the chimney at this end?” - -“By jing! I do! Is there somebody living in there!” - -“I should say so, if there is a fire in the place. If I am not much -mistaken, we shall find certain gentlemen in that building who know me. -They may know you, too. That I am not so sure about.” - -“Do you mean that you think Chick is in there?” asked Patsy, who had -been turning things over in his mind. “Is that the idea?” - -“I don’t know about that. But I do think there may be somebody in the -place that I want to find. Of course, I want to find Chick. But I do -not fear that he is in trouble. The person I am after is called Prince -Marcos----” - -“What? Is it that Marcos case we’re on?” broke in Patsy. “I thought -he’d gone back to his own country, wherever it is. You said so a few -days ago. At least, you said he was going.” - -“That was a week ago,” Nick Carter reminded him. “Before I had anything -to do with the case. Now I know better. He is in New York, somewhere, -and I have to find him.” - -“I wish I knew a little more about the case,” grumbled Patsy. “That -would make it easier for me to work.” - -“I don’t know that it would make it any easier,” was Nick Carter’s dry -rejoinder. “You know that all I require of you as a rule is to obey -orders--unless you are on a case by yourself.” - -“That’s so,” rejoined Patsy, with a sly grin. “But I’ve heard you say -that no rule should be so iron bound that it cannot be twisted when the -occasion calls for it. All I would like to know, if you see fit to tell -me, is what we are after.” - -Patsy Garvan was not sure in what way his chief would receive this -rebellious protest. He was relieved, therefore, when he saw Nick smile. - -“I’ll tell you that much,” conceded the detective: “There is a man -called Miguel and another named Solado who are trying to prevent Prince -Marcos getting back to his own country by the eighteenth. I believe -they are holding Marcos in this old ice house.” - -“And what about Chick?” asked Patsy. - -“I don’t know.” - -“Do you think he is in this place, too?” - -“He may be. We are going to find out.” - -“That’s the talk,” responded Patsy. “Let’s hurry! How are you going to -get in? Knock at the front door?” - -“Hardly!” said Nick. “You see that window at the top of the building? -It is a door, in fact, boarded up.” - -“Yes.” - -“And you see the chute from it to the water? That is where they used to -draw up the ice when it was brought here in boats. They did not get ice -from these salt meadows, of course. But there are fresh-water streams -not far away, and the ice was brought from them and stored here, handy -to send to Jersey City and Hoboken.” - -“Well?” asked Patsy. - -“I am going up that chute.” - -“You’ll be seen, won’t you?” - -“Not likely. In the first place, there is a heavy fog, and, secondly, -the windows in the living portion of the building are on the other -side.” - -“You seem to know a great deal about this old ice house,” observed -Patsy. - -“I do. This is not the first time I’ve looked it over. I should have -made an investigation here soon, even if there had been no Prince -Marcos case.” - -Patsy Garvan would have liked to ask why. But he felt that he had -catechized his chief about as much as was safe. So he held back his -curiosity and prepared to obey orders. - -“Row the boat right up to that chute, Patsy.” - -“All right! But it doesn’t reach down to the water.” - -“I see that. It does not matter. I can reach the bottom of it when I -stand up in the boat.” - -Watched by the wondering Patsy, Nick Carter waited till the -flat-bottomed boat had run directly under the end of the chute. Then -he caught the chute and tested its strength as well as he could while -standing in the wabbly little craft. - -The chute was supported by strong iron rods that extended from the -wooden wall, keeping it at the proper angle, so that it was easy to -slide the blocks of ice upward by means of a block and tackle. - -As Nick Carter had said, the building was capacious enough to -accommodate many tons of ice, and it had been used as a storehouse for -a long time. - -Of later years, when facilities for handling ice were better, and when -large corporations controlled the industry, there was no room for this -small concern to continue in business. - -So they had sold out, and the storehouse had been empty for years until -within the past few months. - -So, when a tenant offered himself, the owner of the building--who had -almost forgotten that it was in existence--was only too glad to accept -a nominal rental. - -Who the tenant was Nick Carter had found out within the last -twenty-four hours, and for that reason when he discovered the cake of -mud, with salt grass embedded in it, he had not much doubt that he -would be able to find Prince Marcos if he followed this clew. - -“What are you going to do?” asked Patsy. - -“That will depend on what I find when I get to the top of the chute. -Keep the boat well hidden in the rushes as soon as I am out of it.” - -Patsy nodded. Then he gave his chief a hoist to help him into the -bottom of the chute, and watched admiringly to see Nick Carter making -his way up the treacherous runway, partly on the tips of his toes and -partly on hands and knees. - -At the top was a closed door. The fastening was not difficult, and as -Patsy backed his boat into a thicket of long grass, he saw Nick Carter -open the door and go in. - -For ten minutes Patsy watched the door, but no one came out, and there -was no sound from within. - -“I’ll wait here a little while. Then I’ll go in after him,” declared -Patsy to himself. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -COLD-BLOODED PLOTTING. - - -When Nick Carter entered the building he found himself in a large, -half-dark warehouse that had formerly held many tons of ice. - -A great quantity of moldy sawdust was scattered about, and the thick -boards of the flooring were broken in many places. - -In one corner of the great room was a small trapdoor. Nick lifted it -and found that a straight ladder led to another warehouse, not so lofty -as the one above. Evidently it had been used to store ice, too. - -The detective could not understand why there should be this separate -storeroom until he had examined a long tank at one end, and found that -it was an ammonia generator, with an engine underneath. - -“They used to make artificial ice here, I see,” muttered Nick Carter. - -He walked very softly across the floor, because he was convinced that -in the room below there were persons who would come after him quickly -if they were aware of his presence. - -In a corner of this second room was a sort of vestibule, with two doors. - -It was easy to open these doors, for neither was locked. - -The detective found himself at the top of a long flight of stairs which -turned sharply not far from the bottom. - -From where he stood he could look down into what appeared to be an -office, furnished with a roll-top desk and a chair. - -There was other furniture, no doubt. But the desk and chair were all -Nick could see, except the old linoleum with which the floor was -covered. - -Low voices came to him--so low that if his ears had not been sharper -than those of most people, he would not have been able to make out what -was being said. - -As it was, he not only caught the words, but also he recognized the -voices as those of Don Solado and Prince Miguel. - -Solado was speaking when Nick Carter first heard any of the -conversation, and what he said was of personal interest to the -detective. - -“Now we know who that man is who pretended to be Marcos,” were Solado’s -words, bitten off with a spitefulness that told how viciously in -earnest he was, “the thing to do is to get him out of the way.” - -“Permanently?” asked Miguel, in a languid tone. - -“Permanently,” came the quick assent. “We can’t afford to have an -interfering individual like him disturbing us when we are planning for -the welfare of our beloved country, Joyalita.” - -“Solado!” interrupted Miguel. - -“Well?” - -“You would oblige me if you were not quite so much of a humbug.” - -“Your highness?” spluttered Solado, his tone indicating that he was -much scandalized. - -“You know what I mean, Solado,” was the imperturbable response. “Don’t -be so confoundedly diplomatic. Call a spade a spade, and don’t try to -fool either yourself or me.” - -“I don’t understand----” - -“Oh, yes, you do. This talk about working for the welfare of our -beloved country is all very well when you are speaking for the benefit -of strangers, and I have no objection to your giving it to Marcos, -himself. But it only wastes precious time when you and I are alone -together.” - -Nick Carter listened with more intentness than ever. He had learned, at -the very beginning, that there was a plot to kill him--or to get him -out of the way for a long time. He did not quite know what was meant -by “permanently,” although he could guess. But he had found out now -that Marcos was somewhere close at hand--doubtless in the power of -these two traitorous rascals. - -“What I was going to say,” went on Solado, “is that there is a strong -reason for getting this American detective out of the way. He is taking -too active a part in this matter. I do not feel that we have Marcos -safe even now until we have pared the claws of Carter.” - -“You’re right to a certain extent, Solado,” was the response. “It would -be well to stop this detective if we could. But I suggest that our -first business is to take Marcos away, so that there will be no danger -of his getting back to Joyalita by the eighteenth.” - -“Isn’t he safe enough here?” asked Solado. - -“He would be safer out at sea. Then we should not have to fear the -detective, even though we were not able to dispose of him--permanently, -as you so humanely put it,” returned Miguel, with a grin. - -“The blackguards!” muttered Nick Carter, over their heads. - -“You forget that assistant of his,” came from Solado, in response to -Miguel’s suggestion. “What are we to do with him?” - -“I thought it was settled what was to be done with him,” answered -Miguel, in a more earnest tone than he yet had used. “There is a lot of -ammonia stored in the lower part of this building, isn’t there?” - -“Yes, but----” - -“There is no ‘but’ about it,” broke in the other man impatiently. “If -you only had a little more red blood in you, Solado, instead of being -always afraid to do what common sense dictates, we should have had -Marcos safe long ago, and we shouldn’t be bothered with this detective -and his man, as we are. Are you going to forget that he had handcuffs -on us, and that, if it hadn’t been for Dugan and his men, we might have -been in that prison over in New York now?” - -“I haven’t forgotten anything,” hissed Solado. “There will be an -international inquiry into that outrage when we get back to Joyalita. -The heir presumptive to the throne and the prime minister can’t be -treated as felons without making trouble.” - -“Bah!” - -“I mean what I say!” shouted Solado, who seemed to lose control of -himself as he thought of the indignity that had been put upon him. “We -are guests of a civilized country--men of substance and wealth. We -were torn away from our private yacht and treated like criminals, just -because this man, Nicholas Carter, seems to be in the way of Prince -Marcos.” - -“A good way to put it,” sneered Miguel. “And I have no objection to -your taking up the matter with the United States government when once -we are safely in our own country. At present, it would be well to take -the law into our own hands.” - -“What do you mean?” - -Miguel leaned a little closer to his fellow conspirator, so that the -light of the kerosene lamp fell full upon the hard, evil features of -the pair. Nick Carter instinctively bent over the crazy banister to -listen. - -“I mean just this, Solado: If this place should accidentally catch -fire, there is ammonia enough stored in the basement to make a smoke -that would soon settle the business of any one who had to inhale it----” - -“Well?” - -“Where is that fellow?” - -“Who? The assistant? He’s down there somewhere. So is Marcos.” - -“They’re not together?” - -“Of course not. Dugan put them in separate cellars. There are four -cellars and they have been used as storage places for different -materials ever since the building was no longer used as an ice house.” - -“You have allowed Marcos to have cigarettes?” - -“Yes. He smokes most of the time. That’s his chief amusement--except -when I go down to see him. Then he changes his occupation by abusing -me.” - -“Very well. Where are Dugan and his men?” - -“They are coming to-night to help me get Marcos away. It isn’t safe to -leave him here. The house stands by itself, and we don’t know who might -come to see what we are doing.” - -“Dugan has it leased at present, hasn’t he?” - -“Yes. He has some portable property he did not want to keep in New -York, so he took this place for a year, under the name of Morrison. And -there is a lot of stuff in one of the four cellars belonging to him. He -will take that to-night, when we move Marcos. His men will be with him, -and he will do everything at once.” - -“Where did you intend to put Marcos?” - -“Dugan has a place where he will be safe--in New York. It is a tenement -somewhere. He would not give me the address, but he will take us all -there.” - -“I think the yacht would be the best plan. Let it go away, down the -coast somewhere. Then perhaps we could lose Marcos in Mexico. You know -there is a lot of promiscuous shooting in that region at present. It -would need only a bare hint to make some of those officious Mexicans -take a man as a spy and shoot him before he could explain.” - -Miguel was a savage-looking fellow at best. When he made this -deliberately cold-blooded proposition he looked positively fiendish. - -“Very well,” returned Solado. “I’m willing. But we will leave the other -fellow in the cellar.” - -“You mean Carter’s man?” - -“Yes.” - -For a few seconds the two plotters looked directly into each other’s -eyes. Then, slowly, each reached a hand across the table, and the two -shook hands upon it. - -“The scoundrels!” muttered Nick Carter. “I’m glad I got here in time. -Actually they are going to kill Chick right in this building. They -can’t mean anything else. Well, I’ll----” - -He turned quickly, determined to get out, go down the chute, and, with -Patsy, make his way to the basement in another way. - -It would not be difficult to effect an entrance, for all the doors were -of old and weather-rotted wood, and he could break through any of them, -he was sure. - -When once he had Chick and Marcos outside in safety, he would go after -Solado and Miguel. He was resolved, too, that they would not get away -this time. - -Later, he would lay a trap for Dugan and his gang, and thus clean -up the whole job in a neat and expeditious way, and without the -expenditure of very much labor. - -Probably Nick Carter would have carried out his plans exactly as he had -planned them, but for an unforeseen accident. - -As he turned to go away from the place where he had been standing on -the stairs, listening to the edifying conversation below, he chanced to -lean rather hard against the banister. - -With a loud crack, it gave way. The detective, losing his balance, -turned a complete somersault to the room below, landing on his head and -shoulders on the table. - -The table collapsed under his weight; the lamp smashed--fortunately, -going out, instead of blowing up--and Nick Carter, stunned, and for the -moment helpless, felt himself rudely grasped by somebody and tumbled in -a heap down a steep flight of stairs. - -When he reached the bottom he was quite unconscious. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -HOW PATSY BROKE IN. - - -The blow on the head, suffered by the detective when he fell to the -table, had been a severe one, and, aggravated by another tumble when -the table crumpled up beneath him, it had inflicted worse injuries than -might have been thought by any one who had seen the catastrophe. - -It was hours before Nick Carter came to himself. When he did, he was in -pitch-darkness, and he realized, from the peculiar, damp smell, that he -was in a cellar. - -Also, he caught a pungent odor, which he recognized, and which reminded -him of the conversation he had heard just before he plunged through the -broken banister. - -“Ammonia, as sure as I am here,” he muttered. “I’ll have to move -quickly, for it seems to me as if the stuff has been disturbed lately. -If it has, probably it means----” - -The thump of an engine made him pause. - -“The fiends! They are generating the ammonia gas, and, of course, they -will set it free by opening some of the valves, and then----” - -The smell of ammonia waxed stronger, and his breath began to come with -difficulty. - -He fumbled along the rough stone wall, damp with the ooze of the marsh, -until he came to an iron tank, from which the fumes were emerging so -strongly that he reeled away, half suffocated. - -“This won’t do. They’ll get me like a stray dog in a gas chamber if I -don’t find my way out.” - -The thumping of the engine continued, and his sense of direction told -him that it was against the wall in which was a heavy door. - -“There is a pump and it works underneath the tank in some way,” -muttered Nick. “I can’t get at it on this side. The only chance would -be to get to the other room, and the door is too heavy to be broken -down in a hurry. I have no tools, and----” - -“Gee! That’s a bum smell!” - -It was Patsy Garvan’s voice, almost at his ear. - -“Patsy!” he cried. - -“Chief! Where are you?” - -“In the cellar. Get in, quickly!” - -“Hold on a moment!” came back the answer. “This is all fast water out -here. I’m in the boat. Wait till I find the window.” - -Nick Carter understood now that the front of the building was in the -water and high grass, while at the back it looked upon a rushing stream. - -He made a short survey of his quarters. - -“I see some boards that look as if they are nailed on at one place on -the wall. I can’t reach them, but I dare say you can kick them open. -Try, at all events,” he directed. - -“All right! Gee! This is a stunt for an orphan boy. It has me going, -I’m telling you. Holy mackerel! If this boat would only behave a -little. It’s swinging around like a skidding auto. I wish I’d put the -chains on! Wow! There she goes!” - -Patsy Garvan was uttering all these ejaculations in low tones, but they -were none the less earnest on that account. - -He had waited for what he considered a long enough time, and then had -just been preparing to go up the chute, when he heard the crash as Nick -Carter went through the banisters. - -“Gee! Something’s broke loose!” exclaimed Patsy then. “Me for the high -grass!” - -He had dropped back into the boat and shot away into the tangle of -rushes. - -Nobody had appeared at the front of the building, and he could not -see the back. So he kept in hiding for half an hour or so, and then -ventured up the chute once more. - -This time he crawled to the very top. But the rascals within had -investigated to find out how Nick had got in, and when they found the -door at the top of the chute a little way open, they had carefully -bolted it within. - -It required only this bolted door to assure Patsy that some trick had -been played on his beloved chief, and he cautiously made his way around -the large wooden building. - -He noted that there was a strong stone wall foundation, and when he saw -that there were three square openings, each secured by heavy boards -within, he understood that a large and water-tight cellar was part of -the equipment of the warehouse. - -When he heard Nick Carter tell him to kick in the boards at one of the -windows it was perfectly clear to him what he was to do. - -Holding his boat firmly at the boarded window where he had first caught -the fumes of ammonia, and which had called forth his ejaculation, he -warned Nick by saying cautiously: - -“Chief!” - -“Well?” - -“Look out! I’m going to stave in this board with the end of the boat. -It may hurt you if you get in the way.” - -“The boat is below the level of the window, isn’t it?” asked Nick. - -“Just a little,” was Patsy’s reply. “If it wasn’t, the water would pour -into the cellar.” - -“Then, how are you going to get the end of the boat against the boards, -Patsy?” - -“I’ll tilt the end, and bring it up against the window with the bow for -a battering-ram. Get me?” - -Nick smiled in the darkness at the ingenuity of his assistant, but he -merely told Patsy to go ahead, without any more comment. - -There was a pause, as Patsy rowed his boat a few yards from the wall. - -He had quite worked out in his own mind how he meant to force his way. - -The boat was heavy and flat-bottomed. Any extra weight at one end would -always cause the other to stand up clear of the water. - -The wall of stone that formed the foundation of the big wooden building -was only a few inches above the level of the still water. - -It was safe to have it thus, because there were no tides, no -disturbances of the surface at any time, or, at least, very few. - -The tall reeds and grass made such a protection that the water was -practically stagnant most of the time. - -Patsy made his way to the stern, and also carried there the oars, a can -of bait, a landing net, boat hook, and other things in the boat, as -well as the two guns belonging to himself and Nick Carter. - -“I’ll weight it down all I can,” he said to himself. - -The bow of the boat shot up in the air so that it would easily clear -the top of the stone foundation. It was pointing directly at the boards -Patsy was prepared to attack. - -The water was not deep at this point--in fact, at one time, there had -been ground, more or less solid, above the surface--so Patsy dug the -end of an oar into the bottom and, with a hard shove, sent the boat -full tilt against the boards. - -There was a crash as the end of the boat tore its way through. At the -same time the fumes of ammonia gushed forth so fiercely that they -tainted all the outside atmosphere. - -Patsy was hurled flat upon his back, and the oar broke in two and -floated slowly away. - -The bow of the boat remained on the edge of the stone wall, poking a -little way into the cellar. - -“Chief!” cried Patsy. “Are you there?” - -“Of course I am,” was the reply. “Can’t you get that boat out of the -way, so that I can crawl out?” - -“Sure! Just hold your mules a minute! She’s in pretty tight--as the -butcher said to the pound of sausage meat--but I can pry her out, I -guess. In fact, I have to. Gee! She went in for keeps, but her little -cousin, Patsy, wants her outside!” - -Chattering thus, hardly knowing what he said, Patsy stood in the bow -and shoved against the wall with all his strength. - -The result was what he might have expected, although, perhaps, he had -not thought of it. The boat slipped away from him, and he found himself -clinging to the stone wall, his head in the cellar--where the fumes of -ammonia made him cough--and a large expanse of empty water under his -legs and feet. - -“Holy Samuel!” he gasped. “Here’s more of it!” - -He got to one side of the ledge, so that Nick Carter had room to crawl -out, and looked in dismay at the boat slowly drifting away. - -“There’s only one thing to be done, Patsy!” observed Nick. - -“I know it. But I ain’t going to get wetter than I’m obliged,” was -Patsy’s prompt response. “I’ll leave my duds behind me.” - -The opening of the window had allowed so much of the ammonia to escape -that it was possible to remain on the ledge without suffering very -much. So Patsy dropped inside the cellar, with his face to the air, and -divested himself of his garments. - -“I’ll bring the boat back in a jiffy!” he announced. “Stay here till I -get back, chief!” - -With much cheerfulness, Patsy let himself down into the water, and swam -over to the boat. Then he climbed in and rowed back to the window. - -While Nick Carter got in, his good-tempered young assistant retrieved -his clothing, and in a few minutes was dressed again. - -“That’s better than getting everything soaked with water!” observed -Patsy. “It didn’t take long, and it wasn’t any worse than going in -swimming with the boys the way I used to do.” - -“I’m glad I’m out of that place, Patsy!” said Nick Carter, with a -smile of gratitude. “But we’ve still got to get after Chick and Prince -Marcos.” - -“You bet!” agreed Patsy earnestly. “Think they are in this place -somewhere?” - -“You haven’t seen anybody come out, have you?” - -“No. I’ll take my solemn oatmeal nobody came out while you were inside. -I’ve been going around this shanty steadily.” - -“Then the gang must be inside still,” declared Nick Carter. “My belief -is that they have some other office room beside the one I saw them in, -and that they are there now.” - -Patsy looked at his chief with a puzzled expression. Nick Carter had -not told him anything about his adventures in the warehouse, and he did -not understand in the least how Nick had come into the cellar. - -Patsy Garvan could guess, though. He was as skillful at putting two and -two together and getting at the result, as anybody in Nick Carter’s -circle of acquaintance--and that is saying a great deal. - -“How many are there in the gang?” asked Patsy. - -“Only two, that I know of for certain. But I am inclined to think there -must be some more. Larry Dugan----” - -“What?” broke in Patsy. “Is that murdering skunk in it?” - -“I believe so,” returned Nick seriously. “But I don’t believe he is in -this house at present.” - -“You don’t? Why?” - -“Because I heard the people inside say that he was coming at dark, to -take Marcos away.” - -Patsy turned quickly to his chief, his face twitching with anxiety. - -“And Chick? He’s the boy I’m interested in. Dear old Chick!” - -“That’s right. We have to look after Chick,” was Nick Carter’s response. - -Patsy Garvan involuntarily pulled back his coat cuffs, as if getting -ready for action. - -“Let’s get busy!” he said. “If Chick’s in this place, we’re going to -have him out. And if Larry Dugan and his crowd are coming to-night, we -have no time to lose. It’s getting dark now.” - -“We’ll row around to that back door, Patsy,” was the quiet way Nick -Carter issued his order. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -CHICK’S FELLOW PRISONER. - - -We must go back to the early morning, at Crownledge, to find out how -Marcos and Chick had been kidnapped in the very midst of their friends. - -The only thing Chick knew was that, when he had taken the power boat -back to its owner, Joe Travers, he was coming up through the grounds of -the big residence, and suddenly found himself overpowered by several -men whom he could not see. - -A sandbag knocked him nearly senseless, and then a bag was pulled over -his head and he was carried some little distance, until he felt himself -in a boat, rocking rather violently. - -He soon recovered entire consciousness, but found his arms bound so -tightly outside the sack that he could not move. - -There was rather a long trip on the boat, which, from its sound and -motion, he soon knew to be a power launch, and then he was made to step -ashore and walk up a hill. - -A ride in a motor car, followed by a short trip in a rowboat, was -Chick’s experience. He was thrown into some chamber, the dampness of -which penetrated the sack and his other clothing, and sent a chill -through him. Before he was left alone the ropes were taken from his -arms. - -He heard a door slam while struggling to get the sack off his head and -shoulders. - -When he did release himself, he did not find that he could see much -better, although some chinks of light showed here and there and -convinced him that he was in a cellar. - -It must be remembered that Chick had not seen the outside world during -any part of his captivity. The sack was a thick one. Moreover, he had -been in a horizontal position in both boats. - -Even in the automobile he had been compelled to lie in the bottom, with -his shoulders resting against the seat. - -The fact that he had a great deal of room in the car told him that it -was a large one. But that was not much to go by. There are many makes -of large cars which seem to be identical when one has no chance to look -them over. - -Chick noticed that this one rode very easily. Hence he had reason to -suppose it was of an expensive type. Aside from that, he could not have -distinguished it from any of half a dozen high-priced motor cars with -which he was familiar. - -“Well, this is cheerful!” thought Chick, as he moved about his cellar -and discovered that there was nothing in it but a heap of sawdust and -a very moldy smell. “Sawdust, eh? That looks as if it might be an ice -house. Let me put on my considering cap, and see whether I can figure -this thing out. I ought to be able to do that, even if I have been -sandbagged.” - -He let his thoughts travel back to the moment when he was stricken down -in the grounds of Crownledge, and then, bit by bit, put the evidence -together until he had pieced it out to the present time. - -“Let me see!” he murmured. “We had a short ride on a rather rough sea -to begin with. There were the short, choppy waves of the Hudson, and -they got a little longer after a while. Then they shortened up again. -Good!” - -He did not speak for a few moments, as he digested this, and sought for -an explanation. - -“I have it! They took me down the river a little. Then they crossed. -The choppy waves are at the sides of the river, and the long ones in -the middle. That’s how I know they took me across. Yes, by George! -There’s another thing! We got in the way of a ferryboat and might have -been run down. I’d forgotten that.” - -How Chick became aware of that incident, with a bag tied over his -head and shoulders, lying in the bottom of the boat, can be logically -explained. - -He had heard the screeching of the ferryboat’s siren, responded to by -the toot of the power boat. Then there had been a great deal of hoarse -language--profane, probably--followed by a jolting of the motor boat -as it was swung around so sharply that it might have upset, followed -by comparative quiet and the steady coughing of the motor as they went -along. - -“If we hadn’t been in the middle of the river we should not have been -likely to get in the way of a ferry,” was the way Chick figured it out. -“Well, that means that we came over to Hoboken, or somewhere along the -Jersey side of the river, where a small boat could land. Of course! I -get it now! It’s all an open book!” - -He slapped one hand on his knee and actually grinned. He was in a bad -fix, and he knew it. But the thought that he had unraveled a problem, -perhaps as well as it could have been done by Nick Carter himself, gave -him such satisfaction that, for the moment, he cared for nothing else. - -“I was yanked out of the boat and put in a motor car,” he continued -half audibly. “Very well! Before I got into the automobile I had to -climb up a hill. That makes it all the more binding. I know the roads -at the top of the hill, and I would bet a hundred dollars that I’m in -the Hackensack meadows somewhere.” - -A few minutes more of cogitation, and Chick had decided in what part of -the meadows he was. - -“I know a big ice house about halfway between Hoboken and Carlstadt,” -he muttered. “It’s out in the marshes, but you can see it from the -road. Of course! That’s it! I was taken in a boat from the motor car. -They rowed me along some of the creeks between the grass swamps, maybe -through some of them. Anyhow, I can guess where I am. Now, let me see -about getting out.” - -Chick uttered this last sentence with perfect coolness and confidence. -He had no fear of being kept a prisoner for long, especially with his -hands and feet free. - -That Prince Marcos had been kidnapped at the same time as himself he -had no idea. - -It had seemed to Chick that his own capture was the logical result of -the activity of Nick Carter and himself in helping Marcos to escape the -clutches of Solado and Miguel. - -The cunning rascals would know that so long as these two clear-sighted, -quick-acting detectives were at large, they could not expect to carry -out their purpose of holding Prince Marcos away from his own country -until they had carried out their treacherous purpose of practically -giving it away to another government. - -“They’re pretty shrewd citizens, I reckon,” muttered Chick, as he -surveyed his prison. “But they seem to have slipped a cog this time -when they left me here without any guard or ropes about me. I’ll take -the liberty of opening one of those shutters and going out when the -time comes.” - -Chick did not try to do it at once. It was still daylight, and he -knew he would have small chance of escape, even if he got out of the -building, unless he had some means of leaving the meadows. - -“As soon as I am outside, they’ll see me, of course,” was his -reflection. “They could bring me down with a bullet, or they could drop -a big stone or chunk of iron on my head, and I’d be all in. I’ll have -to wait till dark. The only thing against it is that they’ll probably -have some scheme cooked up before that to put me out.” - -Chick rubbed his chin musingly. He had had experience enough with the -seamy side of humanity to be aware that rascals of the type of Solado -and Miguel were not likely to leave a prisoner loosely guarded unless -they contemplated a coup to his disadvantage when he should attempt to -escape. - -It was at this stage of his reflections that he caught the muffled -sound of voices. They seemed to come from a corner of his cellar that -was a little darker than any other part--if that could be possible. - -He stepped softly to the corner and listened. At the same time he -detected a dull light close to the wall, which he found came from a -place where the stone partition had slightly crumbled away. - -The irregular opening thus made was too close to the other wall for him -to look through, but it permitted the sound of voices to reach him. - -He heard only a few words, but they were illuminating. So Chick pressed -his face to the wall, as near as he could get to the hole, to hear more. - -All he got as a reward was the sound of a door closing with a bang. - -The words that had come to him were in the tones of Miguel, and they -were uttered with a savage vindictiveness that made Chick wish he could -have been in the adjoining cellar to ram them down the speaker’s throat. - -“You’ll stay here till you give in--or rot!” was what Miguel told the -prisoner, whoever he might be. - -When the door slammed there was silence, and then it came to Chick that -possibly the prisoner might be none other than his beloved chief. - -There was no sound reason why it should be Nick Carter who had just -been threatened. On the other hand, it might be he, for, if it was -considered worth while to take Chick prisoner, was it not probable that -Nick had been taken at the same time? - -“I’ll have to take a chance,” muttered Chick. “I must find out who is -in that other room.” - -He squeezed his head into the angle of the wall, in the vain endeavor -to bring his eyes level with the opening. Then, in strained accents, he -called out: - -“Who is in that cellar?” - -“Hello!” was the response. “Who is that?” - -Chick’s sense of hearing was keen, and at once he knew it was Marcos -answering him. - -“Is it Prince Marcos?” he called out cautiously. “Say ‘Yes’ if it is. I -am a friend of his.” - -“Yes.” - -“I thought so. That was Prince Miguel talking to you just now, was it -not?” - -“Who are you?” was the noncommittal rejoinder. “I don’t know you--do I?” - -“You ought to. I am Chickering Carter. My boss is Nicholas Carter. We -are both trying to help you get back to Joyalita.” - -“Of course!” replied Marcos heartily. “I beg your pardon for not -knowing your voice at first. Have you got a knife?” - -“Yes,” answered Chick rather wonderingly. “What can I do with that?” - -“Use it, when any one comes down to you,” was the reply. “They’re going -to have an interview with you soon, according to what I was just told. -You will have to do what they tell you, or----” - -There was a pause, and Chick waited for several seconds before he burst -out eagerly: - -“Well, go on. I have to do as I am told, or--what?” - -“You’ll have to fight your way out, and I have always thought a knife -was the best kind of weapon to use for that purpose,” replied Marcos -coolly. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -A WATCHFUL ENEMY. - - -“How have they got you?” asked Chick, after a short silence. “Could we -not make a break to get out together?” - -“If we could get this door down between us, we might,” answered Marcos. -“It doesn’t look so very strong. But I can’t find any lock. Are there -bolts on your side?” - -“No. I can’t find anything that feels like a fastening,” replied Chick. -“Wait a moment! Here’s something. I see! The door is nailed shut. There -are four or five spikes hammered in around the door. If I had a good -stout clawhammer----” - -“Sorry I can’t help you,” came from Marcos, together with the faint -odor of a cigarette. “I don’t usually carry a clawhammer as part of -my equipment. Unfortunately, I haven’t anything that might take its -place--not even a knife.” - -The word “knife” gave Chick an idea. He had a jackknife, in the handle -of which were many useful tools. There was no regular nail puller, but -one of the implements in the handle was a small pair of highly tempered -steel pliers, with serrated edges. They could be used for pulling nails -of ordinary size. - -The nails holding the door were very large and heavy. Indeed, they -were, as Chick had called them, spikes, rather than nails. - -“I’ll try what I can do,” announced Chick, through the hole in the -wall. “I’ve got a pair of pincers that may do the work, because the -wood is so rotten. But I’m not sure.” - -“If I can help at all, by kicking the door, or throwing my weight -against it, you can command me,” observed Marcos. “We have to get out -of this place to-night somehow. I am so confident that your chief, -Carter, will do it, if we don’t release ourselves, that actually I am -not particularly worried.” - -“You are the real goods,” exclaimed Chick admiringly. “I’m going to -help you, and I believe we’ll make it. If we don’t, then you can bet on -Nick Carter. Here goes for the spikes!” - -It took a long time for Chick to get out the first spike, but he -conquered the second one much quicker. - -He had to use the biggest blade of his knife to cut away the wood -around the spikes, as well as the steel pliers. But he persisted, and -victory came in each case. - -With all his energy, it was two hours before Chick had drawn out the -last of the heavy spikes. - -Then he could not move the door. There were slats of wood nailed in on -both sides. - -That meant another hour. - -He had been encouraged through his work by Marcos, who smoked -cigarettes incessantly, and occasionally begged Chick to accept one -through the hole in the wall. - -But Chick was not much of a smoker at any time. Just now, when he -was earnestly at work, he could not be bothered with a cigarette -or anything else in the smoking line. So he thanked the prince and -declined until both should be outside. - -Everything which appeared to hold the door was out of the way at last, -and Chick felt that the moment for decisive action had come. - -“I’ll get a hold on this side with my knife,” he told Marcos. “When I -say ‘Shove!’ put all your weight against the door, and I’ll pull at the -same time. Understand that?” - -“Perfectly!” was the prince’s drawling reply. - -Chick drove the big blade of his knife diagonally into the wood, point -downward, until it held firmly. This gave him some power to pull, -although not so much as he would have liked. - -“I can’t help much,” he explained. “You’ll have to do most of it by -your weight. Now! Let her go!” - -Chick tugged at the handle of the knife, and, at the same instant, -Marcos charged against the door with one of his brawny shoulders. He -used all the weight and power he could throw into the effort. - -There was a cracking, followed quickly by a smash, and down came the -ponderous wooden door to the ground. - -Chick jumped out of the way just in time to avoid going down -underneath. He had been prepared for the sudden falling of the heavy -mass of wood, and had timed his movements exactly. - -As the door went down, Marcos walked through the opening and held out -his hand to Chick. The two men shook hands gravely. - -“Infernally dark in here!” observed Marcos. “But I don’t think it is -night yet.” - -“No,” returned Chick. “I wish it were. We should have a better chance -of getting away. What is your plan? I suppose you have one?” - -“Certainly!” answered Marcos, with his customary coolness. “There is a -ladder in the far corner of my cellar. At the top is a trapdoor. I have -tried to open it. I can make it crack and strain, but I haven’t quite -enough strength to push it up altogether.” - -“The two of us can do it, probably,” suggested Chick. - -“That’s my idea. Once we get through that trap, I don’t know what we -shall meet. We shall have to take chances on that. I’m going to start -for Joyalita to-night.” - -The calm confidence with which Prince Marcos said this delighted Chick. - -Perhaps Chick liked it all the more because the tones of Marcos were so -much like Nick Carter’s that in the deep gloom he had some difficulty -in assuring himself that it was not his chief who was talking. - -He could not help referring to it, however. - -“You and Mr. Carter are more alike than any two persons I have ever -seen in my life,” he blurted out. “Even your voices are the same.” - -“So they tell me,” was the careless reply. “But let’s get out of this. -I’ve got to get even with that scoundrelly cousin of mine, Miguel, and -I’ll never do it till I am clear of this bad-smelling place. Come on, -Chick!” - -“There is a trapdoor in the corner of my cellar, just as there is in -yours,” remarked Chick. “I guess that is the way they brought me in. -But they took away the ladder with them. If they hadn’t, we might have -gone that way, if this one of yours is too hard a proposition.” - -Chick lifted the heavy door from the floor, and, with difficulty, -extracted the blade of his jackknife. - -Marcos was already on the ladder in his own cellar. - -Chick found that his companion had rightly estimated the weakness of -the trapdoor. When they had both climbed the ladder, so that they could -put their hands against it together, they made it yield a little at the -very first effort. - -“Wait till I cut the wood away around the hinges,” suggested Chick. -“It’s pretty rotten, and it is there that it will give way, if -anywhere.” - -Two minutes sufficed for this work. The knife was very sharp, as well -as heavy, and Chick handled it deftly. - -“She’ll go now!” he declared confidently, as he returned the knife to -his pocket. “Now! Together!” - -Up went the trap, breaking away from the hinges. - -At the same instant, somebody pulled Marcos through the opening and -shut the trap down with a bang, knocking Chick off the ladder! - -He fell to the ground on his head, and lost consciousness. - -When he came to his senses, the cellar was darker than it had been -before, and he found himself tightly bound, hand and foot. - -There was a foul odor coming from somewhere, which seemed to tighten -his chest so that he could hardly breathe. - -“Ammonia!” gasped Chick, and became senseless again. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -AN OFFER OF LIBERTY. - - -When Nick Carter and Patsy began to row toward the back of the -warehouse, both were on the alert for any enemy who might be on the -watch. - -The famous detective knew by experience that the time to expect a -hostile surprise was the moment when everything seemed safe, and he was -not deceived by the apparent serenity around him. - -“Pull into the reeds, Patsy!” he whispered hurriedly. - -Patsy obeyed without asking why. He had not seen anything suspicious, -but he knew Nick Carter would not give an order without some good -reason. - -Once in the shelter of the thick, tall grass, however, Patsy looked at -his chief for an explanation. - -“There’s a boat at the back door, Patsy! I can see only the end of the -rudder. But that is enough to tell us that if we were around the corner -we should come upon the boat itself. You sit still. I’ll take the oars.” - -Patsy yielded the oars without a word. - -With extreme caution, Nick Carter pulled through the reeds, without -coming out, until he had a clear view of the back door. - -Larry Dugan, in the bow of a serviceable skiff--flat-bottomed and -solid, like Carter’s--was knocking at the heavy door with a blackjack. - -Pet Carlin was in the stern, and Foxey Irwin sat amidships, oars in his -hands. - -It was almost dark by this time, and, if the reeds which concealed Nick -Carter’s boat had not grown almost up to the warehouse, it would have -been impossible to make out the door at all. - -When Dugan had tapped twice with his lead-weighted, short club, it -swung open a little way, and a head protruded. - -“Hello, Dugan!” - -“Miguel!” muttered Nick Carter. “What’s the game, I wonder.” - -“All right, boss!” was Larry Dugan’s response. “We’re ready! Let me in!” - -“What do you want to come in for?” demanded Miguel. “Your man is ready -to pass out.” - -“That may be. But we’ve got other business beside taking this guy -away,” growled Dugan. “There’s some stuff of mine in this house that I -have to get.” - -“I’d forgotten that,” returned Miguel. “Come in, then.” - -“I’m coming!” grunted Dugan. - -He stepped out of the boat to the stone sill of the door, and, as he -disappeared, Foxey Irwin followed. - -It was just as Foxey went into the warehouse that another man in the -boat, who had been lying along the bottom, as if anxious to keep out of -sight, raised himself slightly, so that he could peer over the gunwale. - -“That makes four of ’em, chief,” remarked Patsy Garvan in a whisper. -“Well, I reckon we can get away with them, especially if we get Chick -going strong.” - -“Silence!” was all Nick Carter answered. - -He was trying to make out the features of this man. But it was not till -the fellow had straightened up and stepped into the doorway, where -the light of a lantern showed by this time, that Nick saw he was a -pale-faced, slick-haired personage, who seemed to be in mortal terror -of personal injury of some kind. - -“That fellow looks like a cur,” broke out the irrepressible Patsy. -“Gee! I’d like to land on him with my left. S’help me! I’d send in a -jolt right from my heels.” - -“Why? Do you know the man?” asked Nick, with a momentary hope that his -assistant might be able to give him some information he wanted. “Ever -seen him before?” - -“Nix! But I don’t like his face. His ears aren’t set on right, and -there’s too much bulge each side of his nose. I want to hand him one on -general principles, and if you say the word, I’ll----” - -“Keep quiet!” ordered Nick sternly. “There go the other two, and they -have left their boat tied up outside.” - -Patsy did not speak. But he wondered what was to be the next move. - -He did not have long to speculate, for Nick Carter rowed swiftly around -the warehouse until he was under the end of the chute by which he had -gained entrance before. - -“Make the boat fast and come after me, Patsy!” - -Patsy deftly hitched the painter rope around the bottom of the chute -and knotted it in such a way that there was no fear of its slipping. -Then he looked at his chief for further commands. - -“Good knot, Patsy!” commended Nick Carter, whose quick eyes took in all -details, even when he seemed to be occupied with something else. “Where -did you learn it?” - -“Went across to Liverpool on an old windjammer when I was a kid. I -was too small to go aloft, except in good weather, but you can bet I -learned a lot about bending ropes, and I can make ’most any knot that -was known in those days.” - -Patsy said this without anything suggesting bragging. He was merely -telling a commonplace truth, as he looked up at Nick Carter to see what -he was to do next. - -“Come up this chute, after me. Have your gun ready. I mean your pistol; -not your duck gun. Keep close to me, but don’t do anything till I give -the word. And, above all, don’t make a noise.” - -Patsy nodded his comprehension of all this, and crawled up the -long chute just behind Nick as softly as a kitten walking across a -short-cropped lawn. - -With his knife, it took the detective only about half a minute to -negotiate the bolted door. - -Once in the room where Nick Carter had been before, Nick took out his -flash lamp and threw its white glow all about the room. - -It was empty, and the heaps of moldy sawdust that he had observed the -first time were still undisturbed, showing that nobody had been moving -about since he had left the place. - -“Ah!” he muttered. “There’s the trapdoor in the corner. We’ll go down -there.” - -He pointed his flash at the corner, and Patsy understood, even though -he had not caught Nick’s whispered observations. - -Once in the room below, Nick Carter was able to look down the staircase -with the broken banister into the office he had been surveying when he -had his unfortunate tumble. - -“They are not here,” he remarked, in a low tone, to Patsy. “There is -some other office close by. I feel sure. Come on!” - -Once in the office where Nick, from the staircase above, had heard the -plotting of Solado and Miguel, he became very busy, searching every -corner and looking behind two other desks he found in the room. He -wanted to make sure no one else was there. - -Nick Carter knew the cunning of Solado as well as the vindictiveness -of Miguel, and it would not have surprised him had there been a sudden -attack from ambush. - -Even if they had killed him, and it had been brought home to them -afterward, they could plead self-defense, setting up the argument that -even a detective had no right to break into a warehouse that did not -belong to him. - -Besides, they would say, naturally, that they did not know he was a -detective. - -“But I’ll beat their game, or know the reason why,” he muttered. - -In one corner of the office was a square wooden partition, which the -detective believed concealed the door and staircase to the lower part -of the building. - -He opened the door of the partition with caution when he found that it -was unlocked. He found himself in a small vestibule, which became pitch -dark when the door swung back on a spring. - -Before turning off his flash--which precautionary measure he had taken -ere he let himself into this little lobby--he had seen that there was -another door opposite. - -Slowly he opened this door. As he did so, a blinding flash of light -came in his face. He was looking directly into a lamp with a reflector -on the wall of a room adjoining the office from which he had come. - -At the same time he was confused by a babel of voices. - -It was lucky for Nick Carter that the persons talking were all standing -or sitting with their backs toward him--except one. - -This one, whose eyes met his own at the moment he thrust part of his -head through the opening, was the person he wanted to get into touch -with. It was Prince Marcos. - -The other three were Solado, Miguel, and the small-eyed, slick-haired -individual who had been lying down in the skiff outside the warehouse -up to the time he entered. - -“I’ll give you this last chance, Marcos,” Miguel was saying, in harsh, -insulting tones. “If you will give me your word of honor to remain in -New York for two weeks longer, I will release you at once.” - -“I wouldn’t do it,” broke in the slick-haired man. “Keep him where you -can be sure of him.” - -Marcos shot a look of indignant anger at the slick-haired man that made -him seem to crumple up, as he said sternly: - -“Jason, if ever I get you back in Joyalita, you shall pay for this in -a way you deserve. I ought to have taken notice of the warning I had -before we left home that you were not to be trusted.” - -“That’s all right!” snarled Jason. “I was as much to be trusted as any -one, I suppose. There’s Prince Miguel! He’s your cousin, and he’s going -to take your place as head of the country when he gets back. Why don’t -you talk to him. He’s----” - -Jason might have said more, for he seemed to be getting more spiteful -as he proceeded. But Miguel suddenly jumped from his chair, and, with a -stifled oath, sent his fist crashing against Jason’s temple. - -The rascal fell to the floor without a groan. He did not move afterward. - -“Now, Marcos! What do you say?” asked Miguel coolly, as he took his -chair again, without even a glance at the prostrate Jason. - -“What do I say?” repeated Marcos. “What do I say? Why, I say that you -are a more contemptible scoundrel than that poor devil you have just -knocked down, and that I shall yet have the pleasure of putting you in -the government prison of Joyalita for treason and abduction.” - -“That’s enough!” sneered Miguel. “Go on, Solado!” - -Solado rapped with his knuckles on the table before him. - -As if he had touched a spring, Larry Dugan, Pet Carlin, and Foxey -Irwin dashed into the room from a doorway hidden from Nick Carter by a -screen, and pulled Marcos off his feet before he saw that anybody was -behind him. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -CAUGHT ON THE FLY. - - -The three toughs dragged Marcos across the floor and behind the screen -so quickly that he was gone before Miguel had time to rise from his -chair. - -Obviously his intention was to help the three gangsters, but they did -not need him, a fact that he recognized even as they disappeared. - -“That’s the end of that, Solado,” remarked Miguel carelessly. “Those -fellows will take him to their joint, as they call it, downtown, in -New York, and there he will stay till we have completed the treaty in -Joyalita----” - -“With you as the ruler, under the protection of our allies,” added -Solado, grinning. “That sounds good. But, if we are going to save -trouble immediately, we ought to use the yacht and get him out to sea -for a few weeks.” - -“I don’t see that he would be any safer at sea than shut up in some -secret den in New York, with these determined-looking gentry we have -hired to look after him.” - -“He would be safer at sea,” hissed Solado, “because accidents happen at -sea. Yachts sometimes get into trouble on the ocean and are never heard -of again.” - -“You’re a cold-blooded rascal, Solado!” - -“Not any more than yourself,” was the retort. “Only, when I undertake -anything, I like to make sure that it is done completely. I have some -stake in all this as well as yourself, remember.” - -“Exactly!” laughed Miguel. “You are still to be at the head of the -government--under me, and you want to be sure of your job. Well, I -don’t blame you. But, for the present, we’ll let Dugan take care of my -dear Cousin Marcos.” - -He got up and bent over Jason. - -“He won’t die!” he decided calmly, as he might have expressed judgment -on a half-drowned kitten. “That cuff on the side of his head will be a -useful warning to him not to be insolent another time. Come on, Solado! -Let’s go and see how they get Marcos away.” - -“Wait a moment!” objected Solado. “They can attend to him, without us. -Here are some letters that came for Marcos from Joyalita. We’d better -look them over and see what is to be done with them. There is a large -part of the population on Marcos’ side, you know, and we can’t take any -chances on rebellion, you know.” - -Nick Carter remained long enough to see the two plotters put their -heads together over a bundle of letters on the table. Then he withdrew, -closed the door softly, and rejoined Patsy. - -In two minutes more both were at the bottom of the chute, while Patsy -untied the boat. - -“I’m glad it is dark, Patsy!” whispered Nick Carter. “They are taking -Marcos away in that boat, and we have to stop them, if we can. If not, -we must trail them till we can get help to take them in.” - -“We don’t need help,” snapped Patsy Garvan. “There’s only three of -them, and if we have this Marcos to help us, there’ll be three on our -side. Why, I am almost ashamed to do it. It’s too easy! Are we to -shoot?” - -“If we can’t nail them any other way. Have you got handcuffs in your -pocket, Patsy?” - -“Two pairs! I figured we’d need them, even if you have a pair----” - -“Which I have,” interjected Nick. “I’ll row. Get into the bow, with -your gun in your hand. As soon as you get where you can make a grab at -their boat, cover the nearest man, and I’ll do the same with the next. -Then make a jump.” - -“I don’t get you,” admitted Patsy. “Aren’t we liable to tumble into the -water?” - -“Not if you do your work right. Their boat is tied up to the stone sill -of the door. All we have to do is to row up level with it, and I’ll get -hold of their gunwale. That will hold us steady, and you can throw your -gun on your man.” - -“But you’ll be sitting down, and----” - -“I can use a gun sitting down, as well as standing up,” remarked Nick -calmly. - -“They are bringing some stuff out of the warehouse,” whispered Patsy. -“Looks like sacks of coal or something.” - -“Silver, probably,” interrupted Nick. “Look out! They are all in the -boat except Dugan. You see that man they have sitting in the stern?” - -“Yes. Who is he?” - -“Marcos.” - -“Gee! The king-pin himself! All right! We’ll get him so slick, those -Jimmy toughs will think they are dancing the tango upside down on a -toboggan slide. Just watch me get the drop on that hard-faced guy in -the middle.” - -“That’s Foxey Irwin,” remarked Nick. - -“Don’t I know it?” was Patsy’s quick rejoinder. “I’m only afraid my -bullet may bounce off his face and fly into bits all over this part of -the meadows.” - -Nothing more was said now. Larry Dugan had been piling up sacks of loot -in the boat, and Nick Carter doubted not that his pockets were full of -jewelry and small articles of value generally. - -In the doorway stood Solado and Miguel, and Nick noticed that a small -boat, of the same general type as his own and the gangster’s, was -moored at the other side of the door. - -“That boat wasn’t there before,” observed Patsy, in a whisper. - -“They had it inside,” returned Nick. “Didn’t want to call attention to -their presence.” - -“They’re a smooth bunch! Shall we make the rush now?” - -“Yes. Be sure to cover your man. That will be Foxey. I’ll get Dugan.” - -“Pet Carlin is the most dangerous!” Patsy reminded him. - -“I depend on Marcos getting him,” was all Nick said to this. - -Like a flash, they shot their boat suddenly out of the tangle of -reeds, and so skillfully did Nick Carter guide the craft, that it -ran alongside the other as evenly as if there had been the utmost -deliberation. - -Instantly, excitement broke out in that quiet region, which up till -then had been perfectly silent except for the distant quacking of wild -ducks who had been skimming the water a mile or so away, the rushing of -the evening breeze through the swaying rushes, and the occasional toot -of a railroad locomotive taking home a load of commuters. - -Patsy swung his revolver over till its muzzle was exactly opposite -the right eye of Foxey Irwin, while Nick Carter pointed his automatic -steadily at Larry Dugan, with the quiet warning: - -“Don’t move, Dugan! Half an inch to one side or the other, and I touch -the trigger.” - -“Touch, eh?” sneered Dugan. “Why don’t you pull it while you are about -it--if you have the nerve to shoot at all.” - -“A touch is all that is needed with this gun, Dugan,” returned Nick. -“It’s the easiest trigger I ever put my finger on. And I wouldn’t -advise you to test my nerve about shooting.” - -Nick Carter would not have parleyed thus if he had not seen that -Marcos had sprung at the throat of Pet Carlin and snatched away that -innocent-looking person’s pistol just as it leaped from his side pocket. - -Carlin was known as a “killer,” and there is little doubt that he would -have tried to “get” Nick Carter at the instant that the detective -covered Dugan, if Marcos had not been too quick for him. - -Nick had perfect faith in this prince from Joyalita who looked so much -like himself. He had seen that Marcos never permitted himself to get -rattled, but was always in complete control of his nerves. - -So, when Marcos leaped at Carlin just as the other boat swung -alongside, anticipating, by a sliver of a second, the drawing of Pet’s -gun, it was no more than Nick Carter had felt sure would happen. - -“Put on the cuffs, Patsy!” whispered Nick to his assistant. “Get Foxey -first. Then take Dugan.” - -“What about the guys in the doorway?” asked Patsy, as he prepared to -obey orders. - -“I’ll look after them. They’ve got to show me where Chick is.” - -“That’s right! Look out, Foxey!” - -This last ejaculation had been caused by a sudden twitch on the -part of Foxey Irwin, as Patsy, having stepped from one boat to the -other, snapped a handcuff on Foxey’s right wrist before he knew what -threatened him. - -“I’ll croak you when I get out of this, Garvan,” hissed Foxey. - -“Maybe! But that will be in about seven years’ time, when you come down -from up the river, and there’s no telling what may happen before that,” -replied Patsy, undisturbed. - -At the same moment he caught Foxey Irwin’s left wrist and trapped it in -the other cuff. Patsy had been taught to put on handcuffs long ago, and -he could do the work so neatly that it looked like sleight-of-hand to -an unaccustomed eye. - -Meanwhile, Nick Carter had handcuffed Dugan on his left wrist, holding -the other steel bracelet in his own left hand, while his right kept the -automatic pointed at Dugan’s forehead. - -Then it was that the detective worked a little trick on Larry Dugan and -Foxey Irwin that he had found useful in dealing with other gentry of -their unscrupulous character. - -Suddenly pulling Foxey toward him, while giving Dugan a push, he passed -the chain of the loose handcuff around the connecting links on Foxey’s -hands, and instantly snapped the manacle on Dugan’s right wrist. - -The net result of the maneuver was that the two scoundrels were -handcuffed to each other, face to face, and about as helpless as a -horse in a balloon. - -“Lend me that extra pair of yours, Patsy!” called out Nick. - -Patsy gave him the other handcuffs, and they were snapped around Pet -Carlin’s wrists with disconcerting celerity, while Nick drew the young -gunman’s second pistol from an outside pocket and placed it in his own. - -“Better draw those cuffs tight, chief!” warned Patsy. “Pet has mighty -pretty hands. If he was a girl, he’d be wearing a finger ring for a -bracelet.” - -This advice was not called for, however. Nick Carter had taken -cognizance of the extreme slimness of Pet Carlin’s hand and wrist, and -had drawn the steel cuffs so small that they were quite safe. - -Hardly had the detective done all this than he made a leap for his own -boat again and pulled up to the door. - -Solado and Miguel were about to beat a retreat in their private skiff. - -“Stop!” shouted Nick Carter. - -He accentuated his demand by pointing his own pistol and Pet Carlin’s -at the heads of the two conspirators. - -They stopped. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -FROM ONE PERIL TO ANOTHER. - - -“Go into that house again!” commanded Nick. “I want to look through it. -And you’ll go with me.” - -“What for?” - -“You know what for,” thundered Nick. “You have my assistant in there, -Chickering Carter. I’m going to get him out. Come on!” he continued, -more fiercely than ever, as he waved his pistol. “Any hesitation, and I -swear I will shoot the pair of you. I ought to do so, anyhow, for your -treason to Prince Marcos.” - -“What have you to do with Prince Marcos?” snarled Miguel. “The -politics of Joyalita are no concern of yours.” - -“Breaking the law in New York or New Jersey is very much a concern of -mine. I have enough against you now to hold you. If any harm comes to -my man, you will be responsible.” - -He had jumped out of his boat to the stone sill of the door into the -warehouse, and was close to the two rascals. - -“Go in first, and I will follow!” - -He prodded his gun against the chest of Miguel, and there was a look in -the detective’s eye that would have told any one it was dangerous to -play with him. But Miguel did not give way. - -“I’m not going in there again,” he growled. - -“Yes, you will. I----” - -Nick Carter stopped. He had caught the steady thump of an engine, and -he remembered that he had heard the sound himself when a prisoner in -the cellar. - -It had stopped when he made his escape. But it had been set going again. - -The detective did not hesitate any longer. He pushed Miguel ahead of -him, at the same time pointing one of his pistols at Don Solado. - -“Show me the place! Show it to me, quick!” he shouted. “I know it is -the cellar. But how do you get down to it? Quick!” - -Only the knowledge that Chick was in deadly peril within a few yards of -him, and that if he took the time to find out for himself how to reach -his prison, it might be too late, prevented Nick Carter from shooting -Miguel dead on the spot. - -“I’ll show you!” volunteered Solado. - -“Fool!” mumbled Miguel, in too low a tone for Nick Carter to hear. - -“Where is the door?” demanded Nick. - -“Here! In this corner, behind these barrels!” answered Solado. “Here is -the key. It is barred outside, too.” - -Nick began to tear away the barrels, taking no notice of Solado or -Miguel. He had something more important to engage his attention just -then. - -The deadly fumes of ammonia were coming from the chinks of the cellar, -and, as he turned the key, kicked away the bar, and pulled the door -open, they came pouring out in a volume that staggered him for a moment. - -“Chick!” he called. - -There was no answer. - -Nick Carter turned the powerful gleam of his flash light into the -gloomy depths, and a low cry of horror broke from him. - -Lying on the floor, against the wall, his limbs contorted and his face -buried in his arms, as if he had resisted the deadly gas as long as he -could, was Chick. - -It was not necessary for Nick Carter to see the face to know who it -was. He would have recognized the general appearance of his beloved -first assistant even if he had not known him by his clothes. - -“Chick!” he repeated, in an agonized groan, as he pressed a -handkerchief over his nose and mouth. “Chick! Keep your mouth covered!” - -“Chief!” - -The response came in a far-away gasp, as if it were almost the last -effort the speaker was capable of making. - -It was enough for Nick Carter. - -Indeed, he had not waited for a reply. Even while he spoke to Chick he -had begun to descend the steep ladder in the corner of the cellar. - -With a bound he crossed the floor and picked up his assistant in his -arms. - -“Keep your mouth covered!” mumbled Nick Carter, through his -handkerchief. - -It was instinct that made Chick press his two hands over his mouth. - -Nick crawled along, keeping as low as he could to avoid at least some -of the strength of the poisonous ammonia. - -The engine thudded unseen in another compartment of the big cellar, -pumping more of the gas from the generator to the storage tank, whence -some demoniac villainy had arranged for it to escape. - -“This will be all for Solado and Miguel,” thought Nick, as he half -carried, half dragged, Chick across the floor. - -He had reached the bottom of the ladder, when a loud, derisive laugh -overhead came to his ears. Then, with a bang, the door closed! - -Instantly Nick dropped at full length, taking Chick with him. - -He wanted a moment to think, and it was essential that he should inhale -as little of the ammonia as possible while he decided what to do. - -The situation was a terrifying one. To a man less courageous than Nick -Carter, it might have appeared hopeless. - -“The window!” he muttered. “I know how I got out of the other cellar, -by Patsy helping me from the outside. This time I’ll have to get it -open by my own efforts.” - -He drew from his pocket the heavy jackknife without which he never went -out. Included in its tools was a miniature brace and bit. He fitted -this for use as he crawled toward the window. - -With his handkerchief tied over his mouth and nose, to keep out as much -of the gas he could, Nick got his brace and bit ready for action and -pulled himself to his feet. - -A few seconds of work bored a hole through the wood. It was old and -rotten, and the bit was keen and highly tempered. - -The hole was by the side of a nail, whose point Nick had discerned -coming through the wood. - -“Two more holes, at the other nails, and we’ll be through,” he -muttered. “If only I can hold out so long!” - -It was a narrow squeak. But when a man is fighting for his life, he’ll -keep on against odds, no matter what sort of contest he may have on his -hands. - -Just as Nick felt that he could not bear the awful pressure of the gas -on his lungs another instant, he pushed the boards out of the opening. - -As the ammonia poured out, a rush of fresh air came in. - -The detective drew it into his system with a joyful gratitude, such as -he had seldom felt in all his adventurous life. - -Only for a second did he stand there, however. Chick was lying on -the floor, and though, in that position, he had not been affected so -strongly by the poison as he would have been if standing up straight, -it had rendered him entirely unconscious. - -Taking up his assistant in his strong arms, Nick lifted him so that -his head rested on the stone ledge, where he got the full benefit of -the cool night air from the salty waters. - -“This is all right so far as it goes!” muttered the detective. “But I -don’t want to swim. I’d have to hold Chick up in the water, too. He is -all in for the present.” - -He stared out into the gloom, but nothing could he make out except the -dim sky line of the rushes and the banks of heavy clouds which obscured -the stars over in the east. - -It was a desolate scene. - -So far as he could discern, there were no boats in the neighborhood, -and for a moment he heard no sound of voices. - -Then he caught the sharp accents of Patsy, commanding Pet Carlin to -keep still. This was followed by a growling oath that might have been -the utterance either of Larry Dugan or Foxey Irwin. - -“Patsy has all he can attend to,” decided Nick. “He’s waiting for me to -come out. I’ll have to bring him around to this side. There is nothing -else for it, although some of those blackguards are liable to jump him -if he settles down to row.” - -Nick actually had his mouth open to call to his wide-awake second -assistant, when a crash that might have meant the blowing up of the -whole building stopped him. - -The sound began with a swish such as often precedes the boom of an -explosion of certain kinds of chemicals. - -It was followed immediately by a heaven-splitting cr-r-rack, and -then by the thunderous letting go of what might have been one of the -heaviest guns known to modern ordnance. - -Simultaneously, the big wooden warehouse rocked on its foundations, and -Chick fell from the window ledge back to the cellar. - -Down went Nick to the floor after him. He had only just got there, -and placed his hands on the clothing of his assistant, when another -explosion, even more terrifying than the first, sent the stone-wall -foundations scattering in all directions. - -Nick found himself hemmed in by heaps of splintered wood, while the -upper part of the building, caving in one side, formed an arch over him -that threatened to collapse at any moment. - -“Chick!” he cried. “Where are you?” - -There was no answer. He had not expected any. - -His assistant had slipped from his grasp at the second explosion, and -the general disturbance had separated them. In the heaps of débris it -was impossible for Nick to see him at once. - -“Heaven preserve us!” muttered the detective. “I’ve _got_ to find him!” - -Outside the building he could hear Patsy shouting to him, while the -oaths of the prisoners, as they commanded Patsy to get the boat farther -away from the destroyed warehouse, told plainly enough that his second -assistant had special troubles of his own. - -“Patsy!” cried Nick, at the top of his voice. “Stay where you are! I’ll -bring Chick!” - -He did not know whether his voice had carried to Patsy or not. Indeed, -he had no time to think about it, for suddenly, with a vicious roar, a -blue-and-yellow tongue of flame shot up from the middle of the great -heaps of timbers about him, and through the caved-in roof overhead. - -The warehouse was on fire! - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -ROUNDED UP. - - -“Chick!” shouted Nick Carter, in agony. “Where are you?” - -Again there was no answer. Nick Carter would have been surprised if -there had been. Well he knew that if Chick was to be rescued, it must -be without any help from the imperiled one himself. - -Fragments of blazing timbers were beginning to fall, and Nick saw that -if certain joists already on fire should burn through, down would come -the tons of flooring and roof upon his head. Nothing could save him. - -If he meant to get Chick out of this, he must do it quickly. - -“There he is--on the other side of that heap of burning wood,” he -muttered. “Merciful heavens! Some of it is resting on him. He may be -slowly roasting to death! I must get to him!” - -It was a perilous trip the detective had now. - -Mounds of rubbish had been built up by the explosions, and had caught -fire afterward. Nick had to climb over them. - -That the fire was incendiary there could be no doubt. Indeed, Nick -Carter had heard enough of the plots of the two rascals from Joyalita, -as well as of the Dugan gang, to know that the whole affair had been -planned. - -The only place where the plot had fallen down from the original -intention was in the escape of Marcos. - -He was to have been burned to death in this warehouse, and -the explosions, arranged so that they should end in a general -conflagration, were prepared for his destruction. - -The fact that Chick was in the building, too, was merely an incident. -It is not likely that the explosions would have been caused just for -him alone. Still, as he chanced to be in the way of them, why, so much -the better, in the opinion of the conspirators. - -Dugan and his gang had been seeking to get Nick Carter and his -principal assistant out of the way for years. - -Nick was not bothering about that now. He had just climbed to the top -of a blazing pile, and found Chick lying in a hollow on the other side. - -Suddenly the heated mass gave way beneath him! - -“I don’t care!” gasped Nick Carter, as he drew one foot out of a hole, -where it seemed as if the leather of his shoe must be burned through. -“I’ve got to get him out of this! I’d do it or--go with him!” - -This was no idle talk. He meant it. - -It will be remembered that Nick wore a pair of high wading boots, which -were of leather below and up to his knees, with rubber above, covering -his thighs. - -There is little doubt that these stout, high boots did a large part in -enabling him to reach Chick. They protected him to some extent, where -low shoes and trousers would surely have meant painful, if not fatal, -burns. - -He plowed through the awful smoking mass till he found himself standing -right over his unconscious assistant. - -“Now, Chick! If only you were a little like yourself, how easy it would -be!” muttered Nick. “But there is no use in wishing. I’ve got to take -him the best way I can.” - -Stooping over and getting a firm hold, he lifted the young man and -swung him over one shoulder. Then, without stopping to look one way or -the other, he began his journey back to the window. - -It took him five minutes to accomplish this feat, and more than once, -when a quantity of burning rubbish came tumbling about his ears, he -believed it was all up with him and his helpless burden. - -But in some almost miraculous way he got through, and resting Chick on -the stone coping at the window opening, looked around for a means of -escape. - -“Chief!” shouted Patsy, from his boat among the rushes. “Wait a moment! -I’ll be there!” - -“That’s what you won’t!” roared Larry Dugan, in impotent wrath. “You -ain’t going to run me into no such risks as that. If you want to put me -in jail, all right. But----” - -A large, open hand came rattling across the side of Dugan’s face and -shut off his eloquence. The owner of the hand--none other than Prince -Marcos--called out to Patsy to drive the boat close to the window. - -“We shan’t be burned,” he added. “Anyhow, we have to take that risk. We -can’t leave those two men there. Mr. Carter can swim, I know. But Chick -is done for, unless somebody helps him.” - -“Hello! Here’s luck!” suddenly exclaimed Patsy. “Gee! This is my good -night!” - -The skiff in which he and Nick Carter had come to the ice house was -floating about near him. A few quick pulls on the oars, and he was able -to reach the empty boat. - -“Here is my gun,” he said simply, to Marcos, as he handed him his -revolver. “If Larry Dugan or either of the others gets at all gay, just -put a lead pill into his coco. All you have to do is to get the end -of the barrel against the patient’s ear. Then pull this little dingus -underneath, and it will cure the nervousness right away.” - -Marcos laughed at Patsy’s prescription for the prisoners as he took the -revolver. - -“You hear what the doctor says, gentlemen!” he remarked, bringing the -muzzle of the pistol to bear on Larry Dugan’s sinister countenance. -“Don’t jump about too much, or I might pull the--er--dingus by -accident.” - -Patsy was up to the window where Nick Carter supported Chick in a very -few seconds. - -“Gee, chief! This joint looks as if it was going to fold in on itself -any minute. Listen to the fire spitting. And talk about a smell! They -must have forgot to clean off the kindling wood before they started -this one. In with him! All right, Chick! Don’t worry! It’s your Uncle -Patsy has you now! Say! This is a hot one, all right!” - -Chatting in this way to keep up his own spirits, as well as to make -Chick feel safe in case he should be coming to his senses, Patsy Garvan -helped Nick Carter lift Chick into the boat. - -“Pull, Patsy! Pull for your life!” shouted Nick, as Patsy got the pair -of oars well in hand. - -“Sure I’ll pull!” was the hearty response. “I can tumble without a -house falling on me!” - -Nick Carter could not aid his willing assistant at that instant. There -was only one pair of oars in the skiff, and Patsy had them. - -“Hello! Those walls are going to fall out!” - -Instinctively, Nick tried to shield Chick, lying in the bottom of the -boat, by bending over him, as part of the blazing ruins broke down -again. - -A flying board, all blue flames and scattering sparks, came charging -full tilt at the boat. - -It struck Nick Carter’s arm, and fell, seething, into the water. If it -had come straight in its original course, it must have plunged into the -unprotected, upturned face of Chick. - -“That was a close call,” observed Patsy, as he ran the skiff up against -the other one, where Marcos was keeping close watch on the prisoners. -“What shall I do now?” - -“Get in and row the gang to shore. I’ll take Chick in this skiff. He is -beginning to come around,” returned Nick. - -“Sure!” almost screamed Patsy, in an excess of delight. - -“Hello, Patsy!” said Chick feebly. - -“Gee! That’s a good sound!” ejaculated Patsy. “All right, chief! I’ll -be responsible for these three beauties. Now that I know Chick is all -to the good, I could handle two gangs of this size. Trust me!” - -Nick hurriedly rowed to the place where he had hired the boat, and, in -the comfortable home of the man who owned the place, soon had Chick on -his feet again--shaky, but otherwise all right. - -“I’ll leave you here to-night, if you like, Chick,” said Nick, after a -short conference with the boat owner. “He says he can take care of you -until morning. We have to ride on the street car, you know. There won’t -be one along for an hour, anyhow.” - -“By that time I’ll be fit as a fiddle,” declared Chick. “Let me go with -you.” - -“Say, chief!” asked Patsy, who was standing guard over the three -disgruntled gangsters, in company with Marcos. “What became of those -two other guys from Joyalita?” - -“I can tell you that,” put in Marcos gravely. “They have got away. -They had a motor car here, and when we were occupied in looking after -Dugan and his men, and trying to help Mr. Carter find Chick in that -warehouse, they took advantage of nobody watching them. That is all. So -long as they cannot prevent my reaching Joyalita, I am not particular -about going after them. The man Jason must have died in the fire.” - -“You shall start for Joyalita in the morning, if you like,” smiled Nick -Carter. “It looks as if we have beaten the whole plot against you.” - -“Thanks to you, Mr. Carter!” - -Prince Marcos held out his hand to the detective, while Dugan, still -handcuffed to Foxey Irwin, snorted in angry disgust. - -“By the way, I have your watch, the Seal of Gijon,” said Nick. “I have -never had an opportunity to give it to you till now.” - -He brought out the precious diamond-incrusted watch and jeweled fob -which had been the subject of his close inspection, and about whose -secret spring he was still puzzled, and handed it to Marcos. - -As the prince took the watch, he pressed it to his lips. Then he put -it to his forehead, with a gesture of reverence. At the same time he -murmured a few words in a strange tongue, that Nick Carter did not -understand. - -Even when Marcos had hidden the watch in an inner pocket of his -waistcoat, he did not speak for a minute, at least. - -It seemed as if there were a sacred significance attached to the Seal -of Gijon which made it sacrilege to talk on outside matters for a short -period after handling the precious emblem. - -It was more than an hour before a street car came bowling along the -lonely road which ran through the meadows, and which might have been a -thousand miles from a city, judging by its desolate appearance, instead -of only a few miles from the metropolis itself. - -The conductor was a stolid individual, and when he saw that there were -three handcuffed men pushed into the car ahead of four other men--for -Chick had recovered sufficiently to go along with his friends--he only -wondered what the trio had been pinched for, and let it go at that. - -There were three heavy sacks lifted upon the back platform, and Patsy -stood out there with them, his hand close to the butt of a revolver in -his coat pocket. - -All the notice the conductor took of this was to grumble, sotto voce, -as conductors often do, in similar cases: - -“Why don’t youse guys hire an express wagon?” - -If the conductor had known that in those sacks was stolen property -aggregating in value not less than two hundred thousand dollars, he -might have shown a little more interest. - -It was early in the morning when Nick Carter turned over to the -officers at police headquarters his three prisoners, Larry Dugan, Foxey -Irwin, and Pet Carlin. He also handed in, and got a receipt for, the -three bags of loot that he had captured with the Dugan gang. - -Then he went home, with Chick and Patsy, to enjoy a good breakfast, -while Marcos, in a taxicab, hurried back to Crownledge, to relieve -the mind of his pretty cousin, Claudia Solado, and complete his -preparations to return at once to Joyalita. - -“And you owe it all to Mr. Carter,” remarked Claudia, as she presided -at the breakfast table, with Phillips in attendance. - -“Indeed I do,” declared Marcos enthusiastically. “If he would come to -Joyalita, I would make him prime minister.” - -The young girl laughed. She shook her head and said: - -“I am afraid there is no office in Joyalita important enough to lure -Nick Carter away from New York.” - -“No, I suppose not,” returned Marcos slowly. “But what a fine head of -the government he’d make. I’d like to see him dealing with a bunch of -conspirators like these of my Cousin Miguel’s.” - -“I believe he’d take them up in his two strong hands and bang their -heads together,” opined Claudia, with another merry laugh. - - -THE END. - -In “The Traitors of the Tropics; or, Nick Carter’s Royal Flush,” -which will appear in the next issue, No. 138, of the NICK CARTER -STORIES, you will find that the famous detective and his assistants -have still further and even more interesting adventures before Prince -Marcos defeats the conspirators and regains control of Joyalita. The -forthcoming issue will be out on May 1st. - - - - -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 XVI. - -THE OLD WOUND. - - -Nash’s hesitation was but of a second’s duration. With an exclamation -of wrath and disappointment he thrust his gun back to his pocket, and -leaped forward. He reached the pipe line, vaulted it, and plunged -fearlessly in the general direction taken by the stranger. Once he -heard the sound of falling rocks. Encouraged, he doubled his speed, -only to trip upon an unseen root and sprawl heavily. The very forces -of nature seemed pitted against him, for no sooner had he regained his -feet than the half twilight died away, and the mountain slope became -wrapped in a confusing blanket of gloom. - -In another hour--perhaps before then--the moon would creep over the -distant coast range, and bathe the quiet world in silver; until then -all hope of pursuit was futile. He stumbled on, groping his way back to -the pipe line. Once there, he listened hopefully for some sign, some -slight noise that might guide him, but his anxious ears were unrewarded. - -When at last he returned to the high trail he found only his pony -awaiting him. Miss Breen had vanished as suddenly and as mysteriously -as had the man she warned. - -It was quite useless, he knew, to remain where he was. The chances of -following the stranger were becoming more and more hopeless. So he -climbed into the saddle, and allowed his pony to pick its way slowly -and carefully along the trail. - -What a puzzle this was, to be sure, he reasoned to himself. Undoubtedly -the man he had seen, who, thanks to the girl’s warning, had escaped, -was none other than the person instrumental in the previous night’s -adventure. The fact that he was carrying a sledge hammer gave added -proof to this suspicion, to say nothing of his fright at Nash’s abrupt -interruption. And yet, what had led Miss Breen to cry out just at the -moment when his capture seemed certain? What connection had she with -this slinking intruder? - -Mentally Nash recalled to mind the maps he had stumbled upon; those -cleverly executed and highly technical drawings. And how intensely -interested she had been in the construction work; what unusual -questions she had asked. - -In spite of this Nash could not bring himself to the point of -suspecting the girl of being an accomplice of the man who had -committed, or intended to commit, such dastardly outrages. Some of her -actions were puzzling, he admitted, and yet she seemed to be cast in -too fine a mold for such an association. - -Upon his return to his cabin, an hour later, Nash found Hooker awaiting -him. Hooker came regularly from Los Angeles twice or three times -a month, bringing letters and specifications from Sigsbee and the -construction board of engineers. - -“Hello, Nash,” he said. “You’re late to-night. I’ve been waiting since -five o’clock.” - -“I am a bit later than usual,” Nash admitted. “We’ve been troubled with -bursted water mains lately. Some vandal has been smashing them with a -sledge. I’ve been trying to get at the bottom of the mystery.” - -Then, as briefly as possible, he told Hooker of the previous night’s -accident. Of the recent affair he mentioned not a word. - -“Nasty business,” answered Hooker. “If it isn’t stopped it’s likely -to put you away behind on your contracts. So far, however, Sigsbee is -highly elated over your work, Nash. Don’t mind me telling you so, do -you? It might seem funny, coming from one in my position, eh? But I’m -as glad as the boss. He gave me the same opportunity--and I fell down. -Maybe it was the booze, and maybe again it wasn’t. Anyhow, I’m glad to -see you’re making good.” - -“What’s the occasion for to-night’s visit?” Nash asked. “Anything new?” - -Hooker brought out some folded papers, spreading them upon the table. -“These are the rest of the steel specifications,” he said, running his -fingers down the list of numbers. “You’ve followed the others, haven’t -you?” - -“To the hair’s breadth,” Nash replied. - -“Ordered the siphon steel?” - -“All of it. In fact, to-day I started construction of the big siphon -across Soledad Cañon.” - -“Good for you!” Hooker’s eyes brightened. “That’s speedy work, all -right, Nash. Sigsbee wants to see Camp Forty-seven get the first siphon -completed. It’ll carry a hundred-dollar bonus if you complete it before -the fifteenth.” - -“I’ll win it.” - -Hooker’s face glowed with admiration. “Nash, you’re a brick. I never -saw a fellow put so much enthusiasm into his work.” Then, after a -moment, he added: “Not having any trouble, are you?” - -“Trouble? None, except that water main being smashed. Why?” - -Hooker shrugged, and turned the subject with a laugh. “Oh, nothing in -particular, Nash. Only, you know, a man in your position is always -hated by some of the workers. I guess you can take care of yourself, -can’t you? You’re no weakling. And remember, this isn’t New York.” - -“What do you mean by that?” Nash asked, not liking the other’s tone. - -“Well, if you should--hurt a man out here--it wouldn’t be necessary to -disappear,” Hooker answered. “I believe that was the reason for your -departure from New York, wasn’t it?” - -Nash calmly ignored the insinuation, gathered up the papers Hooker had -brought, and fastened them with the others on his board. - -“Sigsbee send any further orders?” he asked, after he had finished. - -“That’s all, Nash. I came down from San Fernando in his car. The moon’s -up now, so I might as well be hitting the trail back. Like to take a -little spin?” - -“Not to-night, thank you,” Nash replied. “Got too much work to do.” - -Hooker frowned, and shrugged his shoulders. Before leaving the cabin he -turned, and said: “Don’t take things so serious, Nash. I didn’t mean -anything when I said you----” - -“Of course you didn’t,” Nash interrupted dryly. “Convey my best wishes -to Sigsbee, will you?” - -Hooker went out, slamming the door behind him. Long after the sound of -the chugging motor had died away on the still night air, Nash remained -bending over his desk, marshaling into order the confusing rows of -figures, transferring the totals from his memorandum book to the -ledger, and preparing, as he always did, for the work of the coming day. - -The subject touched upon by the old foreman brought back an instant -and bitter flood of memories; but he fought against them, crushed them -back, firm in his resolve not to allow the past to interfere with the -duties on hand. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -GETTING READY. - - -Early the next morning, while Nash was still at breakfast, a man came -running up with the information that a body had been found at the foot -of a high cliff, a short distance from where the siphon was being -constructed. - -“One of our men?” Nash questioned, concerned over the news, but -not surprised, as accidents, from one cause or another, among the -thousand-odd laborers were frequent. - -“I don’t think so,” was the reply. “I heard some of the others talking -about it. Guess he was known to some of them.” - -“I’ll be over right away,” Nash said. - -He had his pony brought around to the cabin, and in less than half an -hour was at the scene. Pushing his way through the crowd which had -gathered about the body, he suddenly caught his breath in astonishment. - -The dead man was the old subforeman, under whom he had worked that -first day--Macmillan! - -“Give me the details,” he demanded abruptly of the nearest subforeman. - -“The body was brought in about an hour ago,” the latter hurriedly -explained. “Some few of us older men recognized Macmillan right away. -One of the watchmen found him at the foot of the high cliff back there. -Must have been an accident; don’t you think so?” - -Nash followed the speaker’s finger. He saw the cliff mentioned; and, on -its edge, winding down to the valley, ran the black pipe line. Then, -like a flash of fire from a cloudless sky, the truth came to Nash. - -Macmillan had been the mysterious stranger of last night; the man with -the hammer; the man Miss Breen had warned! No doubt he had been the one -who had destroyed the pipe several nights previous. - -After the girl’s warning Macmillan had dashed away, probably lost his -bearings in the darkness, and by accident stepped off the cliff. - -Once he had examined the body carefully Nash was positive that -these suspicions were correct. As conclusive evidence, the white, -wide-brimmed sombrero with the silver ornaments on the band was brought -in by the same watchman who had discovered the body. - -“Found this hanging on a bush about ten feet from the top of the -cliff,” the watchman declared, answering Nash’s questions. “Guess the -fellow made a try at the bush himself--half of it is missing. Only the -hat stuck.” - -Nash finally gave directions for the removal of the body, and watched -as two Italians carried it to a wagon, preparatory to its being sent on -to camp. A few necessary requirements and forms had to be observed--the -notification of the county sheriff being the principal one; and after -that, Macmillan’s body, unless claimed by relatives, would share the -barren plot on the mountainside with the hundred-odd others who had met -death, by fair means or foul, in Camp Forty-seven. - -All the remainder of that day Macmillan’s death was on Nash’s mind. -It wasn’t so much the final tragedy that worried him, as the events -leading up to it. Revenge, doubtless, had been the motive. It was quite -natural, after his discharge and his words with Hooker, that the former -subforeman should seek revenge. Being interested in the construction of -the conduit, and realizing full well that the loss of water would prove -a serious blow, Macmillan had determined upon this damaging method. - -The one question which still tortured Nash’s brain was how Miss Breen -had become mixed up with such a man as Macmillan. And it stood to -reason that she must be, else why had she warned him last night? The -more he studied over the problem, the more entangled it became, so -finally he gave it up. - -In the two days which followed this tragedy Nash was so busily engaged -in the final preparations of his “coyote” that the affair, at least -for the present, was relegated to the background. This had not been -his first experience with leveling off a mountaintop, but it was one -presenting the greatest difficulties. Unusually hard rock had been -encountered from the very beginning, an extra force of men had been -engaged in the bore, and even then the work progressed slowly. It was -exactly a week later that the final “shot” was touched off, and the -last of the débris cleared from the tunnel. - -Two hundred cases of dynamite were placed in the big rock chamber, -together with a hundred bags of black powder. The wires were laid -about them, and carefully adjusted. Then both dynamite and powder were -covered with six feet of cement and broken stone. This was allowed to -harden for three days. - -On top of this new floor fifty cases of dynamite were placed. The -first explosion would come from below, ripping away the concrete and -shattering the walls. By leaving this air chamber, additional force -would be created. The first explosion would explode the dynamite on the -concrete floor. - -Nash spent most of his time at the “coyote,” overseeing the thousand -and one details which were necessary to the success of the undertaking. - -Finally the last bag of powder was in place, and the wires carefully -laid from the chamber, along the tunnel, out into daylight and across -the valley--fully a mile--to the top of another hill. Here, at the -given time, the batteries were to be adjusted, and the button pressed. - -If things happened as Nash had forecast, the top of the big -mountain--those rock-strewed, pine-covered acres which had smiled into -the California heavens for so many ages--would be shattered, torn into -a thousand pieces at the pressure of a finger on a harmless-looking -button. - -Nash was not to press the button himself! he conferred the honor upon -the subforeman who had taken charge of the bore. Nash intended being -nearer than the other men, and had already picked out his point of -observation. He wanted to be close enough to determine just how the -explosion acted. - -The day of the explosion arrived. Nash gave final orders. - -“We’ll make it eight o’clock to-night,” he said to the men in charge. -“The moon ought to be up by that time. I wouldn’t tell too many of the -men, because they might get curious, and venture too near. I don’t want -any accidents.” - -“The batteries are all tested out,” the subforeman responded. -“Everything’s in shipshape order. At eight sharp I press the button. -Will you be with us, Mr. Nash?” - -“Oh, I’ll be around somewhere near,” Nash answered. “But don’t wait for -me. I might creep in a few yards nearer the fun.” - -“Very well, sir. Eight, prompt, it’ll be.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. - - -At six o’clock Nash finished his supper, strapped a pair of powerful -field glasses over his shoulder, and set out in the direction of the -“coyote.” The sun was just dipping behind the highest mountain, bathing -the sky with gold and coral. The lower valleys were hung with purple -mists. - -Nash tramped on, breathing in the clean, damp air, which, now and then, -smelled of the distant Pacific. Saucy, bushy-tailed gophers darted here -and there, scolding loudly when disturbed; once an unseen California -mocking bird burst into a glorious, heart-quickening melody, its pure, -liquid notes pouring out so clearly that Nash halted, listening almost -greedily. He loved music, and it was one of the things he missed out -here in the mountains. And when the invisible singer had finished he -applauded softly. - -“Bravo!” he whispered. “Bravo!” - -He plodded on again deserting the trail of the shorter, though more -arduous, climb up the slope. - -Within half a mile of the “coyote” a feeling that he was being followed -came over him. Once or twice he halted, and looked back, certain that -he had heard the falling of a dislodged rock or the snap of a dead pine -branch. But each time his eyes went unrewarded. - -The higher he ascended the brighter became the glow from the lowering -sun, and the deeper became the shadows below him in the valley. The -mists were creeping up, foot by foot, their greedy fingers snuffing out -the gold in the air. - -Finally the mouth of the tunnel was reached. It was a small, -insignificant affair, that drift below the top of the mountain: a -hole hardly more than four feet square. One had to crawl on hands and -knees in order to reach the chamber where the dynamite and powder were -awaiting the tiny spark, which, swifter than the winking of an eye, -would rock the surrounding hills like an earthquake. - -Suddenly, from bending over the wires he had been examining, Nash stood -erect, whirling as he did so. - -Miss Breen was standing a short distance beyond him, her face strangely -white and drawn, her hands clenched at her sides. - -“Why, Miss Breen,” he began, “where have you been all this time? What -brings you away up here--at this hour?” - -“I--I----” She attempted to speak, and failed. Then she took a forward -step, and crumpled to the rocks. - -Nash leaped across and caught her. “You’re ill!” he exclaimed. “What -has happened?” - -She recovered instantly. “I’m--just a trifle weak, that is all,” she -answered, trying to laugh it all away. “My pony got away two hours -ago, and I’ve been roaming about--trying to find the trail back to the -ranch. I--I guess I’m lost.” - -“You’re found now,” he said, smiling into her colorless face. “How -lucky I happened to be in this part of the hills. Why, you might have -wandered around for hours--maybe all night.” - -The events of their previous meeting came back to him vividly, almost -bitterly. He felt that he must ask her certain questions, and that she -must answer them. Yet, now that they had met once more, he hesitated. -She was weakened by her afternoon’s adventure. It would be better, he -resolved, to wait for a more desirable opportunity. Or possibly she -might explain matters herself. - -“Isn’t this--your ‘coyote’?” she asked suddenly, looking around. - -“Yes. I was just making a final examination of the wires. It is to go -off at eight o’clock.” - -“To-night?” - -He nodded. She shrank back, as if death itself lurked in the yawning -tunnel mouth. - -“Oh, there’s no danger now,” he replied, laughing. “It is only a few -minutes after six. Why, I was just about to go inside to inspect the -big chamber. This is my first coyote on the Los Angeles aqueduct, and I -can’t afford to take any chances of a failure.” - -“Aren’t you afraid?” she asked. - -“Of what? The dynamite can’t go off unless the batteries are attached -to the wires and the button pressed. Besides, the greater part of the -stuff is buried under six feet of solid concrete.” - -She sank to a pile of rocks, and pulled back her sleeve. There was -blood on her white arm. “It’s been hurting dreadfully,” she said, -disclosing a ragged wound, caused, she admitted, by a stumble. “That’s -why I’ve been so faint.” - -“Why didn’t you let me know at first?” Nash broke in quickly. “Wait. -I’ll fix it in a jiffy.” - -He hurried down the slope to where a little spring bubbled out from its -mossy bed. In the crystal, snow-fed waters he dipped his handkerchief, -wrung it out, and returned. - -“Now just let me tie this around that cut, Miss Breen. This mountain -water has wonderful healing properties.” He accomplished his task while -the girl watched him in silence. “There,” he said, drawing down her -sleeve. “Isn’t that better?” - -“Oh, a great deal,” she answered. - -“Well, suppose you excuse me for ten or fifteen minutes, while I take a -farewell trip into the tunnel. You can rest here, and----” - -“Why can’t I go with you?” she interrupted. - -“Do you really want to go?” He looked down into her face with a -surprised frown. “It isn’t very clean--and it is very damp and cold. -Besides, you’ll have to crawl on your hands and knees for a hundred -yards.” - -His warning did not appear to frighten her. “Oh, I don’t care about -that,” she declared eagerly. “And I would like to see just how the -thing is arranged.” - -“Very well,” he agreed. “I’ve some candles in my pocket. I’ll light -one, and you follow close behind me. All ready?” - -“All ready,” she repeated, her eyes sparkling at the thought of the -adventure. - -He lighted a candle and started in the drift. She came right behind -him without the least hesitation. The tunnel was damp, and at places -they were forced to crawl through pools of water. Still, she did not -complain. - -“Nervy little woman, all right,” Nash muttered to himself. - -Finally they emerged into the chamber, and both stood erect. He held -the candle high above his head, so that she could see. The walls, hewn -roughly from solid rock, glistened with moisture; the floor was muddy. - -Miss Breen held her hands together and shivered. “Ugh! Are there any -bats in here?” she asked. - -“Hardly.” - -In the glow of the candle the girl’s face shone pale and tense. - -“The dynamite is under us,” Nash explained. “And over in the corner -are half a hundred boxes of the same stuff, that will produce a second -explosion.” - -She followed him while he made a careful survey of the whole chamber. -Everything seemed to be in excellent condition. - -“You’re not--not forgetting the time, are you?” she broke out suddenly. - -“I should say not!” He took out his watch, and held the candle lower. -“It’s just a quarter to seven. We’ve an hour and fifteen minutes yet -before the fireworks come off.” - -“Where are you going to watch it from?” - -“I’ve a little place picked out,” he answered, and laughed. “About half -a mile from here. Would you like a reserved seat?” - -She nodded readily. “Of course. Now that I’ve seen the mechanism of the -thing, I won’t be happy until I see the explosion.” - -“Good for you! I’m really as much excited over the affair as you are. -Ready to leave now?” - -“I guess so. Is there anything more to see?” - -“Not a thing. Wait while I light another candle. It’ll make it easier -for us to----” - -He stopped short, the match he had struck burning down to his fingers. -He scarcely felt the pain. A faint rumbling had come to his ears--the -sound of falling rock. - -“What was that?” Miss Breen asked sharply, nervously, her voice echoing -in the big, gloom-filled room. - -“Why--nothing much,” Nash replied reassuringly, although his heart had -started throbbing at a greater speed. “That is--I suppose it was merely -some loose earth falling in the tunnel. It often does that. But we’ll -soon see. Follow close now.” - -He lighted the second candle, handing the girl the first one. They came -to the beginning of the tunnel. Just as he had feared, some loose rock -had fallen down, blocking the entrance. - -“You take both candles, Miss Breen,” he commanded quietly. “I’ll have -to use my hands and open the drift.” He attempted to laugh at his -remark. “It’ll only take--take a second.” - -He jerked off his coat and dropped it to the muddy floor. Miss Breen -held both candles behind him as he began his attack upon the rock. At -first, it came away readily enough; then, of a sudden, larger, firmly -wedged chunks met his torn fingers. - -Frantically, hopefully he dug. The jagged edges of the granite ripped -his fingers and wrists. But the pain did not compare with the agony -that steadily increased within his brain. The sweat began to pour down -his white face; his breath came in choking gasps as he rolled rock -after rock behind him. - -He did not dare to turn and look into Miss Breen’s eyes. Nash had not -been an engineer these years for nothing; he knew, even from the very -first, just how hopeless his task would be--how many tons of rock -probably lay between him and the cool night air. And then, when he -finally came upon huge bowlders which a dozen men could not have moved, -he straightened, passed his torn, bleeding fingers across his damp -face, and turned slowly. - -Miss Breen, holding aloft the candles, met his gaze with wide, staring -eyes. Her face was devoid of all color. - -“I’ll--I’ll have to rest a minute,” he faltered. - -“What good will it do?” she asked. - -He thrust his head forward and looked deep into her eyes. - -“I guess--guess there’s no use in lying to you, Miss Breen,” he -declared, his voice echoing dully in the stillness of the big chamber. -“We’re caught in a trap. There is no escape.” - -He half expected she would scream, or faint dead away; but she did -neither. The candles she clutched trembled slightly--that was all. -Despite his own feelings, he marveled at her apparent self-control. - -“There are tons of rock across the tunnel,” he said quietly, after a -pause. - -“But--you knew it--all the time, didn’t you?” Her accusing voice was a -mere whisper. - -He nodded. “I knew it--from the first,” he repeated. - -“Why didn’t you tell me before?” - -“I--I dreaded even to think that----” He stopped, biting his lips. “I -wanted to keep it from you--as long as possible. I--I thought we might -have a chance.” - -They stood looking at one another, breathing audibly. He took the -candles from her cold, stiff fingers. She allowed her arm to drop -heavily to her side, as if it was destitute of life. - -“What--what time is it?” she wavered presently. - -He was a long time fumbling for his watch. Then he drew it out. Somehow -his throat felt very hot and painful as the crawling hands on the dial -met his eyes. - -“It’s--ten minutes after seven,” he said. - -“Ten minutes after seven.” She repeated the words huskily, and, to all -appearances, subconsciously. “Then--then we’ve fifty minutes before----” - -He took up the sentence she was unable to finish. “Fifty minutes before -the dynamite explodes.” - -Miss Breen sobbed, and, without the least warning, crumpled to the -floor. Nash spoke to her, chafed her icelike arms, bathed her forehead -with the dirty water from the floor; but she did not respond. - -And then, as if to mock his helplessness, the candles he had propped -against a rock toppled over, and, with a hiss, were extinguished by the -water into which they had fallen, leaving Nash to stare through the -utter, suffocating gloom. - - -TO BE CONTINUED. - - - - -A PET FOR THE CHILDREN. - -By MAX ADELER. - - -Judge Pitman, a short time ago, bought a pet lamb for his little -children to play with. It was a pretty good-sized lamb, and strong -and vigorous; but the judge said he preferred that kind because the -children would be less likely to hurt it. On the day that it came -home they turned it out into the front yard, where it strayed about, -nibbling the grass, while the judge tied up his geraniums. Mrs. Pitman -had the children in the house, and she was reading to them from a book -a description of the characteristics of lambs. The account said that: -“The lamb is one of the most playful and innocent of animals. So kind -and meek is it that its name has for centuries been the synonym of -gentleness and sweetness of disposition. It never injures any one, and -when it is attacked, it always suffers humbly and in silence. There is -something so beautiful about the gentle little animal, that----” - -Just at this point Mrs. Pitman was interrupted by the voice of the -judge coming from the front yard. It sounded as if he were in distress -of some kind. The whole family flew out upon the porch, and there they -saw that pet lamb, whose name was the synonym of gentleness, engaged in -butting the judge. It would butt him in the rear and knock him over, -and then it would butt him on the legs, and batter him on the ribs, -and plunge its head into his stomach, and jam its skull against his -chest. When he rose, it butted his shins, and when he stooped over to -rub them, it butted his head. Then it butted him generally wherever a -chance presented itself; and when it had doubled the judge all up under -the Norway maple, it butted down three rose bushes, butted a plaster -garden vase to fragments, butted two palings off of the fence, and -danced off down the street, butting at the tree boxes, the hitching -posts, and the northwest wind. - -Mr. Potter finally knocked it in the head with a club, and brought it -home to the judge, and, subsequently, when they had the hind leg for -dinner, the judge observed to Mrs. Pitman that, from the manner in -which that lamb cut, he should believe that it was born during the War -of 1812, and that it was, in fact, a terrific old ram. Then he said he -should go down to see the man who sold it to him for a lamb, and bang -him with a club. The Pitman children stick to kittens as regular pets. - - -A CAT THAT SAVED A MAN’S LIFE. - -In the great war between the Cavaliers and Roundheads, a brave officer -of King Charles’ army was taken prisoner and shut up in a dungeon. -His enemies were so angry with him that they ordered the jailer not -to give him any food, so that he might be starved to death. The first -day of his imprisonment a cat crept through the bars of his dungeon -window and made friends with him. Every day the cat came to see him, -and the poor prisoner, who was growing weaker and weaker from want of -food, welcomed his visitor. At last, when he felt that he could not -live another day, he saw the cat dragging something through the window. -Presently he felt pussy rubbing herself against his legs. He put down -his hand to stroke her and found something warm and soft lying on the -ground. It was a pigeon that the cat had caught and brought to him. In -some wonderful way she had discovered that he was being starved, and -had done what she could to help him. When his jailer came in he showed -him the bird, and begged him to cook it and let him eat it. The jailer -did this, for though he had been ordered not to give his prisoner any -food, he had not been told anything about cooking a bird that got to -him by other means. Every day the cat brought a pigeon to her friend’s -cell, and the jailer never refused to cook it. At last he was asked -whether his prisoner was not dead yet. In reply he told the story of -the cat’s devotion, and his masters’ hearts were so touched by it that -they ordered him to let the prisoner have plenty of food. After a long -imprisonment the man was released. You may be sure that he took care of -the cat to which he owed so much, and which left the prison with him. - - -STUDENT LIFE IN RUSSIA. - -Nowhere in the world is the student subject to such a strict, -searching, and rigorous discipline as is the student in a Russian -university. From his entrance into school the boy of ten or eleven -years of age has to go through a long and tedious process of training, -the nature of which tends more to fit him for army service than to fill -the professor’s chair. - -In the preparatory class the boy is taught the names of the royal -family in order, and the names of the entire dynasty in their rank and -order. These he must know by heart. - -Next comes the way to render honor and salute all military officers -should he meet them or speak about them. Here, also, he must learn by -heart the Russian national anthem: “God Save the Czar.” - -Next come marching, and the various military commands. An account is -kept of the physical developments of each boy, so that when he is -sixteen years old it can be seen by his physical progress if he is fit -for the army service. - -At this time the scholar receives a passport of “identification” and a -book containing the rules and regulations which are to govern his life -in the institution. - -The discipline the Russian student has to undergo may produce one of -two results. The student may be made obedient or abjectly slavish, -or the rules and laws by which he is governed may give him food for -reflection and create a natural aversion to the authorities. - -Here are some of the requirements: Each student must wear a military -uniform, with brass and nickel-plated buttons, which have to be -polished every day; each student must also clean his own shoes; -mustache and beard are not allowed; hair must be clipped close; -smoking and carrying a cane are forbidden, as well as the use of any -intoxicants whatsoever. - -While walking to and from school the student must carry on his back the -knapsack filled with books, weighing in all about twenty-five or thirty -pounds. This he must do in all kinds of weather. - -The student cannot attend any social or public gathering or -entertainment, neither can he go to the theater or concert hall. He -must not be on the streets after seven p. m. He must not read any -newspaper whatsoever, or any books but those written by Russian authors -and approved of by the censor. - -Any one observing the violation of any of these rules may demand the -student’s passport and return the same to the authorities, for which -the informer receives a reward, while the student is punished by being -locked up for twelve hours in a dark room. - -Secret societies or organizations among the students are not to be -dreamed of; neither are students permitted to gather in groups. Two may -converse or speak with one another, but three together are not allowed. - -A young Russian who says he attended one of these institutions is our -authority for the statement that there is always among the students -one spy in ten. The same person declares that when a spy makes an -unfavorable report, the student reported against suddenly disappears. - -If inquiry is made for the missing student, the inquirer will be told -that the young man was considered a dangerous subject to the community, -and was therefore removed out of harm’s way. The teachers, professors, -and directors of universities are appointed by a body selected for that -special purpose by the czar himself. - -Many parents, knowing the risks and the dangers their boys are subject -to while in a Russian university, educate them abroad. The young man -sent abroad for education is looked upon by the authorities as a -dangerous subject, full of liberal ideas and opinions concerning public -problems. - - -A BEAUTIFUL SWISS CUSTOM. - -The horn of the Alps is employed in the mountainous districts of -Switzerland, not solely to sound the cow call, but for another purpose -solemn and religious. - -As soon as the sun has disappeared in the valleys, and its last rays -are just glimmering on the snowy summits of the mountains, the herdsman -who dwells on the loftiest, takes his horn and trumpets forth “Praise -God, the Lord!” - -All the herdsmen in the neighborhood take their horns and repeat the -words. This often continues a quarter of an hour, while on all sides -the mountains echo the name of God. A solemn stillness follows, every -individual offers his secret prayer on his bended knees, and with -uncovered head. By this time it is quite dark. “Good night!” trumpets -forth the herdsman on the loftiest summit. “Good night!” is repeated on -all the mountains from the horns of the herdsmen and the clefts of the -rocks. - - -UNDESIRABLE ROOM. - -At first sight it would seem that it must be an unreasonable man who -would find fault with a house because it had one more room than was -mentioned in the advertisement; but first sight is not always the best -sight. - -A real-estate agent sent a customer to look at a five-roomed house, -that being just the size he professed to want. The house proved to -be sadly out of repair, and the prospective tenant went back to the -agent’s office. - -“I didn’t want a six-roomed house,” he said. - -“That isn’t a six-roomed house,” answered the agent. - -“Yes, it is.” - -“But I say it is not.” And the agent began counting. “There’s the -kitchen, dining room, reception room, and two bedrooms. That’s five, -isn’t it?” - -“Yes, but there’s the room for improvement, and that’s bigger than -any of the others,” said the facetious customer. “Can’t you show me -something else?” - - - - -THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS. - - -Store Water in Highest Dam. - -Storage of water has begun at Arrow Rock Dam, the highest in the -world, in the Boise reclamation project, which will reclaim an area in -southeastern Idaho three times as great as the crop acreage of Rhode -Island. - - -Will Tango Way Into Navy. - -David Keller, aged twenty-one, applied for enlistment in the navy at -the Evansville, Ind., United States naval recruiting station, and was -rejected because of his weight. Recruiting Officer Muelchi told the -young man to go home and dance the tango a few weeks or until he had -reduced his weight, and then to come back and he would take him into -the navy. Muelchi says that tango dancing is the greatest flesh reducer -in the world, as he has tried it. Keller returned to his home in -Poseyville, and says he is going to dance the tango with every girl in -that town. - - -High Honor Won by French Airman. - -Official announcement is made that Adolphe Pegoud, the famous French -aviator, has received the military medal, the highest honor within the -gift of the government. - -The announcement says that Pegoud “on several occasions pursued enemy -aëroplanes, and on February 2d attacked at a great height and caused -the fall of a German machine. Soon afterward he attacked two other -aircraft, causing the first to fall and the second to land.” - -Pegoud first came into fame in 1913, while making experiments for -obtaining safety in the air, as the originator of the feat of flying -upside down in an aëroplane. A short time later he enhanced his -reputation for daring by performing for the first time the feat of -looping the loop. For his experiments Pegoud received the decoration of -the legion of honor. - -Several times since the outbreak of the war Pegoud has come into -notice. On August 20th he returned to Paris from the front to get a new -aëroplane, his old one having been riddled by bullets. He was mentioned -in dispatches for valor in November, and later, in January, was -reported to have destroyed a German explosive depot by dropping bombs -on it. - - -Old Police Horse Sold. - -Slator was discharged from the New York police force recently. With -eleven other horses, condemned by the department, he was auctioned off -in the arena of Van Tassel & Kearney. Slator is twenty-two years old, -and has behind him sixteen years of honorable service in the traffic -squad. - -“The gamest little horse that ever looked through a bridle,” the -auctioneer called him. He sold for $37.50. - -It was hard for Slator to understand yesterday’s proceedings. A little -brown horse whose memory holds only the recollection of hours of easy -pacing through the park bridle paths, with now and then a thrilling -dash after a runaway, or the more serious excitement of pushing back an -unruly crowd without stepping on its toes, has no place in his mind for -a scene like this. Slator was puzzled. - -In the first place, his boss was missing--the man who rode him and was -kind to him. Then the night had been spent in a Van Tassel & Kearney -stall. That was strange and uncomfortable after having slept on the -straw of the police stables since a time when most of the present force -were boys. - -Slator remembered his manners, though. When he was brought on to the -tanbark, he walked up to the auctioneer’s desk, his ears pricked -forward and his muzzle twitching a greeting. Then, when the man pushed -his head away, he submitted meekly to being dragged up and down the -arena by a shouting groom and suffered himself to be poked and handled -by various horsy men whom he did not know. - -It was years since he had felt a lash, but when they cut him across -the flanks to show off his action, he did not kick. Clearly this -was some new order of the department which had not been imparted to -him. Therefore it was incumbent upon a member of the force to behave -himself. Slator showed he was a gentleman. - -For many years the little horse was the mount of Patrolman--now -Lieutenant--Gumbricht. The price paid for him yesterday was perhaps an -eighth of his original value. And Slator is not “all in” yet by a good -deal. He is old, but he is wise, and a perfect saddle horse. That is -one reason why he did not bring a larger price. The men at the sale -were looking for work animals. - -Slator always looked down on the patrol-wagon horses as plebeians, yet -those sold yesterday brought twice his price. But arithmetic is one of -the few things which the little police mount does not know. That is one -worry which will be spared him in the future, at any rate. - - -Braves Five Thousand Volts in Pit of Fire. - -Patrolman John A. Swift, of Springfield, Mass., veteran of the British -army, hero of a dozen fires and accidents, proved his mettle when he -dashed through a crowd of 150 persons, descended into a blazing manhole -charged with five thousand volts, and saved the life of Benjamin W. -Martin, cable repairman, who had been left to his fate. - -The blaze was the result of a short circuit of the big city power -mains. Martin, deserted by his helpers, lay at the bottom of the -manhole while the crowd watched. Patrolman Swift went through the -choking smoke and took down a rope. His first attempt was unsuccessful, -and he was hauled up unconscious. Peeling off his officer’s coat, he -went down again, making Martin’s body fast to the rope. Both were drawn -up unconscious. - -“It was easier for me to get him than to stand there and hear him -croakin’ in that hot place,” said Swift. - - -Luke’s Peck at Girl’s Hose Starts Uproar in Subway. - -Arthur Mullens, of New York City, works in paper and publishing -houses, and all he finds he reads. If he had not read on a proof sheet -yesterday that cruelty to animals was the unpardonable sin, he would -not have enlarged the hole in the sack he carried, thereby freeing the -eagle eyes and more eaglish beak of Luke, a rooster, and--but to start -at the beginning. - -Mullens was called from his home, at 460 Pearl Street, by a friend to -deliver Luke, a prize rooster and a great fighter in his day, to an -acquaintance in 112th Street. Luke was put into a thick paper bag, the -neck of which was securely tied. Mullens swung him by his side as he -walked to the subway. - -On the train he read a speech that an assemblyman had delivered to a -sleeping audience about an antivivisection bill. So he tenderly tore a -tiny aperture in one side of the bag to give Luke the benefit of all -the spare air there might be in a Broadway express. - -A young woman sitting next to Mullens snatched at her knee, and then -screamed like a siren whistle. Mullens woke with a frightened start, -but was too late. Luke had withdrawn his head for an instant at the -girl’s yelp of terror. Then he swelled his fighter’s neck, and lo! -there was no bag. Luke was free. - -The rooster started for authority, like true rebels, but the guard -ducked. Luke next became bellicosely neutral; he did not care whose -eyes he scratched. Men, women, children, oaths, prayers, and Mullens’ -endearing calls got all mixed up. - -The train reached Ninety-sixth Street--Luke’s first peck at the young -woman’s hose had been near Seventy-second Street--before Mullens got -back his ruffled charge. Mob rule seemed imminent, but the guard -magnanimously permitted Luke to ride on to the Cathedral Parkway -station. There Mullens, chastened, his humanitarianism gone, departed -with the then sullen bird. - -“I’ve been a hard-working man all my days,” he said, “but never have I -had to do anything so hard as chaperon this sanguinary rooster.” - - -“Electric” Towel is Latest. - -The new municipal building at Washington, D. C., is equipped with -“electro towels,” devised by its superintendent, J. M. Ward. The -electro towel is simply an electric hand dryer. It looks like -a rectangular box with the front face knocked out and set on a -pedestal which brings it about waist-high. The box is large enough to -accommodate an ordinary pair of hands. There is an electric-heating -device in the stand and a blower which forces the air through ducts -into the box on top, where the hands are held while drying. A lever, -operated by the foot, turns the current of hot air into it and sets the -blower at work. - -Superintendent Ward contends that as the lever is operated by the foot -and the hands are merely extended into the box through the open front -they come into contact with no part of the device, and so the operation -is perfectly sanitary. It takes thirty seconds to dry hands in this way. - - -Pass Utah Prohibition Bill. - -The Wootten State-wide prohibition bill for Utah passed the House by a -vote of forty to five. It passed the Senate two weeks ago. - - -Only “Cowgirl” in Oklahoma. - -Little Miss Mary Miller, daughter of the late S. W. Miller, prominent -stockman of Hominy, Okla., was, three years ago, the cashier in a small -restaurant; later of the Hominy National Bank, and was delving into -books and accounts and participating in the younger social functions. -Now she lives on her ranch near here and is acknowledged to be the only -real “cowgirl” in Oklahoma. - -Upon the death of her father she assumed charge of the ranch that she -had established some years ago. She superintends every department and -carries out her own ideas in its operation. She has stocked the ranch -with pure-bred cattle, and her success in this line was demonstrated -last fall when she topped the Kansas City market with the first -shipment of cake-fed cattle. She is an active member of the Texas -Cattle Raisers’ Association. - - -Idaho is Made Dry After January 1, 1916. - -Governor Alexander, of Boise, Idaho, this week signed the prohibition -bill, which makes the manufacture or sale of intoxicating drinks -in Idaho unlawful after January 1, 1916. Idaho thus becomes the -seventeenth State to bar the traffic in alcoholic beverages. - - -Colorado Law Completed. - -The legislature of Colorado has completed the law to enforce the -State-wide constitutional prohibition amendment, effective January 1, -1916. Senate and House adopted the report of the conference committee, -and the measure now goes to the governor. - - -Kiddie With a Mighty Punch. - -When he was startled from sleep and found a big burglar beating his -mother, Isidore Weinstein, six years old, of Cleveland, Ohio, drew -back a bare foot and drove it hard into the robber’s face. The robber -apparently believing that he had been struck by a man’s fist, took to -his heels. - -Mrs. Edith Weinstein and her son live alone in rooms adjoining her -candy store. She was awakened long after midnight by a man’s hands at -her throat. The burglar had entered by forcing a bedroom window. Mrs. -Weinstein screamed. Then the burglar beat her with his fist until she -was nearly unconscious. - -Isidore’s bare foot saved the day. Mrs. Weinstein is sure the burglar -mistook Isidore’s kick for the blow of a man’s fist. If he had known -her protector was only a six-year-old boy, there would have been a -different story, she is confident. - - -A Triple Sport Alliance. - -A triple understanding in all branches of sport by Yale, Harvard, and -Princeton is at hand. The signing of a formal agreement by the three -for a series of nine games to settle the triple baseball championship -and the continued conferences of the captains of the three elevens of -the universities are surface indications of the movement that has been -quietly in progress for several years, furthered by Yale, for at least -a general understanding between the three in all branches of the sport. - -In track athletics and rowing the triple entente is not in operation. -Yale meets both her rivals on the track and would be glad for them -to meet each other, but Harvard and Princeton have no arrangement -for such contests. Princeton has not yet come into the Yale-Harvard -annual rowing regatta on the Thames, but may do so at any time. Yale -meets Princeton and Harvard both on the water annually, but there is -no movement on the part of Princeton to arrange a dual-crew race with -Harvard. Officials of the Princeton navy and athletic association have -assured Yale rowing men that the Tigers were likely before long to come -into the Yale-Harvard annual races at New London. - -When the results of the series of informal football conferences between -Yale, Harvard, and Princeton are announced, it is expected that -progress toward a much more complete understanding of gridiron matters -of mutual interest will be shown. The informal talks of Captains -Wilson, of Yale; Mahan, of Harvard, and Glick, of Princeton, will be -projected into the business of the general athletic committees of the -three universities during the remainder of the school year. - -The agreement for a definite series of nine baseball games has -completed another project, suggested by Yale, similar to that proposed -by Coach Frank Quinby, of the Eli baseball team, last year, which -has resulted in a formal agreement of the three universities for the -coaches of their baseball nines to remain off the player’s benches -during a game for the purpose of proving the contests to be a genuine -battle of the undergraduate players and captains. - -The agreement for playing nine definite games, without regard to -the results of the individual series between any two of the three -university teams, is regarded as the most radical step that has -been taken in college sport in the East this year. Yale, Harvard, -and Princeton call their games, played against one another, their -“championship” matches. There will be a genuine “champion” chosen this -year for the first time among the three rivals, for the percentage -leader in the series of nine games played will be the holder of a clean -title to championship honors. - -For years Yale, Harvard, and Princeton have played baseball without -a decision as to championship honors. Last year, for instance, Yale -defeated Harvard; Harvard easily beat Princeton, yet Princeton -neatly trimmed Yale, leaving honors easy all around. Although each -of the three old rivals may win three of the scheduled games of the -series this year and a championship may be again impossible, chances -are against any such outcome of the advent of the new triangular -arrangement, the baseball triple entente of Yale, Harvard, and -Princeton. - - -Convicts Ask for “Dry” Law. - -A petition signed by more than one thousand inmates of the Eastern -Penitentiary at Philadelphia, asking the legislature to give favorable -consideration to any legislation looking to curtailment of the sale of -liquor has been presented to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. - - -Explains the Vacant Chair. - -Miss Edith Davis, of Grand Rapids, Mich., has just received an -invitation to a pedro party which was held on the evening of October -31, 1892. The letter was postmarked October 18, 1892. It is supposed -that the letter was mislaid in the local post office. - - -Aërial Mail Service Coming. - -During the last year the post-office department gave permission to -eight applicants for experimental aërial mail service, and in the -estimate of expenses for 1916 an item of $50,000 has been inserted -for departmental experiments in this line. It is hoped to make use of -the aëroplane to advantage in the mountainous region, where, in many -instances, towns only a short distance from each other in the air -line, are hundreds of miles by the only available surface routes. It -is also anticipated that many of the interruptions to the service now -experienced by reason of weather conditions will be overcome by making -use of air machines. - - -Recommend New Flag. - -The municipal art commission of New York City has discovered that -Greater New York has been going along for nearly twenty years without -an official flag, and has taken steps to remedy the defect. It has -recommended to the board of estimate and the board of aldermen the -adoption of a flag to take the place of the mayor’s flag now used on -State occasions as the emblem of the city. - -The design for the new flag was selected by a committee consisting -of John B. Pine, Francis C. Jones, R. T. H. Halsey, and I. N. Phelps -Stokes, of the Art Commission Associates, an organization of former -members of the commission. They had been at work on the selection for a -year. - -The design recommended by this committee and by the commission in turn -to the city’s legislative authorities provides for a flag consisting -of three perpendicular bars of orange, white, and blue, the blue to -be nearest to the flagstaff, with the seal of the city in blue on the -middle bar of white. The colors are to correspond as nearly as possible -to those of the flag of the United Netherlands in use in 1626. - -The commission also recommends the adoption of a model of the city seal -submitted by the flag committee. This seal corresponds to the present -city seal in all essential details, but it is executed somewhat more -faithfully than the majority of the present seals after the pattern -of the original city seal. The commission recommends that in order -that there may be no further confusion in the use of the city seal in -decorations or otherwise, a cast of the new pattern be made in bronze -and kept in the safe in the mayor’s office, to be copied whenever -necessary. - -At present the flag used as the city flag is the one officially adopted -for the mayor. It has a solid white ground, with the seal of the city -in blue. - - -Big Increase in Prison Ranks. - -A marked increase in the population of the various State prisons, -reformatories, penitentiaries, county jails, and New York City -institutions reporting to the State commission of prisons for the year -ended September 30, 1914, is shown in statistics collected by the -commission. The total prison population on that date was 16,678, an -increase of 1,817 over the preceding year. The increase for the year -1913 over 1912 was seventy. Ten years ago the prison population was -12,793, showing an increase in a decade of 3,885. A marked increase is -also shown in the number of actual commitments. The number jumped from -101,611, in 1913, to 118,027, in 1914. - -The number in custody in the four State prisons, including the State -prison for women, at Auburn, was 4,955, an increase of 235. There was, -however, a decrease in the number of inmates of the women’s prison from -116 to 103. The number of prisoners in the State prisons at the close -of the fiscal year was 1,503 more than it was ten years ago. - -The population of the three reformatories for males--the New York State -Reformatory, at Elmira; the Eastern New York Reformatory, at Napanoch, -and the New York City Reformatory at Hart’s Island--increased -fifty-one, from 2,026 to 2,077. This is an increase during ten years of -421. The New York City Reformatory statistics date from 1906. - -A decrease of fifty-five is shown in the combined population of the New -York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford and the Western House of -Refuge for Women at Albion. The population in 1913 was 708, and this -year it had decreased to 663. The population of these two institutions -increased 241 in ten years. - -The greatest increase in population is shown in the five -penitentiaries. These institutions in 1913 had 2,488 inmates; this year -the number was 2,965, an increase of 477. The increase since 1905, when -the Kings County Penitentiary was in existence, has been 736. - -The number of inmates in the county jails, and in the workhouses, city, -and district prisons and the House of Detention in New York City was -6,028, an increase of 809 over the preceding year, and 1,261 more than -the number in custody ten years ago. - -The number of actual commitments to the various prisons, reformatories, -penitentiaries, county jails, workhouses, et cetera, during the last -fiscal year was 118,027, an increase of 16,416 over 1913 and an -increase over 1905 of 16,981. - -The number of women in custody at the close of the year was 1,930, an -increase of 138 as compared with the preceding year. - - -New Invention of Color Print. - -John Lewisohn, engineer, chemist, business man, and artist, has been -exhibiting a series of color prints from photographic negatives at the -Municipal Galleries in the Washington Irving Building, of New York. Mr. -Lewisohn has an office at 88 Fifth Avenue, but it was in the Municipal -Galleries that he gave out an account of his work in this field. - -“I don’t call myself an artist,” he began, with a deprecating smile. -He did not need to. There were the pictures. The subjects ran all -the way from the brown derby hat of commerce to the red, red rose of -the poets. And the unique feature of the work was the paper--plain -everyday blue-print paper, despised by many amateurs and beloved to -the housewife who can make prints of her baby out the kitchen window -while she is ironing and wash them in the sink--and that’s all. That -isn’t quite all of Mr. Lewisohn’s process, but it begins that way. It -proceeds by a series of color washes. The process is patented, but -there is nothing complicated about it. Simply reverse the laundry -method--instead of washing color off, wash it on. - -“This isn’t real color photography,” admitted Mr. Lewisohn frankly. -“That has not come yet. Some people say it never will.” - -Most of the color photographs taken so far end in the glass negative, -and even that has its weak points. The ideal is a negative that will -give a print in the actual colors of nature. In most of the so-called -photographic color prints there is more or less failure in the blending -of tones. There are no such crude greens or muddy pinks in these -prints. The delicate shadings of flower petals are perfectly rendered. -A gas flame burns up so brightly one could almost read by it. - -“I took a picture of the eclipse of the sun once,” remarked Mr. -Lewisohn. He turns his camera on everything in earth or sky--a box of -matches, a bronze statuette, sunset clouds. - -“Every man ought to have a hobby,” he said. “This is mine--just now. -Some time I’ll change it. I studied engineering over in Europe. -Electricity is wonderfully interesting.” - -When he was asked if the ordinary snapshot artist could hope to use his -process, Mr. Lewisohn said that undoubtedly he could. No commercial -use has been made of it, but that will come in time. The work so far -has been carried forward because it interested the inventor. He has -been experimenting for years, and his process has been commented on -favorably by European authorities. He has written something about it -for the 1915 “American Annual of Photography.” - - -To Absorb Stray Shocks. - -As a result of the death of Edward Ligouri from electric shock, the New -Haven Railroad has installed an aërial safety device on its overhead -high-tension electric system to take up any stray electric current. - -Ligouri was fatally shocked while boarding an electric train at the -Glenbrook station on the New Canaan branch. - -Coroner Phelan rendered a verdict that death was due to electricity -diverted from its fixed pathway by the unfastening of copper-rail bond -wires. - - -Bowery Minstrel Dies. - -The Minstrel of the Bowery, in New York, is dead! - -The sweetest singer that ever entertained the men of the fifteen-cent -lodging houses and the five-cent eating places died with the echo of -his own singing, and just as he heard a dozen men burst into applause -in the saloon at 28 Bowery. And the Bowery is sad. The Bowery is -puzzled, too, for their minstrel was a man of mystery, an English -remittance man, and now his identity will never be revealed. - -“John Sullivan, forty years old, an actor, no home, dropped dead from -heart disease” is the way the police slip tells the story. Back of -that simple statement is the shadow of fourteen years’ exile from home -and kin, of as many years spent in cheering the unlovely hours of the -outcasts that drift to the Bowery as a magnet to the steel. - -When “John Sullivan” came to the Bowery fourteen years ago, his manner -and voice puzzled all those he met, and it was whispered about that he -was the son of an English earl. He drank, and drank steadily, but that -magnificent voice of his and the ability of those long fingers to wield -ivory piano keys so eloquently that their message reached the heart of -every man who heard him, soon made him known and greatly admired. He -wandered from saloon to saloon, from lunch stand to lunch stand during -those years, pausing in each to sing and play--and to take a drink or -two. - -From England occasionally came letters, and then John Sullivan would -abandon his singing for a time and invite all his friends to drink at -his expense. When his prosperity ended, he would return to the singing. - -In the pockets of the dead man there were a laundry check, a memorandum -book that was unmarked, and--prayer beads, to which were affixed a -cross. Nothing was there to reveal his identity. No money was there to -pay burial expenses. - -The body was removed to the morgue from the back room in the saloon, -where he sang his last song, but later on, when news of his death -spread up and down the Bowery, there was talk of saving the singer from -a pauper’s grave. It was not long before a subscription list was made -up, and nickels and dimes began pouring in. - - -Save Thirty-nine After Four Days in Mine. - -Thirty-nine coal miners, alive and well, after being entombed for four -days and four nights, were found in the Number Three Mine of the New -River & Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company, on Quinnimont Mountain, -near Layland, W. Va., where an explosion trapped 182 miners. - -Five of the rescued miners were able to walk out of the shaft -unassisted. - -News of the finding alive of these men after ninety bodies had been -recovered and all hope abandoned, spread like wildfire through the -mining camps, and hundreds flocked to the scene. - -Weakened by hunger, the five men who made their way out of the mine -told rescuers that they believed many more men were living in a remote -chamber. A crew equipped with oxygen helmets pushed its way toward that -point, and found thirty-four more. - - -Won’t Censor Mails to United States. - -Home Secretary McKenna in the English Parliament refused to indorse -a proposal to censor American mails. He said no reason existed for -such action, and it would impose a tremendous burden upon the staff of -censors. - -The suggestion came from a member who complained that Germany was -sending to New York pamphlets designed to injure the cause of the -Allies. The home secretary said he was positive that these pamphlets -would have no effect on American opinion. - - -Shanty De Luxe. - -What is to be probably the finest “shanty” ever erected in the -United States is being put up by Frederick L. Cranford, Inc., subway -contractor, at the southwest corner of City Hall Park, close to -Broadway, New York City. It is to have a height of three stories, the -first to form a sort of arcade to allow free passage for pedestrians -along the Mail Street sidewalk. The building will cover the entire -width of the broad sidewalk for a distance of seventy-five feet. - -Shanties of some sort are always erected by contractors on subway work, -and if this one had had to go up in some other place, it would have no -doubt resembled a real shanty on stilts by the time it was finished. -In this case, however, the public service commission required the -contractor to build an extra nice-looking structure, because of the -fact that it is located on the edge of the park and in front of City -Hall. The plans had to be approved by Park Commissioner Ward before the -work could be begun. - -“The shanty will be divided into two separate buildings,” said -a representative of the company to-day. “One side will serve as -headquarters for our field force, and the other as quarters for the -men engaged in tunnel work on the subway. The labor law requires, -you know, that where men are engaged in tunnel work rest quarters -must be provided for them. There will be wash rooms and lunch rooms, -with lockers, where the men may change their clothes on going to and -leaving work. The whole structure will cost from five to six thousand -dollars. The building will be painted an attractive color.” - -The pretentious shanty will serve only the tunnel men and the field -engineering force of the section of the new Interborough subway running -under the post office. This section begins at West Broadway and runs -through Park Place, under the post office, and through Beekman Street, -to William Street. This section will connect the new Seventh Avenue -subway with the tunnel under the East River to Clark Street, Brooklyn. -The contract price for this section is $1,571,363.50. It is the section -that was held up so long because of the opposition of Secretary of the -Treasury McAdoo to granting an easement for digging under the post -office. - - -152,000,000 Bushels of Wheat. - -The bureau of crop estimates, in Washington, says that the amount of -wheat on farms March 1st was about 152,903,000 bushels, or 17.2 per -cent of the 1914 crop, against 151,809,000 bushels, or 19.9 per cent of -the 1913 crop on farms March 1, 1914, and 156,483,000 bushels, or 21.4 -per cent of the 1912 crop on farms March 1, 1913. About 60.7 per cent -of the crop will be shipped out of the counties where grown, against -53.9 per cent of the 1913 crop, and 61.6 per cent of the 1912 crop so -shipped. - -The amount of corn on farms March 1st was about 910,894,000 bushels, or -34.1 per cent of the 1914 crop, as against 866,392,000 bushels, or 35.4 -per cent of the 1913 crop on farms March 1, 1914, and 1,289,655,000 -bushels, or 43.3 per cent of the 1912 crop on farms March 1, 1913. -About 18.6 per cent of the crop will be shipped out of the counties -where grown. The percentage of the crop merchantable is about 84.5 per -cent. - -The amount of oats on farms on March 1st was about 359,369,000 bushels, -or 33.2 per cent of the 1914 crop, against 419,476,000 bushels, or 37.4 -per cent of the 1913 crop. About 29.4 per cent of the crop will be -shipped out of the counties where grown. - -The amount of barley on farms on March 1st was about 42,899,000 -bushels, or 22 per cent of the 1914 crop, against 44,126,000 bushels, -or 24.8 per cent of the 1913 crop on farms on March 1, 1914. About 45.1 -per cent will be shipped out of the counties where grown. - - -Aviator and His Prisoner Fought 3,000 Feet in Air. - -For the first time in history a prisoner of war has been transported -by aëroplane. Warsaw dispatches carried the news to the Russian war -office, in Petrograd, with the recommendation that Terenti Paschaloff, -Russian aviator, be awarded a medal for unprecedented daring. - -Reconnoitering with his mechanician, Paschaloff was forced to descend -inside the enemy’s lines in southwest Poland because of engine -trouble. An Austrian patrol surprised him while he was making repairs. -Paschaloff turned his machine gun upon the enemy, killing five. - -The sixth member of the patrol was captured by the mechanician. -Paschaloff removed his belt, forced the Austrian to seat himself on -the frame of the biplane, and tied his hands around one of the wire -uprights. Then he started to return to the Russian lines. - -Crossing the Austrian lines, the aviator was subjected to heavy rifle -fire. The prisoner managed to loosen his bonds and attempted to tear -the levers from Paschaloff’s grasp and dash the machine to earth. -Paschaloff turned the levers over to his mechanician. Three thousand -feet aboveground, with gusts of wind tilting the biplane perilously, -Austrian and Russian grappled behind the pilot’s seat. - -Paschaloff seized a wrench and dealt his opponent a heavy blow on the -head, stunning him. The Austrian was again strapped to the machine and -brought safely into the Russian camp. - - -Girl, Blind for Twenty-one Years, Sees Wonders of Big City. - -Miss Maud Emerson Lincoln, of Marblehead, Mass., whose sight recently -came to her in a sudden manner after she had been almost totally blind -from her birth, recently saw Boston for the first time. - -She came from her home in the old Judge Nathan Bowen place on Market -Square, Marblehead, to the city with her mother, Mrs. William F. -Lincoln, and her eyes were to be given a thorough examination by Doctor -Henry Hawkins at his office, 397 Marlboro Street. Doctor Hawkins has -never seen the young woman, but he has records of her case which he -received from Doctor Francis I. Proctor. The records are not complete, -and Doctor Hawkins said he did not wish to express a medical opinion on -the case until he had seen the young woman. - -Doctor Hawkins is assistant ophthalmologist at the Perkins Institute, -but Miss Lincoln has not been a student there for the past six years. - -At the time Doctor Proctor was ophthalmological surgeon at the -institute, he got some of the records of the case, which he handed over -to Doctor Hawkins. - -Miss Lincoln said that she was feeling fine, and as the nervous -condition which followed the coming of sight has practically passed -away, she is eager to begin life anew. She wants to do so many things, -she does not know where to begin, but most of all, her parents say, she -wants to learn, and if Doctor Hawkins thinks it advisable, she will -probably take up studies at once. - -Heavily veiled, she attended Sunday school yesterday at the First -Baptist Church, in Marblehead, where she is a member of Mrs. Gertrude -Dennis’ class. She spent the rest of the day at home and retired early, -to be ready for her trip to Boston to-day. - -“I rather dread to go,” said Miss Lincoln. “There will be so many -people, and so many things to look at, I think I shall be afraid. But -if I can get rid of that feeling of fear, I know I shall enjoy it.” - -Miss Lincoln saw her own picture for the first time in the papers -to-day, and was delighted with it. - -Practically blind from her birth, twenty-one years she now sees -clearly. In an instant one afternoon, as she was about household -duties, this seeming miracle came. With a snap the covering was rent -from the right eye as she was putting dishes in the china closet. - -Two days later, in the evening, as she sat with her parents, the other -eye was uncovered, and sight was given to it. - -“I went to the closet to put up some dishes,” she said. “Of course, -there was no light in the closet and it all looked dark to me. The top -of my head did not feel good. It hurt. It was as heavy as--as a load of -bricks. That’s just the way it felt. I reached up with the dishes. Then -suddenly something snapped in my right eye. That is the only way I can -describe it--like that.” - -And she snapped her fingers. - -“Then,” she said, “everything seemed all light to me and brightness. I -did not know what to make of it. I could not realize what had happened. -I looked around the room. I ran and looked out the window. And I could -see.” - -“She went out with me the other evening, heavily veiled,” said Mrs. -Lincoln. “We passed a boy leading a man. I said nothing, thinking I -would not call her attention to it. - -“‘Mother,’ she said, ‘was that boy leading the man?’ - -“‘Yes,’ I replied. - -“‘Oh, the man is blind?’ she asked again. And I told her he was. She -paused a moment, then said: ‘What a pity.’” - -Miss Lincoln is tall, slender, and fair-haired. Her eyes are blue, like -those of her parents. She had on a gown of deep red, with little black -bows on it, and she talked entertainingly and always she laughs with -joy at her “miracle.” - -“Maud was born on April twenty-second, eighteen-ninety-four,” said Mrs. -Lincoln. - -“She was twenty-one this month. She was born blind. We did not realize -at once that she could not and might never see. Her eyes had the -appearance of eyes which have cataract. There seemed to be a thin, -white, opaque substance over the pupils. - -“No one seemed to know what the matter was. But she grew up blind. When -she was nine years old we sent her to the Perkins Institute for the -Blind, and she was there nine years and received an education. Then we -took her home, and she has lived here since, helping me as she could. -When she was examined by Doctor P. I. Perkins at the Perkins Institute, -six years ago, he told her never to have anything done to her eyes, -never to put anything in them, that some day she would see--and he was -right.” - - -Brave Third Rail to Save Women. - -Fifteen terrified women and thirty-five men who had been shaken when -an elevated train jumped the tracks on the Brooklyn Bridge were forced -to climb over the third rail, two feet of open space, through which -they might have dropped 120 feet to the East River, an iron latticework -three feet high, and another two-foot open space to safety early -to-day. Policemen aided them, but had one made a misstep, death would -have been inevitable. - -Three cars were in the New York train, which was in charge of Motorman -Scott and Conductor Nicholas Castanz. The train went off the track -almost in the center of the bridge. The rear trucks of the middle -car were the first to jump, and as they bumped and jerked along the -ties, the fifty passengers were thrown into a condition neighboring -on hysteria. The motorman applied the brakes, and all were jostled -severely before the train came to a stop. - -A wait of half an hour, with the cold river gleaming below, brought -Policeman Beatty to the scene. He summoned other patrolmen. - -The rescue work began with Beatty standing with one foot on the -covering of the third rail and the other against the latticework. -Directly beneath him was the opening that showed the waiting river. One -by one the women were swung across from the conductor to him, and from -him to other policemen. Then the men came. Traffic was tied up for two -hours. - - - - -[Illustration: Tobacco Habit _BANISHED in 48 to 72 Hours_ - - -Immediate Results - -Trying to quit the tobacco habit unaided is a losing fight against -heavy odds, and means a serious shock to your nervous system. 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After finishing the treatment you have -absolutely no desire to use tobacco again or to continue the use of the -remedy. It quiets the nerves, and will make you feel better in every -way. If you really want to quit the tobacco habit--get rid of it so -completely that when you see others using it, it will not awaken the -slightest desire in you--you should at once begin a course of =Tobacco -Redeemer= treatment for the habit. - - -Results Absolutely Guaranteed - -A single trial will convince the most skeptical. Our legal, binding, -money-back guarantee goes with each full treatment. 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State ............... -] - - - - -Transcriber’s Note - - -Text in _italics_ is indicated by underscores, and text in =bold= -is indicated by equals signs. - -This book is in the public domain in the country of publication. - -Clear printer’s errors and typos have been silently corrected; -otherwise, the text is as far as possible presented as printed. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEAL OF GIJON *** - -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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