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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..730e356 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63864 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63864) diff --git a/old/63864-0.txt b/old/63864-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 76b42b8..0000000 --- a/old/63864-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7305 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Man Without a Conscience, by Nicholas 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'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Man Without a Conscience - From Rogue to Convict - -Author: Nicholas Carter - -Release Date: November 23, 2020 [EBook #63864] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Nahum Maso i Carcases, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes: - -The original spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been retained, -with the exception of apparent typographical errors which have been -corrected. - -Text in Italics is indicated between _underscores_. - -Text in Small Capitals has been replaced by regular uppercase text. - - * * * * * - - - - - NICK CARTER STORIES - - New Magnet Library - - Price, Fifteen Cents _Not a Dull Book in This List_ - - -Nick Carter stands for an interesting detective story. The fact that -the books in this line are so uniformly good is entirely due to the -work of a specialist. The man who wrote these stories produced no -other type of fiction. His mind was concentrated upon the creation of -new plots and situations in which his hero emerged triumphantly from -all sorts of troubles and landed the criminal just where he should -be—behind the bars. - -The author of these stories knew more about writing detective stories -than any other single person. - -Following is a list of the best Nick Carter stories. They have been -selected with extreme care, and we unhesitatingly recommend each of -them as being fully as interesting as any detective story between cloth -covers which sells at ten times the price. - -If you do not know Nick Carter, buy a copy of any of the New Magnet -Library books, and get acquainted. He will surprise and delight you. - - _ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_ - - 850—Wanted: A Clew By Nicholas Carter - 851—A Tangled Skein By Nicholas Carter - 852—The Bullion Mystery By Nicholas Carter - 853—The Man of Riddles By Nicholas Carter - 854—A Miscarriage of Justice By Nicholas Carter - 855—The Gloved Hand By Nicholas Carter - 856—Spoilers and the Spoils By Nicholas Carter - 857—The Deeper Game By Nicholas Carter - 858—Bolts from Blue Skies By Nicholas Carter - 859—Unseen Foes By Nicholas Carter - 860—Knaves in High Places By Nicholas Carter - 861—The Microbe of Crime By Nicholas Carter - 862—In the Tolls of Fear By Nicholas Carter - 863—A Heritage of Trouble By Nicholas Carter - 864—Called to Account By Nicholas Carter - 865—The Just and the Unjust By Nicholas Carter - 866—Instinct at Fault By Nicholas Carter - 867—A Rogue Worth Trapping By Nicholas Carter - 868—A Rope of Slender Threads By Nicholas Carter - 869—The Last Call By Nicholas Carter - 870—The Spoils of Chance By Nicholas Carter - 871—A Struggle With Destiny By Nicholas Carter - 872—The Slave of Crime By Nicholas Carter - 873—The Crook’s Blind By Nicholas Carter - 874—A Rascal of Quality By Nicholas Carter - 875—With Shackles of Fire By Nicholas Carter - 876—The Man Who Changed Faces By Nicholas Carter - 877—The Fixed Alibi By Nicholas Carter - 878—Out With the Tide By Nicholas Carter - 879—The Soul Destroyers By Nicholas Carter - 880—The Wages of Rascality By Nicholas Carter - 881—Birds of Prey By Nicholas Carter - 882—When Destruction Threatens By Nicholas Carter - 883—The Keeper of Black Hounds By Nicholas Carter - 884—The Door of Doubt By Nicholas Carter - 885—The Wolf Within By Nicholas Carter - 886—A Perilous Parole By Nicholas Carter - 887—The Trail of the Finger Prints By Nicholas Carter - 888—Dodging the Law By Nicholas Carter - 889—A Crime in Paradise By Nicholas Carter - 890—On the Ragged Edge By Nicholas Carter - 891—The Red God of Tragedy By Nicholas Carter - 892—The Man Who Paid By Nicholas Carter - 893—The Blind Man’s Daughter By Nicholas Carter - 894—One Object in Life By Nicholas Carter - 895—As a Crook Sows By Nicholas Carter - 896—In Record Time By Nicholas Carter - 897—Held in Suspense By Nicholas Carter - 898—The $100,000 Kiss By Nicholas Carter - 899—Just One Slip By Nicholas Carter - 900—On a Million-dollar Trail By Nicholas Carter - 901—A Weird Treasure By Nicholas Carter - 902—The Middle Link By Nicholas Carter - 903—To the Ends of the Earth By Nicholas Carter - 904—When Honors Pall By Nicholas Carter - 905—The Yellow Brand By Nicholas Carter - 906—A New Serpent in Eden By Nicholas Carter - 907—When Brave Men Tremble By Nicholas Carter - 908—A Test of Courage By Nicholas Carter - 909—Where Peril Beckons By Nicholas Carter - 910—The Gargoni Girdle By Nicholas Carter - 911—Rascals & Co By Nicholas Carter - 912—Too Late to Talk By Nicholas Carter - 913—Satan’s Apt Pupil By Nicholas Carter - 914—The Girl Prisoner By Nicholas Carter - 915—The Danger of Folly By Nicholas Carter - 916—One Shipwreck Too Many By Nicholas Carter - 917—Scourged by Fear By Nicholas Carter - 918—The Red Plague By Nicholas Carter - 919—Scoundrels Rampant By Nicholas Carter - 920—From Clew to Clew By Nicholas Carter - 921—When Rogues Conspire By Nicholas Carter - 922—Twelve in a Grave By Nicholas Carter - 923—The Great Opium Case By Nicholas Carter - 924—A Conspiracy of Rumors By Nicholas Carter - 925—A Klondike Claim By Nicholas Carter - 926—The Evil Formula By Nicholas Carter - 927—The Man of Many Faces By Nicholas Carter - 928—The Great Enigma By Nicholas Carter - 929—The Burden of Proof By Nicholas Carter - 930—The Stolen Brain By Nicholas Carter - 931—A Titled Counterfeiter By Nicholas Carter - 932—The Magic Necklace By Nicholas Carter - 933—’Round the World for a Quarter By Nicholas Carter - 934—Over the Edge of the World By Nicholas Carter - 935—In the Grip of Fate By Nicholas Carter - 936—The Case of Many Clews By Nicholas Carter - 937—The Sealed Door By Nicholas Carter - 938—Nick Carter and the Green Goods Men By Nicholas Carter - 939—The Man Without a Will By Nicholas Carter - 940—Tracked Across the Atlantic By Nicholas Carter - 941—A Clew From the Unknown By Nicholas Carter - 942—The Crime of a Countess By Nicholas Carter - 943—A Mixed Up Mess By Nicholas Carter - 944—The Great Money Order Swindle By Nicholas Carter - 945—The Adder’s Brood By Nicholas Carter - 946—A Wall Street Haul By Nicholas Carter - 947—For a Pawned Crown By Nicholas Carter - - - - - THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE - - OR, - - FROM ROGUE TO CONVICT - - - BY - - NICHOLAS CARTER - - Author of the celebrated stories of Nick Carter’s adventures, - which are published exclusively in the NEW MAGNET LIBRARY, - conceded to be among the best detective tales ever written. - - - [Illustration] - - - STREET & SMITH CORPORATION - PUBLISHERS - 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York - - - - - Copyright, 1906 - By STREET & SMITH - - The Man Without a Conscience - - - (Printed in the United States of America) - - All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign - languages, including the Scandinavian. - - - - - THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - AN INQUISITIVE CLERK. - - -“Bureau of Secret Investigation.” - -Nick Carter glanced at the above sign over the door, an unpretentious -and somewhat faded reminder of better days, while he descended the -flight of stone steps leading into the basement offices of the Boston -police department. - -The sunlight lay warm and bright in Pemberton Square at ten o’clock -that May morning, shedding over the magnificent new court-house a -golden glory consistent, no doubt, with the wise dispensation of -justice, yet in monstrous anomaly with some of the dreadful experiences -and grim episodes sometimes enacted within those splendid sunlit walls. - -Nick turned to the right in the main corridor and entered the adjoining -office, quite a commodious room, in which the general business of this -secret service branch of the local police department was conducted. - -The enclosure back of the chief clerk’s high desk, which also was -topped with a brass grating, happened to be vacant when Nick entered. -In one corner of the room, however, a subordinate clerk was busily -engaged in attempting to repair a slight leak in the faucet of the -ice-water vessel, and to this young man the famous New York detective -addressed himself. - -“Has the chief been in this morning?” he asked. - -The clerk bobbed up from his work as if startled, drying his hands with -his handkerchief, and stared sharply at Nick for several moments. But -he saw nothing familiar in the stranger’s grave, clean-cut features. - -For all that this clerk knew, or surmised, Nick might have been an -ordinary or very humble citizen, who had quietly dropped in there for -want of something better to do. - -“Chief Weston?” he returned inquiringly, still sharply scrutinizing -Nick. - -“There is no other chief in this department, is there?” was Nick’s -reply, with a subtle tinge of irony. - -“Well—no.” - -“Chief Weston, yes,” bowed Nick. “Is he in his office?” - -“I believe so.” - -“Busy?” - -“I reckon he is, just now.” - -“Reckon, eh? Don’t you know?” - -“Yes, sir, he’s busy,” the clerk now said, a bit curtly, flushing -slightly under the detective’s keen eye and quietly persistent -inquiries. - -“He’s not too busy to see me, I think,” replied Nick, with dry -assurance. “Go in and tell him I’m here.” - -“Who are you?” - -“Never mind who I am.” - -“I’ll take in your card.” - -“No card,” said Nick tersely. - -“Your name, then?” - -“Nor any name.” - -“But——” - -“Merely tell the chief that his friend from New York is here.” - -The expression in the eyes of the irritated clerk lost none of its -searching interest, yet they now took on a rather different light, as -if he had been suddenly hit with an idea. Yet he still frowned slightly -and said: - -“If you object to having your name mentioned——” - -“I do object, young man,” Nick now interrupted, with ominously quiet -determination. “Your chief may possibly have persons in his office -before whom I do not care to have my name announced. Now, you go to -him and deliver my message just as I gave it to you, neither more nor -less, or you’ll very suddenly hear something drop—providing you still -retain your senses.” - -Now the clerk laughed, as if amused by the cool terms of the quiet -threat, and then he turned quickly and vanished into a short passageway -between the outer room and Chief Weston’s private office. - -Nick gazed after him with a rather quizzical stare—a slender chap -of about twenty-five, with reddish hair, thin features, a sallow -complexion thickly dotted with freckles, and a countenance lighted by a -pair of narrow gray eyes, that greenish-gray sometimes seen in the eyes -of a cat. - -“I wonder what use they have for him around here?” Nick said to -himself, while waiting. “If I were chief in this joint, it’s long odds -that that red-headed monkey would get his walking-ticket in short -order.” - -The subject of these uncomplimentary cogitations returned in less than -a minute. - -“You are to walk right in, sir—this way,” he glibly announced, with -much more deference. - -At the same time he opened the way for Nick to pass into the enclosure, -and through the passage mentioned. - -“Thank you,” said Nick, with half a growl. - -“Don’t mention it,” grinned the clerk. “Straight ahead, sir. Chief -Weston is at his desk.” - -Nick heard, meantime, the tramp of men through a corridor adjoining the -opposite side of the outer office, and he knew that Chief Weston had -immediately dismissed them, to receive him in private. - -“So, so; the business is important,” he rightly conjectured. - -The door closed behind Nick of itself, but the snap of the catch-lock -hung fire until after the hearty voice of the Boston chief of -detectives, as he arose and gripped Nick by the hand, had sounded -through the room. - -“How are you, Nick?” he cried cordially. “I’m a thousand times more -than glad to see you, Carter, on my word.” - -“Same to you, Weston,” laughed Nick. “Some time has passed since we -met.” - -“Too long a time, eh?” - -“That’s right, too.” - -“Have a chair.” - -Now the catch-lock snapped lightly. - -A finger between the door and the jamb had been withdrawn. - -A reddish head drew away from the panel, a pair of ears ceased their -strained attention, a light step retreated through the passage, and two -narrow gray eyes like those of a cat indicated that their owner had -now satisfied his inquisitive yearning, and learned the name of the -visitor who so peremptorily had issued his commands. - -As Nick accepted a chair near that taken by Weston at his desk, he -carelessly jerked his thumb toward the door by which he had entered. - -“Where’d you get him, Weston?” he asked dryly. - -“Get whom?” queried the chief, with inquiring eyes. - -“The clerk.” - -“Hyde—the one who announced you?” - -“The same.” - -“Oh, he’s been at work on the books out there for about a year. He’s -only an assistant clerk.” - -“Ah, I see.” - -“Why did you ask?” - -“For no reason.” - -“Nonsense! You must have had some reason, Nick.” - -“None of consequence,” smiled Nick. “I asked about him, in fact, only -because I had to fairly drive him in here when I declined to send in a -card or mention my name.” - -Chief Weston threw back his head and laughed. - -“That’s easily explained,” said he, still chuckling. “I growl at him -roundly at regular intervals, Nick, for annoying me with visitors whom -I neither know nor wish to see. I am getting him by degrees, however, -so that he requires the whole pedigree of a caller before announcing -him, which is about as bad a fault, I imagine. Sandy is all right, -though, in his own peculiar way.” - -“Sandy, eh? That’s a nickname, I take it, because of his red hair?” - -“No, not exactly. His name is Sanderson Hyde.” - -“Ah, just so.” - -“I took him in to oblige a journalist friend,” added Weston, smiling. -“It’s always well to stand ace-high with the press, you know.” - -“That’s right, too,” nodded Nick, now willing to digress. “You sent for -me to come over here from New York, Weston. What do you want of me?” - -“You got my wire?” - -“Certainly.” - -“Did Chick come with you?” - -“No,” replied Nick, at this reference to his chief assistant. “I came -over alone.” - -“Are you busy in New York just now?” - -“I’m always busy, Weston.” - -“Too busy to undertake a little work for me?” - -“Where?” - -“In and about Boston.” - -“What’s the nature of it?” - -“There is nothing in giving you all of the details, Nick, unless you -are in a position to accept an offer and help me out,” Chief Weston -gravely rejoined. “First of all, Nick, may I count on you?” - -The brows of the celebrated New York detective knit a little closer -over his keen gray eyes. He drew up a bit in his chair, remarking -gravely: - -“Your business is important, Weston, or you would not have sent for me.” - -“Very important.” - -“A serious matter?” - -“Decidedly.” - -“Have your own men tackled it?” - -“Yes, the very best of them.” - -“With no results?” - -“None but absolute failure.” - -“Are they now at work on the case?” - -“Some of them.” - -“And you wish me to take a hand in the work?” - -“I certainly do.” - -“If I consent to do so, Weston, I shall impose one condition,” said -Nick decidedly. - -“I expect it.” - -“You do?” - -“Certainly,” nodded the chief. “Am I not familiar with your methods? -You will require me to order all of my men off the case and give it -entirely to you.” - -“That’s the condition,” said Nick bluntly. - -“I will accept it.” - -“And leave the matter to me alone?” - -“Precisely. In no way whatever shall you be interfered with.” - -“Very good.” - -“You will undertake the work for me?” - -“I will hear of what it consists,” replied Nick, with his curiosity -stirred. “If it is all that your remarks imply—well, Weston, you may -then count on me to give it an argument.” - -“Capital.” - -“Now, cut loose and give me the facts of the case.” - -Chief Weston opened a drawer of his desk and took out a batch of papers -and documents, among which was a neatly mounted photograph about five -inches square, such as may be taken with a small portable camera, or a -kodak. - -While he placed the papers on his desk, he handed the photograph to -Nick Carter, saying impressively: - -“First examine this, Nick, and tell me what you make of it.” - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - MODERN HIGHWAYMEN. - - -While the Boston chief sat silently regarding him, Nick Carter studied -the photograph attentively for several moments. - -“H’m!” he presently grunted. “The picture is quite plain. Two -automobiles appear to have met in a lonely woodland road.” - -“Precisely.” - -“Only part of one of them is visible in the picture,” continued Nick, -commenting upon the various details. “The picture was evidently taken -by an occupant of one of the cars.” - -“Correct.” - -“In the road near the other machine stands a very tall woman, closely -veiled, who is pointing a revolver, evidently at the occupants of the -other car.” - -“Exactly.” - -“They are not visible in the picture, however, except the extended -hand of one of them, obviously the hand of a woman. She is passing a -purse, two watches, and what appears to be several pieces of jewelry, -to a masked man, who is standing near the woman holding the leveled -revolver.” - -“Those are the main features of the picture, Nick,” nodded Weston. -“Now, what do you make of it?” - -Nick glanced up and replied: - -“It looks to me like a hold-up.” - -“That’s just what it was.” - -“When and where?” - -“Near the Brookline suburb, about a week ago.” - -“Is this the case on which you wish to employ me?” - -“One of them.” - -“There are others?” - -“Fifty, Nick, within the past two months.” - -“Whew!” whistled Nick, with brows lifting. “I have read in the -newspapers that you have had numerous highway robberies about here, but -I did not imagine them to be so frequent as you state.” - -“Because only a small part of them have been given publicity,” replied -Weston. “I have suppressed many, Nick, in the hope of thereby getting -some traceable clue to the crooks.” - -“Yet you are all still in the dark?” - -“Never more so, Nick,” was the grave rejoinder. “In the past two months -there have been, as I have stated, upward of fifty of these highway -robberies.” - -“Early and often, eh?” - -“Decidedly so. These hold-ups have been committed, moreover, with a -boldness and daring that invests them with a peculiarly mysterious -character. Whether they are the work of two or three professional -crooks, or that of a larger organized gang of them, is hard to say. At -all events, Nick, we have been absolutely unable to get any traceable -clue to the identity, haunts, or headquarters of the rascals.” - -“Have two of these hold-ups ever been committed at precisely the same -time?” - -“Not that have been reported.” - -“If that had occurred,” explained Nick, “it would indicate that a -considerable gang is at work.” - -“Two hold-ups in one evening is the nearest approach to it,” said -Weston. - -“In the same locality?” - -“Within a mile of one another.” - -“Were the crooks in an automobile?” - -“Yes, in both cases.” - -“Then both jobs may have been done by the same persons.” - -“I feel quite sure of that, Nick, for the same description of the -thieves and their automobile was given me by the victims of both -outrages.” - -“Do these crooks always work from an automobile?” - -“In the majority of the cases reported,” bowed Weston. “Yet at times -they have appeared on horseback, and on several occasions afoot. The -work, Nick, is that of two or more men and a woman, as nearly as I can -judge, and all of them are possessed of extraordinary nerve, boldness, -and sagacity. They have committed these crimes at all hours of the -day and night, frequently in quite public places, yet they have thus -far completely evaded detection and pursuit. They invariably do their -rascally job with a decisiveness and despatch that completely awe their -victims, who are usually so alarmed——” - -“Stop a moment,” said Nick quite abruptly. “I’d like to ask you a few -questions, Weston.” - -“Very well.” - -“If I decide to look into this case, I shall then have some few -points already settled, and will need to waste no time in seeking the -information myself.” - -“Exactly,” nodded the chief. “What do you wish to know?” - -“First, about the crooks themselves,” said Nick. “What have you in the -way of descriptions of them?” - -Chief Weston laughed. - -“A variety, Nick, to fit any type of man except a humpback or one -dismembered,” he replied. - -“The descriptions vary, eh?” - -“I should say so.” - -“Possibly the robbers use a different disguise for each job.” - -“Very likely.” - -“Or, as nearly always is the case,” said Nick, “the victims of the -robbers were so frightened or excited at the time that they retain only -vague and exaggerated impressions of their assailants.” - -“Precisely.” - -“To illustrate that,” added Nick, “I know of a case of a noted -prize-fighter, who was held up and robbed of his watch and money in -broad daylight, and within fifty yards of Central Park. He declared -that the thief was six feet tall, weighed one hundred and eighty -pounds, and was backed by two confederates, whom he could not quite -recall. We got the crook next day.” - -“Yes?” - -“He was under five feet, weighed one hundred and thirty pounds, and did -the job entirely alone.” - -“Quite a difference!” exclaimed Weston, laughing heartily. - -“Rather,” smiled Nick. “As a matter of fact, the prize-fighter was -so scared when he saw a revolver thrust under his nose that the crook -loomed as big as a house. Probably thinking that such a job would -not be attempted single-handed, he afterward got it into his head -that he saw the two confederates, and was so thoroughly convinced of -the imaginary fact that he really believed it. I could cite numerous -similar cases.” - -“So could I, Nick.” - -“Descriptions are not at all reliable, as you imply, yet they sometimes -help one a little.” - -“That’s true.” - -“In a general way, then, you think there are at least two men and one -woman in this gang?” - -“The cases reported convince me of that,” bowed Weston. “That picture -shows the woman, moreover, though two men are mentioned in the majority -of robberies reported.” - -“Are the men always masked?” - -“No, not always. The woman is invariably veiled, however, and the -descriptions of the men indicate a frequent change of disguise.” - -“That is to be expected,” said Nick. “Now, about the automobile used by -the knaves. Have any attempts been made to follow it or to trace it?” - -“Repeated attempts, Nick, all of which have proved futile.” - -“Has none of the victims been able to report its registered number?” - -“We have had a dozen different numbers reported,” replied Chief Weston; -“but investigation showed that all of them were fictitious.” - -“Yet the crooks might be located, chief, if the make of the automobile -were known,” suggested Nick. “That should have been easily learned by -some of these people.” - -Chief Weston shook his head. - -“That would be true, Nick, providing the scamps always used the same -machine,” said he. “Half a score of different automobiles have been -reported as having been used by these knaves at the time of the -numerous hold-ups.” - -“H’m!” grunted Nick, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Evidently, -then, these crooks have considerable money invested in their rascally -enterprise.” - -“It certainly appears so.” - -“How about the horses ridden by them?” Nick next inquired. “Can the -owner of none of them be discovered?” - -“In the few cases in which persons have been held up by a horseman,” -replied Weston, “the highwayman has usually been alone. According to -the description given, moreover, he has as many horses as automobiles, -for he has appeared on grays, bays, blacks, and sorrels.” - -Nick laughed at the glibness with which the last was said. - -“It seems a bit odd to me, Weston, that none of your men have been able -to get on the track of these desperadoes,” he presently rejoined. “It -is not often that a gang of highwaymen can long escape detection and -arrest, when at work in and about a city like Boston.” - -“They are not ordinary knaves, Nick,” emphatically declared Chief -Weston. “If they were, we should have landed them long ago.” - -“Where do these robberies usually occur?” - -“Generally in some lonely part of a suburban road, though several have -taken place in the evening, right in the heart of Brookline, Cambridge, -and Newton,” replied Weston. “It is evident that the crooks select -their victims from the more wealthy suburbs, presumably with a view to -obtaining the more plunder.” - -“How do they usually proceed?” - -“In various ways, Nick, according to my reports. At times they block -the road with their car and hold up the first automobile-party that -appears, which, of course, is obliged to stop. Having relieved the -travelers of their property, the crooks then forced them to turn their -machine about, under the muzzles of leveled revolvers, and depart at -full speed. If the frightened victims return in a few moments, as once -or twice has been the case, they reach the scene, only to find that the -knaves have fled.” - -“Naturally,” said Nick smilingly. - -“They have adopted, in fact, innumerable methods for holding up an -automobile-party,” added Weston, “and they invariably intimidate their -quarry and get away with the goods.” - -“Of what does their plunder usually consist?” inquired Nick. - -“Money and jewelry. They take all that their victims have, and the most -of them give up readily rather than take any chances of being shot in -cold blood.” - -“Have you been able to locate any of the stolen property in the -pawn-shops?” - -“Not a piece of it.” - -“Judging from your reports, Weston, what is the value of the property -thus far secured by these highwaymen?” - -“Thousands of dollars, Nick. Close upon fifty thousand, at least.” - -“Have there been house burglaries about here of late?” - -“Very few.” - -“It looks, then, as if these knaves were confining themselves to this -road work.” - -“I think so,” bowed Weston. - -Nick glanced again at the photograph, which he still retained in his -hand. - -“This was one of these hold-ups, was it?” said he. - -“Yes.” - -“It occurred in Brookline?” - -“In a lonely road leading into Brookline,” replied Weston. “The victims -were Brookline people, and were robbed of some five hundred dollars’ -worth of diamonds and jewelry, including what money they had with them. -The victims were two ladies, taking an afternoon ride in a Stanley -machine.” - -“Did they have a chauffeur?” - -“No.” - -“How was that?” - -“One of the women, Mrs. Badger, is an expert driver, and frequently -rides without a chauffeur.” - -Nick glanced again at the photograph—little dreaming at that moment, -however, how important a clue he then held in his hand. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - NICK CARTER HELD UP. - - -Despite that he then attached no special significance to the -photograph, the fact that Nick Carter was of a peculiarly -impressionable nature, and that any unusual circumstance quickly -stirred his rare detective instinct, appeared in his next question and -the abruptness with which it was asked. - -“How did it happen, Weston, that this picture of the scene was taken -during the robbery?” - -“I’ll tell you,” replied the Boston chief. - -“One moment,” interposed Nick. “First, tell me something about the -victims of the robbery.” - -“The Mrs. Badger mentioned,” replied Weston, “is the wife of one Amos -G. Badger, a wealthy Boston stock-broker. He owns a fine old place -on one of the most desirable outskirts of Brookline, inherited from -his father some years ago, and the couple move in the most exclusive -circles of the local fashionable society. Badger’s place is on Laurel -Road, and covers several acres.” - -“Go on,” nodded Nick; “I follow you.” - -“Mrs. Badger’s companion that afternoon was her sister,” continued -Weston, “a woman locally famous under the name of Madame Victoria.” - -“Famous for what?” inquired Nick. - -“Well, she claims to be an astrologer, a spiritual medium, and a sort -of fortune-teller, I believe,” explained Chief Weston. - -“H’m!” - -“At all events, Nick, she does a tremendous business, and has a -magnificent suite in an office building on Tremont Street, directly -opposite the Common. No end of wealthy and fashionable people consult -her, either for advice in business or love-affairs—or to get messages -alleged to come from dead friends,” added Weston, laughing a bit -derisively. - -“I don’t take any stock in that stuff,” said Nick bluntly. - -“Nor do I, Nick,” was the reply. “Yet the woman is certainly a -character, and, if reports are true, has made very many remarkable -predictions, and displays a most mysterious faculty for communicating -with the unseen world.” - -“Bosh!” - -“Like you, Nick, I have no faith in any of that rot!” laughed Weston. -“Yet I know half a dozen brokers who consult her regularly as to the -course of the stock-market, as well as many other business men, all -of whom claim to derive great advantages thereby. Her rooms are always -occupied by some patron, either male or female, and her fees are very -high. So there may be a little more in it, Nick, than you imagine.” - -Nick shook his head incredulously. - -“Come back to Hecuba,” he growled. “You say that this woman is sister -to Badger’s wife?” - -“Yes.” - -“What is her right name?” - -“Victoria Clayton.” - -“A euphonious name, at least.” - -“Badger’s wife was a Claudia Clayton, and at one time was on the -stage,” continued Weston. “She, too, is a remarkably clever and capable -woman, an accomplished linguist, a votary of physical culture, an -expert tennis and golf-player, and one of the best cross-country riders -among the cultured sporting set who lean to such pastimes. Both women, -in fact, are over the average, and out of the ordinary.” - -“Did Badger marry his wife from the stage?” - -“I think not, Nick. She had retired some time before. They have been -married about five years, I believe.” - -“Come back to the picture,” said Nick. “It must have been taken just as -the hold-up occurred.” - -“Yes, it was.” - -“Were the crooks aware of it?” - -“No, indeed.” - -“How was the trick pulled off?” demanded Nick curiously. “It’s not -often that such a clever dodge is played upon professional crooks.” - -“The woman who did it is clever, just as I tell you.” - -“Tell me how it happened.” - -“I will give you the facts as they were given to me.” - -“By whom?” - -“By Amos Badger and his wife,” replied Chief Weston. “He notified me -by telephone of the robbery, and called here with his wife the next -morning to report the details of the hold-up. Two days later, as soon -as it could be finished and mounted, Badger brought me the photograph.” - -“What about the hold-up?” - -“It was committed about a week ago, at three o’clock in the afternoon,” -said Weston. “Mrs. Badger and her sister, Madame Victoria, were -returning from Canton to Brookline. When in a lonely section of a road -that leads through a considerable belt of woods, they rounded a sharp -curve and came suddenly upon a large automobile standing at an angle -across the road. A man appeared to be fixing some break in the works, -and was crouching beside it, while a woman stood near-by in the road, -apparently watching him.” - -“Were they the only occupants of that car?” - -“Yes, as the picture indicates. They were, too, the only persons in -sight in either direction.” - -“The machine appears to be a Winton.” - -“That’s what it was, Nick, for Mrs. Badger noticed it.” - -“Go on,” nodded Nick. “What more?” - -“Naturally Mrs. Badger slowed down, nearly stopping, for the road was -almost completely blocked by the other car,” continued Weston. “Then -the veiled woman seen in the picture suddenly stepped forward, leveled -a revolver, and commanded Mrs. Badger not to start her auto without -permission.” - -“H’m!” exclaimed Nick. “That was bold, indeed.” - -“At the same moment the man, who was seen to be masked, sprang up and -approached the two startled women, and commanded them to hand over -their jewelry and money, and to be very lively about it.” - -“Which they did?” - -“Yes, Nick, for the women naturally were much alarmed. Both hastened -to obey, though Madame Victoria did, I believe, undertake to make some -argument or protest. She was cut short, however, with a threat that -quickly silenced her.” - -“I see.” - -“She had on the seat of the car, however, a small camera, which she -frequently carries, one of her fads being that of securing pretty -views, of which she has several large volumes. Looking down, she -observed it, and had the presence of mind to conceal it with her hand, -at the same time snapping it and luckily catching the picture you have -there. I told her it was a clever piece of work, Nick, yet it is much -to be regretted that the faces of the crooks were covered. Otherwise, -we should possess a clue well worth having.” - -“I believe your story,” assented Nick. - -“The crooks, having secured their plunder, ordered the women to drive -on, which they were very willing to do,” concluded Weston. “They were -too frightened to venture back in pursuit of the rascals, but hurried -home, to notify me by telephone.” - -For some moments Nick had worn a decidedly thoughtful expression, as if -he already had some project in his mind. Before the chief had fairly -ceased speaking, moreover, Nick said bluntly: - -“I’d like to talk with Mrs. Badger.” - -“By telephone?” inquired Weston, wondering at the wish. - -“No, personally.” - -“You may easily do so by going out to Brookline.” - -“I’ll go!” exclaimed Nick, abruptly rising. “I suppose I may keep this -photograph for a short time?” - -“Certainly.” - -“As regards my undertaking to round up the rascals guilty of these -robberies—well, I will give you my answer a little later,” Nick went -on to say, as he opened the door by which he had entered. “I have no -doubt, old friend, that it will be a favorable answer.” - -“I hope so, Nick, I’m sure,” declared Weston, as he followed the former -into the outer office, where Nick briefly halted. - -Sanderson Hyde, perched upon a stool in the enclosure, appeared busy -over his books, not so much as looking up at the intruders. - -“Are you going out at once?” inquired Weston. - -“Yes,” replied Nick, slipping the photograph into his pocket. “There -are a few questions I wish to ask Mrs. Amos Badger. If I can find a -public automobile, Weston, I think I will go out there in it. It’s the -quickest conveyance, and this is a fine morning for a ride.” - -“You’ll find what you want at the corner below,” replied Weston. “The -machine is all right, and so is the man. Grady is his name. Mention -mine, Nick, and there’ll be no charges.” - -“Oh, I’ll see that Grady gets his fee, all right,” laughed Nick, as he -turned to leave the office. “I’ll see you later, Weston, probably early -this afternoon.” - -“Do so,” nodded the latter. - -Then he turned to the busy clerk and added, a bit sharply: - -“What did you say to that man, Hyde, when he came in here this morning?” - -Young Sanderson Hyde looked up with raised brows. - -“Nothing of consequence, chief,” he respectfully answered. “Only a few -words about sending in his card.” - -“Do you know the man?” - -“No, sir. I don’t recall ever having seen him.” - -“Well, the next time you see him take a good look at him, for that man -is Nick Carter, the greatest detective that ever stood in leather.” - -“The dickens!” gasped Hyde, with manifest astonishment. “You don’t mean -it, chief! Not Nick Carter himself?” - -“I always say what I mean,” growled Weston. “Hereafter, show him into -my office without delay.” - -The catlike eyes followed the burly figure of the speaker as he -returned through the passage, and presently the snap of the catch-lock -sounded through the office. - -Then Mr. Hyde laid down his pen and came out of the enclosure. His -tread was more light and cautious than ordinary business should have -required. He glanced sharply into both of the adjoining corridors, -listened intently for a moment, then darted into a telephone-closet -near-by and tightly closed the door. - -Nick Carter found Grady on the corner mentioned, a shrewd-looking -young Irishman, seated in an excellent runabout, reading the morning -newspaper. - -“Do you know Laurel Road, Brookline, Mr. Grady?” asked Nick, halting -beside the machine. - -“I know pretty near where it is, sir,” said Grady, alert for business. -“I can find it for you, all right.” - -“Take me out there,” said Nick, mounting to the seat. “To the house of -Mr. Amos Badger.” - -“The broker, sir,” nodded Grady. “I know the man, sir. I’ll land you -out there in thirty minutes, sir, or less, if you say the word.” - -“I’m in no special hurry,” said Nick. “Keep down to the speed limit.” - -He did not tell Grady his name, nor that he came from the police -headquarters. Neither did he enter into much conversation with the -man, for Nick was absorbed in thought about the disclosures made him, -and the various possibilities of the work he was invited to undertake. - -Grady, on his part, was not quite as good as his word. He ran a mile or -two out of the direct course to Laurel Road, and then he had to round -the great Chestnut Hill reservoir in order to hit the right track. - -There are numerous wooded roads on the outskirts of fashionable -Brookline, along which the attractive dwellings are much scattered, or -divided by extensive estates; and through one of these roads Grady was -sending his machine at a faster clip, to make up for lost time. - -Suddenly, from out a little piece of woods some fifty yards away, a -drunken fellow came staggering into the road, much as if he had just -awakened from a nap in the shrubbery; and Nick Carter, being the first -to see him, said quickly to his driver: - -“Look out for that chap, Grady.” - -“I see him, sir,” nodded Grady. - -“He has a load aboard.” - -“I should say so.” - -The intoxicated man now heard the automobile approaching him from -behind. He turned around, halting unsteadily in the middle of the road, -where he stood swaying and staring as if too fuddled to know which -side of the road to seek to avoid being run over. - -Grady naturally slowed down when scarcely twenty feet from the fellow. - -“Get out of the road!” he impatiently yelled. “Take one side or the -other, blast you!” - -The auto had come to a dead stop. - -The man in the road reeled a little to one side—and a little nearer. - -Then, with movements as quick and decisive as a lightning stroke, he -sprang forward, whipped out a brace of revolvers, leveled them straight -at the heads of the two men in the auto, and sharply cried: - -“Hands up! If you start that machine, driver, I’ll blow your head off!” - -The voice was as firm and cold as ice, yet it had a ring as threatening -as when blades of steel cross in deadly combat. - -Nick Carter fairly caught his breath. - -“Held up, by thunder!” was his first thought. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - THE ESCAPE. - - -How to get the best of the highwayman was Nick Carter’s second thought. - -This did not look to be easy, yet Nick’s hand instinctively went toward -his hip pocket. - -“Stop! Hands up!” - -The reiterated command fairly cut the air with its threatening -intensity. - -Grady’s hands were already reaching after clouds. - -Nick Carter’s now followed suit, and went into the air. - -In the voice, eyes, and attitude of the ruffian in the road, there -was that which convinced Nick that disobedience and defiance would -certainly invite a bullet. - -He saw, moreover, that the aim of the scoundrel was true to the mark, -and that the finger on the trigger of the weapon covering his own -breast was already beginning to contract, during the moment that he -showed signs of giving fight. - -“If one of you move before I command it,” said the highwayman, “I will -instantly open fire upon you. And I never miss my aim!” - -The threat was as calmly made as if the speaker had merely inquired -the time of day, yet the voice did not for a moment lose its terribly -convincing ring. - -Nick seized the opportunity to look him over, and he felt comparatively -sure that he was up against the same man that appeared in the Badger -photograph. - -The fellow was roughly clad at this time, however, with a soft felt hat -drawn over his brows. - -He was a well-built, athletic man, apparently somewhere in the forties; -yet he was as quick as a cat in his movements, and evidently was -endowed with supple muscles and nerves of steel. - -The rascal was heavily bearded, yet this did not figure for much with -Nick Carter. He rightly judged that the man was carefully disguised, -yet the make-up was so cleverly prepared and adjusted that Nick, -despite his experience in such artifices, could not detect it. - -What Nick chiefly noted, in fact, was that the eyes of the man had -in them the piercing gleam of deadly resolution, a fixed and vicious -determination to execute the desperate deed that he had undertaken. -There was no sign of intoxication now, which plainly had been assumed -only for the purpose of holding up the travelers. - -Though not lacking in courage, Nick Carter had his share of wisdom and -discretion. He saw at a glance that he was entirely helpless for the -moment, at least, and he had no idea of deliberately inviting a bullet. - -Such stirring episodes occur in a very few moments, and not thirty -seconds had passed since the hold-up, when the voice of the highwayman -again cut sharply upon the morning air. - -“Chauffeur, you do what I command, or worse will be yours,” he cried -sternly. “Lower one of your hands and remove your employer’s watch.” - -Grady hesitated for the bare fraction of a second. - -Nick saw the hand clutching one of the weapons begin to contract. - -“Obey him, Grady,” said he, with ominous curtness. - -“Bedad, I don’t like——” - -“One more second, and I’ll——” - -“Obey him!” hissed Nick, with suppressed vehemence. “Obey him, you -idiot!” - -Nick saw at a glance that that one more second would have ended with -Grady’s receiving an ounce of lead. - -Grady had the true grit and pugnacious characteristics of an Irishman, -but he now dropped one hand and removed Nick’s watch and chain. - -The highwayman came a step nearer, until he stood barely six feet away -in the dusty road. - -“Toss them to the ground at my feet,” he commanded, with his evil eye -fixed upon the chauffeur. - -“Do so, Grady,” said Nick. - -Grady obeyed with an ugly scowl, and the watch and chain landed in the -dust at the ruffian’s feet. - -“Now, your employer’s purse.” - -“In the breast pocket of my vest, Grady.” - -“Look lively.” - -Grady dove into Nick’s vest and drew out his pocketbook. - -Nick still sat with his hands in the air, but not for a moment did his -eyes leave those of the highwayman. - -Though at first inclined to send Grady into his hip pocket after his -revolver, Nick realized that the Irishman might not be quick and -accurate in using it, and also that the crook was alert to their every -move. The hazard was too great to be taken, and Nick decided to submit -to the situation for the time being, and watch for an opportunity to -turn the tables on the rascal. - -Grady drew out the pocketbook, which contained about a hundred dollars -and a few unimportant papers. - -“Toss it into the road,” commanded the highwayman. - -“Let it go, Grady,” said Nick. - -“Your employer has more wisdom than you, Grady,” said the crook, with -a threatening sneer. “Obey at once, or I’ll let daylight into you.” - -Grady tossed the pocketbook after the watch and chain. - -“Now, up with your hands again!” - -“Bedad, mister, some day the boot’ll be on the other leg,” snarled -Grady, as he obeyed. - -“It’ll not be to-day, Grady, take my word for that,” retorted the -ruffian. - -“The day will come, nevertheless,” Nick Carter now said, with ominous -quietude. - -“Do you think so?” - -“I certainly do.” - -“Well, I don’t.” - -“That is because you do not know who I am,” said Nick pointedly. - -“I don’t care who you are.” - -“You don’t, eh?” - -“I certainly don’t.” - -“You will change your mind later.” - -The scene was a curious one, the two men in the runabout seated with -their hands high above their heads, while the man in the road stood as -coolly intimidating them as if not the slightest danger existed for -him, either from them or the sudden approach of some intruders upon the -scene. - -Nick had begun the conversation with the scamp in the hope of catching -him napping for an instant, or that some person or another automobile -might appear; but neither of them seemed probable, for the woodland -road was deserted, and the highwayman did not for a second relax his -vigilance or lower his leveled weapons. - -With Nick Carter’s last remark, however, the rascal’s eyes took on an -uglier gleam, and he evidently decided that he had better not defer -making his escape. That he was clever in so doing, and foresaw that his -victims might possibly be armed, appeared in the way he accomplished it. - -With both men constantly under his eyes, he said sternly: - -“The slightest move by either of you will cost him his life. I warn you -that I shall instantly fire, not caution you again; so keep that in -mind, and be wise.” - -Then he slipped one of his revolvers into his coat pocket. - -With the other weapon constantly covering his victims, with his gaze -never leaving them, he slowly crouched down and groped over the ground -till he had secured the plunder lying there, which he also dropped into -his pocket. - -Then he rose erect again, and drew his other weapon. - -Nick was mentally praying for an opportunity to get just one shot at -the knave when he resorted to flight. - -The flight of the rascal, however, was as original and unexpected as -his every other move had been. - -“Now, Grady,” said he, with threatening austerity, “you do just what I -tell you, neither more nor less.” - -“Begorra! it looks as if I’d have to.” - -“You bet you will!” - -“What is it?” - -“You start that machine of yours slowly, and turn it into the shrubbery -at that side of the road.” - -“How am I going to start it with me hands in the air,” snarled Grady, -who had really seen Nick’s desire to delay matters. - -The voice of the highwayman again took on that vicious ring which had -warned Nick not to oppose him then and there. - -“Don’t you speak again, Grady, or this gun will drown the sound of -your voice,” he cried quickly. “You start that machine and turn it -into the shrubbery—and don’t forget, either of you, that I shall keep -you constantly covered. Start her up, Grady, and turn sharp out of the -road!” - -With the ugliest kind of a scowl, Grady gripped the steering-bar and -slowly started the runabout, turning toward the shrubbery that lined -the road in that locality. - -Just as the Irishman did so, however, there suddenly sounded from up -the road the warning toot of an automobile-horn. - -“Steady!—not a move!” yelled the robber warningly. “If you drop your -hands, mister, I’ll fire!” - -Nick could not then see the scoundrel, for he had darted back of the -runabout when Grady turned it from the road. - -Glancing quickly in the direction from which the horn had sounded, -however, Nick now beheld a large touring-car come sweeping around a -sharp curve of the road, some thirty yards away. - -It was driven by a man with a beard, who was the one occupant of the -car, and whose eyes and features were almost entirely masked with a -pair of huge dust-glasses. - -Nick now thought he could see a favorable finish to this unexpected -hold-up, for the touring-car was approaching at a high rate of speed, -and the escape of the thief appeared next to impossible. - -Yet the latter, while reiterating his threatening commands, only backed -a few paces toward the middle of the road. - -The man in the approaching car evidently saw what was going on, and he -began to slow down. - -The rear of the runabout was now toward the road, with the machine -half-hidden in the shrubbery. - -“Stop her!” whispered Nick, not yet venturing to turn about on the -seat. “Stop her at once!” - -He did not wish to go too far in from the road. - -Grady felt that he was taking his life in his hand—yet he promptly -obeyed. - -Instantly two sharp reports of a revolver rang out on the morning air. - -The reports were followed by others, nearly as loud, occasioned by the -bursting of the two rear tires of the runabout. - -The highwayman had sent a bullet through each rubber tire, obviously -bent upon partly disabling the runabout and thus preventing pursuit. - -Then, just as the huge touring-car arrived upon the scene, the daring -rascal darted back through the veil of smoke from his weapons and -leaped aboard the car. - -“Let her go!” he yelled commandingly. - -The driver instantly gave her full speed, and the car swept on down the -road with the velocity of an express-train. - -Already upon his feet in the runabout, Nick Carter whipped out his -revolver and fired twice at the occupants of the departing car. His aim -was ruined by Grady, however, who excitedly began backing the runabout -into the road, and Nick’s bullets went wide of their mark. - -In ten seconds the touring-car was vanishing in a cloud of dust around -a distant curve of the road. - -“Hold on!” roared Grady, thinking Nick was about to alight in the road. -“I’ll follow them divils, sir, tires or no tires!” - -“Follow nothing!” growled Nick, thrusting his revolver back into his -pocket. “You might as well try to follow a streak of lightning.” - -“Will you let that blackguard escape?” - -“Let him escape!” exclaimed Nick derisively. “I should say, Grady, that -he has already escaped. You could not overtake him with this machine if -your life depended upon it.” - -“Bedad, that’s right, sir,” Grady now admitted, more calmly. “Yet the -man in that car may try to do the rascal——” - -“Bosh!” interrupted Nick, with a growl. “The driver of that car was the -robber’s confederate.” - -“D’ye think so?” - -“I know so, Grady,” declared Nick, now plainly seeing how the entire -job, which had taken less than five minutes, had been planned and -executed. - -“I suspected as much when the man slowed down only enough to let the -crook aboard,” added Nick. “His approach was timed to a nicety. It’s -odds that he was watching the hold-up from beyond the curve of the -road, and that he knew just when the other wanted him to approach.” - -“Bedad, sir, I reckon you’re right.” - -“Oh, we have much the worse of it for the present, Grady, and have been -held up by two of the gang of crooks now at work in these parts,” added -Nick. “But I will yet break even with them, I give you my word for -that.” - -“Me tires——” - -“I will see that you are paid for them,” interrupted Nick, much to -Grady’s satisfaction. “Can you run the machine back to town as it is?” - -“Sure, sir, I can.” - -“Well, I don’t wish to return quite yet.” - -“All right, sir.” - -“Keep on, Grady, and take me to Badger’s house,” Nick bruskly -commanded. “Look lively, too! This does settle it, Grady, as far as I -am concerned.” - -“What d’ye mean, sir?” - -“I mean that I will land this gang of highway robbers, every man and -woman of them, or lose a leg in the attempt,” cried Nick, with Chief -Weston’s request then in his mind. “That’s what I mean, Grady. Let her -go lively, my man, and head straight for Amos Badger’s house.” - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - THE HOUSE IN LAUREL ROAD. - - -The direction taken by Nick Carter and Grady to reach Laurel Road and -the house of Amos Badger was the same as that in which the highwayman -had fled with his confederate in the touring-car. - -Nick felt some little chagrin over thus having been successfully held -up and robbed, yet this feeling was somewhat assuaged by the fact that -he had obtained a good look at the thief, and had a clear impression of -his general features. - -Nick felt quite sure, despite the rascal’s disguise, that he could -identify him if they again met, or, at least, recognize his peculiarly -keen eyes and cutting voice. - -Though it then gave him no surprise, the distance to Laurel Road from, -the scene of the hold-up was less than a quarter of a mile, and then -about the same distance to the place owned and occupied by Mr. Amos -Badger. - -The surroundings were about as stated by Chief Weston. - -The road ran through an extreme outskirt of the town, and was for the -most part shut in by woods, cleared only here and there for building. - -There were but three dwellings on this secluded road, none of which -was within view of Badger’s place, which was less modern and much more -extensive than the others, as if it had been a family homestead for -several generations. - -Nick surveyed the place with some interest as he approached it. - -The house was a large, wooden mansion, standing fully fifty yards from -the road. It had a broad veranda in front and on one side, the latter -terminating with a porte-cochère at the side entrance of the house. - -A gravel driveway between a double row of elms and beeches led in from -the road, passing the front and one side of the house, then leading out -to a large stable well to the rear of the dwelling. - -In addition to these there were several wooden outbuildings, one of -which was a long carriage-house adjoining the stable. - -The features mentioned, together with the broad estate covered with -garden plots and shade trees, with a background of woods in the near -distance, gave the entire place a rural aspect not often seen so near a -large and thickly settled town. - -As the runabout sped up the long driveway, Nick saw a man cleaning -a large automobile just beyond the porte-cochère; but the vehicle -bore no resemblance to the one in which the crooks had fled, and the -circumstance did not then appeal to him with any special significance. - -“Run round to the side entrance, Grady,” said he. “I’ll ask that -workman who’s at home.” - -Grady nodded, and presently brought the runabout to a stop under the -porte-cochère. - -Nick quickly sprang down and approached the man at work near-by. -Instead of making any inquiry concerning the inmates of the house, -however, Nick abruptly demanded: - -“Have you seen an automobile pass along Laurel Road, my man?” - -My man was one Jerry Conley, chauffeur, hostler, and all-round workman -out of doors for Mr. Amos Badger. He was a short, stocky man, of about -thirty years, with a head nearly as round as a bullet. His face was -smoothly shaven, and was lighted by a pair of as shifty, crafty eyes -as ever lighted a human countenance. - -They came round with half a leer to meet those of the detective, -while the man arose from his work on the car. Wiping his hands on his -overalls, he indulged in a series of jerky nods, steadily eying Nick -all the while, then deliberately inquired: - -“What’s that you say?” - -“I asked if you had seen an automobile pass along Laurel Road,” replied -Nick, not half-liking the fellow’s looks. - -“Aye, I have,” said Conley. - -“Which way did it go?” - -“Which one d’ye mean?” - -“Which one?” echoed Nick, sharply eying the fellow. “I mean one that -may have passed within five or ten minutes.” - -It was then less than ten minutes since the robbery. - -“Oh, if that’s what you mean, mister, I haven’t seen any,” Conley now -vouchsafed, with a less steadfast scrutiny of Nick’s countenance. - -“You haven’t, eh?” - -“Not to-day.” - -“Did you think I meant last week?” - -“I didn’t think at all, mister,” said Conley, stooping to pick up a -bit of cotton waste from the ground. “I only heard what you asked, and -that was whether I’d seen an automobile pass along Laurel Road. I’ve -seen hundreds of ’em, mister, but none this morning.” - -“You should have known that I meant this morning.” - -“So I would, mister, if you’d said this morning,” Conley replied, with -a leer. “I never know more’n I’m paid for knowing.” - -“See here, my man,” said Nick quite sternly. “If the master you serve -carries the same cut of jib as yourself, it’s long odds that he——” - -What more Nick would have said was abruptly withheld, however, for his -quick ear heard the side door of the house opened, and then the fall of -a man’s feet on the veranda, followed by the inquiry: - -“What’s the trouble, Jerry?” - -“None at all, sir,” replied Conley, turning with a grin to his -questioner. “Not unless this gentleman is looking for trouble, which I -reckon he isn’t.” - -Nick had already turned to survey the first speaker, whom he rightly -conjectured might be Mr. Amos Badger, despite that it was then an hour -when a stock-broker should have been busy at the market. - -He stood near the rail of the veranda, an erect, well-built man of -forty, cleanly shaven, with dark hair and eyes, the latter lighting a -rather attractive yet noticeably strong and determined face. - -He was in slippers, and wore a house-jacket of figured woolen, while -his neck was bandaged with several thicknesses of red flannel, as if -he was afflicted with a sore throat or with a cold. This was further -evinced by his hoarse voice when addressing Conley, yet his gaze all -the while was fixed upon the detective. - -Nick promptly took up the remark of the chauffeur, saying, with a quiet -laugh: - -“No, I’m not specially looking for trouble. I have had enough of it for -one day.” - -“Enough of trouble?” inquired Badger, with an air of wonderment at -Nick’s meaning. - -“Quite enough, sir, and at considerable expense. I’m out a valuable -watch and chain also what money I had on my person.” - -“Not robbed?” - -“That’s what,” nodded Nick. “Held up by the crooks who are doing such -rascally work in these parts. But there’ll come a day of reckoning, -sir, you may safely wager your whole fortune on that.” - -There stole into Badger’s dark eyes, which were still fixed upon Nick’s -face, a momentary gleam of resentment. - -“What sent you here so quickly after being robbed?” he asked, with -sinister inflection. “Did you expect to find the thieves in my house?” - -“Oh, no, not at all.” - -“Or did you come to condole with me over a like mishap, since misery -likes company? The headquarters of the police is, I should say, the -proper place for you to have hurriedly visited.” - -“I have just come from there,” replied Nick, a bit dryly. - -“Ah, that is different.” - -“I merely asked that man if he had seen an automobile pass,” added -Nick, now approaching the veranda-steps. “As a matter of fact, sir, I -was on my way to this house when I was held up by the crooks. Is Mrs. -Badger at home this morning, or her husband?” - -“Both are at home.” - -“Ah, very good!” exclaimed Nick. - -“I am Mr. Badger.” - -“I would like a brief interview with you and your wife.” - -“Regarding what?” - -“The recent robbery of which your wife was a victim.” - -“Are you a reporter?” - -“I am a detective.” - -“From Pemberton Square?” - -“From New York,” replied Nick. “Yet I have just come from Chief -Weston’s office, in Boston, and at his request I shall undertake to run -down the gang of thieves who are at work in this section.” - -Though a doubtful smile curled Badger’s thin, firm lips at this -confident announcement, he at once displayed more cordiality when Nick -stated his vocation. - -“I hope that you may succeed, officer,” said he, with the same husky -voice. “Come into the house. From New York, did you say?” - -“Yes,” replied Nick, entering. “You may wait for me, Grady.” - -“All right, sir,” cried Grady, from his seat in the runabout. - -“What name, officer?” inquired Badger. - -“My name is Carter.” - -“Not Nick Carter?” - -“The same.” - -Badger appeared surprised, Nick observed, and his eyes lighted. He -quickly extended his hand, saying heartily, in wheezy tones: - -“Well, well, I’m glad to meet you, Detective Carter, and to hear that -you think of getting after these highwaymen. I know you by reputation, -sir, and I have no doubt that you will accomplish more than is being -done by Weston’s pack of mongrels. Forsooth, if you do not, you will -accomplish very little.” - -The last was said with a covert sneer that fell unpleasantly on Nick’s -ears. He decided, however, that Badger was probably nettled by the -failure of the Boston detectives to recover the property of which his -wife had been robbed, and Nick thought no more of the matter at that -time. - -As he followed the man into the attractively furnished library, from -the windows of which could be seen the stable and driveway, Nick -agreeably rejoined: - -“I am told that not much progress is being made against these road -robbers?” - -“None at all, Mr. Carter, that I can discover,” replied Badger, with a -scornful shrug of his shoulders. “Here is my wife, sir. Claudia, this -is Detective Carter, of New York, sent out here by Chief Weston to -inquire about the robbery. My wife, Mr. Carter.” - -In the light of what Chief Weston had told him about her, Nick surveyed -the woman with more than cursory interest. - -Though now but thirty, she still retained in face and figure most of -the beauty and freshness of youth. She was dark, like her husband, -and rather above medium height, with a figure at once noticeable for -its grace and suppleness. She had clean-cut features, a firm mouth -and chin, with a square jaw that plainly indicated more than ordinary -womanly strength. - -She met Nick with a lively flash of her dark eyes, and said agreeably, -as they shook hands: - -“I am pleased to see you, Detective Carter. I do hope you’ll excuse my -husband’s appearance, however, for he looks dreadfully with those red -flannels around his neck. A sore throat has confined him to the house -several days, and he insists that nothing but red flannel bandages will -cure——” - -“Oh, never mind my looks, Claudia,” interrupted Badger petulantly. “Mr. -Carter can put up with my looks, I’m sure, and probably he has more -important business than that of discussing the curative virtues of red -flannel bandages.” - -“No apology is necessary, Mrs. Badger, I assure you,” smiled Nick, as -he accepted a chair. “I did have a little business with you when I -started for here this morning, but I do not now regard it as important.” - -“How is that?” inquired Badger, with a furtive gleam of distrust in his -watchful eyes. - -“It has lost the element of importance,” laughed Nick. “I did intend -to question you closely as to the personal appearance of the rascals -by whom you were robbed, Mrs. Badger, but since I have now seen one of -them myself, I need make no inquiries. I have no doubt that the rascal -I encountered was the same by whom you were robbed.” - -“You don’t mean that you, too, have been robbed?” exclaimed Claudia, -with countenance reflecting profound amazement. - -“Exactly,” nodded Nick. - -“When?” - -“This morning.” - -“On your way here?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, well! What are these suburban roads coming to, Amos?” cried the -woman, quite aghast. “It soon will not be safe to venture even into -one’s front yard.” - -“I believe you,” said Badger, with a wheezy growl. “I do hope, Mr. -Carter, that you’ll accomplish something. What do you intend doing -toward rounding up these scoundrels?” - -Nick laughed and shook his head. - -“That is a difficult question for me to answer at present,” said he. -“I must first discover some clue with which to start, some thread -that is strong enough to follow, and which possibly may lead to the -identification of the knaves and where they are located.” - -“Have you any such clue at present?” inquired Mrs. Badger, with a smile -and glance well calculated to invite a frank rejoinder. - -“Not the slightest.” - -“That’s too bad.” - -“Stay,” added Nick, as if with an afterthought. “I believe I have -something that may prove of advantage.” - -“Good enough!” exclaimed Badger, with eyes dilating curiously. “Of what -does it consist, Mr. Carter?” - -Nick was then reaching into his breast pocket, and did not observe the -speaker’s quickened interest, which had not been betrayed in his husky -voice. - -“A photograph,” he replied, producing it. “The one taken by you, Mrs. -Badger, at the time you were robbed.” - -“Oh, you are mistaken about that, Detective Carter,” Claudia quickly -exclaimed. - -“Mistaken?” - -“I took no photograph, sir.” - -“Yet——” - -“It was taken by my sister, Miss Clayton,” interrupted Mrs. Badger. -“Dear me, I couldn’t have done it for my life. I was so unnerved by -the terrible episode and sight of the robber’s revolver that I had no -power to see or do anything except what he commanded.” - -“Yet one of them was a woman,” smiled Nick. - -“I admit that, sir, but she had a revolver, and the mere sight of a -weapon has always terrified me,” explained Claudia, with a shudder. - -“You were quite sure that she was a woman?” inquired Nick. - -“Sure.” - -“That it was not a man clad in woman’s apparel?” - -“Oh, absolutely. Her voice would have convinced me of her sex.” - -“A voice may be assumed.” - -“Yet I am positive that I am right.” - -“She was thickly veiled, I understand?” - -“True.” - -“Then you did not see her face?” - -“I did not.” - -“Her figure, as seen in the photograph, appears very tall—too tall for -a woman,” persisted Nick. - -“Nevertheless, Detective Carter, I am positive that she was a woman, -and not a man in female apparel,” declared Mrs. Badger, with emphasis. -“Not only her garments and voice plainly prove it, but I also noticed -her hands. They were too slender, white, and well formed for the hands -of a man.” - -Nick now laughed lightly, remarking, in bantering tones, not then -attributing any serious weight to his words: - -“That last, Mrs. Badger, is capital. Yet I must observe that, for one -too terrified at the time to say or do anything but obey the commands -of that brace of crooks, you did note some quite delicate details. -Small hands, eh? Well, well, I think quite likely you are right.” - -A wave of crimson had risen over Mrs. Badger’s face, while on that of -her husband a darker frown was settling. - -“I only happened to notice the woman’s hands, Detective Carter, -merely because she held in one of them the revolver by which I was so -frightened, and from which I scarcely could take my eyes. Naturally, -then, I noticed the hand that held it.” - -Nick vaguely wondered why she had gone to the trouble to make this -explanation, for there seemed to him to be no special occasion for it; -and before he could frame any reply, Badger huskily demanded, with -sinister curiosity: - -“Why are you pressing such questions as these, Detective Carter? I -fail to see that they signify anything very important.” - -“It signifies considerable to me, Mr. Badger, this question of sex,” -replied Nick, with a quiet laugh. - -“Why so?” - -“Because I shall be able to proceed much more intelligently, sooner or -later, if I know positively that this gang of crooks consists only of -men, one or more of whom is masquerading at times as a woman.” - -“There is something in that,” admitted Badger. - -“Female highwaymen are not common in these days,” added Nick -pointedly; “and I find it hard to credit the evidence presented in -this photograph, despite your wife’s very natural confidence in the -reliability of her own eyes.” - -“I don’t much wonder at it,” Badger now laughed indifferently. - -“It is not at all material who took the photograph,” Nick went on. “I -understand that Miss Clayton has an office in town. I think I will call -upon her this morning, in the hope that she may have seen something -worthy of note at the time of the robbery. Am I likely to find her at -this hour?” - -“Yes, surely,” exclaimed Mrs. Badger, rising. “If you will wait just -one moment, Detective Carter, I will give you her business-card.” - -“If you please.” - -“You will then have no trouble in finding her rooms.” - -Nick bowed, then arose and took his hat from the table. - -Both Badger and his wife accompanied him to the door, the latter giving -him the card mentioned, and the former remarking, as Nick descended the -steps and entered the runabout: - -“I hope you’ll inform me, Mr. Carter, if you get any reliable clue to -the identity of these rascals. If I can aid you in any way, moreover, I -beg that you will command me.” - -“Thank you,” returned Nick, nodding for Grady to start the machine. “I -will bear it in mind, Mr. Badger.” - -As he rode down the driveway he read the card which he still retained -in his hand, but the name of Miss Clayton did not appear upon it. - -It was the card of—Madame Victoria. - -It gave the street and number of her suite of rooms, and announced that -she was an astrologer, an impressionist, and a spiritualist medium. -It further stated that she could tell one’s fortune from the cradle -to the grave, that she could be profitably consulted for information -concerning dead friends, lost articles, missing relatives and heirs, -or for advice in business matters, love-affairs, and all things -pertaining to one’s personal welfare. - -Nick read the card twice with considerable interest. - -“Quite a round of accomplishments!” he grimly said to himself. “I -wonder why she doesn’t locate the property of which she was robbed. The -woman is evidently a charlatan, a pretender, who imposes upon credulous -and weak-minded fools to get their money. - -“Madame Victoria, eh? Well, I will now give you a call, madame, and -possibly a call-down! I’ll wager I take means to fool and expose you!” - -Such was the trend of Nick’s thoughts after reading Madame Victoria’s -card, to whose rooms he next proceeded. - -Without the slightest faith in this woman’s alleged powers, however, -Nick was approaching one of the most strange and startling experiences -of his checkered career. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - MADAME VICTORIA. - - -It was nearly noon when Nick Carter, after dismissing Grady, entered -the handsome granite building on Tremont Street in which the rooms of -Madame Victoria were located. - -In so far as her pretentions to foretelling the future were concerned, -as well as her other alleged powers, Nick felt morally sure that the -woman was a fraud. Yet he decided to take no chances that she possibly -had seen him before, and would remember his face, and in the corridor -of the building he carefully adjusted a simple but effective disguise. - -In so doing, he had a double object, however; that of first getting -an insight into Madame Victoria’s business and her alleged occult -endowments, merely to satisfy his own curiosity; and, second, that -of afterward being able to return and question her about the robbery -without her suspecting his first visit. - -“I’ll have this much the best of her, at all events,” he said to -himself, while adjusting his disguise. “If she is as clever as she -claims to be, however, she should be able to see right through it. Yet -I wager that she does nothing of the kind.” - -In the corridor of the second floor was a door bearing Madame -Victoria’s name in gilt letters, and Nick unceremoniously entered. - -He found himself in an elaborately furnished waiting-room, with windows -overlooking the Boston Common. The carpet was velvet. The furniture was -upholstered with richly figured plush. There were fine lace draperies -at the windows, and the walls were hung with choice paintings, while -various ornaments of one kind or another added to the adornment of the -place. - -Nick decided that Chief Weston was correct in stating that this woman -did a lucrative business. - -From a chair near the window a young girl quickly arose, laying aside a -novel, and Nick inquired if Madame Victoria was in. - -“Yes, sir, but she is engaged just now,” said the girl. “She will be at -liberty in a few minutes, however.” - -“I’ll wait,” said Nick tersely. - -“Take a chair, sir. If you will give me your card, sir, I will take -it to Madame Victoria as soon as her visitor leaves, and will learn -whether she will give you a sitting at this time. It is nearly her hour -for lunch.” - -Nick did not discuss the matter. He gave the girl a card bearing a -fictitious name, with several of which he was always provided. - -Presently a richly dressed, middle-aged woman emerged from an inner -room, drying her eyes with her handkerchief. She hurriedly departed, -however, after viewing her hat and hair in the mirror. - -“She must have heard from some dead one,” thought Nick, with grim -derisiveness. “Either that, or some infernal calamity has been -predicted for her. I’m blessed if I’m not a good bit curious to know -what I shall get in there. Maybe I shall get it in the neck.” - -He had not long to wait, for the servant presently announced that -Madame Victoria would receive him in the inner room. - -Nick left his hat on the table, and entered. - -At first sight the view within was startling. - -The single window of the inner room was heavily curtained with black, -excluding every ray of daylight. Above a small square table in the -middle of the floor, however, there burned two electric lights -enveloped in green globes, the rays from which shed a weird and uncanny -light throughout the room. - -On the walls were hung numerous astrological charts, a number of -horoscopes of celebrated men, more accurately cast after death than -before; and along with these were various devices and insignia, of the -meaning and object of which Nick was entirely ignorant. - -On a stand near the table were several packs of playing-cards, -presumably for fortune-telling, if no other amusement. - -In other respects the room was well furnished, with a book-case against -one wall, a couch opposite, and several small but expensive chairs. - -What chiefly startled Nick, however, was less this curious appearance -of the room than that of its solitary inmate. - -Madame Victoria was seated at the table, a woman under thirty, large of -figure, without being corpulent, an attractive, self-reliant face, and -an abundance of brownish-red hair done up in picturesque disorder. She -was clad in a long purple robe, figured with small silver stars, along -with a crescent moon here and there among them, the whole conveying -a vague suggestion of a midnight sky. The garment was voluminous, -entirely covering her waist and skirts. - -From the large, loose sleeves, and in vivid contrast with the rich -dark-purple, protruded a pair of shapely bare arms and hands; yet both -these and the woman’s face, uplifted when Nick entered, were lent a -disagreeable, deathlike pallor by the green light of the room. - -Her first glance was at Nick’s left hand, at a valuable carbuncle ring -on the third finger, and then her eyes rose up to his face while she -abruptly exclaimed, with a curious mingling of vivacity and surprise: - -“Dear me! Oh, dear me, what a strange feeling, Mr. Sibley. I feel just -as if two men had entered this room.” - -Nick was a bit startled. - -Sibley was the name on the card he had sent in, and the woman’s -immediate remark, in the light of Nick’s disguise, was at least a -little peculiar. - -“Two men, eh?” said Nick inquiringly. “Well, I am quite alone, madame, -I assure you.” - -Madame Victoria struck her brow violently with her palm several times, -then shook her head, as if bent upon shaking out some of its ideas, and -finally cried, with obvious perplexity: - -“Well, well, this is quite extraordinary. I never had such a strange -feeling. I am impressed exactly as if two men had entered the room.” - -“Impressed?” - -“Take a chair, sir,” smiled Madame Victoria quite graciously. “You must -understand, Mr. Sibley, that I am what I call an impressionist.” - -“I hear and know the meaning of the word,” laughed Nick, with curiosity -still further piqued, “yet I cannot say that I fully understand.” - -Madame Victoria shrugged her fine shoulders, and regarded him archly -from under her lifted brows. - -“Ah, well, that is not to be wondered at, Mr. Sibley,” she replied -agreeably. “Very few people understand the true nature and source of -their own impressions, to say nothing of those of another.” - -“That is quite true, madame,” assented Nick, bowing. - -“In fact, sir, I cannot say that I understand even my own,” added the -woman, with a pretty display of frankness. “They are so vivid at times, -yet frequently seem so utterly improbable, that I often shrink from -expressing them. I should have felt so in this case, Mr. Sibley, and I -doubt if I should have said what I did, sir, had it not come from me -quite involuntarily, and before I could repress it. Of course, sir, I -see that you are entirely alone.” - -“You interest me,” smiled Nick, bent upon leading her on. “May I ask of -what your present impressions consist?” - -Madame Victoria drew forward in her chair, and rested her pretty arms -upon the table. Her face became grave again, and once more her eyes -briefly lingered upon the ring on Nick’s finger, yet in an absent way -that did not attract his attention. - -After a few moments, during which she appeared to be yielding to some -outside influence, she looked up at him and said: - -“There is something about you, sir, that I really cannot explain. I -cannot get rid of this impression of a double personality here. I will -try to fathom it, Mr. Sibley, if you will be patient.” - -“Take your time, madame,” said Nick, smiling at her across the table. - -Madame Victoria nodded and laughed, displaying her white teeth and -calling up a charming dimple in each velvety cheek. - -“As you probably know, Mr. Sibley,” said she, “people come here for -various objects. Some call to have their horoscopes cast, others -to have a mediumistic sitting with me in the hope of receiving -communications from dead friends, while others call to consult me about -business and love-affairs, or to have their fortunes told by the cards.” - -“So I imagined,” bowed Nick. - -“But you came for nothing of the kind, that’s my impression,” exclaimed -Madame Victoria, with an abrupt exhibition of earnestness. - -“It is quite correct.” - -“You have no faith in any of those things.” - -“That also is true.” - -“Dear me, I am awfully perplexed,” laughed the woman, apparently with -vain efforts to straighten out something in her mind. “You seem to me -just like two men, which I, of course, know is absurd. Yet I cannot rid -myself of the effects of that impression. I shall try to do all that I -can for you, however, and will give you what comes to me.” - -“If you please, madame,” said Nick, not a little impressed and puzzled -by her curious statements and apparently genuine endeavors. - -Again Madame Victoria beat her brow with her palm, so violently that -Nick did not wonder that her hair was somewhat disordered. - -As she suddenly fixed her eyes upon him, he noticed that they began -to dilate and glow with almost preternatural brilliancy, while she -abruptly exclaimed, as if under the impulse of another of her vivid -impressions: - -“You have recently been in danger, Mr. Sibley, in great danger!” - -“Is that your present impression?” inquired Nick. - -“Yes, sir. It must be correct, too, or I could not feel it so strongly.” - -“Go on, madame.” - -“You are a man who encounters many dangers,” Madame Victoria continued, -now speaking much more rapidly and earnestly. “Your life is made up of -stirring adventures and frequent perils.” - -“That is very true,” admitted Nick. - -“I see you hunting—hunting—hunting!” cried the woman, with suppressed -vehemence. “I don’t know what it means, sir, but you seem to be -constantly hunting, searching after persons and things, and delving -into all kinds of complicated mysteries.” - -“Well, well! that hits pretty near the mark,” laughed Nick. - -“Oh, dear! and I see you all surrounded with a red atmosphere, as if -you were not a stranger to violent combats and the sight of blood.” - -“I have seen my share of both.” - -“Yes, yes, that is plain to me, very plain,” she rapidly went on. “You -are a busy man, and you—wait! I am now carried away from here. I feel -as if I were riding in a railway-train. I don’t quite interpret the -impression as yet, but I feel—oh, now I have it! You don’t belong here, -sir, not in this city. You are a stranger here.” - -“Well, not exactly that,” replied Nick, more and more puzzled by the -accuracy with which she was hitting the mark. - -“I don’t mean that you never were here, and are not familiar with this -city,” cried Madame Victoria quickly. “I mean only that your business -is not here, that your interests are in some distant place. Isn’t that -right?” - -“Nearly so.” - -“I knew it was.” - -“How did you know it?” - -“Because of my impression, that of being carried away in the cars,” -explained the woman. “I presumably get it from you, sir, for I am -susceptible to all of the conditions surrounding those who come here to -consult me.” - -“That is quite mysterious.” - -“So many think.” - -“How do you explain it?” - -“I don’t explain it. I know only that it is so.” - -“Yet——” - -“One moment, please!” exclaimed Madame Victoria, again leaning nearer. -“You have recently lost something, Mr. Sibley.” - -Nick laughed. - -“Can you direct me how to find it?” he asked. - -“Am I right?” - -“Yes.” - -“I cannot tell what it is, yet—yet I feel that you miss something -usually carried on your person.” - -“That is true.” - -“No, I cannot direct you how to find it—at least, not at present. It -is not still, not located yet. It is moving—moving—moving. I see smoke -and hear guns. I feel the same impression as a moment ago—that you have -lately been in danger.” - -Again she was speaking with that rapid, vehement earnestness as -before, as if every sensitive string of her delicate organism had -been suddenly struck, thrilling her with new and strangely correct -impressions. - -Nick Carter sat watching her as a cat watches a mouse, but he could -detect no sign of simulation or treachery. Her voice, looks, actions, -and constantly changing moods all appeared to be perfectly genuine. - -“I admit that I recently have been in danger,” said he, in reply to her -last remark. - -Madame Victoria bowed over the table, again fixing her eyes upon him -with that strangely intensified stare. - -“There are greater dangers before you,” she rapidly declared. - -“Is that so?” inquired Nick, wondering what was now coming. - -“Much greater dangers.” - -“Of what kind?” - -“Many kinds.” - -“A general assortment, eh?” - -“You regard them lightly, but I judge that to be like you.” - -“Rather.” - -“If you do so at this time, Mr. Sibley, you will do wrong.” - -“Why so?” - -“The perils threatening you cannot be wisely ignored. I am impressed -with a conviction that your life is imperiled by——Stop a moment!” - -“Well?” - -Again Madame Victoria beat her brow, shaking her head violently, -apparently striving to get a clear interpretation of her impressions. - -“Ah, I have it!” she suddenly cried. “You are in Boston on -business—perilous business.” - -“Well?” queried Nick, determined to tell her nothing. - -“You came to me for advice?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then I advise you to drop it.” - -“Drop what?” - -“This perilous business.” - -“Do you know of what it consists?” - -“I do not get any impression of that,” replied Madame Victoria, with -curious nervous efforts to make her mind receptive to the information -desired, efforts that brought the perspiration to her neck and brow in -tiny drops. - -“No, no. I do not get it—cannot get it,” she presently added, with a -gasp. “I have no idea of what it consists. Yet I advise you to drop it.” - -“Because of the dangers it involves?” - -“Yes.” - -“They will not deter me,” said Nick, with a headshake. “I never run -from danger.” - -“There is yet another reason.” - -“For dropping the business?” - -“Yes.” - -“What is it?” - -“You will fail.” - -“Fail in my undertaking?” - -“That is my impression. Ah, I see you smile!” cried the woman, wiping -her damp cheeks and brow. “You do wrong to deride and ignore my -predictions. Ask others to whom I have given advice. I have never yet -erred in one of these predictions. Take my advice, Mr. Sibley, and -avoid the impending perils.” - -Nick had smiled incredulously, and arose to go. He saw that the woman -had no more to tell him, nor had he any inclination to hear more in the -same line. - -Having paid her fee in money obtained by cashing a check in order to -settle with Grady for the damage to his runabout, Nick bade Madame -Victoria good morning, and departed. - -At the door of the inner room the woman tendered him her hand, which -he gravely accepted, noting at the same time that it was damp with -perspiration, yet as cold as a hand of clay. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - THE DEEPER MYSTERY. - - -Nick Carter was puzzled. - -His interview with Madame Victoria had, in a way, left him on the rocks. - -He could not account for the knowledge which, in indirect and equivocal -terms, she had displayed. It plainly indicated that she had from some -source received information concerning him and his business designs, -as well as about the losses he had suffered in his encounter with the -highwayman. - -Had this information really been derived through the occult powers of -which the woman claimed to be possessed? - -Nick Carter was not ready to believe that it had, for he had but little -faith in the supernatural. - -On the other hand, any natural explanation seemed equally difficult. - -“My intended visit to her rooms was known to only three persons by whom -she could have been informed, and they were Badger and his wife, and -Grady,” Nick perplexedly reasoned. “I know positively that Grady did -not inform her. Assuming even that the Badgers did so by communicating -with her by telephone, they cannot possibly have guessed that I would -call upon her in disguise. My make-up, together with the fictitious -name I gave, certainly should have blinded her to my identity. Yet I do -not believe she could have guessed, merely by chance, all of the facts -that she imparted, and I’m blessed if I can quite fathom the mystery.” - -The more Nick thought about it the more positive he became that there -existed some crooked work under the surface, and this made him even the -more determined to ferret out what it was. - -“I’ll telegraph to Chick and Patsy to come here,” he abruptly decided, -as he returned to the Adams House, at which he had registered. “I shall -need them to assist me in locating these road robbers, whom I am now -fully resolved to run down. After sending a message to Chick I will -have another bout with the fortune-teller. I’m blessed if I’ll let her -throw me down in this fashion—not and keep me down!” - -It was but a short walk to the hotel, and there Nick sent a telegram to -Chick Carter, his chief assistant, ordering him and Patsy, one of his -younger detectives, to come to Boston by the first train and join him -at the Adams House. - -Nick knew that both would arrive late that evening, and before then -he hoped to have solved that portion of the mystery relating to the -Tremont Street fortune-teller. - -After spending half an hour at lunch, Nick went up to his room and -examined his disguise, which he had not removed. - -“It is perfect in every detail,” he mentally declared, while surveying -himself in the mirror. “She cannot possibly have detected the make-up, -and there must be some other explanation of her insinuations. I’ll take -it off and visit her this time in proper person.” - -While removing the disguise, Nick noticed the carbuncle ring on his -finger, and he immediately took it off and slipped it into the pocket -of another suit he was then about putting on. - -“I’ll have nothing about me that she may have seen this morning,” he -said to himself. “There’s a deal of crafty keenness in those bright -eyes of hers, and I’ll make sure that she discovers nothing to identify -me with her visitor by the name of Sibley. If she succeeds in doing -that, the witch, there will be something more than natural in it—or -some sort of rascally cunning at work under the surface. I’ll wager -that she will have no impression of two men entering her room this -time, nor that I was there this morning.” - -Fashionably clad, with his strong, attractive face inviting -observation, Nick appeared for the second time at the rooms of Madame -Victoria, just about an hour after leaving them. - -The girl in the waiting-room did not recognize him, and Nick took even -the precaution to vary his voice several degrees from that he had -previously used. - -“Is Madame Victoria disengaged?” he inquired. - -“She is, sir, just at present,” said the girl. - -“My card,” said Nick tersely. “I would like a business interview with -her.” - -“One moment, sir.” - -The girl vanished into the inner room, then returned without the card. - -“Madame will receive you, Mr. Carter,” she said, bowing. - -Nick left his hat as before, and approached the inner room. - -His recollections of it were not agreeable. The close atmosphere, the -green light, the walls hung with mystical insignia, the purple-robed -woman who had so baffled his usual keen reasoning, and the touch of -whose hand lingered with him as when a person has touched the hand of -a corpse—all had left upon him a disagreeable impression, as when one -has meddled with things pertaining to the black arts. - -He found Madame Victoria seated at the table, as before, looking more -like a sorceress to him than ever, as he stepped gravely over the -threshold. - -The woman looked up from the card between her thumb and fingers, and -Nick thought he detected a subtle light leap up from the depths of her -brilliant eyes. It vanished so quickly that he could not feel sure of -it, however, despite that he was now alert for the slightest betrayal -that might be of significance to him. - -Madame Victoria was the first to speak. - -“Take a chair, sir,” said she, smiling a bit oddly. “Your card informs -me that you are Detective Carter, of New York.” - -“Yes, madame.” - -“My maid said you desire a business interview with me.” - -“If you please.” - -“Business from my standpoint, or your own?” inquired Madame Victoria, -still smiling. “In other words, Detective Carter, does your visit -relate to your business or to mine?” - -“The business is ours,” said Nick pointedly. - -“Ah, sort of a mutual interest,” laughed the woman, with a captivating -glance at him. - -“Precisely.” - -“Then, since you have not called to consult me professionally,” said -the madame, “I shall feel free to drop my usual mental attitude, that -of holding myself susceptible to outward impressions, and receive -you more conventionally. About what do you wish to see me, Detective -Carter?” - -Nick instinctively felt that he was already being headed off by the -woman, and he saw, with half an eye, if he had not seen it before, that -he was up against a remarkably shrewd and clever character, one who was -nearly his equal in diplomacy and cunning. - -Nick briefly set aside the motive with which he had called, therefore, -and reverted to the business which primarily had sent him to Madame -Victoria’s rooms. - -“I wish to ask you a few questions,” said he. - -“About what?” - -“About the recent robbery of yourself and Mrs. Badger, of Brookline.” - -“Ah, indeed!” - -“I am engaged by Chief Weston, of the local police department, to -investigate some of these highway robberies committed about here, and -to undertake the arrest of the culprits.” - -“Dear me! I am delighted to hear it, Detective Carter, and I do hope -you’ll succeed,” exclaimed Madame Victoria, now displaying a very -vivacious interest. - -“I hope so, too.” - -“I have lost some valuable jewels, and so has Claudia—that’s Mrs. -Badger, sir—and I should be more than glad to recover them.” - -“No doubt.” - -“Or to aid you in hastening the arrest and conviction of the thieves,” -added the woman. “In what way can I assist you, Detective Carter?” - -“By answering a few questions for me, madame——” - -“Pardon!” she interposed. - -“Well?” - -“You may call me Miss Clayton when not consulting me professionally, -Detective Carter,” she explained, with a fascinating little laugh. -“Like persons in other fields of art, I practise under an assumed name. -If you ever meet my sister, Mrs. Badger, or her husband, they will -probably refer to me by my real name. So I take this occasion to tell -it to you. It is only here, or when discussing my professional work, -that I make use of my business name.” - -Nick wondered if all this had been thrown at him to convey an -impression that she had not been informed of his call upon Badger and -his wife, and a gleam of new suspicion showed briefly in the eyes -of the great detective. Yet he said quietly, with a nod, that he -understood her. - -“It matters little to me what name you use, providing you answer my -questions,” he added. - -“I shall gladly do so, Detective Carter.” - -“I have here a snap-shot photograph said to have been taken by you at -the time of the robbery.” - -“Yes, that is true. I had my kodak with me, and it so happened that I -could——” - -“I have been told by Chief Weston how you obtained the photograph,” -interposed Nick, wishing to expedite matters. - -“Ah, I see.” - -“What I chiefly wish to know is whether you got a good look at the -thieves, or were too frightened to notice them closely.” - -“Oh, I was not greatly alarmed,” smiled Madame Victoria, with a shrug -of her fine shoulders. “I saw that the loss of our valuables was -inevitable, but I did not fear for my life.” - -“Did you specially notice the woman who appears in this photograph?” - -“I saw all that was to be seen of both miscreants, Detective Carter,” -the woman declared, with a nod of emphasis. - -“Did you detect any peculiarity about the woman?” - -“Only her unusual height.” - -“She was taller than the man?” - -“Yes, indeed; several inches taller.” - -“Yet in the picture he appears to be nearly six feet.” - -“I should judge that he was, as I now recall him.” - -“A woman taller than that is very rare,” said Nick, “and one who should -be quite easily traced.” - -“That is true, sir.” - -“Do you feel quite sure that it was a woman?” - -“Sure? Why, certainly!” exclaimed Madame Victoria, laughing. - -“For what reasons?” - -“Because, Detective Carter, I saw the point of her chin under her black -veil, and it was as smooth and white as my own.” - -“Anything more?” - -“Her hand and arm, too, what little I could see of the latter in the -sleeve of her automobile coat, were as fair and plump as my own.” - -Nick glanced at the pretty hand and arm she held out, and decided that -there could be no mistaking them. - -“My first impression, Detective Carter,” she quickly added, “was the -same as yours—that her height might warrant a suspicion that it was a -man in woman’s clothing. For that reason, sir, I particularly observed -her.” - -“I am glad of that,” bowed Nick. “I called here chiefly to settle this -question of sex, and I have already asked Mrs. Badger about it.” - -“Oh, indeed! Then you have seen her?” - -“I called upon her in Brookline this morning.” - -“Does what I say corroborate her statements?” - -“Yes.” - -Nick had mentioned the call only to see if Madame Victoria would say -that she had since heard from the Badgers, but she did nothing of the -kind, leaving Nick to believe that she had not. This served only to -increase his growing suspicions, when recalling what she had said that -morning; and he now gravely added, with his gaze indifferently fixed -upon her face: - -“I think there is only one more question that I would like to have you -answer for me, Madame Victoria.” - -“Only one?” - -“That is all.” - -“Ask it, Detective Carter.” - -Nick’s voice fell a little lower, and became more impressive. - -“I wish to know what you would have said to me, Madame Victoria, if I -had called to consult you professionally.” - -The smile still lingered about the woman’s red lips, and her eyes met -his without flinching. - -“I should have said, Detective Carter, what my first impression -impelled me to say, yet which I decided to repress.” - -“What was that?” - -“I should have told you that I felt, when you entered, as if I were -meeting a person who had recently called here.” - -“Did you feel so?” - -“I did.” - -“How do you now feel about it?” - -“I am now sure.” - -“Of what?” - -“That you were here this morning under the name of Sibley,” replied -Madame Victoria, now frowning slightly. “I cannot possibly imagine why -you came here in disguise and under an assumed name, Detective Carter, -yet I am convinced that you did so.” - -“How did you acquire that knowledge?” Nick now demanded, ignoring her -quiet rebuke. - -“I answered that question for Mr. Sibley,” was the reply, with a covert -sneer. “Hence there is no need for me to answer it for you.” - -“You acquired it through your impressions?” - -“Yes.” - -“In no other way?” - -“None.” - -“Then, as Mr. Sibley said this morning, it is very mysterious,” Nick -dryly declared, rising to go. - -“So many think, as I said this morning.” - -“I will say, Madame Victoria, that I had no more malicious design in -coming here in disguise than that of proving the validity of some of -your claims to occult powers. I might add, too, that you have given me -one of the most curious problems of my life.” - -“Indeed!” - -“I shall, however, make it a point to—solve the problem.” - -Madame Victoria laughed, and eyed him oddly from under her drooping -lids. - -“If you do solve it, which involves learning how I get these -impressions, Detective Carter, you will do more than I can,” she said, -rising to bid him adieu. - -“Then I certainly shall, Madame Victoria, do more than you can,” Nick -quietly declared, as he accepted her proffered hand. - -“You think so, eh?” - -“I do, madame! I have one very pronounced trait of character, which may -be of some interest to you.” - -“What is that?” - -“I never drop a mystery, Madame Victoria, until it has—ceased to be a -mystery!” - -The last was said pleasantly enough, yet very emphatically, as Nick -bowed and withdrew from the room, with the smiling eyes of the woman -steadily meeting his till the door closed between the two. - -Then there came over her one of those swift changes seen only when -suppressed passions, intensified by restraint, are abruptly given free -rein. - -Her smile vanished like a flash, displaced by a frown that transfigured -her every feature and lent to her usually attractive face the -threatening and vengeful visage of a fury. With eyes gleaming, with -lips drawn, with breast heaving under the sudden swell of her pent -feelings, she shook both clenched hands after the departing detective, -while muttering fiercely through her white teeth: - -“Yon will solve the problem, will you? You will tear away the veil of -mystery, will you? Not if I know it—not if I can prevent it, Mr. Nick -Carter! - -“Beware what you do—what you attempt! Let the cost be what it may, my -prediction shall be fulfilled, and only failure shall be yours! Beware -lest you fail, for the inevitable price of failure will be—death!” - -Then she turned and hurried across the room, with every movement of her -lithe and supple figure as quick and graceful as those of a leopard. -With a quick sweep of her arm, she threw aside the curtain of a door of -a small closet, into which she entered, to seize the receiver from a -telephone attached to the wall. - -“Give me 22 ring 2, Brookline!” she commanded. - -It was the number of the telephone in the house of Mr. Amos Badger. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - UNDER THE SURFACE. - - -As Nick Carter had rightly conjectured, when weighing the mystifying -knowledge displayed by Madame Victoria, there was something under the -surface. - -What the something was, moreover, plainly appeared in what followed the -visit of Nick to the suburban house of Mr. Amos Badger. - -The moment the detective departed, in company with Grady, there came -over both Badger and his wife a very decided change. - -With an ugly gleam in his dark eyes, which were still following the -runabout as it sped down the long driveway, Badger ripped off the red -flannel bandages from around his neck, exclaiming vehemently: - -“Whew! these infernal things have set me reeking at every pore! Thank -Heaven he remained no longer, or I should have run down into my boots. -There’s not a dry rag on me.” - -His wife indulged in a laugh, a vicious little laugh, most unpleasant -to honest ears. - -“Yet the ruse worked well, Amos,” she cried exultantly. - -“Yes, apparently.” - -“Apparently?” - -“That’s what I said,” growled Badger, as the runabout passed out of -view. - -“What do you mean?” demanded Claudia, with quickened apprehension. - -“I mean that there never is any knowing what Nick Carter thinks and -suspects, however he may carry himself,” Badger petulantly replied. -“He is one thing on the surface, another under it. There is no telling -anything about him, and I’m infernally sorry that Weston has brought -him over here.” - -“Bah!” cried his wife contemptuously. “He can accomplish no more than -the Boston detectives have done.” - -“I’m not so sure of it.” - -“We can fool him as we have fooled the others.” - -“Yet he asked some deucedly ugly questions,” declared Badger, with a -doubtful shake of his head. “And I more than half-fear that he already -suspects our trick.” - -“Suspects that you were only feigning illness?” - -“Possibly.” - -“Nonsense! He cannot have got wise to that, nor to anything else that -seriously affects us.” - -Badger turned quickly away, and hailed the man in the driveway. - -“Come in here, Jerry,” he commanded. “I want to speak to you.” - -Conley dropped his work and hastened into the house, following Badger -and his wife into the library. - -“What d’ye want, Amos?” he inquired, with a familiarity plainly -indicating that he was something more than a menial about the place. - -“I want to I know just what Carter said to you,” replied Badger, -throwing himself into a chair. - -“He only asked if I’d seen an auto go along the road below here.” - -“Nothing more?” - -“Not a thing.” - -“I thought I heard him say something about me, Conley, and the cut of -my jib.” - -“Oh, that was only because he couldn’t learn anything from me, and he -didn’t fancy the jolly I was giving him,” replied Conley, with a grin. -“Devil a thing did I tell him, Amos, and I was only keeping him on a -string till I was dead sure that you and Claudy were out of your auto -rigs and into the togs in which he found you.” - -“Are you sure he didn’t get sight of the other machine?” demanded -Badger apprehensively. - -“The one you used when you held him up?” - -“Yes, certainly.” - -“Oh, I’m dead sure that he didn’t see that,” cried Conley confidently. -“I had that in the secret cover a good five minutes before he showed up -in the runabout.” - -“And you were at work on the other when he arrived?” - -“Yes, long before he arrived.” - -“Pshaw! he couldn’t have seen the Peerless when he got here, Amos,” -supplemented Claudia decidedly. “We left that runabout behind us as if -it had been tied to a stake.” - -“I know all that,” growled Badger; “but I want to feel sure that the -infernal detective got no line on us after he reached here. I’ll tell -you both, he’s a man to be feared, and we cannot be too careful in case -he undertakes to round us up.” - -“Faugh!” snarled Conley, with a scowl rising about his crafty eyes. “If -he gets wise, and presses us too hard, there’s one thing we can do.” - -“Put him out of the way?” - -“Sure.” - -“It will have to be done,” said Badger, with a nod. “Yet I don’t fancy -running my neck into a noose if it can be avoided.” - -“It can be done without that,” said Conley, with grim significance. - -“It strikes me,” put in Claudia, “that we ought to give Vic a tip that -Carter is coming to call upon her, also that he has been out here.” - -“That’s right, too.” - -“If he is as clever as you say he is, Amos, he must be handled with -gloves,” added the woman. “Vic ought to be warned of his visit, and of -what his business consists, so that she may be ready for him, and head -him off from any suspicion.” - -“I can inform her by telephone.” - -“It must be done.” - -“There’s no great rush,” replied Badger. “Carter will not arrive there -for an hour.” - -“You must tell her just what we have done, and why we did it.” - -“Tell her that we held him up this morning?” - -“Yes, certainly; also that we got away with his watch and money.” - -“Why tell her all that?” - -“So she may know just how to handle him,” declared Claudia, with knit -brows. “Vic is clever, all right, but she may queer us in some way when -pitted against Nick Carter’s cleverness, unless she knows just what his -game is, and what has happened out here.” - -“I’ll go and talk with her at once,” said Badger, now rising. - -“A good idea,” said Conley approvingly. “Let Vic alone to queer any -game that he may have.” - -“Stop a moment, Amos,” cried his wife, with an afterthought. - -“Well?” - -“If Carter has formed any suspicion of us, as you appear to fear, he -may start in at once with some of his underhand work.” - -“What do you mean?” - -“He may not tell Vic who he is.” - -“Possibly not.” - -“And he may lead her into some self-betrayal, in case he questions her -closely while she is ignorant of his identity.” - -“What the deuce can we do to prevent that?” demanded Badger, with a -frown. - -“I’ll tell you what,” said Claudia, who plainly possessed many of the -crafty qualities of her sister. - -“Well, out with it.” - -“First, Amos, describe him to her so she cannot mistake him, and then——” - -“Hold on a bit,” interrupted Conley, who was an interested listener. -“He may take it into his head to go there in disguise, since that’s a -clever trick of his.” - -“That’s just what I was coming to, Jerry, if you had let me finish,” -snapped Mrs. Badger. “We can easily head off any disguise he may adopt.” - -“How so?” - -“Merely by telling Vic that he wears a red carbuncle ring on the third -finger of his left hand,” said Claudia. “He’ll not think it necessary -to remove that, Amos, even if he does put on a disguise.” - -“By Jove! that’s so.” - -“Go, now, and tell her the whole business.” - -Badger hastened into the hall, where he was presently heard imparting -in cautious terms, yet which he evidently knew would be readily -understood, the information concerning Nick which had so puzzled him. - -It was because of what she now was told over the wire that Madame -Victoria glanced first at Nick’s left hand when he entered her rooms, -and at once recognized him in the disguise of Sibley. - -At the time of his second visit, moreover, when he presented his own -card, the fortune-teller at once noticed that he had removed the ring, -and that alone was enough to convince her that he was beginning to play -a double game, and that he must have formed some suspicions regarding -herself and the Badgers. - -After Nick’s first departure she telephoned Badger that he had been -there, and the latter then held a second consultation with his wife and -Conley. - -Being ignorant of Nick’s primary object in visiting Madame Victoria -in disguise, which was merely to test her peculiar powers, Badger’s -apprehensions naturally were increased. - -“He’s wise to something, and already up to some game against us, or -he wouldn’t have gone there in disguise,” he gravely reasoned. “I’m -ruined, utterly ruined, unless we can continue this road work a few -weeks longer. I shall be swamped completely unless I can thus raise the -funds to tide me along until there’s a rise in the stock-market.” - -“We’ll keep up the road-work, Amos, never you fear,” his wife curtly -declared, with an evil brightness in her expressive eyes. “It was I who -suggested it to you, and I have done my part to help you along with it.” - -“That’s true enough.” - -“And we’ll not quit it now, Amos, Carter or no Carter.” - -“That we’ll not,” growled Conley, with a headshake. “There’s too much -good stuff in it for us to have it queered at this stage by this man -Carter. If it comes to the worst, Amos, a knife between his ribs will -put him out of our way.” - -“That is more easily said than done.” - -“Not if it comes to that kind of a play.” - -“I don’t fear Weston and his second-rate detectives,” added Badger -moodily; “but this man Carter is superior to that entire bunch.” - -“Bah!” cried Claudia. “You are needlessly alarmed. To begin with, Amos, -he cannot possibly have learned anything definite about us as quickly -as this.” - -“Possibly not.” - -“He could not have identified us as the couple who held him up and -robbed him this morning, and he certainly must think that was only a -chance job, not one planned by us the moment we heard he was coming out -here in a runabout.” - -“No, he could not have guessed that,” admitted Badger. - -“Furthermore,” argued his wife, “my face was entirely covered with my -dust-glasses and the false beard, and in my big auto coat it certainly -could not have been suspected that I was a woman who suddenly showed up -in the Peerless in which you escaped after robbing him.” - -“Sure it couldn’t,” put in Conley. “I’d have sworn you were a man -myself.” - -“Oh, I don’t think he has any idea of the truth about that,” replied -Badger. - -“There is still another thing in our favor,” continued Claudia. - -“What is that?” - -“The alleged robbery of Vic and myself, Amos, and the photograph which -Vic took by which to convince Weston of the truth of our story.” - -“That was one of the shrewdest moves ever made,” declared Conley, -laughing. - -“Certainly it was, Jerry, and you may let Vic alone to think of such -schemes as that,” said Mrs. Badger, with an evil display of sisterly -pride. - -“She’s a keen one, all right,” grinned Conley. - -“The picture is as good as a positive proof that we were robbed,” added -Claudia; “and Weston never for a moment has doubted our story. The very -fact, if it were a fact, that we were robbed, moreover, plainly shows -that we cannot have been both the thieves and the victims, also. That -would be absurd, you see, and as long as Carter credits the photograph, -just so long we may be sure that he does not suspect us of being -crooks.” - -“That is an ugly word to apply to us, Claudia,” growled Badger -disapprovingly. - -“One might as well call things by their right names,” laughed his wife. -“I told you I was an adventuress, and a woman of nerve, Amos, when you -wanted to marry me, and you knew just what you bargained for.” - -“I’m finding no fault on that score.” - -“You’d better not,” was the pointed rejoinder. “I fancy the life I now -lead, this moving in good society, for it lays away over the stage, or -riding bareback in the circus-ring, to which Vic and I were bred in old -England.” - -“What need to refer to those days?” muttered Badger, frowning darkly. - -“Only that you may keep in mind the stuff I am made of,” replied his -wife, with a shrug of her shoulders. “When you told me you were in -hot water financially, Amos, it was I who suggested this scheme of -road robbery to tide you along. In becoming your assistant, along with -Jerry, here, my old life of adventure has served me well. I can ride -the most vicious horse, and no auto can go too fast for me, Amos; so -you couldn’t have a better helper, whether I wear skirts or trousers, -in holding up an auto-party.” - -“That’s true enough.” - -“As for the wickedness of it—well, most of the world is wicked in -one way or another,” laughed the woman. “We must contrive to get our -living, Amos, in some way; and this life of danger and adventure just -suits me, to say nothing of the profits derived. Just think!—last month -we cleaned up close to twenty thousand, providing those Gaylord jewels -bring as much as we expect.” - -“Oh, there’s money enough in it, I’ll admit that,” nodded Badger. - -“And with Vic to help us, with the aid of the friend she has so -completely under her thumb, we are sure to be informed of any move -contemplated by Weston or by Nick Carter. So your fears are groundless, -Amos, as I said in the beginning.” - -“It’s dead lucky, I’ll admit, that we have that anchor to the -windward,” said Badger, with features now relaxing. - -“So it is, Amos, and with him to inform us of—— Hark! there goes the -telephone-bell again. I’ll wager that Vic has something more to report.” - -Claudia Badger was right in the last. - -Madame Victoria now reported the second visit of Nick Carter, and all -that had passed between them; also explained Nick’s simple object in -first calling upon her in disguise, and stated that he came last only -to ask about the woman in the photograph. - -“I have him well muddled, Amos,” was Madame Victoria’s last declaration -over the wire. “There is nothing to be feared from him at present.” - -Badger’s dark countenance lighted while he listened, and he hastened to -report the communication to his wife and Conley. - -“There! what did I tell you?” cried Claudia triumphantly. “I knew that -Vic would prove more than a match even for Nick Carter. Now, there is -just one thing to be done in order to avert suspicion from us.” - -“What is that?” - -“These road robberies must continue to occur,” declared the woman. “If -they suddenly end at this time, after Carter’s visit here, he very -possibly may infer that we are alarmed, providing he has any suspicion -at all concerning us. Another robbery committed this very night would -clinch matters in our favor.” - -“That’s right, too,” said Conley, quickly seeing the point. - -It was done, moreover, and one of the boldest yet committed, and -the reports of it filled the morning papers, along with no end of -editorials decrying the inferior work of the police in being unable to -prevent such depredations. - -But the end was not yet, for that very day Chief Weston removed his own -men from the case, and placed it entirely in charge of Nick Carter. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - BODY AND LIMBS. - - -“Chick, I’m hit with an idea!” - -This exclamation came from Nick Carter about ten o’clock one morning, -two days after the highway robbery last reported, and the talk that -followed showed with what remarkable insight this great detective -arrived at the subtle deductions which contributed largely to his -success. - -Chick and Patsy had arrived in Boston two days before, and both were -now present with Nick in his room at the Adams House. - -Both had been fully informed of the facts thus far learned by him, -moreover, as well as of his interview with the Badgers, and his visits -to Madame Victoria. - -When he uttered the above exclamation Nick was seated at one of the -windows of his room. - -In one hand he held the photograph that figured so curiously in the -case, and which would have convinced any ordinary detective that Madame -Victoria and Mrs. Amos Badger had been robbed precisely as alleged, for -the camera, at least, would not have lied. - -Yet this bit of convincing evidence was so out of the ordinary, as -well as the circumstances under which it had been obtained, that Nick -from the very first had been inclined to distrust the picture. - -In his other hand he now held a large magnifying-glass, through which -he was carefully studying the photograph, holding it in the full glare -of the morning sunlight. - -“What’s that, Nick?” inquired Chick, starting up from his chair and -dropping a morning paper reporting the last robbery. “Hit with an idea, -did you say?” - -“Exactly.” - -“What is it, Mr. Carter?” asked Patsy, at once displaying a lively -interest. “Have you discovered something lame in that picture?” - -Nick laughed. - -“That about hits the nail on the head, Patsy,” said he, with a glance -in the lad’s direction. “I think I begin to see a ray of light in the -darkness.” - -“What have you discovered?” asked Chick. - -And both he and Patsy came to lean over the back of Nick’s chair. - -Nick held the large glass and the photograph so that all three could -plainly view the magnified picture. - -“I’ll explain what I find, and I wonder that I have not noticed it -before,” said he quite earnestly. “It relates to this tall woman who -appears in the picture.” - -“Gee! but she is a tall one,” remarked Patsy, with a laugh. “She’s tall -enough to fit in a dime museum.” - -“That’s right, Patsy,” assented Nick, smiling. - -“What’s peculiar about it, Nick?” - -“As you probably know, Chick, there is a general uniformity in the -proportions of the human body—a regular length of arms and limbs when -compared with the trunk. In all normal subjects the proportions are -nearly the same.” - -“Sure,” nodded Chick. “A man’s reach, from the tips of his extended -arms and fingers, is usually the same as his height.” - -“Correct.” - -“But what has that to do with the picture, Mr. Carter?” asked Patsy. - -“It has to do with this woman,” Nick rejoined, drawing out his pencil -to be used for a pointer. “I want you to notice her extended arm and -hand, the one in which she held the leveled revolver.” - -“That’s plain enough, sir.” - -“It’s good fortune that it is, Patsy,” nodded Nick. “It also is plain, -now that I study it closely, that the arm is a little out of proportion -with her exceeding height.” - -“By Jove! it does appear so!” exclaimed Chick, bending nearer to view -the pictured figure. - -“Notice the distance from her shoulder to her hand, then the distance -from her shoulder to her hip, which is plainly outlined by this curve -of her long auto coat. Her hip is here, Chick, where I have the point -of my pencil.” - -“Exactly.” - -“Notice, now, that her extended hand, if it were to be dropped to her -side, would reach only to this point, measuring the same distance, a -point only a trifle below her hip.” - -“That’s clear,” cried Chick. “Yet the camera may——” - -“The camera never lies,” interposed Nick. - -“Then the woman must be out of proportion,” declared Chick. - -“Not necessarily.” - -“But her arm should be longer than it appears there,” Chick insisted. -“I’m well-proportioned, I’ll swear to that, and my hand, when lowered, -reaches half-way down my thigh.” - -“Which is about right, Chick.” - -“Yet you say the woman is not out of proportion——” - -“I said not necessarily,” interposed Nick. “If she was as tall as she -appears in the picture, however, I’ll admit that her arm would be too -short for her body.” - -“Oho, I see!” exclaimed Patsy, starting up. “You think, Mr. Carter, -that she is not as tall as the picture indicates.” - -“That’s exactly it, Patsy,” nodded Nick. - -“How do you make it out?” asked Chick. - -“Notice this fold of her skirt, where the skirt shows below the edge of -her auto coat?” - -“Well, what of it?” - -“Plainly enough, Chick, the fold does not hang quite naturally,” Nick -went on to explain, still pointing with his pencil. “It appears drawn -a little to one side and back of her, with the edge of the skirt -carefully arranged to touch the ground, precisely as if to conceal -something beneath it.” - -“Something on which she was standing!” exclaimed Chick, quickly seeing -the point. - -“That’s just it,” declared Nick impressively. “No skirt ever hung quite -like that, if it hung naturally.” - -“Surely not.” - -“Notice also the distance from her hip to the edge of the skirt, where -her feet should be,” added Nick. “Her limbs would be as much above the -regular proportions as her arm is below them.” - -“I see what you mean.” - -“In a nutshell, Chick, such an anomaly could not be,” continued Nick -decisively. “A person with abnormally long legs and disproportionately -short arms is out of the question.” - -“And in your opinion——” - -“In my opinion, Chick, the woman was standing on something, possibly a -rock, with her skirts lengthened to conceal it. Obviously the whole was -done to give her the appearance of being very tall.” - -“And with what object?” - -“With a design to thus blind the police to the real looks of the woman -operating with this gang of crooks.” - -“You think they aimed to send the police searching after some very tall -woman?” - -“Exactly.” - -“I’ll wager you are right.” - -“Furthermore,” added Nick, “these discoveries conclusively prove that -the picture was deliberately taken, with the several persons calmly -posing to make it effective, and that the two women said to have been -held up and robbed were not robbed at all.” - -“And the design of the photograph?” - -“It was taken purposely to be offered as evidence to corroborate the -story told to the police.” - -“With a view to averting suspicion and throwing them off the right -track,” added Chick. - -“Precisely.” - -“By thunder, that was a crafty scheme!” declared Patsy, rather pleased -with the originality of it. - -“Yes, it was crafty enough,” assented Nick. “But the rascals overleaped -their mount, Patsy, in not anticipating the deductions I have -mentioned. All this sheds a new and very bright light upon the case,” -the speaker added, as he tossed the photograph upon the table. - -“I should say so,” nodded Chick, resuming his chair and lighting a -cigar. “It indicates that those two women, who claim to have been -robbed, may be in league with this gang of thieves.” - -“Even more than that, Chick.” - -“What more, Nick?” - -“It suggests that Badger himself may be one of the gang, if not the -chief figure in it, and that their headquarters may be at that isolated -suburban place of his.” - -“By Jove, that may be so!” - -“Let’s look a little deeper, Chick, and see how far some of the -other facts sustain this theory. I was held up when on my way out -there Tuesday morning,” continued Nick. “That may have been merely a -coincidence, the scamps possibly having been laying in wait for some -victim, though there still remains a chance of something even more than -that under the surface.” - -“Decidedly so,” replied Chick. “Such things don’t often happen by -chance.” - -“We’ll investigate that a little later.” - -“Sure.” - -“After the hold-up, Chick, I hastened to Badger’s house, arriving there -within ten minutes after the robbery,” Nick went on. - -“Then it must have occurred pretty near his place.” - -“Within half a mile.” - -“That, too, is significant.” - -“In a measure,” assented Nick. “I found his chauffeur cleaning a -Stanley machine in the driveway, where I could not help observing him. -Ordinarily such a job would be done in the stable or garage, and I am -now inclined to think that it was done outside only intentionally to -make me believe, in case of any distrust, that Badger uses a Stanley -machine, and not such a car as that in which I saw the thieves escape.” - -“Do you know how many machines he owns?” - -“I do not, Chick. In fact, I know very little about him or his place.” - -“We’ll make it a point to learn.” - -“I did not fancy the looks nor air of his chauffeur,” continued Nick. -“He appeared to avoid my questions, and I now suspect that may have -been done to give Badger time to get out of his rig as a highwayman and -into the house suit and red flannel bandages in which he received me.” - -“You think that whole business was designed only to blind you, in case -you had any suspicions?” - -“That certainly would have been the design, Chick, providing that we -are justified in suspecting him at all.” - -“There are too many of these significant little circumstances, Nick, -for us to doubt that we are hitting somewhere near the mark,” Chick -shrewdly reasoned. - -“That’s the way I now regard them,” said Nick. “After my talk with -Badger, in which I stated I should call upon Madame Victoria, he may -have telephoned the fact to the fortune-teller. I noticed that he had a -telephone in the hall.” - -“That would explain her knowledge of you, Nick,” said Chick. “But bear -in mind that you were in disguise when you first called upon her.” - -“I remember that, Chick.” - -“How can she have known you?” - -“Badger may have been alarmed by my visit,” argued Nick, “and he -possibly suspected that I might adopt some disguise. Very likely he -mentioned some distinctive feature about my person, one which I would -not ordinarily remove, by which Madame Victoria may have identified me.” - -“That may have been the case,” admitted Chick. - -“The knowledge she displayed certainly points to some such move on -Badger’s part, and adds to our grounds for suspicion,” continued -Nick. “She had me well marked in some way, there is no denying that. -Furthermore, the fact that she warned me to drop the perilous business -I was about to undertake, predicting that I should meet only with -failure, points plainly to a possibility that they were taking that -method to influence me to drop the case.” - -“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Patsy. “That now looks dead open and shut, Mr. -Carter.” - -“It certainly is significant.” - -“I’ll bet you landed right in the midst of this gang of road thieves. -In that case, Nick, the rest of our work should be easy,” Chick quickly -remarked. “It should be child’s play for us to round them up.” - -Nick thoughtfully shook his head. - -“I’m not so sure of that, Chick,” said he. “We as yet have no tangible -evidence against them, and nothing less will serve us in a court of -law,” replied Nick. - -“That’s true.” - -“Our theory is built chiefly upon trivial circumstances, all of -which are significant enough, I’ll admit, and sufficiently numerous -to warrant considerable suspicion. But we must secure more positive -evidence before we can take any decisive action against these suspects.” - -“I guess that is right, Nick.” - -“We ought to get the evidence easily enough, if we really have located -the crooks,” declared Patsy. - -Nick Carter laughed again, with a glance at the eager eyes of the -youthful detective. - -“That one word, really, is quite important, Patsy,” said he. “It is -barely possible that we are mistaken, at least in part, if not entirely -so. Circumstantial evidence is never wholly trustworthy.” - -“I’ll bet you are right, sir, for all that,” insisted Patsy, with -abiding faith in Nick’s shrewdness. - -“I shall first make sure that I am,” said Nick, “by taking some step to -confirm my theory. As for securing the evidence with which to convict -these rascals, Patsy, that may not be done as easily as you think. If -they become wary, fearing that we suspect them, they not only may drop -the business entirely for a time, but may also cover their past tracks -so cleverly as to conceal the evidence that we require.” - -“I hadn’t thought of that, sir.” - -“It’s too true for a joke, Nick, and we cannot be too careful and -crafty at the outset,” Chick gravely put in, now taking the measure of -the case quite as clearly as Nick himself. “What do you intend doing?” - -“Personally, Chick, I am going down to State Street this morning, -and see what I can learn about Badger. Then I am going up to police -headquarters and return these documents to Chief Weston. He loaned -them to me that I might learn what lines of investigation his men have -followed.” - -“Do they appear to have accomplished anything?” - -“Nothing more than to note in detail the facts of the various -robberies,” smiled Nick. “Not one of them has hit upon a rational clue.” - -“Is there anything you want us to do while you are thus engaged?” - -“Yes. I want you and Patsy to go out to Brookline and see what you can -discover at Badger’s place,” replied Nick. “I don’t want you to be seen -about there, however.” - -“H’m! Let us alone to be discreet.” - -“His estate is backed by quite an extensive woodland, through which you -can easily approach after locating the place.” - -“That will be an advantage.” - -“Take what time you require,” added Nick, “and learn how many men -are employed in and about the house and stable. Also learn how many -automobiles and horses he keeps. Several of these hold-ups have been -committed by horsemen, and I wish to learn what Badger owns in both -lines.” - -“Automobiles and horses?” - -“Exactly.” - -“We’ll ferret out the whole business, Mr. Carter, trust us for that,” -cried Patsy, impatient to be at work. - -“Meantime,” said Nick, rising, “I’ll employ myself as stated. It is -now half-past ten. You may require three or four hours to learn what I -would like to know, so we will plan to meet here again about an hour or -two before dinner, say at four o’clock.” - -“That will give us ample time,” declared Chick. “We’ll be here at four -sharp.” - -“You’ll find me here,” said Nick, with no thought that anything would -occur to prevent him. - -The three left the house together, parting at the Washington Street -door, both Chick and Patsy heading for the subway to take a Brookline -trolley car. Neither so much as dreamed, however, that many an anxious -hour would pass before they again saw Nick’s familiar face or heard his -genial voice. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - THE ANCHOR TO WINDWARD. - - -As he had stated to his assistants before leaving the Adams House that -morning, Nick Carter hastened down to State Street to see what he could -learn about Amos Badger. - -With his wide acquaintance and friendly relations with the bankers and -brokers, both in New York and Boston, it was an easy matter for Nick to -ascertain, without disclosing his motives, the facts which he aimed to -discover. - -He learned from perfectly reliable sources that Badger, who had no -partner in business, was heavily long of stocks in the market, a -market that had been steadily declining for months; also, that his -loan-account on this class of collateral had been repeatedly subjected -to calls for additional margins, which were known to have been met only -with considerable difficulty and delay. - -In a nutshell, Nick easily discovered that Badger had for months been -in financial hot water, yet had succeeded in tiding himself along up to -date. - -Nick now thought he could guess by what desperate means this man was -raising the funds required to meet his increasing obligations from day -to day. - -Incidentally, however, Nick learned other facts for which he was not -specially seeking, yet which further confirmed the theory he had so -shrewdly formed. - -These facts related to Badger’s wife and her sister, the Tremont Street -fortune-teller, and were imparted to Nick a bit maliciously by a broker -who had suffered in one way or another through Madame Victoria, and who -was informed of the history of the two women. - -Briefly stated, as it was given to Nick, both were born in England, -the daughters of a second-rate actor and manager of various itinerant -amusement enterprises, in none of which he had achieved any great -success. - -The two girls had some little talent in one way or another, however, -and both had spent their earlier years in the show business, filling -such positions as the various enterprises of their father, since dead, -required. - -Now as an alleged gipsy fortune-teller, now as a palmist, at other -times an astrologer, or some like attraction under a different name, -but always as a sideshow to some other amusement, the younger of the -two had acquired that experience which, after the marriage of her -sister and her coming to America, had enabled her to establish in -Boston the business now conducted under the name of Madame Victoria. - -The elder of the two, now Badger’s wife, had sung on the stage, -done turns in the concert-halls, and in earlier years had been an -accomplished equestrienne in the circus-ring, from the first of which -Badger had married her in Manchester, about five years before. - -That both women were little more than adventuresses of a rather -disreputable type, Nick’s informant positively assured him, and this -further confirmed his theory and convinced him that he was on the right -track. - -It was early afternoon when he arrived at police headquarters, in -Pemberton Square, and entered the general office previously described. - -It so happened that Chief Weston was in this office at the time, though -all of the detectives not then assigned to outside work were either out -at lunch or in the officers’ lounging-room. - -It so happened, also, since Satan sometimes serves his own, that the -only other occupant of the general office was the clerk whom Nick had -encountered there several days before—Mr. Sandy Hyde. - -The brick-hued head of the latter was raised from over his books upon -hearing the detective’s name mentioned in greeting, and his catlike -eyes lighted with quickened interest. - -“Ah, good morning, Nick!” was Chief Weston’s greeting. “Anything doing?” - -“I wish to return these reports, chief, which I took from you a few -days ago,” replied Nick, producing them from his pocket. - -“No further use for them?” - -“Not at present.” - -“Very well.” - -“I will retain this photograph, however, which I may use to advantage a -little later.” - -“You’ve not hit upon a clue from that, have you?” - -“Well, I’m not prepared to say,” demurred Nick, a bit evasively. - -“Come inside,” Chief Weston abruptly said, quick to notice Nick’s -hesitation. “We shall not be interrupted in my office. Bear that in -mind, Sandy.” - -“All right, chief.” - -“This way, Nick.” - -Nick entered the enclosure, and passed through the passage leading to -the chief’s, private office. - -He did not so much as glance at the clerk, however, whose head had -again dropped over his books. - -Snap! - -The catch-lock announced that the door of the private office had -securely closed. - -Now Mr. Sandy Hyde dropped his pen, and came down from his stool. - -For a moment he peered sharply through the brass lattice along the top -of the desks, toward the two open doors leading into the adjoining -corridors. - -Next he darted out of the enclosure, and quickly closed both of these -doors. - -No cat’s eyes aglow from a dark corner ever burned more greenishly -bright and intense than those of this watchful miscreant at that moment. - -It was for him a moment of peril, and well he knew it; yet, in the -event of an intruder into the outer office, he relied upon hearing one -of the closed doors opened in time to evade detection. - -With both closed, he next hurried back into the enclosure, from outside -of which the interior of the narrow passage could only partly be seen. - -Into this passage Hyde quickly entered, with the stealthy quietude of -a shadow, and stood listening at the chief’s door, his ear touching -the panel, his eyes still bright with a satanic glow evincing his evil -impulse. - -His several precautions had required but a very few seconds, moreover, -and he lost hardly a word of Nick Carter’s brief interview with Chief -Weston, who was about repeating his question just as the eavesdropper -arrived at the door. - -“You’ve not struck a clue from that photograph, Nick, have you?” - -Nick was never much inclined to reveal his discoveries before they -culminated in some decisive move, and he again evaded the question by -saying: - -“Well, I’m not quite sure about that, Weston.” - -“What do you suspect?” - -“Nothing at all definite as yet,” laughed Nick indifferently. “I wish -to retain the photograph a while longer, however, if you have no -objection.” - -“None whatever, Nick, yet you pique my curiosity.” - -“I will explain later.” - -“Very well.” - -“I presume that Madame Victoria could easily show me the exact spot -where this hold-up occurred,” remarked Nick, who had remained standing -beside the chiefs desk. - -“I imagine so, Nick.” - -“I’m going to have her take me out there.” - -“For what purpose?” - -“I want to see what sort of a place these crooks usually select for -their rascally work.” - -“I should say that you already had seen that,” laughed Weston, who had -been informed of Nick’s encounter with them. - -Nick shrugged his broad shoulders, smiling meaningly, and said: - -“I wish to see how the two localities correspond. As for my lost -property, Weston, I’ll make an even bet that I recover it sooner or -later.” - -The last was said a bit resentfully, and with a significance that -brought a quick change over Weston’s face. - -“You’ve got wise to something, Nick!” he abruptly exclaimed. - -Nick laughed again. - -“What is it?” - -“I’d rather inform you a little later, Weston.” - -“Just as you like, of course, but I’m really curious to know what you -have learned.” - -“I’m not quite sure of it yet, chief, and I’d prefer making sure before -I indulge in any revelations,” said Nick, with a shake of his head. -“It’s not my way, you know, to make disclosures which later may prove -to be groundless.” - -“I’m well aware of that, Nick.” - -“If it will afford you any satisfaction, however, I will make one -definite statement.” - -“What is that?” - -“Merely this, Weston,” Nick forcibly declared. “I will land these -crooks for you, every man and woman of them, or I’ll throw up my -commission.” - -The ear at the panel was strained at that moment, and the glow in the -eyes of the listener became a threatening flame. - -“Well, well, that ought to be good enough for anybody,” cried Weston, -with much satisfaction. “I felt sure that you had run upon something -worth knowing.” - -Nick nodded significantly, yet replied quite indifferently: - -“I think that I have, Weston, and, when I am dead sure of it, I will -tell you of what it consists.” - -“All right, Nick,” was the reply, with a genial laugh. “I said in the -beginning that you should not be interfered with in this case, and that -goes at any stage of it. Run it in your own way, Nick, and you’ll suit -me.” - -“I’m only a bit curious to go out to the scene of this robbery,” Nick -now added, with a glance at the photograph which he was replacing in -his pocket. “If I can catch Madame Victoria at her rooms after I have -lunched, I think I can get her to ride out there with me.” - -“No doubt of it, Nick. She’ll be glad enough to do anything that gives -promise of the recovery of her property.” - -Nick smiled a bit oddly, and prepared to depart. - -“I shall drop in to see her about two o’clock,” said Nick. “I reckon I -can bring her to my way of thinking.” - -“When shall I see you again?” asked Weston, rising. - -“Within a day or two.” - -“I wish you luck meantime.” - -Nick laughed and shook his head, saying with considerable dryness: - -“I depend less upon luck, Weston, than upon labor and head-work. If I -can make nothing out of this case with my brains, I have no faith that -luck will do it for me. As I said before, Weston, I’ll see you within a -day or two.” - -The listening ear had left the panel of the door. - -The catlike tread had pattered quickly through the passage and out of -the enclosure, and again the corridor doors stood open. - -There had been no intruder during the brief interview, and a look of -evil exultation had risen in the eyes of Mr. Sandy Hyde. - -As Amos Badger had declared to his confederates one recent morning, it -was, indeed, dead lucky that they had—this anchor to the windward. - -For it was this miscreant who had warned Badger of Nick Carter’s -arrival in Boston, and of his acceptance of this case. - -It was this miscreant who had informed Badger of Nick’s intended visit -the same morning, and who had made possible the hold-up which to Nick -had appeared so like a coincidence. - -It was this miscreant, too, whose treachery now bid fair to cost Nick -Carter his life, yet whom the latter, with all his keenness, was far -from suspecting. - -For who looks for treachery in high places, or in those from whom only -loyalty is most naturally expected? - -The catlike eyes had lost their greenish glow, and the brick-hued -head was again bowed above the books, when Nick and Chief Weston came -striding through the passage and out of the enclosure. - -Nick did not delay his departure any longer, and without a word to the -clerk, Chief Weston returned to his private office. - -It was then one o’clock. - -Five minutes later the head clerk came in from lunch, and Sandy Hyde -at once laid down his pen and began putting on his street coat. - -The next hour was his own—and he thought he knew how he could best use -it. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - THE INCENTIVE TO TREACHERY. - - -Ten minutes after leaving police headquarters Sandy Hyde might have -been seen slinking across the Tremont Street mall of Boston Common. - -Yet only a close observer would have recognized the treacherous little -rascal. - -He had his coat-collar turned well up about his ears, his soft felt hat -drawn forward over his brow, and with his handkerchief held to his face -his crafty countenance was for the most part concealed. - -Presently he glided across the street, then hurriedly bolted into -the corridor of one of the buildings—that in which the rooms of the -fortune-teller and long-time adventuress were located. - -Quickly mounting the stairs, Hyde unceremoniously entered her rooms. - -He found Vic Clayton, by which name he best knew her, seated alone in -the reception-parlor, the maid employed there having just gone out to -lunch. - -“Why, hello, Sandy!” she cried, starting up from her chair when he -entered. - -When he eagerly advanced to clasp both her hands, moreover, she drew -him into her arms and kissed him, as only lovers kiss. - -“Break away!” he quickly protested, however. - -“Well, well, what’s this?” - -“As much as I like it, Vic, there’s no time for that.” - -The woman’s eyes took on a startled look. - -“No time!” she echoed, sharply regarding him. - -“I should say not. There’s the devil to pay.” - -“What do you mean?” - -“Or worse than the devil—that’s Nick Carter!” - -“What of him?” - -“He’s coming here again.” - -“For what?” - -The last came with vicious asperity from the lips of the surprised -woman. - -The color had left her cheeks. The light of sensuous affection, the -bestowal of which had turned this man into a knave, a traitor to his -trust at police headquarters, and made him her dupe and tool—this light -of passion had suddenly died from her eyes, displaced by the vengeful -fire with which she had last parted from the man he had just mentioned. - -Darting to the door, Vic hurriedly turned the key, then swept around, -as quick and lithe as a panther in her movements, and grasped Hyde by -the shoulder. - -“Not coming here now, not at once, is he?” she demanded, in rapid -whispers. - -“Do you think I’m daffy, to be here, in that case?” growled Sandy. - -“Yet——” - -“No, no; there’s time enough, Vic,” he interrupted. “He’s not coming -till two o’clock.” - -“For what?” - -“To ask you to go with him to the scene of the fake hold-up.” - -“That of the photograph?” gasped Vic, with hands pressed to her breast -and her white face drawn with increasing apprehension. - -“That’s what he said.” - -“Has he detected something queer in that picture?” - -“I reckon he has, Vic.” - -“Do you know what he suspects?” - -“He didn’t say,” replied Hyde. “Weston asked him, but Carter only said -that he’d keep the photograph for a time.” - -“Do you know for what?” - -“I don’t.” - -“Were there any names mentioned?” - -“Only yours.” - -“In the way you stated?” - -“Yes.” - -“Anything more?” - -“One thing—and a mighty significant one!” growled Hyde, with a nod. - -“What was that?” - -“He added that he would land our gang, every man and woman of us, or -throw up his job.” - -“He said that, did he?” - -“That’s what.” - -“The infernal meddler!” - -“He has struck some clue, that’s dead sure!” declared the spy. “It’s a -condition that means we must get him, Vic, or he’ll get us.” - -“Oh, we’ll get him, all right!” Vic Clayton now cried, with a venomous -sneer. “If he’s coming for that, for what you say, you let me alone to -get him!” - -Though her flood of questions had been asked with passionate -impatience, she now appeared more calm, yet not less viciously -determined. - -With a seductive smile, she now said warmly: - -“You’re all right, Sandy. I’ll not forget this little service, and you -shall have your reward when——” - -“I’ll get mine, all right, Vic, if the chief ever gets wise to the game -I’m playing,” interrupted Hyde, with a mingled laugh and grimace. - -“He will never learn of it.” - -“If he does, Vic, I can see myself put through the third degree in a -way that will leave mighty little of me.” - -“Bosh!” - -“I’m taking mighty long chances in doing this for you, and for——” - -“Are you getting no reward for doing it, Sandy?” - -The woman’s arm had stolen around his neck, while her breath fell warm -on his cheek with the interruption. She drew him closer till her lips -met his, then hurriedly released him, saying quickly: - -“Go, now, Sandy, and leave the rest to me.” - -“You can handle the matter?” he lingered to inquire anxiously. - -“You bet I can handle it!” - -“What will you do?” - -“You leave that to me, I say.” - -“You have no time to waste, Vic.” - -“Is time not wasted in talk of this kind?” Vic impatiently rejoined. -“Go at once, I repeat, and leave the rest to me.” - -Hyde started for the door, only to have the woman again dart across his -path and clasp him by the arm. - -“Stop a moment!” she cried, under her breath. - -“Well?” - -The query came with a startled gasp, as Hyde, naturally a nervous and -cowardly cur, instinctively shrank from the expression now risen over -Vic Clayton’s face. - -For there was murder in her dilated eyes, in her deathly white -features, in the vicious firmness of her drawn, gray lips. - -“There is something more!” she hissed, with suppressed ferocity. “Have -you been constantly watchful at headquarters?” - -“Have I? That’s a fat question for you to ask me,” said Hyde. “You -should know that I have.” - -“So I do—so I do, Sandy, dear!” Vic hurriedly exclaimed, in assuasive -tones. “But there is one thing more. Is Nick Carter alone in this case?” - -“Yes.” - -“Are you sure of it—dead sure of it?” demanded Vic, with a voice and -aspect that plainly betrayed the murderous design that inspired this -precautionary question. - -“Certainly I’m sure of it.” - -“It will do us no good to down him, mind you, if others at work with -him are to rise up out of his ashes and confound us with the same -evidence that he may possess.” - -“There are no others,” protested Hyde confidently. “If there were, Vic, -I’d have told you.” - -“Providing you knew it.” - -“Oh, I’d have known it, all right,” declared Sandy. “I’m never out of -the office except to eat and sleep, and I’d have been wise to it by -this time if Carter had brought on any of his assistants from New York.” - -“You have heard none mentioned?” - -“Not one.” - -“This shows me the way, then—the one and only way,” muttered the woman, -staring for a moment at the floor. “If it must be him or us—it shall -not be us!” - -“Carter has been at the chief’s office only twice, both times alone,” -added Hyde assuringly. “You may safely gamble on it, Vic, that he’s -still alone on the case.” - -Again, with her vengeful countenance lighting for a moment, she slipped -her arm about the spy’s neck and kissed him. - -“Go, now, Sandy, and leave the rest to me,” she repeated. “But come out -to Badger’s place after dark to-night.” - -“To-night, Vic?” - -“Yes.” - -“Shall I find you there?” queried Hyde, with wistful gaze. - -“Yes, you’ll find me there—and another with me!” - -“Not Nick Carter?” - -The woman’s brows knit again and her eyes gleamed venomously. - -“Nick Carter—yes!” she rejoined, with suppressed ferocity. “Nick -Carter—or what there is left of him!” - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - THE ROAD TO CANTON. - - -It was precisely two o’clock when Nick Carter arrived at Vic Clayton’s -rooms in Tremont Street. - -Naturally, Nick did not so much as dream that she had been informed of -his designs against her. That treachery existed at police headquarters -was farthest from his thoughts. - -In asking Vic Clayton to take him to the place where she and Claudia -Badger claimed to have been robbed, Nick had several motives. - -To begin with, he wished to see if she would willingly consent to do so. - -Nick reasoned that, in case she readily consented, it would indicate -a bare possibility that he in some way had misinterpreted the curious -features that he had detected in the photograph, and that the picture -might not be as incriminating in its significance as he had inferred. - -While even this remote doubt existed, Nick felt that he could not -wisely make any very aggressive move in the case, and he took this -method to remove the doubt. - -As a matter of fact, he hardly believed that Vic would consent to -comply with this request, but would evade it with some plausible excuse. - -Providing that she complied and went with him, however, Nick believed -that he could so corner her with questions, while alone with her in -a carriage, that he could finally force from her a confession of the -whole business. - -In any event, moreover, he felt sure that he could so artfully take -these steps that he would in no way sacrifice any of his present -advantages. - -He found Vic Clayton alone in the handsomely furnished waiting-room, -engaged in writing at an open desk in one corner. - -She had rearranged her hair and rouged her cheeks since Sandy Hyde’s -departure, and she looked, as a matter of fact as well as of design, -remarkably handsome and attractive. - -“Dear me!” she exclaimed, quickly dropping her pen upon seeing Nick -enter. “Is it you, Detective Carter?” - -“None other,” bowed Nick, smiling. - -“I’m delighted!” cried Vic, rising to offer her hand. “I do -hope you bring some encouraging news, or possibly my lost gems -themselves—despite that I predicted only failure for you.” - -The last was added with a fascinating laugh, in which Nick was willing -enough to join, though he found nothing inviting in her seductive eyes -and alluring airs. - -“Well, hardly anything as favorable as that, Madame Victoria,” he began. - -“No, no, pardon me!” she interrupted, playfully tapping him on the arm. -“You surely do not call again to consult me professionally?” - -“No, I do not.” - -“Then drop the Madame Victoria, my dear Mr. Carter, which is much too -strained for friendly intercourse,” she softly cried, with an arch -glance at him. “Let me be to you plain Miss Clayton—or even plain -Victoria, so be it that suits you even better.” - -Nick experienced a vague feeling of distrust stealing through him -as he looked and listened, but in his ignorance of what herein has -been disclosed, he could find no definite grounds for the feeling. -Yet, instinctively, as one sometimes dreads dangers still remote and -visionary, he did not fancy this woman’s bantering remarks nor her -playful attempts to captivate him. - -Nick laughed again, nevertheless, and agreeably rejoined: - -“As I told you the other day, Miss Clayton, it matters little to me -what I call you, providing you consent to comply with my wishes.” - -“Your wishes?” - -“Yes.” - -“Dear me! I really think I should enjoy making them my own, Detective -Carter,” murmured Vic, with a pretty cant of her head and a shrug of -her shoulders. - -“I trust so.” - -“Have a chair.” - -“Thanks.” - -“Now what do you want of me this time, Detective Carter?” - -She had taken a seat near-by, still smiling archly at him, and Nick -more gravely answered: - -“I want you to do me a little service.” - -“You have only to name it.” - -“I find you willing,” smiled Nick, a bit puzzled. - -“The pleasure is all mine,” laughed Vic. “Yet I’m really curious to -know what you want of me.” - -“I’ll tell you. On what road was it, Miss Clayton, that you and Mrs. -Badger were held up by these rascally highwaymen?” - -“The road to Canton.” - -“Are you familiar with it?” - -“I’m familiar with that part of it,” cried Vic, with a very significant -smile and grimace. “Dear me! I shall never forget it!” - -“Quite vividly impressed upon your memory, eh?” - -“Decidedly so, Detective Carter?” - -“I suppose you could locate the precise spot, if there was any -occasion?” - -“Indeed, I could. I know exactly where it is.” - -“Ah, that is very fortunate,” said Nick agreeably. “I wish to go out -there and view the spot.” - -“For what?” - -“I think I may discover some clue or sign, Miss Clayton, either in -the general appearance of the immediate scene or the surrounding -country, which might put me on the track of the thieves,” Nick artfully -rejoined, now feeling that even this lame explanation could be made to -serve his purpose. “Of course,” he smilingly added, “we detectives see -much more in such cases than the untrained eyes of a layman.” - -“Naturally.” - -“You see the point, do you not?” - -“Oh, yes,” nodded Vic, with a demure stare at him. - -“What do you think of it?” - -“I’ll admit there might be something in it.” - -“I thought you would,” Nick heartily replied. “Now the question is, to -get back to the service I require of you. Will you go out there with me -and show me the spot?” - -Vic burst out laughing, as if much amused. - -“Is that all you want of me?” she cried. - -“That is all just now,” said Nick, a bit dryly. - -“Why, of course, Detective Carter, I’ll go with you,” exclaimed Vic, as -if a refusal was the last thing to have been expected, or any occasion -for one. “How shall we go? It’s much too far to walk.” - -“Oh, I should not think of asking you to walk,” laughed Nick, somehow -feeling again that he was on deucedly thin ice, for which he could not -account. - -“I hope not, my dear Mr. Carter.” - -“I will provide a carriage.” - -“What time do you wish to go?” - -“The sooner the better, Miss Clayton. At once will suit me best of all.” - -Now Vic bridled a little, never other than crafty, and her smiling face -took on a look of regret. - -“Dear me! That makes it a little bad,” she said, as if weighing the -situation. “I already had planned to go to——Stay! here is a note to -verify my making any excuse, Detective Carter, after offering so -volubly to serve you.” - -She reached over to the desk while speaking, taking from it the note -she had been writing, which she now handed to Nick to be read. - -It was merely a note to her maid, informing her that she would be -absent for a few hours, and that the girl might close the rooms and -take an outing until the morrow. - -“I had already planned to go riding, and was about to leave that note -for Delia, my maid,” she explained, while Nick glanced at the craftily -prepared missive. - -“Well, that does interfere, Miss Clayton, as you say,” he replied, -eying her a bit sharply, yet failing to detect any sign of duplicity, -so artful was the jade. “If you cannot go with me to-day, however, -possibly to-morrow you——” - -“Stop a moment!” exclaimed Vic, as if struck with a second thought. “I -was going only with Amos and his wife, merely for a run of an hour or -two, and——Hark! that should be they!” - -The toot of an automobile-horn had sounded from the street below, and -Vic sprang up while speaking, and ran to look from the window. - -“Yes, they are at the curb,” she added, with manifest satisfaction. -“Amos is coming up here. Now, if he has no definite plans, Mr. Carter, -I see no reason why we cannot prevail upon you to——” - -She was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Amos Badger. - -He bolted into the room like a man in a hurry, his face flushed, his -eyes bright, his voice resonant when impulsively inquiring: - -“All ready, Vic?” - -Then he checked himself and exclaimed quickly, as if unexpectedly -beholding Nick in the room: - -“Why, hello, Carter! You here? Glad to see you again.” - -“The pleasure is mutual, Mr. Badger,” replied Nick, rising to accept -the other’s proffered hand. - -“Thanks,” nodded Badger. “Have you got a line on those infernal crooks -yet?” - -“No, not as yet.” - -“Sorry to hear it.” - -“But I’m hoping to do so.” - -“I join you in the hope, Carter,” declared Badger; then he laughingly -added: “You’ll observe that I’m out of those red flannel bandages.” - -“Yes, so I see.” - -“A nasty thing, a cold in the early summer.” - -“So it is,” assented Nick. “I congratulate you upon being rid of it.” - -He had eyed the man intently while they were speaking, and he saw what -he had not seen, heard what he had not heard, when they met at his -place in Brookline; for Badger now knew that he was suspected; knew -what desperate work must be done that afternoon, and he had dropped -those little artifices with which he had aimed to blind Nick during -their previous meeting. - -In his clear and cutting voice, in every subtle, sinister inflection, -in the glowing glint of his dark eyes, in the poise of his supple, -muscular figure—in one and all of these Nick now saw or heard again the -man of the hold-up—as plainly as when he saw the knave standing with -leveled weapons in that sunlit suburban road. - -Yet the face of the detective did not change by so much as a shadow, -and Vic Clayton now interposed, with a fine display of solicitude: - -“We can do Mr. Carter a service, Amos, if you have no plans for the -afternoon.” - -“How?” demanded Badger, turning quickly to her. - -“He wishes to visit the place where Claudia and I were held up and -robbed, and he came here to ask me to go with him. Now, if you have no -particular trip you wish to make to-day——” - -“None whatever!” cried Badger, quickly interrupting. “We are out for an -airing only, and I’d as soon go that way as any. The road to Canton—can -you locate the precise place, Vic?” - -“Surely.” - -“Then we’ll take him out there at once, if he wishes,” said Badger, -quickly reverting to Nick. “What do you say, Carter? There’s a seat in -my auto, if you care to go.” - -Nick had foreseen what was coming, and had decided what course to take. - -“Yes, I’ll go,” he said briefly. - -“Good enough!” cried Badger. “Get into your wraps, Vic, and we’ll start -at once.” - -Nick had seen, in fact, no wise alternative to accepting the offer. To -have declined it, after the request he had made Vic Clayton, might have -aroused suspicions which he had no reason to believe already existed. -He would take no chance of that before positive evidence against these -knaves had been secured. - -That he had been betrayed from police headquarters, that his suspicions -and designs were already partly known, that he was now up against a -plot hurriedly arranged by telephone, that he was the victim of an -admirably played game, that his life itself was in jeopardy from that -moment—only a clairvoyant could have seen all this. - -Nick Carter was not a clairvoyant, however, nor had he any reasonable -cause for suspecting the real gravity of his situation. - -Yet with caution that was habitual to him when in the company of -persons known to be crooks, Nick became more wary from the moment he -took his seat in Badger’s automobile. - -It was a Packard four-cylinder motor-car, and Badger was running the -machine. With Nick beside him on the front seat, and his wife and Vic -Clayton behind, the party of four were soon speeding through Brookline -toward the woodland roads of the famous Blue Hills. - -Though the animated conversation that was sustained meantime is not -material here, it soon led Nick to form, in conjunction with the -polite attentions bestowed upon him, a new theory in explanation of the -seemingly natural situation. - -“These crafty rascals are merely aiming to make a favorable impression -upon me with their courtesies,” he said to himself, during a lull in -the conversation. - -“They are doing so in the hope of averting suspicion, with a view to -convincing me that they are as honest and fashionable as they appear. -They look and seem all right. I’ll give them credit for that, and if I -knew less about them, I’m blessed if they wouldn’t fool me with their -pretensions.” - -This soliloquy ran through Nick’s mind more than an hour after they had -started, but it was given the lie most violently less than five minutes -later. - -The car was then speeding along a woodland road in the Blue Hills, and -Badger was bent forward over his steering-wheel, apparently intent upon -the road ahead. - -As far as the eye could reach, the road was deserted. One hundred yards -ahead it divided, a branch road turning off to the left. - -The junction of the two was in the very midst of a belt of woods, with -no sign of a house or clearing in sight. - -After one swift, backward glance over her shoulder, Vic Clayton -suddenly leaned forward and cried, above the noise of the machine: - -“You must take that road to the east, Amos. The other leads to——” - -“No, no, you’re wrong about that,” Badger quickly called back over his -shoulder. - -“No, I’m not!” - -“The west road leads to Canton.” - -“You’re mistaken, Amos,” insisted Vic, in apparent excitement, as the -car rapidly approached the junction. “We must take the east road. -Mustn’t we, Claudia?” - -Badger slowed down, as if in some uncertainty, then brought the car to -a stop just at the junction. - -“Well, I am not really sure,” cried his wife, doubtfully looking -about—yet only to make sure that no other car was in sight in any -direction. “It’s all right, Amos——” - -Badger was already upon his feet, interrupting her. - -“Nonsense!” he exclaimed, while Nick glanced up with a feeling of -distrust. “If we take that road, Vic, it will——Oh, I beg your pardon, -Mr. Carter!” - -Apparently by accident, while gesticulating about the road, he had -knocked Nick’s derby hat from his head. - -Then, with a lightning like move, made as if to catch the hat before -it could fall to the ground, he threw himself across the detective’s -body, confining his arms to his sides. - -At that moment Vic Clayton had risen up in the car, standing directly -behind Nick. - -“Now!” yelled Badger, with terrible ferocity. - -There was no need for the command. - -Already the uplifted hand of the fortune-teller was descending; a hand -fiercely gripping a clubbed revolver, and thrice the butt of the heavy -weapon fell squarely upon Nick Carter’s unprotected head. - -The tragic episode had been enacted in the fraction of a second, before -Nick could realize the design, much less prevent it, and a single blow -delivered as the three had been would well-nigh have felled an ox. - -Without so much as a groan, with every muscle suddenly relaxing, Nick -dropped inert and senseless upon the floor of the car, his hair and -brow turned crimson by a swift gush of blood. - -In an instant Badger was out upon the ground. - -“Take my seat, Claudia,” he hurriedly cried to his wife. “Lend me a -hand here, Vic, and we’ll throw him in behind. I’ll bind him hand and -foot after we start again. There, there, that will do! Now around with -the car, Claudia, and drive for home as if the devil followed us!” - -The transfer had been made in half a minute. - -In another half the car was speeding back over the woodland road at -thirty miles an hour—heading for Badger’s place near Brookline. - -Senseless, between the seats, out of view of any persons whom the -speeding car might pass along the road, lay the man for whom failure -only had been predicted by the desperate woman who had struck him down. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - CLOSE QUARTERS. - - -“It’s not for me to say what you’ll do or not do, since you now appear -to hold the ribbons. It’s up to you, Badger, and not for me to say.” - -The above came from Nick Carter several hours after the tragic episode -enacted in the woodland road. - -Bound hand and foot, with his head rudely bandaged, Nick sat propped -against one of four stone walls, evidently those of a small cellar, or -possibly a wine-vault, with but one heavy door through which the place -was accessible. - -Only the bare earth was under him, damp and cold, while a small pool -of stagnant water in one corner of the place evinced the depressed -location of the ground. - -Two empty beer-kegs stood on end near-by. - -On one of them a lantern was burning, the rays from which shed only a -dismal light over the more dismal scene. - -On the other keg sat Amos Badger, with his hands on his knees, his -lowering gaze fixed upon the helpless detective, and his dark features -wearing a look of mingled satisfaction and sinister scorn. - -It was then well into the evening, and Nick Carter had with some -difficulty been doctored back to consciousness, and to a keen -realization of his aching head and a most unenviable situation. - -The restoration had been accomplished by Conley, who was somewhat of a -veterinary physician, and it was no sooner done than Badger hastened to -interview his captive, an interview only just begun when Nick made the -remark which opens this chapter. - -“Up to me, is it?” returned Badger, with stern complacency. “Up to me -to say what shall be done with you?” - -“I cannot see that anything I say would be of weight,” said Nick coolly. - -“That’s right—it wouldn’t!” - -“Not at present.” - -“No, nor later!” sneered Badger sharply. “You’ve had your last say, -Carter, now that we have you in our clutches.” - -“A very rascally game you played to accomplish it!” - -“When you go hunting rascals, Carter, you must expect to be turned down -by their own methods, if at all.” - -“That’s right, too, and I was imprudent in not being ready for you.” - -“You were up against more craft and cunning than you bargained for.” - -“I don’t need to be informed of it,” retorted Nick, now wondering when, -how, and for what reason they had planned the trick. - -For he knew the assault must have been planned previous to his talk -with Vic Clayton that afternoon, or it could not have been so quickly -executed, nor the trap itself so definitely arranged. - -“One fact is now very obvious, however,” he presently added, hoping to -lead Badger into some inadvertent disclosure. - -“What fact?” growled Badger, frowning at him. - -“Some person informed you of the request I designed to make the Clayton -woman.” - -“Think so?” - -“Or informed her.” - -“You’re getting wise fast.” - -“Otherwise, Badger, you couldn’t have planned the job among you,” -continued Nick. - -“Perhaps not.” - -“I can come pretty near guessing who it was, too, since Chief Weston is -the only man I informed of my intention.” - -“Most likely he sent a messenger out here and warned us,” sneered -Badger, with a grin. - -“Not he,” retorted Nick. “But there’s a red-headed sketch and outline -of a man in his office, Badger, whom I’ll come pretty near rounding up -along with the rest of you, when I get out of this hole.” - -“There will be no immediate rounding up, Carter, since it depends upon -you alone,” replied Badger, with a searching stare at Nick’s face. - -“Ah, then you were also told that I’m alone on the case,” said Nick, -willing enough to have him think so. - -“Aren’t you alone on it?” - -“If I’m not, Badger, you’ll hear from others soon enough.” - -“There are no others.” - -“All right.” - -“And you are now helpless.” - -“Not quite.” - -“As good as down and out.” - -“But I’m still in the ring,” insisted Nick. - -“You’re in hands from which you’ll never escape alive, I give you my -word on that,” cried Badger, with menacing austerity. - -“Your word, Badger, is a poor voucher.” - -“You now know far too much about us for us to let you escape and -disclose it,” added the latter decisively. “I now want to know of just -what your knowledge consists, and what action you have taken against -us.” - -Nick laughed a bit derisively. - -“I guess, Badger, you’ll have to take it out in wanting,” said he. - -“You’ll not inform me?” - -“Not by a long chalk.” - -“I shall find a way to compel you.” - -“Possibly,” said Nick. “But you’ll have a long hunt before you find the -way.” - -“You’ll let me alone to find that,” cried Badger, with confident -asperity. “I can devise tortures so acute that even you will reveal -what you have done toward——” - -His rascally threat was interrupted at that point by the sound of -approaching steps from beyond the partly closed door. In a moment -it was thrown open, and Jerry Conley, followed by Vic Clayton and -Badger’s wife, entered the dismal place. - -That the two women were as low-bred and disreputable as had been -reported to Nick appeared in their utter disregard of his wretched -condition, and the malicious satisfaction with which they stared at -him, as they might have stared at a caged beast which they had had -occasion to fear. - -“You’ve got him back to earth, have you?” asked Claudia, with a glance -at Badger’s grim face. “Jerry just came and told us, so we thought we’d -have a look at him.” - -Vic Clayton, however, came and bent above Nick, peering down at his -stern features, now white from loss of blood; while her own evil eyes, -with the mocking smile that curled her cruel lips, plainly evinced her -despicable and malignant nature. - -“Well, you’ve got as many lives as a cat, haven’t you?” she demanded, -in taunting tones. - -Nick returned her evil stare with hardly a change of countenance, yet -there was in his lifted eyes an ominous, fiery gleam, from which those -who knew him best had learned to shrink with fear. - -“I shall live long enough to repay with interest the blows you dealt -me, and to land you where you belong?” he sternly rejoined. - -“You will, eh?” sneered Vic, with a derisive laugh. - -“Without the slightest doubt.” - -“Evidently you’ve forgotten what I predicted for you.” - -“The predictions of a charlatan are seldom fulfilled.” - -“Charlatan?” - -“And crook,” added Nick. - -“Don’t be saucy, Mr. Carter, not to a lady,” said the frowning jade. -“You’ll meet with just what I predicted for you—failure.” - -“I’ll risk that.” - -“And you’re in a very fair way to it,” added Vic, with a sinister nod, -as she terminated her malicious scrutiny and turned to Amos Badger. - -The latter had drawn aside with his wife and Conley, and the three -stood talking in subdued tones, apparently with no interest in the -recent amusement of their confederate. - -“Well, what do you say?” demanded Vic, as she approached them. “We’ve -got him, all right. Now, what’s to be done with him?” - -“That’s what we are discussing,” growled Conley, who had much of the -ruffian in him. “I say ’twas a mistake not to have let him croak, if -he’d have been accommodating enough to do so.” - -“Bah!” muttered Claudia. “Men with as hard heads as his don’t die so -easily.” - -“To my way of thinking,” added Conley, “it’s safest for us to put out -his light at once, and be done with it.” - -Badger, however, quickly shook his head. - -“Not yet,” said he grimly. “Not before to-morrow.” - -“But why the delay?” protested Conley. “I cannot see anything in that.” - -“Then I’ll tell you why.” - -“Well, out with it.” - -Nick pricked up his ears, yet he could catch only a word now and then -louder than others. - -“To begin with,” argued Badger, “I’m not going to run my neck into a -noose before I know just how we stand. We have no blood on our hands -as yet, and before I take chances of that kind, Conley, I’m going to -be dead sure that Carter has not reported his suspicions to Weston. -What good will it do to put him out of the way, only to find that we -have half a score of Boston detectives on our heels, to whom Carter’s -discoveries have been imparted.” - -“But Sandy declares that Weston knows nothing about that,” whispered -Vic. - -“I hope he doesn’t, but I’m going to be sure of it before I wipe out -Nick Carter,” said Badger. - -“How can you make sure?” growled Conley. - -“We shall know by to-morrow at this time.” - -“How so?” - -“Because we shall have others after us, Jerry, just as soon as the -discovery is made that Carter is missing,” reasoned Badger. “If none -show up, we may then safely assume that Sandy Hyde is right, and that -Carter has disclosed nothing definite. We shall then know that he’s the -only one we need fear, and it will then be time enough to put him down -and out.” - -“Well, there’s something in that,” Conley now muttered. - -“We know he cannot escape.” - -“H’m! I should say not.” - -“So there’s no need of haste, since we have him in our clutches,” added -Badger. “Besides, there is another thing to be considered.” - -“What’s that?” - -“Carter may have some of his New York assistants here, for all we -positively know to the contrary.” - -“Sandy says not,” interposed Vic. - -“He may not be absolutely sure,” Badger argued. “And until we are -dead certain of it, which should be by to-morrow at this time, I am -resolved to take no chance of some day being tried for murder.” - -“That does have an ugly sound,” said Vic, with a dismal grimace. - -“And there’s an ugly penalty,” added her sister. - -“So that settles it, Jerry,” said Badger. “We’ll keep Carter right here -till we know just what we’re up against.” - -“Well, that’s good enough for me if ’tis for you,” said Conley -indifferently. - -“Are you sure his bonds are secure?” - -“If he loosens any of those knots, Amos, I’ll eat the ropes,” was the -confident rejoinder. - -“To-morrow we’ll take steps to make him open his mouth, and tell all he -knows.” - -“What steps?” - -“I’ll find a way, let me alone for that.” - -“Meantime——” began Vic. - -“No more here,” interposed Badger. “It’s too infernally damp and cold. -Go back to the house, you two women, and I’ll presently join you there. -I’ll first make sure that things here are all safe.” - -“All right, Amos.” - -The two women withdrew from the vault, Nick following them with his -gaze. - -The two men remained, and both now proceeded to make doubly sure that -the ropes binding Nick’s arms and limbs were securely knotted. - -Not a word was spoken. - -The work required less than a minute, and Badger then took up the -lantern and signed for Conley to go out ahead. - -At the door of the vault, however, Badger turned back for a moment, to -say, with vicious assurance: - -“If it is to be one of us who must go down and out, Carter, it will be -you! Take my word for that!” - -For a moment Nick gazed sternly at him across the dismal place, then -coldly retorted: - -“Since I have only your word for it, Badger, I feel perfectly safe!” - -Badger vented a half-smothered growl, then closed the heavy door with a -resounding bang. - -Nick heard the shooting of bolts and the sound of a bar dropped into -place. - -Then all was silence for a time—silence and darkness! - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - SHADOWS AND SHADOWED. - - -“Thundering guns!” muttered Patsy. “He’d be an ugly cur to meet in the -dark.” - -Chick Carter gazed in the direction indicated. - -The two detectives were comfortably seated on a log in the midst of a -cluster of shrubbery. - -The shrubbery formed a part of the scrub and bushes skirting the -woodland back of the extensive Badger estate. - -Nearly a hundred yards away was the stable, a side view, with the long -carriage-house adjoining, as previously described. - -Fifty yards beyond was the Badger dwelling, rear elevation, with the -back door and windows in plain sight, as well as part of one of the -side verandas. - -The intervening ground was clear of trees, and nothing obstructed the -view of the two watching detectives. - -They were executing Nick’s command given them that morning, that of -learning what they could about the Badger place without being seen. - -They had already measured it from in front, and had arrived at their -present vantage-point about half an hour before, bent upon watching -till they were reasonably assured as to the number of servants in the -house and stable. - -Matters always moved lively with the Carters after a trail was once -fairly struck, and in this case they were no exception. - -That which had occasioned Patsy’s muttered exclamation was now observed -by Chick, who parted the shrubbery concealing them to view the object a -little better. - -It was a huge Cuban bloodhound, a wicked-looking beast. The animal had -evidently just come out of the stable, the front of which was only -partly visible to the detectives, and he was now trotting across the -lawn toward the rear door of the house. - -“I believe you are right,” rejoined Chick. “He looks as if he might -bolt a man with a single mouthful.” - -“Dead easy,” nodded Patsy. - -“If we have work to do here after dark,” said Chick, “we’d best keep -that fellow in mind.” - -“Rather.” - -“He’d put up an uglier fight than the entire bunch we’ve seen so far.” - -“That’s right, Chick.” - -“We’ve seen only four as yet.” - -“Badger and his wife, whom we saw from the front,” counted Patsy. “The -middle-aged woman at work in the kitchen yonder, and the covey we’ve -seen about the stable. That makes four, Chick; sure as you’re a foot -high.” - -“I begin to think there are no others.” - -“Four are not many to be carrying on the game Nick suspects,” suggested -Patsy, a bit doubtfully. - -“There is still the Clayton woman,” replied Chick; “and she and -Badger’s wife may be as bold and capable as men would be.” - -“Very likely.” - -“There are enough of them to have played this hold-up game -successfully, that’s plain enough; and the smaller the number, Patsy, -the less liability of betrayal.” - -“That’s true, Chick.” - -“I think that the paucity of servants here is a point in our favor.” - -“A point that Nick is right?” - -“Exactly.” - -“Perhaps so.” - -“I doubt if there are others,” repeated Chick, “or if we can remain -here much longer to advantage. We are to rejoin Nick at four o’clock, -you remember.” - -“What time is it now?” - -“Half-past one,” replied Chick, consulting his watch. - -It was at that moment that Vic Clayton was receiving her very important -communication from the spy from police headquarters, half an hour -before the arrival of Nick. - -At the same moment, while Chick and Patsy were crouched, gazing toward -the house, Conley came out of the rear door and sauntered toward the -stable, lighting his pipe while he walked. - -“There’s that stable covey again,” murmured Patsy. “I don’t half-fancy -his looks.” - -“Evidently he is just out from dinner.” - -“Sure thing! See, the woman is now feeding the dog at the back steps. -That’s what the ugly cur trotted over there for.” - -“He knows when meal-time comes,” laughed Chick. - -“Mebbe his meal-ticket is only good at this hour,” grinned Patsy. “I -wonder if that covey is the only man in the stable. If he is, Chick, he -must have a good bit of work, or else Nick is away off on some points.” - -“Why so?” - -“Nick thinks they have three or four horses out here.” - -“We know of one, Patsy.” - -“And he thinks these hold-up crooks have several automobiles.” - -“They don’t require much labor, particularly when only seldom used.” - -“Well, they haven’t the autos in that stable, nor in the -carriage-house,” declared Patsy. “That’s a cinch, Chick, for we’ve had -a look into both.” - -“True.” - -“And there’s only one horse in the stable.” - -“They may have some secret place of concealment for the whole -business,” said Chick. - -“Perhaps so, yet——” - -“Stop a bit!” Chick suddenly interrupted, rising to peer through the -shrubbery. “What’s the meaning of this?” - -“Gee!” muttered Patsy, also starting to his feet. “Something’s up!” - -Though they had no way of learning the occasion for the excitement at -this time, both being out of hearing and unable to approach without -being detected, it was at just this time that Badger received from Vic -Clayton a telephone communication concerning Nick Carter’s designs, and -which had been quickly followed by the laying of the plot that later -resulted in Nick’s downfall. - -Badger had come plunging out of the back door of the house, without -coat or hat, throwing away his cigar as he ran across the lawn, all -the while shouting lustily to Conley. - -It was his sudden appearance and obvious excitement that had so -startled both Chick and Patsy. - -Conley turned back upon hearing the shouts, and the two crooks met -about twenty feet in front of the stable, within plain view of the -detectives. - -There Badger talked rapidly for several moments, with occasional fierce -gestures in the direction of the city, and all the while both men -exhibited in their faces and movements a consternation and excitement -not easily to be accounted for by one out of hearing. - -“Gee! I’d give something to know what they are saying,” muttered Patsy, -staring with distended eyes. - -“There is something in the wind,” nodded Chick. - -At the end of about a minute, Badger turned and rushed back to the -house, entering it at the top of his speed. - -Conley, meantime, bolted out of sight toward the stable door, yet not -into it, which was out of view of the detectives. - -“Where the dickens did he go?” said Chick curiously. - -“It looked as if he went into the stable,” said Patsy. - -“I’m not so sure of that.” - -“No?” - -“I thought he turned to one side just before he approached the door.” - -“He may have run around the farthest corner,” suggested Patsy. “We -might change our positions, Chick, so as to see that door.” - -“Wait a bit,” replied Chick. “There’s a big hurry here over something, -and we shall see all there is to be seen in short order.” - -“I guess that’s right.” - -“Badger pointed toward town several times,” added Chick, with grave -countenance. “I’d wager a little that Nick is in some way back of this, -if not involved in some bother.” - -“You don’t imagine——” - -“Easy! Here comes Badger again.” - -Once more the latter had bolted out of the house, and this time he was -followed by his wife. - -Now both had on their outside garments, and evidently were prepared for -a ride. - -At the same moment an automobile, with a furious rumble and whir, came -into view in front of the stable, and sped across the lawn to meet the -couple. - -It was driven by Conley, who tumbled out of it the instant it stopped, -while Badger and his wife clambered in almost as quickly. - -In another moment, with Badger running it, the car was speeding down -the long gravel driveway toward Laurel Road. - -The departure was made so excitedly and hurriedly that Patsy, who had -been holding his breath all the while, now exhaled it with a sharp gasp. - -“Whew; that beats the record,” he exclaimed. - -“What puzzles me,” replied Chick perplexedly, “is where that auto came -from.” - -“Gee! that’s just what I was thinking.” - -“It did not come out of the stable, I’ll swear to that.” - -“It looked to me as if it came around the farther corner.” - -“It was a Packard,” said Chick. “I know the machine.” - -“Perhaps——” - -“Break off and follow me,” now interrupted Chick, who had been watching -Conley walk leisurely back toward the stable. - -“Where now?” asked Patsy, as they drew back through the woods. - -“Back to town,” said Chick decidedly. “There’s nothing more for us here -at present.” - -“It’s a good bet that Badger has headed for town, since he pointed that -way so often.” - -“That’s just my idea, Patsy.” - -“What do you think about it?” - -“I think that something has happened to alarm these rascals,” replied -Chick. - -“And that nobody but Nick could have brought that about?” - -“Exactly.” - -“In that case, Chick, he may have made some move since we left him.” - -“Sure.” - -“And possibly these guys have got wise to it.” - -“That appears to be about the size of it,” nodded Chick. “Furthermore, -it looks as if Badger, in making this lightning trip, had got something -up his sleeve for Nick.” - -“A counter-move?” - -“Precisely.” - -“What shall we do about it?” - -“We’ll first make sure about Nick,” replied Chick. “He was to rejoin us -at four o’clock. If he doesn’t show up at that hour, or a little later, -we must get a move on.” - -“To trace him?” - -“Sure.” - -“And if we fail to strike his trail?” - -“Back out here we’ll come, Patsy, dog or no dog, to learn what this -sudden journey really meant,” declared Chick, with grave determination. - -He had reasoned shrewdly in that he had attributed Badger’s excited -departure to some unexpected cause for alarm, and also that Nick was -the person most likely to have occasioned it. - -In the light of these deductions, moreover, Badger’s immediate and -decisive action plainly indicated that he had some definite project in -view, presumably one to avert the impending danger. - -The conclusions alone were sufficient to point to some peril -threatening Nick, and his chief assistant was quick to arrive at them, -and act accordingly. - -As a matter of fact, however, the celerity and astuteness with which -the Carters invariably cooperated in their work went far toward -insuring their success. - -Chick’s talk with Patsy had occurred while they picked their way -through the belt of woods, from which they presently emerged, then -hastened to the nearest trolley line and back to the city. - -It was nearly three o’clock when they arrived at the Adams House, and -went to Nick’s room. - -There was no sign of Nick, however. - -The magnifying-glass with which he had examined the incriminating -photograph was still lying on the table where he had left it. But there -was neither note nor token to show that he had been there since the -three departed in company that morning. - -“He has not returned since he left with us, Patsy,” said Chick, after -looking about. “We’ll wait till the appointed hour.” - -“Four o’clock?” - -“Or a little later.” - -“He may show up by that time.” - -“I haven’t much hope of it,” replied Chick, a bit anxiously. “I’ve got -it on me good and hard, a genuine hunch, Patsy, that something has gone -wrong with him.” - -“You’re most generally right, Chick, when you feel like that.” - -Chick made no reply, but began pacing the floor. - -An hour passed, and brought no sign of Nick. - -At half-past four Chick could restrain his impatience no longer. - -“Come on!” he abruptly exclaimed, catching up his hat. “We’ll get a -move on.” - -Patsy started up from the couch, on which he was having a pull at his -pipe. - -“I’m with you!” he cried, with alacrity. “Going to try to trace him?” - -“Yes.” - -“Where first, Chick? To State Street?” - -“It’s too late to go there,” replied Chick, as they left the room and -hastened toward the elevator. - -“Yet we might strike his trail there.” - -“I can do so more quickly, I think.” - -“Where?” - -“At police headquarters—Chief Weston’s office, in Pemberton Square.” - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - ON NICK’S TRAIL. - - -It was five o’clock when Chick and Patsy entered Pemberton Square. - -It was about half an hour before that when Nick Carter was lodged in -his place of confinement. - -“You wait here, Patsy,” said Chick, at the corner on which Nick engaged -Grady’s runabout a few mornings before. “There is no need of both of us -going into the chief’s office. I’ll return inside of five minutes.” - -“Go ahead.” - -Chick hastened down the basement stairs and into the chief’s -office—only to encounter Sandy Hyde just entering from the opposite -corridor. - -“Where’s the chief?” Chick cried bruskly. - -Hyde didn’t know Chick from a side of sole leather, but, knowing at -least that he was not Nick Carter, he answered quite promptly: - -“The chief is in his office.” - -“I must see him.” - -“What name?” - -“Chick Carter. Come, come, I’m in a rush!” - -Hyde’s catlike eyes at once began to dilate upon hearing the name, -taking on their greenish glow of internal excitement. - -He now realized that he had given Vic Clayton a wrong tip, that one -of Nick’s assistants was in Boston and on the case with him, and the -servile little rascal at once began to figure how he could square -himself and discover Chick’s mission. - -He did not dare hazard playing the eavesdropper again, and also feared -that he might not overhear all that was said by so doing, and he at -once adopted the first resort that appealed to him. - -He hastened through the enclosure, and into Weston’s private office, -saying quickly: - -“There’s a man out here to see you, chief.” - -“What man?” - -“I didn’t catch his name, sir. But he’s in an awful rush, and I reckon -something has happened.” - -Just as Hyde had expected, Chief Weston started up from his chair and -strode into the general office. - -Hyde was cunning enough to foresee that, if Chick was in such great -haste, their conversation would probably be carried on in the outer -office. - -So it was, moreover, despite that Weston at once cried, as he shook his -visitor by the hand: - -“Why, hello, Chick Carter! How are you? Come inside.” - -“No, no, chief,” Chick quickly declined. “I’m going to stay but a -moment. Has Nick been here to-day?” - -“Yes—about one o’clock.” - -“Do you know where he has gone?” - -“I know where he said he was going.” - -“Where was that?” - -“To Madame Victoria’s rooms, in Tremont Street,” replied Weston. - -“Do you know for what?” inquired Chick, beginning to see light ahead. - -Chief Weston briefly told him of what Nick’s mission at Vic Clayton’s -rooms consisted, as stated by Nick, and then he inquired curiously: - -“Why are you asking about him, Chick? Is there anything wrong?” - -Having learned all that he could then and there, however, Chick decided -to impart nothing at this time. - -“No, nothing wrong, chief, I think,” he quickly rejoined, turning to -go. “I am merely in a hurry to locate him, that’s all. He may have -returned to the hotel by this time.” - -“I think likely you’ll find him there,” nodded Weston, a bit suspicious -of Chick’s evasion. - -Chick did not wait longer, but bolted out as he had bolted in. - -Weston walked toward his private office. - -Hyde’s greenish eyes, now glowing more brightly than ever, drifted -toward the telephone-closet. - -Before he could make a move to convey the desired warning to Badger, -however, Chief Weston turned back and said curtly: - -“You come in here with me, Sandy. I want you to help me on my quarterly -report for an hour or so. Look lively, too, or you’ll be tied up here -till after six o’clock.” - -The sallow features of the treacherous miscreant quivered and twitched -with disappointment for a moment, but immediate obedience was -imperative—and the telephone had to wait! - -Chick Carter rejoined Patsy on the corner. - -“Come on!” he exclaimed. - -“Where now?” inquired Patsy, as they headed for Tremont Street. - -“To the fortune-teller’s rooms.” - -“Has Nick been there?” - -“Yes, about two o’clock.” - -“Did you learn for what?” - -“All that Weston could tell me,” replied Chick, hurriedly informing him -what he had learned. - -Both were quick to see the possibilities which their various -observations and discoveries presented, and Patsy now forcibly -declared, as Chick concluded: - -“I’ll bet that some kind of a scurvy trick has been turned.” - -“I fear so, Patsy.” - -“Badger wouldn’t have been on such a rush with that auto unless he had -some scheme in view.” - -“That’s right,” assented Chick. “Madame Victoria may have telephoned to -him what Nick was about doing, and possibly planned with Badger to get -him into their hands.” - -“That appears about the size of it. If we get no trace of him here,” -growled Patsy, “we’ll go out there again to-night and investigate.” - -“That’s what we’ll do.” - -“Do you know just where the fortune-teller’s rooms are located?” - -“Yonder,” nodded Chick, as they hastened up Tremont Street. “In that -block on the next corner.” - -“What are you going to ask her, in case she is there?” - -“Oh, I can give her some kind of a plausible story to explain my -inquiries,” replied Chick confidently. “She’s not clairvoyant enough to -see through me, I’ll go my pile on that.” - -“Mine goes the same way,” vouchsafed Patsy, with a grin. - -“I’ll assuredly not let her know that I’m on the case with Nick,” added -Chick. “If these rascals think he is working it alone, we may derive -some advantage by keeping them in the dark.” - -“Surely.” - -“Nick also may not wish us to expose that we, too, are investigating -the case——Stop a bit! Wait here!” - -Chick had suddenly caught Patsy by the arm and drawn him to the shelter -of a doorway, less than twenty yards from that leading into the -building occupied by Vic Clayton. - -The occasion for this move was obvious. - -Just turning the corner of Boylston Street, and approaching the -building mentioned, was a huge touring-car of the latest type, occupied -by two women only. - -“By thunder!” muttered Patsy excitedly. “That’s Badger’s wife running -that car.” - -“I see it is,” said Chick more coolly. - -“With the fortune-teller?” - -“No doubt of it. She answers Nick’s description of her.” - -“Gee whiz!” - -“Well?” - -“That’s not the car that Badger and his wife used this afternoon,” -cried Patsy. - -“So I see,” said Chick, still watching the couple. “There is something -back of all this.” - -“You bet there is!” - -“Hold your horses, however, till I see what the two women are about to -do.” - -With skillful hands Claudia Badger had turned the huge car in Tremont -Street, then brought it to a stop at the curb opposite the doorway -giving ingress to Vic Clayton’s rooms. - -Then both women deliberately alighted and entered the building, leaving -the automobile unattended. - -Chick Carter’s eyes took on a sudden bright gleam. - -They had lighted upon a large willow hamper, or covered basket, -attached to the rear of the car for the purpose of stowing away -articles to be carried on a long tour. The hamper was nearly as large -as a small trunk, and the top was secured only with two brass clasps. - -“By Jove, Patsy, here’s the chance of a lifetime!” Chick hurriedly -exclaimed. - -“What do you mean?” came the eager inquiry. - -“Do you see that hamper?” - -“Sure!” - -“Do you think you can get into it?” - -Patsy needed no further hint to the design in Chick’s mind, nor to the -possibility it presented. With eyes quickly glowing with eagerness and -excitement, he hurriedly replied: - -“Get into it? Sure I can! The scheme is a corker! It’ll take me right -into the midst of these rascals. Come on, Chick, and——” - -“Stop a moment,” cautioned Chick. “Get that policeman to help you, -explaining who you are, and have him take away any stuff that may be in -the hamper.” - -“And you?” - -“I’ll rush up-stairs, and keep those two women engaged till I’m sure -you are well under cover.” - -“Good enough!” - -“And to-night you can count on me to lend a hand,” added Chick, “in -case I am needed.” - -“That’s the idea!” cried Patsy. - -“Away with you, then, while I tackle the two women.” - -Patsy hastened toward the deserted automobile, near which a policeman -happened to be standing, and whose aid the former quickly obtained in -the way Chick had suggested. - -Chick, meantime, hastened into the building and up to the rooms of -Madame Victoria. - -He found the two women in the reception-parlor, Vic Clayton engaged in -changing her automobile coat for a long cloak. - -They had driven into town again, after securing Nick, only in order -that they might be seen by the occupants of the stores near-by, with a -view to subsequently obtaining the testimony of these observers, if the -need arose, in support of some plausible story to the effect that they -had brought Nick back to town and left him in some locality. - -Upon hearing Chick enter the room, both women turned toward him with -looks of surprise. - -“I beg pardon, ladies,” said he, bowing. “I am looking for Madame -Victoria.” - -“I am she,” replied Vic, sharply regarding him. - -“My name is Henderson, madame.” - -“What can I do for you, Mr. Henderson?” - -“I am looking for a gentleman who is said to have been here this -afternoon, and with whom I have important business,” explained Chick, -with a deliberation well calculated to give Patsy what time he would -require below. - -He was quick to see, however, the suspicious gleam that instantly arose -in Vic Clayton’s eyes upon learning his business, and he added, with -some suavity: - -“I am unable to find the gentleman at his hotel, madame, and I thought -he might still be here.” - -“Who is the gentleman?” asked Vic, with affected indifference. - -“His name is Nick Carter.” - -“Is he a friend of yours?” - -“An acquaintance only.” - -“How did you learn that he had been here, Mr. Henderson?” inquired Vic, -now bestowing a gracious smile upon her questioner. - -“I was so informed by the clerk at the hotel, to whom Mr. Carter had -mentioned his intention of coming here.” - -“Ah. I see.” - -“I inferred that Mr. Carter came here to consult you professionally, -madame, and I thought his interview might possibly have lasted till -now.” - -Chick easily detected the relief which his artful explanation had -occasioned both women, and it convinced him that he was on the right -track, yet he in no way betrayed his convictions. - -Neither woman had approached the window to look out, and Vic Clayton -had now buttoned her cloak and appeared anxious to depart. - -Chick knew that Patsy must have accomplished his design by this time, -however, and he did not care how soon the interview terminated. - -“Well, Mr. Henderson, I cannot say where Mr. Carter has gone,” Vic -carelessly rejoined. “We dropped him at the corner of Arlington Street, -however, only a short time ago.” - -“From your automobile?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Possibly, then, I shall now find him at the hotel.” - -“I think it quite probable, sir, for he walked toward Washington Street -after he left us,” smiled Vic, edging toward the door which Claudia -Badger already had opened. - -“I will return there and see,” said Chick, bowing himself from the -room. “Thank you very much for your information.” - -“Don’t mention it, sir,” replied Vic, with a little laugh, as she and -her companion also stepped into the corridor, closing the door behind -them. - -Chick politely stepped aside, and let them precede him down the stairs. - -Without so much as a glance at him again, both women fell into a -conventional talk as they descended toward the street. - -Chick reached the sidewalk close upon their heels, however. - -The touring-car still stood at the curb—but there was no sign of Patsy -in any direction. - -The policeman was lingering near-by, with an air of indifference and a -vacant stare across the opposite Common. - -From some little distance away a few curious observers were gazing -toward the car, wondering at what they had seen, but the officer had -made sure that they were too remote to attract attention. - -Neither woman noticed them as she crossed the sidewalk and quickly -entered the car. - -In another moment it was under way, with Claudia Badger at the wheel, -and presently was speeding up Boylston Street. - -Chick now turned to the policeman, who received him with a significant -grin. - -“What do you say, officer?” demanded Chick. - -“He’s in it, all right, sir,” was the reply. - -“In the hamper?” - -“That’s what.” - -“Was it empty?” - -“Not a thing in it, sir.” - -“Close quarters for him, weren’t they?” - -“Rather,” laughed the officer. “But he fixed the clasps so he can get -out whenever he likes, and he’ll not fare so badly. What’s the job, Mr. -Carter?” - -“If all works well, officer, you may learn by reading to-morrow -morning’s newspapers,” Chick pointedly rejoined, as he turned to go. “I -cannot wait to inform you, for I now have work of my own elsewhere.” - -He was thinking of Badger’s place, and of what might befall the -dauntless young detective then speeding out there in the hazardous -manner described. - -Ten minutes later, however, with a revolver in each hip pocket, Chick -also was on his way to Brookline. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - A TERRIBLE PREDICAMENT. - - -Patsy held his breath. - -It was a novel and, at times, a thrilling sensation, that of riding -at thirty miles an hour enclosed in a wicker hamper on the rear of an -automobile. - -At times the car ran smoothly and swiftly; at others it jolted heavily -over a rougher road. - -It was not dark in the basketlike receptacle into which Patsy had -fairly crammed himself, yet the wickerwork was so compact that he could -not see out unless he raised the cover, and that he did not venture to -do. - -Neither could he hear anything that was said by the two women on the -front seat of the car, owing to the constant noise of the vehicle. - -He knew, however, that he was on the road to Badger’s place, and -speeding to the assistance of Nick Carter, and that was good enough for -Patsy up to that time. - -After half an hour’s run, as nearly as he could judge, the cramped and -twisted young detective felt the car sweep in a swift curve out of the -direct road it had been following, and speed along a much less smooth -and even way. - -“We have entered Laurel Road,” he rightly conjectured. “In five more -minutes we should arrive at Badger’s house. Providing that I am not -discovered in this infernally tight box, I there may hear something to -serve my purpose. If I can learn definitely that Nick is out here, and -then discover just where he is located, the rest of the job should be -fairly easy.” - -For his own peril, let it be what it might, the brave youngster had not -even a passing thought. - -Presently the car turned again, and began to slow down, and a moment -later, when the noise of the motor abated, Patsy could plainly hear Vic -Clayton addressing her companion. - -“There is Amos on the side veranda, Claudia,” she cried, in satisfied -tones. - -“So I see, Vic,” was the reply. - -“Things must still be all right out here, old girl, since he appears to -be taking it easy, and is smoking a cigar.” - -“I will round that side of the house before running the car to the -stable,” said Claudia. - -“You can drop me there, too.” - -“We’ll both stop there, and let Amos put the car under cover. Yes, I -judge that things are all right out here, as you say.” - -“They’ll soon take a turn for the worse, I’ll wager my life on that,” -thought Patsy, with grim anticipations. - -It was then nearly seven o’clock, and the dusk of the early evening had -begun to fall. - -As the car approached the side veranda and came to a stop, Badger rose -out of a chair in which he was seated, and strode to the steps leading -down to the driveway. - -Though his dark features wore a look of evil complacency, he at once -addressed his wife in rather uneasy tones. - -“Well, what’s the verdict?” he asked. - -“Nothing wrong, Amos,” she cried, as both women came down from the car. - -“Did you stop at your rooms, Vic?” - -“Certainly,” laughed the latter. “Don’t you notice that I have changed -my coat?” - -“Ah, yes, I see.” - -“I did that only to indicate that we had some motive for visiting the -rooms,” she glibly added. “We had a visitor, too, while we were there.” - -“Who was that?” - -“A chap named Henderson.” - -“Henderson?” - -“That’s what he said, Amos, and whom do you think he inquired after?” - -“Not Nick Carter!” cried Badger, with brows quickly knitting. - -“None other.” - -“The devil you say! There may be something back of that.” - -“Nothing that involves us, I reckon,” declared Vic confidently. - -“Why do you feel so sure of it?” - -“Because he was sent to my rooms by the clerk in the hotel where Carter -was stopping, and to whom he had mentioned coming to my place. He -merely wanted to see him on business, Amos, and couldn’t locate him.” - -The last was said with much significance and a loud, derisive laugh, in -which Amos Badger now joined. - -“Not locate him, eh?” he cried, with a shrug. “Well, if anybody locates -him after to-morrow, Vic, I’ll take a permanent seat in the back row.” - -As may be inferred, this conversation took place some little time -before the interview with Nick himself, as related in a previous -chapter. - -“You’ll take a seat in that stone hotel in Charles Street, you mean, -along with all the rest of us,” Vic bluntly rejoined. - -“You’ll soon be there!” thought Patsy, who was listening intently to -all that was being said. - -Not so much as a glance had been bestowed upon the hamper, which -externally presented no unusual appearance, and Patsy felt tolerably -safe in his concealment. - -The end was not yet, however. - -“What have you done with him, Amos?” Claudia now asked, as Badger came -down the steps to run the car to cover. - -“With Carter?” - -“Yes, of course. We started for town, you know, the moment we had him -safely landed here.” - -“Conley now has charge of him,” said Badger. - -“Where?” - -“In the old wine-vault.” - -“Are you going to confine him there?” - -“Yes, till I do worse to him.” - -“Has he come to himself?” - -“Not yet,” Badger promptly replied. “Those were three ugly blows that -Vic gave him.” - -“I was taking no chances by falling short of my duty,” put in Vic, with -a cruel laugh. - -“They’d have killed him for sure, Vic, if his head were not as tough -and hard as a darky’s.” - -“He would then have been out of our way, at all events.” - -“Conley will soon have him revived, I think, and then we will have a -talk with him, and force him to confess what is being done against us,” -added Badger, approaching the automobile. “I’ll stow the machine while -you two go in and eat your dinner. It’s already on the table.” - -“Had yours?” - -“Yes.” - -“Send Jerry in here to tell us when his patient revives,” called Vic -Clayton, as she mounted the steps. “I want to go out there and have a -look at him.” - -“All right,” growled Badger, as he sprang into the car. - -Then the two women entered the house. - -In another moment the car started again with a whir and rumble, and -Patsy mentally sized up the situation as he saw it. - -“We have hit the nail on the head, all right,” he said to himself. -“These crooks are all that we have suspected, and they have Nick -imprisoned out here, after knocking him on the head. They shall be paid -with interest for the blows given him, however, as surely as the sun -sets in the west. - -“Confined in the old wine-vault, eh? I wonder where that is located. -Evidently it is not connected with the cellar of the house, since that -she devil of a fortune-teller wants to go ‘out’ somewhere to see Nick. - -“Conley, plainly enough, is the stableman we saw to-day, and, since he -has Nick in charge, it’s a good bet that the vault mentioned is either -in the basement of the stable or that long carriage-house which adjoins -it. I’ll wager that I speedily find it, give me half a chance.” - -“Hello! what’s the meaning of this?” - -Patsy had suddenly felt the car lurch heavily, and sway to one side, -then plunge forward as if it were going down a steep incline. - -“We cannot be going directly into the stable,” he quickly reasoned. -“The run into that is on the level, but we’re descending some short, -steep place.” - -“By Jove! I have it. Badger is taking the car into some place from -which Conley brought that one this noon, which Chick felt sure had not -come out of the stable. These crooks must have some secret hiding-place -for their several cars and horses, and Badger is about taking this one -into it. Fortunately, I shall now know all about it.” - -Patsy was correct in these conjectures. - -Badger had run the car around a corner of the stable, then down to a -short fence enclosing the space below the building, which stood on a -slope of the land. - -In this fence was a door about wide enough to admit the car, and Badger -quickly sprang down to open it. - -As the latter did so, there fell upon Patsy’s ears a sound that chilled -his blood, despite the strong nerves and invincible courage of the -young detective. - -The sound was the sudden threatening barking of a dog, then confined in -this basement garage. - -“By thunder! it’s that Cuban bloodhound!” was Patsy’s mental -exclamation. - -He felt a thrill of dismay when he now recalled the huge beast, which -he had not once thought of since undertaking the hazardous venture in -which he was at present helplessly launched. - -“If I escape detection by his ugly nostrils I shall be lucky,” he said -to himself. “If he scents me before I can make some kind of a move to -escape from this basket, I shall be a gone goose for sure.” - -These thoughts passed quickly through Patsy’s mind while Badger was -opening the door mentioned. - -Then out came the dog, nearly as large as a small calf, leaping about -his rascally master, and barking furiously. - -“Gee whiz! that’s a pleasant sound,” murmured Patsy, with an -irrepressible shudder. - -“Down, Pluto!” roared Badger angrily. “Keep down, I say! Close that -trap of yours, you brute, or I’ll break every bone in your ugly body. -Get out, you cur!” - -With the last of these exclamations, the huge dog was dealt a -resounding kick in the ribs, which sent him yelping out across the -lawn, at which Patsy breathed a sigh of relief. - -“I’m safe for a few minutes, at least,” he decided. - -Then he heard Badger shout commandingly: - -“Here you, Conley! Come here with the lantern, so I can see to run in -this car. Look lively, old pal!” - -Patsy wondered why he had shouted so lustily, and now he ventured to -raise the wicker lid about half an inch and peer out. - -A dimly lighted basement met his gaze. It was not more than twenty feet -square, with the stone foundation walls of the stable on two sides, the -open door on a third, while the fourth and interior side appeared to be -a solid wooden bulkhead. - -The floor was the bare ground, and the place was evidently designed for -stowing away an automobile. - -“This is where that car came from this noon, that’s plain enough,” -thought Patsy. “Yet Nick must be wrong in thinking the rascals own so -many cars, for I’ve seen only two. There’s not room in there for more -than that number.” - -The last thought had barely crossed his mind, however, when Patsy -discovered his mistake, and also why Badger had shouted so loudly. - -A secret sliding door in the interior bulkhead wall suddenly flew open, -revealing a long extension of the basement, running even under the -carriage-house adjoining the stable above. - -In this secret extension, which was so cleverly constructed as to defy -detection either from within or without, Patsy now caught sight of -half a score of motors lined up against one of the side walls, each of -a different make from the others, and all apparently in first-class -condition. - -“By thunder! this does settle it, and Nick was right,” he mused. “Those -are the different cars these knaves have used for their night hold-ups. -This exterior basement is only a blind for concealing the other.” - -The chief figure that at once claimed Patsy’s attention, however, was -that of Jerry Conley. - -He had appeared in the secret doorway in response to Badger’s shout, -and he carried in one hand a lighted lantern, and in the other a flask -of brandy. - -“Well, what do you say, Jerry?” demanded Badger, as the other strode -out to join him. - -“He’s all right now,” growled Conley, setting down the lantern. - -“Got him back to earth?” - -“Pretty nearly. He’ll be himself in a few minutes.” - -“Thank God!” thought Patsy fervently. “That refers to Nick.” - -“Then he’ll not croak?” inquired Badger, as if somewhat disappointed. - -“Not this time; though I reckon ’twould be a good thing for us if he -did,” snarled Conley. - -“Help me run this car in, then I’ll go and have a talk with him.” - -Patsy ducked his head and dropped the hamper lid. - -Then he sensed that the two men had seized the sides of the car and -drawn it well into the exterior basement. - -“Things all right in town?” queried Conley. - -“Yes.” - -“Did both women come out?” - -“Sure.” - -“I’m thinking ’twould be a good scheme to hold up some party to-night,” -Conley now declared. - -“Why so?” inquired Badger. - -“It would go to show the police that the unknown road robbers have not -been interfered with by any move of Nick Carter, and when he is found -to be missing, no suspicion, naturally, would fall upon us.” - -“There’s something in that.” - -“Sure there is.” - -But Badger presently shook his head. - -“Not to-night, Jerry,” said he decisively. “We already have enough on -for to-night with this infernal detective. Besides, I’m about all in, -with what I’ve had to do to-day.” - -“I don’t much wonder,” grinned Conley. - -“We’ll cut out the hold-up until to-morrow,” added Badger. “You go over -to the house and tell Vic that Carter has revived. She wants to come -out and see him. Meantime, I’ll take the lantern, and go and have a -talk with him.” - -“What’s the matter with lighting this wall lamp?” - -“No harm in it, Jerry. Light it, if you like.” - -Badger took up the lantern while speaking, and strode into the interior -basement, closing the sliding door after him. - -Conley struck a match and lighted an oil-lamp in a bracket on the wall, -then hastened out of doors and across the lawn. - -“Now is my time!” thought Patsy. “If I can get into that inner cellar, -and down Amos Badger, the rest will be dead easy!” - -He raised his head a little to lift the lid of the hamper. - -Then he suddenly stopped, holding his breath. - -The patter of soft feet on the ground near-by had reached his ears. - -Then came a furious sniffing about the wickerwork of the hamper. - -It was followed immediately by a long, low, threatening growl, enough -to have sent a chill through a brass image. - -“That infernal bloodhound again!” thought Patsy, with an ugly creeping -of his every nerve. “By thunder! this is worse than being headed off by -a man—or by half a dozen men! What’s the cursed brute about to do?” - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - A CRISIS. - - -The bloodhound continued to sniff and growl. - -Patsy continued to lie low and hold his breath. - -He knew that if he showed himself in the open there would be trouble -from that moment—and the worst kind of trouble. - -He hoped that the fierce brute would presently have satisfied his -curiosity, and then take it into his ugly head to return out of doors. - -But the dog did nothing of the kind. - -Plainly enough, he knew that there was something wrong, and his -watch-dog instinct impelled him to hang about the suspected spot. - -He fell to trotting to and fro near the back of the touring-car, over a -space of some six feet, like an irritated lion in a cage. - -With every turn he made he looked up at the hamper with his rolling red -eyes, and indulged in a low, threatening growl. - -It was as much as to say: “Don’t come out, or I’ll make a meal of you!” - -His huge jaws hung apart and were froth-flecked, and Patsy, venturing -once to peer out at him, did not like his looks. - -“He’d make mince-meat of me in less than ten seconds if I undertook to -leap out there,” he said to himself, with gruesome misgivings. “Yet if -I remain here and he there, I am as good as discovered by these crooks. -I’m blessed if this hasn’t developed into a mighty ugly situation.” - -As a matter of fact, he could see no immediate way out of it. - -He was so cramped and twisted in his close quarters that he could not -draw his revolver without rising up in the hamper, and he knew that the -dog would instantly attack him if he ventured doing that. - -His muscles were so cramped, moreover, that he knew he could not move -to advantage for several moments after his release. - -He realized, furthermore, that the report of his revolver, in case -he attempted to shoot the dog, would speedily bring Badger and his -confederates to the spot, and that the result might possibly be fatal -to himself, or, at least, to Nick’s designs, to corner and arrest the -entire gang. - -So for upward of five minutes the situation hung fire, Patsy waiting -and wondering, and the bloodhound still growling and trotting to and -fro some six feet away. - -It was at this time that Badger had his talk with Nick, as already -related. - -Presently Patsy heard Conley returning, accompanied by the two women. - -Though all three observed the dog, they paid no immediate attention to -his movements, but at once hastened into the inner basement and to the -vault in which Nick was confined. - -Patsy inwardly prayed that the dog would follow them, but his prayer -proved vain. - -The bloodhound knew his business. - -He continued to trot and growl, occasionally snapping his huge jaws by -diversion or anticipation, and all the while with his red eyes fixed -upon the wicker hamper. - -Patsy gritted his own teeth in impotent rage. - -At the end of another five minutes, however, he had decided what to do. - -He resolved to shoot the dog, taking chances of killing him with a -single shot, and then leap out of the hamper and attack, single-handed, -the gang in the interior basement. - -Conley had left the sliding door open after entering with the women, -and Patsy thought he could see a tolerably fair prospect of bringing -to a successful issue even as desperate a move as that which he now -contemplated. - -Having grimly settled upon the task, he now wormed about a bit in the -hamper, striving to free his revolver from his hip pocket. - -The bloodhound instantly redoubled his growling. - -“You be hanged!” muttered Patsy resentfully. “I’ll presently silence -you with a chunk of lead.” - -He had succeeded in getting hold of the butt of his revolver. - -Before he could free the weapon from his pocket, however, the shrill -voice of Vic Clayton sounded through the basement, as she and Claudia -Badger came hurrying from the inner extension. - -“What’s the matter with Pluto?” she cried, as she approached. - -“There’s something wrong out here,” declared Claudia. - -The instant the dog heard his name mentioned, all the restrained -passions and fierce instincts of the brute leaped violently into play. - -With a tremendous snarling and barking he bounded up at the hamper, -clawing at it with might and main, as if bent upon devouring all that -it contained. - -Patsy was taking no chances of losing half of his face in one fierce -bite of the brute, and he instantly ducked his head and crouched lower. - -“It’s all off!” was the thought that flashed through his mind. “I am -now obliged to put up a game of bluff.” - -The screams of the two women were now mingled with the furious barking -of the bloodhound, and Vic Clayton was shouting affrightedly: - -“Come out here! Come out here, Amos! There’s something the matter with -this dog. I think he has gone mad.” - -Before the last was uttered, both Badger and Conley came rushing out of -the inner cellar. - -The two men instantly guessed the meaning of the brute’s actions, and -both rushed toward the car. - -“Gone mad be hanged!” shouted Badger. “There’s something wrong with -that hamper, not with the dog.” - -“That’s right, Amos,” yelled Conley. - -“Ah, I thought so! Get out, you brute, or I’ll brain you! What the -devil have we here?” - -Badger had given the excited brute a second kick in the ribs, that once -more sent him yelping out of doors, much to Patsy’s relief, despite the -sudden change in the situation. - -At the same time Conley had thrown open the lid of the hamper, plainly -disclosing the cramped detective to the view of all. - -In an instant both ruffians had him by the throat and wrists. - -“Hold on!” gasped Patsy, struggling to rise out of his cramped -position, and at once assuming to be the injured, rather than the -offender. - -“Come out here!” - -“Sure, I’ll come out,” whined Patsy, as he was yanked out upon the -ground, yet still in the clutches of both men. “Say, this ain’t no -way to use a fellow. Let go me throat, will you? I ain’t going to eat -nobody up. Holy smoke! but I’m glad you drove that dog off. I thought I -was a dead one, for sure.” - -“You’ll be a dead one, all right, young fellow, unless you stand up and -give an account of yourself,” Badger fiercely cried. “Hang onto his -arms, there, Conley, in case he means mischief. Hand me that strip of -rope, Vic, and I’ll make him fast in a jiffy. Look lively, I say!” - -While this exchange of conversation was in progress, Patsy had been -jerked rudely to his feet, only to find for several moments that he -could hardly stand erect, so strained and cramped were his muscles. - -Conley, meantime, had twisted the captive’s arms back of him, and was -holding them there with the grip of a vise. - -Badger had released Patsy’s throat, however, and, with the piece of -rope Vic Clayton had hurriedly brought him, he quickly secured the -detective’s arms and wrists behind him. - -“Now, you give an account of yourself,” he fiercely commanded, shaking -his clenched hand under Patsy’s nose. - -“Sure I will, mister, since I’m caught in my own box,” Patsy now said, -surveying with a ludicrous grin the frowning faces around him. “But I’d -have been out and away long before this, mister, if it had not been for -that infernal dog.” - -“Out and away, would you?” cried Badger, catching up this one -significant remark. - -“That’s what, mister.” - -“What were you doing in that hamper?” - -“Only stealing a ride.” - -“Stealing a ride?” echoed Badger incredulously. - -“That was all, mister, the whole business.” - -“You’re a liar!” snarled Conley, fiercely suspicious. - -“Say, you leave me to settle with the boss of this joint, will you?” -growled Patsy, now turning upon the Irishman. “I haven’t trod on any of -your corns, have I? So you leave me to do the talking with the boss.” - -“I’ll not leave you a leg to stand on, if you——” - -“Shut up, Jerry!” commanded Badger sharply. “How long had you been in -the hamper, youngster?” - -“All the way from town, mister.” - -“Nonsense!” cried Vic Clayton, now pressing nearer. “I know better than -that.” - -“Sure, ma’am, I don’t like to contradict a lady like yourself, but -you’ll find I’m right,” insisted Patsy, bowing to her with a ludicrous -display of humility. - -“Do you mean to say that you rode out from town in that hamper?” -demanded Vic. - -“That’s what I did, ma’am.” - -“What put you up to that?” cried Badger, in threatening tones. - -Patsy indulged in another grin. - -“Well, ’twas like this, mister, d’ye see,” he proceeded to explain, -with an air of humble frankness. “I was walking along Tremont Street -with a comrade of mine—Jones his name is, mister, and mine is Green.” - -“Come to the point, you rascal,” Badger impatiently growled. - -“Sure I will, mister, if you give me time.” - -“If you don’t, I’ll give you something besides time.” - -“’Twas like this, d’ye see?” continued Patsy coolly. “We saw this big -car alongside the curb on Tremont Street, and Nosey, the which we call -Jones because his beak is so big—Nosey bet me a five I didn’t dare get -into the hamper and steal a ride.” - -“He did, eh?” sneered Badger, with an ugly gleam in his searching eyes. - -“That’s what he did, sir,” nodded Patsy. “I’d seen these two ladies -go into the building near-by, so I said to myself I’d have time to -duck into the hamper before they came out. I thought it a cinch to win -a five in that easy way. So when I found it was empty, mister, in I -jumped, and here I am—the which I wouldn’t be, only for that dog, I -give you my blooming word.” - -“Your blooming word doesn’t cut any ice with me,” Conley now declared, -with an angry snarl. “I’ll not swallow this story, Badger, not on your -life. It’s much more likely that he’s working with his nobs in yonder, -and mebbe there are more of the same kind about here at this moment.” - -This possibility suggested by Conley was not without immediate effect -upon Badger, who turned quickly to the waiting women and cried sharply: - -“Go over to the house, you two, and we’ll bring this rascal there and -question him further. You, Jerry, close that sliding door. We’ll leave -the other where we have him. He cannot get out, that’s sure, and I’ll -take no chance that there are others to see us in this place. We’ll go -over to the house and settle with this young cub.” - -“That will be safest,” nodded Conley, as he hastened to obey. - -“You may leave this oil-lamp burning, Jerry,” added Badger, as he -seized Patsy by the collar and marched him toward the door. “We may -have to come out here again.” - -“I’ll not put it out.” - -“But secure this door after you.” - -“Sure! D’ye think I’m daffy enough to leave it open?” - -With the last remark, Conley came out of the basement and closed the -heavy door, leaving the entire place only dimly lighted by the oil-lamp -on the wall. - -Seen from outside, the whole stable appeared shrouded in darkness. - -As the three started across the lawn toward the house, with Patsy in -the grip of both men, the huge bloodhound came bounding over the grass -as if to accompany them—or to make a finish of Patsy. - -Badger quickly checked him, however, sternly commanding: - -“Be off, Pluto! Away with you, and watch out, you brute! Watch out, I -say!” - -The dog appeared to understand. He dropped his black nose to the -ground, vented one short, sharp yelp, then coursed away with the speed -of a deer, hither and thither, and finally toward the belt of woods -darkly outlined against the starry sky at the rear of the broad estate. - -“He’ll notify us, Jerry!” growled Badger, with his grip unconsciously -tightening on the detective’s collar. “Let Pluto alone for that. He’ll -notify us all right, and promptly, too, if there are other strangers -prowling near here to-night.” - -That Patsy was possessed of that true detective genius which -instinctively anticipates coming events, appears in the thought that -quickly arose in his mind: - -“He will, eh? I can see his finish if he encounters Chick Carter this -night!” - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - A LAST RESORT. - - -“Search him!” sternly commanded Badger. “We’ll see what that will bring -forth. Search him, Conley, and see what you can find!” - -The scene was the kitchen of the Badger dwelling. - -Fifteen minutes had passed since Patsy was rounded up and brought -in there, and the quarter-hour had been devoted to plying him with -questions to break down the crafty story he had told, and to which he -clung with a tenacity born of conscious desperation. - -He now stood with his back to one of the kitchen walls, in the full -glare of the lamplight. - -His arms were still secured behind him, and his collar and cravat were -awry from the throttling he had received. - -His face was composed, however, not even pale, and his eyes were keen -and bright with that inherent courage and invincible determination -which rendered him superior to any threatening situation, and eminently -worthy to have become Nick Carter’s trusted associate and assistant. - -The gang by which he had been so curiously cornered were seated about -the room. - -Both Badger and Conley appeared stern and ugly, evincing that state of -mind when dread and suspicion battle with uncertainty. - -The two women, Mrs. Badger and Vic Clayton, appeared pale and anxious, -as if fearful that their adventurous career was likely to be seriously -interrupted. - -Yet all four, including also a dark, middle-aged woman who worked in -the house, were regarding Patsy with eyes and aspects so threatening as -to have awed one less cool, collected, and defiant of personal peril. - -Fifteen minutes had passed, as mentioned, and from this time matters -moved decisively and swiftly, with all the energies of these masterful -detectives instinctively strained for what each knew must be a final -move, and all operating to produce the one desirable culmination of -their joint endeavors. - -In response to Badger’s command, Conley sprang up and began to search -Patsy, fiercely thrusting his hand into one pocket and then another. - -“Leave the linings,” suggested Patsy, with a defiant grin. - -He knew that he had on his person only one article that would point to -his vocation, which he was prepared to deny in the face even of that. - -It came to light in a moment—his trusty revolver. - -“Aha! what’s this?” cried Conley, as he yanked the weapon from Patsy’s -hip pocket. “So you carry a gun, do you?” - -“Sure I do,” asserted Patsy coolly. “You’d carry a gun, too, if there -were as many rats in your cellar as there are in mine.” - -“It’s you who are the rat,” Badger angrily growled, as his confederate -displayed the weapon. - -“You’re wrong, mister,” insisted Patsy. “I’m a ratter, but no rat.” - -“What d’ye mean by that?” snarled Conley fiercely. - -“I mean that I’m a hunter of rats,” said Patsy, with dry significance. - -“You’re a detective,” cried Badger. - -“That’s what he is, Amos,” supplemented Vic Clayton, white with -increased apprehensions. “He must be one of the Boston force.” - -“No, I’m not.” - -“Not one of the force?” - -“Nothing of the kind.” - -“If you are lying, youngster, the lie will as surely cost you your -life——” - -What more Badger would have uttered can only be conjectured, for, while -he was speaking, fiercely shaking his fist at Patsy’s helpless head, -there sounded from the gravel driveway outside and over the hollow -planking of the veranda the heavy fall of hurrying feet. - -“Who’s this?” cried Claudia, starting affrightedly from her chair. - -“The door, Conley!” hissed Badger. “Have the gun ready!” - -Before Conley could reach the doorway, however, toward which he -hastened with Patsy’s revolver in his hand, it was hurriedly opened -and a sallow-featured, green-eyed rascal bounded breathlessly into the -kitchen. - -“Oh, it’s Sandy Hyde!” exclaimed Vic, with a little scream of -satisfaction. - -“Who the devil is he?” thought Patsy, sharply regarding the panting -scamp. - -Though this advent of Hyde brought a look of relief to the face of -each, Badger kept a taut rein on the threatening business then on hand, -and he almost immediately demanded: - -“What brings you out here, Sandy?” - -“Wait till I get my breath, and I’ll tell you,” panted Hyde. “I’ve run -all the way from the trolley. The chief kept me at work till half an -hour ago.” - -“Is there something wrong at headquarters?” snarled Badger quickly. - -“What’s that?” muttered Patsy mentally. “A spy from the chief’s office, -or I’ll eat my boots! By thunder! it’s no wonder that this case has -baffled the efforts of the Boston force.” - -Patsy was quick enough to see all it meant, in case he was correct in -his immediate conjecture. - -Sandy Hyde, who had paused a moment to get a drink of water at the -kitchen sink, now hastened to reply to Badger’s question. - -“Wrong at headquarters? I should say so!” he cried. “I have just got -wise to something, less than an hour ago. Who’s that chap?” - -“Never mind him at present,” cried Badger, with terrific impatience. -“What have you learned?” - -“Nick Carter has an assistant here on this case,” replied Hyde. - -“Not Chick Carter!” - -“Yes.” - -“Have you seen him?” - -“Sure! He was at headquarters about five o’clock.” - -“For what?” - -“He was trying to locate Nick.” - -“We’ve got Nick, all right,” sneered Badger, with a chuckle of -derision. “But this other, this Chick Carter, of whom I have frequently -heard, I don’t know him by sight.” - -“Nor do I,” put in Conley, frowning near-by. - -“You’re sure this is not he?” - -“Dead sure,” cried Hyde, with a glance at Patsy. “I don’t know this -chap.” - -“Then he is not one of the Boston force,” declared Vic, more hopefully. -“He did not lie about that.” - -Badger turned again to Patsy, lowering and dark, and Patsy gained a -point by saying quickly: - -“Sure I didn’t lie about it. I wouldn’t lie to ladies and gents like -you.” - -“No, this fellow is not a Boston detective, I’ll swear to that,” Hyde -now declared. “I know them all.” - -“But Chick Carter——” began Badger. - -“Oh, he doesn’t look like this chap,” interrupted Hyde. - -“He doesn’t, eh?” - -“Not a bit! Chick Carter is older, a sturdy, well-built young man, with -smooth, clean-cut features and——” - -“Stop!” screamed Vic Clayton, suddenly leaping out of her chair. - -“Well?” - -“How was he dressed when you saw him at five o’clock?” - -“Why, he said he was going to your office,” cried Hyde, now getting -back to the business that had brought him out there. “He had on a plaid -suit, a polka-dotted cravat——” - -“Henderson!” screamed Vic, all of a quiver with excitement. “That man -Henderson, Amos, was Chick Carter!” - -“Not a doubt of it!” gasped Claudia Badger, as white as the knot of -lace at her throat. - -“And that’s why he inquired after Nick Carter,” declared Badger, now -beginning to see that a network might already be closing around him. - -“That’s what, Amos.” - -“Do you know where Chick Carter went after leaving your rooms, Vic?” - -“Of course not. How should I?” - -“He might have said.” - -“He said he was going to Carter’s hotel.” - -“Bosh!” - -“I’ll tell you what I do know, however,” cried Vic, hit with an -afterthought. - -“What’s that?” - -“I know that this young devil must have got into that hamper while -Chick Carter was in my rooms, Amos, and it’s a hundred to one that the -two were at work on this case together.” - -“Gee! she’s hit me good and hard this time,” thought Patsy, wishing -he might have throttled her to silence. “Now there will be something -doing, I’ll go the limit on that.” - -He read aright the faces of those around him. - -The significance of Vic Clayton’s declaration was utterly irresistible. - -“What do you say to that?” thundered Badger, striding closer to Patsy, -with his features livid and convulsed with rage. - -“I dunno what she’s talking about,” protested Patsy coolly. - -“You lie!” roared Conley. “You are one of Nick Carter’s helpers, or——” - -“Stop a bit!” interrupted Badger, with frightful austerity. “We’ll soon -know whether he is or not!” - -“What d’ye mean?” - -“I’ll get the truth out of him!” snorted Badger. “Bring him after me, -back to the garage. I’ll make him confess the truth and tell us where -we stand. We’ll string him up by the neck to one of the beams—and there -he shall hang unless he tells the whole truth! Bring him along, you -two, and look lively! I’ll go on ahead and open the doors.” - -“Yes, there’s something doing!” thought Patsy, contemplating his -imminent peril. “They are going to try hanging me—but they’ll try in -vain! Yet I rather hope Chick may show up in time to save my precious -neck.” - -These thoughts passed through Patsy’s mind while he was being rudely -hustled out of doors by Conley and Hyde, while Amos Badger hurried on -in advance. - -Both women followed, too alarmed by the impending peril to endure the -suspense of remaining behind. - -“They care nothing for me, or my neck,” thought Patsy. “Like the she -devils of ancient Rome, once having tasted blood, they thirst for more.” - -As he was hurried into the basement by Conley, he saw that the sliding -door had been opened and that Badger was again lighting the lantern. - -This no sooner was done than the dastardly knave, blind to all except -the impulses of his utter desperation, quickly threw a rope over a beam -near the ceiling, then knotted a slip-noose around Patsy’s neck. - -Patsy stood directly under the beam, as cool as if he was only about to -be weighed. - -“Get hold of that rope, you two!” cried Badger fiercely. - -Conley and Hyde sprang to the lax strip of line. - -The two women, bred though they were to evil, drew back with awed white -faces and dilated eyes. - -“Now, youngster, what do you say?” thundered Badger, confronting Patsy -with face livid and eyes ablaze. - -Patsy met him eye to eye. - -“Only what I’ve said already,” he curtly replied. - -“Nothing more?” - -“Nothing more, mister!” - -“Nor less?” - -“Nor less!” - -“Up with him!” roared Badger, turning fiercely to his confederates. - -Patsy felt the rope draw taut around his neck. - -Just then, however, from some quarter outside, there rang out upon the -still evening air the sharp, spiteful crack of a revolver. - -It was mingled with a single agonized yelp—and a bloodhound lay -stretched upon the greensward, shot squarely between his eyes! - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - NICK CARTER’S ESCAPE. - - -Silence and darkness. - -It was in these that Nick Carter was left confined at an earlier hour -that eventful evening, bound hand and foot, and with his back propped -against the cold stone wall of the disused wine-vault. - -It would be an injustice to him, however, to those inherent qualities -and rare abilities which had made him what he was, to neglect depicting -his movements during the time his captors were so pressingly engaged -with Patsy. - -Of Chick and Patsy’s discoveries and designs since he parted from them -at the Adams House that morning, Nick, of course, was entirely ignorant. - -That they had so quickly suspected something wrong because of -his absence, or that he could depend upon them for any immediate -assistance, he did not for a moment imagine. For it was then only a few -hours after the time they had agreed to meet, and any ordinary incident -might have detained him that long. - -Yet Amos Badger had no sooner closed the door of the wine-vault than -Nick Carter began to think about making his escape. - -“Whatever I accomplish,” he said to himself, “I must accomplish alone. -There is not much chance that Chick and Patsy have yet discovered -any clue to my whereabouts, even if they now suspect that I have met -with some beastly mishap, so I must figure upon playing a lone hand -in getting out of this place. I’ll make the attempt, at least, and -if——Hello! what’s the meaning of that, I wonder?” - -From some quarter outside, borne faintly to his ears, had come the -furious barking of a dog, mingled with the shouts of men and the -screams of women. - -For half a minute Nick listened intently, but the startling sounds -were not prolonged, and presently only silence reigned in the -wine-vault. - -Stop a bit—not quite silence only! - -From one corner came a faint noise which Nick’s ear was quick to detect. - -It was the steady drip, drip, drip of water, from some point higher -than the floor. - -Nick recalled seeing a stagnant pool in the corner from which the -dripping sounded, and he rightly inferred that there must be some -water-supply above, possibly in the stable, and that a considerable -leak existed. - -“My first work must be that of getting my hands at liberty,” he -soliloquized, after a few moments. - -They were tied behind him, but that mattered little to Nick Carter. - -While the lantern was in the vault, during his talk with Badger, Nick -had visually examined the surrounding stone walls, and had discovered -several places where the rough corners of the stones protruded a -little, forming tolerably sharp edges. - -Against one of these he backed, after rising to his feet with some -difficulty, until he could bring the rope about his wrists to bear -against the edge of the stone. - -Then he began sawing it up and down, at an expense of some little -skin from his knuckles, and at the end of five minutes he felt one of -the strands give and break. Then, with a mighty effort, he succeeded -in breaking the entire rope, and the liberation of his hands at once -became easy. - -“Now, if you come down here, Badger, you’ll meet with a warmer -reception than before,” he determinedly muttered, while he set to work -at the ropes around his ankles. - -In three minutes his limbs also were free, and Nick coolly tossed the -ropes aside. - -“Next, to find a way out of here,” was his mental comment. - -He had observed that no window existed, and he had but little hope of -being able to force the heavy door, having been deprived of his knife -and revolver. - -After examining the door, to which he groped through the darkness, he -decided that he could accomplish nothing there. - -The constant dripping of the water could still be heard, however, and -Nick now shrewdly reasoned: - -“That water must have some avenue of escape, and it may run under the -foundation wall in that corner. If it does, the soil should be soft and -muddy, and I may be able to dig my way out, or, at least, to work under -the wall and learn what lies beyond it. I’ll give it a try, at all -events.” - -As he groped toward the corner, he stumbled over one of the empty -beer-kegs previously mentioned. - -“Ha! here’s just the thing, providing I can smash it,” he said to -himself. “One of these oak staves will serve admirably for a spade.” - -Gripping the keg by the chimes, he hurled it with all of his strength -against one of the walls. - -There was a double effect. - -First, the keg snapped and cracked loudly, as several of the staves -yielded under the terrific blow. - -Second, an instant later, a bit of rock from the wall fell with a -splash into the pool of water. - -Nick then examined the wall. - -He found that the constant leakage from above had softened the old -cement and mortar, and that the stones in this locality might be -removed with almost any stout implement. - -In half a minute he had the beer-keg demolished and one of the stout -staves in his hand. - -With this he next attacked the stonework near the pool, and for ten -minutes he worked as vigorously and rapidly as the darkness permitted. - -Then he had two of the lower stones hauled out of the wall, and a space -made large enough to crawl through. - -Listening at this opening, he could now detect another sound quite -near-by. It was the occasional stamping of horses, evidently in their -stalls. - -“H’m!” grunted Nick. “I’m not sure that I’m out of the place, after -all. This hole will evidently lead me into a basement under the stable, -or the carriage-house. By Jove! it may be that Badger has a place of -concealment down here for his horses, those occasionally used for a -hold-up. I’ll speedily ascertain.” - -Crawling with some little difficulty through the hole in the wall, Nick -rose to his feet on the outer side, and groped carefully through the -gloom. - -Suddenly his extended hands came in contact with—an automobile! - -He was in the interior garage, the secret hiding-place of Badger’s -several cars. - -It had taken Nick half an hour to accomplish all this, however, and -before he could fix upon anything definite as to his present location, -he heard voices outside, and a door hurriedly opened. - -“H’m!” he mentally grunted. “Are my captors returning? They’ll find me -ready for them this time!” - -Then he crouched quickly back of the car with which he had come in -contact. - -The sliding door had suddenly opened, and the light from the wall lamp -outside shot into the extension cellar. - -The instant Nick’s eyes fell upon the row of automobiles, he guessed -the whole truth concerning the place. - -His interest, however, chiefly centered in two men who were hurriedly -rushing a third into the place, closely followed by two women, while -Badger was hastening to light a lantern. - -“Good Heaven!” mentally exclaimed Nick. “Their captive is Patsy!” - -He watched and waited, deducing more and more from the little he -heard, and all the while his stern white features, still swathed with -bandages, grew hard as flint. - -Patsy felt the rope tighten about his neck. - -Then sounded the revolver-shot from outside. - -Next a dark form bounded out from back of the touring-car—bounded out -with the leap of an angry lion. - -Two clenched hands rose and fell, and two men dragging upon a rope -cast over a beam were sent senseless to the earth, quivering in every -muscle, as an ox quivers when felled in the shambles. - -Then two hands closed around Amos Badger’s throat, and in the -miscreant’s ears rang a voice and words that took all the strength and -manhood, if any of the latter was there, completely out of him. - -“It will be you, Badger, not I!” - -“Whoop la!” shrieked Patsy. “It’s Nick himself!” - -Two women, frightened for their miserable lives, turned and ran toward -the open door—only to rush into the ready arms of Chick Carter. - -Chick had arrived at the edge of the woods only a short time before, -and had seen Patsy brought out of the house and into the basement of -the garage. Hastening to cross the lawn and lend a hand, as he had -promised, Chick had encountered the bloodhound, killing him with a -single well-directed shot, and then had rushed on and into the garage, -just in time to head off Vic Clayton and Claudia Badger when they -turned to flee. - -The rest may be briefly told, for a more complete and successful -round-up could hardly be imagined. In less than ten minutes the entire -gang were in irons, and thirty minutes later they were taking a ride in -the local patrol-wagon, instead of a Packard car. - -The exposure of their rascally scheme also was complete when the case -came to trial, a little later, for Nick Carter found in and about the -house and stable ample evidence to prove that his deductions had from -the very first been entirely correct. - -Fortunately, too, he found letters and clues enabling him to trace much -of the stolen property upon which Badger had realized thousands of -dollars, and which ultimately was restored to its rightful owners. - -In Badger’s safe Nick found his own watch and chain, but the money of -which he had been robbed was missing. He had in his success with the -case, however, a reward that far more than offset his trivial loss. - -Dumfounded when informed by what means the Boston detectives had been -baffled in their efforts to discover these road robbers, Chief Weston’s -gratitude to Nick was equaled only by his bitterness for Sandy Hyde, -and he made sure that the treacherous scamp should receive a sentence -as long as the others of the Badger gang—and that was one of years. - -Long before the release of any of them, the Badger place near Brookline -had passed into other hands, sold under a heavy mortgage, and from that -time Tremont Street knew the notorious Madame Victoria no more. - -One and all of them passed, as they deserved, out of the public mind -and out of the hearts and lives of friendly acquaintances—from the -moment that Nick Carter showed them in their true colors and closed -upon them the door of a prison cell. - - - THE END. - - -Order your copy now of the next brilliant story by Nicholas Carter to -appear under the title of “A Master of Deviltry,” in the NEW MAGNET -LIBRARY, No. 1174. - - - - - The Dealer - - -who handles the STREET & SMITH NOVELS is a man worth patronizing. The -fact that he does handle our books proves that he has considered the -merits of paper-covered lines, and has decided that the STREET & SMITH -NOVELS are superior to all others. - -He has looked into the question of the morality of the paper-covered -book, for instance, and feels that he is perfectly safe in handing one -of our novels to any one, because he has our assurance that nothing -except clean, wholesome literature finds its way into our lines. - -Therefore, the STREET & SMITH NOVEL dealer is a careful and wise -tradesman, and it is fair to assume selects the other articles he -has for sale with the same degree of intelligence as he does his -paper-covered books. - -Deal with the STREET & SMITH NOVEL dealer. - - - STREET & SMITH CORPORATION - - 7th Seventh Avenue New York City - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Man Without a Conscience, by Nicholas Carter - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE *** - -***** This file should be named 63864-0.txt or 63864-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/8/6/63864/ - -Produced by David Edwards, Nahum Maso i Carcases, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Man Without a Conscience - From Rogue to Convict - -Author: Nicholas Carter - -Release Date: November 23, 2020 [EBook #63864] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Nahum Maso i Carcases, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="body-with"> - -<hr class="tn" /> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="no-indent center bold">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> -<p>The original spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been retained, with the exception -of apparent typographical errors which have been corrected.</p> -<p>For convenience, a table of contents, which is not present in the original, has been included.</p> -</div> -<hr class="tn" /> - - - - -<div class="titlepage"> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/illus01.jpg" width="200" height="290" alt="Cover" /> -</div> -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="no-indent center bold xlarge p2">CONTENTS</p> - -<table summary="contents"> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt"><span class="smaller">CHAPTER</span></td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr"> </td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">I.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">AN INQUISITIVE CLERK.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">II.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">MODERN HIGHWAYMEN.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">III.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">NICK CARTER HELD UP.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">THE ESCAPE.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">V.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">THE HOUSE IN LAUREL ROAD.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">46</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">MADAME VICTORIA.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">62</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">VII.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">THE DEEPER MYSTERY.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">VIII.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">UNDER THE SURFACE.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">89</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">IX.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">BODY AND LIMBS.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">X.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">THE ANCHOR TO WINDWARD.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">116</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XI.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">THE INCENTIVE TO TREACHERY.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">126</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XII.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">THE ROAD TO CANTON.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">133</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XIII.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">CLOSE QUARTERS.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">147</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XIV.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">SHADOWS AND SHADOWED.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XV.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">ON NICK’S TRAIL.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">169</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XVI.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">A TERRIBLE PREDICAMENT.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XVII.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">A CRISIS.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">194</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XVIII.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">A LAST RESORT.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">205</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr tdt">XIX.</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdpr">NICK CARTER’S ESCAPE.</td> - <td class="tdr tdb"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">215</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="no-indent bold center large p2">NICK CARTER STORIES</p> - -<p class="no-indent bold center xxlarge">New Magnet Library</p> - -<p class="no-indent bold center p1"> -<span class="tdpr">Price, Fifteen Cents</span> <i>Not a Dull Book in This List</i><br /> -</p> - - -<p class="p2">Nick Carter stands for an interesting detective story. The fact -that the books in this line are so uniformly good is entirely due to -the work of a specialist. The man who wrote these stories produced -no other type of fiction. His mind was concentrated upon the creation -of new plots and situations in which his hero emerged triumphantly -from all sorts of troubles and landed the criminal just where -he should be—behind the bars.</p> - -<p>The author of these stories knew more about writing detective stories -than any other single person.</p> - -<p>Following is a list of the best Nick Carter stories. They have been -selected with extreme care, and we unhesitatingly recommend each of -them as being fully as interesting as any detective story between cloth -covers which sells at ten times the price.</p> - -<p>If you do not know Nick Carter, buy a copy of any of the New -Magnet Library books, and get acquainted. He will surprise and delight -you.</p> - -<table summary="Nick Carter Stories"> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="tdc"><em>ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT</em></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">850—Wanted: A Clew</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">851—A Tangled Skein</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">852—The Bullion Mystery</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">853—The Man of Riddles</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">854—A Miscarriage of Justice</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">855—The Gloved Hand</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">856—Spoilers and the Spoils</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">857—The Deeper Game</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">858—Bolts from Blue Skies</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">859—Unseen Foes</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">860—Knaves in High Places</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">861—The Microbe of Crime</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">862—In the Tolls of Fear</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">863—A Heritage of Trouble</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">864—Called to Account</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">865—The Just and the Unjust</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">866—Instinct at Fault</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">867—A Rogue Worth Trapping</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">868—A Rope of Slender Threads</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">869—The Last Call</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">870—The Spoils of Chance</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">871—A Struggle With Destiny</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">872—The Slave of Crime</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">873—The Crook’s Blind</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">874—A Rascal of Quality</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">875—With Shackles of Fire</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">876—The Man Who Changed Faces</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">877—The Fixed Alibi</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">878—Out With the Tide</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">879—The Soul Destroyers</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">880—The Wages of Rascality</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">881—Birds of Prey</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">882—When Destruction Threatens</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">883—The Keeper of Black Hounds</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">884—The Door of Doubt</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">885—The Wolf Within</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">886—A Perilous Parole</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">887—The Trail of the Finger Prints</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">888—Dodging the Law</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">889—A Crime in Paradise</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">890—On the Ragged Edge</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">891—The Red God of Tragedy</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">892—The Man Who Paid </td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">893—The Blind Man’s Daughter</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">894—One Object in Life</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">895—As a Crook Sows</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">896—In Record Time</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">897—Held in Suspense</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">898—The $100,000 Kiss</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">899—Just One Slip</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">900—On a Million-dollar Trail</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">901—A Weird Treasure</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">902—The Middle Link</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">903—To the Ends of the Earth</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">904—When Honors Pall</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">905—The Yellow Brand</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">906—A New Serpent in Eden</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">907—When Brave Men Tremble</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">908—A Test of Courage</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">909—Where Peril Beckons</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">910—The Gargoni Girdle</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">911—Rascals & Co</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">912—Too Late to Talk</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">913—Satan’s Apt Pupil</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">914—The Girl Prisoner</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">915—The Danger of Folly</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">916—One Shipwreck Too Many</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">917—Scourged by Fear</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">918—The Red Plague</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">919—Scoundrels Rampant</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">920—From Clew to Clew</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">921—When Rogues Conspire</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">922—Twelve in a Grave</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">923—The Great Opium Case</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">924—A Conspiracy of Rumors</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">925—A Klondike Claim</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">926—The Evil Formula</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">927—The Man of Many Faces</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">928—The Great Enigma</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">929—The Burden of Proof</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">930—The Stolen Brain</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">931—A Titled Counterfeiter</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">932—The Magic Necklace</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">933—’Round the World for a Quarter</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">934—Over the Edge of the World</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">935—In the Grip of Fate</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">936—The Case of Many Clews</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">937—The Sealed Door</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">938—Nick Carter and the Green Goods Men</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">939—The Man Without a Will</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">940—Tracked Across the Atlantic</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">941—A Clew From the Unknown</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">942—The Crime of a Countess</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">943—A Mixed Up Mess</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">944—The Great Money Order Swindle</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">945—The Adder’s Brood</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">946—A Wall Street Haul</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">947—For a Pawned Crown</td> - <td class="tdl tdt tdh">By Nicholas Carter</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px; border: 1px solid;"> -<img src="images/illus02.jpg" width="200" height="314" alt="Title Page" /> -</div> -</div> - -<h1>THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE</h1> - -<p class="no-indent center">OR,</p> - -<p class="no-indent center xlarge p1">FROM ROGUE TO CONVICT</p> - -<p class="no-indent center p2">BY</p> - -<p class="no-indent center xlarge">NICHOLAS CARTER</p> - -<p class="no-indent center">Author of the celebrated stories of Nick Carter’s adventures, -which are published exclusively in the <span class="smcap">New Magnet Library</span>, -conceded to be among the best detective tales ever written.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 82px;"> -<img src="images/illus03.jpg" width="82" height="100" alt="Illustration" /> -</div> - -<p class="no-indent center">STREET & SMITH CORPORATION -<br /> -<small>PUBLISHERS</small> -<br /> -79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> - -<p class="no-indent center p2"> -Copyright, 1906 -<br /> -By STREET & SMITH</p> - -<hr class="title-xshort" /> - -<p class="no-indent center">The Man Without a Conscience</p> - -<p class="no-indent center p2">(Printed in the United States of America)</p> - -<p class="no-indent center p1">All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign<br /> -languages, including the Scandinavian.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="no-indent center bold xxlarge p2">THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE.</p> - - -<h2 class="no-break">CHAPTER I. -<br /> -<small>AN INQUISITIVE CLERK.</small></h2> - - -<p>“Bureau of Secret Investigation.”</p> - -<p>Nick Carter glanced at the above sign over the door, -an unpretentious and somewhat faded reminder of better -days, while he descended the flight of stone steps leading -into the basement offices of the Boston police department.</p> - -<p>The sunlight lay warm and bright in Pemberton -Square at ten o’clock that May morning, shedding over -the magnificent new court-house a golden glory consistent, -no doubt, with the wise dispensation of justice, -yet in monstrous anomaly with some of the dreadful experiences -and grim episodes sometimes enacted within -those splendid sunlit walls.</p> - -<p>Nick turned to the right in the main corridor and -entered the adjoining office, quite a commodious room, -in which the general business of this secret service branch -of the local police department was conducted.</p> - -<p>The enclosure back of the chief clerk’s high desk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> -which also was topped with a brass grating, happened to -be vacant when Nick entered. In one corner of the -room, however, a subordinate clerk was busily engaged -in attempting to repair a slight leak in the faucet of the -ice-water vessel, and to this young man the famous New -York detective addressed himself.</p> - -<p>“Has the chief been in this morning?” he asked.</p> - -<p>The clerk bobbed up from his work as if startled, drying -his hands with his handkerchief, and stared sharply -at Nick for several moments. But he saw nothing familiar -in the stranger’s grave, clean-cut features.</p> - -<p>For all that this clerk knew, or surmised, Nick might -have been an ordinary or very humble citizen, who had -quietly dropped in there for want of something better -to do.</p> - -<p>“Chief Weston?” he returned inquiringly, still sharply -scrutinizing Nick.</p> - -<p>“There is no other chief in this department, is there?” -was Nick’s reply, with a subtle tinge of irony.</p> - -<p>“Well—no.”</p> - -<p>“Chief Weston, yes,” bowed Nick. “Is he in his -office?”</p> - -<p>“I believe so.”</p> - -<p>“Busy?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon he is, just now.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Reckon, eh? Don’t you know?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, he’s busy,” the clerk now said, a bit curtly, -flushing slightly under the detective’s keen eye and -quietly persistent inquiries.</p> - -<p>“He’s not too busy to see me, I think,” replied Nick, -with dry assurance. “Go in and tell him I’m here.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind who I am.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take in your card.”</p> - -<p>“No card,” said Nick tersely.</p> - -<p>“Your name, then?”</p> - -<p>“Nor any name.”</p> - -<p>“But——”</p> - -<p>“Merely tell the chief that his friend from New York -is here.”</p> - -<p>The expression in the eyes of the irritated clerk lost -none of its searching interest, yet they now took on a -rather different light, as if he had been suddenly hit -with an idea. Yet he still frowned slightly and said:</p> - -<p>“If you object to having your name mentioned——”</p> - -<p>“I do object, young man,” Nick now interrupted, with -ominously quiet determination. “Your chief may possibly -have persons in his office before whom I do not care -to have my name announced. Now, you go to him and -deliver my message just as I gave it to you, neither more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -nor less, or you’ll very suddenly hear something drop—providing -you still retain your senses.”</p> - -<p>Now the clerk laughed, as if amused by the cool -terms of the quiet threat, and then he turned quickly and -vanished into a short passageway between the outer room -and Chief Weston’s private office.</p> - -<p>Nick gazed after him with a rather quizzical stare—a -slender chap of about twenty-five, with reddish hair, -thin features, a sallow complexion thickly dotted with -freckles, and a countenance lighted by a pair of narrow -gray eyes, that greenish-gray sometimes seen in the eyes -of a cat.</p> - -<p>“I wonder what use they have for him around here?” -Nick said to himself, while waiting. “If I were chief in -this joint, it’s long odds that that red-headed monkey -would get his walking-ticket in short order.”</p> - -<p>The subject of these uncomplimentary cogitations returned -in less than a minute.</p> - -<p>“You are to walk right in, sir—this way,” he glibly -announced, with much more deference.</p> - -<p>At the same time he opened the way for Nick to pass -into the enclosure, and through the passage mentioned.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” said Nick, with half a growl.</p> - -<p>“Don’t mention it,” grinned the clerk. “Straight ahead, -sir. Chief Weston is at his desk.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nick heard, meantime, the tramp of men through a -corridor adjoining the opposite side of the outer office, -and he knew that Chief Weston had immediately dismissed -them, to receive him in private.</p> - -<p>“So, so; the business is important,” he rightly conjectured.</p> - -<p>The door closed behind Nick of itself, but the snap of -the catch-lock hung fire until after the hearty voice of -the Boston chief of detectives, as he arose and gripped -Nick by the hand, had sounded through the room.</p> - -<p>“How are you, Nick?” he cried cordially. “I’m a -thousand times more than glad to see you, Carter, on -my word.”</p> - -<p>“Same to you, Weston,” laughed Nick. “Some time -has passed since we met.”</p> - -<p>“Too long a time, eh?”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, too.”</p> - -<p>“Have a chair.”</p> - -<p>Now the catch-lock snapped lightly.</p> - -<p>A finger between the door and the jamb had been -withdrawn.</p> - -<p>A reddish head drew away from the panel, a pair of -ears ceased their strained attention, a light step retreated -through the passage, and two narrow gray eyes like -those of a cat indicated that their owner had now satisfied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -his inquisitive yearning, and learned the name of -the visitor who so peremptorily had issued his commands.</p> - -<p>As Nick accepted a chair near that taken by Weston -at his desk, he carelessly jerked his thumb toward the -door by which he had entered.</p> - -<p>“Where’d you get him, Weston?” he asked dryly.</p> - -<p>“Get whom?” queried the chief, with inquiring eyes.</p> - -<p>“The clerk.”</p> - -<p>“Hyde—the one who announced you?”</p> - -<p>“The same.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’s been at work on the books out there for -about a year. He’s only an assistant clerk.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, I see.”</p> - -<p>“Why did you ask?”</p> - -<p>“For no reason.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense! You must have had some reason, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“None of consequence,” smiled Nick. “I asked about -him, in fact, only because I had to fairly drive him in -here when I declined to send in a card or mention my -name.”</p> - -<p>Chief Weston threw back his head and laughed.</p> - -<p>“That’s easily explained,” said he, still chuckling. “I -growl at him roundly at regular intervals, Nick, for annoying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -me with visitors whom I neither know nor wish -to see. I am getting him by degrees, however, so that -he requires the whole pedigree of a caller before announcing -him, which is about as bad a fault, I imagine. -Sandy is all right, though, in his own peculiar way.”</p> - -<p>“Sandy, eh? That’s a nickname, I take it, because of -his red hair?”</p> - -<p>“No, not exactly. His name is Sanderson Hyde.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, just so.”</p> - -<p>“I took him in to oblige a journalist friend,” added -Weston, smiling. “It’s always well to stand ace-high -with the press, you know.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, too,” nodded Nick, now willing to digress. -“You sent for me to come over here from New -York, Weston. What do you want of me?”</p> - -<p>“You got my wire?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p>“Did Chick come with you?”</p> - -<p>“No,” replied Nick, at this reference to his chief assistant. -“I came over alone.”</p> - -<p>“Are you busy in New York just now?”</p> - -<p>“I’m always busy, Weston.”</p> - -<p>“Too busy to undertake a little work for me?”</p> - -<p>“Where?”</p> - -<p>“In and about Boston.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What’s the nature of it?”</p> - -<p>“There is nothing in giving you all of the details, -Nick, unless you are in a position to accept an offer and -help me out,” Chief Weston gravely rejoined. “First -of all, Nick, may I count on you?”</p> - -<p>The brows of the celebrated New York detective knit -a little closer over his keen gray eyes. He drew up a -bit in his chair, remarking gravely:</p> - -<p>“Your business is important, Weston, or you would -not have sent for me.”</p> - -<p>“Very important.”</p> - -<p>“A serious matter?”</p> - -<p>“Decidedly.”</p> - -<p>“Have your own men tackled it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, the very best of them.”</p> - -<p>“With no results?”</p> - -<p>“None but absolute failure.”</p> - -<p>“Are they now at work on the case?”</p> - -<p>“Some of them.”</p> - -<p>“And you wish me to take a hand in the work?”</p> - -<p>“I certainly do.”</p> - -<p>“If I consent to do so, Weston, I shall impose one -condition,” said Nick decidedly.</p> - -<p>“I expect it.”</p> - -<p>“You do?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Certainly,” nodded the chief. “Am I not familiar -with your methods? You will require me to order all -of my men off the case and give it entirely to you.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the condition,” said Nick bluntly.</p> - -<p>“I will accept it.”</p> - -<p>“And leave the matter to me alone?”</p> - -<p>“Precisely. In no way whatever shall you be interfered -with.”</p> - -<p>“Very good.”</p> - -<p>“You will undertake the work for me?”</p> - -<p>“I will hear of what it consists,” replied Nick, with -his curiosity stirred. “If it is all that your remarks -imply—well, Weston, you may then count on me to give -it an argument.”</p> - -<p>“Capital.”</p> - -<p>“Now, cut loose and give me the facts of the case.”</p> - -<p>Chief Weston opened a drawer of his desk and took -out a batch of papers and documents, among which was -a neatly mounted photograph about five inches square, -such as may be taken with a small portable camera, or -a kodak.</p> - -<p>While he placed the papers on his desk, he handed -the photograph to Nick Carter, saying impressively:</p> - -<p>“First examine this, Nick, and tell me what you make -of it.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER II. -<br /> -<small>MODERN HIGHWAYMEN.</small></h2> - - -<p>While the Boston chief sat silently regarding him, -Nick Carter studied the photograph attentively for several -moments.</p> - -<p>“H’m!” he presently grunted. “The picture is quite -plain. Two automobiles appear to have met in a lonely -woodland road.”</p> - -<p>“Precisely.”</p> - -<p>“Only part of one of them is visible in the picture,” -continued Nick, commenting upon the various details. -“The picture was evidently taken by an occupant of one -of the cars.”</p> - -<p>“Correct.”</p> - -<p>“In the road near the other machine stands a very -tall woman, closely veiled, who is pointing a revolver, -evidently at the occupants of the other car.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“They are not visible in the picture, however, except -the extended hand of one of them, obviously the hand -of a woman. She is passing a purse, two watches, and -what appears to be several pieces of jewelry, to a masked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -man, who is standing near the woman holding the leveled -revolver.”</p> - -<p>“Those are the main features of the picture, Nick,” -nodded Weston. “Now, what do you make of it?”</p> - -<p>Nick glanced up and replied:</p> - -<p>“It looks to me like a hold-up.”</p> - -<p>“That’s just what it was.”</p> - -<p>“When and where?”</p> - -<p>“Near the Brookline suburb, about a week ago.”</p> - -<p>“Is this the case on which you wish to employ me?”</p> - -<p>“One of them.”</p> - -<p>“There are others?”</p> - -<p>“Fifty, Nick, within the past two months.”</p> - -<p>“Whew!” whistled Nick, with brows lifting. “I have -read in the newspapers that you have had numerous -highway robberies about here, but I did not imagine them -to be so frequent as you state.”</p> - -<p>“Because only a small part of them have been given -publicity,” replied Weston. “I have suppressed many, -Nick, in the hope of thereby getting some traceable clue -to the crooks.”</p> - -<p>“Yet you are all still in the dark?”</p> - -<p>“Never more so, Nick,” was the grave rejoinder. “In -the past two months there have been, as I have stated, -upward of fifty of these highway robberies.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Early and often, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Decidedly so. These hold-ups have been committed, -moreover, with a boldness and daring that invests them -with a peculiarly mysterious character. Whether they -are the work of two or three professional crooks, or that -of a larger organized gang of them, is hard to say. At -all events, Nick, we have been absolutely unable to get -any traceable clue to the identity, haunts, or headquarters -of the rascals.”</p> - -<p>“Have two of these hold-ups ever been committed at -precisely the same time?”</p> - -<p>“Not that have been reported.”</p> - -<p>“If that had occurred,” explained Nick, “it would indicate -that a considerable gang is at work.”</p> - -<p>“Two hold-ups in one evening is the nearest approach -to it,” said Weston.</p> - -<p>“In the same locality?”</p> - -<p>“Within a mile of one another.”</p> - -<p>“Were the crooks in an automobile?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, in both cases.”</p> - -<p>“Then both jobs may have been done by the same -persons.”</p> - -<p>“I feel quite sure of that, Nick, for the same description -of the thieves and their automobile was given -me by the victims of both outrages.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Do these crooks always work from an automobile?”</p> - -<p>“In the majority of the cases reported,” bowed Weston. -“Yet at times they have appeared on horseback, -and on several occasions afoot. The work, Nick, is that -of two or more men and a woman, as nearly as I can -judge, and all of them are possessed of extraordinary -nerve, boldness, and sagacity. They have committed -these crimes at all hours of the day and night, frequently -in quite public places, yet they have thus far -completely evaded detection and pursuit. They invariably -do their rascally job with a decisiveness and despatch -that completely awe their victims, who are usually -so alarmed——”</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment,” said Nick quite abruptly. “I’d like -to ask you a few questions, Weston.”</p> - -<p>“Very well.”</p> - -<p>“If I decide to look into this case, I shall then have -some few points already settled, and will need to waste -no time in seeking the information myself.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” nodded the chief. “What do you wish to -know?”</p> - -<p>“First, about the crooks themselves,” said Nick. “What -have you in the way of descriptions of them?”</p> - -<p>Chief Weston laughed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> - -<p>“A variety, Nick, to fit any type of man except a -humpback or one dismembered,” he replied.</p> - -<p>“The descriptions vary, eh?”</p> - -<p>“I should say so.”</p> - -<p>“Possibly the robbers use a different disguise for each -job.”</p> - -<p>“Very likely.”</p> - -<p>“Or, as nearly always is the case,” said Nick, “the -victims of the robbers were so frightened or excited at -the time that they retain only vague and exaggerated impressions -of their assailants.”</p> - -<p>“Precisely.”</p> - -<p>“To illustrate that,” added Nick, “I know of a case of -a noted prize-fighter, who was held up and robbed of -his watch and money in broad daylight, and within fifty -yards of Central Park. He declared that the thief was -six feet tall, weighed one hundred and eighty pounds, -and was backed by two confederates, whom he could not -quite recall. We got the crook next day.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?”</p> - -<p>“He was under five feet, weighed one hundred and -thirty pounds, and did the job entirely alone.”</p> - -<p>“Quite a difference!” exclaimed Weston, laughing -heartily.</p> - -<p>“Rather,” smiled Nick. “As a matter of fact, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -prize-fighter was so scared when he saw a revolver -thrust under his nose that the crook loomed as big as a -house. Probably thinking that such a job would not -be attempted single-handed, he afterward got it into his -head that he saw the two confederates, and was so -thoroughly convinced of the imaginary fact that he really -believed it. I could cite numerous similar cases.”</p> - -<p>“So could I, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“Descriptions are not at all reliable, as you imply, yet -they sometimes help one a little.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true.”</p> - -<p>“In a general way, then, you think there are at least -two men and one woman in this gang?”</p> - -<p>“The cases reported convince me of that,” bowed -Weston. “That picture shows the woman, moreover, -though two men are mentioned in the majority of robberies -reported.”</p> - -<p>“Are the men always masked?”</p> - -<p>“No, not always. The woman is invariably veiled, -however, and the descriptions of the men indicate a frequent -change of disguise.”</p> - -<p>“That is to be expected,” said Nick. “Now, about -the automobile used by the knaves. Have any attempts -been made to follow it or to trace it?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Repeated attempts, Nick, all of which have proved -futile.”</p> - -<p>“Has none of the victims been able to report its registered -number?”</p> - -<p>“We have had a dozen different numbers reported,” -replied Chief Weston; “but investigation showed that -all of them were fictitious.”</p> - -<p>“Yet the crooks might be located, chief, if the make -of the automobile were known,” suggested Nick. “That -should have been easily learned by some of these people.”</p> - -<p>Chief Weston shook his head.</p> - -<p>“That would be true, Nick, providing the scamps always -used the same machine,” said he. “Half a score of -different automobiles have been reported as having been -used by these knaves at the time of the numerous hold-ups.”</p> - -<p>“H’m!” grunted Nick, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. -“Evidently, then, these crooks have considerable -money invested in their rascally enterprise.”</p> - -<p>“It certainly appears so.”</p> - -<p>“How about the horses ridden by them?” Nick next -inquired. “Can the owner of none of them be discovered?”</p> - -<p>“In the few cases in which persons have been held up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -by a horseman,” replied Weston, “the highwayman has -usually been alone. According to the description given, -moreover, he has as many horses as automobiles, for he -has appeared on grays, bays, blacks, and sorrels.”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed at the glibness with which the last was -said.</p> - -<p>“It seems a bit odd to me, Weston, that none of your -men have been able to get on the track of these desperadoes,” -he presently rejoined. “It is not often that -a gang of highwaymen can long escape detection and -arrest, when at work in and about a city like Boston.”</p> - -<p>“They are not ordinary knaves, Nick,” emphatically -declared Chief Weston. “If they were, we should have -landed them long ago.”</p> - -<p>“Where do these robberies usually occur?”</p> - -<p>“Generally in some lonely part of a suburban road, -though several have taken place in the evening, right -in the heart of Brookline, Cambridge, and Newton,” -replied Weston. “It is evident that the crooks select -their victims from the more wealthy suburbs, presumably -with a view to obtaining the more plunder.”</p> - -<p>“How do they usually proceed?”</p> - -<p>“In various ways, Nick, according to my reports. At -times they block the road with their car and hold up -the first automobile-party that appears, which, of course,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -is obliged to stop. Having relieved the travelers of their -property, the crooks then forced them to turn their machine -about, under the muzzles of leveled revolvers, and -depart at full speed. If the frightened victims return in -a few moments, as once or twice has been the case, they -reach the scene, only to find that the knaves have fled.”</p> - -<p>“Naturally,” said Nick smilingly.</p> - -<p>“They have adopted, in fact, innumerable methods for -holding up an automobile-party,” added Weston, “and -they invariably intimidate their quarry and get away -with the goods.”</p> - -<p>“Of what does their plunder usually consist?” inquired -Nick.</p> - -<p>“Money and jewelry. They take all that their victims -have, and the most of them give up readily rather -than take any chances of being shot in cold blood.”</p> - -<p>“Have you been able to locate any of the stolen property -in the pawn-shops?”</p> - -<p>“Not a piece of it.”</p> - -<p>“Judging from your reports, Weston, what is the value -of the property thus far secured by these highwaymen?”</p> - -<p>“Thousands of dollars, Nick. Close upon fifty thousand, -at least.”</p> - -<p>“Have there been house burglaries about here of -late?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Very few.”</p> - -<p>“It looks, then, as if these knaves were confining themselves -to this road work.”</p> - -<p>“I think so,” bowed Weston.</p> - -<p>Nick glanced again at the photograph, which he still -retained in his hand.</p> - -<p>“This was one of these hold-ups, was it?” said he.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“It occurred in Brookline?”</p> - -<p>“In a lonely road leading into Brookline,” replied -Weston. “The victims were Brookline people, and were -robbed of some five hundred dollars’ worth of diamonds -and jewelry, including what money they had with them. -The victims were two ladies, taking an afternoon ride in -a Stanley machine.”</p> - -<p>“Did they have a chauffeur?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“How was that?”</p> - -<p>“One of the women, Mrs. Badger, is an expert driver, -and frequently rides without a chauffeur.”</p> - -<p>Nick glanced again at the photograph—little dreaming -at that moment, however, how important a clue he -then held in his hand.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER III. -<br /> -<small>NICK CARTER HELD UP.</small></h2> - - -<p>Despite that he then attached no special significance to -the photograph, the fact that Nick Carter was of a peculiarly -impressionable nature, and that any unusual circumstance -quickly stirred his rare detective instinct, appeared -in his next question and the abruptness with which -it was asked.</p> - -<p>“How did it happen, Weston, that this picture of the -scene was taken during the robbery?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you,” replied the Boston chief.</p> - -<p>“One moment,” interposed Nick. “First, tell me something -about the victims of the robbery.”</p> - -<p>“The Mrs. Badger mentioned,” replied Weston, “is the -wife of one Amos G. Badger, a wealthy Boston stock-broker. -He owns a fine old place on one of the most -desirable outskirts of Brookline, inherited from his father -some years ago, and the couple move in the most exclusive -circles of the local fashionable society. Badger’s -place is on Laurel Road, and covers several acres.”</p> - -<p>“Go on,” nodded Nick; “I follow you.”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Badger’s companion that afternoon was her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -sister,” continued Weston, “a woman locally famous under -the name of Madame Victoria.”</p> - -<p>“Famous for what?” inquired Nick.</p> - -<p>“Well, she claims to be an astrologer, a spiritual -medium, and a sort of fortune-teller, I believe,” explained -Chief Weston.</p> - -<p>“H’m!”</p> - -<p>“At all events, Nick, she does a tremendous business, -and has a magnificent suite in an office building on Tremont -Street, directly opposite the Common. No end of -wealthy and fashionable people consult her, either for -advice in business or love-affairs—or to get messages -alleged to come from dead friends,” added Weston, -laughing a bit derisively.</p> - -<p>“I don’t take any stock in that stuff,” said Nick -bluntly.</p> - -<p>“Nor do I, Nick,” was the reply. “Yet the woman is -certainly a character, and, if reports are true, has made -very many remarkable predictions, and displays a most -mysterious faculty for communicating with the unseen -world.”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!”</p> - -<p>“Like you, Nick, I have no faith in any of that rot!” -laughed Weston. “Yet I know half a dozen brokers who -consult her regularly as to the course of the stock-market,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -as well as many other business men, all of -whom claim to derive great advantages thereby. Her -rooms are always occupied by some patron, either male -or female, and her fees are very high. So there may -be a little more in it, Nick, than you imagine.”</p> - -<p>Nick shook his head incredulously.</p> - -<p>“Come back to Hecuba,” he growled. “You say that -this woman is sister to Badger’s wife?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“What is her right name?”</p> - -<p>“Victoria Clayton.”</p> - -<p>“A euphonious name, at least.”</p> - -<p>“Badger’s wife was a Claudia Clayton, and at one -time was on the stage,” continued Weston. “She, too, -is a remarkably clever and capable woman, an accomplished -linguist, a votary of physical culture, an expert -tennis and golf-player, and one of the best cross-country -riders among the cultured sporting set who lean to such -pastimes. Both women, in fact, are over the average, -and out of the ordinary.”</p> - -<p>“Did Badger marry his wife from the stage?”</p> - -<p>“I think not, Nick. She had retired some time before. -They have been married about five years, I believe.”</p> - -<p>“Come back to the picture,” said Nick. “It must -have been taken just as the hold-up occurred.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, it was.”</p> - -<p>“Were the crooks aware of it?”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed.”</p> - -<p>“How was the trick pulled off?” demanded Nick curiously. -“It’s not often that such a clever dodge is played -upon professional crooks.”</p> - -<p>“The woman who did it is clever, just as I tell you.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me how it happened.”</p> - -<p>“I will give you the facts as they were given to me.”</p> - -<p>“By whom?”</p> - -<p>“By Amos Badger and his wife,” replied Chief Weston. -“He notified me by telephone of the robbery, and -called here with his wife the next morning to report -the details of the hold-up. Two days later, as soon as -it could be finished and mounted, Badger brought me -the photograph.”</p> - -<p>“What about the hold-up?”</p> - -<p>“It was committed about a week ago, at three o’clock -in the afternoon,” said Weston. “Mrs. Badger and -her sister, Madame Victoria, were returning from Canton -to Brookline. When in a lonely section of a road -that leads through a considerable belt of woods, they -rounded a sharp curve and came suddenly upon a large -automobile standing at an angle across the road. A man -appeared to be fixing some break in the works, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -crouching beside it, while a woman stood near-by in the -road, apparently watching him.”</p> - -<p>“Were they the only occupants of that car?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, as the picture indicates. They were, too, the -only persons in sight in either direction.”</p> - -<p>“The machine appears to be a Winton.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what it was, Nick, for Mrs. Badger noticed -it.”</p> - -<p>“Go on,” nodded Nick. “What more?”</p> - -<p>“Naturally Mrs. Badger slowed down, nearly stopping, -for the road was almost completely blocked by the -other car,” continued Weston. “Then the veiled woman -seen in the picture suddenly stepped forward, leveled a -revolver, and commanded Mrs. Badger not to start her -auto without permission.”</p> - -<p>“H’m!” exclaimed Nick. “That was bold, indeed.”</p> - -<p>“At the same moment the man, who was seen to be -masked, sprang up and approached the two startled -women, and commanded them to hand over their jewelry -and money, and to be very lively about it.”</p> - -<p>“Which they did?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Nick, for the women naturally were much -alarmed. Both hastened to obey, though Madame Victoria -did, I believe, undertake to make some argument<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -or protest. She was cut short, however, with a threat -that quickly silenced her.”</p> - -<p>“I see.”</p> - -<p>“She had on the seat of the car, however, a small -camera, which she frequently carries, one of her fads -being that of securing pretty views, of which she has -several large volumes. Looking down, she observed it, -and had the presence of mind to conceal it with her -hand, at the same time snapping it and luckily catching -the picture you have there. I told her it was a clever -piece of work, Nick, yet it is much to be regretted that -the faces of the crooks were covered. Otherwise, we -should possess a clue well worth having.”</p> - -<p>“I believe your story,” assented Nick.</p> - -<p>“The crooks, having secured their plunder, ordered -the women to drive on, which they were very willing to -do,” concluded Weston. “They were too frightened to -venture back in pursuit of the rascals, but hurried home, -to notify me by telephone.”</p> - -<p>For some moments Nick had worn a decidedly -thoughtful expression, as if he already had some project -in his mind. Before the chief had fairly ceased speaking, -moreover, Nick said bluntly:</p> - -<p>“I’d like to talk with Mrs. Badger.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> - -<p>“By telephone?” inquired Weston, wondering at the -wish.</p> - -<p>“No, personally.”</p> - -<p>“You may easily do so by going out to Brookline.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll go!” exclaimed Nick, abruptly rising. “I suppose -I may keep this photograph for a short time?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p>“As regards my undertaking to round up the rascals -guilty of these robberies—well, I will give you my answer -a little later,” Nick went on to say, as he opened -the door by which he had entered. “I have no doubt, -old friend, that it will be a favorable answer.”</p> - -<p>“I hope so, Nick, I’m sure,” declared Weston, as he -followed the former into the outer office, where Nick -briefly halted.</p> - -<p>Sanderson Hyde, perched upon a stool in the enclosure, -appeared busy over his books, not so much as looking up -at the intruders.</p> - -<p>“Are you going out at once?” inquired Weston.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied Nick, slipping the photograph into his -pocket. “There are a few questions I wish to ask Mrs. -Amos Badger. If I can find a public automobile, Weston, -I think I will go out there in it. It’s the quickest -conveyance, and this is a fine morning for a ride.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll find what you want at the corner below,” replied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -Weston. “The machine is all right, and so is the -man. Grady is his name. Mention mine, Nick, and -there’ll be no charges.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ll see that Grady gets his fee, all right,” laughed -Nick, as he turned to leave the office. “I’ll see you later, -Weston, probably early this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“Do so,” nodded the latter.</p> - -<p>Then he turned to the busy clerk and added, a bit -sharply:</p> - -<p>“What did you say to that man, Hyde, when he came -in here this morning?”</p> - -<p>Young Sanderson Hyde looked up with raised brows.</p> - -<p>“Nothing of consequence, chief,” he respectfully answered. -“Only a few words about sending in his card.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know the man?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir. I don’t recall ever having seen him.”</p> - -<p>“Well, the next time you see him take a good look at -him, for that man is Nick Carter, the greatest detective -that ever stood in leather.”</p> - -<p>“The dickens!” gasped Hyde, with manifest astonishment. -“You don’t mean it, chief! Not Nick Carter -himself?”</p> - -<p>“I always say what I mean,” growled Weston. “Hereafter, -show him into my office without delay.”</p> - -<p>The catlike eyes followed the burly figure of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -speaker as he returned through the passage, and presently -the snap of the catch-lock sounded through the -office.</p> - -<p>Then Mr. Hyde laid down his pen and came out of -the enclosure. His tread was more light and cautious -than ordinary business should have required. He glanced -sharply into both of the adjoining corridors, listened intently -for a moment, then darted into a telephone-closet -near-by and tightly closed the door.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter found Grady on the corner mentioned, a -shrewd-looking young Irishman, seated in an excellent -runabout, reading the morning newspaper.</p> - -<p>“Do you know Laurel Road, Brookline, Mr. Grady?” -asked Nick, halting beside the machine.</p> - -<p>“I know pretty near where it is, sir,” said Grady, alert -for business. “I can find it for you, all right.”</p> - -<p>“Take me out there,” said Nick, mounting to the seat. -“To the house of Mr. Amos Badger.”</p> - -<p>“The broker, sir,” nodded Grady. “I know the man, -sir. I’ll land you out there in thirty minutes, sir, or -less, if you say the word.”</p> - -<p>“I’m in no special hurry,” said Nick. “Keep down -to the speed limit.”</p> - -<p>He did not tell Grady his name, nor that he came -from the police headquarters. Neither did he enter into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -much conversation with the man, for Nick was absorbed -in thought about the disclosures made him, and the various -possibilities of the work he was invited to undertake.</p> - -<p>Grady, on his part, was not quite as good as his word. -He ran a mile or two out of the direct course to Laurel -Road, and then he had to round the great Chestnut Hill -reservoir in order to hit the right track.</p> - -<p>There are numerous wooded roads on the outskirts of -fashionable Brookline, along which the attractive dwellings -are much scattered, or divided by extensive estates; -and through one of these roads Grady was sending his -machine at a faster clip, to make up for lost time.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, from out a little piece of woods some fifty -yards away, a drunken fellow came staggering into the -road, much as if he had just awakened from a nap in -the shrubbery; and Nick Carter, being the first to see -him, said quickly to his driver:</p> - -<p>“Look out for that chap, Grady.”</p> - -<p>“I see him, sir,” nodded Grady.</p> - -<p>“He has a load aboard.”</p> - -<p>“I should say so.”</p> - -<p>The intoxicated man now heard the automobile approaching -him from behind. He turned around, halting -unsteadily in the middle of the road, where he stood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -swaying and staring as if too fuddled to know which side -of the road to seek to avoid being run over.</p> - -<p>Grady naturally slowed down when scarcely twenty -feet from the fellow.</p> - -<p>“Get out of the road!” he impatiently yelled. “Take -one side or the other, blast you!”</p> - -<p>The auto had come to a dead stop.</p> - -<p>The man in the road reeled a little to one side—and -a little nearer.</p> - -<p>Then, with movements as quick and decisive as a lightning -stroke, he sprang forward, whipped out a brace of -revolvers, leveled them straight at the heads of the -two men in the auto, and sharply cried:</p> - -<p>“Hands up! If you start that machine, driver, I’ll -blow your head off!”</p> - -<p>The voice was as firm and cold as ice, yet it had a -ring as threatening as when blades of steel cross in -deadly combat.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter fairly caught his breath.</p> - -<p>“Held up, by thunder!” was his first thought.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IV. -<br /> -<small>THE ESCAPE.</small></h2> - - -<p>How to get the best of the highwayman was Nick -Carter’s second thought.</p> - -<p>This did not look to be easy, yet Nick’s hand instinctively -went toward his hip pocket.</p> - -<p>“Stop! Hands up!”</p> - -<p>The reiterated command fairly cut the air with its -threatening intensity.</p> - -<p>Grady’s hands were already reaching after clouds.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter’s now followed suit, and went into the -air.</p> - -<p>In the voice, eyes, and attitude of the ruffian in the -road, there was that which convinced Nick that disobedience -and defiance would certainly invite a bullet.</p> - -<p>He saw, moreover, that the aim of the scoundrel was -true to the mark, and that the finger on the trigger of -the weapon covering his own breast was already beginning -to contract, during the moment that he showed -signs of giving fight.</p> - -<p>“If one of you move before I command it,” said the -highwayman, “I will instantly open fire upon you. And -I never miss my aim!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> - -<p>The threat was as calmly made as if the speaker had -merely inquired the time of day, yet the voice did not -for a moment lose its terribly convincing ring.</p> - -<p>Nick seized the opportunity to look him over, and he -felt comparatively sure that he was up against the same -man that appeared in the Badger photograph.</p> - -<p>The fellow was roughly clad at this time, however, -with a soft felt hat drawn over his brows.</p> - -<p>He was a well-built, athletic man, apparently somewhere -in the forties; yet he was as quick as a cat in his -movements, and evidently was endowed with supple -muscles and nerves of steel.</p> - -<p>The rascal was heavily bearded, yet this did not figure -for much with Nick Carter. He rightly judged that the -man was carefully disguised, yet the make-up was so -cleverly prepared and adjusted that Nick, despite his -experience in such artifices, could not detect it.</p> - -<p>What Nick chiefly noted, in fact, was that the eyes of -the man had in them the piercing gleam of deadly resolution, -a fixed and vicious determination to execute the -desperate deed that he had undertaken. There was no -sign of intoxication now, which plainly had been assumed -only for the purpose of holding up the travelers.</p> - -<p>Though not lacking in courage, Nick Carter had his -share of wisdom and discretion. He saw at a glance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -that he was entirely helpless for the moment, at least, -and he had no idea of deliberately inviting a bullet.</p> - -<p>Such stirring episodes occur in a very few moments, -and not thirty seconds had passed since the hold-up, -when the voice of the highwayman again cut sharply -upon the morning air.</p> - -<p>“Chauffeur, you do what I command, or worse will be -yours,” he cried sternly. “Lower one of your hands and -remove your employer’s watch.”</p> - -<p>Grady hesitated for the bare fraction of a second.</p> - -<p>Nick saw the hand clutching one of the weapons begin -to contract.</p> - -<p>“Obey him, Grady,” said he, with ominous curtness.</p> - -<p>“Bedad, I don’t like——”</p> - -<p>“One more second, and I’ll——”</p> - -<p>“Obey him!” hissed Nick, with suppressed vehemence. -“Obey him, you idiot!”</p> - -<p>Nick saw at a glance that that one more second would -have ended with Grady’s receiving an ounce of lead.</p> - -<p>Grady had the true grit and pugnacious characteristics -of an Irishman, but he now dropped one hand and removed -Nick’s watch and chain.</p> - -<p>The highwayman came a step nearer, until he stood -barely six feet away in the dusty road.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Toss them to the ground at my feet,” he commanded, -with his evil eye fixed upon the chauffeur.</p> - -<p>“Do so, Grady,” said Nick.</p> - -<p>Grady obeyed with an ugly scowl, and the watch and -chain landed in the dust at the ruffian’s feet.</p> - -<p>“Now, your employer’s purse.”</p> - -<p>“In the breast pocket of my vest, Grady.”</p> - -<p>“Look lively.”</p> - -<p>Grady dove into Nick’s vest and drew out his pocketbook.</p> - -<p>Nick still sat with his hands in the air, but not for a -moment did his eyes leave those of the highwayman.</p> - -<p>Though at first inclined to send Grady into his hip -pocket after his revolver, Nick realized that the Irishman -might not be quick and accurate in using it, and -also that the crook was alert to their every move. The -hazard was too great to be taken, and Nick decided to -submit to the situation for the time being, and watch -for an opportunity to turn the tables on the rascal.</p> - -<p>Grady drew out the pocketbook, which contained -about a hundred dollars and a few unimportant papers.</p> - -<p>“Toss it into the road,” commanded the highwayman.</p> - -<p>“Let it go, Grady,” said Nick.</p> - -<p>“Your employer has more wisdom than you, Grady,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -said the crook, with a threatening sneer. “Obey at -once, or I’ll let daylight into you.”</p> - -<p>Grady tossed the pocketbook after the watch and chain.</p> - -<p>“Now, up with your hands again!”</p> - -<p>“Bedad, mister, some day the boot’ll be on the other -leg,” snarled Grady, as he obeyed.</p> - -<p>“It’ll not be to-day, Grady, take my word for that,” -retorted the ruffian.</p> - -<p>“The day will come, nevertheless,” Nick Carter now -said, with ominous quietude.</p> - -<p>“Do you think so?”</p> - -<p>“I certainly do.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t.”</p> - -<p>“That is because you do not know who I am,” said -Nick pointedly.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care who you are.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t, eh?”</p> - -<p>“I certainly don’t.”</p> - -<p>“You will change your mind later.”</p> - -<p>The scene was a curious one, the two men in the runabout -seated with their hands high above their heads, -while the man in the road stood as coolly intimidating -them as if not the slightest danger existed for him, -either from them or the sudden approach of some intruders -upon the scene.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nick had begun the conversation with the scamp in -the hope of catching him napping for an instant, or that -some person or another automobile might appear; but -neither of them seemed probable, for the woodland road -was deserted, and the highwayman did not for a second -relax his vigilance or lower his leveled weapons.</p> - -<p>With Nick Carter’s last remark, however, the rascal’s -eyes took on an uglier gleam, and he evidently decided -that he had better not defer making his escape. That -he was clever in so doing, and foresaw that his victims -might possibly be armed, appeared in the way he accomplished -it.</p> - -<p>With both men constantly under his eyes, he said -sternly:</p> - -<p>“The slightest move by either of you will cost him -his life. I warn you that I shall instantly fire, not caution -you again; so keep that in mind, and be wise.”</p> - -<p>Then he slipped one of his revolvers into his coat -pocket.</p> - -<p>With the other weapon constantly covering his victims, -with his gaze never leaving them, he slowly -crouched down and groped over the ground till he had -secured the plunder lying there, which he also dropped -into his pocket.</p> - -<p>Then he rose erect again, and drew his other weapon.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nick was mentally praying for an opportunity to get -just one shot at the knave when he resorted to flight.</p> - -<p>The flight of the rascal, however, was as original and -unexpected as his every other move had been.</p> - -<p>“Now, Grady,” said he, with threatening austerity, -“you do just what I tell you, neither more nor less.”</p> - -<p>“Begorra! it looks as if I’d have to.”</p> - -<p>“You bet you will!”</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“You start that machine of yours slowly, and turn -it into the shrubbery at that side of the road.”</p> - -<p>“How am I going to start it with me hands in the -air,” snarled Grady, who had really seen Nick’s desire to -delay matters.</p> - -<p>The voice of the highwayman again took on that -vicious ring which had warned Nick not to oppose him -then and there.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you speak again, Grady, or this gun will drown -the sound of your voice,” he cried quickly. “You start -that machine and turn it into the shrubbery—and don’t -forget, either of you, that I shall keep you constantly -covered. Start her up, Grady, and turn sharp out of -the road!”</p> - -<p>With the ugliest kind of a scowl, Grady gripped the -steering-bar and slowly started the runabout, turning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -toward the shrubbery that lined the road in that locality.</p> - -<p>Just as the Irishman did so, however, there suddenly -sounded from up the road the warning toot of an automobile-horn.</p> - -<p>“Steady!—not a move!” yelled the robber warningly. -“If you drop your hands, mister, I’ll fire!”</p> - -<p>Nick could not then see the scoundrel, for he had -darted back of the runabout when Grady turned it from -the road.</p> - -<p>Glancing quickly in the direction from which the horn -had sounded, however, Nick now beheld a large touring-car -come sweeping around a sharp curve of the road, -some thirty yards away.</p> - -<p>It was driven by a man with a beard, who was the -one occupant of the car, and whose eyes and features -were almost entirely masked with a pair of huge dust-glasses.</p> - -<p>Nick now thought he could see a favorable finish to -this unexpected hold-up, for the touring-car was approaching -at a high rate of speed, and the escape of the -thief appeared next to impossible.</p> - -<p>Yet the latter, while reiterating his threatening commands, -only backed a few paces toward the middle of -the road.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> - -<p>The man in the approaching car evidently saw what -was going on, and he began to slow down.</p> - -<p>The rear of the runabout was now toward the road, -with the machine half-hidden in the shrubbery.</p> - -<p>“Stop her!” whispered Nick, not yet venturing to turn -about on the seat. “Stop her at once!”</p> - -<p>He did not wish to go too far in from the road.</p> - -<p>Grady felt that he was taking his life in his hand—yet -he promptly obeyed.</p> - -<p>Instantly two sharp reports of a revolver rang out on -the morning air.</p> - -<p>The reports were followed by others, nearly as loud, -occasioned by the bursting of the two rear tires of the -runabout.</p> - -<p>The highwayman had sent a bullet through each -rubber tire, obviously bent upon partly disabling the -runabout and thus preventing pursuit.</p> - -<p>Then, just as the huge touring-car arrived upon the -scene, the daring rascal darted back through the veil -of smoke from his weapons and leaped aboard the car.</p> - -<p>“Let her go!” he yelled commandingly.</p> - -<p>The driver instantly gave her full speed, and the car -swept on down the road with the velocity of an express-train.</p> - -<p>Already upon his feet in the runabout, Nick Carter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -whipped out his revolver and fired twice at the occupants -of the departing car. His aim was ruined by -Grady, however, who excitedly began backing the runabout -into the road, and Nick’s bullets went wide of -their mark.</p> - -<p>In ten seconds the touring-car was vanishing in a -cloud of dust around a distant curve of the road.</p> - -<p>“Hold on!” roared Grady, thinking Nick was about -to alight in the road. “I’ll follow them divils, sir, tires -or no tires!”</p> - -<p>“Follow nothing!” growled Nick, thrusting his revolver -back into his pocket. “You might as well try -to follow a streak of lightning.”</p> - -<p>“Will you let that blackguard escape?”</p> - -<p>“Let him escape!” exclaimed Nick derisively. “I -should say, Grady, that he has already escaped. You -could not overtake him with this machine if your life -depended upon it.”</p> - -<p>“Bedad, that’s right, sir,” Grady now admitted, more -calmly. “Yet the man in that car may try to do the -rascal——”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!” interrupted Nick, with a growl. “The driver -of that car was the robber’s confederate.”</p> - -<p>“D’ye think so?”</p> - -<p>“I know so, Grady,” declared Nick, now plainly seeing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -how the entire job, which had taken less than five minutes, -had been planned and executed.</p> - -<p>“I suspected as much when the man slowed down only -enough to let the crook aboard,” added Nick. “His approach -was timed to a nicety. It’s odds that he was -watching the hold-up from beyond the curve of the road, -and that he knew just when the other wanted him to approach.”</p> - -<p>“Bedad, sir, I reckon you’re right.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we have much the worse of it for the present, -Grady, and have been held up by two of the gang of -crooks now at work in these parts,” added Nick. “But -I will yet break even with them, I give you my word -for that.”</p> - -<p>“Me tires——”</p> - -<p>“I will see that you are paid for them,” interrupted -Nick, much to Grady’s satisfaction. “Can you run the -machine back to town as it is?”</p> - -<p>“Sure, sir, I can.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t wish to return quite yet.”</p> - -<p>“All right, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Keep on, Grady, and take me to Badger’s house,” -Nick bruskly commanded. “Look lively, too! This -does settle it, Grady, as far as I am concerned.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What d’ye mean, sir?”</p> - -<p>“I mean that I will land this gang of highway robbers, -every man and woman of them, or lose a leg in the -attempt,” cried Nick, with Chief Weston’s request then -in his mind. “That’s what I mean, Grady. Let her go -lively, my man, and head straight for Amos Badger’s -house.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. -<br /> -<small>THE HOUSE IN LAUREL ROAD.</small></h2> - - -<p>The direction taken by Nick Carter and Grady to -reach Laurel Road and the house of Amos Badger was -the same as that in which the highwayman had fled with -his confederate in the touring-car.</p> - -<p>Nick felt some little chagrin over thus having been -successfully held up and robbed, yet this feeling was -somewhat assuaged by the fact that he had obtained a -good look at the thief, and had a clear impression of -his general features.</p> - -<p>Nick felt quite sure, despite the rascal’s disguise, that -he could identify him if they again met, or, at least, -recognize his peculiarly keen eyes and cutting voice.</p> - -<p>Though it then gave him no surprise, the distance to -Laurel Road from, the scene of the hold-up was less than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -a quarter of a mile, and then about the same distance -to the place owned and occupied by Mr. Amos Badger.</p> - -<p>The surroundings were about as stated by Chief -Weston.</p> - -<p>The road ran through an extreme outskirt of the -town, and was for the most part shut in by woods, -cleared only here and there for building.</p> - -<p>There were but three dwellings on this secluded road, -none of which was within view of Badger’s place, which -was less modern and much more extensive than the -others, as if it had been a family homestead for several -generations.</p> - -<p>Nick surveyed the place with some interest as he approached -it.</p> - -<p>The house was a large, wooden mansion, standing fully -fifty yards from the road. It had a broad veranda in -front and on one side, the latter terminating with a porte-cochère -at the side entrance of the house.</p> - -<p>A gravel driveway between a double row of elms and -beeches led in from the road, passing the front and one -side of the house, then leading out to a large stable well -to the rear of the dwelling.</p> - -<p>In addition to these there were several wooden outbuildings, -one of which was a long carriage-house adjoining -the stable.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> - -<p>The features mentioned, together with the broad estate -covered with garden plots and shade trees, with a background -of woods in the near distance, gave the entire -place a rural aspect not often seen so near a large and -thickly settled town.</p> - -<p>As the runabout sped up the long driveway, Nick saw -a man cleaning a large automobile just beyond the porte-cochère; -but the vehicle bore no resemblance to the one -in which the crooks had fled, and the circumstance did -not then appeal to him with any special significance.</p> - -<p>“Run round to the side entrance, Grady,” said he. -“I’ll ask that workman who’s at home.”</p> - -<p>Grady nodded, and presently brought the runabout to -a stop under the porte-cochère.</p> - -<p>Nick quickly sprang down and approached the man -at work near-by. Instead of making any inquiry concerning -the inmates of the house, however, Nick abruptly -demanded:</p> - -<p>“Have you seen an automobile pass along Laurel Road, -my man?”</p> - -<p>My man was one Jerry Conley, chauffeur, hostler, and -all-round workman out of doors for Mr. Amos Badger. -He was a short, stocky man, of about thirty years, with a -head nearly as round as a bullet. His face was smoothly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -shaven, and was lighted by a pair of as shifty, crafty -eyes as ever lighted a human countenance.</p> - -<p>They came round with half a leer to meet those of the -detective, while the man arose from his work on the car. -Wiping his hands on his overalls, he indulged in a series -of jerky nods, steadily eying Nick all the while, then -deliberately inquired:</p> - -<p>“What’s that you say?”</p> - -<p>“I asked if you had seen an automobile pass along -Laurel Road,” replied Nick, not half-liking the fellow’s -looks.</p> - -<p>“Aye, I have,” said Conley.</p> - -<p>“Which way did it go?”</p> - -<p>“Which one d’ye mean?”</p> - -<p>“Which one?” echoed Nick, sharply eying the fellow. -“I mean one that may have passed within five or ten -minutes.”</p> - -<p>It was then less than ten minutes since the robbery.</p> - -<p>“Oh, if that’s what you mean, mister, I haven’t seen -any,” Conley now vouchsafed, with a less steadfast -scrutiny of Nick’s countenance.</p> - -<p>“You haven’t, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Not to-day.”</p> - -<p>“Did you think I meant last week?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t think at all, mister,” said Conley, stooping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -to pick up a bit of cotton waste from the ground. “I -only heard what you asked, and that was whether I’d seen -an automobile pass along Laurel Road. I’ve seen hundreds -of ’em, mister, but none this morning.”</p> - -<p>“You should have known that I meant this morning.”</p> - -<p>“So I would, mister, if you’d said this morning,” -Conley replied, with a leer. “I never know more’n I’m -paid for knowing.”</p> - -<p>“See here, my man,” said Nick quite sternly. “If the -master you serve carries the same cut of jib as yourself, -it’s long odds that he——”</p> - -<p>What more Nick would have said was abruptly withheld, -however, for his quick ear heard the side door of -the house opened, and then the fall of a man’s feet on -the veranda, followed by the inquiry:</p> - -<p>“What’s the trouble, Jerry?”</p> - -<p>“None at all, sir,” replied Conley, turning with a grin -to his questioner. “Not unless this gentleman is looking -for trouble, which I reckon he isn’t.”</p> - -<p>Nick had already turned to survey the first speaker, -whom he rightly conjectured might be Mr. Amos -Badger, despite that it was then an hour when a stock-broker -should have been busy at the market.</p> - -<p>He stood near the rail of the veranda, an erect, well-built -man of forty, cleanly shaven, with dark hair and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -eyes, the latter lighting a rather attractive yet noticeably -strong and determined face.</p> - -<p>He was in slippers, and wore a house-jacket of figured -woolen, while his neck was bandaged with several thicknesses -of red flannel, as if he was afflicted with a sore -throat or with a cold. This was further evinced by his -hoarse voice when addressing Conley, yet his gaze all the -while was fixed upon the detective.</p> - -<p>Nick promptly took up the remark of the chauffeur, -saying, with a quiet laugh:</p> - -<p>“No, I’m not specially looking for trouble. I have -had enough of it for one day.”</p> - -<p>“Enough of trouble?” inquired Badger, with an air of -wonderment at Nick’s meaning.</p> - -<p>“Quite enough, sir, and at considerable expense. I’m -out a valuable watch and chain also what money I had -on my person.”</p> - -<p>“Not robbed?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what,” nodded Nick. “Held up by the crooks -who are doing such rascally work in these parts. But -there’ll come a day of reckoning, sir, you may safely -wager your whole fortune on that.”</p> - -<p>There stole into Badger’s dark eyes, which were -still fixed upon Nick’s face, a momentary gleam of resentment.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What sent you here so quickly after being robbed?” -he asked, with sinister inflection. “Did you expect to -find the thieves in my house?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, not at all.”</p> - -<p>“Or did you come to condole with me over a like -mishap, since misery likes company? The headquarters -of the police is, I should say, the proper place for you -to have hurriedly visited.”</p> - -<p>“I have just come from there,” replied Nick, a bit -dryly.</p> - -<p>“Ah, that is different.”</p> - -<p>“I merely asked that man if he had seen an automobile -pass,” added Nick, now approaching the veranda-steps. -“As a matter of fact, sir, I was on my way to -this house when I was held up by the crooks. Is Mrs. -Badger at home this morning, or her husband?”</p> - -<p>“Both are at home.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, very good!” exclaimed Nick.</p> - -<p>“I am Mr. Badger.”</p> - -<p>“I would like a brief interview with you and your -wife.”</p> - -<p>“Regarding what?”</p> - -<p>“The recent robbery of which your wife was a victim.”</p> - -<p>“Are you a reporter?”</p> - -<p>“I am a detective.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> - -<p>“From Pemberton Square?”</p> - -<p>“From New York,” replied Nick. “Yet I have just -come from Chief Weston’s office, in Boston, and at his -request I shall undertake to run down the gang of thieves -who are at work in this section.”</p> - -<p>Though a doubtful smile curled Badger’s thin, firm -lips at this confident announcement, he at once displayed -more cordiality when Nick stated his vocation.</p> - -<p>“I hope that you may succeed, officer,” said he, with -the same husky voice. “Come into the house. From -New York, did you say?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied Nick, entering. “You may wait for -me, Grady.”</p> - -<p>“All right, sir,” cried Grady, from his seat in the runabout.</p> - -<p>“What name, officer?” inquired Badger.</p> - -<p>“My name is Carter.”</p> - -<p>“Not Nick Carter?”</p> - -<p>“The same.”</p> - -<p>Badger appeared surprised, Nick observed, and his -eyes lighted. He quickly extended his hand, saying -heartily, in wheezy tones:</p> - -<p>“Well, well, I’m glad to meet you, Detective Carter, -and to hear that you think of getting after these highwaymen. -I know you by reputation, sir, and I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -no doubt that you will accomplish more than is being -done by Weston’s pack of mongrels. Forsooth, if you -do not, you will accomplish very little.”</p> - -<p>The last was said with a covert sneer that fell unpleasantly -on Nick’s ears. He decided, however, that Badger -was probably nettled by the failure of the Boston detectives -to recover the property of which his wife had -been robbed, and Nick thought no more of the matter -at that time.</p> - -<p>As he followed the man into the attractively furnished -library, from the windows of which could be seen the -stable and driveway, Nick agreeably rejoined:</p> - -<p>“I am told that not much progress is being made -against these road robbers?”</p> - -<p>“None at all, Mr. Carter, that I can discover,” replied -Badger, with a scornful shrug of his shoulders. “Here -is my wife, sir. Claudia, this is Detective Carter, of -New York, sent out here by Chief Weston to inquire -about the robbery. My wife, Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>In the light of what Chief Weston had told him -about her, Nick surveyed the woman with more than -cursory interest.</p> - -<p>Though now but thirty, she still retained in face and -figure most of the beauty and freshness of youth. She -was dark, like her husband, and rather above medium<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -height, with a figure at once noticeable for its grace and -suppleness. She had clean-cut features, a firm mouth -and chin, with a square jaw that plainly indicated more -than ordinary womanly strength.</p> - -<p>She met Nick with a lively flash of her dark eyes, -and said agreeably, as they shook hands:</p> - -<p>“I am pleased to see you, Detective Carter. I do hope -you’ll excuse my husband’s appearance, however, for he -looks dreadfully with those red flannels around his neck. -A sore throat has confined him to the house several days, -and he insists that nothing but red flannel bandages will -cure——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, never mind my looks, Claudia,” interrupted Badger -petulantly. “Mr. Carter can put up with my looks, -I’m sure, and probably he has more important business -than that of discussing the curative virtues of red flannel -bandages.”</p> - -<p>“No apology is necessary, Mrs. Badger, I assure you,” -smiled Nick, as he accepted a chair. “I did have a little -business with you when I started for here this morning, but -I do not now regard it as important.”</p> - -<p>“How is that?” inquired Badger, with a furtive gleam -of distrust in his watchful eyes.</p> - -<p>“It has lost the element of importance,” laughed Nick. -“I did intend to question you closely as to the personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -appearance of the rascals by whom you were robbed, -Mrs. Badger, but since I have now seen one of them -myself, I need make no inquiries. I have no doubt that -the rascal I encountered was the same by whom you -were robbed.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean that you, too, have been robbed?” -exclaimed Claudia, with countenance reflecting profound -amazement.</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” nodded Nick.</p> - -<p>“When?”</p> - -<p>“This morning.”</p> - -<p>“On your way here?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well! What are these suburban roads coming -to, Amos?” cried the woman, quite aghast. “It soon -will not be safe to venture even into one’s front yard.”</p> - -<p>“I believe you,” said Badger, with a wheezy growl. -“I do hope, Mr. Carter, that you’ll accomplish something. -What do you intend doing toward rounding up -these scoundrels?”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed and shook his head.</p> - -<p>“That is a difficult question for me to answer at present,” -said he. “I must first discover some clue with -which to start, some thread that is strong enough to follow,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -and which possibly may lead to the identification -of the knaves and where they are located.”</p> - -<p>“Have you any such clue at present?” inquired Mrs. -Badger, with a smile and glance well calculated to invite -a frank rejoinder.</p> - -<p>“Not the slightest.”</p> - -<p>“That’s too bad.”</p> - -<p>“Stay,” added Nick, as if with an afterthought. “I -believe I have something that may prove of advantage.”</p> - -<p>“Good enough!” exclaimed Badger, with eyes dilating -curiously. “Of what does it consist, Mr. Carter?”</p> - -<p>Nick was then reaching into his breast pocket, and -did not observe the speaker’s quickened interest, which -had not been betrayed in his husky voice.</p> - -<p>“A photograph,” he replied, producing it. “The one -taken by you, Mrs. Badger, at the time you were robbed.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you are mistaken about that, Detective Carter,” -Claudia quickly exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Mistaken?”</p> - -<p>“I took no photograph, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Yet——”</p> - -<p>“It was taken by my sister, Miss Clayton,” interrupted -Mrs. Badger. “Dear me, I couldn’t have done it for -my life. I was so unnerved by the terrible episode and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -sight of the robber’s revolver that I had no power to see -or do anything except what he commanded.”</p> - -<p>“Yet one of them was a woman,” smiled Nick.</p> - -<p>“I admit that, sir, but she had a revolver, and the -mere sight of a weapon has always terrified me,” explained -Claudia, with a shudder.</p> - -<p>“You were quite sure that she was a woman?” inquired -Nick.</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“That it was not a man clad in woman’s apparel?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, absolutely. Her voice would have convinced me -of her sex.”</p> - -<p>“A voice may be assumed.”</p> - -<p>“Yet I am positive that I am right.”</p> - -<p>“She was thickly veiled, I understand?”</p> - -<p>“True.”</p> - -<p>“Then you did not see her face?”</p> - -<p>“I did not.”</p> - -<p>“Her figure, as seen in the photograph, appears very tall—too -tall for a woman,” persisted Nick.</p> - -<p>“Nevertheless, Detective Carter, I am positive that she -was a woman, and not a man in female apparel,” declared -Mrs. Badger, with emphasis. “Not only her garments -and voice plainly prove it, but I also noticed her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -hands. They were too slender, white, and well formed -for the hands of a man.”</p> - -<p>Nick now laughed lightly, remarking, in bantering -tones, not then attributing any serious weight to his -words:</p> - -<p>“That last, Mrs. Badger, is capital. Yet I must observe -that, for one too terrified at the time to say or do -anything but obey the commands of that brace of crooks, -you did note some quite delicate details. Small hands, -eh? Well, well, I think quite likely you are right.”</p> - -<p>A wave of crimson had risen over Mrs. Badger’s face, -while on that of her husband a darker frown was settling.</p> - -<p>“I only happened to notice the woman’s hands, Detective -Carter, merely because she held in one of them the -revolver by which I was so frightened, and from which -I scarcely could take my eyes. Naturally, then, I noticed -the hand that held it.”</p> - -<p>Nick vaguely wondered why she had gone to the -trouble to make this explanation, for there seemed to him -to be no special occasion for it; and before he could -frame any reply, Badger huskily demanded, with sinister -curiosity:</p> - -<p>“Why are you pressing such questions as these, Detective<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -Carter? I fail to see that they signify anything -very important.”</p> - -<p>“It signifies considerable to me, Mr. Badger, this -question of sex,” replied Nick, with a quiet laugh.</p> - -<p>“Why so?”</p> - -<p>“Because I shall be able to proceed much more intelligently, -sooner or later, if I know positively that this -gang of crooks consists only of men, one or more of -whom is masquerading at times as a woman.”</p> - -<p>“There is something in that,” admitted Badger.</p> - -<p>“Female highwaymen are not common in these days,” -added Nick pointedly; “and I find it hard to credit the -evidence presented in this photograph, despite your wife’s -very natural confidence in the reliability of her own eyes.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t much wonder at it,” Badger now laughed indifferently.</p> - -<p>“It is not at all material who took the photograph,” -Nick went on. “I understand that Miss Clayton has an -office in town. I think I will call upon her this morning, -in the hope that she may have seen something worthy -of note at the time of the robbery. Am I likely to find -her at this hour?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, surely,” exclaimed Mrs. Badger, rising. “If you -will wait just one moment, Detective Carter, I will give -you her business-card.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> - -<p>“If you please.”</p> - -<p>“You will then have no trouble in finding her rooms.”</p> - -<p>Nick bowed, then arose and took his hat from the -table.</p> - -<p>Both Badger and his wife accompanied him to the -door, the latter giving him the card mentioned, and the -former remarking, as Nick descended the steps and entered -the runabout:</p> - -<p>“I hope you’ll inform me, Mr. Carter, if you get any -reliable clue to the identity of these rascals. If I can aid -you in any way, moreover, I beg that you will command -me.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” returned Nick, nodding for Grady to -start the machine. “I will bear it in mind, Mr. Badger.”</p> - -<p>As he rode down the driveway he read the card which -he still retained in his hand, but the name of Miss Clayton -did not appear upon it.</p> - -<p>It was the card of—Madame Victoria.</p> - -<p>It gave the street and number of her suite of rooms, -and announced that she was an astrologer, an impressionist, -and a spiritualist medium. It further stated that -she could tell one’s fortune from the cradle to the grave, -that she could be profitably consulted for information -concerning dead friends, lost articles, missing relatives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -and heirs, or for advice in business matters, love-affairs, -and all things pertaining to one’s personal welfare.</p> - -<p>Nick read the card twice with considerable interest.</p> - -<p>“Quite a round of accomplishments!” he grimly said -to himself. “I wonder why she doesn’t locate the property -of which she was robbed. The woman is evidently -a charlatan, a pretender, who imposes upon credulous -and weak-minded fools to get their money.</p> - -<p>“Madame Victoria, eh? Well, I will now give you a -call, madame, and possibly a call-down! I’ll wager I -take means to fool and expose you!”</p> - -<p>Such was the trend of Nick’s thoughts after reading -Madame Victoria’s card, to whose rooms he next proceeded.</p> - -<p>Without the slightest faith in this woman’s alleged -powers, however, Nick was approaching one of the most -strange and startling experiences of his checkered career.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. -<br /> -<small>MADAME VICTORIA.</small></h2> - - -<p>It was nearly noon when Nick Carter, after dismissing -Grady, entered the handsome granite building on Tremont -Street in which the rooms of Madame Victoria -were located.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>In so far as her pretentions to foretelling the future -were concerned, as well as her other alleged powers, Nick -felt morally sure that the woman was a fraud. Yet he -decided to take no chances that she possibly had seen -him before, and would remember his face, and in the -corridor of the building he carefully adjusted a simple -but effective disguise.</p> - -<p>In so doing, he had a double object, however; that of -first getting an insight into Madame Victoria’s business -and her alleged occult endowments, merely to satisfy -his own curiosity; and, second, that of afterward being -able to return and question her about the robbery without -her suspecting his first visit.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have this much the best of her, at all events,” he -said to himself, while adjusting his disguise. “If she -is as clever as she claims to be, however, she should be -able to see right through it. Yet I wager that she does -nothing of the kind.”</p> - -<p>In the corridor of the second floor was a door bearing -Madame Victoria’s name in gilt letters, and Nick unceremoniously -entered.</p> - -<p>He found himself in an elaborately furnished waiting-room, -with windows overlooking the Boston Common. -The carpet was velvet. The furniture was upholstered -with richly figured plush. There were fine lace draperies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -at the windows, and the walls were hung with choice -paintings, while various ornaments of one kind or another -added to the adornment of the place.</p> - -<p>Nick decided that Chief Weston was correct in stating -that this woman did a lucrative business.</p> - -<p>From a chair near the window a young girl quickly -arose, laying aside a novel, and Nick inquired if Madame -Victoria was in.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, but she is engaged just now,” said the girl. -“She will be at liberty in a few minutes, however.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll wait,” said Nick tersely.</p> - -<p>“Take a chair, sir. If you will give me your card, -sir, I will take it to Madame Victoria as soon as her -visitor leaves, and will learn whether she will give you -a sitting at this time. It is nearly her hour for lunch.”</p> - -<p>Nick did not discuss the matter. He gave the girl a -card bearing a fictitious name, with several of which he -was always provided.</p> - -<p>Presently a richly dressed, middle-aged woman -emerged from an inner room, drying her eyes with her -handkerchief. She hurriedly departed, however, after -viewing her hat and hair in the mirror.</p> - -<p>“She must have heard from some dead one,” thought -Nick, with grim derisiveness. “Either that, or some infernal -calamity has been predicted for her. I’m blessed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> -if I’m not a good bit curious to know what I shall get -in there. Maybe I shall get it in the neck.”</p> - -<p>He had not long to wait, for the servant presently announced -that Madame Victoria would receive him in the -inner room.</p> - -<p>Nick left his hat on the table, and entered.</p> - -<p>At first sight the view within was startling.</p> - -<p>The single window of the inner room was heavily -curtained with black, excluding every ray of daylight. -Above a small square table in the middle of the floor, -however, there burned two electric lights enveloped in -green globes, the rays from which shed a weird and uncanny -light throughout the room.</p> - -<p>On the walls were hung numerous astrological charts, -a number of horoscopes of celebrated men, more accurately -cast after death than before; and along with -these were various devices and insignia, of the meaning -and object of which Nick was entirely ignorant.</p> - -<p>On a stand near the table were several packs of playing-cards, -presumably for fortune-telling, if no other -amusement.</p> - -<p>In other respects the room was well furnished, with a -book-case against one wall, a couch opposite, and several -small but expensive chairs.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> - -<p>What chiefly startled Nick, however, was less this -curious appearance of the room than that of its solitary -inmate.</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria was seated at the table, a woman -under thirty, large of figure, without being corpulent, -an attractive, self-reliant face, and an abundance of -brownish-red hair done up in picturesque disorder. She -was clad in a long purple robe, figured with small silver -stars, along with a crescent moon here and there among -them, the whole conveying a vague suggestion of a midnight -sky. The garment was voluminous, entirely covering -her waist and skirts.</p> - -<p>From the large, loose sleeves, and in vivid contrast -with the rich dark-purple, protruded a pair of shapely -bare arms and hands; yet both these and the woman’s -face, uplifted when Nick entered, were lent a disagreeable, -deathlike pallor by the green light of the room.</p> - -<p>Her first glance was at Nick’s left hand, at a valuable -carbuncle ring on the third finger, and then her eyes -rose up to his face while she abruptly exclaimed, with a -curious mingling of vivacity and surprise:</p> - -<p>“Dear me! Oh, dear me, what a strange feeling, Mr. -Sibley. I feel just as if two men had entered this room.”</p> - -<p>Nick was a bit startled.</p> - -<p>Sibley was the name on the card he had sent in, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -the woman’s immediate remark, in the light of Nick’s -disguise, was at least a little peculiar.</p> - -<p>“Two men, eh?” said Nick inquiringly. “Well, I am -quite alone, madame, I assure you.”</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria struck her brow violently with her -palm several times, then shook her head, as if bent upon -shaking out some of its ideas, and finally cried, with -obvious perplexity:</p> - -<p>“Well, well, this is quite extraordinary. I never had -such a strange feeling. I am impressed exactly as if -two men had entered the room.”</p> - -<p>“Impressed?”</p> - -<p>“Take a chair, sir,” smiled Madame Victoria quite -graciously. “You must understand, Mr. Sibley, that I am -what I call an impressionist.”</p> - -<p>“I hear and know the meaning of the word,” laughed -Nick, with curiosity still further piqued, “yet I cannot say -that I fully understand.”</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria shrugged her fine shoulders, and regarded -him archly from under her lifted brows.</p> - -<p>“Ah, well, that is not to be wondered at, Mr. Sibley,” -she replied agreeably. “Very few people understand -the true nature and source of their own impressions, -to say nothing of those of another.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That is quite true, madame,” assented Nick, bowing.</p> - -<p>“In fact, sir, I cannot say that I understand even my -own,” added the woman, with a pretty display of frankness. -“They are so vivid at times, yet frequently seem -so utterly improbable, that I often shrink from expressing -them. I should have felt so in this case, Mr. Sibley, -and I doubt if I should have said what I did, sir, -had it not come from me quite involuntarily, and before -I could repress it. Of course, sir, I see that you -are entirely alone.”</p> - -<p>“You interest me,” smiled Nick, bent upon leading her -on. “May I ask of what your present impressions consist?”</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria drew forward in her chair, and -rested her pretty arms upon the table. Her face became -grave again, and once more her eyes briefly lingered upon -the ring on Nick’s finger, yet in an absent way that did -not attract his attention.</p> - -<p>After a few moments, during which she appeared to -be yielding to some outside influence, she looked up at -him and said:</p> - -<p>“There is something about you, sir, that I really cannot -explain. I cannot get rid of this impression of a -double personality here. I will try to fathom it, Mr. -Sibley, if you will be patient.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Take your time, madame,” said Nick, smiling at her -across the table.</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria nodded and laughed, displaying her -white teeth and calling up a charming dimple in each -velvety cheek.</p> - -<p>“As you probably know, Mr. Sibley,” said she, “people -come here for various objects. Some call to have -their horoscopes cast, others to have a mediumistic sitting -with me in the hope of receiving communications -from dead friends, while others call to consult me about -business and love-affairs, or to have their fortunes told -by the cards.”</p> - -<p>“So I imagined,” bowed Nick.</p> - -<p>“But you came for nothing of the kind, that’s my impression,” -exclaimed Madame Victoria, with an abrupt -exhibition of earnestness.</p> - -<p>“It is quite correct.”</p> - -<p>“You have no faith in any of those things.”</p> - -<p>“That also is true.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, I am awfully perplexed,” laughed the -woman, apparently with vain efforts to straighten out -something in her mind. “You seem to me just like two -men, which I, of course, know is absurd. Yet I cannot -rid myself of the effects of that impression. I shall try<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -to do all that I can for you, however, and will give you -what comes to me.”</p> - -<p>“If you please, madame,” said Nick, not a little impressed -and puzzled by her curious statements and apparently -genuine endeavors.</p> - -<p>Again Madame Victoria beat her brow with her palm, -so violently that Nick did not wonder that her hair was -somewhat disordered.</p> - -<p>As she suddenly fixed her eyes upon him, he noticed -that they began to dilate and glow with almost preternatural -brilliancy, while she abruptly exclaimed, as if -under the impulse of another of her vivid impressions:</p> - -<p>“You have recently been in danger, Mr. Sibley, in -great danger!”</p> - -<p>“Is that your present impression?” inquired Nick.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir. It must be correct, too, or I could not feel -it so strongly.”</p> - -<p>“Go on, madame.”</p> - -<p>“You are a man who encounters many dangers,” Madame -Victoria continued, now speaking much more rapidly -and earnestly. “Your life is made up of stirring adventures -and frequent perils.”</p> - -<p>“That is very true,” admitted Nick.</p> - -<p>“I see you hunting—hunting—hunting!” cried the -woman, with suppressed vehemence. “I don’t know what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -it means, sir, but you seem to be constantly hunting, -searching after persons and things, and delving into all -kinds of complicated mysteries.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well! that hits pretty near the mark,” laughed -Nick.</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear! and I see you all surrounded with a red -atmosphere, as if you were not a stranger to violent -combats and the sight of blood.”</p> - -<p>“I have seen my share of both.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, that is plain to me, very plain,” she rapidly -went on. “You are a busy man, and you—wait! I am -now carried away from here. I feel as if I were riding -in a railway-train. I don’t quite interpret the impression -as yet, but I feel—oh, now I have it! You don’t belong -here, sir, not in this city. You are a stranger here.”</p> - -<p>“Well, not exactly that,” replied Nick, more and more -puzzled by the accuracy with which she was hitting the -mark.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean that you never were here, and are not -familiar with this city,” cried Madame Victoria quickly. -“I mean only that your business is not here, that your -interests are in some distant place. Isn’t that right?”</p> - -<p>“Nearly so.”</p> - -<p>“I knew it was.”</p> - -<p>“How did you know it?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Because of my impression, that of being carried away -in the cars,” explained the woman. “I presumably get -it from you, sir, for I am susceptible to all of the conditions -surrounding those who come here to consult me.”</p> - -<p>“That is quite mysterious.”</p> - -<p>“So many think.”</p> - -<p>“How do you explain it?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t explain it. I know only that it is so.”</p> - -<p>“Yet——”</p> - -<p>“One moment, please!” exclaimed Madame Victoria, -again leaning nearer. “You have recently lost something, -Mr. Sibley.”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed.</p> - -<p>“Can you direct me how to find it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Am I right?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“I cannot tell what it is, yet—yet I feel that you miss -something usually carried on your person.”</p> - -<p>“That is true.”</p> - -<p>“No, I cannot direct you how to find it—at least, -not at present. It is not still, not located yet. It is -moving—moving—moving. I see smoke and hear guns. -I feel the same impression as a moment ago—that you -have lately been in danger.”</p> - -<p>Again she was speaking with that rapid, vehement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -earnestness as before, as if every sensitive string of her -delicate organism had been suddenly struck, thrilling her -with new and strangely correct impressions.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter sat watching her as a cat watches a -mouse, but he could detect no sign of simulation or -treachery. Her voice, looks, actions, and constantly -changing moods all appeared to be perfectly genuine.</p> - -<p>“I admit that I recently have been in danger,” said -he, in reply to her last remark.</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria bowed over the table, again fixing -her eyes upon him with that strangely intensified stare.</p> - -<p>“There are greater dangers before you,” she rapidly -declared.</p> - -<p>“Is that so?” inquired Nick, wondering what was -now coming.</p> - -<p>“Much greater dangers.”</p> - -<p>“Of what kind?”</p> - -<p>“Many kinds.”</p> - -<p>“A general assortment, eh?”</p> - -<p>“You regard them lightly, but I judge that to be -like you.”</p> - -<p>“Rather.”</p> - -<p>“If you do so at this time, Mr. Sibley, you will do -wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Why so?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The perils threatening you cannot be wisely ignored. -I am impressed with a conviction that your life is imperiled -by——Stop a moment!”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>Again Madame Victoria beat her brow, shaking her -head violently, apparently striving to get a clear interpretation -of her impressions.</p> - -<p>“Ah, I have it!” she suddenly cried. “You are in -Boston on business—perilous business.”</p> - -<p>“Well?” queried Nick, determined to tell her nothing.</p> - -<p>“You came to me for advice?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then I advise you to drop it.”</p> - -<p>“Drop what?”</p> - -<p>“This perilous business.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know of what it consists?”</p> - -<p>“I do not get any impression of that,” replied Madame -Victoria, with curious nervous efforts to make her mind -receptive to the information desired, efforts that brought -the perspiration to her neck and brow in tiny drops.</p> - -<p>“No, no. I do not get it—cannot get it,” she presently -added, with a gasp. “I have no idea of what it consists. -Yet I advise you to drop it.”</p> - -<p>“Because of the dangers it involves?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They will not deter me,” said Nick, with a headshake. -“I never run from danger.”</p> - -<p>“There is yet another reason.”</p> - -<p>“For dropping the business?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“You will fail.”</p> - -<p>“Fail in my undertaking?”</p> - -<p>“That is my impression. Ah, I see you smile!” cried -the woman, wiping her damp cheeks and brow. “You -do wrong to deride and ignore my predictions. Ask -others to whom I have given advice. I have never yet -erred in one of these predictions. Take my advice, Mr. -Sibley, and avoid the impending perils.”</p> - -<p>Nick had smiled incredulously, and arose to go. He -saw that the woman had no more to tell him, nor had -he any inclination to hear more in the same line.</p> - -<p>Having paid her fee in money obtained by cashing a -check in order to settle with Grady for the damage to -his runabout, Nick bade Madame Victoria good morning, -and departed.</p> - -<p>At the door of the inner room the woman tendered -him her hand, which he gravely accepted, noting at the -same time that it was damp with perspiration, yet as -cold as a hand of clay.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. -<br /> -<small>THE DEEPER MYSTERY.</small></h2> - - -<p>Nick Carter was puzzled.</p> - -<p>His interview with Madame Victoria had, in a way, -left him on the rocks.</p> - -<p>He could not account for the knowledge which, in indirect -and equivocal terms, she had displayed. It plainly -indicated that she had from some source received information -concerning him and his business designs, as -well as about the losses he had suffered in his encounter -with the highwayman.</p> - -<p>Had this information really been derived through the -occult powers of which the woman claimed to be possessed?</p> - -<p>Nick Carter was not ready to believe that it had, for -he had but little faith in the supernatural.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, any natural explanation seemed -equally difficult.</p> - -<p>“My intended visit to her rooms was known to only -three persons by whom she could have been informed, -and they were Badger and his wife, and Grady,” Nick -perplexedly reasoned. “I know positively that Grady -did not inform her. Assuming even that the Badgers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -did so by communicating with her by telephone, they -cannot possibly have guessed that I would call upon her -in disguise. My make-up, together with the fictitious -name I gave, certainly should have blinded her to my -identity. Yet I do not believe she could have guessed, -merely by chance, all of the facts that she imparted, and -I’m blessed if I can quite fathom the mystery.”</p> - -<p>The more Nick thought about it the more positive he -became that there existed some crooked work under -the surface, and this made him even the more determined -to ferret out what it was.</p> - -<p>“I’ll telegraph to Chick and Patsy to come here,” he -abruptly decided, as he returned to the Adams House, at -which he had registered. “I shall need them to assist -me in locating these road robbers, whom I am now fully -resolved to run down. After sending a message to -Chick I will have another bout with the fortune-teller. -I’m blessed if I’ll let her throw me down in this fashion—not -and keep me down!”</p> - -<p>It was but a short walk to the hotel, and there Nick -sent a telegram to Chick Carter, his chief assistant, ordering -him and Patsy, one of his younger detectives, to -come to Boston by the first train and join him at the -Adams House.</p> - -<p>Nick knew that both would arrive late that evening,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -and before then he hoped to have solved that portion -of the mystery relating to the Tremont Street fortune-teller.</p> - -<p>After spending half an hour at lunch, Nick went up -to his room and examined his disguise, which he had -not removed.</p> - -<p>“It is perfect in every detail,” he mentally declared, -while surveying himself in the mirror. “She cannot -possibly have detected the make-up, and there must be -some other explanation of her insinuations. I’ll take it -off and visit her this time in proper person.”</p> - -<p>While removing the disguise, Nick noticed the carbuncle -ring on his finger, and he immediately took it -off and slipped it into the pocket of another suit he was -then about putting on.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have nothing about me that she may have seen -this morning,” he said to himself. “There’s a deal of -crafty keenness in those bright eyes of hers, and I’ll -make sure that she discovers nothing to identify me -with her visitor by the name of Sibley. If she succeeds -in doing that, the witch, there will be something more -than natural in it—or some sort of rascally cunning at -work under the surface. I’ll wager that she will have -no impression of two men entering her room this time, -nor that I was there this morning.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> - -<p>Fashionably clad, with his strong, attractive face inviting -observation, Nick appeared for the second time at -the rooms of Madame Victoria, just about an hour after -leaving them.</p> - -<p>The girl in the waiting-room did not recognize him, -and Nick took even the precaution to vary his voice -several degrees from that he had previously used.</p> - -<p>“Is Madame Victoria disengaged?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“She is, sir, just at present,” said the girl.</p> - -<p>“My card,” said Nick tersely. “I would like a business -interview with her.”</p> - -<p>“One moment, sir.”</p> - -<p>The girl vanished into the inner room, then returned -without the card.</p> - -<p>“Madame will receive you, Mr. Carter,” she said, -bowing.</p> - -<p>Nick left his hat as before, and approached the inner -room.</p> - -<p>His recollections of it were not agreeable. The close -atmosphere, the green light, the walls hung with mystical -insignia, the purple-robed woman who had so baffled -his usual keen reasoning, and the touch of whose hand -lingered with him as when a person has touched the -hand of a corpse—all had left upon him a disagreeable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -impression, as when one has meddled with things pertaining -to the black arts.</p> - -<p>He found Madame Victoria seated at the table, as before, -looking more like a sorceress to him than ever, as -he stepped gravely over the threshold.</p> - -<p>The woman looked up from the card between her -thumb and fingers, and Nick thought he detected a -subtle light leap up from the depths of her brilliant eyes. -It vanished so quickly that he could not feel sure of it, -however, despite that he was now alert for the slightest -betrayal that might be of significance to him.</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria was the first to speak.</p> - -<p>“Take a chair, sir,” said she, smiling a bit oddly. -“Your card informs me that you are Detective Carter, -of New York.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, madame.”</p> - -<p>“My maid said you desire a business interview with -me.”</p> - -<p>“If you please.”</p> - -<p>“Business from my standpoint, or your own?” inquired -Madame Victoria, still smiling. “In other words, Detective -Carter, does your visit relate to your business or -to mine?”</p> - -<p>“The business is ours,” said Nick pointedly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Ah, sort of a mutual interest,” laughed the woman, -with a captivating glance at him.</p> - -<p>“Precisely.”</p> - -<p>“Then, since you have not called to consult me professionally,” -said the madame, “I shall feel free to drop -my usual mental attitude, that of holding myself susceptible -to outward impressions, and receive you more -conventionally. About what do you wish to see me, Detective -Carter?”</p> - -<p>Nick instinctively felt that he was already being -headed off by the woman, and he saw, with half an -eye, if he had not seen it before, that he was up against -a remarkably shrewd and clever character, one who -was nearly his equal in diplomacy and cunning.</p> - -<p>Nick briefly set aside the motive with which he had -called, therefore, and reverted to the business which primarily -had sent him to Madame Victoria’s rooms.</p> - -<p>“I wish to ask you a few questions,” said he.</p> - -<p>“About what?”</p> - -<p>“About the recent robbery of yourself and Mrs. Badger, -of Brookline.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, indeed!”</p> - -<p>“I am engaged by Chief Weston, of the local police -department, to investigate some of these highway robberies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -committed about here, and to undertake the arrest -of the culprits.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me! I am delighted to hear it, Detective Carter, -and I do hope you’ll succeed,” exclaimed Madame -Victoria, now displaying a very vivacious interest.</p> - -<p>“I hope so, too.”</p> - -<p>“I have lost some valuable jewels, and so has Claudia—that’s -Mrs. Badger, sir—and I should be more than -glad to recover them.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt.”</p> - -<p>“Or to aid you in hastening the arrest and conviction -of the thieves,” added the woman. “In what way can I -assist you, Detective Carter?”</p> - -<p>“By answering a few questions for me, madame——”</p> - -<p>“Pardon!” she interposed.</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“You may call me Miss Clayton when not consulting -me professionally, Detective Carter,” she explained, -with a fascinating little laugh. “Like persons in other -fields of art, I practise under an assumed name. If you -ever meet my sister, Mrs. Badger, or her husband, they -will probably refer to me by my real name. So I take -this occasion to tell it to you. It is only here, or when -discussing my professional work, that I make use of my -business name.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nick wondered if all this had been thrown at him to -convey an impression that she had not been informed -of his call upon Badger and his wife, and a gleam of -new suspicion showed briefly in the eyes of the great -detective. Yet he said quietly, with a nod, that he understood -her.</p> - -<p>“It matters little to me what name you use, providing -you answer my questions,” he added.</p> - -<p>“I shall gladly do so, Detective Carter.”</p> - -<p>“I have here a snap-shot photograph said to have -been taken by you at the time of the robbery.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that is true. I had my kodak with me, and it -so happened that I could——”</p> - -<p>“I have been told by Chief Weston how you obtained -the photograph,” interposed Nick, wishing to expedite -matters.</p> - -<p>“Ah, I see.”</p> - -<p>“What I chiefly wish to know is whether you got a -good look at the thieves, or were too frightened to notice -them closely.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I was not greatly alarmed,” smiled Madame Victoria, -with a shrug of her fine shoulders. “I saw that -the loss of our valuables was inevitable, but I did not -fear for my life.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Did you specially notice the woman who appears in -this photograph?”</p> - -<p>“I saw all that was to be seen of both miscreants, -Detective Carter,” the woman declared, with a nod of -emphasis.</p> - -<p>“Did you detect any peculiarity about the woman?”</p> - -<p>“Only her unusual height.”</p> - -<p>“She was taller than the man?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed; several inches taller.”</p> - -<p>“Yet in the picture he appears to be nearly six feet.”</p> - -<p>“I should judge that he was, as I now recall him.”</p> - -<p>“A woman taller than that is very rare,” said Nick, -“and one who should be quite easily traced.”</p> - -<p>“That is true, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Do you feel quite sure that it was a woman?”</p> - -<p>“Sure? Why, certainly!” exclaimed Madame Victoria, -laughing.</p> - -<p>“For what reasons?”</p> - -<p>“Because, Detective Carter, I saw the point of her -chin under her black veil, and it was as smooth and -white as my own.”</p> - -<p>“Anything more?”</p> - -<p>“Her hand and arm, too, what little I could see of -the latter in the sleeve of her automobile coat, were as -fair and plump as my own.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nick glanced at the pretty hand and arm she held -out, and decided that there could be no mistaking them.</p> - -<p>“My first impression, Detective Carter,” she quickly -added, “was the same as yours—that her height might -warrant a suspicion that it was a man in woman’s clothing. -For that reason, sir, I particularly observed her.”</p> - -<p>“I am glad of that,” bowed Nick. “I called here -chiefly to settle this question of sex, and I have already -asked Mrs. Badger about it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, indeed! Then you have seen her?”</p> - -<p>“I called upon her in Brookline this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Does what I say corroborate her statements?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>Nick had mentioned the call only to see if Madame -Victoria would say that she had since heard from the -Badgers, but she did nothing of the kind, leaving Nick -to believe that she had not. This served only to increase -his growing suspicions, when recalling what she -had said that morning; and he now gravely added, with -his gaze indifferently fixed upon her face:</p> - -<p>“I think there is only one more question that I would -like to have you answer for me, Madame Victoria.”</p> - -<p>“Only one?”</p> - -<p>“That is all.”</p> - -<p>“Ask it, Detective Carter.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nick’s voice fell a little lower, and became more impressive.</p> - -<p>“I wish to know what you would have said to me, -Madame Victoria, if I had called to consult you professionally.”</p> - -<p>The smile still lingered about the woman’s red lips, -and her eyes met his without flinching.</p> - -<p>“I should have said, Detective Carter, what my first -impression impelled me to say, yet which I decided to -repress.”</p> - -<p>“What was that?”</p> - -<p>“I should have told you that I felt, when you entered, -as if I were meeting a person who had recently -called here.”</p> - -<p>“Did you feel so?”</p> - -<p>“I did.”</p> - -<p>“How do you now feel about it?”</p> - -<p>“I am now sure.”</p> - -<p>“Of what?”</p> - -<p>“That you were here this morning under the name of -Sibley,” replied Madame Victoria, now frowning slightly. -“I cannot possibly imagine why you came here in disguise -and under an assumed name, Detective Carter, yet -I am convinced that you did so.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> - -<p>“How did you acquire that knowledge?” Nick now -demanded, ignoring her quiet rebuke.</p> - -<p>“I answered that question for Mr. Sibley,” was the -reply, with a covert sneer. “Hence there is no need for -me to answer it for you.”</p> - -<p>“You acquired it through your impressions?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“In no other way?”</p> - -<p>“None.”</p> - -<p>“Then, as Mr. Sibley said this morning, it is very -mysterious,” Nick dryly declared, rising to go.</p> - -<p>“So many think, as I said this morning.”</p> - -<p>“I will say, Madame Victoria, that I had no more -malicious design in coming here in disguise than that -of proving the validity of some of your claims to occult -powers. I might add, too, that you have given me one -of the most curious problems of my life.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed!”</p> - -<p>“I shall, however, make it a point to—solve the -problem.”</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria laughed, and eyed him oddly from -under her drooping lids.</p> - -<p>“If you do solve it, which involves learning how I -get these impressions, Detective Carter, you will do more -than I can,” she said, rising to bid him adieu.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Then I certainly shall, Madame Victoria, do more -than you can,” Nick quietly declared, as he accepted her -proffered hand.</p> - -<p>“You think so, eh?”</p> - -<p>“I do, madame! I have one very pronounced trait of -character, which may be of some interest to you.”</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“I never drop a mystery, Madame Victoria, until it -has—ceased to be a mystery!”</p> - -<p>The last was said pleasantly enough, yet very emphatically, -as Nick bowed and withdrew from the room, -with the smiling eyes of the woman steadily meeting his -till the door closed between the two.</p> - -<p>Then there came over her one of those swift changes -seen only when suppressed passions, intensified by restraint, -are abruptly given free rein.</p> - -<p>Her smile vanished like a flash, displaced by a frown -that transfigured her every feature and lent to her -usually attractive face the threatening and vengeful -visage of a fury. With eyes gleaming, with lips drawn, -with breast heaving under the sudden swell of her pent -feelings, she shook both clenched hands after the departing -detective, while muttering fiercely through her white -teeth:</p> - -<p>“Yon will solve the problem, will you? You will tear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> -away the veil of mystery, will you? Not if I know it—not -if I can prevent it, Mr. Nick Carter!</p> - -<p>“Beware what you do—what you attempt! Let the -cost be what it may, my prediction shall be fulfilled, and -only failure shall be yours! Beware lest you fail, for -the inevitable price of failure will be—death!”</p> - -<p>Then she turned and hurried across the room, with -every movement of her lithe and supple figure as quick -and graceful as those of a leopard. With a quick sweep -of her arm, she threw aside the curtain of a door of a -small closet, into which she entered, to seize the receiver -from a telephone attached to the wall.</p> - -<p>“Give me 22 ring 2, Brookline!” she commanded.</p> - -<p>It was the number of the telephone in the house of -Mr. Amos Badger.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. -<br /> -<small>UNDER THE SURFACE.</small></h2> - - -<p>As Nick Carter had rightly conjectured, when weighing -the mystifying knowledge displayed by Madame -Victoria, there was something under the surface.</p> - -<p>What the something was, moreover, plainly appeared -in what followed the visit of Nick to the suburban house -of Mr. Amos Badger.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> - -<p>The moment the detective departed, in company with -Grady, there came over both Badger and his wife a very -decided change.</p> - -<p>With an ugly gleam in his dark eyes, which were still -following the runabout as it sped down the long driveway, -Badger ripped off the red flannel bandages from -around his neck, exclaiming vehemently:</p> - -<p>“Whew! these infernal things have set me reeking at -every pore! Thank Heaven he remained no longer, or -I should have run down into my boots. There’s not a -dry rag on me.”</p> - -<p>His wife indulged in a laugh, a vicious little laugh, -most unpleasant to honest ears.</p> - -<p>“Yet the ruse worked well, Amos,” she cried exultantly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, apparently.”</p> - -<p>“Apparently?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said,” growled Badger, as the runabout -passed out of view.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” demanded Claudia, with quickened -apprehension.</p> - -<p>“I mean that there never is any knowing what Nick -Carter thinks and suspects, however he may carry himself,” -Badger petulantly replied. “He is one thing on -the surface, another under it. There is no telling anything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -about him, and I’m infernally sorry that Weston -has brought him over here.”</p> - -<p>“Bah!” cried his wife contemptuously. “He can accomplish -no more than the Boston detectives have done.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not so sure of it.”</p> - -<p>“We can fool him as we have fooled the others.”</p> - -<p>“Yet he asked some deucedly ugly questions,” declared -Badger, with a doubtful shake of his head. “And -I more than half-fear that he already suspects our trick.”</p> - -<p>“Suspects that you were only feigning illness?”</p> - -<p>“Possibly.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense! He cannot have got wise to that, nor -to anything else that seriously affects us.”</p> - -<p>Badger turned quickly away, and hailed the man in -the driveway.</p> - -<p>“Come in here, Jerry,” he commanded. “I want to -speak to you.”</p> - -<p>Conley dropped his work and hastened into the house, -following Badger and his wife into the library.</p> - -<p>“What d’ye want, Amos?” he inquired, with a familiarity -plainly indicating that he was something more -than a menial about the place.</p> - -<p>“I want to I know just what Carter said to you,” replied -Badger, throwing himself into a chair.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> - -<p>“He only asked if I’d seen an auto go along the road -below here.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing more?”</p> - -<p>“Not a thing.”</p> - -<p>“I thought I heard him say something about me, -Conley, and the cut of my jib.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that was only because he couldn’t learn anything -from me, and he didn’t fancy the jolly I was giving -him,” replied Conley, with a grin. “Devil a thing did I -tell him, Amos, and I was only keeping him on a string -till I was dead sure that you and Claudy were out of -your auto rigs and into the togs in which he found -you.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure he didn’t get sight of the other machine?” -demanded Badger apprehensively.</p> - -<p>“The one you used when you held him up?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m dead sure that he didn’t see that,” cried -Conley confidently. “I had that in the secret cover a -good five minutes before he showed up in the runabout.”</p> - -<p>“And you were at work on the other when he arrived?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, long before he arrived.”</p> - -<p>“Pshaw! he couldn’t have seen the Peerless when he -got here, Amos,” supplemented Claudia decidedly. “We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -left that runabout behind us as if it had been tied to a -stake.”</p> - -<p>“I know all that,” growled Badger; “but I want to -feel sure that the infernal detective got no line on us -after he reached here. I’ll tell you both, he’s a man to -be feared, and we cannot be too careful in case he undertakes -to round us up.”</p> - -<p>“Faugh!” snarled Conley, with a scowl rising about -his crafty eyes. “If he gets wise, and presses us too -hard, there’s one thing we can do.”</p> - -<p>“Put him out of the way?”</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“It will have to be done,” said Badger, with a nod. -“Yet I don’t fancy running my neck into a noose if it -can be avoided.”</p> - -<p>“It can be done without that,” said Conley, with grim -significance.</p> - -<p>“It strikes me,” put in Claudia, “that we ought to give -Vic a tip that Carter is coming to call upon her, also -that he has been out here.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, too.”</p> - -<p>“If he is as clever as you say he is, Amos, he must -be handled with gloves,” added the woman. “Vic ought -to be warned of his visit, and of what his business consists,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -so that she may be ready for him, and head him -off from any suspicion.”</p> - -<p>“I can inform her by telephone.”</p> - -<p>“It must be done.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no great rush,” replied Badger. “Carter will -not arrive there for an hour.”</p> - -<p>“You must tell her just what we have done, and why -we did it.”</p> - -<p>“Tell her that we held him up this morning?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly; also that we got away with his watch -and money.”</p> - -<p>“Why tell her all that?”</p> - -<p>“So she may know just how to handle him,” declared -Claudia, with knit brows. “Vic is clever, all right, but -she may queer us in some way when pitted against Nick -Carter’s cleverness, unless she knows just what his game -is, and what has happened out here.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll go and talk with her at once,” said Badger, now -rising.</p> - -<p>“A good idea,” said Conley approvingly. “Let Vic -alone to queer any game that he may have.”</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment, Amos,” cried his wife, with an afterthought.</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“If Carter has formed any suspicion of us, as you appear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -to fear, he may start in at once with some of his -underhand work.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“He may not tell Vic who he is.”</p> - -<p>“Possibly not.”</p> - -<p>“And he may lead her into some self-betrayal, in case -he questions her closely while she is ignorant of his -identity.”</p> - -<p>“What the deuce can we do to prevent that?” demanded -Badger, with a frown.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what,” said Claudia, who plainly possessed -many of the crafty qualities of her sister.</p> - -<p>“Well, out with it.”</p> - -<p>“First, Amos, describe him to her so she cannot mistake -him, and then——”</p> - -<p>“Hold on a bit,” interrupted Conley, who was an interested -listener. “He may take it into his head to go -there in disguise, since that’s a clever trick of his.”</p> - -<p>“That’s just what I was coming to, Jerry, if you had -let me finish,” snapped Mrs. Badger. “We can easily -head off any disguise he may adopt.”</p> - -<p>“How so?”</p> - -<p>“Merely by telling Vic that he wears a red carbuncle -ring on the third finger of his left hand,” said Claudia.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -“He’ll not think it necessary to remove that, Amos, even -if he does put on a disguise.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove! that’s so.”</p> - -<p>“Go, now, and tell her the whole business.”</p> - -<p>Badger hastened into the hall, where he was presently -heard imparting in cautious terms, yet which he evidently -knew would be readily understood, the information concerning -Nick which had so puzzled him.</p> - -<p>It was because of what she now was told over the -wire that Madame Victoria glanced first at Nick’s left -hand when he entered her rooms, and at once recognized -him in the disguise of Sibley.</p> - -<p>At the time of his second visit, moreover, when he -presented his own card, the fortune-teller at once noticed -that he had removed the ring, and that alone was -enough to convince her that he was beginning to play a -double game, and that he must have formed some suspicions -regarding herself and the Badgers.</p> - -<p>After Nick’s first departure she telephoned Badger -that he had been there, and the latter then held a second -consultation with his wife and Conley.</p> - -<p>Being ignorant of Nick’s primary object in visiting -Madame Victoria in disguise, which was merely to test -her peculiar powers, Badger’s apprehensions naturally -were increased.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> - -<p>“He’s wise to something, and already up to some -game against us, or he wouldn’t have gone there in -disguise,” he gravely reasoned. “I’m ruined, utterly -ruined, unless we can continue this road work a few -weeks longer. I shall be swamped completely unless I -can thus raise the funds to tide me along until there’s a -rise in the stock-market.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll keep up the road-work, Amos, never you -fear,” his wife curtly declared, with an evil brightness -in her expressive eyes. “It was I who suggested it to -you, and I have done my part to help you along with -it.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true enough.”</p> - -<p>“And we’ll not quit it now, Amos, Carter or no Carter.”</p> - -<p>“That we’ll not,” growled Conley, with a headshake. -“There’s too much good stuff in it for us to have it -queered at this stage by this man Carter. If it comes -to the worst, Amos, a knife between his ribs will put -him out of our way.”</p> - -<p>“That is more easily said than done.”</p> - -<p>“Not if it comes to that kind of a play.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t fear Weston and his second-rate detectives,” -added Badger moodily; “but this man Carter is superior -to that entire bunch.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Bah!” cried Claudia. “You are needlessly alarmed. -To begin with, Amos, he cannot possibly have learned -anything definite about us as quickly as this.”</p> - -<p>“Possibly not.”</p> - -<p>“He could not have identified us as the couple who -held him up and robbed him this morning, and he certainly -must think that was only a chance job, not one -planned by us the moment we heard he was coming out -here in a runabout.”</p> - -<p>“No, he could not have guessed that,” admitted -Badger.</p> - -<p>“Furthermore,” argued his wife, “my face was entirely -covered with my dust-glasses and the false beard, -and in my big auto coat it certainly could not have been -suspected that I was a woman who suddenly showed -up in the Peerless in which you escaped after robbing -him.”</p> - -<p>“Sure it couldn’t,” put in Conley. “I’d have sworn -you were a man myself.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t think he has any idea of the truth about -that,” replied Badger.</p> - -<p>“There is still another thing in our favor,” continued -Claudia.</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“The alleged robbery of Vic and myself, Amos, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -the photograph which Vic took by which to convince -Weston of the truth of our story.”</p> - -<p>“That was one of the shrewdest moves ever made,” -declared Conley, laughing.</p> - -<p>“Certainly it was, Jerry, and you may let Vic alone to -think of such schemes as that,” said Mrs. Badger, with -an evil display of sisterly pride.</p> - -<p>“She’s a keen one, all right,” grinned Conley.</p> - -<p>“The picture is as good as a positive proof that we -were robbed,” added Claudia; “and Weston never for -a moment has doubted our story. The very fact, if it -were a fact, that we were robbed, moreover, plainly -shows that we cannot have been both the thieves and -the victims, also. That would be absurd, you see, and -as long as Carter credits the photograph, just so long -we may be sure that he does not suspect us of being -crooks.”</p> - -<p>“That is an ugly word to apply to us, Claudia,” -growled Badger disapprovingly.</p> - -<p>“One might as well call things by their right names,” -laughed his wife. “I told you I was an adventuress, and -a woman of nerve, Amos, when you wanted to marry -me, and you knew just what you bargained for.”</p> - -<p>“I’m finding no fault on that score.”</p> - -<p>“You’d better not,” was the pointed rejoinder. “I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -fancy the life I now lead, this moving in good society, -for it lays away over the stage, or riding bareback in -the circus-ring, to which Vic and I were bred in old -England.”</p> - -<p>“What need to refer to those days?” muttered Badger, -frowning darkly.</p> - -<p>“Only that you may keep in mind the stuff I am -made of,” replied his wife, with a shrug of her shoulders. -“When you told me you were in hot water financially, -Amos, it was I who suggested this scheme of road -robbery to tide you along. In becoming your assistant, -along with Jerry, here, my old life of adventure has -served me well. I can ride the most vicious horse, and -no auto can go too fast for me, Amos; so you couldn’t -have a better helper, whether I wear skirts or trousers, -in holding up an auto-party.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true enough.”</p> - -<p>“As for the wickedness of it—well, most of the world -is wicked in one way or another,” laughed the woman. -“We must contrive to get our living, Amos, in some -way; and this life of danger and adventure just suits -me, to say nothing of the profits derived. Just think!—last -month we cleaned up close to twenty thousand, -providing those Gaylord jewels bring as much as we -expect.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, there’s money enough in it, I’ll admit that,” -nodded Badger.</p> - -<p>“And with Vic to help us, with the aid of the friend -she has so completely under her thumb, we are sure to -be informed of any move contemplated by Weston or by -Nick Carter. So your fears are groundless, Amos, as I -said in the beginning.”</p> - -<p>“It’s dead lucky, I’ll admit, that we have that anchor -to the windward,” said Badger, with features now relaxing.</p> - -<p>“So it is, Amos, and with him to inform us of—— Hark! -there goes the telephone-bell again. I’ll wager -that Vic has something more to report.”</p> - -<p>Claudia Badger was right in the last.</p> - -<p>Madame Victoria now reported the second visit of -Nick Carter, and all that had passed between them; also -explained Nick’s simple object in first calling upon her -in disguise, and stated that he came last only to ask -about the woman in the photograph.</p> - -<p>“I have him well muddled, Amos,” was Madame Victoria’s -last declaration over the wire. “There is nothing -to be feared from him at present.”</p> - -<p>Badger’s dark countenance lighted while he listened, -and he hastened to report the communication to his wife -and Conley.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> - -<p>“There! what did I tell you?” cried Claudia triumphantly. -“I knew that Vic would prove more than -a match even for Nick Carter. Now, there is just one -thing to be done in order to avert suspicion from us.”</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“These road robberies must continue to occur,” declared -the woman. “If they suddenly end at this time, -after Carter’s visit here, he very possibly may infer that -we are alarmed, providing he has any suspicion at all -concerning us. Another robbery committed this very -night would clinch matters in our favor.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, too,” said Conley, quickly seeing the -point.</p> - -<p>It was done, moreover, and one of the boldest yet -committed, and the reports of it filled the morning papers, -along with no end of editorials decrying the inferior -work of the police in being unable to prevent such -depredations.</p> - -<p>But the end was not yet, for that very day Chief -Weston removed his own men from the case, and placed -it entirely in charge of Nick Carter.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IX. -<br /> -<small>BODY AND LIMBS.</small></h2> - - -<p>“Chick, I’m hit with an idea!”</p> - -<p>This exclamation came from Nick Carter about ten -o’clock one morning, two days after the highway robbery -last reported, and the talk that followed showed -with what remarkable insight this great detective arrived -at the subtle deductions which contributed largely -to his success.</p> - -<p>Chick and Patsy had arrived in Boston two days before, -and both were now present with Nick in his room -at the Adams House.</p> - -<p>Both had been fully informed of the facts thus far -learned by him, moreover, as well as of his interview -with the Badgers, and his visits to Madame Victoria.</p> - -<p>When he uttered the above exclamation Nick was -seated at one of the windows of his room.</p> - -<p>In one hand he held the photograph that figured so -curiously in the case, and which would have convinced -any ordinary detective that Madame Victoria and Mrs. -Amos Badger had been robbed precisely as alleged, for -the camera, at least, would not have lied.</p> - -<p>Yet this bit of convincing evidence was so out of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> -ordinary, as well as the circumstances under which it -had been obtained, that Nick from the very first had -been inclined to distrust the picture.</p> - -<p>In his other hand he now held a large magnifying-glass, -through which he was carefully studying the photograph, -holding it in the full glare of the morning sunlight.</p> - -<p>“What’s that, Nick?” inquired Chick, starting up -from his chair and dropping a morning paper reporting -the last robbery. “Hit with an idea, did you say?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Mr. Carter?” asked Patsy, at once displaying -a lively interest. “Have you discovered something -lame in that picture?”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed.</p> - -<p>“That about hits the nail on the head, Patsy,” said he, -with a glance in the lad’s direction. “I think I begin to -see a ray of light in the darkness.”</p> - -<p>“What have you discovered?” asked Chick.</p> - -<p>And both he and Patsy came to lean over the back -of Nick’s chair.</p> - -<p>Nick held the large glass and the photograph so that -all three could plainly view the magnified picture.</p> - -<p>“I’ll explain what I find, and I wonder that I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -not noticed it before,” said he quite earnestly. “It relates -to this tall woman who appears in the picture.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! but she is a tall one,” remarked Patsy, with a -laugh. “She’s tall enough to fit in a dime museum.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Patsy,” assented Nick, smiling.</p> - -<p>“What’s peculiar about it, Nick?”</p> - -<p>“As you probably know, Chick, there is a general uniformity -in the proportions of the human body—a regular -length of arms and limbs when compared with the trunk. -In all normal subjects the proportions are nearly the -same.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” nodded Chick. “A man’s reach, from the tips -of his extended arms and fingers, is usually the same as -his height.”</p> - -<p>“Correct.”</p> - -<p>“But what has that to do with the picture, Mr. Carter?” -asked Patsy.</p> - -<p>“It has to do with this woman,” Nick rejoined, drawing -out his pencil to be used for a pointer. “I want you -to notice her extended arm and hand, the one in which -she held the leveled revolver.”</p> - -<p>“That’s plain enough, sir.”</p> - -<p>“It’s good fortune that it is, Patsy,” nodded Nick. -“It also is plain, now that I study it closely, that the arm -is a little out of proportion with her exceeding height.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> - -<p>“By Jove! it does appear so!” exclaimed Chick, bending -nearer to view the pictured figure.</p> - -<p>“Notice the distance from her shoulder to her hand, -then the distance from her shoulder to her hip, which is -plainly outlined by this curve of her long auto coat. Her -hip is here, Chick, where I have the point of my pencil.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“Notice, now, that her extended hand, if it were to be -dropped to her side, would reach only to this point, -measuring the same distance, a point only a trifle below -her hip.”</p> - -<p>“That’s clear,” cried Chick. “Yet the camera may——”</p> - -<p>“The camera never lies,” interposed Nick.</p> - -<p>“Then the woman must be out of proportion,” declared -Chick.</p> - -<p>“Not necessarily.”</p> - -<p>“But her arm should be longer than it appears there,” -Chick insisted. “I’m well-proportioned, I’ll swear to -that, and my hand, when lowered, reaches half-way down -my thigh.”</p> - -<p>“Which is about right, Chick.”</p> - -<p>“Yet you say the woman is not out of proportion——”</p> - -<p>“I said not necessarily,” interposed Nick. “If she -was as tall as she appears in the picture, however, I’ll -admit that her arm would be too short for her body.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oho, I see!” exclaimed Patsy, starting up. “You -think, Mr. Carter, that she is not as tall as the picture -indicates.”</p> - -<p>“That’s exactly it, Patsy,” nodded Nick.</p> - -<p>“How do you make it out?” asked Chick.</p> - -<p>“Notice this fold of her skirt, where the skirt shows -below the edge of her auto coat?”</p> - -<p>“Well, what of it?”</p> - -<p>“Plainly enough, Chick, the fold does not hang quite -naturally,” Nick went on to explain, still pointing with -his pencil. “It appears drawn a little to one side and -back of her, with the edge of the skirt carefully arranged -to touch the ground, precisely as if to conceal something -beneath it.”</p> - -<p>“Something on which she was standing!” exclaimed -Chick, quickly seeing the point.</p> - -<p>“That’s just it,” declared Nick impressively. “No -skirt ever hung quite like that, if it hung naturally.”</p> - -<p>“Surely not.”</p> - -<p>“Notice also the distance from her hip to the edge of -the skirt, where her feet should be,” added Nick. “Her -limbs would be as much above the regular proportions -as her arm is below them.”</p> - -<p>“I see what you mean.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> - -<p>“In a nutshell, Chick, such an anomaly could not be,” -continued Nick decisively. “A person with abnormally -long legs and disproportionately short arms is out of -the question.”</p> - -<p>“And in your opinion——”</p> - -<p>“In my opinion, Chick, the woman was standing on -something, possibly a rock, with her skirts lengthened to -conceal it. Obviously the whole was done to give her -the appearance of being very tall.”</p> - -<p>“And with what object?”</p> - -<p>“With a design to thus blind the police to the real -looks of the woman operating with this gang of crooks.”</p> - -<p>“You think they aimed to send the police searching -after some very tall woman?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll wager you are right.”</p> - -<p>“Furthermore,” added Nick, “these discoveries conclusively -prove that the picture was deliberately taken, -with the several persons calmly posing to make it effective, -and that the two women said to have been held -up and robbed were not robbed at all.”</p> - -<p>“And the design of the photograph?”</p> - -<p>“It was taken purposely to be offered as evidence to -corroborate the story told to the police.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> - -<p>“With a view to averting suspicion and throwing -them off the right track,” added Chick.</p> - -<p>“Precisely.”</p> - -<p>“By thunder, that was a crafty scheme!” declared -Patsy, rather pleased with the originality of it.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it was crafty enough,” assented Nick. “But -the rascals overleaped their mount, Patsy, in not anticipating -the deductions I have mentioned. All this -sheds a new and very bright light upon the case,” the -speaker added, as he tossed the photograph upon the -table.</p> - -<p>“I should say so,” nodded Chick, resuming his chair -and lighting a cigar. “It indicates that those two -women, who claim to have been robbed, may be in league -with this gang of thieves.”</p> - -<p>“Even more than that, Chick.”</p> - -<p>“What more, Nick?”</p> - -<p>“It suggests that Badger himself may be one of the -gang, if not the chief figure in it, and that their headquarters -may be at that isolated suburban place of his.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, that may be so!”</p> - -<p>“Let’s look a little deeper, Chick, and see how far -some of the other facts sustain this theory. I was held -up when on my way out there Tuesday morning,” continued -Nick. “That may have been merely a coincidence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> -the scamps possibly having been laying in wait -for some victim, though there still remains a chance -of something even more than that under the surface.”</p> - -<p>“Decidedly so,” replied Chick. “Such things don’t -often happen by chance.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll investigate that a little later.”</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“After the hold-up, Chick, I hastened to Badger’s -house, arriving there within ten minutes after the robbery,” -Nick went on.</p> - -<p>“Then it must have occurred pretty near his place.”</p> - -<p>“Within half a mile.”</p> - -<p>“That, too, is significant.”</p> - -<p>“In a measure,” assented Nick. “I found his chauffeur -cleaning a Stanley machine in the driveway, where I -could not help observing him. Ordinarily such a job -would be done in the stable or garage, and I am now inclined -to think that it was done outside only intentionally -to make me believe, in case of any distrust, that -Badger uses a Stanley machine, and not such a car as -that in which I saw the thieves escape.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know how many machines he owns?”</p> - -<p>“I do not, Chick. In fact, I know very little about -him or his place.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll make it a point to learn.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I did not fancy the looks nor air of his chauffeur,” -continued Nick. “He appeared to avoid my questions, -and I now suspect that may have been done to give -Badger time to get out of his rig as a highwayman and -into the house suit and red flannel bandages in which -he received me.”</p> - -<p>“You think that whole business was designed only to -blind you, in case you had any suspicions?”</p> - -<p>“That certainly would have been the design, Chick, -providing that we are justified in suspecting him at all.”</p> - -<p>“There are too many of these significant little circumstances, -Nick, for us to doubt that we are hitting somewhere -near the mark,” Chick shrewdly reasoned.</p> - -<p>“That’s the way I now regard them,” said Nick. -“After my talk with Badger, in which I stated I should -call upon Madame Victoria, he may have telephoned the -fact to the fortune-teller. I noticed that he had a telephone -in the hall.”</p> - -<p>“That would explain her knowledge of you, Nick,” -said Chick. “But bear in mind that you were in disguise -when you first called upon her.”</p> - -<p>“I remember that, Chick.”</p> - -<p>“How can she have known you?”</p> - -<p>“Badger may have been alarmed by my visit,” argued -Nick, “and he possibly suspected that I might adopt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> -some disguise. Very likely he mentioned some distinctive -feature about my person, one which I would not -ordinarily remove, by which Madame Victoria may have -identified me.”</p> - -<p>“That may have been the case,” admitted Chick.</p> - -<p>“The knowledge she displayed certainly points to -some such move on Badger’s part, and adds to our -grounds for suspicion,” continued Nick. “She had me -well marked in some way, there is no denying that. -Furthermore, the fact that she warned me to drop the -perilous business I was about to undertake, predicting -that I should meet only with failure, points plainly to a -possibility that they were taking that method to influence -me to drop the case.”</p> - -<p>“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Patsy. “That now looks dead -open and shut, Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>“It certainly is significant.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet you landed right in the midst of this gang of -road thieves. In that case, Nick, the rest of our work -should be easy,” Chick quickly remarked. “It should -be child’s play for us to round them up.”</p> - -<p>Nick thoughtfully shook his head.</p> - -<p>“I’m not so sure of that, Chick,” said he. “We as yet -have no tangible evidence against them, and nothing less -will serve us in a court of law,” replied Nick.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That’s true.”</p> - -<p>“Our theory is built chiefly upon trivial circumstances, -all of which are significant enough, I’ll admit, and sufficiently -numerous to warrant considerable suspicion. But -we must secure more positive evidence before we can -take any decisive action against these suspects.”</p> - -<p>“I guess that is right, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“We ought to get the evidence easily enough, if we -really have located the crooks,” declared Patsy.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter laughed again, with a glance at the eager -eyes of the youthful detective.</p> - -<p>“That one word, really, is quite important, Patsy,” -said he. “It is barely possible that we are mistaken, at -least in part, if not entirely so. Circumstantial evidence -is never wholly trustworthy.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet you are right, sir, for all that,” insisted Patsy, -with abiding faith in Nick’s shrewdness.</p> - -<p>“I shall first make sure that I am,” said Nick, “by -taking some step to confirm my theory. As for securing -the evidence with which to convict these rascals, Patsy, -that may not be done as easily as you think. If they become -wary, fearing that we suspect them, they not only -may drop the business entirely for a time, but may also -cover their past tracks so cleverly as to conceal the evidence -that we require.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I hadn’t thought of that, sir.”</p> - -<p>“It’s too true for a joke, Nick, and we cannot be too -careful and crafty at the outset,” Chick gravely put in, -now taking the measure of the case quite as clearly as -Nick himself. “What do you intend doing?”</p> - -<p>“Personally, Chick, I am going down to State Street -this morning, and see what I can learn about Badger. -Then I am going up to police headquarters and return -these documents to Chief Weston. He loaned them to -me that I might learn what lines of investigation his -men have followed.”</p> - -<p>“Do they appear to have accomplished anything?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing more than to note in detail the facts of the -various robberies,” smiled Nick. “Not one of them has -hit upon a rational clue.”</p> - -<p>“Is there anything you want us to do while you are -thus engaged?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I want you and Patsy to go out to Brookline -and see what you can discover at Badger’s place,” replied -Nick. “I don’t want you to be seen about there, however.”</p> - -<p>“H’m! Let us alone to be discreet.”</p> - -<p>“His estate is backed by quite an extensive woodland, -through which you can easily approach after locating the -place.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That will be an advantage.”</p> - -<p>“Take what time you require,” added Nick, “and -learn how many men are employed in and about the -house and stable. Also learn how many automobiles and -horses he keeps. Several of these hold-ups have been -committed by horsemen, and I wish to learn what Badger -owns in both lines.”</p> - -<p>“Automobiles and horses?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll ferret out the whole business, Mr. Carter, trust -us for that,” cried Patsy, impatient to be at work.</p> - -<p>“Meantime,” said Nick, rising, “I’ll employ myself as -stated. It is now half-past ten. You may require three -or four hours to learn what I would like to know, so -we will plan to meet here again about an hour or two -before dinner, say at four o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“That will give us ample time,” declared Chick. “We’ll -be here at four sharp.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll find me here,” said Nick, with no thought that -anything would occur to prevent him.</p> - -<p>The three left the house together, parting at the -Washington Street door, both Chick and Patsy heading -for the subway to take a Brookline trolley car. Neither -so much as dreamed, however, that many an anxious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -hour would pass before they again saw Nick’s familiar -face or heard his genial voice.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. -<br /> -<small>THE ANCHOR TO WINDWARD.</small></h2> - - -<p>As he had stated to his assistants before leaving the -Adams House that morning, Nick Carter hastened down -to State Street to see what he could learn about Amos -Badger.</p> - -<p>With his wide acquaintance and friendly relations with -the bankers and brokers, both in New York and Boston, -it was an easy matter for Nick to ascertain, without -disclosing his motives, the facts which he aimed to discover.</p> - -<p>He learned from perfectly reliable sources that Badger, -who had no partner in business, was heavily long -of stocks in the market, a market that had been steadily -declining for months; also, that his loan-account on this -class of collateral had been repeatedly subjected to calls -for additional margins, which were known to have been -met only with considerable difficulty and delay.</p> - -<p>In a nutshell, Nick easily discovered that Badger had -for months been in financial hot water, yet had succeeded -in tiding himself along up to date.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> - -<p>Nick now thought he could guess by what desperate -means this man was raising the funds required to meet -his increasing obligations from day to day.</p> - -<p>Incidentally, however, Nick learned other facts for -which he was not specially seeking, yet which further -confirmed the theory he had so shrewdly formed.</p> - -<p>These facts related to Badger’s wife and her sister, -the Tremont Street fortune-teller, and were imparted to -Nick a bit maliciously by a broker who had suffered in -one way or another through Madame Victoria, and who -was informed of the history of the two women.</p> - -<p>Briefly stated, as it was given to Nick, both were -born in England, the daughters of a second-rate actor -and manager of various itinerant amusement enterprises, -in none of which he had achieved any great success.</p> - -<p>The two girls had some little talent in one way or another, -however, and both had spent their earlier years in -the show business, filling such positions as the various -enterprises of their father, since dead, required.</p> - -<p>Now as an alleged gipsy fortune-teller, now as a -palmist, at other times an astrologer, or some like attraction -under a different name, but always as a sideshow -to some other amusement, the younger of the two -had acquired that experience which, after the marriage -of her sister and her coming to America, had enabled her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -to establish in Boston the business now conducted under -the name of Madame Victoria.</p> - -<p>The elder of the two, now Badger’s wife, had sung on -the stage, done turns in the concert-halls, and in earlier -years had been an accomplished equestrienne in the -circus-ring, from the first of which Badger had married -her in Manchester, about five years before.</p> - -<p>That both women were little more than adventuresses -of a rather disreputable type, Nick’s informant positively -assured him, and this further confirmed his theory -and convinced him that he was on the right track.</p> - -<p>It was early afternoon when he arrived at police headquarters, -in Pemberton Square, and entered the general -office previously described.</p> - -<p>It so happened that Chief Weston was in this office at -the time, though all of the detectives not then assigned -to outside work were either out at lunch or in the officers’ -lounging-room.</p> - -<p>It so happened, also, since Satan sometimes serves his -own, that the only other occupant of the general office -was the clerk whom Nick had encountered there several -days before—Mr. Sandy Hyde.</p> - -<p>The brick-hued head of the latter was raised from over -his books upon hearing the detective’s name mentioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> -in greeting, and his catlike eyes lighted with quickened -interest.</p> - -<p>“Ah, good morning, Nick!” was Chief Weston’s greeting. -“Anything doing?”</p> - -<p>“I wish to return these reports, chief, which I took -from you a few days ago,” replied Nick, producing them -from his pocket.</p> - -<p>“No further use for them?”</p> - -<p>“Not at present.”</p> - -<p>“Very well.”</p> - -<p>“I will retain this photograph, however, which I may -use to advantage a little later.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve not hit upon a clue from that, have you?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m not prepared to say,” demurred Nick, a bit -evasively.</p> - -<p>“Come inside,” Chief Weston abruptly said, quick to -notice Nick’s hesitation. “We shall not be interrupted -in my office. Bear that in mind, Sandy.”</p> - -<p>“All right, chief.”</p> - -<p>“This way, Nick.”</p> - -<p>Nick entered the enclosure, and passed through the -passage leading to the chief’s, private office.</p> - -<p>He did not so much as glance at the clerk, however, -whose head had again dropped over his books.</p> - -<p>Snap!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> - -<p>The catch-lock announced that the door of the private -office had securely closed.</p> - -<p>Now Mr. Sandy Hyde dropped his pen, and came -down from his stool.</p> - -<p>For a moment he peered sharply through the brass -lattice along the top of the desks, toward the two open -doors leading into the adjoining corridors.</p> - -<p>Next he darted out of the enclosure, and quickly closed -both of these doors.</p> - -<p>No cat’s eyes aglow from a dark corner ever burned -more greenishly bright and intense than those of this -watchful miscreant at that moment.</p> - -<p>It was for him a moment of peril, and well he knew -it; yet, in the event of an intruder into the outer office, -he relied upon hearing one of the closed doors opened -in time to evade detection.</p> - -<p>With both closed, he next hurried back into the enclosure, -from outside of which the interior of the narrow -passage could only partly be seen.</p> - -<p>Into this passage Hyde quickly entered, with the -stealthy quietude of a shadow, and stood listening at the -chief’s door, his ear touching the panel, his eyes still -bright with a satanic glow evincing his evil impulse.</p> - -<p>His several precautions had required but a very few -seconds, moreover, and he lost hardly a word of Nick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> -Carter’s brief interview with Chief Weston, who was -about repeating his question just as the eavesdropper arrived -at the door.</p> - -<p>“You’ve not struck a clue from that photograph, Nick, -have you?”</p> - -<p>Nick was never much inclined to reveal his discoveries -before they culminated in some decisive move, and he -again evaded the question by saying:</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m not quite sure about that, Weston.”</p> - -<p>“What do you suspect?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing at all definite as yet,” laughed Nick indifferently. -“I wish to retain the photograph a while longer, -however, if you have no objection.”</p> - -<p>“None whatever, Nick, yet you pique my curiosity.”</p> - -<p>“I will explain later.”</p> - -<p>“Very well.”</p> - -<p>“I presume that Madame Victoria could easily show -me the exact spot where this hold-up occurred,” remarked -Nick, who had remained standing beside the -chiefs desk.</p> - -<p>“I imagine so, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to have her take me out there.”</p> - -<p>“For what purpose?”</p> - -<p>“I want to see what sort of a place these crooks -usually select for their rascally work.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I should say that you already had seen that,” laughed -Weston, who had been informed of Nick’s encounter -with them.</p> - -<p>Nick shrugged his broad shoulders, smiling meaningly, -and said:</p> - -<p>“I wish to see how the two localities correspond. As -for my lost property, Weston, I’ll make an even bet that -I recover it sooner or later.”</p> - -<p>The last was said a bit resentfully, and with a significance -that brought a quick change over Weston’s face.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got wise to something, Nick!” he abruptly -exclaimed.</p> - -<p>Nick laughed again.</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“I’d rather inform you a little later, Weston.”</p> - -<p>“Just as you like, of course, but I’m really curious to -know what you have learned.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not quite sure of it yet, chief, and I’d prefer -making sure before I indulge in any revelations,” said -Nick, with a shake of his head. “It’s not my way, you -know, to make disclosures which later may prove to be -groundless.”</p> - -<p>“I’m well aware of that, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“If it will afford you any satisfaction, however, I will -make one definite statement.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“Merely this, Weston,” Nick forcibly declared. “I -will land these crooks for you, every man and woman of -them, or I’ll throw up my commission.”</p> - -<p>The ear at the panel was strained at that moment, -and the glow in the eyes of the listener became a threatening -flame.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, that ought to be good enough for anybody,” -cried Weston, with much satisfaction. “I felt -sure that you had run upon something worth knowing.”</p> - -<p>Nick nodded significantly, yet replied quite indifferently:</p> - -<p>“I think that I have, Weston, and, when I am dead -sure of it, I will tell you of what it consists.”</p> - -<p>“All right, Nick,” was the reply, with a genial laugh. -“I said in the beginning that you should not be interfered -with in this case, and that goes at any stage of it. -Run it in your own way, Nick, and you’ll suit me.”</p> - -<p>“I’m only a bit curious to go out to the scene of this -robbery,” Nick now added, with a glance at the photograph -which he was replacing in his pocket. “If I -can catch Madame Victoria at her rooms after I have -lunched, I think I can get her to ride out there with me.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt of it, Nick. She’ll be glad enough to do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> -anything that gives promise of the recovery of her property.”</p> - -<p>Nick smiled a bit oddly, and prepared to depart.</p> - -<p>“I shall drop in to see her about two o’clock,” said -Nick. “I reckon I can bring her to my way of thinking.”</p> - -<p>“When shall I see you again?” asked Weston, rising.</p> - -<p>“Within a day or two.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you luck meantime.”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed and shook his head, saying with considerable -dryness:</p> - -<p>“I depend less upon luck, Weston, than upon labor -and head-work. If I can make nothing out of this case -with my brains, I have no faith that luck will do it for -me. As I said before, Weston, I’ll see you within a day -or two.”</p> - -<p>The listening ear had left the panel of the door.</p> - -<p>The catlike tread had pattered quickly through the -passage and out of the enclosure, and again the corridor -doors stood open.</p> - -<p>There had been no intruder during the brief interview, -and a look of evil exultation had risen in the eyes -of Mr. Sandy Hyde.</p> - -<p>As Amos Badger had declared to his confederates one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -recent morning, it was, indeed, dead lucky that they had—this -anchor to the windward.</p> - -<p>For it was this miscreant who had warned Badger of -Nick Carter’s arrival in Boston, and of his acceptance -of this case.</p> - -<p>It was this miscreant who had informed Badger of -Nick’s intended visit the same morning, and who had -made possible the hold-up which to Nick had appeared so -like a coincidence.</p> - -<p>It was this miscreant, too, whose treachery now bid -fair to cost Nick Carter his life, yet whom the latter, -with all his keenness, was far from suspecting.</p> - -<p>For who looks for treachery in high places, or in -those from whom only loyalty is most naturally expected?</p> - -<p>The catlike eyes had lost their greenish glow, and the -brick-hued head was again bowed above the books, when -Nick and Chief Weston came striding through the passage -and out of the enclosure.</p> - -<p>Nick did not delay his departure any longer, and -without a word to the clerk, Chief Weston returned to -his private office.</p> - -<p>It was then one o’clock.</p> - -<p>Five minutes later the head clerk came in from lunch,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> -and Sandy Hyde at once laid down his pen and began -putting on his street coat.</p> - -<p>The next hour was his own—and he thought he knew -how he could best use it.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. -<br /> -<small>THE INCENTIVE TO TREACHERY.</small></h2> - - -<p>Ten minutes after leaving police headquarters Sandy -Hyde might have been seen slinking across the Tremont -Street mall of Boston Common.</p> - -<p>Yet only a close observer would have recognized the -treacherous little rascal.</p> - -<p>He had his coat-collar turned well up about his ears, -his soft felt hat drawn forward over his brow, and with -his handkerchief held to his face his crafty countenance -was for the most part concealed.</p> - -<p>Presently he glided across the street, then hurriedly -bolted into the corridor of one of the buildings—that in -which the rooms of the fortune-teller and long-time adventuress -were located.</p> - -<p>Quickly mounting the stairs, Hyde unceremoniously -entered her rooms.</p> - -<p>He found Vic Clayton, by which name he best knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -her, seated alone in the reception-parlor, the maid employed -there having just gone out to lunch.</p> - -<p>“Why, hello, Sandy!” she cried, starting up from her -chair when he entered.</p> - -<p>When he eagerly advanced to clasp both her hands, -moreover, she drew him into her arms and kissed him, -as only lovers kiss.</p> - -<p>“Break away!” he quickly protested, however.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, what’s this?”</p> - -<p>“As much as I like it, Vic, there’s no time for that.”</p> - -<p>The woman’s eyes took on a startled look.</p> - -<p>“No time!” she echoed, sharply regarding him.</p> - -<p>“I should say not. There’s the devil to pay.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Or worse than the devil—that’s Nick Carter!”</p> - -<p>“What of him?”</p> - -<p>“He’s coming here again.”</p> - -<p>“For what?”</p> - -<p>The last came with vicious asperity from the lips of -the surprised woman.</p> - -<p>The color had left her cheeks. The light of sensuous -affection, the bestowal of which had turned this man into -a knave, a traitor to his trust at police headquarters, and -made him her dupe and tool—this light of passion had -suddenly died from her eyes, displaced by the vengeful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -fire with which she had last parted from the man he -had just mentioned.</p> - -<p>Darting to the door, Vic hurriedly turned the key, -then swept around, as quick and lithe as a panther in her -movements, and grasped Hyde by the shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Not coming here now, not at once, is he?” she demanded, -in rapid whispers.</p> - -<p>“Do you think I’m daffy, to be here, in that case?” -growled Sandy.</p> - -<p>“Yet——”</p> - -<p>“No, no; there’s time enough, Vic,” he interrupted. -“He’s not coming till two o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“For what?”</p> - -<p>“To ask you to go with him to the scene of the fake -hold-up.”</p> - -<p>“That of the photograph?” gasped Vic, with hands -pressed to her breast and her white face drawn with increasing -apprehension.</p> - -<p>“That’s what he said.”</p> - -<p>“Has he detected something queer in that picture?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon he has, Vic.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know what he suspects?”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t say,” replied Hyde. “Weston asked him, -but Carter only said that he’d keep the photograph for a -time.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Do you know for what?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t.”</p> - -<p>“Were there any names mentioned?”</p> - -<p>“Only yours.”</p> - -<p>“In the way you stated?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Anything more?”</p> - -<p>“One thing—and a mighty significant one!” growled -Hyde, with a nod.</p> - -<p>“What was that?”</p> - -<p>“He added that he would land our gang, every man -and woman of us, or throw up his job.”</p> - -<p>“He said that, did he?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what.”</p> - -<p>“The infernal meddler!”</p> - -<p>“He has struck some clue, that’s dead sure!” declared -the spy. “It’s a condition that means we must get him, -Vic, or he’ll get us.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we’ll get him, all right!” Vic Clayton now cried, -with a venomous sneer. “If he’s coming for that, for -what you say, you let me alone to get him!”</p> - -<p>Though her flood of questions had been asked with -passionate impatience, she now appeared more calm, yet -not less viciously determined.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> - -<p>With a seductive smile, she now said warmly:</p> - -<p>“You’re all right, Sandy. I’ll not forget this little -service, and you shall have your reward when——”</p> - -<p>“I’ll get mine, all right, Vic, if the chief ever gets -wise to the game I’m playing,” interrupted Hyde, with a -mingled laugh and grimace.</p> - -<p>“He will never learn of it.”</p> - -<p>“If he does, Vic, I can see myself put through the -third degree in a way that will leave mighty little of -me.”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!”</p> - -<p>“I’m taking mighty long chances in doing this for you, -and for——”</p> - -<p>“Are you getting no reward for doing it, Sandy?”</p> - -<p>The woman’s arm had stolen around his neck, while -her breath fell warm on his cheek with the interruption. -She drew him closer till her lips met his, then hurriedly -released him, saying quickly:</p> - -<p>“Go, now, Sandy, and leave the rest to me.”</p> - -<p>“You can handle the matter?” he lingered to inquire -anxiously.</p> - -<p>“You bet I can handle it!”</p> - -<p>“What will you do?”</p> - -<p>“You leave that to me, I say.”</p> - -<p>“You have no time to waste, Vic.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Is time not wasted in talk of this kind?” Vic impatiently -rejoined. “Go at once, I repeat, and leave the -rest to me.”</p> - -<p>Hyde started for the door, only to have the woman -again dart across his path and clasp him by the arm.</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment!” she cried, under her breath.</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>The query came with a startled gasp, as Hyde, naturally -a nervous and cowardly cur, instinctively shrank -from the expression now risen over Vic Clayton’s face.</p> - -<p>For there was murder in her dilated eyes, in her -deathly white features, in the vicious firmness of her -drawn, gray lips.</p> - -<p>“There is something more!” she hissed, with suppressed -ferocity. “Have you been constantly watchful -at headquarters?”</p> - -<p>“Have I? That’s a fat question for you to ask me,” -said Hyde. “You should know that I have.”</p> - -<p>“So I do—so I do, Sandy, dear!” Vic hurriedly exclaimed, -in assuasive tones. “But there is one thing -more. Is Nick Carter alone in this case?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure of it—dead sure of it?” demanded -Vic, with a voice and aspect that plainly betrayed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> -murderous design that inspired this precautionary question.</p> - -<p>“Certainly I’m sure of it.”</p> - -<p>“It will do us no good to down him, mind you, if -others at work with him are to rise up out of his ashes -and confound us with the same evidence that he may -possess.”</p> - -<p>“There are no others,” protested Hyde confidently. -“If there were, Vic, I’d have told you.”</p> - -<p>“Providing you knew it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’d have known it, all right,” declared Sandy. -“I’m never out of the office except to eat and sleep, and -I’d have been wise to it by this time if Carter had -brought on any of his assistants from New York.”</p> - -<p>“You have heard none mentioned?”</p> - -<p>“Not one.”</p> - -<p>“This shows me the way, then—the one and only -way,” muttered the woman, staring for a moment at the -floor. “If it must be him or us—it shall not be us!”</p> - -<p>“Carter has been at the chief’s office only twice, both -times alone,” added Hyde assuringly. “You may safely -gamble on it, Vic, that he’s still alone on the case.”</p> - -<p>Again, with her vengeful countenance lighting for a -moment, she slipped her arm about the spy’s neck and -kissed him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Go, now, Sandy, and leave the rest to me,” she repeated. -“But come out to Badger’s place after dark -to-night.”</p> - -<p>“To-night, Vic?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Shall I find you there?” queried Hyde, with wistful -gaze.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you’ll find me there—and another with me!”</p> - -<p>“Not Nick Carter?”</p> - -<p>The woman’s brows knit again and her eyes gleamed -venomously.</p> - -<p>“Nick Carter—yes!” she rejoined, with suppressed -ferocity. “Nick Carter—or what there is left of him!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. -<br /> -<small>THE ROAD TO CANTON.</small></h2> - - -<p>It was precisely two o’clock when Nick Carter arrived -at Vic Clayton’s rooms in Tremont Street.</p> - -<p>Naturally, Nick did not so much as dream that she had -been informed of his designs against her. That treachery -existed at police headquarters was farthest from -his thoughts.</p> - -<p>In asking Vic Clayton to take him to the place where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> -she and Claudia Badger claimed to have been robbed, -Nick had several motives.</p> - -<p>To begin with, he wished to see if she would willingly -consent to do so.</p> - -<p>Nick reasoned that, in case she readily consented, it -would indicate a bare possibility that he in some way -had misinterpreted the curious features that he had detected -in the photograph, and that the picture might not -be as incriminating in its significance as he had inferred.</p> - -<p>While even this remote doubt existed, Nick felt that -he could not wisely make any very aggressive move in -the case, and he took this method to remove the doubt.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, he hardly believed that Vic would -consent to comply with this request, but would evade it -with some plausible excuse.</p> - -<p>Providing that she complied and went with him, however, -Nick believed that he could so corner her with -questions, while alone with her in a carriage, that he -could finally force from her a confession of the whole -business.</p> - -<p>In any event, moreover, he felt sure that he could so -artfully take these steps that he would in no way sacrifice -any of his present advantages.</p> - -<p>He found Vic Clayton alone in the handsomely furnished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> -waiting-room, engaged in writing at an open desk -in one corner.</p> - -<p>She had rearranged her hair and rouged her cheeks -since Sandy Hyde’s departure, and she looked, as a matter -of fact as well as of design, remarkably handsome -and attractive.</p> - -<p>“Dear me!” she exclaimed, quickly dropping her pen -upon seeing Nick enter. “Is it you, Detective Carter?”</p> - -<p>“None other,” bowed Nick, smiling.</p> - -<p>“I’m delighted!” cried Vic, rising to offer her hand. -“I do hope you bring some encouraging news, or possibly -my lost gems themselves—despite that I predicted -only failure for you.”</p> - -<p>The last was added with a fascinating laugh, in which -Nick was willing enough to join, though he found nothing -inviting in her seductive eyes and alluring airs.</p> - -<p>“Well, hardly anything as favorable as that, Madame -Victoria,” he began.</p> - -<p>“No, no, pardon me!” she interrupted, playfully tapping -him on the arm. “You surely do not call again -to consult me professionally?”</p> - -<p>“No, I do not.”</p> - -<p>“Then drop the Madame Victoria, my dear Mr. Carter, -which is much too strained for friendly intercourse,” she -softly cried, with an arch glance at him. “Let me be to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> -you plain Miss Clayton—or even plain Victoria, so be it -that suits you even better.”</p> - -<p>Nick experienced a vague feeling of distrust stealing -through him as he looked and listened, but in his ignorance -of what herein has been disclosed, he could find -no definite grounds for the feeling. Yet, instinctively, as -one sometimes dreads dangers still remote and visionary, -he did not fancy this woman’s bantering remarks nor -her playful attempts to captivate him.</p> - -<p>Nick laughed again, nevertheless, and agreeably rejoined:</p> - -<p>“As I told you the other day, Miss Clayton, it matters -little to me what I call you, providing you consent to -comply with my wishes.”</p> - -<p>“Your wishes?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me! I really think I should enjoy making them -my own, Detective Carter,” murmured Vic, with a pretty -cant of her head and a shrug of her shoulders.</p> - -<p>“I trust so.”</p> - -<p>“Have a chair.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks.”</p> - -<p>“Now what do you want of me this time, Detective -Carter?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> - -<p>She had taken a seat near-by, still smiling archly at -him, and Nick more gravely answered:</p> - -<p>“I want you to do me a little service.”</p> - -<p>“You have only to name it.”</p> - -<p>“I find you willing,” smiled Nick, a bit puzzled.</p> - -<p>“The pleasure is all mine,” laughed Vic. “Yet I’m -really curious to know what you want of me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you. On what road was it, Miss Clayton, that -you and Mrs. Badger were held up by these rascally -highwaymen?”</p> - -<p>“The road to Canton.”</p> - -<p>“Are you familiar with it?”</p> - -<p>“I’m familiar with that part of it,” cried Vic, with a -very significant smile and grimace. “Dear me! I shall -never forget it!”</p> - -<p>“Quite vividly impressed upon your memory, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Decidedly so, Detective Carter?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you could locate the precise spot, if there -was any occasion?”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, I could. I know exactly where it is.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, that is very fortunate,” said Nick agreeably. “I -wish to go out there and view the spot.”</p> - -<p>“For what?”</p> - -<p>“I think I may discover some clue or sign, Miss Clayton, -either in the general appearance of the immediate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -scene or the surrounding country, which might put me -on the track of the thieves,” Nick artfully rejoined, now -feeling that even this lame explanation could be made -to serve his purpose. “Of course,” he smilingly added, -“we detectives see much more in such cases than the untrained -eyes of a layman.”</p> - -<p>“Naturally.”</p> - -<p>“You see the point, do you not?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” nodded Vic, with a demure stare at him.</p> - -<p>“What do you think of it?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll admit there might be something in it.”</p> - -<p>“I thought you would,” Nick heartily replied. “Now -the question is, to get back to the service I require of -you. Will you go out there with me and show me the -spot?”</p> - -<p>Vic burst out laughing, as if much amused.</p> - -<p>“Is that all you want of me?” she cried.</p> - -<p>“That is all just now,” said Nick, a bit dryly.</p> - -<p>“Why, of course, Detective Carter, I’ll go with you,” -exclaimed Vic, as if a refusal was the last thing to have -been expected, or any occasion for one. “How shall we -go? It’s much too far to walk.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I should not think of asking you to walk,” -laughed Nick, somehow feeling again that he was on -deucedly thin ice, for which he could not account.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I hope not, my dear Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>“I will provide a carriage.”</p> - -<p>“What time do you wish to go?”</p> - -<p>“The sooner the better, Miss Clayton. At once will -suit me best of all.”</p> - -<p>Now Vic bridled a little, never other than crafty, and -her smiling face took on a look of regret.</p> - -<p>“Dear me! That makes it a little bad,” she said, as -if weighing the situation. “I already had planned to -go to——Stay! here is a note to verify my making any -excuse, Detective Carter, after offering so volubly to -serve you.”</p> - -<p>She reached over to the desk while speaking, taking -from it the note she had been writing, which she now -handed to Nick to be read.</p> - -<p>It was merely a note to her maid, informing her that -she would be absent for a few hours, and that the girl -might close the rooms and take an outing until the -morrow.</p> - -<p>“I had already planned to go riding, and was about -to leave that note for Delia, my maid,” she explained, -while Nick glanced at the craftily prepared missive.</p> - -<p>“Well, that does interfere, Miss Clayton, as you say,” -he replied, eying her a bit sharply, yet failing to detect -any sign of duplicity, so artful was the jade. “If you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -cannot go with me to-day, however, possibly to-morrow -you——”</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment!” exclaimed Vic, as if struck with a -second thought. “I was going only with Amos and his -wife, merely for a run of an hour or two, and——Hark! -that should be they!”</p> - -<p>The toot of an automobile-horn had sounded from the -street below, and Vic sprang up while speaking, and ran -to look from the window.</p> - -<p>“Yes, they are at the curb,” she added, with manifest -satisfaction. “Amos is coming up here. Now, if he has -no definite plans, Mr. Carter, I see no reason why we -cannot prevail upon you to——”</p> - -<p>She was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Amos -Badger.</p> - -<p>He bolted into the room like a man in a hurry, his -face flushed, his eyes bright, his voice resonant when impulsively -inquiring:</p> - -<p>“All ready, Vic?”</p> - -<p>Then he checked himself and exclaimed quickly, as if -unexpectedly beholding Nick in the room:</p> - -<p>“Why, hello, Carter! You here? Glad to see you -again.”</p> - -<p>“The pleasure is mutual, Mr. Badger,” replied Nick, -rising to accept the other’s proffered hand.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Thanks,” nodded Badger. “Have you got a line on -those infernal crooks yet?”</p> - -<p>“No, not as yet.”</p> - -<p>“Sorry to hear it.”</p> - -<p>“But I’m hoping to do so.”</p> - -<p>“I join you in the hope, Carter,” declared Badger; then -he laughingly added: “You’ll observe that I’m out of -those red flannel bandages.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, so I see.”</p> - -<p>“A nasty thing, a cold in the early summer.”</p> - -<p>“So it is,” assented Nick. “I congratulate you upon -being rid of it.”</p> - -<p>He had eyed the man intently while they were speaking, -and he saw what he had not seen, heard what he -had not heard, when they met at his place in Brookline; -for Badger now knew that he was suspected; knew what -desperate work must be done that afternoon, and he had -dropped those little artifices with which he had aimed -to blind Nick during their previous meeting.</p> - -<p>In his clear and cutting voice, in every subtle, sinister -inflection, in the glowing glint of his dark eyes, in the -poise of his supple, muscular figure—in one and all of -these Nick now saw or heard again the man of the hold-up—as -plainly as when he saw the knave standing with -leveled weapons in that sunlit suburban road.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> - -<p>Yet the face of the detective did not change by so much -as a shadow, and Vic Clayton now interposed, with a -fine display of solicitude:</p> - -<p>“We can do Mr. Carter a service, Amos, if you have -no plans for the afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“How?” demanded Badger, turning quickly to her.</p> - -<p>“He wishes to visit the place where Claudia and I were -held up and robbed, and he came here to ask me to go -with him. Now, if you have no particular trip you wish -to make to-day——”</p> - -<p>“None whatever!” cried Badger, quickly interrupting. -“We are out for an airing only, and I’d as soon go that -way as any. The road to Canton—can you locate the -precise place, Vic?”</p> - -<p>“Surely.”</p> - -<p>“Then we’ll take him out there at once, if he wishes,” -said Badger, quickly reverting to Nick. “What do you -say, Carter? There’s a seat in my auto, if you care -to go.”</p> - -<p>Nick had foreseen what was coming, and had decided -what course to take.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ll go,” he said briefly.</p> - -<p>“Good enough!” cried Badger. “Get into your wraps, -Vic, and we’ll start at once.”</p> - -<p>Nick had seen, in fact, no wise alternative to accepting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -the offer. To have declined it, after the request he -had made Vic Clayton, might have aroused suspicions -which he had no reason to believe already existed. He -would take no chance of that before positive evidence -against these knaves had been secured.</p> - -<p>That he had been betrayed from police headquarters, -that his suspicions and designs were already partly -known, that he was now up against a plot hurriedly arranged -by telephone, that he was the victim of an admirably -played game, that his life itself was in jeopardy from -that moment—only a clairvoyant could have seen all this.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter was not a clairvoyant, however, nor had -he any reasonable cause for suspecting the real gravity -of his situation.</p> - -<p>Yet with caution that was habitual to him when in the -company of persons known to be crooks, Nick became -more wary from the moment he took his seat in Badger’s -automobile.</p> - -<p>It was a Packard four-cylinder motor-car, and Badger -was running the machine. With Nick beside him on -the front seat, and his wife and Vic Clayton behind, the -party of four were soon speeding through Brookline toward -the woodland roads of the famous Blue Hills.</p> - -<p>Though the animated conversation that was sustained -meantime is not material here, it soon led Nick to form,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -in conjunction with the polite attentions bestowed upon -him, a new theory in explanation of the seemingly natural -situation.</p> - -<p>“These crafty rascals are merely aiming to make a -favorable impression upon me with their courtesies,” he -said to himself, during a lull in the conversation.</p> - -<p>“They are doing so in the hope of averting suspicion, -with a view to convincing me that they are as honest and -fashionable as they appear. They look and seem all -right. I’ll give them credit for that, and if I knew less -about them, I’m blessed if they wouldn’t fool me with -their pretensions.”</p> - -<p>This soliloquy ran through Nick’s mind more than an -hour after they had started, but it was given the lie most -violently less than five minutes later.</p> - -<p>The car was then speeding along a woodland road -in the Blue Hills, and Badger was bent forward over his -steering-wheel, apparently intent upon the road ahead.</p> - -<p>As far as the eye could reach, the road was deserted. -One hundred yards ahead it divided, a branch road turning -off to the left.</p> - -<p>The junction of the two was in the very midst of a -belt of woods, with no sign of a house or clearing in -sight.</p> - -<p>After one swift, backward glance over her shoulder,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -Vic Clayton suddenly leaned forward and cried, above -the noise of the machine:</p> - -<p>“You must take that road to the east, Amos. The -other leads to——”</p> - -<p>“No, no, you’re wrong about that,” Badger quickly -called back over his shoulder.</p> - -<p>“No, I’m not!”</p> - -<p>“The west road leads to Canton.”</p> - -<p>“You’re mistaken, Amos,” insisted Vic, in apparent -excitement, as the car rapidly approached the junction. -“We must take the east road. Mustn’t we, Claudia?”</p> - -<p>Badger slowed down, as if in some uncertainty, then -brought the car to a stop just at the junction.</p> - -<p>“Well, I am not really sure,” cried his wife, doubtfully -looking about—yet only to make sure that no other car -was in sight in any direction. “It’s all right, Amos——”</p> - -<p>Badger was already upon his feet, interrupting her.</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” he exclaimed, while Nick glanced up with -a feeling of distrust. “If we take that road, Vic, it -will——Oh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Carter!”</p> - -<p>Apparently by accident, while gesticulating about the -road, he had knocked Nick’s derby hat from his head.</p> - -<p>Then, with a lightning like move, made as if to catch -the hat before it could fall to the ground, he threw himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -across the detective’s body, confining his arms to his -sides.</p> - -<p>At that moment Vic Clayton had risen up in the car, -standing directly behind Nick.</p> - -<p>“Now!” yelled Badger, with terrible ferocity.</p> - -<p>There was no need for the command.</p> - -<p>Already the uplifted hand of the fortune-teller was -descending; a hand fiercely gripping a clubbed revolver, -and thrice the butt of the heavy weapon fell squarely -upon Nick Carter’s unprotected head.</p> - -<p>The tragic episode had been enacted in the fraction -of a second, before Nick could realize the design, much -less prevent it, and a single blow delivered as the three -had been would well-nigh have felled an ox.</p> - -<p>Without so much as a groan, with every muscle suddenly -relaxing, Nick dropped inert and senseless upon -the floor of the car, his hair and brow turned crimson -by a swift gush of blood.</p> - -<p>In an instant Badger was out upon the ground.</p> - -<p>“Take my seat, Claudia,” he hurriedly cried to his -wife. “Lend me a hand here, Vic, and we’ll throw him -in behind. I’ll bind him hand and foot after we start -again. There, there, that will do! Now around with the -car, Claudia, and drive for home as if the devil followed -us!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> - -<p>The transfer had been made in half a minute.</p> - -<p>In another half the car was speeding back over the -woodland road at thirty miles an hour—heading for -Badger’s place near Brookline.</p> - -<p>Senseless, between the seats, out of view of any persons -whom the speeding car might pass along the road, -lay the man for whom failure only had been predicted -by the desperate woman who had struck him down.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. -<br /> -<small>CLOSE QUARTERS.</small></h2> - - -<p>“It’s not for me to say what you’ll do or not do, since -you now appear to hold the ribbons. It’s up to you, -Badger, and not for me to say.”</p> - -<p>The above came from Nick Carter several hours after -the tragic episode enacted in the woodland road.</p> - -<p>Bound hand and foot, with his head rudely bandaged, -Nick sat propped against one of four stone walls, evidently -those of a small cellar, or possibly a wine-vault, -with but one heavy door through which the place was -accessible.</p> - -<p>Only the bare earth was under him, damp and cold,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> -while a small pool of stagnant water in one corner of -the place evinced the depressed location of the ground.</p> - -<p>Two empty beer-kegs stood on end near-by.</p> - -<p>On one of them a lantern was burning, the rays from -which shed only a dismal light over the more dismal -scene.</p> - -<p>On the other keg sat Amos Badger, with his hands -on his knees, his lowering gaze fixed upon the helpless -detective, and his dark features wearing a look of mingled -satisfaction and sinister scorn.</p> - -<p>It was then well into the evening, and Nick Carter had -with some difficulty been doctored back to consciousness, -and to a keen realization of his aching head and a most -unenviable situation.</p> - -<p>The restoration had been accomplished by Conley, who -was somewhat of a veterinary physician, and it was no -sooner done than Badger hastened to interview his captive, -an interview only just begun when Nick made the -remark which opens this chapter.</p> - -<p>“Up to me, is it?” returned Badger, with stern complacency. -“Up to me to say what shall be done with -you?”</p> - -<p>“I cannot see that anything I say would be of weight,” -said Nick coolly.</p> - -<p>“That’s right—it wouldn’t!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not at present.”</p> - -<p>“No, nor later!” sneered Badger sharply. “You’ve had -your last say, Carter, now that we have you in our -clutches.”</p> - -<p>“A very rascally game you played to accomplish it!”</p> - -<p>“When you go hunting rascals, Carter, you must expect -to be turned down by their own methods, if at all.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, too, and I was imprudent in not being -ready for you.”</p> - -<p>“You were up against more craft and cunning than you -bargained for.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t need to be informed of it,” retorted Nick, now -wondering when, how, and for what reason they had -planned the trick.</p> - -<p>For he knew the assault must have been planned previous -to his talk with Vic Clayton that afternoon, or it -could not have been so quickly executed, nor the trap itself -so definitely arranged.</p> - -<p>“One fact is now very obvious, however,” he presently -added, hoping to lead Badger into some inadvertent disclosure.</p> - -<p>“What fact?” growled Badger, frowning at him.</p> - -<p>“Some person informed you of the request I designed -to make the Clayton woman.”</p> - -<p>“Think so?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Or informed her.”</p> - -<p>“You’re getting wise fast.”</p> - -<p>“Otherwise, Badger, you couldn’t have planned the job -among you,” continued Nick.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps not.”</p> - -<p>“I can come pretty near guessing who it was, too, -since Chief Weston is the only man I informed of my -intention.”</p> - -<p>“Most likely he sent a messenger out here and warned -us,” sneered Badger, with a grin.</p> - -<p>“Not he,” retorted Nick. “But there’s a red-headed -sketch and outline of a man in his office, Badger, whom -I’ll come pretty near rounding up along with the rest of -you, when I get out of this hole.”</p> - -<p>“There will be no immediate rounding up, Carter, -since it depends upon you alone,” replied Badger, with a -searching stare at Nick’s face.</p> - -<p>“Ah, then you were also told that I’m alone on the -case,” said Nick, willing enough to have him think so.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t you alone on it?”</p> - -<p>“If I’m not, Badger, you’ll hear from others soon -enough.”</p> - -<p>“There are no others.”</p> - -<p>“All right.”</p> - -<p>“And you are now helpless.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not quite.”</p> - -<p>“As good as down and out.”</p> - -<p>“But I’m still in the ring,” insisted Nick.</p> - -<p>“You’re in hands from which you’ll never escape alive, -I give you my word on that,” cried Badger, with menacing -austerity.</p> - -<p>“Your word, Badger, is a poor voucher.”</p> - -<p>“You now know far too much about us for us to let -you escape and disclose it,” added the latter decisively. -“I now want to know of just what your knowledge consists, -and what action you have taken against us.”</p> - -<p>Nick laughed a bit derisively.</p> - -<p>“I guess, Badger, you’ll have to take it out in wanting,” -said he.</p> - -<p>“You’ll not inform me?”</p> - -<p>“Not by a long chalk.”</p> - -<p>“I shall find a way to compel you.”</p> - -<p>“Possibly,” said Nick. “But you’ll have a long hunt -before you find the way.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll let me alone to find that,” cried Badger, with -confident asperity. “I can devise tortures so acute that -even you will reveal what you have done toward——”</p> - -<p>His rascally threat was interrupted at that point by -the sound of approaching steps from beyond the partly -closed door. In a moment it was thrown open, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -Jerry Conley, followed by Vic Clayton and Badger’s wife, -entered the dismal place.</p> - -<p>That the two women were as low-bred and disreputable -as had been reported to Nick appeared in their utter -disregard of his wretched condition, and the malicious -satisfaction with which they stared at him, as they might -have stared at a caged beast which they had had occasion -to fear.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got him back to earth, have you?” asked -Claudia, with a glance at Badger’s grim face. “Jerry -just came and told us, so we thought we’d have a look -at him.”</p> - -<p>Vic Clayton, however, came and bent above Nick, -peering down at his stern features, now white from loss -of blood; while her own evil eyes, with the mocking -smile that curled her cruel lips, plainly evinced her -despicable and malignant nature.</p> - -<p>“Well, you’ve got as many lives as a cat, haven’t you?” -she demanded, in taunting tones.</p> - -<p>Nick returned her evil stare with hardly a change of -countenance, yet there was in his lifted eyes an ominous, -fiery gleam, from which those who knew him best had -learned to shrink with fear.</p> - -<p>“I shall live long enough to repay with interest the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -blows you dealt me, and to land you where you belong?” -he sternly rejoined.</p> - -<p>“You will, eh?” sneered Vic, with a derisive laugh.</p> - -<p>“Without the slightest doubt.”</p> - -<p>“Evidently you’ve forgotten what I predicted for you.”</p> - -<p>“The predictions of a charlatan are seldom fulfilled.”</p> - -<p>“Charlatan?”</p> - -<p>“And crook,” added Nick.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be saucy, Mr. Carter, not to a lady,” said the -frowning jade. “You’ll meet with just what I predicted -for you—failure.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll risk that.”</p> - -<p>“And you’re in a very fair way to it,” added Vic, with -a sinister nod, as she terminated her malicious scrutiny -and turned to Amos Badger.</p> - -<p>The latter had drawn aside with his wife and Conley, -and the three stood talking in subdued tones, apparently -with no interest in the recent amusement of their confederate.</p> - -<p>“Well, what do you say?” demanded Vic, as she approached -them. “We’ve got him, all right. Now, what’s -to be done with him?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what we are discussing,” growled Conley, who -had much of the ruffian in him. “I say ’twas a mistake<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -not to have let him croak, if he’d have been accommodating -enough to do so.”</p> - -<p>“Bah!” muttered Claudia. “Men with as hard heads as -his don’t die so easily.”</p> - -<p>“To my way of thinking,” added Conley, “it’s safest -for us to put out his light at once, and be done with it.”</p> - -<p>Badger, however, quickly shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Not yet,” said he grimly. “Not before to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“But why the delay?” protested Conley. “I cannot see -anything in that.”</p> - -<p>“Then I’ll tell you why.”</p> - -<p>“Well, out with it.”</p> - -<p>Nick pricked up his ears, yet he could catch only a -word now and then louder than others.</p> - -<p>“To begin with,” argued Badger, “I’m not going to -run my neck into a noose before I know just how we -stand. We have no blood on our hands as yet, and before -I take chances of that kind, Conley, I’m going to be -dead sure that Carter has not reported his suspicions -to Weston. What good will it do to put him out of the -way, only to find that we have half a score of Boston -detectives on our heels, to whom Carter’s discoveries -have been imparted.”</p> - -<p>“But Sandy declares that Weston knows nothing about -that,” whispered Vic.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I hope he doesn’t, but I’m going to be sure of it before -I wipe out Nick Carter,” said Badger.</p> - -<p>“How can you make sure?” growled Conley.</p> - -<p>“We shall know by to-morrow at this time.”</p> - -<p>“How so?”</p> - -<p>“Because we shall have others after us, Jerry, just as -soon as the discovery is made that Carter is missing,” -reasoned Badger. “If none show up, we may then -safely assume that Sandy Hyde is right, and that Carter -has disclosed nothing definite. We shall then know that -he’s the only one we need fear, and it will then be time -enough to put him down and out.”</p> - -<p>“Well, there’s something in that,” Conley now muttered.</p> - -<p>“We know he cannot escape.”</p> - -<p>“H’m! I should say not.”</p> - -<p>“So there’s no need of haste, since we have him in our -clutches,” added Badger. “Besides, there is another -thing to be considered.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Carter may have some of his New York assistants -here, for all we positively know to the contrary.”</p> - -<p>“Sandy says not,” interposed Vic.</p> - -<p>“He may not be absolutely sure,” Badger argued. -“And until we are dead certain of it, which should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -by to-morrow at this time, I am resolved to take no -chance of some day being tried for murder.”</p> - -<p>“That does have an ugly sound,” said Vic, with a dismal -grimace.</p> - -<p>“And there’s an ugly penalty,” added her sister.</p> - -<p>“So that settles it, Jerry,” said Badger. “We’ll keep -Carter right here till we know just what we’re up -against.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s good enough for me if ’tis for you,” said -Conley indifferently.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure his bonds are secure?”</p> - -<p>“If he loosens any of those knots, Amos, I’ll eat the -ropes,” was the confident rejoinder.</p> - -<p>“To-morrow we’ll take steps to make him open his -mouth, and tell all he knows.”</p> - -<p>“What steps?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll find a way, let me alone for that.”</p> - -<p>“Meantime——” began Vic.</p> - -<p>“No more here,” interposed Badger. “It’s too infernally -damp and cold. Go back to the house, you two -women, and I’ll presently join you there. I’ll first make -sure that things here are all safe.”</p> - -<p>“All right, Amos.”</p> - -<p>The two women withdrew from the vault, Nick following -them with his gaze.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> - -<p>The two men remained, and both now proceeded to -make doubly sure that the ropes binding Nick’s arms and -limbs were securely knotted.</p> - -<p>Not a word was spoken.</p> - -<p>The work required less than a minute, and Badger -then took up the lantern and signed for Conley to go out -ahead.</p> - -<p>At the door of the vault, however, Badger turned -back for a moment, to say, with vicious assurance:</p> - -<p>“If it is to be one of us who must go down and out, -Carter, it will be you! Take my word for that!”</p> - -<p>For a moment Nick gazed sternly at him across the -dismal place, then coldly retorted:</p> - -<p>“Since I have only your word for it, Badger, I feel -perfectly safe!”</p> - -<p>Badger vented a half-smothered growl, then closed the -heavy door with a resounding bang.</p> - -<p>Nick heard the shooting of bolts and the sound of a -bar dropped into place.</p> - -<p>Then all was silence for a time—silence and darkness!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XIV. -<br /> -<small>SHADOWS AND SHADOWED.</small></h2> - - -<p>“Thundering guns!” muttered Patsy. “He’d be an -ugly cur to meet in the dark.”</p> - -<p>Chick Carter gazed in the direction indicated.</p> - -<p>The two detectives were comfortably seated on a log -in the midst of a cluster of shrubbery.</p> - -<p>The shrubbery formed a part of the scrub and bushes -skirting the woodland back of the extensive Badger -estate.</p> - -<p>Nearly a hundred yards away was the stable, a side -view, with the long carriage-house adjoining, as previously -described.</p> - -<p>Fifty yards beyond was the Badger dwelling, rear -elevation, with the back door and windows in plain sight, -as well as part of one of the side verandas.</p> - -<p>The intervening ground was clear of trees, and nothing -obstructed the view of the two watching detectives.</p> - -<p>They were executing Nick’s command given them that -morning, that of learning what they could about the -Badger place without being seen.</p> - -<p>They had already measured it from in front, and had -arrived at their present vantage-point about half an hour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> -before, bent upon watching till they were reasonably assured -as to the number of servants in the house and -stable.</p> - -<p>Matters always moved lively with the Carters after a -trail was once fairly struck, and in this case they were -no exception.</p> - -<p>That which had occasioned Patsy’s muttered exclamation -was now observed by Chick, who parted the shrubbery -concealing them to view the object a little better.</p> - -<p>It was a huge Cuban bloodhound, a wicked-looking -beast. The animal had evidently just come out of the -stable, the front of which was only partly visible to the -detectives, and he was now trotting across the lawn toward -the rear door of the house.</p> - -<p>“I believe you are right,” rejoined Chick. “He looks -as if he might bolt a man with a single mouthful.”</p> - -<p>“Dead easy,” nodded Patsy.</p> - -<p>“If we have work to do here after dark,” said Chick, -“we’d best keep that fellow in mind.”</p> - -<p>“Rather.”</p> - -<p>“He’d put up an uglier fight than the entire bunch -we’ve seen so far.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Chick.”</p> - -<p>“We’ve seen only four as yet.”</p> - -<p>“Badger and his wife, whom we saw from the front,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -counted Patsy. “The middle-aged woman at work in -the kitchen yonder, and the covey we’ve seen about the -stable. That makes four, Chick; sure as you’re a foot -high.”</p> - -<p>“I begin to think there are no others.”</p> - -<p>“Four are not many to be carrying on the game Nick -suspects,” suggested Patsy, a bit doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“There is still the Clayton woman,” replied Chick; -“and she and Badger’s wife may be as bold and capable -as men would be.”</p> - -<p>“Very likely.”</p> - -<p>“There are enough of them to have played this hold-up -game successfully, that’s plain enough; and the -smaller the number, Patsy, the less liability of betrayal.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true, Chick.”</p> - -<p>“I think that the paucity of servants here is a point -in our favor.”</p> - -<p>“A point that Nick is right?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps so.”</p> - -<p>“I doubt if there are others,” repeated Chick, “or if -we can remain here much longer to advantage. We are -to rejoin Nick at four o’clock, you remember.”</p> - -<p>“What time is it now?”</p> - -<p>“Half-past one,” replied Chick, consulting his watch.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was at that moment that Vic Clayton was receiving -her very important communication from the spy from -police headquarters, half an hour before the arrival of -Nick.</p> - -<p>At the same moment, while Chick and Patsy were -crouched, gazing toward the house, Conley came out of -the rear door and sauntered toward the stable, lighting -his pipe while he walked.</p> - -<p>“There’s that stable covey again,” murmured Patsy. -“I don’t half-fancy his looks.”</p> - -<p>“Evidently he is just out from dinner.”</p> - -<p>“Sure thing! See, the woman is now feeding the dog -at the back steps. That’s what the ugly cur trotted over -there for.”</p> - -<p>“He knows when meal-time comes,” laughed Chick.</p> - -<p>“Mebbe his meal-ticket is only good at this hour,” -grinned Patsy. “I wonder if that covey is the only man -in the stable. If he is, Chick, he must have a good bit -of work, or else Nick is away off on some points.”</p> - -<p>“Why so?”</p> - -<p>“Nick thinks they have three or four horses out here.”</p> - -<p>“We know of one, Patsy.”</p> - -<p>“And he thinks these hold-up crooks have several automobiles.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They don’t require much labor, particularly when only -seldom used.”</p> - -<p>“Well, they haven’t the autos in that stable, nor in the -carriage-house,” declared Patsy. “That’s a cinch, Chick, -for we’ve had a look into both.”</p> - -<p>“True.”</p> - -<p>“And there’s only one horse in the stable.”</p> - -<p>“They may have some secret place of concealment for -the whole business,” said Chick.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps so, yet——”</p> - -<p>“Stop a bit!” Chick suddenly interrupted, rising to -peer through the shrubbery. “What’s the meaning of -this?”</p> - -<p>“Gee!” muttered Patsy, also starting to his feet. -“Something’s up!”</p> - -<p>Though they had no way of learning the occasion for -the excitement at this time, both being out of hearing -and unable to approach without being detected, it was -at just this time that Badger received from Vic Clayton -a telephone communication concerning Nick Carter’s designs, -and which had been quickly followed by the laying -of the plot that later resulted in Nick’s downfall.</p> - -<p>Badger had come plunging out of the back door of the -house, without coat or hat, throwing away his cigar as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -he ran across the lawn, all the while shouting lustily -to Conley.</p> - -<p>It was his sudden appearance and obvious excitement -that had so startled both Chick and Patsy.</p> - -<p>Conley turned back upon hearing the shouts, and the -two crooks met about twenty feet in front of the stable, -within plain view of the detectives.</p> - -<p>There Badger talked rapidly for several moments, with -occasional fierce gestures in the direction of the city, -and all the while both men exhibited in their faces and -movements a consternation and excitement not easily to -be accounted for by one out of hearing.</p> - -<p>“Gee! I’d give something to know what they are saying,” -muttered Patsy, staring with distended eyes.</p> - -<p>“There is something in the wind,” nodded Chick.</p> - -<p>At the end of about a minute, Badger turned and -rushed back to the house, entering it at the top of his -speed.</p> - -<p>Conley, meantime, bolted out of sight toward the stable -door, yet not into it, which was out of view of the detectives.</p> - -<p>“Where the dickens did he go?” said Chick curiously.</p> - -<p>“It looked as if he went into the stable,” said Patsy.</p> - -<p>“I’m not so sure of that.”</p> - -<p>“No?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I thought he turned to one side just before he approached -the door.”</p> - -<p>“He may have run around the farthest corner,” suggested -Patsy. “We might change our positions, Chick, -so as to see that door.”</p> - -<p>“Wait a bit,” replied Chick. “There’s a big hurry here -over something, and we shall see all there is to be seen -in short order.”</p> - -<p>“I guess that’s right.”</p> - -<p>“Badger pointed toward town several times,” added -Chick, with grave countenance. “I’d wager a little that -Nick is in some way back of this, if not involved in some -bother.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t imagine——”</p> - -<p>“Easy! Here comes Badger again.”</p> - -<p>Once more the latter had bolted out of the house, and -this time he was followed by his wife.</p> - -<p>Now both had on their outside garments, and evidently -were prepared for a ride.</p> - -<p>At the same moment an automobile, with a furious -rumble and whir, came into view in front of the stable, -and sped across the lawn to meet the couple.</p> - -<p>It was driven by Conley, who tumbled out of it the -instant it stopped, while Badger and his wife clambered -in almost as quickly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> - -<p>In another moment, with Badger running it, the car -was speeding down the long gravel driveway toward -Laurel Road.</p> - -<p>The departure was made so excitedly and hurriedly -that Patsy, who had been holding his breath all the while, -now exhaled it with a sharp gasp.</p> - -<p>“Whew; that beats the record,” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“What puzzles me,” replied Chick perplexedly, “is -where that auto came from.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! that’s just what I was thinking.”</p> - -<p>“It did not come out of the stable, I’ll swear to that.”</p> - -<p>“It looked to me as if it came around the farther corner.”</p> - -<p>“It was a Packard,” said Chick. “I know the machine.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps——”</p> - -<p>“Break off and follow me,” now interrupted Chick, -who had been watching Conley walk leisurely back toward -the stable.</p> - -<p>“Where now?” asked Patsy, as they drew back through -the woods.</p> - -<p>“Back to town,” said Chick decidedly. “There’s nothing -more for us here at present.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a good bet that Badger has headed for town, -since he pointed that way so often.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That’s just my idea, Patsy.”</p> - -<p>“What do you think about it?”</p> - -<p>“I think that something has happened to alarm these -rascals,” replied Chick.</p> - -<p>“And that nobody but Nick could have brought that -about?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“In that case, Chick, he may have made some move -since we left him.”</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“And possibly these guys have got wise to it.”</p> - -<p>“That appears to be about the size of it,” nodded -Chick. “Furthermore, it looks as if Badger, in making -this lightning trip, had got something up his sleeve for -Nick.”</p> - -<p>“A counter-move?”</p> - -<p>“Precisely.”</p> - -<p>“What shall we do about it?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll first make sure about Nick,” replied Chick. -“He was to rejoin us at four o’clock. If he doesn’t show -up at that hour, or a little later, we must get a move on.”</p> - -<p>“To trace him?”</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“And if we fail to strike his trail?”</p> - -<p>“Back out here we’ll come, Patsy, dog or no dog, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> -learn what this sudden journey really meant,” declared -Chick, with grave determination.</p> - -<p>He had reasoned shrewdly in that he had attributed -Badger’s excited departure to some unexpected cause for -alarm, and also that Nick was the person most likely to -have occasioned it.</p> - -<p>In the light of these deductions, moreover, Badger’s -immediate and decisive action plainly indicated that he -had some definite project in view, presumably one to -avert the impending danger.</p> - -<p>The conclusions alone were sufficient to point to some -peril threatening Nick, and his chief assistant was quick -to arrive at them, and act accordingly.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, however, the celerity and astuteness -with which the Carters invariably cooperated in -their work went far toward insuring their success.</p> - -<p>Chick’s talk with Patsy had occurred while they picked -their way through the belt of woods, from which they -presently emerged, then hastened to the nearest trolley -line and back to the city.</p> - -<p>It was nearly three o’clock when they arrived at the -Adams House, and went to Nick’s room.</p> - -<p>There was no sign of Nick, however.</p> - -<p>The magnifying-glass with which he had examined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -the incriminating photograph was still lying on the table -where he had left it. But there was neither note nor -token to show that he had been there since the three departed -in company that morning.</p> - -<p>“He has not returned since he left with us, Patsy,” said -Chick, after looking about. “We’ll wait till the appointed -hour.”</p> - -<p>“Four o’clock?”</p> - -<p>“Or a little later.”</p> - -<p>“He may show up by that time.”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t much hope of it,” replied Chick, a bit -anxiously. “I’ve got it on me good and hard, a genuine -hunch, Patsy, that something has gone wrong with -him.”</p> - -<p>“You’re most generally right, Chick, when you feel -like that.”</p> - -<p>Chick made no reply, but began pacing the floor.</p> - -<p>An hour passed, and brought no sign of Nick.</p> - -<p>At half-past four Chick could restrain his impatience -no longer.</p> - -<p>“Come on!” he abruptly exclaimed, catching up his -hat. “We’ll get a move on.”</p> - -<p>Patsy started up from the couch, on which he was -having a pull at his pipe.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’m with you!” he cried, with alacrity. “Going to try -to trace him?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Where first, Chick? To State Street?”</p> - -<p>“It’s too late to go there,” replied Chick, as they left -the room and hastened toward the elevator.</p> - -<p>“Yet we might strike his trail there.”</p> - -<p>“I can do so more quickly, I think.”</p> - -<p>“Where?”</p> - -<p>“At police headquarters—Chief Weston’s office, in -Pemberton Square.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. -<br /> -<small>ON NICK’S TRAIL.</small></h2> - - -<p>It was five o’clock when Chick and Patsy entered Pemberton -Square.</p> - -<p>It was about half an hour before that when Nick Carter -was lodged in his place of confinement.</p> - -<p>“You wait here, Patsy,” said Chick, at the corner on -which Nick engaged Grady’s runabout a few mornings -before. “There is no need of both of us going into the -chief’s office. I’ll return inside of five minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead.”</p> - -<p>Chick hastened down the basement stairs and into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> -chief’s office—only to encounter Sandy Hyde just entering -from the opposite corridor.</p> - -<p>“Where’s the chief?” Chick cried bruskly.</p> - -<p>Hyde didn’t know Chick from a side of sole leather, -but, knowing at least that he was not Nick Carter, he -answered quite promptly:</p> - -<p>“The chief is in his office.”</p> - -<p>“I must see him.”</p> - -<p>“What name?”</p> - -<p>“Chick Carter. Come, come, I’m in a rush!”</p> - -<p>Hyde’s catlike eyes at once began to dilate upon hearing -the name, taking on their greenish glow of internal -excitement.</p> - -<p>He now realized that he had given Vic Clayton a -wrong tip, that one of Nick’s assistants was in Boston -and on the case with him, and the servile little rascal at -once began to figure how he could square himself and -discover Chick’s mission.</p> - -<p>He did not dare hazard playing the eavesdropper -again, and also feared that he might not overhear all -that was said by so doing, and he at once adopted the -first resort that appealed to him.</p> - -<p>He hastened through the enclosure, and into Weston’s -private office, saying quickly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> - -<p>“There’s a man out here to see you, chief.”</p> - -<p>“What man?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t catch his name, sir. But he’s in an awful -rush, and I reckon something has happened.”</p> - -<p>Just as Hyde had expected, Chief Weston started up -from his chair and strode into the general office.</p> - -<p>Hyde was cunning enough to foresee that, if Chick -was in such great haste, their conversation would probably -be carried on in the outer office.</p> - -<p>So it was, moreover, despite that Weston at once cried, -as he shook his visitor by the hand:</p> - -<p>“Why, hello, Chick Carter! How are you? Come -inside.”</p> - -<p>“No, no, chief,” Chick quickly declined. “I’m going -to stay but a moment. Has Nick been here to-day?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—about one o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know where he has gone?”</p> - -<p>“I know where he said he was going.”</p> - -<p>“Where was that?”</p> - -<p>“To Madame Victoria’s rooms, in Tremont Street,” -replied Weston.</p> - -<p>“Do you know for what?” inquired Chick, beginning -to see light ahead.</p> - -<p>Chief Weston briefly told him of what Nick’s mission<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -at Vic Clayton’s rooms consisted, as stated by Nick, and -then he inquired curiously:</p> - -<p>“Why are you asking about him, Chick? Is there -anything wrong?”</p> - -<p>Having learned all that he could then and there, however, -Chick decided to impart nothing at this time.</p> - -<p>“No, nothing wrong, chief, I think,” he quickly rejoined, -turning to go. “I am merely in a hurry to locate -him, that’s all. He may have returned to the hotel by -this time.”</p> - -<p>“I think likely you’ll find him there,” nodded Weston, -a bit suspicious of Chick’s evasion.</p> - -<p>Chick did not wait longer, but bolted out as he had -bolted in.</p> - -<p>Weston walked toward his private office.</p> - -<p>Hyde’s greenish eyes, now glowing more brightly -than ever, drifted toward the telephone-closet.</p> - -<p>Before he could make a move to convey the desired -warning to Badger, however, Chief Weston turned back -and said curtly:</p> - -<p>“You come in here with me, Sandy. I want you to -help me on my quarterly report for an hour or so. Look -lively, too, or you’ll be tied up here till after six o’clock.”</p> - -<p>The sallow features of the treacherous miscreant quivered -and twitched with disappointment for a moment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> -but immediate obedience was imperative—and the telephone -had to wait!</p> - -<p>Chick Carter rejoined Patsy on the corner.</p> - -<p>“Come on!” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Where now?” inquired Patsy, as they headed for -Tremont Street.</p> - -<p>“To the fortune-teller’s rooms.”</p> - -<p>“Has Nick been there?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, about two o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Did you learn for what?”</p> - -<p>“All that Weston could tell me,” replied Chick, hurriedly -informing him what he had learned.</p> - -<p>Both were quick to see the possibilities which their -various observations and discoveries presented, and Patsy -now forcibly declared, as Chick concluded:</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet that some kind of a scurvy trick has been -turned.”</p> - -<p>“I fear so, Patsy.”</p> - -<p>“Badger wouldn’t have been on such a rush with that -auto unless he had some scheme in view.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” assented Chick. “Madame Victoria -may have telephoned to him what Nick was about doing, -and possibly planned with Badger to get him into -their hands.”</p> - -<p>“That appears about the size of it. If we get no trace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -of him here,” growled Patsy, “we’ll go out there again -to-night and investigate.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what we’ll do.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know just where the fortune-teller’s rooms -are located?”</p> - -<p>“Yonder,” nodded Chick, as they hastened up Tremont -Street. “In that block on the next corner.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to ask her, in case she is there?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I can give her some kind of a plausible story -to explain my inquiries,” replied Chick confidently. -“She’s not clairvoyant enough to see through me, I’ll go -my pile on that.”</p> - -<p>“Mine goes the same way,” vouchsafed Patsy, with a -grin.</p> - -<p>“I’ll assuredly not let her know that I’m on the case -with Nick,” added Chick. “If these rascals think he is -working it alone, we may derive some advantage by -keeping them in the dark.”</p> - -<p>“Surely.”</p> - -<p>“Nick also may not wish us to expose that we, too, are -investigating the case——Stop a bit! Wait here!”</p> - -<p>Chick had suddenly caught Patsy by the arm and -drawn him to the shelter of a doorway, less than twenty -yards from that leading into the building occupied by -Vic Clayton.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> - -<p>The occasion for this move was obvious.</p> - -<p>Just turning the corner of Boylston Street, and approaching -the building mentioned, was a huge touring-car -of the latest type, occupied by two women only.</p> - -<p>“By thunder!” muttered Patsy excitedly. “That’s Badger’s -wife running that car.”</p> - -<p>“I see it is,” said Chick more coolly.</p> - -<p>“With the fortune-teller?”</p> - -<p>“No doubt of it. She answers Nick’s description of -her.”</p> - -<p>“Gee whiz!”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“That’s not the car that Badger and his wife used -this afternoon,” cried Patsy.</p> - -<p>“So I see,” said Chick, still watching the couple. -“There is something back of all this.”</p> - -<p>“You bet there is!”</p> - -<p>“Hold your horses, however, till I see what the two -women are about to do.”</p> - -<p>With skillful hands Claudia Badger had turned the -huge car in Tremont Street, then brought it to a stop -at the curb opposite the doorway giving ingress to Vic -Clayton’s rooms.</p> - -<p>Then both women deliberately alighted and entered the -building, leaving the automobile unattended.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> - -<p>Chick Carter’s eyes took on a sudden bright gleam.</p> - -<p>They had lighted upon a large willow hamper, or covered -basket, attached to the rear of the car for the purpose -of stowing away articles to be carried on a long -tour. The hamper was nearly as large as a small trunk, -and the top was secured only with two brass clasps.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, Patsy, here’s the chance of a lifetime!” -Chick hurriedly exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” came the eager inquiry.</p> - -<p>“Do you see that hamper?”</p> - -<p>“Sure!”</p> - -<p>“Do you think you can get into it?”</p> - -<p>Patsy needed no further hint to the design in Chick’s -mind, nor to the possibility it presented. With eyes -quickly glowing with eagerness and excitement, he hurriedly -replied:</p> - -<p>“Get into it? Sure I can! The scheme is a corker! -It’ll take me right into the midst of these rascals. Come -on, Chick, and——”</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment,” cautioned Chick. “Get that policeman -to help you, explaining who you are, and have -him take away any stuff that may be in the hamper.”</p> - -<p>“And you?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll rush up-stairs, and keep those two women engaged -till I’m sure you are well under cover.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Good enough!”</p> - -<p>“And to-night you can count on me to lend a hand,” -added Chick, “in case I am needed.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the idea!” cried Patsy.</p> - -<p>“Away with you, then, while I tackle the two women.”</p> - -<p>Patsy hastened toward the deserted automobile, near -which a policeman happened to be standing, and whose -aid the former quickly obtained in the way Chick had -suggested.</p> - -<p>Chick, meantime, hastened into the building and up to -the rooms of Madame Victoria.</p> - -<p>He found the two women in the reception-parlor, Vic -Clayton engaged in changing her automobile coat for -a long cloak.</p> - -<p>They had driven into town again, after securing Nick, -only in order that they might be seen by the occupants -of the stores near-by, with a view to subsequently obtaining -the testimony of these observers, if the need -arose, in support of some plausible story to the effect -that they had brought Nick back to town and left him in -some locality.</p> - -<p>Upon hearing Chick enter the room, both women -turned toward him with looks of surprise.</p> - -<p>“I beg pardon, ladies,” said he, bowing. “I am looking -for Madame Victoria.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I am she,” replied Vic, sharply regarding him.</p> - -<p>“My name is Henderson, madame.”</p> - -<p>“What can I do for you, Mr. Henderson?”</p> - -<p>“I am looking for a gentleman who is said to have -been here this afternoon, and with whom I have important -business,” explained Chick, with a deliberation -well calculated to give Patsy what time he would require -below.</p> - -<p>He was quick to see, however, the suspicious gleam -that instantly arose in Vic Clayton’s eyes upon learning -his business, and he added, with some suavity:</p> - -<p>“I am unable to find the gentleman at his hotel, madame, -and I thought he might still be here.”</p> - -<p>“Who is the gentleman?” asked Vic, with affected indifference.</p> - -<p>“His name is Nick Carter.”</p> - -<p>“Is he a friend of yours?”</p> - -<p>“An acquaintance only.”</p> - -<p>“How did you learn that he had been here, Mr. -Henderson?” inquired Vic, now bestowing a gracious -smile upon her questioner.</p> - -<p>“I was so informed by the clerk at the hotel, to whom -Mr. Carter had mentioned his intention of coming -here.”</p> - -<p>“Ah. I see.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I inferred that Mr. Carter came here to consult you -professionally, madame, and I thought his interview -might possibly have lasted till now.”</p> - -<p>Chick easily detected the relief which his artful explanation -had occasioned both women, and it convinced -him that he was on the right track, yet he in no way -betrayed his convictions.</p> - -<p>Neither woman had approached the window to look -out, and Vic Clayton had now buttoned her cloak and -appeared anxious to depart.</p> - -<p>Chick knew that Patsy must have accomplished his -design by this time, however, and he did not care how -soon the interview terminated.</p> - -<p>“Well, Mr. Henderson, I cannot say where Mr. Carter -has gone,” Vic carelessly rejoined. “We dropped him -at the corner of Arlington Street, however, only a short -time ago.”</p> - -<p>“From your automobile?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Possibly, then, I shall now find him at the hotel.”</p> - -<p>“I think it quite probable, sir, for he walked toward -Washington Street after he left us,” smiled Vic, edging -toward the door which Claudia Badger already had -opened.</p> - -<p>“I will return there and see,” said Chick, bowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> -himself from the room. “Thank you very much for -your information.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t mention it, sir,” replied Vic, with a little laugh, -as she and her companion also stepped into the corridor, -closing the door behind them.</p> - -<p>Chick politely stepped aside, and let them precede -him down the stairs.</p> - -<p>Without so much as a glance at him again, both women -fell into a conventional talk as they descended toward the -street.</p> - -<p>Chick reached the sidewalk close upon their heels, -however.</p> - -<p>The touring-car still stood at the curb—but there was -no sign of Patsy in any direction.</p> - -<p>The policeman was lingering near-by, with an air of -indifference and a vacant stare across the opposite Common.</p> - -<p>From some little distance away a few curious observers -were gazing toward the car, wondering at what they had -seen, but the officer had made sure that they were too -remote to attract attention.</p> - -<p>Neither woman noticed them as she crossed the sidewalk -and quickly entered the car.</p> - -<p>In another moment it was under way, with Claudia<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> -Badger at the wheel, and presently was speeding up -Boylston Street.</p> - -<p>Chick now turned to the policeman, who received him -with a significant grin.</p> - -<p>“What do you say, officer?” demanded Chick.</p> - -<p>“He’s in it, all right, sir,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“In the hamper?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what.”</p> - -<p>“Was it empty?”</p> - -<p>“Not a thing in it, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Close quarters for him, weren’t they?”</p> - -<p>“Rather,” laughed the officer. “But he fixed the clasps -so he can get out whenever he likes, and he’ll not fare -so badly. What’s the job, Mr. Carter?”</p> - -<p>“If all works well, officer, you may learn by reading -to-morrow morning’s newspapers,” Chick pointedly rejoined, -as he turned to go. “I cannot wait to inform -you, for I now have work of my own elsewhere.”</p> - -<p>He was thinking of Badger’s place, and of what might -befall the dauntless young detective then speeding out -there in the hazardous manner described.</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later, however, with a revolver in each -hip pocket, Chick also was on his way to Brookline.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XVI. -<br /> -<small>A TERRIBLE PREDICAMENT.</small></h2> - - -<p>Patsy held his breath.</p> - -<p>It was a novel and, at times, a thrilling sensation, that -of riding at thirty miles an hour enclosed in a wicker -hamper on the rear of an automobile.</p> - -<p>At times the car ran smoothly and swiftly; at others -it jolted heavily over a rougher road.</p> - -<p>It was not dark in the basketlike receptacle into which -Patsy had fairly crammed himself, yet the wickerwork -was so compact that he could not see out unless he raised -the cover, and that he did not venture to do.</p> - -<p>Neither could he hear anything that was said by the -two women on the front seat of the car, owing to the -constant noise of the vehicle.</p> - -<p>He knew, however, that he was on the road to Badger’s -place, and speeding to the assistance of Nick Carter, and -that was good enough for Patsy up to that time.</p> - -<p>After half an hour’s run, as nearly as he could judge, -the cramped and twisted young detective felt the car -sweep in a swift curve out of the direct road it had -been following, and speed along a much less smooth and -even way.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> - -<p>“We have entered Laurel Road,” he rightly conjectured. -“In five more minutes we should arrive at -Badger’s house. Providing that I am not discovered in -this infernally tight box, I there may hear something to -serve my purpose. If I can learn definitely that Nick is -out here, and then discover just where he is located, the -rest of the job should be fairly easy.”</p> - -<p>For his own peril, let it be what it might, the brave -youngster had not even a passing thought.</p> - -<p>Presently the car turned again, and began to slow -down, and a moment later, when the noise of the motor -abated, Patsy could plainly hear Vic Clayton addressing -her companion.</p> - -<p>“There is Amos on the side veranda, Claudia,” she -cried, in satisfied tones.</p> - -<p>“So I see, Vic,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“Things must still be all right out here, old girl, since -he appears to be taking it easy, and is smoking a -cigar.”</p> - -<p>“I will round that side of the house before running -the car to the stable,” said Claudia.</p> - -<p>“You can drop me there, too.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll both stop there, and let Amos put the car under -cover. Yes, I judge that things are all right out here, -as you say.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They’ll soon take a turn for the worse, I’ll wager my -life on that,” thought Patsy, with grim anticipations.</p> - -<p>It was then nearly seven o’clock, and the dusk of the -early evening had begun to fall.</p> - -<p>As the car approached the side veranda and came to -a stop, Badger rose out of a chair in which he was seated, -and strode to the steps leading down to the driveway.</p> - -<p>Though his dark features wore a look of evil complacency, -he at once addressed his wife in rather uneasy -tones.</p> - -<p>“Well, what’s the verdict?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Nothing wrong, Amos,” she cried, as both women -came down from the car.</p> - -<p>“Did you stop at your rooms, Vic?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” laughed the latter. “Don’t you notice that -I have changed my coat?”</p> - -<p>“Ah, yes, I see.”</p> - -<p>“I did that only to indicate that we had some motive -for visiting the rooms,” she glibly added. “We had a -visitor, too, while we were there.”</p> - -<p>“Who was that?”</p> - -<p>“A chap named Henderson.”</p> - -<p>“Henderson?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what he said, Amos, and whom do you think -he inquired after?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not Nick Carter!” cried Badger, with brows quickly -knitting.</p> - -<p>“None other.”</p> - -<p>“The devil you say! There may be something back -of that.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing that involves us, I reckon,” declared Vic -confidently.</p> - -<p>“Why do you feel so sure of it?”</p> - -<p>“Because he was sent to my rooms by the clerk in the -hotel where Carter was stopping, and to whom he had -mentioned coming to my place. He merely wanted to -see him on business, Amos, and couldn’t locate him.”</p> - -<p>The last was said with much significance and a loud, -derisive laugh, in which Amos Badger now joined.</p> - -<p>“Not locate him, eh?” he cried, with a shrug. “Well, -if anybody locates him after to-morrow, Vic, I’ll take a -permanent seat in the back row.”</p> - -<p>As may be inferred, this conversation took place some -little time before the interview with Nick himself, as related -in a previous chapter.</p> - -<p>“You’ll take a seat in that stone hotel in Charles -Street, you mean, along with all the rest of us,” Vic -bluntly rejoined.</p> - -<p>“You’ll soon be there!” thought Patsy, who was listening -intently to all that was being said.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> - -<p>Not so much as a glance had been bestowed upon the -hamper, which externally presented no unusual appearance, -and Patsy felt tolerably safe in his concealment.</p> - -<p>The end was not yet, however.</p> - -<p>“What have you done with him, Amos?” Claudia now -asked, as Badger came down the steps to run the car -to cover.</p> - -<p>“With Carter?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course. We started for town, you know, -the moment we had him safely landed here.”</p> - -<p>“Conley now has charge of him,” said Badger.</p> - -<p>“Where?”</p> - -<p>“In the old wine-vault.”</p> - -<p>“Are you going to confine him there?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, till I do worse to him.”</p> - -<p>“Has he come to himself?”</p> - -<p>“Not yet,” Badger promptly replied. “Those were -three ugly blows that Vic gave him.”</p> - -<p>“I was taking no chances by falling short of my -duty,” put in Vic, with a cruel laugh.</p> - -<p>“They’d have killed him for sure, Vic, if his head were -not as tough and hard as a darky’s.”</p> - -<p>“He would then have been out of our way, at all -events.”</p> - -<p>“Conley will soon have him revived, I think, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> -we will have a talk with him, and force him to confess -what is being done against us,” added Badger, approaching -the automobile. “I’ll stow the machine while you -two go in and eat your dinner. It’s already on the -table.”</p> - -<p>“Had yours?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Send Jerry in here to tell us when his patient revives,” -called Vic Clayton, as she mounted the steps. -“I want to go out there and have a look at him.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” growled Badger, as he sprang into the -car.</p> - -<p>Then the two women entered the house.</p> - -<p>In another moment the car started again with a whir -and rumble, and Patsy mentally sized up the situation -as he saw it.</p> - -<p>“We have hit the nail on the head, all right,” he said -to himself. “These crooks are all that we have suspected, -and they have Nick imprisoned out here, after -knocking him on the head. They shall be paid with interest -for the blows given him, however, as surely as the -sun sets in the west.</p> - -<p>“Confined in the old wine-vault, eh? I wonder where -that is located. Evidently it is not connected with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> -cellar of the house, since that she devil of a fortune-teller -wants to go ‘out’ somewhere to see Nick.</p> - -<p>“Conley, plainly enough, is the stableman we saw -to-day, and, since he has Nick in charge, it’s a good bet -that the vault mentioned is either in the basement of -the stable or that long carriage-house which adjoins it. -I’ll wager that I speedily find it, give me half a chance.”</p> - -<p>“Hello! what’s the meaning of this?”</p> - -<p>Patsy had suddenly felt the car lurch heavily, and -sway to one side, then plunge forward as if it were going -down a steep incline.</p> - -<p>“We cannot be going directly into the stable,” he -quickly reasoned. “The run into that is on the level, but -we’re descending some short, steep place.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove! I have it. Badger is taking the car into -some place from which Conley brought that one this -noon, which Chick felt sure had not come out of the -stable. These crooks must have some secret hiding-place -for their several cars and horses, and Badger is -about taking this one into it. Fortunately, I shall now -know all about it.”</p> - -<p>Patsy was correct in these conjectures.</p> - -<p>Badger had run the car around a corner of the stable, -then down to a short fence enclosing the space below the -building, which stood on a slope of the land.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> - -<p>In this fence was a door about wide enough to admit -the car, and Badger quickly sprang down to open it.</p> - -<p>As the latter did so, there fell upon Patsy’s ears a -sound that chilled his blood, despite the strong nerves -and invincible courage of the young detective.</p> - -<p>The sound was the sudden threatening barking of a -dog, then confined in this basement garage.</p> - -<p>“By thunder! it’s that Cuban bloodhound!” was Patsy’s -mental exclamation.</p> - -<p>He felt a thrill of dismay when he now recalled the -huge beast, which he had not once thought of since -undertaking the hazardous venture in which he was at -present helplessly launched.</p> - -<p>“If I escape detection by his ugly nostrils I shall be -lucky,” he said to himself. “If he scents me before I -can make some kind of a move to escape from this -basket, I shall be a gone goose for sure.”</p> - -<p>These thoughts passed quickly through Patsy’s mind -while Badger was opening the door mentioned.</p> - -<p>Then out came the dog, nearly as large as a small -calf, leaping about his rascally master, and barking furiously.</p> - -<p>“Gee whiz! that’s a pleasant sound,” murmured Patsy, -with an irrepressible shudder.</p> - -<p>“Down, Pluto!” roared Badger angrily. “Keep down,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -I say! Close that trap of yours, you brute, or I’ll break -every bone in your ugly body. Get out, you cur!”</p> - -<p>With the last of these exclamations, the huge dog was -dealt a resounding kick in the ribs, which sent him -yelping out across the lawn, at which Patsy breathed a -sigh of relief.</p> - -<p>“I’m safe for a few minutes, at least,” he decided.</p> - -<p>Then he heard Badger shout commandingly:</p> - -<p>“Here you, Conley! Come here with the lantern, so -I can see to run in this car. Look lively, old pal!”</p> - -<p>Patsy wondered why he had shouted so lustily, and -now he ventured to raise the wicker lid about half an -inch and peer out.</p> - -<p>A dimly lighted basement met his gaze. It was not -more than twenty feet square, with the stone foundation -walls of the stable on two sides, the open door on a -third, while the fourth and interior side appeared to be -a solid wooden bulkhead.</p> - -<p>The floor was the bare ground, and the place was evidently -designed for stowing away an automobile.</p> - -<p>“This is where that car came from this noon, that’s -plain enough,” thought Patsy. “Yet Nick must be wrong -in thinking the rascals own so many cars, for I’ve seen -only two. There’s not room in there for more than that -number.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> - -<p>The last thought had barely crossed his mind, however, -when Patsy discovered his mistake, and also why -Badger had shouted so loudly.</p> - -<p>A secret sliding door in the interior bulkhead wall suddenly -flew open, revealing a long extension of the basement, -running even under the carriage-house adjoining -the stable above.</p> - -<p>In this secret extension, which was so cleverly constructed -as to defy detection either from within or without, -Patsy now caught sight of half a score of motors -lined up against one of the side walls, each of a different -make from the others, and all apparently in first-class -condition.</p> - -<p>“By thunder! this does settle it, and Nick was right,” -he mused. “Those are the different cars these knaves -have used for their night hold-ups. This exterior basement -is only a blind for concealing the other.”</p> - -<p>The chief figure that at once claimed Patsy’s attention, -however, was that of Jerry Conley.</p> - -<p>He had appeared in the secret doorway in response to -Badger’s shout, and he carried in one hand a lighted -lantern, and in the other a flask of brandy.</p> - -<p>“Well, what do you say, Jerry?” demanded Badger, -as the other strode out to join him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> - -<p>“He’s all right now,” growled Conley, setting down -the lantern.</p> - -<p>“Got him back to earth?”</p> - -<p>“Pretty nearly. He’ll be himself in a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Thank God!” thought Patsy fervently. “That refers -to Nick.”</p> - -<p>“Then he’ll not croak?” inquired Badger, as if somewhat -disappointed.</p> - -<p>“Not this time; though I reckon ’twould be a good -thing for us if he did,” snarled Conley.</p> - -<p>“Help me run this car in, then I’ll go and have a talk -with him.”</p> - -<p>Patsy ducked his head and dropped the hamper lid.</p> - -<p>Then he sensed that the two men had seized the sides -of the car and drawn it well into the exterior basement.</p> - -<p>“Things all right in town?” queried Conley.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Did both women come out?”</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“I’m thinking ’twould be a good scheme to hold up -some party to-night,” Conley now declared.</p> - -<p>“Why so?” inquired Badger.</p> - -<p>“It would go to show the police that the unknown -road robbers have not been interfered with by any move<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> -of Nick Carter, and when he is found to be missing, no -suspicion, naturally, would fall upon us.”</p> - -<p>“There’s something in that.”</p> - -<p>“Sure there is.”</p> - -<p>But Badger presently shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Not to-night, Jerry,” said he decisively. “We already -have enough on for to-night with this infernal detective. -Besides, I’m about all in, with what I’ve had to -do to-day.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t much wonder,” grinned Conley.</p> - -<p>“We’ll cut out the hold-up until to-morrow,” added -Badger. “You go over to the house and tell Vic that -Carter has revived. She wants to come out and see him. -Meantime, I’ll take the lantern, and go and have a talk -with him.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with lighting this wall lamp?”</p> - -<p>“No harm in it, Jerry. Light it, if you like.”</p> - -<p>Badger took up the lantern while speaking, and strode -into the interior basement, closing the sliding door after -him.</p> - -<p>Conley struck a match and lighted an oil-lamp in a -bracket on the wall, then hastened out of doors and -across the lawn.</p> - -<p>“Now is my time!” thought Patsy. “If I can get into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> -that inner cellar, and down Amos Badger, the rest will -be dead easy!”</p> - -<p>He raised his head a little to lift the lid of the hamper.</p> - -<p>Then he suddenly stopped, holding his breath.</p> - -<p>The patter of soft feet on the ground near-by had -reached his ears.</p> - -<p>Then came a furious sniffing about the wickerwork of -the hamper.</p> - -<p>It was followed immediately by a long, low, threatening -growl, enough to have sent a chill through a brass -image.</p> - -<p>“That infernal bloodhound again!” thought Patsy, -with an ugly creeping of his every nerve. “By thunder! -this is worse than being headed off by a man—or by half -a dozen men! What’s the cursed brute about to do?”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. -<br /> -<small>A CRISIS.</small></h2> - - -<p>The bloodhound continued to sniff and growl.</p> - -<p>Patsy continued to lie low and hold his breath.</p> - -<p>He knew that if he showed himself in the open there -would be trouble from that moment—and the worst kind -of trouble.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> - -<p>He hoped that the fierce brute would presently have -satisfied his curiosity, and then take it into his ugly head -to return out of doors.</p> - -<p>But the dog did nothing of the kind.</p> - -<p>Plainly enough, he knew that there was something -wrong, and his watch-dog instinct impelled him to hang -about the suspected spot.</p> - -<p>He fell to trotting to and fro near the back of the -touring-car, over a space of some six feet, like an irritated -lion in a cage.</p> - -<p>With every turn he made he looked up at the hamper -with his rolling red eyes, and indulged in a low, threatening -growl.</p> - -<p>It was as much as to say: “Don’t come out, or I’ll -make a meal of you!”</p> - -<p>His huge jaws hung apart and were froth-flecked, and -Patsy, venturing once to peer out at him, did not like his -looks.</p> - -<p>“He’d make mince-meat of me in less than ten seconds -if I undertook to leap out there,” he said to himself, -with gruesome misgivings. “Yet if I remain here -and he there, I am as good as discovered by these -crooks. I’m blessed if this hasn’t developed into a -mighty ugly situation.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, he could see no immediate way out -of it.</p> - -<p>He was so cramped and twisted in his close quarters -that he could not draw his revolver without rising up in -the hamper, and he knew that the dog would instantly -attack him if he ventured doing that.</p> - -<p>His muscles were so cramped, moreover, that he -knew he could not move to advantage for several moments -after his release.</p> - -<p>He realized, furthermore, that the report of his revolver, -in case he attempted to shoot the dog, would -speedily bring Badger and his confederates to the spot, -and that the result might possibly be fatal to himself, or, -at least, to Nick’s designs, to corner and arrest the entire -gang.</p> - -<p>So for upward of five minutes the situation hung fire, -Patsy waiting and wondering, and the bloodhound still -growling and trotting to and fro some six feet away.</p> - -<p>It was at this time that Badger had his talk with Nick, -as already related.</p> - -<p>Presently Patsy heard Conley returning, accompanied -by the two women.</p> - -<p>Though all three observed the dog, they paid no immediate -attention to his movements, but at once hastened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> -into the inner basement and to the vault in which -Nick was confined.</p> - -<p>Patsy inwardly prayed that the dog would follow -them, but his prayer proved vain.</p> - -<p>The bloodhound knew his business.</p> - -<p>He continued to trot and growl, occasionally snapping -his huge jaws by diversion or anticipation, and all the -while with his red eyes fixed upon the wicker hamper.</p> - -<p>Patsy gritted his own teeth in impotent rage.</p> - -<p>At the end of another five minutes, however, he had -decided what to do.</p> - -<p>He resolved to shoot the dog, taking chances of killing -him with a single shot, and then leap out of the -hamper and attack, single-handed, the gang in the interior -basement.</p> - -<p>Conley had left the sliding door open after entering -with the women, and Patsy thought he could see a tolerably -fair prospect of bringing to a successful issue even -as desperate a move as that which he now contemplated.</p> - -<p>Having grimly settled upon the task, he now wormed -about a bit in the hamper, striving to free his revolver -from his hip pocket.</p> - -<p>The bloodhound instantly redoubled his growling.</p> - -<p>“You be hanged!” muttered Patsy resentfully. “I’ll -presently silence you with a chunk of lead.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> - -<p>He had succeeded in getting hold of the butt of his -revolver.</p> - -<p>Before he could free the weapon from his pocket, -however, the shrill voice of Vic Clayton sounded through -the basement, as she and Claudia Badger came hurrying -from the inner extension.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with Pluto?” she cried, as she approached.</p> - -<p>“There’s something wrong out here,” declared Claudia.</p> - -<p>The instant the dog heard his name mentioned, all the -restrained passions and fierce instincts of the brute -leaped violently into play.</p> - -<p>With a tremendous snarling and barking he bounded -up at the hamper, clawing at it with might and main, as -if bent upon devouring all that it contained.</p> - -<p>Patsy was taking no chances of losing half of his -face in one fierce bite of the brute, and he instantly -ducked his head and crouched lower.</p> - -<p>“It’s all off!” was the thought that flashed through -his mind. “I am now obliged to put up a game of -bluff.”</p> - -<p>The screams of the two women were now mingled -with the furious barking of the bloodhound, and Vic -Clayton was shouting affrightedly:</p> - -<p>“Come out here! Come out here, Amos! There’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -something the matter with this dog. I think he has gone -mad.”</p> - -<p>Before the last was uttered, both Badger and Conley -came rushing out of the inner cellar.</p> - -<p>The two men instantly guessed the meaning of the -brute’s actions, and both rushed toward the car.</p> - -<p>“Gone mad be hanged!” shouted Badger. “There’s -something wrong with that hamper, not with the dog.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Amos,” yelled Conley.</p> - -<p>“Ah, I thought so! Get out, you brute, or I’ll brain -you! What the devil have we here?”</p> - -<p>Badger had given the excited brute a second kick in -the ribs, that once more sent him yelping out of doors, -much to Patsy’s relief, despite the sudden change in the -situation.</p> - -<p>At the same time Conley had thrown open the lid of -the hamper, plainly disclosing the cramped detective to -the view of all.</p> - -<p>In an instant both ruffians had him by the throat -and wrists.</p> - -<p>“Hold on!” gasped Patsy, struggling to rise out of -his cramped position, and at once assuming to be the -injured, rather than the offender.</p> - -<p>“Come out here!”</p> - -<p>“Sure, I’ll come out,” whined Patsy, as he was yanked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> -out upon the ground, yet still in the clutches of both -men. “Say, this ain’t no way to use a fellow. Let go -me throat, will you? I ain’t going to eat nobody up. -Holy smoke! but I’m glad you drove that dog off. I -thought I was a dead one, for sure.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll be a dead one, all right, young fellow, unless -you stand up and give an account of yourself,” Badger -fiercely cried. “Hang onto his arms, there, Conley, in -case he means mischief. Hand me that strip of rope, -Vic, and I’ll make him fast in a jiffy. Look lively, I -say!”</p> - -<p>While this exchange of conversation was in progress, -Patsy had been jerked rudely to his feet, only to find -for several moments that he could hardly stand erect, -so strained and cramped were his muscles.</p> - -<p>Conley, meantime, had twisted the captive’s arms -back of him, and was holding them there with the grip -of a vise.</p> - -<p>Badger had released Patsy’s throat, however, and, -with the piece of rope Vic Clayton had hurriedly brought -him, he quickly secured the detective’s arms and wrists -behind him.</p> - -<p>“Now, you give an account of yourself,” he fiercely -commanded, shaking his clenched hand under Patsy’s -nose.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Sure I will, mister, since I’m caught in my own box,” -Patsy now said, surveying with a ludicrous grin the -frowning faces around him. “But I’d have been out -and away long before this, mister, if it had not been -for that infernal dog.”</p> - -<p>“Out and away, would you?” cried Badger, catching -up this one significant remark.</p> - -<p>“That’s what, mister.”</p> - -<p>“What were you doing in that hamper?”</p> - -<p>“Only stealing a ride.”</p> - -<p>“Stealing a ride?” echoed Badger incredulously.</p> - -<p>“That was all, mister, the whole business.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a liar!” snarled Conley, fiercely suspicious.</p> - -<p>“Say, you leave me to settle with the boss of this -joint, will you?” growled Patsy, now turning upon the -Irishman. “I haven’t trod on any of your corns, have I? -So you leave me to do the talking with the boss.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll not leave you a leg to stand on, if you——”</p> - -<p>“Shut up, Jerry!” commanded Badger sharply. “How -long had you been in the hamper, youngster?”</p> - -<p>“All the way from town, mister.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” cried Vic Clayton, now pressing nearer. -“I know better than that.”</p> - -<p>“Sure, ma’am, I don’t like to contradict a lady like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> -yourself, but you’ll find I’m right,” insisted Patsy, bowing -to her with a ludicrous display of humility.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say that you rode out from town in -that hamper?” demanded Vic.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I did, ma’am.”</p> - -<p>“What put you up to that?” cried Badger, in threatening -tones.</p> - -<p>Patsy indulged in another grin.</p> - -<p>“Well, ’twas like this, mister, d’ye see,” he proceeded -to explain, with an air of humble frankness. “I was -walking along Tremont Street with a comrade of mine—Jones -his name is, mister, and mine is Green.”</p> - -<p>“Come to the point, you rascal,” Badger impatiently -growled.</p> - -<p>“Sure I will, mister, if you give me time.”</p> - -<p>“If you don’t, I’ll give you something besides time.”</p> - -<p>“’Twas like this, d’ye see?” continued Patsy coolly. -“We saw this big car alongside the curb on Tremont -Street, and Nosey, the which we call Jones because his -beak is so big—Nosey bet me a five I didn’t dare get into -the hamper and steal a ride.”</p> - -<p>“He did, eh?” sneered Badger, with an ugly gleam in -his searching eyes.</p> - -<p>“That’s what he did, sir,” nodded Patsy. “I’d seen -these two ladies go into the building near-by, so I said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> -to myself I’d have time to duck into the hamper before -they came out. I thought it a cinch to win a five in -that easy way. So when I found it was empty, mister, -in I jumped, and here I am—the which I wouldn’t be, -only for that dog, I give you my blooming word.”</p> - -<p>“Your blooming word doesn’t cut any ice with me,” -Conley now declared, with an angry snarl. “I’ll not -swallow this story, Badger, not on your life. It’s much -more likely that he’s working with his nobs in yonder, -and mebbe there are more of the same kind about here -at this moment.”</p> - -<p>This possibility suggested by Conley was not without -immediate effect upon Badger, who turned quickly to the -waiting women and cried sharply:</p> - -<p>“Go over to the house, you two, and we’ll bring this -rascal there and question him further. You, Jerry, close -that sliding door. We’ll leave the other where we have -him. He cannot get out, that’s sure, and I’ll take no -chance that there are others to see us in this place. We’ll -go over to the house and settle with this young cub.”</p> - -<p>“That will be safest,” nodded Conley, as he hastened -to obey.</p> - -<p>“You may leave this oil-lamp burning, Jerry,” added -Badger, as he seized Patsy by the collar and marched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> -him toward the door. “We may have to come out here -again.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll not put it out.”</p> - -<p>“But secure this door after you.”</p> - -<p>“Sure! D’ye think I’m daffy enough to leave it -open?”</p> - -<p>With the last remark, Conley came out of the basement -and closed the heavy door, leaving the entire place -only dimly lighted by the oil-lamp on the wall.</p> - -<p>Seen from outside, the whole stable appeared shrouded -in darkness.</p> - -<p>As the three started across the lawn toward the house, -with Patsy in the grip of both men, the huge bloodhound -came bounding over the grass as if to accompany them—or -to make a finish of Patsy.</p> - -<p>Badger quickly checked him, however, sternly commanding:</p> - -<p>“Be off, Pluto! Away with you, and watch out, you -brute! Watch out, I say!”</p> - -<p>The dog appeared to understand. He dropped his -black nose to the ground, vented one short, sharp yelp, -then coursed away with the speed of a deer, hither and -thither, and finally toward the belt of woods darkly outlined -against the starry sky at the rear of the broad -estate.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> - -<p>“He’ll notify us, Jerry!” growled Badger, with his grip -unconsciously tightening on the detective’s collar. “Let -Pluto alone for that. He’ll notify us all right, and -promptly, too, if there are other strangers prowling near -here to-night.”</p> - -<p>That Patsy was possessed of that true detective genius -which instinctively anticipates coming events, appears in -the thought that quickly arose in his mind:</p> - -<p>“He will, eh? I can see his finish if he encounters -Chick Carter this night!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. -<br /> -<small>A LAST RESORT.</small></h2> - - -<p>“Search him!” sternly commanded Badger. “We’ll -see what that will bring forth. Search him, Conley, and -see what you can find!”</p> - -<p>The scene was the kitchen of the Badger dwelling.</p> - -<p>Fifteen minutes had passed since Patsy was rounded -up and brought in there, and the quarter-hour had been -devoted to plying him with questions to break down the -crafty story he had told, and to which he clung with -a tenacity born of conscious desperation.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> - -<p>He now stood with his back to one of the kitchen -walls, in the full glare of the lamplight.</p> - -<p>His arms were still secured behind him, and his collar -and cravat were awry from the throttling he had received.</p> - -<p>His face was composed, however, not even pale, and -his eyes were keen and bright with that inherent courage -and invincible determination which rendered him superior -to any threatening situation, and eminently worthy to -have become Nick Carter’s trusted associate and assistant.</p> - -<p>The gang by which he had been so curiously cornered -were seated about the room.</p> - -<p>Both Badger and Conley appeared stern and ugly, -evincing that state of mind when dread and suspicion -battle with uncertainty.</p> - -<p>The two women, Mrs. Badger and Vic Clayton, appeared -pale and anxious, as if fearful that their adventurous -career was likely to be seriously interrupted.</p> - -<p>Yet all four, including also a dark, middle-aged woman -who worked in the house, were regarding Patsy with -eyes and aspects so threatening as to have awed one less -cool, collected, and defiant of personal peril.</p> - -<p>Fifteen minutes had passed, as mentioned, and from -this time matters moved decisively and swiftly, with all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> -the energies of these masterful detectives instinctively -strained for what each knew must be a final move, and -all operating to produce the one desirable culmination -of their joint endeavors.</p> - -<p>In response to Badger’s command, Conley sprang up -and began to search Patsy, fiercely thrusting his hand into -one pocket and then another.</p> - -<p>“Leave the linings,” suggested Patsy, with a defiant -grin.</p> - -<p>He knew that he had on his person only one article -that would point to his vocation, which he was prepared -to deny in the face even of that.</p> - -<p>It came to light in a moment—his trusty revolver.</p> - -<p>“Aha! what’s this?” cried Conley, as he yanked the -weapon from Patsy’s hip pocket. “So you carry a gun, -do you?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I do,” asserted Patsy coolly. “You’d carry a -gun, too, if there were as many rats in your cellar as -there are in mine.”</p> - -<p>“It’s you who are the rat,” Badger angrily growled, as -his confederate displayed the weapon.</p> - -<p>“You’re wrong, mister,” insisted Patsy. “I’m a ratter, -but no rat.”</p> - -<p>“What d’ye mean by that?” snarled Conley fiercely.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I mean that I’m a hunter of rats,” said Patsy, with -dry significance.</p> - -<p>“You’re a detective,” cried Badger.</p> - -<p>“That’s what he is, Amos,” supplemented Vic Clayton, -white with increased apprehensions. “He must be -one of the Boston force.”</p> - -<p>“No, I’m not.”</p> - -<p>“Not one of the force?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing of the kind.”</p> - -<p>“If you are lying, youngster, the lie will as surely cost -you your life——”</p> - -<p>What more Badger would have uttered can only be -conjectured, for, while he was speaking, fiercely shaking -his fist at Patsy’s helpless head, there sounded from the -gravel driveway outside and over the hollow planking of -the veranda the heavy fall of hurrying feet.</p> - -<p>“Who’s this?” cried Claudia, starting affrightedly from -her chair.</p> - -<p>“The door, Conley!” hissed Badger. “Have the gun -ready!”</p> - -<p>Before Conley could reach the doorway, however, toward -which he hastened with Patsy’s revolver in his -hand, it was hurriedly opened and a sallow-featured, -green-eyed rascal bounded breathlessly into the kitchen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s Sandy Hyde!” exclaimed Vic, with a little -scream of satisfaction.</p> - -<p>“Who the devil is he?” thought Patsy, sharply regarding -the panting scamp.</p> - -<p>Though this advent of Hyde brought a look of relief -to the face of each, Badger kept a taut rein on the threatening -business then on hand, and he almost immediately -demanded:</p> - -<p>“What brings you out here, Sandy?”</p> - -<p>“Wait till I get my breath, and I’ll tell you,” panted -Hyde. “I’ve run all the way from the trolley. The chief -kept me at work till half an hour ago.”</p> - -<p>“Is there something wrong at headquarters?” snarled -Badger quickly.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” muttered Patsy mentally. “A spy -from the chief’s office, or I’ll eat my boots! By thunder! -it’s no wonder that this case has baffled the efforts of the -Boston force.”</p> - -<p>Patsy was quick enough to see all it meant, in case -he was correct in his immediate conjecture.</p> - -<p>Sandy Hyde, who had paused a moment to get a drink -of water at the kitchen sink, now hastened to reply to -Badger’s question.</p> - -<p>“Wrong at headquarters? I should say so!” he cried.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -“I have just got wise to something, less than an hour -ago. Who’s that chap?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind him at present,” cried Badger, with terrific -impatience. “What have you learned?”</p> - -<p>“Nick Carter has an assistant here on this case,” replied -Hyde.</p> - -<p>“Not Chick Carter!”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen him?”</p> - -<p>“Sure! He was at headquarters about five o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“For what?”</p> - -<p>“He was trying to locate Nick.”</p> - -<p>“We’ve got Nick, all right,” sneered Badger, with a -chuckle of derision. “But this other, this Chick Carter, -of whom I have frequently heard, I don’t know him by -sight.”</p> - -<p>“Nor do I,” put in Conley, frowning near-by.</p> - -<p>“You’re sure this is not he?”</p> - -<p>“Dead sure,” cried Hyde, with a glance at Patsy. “I -don’t know this chap.”</p> - -<p>“Then he is not one of the Boston force,” declared -Vic, more hopefully. “He did not lie about that.”</p> - -<p>Badger turned again to Patsy, lowering and dark, and -Patsy gained a point by saying quickly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Sure I didn’t lie about it. I wouldn’t lie to ladies -and gents like you.”</p> - -<p>“No, this fellow is not a Boston detective, I’ll swear -to that,” Hyde now declared. “I know them all.”</p> - -<p>“But Chick Carter——” began Badger.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he doesn’t look like this chap,” interrupted Hyde.</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit! Chick Carter is older, a sturdy, well-built -young man, with smooth, clean-cut features -and——”</p> - -<p>“Stop!” screamed Vic Clayton, suddenly leaping out of -her chair.</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“How was he dressed when you saw him at five -o’clock?”</p> - -<p>“Why, he said he was going to your office,” cried -Hyde, now getting back to the business that had brought -him out there. “He had on a plaid suit, a polka-dotted -cravat——”</p> - -<p>“Henderson!” screamed Vic, all of a quiver with excitement. -“That man Henderson, Amos, was Chick -Carter!”</p> - -<p>“Not a doubt of it!” gasped Claudia Badger, as white -as the knot of lace at her throat.</p> - -<p>“And that’s why he inquired after Nick Carter,” declared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> -Badger, now beginning to see that a network -might already be closing around him.</p> - -<p>“That’s what, Amos.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know where Chick Carter went after leaving -your rooms, Vic?”</p> - -<p>“Of course not. How should I?”</p> - -<p>“He might have said.”</p> - -<p>“He said he was going to Carter’s hotel.”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what I do know, however,” cried Vic, -hit with an afterthought.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“I know that this young devil must have got into that -hamper while Chick Carter was in my rooms, Amos, and -it’s a hundred to one that the two were at work on this -case together.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! she’s hit me good and hard this time,” thought -Patsy, wishing he might have throttled her to silence. -“Now there will be something doing, I’ll go the limit on -that.”</p> - -<p>He read aright the faces of those around him.</p> - -<p>The significance of Vic Clayton’s declaration was utterly -irresistible.</p> - -<p>“What do you say to that?” thundered Badger, striding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> -closer to Patsy, with his features livid and convulsed -with rage.</p> - -<p>“I dunno what she’s talking about,” protested Patsy -coolly.</p> - -<p>“You lie!” roared Conley. “You are one of Nick -Carter’s helpers, or——”</p> - -<p>“Stop a bit!” interrupted Badger, with frightful austerity. -“We’ll soon know whether he is or not!”</p> - -<p>“What d’ye mean?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll get the truth out of him!” snorted Badger. “Bring -him after me, back to the garage. I’ll make him confess -the truth and tell us where we stand. We’ll string -him up by the neck to one of the beams—and there he -shall hang unless he tells the whole truth! Bring him -along, you two, and look lively! I’ll go on ahead and -open the doors.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, there’s something doing!” thought Patsy, contemplating -his imminent peril. “They are going to try -hanging me—but they’ll try in vain! Yet I rather hope -Chick may show up in time to save my precious neck.”</p> - -<p>These thoughts passed through Patsy’s mind while -he was being rudely hustled out of doors by Conley and -Hyde, while Amos Badger hurried on in advance.</p> - -<p>Both women followed, too alarmed by the impending -peril to endure the suspense of remaining behind.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They care nothing for me, or my neck,” thought -Patsy. “Like the she devils of ancient Rome, once -having tasted blood, they thirst for more.”</p> - -<p>As he was hurried into the basement by Conley, he -saw that the sliding door had been opened and that -Badger was again lighting the lantern.</p> - -<p>This no sooner was done than the dastardly knave, -blind to all except the impulses of his utter desperation, -quickly threw a rope over a beam near the ceiling, then -knotted a slip-noose around Patsy’s neck.</p> - -<p>Patsy stood directly under the beam, as cool as if he -was only about to be weighed.</p> - -<p>“Get hold of that rope, you two!” cried Badger -fiercely.</p> - -<p>Conley and Hyde sprang to the lax strip of line.</p> - -<p>The two women, bred though they were to evil, drew -back with awed white faces and dilated eyes.</p> - -<p>“Now, youngster, what do you say?” thundered Badger, -confronting Patsy with face livid and eyes ablaze.</p> - -<p>Patsy met him eye to eye.</p> - -<p>“Only what I’ve said already,” he curtly replied.</p> - -<p>“Nothing more?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing more, mister!”</p> - -<p>“Nor less?”</p> - -<p>“Nor less!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Up with him!” roared Badger, turning fiercely to his -confederates.</p> - -<p>Patsy felt the rope draw taut around his neck.</p> - -<p>Just then, however, from some quarter outside, there -rang out upon the still evening air the sharp, spiteful -crack of a revolver.</p> - -<p>It was mingled with a single agonized yelp—and a -bloodhound lay stretched upon the greensward, shot -squarely between his eyes!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. -<br /> -<small>NICK CARTER’S ESCAPE.</small></h2> - - -<p>Silence and darkness.</p> - -<p>It was in these that Nick Carter was left confined at -an earlier hour that eventful evening, bound hand and -foot, and with his back propped against the cold stone -wall of the disused wine-vault.</p> - -<p>It would be an injustice to him, however, to those -inherent qualities and rare abilities which had made him -what he was, to neglect depicting his movements during -the time his captors were so pressingly engaged with -Patsy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> - -<p>Of Chick and Patsy’s discoveries and designs since he -parted from them at the Adams House that morning, -Nick, of course, was entirely ignorant.</p> - -<p>That they had so quickly suspected something wrong -because of his absence, or that he could depend upon -them for any immediate assistance, he did not for a moment -imagine. For it was then only a few hours after -the time they had agreed to meet, and any ordinary incident -might have detained him that long.</p> - -<p>Yet Amos Badger had no sooner closed the door of -the wine-vault than Nick Carter began to think about -making his escape.</p> - -<p>“Whatever I accomplish,” he said to himself, “I must -accomplish alone. There is not much chance that Chick -and Patsy have yet discovered any clue to my whereabouts, -even if they now suspect that I have met with -some beastly mishap, so I must figure upon playing a -lone hand in getting out of this place. I’ll make the -attempt, at least, and if——Hello! what’s the meaning -of that, I wonder?”</p> - -<p>From some quarter outside, borne faintly to his ears, -had come the furious barking of a dog, mingled with -the shouts of men and the screams of women.</p> - -<p>For half a minute Nick listened intently, but the startling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> -sounds were not prolonged, and presently only silence -reigned in the wine-vault.</p> - -<p>Stop a bit—not quite silence only!</p> - -<p>From one corner came a faint noise which Nick’s ear -was quick to detect.</p> - -<p>It was the steady drip, drip, drip of water, from some -point higher than the floor.</p> - -<p>Nick recalled seeing a stagnant pool in the corner from -which the dripping sounded, and he rightly inferred that -there must be some water-supply above, possibly in the -stable, and that a considerable leak existed.</p> - -<p>“My first work must be that of getting my hands at -liberty,” he soliloquized, after a few moments.</p> - -<p>They were tied behind him, but that mattered little to -Nick Carter.</p> - -<p>While the lantern was in the vault, during his talk -with Badger, Nick had visually examined the surrounding -stone walls, and had discovered several places where -the rough corners of the stones protruded a little, forming -tolerably sharp edges.</p> - -<p>Against one of these he backed, after rising to his -feet with some difficulty, until he could bring the rope -about his wrists to bear against the edge of the stone.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> - -<p>Then he began sawing it up and down, at an expense -of some little skin from his knuckles, and at the -end of five minutes he felt one of the strands give and -break. Then, with a mighty effort, he succeeded in -breaking the entire rope, and the liberation of his hands -at once became easy.</p> - -<p>“Now, if you come down here, Badger, you’ll meet -with a warmer reception than before,” he determinedly -muttered, while he set to work at the ropes around his -ankles.</p> - -<p>In three minutes his limbs also were free, and Nick -coolly tossed the ropes aside.</p> - -<p>“Next, to find a way out of here,” was his mental -comment.</p> - -<p>He had observed that no window existed, and he had -but little hope of being able to force the heavy door, -having been deprived of his knife and revolver.</p> - -<p>After examining the door, to which he groped through -the darkness, he decided that he could accomplish nothing -there.</p> - -<p>The constant dripping of the water could still be -heard, however, and Nick now shrewdly reasoned:</p> - -<p>“That water must have some avenue of escape, and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> -may run under the foundation wall in that corner. If -it does, the soil should be soft and muddy, and I may -be able to dig my way out, or, at least, to work under -the wall and learn what lies beyond it. I’ll give it a try, -at all events.”</p> - -<p>As he groped toward the corner, he stumbled over -one of the empty beer-kegs previously mentioned.</p> - -<p>“Ha! here’s just the thing, providing I can smash it,” -he said to himself. “One of these oak staves will serve -admirably for a spade.”</p> - -<p>Gripping the keg by the chimes, he hurled it with all -of his strength against one of the walls.</p> - -<p>There was a double effect.</p> - -<p>First, the keg snapped and cracked loudly, as several -of the staves yielded under the terrific blow.</p> - -<p>Second, an instant later, a bit of rock from the wall -fell with a splash into the pool of water.</p> - -<p>Nick then examined the wall.</p> - -<p>He found that the constant leakage from above had -softened the old cement and mortar, and that the stones -in this locality might be removed with almost any stout -implement.</p> - -<p>In half a minute he had the beer-keg demolished and -one of the stout staves in his hand.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> - -<p>With this he next attacked the stonework near the -pool, and for ten minutes he worked as vigorously and -rapidly as the darkness permitted.</p> - -<p>Then he had two of the lower stones hauled out of -the wall, and a space made large enough to crawl -through.</p> - -<p>Listening at this opening, he could now detect another -sound quite near-by. It was the occasional stamping of -horses, evidently in their stalls.</p> - -<p>“H’m!” grunted Nick. “I’m not sure that I’m out of -the place, after all. This hole will evidently lead me -into a basement under the stable, or the carriage-house. -By Jove! it may be that Badger has a place of concealment -down here for his horses, those occasionally used -for a hold-up. I’ll speedily ascertain.”</p> - -<p>Crawling with some little difficulty through the hole -in the wall, Nick rose to his feet on the outer side, and -groped carefully through the gloom.</p> - -<p>Suddenly his extended hands came in contact with—an -automobile!</p> - -<p>He was in the interior garage, the secret hiding-place -of Badger’s several cars.</p> - -<p>It had taken Nick half an hour to accomplish all this, -however, and before he could fix upon anything definite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> -as to his present location, he heard voices outside, and a -door hurriedly opened.</p> - -<p>“H’m!” he mentally grunted. “Are my captors returning? -They’ll find me ready for them this time!”</p> - -<p>Then he crouched quickly back of the car with which -he had come in contact.</p> - -<p>The sliding door had suddenly opened, and the light -from the wall lamp outside shot into the extension cellar.</p> - -<p>The instant Nick’s eyes fell upon the row of automobiles, -he guessed the whole truth concerning the place.</p> - -<p>His interest, however, chiefly centered in two men -who were hurriedly rushing a third into the place, closely -followed by two women, while Badger was hastening to -light a lantern.</p> - -<p>“Good Heaven!” mentally exclaimed Nick. “Their -captive is Patsy!”</p> - -<p>He watched and waited, deducing more and more -from the little he heard, and all the while his stern white -features, still swathed with bandages, grew hard as flint.</p> - -<p>Patsy felt the rope tighten about his neck.</p> - -<p>Then sounded the revolver-shot from outside.</p> - -<p>Next a dark form bounded out from back of the touring-car—bounded -out with the leap of an angry lion.</p> - -<p>Two clenched hands rose and fell, and two men dragging -upon a rope cast over a beam were sent senseless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> -to the earth, quivering in every muscle, as an ox quivers -when felled in the shambles.</p> - -<p>Then two hands closed around Amos Badger’s throat, -and in the miscreant’s ears rang a voice and words that -took all the strength and manhood, if any of the latter -was there, completely out of him.</p> - -<p>“It will be you, Badger, not I!”</p> - -<p>“Whoop la!” shrieked Patsy. “It’s Nick himself!”</p> - -<p>Two women, frightened for their miserable lives, -turned and ran toward the open door—only to rush into -the ready arms of Chick Carter.</p> - -<p>Chick had arrived at the edge of the woods only a -short time before, and had seen Patsy brought out of -the house and into the basement of the garage. Hastening -to cross the lawn and lend a hand, as he had promised, -Chick had encountered the bloodhound, killing him -with a single well-directed shot, and then had rushed on -and into the garage, just in time to head off Vic Clayton -and Claudia Badger when they turned to flee.</p> - -<p>The rest may be briefly told, for a more complete and -successful round-up could hardly be imagined. In less -than ten minutes the entire gang were in irons, and thirty -minutes later they were taking a ride in the local patrol-wagon, -instead of a Packard car.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> - -<p>The exposure of their rascally scheme also was complete -when the case came to trial, a little later, for Nick -Carter found in and about the house and stable ample -evidence to prove that his deductions had from the very -first been entirely correct.</p> - -<p>Fortunately, too, he found letters and clues enabling -him to trace much of the stolen property upon which -Badger had realized thousands of dollars, and which ultimately -was restored to its rightful owners.</p> - -<p>In Badger’s safe Nick found his own watch and chain, -but the money of which he had been robbed was missing. -He had in his success with the case, however, a -reward that far more than offset his trivial loss.</p> - -<p>Dumfounded when informed by what means the Boston -detectives had been baffled in their efforts to discover -these road robbers, Chief Weston’s gratitude to Nick was -equaled only by his bitterness for Sandy Hyde, and he -made sure that the treacherous scamp should receive a -sentence as long as the others of the Badger gang—and -that was one of years.</p> - -<p>Long before the release of any of them, the Badger -place near Brookline had passed into other hands, sold -under a heavy mortgage, and from that time Tremont -Street knew the notorious Madame Victoria no more.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> - -<p>One and all of them passed, as they deserved, out of -the public mind and out of the hearts and lives of friendly -acquaintances—from the moment that Nick Carter -showed them in their true colors and closed upon them -the door of a prison cell.</p> - - -<p class="no-indent center large p1">THE END.</p> - - -<p class="p1">Order your copy now of the next brilliant story by -Nicholas Carter to appear under the title of “A Master -of Deviltry,” in the <span class="smcap">New Magnet Library</span>, No. 1174.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> - -<p class="no-indent center bold xxlarge p2">The Dealer</p> - - -<p class="p2 no-indent">who handles the STREET & SMITH NOVELS -is a man worth patronizing. The fact that he -does handle our books proves that he has considered -the merits of paper-covered lines, and -has decided that the STREET & SMITH -NOVELS are superior to all others.</p> - -<p>He has looked into the question of the morality -of the paper-covered book, for instance, and -feels that he is perfectly safe in handing one of -our novels to any one, because he has our assurance -that nothing except clean, wholesome -literature finds its way into our lines.</p> - -<p>Therefore, the STREET & SMITH NOVEL -dealer is a careful and wise tradesman, and it -is fair to assume selects the other articles he -has for sale with the same degree of intelligence -as he does his paper-covered books.</p> - -<p>Deal with the STREET & SMITH NOVEL -dealer.</p> - - -<p class="no-indent center large p1">STREET & SMITH CORPORATION<br /> -<span class="tdpr">7th Seventh Avenue</span> New York City -</p> - -<hr class="tn" /> -</div> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Man Without a Conscience, by Nicholas Carter - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE *** - -***** This file should be named 63864-h.htm or 63864-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/8/6/63864/ - -Produced by David Edwards, Nahum Maso i Carcases, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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