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diff --git a/old/65805-0.txt b/old/65805-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d6b7c63..0000000 --- a/old/65805-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5368 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No 131: March 13, 1915, -by Nick Carter - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Nick Carter Stories No 131: March 13, 1915 - A Fatal Message, or Nick Carter's Slender Clew - -Author: Nick Carter - -Editor: Chickering Carter - -Release Date: July 9, 2021 [eBook #65805] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: David Edwards, Stephen Hutcheson, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern Illinois - University Digital Library at http://digital.lib.niu.edu/) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO 131: MARCH -13, 1915 *** - - - - - NICK CARTER - STORIES - - - _Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post - Office, by_ Street & Smith, _79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. - Copyright, 1915, by_ Street & Smith. _O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, - Proprietors._ - - - Terms to NICK CARTER STORIES Mail Subscribers. - (_Postage Free._) - Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. - - 3 months 65c. - 4 months 85c. - 8 months $1.25 - One year 2.50 - 2 copies one year 4.00 - 1 copy two years 4.00 - -How to Send Money—By post-office or express money order, registered -letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by -currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. - -Receipts—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of -number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once. - - - NEW YORK, March 13, 1915. - No. 131. Price Five Cents. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - A Fatal Message; Or, Nick Carter’s Slender Clew. 1 - I. A Suspicious Wire. 1 - II. The Intercepted Letter. 3 - III. Nick Carter’s Plans. 5 - IV. The Real Substitute. 7 - V. Night Work. 9 - VI. How Patsy Made Good. 11 - VII. Chick Carter’s Cunning. 13 - VIII. A Change of Base. 15 - IX. The Result of the Ruse. 17 - On A Dark Stage. 19 - XX. The Second Act. 19 - XXI. Enter the Girl. 20 - XXII. A New Mystery. 22 - XXIII. The Ardent Sleuth. 23 - XXIV. Mr. Amos Jarge. 23 - The News of All Nations. 27 - - - - - A FATAL MESSAGE; - Or, NICK CARTER’S SLENDER CLEW. - - - Edited by CHICKERING CARTER. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - A SUSPICIOUS WIRE. - - -Nick Carter leaned nearer to the wall and listened to what the two men -were discussing. - -The wall was that of a booth in the café of the Shelby House. It was a -partition of matched sheathing only, through which ordinary conversation -in the adjoining booth could be easily overheard, and both men in this -case spoke above an ordinary tone. - -Obviously, therefore, they were discussing nothing of a private nature, -or anything thought to be of much importance, or serious significance. -It meant no more to them, in fact, than it would have meant to most men, -to all save one in a million. - -That one in a million was seated alone in the next booth—Nick Carter. - -The two men were strangers to the detective. They had entered when he -was near the end of his lunch, and while waiting for their orders to be -served they engaged in the conversation which, though heard only by -chance, soon seriously impressed the detective. - -“You were a little later than usual this noon, Belden,” said one. - -“Yes, a few minutes, Joe, but I thought you would wait for me. My ticker -got busy just as I was about to leave. I remained to take the dispatch, -Gordon, and it proved to be quite a long one.” - -“Something important?” - -“Not very. Only political news for the local paper.” - -“Belden evidently is a telegraph operator,” thought Nick. - -“Anything warm by wire this morning?” questioned Gordon. - -“No, nothing,” said Belden; and then he abruptly added: “There was a -singular message, however, and an unusual circumstance in connection -with it.” - -“How so, Arthur?” - -“The dispatch was addressed to John Dalton, and we were instructed to -hold it till called for,” Belden explained. “I looked in the local -directory, but it contained no John Dalton. I inferred that he was a -traveling man, or a visitor in town, whose address was not known by the -sender.” - -“Naturally.” - -“Strange to say, however, he showed up in about five minutes and asked -if we had a dispatch for him.” - -“Why, is there anything strange in that? He evidently was expecting it.” - -“It was strange that he came in so quickly, almost while I was receiving -the message. That, too, was singular.” - -“The message?” - -“Yes.” - -“Why so?” - -“As I remember it, Joe, it read: ‘Dust flying. S. D. on way. Ware -eagle,’” said Belden. “It was signed with only a single name—‘Martin.’” - -It was then that Nick Carter pricked up his ears and leaned nearer to -the wall to hear what the two men were saying. - -“By Jove, that was a bit singular,” remarked Gordon. - -“I thought so.” - -“Dust flying, eh?” Gordon laughed. “The dispatch must have come from a -windy city.” - -“It came from Philadelphia.” - -“I’m wrong, then. Not even dust flies in Philadelphia. Did Dalton send -an answer?” - -“Not that I know of; certainly not from our office.” - -“Or volunteer any explanation?” - -“No. It probably was a code message, or had some secret significance. He -took the dispatch and departed.” - -“A stranger to you, eh?” - -“Total stranger. I don’t imagine the message amounted to anything. It -appeared a bit odd, however, and—ah, here’s our grub,” Belden broke off -abruptly. “The Martini is mine, waiter. Here’s luck, Joe.” - -It was obvious to Nick that the discussion of the telegram was ended. He -immediately arose and departed. He sauntered into the hotel office, then -out through the adjoining corridor, which just then was deserted, of -which he took advantage. He quickly adjusted a simple disguise with -which he was provided, and he then passed out of a side door leading to -the street. Nick was watching the café when the two men emerged. He -followed them until Gordon parted from his companion and entered a large -hardware store, where he evidently was employed. - -Arthur Belden walked on leisurely alone, and Nick judged that he was -heading for the main office of the Western Union Company, whose sign -projected from a building some fifty yards away. The detective walked -more rapidly, and quickly overtook him. - -“How are you, Belden?” said he, slipping his hand through the young -man’s arm. “Don’t appear surprised. Pretend that you know me. I have -something to say to you.” - -Belden was quick-witted, and he immediately nodded and smiled. - -“I will explain presently,” Nick continued. “We’ll wait until we are -under cover. It’s barely possible that we are observed. You work in the -telegraph office, don’t you?” - -“Yes. I’m assistant manager.” - -“Got a private office?” - -“Yes. I receive and send most of the important dispatches.” - -“Good enough. I’m going with you to your office. Carry yourself as if it -was nothing unusual. Fine day overhead, isn’t it?” - -“Yes, great,” laughed Belden, gazing up. “This way. We’ll cross here.” - -Nick accompanied him across the street into the building. Not until they -were seated in his private office, however, did the detective refer to -the matter actuating him. - -“I was in the adjoining booth while you and your friend Gordon were -discussing a telegram received here this morning,” Nick then explained. -“I wish to talk with you about it.” - -“For what reason?” questioned Belden, more sharply regarding him. “Have -you any authority in the matter?” - -“Yes.” - -“How so? Who are you?” - -Nick saw plainly that the young man was trustworthy. He smiled -agreeably, yet said, quite impressively: - -“This is strictly between us, Belden, so be sure that you don’t betray -my confidence under any circumstances. I am in Shelby on very important -business. Any indiscretion on your part might prove very costly. You -read your local newspaper and must know me by name, at least. I am the -New York detective, Nick Carter.” - -Belden’s frank face underwent a decided change. He quickly extended his -hand, saying earnestly: - -“By gracious, I ought to have guessed it. Know you by name—well, I -should say so! I’m mighty glad to meet you, too, Mr. Carter, and to be -of any service. The local paper has, indeed, had a good deal to say -about you and your mission here, as well as about your running down Karl -Glidden’s murderer, Jim Reardon. Yes, by Jove, I ought to have guessed -it.” - -Belden referred to recent events. The secret employment of Nick and his -assistants to run down the perpetrators of a long series of crimes on -the S. & O. Railway, his investigation of the murder of the night -operator in one of the block-signal towers, resulting in the detection -and death of the culprit, James Reardon, and the arrest of several of -his associates suspected of being identified with the railway outlaws, -though their guilt could not then be proved—all had occurred during the -ten days that Nick Carter, Chick, and Patsy had been in Shelby, and all -still were vividly fresh in the public mind. - -Nick smiled faintly at Belden’s enthusiastic remarks. - -“We still have much to accomplish here,” he replied, referring to -himself and his assistants. “We got James Reardon, all right, and -cleaned up that signal-tower mystery, which was what we first undertook -to do. That did not clinch our suspicions against some of his -associates, however, as I had hoped it would do. I refer to Jake Hanlon, -Link Magee, and Dick Bryan, who have succeeded in wriggling from under -the wheels of justice.” - -“But you expect to get them later?” - -“I expect to, yes,” said Nick. “But my identity and mission in Shelby -now are generally known. That has put the railway bandits on their -guard, which makes our work more difficult. But that’s neither here nor -there, Mr. Belden, and I am wasting time. I wish to see a copy of that -telegram you were discussing with Gordon and to ask you a few questions -about it.” - -“Go ahead. Go as far as you like, Mr. Carter. I’ll never mention a word -of it,” Belden earnestly assured him. - -“Good for you,” Nick replied. “About what time was the telegram -received?” - -“Precisely ten o’clock.” - -“And Dalton called for it almost immediately?” - -“Within three or four minutes.” - -“That indicates that he was expecting it at just that time,” said Nick. -“If I am right, and I think I am, he was acting under plans previously -laid with the sender, Martin, or he was otherwise informed just when the -message would be sent. Do you recall ever having received another -dispatch from Philadelphia signed Martin?” - -“I do not,” said Belden, shaking his head. - -“What type of man is Dalton? Describe him.” - -“He is a well-built man, about forty years old, quite dark, and he wears -a full beard. He was clad in a plaid business suit.” - -“The beard may have been a disguise.” - -“I think I would have detected it.” - -“You do not detect mine,” smiled Nick. “He may be equally skillful.” - -“There may be something in that,” Belden admitted, laughing. “At all -events, Mr. Carter, the man was a total stranger to me. But why do you -regard the message so suspiciously?” - -“Have you a copy of it?” - -“Yes, certainly.” - -“Let me see it.” - -Belden stepped into the outer office, returning presently with a -spindle, on which were copies of all of the telegrams received that day. -He began to remove them, seeking the one in question, and Nick said, -while waiting: - -“By the way, Belden, have you received any other telegrams from -Philadelphia this morning, or within a day or two?” - -“Yes. There was one this morning.” - -“Let me see that, also. Was it received before the other, or later?” - -“About an hour earlier.” - -“Let me see both of them.” - -“Here is the first one,” said Belden. “It was received at nine o’clock. -See for yourself, Mr. Carter.” - -Nick took the telegram and read it: - - “Gus Dewitt, Reddy House, Shelby: Ten will hit me. Quickest route. - - A. Monaker.” - -It was a message that would have signified very little to most men. It -might have been an ordinary business communication, a wire concerning -the price and quantity of desired merchandise and the direction for -shipping it. - -Nick Carter’s strong, clean-cut face, however, took on a more intent -expression. - -“By Jove, I am right,” he said. “It’s a hundred to one that this was -sent to notify Dalton just when to call for the message.” - -“Why do you think so?” Belden inquired, leaning nearer to read the -telegram. - -“For three reasons,” said Nick. “First, the signature—A. Monaker.” - -“What about it? It evidently is a man’s name. I see nothing remarkable -in that.” - -“There is, nevertheless,” Nick replied. “Monaker, Belden, is a slang -term for a nickname. Undoubtedly in this case it refers to a fictitious -name, or an alias. It means, I think, that an alias would be used in the -message afterward sent, signed Martin and addressed to John Dalton, -presumably an alias of which Dalton already was informed.” - -“By gracious, Carter, you may be right.” - -“Ten will hit me told Dalton at just what time he must expect the -message. He was, in effect, directed to call for it at that hour. -Obviously, too, the business is secret and important, as well as off -color, or such a circumspect method of communication would not be -necessary.” - -“Surely not,” Belden agreed. “But what do you make of the last—quickest -route?” - -“By wire, Belden, of course,” said Nick. “A telegram is the quickest -means of communication when the telephone cannot be wisely and -conveniently used.” - -“That’s right, too,” Belden readily admitted. “By Jove, you have a long -head, Mr. Carter.” - -“Training enables one to detect such points as these,” Nick replied. “Do -you know Gus Dewitt, to whom this message is addressed?” - -“I do not.” - -“It was sent to the Reddy House.” - -“Yes. It may have been signed for by the clerk, or delivered to Dewitt -himself. The boy who took it there could tell us, but he is out just -now. You can telephone to the Reddy House and find out.” - -“Not by a long chalk,” Nick quickly objected. “I don’t want my interest -in this matter suspected. Have you found the other message?” - -“Yes, here it is.” - -Belden tendered the yellow paper on which the copied message was -written. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - THE INTERCEPTED LETTER. - - -Nick Carter read more carefully the telegram discussed in the hotel -café, and which had so seriously aroused his suspicions. - - “John Dalton, Shelby: Dust flying. S. D. on way. Ware eagle. - - Martin.” - -Belden watched the detective for a moment, then asked: - -“What do you make of it? Dust flying seems to have no definite -significance.” - -“On the contrary, Belden, it is very significant to me,” said Nick. “You -have heard it said, no doubt, that some men have dust on their clothes, -others in them.” - -“Dust—you mean money?” - -“Exactly. There is money moving in some way, Belden, or about to be -moved, of which felonious advantage is going to be taken. In other -words, Belden, crooks are out to get the money.” - -“Ah, I see!” Belden exclaimed, with eyes lighting. “You suspect that a -crime is being framed up.” - -“Precisely. I feel reasonably sure of it, in fact.” - -“For any other reason?” - -“Yes. Notice the last phrase in the message.” - -“Ware eagle,” said Belden, reading it. “What the deuce can you make of -that? Is one of them to wear an eagle, or some such insignia?” - -“Not at all,” said Nick. “It’s a warning.” - -“A warning?” - -“Surely. Observe the spelling of ‘ware.’ The word does not refer to -something to be worn, or it would be properly spelled. It is an -abbreviation of the word beware. In reality, Belden, the phrase means: -Beware eagle.” - -“But how do you interpret that?” questioned Belden perplexedly. “Why is -Dalton to beware of an eagle. I can’t see any sense to that.” - -Nick laughed a bit grimly. - -“I can,” he said tersely. “Crooks have favored me with all sorts of -names and epithets. I am the eagle referred to, Belden, as sure as -you’re a foot high.” - -“Ah! I see the point.” - -“This man, Martin, the sender of the message, has warned Dalton to -beware of me,” Nick added. “It was that phrase that first led me to -suspect the character of the entire message. It is generally known, now, -that I am here in the service of the S. & O. Railway. This message -convinces me, therefore, that another of the railway crimes is about to -be attempted. It’s up to me to head it off, if possible, or at least to -get the outlaws.” - -“By Jove, you are a wonderful man, Mr. Carter,” said Belden, with much -enthusiasm. “There is no denying that you probably have interpreted both -messages correctly.” - -“I think so,” said Nick modestly. - -“But how can you head off the anticipated crime, or succeed in getting -the outlaws?” - -“That’s another part of the story,” Nick replied, smiling. - -“One of them evidently is on the way here. Some one whose initials are -S. D.,” added Belden, glancing at the message. “If you can identify him -and find Gus Dewitt——” - -“I shall certainly do the latter,” Nick interposed. “But you are wrong -in regard to the other.” - -“How so?” - -“S. D. does not, in all probability, refer to a man.” - -“A woman?” - -“No.” - -“To what, then?” - -“To a special-delivery letter,” said Nick confidently. - -“Oh, by thunder!” Belden exclaimed. “That must be right, too. You have -nailed every point in both of these messages.” - -“And the next step, Belden, is to nail the special-delivery letter,” -Nick declared. “It presumably is coming from Philadelphia, and most -likely sent by this man Martin. Do you know whether a mail from -Philadelphia has arrived here since ten this morning?” - -“There has not,” said Belden promptly. “I know all about the mails. One -is due here from Philadelphia at two o’clock.” - -“Very good. Let me use your telephone to talk with one of my assistants. -I want him to meet me at the post office.” - -“Certainly. Go as far as you like.” - -“In the meantime, Belden, kindly make me a copy of each of these -messages,” Nick added, turning to the telephone. “I then will be off to -intercept that special-delivery letter. I may yet succeed, I think, in -putting something over on Martin, Dalton, and Dewitt.” - -Belden hastened to comply. - -Nick called up the Shelby House, in the meantime, and quickly got in -communication with Chick Carter and Patsy Garvan, his two assistants, -both of whom he directed to meet him in disguise at the local post -office. Then, having again cautioned Belden to absolute secrecy, Nick -hastened away to keep the appointment. - -It was half past one when he entered the post office, where he found -Chick and Patsy awaiting him. Without delaying to explain the situation, -he at once led the way to the private office of the postmaster, Adam -Holden, who readily gave him an interview. - -Nick then made himself known, introducing Chick and Patsy, after which -he exhibited the two telegrams, confiding his suspicions to Holden and -stating what he required of him. - -“But that is decidedly against the law, Mr. Carter, the intercepting and -opening of another person’s letter,” Holden forcibly objected. “I don’t -see how I can consent to let you do so. It is a very serious offense.” - -“Not nearly as serious as the circumstances,” Nick forcibly argued. -“When dealing with offenders against the law, with a gang of criminals -engaged in we know not what, nor have other means of learning, an -unlawful step in order to foil them and serve the law may very properly -be taken.” - -“Possibly. I do not feel, nevertheless, that I can permit——” - -“Now, Holden, you wait one moment,” Nick interrupted. “It is absolutely -necessary that I shall see that letter. I will assume all of the -responsibility.” - -“But——” - -“Or, if you prefer,” Nick cut in impressively, “I will send Chick to -Judge Barclay, of the local court, and get from him a special order to -open the letter. He is corporation counsel for the S. & O. Railway -Company and will have a very keen appreciation of the circumstances. -Bear in mind, too, that the letter is not to be held up permanently. It -will be delayed only a very few minutes, and the recipient will be none -the wiser. I can open and reseal the letter without his even suspecting -it.” - -“Very well,” Holden said reluctantly. “You get an order from the court, -Mr. Carter, and I will yield to your wishes.” - -“Attend to it, Chick,” said Nick, turning to his assistant. “State the -circumstances to Judge Barclay and bring the order here as quickly as -possible. You will have no trouble in getting it.” - -“Surely not,” Chick agreed, rising to go. “He has absolutely confidence -in your judgment. I’ll return within a quarter hour.” - -“You have ample time,” put in Holden. “The mail will not be in for -nearly half an hour.” - -“Very good,” said Nick. “In the meantime, Patsy, you go to the Reddy -House and see what you can learn about Gus Dewitt. You will probably -find him there, for he must be expecting the special-delivery letter and -should be waiting for it.” - -“Sure thing, chief, if the game is what you suspect,” Patsy declared. - -“Be off, then, and phone me here,” Nick directed. “Make sure you do -nothing to arouse his suspicions.” - -“Trust me for that.” - -“Look up Dalton, also, and see what you can learn about him. Call me up -in half an hour for further instructions.” - -“I’ve got you, chief,” said Patsy, hastening to depart. - -Nick waited patiently. - -Postmaster Holden appeared nervous and uncertain. He was relieved in -about fifteen minutes, however, by the return of Chick, bringing from -the magistrate the order Nick had requested. - -Ten minutes later a mail wagon rattled into the post-office yard, and -Holden went to bring all of the special-delivery letters to his private -office. - -There proved to be only six of them, and the one referred to in the -telegram was easily determined. It bore the Philadelphia postmark and -was addressed to Gus Dewitt, at the Reddy House. - -“How can you open and reseal it?” Holden questioned doubtfully, while -the detective examined the letter. - -“Very easily,” said Nick. - -“So that it will not be detected?” - -“Surely. A little steam will turn the trick, no wax having been applied -to the flap of the envelope. Your radiator will serve us. We’ll find out -in about two minutes what this letter contains.” - -Nick arose while speaking and stepped to the radiator. He turned the key -of the small air tube and opened the valve. A faint blowing and -sputtering ensued, soon followed by the ejection of a slender stream of -steam. - -Nick adjusted it carefully, then held the back of the envelope in the -thread of steam until the heat and moisture softened the paste on the -flap, which he then opened without injury, removing the letter and -laying the envelope aside to dry. - -“Now, Chick, we’ll see what Martin has to say in this special delivery,” -he remarked complacently, while unfolding the single sheet of paper so -artfully taken from its cover. - -Chick drew nearer to gaze at it. - -The communication also was typewritten, on a sheet of perfectly plain -paper. It read as follows: - - “Dear Gus: The pay-roll package goes through to-night, Tuesday, on the - Southern Limited. We’ll have the substitute down fine in ample time, - and the other dead to rights. Be on hand to relieve us of the goods at - the point agreed upon. Nothing doing until south of North Dayton. It - looks like a walk-over. I will see you after turning the trick. - - Martin.” - -Nick Carter glanced through the letter, then read it aloud to his two -companions. The significance of it could not be mistaken. - -“By gracious!” Holden exclaimed. “You were right, Mr. Carter. It’s a job -to rob the express car on the Southern Limited.” - -“Nothing less,” said Nick. “I suspected something of the kind.” - -“That train is due here from Philadelphia soon after midnight.” - -“A fit hour for such a felonious job,” Nick declared. “But we must be -equal to the needs of the hour. Not a word of this to others, Holden, -under any circumstances.” - -“Surely not. You can depend upon my discretion.” - -“I will make a copy of this letter. You then may reseal it and have it -delivered precisely as if it had not been opened.” - -“I will do so, Mr. Carter.” - -It took Nick only a few moments to make the copy. Holden had not -finished resealing the letter, however, when the ringing of the -telephone was the harbinger of a communication from Patsy. - -“Hold that letter until after I have a talk with him,” Nick directed. - -Patsy’s report was brief and to the point. - -“John Dalton is not known here,” said he, speaking from a booth in the -Reddy House. “Gus Dewitt arrived here two days ago. He has been here on -other occasions for a day or two, but nothing definite is known about -him. He now is in the hotel office and evidently is waiting for the -special-delivery letter.” - -“Anything more?” Nick inquired. - -“That’s all to date,” returned Patsy. “I’ve got my eye on the man.” - -“Keep it on him, Patsy, after he receives the letter,” Nick directed. -“Shadow him, if possible, or find some way to trail him. Listen while I -tell you what the letter contains. It may be of advantage to you.” - -“Shoot! I’m all ears,” said Patsy. - -Nick then repeated the letter verbatim and told Patsy of what his -suspicions consisted, again directing him to make a special mark of -Dewitt until otherwise instructed. Replacing the receiver, Nick then -turned to the postmaster and said: - -“Now, Holden, you may send that letter along. Take it from me, too, that -Dalton will not be the wiser—until I snap a pair of bracelets on his -wrists.” - -“The sooner the better, Carter, in my opinion,” replied the other. “It -could be done when the letter is delivered.” - -“I know that, Holden, but that’s much too soon. It’s not going to be -done until I can put bracelets on every crook engaged in this job,” Nick -declared, with grim determination. - -“I agree with you that that would be still better,” smiled Holden, -turning to hasten out with the fateful letter—for such it proved to be. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - NICK CARTER’S PLANS. - - -Starting with a fine spun thread, a mere film that only one man in a -million would have picked up under such circumstances, Nick Carter had -gradually twisted it to the size of a cord of considerable strength, of -which he now aimed to make a rope with which to twist, perhaps, the -necks of the culprits deserving it. - -It was after two o’clock when Nick, still in disguise and in company -with Chick, left the Shelby post office. - -Three o’clock found them seated with Judge Barclay and President -Burdick, of the S. & O. Railway, in the magnate’s private office, to -both of whom Nick had stated his discoveries and suspicions. - -It was then that he picked up another strand for the rope. - -He learned from President Burdick that an express shipment of sixty -thousand dollars in currency and specie was to be made from Philadelphia -that day, for the payroll and construction expense on the Shelbyville -branch road, then being built; which had aroused the bitter and vengeful -opposition of a lawless section of the country through which it was to -pass, resulting in the numerous crimes and outrages to which the road -since had been subjected, and the perpetrators of which Nick and his -assistants had been employed to run down. - -“This proves to be about what I suspected,” Nick remarked, after hearing -Burdick’s statements. “We are up against some of the same bandits guilty -of the previous crimes. I was not sure of it in the case of Jim Reardon, -who had a personal grievance, or a fancied one, to avenge.” - -“It is not too late to cancel the shipment, Carter, or defer it for a -few days,” Judge Barclay suggested. - -“That should be done, I think,” Burdick added. - -But Nick Carter quickly objected. - -“By no means,” he declared. “That is the worst step you could take.” - -“Why so?” - -“Because we now have an unusual advantage over these rascals, in that we -have anticipated their designs, and now is the time to catch them -red-handed.” - -“Surely,” Chick agreed. “It’s a rare opportunity. It is one that should -not be lost.” - -“There is something in that, Carter, after all,” Burdick thoughtfully -admitted. “We can easily protect the shipment by concealing a posse of -well-armed men in the express car. How will that do?” - -“It won’t do at all,” Nick replied. “The crooks might discover the fact -and throw up the job. They are not working blindly, Mr. Burdick, nor in -the dark. Being absolutely ignorant of their identity, moreover, you -might reveal your intentions to some man who would betray you. You must -leave this matter entirely to me. I want the rascals to undertake the -job. I’ll be on hand to prevent it.” - -“You may safely depend on him, Burdick,” put in Judge Barclay. - -“What are your plans, Mr. Carter?” President Burdick inquired. - -“I don’t know,” Nick said frankly. “I have not laid any plans, nor shall -I until I get all of the information I can obtain. All I want of you, -Mr. Burdick, is to answer a few questions for me. I then will do the -rest.” - -“Very well. I will leave it to you, then.” - -“You will make no mistake,” Nick confidently predicted. “Now, to begin -with, how is the money to be shipped? It will be in the express car, I -infer.” - -“Yes, certainly, locked in the safe.” - -“Who has charge of the car?” - -“A man named Daniel Cady.” - -“Reliable?” - -“Until the last gun is fired,” said Burdick emphatically. “I know him -root and branch, Carter, and he has both judgment and courage. He would -fight to the last ditch.” - -“Does he run alone on the car?” - -“Yes. The night run does not ordinarily require a second man. The -express carriage on that particular train is never very heavy. Cady has -had charge of that car for a dozen years.” - -“Where does he live?” - -“His home is here, in Shelby. He has a wife and several children. He now -is in Philadelphia, however, for he goes and returns on alternate -nights.” - -“Very good,” said Nick. “What time is the express due in North Dayton?” - -“Twelve o’clock precisely.” - -“Does it stop there?” - -“Not at the station. It stops at the junction of our western division -south of the town to take water and get instructions from Sampson, the -train dispatcher here in Shelby. It is the last stop the limited makes -before reaching Shelby.” - -“A run of eighteen miles, isn’t it?” - -“Nearly that.” - -“What is the next stop north?” - -“Amherst, fourteen miles beyond North Dayton.” - -“There is a block-signal tower at the North Dayton Junction, I infer.” - -“Yes, certainly.” - -“Who is the night operator?” - -“Tom Denny, a very reliable man.” - -“Capital!” said Nick promptly. “Write a line introducing me to Denny and -directing him to coöperate with me. I shall require nothing, President -Burdick, that will interfere with his customary duties.” - -“I will give you a letter to him.” - -“Also one to Daniel Cady,” added Nick. “Make it of the same character. I -am probably a stranger to both men.” - -President Burdick turned to his desk and wrote the two letters, then -handed them to the detective. - -“I think that is all,” said Nick, taking his hat. “By the way, however, -what time does the next north-bound train leave Shelby?” - -“At five-thirty.” - -“Does it stop at North Dayton and Amherst?” - -“Yes, both stations.” - -“That’s all,” Nick repeated, rising. “Do absolutely nothing more in this -matter, gentlemen, but leave it all to me. I will contrive to thwart -these rascals and land them behind prison bars. Come, Chick, we must get -a move on.” - -“What’s your scheme?” Chick inquired, when they emerged up the street. - -“That can be briefly told,” Nick replied. “Martin, whoever he is, -evidently is in Philadelphia, where he probably learned about the money -shipment and most likely he was there with that object in view. It is -almost a safe gamble, too, that he will be on the Southern Limited -to-night, since his letter to Dewitt states that he will see the latter -after the robbery.” - -“I agree with you,” Chick nodded. “It does look, indeed, as if he would -be on the train.” - -“What part he will play in the robbery, however, is an open question,” -said Nick. “He may take no active part in it, as far as that goes, but -may leave the work to his confederates.” - -“Possibly.” - -“We have, of course, no idea just when, where, or how the job will be -attempted,” Nick continued. “The letter states, however, that there will -be nothing doing until the train is south of North Dayton.” - -“I remember.” - -“The job will be undertaken, then, somewhere in the run of eighteen -miles to Shelby.” - -“Surely.” - -“Thinking they have a walk-over, as Martin terms it, the rascals may be -overconfident,” Nick added. “I think we can foil them, however, and get -them with hands up. I will leave Patsy to trail Dewitt to cover, if -possible, while we tackle the train end of the job.” - -“But what do you make of the other statements in Martin’s letter?” Chick -inquired. - -“As to having a substitute down fine by that time and the other dead to -rights?” - -“Yes. What do you make of that?” - -“That seems open to only one interpretation,” Nick reasoned. “It -probably refers to the package containing the money. A substitute -evidently is to be used in some way, and the other taken from the -express car.” - -“That seems like a reasonable theory.” - -“The money certainly is to be on the car, however, for Dewitt is -directed to be on hand to relieve some one of the goods, possibly Martin -himself.” - -“Very likely.” - -“But, as the letter also states, nothing is to be done until after -leaving North Dayton,” Nick repeated. - -“And your plans?” - -“We will leave town in disguise at five-thirty. You go as far as -Amherst, to board the express when it arrives. You must be governed by -the make-up of the train as to what car you will take. Select that which -Martin would be most likely to occupy, and be on the lookout for him, or -for any other suspicious circumstances. There is a fourteen-mile run -before you arrive in North Dayton.” - -“I understand, Nick, and will be governed accordingly,” Chick assured -him. “But what are your own designs?” - -“I’m going to board that express car at North Dayton,” said Nick, with -rather grim intonation. “I’ll contrive to do so in a way that will -occasion no misgivings, even if I am seen by some of the gang.” - -“And then?” - -“Predictions beyond that point would be speculative. I will make only -one. If Cady proves to be the man of nerve and courage ascribed to him -by President Burdick—well, in that case, Chick, if this bunch of bandits -gets away with the money, I’ll chuck my vocation and open an old man’s -home.” - -Chick Carter laughed. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - THE REAL SUBSTITUTE. - - -It was a clear night with a myriad of stars in the sky. The silver -crescent of a quarter moon had sunk below the wooded hills in the west. -A chill from the distant mountains was in the air, though but little -wind was stirring. - -The midnight stillness of the rural country south of North Dayton, where -the lofty signal tower loomed up at the junction of the western division -of the S. & O. Railway, was broken only by the frequent croakings of -frogs in a swamp east of the tracks, or the occasional cry of some night -bird circling overhead. - -The N. D. tower, as it was known on the wire, was in a lonely locality. -Trains stopped there only for water, or in response to the signal -lights, which changed from green and red to white when the night -operator, Tom Denny, worked the huge levers in the tower chamber. - -He was seated at his telegraph stand shortly before twelve on that -eventful night, a compact, muscular man of middle age. A revolver was -lying near the instrument. - -The murder in the K. C. tower at Shelby, the brutal killing of Karl -Glidden, also the other crimes and the outrages along the S. & O. -road—all were so fresh in the mind of every night operator during his -weary vigil, that none was taking any chances of being caught -unprepared. - -Three bells suddenly broke the stillness of the tower chamber. They told -Denny that the operator in the next tower north was waiting for his -unlock, that the Southern Limited was approaching North Dayton, and -Denny pushed the plug into the box and held it for an O. K. Getting it -almost instantly, he arose and set his signals. - -As he turned from the lever, he heard a step on the tower stairs. As -quick as a flash, while a hand was laid on the knob of the door, Denny -stepped to the table and seized his revolver. - -The door was opened and a roughly clad, bearded man appeared on the -threshold. He looked like a track hand, or one employed on the railway. -He was a stranger to Denny, however, who covered him instantly, crying -sharply: - -“Hold on! Stop right there! What do you want?” - -Nick Carter smiled and said quietly: - -“A few words with you, Denny, nothing more. I have a letter of -introduction from President Burdick. It will tell you who I am and why I -am here.” - -Denny appeared incredulous and suspicious. - -“Stay where you are!” he commanded. “Toss me the letter, then hands up -while I read it.” - -Nick obeyed, remarking, with a laugh: - -“You’re all right, Denny. He will be a good man, indeed, who catches you -napping.” - -Denny read the brief letter, all the while with one eye upon the -intruder. He had no doubt of Nick’s identity, however, after reading the -missive and seeing the familiar handwriting of the railway president. - -“By Jove, you gave me a disagreeable surprise to start with, Mr. Carter, -but this more than makes up for it,” he said heartily, placing the -letter and weapon upon the table and extending his hand. - -“Good enough,” Nick replied, entering and shaking hands with him. - -“I can, indeed, guess why you are here,” Denny added. “It is something -in connection with your efforts to run down the railway bandits. I at -first thought you were one of them.” - -“Quite naturally, Denny, I’m sure,” smiled the detective. - -“I know you are in the employ of the road, of course, since you cornered -Jim Reardon and sent him after his victim. But what’s your mission here -to-night? How can I be of any help to you?” - -Nick knew that he could safely confide in him, and he then briefly -informed him of the circumstances and of the steps he was taking to -prevent the suspected robbery. - -“I wish to board the express car without incurring suspicions, Denny, in -case any of the gang are on the watch during this last stop of the -train, before the job is to be attempted,” Nick proceeded to explain. “I -can do so, all right, by pretending to be a track hand and in the employ -of the road. No observer seeing me come down from the signal tower would -think it strange for me to board the car as if to ride to Shelby.” - -“Surely not,” Denny quickly agreed. “That frequently occurs. You look -the part to the letter, too, Mr. Carter.” - -“I wish to be with Cady in the car during the run,” Nick added. “I will, -I think, show these bandits that their knavery will be far from a -walk-over.” - -“No doubt,” said Denny, smiling. “You’ll find Cady all right, too, and -game to the core. He’s one man in a thousand.” - -“So Burdick informed me.” - -“No one has anything on Cady.” - -“Can you consistently leave the tower after the train arrives?” - -“Yes, indeed, while the engine is taking water. I nearly always have -dispatches to take down.” - -“Capital! Go down with me to the express car, then, and pretend that you -know me to be a track hand and that I have a right to ride with Cady. I -wish to get into the car without any display of opposition on his part.” - -“I’ll fix you, Mr. Carter, as far as that goes.” - -“And that is all I will require of you,” said Nick. “I will explain to -Cady after the train leaves here. How soon is it due?” - -“In about five minutes,” said Denny, glancing at a clock on the wall. -“I’ll slip on my coat and be ready to go down with you.” - -“Very good,” Nick said approvingly. “Pay no attention to any persons who -may be on the platform, or step from the train during the stop. An -inquisitive stare might cause misgivings.” - -“I’m wise, Mr. Carter,” Denny assured him. “I’ll do precisely as if I -knew nothing about this deviltry. I’m over seven, you know, and——” - -He was interrupted by the sudden, rapid ticking of the telegraph -instrument. It proved to be a dispatch for the engineer of the coming -train, and Denny scarce had transcribed it when the whistle of the -locomotive sounded in the near distance. - -Half a minute later the glare of its headlight appeared amid the -scattered lights of the town, from which it emerged at high speed and -immediately began slowing down to make the junction. - -“Come on!” Denny cried, leading the way. “She stops only five minutes.” - -Nick followed him from the chamber and down the long flight of stairs -from the tower. He could feel the structure trembling under the -vibrations caused by the heavy train, which then was approaching the -long platform and coming to a stop, amid the clanging of the locomotive -bell, the furious hissing of steam, and the grinding of the brakes. - -Only a solitary man was pacing the platform, carrying a traveler’s grip -and a light overcoat. Nick saw at a glance that he was a commercial -drummer and not worthy of suspicion. - -Several men stepped from the train, obviously to break the monotony of a -night journey, but neither the looks or actions of any appeared -suspicious. Nick quickly noted the make-up of the train, a baggage car, -the express car, a smoker, an ordinary passenger car, and two Pullman -sleepers in the rear. He knew that Chick was on the train, but he did -not know just where, nor particularly care at that moment. - -Denny ran to the locomotive and gave the engineer the dispatch, then -hurriedly rejoined Nick and led the way to the express car. - -The sliding side door was thrown open from within while they approached, -and Denny quickly greeted the man who appeared in the brightly lighted -car. - -“Hello, Cady, old chap!” he exclaimed. “You’re right on time to-night, -all right. Here’s Jack Dakin, track hand, who will ride with you to -Shelby. He missed the last local. You don’t know him, I reckon, but he’s -all right.” - -“Ride with me?” questioned Cady, sharply regarding both. - -He was a well-built man of middle age, of sandy complexion, and wearing -a full beard. He was clad in blouse and overalls, with a woolen cap -pulled over his brow. - -Nick did not wait for him to make any objections. He grasped the edge of -the door and drew himself up from the platform, saying quietly, while he -entered the car: - -“It’s all right, Cady. I’ve got a letter to you from President Burdick. -Don’t oppose me. Pretend this is nothing unusual.” - -Cady seemed to grasp the situation. A fiery gleam appeared for a moment -in the depths of his gray eyes, but he drew back to make room for Nick, -replying, in quick whispers: - -“What’s up? There’s nothing wrong, is there?” - -“Wait until we leave here. Don’t question,” cautioned Nick. - -“It’s all right, Cady,” Denny quickly assured him, leaning in through -the open door. - -“Good enough, then,” Cady nodded. “I’ll take your word for it, Tom.” - -Nick had strode across the car and seated himself on a packing case, one -of several that evidently had been shipped by express and which occupied -one side of the car. He noticed that the door of a safe in one corner -was closed, and the handle indicated that the safe was properly locked -and the combination scattered. He felt reasonably sure that he could, -with the help of Dan Cady and Chick, foil and arrest any gang that would -attempt the robbery. - -The clanging of the locomotive bell told that the train was about to -start. - -Passengers on the platform scampered toward the cars from which they had -emerged. - -“So long, Cady!” cried Denny, while he hastened toward the tower stairs. - -Cady responded with a gesture and then closed and secured the door of -the express car. - -A backward jolt, a jangling of bumpers and couplings, a furious hissing -of steam, followed by the labored puffing of the locomotive, and the -train made way and the lonely junction with its platform and the signal -tower were quickly left behind, grim and silent in the twilight of the -starry night. - -Nick Carter then lost no time in explaining the situation, the outcome -of which was far from what he expected, yet what no mortal man could -have anticipated. - -“Now, Cady, I’ll put you wise to what’s in the wind,” said he, rising -from the case on which he was seated. “Here is the letter from President -Burdick that will tell you who I am, and a word will explain why I am -here.” - -Cady opened the letter and read it, then gazed more sharply at the -detective. - -“Well, say, this is some surprise,” he said bluntly. “I did not dream -that you were Nick Carter, though I knew you were in the employ of the -road. Do you suspect something wrong to-night, Mr. Carter, that you have -boarded my car in this way?” - -“More than suspect,” Nick replied. “You are carrying a money package of -sixty thousand dollars, aren’t you?” - -“Yes, Mr. Carter, I am.” - -“Where is it?” - -“Locked in the safe, sir, of course.” - -“Very good,” Nick nodded. “It will be up to you and me, Cady, to prevent -a bunch of bandits from removing it from the safe. Not only to prevent -them, Cady, but also to corner and arrest them. Are you game for such an -undertaking?” - -Cady continued to look Nick straight in the eye. - -“Game, sir!” he exclaimed. “You bet I’m game. If they get that money, -Mr. Carter, they’ll get it over my dead body. But why do you suspect -anything of the kind?” - -Nick briefly informed him, and the bearded face of the express-car man -took on a more serious expression. - -“So you got wise to all that from the two telegrams?” he said -inquiringly. - -“Exactly,” Nick nodded. - -“You’re a keen man, Mr. Carter.” - -“Not at all, Mr. Cady. It’s a part of my business to detect such things -when they come my way.” - -“What other steps have you taken to prevent this job?” - -“None of importance,” Nick said evasively. “I think that you and I, -Cady, will be able to prevent it.” - -“Sure, sir, as far as that goes,” Cady quickly agreed. “Do you know just -where and how it is to be attempted?” - -“Not how, Cady, but somewhere between here and Shelby.” - -“We have not long to wait, then,” Cady declared. “We make the run from -North Dayton in twenty-six minutes.” - -“Where are we now?” - -“We have covered about eight miles. We are in Willow Creek section, a -mighty lonely locality, and the next place near which we pass is Benton -Corners.” - -“Benton Corners!” Nick echoed. “That’s where I rounded up Jim Reardon, -and where Jake Hanlon, Link Magee, and Dick Bryan live. I suspected them -of having been Reardon’s confederates, but we could not convict them. It -may be, by Jove, that they are engaged in this job.” - -“Quite likely. They certainly are bad eggs.” - -“You know them, then?” - -“By name and sight,” Cady nodded. “But we’ll be ready for them. You are -armed, sir, of course, and I have a revolver in the safe. I’ll get it -and——” - -“No, no, don’t unlock the safe,” Nick quickly objected. “The job may be -attempted at any moment. I have two revolvers. Take one of them and be -ready to hold up the rascals.” - -“I’ll be ready,” Cady declared, taking the weapon. “Throw up your hands, -Carter, and be darned quick about it, or you’ll get a slug of lead from -your own weapon.” - -Nick Carter was never more surprised in his life. - -Cady had turned the revolver squarely upon the detective, and there was -a gleam in his eyes, a vicious ring in his voice, denoting that he meant -what he said. - -No sane man would have ignored them, and Nick threw up his hands. They -stood confronting one another in the swaying car, these two men, Cady -with a murderous look on his bearded face, the detective with an -expression of sudden terrible sternness, mingled with surprise. - -“What’s this, Cady?” he demanded. “I was told that you were true blue -and a man of courage.” - -“You don’t want to believe all you’re told,” Cady snarled back at him. -“Don’t drop your hands, Carter, or I’ll drop you.” - -“Are you in with this gang?” Nick sternly questioned. - -“You bet I’m in with it. I’m out to get this coin—and to get you, now, -since you know so much about——” - -The car lurched suddenly on a curve. - -The revolver covering the detective’s breast deviated for a moment, as -Cady swayed under the sudden lurch. - -It was the moment for which Nick Carter was watching. He was as quick as -a flash in seeing and seizing the opportunity. His left hand shot -downward and grasped the miscreant’s wrist, turning the revolver aside, -while his right shot out and closed with a viselike grip around Cady’s -neck. - -“In with this gang, are you?” he shouted. “You shall pay the price, -then.” - -But again the unexpected occurred. Another lurch of the car threw both -men, then engaged in the terrible struggle, against the wall of the car. - -Cady’s beard was torn off and the truth revealed—the man was not Cady. - -It was not a substitute package to which the telegram had referred, -but—a substitute man! - -Something like a half-smothered oath broke from the detective. He swung -the struggling ruffian around and forced him against the wall of the -swaying car. He could have overcome him and crushed him within half a -minute—if help had not been at hand. - -All transpired, in fact, in far less time than half a minute. - -The covers of two of the packing cases flew upward. - -Out of each case leaped a man. - -A bludgeon in the hand of one fell squarely on Nick’s head. - -The fist of the other caught him on the jaw. - -A blow from the supposed Cady landed over his heart. - -And under this combined assault, made with all the vicious energy of -utter desperation, Nick Carter sank to the floor of the reeling car, -bleeding and insensible, with every muscle relaxed. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - NIGHT WORK. - - -Chick Carter, in accord with the plans laid out by Nick, was in Amherst -that evening in the disguise of a traveling salesman. He was waiting on -the station platform when the Southern Limited arrived. - -Chick sized up the train as it rolled into the station. He did not -definitely know, of course, whether the crook who had sent the telegram -from Philadelphia was among the passengers, but he strongly suspected -that he was, and he also knew that Nick would board the express car at -North Dayton. - -“If the crook is on the train and intends to take any active part in the -robbery, it’s ten to one that he is in the ordinary passenger car,” -Chick reasoned. “He certainly would not be in a sleeper. He would -reason, too, that he would be less liable to suspicion than if he rode -in the smoker.” - -Chick acted upon these theories. He entered the next car back of the -smoker, the latter being back of the express and baggage cars, and he -took one of the rear seats, from which he could see most of the other -occupants of the car. It was about two-thirds filled with men and women, -traveling singly or in couples. - -Chick pretended to have no interest in any of them. None, nevertheless, -escaped his furtive scrutiny during the run of fourteen miles to North -Dayton. He could discover none, however, whose looks or actions seemed -to warrant suspicion. - -Twenty minutes took the train to North Dayton. - -Gazing furtively from the window, Chick saw the lights in the signal -tower, saw Nick and Denny hasten down the stairs, saw Denny return alone -just as the train was starting, which convinced him that Nick then was -in the express car, as planned. - -Two men who had briefly left the train returned to the car in which -Chick was seated. He was a keen reader of faces. He saw plainly enough -that neither of the men was a crook, or at least no such crook as he was -seeking. - -The train rushed on through the starry night. - -Chick knew that the time was rapidly approaching when, if Nick’s -deductions were correct, the robbery would be attempted. - -“I’ll not cut much ice here,” he said to himself, at length. “I think -I’ll take a look at the occupants of the smoker. That will bring me -nearer the express car.” - -He was about to do so when his attention was drawn to a couple three -seats in front of him and on the opposite side of the aisle. - -One was a respectable-looking, well-dressed man of forty, with grave, -dark eyes and a Vandyke beard. - -His companion was an attractive woman of about thirty years old, with a -fair complexion and an abundance of light-brown hair. Her fine figure -was clad in a tailor-made traveling costume of bottle green. They were -about the last couple in the car to have invited suspicion. - -The train had begun to labor on a steep up grade. - -The man with a Vandyke beard drew out a cigar and bit the end from it, -then said a few words to the woman. She bowed and smiled, revealing a -double row of white teeth, and the man arose with a backward glance and -smiled at her, then went into the smoker. - -Chick watched him thoughtfully, but not suspiciously, when he strode -through the aisle and out of the car. Plainly enough, it appeared, the -man had excused himself politely to his companion in order to go for a -smoke. It appeared like the act of a gentleman. - -Chick felt no immediate impulse to follow him, and his attention was -again drawn toward the woman. She was moving to a position nearer the -lamps, and was spreading a newspaper to read it. - -Chick saw that it was a Philadelphia newspaper. - -“By Jove, they evidently came from Philadelphia,” he said to himself. -“Can it be that they—no, no, that seems quite improbable. No man engaged -in a train robbery, or with any interest in one, would be traveling with -a woman. Besides, neither looks like a crook, but quite the contrary. -She may have bought the paper on the train, or——” - -Chick’s train of thought took a sudden, startling turn. - -A brakeman went rushing through the aisle in the direction of the -smoking car. - -Chick noticed now that the train was rapidly slowing down. He heard -shouts from the smoker when the brakeman opened the door. - -“Great guns!” he muttered, starting up and following him. “Has the trick -been turned? Has the job been done, in spite of us?” - -Chick hurried through the car and entered the smoker. A dozen excited -men were gathered near the forward door and upon the platform and steps. -In another moment Chick was among them, and he saw at a glance what had -occurred. - -The train had been divided. The rear cars of it had come to a stop on -the steep up grade. - -The forward section, consisting of the locomotive, the baggage car, and -the express car, was vanishing around a curve in the tracks more than -half a mile away. - -A solitary man then was on the rear platform of the express car, though -invisible in the darkness—the man with a Vandyke beard. - -Scarce two minutes had elapsed since he passed through the smoker. He -had not sat down, nor lighted his cigar, but walked deliberately out -upon the front platform. - -Then, with the speed and dexterity of one familiar with such work, he -disconnected the signal cord and the air-brake couplings, set the front -brake of the smoker, and then unlocked and threw the lever that -uncoupled the two cars. Then he leaped to the back platform of the -express car just as it forged ahead, leaving the rear section of the -broken train falling swiftly behind. - -Leaning out from the platform steps to make absolutely sure of his -location, the man then waited until the forward section struck the curve -mentioned. He then seized the bell cord and signaled the engineer to -stop. - -The response was immediate. Almost on the instant the grinding of the -brakes was mingled with the roar and rumble of the wheels and the rush -of the night wind around him. - -Gazing toward the desolate wooded country on the right, he saw that he -had timed the desperate work to a nicety. - -Three quick flashes of light met his gaze, coming from a point in the -woods scarce twenty feet from the railway. He turned and banged twice on -the car door with the butt of his revolver. - -The three men within were awaiting the signal. The sliding door of the -car then was opened. So was the door of the safe. A large leather bag, -nearly as large as a letter pouch, was lying on the floor. - -Near by, gagged and securely bound, lay Nick Carter, still insensible. -One of his assailants of only a few minutes before, now hearing the -expected signal, yelled excitedly: - -“Out with him, Mauler! The roadbed is sandy. Out with him.” - -“Sandy be hanged!” shouted Mauler, the miscreant who had impersonated -Cady. “It may be lucky for us if his neck is broken.” - -He rolled the detective’s inanimate form from the car while speaking, -and it vanished into the gloom outside. - -The large leather pouch quickly followed. - -The car was steadily slowing down. - -There was a bang on the front door—but the door was locked and -barricaded. - -One after another of three men leaped from the car. The man on the rear -platform sprang down and joined them. - -They ran back over the roadbed, while the deserted car surged onward for -nearly fifty yards before stopping, before the engineer and baggage -hands began a more active and energetic investigation. - -The four men then were a hundred yards down the track, invisible in the -faint starlight at that distance. Other figures appeared from amid the -gloomy woods. The burdens lying on the roadbed, one more than the -scoundrels had figured upon, were quickly seized and removed—into the -depths of the forest that flanked the railway for miles in that -locality. - -Much can be quickly accomplished by determined men under such desperate -circumstances. - -Only eight minutes had passed since the Southern Limited had left North -Dayton. - -Something like three minutes later, Chick Carter, followed by half a -score of men anxious to learn what had occurred, came running up the -track and joined the engineer and other train hands then gathered in and -around the looted express car. - -Chick saw at a glance that the trick had, indeed, been turned; also that -Nick Carter was missing. - -“Great guns!” he exclaimed to himself. “This is strange, mighty strange, -and where in thunder is Cady?” - -Chick decided to listen briefly before revealing his identity and what -he knew about the case, a self-restraint which few would have had under -such circumstances, and he very soon determined to say nothing. - -For the engineer and train hands, familiar with the desolate section of -the country, quickly came to two conclusions; one, that Cady had been -overcome by the robbers who had been concealed in the empty packing -cases; the other, that he had been carried away with the plunder from -the open safe by a gang of desperadoes whom it would be useless to -pursue at that time. - -Chick knew that they were mistaken, and he also felt sure that he could -accomplish nothing then and there. The evidence in the car showed him -plain enough that Nick had been overcome by the bandits, and he realized -that any attempt at immediate pursuit would be worse than futile. - -He sprang into the express car, when the conductor insisted that he must -run on to Shelby, and the cars were first run back to couple on the rear -section of the broken train. - -Chick returned to his seat in the car which he had occupied from -Amherst. - -The blond woman, apparently wearied by the delay, and with no interest -in the occasion for it, seemed to have fallen asleep over her newspaper. - -Chick Carter noticed her again soon after resuming his seat, and he was -suddenly hit with an idea. - -“By thunder!” he mentally exclaimed. “What has become of her companion? -Can he have been in the smoker all the while? No, not by a long chalk! -He would not have left her here asleep, if she really is asleep. He -would have returned to tell her about the robbery.” - -“Humph! there’s nothing to this,” he abruptly decided. “I have had that -Philadelphia crook under my very eye, this woman’s companion, the fellow -with a Vandyke beard. He must have bolted with the gang, too, or I -should have seen him on the railway, or in the smoker. All this will be -a cinch, by Jove, unless he shows up before we reach Shelby. I’m glad I -kept my trap closed. My identity is not suspected, and I will have a -clew worth following—the woman!” - -Presently, moving from side to side, selecting such persons as hit his -fancy, the conductor came through the car and took the names and -addresses of several people, explaining that witnesses might be wanted -in a later investigation, who were not in the employ of the railway -company. - -The woman was among those whom he questioned. She yawned and looked up -at him with a frown. - -“Pardon me,” she declined, a bit curtly. “I do not wish to be brought -into an investigation.” - -“It may not be necessary, after all,” said the conductor suavely. - -“But I know nothing about the affair, except that the train stopped and -that a robbery is said to have been committed,” the woman objected. -“Besides, my home is in Philadelphia, and it would not be convenient for -me to be summoned to an investigation.” - -“You would be excused, no doubt, in that case,” persisted the conductor. -“Surely, madam, you have no other reason for refusing to give me your -name and address.” - -“No other reason!” she exclaimed impatiently. “Certainly not, sir!” - -“Kindly do so, then.” - -The woman hesitated for another moment. - -“By Jove, she is deciding whether to give him a fictitious name,” -thought Chick, intently watching her frowning face. “She’ll not be fool -enough to do so.” - -Chick was right. - -The woman decided nearly as quickly as he that deception at that time -might later make her liable to serious suspicion. She drew herself up a -bit haughtily and said: - -“Very well, then, since you insist upon it. My name is Janet Payson.” - -“Thank you,” smiled the conductor. “And your address?” - -“No. 20 Martin Street, Philadelphia.” - -The conductor bowed and moved on. - -“Martin Street,” thought Chick, instantly recalling the signature on the -Dalton telegram. “Martin fits in here, all right. She told the truth, -and I’ve picked up a very proper lead. It’s not such a long, long way to -Tipperary, after all. We shall see.” - -The woman left the train at Shelby, carrying only a suit case, and she -accosted a cabman outside of the station. - -“Shelby House,” she directed curtly. - -Chick was at her elbow and heard her. - -Ten minutes later he read her name inscribed on the hotel register: -“Miss Janet Payson, Philadelphia.” - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - HOW PATSY MADE GOOD. - - -It was one o’clock when Chick Carter entered his room in the Shelby -House. He removed his coat, hat, and disguise, then lit a cigar and sat -down to size up the circumstances and the evidence he had found in the -express car. - -How was the robbery committed? How did Cady figure in it, and what -became of him? How had Nick been overcome, and why had he been carried -away by the bandits, assuming that he had not been killed and thrown -from the car? - -Chick did not believe the last. He would have seen the body when -hastening up the tracks. He knew that these crooks would commit murder -only as a last resort, moreover, and the evidence in the car did not -point to bloodshed and murder. - -Chick felt reasonably sure, in fact, that Nick was alive and in the -hands of the desperadoes. - -“Two empty packing cases and an open safe, opened by means of the -combination,” he mused intently. “No force apparent except what must -have been required to get the best of Nick and Cady. But could two men -concealed in packing cases, and the cases could not have contained more -than two, have overcome two such men as Nick and Cady? By Jove, it -doesn’t seem possible. - -“Nor could Janet Payson’s companion have had any hand in the work done -in the express car. He would have had time only to disconnect the train, -which he certainly went forward to do. All that was cut and dried, -previously planned, and it was done by a man expert at such work. - -“Is it possible, then, that Cady is in league with these crooks? Did he -hold up Nick and get him with the help of his hidden confederates? Did -he open the safe? Did he substitute—stop one moment! By Jove, there was -no substitute money package in the car, nor in the safe, or I must -surely have seen it. I made a thorough inspection.” - -Chick’s brows knit closer under the mental concentration with which he -strove to fathom the conflicting circumstances. - -“That special-delivery letter certainly mentioned a substitute. It read, -I remember distinctly: ‘We’ll have the substitute down fine in ample -time and the other dead to rights.’ - -“H’m, that’s not so clear, in view of what has occurred and the fact -that no substitute money package was found in the car. It certainly is -worded a bit oddly. To have one dead to rights is a term usually applied -to a situation, a gang, or a man; not to a parcel, package, or anything -of that kind. - -“By Jove, it may in this case have been a man. The substitute may have -been a man in place of Cady. That would explain Cady’s disappearance -from the car. A man made up to perfectly resemble Cady—that’s it, by -gracious, as sure as I’m a foot high,” Chick decided. “That’s why Martin -worded the letter in that way, that he’d have a substitute down fine, in -ample time. A substitute to take Cady’s place in the express car—that’s -what!” - -Chick’s countenance had lighted. Through this process of reasoning he -had deduced the one fact, the one crafty subterfuge, that had made the -robbery possible under all of the other known circumstances. - -It told Chick, too, how easily confederates of the substitute rascal -could have been concealed in the car, and how easily Nick could have -been held up and overcome under such unexpected adverse conditions. - -“But what has become of Cady?” Chick next asked himself. “He was -supposed to be in Philadelphia, of course, in order to make this run. By -Jove, I have it! Got him dead to rights, eh? I’ll see about that. I’ll -set another ball rolling in this game—one that may knock out a -ten-strike.” - -Chick sprang up with the last and hastened down to the hotel office. -Entering a telephone booth and closing the door, he called up the -central exchange and learned that he could quickly get a clear wire to -Philadelphia. - -“I want the police headquarters,” said he. “The officer in charge.” - -Chick had waited only seven minutes, when the operator rang him up and -announced: - -“All ready.” - -“Hello!” Chick called. “Police headquarters, Philadelphia?” - -“Yes.” - -Distance did not serve to soften the strong, sonorous voice. The wire -carried the sound perfectly. The voice was a familiar one to the -detective, that of an old friend in police circles, and Chick laughed -audibly. - -“It’s easy to recognize a voice that rings true,” said he. “How are you, -Lieutenant Lang?” - -“Fine!” came the answer. “But who are you?” - -“Chickering Carter.” - -“Oh, ho! Chick, eh?” Lang’s sonorous laugh could be heard. “Glad to hear -from you. Where are you?” - -“On a case down Shelby way.” - -“I heard that Nick was in that section. Something doing?” - -“Plenty, Lang, and then some.” - -“That just about suits you, I suppose. How can I aid you?” - -“I want hurry-up information about a woman.” - -“What name?” - -“Janet Payson.” - -“You’ll not have to wait long,” cried Lang, laughing. “I can supply you -right off the reel.” - -“Good!” Chick cried. “Do you know her?” - -“Only professionally,” Lang responded. “She’s pretty well known here by -the boys in brass buttons.” - -“What about her, Ned?” - -“Fly!” Lang said tersely. “As fly as one often meets.” - -“A crook?” Chick inquired. - -“Crooked, but not a crook. I don’t know that she has ever been arrested. -She devotes her attractions to bleeding any easy mark that comes her -way. She is known here as Jaunty Janet.” - -“I’ve got you,” said Chick. “Do you know where she lives?” - -“That’s a fat question. What am I on the force for?” Lang cried, -laughing. “She has a ground-floor flat in Martin Street, No. 20.” - -“Correct!” Chick exclaimed. “Do you know anything about her male -friends?” - -“No, nothing.” - -“Listen. I want you to do something for me.” - -“Come across with it, Chick, and consider it done.” - -“Telegraph me the result. Address me in care of the Shelby House.” - -“I will do so. What’s wanted?” - -Chick told him and returned to his room, at the door of which he now -found—Patsy Garvan. - -“Gee! I’ve been on nettles for an hour, ever since the Southern Limited -arrived,” Patsy impatiently declared, after greeting him. “I was at the -station and heard about the robbery, but I saw nothing of you, or the -chief, and I figured that you both were in wrong, for fair. What’s -become of the chief? I’ve been here twice in search of you. Couldn’t you -head off the job? What do you want for a starter? Why didn’t you——” - -“Cut it! Cut it!” Chick interrupted. “Bridle your tongue, or you’ll ask -more questions than I could answer before daylight. Hit up a cigar and -give me time to explain. You’re not all the mustard in the pot. Didn’t -you know that?” - -“Sure I know it,” retorted Patsy. “But I’m some mustard, all the same, -with a dash of tabasco thrown in. What’s eating you, anyway? Send for an -ice bag and cool your block. Your hair may wilt with the heat and look -like dead grass. You’d be a bird, then.” - -Chick laughed and lit another cigar. - -It was two in the morning, mind you, and both had been busy and on their -nerves for eighteen hours, a sufficient excuse for impatience and -irritability, which really had no sting. - -Patsy grinned and sat down, taking a brier pipe from his pocket and -deliberately filling it. Not until he had lit it and wafted a cloud of -smoke toward the ceiling did he speak again, and then he stared at Chick -and said simply: - -“Well?” - -Chick settled back in his chair and told him what had occurred. - -Patsy’s face then had lost its sphinxlike expression. - -“Gee whiz!” he commented. “Say, Chick, old top, this isn’t so bad.” - -“Come on with it,” Chick replied, knowing he had something to report. -“What have you learned that’s worth knowing?” - -“Worth knowing—that’s my long suit with four honors,” said Patsy. “I -never pick up thirteen measly duckers, no matter who deals the papes. -Say, Chick, old chap, listen!” - -“Listen, eh? What do you think I’m doing? Do I look like a lay figure -with wax ears? I am listening.” - -Patsy ended his levity and drew up in his chair. - -“You know whose trail I have been on—that of Gus Dewitt,” he said -earnestly. “I got the chief’s telephone spiel from the post office, -which put me wise to what that special-delivery letter contained, and -that was the last I knew of his suspicions and designs. But I had my eye -on Dewitt, all right, and I saw him receive the letter and read it.” - -“And then?” questioned Chick. - -“He then made a move that nearly shook me off his track,” Patsy -continued. “He bolted straight for the stable back of the Reddy House. -He had a horse out there tied under a shed, and he mounted him without a -word to any one and rode out of town as if a dozen devil’s imps were -after him.” - -“You knew why he went, of course.” - -“Sure thing, Chick, since I knew what was in the letter. I knew he had -gone to notify the gang that the job was to be done to-night.” - -“Certainly,” Chick nodded. “There was nothing else to it.” - -“There was enough more to it to keep me on the go until nearly dark,” -Patsy protested. “It was up to me to trail him, wasn’t it?” - -“Sure,” Chick smiled. “I admit that.” - -“Well, it didn’t prove to be soft walking,” Patsy resumed. “I got next -to the hostler, two stable hands, and a chauffeur, who hang around -there, but they didn’t know him from a side of leather, except that his -name was Gus Dewitt and that he occasionally rode into town for a day or -an evening.” - -“I see.” - -“Then a cabby showed up who remembered having seen him ride in one night -with Jake Hanlon, at whose place we cornered Jim Reardon for the Glidden -murder.” - -“At Benton Corners.” - -“Sure,” nodded Patsy. “That, of course, put a bee in my bonnet. I -reasoned that, if Dewitt and Hanlon were friends, both might be in this -job, as well as those two thoroughbred rascals who hang out at Hanlon’s -place, Dick Bryan, and Link Magee.” - -“Quite likely, Patsy,” Chick agreed. - -“I reckoned, too, that Dewitt was heading for Benton Corners, since he -had taken that direction.” - -“You went out there?” - -“I decided to take that chance, for I could see no other way of trailing -him. As I was leaving the stable yard, however, I noticed the tracks -left by his horse’s hoofs.” - -“What about them?” - -“One had a little peculiarity.” - -“What was that?” - -“The shoe on the off fore hoof was different from the others. It had a -bar plate, and the mark of it showed plainly wherever it struck yielding -soil.” - -“I follow you,” Chick nodded. - -“And I followed the tracks of that bar-plate shoe,” said Patsy. “There -were none in the paved streets, mind you, but I hustled out to the road -leading to Benton Corners, and there I found the tracks again.” - -“Good work.” - -“Knowing I might be mistaken, however, if I assumed that Dewitt had gone -to Hanlon’s place, I decided to stick to my trail.” - -“A wise decision, Patsy.” - -“It took me some time to follow it, but it led me to Hanlon’s place, all -right, and, after watching from the woods back of the stable until late -in the afternoon, I made a discovery.” - -“Yes?” - -“Jake Hanlon showed up on horseback and rode into the stable, and Dick -Bryan came from the house and joined him.” - -“But the discovery, Patsy?” - -“Bryan had it in his hand,” said Patsy dryly. “The special-delivery -letter and the disguise he had worn as Gus Dewitt.” - -“Bryan and Dewitt are the same, eh?” - -“Yes, and Dalton thrown in,” declared Patsy. “Bryan has been posing in -all three characters. He’s a pretty slick gink at that, too, I judge, -from the confidence with which he spoke when talking with Hanlon about -it.” - -“You could hear what they were saying?” - -“Only for a few moments. Bryan showed him the letter and the telegrams, -and they then hurried into the house. Out they came in about ten -minutes, however, both with revolvers and shotguns, and then they -mounted their horses and rode off to the north.” - -“To join others of the gang, no doubt,” said Chick. - -“That’s how I sized it up.” - -“Surely.” - -“Hanlon spoke of another crib, but he said nothing definite, and I knew -only the direction they took,” Patsy went on. “I felt pretty sure that -you and the chief would head off the robbery, you see, so I hiked back -to Shelby to hunt you up and report. Now, hang it, I learn that the job -has been pulled off, and you think the chief is in the hands of the -rascals.” - -“I have hardly a doubt of it,” said Chick. - -“It won’t be easy, then, to corner this gang and recover their plunder,” -Patsy dubiously declared. “They’ll know we are after them and——” - -“But not what you have discovered,” put in Chick pointedly. - -“That’s true. That may help some,” Patsy allowed. “If we could only find -out what other crib Hanlon meant and where it is located, and devise -some way to get there before they can cover their tracks and dispose of -Nick——” - -“Stop a moment,” Chick interrupted. “I think we can accomplish both.” - -“You do?” Patsy’s countenance lighted. - -“I certainly do. We’ll put something over on these ruffians, Patsy, that -will have failed to enter their heads. We’ll get them, all right, take -it from me.” - -“What do you mean? Explain.” - -“Pull up here and listen,” said Chick, tossing away his cigar. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - CHICK CARTER’S CUNNING. - - -Miss Janet Payson was seriously startled about ten o’clock the following -morning, when a somewhat insistent knock sounded on the door of her -apartments in the Shelby House. - -The same was true of her companion, who had entered about half an hour -before, after leaving his touring car in a neighboring street, in charge -of a chauffeur and another man, as if their mission was one that -required at least a moderate degree of caution. - -Janet Payson’s companion was the man with a Vandyke beard—but he had -removed it and slipped it into his pocket since entering. - -The removal of the disguise did not improve him. It had served to hide a -thin-lipped, sinister mouth, a bulldog jaw and chin, and the hard lines -of a desperate and determined face. - -That he was all that his face denoted, moreover, appeared in the -celerity with which he whipped out a revolver from his hip pocket the -instant the knock interrupted the subdued conversation with the woman. -At the same time he muttered quickly: - -“What’s that? Who the devil can that be?” - -Janet Payson turned pale, or as pale as the tinge of rouge in her cheeks -permitted, and she laid her finger on her lips, then pointed to the -adjoining bedroom. - -“Keep quiet, Jeff,” she whispered. “I’ll find out.” - -The man, Jefferson Murdock by name, seized his hat and tiptoed into the -bedroom and set the door ajar. Then he waited and listened, revolver in -hand. - -The knock sounded again on the hall door. - -“Presently,” cried the woman. “Who’s there?” - -She tore open the collar of her waist while speaking, receiving no -reply, then stepped to the door and opened it. - -“I had not finished dressing,” she said impatiently, hastening to rehook -the collar. “What do you want?” - -Chick Carter was the person who had knocked, and none would have -recognized him. Though fairly well clad and somewhat flashily, he had -the sinister aspect of an East Side tough, or a man capable of any -covert knavery. - -Chick removed his hat and smiled, nevertheless, replying as politely as -one would have expected: - -“I want to talk with you for half a minute, or mebbe longer, Miss -Payson, if you’re alone here.” - -“Talk with me?” said Janet, with brows knitting. “What about, and who -are you?” - -“My name is Kennedy, Jim Kennedy, and I live in Philadelphia,” said -Chick, dropping his voice suggestively. “I happened to be on the train -last night when——” - -“Wait! Stop a moment,” Janet curtly interrupted, drawing back. “Step -inside. I don’t care to be seen talking with you. Close the door.” - -“Sure,” Chick vouchsafed, with sinister intonation. “That hits me all -right. It’s just what I wanted. But none would think less of you for -talking with me, as far as that goes—not much!” - -There could be no mistaking such a beginning as this, and the woman’s -white face lost much of its beauty under the vicious scowl that settled -upon it. - -“What do you mean by that?” she demanded. - -“You ought to know,” said Chick. - -“Well, I don’t know,” Janet retorted. - -“Let it go at that, then. Take it for what it’s worth.” - -“See here, you insolent——” - -“Oh, cut that!” Chick interrupted, unruffled. “Don’t go into the air -because I’m not handing you a pasteboard with my monaker on it. I don’t -happen to have one. I ain’t a gink what carries his name pasted in his -lid. My name is Kennedy, plain Jim Kennedy, and I’ve got a word to say -to you on a little matter of business. That’s why I’m here, Miss -Payson.” - -Chick coolly took a chair while speaking, the same from which Murdock -had just arisen. He noticed at once that both wooden arms of the chair -were slightly warm, where the hands of some person had been recently -resting on them. Though he already knew that the woman was not alone, -having been watching her apartments since early morning, he looked up at -her and quickly added: - -“I’ve taken your chair, mebbe.” - -“No,” she replied, pointing to one near her dressing stand. “I was -sitting there. See here, Mr. Kennedy, what’s the meaning of this visit? -Come to the point.” - -She had appeared in doubt up to that time, uncertain what course to -shape; but her voice and countenance now denoted that she anticipated -what was coming, that she suspected the mission of her sinister visitor, -and that she also felt fully equal to meeting the situation. She sat -down quite abruptly and repeated: - -“Come to the point. What do you want here?” - -“That’s quickly told,” Chick replied. “It’s about the little job that -was pulled off last night.” - -“What job, Mr. Kennedy?” - -“That train robbery. You know all about it.” - -“All about it!” Janet exclaimed. “What do you mean by that? I know -nothing about it—except that there was a robbery.” - -“Oh, yes, you do,” Chick insisted. “Nix on that. I happened to be on the -train, and I’m wise to something that no other gazabo noticed.” - -“What was that?” she coldly questioned. - -“There was a gink with you in the car who didn’t show up after the -robbery.” - -“What of that?” - -“He quit you just before the trick was turned, and he didn’t come back -to you. He was no come-back kid,” Chick declared. “He went through the -smoker and uncoupled it from the express car. He was the gink who did -the job, or one of the bunch—and you know it.” - -The woman heard him with hardly a change of countenance. - -“You are very much mistaken,” she said icily. - -“About what?” - -“My knowing anything about the robbery—or the man you mention.” - -“He was with you, wasn’t he?” - -“He sat with me, yes,” Janet coldly admitted. “But that signifies -nothing. There was no other vacant seat when he entered the car, so he -sat with me, and we entered into conversation that did not end until he -left me and went into the smoker. That’s all I know about him, all I -care about him. He was a total stranger to me.” - -Chick grinned derisively and shook his head. - -“Say, do I look as if I’d swallow that?” he asked, with sinister -contempt. - -“You may swallow it, or not, as you like,” Janet retorted, with apparent -indifference. - -“It might slip down the red lane of a country parson, but not down -mine,” Chick went on. “You see, Miss Payson, I haven’t knocked round -Quakertown all my life for nothing. I know all about you. I’ve seen you -round town for years.” - -“Suppose you have,” sneered Janet. “What of that?” - -“Nothing of it, barring that I know all about you,” Chick informed her, -more impressively. “Your name is Janet Payson, sometimes Jaunty Janet, -and you live in a ground-floor flat in Martin Street. That’s what. You -see, I am onto your curves, and I’m here to knock out a homer. That’s -me!” - -“See here——” - -“Nix on the see-here gag!” Chick interrupted. “You wait till I’ve said -my little verse. Then you can have your spiel and go as far as you like. -You ain’t any main dame in the social game. You’re only the little -casino in a soiled deck. Your word wouldn’t go in a Quaker meetinghouse, -say nothing of a criminal court. I know! I’m wise! You can’t put nothing -over on me.” - -“Well, what are you coming to?” scowled Janet with the rouge glaring -more vividly on her pale cheeks. - -“That’s right. That’s more like it,” Chick went on, with a sinister nod. -“Now we’re getting down to brass tacks. Pass up the grouch and let’s -talk business.” - -“Well?” snapped Janet. - -“You know what I want. There was a slick job pulled off last night, and -somebody has got sixty thousand bucks in his jeans. I want a bit of it.” - -“You do!” Janet sneered. “You’ll take it out in wanting, then, as far as -I’m concerned.” - -“Mebbe so, though I have a hunch that you’ll change your mind,” Chick -retorted. “If you don’t, it will be all over but the settling.” - -“What do you mean by settling?” - -“You know what I mean, all right. Mebbe, though, you don’t quite get me; -I’ll make it so plain that a blind monkey could see it in the dark. I’m -out for the coin myself, you know, when I see a chance to lift any. I’d -be a bird if I let this chance slip by.” - -“You mean——” - -“I mean all I am saying,” Chick cut in, with ominous mien. “Understand, -though, I’m not a gink who would betray a pal. I wouldn’t squeal on a -friend if I was strung toes up. Not on your tintype. But I’m not a pal -of yours, nor of any of the bunch. I wasn’t in this job, I’m only -looking to get in.” - -“You mean that you are here to blackmail me,” snapped Janet. “Is that -it?” - -“Blackmail be hanged!” growled Chick derisively. “You can’t blackmail an -ink spot. You know what I want—and I’m going to have it.” - -“I’ll know when you tell me,” frowned the woman. “Not till then.” - -Chick jerked his chair nearer to that in which she was seated. There -was, indeed, no mistaking his meaning, if one was to have judged from -outward appearances. His hangdog face wore an expression that none could -have misinterpreted. - -“I’ll tell you what I mean, all right,” he replied, with more -threatening intonation. “I want a bit of that coin and I’m going to have -it. When I get it, I’ll go about my business and keep my trap closed. -I’ll never squeal. I’ll never yip till the day of judgment. You can bank -on that, and bank on it good and strong.” - -“I can, eh?” - -“That’s what.” - -“And suppose you don’t get it?” questioned Janet, with lowering gaze at -him. “What then?” - -“You’ll get yours, instead.” - -“You mean, I take it, that you’ll inform the police.” - -“That’s just what I mean,” Chick nodded. “Unless some one comes across -with the coin, it’s you for the caboose. I’ll have a bull after you -inside of half a minute. I’ll tell all I know about the job and all I -know about you. Your story wouldn’t stand washing in distilled water. -The gink with the Vandyke whiskers did the job, and you know it. I’ll -hand all this to the bulls, unless I get mine, and I’ll lose no time -about it. That’s all. It’s up to you, now. What d’ye say?” - -“I say that you may go to the devil, Kennedy, and do your worst,” -snapped Janet, with eyes flashing. “I say——” - -“Stop a moment! Stop a moment!” cried Murdock, stepping into the room. -“I reckon it’s time for me to have my say—or this!” - -Chick swung around in his chair and found himself gazing—into the black -muzzle of a leveled revolver. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - A CHANGE OF BASE. - - -Chick Carter did not appear much disturbed by the threatening turn of -the situation. He gazed at the weapon, then at the man, without stirring -from his chair. - -Murdock had not replaced his disguise. His dark-featured face wore a -look as threatening as his weapon. He added coldly, nevertheless, while -Janet Payson shrank back with a look of alarm: - -“You keep quiet, Janet, and let me settle this fellow. I ought to let -the gun do the talking, Kennedy, but I’m not going to. I only want to -show you that I could turn you down on the spot, if I was so inclined.” - -Chick recognized the man in spite of his changed appearance, and he had -known from the first that he was in Janet’s apartments. He pretended to -be surprised, however, and to have no idea that this was her companion -of the previous night on the train. He drew up in his chair and replied, -frowning darkly: - -“You have got the drop on me, all right, but——” - -“But I don’t intend to take advantage of it,” Murdock interrupted, -thrusting the weapon into his pocket. “There is a better way and a less -risky one to settle this business. I have heard all you said to this -woman, Kennedy.” - -“She told me she was alone,” growled Chick, with an ugly glance at her. - -“No, she didn’t,” said Murdock, taking a chair. “You took it for -granted. I heard all she said. That’s neither here nor there, however. -The question is, Kennedy, what do you really intend doing?” - -“You heard what I said,” replied Chick, with a defiant stare at him. - -“You really mean it, do you?” - -“That’s what. I’m going to have my bit out of this job, or there’s going -to be something doing.” - -“You will tell all you know, eh?” - -“That’s about the size of it.” - -“But you can be bought?” - -“Sure thing. That’s what I’m here for.” - -“I see,” said Murdock, with a nod. “But why does it devolve upon her to -buy your silence? That’s up to the person who committed the crime. -Assuming that you are right, that the man you saw with her on the train -had a hand in the robbery, she certainly played no part in it. It’s -hardly fair to ring her into it, or to ask her to buy your silence.” - -“I’m out for the coin, and I’m going to get it,” Chick grimly insisted. - -“Do you know the man, her companion?” - -“No. But it’s enough that she knows him, and——” - -“Could you identify him?” Murdock interrupted. - -“Sure I could. I saw him plain enough on the train.” - -Murdock smiled a bit oddly, sure that Chick did not suspect him of -having been the crook. He took a cigar from his pocket and lit it, -remarking carelessly: - -“You’re a bad egg, Kennedy, and you’re serving this woman a scurvy -trick. No more could be expected of a fellow of your cloth, I suppose, -and I’m not sure but that would be the best way to settle with you.” - -“Sure it would!” Chick quickly agreed. - -“See here, Jeff——” - -“You keep quiet, Janet!” Murdock commanded. “It’s plain enough that -Kennedy cannot be bullied. You’re in a mess, Janet, and I’m going to -pull you out. Nevertheless, Kennedy, you must see that it’s not up to -this woman to settle,” he added. “She had no hand in the job, even if -your suspicions are correct. It’s up to the man to buy your silence. As -a matter of fact, too, she has no money with which to bribe you. Nor -have I. You must see the man himself.” - -“Trot him out, then,” Chick said bluntly. “He’s the very gink I want to -see. I’ll bring him to time, all right, if I can get my lamps on him.” - -“It’s not so easy to trot him out,” Murdock replied. “He would have to -trot a considerable distance.” - -“You mean he ain’t in town?” questioned Chick, frowning suspiciously. - -“Not within a dozen miles of Shelby.” - -“You know where he is, then, I take it.” - -Murdock nodded. - -“I not only know where he is, Kennedy, but I’ll take you to him,” he -said, after a moment. “He’s the man for you to see, and I have no doubt -that you can make some kind of a deal with him. He will conclude that’s -the best way out of the difficulty, most likely, providing your demands -are not exorbitant.” - -“Oh, I don’t want the earth,” Chick allowed. - -“It’s up to you, then.” - -“What is?” - -“To go with me and see him,” said Murdock, in more friendly fashion. “I -came in this morning to take Janet out there. You may go with us.” - -“There’s a better way,” Chick objected, grimly shaking his head. - -“A better way?” - -“Sure! Let him come here and see me.” - -“Don’t be a fool, Kennedy,” Murdock replied, with a growl. “He wouldn’t -take chances of coming into town. It would be all that his neck is worth -to him.” - -“And it might be all that mine is worth to me, if I went where he is,” -Chick dryly asserted. - -“What do you mean by that?” - -“He might give it to me where the chicken got the ax.” - -“Turn you down? Is that what you mean?” - -“That’s what,” Chick nodded. “I’m not taking that kind of a chance. Not -for mine!” - -Murdock laughed and shook his head. - -“You’ll take no chance at all, Kennedy, in going to see him,” he -replied, in assuring tones. “Neither he, nor any of his gang, would risk -running their necks into a rope unless it was absolutely necessary.” - -“Wouldn’t, eh?” queried Chick doubtfully. - -“Certainly not,” Murdock insisted. “And it wouldn’t be necessary in this -case. With the big wad of money acquired by the robbery, they’ll be -willing enough to settle for any ordinary sum, rather than take the risk -of putting you away, even if so inclined.” - -“Mebbe so, after all,” Chick demurred. - -“I already have shown you, besides, that I could have turned you down on -the spot, if I had wanted to,” Murdock added. “But I wouldn’t have a -hand in that kind of a job. You’ll take no risk, Kennedy, in going to -see the man.” - -Chick was not blind to the trap that was being laid for him. He had -expected no less, and had laid his own plans accordingly. He still -pretended to have some misgivings, nevertheless, but asked, as if -somewhat impressed: - -“Where must I go to see him?” - -“Up Willow Creek way,” said Murdock indefinitely. - -“Where’s that?” - -“Nearly a dozen miles from here.” - -“Is there a train?” - -“You can do better than take a train. None runs very near the place, nor -could you find it alone.” - -“What d’ye mean by better?” Chick demanded. - -“I have the touring car that I came down in this morning,” said Murdock. -“I’m going to take Janet up there. You can ride with us.” - -“Say, is this on the level?” asked Chick, frowning. “If not, I’ll blow -the head off of some one.” - -Murdock laughed. - -“You mean my head, of course,” said he. “But you’ll have no cause to do -so, Kennedy, on my word. I’m giving it to you dead straight, and you’ll -take no risk in going with me.” - -“That settles it,” Chick declared abruptly. “I’ll go. Where is your -car?” - -“In the next street.” - -“Come on, then, and——” - -“Wait!” Murdock interrupted. “We must wait for Janet.” - -“I’m ready, Jeff, all but my hat!” she cried, rising. - -“Put it on, then, and we’ll be off.” - -Chick waited, still with ominous and doubtful mien. - -They left the hotel five minutes later, however, and Murdock led the way -to the waiting car. - -Chick hesitated again when he saw the chauffeur and another man in the -conveyance, but Murdock said quickly, in a confidential way: - -“That’s only my chauffeur and one of the gang. You might do worse, -Kennedy, than to join us.” - -“That would hit me all right,” Chick said quickly. - -“It could be arranged, I think.” - -“Go on, then. I’m with you.” - -Murdock introduced him to the two men—Dick Bryan and Link Magee, both in -disguise. - -Chick recognized both, but did not betray it. He shook hands with them, -then took a seat in the tonneau, with Bryan and Murdock on either side -of him, Janet riding in front, with the chauffeur. - -Chick knew precisely what he was up against, and he went against it -willingly. - -Murdock thought he knew, also, but the game was deeper than he so much -as suspected. - -It was eleven o’clock when the touring car sped out of Shelby. - -A quarter hour later it passed through the miserable settlement known as -Benton Corners, the scene of previous arrests by the Carters, and its -course then lay north, as Chick was expecting. - -Others had passed that way since morning, however, several others, and -then were waiting miles beyond to note the direction taken by this car -at the only crossroad. They had traveled through the woods, and were -waiting in the woods. - -When Chick had ridden another mile, however, reaching a desolate part of -the wooded foothills, the expected occurred. He felt Murdock suddenly -seize his arm with a viselike grip, and a revolver was thrust under his -nose. - -“Now, Kennedy, you sit quiet,” he cried. “You move a finger and you’ll -get all that’s coming to you.” - -“What’s this?” snarled Chick, shrinking. “You don’t mean——” - -“I mean what I say, blast you!” Murdock fiercely interrupted. “I’ve -known you from the first. You are Chick Carter, the detective, and we’re -going to land you with your running mate. Get a rope on him, Bryan. Lend -a hand here, Link, and make him fast. I’ll send a bullet through him, if -he shows fight, and that will end him. Be quick about it.” - -The rascals needed no second bidding, but their task did not prove -difficult. - -For this was precisely what Chick had been expecting, and he offered no -resistance, though he met their threatening remarks with predictions at -which the ruffians only laughed and sneered. - -Half an hour later the car swerved out of the woodland road and entered -a clearing. It surrounded an isolated, miserable old house, with a -stable and numerous tumble-down outbuildings, the home of two members of -the bandit gang, Solomon Mauler and his brother. - -Chick Carter, then bound hand and foot, sized up the miserable place—but -appeared to have no interest in its surroundings. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - THE RESULT OF THE RUSE. - - -It was in the miserable place, in part described, that Nick Carter awoke -to a realization that something unexpected had befallen him. Returning -consciousness brought a sense of cramped limbs and bruised muscles, the -results of the blows he had received and the violence of his fall from -the moving train, when Sol Mauler rudely rolled him from the express -car. - -The effect of all this was to leave Nick unconscious for several hours, -how many he hardly knew when he finally revived. - -He found himself lying on the floor of a stall in a miserable stable, -bound hand and foot in a way that precluded liberating himself. He was -sore, stiff, and scarce able to stir, but he could use his eyes and -ears, and his brain soon became cleared of the cobwebs. - -He could hear the movements of horses in the near stalls. He could see -the sunlight through chinks in the walls of the old building. He knew -that day had dawned, if not already well spent, for the early songs of -birds in the trees through which he could hear the sweep of the wind had -ceased, and he reasoned that the morning was far advanced. - -All this was confirmed a little later, when the steps of approaching men -fell upon his ears, and the broad door of the stable swung open on its -rusty hinges. A blaze of sunlight was shed into the dismal building. - -Two men strode in and around to the stall in which the detective was -lying. They were Sol Mauler, who had impersonated Cady, and his -brother—Zeke Mauler. Why they dwelt alone in that desolate region and -how they earned their living was a mystery to many, but there were hints -at moonshine whisky. - -“I reckon he’s still in dreamland, Zeke,” Sol Mauler was saying, when -they approached. “He was hardly breathing half an hour ago, when I fed -the nags. Mebbe he’ll croak on our hands and save us the trouble of—no, -blast him! here he is with eyes wide open. His head’s like a hickory -nut. So you’re not going to croak without help, eh?” - -The last was added when the two ruffians appeared in the entrance to the -stall, both halting to glare down at the prostrate detective. - -Nick Carter gazed up at them, pale and bruised, but his eyes had lost -none of their confidence and severe austerity. - -“It’s no fault of yours, Mauler, that I am still in the land of the -living,” he sternly answered. - -“You bet it ain’t,” growled Sol, with expressive nods. “You’d have been -done brown and planted deep, barring a kick came from one we have to -hear to. He ain’t taking chances of a rope. The coin is all he’s out -for.” - -“We’ve got it, too,” put in Zeke, with a villainous leer. “We got it in -spite of you.” - -“Make sure you hang onto it, then,” Nick coldly advised. - -“You can bet your boots on that. We’ll soon have it planted where no -infernal New York dick will find it.” - -“Don’t be so sure of it. You may slip a cog.” - -“No slips for us,” said Sol confidently. “You ought to know that, -Carter.” - -“I’m not telling all I know.” - -“They did a fat job who brought you down here to corral us fellows,” -Mauler went on derisively. “We’re too slick for any city guy of your -cut. Why, I near laughed in your ugly mug, when you boarded that express -car and shoved a letter from Burdick under my nose.” - -“You did, eh?” - -“And then you started in to tell me who you was and all about the job -you were out to queer. Oh, my, but that was rich!” cried the ruffian, -with a burst of coarse laughter in which his low-browed brother joined. - -“Yes, very rich,” Nick allowed. - -“And then you pulled out a gun and wanted to know was I game?” cried the -rascal, shaking with evil mirth. “You shoved the gun right in my hand -and as much as told me to hold you up. I did it all right, Carter, and -we got you—as we’re going to get those two duffers who’ve been helping -you.” - -“Unless they contrive to get you, you miscreant,” Nick retorted, -frowning. - -“Don’t you bank on that,” cried Mauler, with a snort and sneer. “We’ll -have both of them by this time to-morrow. We’ll wipe you off the earth, -all of you, and—by thunder, Zeke, that must be Murdock already. Let’s -have a look.” - -The chugging of the laboring touring car, which was at that moment -entering the clearing, had fallen upon the ears of all. - -Sol and Zeke Mauler rushed out of the stable, and uttered a series of -triumphant yells when they saw the laden car and the powerless captive -it contained. - -It swept around the yard back of the house and stopped nearly in front -of the stable. - -Jake Hanlon came running from the house at the same moment, while -Murdock leaped out of the car and cried: - -“Hold your tongue, Sol. Your yelling would wake the dead.” - -“There’ll soon be dead uns here to wake, all right,” Sol shouted. “So -you’ve got the other one, eh?” - -“One of them.” - -“And that leaves only one.” - -“We’ll get him, too, a little later,” snapped Murdock. “Lend a hand and -bring him into the stable. We must get rid of both before dark.” - -“We’ll do that, all right.” - -“Swing round, Bryan, and back in the car after they’ve got him out,” -Murdock continued to command. “It might be seen and known by chance. Get -it under cover. I don’t want it suspected that I am in this business -with you fellows. That would queer us, for fair.” - -“You’re booked to be queered, all right,” thought Chick, while three of -the ruffians were hastening to lift him from the car and bear him into -the stable. - -His anticipations were realized very much sooner, even than he expected. - -Of the six ruffians comprising the gang, five of them were flocking into -the small stable, three bearing the bound form of the detective. - -Only Bryan remained outside, and he fell to turning the car, in which -Janet Payson still was seated. - -Not one among them had any apprehension of immediate danger. - -Other figures were approaching, however, those of half a score of men, -Patsy Garvan among them. They were stealing as noiselessly as shadows -from the woods and shrubbery back of the stable, which they rapidly -approached, with ranks dividing to pass around both sides of it. - -Every man was armed with a rifle or a shotgun, save Patsy Garvan, and he -carried a revolver in each hand. - -As now may be inferred, Chick Carter’s ruse had been to place himself in -the hands of Janet Payson and the man known to be her confederate, -knowing that they would take him to the headquarters of the gang, and in -the meantime to have Patsy so stationed with assistants north of Benton -Corners that the subsequent course of the rascals could be stealthily -followed. - -As a matter of fact, however, Patsy had seen the car containing Murdock, -Bryan, and Magee, two of whom he recognized, when it went through Benton -Corners on its way to Shelby. The plans already laid with Chick told him -what would follow, beyond any reasonable doubt, and he at once set about -tracing the tracks of the touring car in the direction from which it had -come. - -This, of course, brought him and his companions to the Mauler place, -less than ten minutes before Chick was brought there, and all hands were -concealed scarce thirty feet back of the stable at that time. - -The noise within had not abated when they came around both front corners -of the stable, half a score of constables and officers from Shelby, but -the voice of Patsy Garvan then rang like a trumpet over other sounds. - -“Now, boys, get them!” he shouted, leading the way. “Some of you look -after that fellow in the car. We’ve got those in the stable cornered -like rats.” - -There were yells of dismay from within before the last was said, and a -rush of five crooks toward the open door. - -Not a man among them ventured over its threshold however, or so much as -drew a weapon in self-defense. The scene that met their gaze was enough -to have daunted any gang of desperadoes. - -For they found themselves confronted with half a score of leveled -weapons, in the hands of as many determined men, and not one among them -but knew that an aggressive move meant death. - -It followed, therefore, that the arrest of the entire gang was an easy -task. All were in irons in less than five minutes, and long before dark -they occupied cells in the Shelby County Jail. - -The money stolen from the express car was found in the cellar of the -house, and later in the day was restored to the railway company. - -Upon returning to the Shelby House with Nick and Patsy, all elated over -their good work, Chick found a telegram awaiting him from Lieutenant -Lang. - -It told him that Dan Cady, the missing express-car man, had been found -confined in Janet Payson’s flat in Philadelphia, in charge of another -confederate, who had been arrested. - -It then appeared that Cady had been on friendly terms with the woman and -with Murdock, and that he had carelessly confided the fact that he was -to carry a costly money package to Shelby on the night in question. This -led to Murdock’s plot with his confederates, all having been awaiting -the opportunity to commit the car robbery in the manner described, and -Cady was lured to the flat in the early part of the day and overcome, -Sol Mauler cleverly playing the part of his substitute. - -This was rendered all the more feasible because of the fact that Murdock -was one of the old railway hands, discharged for evil habits, and he was -thoroughly familiar with all of the details essential to such a plot. - -“It will teach Cady a lesson,” Nick remarked to Chick and Patsy that -evening, as they sat smoking in their suite in the hotel. “He’ll select -his companions more carefully in the future. As for Murdock and the -gang—well, it now is up to them to pay the price.” - - - THE END. - - -“Broken Bars; or, Nick Carter’s Speedy Service,” is the title of the -story that you will find in the next issue of this weekly, No. 132, out -March 20th. The great detective and his assistants have more dealings -with the desperate criminals that they thought they had so safely -jailed. - - - - - A SUDDEN THING. - - -It is generally the easiest thing in the world to drive a horse without -spirit, but there is one recorded instance where a coach driver covered -himself with glory by doing so. - -One afternoon he and his coach and four came rattling up to the hotel -like an avalanche. As the coach stopped, one of the horses dropped dead. - -“That was a very sudden death,” remarked a bystander - -“That sudden?” coolly responded the driver; “that ’os died at the top of -the hill two miles back, sir, but I wasn’t going to let him down till I -got to the reg’lar stoppin’ place.” - - - - - ON A DARK STAGE. - - - By ROLAND ASHFORD PHILLIPS. - - (This interesting story was commenced in No. 127 of Nick Carter - Stories. Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer or - the publishers.) - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - THE SECOND ACT. - - -Klein went on with the business of his part, poking at the property -fire—a bunch of red globes buried in a grate of coke. Other characters -made their appearance, and the dialogue opened briskly. - -Miss Lindner, first to pick up the silver frame, frowned as she -delivered her lines. In an undertone, aside to Klein, who was busily -engaged in dusting an already spotless piece of china, she said: - -“According to the property man, I’ve got a new lover to-day. Did you -notice the change?” - -She laughed—her back was to the audience—and as Dodge, the character -man, entered noisily, she made a face at him. Dodge took his art -seriously, and would not “clown” on a scene. Others of the cast, aware -of it, “kidded” him at every possible opportunity. - -When Dodge stood in front of the picture, addressing it in thunderous -rage—as the play demanded he should—Klein watched him narrowly. Nothing -happened, and Klein decided mentally that the character man had not -noticed the difference between to-day’s photograph and the one used in -the previous performances. - -By this time Tanner was on the scene, and for possibly ten minutes the -dialogue and the action did not concern the photograph. Then Miss -Lindner made a hurried exit, and Tanner began a soliloquy. - -This was one of the longest speeches in the piece, and the best, and -Tanner delivered it with all the power and passion he could command. At -the finish, Klein, as the butler, was supposed to enter and announce a -visitor, who happened to be Metcalfe. - -Just before Klein’s entrance Tanner strode across the floor and picked -up the frame. To this he was supposed to deliver the final line, which -at the same time supplied the butler’s cue. - -“And as for Lord Wellingmay,” he dramatically recited, “let him beware. -I am not the man to——” He stopped so abruptly as to cause a titter to -run through the audience, who, up to this point had listened, -spellbound. - -Tanner had picked up the frame at this critical moment and noticed the -photograph. - -Klein, waiting in the doorway for his cue, felt his pulse quicken. The -sight of the photograph—Delmar’s photograph—had caused Tanner to -hesitate! - -The wait grew longer. Fearful of the delay, and aware that his entrance -might set the dialogue moving once more, Klein stepped through the door. - -“A visitor, Mr. Lemly!” he announced stiffly. - -Klein’s line apparently brought Tanner back to earth again, and with a -peculiar frown he turned and took up his cue. - -While they were waiting for Metcalfe to enter, Klein spoke aside to -Tanner in the way that is quite common on the stage, and which is often -done, although the audience has no idea how much private conversation -goes on among the actors during a play. - -“What made you go up in the air?” he asked—and all the time a voice -whispered in his ear: “Tanner’s the man! Tanner’s the man! His actions -have proved it!” - -Tanner, meanwhile, was fumbling nervously at his collar. - -“I guess it—it was my nerves,” he answered. “I’ve been pounding too hard -on the next week’s part. It’s frightfully warm here, isn’t it?” - -The entrance of Metcalfe interrupted the conversation. The juvenile man -dashed in and addressed his opening line to Tanner. Klein withdrew to -the background, where he arranged the decanter and the glasses on a -tray, preparatory to the next piece of business. - -The dialogue between the other men continued. Both poured out their -drinks. Metcalfe, posing dramatically before the table, proposed a -toast. - -But the toast was never drunk. Hardly had the words left Metcalfe’s lips -when he reeled slightly; the muscles in his throat contracted violently. -The glass slipped from his fingers and crashed upon the surface of the -polished table. - -A strange hush fell upon the scene, and in the silence the steady hum of -the calciums came like the droning of a million bees. - -It seemed an age must have elapsed before the strain was broken, but in -reality it could not have been more than a few seconds. Yet in that -time, swift as it was, and unexpected, too, Klein had discovered the -reason for the interruption. - -Metcalfe’s eyes, at the moment of the toast, had fallen upon Delmar’s -photograph. And the sight of it had robbed him of all speech! He had -betrayed even greater agitation than had Tanner. What did it mean? What -could it mean, other than—— - -Like a snapping of a taut thread the tension was broken. Metcalfe, as if -suddenly aroused from a stupor, broke into a hard and forced laugh, and -he took up the regular lines of the play. - -Passing close to him, bearing the tray, Klein noticed that the juvenile -man’s fingers were clenched and that he was breathing a trifle faster -than normal. - -Klein was off the scene before the curtain of the act, and was touching -up his eyes when Metcalfe came into the dressing room. - -In a calm and matter-of-fact way Klein sought to bring out the truth of -the affair by referring to the incident casually. - -“Were you trying to reconstruct the second act?” he asked. - -Metcalfe sank down into his chair and removed his wig. - -“What are you getting at?” he asked curtly. - -“Why, that impromptu scene over the toast,” Klein explained. “It was -good as far as it went.” - -The juvenile man’s hands were still trembling as he squared himself in -his chair preparatory to removing his make-up. “I—I don’t know what—what -came over me. My nerves, I guess.” - -“You looked as if you’d seen a ghost,” Klein ventured to suggest. - -Metcalfe flashed him a quick glance, but Klein, bending over his mirror, -pretended not to notice it. - -“I—I guess I did see a ghost,” he wavered. “Maybe I am a fool, and all -of that, but if——” He hesitated, daubing his cheeks. “Klein,” he began -once more, as if determined to relieve his mind of some weight, “I’ve -been upset ever since I joined this company. There is -something—something I’d like to talk over with you.” - -“Fire away,” Klein told him, treating the statement with assumed -indifference. “I’m all ears. I suppose one of your mash notes——” - -“It is nothing like that, Klein,” Metcalfe interrupted gravely. “I’m -serious for once.” - -He paused, slowly unbuttoning his waistcoat. Klein waited expectantly -for him to continue, confident that whatever was troubling the juvenile -man would have a direct bearing upon Delmar’s photograph. That the -photograph had temporarily upset and confused Tanner was not to be -questioned. The excuse he had given Klein was obviously a lie. Then, -following this, had come Metcalfe’s dramatic scene, which beyond any -doubt had been prompted by the same photograph. - -Yet both men avoided the real issue, and both attributed their lack of -self-control to a case of “nerves.” - -“In the first place,” Metcalfe said, “on the very day I left New York——” - -The door of the dressing room was at this present moment thrown open, -and Dodge stepped inside. He stood before the occupants with folded -arms, glaring from one to another. - -“What’s the trouble, Dodge?” Metcalfe asked, sinking back in his chair, -plainly annoyed at the interruption. - -“Matter? Matter?” Dodge burst out indignantly. “I should think you -gentlemen would be ashamed of yourselves!” - -“Ashamed?” echoed Klein. “What have we—-” - -“I’d like to be stage manager of this company for about five minutes,” -the character man interrupted. “That’s what I would! Such outrageous -actions as I witnessed this afternoon would not be tolerated for an -instant. You gentlemen have absolutely no respect for your -profession—none at all. To clown on a scene deliberately is beneath the -dignity of a conscientious artist.” - -“He’s off,” muttered Metcalfe; then louder: “I suppose when you were -with Booth and Barrett——” - -“When I was with Booth, young man,” thundered Dodge, his deep voice -rolling impressively, “we looked upon our art as a most serious matter. -In those palmy days, sir, an actor held himself above such shameful -proceedings as clowning. Mr. Booth would no more have allowed it than——” - -“When I was playing the leads with ‘Too Proud to Beg,’” mocked the -juvenile man, burlesquing the other, “in the palmy days of the -melodrama, we were——” - -“Say no more,” interrupted Dodge, lifting a hand. “It is not a thing to -jest over. An artistic performance should never be marred by impromptu -speeches.” - -Metcalfe puckered his lips and started to whistle. Dodge glared at him -for a second, then almost turned pale under his make-up. - -Metcalfe laughed. “Still superstitious, Dodge? Well, don’t take it too -hard. Let’s see; to whistle in a dressing room is a sign that the man -nearest the door will be whistled out of the company. Isn’t that it?” - -But the character man stalked out, slamming the door behind him. - -“I guess he took the hint,” Klein said. “To my mind, he is the one bore -in the company.” - -The call boy’s voice came echoing through the hall: - -“Third act! Third act!” - -Klein, who was on near the opening of the act, rose to his feet. - -“That’s me! I almost missed my entrance last night. If I get in late -this afternoon, Bond will fine me. I’ll talk with you later, Metcalfe.” - -He hurried out of the room and down the hall to the stage. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - ENTER THE GIRL. - - -The following night, Saturday, while the stage crew were setting the -second act, Klein strolled into the property room for a “side prop.” - -“Where’s my decanter?” he asked of the property man, Kingston. - -The latter motioned toward a shelf. “Up there. I’ve had a new batch of -tea put in it.” - -Klein took the decanter and started with it toward the door. At the same -time he noticed Kingston placing a new photograph in the silver frame -used in the coming act. - -Aware of the actor’s apparent interest, the property man said, in a -disgusted way: “These fool temperamental actors make me sick. Tanner -told me I must change the picture in this frame. I told him to go chase -himself, but when Metcalfe came along a few minutes later and asked me -to do the same thing—well, I thought I’d better give in and not take -chances on makin’ trouble.” - -“What is the matter with the photograph?” Klein asked casually. - -“That’s what I couldn’t get at,” Kingston returned. “The thing ain’t -seen by the audience. If it wasn’t for the director stickin’ to what he -calls details, I could just as well have stuck in a sheet of cardboard.” - -Klein reflected, watching the man insert a new photograph and toss -Delmar’s into a drawer. - -“Didn’t Tanner or Metcalfe give any reason why they wanted the change -made?” he asked presently. - -“Nary a one,” Kingston answered. “Oh, I ain’t been around actors for ten -years for nothin’. You got to treat ’em like a bunch of kids. If I -didn’t change this picture, and one or the other of the fellows went up -in the air over it, Bond would lay me out. You see, I ain’t takin’ no -chances.” - -Klein went on the scene that night still puzzled. The fact that both -Tanner and Metcalfe had urged Kingston to remove Delmar’s photograph -from the frame suggested to Klein’s mind several possibilities. - -In attempting to deceive him, both men had placed themselves in a bad -light. It was plain to Klein that the two men had been acquainted with -Delmar, in one way or another, and for certain reasons neither of them -desired the fact to become known. - -Had not Dodge interrupted yesterday, Metcalfe might have cleared up some -of the mystery; but later, when Klein broached the subject in a tactful -manner—he did not want to give the impression of being too -interested—the juvenile man seemed strangely perturbed, and did not -appear at all anxious to resume the story. - -While Klein was disappointed, he was still far from being discouraged—in -fact, he had long ago dismissed the latter word from his vocabulary. - -“As Nick Carter would say,” he murmured to himself, as he took his -position before the fireplace and waited for the rising of the curtain: -“‘The trail is growing warmer every minute.’” - -After the fall of the final curtain, a party of young people who had -witnessed the performance came back to the stage. Metcalfe, who had been -through the second act, guided them around, answering volleys of -questions. - -To the ordinary person in the audience there is always a certain amount -of mystery and glamour connected with the region on the other side of -the footlights, and when offered an opportunity to visit this kingdom of -canvas and tinsel little time is lost in accepting. - -When Klein had finished dressing and was giving a final tug at his -cravat, the door of his room was flung open and a bevy of giggling -girls, led by Metcalfe, swarmed in. - -“Behold Mr. Klein!” cried the juvenile man, making an exaggerated bow. -“Our lowly but none the less faithful butler.” - -Klein was introduced to all of the party. - -“This comes near being a surprise party, doesn’t it?” he exclaimed. “Oh, -perhaps, you ladies are making a tour of inspection.” - -“Miss Lydecker has come to invite us all to her house,” said Metcalfe -enthusiastically. - -Klein bowed his personal acknowledgment. Miss Lydecker seemed about the -most attractive girl he had ever seen. - -On the way out of the theater Klein found himself between Miss Lydecker -and her friend, Miss Reed. The latter was considerably the younger of -the two girls, and appeared to be at that age when the feminine heart is -likely to yearn for the glamour of the footlights. - -“I think you made a splendid butler, Mr. Klein,” she said. “Really, I -do. I told Helen so when you first came out. Didn’t I, Helen?” - -Helen Lydecker nodded. - -“Oh, it must be wonderful to be on the stage,” Miss Reed went on, gazing -around at the bare walls, her eyes shining. “To think of devoting all -the years of your life to such a grand profession! Don’t you just love -it, Mr. Klein?” - -“I find it interesting,” Klein answered. Swiftly, like a film upon a -screen, he recalled the hours he had spent in chilly offices waiting for -engagements that never materialized; recalled, too, the nerve-racking -rehearsals, once an engagement had been trapped, and the hundred side -parts he had learned in a few days, to say nothing of the weary months -of one-night stands. All of this he remembered, but still smiled into -the girl’s eager face. - -Later, when they had reached the stage door and were climbing into -several automobiles standing at the curb, Miss Reed leaned close to -Klein and whispered: - -“I’m just dying to be an actress. Don’t you think you could help me to -get on the stage?” - -“I’m afraid any assistance I might offer would be of small benefit,” -Klein answered. “Getting a start upon the stage depends on the -individual.” - -In the automobile Klein was separated from Miss Reed—a condition of -affairs that brought no regret—and found Helen Lydecker a delightful -substitute. - -From her he learned that these Saturday-night dances at her home were -regular throughout the season, and that the members of the Hudson Stock -Company were always honored guests. - -“You see,” she hastened to explain, “I discovered there were no -rehearsals on Sunday mornings, so that made it possible for you of the -company to remain up a little later on Saturday nights. Oh, I have taken -a great interest in theatricals. Father, you know, owns the house in -which the company is playing.” - -“Your friend, Miss Reed, is also interested in the profession, isn’t -she?” Klein returned. They both laughed. - -“Miss Reed imagines she has had a great sorrow in her life,” Miss -Lydecker said. “It was a love affair, of course.” - -“And so she turns to the stage for solace, I suppose.” - -“That must be it.” - -The three big automobiles had deserted the city streets, and were -spinning swiftly along the hard dirt road. Suddenly they swerved and -began climbing a slope. - -“Our home is quite a distance from the town,” Miss Lydecker remarked, as -the machines glided between high iron gates and came to a stop before a -big white house. “But it makes it all the more enjoyable.” - -Klein helped her out of the motor car. The others, laughing and -chattering, hurried indoors. Miss Lydecker motioned him to the far end -of the long porch. - -“Look!” She stretched out a hand. “Isn’t that wonderful? I often sit -here for hours.” - -Far below, in the soft, white moonlight, spread the great Atlantic. The -booming of the surf came faintly to Klein’s ears; the humid tang of salt -air crept to his nostrils and misted against his cheeks. - -“It is wonderful,” he murmured. Then, after a pause, he added: “This is -my first real glimpse of the Atlantic.” - -“You’re from inland, then?” she asked. - -He shook his head. “No. California claims me. I belong to that sect of -egotists known as Native Sons. We are not supposed to hear, feel, or -see, once we have stepped across our State line. Naturally, under these -conditions, I am of the opinion that there is no ocean except the -Pacific.” - -The girl smiled and tossed her head. “Will you always hold that opinion, -Mr. Klein?” - -“I don’t know,” he reluctantly confessed. “I—I believe I am already -weakening.” - -From one end of the porch ran a narrow footbridge, spanning the lower -lawn and ending at a high cliff. Miss Lydecker, noticing Klein’s -interest in this, hastened to explain. - -“Daddy has built a summerhouse on the very edge of that cliff. Would you -care to go out? We call it Eagle’s Nest.” - -They ventured out, the girl leading the way. Reaching the cliff, the two -stood for a minute in silence, gazing down upon the sea. Only a narrow -rail, breast-high, was between them and a sheer drop of a hundred feet. - -“Don’t lean too far over the rail,” the girl warned him, half jesting. -“One of our men fell here a few years ago.” She shuddered. “I wouldn’t -come near the Nest for months afterward.” - -Suddenly, above the steady throb of the surf, there came the first -sounds of a distant orchestra. - -“There!” exclaimed Miss Lydecker; “the first dance! And we’re missing -it.” - -They ran along the footbridge and across the broad porch toward the big -door. Just as they were about to enter, Miss Lydecker stopped short, and -a cry came from her lips. - -“What is the matter?” Klein asked anxiously. - -“Right there!” She pointed a finger. - -“What?” - -“A man! I saw him slipping along—near those bushes!” - -Without another word Klein leaped from the porch and gained the high -hedge that ran parallel to the pebbled roadway. He searched both sides -for a dozen yards, finally giving up the hunt and rejoining the girl. - -“It must have been a ghost,” he told her laughingly. - -“I certainly saw some one,” she answered nervously. Then her brow -cleared. “How foolish of me! Let’s not waste any more time. The first -dance will be over before we get on the floor.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - A NEW MYSTERY. - - -After several dances in the big room cleared for that purpose, the -guests were invited to an adjoining room, where supper was served by the -hostess and her mother. Tanner, Metcalfe, and other members of the stock -company were hovering about Miss Lydecker, drinking impromptu toasts, -laughing, and exchanging pleasantries. - -She finally broke away from them and came over to where Klein was -chatting with Miss Reed. - -“I was just telling Miss Reed,” Klein said, “how careless the majority -of you girls are with your jewels.” - -“You don’t suppose for one minute, Mr. Klein, that we would keep them -locked up when so many gallant men are about!” Miss Lydecker exclaimed. -She fumbled at a big brooch pinned on her bodice. It was a wonderful -piece of workmanship, fashioned of diamonds and other precious stones, -and cunningly wrought in the shape of a lotus flower. - -“Daddy gave me this last week, and told me never to wear it except on -state occasions,” Miss Lydecker announced. “It has been in our family -several generations, and——” - -Metcalfe interrupted at this moment. “Playing favorites so early in the -evening, Miss Lydecker?” he asked. - -“I’ve just been given a warning,” she said. - -“A Black-hand letter?” asked Tanner, who had strolled up. - -“Hardly as bad as that. But as usual it fell upon deaf ears.” - -Several other men came up at this moment, and the conversation was -abruptly shifted. Klein watched as Miss Lydecker walked away, surrounded -by a group of admirers. - -Perhaps five minutes elapsed. None of the guests had left the room—of -this Klein was positive, since he was sitting nearest the door—and the -incessant chatter rose and fell like the murmur of surf on a distant -shore. - -The men were allowed to enjoy cigars, and the room was soon filled with -drifting smoke. Tanner, evidently at some one’s request, stepped to the -nearest window and opened it. - -“There!” he exclaimed. “That’s better.” He drew in a deep breath. “Isn’t -the sea air refreshing?” - -He sat down on the arm of Klein’s chair. “Do you know it is three -o’clock?” - -“I’d forgotten about the time,” Klein answered. “I suppose we ought to -be home.” - -“Dress rehearsal to-morrow night, remember,” Tanner cautioned. “Bond -raked me over the coals to-day. I’ve got sixty sides for next week, and -I’ve hardly glanced at the script. It is up to me to pound all day -to-morrow.” - -Miss Lydecker came over and joined them. “The party is breaking up. I’ll -have the cars sent around,” she said. - -“That’s thoughtful of you, Miss Lydecker,” replied Tanner. “What a -hostess you are!” - -“You must not forget next Saturday night,” she cautioned both of the -men. “We’re going to have a real party. It’s my birthday. Daddy has -promised me an orchestra from New York.” - -“You could not keep us away,” murmured Tanner. - -Klein, who had been watching her closely, suddenly spoke. “I notice, -after all, Miss Lydecker, that you have taken heed of my warning.” - -“What warning?” she asked, frowning. - -“About the brooch. You have put it away.” - -The girl’s hand went quickly to her collar, and instantly she paled. -“The—the brooch,” she gasped; “it’s—gone.” - -“You didn’t take it off yourself?” cried Klein. - -“No,” she faltered; “I—I—it’s lost.” - -“Good Lord!” broke from Tanner’s lips. - -“You haven’t been out of this room since you spoke with me last, have -you?” inquired Klein. - -She shook her head. - -“Then it must be in here—some place!” - -Tanner gripped Klein’s arms. “Do you think some one might——” - -“We’ll have to find that out,” said Klein. “I’ve been sitting here for -the past half hour. Not one of the guests passed out; I’m positive of -that.” - -Tanner’s eyes narrowed as he caught Klein’s meaning. “I understand. -We’ll keep them all here until——” - -A few minutes later the whole room was made aware of the discovery. The -girls huddled together in a frightened group, while the men gathered -around Tanner and Klein. - -“I saw the brooch barely fifteen minutes ago,” Klein said, addressing -them. “And Miss Lydecker has not been out of this room. The brooch must -be in here.” - -Under his direction the room was gone over, inch by inch. Nothing was -found. After that, at Tanner’s suggestion, each of the men submitted -himself to a search. Tanner allowed Klein to search him, and then the -process was reversed. Following this, Klein assured himself that none of -the other men present had the jewel upon him. - -Klein walked over to Miss Lydecker and spoke to her. “Don’t give up so -readily, Miss Lydecker. Your brooch cannot be far away. Every man here, -I am sure, will make a determined effort to——” - -“What—what’ll daddy say?” she moaned. “He told me not to wear it.” - -“Cheer up!” exclaimed Klein. “I’ll wager you’ll be wearing it before -next Saturday night.” - -Miss Lydecker finally calmed herself, and offered a limp hand to the -departing guests. The machines drew up at the door, and the girls and -their escorts silently took their seats. - -“Don’t worry too much,” Klein said, smiling into her white face; “things -may brighten to-morrow. Good-by.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - THE ARDENT SLEUTH. - - -Irving Hamilton Tod, man of means and colt reporter for the New York -_Morning News_, realized, after his painful interview with the warden at -the Newport jail, that for the second time in almost as many days he had -been outwitted. - -The warden at the jail had never heard of a detective by the name of -Jarge. Where, then, had this black-eyed sleuth disappeared to, and what -had been his object in lying? Had he taken Klein back to New York? - -With a dozen other questions hammering at his brain, Tod walked slowly -back to the hotel. Passing the telegraph office recalled to his mind the -hopeful message he had sent to Reed, the city editor. It was like salt -to an open wound. - -“Reed will hand me another laugh,” he muttered dismally. “Fate’s against -me, sure.” - -He dragged himself through the hotel lobby; then, catching sight of a -swinging door and hearing the tinkle of glasses, he determined to do a -very unusual thing. - -“I’ll take a good, stiff drink before I eat,” he said to himself, with -an air of martyrdom. - -He pushed his way into the bar and gulped down a high ball. His lagging -and depressed spirits seemed started on the upward climb. He encouraged -them by repeating his order. Just as he finished tipping up the second -glass a hand fell upon his shoulder. - -“Hello,” he said, whirling, “who are you?” - -A flushed and grinning face was lifted to his own. - -“I remember you,” the intruder stated very clearly, blinking his eyes. -“Your friends left you at the dock last night, didn’t they?” - -“By Jove!” exclaimed Tod, as the truth dawned upon him. “You’re the -cabby who——” He stopped, and his heart began to pound swiftly. What luck -this was! - -“What are you drinking?” he asked, motioning to the alert barkeeper. - -When the drinks were before them, Tod resumed his talk. “Where did you -take my friends last night, cabby?” - -The cabby grinned, tossed off his drink, and wiped his lips with the -back of his hand. - -“Take ’em? Well, at first they wanted the police station—then they -wanted the railroad station. So I took ’em there!” - -“To the railroad station?” - -“Just that. I’m thinkin’ it was funny—but it ain’t my place to ask -questions. Just so long as I gets my fare, what’s the odds!” He paused -and bestowed a longing glance upon the bottle in front of him. - -“Fill it up again,” Tod said quickly. - -“Thanks, I’ll just do that.” The glass was filled and pressed to his -lips. - -“Did you notice what train my friends took?” Tod inquired. - -“They didn’t both take the same train,” was the unexpected answer. “I—I -was hangin’ around waitin’ for a fare, so I watched.” The cabby chuckled -to himself. “No, sir, they didn’t! One of ’em takes the four o’clock for -Fall River and the other gets on the express for Boston.” - -“Good Lord!” burst from Tod. Then, after an effort to control his voice, -he asked: “Which one took the express for Boston?” - -The cabby’s head was rolling unsteadily from side to side. “Which—which -one? Now jus’ let me see.” He weighed the question for a moment. - -“One of the men wore a badge. You saw it, didn’t you?” broke from the -expectant Tod. - -“Sure, I saw it,” returned the cabby, wagging a forefinger in the air. -“And he—and he was the fellow what took the—the Fall River train.” - -“The man with the badge took the Fall River train?” - -“Sure.” - -“Then the other man went to Boston?” - -“Sure.” - -This final announcement sent Tod’s heart galloping. His wide, blue eyes, -once so clouded, brightened like an April sky after a shower. “Thanks! -Have a couple more on me!” he said, tossed a bill on the bar, and darted -out through the swinging doors into the lobby. - -In another minute he had paid his bill at the desk and was hurrying down -the street toward the railroad station. The clerk had informed him that -a train left for Boston in five minutes. - -“Everything isn’t lost, after all,” he told himself exultantly. “What a -fool I was to be discouraged so soon! Klein’s in Boston, and I’ll get -him before the week is out!” - -And so enthusiastic did he become over the glowing prospects ahead of -him, that he completely forgot that he had neither bathed nor shaved nor -had his breakfast. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - MR. AMOS JARGE. - - -Two days previous to the mysterious robbery at the Lydecker home a slim, -black-eyed stranger, alighting from the local train at Hudson, inquired -of the cabman who drove him up to the business section the location of a -certain real-estate firm. - -As the result of his visit there the stranger engaged an office in the -most prominent business building in the town, and upon the glass door, -so that all who passed might read, was lettered: - - - - - Amos Jarge. - Private Detective Agency. - -On the Monday following the robbery the portly form of Mr. Lydecker -might have been seen entering the elevator of the same building. And -directly behind him, also entering the elevator, came hurrying another -man. Apparently preoccupied, this latter stepped upon Mr. Lydecker’s -heels. Instantly he drew back with profuse apologies. - -“A thousand pardons, sir! I—I——” He broke off abruptly and held out his -hand. “Why, Mr. Lydecker! This is, indeed, a surprise.” - -Mr. Lydecker’s brow cleared and he accepted the hand. - -“Bless my soul! What are you doing in Hudson, Mr. Jarge?” - -Jarge laughed. “I had quite forgotten that you lived in this city,” he -declared. “Let me see, the last time we met was——” - -“On the Fall River boat,” interrupted Mr. Lydecker. “I can never forget -that incident! You returned my daughter’s jewels to me; don’t you -remember?” - -“Quite so.” Jarge nodded slowly. “Of course, of course! That was during -the time of my employment with the Fall River Company. Since you have -recalled it, I remember the incident perfectly.” - -They had stepped out of the elevator now and were standing in the hall. - -“Then you are no longer in the services of the——” Mr. Lydecker began. - -“I resigned a month ago,” Jarge interrupted. “I have since started in -business for myself. I have opened a chain of offices between Boston and -New York.” - -“Is that so?” exclaimed Mr. Lydecker. “And where——” - -“Straight ahead of you, sir.” Jarge waved indifferently toward a door at -the end of the hall. “That is my headquarters for Hudson and the -surrounding district.” - -Mr. Lydecker followed the hand, and read the black letters on the glass -door of the office. - -“Well, well,” he remarked, “this is pleasing news. I sincerely trust you -will find success in your new venture, Mr. Jarge.” - -“Thank you. I believe I have made a good beginning.” He paused -reflectively, as if his thoughts were a thousand miles away. “And now, -if you will pardon me, Mr. Lydecker,” he announced, “I will be hurrying -back to my desk. There are so many details to arrange and so much——” - -“Certainly, certainly,” broke in the other. “I understand, of course. -And—and possibly, later on, I might have a little work for you myself, -Mr. Jarge.” - -The detective nodded in a disinterested manner. “I shall be pleased to -handle it. Good day, sir.” - -Jarge swung briskly away, and Mr. Lydecker watched as the door closed -behind him. Then he walked down the hall. - -“A very smart and intelligent man, this Jarge,” he told himself. “I -think I will make no mistake in hiring him.” - -The next day Mr. Lydecker called at Jarge’s office, only to be met by a -curt and busy stenographer with the announcement that the detective was -out on an important case, and would not return before the next day. - -On the following afternoon Mr. Lydecker was again unfortunate, and -learned from the same busy and curt stenographer that Mr. Jarge was -still engaged and was not expected in the office until Friday at the -very earliest. - -So, on Friday, Mr. Lydecker called up Jarge on the telephone and asked -for an appointment. - -The detective happened to be in his office at the time. - -“I’m afraid I will have to disappoint you, Mr. Lydecker,” he said. “I’m -pressed with other business. Wouldn’t some day next week answer just as -well?” - -“I must see you to-day,” insisted the other. “It is a very important -matter.” - -“Perhaps one of my assistants can be of service to you,” Jarge went on -to say. “I can arrange to have——” - -Mr. Lydecker demurred at once. “I must take this up with you personally, -Mr. Jarge. I am willing to pay extra for the favor. But it must be -arranged before to-morrow.” - -“I don’t see just how——” Jarge began, only to be interrupted by: - -“Let me see you for five minutes. I can explain my case and you can -judge for yourself. You can surely grant me that much time, Mr. Jarge.” - -The detective hesitated, then cleared his throat. “Very well, Mr. -Lydecker,” he answered reluctantly. “I can allow you five minutes. I -will be in the office at eleven o’clock sharp.” - -“Thank you very much, Mr. Jarge. I shall be there on the hour. If you -only knew how——” - -But the detective had already hung up his receiver. So the perturbed Mr. -Lydecker was forced to do the same. - -Promptly at eleven o’clock Mr. Lydecker stepped nervously out of the -elevator on the sixth floor of the business block, and, walking to the -far end of the hall, entered the office of Mr. Amos Jarge, private -detective. - - - TO BE CONTINUED. - - - - - CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. - - -The jury had retired for consultation prior to bringing in a verdict of -“Guilty,” which was expected of them. Retiring at all seemed little more -than a farce, for from the beginning to the end of the case the evidence -had gone so steadily against the defendant that by the time the last -witness had been called there was no manner of doubt in the public mind -that Robert Sullivan had deliberately and in cold blood murdered Jack -Wilder, and it needed not the vigorous speech of the prosecuting -attorney to convince any one to that effect. - -The evidence, being briefly summed up, ran as follows: Robert, or, as he -was more familiarly called, Bob Sullivan, while in a state of -intoxication, quarreled with and lost his last cent to Jack Wilder, a -professional sharper. Awaking the morning after his debauch, to find -himself beggared, he had sworn, in the presence of several witnesses, to -get his money back or kill the man who had outwitted him. Accordingly, -he had set out to meet Wilder on his return from a neighboring town, and -next day the body of the latter was found in a lonely stretch of the -road, with a knife sticking in his heart. - -Sullivan had been obliged to admit that he had met his enemy near this -spot, and that they had a stormy interview, but maintained that they -parted without blows, as Wilder promised him to restore his money. There -was no tittle of circumstantial evidence wanting to confirm the -appearance of Sullivan’s guilt, and even the attorney for the defense -was privately convinced of the falsity and absurdity of his client’s -plea of “Not guilty.” - -The judge, a large, pompous man, having instructed the jury in his most -severe and autocratic manner, busied himself with some papers, and did -not deign a glance to the assemblage below. It was, as could readily be -observed, a gathering of small tradespeople and farmers. Here and there -the keen face of a lawyer or that of a stranger from the neighboring -city stood out boldly from the sea of honest vacuity which surrounded -it. - -The prisoner sat with his face buried in his hands, which had lost their -former tan, and were pale and trembling. Near him was his wife, hugging -a sickly babe to her breast, and showing in her wild eyes, twitching -mouth, and every line of her meager, stooping figure, the terror which -held her in its grasp. A breathless silence was upon that audience in -the shabby courtroom; even the baby had ceased its fretful wailing, and -the buzz of a bluebottle fly entangled in a spider’s web in the window -was the only sound that broke the stillness. - -Five minutes passed, ten, twenty, and still the jury had not come. A -murmur of impatience began to be heard, and presently the judge beckoned -the sheriff to him, whispered a few words in his ear, and saw him depart -through the same door which apparently swallowed up the jurors. The -sheriff made his way through several gloomy passages into a large, light -room, where he inquired of the foreman if they were not yet agreed. - -“No, we ain’t!” gruffly responded that functionary. “There’s eleven of -us for hangin’, but Conway, there, won’t hear to it. He wants to clear -the feller out an’ out, an’ says he’ll stay with us till kingdom come -before he’ll budge an inch.” - -Giles Conway, the man whose obstinacy was causing such unnecessary -delay, was seated rather apart from the rest, and wore the brown jeans -and soft hat which marked him a farmer. Even had not the absence of any -attempt at foppishness proclaimed his caste, there was something about -him which insensibly connected itself in the observer’s mind with the -free winds and untrammeled sunshine of the country. He was much the same -color from his head to his feet, for eyes, skin, hair, and beard were -alike brown, and only the deep lines on his firm, squarely cut face -showed that he was no longer young. Just at present he seemed in no wise -disconcerted by the wrathful impatience of his associates, but pushing -his felt hat farther back on his head, and settling himself more -comfortably in his wooden chair, said slowly: - -“No, friends, you won’t ever get me to hand over a man to the gallows on -such evidence as that, an’ there ain’t no special use of cussin’ about -it, for it won’t do a bit of good.” - -“Oh, but that is such foolishness!” broke in one of the group. “Here’s -all this evidence, that no man in his senses could doubt, a-goin’ to -prove that Bob Sullivan killed Jack Wilder, and here you sit like a bump -on a log, and won’t listen to none of it.” - -“That’s just it,” replied Conway. “You all think that evidence like that -orter hang a man, but if you’d seen as much of that sort of thing as I -have, you’d think different. I ain’t much of a talker, but maybe you -wouldn’t mind listenin’ to a case of this kind I happen to know about, -an’ maybe the time I’m done—an’ it won’t take me long to tell it—you’ll -see why I don’t want to hang a young fellow I’ve known nearly all my -life for somethin’ that very likely he didn’t do. - -“You all know how when I wasn’t much over twenty I went West an’ put all -the money I could rake an’ scrape into a ranch an’ cattle. Well, the -place next to mine was owned by a young fellow—we’ll call him Jim -Saunders, although that isn’t his name—who’d come out, like me, to make -his fortune. We took to each other from the first, an’ pretty soon we -were more like brothers than a good many of the real article I’ve seen -since. After a while Jim told me he was goin’ to get married, an’ a few -weeks later he brought home the prettiest little thing you’d see in a -day’s ride. She had lots of yellow hair that was always tumblin’ down -over her shoulders, an’ big blue eyes, an’ a voice like a wild bird, an’ -Jim—well, he thought there wasn’t nobody like Milly in all the country. - -“She seemed fond of him, too, at first, but it wasn’t long before I -could see that it was a clear case of misfit all round. There was lots -of excuse for her, for of course it was a hard life, an’ she loved -finery an’ pretty things, an’ Jim didn’t have the money to give ’em to -her, though he worked early an’ late, an’ did his level best to make -somethin’ more than a livin’. - -“Maybe it would have turned out all right in time if it hadn’t been that -one day Jim went to the nearest town to buy some farmin’ implements, an’ -fell in there with a fellow he used to know back East, and nothin’ would -do him but he must go home with Jim to see how he was fixed. Well, he -come, an’ it was a black day for Jim when he set foot on his threshold, -for from the minute he saw Milly he hadn’t eyes for nothin’ else, and -she bein’ a woman, was mightily set up to think a city man would set -such store by her. - -“He made himself so pleasant an’ so much at home that they begged him to -stay all night, an’ long about twelve o’clock he was, or pretended to -be, took awful sick. They worked with him till he got better, and -wouldn’t hear of his tryin’ to go away next mornin’; so he stayed on, -setting on the big rockin’-chair with a pillow behind him an’ talkin’ to -Milly while Jim was off at work. He didn’t seem in no particular hurry -about goin’, but Jim never ’spicioned for a minute that anything was -wrong, for he liked the fellow first-rate, an’ would no more have -thought of doubtin’ Milly than he would the Lord that made him. - -“One evenin’ he came in late, tired an’ hungry, an’ foun’ that his -wife—his wife that he loved—had left him and gone away with that devil -that he thought was his friend! He went wild for a while. It seemed to -him like everything was black around him, an’ there was great splotches -of blood before his eyes, an’ he could hear voices that kept a-laughin’ -at him an’ callin’ him a fool, an’ the only thing he held fast to was -that he must follow ’em to the world’s end and kill the man that had -took away all he had. So he tracked ’em, now here, now there, but always -they doubled on him, till at las’, when his money was gone, he lost ’em -altogether. - -“Then he came to himself a little, an’ sold his ranch an’ went back to -his old home to wait—for he knowed somehow that one day, sooner or -later, the Lord would give him his revenge. He worked while he waited, -an’ made money an’ got well off, an’ nobody knew nothin’ ’bout his ever -bein’ married, so he had somethin’ like peace. But he never forgot, an’, -after a while, it seemed like he didn’t feel so hard toward Milly, for -he remembered how young she was, an’ how foolish, an’ what a devil she -had to deal with; an’ sometimes he could see her with the pretty color -all gone from her cheeks, an’ the laugh from her voice, heartbroken an’ -deserted. - -“At last, twenty years afterward, when he was gettin’ on in life, his -time came. He was ridin’ along, not thinkin’ about anything in -particular, when he happened to look up, an’ there, comin’ toward him -roun’ a bend in the road, an’ ridin’ on a big black horse, was the man -he’d waited for all these years. They knowed each other the minute their -eyes met, an’ the fellow got white as chalk an’ pulled his horse clean -back on his haunches, tryin’ to turn roun’ an’ make a run for it, but it -wasn’t no good, for Jim was off his horse in a minute an’ had him by the -throat, an’ in less time than it takes to tell it, he had pulled him -down, cursin’ an’ cuttin’ at him, to the ground. Then, holdin’ him -there, with his knee on his breast an’ his knife at his throat, he says: - -“‘Where’s Milly? Tell me, or I’ll cut your devilish heart out!’ - -“The fellow glared back at him like a rat in a trap, an’ seein’ death in -his eyes, an’ knowing ’twas no use to lie, says: - -“‘She’s dead; she got sick when we got to New York, an’ I left her, an’ -she died in a week.’ - -“‘I’d orter kill you like a snake, but I’ve always lived square, an’ the -Lord helpin’ me, I’ll die that way, so I’ll give you an even chance. Get -out your knife an’ fight, an’ remember that one of us has got to die -right here.’ - -“Then he let him up, and they went at it. They was pretty evenly matched -to look at ’em, but Jim thought of Milly dyin’ all alone, an’ fought -like a tiger, an’ pretty soon he left the man that had come between ’em -stiff an’ stark with a knife in his heart, an’ his white face a-glarin’ -up at the sky. - -“Then comes in the part of the story that I want you all to take for a -warnin’, before you’ll be so quick to find any man guilty on nothin’ but -circumstantial evidence. When the body was found, nobody ever thought of -’spicionin’ Jim, but everything pointed to another man as the one who -had done the killin’. He’d sworn to kill the dead man; he was on the -hunt for him when last seen, an’ he couldn’t prove no alibi. So they -arrested him, and the first Jim heard of it he was summonsed on the jury -that was to try him. Jim hadn’t never thought of giving himself up for a -murder, for he knowed he’d fought and killed his enemy fair an’ square, -an’ he was glad he done it. He didn’t see that it was any business of -the law’s to interfere between ’em, and he didn’t like to drag in -Milly’s name before the judge an’ jury an’ all the people who wouldn’t -remember, like he did, when he was young an’ innocent. Even when he was -summonsed, he didn’t have any notion but he would be cleared when they’d -look into things some, an’ he made up his mind not to say nothin’ if he -could help it. - -“But when he got there, everything went so dead against the prisoner -that if he hadn’t knowed he’d done the killin’ himself, he’d ’a’ thought -sure he was guilty. He got kind of dazed at last, and didn’t seem to -know nothin’ till he found himself in a room with the rest of the jury, -an’ all eleven of ’em wanting to hang the man that he knowed was -innocent. Then he came to his senses and voted against ’em, an’ when -they asked him for his reasons, he told ’em the story I’ve been tellin’ -you.” - -Giles Conway stopped and gazed stolidly into the eyes of his audience, -who had gathered around him till they hemmed him in on every side. - -“An’ what did they do with him?” asked the foreman at last. - -“I don’t know,” he answered slowly. “It ain’t decided yet, for Jack -Wilder was the man that run off with Milly, an’ it was me that killed -him.” - - - NOT TO BE OUTDONE IN POLITENESS. - -A rich old man lying on his deathbed had assembled his three nephews to -acquaint them with the manner in which he intended to dispose of his -property. - -“To you, my dear John, as you have always been a steady and dutiful -nephew, I have left the sum of twenty thousand dollars.” - -“Thank you, my dear uncle,” said John, burying his face in his pocket -handkerchief to conceal his emotion. “I only hope you may live to enjoy -it yourself.” - -“You, also, Thomas, have been a good lad. I have, therefore, left you -the sum of fifteen thousand dollars.” - -“Thank you, my dear uncle. I only hope you may live to enjoy it -yourself.” - -“As for you, Frank, you have been a sad dog; to you, therefore, I have -left the sum of twenty-five cents to buy a rope to hang yourself with.” - -“Thank you, my dear uncle,” said the dutiful nephew. “I only hope you -may live to enjoy it yourself!” - - - - - THE NEW WEATHER SYSTEM. - - - By MAX ADELER. - -Cooley is the inventor of an improved system of foretelling the weather. -He has a lot of barometers, hygrometers, and such things, in his house, -and he claims that by reading these intelligently, and watching the -clouds in accordance with his theory, a man can prophesy what kind of -weather there will be three days ahead. They were getting up a -Sunday-school picnic in town in May, and as Cooley ascertained that -there would be no rain on a certain Thursday, they selected that day for -the purpose. The sky looked gloomy when they started, but as Cooley -declared that it absolutely couldn’t rain on Thursday, everybody felt -that it was safe to go. About two hours after the party reached the -grounds, however, a shower came up, and it rained so hard that it ruined -all the provisions, wet everybody to the skin, and washed all the cake -to dough. Besides, Peter Marks was struck by lightning. On the following -Monday the agricultural exhibition was to be held, but as Mr. Cooley -foresaw that there would be a terrible northeast storm on that day, he -suggested to the president of the society that it had better be -postponed. So they put it off, and that was the only clear Monday we had -during May. About the first of June, Mr. Cooley announced that there -would not be any rain until the fifteenth, and consequently we had -showers every day, right straight along up to that time, with the -exception of the tenth day, when there was a slight spit of snow. So on -the fifteenth, Cooley foresaw that the rest of the month would be wet, -and by an odd coincidence, a drought set in, and it only rained once -during the two weeks, and that was on the day which Cooley informed the -baseball club that it could play a match, because it would be clear. - -On toward the first of July, he began to have some doubts if his -improved weather system were correct; he was convinced that it must work -by contraries; so when Professor Jones asked him if it would be safe to -attempt to have a display of fireworks on the night of the fifth, Cooley -brought the improved system into play, and discovered that it promised -rainy weather on that night. So then he was certain it would be clear, -and he told Professor Jones to go ahead. - -On the night of the fifth, just as the professor got his Catherine -wheels and skyrockets all in position, it began to rain, and that was -the most awful storm we have had this year. It raised the river nearly -three feet. As soon as it began, Cooley got the ax, and went upstairs -and smashed his hydrometers, hygrometers, barometers, and thermometers. -Then he cut down the pole that upheld the weathercock, and burned the -manuscript of the book which he was writing in explanation of his -system. He leans on “Old Probs” now when he wants to ascertain the -probable state of the weather. - - - - - THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS. - - - Scale Ounce Over Forty Years. - -Sealer of Weights and Measures Robert J. Hongen, of Weissport, Pa., in -testing a scale used by one of the leading merchants for the past forty -years, found that it allowed seventeen instead of sixteen ounces to the -pound. - -The merchant says he must have lost considerably through this scale, but -is glad that it operated in favor of his customers. - - - Family of Twenty Children. - -Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Anstine, natives of the Pigeon Mountains, near Spring -Grove, Pa., are the parents of twenty children—eight boys and twelve -girls. There are no twins or triplets among them. - -Mr. Anstine is fifty years old and his wife is forty-five. They live in -the remotest part of the Pigeon Mountains, in a small hut having but -four rooms. The oldest child is twenty-four years old. The whole family -is hale and hearty despite the limited accommodations of their little -house. They live mostly by money earned from wood-cutting in the -forests. - - - Famous “Houn’ Dawg” in Bad. - -The “houn’ dawg” is doomed. The hills that now resound with his throaty -bellow are to be dotted with sheep and subside in silence, believes -Doctor A. J. Hill, who has assisted in preparing a legislative “tin can” -to tie to the sagging tail of the kicked-around hound. The dogs are -blamed for the high price of mutton and the low price of sheep in the -State of Missouri. - -Doctor Hill and other interested landowners have drafted a law which -provides that all dogs in the State shall be taxed, and that the tax -money shall constitute an insurance fund to reimburse sheep owners for -their losses by dogs. - - - Wisdom Teeth; Why so Called. - -The so-called wisdom teeth are the last two molars to grow, and they -have no real connection with the possession of wisdom. They take their -name from the time of their arrival, from twenty to twenty-five years, -at which age the average person is supposed to have reached years of -discretion. - -Cutting one’s wisdom teeth means simply arriving at the point of -completeness in physical equipment, and has no direct relation to mental -equipment. The possession of these teeth is no guarantee of wisdom. They -grow at about the same age in people whether they are wise or not. - - - Walnut Tree Forty-six Years Old. - -Colusa, Cal., is laying claim to having the largest California black -walnut in the world, but the dimensions of the Colusa tree do not come -up to those of a tree that is growing on F. W. Schutz’s farm on Sycamore -Slough, six miles northeast of Arbuckle, also in Colusa County. - -Some time ago an account in newspapers first brought this monster tree -before the reading public, and it received much attention throughout the -State. The agricultural department of the State University wrote Schutz -about it, stating that information sent by him would be used in a book -that the department is compiling. - -In answer to the request of the university authorities Mr. Schutz has -taken accurate measurements of the tree, which are as follows: -Circumference one foot from the ground, twenty-two feet, eight -inches—below this the roots appear above the surface of the ground, -making the tree about twenty-six feet; circumference nine feet from the -ground, nineteen feet nine inches; height, 102 feet; width of shadow at -noon, 120 feet. - -The big tree is forty-six years old, having been planted in 1868 by D. -Arnold, a Colusa County pioneer. - - - Virginia’s Oldest Cow Dies. - -“Old Nancy,” said to be the oldest cow in Virginia, is dead. This cow -was fifty-two years old when she expired with the old year, thus turning -the recent holiday into a day of gloom for her owner and others. When -young, the cow’s color had been a blood-red, but for more than twenty -years her hair had been turning white, until at the time of her death -her hair was as white as the snow that covered the ground. - -Her owner, John Adkins, of Big Laurel, Va., was only one day older than -Nancy, and at his marriage the cow—then being over twenty—was a wedding -gift from his father, who said: “Keep Nancy until she dies, John, for -she’s a good old cow.” - -In recent years her owner has been offered good round sums for the aged -animal, but he invariably refused, with the remark: “No, no; I’d just as -soon think of parting with Martha—his wife—as to allow old Nancy to be -toted around the country with a show.” - - - Emigrant from Erin Dies a Millionaire. - -The story of the hunt for gold is ever a story of toil and privation, -often a tragedy. For the one who strikes it rich, thousands are lost in -the oblivion of poverty and ill fate. - -Colonel Thomas Cruse, who died at the age of seventy-nine, in Helena, -Mont., recently, was one of the lucky few who leaped from poverty to -affluence thirty years ago. He discovered the Drum Lummon Gold Mine, -north of Helena, sold it to an English syndicate for $1,500,000, -retaining one-sixth interest, and shared in the profits of $30,000,000 -which the mine has produced. - -Mr. Cruse was twenty years old when he left County Cavan, Ireland, to -seek his fortune in the mining camps of the West. He roamed around -various diggings in California, Nevada, and Idaho, blew into Virginia -City, Mont., in 1865, when Alder Gulch was at the height of its glory, -and later struck the placers around Helena, where fortune smiled upon -him. - -Drum Lummon drew its name from the locality in Ireland where Cruse was -born. Before it had a name it had a romance redolent with the ill luck -of the original finder. He was a little, wiry Frenchman named L. F. -Hilderbrand, who drove an express wagon to Deadwood long after Tommy -Cruse put Drum Lummon on the mining map. In the very early days -Hilderbrand prospected in Montana. A stumble on the mountain side caused -him to chip off a piece of a bowlder which was so rich in gold quartz -that his eyes popped in the excitement of riches in sight. He and his -partner began to look for the lead from which the bowlder sloughed off. - -Unfortunately, Hilderbrand and his partner undertook to roll out of the -way the great bowlder which gave them a clew to wealth. By one of those -queer capers of blasted luck which prospectors fear, the bowlder moved -too quickly and rolled over and crushed the arm of Hilderbrand’s -partner. Being without money and needing medical attention, they left -the place, trudged to Helena, where the partner was under the care of a -doctor, and Hilderbrand went to work in near-by places to earn money to -pay the bill. - -Some ten years later, Hilderbrand, still at outs with his luck, and -weary of roaming, reached the spot where the bowlder sent his hopes -skyward. The bowlder had the appearance of an old acquaintance, but the -surroundings were changed to a bewildering extent. Before his eyes was a -monster hoisting plant raising rich ore from a shaft hundreds of feet in -depth, while in the gulch a huge stamp mill was at work. The bowlder -occupied a place of honor in front of a building. Hilderbrand touched -it, patted it affectionately, and tears filled his eyes. Presently -through the mist of his tears he read the sign: “Drum Lummon Mine, -discovered by Thomas Cruse.” - -During the period of development, when hard luck pressed Cruse to the -verge of abandonment, some one advised him to strike Sam Ashby for a -couple of hundred. Ashby was a money lender in Helena who knew how to -sweat the coin when put at work on good security. Cruse put the matter -of a loan up to Ashby. All he got, however, was a fine line of free -advice, coupled with the money lender’s assurance that he would rather -throw paper money into the furnaces of his satanic majesty than loan it -to such a “shiftless fellow.” - -Years after, when Cruse’s day of prosperity came, one of the early -visitors to the “Thomas Cruse Savings Bank,” just started in Helena, was -Sam Ashby. The fortunes of Cruse and Ashby had been reversed. Cruse was -flush, Ashby empty of pocket. Cruse led his would-be customer to the -door, and, in the underscored language of the West, assured the customer -that he would rather throw his money into the furnaces of his satanic -majesty than to loan it to such “a shiftless fellow” as Sam Ashby. - -Soon after his bank was started, at the age of fifty, Cruse decided that -he had enough capital to support a wife. Miss Margaret Carter, sister of -the later United States Senator Carter, became Mrs. Cruse. The wedding, -in 1886, was the greatest social event in the history of Montana’s -capital. It was a celebration for all the population. - -Cruse arranged for an open house and free drinks with every saloon in -Helena. Tradition has it that the whole male population of the town got -drunk at the bridegroom’s expense, and it took a week to sober the -people into a working condition. The jamboree was the greatest ever -pulled off in the treasure State; no one attempted to rival the score. - -The joys of wedded life were of short duration, however. Mrs. Cruse died -within a year, leaving a baby daughter, on which the father lavished his -affections and means. - -What Count John A. Creighton was to Omaha, Thomas Cruse was to Helena. -Every public enterprise, every promising industry, drew his support; -benevolent and charitable movements commanded assistance from his purse. -He was the chief contributor to the building of the Catholic Cathedral -of Helena, which was dedicated on Christmas Day, the Methodist Hospital, -the Young Men’s Christian Association, and the Young Women’s Christian -Association shared in his bounty, and his liberality in supporting the -local club kept Helena on the baseball map. - -The career of Mr. Cruse was linked in many ways with the active lives of -several former Omaha residents. A year or two before Cruse struck Alder -Gulch, Patrick Gurnett, Mrs. Gurnett, and three young children started -from Omaha with a bull team in a caravan which occupied six months in -covering the distance to Virginia City, Mont. Cruse and the Gurnetts -probably became acquainted there. - -In subsequent years, when the Gurnetts became ranchers in the Missoula -valley, south of Helena, Cruse’s poverty as a prospector was frequently -relieved by the food reserves of the Gurnett homestead. - -Frank J. Lange, son of an Omaha family of pioneer grocers, is the active -manager of Cruse’s Savings Bank, and has been confidential associate and -adviser of the millionaire for years past. - -Another man, Harry Cotter, married Cruse’s daughter, Mary, who died a -year ago last November. Cruse and Cotter did not pull together, and the -death of the daughter widened the breach, which continued to the gold -miner’s end. - - - Put Nickle in Slot, Get Paper Raincoat. - -Have you ever arrived in your old home town in a pelting rainstorm, all -dolled up in your Sunday best, and been compelled to pass up a quarter -to the local bus man or linger around the depot until some good -Samaritan with an umbrella is kind enough to escort you to the abode of -your family or friends? - -Have you ever noticed a flock of pretty but scolding maidens in a -downtown doorway or the post-office entrance, or the vestibule of a -movie-picture place wildly calling for umbrellas, raincoats, newspapers, -brother’s, or best beau’s silk handkerchief, or anything to prevent that -lovely seven or ten-dollar hat from being ruined by the sudden shower? - -If you are a masculine reader, have you ever been compelled to “cough -up” from three to six dollars in order to get your fair Dulcinea home -from play or dance when it is raining pitchforks and black cats and the -rubber-coated man on the box has suddenly become so stiff and lofty—in -his price, at least—that occasionally one doubts if he can be touched -even with a ten-spot bill or a ten-foot pole? - -If you have ever passed through any of the above-enumerated -experiences—and what man or woman has not—forget it; deliverance is at -hand. The hour of the hastily impressed newspaper, the borrowed -umbrella, or the painfully extracted cash loan from the hotel clerk or -elevator boy is to bob up unserenely no more, for the paper raincoat has -taken its place alongside the egg sandwich, chewing gum, and insurance -policies placed before the public in vending machines. - -The man or woman who drops a nickel for a package of gum to aid in the -digestion of his nickel-in-the-slot meal, and then pays a quarter to -another machine for a policy insuring him or her against the -consequences, may soon get a raincoat from an adjacent machine as a -result of the ingenuity of a woman, who has obtained a patent on a paper -raincoat, said to be waterproof. She plans to manufacture the coats in -large quantities and distribute them in specially devised vending -devices. - -It is to be presumed that the feminine raincoat will be provided with a -cute little hood, or capote, as they say in French, and possibly the -masculine garment will have some attachment that will be quite eskimo -and save the wearer’s two-dollar derby from gaining an inch or two in -circumference. All hail, hoch, also hear-hear to the paper raincoat! Bah -to the never-present, disappearing, eye-destroying, pestiferous -umbrella. - - - “Corpse” Smokes in Hearse. - -Panic was caused along the road between Jefferson and Chapel, Ohio, by -the spectacle of what apparently was a corpse sitting upright in the -middle of a hearse and serenely puffing a cigar. - -The “remains” which had indulged in this unseemly performance were Will -Hodge, of Jefferson. Hodge had attended the funeral of an aunt at -Chapel. On the long trip home after the interment, Hodge started riding -beside the driver of the hearse. - -The intense cold soon chilled him to the bone, and he obtained -permission from the driver to get inside the glass case. Here he soon -got warm, and, to add to the comfort of his journey, he lighted a cigar. -Rural folks along the way were terrified. - - - Toss on Raft Four Days at Sea. - -Twelve of them, ten men and two women, were out there on the Atlantic -for four days, tossing on a sea-made raft, and no one in New York knew -of it until Charles Olsen, the mate, a six-foot, fair-haired Swede, came -in on the ward liner _Monterey_ and told the story. - -It was some story, too, this simple chronological narrative of the -breaking up of the American barkentine _Ethel V. Boynton_ some sixty -miles east of Wilmington, N. C. Olsen said it was God alone who saved -him and his mates. None of them ever expected to see land again. - -“I won’t tell all we went through,” he said, half smiling, “because, in -the first place, it would take too long, and then, when I get through, -you’d think I was thinking things, especially when I told you how the -sharks swam round waiting for us and we beat them off, hitting them on -their heads with our paddles. - -“Maybe I’d better begin at the beginning like I was reading from the -log. So I don’t forget it, take it down right here now that the twelve -of us lived for six days on a two-pound can of tripe and three cans of -blueberries.” - -The barkentine left Mobile December 26th, with lumber for Genoa, Italy, -in command of Captain G. W. Waldemar and a crew of nine men. On board -was Mrs. Waldemar and her young niece, Miss Gladys Larrock. - -“Just at sunrise,” said Olsen, “we ran into a hurricane that came up -from the south. It got so bad that we hove to at eight a. m. until -midnight. It eased up a little, but came up again strong by seven -o’clock next morning. We fired the deck load overboard—had to do it, and -do it quick; she was leaking pretty badly. - -“About ten-fifteen a. m. up came one of those racers—you know what I -mean, three waves chasing one right behind another. It came full at us -and swept clean over. It seemed to curl up about forty feet above the -deck. - -“That wave tore out about thirty feet of our quarterdeck and carried it -over. At midnight we were completely water-logged. Next morning, at -two-thirty, we shipped another of those racers, and it carried off the -forrid house and the fo’c’s’le deck. - -“We got kind of uneasy about the two women. They never said a word. If -they were scared, they didn’t let anybody know it, and we didn’t let -them know we were worried about ’em. At six a. m. we cut away the main -and mizzen sticks, and thought for a while we were going to stay above -water, but at nine a. m. we knew it was all off. - -“About nine-fifteen a. m. we launched the yawl. But what was the use? We -just did it on a chance, anyway. That yawl had hardly hit the water when -she was smashed to pieces against the side. - -“Big sticks of lumber from our jettisoned cargo now slammed the -barkentine hard. At ten a. m. the starboard side opened up. That was -some day. At eight-thirty p. m. the foremast jammed itself through the -bottom; a big part of the foredeck drifted away with it. We were just -simply going to pieces. We didn’t know where to lash the women, because -we couldn’t say what part would go away next. - -“The lumber in the hold was just raising hell. The morning of the next -day, at three-thirty o’clock, the stern broke off entirely. At -five-thirty a. m. the main deck splintered and so did the after house. A -half hour later we made a raft out of the roof of it. We all got onto -it, lashing the women. They lay flat and had a hard job to keep from -choking, because the waves were hitting us hard. - -“At seven-thirty a. m. we sighted the main deck, and started out for it. -It took us two hours to paddle. We used pieces of the lumber that -drifted to us. When we all climbed on board, we made fast the raft to -it. That was the last thing we did, because at eleven p. m., after three -days and nights on the drifting main deck, the thing bu’sted to pieces. - -“That was the only time the women showed excitement. They didn’t want to -get back on that raft. The little gal, Miss Larrock, she lives in -Boston, like I do. She said to me: ‘Mate, we will never see Boston -again.’ I said: ‘Oh, yes. Don’t you give up, little gal, not much.’ She -laughed—it sounded like she was laughing—and she said something she read -some time out of a book. ‘Well, mate, we will die with good and true -hearts.’ - -“Well, we didn’t die. The Ward steamer _Manzanillo_ came along at -ten-thirty o’clock the morning after the main deck bu’sted to pieces, -and we can thank Warner, the cook, that she saw us. He grabbed the code -flag R when we left the vessel, and we stuck it up on a piece of lumber -on the raft. It is a red flag, with a yellow cross, and they could see -it better than most any flag.” - -Olsen turned to the cook and slapped him hard between the shoulders. -“Freddy, old boy, we never missed a meal, did we?” - -Warner winced and acquiesced. - -“Yes, sir,” continued the mate, “the twelve of us lived for six days on -that measly two-pound can of tripe and three tins of blueberries. -Freddie, here, opened the can of tripe with his teeth and an old fork. -Then he speared a piece at a time on a wire and handed it around three -times a day. - -“And, by gosh, the skipper looked at every piece that was swallowed. He -said: ‘I caution you fellas to go light on that tripe, because we might -be a long time here. One of the three cans of berries was given to four -of us. We had a three-gallon keg of dirty fresh water with us on the -raft, and it tasted fine.” - -The _Manzanillo_ landed the Boynton’s crew at Santiago, Cuba, where they -were cared for in a hospital. The skipper and his wife and niece later -went by steamer to Mobile. - - - How “Long” is a Kiss? “Long” Meant, Not “Why.” - -How long is a kiss? No, not “why?”—nobody so foolish as to ask that—but -“how long?” - -“As long as you can hold your breath,” somebody has said, but the -question which moving-picture censors and actors and actresses are -debating now is, how much film a kiss may, with propriety, fill. - -“Three feet is the limit,” said a recent ruling of the Chicago board of -censors. - -“That’s too much,” said Miss Ruth Stonehouse, one of the favorites of -the “movie fans.” “No kiss has a right to more than one foot of film. - -“You see, when an actress is kissed on the stage, it isn’t because she -wants to be kissed, but because the artistry of the play demands it, to -indicate emotion on the part of the stage characters. It is utterly -impersonal, you know.” - -“It is?” ventured the interviewer. - -“Why, of course. It isn’t really the actress who is being kissed, but -the character she represents. Sometimes an unskilled actress uses the -prolonged kiss to convey her idea of a love scene, but if she -understands the art of expression, it is unnecessary.” - -“But would you limit the real, honest-to-goodness love kiss to one -foot?” asked the “cub” reporter anxiously. - -“We were talking of the stage,” she replied gracefully. “The kind you -mean, my dear boy, are a quite different affair.” - - - Oklahomans Plan Second Wolf Drive. - -A wolf drive on a large scale occurred in the hills west of Greenfield, -Okla., a few weeks ago. The ground covered was about twenty-five square -miles. The lines were formed at ten a. m. and at the signal shot -thousands of hunters began to move in toward the center. - -When within a mile of the center, all lines were halted and orders were -given by the captains to cease firing until the encircling line could be -formed solid, but before this could be accomplished, many wolves -escaped. When the hunters closed in, eight wolves were discovered, but -five of the eight managed to get away. Many rabbits were killed, -however. - -There will be another hunt over the same ground and considerable added -territory. The circular sent out to all residents of the vicinity says -the recent drive was not satisfactory, as several wolves were allowed to -make their escape. It is now proposed to have a big wolf drive and -barbecue dinner after the round-up to all that go into the lines and -help make the drive a success. It has been decided that the captains -issue tickets to all men in their respective lines, all able-bodied to -take part in some line. The committee asks the hearty coöperation of -every man within the adjoining territory to make this drive a success, -as it is not a matter of sport only, but an effort to rid the country of -wolves. - -The drive will cover forty-nine square miles, making each line seven -miles in length. “We want to make this drive the most successful of any -held in Oklahoma, and ask that you leave all booze at home to prevent -accidents. - -“All firearms are barred except shotguns, and no shot to be used larger -than No. 4.” - -The circular further says: - -“Each captain will be entitled to four sergeants to help him with his -mile. There will be no shot fired from nine a. m. to ten a. m., the time -of starting. The signal to start will be given at the southeast corner -promptly at ten a. m., each captain to fire his gun, and the sergeants -to fire their guns in turn until the signal is carried entirely around -the lines. - -“All wolves are to be sold at auction, and the proceeds to go to pay for -coffee and bread. The meat is to be donated and barbecued on the ground -for all who hold tickets. So be sure that you are in one of the lines in -order to get a ticket. Ladies are invited to the round-up ground and -will get their dinner free. - -“No quail to be shot, and all rabbits to be saved and sent to Oklahoma -City, to be distributed among the poor. - -“Also please remember, no shooting in the center at round-up ground. The -drive will be held immediately west of Greenfield.” - - - Is Champion Hose Knitter. - -Without doubt “Aunt Sallie” Hardly, of Big Laurel, Va., is the champion -hose knitter in the world. She has just celebrated her eighty-fifth -birthday by knitting a pair of men’s hose. Her hobby has always been -knitting. She could knit a pair of men’s hose in two days when she was -nine years old. Aunt Sallie thirty years ago began keeping a record of -hose knit, and since that time has completed 10,005 pairs, she says. “I -believe that in all I have knitted over fifteen thousand pairs, and have -hopes of making it twenty thousand before I reach one hundred, which age -I believe I will live to see,” she said. - - - Girl Rifle Team Gets “Defi.” - -The girl’s rifle team of the Iowa City High School, Iowa City, Ia., has -been challenged by a girls’ rifle team of Washington, D. C., and -probably will accept the “defi.” The coach is Professor C. E. Williams, -a member of the Iowa university national championship team of other -days, and now coach of the national high-school champion five of Iowa -City. - - - Small Pitching Staff Best, Says Old-timer. - -Jimmy Ryan, veteran player and one of the best of the famous Chicago -Colts, believes baseball is going back to the old days, when five -pitchers were all the biggest club would carry. - -“At present,” he says, “we find big-league clubs with ten or more -pitchers on the pay roll, when three or four are actually doing the -work. What is the result? Why, these regulars are liable to be fretty -because they have to perform the heavy tasks and at the same time see -six or seven men sitting on the bench drawing pay and performing no -actual labor in championship games. - -“‘Why do I have to do so much and wear myself out, when those guys are -having it so soft?’ they frequently say to themselves. And you can’t -blame them. - -“Instead of a dozen high-priced men stepping on each others’ toes, I -believe that the day is coming when six will be the limit any club -carries. Manager Stallings, of the Boston Braves, has shown to the -present generation that it can be done. - -“Back in the eighties, when I was pitching, John Clarkson, another -fellow, and myself would do the bulk of the work. And it didn’t hurt us -any, either. We were in shape, and had to keep so. - -“It was seldom one heard a pitcher say he was feeling bad then, or had a -kink in the arm. He had to get out and work or lose his job. - -“They can talk all they want to about baseball’s improving. But I fail -to see it that way. We could teach the present-day players a lot about -the game, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. - -“Hard work never hurt any ball player. You see what it did for the -Boston Braves! It won them a world’s championship.” - - - Catches Coyotes in an Original Manner. - -A coyote likes to have a newspaper clipping to read before it puts its -foot in a trap. This is according to the philosophy of John Harvey, of -Riverside County, California, who has about two hundred animals to his -credit—by traps, shotgun, and poison. - -Harvey’s favorite trap is one of the familiar steel-jawed type with a -strong spring at each end. He sets it with his knees, by bringing almost -his whole weight on the springs. The spot chosen is usually on plowed or -cultivated ground. The flat pan, or trigger, of the trap is covered -skillfully with a piece of newspaper about four inches square, and all -is carefully covered with earth. Even the six-foot chain and drag are -concealed. Then over the place spread a lot of chicken or bird feathers, -and any other available animal or fowl trash, such as entrails and -pieces of pelt. This proves the undoing of Mr. Coyote when he comes -prowling about in the night. - -The trapping is generally done in the fall or winter, after the buzzards -have migrated, as the bait is also tempting to that kind of “health” -birds. - - - Bars Men Who Drink Liquor. - -The Milton Manufacturing Company, an ironworking concern which has the -largest plant in Milton, Pa., with hundreds of employees, has posted -notices in the plant, barring all men who use intoxicating drinks. -Employees who have signed saloon applications for the establishing of -saloons, now before the Northumberland County court, must have their -names withdrawn from the applications if they desire to continue in the -company’s service. - - - Lost Diamond Mine Discoverer is Found. - -The lost locator of Kimberley lost diamond mines has been found. Joseph -H. Meyers, for whom a world-wide search was started three months ago by -men whom he had interested in a South African diamond-mining -proposition, has written to the stockholders of his company explaining -his long silence and giving a report on the prospects of the -undertaking. - -Meyers had been missing since July 5, 1910, and Doctor Fred C. Wheat, of -Minneapolis, Minn., last November asked members of the Iowa Alumni -Association to “comb all the quarters of the earth” in an effort to find -him. Meyers was a graduate at the class of 1888, University of Iowa. - -Meyers is a mining engineer, and his wife is said to be an expert in -minerals. In 1904 he was in charge of a large mine at San José, Cal., -where he befriended an old Scotchman named Sandy McDonald. When the old -man died, he showed Meyers a map giving the location of a valuable -diamond mine near Kimberley. This map, he said, he had secured from -another Scotchman. - -Meyers, at first skeptical, finally went to Kimberley, found the mine, -and returned with the report that in a few days he had dug out five -hundred carat weight of gems. He interested his friends in the United -States and secured $25,000 to buy the land. If he had taken it as a -diamond claim, he would have had to split the diamonds with the -government. - -Returning to South Africa, he found that the price of the land had gone -up as a result of the discovery of other mines near, and he was forced -to return to this country and raise $10,000 more. He was last seen in -San Francisco. - -In a letter to J. L. McLaury, of Glenwood, Minn., Meyers, writing from -Fresno, says he is still blocked in his effort to secure title to the -diamond property, but that the obstacle may be removed any day. - -Doctor Wheat refuses to discuss the details of the venture, although he -said that he was satisfied that Meyers was absolutely honest, and that -eventually the proposition would be a success. - - - King of the Rabbit Hunters. - -Stephen Osborn, seventy-eight years old, who lives five miles southwest -of Gentry, Mo., claims the distinction of being the champion rabbit -hunter—for his age, at least—of northwestern Missouri. He has killed 500 -rabbits so far this winter, and is not through yet. - -Osborn, who is an expert shot, does his hunting in a buggy which is -drawn by a twenty-one-year-old horse. He is accompanied by two dogs. The -dogs scare the rabbits from their hiding places; then, after the fatal -shot is fired, they bring the dead animals to the hunter, who is not -compelled to leave his buggy. Osborn says his best day’s work was -forty-nine rabbits out of fifty shots. - - - Modern Lumberjack a Real Aristocrat. - -Should an old-time lumberjack wander back into the neighborhood of -Mellen, Wis., searching for old, familiar scenes, and with the possible -desire to once again, for a brief time, enter into the old calling for -pastime or physical improvement, he would be apt to make a hasty survey -of present conditions, and, with a voice softened by disappointment, -declare: “No, this is not the same—not at all the same. This may be all -right for a minister’s son, but not for me—not for me. Too much like -Chicago.” - -Last week residents of Mellen had an opportunity to watch a train of new -boarding cars switched out into the woods over the logging railroad of -the Foster-Latimer Lumber Company. The cars were built in the local car -shops of that concern and are the last word in quarters for woodsmen. - -The outfit comprises a “kitchen car,” equipped with the most modern -kitchen appliances, such as can only be found in the culinary -departments in hotels of large cities; two “sleepers,” equipped with -steel double-deck beds, springs, and mattresses, there being no bunks, -but regular upper and lower berths, each for two persons and provided -with individual ventilating windows; in the roof are also eight patent -ventilator stacks. The two diners are provided with individual tables -for setting four persons each. - -The entire train is comfortably heated by steam heat. The cars are -provided with hard-wood floors, neatly painted inside and out, well -lighted, and also provided with the latest model gasoline-lighting -system. - - - Set New Roller-skate Mark. - -Frank Bryant, of Duluth, and Raymond Kelly, of St. Paul, lowered the -world’s record for relay roller skating when they finished their -twenty-four-hour grind in Duluth, Minn. The team skated 348 miles and -eight laps. - -Fred Martin, of Milwaukee, and Frank Bacon, of Detroit, made the former -record two weeks ago at the Madison Square Garden, when they rolled off -293 miles. - -Bryant and Kelly showed wonderful endurance, by sprinting the last two -hours. They are professionals, Bryant being Northwestern champion on the -wheels. - - - Two Days Under Felled Tree. - -A Mexican living three miles southwest of Binger, Okla., was chopping -wood, when a tree fell on him and held him fast from Friday until Sunday -morning. An Indian chief, “Big Snow,” discovered the Mexican’s plight -and succeeded in releasing him. There were no bones broken, but the -Mexican was badly bruised and suffered much from his long exposure to -the cold. - - - Hero Gives His Life to Save Little Child. - -This is a story of a brave and heroic youth who sacrificed his own life -that a little child might live. The tragedy marked the close of a merry -coasting party, and the death toll might have been greater but for the -unfortunate hero, Edward Schumacher, aged seventeen years. - -Near Dundee, Ill., a fine hill stretches, invitingly long and white in -the winter days and nights. For long it has been a favorite spot for -coasters, and it was not unusual that the fatal evening found a gay -party spinning down the shimmering course. Schumacher sat at the -steering lever of the big coasting “bob,” with a small child in his lap. -Behind were three other boys and four girls. - -“Don’t be afraid, little fellow,” he said to the timid child. “I’ll take -good care of you, all right.” - -The sled shot down the incline at a furious speed. Half-way to the -bottom it encountered a sharp grade and became unmanageable. The -steersman lost control for a moment, and the “bob” darted to the side -just as a post loomed up a few paces ahead. Collision was inevitable. - -Schumacher’s mind worked quickly, and then, without a thought of -consequences to himself, he flung the child from him into a deep -snowbank. The next instant the sled hurled itself upon the post, with -the steersman still at his place. - -The child was picked up, unhurt, and of the seven young persons who sat -behind, none were injured beyond a severe shaking up, but the boy in -whose hands, for a moment, were the lives of all in the sled lived only -a few minutes after the crash. But he had kept his promise to the child, -even at the cost of his own life. - - - Is Seventy-five and “Spry as a Cricket.” - -There is an old lady living in Harrogate, Tenn., Taylor by name, who, at -the age of seventy-five years, is the mother of fifteen children, 108 -grandchildren, ninety-six great-grandchildren, and 25 -great-great-grandchildren, and she is still as spry as a cricket. - - - New Line Over Continent. - -Work on the latest American transcontinental railroad is nearing -completion. “Only a few miles remain to link the Canadian Northern -railroad from ocean to ocean,” said R. Creelman, general passenger agent -of the Canadian Northern, when on a visit in Chicago the other day. “The -last gap, north of Kamloops, in British Columbia, is being closed at the -rate of nearly three miles a day, and the final linking of the unbroken -line of steel from the Atlantic to the Pacific should take place before -the end of this month. It still lacks more than four years of a half -century since the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific linked the two -oceans, forming the first continuous all-rail route across the -continent. In 1885 the Canadian Pacific was completed. The Canadian -Northern is the latest of the transcontinentals. The line extends from -Quebec through Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Port Arthur, Winnipeg, Regina, -Edmonton, Calgary, to Vancouver. While the main line is approximately -3,100 miles long, from Quebec to Vancouver, feeders increase the mileage -of the system to slightly over 9,000, nearly two-thirds of which has -been in operation for a number of years. - -“The completed road will be a monument to the enterprise of two famous -railroad builders—Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann. Their first -experience in railroad building came with the construction of the -Canadian Pacific thirty years ago. Since 1896 they have been engaged on -the Canadian Northern system.” - - - GREENBACKS! - -Pack of $1,000 Stage Bills, 10c; 3 packs 25c. Send for a pack and show -the boys what a WAD you carry. C. A. NICHOLS, Jr., BOX 59, CHILI, N. Y. - - - CACHOO! - -Make the whole family and all your friends “just sneeze their heads off” -without knowing why, with CACHOO, the new long distance harmless snuff. -Sent anywhere for 10c. 3 for 25c. C. A. NICHOLS, Jr., Box 59, CHILI, N. -Y. - - - Tobacco Habit - Easily Conquered - -A New Yorker of wide experience, has written a book telling how the -tobacco or snuff habit may be easily and completely banished in three -days with delightful benefit. The author, Edward J. Woods, 230 G, -Station E, New York City, will mail his book free on request. - -The health improves wonderfully after the nicotine poison is out of the -system. Calmness, tranquil sleep, clear eyes, normal appetite, good -digestion, manly vigor, strong memory and a general gain in efficiency -are among the many benefits reported. Get rid of that nervous feeling; -no more need of pipe, cigar, cigarette, snuff or chewing tobacco to -pacify morbid desire. - - - - - The Nick Carter Stories - - - ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY - BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS - -When it comes to detective stories worth while, the Nick Carter Stories -contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn -tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest -minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar -all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in -twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of -time so well as those contained in the Nick Carter Stories. It proves -conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of -the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt -of the price in money or postage stamps. - - 700—The Garnet Gauntlet. - 701—The Silver Hair Mystery. - 702—The Cloak of Guilt. - 703—A Battle for a Million. - 704—Written in Red. - 707—Rogues of the Air. - 709—The Bolt from the Blue. - 710—The Stockbridge Affair. - 711—A Secret from the Past. - 712—Playing the Last Hand. - 713—A Slick Article. - 714—The Taxicab Riddle. - 715—The Knife Thrower. - 717—The Master Rogue’s Alibi. - 719—The Dead Letter. - 720—The Allerton Millions. - 728—The Mummy’s Head. - 729—The Statue Clue. - 730—The Torn Card. - 731—Under Desperation’s Spur. - 732—The Connecting Link. - 733—The Abduction Syndicate. - 736—The Toils of a Siren. - 737—The Mark of a Circle. - 738—A Plot Within a Plot. - 739—The Dead Accomplice. - 741—The Green Scarab. - 743—A Shot in the Dark. - 746—The Secret Entrance. - 747—The Cavern Mystery. - 748—The Disappearing Fortune. - 749—A Voice from the Past. - 752—The Spider’s Web. - 753—The Man With a Crutch. - 754—The Rajah’s Regalia. - 755—Saved from Death. - 756—The Man Inside. - 757—Out for Vengeance. - 758—The Poisons of Exili. - 759—The Antique Vial. - 760—The House of Slumber. - 761—A Double Identity. - 762—“The Mocker’s” Stratagem. - 763—The Man that Came Back. - 764—The Tracks in the Snow. - 765—The Babbington Case. - 766—The Masters of Millions. - 767—The Blue Stain. - 768—The Lost Clew. - 770—The Turn of a Card. - 771—A Message in the Dust. - 772—A Royal Flush. - 774—The Great Buddha Beryl. - 775—The Vanishing Heiress. - 776—The Unfinished Letter. - 777—A Difficult Trail. - 778—A Six-word Puzzle. - 782—A Woman’s Stratagem. - 783—The Cliff Castle Affair. - 784—A Prisoner of the Tomb. - 785—A Resourceful Foe. - 786—The Heir of Dr. Quartz. - 787—Dr. Quartz, the Second. - 789—The Great Hotel Tragedies. - 790—Zanoni, the Witch. - 791—A Vengeful Sorceress. - 794—Doctor Quartz’s Last Play. - 795—Zanoni, the Transfigured. - 796—The Lure of Gold. - 797—The Man With a Chest. - 798—A Shadowed Life. - 799—The Secret Agent. - 800—A Plot for a Crown. - 801—The Red Button. - 802—Up Against It. - 803—The Gold Certificate. - 804—Jack Wise’s Hurry Call. - 805—Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase. - 806—Nick Carter and the Broken Dagger. - 807—Nick Carter’s Advertisement. - 808—The Kregoff Necklace. - 809—The Footprints on the Rug. - 810—The Copper Cylinder. - 811—Nick Carter and the Nihilists. - 812—Nick Carter and the Convict Gang. - 813—Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor. - 814—The Triangled Coin. - 815—Ninety-nine—and One. - 816—Coin Number 77. - 817—In the Canadian Wilds. - 818—The Niagara Smugglers. - 819—The Man Hunt. - - - NEW SERIES - NICK CARTER STORIES - - 1—The Man from Nowhere. - 2—The Face at the Window. - 3—A Fight for a Million. - 4—Nick Carter’s Land Office. - 5—Nick Carter and the Professor. - 6—Nick Carter as a Mill Hand. - 7—A Single Clew. - 8—The Emerald Snake. - 9—The Currie Outfit. - 10—Nick Carter and the Kidnaped Heiress. - 11—Nick Carter Strikes Oil. - 12—Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure. - 13—A Mystery of the Highway. - 14—The Silent Passenger. - 15—Jack Dreen’s Secret. - 16—Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case. - 17—Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves. - 18—Nick Carter’s Auto Chase. - 19—The Corrigan Inheritance. - 20—The Keen Eye of Denton. - 21—The Spider’s Parlor. - 22—Nick Carter’s Quick Guess. - 23—Nick Carter and the Murderess. - 24—Nick Carter and the Pay Car. - 25—The Stolen Antique. - 26—The Crook League. - 27—An English Cracksman. - 28—Nick Carter’s Still Hunt. - 29—Nick Carter’s Electric Shock. - 30—Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess. - 31—The Purple Spot. - 32—The Stolen Groom. - 33—The Inverted Cross. - 34—Nick Carter and Keno McCall. - 35—Nick Carter’s Death Trap. - 36—Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle. - 37—The Man Outside. - 38—The Death Chamber. - 39—The Wind and the Wire. - 40—Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase. - 41—Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend. - 42—The Queen of the Seven. - 43—Crossed Wires. - 44—A Crimson Clew. - 45—The Third Man. - 46—The Sign of the Dagger. - 47—The Devil Worshipers. - 48—The Cross of Daggers. - 49—At Risk of Life. - 50—The Deeper Game. - 51—The Code Message. - 52—The Last of the Seven. - 53—Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful. - 54—The Secret Order of Associated Crooks. - 55—The Golden Hair Clew. - 56—Back From the Dead. - 57—Through Dark Ways. - 58—When Aces Were Trumps. - 59—The Gambler’s Last Hand. - 60—The Murder at Linden Fells. - 61—A Game for Millions. - 62—Under Cover. - 63—The Last Call. - 64—Mercedes Danton’s Double. - 65—The Millionaire’s Nemesis. - 66—A Princess of the Underworld. - 67—The Crook’s Blind. - 68—The Fatal Hour. - 69—Blood Money. - 70—A Queen of Her Kind. - 71—Isabel Benton’s Trump Card. - 72—A Princess of Hades. - 73—A Prince of Plotters. - 74—The Crook’s Double. - 75—For Life and Honor. - 76—A Compact With Dazaar. - 77—In the Shadow of Dazaar. - 78—The Crime of a Money King. - 79—Birds of Prey. - 80—The Unknown Dead. - 81—The Severed Hand. - 82—The Terrible Game of Millions. - 83—A Dead Man’s Power. - 84—The Secrets of an Old House. - 85—The Wolf Within. - 86—The Yellow Coupon. - 87—In the Toils. - 88—The Stolen Radium. - 89—A Crime in Paradise. - 90—Behind Prison Bars. - 91—The Blind Man’s Daughter. - 92—On the Brink of Ruin. - 93—Letter of Fire. - 94—The $100,000 Kiss. - 95—Outlaws of the Militia. - 96—The Opium-Runners. - 97—In Record Time. - 98—The Wag-Nuk Clew. - 99—The Middle Link. - 100—The Crystal Maze. - 101—A New Serpent in Eden. - 102—The Auburn Sensation. - 103—A Dying Chance. - 104—The Gargoni Girdle. - 105—Twice in Jeopardy. - 106—The Ghost Launch. - 107—Up in the Air. - 108—The Girl Prisoner. - 109—The Red Plague. - 110—The Arson Trust. - 111—The King of the Firebugs. - 112—“Lifter’s” of the Lofts. - 113—French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves. - 114—The Death Plot. - 115—The Evil Formula. - 116—The Blue Button. - 117—The Deadly Parallel. - 118—The Vivisectionists. - 119—The Stolen Brain. - 120—An Uncanny Revenge. - 121—The Call of Death. - 122—The Suicide. - 123—Half a Million Ransom. - 124—The Girl Kidnaper. - Dated January 30, 1915. - 125—The Pirate Yacht. - Dated February 6, 1915. - 126—The Crime of the White Hand. - Dated February 13, 1915. - 127—Found in the Jungle. - Dated February 20, 1915. - 128—Six Men in a Loop. - - PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. If you want any back numbers of our - weeklies and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be -obtained direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as money. - - - STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., NEW YORK CITY - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - -—Silently corrected a few typos. - -—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook - is public-domain in the country of publication. - -—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by - _underscores_. - -—Created a Table of Contents based on the chapter headings. - -—Note that this was published as a periodical and contains incomplete or - continued stories. - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO 131: MARCH -13, 1915 *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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