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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..645ac89 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69385 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69385) diff --git a/old/69385-0.txt b/old/69385-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 41c1511..0000000 --- a/old/69385-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5321 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No. 124, January -23, 1915; The girl kidnaper; or, Nick Carter's up-to-date clew., 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. 124, January 23, 1915; The girl kidnaper; - or, Nick Carter's up-to-date clew. - -Author: Nick Carter - -Editor: Chickering Carter - -Release Date: November 19, 2022 [eBook #69385] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David Edwards, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern - Illinois University Digital Library) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO. 124, -JANUARY 23, 1915; THE GIRL KIDNAPER; OR, NICK CARTER'S UP-TO-DATE -CLEW. *** - - - - - - 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. - 6 months $1.25 - One year 2.50 - 2 copies one year 4.00 - 1 copy two years 4.00 - -=How to Send Money=--By post-office or express money order, registered - letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by - currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. - -=Receipts=--Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of - number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly - credited, and should let us know at once. - - =No. 124.= NEW YORK, January 23, 1915. =Price Five Cents.= - - - [The cover names the book The Girl Kidnapper. The words kidnaped, kidnaper - and kidnaping are spelled with one p through out the eBook.--Ebook - transcriber's note.] - - - - - THE GIRL KIDNAPER; - - Or, NICK CARTER’S UP-TO-DATE CLEW. - - Edited by CHICKERING CARTER. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THROUGH LOCKED DOORS. - - -“The thing seems impossible!” - -“Yet it’s true.” - -“You mean to tell me that----” - -“I mean to tell you that Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich, who retired to -her room in this hotel last night at eleven o’clock, was not there this -morning when her maid went to call her, and that her doors were all -bolted and locked, with the keys inside.” - -“What about the windows?” - -“Mrs. van Dietrich’s rooms are on the fourth floor.” - -“Well?” - -“She did not jump out, Mallory, if that’s what you mean. They overlook -the sea, and there are jagged rocks immediately beneath her windows. She -would surely have been killed if she had gone that way. Anyhow, she is a -well-balanced woman, who enjoys life, and a multimillionaire. Why should -she commit suicide?” - -“I don’t know why she should, Savage. That’s nothing. Seventy-five out -of a hundred suicides seem to have no good reason behind them--until -investigation is made afterward.” - -“She did not jump out of the window, I tell you.” - -“Perhaps she fell out,” suggested Mallory, sticking to his guns. - -“She neither jumped nor fell out,” snapped the other. “The rocks would -tell the story if she had.” - -James Mallory and Paul Savage, proprietors of the new summer hotel, the -Amsterdam--situated on a picturesque promontory on the Delaware coast, -with the broad Atlantic stretching away from its very foundation -walls--faced each other blankly in their private office. - -It was well on in the morning, and two weeks after the opening of the -hotel, and judicious advertising had resulted in the house being -comfortably full already. The rooms--some single, but mostly en -suite--had been engaged largely in advance, and the guests were -practically all of the well-to-do class, with a fair sprinkling of very -wealthy. - -Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich was not the only multimillionaire, for -there were several others. - -Mallory was a stout, imposing-looking man, always immaculately attired, -and with a suave manner that had perhaps led in the first place to his -becoming a “promoter.” Assuredly it had helped him when fairly launched -in that interesting occupation. His very appearance was a guarantee that -the company he represented was sound and certain to pay healthy -dividends to the stockholders. - -Paul Savage, his partner, was a cadaverous individual, with many lines -about his lank jaw and the hunted look in his deep-set eyes which one -often sees in the hard-working business man, whose talent is mainly for -detail. - -The two men had been associated in various schemes for years. Some of -them had turned out well, while others had not. Now they had plunged on -this hotel scheme, got a company behind them, and were hoping that, when -the time came for them to “unload,” they would find themselves with -enough money to rest on their oars while selecting some new enterprise, -which would promise even better than this. - -On this morning, Mallory had been sitting behind his desk, swelling with -satisfaction as he figured on the profits that would result from the -guests who already were in the house, if they stayed a week or two -longer, without counting others that might come. - -He had just been reading a letter he had received a week ago from a -certain Baroness Latour, who had engaged a suite of rooms, insisting -that they must look out over the sea. The price was not so much an -object, as her having pleasant rooms, with a clear ocean view. - -“Well,” Mallory had muttered, “the baroness has rooms right over the -cliff. That ought to suit her. I hope she slept well last night. There -is a clear drop from her window of forty-five feet to the water, at -least. The waves wash against the wall of the house on that side.” - -He had got to this stage of his musings when Paul Savage burst in with -the news that Mrs. van Dietrich had disappeared in so inexplicable a way -from her apartments. - -How a rather large lady, of dignified aspect and deliberate movement, -could have been spirited from her bed and carried out of the house, -without anybody being aware of it, was something that neither of the -partners could comprehend. - -“If her doors had been unfastened,” grunted Savage, “there might have -been some explanation. But all of them are locked and bolted within.” - -“She’d gone to bed, you say?” - -“So her maid says. But she had dressed herself before she went away.” - -“That shows she wasn’t kidnaped,” remarked Mallory. - -“It doesn’t show anything,” rejoined Savage. “How do you account for the -doors being fastened inside, with the keys left in the locks in the -rooms? You don’t suppose a lady leaving her rooms would have somebody -inside to bolt and lock the doors and then get out of the window in a -flying machine, do you?” - -“Where is the maid?” asked Mallory. - -“In hysterics in the housekeeper’s room,” was the disgusted reply. “She -and the housekeeper got in with the housekeeper’s master key, and after -one look at Mrs. van Dietrich’s bed, the girl darted at her employer’s -trunks, of which she had the keys, and searched through them. All the -jewelry was gone.” - -“H’m! Perhaps the maid----” - -“She had never left her own room from the time she went there, after -putting her mistress to bed, until she went to call Mrs. van Dietrich -this morning. We have the testimony of the maid who shares the room with -her for that. This maid was awake with the toothache, practically all -night, and she knows the other one never left the room.” - -“Have you done anything about it?” asked Mallory. - -“Yes,” was the reply. “I heard about this thing two hours ago.” - -“You did? Why didn’t you tell me?” - -“What would have been the use? I thought I might find out, by quiet -investigation, before I came to you. Only the housekeeper and the maid, -Mary Cook, know Mrs. van Dietrich is gone. After ten minutes’ inquiry -and examination, I decided it was too much for us alone, and I wired to -New York for Nicholas Carter.” - -“The big detective, eh? That was a good move, Paul. I only hope he’ll -come. What did you say in the message?” - -“Told him an important case was here for him, and that we would pay any -fee. He could name his own figure. But it was urgent, and would he come -at once?” - -“Two hours since you sent that to him in New York?” - -“A little more than two hours. But I’ve had no answer. If he’d start at -once, he could be here by evening.” - -“Perhaps he isn’t at home.” - -“That’s what I’m afraid of. He’s the only man I can think of who would -be likely to make anything of this. It’s too much for the average -policeman. Indeed----” - -A rap at the door of the office made Paul Savage step to the door with -an irritable wrinkling upon his lean face of a score of lines which had -not been there before, while James Mallory growled from behind his desk. - -“Oh, Colonel Pearson?” ejaculated Savage, with forced toleration, as he -found himself face to face with one of the house’s guests. “Is there -anything----” - -Colonel Pearson was a cleanly built, soldierly looking man, with broad -shoulders and a remarkably keen face. The dark eyes had a way of looking -through anybody on whom they rested. At least, that was the conclusion -to which Paul Savage had come. He was in summer attire, and had the calm -insouciance of the wealthy man of leisure. - -“I have received a telegram,” remarked the colonel, holding up a -crumpled yellow paper. “It has only just got to me. I came at once to -see what it was all about.” - -“Telegram? I have only sent one since I have been here, and that was to -a person in New York.” - -The colonel smiled. - -“Exactly. You sent it to a person who was supposed to be in New York. -But it happens that he was much nearer.” - -“I don’t understand,” faltered Savage. - -“I don’t, either,” added Mallory, who had been sitting behind his desk, -listening in bewilderment. “Do you know anything about that person, -Colonel Pearson?” - -“If you will permit me to close the door,” was the response, “I will -tell you.” - -He shut the door and slipped the bolt into place. Then, as he approached -the desk to which Paul Savage had retreated, as if seeking the moral -support of his partner, he said quietly: - -“You telegraphed Nicholas Carter, at his home in Madison Avenue, New -York, to come here quickly, on an important case. That is how this -telegram reads,” he adds, as he smoothed out the yellow paper and looked -at it. “I have only to say that, though I chose to be known here as -Colonel Pearson, since I came to enjoy a short vacation, my real name is -Nicholas Carter, and I live in Madison Avenue, New York.” - -“You Nicholas Carter?” gasped Savage. “Why, I thought Carter was an -altogether different sort of man.” - -“I understand,” laughed Nick. “You did not bargain for my being here, in -light clothes and white canvas shoes, with a golf club in my hand. It -did not occur to you that I might be an everyday man. You thought that, -as a detective, I should wear a lowering look and salute you with a -mysterious ‘Hist!’ when you opened the door just now.” - -“Not exactly, but----” - -“Yet a detective must be allowed his play time, like any other man,” -continued Nick. “I have just been playing golf with the Baroness Latour. -She is an early riser, as I am, and when I chanced to meet her on the -links, we agreed to play together, instead of singly. So we have done -nine holes. It was a drawn game. Here is your telegram. It was -redirected to me, in my assumed name of Colonel Pearson, to this hotel, -as you see, by my assistant.” - -Paul Savage continued to look steadily at the calm face of the -detective, as if not quite satisfied. But Mallory broke in, with an -impatient grunt: - -“Of course, you have no idea what induced us to send for you, Mr. -Carter?” - -“It has to do with the disappearance of Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich, -has it not?” - -“Why, how did you know?” demanded Savage. “Not a word has been said -about it outside of this office and the housekeeper’s room. We have been -very careful to keep any inkling of the affair from our guests.” - -The detective glanced at him quickly, and there was a narrowing of the -dark eyes which told of swift thinking. - -“Indeed? Are you sure nothing has got out about it?” he asked. - -“Quite. There are four persons who know about Mrs. van Dietrich’s -disappearance: My partner, Mr. Mallory, the housekeeper, and Mrs. van -Dietrich’s maid. That is all. Well, there is one more--yourself, of -course. We did not know that you had found it out. We don’t understand -how you did it, either.” - -“Well, I prefer not to tell you that just now,” answered Nick Carter. -“That is, if you desire me to take this case.” - -“We most certainly do,” declared Paul Savage earnestly. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -BITS OF EVIDENCE. - - -“Sit down, won’t you, Mr. Carter?” - -James Mallory, who had been so interested in gazing at the great -detective as to forget the ordinary amenities, offered this invitation. -Getting up from his own chair behind the flat-topped desk, he placed one -for the visitor, with a propitiatory smile. - -“Now, what is the first move, Mr. Carter?” asked Paul Savage, as they -settled down. - -“Let me go over the particulars, as they have come to me,” replied Nick. -“We will see if they agree with the information you have.” - -“Good idea!” commended Mallory. - -“To begin with, Mrs. van Dietrich was put to bed by her maid, Mary Cook, -about eleven o’clock last night. The maid sleeps on the sixth floor, at -the top of the house. Mrs. van Dietrich’s three rooms and bath are on -the fourth.” - -“That’s correct,” nodded Savage. - -“At eight o’clock this morning, Mary Cook went to awaken her employer, -according to her custom. She could not make the lady hear, and she got -scared. So she went to the housekeeper, Mrs. Joyce, and told her she was -afraid Mrs. van Dietrich was sick. Mrs. Joyce went with her, and, with -her master key, unlocked the door, and, also, with another key, shot -back the bolt.” - -“That’s the way I got it,” breathed Paul Savage. “Though how you managed -to get it so exact----” - -“When the two women went into the room, they found the bed had been -slept in, and Mrs. van Dietrich’s nightgown had been thrown carelessly -across it. The windows were closed, except for a few inches at the top, -for ventilation. This was the case in all three rooms, and the -ventilator in the bathroom was open, as usual.” - -“There were no signs of a struggle,” remarked Savage. - -“So I understand,” assented Nick. “Another thing is that the clothes -which Mrs. van Dietrich wore the day before went with her. She must have -dressed herself--or been dressed by somebody else--before going away.” - -“That is all true, as I got it,” observed Paul Savage. “But there is -another point, which you have not mentioned.” - -“And that is----” - -“All the jewelry in her trunks was taken out, although the trunks were -locked when the maid examined them this morning. The girl had the keys.” - -“Oh, she had?” - -The intonation with which the detective made this remark caused Savage -to shake his head decidedly. - -“I understand,” went on Nick. “You mean there is no suspicion attaching -to the maid? Well, I am of the same opinion. You have not been able to -find the slightest clew, have you?” - -“None.” - -“Have any of the guests left the hotel this morning? I mean, left -altogether?” - -“No. All of them will stay with us for several days, at least, so I -expect. They are here to enjoy the quietude and beauty of the place. -They are not transients, such as you find in city hotels.” - -“None of them have given notice to leave, have they?” continued Nick, -disregarding the encomium on the hotel and its surroundings. - -“I don’t think so. Are there any, Mallory?” asked Savage, turning to his -partner. - -“I haven’t heard of any. I’ll ask the clerk, if you like. The phone is -right here,” replied Mallory, laying a hand upon his desk telephone. - -“That is not necessary,” declared the detective. “I have already asked -him. I came through the office to this room, and I picked up what -information I could on the way.” - -“You’re a pretty good picker, too, I should say,” remarked Mallory, with -a grin. “You seem to know about all we have found out.” - -“If any of the guests say they are going to leave, I wish you’d let me -know at once,” requested Nick, as he got up from his chair. “I’ll go and -send a telegram to New York. Then I should like to look at Mrs. van -Dietrich’s rooms. They haven’t been disturbed, I hope.” - -“No. I gave orders that no one should go into them after the maid had -looked at the trunks. Mrs. Joyce has her own keys, and she has fastened -all the doors as they were before, except that she had to knock out one -of the keys that had been left in the bedroom door, so that she could -put in her own.” - -“That’s good. I’ll send a message by telephone to the telegraph office -at Dorset, from one of the booths in the lobby. I’ll be right back.” - -The detective telephoned the message, as he had said, directed to his -assistant Chick, in Madison Avenue, New York. He told Chick to come down -to the Hotel Amsterdam at once, and to bring the bloodhound, -Captain--which had done so much effective police work for them at -various times--with him. - -Nick Carter knew perfectly well that Mallory, or Savage, had taken the -receiver off the hook in their office, and were listening to him over -the wire. - -That did not disturb him. He had rather expected it, and his object in -telegraphing from the booth, instead of from their office, as he might -have done, was to satisfy himself that they would descend to the -meanness of “listening in” to a private message. - -He strolled back to their office when he had dispatched his telegram, -and when the door was opened, stood on the threshold with a smile as he -told them he was ready to go to the room of the vanished Mrs. van -Dietrich. - -“One moment,” he added, as they were about to come forth. “I should like -to say something to you with the door closed.” - -He stepped into the office, closing the door behind him, and said, in an -earnest whisper: - -“Let me impress one thing upon you, gentlemen. I understand that you are -anxious to keep any knowledge of this strange disappearance from your -patrons, and also that you would not like it in the newspapers?” - -“The newspapers?” fairly shrieked James Mallory. “That would settle us. -I believe if I saw a reporter around this hotel, I would fling him out -of the window into the sea. And, of course, we must not let our guests -know. It would give the hotel a fearful black eye--although it is no -fault of ours.” - -“Very well,” observed Nick. “Then be careful that no one suspects my -identity. I am Colonel Pearson, remember. If any one outside of -yourselves were to know who I am, there would be no use my going on with -the case.” - -“You can depend on us keeping it a secret,” asserted Savage promptly. -“We are too anxious for you to solve the mystery to throw any obstacles -in your way.” - -“That’s what!” added Mallory. “What do you think of it all?” - -“We have seen the effect,” returned Nick, “and we know that it must have -a cause.” - -“That’s all right. But what is the cause?” growled Savage. - -“The cause is never less than the effect,” continued the detective. -“Therefore, arguing by the importance of the effect, we must look for a -fairly powerful cause. Now, let’s go up to the fourth floor.” - -The elevator man evidently had not heard of anything unusual in the -hotel, for he merely glanced at the two partners and the gentleman he -had come to know as Colonel Pearson, and when he was told to let them -off at the fourth floor, he did so without emotion. - -“That’s good,” remarked Nick, as they walked along the thickly carpeted -corridor. “I can see that the incident concerning Mrs. van D. has not -become common property. Is this the door?” - -Savage nodded and opened a door with his master key, ushered them into a -sitting room, and closed the door behind them. - -Nick Carter walked on to the bedroom, and after a cursory glance at the -bed, went to the window. - -Drawing from his pocket a powerful magnifying glass, he proceeded to -examine every inch of the window sill, working in a series of imaginary -squares. - -The two partners watched him curiously, but he took no notice of them. -When he had finished his minute inspection of the sill and frame, he -threw up the window and leaned out. - -“You have made careful examination of the rocks under this window, I -presume?” he asked. - -“Yes. We have gone over them thoroughly,” replied Savage. “There is -nothing there.” - -“Ah! Whose rooms are those that overlook the water on this same floor? I -see there is no shore or rocks at all there. The house seems to have -been built straight out of the sea.” - -James Mallory walked to the window and looked out. He shook his head. - -“Come over here, Savage,” he said. “I don’t know what rooms they are. -You know, don’t you?” - -“Yes,” answered his partner, putting out his head and looking along the -rows of windows. “That window, where the curtain is blowing out, and the -next one, are number forty-eight. A lady occupies the suite. Let me see! -Oh, yes! the Baroness Latour.” - -“Indeed?” remarked Nick Carter carelessly. “She’s a very charming young -lady. We were playing golf together this morning, as I told you. Now, -let me have a look at this room door.” - -Turning the key, he swung the door open a few inches. - -“You’d better stand outside, Mr. Mallory,” he suggested. “If anybody -comes along and seems curious, you can say that I am repairing the lock. -Tell them that Colonel Pearson makes a hobby of this sort of thing. I’ll -keep out of sight as much as possible, however.” - -Nick pushed the door nearly shut, and kneeling inside the room, he drew -out the key and inspected it closely through his magnifying glass. Then -he examined the bolt and keyhole, and kept at it for ten minutes. - -“Come in, Mr. Mallory,” he requested, through the narrow opening between -the door and the jamb. “I’m through with the door for the present.” - -To the surprise of both partners, he dropped to his knees, and, with the -aid of his glass, began to go over the carpet in a series of imaginary -squares, just as he had done at the window. - -It was half an hour before he had finished this task. By that time he -was under an electric light which hung near the bed, for the convenience -of guests who might like to read after retiring. - -A gas jet protruded from the wall near it. Here Nick picked up the -burned end of a wax match. - -He seemed to attach some importance to this trifle, for he arose to his -feet with the fragment of match in his hand and asked the partners: - -“What kind of matches do you provide in this hotel?” - -“Why--er--just the ordinary wood safety matches, with the name of the -hotel on the box. They are put in every room, for the use of smokers, -and also to light the gas when a guest does not want to use the electric -light. Some people like a lowered gas jet in the room all night, you -know.” - -“Do you use wax matches at all?” - -Mallory shook his head and turned to Savage, who, as already remarked, -was the detail man of the concern. - -“Have we any of those matches, Savage?” - -“None in the house, that I know of,” was the short reply. “Have you -found out anything, Mr. Carter?” - -“Nothing that I can report, Mr. Savage,” Nick answered. “It is too early -to say one thing or another yet. I will say, however, that, in my -opinion, the person responsible for the vanishing of Mrs. van Dietrich -is living in the hotel.” - -“A servant?” asked Mallory anxiously. - -“That remains to be seen,” returned the detective, with a shrug. “It is -also certain that there are accomplices on the outside. I will go to my -room and think things over. After luncheon I will go into the case -further. If anything comes to your knowledge that seems likely to be -useful, you will find me in my room. Keep up your nerve, gentlemen, and, -above all things, keep your own counsel. Strict secrecy, remember.” - -Once in his own room, Nick Carter lighted one of his favorite perfectos, -of which he had brought a box with him, and settled down to think over -the mystery that had so unexpectedly faced him in a place where he might -have supposed he could rest and enjoy a vacation in peace. - -He smoked in silence for an hour, with the key of Mrs. van Dietrich’s -bedroom and the half-burned wax match in his fingers. He examined them -alternately through the magnifying glass and tried to build a hypothesis -on either one or the other, or both. - -Suddenly there was a sharp rap at his door. As he opened it, James -Mallory stepped inside and stared at him with blinking eyes, while his -heavy cheeks, usually beet red, were a yellowish white. - -“What’s the matter?” demanded Nick Carter sharply. - -“More trouble!” blurted out Mallory. “It seems as if the foul fiend -himself is taking a hand in running this hotel.” - -“Never mind about that!” interrupted the detective impatiently. “What is -the specific trouble now?” - -“Another of our guests has mysteriously disappeared,” wailed Mallory. -“Mr. Harvey L. Drago, the big Wall Street banker.” - -“Disappeared?” cried Nick Carter. “How? From his bedroom?” - -“No. From the golf links!” - -“That so? This is getting interesting,” observed Nick. “Sit down and -tell me all about it, Mr. Mallory.” - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -LONG-DISTANCE OBSERVATIONS. - - -Accepting the cigar that Nick Carter offered by pushing the box toward -him on the table, James Mallory bit off the end in a distracted way, but -did not light it. Instead, he used the unlighted cigar to emphasize the -points of his narration by waving it about as he talked. - -“Mr. Drago is one of the most influential men we have,” he began. “He is -very wealthy, and he is a free spender. Then he is not old, and he is -the sort of man who starts things in a social way and keeps them going -afterward. You know how I mean, Mr. Carter?” - -“Yes. Go on.” - -“He went out to the golf links early this morning, saying he would be -back for luncheon about twelve. He did not come, and we sent a boy over -to the links to see why. The caddie says Mr. Drago left the links about -eleven. He was going to walk back to the hotel by way of the beach. That -is two hours ago. We can’t find the slightest trace of him.” - -“Strange!” murmured Nick. - -“It will be ruin for us, Mr. Carter,” declared Mallory. “Can’t you do -something?” - -“You have told me all you know? Isn’t there anything else you’ve -discovered which might serve as a clew?” - -“Not a thing. Mr. Drago walked through the lobby this morning, pleasant, -as usual. He spoke to two or three people as he went along. I was one of -them, as a matter of fact. He seemed to be in good spirits, and he said -he intended to play the whole eighteen holes.” - -“And that’s the last you saw of him? Was any one else playing this -morning?” - -“Several. They saw him make the whole round, and the caddie says he was -in good form, and played a fine game. I don’t know what his score was, -exactly. I believe the caddie said he did it in----” - -“Never mind about that,” laughed Nick. “That wouldn’t help me to trace -him. What I want to get at is how he came to be kidnaped in broad -daylight. This is as queer as the Mrs. van Dietrich case. I’ll go down -to lunch, and take up the whole matter afterward.” - -He slipped a pair of powerful field glasses into a pocket, and went down -with Mallory. - -Paul Savage was at the foot of the elevator, but the detective put him -off as he was beginning to whisper a long story of woe into his ears, by -telling him that he knew all about it. - -“I’ll tell you when I learn something,” he added, turning away to enter -the ornate restaurant. - -His luncheon over--and the detective disposed of a good one, as a matter -of principle--Nick strode out to the golf links and got hold of the -caddie who had been with Drago. - -The links were a mile from the hotel. - -Nothing more was to be learned from the caddie than the detective -already knew. So he took a pathway which ran through a wood, coming out -on the sandy beach, edged by rocks. - -Coming to a bit of rising ground, Nick stood there and surveyed the -prospect. He was thinking all the time. Much as he admired beautiful -scenery for its own sake, he would not have stopped now to look around -had he not had some ulterior object. - -The really fine links stretched behind him, the clubhouse showing above -trees in the distance. On the right were the woods, with the hotel -towering on the edge of the cliff, three-quarters of a mile away. To the -left were other woods, and in front rolled the blue waters, with the -white-capped surf, of the Atlantic Ocean. - -In the great curving bay, immediately in front of the hotel, but some -distance out, was a steam yacht, her white hull and plentiful brasswork -gleaming in the bright sunshine. - -Nick Carter stood in deep thought for several minutes. After discarding -the possibility of Drago having been spirited away in a motor car, for -the simple reason that the only approach to the sea path, which the -missing man had taken, was by way of the links, where a machine must -have been seen, the detective sought another explanation. - -“There are two ways in which it might be done,” he mused. “A man might -be waylaid in the shelter of the woods and carried through them to the -main road. Another way--and perhaps the most likely--would be by the -sea. You can’t see the beach from here on account of the rocks. A boat -could sneak up and get away without being seen by any one on shore.” - -It seemed to Nick that either of these two methods must have been -employed, and he was trying to settle in his own mind which one was the -more likely, when his gaze fell upon the yacht out in the bay. - -He had noticed it many times before. But now it took on a new -significance in the light of the theory he had formed with regard to -Harvey L. Drago’s disappearance. - -“What’s that yacht doing out there?” he muttered. “Who is her owner? Any -one living in the hotel? That seems likely, although she was there when -I came here, day before yesterday. I don’t remember to have seen any -communication with her from the shore. She may only have put in there -for shelter, or repairs.” - -The detective was a yachtsman himself, and took a deep interest in all -kinds of craft. Dropping behind a bush and lying almost at full length, -he trained his field glasses on the yacht. - -With the eye of a sailor, as well as of a keen investigator, he studied -the graceful vessel thoroughly from bow to stern, and from water line to -the tops of tapering masts and white smokestack. - -“She looks familiar to me in a general way,” he reflected. “There is -something about her general lines that I seem to recognize. But I can’t -identify her as any boat I know. I’ll ask at the hotel. Somebody there -may know something about her. Of course, it is not remarkable for a -pleasure boat to be anchored in a beautiful bay like this. Still, no -harm will be done by my asking.” - -He got up and climbed slowly to the little eminence whereon he had stood -before, as a new idea came to him. Having reached the top of the small, -spreading hill, he dropped flat upon the ground, the field glasses in -his fingers. - -“If I am not mistaken,” was his inward remark, “I can see the hotel well -from here with the glasses. I’ll take a squint at that little cove under -the windows of the room occupied by the baroness. From here it looks as -if they must be nearly in line with the yacht. That may not mean -anything--but then, again, it may.” - -Nick Carter swept the glasses over the cove. Then he gradually brought -them to bear on the windows of the rooms occupied by Mrs. de Puyster van -Dietrich until she departed into the unknown so strangely. - -He allowed his glasses to wander from room to room and from floor to -floor, until they finally came to rest on the window of the sitting room -belonging to the dashing young lady with whom he had played golf that -morning--the Baroness Latour. - -Nothing at this window interested him, and he was just about to return -to his scrutiny of the cove, when he saw a woman come forward in the -room and throw up the sash. It was the baroness. - -“I don’t blame her for opening her window on such a beautiful -afternoon,” thought Carter. “The peculiar thing is that she should have -had it closed at all. Hello! What’s she doing now?” - -Baroness Latour--looking more charming than ever, Nick thought, in her -afternoon gown--had disappeared from the window. Now she returned with a -peculiar-looking box in her hands. - -She settled it firmly on the window sill, and as she did so, the puzzled -frown that had wrinkled up the forehead of the detective passed away. He -saw what the box really was. - -“Great Scott!” came from his lips, in an excited whisper. “What does the -Baroness Latour want with a wireless telephone? Who is she talking to? -The only thing I can see in line with her is the yacht. Is it possible -that she is having a conversation with somebody on board? If so, why? -That’s the question--why?” - -He settled himself to gaze through his glasses more at his ease, as well -as to make sure he was right as to the nature of the box on the -baroness’ window sill. - -“It strikes me, my charming friend, that you may be here for some other -purpose than to play golf and take part in the evening ‘hops’ in the -hotel. Your actions at the window are unusual enough to make me -curious, at all events. I’ll telegraph to New York for my own wireless -telephone. Signor Marconi may be just as useful to me as to you, with -this new and wonderful invention of his. Meanwhile, since we have -already made acquaintance with each other, I shall venture to ask you to -dine with me this evening. If you decline--well, I must hit on something -else.” - -The baroness removed the machine from her window at this instant, and -pulled down the sash. - -Nick Carter got to his feet, and strolled thoughtfully back to the -hotel. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -A DINNER WITH NICK CARTER. - - -The Baroness Latour sat at a little writing table behind the lace -curtains in her sitting room, making notes in a dainty memorandum book. -Occasionally she peered through the fine web of the curtain at the -handsome white yacht gently rising and falling on the swell in the bay. - -A knock at the door, and her maid took a note from a bell boy and handed -it to the baroness. - -“The boy is waiting for an answer,” said the maid. - -“Very well, Florine. I’ll see what it is.” - -The baroness started with uncontrollable astonishment when she found -that the letter was a respectful request from Colonel Pearson that she -would give him the pleasure of dining at his table that evening. - -“Well, who would have thought this?” she murmured. “Colonel Pearson, eh? -Indeed, I’ll dine with him.” - -She wrote a note of acceptance in a firm, but entirely feminine hand, -and sealed the envelope with golden wax, stamped with a large “L.” - -“I rather think that ‘L’ is convincing,” she said to herself, with a -smile, as she handed the letter to Florine, to give to the waiting bell -boy. - -“Keep the doors closed, Florine,” she ordered. “You can stay in the -room. Give me that telephone instrument.” - -With Florine’s assistance, she placed the wireless-telephone apparatus -again on the sill, and, after a few moments of ineffective endeavor, got -a ticking that told her she was in communication with the yacht which -had awakened so much curiosity in Nick Carter. - -Her conversation was very brief, but she contrived to give orders in a -few words, which, under certain conditions, would carry out some very -important work. - -“There, Mr. Nicholas Carter!” she murmured, as she motioned to Florine -to help her in removing the apparatus from the window. “I don’t know how -you have grown suspicious. But I can’t explain your invitation on any -other supposition. If you are not suspicious, nothing will happen. If -you are--well, we shall see.” - -Among the well-dressed women who dined in the brilliantly lighted -restaurant of the Hotel Amsterdam that evening, there was none more -strikingly beautiful or aristocratic than the Baroness Latour. - -Her costume was the last word in fashion and costly material, and she -wore it like a queen. Her jewelry was dazzling. - -Sitting opposite, at the small table set for two, was Nick Carter. His -strong, grave face, lighted up by those wonderful dark eyes of his, made -him, in his correct evening dress, an effective foil to the radiant -beauty of the fair young woman who was his guest. - -As a thorough man of the world, Nick Carter knew how to order a dinner, -and the waiter looked at him in profound respect when he had the list of -dishes on his slip. - -It will have been gathered that the Baroness Latour was not exactly what -she appeared to be. In fact, she had considered it necessary to change -her personal aspect long before she came to the Amsterdam and found that -Nick Carter, under the name and title of Colonel Pearson, was a guest. - -The name she had assumed was not that by which the detective had known -her a year or so before. - -For weeks she had been slowly and systematically disguising herself, and -she had done it more effectively than would be thought possible by a -person who did not appreciate what can be done with cosmetics, -instruments, and lotions in these days. - -A “beauty doctor” would have gone into transports over her artistic -achievements in this way. - -Paraffin injections had changed the contour of her whole face, and the -shape of her hands had been modified by the same means. Her heavy coils -of bronze hair had become dark brown, and she had even practiced -speaking in a different cadence, to hide her ordinary tones. - -The perfection of the disguise can be understood when it is said that -Nick Carter had known the baroness very well under a different name, and -would have recognized her instantly had not her real personality been -absolutely concealed. - -He had learned from Mallory that the baroness had engaged her rooms by -telegraph from New Orleans, and that she had particularly stipulated -that they should overlook the ocean. - -Why had she been so insistent on this, and what had she been doing with -that wireless telephone on the window sill? - -The dinner over, Nick asked if she would accept a cigarette, at the same -time offering his cigarette case. - -“Thank you,” she replied sweetly. “I will smoke, but I prefer my own -cigarettes, if you will permit me.” - -Nick bowed, and drawing forth a cigarette for himself, looked for a -match. - -“Confound that waiter!” he exclaimed. “There are no matches on the -table, and I don’t believe I have one in my pocket.” - -“I have some,” smiled the baroness, who had been taking a costly, -gold-tipped Turkish cigarette from a gold case. “Here!” - -She took from her chatelaine a small gold match box--a companion piece -to the cigarette case--and pressing open the cover, offered it to the -detective. - -He saw, as he took one of the wax matches in his fingers, that it was an -exact duplicate of the burned match he had picked up in the bedroom of -Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich that morning. - -Wax matches generally are more or less alike, but these were much -thicker than most of them. - -He was obliged to drop his eyes to veil the gleam of excitement in them. -Then, coolly striking the match, he held it until the baroness’ -cigarette was going. - -When he lighted his own, he blew out the match and dropped it carelessly -to the floor at his feet. - -“May I take a match or two from your box, in case of emergency, until I -get some,” he asked, smiling. Then, as she nodded assent, he continued: -“When am I to have the pleasure of another round with you on the links?” - -The baroness laughed gleefully, and she answered his questions by asking -another: - -“Do you do everything as seriously as you play golf, Colonel Pearson?” - -“I suppose so,” smiled Nick. “It always seems to me that anything worth -doing at all should be taken up earnestly.” - -“I believe that, too,” she returned, still laughing. “I was only -thinking that it was not unusual for you to find yourself pitted against -women. Judging by the way you played this morning, I should say you -respect the prowess of my sex, no matter how poorly they may play.” - -“You are right, baroness,” admitted the detective. “I have played the -game very often against women.” - -“And do you always win?” - -“Is that a fair question?” - -“I was curious to know.” - -“I did not win this morning.” - -“But you didn’t lose,” she rejoined quickly. “So there is neither -decided so far.” - -“Perhaps we’d better leave it to the next game we shall play against -each other,” suggested Nick, with a peculiar smile. - -“Yes,” she assented gayly. “The next game we shall play. Do you think -you will win that game, Colonel Pearson?” - -“If I do, it won’t be for lack of a worthy adversary,” he replied, with -a deep bow. - -They chatted about golf and other things for another half hour. Then the -baroness, after thanking “the colonel” for the pleasant evening he had -afforded her, arose to go to her room. - -Nick Carter accompanied her to the elevator. When the car had shot -upward, he hurried back to the table where they had been sitting in the -restaurant and picked up the half-burned wax match he had dropped after -lighting his cigarette. - -As he slipped the match into his waistcoat pocket, to keep company with -the other two whole matches he had borrowed from Baroness Latour’s gold -match box, he ran against James Mallory in the lobby. - -“Can I have your head porter for an hour or two this evening, Mr. -Mallory?” asked the detective, in a low tone. “I’ve noticed him around -here. He’s the kind of husky chap I may need.” - -“Why, what----” - -“Never mind about talking it over, Mr. Mallory,” interrupted the -detective, with a protesting smile. “Can I have the man?” - -“Certainly! His name is Mike Corrigan. He is a good, dependable fellow, -and strong enough for anything you are likely to ask of him. Moreover, -he is not afraid of anything. If you will come to my office, I will have -him come there.” - -Mike Corrigan was quite willing to accompany Colonel Pearson anywhere, -and after a few minutes’ conversation, it was arranged that Mike was to -meet the detective in the lobby in fifteen minutes. - -“Put a coat on,” directed Nick. “Have you such a thing as a revolver?” - -“Never owned a gun in my life,” was Mike’s reply. - -“Never mind. I’ll bring one down for you. You can fire it off, I -suppose, if it should become necessary?” - -“I can that,” laughed Mike. “And swing a club, too.” - -At this moment two telegrams were handed to Nick Carter. One was from -his assistant, Chick, saying he was on his way to Delaware, with the -bloodhound, Captain, and the other came from Joseph, Nick Carter’s head -man-servant in his Madison Avenue home. This latter message read: - - “According your instructions, have sent black steel box labeled - number four on third shelf to left of door in laboratory.” - -The detective went up to his room and put on a serviceable business suit -in place of his evening clothes, with a warm cap that he could pull well -down over his eyes. He kicked off his light patent-leather pumps and -substituted a pair of heavy waterproof shoes. - -Finally he covered himself up in a long overcoat, in the pockets of -which he dropped two automatic pistols, fully charged. - -Before leaving his room he compared the wax matches he had got from the -baroness in the restaurant with the burned match he had picked up in -Mrs. van Dietrich’s room. They were the same kind exactly. - -“I see you’re there, all right, Mike,” he remarked cheerily, as the head -porter walked up to him in the lobby. “Wait a moment, while I go in to -see Mr. Mallory and Mr. Savage.” - -He found both partners in their office, and bringing out the burned wax -match, he said, in a businesslike, brief manner: - -“I should like you, please, to examine the baggage of Mrs. van Dietrich -and find out whether there are in it any wax matches like this. Also ask -her maid, Mary Cook, if she or Mrs. van D. ever used such matches.” - -“Very well,” answered Savage, picking up the burned match. “We will do -it, of course. But I don’t see the point.” - -“That makes no difference,” retorted Nick. “The point is important. Did -you find out anything at the railroad station this afternoon--whether -anybody from the hotel went away?” - -“Nobody has gone all day, except two people who live in the village, and -whom the station agent knows quite well. You see, this is only a branch, -which the railroad company ran up here for the benefit of our hotel, so -it is not used much except by patrons of our house.” - -“I see,” nodded Nick Carter. “Well, you may not see either Mike or me -until two or three o’clock in the morning. Good night!” - -“I hope you will find out something,” called out Mallory, as he went -out. - -“With ordinary luck, I hope to do so,” were Nick Carter’s parting words. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -AN EXPERIMENT IN CHEMISTRY. - - -“Florine!” said the Baroness Latour, as she entered her rooms after -dining with Nick Carter. “I am going to do a little chemistry work in -the bathroom. Of course, I am not at home to anybody. Some of those -people about the hotel are disposed to be friendly, but I can’t be -bothered with them to-night.” - -“Very well,” returned Florine. “Shall I help you change?” - -“Yes.” - -They retired to the baroness’ bedroom, and in ten minutes the baroness -came forth in a neat gingham gown. Over this she wore an apron of the -same material, but of darker pattern, that covered her completely. - -Florine knew just what to do for the experiments her employer was about -to make. - -From two large trunks which stood in her own room she took a small -electric stove, crucibles, retorts, and similar articles. Also a glass -table, which folded when packed away, but could be set up quite firmly -in a few minutes. It was the kind of table that is often used by -experimenting chemists. - -“That will do,” the baroness told her then. “You can stay out here, in -my sitting room. Remember that no one is to be allowed to come in until -I tell you.” - -She shut herself in the bathroom, the ground-glass window of which was -open a little at the top, and placed a crucible, containing some -colorless liquid, on the electric stove. - -She had connected the stove by wires to one of the electric fixtures, -after removing the bulb, and thus got all the power she required. - -Soon there came a slight hissing from the crucible. - -She darted over to it, and having put on a pair of asbestos gloves, -lifted the crucible to the glass table. - -Next, she adjusted an oxygen mask with a glass front, and, taking off -the asbestos gloves, replaced them with others of rubber. She knew well -the necessity of taking every precaution when experimenting with -dangerous elements. - -Taking a small bottle from a cabinet, which had been one of the articles -brought in by Florine, she poured half of the liquid in it into the -crucible. - -A violent agitation of the contents of the crucible caused her to leap -back hastily. It was evidently caused by mixing the two substances too -abruptly. - -Soon the disturbance in the crucible subsided. Then the baroness poured -the remainder of the stuff into the crucible, leaving the bottle--it was -really only a vial--absolutely empty. - -There was no further bubbling, but the mixture in the crucible, which -had been a dull blue, grew lighter and lighter in color, until it was a -very pale green, which in turn resolved itself into a sickly yellow. - -As the last tinge of green disappeared, the baroness took another vial -from the cabinet. This vial was filled with a liquid that looked like -water. - -She emptied it all into the crucible. - -The liquid immediately took on a rich amber hue. As it did so, she -hastily reached for a glass cover, with a small, funnellike hole in the -top. - -Over this hole she fitted a rubber tube, forcing the other end of the -tube tightly into a long, narrow bottle. - -Hardly had she secured the tube and lifted the bottle, when a heavy -vapor arose inside the crucible, easily visible through the glass top. - -The light vapor went swiftly through the tube, and the long glass bottle -could be seen filling. - -In five minutes the amber fluid had entirely disappeared from the -crucible, while the long bottle was full of vapor. - -“This is well,” muttered the baroness, as she watched the experiment -with intent eyes. “Everything is working out all right. Now for the next -stage.” - -Skillfully, she withdrew the tube from the bottle, and in its place -tightly inserted a stopper made of india rubber. The mixture she had -prepared with such care would have eaten through a cork in a few -minutes. - -Having progressed thus far, the baroness carefully placed the -glass-tubelike bottle in a steel case, padded inside, which had been -specially made for it. - -Screwing on the cap firmly, she laid the case on the glass table, and -stood thoughtfully regarding it for several seconds. - -“I’ll have to try its strength,” she decided, half aloud. “This is the -dangerous part of the experiment.” - -She brought forward a large bottle, on which was a bulb and spraying -contrivance carefully fitted to it. - -The ever-useful Florine had seen that the bottle was ready with the -other paraphernalia her employer would want. Florine knew nearly as much -about it all as the baroness herself. - -The baroness carefully sprayed the air of the bathroom, after closing -the window at the top. She wanted no outside atmosphere to interfere -with the test she was about to make. - -Now, for the first time, she removed the strange-looking mask she had -worn throughout her operations. It protected her lungs entirely from the -dangerous gases. There was always the possibility that they might -escape, in spite of all her care with the vessels she used. - -As she took off the mask, leaving her mouth exposed, her eyes dropped -heavily and her head swam. - -She stumbled slightly as she made her way to the ground-glass window and -pulled down the upper sash. - -The current of air revived her at once. - -She stood there for a few moments inhaling the pure sea atmosphere -luxuriously. - -“This shows it is a success,” she murmured. “I was so careful that -hardly a whiff of the gas could escape. Yet, even after spraying the -room as I did, it almost overcame me. It is better than the other stuff -I used, I am sure. I’ll put this to the proof to-night, if I get a -chance--and I think I shall.” - -Opening the window wider, she stood there, ruminating, a curious smile -on her beautiful young face. - -“Nicholas Carter! As if it would be possible for me not to know him -because he chooses to call himself Colonel Pearson and assumes an -indolent manner that is not his own at all! And I have been playing golf -and dining with him! Well, it is all in the game! He says himself he -does not know how our next game is to come out. We shall see.” - -She went out of the bathroom and told Florine to put everything away. - -This order was obeyed so thoroughly and swiftly, that in about five -minutes nothing was to be seen in the bathroom to suggest the experiment -just carried on. - -The open window had allowed the last breath of the noxious vapor to -escape, and none of the paraphernalia was in sight. - -The glass experimenting table had been folded up and put away, and the -electric stove, crucible, and retorts had gone with it, each being -packed away into its own particular recess in the trunks. - -Only the steel case--tubelike, as was the glass bottle of deadly vapor -inside--was placed in a black leather bag, which snapped shut with a -patent spring lock. - -This bag the baroness put into another trunk with her own hands. She -would not trust even Florine to do anything with the bottle in its steel -case. - -For two hours she sat in the darkness, peering out to sea, where the -lights of the yacht could be seen blinking uncertainly. - -She did not talk to her maid, although Florine was in the room, and, -although quite quiet, was wide awake. - -It seemed as if there must be something more than the ordinary relations -of mistress and maid between them, for Florine made no complaint of the -long vigil. Neither did the baroness take any notice of her, as she -might have done if there had been no mutual understanding. - -“Lock the door after me when I go out, Florine,” were the words with -which the Baroness Latour at last broke the silence. “And be ready to -let me in quickly when I return.” - -“Very well.” - -Florine made this response in a low, colorless voice. - -There was no surprise at the baroness going secretly from her rooms at -midnight, nor at her giving these orders about the door. - -It seemed as if she knew what her employer had in hand, and was in -thorough accord with the proceedings. - -The baroness had taken off the gingham gown she had worn in the -makeshift laboratory, and had replaced it with a house dress of costly -material, but which was made up rather plainly. - -Over this gown she slipped a voluminous black cloak. Then she went over -to the trunk in which she had placed the black bag, and drew the bag -forth. - -“The door is locked, Florine?” she asked, without turning her head. - -“Yes, my lady!” answered the maid, with a touch of mockery as she used -this form of address that is so uncommon in America. “I have just -looked, to make sure.” - -“Stand by it, in case of accidents,” ordered the baroness. - -Without speaking, Florine took her station at the door which led to the -outer corridor, although she knew such a precaution was unnecessary. - -The baroness took from the bag the steel case into which she had packed -the glass cylinder containing the powerful vapor she had produced in the -bathroom. - -Unscrewing the cap of the case, she drew out the glass cylinder, and, -holding it carefully in her left hand, reached again into the bag with -her right. - -This time she brought out a diminutive rubber bulb, attached to a -syringe with a thin, hollow, threaded screw on the bottom. - -Carefully she sent the screw through the center of the rubber cork in -the glass cylinder. When this had been accomplished, she concealed the -cylinder in the wide sleeve of her cloak. - -“Open the door, Florine! And close it as soon as I am outside.” - -“Ready?” asked Florine, as she glided, soft-footed as a cat, to the -door, and stood there with her hand upon the key. - -“Yes.” - -All this was said in the same low, but distinct tones in which the -baroness and her maid had communicated with each other ever since the -former had come in after dining with Nick Carter. - -The door opened silently. The baroness slipped through to the corridor. -The door closed after her. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -WITH THE AID OF HER MEN. - - -The lights had been lowered throughout the hotel. In the corridors a -small electric light burned at wide intervals, with an occasional red -glow to show where the fire exits were situated. - -The baroness was glad there was so little illumination. She saw a light -through the transom over the door of number forty-four, which was Nick -Carter’s room. But it was not strong, and she decided that it might have -been burning in the bathroom, casting only a reflection into the -bedchamber. - -“Strange that he should sleep with a light anywhere about him,” she -muttered. “He isn’t the kind of man to do that, I should think. I don’t -care, so long as he is asleep, however.” - -She listened intently outside this door for at least a minute. So keen -was her hearing that she believed she would hear his breathing unless he -slept more quietly than most men. - -Not a sound reached her, and she crept noiselessly along the corridor -until she got to the bedroom door of a titled Englishman, who had been -the center of attention, especially among the women, ever since he had -been at the hotel. - -His name was Lord Vinton, and he was understood to be possessed of -enormous wealth. - -A curious smile passed over the countenance of the baroness. She -listened outside Lord Vinton’s door, as she had at Nick Carter’s. - -“No mistake about it in this case,” she murmured, below her breath. “His -lordship snores like a balky motor car. That makes it all the easier for -me.” - -In a few seconds she did all she had come to do. - -It did not look anything serious, if there had been any one there to -observe her movements. - -She seemed only to be passing her hands about the door and then hiding -them in her cloak, ere she moved away. - -But this is what she did: She slipped the glass tube, with the rubber -stopper, from her cloak sleeve, inserted the mouth of the syringe into -the keyhole, and pressed gently upon the rubber bulb. - -The result was to inject into the bedroom of Lord Vinton a small -quantity of one of the strongest and most effective narcotics known to -science. - -The almost invisible vapor went through the keyhole and instantly spread -to all parts of the apartment. Every nook and crack of the room was -filled with the stuff, and it was absolutely unbreathable by any human -being. - -So strong was it that only an unforeseen accident could prevent its -taking action. Once under its influence, and the sturdiest man would -fall into a deathlike stupor, which might last for several hours. - -The baroness had made the vapor as strong as it was possible to do -without rendering it too dangerous. - -She had no intention of killing any of her victims. Her object merely -was to make them unconscious, and then get possession of them. - -Incidentally, she took care to freight herself with all their portable -wealth, such as jewelry and precious stones. - -Even this last she did not do herself in the case of Lord Vinton. - -As will have been divined, this mysterious young and beautiful woman who -chose to be known at the Hotel Amsterdam as the Baroness Latour had -plenty of men at her orders. - -All she did was to prepare the way for them, and then let them do the -rough work. - -She satisfied herself by listening at the keyhole--in which the key had -been left--that the spray had operated properly, and that Lord Vinton -was most assuredly in a state of coma. Then she glided swiftly back to -her own rooms, was let in without a moment’s delay by the watchful -Florine, and sank into a chair to regain her breath. - -“You may go to bed, Florine.” - -Florine, the docile, said “Good night!” and departed to her own -apartment, adjoining that of her employer. - -The baroness, still wearing her black cloak, threw open the window of -the sitting room, and, her room in darkness, looked across the bay at -the white yacht, which she could just make out in the gloom. - -“They ought to be here soon,” she murmured, as she placed the glass -cylinder in its steel case. “I won’t send another signal. It might be -caught by somebody else. Besides, it is not necessary.” - -She was right. It was not necessary to signal her men on the yacht, -gently rocking some two miles from shore. - -On the other hand, it was nearly an hour before her ear caught the -subdued thumping of muffled oars. - -“They have to row slowly,” she said to herself. “That’s so. Even with -oars muffled, they might be heard if they came too fast.” - -A soft whistle came from below as the laboring of the oars in their -padded rowlocks ceased. - -Looking out of the window, she could just discern a dark patch on the -water immediately beneath. - -She did not reply to the whistle. Instead, she drew from under her cloak -a coil of thin, tough wire. On one end of it was a leaden weight, like a -large fishing-line sinker. - -Dropping the leaden sinker over the sill, she paid out the wire until -the weight dropped into the sea. She knew just how far this was by a -scrap of red ribbon she had the night before tied on the wire at a -certain spot, when she had measured the distance from her window to the -water. - -Three sharp tugs at the wire told her that the other end had been found -by the men in the boat. She began to pull the wire back, and soon she -had the end of a thick, strong silken rope which had been attached to -the end of the wire with a well-made sailor’s knot. - -The baroness untied the silken rope and made it fast with a similar knot -to the handle of her room door. This door was locked and bolted, and she -had satisfied herself that the handle was a solid one. - -The way in which she knotted the silken line to it, indicated that she -was an expert in handling ropes. She did it as easily and swiftly as any -experienced seaman. - -Going back to the window, she jerked the cord three times, while looking -down. - -Soon the silken cord became taut under a heavy weight. It strained and -gave a little where it crossed the edge of the window sill. - -“All right?” she whispered. - -“All right!” was the answering grunt, in a man’s voice. - -It was only a few seconds later when the figure of a man appeared above -the window ledge. It climbed through the window and stood by her side, -seemingly waiting for orders. - -“You did that very well, Kennedy!” she whispered. “Is my uncle there?” - -“No. He said it was not necessary for him to come.” - -“Too lazy, I suppose. Who else is in the boat?” - -“Four of the crew.” - -“Very well! Signal down for one of the men to come up, and we’ll go on -with what we have to do.” - -“All right, mademoiselle.” - -Kennedy, first mate of the yacht _Idaline_ lying out there in the bay, -shook the rope up which he had climbed. As there came an answering -shake, he called down softly: - -“Groton!” - -“Aye, aye!” - -“Come up here--quick!” - -The lithe young foremast man who answered to the name of Groton came up, -hand over hand, so swiftly, that he was on the window sill while the -mate was still looking down. - -“That’s right!” remarked the baroness quietly. “Now, you two wait here, -while I go back to the room and get things ready. No noise, of course!” - -“Shall I lock the door while you are out?” whispered Kennedy. - -“Yes. Somebody might happen to be about and try the door, if they saw me -in the corridor. I’ll give the usual signal.” - -She reached into her black bag to make sure certain things were there. -Then she went out and slipped along the corridor on the thick carpet, -while Kennedy softly secured her sitting-room door inside. - -“I wish Carter would put out that light of his,” she murmured, as she -passed his room. “I don’t trust him, and I’d rather think he was -asleep.” - -She stood again outside Lord Vinton’s door, and as she came near the -keyhole, she could distinguish the pungent odor of the narcotic she had -sprayed into the bedroom. - -It has practically all blown out of the window by this time,” she -thought. “If I didn’t know it so well, I don’t suppose I should smell -it.” - -From the black bag she took out what looked like a pair of long slim -scissors, with spreading claws, which could be opened and closed at -will. - -It was an implement for turning a key in a lock from the opposite side -of the door. To police and criminals it is known as an “outsider.” - -Gripping the end of the key through the keyhole with the powerful -nippers, she turned the key almost as easily as if she had been inside -the door. - -“So much for that,” she murmured. “But there is the bolt! Well, I guess -I can negotiate that.” - -She had provided for the inmate of the room obeying the familiar -injunction found in all hotel bedrooms nowadays: “Guests will please -lock and bolt their doors before retiring for the night.” - -The implement she took out of her bag now was not much like the -“outsider,” but it proved equally effective. - -Thin as paper, it was strong and highly tempered, and, after a few -moments of careful manipulation, she had the bolt back and the door a -little way open. - -The room was in darkness. She felt for and turned the button of the -electric light, but she left the light on only long enough to show her -where the gas jet was. She lighted the gas, turned it low, and then put -out the incandescent. - -Going to the bed, she gazed for a few moments at the face of the man who -lay unconscious in it. - -One hand lay outside the counterpane. She lifted the hand boldly, and -pressing her fingers upon the wrist, felt for the pulse. It was faint, -but steady. - -“He will be all right after a while,” she muttered. “That mixture of -mine does its work scientifically. It knocks them cold for the time -being, and afterward they are as well as ever. That old German chemist -certainly knows his business, and this formula was worth all I paid for -it.” - -She hurried back to her room, gave the signal, and was admitted by the -mate. - -“Come to this room--you and Groton--and dress this man in the bed. Put -everything on him that he should wear, including necktie and collar, -watch fob and so on. Make him look as if he had dressed himself.” - -Kennedy grinned and shook his head doubtfully. - -“That won’t be so easy,” he protested. “Dressing a man who can’t help -himself will be a tough proposition.” - -“Never mind! Do as well as you can. I’ll show you the room. Then I’ll -come back here. When you have him ready, send Groton to tell me. You -stay in the room till I come. We have to get him away.” - -The first mate nodded, and, accompanied by Groton, followed the baroness -to the room of Lord Vinton. There the baroness left the two men to get -his lordship dressed, and returned to her sitting room. - -Florine slept through it all. - -“He’s all fixed,” announced Kennedy, ten minutes later, when the -baroness had been called back to Lord Vinton’s room by Groton. “We’ve -put him into these light-colored togs and this funny soft hat. We -couldn’t find any others handy, except his evening clothes, and I didn’t -think you wanted him in them.” - -“That wouldn’t have made any particular difference,” she returned. -“Leave him on the bed for a minute and come over here.” - -She went to the two trunks and handsome traveling bags at the other side -of the room, and brought forth a quantity of jewelry which would hardly -have been expected in the baggage of a wealthy nobleman traveling only -for pleasure. - -Rings, with diamonds, bracelets, brooches, and other gewgaws for women -to wear, were wrapped in tissue paper or embedded in silk-lined cases, -while scarfpins, cigarette cases, jeweled watch charms, and kindred -articles of masculine use were plentiful. - -“Lord Vinton may turn out not to be a lord, after all,” muttered the -baroness. “Even if he is, he does not mind turning a few honest dollars -by importing jewelry on the side. I hope the dollars he expects to make -_will_ be honest, by the way. But it would be interesting to know how -much duty he paid on all this.” - -When she had piled up everything on the floor she cared to take, she -coolly dropped the loot into two of Kennedy’s capacious outside pockets. - -He wore a nautical pea-jacket, and his pocket room was extensive. - -“Now, boys!” she whispered. “Work quickly. I will go ahead and see if -the corridor is clear, and have my door half open. Stand at the door, -Kennedy, and watch me. When you see me get to my room, I’ll hold up my -hand.” - -“I get you!” - -“That will mean ‘All right!’ You and Groton pick up your man then and -bring him along, just as you did Mrs. van Dietrich. Now! Careful!” - -She skimmed lightly along the corridor, and directly afterward the two -sailors followed, carrying between them the unconscious form of Lord -Vinton. - -Giving a signal to the two men still in the boat, Kennedy superintended -the tying of the silken rope under Vinton’s arms, and the three of them -lifted him over the window sill and let him dangle. - -“Ready below?” questioned Kennedy softly. - -“Ready! Let him come!” - -Down went his lordship, who was laid in the bottom of the boat, while -Kennedy turned to the baroness. - -“Anything more, mademoiselle?” - -“Not at present.” - -“Any message for Captain Latell?” - -“Tell him to keep a sharp lookout at all times, and to watch for signals -from me. Have his telephone ready.” - -“It is always ready, mademoiselle. He has it in his own window, and some -one is always near.” - -“Good! That’s all.” - -Kennedy and Groton slid down the rope to the boat. The baroness untied -it from the handle of her door and threw the rope after them. - -The wire was again coiled, and, with the leaden weight, was in her black -leather bag, which fastened with a strong patent lock. - -Before finally leaving Lord Vinton’s room, after her victim had been -brought to her own apartment, she had gone back to shoot the bolt and -lock into place again. Also, she had used her steel implements to close -the door, in about the same way as she had opened it, but by a reverse -process. - -Now, when a soft splash, as the oars dipped, told her the boat was on -its way back to the yacht, she closed the window, looked about her with -a satisfied sigh, and then went calmly to her bedroom. - -Ten minutes later, this mysterious and beautiful girl, who could carry -out such an audacious enterprise as that just finished without showing -any particular emotion, lay down, without removing her attire, and, -almost at once, seemed to be sound asleep. - -When Florine went in to brush her employer’s hair the next morning, the -maid thought she never had seen the baroness look fresher or seem in -better spirits. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -NICK LIES IN WAIT. - - -It may be explained at once that Nick Carter was not in his bedroom in -the Hotel Amsterdam when the baroness saw the light through the transom. -The detective did not want anybody to speculate on his whereabouts that -night, and he argued that if a light was seen in the room of Colonel -Pearson, it would be assumed that the colonel was inside. - -He had determined to find out what the mysterious abductors had done -with Harvey L. Drago, who had vanished into thin air, in broad daylight. - -After playing a sane and deliberate game of golf, it was not to be -credited that Mr. Drago had made away with himself. Nick brushed that -aside as soon as it came to his mind. - -The wealthy young American had been kidnaped by somebody, no doubt, and -the object of that somebody could hardly be anything else than to exact -a large ransom. - -It had occurred to Nick Carter, when told that Mrs. van Dietrich had -melted away from her bedroom in the night, that perhaps an aëroplane had -been employed. But all the conditions were against that. - -Neither could an automobile have been used without its being seen. - -After turning everything over in his mind, including the possibility of -Drago having been hidden in the woods, he could not make that theory -apply to his own satisfaction in the case of Mrs. van Dietrich. - -The dear lady was rather large, and she would surely be hysterical when -she came to herself. - -No, it would be too risky to keep that eminent leader of society among a -lot of trees and expect to keep her quiet. - -He thought of the wireless telephone he had seen used by the baroness -from the window of her room, and though he had not been convinced that -she had any deeper purpose than to amuse herself--as a wealthy young -woman of lively fancy might conceivably do in this manner--he remembered -the yacht at anchor out in the bay, and wondered whether or not the -baroness was signaling to that vessel. - -He had never noticed anybody coming from the yacht to the hotel. But -that did not carry any significance. There were many handsome homes -along the coast in this vicinity, and the yacht might be owned by any -one of the dozen or so of millionaires who were accustomed to spend part -of their summer in Delaware. - -That he was suspicious of the baroness was natural to a man of his -quick, deductive mind. The discovery of the burned match in Mrs. van -Dietrich’s room would have been sufficient to make him so, after he had -satisfied himself that the baroness used the same kind of thick wax -matches. - -Another touch of evidence in connection with the matches was that he had -found a scrap of gilt and colored paper on the floor of Mrs. van -Dietrich’s bedroom--part of a label which he found had come from the -original box containing them. - -In the restaurant he had caught a glimpse of nearly the whole label in -the baroness’ chatelaine bag when she had taken out her cigarette box. -The paper had been pulled out accidentally, and pushed back again. - -Nick decided that, as the design was unusual, as well as artistic, the -baroness was keeping it as a curiosity. - -The label was not all there. The part missing would have fitted in with -the scrap Nick had in his pocket. - -Going further in his speculations, Nick recalled that, although Mrs. van -Dietrich had disappeared in the night, when it would be comparatively -easy to get her out of the hotel unobserved and take her to any desired -place at a distance, Harvey L. Drago had been spirited away in broad -daylight. - -The only theory Nick could apply to Drago’s disappearance was that he -was somewhere near the hotel, and would not be taken away to his final -destination till nightfall. - -Acting on this hypothesis, the detective, with the head porter, were -out now, at night, looking for the abductors of Mr. Drago, in the -expectation that when they got a clew to the one case, they would find -it leading them to the other. - -They had for two or three hours been moving about in the dense woods -that surrounded the Hotel Amsterdam, and hid the sea beach from the -highroad, when Nick Carter took a seat on a rock overlooking the water, -with the porter by his side, and remarked that it was time to rest a -while. - -“I’m not tired,” protested the porter, Mike Corrigan. “I wouldn’t mind -betting you are not, either, colonel. You are stopping here because you -think it a good place to look around.” - -The head porter grinned as he said this, and in the faint light that -came from the cloud-veiled moon Nick returned the grin. He was pleased -to note that Mike Corrigan was of an observant kind. - -“You’re not far off, Mike. I see there is a place here where a boat has -landed, and it is just possible another one may come. See those furrows -in the sand above tide line on the beach, and do you notice that those -soft shells have been ground by something, and left, all broken, where -they have been pressed into the sand?” - -“That’s right,” agreed Mike. “I see it, just where the moon strikes. But -I’ll confess I wouldn’t have noticed them if you hadn’t spoke--not in -this poor light. Think that was done by a boat?” - -“I am sure of it,” was Nick’s quick reply. “It was the keel of a boat -that ground these shells, and the round bottom made the wide mark on -either side. It isn’t hard to see where a boat has been before the signs -are washed away.” - -“I don’t see any other place where a boat could be run up on the shore, -either,” observed Mike. - -“That’s why I am expecting we shall see another boat--or perhaps the -same one--come up here, if we stay for a while. But get back into the -woods. We can watch there without being seen.” - -“The moon is in its last quarter,” remarked Corrigan. “So there isn’t -much light. If it wasn’t for the stars, I don’t think we could make out -anything at all.” - -“We’ll get to the other side of this point,” went on Nick. “We can see -all over the bay from there, and still not be too conspicuous.” - -“‘Conspicuous’ is good!” muttered Mike. “I wonder what in thunder it -means.” - -Nick Carter led the way to the spot he had selected. It was a thick mass -of shrubbery only a few yards above high tide. Here he told Corrigan to -sit down. - -The porter obeyed--so heavily that he broke several twigs, which -crackled with much more noise than Nick cared for. He gave Mike a sharp -touch with the toe of his shoe. - -The detective had seen some signs which had escaped his companion, and -he did not want any noise. Nick subsided. - -Nick took out a pair of powerful night glasses and trained them on the -light-studded yacht far out in the bay. - -It was something about this yacht which had attracted his attention in -the first place, and which had caused him to shut off the porter so -peremptorily when he had begun to protest against being gently kicked. - -Nick Carter lay flat upon the ground, examining the shadowy form of the -yacht, and trying to satisfy himself as to the meaning of certain -movements he observed. - -It was a full hour before he moved to any noticeable degree, although he -had shifted his position now and then, as he sought to relieve his -cramped limbs. - -But his night glasses had been always fixed on the yacht, and his eyes -had become accustomed to the gloom so much that he could tell fairly -well what the general state of affairs was on her deck. - -Corrigan was about to whisper a question as a sigh of satisfaction -escaped his companion. But Nick shook him off impatiently and told him -to keep quite quiet. - -The detective had seen a bustle on the deck of the yacht which he -believed signified that a boat was being lowered. But if it was, they -were dropping it on the other side, and he could not make out enough of -their movements to be sure what was going on. - -“If it isn’t a boat, then I don’t know what they’re after,” he murmured, -under his breath. “Hello! What’s that?” - -Far out, some little distance from the yacht, his glasses had enabled -him to distinguish a phosphorescent flash, repeated again and again on -the dark surface of the bay. - -Nick Carter had seen phosphorescent gleams of this kind too many times -not to be able to interpret the meaning of any particular kind or -number. - -A single one, or even many, might have been caused by the jumping of -fish. That would flash up the bright glow so often seen in mid-ocean at -night. - -But regular gleams, such as Nick saw now, and which developed into -shining patches one by one, could have been caused only by the regular -dipping of oars. The space between the patches represented the width of -a rowboat. - -“They are rowing two pairs,” he murmured. “And the boat is rather heavy, -too. What are they after?” - -As they came nearer, he could see that there were five black patches in -the boat, and it did not take him long to resolve these patches into -men, two were rowing and one was steering. The other two sat still. - -“This looks like a fight, if we want to save Drago,” muttered Nick, -rather louder than his musings had been so far. - -“What?” asked Corrigan. - -The porter’s view had been obscured by the shrubbery. Moreover, he had -no night glass to help his vision. - -His curiosity would not be denied any longer, however, and he squeezed -his way around. - -Nick Carter placed the night glass in his hand. - -“There you are, Corrigan! Take a squint through these!” - -The porter obeyed, and after some moments of adjusting the glasses, he -got the boatload of men into focus, and uttered a low grunt of wonder. - -“Five of ’em, eh? Well, colonel, that will be two each for us, and -whichever of us gets through first, let him have the odd one.” - -Nick smiled at this businesslike proposition--which also had an -agreeable sporting flavor--and nodded in acquiescence. - -“All right, Mike! That goes! But--one thing, mind!--I take the first -man! You can have the second. Then I’ll tackle the third, and the fourth -is yours. By that time we’ll know who gets the fifth.” - -“Fine!” chuckled the porter. “You’ve been in scraps like this before, I -can see.” - -The boat was gliding straight toward the point where Nick Carter and his -companion were hiding in the shrubbery. Then, suddenly, when it had come -within fifty yards of the shore, it swerved abruptly, and shot toward -that part of the Hotel Amsterdam where the windows of the baroness -overlooked the bay. - -As the boat got nearer to the hotel, Nick’s night glass, plus his keen -eyes, enabled him to make out a feminine figure at one of the darkened -windows. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -NICK DEALS WITH ODDS. - - -Throughout the performance of Kennedy and Groton climbing the rope to -the window of the baroness, the detective lay there, with his night -glass turned upon them, and when he saw the form of a man coming down on -the rope, he knew he was on the right track. - -“Shall we go back to the hotel and break in her door?” asked Corrigan. - -“No. We couldn’t get there, for one thing. Everything would be over -before we could interfere. Besides, that would not help much. I want to -prove that the kidnaping has been done from the hotel. But, also, I want -to catch them in the act.” - -“That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it?” - -“I am, in a way,” answered the detective. “But it would be only my word -against theirs, and you may be sure that people who can carry out a -scheme like this successfully are not bad as liars.” - -“They’re going back to the yacht now,” remarked Corrigan. - -“I see they are leaving the hotel. Whether they are going directly to -the yacht remains to be seen. I am inclined to think they are not.” - -“Why?” - -“Mr. Drago is undoubtedly somewhere in this wood, and it is time they -took him away. They would be sure to do these two jobs under one, I -think. It is the methodical manner in which the leading spirit of the -enterprise has everything done.” - -“The boss of this thing must be the husband of that young baroness, I -should think,” said Corrigan. “Or perhaps her brother.” - -“Why don’t you think she may be doing it herself?” asked the detective, -smiling. - -“A pretty girl like that wouldn’t do it. She couldn’t,” was the porter’s -positive reply. “But she might be drawn into it by some of her menfolks. -Things like that happen sometimes. You see it in the newspapers, -anyhow.” - -It was not long before it was shown that Nick Carter had been correct in -his belief that the boat would put in to get Drago from his hiding place -in the wood, wherever it might be. - -The boat stopped in the middle of the bay, and Carter, from his place -behind the bush, could see one of the men who appeared to be in -command--in fact, it was Kennedy, the first mate of the yacht--looking -around him with a night glass. - -He scanned the shore as far as he could see it, and also looked steadily -at the hotel. - -Nick Carter smiled as he thought he saw the glass trained in the -direction of his own window in the hotel, room number forty-four. He -could not be sure, in the darkness, but he believed he was right. - -“My charming dinner companion must have told him whereabouts my room is -situated,” he said to himself. “Even if he cannot be sure which is my -window, I am conceited enough to think he is trying to assure himself -that I am not watching him from one of them. Much good it will do him!” - -As they came on, the oarsmen stopped rowing. Then, as the boat’s head -shifted a little, they headed straight for the beach where Nick Carter -and the porter were watching. - -The muffled oars made no sound as they came up on the beach, and the -easy way in which the bow grounded on the soft sand proved that the -craft was under the command of a finished mariner. - -No sooner was the boat pulled so well up on the shore that it did not -need securing in any other way, than the five men all tumbled out and -pulled her a little farther. This done, they stood silently in a group -while their commander looked about him. - -Now, if he had chosen, Nick Carter could have captured the whole party -at the point of the pistol, shooting them down if they resisted. - -But his natural love of “playing the game” forbade anything of that -kind. He contented himself with keeping them covered--with Corrigan’s -pistol, as well as his own--and watching in silence. - -Had Nick known who the Baroness Latour really was, he would have brought -half a dozen men with him, instead of one. And with good reason. He -would have been aware that the caliber of the five men in the boat was -of a kind not easily put down, and that any one of them would have gone -to his death cheerfully for his beautiful leader. - -There were several minutes of inactivity, during which the five men -stood watching the silent, insensible figure in the boat, while -seemingly on the watch for somebody else to come. - -“I ought, perhaps, to jump in here and rescue that man in the boat at -any cost,” thought Nick. “But it wouldn’t do. I should have only half my -work done, even if Mike and I can knock out these five--as I believe we -can. I’ve made up my mind to take Drago back to the hotel, and I’m going -to do it.” - -It was five minutes afterward when a soft whistle arose from the woods -behind him. Kennedy replied with a similar signal. - -“Get ready, Corrigan!” whispered Nick Carter. - -“I am ready,” was the prompt response. - -There was the sound of branches moving with a swish, and three men came -out of the wood together. - -One, whose stiff gait indicated that his hands were tied behind him, so -that he was afraid to step freely, was between the other two, each of -whom held him by an elbow. - -As they came clear of the shadows, Nick saw that, not only were the -hands of the man in the middle bound, but a handkerchief was fastened -tightly over his mouth. - -“Drago!” muttered the detective. “It’s just what I expected. They’ve got -some one else from the hotel, and stopped on their way to pick up this -one from the wood.” - -As the newcomers came up to the other five men, Nick heard somebody say -softly: - -“That you, Mr. Kennedy?” - -“Yes,” came the reply. - -“Kennedy!” muttered Nick. “Well, it is a common name. This may not be -the Kennedy I know. But, taking it with everything else I’ve found out, -it looks as if it might be.” - -There was a low conversation, of which the detective did not catch -much--not enough to know what it was all about, indeed--until he heard -the man who had first spoken respond to a remark that did not reach his -ears: - -“No, sir. We haven’t heard a sound or seen anybody since we came into -the woods.” - -Nick tried to decide what this meant, and to whom they were referring. -He did not suppose it was himself, or that the baroness had noticed him -leaving the hotel after taking dinner with her. But then, Nick Carter -did not know just what means the beautiful young woman had at her -disposal for finding out things that might interest her. - -“Well, get him aboard,” ordered Kennedy. “We’ll hustle them both over to -the yacht, and then get a little sleep. This thing doesn’t have to keep -us all up on a double watch, if we don’t waste time.” - -The men walked along the beach with their captive, and the detective -might have got his hands on them without much trouble by taking them by -surprise, when Mike Corrigan “spilled the beans” by an unforeseen and -peculiar accident. - -In his eagerness to hear what was said, he had leaned forward in the -shrubbery as far as he dared. Unfortunately, he had nothing firm to give -him a hand hold, so he was standing in a teetering attitude, when -anything might have knocked him over. - -There was more trouble, too. A small twig, impossible for him to see in -the gloom, was immediately under his face, and as he bent lower, it -suddenly popped into his nose, tickling that organ beyond the point of -bearableness. - -There could be only one result, and it came quickly. - -Mike Corrigan was a determined man, and he fought nobly against the -irritation by holding his nose above the bridge and rubbing it all over. -He had heard somewhere that this treatment would stop the most insistent -sneeze. - -It did not work in this instance, however. The sneeze would not be -denied. There were several choking gasps--not to say snorts. Then, -bursting all bonds, a terrific blast turned itself loose, and Nick -Carter knew it was all off. - -Even at ordinary times the husky head porter was noted for the -resounding force of his sneeze. But, coming as it did, after this -frantic struggle to hold it back, Corrigan achieved an effect in -advanced sternutation which awoke the echoes both on sea and land, and -made the very trees quiver. - -The group of men paused in consternation just as they were about to -enter the boat, and, hearing Nick Carter jump to his feet at the same -moment, they realized that strangers--probably enemies--were close -behind them. - -“See who it is, men!” ordered Kennedy. - -The sailors seemed all to be armed, for several revolver barrels shone -in what little light there was as they came breaking their way through -the shrubbery. - -“There is no use trying to hide our presence now,” was all Nick said to -the porter, as he prepared for battle. “This means fight.” - -“That suits me,” responded Mike. “I supposed it was what we came out for -to-night.” - -The philosophy of the porter made Nick forget a little of his chagrin at -the way his plans had been upset. He felt that, though the odds were so -much against them, he had a man by his side who would help him to leave -a mark on their adversaries, no matter how the fracas came out, and -that was the main thing under the circumstances. - -Nick pushed the shrubbery apart, and, with Mike close on his heels and -his automatic pistol gripped in his steady fingers, he stepped out to -the open sandy beach. - -Keeping the oncoming sailors at bay by raising his left hand -authoritatively--although the leveled automatic in his right may have -had something to do with it--he looked straight into the face of the -first mate of the yacht, as a fugitive gleam of moonlight fell across -it. - -“So!” ejaculated Nick Carter. “It is you, Kennedy?” - -“That’s what I’m called,” was the defiant response. - -“I heard your name spoken just now, but I did not know that it was you,” -went on Nick. “It is some time since we met. I might have known that -only the brilliant and complex mind of Mademoiselle Valeria could have -devised and carried out this strange series of kidnapings at the Hotel -Amsterdam. Then, of course, that yacht out there is the _Idaline_.” - -“You can guess anything you like,” returned Kennedy gruffly. “No matter -who is behind this affair, you can bet it is going through without your -interference, Mr. Nicholas Carter. I have my orders regarding you, and I -am going to carry them out.” - -“From the Baroness Latour, of course,” said Nick Carter, dropping the -name from his lips with mocking emphasis. “Do you mind telling me what -your orders are about me?” - -“I’m instructed to capture you if I catch you prowling around. So you’d -better surrender and save trouble. We are a crowd, and there is only you -two. You can’t do anything.” - -“Oh, we can’t do anything, eh? You are too many for us? Well, you have -the odds, I’ll admit. But I think I can play a card that will stop you -from taking the pot right away.” - -“You can play any card you like, and it won’t make any difference,” was -Kennedy’s contemptuous rejoinder. - -“We shall see,” said Nick. “Now, I realize that it would be impossible -for us to shoot down the whole seven of you, so we won’t try to do it.” - -“You have that much sense, anyhow,” rejoined Kennedy. - -“Let me finish,” continued Carter. “Out of the seven of you, I have my -eye on two men. You don’t know which two, but I do. Remember, two men, -Kennedy!” - -“Well, what of it?” - -“Just this: As surely as one of you--any one of the whole seven--makes a -move toward us, so surely I will shoot those two! And I generally get -what I aim at. You know that, Kennedy. While I am shooting down two of -your number, this man at my side will also shoot down two. By that time, -unless we have gone under, the odds between us will be more nearly -equal. You will be only three to two, and I am not afraid of those -odds.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -ONE AGAINST SEVEN. - - -No sooner had Nick Carter announced his intention than he saw it -impressed the men in front of him. - -The dread of the sharpshooter is proverbial. When a man knows he may -possibly be the next target for a man who shoots straight, and that the -marksman will go after one man, and one only, it takes much of the fire -of battle out of him, unless he is of phenomenal courage. - -In this critical situation, the detective had hit upon a shrewd course. - -It was much better than making a rush, blazing away indiscriminately. -Now each of the seven men facing him wondered if he might be the one to -be shot first. - -That ugly-looking automatic pistol, with a number of cartridges ready to -be sent flying at the enemy, was calculated to disturb the equanimity of -any ordinary person. - -There was a nervous shifting of feet among the sailors, and the -detective’s jaw set firmly as he saw that his bluff was likely to be -effective. It was hardly a bluff, either, for he and Mike Corrigan would -both shoot on the instant if there were any move by the enemy. Moreover, -each had picked out two men. - -If Kennedy had not been unusually quick-witted, and if the sailors had -not had a respect and love for the owner of the yacht, Mademoiselle -Valeria--known in the Hotel Amsterdam as the Baroness Latour--which -amounted to worship, it is likely that Nick Carter would have had things -all his own way. - -But Kennedy knew his men, and he was aware of the fact that a reminder -of the young woman by whom they had been employed in many shady -transactions in the past, and who had always paid them well, would make -them forget pretty nearly everything else. - -Quick action was imperative. - -He saw that they were wavering, and that unless something was done -quickly to bring them up, they might actually yield themselves to these -two men who were holding them down with as much confidence as if they -had been a dozen. - -“Remember mademoiselle!” - -Kennedy yelled this slogan with the suddenness of a rifle shot. - -The effect was remarkable. On the instant, the whole seven leaped toward -the detective and Mike Corrigan. - -As they did so, the two automatic pistols barked once--twice--almost -together. - -The two men aimed at by Nick Carter both dropped. - -If Mike Corrigan’s aim had been as good as the detective’s, they might -have won. But the porter’s hand was shaky, and both of his bullets -missed. He managed to shoot them at a rock some distance away, where -they flattened and fell into the sand. - -“Fire, men!” shouted Kennedy. - -But Carter was not waiting for a bullet from the other side. For the -third time he pulled his trigger. Then, taking his gun by the barrel, he -used the heavy stock for a club and sprang at Kennedy, just as a shot -came from the enemy and Mike Corrigan sank to the ground with a groan of -agony. - -The sailors might have fired again, only that they were afraid of -attracting attention by the reports. Besides, seeing that Nick Carter -had flung himself upon the first mate, they were for a moment uncertain -what to do. - -The detective and Kennedy came together with a crash. Outlaws as they -were, the sailors of the piratical yacht out there in the bay were -inclined to let the duel between the two giants go on till one or the -other had gained a victory. - -The seamen enjoyed a good fight, whether they were in it personally or -not. - -This was a good thing for the detective now. He was perfectly aware -that, if he won, they might get a chance to close in and overpower him. -But, even with that, he would make a dash for freedom, to come back with -reënforcements later. - -Letting his pistol fall to the sand, Nick went for his tall foe with his -bare fists. Kennedy, being on the defensive, parried the detective’s -straight lunge, and got a knee lock on his adversary. - -Nick, carried into close quarters as his opponent met his rush, started -a long, slow, heartbreaking twist which was almost as grueling on -himself as on Kennedy. - -The latter was in good condition physically--hard as nails and full of -aggressiveness. If he had been weaker than Nick Carter, the detective -could not have made such progress with his mode of attack. Carter’s -supple form bent to every turn, and though Kennedy tried to crush him by -main strength, his adversary could laugh at all his efforts. - -Then Nick took a new line--or, rather, an amplification of his first -method of attack. - -Slowly he threw his powerful leg outward and twined it around that of -the panting first mate. - -Kennedy fought hard to keep out of this lock. But he could not help -himself. The hold the detective had on him was almost breaking his back, -and he knew that if he relaxed for the slightest fraction of a moment, -the awful pressure of Nick Carter’s steellike arms would crumple him up -like a dried leaf in a hurricane. - -The crucial moment came. - -Kennedy was compelled to give way slightly, in the hope of relieving the -pain in his breaking back. That was what Nick had been waiting for. -Seizing the opening like lightning, his leg flew around to the position -he had been seeking. - -Now he knew he had his man under control. - -Twisting with the suppleness and power of a boa constrictor, he ducked -and heaved. As he did so, a gasp of involuntary admiration went up from -the sailors. - -There was no alternative for the first mate now but to yield or break in -two. - -The next instant he was sent flying over the detective’s head in a neat -and scientific cross-buttock, landing upside down on the sand, where, -with a groan, he lay without motion and “all in.” - -Although Nick Carter was well breathed by his exertions, and gasped hard -as he sought to recover himself, there was plenty of fight left in him. - -The sailors came at him in a body. - -With the fall of their leader, they seemed to emerge suddenly from the -spell that had held them still. It seemed to Nick as if there were -twenty flying fists in front of his face. - -He recovered himself immediately, and, stirred to better efforts by the -odds against him, he let drive scientifically and with deliberation, -notwithstanding that he sent in his blows so swiftly. - -One--two! One--two! - -The detective’s hard fists drove right and left into the faces of the -men before him. - -Usually they landed on the jaw, although now and then, for a change, the -target was an eye or nose. - -“Come on!” roared Nick Carter, warming up comfortably with all this -excitement. “How many are there of you?” - -One--two! One--two! - -In the quiet of the night, with no other sounds to be heard, the blows -thudded as if some one were kicking a dog. - -One of the sailors went down, but the two left came on, fighting -desperately. - -The detective was ready for them. - -A finished boxer, he was economical of his exertions. When he struck, he -always landed, and when he parried, he moved only just so much as was -required to ward off a blow. - -There were no fancy twists or ballet master’s gyrations about Nick -Carter when using his fists in real battle. - -A rain of heavy blows descended upon him. He retired just enough to get -arm room, and came back steadily. - -Had he had his assistants by his side, the detective could have held off -these powerful seafaring men to the end. - -But all he had was Mike Corrigan, and poor Mike had been put out of -commission by a bullet. - -So it came that even the iron physique of the great detective weakened -under the strain of the last half hour. - -On the other hand, the sailors were fresh. Moreover, furious at the fall -of their superior officer, the first mate, they determined to avenge him -at all hazards. - -The two men made a rush at Nick Carter side by side, and though he sent -forth a hailstorm of blows, which seemed to fairly smother them, they -contrived, by shameless “covering up,” to keep on their feet, until, by -sheer weight, they forced the detective to his knees. - -Still fighting, he was sent forward on his face. - -He had been beaten, seven against one, almost into unconsciousness! - -Almost--but not quite. - -He lay still, on the ground, face downward, but keeping a sharp eye on -what might be going on around him. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -QUIET PREPARATIONS. - - -“He’s a tougher man in a scrap than I thought he was,” observed one of -the yacht’s crew--Groton, in fact--as he ruefully patted a very sore -place on his cheek bone that promised to develop into a glorious black -eye. “I always knew he could fight, but this is the first time I ever -came against him. Holy mackerel! How he can hit!” - -Kennedy was sitting up, spitting sand from his mouth and looking around -in a dazed fashion. He groaned as he put a hand to his head. He had come -down with a terrific bump when Nick Carter had whirled him to the ground -at the end of their argument. - -“What the blazes hit me?” exclaimed Kennedy. - -He got stiffly to his feet and staggered toward where Nick Carter still -lay on the beach, ere he went on, in a confused way: - -“That’s it, eh? Well, I’m willing to tackle anything human. But when it -comes to stopping a whirlwind, I’ll duck every time.” - -For a few moments he stood looking down at the detective, who did not -make a move to indicate that he was conscious, although he was keeping -close watch of everything from beneath his half-shut eyelids. - -Kennedy was deeply impressed with the wonderful battle the detective -had put up, and he looked over the splendidly built frame with the -admiration that one strong man always vouchsafes to another--even though -that other may be a foe. - -Neither Kennedy nor the two sailors still on their feet had any idea -that there was somebody else gazing at Nick Carter from behind the -bushes, with anxious eyes and rapidly heaving bosom. - -Yet so it was. More remarkable still, it was a woman! - -The Baroness Latour, as she was called in the Hotel Amsterdam--although -better known to Nick Carter and to many others in different parts of the -world as the lovely Mademoiselle Valeria, the adventuress who always had -kept out of the grip of the law, despite many illegitimate -transactions--had known what was going to take place when the boat left -the hotel, carrying the unconscious Lord Vinton. - -She had not been so sound asleep in her room as might have been thought. - -What she was doing now was quite in accord with her usual methods. - -She liked to be sure that her directions were properly carried out, and -one of the secrets of her hold over her men was that they never knew -when she would appear before them. - -In the present case there was no necessity for her to make herself -known, she thought. So she contented herself with looking in silence. - -There was a particular reason for her coming now to see what would be -done about getting Drago from the place where he had been left in the -woods to the yacht. That reason was that she had learned of the -intention of Nick Carter to find Drago, somehow, and she knew the -detective well enough to hear that he would stumble on the boat that was -to put in at the edge of the woods to get the prisoner. - -If Nick Carter happened to find out what was going on, she did not know -what might be the end of it all. - -Perhaps the strange power he exercised over her heart without desiring -to do so may have had something to do with Mademoiselle Valeria’s -anxiety. - -Be that as it may, she was there. - -Not a word or movement escaped her. She was content to let her men carry -out their work in their own way. - -Now that Nick Carter had been overcome, and his man, the porter, lay on -the ground with a bullet through his thigh, she had no doubt that all -would go as she had planned. - -“I wish we had that man with us,” observed Kennedy musingly, as he gazed -down at Nick. “He’s a great fighter! Wouldn’t he have been in his -element as skipper of a windjammer in the old days, when the captain was -expected to straighten out every row that came up in the fo’c’s’le. -However, there is no time to lose. Let’s see how these boys of ours -are.” - -Three out of the seven were in bad shape. Two had been shot through the -arm by Nick--for he had been careful not to plant his bullets where they -would be fatal--and the third had been knocked out by the detective’s -fist on the point of the chin. - -A strong dose of whisky from Kennedy’s flask administered to each, -together with some vigorous rubbing of the forehead of the man who had -been laid low by the knock-out punch, brought them all around, and the -first mate turned to Mike Corrigan. - -Hastily bandaging his wounded leg, Kennedy told him to stay where he was -for a while, and then to crawl out into the open, where some of the -people going to the golf links would be sure to see him. - -The three men who had been hurt managed to stagger into the boat. But it -was evident that they would not be any particular use. - -The two who had remained uninjured, besides one who had been left in -charge of the boat and prisoners, and had not taken part in the fight, -would have to row and steer, leaving Kennedy to take general charge. - -“Now, boys,” directed Kennedy, when everything else had been arranged, -“pick up this man who has given us all the trouble. We’ll take him -along.” - -Mademoiselle Valeria--to call her by her real name--smiled approvingly -as two of the sailors stooped and picked up the seemingly helpless -detective and lifted him into the boat. - -“Shall we bend a rope around him?” asked Groton. - -“Not necessary!” said Kennedy. “He can’t do any harm now. Let’s hurry -back to the _Idaline_.” - -The detective made no sign. He suffered his eyes to close a little more, -and when he was lifted and placed in the bottom of the boat, he allowed -himself to drop limply just as he was put. - -Valeria saw the boat shoved off from the bank toward the middle of the -bay, and then swing around in the direction of the yacht. - -“I wonder what Colonel Pearson will say to me when I go aboard the -_Idaline_ to-morrow,” she murmured, as she made her way back to the -hotel. - -She was still thinking this when she went to bed, and this time dropped -into a sleep that lasted till morning. - -Meanwhile, the two unwounded sailors took the oars and rowed hard toward -the yacht, while the two other men, who were not shot--including the one -who had been knocked out by Nick Carter, but who had now practically -recovered--were ready to relieve their shipmates when they should grow -tired. - -Kennedy sat in the stern, steering, and apparently in a reverie. He was -thinking what a good stroke of work he had accomplished that night. - -Not only had he got the two prisoners made by the beautiful mistress of -the yacht, and was taking them to the vessel, where they could be held -in safety until the demanded ransom was paid, but he had actually got -into his power the one man feared by Valeria and her crew of desperadoes -who had made the _Idaline_ the most annoying craft known to the police -of a dozen countries. - -If the yacht had not been so carefully changed in its appearance, by -altering her rigging, shortening her smokestack by an ingenious -telescoping device that was the invention of its fair owner, and giving -a different look to her in several other ways, Nick Carter would have -recognized her at once. - -As it was, he had thought he knew it, although he could not reconcile -the salient points of difference between the _Idaline_, as he remembered -her, and this graceful pleasure steamer riding so calmly at anchor in -the bay. - -Now that he had found out who the Baroness Latour really was, and had -actually been in conversation with her--following this up by running -against Kennedy, whom he also had met before--he did not need to hear -the first mate mention the name of the _Idaline_ to be sure of her -identity. - -It was all clear to Nick now. He was to be taken aboard the yacht, with -Harvey L. Drago and Lord Vinton, and they would put out to sea until the -friends of the prisoners had consented to pay the enormous sums which -would be demanded through carefully veiled newspaper advertisements. - -As to what would be done with him, he could not quite satisfy himself. -He knew that Mademoiselle Valeria had shown him, in various subtle ways, -that she would have been his friend if he had let her, and he did not -think she would go to the extreme of killing him. - -“I wouldn’t trust her,” he thought. “She could easily give orders to -some of those rascals on the yacht to shoot me in my sleep, to poison -me, or even to suffocate me with some of that charming gas she used on -Lord Vinton--and, doubtless, on Mrs. van Dietrich, too. But--I don’t -mean to let them do it. That is where I have something to say.” - -The two men at the oars were laboring hard, for it was not easy to move -such a heavy boatload by two pairs of arms, and Kennedy was sorry the -boat had not been rigged so that four men could row, one to each oar. - -Nick could not see how near they were to the yacht, but he figured that -they would reach it in not many minutes. - -“Hello! How are you by this time?” whispered a voice in his ear. “Coming -around?” - -“It was Harvey L. Drago speaking, and Nick turned his head enough to -find that Drago was lying almost by his side, his feet extended opposite -to those of the detective. - -“Keep quiet,” was Carter’s response, in the lowest of murmurs. “You’ve -got your gag out, I see.” - -“Of course I have,” was the reply. “Those clumsy bunglers couldn’t tie -it on so that it would stay. They may know how to knot a rope, but a -handkerchief is out of their line. Got a knife?” - -“Yes. Keep quiet,” returned the detective. - -Nick Carter was pleased with Harvey L. Drago. He liked a man who was not -easily discouraged, and it was evident that Drago was as full of fight -as if he had never been beaten. - -Nick drew his jackknife from his pocket, and severed Drago’s bonds with -a series of quick slashes. - -In the darkness his movements were not noticed by the sailors. - -The prisoners were in the fore part of the boat, for one thing, so that -the rowers’ backs were toward them. - -Kennedy and the other men were in the stern, and it would not have been -easy for them to discern the doings of the prisoners, even in daylight. -Now, with the moon gone, and only stars to light up the wide bay and -boat, there was hardly any possibility. - -“Say! I heard those fellows speak of you as Nick Carter,” whispered -Drago. “Is that right? Are you the famous----” - -“My name is Nick Carter,” interrupted the detective. “I am the -detective. Are you game for a fight to get out of this?” - -“Am I?” returned Drago, so emphatically that Nick warned him not to -speak above a low whisper. “You’ll see.” - -“All right! But be careful. If it were not for the splashing of the -water and the little noise the oars make, you would have been overheard -already. I’ll give you the signal for action.” - -“What are we going to do?” - -“Wait till the boat gets up to the yacht. Then, before they can make -fast, knock as many of them overboard as you can and jump for the -ladder. Get that?” - -“Sure! I wish there was another one to help.” - -“There is,” put in a low voice, behind the detective. “I’m not clear in -my mind. But I believe I could do something in a pinch.” - -Lord Vinton, slowly recovering from the effects of Valeria’s poisonous -gas, and helped back to reason and strength by the invigorating sea air, -had heard what Nick Carter and Drago had been saying, and was anxious to -take a hand. - -The detective welcomed him with quiet enthusiasm. - -“If you can lay out only one of the men with a boat stretcher,” he -whispered, “you’ll be doing a great deal. Here is the stretcher right -here!” - -The detective had found a loose piece of wood, some three feet long, -lying near him, and he had known it for one of the braces against which -oarsmen place their feet to help their pull on the oars. - -It would make a most effective weapon, even in the rather weak grasp of -the half-poisoned Lord Vinton. - -“Think you can fix one of them with this?” asked Carter. - -“I’ll give him a rap that he’ll remember,” promised Vinton. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -UNDER HATCHES. - - -Nick Carter was glad that it took more than a quarter of an hour longer -to reach the yacht. Every minute was beneficial to Lord Vinton, as he -drew in deep breaths of the life-giving atmosphere. - -“Easy all!” called out Kennedy, directing his oarsmen. “Back water! -Unship port oars! That’s good! Steady! Wait till I get hold of the -ladder rail!” - -But the first mate was never allowed to get to the ladder rail of the -yacht. Instead, he found himself suddenly confronted by Nick Carter, -whom he had supposed still insensible. - -He hardly had time to consider how the detective had managed to get back -to his wits so quickly, for Nick’s right arm shot out, in a feint for -the eye. Kennedy attempted to parry, and Carter immediately crossed with -his left. Sending in a sledge-hammer crash to the mate’s chin, the -detective dropped his man overboard from the stern with a splash. - -Nick did not stop to see what became of the mate. There were other -things to do. - -The two sailors who had been rowing, each seized an oar for a club and -tried to knock down Drago. - -He was too quick for them, however. Tearing the oar out of the hands of -one of them, a sweeping blow mowed the sailor into the sea, to join -Kennedy. - -Lord Vinton, although still suffering slightly from the effects of the -gas in his bedroom, was able to keep in his mind the one thing he had -been instructed to do by the detective, which was to use the boat -stretcher. - -So he brought it down on the head of Groton with a force that knocked -him senseless. Then he administered a side wipe to the man who had -remained in the boat when the others were ashore, and put him out of the -fight, although it did not render him unconscious. - -“Grab those oars out of the boat, and shove her off!” shouted Nick, as -he got on the square wooden grating at the foot of the ladder, and saw -that Lord Vinton was already by his side. “Throw them into the sea or -bring them along, Drago!” - -Harvey L. Drago was a man after Nick Carter’s own heart, for he seemed -to fit into a scrap as if it were his regular occupation. In a jiffy, he -had the four oars in his arms and piled them up on the ladder, just as -he gave the boat a tremendous shove with one foot. - -Away went the boat, with the two wounded sailors and the other three who -were more or less disabled. The fifth sailor, together with Kennedy, the -mate, had disappeared in the dark waters of the bay. - -Nick was obliged to make a quick grab for Drago, or that energetic young -man would have gone into the sea, too, as he kicked the boat away. - -He recovered his balance with the help of the detective, however, and -rushed up the ladder at Nick’s heels. - -It was fortunate for the three victors that only a small watch was on -deck. The taking away of six men from the crew, with the first mate, had -weakened the yacht so far as men were concerned. - -There were two men on deck, and neither of them was wide awake. They had -been sitting talking in the shadows of the smokestack until one of them -had fallen fast asleep, while the other nodded. - -Until the fight actually began on the boat at the foot of the sea -ladder, there had been hardly a sound. - -The men were rowing with muffled oars, and there had been no talking -except the whispered exchanges between the three prisoners. - -When the battle did begin, it was over before the two men on deck -realized what was happening. - -Nick and Drago, coming up the ladder, met them both at the gangway, and -the swiftness and dexterity with which these two seamen found themselves -bound and gagged remained a matter of wonder with them for the remainder -of their lives. - -“Now, gentlemen!” whispered Nick. “The fo’c’s’le! There must be half a -dozen men in there. Close the hatch for the present, so that they can’t -get out. We’ll deal with them later.” - -They fastened up the cubby-hole forward where the men slept, and had -trapped seven men before they awoke. In fact, it was an hour afterward -before any of them realized that they were prisoners. - -When they did, they found the door so well secured that they feared they -could only wait until somebody should come to let them out. - -All this had been carried out so quietly that the officer of the -deck--who was the second mate, Morgan--did not know till he emerged from -the chart room that the _Idaline_ was in possession of an invading -party. - -Just as he poked his nose out of the chart room--where he had been -enjoying a nap on a softly cushioned locker--he was seized by two strong -pairs of hands, his mouth stopped with a handful of oakum, and a rope -thrown around his arms with the scientific precision that proclaimed it -the work of an experienced sailor. - -It was Nick Carter who had knotted the rope, while Lord Vinton, acting -under orders, had shoved the oakum into the astonished mate’s mouth. - -Drago held him by the arms while the detective bound them. - -Nick was a yachtsman himself. There was not a rope or a bit of canvas -that he did not know on a full-rigged windjammer. - -Having deposited Morgan again on the locker--but not so comfortably as -before--and lashed his hands behind him, Nick directed Drago to tie him -to the leg of the solid table which was screwed to the floor. - -“There he is,” he remarked, when Drago had finished the task. “You’ve -done that well. He may perhaps get himself loose in the course of an -hour or so, although I don’t think he will. But by that time we shall -have things arranged so that we shall not care. Come down to the cabin. -There is a man there I want to see.” - -They went below, the three of them, and when Captain Latell had been -caught in his stateroom and made a prisoner before he realized what was -going on, Nick went to another cabin. - -Here, pistol in hand, he used the barrel to poke a burly man, who lay on -his back in the wide berth, snoring in perfect contentment. - -The well-built man started up to a sitting posture. The detective -promptly knocked him down again. - -“Lie where you are, Mr. Spanner!” commanded Nick. - -“What does this mean?” spluttered the indignant occupant of the berth. -“Who are you, sir?” - -“Nick Carter!” replied the detective coolly. - -“What?” - -This monosyllabic inquiry came with a shriek of amazement, tinged with -indignation and fury. - -“Keep quiet, Mr. Spanner!” admonished Nick. “We have possession of the -yacht, and----” - -“Where is Captain Latell?” thundered Spanner. - -“A prisoner in his stateroom. And we have the second mate, Morgan, tied -and gagged, in the chart room.” - -“And Kennedy?” - -“Drowned.” - -“What?” - -“He tried to make a prisoner of me and two guests at the Hotel -Amsterdam, and he fell overboard, into the sea. He was not seen again. I -want you to tell me where Mrs. van Dietrich is on this yacht.” - -“I don’t know what you are talking about,” protested Spanner. - -“That’s unfortunate. Because, if you don’t produce the lady within ten -minutes, we shall take you ashore and have you put in jail for -kidnaping.” - -“Let me get up and dress,” growled Spanner. “You have no right to come -aboard my yacht at all, and I want to see what you are doing here.” - -“Oh, it is your yacht, is it?” asked Nick, with a curious smile. “I -supposed you were the uncle of the owner, and that her name is -Mademoiselle Valeria. She has been staying at the Hotel Amsterdam for -some days under the name of the Baroness Latour.” - -“I don’t know a Baroness Latour--or a Mademoiselle Valeria, either,” -snorted Spanner. - -“Don’t you? Well, we’ll look for Mrs. van Dietrich ourselves. When we -have found her, we shall know something about the ownership of the -yacht, I think.” - -“Look here, Mr. Carter,” suddenly broke in Lord Vinton, who had been -standing in the corridor, “Mr. Drago has come to tell me that there is -something or other clicking away in the captain’s room, and he’s afraid -it is an infernal machine.” - -“I don’t think there is anything infernal about it,” laughed the -detective. “Take this pistol and hold it to the head of this chunky -gentleman in pajamas on the bed till I come back. If he becomes too -restless--that is, to the point of being threatening--pull the trigger.” - -“What are you going to do?” - -“I’m going to take a look at the infernal machine in the captain’s -room.” - -“Very well. The door is locked outside, and the captain is gagged and -bound on his berth,” remarked Lord Vinton coolly. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE INFERNAL MACHINE. - - -It was just what Nick Carter expected when he entered the stateroom of -Captain Latell--the “infernal machine” was fixed in the window, with the -sash helping to hold it firm. - -“The wireless telephone,” he muttered. “I wonder who is talking.” - -It was clicking in a subdued way, and the detective, after a careless -glance at the captain on the bed, put the receiver on his ears, and -settled down to listen. - -“Hello!” was the first utterance of the machine that Nick caught. “Is -that the yacht?” - -“Yes,” replied Nick. “Who is that?” - -“Is Colonel Pearson aboard?” - -“This is Colonel Pearson talking.” - -“Is it? That you, chief?” - -“What?” cried Nick delightedly. “Is that you, Chick?” - -“Yes.” - -“Good! Where are you?” - -“In your room at the hotel. This wireless telephone of yours came, and I -am using it. Good thing you showed me how it works. Say, chief, are you -all right?” - -“Yes. Lord Vinton and Mr. Drago are with me. We’ve got the yacht.” - -“That’s what I thought. I’ve been staring through a pair of strong night -glasses, and from what I could see, it looked to me as if you had won. I -saw some people tumble out of a boat, and I was bothered about it till a -skiff that the hotel people had sent out came in just now with two -half-drowned men. They are the first mate of the yacht and one of the -crew, I’m told.” - -“Well?” - -“The sailor talked when he was questioned, and said you’d taken the -yacht. He said some pirates had it, and he was going to see what could -be done about it. The other man--the first mate--may not come around at -all. So he couldn’t say anything.” - -“Come aboard as soon as you can, Chick. We’ve got two of the people who -were kidnaped, as I told you. But we can’t find Mrs. van Dietrich.” - -“She’s on board, the sailor says. There’s a secret stateroom amidships. -You get to it by way of the corridor past Mr. Jared Spanner’s room.” - -“Very well! We’ll look for her there. But, see here, Chick! You come -aboard as quickly as you can, and bring half a dozen men with you. Ask -Mr. Savage and Mr. Mallory, the hotel managers, to pick you out reliable -fellows, who have nerve. I want to bring this yacht in, but I must have -men to work her, as well as to keep our prisoners safe. You see----” - -That was as far as the detective got with his conversation. A tremendous -uproar broke out at the head of the companionway, and the next moment -seven husky sailors came rushing down and hurled themselves upon him. - -One big fellow pointed a revolver at his head and ordered him to -surrender. - -The sailor made a strategical mistake here. He threatened the detective -with the pistol before making sure that his man would stand where he was -to be fired at. - -Nick Carter ducked almost before the demand for his surrender was out of -the other man’s mouth. - -When he came up again--which he did like lightning--the top of his head -struck the sailor’s chin and knocked him backward, stunned and gasping. - -At the same instant the detective wrenched the revolver from his hand -and faced another man who was standing in the doorway. - -This second man had no gun. His weapon was an iron belaying pin, and if -he could have swung it, he might have done serious damage. - -As it was, he retreated in disorder as he saw the steady eye of Carter -running along the blue steel barrel of the big forty-four, and, as a -natural consequence, he upset all those behind him. - -“Vinton! Drago!” shouted Nick. - -There was a quick response to his call. The two came running along the -corridor, and Vinton fired off his automatic pistol on general -principles. - -He did not hit anybody, but the report was tremendous in those confined -quarters. It scared every sailor among them. - -Nick Carter could not help laughing heartily as he and his companions -herded the men along the deck and into the forecastle again. - -Taking care the door was thoroughly secured this time, Nick stationed -Lord Vinton, with the pistol, outside, giving him orders to shoot down -the first man who should appear. - -This injunction was given loudly enough to reach the ears of the men -inside, and Nick was satisfied there would be no attempt to break out -again--at least, not unless the yacht was recaptured by its original -owners. - -It was just as this arrangement was effected that a tubbylike figure, in -red-and-blue pajamas, came pattering along the deck, holding a revolver -in its hand. - -“Hands up!” yelled Nick Carter, presenting his jackknife at the face of -the pajama man, who, of course, was Jared Spanner. - -Mr. Spanner had never been remarkable for physical courage, and he let -his revolver fall with a crash on the deck. He could not see what the -jackknife was in the gloom, but he took it for granted that it was a -heavy firearm of some kind. - -“Back to bed!” commanded Nick sternly. - -“I heard a noise outside and I left him alone for a minute,” explained -Lord Vinton penitently. - -Spanner padded back in his bare feet. When he was in the stateroom once -more, the detective took the precaution of tying his hands behind him -and fastening him in his berth with a rope that was twisted around the -iron framework below. - -There was one more important thing to do, and that was to find Mrs. van -Dietrich. - -With the information he had as to the whereabouts of her cabin, it was -not difficult for Nick Carter to discover it. Then he solved the problem -of entering, and, after a knock, for propriety’s sake, he went in. - -Mrs. van Dietrich was of a philosophical turn of mind. That was proved -by the fact that she was in a comfortable bed, with her clothes still -on, but with a blanket pulled up under her arms, and sleeping as calmly -as if she had been in her own room at the hotel. - -Nick Carter assured himself that she was really in a natural sleep, and -then quietly withdrew, to wait till Chick and reënforcements should -arrive. - -It was an hour later, and the sun was just showing itself over the rim -of the eastern horizon, when Chick, with eight men--guests, porters, and -the two proprietors of the hotel--rowed up to the sea ladder of the -_Idaline_. - -It was embarrassing to Nick Carter to receive so many and such profuse -thanks for recovering the three guests who had disappeared from the -hotel, and he begged both Mallory and Savage to let it pass. - -Nick Carter arranged to leave a guard on the yacht, when Mrs. van -Dietrich was to be escorted to shore by the detective, Lord Vinton, and -Harvey L. Drago, with Chick, in state. - -It was only after considerable delay that this was done, however, for -Mrs. van Dietrich was a leader of fashion, and she could not appear in -public until her own maid, Mary Cook, had been brought from the hotel, -with a complete change of raiment and various toilet necessaries. - -All this took so much time, that it was well into the forenoon when the -dear lady at last appeared in the lobby of the Hotel Amsterdam, to -receive the congratulations by all the other guests on her wonderful -rescue by “this dear Colonel Pearson.” - -The stolen jewelry had all been recovered. - -At last Nick Carter got away from the lobby and into the elevator, -telling the man to take him to the fourth floor. Once there, he hurried -to the rooms occupied by the Baroness Latour. - -He was surprised to see all the doors of the suite wide open, and one of -the hotel housemaids busy with broom, dust pan, and other paraphernalia -of her business. - -“Where is the baroness?” demanded Carter hastily. - -“She went early this morning, sir,” was the reply. - -“Where has she gone?” - -“I don’t know. Perhaps they can tell you at the office,” answered the -girl. - -But they could not tell him at the office. All they knew was that the -baroness had paid her bill and gone away, with her maid and her trunks, -to the railroad station, and that she had taken the nine-thirty-seven -west. - -“H’m!” muttered Nick Carter. “So she has got away from me. Well, it -would have been difficult to convict her, even if I had wanted to do it. -Her man Kennedy is dead, and I have Jared Spanner a prisoner on what he -says is his own yacht. After all, I have cleared up the mystery of the -kidnaping of important guests for ransom, and even if I can’t clap -Spanner in jail--a point I haven’t settled in my own mind--I think I -have pulled his claws.” - -He walked up and down the lobby several times in deep thought. - -“After all,” he broke out, at last, half aloud, “I don’t know that my -dear baroness has got away from me altogether yet. I still have her -yacht, and she is sure to want to come on board sooner or later. I -believe I’ll go up to my room and get a few hours’ sleep.” - - -THE END. - - -“The Private Yacht; or, Nick Carter’s Trail of Diamonds,” is the title -of the story that you will find in the next issue of this weekly, No. -125, out January 30th. In this story you will read more of the efforts -of Nick Carter and his assistants to thwart the designs of this -wonderfully clever girl criminal. - - * * * * * - -RUBY LIGHT. - -By BURKE JENKINS. - -(This interesting story was commenced in No. 120 of NICK CARTER STORIES. -Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer or the -publishers.) - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE FOG LIFTS. - - -“I do like a man like that!” bubbled old Steve delightedly, as he -dropped a box of tools at my feet. - -I found no words in reply, so we two went right at the repairing, and -the job was really simple enough. - -The engine, a four-cylinder affair of the “heavy-duty” type, was bedded -between the two masts. This arrangement, of course, necessitated a -piercing of the foot of the mainmast for the shaft as it ran aft to the -screw. - -Now, what had happened was simply that, in the strain before the actual -break at the deck, the bronze shaft had been thrown out of line. So it -bound against the bearing through the mast. - -It was but a quarter hour’s work to saw above and below the bend. I -couldn’t get the shaft to exact trueness, of course; but the line from -engine coupling to shaft log ran fair enough, so that, before a half -hour was up, I sent old Steve to deck. - -Then followed the jangle of the bell right alongside me, and I started -the engine. - -There came immediately a gurgle along the planking. The _Ruby Light_ was -once more under way. - -I was soon joined in the engine room again by old Steve. - -“How’s she runnin’?” he inquired, as he bit off a chew of plug, mumbling -over the process of getting the exact break. - -“Sweet enough,” I replied, “though she ought not to be driven any too -long with even that bit of a crook.” I indicated the bend in the shaft. -“A long spell would wear the stern bearing out of----” - -“Which the same’s just wot I was a-tellin’ the old man just now. Kind o’ -struck him like, too, I reckon; fer I hearn him shift the course sommat -ter the Stevens lad.” - -“Shift the course?” I queried, masking my interest as much as possible, -but not enough to keep the old fellow from hedging on his tongue. He -shifted the topic abruptly. - -“And now, laddie, I guess as how there ain’t no more occasion ter keep -you from deck, though the same which you done down here was mighty -good,” he said meaningly. - -I acknowledged the appreciation with a shrug, gave him a cordial “So -long,” and sought the deck. - -Fog is even more whimsical than woman. And the quick survey I gave to -the weather, as I stood a minute by the engine-room hatch, showed that -this one had about made up its mind to lift again. At any rate, it was -distinctly thinner. - -I started aft along the cluttered deck toward Stevens, who was again at -the wheel, but before I reached his side, Stroth had joined him from the -main companionway. - -The owner gave a critical scan to starboard, then spoke a word to -Stevens, with a nod at the binnacle, and slowly the spokes went over to -port. This, just as I was about to join them. - -“I hope your hand is all right, sir,” said I, in genuine solicitude. - -“Right as a trivet,” he replied, holding it forward for inspection. -“Isn’t all that gauze and stuff just shipshape and Bristol-fashion, -though? I tell you, Stella’s a trump when it comes to the nursing game. -You see, those convent sisters she’s been with these three years -are----” - -He stopped himself, and inquired sharply: - -“How’re things with the motor?” - -“Well enough, if you don’t run it too long that way.” - -“So old Steve tells me. Well, how long do you think----” - -I anticipated his thought. “She could run without much trouble for -twelve hours or thereabout,” was my verdict. - -His brow cleared perceptibly as he cried: - -“Good enough--and long enough!” He nodded to Stevens, as though in -confirmation of some point, before he added to me: - -“Our little pleasure voyage to Savannah is getting a dash of adventure -in it, isn’t it, Grey?” He indicated the wreckage-strewn decks before -us. “But it’s fine!” - -It certainly was a novel viewpoint from which to estimate a damage of at -least a thousand odd dollars. An absolutely unnecessary damage, at -that--and to a yacht as smart and trim as they make ’em. - -I couldn’t find it in me to agree with his enthusiasm, so I changed the -subject. - -“She runs very well under power,” I said. - -“Doesn’t she?” came his hearty response. “A good, honest, mile-eating -pace, which is not at all bad for an auxiliary. I think we ought to make -Fire Island by some time after nightfall or thereabout, don’t you?” - -“Fire Island!” I exclaimed. He had betrayed me into an expression of the -genuine surprise I experienced, and he laughed easily as he went on: - -“Exactly. I could scarcely continue in this fashion to Savannah, could -I? And so, since you’re bound to know it sooner or later, I see no -reason to avoid explaining a bit.” - -“Now naturally,” and he smiled again, “I’ve got to find some cove to lie -in while I refit. Of course, those masts are going to be pretty short -and stumpy when I restep them; but with reefs tied in, and engine going, -too, I guess we can be on our way again well within a week, eh?” - -“But why not shift over to Greenport, and put two new sticks in her at -the shipyard there?” I volunteered thoughtlessly. - -His grin became broader than ever. - -“I believe a little spot behind a couple of those low-lying islands in -Great South Bay would suit me better; that is, under the -circumstances.” - -“Oh, I forgot!” I cried, laughing, too. - -Here we both wheeled to a shout from Stevens. With one hand he still -clung to the wheel, but the other pointed off over the waters. - -Seamen are familiar with those inexplicable “pockets” in a fog, and this -one was as clear a “lift” as I’ve ever witnessed. Furthermore, it came -in an exact line with a decided object; an object on shore; though one -would never have guessed we were so near the “hard.” - -Over there, as though viewed through a gray tunnel, but clear as -daylight itself, showed a bluff, surmounted by a lighthouse. - -“Montauk!” I cried. - -But before the fog banks once more swept the rift out of existence, my -exclamation was answered vehemently. Stroth’s imprecation came low, but -it carried venom enough to make up for much volume. - -Then we continued monotonously on our westward course through the mist. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -ON PAROLE. - - -That night, about nine o’clock, the atmosphere cleared to the rising of -the full moon, and it proved Stroth’s rough estimate of the distance we -could travel to be remarkably accurate. - -The lead had been constantly kept going, and when we were able at last -to catch the rays of Fire Island light, it bore about three points off -the starboard bow, and some four miles distant. - -What little wind that had been stirring throughout the remainder of -daylight, after the short squall, fell flat at sundown; and when the -thick weather had so lightened that the stars, as well as the moon, -could be distinguished, we found ourselves riding over an unrippled -ground swell. - -It was phantomlike and eerie out there on that heaving oil, not a spar -or sail striking its outline against the heavens, but a steady purr of -waters as they slid under the schooner’s spoon bow. - -I had never known an engine of the explosive type to work more quietly. -Whoever fitted that muffler knew his business. - -Moreover, there was a certain enjoyment in this very weirdness, an -enjoyment which was enhanced for me by the fact that, since the -gloaming, Stella Stroth had joined us on deck. - -Indeed, at the moment when the light was first descried, she was leaning -lightly over the rail at the quarter, gazing down into the mystery of -the black waters slipping by. - -“Two pennies for your thought,” said I, rather lamely. - -“Why, odd enough,” she replied slowly. “I was just thinking what an odd -thing the whole business is!” - -“What whole business?” I said lightly. - -“Oh, living,” she answered quietly. - -“A fine kind of remark for eighteen,” I bantered. “Especially with a -moon like that overhead.” - -“I’m not eighteen, I’m twenty!” she cried, and then we both laughed as -we turned to a step that sounded on deck alongside us. - -It was Stroth. But he continued his way forward, paying no attention to -us. We kept watching him, though, for purpose rang in his step. - -To a gesture, one of the sailors cast loose the foghorn which had been -lashed to the bitts during our run in the fog. The fellow disappeared -with it down the forecastle hatch; then reappeared next instant, and -extinguished the side lights, which, to avoid collision from coasting -schooners, had been rigged to jury fixtures at the rails. - -Disappearing once more to the hold, he doused the forecastle light also, -and a turn of inquiry I made aft showed that the main cabin was likewise -dark. - -Not a glimmer anywhere showed from this low, black, smooth-running -cripple as she veered northward and pointed for the inlet. - -Even the clouds favored that short passage, for a husky, gray-cotton one -billowed across the moon just as we neared the strait. - -At that minute I felt Stroth beside me. - -“Know the channel in here, sir?” said I. - -“Well, rather,” he replied. “Besides, the _Ruby Light_ draws little more -than three feet--built for Florida waters, you know.” - -Then he strode from us, and took the wheel from Stevens. It was easy -enough to see who was the real captain. - -Next moment we slid into the slip of the inlet, and entered the quieter -waters beyond. - -Once in the bay, it took us all of two hours to creep to the spot -selected, for Stroth checked the engine so that she was barely turning -over. But, be it remarked, we didn’t rub the mud once, which tells its -own story of Stroth’s ability, and knowledge of the channel. - -Finally he tucked the schooner into as pretty a bight for concealment as -I could have imagined along that low-lying, marshy coast. Indeed, I -didn’t believe there was such a spot in the entire region, for my own -slight experience in the locality had come from a snipe-shooting trip I -had once made with a gunning companion. - -Even thus at night I could gather its advantages; but when, after some -five hours’ sound sleep, I stepped out on deck to greet the rising sun, -the impression was intensified. - -It looked exactly as though that island had been chiseled out to fit -that very boat; and, better to conceal it, had humped itself up into two -lateral hummocks surmounted by the inevitable salt grass. In fact, -bereft of spars as she lay now, not a trace could a man a furlong off -catch of the craft except dead ahead, and even there the channel crooked -to an abrupt turn. - -“It’s pretty near ideal, isn’t it?” said Stroth, coming up behind me. -Not a trace of the fire of yesterday showed on the features of the -owner. He was geniality itself. - -“I didn’t know there was such a place within a hundred miles of here,” -said I. - -“Oh, then you know Great South Bay?” - -“Scarcely at all,” I replied. “I simply know that the bay is probably -about five miles wide at this point. Over there”--and I swept my gesture -toward the low line of beach some half mile beyond the island and to -southward--“lies the Atlantic, and over this way----” - -“The south shore of Long Island; right.” - -“We’re about opposite----” I put it as a question. - -“Very nearly opposite Babylon,” said he slowly, and I felt more in his -tones than the mere words. - -At any rate, I was silent some seconds before he broke into my reverie -with: - -“You’re up against a problem, aren’t you?” - -He was right; something was distinctly bothering me that morning. I -didn’t hurry to say so, however. - -“Shall I word it for you?” he queried, with a short laugh. “Well, you’re -wondering, for one thing, just what would be the easiest way to get to -that mainland, eh?” - -He had hit the nail on the head first crack, for there was a decided -difference between being practically a prisoner on a schooner out of -sight of land at sea, and being foot-free on that schooner when she was -tied, bow and stern, in smooth water, a half mile from Uncle Sam’s -well-patrolled beach. There would be a life-saving station within a -five-mile trudge, I knew. - -But Stroth didn’t guess the real crux of the trouble. Duty to the force -he could understand; but of my feelings for his daughter he had no -inkling. - -Right there, though, lay my greatest difficulty, and I hate indecision -worse than anything I know of. But he solved the thing for me in short -order, and in his characteristic fashion. - -“I’ve got a choice for you again,” he said abruptly. “Naturally, the -thing I most object to is having my whereabouts known. You can -understand that.” - -I nodded. - -“At least, until I can refit,” he went on. “Now, I’m not the man to use -force when I can employ a milder treatment; and, besides, you’ve proved -yourself a very adaptable person, and, as such, I’ll admit I admire -you.” - -I eyed him closely, scenting sarcasm, but his face held none. - -“Furthermore,” he concluded, “you’re a man of your word; that I know.” - -“All of which----” I began. - -“All of which leads up, as I have intimated, to the choice, which is -very much like the one I offered you before. Simply stated, you are, -here and now, to give me your word to remain in my party until we reach -Savannah.” - -“The alternative?” I demanded. - -“Is sufficiently severe in justifying your course to superiors.” He -crossed his wrists, suggesting handcuffs, and I knew he meant what he -said, for the very metal rang in his voice. - -At heart I was positively glad that the one course lay open, and it was -a course any sane man would have to take. - -“Why, that’s no choice, Mr. Stroth!” I exclaimed, laughing; “it’s an -invitation, which I gladly accept. You have my word; I’m yours to -Savannah.” - -He joined my laugh, and we shook hands on it. - -“I’m going to give you absolute freedom, Grey,” said he, “even to ‘shore -leave.’ Fact is, after breakfast, you can do as you like, and we’ll----” - -“Bleakfas’, sir!” announced the Jap, Saki, at his elbow, and the -sentence wasn’t finished as we strode, hunger-whetted, to the dining -saloon. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -A PICNIC. - - -Both Stella Stroth and Stevens were already at table, and the girl -seemed to be in the highest sort of spirits. - -From the very second of my arrival she kept me jumping from subject to -subject in a sparkling joy of life. Little showed of that pensive mood -of last night’s moonlight. - -Stroth and Stevens soon became engrossed in plans for the refitting of -the schooner, no small task under the circumstances; but little of the -more serious talk got to me, for the girl kept me busy. - -Presently she burst out with: - -“Oh, daddy, have you still got my canoe aboard?” - -Not a trace of annoyance at her interruption showed in the father’s -manner as he replied: - -“I just reckon we have, honey. It’s below deck, of course; somewhere -beknownst to old Steve; he stowed it away carefully. Why, do you want -it?” - -She turned to me happily. “Wouldn’t it be just great to paddle over to -the beach yonder?” she cried. “Why, we might even catch some fish, Mr. -Grey.” - -I glanced at Stroth, who smiled back meaningly. - -“I’m afraid we’d be sort of deserters, and----” I began. - -“Oh, shucks! Daddy, we couldn’t help fix the schooner, anyway, could we? -We’d just be in the way, wouldn’t we?” - -Stroth replied easily: - -“Well, honey, I don’t want Grey, here, to take it as a slight, but I -really don’t think he could be of much service, for we’ve plenty of men. -And so that is not at all a bad suggestion.” - -“Ah, you hear that, Mr. Grey?” she cried delightedly, tossing down her -napkin. “Come on, let’s get old Steve!” - -As she quitted the doorway, and before she turned to see if I were -following, I questioned her father with a look, and got another nod of -approval. He certainly was putting my liberty on my honor. - -Old Steve chuckled joyously at her request, and it wasn’t ten minutes -before a light and graceful canvas canoe was bobbing alongside the -starboard landing stairs. And the old bo’s’n added this suggestion to -the fishing part of the picnic: - -“I don’t guess as how you’ll find overmuch fish atween here and the -beach, missy; but onless this region is dead changed, the shallows is -full of crabs; so I just brought this here net along in case----” - -“Oh, dandy! I just dote on scoopin’ ’em in!” she exclaimed -enthusiastically. “And we’ll take along a kettle. Why, it’ll just be -scrumptious! And you can tell Saki that he needn’t expect us to dinner.” - -Whereupon she took her place in the bow of the frail craft, and caught -up her paddle, and not ten strokes were needed to prove that she was no -novice at the trick. - -We reached the main beach within a half hour, then coasted along its -shallows, scooping up the crustaceans. We made a goodly haul in short -order, and by noon she had had enough of the sport. - -“Let’s land on the beach, leave the canoe pulled up, and take our kettle -over to the ocean side of the bar,” she proposed. “We can make a bully -good fire of driftwood. My, but this is all primitive and bully, isn’t -it?” - -And it was all I could do to keep from telling her just how bully it was -to me, and how I’d like to keep on this way forever. - -But before we got that fire started, we met a difficulty. I hadn’t a -match--not a single one. - -This was an insuperable difficulty, that cleared quicker and easier than -usual, for a blue-uniformed government coast guard came trudging his -solitary beat along the hardened sands where the tide had run out. - -He seemed not a whit surprised at seeing such a couple as we were. I -suppose he credited “summer folks” with any kind of asininity, even to -paddling a canoe clear over from Babylon. - -“A match?” he echoed genially. “Why, shore! Here you are,” and he -produced one from behind his ear, where he carried a half dozen. - -As he handed it over, I detected a lingering eye on our catch. - -“You certainly got quite a mess, didn’t you?” he commented. - -“Yes; don’t you want some of ’em?” I asked. - -“Why, I don’t care if I do,” he answered. “The boys up to the station -ain’t got much time to catch ’em themselves. Ef you don’t mind, I’ll -jest take along a half dozen.” - -So saying, he drew a newspaper from his pocket, tore a sheet from it, -and, to our hearty urging, wrapped up a full dozen. - -Then he wished us a good appetite for our crude meal, and once more -strode away at his steady, distance-covering gait. - -It was with the intention of starting the fire at once that I caught up -the sheet of newspaper he had left behind him; but, after one glance, I -didn’t burn it. - -The item that met my eye was not a large one; the bit of news was not -featured; but it held me. This is what I saw: - - - “WIRELESS FROM MONTAUK. - - “A message received late last night reports a strange happening off - Montauk Point yesterday during a short, but fierce, squall. - - “At the very instant when the operator at the point was trying to - get into communication with a trim, black schooner that carried the - apparatus, the wind caught her full; she heeled sharply; then the - fog, which had held the whole day, once more descended. But there - came another sudden rift in the mist when the craft was again - sighted. This time it was only her hull, for both masts, in the - interval, had been carried away clean to the deck. Then once more - the fog descended. No hint of her identity or present whereabouts - is known.” - -That was all, but I shoved the paper quickly into my jacket pocket -before the girl returned from the water, where she had been filling our -kettle. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -THE DAILY PAPERS. - - -Just what prompted me to be at such pains to conceal the news item, I am -at a loss to say. Perhaps it was some premonition. At all events, I -argued that it would be better to think over the thing a bit before I -did anything. Of course, the circumstance might amount to absolutely -nothing. - -I took good pains, however, not to let any of my indecision or -abstraction show, and our delightful little tête-à-tête picnic ended as -light-heartedly and happily as it had begun. And just about sundown it -was a very tired little girl, indeed, that insisted upon doing her -share of paddling in the bow of the canoe. - -Reaching the schooner’s deck, I was astonished to see what order had -already begun to show among the former tangle of wreckage. All standing -and running rigging had been carefully overhauled, coiled, and tagged. -The decks were pretty clear, and what clutter there was was -well-ordered. - -Stroth met us jovially at the ladder. “Well, girlie, a good day?” - -“Oh, fine, daddy, and----” here she stifled a healthy bit of a yawn. -“Oh, I’m so sleepy!” - -“Nothing like the open, eh, Grey?” said he genially. - -“Nothing,” I echoed, then added: “Nothing for sleep like it, unless it’s -tiresome company.” - -It was cheap, and I regretted it, even before I caught her look; but, -come to think of it, the look compensated. - -“Then off to bed with you, honey!” cried her father. - -“Bed? Now? Why, we haven’t even had supper.” - -“Well, I think it would be better, don’t you? I’ll send in Saki to you -with your meal, and you can tumble right in. You must remember, dear, -we’ve been through some happenings since----” - -She broke into the argument with a happy laugh. Then she kissed him, -gave me a nod, and left us. - -I watched her from sight, then turned to Stroth’s chuckle, as he -queried: - -“A pretty good showing for one day, isn’t it?” He indicated the decks -with a sweep of his right hand. Over his left shoulder was slung a -camera. - -“I never would have believed it possible in the time,” I replied, in -genuine admiration. Then I nodded forward to where Stevens was -superintending the construction of the scissorlike arrangement of spars -with which he purposed to restep the sticks. “A mighty good man that, -Mr. Stroth,” I added. - -“I’m beginning to think so,” was the serious reply. - -“It won’t be as long a job as you first thought, will it?” I inquired. - -“Not by a jugful! Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if we could shake this -mooring by day after to-morrow! Yes, Stevens is a gem!” - -At this point the little captain himself strode back and joined us, just -as I was remarking: - -“The hobby again, Mr. Stroth,” with a nod toward the camera. - -“Why, yes, indeed,” he replied. “I thought it would be pretty good to -have a half dozen or so snaps at the old _Ruby Light_ in the hospital. -I’m going to get some more to-morrow, just as the work’s beginning. -We’ll develop them together, if you like.” - -“Nothing I’d like better!” I replied. - -At the time I simply couldn’t make head or tail to the look of -displeasure, coupled to what was almost fear, that Captain Stevens shot -at me. But he didn’t offer a word in explanation as we filed on down the -steps to supper. - -Oddly enough, it was not until the following night that I gave second -thought to that account I had read of our accident in the paper the -coast guard had dropped. - -I don’t believe I should have reverted to it seriously, even then, if -something of a kindred nature hadn’t happened. - -Stroth, as he had promised, had spent the day, joyous as a boy, at his -picture taking; but along about four o’clock he had filled his entire -reel. And it was just at this time that Stevens was about to dispatch a -couple of the crew in the dory launch. - -It seems there was a broken turnbuckle or two to be replaced, and there -was no risk in thus sending the fellows ashore to a chandler’s; -particularly as they would return after dusk. - -Stroth heard the order, and added one of his own. - -“And, lads,” he called to them, above the engine’s first sharp barkings, -“you might bring me all you can get of to-day’s papers.” - -The cheery “Aye, aye, sir!” spoke well for their affection for their -chief. - -Immediately thereafter Stroth left us for the cabin. At his -disappearance, Stevens turned to me. - -“Then you aren’t going with him?” he asked sharply. - -“With him--where?” - -“To the dark room.” - -“Why, no--if that’s where he’s bound--I guess not. I suppose he forgot -the invitation.” - -“Maybe so,” said Stevens meaningly, though I invited no confidences. - -That night there were again but three of us at the supper table; but -this time it was Stroth that was the absentee. - -Stevens seemed particularly preoccupied, and left the conversation to -Stella and me; but we managed not to miss his share overmuch. I leave -the reason to the acute to fathom. - -Supper cleared, the girl and I tackled cribbage. Incidentally, she -played an abominable game, though I wouldn’t admit it. - -Stevens busied himself at a small wall desk, doing some sort of -drawing--probably a sketch of the way he would effect to-morrow’s task -in refitting. - -It was a quiet night, and the moon rose late. - -Perhaps the game had run an hour when we heard the pop-pop of the -returning dory launch; then came the slight thump as she brought up to -the port ladder. - -Stevens left the cabin to meet the fellows; returning almost -immediately, and carrying a couple of packages, probably the -turnbuckles, and a stack of newspapers which he flopped down on the -center table. - -Then came the slam of a door behind me as I sat with my back to the -owner’s stateroom. - -Even before I turned I could feel the change in him; and one look -riveted the impression. I had begun to know that look. - -But it was some time before he said a word. I could see that he was -laboring to conceal some sort of excitement--for the girl’s sake, it -flashed on me. - -We kept on with our game, and, with a grunt, Stroth caught up one of the -newspapers from the pile. The sheet shook under his hand as he turned -page after page. - -It looked to me as if he were almost certain to find some item. It’s -hard to make my point clear, but I don’t mean that he was simply looking -for an article, a particular page. His search through those crackling -sheets partook more the nature of prophecy, as though some force other -than plain reason prompted him. - -Then suddenly the crackling stopped; his brow knotted, his hands no -longer shook. For perhaps two minutes he stood thus. - -Finally he put down the paper, and I could see that he was getting some -grip on himself; and it was a good grip, for his voice had almost the -real ring as he spoke to the girl. - -“Turning-in time again, honey!” he said. - -“Why, you’re a regular old ogre at sending me off to bed, dad!” And I -saw that she suspected no change in him as she obediently finished the -hand, bade me good night, and went to her stateroom. - -It was as though he had nerved himself to the limit, and could hold it -only till he heard the click of her door latch. - -“Grey!” It was little more than a whisper, but I jumped to it as to a -bellow. - -“Yes?” said I. - -“Go to your room, and don’t leave it until to-morrow morning at nine!” - -I went. - - -TO BE CONTINUED. - - -MORAL SUASION. - -Old Gentleman--“Do you mean to say that your teachers never thrash you?” - -Little Boy--“Never. We have moral suasion at our school.” - -“What’s that?” - -“Oh, we get kep’ in and stood up in corners and locked out and locked in -and made to write one word a thousand times, and scowled at and jawed at -and that’s all.” - - -PATIENT WAITERS. - -The Greenlanders’ mode of life has accustomed them to take things as -they come. If they find no game, they know how to go hungry, and in -their relations with each other and with Europeans they manifest the -same astounding patience. - -I would see them in the morning standing by the hour in the passage of -the colonial manager’s house, or waiting in the snow outside his door, -to speak to him or his assistant, who happened to be otherwise engaged. - -They had probably some little business to transact with those officials -before starting for their homes, often many miles from the colony, and -it might be of the greatest importance to them to get away as soon as -possible. If the weather happened to look threatening, every minute -would be more than precious; but there they would stand waiting, as -immovable as ever, and to all appearance as indifferent. - -If I asked them if they were going to start, they only answered: “I -don’t know. Perhaps, if the weather don’t get worse,” or something to -that effect; but I never once heard the smallest murmur of impatience. - -The following occurrence, for which my informant vouches, illustrates -this side of their character: - -An inspector at Godthaab sent a boat’s crew into the Ameralik Fiord to -mow grass for his goats. They remained a long time away, and no one -could understand what had become of them. At last they returned, and -when the inspector asked why they had been so long, they answered that -when they got to the place the grass was too short, so they had to -settle down and wait till it grew. - - * * * * * - - -THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS. - - -Death Follows Evil Dream. - -Having dreamed a tramp had entered her home and killed her, Minnie J. -Stephens, seventeen years old, daughter of John Stephens, former -postmaster of Attalla, Ala., and prominent in social circles, secured -her father’s pistol and examined it to see that it was in order for use -in case a tramp appeared. While examining the weapon, it was discharged, -the ball puncturing the intestines a dozen times and causing a fatal -wound. - - -Shows Big Ear of Corn. - -The Reverend Asher S. Preston, of Portland, formerly pastor of the Wayne -Street M. E. Church, Fort Wayne, Ind., stopped off in Fort Wayne on his -way home from his farm in Steuben County. He had with him an ear of corn -which was 14½ inches long, and was raised on the farm of Mack Pogue, -just across the road from the Reverend Preston’s farm. Pogue’s corn -average about 100 bushels to the acre. - - -Don’t Balk at Pink Oysters. - -Pink oysters are the latest freak of nature under investigation by -experts of the department of agriculture. The rosy-hued bivalve comes -from beds in Long Island Sound, looks like a regular oyster when -gathered, but turns up pink on the plate of the ultimate consumer. - -Frightened epicureans besieged the bureau of chemistry with inquiries, -and a volunteer poison squad found the pink oyster not only harmless but -delicious. - -The chemists have a theory that the oysters are turned pink either by a -wild yeast bacillus or some other micro-organism. - - -Hen Kicks Out Man’s Teeth. - -Charles Nicholson, a prominent farmer living near Scranton, Iowa, -reports the loss of a couple of teeth, which were kicked out by an angry -mother hen that went on a rampage. Nicholson was attempting to catch -some little chickens in the grass, when the mother hen flew at him, -scratching and kicking him in the face. - - -Survivor of Massacre Dead. - -Mrs. Rose A. Schmahl, mother of Julius A. Schmahl, Minnesota’s secretary -of State, is dead at the home of her daughter in Duluth. Mrs. Schmahl -was eighty-six years old, and was one of the survivors of the Indian -massacre at Fort Ridgely, Minn., in 1862. - - -Bagg’s Hens Elope With Binn’s Geese. - -Mystery surrounded the disappearance of about fifty of the choicest -fowls on the poultry farm of George Bagg, at Brewerton, on Oneida Lake, -N. Y. Twenty hens were taken a few weeks ago; soon afterward about -twenty more disappeared, and a week ago ten more joined the missing. - -The poultry house was double padlocked, a homemade burglar alarm was -employed, and still the poultry seemed to melt away. There were no -traces of predatory animals, and the superstitious wagged their heads, -while Mr. Bagg was in despair. - -A few days ago he put in the day hiding in some bushes midway between -his poultry yard and the nearby banks of the river which flows into -Oneida Lake. As he watched, the mystery was solved. Four unusually large -geese from the farm of Frank Binn, across the river, had been -fraternizing with the Bagg hens all summer and been enticing them to -leave their home and go over to the other farm. - -The geese were seen solemnly waddling down to the water, followed by -several hens. When the geese stepped into the river, a hen would flutter -a few feet up and down the bank, and then, with a squawk, would fly or -hop onto the back of a goose. Then, squatting contentedly, the fowls -were carried over to the Binn farm. There Mr. Bagg found his missing -hens, the geese having carried them all over on their backs. - - -Vicious Deer Trapped. - -While J. F. Parkhill, a prominent stockman of Breckenridge, Texas, was -out hunting his cows on the Hubbard River, in the northern part of this -county, his attention was attracted to a vacant ranch house by some -violent disturbance going on within. Upon approaching the building, he -beheld a buck deer on the inside engaged in killing a large rattlesnake. -Suddenly the deer made a break for the door, but was fought back by Mr. -Parkhill with a scantling until he could barricade the entrance. - -The next day, Mr. Parkhill, along with County Clerk J. A. Ault, Colonel -Warner Parkhill, and J. L. Griffith, went to the vacant house and hauled -the deer home in a wagon. The deer was a vicious animal, and Mr. -Parkhill was severely cut and bruised by the deer while trying to keep -it in the ranch house until the door was barricaded. - - -Want to Sell a Leg? - -Any one with a leg to spare is here notified that he will be able to do -business with Will Taylor, of Portersville, Ala. He appears to be -anxious to dicker for one without any unnecessary delay. - -The Chattanooga police department received a letter from Mr. Taylor in -which he made it quite plain that he wants a leg at once. His, he -states, is off just above the knee, but he fails to say whether left or -right leg is needed to make his feet track. The letter, addressed to -“Mr. Police, Chattanooga,” is as follows: - -“dear sir, i will rite you a few lines to let you know that i want a -leg. Min is off about six inch above my nee and I want a leg at once. -rite and tell me what it will Cost me. i want it at once rite on return -Mail and fail not so very truly - - WILL TAYLOR.” - -Written on the other side of the paper is: - -“Back your letter to Will Taylor Portersville Ala. Mr. Police, please -send this letter to the leg Man.” - - -Roof Playground for Cats. - -When the Morris Refuge, of Philadelphia, Pa., was remodeled several -years ago, the thought that the haven for homeless animals would have a -roof garden never entered the minds of the officers. But now there is a -recreation ground on top of the building. - -Here dozens of cats, safe from humans, safe from fatal contact with hard -substances thrown by outraged citizens, and safe from their natural -enemy, the dog, pass their lives in quiet. - -The entire roof of the institution is caged in with poultry wire. One -end is covered. The cats play with gum balls, roll in beds of seductive -catnip, and in general lead happy, peaceful lives. - - -Woman Sticks in Gangplank. - -If Señora Rosalie Gonzales, who has a plantation in Guatemala, makes any -more ocean voyages, gangplanks may have to be enlarged. The señora -admitted sixty years and 310 pounds. She came to New York to purchase a -wardrobe, the supply of finery being limited in Guatemala just now. -Going aboard the United Fruit liner _Sixola_, she fell on the gangplank -and became wedged so she could not get up. A carpenter cut away part of -the rail. - - -Big Sea Lions in the River. - -The two big sea lions that escaped from the park aquarium, at -Philadelphia, Pa., and wriggled their way to a canal leading to the -river, are cornered in the first lock, but have balked all attempts at -recapture. They haughtily spurn all tempting morsels of fish which it -was hoped would lure them back to their tanks. It is virtually -impossible for them to get through or over the lock, but their capture -is uncertain. Crowds, including many children, enjoy the futile efforts -of their would-be captors. - - -Auto Wrecked by the Gale. - -Harry Goodhead died at his home in Milford, Conn., from injuries -sustained when his auto was wrecked some hours before in a gale. Carlton -Quirk, who was riding with him, was badly crushed and will probably die. - -The men, on a gunning trip, were speeding on Fort Trumbull Beach, going -forty-five miles an hour, when the gale smashed the windshield, causing -Goodhead to lose his hold on the steering wheel. The auto lurched, -struck a telephone pole, and overturned. Both men were buried under the -car and were unconscious when found. - - -Young Dog’s Strange Fancy. - -A lady living near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, tells of a young dog that -is a fierce foe to cats. He will chase them from the house and barn, and -should he catch one, he will bite off its tail or inflict bad wounds on -its body. Several stray cats came to the lady’s home, and she took them -in temporarily. Among them was a black one. - -One day the black cat followed the mistress to the pasture gate. When -the horses were coming pellmell for their drink, the dog stood right -over the cat until the last horse had passed through the gate, and the -dog was never known to harm his black favorite, but seemed to enjoy her -company. - - -Death Penalty to All Spies. - -From time immemorial the spy has been one of the most dangerous factors -with which military men have had to deal. Death is the punishment when -caught. Although methods of communication have been greatly increased, -the spy appears to be more dangerous to-day than ever, and daily -executions have followed captures in the war zone. Women have paid for -their daring with their lives. The number is unknown, but they are said -to be numerous. Following are two dispatches, each of which tells its -story of war: - -A message received at Amsterdam, Holland, tells of the shooting of an -English woman as a spy in the German barracks at Courtrai, Belgium. The -woman, it was said, was dressed in the garments of a priest when -captured by the Germans. - -A German girl spy was caught a few miles outside of Petrograd. She has -been court-martialed and shot. Her clothes were lined with admirably -executed plans of Kronstadt and other military stations. - -To what extent the spy has been busy is indicated by the references in -English newspapers to the extraordinary good information possessed by -the Germans concerning the movements and even the contemplated movements -of the British troops. At the outbreak of the war it was declared that -there were thousands of spies in England. In France many Germans have -been executed as spies. A recent dispatch told of the execution of -fifteen Germans who were found in an insane asylum in Lorraine. All the -doctors and most of the attendants had deserted the institution with the -approach of the French army, and their places were taken by the spies. -By clever use of flags, the spies were able to direct the German -artillery fire, at a distance, against the French. - -Fewer reports have come from Germany regarding spies. It is said, -however, that many Russians have been detected in Germany. The Russian -espionage system is in many ways superior to all others. Russian spies -in Austria have been of great assistance to the czar’s army chiefs. In -all the countries at war passports have been stolen by spies and the -signatures studied so that the holders can produce passable imitations. -Spies have even been caught with their own photographs pasted over -others in passports and with the official stamp on the photographs -counterfeited. - -When the spies are captured and sentenced, they meet death bravely. That -is part of their creed. Soldiers loathe the task of shooting women, but -such is the law of war. All accounts of the executions of women state -that they have died as bravely as the men, with no appeal and no -complaint in giving their lives for their country. - - -Some Sleeper, This Fellow. - -After Eugene Hyland and Scott Anderson had searched the pockets of Paul -Busselet, whom they found lying in the gutter at Sansome and Washington -Streets, San Francisco, Cal., early in the morning, one grabbed him by -the heels and the other by the shoulder and tossed him over a fence into -a vacant lot. - -When the pair turned around, they were looking into the muzzle of a -revolver in the hands of Policeman Lenhardt. At the city prison Lenhardt -charged the pair with attempted robbery. Busselet, whom they tossed over -the fence, was not even awakened by the rough treatment and was reported -by the officer still sound asleep when the case of the accused pair was -called in court. - - -Thirty in This Kentucky Family. - -Mr. and Mrs. John Kiser, who live in Kentucky, just across the mountains -from Big Laurel, Va., have the largest family in this part of the -country, if not in all America. They have been married thirty years, and -have twenty-eight children, including one set of triplets and five sets -of twins. Only a few days ago two boys were added to the family. All the -children are unmarried and make their home with their parents. - - -A. Wolf Shoots a Wolf. - -“I want some bounty money on a wolf.” - -“What name?” - -“Wolf.” - -“No, no. Not the animal’s name. What’s your name?” - -“Wolf, I say; Adolph Wolf, of South Superior.” - -After the little misunderstanding had cleared away, W. J. Leader, county -clerk, at Superior, Wis., gave county and State orders for ten dollars -each to the applicant for bounty money. - -Wolf shot his wolf inside the city limits, and was given a permit by -Mayor Konkel to collect the bounty. - -Alfred Hillpipre, of the town of Superior, also was granted bounty money -on a wolf he killed along the Tower Road, south of the city limits. - - -Some Big Potatoes. - -Arthur Adams, of Shamokin, Pa., is exhibiting two potatoes, the largest -ever raised in this section. One weighs three pounds and four ounces, -the other one three pounds. The potatoes were grown on the farm. - - -For Fifty Years They Thought He Was Dead. - -When the Civil War was ended and Laurentine F. Higby failed to return to -his home in Exeter, members of his family finally decided he had been -laid away in one of the many battlefield graves filled with unidentified -dead. - -Higby, however, was not dead. He had been wounded in action, and when he -recovered, he forgot his past, and, after the war, went to Kansas, -married, and reared a family, later going to Wilmington, Ill. He -remembered only that he had served in the army and applied for a pension -under the name of Lauren F. Higby. - -Government pension-office agents identified him through communication -with relatives in Exeter, and now they are on the way to Wilmington for -a reunion with the man they had thought dead for fifty years. - -Higby served with Battery A, First New York Volunteers. - - -250,000 Canadians at Front by Next Fall. - -The second Canadian contingent will comprise 15,270 officers and men, -4,765 horses, fifty-eight guns, and sixteen machine guns, and will be -ready to sail from Canada in January. - -A third Canadian contingent of approximately 25,000 men will be ready to -leave for England early in March. Including the first contingent of -33,000 men, the Dominion by spring will have sent more than 70,000 men -to the firing line. - -The military authorities also have decided to keep 40,000 men under arms -in Canada to serve as a base of supply for the contingent at the front. -As the British war office has informed the Dominion that reënforcements -should be provided for at the rate of twenty-five per cent per month, -instead of on the smaller basis of seventy per cent per annum, as at -first anticipated, it will mean a drain or the numbers recruited for -reënforcing purposes of from 6,000 to 8,000 a month, with increases in -proportion as the strength of the Canadian forces in the field is -enlarged. - -When the second contingent of 15,000 to 17,000 men leaves for Europe in -January, a further enlistment of 17,000 will take place immediately. It -is believed that mounted Canadians will be sent to the Suez region of -Egypt. - -With a contingent being sent to England every two months, together with -reënforcements, Canada expects to have placed between 200,000 and -250,000 men at the disposal of Great Britain by next autumn. - - -Interesting Facts. - -The old belief that the age of a rattlesnake can be told by the number -of his rattles is wrong, as also is the belief that a deer’s span of -life is accurately recounted by the number of points on his antlers. -Scientists have found that the largest rattler may have few rattles and -a small snake twice the number of the big one. Careful study has shown -that the points on a deer’s antlers have no bearing whatever on his age. - -Portable wireless apparatus adopted by the United States army and -carried on an automobile of special design has a sending radius of 800 -miles and has received messages from points 2,500 miles away. - -A telegraph wire in the open country lasts four times as long as one in -a city. - -In Korea, widows never remarry. Even though they have been married only -a month, they must not take a second husband. - -The visitors at the Panama-Pacific Exposition are not to be annoyed by -any realization of the flight of time. Clocks are not to enter into the -architecture of any of the buildings. - - -Rare Gift for Fatherland. - -Showing a love of country that could not be more self-sacrificing, Carl -Barwieck, an aged resident of Davenport, Iowa, has given to the German -war relief fund committee his most treasured family heirloom, a rare -German Bible, 311 years old. The book has been in the possession of the -Barwieck family for over 300 years. It was printed in Wittenberg in 1603 -by Lorenz Seuberlich. - -“I haven’t anything else to give. Maybe you can sell this for something -and get money for the fatherland that way,” said Barwieck, when he -produced the old heirloom. His gift was accepted. It is expected to -bring several hundred dollars. Wealthy Germans here are planning to buy -it and give it to the Academy of Sciences. - - -Various Uses for Quicksilver. - -Quicksilver, according to the United States Geological Survey, is being -used for many new purposes. It is used mainly in the manufacture of -fulminate for explosive caps, of drugs, of electric appliances and -scientific apparatus, and in the recovery of precious metals, especially -gold, by amalgamation. - -One use in the United States, and possibly elsewhere, is the coating of -ships’ bottoms with a paint containing quicksilver to prevent organic -growth. Mercuric oxide--red oxide of mercury--is the active poison in -antifouling paint successfully used on ships’ bottoms. The metal appears -to be but little employed in silvering mirrors, as nitrate of silver is -now chiefly used for the purpose. - -Increasing use of quicksilver is probably to be expected in the -manufacture of electrical appliances and fulminates and possibly of -paints for protective coatings on metals. The demand for quicksilver for -amalgamating gold and silver has greatly decreased, as is well known, -with the decreased supply of free milling ores and the increased -application of cyanidation to gold and silver ores. Industrial chemistry -and inventive genius are to be looked to for increasing the demand. - -The quicksilver production of the world during 1913 is estimated at -4,171 metric tons, against 4,262 tons in 1912 and 4,083 tons in 1911. -Spain last year headed the countries of production with 1,490 tons. The -United States produced only 688 tons. The other producing countries were -Austria-Hungary, 855 tons; Italy, 988 tons; Mexico and others, 150 tons. - - -Navy Man Bars “Tipperary.” - -No longer will the song “Tipperary” be heard at the United States Naval -Training Station, at Newport, R. I., because Lieutenant Commander Frank -Taylor Evans, executive officer, has decided that for navy men to sing -it is a violation of President Wilson’s neutrality order. - -The marching song seemed to have struck the popular chord with army and -navy men, not because it was the song of the Allies, but because it had -the ring and rousing chorus suited to the men of the service. - -One night recently, when a thousand or more apprentice seamen at the -training station were having their weekly motion-picture entertainment, -with songs between the pictures, the orchestra struck up “Tipperary,” -and it was sung with spirit, and an encore was demanded. - -While the apprentices were having a vaudeville show in their theater at -the station, they sang the chorus of “Tipperary,” while a vaudeville -actor led the singing, so Lieutenant Commander Evans stepped in and -issued the order that “Tipperary” was not to be played or sung by the -men. - -All that the executive officer would say to-night was that the song came -under the president’s neutrality order. - - -Canada Finds a Gun Base. - -The Canadian military authorities are investigating a report that there -is a secret store of arms and ammunition on the Isle of Orleans, in the -St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec. A concrete base, upon which a siege -gun could be mounted, was found there and destroyed. - -A German two years ago bought a tract of land on the Isle of Orleans and -established a plant for the manufacture of concrete blocks. It is upon -this property that the concrete foundation was found. It commanded the -defenses of Quebec and of the St. Lawrence Channel. - -A moving-picture company, the leading officials of which were Germans, -spent last summer on the Isle of Orleans reproducing the battle of the -Plains of Abraham and making films of it. They employed several young -men of Quebec, uniformed them, and provided them with arms which they -borrowed from local military authorities. They had both cannon and -rifles, and fired a large amount of blank ammunition in their -operations. The firearms which they borrowed were returned to the -authorities, but it is now reported that they took advantage of the -opportunity to land guns and secrete them in pits, which they covered -carefully. - -The Canadian military authorities have regarded the information they -have received as serious enough to warrant an investigation. Excavations -have been made in search for buried guns. So far none has been found, -and as the island is twenty miles long and seven miles wide, the search -is likely to prove tedious. At its nearest point the island is four -miles from Quebec. As far as the Canadian military authorities have been -able to learn, the films made last summer were never exhibited. - - -War Upsets Artist’s Mind. - -Albert S. Cox, a magazine artist of Grantwood, four miles from -Hackensack, N. J., offered the government a cloth of his invention two -years ago, saying uniforms made of it would render the wearers -invisible, and he told his friends the government was overlooking a -great opportunity when it declined to deal with him. His friends -sympathized and weren’t particularly worried about Cox, for he didn’t -invent anything else until lately, when he confided to some that he had -made a paint which, applied to a military fort, would make it disappear. - -Still, nobody minded much until the other day, when Cox announced that -his house was a fort and was being attacked. He appeared at the windows -and discharged bullets at foes, who apparently were wrapped in his -invisible cloth so far as the neighbors were concerned, but when bullets -began to fly promiscuously around Grantwood, Sheriff Heath was notified. - -He persuaded Cox he was an ally and led him off to the Morris Plains -Insane Asylum. - - -Dog Resolves to be His Own Expressman. - -When Mrs. James Gordon, whose family has just moved to Pitman, N. J., -from Indiana, went to the telephone to answer a call from a local -expressman who reported the arrival of the Gordons’ dog from the Western -State, she was interrupted by a scratching at the back door. - -As she opened the door, the dog came bounding into the room. He had -broken out of his crate in front of the express office, more than a mile -from the Gordon home, while the expressman was telephoning. There were -three dollars express charges due on the dog, which the expressman gave -up hope of ever collecting, until Mrs. Gordon drove into town an hour -later and told of the arrival of her pet. - - -How We Have Grown. - -The population of the United States is more than 100,000,000, and the -money in circulation totals $3,419,090,000, while 11,000,000 of the -thrifty inhabitants have $4,375,000,000 in the savings banks. - -Such is the announcement made by Uncle Sam in a pamphlet issued by the -department of commerce. The pamphlet is entitled “Statistical Record of -Progress of the United States, 1800-1914.” It gives a “half-century -retrospect” and a “clear perspective” of the nation’s quadrupling of -population and multiplying a hundredfold of industrial values. - -“Since 1850, the population, then 25,000,000, has more than quadrupled,” -says the bulletin. Commerce has grown from $318,000,000 to -$4,259,000,000, and the per-capita value of exports from $16.96 to -$23.27. - -National wealth has increased from $7,000,000,000 in 1870, to -$140,000,000,000, and the money in circulation from $279,000,000 to -$3,419,000,000. For the entire country, bank clearings have grown from -$52,000,000,000 in 1887, to $174,000,000,000 in 1913. - -Improved social conditions among the people are shown in that 19,000,000 -children are enrolled in public schools and 200,000 students in -colleges. The total expenditure of education approximates $500,000,000 a -year. - -In 1850 there were 251,000 depositors in savings banks. There are now -11,000,000, with deposits aggregating more than 100 times as much as at -the middle of the last century. - -The value of farms and farm property increased during the last half -century from $4,000,000,000 to $41,000,000,000; value of manufactures -from $1,000,000,000 to over $20,000,000,000, and the number of miles of -railroad in operation from 9,021 in 1850 to 258,033 in 1912. - - -Maker of Biggest Cheese Dies. - -George A. Carter, maker of the giant cheese that was exhibited at the -Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, died at Geneva, Ohio. The -cheese, which weighed more than a ton, is believed still to hold the -record as the biggest one ever manufactured. - - -Old Sea Warrior Sold. - -The United States frigate _Independence_, last of the fighting ships -built for the War of 1812, has been sold to Captain John H. Binder, of -Berkeley, Cal., for $3,515. The old vessel for fifty years has been used -as a train-ship at Mare Island before it was placed out of commission. -The navy department appraised it at $4,000, but was unable to get bids -at that figure. - - -Study All America. - -In a letter to high-school principals of the United States, Doctor P. P. -Claxton, the government’s commissioner of education, urges special study -of the countries of Latin America, those portions of America inhabited -by races of Latin stock, including Central America, South America, -Mexico, and parts of the West Indies. Doctor Claxton writes: - -“We should teach in our schools and colleges more of the geography, -history, literature, and life of the Latin-American countries, and we -should offer instruction in the Spanish and Portuguese languages to a -much larger extent than is now done. - -“All our relations with the countries to the south of us are bound to -become much more intimate than they have been in the past. The -completion of the Panama Canal, the changes in commercial relations -brought about by the war in Europe, as well as other recent events, have -served to call the attention of the people of the United States to the -recent rapid growth and development of the Latin-American republics. - -“These countries comprise an area three times as great as the United -States. They are rich in minerals, forests, water power, and a wide -range of agricultural products. They have 70,000,000 of people, with -governments modeled after our own. Their foreign commerce amounts to -more than $3,000,000,000 annually, and is rapidly increasing. - -“The third American city in population is in Latin America. Another -Latin-American city has 1,000,000 inhabitants. Three others have -approximately 500,000 each, and five others have each 20,000 or more. -Some of these cities rank among the most beautiful and attractive in the -world. - -“These countries are making rapid progress in elementary and secondary -education and in industrial education. Several of their universities -enroll from one to 2,000 students each. The history of their countries -is interesting, and they possess a rich and varied literature.” - - -Earthquake Kills Twenty-three. - -According to a dispatch from Athens to the Exchange Telegraph Company, -in London, twenty-three persons were killed and others were injured in -the earthquake recently in Western Greece and the Ionian Islands. - -On the island of Santa Maura the earthquake caused strange convolutions -of the earth’s surface. A mountain collapsed and crumbled away for a -distance of nearly two miles, and the waters of the Ionian Sea covered -125 acres of the valley. New small mountains appeared at different -points on the island. - - -To Collect Farm Relics. - -F. A. Wirt, who teaches farm mechanics in the Kansas Agricultural -College, is planning an interesting collection of machine relics for the -college. The first mowing machine in Kansas will soon be on exhibit if -his plan works out. He found the sickle bar of this machine reposing in -a junk pile near Milford. He is looking for the rest of the machine, and -hopes to assemble the different parts. The machine was taken to Kansas -in 1850, and was used on the reservation at Fort Riley. It was so heavy -that it required six government mules to pull it. The bar weighs 125 -pounds and cuts a swath five feet wide. The guards are thirteen in -number and are two inches longer than the guards that are used on more -modern mowers. - -Another interesting relic is the hub of the cart used to haul the logs -that were used in building the first Statehouse in Kansas. The hub is -twenty-three inches long and eighteen inches in diameter. There are -holes for sixteen spokes which were 5 by 11½ inches. The wheel was eight -feet in diameter and required a tire four inches wide and three-quarters -of an inch thick. The logs were suspended under the axle of the cart. -The axle had a spindle 7¾ by 5 inches. - - -Finds Needle in Chicken. - -When dressing a chicken for dinner, Mrs. Charles Wingate, of Albert Lea, -Minn., felt something prick her hand as she was drawing the insides. She -soon discovered what caused it. The fowl had swallowed--perhaps in -meal--a needle, and the needle had penetrated the gizzard and the point -was protruding about one-third of an inch. Once, she says, she found a -needle in a growing cucumber. It was badly rusted. - - -Buy War Motor Trucks. - -The Pierce-Arrow Motor Company, of Buffalo, N. Y., has received an order -from the French government for 300 five-ton trucks. The order amounts to -about $1,000,000. It is expected that it will be followed by others. The -truck “tested out” to the satisfaction of the French army -representatives at Bethlehem, Penn. - -Part of the French order goes also to the White Motor Company, of -Cleveland. That company will make 200 five-ton trucks. - -Some time ago the Pierce Company received an order from the British War -Department for 250 one-ton and two-ton trucks. It is reported that a -competition will be held for a big order expected from the Russian -government. - -The new order will keep at work at the Pierce plant several thousand -men, day and night turns. It is not likely that any extra men will be -needed, because the present force has almost finished the contract with -the British government. - - -Prize Peaches Twenty-eight Years Old. - -Mrs. Roy Trimble, of Atchison, Kan., has a jar of peaches that took -first premium at a recent fair. Nothing unusual about that, but the -remarkable part of this story is the fact that the same jar of preserves -took a similar premium at the Kansas State fair twenty-eight years ago, -when they were exhibited by Mrs. Fred Hartman, Mrs. Trimble’s mother. -The fruit is apparently just as perfect to-day as it was when preserved -more than a quarter of a century ago. - - -New Way to Stanch Wounds. - -A preparation which it is said will stop almost instantly the flow of -blood from a wound has been devised by Professor Theodor Kocher, of -Berne, who was awarded the Nobel prize for surgery in 1912, and his -assistant, Doctor A. Fonce. It is called coagulen. The powder is -dissolved in water before being applied to a wound. - -The discoverers of coagulen have made a gift of their secret to the -armies in the field. They have sent large quantities of the powder to -the surgical headquarters of both German and French armies. - - -War Stops Immigration. - -Before the war an average of 5,000 immigrants used to arrive daily at -Ellis Island, New York. Now the average is only 150 a day, according to -Commissioner Uhl. - -The total number of immigrants into the United States last year was -1,197,892. Of these the number admitted from the Russian empire and -Finland was 291,040; from Italy, 265,542; and from Austria and Hungary, -254,825. - - -“Regular Horse for Work.” - -John Phipps, a farmer near Kalamazoo, Mich., has an old horse that had -done her full share of work and was finally allowed to take life easy. -Two or three days later, when the other horses had been led to the tank -and watered and were being lined up to be harnessed, the old horse ran -from the pasture and took her position beside the workers, evidently -willing and ready for duty. The old horse has just died. - - -Bandit Raids Poker Party. - -Twenty men, eight of them playing, were backed away from a poker table -in a private room at Iowa City, Iowa, at two o’clock in the morning by a -lone bandit and relieved of a forty-dollar pot and about $200 in the -bank of the game. He then made a safe get-away. - - -“Mother of Civil War.” - -Mrs. Sarah Brandon, who died at her home in the southern part of Belmont -County, Ohio, a few days ago, was 113 years old. She was known as the -“Mother of the Civil War.” She had sixteen sons who served in the war, -fourteen for the Union and two for the Confederacy. Most of them never -returned. - - -Fight in Dark Forest. - -A correspondent sends the following from northeastern France: “The great -bayonet charge by the Zouaves near Bixschoote, of which you have already -heard, was a particularly gruesome affair, for the Zouaves, like the -Gurkhas, love the joy of a hand-to-hand battle. And it came at the end -of three days of constant fighting. - -“They charged a wood, an officer told me, like a gale of wind, not -giving a cry till they got within touch; then they let out yell upon -yell as they plied their bayonets among the dripping trees. - -“The enemy mostly were first-line men, and met them like heroes, firing -in volleys once or twice, then leaping out to the combat. The impetus of -the Zouaves carried them through. They did not stop to kill. They dashed -through the first time, killing only as they went, then they charged -back on the broken lines. - -“There were hand-to-hand struggles until ten o’clock that ended with -both sides falling on the ground, exhausted. Four of the Germans, -fighting together, gave a terrible account of themselves before they -died. Three of the four were, I think, brothers, and they were brave -soldiers.” - - - - -300 SONGS 10c - -[Illustration] - - -On Moonlight Bay; I’d Love to Live in Loveland; If You Talk in Your -Sleep; Oh Mr. Dream Man; Everybody’s Doin’ It; When I Was 21 and You -Were Sweet 16; Is it Very Far to Heaven; After the Honeymoon; I’m Going -Back to Dixie; Alexander’s Ragtime Band; Oh You Beautiful Doll; Casey -Jones; Grizzly Bear; Red Wing; They Always Pick on Me; Put on Your Old -Grey Bonnet; Steamboat Bill; Let Me Call You Sweetheart; Roses Bring -Dreams of You; Silver Bell; Billy; Mysterious Rag, etc. OVER 300 Latest -Song Hits & 10 pieces PIANO MUSIC for 10c. =ENTERPRISE CO., TT 3348 LOWE -AVE., CHICAGO.= - - - - -[Illustration: - -Tobacco Habit -BANISHED in -48 to 72 Hours -] - -No craving for tobacco in any form after the first dose. - -Don’t try to quit the tobacco habit unaided. It’s a losing fight against -heavy odds and means a serious shock to the nervous system. =Let the -tobacco habit quit YOU=. It will quit you, if you will just take =Tobacco -Redeemer=, according to directions, for two or three days. It is the most -marvelously quick and thoroughly reliable remedy for the tobacco habit -the world has ever known. - - -Not a Substitute - -=Tobacco Redeemer= is absolutely harmless and contains no habit-forming -drugs of any kind. It is in no sense a substitute for tobacco. After -finishing the treatment you have absolutely no desire to use tobacco -again or to continue the use of the remedy. It quiets the nerves, and -will make you feel better in every way. It makes not a particle of -difference how long you have been using tobacco, how much you use or in -what form you use it--whether you smoke cigars, cigarettes, pipe, chew -plug or fine cut or use snuff. =Tobacco Redeemer= will positively banish -every trace of desire in from 48 to 72 hours. This we absolutely -guarantee in every case or money refunded. - -Write today for our free booklet showing the deadly effect of tobacco -upon the human system and positive proof that =Tobacco Redeemer= will -quickly free you of the habit. - - -NEWELL PHARMACAL COMPANY -Dept. 335 St. Louis, Mo. - - - - -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. - -692--Doctor Quartz Again. -693--The Famous Case of Doctor Quartz. -694--The Chemical Clue. -695--The Prison Cipher. -696--A Pupil of Doctor Quartz. -697--The Midnight Visitor. -698--The Master Crook’s Match. -699--The Man Who Vanished. -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. - - -Dated December 5th, 1914. - -117--The Deadly Parallel. - - -Dated December 12th, 1914. - -118--The Vivisectionists. - - -Dated December 19th, 1914. - -119--The Stolen Brain. - - -Dated December 26th, 1914. - -120--An Uncanny Revenge. - - -PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/69385-0.zip b/old/69385-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 07c0258..0000000 --- a/old/69385-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/69385-h.zip b/old/69385-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6adcb24..0000000 --- a/old/69385-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/69385-h/69385-h.htm b/old/69385-h/69385-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 1d2911f..0000000 --- a/old/69385-h/69385-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5361 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html lang="en"> - <head> -<link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> - -<meta charset="utf-8"> - -<title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Girl Kidnaper, by Nick Carter. -</title> -<style> - -a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - - link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - -a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} - -a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} - -.blk {page-break-before:always;page-break-after:always;} - -.cbig250 {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold; -font-size:175%;} - -.cbig300 {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold; -font-size:300%;} - -body{margin-left:4%;margin-right:6%;background:#ffffff;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} - -.blockquot {margin-top:2%;margin-bottom:2%;} - -.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.cb {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} - -.fint {text-align:center;text-indent:0%; -margin-top:2em;font-size:75%;} - -.figcenter {margin:3% auto 3% auto;clear:both; -text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - - h1 {margin-top:5%;text-align:center;clear:both; -font-weight:normal;} - - h2 {margin-top:4%;margin-bottom:2%;text-align:center;clear:both; - font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;} - - h3 {margin:4% auto 2% auto;text-align:center;clear:both;} - - hr {width:90%;margin:2em auto 2em auto;clear:both;color:black;} - - hr.full {width: 60%;margin:2% auto 2% auto;border-top:1px solid black; -padding:.1em;border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left:none;border-right:none;} - - img {border:none;} - -.nind {text-indent:0%;} - - p {margin-top:.2em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.2em;text-indent:4%;} - -.pagenum {display:none;} - -.r {text-align:right;margin-right: 5%;} - -small {font-size: 70%;} - -.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:100%;} - -table {margin:2% auto;border:none;} - -</style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No. 124, January 23, 1915; The girl kidnaper; or, Nick Carter's up-to-date clew., by Nick Carter</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Nick Carter Stories No. 124, January 23, 1915; The girl kidnaper; or, Nick Carter's up-to-date clew.</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Nick Carter</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Chickering Carter</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 19, 2022 [eBook #69385]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: David Edwards, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern Illinois University Digital Library)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO. 124, JANUARY 23, 1915; THE GIRL KIDNAPER; OR, NICK CARTER'S UP-TO-DATE CLEW. ***</div> -<hr class="full"> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="550" alt="[The -image of the book's cover is unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<div class="blk">[The cover names the book The Girl Kidnapper. The words kidnaper, kidnaped and kidnaping -are spelled with one p through out the eBook.— Ebook transcriber's note.] -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="cbig250"> -<img alt="NICK CARTER STORIES" src="images/nickcarter.png" width="500" id="id-2043984514370914613"></p> -<p class="c"><i>Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post -Office, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <i>79-89 Seventh Ave., New York</i>.</p> -<p class="c"><i>Copyright, 1915, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>. <i>O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, -Proprietors.</i></p> -<p class="c">Terms to NICK CARTER STORIES Mail Subscribers.</p> -<p class="c">(<i>Postage Free.</i>)</p> -<p class="c">Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</p> -<table style="padding: 0px;" data-summary="deprecated"> -<tbody><tr><td style="text-align: left;">3 months</td><td style="text-align: left;">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td style="text-align: left;">4 months</td><td style="text-align: left;">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td style="text-align: left;">6 months</td><td style="text-align: left;">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td style="text-align: left;">One year</td><td style="text-align: left;">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td style="text-align: left;">2 copies one year</td><td style="text-align: left;">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td style="text-align: left;">1 copy two years</td><td style="text-align: left;">4.00</td></tr> -</tbody></table> -<p class="c"><b>How to Send Money</b>—By post-office or express money order, registered -letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by -currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter.</p> -<p class="c"><b>Receipts</b>—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of -number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> -<p class="c"> -No. 124. <span style="margin-left: 4em; margin-right:4em;">NEW YORK, -January 23, 1915</span> Price Five Cents.<br> -</p> -<div class="blk"> -<h1>THE GIRL KIDNAPER;<br> -<small>Or, NICK CARTER’S UP-TO-DATE CLEW.</small></h1> -<p class="c">Edited by CHICKERING CARTER.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br><br> -<small>THROUGH LOCKED DOORS.</small></h2> - -<p>“The thing seems impossible!”</p> - -<p>“Yet it’s true.”</p> - -<p>“You mean to tell me that——”</p> - -<p>“I mean to tell you that Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich, who retired to -her room in this hotel last night at eleven o’clock, was not there this -morning when her maid went to call her, and that her doors were all -bolted and locked, with the keys inside.”</p> - -<p>“What about the windows?”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. van Dietrich’s rooms are on the fourth floor.”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“She did not jump out, Mallory, if that’s what you mean. They overlook -the sea, and there are jagged rocks immediately beneath her windows. She -would surely have been killed if she had gone that way. Anyhow, she is a -well-balanced woman, who enjoys life, and a multimillionaire. Why should -she commit suicide?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know why she should, Savage. That’s nothing. Seventy-five out -of a hundred suicides seem to have no good reason behind them—until -investigation is made afterward.”</p> - -<p>“She did not jump out of the window, I tell you.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps she fell out,” suggested Mallory, sticking to his guns.</p> - -<p>“She neither jumped nor fell out,” snapped the other. “The rocks would -tell the story if she had.”</p> - -<p>James Mallory and Paul Savage, proprietors of the new summer hotel, the -Amsterdam—situated on a picturesque promontory on the Delaware coast, -with the broad Atlantic stretching away from its very foundation -walls—faced each other blankly in their private office.</p> - -<p>It was well on in the morning, and two weeks after the opening of the -hotel, and judicious advertising had resulted in the house being -comfortably full already. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> rooms—some single, but mostly en -suite—had been engaged largely in advance, and the guests were -practically all of the well-to-do class, with a fair sprinkling of very -wealthy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich was not the only multimillionaire, for -there were several others.</p> - -<p>Mallory was a stout, imposing-looking man, always immaculately attired, -and with a suave manner that had perhaps led in the first place to his -becoming a “promoter.” Assuredly it had helped him when fairly launched -in that interesting occupation. His very appearance was a guarantee that -the company he represented was sound and certain to pay healthy -dividends to the stockholders.</p> - -<p>Paul Savage, his partner, was a cadaverous individual, with many lines -about his lank jaw and the hunted look in his deep-set eyes which one -often sees in the hard-working business man, whose talent is mainly for -detail.</p> - -<p>The two men had been associated in various schemes for years. Some of -them had turned out well, while others had not. Now they had plunged on -this hotel scheme, got a company behind them, and were hoping that, when -the time came for them to “unload,” they would find themselves with -enough money to rest on their oars while selecting some new enterprise, -which would promise even better than this.</p> - -<p>On this morning, Mallory had been sitting behind his desk, swelling with -satisfaction as he figured on the profits that would result from the -guests who already were in the house, if they stayed a week or two -longer, without counting others that might come.</p> - -<p>He had just been reading a letter he had received a week ago from a -certain Baroness Latour, who had engaged a suite of rooms, insisting -that they must look out over the sea. The price was not so much an -object, as her having pleasant rooms, with a clear ocean view.</p> - -<p>“Well,” Mallory had muttered, “the baroness has rooms right over the -cliff. That ought to suit her. I hope she<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> slept well last night. There -is a clear drop from her window of forty-five feet to the water, at -least. The waves wash against the wall of the house on that side.”</p> - -<p>He had got to this stage of his musings when Paul Savage burst in with -the news that Mrs. van Dietrich had disappeared in so inexplicable a way -from her apartments.</p> - -<p>How a rather large lady, of dignified aspect and deliberate movement, -could have been spirited from her bed and carried out of the house, -without anybody being aware of it, was something that neither of the -partners could comprehend.</p> - -<p>“If her doors had been unfastened,” grunted Savage, “there might have -been some explanation. But all of them are locked and bolted within.”</p> - -<p>“She’d gone to bed, you say?”</p> - -<p>“So her maid says. But she had dressed herself before she went away.”</p> - -<p>“That shows she wasn’t kidnaped,” remarked Mallory.</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t show anything,” rejoined Savage. “How do you account for the -doors being fastened inside, with the keys left in the locks in the -rooms? You don’t suppose a lady leaving her rooms would have somebody -inside to bolt and lock the doors and then get out of the window in a -flying machine, do you?”</p> - -<p>“Where is the maid?” asked Mallory.</p> - -<p>“In hysterics in the housekeeper’s room,” was the disgusted reply. “She -and the housekeeper got in with the housekeeper’s master key, and after -one look at Mrs. van Dietrich’s bed, the girl darted at her employer’s -trunks, of which she had the keys, and searched through them. All the -jewelry was gone.”</p> - -<p>“H’m! Perhaps the maid——”</p> - -<p>“She had never left her own room from the time she went there, after -putting her mistress to bed, until she went to call Mrs. van Dietrich -this morning. We have the testimony of the maid who shares the room with -her for that. This maid was awake with the toothache, practically all -night, and she knows the other one never left the room.”</p> - -<p>“Have you done anything about it?” asked Mallory.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” was the reply. “I heard about this thing two hours ago.”</p> - -<p>“You did? Why didn’t you tell me?”</p> - -<p>“What would have been the use? I thought I might find out, by quiet -investigation, before I came to you. Only the housekeeper and the maid, -Mary Cook, know Mrs. van Dietrich is gone. After ten minutes’ inquiry -and examination, I decided it was too much for us alone, and I wired to -New York for Nicholas Carter.”</p> - -<p>“The big detective, eh? That was a good move, Paul. I only hope he’ll -come. What did you say in the message?”</p> - -<p>“Told him an important case was here for him, and that we would pay any -fee. He could name his own figure. But it was urgent, and would he come -at once?”</p> - -<p>“Two hours since you sent that to him in New York?”</p> - -<p>“A little more than two hours. But I’ve had no answer. If he’d start at -once, he could be here by evening.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he isn’t at home.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I’m afraid of. He’s the only man I can think of who would -be likely to make anything of this. It’s too much for the average -policeman. Indeed——”</p> - -<p>A rap at the door of the office made Paul Savage step to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> the door with -an irritable wrinkling upon his lean face of a score of lines which had -not been there before, while James Mallory growled from behind his desk.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Colonel Pearson?” ejaculated Savage, with forced toleration, as he -found himself face to face with one of the house’s guests. “Is there -anything——”</p> - -<p>Colonel Pearson was a cleanly built, soldierly looking man, with broad -shoulders and a remarkably keen face. The dark eyes had a way of looking -through anybody on whom they rested. At least, that was the conclusion -to which Paul Savage had come. He was in summer attire, and had the calm -insouciance of the wealthy man of leisure.</p> - -<p>“I have received a telegram,” remarked the colonel, holding up a -crumpled yellow paper. “It has only just got to me. I came at once to -see what it was all about.”</p> - -<p>“Telegram? I have only sent one since I have been here, and that was to -a person in New York.”</p> - -<p>The colonel smiled.</p> - -<p>“Exactly. You sent it to a person who was supposed to be in New York. -But it happens that he was much nearer.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand,” faltered Savage.</p> - -<p>“I don’t, either,” added Mallory, who had been sitting behind his desk, -listening in bewilderment. “Do you know anything about that person, -Colonel Pearson?”</p> - -<p>“If you will permit me to close the door,” was the response, “I will -tell you.”</p> - -<p>He shut the door and slipped the bolt into place. Then, as he approached -the desk to which Paul Savage had retreated, as if seeking the moral -support of his partner, he said quietly:</p> - -<p>“You telegraphed Nicholas Carter, at his home in Madison Avenue, New -York, to come here quickly, on an important case. That is how this -telegram reads,” he adds, as he smoothed out the yellow paper and looked -at it. “I have only to say that, though I chose to be known here as -Colonel Pearson, since I came to enjoy a short vacation, my real name is -Nicholas Carter, and I live in Madison Avenue, New York.”</p> - -<p>“You Nicholas Carter?” gasped Savage. “Why, I thought Carter was an -altogether different sort of man.”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” laughed Nick. “You did not bargain for my being here, in -light clothes and white canvas shoes, with a golf club in my hand. It -did not occur to you that I might be an everyday man. You thought that, -as a detective, I should wear a lowering look and salute you with a -mysterious ‘Hist!’ when you opened the door just now.”</p> - -<p>“Not exactly, but——”</p> - -<p>“Yet a detective must be allowed his play time, like any other man,” -continued Nick. “I have just been playing golf with the Baroness Latour. -She is an early riser, as I am, and when I chanced to meet her on the -links, we agreed to play together, instead of singly. So we have done -nine holes. It was a drawn game. Here is your telegram. It was -redirected to me, in my assumed name of Colonel Pearson, to this hotel, -as you see, by my assistant.”</p> - -<p>Paul Savage continued to look steadily at the calm face of the -detective, as if not quite satisfied. But Mallory broke in, with an -impatient grunt:</p> - -<p>“Of course, you have no idea what induced us to send for you, Mr. -Carter?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“It has to do with the disappearance of Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich, -has it not?”</p> - -<p>“Why, how did you know?” demanded Savage. “Not a word has been said -about it outside of this office and the housekeeper’s room. We have been -very careful to keep any inkling of the affair from our guests.”</p> - -<p>The detective glanced at him quickly, and there was a narrowing of the -dark eyes which told of swift thinking.</p> - -<p>“Indeed? Are you sure nothing has got out about it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Quite. There are four persons who know about Mrs. van Dietrich’s -disappearance: My partner, Mr. Mallory, the housekeeper, and Mrs. van -Dietrich’s maid. That is all. Well, there is one more—yourself, of -course. We did not know that you had found it out. We don’t understand -how you did it, either.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I prefer not to tell you that just now,” answered Nick Carter. -“That is, if you desire me to take this case.”</p> - -<p>“We most certainly do,” declared Paul Savage earnestly.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br><br> -<small>BITS OF EVIDENCE.</small></h2> - -<p>“Sit down, won’t you, Mr. Carter?”</p> - -<p>James Mallory, who had been so interested in gazing at the great -detective as to forget the ordinary amenities, offered this invitation. -Getting up from his own chair behind the flat-topped desk, he placed one -for the visitor, with a propitiatory smile.</p> - -<p>“Now, what is the first move, Mr. Carter?” asked Paul Savage, as they -settled down.</p> - -<p>“Let me go over the particulars, as they have come to me,” replied Nick. -“We will see if they agree with the information you have.”</p> - -<p>“Good idea!” commended Mallory.</p> - -<p>“To begin with, Mrs. van Dietrich was put to bed by her maid, Mary Cook, -about eleven o’clock last night. The maid sleeps on the sixth floor, at -the top of the house. Mrs. van Dietrich’s three rooms and bath are on -the fourth.”</p> - -<p>“That’s correct,” nodded Savage.</p> - -<p>“At eight o’clock this morning, Mary Cook went to awaken her employer, -according to her custom. She could not make the lady hear, and she got -scared. So she went to the housekeeper, Mrs. Joyce, and told her she was -afraid Mrs. van Dietrich was sick. Mrs. Joyce went with her, and, with -her master key, unlocked the door, and, also, with another key, shot -back the bolt.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the way I got it,” breathed Paul Savage. “Though how you managed -to get it so exact——”</p> - -<p>“When the two women went into the room, they found the bed had been -slept in, and Mrs. van Dietrich’s nightgown had been thrown carelessly -across it. The windows were closed, except for a few inches at the top, -for ventilation. This was the case in all three rooms, and the -ventilator in the bathroom was open, as usual.”</p> - -<p>“There were no signs of a struggle,” remarked Savage.</p> - -<p>“So I understand,” assented Nick. “Another thing is that the clothes -which Mrs. van Dietrich wore the day before went with her. She must have -dressed herself—or been dressed by somebody else—before going away.”</p> - -<p>“That is all true, as I got it,” observed Paul Savage. “But there is -another point, which you have not mentioned.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“And that is——”</p> - -<p>“All the jewelry in her trunks was taken out, although the trunks were -locked when the maid examined them this morning. The girl had the keys.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, she had?”</p> - -<p>The intonation with which the detective made this remark caused Savage -to shake his head decidedly.</p> - -<p>“I understand,” went on Nick. “You mean there is no suspicion attaching -to the maid? Well, I am of the same opinion. You have not been able to -find the slightest clew, have you?”</p> - -<p>“None.”</p> - -<p>“Have any of the guests left the hotel this morning? I mean, left -altogether?”</p> - -<p>“No. All of them will stay with us for several days, at least, so I -expect. They are here to enjoy the quietude and beauty of the place. -They are not transients, such as you find in city hotels.”</p> - -<p>“None of them have given notice to leave, have they?” continued Nick, -disregarding the encomium on the hotel and its surroundings.</p> - -<p>“I don’t think so. Are there any, Mallory?” asked Savage, turning to his -partner.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t heard of any. I’ll ask the clerk, if you like. The phone is -right here,” replied Mallory, laying a hand upon his desk telephone.</p> - -<p>“That is not necessary,” declared the detective. “I have already asked -him. I came through the office to this room, and I picked up what -information I could on the way.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a pretty good picker, too, I should say,” remarked Mallory, with -a grin. “You seem to know about all we have found out.”</p> - -<p>“If any of the guests say they are going to leave, I wish you’d let me -know at once,” requested Nick, as he got up from his chair. “I’ll go and -send a telegram to New York. Then I should like to look at Mrs. van -Dietrich’s rooms. They haven’t been disturbed, I hope.”</p> - -<p>“No. I gave orders that no one should go into them after the maid had -looked at the trunks. Mrs. Joyce has her own keys, and she has fastened -all the doors as they were before, except that she had to knock out one -of the keys that had been left in the bedroom door, so that she could -put in her own.”</p> - -<p>“That’s good. I’ll send a message by telephone to the telegraph office -at Dorset, from one of the booths in the lobby. I’ll be right back.”</p> - -<p>The detective telephoned the message, as he had said, directed to his -assistant Chick, in Madison Avenue, New York. He told Chick to come down -to the Hotel Amsterdam at once, and to bring the bloodhound, -Captain—which had done so much effective police work for them at -various times—with him.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter knew perfectly well that Mallory, or Savage, had taken the -receiver off the hook in their office, and were listening to him over -the wire.</p> - -<p>That did not disturb him. He had rather expected it, and his object in -telegraphing from the booth, instead of from their office, as he might -have done, was to satisfy himself that they would descend to the -meanness of “listening in” to a private message.</p> - -<p>He strolled back to their office when he had dispatched his telegram, -and when the door was opened, stood on the threshold with a smile as he -told them he was ready to go to the room of the vanished Mrs. van -Dietrich.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> - -<p>“One moment,” he added, as they were about to come forth. “I should like -to say something to you with the door closed.”</p> - -<p>He stepped into the office, closing the door behind him, and said, in an -earnest whisper:</p> - -<p>“Let me impress one thing upon you, gentlemen. I understand that you are -anxious to keep any knowledge of this strange disappearance from your -patrons, and also that you would not like it in the newspapers?”</p> - -<p>“The newspapers?” fairly shrieked James Mallory. “That would settle us. -I believe if I saw a reporter around this hotel, I would fling him out -of the window into the sea. And, of course, we must not let our guests -know. It would give the hotel a fearful black eye—although it is no -fault of ours.”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” observed Nick. “Then be careful that no one suspects my -identity. I am Colonel Pearson, remember. If any one outside of -yourselves were to know who I am, there would be no use my going on with -the case.”</p> - -<p>“You can depend on us keeping it a secret,” asserted Savage promptly. -“We are too anxious for you to solve the mystery to throw any obstacles -in your way.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what!” added Mallory. “What do you think of it all?”</p> - -<p>“We have seen the effect,” returned Nick, “and we know that it must have -a cause.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right. But what is the cause?” growled Savage.</p> - -<p>“The cause is never less than the effect,” continued the detective. -“Therefore, arguing by the importance of the effect, we must look for a -fairly powerful cause. Now, let’s go up to the fourth floor.”</p> - -<p>The elevator man evidently had not heard of anything unusual in the -hotel, for he merely glanced at the two partners and the gentleman he -had come to know as Colonel Pearson, and when he was told to let them -off at the fourth floor, he did so without emotion.</p> - -<p>“That’s good,” remarked Nick, as they walked along the thickly carpeted -corridor. “I can see that the incident concerning Mrs. van D. has not -become common property. Is this the door?”</p> - -<p>Savage nodded and opened a door with his master key, ushered them into a -sitting room, and closed the door behind them.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter walked on to the bedroom, and after a cursory glance at the -bed, went to the window.</p> - -<p>Drawing from his pocket a powerful magnifying glass, he proceeded to -examine every inch of the window sill, working in a series of imaginary -squares.</p> - -<p>The two partners watched him curiously, but he took no notice of them. -When he had finished his minute inspection of the sill and frame, he -threw up the window and leaned out.</p> - -<p>“You have made careful examination of the rocks under this window, I -presume?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes. We have gone over them thoroughly,” replied Savage. “There is -nothing there.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Whose rooms are those that overlook the water on this same floor? I -see there is no shore or rocks at all there. The house seems to have -been built straight out of the sea.”</p> - -<p>James Mallory walked to the window and looked out. He shook his head.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Come over here, Savage,” he said. “I don’t know what rooms they are. -You know, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered his partner, putting out his head and looking along the -rows of windows. “That window, where the curtain is blowing out, and the -next one, are number forty-eight. A lady occupies the suite. Let me see! -Oh, yes! the Baroness Latour.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed?” remarked Nick Carter carelessly. “She’s a very charming young -lady. We were playing golf together this morning, as I told you. Now, -let me have a look at this room door.”</p> - -<p>Turning the key, he swung the door open a few inches.</p> - -<p>“You’d better stand outside, Mr. Mallory,” he suggested. “If anybody -comes along and seems curious, you can say that I am repairing the lock. -Tell them that Colonel Pearson makes a hobby of this sort of thing. I’ll -keep out of sight as much as possible, however.”</p> - -<p>Nick pushed the door nearly shut, and kneeling inside the room, he drew -out the key and inspected it closely through his magnifying glass. Then -he examined the bolt and keyhole, and kept at it for ten minutes.</p> - -<p>“Come in, Mr. Mallory,” he requested, through the narrow opening between -the door and the jamb. “I’m through with the door for the present.”</p> - -<p>To the surprise of both partners, he dropped to his knees, and, with the -aid of his glass, began to go over the carpet in a series of imaginary -squares, just as he had done at the window.</p> - -<p>It was half an hour before he had finished this task. By that time he -was under an electric light which hung near the bed, for the convenience -of guests who might like to read after retiring.</p> - -<p>A gas jet protruded from the wall near it. Here Nick picked up the -burned end of a wax match.</p> - -<p>He seemed to attach some importance to this trifle, for he arose to his -feet with the fragment of match in his hand and asked the partners:</p> - -<p>“What kind of matches do you provide in this hotel?”</p> - -<p>“Why—er—just the ordinary wood safety matches, with the name of the -hotel on the box. They are put in every room, for the use of smokers, -and also to light the gas when a guest does not want to use the electric -light. Some people like a lowered gas jet in the room all night, you -know.”</p> - -<p>“Do you use wax matches at all?”</p> - -<p>Mallory shook his head and turned to Savage, who, as already remarked, -was the detail man of the concern.</p> - -<p>“Have we any of those matches, Savage?”</p> - -<p>“None in the house, that I know of,” was the short reply. “Have you -found out anything, Mr. Carter?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing that I can report, Mr. Savage,” Nick answered. “It is too early -to say one thing or another yet. I will say, however, that, in my -opinion, the person responsible for the vanishing of Mrs. van Dietrich -is living in the hotel.”</p> - -<p>“A servant?” asked Mallory anxiously.</p> - -<p>“That remains to be seen,” returned the detective, with a shrug. “It is -also certain that there are accomplices on the outside. I will go to my -room and think things over. After luncheon I will go into the case -further. If anything comes to your knowledge that seems likely to be -useful, you will find me in my room. Keep up your nerve, gentlemen, and, -above all things, keep your own counsel. Strict secrecy, remember.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Once in his own room, Nick Carter lighted one of his favorite perfectos, -of which he had brought a box with him, and settled down to think over -the mystery that had so unexpectedly faced him in a place where he might -have supposed he could rest and enjoy a vacation in peace.</p> - -<p>He smoked in silence for an hour, with the key of Mrs. van Dietrich’s -bedroom and the half-burned wax match in his fingers. He examined them -alternately through the magnifying glass and tried to build a hypothesis -on either one or the other, or both.</p> - -<p>Suddenly there was a sharp rap at his door. As he opened it, James -Mallory stepped inside and stared at him with blinking eyes, while his -heavy cheeks, usually beet red, were a yellowish white.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” demanded Nick Carter sharply.</p> - -<p>“More trouble!” blurted out Mallory. “It seems as if the foul fiend -himself is taking a hand in running this hotel.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind about that!” interrupted the detective impatiently. “What is -the specific trouble now?”</p> - -<p>“Another of our guests has mysteriously disappeared,” wailed Mallory. -“Mr. Harvey L. Drago, the big Wall Street banker.”</p> - -<p>“Disappeared?” cried Nick Carter. “How? From his bedroom?”</p> - -<p>“No. From the golf links!”</p> - -<p>“That so? This is getting interesting,” observed Nick. “Sit down and -tell me all about it, Mr. Mallory.”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br><br> -<small>LONG-DISTANCE OBSERVATIONS.</small></h2> - -<p>Accepting the cigar that Nick Carter offered by pushing the box toward -him on the table, James Mallory bit off the end in a distracted way, but -did not light it. Instead, he used the unlighted cigar to emphasize the -points of his narration by waving it about as he talked.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Drago is one of the most influential men we have,” he began. “He is -very wealthy, and he is a free spender. Then he is not old, and he is -the sort of man who starts things in a social way and keeps them going -afterward. You know how I mean, Mr. Carter?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Go on.”</p> - -<p>“He went out to the golf links early this morning, saying he would be -back for luncheon about twelve. He did not come, and we sent a boy over -to the links to see why. The caddie says Mr. Drago left the links about -eleven. He was going to walk back to the hotel by way of the beach. That -is two hours ago. We can’t find the slightest trace of him.”</p> - -<p>“Strange!” murmured Nick.</p> - -<p>“It will be ruin for us, Mr. Carter,” declared Mallory. “Can’t you do -something?”</p> - -<p>“You have told me all you know? Isn’t there anything else you’ve -discovered which might serve as a clew?”</p> - -<p>“Not a thing. Mr. Drago walked through the lobby this morning, pleasant, -as usual. He spoke to two or three people as he went along. I was one of -them, as a matter of fact. He seemed to be in good spirits, and he said -he intended to play the whole eighteen holes.”</p> - -<p>“And that’s the last you saw of him? Was any one else playing this -morning?”</p> - -<p>“Several. They saw him make the whole round, and the caddie says he was -in good form, and played a fine game.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> I don’t know what his score was, -exactly. I believe the caddie said he did it in——”</p> - -<p>“Never mind about that,” laughed Nick. “That wouldn’t help me to trace -him. What I want to get at is how he came to be kidnaped in broad -daylight. This is as queer as the Mrs. van Dietrich case. I’ll go down -to lunch, and take up the whole matter afterward.”</p> - -<p>He slipped a pair of powerful field glasses into a pocket, and went down -with Mallory.</p> - -<p>Paul Savage was at the foot of the elevator, but the detective put him -off as he was beginning to whisper a long story of woe into his ears, by -telling him that he knew all about it.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you when I learn something,” he added, turning away to enter -the ornate restaurant.</p> - -<p>His luncheon over—and the detective disposed of a good one, as a matter -of principle—Nick strode out to the golf links and got hold of the -caddie who had been with Drago.</p> - -<p>The links were a mile from the hotel.</p> - -<p>Nothing more was to be learned from the caddie than the detective -already knew. So he took a pathway which ran through a wood, coming out -on the sandy beach, edged by rocks.</p> - -<p>Coming to a bit of rising ground, Nick stood there and surveyed the -prospect. He was thinking all the time. Much as he admired beautiful -scenery for its own sake, he would not have stopped now to look around -had he not had some ulterior object.</p> - -<p>The really fine links stretched behind him, the clubhouse showing above -trees in the distance. On the right were the woods, with the hotel -towering on the edge of the cliff, three-quarters of a mile away. To the -left were other woods, and in front rolled the blue waters, with the -white-capped surf, of the Atlantic Ocean.</p> - -<p>In the great curving bay, immediately in front of the hotel, but some -distance out, was a steam yacht, her white hull and plentiful brasswork -gleaming in the bright sunshine.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter stood in deep thought for several minutes. After discarding -the possibility of Drago having been spirited away in a motor car, for -the simple reason that the only approach to the sea path, which the -missing man had taken, was by way of the links, where a machine must -have been seen, the detective sought another explanation.</p> - -<p>“There are two ways in which it might be done,” he mused. “A man might -be waylaid in the shelter of the woods and carried through them to the -main road. Another way—and perhaps the most likely—would be by the -sea. You can’t see the beach from here on account of the rocks. A boat -could sneak up and get away without being seen by any one on shore.”</p> - -<p>It seemed to Nick that either of these two methods must have been -employed, and he was trying to settle in his own mind which one was the -more likely, when his gaze fell upon the yacht out in the bay.</p> - -<p>He had noticed it many times before. But now it took on a new -significance in the light of the theory he had formed with regard to -Harvey L. Drago’s disappearance.</p> - -<p>“What’s that yacht doing out there?” he muttered. “Who is her owner? Any -one living in the hotel? That seems likely, although she was there when -I came here, day before yesterday. I don’t remember to have seen any<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> -communication with her from the shore. She may only have put in there -for shelter, or repairs.”</p> - -<p>The detective was a yachtsman himself, and took a deep interest in all -kinds of craft. Dropping behind a bush and lying almost at full length, -he trained his field glasses on the yacht.</p> - -<p>With the eye of a sailor, as well as of a keen investigator, he studied -the graceful vessel thoroughly from bow to stern, and from water line to -the tops of tapering masts and white smokestack.</p> - -<p>“She looks familiar to me in a general way,” he reflected. “There is -something about her general lines that I seem to recognize. But I can’t -identify her as any boat I know. I’ll ask at the hotel. Somebody there -may know something about her. Of course, it is not remarkable for a -pleasure boat to be anchored in a beautiful bay like this. Still, no -harm will be done by my asking.”</p> - -<p>He got up and climbed slowly to the little eminence whereon he had stood -before, as a new idea came to him. Having reached the top of the small, -spreading hill, he dropped flat upon the ground, the field glasses in -his fingers.</p> - -<p>“If I am not mistaken,” was his inward remark, “I can see the hotel well -from here with the glasses. I’ll take a squint at that little cove under -the windows of the room occupied by the baroness. From here it looks as -if they must be nearly in line with the yacht. That may not mean -anything—but then, again, it may.”</p> - -<p>Nick Carter swept the glasses over the cove. Then he gradually brought -them to bear on the windows of the rooms occupied by Mrs. de Puyster van -Dietrich until she departed into the unknown so strangely.</p> - -<p>He allowed his glasses to wander from room to room and from floor to -floor, until they finally came to rest on the window of the sitting room -belonging to the dashing young lady with whom he had played golf that -morning—the Baroness Latour.</p> - -<p>Nothing at this window interested him, and he was just about to return -to his scrutiny of the cove, when he saw a woman come forward in the -room and throw up the sash. It was the baroness.</p> - -<p>“I don’t blame her for opening her window on such a beautiful -afternoon,” thought Carter. “The peculiar thing is that she should have -had it closed at all. Hello! What’s she doing now?”</p> - -<p>Baroness Latour—looking more charming than ever, Nick thought, in her -afternoon gown—had disappeared from the window. Now she returned with a -peculiar-looking box in her hands.</p> - -<p>She settled it firmly on the window sill, and as she did so, the puzzled -frown that had wrinkled up the forehead of the detective passed away. He -saw what the box really was.</p> - -<p>“Great Scott!” came from his lips, in an excited whisper. “What does the -Baroness Latour want with a wireless telephone? Who is she talking to? -The only thing I can see in line with her is the yacht. Is it possible -that she is having a conversation with somebody on board? If so, why? -That’s the question—why?”</p> - -<p>He settled himself to gaze through his glasses more at his ease, as well -as to make sure he was right as to the nature of the box on the -baroness’ window sill.</p> - -<p>“It strikes me, my charming friend, that you may be here for some other -purpose than to play golf and take part in the evening ‘hops’ in the -hotel. Your actions at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> the window are unusual enough to make me -curious, at all events. I’ll telegraph to New York for my own wireless -telephone. Signor Marconi may be just as useful to me as to you, with -this new and wonderful invention of his. Meanwhile, since we have -already made acquaintance with each other, I shall venture to ask you to -dine with me this evening. If you decline—well, I must hit on something -else.”</p> - -<p>The baroness removed the machine from her window at this instant, and -pulled down the sash.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter got to his feet, and strolled thoughtfully back to the -hotel.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br><br> -<small>A DINNER WITH NICK CARTER.</small></h2> - -<p>The Baroness Latour sat at a little writing table behind the lace -curtains in her sitting room, making notes in a dainty memorandum book. -Occasionally she peered through the fine web of the curtain at the -handsome white yacht gently rising and falling on the swell in the bay.</p> - -<p>A knock at the door, and her maid took a note from a bell boy and handed -it to the baroness.</p> - -<p>“The boy is waiting for an answer,” said the maid.</p> - -<p>“Very well, Florine. I’ll see what it is.”</p> - -<p>The baroness started with uncontrollable astonishment when she found -that the letter was a respectful request from Colonel Pearson that she -would give him the pleasure of dining at his table that evening.</p> - -<p>“Well, who would have thought this?” she murmured. “Colonel Pearson, eh? -Indeed, I’ll dine with him.”</p> - -<p>She wrote a note of acceptance in a firm, but entirely feminine hand, -and sealed the envelope with golden wax, stamped with a large “L.”</p> - -<p>“I rather think that ‘L’ is convincing,” she said to herself, with a -smile, as she handed the letter to Florine, to give to the waiting bell -boy.</p> - -<p>“Keep the doors closed, Florine,” she ordered. “You can stay in the -room. Give me that telephone instrument.”</p> - -<p>With Florine’s assistance, she placed the wireless-telephone apparatus -again on the sill, and, after a few moments of ineffective endeavor, got -a ticking that told her she was in communication with the yacht which -had awakened so much curiosity in Nick Carter.</p> - -<p>Her conversation was very brief, but she contrived to give orders in a -few words, which, under certain conditions, would carry out some very -important work.</p> - -<p>“There, Mr. Nicholas Carter!” she murmured, as she motioned to Florine -to help her in removing the apparatus from the window. “I don’t know how -you have grown suspicious. But I can’t explain your invitation on any -other supposition. If you are not suspicious, nothing will happen. If -you are—well, we shall see.”</p> - -<p>Among the well-dressed women who dined in the brilliantly lighted -restaurant of the Hotel Amsterdam that evening, there was none more -strikingly beautiful or aristocratic than the Baroness Latour.</p> - -<p>Her costume was the last word in fashion and costly material, and she -wore it like a queen. Her jewelry was dazzling.</p> - -<p>Sitting opposite, at the small table set for two, was Nick Carter. His -strong, grave face, lighted up by those wonderful dark eyes of his, made -him, in his correct even<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>ing dress, an effective foil to the radiant -beauty of the fair young woman who was his guest.</p> - -<p>As a thorough man of the world, Nick Carter knew how to order a dinner, -and the waiter looked at him in profound respect when he had the list of -dishes on his slip.</p> - -<p>It will have been gathered that the Baroness Latour was not exactly what -she appeared to be. In fact, she had considered it necessary to change -her personal aspect long before she came to the Amsterdam and found that -Nick Carter, under the name and title of Colonel Pearson, was a guest.</p> - -<p>The name she had assumed was not that by which the detective had known -her a year or so before.</p> - -<p>For weeks she had been slowly and systematically disguising herself, and -she had done it more effectively than would be thought possible by a -person who did not appreciate what can be done with cosmetics, -instruments, and lotions in these days.</p> - -<p>A “beauty doctor” would have gone into transports over her artistic -achievements in this way.</p> - -<p>Paraffin injections had changed the contour of her whole face, and the -shape of her hands had been modified by the same means. Her heavy coils -of bronze hair had become dark brown, and she had even practiced -speaking in a different cadence, to hide her ordinary tones.</p> - -<p>The perfection of the disguise can be understood when it is said that -Nick Carter had known the baroness very well under a different name, and -would have recognized her instantly had not her real personality been -absolutely concealed.</p> - -<p>He had learned from Mallory that the baroness had engaged her rooms by -telegraph from New Orleans, and that she had particularly stipulated -that they should overlook the ocean.</p> - -<p>Why had she been so insistent on this, and what had she been doing with -that wireless telephone on the window sill?</p> - -<p>The dinner over, Nick asked if she would accept a cigarette, at the same -time offering his cigarette case.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” she replied sweetly. “I will smoke, but I prefer my own -cigarettes, if you will permit me.”</p> - -<p>Nick bowed, and drawing forth a cigarette for himself, looked for a -match.</p> - -<p>“Confound that waiter!” he exclaimed. “There are no matches on the -table, and I don’t believe I have one in my pocket.”</p> - -<p>“I have some,” smiled the baroness, who had been taking a costly, -gold-tipped Turkish cigarette from a gold case. “Here!”</p> - -<p>She took from her chatelaine a small gold match box—a companion piece -to the cigarette case—and pressing open the cover, offered it to the -detective.</p> - -<p>He saw, as he took one of the wax matches in his fingers, that it was an -exact duplicate of the burned match he had picked up in the bedroom of -Mrs. de Puyster van Dietrich that morning.</p> - -<p>Wax matches generally are more or less alike, but these were much -thicker than most of them.</p> - -<p>He was obliged to drop his eyes to veil the gleam of excitement in them. -Then, coolly striking the match, he held it until the baroness’ -cigarette was going.</p> - -<p>When he lighted his own, he blew out the match and dropped it carelessly -to the floor at his feet.</p> - -<p>“May I take a match or two from your box, in case of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> emergency, until I -get some,” he asked, smiling. Then, as she nodded assent, he continued: -“When am I to have the pleasure of another round with you on the links?”</p> - -<p>The baroness laughed gleefully, and she answered his questions by asking -another:</p> - -<p>“Do you do everything as seriously as you play golf, Colonel Pearson?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so,” smiled Nick. “It always seems to me that anything worth -doing at all should be taken up earnestly.”</p> - -<p>“I believe that, too,” she returned, still laughing. “I was only -thinking that it was not unusual for you to find yourself pitted against -women. Judging by the way you played this morning, I should say you -respect the prowess of my sex, no matter how poorly they may play.”</p> - -<p>“You are right, baroness,” admitted the detective. “I have played the -game very often against women.”</p> - -<p>“And do you always win?”</p> - -<p>“Is that a fair question?”</p> - -<p>“I was curious to know.”</p> - -<p>“I did not win this morning.”</p> - -<p>“But you didn’t lose,” she rejoined quickly. “So there is neither -decided so far.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps we’d better leave it to the next game we shall play against -each other,” suggested Nick, with a peculiar smile.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she assented gayly. “The next game we shall play. Do you think -you will win that game, Colonel Pearson?”</p> - -<p>“If I do, it won’t be for lack of a worthy adversary,” he replied, with -a deep bow.</p> - -<p>They chatted about golf and other things for another half hour. Then the -baroness, after thanking “the colonel” for the pleasant evening he had -afforded her, arose to go to her room.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter accompanied her to the elevator. When the car had shot -upward, he hurried back to the table where they had been sitting in the -restaurant and picked up the half-burned wax match he had dropped after -lighting his cigarette.</p> - -<p>As he slipped the match into his waistcoat pocket, to keep company with -the other two whole matches he had borrowed from Baroness Latour’s gold -match box, he ran against James Mallory in the lobby.</p> - -<p>“Can I have your head porter for an hour or two this evening, Mr. -Mallory?” asked the detective, in a low tone. “I’ve noticed him around -here. He’s the kind of husky chap I may need.”</p> - -<p>“Why, what——”</p> - -<p>“Never mind about talking it over, Mr. Mallory,” interrupted the -detective, with a protesting smile. “Can I have the man?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly! His name is Mike Corrigan. He is a good, dependable fellow, -and strong enough for anything you are likely to ask of him. Moreover, -he is not afraid of anything. If you will come to my office, I will have -him come there.”</p> - -<p>Mike Corrigan was quite willing to accompany Colonel Pearson anywhere, -and after a few minutes’ conversation, it was arranged that Mike was to -meet the detective in the lobby in fifteen minutes.</p> - -<p>“Put a coat on,” directed Nick. “Have you such a thing as a revolver?”</p> - -<p>“Never owned a gun in my life,” was Mike’s reply.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Never mind. I’ll bring one down for you. You can fire it off, I -suppose, if it should become necessary?”</p> - -<p>“I can that,” laughed Mike. “And swing a club, too.”</p> - -<p>At this moment two telegrams were handed to Nick Carter. One was from -his assistant, Chick, saying he was on his way to Delaware, with the -bloodhound, Captain, and the other came from Joseph, Nick Carter’s head -man-servant in his Madison Avenue home. This latter message read:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“According your instructions, have sent black steel box labeled -number four on third shelf to left of door in laboratory.”</p></div> - -<p>The detective went up to his room and put on a serviceable business suit -in place of his evening clothes, with a warm cap that he could pull well -down over his eyes. He kicked off his light patent-leather pumps and -substituted a pair of heavy waterproof shoes.</p> - -<p>Finally he covered himself up in a long overcoat, in the pockets of -which he dropped two automatic pistols, fully charged.</p> - -<p>Before leaving his room he compared the wax matches he had got from the -baroness in the restaurant with the burned match he had picked up in -Mrs. van Dietrich’s room. They were the same kind exactly.</p> - -<p>“I see you’re there, all right, Mike,” he remarked cheerily, as the head -porter walked up to him in the lobby. “Wait a moment, while I go in to -see Mr. Mallory and Mr. Savage.”</p> - -<p>He found both partners in their office, and bringing out the burned wax -match, he said, in a businesslike, brief manner:</p> - -<p>“I should like you, please, to examine the baggage of Mrs. van Dietrich -and find out whether there are in it any wax matches like this. Also ask -her maid, Mary Cook, if she or Mrs. van D. ever used such matches.”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” answered Savage, picking up the burned match. “We will do -it, of course. But I don’t see the point.”</p> - -<p>“That makes no difference,” retorted Nick. “The point is important. Did -you find out anything at the railroad station this afternoon—whether -anybody from the hotel went away?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody has gone all day, except two people who live in the village, and -whom the station agent knows quite well. You see, this is only a branch, -which the railroad company ran up here for the benefit of our hotel, so -it is not used much except by patrons of our house.”</p> - -<p>“I see,” nodded Nick Carter. “Well, you may not see either Mike or me -until two or three o’clock in the morning. Good night!”</p> - -<p>“I hope you will find out something,” called out Mallory, as he went -out.</p> - -<p>“With ordinary luck, I hope to do so,” were Nick Carter’s parting words.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br><br> -<small>AN EXPERIMENT IN CHEMISTRY.</small></h2> - -<p>“Florine!” said the Baroness Latour, as she entered her rooms after -dining with Nick Carter. “I am going to do a little chemistry work in -the bathroom. Of course, I am not at home to anybody. Some of those -people about the hotel are disposed to be friendly, but I can’t be -bothered with them to-night.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” returned Florine. “Shall I help you change?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>They retired to the baroness’ bedroom, and in ten minutes the baroness -came forth in a neat gingham gown. Over this she wore an apron of the -same material, but of darker pattern, that covered her completely.</p> - -<p>Florine knew just what to do for the experiments her employer was about -to make.</p> - -<p>From two large trunks which stood in her own room she took a small -electric stove, crucibles, retorts, and similar articles. Also a glass -table, which folded when packed away, but could be set up quite firmly -in a few minutes. It was the kind of table that is often used by -experimenting chemists.</p> - -<p>“That will do,” the baroness told her then. “You can stay out here, in -my sitting room. Remember that no one is to be allowed to come in until -I tell you.”</p> - -<p>She shut herself in the bathroom, the ground-glass window of which was -open a little at the top, and placed a crucible, containing some -colorless liquid, on the electric stove.</p> - -<p>She had connected the stove by wires to one of the electric fixtures, -after removing the bulb, and thus got all the power she required.</p> - -<p>Soon there came a slight hissing from the crucible.</p> - -<p>She darted over to it, and having put on a pair of asbestos gloves, -lifted the crucible to the glass table.</p> - -<p>Next, she adjusted an oxygen mask with a glass front, and, taking off -the asbestos gloves, replaced them with others of rubber. She knew well -the necessity of taking every precaution when experimenting with -dangerous elements.</p> - -<p>Taking a small bottle from a cabinet, which had been one of the articles -brought in by Florine, she poured half of the liquid in it into the -crucible.</p> - -<p>A violent agitation of the contents of the crucible caused her to leap -back hastily. It was evidently caused by mixing the two substances too -abruptly.</p> - -<p>Soon the disturbance in the crucible subsided. Then the baroness poured -the remainder of the stuff into the crucible, leaving the bottle—it was -really only a vial—absolutely empty.</p> - -<p>There was no further bubbling, but the mixture in the crucible, which -had been a dull blue, grew lighter and lighter in color, until it was a -very pale green, which in turn resolved itself into a sickly yellow.</p> - -<p>As the last tinge of green disappeared, the baroness took another vial -from the cabinet. This vial was filled with a liquid that looked like -water.</p> - -<p>She emptied it all into the crucible.</p> - -<p>The liquid immediately took on a rich amber hue. As it did so, she -hastily reached for a glass cover, with a small, funnellike hole in the -top.</p> - -<p>Over this hole she fitted a rubber tube, forcing the other end of the -tube tightly into a long, narrow bottle.</p> - -<p>Hardly had she secured the tube and lifted the bottle, when a heavy -vapor arose inside the crucible, easily visible through the glass top.</p> - -<p>The light vapor went swiftly through the tube, and the long glass bottle -could be seen filling.</p> - -<p>In five minutes the amber fluid had entirely disappeared from the -crucible, while the long bottle was full of vapor.</p> - -<p>“This is well,” muttered the baroness, as she watched<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> the experiment -with intent eyes. “Everything is working out all right. Now for the next -stage.”</p> - -<p>Skillfully, she withdrew the tube from the bottle, and in its place -tightly inserted a stopper made of india rubber. The mixture she had -prepared with such care would have eaten through a cork in a few -minutes.</p> - -<p>Having progressed thus far, the baroness carefully placed the -glass-tubelike bottle in a steel case, padded inside, which had been -specially made for it.</p> - -<p>Screwing on the cap firmly, she laid the case on the glass table, and -stood thoughtfully regarding it for several seconds.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to try its strength,” she decided, half aloud. “This is the -dangerous part of the experiment.”</p> - -<p>She brought forward a large bottle, on which was a bulb and spraying -contrivance carefully fitted to it.</p> - -<p>The ever-useful Florine had seen that the bottle was ready with the -other paraphernalia her employer would want. Florine knew nearly as much -about it all as the baroness herself.</p> - -<p>The baroness carefully sprayed the air of the bathroom, after closing -the window at the top. She wanted no outside atmosphere to interfere -with the test she was about to make.</p> - -<p>Now, for the first time, she removed the strange-looking mask she had -worn throughout her operations. It protected her lungs entirely from the -dangerous gases. There was always the possibility that they might -escape, in spite of all her care with the vessels she used.</p> - -<p>As she took off the mask, leaving her mouth exposed, her eyes dropped -heavily and her head swam.</p> - -<p>She stumbled slightly as she made her way to the ground-glass window and -pulled down the upper sash.</p> - -<p>The current of air revived her at once.</p> - -<p>She stood there for a few moments inhaling the pure sea atmosphere -luxuriously.</p> - -<p>“This shows it is a success,” she murmured. “I was so careful that -hardly a whiff of the gas could escape. Yet, even after spraying the -room as I did, it almost overcame me. It is better than the other stuff -I used, I am sure. I’ll put this to the proof to-night, if I get a -chance—and I think I shall.”</p> - -<p>Opening the window wider, she stood there, ruminating, a curious smile -on her beautiful young face.</p> - -<p>“Nicholas Carter! As if it would be possible for me not to know him -because he chooses to call himself Colonel Pearson and assumes an -indolent manner that is not his own at all! And I have been playing golf -and dining with him! Well, it is all in the game! He says himself he -does not know how our next game is to come out. We shall see.”</p> - -<p>She went out of the bathroom and told Florine to put everything away.</p> - -<p>This order was obeyed so thoroughly and swiftly, that in about five -minutes nothing was to be seen in the bathroom to suggest the experiment -just carried on.</p> - -<p>The open window had allowed the last breath of the noxious vapor to -escape, and none of the paraphernalia was in sight.</p> - -<p>The glass experimenting table had been folded up and put away, and the -electric stove, crucible, and retorts had gone with it, each being -packed away into its own particular recess in the trunks.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> - -<p>Only the steel case—tubelike, as was the glass bottle of deadly vapor -inside—was placed in a black leather bag, which snapped shut with a -patent spring lock.</p> - -<p>This bag the baroness put into another trunk with her own hands. She -would not trust even Florine to do anything with the bottle in its steel -case.</p> - -<p>For two hours she sat in the darkness, peering out to sea, where the -lights of the yacht could be seen blinking uncertainly.</p> - -<p>She did not talk to her maid, although Florine was in the room, and, -although quite quiet, was wide awake.</p> - -<p>It seemed as if there must be something more than the ordinary relations -of mistress and maid between them, for Florine made no complaint of the -long vigil. Neither did the baroness take any notice of her, as she -might have done if there had been no mutual understanding.</p> - -<p>“Lock the door after me when I go out, Florine,” were the words with -which the Baroness Latour at last broke the silence. “And be ready to -let me in quickly when I return.”</p> - -<p>“Very well.”</p> - -<p>Florine made this response in a low, colorless voice.</p> - -<p>There was no surprise at the baroness going secretly from her rooms at -midnight, nor at her giving these orders about the door.</p> - -<p>It seemed as if she knew what her employer had in hand, and was in -thorough accord with the proceedings.</p> - -<p>The baroness had taken off the gingham gown she had worn in the -makeshift laboratory, and had replaced it with a house dress of costly -material, but which was made up rather plainly.</p> - -<p>Over this gown she slipped a voluminous black cloak. Then she went over -to the trunk in which she had placed the black bag, and drew the bag -forth.</p> - -<p>“The door is locked, Florine?” she asked, without turning her head.</p> - -<p>“Yes, my lady!” answered the maid, with a touch of mockery as she used -this form of address that is so uncommon in America. “I have just -looked, to make sure.”</p> - -<p>“Stand by it, in case of accidents,” ordered the baroness.</p> - -<p>Without speaking, Florine took her station at the door which led to the -outer corridor, although she knew such a precaution was unnecessary.</p> - -<p>The baroness took from the bag the steel case into which she had packed -the glass cylinder containing the powerful vapor she had produced in the -bathroom.</p> - -<p>Unscrewing the cap of the case, she drew out the glass cylinder, and, -holding it carefully in her left hand, reached again into the bag with -her right.</p> - -<p>This time she brought out a diminutive rubber bulb, attached to a -syringe with a thin, hollow, threaded screw on the bottom.</p> - -<p>Carefully she sent the screw through the center of the rubber cork in -the glass cylinder. When this had been accomplished, she concealed the -cylinder in the wide sleeve of her cloak.</p> - -<p>“Open the door, Florine! And close it as soon as I am outside.”</p> - -<p>“Ready?” asked Florine, as she glided, soft-footed as a cat, to the -door, and stood there with her hand upon the key.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>All this was said in the same low, but distinct tones in which the -baroness and her maid had communicated<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> with each other ever since the -former had come in after dining with Nick Carter.</p> - -<p>The door opened silently. The baroness slipped through to the corridor. -The door closed after her.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br><br> -<small>WITH THE AID OF HER MEN.</small></h2> - -<p>The lights had been lowered throughout the hotel. In the corridors a -small electric light burned at wide intervals, with an occasional red -glow to show where the fire exits were situated.</p> - -<p>The baroness was glad there was so little illumination. She saw a light -through the transom over the door of number forty-four, which was Nick -Carter’s room. But it was not strong, and she decided that it might have -been burning in the bathroom, casting only a reflection into the -bedchamber.</p> - -<p>“Strange that he should sleep with a light anywhere about him,” she -muttered. “He isn’t the kind of man to do that, I should think. I don’t -care, so long as he is asleep, however.”</p> - -<p>She listened intently outside this door for at least a minute. So keen -was her hearing that she believed she would hear his breathing unless he -slept more quietly than most men.</p> - -<p>Not a sound reached her, and she crept noiselessly along the corridor -until she got to the bedroom door of a titled Englishman, who had been -the center of attention, especially among the women, ever since he had -been at the hotel.</p> - -<p>His name was Lord Vinton, and he was understood to be possessed of -enormous wealth.</p> - -<p>A curious smile passed over the countenance of the baroness. She -listened outside Lord Vinton’s door, as she had at Nick Carter’s.</p> - -<p>“No mistake about it in this case,” she murmured, below her breath. “His -lordship snores like a balky motor car. That makes it all the easier for -me.”</p> - -<p>In a few seconds she did all she had come to do.</p> - -<p>It did not look anything serious, if there had been any one there to -observe her movements.</p> - -<p>She seemed only to be passing her hands about the door and then hiding -them in her cloak, ere she moved away.</p> - -<p>But this is what she did: She slipped the glass tube, with the rubber -stopper, from her cloak sleeve, inserted the mouth of the syringe into -the keyhole, and pressed gently upon the rubber bulb.</p> - -<p>The result was to inject into the bedroom of Lord Vinton a small -quantity of one of the strongest and most effective narcotics known to -science.</p> - -<p>The almost invisible vapor went through the keyhole and instantly spread -to all parts of the apartment. Every nook and crack of the room was -filled with the stuff, and it was absolutely unbreathable by any human -being.</p> - -<p>So strong was it that only an unforeseen accident could prevent its -taking action. Once under its influence, and the sturdiest man would -fall into a deathlike stupor, which might last for several hours.</p> - -<p>The baroness had made the vapor as strong as it was possible to do -without rendering it too dangerous.</p> - -<p>She had no intention of killing any of her victims. Her object merely -was to make them unconscious, and then get possession of them.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> - -<p>Incidentally, she took care to freight herself with all their portable -wealth, such as jewelry and precious stones.</p> - -<p>Even this last she did not do herself in the case of Lord Vinton.</p> - -<p>As will have been divined, this mysterious young and beautiful woman who -chose to be known at the Hotel Amsterdam as the Baroness Latour had -plenty of men at her orders.</p> - -<p>All she did was to prepare the way for them, and then let them do the -rough work.</p> - -<p>She satisfied herself by listening at the keyhole—in which the key had -been left—that the spray had operated properly, and that Lord Vinton -was most assuredly in a state of coma. Then she glided swiftly back to -her own rooms, was let in without a moment’s delay by the watchful -Florine, and sank into a chair to regain her breath.</p> - -<p>“You may go to bed, Florine.”</p> - -<p>Florine, the docile, said “Good night!” and departed to her own -apartment, adjoining that of her employer.</p> - -<p>The baroness, still wearing her black cloak, threw open the window of -the sitting room, and, her room in darkness, looked across the bay at -the white yacht, which she could just make out in the gloom.</p> - -<p>“They ought to be here soon,” she murmured, as she placed the glass -cylinder in its steel case. “I won’t send another signal. It might be -caught by somebody else. Besides, it is not necessary.”</p> - -<p>She was right. It was not necessary to signal her men on the yacht, -gently rocking some two miles from shore.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, it was nearly an hour before her ear caught the -subdued thumping of muffled oars.</p> - -<p>“They have to row slowly,” she said to herself. “That’s so. Even with -oars muffled, they might be heard if they came too fast.”</p> - -<p>A soft whistle came from below as the laboring of the oars in their -padded rowlocks ceased.</p> - -<p>Looking out of the window, she could just discern a dark patch on the -water immediately beneath.</p> - -<p>She did not reply to the whistle. Instead, she drew from under her cloak -a coil of thin, tough wire. On one end of it was a leaden weight, like a -large fishing-line sinker.</p> - -<p>Dropping the leaden sinker over the sill, she paid out the wire until -the weight dropped into the sea. She knew just how far this was by a -scrap of red ribbon she had the night before tied on the wire at a -certain spot, when she had measured the distance from her window to the -water.</p> - -<p>Three sharp tugs at the wire told her that the other end had been found -by the men in the boat. She began to pull the wire back, and soon she -had the end of a thick, strong silken rope which had been attached to -the end of the wire with a well-made sailor’s knot.</p> - -<p>The baroness untied the silken rope and made it fast with a similar knot -to the handle of her room door. This door was locked and bolted, and she -had satisfied herself that the handle was a solid one.</p> - -<p>The way in which she knotted the silken line to it, indicated that she -was an expert in handling ropes. She did it as easily and swiftly as any -experienced seaman.</p> - -<p>Going back to the window, she jerked the cord three times, while looking -down.</p> - -<p>Soon the silken cord became taut under a heavy weight. It strained and -gave a little where it crossed the edge of the window sill.</p> - -<p>“All right?” she whispered.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> - -<p>“All right!” was the answering grunt, in a man’s voice.</p> - -<p>It was only a few seconds later when the figure of a man appeared above -the window ledge. It climbed through the window and stood by her side, -seemingly waiting for orders.</p> - -<p>“You did that very well, Kennedy!” she whispered. “Is my uncle there?”</p> - -<p>“No. He said it was not necessary for him to come.”</p> - -<p>“Too lazy, I suppose. Who else is in the boat?”</p> - -<p>“Four of the crew.”</p> - -<p>“Very well! Signal down for one of the men to come up, and we’ll go on -with what we have to do.”</p> - -<p>“All right, mademoiselle.”</p> - -<p>Kennedy, first mate of the yacht <i>Idaline</i> lying out there in the bay, -shook the rope up which he had climbed. As there came an answering -shake, he called down softly:</p> - -<p>“Groton!”</p> - -<p>“Aye, aye!”</p> - -<p>“Come up here—quick!”</p> - -<p>The lithe young foremast man who answered to the name of Groton came up, -hand over hand, so swiftly, that he was on the window sill while the -mate was still looking down.</p> - -<p>“That’s right!” remarked the baroness quietly. “Now, you two wait here, -while I go back to the room and get things ready. No noise, of course!”</p> - -<p>“Shall I lock the door while you are out?” whispered Kennedy.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Somebody might happen to be about and try the door, if they saw me -in the corridor. I’ll give the usual signal.”</p> - -<p>She reached into her black bag to make sure certain things were there. -Then she went out and slipped along the corridor on the thick carpet, -while Kennedy softly secured her sitting-room door inside.</p> - -<p>“I wish Carter would put out that light of his,” she murmured, as she -passed his room. “I don’t trust him, and I’d rather think he was -asleep.”</p> - -<p>She stood again outside Lord Vinton’s door, and as she came near the -keyhole, she could distinguish the pungent odor of the narcotic she had -sprayed into the bedroom.</p> - -<p>It has practically all blown out of the window by this time,” she -thought. “If I didn’t know it so well, I don’t suppose I should smell -it.”</p> - -<p>From the black bag she took out what looked like a pair of long slim -scissors, with spreading claws, which could be opened and closed at -will.</p> - -<p>It was an implement for turning a key in a lock from the opposite side -of the door. To police and criminals it is known as an “outsider.”</p> - -<p>Gripping the end of the key through the keyhole with the powerful -nippers, she turned the key almost as easily as if she had been inside -the door.</p> - -<p>“So much for that,” she murmured. “But there is the bolt! Well, I guess -I can negotiate that.”</p> - -<p>She had provided for the inmate of the room obeying the familiar -injunction found in all hotel bedrooms nowadays: “Guests will please -lock and bolt their doors before retiring for the night.”</p> - -<p>The implement she took out of her bag now was not much like the -“outsider,” but it proved equally effective.</p> - -<p>Thin as paper, it was strong and highly tempered, and, after a few -moments of careful manipulation, she had the bolt back and the door a -little way open.</p> - -<p>The room was in darkness. She felt for and turned the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> button of the -electric light, but she left the light on only long enough to show her -where the gas jet was. She lighted the gas, turned it low, and then put -out the incandescent.</p> - -<p>Going to the bed, she gazed for a few moments at the face of the man who -lay unconscious in it.</p> - -<p>One hand lay outside the counterpane. She lifted the hand boldly, and -pressing her fingers upon the wrist, felt for the pulse. It was faint, -but steady.</p> - -<p>“He will be all right after a while,” she muttered. “That mixture of -mine does its work scientifically. It knocks them cold for the time -being, and afterward they are as well as ever. That old German chemist -certainly knows his business, and this formula was worth all I paid for -it.”</p> - -<p>She hurried back to her room, gave the signal, and was admitted by the -mate.</p> - -<p>“Come to this room—you and Groton—and dress this man in the bed. Put -everything on him that he should wear, including necktie and collar, -watch fob and so on. Make him look as if he had dressed himself.”</p> - -<p>Kennedy grinned and shook his head doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“That won’t be so easy,” he protested. “Dressing a man who can’t help -himself will be a tough proposition.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind! Do as well as you can. I’ll show you the room. Then I’ll -come back here. When you have him ready, send Groton to tell me. You -stay in the room till I come. We have to get him away.”</p> - -<p>The first mate nodded, and, accompanied by Groton, followed the baroness -to the room of Lord Vinton. There the baroness left the two men to get -his lordship dressed, and returned to her sitting room.</p> - -<p>Florine slept through it all.</p> - -<p>“He’s all fixed,” announced Kennedy, ten minutes later, when the -baroness had been called back to Lord Vinton’s room by Groton. “We’ve -put him into these light-colored togs and this funny soft hat. We -couldn’t find any others handy, except his evening clothes, and I didn’t -think you wanted him in them.”</p> - -<p>“That wouldn’t have made any particular difference,” she returned. -“Leave him on the bed for a minute and come over here.”</p> - -<p>She went to the two trunks and handsome traveling bags at the other side -of the room, and brought forth a quantity of jewelry which would hardly -have been expected in the baggage of a wealthy nobleman traveling only -for pleasure.</p> - -<p>Rings, with diamonds, bracelets, brooches, and other gewgaws for women -to wear, were wrapped in tissue paper or embedded in silk-lined cases, -while scarfpins, cigarette cases, jeweled watch charms, and kindred -articles of masculine use were plentiful.</p> - -<p>“Lord Vinton may turn out not to be a lord, after all,” muttered the -baroness. “Even if he is, he does not mind turning a few honest dollars -by importing jewelry on the side. I hope the dollars he expects to make -<i>will</i> be honest, by the way. But it would be interesting to know how -much duty he paid on all this.”</p> - -<p>When she had piled up everything on the floor she cared to take, she -coolly dropped the loot into two of Kennedy’s capacious outside pockets.</p> - -<p>He wore a nautical pea-jacket, and his pocket room was extensive.</p> - -<p>“Now, boys!” she whispered. “Work quickly. I will go ahead and see if -the corridor is clear, and have my door<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> half open. Stand at the door, -Kennedy, and watch me. When you see me get to my room, I’ll hold up my -hand.”</p> - -<p>“I get you!”</p> - -<p>“That will mean ‘All right!’ You and Groton pick up your man then and -bring him along, just as you did Mrs. van Dietrich. Now! Careful!”</p> - -<p>She skimmed lightly along the corridor, and directly afterward the two -sailors followed, carrying between them the unconscious form of Lord -Vinton.</p> - -<p>Giving a signal to the two men still in the boat, Kennedy superintended -the tying of the silken rope under Vinton’s arms, and the three of them -lifted him over the window sill and let him dangle.</p> - -<p>“Ready below?” questioned Kennedy softly.</p> - -<p>“Ready! Let him come!”</p> - -<p>Down went his lordship, who was laid in the bottom of the boat, while -Kennedy turned to the baroness.</p> - -<p>“Anything more, mademoiselle?”</p> - -<p>“Not at present.”</p> - -<p>“Any message for Captain Latell?”</p> - -<p>“Tell him to keep a sharp lookout at all times, and to watch for signals -from me. Have his telephone ready.”</p> - -<p>“It is always ready, mademoiselle. He has it in his own window, and some -one is always near.”</p> - -<p>“Good! That’s all.”</p> - -<p>Kennedy and Groton slid down the rope to the boat. The baroness untied -it from the handle of her door and threw the rope after them.</p> - -<p>The wire was again coiled, and, with the leaden weight, was in her black -leather bag, which fastened with a strong patent lock.</p> - -<p>Before finally leaving Lord Vinton’s room, after her victim had been -brought to her own apartment, she had gone back to shoot the bolt and -lock into place again. Also, she had used her steel implements to close -the door, in about the same way as she had opened it, but by a reverse -process.</p> - -<p>Now, when a soft splash, as the oars dipped, told her the boat was on -its way back to the yacht, she closed the window, looked about her with -a satisfied sigh, and then went calmly to her bedroom.</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later, this mysterious and beautiful girl, who could carry -out such an audacious enterprise as that just finished without showing -any particular emotion, lay down, without removing her attire, and, -almost at once, seemed to be sound asleep.</p> - -<p>When Florine went in to brush her employer’s hair the next morning, the -maid thought she never had seen the baroness look fresher or seem in -better spirits.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br><br> -<small>NICK LIES IN WAIT.</small></h2> - -<p>It may be explained at once that Nick Carter was not in his bedroom in -the Hotel Amsterdam when the baroness saw the light through the transom. -The detective did not want anybody to speculate on his whereabouts that -night, and he argued that if a light was seen in the room of Colonel -Pearson, it would be assumed that the colonel was inside.</p> - -<p>He had determined to find out what the mysterious abductors had done -with Harvey L. Drago, who had vanished into thin air, in broad daylight.</p> - -<p>After playing a sane and deliberate game of golf, it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> was not to be -credited that Mr. Drago had made away with himself. Nick brushed that -aside as soon as it came to his mind.</p> - -<p>The wealthy young American had been kidnaped by somebody, no doubt, and -the object of that somebody could hardly be anything else than to exact -a large ransom.</p> - -<p>It had occurred to Nick Carter, when told that Mrs. van Dietrich had -melted away from her bedroom in the night, that perhaps an aëroplane had -been employed. But all the conditions were against that.</p> - -<p>Neither could an automobile have been used without its being seen.</p> - -<p>After turning everything over in his mind, including the possibility of -Drago having been hidden in the woods, he could not make that theory -apply to his own satisfaction in the case of Mrs. van Dietrich.</p> - -<p>The dear lady was rather large, and she would surely be hysterical when -she came to herself.</p> - -<p>No, it would be too risky to keep that eminent leader of society among a -lot of trees and expect to keep her quiet.</p> - -<p>He thought of the wireless telephone he had seen used by the baroness -from the window of her room, and though he had not been convinced that -she had any deeper purpose than to amuse herself—as a wealthy young -woman of lively fancy might conceivably do in this manner—he remembered -the yacht at anchor out in the bay, and wondered whether or not the -baroness was signaling to that vessel.</p> - -<p>He had never noticed anybody coming from the yacht to the hotel. But -that did not carry any significance. There were many handsome homes -along the coast in this vicinity, and the yacht might be owned by any -one of the dozen or so of millionaires who were accustomed to spend part -of their summer in Delaware.</p> - -<p>That he was suspicious of the baroness was natural to a man of his -quick, deductive mind. The discovery of the burned match in Mrs. van -Dietrich’s room would have been sufficient to make him so, after he had -satisfied himself that the baroness used the same kind of thick wax -matches.</p> - -<p>Another touch of evidence in connection with the matches was that he had -found a scrap of gilt and colored paper on the floor of Mrs. van -Dietrich’s bedroom—part of a label which he found had come from the -original box containing them.</p> - -<p>In the restaurant he had caught a glimpse of nearly the whole label in -the baroness’ chatelaine bag when she had taken out her cigarette box. -The paper had been pulled out accidentally, and pushed back again.</p> - -<p>Nick decided that, as the design was unusual, as well as artistic, the -baroness was keeping it as a curiosity.</p> - -<p>The label was not all there. The part missing would have fitted in with -the scrap Nick had in his pocket.</p> - -<p>Going further in his speculations, Nick recalled that, although Mrs. van -Dietrich had disappeared in the night, when it would be comparatively -easy to get her out of the hotel unobserved and take her to any desired -place at a distance, Harvey L. Drago had been spirited away in broad -daylight.</p> - -<p>The only theory Nick could apply to Drago’s disappearance was that he -was somewhere near the hotel, and would not be taken away to his final -destination till nightfall.</p> - -<p>Acting on this hypothesis, the detective, with the head<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> porter, were -out now, at night, looking for the abductors of Mr. Drago, in the -expectation that when they got a clew to the one case, they would find -it leading them to the other.</p> - -<p>They had for two or three hours been moving about in the dense woods -that surrounded the Hotel Amsterdam, and hid the sea beach from the -highroad, when Nick Carter took a seat on a rock overlooking the water, -with the porter by his side, and remarked that it was time to rest a -while.</p> - -<p>“I’m not tired,” protested the porter, Mike Corrigan. “I wouldn’t mind -betting you are not, either, colonel. You are stopping here because you -think it a good place to look around.”</p> - -<p>The head porter grinned as he said this, and in the faint light that -came from the cloud-veiled moon Nick returned the grin. He was pleased -to note that Mike Corrigan was of an observant kind.</p> - -<p>“You’re not far off, Mike. I see there is a place here where a boat has -landed, and it is just possible another one may come. See those furrows -in the sand above tide line on the beach, and do you notice that those -soft shells have been ground by something, and left, all broken, where -they have been pressed into the sand?”</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” agreed Mike. “I see it, just where the moon strikes. But -I’ll confess I wouldn’t have noticed them if you hadn’t spoke—not in -this poor light. Think that was done by a boat?”</p> - -<p>“I am sure of it,” was Nick’s quick reply. “It was the keel of a boat -that ground these shells, and the round bottom made the wide mark on -either side. It isn’t hard to see where a boat has been before the signs -are washed away.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see any other place where a boat could be run up on the shore, -either,” observed Mike.</p> - -<p>“That’s why I am expecting we shall see another boat—or perhaps the -same one—come up here, if we stay for a while. But get back into the -woods. We can watch there without being seen.”</p> - -<p>“The moon is in its last quarter,” remarked Corrigan. “So there isn’t -much light. If it wasn’t for the stars, I don’t think we could make out -anything at all.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll get to the other side of this point,” went on Nick. “We can see -all over the bay from there, and still not be too conspicuous.”</p> - -<p>“‘Conspicuous’ is good!” muttered Mike. “I wonder what in thunder it -means.”</p> - -<p>Nick Carter led the way to the spot he had selected. It was a thick mass -of shrubbery only a few yards above high tide. Here he told Corrigan to -sit down.</p> - -<p>The porter obeyed—so heavily that he broke several twigs, which -crackled with much more noise than Nick cared for. He gave Mike a sharp -touch with the toe of his shoe.</p> - -<p>The detective had seen some signs which had escaped his companion, and -he did not want any noise. Nick subsided.</p> - -<p>Nick took out a pair of powerful night glasses and trained them on the -light-studded yacht far out in the bay.</p> - -<p>It was something about this yacht which had attracted his attention in -the first place, and which had caused him to shut off the porter so -peremptorily when he had begun to protest against being gently kicked.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter lay flat upon the ground, examining the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> shadowy form of the -yacht, and trying to satisfy himself as to the meaning of certain -movements he observed.</p> - -<p>It was a full hour before he moved to any noticeable degree, although he -had shifted his position now and then, as he sought to relieve his -cramped limbs.</p> - -<p>But his night glasses had been always fixed on the yacht, and his eyes -had become accustomed to the gloom so much that he could tell fairly -well what the general state of affairs was on her deck.</p> - -<p>Corrigan was about to whisper a question as a sigh of satisfaction -escaped his companion. But Nick shook him off impatiently and told him -to keep quite quiet.</p> - -<p>The detective had seen a bustle on the deck of the yacht which he -believed signified that a boat was being lowered. But if it was, they -were dropping it on the other side, and he could not make out enough of -their movements to be sure what was going on.</p> - -<p>“If it isn’t a boat, then I don’t know what they’re after,” he murmured, -under his breath. “Hello! What’s that?”</p> - -<p>Far out, some little distance from the yacht, his glasses had enabled -him to distinguish a phosphorescent flash, repeated again and again on -the dark surface of the bay.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter had seen phosphorescent gleams of this kind too many times -not to be able to interpret the meaning of any particular kind or -number.</p> - -<p>A single one, or even many, might have been caused by the jumping of -fish. That would flash up the bright glow so often seen in mid-ocean at -night.</p> - -<p>But regular gleams, such as Nick saw now, and which developed into -shining patches one by one, could have been caused only by the regular -dipping of oars. The space between the patches represented the width of -a rowboat.</p> - -<p>“They are rowing two pairs,” he murmured. “And the boat is rather heavy, -too. What are they after?”</p> - -<p>As they came nearer, he could see that there were five black patches in -the boat, and it did not take him long to resolve these patches into -men, two were rowing and one was steering. The other two sat still.</p> - -<p>“This looks like a fight, if we want to save Drago,” muttered Nick, -rather louder than his musings had been so far.</p> - -<p>“What?” asked Corrigan.</p> - -<p>The porter’s view had been obscured by the shrubbery. Moreover, he had -no night glass to help his vision.</p> - -<p>His curiosity would not be denied any longer, however, and he squeezed -his way around.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter placed the night glass in his hand.</p> - -<p>“There you are, Corrigan! Take a squint through these!”</p> - -<p>The porter obeyed, and after some moments of adjusting the glasses, he -got the boatload of men into focus, and uttered a low grunt of wonder.</p> - -<p>“Five of ’em, eh? Well, colonel, that will be two each for us, and -whichever of us gets through first, let him have the odd one.”</p> - -<p>Nick smiled at this businesslike proposition—which also had an -agreeable sporting flavor—and nodded in acquiescence.</p> - -<p>“All right, Mike! That goes! But—one thing, mind!—I take the first -man! You can have the second. Then I’ll tackle the third, and the fourth -is yours. By that time we’ll know who gets the fifth.”</p> - -<p>“Fine!” chuckled the porter. “You’ve been in scraps like this before, I -can see.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The boat was gliding straight toward the point where Nick Carter and his -companion were hiding in the shrubbery. Then, suddenly, when it had come -within fifty yards of the shore, it swerved abruptly, and shot toward -that part of the Hotel Amsterdam where the windows of the baroness -overlooked the bay.</p> - -<p>As the boat got nearer to the hotel, Nick’s night glass, plus his keen -eyes, enabled him to make out a feminine figure at one of the darkened -windows.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br><br> -<small>NICK DEALS WITH ODDS.</small></h2> - -<p>Throughout the performance of Kennedy and Groton climbing the rope to -the window of the baroness, the detective lay there, with his night -glass turned upon them, and when he saw the form of a man coming down on -the rope, he knew he was on the right track.</p> - -<p>“Shall we go back to the hotel and break in her door?” asked Corrigan.</p> - -<p>“No. We couldn’t get there, for one thing. Everything would be over -before we could interfere. Besides, that would not help much. I want to -prove that the kidnaping has been done from the hotel. But, also, I want -to catch them in the act.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“I am, in a way,” answered the detective. “But it would be only my word -against theirs, and you may be sure that people who can carry out a -scheme like this successfully are not bad as liars.”</p> - -<p>“They’re going back to the yacht now,” remarked Corrigan.</p> - -<p>“I see they are leaving the hotel. Whether they are going directly to -the yacht remains to be seen. I am inclined to think they are not.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Drago is undoubtedly somewhere in this wood, and it is time they -took him away. They would be sure to do these two jobs under one, I -think. It is the methodical manner in which the leading spirit of the -enterprise has everything done.”</p> - -<p>“The boss of this thing must be the husband of that young baroness, I -should think,” said Corrigan. “Or perhaps her brother.”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you think she may be doing it herself?” asked the detective, -smiling.</p> - -<p>“A pretty girl like that wouldn’t do it. She couldn’t,” was the porter’s -positive reply. “But she might be drawn into it by some of her menfolks. -Things like that happen sometimes. You see it in the newspapers, -anyhow.”</p> - -<p>It was not long before it was shown that Nick Carter had been correct in -his belief that the boat would put in to get Drago from his hiding place -in the wood, wherever it might be.</p> - -<p>The boat stopped in the middle of the bay, and Carter, from his place -behind the bush, could see one of the men who appeared to be in -command—in fact, it was Kennedy, the first mate of the yacht—looking -around him with a night glass.</p> - -<p>He scanned the shore as far as he could see it, and also looked steadily -at the hotel.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter smiled as he thought he saw the glass trained in the -direction of his own window in the hotel, room number forty-four. He -could not be sure, in the darkness, but he believed he was right.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - -<p>“My charming dinner companion must have told him whereabouts my room is -situated,” he said to himself. “Even if he cannot be sure which is my -window, I am conceited enough to think he is trying to assure himself -that I am not watching him from one of them. Much good it will do him!”</p> - -<p>As they came on, the oarsmen stopped rowing. Then, as the boat’s head -shifted a little, they headed straight for the beach where Nick Carter -and the porter were watching.</p> - -<p>The muffled oars made no sound as they came up on the beach, and the -easy way in which the bow grounded on the soft sand proved that the -craft was under the command of a finished mariner.</p> - -<p>No sooner was the boat pulled so well up on the shore that it did not -need securing in any other way, than the five men all tumbled out and -pulled her a little farther. This done, they stood silently in a group -while their commander looked about him.</p> - -<p>Now, if he had chosen, Nick Carter could have captured the whole party -at the point of the pistol, shooting them down if they resisted.</p> - -<p>But his natural love of “playing the game” forbade anything of that -kind. He contented himself with keeping them covered—with Corrigan’s -pistol, as well as his own—and watching in silence.</p> - -<p>Had Nick known who the Baroness Latour really was, he would have brought -half a dozen men with him, instead of one. And with good reason. He -would have been aware that the caliber of the five men in the boat was -of a kind not easily put down, and that any one of them would have gone -to his death cheerfully for his beautiful leader.</p> - -<p>There were several minutes of inactivity, during which the five men -stood watching the silent, insensible figure in the boat, while -seemingly on the watch for somebody else to come.</p> - -<p>“I ought, perhaps, to jump in here and rescue that man in the boat at -any cost,” thought Nick. “But it wouldn’t do. I should have only half my -work done, even if Mike and I can knock out these five—as I believe we -can. I’ve made up my mind to take Drago back to the hotel, and I’m going -to do it.”</p> - -<p>It was five minutes afterward when a soft whistle arose from the woods -behind him. Kennedy replied with a similar signal.</p> - -<p>“Get ready, Corrigan!” whispered Nick Carter.</p> - -<p>“I am ready,” was the prompt response.</p> - -<p>There was the sound of branches moving with a swish, and three men came -out of the wood together.</p> - -<p>One, whose stiff gait indicated that his hands were tied behind him, so -that he was afraid to step freely, was between the other two, each of -whom held him by an elbow.</p> - -<p>As they came clear of the shadows, Nick saw that, not only were the -hands of the man in the middle bound, but a handkerchief was fastened -tightly over his mouth.</p> - -<p>“Drago!” muttered the detective. “It’s just what I expected. They’ve got -some one else from the hotel, and stopped on their way to pick up this -one from the wood.”</p> - -<p>As the newcomers came up to the other five men, Nick heard somebody say -softly:</p> - -<p>“That you, Mr. Kennedy?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” came the reply.</p> - -<p>“Kennedy!” muttered Nick. “Well, it is a common name.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> This may not be -the Kennedy I know. But, taking it with everything else I’ve found out, -it looks as if it might be.”</p> - -<p>There was a low conversation, of which the detective did not catch -much—not enough to know what it was all about, indeed—until he heard -the man who had first spoken respond to a remark that did not reach his -ears:</p> - -<p>“No, sir. We haven’t heard a sound or seen anybody since we came into -the woods.”</p> - -<p>Nick tried to decide what this meant, and to whom they were referring. -He did not suppose it was himself, or that the baroness had noticed him -leaving the hotel after taking dinner with her. But then, Nick Carter -did not know just what means the beautiful young woman had at her -disposal for finding out things that might interest her.</p> - -<p>“Well, get him aboard,” ordered Kennedy. “We’ll hustle them both over to -the yacht, and then get a little sleep. This thing doesn’t have to keep -us all up on a double watch, if we don’t waste time.”</p> - -<p>The men walked along the beach with their captive, and the detective -might have got his hands on them without much trouble by taking them by -surprise, when Mike Corrigan “spilled the beans” by an unforeseen and -peculiar accident.</p> - -<p>In his eagerness to hear what was said, he had leaned forward in the -shrubbery as far as he dared. Unfortunately, he had nothing firm to give -him a hand hold, so he was standing in a teetering attitude, when -anything might have knocked him over.</p> - -<p>There was more trouble, too. A small twig, impossible for him to see in -the gloom, was immediately under his face, and as he bent lower, it -suddenly popped into his nose, tickling that organ beyond the point of -bearableness.</p> - -<p>There could be only one result, and it came quickly.</p> - -<p>Mike Corrigan was a determined man, and he fought nobly against the -irritation by holding his nose above the bridge and rubbing it all over. -He had heard somewhere that this treatment would stop the most insistent -sneeze.</p> - -<p>It did not work in this instance, however. The sneeze would not be -denied. There were several choking gasps—not to say snorts. Then, -bursting all bonds, a terrific blast turned itself loose, and Nick -Carter knew it was all off.</p> - -<p>Even at ordinary times the husky head porter was noted for the -resounding force of his sneeze. But, coming as it did, after this -frantic struggle to hold it back, Corrigan achieved an effect in -advanced sternutation which awoke the echoes both on sea and land, and -made the very trees quiver.</p> - -<p>The group of men paused in consternation just as they were about to -enter the boat, and, hearing Nick Carter jump to his feet at the same -moment, they realized that strangers—probably enemies—were close -behind them.</p> - -<p>“See who it is, men!” ordered Kennedy.</p> - -<p>The sailors seemed all to be armed, for several revolver barrels shone -in what little light there was as they came breaking their way through -the shrubbery.</p> - -<p>“There is no use trying to hide our presence now,” was all Nick said to -the porter, as he prepared for battle. “This means fight.”</p> - -<p>“That suits me,” responded Mike. “I supposed it was what we came out for -to-night.”</p> - -<p>The philosophy of the porter made Nick forget a little of his chagrin at -the way his plans had been upset. He felt that, though the odds were so -much against them, he had a man by his side who would help him to leave -a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> mark on their adversaries, no matter how the fracas came out, and -that was the main thing under the circumstances.</p> - -<p>Nick pushed the shrubbery apart, and, with Mike close on his heels and -his automatic pistol gripped in his steady fingers, he stepped out to -the open sandy beach.</p> - -<p>Keeping the oncoming sailors at bay by raising his left hand -authoritatively—although the leveled automatic in his right may have -had something to do with it—he looked straight into the face of the -first mate of the yacht, as a fugitive gleam of moonlight fell across -it.</p> - -<p>“So!” ejaculated Nick Carter. “It is you, Kennedy?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I’m called,” was the defiant response.</p> - -<p>“I heard your name spoken just now, but I did not know that it was you,” -went on Nick. “It is some time since we met. I might have known that -only the brilliant and complex mind of Mademoiselle Valeria could have -devised and carried out this strange series of kidnapings at the Hotel -Amsterdam. Then, of course, that yacht out there is the <i>Idaline</i>.”</p> - -<p>“You can guess anything you like,” returned Kennedy gruffly. “No matter -who is behind this affair, you can bet it is going through without your -interference, Mr. Nicholas Carter. I have my orders regarding you, and I -am going to carry them out.”</p> - -<p>“From the Baroness Latour, of course,” said Nick Carter, dropping the -name from his lips with mocking emphasis. “Do you mind telling me what -your orders are about me?”</p> - -<p>“I’m instructed to capture you if I catch you prowling around. So you’d -better surrender and save trouble. We are a crowd, and there is only you -two. You can’t do anything.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we can’t do anything, eh? You are too many for us? Well, you have -the odds, I’ll admit. But I think I can play a card that will stop you -from taking the pot right away.”</p> - -<p>“You can play any card you like, and it won’t make any difference,” was -Kennedy’s contemptuous rejoinder.</p> - -<p>“We shall see,” said Nick. “Now, I realize that it would be impossible -for us to shoot down the whole seven of you, so we won’t try to do it.”</p> - -<p>“You have that much sense, anyhow,” rejoined Kennedy.</p> - -<p>“Let me finish,” continued Carter. “Out of the seven of you, I have my -eye on two men. You don’t know which two, but I do. Remember, two men, -Kennedy!”</p> - -<p>“Well, what of it?”</p> - -<p>“Just this: As surely as one of you—any one of the whole seven—makes a -move toward us, so surely I will shoot those two! And I generally get -what I aim at. You know that, Kennedy. While I am shooting down two of -your number, this man at my side will also shoot down two. By that time, -unless we have gone under, the odds between us will be more nearly -equal. You will be only three to two, and I am not afraid of those -odds.”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br><br> -<small>ONE AGAINST SEVEN.</small></h2> - -<p>No sooner had Nick Carter announced his intention than he saw it -impressed the men in front of him.</p> - -<p>The dread of the sharpshooter is proverbial. When a man knows he may -possibly be the next target for a man who shoots straight, and that the -marksman will go<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> after one man, and one only, it takes much of the fire -of battle out of him, unless he is of phenomenal courage.</p> - -<p>In this critical situation, the detective had hit upon a shrewd course.</p> - -<p>It was much better than making a rush, blazing away indiscriminately. -Now each of the seven men facing him wondered if he might be the one to -be shot first.</p> - -<p>That ugly-looking automatic pistol, with a number of cartridges ready to -be sent flying at the enemy, was calculated to disturb the equanimity of -any ordinary person.</p> - -<p>There was a nervous shifting of feet among the sailors, and the -detective’s jaw set firmly as he saw that his bluff was likely to be -effective. It was hardly a bluff, either, for he and Mike Corrigan would -both shoot on the instant if there were any move by the enemy. Moreover, -each had picked out two men.</p> - -<p>If Kennedy had not been unusually quick-witted, and if the sailors had -not had a respect and love for the owner of the yacht, Mademoiselle -Valeria—known in the Hotel Amsterdam as the Baroness Latour—which -amounted to worship, it is likely that Nick Carter would have had things -all his own way.</p> - -<p>But Kennedy knew his men, and he was aware of the fact that a reminder -of the young woman by whom they had been employed in many shady -transactions in the past, and who had always paid them well, would make -them forget pretty nearly everything else.</p> - -<p>Quick action was imperative.</p> - -<p>He saw that they were wavering, and that unless something was done -quickly to bring them up, they might actually yield themselves to these -two men who were holding them down with as much confidence as if they -had been a dozen.</p> - -<p>“Remember mademoiselle!”</p> - -<p>Kennedy yelled this slogan with the suddenness of a rifle shot.</p> - -<p>The effect was remarkable. On the instant, the whole seven leaped toward -the detective and Mike Corrigan.</p> - -<p>As they did so, the two automatic pistols barked once—twice—almost -together.</p> - -<p>The two men aimed at by Nick Carter both dropped.</p> - -<p>If Mike Corrigan’s aim had been as good as the detective’s, they might -have won. But the porter’s hand was shaky, and both of his bullets -missed. He managed to shoot them at a rock some distance away, where -they flattened and fell into the sand.</p> - -<p>“Fire, men!” shouted Kennedy.</p> - -<p>But Carter was not waiting for a bullet from the other side. For the -third time he pulled his trigger. Then, taking his gun by the barrel, he -used the heavy stock for a club and sprang at Kennedy, just as a shot -came from the enemy and Mike Corrigan sank to the ground with a groan of -agony.</p> - -<p>The sailors might have fired again, only that they were afraid of -attracting attention by the reports. Besides, seeing that Nick Carter -had flung himself upon the first mate, they were for a moment uncertain -what to do.</p> - -<p>The detective and Kennedy came together with a crash. Outlaws as they -were, the sailors of the piratical yacht out there in the bay were -inclined to let the duel between the two giants go on till one or the -other had gained a victory.</p> - -<p>The seamen enjoyed a good fight, whether they were in it personally or -not.</p> - -<p>This was a good thing for the detective now. He was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> perfectly aware -that, if he won, they might get a chance to close in and overpower him. -But, even with that, he would make a dash for freedom, to come back with -reënforcements later.</p> - -<p>Letting his pistol fall to the sand, Nick went for his tall foe with his -bare fists. Kennedy, being on the defensive, parried the detective’s -straight lunge, and got a knee lock on his adversary.</p> - -<p>Nick, carried into close quarters as his opponent met his rush, started -a long, slow, heartbreaking twist which was almost as grueling on -himself as on Kennedy.</p> - -<p>The latter was in good condition physically—hard as nails and full of -aggressiveness. If he had been weaker than Nick Carter, the detective -could not have made such progress with his mode of attack. Carter’s -supple form bent to every turn, and though Kennedy tried to crush him by -main strength, his adversary could laugh at all his efforts.</p> - -<p>Then Nick took a new line—or, rather, an amplification of his first -method of attack.</p> - -<p>Slowly he threw his powerful leg outward and twined it around that of -the panting first mate.</p> - -<p>Kennedy fought hard to keep out of this lock. But he could not help -himself. The hold the detective had on him was almost breaking his back, -and he knew that if he relaxed for the slightest fraction of a moment, -the awful pressure of Nick Carter’s steellike arms would crumple him up -like a dried leaf in a hurricane.</p> - -<p>The crucial moment came.</p> - -<p>Kennedy was compelled to give way slightly, in the hope of relieving the -pain in his breaking back. That was what Nick had been waiting for. -Seizing the opening like lightning, his leg flew around to the position -he had been seeking.</p> - -<p>Now he knew he had his man under control.</p> - -<p>Twisting with the suppleness and power of a boa constrictor, he ducked -and heaved. As he did so, a gasp of involuntary admiration went up from -the sailors.</p> - -<p>There was no alternative for the first mate now but to yield or break in -two.</p> - -<p>The next instant he was sent flying over the detective’s head in a neat -and scientific cross-buttock, landing upside down on the sand, where, -with a groan, he lay without motion and “all in.”</p> - -<p>Although Nick Carter was well breathed by his exertions, and gasped hard -as he sought to recover himself, there was plenty of fight left in him.</p> - -<p>The sailors came at him in a body.</p> - -<p>With the fall of their leader, they seemed to emerge suddenly from the -spell that had held them still. It seemed to Nick as if there were -twenty flying fists in front of his face.</p> - -<p>He recovered himself immediately, and, stirred to better efforts by the -odds against him, he let drive scientifically and with deliberation, -notwithstanding that he sent in his blows so swiftly.</p> - -<p>One—two! One—two!</p> - -<p>The detective’s hard fists drove right and left into the faces of the -men before him.</p> - -<p>Usually they landed on the jaw, although now and then, for a change, the -target was an eye or nose.</p> - -<p>“Come on!” roared Nick Carter, warming up comfortably with all this -excitement. “How many are there of you?”</p> - -<p>One—two! One—two!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the quiet of the night, with no other sounds to be heard, the blows -thudded as if some one were kicking a dog.</p> - -<p>One of the sailors went down, but the two left came on, fighting -desperately.</p> - -<p>The detective was ready for them.</p> - -<p>A finished boxer, he was economical of his exertions. When he struck, he -always landed, and when he parried, he moved only just so much as was -required to ward off a blow.</p> - -<p>There were no fancy twists or ballet master’s gyrations about Nick -Carter when using his fists in real battle.</p> - -<p>A rain of heavy blows descended upon him. He retired just enough to get -arm room, and came back steadily.</p> - -<p>Had he had his assistants by his side, the detective could have held off -these powerful seafaring men to the end.</p> - -<p>But all he had was Mike Corrigan, and poor Mike had been put out of -commission by a bullet.</p> - -<p>So it came that even the iron physique of the great detective weakened -under the strain of the last half hour.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, the sailors were fresh. Moreover, furious at the fall -of their superior officer, the first mate, they determined to avenge him -at all hazards.</p> - -<p>The two men made a rush at Nick Carter side by side, and though he sent -forth a hailstorm of blows, which seemed to fairly smother them, they -contrived, by shameless “covering up,” to keep on their feet, until, by -sheer weight, they forced the detective to his knees.</p> - -<p>Still fighting, he was sent forward on his face.</p> - -<p>He had been beaten, seven against one, almost into unconsciousness!</p> - -<p>Almost—but not quite.</p> - -<p>He lay still, on the ground, face downward, but keeping a sharp eye on -what might be going on around him.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br><br> -<small>QUIET PREPARATIONS.</small></h2> - -<p>“He’s a tougher man in a scrap than I thought he was,” observed one of -the yacht’s crew—Groton, in fact—as he ruefully patted a very sore -place on his cheek bone that promised to develop into a glorious black -eye. “I always knew he could fight, but this is the first time I ever -came against him. Holy mackerel! How he can hit!”</p> - -<p>Kennedy was sitting up, spitting sand from his mouth and looking around -in a dazed fashion. He groaned as he put a hand to his head. He had come -down with a terrific bump when Nick Carter had whirled him to the ground -at the end of their argument.</p> - -<p>“What the blazes hit me?” exclaimed Kennedy.</p> - -<p>He got stiffly to his feet and staggered toward where Nick Carter still -lay on the beach, ere he went on, in a confused way:</p> - -<p>“That’s it, eh? Well, I’m willing to tackle anything human. But when it -comes to stopping a whirlwind, I’ll duck every time.”</p> - -<p>For a few moments he stood looking down at the detective, who did not -make a move to indicate that he was conscious, although he was keeping -close watch of everything from beneath his half-shut eyelids.</p> - -<p>Kennedy was deeply impressed with the wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> battle the detective -had put up, and he looked over the splendidly built frame with the -admiration that one strong man always vouchsafes to another—even though -that other may be a foe.</p> - -<p>Neither Kennedy nor the two sailors still on their feet had any idea -that there was somebody else gazing at Nick Carter from behind the -bushes, with anxious eyes and rapidly heaving bosom.</p> - -<p>Yet so it was. More remarkable still, it was a woman!</p> - -<p>The Baroness Latour, as she was called in the Hotel Amsterdam—although -better known to Nick Carter and to many others in different parts of the -world as the lovely Mademoiselle Valeria, the adventuress who always had -kept out of the grip of the law, despite many illegitimate -transactions—had known what was going to take place when the boat left -the hotel, carrying the unconscious Lord Vinton.</p> - -<p>She had not been so sound asleep in her room as might have been thought.</p> - -<p>What she was doing now was quite in accord with her usual methods.</p> - -<p>She liked to be sure that her directions were properly carried out, and -one of the secrets of her hold over her men was that they never knew -when she would appear before them.</p> - -<p>In the present case there was no necessity for her to make herself -known, she thought. So she contented herself with looking in silence.</p> - -<p>There was a particular reason for her coming now to see what would be -done about getting Drago from the place where he had been left in the -woods to the yacht. That reason was that she had learned of the -intention of Nick Carter to find Drago, somehow, and she knew the -detective well enough to hear that he would stumble on the boat that was -to put in at the edge of the woods to get the prisoner.</p> - -<p>If Nick Carter happened to find out what was going on, she did not know -what might be the end of it all.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the strange power he exercised over her heart without desiring -to do so may have had something to do with Mademoiselle Valeria’s -anxiety.</p> - -<p>Be that as it may, she was there.</p> - -<p>Not a word or movement escaped her. She was content to let her men carry -out their work in their own way.</p> - -<p>Now that Nick Carter had been overcome, and his man, the porter, lay on -the ground with a bullet through his thigh, she had no doubt that all -would go as she had planned.</p> - -<p>“I wish we had that man with us,” observed Kennedy musingly, as he gazed -down at Nick. “He’s a great fighter! Wouldn’t he have been in his -element as skipper of a windjammer in the old days, when the captain was -expected to straighten out every row that came up in the fo’c’s’le. -However, there is no time to lose. Let’s see how these boys of ours -are.”</p> - -<p>Three out of the seven were in bad shape. Two had been shot through the -arm by Nick—for he had been careful not to plant his bullets where they -would be fatal—and the third had been knocked out by the detective’s -fist on the point of the chin.</p> - -<p>A strong dose of whisky from Kennedy’s flask administered to each, -together with some vigorous rubbing of the forehead of the man who had -been laid low by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> knock-out punch, brought them all around, and the -first mate turned to Mike Corrigan.</p> - -<p>Hastily bandaging his wounded leg, Kennedy told him to stay where he was -for a while, and then to crawl out into the open, where some of the -people going to the golf links would be sure to see him.</p> - -<p>The three men who had been hurt managed to stagger into the boat. But it -was evident that they would not be any particular use.</p> - -<p>The two who had remained uninjured, besides one who had been left in -charge of the boat and prisoners, and had not taken part in the fight, -would have to row and steer, leaving Kennedy to take general charge.</p> - -<p>“Now, boys,” directed Kennedy, when everything else had been arranged, -“pick up this man who has given us all the trouble. We’ll take him -along.”</p> - -<p>Mademoiselle Valeria—to call her by her real name—smiled approvingly -as two of the sailors stooped and picked up the seemingly helpless -detective and lifted him into the boat.</p> - -<p>“Shall we bend a rope around him?” asked Groton.</p> - -<p>“Not necessary!” said Kennedy. “He can’t do any harm now. Let’s hurry -back to the <i>Idaline</i>.”</p> - -<p>The detective made no sign. He suffered his eyes to close a little more, -and when he was lifted and placed in the bottom of the boat, he allowed -himself to drop limply just as he was put.</p> - -<p>Valeria saw the boat shoved off from the bank toward the middle of the -bay, and then swing around in the direction of the yacht.</p> - -<p>“I wonder what Colonel Pearson will say to me when I go aboard the -<i>Idaline</i> to-morrow,” she murmured, as she made her way back to the -hotel.</p> - -<p>She was still thinking this when she went to bed, and this time dropped -into a sleep that lasted till morning.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the two unwounded sailors took the oars and rowed hard toward -the yacht, while the two other men, who were not shot—including the one -who had been knocked out by Nick Carter, but who had now practically -recovered—were ready to relieve their shipmates when they should grow -tired.</p> - -<p>Kennedy sat in the stern, steering, and apparently in a reverie. He was -thinking what a good stroke of work he had accomplished that night.</p> - -<p>Not only had he got the two prisoners made by the beautiful mistress of -the yacht, and was taking them to the vessel, where they could be held -in safety until the demanded ransom was paid, but he had actually got -into his power the one man feared by Valeria and her crew of desperadoes -who had made the <i>Idaline</i> the most annoying craft known to the police -of a dozen countries.</p> - -<p>If the yacht had not been so carefully changed in its appearance, by -altering her rigging, shortening her smokestack by an ingenious -telescoping device that was the invention of its fair owner, and giving -a different look to her in several other ways, Nick Carter would have -recognized her at once.</p> - -<p>As it was, he had thought he knew it, although he could not reconcile -the salient points of difference between the <i>Idaline</i>, as he remembered -her, and this graceful pleasure steamer riding so calmly at anchor in -the bay.</p> - -<p>Now that he had found out who the Baroness Latour really was, and had -actually been in conversation with her—following this up by running -against Kennedy, whom<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> he also had met before—he did not need to hear -the first mate mention the name of the <i>Idaline</i> to be sure of her -identity.</p> - -<p>It was all clear to Nick now. He was to be taken aboard the yacht, with -Harvey L. Drago and Lord Vinton, and they would put out to sea until the -friends of the prisoners had consented to pay the enormous sums which -would be demanded through carefully veiled newspaper advertisements.</p> - -<p>As to what would be done with him, he could not quite satisfy himself. -He knew that Mademoiselle Valeria had shown him, in various subtle ways, -that she would have been his friend if he had let her, and he did not -think she would go to the extreme of killing him.</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t trust her,” he thought. “She could easily give orders to -some of those rascals on the yacht to shoot me in my sleep, to poison -me, or even to suffocate me with some of that charming gas she used on -Lord Vinton—and, doubtless, on Mrs. van Dietrich, too. But—I don’t -mean to let them do it. That is where I have something to say.”</p> - -<p>The two men at the oars were laboring hard, for it was not easy to move -such a heavy boatload by two pairs of arms, and Kennedy was sorry the -boat had not been rigged so that four men could row, one to each oar.</p> - -<p>Nick could not see how near they were to the yacht, but he figured that -they would reach it in not many minutes.</p> - -<p>“Hello! How are you by this time?” whispered a voice in his ear. “Coming -around?”</p> - -<p>“It was Harvey L. Drago speaking, and Nick turned his head enough to -find that Drago was lying almost by his side, his feet extended opposite -to those of the detective.</p> - -<p>“Keep quiet,” was Carter’s response, in the lowest of murmurs. “You’ve -got your gag out, I see.”</p> - -<p>“Of course I have,” was the reply. “Those clumsy bunglers couldn’t tie -it on so that it would stay. They may know how to knot a rope, but a -handkerchief is out of their line. Got a knife?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Keep quiet,” returned the detective.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter was pleased with Harvey L. Drago. He liked a man who was not -easily discouraged, and it was evident that Drago was as full of fight -as if he had never been beaten.</p> - -<p>Nick drew his jackknife from his pocket, and severed Drago’s bonds with -a series of quick slashes.</p> - -<p>In the darkness his movements were not noticed by the sailors.</p> - -<p>The prisoners were in the fore part of the boat, for one thing, so that -the rowers’ backs were toward them.</p> - -<p>Kennedy and the other men were in the stern, and it would not have been -easy for them to discern the doings of the prisoners, even in daylight. -Now, with the moon gone, and only stars to light up the wide bay and -boat, there was hardly any possibility.</p> - -<p>“Say! I heard those fellows speak of you as Nick Carter,” whispered -Drago. “Is that right? Are you the famous——”</p> - -<p>“My name is Nick Carter,” interrupted the detective. “I am the -detective. Are you game for a fight to get out of this?”</p> - -<p>“Am I?” returned Drago, so emphatically that Nick<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> warned him not to -speak above a low whisper. “You’ll see.”</p> - -<p>“All right! But be careful. If it were not for the splashing of the -water and the little noise the oars make, you would have been overheard -already. I’ll give you the signal for action.”</p> - -<p>“What are we going to do?”</p> - -<p>“Wait till the boat gets up to the yacht. Then, before they can make -fast, knock as many of them overboard as you can and jump for the -ladder. Get that?”</p> - -<p>“Sure! I wish there was another one to help.”</p> - -<p>“There is,” put in a low voice, behind the detective. “I’m not clear in -my mind. But I believe I could do something in a pinch.”</p> - -<p>Lord Vinton, slowly recovering from the effects of Valeria’s poisonous -gas, and helped back to reason and strength by the invigorating sea air, -had heard what Nick Carter and Drago had been saying, and was anxious to -take a hand.</p> - -<p>The detective welcomed him with quiet enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>“If you can lay out only one of the men with a boat stretcher,” he -whispered, “you’ll be doing a great deal. Here is the stretcher right -here!”</p> - -<p>The detective had found a loose piece of wood, some three feet long, -lying near him, and he had known it for one of the braces against which -oarsmen place their feet to help their pull on the oars.</p> - -<p>It would make a most effective weapon, even in the rather weak grasp of -the half-poisoned Lord Vinton.</p> - -<p>“Think you can fix one of them with this?” asked Carter.</p> - -<p>“I’ll give him a rap that he’ll remember,” promised Vinton.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br><br> -<small>UNDER HATCHES.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter was glad that it took more than a quarter of an hour longer -to reach the yacht. Every minute was beneficial to Lord Vinton, as he -drew in deep breaths of the life-giving atmosphere.</p> - -<p>“Easy all!” called out Kennedy, directing his oarsmen. “Back water! -Unship port oars! That’s good! Steady! Wait till I get hold of the -ladder rail!”</p> - -<p>But the first mate was never allowed to get to the ladder rail of the -yacht. Instead, he found himself suddenly confronted by Nick Carter, -whom he had supposed still insensible.</p> - -<p>He hardly had time to consider how the detective had managed to get back -to his wits so quickly, for Nick’s right arm shot out, in a feint for -the eye. Kennedy attempted to parry, and Carter immediately crossed with -his left. Sending in a sledge-hammer crash to the mate’s chin, the -detective dropped his man overboard from the stern with a splash.</p> - -<p>Nick did not stop to see what became of the mate. There were other -things to do.</p> - -<p>The two sailors who had been rowing, each seized an oar for a club and -tried to knock down Drago.</p> - -<p>He was too quick for them, however. Tearing the oar out of the hands of -one of them, a sweeping blow mowed the sailor into the sea, to join -Kennedy.</p> - -<p>Lord Vinton, although still suffering slightly from the effects of the -gas in his bedroom, was able to keep in his mind the one thing he had -been instructed to do by the detective, which was to use the boat -stretcher.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - -<p>So he brought it down on the head of Groton with a force that knocked -him senseless. Then he administered a side wipe to the man who had -remained in the boat when the others were ashore, and put him out of the -fight, although it did not render him unconscious.</p> - -<p>“Grab those oars out of the boat, and shove her off!” shouted Nick, as -he got on the square wooden grating at the foot of the ladder, and saw -that Lord Vinton was already by his side. “Throw them into the sea or -bring them along, Drago!”</p> - -<p>Harvey L. Drago was a man after Nick Carter’s own heart, for he seemed -to fit into a scrap as if it were his regular occupation. In a jiffy, he -had the four oars in his arms and piled them up on the ladder, just as -he gave the boat a tremendous shove with one foot.</p> - -<p>Away went the boat, with the two wounded sailors and the other three who -were more or less disabled. The fifth sailor, together with Kennedy, the -mate, had disappeared in the dark waters of the bay.</p> - -<p>Nick was obliged to make a quick grab for Drago, or that energetic young -man would have gone into the sea, too, as he kicked the boat away.</p> - -<p>He recovered his balance with the help of the detective, however, and -rushed up the ladder at Nick’s heels.</p> - -<p>It was fortunate for the three victors that only a small watch was on -deck. The taking away of six men from the crew, with the first mate, had -weakened the yacht so far as men were concerned.</p> - -<p>There were two men on deck, and neither of them was wide awake. They had -been sitting talking in the shadows of the smokestack until one of them -had fallen fast asleep, while the other nodded.</p> - -<p>Until the fight actually began on the boat at the foot of the sea -ladder, there had been hardly a sound.</p> - -<p>The men were rowing with muffled oars, and there had been no talking -except the whispered exchanges between the three prisoners.</p> - -<p>When the battle did begin, it was over before the two men on deck -realized what was happening.</p> - -<p>Nick and Drago, coming up the ladder, met them both at the gangway, and -the swiftness and dexterity with which these two seamen found themselves -bound and gagged remained a matter of wonder with them for the remainder -of their lives.</p> - -<p>“Now, gentlemen!” whispered Nick. “The fo’c’s’le! There must be half a -dozen men in there. Close the hatch for the present, so that they can’t -get out. We’ll deal with them later.”</p> - -<p>They fastened up the cubby-hole forward where the men slept, and had -trapped seven men before they awoke. In fact, it was an hour afterward -before any of them realized that they were prisoners.</p> - -<p>When they did, they found the door so well secured that they feared they -could only wait until somebody should come to let them out.</p> - -<p>All this had been carried out so quietly that the officer of the -deck—who was the second mate, Morgan—did not know till he emerged from -the chart room that the <i>Idaline</i> was in possession of an invading -party.</p> - -<p>Just as he poked his nose out of the chart room—where he had been -enjoying a nap on a softly cushioned locker—he was seized by two strong -pairs of hands, his mouth stopped with a handful of oakum, and a rope -thrown around his arms with the scientific precision that proclaimed it -the work of an experienced sailor.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was Nick Carter who had knotted the rope, while Lord Vinton, acting -under orders, had shoved the oakum into the astonished mate’s mouth.</p> - -<p>Drago held him by the arms while the detective bound them.</p> - -<p>Nick was a yachtsman himself. There was not a rope or a bit of canvas -that he did not know on a full-rigged windjammer.</p> - -<p>Having deposited Morgan again on the locker—but not so comfortably as -before—and lashed his hands behind him, Nick directed Drago to tie him -to the leg of the solid table which was screwed to the floor.</p> - -<p>“There he is,” he remarked, when Drago had finished the task. “You’ve -done that well. He may perhaps get himself loose in the course of an -hour or so, although I don’t think he will. But by that time we shall -have things arranged so that we shall not care. Come down to the cabin. -There is a man there I want to see.”</p> - -<p>They went below, the three of them, and when Captain Latell had been -caught in his stateroom and made a prisoner before he realized what was -going on, Nick went to another cabin.</p> - -<p>Here, pistol in hand, he used the barrel to poke a burly man, who lay on -his back in the wide berth, snoring in perfect contentment.</p> - -<p>The well-built man started up to a sitting posture. The detective -promptly knocked him down again.</p> - -<p>“Lie where you are, Mr. Spanner!” commanded Nick.</p> - -<p>“What does this mean?” spluttered the indignant occupant of the berth. -“Who are you, sir?”</p> - -<p>“Nick Carter!” replied the detective coolly.</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>This monosyllabic inquiry came with a shriek of amazement, tinged with -indignation and fury.</p> - -<p>“Keep quiet, Mr. Spanner!” admonished Nick. “We have possession of the -yacht, and——”</p> - -<p>“Where is Captain Latell?” thundered Spanner.</p> - -<p>“A prisoner in his stateroom. And we have the second mate, Morgan, tied -and gagged, in the chart room.”</p> - -<p>“And Kennedy?”</p> - -<p>“Drowned.”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“He tried to make a prisoner of me and two guests at the Hotel -Amsterdam, and he fell overboard, into the sea. He was not seen again. I -want you to tell me where Mrs. van Dietrich is on this yacht.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what you are talking about,” protested Spanner.</p> - -<p>“That’s unfortunate. Because, if you don’t produce the lady within ten -minutes, we shall take you ashore and have you put in jail for -kidnaping.”</p> - -<p>“Let me get up and dress,” growled Spanner. “You have no right to come -aboard my yacht at all, and I want to see what you are doing here.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is your yacht, is it?” asked Nick, with a curious smile. “I -supposed you were the uncle of the owner, and that her name is -Mademoiselle Valeria. She has been staying at the Hotel Amsterdam for -some days under the name of the Baroness Latour.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know a Baroness Latour—or a Mademoiselle Valeria, either,” -snorted Spanner.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you? Well, we’ll look for Mrs. van Dietrich ourselves. When we -have found her, we shall know something about the ownership of the -yacht, I think.”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Mr. Carter,” suddenly broke in Lord Vin<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>ton, who had been -standing in the corridor, “Mr. Drago has come to tell me that there is -something or other clicking away in the captain’s room, and he’s afraid -it is an infernal machine.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think there is anything infernal about it,” laughed the -detective. “Take this pistol and hold it to the head of this chunky -gentleman in pajamas on the bed till I come back. If he becomes too -restless—that is, to the point of being threatening—pull the trigger.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to take a look at the infernal machine in the captain’s -room.”</p> - -<p>“Very well. The door is locked outside, and the captain is gagged and -bound on his berth,” remarked Lord Vinton coolly.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br><br> -<small>THE INFERNAL MACHINE.</small></h2> - -<p>It was just what Nick Carter expected when he entered the stateroom of -Captain Latell—the “infernal machine” was fixed in the window, with the -sash helping to hold it firm.</p> - -<p>“The wireless telephone,” he muttered. “I wonder who is talking.”</p> - -<p>It was clicking in a subdued way, and the detective, after a careless -glance at the captain on the bed, put the receiver on his ears, and -settled down to listen.</p> - -<p>“Hello!” was the first utterance of the machine that Nick caught. “Is -that the yacht?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied Nick. “Who is that?”</p> - -<p>“Is Colonel Pearson aboard?”</p> - -<p>“This is Colonel Pearson talking.”</p> - -<p>“Is it? That you, chief?”</p> - -<p>“What?” cried Nick delightedly. “Is that you, Chick?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Good! Where are you?”</p> - -<p>“In your room at the hotel. This wireless telephone of yours came, and I -am using it. Good thing you showed me how it works. Say, chief, are you -all right?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Lord Vinton and Mr. Drago are with me. We’ve got the yacht.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I thought. I’ve been staring through a pair of strong night -glasses, and from what I could see, it looked to me as if you had won. I -saw some people tumble out of a boat, and I was bothered about it till a -skiff that the hotel people had sent out came in just now with two -half-drowned men. They are the first mate of the yacht and one of the -crew, I’m told.”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“The sailor talked when he was questioned, and said you’d taken the -yacht. He said some pirates had it, and he was going to see what could -be done about it. The other man—the first mate—may not come around at -all. So he couldn’t say anything.”</p> - -<p>“Come aboard as soon as you can, Chick. We’ve got two of the people who -were kidnaped, as I told you. But we can’t find Mrs. van Dietrich.”</p> - -<p>“She’s on board, the sailor says. There’s a secret stateroom amidships. -You get to it by way of the corridor past Mr. Jared Spanner’s room.”</p> - -<p>“Very well! We’ll look for her there. But, see here, Chick! You come -aboard as quickly as you can, and bring half a dozen men with you. Ask -Mr. Savage and Mr. Mallory, the hotel managers, to pick you out reliable -fellows, who have nerve. I want to bring this yacht in,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> but I must have -men to work her, as well as to keep our prisoners safe. You see——”</p> - -<p>That was as far as the detective got with his conversation. A tremendous -uproar broke out at the head of the companionway, and the next moment -seven husky sailors came rushing down and hurled themselves upon him.</p> - -<p>One big fellow pointed a revolver at his head and ordered him to -surrender.</p> - -<p>The sailor made a strategical mistake here. He threatened the detective -with the pistol before making sure that his man would stand where he was -to be fired at.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter ducked almost before the demand for his surrender was out of -the other man’s mouth.</p> - -<p>When he came up again—which he did like lightning—the top of his head -struck the sailor’s chin and knocked him backward, stunned and gasping.</p> - -<p>At the same instant the detective wrenched the revolver from his hand -and faced another man who was standing in the doorway.</p> - -<p>This second man had no gun. His weapon was an iron belaying pin, and if -he could have swung it, he might have done serious damage.</p> - -<p>As it was, he retreated in disorder as he saw the steady eye of Carter -running along the blue steel barrel of the big forty-four, and, as a -natural consequence, he upset all those behind him.</p> - -<p>“Vinton! Drago!” shouted Nick.</p> - -<p>There was a quick response to his call. The two came running along the -corridor, and Vinton fired off his automatic pistol on general -principles.</p> - -<p>He did not hit anybody, but the report was tremendous in those confined -quarters. It scared every sailor among them.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter could not help laughing heartily as he and his companions -herded the men along the deck and into the forecastle again.</p> - -<p>Taking care the door was thoroughly secured this time, Nick stationed -Lord Vinton, with the pistol, outside, giving him orders to shoot down -the first man who should appear.</p> - -<p>This injunction was given loudly enough to reach the ears of the men -inside, and Nick was satisfied there would be no attempt to break out -again—at least, not unless the yacht was recaptured by its original -owners.</p> - -<p>It was just as this arrangement was effected that a tubbylike figure, in -red-and-blue pajamas, came pattering along the deck, holding a revolver -in its hand.</p> - -<p>“Hands up!” yelled Nick Carter, presenting his jackknife at the face of -the pajama man, who, of course, was Jared Spanner.</p> - -<p>Mr. Spanner had never been remarkable for physical courage, and he let -his revolver fall with a crash on the deck. He could not see what the -jackknife was in the gloom, but he took it for granted that it was a -heavy firearm of some kind.</p> - -<p>“Back to bed!” commanded Nick sternly.</p> - -<p>“I heard a noise outside and I left him alone for a minute,” explained -Lord Vinton penitently.</p> - -<p>Spanner padded back in his bare feet. When he was in the stateroom once -more, the detective took the precaution of tying his hands behind him -and fastening him in his berth with a rope that was twisted around the -iron framework below.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> - -<p>There was one more important thing to do, and that was to find Mrs. van -Dietrich.</p> - -<p>With the information he had as to the whereabouts of her cabin, it was -not difficult for Nick Carter to discover it. Then he solved the problem -of entering, and, after a knock, for propriety’s sake, he went in.</p> - -<p>Mrs. van Dietrich was of a philosophical turn of mind. That was proved -by the fact that she was in a comfortable bed, with her clothes still -on, but with a blanket pulled up under her arms, and sleeping as calmly -as if she had been in her own room at the hotel.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter assured himself that she was really in a natural sleep, and -then quietly withdrew, to wait till Chick and reënforcements should -arrive.</p> - -<p>It was an hour later, and the sun was just showing itself over the rim -of the eastern horizon, when Chick, with eight men—guests, porters, and -the two proprietors of the hotel—rowed up to the sea ladder of the -<i>Idaline</i>.</p> - -<p>It was embarrassing to Nick Carter to receive so many and such profuse -thanks for recovering the three guests who had disappeared from the -hotel, and he begged both Mallory and Savage to let it pass.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter arranged to leave a guard on the yacht, when Mrs. van -Dietrich was to be escorted to shore by the detective, Lord Vinton, and -Harvey L. Drago, with Chick, in state.</p> - -<p>It was only after considerable delay that this was done, however, for -Mrs. van Dietrich was a leader of fashion, and she could not appear in -public until her own maid, Mary Cook, had been brought from the hotel, -with a complete change of raiment and various toilet necessaries.</p> - -<p>All this took so much time, that it was well into the forenoon when the -dear lady at last appeared in the lobby of the Hotel Amsterdam, to -receive the congratulations by all the other guests on her wonderful -rescue by “this dear Colonel Pearson.”</p> - -<p>The stolen jewelry had all been recovered.</p> - -<p>At last Nick Carter got away from the lobby and into the elevator, -telling the man to take him to the fourth floor. Once there, he hurried -to the rooms occupied by the Baroness Latour.</p> - -<p>He was surprised to see all the doors of the suite wide open, and one of -the hotel housemaids busy with broom, dust pan, and other paraphernalia -of her business.</p> - -<p>“Where is the baroness?” demanded Carter hastily.</p> - -<p>“She went early this morning, sir,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“Where has she gone?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. Perhaps they can tell you at the office,” answered the -girl.</p> - -<p>But they could not tell him at the office. All they knew was that the -baroness had paid her bill and gone away, with her maid and her trunks, -to the railroad station, and that she had taken the nine-thirty-seven -west.</p> - -<p>“H’m!” muttered Nick Carter. “So she has got away from me. Well, it -would have been difficult to convict her, even if I had wanted to do it. -Her man Kennedy is dead, and I have Jared Spanner a prisoner on what he -says is his own yacht. After all, I have cleared up the mystery of the -kidnaping of important guests for ransom, and even if I can’t clap -Spanner in jail—a point I haven’t settled in my own mind—I think I -have pulled his claws.”</p> - -<p>He walked up and down the lobby several times in deep thought.</p> - -<p>“After all,” he broke out, at last, half aloud, “I do<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>n’t know that my -dear baroness has got away from me altogether yet. I still have her -yacht, and she is sure to want to come on board sooner or later. I -believe I’ll go up to my room and get a few hours’ sleep.”</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END.</p> - -<p>“The Private Yacht; or, Nick Carter’s Trail of Diamonds,” is the title -of the story that you will find in the next issue of this weekly, No. -125, out January 30th. In this story you will read more of the efforts -of Nick Carter and his assistants to thwart the designs of this -wonderfully clever girl criminal.</p> - -<hr> - -<h2>RUBY LIGHT.<br><br> -<small>By BURKE JENKINS.</small></h2> - -<p><small>(This interesting story was commenced in No. 120 of <span class="smcap">Nick Carter Stories</span>. -Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer or the -publishers.)</small></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br><br> -<small>THE FOG LIFTS.</small></h2> - -<p>“I do like a man like that!” bubbled old Steve delightedly, as he -dropped a box of tools at my feet.</p> - -<p>I found no words in reply, so we two went right at the repairing, and -the job was really simple enough.</p> - -<p>The engine, a four-cylinder affair of the “heavy-duty” type, was bedded -between the two masts. This arrangement, of course, necessitated a -piercing of the foot of the mainmast for the shaft as it ran aft to the -screw.</p> - -<p>Now, what had happened was simply that, in the strain before the actual -break at the deck, the bronze shaft had been thrown out of line. So it -bound against the bearing through the mast.</p> - -<p>It was but a quarter hour’s work to saw above and below the bend. I -couldn’t get the shaft to exact trueness, of course; but the line from -engine coupling to shaft log ran fair enough, so that, before a half -hour was up, I sent old Steve to deck.</p> - -<p>Then followed the jangle of the bell right alongside me, and I started -the engine.</p> - -<p>There came immediately a gurgle along the planking. The <i>Ruby Light</i> was -once more under way.</p> - -<p>I was soon joined in the engine room again by old Steve.</p> - -<p>“How’s she runnin’?” he inquired, as he bit off a chew of plug, mumbling -over the process of getting the exact break.</p> - -<p>“Sweet enough,” I replied, “though she ought not to be driven any too -long with even that bit of a crook.” I indicated the bend in the shaft. -“A long spell would wear the stern bearing out of——”</p> - -<p>“Which the same’s just wot I was a-tellin’ the old man just now. Kind o’ -struck him like, too, I reckon; fer I hearn him shift the course sommat -ter the Stevens lad.”</p> - -<p>“Shift the course?” I queried, masking my interest as much as possible, -but not enough to keep the old fellow from hedging on his tongue. He -shifted the topic abruptly.</p> - -<p>“And now, laddie, I guess as how there ain’t no more occasion ter keep -you from deck, though the same which you done down here was mighty -good,” he said meaningly.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> - -<p>I acknowledged the appreciation with a shrug, gave him a cordial “So -long,” and sought the deck.</p> - -<p>Fog is even more whimsical than woman. And the quick survey I gave to -the weather, as I stood a minute by the engine-room hatch, showed that -this one had about made up its mind to lift again. At any rate, it was -distinctly thinner.</p> - -<p>I started aft along the cluttered deck toward Stevens, who was again at -the wheel, but before I reached his side, Stroth had joined him from the -main companionway.</p> - -<p>The owner gave a critical scan to starboard, then spoke a word to -Stevens, with a nod at the binnacle, and slowly the spokes went over to -port. This, just as I was about to join them.</p> - -<p>“I hope your hand is all right, sir,” said I, in genuine solicitude.</p> - -<p>“Right as a trivet,” he replied, holding it forward for inspection. -“Isn’t all that gauze and stuff just shipshape and Bristol-fashion, -though? I tell you, Stella’s a trump when it comes to the nursing game. -You see, those convent sisters she’s been with these three years -are——”</p> - -<p>He stopped himself, and inquired sharply:</p> - -<p>“How’re things with the motor?”</p> - -<p>“Well enough, if you don’t run it too long that way.”</p> - -<p>“So old Steve tells me. Well, how long do you think——”</p> - -<p>I anticipated his thought. “She could run without much trouble for -twelve hours or thereabout,” was my verdict.</p> - -<p>His brow cleared perceptibly as he cried:</p> - -<p>“Good enough—and long enough!” He nodded to Stevens, as though in -confirmation of some point, before he added to me:</p> - -<p>“Our little pleasure voyage to Savannah is getting a dash of adventure -in it, isn’t it, Grey?” He indicated the wreckage-strewn decks before -us. “But it’s fine!”</p> - -<p>It certainly was a novel viewpoint from which to estimate a damage of at -least a thousand odd dollars. An absolutely unnecessary damage, at -that—and to a yacht as smart and trim as they make ’em.</p> - -<p>I couldn’t find it in me to agree with his enthusiasm, so I changed the -subject.</p> - -<p>“She runs very well under power,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Doesn’t she?” came his hearty response. “A good, honest, mile-eating -pace, which is not at all bad for an auxiliary. I think we ought to make -Fire Island by some time after nightfall or thereabout, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Fire Island!” I exclaimed. He had betrayed me into an expression of the -genuine surprise I experienced, and he laughed easily as he went on:</p> - -<p>“Exactly. I could scarcely continue in this fashion to Savannah, could -I? And so, since you’re bound to know it sooner or later, I see no -reason to avoid explaining a bit.”</p> - -<p>“Now naturally,” and he smiled again, “I’ve got to find some cove to lie -in while I refit. Of course, those masts are going to be pretty short -and stumpy when I restep them; but with reefs tied in, and engine going, -too, I guess we can be on our way again well within a week, eh?”</p> - -<p>“But why not shift over to Greenport, and put two new sticks in her at -the shipyard there?” I volunteered thoughtlessly.</p> - -<p>His grin became broader than ever.</p> - -<p>“I believe a little spot behind a couple of those low-lying islands in -Great South Bay would suit me better; that is, under the -circumstances.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I forgot!” I cried, laughing, too.</p> - -<p>Here we both wheeled to a shout from Stevens. With one hand he still -clung to the wheel, but the other pointed off over the waters.</p> - -<p>Seamen are familiar with those inexplicable “pockets” in a fog, and this -one was as clear a “lift” as I’ve ever witnessed. Furthermore, it came -in an exact line with a decided object; an object on shore; though one -would never have guessed we were so near the “hard.”</p> - -<p>Over there, as though viewed through a gray tunnel, but clear as -daylight itself, showed a bluff, surmounted by a lighthouse.</p> - -<p>“Montauk!” I cried.</p> - -<p>But before the fog banks once more swept the rift out of existence, my -exclamation was answered vehemently. Stroth’s imprecation came low, but -it carried venom enough to make up for much volume.</p> - -<p>Then we continued monotonously on our westward course through the mist.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br><br> -<small>ON PAROLE.</small></h2> - -<p>That night, about nine o’clock, the atmosphere cleared to the rising of -the full moon, and it proved Stroth’s rough estimate of the distance we -could travel to be remarkably accurate.</p> - -<p>The lead had been constantly kept going, and when we were able at last -to catch the rays of Fire Island light, it bore about three points off -the starboard bow, and some four miles distant.</p> - -<p>What little wind that had been stirring throughout the remainder of -daylight, after the short squall, fell flat at sundown; and when the -thick weather had so lightened that the stars, as well as the moon, -could be distinguished, we found ourselves riding over an unrippled -ground swell.</p> - -<p>It was phantomlike and eerie out there on that heaving oil, not a spar -or sail striking its outline against the heavens, but a steady purr of -waters as they slid under the schooner’s spoon bow.</p> - -<p>I had never known an engine of the explosive type to work more quietly. -Whoever fitted that muffler knew his business.</p> - -<p>Moreover, there was a certain enjoyment in this very weirdness, an -enjoyment which was enhanced for me by the fact that, since the -gloaming, Stella Stroth had joined us on deck.</p> - -<p>Indeed, at the moment when the light was first descried, she was leaning -lightly over the rail at the quarter, gazing down into the mystery of -the black waters slipping by.</p> - -<p>“Two pennies for your thought,” said I, rather lamely.</p> - -<p>“Why, odd enough,” she replied slowly. “I was just thinking what an odd -thing the whole business is!”</p> - -<p>“What whole business?” I said lightly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, living,” she answered quietly.</p> - -<p>“A fine kind of remark for eighteen,” I bantered. “Especially with a -moon like that overhead.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not eighteen, I’m twenty!” she cried, and then we both laughed as -we turned to a step that sounded on deck alongside us.</p> - -<p>It was Stroth. But he continued his way forward, paying no attention to -us. We kept watching him, though, for purpose rang in his step.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> - -<p>To a gesture, one of the sailors cast loose the foghorn which had been -lashed to the bitts during our run in the fog. The fellow disappeared -with it down the forecastle hatch; then reappeared next instant, and -extinguished the side lights, which, to avoid collision from coasting -schooners, had been rigged to jury fixtures at the rails.</p> - -<p>Disappearing once more to the hold, he doused the forecastle light also, -and a turn of inquiry I made aft showed that the main cabin was likewise -dark.</p> - -<p>Not a glimmer anywhere showed from this low, black, smooth-running -cripple as she veered northward and pointed for the inlet.</p> - -<p>Even the clouds favored that short passage, for a husky, gray-cotton one -billowed across the moon just as we neared the strait.</p> - -<p>At that minute I felt Stroth beside me.</p> - -<p>“Know the channel in here, sir?” said I.</p> - -<p>“Well, rather,” he replied. “Besides, the <i>Ruby Light</i> draws little more -than three feet—built for Florida waters, you know.”</p> - -<p>Then he strode from us, and took the wheel from Stevens. It was easy -enough to see who was the real captain.</p> - -<p>Next moment we slid into the slip of the inlet, and entered the quieter -waters beyond.</p> - -<p>Once in the bay, it took us all of two hours to creep to the spot -selected, for Stroth checked the engine so that she was barely turning -over. But, be it remarked, we didn’t rub the mud once, which tells its -own story of Stroth’s ability, and knowledge of the channel.</p> - -<p>Finally he tucked the schooner into as pretty a bight for concealment as -I could have imagined along that low-lying, marshy coast. Indeed, I -didn’t believe there was such a spot in the entire region, for my own -slight experience in the locality had come from a snipe-shooting trip I -had once made with a gunning companion.</p> - -<p>Even thus at night I could gather its advantages; but when, after some -five hours’ sound sleep, I stepped out on deck to greet the rising sun, -the impression was intensified.</p> - -<p>It looked exactly as though that island had been chiseled out to fit -that very boat; and, better to conceal it, had humped itself up into two -lateral hummocks surmounted by the inevitable salt grass. In fact, -bereft of spars as she lay now, not a trace could a man a furlong off -catch of the craft except dead ahead, and even there the channel crooked -to an abrupt turn.</p> - -<p>“It’s pretty near ideal, isn’t it?” said Stroth, coming up behind me. -Not a trace of the fire of yesterday showed on the features of the -owner. He was geniality itself.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know there was such a place within a hundred miles of here,” -said I.</p> - -<p>“Oh, then you know Great South Bay?”</p> - -<p>“Scarcely at all,” I replied. “I simply know that the bay is probably -about five miles wide at this point. Over there”—and I swept my gesture -toward the low line of beach some half mile beyond the island and to -southward—“lies the Atlantic, and over this way——”</p> - -<p>“The south shore of Long Island; right.”</p> - -<p>“We’re about opposite——” I put it as a question.</p> - -<p>“Very nearly opposite Babylon,” said he slowly, and I felt more in his -tones than the mere words.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> - -<p>At any rate, I was silent some seconds before he broke into my reverie -with:</p> - -<p>“You’re up against a problem, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>He was right; something was distinctly bothering me that morning. I -didn’t hurry to say so, however.</p> - -<p>“Shall I word it for you?” he queried, with a short laugh. “Well, you’re -wondering, for one thing, just what would be the easiest way to get to -that mainland, eh?”</p> - -<p>He had hit the nail on the head first crack, for there was a decided -difference between being practically a prisoner on a schooner out of -sight of land at sea, and being foot-free on that schooner when she was -tied, bow and stern, in smooth water, a half mile from Uncle Sam’s -well-patrolled beach. There would be a life-saving station within a -five-mile trudge, I knew.</p> - -<p>But Stroth didn’t guess the real crux of the trouble. Duty to the force -he could understand; but of my feelings for his daughter he had no -inkling.</p> - -<p>Right there, though, lay my greatest difficulty, and I hate indecision -worse than anything I know of. But he solved the thing for me in short -order, and in his characteristic fashion.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got a choice for you again,” he said abruptly. “Naturally, the -thing I most object to is having my whereabouts known. You can -understand that.”</p> - -<p>I nodded.</p> - -<p>“At least, until I can refit,” he went on. “Now, I’m not the man to use -force when I can employ a milder treatment; and, besides, you’ve proved -yourself a very adaptable person, and, as such, I’ll admit I admire -you.”</p> - -<p>I eyed him closely, scenting sarcasm, but his face held none.</p> - -<p>“Furthermore,” he concluded, “you’re a man of your word; that I know.”</p> - -<p>“All of which——” I began.</p> - -<p>“All of which leads up, as I have intimated, to the choice, which is -very much like the one I offered you before. Simply stated, you are, -here and now, to give me your word to remain in my party until we reach -Savannah.”</p> - -<p>“The alternative?” I demanded.</p> - -<p>“Is sufficiently severe in justifying your course to superiors.” He -crossed his wrists, suggesting handcuffs, and I knew he meant what he -said, for the very metal rang in his voice.</p> - -<p>At heart I was positively glad that the one course lay open, and it was -a course any sane man would have to take.</p> - -<p>“Why, that’s no choice, Mr. Stroth!” I exclaimed, laughing; “it’s an -invitation, which I gladly accept. You have my word; I’m yours to -Savannah.”</p> - -<p>He joined my laugh, and we shook hands on it.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to give you absolute freedom, Grey,” said he, “even to ‘shore -leave.’ Fact is, after breakfast, you can do as you like, and we’ll——”</p> - -<p>“Bleakfas’, sir!” announced the Jap, Saki, at his elbow, and the -sentence wasn’t finished as we strode, hunger-whetted, to the dining -saloon.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br><br> -<small>A PICNIC.</small></h2> - -<p>Both Stella Stroth and Stevens were already at table, and the girl -seemed to be in the highest sort of spirits.</p> - -<p>From the very second of my arrival she kept me jump<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>ing from subject to -subject in a sparkling joy of life. Little showed of that pensive mood -of last night’s moonlight.</p> - -<p>Stroth and Stevens soon became engrossed in plans for the refitting of -the schooner, no small task under the circumstances; but little of the -more serious talk got to me, for the girl kept me busy.</p> - -<p>Presently she burst out with:</p> - -<p>“Oh, daddy, have you still got my canoe aboard?”</p> - -<p>Not a trace of annoyance at her interruption showed in the father’s -manner as he replied:</p> - -<p>“I just reckon we have, honey. It’s below deck, of course; somewhere -beknownst to old Steve; he stowed it away carefully. Why, do you want -it?”</p> - -<p>She turned to me happily. “Wouldn’t it be just great to paddle over to -the beach yonder?” she cried. “Why, we might even catch some fish, Mr. -Grey.”</p> - -<p>I glanced at Stroth, who smiled back meaningly.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid we’d be sort of deserters, and——” I began.</p> - -<p>“Oh, shucks! Daddy, we couldn’t help fix the schooner, anyway, could we? -We’d just be in the way, wouldn’t we?”</p> - -<p>Stroth replied easily:</p> - -<p>“Well, honey, I don’t want Grey, here, to take it as a slight, but I -really don’t think he could be of much service, for we’ve plenty of men. -And so that is not at all a bad suggestion.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, you hear that, Mr. Grey?” she cried delightedly, tossing down her -napkin. “Come on, let’s get old Steve!”</p> - -<p>As she quitted the doorway, and before she turned to see if I were -following, I questioned her father with a look, and got another nod of -approval. He certainly was putting my liberty on my honor.</p> - -<p>Old Steve chuckled joyously at her request, and it wasn’t ten minutes -before a light and graceful canvas canoe was bobbing alongside the -starboard landing stairs. And the old bo’s’n added this suggestion to -the fishing part of the picnic:</p> - -<p>“I don’t guess as how you’ll find overmuch fish atween here and the -beach, missy; but onless this region is dead changed, the shallows is -full of crabs; so I just brought this here net along in case——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dandy! I just dote on scoopin’ ’em in!” she exclaimed -enthusiastically. “And we’ll take along a kettle. Why, it’ll just be -scrumptious! And you can tell Saki that he needn’t expect us to dinner.”</p> - -<p>Whereupon she took her place in the bow of the frail craft, and caught -up her paddle, and not ten strokes were needed to prove that she was no -novice at the trick.</p> - -<p>We reached the main beach within a half hour, then coasted along its -shallows, scooping up the crustaceans. We made a goodly haul in short -order, and by noon she had had enough of the sport.</p> - -<p>“Let’s land on the beach, leave the canoe pulled up, and take our kettle -over to the ocean side of the bar,” she proposed. “We can make a bully -good fire of driftwood. My, but this is all primitive and bully, isn’t -it?”</p> - -<p>And it was all I could do to keep from telling her just how bully it was -to me, and how I’d like to keep on this way forever.</p> - -<p>But before we got that fire started, we met a difficulty. I hadn’t a -match—not a single one.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> - -<p>This was an insuperable difficulty, that cleared quicker and easier than -usual, for a blue-uniformed government coast guard came trudging his -solitary beat along the hardened sands where the tide had run out.</p> - -<p>He seemed not a whit surprised at seeing such a couple as we were. I -suppose he credited “summer folks” with any kind of asininity, even to -paddling a canoe clear over from Babylon.</p> - -<p>“A match?” he echoed genially. “Why, shore! Here you are,” and he -produced one from behind his ear, where he carried a half dozen.</p> - -<p>As he handed it over, I detected a lingering eye on our catch.</p> - -<p>“You certainly got quite a mess, didn’t you?” he commented.</p> - -<p>“Yes; don’t you want some of ’em?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Why, I don’t care if I do,” he answered. “The boys up to the station -ain’t got much time to catch ’em themselves. Ef you don’t mind, I’ll -jest take along a half dozen.”</p> - -<p>So saying, he drew a newspaper from his pocket, tore a sheet from it, -and, to our hearty urging, wrapped up a full dozen.</p> - -<p>Then he wished us a good appetite for our crude meal, and once more -strode away at his steady, distance-covering gait.</p> - -<p>It was with the intention of starting the fire at once that I caught up -the sheet of newspaper he had left behind him; but, after one glance, I -didn’t burn it.</p> - -<p>The item that met my eye was not a large one; the bit of news was not -featured; but it held me. This is what I saw:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">“WIRELESS FROM MONTAUK.</p> - -<p>“A message received late last night reports a strange happening off -Montauk Point yesterday during a short, but fierce, squall.</p> - -<p>“At the very instant when the operator at the point was trying to -get into communication with a trim, black schooner that carried the -apparatus, the wind caught her full; she heeled sharply; then the -fog, which had held the whole day, once more descended. But there -came another sudden rift in the mist when the craft was again -sighted. This time it was only her hull, for both masts, in the -interval, had been carried away clean to the deck. Then once more -the fog descended. No hint of her identity or present whereabouts -is known.”</p></div> - -<p>That was all, but I shoved the paper quickly into my jacket pocket -before the girl returned from the water, where she had been filling our -kettle.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br><br> -<small>THE DAILY PAPERS.</small></h2> - -<p>Just what prompted me to be at such pains to conceal the news item, I am -at a loss to say. Perhaps it was some premonition. At all events, I -argued that it would be better to think over the thing a bit before I -did anything. Of course, the circumstance might amount to absolutely -nothing.</p> - -<p>I took good pains, however, not to let any of my indecision or -abstraction show, and our delightful little tête-à-tête picnic ended as -light-heartedly and happily as it had begun. And just about sundown it -was a very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> tired little girl, indeed, that insisted upon doing her -share of paddling in the bow of the canoe.</p> - -<p>Reaching the schooner’s deck, I was astonished to see what order had -already begun to show among the former tangle of wreckage. All standing -and running rigging had been carefully overhauled, coiled, and tagged. -The decks were pretty clear, and what clutter there was was -well-ordered.</p> - -<p>Stroth met us jovially at the ladder. “Well, girlie, a good day?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, fine, daddy, and——” here she stifled a healthy bit of a yawn. -“Oh, I’m so sleepy!”</p> - -<p>“Nothing like the open, eh, Grey?” said he genially.</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” I echoed, then added: “Nothing for sleep like it, unless it’s -tiresome company.”</p> - -<p>It was cheap, and I regretted it, even before I caught her look; but, -come to think of it, the look compensated.</p> - -<p>“Then off to bed with you, honey!” cried her father.</p> - -<p>“Bed? Now? Why, we haven’t even had supper.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I think it would be better, don’t you? I’ll send in Saki to you -with your meal, and you can tumble right in. You must remember, dear, -we’ve been through some happenings since——”</p> - -<p>She broke into the argument with a happy laugh. Then she kissed him, -gave me a nod, and left us.</p> - -<p>I watched her from sight, then turned to Stroth’s chuckle, as he -queried:</p> - -<p>“A pretty good showing for one day, isn’t it?” He indicated the decks -with a sweep of his right hand. Over his left shoulder was slung a -camera.</p> - -<p>“I never would have believed it possible in the time,” I replied, in -genuine admiration. Then I nodded forward to where Stevens was -superintending the construction of the scissorlike arrangement of spars -with which he purposed to restep the sticks. “A mighty good man that, -Mr. Stroth,” I added.</p> - -<p>“I’m beginning to think so,” was the serious reply.</p> - -<p>“It won’t be as long a job as you first thought, will it?” I inquired.</p> - -<p>“Not by a jugful! Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if we could shake this -mooring by day after to-morrow! Yes, Stevens is a gem!”</p> - -<p>At this point the little captain himself strode back and joined us, just -as I was remarking:</p> - -<p>“The hobby again, Mr. Stroth,” with a nod toward the camera.</p> - -<p>“Why, yes, indeed,” he replied. “I thought it would be pretty good to -have a half dozen or so snaps at the old <i>Ruby Light</i> in the hospital. -I’m going to get some more to-morrow, just as the work’s beginning. -We’ll develop them together, if you like.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing I’d like better!” I replied.</p> - -<p>At the time I simply couldn’t make head or tail to the look of -displeasure, coupled to what was almost fear, that Captain Stevens shot -at me. But he didn’t offer a word in explanation as we filed on down the -steps to supper.</p> - -<p>Oddly enough, it was not until the following night that I gave second -thought to that account I had read of our accident in the paper the -coast guard had dropped.</p> - -<p>I don’t believe I should have reverted to it seriously, even then, if -something of a kindred nature hadn’t happened.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> - -<p>Stroth, as he had promised, had spent the day, joyous as a boy, at his -picture taking; but along about four o’clock he had filled his entire -reel. And it was just at this time that Stevens was about to dispatch a -couple of the crew in the dory launch.</p> - -<p>It seems there was a broken turnbuckle or two to be replaced, and there -was no risk in thus sending the fellows ashore to a chandler’s; -particularly as they would return after dusk.</p> - -<p>Stroth heard the order, and added one of his own.</p> - -<p>“And, lads,” he called to them, above the engine’s first sharp barkings, -“you might bring me all you can get of to-day’s papers.”</p> - -<p>The cheery “Aye, aye, sir!” spoke well for their affection for their -chief.</p> - -<p>Immediately thereafter Stroth left us for the cabin. At his -disappearance, Stevens turned to me.</p> - -<p>“Then you aren’t going with him?” he asked sharply.</p> - -<p>“With him—where?”</p> - -<p>“To the dark room.”</p> - -<p>“Why, no—if that’s where he’s bound—I guess not. I suppose he forgot -the invitation.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe so,” said Stevens meaningly, though I invited no confidences.</p> - -<p>That night there were again but three of us at the supper table; but -this time it was Stroth that was the absentee.</p> - -<p>Stevens seemed particularly preoccupied, and left the conversation to -Stella and me; but we managed not to miss his share overmuch. I leave -the reason to the acute to fathom.</p> - -<p>Supper cleared, the girl and I tackled cribbage. Incidentally, she -played an abominable game, though I wouldn’t admit it.</p> - -<p>Stevens busied himself at a small wall desk, doing some sort of -drawing—probably a sketch of the way he would effect to-morrow’s task -in refitting.</p> - -<p>It was a quiet night, and the moon rose late.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the game had run an hour when we heard the pop-pop of the -returning dory launch; then came the slight thump as she brought up to -the port ladder.</p> - -<p>Stevens left the cabin to meet the fellows; returning almost -immediately, and carrying a couple of packages, probably the -turnbuckles, and a stack of newspapers which he flopped down on the -center table.</p> - -<p>Then came the slam of a door behind me as I sat with my back to the -owner’s stateroom.</p> - -<p>Even before I turned I could feel the change in him; and one look -riveted the impression. I had begun to know that look.</p> - -<p>But it was some time before he said a word. I could see that he was -laboring to conceal some sort of excitement—for the girl’s sake, it -flashed on me.</p> - -<p>We kept on with our game, and, with a grunt, Stroth caught up one of the -newspapers from the pile. The sheet shook under his hand as he turned -page after page.</p> - -<p>It looked to me as if he were almost certain to find some item. It’s -hard to make my point clear, but I don’t mean that he was simply looking -for an article, a particular page. His search through those crackling -sheets partook more the nature of prophecy, as though some force other -than plain reason prompted him.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly the crackling stopped; his brow knotted, his hands no -longer shook. For perhaps two minutes he stood thus.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> - -<p>Finally he put down the paper, and I could see that he was getting some -grip on himself; and it was a good grip, for his voice had almost the -real ring as he spoke to the girl.</p> - -<p>“Turning-in time again, honey!” he said.</p> - -<p>“Why, you’re a regular old ogre at sending me off to bed, dad!” And I -saw that she suspected no change in him as she obediently finished the -hand, bade me good night, and went to her stateroom.</p> - -<p>It was as though he had nerved himself to the limit, and could hold it -only till he heard the click of her door latch.</p> - -<p>“Grey!” It was little more than a whisper, but I jumped to it as to a -bellow.</p> - -<p>“Yes?” said I.</p> - -<p>“Go to your room, and don’t leave it until to-morrow morning at nine!”</p> - -<p>I went.</p> - -<p class="fint">TO BE CONTINUED.</p> - -<hr> - -<h3>MORAL SUASION.</h3> - -<p>Old Gentleman—“Do you mean to say that your teachers never thrash you?”</p> - -<p>Little Boy—“Never. We have moral suasion at our school.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we get kep’ in and stood up in corners and locked out and locked in -and made to write one word a thousand times, and scowled at and jawed at -and that’s all.”</p> - -<h3>PATIENT WAITERS.</h3> - -<p>The Greenlanders’ mode of life has accustomed them to take things as -they come. If they find no game, they know how to go hungry, and in -their relations with each other and with Europeans they manifest the -same astounding patience.</p> - -<p>I would see them in the morning standing by the hour in the passage of -the colonial manager’s house, or waiting in the snow outside his door, -to speak to him or his assistant, who happened to be otherwise engaged.</p> - -<p>They had probably some little business to transact with those officials -before starting for their homes, often many miles from the colony, and -it might be of the greatest importance to them to get away as soon as -possible. If the weather happened to look threatening, every minute -would be more than precious; but there they would stand waiting, as -immovable as ever, and to all appearance as indifferent.</p> - -<p>If I asked them if they were going to start, they only answered: “I -don’t know. Perhaps, if the weather don’t get worse,” or something to -that effect; but I never once heard the smallest murmur of impatience.</p> - -<p>The following occurrence, for which my informant vouches, illustrates -this side of their character:</p> - -<p>An inspector at Godthaab sent a boat’s crew into the Ameralik Fiord to -mow grass for his goats. They remained a long time away, and no one -could understand what had become of them. At last they returned, and -when the inspector asked why they had been so long, they answered that -when they got to the place the grass was too short, so they had to -settle down and wait till it grew.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> - -<hr> - -<h2 class="cbig250">THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> - -<h3>Death Follows Evil Dream.</h3> - -<p>Having dreamed a tramp had entered her home and killed her, Minnie J. -Stephens, seventeen years old, daughter of John Stephens, former -postmaster of Attalla, Ala., and prominent in social circles, secured -her father’s pistol and examined it to see that it was in order for use -in case a tramp appeared. While examining the weapon, it was discharged, -the ball puncturing the intestines a dozen times and causing a fatal -wound.</p> - -<h3>Shows Big Ear of Corn.</h3> - -<p>The Reverend Asher S. Preston, of Portland, formerly pastor of the Wayne -Street M. E. Church, Fort Wayne, Ind., stopped off in Fort Wayne on his -way home from his farm in Steuben County. He had with him an ear of corn -which was 14½ inches long, and was raised on the farm of Mack Pogue, -just across the road from the Reverend Preston’s farm. Pogue’s corn -average about 100 bushels to the acre.</p> - -<h3>Don’t Balk at Pink Oysters.</h3> - -<p>Pink oysters are the latest freak of nature under investigation by -experts of the department of agriculture. The rosy-hued bivalve comes -from beds in Long Island Sound, looks like a regular oyster when -gathered, but turns up pink on the plate of the ultimate consumer.</p> - -<p>Frightened epicureans besieged the bureau of chemistry with inquiries, -and a volunteer poison squad found the pink oyster not only harmless but -delicious.</p> - -<p>The chemists have a theory that the oysters are turned pink either by a -wild yeast bacillus or some other micro-organism.</p> - -<h3>Hen Kicks Out Man’s Teeth.</h3> - -<p>Charles Nicholson, a prominent farmer living near Scranton, Iowa, -reports the loss of a couple of teeth, which were kicked out by an angry -mother hen that went on a rampage. Nicholson was attempting to catch -some little chickens in the grass, when the mother hen flew at him, -scratching and kicking him in the face.</p> - -<h3>Survivor of Massacre Dead.</h3> - -<p>Mrs. Rose A. Schmahl, mother of Julius A. Schmahl, Minnesota’s secretary -of State, is dead at the home of her daughter in Duluth. Mrs. Schmahl -was eighty-six years old, and was one of the survivors of the Indian -massacre at Fort Ridgely, Minn., in 1862.</p> - -<h3>Bagg’s Hens Elope With Binn’s Geese.</h3> - -<p>Mystery surrounded the disappearance of about fifty of the choicest -fowls on the poultry farm of George Bagg, at Brewerton, on Oneida Lake, -N. Y. Twenty hens were taken a few weeks ago; soon afterward about -twenty more disappeared, and a week ago ten more joined the missing.</p> - -<p>The poultry house was double padlocked, a homemade burglar alarm was -employed, and still the poultry seemed to melt away. There were no -traces of predatory animals, and the superstitious wagged their heads, -while Mr. Bagg was in despair.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> - -<p>A few days ago he put in the day hiding in some bushes midway between -his poultry yard and the nearby banks of the river which flows into -Oneida Lake. As he watched, the mystery was solved. Four unusually large -geese from the farm of Frank Binn, across the river, had been -fraternizing with the Bagg hens all summer and been enticing them to -leave their home and go over to the other farm.</p> - -<p>The geese were seen solemnly waddling down to the water, followed by -several hens. When the geese stepped into the river, a hen would flutter -a few feet up and down the bank, and then, with a squawk, would fly or -hop onto the back of a goose. Then, squatting contentedly, the fowls -were carried over to the Binn farm. There Mr. Bagg found his missing -hens, the geese having carried them all over on their backs.</p> - -<h3>Vicious Deer Trapped.</h3> - -<p>While J. F. Parkhill, a prominent stockman of Breckenridge, Texas, was -out hunting his cows on the Hubbard River, in the northern part of this -county, his attention was attracted to a vacant ranch house by some -violent disturbance going on within. Upon approaching the building, he -beheld a buck deer on the inside engaged in killing a large rattlesnake. -Suddenly the deer made a break for the door, but was fought back by Mr. -Parkhill with a scantling until he could barricade the entrance.</p> - -<p>The next day, Mr. Parkhill, along with County Clerk J. A. Ault, Colonel -Warner Parkhill, and J. L. Griffith, went to the vacant house and hauled -the deer home in a wagon. The deer was a vicious animal, and Mr. -Parkhill was severely cut and bruised by the deer while trying to keep -it in the ranch house until the door was barricaded.</p> - -<h3>Want to Sell a Leg?</h3> - -<p>Any one with a leg to spare is here notified that he will be able to do -business with Will Taylor, of Portersville, Ala. He appears to be -anxious to dicker for one without any unnecessary delay.</p> - -<p>The Chattanooga police department received a letter from Mr. Taylor in -which he made it quite plain that he wants a leg at once. His, he -states, is off just above the knee, but he fails to say whether left or -right leg is needed to make his feet track. The letter, addressed to -“Mr. Police, Chattanooga,” is as follows:</p> - -<p>“dear sir, i will rite you a few lines to let you know that i want a -leg. Min is off about six inch above my nee and I want a leg at once. -rite and tell me what it will Cost me. i want it at once rite on return -Mail and fail not so very truly</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Will Taylor</span>.”<br> -</p> - -<p>Written on the other side of the paper is:</p> - -<p>“Back your letter to Will Taylor Portersville Ala. Mr. Police, please -send this letter to the leg Man.”</p> - -<h3>Roof Playground for Cats.</h3> - -<p>When the Morris Refuge, of Philadelphia, Pa., was remodeled several -years ago, the thought that the haven for homeless animals would have a -roof garden never entered the minds of the officers. But now there is a -recreation ground on top of the building.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> - -<p>Here dozens of cats, safe from humans, safe from fatal contact with hard -substances thrown by outraged citizens, and safe from their natural -enemy, the dog, pass their lives in quiet.</p> - -<p>The entire roof of the institution is caged in with poultry wire. One -end is covered. The cats play with gum balls, roll in beds of seductive -catnip, and in general lead happy, peaceful lives.</p> - -<h3>Woman Sticks in Gangplank.</h3> - -<p>If Señora Rosalie Gonzales, who has a plantation in Guatemala, makes any -more ocean voyages, gangplanks may have to be enlarged. The señora -admitted sixty years and 310 pounds. She came to New York to purchase a -wardrobe, the supply of finery being limited in Guatemala just now. -Going aboard the United Fruit liner <i>Sixola</i>, she fell on the gangplank -and became wedged so she could not get up. A carpenter cut away part of -the rail.</p> - -<h3>Big Sea Lions in the River.</h3> - -<p>The two big sea lions that escaped from the park aquarium, at -Philadelphia, Pa., and wriggled their way to a canal leading to the -river, are cornered in the first lock, but have balked all attempts at -recapture. They haughtily spurn all tempting morsels of fish which it -was hoped would lure them back to their tanks. It is virtually -impossible for them to get through or over the lock, but their capture -is uncertain. Crowds, including many children, enjoy the futile efforts -of their would-be captors.</p> - -<h3>Auto Wrecked by the Gale.</h3> - -<p>Harry Goodhead died at his home in Milford, Conn., from injuries -sustained when his auto was wrecked some hours before in a gale. Carlton -Quirk, who was riding with him, was badly crushed and will probably die.</p> - -<p>The men, on a gunning trip, were speeding on Fort Trumbull Beach, going -forty-five miles an hour, when the gale smashed the windshield, causing -Goodhead to lose his hold on the steering wheel. The auto lurched, -struck a telephone pole, and overturned. Both men were buried under the -car and were unconscious when found.</p> - -<h3>Young Dog’s Strange Fancy.</h3> - -<p>A lady living near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, tells of a young dog that -is a fierce foe to cats. He will chase them from the house and barn, and -should he catch one, he will bite off its tail or inflict bad wounds on -its body. Several stray cats came to the lady’s home, and she took them -in temporarily. Among them was a black one.</p> - -<p>One day the black cat followed the mistress to the pasture gate. When -the horses were coming pellmell for their drink, the dog stood right -over the cat until the last horse had passed through the gate, and the -dog was never known to harm his black favorite, but seemed to enjoy her -company.</p> - -<h3>Death Penalty to All Spies.</h3> - -<p>From time immemorial the spy has been one of the most dangerous factors -with which military men have had to deal. Death is the punishment when -caught. Although methods of communication have been greatly increased, -the spy appears to be more dangerous to-day than ever, and daily -executions have followed captures in the war<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> zone. Women have paid for -their daring with their lives. The number is unknown, but they are said -to be numerous. Following are two dispatches, each of which tells its -story of war:</p> - -<p>A message received at Amsterdam, Holland, tells of the shooting of an -English woman as a spy in the German barracks at Courtrai, Belgium. The -woman, it was said, was dressed in the garments of a priest when -captured by the Germans.</p> - -<p>A German girl spy was caught a few miles outside of Petrograd. She has -been court-martialed and shot. Her clothes were lined with admirably -executed plans of Kronstadt and other military stations.</p> - -<p>To what extent the spy has been busy is indicated by the references in -English newspapers to the extraordinary good information possessed by -the Germans concerning the movements and even the contemplated movements -of the British troops. At the outbreak of the war it was declared that -there were thousands of spies in England. In France many Germans have -been executed as spies. A recent dispatch told of the execution of -fifteen Germans who were found in an insane asylum in Lorraine. All the -doctors and most of the attendants had deserted the institution with the -approach of the French army, and their places were taken by the spies. -By clever use of flags, the spies were able to direct the German -artillery fire, at a distance, against the French.</p> - -<p>Fewer reports have come from Germany regarding spies. It is said, -however, that many Russians have been detected in Germany. The Russian -espionage system is in many ways superior to all others. Russian spies -in Austria have been of great assistance to the czar’s army chiefs. In -all the countries at war passports have been stolen by spies and the -signatures studied so that the holders can produce passable imitations. -Spies have even been caught with their own photographs pasted over -others in passports and with the official stamp on the photographs -counterfeited.</p> - -<p>When the spies are captured and sentenced, they meet death bravely. That -is part of their creed. Soldiers loathe the task of shooting women, but -such is the law of war. All accounts of the executions of women state -that they have died as bravely as the men, with no appeal and no -complaint in giving their lives for their country.</p> - -<h3>Some Sleeper, This Fellow.</h3> - -<p>After Eugene Hyland and Scott Anderson had searched the pockets of Paul -Busselet, whom they found lying in the gutter at Sansome and Washington -Streets, San Francisco, Cal., early in the morning, one grabbed him by -the heels and the other by the shoulder and tossed him over a fence into -a vacant lot.</p> - -<p>When the pair turned around, they were looking into the muzzle of a -revolver in the hands of Policeman Lenhardt. At the city prison Lenhardt -charged the pair with attempted robbery. Busselet, whom they tossed over -the fence, was not even awakened by the rough treatment and was reported -by the officer still sound asleep when the case of the accused pair was -called in court.</p> - -<h3>Thirty in This Kentucky Family.</h3> - -<p>Mr. and Mrs. John Kiser, who live in Kentucky, just across the mountains -from Big Laurel, Va., have the largest family in this part of the -country, if not in all America. They have been married thirty years, and -have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> twenty-eight children, including one set of triplets and five sets -of twins. Only a few days ago two boys were added to the family. All the -children are unmarried and make their home with their parents.</p> - -<h3>A. Wolf Shoots a Wolf.</h3> - -<p>“I want some bounty money on a wolf.”</p> - -<p>“What name?”</p> - -<p>“Wolf.”</p> - -<p>“No, no. Not the animal’s name. What’s your name?”</p> - -<p>“Wolf, I say; Adolph Wolf, of South Superior.”</p> - -<p>After the little misunderstanding had cleared away, W. J. Leader, county -clerk, at Superior, Wis., gave county and State orders for ten dollars -each to the applicant for bounty money.</p> - -<p>Wolf shot his wolf inside the city limits, and was given a permit by -Mayor Konkel to collect the bounty.</p> - -<p>Alfred Hillpipre, of the town of Superior, also was granted bounty money -on a wolf he killed along the Tower Road, south of the city limits.</p> - -<h3>Some Big Potatoes.</h3> - -<p>Arthur Adams, of Shamokin, Pa., is exhibiting two potatoes, the largest -ever raised in this section. One weighs three pounds and four ounces, -the other one three pounds. The potatoes were grown on the farm.</p> - -<h3>For Fifty Years They Thought He Was Dead.</h3> - -<p>When the Civil War was ended and Laurentine F. Higby failed to return to -his home in Exeter, members of his family finally decided he had been -laid away in one of the many battlefield graves filled with unidentified -dead.</p> - -<p>Higby, however, was not dead. He had been wounded in action, and when he -recovered, he forgot his past, and, after the war, went to Kansas, -married, and reared a family, later going to Wilmington, Ill. He -remembered only that he had served in the army and applied for a pension -under the name of Lauren F. Higby.</p> - -<p>Government pension-office agents identified him through communication -with relatives in Exeter, and now they are on the way to Wilmington for -a reunion with the man they had thought dead for fifty years.</p> - -<p>Higby served with Battery A, First New York Volunteers.</p> - -<h3>250,000 Canadians at Front by Next Fall.</h3> - -<p>The second Canadian contingent will comprise 15,270 officers and men, -4,765 horses, fifty-eight guns, and sixteen machine guns, and will be -ready to sail from Canada in January.</p> - -<p>A third Canadian contingent of approximately 25,000 men will be ready to -leave for England early in March. Including the first contingent of -33,000 men, the Dominion by spring will have sent more than 70,000 men -to the firing line.</p> - -<p>The military authorities also have decided to keep 40,000 men under arms -in Canada to serve as a base of supply for the contingent at the front. -As the British war office has informed the Dominion that reënforcements -should be provided for at the rate of twenty-five per cent per month, -instead of on the smaller basis of seventy per cent per annum, as at -first anticipated, it will mean a drain or the numbers recruited for -reënforcing purposes<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> of from 6,000 to 8,000 a month, with increases in -proportion as the strength of the Canadian forces in the field is -enlarged.</p> - -<p>When the second contingent of 15,000 to 17,000 men leaves for Europe in -January, a further enlistment of 17,000 will take place immediately. It -is believed that mounted Canadians will be sent to the Suez region of -Egypt.</p> - -<p>With a contingent being sent to England every two months, together with -reënforcements, Canada expects to have placed between 200,000 and -250,000 men at the disposal of Great Britain by next autumn.</p> - -<h3>Interesting Facts.</h3> - -<p>The old belief that the age of a rattlesnake can be told by the number -of his rattles is wrong, as also is the belief that a deer’s span of -life is accurately recounted by the number of points on his antlers. -Scientists have found that the largest rattler may have few rattles and -a small snake twice the number of the big one. Careful study has shown -that the points on a deer’s antlers have no bearing whatever on his age.</p> - -<p>Portable wireless apparatus adopted by the United States army and -carried on an automobile of special design has a sending radius of 800 -miles and has received messages from points 2,500 miles away.</p> - -<p>A telegraph wire in the open country lasts four times as long as one in -a city.</p> - -<p>In Korea, widows never remarry. Even though they have been married only -a month, they must not take a second husband.</p> - -<p>The visitors at the Panama-Pacific Exposition are not to be annoyed by -any realization of the flight of time. Clocks are not to enter into the -architecture of any of the buildings.</p> - -<h3>Rare Gift for Fatherland.</h3> - -<p>Showing a love of country that could not be more self-sacrificing, Carl -Barwieck, an aged resident of Davenport, Iowa, has given to the German -war relief fund committee his most treasured family heirloom, a rare -German Bible, 311 years old. The book has been in the possession of the -Barwieck family for over 300 years. It was printed in Wittenberg in 1603 -by Lorenz Seuberlich.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t anything else to give. Maybe you can sell this for something -and get money for the fatherland that way,” said Barwieck, when he -produced the old heirloom. His gift was accepted. It is expected to -bring several hundred dollars. Wealthy Germans here are planning to buy -it and give it to the Academy of Sciences.</p> - -<h3>Various Uses for Quicksilver.</h3> - -<p>Quicksilver, according to the United States Geological Survey, is being -used for many new purposes. It is used mainly in the manufacture of -fulminate for explosive caps, of drugs, of electric appliances and -scientific apparatus, and in the recovery of precious metals, especially -gold, by amalgamation.</p> - -<p>One use in the United States, and possibly elsewhere, is the coating of -ships’ bottoms with a paint containing quicksilver to prevent organic -growth. Mercuric oxide—red oxide of mercury—is the active poison in -antifouling paint successfully used on ships’ bottoms. The metal appears -to be but little employed in silvering mirrors, as nitrate of silver is -now chiefly used for the purpose.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> - -<p>Increasing use of quicksilver is probably to be expected in the -manufacture of electrical appliances and fulminates and possibly of -paints for protective coatings on metals. The demand for quicksilver for -amalgamating gold and silver has greatly decreased, as is well known, -with the decreased supply of free milling ores and the increased -application of cyanidation to gold and silver ores. Industrial chemistry -and inventive genius are to be looked to for increasing the demand.</p> - -<p>The quicksilver production of the world during 1913 is estimated at -4,171 metric tons, against 4,262 tons in 1912 and 4,083 tons in 1911. -Spain last year headed the countries of production with 1,490 tons. The -United States produced only 688 tons. The other producing countries were -Austria-Hungary, 855 tons; Italy, 988 tons; Mexico and others, 150 tons.</p> - -<h3>Navy Man Bars “Tipperary.”</h3> - -<p>No longer will the song “Tipperary” be heard at the United States Naval -Training Station, at Newport, R. I., because Lieutenant Commander Frank -Taylor Evans, executive officer, has decided that for navy men to sing -it is a violation of President Wilson’s neutrality order.</p> - -<p>The marching song seemed to have struck the popular chord with army and -navy men, not because it was the song of the Allies, but because it had -the ring and rousing chorus suited to the men of the service.</p> - -<p>One night recently, when a thousand or more apprentice seamen at the -training station were having their weekly motion-picture entertainment, -with songs between the pictures, the orchestra struck up “Tipperary,” -and it was sung with spirit, and an encore was demanded.</p> - -<p>While the apprentices were having a vaudeville show in their theater at -the station, they sang the chorus of “Tipperary,” while a vaudeville -actor led the singing, so Lieutenant Commander Evans stepped in and -issued the order that “Tipperary” was not to be played or sung by the -men.</p> - -<p>All that the executive officer would say to-night was that the song came -under the president’s neutrality order.</p> - -<h3>Canada Finds a Gun Base.</h3> - -<p>The Canadian military authorities are investigating a report that there -is a secret store of arms and ammunition on the Isle of Orleans, in the -St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec. A concrete base, upon which a siege -gun could be mounted, was found there and destroyed.</p> - -<p>A German two years ago bought a tract of land on the Isle of Orleans and -established a plant for the manufacture of concrete blocks. It is upon -this property that the concrete foundation was found. It commanded the -defenses of Quebec and of the St. Lawrence Channel.</p> - -<p>A moving-picture company, the leading officials of which were Germans, -spent last summer on the Isle of Orleans reproducing the battle of the -Plains of Abraham and making films of it. They employed several young -men of Quebec, uniformed them, and provided them with arms which they -borrowed from local military authorities. They had both cannon and -rifles, and fired a large amount of blank ammunition in their -operations. The firearms which they borrowed were returned to the -authorities, but it is now reported that they took advantage of the -opportunity to land guns and secrete them in pits, which they covered -carefully.</p> - -<p>The Canadian military authorities have regarded the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> information they -have received as serious enough to warrant an investigation. Excavations -have been made in search for buried guns. So far none has been found, -and as the island is twenty miles long and seven miles wide, the search -is likely to prove tedious. At its nearest point the island is four -miles from Quebec. As far as the Canadian military authorities have been -able to learn, the films made last summer were never exhibited.</p> - -<h3>War Upsets Artist’s Mind.</h3> - -<p>Albert S. Cox, a magazine artist of Grantwood, four miles from -Hackensack, N. J., offered the government a cloth of his invention two -years ago, saying uniforms made of it would render the wearers -invisible, and he told his friends the government was overlooking a -great opportunity when it declined to deal with him. His friends -sympathized and weren’t particularly worried about Cox, for he didn’t -invent anything else until lately, when he confided to some that he had -made a paint which, applied to a military fort, would make it disappear.</p> - -<p>Still, nobody minded much until the other day, when Cox announced that -his house was a fort and was being attacked. He appeared at the windows -and discharged bullets at foes, who apparently were wrapped in his -invisible cloth so far as the neighbors were concerned, but when bullets -began to fly promiscuously around Grantwood, Sheriff Heath was notified.</p> - -<p>He persuaded Cox he was an ally and led him off to the Morris Plains -Insane Asylum.</p> - -<h3>Dog Resolves to be His Own Expressman.</h3> - -<p>When Mrs. James Gordon, whose family has just moved to Pitman, N. J., -from Indiana, went to the telephone to answer a call from a local -expressman who reported the arrival of the Gordons’ dog from the Western -State, she was interrupted by a scratching at the back door.</p> - -<p>As she opened the door, the dog came bounding into the room. He had -broken out of his crate in front of the express office, more than a mile -from the Gordon home, while the expressman was telephoning. There were -three dollars express charges due on the dog, which the expressman gave -up hope of ever collecting, until Mrs. Gordon drove into town an hour -later and told of the arrival of her pet.</p> - -<h3>How We Have Grown.</h3> - -<p>The population of the United States is more than 100,000,000, and the -money in circulation totals $3,419,090,000, while 11,000,000 of the -thrifty inhabitants have $4,375,000,000 in the savings banks.</p> - -<p>Such is the announcement made by Uncle Sam in a pamphlet issued by the -department of commerce. The pamphlet is entitled “Statistical Record of -Progress of the United States, 1800-1914.” It gives a “half-century -retrospect” and a “clear perspective” of the nation’s quadrupling of -population and multiplying a hundredfold of industrial values.</p> - -<p>“Since 1850, the population, then 25,000,000, has more than quadrupled,” -says the bulletin. Commerce has grown from $318,000,000 to -$4,259,000,000, and the per-capita value of exports from $16.96 to -$23.27.</p> - -<p>National wealth has increased from $7,000,000,000 in 1870, to -$140,000,000,000, and the money in circulation from $279,000,000 to -$3,419,000,000. For the entire country,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> bank clearings have grown from -$52,000,000,000 in 1887, to $174,000,000,000 in 1913.</p> - -<p>Improved social conditions among the people are shown in that 19,000,000 -children are enrolled in public schools and 200,000 students in -colleges. The total expenditure of education approximates $500,000,000 a -year.</p> - -<p>In 1850 there were 251,000 depositors in savings banks. There are now -11,000,000, with deposits aggregating more than 100 times as much as at -the middle of the last century.</p> - -<p>The value of farms and farm property increased during the last half -century from $4,000,000,000 to $41,000,000,000; value of manufactures -from $1,000,000,000 to over $20,000,000,000, and the number of miles of -railroad in operation from 9,021 in 1850 to 258,033 in 1912.</p> - -<h3>Maker of Biggest Cheese Dies.</h3> - -<p>George A. Carter, maker of the giant cheese that was exhibited at the -Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, died at Geneva, Ohio. The -cheese, which weighed more than a ton, is believed still to hold the -record as the biggest one ever manufactured.</p> - -<h3>Old Sea Warrior Sold.</h3> - -<p>The United States frigate <i>Independence</i>, last of the fighting ships -built for the War of 1812, has been sold to Captain John H. Binder, of -Berkeley, Cal., for $3,515. The old vessel for fifty years has been used -as a train-ship at Mare Island before it was placed out of commission. -The navy department appraised it at $4,000, but was unable to get bids -at that figure.</p> - -<h3>Study All America.</h3> - -<p>In a letter to high-school principals of the United States, Doctor P. P. -Claxton, the government’s commissioner of education, urges special study -of the countries of Latin America, those portions of America inhabited -by races of Latin stock, including Central America, South America, -Mexico, and parts of the West Indies. Doctor Claxton writes:</p> - -<p>“We should teach in our schools and colleges more of the geography, -history, literature, and life of the Latin-American countries, and we -should offer instruction in the Spanish and Portuguese languages to a -much larger extent than is now done.</p> - -<p>“All our relations with the countries to the south of us are bound to -become much more intimate than they have been in the past. The -completion of the Panama Canal, the changes in commercial relations -brought about by the war in Europe, as well as other recent events, have -served to call the attention of the people of the United States to the -recent rapid growth and development of the Latin-American republics.</p> - -<p>“These countries comprise an area three times as great as the United -States. They are rich in minerals, forests, water power, and a wide -range of agricultural products. They have 70,000,000 of people, with -governments modeled after our own. Their foreign commerce amounts to -more than $3,000,000,000 annually, and is rapidly increasing.</p> - -<p>“The third American city in population is in Latin America. Another -Latin-American city has 1,000,000 inhabitants. Three others have -approximately 500,000 each, and five others have each 20,000 or more. -Some of these cities rank among the most beautiful and attractive in the -world.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> - -<p>“These countries are making rapid progress in elementary and secondary -education and in industrial education. Several of their universities -enroll from one to 2,000 students each. The history of their countries -is interesting, and they possess a rich and varied literature.”</p> - -<h3>Earthquake Kills Twenty-three.</h3> - -<p>According to a dispatch from Athens to the Exchange Telegraph Company, -in London, twenty-three persons were killed and others were injured in -the earthquake recently in Western Greece and the Ionian Islands.</p> - -<p>On the island of Santa Maura the earthquake caused strange convolutions -of the earth’s surface. A mountain collapsed and crumbled away for a -distance of nearly two miles, and the waters of the Ionian Sea covered -125 acres of the valley. New small mountains appeared at different -points on the island.</p> - -<h3>To Collect Farm Relics.</h3> - -<p>F. A. Wirt, who teaches farm mechanics in the Kansas Agricultural -College, is planning an interesting collection of machine relics for the -college. The first mowing machine in Kansas will soon be on exhibit if -his plan works out. He found the sickle bar of this machine reposing in -a junk pile near Milford. He is looking for the rest of the machine, and -hopes to assemble the different parts. The machine was taken to Kansas -in 1850, and was used on the reservation at Fort Riley. It was so heavy -that it required six government mules to pull it. The bar weighs 125 -pounds and cuts a swath five feet wide. The guards are thirteen in -number and are two inches longer than the guards that are used on more -modern mowers.</p> - -<p>Another interesting relic is the hub of the cart used to haul the logs -that were used in building the first Statehouse in Kansas. The hub is -twenty-three inches long and eighteen inches in diameter. There are -holes for sixteen spokes which were 5 by 11½ inches. The wheel was eight -feet in diameter and required a tire four inches wide and three-quarters -of an inch thick. The logs were suspended under the axle of the cart. -The axle had a spindle 7¾ by 5 inches.</p> - -<h3>Finds Needle in Chicken.</h3> - -<p>When dressing a chicken for dinner, Mrs. Charles Wingate, of Albert Lea, -Minn., felt something prick her hand as she was drawing the insides. She -soon discovered what caused it. The fowl had swallowed—perhaps in -meal—a needle, and the needle had penetrated the gizzard and the point -was protruding about one-third of an inch. Once, she says, she found a -needle in a growing cucumber. It was badly rusted.</p> - -<h3>Buy War Motor Trucks.</h3> - -<p>The Pierce-Arrow Motor Company, of Buffalo, N. Y., has received an order -from the French government for 300 five-ton trucks. The order amounts to -about $1,000,000. It is expected that it will be followed by others. The -truck “tested out” to the satisfaction of the French army -representatives at Bethlehem, Penn.</p> - -<p>Part of the French order goes also to the White Motor Company, of -Cleveland. That company will make 200 five-ton trucks.</p> - -<p>Some time ago the Pierce Company received an order from the British War -Department for 250 one-ton and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> two-ton trucks. It is reported that a -competition will be held for a big order expected from the Russian -government.</p> - -<p>The new order will keep at work at the Pierce plant several thousand -men, day and night turns. It is not likely that any extra men will be -needed, because the present force has almost finished the contract with -the British government.</p> - -<h3>Prize Peaches Twenty-eight Years Old.</h3> - -<p>Mrs. Roy Trimble, of Atchison, Kan., has a jar of peaches that took -first premium at a recent fair. Nothing unusual about that, but the -remarkable part of this story is the fact that the same jar of preserves -took a similar premium at the Kansas State fair twenty-eight years ago, -when they were exhibited by Mrs. Fred Hartman, Mrs. Trimble’s mother. -The fruit is apparently just as perfect to-day as it was when preserved -more than a quarter of a century ago.</p> - -<h3>New Way to Stanch Wounds.</h3> - -<p>A preparation which it is said will stop almost instantly the flow of -blood from a wound has been devised by Professor Theodor Kocher, of -Berne, who was awarded the Nobel prize for surgery in 1912, and his -assistant, Doctor A. Fonce. It is called coagulen. The powder is -dissolved in water before being applied to a wound.</p> - -<p>The discoverers of coagulen have made a gift of their secret to the -armies in the field. They have sent large quantities of the powder to -the surgical headquarters of both German and French armies.</p> - -<h3>War Stops Immigration.</h3> - -<p>Before the war an average of 5,000 immigrants used to arrive daily at -Ellis Island, New York. Now the average is only 150 a day, according to -Commissioner Uhl.</p> - -<p>The total number of immigrants into the United States last year was -1,197,892. Of these the number admitted from the Russian empire and -Finland was 291,040; from Italy, 265,542; and from Austria and Hungary, -254,825.</p> - -<h3>“Regular Horse for Work.”</h3> - -<p>John Phipps, a farmer near Kalamazoo, Mich., has an old horse that had -done her full share of work and was finally allowed to take life easy. -Two or three days later, when the other horses had been led to the tank -and watered and were being lined up to be harnessed, the old horse ran -from the pasture and took her position beside the workers, evidently -willing and ready for duty. The old horse has just died.</p> - -<h3>Bandit Raids Poker Party.</h3> - -<p>Twenty men, eight of them playing, were backed away from a poker table -in a private room at Iowa City, Iowa, at two o’clock in the morning by a -lone bandit and relieved of a forty-dollar pot and about $200 in the -bank of the game. He then made a safe get-away.</p> - -<h3>“Mother of Civil War.”</h3> - -<p>Mrs. Sarah Brandon, who died at her home in the southern part of Belmont -County, Ohio, a few days ago, was 113 years old. She was known as the -“Mother of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> Civil War.” She had sixteen sons who served in the war, -fourteen for the Union and two for the Confederacy. Most of them never -returned.</p> - -<h3>Fight in Dark Forest.</h3> - -<p>A correspondent sends the following from northeastern France: “The great -bayonet charge by the Zouaves near Bixschoote, of which you have already -heard, was a particularly gruesome affair, for the Zouaves, like the -Gurkhas, love the joy of a hand-to-hand battle. And it came at the end -of three days of constant fighting.</p> - -<p>“They charged a wood, an officer told me, like a gale of wind, not -giving a cry till they got within touch; then they let out yell upon -yell as they plied their bayonets among the dripping trees.</p> - -<p>“The enemy mostly were first-line men, and met them like heroes, firing -in volleys once or twice, then leaping out to the combat. The impetus of -the Zouaves carried them through. They did not stop to kill. They dashed -through the first time, killing only as they went, then they charged -back on the broken lines.</p> - -<p>“There were hand-to-hand struggles until ten o’clock that ended with -both sides falling on the ground, exhausted. Four of the Germans, -fighting together, gave a terrible account of themselves before they -died. Three of the four were, I think, brothers, and they were brave -soldiers.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>”</p> - -<p class="cbig300">300 SONGS 10c</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/three-hundred.png" width="400" height="192" alt=""> -</div> - -<p>On Moonlight Bay; I’d Love to Live in Loveland; If You Talk in Your -Sleep; Oh Mr. Dream Man; Everybody’s Doin’ It; When I Was 21 and You -Were Sweet 16; Is it Very Far to Heaven; After the Honeymoon; I’m Going -Back to Dixie; Alexander’s Ragtime Band; Oh You Beautiful Doll; Casey -Jones; Grizzly Bear; Red Wing; They Always Pick on Me; Put on Your Old -Grey Bonnet; Steamboat Bill; Let Me Call You Sweetheart; Roses Bring -Dreams of You; Silver Bell; Billy; Mysterious Rag, etc. OVER 300 Latest -Song Hits & 10 pieces PIANO MUSIC for 10c. <b>ENTERPRISE CO., TT 3348 LOWE -AVE., CHICAGO.</b><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> - -<p class="cbig300"> -Tobacco Habit<br> -BANISHED in<br> -48 to 72 Hours<br> -</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/tobacco.png" width="292" height="550" alt=""> -</div> - -<p>No craving for tobacco in any form after the first dose.</p> - -<p>Don’t try to quit the tobacco habit unaided. It’s a losing fight against -heavy odds and means a serious shock to the nervous system. <b>Let the -tobacco habit quit YOU</b>. It will quit you, if you will just take <b>Tobacco -Redeemer</b>, according to directions, for two or three days. It is the most -marvelously quick and thoroughly reliable remedy for the tobacco habit -the world has ever known.</p> - -<p class="cbig250">Not a Substitute</p> - -<p><b>Tobacco Redeemer</b> is absolutely harmless and contains no habit-forming -drugs of any kind. It is in no sense a substitute for tobacco. After -finishing the treatment you have absolutely no desire to use tobacco -again or to continue the use of the remedy. It quiets the nerves, and -will make you feel better in every way. It makes not a particle of -difference how long you have been using tobacco, how much you use or in -what form you use it—whether you smoke cigars, cigarettes, pipe, chew -plug or fine cut or use snuff. <b>Tobacco Redeemer</b> will positively banish -every trace of desire in from 48 to 72 hours. This we absolutely -guarantee in every case or money refunded.</p> - -<p>Write today for our free booklet showing the deadly effect of tobacco -upon the human system and positive proof that <b>Tobacco Redeemer</b> will -quickly free you of the habit.</p> - -<p class="c"> -NEWELL PHARMACAL COMPANY<br> -Dept. 335 St. Louis, Mo.<br></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> - -<hr> - -<h2><span class="cbig300">The Nick Carter Stories</span></h2> - -<p class="c"> -ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY <span style="margin-left: 2em;">BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS</span><br> -</p> - -<p>When it comes to detective stories worth while, the <b>Nick Carter Stories</b> -contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn -tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest -minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar -all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in -twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of -time so well as those contained in the <b>Nick Carter Stories</b>. It proves -conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of -the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt -of the price in money or postage stamps.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind"> -692—Doctor Quartz Again.<br> -693—The Famous Case of Doctor Quartz.<br> -694—The Chemical Clue.<br> -695—The Prison Cipher.<br> -696—A Pupil of Doctor Quartz.<br> -697—The Midnight Visitor.<br> -698—The Master Crook’s Match.<br> -699—The Man Who Vanished.<br> -700—The Garnet Gauntlet.<br> -701—The Silver Hair Mystery.<br> -702—The Cloak of Guilt.<br> -703—A Battle for a Million.<br> -704—Written in Red.<br> -707—Rogues of the Air.<br> -709—The Bolt from the Blue.<br> -710—The Stockbridge Affair.<br> -711—A Secret from the Past.<br> -712—Playing the Last Hand.<br> -713—A Slick Article.<br> -714—The Taxicab Riddle.<br> -715—The Knife Thrower.<br> -717—The Master Rogue’s Alibi.<br> -719—The Dead Letter.<br> -720—The Allerton Millions.<br> -728—The Mummy’s Head.<br> -729—The Statue Clue.<br> -730—The Torn Card.<br> -731—Under Desperation’s Spur.<br> -732—The Connecting Link.<br> -733—The Abduction Syndicate.<br> -736—The Toils of a Siren.<br> -737—The Mark of a Circle.<br> -738—A Plot Within a Plot.<br> -739—The Dead Accomplice.<br> -741—The Green Scarab.<br> -743—A Shot in the Dark.<br> -746—The Secret Entrance.<br> -747—The Cavern Mystery.<br> -748—The Disappearing Fortune.<br> -749—A Voice from the Past.<br> -752—The Spider’s Web.<br> -753—The Man With a Crutch.<br> -754—The Rajah’s Regalia.<br> -755—Saved from Death.<br> -756—The Man Inside.<br> -757—Out for Vengeance.<br> -758—The Poisons of Exili.<br> -759—The Antique Vial.<br> -760—The House of Slumber.<br> -761—A Double Identity.<br> -762—“The Mocker’s” Stratagem.<br> -763—The Man that Came Back.<br> -764—The Tracks in the Snow.<br> -765—The Babbington Case.<br> -766—The Masters of Millions.<br> -767—The Blue Stain.<br> -768—The Lost Clew.<br> -770—The Turn of a Card.<br> -771—A Message in the Dust.<br> -772—A Royal Flush.<br> -774—The Great Buddha Beryl.<br> -775—The Vanishing Heiress.<br> -776—The Unfinished Letter.<br> -777—A Difficult Trail.<br> -778—A Six-word Puzzle.<br> -782—A Woman’s Stratagem.<br> -783—The Cliff Castle Affair.<br> -784—A Prisoner of the Tomb.<br> -785—A Resourceful Foe.<br> -786—The Heir of Dr. Quartz.<br> -787—Dr. Quartz, the Second.<br> -789—The Great Hotel Tragedies.<br> -790—Zanoni, the Witch.<br> -791—A Vengeful Sorceress.<br> -794—Doctor Quartz’s Last Play.<br> -795—Zanoni, the Transfigured.<br> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>796—The Lure of Gold.<br> -797—The Man With a Chest.<br> -798—A Shadowed Life.<br> -799—The Secret Agent.<br> -800—A Plot for a Crown.<br> -801—The Red Button.<br> -802—Up Against It.<br> -803—The Gold Certificate.<br> -804—Jack Wise’s Hurry Call.<br> -805—Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase.<br> -806—Nick Carter and the Broken Dagger.<br> -807—Nick Carter’s Advertisement.<br> -808—The Kregoff Necklace.<br> -809—The Footprints on the Rug.<br> -810—The Copper Cylinder.<br> -811—Nick Carter and the Nihilists.<br> -812—Nick Carter and the Convict Gang.<br> -813—Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor.<br> -814—The Triangled Coin.<br> -815—Ninety-nine—and One.<br> -816—Coin Number 77.<br> -817—In the Canadian Wilds.<br> -818—The Niagara Smugglers.<br> -819—The Man Hunt.<br> -</p> - -<p class="c">NEW SERIES</p> - -<p class="cb">NICK CARTER STORIES</p> - -<p class="nind"> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">1—The Man from Nowhere.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">2—The Face at the Window.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">3—A Fight for a Million.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">4—Nick Carter’s Land Office.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">5—Nick Carter and the Professor.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">6—Nick Carter as a Mill Hand.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">7—A Single Clew.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">8—The Emerald Snake.</span><br> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">9—The Currie Outfit.</span><br> -10—Nick Carter and the Kidnaped Heiress.<br> -11—Nick Carter Strikes Oil.<br> -12—Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure.<br> -13—A Mystery of the Highway.<br> -14—The Silent Passenger.<br> -15—Jack Dreen’s Secret.<br> -16—Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case.<br> -17—Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves.<br> -18—Nick Carter’s Auto Chase.<br> -19—The Corrigan Inheritance.<br> -20—The Keen Eye of Denton.<br> -21—The Spider’s Parlor.<br> -22—Nick Carter’s Quick Guess.<br> -23—Nick Carter and the Murderess.<br> -24—Nick Carter and the Pay Car.<br> -25—The Stolen Antique.<br> -26—The Crook League.<br> -27—An English Cracksman.<br> -28—Nick Carter’s Still Hunt.<br> -29—Nick Carter’s Electric Shock.<br> -30—Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess.<br> -31—The Purple Spot.<br> -32—The Stolen Groom.<br> -33—The Inverted Cross.<br> -34—Nick Carter and Keno McCall.<br> -35—Nick Carter’s Death Trap.<br> -36—Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle.<br> -37—The Man Outside.<br> -38—The Death Chamber.<br> -39—The Wind and the Wire.<br> -40—Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase.<br> -41—Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend.<br> -42—The Queen of the Seven.<br> -43—Crossed Wires.<br> -44—A Crimson Clew.<br> -45—The Third Man.<br> -46—The Sign of the Dagger.<br> -47—The Devil Worshipers.<br> -48—The Cross of Daggers.<br> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>49—At Risk of Life.<br> -50—The Deeper Game.<br> -51—The Code Message.<br> -52—The Last of the Seven.<br> -53—Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful.<br> -54—The Secret Order of Associated Crooks.<br> -55—The Golden Hair Clew.<br> -56—Back From the Dead.<br> -57—Through Dark Ways.<br> -58—When Aces Were Trumps.<br> -59—The Gambler’s Last Hand.<br> -60—The Murder at Linden Fells.<br> -61—A Game for Millions.<br> -62—Under Cover.<br> -63—The Last Call.<br> -64—Mercedes Danton’s Double.<br> -65—The Millionaire’s Nemesis.<br> -66—A Princess of the Underworld.<br> -67—The Crook’s Blind.<br> -68—The Fatal Hour.<br> -69—Blood Money.<br> -70—A Queen of Her Kind.<br> -71—Isabel Benton’s Trump Card.<br> -72—A Princess of Hades.<br> -73—A Prince of Plotters.<br> -74—The Crook’s Double.<br> -75—For Life and Honor.<br> -76—A Compact With Dazaar.<br> -77—In the Shadow of Dazaar.<br> -78—The Crime of a Money King.<br> -79—Birds of Prey.<br> -80—The Unknown Dead.<br> -81—The Severed Hand.<br> -82—The Terrible Game of Millions.<br> -83—A Dead Man’s Power.<br> -84—The Secrets of an Old House.<br> -85—The Wolf Within.<br> -86—The Yellow Coupon.<br> -87—In the Toils.<br> -88—The Stolen Radium.<br> -89—A Crime in Paradise.<br> -90—Behind Prison Bars.<br> -91—The Blind Man’s Daughter.<br> -92—On the Brink of Ruin.<br> -93—Letter of Fire.<br> -94—The $100,000 Kiss.<br> -95—Outlaws of the Militia.<br> -96—The Opium-Runners.<br> -97—In Record Time.<br> -98—The Wag-Nuk Clew.<br> -99—The Middle Link.<br> -100—The Crystal Maze.<br> -101—A New Serpent in Eden.<br> -102—The Auburn Sensation.<br> -103—A Dying Chance.<br> -104—The Gargoni Girdle.<br> -105—Twice in Jeopardy.<br> -106—The Ghost Launch.<br> -107—Up in the Air.<br> -108—The Girl Prisoner.<br> -109—The Red Plague.<br> -110—The Arson Trust.<br> -111—The King of the Firebugs.<br> -112—“Lifter’s” of the Lofts.<br> -113—French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves.<br> -114—The Death Plot.<br> -115—The Evil Formula.<br> -116—The Blue Button.<br> -</p> - -<p class="nind">Dated December 5th, 1914.</p> - -<p> -117—The Deadly Parallel.<br> -</p> - -<p class="nind">Dated December 12th, 1914.</p> - -<p> -118—The Vivisectionists.<br> -</p> - -<p class="nind">Dated December 19th, 1914.</p> - -<p> -119—The Stolen Brain.<br> -</p> - -<p class="nind">Dated December 26th, 1914.</p> - -<p> -120—An Uncanny Revenge.<br> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> - -<p class="c">PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. 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