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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75909 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                    _NAT RIDLEY DETECTIVE STORIES_
+
+                           THE DOUBLE DAGGER
+
+                                  or
+
+                      Nat Ridley's Mexican Trail
+
+                          By Nat Ridley, Jr.
+
+       _Author of "Guilty or Not Guilty," "A Daring Abduction,"
+                     "A Scream in the Dark," etc._
+
+                       GARDEN CITY     NEW YORK
+                   GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.
+
+                                 1926
+
+                NAT RIDLEY RAPID FIRE DETECTIVE STORIES
+
+                          BY NAT RIDLEY, JR.,
+
+                          Copyright, 1926, by
+                   GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.
+
+                           THE DOUBLE DAGGER
+
+                           MADE IN U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS
+
+                          I. A CALL FOR HELP
+
+                         II. THE DOUBLE DAGGER
+
+                        III. ANOTHER MURDER
+
+                         IV. AN ORDER TO RAMON
+
+                          V. THE ROPE IN THE DARK
+
+                         VI. A CHANGE OF IDENTITIES
+
+                        VII. LIGHTS OUT
+
+                       VIII. HALF A COAT
+
+                         IX. THE WINDOW CLEANER
+
+                          X. OFF TO TEXAS
+
+                         XI. A FREE SPENDER
+
+                        XII. EL CAPITAN
+
+                       XIII. IN THE DUNGEON
+
+                        XIV. THE BOMB
+
+                         XV. IN HIDING
+
+                        XVI. ON TO ROLAMOTAZA
+
+                       XVII. INTO THE HILLS
+
+                      XVIII. THE BLACK CAVE
+
+                        XIX. PURSUED
+
+                         XX. OVER THE CLIFF
+
+                        XXI. A SHOT IN TIME
+
+                       XXII. THE TOLA EMBLEM
+
+                      XXIII. THE DEAF MUTE
+
+                       XXIV. OVER THE LINE
+
+                        XXV. THE WHISTLE
+
+
+
+
+                           THE DOUBLE DAGGER
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I
+
+                            A CALL FOR HELP
+
+
+With a vicious bang, which indicated that his thoughts were not on what
+he was doing, Nat Ridley hung the receiver on the telephone hook. He
+swung around in his swivel chair and looked out of the window of his
+Times Square office at the hurrying throngs converging at Broadway and
+Seventh Avenue.
+
+"That's a new one, all right!" exclaimed the famous detective, more to
+himself than to anyone else, though Berry Todd, his capable assistant,
+was at a desk near by. "It sure is a new one! And to think that some of
+those human ants down there may have had a hand in it!"
+
+He leaned forward the better to see out of the window.
+
+"What's that?" asked Berry, who was shuffling over some papers. "Whose
+aunt are you talking about?"
+
+"Nobody's aunt!" was Nat's reply. "I might just as well have said flies
+or bugs--that's what they look like!" He waved his hand to the hurrying
+throng--men and women mixed with automobiles.
+
+"Oh--that bunch!" chuckled Berry. "Yes, there sure is a crowd. But is
+anything wrong?" he went on, for he realized that the mere sight of
+the crowd, almost always in evidence at this busy section of New York,
+was no new one for his chief. "Anything wrong?" asked Berry again,
+though in a lower voice, for he noted that the celebrated sleuth, whose
+exploits were the talk of two continents, was gazing abstractedly at
+the telephone.
+
+"Yes, there is," snapped out Nat Ridley, though the crisp tone did not
+indicate impatience with his helper's insistence. "I can't quite make
+out why he should 'phone me."
+
+"Who?" asked Berry, who was a privileged character.
+
+"Carl Lemberg."
+
+"That German sleuth?" cried Berry.
+
+"He isn't as German as his name sounds," was Nat's reply. "Though of
+course he has many of the earmarks. But why he should want me to come
+in on one of his cases----"
+
+"You don't mean to say he admits he's stuck, do you?" and Berry
+laughed. "That's pretty good! Lemberg up a blind alley--at the end of
+his trail--that's pretty good!"
+
+The joke, if such it was, was all the more appreciated by Berry Todd,
+for of all the private detectives in New York, Nat Ridley's chief rival
+was this Carl Lemberg.
+
+Yet Nat did not actually admit that Lemberg was a rival. It was only
+other detectives, some in the Ridley offices, who were thus bold about
+admitting the fact and, sometimes, complaining about it. For though
+the chief said nothing, more than once he had heard of some rather
+underhand practices on the part of Lemberg or the latter's helpers,
+practices that took from Nat Ridley cases that netted large sums of
+money.
+
+But Nat Ridley was not one to complain, or even acknowledge that he had
+a rival. He took the cases that came to him, and not always for money,
+either. More than once he had worked day and night, and even endangered
+his life, solving a mystery for the very love of getting to the bottom
+of a tangle or for the sake of some friend.
+
+Yet it could not be wholly ignored that Carl Lemberg was, in every
+sense of the word, a business rival of Nat Ridley's.
+
+"So he's squealing, is he?" asked Berry. "What's the game? What sort of
+case has Lemberg that he can't solve, Chief?"
+
+"He isn't exactly squealing, Berry," said Nat slowly, as he rose
+from his chair, pushed it back, and began nervously to pace the small
+private office. "He is in need of help."
+
+"Then it's on a case, isn't it?" persisted Berry. "I'll bet a new straw
+hat, and the season's just opening, too," he added, "that he fell down
+on that Markwith jewelry robbery. They passed us up on that, Chief, and
+went to Lemberg. Now he's stuck! Serves him darn good and right!"
+
+"No, it isn't the Markwith case, Berry," said Nat.
+
+"What then?"
+
+"It's a sort of family affair."
+
+"Oh, a scandal? Well, we don't go in for that sort of thing, do we?"
+
+"You haven't quite got me, Berry," and Nat smiled. "It isn't that kind
+of a case. Though it is a family matter for Lemberg. He's in need
+of help and he turns to me. Urgent need he said just now, over the
+telephone."
+
+"Then it must be a big case!" declared Berry. "So much the better for
+us. I'd rather he'd be stuck on a big case and have to turn it over to
+us, than to have it a little jigger not worth bothering with. Want me
+to do anything, Chief?"
+
+Nat Ridley slowly indicated a negative by a shake of his head.
+
+"It hasn't gotten to that stage yet," he said. "In fact, I don't know
+what it is myself. I told him to come here and see me. Such matters
+aren't for the telephone."
+
+"Then you're going to help him?"
+
+This time Nat nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"Whew!" whistled Berry Todd.
+
+And there was reason for his surprise, for in addition to the rivalry
+existing between the two offices, there was a distinct feeling on Nat
+Ridley's part against Lemberg. The noted sleuth did not speak of this,
+but his friends and his office force knew of it.
+
+Lemberg was too tricky, and Nat was out of sympathy with the manner in
+which the German, as he was often called, got some of his cases. And
+when Berry thought of that and heard his chief say he had agreed to
+listen to what Lemberg had to say, it is no wonder Berry whistled.
+
+"Will he be here soon?" asked Berry, as he began to gather up the
+papers he was looking over. "If he will, I'd better light out. I was
+getting up the report for you on that kidnapping case, but----"
+
+"Let it go, Berry," was the order. "Lemberg will be here in about five
+minutes, and he wants to see me alone. I'll let you and Baldy know what
+I decide to do."
+
+"Lemberg will be here in five minutes?" exclaimed Berry as he put the
+papers in a portfolio and started for the door leading out of Nat's
+private room. "How's he coming--by air-ship?" The office of the other
+sleuth was down near Wall Street, several miles from Times Square.
+
+"He is in our neighborhood," Nat went on. "He was so anxious to see me
+that he rode up here, and is down in the Grand Central Terminal now.
+He's coming up from there in a taxi."
+
+"Well, I'll make myself scarce. But--you won't mind a word from an old
+friend as well as from one of your workers, Chief?" Berry seemed very
+anxious.
+
+"Of course I won't!" declared Nat. "What is it?"
+
+"Think twice before you have anything to do with Lemberg," was the low
+reply. "He's no better than a snake in the grass in my opinion."
+
+"An opinion I quite agree with at times, Berry," was the rejoinder.
+"But I don't want to say I won't help him until I hear what he has to
+say. Judging from his voice, he was in quite a stew."
+
+"Serves him right!" muttered Berry as he went out.
+
+In a few minutes, during which Nat continued to pace the office, an
+electric buzzer near his desk signaled in a certain way.
+
+"There he is!" murmured Nat, and, stepping to a button near the
+signal, he pressed it, indicating to Toodles, the office boy in the
+front office, that the chief would receive a visitor.
+
+A moment later Carl Lemberg was ushered into Nat Ridley's private room.
+
+In spite of the fact that he had lived all his life in the United
+States, there was a typical German appearance about this detective. He
+was massive in bulk and manner, and his voice, ordinarily, was loud and
+booming. It was this voice, more times than one, fairly hurled at a
+suspect, that had caused many to quail and confess.
+
+Yet now Carl Lemberg was but a shadow of what he had been on occasions.
+Instead of entering the office with a firm and confident tread, he
+fairly slunk in, and he glanced from side to side, and once back of
+him, in a manner denoting that he feared he might have been followed.
+
+His usually ruddy face was pale and his large hands trembled as he took
+a big linen handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his face.
+
+"It is good of you to let me come, Ridley," began the visitor, with
+no trace of accent, though he spoke German fluently and with a purity
+seldom attained by those not born in Germany.
+
+"I could do nothing less after what you said," rejoined the other.
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"Much!" was the reply, and again came that nervous look about and
+behind. "Are we alone here?" he whispered.
+
+"As much so as anyone is ever alone," was the reply, with a smile. "The
+walls are sound proof--as yours are."
+
+"Oh, yes--mine--of course! And yet they haven't seemed to keep my
+secrets."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Nat.
+
+"I--I wish I knew!" was the faltering reply. "I wish I knew!"
+
+"Look here, Lemberg," exclaimed Nat with a brusk show of friendliness
+he did not altogether feel, "you're all in! You're showing fear! It may
+not be real, but----"
+
+"I am afraid, Ridley! I am afraid!" was the quick reply. "I hardly dare
+admit to myself how frightened I am. That is why I have come to you."
+
+"You? Afraid?" chuckled Nat, half scoffing. "I can't believe it."
+
+"It's true, I tell you!" fairly snarled the other. "I am in deadly
+fear!"
+
+"What of, in the name of all the police of New York?"
+
+"I don't even know that. But it's terrible!"
+
+There was no mistaking the man's terror. It showed in his voice, in
+his eyes, in his actions. Nat Ridley was astonished. To himself he
+murmured:
+
+"The intrepid Carl Lemberg afraid? Am I dreaming?"
+
+Aloud he said:
+
+"You must have a reason for this fear. I suppose you came to tell
+me--to get my help. And, if so----"
+
+"Yes! Yes!" broke in the other detective. "You are ready to laugh at
+me, I know. I feel it! I would not be surprised. Yet, you would be
+afraid also if----"
+
+He paused, startled by some noise unperceived by Nat.
+
+"Well, what?" suggested the other. "I would be afraid if what?"
+
+"If your brother had been murdered, and then your uncle and then your
+chief assistant. I ask you, Nat Ridley, if you would not, also, have
+fear under those circumstances? Would you----?"
+
+At that instant the telephone on the desk jingled out an imperative
+summons, and, coming, as it did, at such a dramatic moment, even Nat
+Ridley was startled.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                           THE DOUBLE DAGGER
+
+
+For a moment or two the telephone bell continued to sound its summons,
+and both men stared at it. The German detective made a motion as though
+to answer, and then, recollecting that he was not in his own office, he
+stepped back with a mutter of impatience.
+
+"Excuse me," murmured Nat as he picked up the instrument.
+
+"Certainly."
+
+To Nat's ears came the voice of Berry Todd in the latter's office near
+the entrance to the sleuth's suite.
+
+"All right, Chief?" asked Berry in guarded tones.
+
+"All right about what?" Nat countered, for he did not get the drift of
+the other's question.
+
+Berry went on with:
+
+"Excuse me, Chief, but I happened to notice that bird sliding into your
+office, and I didn't like his looks. No names, you understand, but I
+thought he looked desperate, and he might have suddenly gone batty, you
+know, and might try to slip you a bomb, or something like that. How
+about it? Need any help? Are you all right?"
+
+"All right," Nat answered, hardly able to keep from chuckling at the
+odd thought Berry had given voice to. The sleuth, who was very fond
+of his chief in more than a business way, had noted, with more than a
+little apprehension, the entrance of Lemberg.
+
+Indeed Lemberg was acting very queerly, but Nat Ridley was not afraid
+for himself, though he appreciated Berry's precaution.
+
+"Quite all right," said Nat again, as he put the receiver on the hook.
+"Sorry to have had to interrupt you," he went on to his visitor. "But,
+being in the same line of business----"
+
+"Oh, of course--yes. Perhaps I shouldn't have come in. But I could not
+stand it any longer. Though if you have an urgent case----"
+
+"There wouldn't seem to be any more urgent than your own," said Nat.
+"This was only one of my men reporting. I am quite ready to hear you
+further. Did I understand you to say that your brother and uncle had
+been murdered?"
+
+"That's it--foully murdered, Ridley! And now Dan Steele----"
+
+"What?" cried Nat, startled out of his usual calmness. "You don't mean
+to tell me Steele has been killed? How? When? Where? Why, Dan used to
+work for me at one time."
+
+"I know he did. A fine chap he is--was, I mean. When I got word that
+the devils had put the sign on him I decided it was too much for me to
+handle. And, knowing you had once hired Steele, I decided to come to
+you."
+
+"You had better sit down and tell me about it," suggested Nat, for, up
+to this time, Lemberg had been pacing the office.
+
+"It is a long story, but I will make it as short as possible," he said,
+as he slumped, rather than sat, in a chair. Again he mopped his pale
+and perspiring face. "You may not know it," went on Lemberg, "but I am
+in the oil-well business."
+
+"I had not heard it," stated Nat. "The venture must have been recently
+made."
+
+"It was. I would not have gone into it had not these murders forced it
+upon me. For years, as you know, I have conducted a private detective
+agency, just as you have."
+
+Nat did not quite like the simile, for he would not admit that he
+conducted the same sort of business as had Carl Lemberg. But Nat let
+that pass, and the other went on:
+
+"My brother, Henry, and my uncle, August, some years ago bought the
+rights to several valuable oil properties in the neighborhood of
+Rolamotaza, in Mexico. The wells turned out better than was expected,
+and my uncle and brother decided to increase their holdings.
+
+"Near their property were some wells belonging to a number of
+Mexicans, who formed a sort of corporation for marketing the product
+they pumped out of the earth. As is natural, where natural products are
+so close together, there were frequent quarrels over mineral rights,
+and matters got to such a point that my uncle and brother decided they
+would either have to buy out their rivals or sell to them.
+
+"Finally it settled to a matter of the former, and a deal was made by
+which the Mexican firm transferred their rights, titles and interests
+to my two relatives. The Mexicans were paid a large sum, all they
+had demanded, as a matter of fact, and, getting the money, they
+disappeared."
+
+Lemberg paused again to mop his face.
+
+"Nothing very remarkable in all this, so far," said Nat, who had been
+jotting down some pencil characters on a paper. This had been observed
+by his visitor who sharply asked:
+
+"What are you doing?"
+
+"Taking shorthand notes."
+
+"Have you no stenographer?" the German inquired.
+
+"Yes," and Nat smiled. "But there are some things I do not trust even
+to my own stenographer. Proceed, if you please. You have yet to come to
+the murders."
+
+"I will come to them--never fear!" declared the other earnestly. "As I
+said, the Mexicans, after their wells were bought, disappeared, but
+some time later they came back."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because the properties they sold to my brother and uncle turned out
+to be much more valuable than had been thought. In other words, much
+oil began to spout in wells it was thought were running dry, and, as a
+result, my uncle and brother began to grow very wealthy."
+
+"And the Mexicans came back, I suppose," said Nat, "to get a share of
+it?"
+
+"Exactly. But as my relatives had paid all that was asked, and as
+they had no knowledge that the wells would turn out better than was
+supposed, they did not see why they should pay over any of their
+profits."
+
+"No, as a business proposition, they couldn't be expected to," Nat
+agreed.
+
+"And then came the murders!" exclaimed Lemberg suddenly.
+
+"How?" cried Nat.
+
+"One night, after several veiled threats had been made against my two
+relatives, my brother Henry was found dead--there was a dagger in his
+heart!"
+
+"The Latin races run to knives," murmured Nat.
+
+"A few days after that," went on Lemberg, "and following the receipt by
+my uncle of an anonymous threat that if he did not share some of his
+oil wealth with the former owners of the wells he would be killed, he,
+too, was found dead."
+
+"Murdered?"
+
+"Murdered!"
+
+"With a dagger?"
+
+"With a dagger, just as my brother had been, and with the same sign."
+
+"What do you mean--with the same sign?"
+
+"This!" and the German sleuth took a little package from his coat
+pocket. He opened it and spread the contents on Nat's desk. There were
+two dirty cards, on one of which were tell-tale red stains, and each
+card bore on one side the drawing, crudely done, of a double dagger.
+
+The weapon seemed to consist of a middle handle, made of some sort of
+twisted horn, or perhaps hard wood. One of the blades of the double
+dagger was longer than the other, and both points were shown very keen
+in the picture.
+
+"Rather an odd weapon," commented Nat, taking up one of the cards by
+the edges so as to leave no finger prints on those presumably already
+there. "I think I have seen it before. Just a moment."
+
+He turned to a large book case and opened the glass door.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Lemberg.
+
+"Look up this symbol--for a symbol I think it is."
+
+"You are right," said the other. "As I said, it is a sign. But here is
+one of the daggers," and from another pocket Lemberg took a small box
+which he turned upside down on Nat's desk.
+
+There was a metallic sound, and there tinkled out on the shining oak a
+small dagger, exactly like the pictured one on the card, but so small
+as to be useless as a weapon.
+
+"It looks like a pin," commented Nat Ridley.
+
+"It was used as a pin," the German said. "With these pins these cards
+were fastened to the clothing of my brother and my uncle."
+
+"I see," murmured Nat. He reached forward to pick up the murderous
+little implement, but Lemberg caught his hand.
+
+"The points may be poisoned," was the caution.
+
+"They may be," admitted Nat. "I was going to exercise due caution,
+Lemberg," he added, with a grim laugh. "But did your uncle and brother
+die from the scratch of a poisoned weapon?"
+
+"They may have, for all I know to the contrary, though from the report
+of the police in Rolamotaza the cuts in their hearts brought death. If
+there was poison used, it was to make assurance doubly sure. But it is
+best to be cautious."
+
+"You are right. So the cards, bearing the picture of this dagger, were
+fastened on the dead men's clothing with pins made in the same shape.
+Were the heart stabs made by the same sort of daggers, only larger?"
+
+"That is the supposition. But I can save you time, Ridley. You were
+going to look up this symbol?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Nat. "I have some books on foreign secret societies. I
+think I recognize this symbol. It is, I am sure----"
+
+"The Tola," interrupted Lemberg. "I looked it up. Yes, it is an old
+Mexican society, but it was supposed to have died out years ago."
+
+"Then it has revived," stated Nat.
+
+"Or else it never died. Well, to get on with my story. When I got
+word of my brother's death, I started the police in Mexico after the
+murderers. They did what they could--little enough--and while I was
+waiting their report, my uncle went the same way.
+
+"Then I acted quickly, and sent my best man down to Paloma, Texas, with
+orders to cross into Mexico and see if he could round up these oil-well
+killers."
+
+"He went, I suppose?" suggested Nat.
+
+Lemberg bowed gravely.
+
+"But he never came back," he said. "Dan Steele was murdered in Paloma
+in the same way my brother and uncle had been killed--with a dagger
+thrust in his heart, and this card pinned on his breast. Do you wonder
+I am afraid, Ridley?"
+
+"Not after that," was the answer. "But what form does your fear take?"
+
+"A fear for myself. I have reason to believe they will kill me
+next--those mysterious murderers of the Tola!" and, with a shaking
+hand, Carl Lemberg again mopped his face.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III
+
+                            ANOTHER MURDER
+
+
+Nat Ridley was accustomed to seeing strong men exhibit fear under
+many circumstances. Sometimes it was a fear over the consequences of
+the crimes the detective had fastened on them. Again it might be a
+fear over the outcome of some fight about to take place--a fight with
+revolvers or daggers. More seldom he had seen clients of his exhibit
+terror under just such circumstances as now confronted him--fear of
+vengeance from some cause.
+
+"But I never," declared Nat, telling of the matter later to his two
+assistants, Berry Todd and Baldy Stoler, "saw a man in such a state of
+fear as Lemberg was."
+
+Realizing, as he sat there facing the German sleuth, who, as a last
+resort, had applied to a rival for aid, Nat Ridley realized that he
+must say or do something to reassure Lemberg.
+
+"If I don't, he may have a nervous breakdown in my office and make an
+unpleasant sensation," decided the great detective.
+
+Accordingly, Nat strode over to where Lemberg was sitting in a chair,
+and fairly trembling now. He placed a firm hand on the German's
+powerful shoulder--Lemberg would have made two Nat Ridley figures, with
+something left over--and exclaimed sternly:
+
+"Look here, now! Don't make a fool of yourself, Lemberg! You are in no
+immediate danger. You are safe in my office. Pull yourself together.
+No one can harm you here, and if I am to help you I must have more
+particulars. You are in no danger here."
+
+"I--I am not so sure of that," whispered the German, looking nervously
+around and out of the windows. "This Tola gang is terrible!"
+
+"They may be. I know, from reading their history, that they were a
+blood-thirsty offshoot of the Aztecs," admitted Nat. "But they can't
+get you here!"
+
+"Dan Steele thought they couldn't get him," said Lemberg in a low
+voice. "But they did! And after my brother's murder and my uncle had
+received mysterious warnings to leave the country, he boasted that they
+couldn't get him. But they did! And now I think they will get me."
+
+"But why?" asked Nat. "You aren't down there in Mexico. You're in the
+heart of New York."
+
+"And some of the Tolas may be in this very building!" declared the
+German sleuth.
+
+"What object would they have in killing you, granted that they have
+some of their agents in New York?" Nat wanted to know.
+
+"As the heir of my uncle and brother, I inherit most of those oil
+wells," was the answer. "Their enmity will run against me now, unless I
+relinquish my claim. I am going to do that, only I fear it will be too
+late. Vengeance may already be sworn against me."
+
+"Nonsense!" Nat said, with a short laugh. He was trying to make his
+visitor forget some of his fear. "The wells are legally yours. Why
+should you give them up? Especially when it well may be that these
+fellows are scoundrels--that they are just playing on your fears to
+get you to give in. The wells were bought and paid for, and you are
+entitled to them."
+
+Lemberg shook his ponderous head, and remarked:
+
+"It seems that the Tola society, or the present-day members of it, want
+money from the wells to re-establish their ancient splendor and power.
+They want to make the Tola what it was in the days of the Spanish
+Conquistadores. My uncle and brother did not know, when they bought the
+wells, that the land, centuries ago, was owned by the Tolas. Now they
+want it back again."
+
+"How did you learn this?" asked Nat.
+
+"From the reports Steele sent in before he was killed."
+
+"Where are those reports now?"
+
+"In my office."
+
+"I should like to look at them," said Nat with interest--"that is, if I
+am to help you in this matter."
+
+"Oh, but you will help me, won't you, Ridley?" gasped Lemberg, seizing
+the detective's hand. "I need help, and I don't know where to turn but
+to you! See if you can't run these criminals down--find out where they
+are hiding. Tell them I'll give back the wells if they will only let me
+sleep in peace at night. I'm a wreck!"
+
+Indeed the man looked it. There were big, puffy bags under his eyes,
+and his hands trembled.
+
+"But why did they kill Dan Steele?" asked Nat. "He had no interest in
+the mines, did he?"
+
+"No. I sent him to Mexico to run down the gang, and he was hot on their
+trail when the double dagger got him. Poor Dan!"
+
+"Poor Dan is right!" echoed Nat. "I knew him well. He was a friend of
+mine, and for his sake--to avenge him--I'm going to take this case,
+Lemberg."
+
+"Thank you for that, Ridley!" exclaimed the other fervently. "It will
+take a load off my mind. But be careful of yourself. Once it is known
+you are seeking the Tola gang--those who carry the symbol of the double
+dagger--your life may pay the forfeit."
+
+"I've been threatened before," replied Nat grimly.
+
+"But never in this way!" and Lemberg's voice was very serious. "Once
+they find out you are working against them to help me--to avenge the
+murders of my brother and uncle--they will----"
+
+"They will not find out I am working on the case," interrupted Nat
+Ridley. "I've dealt with fellows like this before."
+
+"You don't know them!" warned Lemberg. "I took a roundabout way in
+riding to your office, but I fear I was followed. I doubled on my
+tracks and made a twisting trail, but I still fear I was followed."
+
+"Well, we'll see that they don't see you leaving here," Nat promised.
+"I have means of getting from this room to the floor above and down a
+rear freight elevator that will fool the cleverest stalker. Don't worry
+about that, nor about me. Now let's get down to brass tacks. Tell me
+everything you can."
+
+For an hour or more Carl Lemberg related all the details of the triple
+crime, and Nat made shorthand notes, to the no small admiration of his
+fellow sleuth, who declared it was a valuable adjunct to Nat's talents.
+At the end of the talk Nat said:
+
+"I must go over Steele's reports. There may be something in them that
+you have forgotten."
+
+"Very likely there is," admitted Lemberg. "I'm in such a state that at
+times I hardly know what I am doing. If you will come to my office you
+shall see all the papers."
+
+Nat made an appointment for that afternoon, and then escorted the
+German out of the office by a special stairway leading to the floor
+above, so he could get out by a freight entrance.
+
+"Don't worry," advised Nat as he shook hands with Lemberg. "They won't
+spot you leaving here. And I think it is mostly your imagination that
+is causing your fears."
+
+"It is no imagination!" declared Lemberg, fervently.
+
+However, he seemed to have gotten safely away from Nat's Times Square
+office, for the sleuth sent Baldy down to Broadway to make sure nothing
+happened, and the old detective reported that Lemberg had "scurried
+into a taxicab like a rabbit in the hunting season."
+
+"What's it all about, Chief?" asked Baldy, with the freedom of an old
+retainer.
+
+"You and Berry might as well hear the outlines of the case, and Mary
+Dotley, also," remarked the sleuth, naming his clever woman detective.
+"If I am going to take it, and I have promised Lemberg that I will, you
+may be called on to lend a hand now and then. Come in and I'll go over
+it with you."
+
+The story of the Tola murders was told briefly, and Nat showed the
+card, bearing the device of the double dagger, and also the little
+weapon that was used as a pin.
+
+"I want you to take this pin to Professor Watson, of Columbia
+University, and have him analyze it for possible poison," said Nat to
+Berry at the end of the conference. "And be careful you don't scratch
+yourself with the point."
+
+"I'm wise," declared Berry. "But suppose you do find it poisoned?"
+
+"It may give me a line on the scoundrels who are using it and who have
+killed three men," said Nat. "Those ancient Aztecs were devils in more
+ways than one, and maybe the Tolas have inherited some of their cunning
+and kept alive some of their knowledge."
+
+While Berry went to the university laboratory, Nat, after going over
+some matters in his office and starting his other assistants on the new
+cases that had come in, went to Lemberg's suite of rooms in a building
+on lower Broadway.
+
+Though the sleuth rather discounted the fears of the German, yet Nat
+was taking no chances. So he adopted a suitable disguise, in the art of
+which he was a master, and was also very careful how he approached the
+building where the German detective had his offices.
+
+Nat looked carefully about as he approached the entrance, and his keen
+eyes searched every face. Not until he was satisfied that he was not
+being shadowed, did he enter.
+
+He found Lemberg nervously pacing the floor and waiting for him.
+
+"Ah, you are come! It is good!" exclaimed the German. "Now you shall
+read what devils they are!"
+
+He spread out on a desk the various reports Dan Steele had sent in from
+Rolamotaza, the town nearest the Mexican oil wells. The first reports
+contained little but routine matters, but as Dan remained longer in
+the place he began to uncover some queer information about some queer
+characters.
+
+"It begins to look a little more promising," commented Nat, glancing up
+from the reports.
+
+"Yes," agreed Lemberg. "But read on."
+
+Nat read, coming to the bottom paper in the pile, where Dan wrote that
+he was going out to a certain place where, he had reason to believe,
+the Tola gang held secret meetings. Nat read to the end of this report
+and looked up.
+
+"Where are the others?" he asked.
+
+"What others?"
+
+"The other papers--the rest of the report."
+
+"There are no more," Lemberg sadly answered. "Dan Steele never came
+back after writing that. He went to his death!"
+
+Even the stoical Nat Ridley was startled at hearing this. But he shook
+off for the time what sentiment gripped him and bent to the business
+in hand. He made copious notes of all Steele had reported on, and then
+definitely announced to Lemberg that he would at once begin work on the
+case.
+
+"And may you track down the murderers!" exclaimed the German. "I shall
+sleep a little sounder to-night from knowing that you have this case,
+Nat Ridley."
+
+"Yes, Lemberg, I'll do my best. And I hope you do sleep soundly. I will
+see you to-morrow and make further arrangements."
+
+Nat bid the other detective good-day and hurried back to his own
+office, using the same precautions as before. It was early afternoon,
+and he had several matters to clear off his desk before going into the
+Mexican puzzle. For three hours Nat was kept busy.
+
+It was about five o'clock, and nearly time for Nat's office to close,
+when Tommy Ray, or more popularly "Toodles," the office boy, came
+rushing into the office, having gone to the street to get a paper for
+Miss Dotley. Tommy's face showed great excitement, so much so that Nat
+Ridley, coming out of his office for a moment, noted it and asked:
+
+"What's up, Toodles--did the Giants lose?"
+
+"Look!" gasped the lad, holding out a paper across the front page of
+which, in big letters were the words:
+
+                          MURDERED IN A TAXI
+
+"Well, there's nothing new in that," commented Nat as he held out his
+hand to glance at the sheet a moment.
+
+"Wait until you see who it is!" Tommy exclaimed. He pointed to a name
+in the first paragraph of the story.
+
+"Carl Lemberg!" gasped Nat, shaken out of his calm. "Why, I was in his
+office only a few hours ago!"
+
+Nat read hurriedly how the well-known detective had been stabbed
+through the heart while riding home from his office in a taxicab.
+
+"I've got to get busy on this right away!" cried Nat, as he tossed the
+paper back to Tommy. "Lemberg killed, just as he feared he would be!
+The Tolas got him!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+                           AN ORDER TO RAMON
+
+
+From the hasty perusal of the flash story in the paper, Nat Ridley
+gained an idea of how Lemberg had met his death--that is, he knew all
+the police had found out in the short time between the discovery of the
+body in the cab and the issuing of the evening extra.
+
+"Look after matters here until I get back, Berry," called Nat to his
+assistant. "I'm going to have a look in that taxi."
+
+"Right!" Berry assented. "If you need any help 'phone in."
+
+"I will. And, Berry--" Nat spoke in a lower tone, though there was no
+one else in his office, "just keep your eyes open."
+
+"For anything special, Chief?"
+
+"For a sight of any men who look as if they might be Mexicans or
+Spaniards," was Nat's reply. "I'm off!" and he hurried to catch one of
+the descending elevators in the corridor.
+
+The story of the murder of Lemberg, as set out briefly in the paper,
+was to the effect that the chauffeur of the cab drove his fare to the
+address given him, which was a German club where the detective made
+it a habit to dine several times a week. The driver, finding that his
+passenger did not alight on arrival, looked around to see what caused
+the delay.
+
+"I saw the gentleman sort of slumped over like, in his seat," the
+taxi man told the police. "I thought maybe he had been hitting up the
+bootleg. But when I shook him, I saw he was covered with blood. There
+was a lot of it on his vest and there was a hole, right over his heart.
+I called a cop from the next corner and he got the ambulance. That's
+all I know."
+
+The story went on to say that Lemberg was dead when taken to Bellevue
+Hospital, and the surgeon who examined the detective said he had died
+instantly from a stab wound in the heart.
+
+There was no weapon found in the cab, and the first theory of suicide
+was passed over when the surgeon said no man could have given himself
+such a deadly wound.
+
+"The question is," said Nat to himself as he made his way to the
+nearest police station where, so the paper said, the taxi and driver
+had been taken for examination after the body was removed, "when was
+Lemberg stabbed? Obviously, some time between getting into the cab near
+his office and where it drew up at the curb in front of his club. I
+must have a talk with Carter, the taxi man."
+
+Nat had no difficulty getting all the information he wanted from the
+New York police. Though a private detective, Nat had more than once
+given the regular force valuable clews on cases other than his own.
+
+"Whatever in reason Nat Ridley wants, let him have," had been the
+standing orders of Inspector Rossberg of the metropolitan force.
+
+"Hello, Kelly!" called Nat on entering the station house and nodding to
+the lieutenant behind the desk. Then, not to make it appear that he had
+come around especially to find out more about the strange murder, Nat
+went on: "You haven't seen Baldy around this afternoon, have you?"
+
+"No, Mr. Ridley, I haven't," was the answer. "Is he in this
+neighborhood?"
+
+"He might be," was Nat's noncommittal answer.
+
+Baldy Stoler was well known to Lieutenant Kelly and to others of the
+regular New York police, since he had been on the force before leaving
+to join Nat's agency.
+
+"Working on a case, I suppose?" went on Kelly.
+
+"That's it. I thought maybe he might have dropped in here as this would
+be on his way. But I guess it's too late now. Anything new?"
+
+It was a stereotyped question, such as Nat often asked, but this time
+he knew what the answer would be.
+
+"Well, yes," Kelly replied slowly. "We have a bit of a case here--it
+might be in your line, too."
+
+"A case?" questioned Nat, as though he had no idea in the world what
+was coming next. "What sort?"
+
+"Murder."
+
+"Oh, they're common enough," and the sleuth spoke with an air of
+indifference. "I hardly think it will interest me, unless it is out of
+the ordinary."
+
+"That's just it!" declared Kelly, with a chuckle. "It's very
+extraordinary, or I wouldn't have mentioned it to you. And it concerns
+a friend of yours--or rather, a rival."
+
+"What's the joke?" asked Nat, as he lighted one of his strong, black
+cigars and passed one like it to the appreciative officer.
+
+"No joke at all, Mr. Ridley. There's been a mysterious murder done
+in the last hour and the man killed is Carl Lemberg, the private
+detective. You know him, don't you?"
+
+"Sure! You don't mean to tell me he's dead!" and Nat was sufficiently
+startled to throw Kelly off the track. Whereupon the lieutenant
+proceeded to give details, adding that the taxi was even then in the
+garage of the police station and the driver was in Captain Flood's room
+being questioned.
+
+"You don't tell me!" and Nat continued to be astonished. "Do they
+suspect the driver?"
+
+"Oh, no! He's out of it. Here he comes now," and, as Kelly spoke, the
+precinct commander emerged from his private office, followed by a
+typical New York taxi driver. The fellow looked anxious and worried,
+but his face cleared as the captain, after nodding to Nat, said:
+
+"It's all right, Kelly. This man can go. I know where to get him when I
+want him. He hasn't the least bit of evidence. Report here once a day
+until this affair is over, Carter," said the captain crisply.
+
+"Yes, sir. And can I take my cab along?"
+
+"Well, no, not just yet," was the answer. But as the man's face fell,
+the captain said: "I'll arrange with the taxi company to let you have
+another machine. We may need this for evidence."
+
+"Oh, all right," and Carter's face cleared again. He left the station
+house and Nat talked with the captain, mentioning what Kelly had told
+him about Lemberg.
+
+"A queer case," said the commander. "In broad daylight, on one of the
+busiest streets in the world, a man is stabbed in a taxi and the
+murderer gets away. Fierce, I call it! The papers will pound us again."
+
+"You've got to expect that," answered Nat Ridley, with a grim smile.
+"But how does this taxi man account for not hearing anything?"
+
+"The only way he says it might have happened was when he was caught in
+a traffic jam soon after picking up his fare. There was some blasting
+being done, to put down a foundation for a new building, and the street
+was blocked off a minute or two. The driver thinks that Lemberg was
+stabbed just at the blast went off, which would have prevented his
+cries being heard or any noise of the struggle coming out of the cab."
+
+"The murderer picked a good time," commented Nat. "But how did he get
+into the cab?"
+
+"That's something Carter doesn't know. Lemberg may have been followed
+up by someone who had a grudge against him. You know he has shown up
+some pretty big bootleggers and dope peddlers. Well, one of them may
+have been laying in wait and hopped into the cab just as, or soon
+after, Lemberg got in. He could have chloroformed the German, or maybe
+kept him quiet by a threat, and, when the blast came, he might have
+driven the knife in. It is also possible that when the cab stopped, on
+account of the traffic jam, that then the murderer opened the door and
+did the trick, the blast covering Lemberg's call for help."
+
+"That sounds more reasonable than the other," said Nat. "Well, it isn't
+any of my affair."
+
+"I'm going out to look in the cab," said the captain. "Some of my men
+have given it the once over, but I always like to take a peep for
+myself. Want to come?"
+
+"I might, since I can't locate Baldy," stated Nat, as if it was of no
+moment.
+
+A little later he was standing in a quiet street at the rear of the
+police station and garage. The taxicab had been driven out into the
+open and was standing there.
+
+"He bloodied it up a bit," commented the captain as he opened the
+door. "They'll have to put new leather on before they can run this
+out again," and he indicated several dark red stains. "But there
+doesn't seem to be much else," he added as he looked carefully over
+the interior of the vehicle. "Guess we'll have to get the finger-print
+experts down here. Yes, Duffy, what is it?" he asked as a patrolman,
+whom Nat knew slightly, came out and stood waiting for his superior.
+
+"You're wanted on the 'phone, sir," Duffy reported. "It's Inspector
+Rossberg about that bond robbery."
+
+"Oh, I'll be right in. See you later, Ridley. This isn't your case,
+but look around if you like."
+
+"Thanks," rejoined Nat, and he peered into the cab. Almost at once a
+fleck of something white between the back and the seat cushions caught
+the detective's eyes. He looked around and noted that Duffy was engaged
+in lighting a cigar, and then, with a quick motion, Nat put his hand
+between the cushions and pulled out the white object.
+
+He could hardly restrain an exclamation of surprise when he saw that it
+was a card, and scrawled on it was the device of the double dagger!
+
+"I might have known it would be here!" thought Nat. "The Mexicans were
+on Lemberg's trail, and they got him. Bold devils they are! Knifing him
+in a taxi in broad daylight in the heart of New York!"
+
+He shot another glance at Duffy, but the patrolman, who was on reserve
+duty, was taking advantage of the chance to get some fresh air and was
+strolling about in the neighborhood of the taxi.
+
+With a quick motion Nat Ridley slipped the card into his pocket and
+was about to walk away when he noticed three men strolling along the
+street and curiously observing the vehicle. The men had dark, swarthy
+complexions, their hair was black, sleek, and shiny and their dark eyes
+were shifty.
+
+"Mexicans or Spaniards, if I'm any judge!" mused Nat. "And it wouldn't
+surprise me in the least to learn that they came along to find out just
+what the police are going to do in this murder case. I wish I knew more
+about them. I will, soon. Meanwhile----"
+
+Just then Duffy strolled over toward Nat and did exactly what the
+detective wished should not happen. For the patrolman greeted the
+sleuth loudly by name, and added:
+
+"You working on this taxicab murder?"
+
+"No, Duffy, I'm not!" said Nat decidedly. "I have other fish to fry.
+I'm as busy as all get-out on another case. I have no time to look into
+this. Besides, I think it's a case of suicide."
+
+"No! Do you now?" asked the policeman. "Well, maybe 'twas. Thim Germans
+are great for suicidin'. I wouldn't put it past this fellow, though I
+didn't know him. So you're not on it?"
+
+"No, Duffy. I just stopped in out of idle curiosity. It doesn't
+interest me in the least."
+
+"Well, I guess the regular police detectives will find out about it,"
+went on Duffy with the ordinary policeman's faith in the wisdom of the
+sleuths. "Comin' in?" he asked.
+
+"No, I'm off," Nat answered.
+
+The talk, on his part, had been purposely loud. He had noted with some
+alarm the lingering walk of the three dark-skinned men. They seemed to
+want to remain in the vicinity of the taxicab to hear what was being
+said.
+
+"If they can make anything out of what I said they're welcome,"
+muttered Nat to himself as he prepared to walk along.
+
+But he caught a glimpse of the face of one of the trio, and on
+that face was a sneer. It was as though the dark fellow had been
+laughing--as though he was not in the least deceived by the effort Nat
+Ridley had made to throw off suspicion. If the strangers knew the name
+Ridley, they could not have failed to have heard Duffy's loud use of it.
+
+Then the sneering man spoke, giving a sharp order to his righthand
+companion. Though he may have been speaking of someone else, Nat Ridley
+had a strong suspicion that he himself was the one referred to when the
+sneerer said:
+
+"Ramon, you shall watch that pig! I do not trust him nor any of them!
+Watch him!"
+
+"He shall be watched, Señor," was the low-voiced reply as Ramon
+received his orders. And Nat Ridley caught Ramon flash a look at him
+that boded no good.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V
+
+                         THE ROPE IN THE DARK
+
+
+"Now just what?" mused Nat Ridley to himself, as the three
+dark-featured men sauntered on their way. "What does that mean? No
+good, I'm positive. But were they referring to me or to someone else?"
+
+The detective, now that he had decided to enter this mysterious case,
+determined to do his best, not only to avenge a fellow practitioner,
+but for the sake of his own reputation. That is, his reputation as
+regarded by himself. He cared little for what the public thought or
+said, did Nat Ridley. But it was something to make a good, clean
+clearing up of a case for the sake of himself and those in his office.
+So it was a matter of pride with the sleuth not to be beaten in this
+battle of murder and wits.
+
+"If I challenge them," reasoned Nat, "and accuse them of speaking of
+me as a pig, I shall lay myself open to the charge of butting in on
+somebody else's business. That might queer matters at the start."
+
+Therefore he decided against that, but as he watched the men walking
+slowly away he mentally photographed their features in his memory
+so that he would know them again. And not only did he make a lasting
+vision of the men's faces, but of their walk, their actions, and such
+of their peculiarities as appeared on the surface.
+
+"For if they are what I think they are, they'll use disguises the next
+time I see them," reasoned Nat. "They must have spotted me all right,
+though how, I don't know."
+
+On the other hand, Nat realized that he might be on the wrong track,
+that these men might be idle, curious individuals who had heard about
+the murder--as who had not by this time?
+
+"And they could easily claim, if I talked with them, that they were
+speaking of one of their own acquaintances when they used the endearing
+term of pig," chuckled Nat. "Well, what's the next move, I wonder?"
+
+And wondering this, the detective also wondered whether, by the talk he
+had indulged in with Duffy, he had or had not thrown the dark-featured
+men off the track.
+
+"First of all," decided the sleuth, "I'll have a go at those fellows.
+No use letting them get away with anything. I'll shadow them and see
+where they hang out."
+
+It was the work of but a few moments for him to slip into a sheltered
+corner where he made some quick changes in his clothing and appearance,
+so that when he emerged and took up the trail of the trio, Nat Ridley
+resembled anything but the efficient officer who, a little while
+before, had been peering into the murder taxi.
+
+The three Mexicans--Nat decided they were of that nationality--strolled
+along, talking in Spanish, as the sleuth made certain by catching a
+few words that floated back to him. He knew something of the language,
+though not much.
+
+The trio appeared to be in no hurry, and evidently did not suspect that
+they were being followed, for they did not use any of the ordinary
+devices to confuse a trailer. Nor did they look back.
+
+When they were a few blocks away from the police station and the cab in
+which Carl Lemberg had been slain, the Mexicans hailed a passing taxi.
+
+"They're in a hurry," decided Nat who was not far behind the three. He
+quickly looked around for another taxi that he might use for himself,
+but saw none that was empty and he had a vision of being left behind.
+Then he noticed a small delivery wagon from one of New York's big
+department stores. The driver was a young man and Nat signaled to him.
+
+For a moment the young fellow seemed to think it was a case of being
+held up in broad daylight, and he was about to step on the gas as he
+neared Nat when the latter called:
+
+"I'm a secret service man chasing some crooks. I need your help."
+
+"Oh, that's different," and a relieved look came over the lad's face.
+"I thought you were a stick-up man. But I haven't got anything, anyhow.
+What's the dope?"
+
+"Follow that taxi--that is, if you can spare the time," begged Nat,
+showing his shield. "If not, drive along until I meet a cruising cab."
+
+"I've got time," was the answer. "I'm through for the day."
+
+And with such speed and skill did he follow the cab containing the
+three Mexicans that he was not far behind them when their vehicle
+halted in front of the Club Tamalle, a resort frequented by Spaniards.
+
+"This is what I want to know," said Nat as he slipped the young fellow
+a two-dollar bill. "Much obliged."
+
+"Are they counterfeiters?" the lad asked, with a smile, as he pocketed
+the money.
+
+"Maybe that, and worse," answered Nat. "Just keep still about what
+happened just now."
+
+"That's what I will. I hope you get them."
+
+"I will!" declared Nat.
+
+He waited until the three entered the club, which was at its liveliest
+later at night, and then got out of the delivery auto. Using that,
+instead of another taxi, to chase his quarry had enabled Nat to fool
+them completely, he thought.
+
+He slipped over to the nearest subway and went back to his office with
+the mysterious card he had taken from the crack between the back and
+the seat cushions of the taxi in which Lemberg had breathed his last.
+
+It was now early evening, but Berry Todd was on duty in the office,
+having sent out to get some sandwiches while waiting for Nat's return
+or for some word from the chief.
+
+"Anything doing?" the younger sleuth greeted his employer.
+
+"I think so," was the answer. "Get out the magnifying glasses, Berry,
+and the finger-print records. This card may show something," and Nat
+carefully laid the bit of pasteboard on a clean sheet of paper. "Any
+report from Columbia about that little dagger?" he asked.
+
+"It came in over the 'phone a few minutes ago," was the reply. "It
+isn't a deadly poison on the points of the pin shaped like a dagger,
+but it is some kind of dope that numbs a person."
+
+"That accounts for it!" exclaimed Nat. "They must prick or scratch
+their victim with that, and so render him helpless--so he can't
+yell--then they knife him! We're coming on. Now for some finger-print
+work."
+
+Though the card bore several different finger or thumb prints, they
+were those of persons not registered in the books of criminals on file
+in Nat Ridley's office.
+
+"Well, whoever handled this card hasn't yet been finger-printed around
+here," decided Nat when the test was over. "I'll have to get in touch
+with headquarters and some of the international books to-morrow. But
+I've got another job on hand now."
+
+"You don't mean to say you're going to keep on with this case now, do
+you?" objected Berry. "You haven't had supper!"
+
+"Well, I'm going to get a bite, and then I'm going to see Mrs.
+Lemberg--the widow of the murdered man. She may be able to throw some
+light on why he was killed. But you needn't stay, Berry. Lock up the
+office."
+
+A little later, having again changed his disguise to that of a
+care-free man about town, Nat called on Carl Lemberg's widow. Mrs.
+Lemberg lived in the Bronx, and Nat found with her Anna Lemberg, the
+sister of the dead detective.
+
+Both women showed traces of their grief when Nat was ushered into their
+apartment, having sent up his card which brought a ready invitation to
+come up.
+
+"It is very good of you to come," said Mrs. Lemberg. "My husband often
+spoke of you, and said, after poor Dan Steele was killed, that he was
+going to engage you."
+
+"He did engage me, and no later than to-day," stated Nat. "But he
+should have been a bit sooner, it appears."
+
+"Yes, they--they got him!" muttered the sister. "Tell me," and her blue
+eyes sparkled dangerously, "do you know who the scoundrels were? Have
+you any trace of them?"
+
+"It is a little too soon for that," Nat answered gently. "But I am
+going to do my best. I came to see if you could throw any light on this
+mystery."
+
+"We will tell you all we know," promised Mrs. Lemberg. "But,
+unfortunately, it isn't much. My husband seldom brought his office
+affairs home."
+
+However, she and Miss Anna brought out some papers from the desk of
+the dead detective, and Nat delved into them. Some of the things he
+discovered seemed to give him satisfaction, for he smiled in a grim way
+as he made some notes in his book. Then he questioned the two women
+closely, and learned a bit more.
+
+"Well," the detective said finally, as he prepared to leave, "I think
+it looks a little more hopeful than it did at first."
+
+"You mean you think you can find the murderers?" asked Anna.
+
+"I hope so. At least, I can make a start and perhaps get on their
+trail, though where it will lead, no one can say. I may have to go to
+Mexico."
+
+"Oh, I hope not!" exclaimed Mrs. Lemberg.
+
+"Why not?" asked Nat, with a quick look at her.
+
+"Because I fear it means death," she answered simply. "Look what
+happened to my husband's brother and his uncle. If only they had not
+gone there!"
+
+"But they had business there," said Nat.
+
+"Yes, I know. And then Mr. Steele went, and they killed him. My husband
+talked of going--only talked, mind you--and see what happened to him!"
+
+"It does seem a sinister place," admitted Nat. "But forewarned is
+forearmed, you know. If I go to Mexico I will be on my guard. I may
+call to see you again," were his parting words.
+
+The widow, as she escorted him to the door, said again:
+
+"Whatever happens, don't go to Mexico!"
+
+Something appeared to have happened to the street lights, for when the
+detective emerged from the Lemberg apartment the thoroughfare was in
+considerable darkness, the only illumination coming from stores and
+residences along the way.
+
+But Nat thought little of this as he started off toward the nearest
+subway, intending to go to his home on Central Park West, to spend the
+night.
+
+There was a dark alley midway in the block along which Nat Ridley was
+walking, his thoughts busy with the strange happenings of the day. But
+if he saw this dark side passage he gave it little thought until he
+heard a peculiar hissing sound coming from it.
+
+"A snake!" thought Nat instantly, for that is exactly what it sounded
+like. He gave a momentary thought to the possibility that one of the
+big pythons from the Bronx Zoölogical Park might have escaped and be
+hiding in the dark alley.
+
+The next instant he felt some thin, but powerful, coils circling about
+his neck. For an instant the iron nerve of the sleuth almost failed,
+and he put up his hands to ward off what he thought were the folds of a
+serpent.
+
+Then, in the dark, he felt the coils of a rope. An instant later the
+noose was pulled tight, almost choking him, and he was hauled backward,
+pulled off his feet, and dragged in the silent and gloomy alley.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+                        A CHANGE OF IDENTITIES
+
+
+"Pronto!"
+
+The word was hissed out in the darkness from somewhere behind Nat
+Ridley as he was roughly pulled deeper into the alley.
+
+Struggling as he was to keep the coils from choking him into
+insensibility by their constriction, the detective kept his wits enough
+to remember that this word was Spanish for "hurry" or "quick."
+
+"The Tolas are after me, or someone they think I am," mused Nat grimly.
+"They're fast workers--must have followed me to the Lemberg apartment
+and been on the watch. Wonder if they put out the street lamps. No,
+they couldn't have done that. Must have been just an accident that
+favored them."
+
+These thoughts rushed like lightning through the detective's brain as
+he nerved himself for the struggle he knew must follow.
+
+Come the fight did, an instant later. Nat succeeded in forcing up over
+his head the coils of the lasso, and only just in time, for it was
+tightening cruelly. But meanwhile, he had been hauled by the rope
+deeper into the dark alley, so that now he was several yards from the
+street whence help might come.
+
+"We have him--the pig!" a voice grunted, as Nat felt strong arms about
+him, and he recognized the tones as those of one of the three men who
+had used the same expression that afternoon.
+
+"The knife--pronto!" exclaimed another, and Nat knew they meant to kill
+him as Lemberg had been killed--even as Steele and the others had been
+murdered. Then a fierce, fighting rage took possession of Nat Ridley
+and he gasped:
+
+"Not yet, Tolas! Not yet!"
+
+He could feel the men struggling with him start in surprise at his use
+of that secret name, and one muttered:
+
+"He knows us!"
+
+"But the pig will not know us long!" hissed another. "Quick--the knife!
+Let him have it between the ribs!"
+
+It was so dark that Nat could not see more than two dim forms
+struggling with him, but he thought he recognized the two as Ramon and
+a companion, though who Ramon might be he could only guess.
+
+Suddenly one of the men released his hold of the detective and drew
+back a little. The inference was obvious. He was getting out his knife.
+
+"Not yet, Tolas! Not yet!" gasped Nat again, and, raising his right
+foot, he kicked out savagely at the dim form of the villain about to
+stab him. It was a trick Nat had learned from a Frenchman. With the
+heel of his shoe, the detective took the fellow amidships, or in the
+"breadbasket," if you prefer.
+
+With a grunt that was half a groan, the scoundrel went down in a heap,
+though as he fell he hissed:
+
+"Get him! He has disabled me! I have dropped my knife!"
+
+There was ample evidence of this, for a tinkling sound followed Nat's
+lucky kick and the sleuth knew the dagger had fallen on the stones with
+which the alley was paved.
+
+"The devil pig!" cried the other man, and Nat's eyes, now becoming
+accustomed to the gloom, made out the second assassin rushing at him.
+"This will be the end of him!"
+
+But by this time the detective had his automatic out. He had no chance
+to take accurate aim, but he did not need to, for he could fire from
+the hip. And this he did--two shots in quick succession at the black
+mass of the man rushing at him.
+
+There was a cry of pain and the fellow quickly wheeled about, changing
+his direction so that he was headed out of the alley.
+
+"He is too much for us! Come--pronto!" he called to the other.
+
+By this time the man Nat had kicked down was able to rise, though he
+was doubled up in pain. Thus the two fled, leaving Nat victor on the
+field and with spoils in the shape of a fine rope, made of braided
+horsehair, as he discovered later.
+
+"Touch and go!" muttered the detective grimly as he straightened up.
+And then the street lamps suddenly shone again, though the alley
+remained shrouded in gloom. As Nat looked toward the entrance he saw,
+outlined against the background of light, a figure rushing toward him.
+
+"Stand still!" the detective ordered. "I have you covered, and if you
+come a step nearer----"
+
+"I'm a police officer!" came the sharp answer. "If you shoot----"
+
+"Oh, all right! I beg your pardon," said Nat quickly. Though he
+determined not to be taken off his guard, and held his gun in readiness.
+
+A moment later he saw a flashlight gleaming, the beams reflecting from
+the brass buttons of a member of New York's crack uniformed force. Then
+Nat knew he was safe and advanced, revealing his identity.
+
+The policeman was a stranger to Nat Ridley, though the latter was
+evidently known, by reputation at least, to the patrolman, for the
+latter respectfully asked:
+
+"Are you hurt, Mr. Ridley? Can I do anything to help?"
+
+"No, they didn't get me," was the answer, "though it was a close call.
+They lassoed me as I passed the alley and dragged me in. What was the
+matter with the lights?"
+
+"A fuse blew out at the power house, I guess. It's all right now. But
+who were they?"
+
+"Oh, a couple of hold-up men," said Nat, not wanting to go into
+particulars.
+
+"Well, I'd like to pinch them," said the officer. But when he and
+Nat had looked around the alley no trace of the assassins was found.
+The assassins had recovered and taken away the dagger. Only the rope
+remained, and Nat took charge of that. He thought he might find a use
+for it if he went on to Mexico.
+
+By this time a crowd had gathered, attracted by the shots, as the
+officer had been, but it soon dispersed when Nat remarked to several
+who inquired:
+
+"Oh, it was just a couple of bootleggers."
+
+And so common has this form of industry become that it no longer
+attracts attention in the larger cities.
+
+"Sure you aren't hurt?" asked the officer when Nat came out of the
+alley into the now brilliantly lighted street.
+
+"Not at all. I kicked one man out and I think I hit the other with one
+of my shots. But evidently neither was much disabled, for they ran out
+just before you came up."
+
+"I got here as fast as I could after I heard the shooting," apologized
+the patrolman. "But I was away at the other end of the block, and----"
+
+"That's all right," Nat said. "No harm done. I was looking for another
+man and they happened to spot my pin, I suppose," and he motioned to
+a diamond he was wearing in his tie. "They wouldn't have made much if
+they got it, though," and Nat laughed, for the "diamond" was a paste
+one, a part of his disguise.
+
+Nat went on his way, but the patrolman, jealous for the good reputation
+of his post, made a further search for the mysterious men, though he
+found no trace of them.
+
+Nat Ridley did not mention his real suspicions concerning the two.
+
+"I'll keep them guessing!" decided the sleuth. "If they look in the
+morning papers to see an account of this, they won't get much from the
+news."
+
+Though he thus made light of one phase of the affair, there was another
+that worried Nat Ridley, and this was the closeness with which the
+Tolas were hanging on his trail.
+
+"They have evidently sworn vengeance against all who have anything to
+do with the Lembergs or the oil wells," reasoned Nat. "I've got to
+watch my step. They must have shadowed me from my office. Well, I'll
+just stay away from there for a time--at least, I'll fool them."
+
+He decided not to go to his apartment or to the office, and to carry
+out a plan he hastily made he went to the Herald Square Hotel, where he
+engaged a room. There, after a bath, a meal, and one of his big, black
+cigars, he telephoned a cipher message to Berry Todd at the latter's
+home.
+
+"Come down here, Berry," requested Nat, "and bring number fourteen with
+you."
+
+This was the number of a certain valise containing several disguises,
+and a little later the assistant detective arrived at the hotel with
+it. Berry himself was disguised as a country lawyer in New York for a
+holiday.
+
+"Anything up, Chief?" he whispered to Nat when in the latter's room.
+
+"Good and plenty!" was the answer. "I think I'm up against one of the
+slickest and most desperate gangs I've ever dealt with. You've got to
+help me, Berry."
+
+"Surest thing you know, Chief. How?"
+
+"You're going to be me."
+
+"Going to be you?"
+
+"Yes. I want you to make up to look like Nat Ridley, and, as me, leave
+the office openly to-morrow. Do it as publicly as you can--I mean
+speak to the elevator boys, the paper boys, greet anyone you see whom
+you know and get them to call you by name--I mean my name. In short,
+you and I are going to change identities."
+
+"Suits me, Chief!" declared Berry.
+
+"But you've got to be careful!" warned Nat.
+
+"Careful of what--of making a break?"
+
+"No. Careful not to get shot or stabbed or lassoed into a dark alley!"
+and Nat's voice was quietly warning. "Berry, we're up against a
+desperate game. It's asking you to take your life in your hands to
+impersonate me for a while. Are you game to do it?"
+
+Without a moment's hesitation Berry answered:
+
+"I sure am, Chief! Here's where I double for Nat Ridley!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII
+
+                              LIGHTS OUT
+
+
+Berry Todd and Nat made careful plans for what might happen during the
+next few days. It might be necessary for the assistant to continue the
+rôle of chief sleuth for some time, or until the Tolas were thrown off
+their guard.
+
+"They were evidently out to do you," declared Berry, when Nat had told
+of the episode in the dark alley.
+
+"They were," agreed the chief. "Though how they made their plans so
+quickly and got on my trail so easily I don't quite see."
+
+"They're desperate!" decided Berry.
+
+"Oh, yes. But worse, they have underground ways and means of getting
+information," added Nat. "Evidently the whole band is sworn to
+exterminate any who have a hand in keeping the oil wells away from
+them."
+
+"Is Mrs. Lemberg willing to let the property go back to the original
+owners?" asked Berry.
+
+"No, she isn't. She says part of it is hers by right now, since her
+husband is dead, and she will need the income from it to support her,
+since his business will not be carried on. She has the usual German
+thoroughness and determination to hold on, and I don't know that I
+blame her. But I'm working not so much to make secure the possession of
+the oil wells as I am to avenge Dan Steele, and also Lemberg. Though I
+was not friendly with the German detective, yet he belonged to the same
+national society as I do and we are sworn to protect each other. So it
+is war to the knife now between me and the Tolas."
+
+"I'll help carry it on!" promised Berry.
+
+A little later that night, having left certain disguises with Nat
+Ridley, the helper went back home and the following morning he appeared
+at the office in the semblance of Nat Ridley. So well did Berry
+simulate the dress and bearing of his chief that for a moment even
+Toodles was deceived, exclaiming as Berry entered:
+
+"Good morning, Chief! You're a bit early."
+
+"The early bird catches the worm, Toodles!" chuckled Berry. And there
+was something in the laugh that made the office boy look a second time,
+after which his eyes opened wide and he cried:
+
+"Sweet daddy! If it isn't Berry!"
+
+"Not so loud, young man!" warned the detective. "We don't want this
+little masquerade known!"
+
+Toodles subsided, but Berry was pleased that he had made such good work
+of his disguise.
+
+Nat passed a restful night in the Herald Square Hotel--that is, as
+much of the night as was left after his adventures, and in the morning
+went to his office, though not in his own character. He had made up to
+resemble a small town business man in New York to buy goods for the
+fall trade, which fact he spoke of as he ascended in the elevator.
+
+Nat was so well made up that the elevator boys, who were well
+acquainted with him in his usual manner of appearing, thought him a
+stranger, and one of them directed Nat to the office of a commission
+merchant in the suite adjoining the detective's offices.
+
+To throw off any spies who might be watching, Nat entered this office,
+but when the corridor was clear he came out, apologizing for having
+made a mistake, and entered his own rooms, where he found Berry, as Nat
+Ridley, waiting for him.
+
+There was a hurried conference, and then the plan by which it was hoped
+to trap the murderers, or at least to get on their trail, was put into
+operation.
+
+Berry, pretending to be Nat, left the office openly, and Toodles,
+following instructions, asked loudly as Berry held open the door
+leading into the corridor:
+
+"What time will you be back, Mr. Ridley?"
+
+"Can't say, Toodles!" was the equally loud answer. "If anybody asks for
+Nat Ridley say he's gone fishing," and with a smile Berry, as Nat,
+lighted one of the latter's black cigars, though the brand was a much
+stronger one than Berry liked to indulge in. But he had to do this to
+make the part perfect.
+
+Watching his assistant from the partly opened door, Nat, who was still
+attired as a business man, saw Berry enter the elevator, greeting the
+boys who called him by name.
+
+"Everything is working fine!" decided the detective.
+
+As he watched he saw, coming from a washroom along the corridor, a
+small, dark man who glided like a snake into the elevator behind
+Berry. He had timed his entrance well, in order to be the last in the
+descending cage.
+
+"There goes number one!" thought Nat, as he made ready to take the next
+down car. He had told Berry to wait in the corridor of the building
+before going out, and when Nat reached the street floor he saw his
+helper, who, of course, he pretended not to notice, start off down the
+street.
+
+Behind him went the man who had glided out of the washroom.
+
+"The chase is on!" grimly reflected Nat Ridley.
+
+Then began what was like a desperate game of hide and seek. All that
+day Berry, as Nat Ridley, went about New York, into this office and
+that, where he was known, but where his disguise was not penetrated.
+And behind his assistant went Nat Ridley, now in one disguise and now
+in another, for he deemed it wise to change several times.
+
+And between Nat and Berry was the small, dark man who was a clever
+shadower. That, the chief detective was forced to admit, for not once
+did he betray himself, and to anyone less sharp than Nat Ridley and
+Berry Todd, it would not have been known that any shadowing was going
+on.
+
+It was not until late in the evening that Number One, as Nat had called
+him, was joined by another. This second man walked with a slight limp
+and as if he were in pain.
+
+"I wonder if that's the fellow I shot or the one I kicked?" mused Nat
+as he noticed the halting gait. "It doesn't much matter, but it proves
+that I'm on the right track. Now I hope Berry remembers what I told
+him."
+
+The assistant detective did, for he soon called a cab and, rather
+ostentatiously, asked to be driven to the Club Tamalle where Nat had
+seen the three men of the day before go in--the three, one of whom had
+ordered Ramon to keep watch over some "pig."
+
+Nat, meanwhile, had made some inquiries and had learned that the club
+was the rendezvous of sportily inclined Mexicans, Spaniards and West
+Indians.
+
+"I wonder how Berry, as me, will fare in there?" mused Nat, as he took
+another cab to follow his helper. "He'll be a bit conspicuous, I'm
+afraid, but it has to be done. After all, it isn't a private club, and
+anyone has a right there."
+
+In the taxicab Nat Ridley made a final change in his costume, for he
+knew he was following clever and dangerous criminals and he thought one
+of them might have seen him some time during the day. Consequently,
+when Nat alighted at the Club Tamalle and paused to pay for his ride,
+he surprised a look of astonishment on the face of his driver.
+
+"What game is this?" asked the man. "I didn't pick you up!"
+
+"No," admitted Nat, with a smile, as he held up a couple of dollars
+extra to signal to the man to keep quiet. "But you're letting me down
+and you're getting paid for it."
+
+"I'm wise," was the comment, and the cab rolled away while Nat, who was
+looking like a man out for a good time, followed Berry into the club
+where, it was rumored, high-priced and high-powered drinks could be
+had. Before entering, Nat had observed the two foreigners, one of whom
+walked with a limp, entering after Berry, who was still Nat Ridley, in
+disguise at least.
+
+It did not suit the chief detective's plans to be too conspicuous in
+this well-known night club, so he tipped the head waiter to show him to
+a table rather screened from view, yet from which Nat had a good place
+from which to observe all that went on. There were a number of little
+private booths down one side of the room, and Nat was near one of these.
+
+Not far away Berry had a table. Following instructions, Berry had
+picked up a woman, one of several who frequented the club for the
+purpose of having drinks bought for them, on which they reaped a
+percentage of the profits.
+
+Berry began to act the part of a man out for an evening of pleasure.
+He ordered champagne, or what passed for such, and at the order his
+companion's eyes sparkled, for she saw her evening earnings greatly
+swelled.
+
+While Nat was watching and pretending to drink some wine he ordered
+(and it was only pretending, for he was a teetotaler) the detective
+heard voices in the booth next to him.
+
+"And from there we went to Paloma," a man said in low tones.
+
+"Was there anything doing there?"
+
+"Not much. We left, pronto, and headed for Rola----"
+
+The remainder of the name was lost in the blare of the jazz band which
+struck up just then, but Nat thought he could guess what the rest of
+the name was.
+
+"Rolamotaza--the place of the oil wells," thought the sleuth to
+himself. "We are coming on!"
+
+The night club was now filling up rapidly, and Nat noticed that Berry
+was entering fully into the spirit of the occasion, with his pretty
+woman companion to aid him. Nat also noticed that the two men who had
+been shadowing Berry had been joined by a third who, in spite of a
+change in his clothes, was recognized as one of the trio who had passed
+Nat when he was examining the cab in which Lemberg had been murdered.
+
+Nat saw these three change their table so that now they were next to
+the one where Berry sat, and the sleuth was wondering what that meant
+when he saw Berry give him a secret sign.
+
+Nat had instructed his helper that if during the evening need arose to
+speak to his chief, a sign should be given, and Berry would go to the
+washroom, whither Nat would follow. There they could communicate with
+each other.
+
+Accordingly, Nat rose slowly, as if without any definite object, and
+made his way to the washroom, whither he saw Berry bending his steps.
+The two entered, Nat behind Berry, and throwing a glance back over his
+shoulder, Nat observed the three Mexicans following. They, too, were
+headed for the private room.
+
+"There's going to be something doing in about a minute, Berry," said
+Nat in a low voice as the two entered the room, followed a moment later
+by the three.
+
+And something happened in less than a minute.
+
+For the man who limped suddenly but purposely collided with Berry and
+at once cried in angry tones:
+
+"What do you mean--pushing me? Beast! Pig! You have lamed me! Not for
+nothing shall a Gringo step on Don Castro!"
+
+Like a flash the man drew a knife, but as he lunged for Berry his chief
+leaped forward and, with a skillful blow, sent the steel clashing to
+the floor.
+
+At the same moment one of the other three shouted:
+
+"Lights out!"
+
+In an instant the place was plunged into darkness.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+                              HALF A COAT
+
+
+Silence followed the dramatic plunging of the rooms of the Club Tamalle
+into darkness, but the silence did not last long. And as soon as Nat
+Ridley had knocked aside the knife intended for his helper, the great
+detective got ready for action.
+
+"They're after me!" grimly decided Nat. "Or at least after Berry, whom
+they have taken for me. There's likely to be a row!"
+
+It came fully as soon as Nat expected, for he felt a rush of bodies
+about him, muttered imprecations in Spanish, and then he heard Berry's
+voice at his ear, whispering:
+
+"Are you all right?"
+
+"So far," Nat answered. "But I don't know how long I'll remain so. Did
+anything happen?" he went on as the two made their way in the darkness
+out of the washroom into the main apartment of the Club.
+
+"Not yet. But I'm on the track of some of these fellows, and I think
+they got wise to me--thinking I was you."
+
+"So far our plan works," murmured Nat. "But I'm wondering if they have
+spotted me as well."
+
+There was no way of telling this at present. In fact, there was no way
+of determining anything in the darkness and excitement, for excitement
+there was in plenty.
+
+"What is it?" some cried in English but with a Spanish accent. It was
+a woman's voice. There were a number of them in the club, some very
+handsome in a dark, Spanish way.
+
+"It is the police!" came an answering feminine voice.
+
+"Oh! Oh! A prohibition raid!" exclaimed several. "How silly!"
+
+"Be careful!" warned the deep voice of a man, and Nat, hearing it,
+tried to recall whether it was that of Ramon or any of his associates.
+"It is no dry raid! There are spies and traitors among us! Be careful,
+my friends!"
+
+"He's one of the fellows we want!" whispered Nat to his helper. "See if
+you can work yourself around to that side of the room. But be careful.
+You have your gun, of course?"
+
+"Yes," answered Berry in low tones. "But I fancy these fellows would
+rather fight with a knife than a gun. I've got a knife, too."
+
+"Watch yourself," warned Nat. "But get that fellow if you can."
+
+"I will!" promised Berry, and he slid away.
+
+Nat had backed to a wall, for he felt it safer in case of a fight which
+he thought would follow to have all his enemies in front of him.
+
+The detective dimly saw forms swirling this way and that in front of
+him. Then, suddenly, he felt a pricking sensation on his left hand and
+he drew it quickly away with the thought that someone was trying to
+disable him by a scratch from the doped point of the miniature double
+dagger.
+
+At the same moment Nat reached out with his hand and caught hold of a
+figure passing in front of him. He was surprised when a woman's voice
+screamed and she exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, let me go! I have done nothing!"
+
+"You tried to stab me!" hissed Nat in her ear. He realized that these
+Mexican murderers might have hired a woman to do some of their work.
+
+"I stab you, señor? Never! I am but trying to get away. Are you Jules?"
+she whispered leaning so close to Nat that he could smell the perfume
+in her hair. "Oh, Jules, take me----"
+
+"I am not Jules!" declared Nat. "But I felt a prick on my hand, and----"
+
+"Pardon, señor, it was but a pin in my dress! Oh, why did I ever come
+here! Are you of the police?"
+
+"No," answered Nat, which was the truth. "You have nothing to fear.
+There is a door--go!"
+
+At that instant someone had opened a door leading into a corridor
+at the end of which a light burned dimly, and the illumination was
+sufficient to enable the detective to see a little.
+
+Nat gave the unknown woman a shove toward the way of escape, since
+he decided she had had nothing to do with the case on which he was
+working. And the detective felt a distinct sense of relief when he
+heard the news about the pin. Imagination can play uncanny tricks at
+times.
+
+Now several others, seeing the corridor door open, made a rush for the
+exit, so that it became jammed and there were grunts and imprecations
+from the men seeking to escape and screams and imploring calls from the
+women and girls.
+
+Most of the habitués of the club, Nat realized, had nothing in common
+with the men he was seeking as the murderers of the Lembergs and Dan
+Steele. But the detective felt that some of the criminals, or at least
+their confederates, were present, and feared capture. Otherwise, the
+order of lights out never would have been given.
+
+As Nat was wondering what was happening to Berry, the detective felt
+a man bump into him on the right side, and, at the same moment, one
+came at him from the left. The distant light in the corridor had gone
+out, and the place was once more in darkness, with a milling, pushing,
+jostling and excited crowd doing all it could to get away from the
+danger of arrest.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Nat of the man on his left. "I am a stranger in
+New York. I came in here by chance and----"
+
+He heard a whisper of Spanish words and though he did not sense all the
+meaning he had a feeling that the man on his left had called an order
+to the one on his right.
+
+"They mean to do for me!" thought Nat to himself.
+
+As quickly as a shadow moves, he dropped to the floor. It was not
+a moment too soon, for in the glow of an electric flashlight which
+someone switched on, Nat caught the gleam of a knife blade, and it was
+in the hand of the man who had been on his right.
+
+The hand holding the knife lunged out, but the blade, instead of being
+sheathed in Nat Ridley's body, found a place in the companion of the
+Mexican. There was a cry of pain and a voice asked:
+
+"Did I get the pig?"
+
+"No, devil, you got me!" snarled another voice. "He has escaped us. I
+bleed! Get a doctor!"
+
+"I'm glad he's bleeding instead of me!" mused Nat as he crawled on his
+hands and knees out of the danger zone. "That was a close one!"
+
+If possible the excitement now became greater, for several had heard
+what the stabbed man, injured by his own friend, had said, and there
+was fear of more mistakes.
+
+"Turn on the lights! Let us have light!" several implored.
+
+"No! No!" came the answering replies. "There are traitors among us!
+They must be killed!"
+
+"I wonder what's happening to Berry all this while," mused Nat. "I hope
+they haven't stuck a knife into him, thinking it's me. This case is
+developing faster than I thought it would."
+
+He was reassured a moment later when, crawling into a corner, at that
+moment somewhat deserted, he felt another man crawling even as he was
+doing and a voice called into his ear:
+
+"It's all right, Chief. I got some dope."
+
+"You don't mean dope from the double dagger, do you?" asked Nat, for he
+recognized Berry's voice, though he could not see his face.
+
+"No, I mean information. I got next to the fellow they call Ramon, and
+I heard him say the next meeting would be in Rolamotaza, a week from
+to-night. He mentioned a fellow named Don Castro."
+
+"That's the chap who whipped out the knife in the washroom," remarked
+Nat. "So the scene is going to shift, is it? Well, I'll be on the
+job. I think we'd better be leaving here, Berry. We can't do much in
+the dark, and as soon as the lights go up the ones we want will have
+vanished. There's too much risk getting a knife in the back in the dark
+to stay here."
+
+"Just what I was thinking, Chief. It's too bad they spotted us so
+quickly."
+
+"Yes. They're slicker than most. Do you happen to know where the exit
+is, or any way of getting out?"
+
+"I've got it spotted," was Berry's whispered answer. "Follow me, but
+keep low. There are too many of these birds lunging about in the gloom
+with their toad-stickers."
+
+"So I found out. But someone else got the steel intended for me. It's
+best to be cautious," agreed Nat.
+
+The two detectives started crawling on their hands and knees toward a
+place Berry thought would take them out of the dangerous place. And as
+Berry, followed by Nat, made his made way across the room, working in
+and out of a tangle of legs, the heavy body of a man suddenly leaped
+upon Nat Ridley's back. It was as if the detective had been tackled in
+a football game after dropping on the pigskin.
+
+He grunted from the impact of the blow, but at once squirmed to get
+out from beneath the body. At the same time he began to reach out in
+the dark to grab any possible hand that might be holding a knife. Nat
+quickly succeeded in getting hold of a man's wrist.
+
+"Give up!" commanded the sleuth. "I have you!"
+
+With a quick twist and turn of a wrestling trick, he managed to get to
+his feet, pulling his assailant up with him. Nat reached out to grab
+the fellow's other hand, but the Mexican gave a squirm like an eel.
+There was a ripping, tearing sound, and Nat felt all resistance cease.
+
+"What the deuce happened?" he asked himself.
+
+Nat felt he had a garment in his hand--a coat he judged it to be, but
+whose or what it contained he could not tell.
+
+"Six and a half! Six and a half!" Nat softly called.
+
+This was a code number, indicating Berry's name. If the other detective
+was near he would answer.
+
+"Seven!" was the reply in a whisper into Nat's left ear.
+
+"What's wrong, seven?" asked Berry.
+
+"All right now," Nat answered. "They had me down, but I got a coat off
+of someone."
+
+"A coat?" questioned Berry.
+
+At that instant the lights went up again, and Nat looked at what was in
+his hand.
+
+"No, half a coat," he corrected, with a grim chuckle, for the garment
+was neatly ripped down the middle seam. "I got only half his coat,
+Berry."
+
+"You're lucky to have that much," answered the other sleuth. "But look
+out. Here comes one of them with a knife!"
+
+He and Nat looked up and across the room, from which a number of men
+and women with much disheveled clothing were now fleeing, since they
+could see the exits. And headed toward Nat and Berry was one of the
+three Mexicans who had started the trouble in the washroom. The fellow
+carried a wicked looking knife.
+
+"This way!" Berry called to Nat, pulling him through a door and closing
+it after them. "This way out. And keep the coat."
+
+"Half a coat is better than none!" chuckled Nat, as a heavy body
+crashed against the door, the key of which Berry quickly turned.
+
+"Come on!" he called to his chief. "They're still after us!" And the
+two ran through a deserted room and out into a yard back of the Club
+Tamalle.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX
+
+                          THE WINDOW CLEANER
+
+
+Most of the excitement in the Spanish club seemed to center around the
+front entrance, probably because, when the lights were dimmed, patrons
+who had nothing to do with the affair which brought Nat Ridley there,
+ran out that way.
+
+A crowd gathered from the street, attracted by the shouts of the men
+and the screams of the women, and several police officers were on
+hand. Nat and Berry sensed this as they emerged from a rear door into
+the small yard, the chief detective still carrying the half of the
+coat which he hastily stuffed beneath his own garment, so it would not
+attract attention, for Nat was rather sprucily attired and to see a
+gentleman of his calibre carrying a torn coat did not argue well.
+
+"Is there a way out of here?" asked Nat of Berry as, under the gleam of
+the moon, they looked about the yard which was not only surrounded by a
+high fence, but had buildings on both sides and at the rear.
+
+"Surely there is!" declared Berry, who looked enough like Nat in that
+sleuth's regulation guise to be the latter's twin brother. "Like
+yourself, Chief, I never go into a place that I don't make sure there
+is a way out, and I spotted this one soon after I parked here this
+evening. Come along before that fellow takes the door off its hinges."
+
+Indeed, it seemed that this might happen, for the man with the knife on
+the other side of the door was banging and kicking at it with enough
+energy to indicate that some of the panels would soon give way.
+
+"He wants us bad!" chuckled Nat.
+
+"They're all bad actors," agreed Berry. "My, but things happened quick
+after that fellow bumped into me! Only for you, Chief, I'd have a knife
+in my ribs now."
+
+"Oh, I guess you could have taken care of him, Berry."
+
+"Well, I'm just as glad you did it, Chief. Now here we go."
+
+Berry ran to a certain part of the fence where, to the casual observer,
+there was no sign of a gate. But one was there, just the same, cleverly
+concealed, and a moment later it was open and the two sleuths saw
+before them an alleyway leading to the street.
+
+Not much too soon, if they wished to avoid a fight, had Berry found the
+exit. For as he and Nat slipped through the secret gate, the door Berry
+had locked was burst open and the raging Mexican came rushing out,
+crying something in Spanish and brandishing his knife.
+
+"Silencio!" someone uttered in sharp tones and there followed some
+commands in Spanish, hearing which the fellow who was eager to sheath
+his knife in Nat's ribs reluctantly turned back.
+
+"Guess his boss got after him," chuckled Berry. "They don't want too
+much of a row here."
+
+"There's been plenty of that," agreed Nat. "Well, I guess we can't
+get any more information here in these rigs, Berry. They're on to us.
+But you keep on being Nat Ridley and I'll change into something else
+to-morrow. I want to get a chance to look at this coat."
+
+"Half a coat you mean," corrected his helper. "It should be easy to
+spot the man who lost it."
+
+"Not likely he'd go about wearing part of a garment," objected Nat.
+"He'd either borrow one, or else go around in his shirt sleeves. No,
+let's beat it."
+
+And beat it the two did, along a quiet back street and into a taxicab
+which took them to their offices. Nat allowed his assistant, who still
+impersonated him, to go in first, in case any of the Tola gang might be
+watching. The great detective himself made use of the freight elevator
+to reach his floor and, a little later, with the windows carefully
+shaded, he was examining the half a coat he had torn off the man who
+tried to kill him.
+
+It was a cheap and ordinary garment, the kind of clothing sold in
+department stores, and probably would, in itself, afford no clew to the
+owner.
+
+"But there may be something in the pockets," suggested Berry.
+
+"Just what I'm going to find out," decided Nat.
+
+From the outside pocket of the right side of the garment, which was the
+part the sleuth had, were taken some strong cigarettes so much indulged
+in by Mexicans and South Americans. There was also a clip of paper
+matches. These Nat put aside for future examination, though they were
+not very promising.
+
+The inside pocket was richer in material to work on, for Nat brought
+out two rather worn letters in their original envelopes. They bore
+Mexican stamps and postmarks, showing they had been mailed in
+Rolamotaza.
+
+"See if you can make out the dates on those postmarks, Berry,"
+suggested Nat, handing the envelopes over to his assistant. "You'll
+find a magnifying glass in the second drawer of my desk on the right."
+
+While Berry was at this task, Nat began a perusal of the letters
+themselves. They were addressed to Juan Castro, and the detective felt
+sure this was the man who wanted to knife Berry and also who had tried
+to attack him.
+
+Written in Spanish as they were, Nat could make out only a few words
+here and there, for his knowledge of Spanish was small. He knew the
+Spanish word for oil, and he saw that scattered throughout the missive.
+He also saw the name Cora Ardell.
+
+"That doesn't sound like a Spanish name," mused Nat, uttering it over
+and over again. "I wonder where she comes in? Well, I'll have to get
+these letters translated."
+
+He glanced at the signatures. They were both the same, a scrawl which,
+as nearly as the detective could make out, resolved itself into the
+name Martolo.
+
+"Another chap to look up!" mused the detective, through a haze of smoke
+from one of his strong, black cigars. "Well, any luck, Berry?" he asked
+his helper, who was puzzling over the envelopes.
+
+"No, the postmark is so blurred I can't make any date on it. We might
+try photographing it--that sometimes brings out things you can't see
+with a glass."
+
+"I don't know that it's important," Nat said. "I'll wait until I have
+these letters translated. The date may not matter. We'll call it a
+night, Berry, and quit. Now you go up to my apartment and get a good
+sleep."
+
+"Your apartment!" exclaimed Berry. "What's the matter with my own home?"
+
+"You forget that you are Nat Ridley," said the detective, with a
+chuckle. "Got to carry out the deception, Berry. Go ahead up. I've told
+Julian to expect you." Nat referred to his colored servant who looked
+after the Central Park West apartment.
+
+"Oh, all right. I'll be living like a swell!" laughed Berry.
+
+Nat, making some slight changes in his disguise, waited until his
+helper had gone. Then, putting the two letters carefully in an inner
+pocket, he left his office to go to the Herald Square Hotel again.
+
+Forgetting none of the caution that was second nature with him, Nat
+Ridley looked about before stepping into the street. It was about one
+o'clock in the morning, but that, in New York, is only the "shank of
+the evening," and the streets in the vicinity of Times Square were
+filled with throngs.
+
+Nat fancied he saw a man slink out of a doorway and start to follow him
+as the detective started down the street, and, chuckling to himself,
+Nat resolved to lead the shadow a merry chase. But the fellow, after
+following Nat a short distance, appeared to be satisfied that his
+quarry was not the man he wanted and turned back.
+
+"He doesn't know me in this rig," Nat decided. "Well, adios, my friend.
+Adios," and with this Spanish farewell Nat went to his hotel and to bed.
+
+He was at his office early the next morning, and one of the first
+things he did was to call for a Spanish interpreter whom he had come to
+the office to look over the letters.
+
+"Write me out copies of these," directed Nat, giving the man a desk,
+pen and paper in a room off his own private office.
+
+Several other matters claimed the detective's attention for the next
+fifteen minutes. But he finally disposed of the affairs, sending Baldy
+Stoler out on one case and Mary Dotley on another. Berry, as Nat, was
+ostentatiously busy writing in the front office, to throw off the track
+any of the Tola gang who might enter to spy out the situation.
+
+As Nat was passing the desk of Toodles, the office boy, a shadow
+darkened one of the windows--the shadow of a man on the outside ledge.
+
+"Who's that?" exclaimed Nat quickly.
+
+"One of the window cleaners," Toodles answered. "The janitor sent word
+up early this morning that they'd be along our side of the building
+to-day."
+
+"Oh, the window cleaner," murmured Nat, and he saw that that was the
+person whose shadow he had seen. The man, with his pail and chamois
+skin, was fastening his safety belt into the rings on either side of
+the casement.
+
+Nat's stenographer spoke to him, asking him about a letter she was
+writing for him, and when he had set her right the sleuth turned back
+into his own private room, intending to ascertain how the translator
+was progressing.
+
+As he put his hand on the knob there came from the room a cry of
+surprise, and, throwing open the door, Nat was in time to see the
+window cleaner leap in, knock aside the Spanish interpreter, grab
+something off the desk, and hurry out again.
+
+"The letters! The letters!" cried the man Nat had hired. "The window
+cleaner took those two letters!"
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X
+
+                             OFF TO TEXAS
+
+
+Like a flash and without stopping to ask questions, Nat Ridley leaped
+toward the window, through which, the Spanish translator indicated, the
+window cleaner had entered and left.
+
+The man with the chamois was not in sight, but his pail was still on
+the broad, stone ledge, and Nat at once guessed what had happened.
+
+"He walked along the coping here like a human fly and got into the next
+office," decided Nat. "He was a spy, disguised as a window cleaner! I
+thought he acted like an amateur when I first spotted him. The Tola
+gang is after me hot and heavy!"
+
+Nat Ridley needed but a second to make up his mind.
+
+"Where he went I can go!" exclaimed the sleuth. "Look after things
+sharp here for a minute or two," he called over his shoulder to Berry.
+
+"Where are you going, Chief?"
+
+"After that fellow!" exclaimed Nat.
+
+"Be careful!" murmured the stenographer, who, with Toodles, had
+run into Nat's private office at the alarm given by the startled
+translator.
+
+But Nat was already out on the ledge, which, aside from its height
+above the pavement, was a safe place to walk. In a few seconds the
+detective had entered the window adjoining his own--the window of
+an importing firm with the heads of which the sleuth had a slight
+acquaintance.
+
+There was a clerk in the room into which Nat leaped from the window--a
+clerk who seemed rather startled.
+
+"Another one!" he exclaimed, and Nat knew he had guessed right.
+
+"Did a man just come in here?" asked the detective quickly.
+
+"Yes. The window cleaner."
+
+"He was no window cleaner," Nat stated, with a grim look. "But let that
+pass. Did he have anything in his hand?"
+
+"Yes, some papers."
+
+"Which way did he go?"
+
+"Out through our office into the corridor. He said something about
+feeling sick and needing medicine. I thought you were another one when
+I saw you come in."
+
+"You mean another window cleaner?" remarked Nat. "No, I'm not," and, as
+he was in disguise, the clerk did not recognize him. Nat let it go at
+that.
+
+"Is anything wrong?" the young man asked, as Nat, after a look down
+the corridor and noting it was vacant, decided it would be useless to
+chase after the spy.
+
+"No, not much wrong," was the reply. "I just wanted to ask him some
+questions. Another time will do."
+
+Nat was anxious to get back and ascertain how much of the letters the
+translator had copied before they had been snatched away from him. So,
+with a nod to the clerk, Nat went back the way he had come, along the
+window ledge, somewhat to the surprise of the clerk.
+
+The sleuth found his office force and the Spanish scholar awaiting his
+return somewhat anxiously.
+
+"Did he beat it?" asked Berry.
+
+"He sure did! It was quite a plan--pretending to be a window cleaner
+and even impersonating the janitor in telephoning up to tell Toodles
+he was coming. He got both letters, I suppose?" Nat ruefully asked the
+translator.
+
+"Unfortunately of a truth, yes, señor," was the reply. "But not before
+I had made copies of them both. Here they are," and he held out two
+sheets of paper.
+
+"Good!" cried Nat. "You copied them both, did you? Fine! As long as
+we know what the letters say we don't need the originals, unless they
+contain something incriminating."
+
+"They do not seem to be of that nature," said the translator. "The
+missives do but contain some directions about oil wells and something
+of a contest over them. There are a number of names of persons and
+places."
+
+"Good!" cried Nat again. "That is what we want."
+
+Eagerly, he began perusing the translations of the letters found in the
+torn coat and, as he read, a pleased smile spread over the sleuth's
+face.
+
+"This settles it!" murmured Nat.
+
+"Settles what?" Berry wanted to know.
+
+"About going to Texas and possibly to Mexico. I'll have to leave in a
+few days. I'm on the track of the double dagger gang now, all right!"
+
+"Then you're going to run them down?" asked Berry.
+
+"I am if it's humanly possible. I promised Mrs. Lemberg I would do what
+I could to avenge her husband's death. But I also have a big bone to
+pick with these devils in the matter of Dan Steele's death. Dan was
+once a pal of mine. I'll make those imps sorry they knifed him!" and
+Nat's eyes blazed.
+
+Once more he read the translations, and then had his stenographer make
+copies of them which he put in his pocket, leaving the pen translations
+in his safe.
+
+"That spy window cleaner wasn't as smart as he thought himself,"
+chuckled Nat as he prepared to go out to arrange about transportation
+to Paloma. "He wasn't quite quick enough getting those letters back.
+You did your work quickly and well," he said to the Spaniard.
+
+"I am glad that the señor is pleased," was the reply, and Nat added a
+generous bonus to the fee the man charged.
+
+"Well, what's the game now?" asked Berry when he and his chief were
+alone in the private office after the excitement had calmed down. "Am I
+to go on being you?"
+
+"Until you get orders to the contrary," Nat answered. "And now
+let me see--I've got to assume a new character. What would be a
+natural disguise for one who is going to the Mexican border? I think
+I'll go as a travelling hardware man, looking for orders for farm
+machinery--tractors and the like. I'll brush up a bit on the talk of
+the trade."
+
+Nat Ridley had a wide acquaintance in New York, and among them was a
+friend in the whole-sale hardware business. Putting on a new disguise
+from his office stock--making up to look like an inconspicuous office
+clerk, Nat left his headquarters and sought out Jabez Norman, the big
+hardware man.
+
+To the latter Nat explained enough of the matter to satisfy the natural
+curiosity of his friend, and then, for a day or so, Nat absorbed a
+lot of information about shovels, rakes, hoes, disk harrows, plows,
+tractors, and the like, together with trade and discount terms. He also
+managed to pick up a smattering of Spanish which was to stand him in
+good stead.
+
+Having gotten enough hardware knowledge, he thought, to serve him in a
+pinch, Nat began to put his affairs in shape so that he could leave for
+his Mexican trip. For he did not doubt but that he would have to cross
+the border.
+
+"These plotters and murderers probably slide back and forth over the
+line several times a week," the sleuth decided. "I must do the same."
+
+The publicity following the murder of Lemberg, the solution of which
+baffled the police, and the stir made by the attack on Nat and Berry in
+the Spanish club, seemed to have sent the Tolas to cover.
+
+During the time, after he had had the letters translated, when Nat was
+preparing to start for Paloma, there was no further attempt on the part
+of Ramon and his gang to interfere with the detective.
+
+The unfortunate Lemberg was buried and Nat made a last call on his
+widow, promising to do what he could to bring the murderers to justice.
+Mrs. Lemberg was not able to give any more clews than those which she
+had already furnished the sleuth.
+
+"My last word to you, though, Mr. Ridley," said Mrs. Lemberg as the
+detective was about to take his leave, "is to be on your guard."
+
+"I will," he replied.
+
+"You little know the desperate character of those men," she went on.
+"My husband did not realize it until too late, or he might be alive
+now."
+
+"They certainly are desperate and cunning," agreed Nat, as he reflected
+on the fact that, in spite of all his precautions and disguises,
+the Tolas had, in some manner, found out about his visit to the
+Club Tamalle, learned that he had the letters, and had made such a
+successful attempt to get them back. It was only by chance that the
+translations had been made before the window cleaner played his trick.
+
+"You shall hear from me," promised Nat as he bade Mrs. Lemberg a final
+good-bye.
+
+"I hope in person," she answered, with a wan smile. And there was
+meaning and emphasis in what she said.
+
+From her apartment Nat went to a railroad office where he bought a
+ticket and berth for Paloma. He thought he was well disguised and that
+he had come by such a roundabout route that none of the Mexican gang
+would be able to trail him.
+
+Yet when Nat emerged from the office he was sure a dark, swarthy man,
+shabbily attired, who shuffled around the corner, was a spy watching
+him.
+
+"I'll give him a run for his money!" decided the sleuth, with a grim
+look in his eyes.
+
+Nat pretended to be in a great hurry and hastened along the street head
+down, looking at some papers he took from his pocket. But out of the
+corner of his eyes, he was watching the shabby man and saw him prepare
+to do some shadowing. Then, when opposite the fellow, Nat turned
+suddenly, as though to go back, having forgotten something. But he
+deliberately collided with the spy, and with such force as to knock him
+into the gutter where there was a puddle of water.
+
+"Sorry!" exclaimed Nat. "You should look where you are going, my
+friend!" he added sharply.
+
+For a moment the fellow said nothing, though his face grew darkly red
+with rage. Then he cried out a Spanish imprecation, shook his fist at
+Nat while scrambling out of the puddle, and added:
+
+"Son of a pig!"
+
+"Ah, ah! Señor Ramon or one of his friends! I thought so!" chuckled
+Nat, and before the fellow could arise to follow, Nat slipped into an
+office building, went up in the elevator, down again and out through
+another entrance, thus effectually throwing the shadower off the trail.
+
+Yet with all his precautions and this strategic upsetting of one of his
+enemies, Nat Ridley felt that they were still on his trail, and he was
+more positive of it when he went to take the night train for Texas.
+
+Some might ask why Nat did not arrest this rascal and force him to
+confess. The answer is, the great detective knew that this could not be
+done. The secret society was too powerful--no member would say a word,
+not even when in the shadow of death. If a man thought to squeal, he
+well knew that, once at liberty, his life would pay the penalty.
+
+Tired out, Nat entered the sleeping car and was groping his way along
+the green-curtained aisle when the porter accosted him, asking the
+number of his berth.
+
+"Twelve," answered Nat.
+
+"Yais sah, dat's right! Lower twelve," and the colored bed-maker looked
+at Nat's ticket.
+
+"Lower twelve and upper twelve," said Nat, holding out a second coupon.
+
+"Upper twelve?" gasped the darkey. "Am dere two ob you?"
+
+"No, I'm traveling alone," replied Nat, with a smile. "But I always buy
+two berths, an upper and a lower. I don't like anyone above me."
+
+"Oh!" gasped the Porter. "Dat's too bad!"
+
+"What's odd about that?" asked Nat. "It's a whim of mine."
+
+"I wish I'd knowed dat, boss," the negro went on scratching his woolly
+head. "I didn't spect anybody had upper twelve, an' I jes' done put a
+gen'man in it."
+
+"Oh, did you?" asked Nat sarcastically. "Well, then you can just rout
+the gentleman out and leave that berth empty. I've paid for two and I'm
+going to have them. No one sleeps above me!"
+
+As he spoke the curtains of the upper berth parted and a dark face
+looked out.
+
+"Pardon, señor," said a man in soft Spanish accents. "But there is no
+other place vacant in the train, and if you are not going to use this
+berth I shall be glad to pay you for your lower one and also for this."
+
+"Nothing doing!" snapped Nat briskly. "That's my berth, and I'm going
+to have it."
+
+An ugly look came over the face of the man in upper twelve.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI
+
+                            A FREE SPENDER
+
+
+For perhaps ten seconds Nat Ridley stood in the aisle of the sleeper,
+looking at the man who confronted him from the upper berth. It was past
+midnight, and the passengers entering the train in the Pennsylvania
+Station went directly to bed or sat in the smoking compartment until
+ready to turn in, for the porter had all the sections made up.
+
+Then the Mexican, Spaniard, or whatever he was, let his eyes fall
+before the steady gaze of the detective and thrust one leg out over the
+edge of the berth.
+
+"I am sorry, señor," he began, but Nat was in no mood for polite
+rejoinder and merely remarked:
+
+"It's all right--not your fault so much as it is this porter's," and
+he nodded toward the Negro. "But I always travel this way--can't sleep
+with anyone above me, and I'm not going to begin now. I guess you can
+find another berth."
+
+"No, sah, boss--beggin' yo' pardon, we's full up!" exclaimed the
+porter. He saw that he had made a mistake and, looking to the tips in
+prospect--as well as to the bribe already pocketed--he tried to carry
+water on both shoulders and propitiate both travelers. "I's mighty
+sorry, boss," he went on to Nat, "dat I took one ob yo' two berths.
+I didn't s'pose any one man would want two, 'less he were twins. I
+figgered de clerk in de ticket office done make a mistake, an' so I
+told dis gen'men he could hab de upper."
+
+"I'm sorry; but he can't," said Nat, with finality.
+
+"I'll fix him up in de smokin' room," said the porter. "Come on, boss,"
+he continued. "I kin fix you a good bed."
+
+By this time the stranger was in the aisle, having climbed down the
+little ladder the porter brought for him. He had slipped a coat over
+his pajamas. He had evidently counted on a full night's sleep when Nat
+aroused him. The detective looked narrowly at the fellow, but his face
+was not familiar and Nat did not remember to have seen him before,
+either in the trio on the street near the cab containing the murdered
+body of Lemberg or in the Club Tamalle.
+
+"But if he isn't one of the Tola gang, he belongs to the same race, and
+I don't trust them--not now," decided Nat. "I don't want them sleeping
+above me."
+
+While the Mexican, with more murmured apologies, went to the other
+end of the sleeper, Nat piled his baggage into the upper berth and
+then sat down on the edge of the lower bed to think the matter out.
+Decidedly, he did not like what he had just discovered.
+
+"I think they're on my trail, in spite of all my precautions," mused
+the sleuth. "They must have spotted me in the ticket office, and they
+easily found out where I was going and what berth I had. Then this
+fellow probably bribed the porter to let him come in here. Well, I've
+spiked their guns for a time."
+
+But the more the detective thought it over the less he liked it, and he
+finally reached a decision that caused him to chuckle silently as he
+began to undress.
+
+Before stretching out Nat rang for the porter and said:
+
+"Don't worry, George, I won't hold it against you that you tried to get
+away with one of my berths. Here's a dollar, and when you get to the
+end of your run I may have another for you."
+
+"Dat's de kind of talk I likes t' heah, boss!" and the porter grinned
+from ear to ear.
+
+"But don't disturb me during the night, and make sure no one else
+does," warned Nat. "I've got a terrible temper when I'm awakened out of
+a sound sleep. See that I'm not disturbed."
+
+"Dat's what I'll do, boss. I suah will!"
+
+Then Nat went to sleep, first having taken the precaution of slipping
+his automatic under his pillow where it was ready to his hand. The
+train rumbled out beneath New York City, beneath the Hudson River, out
+over the Newark meadows and so toward the south and Texas. Nat Ridley
+slept, while, curled up none too comfortably on the leather seat in the
+smoking compartment was a dark-faced man whose scowl did not add to his
+looks. From time to time when alone he muttered something beneath his
+breath. But when the porter came in during the night, he always found
+his guest smiling.
+
+Morning came, and, with the dollar bill in mind, the porter did not
+call Nat Ridley, whose temper was so short when suddenly aroused. Not
+until every other passenger in the sleeper was up and dressed did the
+porter venture carefully to open the green curtains of lower twelve to
+say softly:
+
+"It will soon be brekfust time, sah!"
+
+There was no answer, and the window curtains were still down, shrouding
+the berth in gloom.
+
+"Does yo' still crave sleep?" asked the porter softly, as he reached
+forth a hand to shake, as he thought, the slumbering form. But his
+black fingers encountered nothing but bed clothing, and with an
+exclamation of surprise the porter swung back the curtains, letting
+in light enough to see that the berth was empty. The man who always
+traveled double had disappeared, bag and baggage.
+
+"Well, whut yo' know 'bout dat?" gasped the black fellow.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked the Mexican, pressing forward eagerly. "Has
+anything happened to the señor who was so selfish?" and from the cruel
+and crafty smile on the face of the man who had slept in the smoking
+compartment a close observer might have gathered that he would not
+greatly have minded had the "selfish" man died in his sleep.
+
+"He's done gone--dat's whut happened!" exclaimed the porter. "An' he
+done owes me a dollar! De nex' time I lays myse'f out----"
+
+But he checked himself suddenly and a grin replaced the scowl of his
+face as he reached down on the pillow and picked off a crisp dollar
+bill. Nat Ridley had not forgotten his promise.
+
+"But where is the señor--what has become of him?" asked the Mexican.
+
+"He mus' 'a' got off in de night," said the porter. "We made quite a
+stop at de junction, an' he mus' 'a' got off den. But he had a ticket
+clean through to Paloma," he added.
+
+"Yes, I know he did!" exclaimed the Spaniard.
+
+"Yo' knowed dat?" asked the porter suddenly.
+
+"Well--er--I think I heard him say he was going there," was the
+confused answer. "Why should he get off short of his destination?"
+
+"I dunno, 'less he couldn't sleep," chuckled the Negro. And then, as he
+kissed the dollar bill before putting it in his pocket, he added: "But
+I should worry! I got mine!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was a hot night in Paloma, Texas, and the temperature of the night
+appeared to have imparted something of its nature to what was going on
+in the Cordova Club, a resort much frequented by Americans as well as
+by Mexicans filtering over the border line.
+
+A jazz band was blaring out its most blaring music--a band composed, it
+would seem, of negroes, though in its advertisements the Cordova Club
+made much of its Spanish orchestra. There was a scurrying to and fro of
+waiters bearing tall glasses of cooling drinks, and it might be argued,
+other drinks, cooling in so far as ice was concerned, but which seemed
+composed of liquors that set the blood tingling.
+
+In other words, it was pretty freely whispered about in Paloma that
+much stronger "stuff" than the legal half of one per cent. was freely
+dispensed at the Cordova Club.
+
+It was what might be called a high class resort--that is, evening dress
+for the men and women predominated, though it was not absolutely
+required that a man have on his "soup and fish," or that women must be
+bared of arm and shoulder. But that was usual.
+
+Among others who sauntered into the gay and blaring club this hot night
+was a well-dressed man who seemed bubbling over with good nature. His
+evening clothes were worn with an air as if he put them on each night
+to saunter forth for hours of gay life, and he had that about him which
+caused the head waiter to hurry forward deferentially to ask:
+
+"How many, sir?"
+
+"I'm alone," was the smiling answer. "And I'd appreciate it, captain,
+if you could put me at a table with some gentlemen where I can enjoy
+myself."
+
+"Of a surety, señor," was the ready response. "I will place you among
+what we call the Bohemians."
+
+"Fine and dandy! That suits me right down to the ground!"
+
+A little later the well-dressed stranger was ushered into a circle
+of equally suitably attired men at a central table, near the dancing
+floor. As the head waiter left this stranger remarked:
+
+"I suppose there will be no objection if I order some bubble water for
+the crowd?"
+
+"Bubble water, señor?" questioned the waiter who had come up at a
+signal from the captain.
+
+"Champagne!" exclaimed the stranger. "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce
+myself," he went on. "Bill Brice is my name. I'm traveling for the
+National Hardware Corporation and I'm taking a night off. Will you
+oblige me by imbibing a bit of bubble water with me?"
+
+Would they? You should have seen their eyes sparkle at the mention of
+the sparkling wine. And the waiter, at a signal from his chief, hurried
+off to fill the order.
+
+Champagne for the whole table! It was seldom done, but----
+
+"He must be a free spender," one of the crowd remarked as they all gave
+their names to "Bill Brice" in return for his own. "Well, they can't
+come too free for me."
+
+Then the jazz band blared on, the glasses tinkled, and the champagne
+frothed while, in a quiet corner, a dark-faced man remarked softly:
+
+"So, he got here after all, did he? But when did he leave lower twelve
+and slip away from me? That is what I would like to know."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XII
+
+                              EL CAPITAN
+
+
+None of the parties in the Cordova Club was any more lively or gay
+than the one at the table where Bill Brice, of the National Hardware
+Corporation, sat buying champagne. There were songs in English and
+Spanish, though it must be admitted the Spanish ones were the best
+sung since, it developed, most of the men who were partaking of the
+hospitality of Bill Brice were Mexicans, though many claimed to be pure
+Castilians.
+
+"This is the life for me!" boasted Mr. Brice, who still had in front of
+him the same first glass of champagne he had ordered at the start of
+the evening. He had taken a single sip, when his new friends insisted
+on drinking his health, but thereafter the bubbles rose from the bottom
+of his glass unnoticed.
+
+One of the Mexicans, who had said he ran a moving picture theater in
+Paloma, noticed this and remarked on it.
+
+"I had plenty before I drifted in here," explained Mr. Brice, "and I
+find it sets better on my stomach if I smoke a bit between drinks, my
+friend."
+
+With that he pulled out a strong, black cigar and began puffing on it,
+blowing smoke rings to the no small admiration of his companions.
+
+The evening wore on, the band played louder, more men and women entered
+the club, and the waiters hurried here and there with their bootleg
+products, for so near was the Mexican border that the customs officials
+were hard put to prevent contraband being smuggled over the line.
+
+"This is the life!" exclaimed Mr. Brice more than once. "I'm about
+sick of the hardware line," he confided to his neighbor. "I wish there
+was some other way of making money. You wouldn't like to be selling
+tractors, plows, hoes and rakes all your life, would you?"
+
+"Of a surety not, señor," was the reply.
+
+"Maybe you make yours in some easier way?" suggested Mr. Brice. "Say
+oil wells, now."
+
+"Let us say oil wells," agreed the other, with a smile.
+
+"No, but seriously," went on the free spender, "are you in oil?"
+
+"I am, of a surety, señor."
+
+"And do you know where I could invest some money?"
+
+The eyes of the other gleamed as he answered:
+
+"Naturally. If you are interested----"
+
+But he broke off as a commotion at the entrance indicated something
+unusual going on, and a moment later a party of several men and women,
+headed by an individual who would attract attention anywhere, entered
+the club. He was a big, handsome, swarthy man, and he wore a uniform
+that became him well.
+
+"Is he the commander-in-chief of the Mexican army?" asked the man who
+had called himself Bill Brice.
+
+"That is El Capitan," was the answer.
+
+"Captain of what?"
+
+"He was of the army," was the reply. "But he is retired. It was he
+of whom I was about to speak when you mentioned investing in oil, my
+friend. He has large holdings, señor. El Capitan would be the one for
+you to know."
+
+"Then I'm going to cultivate his acquaintance," was the laughing
+comment. "And when Bill Brice goes cultivating, something grows," and
+he chuckled with easy good nature. "Could I meet this captain?"
+
+"He is called El Capitan, señor," said the other, making three, full
+syllables of the name. "He is also Martolo."
+
+"Martolo!" exclaimed Mr. Brice with such sudden energy that his
+companion stared at him in surprise and asked:
+
+"You know him already, then, señor?"
+
+"Oh, no--no," and the hardware man laughed and blew another ring of
+smoke. "But I have heard the name."
+
+The distinguished former soldier and his party were deferentially
+escorted to a table, and at once ordered champagne, so it would seem
+that Mr. Brice had done the proper thing.
+
+The evening wore on, the club becoming gayer and gayer, and the bottles
+of "bubble water," accumulating at the table of Mr. Bill Brice--but
+they were empty bottles. Meanwhile, he had talked further with Señor
+Valdez, his nearest neighbor, about investing in oil wells, and had
+received the promise of an introduction to El Capitan later in the
+evening.
+
+As a matter of fact, there was none of the evening left. It was long
+past midnight, but still the jazz band played on and the glasses
+tinkled while the dancing became more and more abandoned.
+
+"It is a good time now, I think," said Señor Valdez to the hardware
+man, "to have you meet El Capitan. He is in the mood."
+
+"Suits me," was the answer. "I sure do want to get out of the game of
+selling plows and tractors. It isn't my line."
+
+Mr. Bill Brice spoke truly, his line was detective work, and the free
+spender was none other than Nat Ridley. He had decided to take no
+chances in the sleeper and had slipped out at the junction, laying
+over until the next through train to Paloma, and, thereby, greatly
+surprising not only the porter, but the man who had unlawfully been in
+upper twelve.
+
+Many of these who had been at the table of Mr. Brice, or Nat Ridley,
+had by this time drifted away. The gay party was breaking up, but there
+were still congenial spirits in the club, and the center of life was
+now about the table of El Capitan.
+
+Thither Señor Valdez and Nat Ridley, known to the Mexican as "Bill
+Brice, a free spender," made their way, moving amid the dancers, the
+coming and going of guests and the rushing of eager waiters.
+
+El Capitan Martolo seemed very popular indeed. Someone was continually
+leaning over his shoulder, whispering in his ear, or pledging his
+health in a glass of champagne. Now and then men who glided in to speak
+to him glided out again as quickly, bent on some mission, it would seem.
+
+"El Capitan is a very busy man," commented Nat. "Very busy--with oil?"
+
+"With oil--and other interests," admitted Señor Valdez, with a smile.
+"If it pleases him to take you into his confidence you will be a lucky
+man."
+
+"I guess I'm pretty lucky, anyhow," returned Nat. "If I wasn't, I
+wouldn't be here."
+
+"You were in some danger, then, Señor Brice?"
+
+"Yes, you might call it that. But I'm generally able to take care of
+myself. I suppose there is trouble here now and then?" His voice was
+questioning.
+
+"Trouble? Of what sort, señor?"
+
+"Well, you know the prohibition authorities----"
+
+"Oh, they are a joke!" laughed Señor Valdez. "We never have any trouble
+from them. But it is true that, now and then, someone drinks not wisely
+but too well, and there is what you call a fracas."
+
+"Oh--a fracas," repeated Nat. "You mean shooting and all that?"
+
+"Yes. It is well that the señor is lucky. But to-night is a quiet one.
+Nothing will happen."
+
+Nat recalled that statement a little later and had to smile to himself
+as he did so, in spite of the seriousness of his situation.
+
+He and his new friend were almost at the table of El Capitan when
+a man, who seemed greatly excited, brushed his way none too gently
+through the press of persons and handed the former officer of the
+Mexican army a letter. At once a wild desire to see that note took
+possession of Nat Ridley, and he made up his mind he would get it.
+
+El Capitan read the missive through quickly--it was not long--and he
+was thrusting it into the side pocket of his coat, having directed the
+messenger with a nod to stand aside a moment, when Nat was brought up
+for introduction by his new friend.
+
+"He would like to invest in oil wells," said Señor Valdez.
+
+"Ah--oil wells? It takes much money," said El Capitan, with a smile, as
+he shook hands with Nat and the latter noted the powerful build of the
+Mexican.
+
+"Well, I happen to be pretty well fixed," Nat, with an easy air,
+replied. "And I'm tired of selling hardware. So, if you could put me
+wise to something in the game----"
+
+"Ah, yes, Señor Brice, it is a game!" declared the army man. "I have
+been in it some time, but there is yet much for me to learn. But I
+shall be glad to teach you."
+
+"Thanks, El Capitan," responded Nat. "I can't learn any too soon if I
+want to make anything. There are a lot of wells being put down now,
+aren't they?"
+
+"A few, Señor Brice, and I control some of them. Now, if you wish to
+talk business," and the Mexican's eyes gleamed, "I shall be happy to
+receive you at my office."
+
+At that moment El Capitan struck a match to light one of his strong
+cigarettes, and Nat at once pulled out another strong, black cigar,
+bit off the end and leaned over, very close to the Mexican, to take
+advantage of the occasion, murmuring:
+
+"A little of your fire, if you please, El Capitan?"
+
+"As much as you please, señor," was the gracious response, and
+Nat's hand went in a stealthy fashion he had learned from an expert
+pickpocket to the side pocket of the Mexican. When the detective leaned
+up the letter the messenger had brought had been transferred from one
+pocket to the other.
+
+There was further talk of oil wells, and Nat made a date with the big
+officer to talk more the following day, or rather, this same day, for
+it was now long past midnight.
+
+Excusing himself for a moment, the detective went to a washroom, where
+he took out the letter he had purloined. He wanted to read it before
+anything could happen.
+
+As he expected, when he unfolded it under the lights in the small
+anteroom, the missive proved to be in Spanish. But Nat had in the last
+week or so given himself enough mastery of the language to make out
+something of the contents of the note. He saw that it referred to the
+Lemberg family and to further plans for making them give up their title
+to the oil wells which were wanted to further the plans of the Tola
+gang.
+
+"I'm on the right track!" mused Nat as he thrust the letter back in his
+pocket to return to El Capitan. As he left the washroom the detective
+noticed the messenger who had brought in the note coming out after him,
+but he thought little of it at the moment.
+
+A little later Nat invited El Capitan to share a bottle of champagne
+with him, though the detective did not intend to drink any of the wine
+himself. It was while he was seated at the former officer's table that
+the messenger who had delivered the note approached. He made a sign to
+El Capitan and, at the same moment, spoke in Spanish. Nat looked up in
+time to see the messenger pointing what seemed to be an accusing finger
+at him.
+
+El Capitan shot out a sharp question, and there was a quick interchange
+of excited words. Then El Capitan turned to Nat and began:
+
+"It seems, señor, that you have----"
+
+"The fat's in the fire!" was the thought that rushed into Nat Ridley's
+mind.
+
+"Pardon," murmured a voice in Nat's ear. A hand touched his shoulder,
+and a man he had noticed drinking heavily at the captain's table
+confronted him. There was a Mexican girl, pretty in a bold sort of way,
+standing beside Nat's accoster, and the man went on: "This lady say you
+have insulted her!"
+
+"I have insulted her?" cried Nat, taken, naturally, by surprise. "I
+never saw her before and haven't even spoken to her!"
+
+"Nevertheless the señorita say you have given the insult," murmured the
+man, and there was a dangerous look in his eyes. "You must to me, her
+affianced, give satisfaction."
+
+"Oh, so that's the game, is it?" cried Nat. "Well, I----"
+
+At that moment a shot rang out from somewhere in the crowd back of the
+accuser. The first shot was followed by several others, and Nat dropped
+to the floor just as the lights began to go out.
+
+A moment later the place was in darkness and there were confused shouts
+and cries of alarm.
+
+"At their old tricks!" murmured the sleuth, as he began to crawl toward
+a flight of steps leading into the cellar from which the supply of wine
+was brought up and of which he had taken note earlier in the evening.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII
+
+                            IN THE DUNGEON
+
+
+Nat Ridley was doing some quick and hard thinking as he made his way
+like an eel along the floor toward the cellar stairs. He realized that
+he was in great danger, but he could not be certain that the shots
+fired had been aimed at him.
+
+"If those shots weren't for me, there would have been some coming my
+way in a little while," mused the sleuth. "That messenger was sharper
+than I thought. He spotted me with El Capitan's letter," and Nat's hand
+went to his pocket to make sure he still had the note. He also wanted
+to be certain that he had his automatic.
+
+"Tried to force a quarrel on me! That's what they did!" decided Nat as
+he hurried to the head of the stairs in the darkness. Fortunately he
+had noticed them well when the lights were on, as he had thought he
+might have to make use of them.
+
+"I wish I knew more Spanish," mused Nat, who was by this time at the
+head of the cellar steps. "I'd like to know just what El Capitan said
+when he heard the messenger give me away. Well, I'll have to let that
+go and save myself. Whew, they're going it in there!"
+
+Indeed, great excitement now prevailed in the main room of the night
+club. Several more shots were fired, but Nat knew now that the bullets
+could not reach him. He closed the door back of him and, not relishing
+going down unfamiliar stairs in the dark, he took out his flashlight.
+
+This he screened by holding it in his hand so that only the faintest
+glimmer came from between his fingers. But it was enough to enable him
+to see so he would not stumble.
+
+Nat expected to observe some of the club servants or habitués come
+running up the steps at any moment to ascertain what the excitement was
+about. But he saw no one, and the change from the noise of the main
+room to the comparative quiet of the cellar was a relief. Nat Ridley
+was not an admirer of jazz, and loved to be quiet.
+
+He reached the bottom step and noted that the cellar was a large one,
+extending in two directions from the flight of stairs. There were dim
+lights burning here and there, and in the distance Nat could hear the
+tinkle of glasses and bottles.
+
+"They must have private rooms down here, where they have all sorts of
+high jinks," reasoned the sleuth. "Well, I'll give it the once over."
+
+There was now no need of using his flashlight, for the cellar had its
+own illumination, though not of the brightest, and Nat did not want to
+make himself a conspicuous object by holding the little electric torch
+in his hand.
+
+He put it in his pocket and, making sure again that his automatic was
+in readiness, he stepped out and walked softly along the cement floor
+of the cellar.
+
+"Guess I'll give that merry party the once over," decided the detective
+as the noise of laughter, singing, and the tinkle of glasses and
+bottles became more distinct. "I might pick up some information."
+
+Keeping close to the wall and treading softly, at the same time casting
+a look behind him now and then to make sure he was not followed, Nat
+advanced toward that part of the cellar whence issued the noise of
+merrymaking.
+
+It came from what seemed to be a wine vault, but in which a table was
+set with food, and about this were grouped a number of men and women
+who were evidently servants of the club.
+
+At this hour of the morning their duties were pretty much over, and it
+was plain that they had gathered to enjoy, though in a more limited
+way, the same fun as that indulged in by the patrons upstairs.
+
+"I don't believe I care to mingle with them," thought Nat. "It might
+arouse suspicion. But it's queer they don't go up to see what all that
+row is over their heads."
+
+For the Cordova Club seemed undergoing a raid or something of that
+sort. Men and women were rushing about and occasionally a shot was
+fired. The band had stopped playing, and Nat could only account for the
+indifference of the servants on the assumption that they were used to
+all sorts of queer antics on the part of the jazz-mad patrons.
+
+"They don't want to mix in it," reasoned Nat.
+
+He turned aside from the room where the early morning meal was in
+progress, and started back the other way. As he turned a corner he
+collided, full tilt, with a man.
+
+In an instant Nat had his automatic out and pressed it against the
+stranger's ribs, with a whispered order to keep silent. But in the
+light that filtered around the turn in the corridor, the sleuth saw
+that he had little to fear from the unknown.
+
+He was an old man with white hair and a bent and stooped
+back--evidently an aged servant, perhaps the keeper of the hidden store
+of wine and liquor.
+
+"Pardon, señor," said the old man in a low voice. "It was my fault--I
+did not see you coming."
+
+"Nor I you," admitted Nat, glad that the fellow spoke English. Then
+with a happy thought the detective added: "El Capitan sent me----"
+
+He let the sentence end there. It was better not to be too explicit.
+And, in a manner of speaking, El Capitan had sent Nat to the cellar.
+For had not the messenger made the disclosure, and had not the former
+army officer made so threatening a gesture, Nat would still be upstairs.
+
+"Ah, El Capitan--yes, señor. He sends many down here. You are welcome."
+
+Nat was wondering what the answer was to this when the old man whom the
+detective had released from the first grip he had taken on his arm,
+walked away, making a sign to Nat to follow.
+
+"I wonder where he wants to take me?" mused the sleuth, and he was in
+half a mind to refuse to go. But then he wanted to get out of this
+cellar before those above discovered that he had come down, and he
+thought the old man might show him an exit.
+
+But the man had something else in view, for, muttering to himself, he
+led the way until he stopped before a small room fitted with a small
+table and two chairs. The table was set for a meal, though there were
+no viands on it.
+
+"Pleased to be seated, señor," invited the old man with a deferential
+bow. "I will order the food prepared. Doubtless the lady will be here
+soon?"
+
+It was a question, and Nat could not conceal his surprise as he asked:
+
+"What lady?"
+
+"Why, señor, the one you are to dine with."
+
+"I haven't any appointment to dine here with a lady," said Nat, with a
+grim smile. "There must be some mistake."
+
+"Pardon, señor, no mistake," murmured the old man. "El Capitan said he
+would send to me this evening an Americano who would dine in seclusion
+with a lady. I made ready this rendezvous, and you come. I but ask
+where the lady is."
+
+"And I tell you--" began Nat, and then he held his tongue. He began to
+see it now. Doubtless the Mexican had plans concerning another American
+and things had gone wrong. The old servant had naturally supposed Nat
+was the one expected.
+
+"Let it ride that way," decided the sleuth. "I may find out something
+this way. I'm taken for somebody else. Well, I'll play the game." Then
+to the old man he said: "The lady--she will be here soon. Get the food
+ready. And show me the way out--I mean how to emerge without the need
+of climbing the stairs."
+
+"Of a surety, señor, yes, there is another way out. See, you have
+but to press here," and he indicated a certain stone in the cellar
+wall, leaning against it. At once what seemed to be a section of the
+foundation swung back and a short flight of steps was disclosed.
+
+"So that's the way out?" asked Nat.
+
+"That is the way out, after one has dined here with the lady," said the
+old man, smiling.
+
+Nat watched him walk out and along the cellar, doubtless toward the
+kitchen, for the smell of cooking was plain to the nose of the sleuth.
+Nat looked about the room. Aside from the secret staircase, the opening
+to which had been closed, there was nothing about it different from
+other basement rooms, many of which are used in New York for night
+clubs.
+
+"All the same I want to see if I can work that secret door," murmured
+Nat. He found, to his satisfaction, that the operation was simple once
+it was known what stone to press, and he opened and closed the stone
+door.
+
+Then, desiring to make sure he was not being spied upon, the detective
+stepped outside the private room. He moved a little away from the
+entrance and as he did so he heard, near at hand, a girl's voice crying:
+
+"Oh, don't! Don't strike me again! I can't stand it!"
+
+The heavy tones of a negro woman snarled:
+
+"I's done got to beat yo' ef yo' don't sign dem papers for de captain!
+Stand up now an' take yo' medicine!"
+
+"No! No!" pleaded the other voice.
+
+Nat Ridley leaped into action. The voices seemed to come from behind
+the cellar wall, but he flashed his light and saw a heavy wooden door
+in the wall near the door of the private room.
+
+It was the work of but a moment for the detective to swing back the
+door, which was closed but not locked, and then he found himself
+looking into a veritable stone dungeon, in the middle of which knelt a
+beautiful, blonde girl.
+
+Standing over her, with a blacksnake whip upraised, was a powerful
+negro wench.
+
+"Don't! Don't beat me again!" pleaded the girl. But the lash fell with
+stinging force across her back.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV
+
+                               THE BOMB
+
+
+"Stop!" cried Nat Ridley in a ringing voice as he leaped forward and
+stood in the circle of light cast by an electric bulb suspended from
+the ceiling.
+
+"Stop!" he cried again, and the Negress who had raised the lash let
+it fall as she turned in astonishment to look at the intruder. "Hit
+her again," hissed Nat in a low voice, "and I'll tie you up, you black
+wench, and cut you into ribbons with that same whip!" It was no time
+for polite talk, the sleuth reasoned.
+
+"Oh, save me! Save me!" pleaded the girl, and she started to crawl
+toward Nat, for she had slumped over at the first blow.
+
+"I'll save you all right!" returned Nat grimly, as he took out his
+automatic. "What is it all about, anyhow?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know! I was kidnapped a few days ago and brought here to
+this terrible place! Some Mexicans visited me several times and wanted
+me to sign some papers. When I wouldn't they said they would make me.
+And this is the beginning of that, I suppose," the girl sobbed.
+
+"What sort of papers did they want you to sign?" asked Nat, wondering
+if he was going to be involved in another mystery. The double dagger
+and the oil wells were enough for one man at a time, he thought.
+
+"They were papers--" began the girl, when the Negress who had backed
+away at Nat's entrance seemed to recover her courage. She lurched
+forward and snarled:
+
+"Keep yo' mouth shet, white girl, ef yo' wants to see daylight ag'in.
+Don't talk!"
+
+"Don't mind her," advised Nat. "I am here to help you if I can."
+
+His interference seemed to anger the Negress, for she took a step
+nearer her captive, again raising the lash as she exclaimed:
+
+"White man, ef yo' knows whut's good fo' yo', beat it!"
+
+Before the lash could fall Nat Ridley leaped at the hideous black
+creature and tore it from her grasp. He brought it down with stinging
+force across her shoulders, causing her to scream with pain and rage.
+
+The next moment Nat had put his hand over her mouth, for he did not
+want her to give the alarm. With the other hand he caught up a rag he
+saw on the floor and in a trice had gagged the Negress.
+
+"Oh, to think I am no longer in her power!" murmured the girl, who rose
+to her feet and sat down in one of the chairs. "Can you help me get out
+of here?"
+
+"I'm going out myself," declared Nat, "and I'll take you with me. So
+that's your game, is it?" he exclaimed as, having gagged the black
+woman he leaped aside in time to escape a kick from one of her big feet
+clad in a heavy shoe. "Well, I know a trick worth two of yours."
+
+A skillful motion of his foot and he had tripped the wench. She fell
+heavily and before she could roll over Nat had tied her hands and feet,
+with the long lash of the black snake whip. Then he rolled her into a
+corner and proceeded to take stock of the dungeon and the girl captive
+he had saved.
+
+"How strong you are!" murmured the girl, clasping her hands. "I never
+thought I would be saved. You came in the nick of time."
+
+"You have to--in this business!" returned Nat grimly. "Now then, if you
+can tell me something about yourself and why you were brought here,"
+he went on, "I may be better able to help you. We can't stay here too
+long. I expect some of that crowd will be down before long, looking for
+me," and he pointed upward. The noise of the crowd in the Cordova Club
+was still audible, though, as yet, none of those from above seemed to
+have come down into the basement.
+
+"My name is Cora Ardell," said the girl, who had recovered some of her
+composure. "I live in New York, but for the past six months I have been
+acting as a stenographer and typist for my cousin in Rolamotaza."
+
+"In Mexico?" asked Nat, as he recognized the name of the town, and also
+recalled having seen the name Ardell in some of the Lemberg reports.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What line of business is your cousin in?" asked Nat.
+
+"He was in the oil business--he owned oil wells," replied Miss Ardell.
+"But he doesn't any more."
+
+"Did he sell out?"
+
+"He was killed," was the simple answer.
+
+"Was your cousin's name Carl Lemberg?"
+
+"Why, yes!" exclaimed the girl in surprise. "How did you know!"
+
+"No matter--please answer my questions," said Nat.
+
+"He is my cousin, surely," Miss Ardell answered. "But I didn't mean him
+when I said he was killed. I was speaking of his brother Henry. They
+are both my cousins, of course. But Carl wasn't killed."
+
+"I am sorry to inform you that he was--a few days ago," said Nat gently.
+
+"What, Carl killed too?" burst out Cora Ardell. "Oh, how terrible! How
+did it happen?"
+
+"By the double dagger," whispered Nat, so the negress would not hear.
+
+"The double--" began the girl.
+
+"Hush!" cautioned the sleuth. "She may be listening. Yes, Carl Lemberg
+was murdered in New York by the double-dagger gang. They killed Henry,
+didn't they, and also August Lemberg?"
+
+"They were both murdered. That is all I know," said the girl. "They had
+bought some oil wells in Mexico and, as I was out of a position in New
+York, they offered me a good one here. So I came on. Then everything
+seemed to happen at once. For several days I noticed that my cousin and
+his uncle were worried about certain letters they received. But the
+business went on and was paying well. They gave me some shares in the
+oil wells in addition to my salary.
+
+"Then, suddenly, one day, Henry Lemberg was killed. He was found
+stabbed to death in a lonely place. The police said Mexican bandits had
+done it. I didn't know what to do. I was getting afraid. Then August
+was killed in much the same way."
+
+"Did the Mexican police do anything?" asked Nat.
+
+"They came and asked a lot of questions and went through a lot of
+motions," the girl replied, "but it didn't amount to anything. Then
+some of the young men clerks, who had also come from New York with
+me to work for my cousin, sent word to Carl in New York and he had a
+detective come down to try to catch the murderers. Well, the detective
+came, and----"
+
+"His name was Dan Steele, wasn't it?" asked Nat softly.
+
+"Yes. How did you know?" and Cora Ardell looked at her questioner with
+widely opened eyes.
+
+"It is my business to know," remarked Nat. "And poor Steele was also
+murdered; wasn't he?"
+
+"Yes! Oh, yes!" There was a tearful catch in her voice. "Oh, who are
+you, anyhow?" she asked, gazing searchingly at Nat. "How do you know
+all these things? Who are you and how did you come just in time to
+rescue me from that horrible Negress?"
+
+"In answer to the first questions," Nat replied, still speaking almost
+in a whisper, "I will say that I happen to know about the killing of
+Dan Steele because he was my friend, and, just before his own murder,
+your cousin Carl engaged me to ferret out the men who had killed his
+uncle and his brother."
+
+"Then you are a--" began the girl.
+
+But Nat, motioning to the bound wench, made a sign of caution. But he
+saw that Cora had guessed his profession.
+
+"Now tell me," went on Nat, "and I must know in order to decide in what
+way to act, how did you happen to come here?"
+
+"I was kidnapped and brought here."
+
+"By whom, how, and when?"
+
+"I don't know by whom," the girl answered. "But it was about a week ago
+and this is how it happened."
+
+"Tell me all the circumstances that occur to you," urged Nat. "A point
+that seems small to you may loom large to me. Omit nothing."
+
+"There isn't really very much to tell," Cora said. "After Henry Lemberg
+was killed--murdered I suppose I should say--there was much confusion
+in the office. This was doubled when a few days later his uncle was
+stabbed to death. The whole office force was thrown into a state of
+terror, for we thought a race war had broken out.
+
+"We didn't know how to attend to business, and there was much to be
+done, for the oil wells turned out to be more valuable than was at
+first supposed. You know my cousins had some wells of their own and
+also bought others in which certain Mexicans had interests. These
+last wells were not thought to be worth much, but after the Mexicans'
+interests had been purchased by my cousins and the Mexicans had left,
+these wells proved worth more than all the others put together."
+
+"So I heard," remarked Nat.
+
+"Well," resumed the girl, "you can imagine what a state the business
+was in after the two murders. Then Mr. Steele came down to help us
+straighten things out. But in a short time he was killed. Then terror
+seemed to take possession of all the young men clerks who had been
+brought from New York to help with the office business, and they packed
+up and went back to the United States."
+
+"What did you do?" asked Nat.
+
+"Why, I stayed on and did what I could to save my cousin's business!"
+exclaimed Cora, with spirit. "I wasn't afraid until--until----"
+
+"Well, until what?" asked Nat, as she hesitated.
+
+"Until one day I received a card on which was scrawled a warning to
+leave the country," said the girl in a whisper. "I was told that I
+would have a week, after that----"
+
+"Well, after that?" encouraged Nat.
+
+"There was no direct threat," said Cora. "In place of words was the
+picture of a double dagger."
+
+"I thought so!" exclaimed Nat. "The sign of the Tola gang. I take it
+you didn't desert?" he asked.
+
+"No. I telegraphed Carl in New York, asking what to do. I wanted to
+save the business if I could, for I had an interest in it, and I knew
+the families of the murdered men might be in want. The oil wells are
+very valuable."
+
+"I believe so," agreed Nat.
+
+"But before I could get word back from Carl," resumed Cora, "one night
+I was called to the door of my boarding place with a Mexican family. I
+was told someone wanted to see me. I thought it was a business message.
+But as soon as I went out of the house I was seized in the dark, a
+blanket was thrown over my head, I was put in an auto, and the next I
+knew I was brought here. Since then I have been kept a prisoner, and
+several times Mexicans whom I did not know have come here with papers
+they wanted me to sign."
+
+"Which you didn't do?" asked Nat.
+
+"No; and I never will! They put the Negress over me as a guard, and
+yesterday they gave me what they said was the last warning. It was to
+the effect that unless I signed the papers I would be lashed with the
+whip until I did. Just before you came one of the Mexicans was down
+here, and, when I refused, he told the woman to get the whip. I--I
+guess you saw the rest," and Cora finished with a little sob.
+
+"I saw the rest!" declared Nat, with a grim look in his eyes. "And I'm
+going to have a hand in the rest. Now if you are able to come----"
+
+He interrupted himself to listen. The noise upstairs seemed to have
+quieted down, but there were audible footsteps coming along the
+stone-paved floor of the cellar. Nat arose and drew his gun.
+
+"What is it?" asked Cora in a whisper.
+
+"I don't know," was his answer. "But it is best to be ready for them.
+Get behind me."
+
+The girl moved into a position of safety just as a big husky Negro
+followed by two Mexicans entered the dungeon. They appeared surprised
+at what they saw--the wench bound in a corner and a calm white man
+guarding the girl prisoner.
+
+"Who is yo'?" leered the colored man.
+
+"What business is that of yours?" countered Nat Ridley.
+
+"I'll soon show yo' what business I has, white man!" shouted the Negro.
+"Come on, boys!" he called to his Mexican companions.
+
+Nat Ridley hastily made a plan. Reaching back, he took hold of Cora's
+hand and whispered from the corner of his mouth:
+
+"Be ready to follow me! We're going out of here!"
+
+The Negro man seemed to anticipate that something was coming, for he
+lurched forward, farther into the dungeon, and cried:
+
+"Get around him, boys! Knife him ef he tries any rough stuff, but doan
+hurt de lady." Evidently the Mexicans understood English, for they
+nodded and separated, intending to take Nat one on each flank, while
+the Negro made a frontal attack.
+
+But suddenly the detective and Cora, who kept close to him, made a leap
+to pass between the Negro and the Mexican on the left of the detective.
+At the same moment Nat pretended to look behind, and over the heads of
+the trio, as if seeing a rescue party and he cried loudly:
+
+"You're just in time, Jake! Take 'em from the back and shoot to kill!"
+
+The ruse worked perfectly, for the Negro and the Mexicans turned,
+expecting to see a rescue party. At that moment Nat made a rush,
+pulling Cora after him, and, safely reaching the door of the dungeon,
+passed between the Negro and one of his helpers.
+
+Turning like a flash, Nat sent a bullet through the dangling electric
+light. He then pulled shut the door of the dungeon.
+
+"That will give us a few seconds start," he said to Cora. "Come on!"
+
+"Do you know your way out?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," he answered. "There is a secret stair."
+
+He hurried back to the private room where there was to have been a
+quiet supper for two. The various corridors of the underground part of
+the club were still lighted.
+
+Nat and his companion entered the room. Further preparations for the
+meal had been made, for there was food on the table, but no sign of the
+aged servant.
+
+"Now to escape!" cried Nat.
+
+He pressed the stone that operated the door to the secret stair, and
+watched it slowly opening. But as the opening widened several loud
+shouts and screams of fear came from above.
+
+The next moment there was a heavy explosion, as of a bomb, and a shower
+of bricks, stones and mortar fell upon Nat and the girl. There were
+a succession of grinding, crashing sounds, and then came darkness in
+which Nat and his companion seemed buried under an avalanche of dirt
+and stones.
+
+Nat Ridley felt a stinging blow on his head, and then he knew no more.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV
+
+                               IN HIDING
+
+
+The detective seemed to be walking down a long, dark lane, at the end
+of which he saw a faint glimmer of light. The light hurt his eyes as it
+grew brighter and the radiance increased as he came nearer to what, at
+last, seemed to be the rising sun.
+
+Then, as the pain in his head and eyes became almost unbearable with
+the nearness of the light, which appeared to sting and burn him, Nat
+Ridley became aware that he was staring at the rising sun--a ball of
+golden fire--which shone full in his face, coming through a hole in a
+pile of stones. Nat found himself half reclining on some burlap bags
+and, as he tried to sit up, he became aware of a soft hand gently
+pressing him back while a voice said:
+
+"You had better lie quiet a little longer."
+
+"What happened? Who are you?" asked Nat. Then he saw Cora Ardell
+looking at him. Her face was grimy and there was a smear of blood on
+it. But she was still beautiful.
+
+"Oh, now I remember," observed Nat haltingly. "We were in the dungeon
+and there was some sort of explosion."
+
+"A bomb went off upstairs in the club, I guess," said Cora. "The top
+of the cellar fell down on us just as you were going to lead me up the
+secret stairway."
+
+"That's it!" exclaimed Nat, as memory came back to him. He moved his
+legs and arms, and found, aside from some bruises and stiffness, that
+he was suffering but little. No bones were broken, but there was still
+that terrible pain in his head. He put his hand to it and felt a large
+lump.
+
+"A stone fell on you there, and you were knocked out," explained the
+girl.
+
+"Then how did I get here?" asked Nat, for he looked about him and saw
+that he was lying in a sort of tunnel of stone, with open country just
+beyond. "How did I get here, out of the cellar?"
+
+"I dragged you here," Cora answered.
+
+"What, you--alone?"
+
+"Oh, I am stronger than you think," she went on, with a wavering smile.
+"And you know it is easier to drag a person than to carry him. I don't
+believe I could have carried you--in fact, I know I couldn't have done
+that. But it was comparatively easy after I'd rolled you over on a pile
+of bags, to keep the stones from hurting you--it was comparatively
+easy to make a rope of some other bags and haul you along."
+
+"But how did you get me up the stairs?" asked Nat.
+
+"There weren't any stairs left after the explosion," Cora replied.
+"They tumbled down and made a sort of a runway."
+
+"And you ran up it with me?" questioned Nat, smiling now, as the pain
+in his head, caused partly by the rush of blood following a return to
+consciousness, began to ease.
+
+"I didn't do much running," confessed the girl. "I had to do a lot of
+pulling and hauling. But at last I got you this far and I thought we
+had better stay here. I couldn't tell who might be after you--and me."
+
+"I guess they'll be after both of us," admitted Nat. "I may as well
+tell you now that I am a detective who was engaged by your cousin to
+solve this mystery, just before he, himself, was killed by the Tolas.
+There is something terrible about their vengeance!"
+
+"I had begun to believe so," admitted Cora. "What are we to do?"
+
+"That will need to be considered," returned Nat. "First, though, let me
+thank you for saving my life."
+
+"Oh, I don't believe I did that."
+
+"Yes you did!" insisted the detective. "It would have been only a
+question of time when those Mexicans would have come down in the ruined
+cellar to look for me. El Capitan had reason for wishing me out of the
+way. I had a letter of his," and Nat put his hand in his pocket and
+took out the purloined missive which was still there.
+
+"El Capitan!" murmured the girl.
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"I heard the men who kidnapped me speaking of him," Cora answered. "He
+is the leader, it seems."
+
+"I guessed as much," answered Nat. "Well, so far, we are out of his
+clutches. Did you see what happened to the two Negroes and their
+Mexican friends?"
+
+"No. After the explosion everything was dark. But I found a flashlight
+in your pocket, and when I saw you were alive, but unconscious, I
+started to get you out of the cellar. I went up the place where the
+stairs had been, and then I thought this would be a good hiding spot."
+
+"They haven't found us here yet, at any rate," Nat said. "Though it
+will be only a question of time, I suppose. It is morning, I take it."
+
+"There is the rising sun," Cora confirmed him. "It is breakfast time,
+but we have nothing to eat."
+
+"And I think we would both be a bit better off for something," stated
+Nat. "I'm feeling much better now," he went on as he arose and stood
+up, for the tunnel, in which he had returned to consciousness, was high
+enough for this. He walked around and was quite himself again.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Cora as she saw him walking back toward
+the incline of ruined stairs up which, at more cost and toil then she
+admitted, she had dragged him.
+
+"I'm going to see if I can rustle some grub, as the saying is,"
+admitted Nat.
+
+"You mean to go back into that dangerous place?" the girl gasped.
+
+"I don't believe it will be particularly dangerous now," Nat answered.
+"That is, unless it collapses on me, and I guess all the stones that
+were to fall have come down."
+
+"I was thinking of that Negro and the Mexicans."
+
+"Oh, they're gone!" declared Nat. "You can make up your mind that after
+such an explosion as that the Paloma police are on the job. We seem to
+be quite a little distance away from the Cordova Club, but I imagine
+the place is mostly in ruins and there is probably a cordon of police
+around it now."
+
+"Then why not appeal to them?" the girl inquired.
+
+Nat Ridley shook his head, then stopped suddenly, for the pain shot
+back.
+
+"No," he said. "It is best to let the Tola gang think we perished in
+the ruins. If we went to the police it would soon be known. We will lie
+low for a time--remain here in hiding. When you're campaigning against
+an enemy," he went on, "the more you can fool and puzzle and keep him
+guessing the better. We'll let those Tolas think we're out of the
+running and then we'll jump in again when they least expect it."
+
+"Then you mean to stay here for a while?"
+
+"Until after dark, at least. We can go out then in comparative safety.
+But we'll need some water to drink and some food. There was the
+start of a supper in that room of the secret stairs just before the
+explosion. I think I can get enough to put us over until night."
+
+"I would like some water," admitted Cora.
+
+"And you need food," added Nat. "You stay here. I won't be gone long."
+
+"Be careful!" she begged him. "These are terrible men!"
+
+He nodded, and then crawled over the uneven pile of stones until he had
+found the inclined runway up which he had been dragged. When he saw it
+he marveled that the girl could thus have hauled him to a safe hiding
+place.
+
+Waiting and listening to make sure the way was clear, and hearing
+nothing, Nat Ridley made his way down into what, before the explosion,
+had been the room where the aged servant had greeted him. The table
+was tipped over and split, rocks and concrete having fallen on it,
+but from the heap of débris the sleuth managed to salvage some food.
+Fortunately, he also found an earthen jar of clean water. With this he
+returned to find Cora anxiously waiting for him.
+
+"I--I thought something happened to you," she faltered.
+
+"Enough has happened, and probably a lot more will," replied Nat
+lightly. "But I'm all right for the present. Let's eat!"
+
+The sun rose higher, moving away so that the golden beams no longer
+penetrated the tunnel. The two examined their hiding place and
+concluded that the tunnel was the secret egress from the Cordova Club
+cellar--an exit used in times of trouble.
+
+Nat was considering what his next move would be, and Cora was putting
+away what food was left, in readiness for the next meal, when there was
+a rattle of fallen stones and a form darkened the hole of the tunnel.
+
+"Someone is coming!" whispered the girl.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI
+
+                           ON TO ROLAMOTAZA
+
+
+A number of little caves and caverns had been formed in the tunnel with
+its partial collapse, and Nat Ridley, hearing the approach of someone
+at the outer end and seeing the darkening of the shaft, acted quickly.
+
+"In here!" he whispered to Cora as he guided her into one of the caves.
+He thrust himself in after her and the two remained there, scarcely
+daring to breathe. They listened anxiously and heard voices talking in
+Spanish.
+
+"I wish I knew what they were saying," whispered Nat. "I can understand
+some Spanish, and read it and write it, but I want to make no mistake
+about what they are saying."
+
+"I can tell you," and the girl's voice was as low as his own. "I
+studied the language before taking this position."
+
+"Good! What are they talking about?"
+
+Cora listened while the voices went on--two of them--and the sound of
+footsteps could be heard penetrating the tunnel.
+
+"One said," reported the girl, "that it was useless to look in here
+for that pig of a Bill Brice, the hardware man. I don't know who they
+mean."
+
+"I do," chuckled Nat. "They mean me."
+
+"But I thought you said your name was Nat Ridley?"
+
+"I assumed a disguise to come here, and also took another name," the
+detective replied. "I was Bill Brice for a time."
+
+"Then they are looking for you?"
+
+"So it seems. But what else are they saying?"
+
+Cora listened further and once more whispered:
+
+"One seems to think you might be in here and the other doesn't." There
+was a further exchange of excited Spanish talk and Cora added: "There,
+the one who says it would be useless to search in here has his way
+about it--they are going off."
+
+"Good!" softly exclaimed Nat. "I'd hate to have another fight on my
+hands," and he put his automatic back in his pocket.
+
+The two, crouched in the hole amid the shattered stones, listened and
+heard the searchers retreating. They had come only a little way into
+the tunnel.
+
+"I guess we're safe now," murmured Nat. "If no more come until after
+dark, we'll be out of here."
+
+"Where are we to go?" the girl asked.
+
+"That is something which must be considered," decided Nat. "I must
+learn more about the double dagger crowd before I will be in a position
+to arrest any of them. El Capitan is the leader, I think, but I am not
+sure. As soon as I get out of here I'll make up a little different and
+scout around. As for you----"
+
+"They will probably be on the lookout for me," interrupted Cora. "Oh, I
+am so afraid they will kidnap me again!"
+
+"They probably would attempt to get Cora Ardell into their power,"
+admitted Nat. "But I fancy they will have no use for Miss Belle
+Stanton, the sister of James Stanton, who has come here looking for a
+ranch to buy."
+
+"Who is James Stanton?" she asked.
+
+"I am going to be," chuckled Nat. "And you are going to be my
+sister--that is, if you have no objections."
+
+"Of course, I haven't. I need a brother--very much!" and she smiled
+wanly at him as they moved back toward the exit of the tunnel where the
+air was fresher.
+
+"Then this is my plan," went on the detective. "When we go out of here,
+which we will do after night falls, we will so alter our appearances
+as to look like a man seeking to buy a ranch and his sister who is
+accompanying him. We will find a quiet boarding place where I can leave
+you while I scout around a bit."
+
+"But how can you disguise me and yourself?" asked Cora.
+
+Nat took from his pocket a small but very complete make-up box, such as
+those used by moving picture actors, and explained how he could change
+Cora's face and his own.
+
+"Our clothes won't matter greatly," he said. "But I can change mine a
+bit, and I should think, by sort of pinning up your skirt on one side,
+perhaps making some flounces or ruffles in it----"
+
+"Oh, how did you know so much about dresses?" asked Cora, with a laugh.
+
+"I was married--once," Nat answered in a low voice. "My wife died when
+my son was a little fellow."
+
+"Oh, I am sorry--forgive me!"
+
+"It is all right," Nat said. "Now to business."
+
+They talked over their plans, and Cora told more, as she remembered it,
+about the Tola gang. Nat made mental notes of her information. The day
+wore on, and no more intruders came to the ruined tunnel. The exit from
+it appeared to be removed some distance from the Cordova Club--or what
+was left of that organization's headquarters after the bomb explosion.
+
+The two ate again, and drank some more of the water, which kept cool
+owing to the evaporation properties of the porous jar in which it was
+contained.
+
+Then as the glow of the sunset was fading, Nat began to disguise
+himself and the girl, making a much better job of it than was to be
+expected under the circumstances.
+
+When it was dark the two went out of the tunnel, first having made an
+observation that showed that the way was clear. They found themselves
+near a narrow street, or rather, an alley, that led to the main
+thoroughfare on which the club was, or had been, situated.
+
+"Let's stroll past and see it," proposed Nat.
+
+"Suppose they discover us?"
+
+"In cases like this the bold way is the best," declared Nat. "They
+would never look for us at the very place where they had had you a
+prisoner. Come on--it will be perfectly safe."
+
+It was. The clubhouse was not as greatly damaged as Nat and Cora had
+feared, but it was put out of use as a club, temporarily at least,
+and, as the detective had surmised, the police were in charge. The two
+made their way through the curious throng, but there was no sign of El
+Capitan or any of his men.
+
+A little later "James Stanton" and his sister had secured lodgings in a
+quiet boarding house, and Nat, venturing back to the hotel where he had
+left his baggage, claimed it.
+
+He asked the landlady's daughter to go out to buy some clothes for
+Cora, explaining that he and his sister had come away in a hurry, and
+there seemed to be no thought but that everything was all right.
+
+Having told Cora not to worry, Nat, in his new character, went
+scouting about town that evening, frequenting several places where,
+so he learned, Mexicans, both Spanish and Indian, fond of nightlife,
+congregated. In one way and another he picked up considerable
+information about oil wells in general and the Lemberg wells in
+particular.
+
+"But I wouldn't advise anybody to take stock in those wells," said a
+grizzled plainsman for whom Nat bought some liquid refreshment while
+the sleuth himself indulged in a black cigar.
+
+"Why not?" asked Nat. "Not that oil is my line," he added. "I want a
+ranch."
+
+"And, as I told you," said his companion, "I can put you on to some
+bargains in that business. But if any of your friends are thinking of
+buying oil shares, let them lay off the Lemberg derricks."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because it ain't healthy," was the answer. "Too many folks connected
+with those wells have passed out."
+
+Nat was interested, but could glean little of real value from
+his informant except in a general way, which confirmed his first
+suspicions. The Tola gang, either from motives of guarding ancient
+rights or for more worldly reasons, since the borings had proved of
+such great value, wanted back the wells they had sold.
+
+But certain things which Nat picked up caused him to go to the local
+telephone exchange a little later that evening, where he put in a long
+distance call for New York. He knew his talk would not be overheard
+or cut in on by any outside person if he talked from a booth in the
+telephone office.
+
+Presently Nat was speaking to Berry Todd and giving that somewhat
+surprised sleuth some instructions, part of which were to be conveyed
+to Baldy Stoler.
+
+"Are you all right, Chief?" Berry wanted to know.
+
+"So far," was all Nat said. "I'm counting on you now!"
+
+"And you won't count in vain!" Berry assured him. "We'll soon join you."
+
+When Nat got back to the boarding house he found a note under his door.
+It was from Cora and said:
+
+"When you come in, no matter what time it is, slip a note under my door
+saying you are safe. I shall not be asleep."
+
+Nat smiled and scribbled on a leaf of his notebook, going out into the
+hall to slip it under the girl's door. As he did so he thought he saw
+a figure slinking away down the corridor--the figure of a man who
+seemed to have been listening at the girl's door.
+
+In a flash, all of Nat's suspicions returned, and he hurried to the
+head of the stairs. But there was no one in sight and he thought he was
+mistaken and that it might have been either the landlady, her daughter,
+or one of the maids making a usual round of the house to see that all
+was right.
+
+As Nat slipped the bit of paper under the door he heard Cora's voice
+asking:
+
+"Are you all right?"
+
+"Quite so," he replied. "And you?"
+
+"All right. Only I fancy someone is watching outside my window."
+
+"Imagination," said the sleuth in a whisper. "You're all right. Go to
+sleep."
+
+Nat slept soundly, so soundly in fact that he had to be called by the
+landlady. He had left a message when going out in the evening, that if
+he was not stirring by eight o'clock he was to be roused. But he was a
+little surprised when he heard the woman's voice saying:
+
+"It is after eight, sir!"
+
+"I'll be right down to breakfast!" Nat said.
+
+"Is my sister up?"
+
+"Your sister isn't in her room, nor has she been down to breakfast,"
+said the landlady. "Perhaps she went out for an early morning walk.
+None of us have seen her."
+
+Nat stifled an exclamation of alarm that rose to his lips, and,
+hurrying into his clothes, went to Cora's room. She was not in it, and
+there was some indication of confusion about the apartment. The bed had
+not been slept in, but there was evidence that the girl had stretched
+out on it without turning back the covers. It seemed she had not
+undressed.
+
+"She's gone!" exclaimed Nat.
+
+"Has anything happened?" asked the landlady.
+
+"I--I'm afraid so," was the answer. "Was there any disturbance in the
+night--I mean here in your house?"
+
+"I heard you come in," volunteered the landlady, "and then I heard you
+go into your sister's room. I heard you talking, and then some time
+later I thought I heard you and her going out."
+
+"I didn't go into her room," said Nat, trying not to show his
+excitement. "I spoke to her from outside, that was all. Then I went to
+bed. But she is gone--she must have gone out after I was asleep."
+
+"Then she went out with some man," said the woman.
+
+"Rather, some man took her out!" cried Nat. "I see it now! They have
+kidnapped her again, the scoundrels! I thought I saw someone spying at
+her door when I came in. I wish I had searched farther than I did. Yes,
+they have kidnapped her again!"
+
+"This is terrible!" gasped the landlady. "I will call the police!"
+
+"No!" Nat stopped her with a gesture. "I will handle this case without
+the police. I'm a detective."
+
+He told the excited landlady enough to satisfy her, pledged her to
+secrecy, and then began to examine Cora's room. One of the first things
+he found was the note he had written her. But scrawled on the back,
+though not in Nat's writing was the one word--_Rolamotaza_.
+
+"It's a clew she left for me!" mused the sleuth. "The Tola gang have
+taken her there. Well, it's me for Rolamotaza as fast as a train can
+take me! The devils! They get ahead of me every time!"
+
+A few hours later Nat Ridley was headed for the Mexican city where the
+Lemberg oil wells were located.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII
+
+                            INTO THE HILLS
+
+
+Sun-bronzed and wind-tanned, a lone cowboy rode a pinto pony along the
+stretch of sand and sagebrush. Now and then, from beneath the flapping
+brim of his sombrero, he looked at the faint trail ahead of him, and
+now and then he raised the red handkerchief about his neck and wiped
+his perspiring face.
+
+"It's a darn long way from here to Times Square," mused the lone
+cowboy. "But I've got to go through with it now. Go 'long there, you
+pinto!" he called encouragingly to his steed, and the pony increased
+its ambling pace.
+
+The sun grew hotter and hotter. It was toward the close of a hot
+afternoon, and Mexico, the Mexico of the plains, was never noted for
+coolness.
+
+Presently the rider pulled his horse to a stop and slung around in
+front of him the canvas covered canteen that had been bobbing against
+the pinto's flanks and, as he took out the cork and tilted some of the
+warm, brackish contents down his throat, he murmured:
+
+"Sorry, pony, that there isn't some for you, but there's hardly a
+hollow tooth full for me. But we may strike the city soon."
+
+The pinto whinnied teasingly as it caught the whiff of water, but there
+was none for it and the cowboy had soon urged his animal on again. But
+presently he stopped once more, looked long and earnestly at the trail
+before him and remarked:
+
+"A sign of life at last. Now if this is somebody besides a Mex maybe I
+can get some information. Hop to it, pinto!"
+
+The pony pricked up its ears as it saw and smelled another horse
+approaching and broke into a canter, which caused the cowboy to remark:
+
+"That's better! I guess you smell water." But his cheerfulness vanished
+as he caught sight of the approaching rider and he remarked: "A Mex
+again! Can't get any sense out of him--not with what little I know of
+Spanish. Wish Cora was here!"
+
+The advancing Mexican peon stopped as he saw the cowboy pulling rein
+and made a greeting in Spanish.
+
+"I don't know what you're saying, stranger," drawled the cowboy, "but
+I'm pleased to meet you just the same. Now how far is it to town and a
+good drink of water? I've been traveling a week it seems, though I know
+it isn't more than a day. Where's this city of yours?"
+
+"No sabe, señor."
+
+"The deuce you don't! Well, I'll have to make motions then, I guess,"
+sighed Pocus Pete. "Look," and he opened his mouth, held up his
+canteen, pretended to pour out water where there was none and then
+exclaimed:
+
+"Rolamotaza--where is it at?"
+
+"Oh, Rolamotaza--Rolamotaza!" exclaimed the other, comprehending now,
+but giving the Spanish name of the town the correct pronunciation.
+"Pronto! Pronto!"
+
+"You mean I'll get there pronto--soon?" asked Pocus Pete.
+
+The Mexican nodded a vigorous assent, smiled, waved his hand, and
+called to his bony horse.
+
+"Well, I'm nearer than I thought then," mused the cowboy. "Guess I
+won't turn back to Times Square. Go on, pinto!"
+
+And to such good speed did he urge his mount that a little later he
+was guiding the animal down a trail through the hills toward a small,
+Mexican village, on the outskirts of which loomed the unsightly oil
+derricks.
+
+"Struck the right place, I guess!" muttered the cowboy. "Now if I can
+strike somebody that appreciates good, old United States talk I'll be
+all set."
+
+He rode through the one and only main street of the town, noting that
+the population consisted of cowboys like himself, Mexicans, Spaniards,
+Italians, and other foreigners who seemed to be in the oil trade, and a
+few women and children. Following the crowd, Pocus Pete found himself
+near a combined hotel, saloon, and gambling hall, evidences of all
+three branches of trade being well in evidence.
+
+"Say, buddy, can a guy get a feed and something to drink in there?"
+asked the cowboy of another of his fraternity.
+
+"Surest thing you know. Where you from?"
+
+"Paloma, and looking for a corral," answered Pocus Pete, as he gave his
+name.
+
+"Well, you've come to a mighty poor place for cattle punchin'," was the
+comment, as the other announced himself as Lazy Ike Nolan. "It's all
+oil down here--oil an' Greasers an' sudden death."
+
+"Sudden death!" exclaimed the other. "How come?"
+
+"It ain't healthy to talk about it," was the answer. "But watch your
+step, that's all. I wish I'd never come to the darn place. I'm broke
+now and my buddy will be pretty soon if he don't keep away from the
+gang he's in there with now, tryin' to rub the spots off the cards,"
+and Lazy Ike sighed.
+
+"Maybe you wouldn't take it amiss if I offered to buy you a drink,
+pardner," suggested Pocus Pete.
+
+"You could do that twice an' not insult me," was the reply. "Lead me to
+it!"
+
+Pocus Pete tied his pony to the hitching rail in front of the "Stella
+d'Ora," or Golden Star, as the combined hotel and gambling joint was
+named, and, having tossed a coin to a boy who was carrying buckets
+of water to the ponies, with motions to water his steed, Pocus Pete
+followed his new friend.
+
+There was a bar doing a good business and in a room beyond it several
+gambling games going on.
+
+"Name your poison," said Pocus Pete to Lazy Ike as they lined up in
+front of the bar. "It's water for mine until I get soaked up. I had a
+hot ride."
+
+"Don't blame you, pard," agreed the other. "But I'll have some red
+licker if it's all the same to you. There he goes--bettin' his last
+cent I know!" he exclaimed as he poured out a generous drink and looked
+into the gambling room.
+
+"Who?" asked Pocus Pete.
+
+"My side kick--Slim Jim Burke," was the answer. "I got cleaned out, and
+I told him to keep away. But he was so darn sure he could get back what
+I lost and make a clean up that he went in. Now look at him!"
+
+He pointed to a cowboy like himself who was seated at a table with
+several Mexicans. It was an intense gambling game, as was plainly
+evident, and a crowd of spectators ringed the participants.
+
+"Let's saunter in and see what kind of hands your pardner is holding,"
+suggested Pocus Pete when he had taken three glasses of water one after
+the other, to the no small astonishment of the bartender. But when a
+dollar bill was tossed over the mahogany in payment of the water alone,
+the whiskey or "red licker," being also paid for, there was a murmur of
+approval.
+
+"There goes his last dollar--I know the signs," whispered Lazy Ike to
+his new friend as they neared the poker table. "An' now we're both
+broke."
+
+It was evident that a final play was being made, and as Pocus Pete
+watched the dealing he suddenly stepped forward, laid a hand on the
+shoulder of Slim Jim and exclaimed in a drawling but loud voice:
+
+"Don't bet on this hand, buddy. The deal's crooked. That guy," and he
+pointed to the Mexican dealer, "is slipping his friend cards from the
+bottom of the deck. Lay off it!"
+
+At once there was a chorus of excited shouts from the Mexican
+gamblers--shouts in Spanish--and in the midst of it Lazy Ike called to
+his "side kick":
+
+"Snap out of it! You're being done!"
+
+Slim pushed back his chair, hardly knowing what it was all about,
+showing signs of wonder at the interference of the strange cowboy. But
+the dealer and his gambling friends did more than show wonder.
+
+"Who are you?" roared the dealer in fairly good English, as he glared
+at Pocus Pete. "How dare you break up our game?"
+
+"Go easy, friend," drawled the other. "Breaking up games when I see a
+friend of my friend being double-crossed, is one of the best things I
+do. I saw you dealing off the bottom--like this----"
+
+He reached over, picked up the scattered cards and, with the hands of
+a master magician, began dealing the cards now from the top and now
+from the bottom. He turned up the hand he had given the former dealer,
+showing four kings, but hardly had the murmurs of surprise at this
+trick died away than Pocus Pete turned over the cards he had dealt to
+himself, showing four aces.
+
+"It's easy when you know how," he drawled. "But it ain't healthy for
+them as knows," he added.
+
+The disclosure seemed to sting the Mexican gambler to madness.
+
+"Son of a pig!" he spluttered. "I will show you!"
+
+With a rapid motion he drew a gun, but before he could fire Lazy Ike,
+whose actions seemed to belie his nickname, had his own weapon out.
+There were two reports, one following the other, but Lazy Ike had fired
+first and the Mexican slumped down in his chair, the bullet from his
+gun singing uncomfortably past the ear of Pocus Pete.
+
+The excitement in the saloon redoubled, and Pocus Pete was drawing his
+own gun, for there were ugly looks about him, when Lazy Ike called into
+his ear:
+
+"We'd better beat it now, you an' me an' Slim Jim. They won't leave
+enough of us to put on a shutter as soon as they get into action. I
+guess maybe I've croaked that guy."
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Pocus Pete as he allowed himself to be
+urged out of the place between Lazy Ike and Slim Jim.
+
+"We've got to take to the hills," answered Ike. "It won't be safe for
+us in town."
+
+It appeared that it was not going to be safe for the trio right then
+and there, in the Stella d'Ora, for as the three neared the door they
+found their passage blocked by a number of Mexicans.
+
+"Pigs! Dogs!" hissed the dark-featured men, some of whom were far from
+sober.
+
+"Kill the Gringoes!" someone yelled.
+
+A big man, whose face showed his passion, rushed at Pocus Pete with a
+long knife upraised.
+
+"Watch yourself, buddy!" yelled Ike.
+
+There was a sharp report, a little cloud of smoke seemed to float out
+of the side pocket of Pete's coat, and the Mexican slumped down to the
+floor.
+
+"Another one down and out!" yelled Ike, the lust of battle in his eyes.
+"Now we sure got to make a run for it!"
+
+"That was a slick shot," muttered Slim Jim. "Though who you are an' how
+Ike picked you up, I don't know."
+
+"An' this ain't no time to ask questions, either!" sung out Ike. "Come
+on! Take it on the jump!"
+
+The three ran from the saloon, leaped to their ponies at the hitching
+rail and galloped off.
+
+"To the hills!" cried Lazy Ike. "We'll stick by you, Pocus Pete!"
+
+As they galloped through the town the hoof-beats of their horses
+were punctuated with the shots from many guns, while bullets sang an
+ominous, whining song over their heads.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVIII
+
+                            THE BLACK CAVE
+
+
+"You fellows know this country better than I do," remarked Pocus Pete
+as he guided his pinto pony out among the hills that led away from the
+Mexican town where they had just escaped from the gambling den. "I'll
+have to depend on you to get me out of here."
+
+"Don't worry about that," drawled Lazy Ike whose speech was, at times,
+as slow as his actions. "We'll stick by you to the last."
+
+"Though, for the matter of that," went on the strange cowboy, "those
+fellows who were juggling the pasteboards didn't get any more than was
+coming to 'em."
+
+"You're darn right!" chimed in Slim Jim. "Say, pard, I gotta hand it to
+you for shufflin' the cards! How'd you work it?"
+
+"Just a trick," and Pocus Pete smiled. "But say, do you fellows know
+where you are and where we're goin'?"
+
+"You well said it!" exclaimed Lazy Ike, flapping his pony with the
+reins. "We know this country all right, an' to our sorrow. I wish we'd
+never crossed the Rio Grande."
+
+"Same here," came sorrowfully from his pal.
+
+"What's wrong with it?" asked Pocus Pete. "Too much oil?"
+
+"Too much oil for a cattleman," answered Slim Jim. "An' there's other
+things, too."
+
+"What other things?" asked the pinto-riding cowboy curiously. He acted
+as though he had long been on the trail of something or somebody and
+that now he was nearing the end of his quest. "What other things?"
+
+"You tell him, Slim," urged Lazy Ike. "We got to stick together now,
+since that shootin' fracas, so he might as well know what's what."
+
+"Yes," remarked Pocus Pete, "if the cops get after us we're all in the
+same boat, I reckon, though you didn't shoot anybody, Jim."
+
+"Not this time. But I gotta couple of notches on my gun handle,"
+boasted the cowboy. "Not but what the fellows who stopped my bullets
+didn't get what they deserved," he added. "I'm no promisc'us shooter.
+It was them or me, an' I'd ruther it'd be them. So the cops, as you
+call 'em, are after me, too--only they haven't got onto my curves yet
+back there in Rolamotaza."
+
+"Cops," drawled Lazy Ike meditatively. "I ain't heard that word in a
+long spell. You must 'a' been East recent, Pocus Pete."
+
+"I'm from the East, originally," admitted the cowboy on the pinto.
+"Some of the words stick to me yet. I reckon they ain't got no regular
+police out here, have they?"
+
+"These Greasers? Naw!" exclaimed Slim Jim as he shoved a big wad of
+tobacco into his mouth. "Con-stab-u-lary--that's what they call 'em in
+Mex. Dirty, greasy Greasers--that's all!"
+
+"But they shoot without stoppin' to ask why or wherefor," warned Lazy
+Ike. "So we'd best put a few miles between them an' us afore Don Juan
+Castro starts the ball game."
+
+"Don Juan Castro?" exclaimed Pocus Pete, and there was so much
+excitement in his voice that his two companions looked at him in
+surprise and Jim asked:
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"I've heard of him," was the answer. "He's a big cattle man, isn't he?"
+
+"Naw! Oil," and Jim got rid of some of his tobacco juice. "He owns
+a lot of oil wells around here an' he's always tryin' to git more.
+There's some wells here owned by a party out your way--in the East, I
+mean--N' York, I heard. Well, this Don Castro and his gang are after
+them wells."
+
+"They tried to buy 'em," added Ike. "An' when they couldn't do that,
+well, some queer things begun happenin'."
+
+"That's what I was goin' to tell you about," put in Slim. "This country
+ain't no good for cattle--it's all oil, an it ain't healthy for them
+as dabbles in oil, 'less they're in right with Don Castro."
+
+"What happens?" asked Pocus Pete.
+
+"They passes out--sudden like," answered Slim and he made a motion as
+if sticking a knife into someone. "An' that ain't the worse of it,
+neither," he went on.
+
+"No?" questioned Pocus Pete.
+
+"No, sir! There's signs that them as passes out sudden has been done
+away with by a secret society. There was certain signs left near each
+dead man, an' three was killed lately to my certain knowledge."
+
+"That's right," chimed in Lazy Ike. "Three!"
+
+"What was the mysterious sign?" asked Pocus Pete.
+
+"It was a sign of a double dagger drawed on a card found near the dead
+men," resumed Slim. "An' in one of the bodies, a regular double dagger
+was found--a knife with a big blade on one end an' a small blade on the
+other. Looked like if they didn't get you goin' they would comin' or
+visse versy as they used to say when I went to school."
+
+"So they found the double dagger in one of the victims, did they?"
+asked Pocus Pete.
+
+"It was left stickin' in one of the stiffs, if that's what you mean,"
+chuckled Lazy Ike.
+
+"Where it is? Who has it? I mean where is that double dagger now?" and
+Pocus Pete showed so much excitement that both his new friends looked
+at him in wonder. Then Slim added:
+
+"It didn't stay in him long. Feller named Steele, it was. An' he got
+steel--cold steel--poor slob! This is how it come about. Ike an' me we
+moseyed down here lookin' for work, an' when we found it weren't no
+cattle country we sort of stuck around, pickin' up odd jobs. It wasn't
+so bad at first, though we didn't have no great hankerin' for oil. An'
+then the queer killin's begun.
+
+"But about this double dagger you seems to be interested in. One
+mornin' a young feller we happened to know--he was a college boy who'd
+run away an' he got a job down here. He used to ride off by himself a
+lot, alone. One mornin' he come racin' back to town, his pony all a
+lather of foam, sayin' he'd seed a dead man out in the gully, an' he
+had a double dagger stuck in his heart. That's how it was knowed the
+killin's was done with that kind of a knife."
+
+"So they found the double dagger, did they?" asked Pocus Pete.
+
+"Well, Jimmie Dale--that was this college lad's name, saw the knife
+stickin' in poor Steele," went on Slim. "But when some of us went out
+there with a few of what passes for police around here, the knife was
+gone."
+
+"Who took it?"
+
+"Nobody could tell. Likely it was some of them that drove the double
+dagger into Steele's heart. They must 'a' knifed him and then got a
+scare that sent 'em off on the run 'fore they had time to pull the
+knife out. Then they come back an' got it."
+
+"Looks as if they cared a lot for it," commented Pocus Pete.
+
+"Reckon so," came from Ike. "Well, now you know what sort of country
+you've drifted to, Pete, an' I hope you like it."
+
+"I've been in worse places," was the cool answer. "If there is food and
+water to be had up in these hills I reckon we can hold out."
+
+"Oh, there won't be no trouble about that," declared Slim. "We know a
+few places to hide."
+
+"The black cave, for one," suggested his pal.
+
+"That's right. We'd better head for that."
+
+"As for grub," went on Ike, "there are a lot of Mexican farmers up in
+these hills, an' they'll sell us skinny chickens an' them fried beans
+they call frijoles or tortillas or somethin' like that. An' there's
+plenty of springs, so we'll make out all right."
+
+"Then we'll camp for a while," suggested Pocus Pete. "As it's my fault,
+in a way, that you were forced to flee--vamoose you know--" He seemed
+to have, for the moment, swung out of the cowboy slang. "As it was my
+doin's that you had to come here you'll let me buy the grub."
+
+"Don't know's we'll have much objection to that," said Slim. "We're
+about broke."
+
+"That's right," nodded Ike. "But how do you figger it's your fault,
+Pocus Pete, that we're here because of you?"
+
+"Well, if I hadn't butted in on that card game when I saw Slim being
+double-crossed----"
+
+"Forgit it!" broke in the cowboy gambler. "I was jest gittin' wise to
+their game myself, an' I'd likely have started somethin' if you hadn't.
+No, we're all in the same boat, an' we'll stick together."
+
+The trio rode on. The ponies were fleet, and soon took them beyond
+pursuit, which, as a matter of fact, did not last long. Perhaps the
+Mexicans did not relish the quick shooting of the cowboys.
+
+They rode up among the hills and stopped at a farm, run by a peon and
+his wife, where Pocus Pete footed the bill for food--it was not a
+costly meal, a dollar buying enough for all three.
+
+That night they camped in the open, rolled in blankets near a fire, and
+the next morning traveled on, for Ike and Slim said the black cave, a
+natural cavern in the hills, would be reached about noon.
+
+The sun was not yet at the zenith when Lazy Ike, pointing ahead on the
+trail, drawled:
+
+"There she is!"
+
+"What?" asked Pocus Pete.
+
+"The black cave."
+
+The newly arrived cowboy glanced to a dark opening in the side of the
+hill, and, as he looked, he said in a low voice:
+
+"Somebody's ahead of us."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Slim.
+
+"I mean there are some fellows in the black cave. What had we better
+do, boys? This is your game."
+
+Lazy Ike and Slim Jim peered from beneath their sombreros at some
+horsemen coming out of the cavern.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIX
+
+                                PURSUED
+
+
+"What you reckon that means, Ike?" questioned Slim Jim.
+
+"Doggoned if I know. Looks like somebody had preëmpted our claim, don't
+it?"
+
+"Somethin' like that," agreed the other.
+
+"Are you two guys supposed to have a claim on this black cave?" asked
+Pocus Pete as the three reined in their horses and stood looking at the
+other cavalcade of riders--perhaps half a dozen--who came out of the
+cavern as if aroused at the sight of the trio.
+
+"No, we ain't got no more of a claim than anybody else," said Ike. "But
+Slim an' me, we sort of found this cave when we first come to this oil
+region, and we lived in it a few days when we was sort of gettin' the
+lay of things. We've often been back to it between times, but never
+before did we see anybody in it."
+
+"That's right!" chimed in his friend.
+
+"An' now there's a mob here," went on Pocus Pete. "It must mean
+something."
+
+"It does!" agreed Lazy Ike. "An' I don't like the looks of it."
+
+"Same here," mused his pal. "An' would you look at that!" he exclaimed
+as there was a movement among the horsemen at the black cave. "I'll be
+darned if they ain't headin' our way!" he cried.
+
+It was so. The six horsemen urged their steeds to a trot along the
+trail toward Pocus Pete and his two friends.
+
+"They're after us!" cried Jim.
+
+"Sure as you're a foot high!" echoed his pal.
+
+"What had we better do?" asked Pocus Pete as he took out his automatic.
+
+"No, don't shoot," advised Jim. "We wouldn't stand much chance against
+twice our number. Those aren't Greasers. They're some of the gang that
+hangs around the Stella Dora," so he pronounced the name of the Golden
+Star café. "They can shoot."
+
+"You mean they are some of Don Castro's gang?" asked Pocus Pete.
+
+"You got me! We'd better give 'em a run for their money."
+
+So, turning their horses about, the three raced along the trail they
+had come, while, with shouts that had anger in them, the other horsemen
+took up the pursuit. A few shots rang out, the bullets whizzing
+uncomfortably close to the heads of Pocus Pete and his friends.
+
+"Ain't that jest the rottenest luck!" exclaimed Jim as he leaned over
+his pony's neck to give less of a target to their enemies.
+
+"Sure is!" agreed his pal. "I figgered on takin' it easy in that cave
+for a while, an' now we got to sweat leather again. Well, I guess we
+can beat 'em at that."
+
+"They aren't catching up to us, at any rate," observed Pocus Pete. "Our
+horses are fresher than theirs, I take it."
+
+"You take it right, friend," admitted Slim Jim.
+
+"Have you any idea where you are heading for now?" went on Pete.
+
+For a few moments the three rode on without this question being
+answered. The pursuers, though distanced at first, were still coming
+on, and, though hidden by turns in the trail, the pattering of their
+horses' feet could still be heard.
+
+"Yes, where you aim to pull up, Slim?" asked Ike.
+
+"What about the Indian's Nose?" asked Slim.
+
+"Not bad. It's a good place to camp, an' we can see a good ways off
+when anybody's comin'. How does that strike you, Pocus Pete?"
+
+"Well, I guess," was the answer as the new cowboy urged his pinto pony
+along. "I'm a stranger here. I'll have to leave it to you. But if it
+means goin' among the Indians----"
+
+"It's only a name of a mesa about twenty miles farther on," was
+the answer. "It's elevated land, a fine place to camp, water an'
+everything. A little game to shoot, too. An' you can look for a mile or
+two each way so you can see when anybody's comin' to make trouble. What
+say?"
+
+"I say let's head there, if we can shake these fellows off," said Pocus
+Pete with a look back. But the pursuers were not in sight.
+
+"Snap into it!" called Ike, and the three rode on. But ever as they
+made a turn in the trail among the hills, they could hear the men from
+the black cave coming behind them. It was not until nearly noon that
+they lost the sound, and then Ike said:
+
+"Guess we can take it a bit easy now. There's two or three forks in the
+road that we passed an' those fellows may have taken one."
+
+"In that case we can let our horses rest," suggested Pocus Pete, for it
+was high time they pulled rein.
+
+They found a spring of water and with the food they had brought with
+them from the Mexican farm they drank and made a meal, feeling much
+better after that.
+
+Then, as they were preparing to mount again and keep on to the Indian's
+Nose, Pocus Pete arrived at a decision. He looked sharply at his two
+companions and said:
+
+"Boys, I've got something to tell you."
+
+"Spill it," laconically advised Jim.
+
+"I'm not a cowboy," was the next statement.
+
+"We knowed that long ago!" chuckled Ike.
+
+"An' as long as you ain't the sheriff, we don't give a darn!" went on
+his partner.
+
+"How'd you know I wasn't what I pretended to be?" asked Pete curiously.
+"By the way I ride?"
+
+"No, you ride pretty darn good, if you ask me," said Ike.
+
+"It's the breaks you make in speakin' now an' again," said his
+companion. "An' 'cops'! Bust me for a wall-eyed pike, soon as you said
+'cops' I knowed you wasn't no cowboy--at least, not from around here.
+But you don't have to tell us, mister. We ain't cravin' to know your
+secret. We got some of our own."
+
+"But I want to tell you," went on the other. "I don't like the way
+things are breaking down here. And I don't like the way those men from
+the black cave are coming after us. Something may happen. A stray
+bullet might just clip me, and----"
+
+"You're right there," admitted Slim Jim gravely. "So if you got
+anythin' on your conscience----"
+
+"Oh, it isn't that," and Pocus Pete laughed. "But the ends of justice
+might suffer if I happened to be killed and no one knew who I was or
+why I came here."
+
+"Then you're the sheriff after all?" and Ike and his chum looked a bit
+reproachfully at their companion.
+
+"No, I'm not the sheriff, and I'm not after you fellows. I'm Nat
+Ridley, a private detective from New York, and I'm down here to avenge
+the murder of a fellow detective--Dan Steele!"
+
+"By thunder!" voiced Ike vigorously.
+
+"A detective!" gasped Slim. "Whatchu know about that!"
+
+"And I'm on the trail of the double dagger gang--Don Castro among
+them," went on Nat. "Can I count on you to help me?"
+
+For an instant the two cowboys hesitated--but for an instant only. Then
+with one voice they exclaimed:
+
+"You sure can!" And they held out their bronzed hands.
+
+But a moment later Ike added:
+
+"If we're goin' to help you the best advice I can give you now is to
+beat it right now!"
+
+"Why?" asked Nat Ridley, alias Pocus Pete.
+
+"Because them fellers are after us again!"
+
+The others listened and heard once more the tattoo of hoof-beats.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XX
+
+                            OVER THE CLIFF
+
+
+Leaping into their saddles again, the three horsemen were soon pounding
+down the trail and away from their pursuers, who seemed to be coming on
+after them relentlessly.
+
+"They must be powerful anxious to meet up with us," drawled Lazy Ike as
+he rode beside Nat Ridley.
+
+"They are--for more reasons than one, I fancy," replied the detective.
+"It isn't altogether the row in the gambling den that makes them want
+to catch us, though we did put two of their men out of the running."
+
+"Then they want you more than they do us?" asked Ike as he urged his
+well-going pony to a faster pace.
+
+"That's it. And if you boys want to slide off the trail and let me lead
+these fellows a chase alone, don't hesitate," suggested Nat.
+
+"What the blazes do you think we are?" snapped out Jim. "We ain't
+Greasers!"
+
+"I should say not!" cried his pal. "Leavin' a buddy in the lurch ain't
+our style!"
+
+"I didn't think it was," said Nat Ridley quietly. "But I thought it
+only fair to give you the chance."
+
+"Well, don't give us no more chances like that," ordered Jim.
+
+"We don't like 'em!" echoed Ike.
+
+And the three rode on.
+
+The two cowboys, in spite of the fact that they were rather loose
+livers, free spenders, and not very provident, seemed to know their
+business, which was riding and picking out a good trail. During the
+period they had been in Mexico they had made good use of their time
+and knew considerable about the country. It was to them, more than to
+anything else, that Nat Ridley owed what success he had in this trail
+after the double dagger gang.
+
+The one and only thing in favor of the detective and the two cowboys
+was that they had better horses than those ridden by the men who had
+come out of the black cave.
+
+"What I think is this," said Nat when his two companions asked him
+how he "figgered out" the gang got to the cavern ahead of them. "The
+crowd in the gambling joint must have known that you two boys were in
+the habit of hiding in that cave. Then when you lit out with me, they
+naturally reasoned that we'd make for here. They must have taken a
+short cut to get here ahead of us."
+
+"There ain't no short cut!" declared Ike.
+
+"If there was we'd 'a' taken it," added Jim. "Most like they pushed
+their horses on hard to beat us, an' that's why the ponies ain't goin'
+so fast now."
+
+"Perhaps," admitted Nat.
+
+"That's it, sure!" declared Lazy Ike. "An' lucky we kept our mounts
+pretty fresh. Well, we're sure runnin' 'em now," he added, and, indeed,
+it was calling on all the reserve in the ponies to make them trot along
+the trail which now led upward.
+
+But luck was still with the trio in advance, and it was not long before
+they had distanced their pursuers and could pull up their ponies for a
+breathing spell, which was badly needed. The three men dismounted and
+picketed the animals in a little glade, where Ike found a spring. But
+the heated horses were not allowed to drink at once, though it was with
+the utmost difficulty they were held back until they had cooled off a
+bit.
+
+Then when they had been allowed to slake their thirst and the three
+were resting, Nat Ridley told a little more about himself and his
+mission in Mexico.
+
+"Besides being on the trail of the murderers of the three Lemberg men
+and my friend Dan Steele," said the detective, "I want to save a girl
+they kidnapped."
+
+"A girl!" exclaimed the two cowboys.
+
+"Yes, a Miss Cora Ardell," and Nat related the finding of the girl in
+the dungeon, being beaten by a Negress, and how the two had escaped.
+
+"But they kidnapped her, right out from under my nose, you might say,"
+went on the detective. "It wouldn't do my reputation much good to have
+that generally known," he admitted, with a wry smile. "But it happened,
+worse luck. And except for the fact that Miss Ardell left a scrawl,
+indicating that the scoundrels had brought her to Rolamotaza and of
+some things she told me in the States, I wouldn't know where to look,
+though I might have picked up the trail later."
+
+"You say that pretty girl is here?" asked Ike, and, unconsciously, he
+began to knot his neck handkerchief more carefully.
+
+"I think she was brought to that Mexican town," went on Nat. "But I had
+no chance to look for her before that row in the saloon started, and
+we've been kept on the jump ever since."
+
+"On the jump is right," admitted Ike. "But I think we'll get to
+Indian's Nose soon, and then we can laugh at 'em."
+
+"I'm not so sure of that," said Jim. "But we'll have a better chance,
+anyhow. Why are those Tola devils after the girl?" he wanted to know.
+
+"She owns a share in the oil wells the Mexicans want to get back,"
+stated Nat. "She was also the secretary of her cousins, the Lembergs,
+and she may have certain papers which, if the rascals could get them,
+would aid them in regaining possession of the wells. And now they have
+Miss Ardell in their power again, and I don't know how to help her."
+
+"Just wait," advised Jim. "Soon as we can give these fellows the slip
+we'll swing around, cross over the Border, and get a posse of good old
+cowboys who'll come back and clean out this gang."
+
+"I wish that might happen," replied Nat Ridley. "But I'm afraid we'll
+have a lot of trouble and be in some danger before that comes to pass.
+These fellows are as cruel and relentless as their ancient Aztec
+ancestors."
+
+They pushed on to such good advantage after their rest, during which
+Nat took occasion to ask his new friends to send word to the Times
+Square office should the detective be killed and the others escape,
+that when night came they were in a lonely region, where many trails
+crossed and the cowboys gave it as their opinions that the pursuers
+could never follow.
+
+"They can't pick out which trail we took not even if they had a
+detective like you, Mr. Ridley, to help them!" declared Ike.
+
+"Not in a thousand years!" agreed Slim Jim Burke.
+
+"So much the better for us," said Nat.
+
+That night they slept in the barn of another Mexican farmer, for whose
+benefit, should he be questioned later, they used false names and
+talked of searching for a stray bunch of horses. At the farmer's house
+they bought food and ate heartily.
+
+The night was one of anxiety because, in spite of the confusion of
+trails, it was possible that Don Castro and his crowd might come upon
+them. Nat explained his previous encounters with this one of several
+plotters, and also mentioned El Capitan.
+
+"We've heard of him," said Ike.
+
+"And no good, either," added Jim.
+
+However, the night passed peacefully, and in the morning, after a
+hearty breakfast and having purchased a supply of food to last for
+several days, they again took the trail.
+
+Several times at favorable places during the forenoon they stopped to
+look back and also to listen, but they neither saw nor heard any signs
+of pursuit and they began to feel that they had distanced their enemies.
+
+It was just getting dusk when Slim, who was riding in advance, gave a
+shout that sent the blood pumping faster into Nat Ridley's heart.
+
+"What is it?" called the detective anxiously.
+
+"Indian's Nose," was the reply. "We're there!"
+
+A little later the three rode out on a mesa, which made a good place
+to camp and also, because of the nature of the country, afforded a long
+outlook to the south, whence pursuit, if any, must come.
+
+"What's to the north?" asked Nat, as they prepared to camp for the
+night in a little grove of trees.
+
+"The jumpin' off place," answered Ike.
+
+"He means the mesa ends there, and there's a high cliff as straight
+as a chimney that drops down to the trail at the foot of the mesa,"
+explained Jim.
+
+"Oh," mused Nat. "Well, I hope we aren't chased off this plateau."
+
+"Not much danger, I reckon," said Jim. "They won't find us here."
+
+The night passed peacefully, and they were just finishing breakfast the
+next morning when Ike, who had gone to see that the horses were all
+right where they had been picketed, came running back, much excited and
+shouting:
+
+"They're coming!"
+
+"Who?" asked Nat.
+
+"Don Castro's gang or somebody he's sent after us! They're comin' up
+the gully, and if we want to get past we've got to fight!"
+
+Hardly had he spoken when around a bend several horsemen appeared,
+many of whom carried rifles or shotguns. Not expecting the approach
+of the enemy so soon, the three had not begun to keep a watch, and the
+Mexicans had stolen up on them in the darkness of the early morning
+hours.
+
+The mesa, though elevated, was long and narrow, like a nose, after
+which it was named, and the approach to the camping place of Nat
+and the cowboys was through a gully, so narrow that not more than
+three could ride abreast. Now this defile was fairly choked with the
+approaching horsemen.
+
+"What are we going to do?" asked Ike, as he saw the desperate nature of
+their chances.
+
+"Fight 'em!" snarled Slim Jim Burke.
+
+"They'd wipe us out!" murmured Nat Ridley. "I'm no coward, as I guess
+you know," he went on, while the others exclaimed:
+
+"We'll say you aren't!"
+
+"But it would be madness to ride at them in that narrow place," went
+on the detective. "We might shoot our way through, but, more likely,
+one or all three of us would be riddled. And I don't want to pass out
+before I've saved that girl and made the Tola gang pay some of their
+debts."
+
+"Then what'll we do?" asked Jim.
+
+"How high is that cliff?" asked Nat.
+
+"Too high to jump down, and no pony could slide it," said Ike.
+
+"I don't intend to jump, and we'll have to abandon the horses," went
+on Nat. "But I guess it isn't too far to get over by using our lariats,
+is it?"
+
+"The ropes! By jingo, I never thought of that!" cried Ike.
+
+"We can do it!" exclaimed his pal. "And they can't follow, for I don't
+believe there's a rope in their outfit. They aren't cattlemen. By
+thunder, Mr. Detective, you've struck it!"
+
+"We'll go over the cliff!" exulted Ike.
+
+"Fasten the ropes together then," advised Nat, drawing his automatic,
+and dropping down behind a rock.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Jim.
+
+"Give 'em a few shots to hold 'em back until you can make ready," was
+the answer. "If they rushed us at the last minute we wouldn't have a
+chance. But I think the bushes will screen our movements until we are
+ready. Hop to it now, boys!"
+
+The cowboys ran to get their ropes from their saddle horns, and soon
+came back with the three lariats. Ike stopped in his tracks and
+exclaimed:
+
+"But look here, Mr. Ridley! We got to shinny down these ropes, you
+know! Nobody can't lower us. And when the last man is down the ropes
+will still be hangin' to whatever we fasten 'em to."
+
+"That's so," added Jim, for a moment discouraged. "I never thought of
+that. We'll have to leave the rope for these devils, an' they'll come
+down after us."
+
+"No they won't!" declared Nat. "We'll use a double rope, putting the
+turn of it around that stunted tree on the edge of the cliff. When we
+are all three down we'll pull one end of the rope and it will slide off
+and fall down. We won't leave any for them to use."
+
+"By thunder, I never thought of that!" gasped Ike. "Come on, Slim!"
+
+A moment later the two were preparing the way of escape over the cliff
+while Nat Ridley, kneeling behind a clump of bushes amid the rocks,
+began firing on the horsemen who were urging their steeds up the rocky
+defile.
+
+Could he hold them back long enough? That was what Ike and Jim were
+wondering as they hurriedly knotted together the three strong lassoes.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXI
+
+                            A SHOT IN TIME
+
+
+Nat Ridley's shots in the direction of the advancing Mexicans had
+hardly ceased rattling amid the rocks of the defile on top of the mesa
+when the detective hastened toward the edge of the cliff whereon grew a
+single stunted tree, but strong enough for the ropes to be looped over,
+thus supporting the men as they went down hand over hand.
+
+"Are you ready?" asked Nat as he saw Jim, who had been kneeling beside
+his chum, arise.
+
+"Just got 'em all hooked up," was the answer.
+
+"How about you?" asked Ike. "Did you hit any of 'em?"
+
+"A few, I think," answered Nat grimly. He spoke the truth, for his
+bullets had found marks, bringing to their knees several of the Tola
+gang, though the sleuth fired to wound and not to kill.
+
+"Snap into it now!" cried Ike. "We haven't any time to lose."
+
+"That's right!" agreed Jim. "They're coming!"
+
+Indeed, down the defile could be heard the ringing of the steel shoes
+of the horses on the hard rocks.
+
+But by this time the combined lassoes were rigged and, by leaning over
+the cliff, it could be noted that they extended in a double line to the
+bottom where a road wound off through the trees and bushes.
+
+"Who's to go first?" asked Slim, as the three paused for a moment on
+the edge.
+
+"Let Mr. Ridley," suggested Lazy Ike, with his usual drawl. It was
+noticed that since Nat had revealed his identity the cowboys, having
+learned who he was, were much less free and easy with him.
+
+"Sure--he goes first!" agreed Jim.
+
+"No," objected Nat. "Without wanting to boast, I may say I'm a better
+shot than either of you. So if it comes to a rush I can pick off more
+with my automatic than you can with your guns," and he slipped another
+full magazine in his weapon.
+
+"There's truth in that," said Ike. "Well, then, Slim, it's between you
+and me."
+
+"Snap into it!" ordered Nat. "Here, you go first," he ordered Slim
+Jim, as being the faster of the two. "Then Ike can slide down and I'll
+follow. Quick!"
+
+The others were willing to abide by the detective's decision and a
+moment later the languid cowboy was hanging to the lariats and had
+slipped over the edge of the cliff. He went down quickly, and his chum
+was half way to the bottom when the nearer approach of horses and the
+sound of voices told Nat that the Mexicans were coming on fast.
+
+"Hurry!" advised Nat, and Ike went so fast he blistered his hands, hard
+as they were.
+
+Nat Ridley, thrusting his automatic into a fold of his coat, to have it
+in instant readiness, now began the descent. As his head and shoulders
+disappeared below the edge of the cliff, the first of the pursuers came
+into view.
+
+"There he is! The dog! The pig!" cried someone in Spanish-accented
+English.
+
+"Ah, there spoke Don Castro, or I am mistaken!" chuckled Nat.
+
+Suddenly, after having lowered his head over the rim of the cliff, the
+detective raised himself again, holding on by one hand and by twisting
+the ropes around his legs. Then he sent several shots into the ranks of
+the Mexicans, making a hit with each report.
+
+There were yells of rage and cries of pain, and having thus forced the
+advancing horsemen to a temporary halt, Nat began the descent.
+
+"Stop him! Get the pig! Cut the rope!" yelled Don Castro.
+
+But before this could be done Nat had reached the end of the lariats
+and had joined Ike and Jim, who stood anxiously waiting.
+
+"Did they shoot at you?" asked Jim.
+
+"No, I peppered them," answered Nat.
+
+He pulled quickly on one side of the double rope, thus slipping it
+loose from around the anchoring tree, and as the free end rose, the
+face of a Mexican appeared at the top of the cliff and his hands made
+an endeavor to snatch the combined lariats before they could fall. It
+was evident the pursuers had no ropes of their own to use in making the
+descent.
+
+But Nat, with a quick jerk, pulled the lassoes off the tree, and the
+coils fell at his feet. Then, calling to Ike and Jim to run on, the
+detective took a shot at the man above him. A howl of pain succeeded
+the crack of the automatic and the sleuth knew he had clipped his man.
+Two Mexicans shot in return, but nobody was hit.
+
+"We're safe now for a time," remarked Ike, with a sigh of relief.
+
+"I hope so," assented Nat. "But where are we going?"
+
+"We can't go far without horses," remarked Jim with a sorrowful air. "A
+cowboy without a pony is like a sailor without a ship."
+
+"We may be able to pick up something to straddle before very long,"
+said Nat. "I'd be very glad to buy some extra horses if we could find
+them."
+
+"Gee, you're a sport!" vowed Ike.
+
+"This is business," declared the sleuth. "What are our chances?"
+
+"Well, we may strike a ranch where we can get three broncos," said
+Slim. "But they won't be much good. No worse, though, than the nags
+on which they've been riding after us. Gee, I sure do hate to lose my
+pony!"
+
+"I'll see that you get another," promised Nat. "But if we have to walk,
+aren't we likely to be overtaken by those fellows, even if they have
+very poor horses?" he asked.
+
+"I'm not worrying about that," declared Jim. "There's no trail down off
+the mesa short of half a day's ride, and they aren't going to try the
+cliff, I guess. No, we're safe for a time."
+
+Then the three began walking along. They were soon lost to view in
+a grove of trees so that there was no danger of those on the cliff
+shooting at them, and then they plodded on.
+
+All the rest of that day they marched, halting only when the sun was
+hottest. They found another Mexican farmer who supplied them with
+food, and at night they reached a small village where they stayed for
+the night in an unoccupied adobe hut. But their quest for horses was
+unavailing.
+
+"Better luck to-morrow," suggested Nat as they rolled in their
+blankets, for they had brought their packs with them when they slid
+down the rope at the cliff.
+
+The detective's prophecy was borne out a little later, for a traveling
+horse-dealer came into the village the next day and offered to sell
+three steeds at prices which the cowboys said were outrageous.
+
+"This is no time to haggle," declared Nat in an aside. "We want to get
+back to Rolamotaza. I've got to do what I can to save Miss Ardell."
+
+So the ponies were purchased, together with saddles and bridles, and
+though Jim and Ike bewailed the fact that the animals were nothing like
+the ones they had lost, still it was the best that could be done under
+the circumstances.
+
+Once more mounted, the three, having purchased food, started off,
+intending to head back to the village to which Cora Ardell had
+indicated she was being taken by her abductors.
+
+How it happened none of them knew, least of all Nat Ridley, but toward
+the evening of the third day after their escape over the edge of the
+cliff, the three were riding down a trail amid the hills, and, rounding
+a turn, Ike suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"Look where we are!"
+
+"By jinks! What do you know about that?" cried Jim.
+
+"Where are we?" asked Nat.
+
+"On the trail back to the cave!"
+
+"You mean the black cave?"
+
+"Surest thing you know! Say, this is luck!"
+
+"Maybe not so much as you think," suggested the detective. "If that
+same gang is in there----"
+
+"They're out. They're after us!" chuckled Ike. "This is the best ever!"
+
+"Are you sure you're right?" asked Nat, as the two compared notes about
+landmarks.
+
+"Certain sure!" answered Ike. "We'll be at the cave in ten minutes.
+This is the back trail leading to it."
+
+In even less than the time mentioned the two cowboys gave shouts of
+delight and pointed to the same dark hole in the overhanging rocks that
+Nat had viewed several days before.
+
+Slim Jim kicked his pony in the sides to spur it forward and approached
+the cave with a rush. But, just as he reached it, to the horrified
+surprise of Nat and Ike, a Mexican rushed out, thrust a long pole
+between the legs of Jim's horse, bowling that none too steady animal
+over, and bringing the rider to the ground.
+
+With a yell of rage, the Mexican, raising aloft a long knife, rushed
+at the prostrate man, who was stunned from the fall. And, with a thrill
+of terror, Nat Ridley recognized in the Mexican's hand the dreaded
+double dagger.
+
+"Look out, Slim!" yelled Ike. But his shout did no good.
+
+Like a flash, Nat Ridley drew his automatic and fired in the nick of
+time. As the report rang out, the Mexican, with a shriek of pain and
+rage, dropped the two-pointed knife from a hand that was reddened with
+blood.
+
+Nat had shot the weapon from the assassin's fingers, and not a moment
+too soon. A second later and it would have been buried in Slim's heart.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXII
+
+                            THE TOLA EMBLEM
+
+
+But if the detective and the cowboys with him thought they could
+silence this raging Mexican with one shot, they were soon to find out
+to the contrary.
+
+"Dogs and pigs!" hissed the man as he leaped to his feet, for the shock
+of the bullet in his right hand had sent him spinning around so that he
+fell. "Pigs!"
+
+"Seems to be their pet word!" chuckled Nat, as he eyed the fellow.
+
+The detective did not give the Mexican credit enough for brute courage
+and indominable grit. But no sooner was the Mexican on his feet than he
+made a rush for the double dagger that had fallen to the ground near
+Slim.
+
+"Grab that knife!" yelled Ike, sensing the fellow's intention.
+
+But Slim was still dazed by the fall from his tripped horse, and not
+capable of action. It might yet have gone hard with him had not Nat
+Ridley fired again.
+
+This time the sleuth did not risk shooting at the hand which held the
+double-pointed knife--the left. It appeared that the Mexican could use
+either fist for stabbing. Instead Nat aimed at his head.
+
+Such an accurate shot was the detective that he could have sent a
+bullet through the assassin's head, but he was more merciful than was
+the member of the Tola gang, and only shot off one ear.
+
+As the bullet gave him this injury, the Mexican, with a scream of
+terror and pain, dropped the double dagger the second time and then
+fled down the road that ran in front of the black cave.
+
+"That's the last we'll see of him!" cried Ike.
+
+"There may be more," observed Nat. "Get your gun ready while I go take
+a look at Slim."
+
+Ike drew his heavy revolver, but no others of the gang came from the
+cavern, and while Ike stood guard Nat bent over the stunned cowboy.
+Luckily he was only stunned, and when he had recovered the wind that
+had been knocked out of him he looked up at Nat, started to rise and
+murmured:
+
+"Thanks, old man. Hope I can do the same for you some day."
+
+"I don't want to be in as tight a place as that," remarked Nat. "I like
+a little bigger margin."
+
+"I sure thought he had you!" exclaimed Ike while Nat walked to where
+the emblem of the Tola gang had been dropped by the murderous Mexican
+and picked up the double dagger.
+
+"A nasty weapon," observed Slim as he got to his feet, little the
+worse for his fall. The horse was not hurt, and after scrambling up
+and running on a little way, was now cropping grass. "He sure did me a
+dirty fall," he added, dusting off his clothes.
+
+"You're lucky," commented Ike. "Mr. Ridley fired just in time. Look
+out, sleuth," he added as he heard the detective give a surprised
+exclamation. "Cut yourself?" he asked.
+
+"No," Nat answered. "But this is a trick dagger. Look here!"
+
+He held out in his hand what seemed to be only the handle of a knife.
+Both blades had disappeared. But, as the cowboys watched, the shining
+points of steel sprang into view again.
+
+"What's the idea?" asked Ike.
+
+"The blades appear and disappear by pressure on a spring hidden here,"
+Nat said, indicating where, amid the carving on the handle, a little
+head of a grinning Aztec god appeared. "Look!"
+
+The detective worked the mechanism, which he had discovered by
+accident, causing the blades to shoot out and in with a sinister
+suggestion of the injuries they could cause in the hands of a Tola.
+
+"That's a bad knife," remarked Ike.
+
+"The Tolas have a miniature one like it, which they use as a pin to
+fasten their cards on the bodies of their victims," Nat informed his
+friends. "The points of the little dagger are doped in some way so the
+person about to be murdered is rendered helpless."
+
+"Better look out that the points of that double dagger aren't smeared
+with dope," advised Slim.
+
+"I'll be careful," Nat promised. "I'll sheath the blades before I put
+it in my pocket," and he suited his action to his words.
+
+"What are you going to do with it?" asked Slim.
+
+"I don't know yet," was the answer. "But I have an idea that with it
+I can get hold of some of the secrets of the Tola gang. Now at last
+we're at the cave where we wanted to hide. But I am in two minds about
+it. Since getting this dagger, I have half a notion to go back to
+Rolamotaza and have a look for Miss Ardell."
+
+"Let's rest a bit," suggested Slim. "I don't feel as chipper as I
+might."
+
+"Oh, I didn't mean to rush off now," remarked Nat. "We'll spend the
+night here in the cave."
+
+"Maybe we'd better find out first," suggested Ike, "whether there are
+any more of the gang in there."
+
+"It is hardly likely," said Nat. "They would have come out after what
+has happened--the shooting and the talking."
+
+They picketed their horses--Ike said it was an insult to good cow
+ponies to call the three "crow-baits" by that name--and started for the
+cavern. But they had no sooner entered it than they became aware that
+it was inhabited, at least by a voice.
+
+Out of the depths, in which showed a glow from either a lantern or a
+candle some distance in, echoed a pleading voice:
+
+"Help! Help! Don't leave me alone this way! Help!"
+
+Something like an electric shock went through Nat Ridley. He uttered an
+exclamation, drew his powerful flashlight from his pocket, and ran back
+into the cave, while the cowboys, after a startled look at each other,
+followed.
+
+"Miss Ardell--Cora!" cried Nat. "Is that you? Are you here?"
+
+"Yes! Yes! I am! Oh, is that Mr. Ridley? Thank heaven you have come to
+save me! Oh, help me!"
+
+"That's just what we'll do, lady!" declared Slim.
+
+"Surest thing you know!" added Ike, and both cowboys began rearranging
+their neckerchiefs, though the cave was too dark, even with the glow of
+a lantern and Nat's flashlight, to show any personal adornments.
+
+"This must be the girl the sleuth was telling about," murmured Ike to
+Slim.
+
+"That's right--the one kidnapped in Paloma. He sure is playing in great
+luck!"
+
+Cora Ardell it was, a bound prisoner in the black cave. Nat Ridley soon
+freed her of the bonds.
+
+"What happened and how did you get here?" asked the detective, when the
+girl had been given water to drink and led to a seat on a rude, wooden
+bench.
+
+"That night after you came in late at the Paloma boarding house,"
+related Cora when she had recovered her composure, "I fell asleep. I
+was awakened by feeling a hand over my mouth. I tried to get up, to
+scream, and to fight my assailant, but I was not able. I guess they had
+drugged me. I remember dimly that they asked me certain questions and
+that I answered, though I don't know what I said.
+
+"Then they made me walk with them out of the house--two men in masks.
+It was as if I was in a daze. I dimly remember being put into an
+automobile, and then I came to my senses in this cave. I have been a
+prisoner here ever since, and the men have taken turns in demanding
+that I sign papers giving them back the oil wells."
+
+"Did you?" asked Nat.
+
+"I did not! They said they would kill me unless I signed, but I said my
+friends would rescue me. There were a number of men in this cave all
+the while. I think it must be the headquarters of the Tola gang."
+
+"It begins to look so," admitted Nat. "But they must have only recently
+taken over this place, for you saw no signs of them when you two were
+here before, did you?" he asked the cowboys, and they answered in the
+negative.
+
+"The other day," went on Cora, "there seemed to be a sudden alarm. All
+the men rushed out and I was left alone with an old Mexican and his
+wife. He has been my jailer ever since. I must say he did not treat
+me cruelly, though he kept me bound. Then the woman went away this
+morning, and I did not know what to think. A little while ago I heard
+horses approaching."
+
+"They must have been our nags," remarked Ike. "And that rush the other
+day was after us."
+
+"Yes," assented Nat. "Well, what happened then, Miss Ardell?"
+
+"My Mexican guard suddenly rushed out a little while ago," the girl
+reported, "and then I began to work the gag from my mouth. I heard
+shots, and I struggled to free myself and shouted for help. Then you
+came in."
+
+"I'm glad we did," replied Nat Ridley emphatically. "Your guard is out
+of the way," and he told something of what had happened. "The gang of
+Tolas left this cave to chase us," he went on. "But we gave them the
+slip and got back here by a roundabout way. They haven't returned yet,
+it seems."
+
+"And will we be here when they come moseying in?" asked Ike.
+
+"Not if I know it!" declared Slim. "I don't like the looks of their
+double daggers!"
+
+"No, we sha'n't stay here," decided Nat Ridley. He had quickly made up
+his mind to a daring plan for rounding up the Tola gang, now that he
+had in his possession one of their double daggers.
+
+"With your help, my cowboy friends," said the detective, "I'll have
+these scoundrels just where I want them. Can I count on you?"
+
+"You bet!" came fervently from the pair.
+
+"Then," said Nat Ridley in a low voice, "this is what I intend to do."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIII
+
+                             THE DEAF MUTE
+
+
+Within the silence of the dark cave, where, for days, Cora Ardell had
+been kept a prisoner, a secret conference was held. All the talk was in
+whispers, for Ike and Jim declared that they did not know enough about
+the cavern to insure that a listener might not be hidden in some recess.
+
+It was even suggested that perhaps the Mexican whom Nat had shot twice
+might have sneaked back in an endeavor to get revenge, or, failing in
+this, to learn something of the plans of his enemies.
+
+"We can't be too careful," whispered Nat, and so the low talk went on.
+
+Following this conference, Ike hurried from the cave and went to a
+Mexican farmer whom he knew and purchased food with Nat's money, for
+the sleuth had come over the line well supplied financially. Cora,
+after the nerve-racking ordeal of being a prisoner had ended, became
+herself, and told much that she had overheard while bound in the cave.
+
+That the cave was one of the headquarters of the dreaded Tola gang was
+well established, and it was only by chance that the two cowboys had
+not encountered the ruthless El Capitan Martolo, Don Castro and their
+followers on the visits Ike and Jim had paid to the cavern.
+
+"Well, then," remarked Nat Ridley, one afternoon, about two days after
+the shooting of the double dagger from the hand of the Mexican who
+would have stabbed Slim Jim, "I'll leave you three for a while. Take
+good care of Miss Ardell," he warned the cowboys.
+
+"We will," promised Ike.
+
+"I'm not worrying a bit," the girl said.
+
+"And we'll be on the lookout to join you," added Jim.
+
+They watched the detective ride down the trail and out of sight.
+
+While the cowboys were carrying out their promise to guard Cora Ardell
+carefully, quite a different scene was taking place in the Mexican
+village of Paz, some miles from Rolamotaza.
+
+In a Mexican saloon, combined with which was a gambling joint, seated
+around a table in a rear room were El Capitan, Don Juan Castro, Valdez
+and a number of the other members of the secret society known as the
+Tola--an offshoot of some of the terrible organizations of the Aztec
+days. The talk was all in Spanish.
+
+"It seems then," remarked the big El Capitan, "that our men did not
+get the American detective pig?"
+
+"He escaped, to our sorrow," remarked Don Castro, who was telling the
+story.
+
+"How?" snapped El Capitan.
+
+"He and his cowboy companions abandoned their horses and lowered
+themselves over a cliff. We could not follow."
+
+"How was that? Why not?" demanded El Capitan, his eyes blazing.
+
+Don Castro shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands expressively as
+he replied:
+
+"They pulled the ropes away so we could not slide down."
+
+"Imbeciles!" snarled El Capitan. "Why did you not have ropes?"
+
+"It was a mistake not to," admitted the leader of the baffled pursuers.
+"But we had none. However, we still have the girl in the dark cave, and
+it will be strange if she can hold out much longer. If she signs the
+papers, giving us back the oil wells, we can snap our fingers at this
+dog and pig of a Gringo detective."
+
+"Perhaps," said El Capitan. "But he is very clever. Out of my pocket
+from under my nose he took letters--letters that say too much. Tell
+me," he went on with a change of manner. "Have you tortured the girl
+yet?"
+
+"No, El Capitan," answered the other. "We did not know you wanted to
+go to that length."
+
+"Go to any length! Do anything to get her to sign those papers. It
+is my order. Use hot irons if necessary. Now go and don't come back
+without the papers! Are you sure you have the girl safe?"
+
+"Positive, El Capitan."
+
+"That is good. We shall yet laugh at this pig of a Gringo."
+
+El Capitan chuckled and ordered another drink, and while he was pouring
+it down his throat a waiter glided to his side and whispered in his ear.
+
+"So?" exclaimed the Tola leader. "One of our band from the mountains to
+join us? Who is he? Does he bear the symbol?"
+
+"He gave me this," and the waiter held out a card on which was drawn
+the device of a double dagger.
+
+"That is good, but it is not enough. He should have the weapon itself,
+either in miniature or the large one. But I will see him. Don Castro,
+your attention here before you go to the cave on your mission," and El
+Capitan beckoned to his lieutenant.
+
+"Yes, El Capitan," submissively responded the other. "What is it?"
+
+"One of our band--or at least one so claiming--waits outside. He sends
+in his card. He is from the mountains it seems. He may be Pedro from
+the cave."
+
+"If he is, it means that something has happened!" cried Don Castro,
+starting. His manner was alarming.
+
+"You mean the girl has escaped?" hissed El Capitan.
+
+"It is possible."
+
+"If she has, you imbecile, I will hold you responsible!" stormed the
+leader. "But let us see! Have in this member from the mountains. He
+sends the proper card but he must have the dagger itself. Let him come
+in," he ordered the waiter.
+
+A moment later an aged Mexican entered the meeting room of the Tola
+gang. White was his hair, bent was his back and he walked with a staff.
+He bowed humbly as he advanced and seemed eager to please as he stood
+before El Capitan.
+
+"Who are you and what do you want?" snapped out the leader.
+
+The old man appeared not to hear, and something in his manner caused El
+Capitan to exclaim:
+
+"We are betrayed! This is a spy! Speak!" he cried, slipping his hand
+into his coat as if seeking a weapon.
+
+"Pardon, señor, I forgot to mention that he is a deaf mute," said the
+waiter. "He had to write out on a card that he wanted to see you, and I
+had to write that I would take him your message and the symbol, which
+I did. He can neither hear nor speak."
+
+"Fool, why did you not say so at first?" snarled El Capitan. "I had
+nearly put a bullet through him, and that would have been sad if he
+is really one of us. Look you," he went on to the stranger who stood
+meekly before him, "why do you come? What do you want?"
+
+"You forget, El Capitan," said Don Castro, gently, "that he cannot hear
+you."
+
+"True enough," grumbled the head of the gang. "Give me paper and
+pencil!"
+
+"Make sure that he is one of us," suggested Don Castro.
+
+"Am I not doing that?" testily inquired his chief.
+
+He wrote something on a card which the deaf mute read, though slowly,
+either as if his eyesight were poor or his brain slow to comprehend.
+But comprehend he must have, for with a smile and a mumbling of sounds
+that were not words, he drew from his pocket a curiously carved handle.
+
+Pressure on a certain ugly head among the decorations caused two keen
+blades to shoot out--one long and the other short.
+
+"The double dagger!" murmured several who had crowded about El Capitan.
+
+"Yes, he bears the emblem," admitted the chief. "He is one of us.
+But it is going to be devilish hard to get much out of him. I hate
+writing. However, I will see what his mission is."
+
+But hardly had El Capitan begun to frame some questions in writing than
+there rushed into the meeting room a Mexican with a hand done up in
+bandages, and with but a bloody smear where, once, an ear had been.
+
+"Pedro!" gasped Don Castro. "Pedro!"
+
+"From the cave?" El Capitan.
+
+"From the cave!" answered the wounded Tola. "They shot me and they have
+the girl!"
+
+"Ten thousand devils!" yelled El Capitan. "Speak! Who has the girl?
+What do you mean? Who? Tell me! We are lost!"
+
+He started forward as though to seize the messenger and shake the truth
+from him, but Don Castro stepped forward, while the deaf mute, putting
+the double dagger, in which the two blades were once more sheathed,
+back in his pocket, drew quietly into a corner.
+
+"Let me talk to Pedro," suggested Don Castro. "What happened to you and
+who took the girl?" he asked quietly.
+
+Then followed a flood of talk, hearing which El Capitan yelled:
+
+"It is that dog of an Americano detective again. Always he turns up
+unexpectedly. He must die! Quick, call in Valdez and Latro. Set the
+killers on his trail! He must die! Dog! Pig! Thus to baffle us!"
+
+"He must die!" echoed Don Castro, a wicked smile playing over his face.
+"But to kill him we must first catch him, and I think Pedro will help.
+Let us go into conference. And what of this deaf and dumb member from
+the mountain, El Capitan?"
+
+"His matter can wait. He can hear nothing--tell nothing. Let him wait,"
+and he made a sign to the aged Mexican who had shown the double dagger
+to take a seat in the corner whither he had retreated, there to wait
+until the more important matter of planning Nat Ridley's death could be
+disposed of.
+
+The deaf mute sat down wearily, as though he had traveled far, and he
+closed his eyes. But there was a curious little smile playing over his
+brown and wrinkled face.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIV
+
+                             OVER THE LINE
+
+
+Late into the night, yes, almost until the red sun was ready to rise
+and shine down into the village of Paz amid the Mexican hills, did El
+Capitan, Don Castro, Pedro and the "killers" hold conference in the
+back room of the adobe saloon. Now the voices were high pitched and
+now they were low, and all the while the deaf mute sat in his corner,
+nodding, sleeping, and sometimes smiling.
+
+At last a plan was agreed upon and certain men of the company girded
+their pistol belts tighter about them. They were given money by El
+Capitan and then they went out into the gray and reddening dawn to
+where their horses awaited.
+
+"Fail not!" ordered the big chief. "The son of Gringo pig must die!"
+
+"He shall die!" promised Latro, with a cruel smile on his face. "We
+shall meet with our comrades in Paloma and it will be strange if,
+between us, we shall not find him."
+
+"In Paloma, then, I will join you on the day agreed," said El Capitan.
+
+Again the brown and wrinkled deaf mute in his corner smiled. Then the
+leader seemed to remember the mute messenger with the double dagger,
+for he turned to Don Castro and said:
+
+"Now we shall see what he wants. A pest upon him for coming at such a
+time! It is money he desires, I doubt not."
+
+And money was just what the aged member of the Tola gang had come for.
+It appeared, from what he wrote down on dirty pieces of paper, that he
+was a member of a distant branch of the gang that had its headquarters
+in the mountains. It was composed of poor peons, but they had been
+promised a share in the oil wells, the profits of which were to be
+divided among the Tolas.
+
+It further appeared that El Capitan, Don Castro and the others, not
+having sufficient funds of their own to wrest back from the Lemberg
+family the wonderfully profitable wells, had levied contributions from
+every member of the gang, rich and poor, promising in return money when
+the wells should once more be owned by the ancient society.
+
+"And this fellow says he and his fellow villagers are so poor from the
+failure of their crops and because of the money they have given us to
+get back our wells that they are starving," said El Capitan when he had
+read what the deaf mute wrote. "A pest upon them! Why could they not
+wait?" He walked the floor in anger.
+
+"What is to be done?" asked Don Castro.
+
+"What would you have?" retorted El Capitan. "We cannot afford
+disaffection. These mountain members, though they add little to our
+success, must still be considered. But I am tired of this pencil
+scratching, Castro. You deal with this mute. Write him that if he will
+wait a few days he shall have money to take to his friends. By that
+time we shall have our wells back."
+
+"If we get the girl and kill that devil of a detective--maybe," added
+Don Castro, with a shrug of his shoulders.
+
+"We will!" declared the leader. "Deal you, Castro, with our member from
+the mountains. Pacify him--tell him to wait and all will be well."
+
+"I suppose he is a member," suggested the other.
+
+"Did he not have the double dagger? Who else but a member would dare
+show it? He is a true Tola. Treat him well. And now we shall hope for
+the best. I am weary--I would sleep!"
+
+So while El Capitan staggered off to his room, Don Castro wrote more
+messages to the deaf mute who read them slowly--and smiled.
+
+It was several days after this, during which time El Capitan, together
+with several of his most trusted men, had departed on a mission, that
+Don Castro, sauntering one day into the café headquarters of the Tola
+gang, inquired for Zenna, which, the deaf mute had written, was his
+name.
+
+"He is gone," the café proprietor answered.
+
+"Gone?"
+
+"Yes. He left in the night. Someone came to him with a note and he
+departed hurriedly. Why? Was I supposed to detain him? Is all not
+right?"
+
+"I don't know about the last," said Don Castro slowly. "I hope so.
+Certainly you had no orders to detain him. I wonder if he was a Tola."
+
+"He had the double dagger," replied the café owner, who was also one of
+the ruthless gang. "I saw him springing the blades in and out as he sat
+here early in the evening."
+
+"Yes, he had the double dagger," agreed Don Castro. "But I wonder--I
+wonder!" Then, with a shrug of his shoulders he added: "But El Capitan
+said he was one of us, and El Capitan should know."
+
+Meanwhile the bent and aged deaf mute was making good time over the
+mountain trails on the mule that had brought him to the village of Paz.
+And, as he hastened forward, now and then he took out the double dagger
+and looked at it. Ever and anon he smiled, wrinkling his bronzed face.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a little adobe hut, long and narrow, several men were gathered one
+hot, sultry evening. Two of the party were cowboys, by their dress.
+One spoke in slow, drawling tones and moved but seldom. The other was
+tall and slim.
+
+Two others of the party were evidently Easterners, as their pale faces,
+in contrast to the bronzed complexions of their companions, plainly
+showed.
+
+"Well, Baldy," remarked one of these latter, "we're a long, long way
+from Times Square."
+
+"You said it, Berry!" responded the other. "But this is the place the
+chief told us to report to, isn't it?"
+
+"You got it right, gentlemen," said the tall, thin cowboy. "Me an' Lazy
+Ike doped this out as the best place to pull off the party; didn't
+we, Ike?" he asked his companion who had gone into another part of
+the long, low building which was divided in the middle by a partition
+containing a door. "Where's Ike?" he asked, looking at Baldy and Berry.
+
+"I crossed over into Mexico to get me a match for my cigarette,"
+answered Lazy Ike, coming through the door. "Now I'm in the U. S. A.
+once more," he went on as he sat down with the others.
+
+"Is it true?" asked Baldy Stoler of Slim Burke, "that this building is
+right over the line between the United States and Mexico?"
+
+"You got it right, buddy," was the answer. "It was built for a saloon,
+after prohibition started, so liquor could be sold to thirsty United
+Staters who didn't want to go into Mexico. They could come in here and
+imbibe and still be on Uncle Sam's land. In case of a raid the red-eye
+and forty-rod could be hustled over to the other side of the saloon, on
+to Mexican territory, and the prohibition people couldn't do a thing.
+It got so, after a while, that the United States authorities and the
+Mexican government made an agreement and this place was wiped out
+by a joint raid. Since then this shack is in charge of the military
+authorities of both countries."
+
+"And when Nat telephoned Baldy and me to come here," said Berry, "and
+when we met you two cowboys, you said this was the best place for the
+trick."
+
+"It is," asserted Slim Jim. "It's just over the line, you see."
+
+Others in the crowd listened to this talk. Hard-fisted men they were,
+and ready with their guns. Baldy looked at his watch and remarked:
+
+"It's about time he was here if he's coming."
+
+At that moment a door in the Mexican end of the building opened and an
+old man shuffled in. Bent and wrinkled he was, and stained and dusty
+from long travel.
+
+"What do you want?" called Ike sharply. "Who are you?"
+
+"Excuse me, señor, but I am deaf and dumb," was the reply.
+
+For a moment this remarkable statement seemed to shock them all into
+silence, and then Berry Todd laughed and cried:
+
+"It's the chief himself--Nat Ridley!"
+
+"Hush!" cautioned the detective, for he it was. "They are on the way.
+They will soon be here. Into the other room with you--the United States
+side and wait for my whistle. Have your guns ready."
+
+"That's something we won't have nothin' else but," declared Lazy Ike
+with his characteristic drawl.
+
+A little later the aged Mexican seemed to be alone in the long, narrow
+building that straddled the international line. He sat in a chair,
+waiting, waiting, with a queer smile on his brown face.
+
+Presently he heard the sound of horses ambling along the road, and the
+smile changed to a stern expression. He rose as several men opened the
+door and came in, El Capitan and Don Castro among them.
+
+"He is here!" exclaimed the leader, glancing at the Mexican. "I thought
+he was one of us, though you doubted him, Don Castro. Now then,
+somebody, write and ask him where he has the girl and that pig of a
+detective. I must have a drink," and El Capitan drew out a flask while
+Don Castro wrote the questions of his chief on a piece of paper which
+he handed the old Mexican, who had appointed this rendezvous after his
+sudden flight from Paz.
+
+But the deaf mute seemed to have some difficulty in reading the
+writing. He held it up beneath a candle spluttering in a wall sconce.
+And, as he raised his arms, Don Castro gave a cry of alarm.
+
+"What is it?" cried El Capitan, nearly choking himself as he stopped
+his drink half taken. "What is it?"
+
+"We are betrayed!" shouted Don Castro. "See! This man is no peon! He is
+in disguise! His skin is stained! I doubted him from the first. Now I
+am sure!"
+
+With a quick motion Don Castro pulled back the sleeve from the upraised
+arm of the man reading the note. And while the hand and wrist were
+stained a mahogany brown, the remainder of the arm was glistening white
+skin.
+
+"Son of a pig!" hissed El Capitan as, from an inner pocket, he drew his
+double dagger and sprang toward Nat Ridley.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXV
+
+                              THE WHISTLE
+
+
+Thought was hardly quicker than Nat Ridley's act as he pulled loose his
+sleeve from the betraying grip of Don Castro and leaped toward the door
+dividing the long building in two. As he glided from the grasp of the
+Mexican, the latter gave a cry of dismay.
+
+"After him!" shouted El Capitan. "He must not escape again! He knows
+too much!"
+
+"Devil of a spy!" cried some of the other Tolas who, with their
+leaders, had come over into the United States in furtherance of their
+plans and because of certain things the deaf mute had written in his
+notes. The mute had promised to deliver into their hands Nat Ridley the
+detective, and to tell where Cora Ardell could be found.
+
+"Spy! Spy!" yelled the baffled and enraged Mexicans, while El Capitan
+seemed actually to foam at the mouth.
+
+"He said he would deliver Ridley to us!" cried Don Castro.
+
+"And he is here!" cried the ringing voice of the supposed deaf mute.
+"Nat Ridley is here! Come and get him! I am Nat Ridley, at your
+service!"
+
+He leaped into the other room, which appeared to be vacant. After him
+rushed El Capitan, Don Castro and the "killers." Each one held either a
+double dagger or a gun.
+
+For a moment it seemed that Nat Ridley would be either killed or
+captured. But the same smile that had wrinkled the brown face of the
+supposed Mexican now corrugated that of the sleuth and he shouted:
+
+"Come in and get me!"
+
+Into the room--occupied only by the detective it seemed--rushed the
+Tola gang.
+
+Then Nat Ridley put a whistle to his lips and blew a shrill blast.
+Instantly certain boxes along the sides of the room were shoved aside
+and there appeared two cowboys and Baldy Stoler and Berry Todd and a
+number of United States revenue officers, each one grim of face and
+holding two guns.
+
+"Betrayed! Betrayed!" snarled Don Castro.
+
+"All is not lost yet!" shouted El Capitan. "We are on Mexican soil.
+These pigs of Americanos cannot arrest us!"
+
+"There's where you're wrong!" cried Nat Ridley, his hand in his coat
+pocket. "You're on United States soil. There's the international line!"
+and he pointed to a black mark running along the floor just where the
+door was set in the partition. "You're in the United States and you're
+all prisoners!" his voice rang out. "This is the end of the Tola gang!"
+
+"Not yet!" snarled El Capitan. "The double dagger will be avenged!"
+
+He leaped at Nat with the two-pointed knife he drew from his coat,
+but as he sprang there was a sharp report, a puff of smoke from the
+detective's pocket, and El Capitan crumpled up on the floor, a bullet
+through his heart.
+
+"It is my turn!" yelled Don Castro.
+
+He drew his gun and aimed at Nat from behind. But Berry Todd saw the
+motion and the detective's gun spoke once. Don Castro went down, the
+bullet striking him in the mouth as he opened it to yell his defiance.
+
+Several of the Mexicans began firing, but they were poor shots and the
+bullets flew wild, while the guns of the cowboys, the three detectives,
+and those of the revenue officers did fearful execution. Several of the
+Tola gang were killed, and the others, in a panic of fear, threw down
+their weapons, raised their hands in the air, and cried out that they
+surrendered.
+
+"Well, then, I guess this is about all," remarked Nat Ridley as the
+cowed wretches were led away to the Paloma jail, the fight having taken
+place on the outskirts of the city. "Is Miss Ardell all right?" he
+went on. "Where is she?"
+
+"You can see for yourself," remarked Slim Jim. He went to a side door,
+opened it, and Cora entered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So ended the reign of terror instituted by the Tolas when they found
+that the oil wells were more valuable than had been supposed. With the
+leaders slain and most of the principals in jail, the order was all but
+wiped out. In some ways it was a lawful secret society, and there were
+good members of it, particularly in the mountains among the poor and
+honest peons.
+
+But the Tola had been corrupted by El Capitan for his own ends and
+those of his friends, and the forcing of the oil wells from the
+Lembergs, who were lawfully entitled to them, was only part of their
+plans.
+
+Nat Ridley had learned all their secrets while in their headquarters
+disguised as the deaf and dumb Mexican. He learned how the deaths of
+the three Lembergs had been brought about, and from the persons of the
+slain and captured men were taken several large double daggers and a
+number of the small ones, with the drugged points--emblems used to
+strike terror to the hearts of the enemies of the Tolas.
+
+"Dan Steele is avenged," said Nat when, having resumed his own
+character, he was ready to go back to New York with Berry and Baldy.
+
+"And my cousins' widows and the other heirs will be in undisputed
+possession of their oil wells," added Cora Ardell. "My own interests
+will also be safe now, thanks to you," she said to Nat with a grateful
+smile.
+
+They were soon on their way north in a train, for the girl decided
+that she had had enough of Mexico. Certain trusted agents were left in
+charge of the oil-well property.
+
+"And when will you send in your bill?" asked Cora presently.
+
+"What bill?" came from Nat, wonderingly.
+
+"The bill for your services," said the girl. "I want to pay my share,
+and I know, my cousins' widows will also. How much do we owe you?"
+
+"Nothing at all," was the prompt answer. "What I did was done to rid
+the country of a desperate gang and to avenge my friend Dan Steele.
+It wasn't a question of money. I don't want a reward. Dan Steele is
+avenged!"
+
+"Good and plenty!" echoed Baldy Stoler.
+
+And then Nat Ridley settled back in his seat for a well-deserved rest.
+
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75909 ***
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+      The Double Dagger | Project Gutenberg
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75909 ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop">
+  <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<p><i>NAT RIDLEY DETECTIVE STORIES</i></p>
+
+<h1>THE DOUBLE DAGGER</h1>
+
+<p>or</p>
+
+<h2>Nat Ridley's Mexican Trail</h2>
+
+<p class="ph1">By Nat Ridley, Jr.</p>
+
+<p><i>Author of "Guilty or Not Guilty," "A Daring Abduction,"<br>
+"A Scream in the Dark," etc.</i></p>
+
+<p>GARDEN CITY&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NEW YORK<br>
+GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.</p>
+
+<p>1926</p>
+
+<p>NAT RIDLEY RAPID FIRE DETECTIVE STORIES</p>
+
+<p>BY NAT RIDLEY, JR.,</p>
+
+<p>Copyright, 1926, by<br>
+GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Double Dagger</span></p>
+
+<p>MADE IN U. S. A.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table>
+<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">A CALL FOR HELP</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">THE DOUBLE DAGGER</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">ANOTHER MURDER</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">AN ORDER TO RAMON</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">THE ROPE IN THE DARK</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">A CHANGE OF IDENTITIES</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">LIGHTS OUT</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">HALF A COAT</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE WINDOW CLEANER</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">OFF TO TEXAS</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">A FREE SPENDER</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">EL CAPITAN</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">IN THE DUNGEON</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XIV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">THE BOMB</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">IN HIDING</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XVI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">ON TO ROLAMOTAZA</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XVII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">INTO THE HILLS</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">THE BLACK CAVE</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XIX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">PURSUED</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">OVER THE CLIFF</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XXI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">A SHOT IN TIME</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XXII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">THE TOLA EMBLEM</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XXIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">THE DEAF MUTE</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XXIV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">OVER THE LINE</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">XXV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">THE WHISTLE</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+
+<h2>THE DOUBLE DAGGER</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>A CALL FOR HELP</h3>
+
+
+<p>With a vicious bang, which indicated that his thoughts were not on what
+he was doing, Nat Ridley hung the receiver on the telephone hook. He
+swung around in his swivel chair and looked out of the window of his
+Times Square office at the hurrying throngs converging at Broadway and
+Seventh Avenue.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a new one, all right!" exclaimed the famous detective, more to
+himself than to anyone else, though Berry Todd, his capable assistant,
+was at a desk near by. "It sure is a new one! And to think that some of
+those human ants down there may have had a hand in it!"</p>
+
+<p>He leaned forward the better to see out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" asked Berry, who was shuffling over some papers. "Whose
+aunt are you talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody's aunt!" was Nat's reply. "I might just as well have said flies
+or bugs—that's what they look like!" He waved his hand to the hurrying
+throng—men and women mixed with automobiles.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh—that bunch!" chuckled Berry. "Yes, there sure is a crowd. But is
+anything wrong?" he went on, for he realized that the mere sight of
+the crowd, almost always in evidence at this busy section of New York,
+was no new one for his chief. "Anything wrong?" asked Berry again,
+though in a lower voice, for he noted that the celebrated sleuth, whose
+exploits were the talk of two continents, was gazing abstractedly at
+the telephone.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is," snapped out Nat Ridley, though the crisp tone did not
+indicate impatience with his helper's insistence. "I can't quite make
+out why he should 'phone me."</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" asked Berry, who was a privileged character.</p>
+
+<p>"Carl Lemberg."</p>
+
+<p>"That German sleuth?" cried Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't as German as his name sounds," was Nat's reply. "Though of
+course he has many of the earmarks. But why he should want me to come
+in on one of his cases——"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to say he admits he's stuck, do you?" and Berry
+laughed. "That's pretty good! Lemberg up a blind alley—at the end of
+his trail—that's pretty good!"</p>
+
+<p>The joke, if such it was, was all the more appreciated by Berry Todd,
+for of all the private detectives in New York, Nat Ridley's chief rival
+was this Carl Lemberg.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Nat did not actually admit that Lemberg was a rival. It was only
+other detectives, some in the Ridley offices, who were thus bold about
+admitting the fact and, sometimes, complaining about it. For though
+the chief said nothing, more than once he had heard of some rather
+underhand practices on the part of Lemberg or the latter's helpers,
+practices that took from Nat Ridley cases that netted large sums of
+money.</p>
+
+<p>But Nat Ridley was not one to complain, or even acknowledge that he had
+a rival. He took the cases that came to him, and not always for money,
+either. More than once he had worked day and night, and even endangered
+his life, solving a mystery for the very love of getting to the bottom
+of a tangle or for the sake of some friend.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it could not be wholly ignored that Carl Lemberg was, in every
+sense of the word, a business rival of Nat Ridley's.</p>
+
+<p>"So he's squealing, is he?" asked Berry. "What's the game? What sort of
+case has Lemberg that he can't solve, Chief?"</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't exactly squealing, Berry," said Nat slowly, as he rose
+from his chair, pushed it back, and began nervously to pace the small
+private office. "He is in need of help."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it's on a case, isn't it?" persisted Berry. "I'll bet a new straw
+hat, and the season's just opening, too," he added, "that he fell down
+on that Markwith jewelry robbery. They passed us up on that, Chief, and
+went to Lemberg. Now he's stuck! Serves him darn good and right!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't the Markwith case, Berry," said Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"What then?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a sort of family affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a scandal? Well, we don't go in for that sort of thing, do we?"</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't quite got me, Berry," and Nat smiled. "It isn't that kind
+of a case. Though it is a family matter for Lemberg. He's in need
+of help and he turns to me. Urgent need he said just now, over the
+telephone."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it must be a big case!" declared Berry. "So much the better for
+us. I'd rather he'd be stuck on a big case and have to turn it over to
+us, than to have it a little jigger not worth bothering with. Want me
+to do anything, Chief?"</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley slowly indicated a negative by a shake of his head.</p>
+
+<p>"It hasn't gotten to that stage yet," he said. "In fact, I don't know
+what it is myself. I told him to come here and see me. Such matters
+aren't for the telephone."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you're going to help him?"</p>
+
+<p>This time Nat nodded in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew!" whistled Berry Todd.</p>
+
+<p>And there was reason for his surprise, for in addition to the rivalry
+existing between the two offices, there was a distinct feeling on Nat
+Ridley's part against Lemberg. The noted sleuth did not speak of this,
+but his friends and his office force knew of it.</p>
+
+<p>Lemberg was too tricky, and Nat was out of sympathy with the manner in
+which the German, as he was often called, got some of his cases. And
+when Berry thought of that and heard his chief say he had agreed to
+listen to what Lemberg had to say, it is no wonder Berry whistled.</p>
+
+<p>"Will he be here soon?" asked Berry, as he began to gather up the
+papers he was looking over. "If he will, I'd better light out. I was
+getting up the report for you on that kidnapping case, but——"</p>
+
+<p>"Let it go, Berry," was the order. "Lemberg will be here in about five
+minutes, and he wants to see me alone. I'll let you and Baldy know what
+I decide to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Lemberg will be here in five minutes?" exclaimed Berry as he put the
+papers in a portfolio and started for the door leading out of Nat's
+private room. "How's he coming—by air-ship?" The office of the other
+sleuth was down near Wall Street, several miles from Times Square.</p>
+
+<p>"He is in our neighborhood," Nat went on. "He was so anxious to see me
+that he rode up here, and is down in the Grand Central Terminal now.
+He's coming up from there in a taxi."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll make myself scarce. But—you won't mind a word from an old
+friend as well as from one of your workers, Chief?" Berry seemed very
+anxious.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I won't!" declared Nat. "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Think twice before you have anything to do with Lemberg," was the low
+reply. "He's no better than a snake in the grass in my opinion."</p>
+
+<p>"An opinion I quite agree with at times, Berry," was the rejoinder.
+"But I don't want to say I won't help him until I hear what he has to
+say. Judging from his voice, he was in quite a stew."</p>
+
+<p>"Serves him right!" muttered Berry as he went out.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes, during which Nat continued to pace the office, an
+electric buzzer near his desk signaled in a certain way.</p>
+
+<p>"There he is!" murmured Nat, and, stepping to a button near the
+signal, he pressed it, indicating to Toodles, the office boy in the
+front office, that the chief would receive a visitor.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later Carl Lemberg was ushered into Nat Ridley's private room.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the fact that he had lived all his life in the United
+States, there was a typical German appearance about this detective. He
+was massive in bulk and manner, and his voice, ordinarily, was loud and
+booming. It was this voice, more times than one, fairly hurled at a
+suspect, that had caused many to quail and confess.</p>
+
+<p>Yet now Carl Lemberg was but a shadow of what he had been on occasions.
+Instead of entering the office with a firm and confident tread, he
+fairly slunk in, and he glanced from side to side, and once back of
+him, in a manner denoting that he feared he might have been followed.</p>
+
+<p>His usually ruddy face was pale and his large hands trembled as he took
+a big linen handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his face.</p>
+
+<p>"It is good of you to let me come, Ridley," began the visitor, with
+no trace of accent, though he spoke German fluently and with a purity
+seldom attained by those not born in Germany.</p>
+
+<p>"I could do nothing less after what you said," rejoined the other.
+"What is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Much!" was the reply, and again came that nervous look about and
+behind. "Are we alone here?" he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"As much so as anyone is ever alone," was the reply, with a smile. "The
+walls are sound proof—as yours are."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes—mine—of course! And yet they haven't seemed to keep my
+secrets."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"I—I wish I knew!" was the faltering reply. "I wish I knew!"</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Lemberg," exclaimed Nat with a brusk show of friendliness
+he did not altogether feel, "you're all in! You're showing fear! It may
+not be real, but——"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid, Ridley! I am afraid!" was the quick reply. "I hardly dare
+admit to myself how frightened I am. That is why I have come to you."</p>
+
+<p>"You? Afraid?" chuckled Nat, half scoffing. "I can't believe it."</p>
+
+<p>"It's true, I tell you!" fairly snarled the other. "I am in deadly
+fear!"</p>
+
+<p>"What of, in the name of all the police of New York?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't even know that. But it's terrible!"</p>
+
+<p>There was no mistaking the man's terror. It showed in his voice, in
+his eyes, in his actions. Nat Ridley was astonished. To himself he
+murmured:</p>
+
+<p>"The intrepid Carl Lemberg afraid? Am I dreaming?"</p>
+
+<p>Aloud he said:</p>
+
+<p>"You must have a reason for this fear. I suppose you came to tell
+me—to get my help. And, if so——"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! Yes!" broke in the other detective. "You are ready to laugh at
+me, I know. I feel it! I would not be surprised. Yet, you would be
+afraid also if——"</p>
+
+<p>He paused, startled by some noise unperceived by Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what?" suggested the other. "I would be afraid if what?"</p>
+
+<p>"If your brother had been murdered, and then your uncle and then your
+chief assistant. I ask you, Nat Ridley, if you would not, also, have
+fear under those circumstances? Would you——?"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant the telephone on the desk jingled out an imperative
+summons, and, coming, as it did, at such a dramatic moment, even Nat
+Ridley was startled.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE DOUBLE DAGGER</h3>
+
+
+<p>For a moment or two the telephone bell continued to sound its summons,
+and both men stared at it. The German detective made a motion as though
+to answer, and then, recollecting that he was not in his own office, he
+stepped back with a mutter of impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," murmured Nat as he picked up the instrument.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>To Nat's ears came the voice of Berry Todd in the latter's office near
+the entrance to the sleuth's suite.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Chief?" asked Berry in guarded tones.</p>
+
+<p>"All right about what?" Nat countered, for he did not get the drift of
+the other's question.</p>
+
+<p>Berry went on with:</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, Chief, but I happened to notice that bird sliding into your
+office, and I didn't like his looks. No names, you understand, but I
+thought he looked desperate, and he might have suddenly gone batty, you
+know, and might try to slip you a bomb, or something like that. How
+about it? Need any help? Are you all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"All right," Nat answered, hardly able to keep from chuckling at the
+odd thought Berry had given voice to. The sleuth, who was very fond
+of his chief in more than a business way, had noted, with more than a
+little apprehension, the entrance of Lemberg.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed Lemberg was acting very queerly, but Nat Ridley was not afraid
+for himself, though he appreciated Berry's precaution.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite all right," said Nat again, as he put the receiver on the hook.
+"Sorry to have had to interrupt you," he went on to his visitor. "But,
+being in the same line of business——"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of course—yes. Perhaps I shouldn't have come in. But I could not
+stand it any longer. Though if you have an urgent case——"</p>
+
+<p>"There wouldn't seem to be any more urgent than your own," said Nat.
+"This was only one of my men reporting. I am quite ready to hear you
+further. Did I understand you to say that your brother and uncle had
+been murdered?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it—foully murdered, Ridley! And now Dan Steele——"</p>
+
+<p>"What?" cried Nat, startled out of his usual calmness. "You don't mean
+to tell me Steele has been killed? How? When? Where? Why, Dan used to
+work for me at one time."</p>
+
+<p>"I know he did. A fine chap he is—was, I mean. When I got word that
+the devils had put the sign on him I decided it was too much for me to
+handle. And, knowing you had once hired Steele, I decided to come to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better sit down and tell me about it," suggested Nat, for, up
+to this time, Lemberg had been pacing the office.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a long story, but I will make it as short as possible," he said,
+as he slumped, rather than sat, in a chair. Again he mopped his pale
+and perspiring face. "You may not know it," went on Lemberg, "but I am
+in the oil-well business."</p>
+
+<p>"I had not heard it," stated Nat. "The venture must have been recently
+made."</p>
+
+<p>"It was. I would not have gone into it had not these murders forced it
+upon me. For years, as you know, I have conducted a private detective
+agency, just as you have."</p>
+
+<p>Nat did not quite like the simile, for he would not admit that he
+conducted the same sort of business as had Carl Lemberg. But Nat let
+that pass, and the other went on:</p>
+
+<p>"My brother, Henry, and my uncle, August, some years ago bought the
+rights to several valuable oil properties in the neighborhood of
+Rolamotaza, in Mexico. The wells turned out better than was expected,
+and my uncle and brother decided to increase their holdings.</p>
+
+<p>"Near their property were some wells belonging to a number of
+Mexicans, who formed a sort of corporation for marketing the product
+they pumped out of the earth. As is natural, where natural products are
+so close together, there were frequent quarrels over mineral rights,
+and matters got to such a point that my uncle and brother decided they
+would either have to buy out their rivals or sell to them.</p>
+
+<p>"Finally it settled to a matter of the former, and a deal was made by
+which the Mexican firm transferred their rights, titles and interests
+to my two relatives. The Mexicans were paid a large sum, all they
+had demanded, as a matter of fact, and, getting the money, they
+disappeared."</p>
+
+<p>Lemberg paused again to mop his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing very remarkable in all this, so far," said Nat, who had been
+jotting down some pencil characters on a paper. This had been observed
+by his visitor who sharply asked:</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Taking shorthand notes."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you no stenographer?" the German inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," and Nat smiled. "But there are some things I do not trust even
+to my own stenographer. Proceed, if you please. You have yet to come to
+the murders."</p>
+
+<p>"I will come to them—never fear!" declared the other earnestly. "As I
+said, the Mexicans, after their wells were bought, disappeared, but
+some time later they came back."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because the properties they sold to my brother and uncle turned out
+to be much more valuable than had been thought. In other words, much
+oil began to spout in wells it was thought were running dry, and, as a
+result, my uncle and brother began to grow very wealthy."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Mexicans came back, I suppose," said Nat, "to get a share of
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. But as my relatives had paid all that was asked, and as
+they had no knowledge that the wells would turn out better than was
+supposed, they did not see why they should pay over any of their
+profits."</p>
+
+<p>"No, as a business proposition, they couldn't be expected to," Nat
+agreed.</p>
+
+<p>"And then came the murders!" exclaimed Lemberg suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"How?" cried Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"One night, after several veiled threats had been made against my two
+relatives, my brother Henry was found dead—there was a dagger in his
+heart!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Latin races run to knives," murmured Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"A few days after that," went on Lemberg, "and following the receipt by
+my uncle of an anonymous threat that if he did not share some of his
+oil wealth with the former owners of the wells he would be killed, he,
+too, was found dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Murdered?"</p>
+
+<p>"Murdered!"</p>
+
+<p>"With a dagger?"</p>
+
+<p>"With a dagger, just as my brother had been, and with the same sign."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean—with the same sign?"</p>
+
+<p>"This!" and the German sleuth took a little package from his coat
+pocket. He opened it and spread the contents on Nat's desk. There were
+two dirty cards, on one of which were tell-tale red stains, and each
+card bore on one side the drawing, crudely done, of a double dagger.</p>
+
+<p>The weapon seemed to consist of a middle handle, made of some sort of
+twisted horn, or perhaps hard wood. One of the blades of the double
+dagger was longer than the other, and both points were shown very keen
+in the picture.</p>
+
+<p>"Rather an odd weapon," commented Nat, taking up one of the cards by
+the edges so as to leave no finger prints on those presumably already
+there. "I think I have seen it before. Just a moment."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to a large book case and opened the glass door.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Lemberg.</p>
+
+<p>"Look up this symbol—for a symbol I think it is."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," said the other. "As I said, it is a sign. But here is
+one of the daggers," and from another pocket Lemberg took a small box
+which he turned upside down on Nat's desk.</p>
+
+<p>There was a metallic sound, and there tinkled out on the shining oak a
+small dagger, exactly like the pictured one on the card, but so small
+as to be useless as a weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like a pin," commented Nat Ridley.</p>
+
+<p>"It was used as a pin," the German said. "With these pins these cards
+were fastened to the clothing of my brother and my uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"I see," murmured Nat. He reached forward to pick up the murderous
+little implement, but Lemberg caught his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"The points may be poisoned," was the caution.</p>
+
+<p>"They may be," admitted Nat. "I was going to exercise due caution,
+Lemberg," he added, with a grim laugh. "But did your uncle and brother
+die from the scratch of a poisoned weapon?"</p>
+
+<p>"They may have, for all I know to the contrary, though from the report
+of the police in Rolamotaza the cuts in their hearts brought death. If
+there was poison used, it was to make assurance doubly sure. But it is
+best to be cautious."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right. So the cards, bearing the picture of this dagger, were
+fastened on the dead men's clothing with pins made in the same shape.
+Were the heart stabs made by the same sort of daggers, only larger?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is the supposition. But I can save you time, Ridley. You were
+going to look up this symbol?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," admitted Nat. "I have some books on foreign secret societies. I
+think I recognize this symbol. It is, I am sure——"</p>
+
+<p>"The Tola," interrupted Lemberg. "I looked it up. Yes, it is an old
+Mexican society, but it was supposed to have died out years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it has revived," stated Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Or else it never died. Well, to get on with my story. When I got
+word of my brother's death, I started the police in Mexico after the
+murderers. They did what they could—little enough—and while I was
+waiting their report, my uncle went the same way.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I acted quickly, and sent my best man down to Paloma, Texas, with
+orders to cross into Mexico and see if he could round up these oil-well
+killers."</p>
+
+<p>"He went, I suppose?" suggested Nat.</p>
+
+<p>Lemberg bowed gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"But he never came back," he said. "Dan Steele was murdered in Paloma
+in the same way my brother and uncle had been killed—with a dagger
+thrust in his heart, and this card pinned on his breast. Do you wonder
+I am afraid, Ridley?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not after that," was the answer. "But what form does your fear take?"</p>
+
+<p>"A fear for myself. I have reason to believe they will kill me
+next—those mysterious murderers of the Tola!" and, with a shaking
+hand, Carl Lemberg again mopped his face.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>ANOTHER MURDER</h3>
+
+
+<p>Nat Ridley was accustomed to seeing strong men exhibit fear under
+many circumstances. Sometimes it was a fear over the consequences of
+the crimes the detective had fastened on them. Again it might be a
+fear over the outcome of some fight about to take place—a fight with
+revolvers or daggers. More seldom he had seen clients of his exhibit
+terror under just such circumstances as now confronted him—fear of
+vengeance from some cause.</p>
+
+<p>"But I never," declared Nat, telling of the matter later to his two
+assistants, Berry Todd and Baldy Stoler, "saw a man in such a state of
+fear as Lemberg was."</p>
+
+<p>Realizing, as he sat there facing the German sleuth, who, as a last
+resort, had applied to a rival for aid, Nat Ridley realized that he
+must say or do something to reassure Lemberg.</p>
+
+<p>"If I don't, he may have a nervous breakdown in my office and make an
+unpleasant sensation," decided the great detective.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, Nat strode over to where Lemberg was sitting in a chair,
+and fairly trembling now. He placed a firm hand on the German's
+powerful shoulder—Lemberg would have made two Nat Ridley figures, with
+something left over—and exclaimed sternly:</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, now! Don't make a fool of yourself, Lemberg! You are in no
+immediate danger. You are safe in my office. Pull yourself together.
+No one can harm you here, and if I am to help you I must have more
+particulars. You are in no danger here."</p>
+
+<p>"I—I am not so sure of that," whispered the German, looking nervously
+around and out of the windows. "This Tola gang is terrible!"</p>
+
+<p>"They may be. I know, from reading their history, that they were a
+blood-thirsty offshoot of the Aztecs," admitted Nat. "But they can't
+get you here!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dan Steele thought they couldn't get him," said Lemberg in a low
+voice. "But they did! And after my brother's murder and my uncle had
+received mysterious warnings to leave the country, he boasted that they
+couldn't get him. But they did! And now I think they will get me."</p>
+
+<p>"But why?" asked Nat. "You aren't down there in Mexico. You're in the
+heart of New York."</p>
+
+<p>"And some of the Tolas may be in this very building!" declared the
+German sleuth.</p>
+
+<p>"What object would they have in killing you, granted that they have
+some of their agents in New York?" Nat wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"As the heir of my uncle and brother, I inherit most of those oil
+wells," was the answer. "Their enmity will run against me now, unless I
+relinquish my claim. I am going to do that, only I fear it will be too
+late. Vengeance may already be sworn against me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" Nat said, with a short laugh. He was trying to make his
+visitor forget some of his fear. "The wells are legally yours. Why
+should you give them up? Especially when it well may be that these
+fellows are scoundrels—that they are just playing on your fears to
+get you to give in. The wells were bought and paid for, and you are
+entitled to them."</p>
+
+<p>Lemberg shook his ponderous head, and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"It seems that the Tola society, or the present-day members of it, want
+money from the wells to re-establish their ancient splendor and power.
+They want to make the Tola what it was in the days of the Spanish
+Conquistadores. My uncle and brother did not know, when they bought the
+wells, that the land, centuries ago, was owned by the Tolas. Now they
+want it back again."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you learn this?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"From the reports Steele sent in before he was killed."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are those reports now?"</p>
+
+<p>"In my office."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to look at them," said Nat with interest—"that is, if I
+am to help you in this matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but you will help me, won't you, Ridley?" gasped Lemberg, seizing
+the detective's hand. "I need help, and I don't know where to turn but
+to you! See if you can't run these criminals down—find out where they
+are hiding. Tell them I'll give back the wells if they will only let me
+sleep in peace at night. I'm a wreck!"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed the man looked it. There were big, puffy bags under his eyes,
+and his hands trembled.</p>
+
+<p>"But why did they kill Dan Steele?" asked Nat. "He had no interest in
+the mines, did he?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I sent him to Mexico to run down the gang, and he was hot on their
+trail when the double dagger got him. Poor Dan!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Dan is right!" echoed Nat. "I knew him well. He was a friend of
+mine, and for his sake—to avenge him—I'm going to take this case,
+Lemberg."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you for that, Ridley!" exclaimed the other fervently. "It will
+take a load off my mind. But be careful of yourself. Once it is known
+you are seeking the Tola gang—those who carry the symbol of the double
+dagger—your life may pay the forfeit."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been threatened before," replied Nat grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"But never in this way!" and Lemberg's voice was very serious. "Once
+they find out you are working against them to help me—to avenge the
+murders of my brother and uncle—they will——"</p>
+
+<p>"They will not find out I am working on the case," interrupted Nat
+Ridley. "I've dealt with fellows like this before."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know them!" warned Lemberg. "I took a roundabout way in
+riding to your office, but I fear I was followed. I doubled on my
+tracks and made a twisting trail, but I still fear I was followed."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we'll see that they don't see you leaving here," Nat promised.
+"I have means of getting from this room to the floor above and down a
+rear freight elevator that will fool the cleverest stalker. Don't worry
+about that, nor about me. Now let's get down to brass tacks. Tell me
+everything you can."</p>
+
+<p>For an hour or more Carl Lemberg related all the details of the triple
+crime, and Nat made shorthand notes, to the no small admiration of his
+fellow sleuth, who declared it was a valuable adjunct to Nat's talents.
+At the end of the talk Nat said:</p>
+
+<p>"I must go over Steele's reports. There may be something in them that
+you have forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely there is," admitted Lemberg. "I'm in such a state that at
+times I hardly know what I am doing. If you will come to my office you
+shall see all the papers."</p>
+
+<p>Nat made an appointment for that afternoon, and then escorted the
+German out of the office by a special stairway leading to the floor
+above, so he could get out by a freight entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry," advised Nat as he shook hands with Lemberg. "They won't
+spot you leaving here. And I think it is mostly your imagination that
+is causing your fears."</p>
+
+<p>"It is no imagination!" declared Lemberg, fervently.</p>
+
+<p>However, he seemed to have gotten safely away from Nat's Times Square
+office, for the sleuth sent Baldy down to Broadway to make sure nothing
+happened, and the old detective reported that Lemberg had "scurried
+into a taxicab like a rabbit in the hunting season."</p>
+
+<p>"What's it all about, Chief?" asked Baldy, with the freedom of an old
+retainer.</p>
+
+<p>"You and Berry might as well hear the outlines of the case, and Mary
+Dotley, also," remarked the sleuth, naming his clever woman detective.
+"If I am going to take it, and I have promised Lemberg that I will, you
+may be called on to lend a hand now and then. Come in and I'll go over
+it with you."</p>
+
+<p>The story of the Tola murders was told briefly, and Nat showed the
+card, bearing the device of the double dagger, and also the little
+weapon that was used as a pin.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to take this pin to Professor Watson, of Columbia
+University, and have him analyze it for possible poison," said Nat to
+Berry at the end of the conference. "And be careful you don't scratch
+yourself with the point."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm wise," declared Berry. "But suppose you do find it poisoned?"</p>
+
+<p>"It may give me a line on the scoundrels who are using it and who have
+killed three men," said Nat. "Those ancient Aztecs were devils in more
+ways than one, and maybe the Tolas have inherited some of their cunning
+and kept alive some of their knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>While Berry went to the university laboratory, Nat, after going over
+some matters in his office and starting his other assistants on the new
+cases that had come in, went to Lemberg's suite of rooms in a building
+on lower Broadway.</p>
+
+<p>Though the sleuth rather discounted the fears of the German, yet Nat
+was taking no chances. So he adopted a suitable disguise, in the art of
+which he was a master, and was also very careful how he approached the
+building where the German detective had his offices.</p>
+
+<p>Nat looked carefully about as he approached the entrance, and his keen
+eyes searched every face. Not until he was satisfied that he was not
+being shadowed, did he enter.</p>
+
+<p>He found Lemberg nervously pacing the floor and waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you are come! It is good!" exclaimed the German. "Now you shall
+read what devils they are!"</p>
+
+<p>He spread out on a desk the various reports Dan Steele had sent in from
+Rolamotaza, the town nearest the Mexican oil wells. The first reports
+contained little but routine matters, but as Dan remained longer in
+the place he began to uncover some queer information about some queer
+characters.</p>
+
+<p>"It begins to look a little more promising," commented Nat, glancing up
+from the reports.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," agreed Lemberg. "But read on."</p>
+
+<p>Nat read, coming to the bottom paper in the pile, where Dan wrote that
+he was going out to a certain place where, he had reason to believe,
+the Tola gang held secret meetings. Nat read to the end of this report
+and looked up.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are the others?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"What others?"</p>
+
+<p>"The other papers—the rest of the report."</p>
+
+<p>"There are no more," Lemberg sadly answered. "Dan Steele never came
+back after writing that. He went to his death!"</p>
+
+<p>Even the stoical Nat Ridley was startled at hearing this. But he shook
+off for the time what sentiment gripped him and bent to the business
+in hand. He made copious notes of all Steele had reported on, and then
+definitely announced to Lemberg that he would at once begin work on the
+case.</p>
+
+<p>"And may you track down the murderers!" exclaimed the German. "I shall
+sleep a little sounder to-night from knowing that you have this case,
+Nat Ridley."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Lemberg, I'll do my best. And I hope you do sleep soundly. I will
+see you to-morrow and make further arrangements."</p>
+
+<p>Nat bid the other detective good-day and hurried back to his own
+office, using the same precautions as before. It was early afternoon,
+and he had several matters to clear off his desk before going into the
+Mexican puzzle. For three hours Nat was kept busy.</p>
+
+<p>It was about five o'clock, and nearly time for Nat's office to close,
+when Tommy Ray, or more popularly "Toodles," the office boy, came
+rushing into the office, having gone to the street to get a paper for
+Miss Dotley. Tommy's face showed great excitement, so much so that Nat
+Ridley, coming out of his office for a moment, noted it and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"What's up, Toodles—did the Giants lose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" gasped the lad, holding out a paper across the front page of
+which, in big letters were the words:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>MURDERED IN A TAXI</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well, there's nothing new in that," commented Nat as he held out his
+hand to glance at the sheet a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait until you see who it is!" Tommy exclaimed. He pointed to a name
+in the first paragraph of the story.</p>
+
+<p>"Carl Lemberg!" gasped Nat, shaken out of his calm. "Why, I was in his
+office only a few hours ago!"</p>
+
+<p>Nat read hurriedly how the well-known detective had been stabbed
+through the heart while riding home from his office in a taxicab.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got to get busy on this right away!" cried Nat, as he tossed the
+paper back to Tommy. "Lemberg killed, just as he feared he would be!
+The Tolas got him!"</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>AN ORDER TO RAMON</h3>
+
+
+<p>From the hasty perusal of the flash story in the paper, Nat Ridley
+gained an idea of how Lemberg had met his death—that is, he knew all
+the police had found out in the short time between the discovery of the
+body in the cab and the issuing of the evening extra.</p>
+
+<p>"Look after matters here until I get back, Berry," called Nat to his
+assistant. "I'm going to have a look in that taxi."</p>
+
+<p>"Right!" Berry assented. "If you need any help 'phone in."</p>
+
+<p>"I will. And, Berry—" Nat spoke in a lower tone, though there was no
+one else in his office, "just keep your eyes open."</p>
+
+<p>"For anything special, Chief?"</p>
+
+<p>"For a sight of any men who look as if they might be Mexicans or
+Spaniards," was Nat's reply. "I'm off!" and he hurried to catch one of
+the descending elevators in the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the murder of Lemberg, as set out briefly in the paper,
+was to the effect that the chauffeur of the cab drove his fare to the
+address given him, which was a German club where the detective made
+it a habit to dine several times a week. The driver, finding that his
+passenger did not alight on arrival, looked around to see what caused
+the delay.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw the gentleman sort of slumped over like, in his seat," the
+taxi man told the police. "I thought maybe he had been hitting up the
+bootleg. But when I shook him, I saw he was covered with blood. There
+was a lot of it on his vest and there was a hole, right over his heart.
+I called a cop from the next corner and he got the ambulance. That's
+all I know."</p>
+
+<p>The story went on to say that Lemberg was dead when taken to Bellevue
+Hospital, and the surgeon who examined the detective said he had died
+instantly from a stab wound in the heart.</p>
+
+<p>There was no weapon found in the cab, and the first theory of suicide
+was passed over when the surgeon said no man could have given himself
+such a deadly wound.</p>
+
+<p>"The question is," said Nat to himself as he made his way to the
+nearest police station where, so the paper said, the taxi and driver
+had been taken for examination after the body was removed, "when was
+Lemberg stabbed? Obviously, some time between getting into the cab near
+his office and where it drew up at the curb in front of his club. I
+must have a talk with Carter, the taxi man."</p>
+
+<p>Nat had no difficulty getting all the information he wanted from the
+New York police. Though a private detective, Nat had more than once
+given the regular force valuable clews on cases other than his own.</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever in reason Nat Ridley wants, let him have," had been the
+standing orders of Inspector Rossberg of the metropolitan force.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Kelly!" called Nat on entering the station house and nodding to
+the lieutenant behind the desk. Then, not to make it appear that he had
+come around especially to find out more about the strange murder, Nat
+went on: "You haven't seen Baldy around this afternoon, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr. Ridley, I haven't," was the answer. "Is he in this
+neighborhood?"</p>
+
+<p>"He might be," was Nat's noncommittal answer.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy Stoler was well known to Lieutenant Kelly and to others of the
+regular New York police, since he had been on the force before leaving
+to join Nat's agency.</p>
+
+<p>"Working on a case, I suppose?" went on Kelly.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it. I thought maybe he might have dropped in here as this would
+be on his way. But I guess it's too late now. Anything new?"</p>
+
+<p>It was a stereotyped question, such as Nat often asked, but this time
+he knew what the answer would be.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes," Kelly replied slowly. "We have a bit of a case here—it
+might be in your line, too."</p>
+
+<p>"A case?" questioned Nat, as though he had no idea in the world what
+was coming next. "What sort?"</p>
+
+<p>"Murder."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they're common enough," and the sleuth spoke with an air of
+indifference. "I hardly think it will interest me, unless it is out of
+the ordinary."</p>
+
+<p>"That's just it!" declared Kelly, with a chuckle. "It's very
+extraordinary, or I wouldn't have mentioned it to you. And it concerns
+a friend of yours—or rather, a rival."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the joke?" asked Nat, as he lighted one of his strong, black
+cigars and passed one like it to the appreciative officer.</p>
+
+<p>"No joke at all, Mr. Ridley. There's been a mysterious murder done
+in the last hour and the man killed is Carl Lemberg, the private
+detective. You know him, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! You don't mean to tell me he's dead!" and Nat was sufficiently
+startled to throw Kelly off the track. Whereupon the lieutenant
+proceeded to give details, adding that the taxi was even then in the
+garage of the police station and the driver was in Captain Flood's room
+being questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't tell me!" and Nat continued to be astonished. "Do they
+suspect the driver?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! He's out of it. Here he comes now," and, as Kelly spoke, the
+precinct commander emerged from his private office, followed by a
+typical New York taxi driver. The fellow looked anxious and worried,
+but his face cleared as the captain, after nodding to Nat, said:</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, Kelly. This man can go. I know where to get him when I
+want him. He hasn't the least bit of evidence. Report here once a day
+until this affair is over, Carter," said the captain crisply.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. And can I take my cab along?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, not just yet," was the answer. But as the man's face fell,
+the captain said: "I'll arrange with the taxi company to let you have
+another machine. We may need this for evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, all right," and Carter's face cleared again. He left the station
+house and Nat talked with the captain, mentioning what Kelly had told
+him about Lemberg.</p>
+
+<p>"A queer case," said the commander. "In broad daylight, on one of the
+busiest streets in the world, a man is stabbed in a taxi and the
+murderer gets away. Fierce, I call it! The papers will pound us again."</p>
+
+<p>"You've got to expect that," answered Nat Ridley, with a grim smile.
+"But how does this taxi man account for not hearing anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"The only way he says it might have happened was when he was caught in
+a traffic jam soon after picking up his fare. There was some blasting
+being done, to put down a foundation for a new building, and the street
+was blocked off a minute or two. The driver thinks that Lemberg was
+stabbed just at the blast went off, which would have prevented his
+cries being heard or any noise of the struggle coming out of the cab."</p>
+
+<p>"The murderer picked a good time," commented Nat. "But how did he get
+into the cab?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's something Carter doesn't know. Lemberg may have been followed
+up by someone who had a grudge against him. You know he has shown up
+some pretty big bootleggers and dope peddlers. Well, one of them may
+have been laying in wait and hopped into the cab just as, or soon
+after, Lemberg got in. He could have chloroformed the German, or maybe
+kept him quiet by a threat, and, when the blast came, he might have
+driven the knife in. It is also possible that when the cab stopped, on
+account of the traffic jam, that then the murderer opened the door and
+did the trick, the blast covering Lemberg's call for help."</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds more reasonable than the other," said Nat. "Well, it isn't
+any of my affair."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going out to look in the cab," said the captain. "Some of my men
+have given it the once over, but I always like to take a peep for
+myself. Want to come?"</p>
+
+<p>"I might, since I can't locate Baldy," stated Nat, as if it was of no
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>A little later he was standing in a quiet street at the rear of the
+police station and garage. The taxicab had been driven out into the
+open and was standing there.</p>
+
+<p>"He bloodied it up a bit," commented the captain as he opened the
+door. "They'll have to put new leather on before they can run this
+out again," and he indicated several dark red stains. "But there
+doesn't seem to be much else," he added as he looked carefully over
+the interior of the vehicle. "Guess we'll have to get the finger-print
+experts down here. Yes, Duffy, what is it?" he asked as a patrolman,
+whom Nat knew slightly, came out and stood waiting for his superior.</p>
+
+<p>"You're wanted on the 'phone, sir," Duffy reported. "It's Inspector
+Rossberg about that bond robbery."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll be right in. See you later, Ridley. This isn't your case,
+but look around if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks," rejoined Nat, and he peered into the cab. Almost at once a
+fleck of something white between the back and the seat cushions caught
+the detective's eyes. He looked around and noted that Duffy was engaged
+in lighting a cigar, and then, with a quick motion, Nat put his hand
+between the cushions and pulled out the white object.</p>
+
+<p>He could hardly restrain an exclamation of surprise when he saw that it
+was a card, and scrawled on it was the device of the double dagger!</p>
+
+<p>"I might have known it would be here!" thought Nat. "The Mexicans were
+on Lemberg's trail, and they got him. Bold devils they are! Knifing him
+in a taxi in broad daylight in the heart of New York!"</p>
+
+<p>He shot another glance at Duffy, but the patrolman, who was on reserve
+duty, was taking advantage of the chance to get some fresh air and was
+strolling about in the neighborhood of the taxi.</p>
+
+<p>With a quick motion Nat Ridley slipped the card into his pocket and
+was about to walk away when he noticed three men strolling along the
+street and curiously observing the vehicle. The men had dark, swarthy
+complexions, their hair was black, sleek, and shiny and their dark eyes
+were shifty.</p>
+
+<p>"Mexicans or Spaniards, if I'm any judge!" mused Nat. "And it wouldn't
+surprise me in the least to learn that they came along to find out just
+what the police are going to do in this murder case. I wish I knew more
+about them. I will, soon. Meanwhile——"</p>
+
+<p>Just then Duffy strolled over toward Nat and did exactly what the
+detective wished should not happen. For the patrolman greeted the
+sleuth loudly by name, and added:</p>
+
+<p>"You working on this taxicab murder?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Duffy, I'm not!" said Nat decidedly. "I have other fish to fry.
+I'm as busy as all get-out on another case. I have no time to look into
+this. Besides, I think it's a case of suicide."</p>
+
+<p>"No! Do you now?" asked the policeman. "Well, maybe 'twas. Thim Germans
+are great for suicidin'. I wouldn't put it past this fellow, though I
+didn't know him. So you're not on it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Duffy. I just stopped in out of idle curiosity. It doesn't
+interest me in the least."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess the regular police detectives will find out about it,"
+went on Duffy with the ordinary policeman's faith in the wisdom of the
+sleuths. "Comin' in?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm off," Nat answered.</p>
+
+<p>The talk, on his part, had been purposely loud. He had noted with some
+alarm the lingering walk of the three dark-skinned men. They seemed to
+want to remain in the vicinity of the taxicab to hear what was being
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"If they can make anything out of what I said they're welcome,"
+muttered Nat to himself as he prepared to walk along.</p>
+
+<p>But he caught a glimpse of the face of one of the trio, and on
+that face was a sneer. It was as though the dark fellow had been
+laughing—as though he was not in the least deceived by the effort Nat
+Ridley had made to throw off suspicion. If the strangers knew the name
+Ridley, they could not have failed to have heard Duffy's loud use of it.</p>
+
+<p>Then the sneering man spoke, giving a sharp order to his righthand
+companion. Though he may have been speaking of someone else, Nat Ridley
+had a strong suspicion that he himself was the one referred to when the
+sneerer said:</p>
+
+<p>"Ramon, you shall watch that pig! I do not trust him nor any of them!
+Watch him!"</p>
+
+<p>"He shall be watched, Señor," was the low-voiced reply as Ramon
+received his orders. And Nat Ridley caught Ramon flash a look at him
+that boded no good.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE ROPE IN THE DARK</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Now just what?" mused Nat Ridley to himself, as the three
+dark-featured men sauntered on their way. "What does that mean? No
+good, I'm positive. But were they referring to me or to someone else?"</p>
+
+<p>The detective, now that he had decided to enter this mysterious case,
+determined to do his best, not only to avenge a fellow practitioner,
+but for the sake of his own reputation. That is, his reputation as
+regarded by himself. He cared little for what the public thought or
+said, did Nat Ridley. But it was something to make a good, clean
+clearing up of a case for the sake of himself and those in his office.
+So it was a matter of pride with the sleuth not to be beaten in this
+battle of murder and wits.</p>
+
+<p>"If I challenge them," reasoned Nat, "and accuse them of speaking of
+me as a pig, I shall lay myself open to the charge of butting in on
+somebody else's business. That might queer matters at the start."</p>
+
+<p>Therefore he decided against that, but as he watched the men walking
+slowly away he mentally photographed their features in his memory
+so that he would know them again. And not only did he make a lasting
+vision of the men's faces, but of their walk, their actions, and such
+of their peculiarities as appeared on the surface.</p>
+
+<p>"For if they are what I think they are, they'll use disguises the next
+time I see them," reasoned Nat. "They must have spotted me all right,
+though how, I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Nat realized that he might be on the wrong track,
+that these men might be idle, curious individuals who had heard about
+the murder—as who had not by this time?</p>
+
+<p>"And they could easily claim, if I talked with them, that they were
+speaking of one of their own acquaintances when they used the endearing
+term of pig," chuckled Nat. "Well, what's the next move, I wonder?"</p>
+
+<p>And wondering this, the detective also wondered whether, by the talk he
+had indulged in with Duffy, he had or had not thrown the dark-featured
+men off the track.</p>
+
+<p>"First of all," decided the sleuth, "I'll have a go at those fellows.
+No use letting them get away with anything. I'll shadow them and see
+where they hang out."</p>
+
+<p>It was the work of but a few moments for him to slip into a sheltered
+corner where he made some quick changes in his clothing and appearance,
+so that when he emerged and took up the trail of the trio, Nat Ridley
+resembled anything but the efficient officer who, a little while
+before, had been peering into the murder taxi.</p>
+
+<p>The three Mexicans—Nat decided they were of that nationality—strolled
+along, talking in Spanish, as the sleuth made certain by catching a
+few words that floated back to him. He knew something of the language,
+though not much.</p>
+
+<p>The trio appeared to be in no hurry, and evidently did not suspect that
+they were being followed, for they did not use any of the ordinary
+devices to confuse a trailer. Nor did they look back.</p>
+
+<p>When they were a few blocks away from the police station and the cab in
+which Carl Lemberg had been slain, the Mexicans hailed a passing taxi.</p>
+
+<p>"They're in a hurry," decided Nat who was not far behind the three. He
+quickly looked around for another taxi that he might use for himself,
+but saw none that was empty and he had a vision of being left behind.
+Then he noticed a small delivery wagon from one of New York's big
+department stores. The driver was a young man and Nat signaled to him.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the young fellow seemed to think it was a case of being
+held up in broad daylight, and he was about to step on the gas as he
+neared Nat when the latter called:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm a secret service man chasing some crooks. I need your help."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's different," and a relieved look came over the lad's face.
+"I thought you were a stick-up man. But I haven't got anything, anyhow.
+What's the dope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Follow that taxi—that is, if you can spare the time," begged Nat,
+showing his shield. "If not, drive along until I meet a cruising cab."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got time," was the answer. "I'm through for the day."</p>
+
+<p>And with such speed and skill did he follow the cab containing the
+three Mexicans that he was not far behind them when their vehicle
+halted in front of the Club Tamalle, a resort frequented by Spaniards.</p>
+
+<p>"This is what I want to know," said Nat as he slipped the young fellow
+a two-dollar bill. "Much obliged."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they counterfeiters?" the lad asked, with a smile, as he pocketed
+the money.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe that, and worse," answered Nat. "Just keep still about what
+happened just now."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I will. I hope you get them."</p>
+
+<p>"I will!" declared Nat.</p>
+
+<p>He waited until the three entered the club, which was at its liveliest
+later at night, and then got out of the delivery auto. Using that,
+instead of another taxi, to chase his quarry had enabled Nat to fool
+them completely, he thought.</p>
+
+<p>He slipped over to the nearest subway and went back to his office with
+the mysterious card he had taken from the crack between the back and
+the seat cushions of the taxi in which Lemberg had breathed his last.</p>
+
+<p>It was now early evening, but Berry Todd was on duty in the office,
+having sent out to get some sandwiches while waiting for Nat's return
+or for some word from the chief.</p>
+
+<p>"Anything doing?" the younger sleuth greeted his employer.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so," was the answer. "Get out the magnifying glasses, Berry,
+and the finger-print records. This card may show something," and Nat
+carefully laid the bit of pasteboard on a clean sheet of paper. "Any
+report from Columbia about that little dagger?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It came in over the 'phone a few minutes ago," was the reply. "It
+isn't a deadly poison on the points of the pin shaped like a dagger,
+but it is some kind of dope that numbs a person."</p>
+
+<p>"That accounts for it!" exclaimed Nat. "They must prick or scratch
+their victim with that, and so render him helpless—so he can't
+yell—then they knife him! We're coming on. Now for some finger-print
+work."</p>
+
+<p>Though the card bore several different finger or thumb prints, they
+were those of persons not registered in the books of criminals on file
+in Nat Ridley's office.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, whoever handled this card hasn't yet been finger-printed around
+here," decided Nat when the test was over. "I'll have to get in touch
+with headquarters and some of the international books to-morrow. But
+I've got another job on hand now."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to say you're going to keep on with this case now, do
+you?" objected Berry. "You haven't had supper!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm going to get a bite, and then I'm going to see Mrs.
+Lemberg—the widow of the murdered man. She may be able to throw some
+light on why he was killed. But you needn't stay, Berry. Lock up the
+office."</p>
+
+<p>A little later, having again changed his disguise to that of a
+care-free man about town, Nat called on Carl Lemberg's widow. Mrs.
+Lemberg lived in the Bronx, and Nat found with her Anna Lemberg, the
+sister of the dead detective.</p>
+
+<p>Both women showed traces of their grief when Nat was ushered into their
+apartment, having sent up his card which brought a ready invitation to
+come up.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very good of you to come," said Mrs. Lemberg. "My husband often
+spoke of you, and said, after poor Dan Steele was killed, that he was
+going to engage you."</p>
+
+<p>"He did engage me, and no later than to-day," stated Nat. "But he
+should have been a bit sooner, it appears."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they—they got him!" muttered the sister. "Tell me," and her blue
+eyes sparkled dangerously, "do you know who the scoundrels were? Have
+you any trace of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a little too soon for that," Nat answered gently. "But I am
+going to do my best. I came to see if you could throw any light on this
+mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"We will tell you all we know," promised Mrs. Lemberg. "But,
+unfortunately, it isn't much. My husband seldom brought his office
+affairs home."</p>
+
+<p>However, she and Miss Anna brought out some papers from the desk of
+the dead detective, and Nat delved into them. Some of the things he
+discovered seemed to give him satisfaction, for he smiled in a grim way
+as he made some notes in his book. Then he questioned the two women
+closely, and learned a bit more.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," the detective said finally, as he prepared to leave, "I think
+it looks a little more hopeful than it did at first."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean you think you can find the murderers?" asked Anna.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so. At least, I can make a start and perhaps get on their
+trail, though where it will lead, no one can say. I may have to go to
+Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I hope not!" exclaimed Mrs. Lemberg.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" asked Nat, with a quick look at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I fear it means death," she answered simply. "Look what
+happened to my husband's brother and his uncle. If only they had not
+gone there!"</p>
+
+<p>"But they had business there," said Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know. And then Mr. Steele went, and they killed him. My husband
+talked of going—only talked, mind you—and see what happened to him!"</p>
+
+<p>"It does seem a sinister place," admitted Nat. "But forewarned is
+forearmed, you know. If I go to Mexico I will be on my guard. I may
+call to see you again," were his parting words.</p>
+
+<p>The widow, as she escorted him to the door, said again:</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever happens, don't go to Mexico!"</p>
+
+<p>Something appeared to have happened to the street lights, for when the
+detective emerged from the Lemberg apartment the thoroughfare was in
+considerable darkness, the only illumination coming from stores and
+residences along the way.</p>
+
+<p>But Nat thought little of this as he started off toward the nearest
+subway, intending to go to his home on Central Park West, to spend the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>There was a dark alley midway in the block along which Nat Ridley was
+walking, his thoughts busy with the strange happenings of the day. But
+if he saw this dark side passage he gave it little thought until he
+heard a peculiar hissing sound coming from it.</p>
+
+<p>"A snake!" thought Nat instantly, for that is exactly what it sounded
+like. He gave a momentary thought to the possibility that one of the
+big pythons from the Bronx Zoölogical Park might have escaped and be
+hiding in the dark alley.</p>
+
+<p>The next instant he felt some thin, but powerful, coils circling about
+his neck. For an instant the iron nerve of the sleuth almost failed,
+and he put up his hands to ward off what he thought were the folds of a
+serpent.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in the dark, he felt the coils of a rope. An instant later the
+noose was pulled tight, almost choking him, and he was hauled backward,
+pulled off his feet, and dragged in the silent and gloomy alley.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>A CHANGE OF IDENTITIES</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Pronto!"</p>
+
+<p>The word was hissed out in the darkness from somewhere behind Nat
+Ridley as he was roughly pulled deeper into the alley.</p>
+
+<p>Struggling as he was to keep the coils from choking him into
+insensibility by their constriction, the detective kept his wits enough
+to remember that this word was Spanish for "hurry" or "quick."</p>
+
+<p>"The Tolas are after me, or someone they think I am," mused Nat grimly.
+"They're fast workers—must have followed me to the Lemberg apartment
+and been on the watch. Wonder if they put out the street lamps. No,
+they couldn't have done that. Must have been just an accident that
+favored them."</p>
+
+<p>These thoughts rushed like lightning through the detective's brain as
+he nerved himself for the struggle he knew must follow.</p>
+
+<p>Come the fight did, an instant later. Nat succeeded in forcing up over
+his head the coils of the lasso, and only just in time, for it was
+tightening cruelly. But meanwhile, he had been hauled by the rope
+deeper into the dark alley, so that now he was several yards from the
+street whence help might come.</p>
+
+<p>"We have him—the pig!" a voice grunted, as Nat felt strong arms about
+him, and he recognized the tones as those of one of the three men who
+had used the same expression that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>"The knife—pronto!" exclaimed another, and Nat knew they meant to kill
+him as Lemberg had been killed—even as Steele and the others had been
+murdered. Then a fierce, fighting rage took possession of Nat Ridley
+and he gasped:</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, Tolas! Not yet!"</p>
+
+<p>He could feel the men struggling with him start in surprise at his use
+of that secret name, and one muttered:</p>
+
+<p>"He knows us!"</p>
+
+<p>"But the pig will not know us long!" hissed another. "Quick—the knife!
+Let him have it between the ribs!"</p>
+
+<p>It was so dark that Nat could not see more than two dim forms
+struggling with him, but he thought he recognized the two as Ramon and
+a companion, though who Ramon might be he could only guess.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly one of the men released his hold of the detective and drew
+back a little. The inference was obvious. He was getting out his knife.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, Tolas! Not yet!" gasped Nat again, and, raising his right
+foot, he kicked out savagely at the dim form of the villain about to
+stab him. It was a trick Nat had learned from a Frenchman. With the
+heel of his shoe, the detective took the fellow amidships, or in the
+"breadbasket," if you prefer.</p>
+
+<p>With a grunt that was half a groan, the scoundrel went down in a heap,
+though as he fell he hissed:</p>
+
+<p>"Get him! He has disabled me! I have dropped my knife!"</p>
+
+<p>There was ample evidence of this, for a tinkling sound followed Nat's
+lucky kick and the sleuth knew the dagger had fallen on the stones with
+which the alley was paved.</p>
+
+<p>"The devil pig!" cried the other man, and Nat's eyes, now becoming
+accustomed to the gloom, made out the second assassin rushing at him.
+"This will be the end of him!"</p>
+
+<p>But by this time the detective had his automatic out. He had no chance
+to take accurate aim, but he did not need to, for he could fire from
+the hip. And this he did—two shots in quick succession at the black
+mass of the man rushing at him.</p>
+
+<p>There was a cry of pain and the fellow quickly wheeled about, changing
+his direction so that he was headed out of the alley.</p>
+
+<p>"He is too much for us! Come—pronto!" he called to the other.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the man Nat had kicked down was able to rise, though he
+was doubled up in pain. Thus the two fled, leaving Nat victor on the
+field and with spoils in the shape of a fine rope, made of braided
+horsehair, as he discovered later.</p>
+
+<p>"Touch and go!" muttered the detective grimly as he straightened up.
+And then the street lamps suddenly shone again, though the alley
+remained shrouded in gloom. As Nat looked toward the entrance he saw,
+outlined against the background of light, a figure rushing toward him.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand still!" the detective ordered. "I have you covered, and if you
+come a step nearer——"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm a police officer!" came the sharp answer. "If you shoot——"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, all right! I beg your pardon," said Nat quickly. Though he
+determined not to be taken off his guard, and held his gun in readiness.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later he saw a flashlight gleaming, the beams reflecting from
+the brass buttons of a member of New York's crack uniformed force. Then
+Nat knew he was safe and advanced, revealing his identity.</p>
+
+<p>The policeman was a stranger to Nat Ridley, though the latter was
+evidently known, by reputation at least, to the patrolman, for the
+latter respectfully asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you hurt, Mr. Ridley? Can I do anything to help?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, they didn't get me," was the answer, "though it was a close call.
+They lassoed me as I passed the alley and dragged me in. What was the
+matter with the lights?"</p>
+
+<p>"A fuse blew out at the power house, I guess. It's all right now. But
+who were they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a couple of hold-up men," said Nat, not wanting to go into
+particulars.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'd like to pinch them," said the officer. But when he and
+Nat had looked around the alley no trace of the assassins was found.
+The assassins had recovered and taken away the dagger. Only the rope
+remained, and Nat took charge of that. He thought he might find a use
+for it if he went on to Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>By this time a crowd had gathered, attracted by the shots, as the
+officer had been, but it soon dispersed when Nat remarked to several
+who inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it was just a couple of bootleggers."</p>
+
+<p>And so common has this form of industry become that it no longer
+attracts attention in the larger cities.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure you aren't hurt?" asked the officer when Nat came out of the
+alley into the now brilliantly lighted street.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. I kicked one man out and I think I hit the other with one
+of my shots. But evidently neither was much disabled, for they ran out
+just before you came up."</p>
+
+<p>"I got here as fast as I could after I heard the shooting," apologized
+the patrolman. "But I was away at the other end of the block, and——"</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right," Nat said. "No harm done. I was looking for another
+man and they happened to spot my pin, I suppose," and he motioned to
+a diamond he was wearing in his tie. "They wouldn't have made much if
+they got it, though," and Nat laughed, for the "diamond" was a paste
+one, a part of his disguise.</p>
+
+<p>Nat went on his way, but the patrolman, jealous for the good reputation
+of his post, made a further search for the mysterious men, though he
+found no trace of them.</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley did not mention his real suspicions concerning the two.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll keep them guessing!" decided the sleuth. "If they look in the
+morning papers to see an account of this, they won't get much from the
+news."</p>
+
+<p>Though he thus made light of one phase of the affair, there was another
+that worried Nat Ridley, and this was the closeness with which the
+Tolas were hanging on his trail.</p>
+
+<p>"They have evidently sworn vengeance against all who have anything to
+do with the Lembergs or the oil wells," reasoned Nat. "I've got to
+watch my step. They must have shadowed me from my office. Well, I'll
+just stay away from there for a time—at least, I'll fool them."</p>
+
+<p>He decided not to go to his apartment or to the office, and to carry
+out a plan he hastily made he went to the Herald Square Hotel, where he
+engaged a room. There, after a bath, a meal, and one of his big, black
+cigars, he telephoned a cipher message to Berry Todd at the latter's
+home.</p>
+
+<p>"Come down here, Berry," requested Nat, "and bring number fourteen with
+you."</p>
+
+<p>This was the number of a certain valise containing several disguises,
+and a little later the assistant detective arrived at the hotel with
+it. Berry himself was disguised as a country lawyer in New York for a
+holiday.</p>
+
+<p>"Anything up, Chief?" he whispered to Nat when in the latter's room.</p>
+
+<p>"Good and plenty!" was the answer. "I think I'm up against one of the
+slickest and most desperate gangs I've ever dealt with. You've got to
+help me, Berry."</p>
+
+<p>"Surest thing you know, Chief. How?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're going to be me."</p>
+
+<p>"Going to be you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I want you to make up to look like Nat Ridley, and, as me, leave
+the office openly to-morrow. Do it as publicly as you can—I mean
+speak to the elevator boys, the paper boys, greet anyone you see whom
+you know and get them to call you by name—I mean my name. In short,
+you and I are going to change identities."</p>
+
+<p>"Suits me, Chief!" declared Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"But you've got to be careful!" warned Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Careful of what—of making a break?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Careful not to get shot or stabbed or lassoed into a dark alley!"
+and Nat's voice was quietly warning. "Berry, we're up against a
+desperate game. It's asking you to take your life in your hands to
+impersonate me for a while. Are you game to do it?"</p>
+
+<p>Without a moment's hesitation Berry answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I sure am, Chief! Here's where I double for Nat Ridley!"</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>LIGHTS OUT</h3>
+
+
+<p>Berry Todd and Nat made careful plans for what might happen during the
+next few days. It might be necessary for the assistant to continue the
+rôle of chief sleuth for some time, or until the Tolas were thrown off
+their guard.</p>
+
+<p>"They were evidently out to do you," declared Berry, when Nat had told
+of the episode in the dark alley.</p>
+
+<p>"They were," agreed the chief. "Though how they made their plans so
+quickly and got on my trail so easily I don't quite see."</p>
+
+<p>"They're desperate!" decided Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes. But worse, they have underground ways and means of getting
+information," added Nat. "Evidently the whole band is sworn to
+exterminate any who have a hand in keeping the oil wells away from
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mrs. Lemberg willing to let the property go back to the original
+owners?" asked Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"No, she isn't. She says part of it is hers by right now, since her
+husband is dead, and she will need the income from it to support her,
+since his business will not be carried on. She has the usual German
+thoroughness and determination to hold on, and I don't know that I
+blame her. But I'm working not so much to make secure the possession of
+the oil wells as I am to avenge Dan Steele, and also Lemberg. Though I
+was not friendly with the German detective, yet he belonged to the same
+national society as I do and we are sworn to protect each other. So it
+is war to the knife now between me and the Tolas."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll help carry it on!" promised Berry.</p>
+
+<p>A little later that night, having left certain disguises with Nat
+Ridley, the helper went back home and the following morning he appeared
+at the office in the semblance of Nat Ridley. So well did Berry
+simulate the dress and bearing of his chief that for a moment even
+Toodles was deceived, exclaiming as Berry entered:</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Chief! You're a bit early."</p>
+
+<p>"The early bird catches the worm, Toodles!" chuckled Berry. And there
+was something in the laugh that made the office boy look a second time,
+after which his eyes opened wide and he cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Sweet daddy! If it isn't Berry!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so loud, young man!" warned the detective. "We don't want this
+little masquerade known!"</p>
+
+<p>Toodles subsided, but Berry was pleased that he had made such good work
+of his disguise.</p>
+
+<p>Nat passed a restful night in the Herald Square Hotel—that is, as
+much of the night as was left after his adventures, and in the morning
+went to his office, though not in his own character. He had made up to
+resemble a small town business man in New York to buy goods for the
+fall trade, which fact he spoke of as he ascended in the elevator.</p>
+
+<p>Nat was so well made up that the elevator boys, who were well
+acquainted with him in his usual manner of appearing, thought him a
+stranger, and one of them directed Nat to the office of a commission
+merchant in the suite adjoining the detective's offices.</p>
+
+<p>To throw off any spies who might be watching, Nat entered this office,
+but when the corridor was clear he came out, apologizing for having
+made a mistake, and entered his own rooms, where he found Berry, as Nat
+Ridley, waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>There was a hurried conference, and then the plan by which it was hoped
+to trap the murderers, or at least to get on their trail, was put into
+operation.</p>
+
+<p>Berry, pretending to be Nat, left the office openly, and Toodles,
+following instructions, asked loudly as Berry held open the door
+leading into the corridor:</p>
+
+<p>"What time will you be back, Mr. Ridley?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't say, Toodles!" was the equally loud answer. "If anybody asks for
+Nat Ridley say he's gone fishing," and with a smile Berry, as Nat,
+lighted one of the latter's black cigars, though the brand was a much
+stronger one than Berry liked to indulge in. But he had to do this to
+make the part perfect.</p>
+
+<p>Watching his assistant from the partly opened door, Nat, who was still
+attired as a business man, saw Berry enter the elevator, greeting the
+boys who called him by name.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything is working fine!" decided the detective.</p>
+
+<p>As he watched he saw, coming from a washroom along the corridor, a
+small, dark man who glided like a snake into the elevator behind
+Berry. He had timed his entrance well, in order to be the last in the
+descending cage.</p>
+
+<p>"There goes number one!" thought Nat, as he made ready to take the next
+down car. He had told Berry to wait in the corridor of the building
+before going out, and when Nat reached the street floor he saw his
+helper, who, of course, he pretended not to notice, start off down the
+street.</p>
+
+<p>Behind him went the man who had glided out of the washroom.</p>
+
+<p>"The chase is on!" grimly reflected Nat Ridley.</p>
+
+<p>Then began what was like a desperate game of hide and seek. All that
+day Berry, as Nat Ridley, went about New York, into this office and
+that, where he was known, but where his disguise was not penetrated.
+And behind his assistant went Nat Ridley, now in one disguise and now
+in another, for he deemed it wise to change several times.</p>
+
+<p>And between Nat and Berry was the small, dark man who was a clever
+shadower. That, the chief detective was forced to admit, for not once
+did he betray himself, and to anyone less sharp than Nat Ridley and
+Berry Todd, it would not have been known that any shadowing was going
+on.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until late in the evening that Number One, as Nat had called
+him, was joined by another. This second man walked with a slight limp
+and as if he were in pain.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if that's the fellow I shot or the one I kicked?" mused Nat
+as he noticed the halting gait. "It doesn't much matter, but it proves
+that I'm on the right track. Now I hope Berry remembers what I told
+him."</p>
+
+<p>The assistant detective did, for he soon called a cab and, rather
+ostentatiously, asked to be driven to the Club Tamalle where Nat had
+seen the three men of the day before go in—the three, one of whom had
+ordered Ramon to keep watch over some "pig."</p>
+
+<p>Nat, meanwhile, had made some inquiries and had learned that the club
+was the rendezvous of sportily inclined Mexicans, Spaniards and West
+Indians.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how Berry, as me, will fare in there?" mused Nat, as he took
+another cab to follow his helper. "He'll be a bit conspicuous, I'm
+afraid, but it has to be done. After all, it isn't a private club, and
+anyone has a right there."</p>
+
+<p>In the taxicab Nat Ridley made a final change in his costume, for he
+knew he was following clever and dangerous criminals and he thought one
+of them might have seen him some time during the day. Consequently,
+when Nat alighted at the Club Tamalle and paused to pay for his ride,
+he surprised a look of astonishment on the face of his driver.</p>
+
+<p>"What game is this?" asked the man. "I didn't pick you up!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," admitted Nat, with a smile, as he held up a couple of dollars
+extra to signal to the man to keep quiet. "But you're letting me down
+and you're getting paid for it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm wise," was the comment, and the cab rolled away while Nat, who was
+looking like a man out for a good time, followed Berry into the club
+where, it was rumored, high-priced and high-powered drinks could be
+had. Before entering, Nat had observed the two foreigners, one of whom
+walked with a limp, entering after Berry, who was still Nat Ridley, in
+disguise at least.</p>
+
+<p>It did not suit the chief detective's plans to be too conspicuous in
+this well-known night club, so he tipped the head waiter to show him to
+a table rather screened from view, yet from which Nat had a good place
+from which to observe all that went on. There were a number of little
+private booths down one side of the room, and Nat was near one of these.</p>
+
+<p>Not far away Berry had a table. Following instructions, Berry had
+picked up a woman, one of several who frequented the club for the
+purpose of having drinks bought for them, on which they reaped a
+percentage of the profits.</p>
+
+<p>Berry began to act the part of a man out for an evening of pleasure.
+He ordered champagne, or what passed for such, and at the order his
+companion's eyes sparkled, for she saw her evening earnings greatly
+swelled.</p>
+
+<p>While Nat was watching and pretending to drink some wine he ordered
+(and it was only pretending, for he was a teetotaler) the detective
+heard voices in the booth next to him.</p>
+
+<p>"And from there we went to Paloma," a man said in low tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Was there anything doing there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not much. We left, pronto, and headed for Rola——"</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of the name was lost in the blare of the jazz band which
+struck up just then, but Nat thought he could guess what the rest of
+the name was.</p>
+
+<p>"Rolamotaza—the place of the oil wells," thought the sleuth to
+himself. "We are coming on!"</p>
+
+<p>The night club was now filling up rapidly, and Nat noticed that Berry
+was entering fully into the spirit of the occasion, with his pretty
+woman companion to aid him. Nat also noticed that the two men who had
+been shadowing Berry had been joined by a third who, in spite of a
+change in his clothes, was recognized as one of the trio who had passed
+Nat when he was examining the cab in which Lemberg had been murdered.</p>
+
+<p>Nat saw these three change their table so that now they were next to
+the one where Berry sat, and the sleuth was wondering what that meant
+when he saw Berry give him a secret sign.</p>
+
+<p>Nat had instructed his helper that if during the evening need arose to
+speak to his chief, a sign should be given, and Berry would go to the
+washroom, whither Nat would follow. There they could communicate with
+each other.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, Nat rose slowly, as if without any definite object, and
+made his way to the washroom, whither he saw Berry bending his steps.
+The two entered, Nat behind Berry, and throwing a glance back over his
+shoulder, Nat observed the three Mexicans following. They, too, were
+headed for the private room.</p>
+
+<p>"There's going to be something doing in about a minute, Berry," said
+Nat in a low voice as the two entered the room, followed a moment later
+by the three.</p>
+
+<p>And something happened in less than a minute.</p>
+
+<p>For the man who limped suddenly but purposely collided with Berry and
+at once cried in angry tones:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean—pushing me? Beast! Pig! You have lamed me! Not for
+nothing shall a Gringo step on Don Castro!"</p>
+
+<p>Like a flash the man drew a knife, but as he lunged for Berry his chief
+leaped forward and, with a skillful blow, sent the steel clashing to
+the floor.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment one of the other three shouted:</p>
+
+<p>"Lights out!"</p>
+
+<p>In an instant the place was plunged into darkness.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>HALF A COAT</h3>
+
+
+<p>Silence followed the dramatic plunging of the rooms of the Club Tamalle
+into darkness, but the silence did not last long. And as soon as Nat
+Ridley had knocked aside the knife intended for his helper, the great
+detective got ready for action.</p>
+
+<p>"They're after me!" grimly decided Nat. "Or at least after Berry, whom
+they have taken for me. There's likely to be a row!"</p>
+
+<p>It came fully as soon as Nat expected, for he felt a rush of bodies
+about him, muttered imprecations in Spanish, and then he heard Berry's
+voice at his ear, whispering:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"So far," Nat answered. "But I don't know how long I'll remain so. Did
+anything happen?" he went on as the two made their way in the darkness
+out of the washroom into the main apartment of the Club.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet. But I'm on the track of some of these fellows, and I think
+they got wise to me—thinking I was you."</p>
+
+<p>"So far our plan works," murmured Nat. "But I'm wondering if they have
+spotted me as well."</p>
+
+<p>There was no way of telling this at present. In fact, there was no way
+of determining anything in the darkness and excitement, for excitement
+there was in plenty.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" some cried in English but with a Spanish accent. It was
+a woman's voice. There were a number of them in the club, some very
+handsome in a dark, Spanish way.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the police!" came an answering feminine voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh! A prohibition raid!" exclaimed several. "How silly!"</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful!" warned the deep voice of a man, and Nat, hearing it,
+tried to recall whether it was that of Ramon or any of his associates.
+"It is no dry raid! There are spies and traitors among us! Be careful,
+my friends!"</p>
+
+<p>"He's one of the fellows we want!" whispered Nat to his helper. "See if
+you can work yourself around to that side of the room. But be careful.
+You have your gun, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Berry in low tones. "But I fancy these fellows would
+rather fight with a knife than a gun. I've got a knife, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Watch yourself," warned Nat. "But get that fellow if you can."</p>
+
+<p>"I will!" promised Berry, and he slid away.</p>
+
+<p>Nat had backed to a wall, for he felt it safer in case of a fight which
+he thought would follow to have all his enemies in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>The detective dimly saw forms swirling this way and that in front of
+him. Then, suddenly, he felt a pricking sensation on his left hand and
+he drew it quickly away with the thought that someone was trying to
+disable him by a scratch from the doped point of the miniature double
+dagger.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment Nat reached out with his hand and caught hold of a
+figure passing in front of him. He was surprised when a woman's voice
+screamed and she exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let me go! I have done nothing!"</p>
+
+<p>"You tried to stab me!" hissed Nat in her ear. He realized that these
+Mexican murderers might have hired a woman to do some of their work.</p>
+
+<p>"I stab you, señor? Never! I am but trying to get away. Are you Jules?"
+she whispered leaning so close to Nat that he could smell the perfume
+in her hair. "Oh, Jules, take me——"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not Jules!" declared Nat. "But I felt a prick on my hand, and——"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, señor, it was but a pin in my dress! Oh, why did I ever come
+here! Are you of the police?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Nat, which was the truth. "You have nothing to fear.
+There is a door—go!"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant someone had opened a door leading into a corridor
+at the end of which a light burned dimly, and the illumination was
+sufficient to enable the detective to see a little.</p>
+
+<p>Nat gave the unknown woman a shove toward the way of escape, since
+he decided she had had nothing to do with the case on which he was
+working. And the detective felt a distinct sense of relief when he
+heard the news about the pin. Imagination can play uncanny tricks at
+times.</p>
+
+<p>Now several others, seeing the corridor door open, made a rush for the
+exit, so that it became jammed and there were grunts and imprecations
+from the men seeking to escape and screams and imploring calls from the
+women and girls.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the habitués of the club, Nat realized, had nothing in common
+with the men he was seeking as the murderers of the Lembergs and Dan
+Steele. But the detective felt that some of the criminals, or at least
+their confederates, were present, and feared capture. Otherwise, the
+order of lights out never would have been given.</p>
+
+<p>As Nat was wondering what was happening to Berry, the detective felt
+a man bump into him on the right side, and, at the same moment, one
+came at him from the left. The distant light in the corridor had gone
+out, and the place was once more in darkness, with a milling, pushing,
+jostling and excited crowd doing all it could to get away from the
+danger of arrest.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" asked Nat of the man on his left. "I am a stranger in
+New York. I came in here by chance and——"</p>
+
+<p>He heard a whisper of Spanish words and though he did not sense all the
+meaning he had a feeling that the man on his left had called an order
+to the one on his right.</p>
+
+<p>"They mean to do for me!" thought Nat to himself.</p>
+
+<p>As quickly as a shadow moves, he dropped to the floor. It was not
+a moment too soon, for in the glow of an electric flashlight which
+someone switched on, Nat caught the gleam of a knife blade, and it was
+in the hand of the man who had been on his right.</p>
+
+<p>The hand holding the knife lunged out, but the blade, instead of being
+sheathed in Nat Ridley's body, found a place in the companion of the
+Mexican. There was a cry of pain and a voice asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Did I get the pig?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, devil, you got me!" snarled another voice. "He has escaped us. I
+bleed! Get a doctor!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad he's bleeding instead of me!" mused Nat as he crawled on his
+hands and knees out of the danger zone. "That was a close one!"</p>
+
+<p>If possible the excitement now became greater, for several had heard
+what the stabbed man, injured by his own friend, had said, and there
+was fear of more mistakes.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn on the lights! Let us have light!" several implored.</p>
+
+<p>"No! No!" came the answering replies. "There are traitors among us!
+They must be killed!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what's happening to Berry all this while," mused Nat. "I hope
+they haven't stuck a knife into him, thinking it's me. This case is
+developing faster than I thought it would."</p>
+
+<p>He was reassured a moment later when, crawling into a corner, at that
+moment somewhat deserted, he felt another man crawling even as he was
+doing and a voice called into his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, Chief. I got some dope."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean dope from the double dagger, do you?" asked Nat, for he
+recognized Berry's voice, though he could not see his face.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I mean information. I got next to the fellow they call Ramon, and
+I heard him say the next meeting would be in Rolamotaza, a week from
+to-night. He mentioned a fellow named Don Castro."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the chap who whipped out the knife in the washroom," remarked
+Nat. "So the scene is going to shift, is it? Well, I'll be on the
+job. I think we'd better be leaving here, Berry. We can't do much in
+the dark, and as soon as the lights go up the ones we want will have
+vanished. There's too much risk getting a knife in the back in the dark
+to stay here."</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I was thinking, Chief. It's too bad they spotted us so
+quickly."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. They're slicker than most. Do you happen to know where the exit
+is, or any way of getting out?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it spotted," was Berry's whispered answer. "Follow me, but
+keep low. There are too many of these birds lunging about in the gloom
+with their toad-stickers."</p>
+
+<p>"So I found out. But someone else got the steel intended for me. It's
+best to be cautious," agreed Nat.</p>
+
+<p>The two detectives started crawling on their hands and knees toward a
+place Berry thought would take them out of the dangerous place. And as
+Berry, followed by Nat, made his made way across the room, working in
+and out of a tangle of legs, the heavy body of a man suddenly leaped
+upon Nat Ridley's back. It was as if the detective had been tackled in
+a football game after dropping on the pigskin.</p>
+
+<p>He grunted from the impact of the blow, but at once squirmed to get
+out from beneath the body. At the same time he began to reach out in
+the dark to grab any possible hand that might be holding a knife. Nat
+quickly succeeded in getting hold of a man's wrist.</p>
+
+<p>"Give up!" commanded the sleuth. "I have you!"</p>
+
+<p>With a quick twist and turn of a wrestling trick, he managed to get to
+his feet, pulling his assailant up with him. Nat reached out to grab
+the fellow's other hand, but the Mexican gave a squirm like an eel.
+There was a ripping, tearing sound, and Nat felt all resistance cease.</p>
+
+<p>"What the deuce happened?" he asked himself.</p>
+
+<p>Nat felt he had a garment in his hand—a coat he judged it to be, but
+whose or what it contained he could not tell.</p>
+
+<p>"Six and a half! Six and a half!" Nat softly called.</p>
+
+<p>This was a code number, indicating Berry's name. If the other detective
+was near he would answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Seven!" was the reply in a whisper into Nat's left ear.</p>
+
+<p>"What's wrong, seven?" asked Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"All right now," Nat answered. "They had me down, but I got a coat off
+of someone."</p>
+
+<p>"A coat?" questioned Berry.</p>
+
+<p>At that instant the lights went up again, and Nat looked at what was in
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"No, half a coat," he corrected, with a grim chuckle, for the garment
+was neatly ripped down the middle seam. "I got only half his coat,
+Berry."</p>
+
+<p>"You're lucky to have that much," answered the other sleuth. "But look
+out. Here comes one of them with a knife!"</p>
+
+<p>He and Nat looked up and across the room, from which a number of men
+and women with much disheveled clothing were now fleeing, since they
+could see the exits. And headed toward Nat and Berry was one of the
+three Mexicans who had started the trouble in the washroom. The fellow
+carried a wicked looking knife.</p>
+
+<p>"This way!" Berry called to Nat, pulling him through a door and closing
+it after them. "This way out. And keep the coat."</p>
+
+<p>"Half a coat is better than none!" chuckled Nat, as a heavy body
+crashed against the door, the key of which Berry quickly turned.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on!" he called to his chief. "They're still after us!" And the
+two ran through a deserted room and out into a yard back of the Club
+Tamalle.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE WINDOW CLEANER</h3>
+
+
+<p>Most of the excitement in the Spanish club seemed to center around the
+front entrance, probably because, when the lights were dimmed, patrons
+who had nothing to do with the affair which brought Nat Ridley there,
+ran out that way.</p>
+
+<p>A crowd gathered from the street, attracted by the shouts of the men
+and the screams of the women, and several police officers were on
+hand. Nat and Berry sensed this as they emerged from a rear door into
+the small yard, the chief detective still carrying the half of the
+coat which he hastily stuffed beneath his own garment, so it would not
+attract attention, for Nat was rather sprucily attired and to see a
+gentleman of his calibre carrying a torn coat did not argue well.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a way out of here?" asked Nat of Berry as, under the gleam of
+the moon, they looked about the yard which was not only surrounded by a
+high fence, but had buildings on both sides and at the rear.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely there is!" declared Berry, who looked enough like Nat in that
+sleuth's regulation guise to be the latter's twin brother. "Like
+yourself, Chief, I never go into a place that I don't make sure there
+is a way out, and I spotted this one soon after I parked here this
+evening. Come along before that fellow takes the door off its hinges."</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, it seemed that this might happen, for the man with the knife on
+the other side of the door was banging and kicking at it with enough
+energy to indicate that some of the panels would soon give way.</p>
+
+<p>"He wants us bad!" chuckled Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"They're all bad actors," agreed Berry. "My, but things happened quick
+after that fellow bumped into me! Only for you, Chief, I'd have a knife
+in my ribs now."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I guess you could have taken care of him, Berry."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm just as glad you did it, Chief. Now here we go."</p>
+
+<p>Berry ran to a certain part of the fence where, to the casual observer,
+there was no sign of a gate. But one was there, just the same, cleverly
+concealed, and a moment later it was open and the two sleuths saw
+before them an alleyway leading to the street.</p>
+
+<p>Not much too soon, if they wished to avoid a fight, had Berry found the
+exit. For as he and Nat slipped through the secret gate, the door Berry
+had locked was burst open and the raging Mexican came rushing out,
+crying something in Spanish and brandishing his knife.</p>
+
+<p>"Silencio!" someone uttered in sharp tones and there followed some
+commands in Spanish, hearing which the fellow who was eager to sheath
+his knife in Nat's ribs reluctantly turned back.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess his boss got after him," chuckled Berry. "They don't want too
+much of a row here."</p>
+
+<p>"There's been plenty of that," agreed Nat. "Well, I guess we can't
+get any more information here in these rigs, Berry. They're on to us.
+But you keep on being Nat Ridley and I'll change into something else
+to-morrow. I want to get a chance to look at this coat."</p>
+
+<p>"Half a coat you mean," corrected his helper. "It should be easy to
+spot the man who lost it."</p>
+
+<p>"Not likely he'd go about wearing part of a garment," objected Nat.
+"He'd either borrow one, or else go around in his shirt sleeves. No,
+let's beat it."</p>
+
+<p>And beat it the two did, along a quiet back street and into a taxicab
+which took them to their offices. Nat allowed his assistant, who still
+impersonated him, to go in first, in case any of the Tola gang might be
+watching. The great detective himself made use of the freight elevator
+to reach his floor and, a little later, with the windows carefully
+shaded, he was examining the half a coat he had torn off the man who
+tried to kill him.</p>
+
+<p>It was a cheap and ordinary garment, the kind of clothing sold in
+department stores, and probably would, in itself, afford no clew to the
+owner.</p>
+
+<p>"But there may be something in the pockets," suggested Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I'm going to find out," decided Nat.</p>
+
+<p>From the outside pocket of the right side of the garment, which was the
+part the sleuth had, were taken some strong cigarettes so much indulged
+in by Mexicans and South Americans. There was also a clip of paper
+matches. These Nat put aside for future examination, though they were
+not very promising.</p>
+
+<p>The inside pocket was richer in material to work on, for Nat brought
+out two rather worn letters in their original envelopes. They bore
+Mexican stamps and postmarks, showing they had been mailed in
+Rolamotaza.</p>
+
+<p>"See if you can make out the dates on those postmarks, Berry,"
+suggested Nat, handing the envelopes over to his assistant. "You'll
+find a magnifying glass in the second drawer of my desk on the right."</p>
+
+<p>While Berry was at this task, Nat began a perusal of the letters
+themselves. They were addressed to Juan Castro, and the detective felt
+sure this was the man who wanted to knife Berry and also who had tried
+to attack him.</p>
+
+<p>Written in Spanish as they were, Nat could make out only a few words
+here and there, for his knowledge of Spanish was small. He knew the
+Spanish word for oil, and he saw that scattered throughout the missive.
+He also saw the name Cora Ardell.</p>
+
+<p>"That doesn't sound like a Spanish name," mused Nat, uttering it over
+and over again. "I wonder where she comes in? Well, I'll have to get
+these letters translated."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at the signatures. They were both the same, a scrawl which,
+as nearly as the detective could make out, resolved itself into the
+name Martolo.</p>
+
+<p>"Another chap to look up!" mused the detective, through a haze of smoke
+from one of his strong, black cigars. "Well, any luck, Berry?" he asked
+his helper, who was puzzling over the envelopes.</p>
+
+<p>"No, the postmark is so blurred I can't make any date on it. We might
+try photographing it—that sometimes brings out things you can't see
+with a glass."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that it's important," Nat said. "I'll wait until I have
+these letters translated. The date may not matter. We'll call it a
+night, Berry, and quit. Now you go up to my apartment and get a good
+sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Your apartment!" exclaimed Berry. "What's the matter with my own home?"</p>
+
+<p>"You forget that you are Nat Ridley," said the detective, with a
+chuckle. "Got to carry out the deception, Berry. Go ahead up. I've told
+Julian to expect you." Nat referred to his colored servant who looked
+after the Central Park West apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, all right. I'll be living like a swell!" laughed Berry.</p>
+
+<p>Nat, making some slight changes in his disguise, waited until his
+helper had gone. Then, putting the two letters carefully in an inner
+pocket, he left his office to go to the Herald Square Hotel again.</p>
+
+<p>Forgetting none of the caution that was second nature with him, Nat
+Ridley looked about before stepping into the street. It was about one
+o'clock in the morning, but that, in New York, is only the "shank of
+the evening," and the streets in the vicinity of Times Square were
+filled with throngs.</p>
+
+<p>Nat fancied he saw a man slink out of a doorway and start to follow him
+as the detective started down the street, and, chuckling to himself,
+Nat resolved to lead the shadow a merry chase. But the fellow, after
+following Nat a short distance, appeared to be satisfied that his
+quarry was not the man he wanted and turned back.</p>
+
+<p>"He doesn't know me in this rig," Nat decided. "Well, adios, my friend.
+Adios," and with this Spanish farewell Nat went to his hotel and to bed.</p>
+
+<p>He was at his office early the next morning, and one of the first
+things he did was to call for a Spanish interpreter whom he had come to
+the office to look over the letters.</p>
+
+<p>"Write me out copies of these," directed Nat, giving the man a desk,
+pen and paper in a room off his own private office.</p>
+
+<p>Several other matters claimed the detective's attention for the next
+fifteen minutes. But he finally disposed of the affairs, sending Baldy
+Stoler out on one case and Mary Dotley on another. Berry, as Nat, was
+ostentatiously busy writing in the front office, to throw off the track
+any of the Tola gang who might enter to spy out the situation.</p>
+
+<p>As Nat was passing the desk of Toodles, the office boy, a shadow
+darkened one of the windows—the shadow of a man on the outside ledge.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's that?" exclaimed Nat quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the window cleaners," Toodles answered. "The janitor sent word
+up early this morning that they'd be along our side of the building
+to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the window cleaner," murmured Nat, and he saw that that was the
+person whose shadow he had seen. The man, with his pail and chamois
+skin, was fastening his safety belt into the rings on either side of
+the casement.</p>
+
+<p>Nat's stenographer spoke to him, asking him about a letter she was
+writing for him, and when he had set her right the sleuth turned back
+into his own private room, intending to ascertain how the translator
+was progressing.</p>
+
+<p>As he put his hand on the knob there came from the room a cry of
+surprise, and, throwing open the door, Nat was in time to see the
+window cleaner leap in, knock aside the Spanish interpreter, grab
+something off the desk, and hurry out again.</p>
+
+<p>"The letters! The letters!" cried the man Nat had hired. "The window
+cleaner took those two letters!"</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>OFF TO TEXAS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Like a flash and without stopping to ask questions, Nat Ridley leaped
+toward the window, through which, the Spanish translator indicated, the
+window cleaner had entered and left.</p>
+
+<p>The man with the chamois was not in sight, but his pail was still on
+the broad, stone ledge, and Nat at once guessed what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"He walked along the coping here like a human fly and got into the next
+office," decided Nat. "He was a spy, disguised as a window cleaner! I
+thought he acted like an amateur when I first spotted him. The Tola
+gang is after me hot and heavy!"</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley needed but a second to make up his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Where he went I can go!" exclaimed the sleuth. "Look after things
+sharp here for a minute or two," he called over his shoulder to Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going, Chief?"</p>
+
+<p>"After that fellow!" exclaimed Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful!" murmured the stenographer, who, with Toodles, had
+run into Nat's private office at the alarm given by the startled
+translator.</p>
+
+<p>But Nat was already out on the ledge, which, aside from its height
+above the pavement, was a safe place to walk. In a few seconds the
+detective had entered the window adjoining his own—the window of
+an importing firm with the heads of which the sleuth had a slight
+acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>There was a clerk in the room into which Nat leaped from the window—a
+clerk who seemed rather startled.</p>
+
+<p>"Another one!" he exclaimed, and Nat knew he had guessed right.</p>
+
+<p>"Did a man just come in here?" asked the detective quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. The window cleaner."</p>
+
+<p>"He was no window cleaner," Nat stated, with a grim look. "But let that
+pass. Did he have anything in his hand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, some papers."</p>
+
+<p>"Which way did he go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Out through our office into the corridor. He said something about
+feeling sick and needing medicine. I thought you were another one when
+I saw you come in."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean another window cleaner?" remarked Nat. "No, I'm not," and, as
+he was in disguise, the clerk did not recognize him. Nat let it go at
+that.</p>
+
+<p>"Is anything wrong?" the young man asked, as Nat, after a look down
+the corridor and noting it was vacant, decided it would be useless to
+chase after the spy.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not much wrong," was the reply. "I just wanted to ask him some
+questions. Another time will do."</p>
+
+<p>Nat was anxious to get back and ascertain how much of the letters the
+translator had copied before they had been snatched away from him. So,
+with a nod to the clerk, Nat went back the way he had come, along the
+window ledge, somewhat to the surprise of the clerk.</p>
+
+<p>The sleuth found his office force and the Spanish scholar awaiting his
+return somewhat anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he beat it?" asked Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"He sure did! It was quite a plan—pretending to be a window cleaner
+and even impersonating the janitor in telephoning up to tell Toodles
+he was coming. He got both letters, I suppose?" Nat ruefully asked the
+translator.</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately of a truth, yes, señor," was the reply. "But not before
+I had made copies of them both. Here they are," and he held out two
+sheets of paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" cried Nat. "You copied them both, did you? Fine! As long as
+we know what the letters say we don't need the originals, unless they
+contain something incriminating."</p>
+
+<p>"They do not seem to be of that nature," said the translator. "The
+missives do but contain some directions about oil wells and something
+of a contest over them. There are a number of names of persons and
+places."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" cried Nat again. "That is what we want."</p>
+
+<p>Eagerly, he began perusing the translations of the letters found in the
+torn coat and, as he read, a pleased smile spread over the sleuth's
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"This settles it!" murmured Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Settles what?" Berry wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"About going to Texas and possibly to Mexico. I'll have to leave in a
+few days. I'm on the track of the double dagger gang now, all right!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you're going to run them down?" asked Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"I am if it's humanly possible. I promised Mrs. Lemberg I would do what
+I could to avenge her husband's death. But I also have a big bone to
+pick with these devils in the matter of Dan Steele's death. Dan was
+once a pal of mine. I'll make those imps sorry they knifed him!" and
+Nat's eyes blazed.</p>
+
+<p>Once more he read the translations, and then had his stenographer make
+copies of them which he put in his pocket, leaving the pen translations
+in his safe.</p>
+
+<p>"That spy window cleaner wasn't as smart as he thought himself,"
+chuckled Nat as he prepared to go out to arrange about transportation
+to Paloma. "He wasn't quite quick enough getting those letters back.
+You did your work quickly and well," he said to the Spaniard.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad that the señor is pleased," was the reply, and Nat added a
+generous bonus to the fee the man charged.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the game now?" asked Berry when he and his chief were
+alone in the private office after the excitement had calmed down. "Am I
+to go on being you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Until you get orders to the contrary," Nat answered. "And now
+let me see—I've got to assume a new character. What would be a
+natural disguise for one who is going to the Mexican border? I think
+I'll go as a travelling hardware man, looking for orders for farm
+machinery—tractors and the like. I'll brush up a bit on the talk of
+the trade."</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley had a wide acquaintance in New York, and among them was a
+friend in the whole-sale hardware business. Putting on a new disguise
+from his office stock—making up to look like an inconspicuous office
+clerk, Nat left his headquarters and sought out Jabez Norman, the big
+hardware man.</p>
+
+<p>To the latter Nat explained enough of the matter to satisfy the natural
+curiosity of his friend, and then, for a day or so, Nat absorbed a
+lot of information about shovels, rakes, hoes, disk harrows, plows,
+tractors, and the like, together with trade and discount terms. He also
+managed to pick up a smattering of Spanish which was to stand him in
+good stead.</p>
+
+<p>Having gotten enough hardware knowledge, he thought, to serve him in a
+pinch, Nat began to put his affairs in shape so that he could leave for
+his Mexican trip. For he did not doubt but that he would have to cross
+the border.</p>
+
+<p>"These plotters and murderers probably slide back and forth over the
+line several times a week," the sleuth decided. "I must do the same."</p>
+
+<p>The publicity following the murder of Lemberg, the solution of which
+baffled the police, and the stir made by the attack on Nat and Berry in
+the Spanish club, seemed to have sent the Tolas to cover.</p>
+
+<p>During the time, after he had had the letters translated, when Nat was
+preparing to start for Paloma, there was no further attempt on the part
+of Ramon and his gang to interfere with the detective.</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate Lemberg was buried and Nat made a last call on his
+widow, promising to do what he could to bring the murderers to justice.
+Mrs. Lemberg was not able to give any more clews than those which she
+had already furnished the sleuth.</p>
+
+<p>"My last word to you, though, Mr. Ridley," said Mrs. Lemberg as the
+detective was about to take his leave, "is to be on your guard."</p>
+
+<p>"I will," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"You little know the desperate character of those men," she went on.
+"My husband did not realize it until too late, or he might be alive
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"They certainly are desperate and cunning," agreed Nat, as he reflected
+on the fact that, in spite of all his precautions and disguises,
+the Tolas had, in some manner, found out about his visit to the
+Club Tamalle, learned that he had the letters, and had made such a
+successful attempt to get them back. It was only by chance that the
+translations had been made before the window cleaner played his trick.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall hear from me," promised Nat as he bade Mrs. Lemberg a final
+good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope in person," she answered, with a wan smile. And there was
+meaning and emphasis in what she said.</p>
+
+<p>From her apartment Nat went to a railroad office where he bought a
+ticket and berth for Paloma. He thought he was well disguised and that
+he had come by such a roundabout route that none of the Mexican gang
+would be able to trail him.</p>
+
+<p>Yet when Nat emerged from the office he was sure a dark, swarthy man,
+shabbily attired, who shuffled around the corner, was a spy watching
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give him a run for his money!" decided the sleuth, with a grim
+look in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Nat pretended to be in a great hurry and hastened along the street head
+down, looking at some papers he took from his pocket. But out of the
+corner of his eyes, he was watching the shabby man and saw him prepare
+to do some shadowing. Then, when opposite the fellow, Nat turned
+suddenly, as though to go back, having forgotten something. But he
+deliberately collided with the spy, and with such force as to knock him
+into the gutter where there was a puddle of water.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry!" exclaimed Nat. "You should look where you are going, my
+friend!" he added sharply.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the fellow said nothing, though his face grew darkly red
+with rage. Then he cried out a Spanish imprecation, shook his fist at
+Nat while scrambling out of the puddle, and added:</p>
+
+<p>"Son of a pig!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, ah! Señor Ramon or one of his friends! I thought so!" chuckled
+Nat, and before the fellow could arise to follow, Nat slipped into an
+office building, went up in the elevator, down again and out through
+another entrance, thus effectually throwing the shadower off the trail.</p>
+
+<p>Yet with all his precautions and this strategic upsetting of one of his
+enemies, Nat Ridley felt that they were still on his trail, and he was
+more positive of it when he went to take the night train for Texas.</p>
+
+<p>Some might ask why Nat did not arrest this rascal and force him to
+confess. The answer is, the great detective knew that this could not be
+done. The secret society was too powerful—no member would say a word,
+not even when in the shadow of death. If a man thought to squeal, he
+well knew that, once at liberty, his life would pay the penalty.</p>
+
+<p>Tired out, Nat entered the sleeping car and was groping his way along
+the green-curtained aisle when the porter accosted him, asking the
+number of his berth.</p>
+
+<p>"Twelve," answered Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Yais sah, dat's right! Lower twelve," and the colored bed-maker looked
+at Nat's ticket.</p>
+
+<p>"Lower twelve and upper twelve," said Nat, holding out a second coupon.</p>
+
+<p>"Upper twelve?" gasped the darkey. "Am dere two ob you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm traveling alone," replied Nat, with a smile. "But I always buy
+two berths, an upper and a lower. I don't like anyone above me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" gasped the Porter. "Dat's too bad!"</p>
+
+<p>"What's odd about that?" asked Nat. "It's a whim of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I'd knowed dat, boss," the negro went on scratching his woolly
+head. "I didn't spect anybody had upper twelve, an' I jes' done put a
+gen'man in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, did you?" asked Nat sarcastically. "Well, then you can just rout
+the gentleman out and leave that berth empty. I've paid for two and I'm
+going to have them. No one sleeps above me!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke the curtains of the upper berth parted and a dark face
+looked out.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, señor," said a man in soft Spanish accents. "But there is no
+other place vacant in the train, and if you are not going to use this
+berth I shall be glad to pay you for your lower one and also for this."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing doing!" snapped Nat briskly. "That's my berth, and I'm going
+to have it."</p>
+
+<p>An ugly look came over the face of the man in upper twelve.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>A FREE SPENDER</h3>
+
+
+<p>For perhaps ten seconds Nat Ridley stood in the aisle of the sleeper,
+looking at the man who confronted him from the upper berth. It was past
+midnight, and the passengers entering the train in the Pennsylvania
+Station went directly to bed or sat in the smoking compartment until
+ready to turn in, for the porter had all the sections made up.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Mexican, Spaniard, or whatever he was, let his eyes fall
+before the steady gaze of the detective and thrust one leg out over the
+edge of the berth.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, señor," he began, but Nat was in no mood for polite
+rejoinder and merely remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right—not your fault so much as it is this porter's," and
+he nodded toward the Negro. "But I always travel this way—can't sleep
+with anyone above me, and I'm not going to begin now. I guess you can
+find another berth."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sah, boss—beggin' yo' pardon, we's full up!" exclaimed the
+porter. He saw that he had made a mistake and, looking to the tips in
+prospect—as well as to the bribe already pocketed—he tried to carry
+water on both shoulders and propitiate both travelers. "I's mighty
+sorry, boss," he went on to Nat, "dat I took one ob yo' two berths.
+I didn't s'pose any one man would want two, 'less he were twins. I
+figgered de clerk in de ticket office done make a mistake, an' so I
+told dis gen'men he could hab de upper."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry; but he can't," said Nat, with finality.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll fix him up in de smokin' room," said the porter. "Come on, boss,"
+he continued. "I kin fix you a good bed."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the stranger was in the aisle, having climbed down the
+little ladder the porter brought for him. He had slipped a coat over
+his pajamas. He had evidently counted on a full night's sleep when Nat
+aroused him. The detective looked narrowly at the fellow, but his face
+was not familiar and Nat did not remember to have seen him before,
+either in the trio on the street near the cab containing the murdered
+body of Lemberg or in the Club Tamalle.</p>
+
+<p>"But if he isn't one of the Tola gang, he belongs to the same race, and
+I don't trust them—not now," decided Nat. "I don't want them sleeping
+above me."</p>
+
+<p>While the Mexican, with more murmured apologies, went to the other
+end of the sleeper, Nat piled his baggage into the upper berth and
+then sat down on the edge of the lower bed to think the matter out.
+Decidedly, he did not like what he had just discovered.</p>
+
+<p>"I think they're on my trail, in spite of all my precautions," mused
+the sleuth. "They must have spotted me in the ticket office, and they
+easily found out where I was going and what berth I had. Then this
+fellow probably bribed the porter to let him come in here. Well, I've
+spiked their guns for a time."</p>
+
+<p>But the more the detective thought it over the less he liked it, and he
+finally reached a decision that caused him to chuckle silently as he
+began to undress.</p>
+
+<p>Before stretching out Nat rang for the porter and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry, George, I won't hold it against you that you tried to get
+away with one of my berths. Here's a dollar, and when you get to the
+end of your run I may have another for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Dat's de kind of talk I likes t' heah, boss!" and the porter grinned
+from ear to ear.</p>
+
+<p>"But don't disturb me during the night, and make sure no one else
+does," warned Nat. "I've got a terrible temper when I'm awakened out of
+a sound sleep. See that I'm not disturbed."</p>
+
+<p>"Dat's what I'll do, boss. I suah will!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Nat went to sleep, first having taken the precaution of slipping
+his automatic under his pillow where it was ready to his hand. The
+train rumbled out beneath New York City, beneath the Hudson River, out
+over the Newark meadows and so toward the south and Texas. Nat Ridley
+slept, while, curled up none too comfortably on the leather seat in the
+smoking compartment was a dark-faced man whose scowl did not add to his
+looks. From time to time when alone he muttered something beneath his
+breath. But when the porter came in during the night, he always found
+his guest smiling.</p>
+
+<p>Morning came, and, with the dollar bill in mind, the porter did not
+call Nat Ridley, whose temper was so short when suddenly aroused. Not
+until every other passenger in the sleeper was up and dressed did the
+porter venture carefully to open the green curtains of lower twelve to
+say softly:</p>
+
+<p>"It will soon be brekfust time, sah!"</p>
+
+<p>There was no answer, and the window curtains were still down, shrouding
+the berth in gloom.</p>
+
+<p>"Does yo' still crave sleep?" asked the porter softly, as he reached
+forth a hand to shake, as he thought, the slumbering form. But his
+black fingers encountered nothing but bed clothing, and with an
+exclamation of surprise the porter swung back the curtains, letting
+in light enough to see that the berth was empty. The man who always
+traveled double had disappeared, bag and baggage.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, whut yo' know 'bout dat?" gasped the black fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" asked the Mexican, pressing forward eagerly. "Has
+anything happened to the señor who was so selfish?" and from the cruel
+and crafty smile on the face of the man who had slept in the smoking
+compartment a close observer might have gathered that he would not
+greatly have minded had the "selfish" man died in his sleep.</p>
+
+<p>"He's done gone—dat's whut happened!" exclaimed the porter. "An' he
+done owes me a dollar! De nex' time I lays myse'f out——"</p>
+
+<p>But he checked himself suddenly and a grin replaced the scowl of his
+face as he reached down on the pillow and picked off a crisp dollar
+bill. Nat Ridley had not forgotten his promise.</p>
+
+<p>"But where is the señor—what has become of him?" asked the Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"He mus' 'a' got off in de night," said the porter. "We made quite a
+stop at de junction, an' he mus' 'a' got off den. But he had a ticket
+clean through to Paloma," he added.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know he did!" exclaimed the Spaniard.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' knowed dat?" asked the porter suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well—er—I think I heard him say he was going there," was the
+confused answer. "Why should he get off short of his destination?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dunno, 'less he couldn't sleep," chuckled the Negro. And then, as he
+kissed the dollar bill before putting it in his pocket, he added: "But
+I should worry! I got mine!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>It was a hot night in Paloma, Texas, and the temperature of the night
+appeared to have imparted something of its nature to what was going on
+in the Cordova Club, a resort much frequented by Americans as well as
+by Mexicans filtering over the border line.</p>
+
+<p>A jazz band was blaring out its most blaring music—a band composed, it
+would seem, of negroes, though in its advertisements the Cordova Club
+made much of its Spanish orchestra. There was a scurrying to and fro of
+waiters bearing tall glasses of cooling drinks, and it might be argued,
+other drinks, cooling in so far as ice was concerned, but which seemed
+composed of liquors that set the blood tingling.</p>
+
+<p>In other words, it was pretty freely whispered about in Paloma that
+much stronger "stuff" than the legal half of one per cent. was freely
+dispensed at the Cordova Club.</p>
+
+<p>It was what might be called a high class resort—that is, evening dress
+for the men and women predominated, though it was not absolutely
+required that a man have on his "soup and fish," or that women must be
+bared of arm and shoulder. But that was usual.</p>
+
+<p>Among others who sauntered into the gay and blaring club this hot night
+was a well-dressed man who seemed bubbling over with good nature. His
+evening clothes were worn with an air as if he put them on each night
+to saunter forth for hours of gay life, and he had that about him which
+caused the head waiter to hurry forward deferentially to ask:</p>
+
+<p>"How many, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm alone," was the smiling answer. "And I'd appreciate it, captain,
+if you could put me at a table with some gentlemen where I can enjoy
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Of a surety, señor," was the ready response. "I will place you among
+what we call the Bohemians."</p>
+
+<p>"Fine and dandy! That suits me right down to the ground!"</p>
+
+<p>A little later the well-dressed stranger was ushered into a circle
+of equally suitably attired men at a central table, near the dancing
+floor. As the head waiter left this stranger remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose there will be no objection if I order some bubble water for
+the crowd?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bubble water, señor?" questioned the waiter who had come up at a
+signal from the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Champagne!" exclaimed the stranger. "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce
+myself," he went on. "Bill Brice is my name. I'm traveling for the
+National Hardware Corporation and I'm taking a night off. Will you
+oblige me by imbibing a bit of bubble water with me?"</p>
+
+<p>Would they? You should have seen their eyes sparkle at the mention of
+the sparkling wine. And the waiter, at a signal from his chief, hurried
+off to fill the order.</p>
+
+<p>Champagne for the whole table! It was seldom done, but——</p>
+
+<p>"He must be a free spender," one of the crowd remarked as they all gave
+their names to "Bill Brice" in return for his own. "Well, they can't
+come too free for me."</p>
+
+<p>Then the jazz band blared on, the glasses tinkled, and the champagne
+frothed while, in a quiet corner, a dark-faced man remarked softly:</p>
+
+<p>"So, he got here after all, did he? But when did he leave lower twelve
+and slip away from me? That is what I would like to know."</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>EL CAPITAN</h3>
+
+
+<p>None of the parties in the Cordova Club was any more lively or gay
+than the one at the table where Bill Brice, of the National Hardware
+Corporation, sat buying champagne. There were songs in English and
+Spanish, though it must be admitted the Spanish ones were the best
+sung since, it developed, most of the men who were partaking of the
+hospitality of Bill Brice were Mexicans, though many claimed to be pure
+Castilians.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the life for me!" boasted Mr. Brice, who still had in front of
+him the same first glass of champagne he had ordered at the start of
+the evening. He had taken a single sip, when his new friends insisted
+on drinking his health, but thereafter the bubbles rose from the bottom
+of his glass unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>One of the Mexicans, who had said he ran a moving picture theater in
+Paloma, noticed this and remarked on it.</p>
+
+<p>"I had plenty before I drifted in here," explained Mr. Brice, "and I
+find it sets better on my stomach if I smoke a bit between drinks, my
+friend."</p>
+
+<p>With that he pulled out a strong, black cigar and began puffing on it,
+blowing smoke rings to the no small admiration of his companions.</p>
+
+<p>The evening wore on, the band played louder, more men and women entered
+the club, and the waiters hurried here and there with their bootleg
+products, for so near was the Mexican border that the customs officials
+were hard put to prevent contraband being smuggled over the line.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the life!" exclaimed Mr. Brice more than once. "I'm about
+sick of the hardware line," he confided to his neighbor. "I wish there
+was some other way of making money. You wouldn't like to be selling
+tractors, plows, hoes and rakes all your life, would you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of a surety not, señor," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you make yours in some easier way?" suggested Mr. Brice. "Say
+oil wells, now."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us say oil wells," agreed the other, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but seriously," went on the free spender, "are you in oil?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am, of a surety, señor."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you know where I could invest some money?"</p>
+
+<p>The eyes of the other gleamed as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally. If you are interested——"</p>
+
+<p>But he broke off as a commotion at the entrance indicated something
+unusual going on, and a moment later a party of several men and women,
+headed by an individual who would attract attention anywhere, entered
+the club. He was a big, handsome, swarthy man, and he wore a uniform
+that became him well.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he the commander-in-chief of the Mexican army?" asked the man who
+had called himself Bill Brice.</p>
+
+<p>"That is El Capitan," was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain of what?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was of the army," was the reply. "But he is retired. It was he
+of whom I was about to speak when you mentioned investing in oil, my
+friend. He has large holdings, señor. El Capitan would be the one for
+you to know."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'm going to cultivate his acquaintance," was the laughing
+comment. "And when Bill Brice goes cultivating, something grows," and
+he chuckled with easy good nature. "Could I meet this captain?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is called El Capitan, señor," said the other, making three, full
+syllables of the name. "He is also Martolo."</p>
+
+<p>"Martolo!" exclaimed Mr. Brice with such sudden energy that his
+companion stared at him in surprise and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"You know him already, then, señor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no—no," and the hardware man laughed and blew another ring of
+smoke. "But I have heard the name."</p>
+
+<p>The distinguished former soldier and his party were deferentially
+escorted to a table, and at once ordered champagne, so it would seem
+that Mr. Brice had done the proper thing.</p>
+
+<p>The evening wore on, the club becoming gayer and gayer, and the bottles
+of "bubble water," accumulating at the table of Mr. Bill Brice—but
+they were empty bottles. Meanwhile, he had talked further with Señor
+Valdez, his nearest neighbor, about investing in oil wells, and had
+received the promise of an introduction to El Capitan later in the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, there was none of the evening left. It was long
+past midnight, but still the jazz band played on and the glasses
+tinkled while the dancing became more and more abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good time now, I think," said Señor Valdez to the hardware
+man, "to have you meet El Capitan. He is in the mood."</p>
+
+<p>"Suits me," was the answer. "I sure do want to get out of the game of
+selling plows and tractors. It isn't my line."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bill Brice spoke truly, his line was detective work, and the free
+spender was none other than Nat Ridley. He had decided to take no
+chances in the sleeper and had slipped out at the junction, laying
+over until the next through train to Paloma, and, thereby, greatly
+surprising not only the porter, but the man who had unlawfully been in
+upper twelve.</p>
+
+<p>Many of these who had been at the table of Mr. Brice, or Nat Ridley,
+had by this time drifted away. The gay party was breaking up, but there
+were still congenial spirits in the club, and the center of life was
+now about the table of El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>Thither Señor Valdez and Nat Ridley, known to the Mexican as "Bill
+Brice, a free spender," made their way, moving amid the dancers, the
+coming and going of guests and the rushing of eager waiters.</p>
+
+<p>El Capitan Martolo seemed very popular indeed. Someone was continually
+leaning over his shoulder, whispering in his ear, or pledging his
+health in a glass of champagne. Now and then men who glided in to speak
+to him glided out again as quickly, bent on some mission, it would seem.</p>
+
+<p>"El Capitan is a very busy man," commented Nat. "Very busy—with oil?"</p>
+
+<p>"With oil—and other interests," admitted Señor Valdez, with a smile.
+"If it pleases him to take you into his confidence you will be a lucky
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I'm pretty lucky, anyhow," returned Nat. "If I wasn't, I
+wouldn't be here."</p>
+
+<p>"You were in some danger, then, Señor Brice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you might call it that. But I'm generally able to take care of
+myself. I suppose there is trouble here now and then?" His voice was
+questioning.</p>
+
+<p>"Trouble? Of what sort, señor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you know the prohibition authorities——"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they are a joke!" laughed Señor Valdez. "We never have any trouble
+from them. But it is true that, now and then, someone drinks not wisely
+but too well, and there is what you call a fracas."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh—a fracas," repeated Nat. "You mean shooting and all that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It is well that the señor is lucky. But to-night is a quiet one.
+Nothing will happen."</p>
+
+<p>Nat recalled that statement a little later and had to smile to himself
+as he did so, in spite of the seriousness of his situation.</p>
+
+<p>He and his new friend were almost at the table of El Capitan when
+a man, who seemed greatly excited, brushed his way none too gently
+through the press of persons and handed the former officer of the
+Mexican army a letter. At once a wild desire to see that note took
+possession of Nat Ridley, and he made up his mind he would get it.</p>
+
+<p>El Capitan read the missive through quickly—it was not long—and he
+was thrusting it into the side pocket of his coat, having directed the
+messenger with a nod to stand aside a moment, when Nat was brought up
+for introduction by his new friend.</p>
+
+<p>"He would like to invest in oil wells," said Señor Valdez.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah—oil wells? It takes much money," said El Capitan, with a smile, as
+he shook hands with Nat and the latter noted the powerful build of the
+Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I happen to be pretty well fixed," Nat, with an easy air,
+replied. "And I'm tired of selling hardware. So, if you could put me
+wise to something in the game——"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, Señor Brice, it is a game!" declared the army man. "I have
+been in it some time, but there is yet much for me to learn. But I
+shall be glad to teach you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, El Capitan," responded Nat. "I can't learn any too soon if I
+want to make anything. There are a lot of wells being put down now,
+aren't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"A few, Señor Brice, and I control some of them. Now, if you wish to
+talk business," and the Mexican's eyes gleamed, "I shall be happy to
+receive you at my office."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment El Capitan struck a match to light one of his strong
+cigarettes, and Nat at once pulled out another strong, black cigar,
+bit off the end and leaned over, very close to the Mexican, to take
+advantage of the occasion, murmuring:</p>
+
+<p>"A little of your fire, if you please, El Capitan?"</p>
+
+<p>"As much as you please, señor," was the gracious response, and
+Nat's hand went in a stealthy fashion he had learned from an expert
+pickpocket to the side pocket of the Mexican. When the detective leaned
+up the letter the messenger had brought had been transferred from one
+pocket to the other.</p>
+
+<p>There was further talk of oil wells, and Nat made a date with the big
+officer to talk more the following day, or rather, this same day, for
+it was now long past midnight.</p>
+
+<p>Excusing himself for a moment, the detective went to a washroom, where
+he took out the letter he had purloined. He wanted to read it before
+anything could happen.</p>
+
+<p>As he expected, when he unfolded it under the lights in the small
+anteroom, the missive proved to be in Spanish. But Nat had in the last
+week or so given himself enough mastery of the language to make out
+something of the contents of the note. He saw that it referred to the
+Lemberg family and to further plans for making them give up their title
+to the oil wells which were wanted to further the plans of the Tola
+gang.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm on the right track!" mused Nat as he thrust the letter back in his
+pocket to return to El Capitan. As he left the washroom the detective
+noticed the messenger who had brought in the note coming out after him,
+but he thought little of it at the moment.</p>
+
+<p>A little later Nat invited El Capitan to share a bottle of champagne
+with him, though the detective did not intend to drink any of the wine
+himself. It was while he was seated at the former officer's table that
+the messenger who had delivered the note approached. He made a sign to
+El Capitan and, at the same moment, spoke in Spanish. Nat looked up in
+time to see the messenger pointing what seemed to be an accusing finger
+at him.</p>
+
+<p>El Capitan shot out a sharp question, and there was a quick interchange
+of excited words. Then El Capitan turned to Nat and began:</p>
+
+<p>"It seems, señor, that you have——"</p>
+
+<p>"The fat's in the fire!" was the thought that rushed into Nat Ridley's
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon," murmured a voice in Nat's ear. A hand touched his shoulder,
+and a man he had noticed drinking heavily at the captain's table
+confronted him. There was a Mexican girl, pretty in a bold sort of way,
+standing beside Nat's accoster, and the man went on: "This lady say you
+have insulted her!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have insulted her?" cried Nat, taken, naturally, by surprise. "I
+never saw her before and haven't even spoken to her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless the señorita say you have given the insult," murmured the
+man, and there was a dangerous look in his eyes. "You must to me, her
+affianced, give satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, so that's the game, is it?" cried Nat. "Well, I——"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment a shot rang out from somewhere in the crowd back of the
+accuser. The first shot was followed by several others, and Nat dropped
+to the floor just as the lights began to go out.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the place was in darkness and there were confused shouts
+and cries of alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"At their old tricks!" murmured the sleuth, as he began to crawl toward
+a flight of steps leading into the cellar from which the supply of wine
+was brought up and of which he had taken note earlier in the evening.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>IN THE DUNGEON</h3>
+
+
+<p>Nat Ridley was doing some quick and hard thinking as he made his way
+like an eel along the floor toward the cellar stairs. He realized that
+he was in great danger, but he could not be certain that the shots
+fired had been aimed at him.</p>
+
+<p>"If those shots weren't for me, there would have been some coming my
+way in a little while," mused the sleuth. "That messenger was sharper
+than I thought. He spotted me with El Capitan's letter," and Nat's hand
+went to his pocket to make sure he still had the note. He also wanted
+to be certain that he had his automatic.</p>
+
+<p>"Tried to force a quarrel on me! That's what they did!" decided Nat as
+he hurried to the head of the stairs in the darkness. Fortunately he
+had noticed them well when the lights were on, as he had thought he
+might have to make use of them.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew more Spanish," mused Nat, who was by this time at the
+head of the cellar steps. "I'd like to know just what El Capitan said
+when he heard the messenger give me away. Well, I'll have to let that
+go and save myself. Whew, they're going it in there!"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, great excitement now prevailed in the main room of the night
+club. Several more shots were fired, but Nat knew now that the bullets
+could not reach him. He closed the door back of him and, not relishing
+going down unfamiliar stairs in the dark, he took out his flashlight.</p>
+
+<p>This he screened by holding it in his hand so that only the faintest
+glimmer came from between his fingers. But it was enough to enable him
+to see so he would not stumble.</p>
+
+<p>Nat expected to observe some of the club servants or habitués come
+running up the steps at any moment to ascertain what the excitement was
+about. But he saw no one, and the change from the noise of the main
+room to the comparative quiet of the cellar was a relief. Nat Ridley
+was not an admirer of jazz, and loved to be quiet.</p>
+
+<p>He reached the bottom step and noted that the cellar was a large one,
+extending in two directions from the flight of stairs. There were dim
+lights burning here and there, and in the distance Nat could hear the
+tinkle of glasses and bottles.</p>
+
+<p>"They must have private rooms down here, where they have all sorts of
+high jinks," reasoned the sleuth. "Well, I'll give it the once over."</p>
+
+<p>There was now no need of using his flashlight, for the cellar had its
+own illumination, though not of the brightest, and Nat did not want to
+make himself a conspicuous object by holding the little electric torch
+in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>He put it in his pocket and, making sure again that his automatic was
+in readiness, he stepped out and walked softly along the cement floor
+of the cellar.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess I'll give that merry party the once over," decided the detective
+as the noise of laughter, singing, and the tinkle of glasses and
+bottles became more distinct. "I might pick up some information."</p>
+
+<p>Keeping close to the wall and treading softly, at the same time casting
+a look behind him now and then to make sure he was not followed, Nat
+advanced toward that part of the cellar whence issued the noise of
+merrymaking.</p>
+
+<p>It came from what seemed to be a wine vault, but in which a table was
+set with food, and about this were grouped a number of men and women
+who were evidently servants of the club.</p>
+
+<p>At this hour of the morning their duties were pretty much over, and it
+was plain that they had gathered to enjoy, though in a more limited
+way, the same fun as that indulged in by the patrons upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I care to mingle with them," thought Nat. "It might
+arouse suspicion. But it's queer they don't go up to see what all that
+row is over their heads."</p>
+
+<p>For the Cordova Club seemed undergoing a raid or something of that
+sort. Men and women were rushing about and occasionally a shot was
+fired. The band had stopped playing, and Nat could only account for the
+indifference of the servants on the assumption that they were used to
+all sorts of queer antics on the part of the jazz-mad patrons.</p>
+
+<p>"They don't want to mix in it," reasoned Nat.</p>
+
+<p>He turned aside from the room where the early morning meal was in
+progress, and started back the other way. As he turned a corner he
+collided, full tilt, with a man.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant Nat had his automatic out and pressed it against the
+stranger's ribs, with a whispered order to keep silent. But in the
+light that filtered around the turn in the corridor, the sleuth saw
+that he had little to fear from the unknown.</p>
+
+<p>He was an old man with white hair and a bent and stooped
+back—evidently an aged servant, perhaps the keeper of the hidden store
+of wine and liquor.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, señor," said the old man in a low voice. "It was my fault—I
+did not see you coming."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I you," admitted Nat, glad that the fellow spoke English. Then
+with a happy thought the detective added: "El Capitan sent me——"</p>
+
+<p>He let the sentence end there. It was better not to be too explicit.
+And, in a manner of speaking, El Capitan had sent Nat to the cellar.
+For had not the messenger made the disclosure, and had not the former
+army officer made so threatening a gesture, Nat would still be upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, El Capitan—yes, señor. He sends many down here. You are welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Nat was wondering what the answer was to this when the old man whom the
+detective had released from the first grip he had taken on his arm,
+walked away, making a sign to Nat to follow.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder where he wants to take me?" mused the sleuth, and he was in
+half a mind to refuse to go. But then he wanted to get out of this
+cellar before those above discovered that he had come down, and he
+thought the old man might show him an exit.</p>
+
+<p>But the man had something else in view, for, muttering to himself, he
+led the way until he stopped before a small room fitted with a small
+table and two chairs. The table was set for a meal, though there were
+no viands on it.</p>
+
+<p>"Pleased to be seated, señor," invited the old man with a deferential
+bow. "I will order the food prepared. Doubtless the lady will be here
+soon?"</p>
+
+<p>It was a question, and Nat could not conceal his surprise as he asked:</p>
+
+<p>"What lady?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, señor, the one you are to dine with."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't any appointment to dine here with a lady," said Nat, with a
+grim smile. "There must be some mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, señor, no mistake," murmured the old man. "El Capitan said he
+would send to me this evening an Americano who would dine in seclusion
+with a lady. I made ready this rendezvous, and you come. I but ask
+where the lady is."</p>
+
+<p>"And I tell you—" began Nat, and then he held his tongue. He began to
+see it now. Doubtless the Mexican had plans concerning another American
+and things had gone wrong. The old servant had naturally supposed Nat
+was the one expected.</p>
+
+<p>"Let it ride that way," decided the sleuth. "I may find out something
+this way. I'm taken for somebody else. Well, I'll play the game." Then
+to the old man he said: "The lady—she will be here soon. Get the food
+ready. And show me the way out—I mean how to emerge without the need
+of climbing the stairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Of a surety, señor, yes, there is another way out. See, you have
+but to press here," and he indicated a certain stone in the cellar
+wall, leaning against it. At once what seemed to be a section of the
+foundation swung back and a short flight of steps was disclosed.</p>
+
+<p>"So that's the way out?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the way out, after one has dined here with the lady," said the
+old man, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>Nat watched him walk out and along the cellar, doubtless toward the
+kitchen, for the smell of cooking was plain to the nose of the sleuth.
+Nat looked about the room. Aside from the secret staircase, the opening
+to which had been closed, there was nothing about it different from
+other basement rooms, many of which are used in New York for night
+clubs.</p>
+
+<p>"All the same I want to see if I can work that secret door," murmured
+Nat. He found, to his satisfaction, that the operation was simple once
+it was known what stone to press, and he opened and closed the stone
+door.</p>
+
+<p>Then, desiring to make sure he was not being spied upon, the detective
+stepped outside the private room. He moved a little away from the
+entrance and as he did so he heard, near at hand, a girl's voice crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't! Don't strike me again! I can't stand it!"</p>
+
+<p>The heavy tones of a negro woman snarled:</p>
+
+<p>"I's done got to beat yo' ef yo' don't sign dem papers for de captain!
+Stand up now an' take yo' medicine!"</p>
+
+<p>"No! No!" pleaded the other voice.</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley leaped into action. The voices seemed to come from behind
+the cellar wall, but he flashed his light and saw a heavy wooden door
+in the wall near the door of the private room.</p>
+
+<p>It was the work of but a moment for the detective to swing back the
+door, which was closed but not locked, and then he found himself
+looking into a veritable stone dungeon, in the middle of which knelt a
+beautiful, blonde girl.</p>
+
+<p>Standing over her, with a blacksnake whip upraised, was a powerful
+negro wench.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't! Don't beat me again!" pleaded the girl. But the lash fell with
+stinging force across her back.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE BOMB</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Stop!" cried Nat Ridley in a ringing voice as he leaped forward and
+stood in the circle of light cast by an electric bulb suspended from
+the ceiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" he cried again, and the Negress who had raised the lash let
+it fall as she turned in astonishment to look at the intruder. "Hit
+her again," hissed Nat in a low voice, "and I'll tie you up, you black
+wench, and cut you into ribbons with that same whip!" It was no time
+for polite talk, the sleuth reasoned.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, save me! Save me!" pleaded the girl, and she started to crawl
+toward Nat, for she had slumped over at the first blow.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll save you all right!" returned Nat grimly, as he took out his
+automatic. "What is it all about, anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know! I was kidnapped a few days ago and brought here to
+this terrible place! Some Mexicans visited me several times and wanted
+me to sign some papers. When I wouldn't they said they would make me.
+And this is the beginning of that, I suppose," the girl sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of papers did they want you to sign?" asked Nat, wondering
+if he was going to be involved in another mystery. The double dagger
+and the oil wells were enough for one man at a time, he thought.</p>
+
+<p>"They were papers—" began the girl, when the Negress who had backed
+away at Nat's entrance seemed to recover her courage. She lurched
+forward and snarled:</p>
+
+<p>"Keep yo' mouth shet, white girl, ef yo' wants to see daylight ag'in.
+Don't talk!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mind her," advised Nat. "I am here to help you if I can."</p>
+
+<p>His interference seemed to anger the Negress, for she took a step
+nearer her captive, again raising the lash as she exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"White man, ef yo' knows whut's good fo' yo', beat it!"</p>
+
+<p>Before the lash could fall Nat Ridley leaped at the hideous black
+creature and tore it from her grasp. He brought it down with stinging
+force across her shoulders, causing her to scream with pain and rage.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment Nat had put his hand over her mouth, for he did not
+want her to give the alarm. With the other hand he caught up a rag he
+saw on the floor and in a trice had gagged the Negress.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, to think I am no longer in her power!" murmured the girl, who rose
+to her feet and sat down in one of the chairs. "Can you help me get out
+of here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going out myself," declared Nat, "and I'll take you with me. So
+that's your game, is it?" he exclaimed as, having gagged the black
+woman he leaped aside in time to escape a kick from one of her big feet
+clad in a heavy shoe. "Well, I know a trick worth two of yours."</p>
+
+<p>A skillful motion of his foot and he had tripped the wench. She fell
+heavily and before she could roll over Nat had tied her hands and feet,
+with the long lash of the black snake whip. Then he rolled her into a
+corner and proceeded to take stock of the dungeon and the girl captive
+he had saved.</p>
+
+<p>"How strong you are!" murmured the girl, clasping her hands. "I never
+thought I would be saved. You came in the nick of time."</p>
+
+<p>"You have to—in this business!" returned Nat grimly. "Now then, if you
+can tell me something about yourself and why you were brought here,"
+he went on, "I may be better able to help you. We can't stay here too
+long. I expect some of that crowd will be down before long, looking for
+me," and he pointed upward. The noise of the crowd in the Cordova Club
+was still audible, though, as yet, none of those from above seemed to
+have come down into the basement.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Cora Ardell," said the girl, who had recovered some of her
+composure. "I live in New York, but for the past six months I have been
+acting as a stenographer and typist for my cousin in Rolamotaza."</p>
+
+<p>"In Mexico?" asked Nat, as he recognized the name of the town, and also
+recalled having seen the name Ardell in some of the Lemberg reports.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"What line of business is your cousin in?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"He was in the oil business—he owned oil wells," replied Miss Ardell.
+"But he doesn't any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he sell out?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was killed," was the simple answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Was your cousin's name Carl Lemberg?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes!" exclaimed the girl in surprise. "How did you know!"</p>
+
+<p>"No matter—please answer my questions," said Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"He is my cousin, surely," Miss Ardell answered. "But I didn't mean him
+when I said he was killed. I was speaking of his brother Henry. They
+are both my cousins, of course. But Carl wasn't killed."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to inform you that he was—a few days ago," said Nat gently.</p>
+
+<p>"What, Carl killed too?" burst out Cora Ardell. "Oh, how terrible! How
+did it happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the double dagger," whispered Nat, so the negress would not hear.</p>
+
+<p>"The double—" began the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" cautioned the sleuth. "She may be listening. Yes, Carl Lemberg
+was murdered in New York by the double-dagger gang. They killed Henry,
+didn't they, and also August Lemberg?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were both murdered. That is all I know," said the girl. "They had
+bought some oil wells in Mexico and, as I was out of a position in New
+York, they offered me a good one here. So I came on. Then everything
+seemed to happen at once. For several days I noticed that my cousin and
+his uncle were worried about certain letters they received. But the
+business went on and was paying well. They gave me some shares in the
+oil wells in addition to my salary.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, suddenly, one day, Henry Lemberg was killed. He was found
+stabbed to death in a lonely place. The police said Mexican bandits had
+done it. I didn't know what to do. I was getting afraid. Then August
+was killed in much the same way."</p>
+
+<p>"Did the Mexican police do anything?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"They came and asked a lot of questions and went through a lot of
+motions," the girl replied, "but it didn't amount to anything. Then
+some of the young men clerks, who had also come from New York with
+me to work for my cousin, sent word to Carl in New York and he had a
+detective come down to try to catch the murderers. Well, the detective
+came, and——"</p>
+
+<p>"His name was Dan Steele, wasn't it?" asked Nat softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. How did you know?" and Cora Ardell looked at her questioner with
+widely opened eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It is my business to know," remarked Nat. "And poor Steele was also
+murdered; wasn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! Oh, yes!" There was a tearful catch in her voice. "Oh, who are
+you, anyhow?" she asked, gazing searchingly at Nat. "How do you know
+all these things? Who are you and how did you come just in time to
+rescue me from that horrible Negress?"</p>
+
+<p>"In answer to the first questions," Nat replied, still speaking almost
+in a whisper, "I will say that I happen to know about the killing of
+Dan Steele because he was my friend, and, just before his own murder,
+your cousin Carl engaged me to ferret out the men who had killed his
+uncle and his brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are a—" began the girl.</p>
+
+<p>But Nat, motioning to the bound wench, made a sign of caution. But he
+saw that Cora had guessed his profession.</p>
+
+<p>"Now tell me," went on Nat, "and I must know in order to decide in what
+way to act, how did you happen to come here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was kidnapped and brought here."</p>
+
+<p>"By whom, how, and when?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know by whom," the girl answered. "But it was about a week ago
+and this is how it happened."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all the circumstances that occur to you," urged Nat. "A point
+that seems small to you may loom large to me. Omit nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't really very much to tell," Cora said. "After Henry Lemberg
+was killed—murdered I suppose I should say—there was much confusion
+in the office. This was doubled when a few days later his uncle was
+stabbed to death. The whole office force was thrown into a state of
+terror, for we thought a race war had broken out.</p>
+
+<p>"We didn't know how to attend to business, and there was much to be
+done, for the oil wells turned out to be more valuable than was at
+first supposed. You know my cousins had some wells of their own and
+also bought others in which certain Mexicans had interests. These
+last wells were not thought to be worth much, but after the Mexicans'
+interests had been purchased by my cousins and the Mexicans had left,
+these wells proved worth more than all the others put together."</p>
+
+<p>"So I heard," remarked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," resumed the girl, "you can imagine what a state the business
+was in after the two murders. Then Mr. Steele came down to help us
+straighten things out. But in a short time he was killed. Then terror
+seemed to take possession of all the young men clerks who had been
+brought from New York to help with the office business, and they packed
+up and went back to the United States."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I stayed on and did what I could to save my cousin's business!"
+exclaimed Cora, with spirit. "I wasn't afraid until—until——"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, until what?" asked Nat, as she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Until one day I received a card on which was scrawled a warning to
+leave the country," said the girl in a whisper. "I was told that I
+would have a week, after that——"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, after that?" encouraged Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"There was no direct threat," said Cora. "In place of words was the
+picture of a double dagger."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so!" exclaimed Nat. "The sign of the Tola gang. I take it
+you didn't desert?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I telegraphed Carl in New York, asking what to do. I wanted to
+save the business if I could, for I had an interest in it, and I knew
+the families of the murdered men might be in want. The oil wells are
+very valuable."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so," agreed Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"But before I could get word back from Carl," resumed Cora, "one night
+I was called to the door of my boarding place with a Mexican family. I
+was told someone wanted to see me. I thought it was a business message.
+But as soon as I went out of the house I was seized in the dark, a
+blanket was thrown over my head, I was put in an auto, and the next I
+knew I was brought here. Since then I have been kept a prisoner, and
+several times Mexicans whom I did not know have come here with papers
+they wanted me to sign."</p>
+
+<p>"Which you didn't do?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"No; and I never will! They put the Negress over me as a guard, and
+yesterday they gave me what they said was the last warning. It was to
+the effect that unless I signed the papers I would be lashed with the
+whip until I did. Just before you came one of the Mexicans was down
+here, and, when I refused, he told the woman to get the whip. I—I
+guess you saw the rest," and Cora finished with a little sob.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw the rest!" declared Nat, with a grim look in his eyes. "And I'm
+going to have a hand in the rest. Now if you are able to come——"</p>
+
+<p>He interrupted himself to listen. The noise upstairs seemed to have
+quieted down, but there were audible footsteps coming along the
+stone-paved floor of the cellar. Nat arose and drew his gun.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" asked Cora in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," was his answer. "But it is best to be ready for them.
+Get behind me."</p>
+
+<p>The girl moved into a position of safety just as a big husky Negro
+followed by two Mexicans entered the dungeon. They appeared surprised
+at what they saw—the wench bound in a corner and a calm white man
+guarding the girl prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is yo'?" leered the colored man.</p>
+
+<p>"What business is that of yours?" countered Nat Ridley.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll soon show yo' what business I has, white man!" shouted the Negro.
+"Come on, boys!" he called to his Mexican companions.</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley hastily made a plan. Reaching back, he took hold of Cora's
+hand and whispered from the corner of his mouth:</p>
+
+<p>"Be ready to follow me! We're going out of here!"</p>
+
+<p>The Negro man seemed to anticipate that something was coming, for he
+lurched forward, farther into the dungeon, and cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Get around him, boys! Knife him ef he tries any rough stuff, but doan
+hurt de lady." Evidently the Mexicans understood English, for they
+nodded and separated, intending to take Nat one on each flank, while
+the Negro made a frontal attack.</p>
+
+<p>But suddenly the detective and Cora, who kept close to him, made a leap
+to pass between the Negro and the Mexican on the left of the detective.
+At the same moment Nat pretended to look behind, and over the heads of
+the trio, as if seeing a rescue party and he cried loudly:</p>
+
+<p>"You're just in time, Jake! Take 'em from the back and shoot to kill!"</p>
+
+<p>The ruse worked perfectly, for the Negro and the Mexicans turned,
+expecting to see a rescue party. At that moment Nat made a rush,
+pulling Cora after him, and, safely reaching the door of the dungeon,
+passed between the Negro and one of his helpers.</p>
+
+<p>Turning like a flash, Nat sent a bullet through the dangling electric
+light. He then pulled shut the door of the dungeon.</p>
+
+<p>"That will give us a few seconds start," he said to Cora. "Come on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know your way out?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he answered. "There is a secret stair."</p>
+
+<p>He hurried back to the private room where there was to have been a
+quiet supper for two. The various corridors of the underground part of
+the club were still lighted.</p>
+
+<p>Nat and his companion entered the room. Further preparations for the
+meal had been made, for there was food on the table, but no sign of the
+aged servant.</p>
+
+<p>"Now to escape!" cried Nat.</p>
+
+<p>He pressed the stone that operated the door to the secret stair, and
+watched it slowly opening. But as the opening widened several loud
+shouts and screams of fear came from above.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment there was a heavy explosion, as of a bomb, and a shower
+of bricks, stones and mortar fell upon Nat and the girl. There were
+a succession of grinding, crashing sounds, and then came darkness in
+which Nat and his companion seemed buried under an avalanche of dirt
+and stones.</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley felt a stinging blow on his head, and then he knew no more.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>IN HIDING</h3>
+
+
+<p>The detective seemed to be walking down a long, dark lane, at the end
+of which he saw a faint glimmer of light. The light hurt his eyes as it
+grew brighter and the radiance increased as he came nearer to what, at
+last, seemed to be the rising sun.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as the pain in his head and eyes became almost unbearable with
+the nearness of the light, which appeared to sting and burn him, Nat
+Ridley became aware that he was staring at the rising sun—a ball of
+golden fire—which shone full in his face, coming through a hole in a
+pile of stones. Nat found himself half reclining on some burlap bags
+and, as he tried to sit up, he became aware of a soft hand gently
+pressing him back while a voice said:</p>
+
+<p>"You had better lie quiet a little longer."</p>
+
+<p>"What happened? Who are you?" asked Nat. Then he saw Cora Ardell
+looking at him. Her face was grimy and there was a smear of blood on
+it. But she was still beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, now I remember," observed Nat haltingly. "We were in the dungeon
+and there was some sort of explosion."</p>
+
+<p>"A bomb went off upstairs in the club, I guess," said Cora. "The top
+of the cellar fell down on us just as you were going to lead me up the
+secret stairway."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it!" exclaimed Nat, as memory came back to him. He moved his
+legs and arms, and found, aside from some bruises and stiffness, that
+he was suffering but little. No bones were broken, but there was still
+that terrible pain in his head. He put his hand to it and felt a large
+lump.</p>
+
+<p>"A stone fell on you there, and you were knocked out," explained the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Then how did I get here?" asked Nat, for he looked about him and saw
+that he was lying in a sort of tunnel of stone, with open country just
+beyond. "How did I get here, out of the cellar?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dragged you here," Cora answered.</p>
+
+<p>"What, you—alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am stronger than you think," she went on, with a wavering smile.
+"And you know it is easier to drag a person than to carry him. I don't
+believe I could have carried you—in fact, I know I couldn't have done
+that. But it was comparatively easy after I'd rolled you over on a pile
+of bags, to keep the stones from hurting you—it was comparatively
+easy to make a rope of some other bags and haul you along."</p>
+
+<p>"But how did you get me up the stairs?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"There weren't any stairs left after the explosion," Cora replied.
+"They tumbled down and made a sort of a runway."</p>
+
+<p>"And you ran up it with me?" questioned Nat, smiling now, as the pain
+in his head, caused partly by the rush of blood following a return to
+consciousness, began to ease.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't do much running," confessed the girl. "I had to do a lot of
+pulling and hauling. But at last I got you this far and I thought we
+had better stay here. I couldn't tell who might be after you—and me."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they'll be after both of us," admitted Nat. "I may as well
+tell you now that I am a detective who was engaged by your cousin to
+solve this mystery, just before he, himself, was killed by the Tolas.
+There is something terrible about their vengeance!"</p>
+
+<p>"I had begun to believe so," admitted Cora. "What are we to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"That will need to be considered," returned Nat. "First, though, let me
+thank you for saving my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't believe I did that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes you did!" insisted the detective. "It would have been only a
+question of time when those Mexicans would have come down in the ruined
+cellar to look for me. El Capitan had reason for wishing me out of the
+way. I had a letter of his," and Nat put his hand in his pocket and
+took out the purloined missive which was still there.</p>
+
+<p>"El Capitan!" murmured the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I heard the men who kidnapped me speaking of him," Cora answered. "He
+is the leader, it seems."</p>
+
+<p>"I guessed as much," answered Nat. "Well, so far, we are out of his
+clutches. Did you see what happened to the two Negroes and their
+Mexican friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. After the explosion everything was dark. But I found a flashlight
+in your pocket, and when I saw you were alive, but unconscious, I
+started to get you out of the cellar. I went up the place where the
+stairs had been, and then I thought this would be a good hiding spot."</p>
+
+<p>"They haven't found us here yet, at any rate," Nat said. "Though it
+will be only a question of time, I suppose. It is morning, I take it."</p>
+
+<p>"There is the rising sun," Cora confirmed him. "It is breakfast time,
+but we have nothing to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"And I think we would both be a bit better off for something," stated
+Nat. "I'm feeling much better now," he went on as he arose and stood
+up, for the tunnel, in which he had returned to consciousness, was high
+enough for this. He walked around and was quite himself again.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?" asked Cora as she saw him walking back toward
+the incline of ruined stairs up which, at more cost and toil then she
+admitted, she had dragged him.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to see if I can rustle some grub, as the saying is,"
+admitted Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean to go back into that dangerous place?" the girl gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it will be particularly dangerous now," Nat answered.
+"That is, unless it collapses on me, and I guess all the stones that
+were to fall have come down."</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking of that Negro and the Mexicans."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they're gone!" declared Nat. "You can make up your mind that after
+such an explosion as that the Paloma police are on the job. We seem to
+be quite a little distance away from the Cordova Club, but I imagine
+the place is mostly in ruins and there is probably a cordon of police
+around it now."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why not appeal to them?" the girl inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley shook his head, then stopped suddenly, for the pain shot
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said. "It is best to let the Tola gang think we perished in
+the ruins. If we went to the police it would soon be known. We will lie
+low for a time—remain here in hiding. When you're campaigning against
+an enemy," he went on, "the more you can fool and puzzle and keep him
+guessing the better. We'll let those Tolas think we're out of the
+running and then we'll jump in again when they least expect it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you mean to stay here for a while?"</p>
+
+<p>"Until after dark, at least. We can go out then in comparative safety.
+But we'll need some water to drink and some food. There was the
+start of a supper in that room of the secret stairs just before the
+explosion. I think I can get enough to put us over until night."</p>
+
+<p>"I would like some water," admitted Cora.</p>
+
+<p>"And you need food," added Nat. "You stay here. I won't be gone long."</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful!" she begged him. "These are terrible men!"</p>
+
+<p>He nodded, and then crawled over the uneven pile of stones until he had
+found the inclined runway up which he had been dragged. When he saw it
+he marveled that the girl could thus have hauled him to a safe hiding
+place.</p>
+
+<p>Waiting and listening to make sure the way was clear, and hearing
+nothing, Nat Ridley made his way down into what, before the explosion,
+had been the room where the aged servant had greeted him. The table
+was tipped over and split, rocks and concrete having fallen on it,
+but from the heap of débris the sleuth managed to salvage some food.
+Fortunately, he also found an earthen jar of clean water. With this he
+returned to find Cora anxiously waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>"I—I thought something happened to you," she faltered.</p>
+
+<p>"Enough has happened, and probably a lot more will," replied Nat
+lightly. "But I'm all right for the present. Let's eat!"</p>
+
+<p>The sun rose higher, moving away so that the golden beams no longer
+penetrated the tunnel. The two examined their hiding place and
+concluded that the tunnel was the secret egress from the Cordova Club
+cellar—an exit used in times of trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Nat was considering what his next move would be, and Cora was putting
+away what food was left, in readiness for the next meal, when there was
+a rattle of fallen stones and a form darkened the hole of the tunnel.</p>
+
+<p>"Someone is coming!" whispered the girl.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>ON TO ROLAMOTAZA</h3>
+
+
+<p>A number of little caves and caverns had been formed in the tunnel with
+its partial collapse, and Nat Ridley, hearing the approach of someone
+at the outer end and seeing the darkening of the shaft, acted quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"In here!" he whispered to Cora as he guided her into one of the caves.
+He thrust himself in after her and the two remained there, scarcely
+daring to breathe. They listened anxiously and heard voices talking in
+Spanish.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew what they were saying," whispered Nat. "I can understand
+some Spanish, and read it and write it, but I want to make no mistake
+about what they are saying."</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you," and the girl's voice was as low as his own. "I
+studied the language before taking this position."</p>
+
+<p>"Good! What are they talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>Cora listened while the voices went on—two of them—and the sound of
+footsteps could be heard penetrating the tunnel.</p>
+
+<p>"One said," reported the girl, "that it was useless to look in here
+for that pig of a Bill Brice, the hardware man. I don't know who they
+mean."</p>
+
+<p>"I do," chuckled Nat. "They mean me."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought you said your name was Nat Ridley?"</p>
+
+<p>"I assumed a disguise to come here, and also took another name," the
+detective replied. "I was Bill Brice for a time."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they are looking for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"So it seems. But what else are they saying?"</p>
+
+<p>Cora listened further and once more whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"One seems to think you might be in here and the other doesn't." There
+was a further exchange of excited Spanish talk and Cora added: "There,
+the one who says it would be useless to search in here has his way
+about it—they are going off."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" softly exclaimed Nat. "I'd hate to have another fight on my
+hands," and he put his automatic back in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>The two, crouched in the hole amid the shattered stones, listened and
+heard the searchers retreating. They had come only a little way into
+the tunnel.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we're safe now," murmured Nat. "If no more come until after
+dark, we'll be out of here."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we to go?" the girl asked.</p>
+
+<p>"That is something which must be considered," decided Nat. "I must
+learn more about the double dagger crowd before I will be in a position
+to arrest any of them. El Capitan is the leader, I think, but I am not
+sure. As soon as I get out of here I'll make up a little different and
+scout around. As for you——"</p>
+
+<p>"They will probably be on the lookout for me," interrupted Cora. "Oh, I
+am so afraid they will kidnap me again!"</p>
+
+<p>"They probably would attempt to get Cora Ardell into their power,"
+admitted Nat. "But I fancy they will have no use for Miss Belle
+Stanton, the sister of James Stanton, who has come here looking for a
+ranch to buy."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is James Stanton?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to be," chuckled Nat. "And you are going to be my
+sister—that is, if you have no objections."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I haven't. I need a brother—very much!" and she smiled
+wanly at him as they moved back toward the exit of the tunnel where the
+air was fresher.</p>
+
+<p>"Then this is my plan," went on the detective. "When we go out of here,
+which we will do after night falls, we will so alter our appearances
+as to look like a man seeking to buy a ranch and his sister who is
+accompanying him. We will find a quiet boarding place where I can leave
+you while I scout around a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can you disguise me and yourself?" asked Cora.</p>
+
+<p>Nat took from his pocket a small but very complete make-up box, such as
+those used by moving picture actors, and explained how he could change
+Cora's face and his own.</p>
+
+<p>"Our clothes won't matter greatly," he said. "But I can change mine a
+bit, and I should think, by sort of pinning up your skirt on one side,
+perhaps making some flounces or ruffles in it——"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how did you know so much about dresses?" asked Cora, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"I was married—once," Nat answered in a low voice. "My wife died when
+my son was a little fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am sorry—forgive me!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is all right," Nat said. "Now to business."</p>
+
+<p>They talked over their plans, and Cora told more, as she remembered it,
+about the Tola gang. Nat made mental notes of her information. The day
+wore on, and no more intruders came to the ruined tunnel. The exit from
+it appeared to be removed some distance from the Cordova Club—or what
+was left of that organization's headquarters after the bomb explosion.</p>
+
+<p>The two ate again, and drank some more of the water, which kept cool
+owing to the evaporation properties of the porous jar in which it was
+contained.</p>
+
+<p>Then as the glow of the sunset was fading, Nat began to disguise
+himself and the girl, making a much better job of it than was to be
+expected under the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>When it was dark the two went out of the tunnel, first having made an
+observation that showed that the way was clear. They found themselves
+near a narrow street, or rather, an alley, that led to the main
+thoroughfare on which the club was, or had been, situated.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's stroll past and see it," proposed Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose they discover us?"</p>
+
+<p>"In cases like this the bold way is the best," declared Nat. "They
+would never look for us at the very place where they had had you a
+prisoner. Come on—it will be perfectly safe."</p>
+
+<p>It was. The clubhouse was not as greatly damaged as Nat and Cora had
+feared, but it was put out of use as a club, temporarily at least,
+and, as the detective had surmised, the police were in charge. The two
+made their way through the curious throng, but there was no sign of El
+Capitan or any of his men.</p>
+
+<p>A little later "James Stanton" and his sister had secured lodgings in a
+quiet boarding house, and Nat, venturing back to the hotel where he had
+left his baggage, claimed it.</p>
+
+<p>He asked the landlady's daughter to go out to buy some clothes for
+Cora, explaining that he and his sister had come away in a hurry, and
+there seemed to be no thought but that everything was all right.</p>
+
+<p>Having told Cora not to worry, Nat, in his new character, went
+scouting about town that evening, frequenting several places where,
+so he learned, Mexicans, both Spanish and Indian, fond of nightlife,
+congregated. In one way and another he picked up considerable
+information about oil wells in general and the Lemberg wells in
+particular.</p>
+
+<p>"But I wouldn't advise anybody to take stock in those wells," said a
+grizzled plainsman for whom Nat bought some liquid refreshment while
+the sleuth himself indulged in a black cigar.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" asked Nat. "Not that oil is my line," he added. "I want a
+ranch."</p>
+
+<p>"And, as I told you," said his companion, "I can put you on to some
+bargains in that business. But if any of your friends are thinking of
+buying oil shares, let them lay off the Lemberg derricks."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it ain't healthy," was the answer. "Too many folks connected
+with those wells have passed out."</p>
+
+<p>Nat was interested, but could glean little of real value from
+his informant except in a general way, which confirmed his first
+suspicions. The Tola gang, either from motives of guarding ancient
+rights or for more worldly reasons, since the borings had proved of
+such great value, wanted back the wells they had sold.</p>
+
+<p>But certain things which Nat picked up caused him to go to the local
+telephone exchange a little later that evening, where he put in a long
+distance call for New York. He knew his talk would not be overheard
+or cut in on by any outside person if he talked from a booth in the
+telephone office.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Nat was speaking to Berry Todd and giving that somewhat
+surprised sleuth some instructions, part of which were to be conveyed
+to Baldy Stoler.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all right, Chief?" Berry wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"So far," was all Nat said. "I'm counting on you now!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you won't count in vain!" Berry assured him. "We'll soon join you."</p>
+
+<p>When Nat got back to the boarding house he found a note under his door.
+It was from Cora and said:</p>
+
+<p>"When you come in, no matter what time it is, slip a note under my door
+saying you are safe. I shall not be asleep."</p>
+
+<p>Nat smiled and scribbled on a leaf of his notebook, going out into the
+hall to slip it under the girl's door. As he did so he thought he saw
+a figure slinking away down the corridor—the figure of a man who
+seemed to have been listening at the girl's door.</p>
+
+<p>In a flash, all of Nat's suspicions returned, and he hurried to the
+head of the stairs. But there was no one in sight and he thought he was
+mistaken and that it might have been either the landlady, her daughter,
+or one of the maids making a usual round of the house to see that all
+was right.</p>
+
+<p>As Nat slipped the bit of paper under the door he heard Cora's voice
+asking:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so," he replied. "And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"All right. Only I fancy someone is watching outside my window."</p>
+
+<p>"Imagination," said the sleuth in a whisper. "You're all right. Go to
+sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Nat slept soundly, so soundly in fact that he had to be called by the
+landlady. He had left a message when going out in the evening, that if
+he was not stirring by eight o'clock he was to be roused. But he was a
+little surprised when he heard the woman's voice saying:</p>
+
+<p>"It is after eight, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be right down to breakfast!" Nat said.</p>
+
+<p>"Is my sister up?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your sister isn't in her room, nor has she been down to breakfast,"
+said the landlady. "Perhaps she went out for an early morning walk.
+None of us have seen her."</p>
+
+<p>Nat stifled an exclamation of alarm that rose to his lips, and,
+hurrying into his clothes, went to Cora's room. She was not in it, and
+there was some indication of confusion about the apartment. The bed had
+not been slept in, but there was evidence that the girl had stretched
+out on it without turning back the covers. It seemed she had not
+undressed.</p>
+
+<p>"She's gone!" exclaimed Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Has anything happened?" asked the landlady.</p>
+
+<p>"I—I'm afraid so," was the answer. "Was there any disturbance in the
+night—I mean here in your house?"</p>
+
+<p>"I heard you come in," volunteered the landlady, "and then I heard you
+go into your sister's room. I heard you talking, and then some time
+later I thought I heard you and her going out."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't go into her room," said Nat, trying not to show his
+excitement. "I spoke to her from outside, that was all. Then I went to
+bed. But she is gone—she must have gone out after I was asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she went out with some man," said the woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Rather, some man took her out!" cried Nat. "I see it now! They have
+kidnapped her again, the scoundrels! I thought I saw someone spying at
+her door when I came in. I wish I had searched farther than I did. Yes,
+they have kidnapped her again!"</p>
+
+<p>"This is terrible!" gasped the landlady. "I will call the police!"</p>
+
+<p>"No!" Nat stopped her with a gesture. "I will handle this case without
+the police. I'm a detective."</p>
+
+<p>He told the excited landlady enough to satisfy her, pledged her to
+secrecy, and then began to examine Cora's room. One of the first things
+he found was the note he had written her. But scrawled on the back,
+though not in Nat's writing was the one word—<i>Rolamotaza</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a clew she left for me!" mused the sleuth. "The Tola gang have
+taken her there. Well, it's me for Rolamotaza as fast as a train can
+take me! The devils! They get ahead of me every time!"</p>
+
+<p>A few hours later Nat Ridley was headed for the Mexican city where the
+Lemberg oil wells were located.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>INTO THE HILLS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Sun-bronzed and wind-tanned, a lone cowboy rode a pinto pony along the
+stretch of sand and sagebrush. Now and then, from beneath the flapping
+brim of his sombrero, he looked at the faint trail ahead of him, and
+now and then he raised the red handkerchief about his neck and wiped
+his perspiring face.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a darn long way from here to Times Square," mused the lone
+cowboy. "But I've got to go through with it now. Go 'long there, you
+pinto!" he called encouragingly to his steed, and the pony increased
+its ambling pace.</p>
+
+<p>The sun grew hotter and hotter. It was toward the close of a hot
+afternoon, and Mexico, the Mexico of the plains, was never noted for
+coolness.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the rider pulled his horse to a stop and slung around in
+front of him the canvas covered canteen that had been bobbing against
+the pinto's flanks and, as he took out the cork and tilted some of the
+warm, brackish contents down his throat, he murmured:</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry, pony, that there isn't some for you, but there's hardly a
+hollow tooth full for me. But we may strike the city soon."</p>
+
+<p>The pinto whinnied teasingly as it caught the whiff of water, but there
+was none for it and the cowboy had soon urged his animal on again. But
+presently he stopped once more, looked long and earnestly at the trail
+before him and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"A sign of life at last. Now if this is somebody besides a Mex maybe I
+can get some information. Hop to it, pinto!"</p>
+
+<p>The pony pricked up its ears as it saw and smelled another horse
+approaching and broke into a canter, which caused the cowboy to remark:</p>
+
+<p>"That's better! I guess you smell water." But his cheerfulness vanished
+as he caught sight of the approaching rider and he remarked: "A Mex
+again! Can't get any sense out of him—not with what little I know of
+Spanish. Wish Cora was here!"</p>
+
+<p>The advancing Mexican peon stopped as he saw the cowboy pulling rein
+and made a greeting in Spanish.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you're saying, stranger," drawled the cowboy, "but
+I'm pleased to meet you just the same. Now how far is it to town and a
+good drink of water? I've been traveling a week it seems, though I know
+it isn't more than a day. Where's this city of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"No sabe, señor."</p>
+
+<p>"The deuce you don't! Well, I'll have to make motions then, I guess,"
+sighed Pocus Pete. "Look," and he opened his mouth, held up his
+canteen, pretended to pour out water where there was none and then
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Rolamotaza—where is it at?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Rolamotaza—Rolamotaza!" exclaimed the other, comprehending now,
+but giving the Spanish name of the town the correct pronunciation.
+"Pronto! Pronto!"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean I'll get there pronto—soon?" asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>The Mexican nodded a vigorous assent, smiled, waved his hand, and
+called to his bony horse.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm nearer than I thought then," mused the cowboy. "Guess I
+won't turn back to Times Square. Go on, pinto!"</p>
+
+<p>And to such good speed did he urge his mount that a little later he
+was guiding the animal down a trail through the hills toward a small,
+Mexican village, on the outskirts of which loomed the unsightly oil
+derricks.</p>
+
+<p>"Struck the right place, I guess!" muttered the cowboy. "Now if I can
+strike somebody that appreciates good, old United States talk I'll be
+all set."</p>
+
+<p>He rode through the one and only main street of the town, noting that
+the population consisted of cowboys like himself, Mexicans, Spaniards,
+Italians, and other foreigners who seemed to be in the oil trade, and a
+few women and children. Following the crowd, Pocus Pete found himself
+near a combined hotel, saloon, and gambling hall, evidences of all
+three branches of trade being well in evidence.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, buddy, can a guy get a feed and something to drink in there?"
+asked the cowboy of another of his fraternity.</p>
+
+<p>"Surest thing you know. Where you from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Paloma, and looking for a corral," answered Pocus Pete, as he gave his
+name.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've come to a mighty poor place for cattle punchin'," was the
+comment, as the other announced himself as Lazy Ike Nolan. "It's all
+oil down here—oil an' Greasers an' sudden death."</p>
+
+<p>"Sudden death!" exclaimed the other. "How come?"</p>
+
+<p>"It ain't healthy to talk about it," was the answer. "But watch your
+step, that's all. I wish I'd never come to the darn place. I'm broke
+now and my buddy will be pretty soon if he don't keep away from the
+gang he's in there with now, tryin' to rub the spots off the cards,"
+and Lazy Ike sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you wouldn't take it amiss if I offered to buy you a drink,
+pardner," suggested Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"You could do that twice an' not insult me," was the reply. "Lead me to
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>Pocus Pete tied his pony to the hitching rail in front of the "Stella
+d'Ora," or Golden Star, as the combined hotel and gambling joint was
+named, and, having tossed a coin to a boy who was carrying buckets
+of water to the ponies, with motions to water his steed, Pocus Pete
+followed his new friend.</p>
+
+<p>There was a bar doing a good business and in a room beyond it several
+gambling games going on.</p>
+
+<p>"Name your poison," said Pocus Pete to Lazy Ike as they lined up in
+front of the bar. "It's water for mine until I get soaked up. I had a
+hot ride."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't blame you, pard," agreed the other. "But I'll have some red
+licker if it's all the same to you. There he goes—bettin' his last
+cent I know!" he exclaimed as he poured out a generous drink and looked
+into the gambling room.</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"My side kick—Slim Jim Burke," was the answer. "I got cleaned out, and
+I told him to keep away. But he was so darn sure he could get back what
+I lost and make a clean up that he went in. Now look at him!"</p>
+
+<p>He pointed to a cowboy like himself who was seated at a table with
+several Mexicans. It was an intense gambling game, as was plainly
+evident, and a crowd of spectators ringed the participants.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's saunter in and see what kind of hands your pardner is holding,"
+suggested Pocus Pete when he had taken three glasses of water one after
+the other, to the no small astonishment of the bartender. But when a
+dollar bill was tossed over the mahogany in payment of the water alone,
+the whiskey or "red licker," being also paid for, there was a murmur of
+approval.</p>
+
+<p>"There goes his last dollar—I know the signs," whispered Lazy Ike to
+his new friend as they neared the poker table. "An' now we're both
+broke."</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that a final play was being made, and as Pocus Pete
+watched the dealing he suddenly stepped forward, laid a hand on the
+shoulder of Slim Jim and exclaimed in a drawling but loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bet on this hand, buddy. The deal's crooked. That guy," and he
+pointed to the Mexican dealer, "is slipping his friend cards from the
+bottom of the deck. Lay off it!"</p>
+
+<p>At once there was a chorus of excited shouts from the Mexican
+gamblers—shouts in Spanish—and in the midst of it Lazy Ike called to
+his "side kick":</p>
+
+<p>"Snap out of it! You're being done!"</p>
+
+<p>Slim pushed back his chair, hardly knowing what it was all about,
+showing signs of wonder at the interference of the strange cowboy. But
+the dealer and his gambling friends did more than show wonder.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" roared the dealer in fairly good English, as he glared
+at Pocus Pete. "How dare you break up our game?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go easy, friend," drawled the other. "Breaking up games when I see a
+friend of my friend being double-crossed, is one of the best things I
+do. I saw you dealing off the bottom—like this——"</p>
+
+<p>He reached over, picked up the scattered cards and, with the hands of
+a master magician, began dealing the cards now from the top and now
+from the bottom. He turned up the hand he had given the former dealer,
+showing four kings, but hardly had the murmurs of surprise at this
+trick died away than Pocus Pete turned over the cards he had dealt to
+himself, showing four aces.</p>
+
+<p>"It's easy when you know how," he drawled. "But it ain't healthy for
+them as knows," he added.</p>
+
+<p>The disclosure seemed to sting the Mexican gambler to madness.</p>
+
+<p>"Son of a pig!" he spluttered. "I will show you!"</p>
+
+<p>With a rapid motion he drew a gun, but before he could fire Lazy Ike,
+whose actions seemed to belie his nickname, had his own weapon out.
+There were two reports, one following the other, but Lazy Ike had fired
+first and the Mexican slumped down in his chair, the bullet from his
+gun singing uncomfortably past the ear of Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>The excitement in the saloon redoubled, and Pocus Pete was drawing his
+own gun, for there were ugly looks about him, when Lazy Ike called into
+his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"We'd better beat it now, you an' me an' Slim Jim. They won't leave
+enough of us to put on a shutter as soon as they get into action. I
+guess maybe I've croaked that guy."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?" asked Pocus Pete as he allowed himself to be
+urged out of the place between Lazy Ike and Slim Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got to take to the hills," answered Ike. "It won't be safe for
+us in town."</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that it was not going to be safe for the trio right then
+and there, in the Stella d'Ora, for as the three neared the door they
+found their passage blocked by a number of Mexicans.</p>
+
+<p>"Pigs! Dogs!" hissed the dark-featured men, some of whom were far from
+sober.</p>
+
+<p>"Kill the Gringoes!" someone yelled.</p>
+
+<p>A big man, whose face showed his passion, rushed at Pocus Pete with a
+long knife upraised.</p>
+
+<p>"Watch yourself, buddy!" yelled Ike.</p>
+
+<p>There was a sharp report, a little cloud of smoke seemed to float out
+of the side pocket of Pete's coat, and the Mexican slumped down to the
+floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Another one down and out!" yelled Ike, the lust of battle in his eyes.
+"Now we sure got to make a run for it!"</p>
+
+<p>"That was a slick shot," muttered Slim Jim. "Though who you are an' how
+Ike picked you up, I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"An' this ain't no time to ask questions, either!" sung out Ike. "Come
+on! Take it on the jump!"</p>
+
+<p>The three ran from the saloon, leaped to their ponies at the hitching
+rail and galloped off.</p>
+
+<p>"To the hills!" cried Lazy Ike. "We'll stick by you, Pocus Pete!"</p>
+
+<p>As they galloped through the town the hoof-beats of their horses
+were punctuated with the shots from many guns, while bullets sang an
+ominous, whining song over their heads.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE BLACK CAVE</h3>
+
+
+<p>"You fellows know this country better than I do," remarked Pocus Pete
+as he guided his pinto pony out among the hills that led away from the
+Mexican town where they had just escaped from the gambling den. "I'll
+have to depend on you to get me out of here."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry about that," drawled Lazy Ike whose speech was, at times,
+as slow as his actions. "We'll stick by you to the last."</p>
+
+<p>"Though, for the matter of that," went on the strange cowboy, "those
+fellows who were juggling the pasteboards didn't get any more than was
+coming to 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"You're darn right!" chimed in Slim Jim. "Say, pard, I gotta hand it to
+you for shufflin' the cards! How'd you work it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just a trick," and Pocus Pete smiled. "But say, do you fellows know
+where you are and where we're goin'?"</p>
+
+<p>"You well said it!" exclaimed Lazy Ike, flapping his pony with the
+reins. "We know this country all right, an' to our sorrow. I wish we'd
+never crossed the Rio Grande."</p>
+
+<p>"Same here," came sorrowfully from his pal.</p>
+
+<p>"What's wrong with it?" asked Pocus Pete. "Too much oil?"</p>
+
+<p>"Too much oil for a cattleman," answered Slim Jim. "An' there's other
+things, too."</p>
+
+<p>"What other things?" asked the pinto-riding cowboy curiously. He acted
+as though he had long been on the trail of something or somebody and
+that now he was nearing the end of his quest. "What other things?"</p>
+
+<p>"You tell him, Slim," urged Lazy Ike. "We got to stick together now,
+since that shootin' fracas, so he might as well know what's what."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," remarked Pocus Pete, "if the cops get after us we're all in the
+same boat, I reckon, though you didn't shoot anybody, Jim."</p>
+
+<p>"Not this time. But I gotta couple of notches on my gun handle,"
+boasted the cowboy. "Not but what the fellows who stopped my bullets
+didn't get what they deserved," he added. "I'm no promisc'us shooter.
+It was them or me, an' I'd ruther it'd be them. So the cops, as you
+call 'em, are after me, too—only they haven't got onto my curves yet
+back there in Rolamotaza."</p>
+
+<p>"Cops," drawled Lazy Ike meditatively. "I ain't heard that word in a
+long spell. You must 'a' been East recent, Pocus Pete."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm from the East, originally," admitted the cowboy on the pinto.
+"Some of the words stick to me yet. I reckon they ain't got no regular
+police out here, have they?"</p>
+
+<p>"These Greasers? Naw!" exclaimed Slim Jim as he shoved a big wad of
+tobacco into his mouth. "Con-stab-u-lary—that's what they call 'em in
+Mex. Dirty, greasy Greasers—that's all!"</p>
+
+<p>"But they shoot without stoppin' to ask why or wherefor," warned Lazy
+Ike. "So we'd best put a few miles between them an' us afore Don Juan
+Castro starts the ball game."</p>
+
+<p>"Don Juan Castro?" exclaimed Pocus Pete, and there was so much
+excitement in his voice that his two companions looked at him in
+surprise and Jim asked:</p>
+
+<p>"You know him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've heard of him," was the answer. "He's a big cattle man, isn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Naw! Oil," and Jim got rid of some of his tobacco juice. "He owns
+a lot of oil wells around here an' he's always tryin' to git more.
+There's some wells here owned by a party out your way—in the East, I
+mean—N' York, I heard. Well, this Don Castro and his gang are after
+them wells."</p>
+
+<p>"They tried to buy 'em," added Ike. "An' when they couldn't do that,
+well, some queer things begun happenin'."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I was goin' to tell you about," put in Slim. "This country
+ain't no good for cattle—it's all oil, an it ain't healthy for them
+as dabbles in oil, 'less they're in right with Don Castro."</p>
+
+<p>"What happens?" asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"They passes out—sudden like," answered Slim and he made a motion as
+if sticking a knife into someone. "An' that ain't the worse of it,
+neither," he went on.</p>
+
+<p>"No?" questioned Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir! There's signs that them as passes out sudden has been done
+away with by a secret society. There was certain signs left near each
+dead man, an' three was killed lately to my certain knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," chimed in Lazy Ike. "Three!"</p>
+
+<p>"What was the mysterious sign?" asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a sign of a double dagger drawed on a card found near the dead
+men," resumed Slim. "An' in one of the bodies, a regular double dagger
+was found—a knife with a big blade on one end an' a small blade on the
+other. Looked like if they didn't get you goin' they would comin' or
+visse versy as they used to say when I went to school."</p>
+
+<p>"So they found the double dagger in one of the victims, did they?"
+asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"It was left stickin' in one of the stiffs, if that's what you mean,"
+chuckled Lazy Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"Where it is? Who has it? I mean where is that double dagger now?" and
+Pocus Pete showed so much excitement that both his new friends looked
+at him in wonder. Then Slim added:</p>
+
+<p>"It didn't stay in him long. Feller named Steele, it was. An' he got
+steel—cold steel—poor slob! This is how it come about. Ike an' me we
+moseyed down here lookin' for work, an' when we found it weren't no
+cattle country we sort of stuck around, pickin' up odd jobs. It wasn't
+so bad at first, though we didn't have no great hankerin' for oil. An'
+then the queer killin's begun.</p>
+
+<p>"But about this double dagger you seems to be interested in. One
+mornin' a young feller we happened to know—he was a college boy who'd
+run away an' he got a job down here. He used to ride off by himself a
+lot, alone. One mornin' he come racin' back to town, his pony all a
+lather of foam, sayin' he'd seed a dead man out in the gully, an' he
+had a double dagger stuck in his heart. That's how it was knowed the
+killin's was done with that kind of a knife."</p>
+
+<p>"So they found the double dagger, did they?" asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Jimmie Dale—that was this college lad's name, saw the knife
+stickin' in poor Steele," went on Slim. "But when some of us went out
+there with a few of what passes for police around here, the knife was
+gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Who took it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody could tell. Likely it was some of them that drove the double
+dagger into Steele's heart. They must 'a' knifed him and then got a
+scare that sent 'em off on the run 'fore they had time to pull the
+knife out. Then they come back an' got it."</p>
+
+<p>"Looks as if they cared a lot for it," commented Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon so," came from Ike. "Well, now you know what sort of country
+you've drifted to, Pete, an' I hope you like it."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been in worse places," was the cool answer. "If there is food and
+water to be had up in these hills I reckon we can hold out."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, there won't be no trouble about that," declared Slim. "We know a
+few places to hide."</p>
+
+<p>"The black cave, for one," suggested his pal.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right. We'd better head for that."</p>
+
+<p>"As for grub," went on Ike, "there are a lot of Mexican farmers up in
+these hills, an' they'll sell us skinny chickens an' them fried beans
+they call frijoles or tortillas or somethin' like that. An' there's
+plenty of springs, so we'll make out all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll camp for a while," suggested Pocus Pete. "As it's my fault,
+in a way, that you were forced to flee—vamoose you know—" He seemed
+to have, for the moment, swung out of the cowboy slang. "As it was my
+doin's that you had to come here you'll let me buy the grub."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't know's we'll have much objection to that," said Slim. "We're
+about broke."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," nodded Ike. "But how do you figger it's your fault,
+Pocus Pete, that we're here because of you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if I hadn't butted in on that card game when I saw Slim being
+double-crossed——"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgit it!" broke in the cowboy gambler. "I was jest gittin' wise to
+their game myself, an' I'd likely have started somethin' if you hadn't.
+No, we're all in the same boat, an' we'll stick together."</p>
+
+<p>The trio rode on. The ponies were fleet, and soon took them beyond
+pursuit, which, as a matter of fact, did not last long. Perhaps the
+Mexicans did not relish the quick shooting of the cowboys.</p>
+
+<p>They rode up among the hills and stopped at a farm, run by a peon and
+his wife, where Pocus Pete footed the bill for food—it was not a
+costly meal, a dollar buying enough for all three.</p>
+
+<p>That night they camped in the open, rolled in blankets near a fire, and
+the next morning traveled on, for Ike and Slim said the black cave, a
+natural cavern in the hills, would be reached about noon.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was not yet at the zenith when Lazy Ike, pointing ahead on the
+trail, drawled:</p>
+
+<p>"There she is!"</p>
+
+<p>"What?" asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"The black cave."</p>
+
+<p>The newly arrived cowboy glanced to a dark opening in the side of the
+hill, and, as he looked, he said in a low voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's ahead of us."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked Slim.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean there are some fellows in the black cave. What had we better
+do, boys? This is your game."</p>
+
+<p>Lazy Ike and Slim Jim peered from beneath their sombreros at some
+horsemen coming out of the cavern.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>PURSUED</h3>
+
+
+<p>"What you reckon that means, Ike?" questioned Slim Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Doggoned if I know. Looks like somebody had preëmpted our claim, don't
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somethin' like that," agreed the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you two guys supposed to have a claim on this black cave?" asked
+Pocus Pete as the three reined in their horses and stood looking at the
+other cavalcade of riders—perhaps half a dozen—who came out of the
+cavern as if aroused at the sight of the trio.</p>
+
+<p>"No, we ain't got no more of a claim than anybody else," said Ike. "But
+Slim an' me, we sort of found this cave when we first come to this oil
+region, and we lived in it a few days when we was sort of gettin' the
+lay of things. We've often been back to it between times, but never
+before did we see anybody in it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right!" chimed in his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"An' now there's a mob here," went on Pocus Pete. "It must mean
+something."</p>
+
+<p>"It does!" agreed Lazy Ike. "An' I don't like the looks of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Same here," mused his pal. "An' would you look at that!" he exclaimed
+as there was a movement among the horsemen at the black cave. "I'll be
+darned if they ain't headin' our way!" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>It was so. The six horsemen urged their steeds to a trot along the
+trail toward Pocus Pete and his two friends.</p>
+
+<p>"They're after us!" cried Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure as you're a foot high!" echoed his pal.</p>
+
+<p>"What had we better do?" asked Pocus Pete as he took out his automatic.</p>
+
+<p>"No, don't shoot," advised Jim. "We wouldn't stand much chance against
+twice our number. Those aren't Greasers. They're some of the gang that
+hangs around the Stella Dora," so he pronounced the name of the Golden
+Star café. "They can shoot."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean they are some of Don Castro's gang?" asked Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"You got me! We'd better give 'em a run for their money."</p>
+
+<p>So, turning their horses about, the three raced along the trail they
+had come, while, with shouts that had anger in them, the other horsemen
+took up the pursuit. A few shots rang out, the bullets whizzing
+uncomfortably close to the heads of Pocus Pete and his friends.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't that jest the rottenest luck!" exclaimed Jim as he leaned over
+his pony's neck to give less of a target to their enemies.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure is!" agreed his pal. "I figgered on takin' it easy in that cave
+for a while, an' now we got to sweat leather again. Well, I guess we
+can beat 'em at that."</p>
+
+<p>"They aren't catching up to us, at any rate," observed Pocus Pete. "Our
+horses are fresher than theirs, I take it."</p>
+
+<p>"You take it right, friend," admitted Slim Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any idea where you are heading for now?" went on Pete.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments the three rode on without this question being
+answered. The pursuers, though distanced at first, were still coming
+on, and, though hidden by turns in the trail, the pattering of their
+horses' feet could still be heard.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, where you aim to pull up, Slim?" asked Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"What about the Indian's Nose?" asked Slim.</p>
+
+<p>"Not bad. It's a good place to camp, an' we can see a good ways off
+when anybody's comin'. How does that strike you, Pocus Pete?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess," was the answer as the new cowboy urged his pinto pony
+along. "I'm a stranger here. I'll have to leave it to you. But if it
+means goin' among the Indians——"</p>
+
+<p>"It's only a name of a mesa about twenty miles farther on," was
+the answer. "It's elevated land, a fine place to camp, water an'
+everything. A little game to shoot, too. An' you can look for a mile or
+two each way so you can see when anybody's comin' to make trouble. What
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I say let's head there, if we can shake these fellows off," said Pocus
+Pete with a look back. But the pursuers were not in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Snap into it!" called Ike, and the three rode on. But ever as they
+made a turn in the trail among the hills, they could hear the men from
+the black cave coming behind them. It was not until nearly noon that
+they lost the sound, and then Ike said:</p>
+
+<p>"Guess we can take it a bit easy now. There's two or three forks in the
+road that we passed an' those fellows may have taken one."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case we can let our horses rest," suggested Pocus Pete, for it
+was high time they pulled rein.</p>
+
+<p>They found a spring of water and with the food they had brought with
+them from the Mexican farm they drank and made a meal, feeling much
+better after that.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as they were preparing to mount again and keep on to the Indian's
+Nose, Pocus Pete arrived at a decision. He looked sharply at his two
+companions and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, I've got something to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Spill it," laconically advised Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a cowboy," was the next statement.</p>
+
+<p>"We knowed that long ago!" chuckled Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"An' as long as you ain't the sheriff, we don't give a darn!" went on
+his partner.</p>
+
+<p>"How'd you know I wasn't what I pretended to be?" asked Pete curiously.
+"By the way I ride?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you ride pretty darn good, if you ask me," said Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the breaks you make in speakin' now an' again," said his
+companion. "An' 'cops'! Bust me for a wall-eyed pike, soon as you said
+'cops' I knowed you wasn't no cowboy—at least, not from around here.
+But you don't have to tell us, mister. We ain't cravin' to know your
+secret. We got some of our own."</p>
+
+<p>"But I want to tell you," went on the other. "I don't like the way
+things are breaking down here. And I don't like the way those men from
+the black cave are coming after us. Something may happen. A stray
+bullet might just clip me, and——"</p>
+
+<p>"You're right there," admitted Slim Jim gravely. "So if you got
+anythin' on your conscience——"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't that," and Pocus Pete laughed. "But the ends of justice
+might suffer if I happened to be killed and no one knew who I was or
+why I came here."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you're the sheriff after all?" and Ike and his chum looked a bit
+reproachfully at their companion.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm not the sheriff, and I'm not after you fellows. I'm Nat
+Ridley, a private detective from New York, and I'm down here to avenge
+the murder of a fellow detective—Dan Steele!"</p>
+
+<p>"By thunder!" voiced Ike vigorously.</p>
+
+<p>"A detective!" gasped Slim. "Whatchu know about that!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I'm on the trail of the double dagger gang—Don Castro among
+them," went on Nat. "Can I count on you to help me?"</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the two cowboys hesitated—but for an instant only. Then
+with one voice they exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"You sure can!" And they held out their bronzed hands.</p>
+
+<p>But a moment later Ike added:</p>
+
+<p>"If we're goin' to help you the best advice I can give you now is to
+beat it right now!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked Nat Ridley, alias Pocus Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"Because them fellers are after us again!"</p>
+
+<p>The others listened and heard once more the tattoo of hoof-beats.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>OVER THE CLIFF</h3>
+
+
+<p>Leaping into their saddles again, the three horsemen were soon pounding
+down the trail and away from their pursuers, who seemed to be coming on
+after them relentlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"They must be powerful anxious to meet up with us," drawled Lazy Ike as
+he rode beside Nat Ridley.</p>
+
+<p>"They are—for more reasons than one, I fancy," replied the detective.
+"It isn't altogether the row in the gambling den that makes them want
+to catch us, though we did put two of their men out of the running."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they want you more than they do us?" asked Ike as he urged his
+well-going pony to a faster pace.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it. And if you boys want to slide off the trail and let me lead
+these fellows a chase alone, don't hesitate," suggested Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"What the blazes do you think we are?" snapped out Jim. "We ain't
+Greasers!"</p>
+
+<p>"I should say not!" cried his pal. "Leavin' a buddy in the lurch ain't
+our style!"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't think it was," said Nat Ridley quietly. "But I thought it
+only fair to give you the chance."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't give us no more chances like that," ordered Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't like 'em!" echoed Ike.</p>
+
+<p>And the three rode on.</p>
+
+<p>The two cowboys, in spite of the fact that they were rather loose
+livers, free spenders, and not very provident, seemed to know their
+business, which was riding and picking out a good trail. During the
+period they had been in Mexico they had made good use of their time
+and knew considerable about the country. It was to them, more than to
+anything else, that Nat Ridley owed what success he had in this trail
+after the double dagger gang.</p>
+
+<p>The one and only thing in favor of the detective and the two cowboys
+was that they had better horses than those ridden by the men who had
+come out of the black cave.</p>
+
+<p>"What I think is this," said Nat when his two companions asked him
+how he "figgered out" the gang got to the cavern ahead of them. "The
+crowd in the gambling joint must have known that you two boys were in
+the habit of hiding in that cave. Then when you lit out with me, they
+naturally reasoned that we'd make for here. They must have taken a
+short cut to get here ahead of us."</p>
+
+<p>"There ain't no short cut!" declared Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"If there was we'd 'a' taken it," added Jim. "Most like they pushed
+their horses on hard to beat us, an' that's why the ponies ain't goin'
+so fast now."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," admitted Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, sure!" declared Lazy Ike. "An' lucky we kept our mounts
+pretty fresh. Well, we're sure runnin' 'em now," he added, and, indeed,
+it was calling on all the reserve in the ponies to make them trot along
+the trail which now led upward.</p>
+
+<p>But luck was still with the trio in advance, and it was not long before
+they had distanced their pursuers and could pull up their ponies for a
+breathing spell, which was badly needed. The three men dismounted and
+picketed the animals in a little glade, where Ike found a spring. But
+the heated horses were not allowed to drink at once, though it was with
+the utmost difficulty they were held back until they had cooled off a
+bit.</p>
+
+<p>Then when they had been allowed to slake their thirst and the three
+were resting, Nat Ridley told a little more about himself and his
+mission in Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides being on the trail of the murderers of the three Lemberg men
+and my friend Dan Steele," said the detective, "I want to save a girl
+they kidnapped."</p>
+
+<p>"A girl!" exclaimed the two cowboys.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a Miss Cora Ardell," and Nat related the finding of the girl in
+the dungeon, being beaten by a Negress, and how the two had escaped.</p>
+
+<p>"But they kidnapped her, right out from under my nose, you might say,"
+went on the detective. "It wouldn't do my reputation much good to have
+that generally known," he admitted, with a wry smile. "But it happened,
+worse luck. And except for the fact that Miss Ardell left a scrawl,
+indicating that the scoundrels had brought her to Rolamotaza and of
+some things she told me in the States, I wouldn't know where to look,
+though I might have picked up the trail later."</p>
+
+<p>"You say that pretty girl is here?" asked Ike, and, unconsciously, he
+began to knot his neck handkerchief more carefully.</p>
+
+<p>"I think she was brought to that Mexican town," went on Nat. "But I had
+no chance to look for her before that row in the saloon started, and
+we've been kept on the jump ever since."</p>
+
+<p>"On the jump is right," admitted Ike. "But I think we'll get to
+Indian's Nose soon, and then we can laugh at 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not so sure of that," said Jim. "But we'll have a better chance,
+anyhow. Why are those Tola devils after the girl?" he wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"She owns a share in the oil wells the Mexicans want to get back,"
+stated Nat. "She was also the secretary of her cousins, the Lembergs,
+and she may have certain papers which, if the rascals could get them,
+would aid them in regaining possession of the wells. And now they have
+Miss Ardell in their power again, and I don't know how to help her."</p>
+
+<p>"Just wait," advised Jim. "Soon as we can give these fellows the slip
+we'll swing around, cross over the Border, and get a posse of good old
+cowboys who'll come back and clean out this gang."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish that might happen," replied Nat Ridley. "But I'm afraid we'll
+have a lot of trouble and be in some danger before that comes to pass.
+These fellows are as cruel and relentless as their ancient Aztec
+ancestors."</p>
+
+<p>They pushed on to such good advantage after their rest, during which
+Nat took occasion to ask his new friends to send word to the Times
+Square office should the detective be killed and the others escape,
+that when night came they were in a lonely region, where many trails
+crossed and the cowboys gave it as their opinions that the pursuers
+could never follow.</p>
+
+<p>"They can't pick out which trail we took not even if they had a
+detective like you, Mr. Ridley, to help them!" declared Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"Not in a thousand years!" agreed Slim Jim Burke.</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better for us," said Nat.</p>
+
+<p>That night they slept in the barn of another Mexican farmer, for whose
+benefit, should he be questioned later, they used false names and
+talked of searching for a stray bunch of horses. At the farmer's house
+they bought food and ate heartily.</p>
+
+<p>The night was one of anxiety because, in spite of the confusion of
+trails, it was possible that Don Castro and his crowd might come upon
+them. Nat explained his previous encounters with this one of several
+plotters, and also mentioned El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>"We've heard of him," said Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"And no good, either," added Jim.</p>
+
+<p>However, the night passed peacefully, and in the morning, after a
+hearty breakfast and having purchased a supply of food to last for
+several days, they again took the trail.</p>
+
+<p>Several times at favorable places during the forenoon they stopped to
+look back and also to listen, but they neither saw nor heard any signs
+of pursuit and they began to feel that they had distanced their enemies.</p>
+
+<p>It was just getting dusk when Slim, who was riding in advance, gave a
+shout that sent the blood pumping faster into Nat Ridley's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" called the detective anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Indian's Nose," was the reply. "We're there!"</p>
+
+<p>A little later the three rode out on a mesa, which made a good place
+to camp and also, because of the nature of the country, afforded a long
+outlook to the south, whence pursuit, if any, must come.</p>
+
+<p>"What's to the north?" asked Nat, as they prepared to camp for the
+night in a little grove of trees.</p>
+
+<p>"The jumpin' off place," answered Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"He means the mesa ends there, and there's a high cliff as straight
+as a chimney that drops down to the trail at the foot of the mesa,"
+explained Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," mused Nat. "Well, I hope we aren't chased off this plateau."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much danger, I reckon," said Jim. "They won't find us here."</p>
+
+<p>The night passed peacefully, and they were just finishing breakfast the
+next morning when Ike, who had gone to see that the horses were all
+right where they had been picketed, came running back, much excited and
+shouting:</p>
+
+<p>"They're coming!"</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Don Castro's gang or somebody he's sent after us! They're comin' up
+the gully, and if we want to get past we've got to fight!"</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had he spoken when around a bend several horsemen appeared,
+many of whom carried rifles or shotguns. Not expecting the approach
+of the enemy so soon, the three had not begun to keep a watch, and the
+Mexicans had stolen up on them in the darkness of the early morning
+hours.</p>
+
+<p>The mesa, though elevated, was long and narrow, like a nose, after
+which it was named, and the approach to the camping place of Nat
+and the cowboys was through a gully, so narrow that not more than
+three could ride abreast. Now this defile was fairly choked with the
+approaching horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>"What are we going to do?" asked Ike, as he saw the desperate nature of
+their chances.</p>
+
+<p>"Fight 'em!" snarled Slim Jim Burke.</p>
+
+<p>"They'd wipe us out!" murmured Nat Ridley. "I'm no coward, as I guess
+you know," he went on, while the others exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"We'll say you aren't!"</p>
+
+<p>"But it would be madness to ride at them in that narrow place," went
+on the detective. "We might shoot our way through, but, more likely,
+one or all three of us would be riddled. And I don't want to pass out
+before I've saved that girl and made the Tola gang pay some of their
+debts."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what'll we do?" asked Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"How high is that cliff?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"Too high to jump down, and no pony could slide it," said Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't intend to jump, and we'll have to abandon the horses," went
+on Nat. "But I guess it isn't too far to get over by using our lariats,
+is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The ropes! By jingo, I never thought of that!" cried Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"We can do it!" exclaimed his pal. "And they can't follow, for I don't
+believe there's a rope in their outfit. They aren't cattlemen. By
+thunder, Mr. Detective, you've struck it!"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go over the cliff!" exulted Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"Fasten the ropes together then," advised Nat, drawing his automatic,
+and dropping down behind a rock.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Give 'em a few shots to hold 'em back until you can make ready," was
+the answer. "If they rushed us at the last minute we wouldn't have a
+chance. But I think the bushes will screen our movements until we are
+ready. Hop to it now, boys!"</p>
+
+<p>The cowboys ran to get their ropes from their saddle horns, and soon
+came back with the three lariats. Ike stopped in his tracks and
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"But look here, Mr. Ridley! We got to shinny down these ropes, you
+know! Nobody can't lower us. And when the last man is down the ropes
+will still be hangin' to whatever we fasten 'em to."</p>
+
+<p>"That's so," added Jim, for a moment discouraged. "I never thought of
+that. We'll have to leave the rope for these devils, an' they'll come
+down after us."</p>
+
+<p>"No they won't!" declared Nat. "We'll use a double rope, putting the
+turn of it around that stunted tree on the edge of the cliff. When we
+are all three down we'll pull one end of the rope and it will slide off
+and fall down. We won't leave any for them to use."</p>
+
+<p>"By thunder, I never thought of that!" gasped Ike. "Come on, Slim!"</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the two were preparing the way of escape over the cliff
+while Nat Ridley, kneeling behind a clump of bushes amid the rocks,
+began firing on the horsemen who were urging their steeds up the rocky
+defile.</p>
+
+<p>Could he hold them back long enough? That was what Ike and Jim were
+wondering as they hurriedly knotted together the three strong lassoes.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>A SHOT IN TIME</h3>
+
+
+<p>Nat Ridley's shots in the direction of the advancing Mexicans had
+hardly ceased rattling amid the rocks of the defile on top of the mesa
+when the detective hastened toward the edge of the cliff whereon grew a
+single stunted tree, but strong enough for the ropes to be looped over,
+thus supporting the men as they went down hand over hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ready?" asked Nat as he saw Jim, who had been kneeling beside
+his chum, arise.</p>
+
+<p>"Just got 'em all hooked up," was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>"How about you?" asked Ike. "Did you hit any of 'em?"</p>
+
+<p>"A few, I think," answered Nat grimly. He spoke the truth, for his
+bullets had found marks, bringing to their knees several of the Tola
+gang, though the sleuth fired to wound and not to kill.</p>
+
+<p>"Snap into it now!" cried Ike. "We haven't any time to lose."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right!" agreed Jim. "They're coming!"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, down the defile could be heard the ringing of the steel shoes
+of the horses on the hard rocks.</p>
+
+<p>But by this time the combined lassoes were rigged and, by leaning over
+the cliff, it could be noted that they extended in a double line to the
+bottom where a road wound off through the trees and bushes.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's to go first?" asked Slim, as the three paused for a moment on
+the edge.</p>
+
+<p>"Let Mr. Ridley," suggested Lazy Ike, with his usual drawl. It was
+noticed that since Nat had revealed his identity the cowboys, having
+learned who he was, were much less free and easy with him.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure—he goes first!" agreed Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"No," objected Nat. "Without wanting to boast, I may say I'm a better
+shot than either of you. So if it comes to a rush I can pick off more
+with my automatic than you can with your guns," and he slipped another
+full magazine in his weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"There's truth in that," said Ike. "Well, then, Slim, it's between you
+and me."</p>
+
+<p>"Snap into it!" ordered Nat. "Here, you go first," he ordered Slim
+Jim, as being the faster of the two. "Then Ike can slide down and I'll
+follow. Quick!"</p>
+
+<p>The others were willing to abide by the detective's decision and a
+moment later the languid cowboy was hanging to the lariats and had
+slipped over the edge of the cliff. He went down quickly, and his chum
+was half way to the bottom when the nearer approach of horses and the
+sound of voices told Nat that the Mexicans were coming on fast.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry!" advised Nat, and Ike went so fast he blistered his hands, hard
+as they were.</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley, thrusting his automatic into a fold of his coat, to have it
+in instant readiness, now began the descent. As his head and shoulders
+disappeared below the edge of the cliff, the first of the pursuers came
+into view.</p>
+
+<p>"There he is! The dog! The pig!" cried someone in Spanish-accented
+English.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, there spoke Don Castro, or I am mistaken!" chuckled Nat.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, after having lowered his head over the rim of the cliff, the
+detective raised himself again, holding on by one hand and by twisting
+the ropes around his legs. Then he sent several shots into the ranks of
+the Mexicans, making a hit with each report.</p>
+
+<p>There were yells of rage and cries of pain, and having thus forced the
+advancing horsemen to a temporary halt, Nat began the descent.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop him! Get the pig! Cut the rope!" yelled Don Castro.</p>
+
+<p>But before this could be done Nat had reached the end of the lariats
+and had joined Ike and Jim, who stood anxiously waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"Did they shoot at you?" asked Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I peppered them," answered Nat.</p>
+
+<p>He pulled quickly on one side of the double rope, thus slipping it
+loose from around the anchoring tree, and as the free end rose, the
+face of a Mexican appeared at the top of the cliff and his hands made
+an endeavor to snatch the combined lariats before they could fall. It
+was evident the pursuers had no ropes of their own to use in making the
+descent.</p>
+
+<p>But Nat, with a quick jerk, pulled the lassoes off the tree, and the
+coils fell at his feet. Then, calling to Ike and Jim to run on, the
+detective took a shot at the man above him. A howl of pain succeeded
+the crack of the automatic and the sleuth knew he had clipped his man.
+Two Mexicans shot in return, but nobody was hit.</p>
+
+<p>"We're safe now for a time," remarked Ike, with a sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," assented Nat. "But where are we going?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can't go far without horses," remarked Jim with a sorrowful air. "A
+cowboy without a pony is like a sailor without a ship."</p>
+
+<p>"We may be able to pick up something to straddle before very long,"
+said Nat. "I'd be very glad to buy some extra horses if we could find
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Gee, you're a sport!" vowed Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"This is business," declared the sleuth. "What are our chances?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we may strike a ranch where we can get three broncos," said
+Slim. "But they won't be much good. No worse, though, than the nags
+on which they've been riding after us. Gee, I sure do hate to lose my
+pony!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see that you get another," promised Nat. "But if we have to walk,
+aren't we likely to be overtaken by those fellows, even if they have
+very poor horses?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not worrying about that," declared Jim. "There's no trail down off
+the mesa short of half a day's ride, and they aren't going to try the
+cliff, I guess. No, we're safe for a time."</p>
+
+<p>Then the three began walking along. They were soon lost to view in
+a grove of trees so that there was no danger of those on the cliff
+shooting at them, and then they plodded on.</p>
+
+<p>All the rest of that day they marched, halting only when the sun was
+hottest. They found another Mexican farmer who supplied them with
+food, and at night they reached a small village where they stayed for
+the night in an unoccupied adobe hut. But their quest for horses was
+unavailing.</p>
+
+<p>"Better luck to-morrow," suggested Nat as they rolled in their
+blankets, for they had brought their packs with them when they slid
+down the rope at the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>The detective's prophecy was borne out a little later, for a traveling
+horse-dealer came into the village the next day and offered to sell
+three steeds at prices which the cowboys said were outrageous.</p>
+
+<p>"This is no time to haggle," declared Nat in an aside. "We want to get
+back to Rolamotaza. I've got to do what I can to save Miss Ardell."</p>
+
+<p>So the ponies were purchased, together with saddles and bridles, and
+though Jim and Ike bewailed the fact that the animals were nothing like
+the ones they had lost, still it was the best that could be done under
+the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Once more mounted, the three, having purchased food, started off,
+intending to head back to the village to which Cora Ardell had
+indicated she was being taken by her abductors.</p>
+
+<p>How it happened none of them knew, least of all Nat Ridley, but toward
+the evening of the third day after their escape over the edge of the
+cliff, the three were riding down a trail amid the hills, and, rounding
+a turn, Ike suddenly exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Look where we are!"</p>
+
+<p>"By jinks! What do you know about that?" cried Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"On the trail back to the cave!"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the black cave?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surest thing you know! Say, this is luck!"</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe not so much as you think," suggested the detective. "If that
+same gang is in there——"</p>
+
+<p>"They're out. They're after us!" chuckled Ike. "This is the best ever!"</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure you're right?" asked Nat, as the two compared notes about
+landmarks.</p>
+
+<p>"Certain sure!" answered Ike. "We'll be at the cave in ten minutes.
+This is the back trail leading to it."</p>
+
+<p>In even less than the time mentioned the two cowboys gave shouts of
+delight and pointed to the same dark hole in the overhanging rocks that
+Nat had viewed several days before.</p>
+
+<p>Slim Jim kicked his pony in the sides to spur it forward and approached
+the cave with a rush. But, just as he reached it, to the horrified
+surprise of Nat and Ike, a Mexican rushed out, thrust a long pole
+between the legs of Jim's horse, bowling that none too steady animal
+over, and bringing the rider to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell of rage, the Mexican, raising aloft a long knife, rushed
+at the prostrate man, who was stunned from the fall. And, with a thrill
+of terror, Nat Ridley recognized in the Mexican's hand the dreaded
+double dagger.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, Slim!" yelled Ike. But his shout did no good.</p>
+
+<p>Like a flash, Nat Ridley drew his automatic and fired in the nick of
+time. As the report rang out, the Mexican, with a shriek of pain and
+rage, dropped the two-pointed knife from a hand that was reddened with
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Nat had shot the weapon from the assassin's fingers, and not a moment
+too soon. A second later and it would have been buried in Slim's heart.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE TOLA EMBLEM</h3>
+
+
+<p>But if the detective and the cowboys with him thought they could
+silence this raging Mexican with one shot, they were soon to find out
+to the contrary.</p>
+
+<p>"Dogs and pigs!" hissed the man as he leaped to his feet, for the shock
+of the bullet in his right hand had sent him spinning around so that he
+fell. "Pigs!"</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to be their pet word!" chuckled Nat, as he eyed the fellow.</p>
+
+<p>The detective did not give the Mexican credit enough for brute courage
+and indominable grit. But no sooner was the Mexican on his feet than he
+made a rush for the double dagger that had fallen to the ground near
+Slim.</p>
+
+<p>"Grab that knife!" yelled Ike, sensing the fellow's intention.</p>
+
+<p>But Slim was still dazed by the fall from his tripped horse, and not
+capable of action. It might yet have gone hard with him had not Nat
+Ridley fired again.</p>
+
+<p>This time the sleuth did not risk shooting at the hand which held the
+double-pointed knife—the left. It appeared that the Mexican could use
+either fist for stabbing. Instead Nat aimed at his head.</p>
+
+<p>Such an accurate shot was the detective that he could have sent a
+bullet through the assassin's head, but he was more merciful than was
+the member of the Tola gang, and only shot off one ear.</p>
+
+<p>As the bullet gave him this injury, the Mexican, with a scream of
+terror and pain, dropped the double dagger the second time and then
+fled down the road that ran in front of the black cave.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the last we'll see of him!" cried Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"There may be more," observed Nat. "Get your gun ready while I go take
+a look at Slim."</p>
+
+<p>Ike drew his heavy revolver, but no others of the gang came from the
+cavern, and while Ike stood guard Nat bent over the stunned cowboy.
+Luckily he was only stunned, and when he had recovered the wind that
+had been knocked out of him he looked up at Nat, started to rise and
+murmured:</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, old man. Hope I can do the same for you some day."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to be in as tight a place as that," remarked Nat. "I like
+a little bigger margin."</p>
+
+<p>"I sure thought he had you!" exclaimed Ike while Nat walked to where
+the emblem of the Tola gang had been dropped by the murderous Mexican
+and picked up the double dagger.</p>
+
+<p>"A nasty weapon," observed Slim as he got to his feet, little the
+worse for his fall. The horse was not hurt, and after scrambling up
+and running on a little way, was now cropping grass. "He sure did me a
+dirty fall," he added, dusting off his clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"You're lucky," commented Ike. "Mr. Ridley fired just in time. Look
+out, sleuth," he added as he heard the detective give a surprised
+exclamation. "Cut yourself?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No," Nat answered. "But this is a trick dagger. Look here!"</p>
+
+<p>He held out in his hand what seemed to be only the handle of a knife.
+Both blades had disappeared. But, as the cowboys watched, the shining
+points of steel sprang into view again.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the idea?" asked Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"The blades appear and disappear by pressure on a spring hidden here,"
+Nat said, indicating where, amid the carving on the handle, a little
+head of a grinning Aztec god appeared. "Look!"</p>
+
+<p>The detective worked the mechanism, which he had discovered by
+accident, causing the blades to shoot out and in with a sinister
+suggestion of the injuries they could cause in the hands of a Tola.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a bad knife," remarked Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"The Tolas have a miniature one like it, which they use as a pin to
+fasten their cards on the bodies of their victims," Nat informed his
+friends. "The points of the little dagger are doped in some way so the
+person about to be murdered is rendered helpless."</p>
+
+<p>"Better look out that the points of that double dagger aren't smeared
+with dope," advised Slim.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be careful," Nat promised. "I'll sheath the blades before I put
+it in my pocket," and he suited his action to his words.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do with it?" asked Slim.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet," was the answer. "But I have an idea that with it
+I can get hold of some of the secrets of the Tola gang. Now at last
+we're at the cave where we wanted to hide. But I am in two minds about
+it. Since getting this dagger, I have half a notion to go back to
+Rolamotaza and have a look for Miss Ardell."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's rest a bit," suggested Slim. "I don't feel as chipper as I
+might."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I didn't mean to rush off now," remarked Nat. "We'll spend the
+night here in the cave."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe we'd better find out first," suggested Ike, "whether there are
+any more of the gang in there."</p>
+
+<p>"It is hardly likely," said Nat. "They would have come out after what
+has happened—the shooting and the talking."</p>
+
+<p>They picketed their horses—Ike said it was an insult to good cow
+ponies to call the three "crow-baits" by that name—and started for the
+cavern. But they had no sooner entered it than they became aware that
+it was inhabited, at least by a voice.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the depths, in which showed a glow from either a lantern or a
+candle some distance in, echoed a pleading voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Help! Help! Don't leave me alone this way! Help!"</p>
+
+<p>Something like an electric shock went through Nat Ridley. He uttered an
+exclamation, drew his powerful flashlight from his pocket, and ran back
+into the cave, while the cowboys, after a startled look at each other,
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ardell—Cora!" cried Nat. "Is that you? Are you here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! Yes! I am! Oh, is that Mr. Ridley? Thank heaven you have come to
+save me! Oh, help me!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what we'll do, lady!" declared Slim.</p>
+
+<p>"Surest thing you know!" added Ike, and both cowboys began rearranging
+their neckerchiefs, though the cave was too dark, even with the glow of
+a lantern and Nat's flashlight, to show any personal adornments.</p>
+
+<p>"This must be the girl the sleuth was telling about," murmured Ike to
+Slim.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right—the one kidnapped in Paloma. He sure is playing in great
+luck!"</p>
+
+<p>Cora Ardell it was, a bound prisoner in the black cave. Nat Ridley soon
+freed her of the bonds.</p>
+
+<p>"What happened and how did you get here?" asked the detective, when the
+girl had been given water to drink and led to a seat on a rude, wooden
+bench.</p>
+
+<p>"That night after you came in late at the Paloma boarding house,"
+related Cora when she had recovered her composure, "I fell asleep. I
+was awakened by feeling a hand over my mouth. I tried to get up, to
+scream, and to fight my assailant, but I was not able. I guess they had
+drugged me. I remember dimly that they asked me certain questions and
+that I answered, though I don't know what I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they made me walk with them out of the house—two men in masks.
+It was as if I was in a daze. I dimly remember being put into an
+automobile, and then I came to my senses in this cave. I have been a
+prisoner here ever since, and the men have taken turns in demanding
+that I sign papers giving them back the oil wells."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you?" asked Nat.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not! They said they would kill me unless I signed, but I said my
+friends would rescue me. There were a number of men in this cave all
+the while. I think it must be the headquarters of the Tola gang."</p>
+
+<p>"It begins to look so," admitted Nat. "But they must have only recently
+taken over this place, for you saw no signs of them when you two were
+here before, did you?" he asked the cowboys, and they answered in the
+negative.</p>
+
+<p>"The other day," went on Cora, "there seemed to be a sudden alarm. All
+the men rushed out and I was left alone with an old Mexican and his
+wife. He has been my jailer ever since. I must say he did not treat
+me cruelly, though he kept me bound. Then the woman went away this
+morning, and I did not know what to think. A little while ago I heard
+horses approaching."</p>
+
+<p>"They must have been our nags," remarked Ike. "And that rush the other
+day was after us."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented Nat. "Well, what happened then, Miss Ardell?"</p>
+
+<p>"My Mexican guard suddenly rushed out a little while ago," the girl
+reported, "and then I began to work the gag from my mouth. I heard
+shots, and I struggled to free myself and shouted for help. Then you
+came in."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad we did," replied Nat Ridley emphatically. "Your guard is out
+of the way," and he told something of what had happened. "The gang of
+Tolas left this cave to chase us," he went on. "But we gave them the
+slip and got back here by a roundabout way. They haven't returned yet,
+it seems."</p>
+
+<p>"And will we be here when they come moseying in?" asked Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"Not if I know it!" declared Slim. "I don't like the looks of their
+double daggers!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we sha'n't stay here," decided Nat Ridley. He had quickly made up
+his mind to a daring plan for rounding up the Tola gang, now that he
+had in his possession one of their double daggers.</p>
+
+<p>"With your help, my cowboy friends," said the detective, "I'll have
+these scoundrels just where I want them. Can I count on you?"</p>
+
+<p>"You bet!" came fervently from the pair.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Nat Ridley in a low voice, "this is what I intend to do."</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE DEAF MUTE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Within the silence of the dark cave, where, for days, Cora Ardell had
+been kept a prisoner, a secret conference was held. All the talk was in
+whispers, for Ike and Jim declared that they did not know enough about
+the cavern to insure that a listener might not be hidden in some recess.</p>
+
+<p>It was even suggested that perhaps the Mexican whom Nat had shot twice
+might have sneaked back in an endeavor to get revenge, or, failing in
+this, to learn something of the plans of his enemies.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't be too careful," whispered Nat, and so the low talk went on.</p>
+
+<p>Following this conference, Ike hurried from the cave and went to a
+Mexican farmer whom he knew and purchased food with Nat's money, for
+the sleuth had come over the line well supplied financially. Cora,
+after the nerve-racking ordeal of being a prisoner had ended, became
+herself, and told much that she had overheard while bound in the cave.</p>
+
+<p>That the cave was one of the headquarters of the dreaded Tola gang was
+well established, and it was only by chance that the two cowboys had
+not encountered the ruthless El Capitan Martolo, Don Castro and their
+followers on the visits Ike and Jim had paid to the cavern.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," remarked Nat Ridley, one afternoon, about two days after
+the shooting of the double dagger from the hand of the Mexican who
+would have stabbed Slim Jim, "I'll leave you three for a while. Take
+good care of Miss Ardell," he warned the cowboys.</p>
+
+<p>"We will," promised Ike.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not worrying a bit," the girl said.</p>
+
+<p>"And we'll be on the lookout to join you," added Jim.</p>
+
+<p>They watched the detective ride down the trail and out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>While the cowboys were carrying out their promise to guard Cora Ardell
+carefully, quite a different scene was taking place in the Mexican
+village of Paz, some miles from Rolamotaza.</p>
+
+<p>In a Mexican saloon, combined with which was a gambling joint, seated
+around a table in a rear room were El Capitan, Don Juan Castro, Valdez
+and a number of the other members of the secret society known as the
+Tola—an offshoot of some of the terrible organizations of the Aztec
+days. The talk was all in Spanish.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems then," remarked the big El Capitan, "that our men did not
+get the American detective pig?"</p>
+
+<p>"He escaped, to our sorrow," remarked Don Castro, who was telling the
+story.</p>
+
+<p>"How?" snapped El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>"He and his cowboy companions abandoned their horses and lowered
+themselves over a cliff. We could not follow."</p>
+
+<p>"How was that? Why not?" demanded El Capitan, his eyes blazing.</p>
+
+<p>Don Castro shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands expressively as
+he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"They pulled the ropes away so we could not slide down."</p>
+
+<p>"Imbeciles!" snarled El Capitan. "Why did you not have ropes?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was a mistake not to," admitted the leader of the baffled pursuers.
+"But we had none. However, we still have the girl in the dark cave, and
+it will be strange if she can hold out much longer. If she signs the
+papers, giving us back the oil wells, we can snap our fingers at this
+dog and pig of a Gringo detective."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," said El Capitan. "But he is very clever. Out of my pocket
+from under my nose he took letters—letters that say too much. Tell
+me," he went on with a change of manner. "Have you tortured the girl
+yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, El Capitan," answered the other. "We did not know you wanted to
+go to that length."</p>
+
+<p>"Go to any length! Do anything to get her to sign those papers. It
+is my order. Use hot irons if necessary. Now go and don't come back
+without the papers! Are you sure you have the girl safe?"</p>
+
+<p>"Positive, El Capitan."</p>
+
+<p>"That is good. We shall yet laugh at this pig of a Gringo."</p>
+
+<p>El Capitan chuckled and ordered another drink, and while he was pouring
+it down his throat a waiter glided to his side and whispered in his ear.</p>
+
+<p>"So?" exclaimed the Tola leader. "One of our band from the mountains to
+join us? Who is he? Does he bear the symbol?"</p>
+
+<p>"He gave me this," and the waiter held out a card on which was drawn
+the device of a double dagger.</p>
+
+<p>"That is good, but it is not enough. He should have the weapon itself,
+either in miniature or the large one. But I will see him. Don Castro,
+your attention here before you go to the cave on your mission," and El
+Capitan beckoned to his lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, El Capitan," submissively responded the other. "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of our band—or at least one so claiming—waits outside. He sends
+in his card. He is from the mountains it seems. He may be Pedro from
+the cave."</p>
+
+<p>"If he is, it means that something has happened!" cried Don Castro,
+starting. His manner was alarming.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the girl has escaped?" hissed El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible."</p>
+
+<p>"If she has, you imbecile, I will hold you responsible!" stormed the
+leader. "But let us see! Have in this member from the mountains. He
+sends the proper card but he must have the dagger itself. Let him come
+in," he ordered the waiter.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later an aged Mexican entered the meeting room of the Tola
+gang. White was his hair, bent was his back and he walked with a staff.
+He bowed humbly as he advanced and seemed eager to please as he stood
+before El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you and what do you want?" snapped out the leader.</p>
+
+<p>The old man appeared not to hear, and something in his manner caused El
+Capitan to exclaim:</p>
+
+<p>"We are betrayed! This is a spy! Speak!" he cried, slipping his hand
+into his coat as if seeking a weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, señor, I forgot to mention that he is a deaf mute," said the
+waiter. "He had to write out on a card that he wanted to see you, and I
+had to write that I would take him your message and the symbol, which
+I did. He can neither hear nor speak."</p>
+
+<p>"Fool, why did you not say so at first?" snarled El Capitan. "I had
+nearly put a bullet through him, and that would have been sad if he
+is really one of us. Look you," he went on to the stranger who stood
+meekly before him, "why do you come? What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"You forget, El Capitan," said Don Castro, gently, "that he cannot hear
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"True enough," grumbled the head of the gang. "Give me paper and
+pencil!"</p>
+
+<p>"Make sure that he is one of us," suggested Don Castro.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I not doing that?" testily inquired his chief.</p>
+
+<p>He wrote something on a card which the deaf mute read, though slowly,
+either as if his eyesight were poor or his brain slow to comprehend.
+But comprehend he must have, for with a smile and a mumbling of sounds
+that were not words, he drew from his pocket a curiously carved handle.</p>
+
+<p>Pressure on a certain ugly head among the decorations caused two keen
+blades to shoot out—one long and the other short.</p>
+
+<p>"The double dagger!" murmured several who had crowded about El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he bears the emblem," admitted the chief. "He is one of us.
+But it is going to be devilish hard to get much out of him. I hate
+writing. However, I will see what his mission is."</p>
+
+<p>But hardly had El Capitan begun to frame some questions in writing than
+there rushed into the meeting room a Mexican with a hand done up in
+bandages, and with but a bloody smear where, once, an ear had been.</p>
+
+<p>"Pedro!" gasped Don Castro. "Pedro!"</p>
+
+<p>"From the cave?" El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>"From the cave!" answered the wounded Tola. "They shot me and they have
+the girl!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ten thousand devils!" yelled El Capitan. "Speak! Who has the girl?
+What do you mean? Who? Tell me! We are lost!"</p>
+
+<p>He started forward as though to seize the messenger and shake the truth
+from him, but Don Castro stepped forward, while the deaf mute, putting
+the double dagger, in which the two blades were once more sheathed,
+back in his pocket, drew quietly into a corner.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me talk to Pedro," suggested Don Castro. "What happened to you and
+who took the girl?" he asked quietly.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a flood of talk, hearing which El Capitan yelled:</p>
+
+<p>"It is that dog of an Americano detective again. Always he turns up
+unexpectedly. He must die! Quick, call in Valdez and Latro. Set the
+killers on his trail! He must die! Dog! Pig! Thus to baffle us!"</p>
+
+<p>"He must die!" echoed Don Castro, a wicked smile playing over his face.
+"But to kill him we must first catch him, and I think Pedro will help.
+Let us go into conference. And what of this deaf and dumb member from
+the mountain, El Capitan?"</p>
+
+<p>"His matter can wait. He can hear nothing—tell nothing. Let him wait,"
+and he made a sign to the aged Mexican who had shown the double dagger
+to take a seat in the corner whither he had retreated, there to wait
+until the more important matter of planning Nat Ridley's death could be
+disposed of.</p>
+
+<p>The deaf mute sat down wearily, as though he had traveled far, and he
+closed his eyes. But there was a curious little smile playing over his
+brown and wrinkled face.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>OVER THE LINE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Late into the night, yes, almost until the red sun was ready to rise
+and shine down into the village of Paz amid the Mexican hills, did El
+Capitan, Don Castro, Pedro and the "killers" hold conference in the
+back room of the adobe saloon. Now the voices were high pitched and
+now they were low, and all the while the deaf mute sat in his corner,
+nodding, sleeping, and sometimes smiling.</p>
+
+<p>At last a plan was agreed upon and certain men of the company girded
+their pistol belts tighter about them. They were given money by El
+Capitan and then they went out into the gray and reddening dawn to
+where their horses awaited.</p>
+
+<p>"Fail not!" ordered the big chief. "The son of Gringo pig must die!"</p>
+
+<p>"He shall die!" promised Latro, with a cruel smile on his face. "We
+shall meet with our comrades in Paloma and it will be strange if,
+between us, we shall not find him."</p>
+
+<p>"In Paloma, then, I will join you on the day agreed," said El Capitan.</p>
+
+<p>Again the brown and wrinkled deaf mute in his corner smiled. Then the
+leader seemed to remember the mute messenger with the double dagger,
+for he turned to Don Castro and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now we shall see what he wants. A pest upon him for coming at such a
+time! It is money he desires, I doubt not."</p>
+
+<p>And money was just what the aged member of the Tola gang had come for.
+It appeared, from what he wrote down on dirty pieces of paper, that he
+was a member of a distant branch of the gang that had its headquarters
+in the mountains. It was composed of poor peons, but they had been
+promised a share in the oil wells, the profits of which were to be
+divided among the Tolas.</p>
+
+<p>It further appeared that El Capitan, Don Castro and the others, not
+having sufficient funds of their own to wrest back from the Lemberg
+family the wonderfully profitable wells, had levied contributions from
+every member of the gang, rich and poor, promising in return money when
+the wells should once more be owned by the ancient society.</p>
+
+<p>"And this fellow says he and his fellow villagers are so poor from the
+failure of their crops and because of the money they have given us to
+get back our wells that they are starving," said El Capitan when he had
+read what the deaf mute wrote. "A pest upon them! Why could they not
+wait?" He walked the floor in anger.</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be done?" asked Don Castro.</p>
+
+<p>"What would you have?" retorted El Capitan. "We cannot afford
+disaffection. These mountain members, though they add little to our
+success, must still be considered. But I am tired of this pencil
+scratching, Castro. You deal with this mute. Write him that if he will
+wait a few days he shall have money to take to his friends. By that
+time we shall have our wells back."</p>
+
+<p>"If we get the girl and kill that devil of a detective—maybe," added
+Don Castro, with a shrug of his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"We will!" declared the leader. "Deal you, Castro, with our member from
+the mountains. Pacify him—tell him to wait and all will be well."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he is a member," suggested the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he not have the double dagger? Who else but a member would dare
+show it? He is a true Tola. Treat him well. And now we shall hope for
+the best. I am weary—I would sleep!"</p>
+
+<p>So while El Capitan staggered off to his room, Don Castro wrote more
+messages to the deaf mute who read them slowly—and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>It was several days after this, during which time El Capitan, together
+with several of his most trusted men, had departed on a mission, that
+Don Castro, sauntering one day into the café headquarters of the Tola
+gang, inquired for Zenna, which, the deaf mute had written, was his
+name.</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone," the café proprietor answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He left in the night. Someone came to him with a note and he
+departed hurriedly. Why? Was I supposed to detain him? Is all not
+right?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about the last," said Don Castro slowly. "I hope so.
+Certainly you had no orders to detain him. I wonder if he was a Tola."</p>
+
+<p>"He had the double dagger," replied the café owner, who was also one of
+the ruthless gang. "I saw him springing the blades in and out as he sat
+here early in the evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he had the double dagger," agreed Don Castro. "But I wonder—I
+wonder!" Then, with a shrug of his shoulders he added: "But El Capitan
+said he was one of us, and El Capitan should know."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the bent and aged deaf mute was making good time over the
+mountain trails on the mule that had brought him to the village of Paz.
+And, as he hastened forward, now and then he took out the double dagger
+and looked at it. Ever and anon he smiled, wrinkling his bronzed face.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>In a little adobe hut, long and narrow, several men were gathered one
+hot, sultry evening. Two of the party were cowboys, by their dress.
+One spoke in slow, drawling tones and moved but seldom. The other was
+tall and slim.</p>
+
+<p>Two others of the party were evidently Easterners, as their pale faces,
+in contrast to the bronzed complexions of their companions, plainly
+showed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Baldy," remarked one of these latter, "we're a long, long way
+from Times Square."</p>
+
+<p>"You said it, Berry!" responded the other. "But this is the place the
+chief told us to report to, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You got it right, gentlemen," said the tall, thin cowboy. "Me an' Lazy
+Ike doped this out as the best place to pull off the party; didn't
+we, Ike?" he asked his companion who had gone into another part of
+the long, low building which was divided in the middle by a partition
+containing a door. "Where's Ike?" he asked, looking at Baldy and Berry.</p>
+
+<p>"I crossed over into Mexico to get me a match for my cigarette,"
+answered Lazy Ike, coming through the door. "Now I'm in the U. S. A.
+once more," he went on as he sat down with the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it true?" asked Baldy Stoler of Slim Burke, "that this building is
+right over the line between the United States and Mexico?"</p>
+
+<p>"You got it right, buddy," was the answer. "It was built for a saloon,
+after prohibition started, so liquor could be sold to thirsty United
+Staters who didn't want to go into Mexico. They could come in here and
+imbibe and still be on Uncle Sam's land. In case of a raid the red-eye
+and forty-rod could be hustled over to the other side of the saloon, on
+to Mexican territory, and the prohibition people couldn't do a thing.
+It got so, after a while, that the United States authorities and the
+Mexican government made an agreement and this place was wiped out
+by a joint raid. Since then this shack is in charge of the military
+authorities of both countries."</p>
+
+<p>"And when Nat telephoned Baldy and me to come here," said Berry, "and
+when we met you two cowboys, you said this was the best place for the
+trick."</p>
+
+<p>"It is," asserted Slim Jim. "It's just over the line, you see."</p>
+
+<p>Others in the crowd listened to this talk. Hard-fisted men they were,
+and ready with their guns. Baldy looked at his watch and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"It's about time he was here if he's coming."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment a door in the Mexican end of the building opened and an
+old man shuffled in. Bent and wrinkled he was, and stained and dusty
+from long travel.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" called Ike sharply. "Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, señor, but I am deaf and dumb," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment this remarkable statement seemed to shock them all into
+silence, and then Berry Todd laughed and cried:</p>
+
+<p>"It's the chief himself—Nat Ridley!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" cautioned the detective, for he it was. "They are on the way.
+They will soon be here. Into the other room with you—the United States
+side and wait for my whistle. Have your guns ready."</p>
+
+<p>"That's something we won't have nothin' else but," declared Lazy Ike
+with his characteristic drawl.</p>
+
+<p>A little later the aged Mexican seemed to be alone in the long, narrow
+building that straddled the international line. He sat in a chair,
+waiting, waiting, with a queer smile on his brown face.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he heard the sound of horses ambling along the road, and the
+smile changed to a stern expression. He rose as several men opened the
+door and came in, El Capitan and Don Castro among them.</p>
+
+<p>"He is here!" exclaimed the leader, glancing at the Mexican. "I thought
+he was one of us, though you doubted him, Don Castro. Now then,
+somebody, write and ask him where he has the girl and that pig of a
+detective. I must have a drink," and El Capitan drew out a flask while
+Don Castro wrote the questions of his chief on a piece of paper which
+he handed the old Mexican, who had appointed this rendezvous after his
+sudden flight from Paz.</p>
+
+<p>But the deaf mute seemed to have some difficulty in reading the
+writing. He held it up beneath a candle spluttering in a wall sconce.
+And, as he raised his arms, Don Castro gave a cry of alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" cried El Capitan, nearly choking himself as he stopped
+his drink half taken. "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are betrayed!" shouted Don Castro. "See! This man is no peon! He is
+in disguise! His skin is stained! I doubted him from the first. Now I
+am sure!"</p>
+
+<p>With a quick motion Don Castro pulled back the sleeve from the upraised
+arm of the man reading the note. And while the hand and wrist were
+stained a mahogany brown, the remainder of the arm was glistening white
+skin.</p>
+
+<p>"Son of a pig!" hissed El Capitan as, from an inner pocket, he drew his
+double dagger and sprang toward Nat Ridley.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE WHISTLE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Thought was hardly quicker than Nat Ridley's act as he pulled loose his
+sleeve from the betraying grip of Don Castro and leaped toward the door
+dividing the long building in two. As he glided from the grasp of the
+Mexican, the latter gave a cry of dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"After him!" shouted El Capitan. "He must not escape again! He knows
+too much!"</p>
+
+<p>"Devil of a spy!" cried some of the other Tolas who, with their
+leaders, had come over into the United States in furtherance of their
+plans and because of certain things the deaf mute had written in his
+notes. The mute had promised to deliver into their hands Nat Ridley the
+detective, and to tell where Cora Ardell could be found.</p>
+
+<p>"Spy! Spy!" yelled the baffled and enraged Mexicans, while El Capitan
+seemed actually to foam at the mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"He said he would deliver Ridley to us!" cried Don Castro.</p>
+
+<p>"And he is here!" cried the ringing voice of the supposed deaf mute.
+"Nat Ridley is here! Come and get him! I am Nat Ridley, at your
+service!"</p>
+
+<p>He leaped into the other room, which appeared to be vacant. After him
+rushed El Capitan, Don Castro and the "killers." Each one held either a
+double dagger or a gun.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment it seemed that Nat Ridley would be either killed or
+captured. But the same smile that had wrinkled the brown face of the
+supposed Mexican now corrugated that of the sleuth and he shouted:</p>
+
+<p>"Come in and get me!"</p>
+
+<p>Into the room—occupied only by the detective it seemed—rushed the
+Tola gang.</p>
+
+<p>Then Nat Ridley put a whistle to his lips and blew a shrill blast.
+Instantly certain boxes along the sides of the room were shoved aside
+and there appeared two cowboys and Baldy Stoler and Berry Todd and a
+number of United States revenue officers, each one grim of face and
+holding two guns.</p>
+
+<p>"Betrayed! Betrayed!" snarled Don Castro.</p>
+
+<p>"All is not lost yet!" shouted El Capitan. "We are on Mexican soil.
+These pigs of Americanos cannot arrest us!"</p>
+
+<p>"There's where you're wrong!" cried Nat Ridley, his hand in his coat
+pocket. "You're on United States soil. There's the international line!"
+and he pointed to a black mark running along the floor just where the
+door was set in the partition. "You're in the United States and you're
+all prisoners!" his voice rang out. "This is the end of the Tola gang!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet!" snarled El Capitan. "The double dagger will be avenged!"</p>
+
+<p>He leaped at Nat with the two-pointed knife he drew from his coat,
+but as he sprang there was a sharp report, a puff of smoke from the
+detective's pocket, and El Capitan crumpled up on the floor, a bullet
+through his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"It is my turn!" yelled Don Castro.</p>
+
+<p>He drew his gun and aimed at Nat from behind. But Berry Todd saw the
+motion and the detective's gun spoke once. Don Castro went down, the
+bullet striking him in the mouth as he opened it to yell his defiance.</p>
+
+<p>Several of the Mexicans began firing, but they were poor shots and the
+bullets flew wild, while the guns of the cowboys, the three detectives,
+and those of the revenue officers did fearful execution. Several of the
+Tola gang were killed, and the others, in a panic of fear, threw down
+their weapons, raised their hands in the air, and cried out that they
+surrendered.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I guess this is about all," remarked Nat Ridley as the
+cowed wretches were led away to the Paloma jail, the fight having taken
+place on the outskirts of the city. "Is Miss Ardell all right?" he
+went on. "Where is she?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can see for yourself," remarked Slim Jim. He went to a side door,
+opened it, and Cora entered.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>So ended the reign of terror instituted by the Tolas when they found
+that the oil wells were more valuable than had been supposed. With the
+leaders slain and most of the principals in jail, the order was all but
+wiped out. In some ways it was a lawful secret society, and there were
+good members of it, particularly in the mountains among the poor and
+honest peons.</p>
+
+<p>But the Tola had been corrupted by El Capitan for his own ends and
+those of his friends, and the forcing of the oil wells from the
+Lembergs, who were lawfully entitled to them, was only part of their
+plans.</p>
+
+<p>Nat Ridley had learned all their secrets while in their headquarters
+disguised as the deaf and dumb Mexican. He learned how the deaths of
+the three Lembergs had been brought about, and from the persons of the
+slain and captured men were taken several large double daggers and a
+number of the small ones, with the drugged points—emblems used to
+strike terror to the hearts of the enemies of the Tolas.</p>
+
+<p>"Dan Steele is avenged," said Nat when, having resumed his own
+character, he was ready to go back to New York with Berry and Baldy.</p>
+
+<p>"And my cousins' widows and the other heirs will be in undisputed
+possession of their oil wells," added Cora Ardell. "My own interests
+will also be safe now, thanks to you," she said to Nat with a grateful
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>They were soon on their way north in a train, for the girl decided
+that she had had enough of Mexico. Certain trusted agents were left in
+charge of the oil-well property.</p>
+
+<p>"And when will you send in your bill?" asked Cora presently.</p>
+
+<p>"What bill?" came from Nat, wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"The bill for your services," said the girl. "I want to pay my share,
+and I know, my cousins' widows will also. How much do we owe you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing at all," was the prompt answer. "What I did was done to rid
+the country of a desperate gang and to avenge my friend Dan Steele.
+It wasn't a question of money. I don't want a reward. Dan Steele is
+avenged!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good and plenty!" echoed Baldy Stoler.</p>
+
+<p>And then Nat Ridley settled back in his seat for a well-deserved rest.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph2">THE END</p>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75909 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+book #75909 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75909)